by Various
She heard their happy chatter before they entered the bathroom and sucked in a long breath, expelling the air slowly as her friends called her name. She pinched her cheeks, fluffed her hair, and flushed the toilet before leaving the stall sporting a bright smile.
“So what do y’all think?” she asked, moving to a sink to wash her hands.
“We think you’ve been holding out on us,” Lisa said. “If Brooks and Vance are representative of the men here in Henderson, we should have had an invitation long ago.”
Lolly laughed. “They’re a handful,” she said, pulling a paper towel out of the dispenser. “I’ll give you that.”
“You are aware they’re in love with you, right?” Pam said.
Lolly stopped short. “Who’s in love with me?”
“Well, Brooks obviously,” Pam said. “But the way Vance looks at you when he thinks no one sees? He’s pining hard. It’s a regular little love triangle.”
“It really isn’t,” Lolly insisted, waving them off. “Trust me. Most of the time it feels like Vance and Brooks are the bromance and I’m the third wheel,” she said, pulling lipstick out of her pocket and focusing on her reflection in the mirror.
“So why Brooks and not Vance?” Holli asked.
“Because there is history with Brooks,” Lisa supplied. “She’s been crazy about him since high school.”
“Yeah, but Vance is hot,” Holli insisted.
“Brooks is just as hot,” Lisa countered.
“True. But Vance has this edge to him,” Holli said thoughtfully. “Like he’s all bottled up and his cork is about to pop.”
“Well, there is that,” Lisa laughed.
“Brooks was the one who asked her to Darcy’s party,” Pam said simply. “Vance is biding his time.”
“Oh My God, will you all stop!” Lolly laughed.
Pam shrugged her shoulder. “Just saying. I think you’re right.”
“Right about what?”
“You’ve definitely got your hands full.”
Chapter Twenty-one
Thirty minutes later inside his truck, Lolly was desperately trying to get her hands full—full of Brooks’ Polo shirt.
She was leaning her full weight against him as they tongue wrestled, frantically pulling the ends of his shirt out of the waistband of his jeans. Visions of getting it up over his head and getting her hands on his bare chest and shoulders were spurring her on. She wanted a firm grasp of all that brawn that turned her on and grounded her at the same time. She knew as soon as he wrapped those muscled arms around her she’d be secure. Able to think. Sort of.
Brooks broke the contact of their mouths, panting heavily. Helping her with his shirt, kissing her in between words as he spoke. “Please tell me this is the three margaritas talking and not that dance with Vance.”
“Does it matter?” she said against his mouth. They both pulled his shirt over his head.
“Probably should,” he said as he spun and laid her flat underneath him in the backseat of his truck’s cab. He ran frantic kisses down her neck as he pushed the straps of her sundress down over her shoulders, exposing her naked breasts. “Jesus,” he said before swallowing one whole.
Lolly’s hands moved from his shoulders to the back of his head, pressing him to her. Her pelvis bucked against his lower body. “Hmm,” she hummed, biting her lower lip, squeezing her eyes shut. “That feels really, really good.”
He rocked against her, pelvis to pelvis, and groaned. He nipped at her breast and then sucked her nipple in deep.
“Ah!” Lolly cried, and raised her hips to meet his. “Please tell me you brought a condom.”
Brooks moved over to the other breast, sucking it into his mouth and tonguing her nipple. “We don’t need a condom,” he said as he worked.
“We don’t?” Lolly asked, panting as she stroked her hands over his shoulders, running them down the contours of his back and into the waistband of his jeans.
“Nope,” he insisted as his mouth applied even more pressure.
“Why not––ah!”
“Because, Laura Leigh,” he said, taking a break and smiling up at her, “we’re just sayin’ goodnight.”
“But you have your shirt off,” she said, ogling his chest. Then she looked down at herself. “And my childlike breasts are exposed,” she laughed.
“Jesus Christ, Lolly. I already have issues with your age. Please, do not call anything about your anatomy childlike. Besides, as they say, anything more than a mouthful….” He went on to prove his point.
She groaned. “This hardly feels like saying goodnight.”
“Because this goodnight kiss is neither nice,” he kissed her mouth, “safe,” he bent his neck and came at her from another direction, “or boring,” he finished, sucking her tongue deep into his mouth.
“Mmm,” she moaned, sliding her hand down around his hip and slipping it between them. She spread her legs as best she could and palmed his arousal through his jeans. “You just keep kissing me like this, and I’ll take care of us both.”
Brooks grunted against her lips. “Unzip my pants and I’ll take care of us both.”
Her eyes sprung to his. “Brooks Bennett, I never thought I’d hear you say those three little words.”
“What three little words?”
“Unzip. My. Pants.”
“Cute,” he smirked. “Frankly, I can’t believe I’ve said them myself. But trust me. I’ve got this,” he said, lifting his hips while he worked her mouth.
It took two hands to undo the button on his fly, but after that it was easy to slide the zipper all the way down.
His mouth didn’t leave hers, but his hands slid under her hips and pulled up her dress, bunching it around her waist. He left her panties where they were and did his best to pull his pants apart and shove them down a bit.
His rock-solid shaft, held tight against his body by his boxer briefs, scraped the front of her silk undies. Their bodies jolted at the same time.
He tilted his hips back and gave it another try, making them both moan. “Just like back in high school,” he murmured, as he settled into a steady motion.
“I thought you didn’t date in high school,” she panted, closing her eyes and biting her lip.
“Right,” he grunted. “Might have gotten lucky once or twice though. Back when we had to keep it PG-13.”
“And we are keeping it PG-13 now, why?”
“Because,” he stammered, starting to sweat. “Like I said. We’re just saying goodnight.”
Lolly opened her eyes to find Brooks staring down between them. Watching the action. She licked her lips and smiled. “Brooks?”
“Yeah?”
She kept quiet until he looked up. Then she gave him her best smile. “I really like the way you say goodnight.”
***
Hale Evans insisted Lolly borrow his orange Vette to follow Lisa, Pam, and Holli back to Raleigh on Saturday. She didn’t argue.
But she did realize that was how Vance found out she was in Raleigh for a girls’ night. And not just any night out, but a twenty-fifth birthday celebration for one of her sorority sisters. The first text from him rolled in at about nine o’clock.
‘I don’t like this.’
‘Excuse me?’
‘You. The Vette. Raleigh.’
‘What’s not to like?’
‘Do not go to Spanky’s.’
‘Already there.’
‘It’s a meat market.’
‘I think I can handle it.’
‘Report in every fifteen minutes.’
‘Is Brooks with you?’
‘Brooks who?’
‘Funny. Over and Out.’
‘Fifteen minutes!’
She turned off her phone.
One hour later, Lisa’s cell phone rang. It was Vance. Threatening to call her as well as Pam and Holli regularly if Lolly didn’t turn her phone back on.
The girls retaliated by texting staged photos of Lolly carousing with the oppo
site sex.
“They are yanking your chain,” Brooks said calmly as he sipped a beer and watched the ballgame.
Vance handed over his phone. “Yep. But as long as they keep sending pictures, I know she hasn’t been slipped a roofie and is not being mauled by some predator.”
Brooks used his thumb to flick through the images of Lolly and a bunch of harmless goofballs. When he handed the phone back, he cleared his throat and asked, “Exactly how bad do you have it for Lolly?”
Vance placed his phone on the coffee table and stared straight at the TV. He shrugged.
“Fucking A. I knew this was a bad idea.”
“Yeah, well, it was my bad idea, so I’m dealing with it. Besides, it’s working. I’m not out picking up women I find reprehensible, am I? I’m sitting here watching a ballgame with you on a Saturday night.”
“Who’s playing?”
“What the fuck do you mean, who’s playing?” he said, pointing at the TV screen like Brooks was an idiot.
“Your head is in Raleigh. It’s not watching this game with me.” Brooks pulled another beer out of the ice bucket, popped the top, and handed it to Vance. “What the hell do you think is going to happen to her?”
“I don’t know,” Vance mumbled, taking the beer.
“No, really. Think about it,” Brooks encouraged. “She’s surrounded by friends. She knows you and I are as close as her phone. What could possibly happen?”
“I don’t know!” Vance shouted, turning to Brooks. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to Lolly. Just like I didn’t know the last time I saw my mother was going to be the last time I saw my mother. Or that the last time I saw Piper was going to be the last time I’d lay eyes on her. I don’t know what the hell could happen to Lolly. But what I know for sure is that something damn well could.”
“Okay, okay. Sorry,” Brooks soothed. “I get it. You care for Lolly.”
“Yes. And my caring for a female has proved to be a very dangerous thing. It tends to get them sucked into an alternate universe I can’t access.”
“Understood.”
“Look, man. I know it’s bullshit. Believe me. I know,” Vance said, making a face and pointing to his head.
“It’s not bullshit. It’s your life. At least up until now.”
“If something were to happen to Lolly,” Vance said, rubbing his face in his hands, “I’d be done. Three strikes and I’d be out. Permanently.”
“Thus, the panic.”
“You’d be panicking too.”
“I probably would.”
They both went back to watching the game. Eventually Brooks said, “Is this gonna be a problem for us?”
“Nope.”
“Cause if it’s going to be a problem we might want to discuss––”
“Trust me. I’ve lived a long time without having the women I love put me first. I’ll survive this.”
That about broke Brooks’ heart. “What’s Duncan been able to find out about Piper?”
Vance looked at his beer a long time. Finally he said, “Duncan is going slow. Being discreet.” He shrugged. “It’s for the best.”
Brooks disagreed, but let it drop. Both men turned their attention to the game.
Chapter Twenty-two
“What do you mean you can’t have dinner with me? Lolly, this is like the only seven minutes I have free all week.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said into her cell phone as her hands stayed busy at the sewing machine. “Annabelle’s driving up from Raleigh to work with me and I couldn’t tell her no simply because I have a dinner date.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because we are working on…something. Something big. And I can’t tell you about it because I don’t want to jinx anything.”
“I need to see you.”
“Brooks,” she whispered, in case her mother was in the kitchen. “I could sneak out and see you during the hours you do have free. I could be at your house when you get home at midnight and stay right on through until you leave tomorrow morning at six.”
“Don’t tempt me.”
“I’m trying to tempt you,” she insisted. “That’s the point.”
“I get your point. I’ve done nothing but think about your point. Especially since you’ve been a no-show at camp and you’re refusing to have dinner as promised.”
“I haven’t been to camp because I’m working on the jock straps for camp. Hopefully they’ll be finished by tomorrow. I’m also working on my Fashion Week designs, which was the whole point of my being here this summer, remember? And now I’m working on this new project with Annabelle. Trying to fit all that in between the golf matches and tennis matches with….”
She could physically hear Brooks reigning in his temper. Shit! She fought for words to soothe him but came up empty. So empty she could do nothing but let the damning silence lengthen between them.
Finally Brooks said, “Lolly, I’m going to hang up now.”
She managed to whisper, “Okay,” before she heard him disconnect.
***
Brooks had done his best to compartmentalize his frustration with one long-legged, soul-stirring, too-busy-for-him Lolly DuVal, but it spilled out into his job at the most infuriating moments.
Sure, Pansy the pit bull had now gotten loose five times. Still, barking at the Darleys was not the way he liked to handle things.
And yes, he’d been taking extra shifts to cover for two of the department’s rookies for months now. But explaining to them at the top of his lungs––in front of a bunch of fellow officers––that a full-time job meant they couldn’t go to the beach and get shit-faced every weekend wasn’t his typical operating procedure.
Temper tantrums were for three-year-olds, not for veteran cops. And the pisser of it was it was his own damn fault.
He knew allowing Vance to get involved with Lolly was a bad idea. He knew it, and yet he had let Vance talk him into it anyway. And now the two of them shared hours on end together each week, and here he was suffering through day five of not having been allocated enough of Lolly’s time.
Jesus! All this whining was making him want to kick his own ass.
He was tired. He needed to go home and get some sleep. And tomorrow, he thought as he headed for his truck, he’d start imposing his will like Darcy told him to. That’s right. He’d roll it right up and over Vance Evan’s back and then on up to Lolly’s front door.
He tried to forgive himself for all the glaring missteps over the course of his day as he drove home. The lights shining through the front windows of his ranch-styled home caught him off guard until he remembered Lolly suggesting she sneak out to see him. He didn’t know how she managed to get in the house, but suddenly he didn’t feel so tired anymore. He was more than glad she hadn’t listened to him when he’d told her not to come.
What the hell was he fighting her for anyway?
Oh, so very many things, his brain responded, but he tamped it all down until the only thought left was how good it was going to feel to wrap his arms around her and kiss her senseless.
His body flooded with adrenaline. “Lolly,” he called as he closed and locked the front door behind him. He heard sounds in the kitchen and hoped she’d helped herself to some of Lewis’ wine. His heart gave a little twist. He’d have liked to have been here when she first saw the place. Seen her reaction.
He turned and headed toward the kitchen only to be brought up short by the sight of the tall blonde standing there.
“Breaking and entering is a serious crime, and though I might not be able to make it stick, it sure would be entertaining to see your mug shot in the paper next week.”
“It’s not a B & E if I used my own key,” Tansy said, holding up the shiny gold object Brooks had given her the day he settled on the house.
Brooks swallowed. Three inches of scrap metal dangling between a couple of manicured fingernails became his undoing. His jaw tightened and his breathing became heavy. His chest muscles clamped down
on the emotion trying to crawl up into his throat, into his eyes.
Fucking A.
He turned around and slowly unlocked the door. He stood there a couple of moments before he pulled the door open and stepped aside, looking at the floor.
“Brooks, you have every right to be angry. I’m sorry for not talking to you before I left, but I—”
“We are not having this conversation.”
“—had to go. If you had asked me to marry you—”
“We are not now, nor are we ever, having this conversation.”
“—I would have said yes. But I would have always wondered.”
“Stop talking.”
“I had to leave. I needed to make sure. I didn’t want to have any regrets.”
Brooks' head snapped up and he shouted, “And how did that work out for you, Tans?”
“What?”
“You feel good? Right now? You feel…regret-free?”
“I…I.” Her eyes welled up with tears.
“You do not get to cry! You didn’t have the guts to tell me ‘no,’ so you didn’t say anything.”
“I didn’t want to say ‘no.’ I just wasn’t ready to say ‘yes.’ I’d always wanted to live in a big city, and if I stayed in Henderson, I would have regretted not taking the opportunity to live somewhere else when I had the chance.”
“And how hard would it have been to spit those three sentences out before you packed your bags? What the hell did you think I would do? Handcuff you to the flag pole in the center of town and not let you leave? Jesus, Tansy, I was in love with you. If you needed time, I would have given you time.”
“You would have talked me into staying.”
“I sure would have tried.”
“And then everyone would have talked me into staying.”
“It was still your decision.”
“I took the easy way out. I admit it. It was hard enough thinking about disappointing you, but I knew I didn’t have the resolve to face down the Brooks Bennett Fan Club, too.”
