by Terry Towers
"Stepsister," Chloe cut in.
Sylvia looked from Ryker to Chloe and then back again. A scowl crossed her face and she shook her head. "Well to hell with you then. Fucking twisted sister fucker." She stormed off without another look back.
Ryker and Chloe watched her disappear down the flight of stairs in silence.
Letting out a loud huff, Ryker raked a hand through his hair and gave Chloe a sympathetic smile. "I'm so sorry about that."
Chloe sighed. "It doesn't matter." As she said the words she knew it was true. It had been in the back of her mind, the taboo element of their relationship, but the truth was that she didn't care. What mattered was her and Ryker and how good they were together. If other people couldn't handle it, that was their problem, not hers.
Ryker strode over to her, gathering her in his arms. "I am sorry."
"You don't have any more women out there waiting to come out of the woodwork do you?" Chloe teased, stretching up against him and kissing him tenderly.
"Nah, you're the one and only."
"Hmm. I like the sound of that." She stepped back from him so she could get a good look at him from head to toe. "You know there's nothing sexier than a man in uniform." And she meant it. She was getting wet just looking at him in his blues, gun strapped to his belt, looking so domineering official. She loved it.
Ryker caught sight of her hooker-style boots and grinned. "Hey, take off that jacket."
She flushed slightly, as she chewed at her lower lip and undid the belt of the overcoat. She let the garment drop to the floor to display her newly acquired outfit.
"Mmm. I... I... really, really like that. Had you worn this the first night you were here, I don’t think I’d have been able to remain such a gentleman this past week."
A sense of pride and desirability raced through her. She loved the fire in his eyes as he looked at her and gently pushed her into the apartment, closing the door behind them.
"And I have another surprise for you in the kitchen."
Oh my God, the kitchen! The chowder! Spinning on her heel she raced into the kitchen to see smoke rising up from the pot heating the chowder.
"Oh no!" As she attempted to salvage the chowder she heard chuckling coming from the kitchen entranceway. "It's not funny, I tried really hard on this. I just wanted to make you happy," she huffed, shaking her head at her ruined chowder.
He crossed the kitchen to wrap his arms around her waist and pull her tight against his front. Pushing her hair to the side, he nuzzled her neck.
"You do make me happy. Extremely happy."
She turned in his arms, looking up into his eyes. "Me too and that's all that matters. Right?"
He nodded when his lips lowered to hers; she knew what she’d said to be true. She didn't give a damn what people thought, this kind, funny, sexy man made her happy and that was all that really mattered.
The End
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Seeking Prince Charming
By
Terry Towers
Chapter 1
“I’m going to assume you’ve lost your mind. Are you really this desperate?” Abagail Carpenter asked her best friend Chloe who was showing her the dating profile of a man she was planning on meeting.
Chloe Bennett’s green eyes looked up from the profile she was looking at and shrugged, while pushing a lock of her black hair out of her eyes. “People go out on dates with people they meet on online dating sites all the time Abby.”
“Yeah, but you don’t know anything about this guy.” She motioned to the profile that was devoid of a picture or any type of physical description. “You don’t know his name, there’s no photo, you don’t even know what he looks like.”
“Looks aren’t the most important thing. We’ve talked…”
“You’ve texted back and forth and sent some emails,” Abby corrected. “You’ve heard of the term catfish, haven’t you? This guy or girl or whatever could be some pedophile. Or he could be looking to hook some foolish woman and robbing her of all her money.”
“I’m 19 so I think I might be a little bit old for a pedophile to be interested. And I’m a to-be college student so how much money could he really rob me of?”
“Or a rapist!” Abagail continued, not fazed by my rebuttal. “You could be setting yourself up to be raped!”
“Oh for the love of God Abby, stop being so melodramatic.” Chloe motioned towards the computer screen. “I feel like I know him, ya know? Besides, I’m meeting him at the coffee shop at the park.” A wide grin spread across her glossed lips. “We have it planned. We’re both going to wear red scarves. His idea. Isn’t that romantic?”
Abagail shook her head, her blonde ponytail whipping back and forth behind her head. “No, I don’t know what you mean. And no, It’s weird. I meet men the normal way and so could you if you’d just come out of your shell a little bit.”
I cocked a brow up at Abagail. “So you suggest I sneak into bars with you hoping to snag some jackass who’s only looking for a night of fun instead?” It was something Abagail was notorious for.
Abagail’s cheeks turned rosy. “That’s not the only way. Besides, in a couple months we’ll be college girls! Think of all the hot college men we can have our pick of.”
Chloe huffed. Abagail might be able to pick up guys face to face, but she wasn’t plagued with chronic shyness. While Abagail would go from guy to guy, dating the majority of the hot guys from their high school, Chloe played sidekick, sometimes dating the friend of the guy she was into. Usually that friend was also chronically shy and one thing Chloe had learned over the years was that two shy and introverted, teenaged strangers did not a fun night make.
Turning off the computer, Chloe pushed her computer chair back, nearly running over her friend’s bare toes in the process. “How about instead of being negative you help me pick out an outfit.” Standing, Chloe made her way over to her room with her roommate in tow and went directly to her small walk-in closet and opened it wide. “I have to look perfect.”
~*~*~*~
“She’s going to be a complete dogface, you realize that man?” Corey Harrington stated from the sofa of their fraternities living room, before taking a drink from his can of beer. Normally their fraternity house would be buzzing with people, for some reason tonight was an exception. “Every person I’ve talked to who has gone on an internet date has said the same thing. They don’t look like their picture.”
Reed flopped himself into an armchair adjacent to his friend Corey, grabbed the remote from the coffee table and turned on the large screen television mounted on the wall, flipping through the channels until he came to the football game. Satisfied with his channel selection he tossed the remote back onto the coffee table and grabbed a beer.
“That’s where I have you beat. There was no picture.” He sat back, taking a drink waiting for his friend’s reaction. This outta be good, he thought amused as his friend’s expression took on one of disbelief.
“Are you fucking with me? Out of all the girls who would love to go out with you, you’re going on a date with some chick you don’t even have a remote idea what she looks like. She’s going to be either some wrinkled up cougar looking for a young piece of ass or a really, really big girl… Not that there’s anything wrong with that. They just aren’t my thing.”
Reed laughed. Corey was such a vain son-of-a-bitch.
“Come on man. We’re college guys on the lacrosse team. Ask out one of the cheerleaders. That red head is fucking wild in the sack from what I hear. And I noticed her eyeing you during the last game.”
“Maybe I’m looking for something a little more substantial that a quick lay? This chick seems to get me. And she’s going to our college for the winter semester. If this works out it’ll be great. Her and her roommate just moved her a couple of months ago and, get this, sh
e’s from my hometown.” He shrugged. “Maybe I knew her. That would be cool. Even if it didn’t work out, we could at least catch up.”
“Well, if she was from your hometown then why didn’t you get her name? You could have at least googled her.”
“Because it’s against the rules of the site. The whole site is based around the fact that you are to get to know the person for who they are before you know what they look like. You know, see what’s inside before judging the outside.”
“Ya, but what if what’s inside is 300 pounds of fat?”
“You’re impossible, man.”
Corey looked at me, his expression grim. “No you’re insane. Don’t come complaining to me when Dogface starts stalking you.” He downed the remainder of his beer and grabbed a second from the coffee table, pulling open the tab.
Reed laughed. “You’re such a dick. No wonder you can’t keep a girlfriend.”
Corey snorted. “I don’t want a girlfriend. I’m not tying myself down until I’m old and flaccid.”
“No woman will want you once you’re old and flaccid.”
Corey shrugged. Losing interest in the conversation, he redirected his attention to the football game.
~*~*~*~
Oh-my-god, what if Abagail is right? What if this guy is some sort of perv or… Okay, no. I’m not going to think like this. It’s going to be alright. Chloe looked at the coffee shop from the driver’s seat of her car. She was supposed to meet her mystery man at 1pm. She’d been sitting there for over a half of an hour watching for a single man to enter wearing a red scarf. With each minute that grew closer to the time they were to meet her nervousness increased.
What if he’s standing me up? Maybe he’s doing the same thing as I am, waiting to see the girl with the red scarf. If he doesn’t like what he sees he’ll just stand me up. The thought didn’t help her nervousness, not one iota.
She looked down at her watch. It was currently 12:55pm. Chloe looked back up in time to see the back of a tall, lean, blonde-haired man, entering the coffee shop, the tail end of the red scarf he was wearing flying behind him. The coffee shop had tainted window so the patrons could see out, but you couldn’t see in. It wouldn’t be until she actually walked into the coffee shop that she’d get a full view of her date for the day.
With a sigh, Chloe slumped back into the car seat. She wasn’t stood up. But a new terror struck her, now that he was in the coffee shop he’d be able to watch every step she took until she got into the shop, scrutinizing every inch of her in her dark blue jeans and black turtle neck, and of course the red scarf.
You’re overthinking this. Just fucking do it, she coached herself grabbing opening the car door and stepping out. It’s a date. No big deal. Not even a date really, more like a meet and greet.
Squaring her shoulder, she kept her chin high attempting to display much more confidence than she felt as she strode across the parking lot and it the coffee shop front door. As soon as she opened the door, the aroma of coffee and pastries drifted to her nose, causing her stomach to grumble. Skipping breakfast hadn’t been a great idea, but she’d been too nervous to eat spending most of the morning ensuring every last detail of her appearance was perfection – from ensuring each strand of her long black hair shone, to scrutinizing her outfit making sure it emphasized her breasts, while taking focus off the areas of her body that could use some serious time in the gym.
Upon entering the coffee shop she stood at the entrance and scanned the dining area, spotting him immediately. His head was down and he was frantically texting a message into his phone, so her entire performance had been for nothing.
Taking a deep breath in. she slowly released it gathering the last bit of courage she had in her and walked over to the two person table at the far corner of the coffee shop. “Excuse me, are you Passionate Romeo?”
He laughed, tucking his phone away into the inner pocket of his grey wool jacket. “It didn’t sound so ridiculous when I picked it as a screen name, honest.” As he stood, his gaze slowly lifted from her feet, moving up her body and after what Chloe felt was an awkwardly long time, to finally meet her nervous stare.
They stared at one another for a minute. But it was Chloe who made the discovery before he did. “Reed? Ohmygod… Is that you?”
~*~*~*~
Reed was beyond shocked as he stared into the green eyes of the young woman who had once been his step-sister. Even after she made the connection and spoke his name, it still took a second to fully register.
“Chloe?” He chuckled and gave his head a little shake. He’d been jittery most of the morning, anxious to meet the mystery girl who had called herself ShyGirl19 and now that she was standing before him he realized just how silly it had been to be so worked up.
She shrugged, her cheeks growing warm and hesitation in her eyes. “Guilty. Small world, huh?” She’d been a shy kid growing up, apparently the past seven years hadn’t changed that.
“So does your former step-bro get a hug, or what?”
She laughed and stepped into him, slipping her arms around his neck and hugging tight to him. “This is unbelievable.”
“Very. I wish we’d stayed in touch.” Which was true, he’d wondered about her from time to time, but never went through the effort of hunting her up on Facebook or one of the other social networking sites, mostly due to the fact their parent’s divorce was extremely nasty and bitter. So he stayed out of touch, out of respect for his father and her mother. Just the mention of her mother’s name sent his father into an hour long rant listing all the faults of Susan.
Wrapping his arms around her waist, Reed pulled her a little tighter. Her perfume which smelt of roses tempted his nose, urging him to bury his face into her neck. As her soft, curvy body rubbed against his, an all too familiar stirring began in his jeans. A part of him felt that on some level this was wrong, but rationally he knew that was nonsense. In fact, the part of him that felt it was wrong fuelled the desire he was feeling, that little hint of it may be inappropriate made her all the more appealing. When his eyes took in the curve of her hips and the way her sweater stretched across her breasts, he’d been immediately turned on. It wasn’t until the realization of who she was that it got weird.
Scared she might feel the rapidly growing erection forming in his pants, he stepped back, holding her at arm’s length, to get one more look at the fully grown Chloe Bennett. “You look…”
Shit, is there a way to tell her she looks fucking hot without it being weird? His brow creased as he considered it.
“What?” Her smile widened, as she looked up at him.
“Huh?”
“You’re getting that look that you used to get when you were kids when you were deciding on whether you should do something or not.”
“Yeah, I – I was about to say you look…” He put his hands out to the side palms up. “You look hot. I mean… Shit.” He raked a hand through his short dirty blonde hair and sighed. “You’ve really grown up.”
She laughed again. “Seven years can do that.” She jerked her thumb towards the exit. “Do you wanna, maybe, go for a walk. I was warned not to go anywhere alone with Passionate Romeo, but I think I can make an exception.”
Placing a hand at the small of her back, Reed led her towards the exit. “Funny thing is, I was warned the same thing about ShyGirl19.” As they reached the door, he held it open for her to exit before him.
Looking over her shoulder at him, Chloe shot his a devious smile. “So you were told I may be a some old pervert or a rapist preying on naive young men?”
He laughed. “No, no. Not exactly. I was told you’d be either some cougar looking to take some stallion for a wild ride, or some dog-faced stalker. I think it’s safe to assume you’re neither of those things.”
They turned left and began walking along the edge of the duck pond. “Oh, I wouldn’t be too sure about that. You know the twelve year old little girl from seven years ago, feels like a lifetime ago. I’m not that girl anymore.”
“Is that so?” Reed looked down, his blue eyes catching her green ones, a hint of a grin on his face.
“It’s a fact. As a matter of fact, I could just possibly be that sex-crazed, stalker type that you’ve been warned about.”
The declaration, while he sensed was complete bullshit sent another rumble of desire through him. She was right though; she wasn’t that little girl anymore. That realization quieted his conscience, giving is desire free reign.
Chapter 2
“You know, all of my friends had a crush on you,” Chloe stated, as they walked down a wooded walking trail that would lead them to the top of the hill which overlooked the duck pond. What she’d admitted was true. It had pissed her off back then – hardcore.
Is Reed and his girlfriend breaking up? Will you ask if he’ll maybe go out with me? Abagail had had the nerve to ask, numerous times while they were young. Like he’d seriously consider a group of twelve and thirteen year olds. But then again they all had aspirations of marrying their favourite rock stars as well. That didn’t happen either.
“I kinda figured.”
She cocked a brow up at him, grinning wide. “It was the apparent, huh?”
“Very. Each time you had a sleepover they’d all peek into my room, giggle when I spoke to them and run off.”
“Going into your room and kissing you was one of their favourite dares.”
A roar of laughter erupted from him. “What? Are you serious?”
Laughing with him, Chloe shrugged. “No one ever won that dare. But they all had aspirations of one day doing it.”
For the first time in close to forty minutes silence overtook the non-stop chatter they’d been indulging in. It felt nice being with him. The feeling was a combination of the easiness she felt when with a good friend, but at the same time there was a definite sexual attraction. She was certain he’d begun to get hard when she’d hugged him and her body had reacted.
