Twisted Magic (20 page)

“What is it?”

“Vodka?”
He dropped his head back
swallowing
another one. He wiped the corner of his mouth and gave a more confident nod. “Yes, it’s vodka alright.” He kept his eyes on my
drink, w
for me to throw caution to the wind and drink with him. I took a look at Karsen and then said what the hell.
It was true what they said, drinking made people
stupid,
and I was just that.

I cringed and
almost
puked trying to keep the nasty liquor down. My insides
warmed,
and my chest burned. I closed my eyes waiting for the sensation to pass.

“Good girl,” Hutch said
,
pleased that I was willing to humor him. “What do you say to one more?”

I bit my lip. “I don’t know.”

He elbowed me. “Come on, another drink and then I swear the rest will be by your own accord.” He smiled when I shook my head and stopped the petite blonde heading past. He dropped his new shot inside his old one and clutched the
plastic. He
shot me a look that told me he was ready and we both simultaneously
threw
our heads back
at the same time.

I cringed
,
handing
the
cup
back to Hutch. He tossed them in the trash. “That was brilliant.”

I followed him along the sands. T
he heat and noise
united
made
me feel a bit
strange.
Heat nipped at my cheeks, and suddenly
it
felt like someone had turned a furnace on
. I wasn’t a drinker.

“I’m not a drinker,” I said
out loud
,
my pulse quicken
ed
and echo
ed
in my ears
. “The
last
time I drank was when I was fifteen and Karsen snuck her dad’s coconut rum from his stash at her house.”

Hutch’s
was
grinning ear to ear now.

“It could be that I don’t like drinking. My dad has a lot of issues with Jack Daniels.” I was rambling like an idiot. I had also lost sight of
Karsen that
was until she was tugging at my arm and in my face, just as smashed as I probably
felt
.

“This might be the greatest party ever.” She pulled her gaze away from me long enough to stare up at Hutch. “
You’re
huge. Is
everything
massive?"

I giggled, embarrassed Karsen was so unladylike, but when was she
not?
Hutch wasn’t offended. He offered us the only picnic table that was free of
half-
naked girls
. I sat down with a thud, misjudging my landing.

Karsen sat down beside
me. Her
bare legs pressed against mine. She hardly had boundaries before now they were nonexistent and evading my space. I nudged her over and offered Hutch the space on the other side of me.

“So?” Karsen pressed. “Is everything huge? Are you gifted in the trousers?”

I rolled my eyes at Hutch. “You don’t have to answer her.”

He smiled. “I believe some things should be left to the imagination.
”

Karsen snorted breaking into
laughter.
She actually
snorted;
I shot her a disturbed look wondering how much she had
to drink
while I wasn’t looking. “That’s the most boring thing I have ever heard someone say. My boyfriend, Kidd, he isn’t afraid to say anything.” She drifted off into a day dream about Kidd, leaving me to fend for myself on the conversation front.

I
leaned forward, staring down at my toes.

“What about
Hope, what's
so great about her boyfriend?” Hutch asked
,
Karsen came back to
life. She
hiccupped.

“I don’t know if there is anything all that great about him. Don’t let her fool
you
. She’s unhappy. And that reminds me,” she said
,
tugging my phone from my pocket
before I could object
. “I have a loving, caring, boyfriend at home that would love to hear
my voice right now. I am going to call
him,
and you are going to sit here and tell Hutch why you seriously need to think about dumping Slade.”

I shook my head.

“And try to get him to tell you about the
package
,” Karsen whispered the last part to the both of us as if Hutch wasn’t in earshot. She stumbled
toward
the boardwalk.

“She is drunk.” I pointed out the obvious.

“
She is also ditching you,
”
h
e
said
as Karsen headed down the boardwalk, back the way we came.

I jumped up on wobbly
legs;
legs that I knew were never going to get me home in one piece. What had I got myself
into?
I plopped back down beside Hutch and sighed.

“I live just down the beach,” h
e
said
in my ear. “A few glasses of water or a coffee and you will be good as new.”

“You live in this neighborhood?”

He nodded. “Not up to your standards?”

“No…I didn’t mean anything by it.” I slapped myself in the forehead, pushing my hair behind my ear. “Look at my house.
It’s
nothing spectacular. I’m drunk.” I frowned.

Hutch smirked standing up. “I will keep that in mind and not take offense to anything you say from here on out.” He offered his hand as I stood on shaky legs like Bambi about to take
my
first steps in the woods.

We started across the sand. “This is
more like quick sand then sand,
” I grumbled, searching for my missing
flip
flop.

“I don’t think we are going to get anywhere at this pace.” Hutch told me
,
picking up my flip
flop. H
heaved me over his shoulder like a light jacket, his large hand resting on my backside as he
carried me
across the sand.

I closed my
eyes;
the rhythmic beat of his feet
was
making me
sleepy
.
Suddenly,
he stopped walking and set me upright on the boardwalk.

“Is this better?” he asked, dropping my
flip flop
.

I shoved my foot in it, missing where my toes were
supposed to go. I
fumbled with my
shoe
, trying to
raise my leg
off the ground and fell over into Hutch’s waiting arms. He shook his head, and
slung me back over his
shoulder. His
hand
found
that same position on my rear.

“This could make me puke,” I informed him.

“Let’s not think about puking.
Let’s
just think about get
ting to my house.”

“
What about my house?
Maybe we should go there,” I offered, my body dangling like a piece of meat over his shoulder. He was like a caveman carrying his woman home.

“That would be smart if I knew you could make it in one
piece,
a
nd what about your father?”
H
e reminded me.

I pushed my hair from my eyes, watching
our
swift
stroll
across the boardwalk as we headed to his house. “Your
right, m
y
dad would kill me.”

“A
couple
hours
,
you sober up and
you’re
good to go,” Hutch
said,
as a matter of fact. He set me upright and unlocked a gate leaving me propped against the
chain-link fence
of the house he lived in.

He held out his hand, helping me up
to
the steps. I carefully climbed them one by one taking hold of the white pillar on the porch as he unlocked the front door.

“Where are your brothers?” I asked.

“Sleeping or out.” He allowed me past him into the dark room. I had no clue what was before me. Or
which
way I could move without bumping into something
,
so I stayed as still as I could as drunk as I was.

He dropped his keys by the front door and snapped on a table lamp. I dropped down on the navy blue co
uch before he offered me a seat, r
unning a hand through my hair. Hutch disappeared and returned with a bottle of water.

“Drink
up, the
sooner you drink the faster you can get home.” He sat down across from me.

I unscrewed the cap and took a sip, licking my lips. I set the bottle on the floor.
“Hutch, why were you upset back there?”

He raised an eyebrow,
“Never upset, doll.”

I smiled. “Nobody has called me doll before.”

“Do you like when I call you doll?”

I nodded,
lying back on the couch.
I stared up at the ceiling. “So why were you upset?”

Hutch sighed from
where he sat on the
love seat.
“I suppose
everyone gets down on occasion, n
othing
to worry
about, nothing to discuss.”

“Well
,
I’m for sure one of those people.” I laughed. “I am totally that person who
gets
down on occasion. I
have been down for a long time, a
ctually waiting to be happy again.”

“When do you think that will be?” Hutch sprawled out on the
love seat,
his long legs hanging over the side, his arms behind his head as he listened to my stupid rant.

“I have no idea,” I sat up. “I don’t think anyone knows the answer to that.
However,
I’m
sure they know it when they feel it.”

“You haven’t felt it yet?” Hutch asked.

I shook my head. “I
thought
I did. Have you ever felt it?”

He looked away and then back to me
,
his eyes connecting with mine, a sheepish smirk on his face. “I’d say there was a time or two or three.”

“Wow, big man. What I would give for
just
one
time that
was more
than
only
fleeting.”

Hutch
smiled a
handsome smile from his spot on the
love seat.
It drew me to him.
Suddenly,
I found myself beside him on the love seat, his legs behind me, still in the same relaxed pose not overstepping any bounds as he watched me watch him.

“You’ll know them when you feel them.” He licked his lips, bringing my gaze to his mouth.

Kiss me.
My mind screamed, but he wasn’t budging. He wasn’t going to give in unless he knew I wanted to. He wasn’t that kind of
guy. He
was going to wait until I made the first move since I rejected him
before.

Eagerness played on his lips. I leaned in, my hair falling against his chest. 
It’s just a kiss.

His ar
ms slipped around me, his thumb
grazing my waist. I grinned.

“You’re a very big tease, Hutch,” I said, Hutch nodded
,
his head
in
the perfect position for our lips to meet when I was ready.

“Remember, I said I like to leave those things to the imagination,” he said
coolly
making my insides melt
.

I trailed a hand down his red
t-shirt
. “I’
m drunk. I
t would be very bad if anything happened between us right now.” My fingers trailed further, egging
him
on.

Hutch concentrated on my
hand
. “I haven’t made a move, doll.”

It was me making the
moves. He
was right. And I wasn’t sure if I wanted to stop. I looked at him. “There is
just
something about you.”