by Linda Kage
“I hate talking,” he went on, explaining himself. His thumb stroked gently over the voice box on the front of my throat. “I like it better when someone else does all the talking. I love listening to words, lots of words. But I don’t like making them. I’d rather show than tell.”
“Well, then, you’re in—oh Jesus!” I gasped when he leaned in and set his mouth on the side of my throat where he’d just touched me. Gripping his shoulder, I tipped my head back, letting him keep on doing exactly what he was doing.
“Don’t stop talking,” he ordered, pausing the kiss to look into my eyes. “You be the words; I’ll be the action.”
I grinned. Yes, I could definitely try dating this man.
“Okay,” I rasped, knowing with everything inside me that we’d get along just fine. “Okay. So, like I was saying before, you are in so much luck because I love to talk. I can carry on a whole conversation with myself, and I hate competing for air time when another big talker is in the room. Hell, I’ve been known to talk in my sleep, so if you really don’t mind, I can—holy shit!”
He backed me into the nearest wall and tugged the hem of my shirt from my pants. Groaning in pleasure when he ripped the cloth over my head to expose my chest, I reached for his shirt too. And he fucking let me.
“Yeah, you don’t seem to mind,” I answered for him.
He smiled and shook his head, then plastered his firm lips to mine. I moaned and pressed against him, winding my hands up into his hair this time and gripping hard.
Yep, I’d called it. He was definitely the intense type. And a total whirlwind too.
As I was sucked into the storm that was Maverick St. James, I could only thank the movie Monster House for providing Trick with enough irritation that he would drag me from the house and straight to this man’s doorstep.
Because I had just found my nirvana.
The End
Dear Worthy
How Bentley and Beau Got Together
10 Years Before Secrets That We Keep
Chapter One
Beau
“You guys are complete morons, you know that, right?” Gracen asked from his parents’ deck, where he stood at the railing with his arms crossed over his chest and watched me, Trick, and Fox scour his backyard.
“No one asked for your opinion,” I retorted, scowling at the ground as I walked along, pausing when I came across something that looked promising, only to realize it was a dried, petrified dog turd. I nudged it with the toe of my shoe, just to be sure, and flipped it over. Yep, that wouldn’t do at all.
“Hey, you’re the one who came to me, asking for some of my dog’s shit,” Gracen countered with a superior smirk. “I think that gives me plenty of right to throw my opinion out there.”
“Why don’t you and your opinion get your lazy asses down here and help us look,” Trick shot back from across the yard.
Gracen sniffed. “Because I’m not one of Beau’s blind minions like you two idiots.”
I ignored that as both Fox and Trick called him equally dirty but separately creative foul names in return.
Behind him, the back door came open, and his twin sister stepped outside to join us. I groaned and kept searching, knowing a whole new round of razzing was about to begin. But I didn’t care enough to stop. I had an important mission here. No stupid joke was going to throw me off track.
Strolling up to the edge of the deck, Bella paused next to Gracen and hopped up onto the railing to sit next to where he leaned so she could rest an elbow on his shoulder as she began to watch us as well.
“Do I even want to know what these weirdos are doing, wandering around our backyard and staring at the ground?” she finally asked her brother.
“They’re looking for their brains,” Gracen told her.
Just as Trick called, “Hey, I got a fresh pile of dog shit over here!”
“And... Their brains have been found,” Bella announced, making both twins laugh and fist-bump each other.
I pointed at them warningly before racing over to where Trick and Fox had already gathered. But I hadn’t even reached them before I knew we had a winner.
“Oh God, that’s rank.” Wincing at the smell, I paused before getting closer, and I turned my face away to hide my nose in the inside of my elbow. “Yeah, that’ll do.” Coughing and eyes watering, I handed the plastic sack and pooper scooper I had over to Trick. “Bag it up, will you?”
Trick took the supplies eagerly, only to start gagging the moment he tried to scoop up the pile.
“My God,” he swore as he tripped away, gasping for air. “Your dog makes the foulest-smelling dumps ever.”
That was exactly why I’d come here, begging from them. They swore they used some kind of pet food designed for indoor dogs that made them shit less. And in return, their feces smelled like this.
But damn, I think Bonzo must have some kind of digestive tract issue on top of that because this kind of stink just wasn’t right.
Trick gagged again as the twins laughed at us from the porch.
“Jesus,” Fox groaned. “You’re such a pansy. Give me the damn scooper.”
Trick shoved all the supplies at him gratefully, and Fox bent down, quickly and tidily getting the job done.
“Yes!” I fisted my hand in triumph as he tied the end closed and handed it over.
I could still smell everything through the sealed bag, so I held it as far away from myself as I could when I turned to start from the yard, forced to pass by the twins as I went.
“Hey, Beau,” Bella called, her knowing smirk making me narrow my eyes at her because I already knew I wasn’t going to like what she had to say.
“What?”
“Here’s a less smelly idea,” she offered. “Why don’t you just tell her you like her?”
My stomach pitched at the question. The bitter taste of panic filled my mouth, and a cold chill raced over my suddenly too hot body.
The visceral fear of exposure always left me thinking I was going to be physically sick whenever anyone mentioned my feelings toward a certain person.
So I lifted my chin astutely and announced, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Oh really?” Bella sniffed at me before turning her attention to Trick and Fox and asking, “So who’s Bentley on a date with tonight?”
“Ridgely Thornberger,” Fox answered immediately.
“Ridgely?” Bella wrinkled her nose. “Eww. Then more power to you guys. Ruin that date. I don’t want his perviness hanging around any of our family functions either. He dropped a book in front of me last month, for the sole purpose of trying to get me to bend over in front of him when I picked it up.”
“What?” Gracen spun to her in outrage. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me that? I would’ve knocked the shit out of him.”
Bella merely shrugged. “I just now remembered it.”
“Hey, why don’t you two get your sweet revenge on him now and come help us sabotage this date?” Trick asked, running up to the edge of the deck and climbing it. “It’ll be fun,” he added as he wrapped his arms around both his cousins’ heads in a strange group hug that had Bella and Gracen crying out in protest and squirming away from him.
“Because we actually have lives,” Gracen answered, patting his hair back into place.
“Why are you two helping him is the better question?” Bella asked, glancing between Trick and Fox as she straightened her shirt.
Trick just grinned. “What, and pass up an opportunity to cause mischief and mayhem? Never.”
Bella sniffed and glanced toward Fox. “And you? What’s your excuse?”
Fox pressed a hand to his heart. “Why can’t I just be concerned about my sister hooking up with a total jerk face?”
“Meh.” Bella shook her head. “I’m not buying it. What’s your real motive?”
“Self-preservation,” he immediately revised. “Beau’s going to be my brother-in-law someday, and I need to get on his good side now, or he might
play one of these shitty pranks on me.”
My heart stuttered at the term brother-in-law, and that same anxious, sick, but hopeful feeling swept over me again, taking control of my senses until I could return to normal and send Fox a scowl before smacking him on the back of the head with my free hand.
“Cut it out,” I muttered. “I am not going to be your brother-in-law.”
“Yeah,” Bella concurred, nodding at Fox. “He’d actually have to stop being an asshole to her and do something nice so she’d stop hating his guts for that to ever happen.”
“Hey, I’m not a—”
But no one was listening to me. Fox was too busy challenging Bella. “Five bucks says they end up married. Before they’re twenty-one.”
“Oh, you’re on.” As she leaned down off the deck railing, Bella held out a hand to shake with him.
Gracen lifted his own hands, palms out, and backed away slowly. “Count me out of this wager. I say it could go absolutely either way.”
“If you all are done betting over stupid things now,” I said dryly, beginning to sweat over the mere idea of being married to Bentley in less than three years. “Can we go? They could be back any second, and this shit stinks to high heaven.”
“They left, like, only fifteen minutes ago,” Fox argued, even as he backed away from the deck and turned to follow me. Trick hopped off the edge of the deck to fall into step beside him, and we waved goodbye to the Lowe twins before carrying on our way.
“Yeah, that would be the worst date ever if he was already bringing her back home now,” Trick agreed.
“All the more reason for us to be ready,” I argued. “Because he’d really deserve this if the date went that wrong.”
“God, you have it bad, don’t you?” Trick teased.
I did not take teasing about this subject well, so I wound my arm back as if I might launch my bag of feces at his face. “You want me to use this on you instead?” I threatened.
He gagged and held up his hands to protect himself. “No! No. Jesus God, I’ll stop, I swear. Just keep that thing away from me.”
I lowered my arm, and together, the three of us made our way back to Fox’s place that was about six blocks away from the Lowes’.
There, we camped out on the front porch swing and played on our phones, making jokes together about things we saw online. Trick found an old car for sale that he wanted to fix up with his dad, and Fox checked out sound systems he wanted to install in his room, while I stalked both Bentley and Ridgely’s social media accounts to see if either of them were updating with posts about their night. But all was quiet on their pages, and that drove me crazy because I couldn’t decide if that meant they were having a good time together or not.
At one point, Fox’s dad came home from work.
Knox paused after walking up the front steps to the porch and wrinkled his nose at the odor that the three of us must’ve grown used to by now because I’d stopped smelling it a while back.
“Do I even want to know what you three are up to?” he asked.
“Hey, Uncle Knox,” Trick called good-naturedly. “We got your back here; don’t worry. We’re going to keep Bentley from getting a goodnight kiss at the end of that date she’s on right now, easy peasy.”
“Uh, well, thanks for looking out for my girl, but…” He shook his head slowly. “Have any of you considered the possibility that she’ll never forgive you if you keep doing this to her?”
“But Beau says this guy’s a real tool.”
Knox sighed. “Why don’t you just tell her you like her already?” he asked pointedly, lifting his eyebrows as he turned to look directly at me.
“Who? Me?” I squawked in total denial, pressing a finger to my chest and attempting to look completely innocent.
There was a very good reason I would never tell her that. Because if she knew what I actually thought about her, there was a chance she’d reject me.
And my entire existence would cease to exist if that happened. Ergo, it was far safer to keep her hating me, where I couldn’t receive a legitimate rejection since I’d never actually made a legitimate play for her.
Besides, she was like family. It seemed as if it should be weird to like someone who’d grown up being raised like a cousin to you. Seemed as if it should feel like incest. And that was weird. I refused to acknowledge some weird crush on anyone.
So I adamantly told her dad, “I don’t like her.”
He rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Just don’t come crying to me when she gives you a black eye.” And he went inside.
A few minutes later, Fox’s mom came out and offered us drinks for our wait, suspiciously eyeing the bag of shit the whole time. “You boys aren’t actually going to throw that on anyone, are you?”
“Ma, come on. Really?” Fox snorted. “That would be gross. We’re just going to make things nice and smelly so there’s no chance of a kiss goodnight. You don’t want your daughter kissing someone who didn’t even bother to meet you before taking her out, do you?”
“Well, if she really likes him—” Felicity started uneasily.
But the idea of Bentley kissing or even liking someone else made my chest feel all wrong, so I spoke up. “We’ll make sure no one gets hurt, I swear.”
And that shut down any kind of talk about Bentley actually liking the douche nozzle she was with right now.
My mother’s best friend sent me a sympathetic glance. “Okay, but clean up any messes you make, and make sure that smell is gone from my porch before the night’s over, alright?”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said, sending her a big grin.
Trick shook his head. “Wait, so you’re seriously okay with us sabotaging Bentley’s date?”
Bentley’s mom sighed. “Oh, you boys won’t be sabotaging anything.” Her voice was full of warning. “Because you all would be in so much trouble if anything untoward happened. I’d make sure of it through your parents. Got me?”
We all grumbled our understanding.
Then she gave a careless one-shouldered shrug. “Though if anything, I don’t know, unexpected did occur, I might possibly be able to see some value in observing the results, so we could learn the true mettle of this young man she’s with and see how willing he is to withstand a little adversity in order to be with our Bentley.”
A big grin spread across my face. Yep, I loved this woman.
Felicity pointed at us, narrowing her eyes. “But no shenanigans, you hear?”
“Yes, ma’am,” we chorused this time, though none of us believed it, especially her.
After she’d gone inside, leaving us to enjoy our drinks, Trick let out a long sigh. “Oh, the things we do for you, Gamble. You better end up married to Bentley after this.”
“Shut up,” I grumbled, feeling my face heat.
It was embarrassing as hell for the entire freaking family group, except Bentley herself, to know I liked her, but it’d be worse if she knew too. So I put up with their teasing because they all kept their silence for me, thinking I should be the one to tell her myself.
Even though that was never going to happen.
“Hey, we’ve got headlights coming,” Fox announced suddenly.
In unison, he, Trick, and I slid off the swing and ducked down behind the porch railing out of sight from the road.
“How long did that take?” I asked as the car slowed and pulled to the curb in front of the Parker house.
“Uh, two hours and forty-five minutes,” Fox reported after consulting his watch.
“Is that a good or bad sign?” Trick whispered.
The hell if I knew. I’d spent all of high school too busy dreaming about Bentley Parker to ever bother asking some other girl on a real date. How would I know appropriate date times?
“Shh,” I hissed as both the driver’s side door and passenger side door of Ridgely's Camaro came open.
My ex-friend came racing around to Bentley’s side, his blond curly hair highlighted under the spray of the streetlights, just as B
entley stepped up onto the curb.
“Oh man,” he grumbled in disappointment when he saw her taking care of herself. “I was going to open your door for you.”
Bentley froze as if guilty before she laughed and covered her mouth, telling him a mumbled, “Sorry.”
My stomach muscles knotted painfully as that laugh filled my ears and made them buzz with agony. I couldn’t believe she’d given him one of her amazing laughs. It was the genuine kind too, not the fake polite one she reserved for most people.
I wanted to rearrange his face for that alone. But God...
What if she actually liked him? What if she wanted to see him again? Or, hell, kiss him tonight?
Dizziness assailed me, and the cold sweat of dread coated my body, beading on my upper lip. I didn’t think I could just hide here and watch them fall in love together, right before my very eyes.
Fox edged closer to me in the dark and whispered, “How are we going to play this?”
I shook my head, fighting off the strange urge to bawl like a big baby. My face grew scorching hot as Ridgely took Bentley’s hand and walked her toward the porch.
Brain frozen over at the sight of them together, I opened my mouth to answer, but no words came.
When Ridgely had informed me—as a friend—that he was going to ask Bentley out, I’d flat-out told him no. So he’d added that he hadn’t been asking. And I’d shot back that he’d regret it if he went anywhere near her.
The douche was obviously willing to throw our friendship away over her; that had to mean he liked her, right?
Plus, she didn’t look miserable.
What if he could make her happy? What if they, like, belonged together? Forever?
My stomach revolted, and I shook my head as the acids roiled.
“I don’t know,” I hissed to Bentley’s brother as my eyes stayed on her. I wasn’t so sure I wanted to ruin her night anymore. I mean, she was fucking smiling.
I never made her smile like that.
Gnashing my teeth, I set a fist against my mouth and tried not to cry.
