Friends & Lovers Trilogy (8 page)

Briana blushed at that, and couldn’t help
the smile that formed at his words. She’d always assumed that he’d
see other girls while he was away, and she’d figured that unlike
her, he would have another relationship. But she couldn’t help the
uneasy feeling that came with hearing he’d had another
girlfriend.

“
What happened?” she asked.
“Why’d you break up?”

“
She was only interested in
dating me because I played football and was getting scouted. Once I
got injured, there was nothing that I could do to help her get what
she wanted.”

“
That sucks,” she said,
getting angry on his behalf. “She sounds like a terrible
person.”

Colin chuckled at her reaction. “Nah, she’s
not that bad,” he replied. “Like I said, we knew what our
relationship was, so the only thing that was injured when she
dumped me was my pride.”

Briana squeezed his hand, then let it go
when their food arrived and they both began to eat.

They talked a bit more while they ate;
catching up on things they’d missed in each other’s lives since
they’d last spoken. As they waited for the waiter to return with
their bill, Briana talked to him about Pete’s love for Kara.

“
I feel so bad. He’s been
in love with her for over a year, and every time she brings another
guy around, she crushes him a little bit more.”

“
Does she know how he
feels?” Colin asked.

She frowned. “She thinks he has a crush, so
she doesn’t take him seriously. She says that she wants to stay
single and just enjoy life, but I don’t think she is enjoying life.
I think she would love to have someone, but that she’s afraid of
being hurt.”

After he signed the bill, Colin took her
hand and said, “You have to let them work this out. If you
interfere, you’re just going to upset Kara.”

“
I know,” she admitted,
“but I know that Pete is exactly what she needs. I just wish she’d
give him a chance.”

They walked out of the restaurant, but Colin
paused before they got to his truck.

“
I know that you have to
get up early to go to your Moms, but I’m not ready for our night to
end.” He pushed a strand of hair behind her ear as he
spoke.

“
It’s still early,” she
responded. “What did you have in mind?”

“
I have a bottle of wine in
the truck. How about the gravel pits?” he suggested.

“
Okay,” she agreed with a
smile, reaching up to give him a soft kiss on the lips. “Thanks for
dinner.”

He leaned into her and deepened the kiss.
“My pleasure.”

When they got to the gravel pits and snuck
through the fence, Colin opened his bag and produced a blanket, a
bottle of wine, a corkscrew and two glasses.

“
Looks like you thought of
everything,” Briana said, pleasure lighting up her face.

He spread out the blanket near the edge of
the water and opened the bottle as she got comfortable. He poured
her a glass and handed it to her, sitting down so their thighs
touched.

He held his glass up to her and said, “To
second chances, and to the most amazing woman I know.”

“
To second chances,” she
toasted.

She took a sip and looked out over the
water. “It’s a beautiful night. I love the way the moon shines out
over the water. It’s magical.”

Colin looked at her face reflected in the
moonlight as he tried his wine. He felt the familiar longing and
contentment that he always had when he was with her.

“
Hey.” She turned to him
with a wicked grin. “Wanna go swimming?”

“
We don’t have our
suits.”

“
You gonna let that stop
you?” she asked as she stood up and placed her glass on a nearby
rock and began to pull her shirt over her head.

Colin watched, awestruck, as she shimmied
out of her skirt, then walked to the water and looked over her
shoulder at him as she took off her bra and threw it on the ground
next to her.

She gave him a come-hither smile. He jumped
to his feet and yanked his shirt over his head. When he pulled at
his buckle, he watched as she strode to the water and dove in, her
gorgeous body softly glowing in the moonlight.

He almost tripped in his eagerness to get
his pants off, but quickly righted himself and finished taking off
the rest of his clothing. It seemed he was no longer capable of
rational thought. His sole focus was on getting in that water as
fast as possible.

He barely registered the chill of the water
as he dove in the direction that Briana had gone. When he surfaced,
she was a few feet away from him, treading water as she waited.

He swam up to her and pulled her to him. She
wound her arms around his neck.

Their lips met frantically, both of them
reveling in the feel of their wet bodies meeting beneath the water,
forgetting momentarily to kick their legs in order to stay above
water.

They stayed in the kiss for a moment, as
their heads submerged, then pulled apart and resurfaced with a few
kicks.

They were both laughing as they came up for
air, then began to slowly swim towards the shallow end. When they
reached solid ground, they came together, bodies hot and eager to
touch.

Briana moaned into his mouth, as Colin began
to lose control. Their hands were everywhere, the silky feel of her
body turning him on more than he’d ever been. He broke from her
lips and trailed kisses along her jaw and neck as her hands roamed
freely under the surface.

The light shining in his face barely
registered, as Colin licked and nibbled eagerly along Briana’s
shoulder, fueled by the soft sounds emitting from her throat.

But when he heard a voice say, “Come out of
the water and leave the premises, you’re on private property,” the
fog in his brain began to clear.

They broke apart and looked over towards the
voice, which had come from a police officer. He shined his
flashlight in their direction.

“
Come out of the water
folks,” the officer said again.

Colin was almost to the shore when he
realized that he and Briana were naked. She hid shyly behind his
body.

“
Um, Sir, we’re going to
exit the water, but would you mind turning off the flashlight and
allowing my date to get her clothes?” Colin said loudly, trying to
sound firm but respectful at the same time. He didn’t want to anger
the cop and get them in any further trouble.

The light went out and the policeman turned.
They ran from the water to their clothes and dressed as quickly as
possible, their bodies’ slick and no towels available to dry
off.

Once they were dressed, Colin threw
everything back into the bag and thanked the officer as they made
their way back towards the fence.

“
Just remember this is
private property and it’s not safe to be out here at night,” the
police officer called after them. “Don’t let me catch you here
again.”

“
Yes, Sir,” they both
yelled back at him as they scurried down the road to Colin’s
truck.

When they got inside, they both started
laughing, and soon Briana was overcome by giggles.

“
I was so scared when he
started talking,” she managed. “I never heard him come
up.”

“
Neither did I. I almost
had a heart attack when I realized what was happening.”

Briana giggled all the way back to her
house. She tried to make her hair look presentable, but without
access to a mirror and brush, she just threw it up in a bun on her
head.

When he parked in front of her house, he
turned to her and asked, “Can I walk you to your door?”

“
Of course.”

He smiled, his dimples causing her heart to
flutter in her chest. He held her hand up the stairs and turned her
towards him when they reached her door.

“
Thanks again for coming
out with me, Bree. I had a wonderful time, cops and
all.”

“
So did I,” she agreed. “I
can’t remember the last time I had so much fun.”

He leaned down slowly, watching her eyes as
he drew near. He brought his hands up to either side of her face
and held her gently, as his lips touched hers.

She brought her hands to his hips, digging
her fingers in as the kiss melted every bone in her body. As he
deepened the kiss, she moaned in his mouth, which caused his head
to feel light and his pants to grow too tight.

He took a few more minutes to torture
himself, but stopped when he still had it in him to do so.

“
Call me when you get back
from your mother’s?” he asked her, leaning his forehead against
hers so he could catch his breath.

“
I will.” She reached up
for one last kiss before she opened the door and closed it on him
leaving him with a sexy smile.

Colin stood there for a moment, staring at
the place her beautiful face had just been, and realized that he
may be in over his head this time.

Chapter Twelve

Briana rose early the next morning and got
ready to drive out to her mother’s. As she was getting dressed, she
couldn’t help but think back to her date with Colin.

She felt herself softening towards him. When
they were together it felt just like it used to, comfortable and
right, with a hint of sexual tension.

She worried about letting him get close to
her again. She’d been hurt so badly when he’d broken up with her,
but she had to admit that she was starting to like him for the man
he was now, not just the boy he’d been. He’d been through a lot
over the past few years, and he’d had to grow up and realize that
the dream he’d always pursued would never come true now.

She was really enjoying spending time with
him, and she had to admit, kissing him now was hotter than it had
ever been when they were in high school. She just hoped she wasn’t
making a mistake by trusting him again.

She called goodbye to Kara as she walked out
the door, and smiled at the grunt that answered her. It only took
thirty minutes until she turned down the long, dirt road that led
to her mother’s farm.

When she got out and shut her car door, she
smelled cooking bacon coming from inside the house.

She loved breakfast at her mother’s. When
she walked through the door, she was overcome by the feelings of
safety and security that she remembered from her youth.

The décor was a mix of items from Briana’s
childhood and the new furniture that her mom and Ray had purchased
together. The house was full of warmth and charm, and screamed of
comfort and happiness. It was one of Briana’s favorite places.

She walked into the kitchen, tiptoed across
the floor, and wrapped her arms around her mother, squeezing her
tight.

“
Oh, Briana,” her mother
said breathlessly. “You startled me.”

Her mother turned and threw her arms around
her, hugging her close and kissing her cheek.

“
It’s good to see you, Baby
Girl,” she said with a big grin.

Briana thought her mother was gorgeous, with
her grey hair styled in a sleek bob, and her face a map of years of
laughter and happiness. Other than during the period of time after
her father passed away, her mother had always been the happiest,
most optimistic person that Briana knew.

She loved her to pieces.

“
It’s good to see you too,
Mama.”

“
Come on over and have a
seat. I’ll call Ray and we can all sit down and enjoy our
breakfast.”

Briana sat down at the table and poured
herself some coffee, putting a little cream and sugar in it.

When Ray walked into the room he went right
over to kiss the top of Briana’s head, before sitting in his
seat.

“
Hello, Bree,” he said with
a smile. “It’s good to see you again. Your mama’s been missing
you.”

“
Now, Ray, I know Briana is
a busy girl with a life of her own,” her mother countered. “But I
always welcome her visits.”

“
I’m sorry it’s been so
long, Mama. I’ve just been so caught up in work,” Briana explained,
feeling a tug of guilt at her mother’s words. “I almost have my
application finished for culinary school.”

“
That’s wonderful, dear,”
her mother said, patting her hand. “And don’t worry about coming to
see me all of the time. You need to live your life, and I need to
get used to you being far away again. When you get accepted to that
school and move to Austin, I won’t get to see you as
much.”

“
I’ll come home whenever I
can.”

“
I’m sure you will. Now,
tell me… what’s this I hear about Colin being back in
town?”

Briana blushed though she should have known
that her mother’s friends from town would be keeping her up-to-date
on all of the latest gossip.

“
He’s back,” Briana
admitted. “He got injured and won’t be able to play football
anymore, so he came home. He’s helping his daddy at the store now.
But you know him, Mama. Running the store isn’t what he wants to do
for the rest of his life. He’s thinking about trying to
coach.”

Briana’s mother looked at Ray with a smile
and then back at her daughter. “Sounds like you sure know a lot
about it,” she said with a wink.

Briana shoveled a piece of French toast into
her mouth, trying to buy herself some time to compose herself. She
couldn’t prevent her embarrassed flush.

“
That’s okay. I can wait,”
her mother said with a smirk.

Ray just chuckled and helped himself to some
more bacon.

Briana swallowed and took a swig of her
coffee, trying to dampen her suddenly dry mouth. “Um, yeah, I’ve
seen him,” she stuttered.