Kristen Blooming (17 page)

That got a laugh from Deputy Singer and a begrudging smile from his partner. Then he put her on the spot.

“Does that mean if I ask you out you might actually say yes?”

Kristen’s eyes widened as she found herself suddenly trapped in an uncomfortable moment as Deputy Singer pulled up to a stoplight and turned to wait for her answer. Surely if she said yes to his friend he would withdraw his own offer.

Was she ready to turn it down? No. She wasn’t ready to let go of the kind of pleasure he had introduced her to, but then Deputy Hammel had given her a taste of the same. She might be able to find something more than just lust with him? But what if she didn’t? What if she chose wrong and never had a chance to feel the exhilarating rush of feelings she’d drowned in last night?

“He didn’t ask you to solve the world’s problems,” Deputy Singer prompted her as she sat there torn by her choices. “It’s a yes or no answer.”

“How about a wait and see answer?” Kristen countered, seeing a glimmer of hope in salvaging the moment.

“Honey, you can answer any way you want,” Deputy Singer assured her as the light turned green and he eased up on the brake. “That isn’t going to change much of anything.”

That sounded ominous, and Kristen shot him a quick look, wondering if she’d somehow managed to hurt his pride. Deputy Singer didn’t look distressed, though. He was smiling as he stared down the road, so she decided he was just mouthing off. Kristen had a feeling the deputy did that a lot.

“Don’t pay him any mind.” Deputy Hammel drew her gaze back to him as he waved away the other deputy’s comments. “I’m going to count this as our first date, even if he is here to chaperone.”

The way he dawdled over that last word assured Kristen she’d amused the deputy with her explanation to her parents. She could easily guess as to what he was thinking. Even if she couldn’t, he betrayed his thoughts when he asked her outright if she’d never been on a date before.

“Of course I have. I went to prom twice and to homecoming.” That had the two deputies exchanging a look that Kristen could easily read, and she puckered up indignantly. “What? Those dances count.”

“Of course they do,” Deputy Singer assured her. “But you’re what? Twenty-one?”

“Twenty-two, thank you.”

“And been on like three dates,” the deputy concluded, making Kristen want to stick her tongue out at him.

“I don’t know why the two of you keep harping on my lack of experience.” Kristen huffed. “Has it ever dawned on you that you might have
too
much experience? Hmm?”

“Honey, there is no such thing,” Deputy Singer informed her with a slight hint of condescension that did have her sticking her tongue out at him. “Don’t tempt me, honey.”

Deputy Hammel instantly came to her defense. “That’s enough, Dylan.”

“Oh, it speaks.” Deputy Singer snickered as he cast his buddy a wicked kind of smile. “If you want to change the subject, why don’t you tell Miss Kristen how you drowned your broken heart in too much beer last night?”

“Well, I think you just did,” Deputy Hammel snapped back as a touch of red colored his cheeks. She didn’t have to wonder where his embarrassment grew from. Deputy Singer was all too eager to enlighten her.

“You should have seen him. Devin Davis left his ass standing in front of the refrigerator, unable to shut the door without fear of falling over.”

Kristen couldn’t help but giggle at that description, though she tried to smother it because Deputy Hammel certainly didn’t seem to share her amusement.

“Shut up, Dylan.”

But Deputy Singer wasn’t shutting up, and neither was he trying to hide his laughter. “He was all mopey, too, because you’d been, and I quote, mean to him.”

“Dylan!”

Kristen took instant offense at that. “I wasn’t mean to you.”

“Uh-oh,” Deputy Singer murmured. “She’s puckering up, Brandon. You better kiss her.”

“Excuse me?” Kristen did pucker up at that. “I don’t
⎯
”

Kristen forgot what she was about to say, too stunned by the feel of Deputy Hammel’s lips closing over hers. They were as soft and firm as she remembered, and he tasted just as good. In an instant, Kristen forgot about everything, including Deputy Singer, as she leaned into the strong, broad palms that came up to cup her face and hold her still for Deputy Hammel’s kiss.

Brandon knew he should stop. Dylan had, no doubt, set him up to get slapped, but Kristen wasn’t going tense in his arms. Just the opposite, she was melting into him. More than that, she was kissing him back.

Kristen twined her arms around his neck, and her mouth clung to his as her tongue rallied to battle with his. All too quickly things started to spin back out of control, and just like the first time he’d kissed her, all reason and thought were ripped away beneath the inferno blast of molten lust consuming him.

Kristen was so sweet and giving, two things that stoked the fires of his more feral lusts, and he couldn’t help but slide his hands down to her hips. He was about ready to lift her right onto his lap when Dylan braked hard, making the truck jerk hard enough to break them apart.

“That’s enough of that, or you’ll make it hard for me to concentrate on the road,” Dylan warned them with a smile in his tone.

Brandon snorted as he released Kristen, allowing her to settle back down in her seat. She was clearly flustered and embarrassed, casting quick little glances at Dylan, and Brandon could easily read her thoughts. She was worried, worried about what had happened last night with his best friend.

Dylan had told him all about their heated embrace, along with the ultimatum he’d laid down. Kristen hadn’t shot him down. That alone had shocked Brandon, but now he understood what his friend had been saying about just kissing her.

It did really work.

Kristen seemed to have completely forgotten about their argument. Actually, she settled down quite nicely, all too eager to move on past their kiss and the embarrassment it clearly caused her.

“So, Deputy Hammel
⎯
”

“Brandon,” he corrected her, having a feeling he’d be doing that for a long time to come and not surprised in the least when she ignored his correction.

“You said something yesterday about enjoying gardening.”

“Oh God, don’t encourage him,” Dylan groaned.

“Why do you have to be like that?” Brandon shot back. “You like our yard.”

“Your yard?” Kristen blinked as she glanced between the two men. “You two live together?”

“Actually, we bought a house together,” Dylan informed her, shooting a dirty look over Kristen’s head at Brandon. “One, I was assured we could fit a pool into the backyard, but
somebody
has taken it over with his stupid vegetables.”

“Don’t somebody me.” Brandon wasn’t about to let that one lie. “And you like those vegetables.”

“I’d like a pool more.”

“I like vegetables,” Kristen chipped in softly, drawing both Dylan’s and Brandon’s gaze down to where she sat between them, still blushing like the virgin she was. “Actually, I used to have my own little garden. Mom and I grew herbs.”

“Your mom cooks with herbs?” Dylan sounded doubtful, and Kristen seemed to understand why.

“No.” She smiled. “But they smell nice on the porch.”

“On a porch,” Dylan latched onto that comment. “That’s a great place for a few pots and great way to make room for a pool.”

“Oh, shut up about the pool,” Brandon groaned. “If we took out the garden, what would you cook with?”

“I’d go to the supermarket and buy something,” Dylan shot back.

“You cook?” Kristen injected herself into their argument once again, blinking up at Dylan with an expression full of surprise.

“I dabble.” He shrugged. “Dad used to be a cook in the army, so he taught me a few things.”

“I bake,” Kristen declared, blushing over that admission, as if there were any reason to be embarrassed.

“Well then, maybe we should get together and make a meal,” Dylan offered with enough of a suggestive hint for almost any woman to take his double meaning. Any woman that was but Kristen, who beamed proudly up at him.

“What a wonderful idea.”

Brandon rolled his eyes and bit his tongue as Dylan snickered and finally turned down Main Street. They were almost there, which was a good thing because it was becoming harder and harder not to give into the urge to kiss Kristen again.

The light, floral fragrance that seemed to be distinctly hers filled the cab, making it hard to concentrate. It didn’t help that he felt the soft plushness of her thigh pressed up against his. It had him overheating in inappropriate ways and shifting in his seat as he tried to get comfortable with the ever-growing erection beginning to tent his slacks.

He wasn’t alone in that. Brandon couldn’t help but take note that Dylan kept fidgeting down at his end of the bench seat. He could guess what had his buddy all itchy. So would most women, but Kristen seemed completely oblivious to the effect she had on either of them as Dylan pulled into the Main Street parking lot and started looking for a spot.

There were none, and the search cost precious seconds that allowed the temperature in the cab to rise another couple degrees. Brandon needed to get out of the damn thing before he turned and ravaged Kristen right there in her seat. Thankfully there was a spot on the side of the road, and seconds later, Brandon was all but leaping out of the truck, gulping in the fresh air.

It didn’t really help.

Not with Kristen following him with that sweet smile still tugging on her lips. Boy but she was pretty, and so damn sweet a man could get more than a toothache. Brandon would suffer all the aches just to have the pleasure of escorting her into the bakery and knowing that every man there was jealous because Miss Kristen was with him…and Dylan.

* * * *

By the time Deputy Singer and Deputy Hammel dropped Kristen off that evening at her house, she was all but quivering with excitement. It had been a wonderful day. They’d had a big brunch and been joined by several other people, who had also shared their opinion on the pool versus garden debate.

Kristen feared Deputy Hammel’s garden was endangered and had insisted on seeing it herself. She’d expected something small, something like what Gwen had with a little yard and quaint old home, but it was much more like an old farm, with a long, sweeping drive and a massive backyard overtaken by rows and rows of garden beds overflowing with produce.

The flowers…Deputy Hammel grew the most beautiful ones. They attracted bees and butterflies and even a humming bird that she’d watched buzz all around. It had been an exciting moment.

So had seeing their house first-hand.

They’d bought one of the old, white-clapboard homes that rose up tall and proud and was banked by a nearly wrap-around porch that Deputy Singer had already restored back to its former glory. The latticework was ornate, the railing spindles hand-spun by Deputy Singer himself.

He had a workshop set up in the old garage. He was using it to build new, custom kitchen cabinets. Kristen had been suitably impressed. Deputy Singer clearly took a lot of pride in the house and had big dreams. What Kristen couldn’t figure out was how Deputy Hammel played into those dreams.

The two men had bought a forever home, one that had enough bedrooms for a whole brood of children, but whose children?
Their
children? Like Deputy Hammel and Deputy Singer were a couple?

That made little sense, but it also made sense of other things, like why Deputy Singer hadn’t been jealous when Deputy Hammel had kissed her. Of course, Deputy Singer hadn’t confessed to feeling anything other than lust for her, so maybe he was just not honestly jealous.

That still didn’t explain the house. Kristen couldn’t escape her curiosity or her need to find out just what was up with the two friends because they were clearly very, very close. There was one person she knew who would know. Gwen.

Kristen found herself staring into the bedroom Gwen had turned into a den. It housed Gwen’s precious computer and even more coveted large screen television, but she wasn’t busy using either. Instead, she was sitting at her desk staring down at something and looking completely lost.

“Is everything all right?” Kristen asked as she came to a pause in the doorway, not sure if she should intrude.

“What?” Gwen sniffed and blinked as she looked up.

“You look upset. Did something happen?”

“Nothing you can help with,” Gwen assured her, recovering her normal hard, brittle tone. “Is there something you wanted?”

“No. I just…” Kristen didn’t even know how to ask what she wanted to know, and Gwen wasn’t patient enough about how to get the words out.

“Is this about Brandon and Dylan?”

“How did you know?” Kristen blinked, shocked by her cousin’s perception.

“How do you think?” Gwen snorted. “You showed up for church on a scooter and you don’t think your mother is calling me up and reaming me out for letting you buy the thing?”

Actually, Kristen had expected her mother to do something like that. She’d just forgotten that she had expected it. She’d been having too much fun that afternoon to be worrying over her parents, but now she felt a twist of guilt as she smiled sadly at Gwen.