23. Noisy Creature

23

NOISY CREATURE

“ W hat do you normally do for the holidays?” Laurel asked him as they drove to her father’s on Sunday.

“Not much,” he said.

“You spent them alone?” she asked. “That’s sad. I know your aunt is in Florida now and has been for a few years. Was Abe alone too?”

“If we could, we’d fly there to be with her, but it doesn’t always work out. Sometimes Abe goes alone, but he’s slower in the winter months and can. I spent holidays with Liam and Nicole if they were around when I was alone. Before that, it was with Rachelle and her family.”

Liam had asked him to come this weekend and he’d said no. That he had too much going on and would be home next weekend anyway.

Time was flying by faster than he thought it was going to.

“Do your friends know about me?” she asked.

He turned his head to look at her. “No,” he said. “I’ll tell them when I go home next weekend.”

Which was only a half-truth because he did tell Liam about the date in the beginning, but nothing more. It hadn’t come up and he wasn’t sure why that was. Liam normally was like a woman wanting gossip first thing on a Monday morning after a long holiday weekend, but he never asked and Easton wasn’t one for chatting much and kept things to texts.

Laurel knew he was leaving next Sunday. He’d planned on going on Saturday, knowing that Abe would be home that day, but decided to stay so that he could introduce Abe and Laurel to each other. He’d pack his car up and then stay that night with Laurel before he left.

“How do you think they will react?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” he said. “They don’t care about anything other than if I’m happy. They’d like you.”

She smiled. “Do I get to meet them sometime? And if I’m coming off as clingy, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be.”

“You’re not,” he said. “I know we haven’t talked much about what is going to happen next weekend.”

“You’re going home on Sunday,” she said. “I’m going to meet Abe on Saturday and then he’s going to be my neighbor.”

She laughed when she said it and he had to fight hard to keep the frown from his face. “I plan on us seeing each other on the weekends. We can take turns visiting. I don’t expect you to come to me and I know sometimes you’ve got to work on the weekend too.”

“It’s only about ninety minutes,” she said. “Right?”

“Pretty much,” he said. “Depending on traffic. Not the end of the world.”

“Nope,” she said. “It will be fine.”

“I think so,” he said.

If she was going to have an issue with it, there wasn’t a lot he could do right now. She worked in Mystic and he had a place ninety minutes away.

He could work anywhere, but he wasn’t going to pick up his life for someone he’d only been dating a few weeks.

She would never quit a job she loved and just started.

“My father is most likely going to ask those things,” she said. “I told him to lay off it.”

“He can be the way he wants,” he said. “It doesn’t mean I’ve got to answer anything, but I won’t be disrespectful if that is your worry.”

“It’s not a worry,” she said. “Not at all.”

“Good,” he said. He reached for her hand. He wasn’t one who showed affection often. Not unless they were having sex. “You’re not worried about us being apart, are you?”

“No,” she said. “We don’t see each other every day and I never expected that. If I need a cup of sugar to borrow, I’ll get it from Abe.”

“Not funny,” he said. He was smiling when he said it though. “And he’s not liable to have any sugar in the house either. He’s not much of a baker anymore than me.”

“Good point,” she said. “I’m not either.”

“But you’ve got that pie you made,” he said. “And it smells good.”

“I do like apple pie. My father likes it too. That is about one of the few things I make.”

“You seem nervous,” he said. “Why is that?”

She shrugged. “I’m not sure. My aunt, she is a little out there.”

“Out there how?”

“In looks.”

“Does she live under a bridge? Have green skin and five eyes? I’m not sure what you mean by that statement.”

Laurel burst out laughing. “You’re pretty funny.”

“I wasn’t trying to be,” he said.

“She’s from Texas. I told you that. The bigger the better. She probably uses a can of aqua net a week on her hair.”

“Not really conscious of the environment then,” he said.

She giggled. “Not when it comes to her hair. I’ve worried in the past if she got too close to the stove she might go up in flames.”

“That could be a worry,” he said.

“She’s funny though. She’d get looks when I was a kid and she came to the events or went on field trips with me.”

“How she chooses to do her hair isn’t your problem or a reflection on you.”

“No,” she said. “It’s not. But she is very ladylike even though she’s bold with it. Her attire and her words if she wants to be.”

“She taught you to be a lady,” he said. “You told me that.”

“She did. I’ll always be thankful for that.”

“I think you would have turned out just fine if only your father raised you, Laurel. Don’t ever think otherwise.”

“I don’t,” she said, squeezing his fingers. “And I should remember that too.”

“Never feel as if you have to justify those close to you in your life. My parents are bums and they always will be. It has nothing to do with me and never did other than I had an unstable life for years with them.”

“But you were made fun of because of that, weren’t you? That you lived with your aunt and uncle?”

“There are always going to be people who have to knock others down to make themselves feel better.”

A lesson his Uncle Kurt instilled in him when he was trying to understand why his parents didn’t care about him.

Did it go back to why Rachelle left him?

Was he never going to be enough for someone to stay with?

Or was he overthinking things that had no business being in his brain?

Many women in his life had told him he was a great catch, but he wasn’t so sure he believed it.

Just because he looked good and had a great job didn’t mean that was all there was to him.

“You’re right,” she said. “I want to say it’s harder for girls, but I don’t think so.”

“It’s hard on anyone,” he said. “I left the area because I got sick of people saying I wasn’t going to make much of myself or I’d end up working for my uncle.”

“Sounds like your uncle has a great thriving business,” she said. “Nothing wrong with that.”

“There isn’t,” he said. “It’s just not what I wanted to do.”

“When did you know you wanted to be a lawyer?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I just knew I wanted something better for myself and more than what people thought I could be.”

He hated to think he went to be a lawyer to thumb his nose up at others.

Maybe it started that way, but it wasn’t the full reason.

“You got it,” she said.

“I did,” he said, rubbing her fingers one more time and then putting his hand on the steering wheel.

He offered to drive since his Audi had been sitting in the garage for weeks. He’d taken it out a few times to run errands, but Laurel’s face when she saw it today said it all. He’d been using Abe’s truck because he didn’t want to keep moving vehicles around in the narrow driveway. He’d done that enough when he was a kid.

They arrived at Laurel’s father’s house shortly after, the drive with just the two of them talking back and forth about their jobs. She’d said Poppy had her baby on Monday. He hadn’t known nor asked. He wasn’t into those things that much.

“Laurel,” her aunt said, coming to the door. “It’s so good to see you again. And look at you. You’ve got to be Easton.”

Laurel had described her aunt’s appearance well, but he found it comforting almost. Her eyes looking him up and down were filled with humor more than anything else.

He wasn’t sure anyone he’d dated had a parent do that and he felt his face blush, but also knew these were his kind of people. Helen reminded him right away of his Aunt Carrie. Not in looks, but in the no-bullshit kind of personality that he grew up with.

“That’s me,” he said, putting his hand out.

“Aunt Helen, this is Easton Cooke. Easton, my aunt. Let us in, Aunt Helen. I know Dad wants to meet him.”

Laurel made a funny production about elbowing her way past her aunt after she set the pie in the woman’s hands, then walked to her father for a hug.

John Glasgow was a big man and reminded Easton of his Uncle Kurt.

The two men looked each other over and held their stare. He wasn’t backing down.

“It’s nice to meet you,” he said, putting his hand out.

“Dad, be nice,” Laurel said. “Easton, my father, John. Dad, this is Easton.”

“He doesn’t look like a fancy lawyer in his clothing,” her father said. “Big guy but soft hands. What could you have been thinking to not catch that?”

“Soft hands?” he asked. Maybe he did get a few blisters after the day he replaced the pavers and that slowed him down from doing any more after.

“Dad,” she said. “That’s horrible. I’m sure there is a callus or two there from typing.”

He held his hands up. “My thumbs from hitting the space bar more than anything else.”

John and Helen laughed. “He’s got a good attitude,” John said. “You’ll do.”

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” she asked hours later when they got back to her place.

“No,” he said. “Though it was touch and go with the soft hands comment.”

“I like your soft hands,” she said, picking one up and kissing his thumb. “And the callous is right here. It feels great when you rub it on my most sensitive spots.”

His hand slid into her jeans and cupped her heat. “This sensitive spot?”

“That would be the one,” she said. “Are you going to do it now?”

“I am,” he said, parting her lips and sliding his thumb up and down.

She spread her legs a little wider for him, but he needed to get her undressed.

“We should take this somewhere else,” she said as they were in the living room.

She pulled his hand out of her pants, picked his thumb up, and put it in her mouth to suck. He was pretty sure his dick had never been harder after that move.

“Nowhere else to take this,” he said. He undid her jeans and pushed them off fast while she kicked them out of the way.

His jeans were opened and lowered over his hips enough with his underwear to free himself. He had a condom in his wallet, pulled it out, covered himself, and then backed her against the wall.

He was going to pick her up and fuck her that way, but she turned and wiggled her hips at him while she put her hands on the arm of the chair close by.

This was even better in his mind. He came up behind her. Her legs were wide enough for him, and he found her wet heat, then guided himself in.

She let out a moan. She was a noisy creature when it came to sex. He loved it.

His hands went to her hips and held on as he started to thrust his hips forward and back.

“Touch yourself,” he said. “Make sure you get there because I can’t stay like this forever.”

And he knew damn well she’d want a second round if she didn’t make it in time.

It hadn’t been a problem once, but tonight could be a first and he didn’t want that.

Her hand moved from the chair to between her legs. She was touching all over, her nails coming down and grazing his shaft a few times. He was positive it wasn’t on purpose, but it was enough to send him into overdrive.

There was sweat dribbling down his back and he might be holding his breath.

He felt her start to squeeze him tight, pulsing around him, her moans getting louder and he knew she was coming.

It was the sign for him to let go and he did in one more thrust, held her still and just emptied his tank.

His legs were locked in place while he stood there because he wasn’t so sure they might not start shaking.

When she started to laugh, he stepped back. “What’s so funny?”

“I was going to tell you to remember this when you move back home, but then just started to laugh, because I think it’s me that is going to have a hard time forgetting every time I walk by the chair.”

“Trust me,” he said. “I won’t forget a thing.”