Call Me, Irresistible

by Jess Bryant

  “Lemon! You better be getting up because if I have to come back in there...” Shane rounded the corner and grinned when he saw her, “You’re up.”

  “Observant.”

  He chuckled, “Smartass.”

  “Were you about to threaten me with another spanking?”

  The twinkle in his eyes gave her the answer, “Maybe.”

  “Well I jumped to it, sir. Sorry to burst your bubble.”

  He groaned, “Don’t call me sir.”

  “Not sexy enough for you?” She giggled when he made a face.

  “Sir makes me think of my father. So no.”

  “How about Daddy?”

  “I swear to God, Lemon. I will spank you.” He threatened and she laughed harder as he pulled her into his arms and nipped at her throat.

  “Whatever will I call you then?”

  “How about you just stick to calling me what you’ve always called me.”

  “Deputy Do-Right?” She squirmed when he tickled her.

  “Shane.” He smacked her ass playfully, “Call me Shane.”

  “Your name’s Shane?” She pulled back to look up at him with a faux shocked expression, “That’s crazy. I used to know this guy named Shane.” She pointed to the photograph she’d been looking at and he moved around behind her, holding her back to his front with his arms around her waist.

  “Yeah? What was this Shane guy like?”

  She bit her lip, “You don’t know?”

  “Some days, it’s hard to remember him.” He admitted roughly, his chin dropping to her shoulder. “Some days I’m not sure I remember him at all.”

  Her heart twisted at the admission and she slid her hand over his arm, finding his hand and twining their fingers together, “I can tell you about him.”

  “Oh yeah?” He squeezed her and she smiled.

  “Mmm, let’s see, where to start? Well, clearly he was gorgeous. I mean, look at him. All bronzed skin and muscles and that dimpled smile. Good lord just looking at him was enough to make a girl go all dreamy.”

  He smiled against her neck, “Is that so?”

  “Mmhmm.”

  “Sounds like you had a crush on him.”

  “Oh I did. The biggest crush.”

  “And?” He nudged the neckline of the shirt she was wearing aside to kiss her shoulder.

  “And he was older than me so he pretty much had no idea I existed.”

  “I find that very hard to believe.”

  “Maybe you’re right.” She smirked, “He did notice me but I think that’s only because I drove him crazy.”

  “Now that sounds about right.” He pinched her ass and she giggled.

  “He used to boss me around a lot. Always telling me what to do. Getting on my case whenever I messed up or he thought I stepped out of line.”

  “Sounds like an ass.” He grunted.

  “He was. Sometimes. But the thing about him was, even when he was yelling at me, I still wanted him. I knew he was only mad because he cared, because he expected more from me. It made me want to do better, be better, to make him proud.”

  Shane’s arms tightened around her and his lips brushed her ear, “You did. You do.”

  She relaxed back into him, “He was such a good guy. Shane, he was smart and driven and responsible but he was funny too.”

  “Not sure many people would agree with you on that last one.”

  “That’s why it was so special when he was like that with me. Because he didn’t tease or joke with other people. Not easily. But he always took time to play with me or even just give me a hard time. It made me feel special.”

  “You are.” He whispered against her neck as he hugged her tight, “You always were.”

  “God, I want to believe that so badly.” She whispered back.

  “Then do.” He nuzzled her as he turned her in his arms so they were face to face and her breath caught at the intense look in his eyes as he cupped her cheek softly, “Whatever happened to this Shane guy that you had a crush on?”

  “Oh,” She smiled softly, remembering that she was supposed to be telling him a story, “He did pretty much exactly what he was supposed to do. He married his high school sweetheart and had three lovely daughters. He followed in his dads footsteps and became a cop. He grew up into the sexy, successful man I always knew he would be.”

  “This guy doesn’t sound half bad.” He smirked.

  “Yeah, well… there are rumors he likes to spank younger girls and…” She trailed off into a scream of laughter as he tickled her again. “Oh my God… stop. Stop!”

  “Trouble.” He laughed as she ended up pinned to the wall again.

  “What? It’s true!”

  He leaned forward and nipped her lips, “Kitchen. Now, Lemon.”

  “Wh...”

  “The kitchen is safe. Get in the kitchen or I’m going to spank you and fuck you again no matter how sore you are.” He groaned as he rubbed their bodies together and then jerked back with a shake of his head, “I’m not going to bend you over anything in the kitchen where I feed my children so go. Now.”

  She laughed as he stepped back again, putting more space between them, “Seriously?”

  “My children eat in there. It wouldn’t be very sanitary.”

  That made her laugh harder, “Always so responsible.”

  “You make it hard.” He barked another laugh and smacked her on the ass playfully when she wiggled her brows at him, “In more ways than one.”

  Lemon smiled but when he made no further move to touch her she let him off the hook and pranced towards the kitchen. She might have thrown a little extra swing into her step though considering she was wearing his clothes and they were two sizes too big he probably couldn’t even see her ass. But then she heard his chuckle and her grin grew two sizes as well.

  “On your left, Lem.” He directed her through his house just like he’d directed her around the neighborhood the first time they’d gone running together.

  She got a glimpse of the living room they’d come through on the way to his bedroom. It held oversized, well-worn leather furniture, a big screen television and several bookshelves, one of which was full of albums and cd’s that she would inspect thoroughly later. The walls in there were decorated with a couple of framed prints of landscapes and more pictures of his kids.

  Following his directions she turned left and found the large, spacious kitchen. It was tiled in light colors. Blues and whites that made it feel even larger and more open. There was a big table with six chairs on one end and on the other there was a large island with barstools. There was a bowl of fruit on the counter as well as a bread box and a coffeemaker. There was even a vase of fresh flowers on the windowsill and Lemon couldn’t help but wonder where they’d come from.

  Did Shane buy flowers for his house? He was a good man, a sweet man, but she couldn’t imagine him buying a bouquet at the grocery store when he stopped in for supplies. Which made her wonder if there was a woman that had decorated the immaculately adorned house, which of course led her thoughts back to Holly, which made her frown.

  “I like your house.”

  “Yeah?” He followed her into the kitchen and slid around the other side of the island when she hopped up on a barstool. She winced, having forgotten she was sore and his lips thinned, “Careful.”

  “Sir, yes sir.” She stuck her tongue out at him and motioned around the kitchen to change the subject, “Did you do all this yourself?”

  “Do all what?”

  “Decorate.”

  His head tilted, “Why? You think I can’t pick out matching color patterns?”

  “Just seems a little feminine, for a single guy.” She nodded towards the flowers, “You don’t strike me as a daisies in the window kind of man.”

  Shane stared at her for a moment and then shook his head as he moved around the island towards her, “Damnit Lemon, I thought we covered this already? There’s not another woman in my life. This is my house and if it’s feminine it�
��s because three girls live here with me.”

  “I…”

  “Those flowers are Sophie’s. She thought they were pretty when we were in the market the other day so we got them.”

  “Oh…”

  He cupped her face between his hands and kissed her soundly. Not a deep and seductive kiss this time. No tongue or teeth. Just a sweet press of his lips to hers, grounding her, and wiping away the flash of jealousy just as suddenly as it had hit her.

  “We good?” He dropped his forehead to hers when he broke the kiss.

  She nodded.

  “Good.” He kissed her again softly and then went towards the fridge, “Are you hungry?”

  “Maybe a little.”

  Shane laughed, “Yeah, me too, but I’m talking about food.”

  “That’s what I was talking about, what did you think I was talking about?” She teased.

  “How about some cheese and crackers?”

  “Sounds good.”

  Shane opened the fridge and bent over, retrieving something from the bottom drawer. She eyed his ass openly and saw him snort when he stood back up and caught her. He got out a cutting board and put a block of cheese on it as he pulled a knife from a drawer. He lined them up and then made quick and easy cuts into small, neat squares and she resisted the urge to tease him about that too. She wasn’t one of his girls, she didn’t need the small little bites, but she appreciated his urge to take care of her.

  “So…” He said after he’d cut the brick nearly in two, “What’s next?”

  “Um, the crackers?”

  He glanced up and her guts twisted as she realized what he was asking. Not about lunch. Not even about them. He was asking about her. He wanted to talk about it some more. She should have known he would. He was Shane after all. The most responsible person she’d ever known. He would want some sort of plan. He needed it more than she did and since he’d been so good to her, been there for her, she blew out a rough breath and forced herself to give him this. She couldn’t do it for herself. She’d run from the decisions. But for Shane…

  “I don’t need to have the surgery anytime soon. It’s not life or death.”

  His gaze flickered down to the knife in his hand and he swallowed hard, “But you’ll be in pain until you do?”

  “It’s a few more weeks until that time of the month if you really need to know.” She gave him a pointed look, “But yes, it always hurts when Aunt Flo comes for a visit, otherwise it’s a livable sort of uncomfortableness most of the time.”

  “Is there anything we can do in the meantime to make it easier?”

  The way he so easily said we made her heart skip a beat but she shook her head, “No.”

  “Is it… do we… will it make it…”

  She smiled, “Having sex won’t make it any better or worse, Shane.”

  He nodded quickly and went back to cutting at the cheese. It was far more than they could possibly eat at this point but she didn’t stop him. He needed something to do with his hands. She twisted her own and picked at her nails, wishing she had something to do with hers.

  A loud boom echoed through the room when he slammed the knife down on the counter too hard a minute later and sighed heavily, “When are you going back?”

  She stared at him until the calm façade on his face cracked. He lowered his head and closed his eyes. His chest heaved as he took a deep breath and she pushed off her barstool and moved towards him. He turned to her when she reached him and pulled her into his arms. He buried his face in her neck and she bit back a flash of tears she hadn’t known to expect.

  This wasn’t supposed to be the hard part.

  “I don’t know.” She managed.

  “But you are going back, aren’t you? You’re leaving.”

  She bit her lip, “That was the original plan but…”

  But… she wasn’t sure she wanted to go back. She wasn’t sure what was left for her in Nashville. She was supposed to be writing her next album but she could do that from anywhere. She could definitely do it from here. In Fate. Even in this beautiful kitchen with the daisy flowers in the window. But it had been four days and as irresponsible and impulsive as she might be, she wasn’t sure she could make a decision like that, change her life like that, based on four days and the fluttery feeling in her chest.

  Shane pulled back and held her face between his hands again, “Don’t make that decision yet.”

  “What?”

  “Don’t decide right now. Please.” His eyes searched her face, “I’m not asking you to stay or to pick me or to do anything crazy. Just… don’t decide yet, okay? You said you were staying a few weeks. Give me a few weeks. Please?”

  A strange emotion filled her chest and she thought it might be hope. Was it possible? Was he thinking the same thing? That this thing between them might, just might, have a future if they gave it a chance? Did he want the possibility as much as she did?

  Lemon swallowed hard, “Stay a few more weeks?”

  He nodded.

  “With you?”

  He nodded.

  She smiled, “Okay.”

  Shane’s eyes widened, “Really?”

  “Yeah.” She paused when he smirked, “Why? Were you tricking me? If this is some kind of joke, Shane Anto…”

  “It’s not a joke.” He laughed as he covered her mouth with his hand to keep his full name from coming out of it, “I want you here. I want to see where this goes. I like having you with me. I just thought you’d fight me on it like you do everything else.”

  She bit his finger and he pulled back with a hiss, “I do not always fight you.”

  He gave her a pointed look, “Exhibit A. You just bit me!”

  “You shouldn’t have covered my mouth like I’m one of your children.”

  “Lemon, baby, I know you’re not one of my children.” He slid his hand to her ass and she laughed.

  “Are you sure? Because…” She pointed to the squares of cheese, “Exhibit A.”

  Shane stared at the small mountain of tiny cheese squares and his brows furrowed. He hadn’t even realized he was doing it. She grinned. She’d known it. But it was still fun to tease him about it. Particularly when he glanced back at her and his eyes heated.

  “Habit. Sorry.” He backed her against the island and she let him lift her up onto it even though the hard surface wasn’t exactly pleasant under her sore ass. “But I have this urge to take care of you. It’s not new. I’ve always had it.”

  “Yeah?” She looped her arms around his neck and let him step between her legs.

  “Yeah. Remember when you fell off your bike?” He brushed his finger over the scar that was nearly invisible on her forehead.

  “When I was seven?”

  He nodded, “You were all scraped up and bleeding and it killed me that I couldn’t get you to stop crying. I tried everything I could think of but nothing helped. It was the first time I remember feeling completely helpless.”

  “You didn’t offer to kiss it all better if I remember correctly.”

  He snorted and pulled her to the edge of the counter, closer to him, “You were seven, Lemon. That wasn’t an option.”

  “It was for me.”

  Shane brushed her hair off her shoulders, “That’s the part that’s new for me. The wanting to kiss you and touch you all the damn time. Not being able to close my eyes without seeing you. Always wondering where you are and what you’re doing when you’re not with me.”

  She smiled, “You think about me all the time?”

  “All the time.” He smiled back at her, “That parts new but wanting to take care of you, that’s not. So stay with me and let me take care of you, at least for a little while, at least until we see if there’s a possibility of working this thing out of our systems.”

  “You think that’s a possibility?” She frowned.

  Shane stroked a finger over her lips, “No.”

  He kissed her before she could process his words and she groaned as the taste of him
sparked through her system. She was so addicted to this. The weightless, flying, falling feeling that made her stomach drop out whenever he touched her was better than any high. Even singing on stage for a million fans. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back, melting into him and into this moment.

  He wanted her to stay. He wanted to see where this went. He wanted her. And she wanted him. She wanted to find out what her future really looked like. She wanted to stay too.

  He nipped at her lips and groaned, “I swore I wasn’t going to ravish you in the kitchen.”

  “Then we should go back to the bedroom.” She nipped him right back.

  “Right now, I…”

  The sound of a door opening and the chatter of several voices all at once made them both freeze. The front door they hadn’t locked was opening. There were multiple voices, small, feminine voices that echoed through the house. The door slammed shut and one of the voices rose above the others.

  “Dad? We’re home!”

  “Oh my God.” Lemon gasped.

  “Shit.” Shane growled under his breath as he released her and stepped back. “It can’t be three o’clock already. It can’t… shit.”

  Lemon slid off the island as the sound of those voices came closer. She tried to smooth her hair into something that didn’t resemble a rat’s nest. She pulled at her clothes and then remembered that she wasn’t wearing her clothes. She was wearing Shane’s clothes. She felt like she should run, or hide or… something. But when she started to bolt a big hand grabbed her wrist and hauled her back.

  “Nowhere to run this time, babe.” He dropped his forehead to hers and smiled even as he kissed her quickly.

  “Wh…” She started but he raised his head before she could finish her question.

  “In here.” He shouted and her eyes bugged out.

  He wasn’t really… he couldn’t be… no. No. No. No. He wasn’t going to hide her like some dirty little secret. He wasn’t going to lie about her. He was going to keep her right there by his side, in his arms, as his children walked into the kitchen. He was taking them public with the biggest gesture imaginable.