by K B Cinder
Sage stepped forward, but I waved a hand as we separated. “Take care of yourself, Brandon. Figure out what you want in life, so you can stop chasing everything else.”
He nodded in response, swiping more tears as they fell, stepping back to leave. “Dash is a good guy, Juni. I’m glad you have each other. He’s got an awesome girl.”
He left, taking a huge cloud from over my head as he did.
26
Have you ever done something you immediately wished you’d done before?
Used a brand of laundry detergent that left your clothes looking, feeling, and smelling amazing? Added vanilla creamer to hot cocoa on a whim?
For me, that little something was dating Dash.
Not only was he drop-dead gorgeous, but he was handy, helping me install the new kitchen floor I picked up over winter break, replacing the cracked tiles with new wood-look ones. It was our first project as a couple, and we made it through surprisingly unscathed, the only casualty Karine’s acrylics when she leaned her hand into mortar.
That was after he and Sage refinished the cabinets, stripping away the peeling paint and staining them a light ash to make the tiny space seem larger.
Yes, they were back to their normal selves, joking around at both mine and Karine’s expense as they worked.
Their hard work made a New Years Eve party possible, the tiny bungalow packed with friends as we waited to usher in a new, exciting year.
And it would be exciting.
Dash and I booked a trip to Turks and Caicos for spring break, but before that, we were spending Valentine’s Day weekend in Vegas with Karine for a mega adult expo.
It was shaping up to be a wild ride, and I couldn’t wait.
Dash smiled at me from across the kitchen, catching me lost in thought about it all. He excused himself from the conversation he was having with a group of guys, coming over to kiss me softly.
“What are you smiling about over here, petite?” he asked against my ear.
“You. Us. Everything.” I waved a hand at the crowded room, Karine wielding a giant dildo as she explained the new line to friends while Sage looked on in shock and possibly fascination.
Dash pressed his lips behind my ear, sending a shiver down my spine with it. “You look beautiful, as always. Just in case I haven’t told you.”
“You did,” I laughed. At least a dozen times. Starting when I strolled out of my room in the gold mini dress Karine demanded I wear, my hair carefully curled and styled by her expert hand.
“I still like you better naked,” he muttered, feathering another devastating kiss in the sweet spot. “Moaning my name, preferably.”
“Get a room, you grosses!” Sage bellowed, entering in classic big brother style.
Dash chuckled, pulling his lips from my neck to slide an arm over my shoulders. “I already have one down the hall,” he jabbed. “I have a frequent-flyer pass.”
Sage’s face contorted in disgust. “I don’t need to know what you do and don’t do with my sister’s mistletoe, ya nasty.”
“He does a lot with it. I hear it all night long. I didn’t know it was edible, either.” Karine stepped in as well, a massive red rocket of a sex toy in her hand.
“Okay, you’re a terrible person,” Sage groused, shaking his head while Dash lost it next to me, his body shaking mine with each laugh. “There are some lines you just don’t cross, weenie.”
“And I crossed them,” Dash choked out between laughs, everyone losing it all over again.
Everyone but Sage, that is.
“You’re still lucky I didn’t crush your balls over this.” Sage gestured between us with a grimace.
“Why didn’t you?” I challenged, tapping my fingers on my champagne flute nervously.
Bubbly wasn’t my favorite, but Karine insisted we have it for the midnight toast. The one we were closing in on fast. I wasn’t sure how fast, seeing that a drunk guy’s top hat was blocking my view of the wall clock.
“You care about one another,” he offered with a weak shrug. “When he saw your tires, he looked as deadly as I felt inside. That’s when I let it go. I knew he wanted to rip apart whoever did it just as much as I did.”
“Touching,” I giggled, patting a hand on Dash’s chest.
He kissed my forehead, my new favorite thing. Well, my favorite thing people could actually watch without us getting arrested.
“Besides, we all have our secrets,” Sage said with a shrug, Karine’s eyes immediately cutting to his face.
“TEN!” voices shouted from the living room, cutting our chat short.
We rushed in to watch the ball drop, Dash lifting me to see the television screen over the sea of heads.
“NINE!”
I was still wondering what the hell Sage was talking about when Dash’s fingers started tracing figure-eights on my exposed thigh.
“EIGHT!”
He dipped one under the hem of my dress, his flesh hot against mine.
“SEVEN!”
I swatted it away with a laugh. He’d been playfully threatening to bring in the New Year with a bang all day. A fingerbang, to be precise.
“SIX!”
I glanced around the room, the Christmas tree still up and decorated. Usually, I’d have it down the day after Christmas, the ornaments stuffed away as quickly as they’d gone up. But the room glowed with the holidays, bursting with laughter and love everywhere I looked.
“FIVE!”
Sage was standing a few feet away, looking up at me with a smile. He held a beer in his hand, the bottle tiny in his paw.
“FOUR!”
Karine was struggling to see the screen, even shorter than my five-foot-five self.
“THREE!”
But she didn’t struggle for long, Sage lifting her high in the air as she squawked, his cold beer pressed to her exposed midriff as her sweater rose up with his hands.
“TWO!”
I cackled at poor Karine, her head mere inches from the ceiling as Sage held her high like a helpless lion cub off a cliff for the kingdom to see.
“ONE!”
The room fell silent before exploding with joy.
“HAPPY NEW YEAR!”
The ball dropped, bursting into a thousand lights, Dash lowering me for a kiss.
“Happy New Year, petite.”
I stood on my tippy-toes, kissing him again. “Happy New Year, Dash.”
I’d never meant it more in my life. It would be a happy new year.
I beat Fate.
Not just that, I kicked her ass.
Copyright KB Cinder (2020)©
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any way, shape, or form without written permission from the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review.
This book is entirely a work of fiction. All characters, scenes, and dialogue are entirely from the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons or incidents is purely coincidental.
For risk takers, dream makers, and bad mothertruckers everywhere.
COMING OF SAGE
I need a drink.
Or four.
I’ve handled a lot of, ahem, tools in my life.
But none as big or thick as Sage Mullen.
Thick-skulled, that is.
He’s my best friend’s older brother and a complete jerk.
I’m also stuck with him for a long weekend in Vegas.
Oh, and one small detail…
We shared a night once that still curls my toes just thinking about.
That was before he shattered me into a thousand pieces, of course.
I need to play it cool and keep my eyes on the prize.
And off of him.
I’ve had a taste of that disaster before, and it still burns my tongue.
Four days.
I can do it.
The future of my business is on the line.
No pressure, right?
Prologue
Ten years earlier
“Karine Ysabel!” Mama called, her voice echoing up the stairwell on schedule at 7:00 AM. “Se apresse!”
Hurry up.
I sprayed myself with my favorite melon body mist, thankful I only had one middle name, unlike my sisters — not that it would make the daily shoutfest much better. It did, however, save a sliver of time during scoldings when Mama insisted on using our full names.
Dishes not done? Karine Ysabel, do you not live here?
Bad grade? Karine Ysabel, do you want to break my heart?
Miss curfew? Yeah, right, my parents would have my head on a stake.
It was a Saturday, and in most households, that meant sleeping in, but in the Nunes family, weekends were for working just as much as weekdays. Rest was for the wicked, you see.
“Talita Kristina Maria! Soraya Eneida Palmira!” Mama continued, rattling off my sisters’ names in a sing-song manner.
She wouldn’t admit it, but she’d always said my name harsher because I was named after Papa’s mother or mãe no inferno when Mama thought I couldn’t hear her under her breath.
Mother-in-hell.
It was a fitting name, as Grandmother only visited to ruin summer vacation before flying home to São Paulo. Papa liked having her around to teach us girls authentic Brazilian culture, while Mama would rather row a boat there herself to avoid it.
I grabbed my purse from my dresser and headed downstairs, already knowing that I had a day of driving ahead. As the eldest, I was the only one with a license, and Mama had an errand list a half-mile long that she couldn’t complete with her foot in a boot.
She liked to say she broke it putting it up Papa’s rear, but she actually did during a samba workout video. She swore me to secrecy on that, and I obliged, mainly because I was eager to forget seeing my mother dirty dancing.
“What are you wearing, Rini?” she asked with narrowed eyes as I came down the staircase.
She was waiting in ambush like a big cat in a pink sweatsuit and bandana, her long black hair tied away for a day of cleaning.
“A sweater,” I replied, tugging at the material. It was a purple wrap-style top I got at the mall with Juni. “And jeans.” They were fitted for a change, showing my butt had a shape other than looking like a soiled diaper.
“Did Papa see that outfit?” she asked with acid on her tongue. She held a steaming cup of coffee in her hand, the source of her never-ending energy.
“No,” I muttered. I was eighteen. Did I seriously still need to run every article of clothing I bought by him?
“Kitchen. Now.” She pointed a yellow rubber glove adorned finger toward it, Papa ready and waiting to shoot down my hopes and dreams at the table as he read the newspaper.
“Mama!” I objected, but she snapped her fingers at me, our Dachshunds, Gordo and Porco, sitting obediently across the living room as she did.
“Don’t catch an attitude with me, Karine! You know the rules!” she warned, shooting me a death glare from her perfectly lined eyes.
I glanced down at my outfit with a frown. I loved it. When I bought it, I was just hoping Sage would notice me. Now that he and I had finally, well, you know, done it — it was perfect.
Unfortunately, a hint of shape was a no-no in our house. For everyone but Mama, that is. Women are sexy; girls are girls. We made the Bradys look scandalous sometimes.
I could already hear my heart pounding in my ears as I went to the kitchen, finding Papa at the table with his glasses low on his nose while he skimmed the front page.
Mama was hot on my heels, crossing her arms as she stood beside me. “Doug, is this outfit acceptable?”
Papa glanced over his glasses, his nose scrunching as he did. Time stood still while he studied me, and my heart sunk just thinking about changing into one of my usual lumpy sack outfits. “She is a woman, Adriana. Let her be.”
I smiled wide, while Mama stiffened.
Karine: 1; Mama: 0.
“May I have the list?” I asked, ready to get out of the house. I had to drive the totally not-cool minivan, but I’d be stopping at someone’s morning workout since the gym was right next to the bakery that sold Mama’s favorite lemon bars.
Mama plucked it from her pocket with a scowl and set the purple slip of paper in the palm of my hand. “Be careful, Karine. You’re a woman now.”
I smoothed my new clothes as I strolled down the sidewalk toward the gym, feeling amazing with every step. I parallel parked on my first try, finally got acknowledged as an adult in my house, and was seeing my new boyfriend in the same morning — hopefully looking finer than fine while he laid into a punching bag.
Well, he wasn’t my boyfriend yet, but I knew he was going to ask. Pretty soon, we’d be Honey Hills, New Jersey’s own little Rocky and Adrian.
I still couldn’t believe it. I never thought Papa forcing me to join a week-long self-defense bootcamp would lead to Sage and I finally getting together.
I was so nervous going into it a week earlier, but little by little, I relaxed, and by Friday, we went on a real date where he took me to the beach to see the stars. I knew then he was the one for me, and we made love in the sand like the movies.
It’d only been a few hours since, but I couldn’t wait to kiss him again. To tell him how amazing he was. To hold his hand.
I grabbed the clammy metal handle and pulled hard, the gym’s front entrance always sticking from the humidity inside. It was gross, with everyone sweating inside and all, but it also meant muscles looked a hundred times hotter as they flexed.
As I stepped in, the familiar stickiness washed over me, the air tropical compared to the breezy spring morning. Music pounded from the wall speakers, the intense beat waking me up more than Mama’s shouts any morning.
Sage was squaring up in the fighting cage, wearing a pair of black compression shorts and nothing else, his shoulders broad as he jabbed a pad another man held. His steps were heavy on the canvas, echoing as loud as the music blasting overhead.
I crossed to the side of the enclosure, watching him move with catlike grace as he struck the pads harder with each punch, his bared skin rippled with muscle and gleaning with sweat. He was already well into his morning routine, breathing heavily as he swung.
The years of training had sculpted a tall, lanky preteen into a man of steel, and he was already larger than most of the trainers in the place at just twenty-two. Even his sparring partner was no match, the man struggling to absorb each blow delivered.
I leaned against the canvas, staring up at the man I’d loved since I was in sixth grade, from the day my heart first fluttered when he said my name for the thousandth time. Ka-ree-nee. Sure, he tagged weenie at the end sometimes, but at least he said it correctly. Most people called me Karen and called it a day.
We’d grown up together, as his little sister, Juni, was my best friend from the moment we moved onto Holly Hearth when I was a toddler. Sage was a pseudo older brother by association until that fateful day when I noticed how dreamy his eyes were. How much his face had matured into that of a man.
His arm swung again, delivering an uppercut to the top pad, sending his partner reeling backward, caught off-guard by the vicious hit.
A well-placed uppercut shuts out the lights.
He’d said the line repeatedly the day before at the final class of the weeklong camp. The class where he asked me out as I packed up.
I’d lied to my parents for the first time about where I was going, telling them I was spending the night at a fictional friend’s house when I was actually driving down the shore with a boy.
If they knew, they’d freak.
And if they knew we went all the way? Sheesh, I’d be toast.
As the men reset, Sage’s eyes fell on me, and I smiled wide at the handsome man that was all mine. He winked in return, sending my heartbeat haywire.
I was so flippin’ lucky.
He fired off two more hard shots before stepping away and holding up a
hand to bump fists with his partner. “I need a breather, Seth. Catch you in five.”
His partner nodded, dropping the pads and flexing his fingers almost as if he were relieved.
“Rini, meet me in the equipment room,” he called as he rolled his shoulders. He flicked his head toward a door on the rear wall, and I swore I blushed from head to toe.
Did he want to do it here? Seriously?
“Okay!” My knees quaked as I walked, but I wouldn’t show it. I could be sexy. I could be spontaneous.
Beautiful women were working out all around in sports bras and tiny shorts. Ones with big boobs, flat bellies, and super sleek hair — the kind of women that flocked to Sage.
But he chose me — a short girl with wild curls, a soft middle, and baby Bs, as Juni liked to say. She always said I was lucky to have a smaller chest than her D-cups, but I didn’t see how.
I slipped into the room, still smiling, finding it cooler than the gym floor. Overhead fans sent my hair flying along with the stench of rubber from the rolled mats stacked on the racks lining the walls, the shelves stretching nearly to the ceiling.
I stood beside a row of training dummies, the human-shaped sacks of sand mostly bigger than me. I watched Sage toss them around all week as if they were nothing, and for the first time in my life, I felt something down there. Suddenly, the things I’d read in copies of Cosmo that I borrowed from Juni made sense. And boy, he did stuff I hadn’t realized you could do with a mouth.
My cheeks grew hotter by the second just thinking about our time in the sand. It felt so naughty, but I couldn’t wait to do it again. I’d have to tell Juni soon, and she’d probably be a little mad, but she always told me to have fun. So I did.
The door squeaked open, stirring up the butterflies in my belly. The pounding of my heart in my ears joined the circus as Sage appeared, his body still bared with his compression shorts riding low, the bulge of his cup hiding the organ that had taken me to the dark side.
