She was sprawled out on it like she owned the place, her blonde hair fanned out around her head, but he didn’t mind. After she’d gotten to his house, he’d made sure to sit in his recliner, so she would know that he had been serious when he assured her there would be no sex.
Or rather, he was serious about it for tonight. Because he’d already decided that he was going to fuck her again.
Yeah, yeah, so he’d promised not to sleep with her in the first place, and when he had, he’d promised himself it wouldn’t happen a second time. Except he’d been thinking about it almost nonstop during the last two weeks. He’d been dreaming about fucking her, only to wake up hard, aching, and disappointingly alone. And that was when he had known he had to get inside her again. That was the only way he was going to stop thinking about it.
He was an adult, Elise was an adult, and what the two of them did in the privacy of the bedroom, living room, or back of a taxi wasn’t anyone’s business but their own. Their friends could just kiss off because Sean wasn’t the one walking around with a permanent boner.
“He was a good actor, but he hasn’t played that many bad guys, has he?”
“Yes. Hans Gruber in Die Hard, Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood, Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd, Professor Snape in the Harry Potter movies, and Harry in Love Actually.”
“Love Actually?”
“Yeah. You know what I’m talking about.”
“Sorry, babe, no clue.”
Her mouth dropped open. “Are you telling me, you’ve never seen Love Actually? That’s only, like, one of my favorite movies.”
“Nope.”
“But…why?” she asked, clearly dumbfounded.
“Two words—chick flick.”
She shook her head. “I can see why one would think that, but it’s more than just a chick flick. It’s a holiday movie with a great message. You’re really missing out.”
Luke cocked an eyebrow.
“I’m serious.”
“Yeeaaah…I think I’ll just take your word on it.”
“I can’t believe no woman has gotten you to watch it.”
“Many have tried; none have succeeded,” he joked.
“Hmm…” she said with a glint in her eye.
“What?”
She shook her head and smiled. “Nothing. Just that I’m going to make it my mission in life to make you watch that movie.”
“Ha.”
“So, what would it take, huh?”
Luke grinned at her.
She pointed a finger. “And don’t say sex.”
“Aw, shucks.” He feigned disappointment.
“Come on.”
Because he had no plans to watch that chick flick, he told her, “Fine, I’ll watch it with my future wife.”
This way, they both won. He got her to leave him alone, and she got him to agree to watch the movie.
“Mission complete.”
She huffed, “Hardly. But I’ll concede for now.”
He laughed. “What makes Alan Rickman the bad guy in that movie anyway?”
Elise snickered. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
He didn’t want to admit it, but he would. But he wasn’t going to tell her that. He shrugged. “Whatever. I’ll find out someday.” Someday far, far from now…maybe. Because Luke had no plans to get married in the near future.
They continued to watch the movie, subject dropped.
After the movie was over, Elise made no move to leave, so he asked, “Die Hard 2?”
It almost looked like there was some relief in her eyes.
But she shrugged her shoulders, like it was no big deal, and said, “Sure.”
“Do you want to change the movie while I go and make you the popcorn I promised you?”
“Oh, yeah. I almost forgot about the popcorn. You’ve got yourself a deal.”
Luke walked to the kitchen and pulled out the popcorn, oil, pan, bowl, and butter. The only way to make popcorn was on the stove. He didn’t like any of that microwave shit.
While he waited for the oil to heat up, his phone rang, and since Elise was in the other room and they weren’t in the middle of a movie, he answered, “Sydney, what’s up?”
“How’s my favorite brother?”
Between him and their other two siblings, Luke was not her favorite. “What do you want?”
“Lucas, what makes you think I want anything?”
“You’re calling me.”
Luke loved his sister, but she really never called unless she needed something. He would like to think it was because she was young and the baby of the family, but sometimes, he wondered if that was the kind of person she was always going to be.
“Maybe I’m calling you because I love you.”
“What do you want, Syd?” he asked again.
Elise walked into the kitchen. There seemed to be some uncertainty in her eyes and maybe, possibly, some jealousy. Luke could only hope because, if she was jealous, she was interested, and if she was interested, he had a shot of getting in her pants again. But he didn’t want her feeling envious. He wanted her to be relaxed and enjoying herself.
So, he mouthed, Sister, to her and turned back to the heating oil.
He checked to see if the popcorn kernel he had thrown in there popped. Not yet.
Luke realized he had missed everything Sydney had said because he wasn’t paying attention. “Hold up. Can you repeat that?”
Luke looked over to see Elise coming up beside him before his sister said, “Ugh, Luke. Will you pay for my acting classes or not?”
Easy question. “Not.”
“Luke,” his sister whined.
“Sydney, I am not giving you money for acting classes.”
Luke looked at Elise and shook his head as he grimaced. Elise giggled.
“Come on. You’re rich; you can afford it.”
“First, I am not rich. There are these things called student loans, which I will be paying back until I’m dead, not that you would know anything about it. Second, what did Mom and Dad say?”
“You suck.”
Translation: Mom and Dad had said no.
“Syd, you know I love you, but at some point, you have to stop wasting money and figure out what you really want to do.”
Getting down and serious was a sure way to get his sister off the phone.
“I gotta go,” she mumbled.
“Okay. Remember, we love you.”
“Whatever.”
And, with that, she was gone.
Luke tossed his phone on the counter and went back to making popcorn, pouring the rest of the kernels in the pot.
“So, that was your sister, huh?”
Luke snorted. “Yeah. She lives in LA with her yuppie boyfriend while she tries to find herself. Why she can’t do that while going to college like everyone else is beyond my parents’ comprehension. But I kind of don’t blame them. It’d be one thing if she supported herself, but she’s always asking for money. Today, she wanted money for acting classes. Two months ago, she was going to be an artist. Six months ago, she wanted to design jewelry.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah.”
“How old is she?”
“Twenty.”
“Wow,” Elise said again. “I can’t imagine moving to LA at such a young age with no job or anything. That takes guts.”
Luke paused as he shifted the popcorn pan back and forth. “I suppose you have a point. But it’s pretty easy to do that when you know your parents are never going to let you starve. Mom and Dad might not pay for her acting classes, but they do pay for her rent and car insurance.”
Elise didn’t reply and seemed lost in thought.
“You don’t want to move to LA with some loser guy, do you?”
Elise laughed. “No, not even close. I was just thinking, it’d be nice to be able to do what you wanted without worrying about your parents judging you.”
Luke gave her a questioning look.
“This is between
us, but today, I found out my sister might be getting a divorce, and if she does, my parents are going to be devastated. They’re annoyingly conservative. What’s ironic is that the reason my sister got married was because she’d gotten pregnant. Can’t have a baby out of wedlock, you know. And the only reason she got pregnant was because my parents had refused to discuss birth control. Because, of course, nobody has sex before marriage.”
Luke chuckled. “Of course not.”
Elise looked at him and turned pink.
“That sucks for your sister.”
She sighed. “Yeah, I feel really bad for her.”
Luke poured the popcorn in the big bowl he had gotten out. “What about you? What would you do differently if you didn’t have to worry about your parents?”
Elise tilted her head to the side. “I don’t think anyone’s ever asked me that before.”
Luke threw the butter in the pan to melt it. “So?” he prompted.
“Well, I still probably wouldn’t do anything like your sister, but there is something I’ve always wanted to do. I’m embarrassed to admit I haven’t because I don’t want to disappoint my parents.”
This, he had to hear. “What’s that?”
“Promise you won’t laugh?”
He drew a cross over his heart. “Promise.”
“I’ve wanted to get my nose pierced for years. Nothing crazy, just a cute little something. One of my good friends in Denver had one, and I always loved it.”
Luke put the pan in the sink and turned on the faucet to fill it with water. “That’s cool.”
“You don’t think it’s silly?”
“No, in fact, I think, if it’s something you want to do, you should do it. I think it’d be sexy.”
Elise laughed and rolled her green eyes. “I’m pretty sure you think everything is sexy.” She grabbed the popcorn bowl. “Come on. Let’s go watch the movie.”
Elise was running late for Rachel’s Fourth of July party. She jerked her blue shorts up her legs, yanked her red halter top over her head—careful not to wreck her makeup—and slipped on her white sandals. She brushed her hair, deciding to leave it down, and hurried out of the bathroom.
She’d told Rachel that she would be there early to help set up before everyone else arrived, so running behind didn’t leave her much time to help before the guests were scheduled to get there. But, before she could leave, she had to get one thing just in case the opportunity arose to bring it out. Unfortunately, it was in the basement among all her moving boxes. At the moment, she had taken over the lower level of her parents’ home with all the things she had moved out of her house in Colorado.
She started in the corner where her living room stuff was, and it took a couple of tries, but she found the item she’d been searching for. She ran upstairs, slipped it in her purse, and grabbed the food she’d made for the party.
Rachel lived about twenty to thirty minutes from her parents’, depending on traffic, and since it was a holiday, the drive was considerably better than on a normal weekday.
Halfway there, Elise’s cell rang.
“Hello?”
“Hey, are you on your way?” Rachel asked.
“Almost there.”
“Can you stop and pick up some ice? I underestimated how much we’d need.”
“I told her to get ten bags!” Sean yelled from the background.
“Yeah, yeah,” Rachel said. “So, I thought you were exaggerating. I was wrong.”
“Elise, did you hear that?” Sean yelled. “She said she was wrong. You’re my witness.”
Elise laughed.
“Get out of here, jerkface,” Rachel told her fiancé, her voice laced with humor.
“So, how many bags do you need me to get?” Elise asked.
“Six,” Rachel whispered into the phone.
Elise laughed harder. “You only got four bags? Ha-ha-ha-ha!”
“I know, okay? Don’t tell Sean. He’s already gloating because I didn’t believe him.”
“I won’t say anything.”
“Let me know when you get here. I’ll help you bring the ice in.”
“You mean, sneak it in.”
“Whatever. Just text me when you’re here.”
“Will do.”
“And stop laughing at me.”
“I love you!” Elise shouted into the phone before her friend hung up, smiling. She was really looking forward to sitting around, eating, drinking, and watching fireworks with her friends today.
About twenty minutes later, Elise texted Rachel to let her know she was there. She parked on the street to leave the driveway free. The garage was open with tables set up for food to keep it out of the hot sun with the back door of the garage open to the backyard, so people could walk back and forth.
Elise got out of her car and started unloading the ice and food on the lawn when Luke strolled out of the garage. She hadn’t seen him since she hung out at his house a week and a half ago when they watched the first two Die Hard movies. She hadn’t realized how much she’d been looking forward to seeing him until now.
The front door opened, and Rachel came flying out, shouting, “Sean’s in the shower! Hurry, hurry, hurry.”
Elise laughed. “Rach, it’s not that big of a deal.”
Rachel grabbed the first two bags. “Oh, he has been giving me so much crap this morning, especially after I admitted I was wrong. I might just strangle him, and I really don’t want to go to jail tonight.”
“Whatcha ladies doing?” Luke said from behind Rachel.
Rachel jumped a foot in the air. She turned around and actually attempted to step in front of the ice, which proved to be pointless because there was so much. “Luke, you’re supposed to be in the backyard.”
Elise laughed at her friend’s panic, grabbing the last few things out of her car and locking it.
Luke looked at all the items strewed on the lawn. “That’s a lot of ice.”
“I know,” Rachel said in a biting tone. “Now, shoo.” She waved her arms, as if Luke were a dog or something.
Luke ignored her. “Are you sure you don’t need help?”
“Fine.” Rachel pointed a finger at Luke. “As long as you don’t say anything to Sean.”
“I can keep a secret.” He looked from Rachel to Elise. “Right, Elise?”
Elise made a strangled sound in the back of her throat and almost dropped the ice she’d just picked up.
Rachel swung around to look at her. “Huh?”
Elise ignored Luke’s question. “Let’s just get this done before Sean comes out. Where do you want this?”
Rachel had them split up the ice between the coolers and then store the rest in the deep freezer in their basement.
They had just finished up when Sean walked into the kitchen. “Hey, Elise. Thanks for running that errand for us.”
“Hey, Sean. Not a problem. I was already in the car.”
“Well, ya know, if someone—”
Rachel held up the knife she’d just reached for to cut up fruit. “Babe, are you sure you want to finish that sentence?”
Sean shook his head. “No, ma’am.”
“That’s what I thought.”
Rachel went back to cutting fruit, and Sean came up behind her, slipping his arms around her waist.
“You know I was just giving you crap. It’s not every day you mess up, so I had to give you a hard time. But, if I hurt your feelings, I’m sorry.”
Aw, so sweet.
Rachel’s face softened. She put down the carving utensil, turned, and kissed Sean, rubbing her watermelon-soaked fingers over his T-shirt. Sean didn’t seem to mind because he moaned and tugged Rachel closer.
Aaannnd…that was Elise’s cue to leave the room.
“Just a reminder, you have guests coming soon,” she called over her shoulder as she opened the sliding glass door to go outside.
Rachel and Sean’s home was older and didn’t have the walk-out basement that was so popular nowadays. So, thei
r deck was only a couple of feet off the ground. That made it convenient for parties because people didn’t have to crowd the deck where the grill was.
Elise grabbed the folded chairs that had been set on the side of the house and started setting them out. She set some up on the lawn and some on the deck. Then, she went into the garage to grab herself something to drink. She couldn’t decide between a mixed drink or a beer or if she should just stick with pop for now.
“Are you trying to kill me with that outfit?” a voice from behind her spoke against her ear.
She barely managed not to flinch. Once again, Luke had scared her. She didn’t know how he kept doing that.
She looked over her shoulder to meet his eyes. “After your comment to Rachel, you deserve it.”
Luke grinned, his beautiful brown eyes lighting up, and she couldn’t help smiling back.
“You’re a butthead, you know that?”
He shrugged one shoulder. “Guilty.”
She turned toward him and asked, “What if Rachel had questioned what you meant by asking me if you could keep a secret?”
“Nah, she was too busy freaking out. I heard her yelling something about Sean being in the shower and for you to hurry. She was too worried about her own thing.”
“Yeah, but it could have happened. I mean, what if she had figured out about…you know?”
He raised his brow. “That I fucked you?”
She quickly scanned the garage, despite knowing they were the only ones there. “Luke.”
He snickered. “Oops, I meant, that you fucked me.”
Her cheeks heated. “Uh…I don’t think so.”
“Hmm.” He pretended to look confused. “What do you call it when you pull down a guy’s pants, whip off your panties, and sit on his cock?”
She covered his mouth with her hand, her embarrassment now spread across her whole face and down her neck. “Oh my God, be quiet.”
He pulled her hand away from his mouth but only far enough so that he could speak, “I can’t.” Then, he kissed her palm.
Her skin tingled where his lips touched, and she stood there in a trance, unable to move. He pulled her arm down and used it to tug her close, lacing their fingers together. With his free hand, he stroked his fingers over her cheek and down her chin.
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