Just Add Heat
Page 19
I had to believe that I wasn’t going to get shot down right off the bat. I had caught her staring at me a few times and then blushing. I knew when a woman was into me, I hadn’t gotten to be twenty four without my fair share of female companionship. I mean, lets be realistic, the ladies thought I was hot. Hell, I bet even dudes thought I was hot, in a non-gay way, of course. I’m not conceited, but I do have eyes. I wasn’t sure if that was going to be enough to sway Juss, though.
I had actually been stealthily trying to worm my way into her consciousness for the past several weeks; standing in her personal space, making comments that were just shy of being innuendos, and most of all, making sure she could see me outside of the realm of “Cheryl’s little brother” when possible.
The timing was perfect. She had finally seen her ex for the douchey prick he was and kicked him to the curb a few months ago, thereby leaving the path clear. It was like a sign when she called me up and asked me to help her set up a website. Thank you, Cheryl. Now, it was all up to me.
Upload Complete. So that was it. My work for her was done. I half considered telling her there was some kind of problem, allowing me at least one more official visit, but I just couldn’t do that to her. She was really excited about her website idea and I was interested in seeing where she was going to take it. Also, that would have been a really dick move on my part and not the way I wanted to start off a possible relationship. The time was at hand.
I stood up and stretched. I could smell the chicken pot pie she was making for us tonight, part of her payment for my web design services. My stomach rumbled, but unfortunately it was nerves and not hunger. Well, it was hunger too, but mostly it was the fact that I was trying to gather up all of my mojo for the task at hand. I refused to wimp out. Go out there, pussy. I mentally flipped my inner voice the bird and started for the kitchen, slowing my steps as I came around the corner. Justine was standing with her back to me, slicing a cucumber and singing a song that I didn’t recognize. I stood there for a minute watching her until I decided to make some noise to alert her to my presence.
I cleared my throat and she spun around holding the knife out in front of her.
“Geez Carter, you scared me.” Her cheeks got pink but she smiled at me. “The food is just about ready. How is it going in there?”
“All done. You obviously need to check it over before it goes live, but I’ve done everything we talked about. It looks great.”
She beamed at me with delight. “I’m so excited. I can’t thank you enough for this, Carter. I could never have gotten this done without you.”
“It was my pleasure. The food has been well worth it. I’m going to miss all of these home cooked meals.”
She just smiled at me and blushed before turning back to her cucumber.
It was now or never. “So I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me?” She turned back to me a couple of seconds later.
“Go out?” Uh oh, I could tell she was trying to buy time before answering me.
“Yeah, you know, to dinner or something.”
“Um. Well, I work most nights.”
“I know. I was thinking maybe next Monday. I’m finished with your site and I know Mondays are your off days. I thought that instead of you having to cook we could go out. Then, maybe we could catch a movie or whatever.” I had to admit that my invitation didn’t sound very smooth or well thought out, but I had to hope she would overlook that and want to spend time with me anyway.
“Just you and me?”
I nodded.
“You mean a date?”
“Well, yeah.” Did I not make myself clear enough?
“I don’t know, Carter. That would be kind of weird, you know?”
She was turning me down. To be honest, it didn’t occur to me that she would really say no. It took a second for my mind to recognize the feeling in my stomach as disappointment.
My brain went straight into high gear. I knew she liked me, so I had to make her see the benefits of an actual date.
“Why would it be weird? We’ve known each other for years. We’ve been spending every Monday evening together for three weeks and there hasn’t been any awkwardness.”
“That’s not the same as a date.” She held her hand up as I opened my mouth to protest. “You’re Cheryl’s brother. That is making things awkward. Plus, I’m too old for you.”
“You’re not too old for me, Justine, that’s ridiculous. We’re not in high school. We’re both adults. I really like you.” Shit. That did sound a little bit high school.
“Carter, don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re too young for me.”
Was it possible to take it the right way? I was stuck for a reply to that. I had nothing.
“I really like you, too, though.” She started blushing so I jumped on the only chance I was going to get.
“Alright, let’s take age out of the equation for a minute. We like each other and we know we get along. What harm could there be in going out for a friendly date and seeing where things might go from there?”
“What about Cheryl?”
“What about her?” Cheryl was the one person in the world who knew that I’ve always carried a torch for Justine. She used to tease me about it when I was younger, but I didn’t think that she would have too much of a problem with the idea of Justine dating me. At least I hoped not.
She raised her brow. “Don’t be dense. She would not be cool with it.” She didn’t say anymore, but bent down to get the pot pie out of the oven. My stomach growled, reminding me that I’d skipped lunch so that I could finish the design on the energy bar wrapper for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I didn’t want to have to work on it tonight since this was my last night working for Justine.
She set the casserole between us on the island and looked at me. “I’m sorry, Carter.”
I could tell by her voice that she had decided that a date wasn’t going to happen. I had to quickly restrategize.
“What if we stayed in? I’ll even cook for you.” Did I sound too desperate?
She stared at me for a few seconds more and I could almost hear the crickets chirping. I felt my stomach sink. This sucked.
“I’ll cook.” What? She was saying yes? I could feel my heartbeat speed up. She wanted to date me! I felt like skipping around the room, and if I was alone I would have, but I wasn’t going to do anything to mess this up.
“Great.” I made sure my voice was clear and confident.
“Okay, next Monday we can have some dinner and take it from there. Now, I have to finish the salad.”
Her face had turned a little bit pink with embarrassment, so I let her turn around and get back to her cucumber while I mentally gave myself a high five. I was going to make next Monday a night she would never forget.
The Big Unveiling
I was this close to shooting my load, but I was trying to make it good for Justine. This was only the third time we’d been together, so I wanted to impress her with my longevity.
“Oh god, oh god.” She was panting and grabbing onto my shoulders so I knew she was about to have another orgasm. I increased my tempo, and my breath sounded loud in my own ears. That’s probably the reason I didn’t hear the door opening until it was too late.
“Oops. Sorry.” Jesus, was that Cheryl? I turned my head to the voice and met my sister’s eyes. “Arrrrgh! Oh my god! What’s going on?”
“Uhhhgh.” I let out a scream of my own, but it wasn’t quite as high pitched. A moment later Justine squealed too.
“Fuck Cheryl, can’t you knock?” I was trying to be a gentleman and cover Justine, but in the process I was exposing more of myself.
“Carter, what the fuck?” Cheryl made a face at my nakedness but didn’t move.
“Cheryl, turn around.” Justine was frantically trying to disentangle herself from me as Cheryl continued to gape at us.
“Damn Cheryl, take a picture.” I gave her my meanest look but she just turned from my eyes to Justine.
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nbsp; “How long has this been going on?” she asked Justine accusingly. Shit, this is just what Justine had been afraid of. This was going to undo all of the progress I had made in getting Justine comfortable with a relationship between us.
“Oh my god.” It wasn’t the same god she had been chanting to a minute ago. She was bright red and had a look of total horror on her face. This wasn’t good at all.
“Cheryl, would you please give us a minute here?” I tried to sound reasonable but the words came out harshly. I loved my sister but she had just created a nightmare scenario for me. She didn’t say anything but walked through the living room and into the kitchen. Just great. She wasn’t even going to let us get dressed in privacy. This was getting worse by the second.
“I knew this was a bad idea. I’m sorry Carter, but we can’t be together this way. I told you this wouldn’t work.”
“Wait. Don’t say that. This was just a surprise for us all.” I wanted to be the voice of reason but I could feel Justine slipping away from me.
“No Carter. Cheryl wasn’t merely surprised she was horrified.” She had me there but I wasn’t about to give up without a fight. I had waited too long for a chance with her to let it all go now.
I pulled on my jeans and grabbed my tee shirt off of the coffee table. “Please Justine, give me a minute with Cheryl, okay.” She nodded because I’m sure she wasn’t ready to face the coming inquisition. I got up and stalked into the kitchen like a warrior ready to do battle. Cheryl was standing by the kitchen window.
“I need to talk to you. Outside.” I grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to the back door with me. I didn’t need Justine overhearing anything that I was about to say to my sister. Cheryl didn’t say anything until we were on the patio.
“How could you, Carter? She’s my best friend; you can’t go around having sex with my friends, that’s just gross.”
“Cheryl, you know I love you, but you need to butt out. This is between me and Justine.”
“You made it about me when you decided to use my best friend for your little romp.” She had her hands on her hips and she was giving me her best imitation of our mother’s scowl.
“This isn’t a romp and you know it. Don’t try and pretend you don’t know how I feel about her. You’ve always known.” Her face softened slightly but she wasn’t ready to let me off the hook just yet.
“Carter, this isn’t the same thing as you mooning around after my roommate. We’re all adults now and this could get really complicated. I don’t want to see her get hurt. You either.” She had said the last part almost grudgingly.
“The only thing that will hurt me now is if you say or do something that makes Justine decide that being with me is wrong.” I reached out and took her hand. “Please Cheryl, help me make things right with her.” I was practically pleading with her at this point but it was my now or never moment. She gave me a searching look but I could see I was getting through to her.
“Promise me this isn’t some passing thing with you. This isn’t another Christina?”
I cringed inwardly at the reminder of Christina. She was pretty and she was cool to hang out with, but I had used her to make myself feel better after seeing Justine with that creep John who she had started dating. My parents had thrown a dinner party and I knew Justine was bringing that putz so I invited Christina along. Big mistake. She had been under the impression that she was “meeting the parents” and I had compounded the problem by behaving as if we were much more of a couple than we were. After she started getting a little bit too attached, I broke up with her as nicely as possible. That didn’t stop her from calling me with a stalkerish frequency or showing up at Cheryl’s house hoping that my sister would be able to change my mind.
“You know that whole business with Christina was directly related to Justine. Come on, how often do I ask anything from you? Never, so please, please go in there and tell her you don’t have a problem with us being together. Even if you do, do it for me. I love her, Cheryl.”
She looked at me speculatively. “How long have you and she been…” She gestured between me and the house.
“For almost a month.” I ignored the look of surprise on her face. “Really, since I started helping her with her website. She’s awesome.”
“I know she is. That’s why I don’t want you to do anything to mess her up. She’s important to me.”
“She’s important to me too. Please.” I was full on begging.
“Okay Carter. I’m going to go in there and tell her I was just surprised and that I think you’re a great guy and she should give you a chance. But,” she leaned over and poked me in the chest with her finger. “If you do anything to hurt her or in any way mess up my friendship with her because of this, I’m going to Fuck. You. Up.” She punctuated each word with and extra hard poke. “Are we clear?” This was the meanest I had seen Cheryl since we were kids and I cut off the hair of her favorite Barbie doll so I knew she meant business.
“Crystal. Thanks, I owe you big.”
“Don’t worry; you’ll be paying up when the time is right.” With that she walked back inside and left me standing on the patio wondering what was going on in Justine’s head.
I Am a Knight
“Aaiigh! Help!” Justine’s scream ripped through the house just as I was pulling my boxers on after my shower. I tore through the distance between the bedroom and the kitchen in record time. That was the “I just cut my pinky finger off” kind of scream. I arrived to the sight of Juss standing hunched over on the island with a dish towel in one hand and a spatula in the other.
“What are you doing? What’s the matter?”
“There’s a rat in here. I just saw it run into the laundry room.”
I pulled out the old standby phrase. “It’s more scared of you than you are of it.”
“That’s bull! There is no way it’s more scared than I am.”
“Where did it come from?”
“Somewhere behind me. I saw it run along the baseboards and under the laundry room door. Go get it!”
Fuck. The last thing I wanted to do right now was catch a rat, but we couldn’t have one loose in the house. I shuddered at the thought of coming face to face with such nasty vermin. How the hell did we get a rat in here? We’d never had a rodent problem before. Juss was adamant about keeping those “pest-a-way” things plugged in at all times. It must have crawled through the doggy door. But in broad daylight? It probably had rabies. I didn’t share that with Justine; I wanted her to come down some time today.
“I’ll go get something to catch it with.” I immediately thought of my old lacrosse stick from high school. It had a net on the end and it was long, keeping me from having to get too close to any rodent. I dug it out from the back corner of the office closet before making my way back down the hallway, feigning some of my old moves. Yeah, I still had it going on.
“Hurry up!” she barked at me.
Apparently, Justine wasn’t a lacrosse fan. As I got closer, I could see she was shaking. She was so lucky she had me to do these kinds of things for her. I didn’t want to say it out loud, but rats scared the crap out of me, too.
I looked over at Justine and held my finger to my lips in the universal sign of “be quiet,” then held the stick in front of me as a weapon while I crept over to the door and turned the handle.
I threw back the door and burst into the laundry room, but I couldn’t get a bead on it. I tiptoed stealthily over to the washer and dryer and leaned over to see which machine it was hiding behind. Nothing.
“It’s not in here, babe. Are you sure you saw one?” She turned on me in outrage.
“Of course I did! Would I scream for you otherwise? Find it and kill it.”
“I’m not going to kill it. I’m strictly catch and release.” Just then I saw a movement to my left and instinctively swung the stick toward it, capturing the beast for my love. A split second later a tiny field mouse shot through the mesh of the stick and back into the kitchen.
“Are you okay? Baby, talk to me. It was only a little mouse.” She didn’t say anything for a few seconds, but she suddenly burst into laughter.
“You looked hilarious. Omigod, first you were posing and then you were stalking it, and your wiener was hanging out the whole time.” She took a deep breath, only to start cackling again.
I looked down and saw that my dick was poking out of the flap in the front of my boxer briefs.
“You think my wiener looks funny, do you?” I put on the most menacing look I could muster as said wiener took it upon itself to stiffen and enlarge.
“Yes, but maybe I just need to see it up close.”
Oh yeah, now I was going to get my reward. “By all means, check it out.” I stifled a groan as she scooted off of the island and stood in front of me, grasping my cock between her fingers.
“Hmm. It looks much more sinister up close, but I need to be sure.” She dropped to her knees in front of me, pulling my boxers down and over my, now huge, erection.
“I don’t hear any laughing.” I stiffened as she leaned forward and enveloped my dick with her lips.
“Nnnmmn,” she hummed, sending a shock wave through my body. She pulled back, making a popping sound as she released my rod from her mouth. “It appears I was mistaken. It’s actually quite intimidating.” She stayed where she was and looked up at me. “What can I do to repay you for your act of bravery?”
I felt like a knight (a Jedi one) who just won the hand of a fair maiden.
“You were off to a pretty good start.” A second later she cupped my balls with one hand and used the other to grip my ass and pull me closer to her head. Yes! If this was how she wanted to thank me for ridding our house of pests, I vowed to jump to attention the next time she squealed at a spider in the bathtub.