Thrown for a Curve

by Sugar Jamison

You know this is wrong.

  But it feels right and she did ask very nicely.

  He’d lost the argument with himself and lowered his lips to hers.

  “Pixie?” Baba’s voice bounced off the walls. It was like a bucket of ice water, a bucket of sorely needed ice-cold water to cool the heat between them. “Where are you? What are you doing?”

  “Nothing,” she called back. “Colin and I were … talking. He said we could stay the night.”

  “It’s after two. I don’t leave the house after seven. Of course we’re staying but you need to come to bed right now.”

  “I’m coming.” She gave him an impish smile as he lifted up so she could roll from beneath him. “Good night, Colin.”

  He wanted to tell her that she didn’t have to sleep in the same room with her grandmother. His house was huge. There were three other bedrooms she could spend the night in. But his brain knew better. If he knew she was alone in a bed he might not be able to stop himself from crawling in beside her.

  * * *

  The temperature gauge on the outside of the store read minus four degrees. That could explain why they’d barely had a customer today. Cherri and Belinda sat side by side in the comfy armchairs Ellis kept in front of the dressing rooms. There was nothing else to do. They both had been at the store for hours. They put out all the remaining stock. They cleaned every surface. They even tried on all the new shoes that had been delivered. Belinda had tried to send her home twice but Cherri refused to go. Baba was playing cards at a neighbor’s house and Cherri would rather sit in a cozy warm store with her best friend than alone in an old cold house.

  “How is she, Cherri Berry?” Belinda asked, breaking a long comfortable silence.

  “Who? Baba?”

  “Who else?”

  “She’s been fine. Still a big pain in my rump.”

  “I’m a bad best friend. I can’t believe I couldn’t figure out that that’s what has been bothering you. I also can’t believe you didn’t bother to tell me.”

  Cherri looked at Belinda, who on the outside looked as glamorous and flawless as ever—but Cherri knew her best friend well enough to see that she was hurt by Cherri’s silence.

  “I was hoping there was nothing to tell. She’s going to be seventy-six soon. I thought it was normal for her memory to slip. I thought it was normal for her to confuse me with my mother. Plus you were away. I didn’t want to ruin your vacation by telling you I was scared shitless about my grandmother.”

  “I would have come home for that, Cherri. All you had to do was call. I would have helped you.”

  “I know you would have, and that’s why I didn’t.” She sighed. “I’m not a baby, Belinda, and while I love that you love me enough to rush home to help me, I can take care of myself.”

  Belinda shook her head. “You are probably one of the most mature twenty-two-year-olds I have ever known but you don’t have to do everything by yourself. That’s what you have friends for. To lean on.” She reached over and gave Cherri’s ponytail a hard tug. “Don’t ever keep anything like that from me again.” She sat up in her chair. “I feel like there’s a lot of stuff you haven’t been telling me lately.”

  She should have known she could never really keep anything from Belinda, who was far more perceptive than anybody ever gave her credit for. She always wanted to fix things for everybody. She was always there to comfort.

  “I got offered a job,” she said. “Well, two jobs actually.”

  Belinda’s mouth dropped open. “I’m going to cry. I knew this day was coming. I’m happy for you but I’m going to miss the hell out of you.”

  “No you won’t. It’s a great offer but I don’t think I can take it. It’s an hour away.”

  Belinda nodded understandingly. “You can’t move from Durant, and you can’t be that far away from Baba during the day.”

  “Yeah. My dilemma.”

  “I can help,” Belinda said, her eyes narrowing the way they did whenever she was brainstorming. “I know they have day care for senior citizens down at the community center. We could sign her up and you can put me and Ellis and Mike down as her emergency contacts. That way if something happens we can get to her right away.”

  “I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

  “You didn’t ask. I volunteered us. We’re a family. We help even if some of us don’t think to ask for it.”

  “I know,” she said, guilt sneaking up on her. “I’m trying to sort through things in my head. For five years I was so set on becoming an art teacher and now that the time is finally here, I’m not sure that that’s what I want to do with my life.”

  “No? That surprises me. I thought I was the one who could never decide who I wanted to be when I grew up. Sometimes I still try to figure it out. It’s okay not to know how you want to spend the rest of your life. It’s okay to feel a little lost sometimes.”

  “You seem to have it all together, Belinda,” she said, surprised by the wistful note in Belinda’s voice. “I thought you were doing what you wanted to.”

  “For now.” She nodded. “I love working with Ellis and Mike. I love owning a part of this business, but this shop is really Ellis’s dream. It’s something she talked about since she was a little girl and this is the place she is going to be for the rest of her life. It’s going to be her legacy.”

  “And you feel like you want to leave your own mark on the world.”

  “Exactly. I just don’t know what that mark is.” She shook her head. “We were talking about you, though. You said you got two job offers. Tell me about the other one.”

  “Colin asked me to work for him.”

  “Ah, Colin.” A smile curled Belinda’s lips. “So he offered you a job, huh? I hope it’s a job servicing all his sexual needs. I’d take that job. Hell, I’d push you in front of a bus just to steal it from you.”

  A tiny beat of jealousy stirred in Cherri’s chest. “Do you have a thing for Colin?”

  “Yeah, in the same way I have a thing for Channing Tatum, or that hot guy from True Blood. You know I like my men in expensive suits. Colin’s too rugged for me. I don’t like him like you do.”

  “I—”

  Belinda raised one of her flawless brows at her. “If you lie to me, I’ll pinch you.”

  “Sometimes I want to climb him like a tree,” she admitted aloud for the first time.

  “So climb him. Ride him. Spank him. Pull his hair. I’m sure he won’t mind. Judging by the way he looks at you, I’m thinking he might like it very much.”

  Cherri frowned as she remembered back to Christmas Eve. Colin let her kiss him. Kiss him when he claimed she was a child. Kiss him when he claimed Dr. Brightworth was too old for her. Kiss him even though he treated her like there was nothing between them but friendship. She shouldn’t have kissed Colin. He had heartbreak written all over him. But when she was with him she felt like there was something between them, something she didn’t feel with anybody else. Sometimes she thought he might feel it, too.

  Except that he thought she was too young. He was just like all her other friends that way.

  “I think Colin is looking for a woman a little more his speed.”

  “He hasn’t been looking for a woman at all. At least not lately,” Belinda pointed out. “A man like Colin O’Connell doesn’t stay single unless there is a reason.”

  “Maybe he’s gay.”

  Belinda snorted. “And maybe I’m a size four.”

  “He wants me to paint furniture for him. I already did a piece for him. A tiny little stepstool earned me three hundred dollars.”

  “That’s good money, Cherri.”

  Money she felt guilty for taking. Painting didn’t feel like work to her. If felt like joy. “He showed me the next piece he wants me to do. He’s going to charge a thousand dollars for it.”

  “You get to paint, make big bucks, and stare at Mr. O’Connell all day. I don’t blame you for wanting to leave.”

  “I don’t want to leave!” The thought
of doing so jolted her. “I could paint after work or before work. Colin said he would work around my schedule.”

  “No.” Belinda shook her head. “You work too hard. Trust me, I’m not kicking you out. If you want to sleep here I would let you, but it’s okay to cut back on your time here. You’re not just an employee, you’re my bestie. You’ll always be that no matter how many hours you put in. Besides, if you’re not working here all the time we could have more time for fun stuff. You’ve got to try this thing with Colin for a little while. You should be painting, Cherri. That’s your legacy.”

  “I don’t want to leave you guys hanging.”

  “You won’t. Ellis and I knew we were going to lose you eventually.” She sighed. “You’re too talented to just be a salesgirl. I’ve gotten a dozen applications from women who want to be a part of Size Me Up. I think it’s time we hired some new girls. With the bridal salon opening in a few months, we were going to have to do it anyway. You let us know how many days you want to work and we’ll make it happen.”

  “I feel like crying.” They had taken her in off the street when she’d walked in looking for a job. They had given her friendship and support and now they were giving her freedom so she could do what made her happy. They were better to her than she deserved.

  “Me too, but all you’re doing is cutting back your schedule. When I was your age I picked up and moved to San Francisco. As long as you don’t do that I think we can manage to keep it together.”

  “What did you do in San Francisco? You never talk about it much.”

  “I got a degree in fashion marketing there. It was the fourth college I had been to, and my third major. Then I had a paid internship there with a decorating firm for a year. Then I worked in a few high-end boutiques and then I fell in love with the wrong man, got my heart stomped on, and came running back here.” She shrugged. There was a little sadness in her voice that Cherri couldn’t help but notice. “We were too different. He was a little older and his family was from money. It would have never worked out for us anyway.” Belinda looked down at her fingernails, a heaviness settling over her. Cherri was dying to know the details of her friend’s great love, but she knew she couldn’t ask. Now was not the time.

  “Speaking of older men with money, Sean Brightworth asked me out.”

  “Really?” Belinda wrinkled her nose. “You’re young and gorgeous. I’m not surprised a man like him would want to get in your pants.”

  “You don’t think he just wants to get to know me better?”

  “Oh Cherri, a man’s only goal in life is to get in a woman’s pants. If they get to know you in the process, that’s a bonus. I’m not saying you shouldn’t go out with him. If you want to then by all means do so. Just know what you’re getting yourself into.”

  “Colin says he’s too old for me.”

  “How old is he?”

  “Forty-two.”

  “Oh,” Belinda said and then looked away. “I wonder if we are going to get any customers today.”

  “You changed the subject. Do you think he’s too old for me?”

  She shrugged. “I want to believe that age is just a number. I know how mature you are, but I wish I knew why some men don’t date women their own age. Don’t get me wrong, Cherri, you’re tall, blond, and gorgeous, but there are so many smart, vibrant, sexy women in their thirties and forties that I can see Sean with. Women he might have more in common with. Twenty years is a big gap, but if you want to see him then far be it from me to discourage you.”

  “Colin discouraged me. In fact, he and Rufus chased him away in the park a few days ago. He’s getting more and more like Mike.”

  “You’re wrong there. He’s not like Mike at all. Mike has got the macho serve-and-protect thing going on. Colin likes you. He’s got a soft spot for you, honey. I can see it every time he looks at you.”

  “You’re wrong. We’re just friends.”

  “There is no just friends with a guy like Colin. I don’t know him as well as Mike and Ellis, but I can tell there’s a lot more to him than he lets on. The man has probably gone through ten headboards, he’s got so many notches in them, but there’s something about him that’s hard not to be drawn to. If you want my advice I would say if you’re looking for an older man, Colin O’Connell is the kind of man you should go after.”

  CHAPTER 9

  Kiss the girl …

  Ten forty-five New Year’s Eve, and Colin couldn’t keep his eyes off the door. He was supposed to be in the middle of playing some game that Ellis had purchased for the occasion, but his mind was elsewhere.

  “What the hell is your problem?” Mike complained. “The girls are kicking our asses.”

  “I know. I’m playing like shit.”

  Mike looked at him, concern touching his face. “What’s up? You’re usually kind of an obnoxious dick when we play games. And frankly I like that guy on my team better than you.”

  “Blow it out your ass, Edwards. I’ve got a bit of a headache,” he lied.

  But the truth was he was missing Cherri and not because she wasn’t with them, but because he had a feeling deep in his gut that something was wrong. She was supposed to have been there nearly two hours ago but had called to say she was going to be late. What baffled him was that nobody seemed to be concerned. Belinda and Ellis were supposed to be her best friends. Didn’t they wonder what was taking her so long? Or was it just him? Had he turned into some kind of crazy mother hen? He needed to get out more. He needed to stay away from Cherri.

  Belinda doing a victory dance distracted him from his thoughts for a moment. He needed to shake off the feeling and get his head back in the game.

  Eleven o’clock. And the uneasy feeling stuck with him like a tick on a hound dog. “You have any aspirin, lad?” he asked Mike when sitting there pretending to enjoy himself was too much.

  “Kitchen,” Mike said, studying him. “In the cabinet next to the sink.”

  He excused himself, but instead of reaching for the medicine he reached for his cell phone and only hesitated a moment before he dialed Cherri’s number. It rang and rang and rang and his stomach grew tighter and tighter with each second that passed.

  And then she picked up. “Colin?”

  Relief coursed through him. “Are you okay, love?”

  “Yeah.” She sounded tired. “I’m fine.” The way she said it … He knew there was more to her story.

  “Where are you, lass?” He would go to her if he had to, just to make sure she was as fine as she said she was.

  “Right here.” She walked in the kitchen, slipping her phone in the pocket of her jeans.

  He stared at her for a moment. She wore the white sweater and boots that traveled up her legs, stopped just below her knees, and made her ass look spectacular. With her hair in those wild loose waves, there could be no mistaking her for a girl. He was faced with a fully grown woman. A woman who had more on her plate than she let on.

  “Come here,” he ordered. Her eyes were dull, her skin was slightly pale, and his worry returned with a force.

  She had barely reached him before he grabbed her, pulled her into his arms, and squeezed her tightly against him. “What’s wrong, Colin?”

  “I was going to ask you the same thing.”

  “Oh.” She frowned in confusion. “You were worried?”

  He nodded stiffly.

  “About me?”

  “No, about the pandas in China. For fuck’s sake, lass. Who the hell did you think I was worried about?”

  She smiled at him, her dimples appearing, causing her to look adorably beautiful, if such a thing was possible. “Thank you.” She rested her head against his chest, still smiling.

  “What happened, Charlotte?” He rubbed his hand down her back, feeling her relax under his touch.

  “Baba didn’t want me to come out tonight.”

  “Why not?”

  “I don’t know. She started crying when I was getting ready to leave. I didn’t know what to do. Nobody ever t
ells you that the woman you thought was invincible won’t always be that way.”

  “But that’s life and sometimes it’s complete shit.”

  “I know. I called our neighbor because I didn’t know what to do. She forced me out of the house, telling me that it wasn’t a young girl’s job to take care of an old lady. But it is my job and I feel awful for leaving her.” She was quiet for a long moment. “I don’t think I can stay long tonight.”

  “You should have called me. I would have come over.” He knew that he should be keeping his distance from her, but being near her was better than wondering and worrying about her all night.

  “I didn’t think of that.” She gave him a small smile. “I’m sure she would have cheered up if you’d showed her your abs.”

  “All women cheer up when they see my abs, love. It’s impossible not to.”

  Her eyes twinkled but only for the briefest of moments. “She talked about my mother. She said she misses her.”

  “What happened to her?”

  “I don’t know. I think they had a fight. She walked out and never came back.”

  “Sounds a lot like my mum. Aren’t we a sad pair of motherless children?”

  “We are.” She sighed, her eyes drifting shut. “We should head back to the living room.” She made no effort to move, and neither did he.

  “We should.”

  He wasn’t sure who moved first but soon they were kissing, slowly, lightly, not with passion but with an emotion that made him too uncomfortable to name. It was just like he’d felt on Christmas Eve when he’d kissed her. It was a feeling he didn’t want to go.

  “I needed that,” she said when he broke the kiss.

  “Mmm.” He tangled his fingers in her curls and kissed her forehead. His brain kept telling him not to, but his body couldn’t stop itself from doing so. “I might have to start charging you for those.”

  “Then I might have to go bankrupt.”

  They smiled at each other before he let her go. It was Cherri who noticed they weren’t alone. She stepped away from him, her cheeks going pink. Mike and Ellis stood in the doorway. Ellis’s face was unreadable, but Mike’s wasn’t. He knew his friend too well. He was going to hear about this later.