Good Wood (13 page)

We climbed the stairs to my place in silence. My apartment was over the carriage house of a small 1930’s mansion. I’d looked for a long time to find something with character, and my patience paid off. When we got to my door, I handed him my bouquet so I could dig for my keys.

“You know you can toss these now, right? He’ll never know.” He inspected the yellow and purple bouquet, unimpressed.

I shook my head as I swung the door open. “Not a chance. Wildflowers are my favorite. They don’t have to be tended-or even watered, really. They just…bloom.”

I stepped inside and switched on the lamp by the door. I moved to the kitchen and immediately pulled a tall glass out of the cupboard and filled it with water. Plopping the flowers into it, I carried them back into the living room where Joe stood with his hand in his pockets, looking at the pictures on the mantle of my electric fireplace.

“I can’t believe you live here.” He remarked, his eyes fixated on a picture of me and my dad. I looked like I was about seven, with curly pigtails and a gap toothed grin. The last thing I needed was for Joe to start thinking of me as a little girl again. Time to get him focused.

“Why not? Not upscale enough for you?”

He turned to me, maybe to see if I was kidding. With a long sideways glance, I slid the flowers onto the mantle and moved toward him. Looking up at his ruggedly handsome face in the mood lighting, I couldn’t contain my need to touch him.

“Where were we?” I asked, pulling him to me by his front belt loop.

His movements were stilted, at first, like he was trying to buy some time to figure out an exit strategy. Then as if in slow motion his mouth dropped to my neck and the way his stubble scratched against my flesh made me shudder. “We were about to make a huge mistake.”

“What makes you say that?” I sighed as my fingers gripped his hair as if they had a mind of their own.

He nipped my earlobe as his fingers skimmed along my outer thighs, lifting the hem of my dress a few inches before dropping it again. When he whispered in my ear, I broke out in gooseflesh. “I’m not the kind of guy you’re looking for. I don’t date.”

“What a coincidence. Neither do I. Guess that makes you
exactly
the kind of guy I’m looking for.” His wet lips continued to toy with me and I could feel my knees threatening to buckle. Then his mouth was on mine and our ferocious kisses made me dizzy. Before I was aware it was happening, he lowered me onto the couch. The delicious weight of him against me was practically unbearable and my hands roamed his firm body, frustrated at the layers of clothing between us. Demandingly, I reached between his legs. Years of pent up frustration were boiling over inside me. The massive bulge I found waiting for me exceeded my wildest expectations.

He pulled his lips from mine and pushed back from me slightly. I was so frustrated I nearly cried out in alarm. By the faint light of the lamp, his intense green gaze locked on me. “This’ll only be a one-time thing. If you’re smart you’ll ask me to go. Now.”

“No one ever accused me of being smart.” I purred. He exhaled slowly, and his thumb caressed my bottom lip. I nipped at it playfully, trying my best to maintain some control over him…since I’d lost all control of myself.

“Molly.” My name had never sounded so fucking good.

“Yeah, Joe?” I reached out for the top button of his shirt and I could feel his heart pounding as I struggled to undo it.

“Don’t ask me to go.”

I ROLLED OVER and stretched lazily. My bed was never this comfortable, and it had been years since I’d woke up feeling so well rested. I felt no trace of hangover, as if I’d slept for days. The scent of coffee and bacon reached me, and it smelled heavenly. For a moment before I opened my eyes, I wondered if I was having a dream within a dream.

Then flashes of the night before jolted through me, and my eyes popped open. I stared up at the gauzy canopy of Molly’s bed and realized just how much trouble I’d gotten myself into. We’d more than crossed the line. We’d pole-vaulted over it three times. Okay…maybe four.

I pushed myself up and looked around. I was alone in the tangled bed sheets, but I spotted Molly’s white dress crumpled up on the floor. I recalled peeling it off of her in vivid detail. To my surprise, her beautiful body had only one hidden piercing in addition to those of her nose and ears. It sparkled right above her naval, and I got to inspect the tiny diamond up close while my tongue busily played between her creamy thighs.

I scrubbed my face with my hands as if by this single act I had a shot at erasing the intensity of those moments. I stood and grabbed my pants from their spot by the chest at the foot of her bed. I did a double take at the hope chest and remembering how hard Mason had worked to construct it as his sophomore project, I cringed.

After hunting for another minute, I found my shirt across the room on her side of the bed and headed into her en suite bathroom. Her Bing cherry shower curtain served as a sobering reminder that we’d ended up in there at one point. Memories of soaping her nipples and the sounds she made when she came rocked me. Remembering how easily she’d inspired me to perform and just how much I loved to hear her moan scared the hell out of me. All her intense eye contact during sex was a bit overwhelming. More concerning was the realization that I liked it. Somehow I felt all turned around. Feeling anything at all was unheard of, and I knew I had to get out there A.S.A.F.P.

My sleepy brain finally connected all the dots, recognizing that she had to be in the kitchen. I jumped into the shower to try to wash off the dirty feeling I got when I realized I had to look her brothers in the face every freaking work day from now until hell froze over. I was glad I didn’t have any plans today. Doing more than making my escape would have been out of the question. The clock on the wall explained why I felt so well rested-it was eleven a.m. I grabbed a shampoo bottle and squirted some into my hand. As I lathered it into my hair, the scent of orange hit me, and I realized I was going to smell just like Molly. I would need to shower again when I got home because the constant reminder would be too much to take all damn day. For now there was nothing for it; I was already covered in the stuff.

I dried off in a hurry and tossed on my discarded clothes. Glancing down, I saw I had a huge smudge on the front of my shirt from Molly’s lemon glaze the night before. Just the thought of that first kiss had me reciting a litany of morbid topics to keep from getting an erection. Things were complicated enough without adding that to the mix.

As I gripped the door handle, I stopped and tried to gather the remaining shards of my dignity for this particularly difficult walk of shame. I realized how idiotic I was acting and almost chuckled. I’d warned her. She wasn’t jailbait anymore. Molly was a consenting adult and I had zero doubts that last night’s pleasure had been all mine.

I headed straight for the door, trying to ignore the aromatic seduction emanating from her kitchen and the cool old school music playing on the radio. I heard her humming along and realized there was no way I could leave without saying something to her. I stopped with my hand on the doorknob and sighed.

When I rounded the corner into the kitchen, she was standing at the counter stirring sugar into her coffee. No longer disheveled and wild, she’d obviously run a brush though her shiny dark hair. She wore a pale blue satin robe that matched her eyes perfectly. Her freshly scrubbed face made her look younger. She looked up from her coffee and gave me a bashful smile.

“Morning Joe.” Her voice had a slightly flirty lilt, and when she blew on her coffee it brought back some particularly pleasant memories.

“Hi.” I dragged the word out like a man with bad news. I folded my arms and leaned against the counter closest to the door in case I needed to make a hasty retreat.

“You sound like you could use some coffee.” She pressed a button on one of her kitchen gadgets and coffee shot into a to-go cup.

“Thanks.” I paused, looking at the worn wood planks of her kitchen floor. “Listen, about last night…”

“What about it?” She flipped the page of her magazine nonchalantly and I felt even more like a moron.

“You’re not going to say anything to the guys, are you?” I forced myself to look her in the eye. She froze mid page flip and looked at me as if she was about to laugh in my face. She closed the magazine and moved toward me.

“Gosh, I don’t know. It’s so tempting.” She mused, her eye narrowing ever so slightly. “Hell, maybe I should call a family meeting. Invite Granny H. Exactly which part of last night would you like me to share first?”

I nodded slowly, the enormity of my ridiculousness weighing me down. “Point taken.”

“Muffin?” She offered an overcrowded plate to me and I shook my head.

“I’d better not…”

She huffed with a condescending eye roll. Then she picked up a muffin and tossed it at me. I fumbled a second and managed an awkward save. “It’s a muffin Joe, not a pre-nup.”

“Fair enough.” I took a bite. It had bacon in it. Best muffin ever. I tried not to let it show. “I had fun.”

She studied my face as if we were playing Texas Hold ‘em.

“Yeah, it seemed like it.” She deadpanned, and sipped her coffee once more.

I took another muffin from the plate and when I turned back she handed me the to-go cup as if reading my mind. “I really do have to go.”

“Of course you do.” She crossed to the kitchen table and picked up my keys, tossing them to me. I was ready for her this time, and snatched them out of the air with a great deal more grace than I had the muffin. With a half-hearted wave, I was out the door. As I made my way down the stairs and across the lawn, I huffed a lungful of fresh air with the enthusiasm of a prisoner released from solitary. I couldn’t help but shake my head at the completely foreign way Molly had responded to my usual ‘morning-after debriefing’. Even thinking her name and the word debriefing in the same sentence made my pants tight and I casually adjusted myself as I reached in my pocket for my…

Shit. I forgot my phone.

I stood for a full minute as my gut clenched and my mind spun like a blender. How the hell could I have left anything behind, let alone something as important as my phone? Reluctantly, I trudged back and was about to knock on her door when it swung open and I was face to face with her again. She held up my phone, her baby blues twinkling with amusement.