Never Been Ready (9 page)

I walked behind Leah on the narrow walkway that led to the front door, noticing the way her ass seemed to be made for the jeans she was wearing. It was like she was poured into them. They molded to her curves perfectly. Her hips swayed as she walked, causing my dick to twitch. Her wheat-colored hair was loosely braided and draped elegantly to the side. It gave me visions of what it would be like to wrap that silky hair around my wrist and fuck her from behind. Just thinking of it was getting me in trouble. Lost in my thoughts, I barely noticed the door opening and the child barreling toward us.

"Leah!"

"Hey, Short Stack!" Leah said to the little girl who was now wrapped in her arms. "Does Mommy know you're out here?"

"Um..." the girl responded.

"Come on, let's get you inside before we both get yelled at!" Leah said.

Leah shifted the child in her arms and hollered up at Clare that she had arrived as we all headed into the house. The girl was draped over Leah's shoulder, giving me a curious look as we walked passed family photos and portraits from Logan and Clare's wedding I never attended.

Worst friend ever. 

We settled ourselves in the living room, and Leah set her precious cargo down.

The little girl immediately turned to me as I sat on the sofa with Leah. "My name is Maddie. Who are you?"

She smiled, and I couldn't help but return the gesture. She really was cute —for a kid. With strawberry-blonde curls and dark brown eyes, she was like a little angel, minus the talking.

"I'm Declan."

"Are you my auntie's boyfriend?"

Wow, this kid is abrupt. Are all kids like this?

"Uh...well..." I stammered.

"He's my friend, Maddie. Don't you have friends who are boys at preschool?"

Maddie thought about this momentarily. "Oh, yes! I have a friend named Tommy. He likes to make sandcastles with me, and he's fun to play with on the monkey bars!"

"Well, Declan is just like that!" Leah said, giving me a wry smile.

Mmhmm, I would do a round with Leah on the monkey bars any day.

"Oh! Okay! Hey, Declan, want to watch
Dora
with me?"

And just like that, we were buddies.

She took me over to the TV area where all the movies were stored, and we started to sort through them as she showed me her favorite ones. There was quite the collection. They also had a great selection of grown-up movies that I'd definitely have to check out later.

"Hey, Leah!" I heard someone shout from the top of the stairs. "Next time you see that good-for-nothing friend of my husband's, ask him if he suddenly forgot how to use a phone!"

I looked at Leah as she suddenly looked at me. Her hand flew to her mouth, trying to contain the laughter threatening to spill out.

"Oh my God, she's going to be so embarrassed when she gets down here," she whispered.

I hadn't really thought about this aspect of the evening —the fact that I hadn't seen or spoken to my friend in months. He'd been diagnosed with cancer, gotten married, and become a stepfather, and I hadn't called to check-in. He was in a different world now, and I didn't know how to relate. The cancer thing...I was honestly just scared shitless. It had been a dick move, but I just hadn't known what to say. People my age didn't get cancer. That was something we had to worry about when we got older, right? Apparently not. It had been a reality check that I wasn't prepared for, so I'd bailed on him, and now, I had to find the words to say I was sorry. And I had to find them fast because he was coming downstairs.

"Did you hear what I said, Leah?" Clare asked, entering the room.

She didn't see me sitting there, but Logan did. He looked surprised and then a bit of humor peeked through, knowing his wife was digging herself a bigger hole.

"I'm seriously sick of people treating him like —oh shit!" she said, finally noticing my presence.

Logan snorted, and Leah doubled over, laughing, while Clare began to turn a deep shade of red.

"Mommy said a bad word!" Maddie scolded, causing Leah to laugh harder.

"Hey, man," Logan greeted me, "long time, no see."

I arose from the couch, and we did the guy version of a hug with a quick pat on the back before I stepped away quickly. I stood there nervously, unsure what to say to my sick friend. I could see the difference. The loss of hair was obvious, but he'd also dropped some weight, and he just looked tired. He was still Logan though, I realized, so I went with what I knew best.

"So, cancer, huh? That blows."

A huge grin spread across his face along with a bit of relief.

"You're just jealous that I'm still hotter than you," he taunted.

And we instantly fell back into a comfortable place. The water was under the bridge. Men didn't need long, drawn-out conversations for these types of things. A few inappropriate jokes with a good laugh, and we were solid again. Easy.

"Not according to
People
magazine. Top one hundred, baby," I countered.

Leah started making gagging noises in the background, and Clare immediately began laughing.

Logan grinned. "You've got your hands full with that one."

"So I've noticed."

After what seemed like hours of directions, instructions, and lessons, we were finally handed over the responsibility of watching the child for the evening. I found it hilarious that Leah was reminded half a dozen times to make sure Maddie brushed her teeth, ate dinner, and actually went to bed before midnight. Leah rolled her eyes and nodded, saying she'd done this gig a million times and would make sure Maddie was fed and watered.

As soon as they were out the door, Leah pulled Maddie up in her arms. "Thank goodness! I thought they'd never leave! Ready for some fun?"

Maddie nodded excitedly, and we started the evening with a game of hide-and-seek. It was Maddie's turn to be the counter, and Leah and I were in charge of hiding. Playing this game as an adult was much more difficult than as a child. We were too big to fit in any of the cool places, like the laundry basket or the cupboards.

As I listened to Maddie's voice downstairs, counting from one to sixty, I quickly moved through the house, looking for someplace to hide. Leah was nowhere to be seen, so she'd obviously found her sweet spot. Hearing Maddie hit fifty-five, I dove into the nearest closet and shut the door.

"Ouch!"

"Leah?"

"Who the hell else would it be, Hotshot?" she whispered in annoyance. "You're in my hiding place!"

"Well, I guess it's our place now, isn't it?" I grinned, and knowing she couldn't do anything to stop me due to the enclosed space, I slowly ran my hand under her top, savoring the feel of her bare skin against mine.

"What are you doing? Maddie is right outside that door!"

"Is she? I can't hear her," I whispered in her ear right before claiming her lips with my own.

She moaned as I plunged my tongue into her mouth, caressing every luscious inch. Sliding my hands in her jeans pockets, I pulled her hard against my body, and she gasped.

God, she's so fucking sexy.

Her leg snaked around my hip, and she began rocking her pussy against my rock-hard erection. Just as my hand moved to the front of her jeans, fully intent on ripping them from her body and fucking her senseless, we heard Maddie giggling down the hall.

"Where are you? I'm coming to find you!" She laughed.

Still breathless and wrapped around each other like our lives depended on it, we burst into laughter, giving away our spot immediately. We managed to make ourselves look presentable before Maddie opened the door and proclaimed herself the winner.

"I can't take you anywhere, Hotshot," Leah said, shaking her head.

I gave her a wink. "I kind of like babysitting."

Two hours, several pizzas, and a living room fort later, we had successfully put our young charge to sleep. Well, Leah had. My duties consisted mostly of standing around and supervising, considering I had no idea what went into the nightly rituals of a young girl. Hell, I didn't even know what a grown woman did before bed. Heather and I had never lived together, and I guessed I didn't care enough to pay attention when we had spent nights together.

I suddenly wondered what it would be like to watch Leah get ready for bed. She would probably be in that robe I'd seen her wear that first night when I came back to Richmond, and she'd stand in front of the mirror as she tenderly brushed her golden locks. I'd come up behind her and wrap my arms around her waist, watching her sigh in pleasure from my touch.

"Hey, you still here?" Leah asked, taking me out of my weird fantasy.

I was brought back into the present where we were settling onto the couch at Clare and Logan's. Leah had just pulled out a movie and was about to hit Play.

"Yep, I'm all here." I flashed my award-winning smile, hoping my little checkout from reality would go unnoticed.

Where the hell did that come from?
Maybe I was letting this friends-with-benefits thing go a little too far. I enjoyed spending time with Leah, and I actually considered her a friend now. The image I'd just had though went way beyond the level of friendship, and that was not okay. I needed to take it back a level —no more adventures like tonight. Things like this created feelings, and neither of us could risk that.
Nope, back to just good clean sex.
I was great at that. In fact, I excelled at it. It was everything else in a relationship that I sucked at.

We decided to watch a movie,
The Princess Bride
. Leah had chosen it when she found out I'd never seen it.

"How could you never have seen this movie, Declan? You're a self-declared movie expert! It's like the greatest movie ever created!" she had declared.

"The greatest? Really? What makes it so great?"

"It has everything —love, humor, mystery, honor, deceit, and a hot guy in a mask! What is there not to love?"

"All right, all right, put your damn movie on, woman!"

She'd laughed and we'd settled in to watch our movie. When the young kid from
The Wonder Years
appeared, I got really confused.

"Wait, is this a kid movie? Is there sex in this?"

She hit me on the arm and shushed me before telling me I was ruining it. I chuckled and found myself pulling her closer to me. We were lying together on the couch, watching the weirdest movie I'd ever seen. But she was right. It was good...in a strange eighties type of way.

When it finished, she looked up at me and asked, "So, what did you think, Hotshot?"

"Not half bad. I love watching older films even if they are from the eighties and include Rodents of Unusual Size, and terrible accents. Older movies are so different from the films we create today."

"How so?" she asked, genuinely interested.

"Well, the filming alone is different. So many movies are filmed by digital cameras nowadays. It creates a different look on the screen. The picture is clearer...more vivid, but I think you lose that original quality that only film could produce. It's like every time we take a leap forward, we always lose something from the past in the process."

"You know, I've never heard you talk about acting the way you talk about creating a film. Why do you do it? Act, I mean," she asked.

I puffed out a breath of air and fiddled with a strand of her hair. "I hate acting. I honestly do. If I could act and not have all the bullshit that went along with it, I might be able to enjoy it. But you can't have one without the other in Hollywood, and I'm just not built that way. When I started getting noticed, I thought it was nice. Women paid more attention to me, and I got into bars without any problem, but then the cameras would show up every time I tried to exit a club or restaurant. Out here, away from it all, I can almost start to feel normal again. But in L.A., the paparazzi are relentless. Some people are able to handle the constant attention, but I'm not one of them. I can't live my life in a fucking fishbowl."

"So, what's your escape plan?"

"This movie. They agreed to let me executive produce it if I would also star in it. I figured if I could get my name in as a producer, it would help build my credibility, and eventually, someone might sign me in some role that doesn't require being in front of the camera."