Kristal’s soft, teasing snicker brought him back to the moment at hand. “You gotta warn me before you do that.”
“Do what?” He felt his forehead scrunch as confusion spread on his face.
She put her head onto the seat’s headrest and smiled. He liked this side of her personality. When she was happy, affectionate, and subdued.
A zing hit his groin with thunderbolt intensity when a hidden fantasy peeked around a corner in his libido and waved hello. The very thought of mastering Kristal, of figuratively bringing the sexy woman to her knees with a “me, Tarzan, you Jane” dynamic floated his love boat in a very big way.
“You take off, Robbie. Flights of fancy is how Pops describes it. And at the strangest times, too. Like right now. I asked if we were really going to do this, and what did you say? Nothing ... because you were on the runway, ready for takeoff. Next thing I knew, you were someplace else. Care to share? I mean,” she quipped with a giggle, “wherever you went in your head, it involved me, I hope. Right?”
Decision time. Make a joke or give her a taste of what was in store? He went with the obvious best choice.
“Involve you?” He balls out leered at her. “Honey, this particular flight of fancy you speak of started with a chest thumping, male tribal dance and ended with a brief study of the word subdue. There may or may not have been some Tarzan and Jane stuff.”
“May have?” Her amused laugh made him nearly lose his shit.
“Yeah, yeah,” he joked. “Totally dependent on your reaction. I’m not stupid, babe. You’ve got a mean kick, and my shins need a break.”
Color him surprised when she rearranged in her seat and patted his thigh. Her facial expression and manner landed somewhere between prudish spinster and burlesque queen. She gave a half-assed sniff and pursed her lips. For a second, he thought she was going to tear him a new one, but after a faultlessly performed hair twirl, she eyed him like a gourmet meal and threw down an unexpected gauntlet.
“I could do Jane.” She was nodding as though at that moment, decisions were being made. “If I remember correctly, she and her monkey man played together as equals. In all areas except one. And this brief study you speak of? Kinda like the idea of conquest? Has definite possibilities.”
“Jesus Christ,” he drawled. “Don’t fuck with me, Kristal. I’m not joking.”
“Neither am I, Robbie. Now shut the hell up and take me home. I’ve got a dictionary. We can look up subdue. And conquest. Maybe we’ll find a few more verbs to liven things up.”
He started the car, put the engine in gear, and got them on the road. “Well, hot damn, gurl! To answer your original question, fuck yeah, we’re gonna do this. And we’re gonna do it our way ... with a dictionary and quite possibly some visuals.”
Her husky chuckle told him she was on board. “Visuals, you say? Is that your English teacher way of using fancy words to describe porn?”
He gasped and tsk’d. “Research is not porn!”
“If this research involves Tumbler or PornPortal, yes, Robbie. Porn it is!”
He came back at her with a fast question because she had a habit of answering before considering what she was giving away.
“Does my bad girl have a favorite category?”
She snorted and did exactly as he thought—answered before thinking.
“Missionary and creampies.”
He almost drove off the road and got them killed when her answer sent him into a fit of roaring laughter. Tears streamed from his eyes and made his contacts swim. She was gonna kill him; he was sure of it. The part where she smacked his arm and demanded he stop laughing at her only made him laugh harder. After a particularly rough smack, he informed her if she kept that up, they were going to explore some spanking scenarios.
It was her turn to laugh like hell. The rest of the ride consisted of some truly groan-worthy one-liners of the raunchy variety, and a few clever innuendos to keep things interesting.
Chapter Five
A sharp sound made Kristal jump. It was Izzy belligerently snapping her fingers an inch away from her nose. She clutched her sandwich and glared at her friend, growling, “What?”
Izzy gave her ten tons of eyeshade and sniggered. “You’re pathetic.”
“Shut up.”
She took a bite of the sandwich and instantly regretted the mouthful of sticky peanut butter.
Sandy, the nursing assistant Kristal liked the least, bustled into the break room like she owned the place and went straight to the refrigerator. The girl was a well-known snack thief. Her daily rummages through the staff refrigerator were what sparked territorial marking of the plastic containers and lunch bags crammed onto every shelf. One time, the ignorant twit helped herself to an entire cookie tin filled with pizzelles she and her mom had made. Kristal wanted to throat punch her.
“Oh gawd,” Sandy bleated in her nasally New York twang. “I’m sooo hungry.”
Izzy rolled her eyes, and they both watched in dismay as the contents of the refrigerator got pawed through. When she’d found something—that wasn’t hers—she gave a triumphant hoot, straightened, and then slammed the fridge door shut.
Hoping to wash the peanut butter down her throat. Kristal took a big swallow of the Diet Snapple she got from the drink machine and tried to ignore Sandy.
“Well, slam my butthole,” Sandy twanged through a mouthful of muffin. “Blondie has a hickey. Somebody got lucky last night.”
Knowing it wasn’t remotely okay or even slightly socially acceptable to smack the smirk off the food burglar’s face, she chose to ignore the tacky comment, but it wasn’t easy.
Izzy, on the other hand, felt no such compunction and lobbed an insult grenade in Sandy’s face. “Jealous much?”
The two women glared at each other. Iz didn’t care for females who made the rest of their sex look bad, with shitty women drivers and bitchy c-words at the top of her list.
The tension in the break room reached maximum density because all three of them knew Sandy’s husband was currently dicking their babysitter. There was nothing quite like a hound dog spouse who didn’t operate with discretion to shake things up. And she and Izzy agreed that if a man ever did something like that to them, there’d be blood spilled. Sandy was an idiot for putting up with his bullshit.
Rather than get into a workplace catfight, Sandy wisely chose to scamper away. She and Izzy high fived.
“Now that the hickey elephant in the room has been acknowledged, answer my damn question. I presume that’s Robert Peyton’s DNA and dental imprint on your neck, right? What the hell else could explain the disgustingly dreamy expression and drawn-out sighs?”
She smirked but didn’t shoot down any of what Izzy implied. “We’re gonna do it,” she told her friend.
In the process of sucking down a Starbucks iced coffee, Iz jolted upright, inhaled too fast, and started choking. She had to thump her a couple of times on the back to help her catch some air. “Jesus, Iz, are you all right?”
“What the hell, Kristal?” She was sputtering and glaring at the same time. “You’re gonna do it? Is that what you said?”
Oh my god, this was too funny, she thought. Poor Izzy.
“Now, come on. Cut it out. Let me explain. What I meant wasn’t that we are gonna do it. I meant we talked about it, and we are. We’re gonna give it a shot.”
“Give what a shot, exactly? Isn’t that just another way of saying doing it?”
She flipped her the finger and sneered. “Is there any gutter your mind won’t fall in to?”
Feeling oddly defensive of Robert’s actions and decisions left her somewhat out of step. She wanted Izzy to know the change in status she was exploring with Robbie was a good thing. A very good thing ... even if it was the absolute definition of unconventional.
“We’re going to try a few things. See what feels right.” The words sounded perfectly reasonable and grown-up. She nodded, satisfied that she was on the right track. But when she met Izzy’s gaze, it was clear
that her friend didn’t share Kristal’s take on things.
“Are you hearing yourself? You’re gonna do it and try a few things? See what feels right? Have I got that correct?”
Her chuckling snort met Izzy’s dry scowl. “Yeah. I hear it now. Sorry. Let’s try it this way.”
She took a small bite of the sandwich; a bite that thankfully included some jelly to make it slide down easier.
“Here’s the synopsis. What started as a teasing challenge took a turn to the serious. Thank god Robert isn’t interested in playing games because he kind of took control, jumped ahead a few chapters, and saved us from wasting time.”
“Whoa,” Izzy murmured. “I like the part where the professor is in charge.”
“Me too,” she quietly admitted. “You were right, Iz. I wasn’t the only one hurting. He knows I’m weirded out and afraid of messing with our friendship, but we can’t ignore what we feel any longer. So we’re using the slow down method. This can’t be about jumping into bed together. There’s a lot at stake.”
“Aw, that’s so cute. I like this idea! So what were you two doing last night that put a love bite on your neck?”
She shivered and touched the spot where Robbie’s mouth had latched onto her neck.
“We were making out, Iz. On my sofa. Fully dressed. Like two hormonal high schoolers left alone when the folks went out. It was fucking hot,” she admitted in a low murmur.
Heat pooled in her feet and rose slowly. Every inch of her body, inside and out, felt like it was on fire. She fanned her face and took a hasty slug of Snapple.
“He wants to tell Mom and Pops that we’re exploring our relationship options.”
Izzy sat back and gawked. “For real? Wow. Well, good for him. I had no idea Robert could be so decisive, but I have to ask. Is there some hurry involved that makes it necessary to involve your folks? Isn’t that your Achilles’ heel?”
“Turns out, it’s not just me.”
“Oh?” Izzy asked. Her brows were arched high. “Do tell.”
Kristal dropped the sandwich and wiped her hands on a napkin. “Harry.”
“What’s little bro got to do with … oh!” Izzy squawked. “Harry. Right.”
“The party is two weeks away, and Robert wants to hold my hand. Sounds dumb, I know, but when I thought about it, I saw his point. He teaches kids Harry’s age, and he knows how confusing stuff can get for boys. It won’t be okay if Harry freaks out. He’s hoping that by telling the folks, they’ll sorta smooth things out if necessary.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes. What she’d shared with Izzy was a lot to take in. Making the jump from forbidden to exploring a relationship was a big friggin’ deal, no matter how you looked at it.
“Iz,” she murmured. “I’m in love with Robbie.”
Her ride or die friend took Kristal’s hand and squeezed. “I know.”
“Am I crazy for doing this?” She had to ask despite Izzy not having a conventional bone in her body. Flying without a net was what her friend did best.
“Absolutely not,” Iz declared. “Everything up until now has been crazy. In my humble opinion, this is the first time the two of you have tried being honest. I’m all for it.”
Their break time was almost over, so they hurried to finish and tidy up. Just as they were about to go in opposite directions, Izzy laughed and went for the win.
“So are you gonna do it or not? And by do it, I’m referring to the no-pants dance. The horizontal hokey-pokey. The sausage hide-and-seek. A trip to pound town. Riding the boney express.”
She snickered. “Well, I was ready last night, but Robbie’s got some sort of good guy fetish going on. He thinks it’d be tacky to go from zero to mattress thumping in supersonic speed.”
Izzy laughed. “Doesn’t he know most girls like letting their slutty side off the tether? With the right guy.”
Kristal rolled her eyes. “He’s got some man-riff about schooling my inner bad girl. Teacher lingo. I think he wants to educate me. Can you believe it?”
“You’re making me jealous!” Izzy laughed and waved as she walked away.
Touching the spot on her neck that Robbie turned into a gourmet meal, she smiled, put her head down, and got back to work.
“Dad, shit, man. You’re better at this computer stuff than I am!”
They were watching a slideshow his dad and Mara were making for Harry’s birthday party. He wasn’t kidding about his father’s skills. There was a green screen snippet showing Harry walking in the stars and another of him and Mara dressed like Minions on a cruise ship.
His dad looked pleased by the praise and tapped a few keys that brought up a different slideshow.
“This one is for the family. I didn’t think Harry’s buds would be interested in Thanksgiving memories and stuff like that.”
Robert chuckled, watching a video of him teaching Harry to ice skate. It was a classic blind leading the blind moment ’cause the truth was he couldn’t skate worth shit. His boyhood dream of playing for the NHL died an inglorious death at the ice rink when he face planted and got a bloody nose during tryouts for the school team.
The screen filled with a collection of family photos. His dad pointed out one from a field day event at Harry’s school with Mara laughing like crazy during the three-legged race.
When Kristal’s pretty pout appeared, he let out an involuntary sigh. She was in her nurse’s scrubs with a stethoscope around her neck. The sulky expression was because she wasn’t a fan of having her picture taken. Some crazy female nonsense about the camera adding ten pounds.
He sensed his father’s eyes on him and knew the time had come. After his mom’s betrayal all those years ago, Robert vowed never to be like her; keeping secrets and living a selfish double life were a recipe for heartache. He was raised to show some goddamn respect and to live by the golden rule. There had never been secrets between him and his dad, and there were not going to be any now.
He leaned across the laptop and pressed escape. The slideshow closed, and the screen went dark.
“Can we talk, Dad?”
Jeremy Peyton’s eyes briefly narrowed, and he gave Robert an assessing once-over. Part of him could not believe his dad considered for even a second that he might be gay, but considering his nonexistent love life, he had to admit it looked like a possibility. Moreover, since he was not into banging married women, that only left the torch-carrying scenario. It was time to bring his feelings out of the shadows and stop acting as if his love for Kristal was inappropriate or forbidden.
“Why so glum, Robbie? You accidentally run over the O’Malley’s dog?”
It was an inside joke. They had never known a family called O’Malley. And the running over the family pet was a clever metaphor for doing a stupid. A really big stupid.
“No.” He shook his head and faced his dad head-on. “But it’s serious, and I need your approval, Dad. Uh, actually, we both do.”
“We?”
It took a Herculean effort not to squirm and look away. It was too late for that anyway. Even though he wanted his father’s blessing, Robert knew if he and Kristal faced disapproval, there’d be no turning back. Things were already too far-gone.
At that moment, he totally owned his feelings and stepped into the future with his fingers crossed.
“Uh, yeah. We.” He cleared his throat. “Me and Kristal, Dad.”
Robert wasn’t sure if his dad was playing with him or not when he bumped his brows together and asked, “You and Kristal, what? I’m missing something.”
“Need your approval. Me and Kristal.”
“Approval for what, son?”
Oh, dear god, his father was joking, right? He swallowed and adjusted the glasses balancing on the bridge of his nose.
“Jesus, Dad. Are you trying to kill me? I’m asking for your blessing.”
The sight of his dad’s jaw dropping needed sound effects. Then he stood, walked to the door of his study, yanked it open, and hollered, “Mara! Get in
here. I think it’s happening.”
What was happening?
He heard Mara’s squeal followed by the sound of her heels tap, tapping on the wood floor as she ran to the study. She came flying into the room and nearly collided with her husband. To make the scene funnier, she had a splash of spaghetti sauce right in the middle of her blouse and was wiping her hands on a polka dot dishtowel. Mara loved polka dots because she said they drove everyone else crazy.
“I’m here. I’m here,” she announced. “Did I miss it?” she asked her grinning husband.
Robert felt like he was having an out-of-body experience when his father laughed and shook his head. “Nope. You know Robbie. He has to gear up slowly. You’re just in time. I think there’s a bit more hemming and hawing until he spits it out.”
Mara looked him over with unabashed love shining in her eyes. When it came to being an awesome mom, Mara Devin Peyton was the bomb.
With an arm slung around his wife’s shoulders, his dad winked and said, “Okay. What is it you want to tell us, Robbie?”
Were they clowning him? Was this a joke? Unless he was mistaken, the words about to come out of his mouth were not going to come as a surprise to the grinning couple waiting on him with bated breath.
Mara’s face was glowing with excited anticipation. Kristal had her mom’s mischievous smile, and right now, that smile was growing bigger with every silent second. She leaned against his dad and murmured, “Aw, look, sweetheart. He has the same dumbfounded expression you did right before you proposed!”
“Hot damn.” Jeremy sniggered with a hefty squeeze of her shoulders.
Still unable to form words, he gawked at his parents. They knew. Maybe they had known all along.
He did not make a grand declaration—mostly because it would be about as relevant as day-old bread—so he cut to the chase.
“Is this okay with you guys? Are you mad?”
“Mad?” Mara sounded horrified. She turned to his father and said, “Jeremy, do something.”
“Everyone sit down. Honey, why don’t you grab the coffeepot?”
Forbidden: A Sinful Shares Romance Page 6
