by S. E. Rose
“You kids enjoy it. Don’t worry, we wiped down the sink,” she says with a wink as they stroll back to their table.
Di looks at me. “What just happened?”
“I do believe we just busted some senior citizens fucking in a public restroom.”
My body shakes with laughter as I motion for Di to use the bathroom.
She shakes her head. “Oh no, after you.”
“Ladies first.”
“I insist,” she says.
Just as she finishes speaking, the other bathroom door opens and she rushes inside, winking at me as she shuts the door. I roll my eyes and decide if Mrs. Miller cleaned the bathroom, then it’s probably OK to use.
Di’s already back at our table as I leave the bathroom. I see she has our batter and blossoms all set for the fryer.
“Ready?” she asks me with an innocent smile.
“You are in so much trouble,” I grumble.
She laughs. “You snooze, you lose.”
“Whatever, come on, let’s get these bad boys cooked.”
We quickly fry our blossoms and then Chef Scott shows everyone how to arrange them artfully on the plate. Di snaps a few photos of it and we take a selfie with our finished product.
“Great work, everyone! Have a seat at your table, and while you eat your blossoms, Will will bring out the main course we have for you tonight along with a wine pairing.”
I raise my eyebrows. “They feed us, too?”
“Of course, I mean, Bailey wouldn’t just find us a cooking class, it has to be a feed-us class also.”
“How did yours turn out?” Finley asks, turning around.
Di leans forward and we exchange a few with them. “Oh my God, guys, we almost walked in on Mrs. Miller and Mr. Folley in the bathroom,” Di says to them.
Finley looks at her in confusion.
“Together, in the bathroom,” Di expands.
Finley’s eyes widen. “Like, together, together?”
I smirk. “Uh, is there another type of together in a bathroom?”
“Holy shit balls,” Sydney whispers. “And…Ewww?”
“Hell, if I can be as adventurous as they are when I’m in my late seventies, then I’ll be a happy man,” I mutter.
Finley nearly chokes on her squash, and Sydney pats her back.
We all jump into stories of walking in on our family members as the main course is served. It’s a fun evening, and by the end of it, I’m sad that I won’t be joining them again next week.
“That was fun,” Di says as we walk to our cars.
“It was. I have to say, our blossoms were better than Sydney and Finley’s.”
Di giggles. “Teamwork.”
I grin at her like a fool. “Makes the dream work.
“I’ll see you tomorrow?” I say as she unlocks her car.
“Yeah, absolutely.” She pauses before getting into her car and turns back to me. “And thanks for tonight. It was fun.”
“So, cooking might be a new hobby?” I inquire.
She nods. “I think so. I mean, I’ve always loved baking, but I think I might take more cooking classes if they all go as well as the one tonight.”
“Let me know if you do, I’ll sign up. This was…unexpectedly fun.”
“Unexpectedly?” she asks with a raised eyebrow.
“I mean, the cooking. I wasn’t sure if a cooking class would be something I would enjoy. But I did.”
“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow, Julia Child,” she says to me with a smirk as she gets in her car.
“Later, Spidey.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Di
Frank’s supply closet is quickly becoming my favorite place at school. Garrett’s hands are pressed to my back as we kiss. He tastes of coffee and I’ve decided his kisses are better than the caffeine kick that I’m currently giving up to be here with him.
A class of kids is walking by outside the closet, but that doesn’t stop us. Garrett presses me up against the door. Each time we kiss, it gets harder and harder to stop. We have two more weeks to go. We just have to get through Halloween today and then fourteen more days of planning and prepping for this charity event.
Garrett’s thigh presses between mine and I moan into his mouth before pulling away. “We should stop.”
Our chests are heaving as we stare at each other.
He swallows and just that innocent act winds me even tighter. I watch as his Adam’s apple bobs. His five o’clock shadow prominent even in the dimly lit closet. He’s sex personified. How did I stay away from him before? What was I thinking?
I’ve never wanted a guy as bad as I want Garrett right now. My anti-love armor is cracking by the minute. I step to the side, trying to compose myself.
“I should get back to class,” he says, his voice coming out deep and breathy.
I nod as I bite my lower lip. He runs his thumb over it, forcing me to release it.
“I’ll see you at the Halloween party later?” I ask.
“Yes. I should be there by six. My team has a soccer match tonight.”
“Well, hopefully, they win. Tonight’s a big game, isn’t it?”
“Yep. If we win tonight, then we are in a good place for regionals this weekend.”
“Well, best of luck,” I say as I go to open the door, but with my hand on the knob, I feel it turning, and before I know it, the door flies open, and I land on the floor with a thud.
“Oh, shit, I’m super sorry,” Bailey says, looking from Garrett to me and back again.
I glare at her because I know she’s not effing sorry.
“Uh, Caris just left my classroom and she’s heading to yours, Garrett,” she says, giving him a sweet smile.
“Fuck. Thanks, Bailey. You OK?” he mutters as he heads out of the closet, but not before extending a hand to help me up off the floor.
“I’m fine,” I murmur as I brush off my clothes. I’m wearing cat print leggings and a cat top and little cat ears in my hair.
He holds my hand longer than he has to and then turns and walks toward his classroom. I watch his perfectly muscled backside as he leaves. He’s wearing a Superman costume, and let’s just say, Superman has nothing on him. Garrett works out a lot, and it shows.
I glance at Bailey whose mouth is gaping. “Stop ogling Garrett,” I chastise.
She closes her mouth and rolls her eyes. “That’s rich coming from you.”
I really, really want to flick her off right now, but instead, I hold up three fingers. “Read between the lines.”
She presses her lips together and shakes her head, trying to deny the laugh that I know is about to bubble to the surface. When we were kids, it was our go-to way to flick people off because no one could yell at us for holding up three fingers.
“I gotta get back to class. Are you wearing that tonight?” she asks.
I roll my eyes. “No, of course not.”
Bailey knows that next to Valentine’s Day, Halloween is my second favorite holiday, followed closely by Christmas.
“Good, because if you were going to bail on wearing the costume we found, I was going to be super disappointed in you.”
Us girls had gone shopping two weeks ago and I had found the best costume ever. Garrett was going to need to glue his hands to his sides to keep himself from touching me tonight. I may have stopped wanting to only kiss about seven days ago, but my pride is keeping me from telling him that I want more.
Garrett
After a long day of kids jacked up on candy and excitement, followed by a nail-biting soccer match that I thought we were going to lose at least ten times during the first half, I am now on my way to Caris’s house for a massive Halloween party.
I still feel the need to celebrate, even after I joined my team for celebratory pizza after the game. Now, I’m late. It’s Friday, so no need to worry about the time, but I desperately want to get there. Di has been teasing me all week about her outfit. She’s killing me with her taunting. When we made the pa
ct to not do anything, then amended the pact to only kissing, I thought I could contain myself. I mean, it’s for a finite time and I’m a grown-ass adult. But every time I kiss her, my willpower grows weaker. I have resorted to a countdown sticker in the corner of my bathroom mirror. But even that isn’t helping me throttle my libido. I’ve jacked off to thoughts of Di and her incredible body every night for a week. Every time I see her, I have to will my dick to stay down. I’m slowly losing my mind over her, and I’m not even afraid of it anymore. I just want her. End of story.
I have to park down the street as everyone is here. I walk up to Caris’s house. Caris and her husband, Kyle, live in one of the oldest homes in Banneker. The house predates most of the buildings on Main Street. It’s three stories high and sits on a hill a block behind the courthouse in one of the oldest sections of town. There’s a park in the square between it and the courthouse and the old church is across the street along with a graveyard.
I park across from the cemetery and take in the creepy yet perfect location for a Halloween party.
A sign on the door tells me to come on in, and I can hear voices and music from the other side. I enter into a packed foyer. The grand staircase entrance is open to all three floors and has been turned into a dance floor. I say hello to various people some in masks, some not, as I make my way through it into the open floor plan in the back of the house. Caris had redone the entire place when they bought it a decade ago. She’s shown me photos of the renovation, but it’s still hard to imagine it as a bunch of small closed-off rooms.
I grab a beer from a cooler and walk out into the backyard. It’s a cool night, but still warm enough to be outside. A firepit provides additional heat. I’m about to wander inside to find Di when I catch a glimpse of her. She’s standing in front of the outdoor kitchen’s gas fireplace. The flames dance off her skin, and shit is she showing a fucking lot of skin.
She’s dressed as a mermaid. Her shell-like bra is the only thing covering her top half, which seems to glitter in the firelight. And her bottom half is covered by a sheer fitted skirt with a tail on the end of it. She’s sporting a red wig of hair that hangs down covering a good portion of her body. Her makeup accentuates her eyes and fuck me if she doesn’t look like every man’s wet dream.
“Take a picture for the spank bank, it’ll last longer,” Bailey’s voice says in my ear. I jump and turn to find her standing next to me, watching her friend chat with two other fellow teachers, two men, and I guarantee they aren’t looking at her eyes.
“Fuck me, don’t do shit like that, Bailey; you scared the crap out of me.”
“You gonna have a heart attack, old man?” she asks, feigning concern.
I roll my eyes. “Whatever.”
“She looks amazing, doesn’t she?” Bailey says.
“Fuck yeah, she does,” I practically growl.
“Why are you two fighting this?” she asks.
I turn to her. Bailey is dressed as a nurse, and I don’t mean like Nurse Ratched, I mean like…well, she’s showing a lot of skin, too.
“Fighting what?” I say, pretending not to understand her.
She gives me a pointed look. “Don’t play coy, Henley. I know you two have coveted each other since day one. And now you finally have a chance to see where this thing goes. So what if you have to work together for two more weeks on this charity thing. You can’t tell me that you don’t want to tap that.”
I glare at her. Bailey is either the worst friend ever or the best wing woman I’ve ever met, the jury is still out.
“I’ll see you later,” I say, deciding that this conversation should end now before I say something that I regret. I like Bailey, but she also speaks her mind, which is both good and bad, depending on what comes out of it.
I slowly walk over to Diana. She must be covered in glitter because the closer I get, the more I can see how her skin sparkles against the light.
When I reach her side, she looks up at me from beneath fake eyelashes that sit upon blue sparkly painted eyelids. She doesn’t need all that shit because she’s naturally gorgeous, but damn it if this costume doesn’t have my cock perking up in the most uncomfortable way. Meanwhile, I never changed out of my Superman costume and I’m wearing a cup, which makes my erection not ideal.
I grimace and she tilts her head to one side.
“You OK?” she asks, concern in her voice.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I say, glancing over her head at the party to try to get my mind on anything other than her cleavage that is highlighted from her shell bra. “Nice costume,” I add.
She twirls around. “Thanks. Bailey found it.”
I nod. “I’m not surprised. You look amazing.”
She giggles shyly and sips a glass of white wine. “Thanks.”
We stand there in awkward silence, the sexual tension between us thick enough to be cut with a knife.
Her eyes travel down my torso and back up again.
“Hey, Garrett! You made it!” Caris’s voice slices through the electricity-filled air.
I turn to her. “Hi. Thanks for having me. Sorry I’m late. The boys won their game, and I had to do a little post-game celebrating with them.”
“Woot! Woot! Go Bulldogs!” she says, doing a fist pump in the air which just looks wrong, but you got to love her school spirit.
“Yep,” I say.
“Well, you two have fun. I have to go check on the state of the drinks bar.”
She scurries off before I can get another word in edgewise. I turn back to Di. “So, is your family here?”
Di shrugs. “I don’t know. Kent and Tabby were having some friends over at their house. I might stop by later. It’s Ash’s friend’s birthday, so Lanie and Brix went to pick him up from Trevor’s house. Poor Trevor. I think Ash was the only friend who came over to celebrate. At least that’s what Lanie implied.”
I know Trevor. His family is having some rough times right now since his dad got laid off and his mom was in a bad car accident that left her in a wheelchair. Trevor was held back last year, so he’s in Di’s class this year.
“I didn’t remember it was his birthday.”
“Yeah. She said his mom had made him a little cake but it wasn’t very festive over there.”
“It was nice of Ash to go. Trevor could use some good friends.”
“It sucks. Trevor’s little sisters were in the accident too and the one, Heidi, still has some mobility issues.”
“Fuck,” I mutter, feeling like an ass for even thinking my life was complicated.
“Anyhow, enough sad stuff. My parents are probably around here somewhere. C-Dog is most definitely on campus tonight, and I have no clue where Kylie is.”
“Beotches! Who’s ready to par-tay?” Finley yells as she approaches us. Sydney is on her tail and both look like they’ve been “par-taying” for many hours now.
Bailey strolls up behind them.
“OMG! I love your costumes!” Di says.
Finley is dressed like a pirate, a very sexy pirate, and Sydney is Little Bo Peep, also a sexy version.
“Thanks!” Sydney says, giving a little bow. She glances around.
“He’s in the dining room,” Bailey states.
“Who?” she asks innocently, but all of us see through this. It’s not a secret, and was made not a secret to me at happy hour a few months ago, that Sydney has a thing for her boss, Dr. Claiborne, or Miles, as I know him. He’s the town’s pediatrician and altogether good guy. He’s thirtysomething and single, and I swear every mom in town has a massive crush on him. Or at least that was the takeaway after being forced to listen to these four discuss him and his body parts in ways I can never un-hear.
“Sydney, why don’t you just go talk to him?” I ask her because that seems like the obvious thing to do.
Her eyes widen at my suggestion. “Uh, no.”
“Why not?” I ask because I’m clearly missing something.
Di giggles. “First of all, Syd can’t because he’s
her boss, and second, he’s her boss.”
I look at her, well, sort of at her and sort of at her breasts because I can’t help but look at them when they are mocking me by being right in my line of sight. I quickly correct myself and look into her eyes. She’s blushing and that only makes me want to take her to a hidden corner of this garden and kiss the living hell out of her.
“Oh,” I answer because I don’t know what else to say about that. I’m scanning my brain for if there’s a rule about doctors and staff dating, but hell if I know.
“Soooo,” Finley starts, “what are you guys doing tonight?”
“Uh, well, I’m here, at the party, and that’s about it,” I say to her. “I had handed out some candy for like fifteen minutes when I got home, and the boys had a soccer match.”
“Oh right, you coach the boys' team,” Sydney remembers.
“I think I’m heading over to Kent’s in a little bit,” Di says. “You all can join me if you like. I’m sure he won’t care.”
“Will there be baseball players there?” Finley asks with a look of excitement on her face.
Di laughs. “Uh, duh.”
“Well, count me the fuck in, then,” she answers.
“I suppose,” Sydney says, glancing back at the house because Miles is in there still.
“Stay here if you want,” Di says to her.
She shrugs and sips some sort of punch.
Di pulls her phone out of her boob. I shit you not. She reaches in and pulls a whole phone out of one of those shells and starts typing.
“Did you just pull an entire phone out of your bra?” I ask her, partly in awe and partly in horrification.
She finishes typing and looks up at me with a shrug. “Uh, maybe.”
“What else is in those things?” I ask, pointing to her tits.
Her face turns pink, and she bites her lip. “Just me.”
I’m about to make another comment when Bailey, Finley, and Sydney all pull phones out of their boobs too. What the fuck?
“I’m sorry, is there something I don’t know? Like, do all bras suddenly have pockets in them?”
