Chapter 20
Rainey
"So…shorts can be knitted?"I asked carefully.
Marlo had saved a seat for me right next to her at lunch, either a gesture of goodwill, or a means to keep an eye on me, I wasn't sure. What I did know was that she had a pile of yarn on her lap and two knitting needles while she furiously knotted it all together and ignored her actual lunch. We were at Grass since I'd told the girls I'd never been and they said that was a damn shame. They were right. I would marry this steak salad if I wasn't already married.
"Anything can be knitted, Rainette." Marlo didn't look up, her fingers moving so quickly I couldn't figure out how she was getting all that yarn to patch together. Oh yeah, Marlo also insisted on using my full name, like I was in trouble with the principal or something.
"They had this whole thing. Milly knitted a hideous green sweater for Vander as a show of her love for her grandson, so when Marlo fucked things up with Vander, she knitted him apology pants," Paisley told me around a mouthful of mashed potatoes.
Marlo shot Paisley a nasty look, but didn't dispute the facts. Audrey started giggling, placing her iced tea glass down before she choked on the liquid. "Oh my God, the princess dress!"
All the girls cracked up, even Marlo, who also let out a full-body shiver.
"Wait, that was the night you showed up in town, Rainey," Keva said, leaning over the table. "Marlo had just made up with Vander and then you showed up and Zeke was upset and then the boys all got him drunk."
I winced, remembering how Zeke had smelled like the bottom of a beer keg the next morning when we ran into each other. "Why'd they get him drunk?"
Paisley sucked air in between her teeth. "Well, Rainey girl, it's no secret you did a number on Zeke when you left. The boys, in the spirit of bromance, all got drunk with him so he could deal with the shock of seeing you again. Back in town with another man, no less."
All eyes were on me. I could feel their judgement crawling along my skin. And I deserved it. "The boys are good friends?"
All the heads nodded and that made me feel slightly better. Zeke deserved good friends. Better friends than I'd ever been to him. What had I ever done to deserve his level of friendship? In high school I'd been a whirling dervish of energy, flitting from this exciting thing to the next. I hadn't given him more than my free time when it was convenient for me. Since I'd been back, it had been largely the same. Zeke bent over backwards for me and I…well, what did I do for him?
I looked over at Marlo. "So…apology pants. That tactic worked, eh?"
Marlo pointed a knitting needle at me. "Yes. Vander and I do cute things like that for each other, and if you make fun of me, I'll jab this knitting needle in your eye."
Perhaps I should have been offended by the threat, or at least put off by the harsh tone of it, but I was starting to get the feeling that Marlo was just being Marlo. Under that prickly exterior was a warm beating heart. Deep, deep inside. Maybe.
However, an idea had formed and I was humbled enough to ask for what I needed. "I was actually hoping you could teach me to knit."
Marlo dropped her hand and stared at me, her gaze dancing around my face before she smiled. I blinked. I had never seen her smile before. And she was stunningly beautiful.
"No. Absolutely not."
I opened my mouth to beg, but she cut me off.
"You have to find your own way to apologize. Something that means something to Zeke."
"She's right," Keva piped up. "If you're looking to apologize or just do something nice, you have to find what makes Zeke tick. We all know what our men need."
Audrey nodded enthusiastically. "Boston acts all tough, but when I pull out my harmonica, he's on me instantly." She fanned her face and the girls chuckled.
"I start a fight." Paisley got a look on her face that was pure evil. "My cowboy loves nothing more than my smart mouth. The makeup sex is in-fucking-credible."
The girls kept talking but I tuned them out as my brain spun. I wanted to do something for Zeke, but had no idea what. And what did that say about me? I had no freaking clue what my best friend-slash-husband liked? I was a pitiful human being who had no right to be showered with his kindness on a daily basis.
My chair scraped back as I stood suddenly and all heads swiveled in my direction. "Gotta go."
I ran to the door, ignoring Audrey calling out that she'd driven me here. I had my man to get to. I had amends to make. Things to learn about Zeke Burns. Riding high on this newfound friendship with a gang of weird but sweet girls was feeding my brain all kinds of creative ideas. Dreams for the future were manifesting when all I'd seen before was a giant question mark stretching out for years to come. Why not stay in Blueball? Why not see what future Zeke and I could have? I wasn't sure what love was, but I felt safe around him. I looked forward to talking to him. I wanted to do nice things for him. I wanted to make future plans with him. Was that love?
I felt called to find out.
His house was only a mile and a half outside of town, but my legs and lungs were burning when I finally made it. He wasn't inside and neither was Daisy, but his truck was parked outside. I opened the back glass slider and nearly stumbled to a stop. Found him.
He was currently hanging from a tree, sweat dripping down from his tanned shoulders to his spine, sliding into the band of his shorts slung low on his hips. His muscles rippled and flexed as he brought his head above the tree branch and then lowered again. Pullups. He was doing pullups. I had to wipe my chin, pretty sure I was drooling. The man was gorgeous, all lean brawn packaged in tan smooth skin.
He dropped to the ground and picked up a tennis ball, making Daisy turn in a frenzied circle, barking her head off. He cocked it back and threw it, the dog tearing off in a mass of fur. He shouted for her and she caught it in midair before landing and racing back to him. He fell to his knees and Daisy barreled right into him, knocking him over in a tussle with Zeke's uninhibited laughter ringing out. He held her snout off of him with a single hand, but that didn't stop Daisy's tongue from venturing out and swiping him across the face to more laughter. I focused on the hand holding the dog. The one with the gold band shining in the afternoon sun.
Zeke Burns was my husband. The ring said he was mine.
And if that lurch in my chest was anything to go by, I liked my husband.
Very much.
I put two fingers to my mouth and whistled. Both dog and man froze, then rolled to standing. They had weeds and leaf debris clinging to them, and oddly enough, they were smiling like twins. Daisy's smile used more tongue, but honest to God, they looked identical.
"You're home," Zeke said, breaking from the staredown first and walking over. Daisy followed, her tail swishing wildly. I reached down to pet her head, but I kept my gaze on Zeke.
He was even hotter from the front. Why did those lines of muscle over a man's hip turn a woman to absolute mush? I wanted to trace them with my tongue while my fingers found every rivulet of sweat sliding between his bulging muscles.
"I'm home," I agreed, the words taking on a meaning much deeper than the simple way I said them. I was starting to think maybe I was home. Blueball. This house. Zeke.
Zeke tilted his head, putting his hands on my hips but keeping distance between us. "Everything go okay at lunch?"
I nodded, but plowed ahead with what I'd been thinking about. Not his muscles. I'd show him how I felt about those later. For now, I wanted to rectify my horrible behavior. I wanted to know what made my husband tick.
"Could this work for real?"
Daisy put her paw on Zeke's leg. He snapped his fingers and she let out a whine before turning and sitting on the top step of the deck.
"We wouldn't still be here if this couldn't work," he answered simply. Again, taking the fall and using the word we when what we both know he meant was you. I wouldn't still be here. Let's face it, I was the only one who'd be running away. Zeke was as solid as the roots of that huge oak tree.
"I'd like to try dating you." There. I said it.
Zeke's mouth tipped up on one side. "You want to date me, wife? Isn't that a little backward?"
He was teasing me, and normally I'd live for that level of teasing, but not today. Today I was serious. Today I came to the conclusion I needed to get my life together and not in the way I first thought when I came to Blueball. My life wasn't made by the zeroes of my bank account and the supposed freedom I thought that would give me. It was made by the people I'd connected with recently. I'd come home for all the wrong reasons, but I could stay for the right ones.
"We got it all jumbled. Best friends to strangers to married. We skipped an important step. So yeah, I'd like to officially date you, Zeke."
The man barely waited for me to get his name out before he barreled into me, tossing me up in the air and against his chest. My arms and legs naturally wrapped around him as he ran into the house, forgetting to close the slider. I pointed to the door, about to say something about mosquitoes getting in, but Zeke leveled a heated glare at me, still rushing through the house.
"I have waited sixteen years to hear you say those words, so pardon me if I'm not going to pause another second and close the fuckin' door."
The smile took over my face in equal portion to the joy spreading through my chest. "Where are you taking me?"
It was obvious, but now that I'd said what I needed to say, the teasing was back.
"Where I should have kept you all day today instead of letting you see your friends," he growled, kicking his bedroom door shut with his foot.
My insides clenched in anticipation. I liked this growly side of Zeke. I also liked his laughter. And the way he could make love to me so slow I thought I was going to die from feeling so much all at once.
"But you're all sweaty!"
Zeke pivoted by the edge of the bed, heading instead for the bathroom where he stepped into the large gray-tiled shower and flipped the water valve. He pushed me down his hips and I quit koala-ing him. I barely got my toes on the floor and he was pulling my tank top over my head and tossing the offending material to the side. My shorts and panties were next, shoved down to my feet and removed with my sandals. When he stood back up, his shorts were also missing. It was the fastest I'd ever been undressed.
Zeke held my gaze, stepping into the stream of water and letting it cascade over his head and down his body. My eyes followed the water until it got to his erection. The one already full and straining and bobbing against his lower belly. He gripped himself and growled at me again.
"Get your ass in here, baby girl."
I looked up, pulling on any acting skills I might have buried deep to look offended. "Sex on the first date?"
His grin was positively untamed. "Be a dirty girl and come on my dick."
He didn't have to demand it twice. I was done teasing, done denying the chemistry we had together. I jumped and Zeke caught me, spinning me around until my back hit cold tile. His mouth was on mine in an instant, stealing every cry and moan as he rubbed his dick against my slick folds but didn't enter me. I could come just from his throaty growls vibrating against my chest. God, I was so close.
"Beg for it," Zeke murmured against my skin, his mouth trailing down my neck and dipping further to flick my nipple with his tongue. Where had this assertive, demanding side of my best friend been all this time? My quick inhale made me realize I freaking loved it.
"Please, Zeke, please." I would beg every day and night if he wanted. I had no room for pride when I'd ripped it all to shreds by leaving this man in the first place.
"Please, what?" he said, grinning as he lifted his head.
That smile. It was everything.
"Please give me that dick and make me come," I said slowly, staring deep into his eyes, hoping he could see how much I trusted him. "I want to be your dirty girl."
With another growl, he entered me, all bazillion inches of him pulsing inside my flesh while I thrashed against the wall. His hips pistoned in and out, no finesse, no holding back. Just me and him and the need to be one, even if just for stolen minutes in the shower.
And when I came, it was definitely on his dick and I didn't feel like a dirty girl at all.
I felt like his.