Chapter 6
Just Miles
When she walkedin the room, I couldn’t think straight. Tall, curvy, and undoubtedly the most gorgeous woman I’d ever laid my eyes on, my lungs emptied of every last bit of air. She had the face of a goddess, heart shaped, and gentle, not chiseled and hard like many women had today. Okay, that goddess thing was one gigantic cliche, but it was true. Full lips that complemented her captivating smile drew me in like a monstrous magnet. I was in serious trouble.
When Caroline had started to introduce me as her brother, I had to think fast, so Miles Patterson popped into my head. I think I had a passport with that name on it which is why it rolled off my tongue so quickly.
Just Miles, she called me. She could call me anything and I’d answer. Damn, she was really something. How could fate have intervened so cruelly? Now she would haunt me forever.
When Justin’s phone rang and he had to back out of taking her to the hotel, another force took over my mouth and spoke those words of offering to do it in his place. My brain was not cooperating with my mouth in the least today.
On the way over there, I laughed to myself because she wasn’t catching my diversionary tactics at all. I didn’t want her asking me one question. With the way my brain was functioning, no way in hell would I be able to stop myself from answering her.
Entering her hotel room nearly took everything out of me. I wanted to pull her into my arms and kiss the hell out of her mouth. Her panties were tossed around the room, and I had a vision of her, a very naked vision that made my dick jerk. I could imagine her long, shapely legs, wrapped around me, and her voice, husky with passion as she cried out my name. When she started asking Jesus, Mary, and Joseph for help, it took every bit of self-control not to lay her down on the bed and show her how that little wand was nothing in comparison to what I could do to her.
Strength, I needed strength when I was around her. Why the hell did my brother-in-law have such an incredible-looking sister?
“Well, I guess that’s everything, then.”
I looked at all her suitcases and chuckled. “Planning to stay awhile?”
“Yeah, I’m moving here, remember?”
Nodding, I said, “Right.” My brain was on one thing, and it wasn’t her clothing. It was the absence of it.
She bent over one of her bags to tuck something in the pocket and her hair fell forward. It was long and a shiny, pale brown that was kissed by the sun, leaving lightened streaks behind. But her ass, dear God, her ass had me imagining my hands gripping it as I pumped into her from behind, bringing her to the most exquisite orgasm she’d ever had. Christ, I needed to get my mind out of the sex gutter! But hell, that ass of hers was unlike any I’d ever seen. She was so soft and inviting. My arms struggled with the urge to hold her. I didn’t even realize she had stood back up and was staring at me.
“That’s rude, you know.”
Giving my head a shake, I said, “Sorry,” I choked out. I wasn’t really. I wanted to stare at her for the rest of my life.
“I’m going to call for a bellman.”
“Good idea.” Suddenly, I was tongue-tied. I watched her pink mouth as she spoke on the phone. I wanted those lips on my body. Anywhere would be fine. My hand would do, or my arm. Even my pinkie finger. I would die a happy man for one touch from her plump lips.
She cleared her throat. “Ahem.” I looked at her eyes. They were large, almond shaped and I wanted to fall right into them. They reminded me of the Caribbean Sea. They couldn’t decide if they wanted to be blue or green. I imagined, depending on her mood or the time of day, they could be either or both. That was okay with me because I loved both colors equally.
“Are you even listening to me?” she wanted to know.
“Pardon me?” Her voice sounded like silk as it swished. I was drowning in the sound of it. I didn’t ever want her to stop speaking.
“I asked if you were ready.”
“Whenever you are.”
“Let’s go.”
We headed down to the lobby so she could check out and wait for her luggage. Soon we were in the Range Rover, driving back to Caroline’s.
“Miles, can you take her luggage upstairs and show her to her room? She’ll be in the one across from yours.” Caroline was busy preparing dinner, so I got all of Avery’s things up to her room and showed her where everything was.
“I’m sorry you had to go to all this trouble today. You didn’t know you were going to be a pack mule, did you?”
I laughed. “No worries, Avery. It was my pleasure.” That wasn’t the whole truth. What really would be my pleasure would be to see her naked and writhing on the bed. Or to have my mouth on her lush breasts. I could only imagine what they looked like. Plump, with large nipples and begging for my mouth to suck on them. I jerked in my pants again and knew I needed to get out of her room.
“I think I’ll change before dinner,” she said quietly before closing her door. I stared directly into her eyes until the door cut me off.
That was my cue to get the hell out of her face. Giving myself a quick adjustment, I went back to the kitchen to see if my sis needed a hand with dinner. She was making one of my favorite things ever, her homemade lasagna.
We chatted as I prepared the salad. She was layering everything in the pan and getting ready to put it in the oven. I had opened a couple bottles of wine and I whispered to her, “Remember your mannerisms. Don’t do anything the old girl would’ve done. Tone, action, gestures.”
She was nervous. I could tell by the way she fidgeted and the erratic movements of her eyes. “Stay calm and you’ll be fine.”
I poured her a glass of wine and soon we heard the clicking of Avery’s heels as she approached. God, she looked amazing and damned fuckable. She had changed into a pair of white jeans and a white sleeveless sweater. The jeans clung to her ass and thighs, and it should have been me that was wrapped around her like that. I had to walk away for a second to make another slight adjustment to my junk. Things had heated up down below.
“Mmm. This smells yummy. Can I do anything to help?”
“Yeah, there’s an antipasto tray in the fridge. Can you pull it out so we can snack on it?”
Avery put the tray on the counter, and I asked her, “White or red?”
“White, please.”
I poured her a glass of pinot grigio and we both sat at the island while Caroline stood on the other side as we chatted.
“Did you get settled?” she asked Avery.
“I did and thanks again for having me. Y’all are so kind to do this.”
While Avery and Caroline talked, I pretended to listen, but I was really stealing glances at her mouth as she spoke. She had this little habit of tugging the corner of her perfect upper lip into her mouth. I wish it was mine she was pulling in there. She’d caught me a couple of times checking her out, giving me a questioning glance, but I was able to divert her attention back to Caroline. This was going to be a long night.
As the night moved on, Caroline glanced at me every now and again, I think because she needed a bit of reassurance. She was doing great. Avery didn’t suspect a thing. Caroline had lived this role now, had become this new person, and had put Terri to rest so even she believed in herself. That’s what made it work so well.
The lasagna was ready, and Caroline was allowing it to rest the required fifteen minutes before serving it. She heated up the bread and I distributed the salads.
“We’ll eat at the table in here instead of the dining room. We don’t generally eat in there unless we have a large crowd,” Caroline explained.
“Sounds great,” I answered.
“Yeah,” Avery agreed. “I don’t normally even eat at a table. I just eat in front of the TV. That’s my usual evening.”
Everyone laughed. “I know what you mean. I do the same a lot myself. That is when I have time to eat dinner,” I automatically responded.
“So, Just Miles, what exactly do you do?”
Fuck! I’d opened myself up to that one. “I’m a private investigator.”
“Really? How interesting!”
“Not really. It’s very boring. Sitting and watching guys, trying to catch them cheating on their wives, or vice versa. Not very exciting.”
“Hmm. I always had this idea that there was a lot more to it than that.”
Finally, Caroline piped in. “Miles always says he wants to do something more exciting, like become a banker.”
“A banker? That’s not very exciting. Why don’t you go into finance, like me? Now there’s some excitement for ya, just kidding,” Avery added with a smile. I wish she hadn’t done that because all I could do was stare.
Both women were waiting on a response from me, but my eyes got tangled up with Avery’s and the words got stuck somewhere between my brain and my junk. What I wanted to say wasn’t fit for present company, not unless I wanted my sister’s shoe up my ass.
Caroline clapped her hands and said, “Well then, I guess we should eat.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” I murmured, still wrapped up in Avery’s not blue/not green eyes. Then the corners of her delectable mouth turned up, ever so slightly, and I knew I was in for it. When she took one side of her lower lip and put it between her teeth, I jumped up and said something, I’m not sure what, and headed for the nearest bathroom.
My face was covered in beads of perspiration and my damn pants were so tight, my circulation was getting cut off. I was a mess and needed to pull it together. What the hell was going on with me? I was thirty-five years old, not a young kid for fuck’s sake. After I splashed some cold water on my face, I didn’t really feel better, but I told myself I did. I needed to get my ass back out there or they would think something was wrong.
They were waiting to take their seats when I returned.
“Sorry. Just needed to wash my hands.”
They both gave me odd looks but there wasn’t much I could do about it. We all sat down and started eating. I had to hand it to Caroline. She sure made some excellent lasagna. As I watched Avery out of the corner of my eye, I could tell she enjoyed it too.
“Caroline, this is perfect. I think this is your best ever.”
“Thanks, Miles.”
Avery had just taken another bite and she nodded. “Mmm. It’s wonderful.”
I loved to watch that fork as it entered her mouth. For the first time in my life, I wanted to be a fork. Tonight, I would dream of becoming a fork. Avery’s fork. Oh, to be Avery’s personal fork and to feel her lips around me every day.
Preston! Get your fucking mind off sex and on this conversation, dammit!
“Miles? Are you listening?”
“W-what did you say?”
Caroline huffed, “I asked you if you wanted to go with me to show Avery some of the sights tomorrow?”
“Oh, sorry. I have some things I need to take care of.”
Did I just see disappointment cloud her eyes? Oh, Avery. I’d love to go, but you can’t be tainted by someone like me.
“Okay, but you’re gonna miss out,” Caroline teased.
“Don’t I know.”
At that moment, Avery went to take a bite of her lasagna, and her hand trembled slightly. Like most of these things do, it happened in slow motion. The chunk of lasagna on her fork tumbled off and hit her white sweater right between her breasts, leaving a big red splat. But that wasn’t the worst of it. No, the beastly chunk then bounced off and continued to make its way to that very spot I’d been dreaming of. That bastard piece of lasagna got to be the lucky one. It landed right where I would’ve given my left nut to be. It was proudly perched right between her legs, that little fucker. I sat there and silently cursed it. I wanted to beat the piss out of it for even daring to go there, for having the nerve to touch that special place.
Because of my jealousy over that lucky chunk, I’d missed Avery’s acute mortification of having her white outfit completely ruined. She gasped. Then sighed. All I could think of was how I’d wished it was me that had produced those little sounds she emitted and not the offensive lasagna.
Suddenly, my shin was delivered a mighty kick.
“Ouch,” I cried. I tore my gaze away from Avery’s crotch to see my sister giving me one of her ferocious looks. Shit. I’m in trouble now.
“Avery, let me get you something to help clean that up.” Was that an appropriate thing to say? Should I have offered her my tongue? Probably not.
“Avery,” Caroline said as she jumped to her feet, “let me get you some club soda. Miles, get her some paper towels to pick up the lasagna.”
“On it.”
I went to hand her the paper towels and I saw tears in her eyes. Now I felt horribly for having all those lewd thoughts.
“Don’t worry, we’ll get you tidied up in a second,” I said as I went to grab the lasagna. Then she cringed. I mean really cringed. Like she thought I was going to attack her or something. Her hands came up in front of her face and she sort of folded into herself. I looked up to see if Caroline was around, but she wasn’t anywhere in sight. So, I whispered, “Hey, Avery, I won’t hurt you. Ever. I promise.” She lowered her hands and that lip of hers trembled. I don’t know what happened to her in her past, but something did to make her act this way. And it was a something I didn’t like. “You okay?” I asked softly.
“Yeah, thanks.” She did this thing to wipe her eyes a bit and then gave me a half-assed smile. “Not too cool—the lasagna bite, huh?”
“Oh, I don’t know. As far as misses go, it was pretty spectacular.” I gestured with my hand to indicate the trail it left behind.
She barked out a laugh that made me feel all nice and cozy inside.