On the Rocks Page 12

  “We have sex again.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  I kissed her chest right between her breasts. “Yeah, we need to have sex as an actual couple, right?”

  “Are you really making up an excuse to have sex with me?”

  I grinned. “I don’t have to, do I?”

  “No…” She grabbed me again. I was so hard and ready. “And I promise you I’m not going to make one up either.”

  “In that case.” I moved my hand between her legs.

  “Are we still allowed to play games?”

  “Games? Like where we try to annoy each other?” My breathing was erratic. Her hands on me felt so good.

  “Yeah.”

  “Only if they don’t involve flirting or otherwise implying we’re interested in other people.”

  “Wow. You really are surprising me this morning, Macon.”

  “Don’t worry. The surprises aren’t going to stop here.” I planned to keep my word.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Carly

  Six times. I’d had sex with Macon six times. I’m not exactly sure how it happened. I don’t mean the physical part, obviously I understood that much at twenty-two, but how we’d managed to do it so many times in an eight hour period. But we did. We couldn’t get enough of each other, and I hoped that wouldn’t change.

  “We should probably get up eventually.” I ran a hand down Macon’s chest. I still couldn’t stop touching him.

  “Are you sure we can’t stay here all day?” He nuzzled his chin against the top of my head.

  “I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry.”

  “Hungry? Who needs food when there’s sex?”

  I pushed his arm. “There’s no more sex without food.”

  “Want to go out for lunch? Maybe we can head over to Breakfast and Burgers.”

  “Sure… I guess it would be our first official date.”

  “A little backwards, but it works.” He stretched, letting the sheet fall off him. The movement gave me an eyeful.

  “If you keep looking at me that way we’re not going anywhere.”

  “Is that so?” I stood up, forcing the self-conscious feelings away as I searched for my clothes.

  His hands were around me cupping my breasts before I could grab my underwear. “Are you sure I can’t have you one more time first?”

  My stomach growled.

  “I guess I got my answer.” He kissed my neck and released me.

  I looked at my pile of wet clothes and decided I wasn’t bothering with them. “I need something to wear.”

  “On your long journey down the hall.”

  “Brody might be home. Do you really want him to see me naked?”

  “Of course not.” He pulled a t-shirt and sweats out. “Wear this.”

  I laughed. “I mention Brody and you offer me sweats? Are you really that worried?”

  “I’m the only one who gets the pleasure of seeing that body of yours now.”

  “As compared to yesterday? I could have pranced around naked then?”

  “Who’s prancing around naked?” Brody called from outside the door.

  I pulled on Macon’s t-shirt and pushed open the door. “Could you hear everything we said through the door?”

  “I heard some of it…” Brody grinned.

  “Great.” I left the door open.

  “Tell me about it. I’m going to have to start sleeping with ear plugs if you guys keep this up.” He winked at me.

  “Wait. You’re making that up. You didn’t hear us until just now.”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. Did I?”

  “Give it a rest,” Macon yelled from his room.

  “What are you two up to?”

  “Nothing you’re invited to join us in.” Macon made a quick attempt at making his bed.

  “I wasn’t asking to have a three-some, Macon. I’m not into you.”

  “I meant our lunch date.”

  “Lunch date?” Brody peeked into Macon’s room. “Aren’t you two fancy?”

  I laughed. “I’m going to take a quick shower.”

  “Wait. What?” Macon walked into the hall in just his boxers. “You were too hungry for sex yet you have the energy to shower?”

  “Not listening to this.” Brody covered his ears and walked down the hall to his room. His music started blaring a minute later.

  “You think I’m going on my first date with you this sweaty?”

  “Sweating because you’ve been in bed with me isn’t a bad thing.” He took my hand.

  “See you in ten minutes, Macon.”

  He reluctantly dropped my hand. “Are you sure I can’t join you?”

  “No. I wasn’t kidding about being hungry.”

  “If you insist.” He walked back into his room.

  I stopped by my room to grab fresh clothes before heading into the bathroom. I turned on the shower and stripped off Macon’s shirt. The hot water felt amazing. When I heard the door open I knew exactly who it would be. “Macon.”

  “Yes, babe.” He opened the glass door and stepped in completely naked, he nudged me out of the way and moved under the spray. “Were you about to say something?”

  My words were lost as I stared at him. Macon always looked good, wet or dry, but under the spray of the water he looked even hotter. He was also still completely aroused.

  “I’m going to assume you changed your mind.” He stepped out of the spray toward me.

  “Yeah… I changed it.” I picked up the soap. If he insisted on showering with me, we were both going to be clean.

  ***

  I was famished by the time we reached the restaurant. Seven rounds with a guy like Macon can do that to a girl. We were seated at a table by the window, and I happily ordered a burger. Macon did the same.

  “I love that you eat.”

  “Uh, thanks, I think.”

  “It’s just nice not to worry about it. I seem to usually date girls who diet all the time and stuff.”

  “In other words you go for super skinny girls.” I wasn’t one of them. I wasn’t fat, but I definitely wasn’t a size two.

  “No. Just health conscious ones.”

  “You don’t think I’m health conscious?” Add that in with my lack of running, and I was the lazy bum of the group.

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  “Then what did you mean?” I sipped my water. My one lemon wasn’t enough so I grabbed the one hanging on Macon’s glass.

  Macon didn’t blink. It wasn’t the first time I’d done that to him. It may have been our first date, but it wasn’t our first time out to eat together. That should have made things more natural, but in a weird way it made it stranger. It’s like we’d flipped a switch that was supposed to change everything, but it hadn’t actually worked. Dating a friend came with some complications.

  “You’re beautiful.” He gazed at me intently.

  “Thanks, but that doesn’t get you out of your previous comment.”

  “You’re incredibly beautiful, and smart, and sweet, and fantastic, and amazing in bed.”

  Of course the waitress had to come over with our orders right as he said the last part.

  She cough-laughed before leaving our food.

  “Thanks.”

  “Anytime.” He reached over and grabbed a fry from my plate even though he had a whole plate himself.

  “So are we doing our next class tonight when I get off work?”

  “Sure. How about I pick you up tonight? I have a night dive, so I think we can time it up well.”

  “I probably should learn to dive eventually.”

  “Wait. You’ve never been scuba diving?” He poured some ketchup onto his burger.

  “I told you that.”

  He shook his head. “No you didn’t.”

  “I’m sure I mentioned it.”

  “Then add a scuba course to your list of activities.”

  “Isn’t a bartending class enough?”

  “Nope. Yo
u’re doing this.”

  “Do you strong arm all of your girlfriends to dive with you?”

  “I haven’t had all that many girlfriends.” He looked off.

  “How many have you had?” I wasn’t sure why I was asking. The number would have no relation to the number of girls he’d slept with.

  “If you count Lauren from 4th grade, four.”

  “Same here. Well, boyfriends.”

  “Only four?”

  “It’s the same as you.”

  “Yeah, but you haven’t hooked up with more.”

  “How do you know?”

  He took a sip of his water. “You don’t just hook up with guys.”

  “I almost did with you.”

  “But I’m not just a random guy.”

  “Why do you do it? Why do you hook up with random girls?”

  “I haven’t as often as everyone thinks.” He took a bite of his burger.

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means people believe what they want to.”

  I was about to ask him to elaborate when a brunette walked over to our table.

  “Hey, Macon,” she cooed.

  My stomach clenched.

  Macon gave me an embarassed look. “Hi.”

  “I had a great time yesterday. You’re really good at what you do.”

  I was ready to punch the girl. Was Macon going to make me suffer through this?

  “Uh, thanks, but not any better than most.”

  Oh. My. God.

  “I’m here another few days. Would you want to hang out sometime?”

  She slept with him and now was asking him out?

  “I’m sorry…. I uh.” He looked right at me. “I have a girlfriend.”

  “Oh.” The girl put a hand to her chest. “I’m so sorry.”

  “That’s okay.” He gave her a look like he wanted her to leave. I gave her a look too.

  “Oh my gosh. You probably think. Wow. No. He was my dive instructor when I got my nitrox certification. I didn’t. I wouldn’t do that.”

  “Dive instructor?”

  The girl nodded. “Nice to see you again, Macon.” She slipped away.

  Macon shot me a sheepish smile.

  “You let me think you slept with that girl the same day we did.”

  “It was a little awkward. What was I supposed to do? Say, I didn’t sleep with her?”

  “Or mention the diving.” I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms.

  “This is probably going to get me in tons of trouble, but you look hot when you’re angry and jealous.”

  “I’m not jealous.”

  “You were, but let’s leave it at that and eat.”

  “You’re so good at what you do… oh my.”

  He laughed that sexy laugh of his. “Am I?” he wriggled an eyebrow.

  “I don’t know. You haven’t taken me diving yet.”

  “We’ll be rectifying that soon.”

  “Don’t remind me.”

  “Oh, I will.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Macon

  Getting out of bed was becoming increasingly difficult. Untangling myself from Carly took will power I didn’t always have. Even after a few weeks I couldn’t get enough. Usually when I’d spent nights with girls we’d end up on the opposite side of the bed by the morning. With Carly it was different. I always woke up with her tucked in my arms.

  “You’re going to be late.” She pushed against me lightly, before resettling herself in my arms.

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  “Which means you could get fired.”

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  “Get out of bed, Macon.” Carly was so cute when she was frustrated.

  “Do you really want me to?”

  “You know the answer to that one.”

  I kissed her forehead. “We don’t spend enough time together.”

  “We’ve spent every night together this week.”

  “It’s still not enough.” I ran my fingers through her silky hair.

  “Want to do lunch today then?”

  “Sure. I’ll have time. How about one o’clock at Urban Kitchen?”

  “I’ll just come meet you at the shop. I still haven’t seen it.”

  “Sure.” I didn’t love the idea of her being around Caleb, but then again he rarely showed up anymore.

  She sat up and scowled. “Is there a reason you don’t want me coming by?”

  “Of course not.” I put a hand on her bare leg. She was trying to cover up with the sheet, but she wasn’t trying very hard.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Why wouldn’t I?”

  “I don’t know. You’re really good at your job, aren’t you?”

  “What? That girl? Trust me that’s not it.”

  “Oh. So you admit there’s a reason.”

  “It’s just I don’t really want you near Caleb.”

  “Caleb? Who’s that?” Her blank stare made my heart soar.

  I kissed her, not settling for a light kiss.

  She broke the kiss and laughed. “What’s that for?”

  “For being your amazing self.” I hopped out of bed. “Would it be pushing it to ask you to join me in the shower?”

  “It would be. Besides, I’m going running so I can’t shower yet.”

  “You’re running?” I raised an eyebrow. Carly made her dislike of running known.

  “Yes, is that so hard to believe?”

  “No. But would you rather work out at a gym?”

  “If I had one to work out at.”

  “Ok, hold on.” I went over to my drawer and pulled out a guest pass to my gym. “You can use this at Oceanside Fitness. It’s the only gym out this way.”

  “Awesome. If I like it maybe I’ll get a membership.”

  “That would be nice.” A membership meant she was sticking around. I hadn’t thought much beyond the next few days—but could Carly and I really have a future? I really hoped so.

  ***

  “Why do you keep looking over your shoulder?” Ralph tossed an apple core into the trash can next to me.

  “Because someone’s meeting me here. It’s not like her to be late.” I checked for Carly for the millionth time.

  “Maddy?” Ralph’s expression brightened.

  “No. Carly.”

  “Carly? The new roommate?”

  “Yeah. Also the girlfriend.” I’d started using the term without thinking about it, but that’s what she was. I mean she definitely wasn’t just someone I was hooking up with.

  “What?” he sputtered.

  “Yeah. Carly and I are together.”

  “I hope she’s not the girl outside then.” Anna Marie said as she walked in.

  “Why?” I dreaded the answer.

  “Because Caleb is hanging all over her.”

  “What?” The term I could see red took on new meaning. I stormed out of the shop without thinking.

  Anna Marie was right. He was hanging all over her. Of course Anna could have added that Carly definitely wasn’t into it. With her arms crossed she wanted nothing to do with him. Relieved she wasn’t flirting I felt the second wave of anger. This one was even stronger—why was he invading her space?

  I marched over and stepped between them, pushing Caleb back in the process. “Get the hell away from her.”

  “Why?” Caleb smirked. “We were just having a pleasant conversation.”

  I felt the anger rising again. All I wanted to do was punch the asshole.

  “Macon.” Carly’s soft voice distracted me. “I was just telling Caleb about our big plans tonight, and how you still haven’t told me what we’re doing.” She put a hand on my arm.

  “Wha—” I caught myself just in time. “You don’t want me to ruin the surprise do you, babe?”

  “No. You know how much I love surprises.” She bit her lip in an exaggerated way.

  Caleb glared at me momentarily before turning his attention back to Carly. “Want my number in case you chang
e your mind?”

  “I’m good, but thanks.”

  I put an arm around her. “Ready for lunch?”

  “Definitely.”

  I scowled at Caleb before leading Carly over to my car. I forced myself to stay calm because Carly was around, but next time I saw him alone he was in trouble.

  I opened her door and closed it before walking around to my side. I wasn’t usually the type to do that, but I wanted to with Carly. She brought out that side in me.

  I’d just started the car when she put a hand on mine. “What was that about?”

  “What are you talking about?” I backed out.

  “Don’t bullshit me, Macon.”

  I sighed. “It was nothing.”

  “You were ready to punch him. Admit it.”

  “So? He was bothering you.” I stopped short as the person in front of us slowed to let a bunch of tourists cross the street.

  “And you think he’s the first guy to ever do that?”

  “Are you trying to make me angrier?”

  “I just didn’t think you had an anger problem.”

  “I don’t have an anger problem.” I rolled down the window.

  “Pull over at the park.”

  “What?”

  “You heard me. Pull up at the entrance up ahead.”

  I did as she asked. As soon as the car was stopped she jumped out. I turned off the engine and followed. “Listen, you really don’t need to worry—”

  “No. Don’t try to make up an excuse.” She took a seat in the grass. She stretched out her legs, carefully smoothing out her skirt.

  I sat down beside her. “I’m not.”

  “Tell me what happened? Why did you get so angry?”

  “I already told you.” I pulled a fistful of browning grass out of the ground

  “If you were telling the truth then you belong in an anger management program, but I don’t believe that’s what it was. That little spat wasn’t just about me.”

  I groaned. “Just leave it alone, Carly.”

  “Nope. I can tell something’s up, and I don’t like secrets.”

  “Caleb’s a POS. That’s it.”

  “Besides his annoying habit of hitting on me, why is he a POS?”

  “That’s not enough?” I turned my attention to trimming the grass again.

  “Macon.” No matter how Carly said my name it had an effect on me. It’s like hearing it from her lips changed the way it sounded.