Chapter 3

I'd stood on this porch countless times over the past few years. Grayson and I were constantly going back and forth to each other's houses, borrowing tools or just having a beer and chatting about the long week at work.

But tonight, I was downright awkward. I felt shifty, nervous, and out of place.

I finally let out the breath I'd been holding when the door opened and I saw Layna on the other side. She wore an oversized sweatshirt and faded jeans, and her feet were bare, showing off painted toenails. Somehow, she made casual look sexy.

"I brought this," I said.

I thrust out an uncorked bottle of wine my ex-girlfriend had left in my cabin two years ago. She'd also left a toothbrush, a tube of chapstick, lip balm, and a pair of shorts. I mailed all the other stuff to her after she dumped me, but I'd kept the bottle of wine as payback for all the fancy dinners she'd insisted on while we were dating.

"Nice." She took the bottle. "Come on in. I saw some wineglasses above the fridge. I wouldn't think Grayson would be the type to have those."

"Maybe they're Piper's," I said.

"Piper doesn't drink wine."

"Oh, that's right. You're good friends with her."

I had to pretend I didn't know everything about her, including that she'd graduated from high school in Columbia, South Carolina, before relocating to North Carolina for college. I'd gathered most of that information from her own social media posts, but she'd likely see my cyberstalking as creepy behavior.

I stepped awkwardly into the cabin. I should feel at home here. Normally, I would, but the dynamic of this whole place was different with this beautiful woman here.

"Yes, Tinley, Piper, and I lived in the same dorm freshman year. We all became good friends. We moved into apartments next to each other, and that's where we still live. Well, my roommate and I still live there. Looks like Piper and Tinley relocated."

"Yep," I said.

I stepped farther into the room. There was a table over to the left with two plates, folded napkins, forks, and knives. We were eating pizza, from what I remembered. Did she use silverware with pizza?

"I could use your help," she said.

She'd entered the kitchen and was staring down at something. As I drew closer, I saw the pizza was on the counter in front of her.

"I have a bunch of toppings," she said. "I figured we could each top our own half, but you might eat more than half."

She was right about that. I could demolish an extra-large pizza by myself. This one would only qualify as large.

"I'm flexible on toppings," I said. "Lots of meat and some onions. That's how I like it."

Her eyes were on me, making it tough to focus on the conversation. She smelled nice too. Fresh, like a mountain morning.

"How about this?" Layna reached for the bowl of pepperoni and handed it to me. Then, she grabbed a bowl of what looked like sausage—or maybe it was ground beef? "We can do it together."

Without waiting for me, she got to work, scattering meat over the cheese. I grabbed a clump of pepperoni and started spreading it.

"So you're house sitting?" I asked as we worked.

She nodded. "While they're on their honeymoon. Mostly, I needed to get away. I've been looking for a job for so long, I'm just... worn out."

"What kind of job?" I asked.

"Human resources." She sighed. "I have a degree but no experience. It's hard to get experience when nobody will hire you until you have it."

I nodded. "Sounds unfair."

It was getting tougher to focus on the conversation. She was close. So close it was doing things to me.

She let out another sigh. "Yeah. It's rough out there. Tinley joined her sister here, and Piper wants to run a bakery. We were all going to get an apartment in Raleigh once we found jobs, but now it's just me and my roommate."

"You could always move here."

She paused her movements and looked up at me then. I couldn't read her expression. All I knew was she was within kissing distance, and I felt this undeniable draw to her.

As we locked in a stare, her gaze lowered to my mouth. Did that mean she was thinking about kissing me too? Was I reading too much into it?

And then, almost as quickly as we'd made the connection, she broke it, shifting her gaze to the countertop in front of her. She moved to stand in front of the little bowls of toppings. I saw fresh mushrooms, chopped onions, green peppers, and some olives.

"This is where we can customize our sides," she said. "I was going to skip the onions, but if you're going to have some…"

My eyebrows shot up. She was checking to see if I planned to eat onions before she did? Unless I was imagining things, it seemed like she wanted to keep her breath fresh just in case I had plans to kiss her. But if we both ate onions, we wouldn't detect it on the other person's breath as easily.

"Load me up," I said. "But no olives."

Layna smiled. "Yeah, I'm not a fan of those either. I saw some in Grayson's pantry and pulled them out just in case."

She brought the bowls over and we worked together, my left arm brushing hers several times. She was shorter than me and even though she had ample curves, my size dwarfed hers. I couldn't help but wonder if she liked big, strong men. I sure hoped she did.

Our hands accidentally touched not once, not twice, but three times. Then a fourth. Each time, my body reacted and I had to fight the urge to stop everything and pull her into my arms, kissing her like I'd never kissed anyone before.

It wasn't just about satisfying my own carnal needs. I wanted to put a smile on her face and bring sighs and moans from that gorgeous body of hers. I wanted to make her come over and over again until she was too tired to do anything but drift off to sleep in my arms. Then we'd wake up in the morning and do it all over again.

"How long does it say to cook it?"

Her question snapped me out of a very vivid fantasy of her riding me, those beautiful tits bouncing up and down. I turned and saw her staring at me as she stood in front of Grayson's oven.

Oh, right. She needed to know how long to cook the pizza. I grabbed the box, which was on the other side of all the toppings, and turned it this way and that to find the directions.

"Twenty-two to twenty-five minutes," I read.

Layna turned her back to me again, and I took the opportunity to stare at her. She was bent over, her sweatshirt riding up and showing off that beautiful round ass. I'd gotten a glimpse of it from afar as she exited the bathroom a couple of nights ago.

Without warning, she straightened and turned to face me. When she tilted her head slightly, I could only assume she saw something in my expression that gave away my thoughts. Then her expression changed too. The heat there mirrored exactly what was going on in my mind.

She wanted me.

That hit me, but I wasn't sure what to do about it. Should I make a move? Was it too soon?

"It looks like we have about a half hour to kill," she said. "Can you think of anything we can do?"

Her gaze lowered to my chest and kept going. It was a suggestive scan, and the heat in her eyes went straight to my groin. I was already fighting a raging erection, hoping my jeans and untucked button-down shirt hid it.

"I can think of a few things," I said.

She took one slow step toward me, then another. My heart rate picked up. This was straight out of my fantasies. Was it real or just a dream?

"Name one," she said.

That sounded like a dare. I was not a guy to turn down a dare.

"Why don't I show you?" I asked.

I crossed the rest of the distance between us. She made it clear she wanted this too, rising on tiptoe and putting her hands at the back of my neck. Our mouths came together in a passionate, frenzied kiss. All the pent-up lust of the past few days spilled out as my hands went to her waist.

Bed. I had to get her to a bed. I knew where Grayson's bedroom was, but it felt wrong to do this there. I shoved those thoughts aside and focused on what was happening right here, right now.

Suddenly, she broke the kiss and stepped back, tugging at the hem of her T-shirt. It was the same move she'd made last night, only this time, she looked me directly in the eye as she did it.

And then her shirt was off. She stood in front of me wearing only a white bra and jeans. I wanted those jeans off. She had other plans, though. As she reached for the buttons of my shirt, our mouths met again. I soon found myself helping her unbutton.

I tossed my shirt aside, breaking the kiss. Her gaze landed on my chest, her hands moving over it. There was something about her wide-eyed wonder that threatened to do me in. She wanted me as much as I wanted her.

But I had to hold back. First, I had to make her come. Then I could satisfy this hunger for her.