7. Montana
My dreams of a quiet night were dashed about ten minutes before I was ready to excuse myself from the kitchen. I’d cleared the table while Celeste put the leftovers away. She’d huffed at me when I’d taken up the spot in front of the sink, pouring soap onto the sponge and scrubbing the dishes before rinsing them and placing them in the drying rack.
I’d had one foot down the hall when an alert came through on my phone. The motion-activated lights had triggered the camera on one of our unoccupied properties, but the culprit had remained out of sight.
If it was any other house I might have let it go and called the sheriff, but it wasn’t just any other house. It’s Ellison’s childhood home and with her coming in tomorrow, I couldn’t let it go. Leaving Grandad at the table, I thanked Celeste for dinner before shoving my feet back in my boots. And thank the Lord I threw on jeans after my shower.
My truck roars to life, “She’s So Mean” by Matchbox Twenty blaring through the speakers. I might smile, because it’s one of Ellison’s favorite songs, if I wasn’t so pissed about having to deal with the disturbance at her house.
Killing the lights on my truck, I slam it into park and climb out, closing the door as quietly as I can.
I hear the splashing before I even round the side of the house. There was a time when I’d be the one jumpin’ into pools that didn’t belong to me for no other reason than I felt like it.
Well, almost no other reason.
I missed those days.
Missed her.
My footsteps are silent as I walk across the grass and unlatch the gate, opening it and my mouth at the same time. “Listen, you gotta get out of here. If you leave willingly, I won’t have to call the sheriff. I don’t want to be a hard-ass, but this is private property and?—”
The burst of feminine laughter has my chest tightening and my dick coming to life as I scan the pool for the source.
Son of a…
“I mean your ass is really hard, but would you really call the sheriff on me, Max?”
No. Way.
There’s only one person on the planet who calls me Max.
Ellison Fucking Mills.
My lips twitch as my eyes lock on my very sexy and very naked best friend as she treads water in the deep end, thankfully cast in shadows.
“Eddie, where the fuck are your clothes?” I ask even though it’s pointless. To this day, no one believed me that the girl in this pool, with her angelic smile and sweet-as-pie personality, was the cause of ninety percent of the trouble I got into growing up.
She looks down at her chest, and I have to work really hard not to do the same. “You’ve seen my boobs, Max.” Her grin is wolfish. “Done a lot more than that if memory serves me correctly.”
“You know,” I say calmly even as I try and fight a smile, “most people just come over and say hello when they haven’t seen someone in, like, ten years. You know—knock on the door, offer a casserole…”
“Where’s the fun in that?” she asks. “Also you know damn well it hasn’t been ten years.” Taking a mouthful of water, she spits it in my direction.
“Eddie…” I warn but there’s no heat behind my words. Not anger at least. Ellison’s always made my blood run hotter than apple pie in a truck bed, and aside from takin’ each other’s virginities on the last night before she left for college, I’d never gotten the chance to touch her.
Not the way I wanted to.
“You could come in—the water is divine. What do you keep it set at?”
“I’m not swimming.”
“Why not?” She pouts and I narrow my eyes, because she’s baiting me and damn if I don’t love it.
“You’re naked.”
“You afraid I’ll see your penis?” she mock whispers, and I can’t help throwing my head back and laughing.
“I know you’ve seen my penis.”
“It was pretty spectacular. Nice shape—aesthetically pleasing.” She points at my dick, her finger making a circle in the air as she talks. “Not all penises are created equally I’ll have you know, but luckily, you got a prize-winning member, sir.”
“Oh my Lord, would you please stop talking?” I beg as I drag my palms down my face and will myself to calm down. There’s no point trying to hide the fact that she’s making me hard—my dick is shameless and she knows it.
It’s also easier to ignore the idea that she’s seen enough guys naked to rate me against them.
“You used to be a lot harder to fluster, Max.”
There it is again—Max.
A nickname born from spite instead of adoration. We’d been seven or eight and she was mad I still called her Eddie. It hadn’t been my intention, but when her family had moved in next to mine—still a country mile away—a couple of years before, I’d been unable to say Ellison. My missing two front teeth had made it impossible to say the l’s in her name and so I’d started calling her Eddie.
It stuck, but she hated I’d given her a boy’s name and retaliated by changin’ mine. It was hardly punishment back then. I knew a pretty girl when I saw one, and Ellison Mills was the prettiest.
Still is.
“I wasn’t expecting you till tomorrow. Thought I had time to mentally prepare for your arrival.”
She smirks. “It’s because I’m so fun, right?”
“Somethin’ like that.”
“Oh, that reminds me, can I stay with you tonight? My rental isn’t ready until tomorrow.”
“Because you weren’t supposed to be here till tomorrow,” I say with my head cocked to the side. I’d checked and rechecked the date like a madman—not that she’d know that.
Technically I could let her in. It was my property after all. Well, Sundown Realty’s property but that was semantics.
Hell, I was sure she could stay here at her parents’ house, but selfishly, I liked the idea of her stayin’ with me tonight. It’d be just like old times except one of us wouldn’t have to sneak down the road and into the other’s window. We must have done it a hundred times, and I smile at the memory and the fact that we’ll be neighbors again.
“You know you never have to ask to stay.”
“It’s just one of the many things I love about you.” She swims closer, biting her lip and turning enough for the porch light to reflect off the tiny diamond stud in her nose. “Know what else I love about you?” she asks as she nears, and my gaze only locks on her tits below the water for a second before I meet her eyes.
Her Cheshire-cat grin is back, but I just shrug because they’re really great tits.
And she knows it.
“What’s that?” I finally manage.
“You’re always willing to give everyone the shirt off your back.” Her eyes widen innocently and I know the drill.
Sighing, I reach behind my head and pull my T-shirt off and hold it toward the pool as I look away. “I can’t believe you didn’t bring clothes.”
“I did bring clothes,” she sasses back, “but why would I make them wet when I can just wear yours?”
It’s hard to argue with that logic.
Especially when water splashes and then falls onto the concrete patio, her wet feet barely making any sound over the blood pounding in my ears. I don’t even need to look to imagine how fucking insane her body is as rivulets slide over every delicious line of her.
She plucks the cotton shirt from my outstretched hand, and I’m momentarily relieved. Part of me thought she’d hug me from behind—press her wet, naked breasts to my back just to fuck with me.
I’m such a sucker for this woman, but God, I missed her.
“You can look now, scaredy-cat,” she taunts, and I roll my eyes as I turn to see her gathering a pile of clothes from the lounger. My shirt is plastered to her, her nipples poking at the fabric, and I groan.
She preens.
“You’re gonna give me an ulcer.”
“Oh please.”
“How’d you know I’d be the one to respond tonight?” I ask, both curious and pissed at the thought of anyone else finding her naked and wet in the pool.
Shrugging, she says, “I didn’t. But my dad said that you’ve responded to some of the on-call issues and I liked my odds.” Popping up on her toes, she places a kiss to my cheek, her eyes sincere when she says, “I missed you, Max.”
I’m sure this wasn’t what her father intended when he shared that little snippet of information. That’s a road I definitely don’t need to go down tonight. Especially with how all over the place I am seein’ Ellison. Grabbing her hand, I twine my fingers with hers as I lead her out the gate. “I missed you too, Eddie.”
I missed you every damn day.
The words play on repeat in my mind, but even I know they’re better left unsaid.
At least for now.
“Why aren’t you stayin’ here?” I ask as we walk out to the driveway.
She scrunches up her face like she ate something sour, and I hold up my hands in surrender.
“It’s like you don’t know me at all,” she grumbles, and while it’s meant to be teasing, the words are a sucker punch to the gut. She pushes my shoulder, and my skin tingles under the simple touch. “Oh, stop. You know that’s not what I meant. This isn’t home; it never has been.” She waves up at the monstrosity, and then she adds wistfully, “Besides, I’m hoping Grandad will make me breakfast in the morning.”
“Glad to know I rank so high.”
“Don’t be so dramatic. You know as well as I do that he makes the best breakfast,” she says as she shimmies into her cutoff shorts, forgoing her bra and panties and tying my shirt on the side, exposing her flat, tanned stomach.
“That shirt will never be the same,” I lament while nodding at the knot that’s undeniably gonna stretch out the fabric.
She looks down then back up at me. “Who said you were getting it back?”
So fucking bossy.
Her lips curve up into a sinful little smirk, and I want to back her up against my truck and kiss the hell out of her. She must know what I’m thinkin’ because she takes a step toward me, forcing me to take one back.
She’s been home for thirty seconds, and it’s way too early to let my dick start running this show.
“You leavin’ your car here or following me back?” I ask, watching as she pulls a bag from her back seat.
“And miss out on being your passenger princess?” She scoffs and I chuckle as I grab her hand and pull her to the other side of the truck.
Opening the door, I let myself watch her ass as she climbs up onto the running board and swings herself into her seat. I smile, caging her in with my forearms on the roof of the truck and her door as I wait for her to buckle her seatbelt.
“What?” she asks, and it’s no doubt because I have a goofy smile splitting my cheeks.
“Just missed you is all.”
Reaching out, she pats my cheek, her fingers dancing along the stubble. “I missed you too.”
Straightening to my full height so I don’t do anything stupid, I clear my throat and go for as casual as I can manage. “Well then, let’s get you home before Grandad goes to bed.”