Heather
What exactly did one wear when they wanted to subtly dress to impress? She hadn’t had any experience with either in a long time. Subtlety or wanting to make a mark. If she went unnoticed half the time, it was just fine with her. She was used to blending in.
Heather stared in dismay at the mountain of clothes on her bedroom floor. She wasn’t exactly a clothes whore, but she shopped thrift and she made a decent salary at the shop, so she had a few too many. She now understood why the minimalist movement was taking hold. If you only had one thing in your closet to wear, it wouldn’t make the decision so damn difficult.
A red dress that fit tight on top and flared out at the waist seemed like the perfect choice. It was a little sexy without being too modest. Best of all, it hid none of her ink. If she was going out, she was going out in style. As herself. No more hiding.
Heather couldn’t even remember the last time she’d been on a date. Not that this counts. A causal invite to a pool party which was probably going to be comatose, boring, super obnoxious and filled with too many swear words, crass stories and beer, didn’t exactly count. Do other people feel this jaded at twenty-four? She didn’t really have an answer for that either. Most of her friends, aside from the people she worked with at the shop, were older than her.
She’d never really fit in. Doing all that stuff that normal teenagers did wasn’t for her. She didn’t sleep around, didn’t drink, didn’t even party. The only reason she agreed to go over to Rone’s was because… well… because she couldn’t stand thinking about not going.
If only Rone knew what a crush she had on him growing up. Of course, she never could have let it show, or Jay would have stopped hanging out with Rone and probably laid the beat down on him to top things off. She didn’t want to be responsible for the death of her brother’s closest friendship. The fact that Jay and Rone were still friends and even worked together made her glad that she’d stuffed her attraction back down, bottled up her feelings, and walked through her crush in silence.
It’s not a crush. That term might have applied when she was young, in her teens, but now… it had been years since she last saw Rone and she still felt the same. I’m in love with him. As long as she could remember, Rone had been around. She couldn’t say quite when she realized that her feelings had changed. At some point she’d stopped tagging along with Jay and Rone because it was the cool thing to do and just did it to be around Rone.
Heather was fully aware of the fact that she might be a little weird, even creepy, and definitely not like most other people. Loving a guy she’d pretty much let go of, certainly qualified her in the creep category. It wasn’t like she was obsessed with Rone. She’d let him go. She’d dated people on and off over the years. It just wasn’t the same. She never got that feeling that she got when she was around Rone.
So even as she stood in front of her full length mirror, checking her little red dress for unseen deficiencies or hidden flaws, turning this way and that, studying her makeup, trying to decide whether to put her hair up or to change again, she was soaring. Flying on the inside. Her heart had never beat so hard as it did the minute she looked up and found Rone standing in the shop like a ghost from the past.
“Do I want to come to your place?” Heather turned around and examined the hem of the dress from behind, trying to decide if it moved up too high when she walked. “I’ve been waiting my entire life for you to ask me that.” Okay, even creepier, I’m talking to myself now.
Finally deciding that the red dress was good enough, Heather grabbed her phone off her bed and checked the time. She didn’t have any more time to fuss. Her hair down was going to have to do and her current makeup was as good as it was going to get. She was going to be late if she didn’t leave soon and she hated being late. Not that a pool party had a set start time exactly, but she wanted to make a good impression.
That and the thought of Rone in a pair of shorts without a shirt on had done a number on her for the past three days. She’d been able to think of nothing else. Her excitement turned into anxiety which turned into apprehension which cycled back into outright excitement on a purely physical level. Her body should have felt wrung out with the crazy amounts of desire ripping through her bloodstream, but it didn’t. She felt almost high, completely giddy, on top of the world.
Pathetic. Maybe I am too far gone, like mom always says.
For once thinking about those words didn’t bother her. Maybe being too far gone wasn’t a bad thing. She’d been in the exact right spot at the exact right time. Rone wanted her at his house as she was and that made her feel pretty damn good.
By the time Heather finally left her apartment and made her way to the bus stop, she was actually whistling. Whistling. Not even the prospect of a hot, airless, overcrowded city bus could dampen her mood. Yes, maybe being beyond redemption was just fine.
***
Heather wasn’t quite sure what to expect when it came to Rone. She’d never been to his house. Obviously.
Two bus rides later, she walked up on a sprawling bungalow in a nice neighborhood. It wasn’t the kind of place that screamed money, but it was far better than she was ever going to be able to do for herself. The place was new, had probably been built in the late nineties like the rest of the houses on the block, but looked like it had undergone a complete transformation. The new gray stucco, white trim and new windows, immaculate concrete driveway, manicured lawn and gleaming terracotta tiles on the roof gave the impression of a new build.
Her legs turned to jelly as she walked up the driveway, devoid of cars, and rang the doorbell. There weren’t any vehicles parked in front of the house either. It was weird, given that she was supposed to be showing up to a pool party. Rone’s words, not hers.
Rone opened the door a few minutes later. She nearly took a step back, gaping. There were a few terms that ran through her head. Sight for sore eyes. Feast your eyes… That’s what she wanted to do. Feast. She knew she could have stared at Rone for the rest of her life and been perfectly happy.
She managed to collect herself and slam her fly gathering mouth shut. That’s what her mother had always told her growing up. If you leave your mouth open like that it’s going to collect flies. Rone grinned at her and took a step back.
“Come on in.”
The door shut behind Heather, trapping her inside the small entrance way. There was a double door closet off to the right and to the left, the house opened up into the living room. Everything was glistening hardwood and light gray walls, leather furniture, modern angles and minimalist design. She would have noticed more, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the man in front of her.
Who just happened to be shirtless.
Lord, Rone could be lethal. He was no less dangerous than a viper, ready to strike, though he stood innocently back, his hands at his sides. He had on black swim trunks and that was it. His body, his half naked body, literally stole Heather’s breath. He was made of granite, or iron, maybe titanium. Diamonds? Gold? Whatever was hardest and rawest, that was Rone.
His grin grew as Heather openly assessed the broad shoulders and a chest that was wide enough to support a damn house, abs that could have been chiseled by some tool and lower, a trim waist where his shorts hung dangerously low. Legs that were equally as muscular and every bit as carved as the rest of him were showcased when the shorts ended. His arms… they were so huge, every muscle lumped up and defined, they didn’t even look like they were human. Maybe he was half bionic or something. Did that even make sense? He looked like he worked out. A lot. Hard too. God, he could probably lift an entire truck. That’s probably how he parked the black beast that had to be in his garage.
“So- uh- unfortunately I only invited a couple people. A few friends from work and their girlfriends, but they canceled on me. Shane says he’s sick, but he’s probably just hungover. Sam had to go do some emergency plumbing for his mother and Howie got called into work. Better him than me though.” A slow, bad boy grin spread over Rone’s face, as though he was perfectly aware of what his little bit of information had just done to her.
Turned her into a pile of jelly. God, he couldn’t have planned this better if he tried.
Heather slowly looked up into Rone’s face. He had a beautiful face, which was at odds with the hard, chiseled planes of his body. Dark, soulful eyes the color of the softest velvet stared back at her. He had the longest, darkest lashes she had ever seen on a man. His nose was fine, straight, not large or too small. His cheekbones were high for a man, his lips strong, his jawline angular. A thick growth of black stubble covered his chin, probably just his five o’clock shadow showing up early. In high school, Rone had lost most of his hair. She didn’t know if it was genetics or what was happening, but he’d started shaving his head at sixteen. He was the only man Heather had ever met who looked good like that, without any hair at all. It somehow suited his face, gave him a tougher, harder look to match the rest of him.
“Maybe I should go then… I mean, if no one else is here. You probably don’t want to get the pool ready just for me.”
Rone’s eyes changed, the softness vanishing. The slow burn of fire took its place, the flames burning Heather right where she stood. Her insides melted and clenched and her entire body started an uncomfortable aching and chaffing from the inside out. A strange warmth traveled up her thighs and settled right where it shouldn’t have.
“I already cleaned it this morning. It’s ready to go. You have no excuse to leave now.”
“My brother…”
He stepped forward and Heather felt so much smaller than she normally did. She looked up when she spoke to a lot of people, but Rone looked like a giant. He was well over six feet and lord, did she feel tiny. She actually found, to her astonishment, that she liked the feeling. She liked feeling like he could do anything to her, anything at all that he wanted.
Her eyes came abreast with his golden chest. He’d shaved the hair there and the skin was glistening, bronzed from the sun. Unfortunately for her, he’d left the trail of black, wiry hairs that circled his navel and trailed lower, disappearing below those trunks. God, she wanted to rip those off and stand back and just look at the rest of him. Is that creepy as hell? She admitted that she didn’t want to just look. She might want to touch as well.
“Your brother,” Rone said softly, his words underscored with dangerous emotion, “Is not here. He doesn’t have to know.”
“He’ll find out that I was here, somehow. Alone with you. That we-”
“That we what?” Rone blinked, smoldering heat growing in his eyes.
Heather’s face burned as hot as the rest of her body. “That we- swam. Alone,” she finished lamely.
Rone laughed. “Is that cause for him to kick my ass? If so, I need to find a better best friend. This isn’t the damn eighteen hundreds.” His eyes raked over her, making her feel wobbly all over. “So are you going to stay, Heather, or are you going to leave?”
It finally registered with her, why Rone was looking at her like that. She never thought, after years of having a crush on him, after years of being in love with him, that he’d ever be more than politely interested in her. She never thought she’d be anything but Heather, Jay’s kid sister, but the way he was looking at her… he was looking at her like she was a woman.
She was as shocked as if someone had just stuck her with an electric prod. Okay. Shitty analogy. She felt the electric current pass between them, the zap that turned her insides into a twisted mess. He looked at her with a rich warmth in his eyes, like he craved her. Like he was starved for her. The naked admiration in his eyes, the raw desire, was something she had never seen before. At least not when he looked at her. He’d always been so careful. Just like she was. Or maybe it was new? Maybe all that masculine need had sprung up in the last few minutes. No. Not possible. The way Rone was looking at her, it took years to develop. She realized it probably mirrored the way she was looking at him.
“I… I should go. This- Rone, we both know we can’t.”
“Can’t what?” His voice was equally as deep and husky as hers, every word honeyed and seductive. “Have a good time?”
“Is that what this is? A good time?” Her voice shook. The air crackled and sparked between them. He was less than a foot away. All she had to do was reach out and run her finger down that impossibly broad chest. His lips twisted into a smirk that melted her inside. She wanted those lips on her own. No, she wanted those lips everywhere. On every inch of her skin.
“I promise it would be a good time. But no, that’s not all this is.”
“How long?” Heather panted. “How long have you felt like this?” Her head felt like it was going to float off her shoulders. Was she really standing there with Rone, questioning him about a mutual attraction? It was everything she’d spent most of her life dreaming of. She thought it was always going to be just that- a fantasy.
“How long?” He frowned, his forehead knitting together. His eyes burned straight through her, bordering on wild. “Forever.”
The flare of heat in that word, the way Rone said it… it was too much. Heather’s legs nearly buckled. That word rang through her head, over and over. Forever. It echoed in every single one of her rapid heartbeats. She could feel her pulse jumping in her throat.
“What do you mean?” She gasped. She stumbled back a step, but Rone just took another one forward. This was so not how she had seen the pool party going. She thought it was going to be innocent. Hang out with some people she didn’t know, have a few drinks, maybe relax by the pool for a bit, hopefully get an eyeful of Rone, half naked and wet from the pool, go home and fantasize about it for the rest of her damn life.
It isn’t supposed to be like this. Everything she’d ever wanted, from the words Rone was saying to the way he was looking at her hit her square in the chest. Her breath came out in a long rush, like she truly had been hit with something physical.
Rone blinked those long, dark eyelashes. “Just what I said. For as long as I can remember wanting someone, it’s been you. I’m a big believer in leaving things until the right time. I don’t think it was an accident I bumped into you at that shop. That out of all the places I could have walked into, it was you at the front desk. I don’t think it was an accident that you were put in my life. I haven’t been too blind to see it- I just…”
“My brother. I know.” Heather had to look away. “So was it fate too, that all your friends canceled or are you lying to me? Maybe you didn’t invite anyone at all? Maybe you just wanted to get me here and see what it was like to do the one thing that we were never allowed to do. Maybe it’s just a fantasy of your own, having your best friend’s sister.”
Rone’s step forward was so quick and fluid that she didn’t register the movement until it was too late. He loomed over her, dwarfing her with his massive size. She backed up again, which was a mistake, she realized, as soon as her back hit the front door. She hadn’t even taken off her shoes. She’d literally walked in and suddenly they were talking about everything that remained unspoken between them for so long. Far too long.
One strong hand came up and gently, so very gently, landed on her jaw. His fingers curled into her cheek, cupping her face. The heat in his touch was unmistakable. Heather couldn’t help herself. She lost whatever battle she’d been fighting. That one touch was all it took to unravel years of restraint and self-control.
“No. Never that,” Rone said huskily. She almost forgot what he was answering and then she recalled her accusation. His hand moved to her hair where he tucked a long strand back behind her ear. He caressed the dark strands for a moment, running the end down between his thumb and index finger. A low growl erupted from his throat and they both started. “You might be my fantasy, but what you said, that’s not part of it. My fantasy is you under me, straining, naked, soaking wet, screaming my name. It’s never been my desire to take you.” He bent his head and whispered thickly in her ear. “My fantasy is to give you absolutely everything.”