Bed Buddies

by St. Klaire, Stephanie

  The tension was high, the heat smoldering. Grabbing at his waist, Kinley quickly undid Jace’s belt and pants, helping them fall just below his hips, freeing his excitement as she did. Impressive — it was the only word that could describe his offering. Fucking impressive. He was virile, ready, and damn happy to see her.

  Before she could grab his more-than-handful, Jace had her panties torn and Kinley wrapped around his waist, her back hard against the wall, sliding his length against her. She would be weak in the knees at the feel of him against her greedy heated mound had he not already been holding her. Jace teased her with his tongue, while teasing her with other things, generating a hunger in her she hadn’t experienced before. For the first time in her life, she felt needy, full of heated passion like no other, and aching for his next move.

  Eyes locked with hers, through heavy breathing, Jace paused and raised his eyebrows. Without a single word spoken, his noble gesture was his way of asking permission before taking more and doing something that couldn’t be undone. A testament to his kindness and thoughtfulness, really, that spoke to Kinley’s heart, if she was being honest. But the throbbing length between her legs reminded her this had nothing to do with her heart, and everything to do with a night of hot, steamy sex.

  Kinley’s answer was simple as she tilted her hips forward, finding what she wanted, and taking him in. The sound Jace released was deep, guttural, and entirely too hot. It seemed Kinley had answered him just right. And if Jace felt even half of what she did, Kinley completely understood where that emotional roar came from.

  They moved in sync, a perfect melodic harmony of physical pleasure that felt equally emotional. How a stranger could provoke the emotional pull was something neither could explain, nor did they want to explore it. This was about throwing caution to the wind, stepping outside their proverbial box, and exploring a purely physical need…like doing each other a favor — it was a hookup.

  “God, you’re beautiful,” Jace panted.

  He said the right things and did the right things too. Their movement was exhilarating, both so lost in each other, the rest of the world didn’t seem to matter. Kinley’s pleasure was so intense as her ecstasy built, she literally thought she heard bells ringing. She would have laughed at that idea if not for the hot man between her legs distracting her with a sensation she already found addicting.

  Just as they shared an intoxicating ending, and Jace collapsed against Kinley to hold her against the wall they had been using for leverage, the couple was quickly drawn from their blissful fervor at the sounds of gasps. Kinley had heard bells ringing — the bell on the front door to be exact. They weren’t alone.

  Seth Spangler and Molly Sexton stood, jaws dropped in shock.

  Jace turned his back to their company, shielding Kinley while he adjusted his pants, tucking away the evidence of their evening, then turned to face them, Kinley still carefully hidden behind him. Seth’s back was to them, offering privacy, while Molly had her sights set on the stars, staring through one of the skylights.

  “Sorry,” Seth said in a near stutter. “Uh, didn’t expect to find you here.”

  “Is there anything I can, uh, help you…with?” Kinley said with a cringe realizing how that sounded given what Seth and Molly just walked in on and the fact that she was still standing half naked behind Jace.

  A nervous laugh escaped the good doctor. “Sorry, you seem to have caught us in a…compromising state.”

  “Uh, yeah the lights were on, and, uh…we were worried,” Seth replied, squeezing his eyelids together, trying to find the words to explain their way out of why they were really there.

  Molly jumped in trying to save Seth with his few words all while staring at the ceiling, afraid to look down. “Yeah, we thought maybe something was — wrong! Maybe something was wrong because it’s so late and all…then the lights...”

  Pleased with her answer, she gave a smile, shock rolling over her as she caught herself looking back at the partially clothed couple and their disheveled appearance. Molly stiffened and quickly returned her stare to the ceiling.

  “Nope, no…problem here,” Jace said with a sheepish grin and awkward chuckle again.

  Seth quickly reached around Molly, gently turning her around, so she could relax her neck and exit without any more embarrassment, and they said their goodbye. “We’ll be on our way then, sorry for the…interruption. We’ll lock the door on the way out!”

  As quickly as they had appeared, they were gone, only scuffling feet echoing through the place. At the sound of the bell, both Jace and Kinley burst out in laughter.

  “Well…that was awkward,” Jace admitted.

  “Thank you…you know…for standing in front of me and…stuff.” Even in the dimly lit room, it was obvious Kinley’s cheeks flushed with color.

  Jace tilted his head toward the front of the building. “You don’t think they’ll—”

  Knowing where his thoughts were trailing, Kinley quickly interrupted, putting his mind at ease. “No, not at all. They won’t say anything. Especially Molly.”

  “Isn’t she the one old lady Evelyn Shirley has her sights on?” Jace asked. “Keeps bashing her on Facebook, right?”

  “One and the same! That’s how I know she won’t say a word. She’s been on the ass end of the small-town gossip mill,” Kinley laughed. “She’s newish to town and trying to get herself off Evelyn’s radar. Rumor has it amongst the ladies she and Seth are trying to catch Evelyn at something, so…”

  “Yeah, I remember. Molly moved here a few months after I did. You suppose that’s why they were here? Looking for Evelyn?” Jace questioned. “Did they think the busy body was here for a pole dancing lesson?”

  Kinley laughed out loud, truly amused by the idea. “You do know who Evelyn is, right? Can you really see her here…in this room…with the…poles?”

  Jace shuddered at the wrinkled and droopy thoughts of Evelyn taking a pole for a spin, or doing anything provocative for that matter. “Uh, no…not at all. In fact, with her bunions and arthritis, I’m not sure she could.”

  Kinley’s crooked face of obvious disgust earned an amused chuckle from Jace — but the endearing look he gave her indicated something else. “She stops me all over town asking for medical advice. I keep reminding her I only treat the kids and they don’t tend to have bunions.”

  “She wants to show you her bunions, huh? Can’t say I blame her.” Though joking, there was a breathiness to Kinley’s tone that wasn’t lost on Jace.

  “I’d rather show…someone else.” He pulled Kinley close and helped her straighten her crooked top and skirt before leaning in for a soft, sweet little kiss. “So…”

  “So…” Kinley quickly followed.

  “What’s next? What do people do after in these…situations?”

  Kinley’s eyes locked on his as thoughts of what she would like to do next crossed her mind. She answered as honestly and vaguely as she could. “I don’t know. I’ve never…you know. Done…this.”

  “I guess we make our own rules?” Jace questioned. “I really did have a good time. Wow, that sounded…I’m sorry. I really did enjoy your…”

  Jace shook his head, planting a palm to his face while she laughed. “I’m really bad at this. Like really, really bad. You’re a nice girl. I’d like to see you again if…”

  Bells went off in Kinley’s head like a five-alarm fire. See her again? That would indicate this was a date, or they were planning to date, and that screamed relationship and commitment. No thanks. Kinley couldn’t, and wouldn’t, go there…not even with the good doc. And man was he good.

  “Look. You’re great. Really. But I’m not looking for anything. This was just the alcohol, and…blowing off steam.” Kinley was a damn liar. She couldn’t even look at herself, much less him after that boldfaced lie.

  “Oh, yeah.” Jace stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I get it. I just wasn’t sure what the protocol is for this…type of thing. I mean, you were great! That was fun — thanks?
”

  Awkward didn’t even begin to describe the state they were in. They’d all but high-fived each other for a job well done, and the near insults they were tossing one another in an effort to protect their own pride. Kinley nodded toward the hallway, signaling Jace to follow her out. She looked through the tinted front door window to verify the streets were still as bare as they were upon the couple’s heated arrival. No walk of shame for this duo, or was the walk to the door just that? It certainly felt like it, for them both.

  Kinley closed the door behind her, locking it before turning and walking right into Jace. “Oh!”

  “Sorry. I guess I was a little too close,” he admitted, his arms holding her upright while his stare left goosebumps everywhere his eyes traveled.

  “I thought you left. What…uh…what…?”

  “I’ll see you home. It’s late. That, in there,” he nodded to the studio, “may not have been very…stoic, but I really am a gentleman and would never leave a pretty lady alone on the street in the middle of the night.”

  “So just the ugly ones?” She giggled as he pulled her close.

  “The what?” he questioned.

  “You said you wouldn’t let a pretty lady walk herself home in the middle of the night, so...just the ugly ones?” Kinley paused, waiting for him to get her joke.

  Jace laughed. Kinley’s humor was rearing its head yet again tonight. If she weren’t so guarded, and made it a little easier on him, Jace probably would have a good time getting to know her.

  “Very funny…” Jace extended his arm for her to lead the way. “Let me walk you home?”

  “You aren’t one of those follow her home and sit outside her house every night kind of guys, are you?” Kinley teased. “I’m not going to find dead birds or creepy photos of myself with you photoshopped in laying on my front step, am I?”

  She had no idea why she was stalling or being so playful. She made a deal with herself before she even stepped on the plane back to Pine Valley — no flirting, no dating…no men. Truth be told, if she was in the market for a guy, Jace Detweiler would be her first choice, hands down. But that wasn’t in the cards. Not for her.

  “No, never. I prefer injecting chocolates with all kinds of fun things. Doctor, remember?” Jace winked, trying to keep the banter going. “Needles give you more options.”

  “I love chocolate…” she said in a near whisper, locked in his gaze.

  Jace leaned in, taking a cue from her change in demeanor and humming tone. He gave into temptation and kissed her. Not hard, not raw, not urgent. Just slow, tender, and sweet — she didn’t pull away.

  Maybe that meant something. He wondered what, if anything…

  Chapter 3

  Kinley sat in her car, backed into a parking spot, staring at the entrance to the grocery store, taking in the busy activity around her. Small town USA at its finest — and her own personal hell. Only a week ago, she was in New York, post-surgery physical therapy behind her, excited to receive the all clear from her doctor releasing her back to full activity so she could reprise her role on Broadway.

  But here she was, Pine Valley’s most famous nobody, back to teaching snot-nosed brats barely capable of ring-around-the-rosy, much less a simple ball change, at her sister’s dance academy. Kinley wouldn’t dance again — not the way she was meant to dance — professionally, anyway. Her injury wouldn’t sustain the rigorous abuse a dancer’s body endures — especially on Broadway where the demanding schedule could require up to eight shows a week.

  Her dream had finally been realized, after a lifetime of study and practice, only to be shattered almost as quickly as it had arrived. The real knife to the gut was Kinley’s shattered love life. The production director — also her roommate, best friend, and lover — no longer had use for her the moment Broadway didn’t. A brutal industry, a brutal lesson, and Pine Valley was the snoozefest salt on the proverbial wound.

  A fast life in lights was what Kinley had always desired. It was what she was made for. Sure, Pine Valley and Twinkle Toes Dance Academy didn’t bother her before New York. She actually enjoyed the children and all their awkward two-left-feet shenanigans, before Broadway happened…but that’s when it was just a stepping stone to something bigger. Something grander. Now, it was pure hell. Kinley was better than this. She was a professional dancer with her name in lights only days before. Now her name was on a pole dancing class flyer hanging in Pine Valley General.

  Since her life hadn’t quite spiraled all the way to the bowels of hell, she woke up to a buzzing phone and endless text messages from her sister and friends. As it turned out, her little escapade from the previous night wasn’t so private. It was plastered all over social media. Nosey Evelyn Shirley, town busy body, armed with a loaded Facebook account called #RumorHasIt and no shame whatsoever. Evelyn managed to catch Kinley and Jace in an unflattering state of affairs outside the dance academy as they were saying their goodbyes.

  It seemed her target was Molly and Seth, but Kinley and the doctor were a late-night bonus with her first post tagging the entire town.

  Ex stripper heating things up with steamy windows — newest Pine Valley fireman there to put her fire out, or start it?

  That had to sting. Molly was not a stripper, not even close. She was the new girl in town with a new coffee shop bookstore, Reading Grounds. This couldn’t be helping business. Molly was one of the nicest people Kinley knew.

  Right under Evelyn’s stab at Molly Sexton and Seth Spangler’s escapade, was a nice little picture of the dancer and doc in a lip lock, accompanied with a less than flattering tagline of its own…

  Late night shenanigans around Pine Valley, there must be something in the air… Looks like the doc is checking the dancer’s tonsils.

  Just what Kinley needed. Not only was she the small-town girl who couldn’t seem to stay away and a failed dancer, she was now tagged as the town floozy by a crabby old lady.

  She had a sneaking suspicion her class of tots would be short in attendance for a few days, compliments of #RumorHasIt. It wouldn’t be because she was caught kissing, but because of who she was kissing. The town’s kid doctor, the hot kid doctor, had his own fan club full of flirty, die-hard dance moms. It didn’t matter if the dance moms were married, Kinley the hot doc kisser was now their enemy. It probably didn’t help that she also taught the pole dancing class, given the circumstances.

  Kinley could feel it. Curious eyes were on her while her ears rang from the chatter likely passing between patrons as she sat in her car trying to build up the courage needed to sprint through the market. She had a plan: dash for the yogurt and fresh fruit while dodging the chatty gossip brigade like the live grenade it was.

  She would just have to do her grocery shopping at night, when the sidewalks rolled up for most of the town, and avoid the crowds that way. Only problem, she tried that the night before and found the store was closed and ended up in the bar. The bar ended up being much more fun than yogurt and grapes would have been, given the company — until that not-so-unfortunate sidewalk kissing scene.

  Small town, everyone goes home when the sun goes down — and the stores close. Great for scandalous, late night naughty, not so great for shopping the day after said late night naughty…when you were caught. New York has twenty-four-hour markets on every corner — not Pine Valley. In fact, many shops and businesses were even closed on Sunday. How was she going to make this work, make this place home, when it was the last place she wanted to be?

  One thing she did find appealing about Pine Valley was it was a tourist town. People were in and out of there, sampling its abundant wine, brew, spirits, and cheese culture, never there long enough to settle. Those who did settle, the locals, were mostly families invested in said culture.

  It wasn’t exactly the place you went to fish in a pool of fresh single men. It was actually quite the opposite — the dating pool was fairly dry, and she was one hundred percent okay with that. She left her hopes and dreams on a curtain-pulled stage in New Y
ork, and she left part of her heart there too. Men were as good to her as her washed-up dancing career and bum ankle.

  Jace Detweiler was certainly the exception to the lacking dating pool and he didn’t fit the part about men being anything useful to her. There was something about that man. He was different. She couldn’t say one way or another just why or how he was different, but he was.

  Still shocked by her brash behavior the night before, Kinley found her thoughts wandering there yet again. One-night stands, hookups with strangers, and the like just weren’t her thing. In fact, she couldn’t imagine doing it ever again. Not just because it wasn’t her thing, but more so because she couldn’t get Jace Detweiler off her mind. Kinley could easily be tempted into another round of no-strings-attached naked tango with him. But she couldn’t do it again — wouldn’t — because it would be far too easy to make a really good bad habit out of Doctor Jace Detweiler.

  A loud, clanging crash of twisting metal landed on her ears with a bang, drawing her attention to the front of the market she had been stalking longer than she cared to admit. Wonderful, a fender bender in the parking lot. She shook her head with some misplaced disgust. Who on earth could land in a head-on collision going exactly one mile per hour in a wide-open parking lot?

  Two men jumped out of their respective vehicles, each with an amused smile on their faces, greeting one another with a handshake and a slap to the shoulder. They had a good laugh as they sat on the hoods of their vehicles, assessing the damage and likely shooting the shit while they were at it. Another reminder of where she was: small, simple-thinking, everyone-knows-everyone town where wrecking your car is nothing more than a quick how ya doing reunion that ended in one inviting the other’s family over for dinner and maybe get around to figuring out the whole how are we going to fix the wrecked vehicles conversation.

  To make matters worse, the small crowd forming at the front of the market now included a tall, handsome doctor, straight from Reading Grounds next door, with a pink bakery box and coffee in hand. The looming decision to shop or not shop was quickly made for her. She threw her running car in gear before Jace could see her and stepped on the gas.