Too Distracting

by Bethany Lopez

  “Fuck, that’s hot,” Dillon managed when he realized I was touching myself, his thrusts going faster, until they became almost erratic.

  “Dillon,” I moaned as pleasure overtook me and I began to convulse around his cock.

  I felt Dillon’s fingertips squeeze me as he thrust one more time and came with a groan, bending over until his chest hit my back, and his lips once more found my neck.

  “You’re amazing,” he said in between gasps for breath.

  Seconds later he stood, helping me to stand as well, then turned me and hugged me to him. I giggled, because we were both still fully clothed, then snuggled in, content in the afterglow.

  “Looks like we need another shower,” Dillon said with a chuckle.

  “Sounds good,” I replied, even though I wouldn’t have minded having the scent of us on me for the rest of the night.

  23

  Dillon

  “In two years, I see Lewis Sporting Goods being a viable threat to the major chains not just in Illinois, but all over the mid-west. In fact if you partner with us, I can promise nationwide success in under ten years.”

  I knew I should be listening, but Brenton Biles was known for droning on and on, and Jasmine and I had already decided not to partner with him and his company. Still, I couldn’t be rude to the guy, and I really should at least pretend to be paying attention, but my focus was elsewhere.

  Across the room, from where Biles and I were drinking scotch and waiting for the dinner hour to begin, I could see Laurel.

  Stunning in her floor-length gold gown, the color somehow made her hair and skin look even more golden. The plunging neckline made my mouth water, even as her proper up do allowed my gaze to feast on her neck. I was toast.

  Borderline obsessed.

  I was here to network. To talk to people like Biles and work on expanding Lewis Sporting Goods until it was, indeed, a household name nationwide.

  But all I wanted to do was look at Laurel in that dress. To feel her pressed against me while we danced. To listen to her laugh right next to me, not see her from across the room. I was finding myself to be selfish where Laurel was concerned.

  I wanted that light, that goodness, all for myself.

  I’d been sharing her all day, and now, I decided, I was done with that.

  “Excuse me,” I told Biles, not bothering to wait for his response before leaving him and heading toward Laurel.

  She was talking to a pretty brunette woman, both of them chatting excitedly like they were old friends, so intent on their conversation that she didn’t see me coming until I was right upon them.

  “Hey,” I said softly, sliding my hand around her back and touching her softly, possessively, as I smiled down at her.

  “Hey,” Laurel replied, her eyes twinkling happily as she turned to me.

  I was pleased when she tilted her face upward, asking me for a hello kiss without saying a word.

  I obliged, briefly brushing her lips softly, and squeezing her lower back with my fingertips.

  “This is Drusilla,” Laurel said, turning back to face the woman she’d been talking to.

  “Dru,” the brunette amended, holding out her hand.

  I shook it firmly and said, “Dillon.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Dru replied, before Laurel cut in excitedly.

  “Dru runs a catering business with her sisters about an hour outside of Cherry Springs. We were just talking about getting together to talk business, maybe collaboration.”

  “That’s great,” I said, smiling at the two women, who were nodding enthusiastically.

  “She just happened to be here with a date, too,” Laurel gushed, placing an arm around my waist as she spoke. “I’m so glad we ran into each other. What are the odds?”

  “Me too,” Dru agreed. “We’ve been in business about a year and a half now, but it’s always great to branch out and make new contacts. And to think, I almost didn’t come. Meeting you makes this boring date worth the trip.”

  I chuckled at Dru’s candor, then turned to Laurel when the dinner bell rang and said, “That’s our cue,” before turning to Dru and saying, “It was nice to meet you. Hopefully we’ll see each other again soon.”

  Laurel let me go to give her newfound friend a hug, then said, “I hope your date gets better.”

  Dru rolled her eyes and said, “I doubt it. Have a good night.”

  We watched as she made her way through the crowd and I winced when she stopped at none other than Brenton Biles.

  Poor woman.

  “Ready?” I asked, and at Laurel’s nod, placed my hand on her lower back and guided her into the dining area.

  Luckily, we weren’t seated with Biles, although I’m sure Laurel would have liked being with Dru. We were seated with three other couples, of various ages, all of whom were strangers to me.

  Next to me was an older woman, I’d guess around seventy. Once I was in my seat, she turned to me with a smile.

  “Well, aren’t you a lovely couple, have you been together long?” she asked, looking pointedly at our bare ring fingers.

  I chuckled and replied, “Actually, yes, we’ve known each other since we were kids, but we only recently began seeing each other.”

  “Don’t dawdle, young man,” she advised, tilting her head toward Laurel. “A beauty like her should be spoken for as soon as possible, or before you know it, some other bloke will turn her head and offer her things you won’t.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” I replied, biting back a chuckle as I heard Laurel hiccup beside me, and knew she was fighting laughter as well. “I’ll do my best.”

  “See that you do,” she said haughtily, then looked around me at Laurel and stated, “Don’t let this one lead you astray, make him put a ring on it.”

  I heard a squeak out of Laurel, and knew she was struggling, so I shifted toward our dinner companion and said, “I promise, I’ll be a perfect gentleman.”

  “Oh, no, dear boy, that’s not what I’m saying at all. Be a rake, for every woman deserves one. All I’m saying, is make sure you’re giving her what she needs, and making an honest woman out of her, like my Roger does for me.”

  I looked around her to the small, balding man next to her, who was trying to butter his bread and not listening to a word his wife was saying.

  “How do they say it?” she asked, pulling my attention back to her. “Be a freak in the sheets, but a gentleman on the streets.”

  “Something like that,” I managed to say, hoping I masked Laurel’s bark of laughter.

  24

  Laurel

  It had been a wonderful day, followed by an amazing night, and topped off with fabulous sex.

  Honestly, I couldn’t have stopped smiling if someone paid me.

  I was lying in bed with Dillon, again, snuggled up against him, again, and I was the happiest I’d ever been.

  I closed my eyes, savoring the feel of his fingers caressing my back, and his bare skin against my cheek. Dinner had been delicious and I’d actually really liked the ballet, even though I had to nudge Dillon a few times when he started to nod off.

  “Did you have fun tonight?” I asked him softly, not a hundred percent sure he hadn’t drifted off.

  “Yeah,” he replied, his tone somewhat drowsy. “Doris and Roger were a hoot. Could’ve done without the ballet though.”

  I chuckled and lifted my head to look at him.

  “It wasn’t so bad,” I said, but he just made a face, so I laughed and put my head back down.

  Because we were in this new place, no longer fighting, and Dillon obviously no longer thought of me as a younger sister, I felt safe and wanted to share. So, I said, “The last time I went to the ballet, it didn’t go so well…”

  “What happened?”

  My stomach began to tighten at the memory, but I took a cleansing breath, then replied, “Well, first, after I’d spent an hour getting ready, Travis told me I looked fat in my dress and needed to change, but the next dress was too slutty, so I
ended up wearing slacks and a long-sleeved shirt. Then, while we were at the ballet, Travis complained the whole time about how boring it was … I mean, not just voicing his displeasure, but saying repeatedly, and loudly, how stupid it was. For the entire show. Afterwards, he told me I was never picking what we did on date night again, because obviously I was too stupid to do it right.”

  I felt Dillon stiffen beneath me.

  “Jesus,” he said, then added, “Laurel…”

  But I cut him off and said, “You asked me before what happened in Houston, and why I came back home. Well, I’d gotten pretty used to Travis and his comments. If someone tells you often enough that you’re worthless and can’t do anything right, you start to believe them. It got so bad that I wouldn’t even listen to Jazzy when she tried to tell me he was an asshole and I should leave him. My parents loved him, and he said he loved me … I thought I loved him too, for a while. Then one day I checked my savings to see if I could afford a down payment on a cute space that had just opened up downtown, and it was gone. All of it … all the money I’d saved for years to open my business.”

  “He took it,” Dillon guessed, and I nodded against his chest.

  “Gambled it all,” I stated, trying to tamp down the rage I felt just thinking about it. “All that hard work, gone, and for what? Absolutely nothing. The only good thing about it was that I finally opened my eyes and started to remember the woman I used to be, and I left.”

  I laughed humorously.

  “Of course, I wasn’t home five minutes before my parents demanded I go back to him. Luckily, even though I hadn’t treated her right, Jazzy was right there to pick me up when I needed it.”

  “Of course she was,” Dillon said, giving me a squeeze. “You and Jazz have been best friends forever, and there’s nothing you could do to ever lose her. She’s the most loyal person I know.”

  “She is the best,” I agreed, then felt my blood turn cold. “Although, I don’t think she’d be happy if she knew about this.”

  I tapped his chest with my finger to drive home my point.

  “She doesn’t have to know,” Dillon said quickly, and my heart sank at the knowledge that I was right. Jasmine wouldn’t be happy about Dillon and I sleeping together, and he knew it. And what he said next made my foolish heart crack right down the middle, “It’s just for the weekend, right … And, we’re both adults. We can be around each other without letting on what happened between us.”

  “That’s true,” I managed, hoping he didn’t notice that my voice was somewhat strangled.

  I was the one who came up with this plan, so I can’t be disappointed that after having a weekend with me, Dillon won’t throw our agreement out and ask me to be with him for real, right?

  That’s what I was trying to convince myself of, but still, it hurt that he wasn’t as caught up in us as I was.

  “I’m happy you have her, and that she was there when you needed someone,” Dillon said, and although I felt relief that he didn’t notice my sadness at his words, I found it frustrating that he was able to brush past it so quickly.

  “Yeah,” was my unenthusiastic reply.

  “That Travis guy was an asshole, and I hate to say it, but your parents are assholes, too. You’re an amazing person, Laurel. Sweet, smart, sexy as hell … and you deserve to be treated with respect and reverence.”

  My heart swelled, the crack healed by his words, even as I wished fervently that I could keep him.

  “Thanks, Dillon,” I replied softly.

  My throat thickened when I felt his lips touch the top of my head.

  25

  Dillon

  It always felt great to come home.

  I’d dropped Laurel off at her place, with a hug and a thank you for her companionship over the weekend, and everything else.

  I felt good about where we were now. No longer childhood enemies, but grown adults who would hopefully be friends, although I had to admit, I’d miss the way she’d looked up at me when we were together. Like I was someone special.

  Still, I was pleased that she’d made the bargain about our weekend together, then kept it without any drama or upset. Laurel really had meant it when she’d said there’d be no strings attached.

  The only question was, why had it been so hard to leave her? I looked back into my rearview mirror, watching her get smaller as I drove away, and found myself wanting to turn around and go back.

  Now, as I took my bag into my house, I let loose a happy sigh to be home.

  A few years ago, I’d moved back into the house I’d grown up in. I’d always loved the large rooms, wraparound porch, and the feeling I always got when I walked inside. It was home, and luckily, I’d never have to leave.

  When my parents had decided to downgrade and move into something more suitable for the two of them, and Jasmine had said there was no way she wanted to have to live in, and take care of, a house this size, and the land is sat on, I’d eagerly jumped at the chance to take it.

  Sure, it was way too big for just one man, but I didn’t plan to be single forever. No, I’d always imagined filling these walls with the laughter of my children. To have a family grow here just as I had.

  I’d never had a vision of who my wife would be, but now, I could picture coming home to Laurel every night. How great would that be?

  Shaking that thought off, I looked around the clean and welcoming, country-style décor and felt completely content. Just then, the tell-tale sound of nails on wood hit my ears and I dropped my bags and crouched to the floor to greet the family that I’d already started.

  I braced and grinned as Copper and Penny, my golden retrievers came bounding around the corner.

  “Hey, guys,” I said, rubbing them each down as they nudged me happily with their noses.

  I had a woman, May, who came by to clean the house every other day, and she and her son looked after my dogs when I was away. Which lately had been much too often. I hated leaving them alone, but May’s son was eleven, and they loved getting the chance to play with him.

  “Did you miss me?” I asked, laughing when they almost succeeded in knocking me over.

  My phone beeped, indicating a text, so I pulled it out of my pocket and checked the screen.

  Home?

  It was from Reardon, so I texted back, yes, then stood and grabbed my bags to take them up to my bedroom. As I was walking up the stairs, he replied,

  On my way.

  It wasn’t unusual for Reardon to stop by, or for me to go to his and Chloe’s, so I put my phone back into my pocket without replying and kept on to my room.

  After fifteen minutes, I’d unpacked, put everything where it belonged, changed into basketball shorts and a T-shirt, and was jogging down the stairs. The dogs started barking as I hit the last step and I knew Reardon had arrived.

  Seconds later, the door flew open and Reardon dropped to greet the dogs just like I had.

  “How was your trip?” he asked, not bothering to look up.

  “It went really well, actually,” I replied. “How’s everything back here?”

  “Same old,” was Reardon’s reply. “Although, I did get Chloe to agree to make the bridal/saby shower she was having co-ed.” He looked up then, his face conveying his excitement. “It’s Star Wars themed.”

  I chuckled, not surprised in the least.

  “So, no bachelor party then?”

  “Nah,” Reardon said with a shrug as he stood to his full height. “I don’t need anything like that. Friends, family, and Star Wars sounds perfect to me.”

  “Anything I need to coordinate?” I asked. I was Reardon’s Best Man.

  He’d been Gabe’s, and Gabe would be mine. This was something we’d agreed on when we were twelve years old.

  “Ah, I’m not sure, you can check with Zoey … or Laurel, I guess, since we’ve hired her to do the actual planning.”

  I must have paused, made a face, or jerked at Laurel’s name, because Reardon’s eyes immediately narrowed on me.
/>   “What was that?” he asked.

  I walked past him as nonchalantly as possible and went into the kitchen.

  “What?” I asked when he joined me as I got two beers out of the fridge, popping the tops and offering one to him.

  “That thing when I mentioned Laurel’s name,” Reardon said, then asked, “Did something happen in Chicago?”

  “There,” he said before I could reply, “You did it again.”

  “I’m not doing anything,” I said, shrugging then taking a pull from my bottle. “Chicago was good. I made a lot of contacts, and she did too. It worked out for both of us.”

  “You slept with her,” he stated, causing me to put my bottle down on the counter a little too hard and gawk at him.

  “What?”

  “You did, you totally slept with her. I can’t believe it. Huh, Laurel,” Reardon said, shaking his head with wonder. “I guess Serena was right…”

  My head was reeling. How the hell? I mean, sure, Reardon was a lawyer, so he was intuitive and good at reading people, but was he a freaking mind reader?

  “Wait, what? Serena?” I asked, his last statement confusing me.

  “The night Gabe and Zoey had Evie, Serena said how she thought that you’d be the first of us to have kids, not Gabe, and when I asked why, she said because she’d figured you and Laurel would realize you’d been in love with each other all these years and settled down to have lots of babies. When she said it, I thought she was certifiable, but, now … maybe not?”

  “What?” I asked again, and although I realized that’s basically all I’d said for the last few minutes, I was having a hard time finding words. When I finally did I said, “I haven’t been in love with Laurel, are you saying she’s been in love with me?”

  “Beats me, man, you’d have to ask her … or Serena,” he said, then looked at me and asked, “How the hell did this happen, anyway? I thought you could barely stand being around her. That you’re still pissed at her for her pranks as a kid.”