Page 28 of Without You

Brody

“I’m already predictable, huh?” Katie asks as she takes a seat across from me, wrapping her hands around the cup of coffee I have waiting for her.

“Already?” I counter.

“I had hoped to keep the mystery alive for a little bit longer anyway,” she explains with a little laugh.

I smile back and look into her gorgeous bright blue eyes. She holds my stare even as I feel my eyes drop to her deep red lips. Those lips will invade my dreams tonight. I already know it. Plump and the color of rubies, so inviting I want to reach over and rub my thumb over her lower lip and pray to God that she bites the pad. I can picture it all going down so perfectly, my heart begins to beat a little faster. My pulse is racing and the crotch of my jeans grows a little tighter.

I’ve known Katie since we were sixteen and just as many years later, I’m discovering exactly how enticing and beautiful this woman is. Part of me is annoyed that I missed out but the bigger part of me is simply grateful that I finally opened my eyes.

Sure, one could argue that we didn’t live in the same town or have much contact with each other for the past fourteen years, but that’s not a great excuse.

Now I can’t stop thinking about her and wondering what it would be like to kiss those lips and hold her hand. To take her in my arms and pull her in close, letting my body speak for me to show her how badly I want her. But it’s more than just the physical sight of her that does me in. She’s so damn sweet and funny, cute and gives great banter.

I want to spend time with her and do ordinary things, along with some not so ordinary things. I wonder what she likes to watch, or if she even likes television at all. I’d love to sit around and do nothing but lounge on the couch and binge watch a show for hours as we eat pizza and any other junk food we can get our hands on.

Selfishly, I want her to sit in the shop with me while I work on cars, just so I have the presence of her company and can talk to her and listen to her voice. I want to lift up the console in my pickup so she can slide in right next to me on the bench seat as we go on long drives getting lost on dusty country roads. I can stretch my arm across the back of the front seat and she can rest her hand on my leg and her head on my shoulder. Cuddle together around a bonfire and go fishing.

All the ways I want to spend time with her makes me want to find out what she likes and wants to do. What does Katie enjoy doing to fill her time? Does she read or do yoga? Ride a bike or go hiking? Maybe she’s like me and loves to do a whole lot of nothing but be a bum in my spare time. I have no idea but I want to find out.

Everything.

I want to find out everything about her.

Not just what she likes but also what she doesn’t like. What makes her tick…

Unfortunately, thinking of how Katie likes to fill her time and makes her tick also makes me think of what she likes to do in the bedroom. I have to shift in my seat to stop from embarrassing myself. Clearly, I’m having a hard time not letting my mind go there with my thoughts of Katie. Not surprising, though.

“What?” I both watch and hear her lips say, making me realize I’ve been staring at her for several minutes without saying anything. She probably thinks I’m a freak. Or obsessed with her mouth. Maybe I am.

I lift my eyes to hers and take in the blush on her cheeks. “You probably don’t want to know.”

She raises a single eyebrow. “Well, now I definitely want to know.” When she finishes talking, she pops a piece of scone in her mouth and starts chewing.

“It’s probably best if I don’t freak you out.” I pause then add ruefully, “Yet, anyway.”

She studies me while taking a drink of her coffee and setting it back down on the table between us.

“So this is what being mysterious is supposed to look like.”

“Stick with me and I’ll teach you a thing or two,” I say.

Her bright blues widen and she takes in a sharp inhalation of breath. By her reaction, I think her mind might be in the gutter as well.

However, my earlier thoughts make me wonder something I probably should have asked in the beginning.

“Are you seeing anyone?” I ask her out of the blue and her jaw drops.

“Are you being serious right now?”

“Um, yes?”

“Would I be here right now if I was seeing someone? What would that say about me as a person? Is that what you think of me?”

“Whoa. Slow down, Katie. That’s not what I think of you at all. But, here’s the deal, I want to get to know you and realized that I’ve been thinking a certain way that wouldn’t be appropriate if you were seeing someone. I won’t be that guy.”

“You want to get to know me?” she asks quietly.

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