Drawn To You (Paloma's Edge) (4 page)

“To you,” he said with emphasis, “I am sure it is. And it should be ‘a pretty big deal.’ But Mona and I don’t roll like that. She’s not bad like everyone thinks. When we get along, it’s great, and when we don’t, it’s tough. It happens in relationships.” He gave a humorless laugh.

“Is it safe for me to assume that Uncle Anton is gonna talk to you about her when you go back to the Paloma?”

He made a face. “Just like my friends have.”

“And is
Chase one of those friends?”

“Actually, he hasn’t grilled me about Mona. He’s never brought her up. Only I have.”

“He just listens.” I realized that I stated it rather than asked.

“Exactly.” A short silence settled between us before he continued
. “He can be great in that way. You know? He doesn’t push. So, how was the ride?”

“He insisted on carrying my stuff and paying the gas.”

Pierce shook his head and started chuckling. “You mean he offered, you refused, and he wouldn’t have that.”

Was my behavior so predictable? Chase just seemed like a gentleman
, and I knew from watching Cindy’s relationships that most men were only polite so that they could have something in return, not because they were truly good men.

“Obviously he didn’t want to pick up his friend’s cousin early in the morning
, and I thought it was the least I could do was to pay the gas.”

Pierce’s face had reddened with more laughter. He slowed down his driving and we entered a part of Paloma’s Edge that was very different from the rest of the houses I had seen when Chase had driven me. These houses were big with sculpted lawns. Two houses had elegant statues in the front.

“You sure know how to bruise a guy’s ego, Noodles!”

“I am not skinny anymore,” I replied. “And I was being considerate.”

“You’re such a noodle head. You could’ve let Chase do the chivalrous thing, ’cause he doesn’t do it often.”

My phone vibrated
and I unlocked my phone’s screen to view my text message.

Jake:
How’s Paloma Edge livin’ so far? =)

From the corner of my eye, I saw a small smile play on Pierce’s lips.

Me:
Uncle Anton gave me a job in HR. No interview necessary. He was happy to see me. How’re you and Mariska?

Jake:
Now that you’ve got a roof over your head for the summer, I am good. She’s ok but worried about you. I’ll be picking her up from work soon. And then we’re getting Pete.

Me:
Take care of them. Tell them I said hello.

Jake:
K. TTYL.

Pierce parked in front of a huge white house that reminded of me of the nice ones I had cleaned during the school year. This one, though, made those houses look cute instead of spectacular, like I had thought they were. “Are you stubborn with your boyfriend too?” Pierce asked in an amused tone as I locked my phone’s screen.

“I don’t have a boyfriend. Jake’s one of my best friends.”

“Uh huh. And how long has he been your”—he made air quotes—“friend?”

“Since I was six
years old.”

Nodding, Pierce didn’t respond.

***

Chase

As soon as we heard Pierce driving in with Bethany, Nancy and I came to the front of the house. When they both came inside, I
took a deep breath. How’d Bethany look even better than earlier? She already began to tan and she took those high heels she had put on earlier and was in those sexy flip-flops.

“Wh
at’s up, Chase?” Pierce and I fist-bumped while he laid a light kiss on Nancy’s forehead. Bethany gave me a tentative smile.

“Nancy and I had lunch. We came back twenty minutes ago.”

Pierce nodded. “Nancy, this is Bethany.”

Bethany inched closer to Pierce, extended her arm, and widened her smile. “Nice to meet you, Nancy.”

Nancy returned a smile to Bethany like it was a reward, and her body relax more. Man, what I would give to ease tension in her body.

“I’ve heard such great things about you,” Nancy said. “Let me get—”

Pierce and I stepped in. I carried that heavy-ass backpack and one suitcase, while Pierce had the other. We walked through the long hallway and started up the steps. I heard Nancy ask Bethany about what she needed. When we went into Bethany’s guestroom, which was all the way across the hall from mine, she couldn’t hide her stunned expression.

After Pierce and I placed her stuff by the walk
-in closet, he stood beside her and nudged her with his arm. “Everything here is brand new. Mom and Nancy didn’t know what you’d like,” he said.

Bethany cocked her head in Nancy’s direction. “It’s beautiful. You and
Aunt Deborah have amazing taste. The shades of brown and gold against the off-white wall are so…what my dream room would look like.”

Pierce
looped his hand around Nancy’s shoulders. “See, I told you that she’d love it.”

Nancy looked pleased. And then Bethany’s stomach rumbled. Her face heated and I immediately wanted to grab her hand and take her to the kitchen. Feed her myself until she was sated and make sure she maintained every inch of that succulent body.

Nancy slightly titled her head Pierce’s way and spoke to Bethany.

“We’ll give you some time to yourself while I prepare your lunch. What would you like to eat?” Nancy asked Bethany.

“A sandwich, please. The only things I don’t eat are pickles and mayonnaise.”

“Al
l right. Sandwich coming up,” she told Bethany. She gestured toward the door. “Scoot, boys! Bethany needs her privacy.”

I hadn’t realized I was still standing in her room. Pierce flicked his eyes over at me
and then looked at Bethany. “I gotta get to work. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

“I’ll be fine.” She gave him a half-grin. “
See you later.”

He tried to mess up her hair but she slapped his hand away and giggled at him as he left her room. I followed right after him and closed her door.

***

“She’s a lovely young lady,” Nancy said as she finished making Bethany’s sandwich. She arched her brow and the sides of her lips curved. “And very beautiful,” she added.

“She sure is.”

Nancy trained her eyes on me. “Lovely or beautiful, or both?”

“Wouldn’t
you
like to know what I think?”

Nancy already knew, though, and she was about to say something else when we heard Bethany make her way down the stairs. Once she was in the open
-space kitchen, I looked over my shoulder and saw that she had changed into a tank top and a mid-thigh-length denim skirt. Her hair was damp from a shower, making it look dark brown. Her azure eyes stood out more. Even though her legs weren’t long, they were flawless and tempting in their own right. Smooth, shapely, and tanned. Her right shoulder had this cute birthmark on it and I wanted to skate my teeth along it and—

“Thanks for waiting me.” Beth’s mild vanilla and honey scent carried as she sat next to me.

Nancy nodded. I got up and headed towards the fridge. “What would you like to drink?”

“Orange juice, please.”

“Ice or no ice?”

“Ice.”

Nancy’s eyes glinted as she stood by Bethany. “Enjoy,” she warmly told her, and she started off until she paused. “Chase, make sure to give her your number, my number, and Pierce’s.”

“Will do
.”

***

I placed the drink beside Bethany’s plate and she lowered her gaze; her plate was empty. After she wiped her mouth, she got up as I was about to take her plate and put it in the dishwasher.

“I am going to make another sandwich,” she told me softly, with tinges of pink on the apples of her cheeks. “Would you like a sandwich? Anything?”

I’d like your body pressed against mine
, I thought, but I knew she wasn’t asking about my other appetite. I left her plate on the island. “I am still full from lunch, but I’ll keep you company.”

Bethany cut me a sideways grin. “Cool.” When she opened the fridge, I got
a view of her backside. Her jean skirt did wonders to grip that curve of her body, like I’d imagined a skirt would. “Are you staying here too?”

I remained where I was and she was right beside me as she cut some lettuce, selected some slices of chicken Nancy had left in a container, and
added Nancy’s homemade Italian dressing. She darted her eyes at me in question.

“Until I begin football and school again at University of Miami.”

Twirling around, she almost tossed the lettuce onto the floor. I was a real jerk because I watched her catch the lettuce so I could see some of her cleavage, and I wasn’t disappointed. While her breasts weren’t big, they were perky and would be a perfect weight to have in my hands. “I am gonna be a sophomore at UM,” she said breathily. “What class are you?”

“I’ll be a junior.”

She nodded. “Does Pierce go there too?”

“Yeah.”

Bethany gulped some orange juice and then put the rest of the food back in the fridge. Her sandwich was twice the size of the one Nancy had made for her, and she didn’t seem apologetic about it. And that made my dick surge to full-on hard status. Man, I was the recurring erection in Bethany’s presence.

“If I wasn’t on campus, I was at work, so I probably wouldn’t have seen either of you even if if it wasn’t a big campus.”

I kept the front of my body against the island as she carried her plate and returned to her stool across me. “You live on campus?”

“I do. My best friends, Jake and Mariska
, will be freshmen at UM this fall. And Mariska will be my roommate.” Her lips spread into a smile, one that was likely reserved for special people in her life.

“How about you? On or off campus?”

“On campus.”

She swigged some more
orange juice and ran her tongue over those plump lips.

“So
, how long have you and Pierce been friends?”

“A year and half, give or take some weeks
. I met Pierce through Scott, a teammate of mine and a friend, though we’re not as tight as Pierce and I have become.”

“And w
hat are you leaving out?”

My
dick finally calmed down. I walked over and sat beside her. “I met him when we were in one of Scott’s friend’s dorms, having a party when we shouldn’t have been. It was quiet hours,” I explained. “Anyways, Pierce had this device that alerts him when someone’s trying to break into his car.” I paused and licked my lips, more than pleased that her eyes were zeroed in on them. “We all told him to chill. Call campus police and let them handle it from there.”

“But of course he didn’t.”

“Nah, he didn’t. I mean, if it were my Maserati, I guess I’d flip out too. When we all got to the parking lot, this chick that Pierce messed with from like…I don’t know, maybe a month before, stood over his car with a bat.”

With widened eyes, she covered her m
outh and stifled a laugh. Once she recovered, she dropped her hands over her thighs and I moved closer to her. Our knees touched. She didn’t move hers away.

“I shouldn’t find it funny,” she said with self-recrimination. “It’s not.
Did anyone de-escalate the situation?”

“The other guys were kinda smashed and erupted in alcohol
-induced laughter. That only pissed this chick off more. She said something like, ‘Think you can forget about me, huh?’ And Pierce was like, ‘No, sweetie. No way,’ but I knew that he didn’t remember her name—”

“Or who she was,” Bethany interjected in an amused tone.

I nodded. “And that’s when the girl said, ‘My. Name. Is. Not. Sweetie.’ And then the guys started knocking into each other in hysterics. Scott was behind me, trying to tell them to shut up. And Pierce was looking at his Maserati like someone struck his puppy. She asked, ‘What’s my name?’”

She shook her head and sighed.

“Right. And he admitted to her that he didn’t know her name. That’s when she hit his windshield, and it cracked a little. When she went in for a real swing, I stood in front of Pierce and told the girl that she didn’t want to mess with a LDM.”

Bethany looked confused. “That’s about the same face she had
.”

Bethany hit my thigh. “Don’t put me in the same category as her!”

“I was just pointing it out.” I held my hands up in mock fear. “She asked, ‘What’s an LDM?’ I told her that Pierce was probably a Limp Dick Mofo and that I could make her forget about him. The other guys started shouting ‘LDM.’ Pierce acted like he was ticked off, but he was really so thankful for my intervention that he didn’t care about his boys tearing into him.” I snapped my fingers. “It was like a switch went off in her brain.”