Between Friends

by Sandra Marie

  “That’s what I was thinking.” There he went again, making her feel all sorts of gooey just by echoing her thoughts. He really needed to knock that crap off or she was going to kiss him out of freaking nowhere and ruin everything.

  “Good cleavage, too,” he continued, and she grabbed a pillow and tossed it at him. He let it flop against his face and fall to the bed.

  Rae turned to the mirror, adjusting the sleeves. “Dating” clothes never looked awesome on her; she preferred her holey pants and off-the-shoulder tees, and maybe Tommy had a point about her pulling off cute in them. But who in the hell wears sweat pants on a date? She didn’t want to screw up this chance with a guy she didn’t meet on the internet. As her sister so politely put it, she didn’t remember the last time that had happened.

  She huffed out a breath, plopping onto the mattress and sinking into the memory foam next to Tommy. He sat up, his arm hair tickling hers.

  “You’re kickass, buddy,” he said, nudging her. “And if the guy doesn’t see it, I’ll be your bail call, ‘kay?”

  “Yeah, okay,” Rae said with a roll of her eyes. She really thought he was making another joke, and in her defense, Tommy was a jokester ninety percent of the time. But he twisted on the bed and put his hands on her cheeks, grabbing her full attention in the way he did when he really meant something. The nerves that had been tingling in her spine zapped to her stomach, jolting her from all thoughts of Brian, if only for a moment.

  There was only her. Only Tommy.

  “Serious, Rae. You. Are. Kickass. I’m a call away if you need it.” His mouth curved at the corner, and in an instant his serious act was dropped. “Capiche?”

  She brought two fingers to her forehead and gave him a solitary salute. He let his hands fall from her cheeks, leaving the ghost of his touch against her skin.

  “Good.”

  They shared a smile, and after a few seconds, his eyes dropped to her chest briefly, then came back to her. “Really… the cleavage is spectacular.”

  She shook her head and pointed toward the door. “Time-out corner.”

  Brian showed up on time, looking very handsome in a black t-shirt, leather jacket, and jeans. He’d trimmed his beard, and his eyes soaked in Rae and her cleavage-approved sweater, lingering on her figure even though Rae was sure her love handles were on display.

  “Hello, beautiful,” he said as she stepped onto the sidewalk where they were meeting. He reached in for a hug, and a tiny jolt went through her stomach as his big arms wrapped around her. He was tall, bulky—a guy she often searched for because they made her feel petite.

  As soon as they parted, Brian slid his hand down her arm and laced their fingers together. Bold—Rae liked bold. She liked attention. And she decided she liked Brian. Who cared if it was too early to make decisions like this? He obviously wanted her. Win.

  “I hope you’re hungry.” He led her down the walk toward a motorcycle parked against the curb. Motorcycle… another win. He was the typical bearded biker with tattoos, Charlie Hunnam style, and she was the luckiest tattoo artist in the world that he’d walked into her shop.

  “You bet your sweet butt I am.” She dropped his hand and picked up the spare helmet. He laughed and swung his leg over the seat.

  “Hold on to me tight,” he said. “Don’t want your sweet butt sliding off the end.”

  Oh, a funny guy. Why in the world did Tommy have a problem with him? He was hitting all the boxes.

  She squeezed in behind him, her thighs flush against his backend, and a hive of bees started partying in her lower abdomen. If things played out right, hopefully they’d lead straight to her place—or his—and she could have some fun with the things she’d learned at the Passion Party.

  Brian sped them downtown, the February air nipping at her cheeks. The only snow left from the out-of-the-blue sprinkling they’d had earlier that month was probably on her deck since the thing saw no sun, and she’d used it as ammo in the impromptu water fight she’d started with Tommy.

  A dip ran through her stomach, and she pushed it back. She wouldn’t think about Tommy and how perfect he felt against her as they wrestled. She was there with Brian.

  She blinked away the water in her eyes from the wind and internally squealed at the ride. There’d been only one other time she’d been on a bike, and that was when Tommy got the idea in his head to ride down the coast over the course of a week on a whim. Since she was always his sidekick to his stupid plans, she’d hopped on board. They ended up in Disneyland, and it was the best trip she’d ever been on.

  Brian pulled into the restaurant parking lot, and Rae bounced in her seat. “They have the best lava cake,” she said, hoping it wasn’t too forward of her to assume they’d get dessert, too. Luckily Brian took off his helmet, smoothed his hair back, and gave her a wide grin.

  “You better save room for it.”

  She playfully hit her grumbling stomach. “I’m sure there’s plenty of room in here.”

  He tossed his head back and laughed. Rae’s heart beat unevenly; making a man laugh like that was up there on the list of aphrodisiacs. It was why she loved Tommy.

  Damn it, there she went again.

  Brian took her hand again and led her inside. After a ten minute wait, they were seated with their menus.

  “You want an appetizer?” he asked. “What about the sampler?”

  “The sampler is like a meal,” she said with a laugh.

  “I think I’d like a sampler. We’ll share it.” He smiled behind his menu. He must be an eater, which was fabulous, because so was she. Eating was probably her second favorite thing to do. Right behind tattooing.

  Since she wasn’t driving, she ordered a beer. Brian seemed to approve of her drink of choice… and her food of choice. He grinned wider after everything she ordered.

  “So, Brian,” she said after a few seconds of silence. “How many tattoos do you have?”

  His beard twitched as his mouth curved upward. “Not nearly as many as you.” He nodded to her neck. “How far down does that one go?”

  She lifted a brow. Was he being sexual? She was definitely out of practice with that, and trying to be sexy back would be a train wreck. She took a sip of her beer, and it leaked down her glass and dripped onto her chest. The drops sped down into her sweater, and she snatched a napkin and jammed it between her boobs before they soaked into the material.

  “Whoops.” Heat bloomed up her neck. Total train wreck; she called it.

  He handed her more napkins, unfazed. “You have any tattoos under there?” he asked. Rae kept wiping, wondering how she was going to pull off a sexy response while she was cleaning beer off her chest.

  “M-maybe you’ll find out later.” Yes, good answer. A low grunt sounded from his mouth, and he shifted in his side of the booth.

  As fun as the sexy stuff was, she did want to get to know him. She’d done the one-night-stand thing, but she was twenty-nine now and ready for the more-than-one-night thing.

  “Is there any significance to the dragon tattoo Tommy gave you?” she asked, pushing the crumpled, wet napkins off to the side of the table. “Besides covering up an ex’s name?”

  “That was pretty much its purpose.” He scratched his beard. “It was big enough and completely wiped out any reminder.”

  “Tattoo tip—never do names.”

  “Unless it’s your own.”

  “Then you have a whole different set of problems.”

  His shoulders moved with silent laughter, and Rae relaxed into the easy first-date banter. She didn’t imagine needing to take Tommy up on his offer to save her from a bad date. Thank goodness, because having him be her go-to when she was emotionally raw just gave her more opportunity to love the guy.

  The appetizer came out, and it was huge. Brian nudged it toward her, and she pushed the plate back to the center of the table. No way could she eat that and her meal and that lava cake she hoped to get.

  “Please help me eat it,” he said, and his playful plea
did her in. She reached for a mozzarella stick and dipped generously. The fried breading crunched in her mouth, and she uncontrollably moaned. It’d been a long day of nerves and not much else; the cookies from Mom’s had been the only food to touch her stomach, and her manners and self-control flew out the window.

  She picked up another mozzarella stick and a boneless wing, mindlessly eating while Brian watched. Her mouth became a mind of its own, taking turns between chatting and munching, and pretty soon the appetizers were wiped clean.

  “I can’t believe we ate all that,” she said as their waitress switched the appetizer plate for their entrees. Steam rose from Rae’s all-time favorite meal—chicken parmesan— and she grabbed her fork, ready to dive in as soon as the waitress walked away.

  “I like watching you eat,” Brian said, then took a generous bite from his burger.

  “Let me guess,” she said around her food, “it’s so nice to see a girl order a real meal?” She’d heard that one before, and it was not a great line.

  His brow furrowed, and he shook his head. “I like watching a woman enjoy food.”

  Okay… that was worse. She slowed her chewing and suppressed any more moans that yummy food liked to elicit from her. Time to put the conversation back on course.

  “It goes to the tip of my shoulder.” She traced a line along her neck. “My tattoo.”

  Brian blinked, and she waited for his brain to catch up to her train of thought. “You get it done at your shop?”

  She nodded. “Tommy did it for me.”

  “He do all your tats?”

  “Yep.” She took another sip of beer to clear her throat. Why did all thoughts have to lead to Tommy? Stupid best friend and his interference even when he wasn’t present. “No dragons for me, though.”

  “Hmm.” Brian’s mood shifted somewhat, and he nodded to her plate. “Good?”

  “Delicious.” She licked her lips and looked at her half-eaten food. “Probably need a doggy bag.”

  He smirked, but it didn’t look Tommy cute. Of course it didn’t. “You said you had plenty of room.”

  “For lava cake.” She pointed her fork at him with a grin.

  “Then let’s get some.” He grabbed the ordering tablet on the table and hit a button to order more food. “Let’s get the cookie sundae, too. I’d love to see you enjoy that.”

  A niggle tinged at the back of her neck, and a wrinkle appeared at the bridge of her nose as he settled the tablet by the salt and pepper. Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she felt a wave of relief for the chance to take a breather.

  “Excuse me for a second?” she asked, placing her napkin on top of the table. She slid from the booth and headed to the restrooms, passing their waitress as she came out with a platter of every dessert on the menu. She prayed it wasn’t going to their table.

  As the door shut, she pulled her phone out, her mood dropping further when she saw it was just a missed call from an out of state number. She really thought Tommy was sensing her sudden trepidation; they had that sort of sixth sense, voodoo doll kind of connection, but his face was disappointingly absent from her screen.

  Another buzz ran through her hand, and an icon for a voicemail popped up. She hit the buttons to listen and put her phone to her ear.

  “Hi, Raelynn, this is Tanner from Strip Tattoo. We got your portfolio and are really impressed with your art. We’d like you to come down for a live interview sometime before the end of the month. Give us a call back if you’re still interested. Thanks.”

  Her heart ran wild, and her arm slowly lowered. She’d applied for the Vegas tattoo shop over a year ago. After a few months, she’d basically cut her losses and hadn’t given it a second thought. Now it seemed like a chance had come her way. Life had grown stagnant in Seattle, with the lackluster dates and living every day in love with someone who didn’t love her the same. Maybe it was time for a change in scenery.

  A lead weight attached to her brain, growing by the minute. She couldn’t think about that now; she was on a date that could go either way at this point. Her fingers fumbled with her phone as she pushed it into her pocket, and she took a deep breath and headed to the table.

  Her fear about the desserts was realized as she slid into the booth, a platter full of sugary delights on the table. Brian smiled, nudging the sundae toward her.

  “Hope you saved room.” He handed her a long spoon. “Eat up.”

  She tilted her head, sitting back against the seat. “Why so keen to watch me eat?” Straightforward had always been her style.

  Brain continued to grin, pushing the plate even more toward her. “You like food. I like girls who like food.”

  “And what makes you think I like food? You didn’t know that before you asked me out.”

  He let out a hollow laugh, eyes drifting down her frame. A feeling of shame trickled down her crown like a raw egg being cracked on top of her head. She crossed her arms over her stomach.

  “You’re the perfect wide ride, gorgeous.” He stretched his hand out, holding it palm up like he wanted her to take it. Red and blue flashed across her vision, equal parts anger and sorrow mingling and creating a new emotion of purple. She gritted her teeth, internally scoffing at his upturned hand.

  Wide ride.

  Wide ride?

  “Oh no…” she said, her hands shaking, her knuckles sore from clenching. The purple in her vision turned bright red and took over her arm. She swung, connecting square with the beard, an instant sting slicing through her knuckles. Brian’s eyes rolled back, and he swayed before falling face first into chocolate lava cake.

  The waitress hurried over, and a few patrons grabbed their phones and clicked. “Ma’am, is everything… what happened? Is he…?”

  “He’s fine.” Rae shook her hand out and slid from the booth. Brian’s breath bubbled the molten chocolate. “When he comes to, tell him this wide ride got a ride with someone else.”

  The waitress froze while Rae shuffled out of there. She prayed he wouldn’t press charges, but that was only the tip of what was rushing through her. Red was quickly transforming to blue, and she sniffed, refusing to cry over what a creep Brian turned out to be. She’d been on worse dates—but she couldn’t think of any right now.

  She spit in the direction of Brian’s bike and fumbled for her phone, her sore hand and sorrow preventing her from texting. She managed to click on Tommy’s name and put the phone to her ear, stomping across the parking lot and heading toward home.

  “Do you need saving?” he answered without a hello. His voice was that of a savior, but she wasn’t about to admit that she needed to be saved.

  She gulped, pushing back the dark, deep blue that was now soaking into every inch of her body. She’d been called fat before. She’d been called fluffy and big-boned and thick and bigger, and it never bothered her. She’d learned to love her body and all the wonderful, healthy things she could do with it. But she’d never felt as unattractive as she had tonight.

  “Hey… What do you need?” His tone was the serious one, and she pictured his brown eyes and handsome mouth.

  Rae put her free hand against her cheek, closing her eyes, pretending it was his.

  “Let’s do something stupid.”

  “He called you what?” Tommy said, stopping mid-stride on the sidewalk where he’d met Rae. They were a good mile from the restaurant, and her cheeks were stained bright red with either anger or the February air.

  “You heard it right,” she bit out, tossing her arms up. “He’s lucky I only knocked him out.”

  Fire heated in his chest, and he gritted his teeth. Rae was a sexy woman—not a fetish.

  He forced a grin, if only to keep his temper under control. “You pulled a Tommy.”

  “It wasn’t a bad tactic.”

  “Can I get that in writing?”

  She let out half of her ridiculous laugh, only going for one giggle and a snort. It was the laugh that came out when she was either too angry or too sad to giggle twice. Tommy sigh
ed and put his arm around her as they started toward his car.

  “I shoulda put butterflies on his leg,” he said, imagining turning that tattooed dragon into a bright, glittery butterfly. Ah… the sweet image.

  “You better make them fat,” she huffed, wrinkling her nose at the concrete.

  A lump the size of Texas fell into his gut, and his toes itched to turn himself around and beat the hell out of Brian. But Rae didn’t need that; she was pretty damn good at taking care of herself. No, she wanted something stupid, and he was her first call.

  He hopped in front of her, stumbling a bit, and gave her a big, toothy, cheesy as hell smile. “What stupid thing should we do tonight?”

  “I think I already did mine.”

  “That right hook was just short of genius.”

  “I was talking about agreeing to go out in the first place.”

  He shook his head, lowering it so she would look him in the eyes. As soon as she did, her frown fell easily into an annoyed grin.

  “Let’s go skydiving,” he said.

  She let out a hollow laugh. He was always trying to get her to fulfill that skydiving promise she’d made forever ago.

  “Too dark,” she used as an excuse.

  “We’ll bus hop.” Oldie, but goodie.

  “We got mugged last time.”

  “You just lost your purse.”

  “While sitting next to some suspicious characters, if you ask me.”

  He ran a hand through his blond hair, stopping at the back of his head and scratching. There had to be something time consuming and mind erasing they could do. He was the go-to fun man; he couldn’t fail her now!

  “How ‘bout the beach?”

  “It’s February.”

  “And…?”

  Rae twisted her scarf around her hand, tugging on it as she looked up at the clear, if a little chilly sky. He prayed she was considering it. The crisp ocean was sure to jolt her mind out of the evening.

  “Okay,” she said after a minute. “That’s the winner.”

  Tommy fist-pumped the air and took her hand, leading her toward his car. He would make this into a good night for her… and getting a good amount of road between him and that restaurant was just a bonus.