Book Boyfriends Wanted 1: His Curvy Friend

Blake

“Can I walk you home?” Ian asked. His hand rested low on my back, possessive. There was no mistaking the hand.

Unless you knew it was all for show.

I nodded and let him lead me out the door. It wasn’t unusual for us. We both lived in town. We both walked home from O’Kelley’s most of the time. Ian sometimes walked with me, sometimes not. But with William inside watching us leave, there was only one reason Ian was walking me home.

Just like there was only one reason Ian kissed me.

I drew in a breath of fresh, cool air and shivered. I loved spring in MacKellar Cove, but it wasn’t warm. Summer would be nice, but summer wasn’t here yet.

“Are you cold?” he asked.

I shook my head. Not with his arm still around my waist and his body pressed against my side. Who would be cold with a man like Ian brushing against them with every step?

“I didn’t know Willie was going to be there tonight,” Ian said.

I could feel the edge in him as much as I could hear it in his voice. I shrugged. “It wasn’t a private party. He probably heard about it from someone we invited.”

“You didn’t invite him?”

I huffed a laugh. “Uh, no. I haven’t spoken to him in months.”

“Except the other day when he was at Cracked?”

I sighed. “Well, okay, if I have to serve him, I talk to him there, but we don’t talk about anything other than how he likes his eggs cooked.”

“You don’t know how he likes his eggs cooked?” Ian asked.

I shrugged. “No. I don’t know everyone’s order.”

“You know mine,” he said, his voice low and husky. It rumbled through me, alerting every nerve in my body. Like they didn’t already know he was right there, pressed against me and twisting my mind with his sexy alphaness.

“I’ve been serving you for years,” I said. It was complete shit, and we both knew it. I’d been serving William for years, too. I couldn’t explain why I knew Ian’s order without thinking about it but had no idea what my boyfriend of five years liked to eat.

“So, if you don’t talk to him, why did he come over tonight to say hello?”

I shrugged again. “I don’t know. It’s a small town. Maybe he wants to be nice.”

“I think he still has a thing for you,” Ian said, his fingers pinching into my side.

We reached my door, and I turned to him. “Yeah, I know. That’s why you kissed me.”

His hazel eyes held mine prisoner, not letting me look away. “That’s not why I kissed you, Blake.”

I laughed. “Yeah, okay. Why else would you kiss me?”

He tilted my chin up, his eyes blazing with something that looked like desire.

I swallowed roughly and drew in a sharp breath. “Ian?”

“Me kissing you had nothing to do with Willie, Blake.”

“What did it have to do with?”

“You, babe. All you.”

“Ian?”

“Invite me inside, Blake.”

“Why?” I stammered.

“Because I want to kiss you some more.”

I ran my tongue over my lip and drew it into my mouth. I bit down, hard, because I had to be dreaming. No way was Ian Jameson standing on my doorstep and asking to come in so he could kiss me.

But he was still there. Still looking at me with that same look he gave me when I walked in on him in Hawaii.

Sharing a hotel room was supposed to be simple. William decided not to go, and Ian decided to go, both at the last minute. It was easy since I had a hotel room to myself and everyone else was already paired up.

I never thought it would spark fantasies about my best friend’s older brother for months.

“Blake,” he said again, firmly. He wasn’t taking no for an answer. And I didn’t want to give him that answer.

I dug my key out of my pocket and unlocked my side door, letting us in. Ian kicked the door closed behind us and followed me through the dark house. His hand tugged my shirt up, his warm fingers brushing my bare skin. I nearly groaned at the sensation.

“Blake, where are you going?”

“Couch. I don’t think I can stand if you kiss me again. Not now.”

He chuckled, a sound full of male pride. He knew he was hot. Hell, everyone in town and half the towns on the St. Lawrence River knew he was hot. Ian was well-known, and not just for the amazing wooden boats he built and restored. I wasn’t going to think about that at the moment. I wasn’t going to sleep with him. But I’d happily make out with him for a while and add it to my mental fantasy video.

Once we were out of the hallway, he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me flush against him. We walked together, our steps synced as our bodies moved toward the couch.

Ian knew my home as well as I did. He turned on the lamp next to my couch and turned me toward him. “Blake.”

“Hmm?”

“Breathe, babe.”

I sucked in a breath and tried to draw another one.

“Blake, breathe. Calm down, babe.”

I nodded and tried to force myself not to hyperventilate. Ian ducked down, catching my gaze and breathing deep. I imitated his breaths, feeling my heart rate calm down and my breathing level out.

How was the man who caused the problem also the solution?

“Blake?”

“I’m okay.”

“Do you want me to go?”

“No!”

He chuckled and swiped his thumb over his lower lip.

“Sorry, I mean, no. I’d rather you didn’t.”

“Good,” he said, his voice slipping back into that deep, husky tone that lit my nerves on fire and made my panties wet.

He earned his reputation. Without even trying, he had me desperate for him to kiss me or touch me or something.

He took my hand and led me to the couch. He sat and pulled me down next to him. “You’re in charge here, Blake.”

I shook my head.

“No?”

“I think you need to be in charge.”

He raised an eyebrow at me. “Are you sure about that?”

I nodded. I wasn’t sure about anything, but I knew I’d embarrass myself if I tried to initiate anything. My experience paled in comparison to his.

“Come here, babe,” he said gently, wrapping his arm around my back and lifting me onto his lap.

I straddled him, sinking onto his lap. I jerked up when I felt a firm ridge at my core.

“You’re not running from me, Blake.”

“I didn’t run,” I argued.

He pressed his fingers into my back, just above my waistband, guiding me down onto him.

“Ian?”

One hand trailed down my throat, drawing goosebumps from every inch he touched. His fingers grazed back up then speared into my hair and tugged me down to him.

He didn’t kiss me slow. Not like he did on the dance floor. Oh, no. This kiss was anything but slow. All of a sudden, his tongue was in my mouth, licking my tongue, thrusting, tasting me. The hand in my hair tilted my head to the side, and he plunged in even deeper.

He withdrew just enough for me to whimper at the loss, then thrust in again. In and out, gentle and firm, kiss and nip. He drove me crazy. Every time I thought I could keep up with him, he changed what he was doing and made me guess again.

His hand on my back pressed me closer to him until my entire body was plastered to his. My breasts squished to his chest, my curves tight against his planes. I wanted to hide my body from him, but he slid his hand up and down my back, over my side, and down my thigh, touching all the curves that I hated.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and told myself to enjoy it while it lasted. Ian wouldn’t hang around long. He wasn’t the kind of guy who stuck, and I wasn’t a one-night stand type of woman.

I lost myself in Ian, enjoying the feel of him between my thighs and his kisses making me crazy. When he left, I was going to have plenty of material to fuel my fantasies.

Just when I thought I could get a few more minutes of pleasure, a knock on the door echoed through my house. I jumped back, my breath freezing in my throat.

I climbed off of Ian and dragged him to his feet as the knock came again. “You need to go,” I said, shoving him toward the side door.

“What?”

“Go. Now. I’m sorry, but you can’t be here right now.”

“Why the hell not? Who is that?”

“Please, Ian,” I begged, tugging on him.

He didn’t budge. He stared at my door, then took in my expression, and his hardened. “I kissed you on the dance floor at O’Kelley’s. In front of the whole fucking town, Blake. Who’s at your door at two-thirty in the damn morning?”

“Ian, just go.”

He shook his head and shook my hand off him. “Hell, no. I’m not going to sneak out the back so your late night booty call can come in. If he wants to come in, he can see me here. I’m not a warm up, Blake.”

“Ian, don’t!” I shouted as he walked to my front door and yanked it open.

“Oh, hi,” my mother purred from the front porch. Thankfully, she didn’t fall inside when he opened the door.

“Ms. Dewitt?”

She laughed. “Oh, honey, you don’t need to call me that. I’m Nadine, gorgeous.”

“Mom,” I hissed.

“What?” she blurted. Then she looked at Ian. “My daughter is no fun. She’s always telling me to stop drinking and sleeping with men I don’t know, but why would I do that?”

“Mom, please,” I said, moving toward her. I pulled her inside and closed the door behind her. I managed to get her to the couch, where she sank down in the same spot Ian and I had just been.

“Blake, you should sleep with that sexy man I just saw. I don’t know where he went, but he was h-o-t, Blakey.”

My cheeks heated from embarrassment. I couldn’t look at Ian. I never should have let him come in. She always showed up on Friday and Saturday nights. Thankfully, she didn’t do this during the week, but weekends were when she ‘let go.’

“Okay, Mom. Let’s get you to sleep,” I said.

“You really need a better couch,” she grumbled as she laid down. “Or a bed for me to crash in. You should really take better care of me.”

“Or you could stop drinking and go home,” I said softly. It wouldn’t matter if she heard me or not. She wasn’t going to quit. She’d been doing this off and on since I was in high school. I spent nights at Finley’s house on the weekends so I didn’t have to live with it, but Finley never spent the night at my house. Not after the first time Mom came home drunk and Finley worriedly asked if she was okay. I’d hoped my mom would have outgrown getting drunk most weekends, but so far I was the only one bothered by it.

Her soft snores were the only response I heard from her. I covered her with the blanket on the back of the couch and went to my kitchen. I took the vinyl tablecloth out of the trash can in my pantry and carried both back to the living room, painfully aware of Ian’s silent stare following my every move.

I moved the coffee table away from the couch and laid the tablecloth on the floor. I set the trash can in front of her where she wouldn’t miss.

Then I forced a smile and looked toward Ian. “You should go.”

“Blake,” he said softly, his tone gentle and questioning.

“It’s fine.”

I swallowed the emotion in my throat and squeezed my eyes shut. I grew up in MacKellar Cove. I went to college in Syracuse, but I moved back home once I was done. I lived with Mom for a few years, but as soon as I could afford my own house in town, I moved out. On my own. And during all those years, I kept my mother’s drinking from my friends.

Having Ian witness my biggest shame doused any chance of flames.

He moved around the couch and approached me. I wanted to run from him, but it wouldn’t change anything. Better I face it head-on and end whatever this was before it got started.

“Thanks for walking me home,” I said when he reached me.

“Blake, babe. Look at me.” His tone pried open all the walls I built around my feelings about my mother.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I said softly. I couldn’t trust my voice. Any louder and it would shake, and he’d know how upset I truly was.

“I’m not going to make you talk.”

“I’m not really in the mood anymore, either.”

“Do you really think I’m trying to get in your pants after your mother just tried to feel me up and then told you to sleep with me?”

I closed my eyes as a fresh wave of shame washed over me. All the times I hated dealing with her paled in comparison to Ian seeing it.

He pulled me into his arms, enveloping me in a warm hug that undid every shred of my resolve. I wrapped my arms around him and drew in a ragged breath. I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t. Not until he was gone.

“This isn’t the first time she’s done this, is it?”

I shook my head.

“How long, Blake?”

I shrugged.

“Oh, babe. Years?”

I hesitated then nodded.

“Blake,” he groaned. “Why didn’t I know about this?”

I laughed and pushed out of his embrace. “Because no one knows. I don’t tell anyone. Finley doesn’t even know. Do you really think I want everyone to look at me like you are right now? She holds it together well enough when she’s out so people don’t really know how much she’s drinking. She’s never passed out in public or gotten sick. She saves that pleasure for me.”

“You shouldn’t be dealing with this alone,” he said softly.

I laughed mirthlessly and gestured around the room. “And who do you think is going to help me? I’m an only child. I have no father. And the only man I’ve been involved with in the last decade thought I cheated on him with you in Hawaii.”

“What?”

I sighed and dropped my head into my hands. “Forget it.”

“Willie thinks we slept together? Why?”

“I don’t know! It doesn’t really matter, though, because he broke up with me months ago. And after tonight, he’s convinced he was right the whole time about us.”

“Do you still love him?”

I snorted. “I don’t think I ever loved him.”

“What do you mean?”

I shook my head and walked into the kitchen. I needed water, and it seemed Ian wasn’t leaving any time soon. I poured us both waters and handed his over. I drank mine, stalling for time.

“What do you mean you never loved him, babe?”

I shrugged. “I think I wanted to. I wanted to believe he could be…important to me. Our relationship was always easy, comfortable. We never fought, we never argued, we just existed together. When he asked me to marry him, I couldn’t imagine living with him. Having him here or moving in with him felt like it would be more annoying than anything else. And after going to Hawaii and seeing Georgia and Eddie, and all those other couples, I knew I couldn’t stay with him.”

“I thought he broke up with you,” Ian said.

I rolled my eyes. “Thanks. Yeah, he did. I chickened out when we got home. But I’d pulled back. He convinced himself I cheated on him while I was gone, and he said we always seemed like we weren’t just friends and decided I must have slept with you.”

“Did you tell him we didn’t?”

I nodded. “Of course, but he didn’t believe me. I’m sorry. I should have told you in case someone ever says something.”

“I don’t care what Willie thinks or says. I only care about you, Blake.”

I drew in a breath, feeling like he meant it. We’d been friends forever, though. I knew he cared. He just didn’t care like I hoped someone would care about me.

“I should go,” he said, draining his water and putting the glass in my dishwasher. He knew I hated having dirty dishes in the sink.

I followed him to the door and held it open when he walked out.

“I’m sorry the night ended the way it did.”

I nodded.

“Maybe we can try again sometime.”

I smiled sadly at him. I would happily try again, but Ian didn’t go back to the same girl more than once. I’d missed my chance.

“I’ll see you around, Ian.”

He leaned forward and kissed my forehead. “Lock your door, Blake.”

I nodded and closed it behind him. I turned off the lamp and checked on my mother then made sure the side door was locked. I put my glass in the dishwasher with Ian’s and turned off the kitchen light, then headed to bed. Alone.

As always.