Imperfect Love: Operation: Girl Next Door (Kindle Worlds Novella)

by Casey Hagen

  This Piper could pull up a lawn chair at the edge of the lake, basking in the scents of burgers and hot dogs, and ease into being Trevor’s girlfriend.

  The door to the lake house flew open and a robust man wearing a huge smile stepped out. “It’s about time you made it, Trevor, my boy. You and your beautiful lady here almost missed the couples’ massages.”

  This Piper, despite her brief lakeside fantasy, did not have a hot dog in her future because she was apparently going to be naked in a room with a naked Trevor.

  “Trevor?”

  His smile slipped a tad, but he tried covering it with a squeeze of her hand as he tugged her alongside him and up the front steps.

  “We did not agree on naked,” she muttered.

  He squeezed her hand again.

  She dug her fingernails into his skin, satisfied with his brief flinch.

  He reached out his hand to the man on the porch who’d just crushed her hot dog dreams. “Sorry, Mr. Williams. We hit a traffic snag about an hour outside of the city. A total mess.” He hooked his arm around her waist and pulled her forward. “I’d like you to meet my girlfriend, Piper Bradley. Piper, this is my boss, Davidson Williams.”

  She reached out her hand and smiled despite the sheer panic that had set in. “Nice to finally meet you, Mr. Williams.”

  He took her hand in both of his. “Oh, none of that now. Please, call me Davidson.”

  “All right, Davidson. Really, you needn’t have gone through so much trouble. I don’t mind if we skip the massage—”

  He patted her hand. “Don’t be silly, my dear. I want everyone to start out relaxed and refreshed. I have a whole schedule of activities for the entire weekend.”

  He leaned in and winked.

  Hmmm, that winking thing seemed to be catching.

  “Actually, my lovely wife made the schedule, bless her. Unfortunately, a few things came up with the kids and their extracurriculars that called her away unexpectedly, but hopefully she’ll be back in time for you to meet her.”

  Williams, though thick around the middle, stood tall and proud. His hair had gone almost completely gray. Between his build, his exuberance, his kids still being in school, and that gray hair, Piper might have had better luck nailing Jello to a wall than guessing his age.

  She smiled. “I’d like that. What kind of extracurriculars are your kids in?”

  “My! No one has ever asked.” He nudged Trevor with his elbow. “You found a good one here, my boy. You remember what I said about not letting her get away.” With his wallet in hand and opened to his pictures, he stood next to her. “We’ve got twin ballerinas. Sasha and Sabrina.”

  What looked to be seven or eight-year-old, raven-haired beauties stared up from the picture. She’d seen their ballet gowns before. They’d been designed by Blush, one of her biggest competitors.

  She schooled her features and pretended that she didn’t have more than a general interest in the girls or dance.

  It was harder than she thought, but she managed it.

  Just add actress to her resume.

  “They’re stunning. You must be so proud,” she said as she handed back the wallet.

  “Well, I can’t take all the credit, it’s mainly their mother’s doing. The woman is a saint. Anyway, enough about that, grab your bags and come on in. I saved your suite and the massage therapists are in there waiting. I’ll introduce you to everyone else after.”

  “Yes, sir,” Trevor said with a nod and winning smile.

  Such a boob.

  Davidson led them to through to a room at the back corner of the house, nearest to the lake. At least that was something.

  She’d have liked to take in the post and beam lake house, only the wood, the furnishings, the huge windows, they all disappeared in the horror of what they were about to do.

  She’d have the best view while naked, in a room with Trevor, getting a rub down.

  “I hate you right now,” she whispered.

  “Yeah, well, get in line. I’m not too thrilled with me right now either.” His otherwise jovial tone had vanished, leaving harshness in its wake. She could almost believe he meant it. If he hadn’t eye-humped her when she came out of her building that morning.

  Sure, he was mad about it. She didn't believe that for a minute.

  ***

  Trevor wanted to see her naked.

  That he couldn’t deny…but not like this. In his fantasy, they were both naked.

  Okay, so they were both going to be naked.

  Piper eyed the ladies standing over the massage tables, her brows furrowed, and she wrung her hands. The wide openness of the room mocked him. There was nowhere to change privately. And of course, why would there be in a couple’s massage?

  He shed his suit jacket and tossed it over a leather easy chair in the corner.

  He made eye contact with Piper and willed her to understand what he was about to do. He popped a button on his shirt and grinned at her. “Oh, come on, baby. You can’t still be mad at me.” He wrapped his arms around her waist, leaned in, and laid his lips against her skin.

  Christ. He’d done it for show, but the soft skin stretched over her delicate neck demanded that he continue to linger there, breathing her in.

  His willpower vanished with her sweet scent. He didn’t know what he'd expected.

  Or maybe he did. He expected her to smell the way she looked when she met him in front of her building. But no, a warm hint of lemon cream floated over her skin, fruity and sweet, and before he thought better of it, he flicked the tip of his tongue against her skin.

  His eyes crossed with lust.

  Her back stiffened under his hands.

  “Easy, Piper,” he whispered along the shell of her ear. “We have an audience watching.”

  “I think I hate you,” she rasped in his ear.

  And damned if the sound didn’t go straight to other parts of him.

  “Ahhh, but love and hate, they’re practically the same thing.”

  “I definitely don’t love you.”

  “Give me a couple days; I’ll sway you to the dark side.”

  He curled his arm around her and rested his hand on her ass, giving it a squeeze followed by a playful slap. “Ladies, would you mind giving me and my girlfriend a few minutes? It was a long ride and she didn’t speak to me for most of it. I have some making up to do.”

  “Absolutely, Mr. Myers,” the tall, blonde therapist closest to the door replied. With a nod of her head, they both disappeared through the bedroom doorway, closing the door with a soft click.

  Piper reached back and sunk her nails into the back of the hand cupping her ass.

  “Ouch, shit. What was that for?” he said as he rubbed the crescent-shaped nail marks she had left in his skin.

  “Look, I know what the deal is. I’m supposed to play the girlfriend. That’s fine, that’s what I signed on for. Since I’m doing that, you’re going to show your girlfriend respect.”

  “Hey, wait.” He snagged her hand. “How did I disrespect you?”

  “Women don’t usually like being grabbed on.”

  “I kissed your neck. That seemed like a perfectly normal thing to do.”

  “It was. It’s the ass grab that I didn’t appreciate. Don’t treat me like any other lay, Trevor. I deserve better than that.” She glanced up at him, disappointment evident from the lines with the set of her mouth and her guarded gaze. “What happened to that guy I used to know, huh? Was it this job that turned you into this? If it was, I’m not so sure it’s worth the promotion.”

  She was right. He knew she was right. For years, more years than he cared to count, this was how he had been with women. They’d been happy to have the attention lavished on them, both monetarily and physically. They used him for what they could get out of him, and he used them for a soft place to land. It had worked.

  It was also as impersonal as an audit, despite the nakedness.

  And it left him alone in the end. Always alone.
r />   Leave it to Piper to call him on his shit.

  “I’m sorry, Piper. Seriously, I didn’t mean to make you feel like that.”

  She sighed and fiddled with the end of her braid. “You know, it’s probably me. Dancers get grabbed on a lot, and are expected to pretend it doesn’t happen. I’m probably sensitive to it. Still, if you want to sell your boss on the new and improved, monogamous you, you need to treat me like the girl next door.”

  He nodded. “You’re right. No ass grabbing.”

  She looked so determined to be stern with him, but her mouth tipped up in the corners anyway. The light in her eyes returned and they were on their way back to solid ground again. Interesting how the eyes changed like that. Maybe it was just hers. Either way, he never wanted to put that look in her eyes again.

  “Maybe we need to practice. You know, so we look like a comfortable couple.”

  “Trevor,” she warned.

  “What? I’m being completely serious here. We’ve never even kissed and now we’re supposed to be this couple that’s been together for a year? I don’t think it’ll wash. Do you want our first kiss to be with an audience?”

  “Well, no. That would be weird.”

  “Okay, so we do it now.” He took a step toward her.

  She put a hand to his chest to stop him. “Wait.”

  “What?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Piper, it’s not like you’ve never kissed a man before. We’re just getting it out of the way. After all, we’re about to get naked in front of each other. Kissing should definitely come before nudity.”

  “Okay, that’s logical. So, where do we start?”

  “It’s just like any other kiss. Let’s just rip off the Band-Aid and get it done.”

  “Band-Aid…right. Just a quick sting.”

  He lined his body with hers, determined to take it slow. Tempering his insatiable urge to taste her mouth, he smoothed his hand over that braid, the silky fibers dancing along his skin. He didn’t know why that was his inclination, but he went with it.

  Women liked their hair touched, right?

  He swirled his index finger along the curl at the end. Careful to not dip his fingers lower over the curve of her breast, he dragged it along the skin of her collarbone, enjoying the rise and fall of the ridges there.

  She sucked in a deep breath. In that moment, he needed to not screw this up.

  He cupped her jaw and tipped her head back. Her eyes drifted shut just a fraction of time before he captured her lips.

  She hesitated under him, then seemed to remember herself and what they were supposed to do. In that moment, her lips parted just enough that her sweet taste climbed inside him and twisted his insides.

  This had disaster written all over it.

  And he didn’t care…he just wanted.

  When she let out a soft moan and clutched his shirt, balling the fabric in her tight fist, he went for more. Titling his head to go deeper, so much deeper, he dragged out each slide of his lips, letting the heat they created set him on fire just to feel the torturous burn.

  Yeah, he was a head case all right.

  Her tentative tongue ducked into his mouth making him groan from its erotic exploration. Her hands slid around him until she held him, anchored herself to him really, and there was nothing do but follow her. He took everything she gave, always seeking, needing more, needing to go deeper.

  Trevor heard a soft knock indicating their time was almost up. When the door opened, he paused, his lips on hers, his fingers curled into her braid where it lay at the nape of her neck. She pulled away, just enough to look him in the eye, and blinked several times.

  “Looks like you two made up. Are you ready for your massages now?”

  He feathered his thumb over her cheek, still needing to touch her, to reassure himself that their kiss was real. “I think we’re ready,” he said, never taking his eyes from hers.

  “Ready for what?” Piper asked.

  “For everything,” Trevor said, knowing that this had become so much more than a game where he competed for the ultimate in prizes.

  He turned to the therapists. “If you could give us just a minute to get undressed.”

  “We’ll be back in just a couple minutes…if that will be sufficient.”

  “That would be fine.”

  Again, they left with nothing but the sound of the soft click of the door. Only this time, everything had changed.

  He stepped back and unbuttoned his shirt at a steady pace, his eyes on hers the entire time. He would not look below her neck. He absolutely would not.

  She peeled her tank top over her head, eyes locked on his, whether or not she was just feeling the same intensity as he or just making sure he didn’t pull something, he didn’t know. Reaching behind her back, she unhooked her bra. Seconds later, the muffled thud of it hitting the floor was the only sound, other than their heavy breathing.

  Her hands fell away, and since he was being a good boy, he couldn’t be sure, but he suspected they landed on the snaps of her jeans.

  She froze.

  He didn’t, stripping his slacks from one leg, then the other, he stood there in nothing but his boxer briefs.

  “What’s the matter, Piper?”

  She bit her lip. The same lip he’d nibbled on just minutes earlier. “I’m not feeling like the girl next door right at the moment.”

  “And I’m hard enough to pound nails right now.”

  Her eyes dropped to the front of his boxers and she gasped.

  “Piper! I’m shocked at you,” he said with a raise of his brow.

  She rubbed her neck and avoided his eyes. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me right now. Here I just jump up your ass about treating me with respect and I—”

  “I don’t know, I think I might have earned it. Don’t worry, I won’t hold it against you. Go ahead, take the rest off.” With those words, he dragged his boxers down his legs.

  “You won’t look.”

  “Nope. Will you? You know, again?”

  She gave him no answer, unless he counted the strangled sound that came from her throat when he asked. She hurried and dragged her pants and underwear off in one swoop. In the next breath, she was a streak of skin, beautiful skin, as she hightailed it to the massage bed and yanked a sheet over herself.

  “Smooth, Piper. Very smooth.”

  Chapter 5

  Massages were supposed to be relaxing. Instead, Piper spent the entire time calling herself all kinds of an idiot because of the way her girl parts practically sighed with Trevor’s every moan.

  How humiliating was it to be twenty-five and still infatuated with your high school crush?

  She'd worked backstage for years, with every kind of male dancer out there; the prima donnas, the macho cocky ones, the lazy ones, and the perfectionists. She had seen some of the best bodies out there and she had always managed to keep her libido in check. When she dated, she dated business types not so into fitness and their looks, but solid, respectable men with 401K plans and goals for a house, a family.

  She wanted what her parents had, well, minus the stay at home mom part. She loved designing, loved working, she just needed to take the leap and hire a team so she didn’t have to do it all to make time for the rest.

  Time for a man.

  So what the hell was she doing here, in upstate New York, shamelessly kissing her childhood crush, who might actually be the definition of a womanizer.

  She jumped in the shower after the massage under the ruse of wanting to wash off the oil, as well as the traveling and shopping, but what she really did was stand under a frozen spray. Wasn’t it usually guys who claimed to take cold showers?

  Well, she tried it. The thing was, it worked, until it didn’t. It started off shocking her system so all she could think about was her misery, until she became all too aware of the tightening of her nipples and the way those sensations shot right between her legs.

  So, instead of coolin
g off, she fought the urge to take care of business, and stepped out of the shower with nipples hard enough to cut glass.

  Frozen and a little bit pissed off, she threw on a pair of leggings and a thin sweater. She neatened her braid and ventured into the main part of the house where she found Trevor leaning against the black granite kitchen island with a beer in hand.

  He smiled at her, the calculated gleam completely gone for once. “Thirsty?” he asked, raising his beer in the air.

  “Parched.” She took the bottle out of his hands and tipped it back.

  He smirked. “You must be, pilfering my beer and all. Would you like one of your own?”

  She shrugged. “Sure.”

  Trevor opened the fridge and grabbed a fresh bottle, popped the top, and traded it for the one she stole from him.

  They stood side-by-side, leaning against the island, their focus out the floor to ceiling windows along the back of the house giving them a glimpse of their secluded spot in the world.

  From the curve of the lake's edge, the house sat nestled in the corner. She’d bet that the boss owned this corner, ensuring his privacy from residents that might peek through the trees.

  “It’s a great house, but where is everyone?”

  “They’re on the back deck while Davidson mans the grill.”

  “All of them?”

  “Yup.”

  She pushed away from the counter and looked for the doors to the deck. “Then what are we doing in here? I hate being the last one to arrive.”

  “Hey, relax, I waited for you to come down, and I wanted to give you a rundown on who’s out there. So you can be prepared.”

  “I thought you already did.”

  “Yes, but now I can tell you about their significant others.”

  “Okay, hit me with it.”

  “I’m up against three candidates. Mike Higgins who’s here with his wife, Christina. Then there’s Kent Brochu and his fiancée, Deanne. The third is Rachel Clark” He held his hand in the air. “I know, she was in the binder, but this is where it gets dicey. I had a fling with Rachel.”