Miles for Love Series Box Set, page 108
Yeah, Christopher got hitched and had two kids. Lacey’s their first, and Hunter is their second. He’s a little firecracker. Daniel got married, too, and so did Mallorie. She lives out in Latvia with her husband Aleks, and they have two kids together, plus Henry, from Mallorie’s first marriage. Daniel and Kayla only have one kid, Mitchell, so far, but rumor has it that they’re up to bat again. Mom and dad are great, too. They love being grandparents, and of course, Tyler and I get the guilt trips for not being married or having children yet. I’m so not there yet. Not even thinking about it.
Well, I’d be lying if I said that. Sure, yeah, I fell hard after seeing Stacey last, and my brothers will attest. All of them. There were many nights spent getting wasted and drowning away my sorrows, especially after I saw the new family move into Stacey’s old pad, and then I knew that I’d never see her again. So it’s been a cocktail of casual relationships since then. After getting burned by Stacey, I’ll never get wrapped up like that with another woman again.
My buddy Rick comes over to play some pool with me, and Tyler comes home, asking if we want to head to our beach house this weekend. He tells me that there’s a chance for some tail on my part, since he’s bringing this teacher that he’s hot over and her best friend, so I’m in. I let it slip purposely that Tyler’s told Ripley that he’s gay, and we razz him over it. How the hell he’s going to pull a weekend off without letting this lie bear its ugly head is beyond me, but I’m a sucker for good entertainment at my brother’s expense.
Turns out, Frankie is pretty hot. Totally doable. I’m in. Plus, she’s just in the middle of a divorce, so I know that there’s no chance in hell that she’s going to be up for anything other than a casual rendezvous, which is fine by me. Tyler and I sit in the pickup as the girls follow behind us to the cottage. “So, what do you think?” Tyler asks. “Would you do her?”
“Fuck, do cows go moo?” I scoff. “She’s totally fuckable.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“What are you going to do about Ripley?”
“Tell her the truth. First chance I get.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
“I thought Frankie was going to take you up against the truck, man. You got lots of condoms with you?”
“Duh. What do you think? Shit, that’s the last thing I need, is to knock her up. Fuck, no thanks.”
As we get to the cottage, we decide to split up, so we can get dinner going. Frankie is all over the idea of her and I being alone, and I’m totally for it. The second that Ripley and Tyler head to the market, Frankie smiles at me. “So.”
“So.” I chuckle. “You looking forward to the weekend?”
“Very much so, yes.” Frankie nods.
“You want a beer?” I offer.
“Sure. Thanks.”
I hand her one from the fridge and we start getting the barbecue together and preparing what we can until the food arrives. “How many are we expecting to show up this weekend?” Frankie asks me.
“It’s usually a good turnout.” I answer and then take a sip of beer. “Especially with it being the last really good warm weekend. The place will be packed.”
“Cool.” Her eyes are all over me. I wonder if she wants to make it before the two love birds return, but I decide to let her call the shots.
“So Grant says you’re divorced?” I venture.
“Yeah. What about you?”
“Never been married.”
“No?”
I shake my head in confirmation.
“Well, it’s overrated, anyway.” Frankie says.
“You think so? My parents and three of my siblings would disagree.”
“Well, maybe not for everyone, but in my case, it was overrated.”
“What happened…if you don’t mind me asking.”
She frowns and waves. “No. He and I were great for the first handful of years, but then things fizzled out. He wanted to go get his master’s degree and it was like nothing else mattered, including me. Our sex life and the whole shebang went down the toilet, and that was that.”
“And you supported him going to school?”
“Well, yeah. I mean, that’s what he wanted. Had I known that that was all he wanted, I might have thought twice. Trust me, the decision to leave him was not taken lightly. We all but bumped arms in the morning when we were both getting ready for the day, and that was the only contact or communication we had. He became obsessed. His education was all that mattered.”
“Well, that sucks.”
“You think?” she smiles. “Anyway, what about you? Have you ever been in a sucky relationship?”
I swallow my sip of beer. “Exclusively.”
She chuckles. “When was the last one?”
“It ended about six years ago. She married some dipshit and moved to Canada last I heard.”
“Nice.” She scoffs. “But it’s not been six years since you’ve been laid though, right?” she’s only half joking by her tone.
I snort a laugh. “Hell no!”
“Good.” She laughs. “Because I was about to think that that would be creepy.”
“God, no.” I repeat with greater emphasis. “I’m over that shit. I moved on and on…and on.”
She laughs. “Well, I’ll be honest. I haven’t been laid in a while, and I was out in Cabo with my mom for the past two weeks, so I’m feeling a little…ancy.”
“Oh yeah?” I ask, taking a step towards her. “Do you want to take care of that?”
A warm smile crosses her face. “I’m not sure that we have time.”
Her eyes are on my lips. I bend down and kiss her, letting the contact linger, but I keep my tongue out of it. Her lips are full and soft, and her movements are so in sync with mine. “Mmm…” she says softly, but then she chuckles. “I really don’t think we have time. Ripley did say that she was starving, so that will be enough motivation for her to get a move on it.” she says honestly, and then I kiss her again. “Plus, my bestie told me to put the brakes on.”
“In other words, ‘don’t sleep with him the second you get the chance’.” I say against her lips.
“Exactly.”
I pull back. “Well, fair enough. How about we save it for later then.”
“On one condition.” She says, grinning.
“What’s that?” I smile, playing along.
“Kiss me once more.” She says, lifting a finger for emphasis.
I chuckle, planting a soft one on her lips. “There. That good?”
“Oh, Grant…you are in so much trouble.” She growls playfully.
I lift a brow. “Evidently, so are you.”
We manage to behave ourselves as we finish preparing for dinner, and then, like clockwork, Ripley and Tyler show up with the food. All is good and well until Rip and Ty head out for a boat ride, and then my phone won’t shut up. I feel awful as I’ll just sit down to talk more with Frankie, enjoying more beer with her, and then the damn phone rings again. It’s all the guys that are supposed to show up tomorrow. They’re all smashed and getting revved up for the rest of the weekend. It isn’t until I sit down and see that Frankie’s pie-eyed that I realize how much time I’ve spent on the phone.
“You’re a popular guy.” Frankie observes.
“Yeah, but it’s an abundance of wiener on the other end of those calls, sweetheart.” I point out. “They’re all the dudes that are showing up tomorrow. They’re tanked.”
“Well, then we’re even. I’m pretty tanked myself.” She admits.
“I should catch up to you.” I say, grabbing another beer, but it’s warm. Shrugging, I down it, and then Frankie gives me some of her wine for good measure. By the time the other two get back, the two of us are pretty sloshed. My arm is around her but otherwise we’re behaving ourselves. We’ll see how long that lasts once the carpets roll up for the night. A look is exchanged between the girls when they return, and before I know it, my potential conquest heads up to bed…with her friend.
“So much for getting any action tonight.” I comment as soon as the patio door closes and the girls disappear behind it. “The girl almost jumped me while you two were at the market, man.”
“T. M. I.” Tyler says, sipping his beer.
“The guys are all going to be very hung over tomorrow by the sounds of it.”
“And are you in competition with them?” Tyler jibes. “Why are you drinking piss warm shit, man? You that desperate?”
I shrug. “Doesn’t matter. Beer is beer.”
“You’re fucking toasted, man. Go to bed.” Tyler says, unimpressed. “I’m heading off, too.”
I wake up with one hell of a hangover. My head is pounding and Tyler takes no mercy on me by banging shit around, scraping stuff over the floor and slamming doors. I’m about to pound him when the girls appear. We have a quick breakfast, and then Ripley and Tyler head out to pick up stuff for the party. “So, you were pretty hung over earlier, huh.” Frankie comments with a smile.
“Yeah. I had a little too much to drink last night.” I grin. “How did you two sleep?”
“Very well. I had a little too much myself. Slept like a baby.”
“I figured you might come down and raid my sleeping bag.” I tease.
“I could say the same thing to you.” She raises a brow.
“Didn’t you sleep with Ripley last night?”
“Yeah, but…she sleeps like a rock.” Frankie waves.
I chuckle. “Fair enough. What do you say we get all this shit piled up in the shed out and get started so the fun can begin when those two return?”
“Sounds good.”
We make quick work of putting up all the games tables and getting the barbecue cleaned and prepped, plus the coolers and everything, and before we know it, the place is filled with people. Frankie is half in the bag, playing the goldfish races with Tyler and Ripley. It’s hilarious. She keeps accidentally drinking the water in the eavestroughs as the fish get coaxed with air blown through the straw, and I have to go over and pound her on the back, because she’s laughing so hard and nearly choking. When she wins another round, her arms go around my neck. We’re nose to nose and I sneak a little kiss in there, which she gainfully appreciates, since she kisses me a little less chastely, but then she backs off when she sees the look she’s getting from Ripley.
Chicks stick together, that I can vouch for. And it isn’t until my buddy Ryan overhears Ripley, drunk, saying to Tyler that she thinks that he’s the cutest gay guy there is, that the shit hits the fan. One thing leads to another, and the next thing we know, the girls are headed upstairs, ready to go home.
“I’ll go up and check it out.” I offer, as Tyler stands at the kitchen counter, wondering what else could go wrong.
I knock at the door and Frankie says to come in. “Hey, are you girls okay?” I ask.
“Yeah.” Frankie rises while Ripley cries, trying in vain to hide her face. She’s drunk and probably feeling more emotional because of the alcohol. Frankie comes to the hallway with me and closes the door. “She’s more embarrassed than anything. I know that Tyler did what he had to do.”
“Yeah. He’s been burned one too many times. He had no idea that this would get so out of hand. He didn’t mean it, I swear. My brother’s a good guy.”
“No, I believe that. I would probably do the same thing in his shoes.” Frankie says evenly.
“Are you girls leaving? Because I can’t let you go after all you drank tonight.”
“Would you mind getting us some coffee?” she winces. “Maybe give us a couple of hours to sober up? I know Ripley wants to go home. It’s stupid, but she feels like she’s ruined everyone’s night.”
“No, I get that.” I agree. “Even though almost nobody noticed. We could all be cool if you guys change your mind. No pressure though.”
“I appreciate that. But Ripley has her mind set.”
“Okay.” I lean in and kiss her lips. “It’s…too bad that we didn’t get to know each other more this weekend.”
“Well, maybe we can another time?” she asks.
“Sure. Yeah. I’ll give you my number and we’ll get together.”
“Okay.”
I lean in and give her a little kiss on the mouth. She smiles. She’s pretty cool. “See ya.” I wink at her and she winks back.
When I go downstairs, all eyes are on me. “So?” Tyler asks.
“Ripley’s crying pretty hard, but she’s more embarrassed than anything.”
“Are they leaving?”
“Yeah. I’m going to bring them some coffee. They’re going to chill for a couple of hours and then split.”
The next day my phone rings as we’re packing up to head home. It’s Frankie. I’m outside and Tyler’s in the house, so I take the call. “Hey there, party pooper.” I tease. “You missed one hell of a to-do here last night. We had table dancers, monkeys dressed as clowns, the works.”
She chuckles. “I’m sorry I missed that.”
“I’m just joking. It was actually pretty mellow. We drank beers and sat around the fire pit. There wasn’t anything crazy going on. Except Todd had too much to drink and he puked by the fire.”
Another chuckle. “Sorry I missed that.” She repeats.
“How’s Ripley?”
“She’s cool, actually.” Frankie says soberly. “She figured she’d have some explaining to do showing up at home in the middle of the night, but the jerkwad was so self-absorbed he didn’t even ask.”
“Yeah, I heard some pretty shitty stuff about her old man.”
“He’s a complete asshole. I can’t stand him. I’ve been trying to convince her to leave him for a while.”
“Yeah. Tyler told me about him. Makes my skin crawl.”
“The fucker’s lucky that she never told her brothers about him smacking her around. I’m sure he likes his teeth, but he could kiss them goodbye if they ever got wind of it.”
“I’d take a few rounds out of him myself, personally.”
“Take a number.” She snuffles. “Anyway, are you busy tomorrow night? I thought we could hang out. Whatever you’re up for I’m in.”
“Sure.” I say. “You want to go out for dinner?”
“Oooo…a dinner guy, are you? I didn’t picture you the hot date type.”
“I’m not, actually. But I’ll make an exception.”
“We could do something more low key if you want. I’m up for anything. Living with my mother is a real bummer and I’ll do anything to get out of the house.”
“How come you’re living with your old lady?”
“Long story. My divorce is taking ions to get settled. It’s almost there though. Couple more months and I’m cut loose.”
“You need somewhere to crash?”
She chuckles. “Thanks, but I don’t want to cramp your style. Besides, you’ve already got Tyler living with you. I’m sure that a shot of estrogen in that mix would not go over well.”
“Fair enough.” I chuckle. “The offer’s there though, should you ever need it.”
“You’re sweet. So, where do you want to go for dinner tomorrow?”
I name a place. Kind of nice. Not too fancy but the kind of place that has cloth napkins on the tables. “Sounds good.”
I have no idea why, but for some reason, as soon as I hang up to her, I’m nervous. Tyler sees the look on my face. “Bad news?”
“No, man. I just made a date with Frankie. My fucking palms are sweating now.”
“Do you like her?”
“Well, yeah. She’s really cool. She’s got that tomboyish thing going for her. She’s not one of them girlie girls, you know? I like that. Plus, she’s just getting through a divorce, so there’s no expectation. Never dated anyone without any expectation.”
“But it’s good, no?”
“Yeah, it’s good.”
But for some reason, I’m thinking, maybe it’s too good…
Chapter 4
Frankie
Not that I don’t love my mother to bits, because I do, but man, she’s a weird one. Thought I’d seen it all after spending two weeks with her in Cabo, but not so much. For one, she cooks incessantly, and I mean incessantly. Baking, cooking, slow cooking, you name it. It’s like she’s expecting an army of people to come over expecting food. She cooks it, and then freezes it in portion sizes, and moves on. She bakes bread from scratch and freezes that, too. I get it that she’s bored and has a hobby, but her freezer is getting full and her solution to that is buying another freezer. Who is going to eat all this stuff, anyway?
Honestly, I like Grant a lot. He’s good-looking, not sappy, not clingy, he knows what he wants and best of all, he’s not looking for anything serious. That’s the recipe for a healthy relationship in my book. After going through this divorce, a relationship with Grant is just what the doctor is ordering for me. A little sex, a little fun, some laughs, that’s all I need, and I get the feeling that that’s what Grant needs, too.
With this attitude in mind, I’m not sweating getting ready for dinner with him. Even though this is my first date since I started dated my ex-husband, I feel like all the pressure is off, and it’s nice. As an HR Manager, my attire for work is rather professional, so I just peel off my suit and jacket and throw on a skirt and casual blouse. Grant is at the door in perfect time. Mom is busy in the kitchen, so I grab the door, and welcome him in.
“Hi, Grant. Come in for a second while I put my shoes on.” I kiss him quickly on the lips.
“Sure.” He waves at my mom from the doorway and she comes forward.
“Hi, Grant. I’m Isabelle. Frankie’s mom.”
He shakes her proffered hand. “Pleased to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you, too.” She smiles. “It’s too bad you two don’t want to stay home for dinner. I’m cooking up a feast in here.”
