Hidden Desires (51 page)

"They are quite exquisite." Jodie agreed. "If I had a taste of those, you'd have to get a pry-bar cuz girl, I'd be at them all day."

Both Brooke and Cayden blushed.

"By the looks of that shirt, I'd say that was her intentions." Wade pointed out, aiming his look at Cayden.

Brooke grinned and Cayden blushed harder.

"That's alright honey, I certainly didn't mind." Brooke assured the red faced shop keeper, rubbing her thigh as she spoke.

Cayden looked at Brooke's face and impulsively tucked a few stray hairs behind the blonde's ear. Brooke watched as Cayden then stared at her hand in embarrassment. "Never mind, I'd have done the same thing."

"Sucks when you have no control huh?" Wade joked.

"Ya know, I sense a little chuckle in that statement." Cayden said, pursing her lips at Wade.

"Just a teensy one." he admitted. "I like seeing you be human for a change. It's refreshing."

"On that note, It's kinda late, and I should be going." Brooke announced. "I still have to walk Fred."

Cayden stood up quickly. "I'll walk you to the door."

"Don't give the neighbors a show. Mrs. Ginzburg still thinks you're nice." Wade warned.

Cayden walked Brooke to the door and they both stood awkwardly in the doorway.

"I do hope you're going to kiss me goodnight. You see... I can't really make the first moves, I can't reach your lips without a little help."

Cayden grinned. "I didn't think of that. Of course I'll kiss you good night." She said, making herself shorter so they can meet halfway.

Brooke melted into the kiss. Cayden's lips were magical to her and the woman could do no wrong when it came to kissing. She savored the taste of the brunette's mouth, and when the kiss ended, placed a few smaller kisses on each of Cayden's lips.

"That was cute," The tall woman said with a grin.

"So, why does Mrs. Ginzburg think you're nice?" Brooke asked, tracing Cayden's full lips with her finger.

"I helped her with her groceries once and now I get a card every Chanukah." Cayden replied in a distracted whisper.

Brooke stood on her tip-toes and asked for one more kiss, which was slow and sexy. Her uncontrollable groan signalled the end and they both pulled away, heavy lidded and smiling.

"You sure have a way with those." Brooke said breathlessly, once again touching Cayden's lips.

"I could say the same thing about you." The shop keeper agreed. "Go on, and go home before I drag you back inside and disappoint Mrs. Ginzburg."

"I had a great time Cayden. Can I call you tomorrow?"

"Definitely."

"Good night then." Brooke said, turning away.

Cayden watched until Brooke was gone before closing the door. Then she ran to the window and waited until she got in a cab.

"How's it feel, stud?" Jodie asked, suddenly at Cayden's side.

"Scary."

"I know. You can always talk to me."

"Thanks, I just might."

B
ROOKE WALKED CAREFULLY and quietly to her front door. She slowly inserted the key, making as little noise as possible. The last thing she wanted to do tonight was have a
chat
with her mother and she tried ever so stealthily to avoid it. She opened the door silently, slipping inside unnoticed. She was quite proud of herself as she closed it behind her, not even Fred was aware that she came home. Sure, he was an old man, and could hardly see or hear any more, but he always knew when she was coming and greeted her happily. She placed her keys on the table by the door, cringing when they tinkled a bit. She stood by the door with a triumphant smile. All the lights were out, and once her eyes adjusted to the dark, she tip-toed into the kitchen for a bottle of water.

"Must have been some party."

"YAH!" Brooke jumped out of her skin and dropped her water. "Daddy! What are you doing sitting in the dark? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?""

"Bert? What just happened in there?"

Brooke and Bert froze at Harriet's voice. Brooke made a scared face and shook her head rapidly at her father pointing towards her mother's voice.

"Nothing dear, go back to sleep." Bert assured

Brooke let out the breath she was holding and sat heavily into a chair at the table. "Well? What are you doing up? Are you waiting for me?"

"Nooo." Bert said, waving his hand around. "I couldn't sleep, that's all."

"Uh huh." Brooke didn't believe him one bit. "This is new. You're waiting for me and mom's sleeping."

"Your mother had a headache this evening and you know her, she gets woozy on a Tylenol. She's sleeping it off as we speak." Bert crossed his legs and leaned back in his chair. "So, how was the dinner party?"

Brooke grinned. "Come on daddy, you know it was a date." she patted his hand across the table. "It was great. We had salmon and roasted potatoes, and blackout cake. Have you ever eaten that before? Its totally sinful."

"Yes, I have had blackout cake, but your mother won't buy it any more. I don't bother cutting myself a slice, why should I when it's only going to tip over and fall apart on my plate? I eat it with a spoon, straight from the box. Your mother doesn't like that very much." he grinned.

Brooke giggled quietly. "Bad daddy." she scolded playfully.

"How is Cayden?"

Brooke rolled her eyes. "She's fine."

"Good." Bert nodded, and sat silently for a while. "Was everything alright between you two?"

"Daddy, everything went fine. She wasn't mean at all today, in fact she was.... rather good." The blonde answered cryptically, failing to hold back a shiver at the memories. She stood up quickly to cover it.

Bert raised an eyebrow. "Is that the same shirt you left in? It looks different somehow."

Brooke turned her back on her father and nodded, "Yeah, its the same shirt."
This is what it looks like after Cayden's big ol' hands have been under it.
"Well, I'm sleepy, I have work tomorrow." She turned to leave the kitchen and banged right into her mother. "Oh great."

"Brooke dear! How did everything go? How was the food? Was Cayden rude? Did you enjoy yourself? What did they serve for dessert? How did you get home?"

"Mom! One question at a time!"

Bert snickered under his breath and Brooke shot him a killer look.

Harriet put on a pot of water and pulled out three cups. "I'll make tea!"

"Mom, I'm tired and I want to go to bed. We'll talk in the morning."

"Nonsense, it's not late, you stay up until all hours watching television anyway. I want to know what happened tonight."

"Of course you do." Brooke groaned, and sat down again, resigned to the fact that she wasn't going to get out of this. Fred came trotting into the kitchen and tried to climb up Brooke's leg. She looked down at the small dog and smiled. "Hail, hail, the gangs all here." Brooke watched her mother as she busied herself at the stove. Her hair was sticking out all over the place, her bathrobe tie was twisted and her slippers were on the wrong feet. She chuckled to herself. How someone could get stoned on Tylenol was beyond her, but then again her mother was not the average human.

Mrs. Hewitt turned and faced Brooke. "Honey, so, what did they serve?"

"Salmon, it was good."

"They had blackout cake, Harriet." Bert added in a pouty tone.

"Hmm, well, maybe one day when your father learns some manners we could have blackout cake here too."

Brooke shook her head, grateful when the tea kettle began to whistle. She gave her father a pleading look and he just shrugged. They were stuck there, more to the point, Brooke was stuck there. Bert could leave at any time and the fact that he stayed showed his support for Brooke and she smiled gratefully at him. He nodded almost imperceptibly and accepted his cup of tea.

"Here, "Mrs. Hewitt said, giving Brooke a steaming cup. "What else did they have?"

"Salad, with cucumbers," she said to her father, "and little roasted potatoes. They were really good, I think Wade put paprika on them. Why don't you use paprika on the potatoes?"

"Your father's delicate system doesn't care for paprika. He gets heartburn and keeps me up all night moaning and groaning..."

"Harriet! I am not delicate!"

"Of course not dear." she said sweetly, while nodding to Brooke. "Did you have wine? Was it fancy?"

"There was wine, but it wasn't fancy. It was just two couples having dinner... and dessert." She added with a grin to herself.

"Were you dressed appropriately? What were the other people wearing?" Harriet asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Wade was wearing a stunning strapless sequined evening gown and Jodie was wearing a day-glo orange tube top with a blue suede Tarzan loincloth. Cayden was naked." Brooke replied.

Harriet was aghast at first until she saw the shared smirk between father and daughter. "You think that's funny? I'm on medication, it's not nice to tease someone when their senses are all a jumble."

"Sorry, mom." Brooke said, while still smirking. "Everyone had clothes on, even the cat."

"Are you teasing me again?" Mrs. Hewitt narrowed her eyes at the both of them.

"Would I tease you? Anyway, it was a great dinner, and an even better dessert."

"What did you talk about? It doesn't take so long to eat? Did you play games afterwards or something? Cayden would be just marvelous at Trivial Pursuit. What is it you young people do on a dinner date?"

Brooke stayed perfectly still until the urge to blush subsided. "Oh, you know, we talked... about a lot of things. Boy am I tired, I better get to bed." She stood up and stretched loudly to make her point clear.

"That's it? You talked about
things
? It doesn't sound too exciting of an evening if you ask me. In my day...." Harriet stopped and raised an eyebrow at her daughter. "Dear, what happened to your shirt?"

Brooke did blush this time, and quickly reached behind her to pull the shirt taut. "Uhm, nothing mom... its not tucked in, that's all."

Harriet eyed Brooke skeptically. "No, it looks all stretched out like..." Her eyes widened and she gasped. "DID YOU HAVE SEX?" she asked so loudly, everyone was startled, including Fred.

"NO!" Brooke replied, equally as loud, but in a very high pitched voice. "Of course not...."

"Brooke! There was another couple there! Dear lord, what did you do, run off to the bathroom for a quickie?" Mrs Hewitt covered her mouth in shock.

Brooke turned bright red and her mouth fell open. She wanted to defend herself but was too horrified.

Bert cleared his throat nervously. "Harriet, she said she didn't, so she didn't."

"Then why is that shirt so stretched out? Hmmm? Can you explain that? Oh my! I didn't raise you to have sex on the first date!" Harriet was frantically walking back and forth in the kitchen with her crazy hair. "And that other couple, what can they be thinking?"

"MOM! I didn't have sex!" Brooke managed to defend herself, lamely as her intense blushing told another story.