Summer Obsession (The Townsends Book 1)

by Angie Campbell

  “Why? Who were you talking about?” Luke asked, starting to get a little concerned.

  “Tracy Lewis,” James said, and ducked down behind a car just in time to miss being hit in the head with a flying wrench. “Hey, don’t kill the messenger.” Yeah, this is definitely going to get bad. If she tries to kill him again, he may very well strangle her.

  “God has it in for me.” Luke wasn’t a violent person, but Tracy could bring out the worst in him. Ever since she had tried to shoot him, he had been a little jumpy at the mention of her name.

  “Oh, come on. You know better than that. Tracy Lewis does, but not God,” James said with a twinkle in his eye.

  “That’s what I mean. Mindi’s back in town. And I finally have some hope of working things out with her. Now you’re telling me, Tracy Lewis is back in town, too. Why the second Mindi gets back in town, does Tracy have to turn back up? It’s almost like she has a built-in radar. God has it in for me.”

  Even as he made the ridiculous statement, he knew better. “She’s going to try to kill me again. I know she is. My luck, this time, she’ll get the job done.” If I don’t kill her first. If she tries to mess with Mindi, I may very well do it.

  “Okay, wait. Slow the train down. Why, all of a sudden, do you think you have a chance with Mindi?” I knew this had something to do with Mindi. She’s the only one that can screw him up like that.

  “I don’t want to talk about that right now. When did you find out Tracy Lewis was back in town?” Luke asked, his agitation showing.

  “Last night. Lisa said she was looking for you,” James said, a look of determination spreading across his face. There is no way I’m going to let him off that easy. And he knows it. “You’ve been in love with Mindi for five years. Why do you think you finally have a chance with her?”

  “Stop trying to change the subject. Why was she looking for me?” Luke was getting more agitated by the second.

  “How am I supposed to know? Lisa didn’t even know why. And, you’re the one trying to change the subject,” James said, giving him an amused look. “What crystal ball have you been looking into?”

  “You know I don’t believe in crystal balls,” he said, totally missing the joke, making it more obvious how out of it he was. “How did Lisa know Tracy was looking for me?”

  “Still doing it,” James said, now glaring at Luke.

  “Don’t start with me. Have you asked Lisa to marry you yet, or are you still pretending that being friends is enough for you?” Luke asked, giving him a look that said he already knew the answer.

  “The two are not the same. Lisa and I have always been friends. Mindi and you have always fought like crazy. Besides,” James added with a little less force, sounding almost depressed, “you’re white. I don’t know if her parents would approve. I know they’re okay with us being friends, but husband and wife. I just don’t know.”

  “She kissed me. Alright,” he said, deciding to play nice. James looked like he was in physical pain. “And I’m only half white. The other half is Sioux Indian. Have you forgotten that? Do you know the people you’re talking about? They don’t care what color your skin is. Man, you know they love you, just as much as they do me. How many times do we have to go over this?” Luke asked, sounding frustrated.

  “Drop it. I’m not talking about it anymore.” He really didn’t believe that Lisa and Mindi’s parents would ever approve of him marrying their daughter. No matter how many times Luke said differently.

  “Kissed you, why? Was she just saying thanks for getting me off the side of the road?” Man, I wish Lisa would kiss me. If Luke’s right, I’d sure like a sign.

  “No, more likes she was at a loss for what to do, or to say sorry I’m dating someone else. But why is not important. What matters is how,” Luke said with a smile of obvious delight spreading across his face.

  “Wait, she’s dating someone else?” James was looking concerned again. “How’s that good?”

  “Okay, yes she’s dating someone else, but she couldn’t help but kiss me. I don’t believe her relationship with this Jeff guy is all that serious,” he said, looking for the wrench he had in his hand. “What did I do with that blasted wrench?”

  “Luke, it’s in your hand,” James said, barely stifling a chuckle, causing Luke to flush bright red. Man, these two are going to need a chaperon if she keeps this up. And I may need to get some help in here. He’s going to be bonkers for a while.

  “His name is Jeff?” James asked, thinking he might know who the guy was. Or rather, who the kid was. I wonder why she told him that. To make him jealous? That don’t sound like Mindi.

  “Yes. He’s a medical student.”

  James just grinned, but let it go for now. “Okay, I’ll bite. How then, did she kiss you?”

  She melted in my arms. She kissed me like I was her next breath. “Like she couldn’t stop herself. Like we were the only two people in the whole world,” Luke said, grinning from ear to ear with a far off look in his eyes. That was until he heard a high-pitched voice ringing in his head. Her voice always made his head hurt. Even when he was still dating her. It always made him think of nails on a chalkboard.

  “Yoo-hoo! Anyone in here?” Tracy asked in a sing-song voice.

  “Oh, great! Just what I needed.” He turned in time to see Tracy Lewis round the end of Mindi’s car.

  Tracy was a very beautiful woman. She had long blonde hair, and eyes the color of a clear blue sky. She was what some would call voluptuous. She had great curves. But she was crazy. Dangerous crazy. He had only dated her two weeks, and she was wanting him to ask her to marry him. He broke it off immediately. And then she tried to kill him.

  “Hi, guys! How’s it hanging?” She stopped at the red tool box Luke had been tripping over all morning and grinned like she thought she was the answer to all the world’s problems.

  “What do you want?” Luke’s stone was very dry, and James couldn’t help but laugh. I wonder if he’s thinking about strangling her now.

  “Just trying to make amends.” Tracy was trying to look alluring and only managed to look evil.

  “Fine, I forgive you,” Luke bit out. “Now, go away.” Back to the mental institution you escaped from.

  “That’s not nice,” Tracy said, starting to pout.

  “You tried to kill me. I don’t feel like being nice.” He punched the work table he was standing next to, and felt a knuckle crack. He was having a really hard time fighting the urge to strangle her.

  “That was never prove. Besides, it was just an accident,” she said, giving him a sickly-sweet smile that made him want to vomit. “I would never try to kill you.”

  “Get her out of here,” he said to James as he walked out of the garage, and locked himself in his office. If I have to deal with her for another second, I am going to strangle her.

  Not five minutes after James got rid of Tracy, Mindi walked into the garage. “Well, hello, Beautiful Lady. The crazy man is in the office,” he said as he tossed her his key to the office. And please, don’t kiss him again right now. He’s messed up enough as it is.

  “Hello, James. How are you doing? Asked Lisa to marry you yet?” Mindi asked with a grin on her face. She was feeling good today. Maybe Lisa should try kissing him. I might just suggest it.

  “Ouch! What is it with people today? That’s the second time I’ve been asked that in less than thirty minutes. You know I can’t do that.”

  “Why not?” What is he afraid of? I know Luke has told him Lisa’s in love with him more than once.

  “She’d hate me. She’d never talk to me again.”

  “You don’t know that,” she said, giving him a curious look. “I know my sister, and I know you’re wrong.”

  “Trust me, it’s better this way.”

  “Okay, I’ll let it go for now.” But I’m definitely going to talk to my sister about this. One of them has got to do something. “Mom and Dad are having a barbecue Saturday. You better be there. We’ll start eating aro
und two o’clock. You know the rules. Be there by noon. I need to let Luke know,” she said, rattling the keys in the air.

  “Okay. Good luck in there,” James said as he turned back to his work. “I think he broke a knuckle or two a few minutes ago. He’s a bit of a bear.” I wonder if I should really leave them alone in there, together. Of course, if she gave him another kiss, it would probably improve his mood.

  Mindi just looked at the back of his head for a minute wondering what had happened to cause him to break his knuckle. “Okay, here goes,” she shrugged her shoulders, and turned toward the office. She missed the look of concern on James’ face when he turned back to look at her.

  When she entered the office, Luke had his back to her. He looked like he was trying to tape a couple of fingers together. She started to ask him if he needed help before he asked, “Is she gone?” He thought it was James coming in, and he hadn’t bothered to turn around to look.

  “No, as a matter of fact, I’m not.” Mindi started shaking instantly. Oh, God, he’s angry at me because I kissed him yesterday. Is everyone wrong? Or is it because now he thinks I’m a cheater?

  Luke spun around, a look of surprise on his face. “I wasn’t…”

  She didn’t let him finish. She was extremely upset, and needed to get out of there. “Mom and Dad are having a barbecue Saturday. Be there by noon. Bye!” She walked out and slammed the door behind her. By the time he made it out of the office door, and across the garage, she was getting in her dad’s old pick-up.

  “Mindi, wait. Crap!” Luke tripped over the same red tool box once again, and almost landed on his face. Once he picked himself up off the floor, ignoring the pain in his tapped knuckles, he turned and looked at James. “I have to leave. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Without another word of explanation, he left James standing there, stunned, and talking to himself.

  “What could they be fighting about now? She wasn’t in there long enough.

  *******

  Luke skidded to a stop behind Carl’s pick-up sitting in the driveway. He jumped out of the truck, slamming the door, and ran up the steps to the door and knocked as loud as she could. If she doesn’t listen to me, I’m just going to kiss her silly. Heck, I’m going to kiss her silly, anyway.

  Jamie opened the door and asked with surprise, “What’s going on Luke?”

  “Did you see Mindi come in?”

  “Well, I heard her go upstairs,” Jamie seemed concerned, but acted like she didn’t want to ask. He didn’t feel like volunteering anything for free right now.

  “I really need to talk to her.” What am I going to do if she doesn’t let me go up? I really don’t want to have this conversation where everyone else can hear.

  “Go ahead,” she said as she stepped back out of his way.

  “Thanks,” he said on his way across the room without looking back. He ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time. But when he got to the door, he came to a dead stop. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do. He knocked softly, and waited for a response.

  “Go away, please, Mom. I don’t feel like talking,” she said with a sniff. She figured her mom had heard her slam the door and run up the stairs and was worried about her.

  He opened the door, and stepped in the room. Closing the door behind him, he said, “Sorry, I can’t do that.” I am definitely going to kiss her again before I leave.

  She jumped up at the sound of his voice. Grabbing a book off the night stand, she threw it at his head. He barely had time to dodge it, before the book hit the door behind him. “Get out!”

  She had obviously been crying. Her eyes were blood shot and puffy and her nose was red. “Either your aim is getting bad, or I’m getting faster at dodging,” he said, trying to get her to laugh.

  “Get out,” she screamed, getting louder than that first time.

  “No, not until we work this out.” He wanted to kiss her until the pain went away, but they needed to talk first. “We had a misunderstanding.”

  “How was it a misunderstanding? You didn’t want me there,” she said, looking for something else to throw at him. Why did he follow me? He obviously doesn’t want anything to do with me.

  “I was talking about Tracy Lewis. She was there right before you. That’s why I have cracked knuckles,” he said, waving his hand with the tape in the air. “I punched my work table. I didn’t even know you were there until you came in the office.”

  “Oh.” That really let the air out of her. He seen the anger and pain literally drain out of her face to be replaced with a look of horror. “Tracy’s back in town? She isn’t going to try to kill you again, is she?” she asked, her voice cracking from the concern.

  “I don’t know. I wish she would just stay away from me.” Now you can get as close to me as you want.

  “Well, maybe that will teach you not to play with a girl’s heart,” she said, getting flippant.

  “You’re one to talk,” he said with a smirk.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” she said, feeling the need to throw something at him again.

  “You kissed me. Remember?”

  “Please, leave.” She wanted to turn her back on him, but she was a little afraid to.

  “Sure. As soon as you tell me why you kissed me yesterday, and then ran away.” Of course, if you want to kiss me again, we can just skip the explanations.

  “I’m not talking about that. Get out.” There’s no way I can tell him why I kissed him. All I know is, I want to do it again.

  “Okay,” he said, leaning against the door. “If not that, then give me something else. Saturday night, when I found you in the game room, staring into space, what were you thinking about?”

  “Why?” She was looking at him like she might like to try and hide under the bed. “That’s the second time you asked me that.

  “Just curious,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

  “I don’t know,” she said, still sounding nervous. “I know you. There’s got to be a reason.” How long had he been standing there before I noticed him?

  “Come on. I’m just curious,” he grinned at her, trying to get her to relax.

  “Just memories.”

  “What kind of memories?” Was she really sitting there thinking about…? He couldn’t even finish the thought. He was afraid he’d be disappointed when she answered.

  “Just stuff from the last few years. I’m starting to see things in a different light.”

  “Oh,” he whispered. Has she figured out I’m in love with her? That could be good. Or bad.

  The catch in his voice had made her take a double take. “Now, you tell me why you wanted to know so bad.”

  “I don’t know if I should tell you. You might freak out on me. I don’t want you to try and run again.”

  “If you don’t tell me. I’m going to freak out.”

  “You whispered my name.” He stood there looking at her, unsure if he should go on. “The first time, I wasn’t sure I heard you right. But then you did it again. I nearly stopped breathing. I didn’t want to disturb you. I thought you might go on and say something else,” he confessed with a guilty look.

  “Oh, God,” she groaned. Could this possibly get any more embarrassing?

  When he started to move closer, she darted around him, and ran to the door just in time to see his big hand come up to hold it shut.

  She spun around and came face to face with five years of pent up passion and longing. She wove her fingers through his hair and kissed him without thinking it through. When she felt him start to move in, she lost her resolve. Her intentions had been to distract him, so she could push him away and make a run for it. But his mouth was too hot. And his lips were too soft.

  He was using his lower body to hold her against the door, and he wound his fingers through her hair and pulled her head back, and stood there devouring her mouth like he had no intentions of stopping anytime soon. By the time he started slowly blazing a line of kisses across her cheek, she was gasping for air, and
she could no longer put to thoughts together. But he wasn’t done shredding her control. His mouth moved along to her ear, so he could nibble on her lobe for a little while, then back down her jaw to the tip of her chin. She felt like she was being branded. She knew there would be no visible mark, but she felt sure she would never lose the feeling that he had just staked a claim that she would feel under her skin for the rest of her life.

  When his teeth grazed her throat, she remembered this hadn’t been her intentions, but she was having trouble recalling what they were. Her head was spinning, and she couldn’t make herself think straight. His mouth had reached her collar bone, and he was working his way down the V-neck of her top.

  She knew there was a reason she needed to stop him, but she was starting not to care. Her fingers were still in his hair, and she used them to pull his mouth back up to hers. She’d had a vague thought it might slow them down a little bit, so she could think. She had been dead wrong. The moment his lips made contact with hers again, she was lost in a white-hot haze. He ran the top of his tongue over her lower lip, then plunged it into her mouth.

  When he moved to bring her legs up around his waist, reality set in. She finally remembered why they needed to stop. Mom’s downstairs somewhere. I don’t want her to catch us like this. It was like having ice water dumped over her head.

  “Luke, no.” Her voice broke, and she spoke barely above a whisper. But it was the best she could do. She was still gasping for air, and her whole body was trembling.

  It had been enough, though. When he looked her in the eyes, he seemed shocked to realize what he had been about to do. He stood like that for a full minute, trying to get his breathing back under control. When he was finally able to sit her back down on the floor, he stepped back a few steps, putting some space between them.

  This is going way too far. I’ve got to go talk to Jenny. Now, she screamed in her head.

  Before he could regroup his thoughts, she flung the door open and ran down the stairs. She went out the front door and jumped in the truck before he could follow her. She needed to go see her sister. She was getting in way over her head.