Authors: Cherrie Lynn
Ross 02 Rock Me (7 page)
“Oh. My. God.” Samantha leaned in close. “That was one sexy move right there. Macy, you’re insane. Candace, get your ass over there
now
. Don’t mind us.” For good measure, Sam planted the flat of her palm on Candace’s back and practically shoved her away. Macy was obviously not amused, but held her tongue, recognizing her sound defeat.
Rows of movies passed her in a blur as she tried to maintain a casual stroll without tripping over her own feet or sprinting toward him. He was wearing jeans that hugged his thighs and ass like a dream and a black Affliction tee with splotchy white chaotic patterns. Those tattoos flowed down his forearms with an 36
Rock Me
almost liquid fluidity. Greens and blues and… She was staring. Crap. She didn’t need to do that. But she wanted to lick him like there was candy in his skin; there was really no use denying it. She almost plowed over two little boys who ran in front of her. Lifting her gaze to Brian’s face as her legs ate up the last distance between them, she saw light glint on the two hoops through his right eyebrow. His hair was just long enough to brush the collar of his shirt, and it fell over his face as he looked down at whatever movie he was holding in his hand. He was in the horror section. It occurred to her that he’d probably seen her fumbling freak-out and Sam’s happy dance when he’d called. That was
wonderful
. She wasn’t safe anywhere.
“Hey, you,” he said, closing one eye in a wink. “How’s the tat?”
That was probably all he wanted to ask. “Oh! It looks great. Hasn’t given me any problems at all.”
“Cool.”
Why had she never really noticed that he was oh-my-God tall? When she stood next to him, the top of her head came no higher than his shoulder. He’d have to bend to kiss her, and she’d gladly rock up on her tiptoes to meet him halfway…
He cleared his throat. “I’ve been wanting to call you.” Candace wondered if she should confess the same thing to him. It hadn’t seemed— “It didn’t seem right, for some reason,” he finished.
“I know what you mean.” Her gaze was focused resolutely on the cover of
The Evil Dead
sitting on the shelf in front of her
.
She hated how small her voice sounded.
“But I saw you there just now and…it seems ridiculous that we can’t still be friends, doesn’t it?”
Well. Ouch. She thought only girls were supposed to run the “let’s be friends” line. Of all the bad ideas in the world, this had been the granddaddy. As much as it wounded her, she should accept his casual friendship and stop obsessing. Quit setting her fool self up for heartbreak. Because that’s all she was doing. But she
missed
him. Seeing him in his tattoo parlor last week and thinking about him all day every day since then had shown her how much. His breakup with Michelle had devastated her more than her cousin, if only because if Michelle wasn’t seeing him, then Candace couldn’t see him, either.
“It seems really ridiculous,” she said, not intending for the sad note to enter her voice. “I always liked hanging out with you.”
She had the bad feeling that he wanted to reach over and rumple her hair, and she didn’t think she could bear the kid-sister gesture right now. “Likewise, sunshine.”
This wasn’t going nearly how she’d planned when she first looked up and saw him standing over here. That excitement was in ashes now, incinerated by one little “f” word that under normal circumstances was not considered dirty.
Sam was going to be so disappointed. Somehow, the thought of watching her face fall when she heard they’d decided to be friends in the horror section at Blockbuster was the most devastating thing of all. But she supposed having him in her life in that capacity was better than not having him at all.
37
Cherrie Lynn
“I didn’t mean to abandon you when Michelle and I stopped seeing each other. I figured you were mad at me, or you didn’t care.”
“Oh, no. Don’t ever think that. Whatever happened with you guys, it wasn’t my business.”
“I know how close you two are.”
“We’re close, but she never told me why you ended things. It’s cool. I totally understand why you didn’t keep in touch. It’s the same reason I didn’t.”
He put the movie he’d been looking at back on the shelf and turned to face her. “How is she?”
This kept getting worse. “She’s great. She’s still working on getting her Master’s degree, happily seeing some guy I don’t like at all.”
He laughed. “That makes me feel better.”
“How so?”
“I’d hate the thought of you liking her new guy better than me.”
“That would never,
ever
happen.” She couldn’t look at him as she said it, and he didn’t reply. Maybe she’d shocked him. Maybe that had been too suggestive. But it was the truth, and she wanted him to know it. “So, um…what are you looking for here?”
“Anything. I was bored and hoping I could find something to catch my interest. Not much luck so far.”
“Why? Seen everything?” she asked teasingly, reaching over to give his arm a pinch. She really just wanted to touch him.
“Pretty much, yeah.”
Wow. She’d known he liked scary movies because Michelle had always whined about it. Candace wanted to roll her eyes at the thought. They didn’t bother her in the slightest, and given the opportunity to snuggle up and grab onto him during the jumpy parts…no, she wouldn’t have any problems with that whatsoever.
“Have any recommendations for me?” she asked.
“What are you into?”
“Um…what do you mean?”
“Well, do you like slashers, or gory torture porn, or psychological? Or what?”
“I have no idea.”
He laughed. It was a deep rumble that melted her very bones. “Most of the drivel Hollywood churns out lately is crap. You have to look to other countries to get the good stuff. France is awesome. Very extreme.”
“I’ve never seen a French horror movie.”
“They’re definitely not for the faint of heart.” He strolled away a few steps, scanning the shelves.
“Let’s see… Hey, there’s a good one. Have you ever seen
The Descent
?”
38
Rock Me
“No, I wanted to, but…”
“But?”
“Well, honestly? I love scary movies but my friends hate them, and I don’t like watching them by myself. It seems every little creak or bump freaks me out afterward. I know it’s stupid.”
“Aw, getting spooked out is the most fun,” he drawled, flashing her that grin she really wished he’d stop flashing before she ended up hanging onto his leg. He bent to snatch a movie from the shelf. “You’re watching
Descent
, I insist. It’s one of the best to come out in recent years, in my humble opinion, but if I have to come over and babysit you through it, then so be it.”
“Hey, now. I don’t need a
babysitter
.”
“You totally do. What are you doing now?”
“Now? Um…” She glanced over the shelves to where Sam and Macy were strolling through the new releases a few aisles away, occasionally sending her a glance and a thumbs up. She hated to skip out on her friends, but Sam had told her not to mind them… “The girls and I were going to watch something tonight, but it wasn’t set in stone or anything.”
“Oh. Well, I was going to say we should hang out, but I hate to drag you away from—”
“It’s totally fine!” Sam bellowed, waving at them as Macy shook her head. Candace face-palmed as Brian burst out laughing.
“I don’t think they really wanted to hang out with you all that much,” he observed. That wasn’t it at all, and he knew it. But God bless him, he seemed to be trying to save her from the embarrassment of having this raging, out-of-control crush on him. She would be forever grateful. “Sounds like you’re right about that.”
39
Chapter Five
If only Mom knew what I was doing
now.
Candace tossed a popcorn bag into her microwave and set the timer, unable to repress a smirk. It was hard to believe Brian was in her living room. Brian. Was in.
Her
living room. Feeding the DVD
into her player right now. Moments before, he’d been fiddling with the color on her TV, after proclaiming it “crap”. Before that, he’d been in the kitchen with her, casting such a dark shadow around her cheerful white-and-yellow décor that she’d hardly been able to breathe. His very presence here overwhelmed and unnerved her. Not that she didn’t like it, or want it. The unfamiliarity of having a man in her living space was manifesting itself in a thrum beneath her skin, a slight tremble in her fingers, and perpetual dryness of the mouth. She’d nearly dropped everything she tried to pick up and she’d probably choke on the popcorn if she tried to eat it right now. Heck, she needed one of the beers he’d stowed in her fridge. And she hardly ever drank. Her cell phone bleeped at her from the counter and she picked it up to find a text message from Sam:
Have u handed in ur V-card yet?
Even as the question made her want to dive under her bed and hide, she had to snicker at the idea that she and Brian had a captive audience across town.
We just got here! Call u later
, she tapped back, and hoped that would be that for the night. Knowing her friends, they were going to harass her all night, demanding updates. What did they expect her to do, hop on Twitter during the act and give them a play-by-play?
She gave a half-hysterical giggle at the thought as the microwave chimed.
“What’s so funny in there?” Brian asked.
“Oh…oh, um, texting with Samantha.” She shoved the phone in her pocket, peeking over the bar that separated her kitchen from the living room. Brian was perched on the edge of her sofa, thumbing the remote control. Once the movie was queued up and ready to go, he sat back, his long legs sprawled in front of him.
Candace swallowed hard around the fast-forming lump in her throat. Images flickered through her mind. Sauntering naked into that room and straddling him. Her fingers deft and confident as she freed his erection from his jeans and guided it inside her. Riding it to ecstasy with his mouth all over her breasts. All week long she’d been having fantasies like that. But now, with his presence, they were so much more vivid. So much more…within reach.
Rock Me
Ridiculous. Just because she had him in her apartment didn’t mean she was any closer to
having
him than she’d ever been. Sighing, she retrieved the popcorn bag from the microwave, dumped its fluffy, fragrant contents into a big bowl, and joined him on the couch. The movie kept her riveted from the start, but she was always aware of him. They were seated far enough apart that another person could have fit between them, and she ended up setting the popcorn bowl there so they could both have easy access. When he wasn’t digging into it, he would stretch his arm across the back of the couch, but the action only brought his hand close to her left shoulder. Nowhere near as close as she would’ve liked.
It was hard for her throughout the course of a film to remain quiet and not make comments or jokes, and he was the same way. Michelle had always been hissing and bitching at them whenever they had all watched one together, because it never failed she and Brian struck up a constant stream of witticisms. It was no different now, except for this interminable tension that had her stuttering over most of her words. And sometimes he’d say something that ordinarily would have her in hysterics, but she could hardly even dredge up a chuckle.
He wasn’t going to put the moves on
her
. She’d accepted that. If she wanted him—and did she ever—
then it was all on her to get him.
That thought terrified her.
“Hey, what’s up with you tonight?” he finally asked, giving her shoulder a playful nudge that nearly made her leap off the couch. His expression fell. “It’s not scaring you, is it?”
“Oh, no way. I’m enjoying it.” She resisted all urges to place her hand over the spot where he’d touched her. Her flesh was still tingling there.
“Are you all right? Nothing’s got you down?”
She fidgeted. “No. Just…um, preoccupied, I guess. I’m sorry if I’m not good company.”
He waved a hand dismissively. “You’re great. But I imagine you’re really busy with school and stuff.” She could have hugged him for the out he gave her.
“Yeah, that’s it exactly. I think I’m overloading myself sometimes, trying to hurry up and get done with it.”
“What’s the rush? It can’t be good for you to kill yourself like this.”
Getting the hell out from under my mom and dad’s dictatorship, that’s what.
“The sooner I finish, the sooner I can start working, and the sooner I’ll be my own person.” Frustrated at the admission, she shoved her hand in the popcorn bowl only to brush it against his as he was reaching for another handful, and that thrill shot up her arm again, frazzling her thoughts.
“So how is it that you’re not your own person already?”
She shrugged. “Don’t mind me, I’m rattling on. It was kind of a stressful day.”
“If there’s something you should be working on right now, we can do this some other—”
41
Cherrie Lynn
“No, no, I’m glad you came over. I’m really…um, really glad you’re here.”
He grinned, and she could’ve sunk five inches into the couch for the way she melted. His teeth were perfectly straight, even and dazzling against his olive complexion. “I couldn’t believe it when you walked into my parlor the other day. It was damn sure the most pleasant surprise I’ve gotten in a while.”
That warmed her all over, rendered her momentarily speechless. “Well, good. I’d have gone in to see you sooner if I’d known you…I mean, that you…”
“Missed you?” he asked, giving her shoulder a few teasing taps. She shivered. “Well…”
“I did. More than I wanted to admit to myself.”
What did that mean? Apparently, he wasn’t going to elaborate. Tearing his gaze away from her suddenly, he took a drink from his beer and focused on the movie again. On her flat screen, the cavedwelling monsters were launching their attack upon the hapless spelunkers. Candace shoved the wad of popcorn she was holding into her mouth and tried to concentrate. Her phone buzzed in her jeans pocket…probably Samantha requesting another update. They would have to wait.