by Molly McLain
“I’ve got a friend from Hastings—Elena—who’s been wanting to move over this way. I could give her your number,” Heather offered and Jenny nodded...as the door off the kitchen opened and Reed walked in.
She’d always envied Josh’s beautiful home with its open-concept layout, but right now, she could’ve used some walls.
“Sorry I’m late,” he announced, offering up a two six-packs as apology. “I ran into these two making out on the side of the road and had to stop and kick some ass. Don’t worry, Tony, I already roughed him up for you.” Reed winked and Tony’s girlfriend, Nicole, popped in after him, blonde hair bouncing along her shoulders.
“Surprise!” She grinned and Tony jolted out of his seat with a stupid grin on his face. God, that man had it bad. “Low census at the hospital, so they sent me—.” That was as much as she got out before Tony yanked her inside for a kiss and Brody Nelson’s tall, imposing frame filled the doorway behind her.
Walls? Who needed walls? So much better to see the decor.
“I was just about to come out here when this troublemaker showed up,” Nicole continued after Tony finished assaulting her mouth. “Good thing, too, because the snow’s really coming down. I doubt I would’ve made it in my car.”
The guys paused their game to greet Brody and Jenny sat there on the couch, her stomach jumping like pop rocks. He looked better than he had on first sight, sitting at that bar in Vegas. Maybe it was because he had on a t-shirt this time, leaving those, big, sexy-as-hell arms exposed. And those tattoos...Lord. She knew all the beauty that cotton covered now, spread across his chest and all the way down to both of his wrists. Better yet? She could she could still feel the heavy, protective weight of him curled up behind her while they slept.
Laying eyes on him again? There were no words. Just the strangest urge to push ahead of everyone else to see if he smelled and felt as good as she remembered.
And maybe to gauge whether or not he had a similar reaction to seeing her again, which was ridiculous, because one, she’d given up men and, two, it didn’t matter if he swept her off her feet and claimed to miss her senseless—she didn’t need his validation anymore than she needed Reed’s. For God’s sake, they’d only shared a blanket.
She told herself that exactly seventeen times before Brody’s gaze drifted toward the living room and landed smack on her. A slow smile curved his full lips and every last molecule of oxygen in her lungs vanished.
So maybe he’d left a bigger mark than just an imprint in her pillow.
“Do we know him?” Maddie leaned in, whispering. “Because I think I’d remember that I-eat-pussy-for-dinner grin.”
Carissa covered a laugh with her hand. “He’s a Marine buddy of Josh and Tony’s from Omaha. You’ve met him. He has family in Hastings, remember?”
“North Platte,” Jenny corrected, speaking carefully and trying not to sputter. “His grandparents.”
“I think you’re right.” Carissa nodded and got to her feet to give her new guests a proper welcome. Nosey, Maddie raced after her and Heather waited until both were out of earshot before she elbowed Jenny’s side.
“Do I want to know why you’re squirming, or am I going to hate your answer?”
“No hate needed. It’s not what you think.”
“Thank God, because if Nick isn’t going to take what I’m offering, I might have no choice but to move on, if you know what I mean.” Heather waggled her eyebrows and the sweet drink turned sour in Jenny’s stomach.
“Yeah,” she huffed out, trying not to sound bitter.“Totally. He’s a really nice guy.” A nice guy she wanted for herself, but the timing was all wrong, dammit.
Heather pursed her lips and leaned back, drink in hand, biding her time. Jenny did all she could not to bolt. Watching Reed move onto other women was one thing, because he was a pig and it’s how he’d always operated, but Brody...God, he was a temptation she hated having to resist. If Heather wanted him, what could she do? One night with Superman didn’t make her Lois Lane.
“Earth to Jenny.” Suddenly Reed was before her, lowering himself to the coffee table so their knees touched. Heather flipped him off and scurried off the couch faster than a rabbit with a hound on its tail. “She’s going to hate me forever, isn’t she?” Reed chuckled quietly.
“Probably. You did ditch her pretty quickly.” And a month later, he’d weaseled his way back into Jenny’s bed. Like always. Except for now.
“Yeah, well...” He lifted a shoulder and flashed his professionally whited smile. He tried to pull off cocky—a typical Reed move—but the color in his cheeks was new. Was it possible he’d actually grown a conscience? No way!
“If you think you need to come over here and do the whole cordial thing with me—again—you don’t. In fact, it actually makes things kinda weird.” Straw to lips, she sucked in another sip, all the while keeping her ear to the scene in the kitchen.
Scratching the back of his neck, Reed’s face turned even pinker. “I just...I don’t know how to do this in a way that’s respectful to you.”
Do what? What the heck was there to do? “Wait—is your new girl outside? Did you make her wait, because I’m—”
“No! No, that’s not what I’m saying.” He lowered his voice. “We just haven’t talked much since Christmas and I guess I need reassurance that you’re really okay with us being just friends.”
“Reed, it’s been two months.” Holding her chin high, she flashed the shut-up-and-die smile she’d crafted just for him and had used lots of times in the past. “You need to get the fuck over yourself already.”
He laughed. “And this is why we get along so well...” Grabbing her hand, he tugged her to her feet and wrapped one arm around her shoulders, pressing a hard kiss to her temple. Like he hadn’t just reestablished their friend status. Even more contradictory, he slung his arm around her waist and led her to the kitchen where the rest of the group had gathered.
And where Brody watched Reed proprietarily handle her. The way she let him handle her. S-s-sucker.
Clearing her throat, she quickly extracted herself from Reed’s side. “Hey, Car, didn’t you say something about Jell-O shots in the garage fridge?”
The hostess jumped off her fiancé’s lap. “Oh, boo, I totally forgot!”
“That’s okay, I’ll grab them. I need to get my phone from the car anyhow.” And pull her head from her ass, too.
***
Either Jenny and Reed were back together again or the asshole was still fucking with her head.
Both options boiled Brody’s blood. She deserved better than to be some guy’s sidepiece.
Jaw clenched, he watched her pull away from the dickwad and edge reluctantly toward the door, where he stood, beer in hand.
“Excuse me,” she said politely, blinking up at him with those pretty brown eyes he’d called to memory more times in the past six weeks than he should’ve needed to. But something about the woman made him go soft and, in therapy, soft kept Dr. Sherman from reporting him as non-compliant.
“Hey, sugar,” he greeted her with a wink and, in return, she regarded him an impersonal tip of her head toward the door he blocked. Like they hadn’t spent an intimate—albeit sexless—night together a few short weeks ago. What the hell?
Not one to cause a scene, he stepped aside and let her slip by. A second later, her sweet, flowery scent one-two-punched him in the gut and he choked back a groan. She wanted to play like that night had never happened? Too bad. He couldn’t forget.
“You know, I think I left my phone, too. Be right back.” He didn’t wait for acknowledgment, just turned on the heel of his boots and followed after her. He found her standing in the garage next to Josh’s truck, muttering four-letter words and covering her face with her hands.
“Hey,” he said again and her shoulders flinched, but that was all the attention she gave him. So he went to her, his beer-free hand curling around her jean-clad hip from behind. “You gonna try and pretend you don’t know me, sugar?
” he whispered in her ear. “Maybe I need to remind you that we didn’t do anything wrong.”
She spun on him, her dark eyes wild...wild with something he couldn’t quite define. Fear maybe? Shame? “Why the hell are you here?”
“Whoa.” He lifted his hands, beer bottle and all. “I’m not stalking you, if that’s what you think. I’m headed up to see my grandparents. Thought I’d stop in—”
“Well, give a girl some notice next time.”
Next time? He smiled. “I didn’t have your number. We forgot to swap.”
“That was intentional.” Pressing her fingertips into his chest, she gave him a light, but definitive push and he chuckled. There she was, that little spitfire he couldn’t stop thinking about it. “I wasn’t looking for a hook-up and we weren’t supposed to see each other again.”
“We share the same friends, Jenn. It would have happened eventually.”
She licked her lips and raked a hand through her hair. Hair he’d buried his face in while they’d slept. His dick twitched at the memory.
“You with him again?” he blurted out, catching her unaware if her quick intake of breath was any indication. “Dammit, you are, aren’t you?”
“No.” Hand still fisted in her dark locks, she shook her head. Too bad the color in her cheeks trumped her denial.
“He touches you like you’re together.” Maybe if he broke the bastard’s hands...
“Because that’s how it’s always been. It doesn’t mean anything.”
Not to Reed, but chicks were different. Jenny was different. It meant something to her, he could see it in her face. “He’s a fucking prick, Jenn. He’s stringing you along—”
“Brody, stop.” She put her hand to his chest again, and this time her fingers lingered as her eyes closed and she blew out a couple measured breaths. He like her hands on him. A lot. “We’re not together, okay?”
“But you’re not over him either.” Why the hell did saying those words feel like a knife to the gut? He barely knew this woman.
“You have to understand—he and I have gone back and forth like this since I was seventeen.” Her eyes fluttered open again and the pain she bared there made him want to storm inside and drag Reed Fletcher outside by his balls.
“You thought he’d eventually come to his senses and choose you.” It wasn’t a question and she didn’t refute the accusation. Instead, she held his stare, gulped, and slowly nodded that little chin. Shit. “Are you in love with him?”
She blinked at him for five unnerving seconds. “I don’t know. And why the hell are we even talking about this? God!” She bit at her lips in frustration and his focus slid to her mouth and then that long, sleek neck he liked so much. If she were his girl, he’d be semi-permanently attached to that creamy skin. Tasting her, sucking her, driving her wild... “I just...I know I don’t want him anymore. The problem is, I don’t know how to move on. My head gets that it’s over, but old habits are still hard to break, you know?”
Yep. All too well. Also...was he the only one who noticed how quickly they’d fallen into this conversation? Was she like this with everyone or did he bring out the talker in her? He rather liked the second option. “You need a new man in your life. Someone to cleanse your proverbial palate.”
She snorted. “The last thing I need is another man. Remember the whole loneliness problem? That’s still an issue. One I’m pretty sure I need to resolve before I bring someone else down with my neediness.”
“You’re not needy. You’re just...” He broke off, shaking his head. God, she was beautiful, every last bit of her.
“I’m what?” She blinked up at him, nibbling the corner of her lip. He took it all in. That thick, tuggable hair, those sexy, fuck-me eyes, that small, freckled nose...
Even the goose bumps on her collarbone were alluring. He’d love nothing more than to dip his head and warm her up with his mouth and lips and tongue, but he recognized a skittish colt when he saw one.
“You’re cold,” he said instead, rubbing his hand up and down her arm, her white sweater soft beneath his palm. “And I’m an ass for keeping you out here. Why don’t you head back inside with the shots and I’ll take one for the team and grab your phone?”
“I appreciate the offer, but my phone’s in the living room. In my purse.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “So you lied.”
She lifted a shoulder and flashed an innocent smile. “Sue me. You caught me off guard tonight. I needed a little air.”
Oh yeah, he liked where this was going. “Me? I thought your boy toy was to blame for this freak-out.”
She rolled her eyes and moved past him toward the door. Goddamn, her ass in those jeans...
“Don’t let it go to your head, Superman. I just like your t-shirt.”
Chapter Six
Love sucks, true love swallows.
Only Brody would wear a t-shirt like that to his grandparents’ house. Only Brody would be ballsy enough to plant his ass beside her on the couch, too, not giving a shit that he was the only rooster among the hens and that his buddies were talking smack about him in the kitchen because of it.
“He’s just worried he’ll get his ass beat at the table.”
“Fucker still owes me twenty bucks from the last time he played with us...two years ago.”
“Nah, he just feels more comfortable with the chicks. They’re probably painting their nails.”
“Are you just going to sit there and take that?” Maddie him asked from the floor in front of the coffee table once again. On her left, Carissa set out Cards Against Humanity.
“I’ve got a pretty good hand right here, don’t you think?” He waved a hand around at the all the ladies. “Four queens and an ace in the hole.” He squeezed Jenny’s knee on the last few words and she gave a bark of laughter.
“I know you’re not talking about me, Clark.”
Mischief danced in his eyes. “No? Should I tell them what you said in your sl—”
Slap! She fastened her hand over his mouth, both of them laughing. “I will cut you, I swear to God.”
“Wait a second,” Heather interjected while she flipped her hair up into a sloppy bun and settled into place on the other side of Maddie. “Who the hell is Clark? And why do I feel like you two know each other way better than any of us realized?”
“Oh, we do,” Brody said behind Jenny’s fingers, his eyebrows bouncing. She clamped down harder, giving him a warning glare, but then his hand dashed out, catching her in the ticklish spot just below her ribs. She collapsed against his chest, cursing under his vicious attack. “We know each other real well, don’t we, Jenn?”
She should kick his ass. And she probably would, as soon as he stopped touching her and she could breathe again. But, dammit, she hadn’t laughed like this in months. And—duh—he was touching her.
“Don’t let him fool you, ladies.” She shoved off of him, straightened her sweater, and poked his nose with a stern fingertip. “Clark here likes to talk big, but sadly that’s all...” Poke. “...he’s...” Poke. “...got.”
“Guess he’s a smart guy, then.” Reed ambled into the room, eyes narrowed on Brody and then her. Like she owed him some kind of explanation. Well, screw that. She waved him off, hoping he’d go away, but he dropped into a recliner instead.
Maybe Brody was right—maybe Reed was trying to string her along.
“You playing, Reed?” Nicole pulled a Frozen tiara from her purse, clearly pilfered from Tony’s daughter’s toy box. “I’ve got our Queen Bitch crown right here. Since Brody’s obviously full of shit and we’re too ladylike to admit when we went last, I think you should start.”
Reed brought his beer to his mouth, all the while glancing subtly between her and Brody. “Yeah, I’m in. Seems like all the action is in here anyway.”
Was he really going to do this? God.
“Alrighty then, let’s get this show started.” Nicole kneed her way across the floor and stuck the tiara on top of his head. “Pick your c
ards, servant bitches.”
***
“A girl’s best friend is...” Heather twisted her lips and considered the cards in front of her. “Hands down, a girl’s best friend is multiple orgasms.”
“Booyah!” Jenny high-fived the bartender over the coffee table. “I got you figured out, girl!”
“No fair. I don’t have any sex cards.” Carissa pouted while Heather handed Jenny the crown for the fifth time in an hour. “Someone trade me.”
“Not a chance, baby doll.” Maddie giggled and crowded her cards close to her chest. “Maybe Brody will share. I can tell by the pervy look in his eyes that he’s hoarding all the good ones.”
Jenny snorted. “Nah, that’s his normal look. Total perv, 24/7.”
He chuckled and, from his position behind her, nudged her in the ass with his knee. “Just read your card already, sugar. I’ve gotta get going soon.”
Wasn’t that was a shame. The night was young and, just like Vegas, she didn’t want him go. But asking him to stay again...that would be a dead giveaway. Not to mention it’d go against the solidarity she’d worked so hard on the past month and a half.
Clearing her throat, she pulled a black card from the pile and read it. Then she burst out laughing. “Oh, my God, I love this one.” She turned to Brody and smiled. “What is Superman’s guilty pleasure?”
A devious glint flashed in his eyes and he reached forward, ferociously throwing down a card. Like he’d been sitting on it, waiting for this moment.
“That was fast. You must be sure of this one,” she teased as the others added their cards to the pile.
“Superman and I are like this.” He lifted two crossed fingers and grinned. “Let’s see how well you know him.”
“Hmm, game on.” Gathering the cards, she read them aloud, immediately eliminating Jack’s magical beans and wet flatulence.
