“Make yourself at home.”
If anyone else was saying that, my social graces would kick in. But since it was Holden, and this was my brother’s condo, I didn’t feel anything but justified in my actions.
I glanced over my shoulder, armed with a snappy comeback to fire at him, but when I turned my head, I found him standing directly behind me. My breath caught in my throat and I froze.
Holden always had a magnetic energy about him. From the time I was a little girl, if he was around, I was next to him. People joked that I was my brother’s shadow, but the truth was, I was Holden’s.
It had been so long since I’d experienced having all of his attention directed solely at me that I’d actually forgotten what it felt like. Now that I was in the same space with him, and we were alone, I found myself a lot more nervous than I’d anticipated. I’d spent the last five hours thinking of all the things I was going to say to him, but as I stared up in his eyes, I couldn’t remember a single one of them.
His jaw clenched, and he inhaled through his nose.
“Are you in a lot of pain?”
“Not right now.” The way he was looking at me made me feel like there was some significance to his answer, but before I could figure out what it was, he moved to the side and opened the fridge. “Beer or pop?”
“Beer,” I answered as I continued grabbing what we’d need for dinner.
Within a minute or two we were sitting down to eat with plates full of chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans.
“Did you cook all of this?”
“Yep.”
“Damn,” he said, looking impressed as he surveyed his plate. His eyes lifted to mine. “This looks good.”
“It tastes even better,” I said confidently.
“I’m sure it does.” His voice dropped several octaves causing the aforementioned thrill to become a full-blown tremor as it travelled down my back. The tiny hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I had to remind myself to breathe.
I wasn’t sure we were talking about the food anymore. Images of him tasting me started populating in my head like computer virus pop-up windows. Since the eyes were the windows to the soul, and right now mine was X-rated, I closed them, tilted my head back and downed half my beer in several swigs.
When I set the bottle back down on the table, I could feel him looking at me.
“What?” I asked breathlessly.
A tiny grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. “You’re old enough to drink. It’s weird.” He shook his head and took a drink of his own beer.
“I’m old enough to do a lot of things.” I hadn’t meant it to sound as sexual as it had, but I wasn’t mad at my delivery.
He choked a little bit and set down his bottle and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Without looking at me, he lifted a piece of fried chicken to his mouth. When he took his first bite, a low moan rumbled in his chest as his eyes rolled back and his lids closed.
My lady parts had fluttered when I’d smelled him at the door but hearing him make that noise and watching what I could only assume was his O-face, had caused me to do involuntary Kegel exercises in anticipation.
I was getting ahead of myself.
This isn’t a date, I reminded myself. Holden was only living next door to report back to Bentley about my comings and goings. Not that I’d be coming with anyone other than myself. Maybe that’s why just hearing Holden make that sound and seeing his face look like he was experiencing ecstasy was enough to send my body close to the edge.
When he opened his eyes and they locked on me, I felt like he could read all the dirty thoughts in my head and I blurted out, “So, what are your plans while you’re in town? I mean besides spying on me for Bentley.”
Of all the things I’d wanted to say to him, that hadn’t been at the top of my list. I’d wanted to ask him why he’d gone from being my best friend to completely ignoring me. I’d wanted to ask him how he was doing, really doing. I wanted to ask him how long he’d be staying in town. If his girlfriend was going to be joining him.
I wasn’t sure I’d be able to handle knowing that on the other side of my bedroom wall he was having sex with his Brazilian model girlfriend.
But I hadn’t asked any of that.
He didn’t rush to finish chewing his bite. If anything, it seemed that he was taking more time to enjoy the dish. “Who says I’m going to spy on you?”
“Are you really going to sit there and deny that that’s what my brother asked you to do?”
Holden didn’t break eye contact as he took another bite of chicken.
I wasn’t sure what game he was playing, but I decided to mirror his actions and bit into the crisp batter, my teeth sank into the juicy meat of the drumstick. There was a reason why my mama’s fried chicken was famous. It was mouthwateringly delicious. Just like I was sure Holden’s lips would be.
After he took his time chewing and swallowing, he said, “He’s worried about you.”
“I don’t need anyone to worry about me. I’m a big girl now. I’m all grown up.”
Either I was seeing things, or a flash of heated desire flared in his Paul Newman stare. My body lit up with awareness as he held my gaze. Tingles ran from my head to my feet.
“I know.” His deep voice fanned the flames of arousal burning through me.
I opened my mouth to reply, but nothing came out.
His eyes dropped to his plate as he stabbed his fork in potatoes and brought a heaping portion to his mouth. I watched as the food disappeared and his lips slid along the silver surface.
I’d never wanted to be a utensil more in my life.
Chapter 11
Holden
“Ya don’t have to see the whole staircase to take the first step.”
~ Maggie Calhoun
As I walked to my truck, I was careful not to glance toward Olivia’s door. It had been a week since our dinner and so far, I’d been able to avoid seeing her again. Well, that wasn’t strictly true. I’d seen her.
Every morning I’d told myself that I wasn’t going to look out my window, but every morning I’d found myself glancing out to see if she was there. And she had been. Naked. Doing yoga. Every single day.
I never stared. Never did more than just quickly glance, but it was enough to get me hard each and every time. I knew it was wrong. I shouldn’t be peeping like a fucking creep. But I couldn’t help myself. And not only that, something in the back of my mind, told me that she was doing it knowing that I could see her.
I knew that sounded ridiculous. Olivia didn’t play games. She was the most upfront, put her cards on the table person I knew. If she wanted me to see her naked, she’d show up on my doorstep in her birthday suit. Just like she’d shown up with her mom’s chicken and called me out on moving in here to spy on her.
But that only proved my suspicion. She knew that I was keeping an eye on her, so why would she do that if she knew I could see her unless she wanted me to see her?
The entire sordid situation was messing with my mind in a big way. As was living this close to her and not speaking to her. Keeping her at arm’s length emotionally had been a hell of a lot easier when she’d been at arm’s length physically. It had never been an out of sight out of mind situation with her. I always thought about her. Every day. But when she was hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles away, it had been easier to resist the magnetic pull that she had on me.