Page 16 of Four Letter Feelings

“You’ll have to work for it,” she practically purred in his ear, and the desire to bend her over their table and have his way with her where she stood, was overwhelming.

“I’m not afraid of getting my hands dirty.”

“Good,” she said simply, running her fingers down the side of his face and along his shoulder. “Because, if you truly do want to penetrate my… very, very Jeremy-Lewis-proof force field, I won’t make it easy for you.”

He pulled his head back to look into her eyes but was distracted at her licking her lips like he was a piece of meat.

Well, I definitely wanna penetrate something alright. Christ. This woman is trouble.

“Have a good day, Mr. Lewis.” She nipped at his earlobe with her teeth, causing a feral noise to rumble somewhere deep within his chest before she turned on her heel and left him standing there, watching as she sashayed out of the diner. He attempted to subtly rearrange the bulge in his jeans, but it was pointless. Instead, he sat uncomfortably, knowing that his aching, blue balls would need tending to as soon as he got a moment alone. He rubbed his hands over his face and through his hair before blowing out a long and slow breath and shifting his weight in another attempt to get comfy. When he lifted his gaze, he saw that AJ was watching him, expectantly.

“What?”

“Dude. Don’t what me. You practically fornicated on my goddamn pancakes, man. What the fuck?”

“She… I, Jesus.” He shook his head and tried again. “That woman is trouble,” he managed.

“No shit, Sherlock. There’s history there, obviously. When she first came over, I thought she was going to incinerate you with that death glare of hers. I figured you’d broken her heart at some point or something. It was… intense.” He chuckled and shook his head. “Shit, man, I thought you were gonna just erupt into hot wild monkey sex right there on the table.”

“Do you mean hot monkey sex that’s also wild? Or is it the monkeys that are wild?” Jeremy asked, grinning.

“Nuh uh. No grammar police deflection. Dude. Spill.”

“Fuck.” He rolled his neck and breathed deeply, recalling her scent of vanilla beans and clementines.

“That woman does… things to me, man.”

“I see this. Mr. Suave is all bent outta shape. I don’t claim to know you very well at all yet, Jer, but you definitely have a reputation that precedes you. This blethering idiot in front of me doesn’t at all match up with that reputation. Is it at all possible that you have four letter feelings for that woman, Jeremy Lewis?”

“What? No! Of course not! I barely know her!”

Jeremy pondered the question further as he stared out the window of the diner. The notion of being in love with a woman he barely knew was laughable, but there was no denying the effect she had on him. Thinking back over the short time they’d known each other during high school, Jeremy recalled a similar reaction then, too, but he had never known how to articulate it as a teenager. In fact, he still didn’t know how to articulate it other than to say she affected him like no other.

“How do you know her?” AJ was clearly trying to pull conversation from Jeremy.

“I played hockey in her hometown in Iowa. I roomed with her then boyfriend, Jeff and his family.”

Aaand I had an instant head-over-skates crush on her.

“Did you date her?”

No, but I wanted to.

Jeremy scowled. “Nah, man. Bros before… eh, y’know.”

It was pretty damn tempting to try and steal her from him, but I managed to not be an asshole.

“Beautiful women with more sass than you know what to do with?”

“Yeah, that. She and Jeff were volatile, they weren’t well suited but they insisted on trying. She deserved better and I always kinda hoped she’d see what a douche he was and move on.”

To me... I lived in hope she’d realize I was crazy about her. Always have been. But she never did.

Regret pinched in his heart as he recalled the memories from that time. He’d always considered telling her how he felt, but he and Jeff were friends and he didn’t want to break the Bro Code. When they finally broke up, Chelsea wanted nothing to do with Jeremy. He’d assumed she didn’t want any reminders of Jeff or how much of a douchebag he’d been to her.

“When she did move on, she wanted nothing to do with me. I didn’t really understand why until about four minutes ago. I guess I broke Suzie-someone’s heart and that put her off me or something. I mean, she’s clearly heard about how fucking fantastic I am in bed, but seems she’s not down for a romp in the sheets and booty calls.”

“Imagine that, Jer,” AJ drawled, sardonically.

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