by Cassia Leo
The hostess invited us to sit wherever we’d like and we quickly found the long table where three of my oldest buddies were seated. I had never been more nervous about hanging out with my friends and a date. Of course, Brina wasn’t really my date. That’s what made me so nervous. I’d have to be on my guard all fucking night to keep these hounds off of her.
I couldn’t really tell them the true nature of my relationship with Brina. They’d laugh at the idea of our thirty-day friendship experiment, or they’d purposely try to fuck it up. They could be bastards sometimes.
“What’s up, loser?” Charlie said as we took a seat at the table.
“Nothing much, fuck-face,” I replied.
Brina sat across from me, next to Jim, and I sat next to Enrique and Charlie.
“Luke, not in front of the lady,” Jim said, nodding toward Brina.
She rolled her eyes. “I can out-curse Luke any day,” she said as the waitress showed up with five steins of beer.
Jim raised his eyebrows, looking impressed as he distributed the glasses around the table. “Well, then, I guess you’ll have no problem keeping up with us tonight,” he said as he pushed the enormous glass of beer in front of Brina.
Brina stared wide-eyed at the stein, which was almost as wide as her head and so tall the rim nearly hit her nose.
“You don’t have to drink all of it,” I said.
“Where are your manners, Luke? At least get the girl something to eat before you attempt to drown her in booze,” Charlie chimed in.
Charlie had been my best friend since grade school. He used to sneak me in through his bedroom window sometimes when I was homeless and couldn’t find a public restroom to escape the relentless Seattle rain. He had a good heart, but he was a lawyer now, and the guy knew how to make his case with the ladies. Of all the guys seated at this table, he was the one who made me the most nervous.
Charlie liked to cut to the chase. He’d been married and divorced twice and he was only twenty-nine. Both of his ex-wives could have passed for Playboy models. Brina was definitely his type.
I hadn’t told him anything about Brina yet, because our relationship had started and ended so quickly six weeks ago. As far as he knew, Brina really was just a friendly colleague and, therefore, fair game. If I told him about my arrangement with Brina, he’d tell me to stop hesitating and dive in headfirst. But I didn’t want to rush things with her. She was the kind of girl I could see myself marrying, and I didn’t want to jeopardize that just to satisfy this intense sexual craving. There was more to our relationship than that, and I was determined to prove it.
I stared at her from across the table, and she stared right back at me as if she knew what I was thinking. Fuck. This was going to be hard.
Two hours later, Brina had tossed back one and a half steins and politely refused the brat Charlie had ordered for her. Considering she was pretty plastered, I was impressed with how well she was handling herself.
“I think it’s time to cut you off,” I said after she accidentally knocked over a Jägermeister shooter.
She plucked a bunch of napkins off the table and attempted to mop up the liquid, but she only managed to make a sloppy mess all over the wooden surface.
“I’m fine,” she slurred, though her features were slack and the whites of her eyes were pink.
She still had to drive home from my house, and it was only five o’clock.
“You’re not fine. You need to rest.”
Charlie clinked his stein against the one sitting on the table in front of Brina. “She’s fine. Let’s get her another Jäger shot.”
“Fuck off, man.” I didn’t want to fight Charlie, but I wouldn’t hesitate to clock him if he didn’t back off. I set a couple of hundred-dollar bills on the table and slipped my wallet back into my back pocket. “Come on, Brina.”
“I’m not ready to go,” she whined. “I’m having fun with Enrique.” She turned to Enrique, who was the most quiet of all of us, and he appeared somewhat frightened by the attention. “What happened to you on that trip to Arizona?”
Enrique glanced at me questioningly, and I knew it was time for some tough love.
“Come on, Brina,” I said as I stood up and rounded the table toward her. “Tomorrow’s Sunday, and I’m sure you have to go to church and confess.”
“I don’t go to church,” she explained. “Please, I don’t want to go.”
I placed my hands on her waist and lifted her up off the seat. “It’s time to go.”
I slid my arm around her waist and helped her up.
“Sorry, guys,” she slurred. “I guess I’m being kidnapped. Pray for me.”
Logically, I knew she wasn’t trying to flirt, but the testosterone-fueled side of me couldn’t help but clench my fists when I saw Charlie eyeballing her as she slid out of her chair. I could feel my nostrils flaring, and I took a deep breath to calm myself. I had to remember not to bring her around my friends for the next thirty days.
I grabbed her arm and nodded at my buddies before I guided her toward the bar entrance. The hostess flashed me a coy smile as I passed her, and I gave her a friendly nod. I had to get the hell out of here. Taking Brina out was like walking through a minefield. We had to stick to safe places from here on out.
A half-hour later, I opened the front door, and Brina stumbled into my foyer.
“I love your house!” she said way louder than necessary. “It’s soooooooo high tech.”
I locked the door and set the alarm. It was only five-thirty, so it was still light outside, but there was no way I was letting her drive home tonight.
“Come on,” I said, slipping my arm around her waist to keep her from falling over. “You can sleep it off in my bed.”
She stepped in front of me and clumsily reached for my face. “I want to do it.”
“Yeah…as tempting an offer as that is, I’m going to have to pass on seducing the drunk girl.”
Her hand slid down my chest and landed on my crotch. I pulled her hand away instantly before she could feel me getting hard.
“Whoa, there. You need some rest.” I dragged her by the arm toward the bedroom.
“I want to have sex,” she pouted. “Don’t you want me? Don’t you love me?”
I sat her on the bed and knelt on the floor to take off her sneakers.
There was no use reasoning with a drunk person, but a small part of me wondered just how drunk she really was. I tossed her shoes aside and lifted her legs onto the bed. She lay down, and I yanked the comforter out from underneath her before I pulled it up to her chin.
“Don’t leave me,” she pleaded. “Please, just lay next to me. Please don’t leave.”
She lay on her side and closed her eyes. I knew I could probably just leave her there and she’d fall asleep, never knowing whether I’d stayed with her. But I had to make sure she didn’t sleep on her back, and I just couldn’t resist.
I kicked off my shoes and slid in behind her. She immediately turned around to face me and I flinched at the sweet smell of the Jäger on her breath. She wrapped her arm around my waist, awkwardly nestled her head into the crook of my neck, and that was it. I lay back so she could properly use my chest as a pillow.
“I was going to throw that phone in the water fountain,” she murmured against my neck. “I should have stuck it up Milo’s ass. He probably would have liked that,” she added with a soft snort.
I kissed the top of her head and stroked her hair. “Shh. Go to sleep,” I whispered, and before long she was snoring lightly.
Yes, I do love you, I thought. More than anything.
Chapter 3
Brina
I woke with a serious case of cottonmouth and a headache the size of Seattle, but the scent of Luke’s t-shirt grounded me, and I quickly remembered where I was and what had happened. Luke’s bedroom was still a hazy black, so it was either very late in the evening or very early in the morning. His chest moved slowly up and down underneath my cheek, and I knew he had to be
asleep. I lifted my head slowly, not wanting to wake him. I needed water badly. I was almost completely off his chest when his arm tightened around my shoulders, and my head pounded as it fell back onto his solid chest.
“Where are you going? It’s five-forty a.m.” His voice was gruff and thick with sleep, and I found it so very sexy.
“I’m thirsty,” I whispered.
He shifted sideways and slid out from underneath me. “Stay right here. I’ll get you some water.”
Through the darkness, I could see he was still wearing his t-shirt and jeans, and a spark of shame worsened my headache as I suddenly remembered begging him to lie with me. I wanted to get up and leave, but he told me to stay put. I desperately needed a shower. I was lying in Luke’s clean, expensive sheets wearing yesterday’s makeup, my grass-stained jeans, and Jill’s sweaty jersey.
Luke returned with a glass of water in one hand and his other balled up in a fist. He handed me the glass then held out some pills. This would be a great opportunity to make a joke about date rape drugs, but it was bad timing.
“Thanks,” I said as I took the pills from his hand and gulped them down with the entire glass of water.
He sat next to me on the edge of the bed and the mattress sunk down, pulling me toward him. I wanted to slip my hands under his shirt and caress the smooth skin on his back, but I kept my fingers locked around the glass to stop myself. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees and looked like a man with the weight of the universe pressing down on his shoulders.
I set the glass on the nightstand and sat up on my knees behind him. “Luke, there’s something I need to say…as your friend, and I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, because it needs to be said.”
“Do your worst. Nothing you can say could possibly be worse than as your friend.”
“Very funny.” I took a deep breath and continued, “You need to visit your dad.”
His silence told me I had chipped away a small chunk of whatever was weighing heavy on him.
I shivered as I anticipated my next sentence. “Luke, he’s sick. You’re going to regret not going if…” I tried to push aside the tidal force wave of regret that I’d been drowning in for eight months. I couldn’t say it. “You have to go.”
He turned his head so I could at least see the side of his face. “It’s just so much more complicated than that.”
“Six weeks ago, you promised me you’d go. What’s changed?” Other than everything between us.
“I’m just not in the mood to be rejected again.”
I didn’t know if he was implying that he felt rejected by me, because this timeout thing was his idea. I stuffed my hands between my thighs to keep myself from touching him, because that wasn’t what he needed. I knew what he needed, and it terrified me.
My mind drew back to the first time I visited the Golden Gate Bridge after Ryan’s death. My clothes disheveled, my makeup smeared, eyes swollen. As I walked the length of the bridge, I kept expecting someone to realize why I was there, but all I got was a few looks of pity and disgust—until I saw him. A tiny Asian man, his hair being tossed every which way by the bitter November breeze. He gazed at me in wonderment as we approached each other. When he was just a few feet away, his eyes crinkled and lips curled into the most honest smile I’d ever seen.
Every day, for six days, I went back to the bridge, hoping to work up the courage to jump. I wanted so desperately to know if Ryan had found peace on the way down, because I knew I would never find peace without him. Every day, I passed the same man, and every day, he smiled at me.
“I’ll go with you,” I barely whispered, my promise strangled by the painful lump in my throat.
“What?”
I shoved his side. “Look at me.” He turned his head slightly and I shoved him again. “Turn around and look me in the eye.” I could feel a tremble building in my chest, and I knew if I didn’t do this now I would lose my nerve.
He turned his body and, through the vague silver light shining through the windows, I could see the severe look in his eyes.
“If you go, I’ll go with you.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I know I don’t have to. I want to.” At some point, that sentence might be true. Until then, I’d fake it, because that’s what friends do.
“You know how many times I’ve imagined introducing you to my parents?” he begins, and I can hear the excitement in his voice. “I know my mom is going to love you.”
My chest filled with a warm sensation that spread through my arms and down to my fingertips.
To hell with it.
I threw my arms around his neck and he pulled me into his lap as I pressed my cheek against his warm neck. I closed my eyes and breathed in his scent as his arms tightened around my waist. He nuzzled his face in my hair, and it would have been so easy to just turn my face a little and press my lips to his neck, but I didn’t. Instead, I squeezed him tighter, trying not to think of how my breasts were mashed against his chest and how I wished there wasn’t four layers of clothing between us.
He let out a soft chuckle as he slid me off his lap and back onto the bed. “Well, now that you’ve got that off your chest, I have something I want to ask you, too.” He knelt on the floor, and my heart stuttered as he took my hand in his. “Brina, will you…go to IHOP with me today?”
I smacked his hand away and he laughed as I scooted back on the bed. “You and your fucking pancakes!” I tucked myself back under the covers and pulled the comforter over my head. “I’m going back to sleep. I have a headache.”
“Hey, you don’t need to use that headache line with me.”
He sat on the edge of the bed again and laughed as I pushed him off with my feet. “All right, all right, we won’t have pancakes today.” I pulled the cover off my head and watched as he rounded the foot of the bed and got back under the covers with me. “Don’t you want to get out of those dirty clothes? I have a bunch of t-shirts you can borrow.”
“Oh, I bet you do.”
“I am the t-shirt Nazi.”
I shook my head. “Beating me to the punch today, huh?”
He reached up and ruffled my hair, which was probably already a mess. “I’ll be right back.”
The sun was starting to come up as he disappeared through the door that led to the master bathroom, and I realized, as a relaxed feeling washed over me, that I was having more fun sitting here talking to Luke than I’d had in a very long time.
I sat up, threw the blanket off, and stared through the gray morning light at the grass stains on my jeans. What the heck was he doing in the bathroom? I had to leave. I needed a good long shower and more sleep. Thank goodness it was Sunday. I could take a day off from job-hunting on Sundays.
I stood from the bed and my head throbbed as I searched the floor for my sneakers. The bathroom door opened and the sound of water running made me look up.
Luke was standing in the doorway with a sneaky smile on his face. “Come in here.”
I joined him in the bathroom and was immediately hit with a cloud of steam that smelled just like Luke. “What is this?”
A large sunken bathtub at the far end of the room was nearly overflowing with bubbles and steaming water. He turned the water off and nodded toward the tub.
“There are some t-shirts in that closet,” he said, pointing at a glass door in the wall to the left of the tub. “Go ahead and relax for as long as you want. I’m gonna go out and get you my best hangover cure.”
“Are you serious? You’re going to leave me here alone?”
“Do I need to hire a babysitter for you for the next thirty minutes?”
“Just stay and I’ll go with you when I’m clean. If it’s just thirty minutes, you can wait. Or, better yet, that’s an awfully big bathtub. I’ll bet you could fit two people in there.”
He lowered his gaze to my breasts for a split second before he smiled. “You think I’m going to cave, but I’m not.”
“O
h, really? Not even if I start undressing right here?”
I peeled off my jersey, and he continued to grin and stare at my chest. I slipped out of my tank top and his smile faded, but only slightly.
He leaned against the countertop behind him and he allowed his eyes to linger on the swell of my breasts. “Keep going. This is a good test of my willpower.”
I unhooked my bra and tossed it aside, and his chest heaved as each breath came harder. I unbuttoned my jeans, and his smile disappeared as I pushed them down along with my panties. I stepped out of the jeans and looked directly into his eyes. He met my gaze straight on, his gorgeous blue eyes full of a ravenous hunger.
“You’re worth waiting for,” he said as he broke eye contact and left the room.
I sighed as I stepped down into the sunken tub. The water was deliciously warm, and the feeling of it only made me hornier. I waited a couple of minutes until I was certain he was gone before I decided I’d have to relieve the ache between my legs myself.
I slid my hand under the water and between my thighs. I teased my clit lightly, imagining it was Luke’s skillful tongue, but the water washed away my slickness and my finger kept skidding roughly across the sensitive skin. I had to get out of this water. I squirted a bunch of body wash all over my hair and body then quickly scrubbed away yesterday’s sporting activity. Now I smelled all clean and woodsy, like Luke, which only made me crave him even more.
I hit the button to drain the water and climbed out onto the dark wooden deck that surrounded the tub. I snatched the towel Luke had left for me and was not at all surprised to find that it was the softest Turkish cotton I’d ever touched. I dried my body and wrapped the towel around my hair before I grabbed one of Luke’s t-shirts out of the linen closet. Then I made my way back to the bedroom to scratch a deep itch.
I pulled the towel out of my hair and tossed it onto the foot of the bed with Luke’s shirt then laid down on top of the silky comforter. I closed my eyes and lightly caressed my ribs before I cupped my breast in my hand and tweaked the nipple, imagining Luke’s warm mouth sucking gently.
