by Jenny Penn
“You know the rules, little man, everybody needs a buddy,” Nick reminded him. “And your mom has wisely decided to honor me with the role of her best friend for a day.”
Heather thought that was a little much, but she kept her opinion to herself as she smiled down at Taylor. “And who is going to be your best buddy, today?”
“Me.”
Heather’s stomach dropped at the husky sound of Konor’s voice. It washed over her shoulder, sending a shiver of delight racing down her spine even as her heart seized with a sudden panic.
He’d come for her.
But he was three days early! That’s when Heather realized she’d been tricked. Ambushed, technically. What the hell was she supposed to do now? Heather didn’t know, but she had no choice but to do something. With her choices limited, she did the only thing she could—turned and faced him, but that was a mistake.
Damn him, but he looked as good as ever with the soft, white cotton of his T-shirt clinging to the cut, chiseled planes his chest. The sleeves strained around the hard bulge of his muscles as his arms flexed and crossed over his chest. The brown sweats that hung on her like an oversized diaper clung to his thighs, proving he was hard all over.
Heather hadn’t forgotten what it felt like to feel that strength and heat grinding against her own soft curves. It was like being stroked by sunlight, and just the memory unleashed an unwanted shaft of pure heat through her body, weakening the defenses she’d spent the past sixteen days fortifying. They melted away, exposing the hunger that had never really faded.
“Hey, sweetness.” With laughter twinkling in his eyes, Konor smiled down at her. “Miss me?”
Had she ever, but Heather wasn’t about to reveal that truth to anybody. She had her pride, after all, but not so much that she couldn’t forgive him. In fact, right then as Heather stood gazing up at Konor, she couldn’t rightly recall what it was she’d been mad about in the first place. That was probably a dangerous sign, one that should have warned her that she was treading into deep waters. Heather might not know how to swim, but that didn’t mean she was afraid of drowning.
“Mom?”
Heather blinked as Taylor’s concerned tone broke into her wayward thoughts, making her realize that she’d been staring…and possibly drooling.
“Sorry, Taylor.” Heather smiled, trying to laugh off the heat she could feel coloring her cheeks. “I just got lost in a thought.”
“You’re not worried, are you mom?” Taylor frowned, misconstruing the tension making her words sound tight instead of light. “The course is hard, but it’s also a lot of fun and we’ll all help you get through it.”
“I’m sure I’ll do fine,” Heather assured him, her gaze skipping over Taylor’s shoulder to settle on Nick’s smirk. “After all that’s what I have a buddy for, isn’t it?”
“And, trust me, honey, I’m the best.” Nick shot her a wink along with that gloating boast, not even attempting to pretend that he didn’t see the accusation in her glare. If Taylor hadn’t been standing there, Heather would have some choice words for her buddy and his friend.
“Please.” Konor snorted and rolled his eyes. “I’m the best.”
“I guess we’re about to find out now, aren’t we?” Nick shot back, and Heather knew neither one of them were talking about the obstacle course.
“No,” Heather interrupted, sticking her chin into the air. “I’m the best.”
“You’re not a buddy,” Taylor corrected her, laughing as if she’d said something dumb before he turned his smile on Nick. “And I’m sorry, Mr. Dickles, but Konor is the best.”
“See,” Konor’s grin took on a wicked curl as he gazed down at her with a satisfaction that warned Heather that he considered the battle already won. “Even the kid knows better than to argue with the obvious.”
Heather wanted to argue anyway. It was more fun that way. Staring up at the determined glint in Konor’s gaze, she remember just how much fun it had been…and how soft his lips had been rubbing against the molten folds of her pussy, and his tongue…Heather locked her knees and tried to block the thoughts of how wickedly delightful his kiss had been when he’d buried his head between her legs.
“And if your mom needs some help, you’ll be there to give assistance, won’t you, squirt?” Konor asked Taylor, breaking through Heather’s wayward thoughts and bringing her back to the moment.
“Yeah, don’t worry about a thing, mom. I won’t let you get hurt,” Taylor pledged so sweetly it damn near brought tears to her eyes. Now Heather had to hug him.
“Thank you, honey. I’m sure I’ll be safe with you watching over me.” Heather reached for Taylor, intending to pull him close but he evaded her attempts as he backed quickly up.
“You’re welcome, mom. There is no need to hug over it.”
“Of course there is,” Konor interjected, stepping up to sweep her right off her feet.
“Konor!” Heather squealed as she clutched at his hands, not caring for the sudden feel of weightlessness.
Konor didn’t pay her or her struggles any mind as he tossed a grin toward Taylor. “See? You just have to know how to do it right.”
Taylor laughed, entertained by Konor’s warped sense of amusement. Heather wasn’t. She was on the verge of cussing when he spun her around, making her shriek as she became desperate to break his hold before he dropped her.
“Put me down!”
She issued that demand along with an elbow to Konor’s gut that had him dropping her back onto her feet as he stumbled back. Shooting her an injured look, he rubbed his stomach.
“I was just playing. There was no need to get mean,” Konor sulked.
“Yeah, mom.” Taylor backed Konor, proving just who he was loyal to.
“Yeah, mom,” Konor repeated, clearly enjoying his role as the injured party.
“Yeah, mom.” Nick piled on as all three men stared at her in a united front.
Heather ignored them, half-tempted to stick her tongue out at them but that wouldn’t be the mature thing to do. Instead she straightened her shirt and checked the rope around her waist to assure her pants wouldn’t fall down, taking enough time for their attention to turn and the conversation to move on without her. It quickly became clear that not only were Nick and Konor good friends, but that Taylor was clearly attached to Konor as well. That was a worrisome observation, one that she’d have to keep an eye on to assure that her son didn’t get hurt.
“Well,” Nick finally glanced around, scanning the crowd with a critical eye. “I guess we’re all here now, so if you’ll excuse me, beautiful, I got to go rally the king.”
“The king?” Heather repeated but Nick had already taken off.
Taylor followed, cheering excitedly as more and more boys fell into line. Heather watched the procession make its way toward an absolutely adorable little piglet dressed in royal blue robes that were marred and stained with the dirt he was currently rolling around in. Near to its little wallow, five older boys dressed in knightly costumes waited along with a platform covered with what looked to be a salad of leafy greens and chunks of vegetables.
Heather watched as Nick corralled the little king, managing to get the piglet onto its throne without too much of an objection. Far from full grown, the king’s little pink snout peaked out from beneath an oversized crown that had fallen down past its ears, not that the baby pig appeared to mind.
Nested in a swath of vegetables that were piled high, the piglet snorted happily away, completely unaware that it kind of looked like the sacrifice being carted off to its death on the big, ornate platform Heather suspected the boys had built. As ignorant as the pig appeared of the fact that it was dressed up like a main course platter, neither did the kids show any signs of hunger as they cheered its arrival. Apparently the king was safe.
Heather on the other hand, might not be.
Konor sidled up next to her, taking advantage of the moment to drape an arm over her shoulder. Instantly she was engulfed in a warm, masculin
e heat that had her heart pounding and her will to resist melting. It took all of Heather’s strength to not shift closer and snuggle into his all too familiar strength. Those urges had to be controlled, at least until they came to an understanding about Taylor.
The thought of her son gave her the strength to stiffen her muscles, quelling the tremble making her quiver as she forced herself to ease away from him. Konor didn’t let her go, not completely. Instead, as she stepped away, his fingers slid down her arm in a soft caress that had her heart skipping a beat. It caught quickly back up, settling into a pounding pace as Konor captured her hand in his.
“He was democratically elected,” Konor informed her, as if he weren’t even aware of the effect his touch had on her. “There weren’t any other candidates.”
And there wasn’t going to be any escaping. Mesmerized by the gentle feel of his thumb rubbing seductive circles around the heavy pound of her pulse beating in her wrists, Heather stood there transfixed, barely registering his words as he continued with his explanations.
“It was a write-in ballot, and we had a runoff for the top three contenders.” Konor’s lips quirked upward. “Mr. Brags won by a landslide, taking more than eighty percent of the vote.”
“Mr. Brags?” Heather repeated, the rough, husky sound of her whisper betraying the need slowly beginning to burn hotter in her blood. She tried to ignore it nonetheless, knowing there was no chance of easing that ache right now. Instead she focused on the moment, even if it took all her concentration to ask the simplest of questions.
“Why do they call him that?”
“Because every time he does his business he snorts and oinks, bragging like he’s a good boy.” Konor smirked, clearly amused by that revelation. “He’s the dorm mascot, and so the boys had to housebreak him. They used to give him treats when he went outside.”
“That…that’s kind of gross.”
“They’re boys.” Konor shrugged if that explained it all and sadly, it did.
Heather hadn’t been kidding when she bragged to Nick that mothers knew about dirty, but mothers with sons also tended to learn that the baby years were only the beginning. At least Taylor had grown out of his frogs and bugs stage into simply disgusting graphics in his video games. Those she didn’t have to clean up after.
Thoughts of Taylor reminded Heather that they had more a more serious subject to discuss with Konor, one best not put off any longer.
“Speaking of boys,” Heather began, pinning Konor with a pointed look. “You don’t really think I’m going to allow you to use Taylor to get into my bed, do you?”
“No,” Konor answered instantly with enough indignation coloring his tone to assure her she’d offended him. “Because that’s not what this is about.”
“No?” Heather didn’t believe him for a moment. “Then what is it about?”
“It’s about us forming a relationship, about you letting me into your life, and your life includes your son. I would be remiss if I didn’t try and develop some kind of shared interest with him…fortunately, he’s very interesting.”
Heather wasn’t conned by that compliment. She barely even heard it. She was still stuck on his first line and not buying it for a second.
“A relationship?” Gaping up at him, Heather was struck anew by Konor’s outrageous audacity. “You don’t really expect me to buy that line now that I know about the challenge, do you?”
“The challenge was necessary,” Konor insisted.
“Necessary?” Heather gaped up at him. “What the hell does that mean?”
“It means it was necessary,” Konor repeated, stubbornly refusing to expand his explanation. “If I had known about the past, I would have reconsidered the matter.”
“Gee, that’s sweet of you,” Heather muttered.
“Yes, it is. Besides, I thought you would feel complimented.”
“Complimented? By being—”
“—considered desirable by so many men?” Konor cut in with a shake of his head. “No. And I don’t know why you think it’s a bad thing that I find you hot. I mean really, are waiting for a man who is not interested in you to come along?”
“That’s not the point and you know it.”
“I know it doesn’t really matter how two people meet. All that matters is the spark,” Konor explained patiently, his voice softening into a rough whisper that dripped down her spine like a shot of rich, aged bourbon, leaving her feeling warm and just a little bit dizzy. “Now tell me, are you really going to deny the spark that’s between us?”
No. She couldn’t.
“Fine,” Heather gave in with ill grace. “But this is just about sex. I’m not interested in a relationship. Not with you. Not with anybody. Got it?”
Konor didn’t answer her, but he didn’t have to. His smile said it all. He wasn’t backing down and neither was she. Trumpets sounded in the distance as the call to battle echoed across the field. It was time to go to war.
Chapter 15
Wars were supposed to be bloody, painful, and arduous, but none of those things marred Heather’s day. Instead she spent most of her morning smiling and laughing, and getting trounced by water balloons, not that Heather complained. It was hot, and the water was cool.
Besides, she was just having too much fun, and more importantly, so was Taylor. They both had only one person to thank for making a course that was quite difficult so much fun.
Konor.
He really was good with Taylor. Good enough to make Heather long for dangerous things, things that made more than just her knees go weak. It would have been so easy to give into the illusion that they were actually a family, but they weren’t and she had to constantly remind herself of that fact. No matter how hard Konor made her laugh or how silly he was with her son, she had to remember that they were at war.
The stakes were high—both literally and figuratively.
Heather frowned as she glanced around once again, amazed that she had survived thus far without injury. The obstacle course was as hard as she feared it would be. Thankfully, Nick was there to help whenever the course became too difficult.
Not that he could be at her side all day. After all, Nick had his duties as Master of Ceremonies to attend to, along with his responsibilities as head of the camp pulling him away with regular frequency. Konor and Taylor had filled in during those moments to assure that Heather didn’t fall behind.
Amazingly, she managed to do better than that, but she knew that she’d pay tomorrow. Just because her body bent that way didn’t mean that it was supposed to. Heather was already dreaming of the massage she planned to treat herself to if she survived the next obstacle.
Just when Heather was certain she could conquer anything the course threw at her, they arrived at the Battling Pit. The twelve foot by twelve foot mud pit had two long wooden logs stretching across it that the men balanced on while holding their young charges on their shoulders. From there the kids, who were well padded, did battle with oversized foam batons as they each tried to topple the other.
Heather did want to knock her son down, but more than that, she didn’t want to end up going down herself. That would be a fair distance, that is if Nick could actually lift her over his shoulders.
That was a big ‘if.’
Fortunately, it didn’t appear like she’d have to tempt fate when it turned in her direction and Nick got called away. Some poor kid had hurt himself. Hopefully not seriously, Heather offered up that silent prayer to appease her guilt at being happy to be left stranded. With nobody to mount, she had a perfect excuse to avoid battling her son, or so she thought, but fate was not that giving after all.
“Don’t worry, mom.” Taylor stepped to place a placating hand on her back, offering Heather an unwanted reassurance. “I’m sure Nick will send one of the alternates to take his place. You won’t have to miss out on the Battling Pit.”
“Alternates?” Heather repeated, not liking the sound of that.
“Nick arranged for backup buddie
s, just in case any of the other buddies couldn’t make it or got hurt while running the course, but it doesn’t matter, does it, squirt? Because we’re going to kick your mom’s butt, no matter who she’s got on her team, isn’t that right?”
Konor rallied Taylor, getting an excited ‘yeah’ out of her son. The two of them began trash-talking, bragging to one another, and for a moment Heather forgot about her worries, but they returned along with a deep sense of foreboding as a large shadow grew around her.
The air thickened with a tension she recognized all too well. It curled through her like a well-worn addiction, making her sense sharpen even as her heart began to pound. The butterflies filling her stomach began to flutter as one massive ball as she felt the man stalking up on her.
Alex had arrived.
“Hey, Sheriff!” Taylor called out, confirming her suspicions as his gaze cut over Heather’s shoulders.
“Hey, kid,” an all too familiar voice rumbled mere feet from behind her. “Having fun?”
“Tons!” Taylor’s goofy grin exploded into a frantic prattle of the day’s accomplishments and highlights.
Alex listened, though his gaze never fell from Heather, who turned to confront him with a guarded glare that he normally returned. Not today, though. Today his eyes shined with a predatory intent fueled by a savage hunger that only flared brighter as his gaze strolled lazily down her length, leaving a molten trail of want thickening in his wake.
Heather felt her knees weaken and her breast swell even as she tried to fight back the rising tide of lust beginning to boil in her veins, but it was a pointlessly desperate attempt. At least her own goggles masked the direction of her eyes as they dipped downward, drawn to the graceful flex and shift of his chest, bared for all to see as he stood there wearing nothing more than a pair of low riding sweats that left very little to the imagination.
That didn’t mean that Heather’s imagination wasn’t working overtime. She couldn’t help but fantasize about just how smooth and velvety his skin would feel beneath her palms and how wickedly salty he would taste if she gave into the urge to trace the beads of sweat rolling down the hard planes of his chest.
