Chapter Eleven #3
“Jeesh! What do they put in the water around here? Are all the guys seriously this hot?” one of them asks the other. “Lord, the supernatural things I’d let the mini one do to me if I had the chance…”
The redhead swats at the blond, looking mortified. “Oh my god, stop! You’re so embarrassing!”
“What? It’s not like either of them heard me. Didn’t you see them?” The blond starts pretending to sign, clearly just making shit up as she goes through the motions.
Caleb starts to turn around when I give her a dirty look, but I stop him. “Let’s see how this plays out,” I sign, urging him to pretend like we can’t hear them.
Caleb huffs at me, rolling his eyes. “I’m used to this by now, unfortunately.”
“If it makes you feel any better, the one who thinks you’re a pipsqueak just inadvertently signed something that looks a lot like ‘I pooped myself,’” I tell him.
His throat bobs on a silent chuckle.
From my periphery, I can see the redhead’s face get beet red and she glances in our direction. Her jaw hardens. “Molly, don’t do that. It’s offensive.”
A guy comes over, drinks in hand, and sets them down on the table. He pulls up the third chair and sits. “Molly, what trouble are you causing now?” he asks, playful accusation in his tone.
“I was just saying that the guys over there are super hot and was wondering if all the locals around here are just as smokin’. But now Keeley has her panties in a wad over it. They’re deaf; they can’t even hear me.”
The guy glances over at Caleb and me. “What if they can lip read?”
The blond enunciates, “Then they deserve to know they’re both fine as fuck.”
The guy snickers. “They really are.”
Caleb preens, sitting up a little straighter, and I smirk.
The redhead—Keeley, I guess—quietly adds, “You both need to stop. You’d be singing a different tune if they were cat-calling you, after all.”
“Jesus, Keels, lighten up. Is it even cat-calling if they’re deaf?”
The redhead, apparently the only conscionable one in the group, scowls. “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it still make a sound?”
The guy sighs loudly, then leans in towards his company and stage whispers, “Dibs on the big guy. He’s totally more my type. I’d let him rail me.”
Caleb’s lips thin as he rolls them between his teeth, stifling a laugh. “The ‘big guy’ prefers to be the one railed, if memory serves. He also likes hearing what a 'good boy' he is, being driven hard, and then put away wet.”
I scowl at him. “You hush.”
“Tell me, how does one who speaks with his hands hush anymore than I currently am?”
I try like hell to fight back the sarcastic grin that wants to break free, but end up losing the battle. “Smartass. I see nothing has changed there.”
He blinks at me, the amusement that tinges his expression falters slightly. “I thought it had for many years—that I’d lost my ability to be playful. Many things have changed about me, but it seems you have a way of bringing that side of me back out.”
I lick my lips and solemnly nod. “I’m sorry you felt you’d lost that side of yourself.”
I sincerely hope that it wasn’t because of me that he felt that way, but I can’t help but worry I may play some role there…
“I started to feel more like the old me out on the boat earlier,” Caleb admits. “I realized how much I missed messing with you, I guess.”
“Teasing me, you mean.” I narrow my eyes at him. “You seriously brought back dirty talking Caleb?”
He smirks briefly before covering it up. “I probably shouldn’t have done that, you’re right. We should both be focusing on Lauren. Though, I was going to propose—”
He doesn’t get to finish that thought when suddenly the redhead huffs, “You both are terrible, and see, this is why I can’t just go on vacation and visit new places with you.
You can’t leave your horniness at home. They’re clearly into each other, not a pair of DTF out-of-towners.
I mean, you guys can’t tell me their body language right now isn’t screaming that they’re into one another. ”
Caleb and I both glance at our postures.
Caleb’s legs spread wide on his stool, mine in between his, and we’re full on facing each other, not the bar.
I was quite certain that it had more to do with how we could address each other while conversing with our hands, but now I’m not so sure…
especially with one of his hands casually resting on my thigh.
It seems like we’ve forgotten to keep some degree of separation between ourselves, and have, instead, fallen into old, more intimate, positioning.
Caleb’s hand jerks backwards as if he suddenly realized what he was palming was scorching him. I quickly stiffen and twist myself to face the bar, clearing my throat in the process. We both take a sip of our drinks in tandem.
“Oh my god,” the blond—Molly, I presume—gasps, her hands flying up to cover her face. “They just moved apart. Shit, Keels, do you think they can read lips?”
Caleb sighs in annoyance. I decide it’s finally time to put them out of their misery and end this charade. I look over my shoulder, directly at the trio. “They can do more than read lips,” I tell them. “They both can hear every word you’re saying.”