Best Friends Forever (3 page)

Grant took my hand and we walked away, pushing
the cart.
 
“Okay, that’s was incredibly
awkward.”
 
I couldn’t help but snicker at
his dry tone.
 
“Well, that’s a first for
me.
 
I’ve never actually been asked to a
frat party before.”
 
He looked surprised.
 
“Seriously?
 
Not even when we were in college?”
 
“Nope.
 
I guess I just wasn’t
appealing to the frat boys our age.”
 
He
grinned.
 
“Nah.
 
They were all idiots or blind.”
 
“Aww…” I teased.
 
“You’re so sweet.”
 
His face suddenly got serious and there was…something…in
his eyes when he gazed down at me.
 
“Meri…
oh crap!
”
 
Grant got a nervous look on his face as he
looked over my shoulder.
 
“Your little
stalker sees us, doesn’t she?”
 
“Yep,” he
muttered.
 
“And she’s headed this
way.”
 
“Oh crap.”
 
“Exactly.”
 
I stepped closer to him, my hands gripping the front of his shirt.
 
“Let me handle this, okay?”
 
“What?”
 
He looked confused.
 
“Just follow
my lead.”
 
“O…okay.”

“Mr. Thomas.
 
Grant?”
 
I heard a young, breathy,
little girl voice behind me.
 
Grabbing
the front of Grant’s shirt tighter, I pulled his head down to mine and plastered
his mouth against mine.
 
I felt him
stiffen before he wrapped those long, muscular arms around me.
 
Suddenly, what started as a kiss meant to
deter Grant’s student became something so much more.
 
In the blink of an eye, Grant took over, his
mouth slanting hard over mine.
 
His hands
slid down my back before gripping my more-than-a-handful bottom, pulling me
tight against the hard ridge between his legs.
 
I gasped and his tongue slipped between my lips.
 
I opened wider and allowed my tongue to glide
seductively over his.
 
His tongue ran
over my front teeth before dancing with my tongue.
 
He pulled back, sipping at my upper lip and
then the lower before slowly ending the kiss.

Stunned, I stared up into Grant’s equally
stunned eyes.
 
Whoa!
 
What just happened?
 
A couple
of teenagers walked past us, one of them muttering, “Geez, man, get a
room.”
 
I felt my face flaming red and
the tips of Grant’s ears were pink.
 
Clearing my throat, I stepped back as he dropped his arms.
 
“Oh my, that…that was…” I stammered.
 
He tucked his hands in his jeans’ pockets and
gave me a lopsided, nervous grin.
 
“Unexpected?
 
Amazing?
 
Embarrassing?”
 
“Wow.
 
All of the above?”
 
He glanced
over my shoulder and I heard a strangled groan.
 
Turning, I faced the young girl who had a crush on Grant.
 
Suddenly, I wished I hadn’t turned
around.
 
I had never seen such a look of
abject hate as I saw on that young woman’s face.
 
I had no idea why but I felt as if her hatred
was directed at me.

Grant placed his hands on my shoulders.
 
Nodding to the young woman, he said evenly,
“Hello, Brittany.”
 
Glancing down at me,
he continued.
 
“Babe, this is Brittany
Snow.
 
She’s one of my Art History
students this semester.
 
Brittany, this
is Meredith MacDonagh, my…my girlfriend.
 
Meri is the head librarian at the college.”
 
“I know who she is,” Brittany spat.
 
I had a bad feeling about the young
girl.
 
Wanting to distance myself from
her obvious hatred, I smiled tentatively.
 
“It’s nice to meet you, Brittany but…we really need to run.”
 
Turning to Grant, I looked up at him,
silently pleading with him to get us out of this
very
awkward situation.
 
Thankfully, Grant heard my silent plea.
 
“Oh, yeah.
 
It was nice seeing you,
Brittany, but we need to pick up a few things before heading home.
 
We have…something to do tonight.”
 
“Yeah, I’ll bet you do,” she snarled as her
friend tried to pull her away and out the door.
 

Nervous, we turned our backs on the little
psycho and headed down the nearest aisle.
 
Once we were around the corner and out of sight, I stopped and took a
deep breath.
 
“Wow.
 
When you told me about your little stalker, I
had no idea the situation was so serious.
 
I imagined a little girl crush that would be gone the moment she moved
on to a young boy her own age.
 
But, the
vitriol in her eyes is downright…scary.”
 
“Yeah.
 
It’s worse than I
thought.”
 
I bit my lower lip until I
noticed his eyes staring at my lips.
 
“Well, I guess we should…um…get the shopping done and head home,” I said
nervously.
 
What is wrong with me?
 
First
that kiss and now I’m acting like a shy, nervous school girl.
 
Grant is looking at me the way I’d always
dreamed of and it…scares…me…to…death.

Grant grinned down at me, his eyes tender.
 
His hand rose and his fingers brushed softly
down my cheek.
 
“Yeah, babe.
 
We’d better get going.”
 
He held his hand out to me and, after a
slight hesitation, I placed my hand in his.
 
He threaded his fingers with mine and, pushing the cart, led me down the
aisle.
 
“Okay, so we need beer and you’re
out of OJ.”
 
“How do you know I’m out of OJ?”
 
“Because I drank the last of it right before
we left this morning.”
 
I gave him a
playful smack on the arm.
 
“I think you
eat more of
my
food that you do your
own.
 
I don’t know why you even bother
stocking your kitchen.”
 
He grinned.
 
“You’re right.
 
Maybe we should just combine kitchens.
 
Or…”
 
Confused, I frowned up at him.
 
“What on earth are you rambling about?”
 
He grinned even wider.
 
“We could
always just get a place together.
 
You
know, combine households, pool resources so to speak.”
 

I didn’t know what to say.
 
My mouth moved like a guppy out of water but
no sounds came out.
 
He chuckled and told
me, “Close your mouth, babe.
 
It’s just
something to think about, okay?”
 
My
mouth was so dry, I could barely swallow.
 
I had to clear my throat twice before I could speak.
 
“Are you serious?”
 
He stopped next to a beer display.
 
Placing two six packs of the microbrew we
both like in the cart, he looked over at me.
 
There was a smile on his face but I recognized the dead seriousness in
his eyes.
 
I knew this man better than I
knew myself and he really meant what he was saying.
 
Combine
households?
 
I licked my suddenly dry
lips.
 
“You…you want to move in
together?”
 
He stepped closer and put his
hands on my shoulders.
 
“We have
practically lived together our whole lives, babe.
 
Just take your time and think about it.
 
We’re going to have a serious talk tonight
but not about this.
 
I just want you to
put the thought in the back of your mind and toss it around for a while.
 
Okay?”

I
can’t deny this man anything.
 
I found myself
nodding agreement.
 
“Okay.”
 
“Good.
 
Now, besides beer and OJ, what else do you need?”
 
I cannot
believe
him.
 
He kisses me silly in the middle of the
grocery store in front of half the students from the college.
 
Then he tells me he wants us to move in
together?
 
And now he acts as if
nothing’s happened?
 
I growled in
frustration.
 
“Really?”
 
I followed him toward the juice aisle.
 
“Grant…”
 
He reached in the cooler and pulled out a gallon of orange juice,
placing it in the cart.
 
I knew he could
see the frustrated look on my face because he cupped my cheek with his large
hand.
 
I could tell by the look in his
eyes that he wanted to kiss me again so I put my hand on his chest to stop
him.
 
“Grant, you are driving me
crazy.
 
You know that don’t you?”
 
He chuckled and rested his forehead on
mine.
 
“The feeling’s mutual, babe.
 
But, I have faith that this will all work
out.
 
Just trust me?”

I nodded.
 
“You know I trust you completely.”
 
“Good.
 
We’ll talk about this
later, okay?”
 
“Okay,” I nodded
again.
 
His eyes lit up when he grinned.
 
“Okay.
 
Now, what else do you need?”
 
I thought
a moment before responding, “We need bread and peanut butter.”
 
He grinned again.
 
“We?”
 
I rolled my eyes at him.
 
“Stop
it.
 
I also need to go down the
toiletries aisle.
 
Why don’t you go pick
up what you need and I’ll meet you up front?”
 
He laced his fingers with mine.
 
“Nuh uh.
 
I’m not letting you out
of my sight right now.”
 
I raised my brow
at this.
 
“I dumped a lot of serious crap
on you just now and I don’t want you to cut and run on me.”
 
“Oh good heavens, Grant, you know darn good
and well that I have never
cut and run
in
my entire life and I have no intentions of starting now.
 
Don’t be silly.”
 
I started down the aisle, dragging him behind
me.
 
“Come on, let’s get the rest of our
things and go home.”
 
I could see the
laughter in his eyes when I said that but my home has always been where Grant
is.
 
I’m
not telling
him
that, though.
 
Not yet anyway.

Grant

Home?
 
Yeah, I
knew I had a totally goofy grin on my face but I couldn’t help it.
 
Even when we didn’t see a lot of each other
when I dated other girls in high school or during my junior and senior year of
college, home was always wherever Meri was.
 
I knew this woman better than I knew myself.
 
And right then, she was confused, nervous,
and yes, a little intrigued.
 
And that
kiss!
 
Holy smokes!
 
I thought I’d
explode just for wanting her when she kissed me.
 
I hadn’t planned on asking her to move in
with me just yet.
 
It just sort of came
out.
 
But, maybe it was time I was
completely honest with Meri.
 
Maybe it
was time I told her how I really felt.
 
As I followed her through the grocery store, my thoughts were all
jumbled around and confused.
 
Somehow, I
managed to respond intelligibly whenever Meri asked me a question but by her
quizzical looks, I could tell she knew something was up.

We finally finished our shopping and headed for
the front of the store.
 
Meri began to
separate her things from mine but I leaned over the counter and whispered to
the cashier.
 
“Ring all her stuff up with
mine, okay?”
 
The cashier, a gray-haired
grandmotherly type smiled and winked at me as she began ringing up our
purchases.
 
As she got to Meri’s personal
items, Meri put out her hand, stopping the woman.
 
“These are separate.”
 
The woman simply smiled and continued to ring
up the items.
 
Nodding toward me, she told
Meri, “Your young man here said he’s paying for everything.”
 
“Grant, you do this to me every time we go
shopping together.
 
You cannot keep
paying for my stuff.”
 
I grinned at the
indignant look on her beautiful face.
 
“Sure I can.
 
This nice lady is ringing
it all up and I’m paying for it.”
 

Meri pointed her finger at me.
 
“Don’t look so smug,” she ordered.
 
“At least let me pay for my…my personal
items.”
 
I couldn’t help but grin.
 
Leaning over, I murmured in her ear.
 
“Babe, who bought your first box of tampons
when we were thirteen because your mom was out of town and you were too
embarrassed to ask your dad?”
 
She rolled
her eyes before answering.
 
“You
did.”
 
“So there’s no difference in my
buying them now is there?”
 
She gave me
that pouty face that drives me crazy and makes me want to kiss her silly.
 
“Fine.
 
But I get to pick the movie tonight.”
 
I grinned.
 
“You got it.”
 
I knew she’d go for the newest horror
flick.
 
For some reason, Meri
loves
scary movies, even though they frighten
the wits out of her.
 
She always screams
and closes her eyes at the scary parts while practically climbing into my
lap.
 
By the end of the movie, she’ll
literally be sitting on my lap, her arms wrapped tightly around my neck, with
her face buried in my neck.
 
I like it
when she chooses the movie for the obvious reason that I get to hold my little
Meri in my arms and comfort her.

I paid for the groceries and followed Meri to
the Redbox just outside the door.
 
Yep,
there she was, picking out a horror movie.
 
Oh, yeah.
 
I am
definitely
going to enjoy this movie.
 
After
she paid for the movie, we headed to my car.
 
A few minutes later, we pulled into my parking space at our apartment
complex.
 
Meri got out and opened the
trunk of the car.
 
“Do you just want to
take everything to my place and sort it there?”
 
“Sure, sounds good to me.”
 
I handed
her the light stuff we bought at the Market and grabbed the heavier bags from
the grocery store.
 
She put all her
shopping bags on one arm so she could open doors and led the way inside.
 
Loaded down with bags, we took the elevator
up to our floor and walked down the hall to Meri’s apartment.

Once inside, I started putting Meri’s groceries
away while she separated the clothing we picked up at the Market. From the
kitchen, I watched her making piles on the sofa. 
 
I caught a glimpse of the lingerie she
bought and suddenly my jeans were way too tight. 
 
What
is it about little scraps of lace that turns me on?
 
 
Or is it the thought of Meri in
those little scraps of lace? 
 
Yep,
that’s it.
 
 
After I put
all Meri’s groceries away, I walked over and picked up the pile of clothing I
bought at the Market. 
 
“I’m
going to run these over to my place, shower, and change. 
 
When I get back, you want me to order
the pizza?” 
 
She smiled. 
 
“Sure. 
 
Take your time. 
 
I’m going to put my new undies and
sarongs away then shower and change.” 
 
She
gave me a sly look. 
 
“When
you get back, maybe I’ll model one of my sarongs for you.” 
 
I grinned at that thought. 
 
“Wear the one I bought?” 
 
“Hmm…maybe.” 
 
She turned and sashayed down the hall
toward her bedroom while my heart beat faster. 
 
I couldn’t help but mutter to
myself. 
 
“Sexy little
witch.”

Thirty minutes later, I let myself back into
Meri’s apartment and called out.
 
“Hey,
babe, I’m back.”
 
Getting no response and
not seeing her in the living room or kitchen, I wandered down the hall.
 
“Meri?
 
Where are you, babe?”
 
“Grant!”
 
I heard a high-pitched
yelp coming from her bedroom.
 
Concerned,
I grabbed the edge of the open door and started to push it the rest of the way
open.
 
Suddenly, someone slammed the door
shut, barely missing my fingers.
 
“Geez,
Meri!”
 
Pulling my hand back, I asked,
“Meri?
 
Is everything okay, babe?”
 
“Yes, I’m just getting dressed.
 
I’ll be out in a minute.”
 
One thought of Meri naked or half-naked and I
had a hard-on.
 
Damn, woman!
 
You’re killing me.
 
She called through the door, “Why don’t you
go ahead and order the pizza?
 
You know
what I want.”
 
I stepped closer to the
door and leaned my forehead against the wood.
 
“You sure you don’t need any help, babe?” I asked teasingly.
 
“Grant...” she gave a tiny growl that
seriously turned me on.
 
“Oh, alright,” I
pretended to groan.
 
“If you’re
sure?”
 
“I’m positive.”
 
Grinning, I turned to head back down the
hall.

I called the local pizza joint and ordered our
favorite, a large hand-tossed pizza with extra pepperoni.
 
Grabbing two beers from the fridge, as well
as plates and napkins from the cupboard, I made myself comfortable on the sofa
and turned on the television, watching a few minutes of the local news while
waiting for Meri and the pizza.
 
“Well,
what do you think?”
 
I heard Meri’s soft
question from behind me.
 
Curious, I glanced
over my shoulder before jumping to my feet.
 
“Wow!”
 
There she was, my little
Meri, her beautiful red curls flowing around her face and down her back.
 
Her body was wrapped in the black and red
silk sarong.
 
Her plump, beautiful
breasts swelled above the top of the strapless garment and it was very obvious
to my libido that she was not wearing a bra.
 
Damn!
 
The sensuous fabric caressed her shapely
curves and draped over her beautiful hips to several inches above her knees,
showing off her long, sexy legs.
 
Barefoot, she looked like she should be dancing on some secluded
tropical beach while the moonlight caressed her soft skin.

I knew I had a goofy grin on my face and my
mouth was hanging open but
damn, she’s
beautiful
.
 
She grins at me.
 
“Close your mouth, baby.
 
Can I take it that you approve of my
outfit?”
 
I could only nod.
 
“Grant?
 
Aren’t you going to say anything?”
 
“Uh...yeah.
 
As soon as I pick my
tongue up off the floor and shove it back in my mouth.”
 
She giggled and I couldn’t help but reach out
and tweak one of her beautiful curls.
 
“Meri, you are absolutely
gorgeous
.”
 
She blushed the prettiest shade of pink.
 
“Aww...you’re so sweet.”
 
Reaching out, I cupped her chin and raised it
until she met my eyes.
 
“You know that I
don’t say something unless I mean it.
 
You’ve always been beautiful to me but I never realized until now just how
stunning you truly are.”
 
Unable to stop
myself, I leaned in, intent on kissing her.
 
And the damn doorbell rang.
 
Heaving a frustrated sigh, I rested my forehead on hers.
 
She gave me a little smile and said, “That’s
probably the pizza.
 
I’m going to go
change, I don’t want to get anything on this outfit.”
 
“Okay.
 
I’ll get the pizza.”
 
As she walked
away, my eyes were drawn to her gorgeous behind, softly draped in silk and I
realized I shouldn’t have worn sweat pants.
 
No way could Meri have missed my
very
obvious
erection.
 

The pizza delivery guy couldn’t miss it
either.
 
Crap!
 
And wouldn’t you know
it, he was one of my students.
 
I opened
the door and he smiled.
 
“Hey,
Professor.
 
How you doin’ tonight?”
 
I could feel my ears turning red.
 
“Hey, Josh, I didn’t realize you had a job
delivering pizzas.”
 
He nodded.
 
“Yeah, my folks paid my tuition and fees but
I have to cover my everyday living expenses.”
 
I grinned at his enthusiasm.
 
“Well, in that case, allow me to make a small contribution towards that
cause.”
 
I hand him money for the pizza
and add a generous tip.
 
“Thanks,
Professor Thomas.”
 
He gave me a mock
salute and turned to walk away.
 
Turning
back, he gave me a wink and said, “You and Ms. Mac have a good night, now.
 
You hear?”
 
Chuckling to myself, I closed the door and locked it.
 
Placing the pizza on the coffee table, I called
down the hallway.
 
“Hey, babe, pizza’s
here.”
 
Meri, dressed in some sort of
skintight stretchy pants…
I think she
calls them yoga pants
…that showed off her sweet, sexy ass, and a tank top hurried
down the hall.
 
“Great!
 
I’m starving.”

Plopping down on the sofa next to me, she lifted
a large slice out of the box and onto a plate.
 
Tucking her legs under her, she leaned back and took a big bite, moaning
in ecstasy.
 
“Ooh, this is
so good
.
 
Almost better than sex.”
 
I nearly
choked on my pizza and she pounded on my back.
 
“You obviously have never had sex with the right person if you think
pizza’s better,” I coughed.
 
Her cheeks
turned the prettiest shade of pink.
 
“Hey
now.
 
I said
almost
.”
 
I just grinned and
said nothing.
 
We ate in companionable
silence for a few minutes before Meri spoke again.
 
“So, exactly what did you mean when you said
we should move in together?”
 
“I thought
we agreed you’d think about it for a while before we discussed it?”
 
I attempted to stall.
 
“No, Grant, you wanted me to think about it
but I need more information.”
 
She
scooted closer and peered in my eyes.
 
“I
need to know where you’re coming from.
 
So, tell me.
 
What did you
mean?”
 
I set my empty plate on the coffee
table and took a sip of my beer.
 
Why am I so nervous all of a sudden?