“Yeah, I’m going to go with that. This is all your fault.” Looking between us, Winnie’s chest heaved and her small breasts lifted in the cups of her very sheer, very red, very fitted bra. I liked it more than I should at the moment by the evidence between us.
Pumpkin decided he wanted in on the action and came over to lick the side of Winnie’s ribs, tickling her and forcing her to collapse over me, her arms hugging my head and her breasts...fuck, those delicious globes were smashed against my face and the term motor-boating suddenly held a lot of appeal. Luckily, my brain kicked the twelve-year-old in my head to the curb quickly.
“Ahh!” Winnie and I rolled, me trying to keep the dogs away from her, but I only managed to tangle us up more.
“Whoa!”
They bombarded us, and we squirmed to get up from the fray, licked and messy. Winnie’s hair was a dark tangled mess and her lips pouting.
“I should probably get dressed.”
“Probably.” I swallowed back the other thoughts swirling in my head, the term down boy repeated over and over.
“So we can go to the barbeque. You know, because you promised me meat.”
“Yes, I did.” Did I? Right, because she means actual food.
“Uh huh.”
“Right, I’m getting pretty hungry.” Winnie shuddered and her skin prickled with goosebumps. It was then I saw our roll had dislodged one pretty pink nipple from the lace cup of her bra. “Uhh…Win?” I wasn’t sure what to say or do but there was no ignoring it now as her breast proudly hung out.
“What?”
I looked down, trying to give her privacy and shrugged. Disgruntled was a start at describing her new expression.
“Argh! Damn it! I’ll bet you are.” She cupped her breasts, covering and arranging them back into place as her hips wiggled over my lap cruelly. Her voice sounded as strained as I felt. We weren’t talking about the barbeque at all.
Clearing my throat, I watched a pink flush cover her. “I’ll, uh, stay here with the dogs while you go and…” I twirled my finger at her, looking away. “Do that,” I finished. We continued to stare at each other for what felt like a minute, but could have only been a few seconds.
“Chase, you’ll have to let me go.” It was only a whisper, but it broke through the beating of my heart, which was loud and obnoxious in the silence of the house now that the dogs had stopped barking.
“Huh?” I followed Winnie’s glance down and realized my one hand had never left her waist from when I grabbed her in the tumble. Funny, I didn’t remember grabbing her there. I was securing her so she didn’t hurt herself. It was like an old automatic football roll I’d practiced years before my injury. My knee was smarting, but the sting felt worth it if I was touching her now. “Yeah. Go on.” My fingers lingered, rubbing the skin trailing up to the bottom of her ribcage, fascinated by how delicate the skin was over her muscles and bones.
“I’ll be right back.” Winnie grabbed the dress, which had fallen to the floor in the tangle, and used it to cover her front side as she walked backward to what I assumed was her bedroom. She bumped the wall and with a smile turned, giving me one last glance at her perfect heart-shaped ass before closing the door.
“Hurry back,” I whispered to no one in particular. The dogs were lolling their tongues and wagging their tails. Roswell, though, the little terror had found a couch pillow and was humping the shit out of it. Thinking about the gentle slope of curves on Winnie’s body had me thinking similar thoughts. “I wish, buddy…damn, do I ever.”
Seven
WINNIE
Sliding down to my ass behind the closed door, I let my head sink between my knees to gather a steadying breath. Holy crap! Today was not going at all according to how I envisioned it might. A casual date, if we could even call it that, and now he’d seen me pretty much naked. I was mortified…and if I was being completely honest a little turned on by the whole ordeal. A tentative smile eased across my face as I recalled Chase’s hard, hot body underneath mine and the thick ridge in his cargo shorts pressing against my lace clad lady bits. It was…divine. I was still pissed the little dog betrayed me in the first place stealing my dress and being a huge pervert, but now I knew Chase was totally into me or at least my body. Right now, I could live with that.
Nervous energy filled me as I carefully got up to assess any possible bruises and to actually get dressed. A peek in the bathroom had me frantic to fix my hair, reapply my makeup, and give myself a spritz of perfume that left me less doggy and more human. A record breaking five minutes later, and I was slipping out of my room, adjusting the contents of my small clutch with my phone and lipstick.
“Ready?” Chase smiled at me when I emerged from the bedroom. I was flushed with embarrassment, but there was nothing that could be done about that now. I tried to equate it to that one weekend filled with ecstasy and too much alcohol where I had danced for nearly forty-eight hours across the Texas border to Mexico. This was definitely better.
“Yes, finally.” Huffing out a huge breath, I took a step forward, checking my clutch purse for a moment.
“Wait a second.”
“What?” I turned, and Chase stood there looking odd yet grinning at the same time.
“This isn’t like, completely awkward now, is it?”
I wasn’t sure how to respond because while I did have that one drug induced spree of exhibitionism this was different.
“Should we talk about what happened?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t want you to feel weird the rest of the day…because you shouldn’t. You look great and…” Now it’s gotten awkward.
“Okay…” I stepped up to Chase and put my hand on his T-shirt covered chest, tapping him lightly to appease him and whatever odd prince charming male ego thing was going on. “It’s a boob, not the end of the world. As long as you don’t start thinking it’s going to happen every time you come over, I think I can get over it.”
“What about if we even things up?” he asked with a smirk, tugging the corners of his face upward. If his eyes could have sparkled, I was sure he would have blinded me.
I gave him a playful tapping punch to the stomach, which was rock hard, making me wonder what was under all that organic looking cotton. “I think we’re a little beyond tit…for tat, don’t you?”
He stepped back and pulled his shirt off one-handed by grabbing the back of it and tugging it up and over his head slowly. I felt like I was having a Fifty Shades of Grey moment when Ana wakes up in the hotel bloody hung over. Hormones, desire, whatever the hell it was surged through me, infusing my body with heat and the inability to speak. All the circuits in my brain fried at once, overloading my sensory receptors. Now I was staring open-mouthed, internally twitching and completely helpless. Who knew small towns harbored a hotbed of sexy pet doctors?
“Oh, okay. Sure, we’re even now.” Swallowing back any other comment, I turned quickly, almost tripping to get my ass to the door. I was about to open it when I felt Chase put his hand on the small of my back tentatively. I froze when he leaned in, his shirtless back, skin hot to touch now flush with mine. His voice whispered softly.
“Great, cause I feel less awkward now.” Knowing he couldn’t see me, I let the smile I’d been biting back come forth into a huge shit-eating grin. I liked this guy.
I coughed back a reply. “Put your damn shirt on and let’s go.”
He sidestepped from me and when I turned back to open the door, he’d already covered his beautiful chest. I shook my head and waited for him to exit my aunt’s house.
Before locking up, I peeked inside to see the three criminal culprits lined up watching us, those damn tails wagging back and forth.
“You!” Pointing a keyed finger at Roswell, I jabbed the air. “We can always have you neutered, buddy.” The little dog growled, snapping his jaws, and I slammed the door shut.
“A little drastic, don’t you think, Miss Gray?” Chase opened his car door
for me to get in.
Sliding down into the leather seating of his sporty Mercedes, I adjusted my clutch purse in my lap and slipped on my sunglasses before responding red-faced and cheeky. “Dr. Calloway, you should know I’ll clip the balls of any male who tries to get fresh with me.”
He laughed a full bodied sound as he pulled out of my aunt’s driveway. “Duly noted.” Taking off, he headed across town, and I peeked up to see him as red-faced as me. Good, I had decided then that we were truly even, and I was glad we were both a little embarrassed because I was pretty sure my nipples could cut glass the rest of the afternoon.
Eight
CHASE
I was still in shock I’d been given an accidental showing of what Winnie was hiding under her yoga pants and snarky attitude. I told her to play with the radio in the car while we made the short drive to my parents’ house across town. She chose a poplar station and her little foot tapped lightly in beat with the music playing, some Katy Tiz song, The Big Bang or something. I had heard it before played on the local college radio station. It was catchy, setting the mood down a dark path we’d just veered from moments earlier. I couldn’t help myself, but I found my fingers tapping the steering wheel as we settled into a comfortable silence. Well, maybe comfortable for her because my dick was currently smashed up against my leg inside my shorts and it would have been inappropriate of me to grab my junk and start rearranging the furniture while she was in the car. I had a good fifteen minutes to go before we would be bombarded by my family. That should have deflated my desire quickly, but it didn’t with her cute pink toenails making her sandal flip back and forth.
Would it be my mother who made the day even more awkward as hell?
My sister?
Or would they try to divide and conquer us, ruining any chance I might have with Winnie?
“You’re awfully quiet. Do I need to be prepared for anything at this BBQ?”
I glanced to see Winnie smirking from behind her overlarge rhinestone studded sunglasses.
“You have experience with these things?” And I was struck wanting to get to know her much more thoroughly before we got there. I wondered if she would notice me making a detour through my old neighborhood to stretch the time out. For all I knew she visited Helen regularly and knew my hometown better than I did.
“A little. I know how parents can be a tad…overbearing.” Her shoulders shrugged and her smile faltered. I wanted to bring that sunny smile back.
“How about siblings? ‘Cause I’ve got a baby sister who is a royal pain in the ass.”
She wasn’t smiling now and instead seemed to be inspecting her pink nails with deep interest. “I’m an only child of two parents who can’t seem to get their relationship…together.”
Now I was curious because that definitely sounded like a story I wanted to hear.
“Aren’t we all?” I grabbed her hand and held it in mine, thinking about how my parents’ relationship evolved over the last decade, Mom’s dedication to her career and Dad’s intensity for football. It didn’t leave much room for my sister and me to follow our passions, at least not initially.
“Okay, so should I be prepared for an inquisition of sorts?”
Did she ever, but I wasn’t going to tell her that.
“I did mention my sister, right?”
Winnie giggled. “Do we need to have our story straight?”
“I think we can be more relaxed than that. I promise not to leave you in their clutches.” Because God only knew what my sister and her foul mouth might say.
“And miss out on some potential blackmail stories about you? Chase Calloway, you are on your own here.” She winked mischievously, and we were back to laughing and ribbing each other, which was good because I’d pulled into the circular driveway of my childhood home. A ton of good memories came from here despite anything else that happened. I parked behind my sister’s car and opened Winnie’s door.
“Chaser is here!” Turning away from my date, Damien Hart, my neighbor growing up, and his cousin Hunter Hart walked over, clapping me on the back in greeting. We’d all played football together from the time I knew them. Our street had a long history of my dad recruiting all the boys to play football and coaching us throughout high school.
“Well, if it isn’t Heartbreaker and Q.” I nodded when they let me go. “This is Winnie.” I introduced her to the guys, noticing that my sister was blissfully missing for the moment.
“Pleasure.” Damien grabbed Winnie and pulled her in for a surprise hug that made my blood boil. There was a reason he was called Heartbreaker, but he didn’t need to be anywhere near my date. Poor Winnie, taken unexpectedly, held her arms out stiff while Damien bear hugged her, chatting away. There was always that one friend who made everything sexual and when it wasn’t my sister, it was Damien.
“Dude, enough, go find your own.” Hunter thankfully, pulled his cousin off her before I gave in to temptation and ripped his arms off his body. I was still older than both of them and willing to kick some ass like a teenage Neanderthal if necessary.
“Uh, nice to meet you both.”
Grunting, I pulled Winnie back and tucker her under my arm protectively whether she was into that or not. Damien was being a dick, which meant Kristen probably invited her on-again, off-again cop from town she dated.
“Hands off, Hart,” I grumbled, feeling a sharp little fingernail poking me in the side. Looking down, Winnie frowned at me, and I squeezed her against me until she shook her head, smirking.
“We all used to be neighbors,” Hunter explained, pointing to the house next door. The Harts owned a family construction business and their house was constantly being added to and changed when Mrs. Hart got an idea in her head. I was pretty sure my sister had helped her decorate half the house at this point.
“That must have been fun growing up,” Winnie said, and the guys nodded as we made small talk, and Taylor Jane walked over, joining us. Still no Kristen, but I was holding out hope she really hadn’t invited Evan the cop.
“Hi, I’m Taylor Jane. I’m the other neighbor.” Taylor Jane Bryant was sweet and bubbly, introducing herself clutching Winnie’s hand and pulling her from under my arm for a moment. She was the ying to my sister’s yang and her best friend since kindergarten. I loved Taylor like she was my own sister.
“Yup, and this one is mine.” Hunter pulled Taylor Jane into his side, kissing her forehead. Damien rolled his eyes, and Hunter punched him hard in the arm. “Get over it, man.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m grabbing a beer.” Damien jogged off, probably to go shoot the shit with my dad and a stab of jealousy for one of my closest friends hit me unexpectedly.
“You know, I think your mom needs some help. Why don’t us girls go get some sangria and meet you boys back out here in a few?”
“Uhh…” Everyone looked at me, and I looked at Winnie, trying to gauge how she felt about that.
“It’s okay, I’ll be right back. Go do some boy things.” Winnie patted my chest and sashayed off with Taylor Jane, leaving me.
“You look like you could use one of these.” Hunter handed me a locally brewed beer, and we sat down near the custom fire pit we’d all worked together on some years back. The rocks had seemed so much bigger back then and the years had quickly passed us by.
“Thanks.” I nodded, tipping the beer in Hunter’s direction. “So…you and TJ. That took what? Fifteen years?” Hunter shot me a look crossed between annoyance and a smile.
“Shut up, man. It was worth the wait.”
“I’m just riding you. She’s a good one, and you deserve to be happy.”
Hunter grunted, acknowledging the truth, and I realized how out of touch I’d been with my friends lately. His own childhood was pretty fucked up, but that was his story to tell. I was glad he found something peaceful with Taylor Jane, who had her own heartbreaks growing up. It was like they were made for each other and soothed the other’s injured parts with ease. That??
?s how relationships should be or at least I thought so.
Shouting had us all drawing our eyes from the fire pit to the yard. “God, you’re such an asshole!” And that was Kristen. I could tell Hunter was going to ask about me showing up with Winnie, but we were interrupted by Damien and Kristen fighting as usual. Yeah, I didn’t picture relationships like that, but those two were definitely a hot mess of oil and water or some combustible combination. We shook our heads and got up to intervene before my mother came outside to see what was ruining her Fourth of July BBQ.
“Oh yeah, well you’re a hot-headed bitch sometimes!” Whoa, now Damien was getting on my nerves calling Kristen names.
“What did you call me, unicorn dick?”
Yeah, this was headed downhill super quickly and maybe Kristen did deserve the hot-headed part. Hunter and I looked at each other, silently saying, “You get that one, I got this one,” and made to grab our respective relatives before they could jump each other, claws out and scratching.
“Argh!” Kristen went full psycho in my arms.
“Calm down!” I told her, but it fell on deaf ears.
“Dude, we don’t talk to women like that.” Hunter reminded his cousin.
“She’s not a woman, she’s a hell-beast!” Damien yelled, half struggling in Hunter’s grasp. God only knew what set these two off this time.
“Tell me how you really feel, pig-fucker!” Kristen just kept going, and I was partially afraid she was going to hit me with her flailing arms.
“I’m not the one fucking a cop!” Damien yelled. Jesus, he really was caught up on Kristen seeing Evan right now. This was bad. Real bad.
“Cool your jets! Both of you! I’m tired of two of my best friends acting like idiots!” Taylor Jane picked up the garden hose and aimed true.
“Arrrgh!” She shot each of us full blast with cold water until they stopped fighting, either too exhausted or too wet to keep going any longer. Unfortunately, both Hunter and I ended up as casualties.
“Done?” she asked, squirting us all again for good measure. Damien held his hands up and stalked off, ripping his T-shirt off that was clinging to his body.