Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
S hae
“He sent me a dick pic!” I hissed as quietly as I could while still letting my voice carry the full shock and horror this situation required. I wasn’t letting Boon or anyone else overhear my conversation in the lunch room again.
Lydia’s face didn’t even twitch. “So? He’s properly advertising what he’s offering.”
My face screwed up in what was surely not an attractive expression. This whole situation with the hookup app was not going well. Not that I’d ever admit that to Boon. Mr. Tell Me What To Do. “What? Ew. No.”
Lydia’s hand made a swiping motion. “Let me see it.”
“I deleted it!” I whisper-yelled again.
“You always steal my fun. I mean, you have a date with him tomorrow anyway where you’re going to hook up. He just gave you a preview. What’s the big deal?”
I huffed. “Romance is dead.”
“Yeah, no shit. That’s why we invest in high-powered sex toys and have an app dedicated to no-strings-attached hookups on our phones.”
I shoved a bite of leftover ravioli into my mouth and wondered how I’d gotten myself into this situation.
All I could think about these last few days was Boon pressing his impressive erection into my belly and using that sexy gravelly voice.
You come to me . That moment had become the fodder that exploded every orgasm late at night with my toys.
Now his was a dick pic I’d like to see…
But no. I had a date with a total stranger tomorrow night.
A stranger who thought it was appropriate to send a dick pic the day before.
Did he expect me to send a boob shot in return?
Or even more horrifying, a flap snap? Gash flash?
Twat shot? What were the young kids calling them things these days? Was this even a thing?
It didn’t help that I’d actually taken Hattie’s puzzle out of the box and started to work on it.
I’d assembled Boon’s face first, the flirty brown-eyed gaze taunting me from my living room coffee table.
I feared I was falling back into a silly crush on my next-door neighbor.
Had I not learned my lesson the first time around?
We were in different leagues entirely back then and now.
Absolutely nothing could come of this obsession.
So yeah, I was going on this date.
Even if it didn’t have even a whiff of romance.
“Don’t turn around, but Boon just entered the room and he’s looking at you so intently, I can feel the heat from here.”
I started to turn around, but Lydia kicked my shin under the table and I ended up grabbing my leg instead. “Ow!”
“I said don’t turn around!”
Now look who was whisper-hissing.
It was too late anyway. Just knowing he was in the room was making my cheeks heat and my heart thought we were running the timed mile out on the track.
“Has he said anything else after…you know…” Lydia put her can of soda to her mouth to block her lips, but I still heard her. She’d been the first one I’d talked to after the you come to me incident.
“No.”
“I think the ball’s in your court, Shae.”
“There are no balls anywhere near my court,” I replied dryly.
Lydia snorted. “There will be tomorrow night. Maybe that’s what you need. A hot-blooded man to fill the void. A good dicking is surely the antidote to a childhood crush.”
“Did you read that in a Hallmark card?”
Coach Johnson plunked his Taco Bell bag down on our table. “Mind if I join you ladies?”
My head snapped to the side. I recovered quickly, pushing the chair out with my foot in invitation. The conversation with Lydia abruptly halted.
“Have a seat, big dog!” I said loudly.
I heard a growl from across the room and knew it came from Boon.
“Why the crappers is there so much grass in this picture?” I had at least twenty puzzle pieces of blades of grass.
How was I supposed to tell where they went on this stupid jigsaw puzzle?
I far preferred putting together the pieces that made up Boon’s legs in those baseball pants.
Get this, there was one piece that was squarely his crotch!
The loud bang on my front door made me jump. I wasn’t expecting anyone. I got up and looked out the peephole, then silently shook my fists at the ceiling.
Boon.
Given the mega frown on his face, I didn’t think he’d leave before breaking down my door.
I looked down at my body, regretting taking my bra off the second I got home from school and the sweats with streaks of paint on them from trying to resuscitate my ancient porch rocking chairs. But there wasn’t time to change.
I yanked open the door and, at the last second, remembered the jigsaw puzzle I had on my coffee table. In horror, I wedged my body between the door and the jamb, saying a prayer of thanks for my curvy body that would hopefully block any incriminating evidence.
Boon stood there with a dirty shovel and a scowl. He was still hotter than any other man I’d ever met in my life.
“Sorry, I don’t need any shallow graves dug.” Yet. Maybe after my date though.
I went to close the door, but he grabbed the handle and held it open. What the crap? I had my entire body’s weight on the door and he resisted with just one hand. Stupid, muscular men.
“What do you want?”
He sighed, an impressive feat considering how hard he clenched his jaw. “Mom said the geese got out again today and ate part of your flowers in the backyard. I’m supposed to plant new ones.” He held up the shovel.
“It’s fine. I don’t need flowers. I rarely go in the backyard anyway.” I noticed his hand was a mere inch away from my belly, his knuckles white as he gripped the door.
“You don’t tell Gigi no,” he said simply.
Gah. He had a point. If I said no to Boon, Gigi would be over here doing the work herself, and at her age, she didn’t need to be doing that.
“Fine. Go around back.” I tossed my head to the side where there was open access to my backyard.
Boon stepped forward, pressing the door open just an inch. I redoubled my efforts to keep the door closed. He glared at me. I glared right back.
“Go. Around. Back.” My voice was firm but also starting to sound a bit breathy. Why was pushing a door with all my might turning out to be the best cardio I’d gotten in weeks? Okay, who am I fooling? In months .
“I’m. Trying.”
Boon pushed the door again. I pushed back.
“What the hell is your problem?”
“No problem,” I panted. “Just go that way.” I tossed my head again, but he didn’t let up on the door.
“Why are you being so weird?” Then his expression turned thunderous. “Are you on a date right now?”
I grimaced. “Dressed like this?”
His gaze dropped down the front of me, and when it came back up, there was a smoldering heat in his eyes that set off butterflies in my stomach. “Dressed like anything, you’re still pretty, Shae.”
The compliment stunned me so badly, I let up on the door and Boon stepped inside my house.
Then the half-finished puzzle flashed across my brain and I realized I’d have to do something drastic to not let him see that.
My arms bolted out to the side and I got down in an athletic crouch like I was prepared to block Michael Jordan from buzzing around me to the basket for an easy layup.
I’ve never played basketball.
This was ridiculous.
And yet my future humiliation would not accept defeat.
Boon stared at me like I’d lost my mind, and maybe I had.
When I didn’t show signs of letting up this ridiculous game of chicken, Boon darted lightning fast to the right.
I shifted that way but almost like I was in slow motion.
By the time I got to the right, Boon had dashed to the left and gone around me.
I was left with his scent in my nose and an empty doorway.
I spun with a gasp, seeing the exact moment his gaze fell on my coffee table.
I ran. Why? I don’t know. Maybe I was going to try some football now and tackle the man to the ground? I’d been born with the brain of an athlete. It was just my body that didn’t get the memo.
Boon looked up at the ceiling, then back down, the loudest guffaw laugh I’d ever heard coming from his mouth.
He moved around to see the puzzle right side up, the shovel abandoned on the floor.
His laugh was the sexiest thing I’d ever heard.
I would have liked to appreciate it, but I was sinking in a pit of humiliation.
It was like quicksand, sucking me in and never offering me the chance to get out.
Mortification stole the air from my lungs, and I realized death would have been preferable to this moment.
“Damn, Shae,” he said around a laugh. His head came up and his eyes were twinkling with a humor I didn’t feel. Might never feel again. “Why didn’t you say you had a crush on me? I’d have let you see the real thing, babe.”
It was the babe that pulled me out of the quicksand. How many other women had he called that name? Ew. “Don’t call me that.”
His smirk made his dimples dance. God, he was good-looking. And annoying. Equally. “Can’t be worse than big dog.”
“Get out of here, Boon!” I threw my arm to the back of the house, finger extended. “My friends gave that to me as a joke. Don’t read so much into it.”
He stepped around the coffee table and towered over me. I shrank back. The dimple, laughter, and smirk were gone in an instant. “Is that what I am to you? A joke?”
What the heck was this? Where had the perpetually flirty Boon Wolfe gone? Why did he look like my comment had hurt some vital part of him? Why had the conversation taken a one-eighty like that?
“Uh, what? No,” I said weakly, not really sure what we were even talking about any longer.
Boon rolled his lips in, his eyes dipping down at the corners. “What do you see when you look at me, Shae? Be honest.”
There was so much vulnerability in his tone I stopped short.
I’d heard that before in kids who put up a solid front at school.
The ones who boasted and teased and caused a ruckus were usually the ones with the most tender underbelly once you got to know them.
Had I been so blinded by Boon’s flashy facade that I hadn’t noticed the underbelly?
“I see an incredibly talented, handsome man with insecurities just like the rest of us,” I answered honestly. I wasn’t cruel. I wouldn’t kick a man when he was down, and Boon seemed like he was in a place he’d never been before. Vulnerable.
He took one step toward me, his tennis shoes almost on top of my bare toes. His hands came up and cupped my face. He used his thumb to push my glasses back up my nose. He just stared into my eyes for a long moment. I didn’t dare breathe.
And then he dipped his head, leaned to the side, and ran his lips up my neck in a series of kisses that left me weak in the knees and out of breath.
My hands reached out, landing on either side of his waist, more for support than anything.
He stopped at my ear, taking my earlobe between his teeth before letting it go.
The sharp bite sent a lightning bolt of need between my legs.
His head came back up, and his eyes were wild, unfocused.
His voice was low, the words meant just for my ears. “And I see an incredibly smart, beautiful woman with insecurities that make no sense when she’s goddamn perfection in human form.”
I…had no defense for that. Dear God, I wanted this man. Every reason I had for hating him went up in smoke, burned in the fire that raged between us. Had always raged between us. This wasn’t a silly crush. It wasn’t one-sided. Not anymore.
My hand came around to the front of his abs, sliding further up his chest. If he didn’t kiss me, I just might find that quicksand and throw myself back into it.
The master of all teases pulled away from me, released my face, and backed up. My hands fell away from his body. He dipped to pick up the shovel, standing but not meeting my gaze.
“I better go plant your flowers, lovebug. You’ve got a puzzle to finish.” He winked at me, but I was too stunned to speak.
He marched off, whistling while he went, like he hadn’t just teased me senseless in my own freaking living room. If I’d been wearing shoes, I would have taken one off and thrown it at him.
The bastard stole the very air from my lungs and then walked off with a wink? The back door clicked shut, and even though I couldn’t see him anymore and I was nearly forty years old, I gave him double middle fingers. It was juvenile, but it made me feel better anyway.
If he was just playing with me, I wasn’t sure I could build a wall thick enough, tall enough to keep him away from my heart. Even knowing he was teasing me, I had to shift my thighs awkwardly as I sank back onto the couch. I was turned on more than I had ever been and then left hanging.
One thing was for sure, tomorrow’s hookup date couldn’t come soon enough.
And this puzzle was going in the trash.