Never Ever

by L. P. Maxa

  “Yes.”

  “Are you going to make a habit of stealing my clothes?” I couldn’t deny that I loved seeing her wear my old faded ball cap. Just like I loved seeing her in my tank top yesterday. I needed to lock these sappy emotions down.

  “Maybe.”

  I shook my hair, splattering her with more water droplets. “Wake up. Talk to me.”

  “No.” She moved my cap so I could see her face, “Someone kept me up all night.” She sounded irritated, but she wore a smile.

  I crossed my arms over my bent knees and contemplated out at the lake. “Explain to me why chicks have this innate need to cuddle?”

  Livi scoffed, “You’re joking right? You were the one who wanted to spoon.”

  I peered down at her, grinning. “Yeah, well, tonight I wanna fork.”

  She laughed, like a good real perfect laugh. “You’re crazy.”

  I looked back at the water, watching our friends swim and play football. No one was around us, no one could hear anything we were saying. But did they know? Could they tell that I wanted her? That just looking at her, hearing her laugh caused my heart to race and my dick to twitch. I laid down next to her on the sand, it was hot and scratchy on my back. “Don’t act like you’ll turn me down, Sugar. We both know you won’t.”

  She smirked without opening her eyes, “And you’re cocky too.”

  “Livi, look at me.” I waited until she turned her face towards mine. “I want you. For the rest of the weekend I want to own you. I want to make you feel so good that no other man will ever measure up.”

  She chuckled, “Those are some lofty aspirations, kid.” But her eyes gave her away. Those beautiful green eyes grew dark. She could deny it all she wanted, but I was turning her on.

  Chapter Eleven:

  Livi

  We were all gathered on the back porch, sipping on ice cold beer and listening to a whole lot of Jack Johnson. It was a movie perfect setting. The guys made us lunch and then set us up on the porch to relax while they cleaned the kitchen. Hiring these guys was the best idea Baily ever had. None of us had moved for an hour. Across the room Kate, Allie, and Baily were playing cards. Cole was inside doing something on his lap top. And Tay was sitting next to me, studying. He looked hot as hell in his glasses, no shirt, pencil at his lips. He was right, I wouldn’t deny him. I should, but I wouldn’t. It’d been too long since I felt wanted. Patrick and I were having problems long before I caught him cheating with his mediocre looking, very young assistant. He didn’t cheat because he fell in love with someone else, or because he fell out of love with me. We just sort of drifted apart. And neither one of us seemed to care enough to fix it. When I found him in bed with his assistant, I was pissed. I screamed and threw things and made a big deal about it. But later that night after I’d kicked him out, I realized, I didn’t really care all that much. That’s when I knew things were over. I didn’t tell anyone because it didn’t really affect me all that much. I was used to doing all the day to day stuff by myself, Patrick worked a lot. But I knew it was time to tell my friends. Maybe I’d tell them on Sunday, that way it wouldn’t mess up the weekend.

  “Penny for your thoughts, Sugar?” Taylor reached over and stroked my thigh with the eraser end of his pencil. It made my breath hitch in my chest. Just one touch from him and my blood was pumping.

  Before I could answer Cole came out the back door and let out an obnoxious yawn. “Alright ladies, what’s the game plan for tonight? Want to go out to dinner, want to eat in? You tell us, we work for you.”

  Baily answered for all of us. I don’t want to call her bossy...maybe more like take charge. “I was thinking we could go into town early and walk around, maybe do some shopping. Then head to dinner. Are there any bars in town?”

  “There’s one. It’s really small and Friday nights aren’t really all that bumping here. But if you guys wait till tomorrow night to hit the bar they usually have live music.” Cole swatted at a fly that landed on the table.

  Kate flicked the dead fly off, “That sounds good to me. We can just do some touristy stuff tonight and then tomorrow we’ll all go out to the bar.”

  Baily stood, “Okay I’m going to go shower the lake water off. You guys don’t need to come into town with us if you don’t want to. We’ll just wait till we get home to start drinking.”

  Allie scoffed, “Speak for yourself, woman.”

  I stood up and followed Baily inside. She threw me a bottle of water from the fridge. “Each of these inside bedrooms has a shower. The owner left instructions that we can all shower at the same time and the hot water will still work.”

  I un screwed the cap off my water, “Okay, I’ll use the one in the guy’s room.”

  “Hey, Liv?”

  I spun around dramatically making her smile. “Yeeeessss?”

  “Are you…I mean, you and…Is everything okay?”

  I took a deep breath and held it. I could just come clean right now. I should just come clean and tell Baily everything. She obviously knew something was up. The more time I spent around Taylor the more relaxed I became. We flirted and touched, I was sure it looked completely inappropriate. But for some reason, I just couldn’t do it. I let out that breath. “Yeah, everything is fine.”

  She just stared at me, not blinking. She knew I was keeping something from her. Before she could call me on it though Kate walked in. “I’m going to shower too. The guys said they are just going to stay here if we’re sure we don’t need them.”

  Baily answered Kate without taking her eyes off me, “Yeah, we’re good. I’ll drive. Allie can get as crazy as she wants.”

  Allie came skipping into the house, “Did I hear my name?”

  “Yes, you lush. I was telling Kate that I would drive us tonight.”

  Allie immediately started singing Addicted to Love and making herself a cocktail with a lot of flourish and finesse. I used the entertaining distraction to my advantage. I grabbed my stuff and headed into the bathroom off the guys room. I shut and locked the door. The last thing I needed was Taylor coming in here. Baily was already suspicious, I didn’t need to add fuel to the fire. After I was done I towel dried my hair and got dressed. When I opened the door Taylor was laying on the bottom bunk.

  I looked bummed, “You locked the door.”

  I nodded, “I was in the shower.”

  He sat up and put his feet on the floor, “I wanted to be in the shower with you.”

  “I know, that’s why I locked the door.”

  He held his hand out towards me, silently asking me to come to him. My head told me to just leave the room. We could hang out tonight after everyone was asleep. It was safer that way. “Taylor I need to get dressed. I don’t want everyone to be waiting on me. Baily gets super pissy about stuff like that.”

  He gestured for me with his outstretched hand, “Come here, just for a second.”

  I reluctantly crossed the room. Weak. I was a weak weak woman. He grabbed both of my hands and pulled me between his legs. He looked up at me with such desire, my stomach dropped. He pulled me down for a kiss. It was so slow and deep, his tongue making lazy passes over mine. It made me want to lose myself in him, to just climb onto the bed and say the hell with everything else. Which is why I pulled away.

  “What’s wrong Sugar, you look stressed.”

  I shrugged, “Baily asked me what was going on. She knows something’s up. I don’t want to tell them about Patrick and me until Sunday. You and I…I think it’s becoming obvious Taylor. You’re going to have to back off. No more touching or sexual innuendos. I don’t want my friends to think I’m being unfaithful even for a couple of days. It’ll stress them out. They’ll worry about me, and I want them to just relax and have fun.”

  “Livi…I…No.”

  “What do you mean no? You promised me that you would back off if I asked you to. This is me asking.”

  “I like you. I like touching you and even more importantly, you like it when I touch you. Don’t try and deny it. I
can see what I do to you.” He moved my hand to his dick, making me grab it. He felt hard, and long. “And this is what you do to me.”

  I pulled my hand away, “Taylor, how many times do I have to explain this to you? I’m not a kid anymore. I’m an adult. With responsibilities and friends who value marriage. Friends who will be very disappointed in me if they think I’m being unfaithful.”

  He scrubbed his hands down his face, exasperated. “Who cares what they think? It’s just for a couple of days. You can tell them on Sunday.”

  I put my hands on my hips, “I care. Look, I’m not telling you we have to stop. I’m just telling you to watch yourself around Allie and Baily.” I should just tell him to stop. That was the grown up mature thing to do. No, the grown up mature thing to do would have been to tell my friends months ago that I was getting divorced.

  “Livi. Dammit.” He was at war with himself on this one. I could tell by the different looks flittering across his face. Finally, he grabbed my hands in his again. “Fine. I promise, I’ll be more careful.”

  “Thank you.” I leaned down and gave him a quick peck before I walked out of the room. The only problem was, I didn’t want to walk out of the room. I wanted to climb onto his lap and grind against him. It’s a good thing we were going into town without them tonight. I needed some space. I needed to put some distance between myself and Tay. This fling had barely started and it was already too intense.

  Chapter Twelve:

  Taylor

  I was going crazy. The girls had been gone for too long. I missed Livi. I had known this girl for less than 24 hours and I fucking missed her. What in the holy hell was wrong with me? I needed…I needed…I needed to man up. I was being a giant pussy. I ran my hands through my hair, frustrated. Cole walked out onto the front porch, that’s right, I was sitting on the front porch waiting for her to get home. He handed me another beer, I was going through them like water.

  “Hey man, you, uh, you okay?” He plopped down in the chair opposite me, a jack and coke in his hands. Jack and Coke was pretty much all Cole drank after sun down.

  I took a long pull off the fresh bottle. “I’m fine.”

  “Yeah? You seem just peachy.” Cole gestured to the three empty bottle at my feet. “Man, she’s just a chick. Just like the thousands of other chick you’ve bagged.”

  “Thousands? I’m good, but I’m not that good.” I laughed humorlessly, “I don’t know what’s happening to me. I feel like a little bitch. I fucking spooned her all night last night. Like wrapped my body around hers and slept like a damn baby. She told me today that I needed to back off, that her friends were asking questions. It killed me to say okay. I don’t want to back off. I want to tell her friends everything, I want to be able to touch her and kiss her and flirt with her out in the open. I want…Ugh!” I ran my hands through my hair again, pulling it straight up.

  Cole started to laugh, like side splitting laugh. “Aw man, Tay, you like her. You actually like a girl. And it only took twenty eight years.” He wiped at his eyes, “And of course you had to pick a girl that lives 4 states away. Not to mention, she’s technically still married. Good job, bro.”

  I looked at him like he was a mental patient. “You are crazy. I don’t like her. I just want to nail her, I need to nail her. The need to nail her is all encompassing. That’s all. Once I get it out of my system I’ll feel better.”

  “Oh yeah? All encompassing? And when’s the last time you cuddled because you wanted to?” Cole took a large gulp of his drink and then crunched on some ice.

  I just glared at him. He knew the answer to that. I didn’t cuddle, I didn’t spoon, I didn’t sleep over. This guy had known me since freshman year. He knew my M.O.

  “I get it, Tay. Livi’s hot, she’s funny, and she has a body that just won’t quit. But, she lives in another state man and she’s also going through a divorce. I meant what I said yesterday, she’s not for you.” Cole shrugged like his words were no big deal. “You want her this weekend? Fine. But you better get it through your head that that’s all you’re going to get.”

  “That’s all I need.” Right? Or was Cole right? Was Livi the first girl to ever get under my skin? Even if she was, it was most likely because I couldn’t have her. She was unattainable. I’m a dude, we want what we can’t have. My life was golden. Everything was going according to plan. This was nothing more than a weekend fling.

  Cole and I sat on the porch drinking and shooting the shit until we saw headlights pull into the driveway. My heart started to race. Really heart? Do you really need to be that excited to see Livi? I glanced over at Cole, could he see my traitorous heart pounding out of my chest? The girls climbed out of the car laughing, my eyes searched for her as I stood, “Y’all have fun?”

  Allie answered me, “This town is fucking adorable. We met some locals at dinner, they told us the band playing at the bar tomorrow night was actually pretty good.” She shut her car door, “Said it gets packed, that we should try and head there a little early so we can get a table.”

  I held the screen door open for them, “Of course ladies, it’s your world, we just work here.”

  Cole opened the front door, leading them inside and heading towards the bar. “Who wants a drink?” They all answered ‘I do’ as they filed inside. He stood at the bar, hands on his hips, “Who wants what? Wait! Let me try and guess first; Allie and Livi want vodka sprite with a splash of cranberry and a lime. Kate wants a crown and coke, and Ms. Baily wants a shot of tequila with a beer chaser. Am I right?”

  Baily sat on top of the bar, reaching for the Patron, “You are correct, sir.”

  I stared at Livi from across the room, I knew she was avoiding my gaze. Trying to ignore me. I guess she’d meant what she said earlier. No big deal, I just need to keep my distance until bed time. “Okay, what now? Y’all wanna have a dance party in the living room? Go for a midnight swim? Play some cards? Your wish is our command.” I threw my arm around Allie’s shoulder. See? I could act like there was nothing going on with Livi and me. I’m friendly with everyone.

  Kate tasted her drink, frowned at Cole and then added more crown. “Let’s go for a swim.”

  Baily threw back her shot and then nodded, “I’m down for a swim.”

  I smiled, like the cat that ate the canary. “Everyone else good with that?” I said everyone, but I meant Livi, I had a hankering to see that girl dripping wet wearing next to nothing. I waited until I saw her nod yes. “Pool or lake?”

  Predictably, Baily said lake. Kate, Allie, and Liv said pool. I voted lake…for obvious reasons. Baily started to whine when she realized she wasn’t going to get her way, “Come on guys. We can swim in a pool whenever we want. When do we get the chance to go for a midnight swim in a lake? Never.”

  Allie pursed her lips, “That’s true. Okay, I change my vote.” Good girl Allie. I looked over at Kate, would she cave too? She shrugged, “I’m good with either.” I loved these girls!

  I laughed, “Okay Livi, looks like you’re outnumbered. Lake time.” She shot daggers at me from across the room. I didn’t care. I was minutes away from having a sexy girl in a swim suit in the middle of a dark deserted lake. It was every man’s dream come true. Every man’s dream and a scene in every horror movie I’d ever watched.

  Chapter Thirteen:

  Livi

  The lake, in the dark? I needed another drink. I knew what Taylor’s end game was. During dinner Baily had brought up how flirty he was with me. I had explained it away as nothing. I told my friends that maybe he was a little a flirty, but it was going to help me write my next book. His one liners and sexual innuendos were a romance writers dream. They had all laughed about it and the subject was dropped. But two vodka drinks in, and a dark sexy scary lake? Things were about to get complicated. And my inhibitions were down just enough not to care. I had thought about Taylor the whole time we were gone. I wanted him, I wanted to feel desired by him. I longed to be touched. It had been too long. This was going to happen, I just ne
eded to keep a clear head long enough to get away from the prying eyes of my friends. I changed into my swim suit and threw Taylor’s tank top over it, might as well start turning him on now. Right? I walked out of my room and immediately felt Taylor’s eyes on me. I could feel the heat coming from his gaze, warming me to the core. He walked over, handed me a fresh drink and whispered next to my ear, “I was planning on behaving in front of your friends, but I doubt I’ll be able to control myself now that you’re wearing my shirt.”

  I took a sip of my expertly made drink, “Well, I’ll just have to take it off then, won’t I?”

  Taylor chuckled, “Alright Sugar, how many drinks did you have at dinner?”

  I smiled what I hoped was a sexy smile, “Just enough to make tonight interesting.”

  And I walked away to join my friends on the back porch. We all followed the narrow path down to the dock in single file. Baily leading, because she no longer trusted Taylor’s navigational skills. Taylor was right, the lake look so peaceful in the moonlight. I finished my drink on the walk down, I crunched on some of the ice left in my cup. I giggled to myself, when we were younger we used to call eating the ice left over from our mixed drinks, properly hydrating. The difference a few years makes is incredible. I had downed water all through dinner, and I had applied more sunscreen today than I had through all 4 years of college. I peeled off Taylor’s shirt and set it on the ground next to my cup. I walked silently out towards the water. I could hear my friends laughing in the background, but I knew Taylor would follow me. Just like I knew the instant he stepped up behind me, sensing him even before he placed his hand on my bare hip. Goose bumps spread all over my body. “You ready Sugar?”