“We’ll make even more nice if you’ve got another of those blackberry pies we can take with us.”
“As a matter of fact, I do. Or will. I just put one in the oven. And uh, B? Neil just walked in the backdoor. He said he didn’t want to interrupt again, so he’s hanging around my kitchen, nibbling on everything that isn’t nailed down.”
Rosie looked a little curious as she’d delivered her message and Blue just shook her head. Neil had the most awful timing of anyone she knew. “Thanks.”
“Excuse me.” Cort stood with a smile and a wink for Blue. “I believe I’ll go let him know there’s no hard feelings about the interruption yesterday.”
“Cort, please, you really don’t—”
“Oh, I think I really do. I’ll be back.”
Rosie and Blue followed his departing form as he went in search of Neil. When he was out of sight, Rosie turned on her. “What in the hell was that all about?”
…
Cort found Neil standing just inside the kitchen door, staring out into the dining room, pulling apart a dinner roll. He backed up as soon as Cort had pushed open the door. “I think perhaps we got off on the wrong foot the other night.”
“I agree.” Neil held his hand out and looked relieved. “Hi, I’m Neil, the clichéd gay best friend.”
“Hey. Cort. I’m the one-night stand who fell in love with your best friend.” Cort clasped Neil’s hand. “I wanted to talk to you about this woman we have in common.”
“What about her?” Neil held up a roll. “Want one? Rosie makes the best food in the world, I swear. I could eat here every day for a year and never get tired of it.”
Rosie might kill the poor man if he ever breathed that thought to her. Three hundred sixty-five days of Neil? Hell, Cort didn’t doubt he’d consider killing the man too. “She thinks I’m telling you that I don’t want you sleeping with her anymore when you visit.”
“I assumed you’d be sleeping with her, and I don’t do straight guys. And you’re straighter than a two-by-four.”
“I am, and I intend to be sleeping with her every chance I get, but I wanted to clear the air between us. Your interruptions have given me time to consider things. To take a step back if you will and figure out what the best thing is.” He leaned against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest and his feet at the ankles.
“What things? She loves you. You love her. What’s there to consider or figure out?”
Neil had a point, and it was one Cort couldn’t argue with. When Alicia broke his heart, his dad had clapped him on the back and handed him a beer. But his mom had taken him aside and told him when the woman that was worth it came along, he’d know. She’d been right. He knew the minute he met Blue that she was the one woman worth it all, worth risking everything for. He couldn’t explain it now anymore than he could explain it then, but nothing had changed.
“She’s scared of love, though,” Neil added.
Cort nodded. “I know.”
“Truce?”
“It’s only fair.”
It was only fair. After Blue had left him, he wasn’t sure he believed in second chances anymore. He thought he’d lost his mind and tried to erase her from his memory, from his body, but every inch of him remembered her and wanted her back. He never thought he’d see her again and the anger he’d felt when she met him on her front porch two days ago was—
“What happened?” Neil asked.
Cort was somewhat glad for that particular interruption. “What do you mean?”
“What happened to change your mind? You were angry two days ago and stomping off her porch. What changed your mind about her?”
Okay, so maybe he was going to have to go into why he’d been angry. “I don’t know. Gut feeling, I guess. I’ve never known what it was about her. She’s just…mine.”
“It is what it is?”
“Yeah, something like that. And when I stomped off her porch, it wasn’t about her as much as it was about another man knocking on her door.”
Neil blushed and looked away, grabbing for another roll. “But you have changed your mind, right? You’re going to forgive her?”
“I already have.” And he realized right then, for the first time, that it was true. He’d forgiven her. She had her reasons for leaving, and it was time to let it go. They both wanted something that the other was willing or able to give if they could just find their way beyond what had happened that night. The way beyond that was to simply try.
“She eats pie when she has man trouble.”
“Yes, it seems so.” Speaking of which, the pie Rosie had put in the oven gave off the most amazing aroma, and his mouth was beginning to water. It reminded him of his mother’s kitchen at the holidays. Those were the only times she baked pie. Usually a pecan and either a cherry or apple pie.
Pie wasn’t his favorite, but he was definitely open to trying.
“If she doesn’t have pie or can’t get it, she drinks wine. Muscadine wine. From North Carolina.”
“So you’re saying I need to stock up on pie and wine?”
“Only if you intend to cause her any kind of trouble, you know, being that you’re a man.”
“Point taken. You’re the one who takes pictures of her, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” Neil answered warily. “Why? Are you going to tell me I can’t do that anymore too?”
“Nope. She’s beautiful, and you’re very good.”
“But…?”
“No touching.”
Neil laughed. “That’s what set you off about her pictures, then? That others were touching her?”
Cort grimaced. “Not a trait I’m proud of but not one I can seem to control either, so yes, that’s what set me off.”
Neil nodded his understanding. “I get that. No one will touch her.” He eyed Cort from head to toe, lingering over his chest, his stomach, and lower. “Perhaps you’d consider posing with her.”
“Perhaps I won’t.”
“Right. Okay. You know, I didn’t know about you until this weekend. I didn’t know you and she had met before. She never said anything, never talked about you, but she was different after, and it wasn’t just that V had died.”
“What do you mean?”
“Blue and her aunt were very close, like two peas in a pod. V was not conventional, so Blue grew up the same way. She was homeschooled even, up until college, but she was never sheltered. They traveled a lot, and Blue has always been outgoing, open. She might go her own way, but it always leads her back home. At heart, she’s a homebody.”
“I know you care about her, and you and Rosie don’t know me as well as Buck and Decker do, but I’ll take good care of her, and she can be whoever she needs to be. I don’t want to change her.”
“So long as no one else touches her, right?”
Cort smiled, slow and meaningful. “Right.”
“Are y’all getting along, or do you need a referee?” Blue asked from the kitchen doorway, her voice hushed and tentative, as though she had to soothe a wild animal. Cort turned his smile on her. She smiled back, looking from him over to Neil. “All good here?”
“Yes, all good here except I can’t hug you as I normally would. He’s a little protective, and I don’t think I’d look good with bruises.”
“No one would be able to see them.”
Blue turned wide eyes up at him. “Cort! You can’t be serious.”
“Of course I’m not serious. Jesus, baby.”
“Then why can’t he hug me?”
“Your man here doesn’t want other men touching you,” Neil offered.
Blue relaxed. “You’re the exception, I’m sure,” she said, nudging Cort with her elbow as she moved past him to hug her friend.
Strangely enough, and maybe it was because Neil was gay, his arms around Blue’s back and his face buried in her neck didn’t bother Cort. It would have yesterday. It would have last night. In fact, talking to her about Neil last night did bother him, but not now.
Was it because they just talked about it? Was it because he was good with his love for her and that he wasn’t fighting it anymore? He didn’t know, and he didn’t care. Neil had been good to her, there for her, and Cort couldn’t take that away from her or the other man. God knew Buck and Decker had been there for him more than once in his life.
“Oh look, a love fest,” Rosie said, barreling into the kitchen from the dining room. She had an armful of dishes from the few customers that had been in the diner. “Think y’all could move away from the sink? Though if you want to do the dishes for me, that’d be great.”
“Pay me?” Cort asked with a grin. He was feeling lighter, better, happier here with these people, these new friends and his new lover. He was the serious one out of his friends, but he’d been known to cut up and joke around, just not in the last few years. If things had happened differently…
“Not on your life.”
Blue piped up, coming to his defense. “He’s good with dishes. If you don’t want to pay him in cash, you could pay him in pie.”
Rosie scoffed. “I already pay you in pie.”
“Well, if you’re not going to pay me to do the dishes, then I guess that leaves Dec to do them.”
“Dec to do what?”
Cort turned his head to see the man in question walk into the kitchen carrying dishes as well. He tried not to laugh. He’d known Decker for years and never once had he seen him carry dirty dishes to the kitchen. Shit, he couldn’t remember Decker ever using any dishes that didn’t have the word “disposable” on the package. “Okay, that’s just an image I’m never going to stop seeing in my head. There’s blackmail in there somewhere.”
“What?” Decker asked, confusion lacing his voice. Then realization dawned. “Oh. You mean the dishes? Nah. I help Rosie out from time to time. It keeps her grateful for my presence and keeps her submissive to my every naughty whim.”
The kick delivered to Decker’s shin from Rosie belied his statement. “Grateful and submissive, huh?”
“Yep.”
“I thought the belt kept her grateful and submissive.”
“Not helping, B. Not helping at all.”
Blue simply smiled at her friend from the shelter of Neil’s arms. Cort didn’t fail to notice how the other man tightened his arms around Blue either. He also didn’t fail to see the wink Neil gave him over Blue’s shoulder and the little puckered air kiss.
Cort simply shook his head and reached out to tug on Blue’s ponytail. He’d never seen her with her hair up, and he rather liked it a lot. He’d love to see her in pigtails too. Maybe even a short plaid skirt and one of his white button-down shirts. The little fantasy had his cock hardening behind his zipper. If he didn’t stop, everyone else would begin to notice the growing erection, especially if he took Blue out of Neil’s arms and bent her over the edge of the counter.
As it was, she was in a denim skirt to her knees and a pretty pink T-shirt with matching ball cap. He’d seen her once this weekend without some sort of denim on. He himself rarely wore it. He practically lived Carhartts and khakis. Any denim was reserved for lounging around, which was another thing he rarely did.
Maybe it was time to loosen up a bit. Maybe Blue’s freedom of spirit and the way she embraced life and comfort and ease would rub off on him.
“So, y’all gonna move out of the way or what?”
Cort’s attention was drawn from his thoughts as Rosie sighed and shifted the weight of the dishes in her arms. He saw her intent before she made a move, and he did more than tug on Blue’s ponytail this time. He turned toward her as she let go of Neil and backed up into Cort’s body. He moved them both just in the nick of time.
Rosie took one step and let the load fall way from her arms. The plates and silverware dropped into the water with a splash that, despite Cort’s efforts, got he and Blue, along with Neil and Decker, wet.
Rosie looked around and grinned, swiped her hands in front of her in a gesture that clearly stated she was done, and walked out of the kitchen. Cort looked at Decker who looked at Blue who looked at Neil.
“Gotta go,” Cort said, steering Blue out of the kitchen in Rosie’s wake.
“Yeah, me too,” Neil added, following hot on their heels.
“Son of a bitch. Y’all are all gonna pay for this,” Decker yelled.
Cort heard the laughter in his friend’s voice but knew there’d be hell to pay one day soon. It might not be tomorrow or the next day or the day after that. It might not even be the next week or the next month. But it would come. It always did.
He ushered Blue out to the front of the diner. He stood by the door while she stopped to talk to Rosie for a moment. He couldn’t hear what was being said, but the looks that Rosie and now Neil were sending him didn’t give him the warm fuzzies.
Rain had just started to fall outside when Blue joined him. “We’re gonna get wet.”
“You didn’t drive up here?”
“Nope. I walked. Knew I’d needed to since I was going to be devouring pie.”
“Decker’s place is closer, I guess.”
“It is.” Blue slid her hand in his, twining their fingers. “Do you want to do what Rosie and Decker have done?” she asked as they walked down the steps to the diner and out into the rain. They turned in the opposite direction of the plantation and headed toward his friend’s place.
“What do you mean?”
“Live separate for a while until we know it’s going to work out.”
“It’s going to work out no matter if we live together now or later.”
“How do you know?”
Cort squeezed her hand and looked down at the drops of rain dripping from the bill of her cap. They were going to be beyond soaked by the time they got to Decker’s. His shirt was already plastered to his chest; his hair was flattened by the rain running down his face. The one lucky thing was that work boots were waterproof. Blue was in flip-flops. Her shirt was plastered to her chest as well, and her nipples poked against the bra she wore which poked against the wet T-shirt.
He could see the shadows of her back tattoo and wondered briefly how many people would see her topless if he told her to take her shirt and bra off as they walked.
“What are you thinking?”
“Nothing, why?”
“You’re hard.”
“I am.”
“Why?”
“Thinking about you naked in the rain but figured the townspeople would take issue with it.”
“What about you naked in the rain too?”
“Nah, just you.”
“Right. You like to keep your clothes on in public. It’s just me you want to show off.”
“Do you remember the balcony in Savannah?” he asked, because he sure as hell did. It was the first time he’d seen her naked. It was in the moonlight with the reflection of streetlights everywhere. They hadn’t turned on any lights in his room; they’d just opened the curtains and balcony doors, then kissed their way outside. The first time he took her, she’d been bent forward over the railing, naked as the day she’d been born.
Her breasts had swayed over the edge, as had her long, dark hair. Catcalls and whistles from men walking below had spurred him on. It had done the same to her. She’d soaked his cock and come so hard.
But while she’d been naked, he hadn’t. His shirt had been unbuttoned and his pants had been pushed down around his hips, but he’d still had on his clothes and his shoes.
“I remember.”
“Sex with you that night was the hottest sex I’d ever had.”
“Because it was outside?”
“Partly, but the other part was you, how beautiful you were, not a stitch of clothing on, not caring about it either. You were wild and open, and I loved it. You were everything I wanted and everything I wasn’t.”
“So what you’re saying is you want me strip to nothing?”
“I’d love it.”
Blue tugged him off the road a few feet up and down a little trail
. When they were out of sight, she dropped his hand and started undressing. “No one will see us, and it’s a shortcut to Decker’s. He probably doesn’t even know about it.”
She tossed her wet shirt at him, which he caught in one hand. He caught her bra in the other hand a few seconds later. Just her being topless had him fighting the urge to drag her to muddy ground.
She turned and started walking again clad only in her skirt and flip-flops. It was the first time since Saturday afternoon that he’d gotten a good look at her tattoo, was able to stare at it and marvel at the intricacies of it. If he didn’t know better and was a little farther away, he’d swear it was a real corset, however when she moved, it moved with her, the inked on ties swaying.
He forget all about it, then because she dropped her skirt but kept walking. Cort bent to pick it up only to find that a few more feet away, she’d dropped her panties. Pink. Just like her shirt and just like her bra. She matched completely. Even her flip-flops were the same shade of pale pink.
Full hips, strong legs, nipped waist, and not a tan line in sight. Not that her tan was dark, which he loved because her dark hair was perfect against her skin, but there was a tan.
“Are you a nudist by any chance?”
“No. I like clothes. Just sometimes I like the freedom of being without them. It’s like when I’m feeling constricted by life, pinned in, trapped. If I go around naked for a while I feel less so.” She glanced up at him. “Probably doesn’t make much sense.”
It actually did, in a strange way. He took her hand again, and they walked in silence, his mind trying to focus on anything else but the wish she granted him by stripping and walking nude beside him in the rain. Drops fell from her nipples and slid down her stomach. It wasn’t a cold rain because it wasn’t a cold day. The air after would be steamy, muggy and wholly unpleasant unless they were inside.
Over the trees he saw the bright blue tin roof of Decker’s house. “Well, I’ll be damned.”
“Told you it was a shortcut.”
Forever in Blue Jeans Page 17
