Kissing Trouble (7 page)

“No roommates?”

Julie shook her head. “I like my privacy.”

He nodded slowly, like it made perfect sense. “I guess it would be hard scheduling when to bring your boyfriend home with a roommate.”

She thought about it.

“Yeah, I guess that would be a problem,” she decided at last. “I also don’t like getting permission to bring people into my home, so that’s another reason.”

He kicked hard at a chunk of stone and sent it rolling down the path.

“So how come your boyfriend didn’t come with you on this trip? I mean, this would be the ideal getaway.”

Julie watched him thoughtfully while she mulled over his question. “Not really. I’m here to watch three crazy kids. When do you think we would have any downtime?”

He shrugged, but the motion was tense. “I don’t know, but I do know that if I were in his place, I wouldn’t want you up here alone.”

Julie snorted at the ridiculousness of his statement. “Because I might get eaten by a bear?”

There was a hard intensity in his gaze when they locked with hers. “It’s dangerous. You never know what kind of crazy person is out there in those woods.”

“Well, I can look after myself.” She jerked her face forward. “As I already proved last night.”

He shot her a frown that was a poor mask for the grin he was fighting back.

“You got lucky,” he muttered. “You caught us off guard.” The humor dissolved from his eyes and he forced a hand through his hair. “So what’s his name?”

Julie, caught off guard by the unexpected question, blinked. “Whose name?”

“Your boyfriend.” He didn’t say it so much as spat it like it was a dirty word.

Julie eyed him as though he’d lost his mind. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”

Mason’s brows winged up and his eyes widened, and if she wasn’t mistaken, there was interest and maybe even glee behind the look he shot her, even if it was mixed with apprehension.

“But you said ... all that talk about roommates...”

“I thought we were being hypothetical,” she replied evenly.

Whatever else he wanted to say was interrupted by Julie’s attention fixing on the children and the steep incline dropping straight onto a large opening next to the lake.

She bolted after them as they started pitching rocks into the water.

“Guys, can you back up a little? The mud there looks slippery.”

“They’re fine.” Mason caught up to her. “I’ve jumped off this point a million times. It’s like three feet deep.”

Hesitant, Julie nibbled her lip and fiddled with the butterfly pendent around her throat. The hoop slid back and forth over the tiny ridges as anxiety knotted up inside her with every step the children took closer to the water.

“Is that the best you guys can do?”

Moving around Julie, Mason swooped down and snatched up a flat, smooth stone. He drew back his arm and, with a flick of his wrist, sent it bouncing smoothly over the glimmering surface of the lake.

“It’s all in the wrist,” he told Rick when the boy flung a chunk of dirt that immediately hit the water with a splash and sunk.

Julie stood back and observed as Mason showed the kids how to skip the perfect stone. Dustin was the only one who seemed immune to the shrieking and fun. He stalked off further down the path and flopped gracelessly down at the foot of a tree. He raised both knees and folded his arms on top.

With a sigh, Julie went to him, ignored the dirty look he cast her, and lowered herself down next to him.

“Hey.”

He didn’t reply.

“Do you know how to skip stones?”

Still nothing.

“Why don’t you give it a shot?” she tried again, and when she got no response again, she sighed. “Look, I know you don’t want to be here—”

“I never said that,” he muttered.

“Then why—?”

“I just don’t want to be here with you.” The sun sparked off the lenses of his glasses when he turned his head sharply in her direction. “You shouldn’t be here.”

Trying not to feel hurt, or take offense, Julie nodded slowly. “I know you used to come here with your parents, but—”

“Stop trying to understand me!” He lunged to his feet. “You don’t know anything.”

Stabbing her with a sneer that struck her like a physical blow, he stomped off.

Julie shot up, prepared to hurry after him. “Dustin, wait—”

“Let him go.” Mason took a step towards her, hands in his pockets. He watched the boy’s retreating back with his mouth forming a thin, white line. “He can’t go anywhere but back to the cabin.”

“But he could get lost, or—”

“Not really.” He shifted his attention to her. “We’ve been here too many times for that. Besides, like I said, the path goes in a circle and leads straight back to the cabin.”

“Mason! Did you see?” Rick took that moment to grab Mason’s arm and yank him back towards the lake’s edge. “It skipped like ten times!”

“It did not, stupid!” Wendy scolded. “It like got confused and skipped once.”

“My rock did not get confused!” Rick protested.

“That’s awesome!” Mason quickly intervened. “Show me.”

He was nothing if not infinitely patient and indulgent. Even as children, he had always been so kind to everyone and everyone loved him for it. It was never any surprise that every girl in school had fawned over him, but in Julie’s mind, none of them had what she had—her times with him when he was babysitting. She had been so certain he cared about her, too. That he would pick her.

Then he had brought over his first girlfriend, a pretty brunette with too many teeth and perfect skin. Julie had wanted to die. It had been the first time he’d crushed her heart to powder, but not the last.

As they always did, memories of that night picked at the crude stitches over her heart, agitating the never healing wound. The physical pang had her rubbing at the soreness with the heel of one hand while the other toyed with her pendent.

“Julie? What’s wrong?”

Caught in a moment of temporary vulnerability, Julie quickly straightened and checked her watch.

“We should head back for lunch.”

Not waiting to see what Mason was thinking, Julie ushered the kids away from the lake and propelled them back towards the cabin.

Shaun and Luis were both in the kitchen when the group returned. They sat over bowls of soggy cornflakes as something like
Machine Wars
played on the flat screen in the next room.

In the bright light of the afternoon sun, Shaun looked even worse than he had the night before. The swelling around his nose and eyes was vividly visible where the butt of the bat had struck him square between the eyes. The skin, already dark with stubble, looked agitated, tender, and angry. Julie almost felt horrible.

“We were beginning to wonder where you’d gone off to,” Luis said when they walked in. “We thought maybe she killed you in your sleep and was off burying your body.”

Scooping Wendy off his shoulders and setting her down, Mason scoffed. “Unlike you two, she didn’t get the jump on me.”

“No.” Shaun shoveled a spoonful of cereal into his mouth. “She just kicked your balls up into your—”

“Okay!” Julie quickly intervened. “There are children in the room.”

Shaun had the decency to wince and mutter, “Sorry.”

She turned to the two wide pairs of eyes watching the interaction with mute curiosity.

“Why don’t you guys get your swimsuits? I’ll pack us a lunch and we’ll go for a swim.”

Rick and Wendy practically trampled over each other trying to get out of the room. Dustin was nowhere to be seen, but Julie had a suspicion he was the one parked in front of the TV.

Julie exhaled and turned to find three sets of eyes studying her every move. Unlike the night before, they shared a unified expression—confusion mixed with a touch of suspicion.

“We were never introduced properly.” Luis broke the silence. “I’m Luis. This is Shaun—”

“She knows, dumbass,” Shaun muttered, returning to his breakfast ... brunch.

Some of Luis’s smile faded and was replaced by a splash of coloring that darkened his otherwise pale complexion. “Right...”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Julie said, ignoring Shaun and no longer feeling half as bad about giving him two black eyes. “I’m Julie.”

Luis broke into a charming smile that revealed slightly crooked teeth. “So that was seriously some impressive tactical maneuvering last night.”

Julie chuckled. “That was eight years of my father insisting his daughter would never be anyone’s victim. But thank you, and I’m sorry if I hurt you.”

“Whoa!” Mason, no longer entertained by the interaction, stepped forward, hands up. “Whoa, whoa, wait.” He jerked a thumb towards Luis. “How come he gets an apology?”

Julie snorted at the ridiculous question. “Because I like him.” She shot Luis a wink.

Luis beamed. “Well, it was seriously hot...” Luis flushed. “I mean...”

Stifling her laugh, Julie inclined her head. “Thank you.”

“Back off, Romeo,” Shaun mumbled. “Stop slobbering all over her.”

“I wasn’t slobbering!” Luis looked to Julie. “I wasn’t.”

Biting the inside of her cheek to contain her laughter, Julie started around the counter towards the fridge.

No one said anything as she pulled items out for the picnic and set them on the counter. Mason and Luis parked themselves on a stool on either side of Shaun and began a very detailed discussion on making a trip into town for supplies.

Julie fought desperately to ignore Mason’s dominating presence, but it was like ignoring a forest fire when it was only feet away from you. She could feel his heat washing over her through the space dividing them. But she pulled together a quick lunch of sandwiches, cheese and fruits and was absently sweeping clean the counter when Luis slid back his stool and announced he had emails to check. Shaun, after finishing his cereal, dumped his bowl into the sink and stomped off to find a chair in front of the TV with Dustin, leaving Mason there to pick idly at the container of roast beef until Julie threatened to cut his fingers off.

“You are truly a violent woman,” he decided. “I feel like no part of me is safe with you.” Before she could stop him, he snatched a large chunk of meat and scurried towards the door. “For the road,” he said around the hunk he had shoved into his mouth.

Julie watched him warily as he strolled from the kitchen and disappeared into the hallway. She shook her head as his footsteps faded into the distance.

She was still standing at the island, staring at the giant sun spill burning blindingly on the hardwood floor from the open terrace door, when Wendy bounded into the room. She had to blink back the splotches of light before she could focus on the girl.

She wore a one piece yellow swimsuit and flip flops with a pink towel slung over one tiny shoulder. She threw it carelessly over a stool and scrambled up onto another to watch as Julie collected herself out of her own thoughts and tried to remember what needed to be done next.

“Can I go to the lake?” she asked.

“Let’s wait for everyone else,” Julie replied.

Wendy mashed her chin into her palms and huffed. “But I know how to swim,” she said.

“Yes, but you still can’t go alone.”

“But I’m nine!” Wendy argued.

Julie looked up at her. “Yes, but you need to wait, okay? There are still a few things that need to be done before we can go down and I don’t want you there alone.”

Wendy puckered her lips, but didn’t push.

Rick bounced into the room next, wearing navy blue trunks. He shoved Wendy’s towel to the ground and scurried up on the stool.

“Rick threw my towel to the ground!” Wendy wailed.

“It was taking up a whole stool!” Rick protested.

Julie sighed. “Guys, keep it together. We’re almost done. Rick, please pick up the towel and put it over a chair.”

Grumbling, Rick slipped off the stool, snatched up the towel, and tossed it heedlessly onto the table where it slid across the glass and stopped short of flipping off the edge and onto the floor again.

With the basket packed and two of the three kids ready, Julie turned to the children.

“I’m going to run upstairs and get dressed. You two are not allowed to leave the house until I get back, okay?”

The two nodded with all the looks of innocent angels. Too bad she knew them too well.

“Promise?” Julie urged. “You have to stay right here.”

Again, the two nodded, but in no way did it ease her mind. She was contemplating taking them upstairs with her and making them wait in their rooms until she was done when Mason sauntered in. His dark hair had been shoved back by hasty fingers, yet several strands had tumbled recklessly over his brow and the black plastic of his sunglasses. His jaw was freshly shaven and Julie was torn between which look she liked better on him. He was topless, miles of taut, toned muscle bared for viewing pleasure. His torso reminded Julie of Greek battle armor, chiseled and defined with absolute perfection. Everything from the hard cuts of his breast plates to the taper of his narrow waist and the rock hard groves etched into his stomach were designed to make a smart girl go stupid. Black swimming trunks hung low on lean hips and her gaze was caught in the V that disappeared into the waistband. 

He meandered to the opposite end of the island, tossed down a towel she hadn’t noticed him holding, and swept off his glasses. He gingerly folded the plastic arms, rested them on the counter next to the towel, and drew his bottom lip between his teeth. The right corner quirked. His lashes dropped to half-masts over twinkling blue eyes as he peered through them at her.

Julie, who was scarcely breathing, never mind being capable of rational thought, could do nothing but stare back, wide-eyed and flushed.

Mason rolled his tongue over his teeth and cocked his head ever so slightly to the side. “Just tell me when, baby.”

Julie blinked. The movement felt slow and dazed. “When what?”

He folded toned forearms on the counter between them and lowered his voice to a gravelly purr only she could hear. “When you want me to make that aching stop.”

The slow, steady thrum that had been building high in the junction of her thighs gave a desperate twang. The walls clenched like they could somehow wrap around his guttural words and ride them straight to climax. Arousal slickened her folds, dampening her panties, and she wished he would stop watching her so she could at least shift her weight to elevate some of the pressure.