7. Dirty Dreams Come True
Chapter 7
Dirty Dreams Come True
Cece
Why is there a single sock in the kitchen? I swipe it off the floor and continue to search every empty nook and corner. Rushing around panic cleaning may not be the best way to live my life, but you think I’d be used to it by now. I don’t know where all this stuff came from. All I brought with me to my new house were my two suitcases and an overly large purse. Plus, all the swag I bought at the con last week.
Remembering it puts an automatic smile on my face, and a giddy, bubbly sensation in my chest. Dev. What a weekend. You’d think meeting some of my favorite artists and actors would have been the best part, but no. It was my fling with his athletic body, and the general calm he brought to my chaos. I’ve picked up my phone a hundred times since we parted ways, some random thought passing through my mind, demanding I send it to him. But that would be impossible. Why did I suggest not exchanging info? There’s no way I could have gotten into trouble sending him the occasional text.
I shake my head. Doesn’t matter. That was the decision I made. Now I can deal with it. I’m sure it won’t be long before he’s the star of my dirty dreams and nothing more. That perfect body laid out in my bed the next morning before I had to drag myself away to meet my ride. I wanted to wake him up for one last kiss, but he looked so comfortable lying there naked and peaceful, snoring softly on the white sheets. It was better that way. I might not have left the hotel room if I’d stayed.
I’ve got more time sensitive problems. Like picking up the assortment of clothes that have appeared on every available surface. Crimson panties are dangling over the brass table lamp that’s currently chilling on the cream carpet. Mom would try to make a disappointed face if she knew how I’ve been living for the past two weeks. Sleeping on an air mattress like a couch surfer. But she’s not capable of too many facial expressions any more thanks to the endless units of Botox.
It’s been kind of fun. Roaming the place all by myself. The silence and lack of company is making me a little stir crazy. I’m excited for my new roomies to move in this weekend. We’ve been chatting on video calls to get to know each other better before we have to all move in together, and I think this will be fantastic. They’re going to be a fresh change from the friends I moved in with at my former school. Nothing but rich kids and hangers on back there. No wonder I ended up bored and getting into trouble. My new roommates are creatives like me .
But I’ve got a lot of work ahead to set up this empty house. Thank goodness I enlisted my brother into helping. Volunteered, voluntold. What’s the difference when you’re family? He’s only bringing one of the hockey guys with him, but it’s his best friend, Lucy. All I know about him is that they’ve been tight since first year and he’s Beau’s defense partner on the team. I don’t think he trusts any of the other guys around me. Ridiculous. I’m a grown ass woman capable of making my own decisions. Sure, some of them are shady at best, but he’s made his fair share of mistakes too. We’re all just fallible human beings struggling to figure ourselves out.
Still, I know he’ll flip a lid if he sees the mess, and they’re going to be here in ten minutes to meet the moving truck. I snag the undies off the lamp, jamming them into my red bag. After stuffing the last armload of clothes away and plopping my ass on top of it so I can force the zipper to close, I’m out of breath.
I finger comb the limp strands of hair out of the way and search the bathroom for an elastic. No deal. The bulging suitcase is taunting me. No way I’m going to unleash that beast. It’d swallow me whole before it vomited its entire contents back out all over the room. No time. Just gonna have to deal with slightly sweaty locks trying to blind me.
My fingers snag on a hole in my rattiest black leggings. I haven’t done any laundry since I got here, so now I’m down to the dregs of my wardrobe. Even the shirt is an old, faded concert tee with holes under the pits. I blow out a breath. It’s this or my cutest LBD and that is hardly appropriate attire for my official move in day.
The worst part is Beau always dresses sharply. Even today I’m sure he’ll have on a polo shirt or at the very least some high-ticket athleisure. But it’s fine. I’m not trying to impress him, or his hockey friend. He won’t judge me for it, but it’s a constant reminder of why I’ll never meet my family’s standards of perfection.
I snag an empty pizza box off the kitchen counter, glance around and duck out the back door, chucking the thing on the back porch on top of the big blue bin. Mental note: buy a small one for the house before my roommates arrive.
The cheery chime of the doorbell has me skidding across the house. I run a hand through my untidy mess of hair one last time before swinging it open with a huge smile plastered on my face.
“Bo Bo!” I singsong at my brother.
He scoops me up in a hug that warms my soul while crushing my body. Then he drops me back on my socked feet unceremoniously, eyes tracking down straight to my right middle toe sticking through a gaping hole. Is that what you call your second toe?
There’s a slight twist of disbelief to his lips when he drags his eyes back up. “Hey, little sis. What happened? Did you leave your hairbrush at home? Dad cut off your sock allowance? I’ve missed you.”
“Not like we didn’t see each other over the summer.” I shove him. But I am happy we’ll be closer together this year. The past three years while we were at separate colleges was the longest span of time I’ve been apart from my twin. And even though he drives me bananas sometimes, I missed him.
“This is Lucy. He’s going to be the muscle today. Lucy, my little sister Cece.”
I laugh, glancing at Beau’s tall frame. Not like he can’t handle the heavy lifting, but I appreciate the help.
“Not little.”
As I’m standing on my tiptoes to peer over his shoulder, my mouth falls open, friendly greeting dying a quick death on my lips. The only part of my frozen body that’s moving is my stomach frolicking from my abdomen to my chest and back. I slow blink, trying to clear away the hallucination, but he’s still there looking all real, and huge, and... delicious. His stubble has grown out into a short, dark beard and my fingers are itching to run through it.
“Hi, I’m Devlin. You can call me Dev.” There was a brief jolt of shock on his face, but he recovers faster than me, holding out a hand past my brother while I’m still grappling to calm my racing heart.
“But.” I glance from Beau to Dev, ignoring the large hand hanging in the air between us. This can’t be happening.
Beau’s brow scrunches in confusion. “Cece? You, okay?”
I give my head a shake, reaching out a tentative hand. We share the fastest handshake known to humankind. I don’t think the Flash could have beaten me on this one. There’s still a sizzle of awareness at the brief contact. My skin heats, and electricity zips up my arm at the memory of where those hands have been and what they did to me.
“Nice to meet you, Dev. I didn’t realize Lucy wasn’t your actual name.” Not that it’s uncommon for the hockey team to have nicknames for each other. He calls his teammates all kinds of crazy things, but a lot of them are based on their real names. I was kind of assuming Lucy was short for Lucius, or Lucas, or maybe it was from his last name. Why can’t he be a Lucas? Why does he have to be my Dev? Star of the top three orgasms of my life. He blew away my previous top three all in one weekend. The window... Did that happen, or did I imagine the whole thing?
He clears his throat, shifting on his feet. “Yeah, it’s uh, Devlin. Like the devil. Lucifer.”
The loud smack of Beau’s hand slapping him on the back has me wincing, but he barely rocks on his feet.
“Don’t be so modest, Lucy. It’s actually because his feet smell like he spends his nights in the bad place.”
Dev’s lips press together in a thin line, and his already dark eyes are shadowed by his lowered brow. “Fuck off, Bo Bo.”
It’s a pleasure watching my brother get the shit thrown right back in his face.
“You planning to let us in?” My brother’s blond brow arches up toward his perfectly gelled hair. Which reminds me of the hot mess on top of my head I was trying to fix when they showed up early. “If not, I’m sure I can find something better to do with my day. ”
I glance down at the clothes that didn’t seem so bad when it was only supposed to be my brother and some unknown frat boy hockey player. Not his unbearably hot roommate who I happened to see naked a couple of weeks ago. Naked and the embodiment of male perfection.
“Right. I’m so sorry. Welcome to my delightful abode.” I step back, swinging the door wide to let them in, and swooping my arm in what I hope is a welcoming sweep. “Over here you’ll find the nothing. This room is the void of emptiness. And over there,” I gesture toward the kitchen, “the black hole of ingredients. Make yourselves uncomfortable.”
Dev lets out a small bark of laughter, while Beau shakes his head, rolling his eyes at me.
“Hilarious. That is why we’re here, isn’t? Or is this the wrong address? Hang on, I’ll tell the driver to head over to my place until I can sort this out.”
“Yeah, yeah. I don’t know why you keep playing that silly game on skates when you’ve got such a promising career in comedy. Get to work then. Bring me my stuff. Preferably my couch first. Then I can take a seat like the queen I am and supervise my loyal subjects to make sure they don’t break anything.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Forget it, little sis, you are helping. Not going to make us sweat while you lounge around like a diva.”
I can picture the sweat beaded on Dev’s sculpted body. Dripping down his forehead as he slammed into me. Every muscle flexing .
“Hello, Cece. You still with me?”
I snap my focus back on my brother, which is the rudest of awakenings from that brief fantasy. “Yes. I’m here.”
“Are you feeling okay? You look a little flushed. You don’t have a fever, do you?” My loving brother backs a couple of steps away from me as if I’ve got the black plague. Actually, he might be less upset about that than he would be if he discovered I slept with one of his best friends. A hockey player, no less.
It shouldn’t matter. I’m a grownup. And not some sweet, innocent virgin who had her virtue stolen. But since Deacon... he’s kept me away from his hockey friends. Even when I got dragged to practice, he warned them away from me. Which was never really a problem. After I got abandoned for the game and the lifestyle, I wasn’t too keen on going back there. My little foray out on the ice turned me off hockey players.
But still, it shouldn’t matter. Maybe we should fess up and move on. It’s not as if we’re planning on keeping it up. It was only one weekend. I study Dev looking for some sign of what he’s thinking, but his mouth is pressed together in a neutral line, thick forearms crossed over his chest, and eyes blank. No help there. Looks like pretending it never happened is the vibe.
“I’m fine. Just been running around.”
“Got it. Last-minute panic cleaning. I shudder to imagine what this place looked like before we got here.” His eyes are fixed on my bedroom door. I back up, crossing my arms as I stand guard in front of my room. Even though I know it’s fine. I shoved everything into my suitcases. But I’m sure he’d find something that itched at his brain. And I’d know. They don’t tell you about that side of the super special twin connection. Having spent so many years so close together, we can read each other’s facial expressions. Hope he can’t see the guilt in my eyes.