Between the Sheets (10 page)

“
That’s okay. We’ll have
plenty of time to read it. It’s not like I’m gonna get prego right
away. I’ve been on the pill for years. With only two weeks off of
it, I doubt my uterus is baby prone just yet.”

“
You never know. I’m a
persistent guy. I could have Olympic swimmers who are committed to
the task.”

“
Oh my god. My husband has
the Michael Phelps of sperm. I could be pregnant right now with
those kinds of suckers plunging to the finish line.”

An older gentleman clears his throat.
Matty tries to hide a smirk. The guy is ancient. I’m sure he’s
heard the word sperm before. It’s not like I said Matty has magical
jizz that can float through walls.

Son of a biscuit. Some people are just
so uptight.

We’re in the car on our way home and I
start thinking of my friend again. “I wonder what Ty and Mel are
doing now.”

Matty takes my phone out of the cup
holder and passes it to me. “Call her.”

“
No, I don’t want to
interrupt them.”

“
Do it. Or I’m going
to.”

I take the phone away from him.
“Fi-ine.” A smile creeps across my face. “But only because you’re
making me.”

“
Hey,” Mel sings into the
phone. “Why haven’t you called me?”

“
I’ve been dying to but I
didn’t want to be a cock block, playa.” I glance over at my husband
and he’s shaking his head at me with a laugh. That always seems to
be the theme. I say something cheeky, he shakes his head. “Why
haven’t you called me?”

“
Because I didn’t want to
be a cock block either. Didn’t want to mess with your game, dawg.”
She drags out the words of her thug speak, and another round of
chuckles burst out. “Okay, seriously. You’re newlyweds on vacation.
I figured Matt would have you all twisted up like a pretzel. The
quiet ones are the ones you have to watch out for. I bet he gets
real freaky.”

“
Oh, Melly, you don’t even
know. Let’s just say that Pilates class I’ve been taking has paid
off. I can reach my ankles all the way to my ears.” The windshield
of Matty’s car is sprayed with soda at that comment. He’s wiping
his mouth with the back of his hand and chuckling at the same time.
“You don’t know the meaning of deep until the front of your thighs
are pressed flat against your chest.”

“
Honey, you gotta stop.
You’re killing me,” his voice trembles with laughter.

“
Sorry, Mel. No more
details. My husband’s about to hyperventilate he’s laughing so
hard.”

“
I bet,” she says. “I’m
snorting over here.”

“
When aren’t you?” I crack
up because the girl is always snorting. She can’t let out just a
little laugh. If she thinks something’s funny, she lets out a loud
belly laugh until it crawls all the way up her nostrils and she
sounds like a hog.

“
You have a
point.”

“
So what are you up to?
Where’s my brother? I’m surprised I haven’t heard him talking smack
in the background.” My brother is incapable of keeping his mouth
shut. Kinda like Mel. I wonder how they have conversations. I
should buy them an egg timer as a wedding gift—because of course,
they’re going to get married, they just don’t know it yet. They can
each take turns talking until their time is up. Otherwise, I have
no idea how they can communicate.

“
He’s in the
shower.”

“
In the middle of the
day?”

“
Well, yeah. We had a late
night. And we were busy this morning. So we’re just relaxing
today.”

“
Busy? What’d you guys
do?”

“
You really want me to
spell it out, Shel?” she asks through a laugh. “Because I can give
you all the sexy details. And believe me, there are plenty. And
about the wild sex against the wall? Yeah, nothing uncomfortable
about it over here …”

“
La la la,” I chant into
the phone. “No more, no more. Tell me about your sightseeing. How’s
that going? Tell me all about the boatloads of Ghirardelli
chocolate you’ve eaten. I won’t be mad at you if you bring some
back with you.”

“
I’ve eaten enough
chocolate for both of us. And I can’t bring any back because I’m
gonna need the extra space in my car to fit my lard ass after
everything I’ve eaten on this trip. If I gain another pound, I’m
never visiting your brother again. With all the sourdough bowls and
chocolate fudge brownie sundaes I’ve consumed, I could fast for two
months and still have enough fat stored on my body to feed a small
country.”

“
Yay,” I squeal. “You’re
having such a good time. I’m so happy for you.” Matty reaches over
and squeezes my hand in his. “You’re happy, right?”

“
Definitely. I haven’t been
this happy in a long time. It’s amazing to be with someone who
cares so much about me. He puts me first, before anything. Before
his own needs. I’ve never had that before.”

“
Nick was a dumb
shit.”

“
Yes, he was. But I guess I
didn’t know what I was missing till I found something better. In
this case, the grass has definitely been greener on the other
side.”

“
Aww.” I press my hand to
my chest, feeling my heart beating rapidly.

“
Shel, can you just be my
best friend for a minute and not Ty’s little sister?”

“
I can try.”

“
I can’t keep this in.
Tyler is amazing. Stunning. Fabulous. The best lover I’ve ever had.
When I say he puts my own needs before his own, I mean he puts my
own needs first. My god, I can’t even describe it. When I was with
Nick, I thought I was gonna have to go to the doctor’s to get
treated for tennis elbow because that guy wanted me to jack him off
every five seconds and then he’d have the nerve to kiss me
goodnight and fall asleep.”

“
Oh my god, you did not
just say tennis elbow.” I crack up laughing, trying hard not to
slide off my seat into hysterics. Mel is snorting in the other end
of the phone. “Tennis elbow?” I repeat and Matty’s looking at me
like I’m crazy.

Mel blows a big breath into the phone.
“Well, my friend, I don’t have to worry about that with Ty. I might
have to take Pilates with you though. And Zumba too. I don’t know
if I can keep up with him. The man is like Forest Gump. He just
keeps going and going.”

I can’t take anymore. “Sounds like a
personal problem to me. I’m done being just your best friend. I’m
officially Ty’s little sister again. So no more about his endless
endurance. Got it?”

“
Yes,” she says. I hear a
voice in the background. “Your brother is out of the shower now.
And I’m wondering how long he’s been standing here, ear hustling my
conversation with you. That’s not nice, Ty.” Her tone is playful,
and cute. My bestie is going to be my sister-n-law, I know
it.

“
Tell him I said hi and to
come home.”

“
Shelly says hello,” she
tells him.

“
You forgot the other
part,” I remind her.

“
No, I didn’t.”

Hmm. “You don’t want him to come
home?”

“
Of course I
do.”

“
Then what?” She doesn’t
say anything. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why. I totally
get it. “You want him to come home on his own. Not because we ask
him to.”

“
You got it,
sister.”

“
Who are you calling now?”
Matty asks.

After waiting about fifteen minutes, I
take out my phone again and start tapping on the screen. “I’m
texting my brother. I want to talk to him, but I need to wait until
the coast is clear.”

“
Of what?” he asks as he
unlocks the door to our house. He holds it open for me, I go in
first, and he follows.

“
Mel.” I toss my purse on
the recliner and head into the kitchen. “Let’s have one last beer
together before I jump on the wagon.”

With his hands on my shoulders, we
shuffle into the kitchen. Matty opens the fridge, pops the cap off
a bottle, and passes me a brew. “Cheers. To making babies.” He
holds out his bottle to mine and they clink together.

“
To having fun trying.” I
narrow my gaze at him and flutter my brows. “Let’s finish this and
get started.”

“
Sounds like a plan to me.”
He takes a drink. “So why are you trying to steer clear of Mel? You
were just on the phone with her.”

“
Because I want to talk to
my brother about her. And I don’t want her to listen.”

He leans against the counter and
lowers his eyes at me. “You shouldn’t get in their business. You’re
too close to both of them, babe.”

“
I know,” I admit, knowing
full well that anything either one of them tells me, I can’t tell
the other. Whatever they share is sacred information, and I’m
really hoping I never have to keep any pressing secrets from either
one of them. It’ll kill me.

“
Come here,” he says,
opening his arms to me. He holds me tight against him and my body
sinks into his touch. I close my eyes, soaking in the moment while
his citrusy outdoors scent tickles my nose. I can feel his cold
beer against my back through the material of my cotton shirt. With
his free hand, he wanders under my shirt and presses his warm palm
to my skin. His fingertips trail down my back and inside my jeans
until he cups one of my cheeks in his hand.

“
I thought we were gonna
drink our last beer together first.”

He turns his head to the side and
brings the bottle to his mouth. After a couple of long pulls, he
sets the empty on the counter. “I’m done.”

I peel myself away from him and tilt
my own beer to my lips. I’m not as fast as my husband, but I guzzle
the whole thing before I place it next to his. “Me too.”

His fingers graze the side of my
cheeks as he brushes my hair away from my face. “I love you, Mrs.
Fuller.”

“
I love you too.” With my
eyes closed, I wait for the first touch of his lips and sigh into
his kiss. The soft press of his mouth on mine sets every part of my
body on fire. I can feel the tingling all the way down to my toes
and I squeeze my thighs together to stop me from coming undone
right here. Gently, he teases me with kisses, his warm breath
tracing over my skin as he …

“
Shit.”

The Mission Impossible theme song
sounds from my phone. “It’s my brother.”

He places a tender kiss to my cheek
and says, “Take it. I’ll go start us a bath.”

I bite my lip. A bath? I hate my
brother right now. “I’ll be right there.” Frantically, I reach for
my phone and slide my index finger across the screen.
“Hey.”

“
Hey, little sis. What’s
happening?”

“
Well, I was about to try
to make a baby and you just interrupted me.”

“
What?”

Oh, son of a bitch. Did I really say
that? So much for waiting to tell anyone about the baby. The plan
was to try for a while without saying anything. I know I would’ve
told Mel, but I didn’t plan on sharing it with my brother. What if
he tells my mom? The last thing I need is the mother hen offering
her opinion on everything I do until I get pregnant. It’s going to
get even worse when I really do have a bun in the oven. She’s gonna
hover like a lion ready to pounce. I just know it. “Don’t you dare
tell mom or I’ll kill you.”

“
So are you really trying?
You want to get prego?” His cheerful voice is music to my ears.
He’ll be a great uncle. If he’s home.

“
Well, kinda. We want to
have a baby, but we also know that it probably won’t happen right
away. We’ll just try and keep our fingers crossed.”

“
Good for you. Congrats.”
Mel’s voice is faint in the background. “It’s my sister. She wants
to get pregnant.” I hear a squealing
oh my
god
. “Can you believe that? I can’t imagine
being a dad right now. Look at this place, it’s not exactly baby
proofed. I don’t mind being an uncle though. I can always give the
kid back.”

“
Ha ha,” I tell him.
“You’ll make a great dad someday.”

“
Someday is the key word.
Just not anytime soon,” he says.

“
Give me the phone,” I hear
Mel say. “Stop. Give me the phone.” She laughs hysterically and
there are some slapping sounds.

“
What are you
doing?”

“
She’s abusing me, sister.
She’s slapping me.”

Mel calls out, “He’s tickling me,
Shel. He may not live to see tomorrow.”

“
Foreplay,” I say,
wondering if I’m talking to myself since they’re still playing
around.

“
I gotta go,
sis.”

I guess I don’t need to wonder
anymore.

Melissa

When Ty asks me if I want to see
Alcatraz today, I jump at the chance. I’ve been to San Francisco
many times but have never made the trip out to the island. The
clouds and fog have always gotten in the way, keeping me from
visiting the creepy tourist attraction. But today, the coast is
clear, the sun is shining and I’m only here for a few more days, so
why the hell not.