Light in Mourning (Mourning, #2) (7 page)

“I’m nervous.” Georgia bounced in the seat of my Jeep. It was two days before Thanksgiving and we were just a few short blocks from my childhood home.
 

“Don’t be. My dad’s laid back.”

“But what if I screw up the turkey? What if he doesn’t like my pumpkin pie? So much to live up to,” she moaned next to me.
 

“Most holidays, we eat out, so this will be a monumental step up.” I clasped her knee to prevent her from shaking it.

“Charlie's nervous too. All that panting, huh, boy?” She turned and gave my dog a scratch behind his ears and a nuzzle into the fur of his neck. He licked across her cheek and she giggled. It was the best noise I’d ever heard.
 

“His breath is about to knock me out,” I complained.
 

“Shh, he can hear, ya know.” She covered both of his ears with her hands. I rolled my eyes at her as the grin spread across my lips. So adorably fucking cute.
 

Her phone dinged with a text. She fished it out of her purse as I watched her out of the corner of my eye. A frown marred her beautiful face and she sucked her lip between her teeth. I pulled into the driveway of the small, suburban Cape Cod where I'd grown up.
 

“Everything okay?” I rubbed her thigh with my hand, hoping to ease the worry on her face.
 

Her eyes darted to mine and a bevy of emotions flicked through their brown depths. “Yeah.” She tried her best to fake a smile, but I could read right through it. “Let’s go. I can’t wait to meet your dad.” She hopped out of the car. I stood up and narrowed my eyes at her. She was definitely hiding something, but her eyes avoided mine as she shuffled through her big-ass purse for something. I let Charlie out of the backseat and made my way around the car to her.
 

I rested a hand on her lower back. “You sure everything's okay?” I dipped my head to catch her eyes with mine.
 

“Mhmm,” she hummed without meeting my eyes. I heaved a sigh and grabbed both of our bags before escorting her into the house.
 

The next morning, Georgia’s alarm went off much earlier than any sane person should ever get up and she hauled my ass out of bed to start the turkey. We were sharing a bed at my dad’s house, but that’s all we were doing. My dad had told embarrassing stories the night before—he was always chatty when company was over; too chatty for my liking. He regaled Georgia with stories of when I was eight and fell out of a tree and had to get my arm casted. And when I goosed the babysitter when I was eleven and was forced to apologize. She’d laughed hysterically at that and I’d only shrugged. The sexual prowess that had rolled off me from a young age couldn’t be contained. She’d socked me in the shoulder for that one and before she could lean away, I’d pressed her lips to mine in a kiss. She froze and then shoved me away with an indulgent smile.
 

So here I was at four in the morning, basting a turkey while Georgia fluttered around me. How could she be so fucking awake at this hour? I was dragging ass all over the place. Finally, she leaned down and slid the bird into the oven. On her way back up, I wrapped my arms around her waist and skimmed my nose along the line of her neck.
 

“Back to bed,” I murmured.
 

“We have to be up in a few hours to baste again.” She wrapped her arms around my own, which were locked at her waist.
 

“I just want you to myself today.”

“Can’t leave people hungry on Thanksgiving.” I heard the smile in her voice.
 

“I won’t go hungry.” I thrust my hips into her ass and nipped at the flesh of her neck.
 

“You are relentless,” she murmured as she turned in my arms and pressed her lips to mine. I kissed her and ran my hands up her back, pressing her body into mine, feeling every curve and dip.

“I wish you were naked right now,” I murmured against her lips.
 

“You're a hornball,” she mumbled between kisses.
 

“Your fault for making me wait. It’s torture not being inside you,” I muttered.

I heard her breath hitch at my words. “You wouldn’t in your dad’s kitchen.”

“I definitely
would
in my dad’s kitchen.” I eased her back against the counter and captured her lips with mine. She wove her fingers in my hair as our tongues tangled together.

“Bedroom.” She finally pulled away. I lifted her into my arms and she wrapped her legs around my hips without a word. I carried her down the hall and laid her out on the bed beneath me before pressing her lips to my own and thrusting my hips against hers. So fucking soft and smooth, her scent surrounding me, her hair fanned out on the white sheets—I wanted her so fucking bad, I couldn’t see straight.
 

“Can I have a minute?” She pulled away.
 

“Okay.” I watched her as she gave me one last peck and crawled out from beneath me. She trotted to the bathroom and I lay back on the bed to wait for her. I was so keyed up, my bloodstream hummed with need for her. I didn’t know how much longer I could take things slow. I was just hoping she would break soon because if she didn’t, I would. There was only so much a man could take, and I knew what it felt like to be buried inside her.
 

I fucking needed it.
 

I needed her.
 

I groaned and tossed my arm over my eyes as I waited. If she didn’t hurry up, I would need to take things into my own hands, which probably wouldn’t be a bad idea, considering I would probably be a two-pump chump when I finally was deep inside her again. I settled back into the pillow and waited.
 

“You should have woken me up.” I smacked her on the ass as she was setting the table later that day. Dad was plopped in front of the TV watching football, and Georgia and I were getting together the last few things for dinner.
 

“You looked so peaceful, and I figured if you’d fallen asleep . . .” she murmured and pecked me on the lips chastely. I groaned. I’d fallen a-fucking-sleep waiting for her to come out of the bathroom in the wee hours of the morning after she’d woken me up to baste the turkey and given me a raging hard-on.
 

“Baby, next time . . . Wake. Me. Up.” I glared at her. She only giggled before spinning around and grabbing a few more dishes to set at the table. The doorbell rang and I shot a look to my dad from the kitchen. His eyes still were trained on the game; apparently, he hadn’t heard or he was ignoring it.
 

“Expecting company?” I said as I sauntered by him toward the door.
 

“Nope,” he answered. I opened the door and a female barreled into my arms and wrapped herself around me, head to toe.
 

"Sasha,” I muttered as I breathed in her familiar scent. Lavender. Her mom grew lavender and always had it hanging in the house.
 

Sasha and I had grown up together; she’d moved in next door when I was a kid and we’d been inseparable. Her mom sort of took my dad and me under her wing. Sasha’s dad had left her, and her sister and mom, when she was little. I think her mom secretly had a crush on my dad, the way she doted over him and made his favorite meals, but he seemed blind to any attention she'd paid to him.
 

“How are you?” she squealed and pulled away, her hands resting on my shoulders.
 

“I’m great.” A wide smile spread across my face. “It’s good to see you. Been a long time.”

“I saw your Jeep in the driveway and had to pop over to say hi. Am I interrupting?” She ducked her head around me. “Hey, Mr. Howell.”
 

“Sasha! Come in. Tristan, invite her in for Christ’s sake.” He ambled over and shoved me aside before wrapping her in his arms. “Where’s your mom?” He glanced over her shoulder. Maybe hadn’t been so unaware of her attention after all.
 

“Her and my stepdad went on a cruise, so it’s just me.”
 

My dad’s face fell a little. “Right. Join us for dinner then. It’s just about done.”

“No, it’s all right. I just wanted to say hi.” Her eyes searched out mine again. She looked great. Bronze skin and dark, nearly black hair that lent her face an exotic look.
 

“No, join us; we have plenty of food.”

“You sure? I’ve been in Korea, teaching for the last year. I missed every holiday, and then Mom and Bob went away . . .” she trailed off.
 

“We’d love to have you.” Dad slung an arm over her shoulder and pulled her into the house. The three of us walked into the dining room to find Georgia just setting the turkey down at the table.
 

“Hi.” Georgia's eyes flickered with confusion. Fuck, was this going to be complicated?

“I’m Sasha. Tristan and I grew up together.” She knocked me in the shoulder with a playful smile.

“I’m Georgia. Tristan’s . . . friend.” Georgia averted her eyes from mine. Fuck, I should have introduced them. I could feel the tension racketing around the room, Georgia’s unanswered questions clear in her eyes.
 

“Georgia is my neighbor in North Carolina.” Jesus, I think I’d just inserted my foot in my mouth. She was more than my neighbor. But what were we? Georgia had left that purposefully undefined.
 

A tight smile lit Georgia’s lips. “Dinner's ready. Sit.” She nodded as my dad and Sasha took a seat at the round table. I worried my bottom lip between my teeth. Georgia caught my eyes for an instant before turning and heading back into the kitchen. I followed her.
 

“Need any help?” I snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her hip-to-hip with me.
 

“No, just grabbing gravy,” she murmured before ducking out of my grip. I narrowed my eyes. Fuck, she had no reason to be like this. But I knew how women get. Two beautiful women in a room was always a potentially awkward situation.
 

When I wanted in the pants of one of those women and the other had embraced me in an intimate hug, it was just asking for trouble.
 

I sighed and followed Georgia back into the dining room. She settled herself in the chair next to my dad, which left me the chair between her and Sasha.
 

Complicated.
 

“Sasha seems nice,” Georgia murmured as she readied herself for bed later that night. She pulled her jeans down her legs before slipping sleep shorts up the smooth flesh an instant later. But not so fast that I didn’t catch a glimpse of the lacy black fabric of her panties. I watched from my bed, arms cocked behind my head, enjoying the view.
 

“Mhmm,” I murmured, my eyes taking her in with a small smile on my face.
 

“Have you ever fucked her?”
 

My eyes bulged and I choked on a swallow. “What the fuck?” I narrowed my eyes at her. She’d taken me completely by surprise. Of course it would cross her mind, and Sasha had been a little touchy feely at dinner, but that’s how she always was with everyone.
 

“You heard me.” She tugged her blouse over her head and my dick twitched when she stood before me in a matching lace plunge bra. Usually, she turned around when she changed, but tonight she stood in front of me, unashamed and sexy as hell. But I could see the anger rolling off her. She was pissed. And it made her all the hotter.