Perfectly Able (5 page)

“Here,” sh
e said, handing me the blue and white striped towel.

“It’s warm,” I said, surprised by the heat.

“I threw a couple in the dryer. I knew you’d probably come back freezing. It sounds like a pretty nasty storm.”

“Thanks,” I said caught off guard by the display of thoughtfulness.

I dried my face and ran the warm towel over my hair.

“Here,” she said.

When I looked up, she was holding her small palm out toward me, her form-fitting pink shirt stretched taut across her breasts.

“Let me have your shirt,” she instructed
. “I’ll put it in the dryer.”

I held the towel between my knees and obediently pulled my shirt over my head
. Handing it to her, I shot her a
grin. “You want my shorts, too?”

With the barest hint of a smile on her lips, she coyly glanced away from my face
. “After you put on some more clothes.”

I laughed, grabbing the towel and drying my chest and arms, as she disappeared in the direction of the dryer.

I pulled off my shoes and socks, leaving them on the rug. Then, I walked to my room, totally naked, except for my running shorts.

S
ifting through my bag, I found some boxers and a pair of khaki shorts, and I quickly changed. After pulling a gray tee shirt over my head, I scooped up the wet shorts and went in search of Ava.

“Have you already started the dryer?” I asked.

She nodded and held her hand out. “Here. I’ll throw your shorts in there, too.”

“Thank you, Ava,” I said, handing them over to her.

“No problem.”

Thunder shook the cabin, and I heard her shriek in surprise as she walked away from me
. Smiling to myself, I plopped down onto the black, leather sofa, looking around for the remote before I realized there wasn’t a television.

“Are you hungry?” she called from the doorway between the kitchen and the living room.

I turned to look at her. “Starving.”

“I’ll
fix us some breakfast.”  She turned and went back into the kitchen.

I looked around the living room, realizing there wasn’t a thing to do
. “I’ll help you,” I called as I stood and followed her into the kitchen.

She was pulling items out of the refrigerator and setting them on the counter
.

“What do you want me to do?” I asked, rubbing my hands together to generate some heat
. Other than my hands and feet, my body temperature had returned to normal.

She handed me a bag of frozen biscuits and a pan
. “Here. I’ll take one biscuit plus however many you want. I’ll cook some bacon, and I’ll get some eggs started in a few minutes. How do you like yours?”

“Fried or scrambled, either way.
I’m not hard to please.” I popped four biscuits in the oven while Ava cooked the bacon.

I sat at the
table while I watched her cook. “So, have you come up with any ideas on how we can pay our sisters back for their shenanigans?” I asked.

“Oh, I don’t know
. It might be kinda fun to tar and feather them and maybe parade them in downtown Creekview during the busy part of the day.”

“I can’t be
lieve I fell for it. I hope that little brat’s taking care of my Camaro.”  I would be super pissed if she messed up my car.

“London’s usually pretty careful with mine, not that she’s borrowed it very much.”

“Kelsey’s like a tornado, so yeah, I’ll probably be worrying about my car all week. Guess there’s not much I can do about it now, though.”

“I’
m sure it’ll be fine,” Ava said as she removed the sizzling bacon from the skillet. My stomach growled in response as the aroma wafted through the air.

Working with her back to me, I heard the eggs crack as she tapped them against the skillet
. My eyes fell to her derriere, and even though I couldn’t prevent my male appreciation of such a fine ass, I reminded myself that my week here was for the sole purpose of focusing on the triathlon.

Determined
to make myself useful, I decided to slice an orange to add to our breakfast choices.

When everything was finished, we sat down to eat.

“Thanks for cooking, Ava,” I said, admiring her face as she sat across from me.

“You
’re welcome.” Her smiled melted something inside me, a part of me that wanted to protect her. Everything about her called to my masculinity, her soft, sweet voice, her beauty, her docile behavior.

The rain continued to splatter
violently against the roof as we ate.

“Well, it doesn’t look like I’ll get my swim in today,” I said, glancing at the misery outside of the wet windowpanes
. As if confirming my statement, lightening flickered, followed by another loud roar of thunder.

“I think we’re definitely stuck inside today,” Ava said, agreeing with my assessment.

“So what should we do for fun?” I asked. “We don’t have Internet access. We don’t have TV.”

“Maybe we could play a game,” Ava said, a forkful of eggs hovering close to her mouth.

“Maybe,” I agreed. “I wonder if they have any board games around here.”

“I don’t remember seeing any, but I’ll look when we get through eating.”

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d played a board game. If I were at home, I’d use my time more efficiently, but seeing as there was nothing constructive that I could do now, other than maybe push-ups or sit-ups, I figured I may as well entertain Ava with a game.

After we finished breakfast, I helped Ava clean the kitchen
. We searched the cabin for games, but came up empty. I did manage to find a spiral notebook and an ink pen.

“We may not have any board games,” I said meeting her back in the living room, “but there is one game we can play.”

“What’s that?” she asked, as we both sat on the couch.

“You should like it, too
. It kind of fits in with your fantasies about killing off men.”

She looked at me puzzled, her brow furrowed in confusion.

“Russian roulette?” she guessed.

I laughed. “With imaginary bullets? That would kind of defeat the purpose. This is a game that Kelsey and I used to play
when we were younger.”

“What is it?” she asked.

“Hangman.”

A look of recognition crossed her face
. “Prepare to get your butt kicked.”

I scoffed. “Confident, aren’t we?”

I handed the paper and pen to her. “I’ll let you start.”

“Okay,” she agreed, taking them from me
. “The first one to win five games will be the official winner. If you finish a puzzle, you get one point. If you hang your man, you get nothing.”

“Okay, but there is a catch.”

“What’s that?” she asked.

“
The puzzles have to be something about the other person. Like for you, I might make a puzzle from the word
beautiful
.”

I saw a hint of a smile
reach her lips, and I decided that I loved it when her face reflected a touch of shyness.

“Should we put a little wager on it?” I asked. “What do you want if you win?”

Ava thought a moment before she answered, “If I win, you have to cook breakfast the rest of the week and clean up the dishes.”

“Deal
. And if I win….” I intentionally paused, wanting her to feel the anticipation of my answer. “You have to go swimming with me.”

An immediate look of panic assaulted her normally calm features
. She shook her head. “No. I already told you that I wouldn’t swim with you.”

It hadn’t occurred to me before, but I wondered if perhaps she didn’t know how. Was that the reason for her
discomfort every time I mentioned swimming? “You know, I could teach you how to swim.”

“
I know how to swim,” she said sharply. She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. It’s just that….”

“It’s okay,”
I assured her, aware that something else was going on here. Why was she so terrified of swimming?  “I can pick something else. When you were a kid, did you ever play spin the bottle?”

“A few times
,” she admitted.

“Then, how
about if I win, you agree to kiss me?” I wasn’t sure why I suggested that. Despite the fact that Kelsey, London, and Brandy had all conspired to play matchmakers, I hadn’t planned to play along. But Ava was sweet and pretty, and a kiss seemed like a pretty good idea. Shit. Now, I felt like I should follow that up with some kind of explanation. “That way, we can tell our meddling, little sisters that we did share a kiss. Then maybe they won’t feel like total failures.”

That shy, subtle smile tilted the corners of her mouth. “Okay,” she agreed, and I had to admit that part of me was relieved that she hadn’t found that just as repulsive as swimming with me.
“Of course, that might encourage them to try their hands at matchmaking even more.”

“Good point.
If I win, maybe we’ll keep it to ourselves. There’s nothing worse than having a little sister who won’t mind her own business.”

She chuckled
. “Touche.”

I was competitive by nature, but I had just decided that I really wanted to win.

While Ava readied the game, I thought about the limited knowledge that she would have regarding me, so that I could already decide what words or phrases she might choose. I easily won the first point when I guessed her phrase,
Kelsey’s brother.

As easy as that was, I refused to make her puzzle one that she would immediately guess
. So after hanging her stick figure, she demanded to know the answer.

“
Milky fair
doesn’t make sense,” she said, trying to fill in the remaining blanks.

“That’s why it’s not the answer.”
I shot her a grin.

“Then what is the answer?”

“
Silky hair
,” I said.

“Oh,” she said, running her fingers through her hair as if she were subconsciously double-checking my answer
. “It’s strange when you get something in your mind and then you just can’t see anything else.”

I handed her the paper and pen
. “Your turn.”

She shifted on the couch, looking at the ceiling as if she were deep in thought
before she readied her puzzle.

My stick figure got close to hanging, although I was finally able to guess correctly,
list-maker.

“I prefer to use the term
…goal-oriented,” I said.

“You’
re a list-maker,” she said with a grin, handing the notebook and pen to me.

“Yeah, and you’re two in the hole,” I reminded her.

She managed to guess the next two puzzles, which were
considerate
and
freckles,
and I remained undefeated by guessing the obvious choices of
drives a Camaro
and
electrical
engineer.

I stumped her on the last puzzle.

“
Dainty ears
?” she asked. “Who says that?”

“I noticed them yesterday when you pulled your hair into a ponytail
. You have the most perfectly-shaped, dainty ears. Believe me, I’ve seen girls that I couldn’t say that about. You should definitely take it as a compliment.”

“
If you say so,” she said softly.

“Well, I was going to say
nice ass
, but I wasn’t sure you’d appreciate that, even if it is true.”

She suppressed a smile, and I was pretty damn sure that she wouldn’t have been offended.
“Now you have to tell me one you really wanted to do instead of all the safe, easy ones that you actually used.”

Her eyes widened
. “I didn’t want to make them too hard. I wanted you to….”

She completely shut down
. It was like she’d caught herself off-guard, and all of a sudden, she remembered who she was and what she was doing. I didn’t know her well enough to know why she had lost her nerve, but it was blatantly obvious.

“You wanted me to what?” I asked, hoping to get her to talk.

Her eyes studied her hands, folded primly in her lap, but she didn’t answer.

“You wanted me to…win?” I asked.

Her eyes flew to mine, and her lips parted in surprise. I got all the answer I needed.

Thunder boomed in the distance, snapping her out of her stupor. Rain drummed rhythmically against the cabin.

“It sounds like it’s gonna rain all day,” she said, taking a sudden interest in the weather.

I’d won the game, and my prize was a kiss
. But I wasn’t ready to collect just yet.