She led Elise from the dining room to the kitchen, which was nice and large with plenty of cupboard space. The cabinets and countertops were a little old, but they could easily be replaced in a few years. There was a sliding glass door that led to a beautiful fenced-in backyard and a door to the garage. The kitchen also opened to a family room. The family room came through to the living room at the front of the house, where they made a full circle.
Upstairs, there was a master bedroom with an en suite and three smaller bedrooms with one additional bathroom. Both bathrooms were a little outdated, but it was, again, something she could fix.
When they finished looking at the garage and basement, Cara asked, “What do you think?”
“I love it. It’s perfect.”
Cara sighed with relief. “I was hoping you’d say that. Now, it’s a little more than what you originally wanted to pay, but because the inside needs some work, it’s significantly less than what you could be paying for it. And, since there is another offer on it, I suggest you offer full price.”
“What are they asking?”
When Cara told Elise the price, some of her excitement dimmed. It was more than she had originally planned to spend. But she already knew she was in love with it. She hadn’t come close to feeling this happy about any of the previous houses she looked at.
Cara sensed her hesitation. “Is there someone you can call to come and look at it with you? A second opinion with someone who is a little more objective?”
That was an excellent idea. But who to call? Rachel, Tera, and Heidi were out of town, and Kristen was busy with her own family. Her parents would come, but she wasn’t going to make her dad leave the house. Plus, she didn’t know if she really wanted her mom’s opinion. She was kind of picky. That left one option, and surprisingly, it was exactly the person she wanted to call.
Luke sat up on the bench and used the bottom of his shirt to wipe the sweat off his face. “Your turn,” he told his friend Nate.
Nate took Luke’s spot on the workout bench, lay down, and picked up the barbell while Luke spotted him. Neither of them said much as Nate benched his set with Luke throwing in a few encouraging words now and then.
Nate and Luke had been friends since elementary school, having first bonded over their mixed races in a school where there weren’t many minorities, and years later, they didn’t feel the need to fill the silence.
Nate had just finished his set when Luke’s phone rang. Nate picked it up before Luke could get to it.
“Elise?” he said, reading the screen. “Is this the girl you’ve been fucking?”
Luke had used that very word to describe what he’d been doing with Elise, but for some reason, hearing it come out of Nate’s mouth rubbed him the wrong way.
He gave his friend a come-here motion. “Hand it over.”
Nate smirked at Luke and swiped the green button. “Luke’s Palace of Sexual Favors,” he said into the mouthpiece.
Luke sighed. “Dude.”
“This is Nate. Luke’s busy with a client, but I’m available. I’m not as good in the sack as Luke, but I’ve got a bigger dick, so I think that makes up for it.”
Luke could hear Elise laughing through the phone, but he couldn’t make out her response.
Nate laughed and pulled the bottom of the phone away from his mouth, grinning. “She told me to prove it. Where’d you find this chick?” He didn’t wait for Luke to answer and moved the phone back to his lips. “I think we can arrange that.”
Over Luke’s dead body.
If people thought Luke was a player, it was only because they’d never met Nate. Nate was one hundred percent womanizer and a dog. He was one-quarter black, one-quarter Mexican, and half-white with a shaved head that he Bic’d every day because he didn’t even have stubble. He had light-brown skin with tattoos covering his whole left arm and crystal-blue eyes that stood out against his tan skin. He was about the same height as Luke with a slightly slimmer build but still muscular. He was forever making jokes about Asian dicks being small and black dicks being big, saying that was why women should date him over Luke. Ladies loved him. A lot.
And Luke wasn’t entirely comfortable with him and Elise bonding.
“Can I have my phone now?”
Nate held up a finger. “Uh-huh,” he said into the phone. He was nodding, and his face was serious. He suddenly grinned. “Babe, you came to the right guy. We’ll be there in five minutes. I just have to tell Luke to get dressed,” he joked.
Luke rolled his eyes.
Nate hit End on Luke’s phone and handed it to him. “We’ve gotta go. Your fuck buddy needs us. She said she’d text you the address.”
Luke picked up his bag. “Please don’t call her my fuck buddy. Especially to her face.”
Nate grabbed his backpack off the floor and looked at Luke. “Dude, you must really like this girl. Either that or she has a magical pussy.”
Luke didn’t answer. “Let’s just go.”
Nate raised his brow but didn’t say anything.
They hopped in Luke’s SUV and made it to the address Elise had given him in seven minutes. When they pulled up, she ran out of the house.
“Hurry.” She motioned them inside. “We don’t have much time.”
Luke rushed toward the house. “What’s going on?”
“I think I’ve finally found a house I want to buy,” she said, full of excitement.
Luke looked around the front yard for a For Sale sign.
“It just went on the market,” she explained as Nate reached them. “You must be Luke’s friend.” She held her hand out for Nate to shake.
He took her hand and kissed the back of it. “Now, I get it,” he said.
“Get what?” she asked, confused.
“What Long sees in you. You look sweet with your big, innocent eyes, but I bet you’re a wildcat in bed.”
Elise laughed in disbelief and stuck her thumb out at Nate. “Is this guy for real?” she asked Luke.
Luke smacked his friend on the back of the head. “Unfortunately, yes. I shouldn’t bring him out in public, but he insisted on coming along.”
“Hey, I’m right here,” Nate said.
Elise laughed. “Come on in, guys.”
They entered through the front door where they were greeted by an attractive woman who was about five years older than Luke.
“Cara, this is my friend Luke who I called, and this is his friend Nate.” Elise turned to Luke and Nate. “Luke, this is my realtor, Cara. Nate, this is Cara. She’s married, so no hitting on her.”
Luke laughed and elbowed his friend. “Boy, does she have you pegged.”
Nate pouted but didn’t object.
Cara extended her arms with a smile. “Go ahead and look around. I’ll let Elise show you everything. I’ll be out front, making a few phone calls.” She looked at her watch. “You have about forty-five minutes to make an offer,” she told Elise before stepping outside.
Nate flung his arm around Elise. “Show us the way, FB.”
“FB?”
“It’s nothing, Elise,” Luke told her. “Shut up, Nate.”
Nate dramatically rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”
Elise shook her head and laughed. “You two are weird. Come on, let’s go look around.”
Elise stood back, trying to wait patiently for Luke and Nate to tell her what they thought of the house.
The two of them had shown up wearing tank tops and nylon shorts, their muscles on display for everyone to admire. They were both a little sweaty from working out. She’d seen the look Cara gave her when the guys weren’t looking, and Elise didn’t blame her. They looked incredibly gorgeous, especially next to each other, but Elise thought Luke was the sexier of the two.
“This home has a nice, solid foundation,” Nate said.
Normally, she wouldn’t care about what some guy she’d just met thought, but Nate explained that he’d fixed up more than one house and remodeled his own home. Luke admitted that N
ate was very good at it and had an eye for these kinds of things.
“Do you fix up houses for a living?” Elise asked Nate.
Nate shook his bald head as he ran his hand over the woodwork on the doorway. “No, I’m an engineer. But my dad was a contractor, so I’ve worked on houses since before I can remember.”
While Nate was deep in thought, Elise pulled Luke aside. “Is Nate going to tell Rachel and Sean about us?”
“Nah. He and Sean aren’t really friends.” Luke paused and looked like he wanted to say more.
“What?” When he didn’t answer her, she nudged him. “You can tell me.”
“Does it bother you that Nate knows we slept together?”
“No.” She studied Luke.
Did he think she was embarrassed or something that they were sleeping together? Because she wasn’t. In fact, she was kind of sick of keeping it a secret. A part of her was relieved that she hadn’t gone on the girls’ trip, so she wouldn’t have to keep quiet about it all weekend. Especially since she’d seen Luke almost every night this past week.
With her dad in the hospital and her mom staying with him, Elise had been spending a lot of time with Luke. At this point, it didn’t seem right to keep their relationship—or whatever it was—a secret.
She stepped closer to Luke. “I’m actually kind of tired of keeping it from everyone. But, then again, I don’t want a lecture,” she told him.
He smiled down at her. “I totally understand. I mean, we’re adults, but, ugh, Rachel will probably bitch about it for a week.”
Elise playfully smacked him and laughed. “Hey, that’s my friend you’re talking about.” She tugged him closer. “But it is kind of fun, keeping this secret to ourselves.”
“Yeah, it is,” he agreed. “It makes it naughtier.”
He leaned over, like he was going to kiss her, when Nate interrupted, “Hey, Long, if I work on this house for Elise, are you going to help me?”
“Of course,” Luke answered.
“Oh. No, no. I didn’t ask you guys to look at the place to put you to work. I just wanted your opinions on whether or not it was a good deal.” She didn’t want either of them to think she was looking for free or cheap labor.
“Oh, it’s a great deal,” Nate said.
“I agree.”
“Awesome. I can’t wait.” Elise clapped her hands. “I’ve finally found a home, and I’ll get to move out of my parents’ house.”
Nate grimaced. “That kind of puts a bummer on getting laid, doesn’t it?”
“Do you think about sex all the time?” Elise asked.
Nate said, “No,” while at the same time, Luke said, “Yes.”
Elise laughed while Nate scowled at Luke.
“Like you’re one to talk, Long. You’re already pussy-whipped over FB here.”
“Shut up, asshole.”
“Why do you call Luke Long?”
Nate looked confused. “Because it’s his name.”
“Well, I know that. But you’re the only one I know who calls him that.”
Nate shrugged. “We’ve been friends forever, and we’ve always called each other by our last names.”
Elise realized she’d never heard Luke address Nate by his first or last name. “What’s your last name?”
“Thicke. Like Robin Thicke.” Nate threw his arm around Luke’s neck. “Everywhere we go, people say, There goes…” He trailed off, obviously wanting Elise to finish his sentence.
“Long and Thicke.” She snorted with a laugh. “Nice,” she said sarcastically.
Luke was shaking his head as he pushed Nate’s arm off him.
Elise shot Nate a doubtful look. “Is that really your last name?”
“Nah. It’s Hall. It would be kind of cool if it were Thicke though, huh?”
Elise laughed. “You are so full of shit.”
“I should never have brought you along,” Luke told his friend.
“Well, I answered the phone, so technically, I brought you.” Nate turned away from Luke and grabbed Elise’s hand, tugging her toward the stairs. “Come on, FB, let’s go get you a house.”
“Why do you keep calling me FB?” she finally asked as she let Nate drag her down the stairs.
“Oh, because you’re Long’s fuck buddy or friend with benefits. Either way, FB fits.”
Elise laughed out loud, yet a tingle of discomfort traveled down her spine at the title. “Is that what Luke calls me?” she asked as casually as she possibly could, looking behind her to make sure that Luke had hung back enough not to hear her question.
“No. He actually told me not to call you that, but if I were fucking you, I’d want everyone to know. You’re hot.”
“Thank you?” I guess.
“He’s probably just afraid of getting hurt after Ava.”
“Ava?” Elise had never heard that name.
“Yeah, you know, his ex.”
No, she hadn’t known. She didn’t get a chance to ask Nate any more questions because they reached the front door, and he yanked it open.
“Hey, sexy realtor lady, someone here wants to buy a house.”
Cara grinned. “I was hoping you’d say that. I’m already trying to get ahold of the seller’s realtor. Why don’t you come down to my office, and we can get the paperwork started?”
Luke came up behind them and cupped the back of Elise’s neck, pulling her toward him and away from Nate, forcing Nate to drop her hand. She’d forgotten that he was holding it.
It seemed like it was a possessive move on Luke’s part, which she admitted that she kind of liked, but when Elise looked at his face, he was smiling and appeared relaxed.
“I hope you get it,” he told her.
She smiled, but she was starting to feel butterflies take over her stomach. “Me, too.”
Luke pulled her closer and kissed her on the forehead. “Good luck, babe. Call me when you hear something.”
Elise looked at Luke. She wanted to ask him about Ava and the other things Nate had said, but now was not the time. “Will do,” was all she said instead.
Several hours later, Luke’s phone rang. When he answered it, the first thing he heard was a high-pitched squeal.
“I got the house! I got the house! I offered as much as another buyer, but the sellers were in a sudden time crunch. They wanted to close in less than two weeks, and I was the only one who could do that. The house is mine!”
Luke grinned into the phone. “That’s great, Lise. I’m so happy for you.”
“Let’s go out and celebrate.”
Shit. “I can’t.”
“Of course. I’m sorry. You probably have other plans. I already interrupted your morning.” She tried to sound nonchalant, but he could hear the disappointment in her voice.
“Hey, you didn’t interrupt anything. I was more than happy to come over this morning.”
Luke was also secretly pleased that, out of all the people in her life, she’d called him. He knew Rachel was out of town, but he also knew there were other people she could have called besides him.
“It’s just that I promised Hall—I mean, Nate that we’d go out tonight and do something.” Luke lowered his voice because Nate was in the kitchen, rummaging through his pantry. “Believe me, I’d much rather hang with you tonight.”
“Well, that makes me feel better,” Elise said.
At that exact time, Nate came up behind Luke when he hadn’t been looking. “Hey, I take offense to that. Just because I can’t make you orgasm doesn’t mean I’m no fun.” Nate flopped down on Luke’s couch next to him with a bag of Luke’s chips in his hand. He rubbed his chin. “Actually, I think I could give you an orgasm. But I doubt either of us would like it.”
Elise started laughing on the other side of the phone.
“I guess you heard all that, huh?”
“Yes,” she said, still giggling. “Does he ever quit?”
Luke thought about it. “No.”
“Does it get old?”
“Hardly ever. He knows when to be serious. Don’t you, Hall?”
Nate pretended to be wounded. “Of course I do. I was a perfect gentleman at your grandmother’s funeral, was I not?”
“You were,” he told Nate. “Did you hear that, Elise?”
“Yes, but still…”
Luke laughed.
Nate might be over the top sometimes, but he was like a brother to Luke. And he always found Nate to be honest. He said what other people were thinking anyway. It was refreshing that Luke never had to wonder what his childhood friend was thinking.
“Meh, he grows on ya.”
“Like a fungus,” Elise joked.
Luke laughed.
“Hey, I heard that,” Nate said, his mouth full of chips.
“I’m just kidding,” she said loud enough for Nate to hear.
“You’d better be. I like you, FB. Don’t make me change my mind.”
“Is he going to call me that forever?” Elise asked with a sigh.
Luke winced. “Probably, but let’s hope not. He didn’t tell you what it stood for, did he?”
“Oh, he did.”
Luke sent a death glare at Nate. “I told you not to call her that.”
“What?” Nate looked confused before he must have remembered. “Ohh. Yeah, well, it’s like a badge of honor. How could I not?”
Luke didn’t say anything to Nate, but he did apologize to Elise.
She laughed. “It’s fine. It’s kind of funny if you think about it.”
“If you say so.”
“Well, I’d better go. Thanks again for coming today.”
“No problem.”
“By the way, I’m going to be thinking of you and Nate tonight when I’m alone in my room.”
“Huh?”
Her voice dropped, becoming seductive. “Yeah, the whole giving-you-an-orgasm thing. I’ll be thinking of that when I’m in bed tonight.”
Luke was both horrified and turned on at the same time. “You’re going to think about me and Nate? As in, us doing it?”
Nate’s head whipped around at Luke’s words. His eyes were round, and he paused mid chew. He leaned closer to the phone.
“Oh, yeah, baby. You wouldn’t believe the number of male-on-male romance novels women read. It’s fucking hot.”
Dirty Page 13
