Page 97 of Seven Year Itch
Somehow, I’ve morphed from this sex-adventurous, mountain man playboy to a guy looking for a smile from his girl. It’s crazy how having someone you want to impress in the crowd can motivate the fuck out of you. I never played hockey that good even in high school.
And the kiss I laid on her in the parking lot after we were done?
Fucking fireworks.
And it was just a kiss.
I have to get my head on straight. This is a limited-time only arrangement. I can’t keep thinking this is more than what it is: phenomenal fucking with a sexy-ass woman who will have no problems finding her dream man after we’re done.
“Maybe you should see if she wants to be more than just friends?”
“I’m not going to do that, Mom,” I answer firmly, because if I don’t make this clear she will get her hopes up.
If it was up to my mother, all her boys would be married with multiple children each by now and she’d have a swarm of grandkids at her house every weekend. I could see how much baby Stevie has helped with her grief the past few months. She still tears up when she talks about Dad, but there’s new purpose to her life. And her close relationship with Trista has been good for her too. Of course, we all still miss him, but the new additions to the family are things we know he’d be proud of, so that helps with some of the sadness. And since I have no intentions of giving her any grandkids, the one thing I can do is honor my dad’s legacy for her by continuing the family business. So why am I being such a little bitch?
“You know what your father would say?” she says, pulling me from my thoughts as she hits me with a teasing smile. “He’d say ‘Shit or get off the pot.’”
I laugh at those crass words coming from my sweet mother’s mouth. It’s unexpected, but she’s so right. I can literally hear his voice in my head.
He never liked how casual me, Wyatt, and Luke were with women, but he always said that as long as we were clear and not stringing someone along, then he didn’t care what we got up to.
In my heart of hearts, I don’t feel like I’m stringing Dakota along. We both know what we signed up for, and it’s way too early to cut and run. I have to see this through with her, if not for myself, then for her.
She needs this.
And I need her to be good when we end this, or the guilt will haunt me just like it already has for the past seven years.
I’m not going to fall for her. I’m just enjoying myself a bit. And with the bullshit I have going on at work with my brothers, I deserve this.
“Thanks for the talk, Mom, but I have to get going.” I lean in and brush a kiss to her cheek, ignoring the way her pensive eyes follow me as I hop in the truck and get my ass back to work. That’s clearly all I’m good for these days.
Chapter 31
Hot Tub Time Machine
Dakota
“Oh my God, it’s freezing out here!” I shriek as I grip Calder’s black-and-white checkered flannel around my body and dash across the worn path behind his cabin.
“Stop bitching and hurry up!” he snipes, reaching back to grab my hand and hurry me along.
We make our way through the woods to the metal capsule-shaped hot tub emitting steam into the cold night air. It’s dreamlike as large wet snowflakes drop over us. That’s the mountains in early spring for you. It’s probably not even snowing back in Boulder.
Calder releases my hand as he steps behind a woodpile and fiddles with something while I kick off my boots and hang his shirt on a nearby branch. I adjust the black bikini I resurrected from our Mexico trip, and my lips part when string lights turn on overhead, casting the space in a warm glow.
“Holy shit, this is romantic!” I tease, making my way over to the tub. Are you sure you’ve never brought a girl out here?”
“Shut up,” Calder grumbles, and when he looks up from what he’s doing, his eyes snag on my body.
My chilled limbs suddenly flush with heat as his eyes score over every square inch of me, causing a bolt of desire to rush through me and settle squarely between my legs.
“Nice suit, Ace.” His voice is guttural, and the irritable mood he had when I first arrived on the peak tonight seems to have vanished. “Been in my fantasies a lot lately.”
Power to the bikini, baby.
If anything is going to help build up my confidence throughout all of this, it’s Calder Fletcher adjusting himself inside his swim trunks. Because of me.
But as I stand before him, enjoying how beautiful he makes me feel, I realize that I feel beautiful without his eyes as well. I have felt more comfortable in my skin the past week than I have in years. Maybe this enemies-with-benefits challenge is actually working.
