Sugar and Spice (2 page)

Travers laughed. “No you won’t. Come on, Brooks. Be a pal. I’ll give you my Spider-Man Nerf ball.”

9

Mari Carr

Ginny’s eyes lit up at the offer. She loved Spider-Man more than anything. “You swear you’ll give it to me?”

“I swear,” Travers vowed.

“Well, okay. But just once each. This is gonna be
so
gross!”

Anderson jumped forward, obviously excited by the prospect. He bent toward Ginny, who didn’t move a muscle. The second their lips touched, they both jumped back and wiped their mouths with the backs of their hands.

Taylor shook his head. “This is stupid. I’m going to the park to play baseball. See you all there.” Taylor picked up his mitt and walked away.

“I’m going with him.” Ginny bent down to pick up her own ball glove, but Travers stopped her.

“I didn’t get to kiss you yet. No kiss, no Spider-Man ball.”

“Oh yeah. Okay, well, hurry up.”

Now that Anderson had achieved his goal, he seemed ready to move on to the baseball game as well. “Yeah, go on Travers. It’s not as gross as I thought it’d be.”

“Speak for yourself,” Ginny retorted, glaring at the tow-headed boy.

Travers reached over, but rather than lean in, he pulled Ginny to him by her shoulders before moving his hands to the side of her face. “Now hold still,” he directed.

Ginny seemed too shocked to do much else as Travers rubbed his lips softly against hers. The kiss, in comparison to Anderson’s lightning-fast attempt, seemed to last for hours and when they finally parted, Ginny could only stare at Travers, dazed.

“Holy cow,” Anderson murmured. “How’d you know to do that?”

Travers grinned, grabbed up his bat and ball and took off in the direction Taylor had just gone. “I taught Charlotte Parkes how to kiss,” he shouted over his shoulder.

Ginny laughed aloud as she remembered Travers’ cocky reply. Ryan Travers was a born ladies’ man and she felt a small measure of pride over the fact that she seemed to 10

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be the one woman on the planet who wasn’t susceptible to his charms. Probably because she knew him too well. He’d been her best friend for more than half her life and she was looking forward to spending her birthday with him tonight. His sense of fun was infectious and she felt the need to throw back a few drinks, laugh and relax.

She’d been disappointed as hell by Liam’s phone call this morning. They’d been dating for a couple months and she’d planned this special weekend away hoping to take their relationship to the next level.

She sighed and muttered to herself. “So much for that.” More and more, Liam seemed to be putting in longer hours at the firm and she wondered if this relationship really was meant to move forward. They had a good time when they went out together, but she wasn’t the type of woman to hop into bed with just anyone. Liam, typical of most of the men she dated, seemed to assume that if the first date went well, it should end in the bedroom. She had no problem negating that belief and she knew it had cost her more than a few second dates in the past.

Ginny took the exit off the interstate and turned left, heading for her home. At a stoplight, she thought of how Travers always seemed to be the one person in her life who managed to pick up the pieces. He had the undeniable ability to make her feel better when she was sad or upset or scared, and once again she felt herself drifting back to another time when he’d been there for her…

It was senior prom night and their little gang of four plus dates had headed to Travers’ house. His parents were out of town.

She tapped on Travers’ bedroom door. “Travers,” she whispered. “Are you in there?”

Travers was shirtless when he opened the door and slipped out into the hallway.

“What is it, Brooks? Don’t tell me my parents came home.”

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Mari Carr

“No,” she replied, shaking her head. She knew she should be embarrassed for breaking up his make-out session with his date, but he was her best friend and she knew he’d have the solution to her problem. “I did it.”

“Did what?”

“
It
, Travers, you know. The
big
It.” God help her if she had to say the word “sex”.

“With Erik Rogers? What the hell is wrong with you? The guy’s a wimp…an idiot.”

Ginny rolled her eyes at his continual insults toward her first real boyfriend.

“Dammit, Travers, will you just shut up and listen to me?”

He took a closer look at her face. “Have you been crying? Did that dickhead hurt you? Where is he? I’ll kill the pansy ass!”

Ginny gripped his arm as Travers started down the hallway. “He didn’t hurt me.

Well, I mean, not more than I expected. It’s supposed to hurt the first time.”

“Shit,” Travers cursed and looked at the wall. For a second, Ginny thought he might punch it. He was surly and out of sorts all the time nowadays. Anderson thought Travers was stressed out about going off to college and disappointed she wasn’t going with them.

Ginny swallowed back the lump in her throat when she thought of her mother taking pictures of her and Erik tonight before the dance. She’d been wearing a baseball cap to hide the fact her hair was gone. Cancer and chemotherapy were a bitch. When her mother had been diagnosed, Ginny stopped applying to colleges and started studying medical journals, trying to help chart the surest course for her mother to overcome the hateful disease. When the doctor’s bills started arriving, the idea of paying for college became an impossibility. Ginny planned to get a job following graduation and to remain at home to help her father care for her mother.

“Why were you crying, Brooks?”

“It wasn’t what I expected.”

“Sex? What do you mean?”

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Sugar and Spice

“Well…” Ginny struggled to find the words to express what was bothering her. “It was always so exciting when Erik and I made out and I really wanted more. And I felt that way tonight too. I mean, it felt good before he, well, you know…got inside me.

Then it hurt and then it was over.”

A smug smile crossed Travers’ face and Ginny instantly regretted talking to him.

“You didn’t come, did you?” he asked.

Ginny shook her head. “I thought it was supposed to be this magical thing. Special, you know? I didn’t even have time to pretend to like it. I mean—”

She didn’t have a chance to finish her comment because Travers burst into laughter.

“This isn’t funny!”

He attempted to pull himself together although he snorted back a few chuckles as he spoke. “No, it’s not. An eighteen-year-old girl planning to fake an orgasm with her first boyfriend is not funny.”

“Yeah, well, it’s not like we’re going to get many more chances to try to perfect it.

He’s headed to boot camp the day after graduation. That’s just next week.”

“I don’t think you should try again at all. I’ve told you a million times, you and Erik are too different. He’s not right for you. Let the bastard ship off.”

Ginny frowned. “You’re not being helpful.”

He sighed heavily. “Yeah, I know. I’m sorry. I guess I just wish you would’ve waited. Erik’s the wrong guy for you.”

“I’m tired of waiting. You guys have been doing it for ages.”

Travers laughed. “It’s different for us.”

“Bullshit.”

“It’ll get better, Brooks. Most girls don’t come the first time. It’s a problem with the female mind. You all think too much and forget to let go and have fun. I can just imagine everything that was running through your head while old Erik was struggling with the condom. Let’s see, I bet you were worried about the way you looked naked, 13

Mari Carr

your prom dress getting wrinkled, getting caught, somebody hearing you, what your mom would say. Have I covered it all?”

Ginny giggled. “You left out the ‘condom breaking, getting pregnant’ one. That’s a biggie.”

Travers gripped her by the back of the neck and placed a kiss on top of her head.

“Dear God, tell me the condom didn’t break.”

“It didn’t break.”

“Yeah, well, this little conversation just proves my point. Don’t worry about it, Brooks. I’m sure the sex will get better. Probably not with the eunuch Erik— Oof! Hey, what’d you punch me for?”

“That was for Erik.” She leaned up and kissed his cheek. “And that was for me.”

*

“What the hell does that ‘storming the castle’ thing mean? She says it all the time,”

Ryan Travers wondered aloud as he watched Brooks leave the office.

“Sadly, I know the answer to that. It’s her favorite line from
The Princess Bride
. She made me watch it with her one weekend,” Taylor answered.

“Are you nuts?” Anderson yelled, clearly not concerned about Brooks’
Princess
Bride
fetish. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? You can’t take her to that club.”

“Why not?” Travers shrugged.

“Because it’s a sex club, dumbass! This is Brooks we’re talking about. Not one of your Tramps of the Month.”

“You know, if I didn’t resemble that remark so much, I’d punch you in the damn mouth.” He laughed, but Anderson looked ready to pop a blood vessel in his brain.

“Listen, why don’t you give me a little credit here? It’s her thirtieth birthday for Christ’s sake and Loser Liam left her high and dry. We all know that she’s been chomping at the bit to get into that club. I’ll take her to the bar section, buy her a few drinks and deliver 14

Sugar and Spice

her home safe and sound. Trust me, she’ll still be our sweet little Brooks in the morning.”

“So you won’t let her leave the bar area?” Anderson asked.

“What are you? Her fucking father? No, I won’t let her leave the bar,” Travers promised.

Taylor looked at them and shrugged. “It
is
the perfect present,” he said.

“That’s what I’ve been saying. So, you boys better get going or you’ll miss your flight. Have fun screwing yourselves silly with the McDermont twins and don’t worry about a thing here. I’ll show Brooks the time of her life.”

“That’s what I’m worried about,” Anderson muttered, but he let himself be ushered out the door by his two best friends.

Ryan watched his friends pull out of the parking lot before going back inside and meandering over to Brooks’ desk. He opened her top drawer and helped himself to the last piece of candy. He really should buy a bag or two—or twenty—to replace all the sweets he’d stolen from her over the years, but that thought never seemed to cross his mind when he was at the grocery store.

As he opened up the package of SweeTarts, he spotted an old photograph lying in the drawer. Pulling it out, he grinned to see a picture of him with Brooks and Anderson standing by a campfire and hamming it up for the camera while Taylor snapped the shot. He was amazed to see how little they’d all changed over the years. The photo was from a camping trip at the end of summer after their high school graduation, sort of a last hurrah before the guys went off to college and Ginny started her new job.

Ryan was a bit embarrassed by how often he thought of that night, the memories of it burned on his brain so that it truly did feel as if it had happened yesterday. He’d waited until the other fellas had fallen asleep…

“Scoot over, Brooks.”

15

Mari Carr

“Travers, what are you—”

“Shhhh, do you wanna wake up the other guys?” Ryan whispered as he unzipped Brooks’ sleeping bag and attempted to crawl in.

“What are you doing?” she whispered.

“It’s our last night together.”

“No shit, Sherlock. Why do you think we’re camping out?”

“Well, I thought I’d take care of your problem for you.” Ryan curled up beside her and ran his hand along her rib cage, pleased when she shivered with delight at his touch.

“What problem?”

“Your orgasm problem,” he answered simply as Brooks froze.

“Travers, I am
not
having sex with you.”

“I never said anything about sex, just orgasms.”

“What’s the diff—”

“Shhhh. No more talking. And do me a favor, Brooks—try to concentrate on what I’m doing and nothing else. Okay?”

He was slightly surprised when Brooks fell silent. She was never one to give in easily and it thrilled him that she trusted him enough to let him proceed without an argument. He even got the sense that she
wanted
him to touch her.

He reached down and tried to work the boxers she was sleeping in down over her hips. Anderson and Taylor were sacked out on the other side of the campfire.

Once he had her boxers past her knees, he whispered, “Kick them off or they’ll be in the way.”

Brooks complied and Ryan grinned. He wasn’t sure why he felt so compelled to do this, but he’d sensed Brooks’ disappointment ever since prom night and he didn’t want to leave for college without proving to her that sex really could feel terrific. God only 16

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knew what kind of clods she’d start dating without him around to weed out the unsavory ones. She sure had shitty taste in men.

Once she was bare from the waist down, Ryan dragged his fingers along her hip and around to her shapely buttocks. She was fit and trim and her ass filled his hand nicely.

“Open your legs,” he whispered and again, Brooks obeyed without hesitation. Ryan sucked in a deep breath and struggled to ignore his raging hard-on. He pushed his waist away from her a bit, afraid she’d feel his erection and freak out.

He grabbed her left leg and positioned it over his right hip. He was aware of the fact he was mostly lying on the cold ground rather than in the sleeping bag, but all he really cared about was that Brooks was covered up. It wouldn’t do for Anderson and Taylor to wake up and find him with his fingers buried in their best friend’s pussy.

They lay side by side, facing each other, and Ryan could feel her accelerated breathing on his cheek. “Relax, Brooks.”

“I’m trying,” she insisted, “but this is weird.”

Ryan chuckled and brought his fingers to her pussy. He slowly pushed his finger through her curls until he found her clit. She hissed in a breath as he touched the sensitive button.