Lying in the curve of his other arm was Kitty. She was in a little ball tucked up into his side, his big hand protectively cupping her back and tail.
The man just made Charley gooey inside. How was it possible, she thought, moving up to the bedside and carefully easing the magazine back onto the bed so it wouldn’t fall onto the floor and disturb man or cat, that Blue could possibly be this sweet, this caring, and - remembering their banter earlier - this funny, and Shona wasn’t prepared to wait for him?
If Charley had a man like this, she’d wait. If I loved him, that is, she hastily tacked on, glad she was the only one privy to her wayward thoughts.
Straightening, she made to ease away but instead halted, gazing down at the sleeping man, studying him frankly.
Big, handsome, tall, muscular. Caring, kind, efficient, protective. Funny, serious, thoughtful, honest. A man a woman could lean on, walk beside, share secrets and trust.
In fact, though undeniably handsome, it wasn’t good looks alone that attracted her, but his other tributes, his character, it drew her like a moth to a flame. A very hot flame.
Careful, Charley. You’re getting a serious case of hero worship.
Blue shifted slightly, the movement making Kitty raise her head and blink at first him then up at Charley.
Not wanting him to wake and see her watching him - how embarrassing would that be? - she quickly left the room, closing the door quietly behind her.
Her dreams that night were hazy, a warm, hard body, big hands, hot skin...decadent touches that had her turning restlessly in the bed.
Awakened by the alarm clock ringing, she blinked sleepy eyes, slammed her palm on the top to switch it off and rolled onto her back with a groan to stare up at the ceiling.
Lordy, lordy. That would teach her to ogle the landlord right before bed.
Shifting her legs impatiently, she pointedly ignored the slight ache between her thighs, the flare of desire at the memory of some pretty lucid and lewd dreams.
Shoving back the sheet twisted from a fidgety sleep, she downed the glass of water sitting on the bedside drawers before staggering to the door while shoving the hair out of her face with one hand. Pulling it open, she rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands and walked straight into a wide chest, saved from bouncing back into the bedroom by big hands grasping her upper arms.
Blinking groggily, she looked up into amused eyes.
“’Morning,” Blue said.
Oh boy, the man of her dreams. Literally. “Uh, ‘morning,” she mumbled.
“Sure you’re awake, Sunflower?”
“Aren’t you supposed to be running that very fine arse down the road this time of the morning?” Realising what had just fallen out of her unchecked mouth, she added quickly, “All those working girls need something to ogle on their way to work.”
“I just fed Kitty. You know.” His eyes crinkled at the corners. “Doing my daddy thing.”
“Aw, that’s so cute.”
“I know. I’m falling into the role so well. Are you going to do your mummy thing now?”
Mmm, being the mummy to his daddy sounded naughty. In her mind, at least. Damn those hot dreams.
Managing not to give away her thoughts, Charley asked, “What’s the mummy thing?”
“Cleaning the litter tray.”
She smacked him on one hard bicep.
“Ow. Geez.” Laughing, he caught her hand. “Little grizzly in the mornings, huh?”
She squinted up at him. “I need to be woken gently, Revhead.”
“I’ll remember that.” He winked. “You’re still going to clean the tray though, huh?”
“If you think that’s going to be my job every time-”
“Settle, Sunflower.” Laughing, he dropped a kiss on top of her head. “I’ve already done it.”
The kiss took her by surprise, but not as much as when he used his grip on her hand to whirl her around, gave her a gentle push and a small smack to her backside while saying, “If you’re going to be on time for work, better move it, Charley.”
Gaping, she swung back around, one hand on her bottom as she stared after him vanishing around the corner of the hallway. The man didn’t wait to see her response to his unexpected action, just whistled merrily as he went out of sight, his very fine arse clad in shorts, big feet in sneakers, t-shirt over his impressive torso.
She felt his hand print like it was burned into her flesh. He hadn’t smacked her hard, it had been done in teasing fun, but holy cow, she… Holy cow!
Okay, she should be indignant, should probably rip him, but heck…to be truthful, she felt…well…all kinds of delightfully confused, her stomach dipping.
She was even more nonplussed when his head came back around the corner, a frown on his face. “Sorry. That wasn’t nice.” At her no-doubt glazed expression, he added, “Smacking you on the…uh…bum. Sorry.”
“I’m not.” Almost instantly she realised what her bloody unchecked mouth had said again and inhaled sharply.
Blue’s eyebrows shot up, then down, his head angling slightly while studying her with…interest?
Probably bloody puzzled as to her no-doubt stupidly glazed expression. She was lucky her tongue wasn’t hanging out. No to mention that, oh cripes, how must she sound? “I mean.” Gathering the shreds of her dignity, she drew her shoulders back. “It’s okay. I know you were just messing around.”
“Yeah,” he said slowly. “I apologise if I offended you. I’m not normally handsy like that.”
“That’s okay.” She grinned a little ruefully. “I guess I can’t talk.”
His expression turned inquiring.
“I made a comment about your very fine arse. Maybe I offended you.”
His eyes twinkled. “If I took offence at every little thing said to me, I’d be rocking away under the desk in a foetal position. I have a tough hide.”
“Same.” She nodded.
“My tough hide goes with my very fine arse.” He winked. “In fact, thank you for noticing my very fine arse. I’ll run with my head held high now.”
“Just think of it as giving the working girls a treat.” She closed her eyes. “My mouth is running away with me this morning.”
“I’ve noticed that about you.” At her wince, he laughed. “I like it. Don’t ever stop on my account, Sunflower.” With that, he waved and left.
Close call. With a sigh, she went into the bathroom, pulling off the nightie before catching sight of her reflection. Oh, wonderful. She wrinkled her nose. Her hair was a mess, her eyes bleary, a crease on her cheek from the sheet. Not to mention she was wearing an old nightie.
“Gah. You’re lucky he was even game to touch you.”
Stepping under the shower spray, she tipped her head back while reaching for the soap. The block she ran over her arms didn’t smell like lavender. Nope, she saw as she inspected it, the soap was Blue’s manly cake. Placing it down in the soap dish she fished her lavender soap out from under it and resumed soaping.
When she ran it over her bum cheek, she couldn’t help grinning slightly. So shoot her, it’d be pathetic if she couldn’t admit to herself in the privacy of the bathroom that the memory of his hand on her bum produced another little hot dip of her belly. And the kiss on top of her head? Sure, it was nothing more than friendliness, maybe a little bit of affection, but it still warmed her.
Feeling much more settled than when she’d first awakened, Charley checked on Kitty.
The tabby and white cat was lying in the middle of the bed like she owned it. Lifting her head at Charley’s entrance, Kitty meowed.
“Aw, sweet.” Sitting on the side of the bed, Charley stroked her carefully, mindful of the healing abrasions and lacerations. “How are you, gorgeous?”
Getting to her feet, Kitty stretched and yawned, arching her back blissfully before bumping her head against Charley’s hand.
“You are so cute. How could people be so mean to you, huh?” Charley tickled her under the chin. “What a baby.
Maybe tonight you can come out into the rest of the house with us. I think you’re looking pretty settled, and if there’s only me and Blue here, you know us already. I’ll ask Blue, shall I? Hmmm?”
Purring, Kitty rubbed herself along Charley’s side.
Looking down, Charley noted the white cat hairs now sticking to her navy blue pants. “Oh, look. Guess I’ll have to buy a brush. One for you and one for me.” Giving her a last pat, she stood up. “Okay, I have to get something to eat and head off. I’ll see you later, sweet cheeks.”
Kitty followed her to the door, and Charley had to put her back on the bed and make a mad dash for the door, slipping out and closing it just in time to stop Kitty following. At the plaintive meow on the other side of the door, she sighed. Then she laughed when she glanced down to see the tip of one paw exploring along the bottom edge of the door.
“I think you’re going to surprise us, Kitty.”
In the kitchen she noticed a piece of paper on the counter. Pouring milk into the cereal bowl over top of the Sultana Bran, she wondered what Blue had planned for the day. Chewing on a mouthful of cereal, she couldn’t help but read the note.
Hi Sunflower
My invite for the wedding is for me plus one. As you know, my ‘plus one’ ditched me. Mikki said your invite was for you and a plus one, too. As we’re now both single, how about we be each other’s ‘plus one’ for the wedding?
Blue
She stopped chewing for a few seconds, resumed chewing and re-read the note before leaning back to thoughtfully contemplate it. Go to the wedding as Blue’s date? No, not date. Companion? That sounded odd. Friend? Really? Tenant? She laughed at herself. Plus one. And he’d be her ‘plus one’.
Actually, walking in beside him sounded really aweso- nice. Very nice. Why not? It was either they both walked in alone or together. Trying to find someone to take at this late date - geez, the wedding was only a couple of days away - was almost impossible. It made perfect sense.
Okay, be honest. You’d love to go with him.
Taking up the pen, she wrote beneath his words.
~*~
Running along the road, Blue couldn’t believe what he’d done.
He’d actually smacked Charley’s bum, not to mention kissed her on top of the head. It had seemed perfectly natural, he hadn’t even thought about it, just reacted. Hell, he’d liked it. In fact, he’d have really liked to do more than playfully tap that curvy derrière, he’d have liked to cup it, squeeze, use the grip to draw her back against him so he could lean over her and explore all those lush curves.
How, in two weeks, had he become so comfortable with this woman? She made him laugh, made him frown, made him think of things he hadn’t before, made him see things in a different way.
Made him a little hot at the decadent thoughts that were starting to form.
Not only hot thoughts, but fondness, affection, all those little words that combined to attract him to her. She was all sunshine and brightness, that sense of humour bubbling so easily to the surface.
With the fondness she had for the colour yellow, ‘Sunflower’ was the perfect nickname.
Did she have any idea just how adorable she’d looked coming sleepily out of the bedroom? How warm her body had been when she’d walked right into him? Even now he could remember the feel of that big bosom against him, the thinness of the old nightie, those lush curves against his hard frame.
Truthfully, she’d been lucky he’d just done the tap and smooch. He’d had the insane desire to hug her close and…okay, admit it, Blue. Kiss her. Not a friendly little peck on the head, either, but something a little deeper. Hotter.
Pondering this, he ran the remaindered of the route he’d set for his morning runs, circling back to return to the house a half hour later. Sweating, he saw Luke’s work ute parked in the driveway. His brother was sprawled on the swing chair, Dog lying on his back with a goofy expression on his face while Luke rubbed his belly with a bare foot.
“My, don’t you look all hot and yuck,” Luke observed as Blue came up onto the veranda.
“My, don’t you look all lazy and useless.” He fitted the key in the lock. “Oh wait, you are.”
“Up yours.” Slipping on a pair of battered thongs, Luke followed him inside, only to stop in the doorway and look down at Dog.
Knowing the hesitation when Dog would normally come right on inside, Blue said, “Kitty is shut in the spare bedroom. Dog’s fine.”
“Goodo.” Luke continued to follow him, Dog right on his heels, nose sniffing the air enthusiastically.
“Shouldn’t you be out spreading shit around plants?”
“I’m officially on holidays. I’m getting married the day after tomorrow, you know.”
“How could I forget? I bet Mikki’s hearing the clink of the ball and chain already.”
Smugly, Luke smoothed a palm down the front of his shirt. “Red can’t wait to shackle me.”
“I think that’s more the other way around.”
“Please. She’s lucky to have me.”
“You just keep telling yourself that.” Blue waved a hand towards the kitchen. “Help yourself. I’m going to have a quick shower.”
“How about this cat of yours?” Luke trailed after him. “Where is she?”
“You’re dying to meet her, aren’t you?”
“This is the love child of you and Charley. What do you think?”
“Pathetic. Just pathetic.” Blue cautiously opened the door and peeked in to see Kitty sunning herself on the window sill.
After firmly telling Dog to sit and wait in the hallway, Luke walked in behind him quietly. Blue wasn’t surprised at the softening of both his eyes and voice as he approached the cat. Luke talked big, but his heart was soft as butter when it came to animals.
After making sure Kitty was relaxed under Luke’s gentle strokes and nonsensical words, Blue headed for the shower. Dog waited patiently in the hallway, eyes fixed on the closed bedroom door, nose twitching and nostrils flaring, but he didn’t get up. His tail thumped on the floor as Blue gave him a pat before entering the bathroom.
The air still held the lavender scent of Charley’s soap, her yellow towel hanging neatly over the rack behind his navy blue towel. He could almost imagine her in the shower, soft skin sprinkled with water, rivulets of water from the shower spray following those lush curves, the lavender soap smoothing along her warm skin…
Holy shit, he was getting a hard-on. But who could blame him? Charley was sweet, funny, and as he was unexpectedly discovering, desirable. Those big brown eyes and honey-blonde hair. Not cold blonde like his ex’s, but a blondness as warm as, well, Charley.
Breathing deep, Blue took hold of his burgeoning shaft, only to remember that his brother was in the house and this was definitely no time to indulge in a little erotic fantasy.
This time his deep breath was more controlled as he turned his thoughts away from a certain curvy female and more to what his brother wanted. It also helped to turn the water on cold. Made him jump and swear, but definitely helped beat down his wayward shaft that seemed to have a mind of its own. Okay, it was guided by his apparently dirty mind, but through sheer determination and cold water he managed to make it behave so that by the time he was dried, dressed and walking out into the kitchen, the front of his shorts wasn’t tenting.
Luke was slouched in a chair munching on a Tim Tam. On the table at his elbow sat a little stack of the delicious chocolate biscuits. Dog lay under the table chomping on several plain sweet biccies.
Blue’s eyebrows rose. “You doing all right there?”
“I’m fine.” Luke grinned slyly. “Sunflower answered your note.”
Blue ignored the intonation of the nickname. “My note?”
Luke flapped a hand towards the kitchen bench.
Oh, the note. Reminding himself that he was an adult and in perfect control - not to mention that his brother was watching him with eagle eyes - Blue moved nonchalantly to the bench to pick up the
note. Below his message Charley had neatly written Consider me your plus one.
“Oh yeah,” Luke said with major satisfaction.
“That biccie is just doing it for you, huh?” More than pleased with her acceptance, Blue put the note down.
“Nope. Well, yes, but right now you’re doing it for me.”
Blue gave him a curled upper lip.
“Not like that, you dirty bastard. I meant your grin.”
“Still not feeling comfortable.”
“Don’t be an arse, you know what I mean.” Luke winked.
Maintaining a nonchalant expression, Blue filled a glass with water from the tap and drank it straight down. Setting the empty glass on the sink, he said, “Charley’s broken up with Dickhead, I’ve broken up with Shona, we’re both lacking a partner for the wedding. What’s wrong with going together?”
“Nothing’s wrong with you two going together. In fact,” Luke’s eyes gleamed, “Red’s really happy to hear it.”
“Mikki? Cripes, how fast were you to ring her? After, I might point out, you read my note.”
“I rang her as soon as I violated your privacy, of course. Mate, I don’t mess around with news.”
“You mean gossip.”
“How the hell is that gossip? I was just letting her know so she could sort out the arrangements.”
“It’s a small wedding, Luke. What is there to arrange?”
“Oh, mate.” His expression crossed into genuine sympathy. “One day you’ll find out.”
“Yeah, I doubt that.” Blue put two slices of bread into the toaster.
“I’ll have some, too, ta very much.”
“I didn’t offer.”
“”I’m telling you.”
“Doesn’t Mikki feed you? Or rather, you’re a big boy now, Lukey, don’t you get your own breakfast?”
“Red was still in bed when I left.” Luke winked. “A little tuckered out, if you get what I mean.”
Oh yeah, he knew exactly what his brother meant. At the best of times Luke had a hard time keeping his hands off Mikki - or Red, as he often called her because of her red hair. No doubt waking up together, neither having to go to work, had resulted in some intimate bonding which Blue definitely didn’t want to contemplate. Mostly because Luke was his brother and the thought of him and - yeah, that was just ick.
The Wells Brothers: Blue Page 14
