“You’ve got a little something right there,” Reed said, leaning in and licking some hot wing sauce off of the corner of her mouth. “Spicy.”
“Me or the remains of my food? Sorry, I’m not normally this messy when I eat, but you had me working up one hell of an appetite.”
“You inspired a pretty phenomenal cardio workout for us.”
She was sitting on his couch in one of his T-shirts that he’d tossed at her after they’d finished rolling around on his bed a second time. He’d had plenty of women grab his clothes from time to time and put them on, walk around and prance in front of him. This was the first time he’d more or less suggested a woman wear his clothing.
It definitely meant more when he actually wanted to see a woman wearing his shirt than when one just assumed it was theirs for the taking.
“I can’t say I’ve been told that often in my life,” she said, picking up the napkin and wiping her mouth. Bummer, he was looking forward to cleaning her up again.
“Why’s that?” he asked. She was the whole package sitting in front of him right now. Beautiful, down to earth, to the point, with a smoking hot body and knew how to use it. And she wasn’t shy in the bedroom at all. Yep, every man’s fantasy...with no strings attached.
“Not everyone had an easy life or parents that owned a business.”
She didn’t say it sarcastically, but the underlying tone wasn’t lost on him. “So tell me about your life.”
She started to cough. “Why?”
He didn’t care that she got almost a panicked look in her eye. “Because friends do that. They share with each other.”
“I guess.”
She reached for a piece of pizza and took a large bite. He put his hand on her bare thigh. “If you don’t give me something I’m going to think you might be running from the police and not only am I employing a fugitive but harboring one too.”
“Hardly running. I’ve never even had a speeding ticket.”
“Are you married?” he asked seriously. He did just tell himself this was no strings attached, right? Yet he wanted to know more about her. He was just going to go with it. And wondered why he never thought to ask before. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d slept with a woman he’d picked up in a bar and found out later she had a husband at home. His self-worth took a major hit that night driving him toward the bottle. Thinking back, that was probably when he decided he’d had enough of that life and needed the change.
“Hell no,” she said. He’d felt that way recently too. Funny thing is, he wasn’t feeling quite as emphatic as that now.
“Divorced?”
“Nope. Never been married. Single as can be,” she said, smiling, but he wasn’t sure he believed her.
“Not dating anyone?” he asked, grinning. He hoped the hell not since she was in his bed.
“Just a friends with benefits situation with my boss. Does that count? Besides, I thought we covered this topic before. Didn’t you believe me?”
He laughed. “It could count now if anyone else asks you. And I just wanted to make sure nothing had changed since the last time we talked about it.”
“I doubt anyone will ask. You want to know some things, fine, I’ll tell you.”
“I do.” He couldn’t remember the last time he’d asked that question of a woman. Hell, half the time he was lucky he knew their last name if he even asked for their first name. Wow, had times changed.
“I lived outside of Miami. I’m one of six kids.”
“Six? Lucky you.”
“Your sarcasm is about how I felt growing up. I’m in the middle.”
“Give me their names and occupations. The same with your parents if they’re still around.”
“Oh they’re around. I hear from my mother more often than not. The oldest is Kyle, he’s thirty-four and a policeman. He’s married with two kids right now. Then there is Anne who’s thirty-one, she’s a pre-K teacher and engaged. I’m next at almost twenty-nine. Single as we’ve already established.”
“Sort of single,” he corrected her.
She took another bite of her pizza and he picked up his second slice. “Then there is Landon, he’s twenty-seven and a grocery store manager, the only one to not go to college at all. He’s single and will probably remain that way too.”
“How come?” he asked.
“He’s a bit like you. He didn’t have a good experience in high school and just wants some action now and again with no commitment.”
He wanted to argue with her, but couldn’t. Not without saying that he was starting to have a change of heart. That would most likely make her go running out the door just in his T-shirt alone. As much as he’d enjoy the sight of her ass on the way out, he wasn’t willing to risk it. “It works for some people until it doesn’t work anymore.”
“If you say so. Next is Kurt and he does something with computers or networks or whatnot. He’s got a girlfriend and I expect them to get engaged soon, but he’s only twenty-five and I hope they wait. They both have a ton of debt from college.”
“Do you?” he asked.
“What? Have a ton of college debt?” He nodded. “Yep. Not as much as him because I went to a community college first and lived at home, then went to a state school. Also lived at home.”
“So who is the baby of the family?”
“That would be Crystal. She’s twenty-three and single because she can’t decide what she wants to do with her life or what side of the fence she wants to be on.”
“Meaning?” he asked, completely lost.
“Guys or girls. She likes them both and can’t figure out which way to go. Until then, she’s just floating through life between jobs and significant others. She went to college, but dropped out.”
“Sounds like you’ve got an interesting family,” he said, wondering what that was like. He could barely handle Rachel let alone anyone else.
“Oh, the stories I could tell you,” she said.
“So tell me.”
“I don’t think so. It’s not like it’s happy stories half the time. My parents are still married. My father is a janitor for the high school we went to. Let me tell you, that isn’t fun growing up.”
“Kids can be rough,” he said. He never had any worries like her, but he knew how it was in high school. He and Josh were in the popular gang and hung out with lots of people, but that didn’t stop the girls from playing with their heads.
Whitney being right up there in the mix. The first time he’d seen her in junior high he was half in love, but she wanted nothing to do with him or anyone else in their class. Upperclassmen were always her target and she went through plenty of them.
“They can. I’d like to think it’s worse for the girls, but my brothers say otherwise. My father worked second shift for years so it wasn’t until we were older that anyone even knew of the relation, but once a first shift opened up, he took it. It wasn’t like they needed to figure out daycare at that point as we were all in school.”
“And your mother?” he asked.
“She’s a secretary for some local business. I can’t even remember the name of the place now. When we were younger she had a few different jobs. All entry-level positions. She floated between retail and office work. Whoever was hiring and could work around daycare issues. Not a lot of money in the house and a lot of mouths to feed.”
“So you moved here for what?” he asked. “A better life?” Not that there was anything wrong with the Capital Region, but he didn’t know too many people that moved up here from Florida for no specific reason or a job transfer.
“It was time for a change,” she said, like she had before and he knew he wasn’t going to get much more out of her.
She finished off her pizza and reached for her bottle of water. He’d offered her beer and wine, but she’d declined. It was barely five right now and he hoped that she didn’t plan on leaving.
“Do you like it here? Wish you never left sunny Florida?”
“There are ups and downs here.”
She was grinning when she dropped her eyes to his lap. He was sitting there in boxers and they shifted when the member inside of them started to grow.
He pushed his plate aside and stretched out on top of her. “I think you like the ups.”
“What woman doesn’t?” she asked, then wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss.