Sweet but Sexy Boxed Set

by Maddie James

  “Sorry,” she whispered as he whipped them off his face, then his arms were around her again. Cheris melded her mouth to his, savoring his taste, learning the raspy texture of his unshaven face as it scraped across hers, the feel of his hair beneath her fingertips.

  He pressed another kiss on her lips then drew back as if waiting.

  “What are you…” doing not kissing me? Cheris finished the sentence in her mind when he shook his head at her, his eyes blinked. Once. Twice.

  “She’s gone.”

  “Who?”

  “Monnie. Your front door just opened and shut.”

  “Oh.” Right. The reason they were kissing in the first place. To get rid of her and her plans to have an after-the-fact wedding shower, her helpful advice.

  Clearing his throat, Geoff stepped away from her.

  Cheris wrapped her arms around herself. She missed the heat of his body. “I’m sorry if I took your virginity.”

  He grinned and stooped to pick up his glasses. Placing them on his nose and adjusting them, he replied, “You didn’t.”

  “Yeah. I didn’t think you kissed like a virgin. Not like I’m an expert or anything, but it seems if you’ve never done it before—kissing, I mean—you wouldn’t be that good at it.”

  Turning, he walked into her living room. “Was that a compliment?”

  Cheris followed as she considered his question and how she wanted to answer it.

  He was only the best kisser she’d ever locked lips with.

  “Yes.”

  Standing in the middle of the room, Geoff’s expression warmed at her answer. “Want to go get something to eat? You haven’t had lunch yet, have you?”

  Cheris snapped her fingers as she remembered the cheese and crackers she had set out for her and Monnie. “I’m not that hungry. I just came from eating doughnuts with Janie, and I fixed a snack tray for your mom.” Cheris walked into the kitchen and picked it up. “Do you want some?”

  “No. Come out with me. We’ll go to Lilly Belle’s, and you can sip on raspberry tea while I eat. Then I’ll take you back to work.”

  Cheris poured the crackers back in the box and wrapped up the cheese. “I can’t go to work. They’ve given me a mandatory vacation for two weeks.”

  “Work furlough?”

  “Honeymoon.”

  Geoff didn’t reply, and Cheris finished her task before joining him in the living room where he stood. When he saw her enter, he headed to the door.

  “Ready?”

  “I can fix you something to eat.”

  Geoff shook his head. “No, let’s go out.”

  “We’re supposed to be honeymooning. If people see us out, they’ll know we’re not.”

  Geoff sighed. “Why do you care what they think?”

  Cheris shrugged.

  “I’m positive people on their honeymoon eat, so let’s go out to a restaurant. If we see anyone we know, you can jump me again, okay?” Geoff pulled the door open and walked out without another word.

  Cheris grinned as she grabbed her purse and followed him. Putting on a show for the Cullsbaeir public would be a great excuse to kiss him again.

  ****

  Sitting across from Geoff at Lilly Belle’s tea room, Cheris sipped from a tall crystal glass while he waited on the blue plate special.

  When the waitress set it before him, Geoff took his fork and meticulously separated the carrots, beans, macaroni and cheese, and chicken from each other. “Are most of your neighbors college students?”

  Cheris wrinkled her nose at his actions. “Some, I guess. What are you doing?”

  “I don’t like my food touching on the plate. Aren’t they bothersome to you?”

  “I don’t care if my food gets mixed up. It’s going to the same place anyhow.”

  “Not your food. Your neighbors. Every time I’ve been to your apartment I can hear their music. Grunge. Typical college sounds.” Geoff dipped into the macaroni and ate it.

  “How come you don’t mind cheese and macaroni together?”

  Geoff smiled. “Cheese is okay on most everything.”

  “What about vegetable soup?”

  “No. I don’t eat cheese on vegetable soup.”

  “I mean do you like vegetable soup? Everything’s touching in soup.”

  “Not a big fan. What about your neighbors?”

  Cheris crooked her head and purposely misunderstood him. “I don’t know if they like soup or not.”

  Geoff smiled. Finishing up the macaroni, he began on the green beans. “They are likely unable to hear you if you asked them. Does the noise keep you up at night?”

  “I guess I’m used to it.”

  “Have you ever thought of getting a house?”

  “I have a dream house in town, but it’s not in my budget. Do you always eat your meal one food at a time?”

  “Generally.” Geoff ate another bite of the beans. “It’s not in your budget. Does that mean it’s for sale?”

  “Last time I drove by it still had a sign out front. I doubt it’s sold with the price tag they have on it and the market being what it is.”

  “What part of town?”

  “The east side not too far from Janie.”

  “What makes it your dream house?”

  Dropping her gaze, Cheris picked up her glass and drank. Why had she told him she had a dream house? “Do you dislike all soup, or just vegetable?”

  “I like tomato, potato, French onion, and chowder.”

  “What about chili?”

  Geoff shook his head. “It’s not technically a soup.”

  “Neither is chowder.”

  “Is it the color?”

  “Color isn’t what makes it chowder. It’s the thickness of it.”

  “I’m not talking about chowder. I’m wondering if the color is what made the house your dream?”

  Oh.

  “The architecture of the house? What is it? Ranch style? Tudor?” Geoff persisted.

  “Brick. What kind of house do you live in?” Cheris asked hoping to get the topic away from her.

  Geoff speared a carrot and brought it to his mouth and chewed before answering her. “It’s a one story cookie cutter house with a double garage. Why don’t you want to tell me?”

  “It’s stupid.”

  “No, it isn’t.”

  She shot him a disdainful look. “How do you know? I haven’t told you yet.”

  “I’ll tell you why I’m a food freak if you’ll tell me what makes this house your dream.”

  “Okay.”

  “When I was twelve years old, I started high school. My first day there, four sophomores cornered me in the cafeteria, held me down, and made me eat cole slaw mixed with tapioca pudding, chicken and dumplings, mustard, and blue cheese dressing.”

  Cheris shuttered. “That must have been awful.”

  Geoff shrugged nonchalantly. “Nah. I vomited all over them so they got it lots worse than I did. I was good at projectile spewing apparently. But after that, I didn’t like any type of food mixed together.”

  “I…I grew up in a little apartment over a restaurant. The only yard there was a parking lot.” Cheris felt her face heat up at the admission. She’d never told anyone this before, not even her best friend Janie. “I always wished I had a yard to play in with a tree and a swing hanging from one of its branches.”

  When Geoff didn’t reply, Cheris looked up to see him watching her.

  “I told you it was stupid.”

  Geoff placed his napkin next to his plate. He stood without breaking eye contact. “Let’s go see it.”

  “What?” Cheris stood as well.

  “The yard. The tree. The house. Does it already have the swing, or do you just imagine it there?”

  “‘Do you know what imagination is?’” She quipped.

  He pulled a twenty out of his wallet and laid it on the table then motioned for her to precede him. When they exited the building, he spoke.

  “‘Oh, sure. It’s when you
see things, and they’re not really there.’”

  Chill bumps rose on Cheris’ skin. In her anxiety, she’d reverted to an old movie dialogue, and he was following right along. “‘That seeing can be the cause of other things, too.’”

  At his SUV, he escorted her into her seat before walking around the vehicle and settling on the driver’s side. He started up the car and he continued the conversation from the classic movie. “‘To me imagination all by itself is a place. A separate country. Perhaps you’ve heard of the nation of the French. Even the British nation. But I like the Imagine Nation—’”

  “Stop it.”

  “But I’m coming to the best line.”

  “You’re not Santa Claus, and I am too old to play pretend,” Cheris snapped.

  Geoff turned onto the road and headed toward Janie’s. “If you don’t want me to play the movie quote game, then you need to pick more obscure movies. Everybody’s seen Miracle on 34th Street. Now, where’s the house with the yard?”

  Cheris shook her head. “Don’t humor me. I hate that.”

  “I’m not humoring you. I’d just like to know if the tree has a swing.”

  “Yes, it has a swing, and, no, I don’t want to go by and see it. I’m sorry I told you. It’s just a silly notion I had one day when I was feeling sorry for myself.”

  “Because of where you grew up?”

  Cheris didn’t answer.

  “Tell me about your parents.”

  Cheris snorted. “I don’t like to talk about…that. Believe me. If you knew what I came from, you’d be more than happy to divorce me in case my bad genes might infect the decency of your family.”

  “Cheris.” Geoff shook his head. “You bring a refinement to my family which compliments all of us.”

  “I’m just really good at faking it. You remember that. You’re married to a fake and a phony.”

  “I think my sister is a pretty good judge of character.”

  “You’ve met Bobby, right?”

  Geoff’s mouth tightened, and he glared out the windshield.

  Cheris watched him closely. “You don’t like Bobby, do you?”

  A pulse beat at his jaw. “Do you?”

  “No.” Cheris shuttered. “He creeps me out even more so since the Gala.”

  “Why is that?”

  “I…I’m not sure. I think I remember him being there.”

  “What do you remember?”

  “An image, really. He…” Cheris shivered. “I don’t know.”

  Geoff turned into the entrance of Central Park, one of the jewels of Culsbaier. He pulled into a parking space and cut the engine.

  Cheris peered out the window. “What are we doing here?”

  “Going for a walk.” Geoff pulled the keys from the ignition and leaned back in the seat. “If you want to, or we could neck in the car giving credence to our newly married status.”

  His expression gave nothing away, as if either choice seemed perfectly reasonable. Her stomach fluttered in anticipation. Oh, yes. That kiss back at her apartment had been… Cheris pulled the door handle and stepped onto the graveled ground.

  Dangerous. That’s what it had been.

  Walking in the park was much safer.

  ****

  “Geoff? It’s Janie.”

  Geoff yawned as he held his phone to his ear. “What do you want?”

  “I just got a call from Mom at the airport. What the hell is your problem? You know how she is. Why would you go over there to sleep again knowing how she reacted yesterday?”

  Grabbing his glasses he put them on then looked at the clock on the bedstead.

  8:20

  He’d kept the same routine as the previous night—Cheris’ apartment until eleven, observatory until four a.m., then falling asleep at Mom and Dad’s around five, and awoken by well-meaning female member of the family too soon afterward. He liked the routine until the last part.

  “I thought Cheris and I had solved that problem.”

  “What? By making out in front of her? You just confuse the poor woman. She can’t understand why you won’t stay with Cheris.”

  “It’s none of Mom’s business anyway.”

  “She thinks you make it her business by sleeping in your old room. Why don’t you come over here and stay with me?”

  Geoff sat up and planted his feet on the floor. He’d hoped when Mom and Dad left for the airport this morning, he’d be able to sleep in. “I think you know the answer to that.”

  Bobby. Geoff had had enough of the maggot.

  “What happened at the gala between you and him that’s got you so pissed?”

  The image of Bobby pinning Cheris against the Black Beauty exhibit flashed in his mind. It had taken everything Geoff had not to charge over there and beat Bobby to a pulp for breaking his sister’s heart and going after the woman who Geoff wanted for himself.

  “He made a pass at my wife, thereby insulting my sister at the same time.” Cheris hadn’t been his wife in that moment, but that didn’t make him feel any less territorial. By then she belonged to him as much as Janie did.

  Janie didn’t reply.

  “Do you believe me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Want me to come over and help you throw his stuff on the street?”

  “Nope.”

  “You’re dumping him though, right?”

  Janie growled. “This is supposed to be about you keeping Cheris, not me dumping Bobby.”

  “I’m working on it, Sister, but there is some truth to absence making the heart grow fonder.”

  “Dude, you’re such a geek. You’re back in Georgia next week. Her heart isn’t going to grow anything if you don’t spend any time with her.”

  “I was with her nearly twelve hours yesterday.”

  “Were any of those hours in bed?” Janie asked.

  “Not your concern,” he answered.

  “Geoffrey, lust is a powerful persuader. Jeez, I can’t believe you’re a guy sometimes.”

  “Lust may motivate the man, but romance woos the woman.”

  “Not this woman. I’ll take lust over romance any day,” she declared.

  “You’re not Cheris. Changing the subject here, do you know the route Cheris takes when she comes to visit you?”

  “Why?”

  “She told me about a house she likes, but I can’t find it. She said it’s on the way to your apartment.”

  “Huh. She’s never told me about a house.” Janie clucked her tongue in thought. “I bet it’s on Mary Jane Road. She always takes that street when she’s driving me home. Bugs the crap out of me because it’s out of the way.”

  Geoff grinned. “I’ll check it out. Thanks, Sis.”

  Chapter Nine

  He had not yet learned that the only safe male rebuke to a scornful female is to stay away from her—especially if that is what she desires. However, he did not wish to rebuke her; simply and ardently he wished to dance the cotillion with her. Resentment was swallowed up in hope.

  —Penrod by Booth Tarkington

  “You’re not peeking, are you?”

  From behind her hands, Cheris rolled her eyes. “No, I’m not peeking, but I feel really stupid. Why can’t I see where we’re going?”

  “Because I want it to be a surprise.”

  The smooth motion of the car made it impossible for Cheris to guess where he was taking her for their one week anniversary. Not that Geoff had said anything about an anniversary, but when he’d picked her up this afternoon, the air around him had nearly crackled with excitement. He hadn’t told her where they were going for the second time in their short courtship. Then in the car, he’d suggested she put her hands over her eyes.

  “I told you before. I don’t really like surprises,” said Cheris referring to their trip to the planetarium.

  “But you enjoyed the star show, or am I mistaken?” The car stopped, and Geoff shut off the engine.

  “Yes, I did like it. Can I look now?”

  “Yes.”


  Cheris lowered her hands and saw it through the windshield.

  Her dream house sat so pretty in her dream yard with her dream tree and hanging from it, of course, the dream swing.

  All there. All real.

  Cheris blinked at the brick structure with its recessed porch and low wrought iron gate. Long windows with real white painted shutters bookended the front.

  Cheris opened the door and slid out of the SUV and regarded the house as if it might vanish. She crossed her arms as she stood there for a moment before stepping onto the freshly mown grass.

  “Is it okay for us to be here?”

  “Yes.”

  Cheris walked toward the tree and sat on the swing. She held the chains and swayed with her toes against the packed dirt.

  “How did you figure out which one it was?”

  “A little investigating. Unfortunately, it’s no longer listed.”

  Cheris moved a shoulder in dismissal. “Still a nice dream house. Wonder who bought it?”

  “No one. The contract with the realtor ran out, and the owner didn’t relist it.”

  “It’s a shame for it to be empty.”

  “Real shame especially when you see the inside.”

  Cheris’ eyes widened at his statement. “Have you seen the inside?”

  Geoff held up a key between thumb and forefinger. “I have. Would you like to?”

  She shook her head in disbelief. “How did you get a key?”

  “My dad has a friend who’s a realtor so I called him. He pulled some strings.”

  “Wow.” Cheris stood, and side by side they approached the house. “It’s nice to have connections.”

  “Sure is.”

  Cheris opened the gate running her fingers along the smooth metal as she did so. The empty porch testified to the house’s vacancy.

  Sad.

  Geoff slid the key into the lock and turned it. With his hand on the knob, he looked at Cheris. “Ready?”

  Cheris bounced on her heals in anticipation. She nodded, resisting the urge to open the door herself.

  Geoff waited another second, then two, and pushed it open. She crossed the threshold and stopped in amazement.

  Oh. My. Gosh.

  There was a pool. An indoor pool.

  Cheris’ studied the lines of the large room lit mainly from the late afternoon sunlight through its glassed back wall. Spiral wrought iron stairs led to a walkway which connected the second story rooms to each other from opposite sides of the house. With their open space, both ends of the house reminded of Cheris of a miniature house without a back wall allowing some lucky girl to put her dolls in all the rooms.