by J. S. Cooper
“Liv.” He cut me off, his lips trembling.
“What?”
“I just wanted to feel your ass to see if it was as juicy and pert as I remembered.” He winked at me. “I wasn't asking to take your anal cherry.”
“You...wait, what?” I sputtered out, my heart racing. How had the conversation gone to sex again? Why oh why was he teasing me and making me feel so hot and bothered. He was the worst kind of man possible and yet, I was incredibly turned on.
“Anyway, let’s not get sidetracked.” He shook his head at me. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t come to your room for sex.”
“Say what?” I looked at him in confusion. “I never said—”
“I came because I wanted to explain to you that this is a delicate situation. I wasn’t engaged when we made love. And I wasn’t planning on becoming engaged either. However your sister and I have decided to get married.” He studied my face for a few seconds. “I didn’t expect to see you again.” He shook his head and his face softened as he looked at my face. “You’ve made this all very difficult.”
“What have I made difficult?”
“This arrangement between your sister and I...” He paused. “It’s delicate. It’s not a love match.”
“Then what is it?”
Bang Bang.
“Liv?” Gabby’s voice was soft. “Can I come in?”
“Just a second.” I said, hoping my voice didn’t show how panicked I felt. “Get under the bed.” I pushed Xander down. “Now.”
“Okay.” He frowned as he got down on his knees and slithered under the bed.
“Liv?” Gabby’s voice was louder. “Can I come in?”
“Just a second.” I shouted and watched as Xander’s legs and feet were hidden. I walked to the door and opened it, with a big smile. “Hey, what’s up?”
“Can I come in?” Gabby seemed hesitant and I stared at her in surprise. My sister was never hesitant. She was beautiful, confident and always got what she wanted. Like my Mr. Miracle Tongue.
“Uh, what do you want?” Oh God, I couldn’t look her in the face. I needed to make eye contact with her, but I couldn’t. I was too ashamed of myself. What oh what was I going to do?
“Can I come in? I don’t want anyone to hear.” She pushed into the room and closed the door behind her. “What do you think of Xander?”
“Huh?” My face was hot. “Why do you ask?”
“I just wanted your opinion.” She sighed. “I know you can read guys well.”
“I, uh, I guess.” I stared at her in shock. Since when did she think I could read guys well? Since when did Gabby ever want my opinion?
“I haven’t known Xander long.”
“Oh?” I bit my lower lip, wanting to ask her more, but I didn’t because I didn’t want Xander to think I cared to know about their relationship.
“I know, it’s rash, but when he proposed I couldn’t say no.” She said breathlessly.
“How long have you known him?” I asked softly.
“I...that doesn’t matter.” She sighed. “The point is we’re getting married.”
“I mean if you love him.” I shrugged. “Follow your heart.”
“I’m pregnant, Liv.” She burst out and the color drained from my face. “We’re getting married because I’m pregnant.”
Chapter Two
“Shut the front door.” I said in shock after I gasped for breath.
“I know.” She sat down on my bed and I heard a groan. “Who thought I’d be having a shotgun wedding?”
“Not me.” I said, heart racing. Oh my God, my sister is pregnant with Mr. Tongue’s baby and we’re going to be on Jerry Springer next week. I needed to call Alice right away. I needed to talk to someone about what was going on. The man I had slept with the week before, was about to have a child with my sister. Shit! I’d slept with my soon to be niece or nephew’s dad. What did that make me? Some sort of Jezebel?
“I don’t know him well,” She made a face. “Am I making a mistake marrying him?”
“I just met him, Gabby. I don’t know what to say.” I wanted to shout, don’t marry him, don’t marry him. He was obviously a big jerk, who couldn’t keep it in his pants, but now he was going to be a father, to my sister’s kid, I didn’t know what to say. Did I want to ruin their family before the kid was even born?
“When did he propose to you?” I asked softly. If it was before he’d slept with me, I would tell her, but if it was after, I wouldn’t.
“Two days ago.” She offered me a small smile and showed me her fingers. “Do you like the ring?”
“It’s big.” I said, not knowing what else to say. The ring was beautiful. It was the sort of ring I’d like to receive when I got engaged. If that ever happened.
“It was his grandmother’s.” She said softly and gazed at it. “I’m not keeping this one. He’s going to take me to Tiffany’s and let me choose one I like better.”
“You don’t like that?” I frowned as I stared at her. “It’s gorgeous and it was a part of his family. That means something, Gabby.”
“I don’t want a used ring.” She jumped up and frowned.
“You can’t look at it as if it’s used.”
“I want my own ring. I’ve already seen the one I want: it’s a Princess cut, 5 carat diamond, platinum and about thirty grand.”
“Gabby.” I said shocked. “That’s a lot of money.”
“So what? He can afford it.”
“Oh Gabby.” I sighed. “Can I ask you something?”
“Yeah, what?”
“Do you love him?”
“Do I love him?” She looked at me like I was crazy. “Oh Liv, you need to get your head out of the clouds. People don’t get married because they’re in love anymore. They get married because it makes sense. They get married because it’s better than being single. There are tax breaks and all sorts of benefits to come from getting married.”
“So you don’t love him?”
“I love that he’s a millionaire. I love that he’s hot. I love that he proposed to me.” She shrugged. “Seems good enough to me.”
“But you’re really not sure if that’s enough, if you’re in here asking me what I think.”
“I don’t even know why I’m in here.” She sighed. “I think it’s my hormones.” She made a face. “Being pregnant sucks.”
“Do mom and dad know?”
“Of course not.” She scoffed. “I’m not about to tell them I’m knocked up.” She stared at me intently. “And you better not say anything either.”
“I wasn’t planning on saying anything.” Trust me, dear sister. I want nothing to do with your sordid setup. All of a sudden, I didn’t feel so bad for Gabby. If anything, I felt bad for myself. I was the innocent party in this setup.
“I know you’ve always been jealous of me, Liv.” Gabby fluffed her hair and stared at me with a sad expression. “But I do hope you can grow out of those feelings. We’re adults now.”
“What are you talking about?” I shook my head annoyed. “I’m not jealous of you. What do I have to be jealous of you for?”
“I have a good job. I have my own house. I’m beautiful. And now I’m pregnant and getting married to a millionaire.”
“So?”
“Well, you have a shitty job that pays you what? Like ten dollars an hour?”
“I make thirty grand a year.” I glared at her.
“And you live with roommates.”
“I share an apartment with my best friend, not some random Joe from the street.”
“And well, you’ve always been jealous that I’m a natural blonde and you’re not.”
“Is this a joke?” I looked around the room. “Am I on Candid Camera? Is that show even on anymore?” My jaw dropped as she acted liked the Gabby I’d remembered from my teenage years.
“What are you talking about?” She stared at me blankly. “Anyway, Liv. I wanted to say I want us to move on from whatever kept us apart all of those years. You’r
e going to be an Aunt now.”
“So?” I scratched my head.
“So you need to be more responsible now.”
“What does you having a kid got to do with me?”
“I don’t want you being a bad influence on my—”
“Gabby, I think you need to leave my room right now.” I marched to the door and opened it and stared at her. “I’m not going to be responsible for what I say next if you don’t get out of here.”
“Liv, don’t be like that. I was just trying to say that—”
“Honestly, Gabby I don’t care.” I shook my head. “I just need to be by myself.”
“Fine.” She huffed as she exited the room. “I just thought you’d be happy for me.”
“I’m very happy for you, Gabby.”
“Good.” She smiled at me. “And if you play your cards right, maybe I’ll hook you up with Henry.”
“Henry, Xander’s brother?” My eyes widened.
“Yes.” She grinned. “He’s very handsome and well, wouldn’t that be fun if we were married to brothers?”
“Oh yeah, oodles of fun.” I smiled weakly. Here we come, Jerry. I groaned inwardly. There was no way in hell that I wanted to be hooked up with Henry. Talk about creepy and gross.
“I’m pretty sure he’s single.”
“That’s good.” I said and then sighed. “Um, we’ll chat later yeah?”
“Okay.” She nodded. “And don’t tell mom and dad about the baby, okay?”
“Okay.” I said and then closed the door, my heart racing as I stood there taking everything all in. I watched as Xander squirmed out from under the bed and stood up.
“So then.” He stared at me with an expectant look.
“So what?”
“Now you know why we’re getting married.”
“I can’t believe you want to marry her after listening to all that.”
“Why?” He frowned.
“She’s a gold digger.” I made a face. “And God forgive me, for saying that about my sister.”
“She doesn’t hide what she’s after.” He shrugged.
“You’re okay with that?”
“Gabby and I haven’t lied to each other about anything. We know what this is about.”
“So she knows you slept with me?”
“No.” His eyes narrowed. “But then I didn’t know who you were until about an hour ago.”
“Are you going to tell her now that you know?”
“No, of course not.” He paused. “That would unduly complicate things.”
“Because they’re not complicated now?”
“Well, not really.” He brushed some lint off of his jeans. “Nothing is really complicated right now. Though they could become more complicated if you still want to sleep with me; which I think you do.” He stared at my breasts.
“You what?” My jaw dropped at his audacity. Was he for real? I stared at the smirk on his husky face and I tried to ignore how sexy he looked. He’s a jerk, Liv. He’s not a sexy male God with a miracle tongue. Oh, I was going to miss his miracle tongue. No, stop it Liv you must forget his miracle tongue. I groaned.
“Something wrong?” He asked softly.
“No.” I snapped and glared at him.
“You still want me, don’t you?” His eyes danced.
“No.” I said adamantly.
“Okay, if you say so. Though I think you’re lying.” He grinned and licked his lips again. This time his tongue was sticking right out as if to taunt me even more. “Some people say I’m cocky.” He said after a few seconds.
“Who you?” I feigned shock. “Who would ever think that?”
“Are you laughing at me?” His eyes were light as he studied my face.
“Does it sound like I’m laughing? Can you hear the sound of laughter coming out of my mouth and falling into your ears?”
“You think you’re funny, don’t you?” He took a step towards me.
“I’m not a comedian and have no aspirations to be one, so no, not really.”
“So are you trying to say you don’t think I’m cocky?” He tilted his head and smiled at me. I didn’t want to stare back at him. I mean who can resist a hot guy with a cute teasing smile? His green eyes sparkled in mischief as he questioned me. The moment was light and silly and I so badly wanted it to be dark and stuffy. I didn’t want to like Xander. I had every reason to dislike Xander, but I was finding it very hard to follow through on my dislike when he stood so close to me.
"What do you want from me Xander? This is highly inappropriate as I told you before."
"Why?" He took another step towards me and this time I could feel his thigh grazing against my leg.
"You're engaged to marry my sister."
"Yes, but we don't love each other."
"So you're not going to marry her then?" I asked softly and hopefully. I know it was wrong of me to be hoping for him to say he was going to call off the wedding. “You’re going to call off the wedding?”
"Why would I do that?" He put his arms around my waist and pulled me to him. I could feel his erection pressing into my stomach.
"Are you seriously turned on right now?" I asked, shocked.
He grinned at me wickedly, not answering me. His eyes laughed into mine and he grabbed my hand and held it.
"What are you doing?" I asked softly, my heart racing at the fact that I was so close to him.
"Answering your question."
"What question?" My brain was fuddled.
"This one." He took my hand and placed it over his crotch and squeezed my fingers together gently so that I was grabbing his hardness.
"What are you doing?" I gasped as my fingers held onto his thick manhood.
"You asked me if I was turned on and I figured show was better than tell." He winked at me and I pulled my hand away quickly, images of his naked cock in my mouth and hands flashing through my head. We stared at each other for a few seconds and I knew I was in big trouble. I still wanted this man and he wanted me and I had no idea what I was going to do about it.
“You should leave.” I looked at my bed instead of his face. All I wanted was to crawl under the sheets and groan.
“We haven’t finished talking.” He shook his head.
“There’s not much left to say, Xander.” I took a deep breath. “I’ll keep my mouth shut, but only because I don’t want to have to discuss exactly what happened between us.”
“Don’t you even want to know about Gabby and I?”
“No, why would I want to know about you and Gabby?” A sharp pain twisted in my stomach as I imagined them together. My head started pounding and I knew I was jealous. I didn’t know why I was jealous. I didn’t even think I’d see him again. Well, that was partially true. I hadn’t thought I would see him again, but I had had a daydream running through my head all week. I’d kind of hoped that he would find me- you know what I mean, in a romantic movie sort of way. He’d ask people from the wedding about the beautiful girl in the light pink dress and he’d figure out who I was and come and find me. I’m not talking Lifetime Stalker movie either. He wouldn’t become obsessed with me and stalk me and then kill me. I’m talking sweet romance movie moment. He’d find me and serenade me with a cassette player, remember those? And he’d have a bouquet of flowers and he’d tell me that the night we’d spent in the hotel was the best night of his life and that he couldn’t stop thinking about me. So yes, while I didn’t expect to see him again, I had hoped in the back of my mind that he’d find me. For a brief second when I’d seen him in the living room, I’d thought, maybe my dreams had come true, but of course they hadn’t. Because that’s just how my life goes. I never meet the romantic men. I never meet the men that want to woo me and sweep me off of my feet. I never meet the Prince Charming’s of the world. I always meet the garbage men pretending to be Prince Charming, but then you figure out how much they stink and want to slap yourself for ever thinking they had more to offer.
“Are you listening to me
Liv?” Xander’s voice interrupted my thoughts and I looked up at him with a wry smile.
“No, sorry.” I said and flashed him my teeth.
“You seem preoccupied.” He said with a frown and I have to admit my heart jumped for joy for a little bit. Yes, I know I’m slightly immature, but it pleased me that he knew that he wasn’t eating up my thoughts. I mean he was, but I’m pretty sure he thought I was preoccupied by something else. “What’s on your mind?” He said softly. “Is it me?”
And then, because my feelings were hurt, and because I wanted to see if I could make him jealous, I said the one thing I could think of to try and rile him up.
“Oh no.” I said sweetly. “I was thinking about Henry.” I looked down with a fake demure smile. “Gabby mentioned that he was single and a nice guy and I was thinking, maybe I should get to know him better.”
“You what?” His eyes narrowed and my heart jumped for joy at the displeasure on his face. “My brother Henry?”
“Yes.” I pushed my breasts out slightly. Look at what you’re missing buddy. “That’s not going to be a problem, is it?” I licked my lips slowly and grinned. “After all, you’re seeing my sister.” He stood there for a few seconds, his eyes searching mine and then he went to the bedroom door and exited my room without a word. Score one for me! I thought as I stared at the open door. I stood there for a few seconds and then sighed. My victory felt very hollow. I hadn’t really fixed anything. My wedding hookup. My Mr. Miracle Tongue was engaged to my pregnant sister. My bitchy, thinks she’s better than me, sister. And all I could think about was how quickly I could leave the house and get away from them all. I was scared about what would happen if I stayed. I could still feel his hardness in my hands. He was a grade A jerk. How could he still be coming on to me if he was engaged to my sister? And how could I still be liking it? What was wrong with me? I was a home wrecker...well, a soon to be home wrecker. I was one of those women that Alice and I hated. One of those women that didn’t care if the man was taken. Okay, so I didn’t know he was taken when I first met him. The first night of sex wasn’t my fault. But if it happened again. If I hooked up with him, I’d be the biggest bitch this side of the Atlantic. My brain was screaming at me for even thinking it could happen again, but I knew that Xander made me weak. Very, very weak. It was in that moment I knew that I was very far from being a winner. And I knew that I couldn’t stand around and just wait for something to happen. I couldn’t find myself waking up next to him in bed again. It wouldn’t be right. I’d have to come up with a plan.