Tease Me, Baby

by Katie Reus

  Smiling, she unstrapped her seatbelt and moved to the middle of the bench seat. “Well, this O’Connor woman definitely has a thing for you.”

  “Do you care that I told my dad about the food truck idea?”

  “No. I don’t think he’ll spread it around. So, this is probably a dumb question, but is it weird for you if your dad starts dating?” Because as far as she knew, John hadn’t dated since Brad’s mom died of cancer ten years ago. At least according to her aunt.

  “I wish he would. I’ve mentioned it a few times to him, but my dad has always done things his own way.”

  “Can I ask you some personal questions?” She figured if they were going to be intimate—and it was very clear that neither of them were going to stop this crazy train ride until she left a couple weeks from now—she wanted to know everything about him.

  “You can ask anything.” He slid his fingers through hers as they pulled up to a stoplight, and squeezed.

  “Why did you get out of the Marine Corps?” All of her brothers had been in different branches of the military, and each of them had gotten out for different reasons. She was curious about Brad’s but didn’t want to be too pushy. Especially on a topic she knew from experience he might not want to talk about.

  “I’d never planned to be in for life. Being deployed overseas is tough, and it’s a young man’s game. Though game is a shitty word for it. Basically I’d seen enough death, and friends die, and I knew if I didn’t get out when I did, it would change me too much. There’s so much good in the world but it’s hard to see it when you’re stuck in the sandbox. Six years was enough for me. I wanted to get my degree and settle down, move back here and put down roots. What about you? Why didn’t you go to culinary school instead of college?”

  “I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do back then. I love baking and cooking but I guess I never thought I could have a career out of it. It just didn’t occur to me that was possible. And I’m really good with numbers, so getting a business degree seemed like a smart decision. I’m glad I have it because I learned a lot, but I keep going back to food.”

  “This is only partially selfish reasoning, but you already have the culinary skills, plus the business background… Aren’t you tempted to stay here and try to get a future business off the ground?”

  “Yes, I’m very tempted.” More than she wanted to think about. Because she was afraid that this thing blossoming between her and Brad was clouding her judgment. “But I’ve committed to this and I need to follow through. And—” She shut down what she’d been about to say, not wanting to open up too much, to make herself that vulnerable.

  Brad wasn’t going to let it go, however. “And what?”

  She let out a sigh. “This will sound stupid, but I feel like my mom expects it of me. Yes, I’m a grown woman and I live on my own, but I do care what my family thinks. And my brothers are all so accomplished. They’ve all been to war and my parents are so proud of them. I guess I want to feel the same acceptance from them as well. And the thought of starting a business without having more school under my belt scares me.”

  He didn’t respond, just squeezed her hand and lifted it to his mouth, kissing the back of it as they neared the turnoff to her street. The drive had been much quicker than she anticipated. They hadn’t hit many red lights and at this time of night there wasn’t much traffic.

  As he pulled into the driveway of her townhome, she realized she’d never told him where she lived, but she shouldn’t exactly be surprised he knew. He was the sheriff and it was a small enough town. Heck, her mom had probably given him her address.

  By the time she’d unstrapped and picked her purse up, he’d already moved around to the passenger side and had opened her door. A chilly wind rolled over her as she stepped out onto her driveway but the heated look in his eyes burned away some of it. She shoved her hands in her thick peacoat’s pockets even as Brad wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

  “Do you want to come in?” The question seemed like a moot point since she was pretty sure what was happening between them tonight.

  At her front door, he turned and pulled her into his arms, held her close. Regret was in his dark eyes. “I do, but I’m not going to. Not tonight.”

  “You don’t want to finish what we started earlier?” Going by the thick erection pressing against her stomach, she knew he did.

  “I want that more than anything, but I want to do this right.” There was a look in his eyes she couldn’t quite read.

  She wasn’t sure what the heck he meant by that, but she wasn’t going to push him—even if she was disappointed and turned on. “I think you just like teasing me, Brad Fulton.”

  The grin he gave her was wicked. “That, I definitely do. If I don’t talk to you before Tuesday night, I’ll pick you up at seven. I’m taking you on an official date before we cross the next line.”

  Ah, so that was his reasoning. A Boy Scout to the end…and she found she liked it a lot. “I think you need to text me a dirty picture in the meantime, since you’re holding out on me tonight.” Fallon had no idea where the words came from, but as soon as they were out she was glad. She liked flirting with Brad, liked everything about him.

  This man was definitely going to break her heart, and she still didn’t want to stop this.

  Instead of responding, he gave her the most wicked grin before leaning down to kiss her. Nothing intense like the ones they’d shared before, just a brief meeting of lips. But she felt it all the way to her toes.

  With a groan, he pulled back and pressed his forehead to hers. “Go inside before I second-guess myself.”

  She figured if she pushed him she could get him inside, but if he wanted to take her on a date first, she was going to let him. “All right, tease.”

  Chapter 6

  Brad paused as he stepped out of the shower, then he heard it again. His doorbell. He’d had a long day at work and was counting down until his date with Fallon tomorrow night. He wasn’t in the mood to see anyone at the moment.

  And it was rare for anyone to stop by his house unannounced. After quickly drying off, he tugged on a pair of gym shorts and hurried to the front of his house as it rang again.

  A shot of adrenaline punched through him as it occurred to him that maybe it was Fallon surprising him a day early. That would be the best surprise ever. But that hope died as soon as he looked through the peephole. “Holy hell.”

  Since he wasn’t a coward, he opened the door to face Fallon’s three brothers. They all had on loose gym pants and pullover hoodies, looking like a grim-faced death squad. They were all former military like him. He knew all of them in passing and genuinely liked the O’Connor brothers, but he wasn’t close with any of them.

  “Hey, guys. Is everything okay?” Oh, shit. He’d been in the shower—what if he’d missed a call from the station… “Is Fallon okay?”

  “Yeah, she’s fine,” Jackson said. “We just wanted to see if you were up for a round of hockey.”

  Bullshit. They wanted to ask what he was doing with their little sister and this was how they were going to do it. Since he planned to keep Fallon in his life and he was off work, he figured he needed to man up and do this. “Sure. Let me throw on some clothes.”

  Maguire and Nolan didn’t say anything, just watched him with the same blue eyes as Fallon. Only theirs weren’t warm or welcoming. Oh yeah, he was definitely going to get roughed up on the ice.

  Mentally he shrugged. She was worth it.

  He met them on the front porch and locked his door. “Where are we doing this?”

  Jackson clapped him on the shoulder once, squeezed hard. “We reserved the rink at the community center. We can walk there.”

  “Your gear already there?” Because there wasn’t a vehicle in his driveway so they must have walked.

  “Yeah.”

  “All right. Let me grab mine from the garage.”

  “No need.” Maguire gave him a tight grin. “We’ve got enough for you at the rink.”<
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  Okay, then. Talk about awkward. He didn’t have brothers or sisters, but he was still a guy. He could appreciate what they were doing, even if playing hockey with them was the last thing he wanted to do right now. He’d had a long day at work and was ready to crash. “You sure you have enough pads?” Because if this was full-contact hockey, he wanted to get his own.

  “We’ve got enough.”

  That would have to do. I wasn’t like they were going to kill him. Though he hated the idea of using someone else’s pads. He rolled his shoulders once.

  “How’s the furniture business?” he asked Jackson as they reached the sidewalk, looking for any sort of opening. Jackson was making custom pieces for people and had started selling them online, according to Fallon.

  “Good.”

  Nolan and Maguire fell in step with each other, ahead of him and Jackson, practically stalking down the sidewalk toward their intended destination. Apparently they weren’t into small talk, and clearly Jackson didn’t give a shit either.

  “This about Fallon?” he asked Jackson, already convinced it was.

  Jackson gave him a sideways glance, his expression neutral. “This is about some guys playing hockey and blowing off steam.”

  He snorted, but let it go. “This going to be two on two, or are there other players there?”

  “Just us.”

  Aaaand that still wasn’t an answer. Ten minutes later they were at the community center, which was supposed to be closed, hence the almost empty parking lot.

  They all geared up in silence in the men’s locker room—and Maguire and Nolan looked a little too happy to be doing this.

  “This won’t be full contact,” Jackson said, shooting his brothers a dark warning look.

  They were geared up for full contact. For the most part. Brad was wearing a helmet but there was no face guard attached. And he had a feeling they wouldn’t have an issue going for his face.

  As they reached the door to the rink, he said, “Look, I’ve got work tomorrow and I don’t need the little old ladies of Holly gossiping about me, so don’t damage my face.”

  Maguire glanced over his shoulder and grinned. “I think I like you, Fulton.”

  Again, still not the response he was looking for.

  “You’ll be with me,” Jackson said, giving him the same dark grin Maguire had given him moments before.

  Just great.

  * * *

  “Where are the guys?” Fallon strolled into her parents’ kitchen to find her mom pulling a delicious-smelling casserole out of the oven. Chicken parmesan, one of her favorites. She immediately went to the refrigerator and started pulling out the stuff to make a giant salad.

  “What are you wearing?” Her mother frowned as she paused at the oven.

  Fallon looked down at herself as she stepped back from the fridge, a bag of mixed lettuce and spinach in hand. “Uh, clothes?” She had on thick, black knit leggings and a fitted T-shirt that said “I bake because punching people is frowned upon.” Her mother had been the one to give her the shirt, so it wasn’t like she could be offended by it. And she’d left her boots at the front door, so she knew her mom wasn’t mad about her tracking dirt and snow into the house. “Why?”

  Her mom just pursed her lips and turned back to the stove.

  Fallon took a deep breath and reached for the rest of the salad fixings. She adored her mother, but some days it was like all they did was butt heads. She was in way too good of a mood about seeing Brad tomorrow night to let anything bother her right now, however. She would have gone out with him tonight but family night was important to all of them. And she could freaking survive one night without seeing Brad.

  “Why isn’t Nora coming tonight?” She’d received a brief text from Jackson earlier and he’d mentioned that Nora and Sasha couldn’t make it. When she’d asked why she’d gotten radio silence. Which was so typical of her brothers.

  “She’s helping Sasha with a school project. So, you ready for the move?” her mom asked, her back still to her as she started pulling plates down.

  No. “Uh, yes. I found someone to take over my lease here, and next week I’m going to ask the guys to help me pack everything up and store it in the garage. If that’s okay?” She’d never officially asked her parents but they wouldn’t mind. Or she could just rent a storage pod, which would be just as easy.

  “Of course, sweetheart.” Her mom turned away from the stove and slid up next to Fallon as she added bacon bits to the bowl. “Listen, I hope you’re going to this school for the right reasons.”

  She paused. “I thought you wanted me to go.”

  “Well, you’ve seemed so lost lately and I thought it was something you wanted. But don’t go because you think it matters to me or your father. Obviously it matters if it’s what you want, but…we just want you to be happy.” She wrapped an arm around Fallon’s shoulders and squeezed tight. Her familiar Chanel perfume teased the air as she laid her head against Fallon’s. The scent always reminded her of her mom.

  Putting the knife and cucumber on the cutting board, she turned and gave her mom a hug. She hadn’t realized how much she’d needed to hear that. Not because she doubted that her parents wanted her to be happy, but they’d been so excited about her getting into the school. Maybe she was projecting a lot of her own baggage onto her relationship with her mom. Gah, who knew? “Thanks, Mom.”

  As she stepped back she heard the engine of her brother Maguire’s muscle car. Which reminded her… “You never told me why the guys are running so late.”

  “I need to grab a bottle of wine, sweetheart. Be right back.”

  Wait, what? Less than ten seconds later she realized why her mom had ducked out, because the side door to the kitchen opened, and in strolled her brothers—with Brad. She stared in surprise to see him standing there—until she saw the beginnings of a black eye.

  “What did you three do to him?” she demanded, looking at her brothers, none of whom would meet her gaze.

  “Just played a little hockey,” Jackson muttered, still not meeting her gaze. And he was normally the sane one of the bunch.

  “I’m fine. This is nothing.” Brad shrugged, then winced.

  She didn’t care what her siblings thought at that moment because she was close to whaling on all of them. Instead she took Brad’s hand and towed him toward the kitchen doorway. “Come on, let me get a look at you.” She glanced over her shoulder as she was about to step out into the hallway. “You’re all freaking dead,” she whispered at her brothers so her mom wouldn’t hear.

  Her mom clucked her tongue as she stepped back into the kitchen, a bottle of red wine in hand. “Language.”

  “I said freaking,” she growled.

  Her mom shook her head and sniffed haughtily. “It’s just a substitute for the other word.”

  Oh, sweet Lord, she was not doing this right now. Quickly she ushered Brad to the downstairs guest bathroom, which wasn’t very big, but at least they had a first aid kit in the cabinet.

  The room always smelled like cinnamon and vanilla thanks to little tea lights her mom favored. Had since Fallon was a kid. And the scents always reminded her of home.

  “Sit.” She pointed to the toilet seat.

  He did immediately, sitting on the closed lid. He looked huge and out of place in the dainty French-themed room. “It’s fine, really.”

  She sniffed and knew she sounded exactly like her mother, but didn’t care as she gently took his chin in her hand. She turned his head slightly and inspected his eye. She could stare into his espresso-colored eyes all day, but she didn’t want to under these circumstances. “Man, they didn’t hold back.”

  “This was actually my fault. I was too slow on the block. Should have defended myself better.”

  She wanted to ask more questions—like why he needed to even block his face, but she knew he wouldn’t answer her. If he was anything like her brothers, he had a weird guy code about stuff like that. “You’re completely insane,” she mutte
red before kissing him oh so gently. She was afraid to touch him anywhere, but he had no such compunctions because he pulled her onto his lap so that she was sitting across his legs. The feel of all that strength under her sent a shiver down her spine.

  “I don’t want to hurt you.” She pulled her head back from his, watching him worriedly.

  “I just have a few bruises. Nothing’s broken or even cracked. Trust me, I’d know.”

  “I’m going to make them pay later.”

  He laughed under his breath as if the thought was ridiculous.

  “I shaved all their heads once. In Maguire’s case, twice. And their beards. I’ve also put itching powder in their jockstraps and—”

  Brad stared at her with a little shock, but also awe. “Seriously?”

  “You obviously never had any siblings, and yes, seriously. They all deserved it, too. Hey, I’m just a girl. I had to hold my own.” She put on her best innocent expression.

  Which just made him laugh, then wince. “Just a girl,” he snorted. “You could probably take over the world if you wanted.”

  She grinned. “I like the sound of that. So, you’re staying for dinner?”

  “Your brothers invited me… If that’s okay with you?”

  If they’d invited him, that meant they liked him. And approved of him. Dang. One more reason to like him. Not that she needed any more. “I’d like that. You know they probably think we’re together, right?” She had no idea what they’d talked about, but if he was staying for dinner, her family would get ideas.

  “Good. I’m not letting you go, Fallon.”

  Her throat seized at his words. “Brad—”

  “You don’t have to say anything. I’m just laying it out there. I like you. A lot.”

  “I like you a lot too,” she muttered. And that was the crux of the problem. He was screwing up all her plans. She already didn’t want to go to California. But if she made the decision not to go now, it would be like she was staying for a man. Which… Okay she didn’t give a crap what people thought, but still.

  “You look a little like you’re trying to figure out the square root of pi.”