The Running Series Complete Collection: 3-Book Set plus Bonus Novella (18 page)

“Well, what do we have going on in here?  Don’t let me interrupt!”  I turn around and standing in the kitchen with us is Auggie.  We were so focused on each other, I never even heard him come home.

“Auggie!  You’re home.  Come here.  Come meet Evan.”  The boys shake hands and eye each other appraisingly.

“Well, Evan, it’s nice to finally meet you.  I’ve certainly heard an awful lot about you.”  He hops onto a bar stool at the kitchen island and awaits Evan’s response.

“Really?  What did you hear?”  Evan sits on a bar stool and pulls me close to stand between his knees.  He wraps his arms around my waist and puts his chin on my shoulder.

“Just the usual stuff – nice house, nice car, nice ass.”  I can’t believe he just said that. 

“So Juliette likes my ass.  Good to know.  Anything else I should know?”  They talk like I’m not even in the room.

“Actually, she likes to be romanced.  You know, wooed.  Apparently, you’re doing pretty well in that department, too.”

“That part is one hundred percent my pleasure.”  He leans down and plants a soft kiss on my shoulder. 

“Why don’t you boys go sit in the living room while I finish cleaning and packing up my cupcakes?”  I kick them out of my kitchen so I can clean in peace.

I hear Evan try to make small talk with Auggie about sports.  The only sports Auggie knows anything about are figure skating and swimming.

Once I finish cleaning and turn off the faucet, I hear the boys talking in hushed tones.  I think Evan is talking about my escapades last night.  He’s probably giving Auggie advice about how to secure the house at night and to keep a watch out. 

I join the boys in the living room.  It’s such a relief to see how well they seem to be getting along.  As different as they are, they appear to find plenty in common.  Apparently, they are both fans of Queen and The Walking Dead.

I sit beside Evan and ask, “Evan, would you like to stay for dinner?  I’d love to cook for you both tonight.”

I prepare the boys a simple Chicken Caesar Salad and I open a bottle of Pinot Grigio from a local winery.  Our dinner conversation is friendly with a lot of give-and-take on all sides. 

Auggie starts the conversation by asking me about work.  “So, Jette, are you working the Restore the Shore fundraiser next weekend?”

“Definitely.  No one gets the day off.  It’s all hands on deck.”  I can’t believe that in only nine days, I’m going to be hob-knobbing with celebrities.  I’m hoping Jon Bon Jovi shows up.  The latest rumor is that Jon Stewart may even make an appearance.

“So Evan,” Auggie probes, “Jette tells me you work for the Sentinels.  What exactly do you do there?”

“Well, technically, I haven’t started yet.  I’ll begin in a few months when the team starts pre-season training.”  He pauses to take a sip of his wine.  “I’ll be working with the offensive team in a variety of functions.”

“Do you get to go to the games?”  I inquire. 

“Oh, sure.  I’d love for you to come see a game.  You too, Auggie.  What do you say?”  He reaches over to touch my arm, almost absentmindedly.  Every few minutes, we find an excuse to touch one another.  Even if it’s just a gentle stroke or an affectionate caress, my skin tingles with delight each and every time.

“Heck yeah. Men in tight pants slapping each other on the ass?  Count me in!”  I just shake my head and smirk. 

Dinner ends and we’re all pitching in to help clean up.  I step back and watch as my two favorite men in the world share the same space.  Both men are extremely attractive in their own right.  Evan has finely chiseled features and a strong physique that makes women weak at the knees.  Auggie is just as tall, but slender with softer features that could almost be described as pretty.  I’m a very lucky girl in more ways than one.

Evan is at the sink washing the dishes.  “Juliette, let’s head back to my place when we’re done.  We can stop for ice cream on the way home if you like.”  Auggie gives me a thumbs-up and a wink.  Evan has passed his interview with flying colors.

Evan surprises me when he continues, “Auggie, you’re welcome to join us if you’re free tonight.”  I turn and look at Auggie vigorously shaking my head.  I have other plans for tonight, and they don’t include an audience.

“Sorry, Evan, but Brandon and I have plans again tonight.  Next time, maybe?”  I soundlessly mouth the words ‘thank you’.

On the way to Evan’s house, we drive to my favorite ice cream shop, Bob Hoffman’s.  I walk up and down the cases of ice cream flavors, and decide on mint chocolate chip ice cream with hot butterscotch topping.

“Are you seriously going to eat that?” Evan scoffs.  “It can’t possibly taste good together.” 

I take a big spoonful and place it between my lips, close my eyes, and suggestively slide it back out while letting out a small groan, “Mmm.”

The young teenage girls at the counter get my attention when they start to giggle.  One girl pushes the other towards us and says, “Ask him.” 

“We were just wondering.  Are you someone famous?  She, I mean Brittany, thinks she saw you on TV.”  She hands Evan his chocolate milkshake.

“No, sorry to disappoint, ladies.”  He turns to me and shrugs his shoulders, hands the teens a twenty and adds, “Keep the change.”

As we are leaving the store, Evan seems bothered by that innocent exchange.  “Sorry about that, Juliette.  It happens every once in a while.  People sometimes recognize me from my college days.  You’d be surprised how many people follow college football.”  He walks me to the car and opens the door for me.

My phone beeps with a new text message.  I put the ice cream in the cup holder, and dig through my purse to check it.  There’s a message from Auggie.

I look in my purse and nestled inside is my toothbrush wrapped in a baggie and my phone charger.

“What’s up, Juliette?  Is everything OK?”  I’m so glad Evan is driving and has to keep his eyes on the road.

“Oh, yeah.  It’s just Auggie telling me to have fun tonight.  He approves, you know.”  I place my phone back in my bag and return to enjoying my sundae.

“Good.  Then we have no choice, let’s go have some fun."

Clear as Mud

I
t’s a cool March evening and we decide to sit outside and enjoy the view of the ocean.  It’s much quieter at night on the beach.  There are no cars driving up and down the street.  There are no noisy seabirds searching for food on the beach.  Quiet solitude.  Evan lights the fire pit, puts on his playlist, and gets us a blanket. 

“I’ll be right back.  Sit tight.”  He returns quickly with two glasses of wine and climbs under the blanket with me.  Evan extends his arm and invites me in.  His body heat immediately warms me and I tingle from the sensation. 

Evan catches me completely by surprise when he offers a toast.  “Here’s to unexpected gifts.  May we recognize them when they arrive and strive to deserve them always.”  He kisses me, and we both take a sip of wine. 

“Can I ask you something, Evan?”  I’m feeling a little bolder and braver right now.  "You say the sweetest things and make me feel so special.  How many times have you done this before?”

Evan looks at me and sighs.  “That depends on what you mean by ‘this’.”

Knowing that this conversation needs to happen, I find the strength to ask the question that has been burning in the back of my mind from the first moment I saw him.  “I’m curious about how many ... I mean I was wondering if you ever ... I don’t know how to say this.”

“Juliette, do you want to know how many women I’ve slept with or how many women I’ve fallen for?”  The words don’t come, so I shrug my shoulders and nod.  “Those are two completely different questions.”

Completely different questions?  I don’t see how.  For me, sex has always required a certain amount of intimacy.  It involves trust and caring, along with desire.  “Both, I guess.”

“Why?  It’s history.  A history I’m not terribly proud of.  If you know everything about my past, I’m afraid there won’t be a future for us.”  I look over at him, and his expression has changed.  There’s a sadness in his eyes that wasn’t there before.  I know this is something that he doesn’t want to share with me.  But if we’re going to build something together, it’s got to be built on a solid foundation.

“I need to know a little about your past.  It will help me understand you.  You’re so good at the romance part of this, the seduction.  I need to know if that’s all this is to you, a challenge.”  There, I’ve finally said it.  I want to be with him in every way, but not if finally giving myself to him will be our undoing.

“You do challenge me, but not in the ways you think.  You’re so different from any of the other women I’ve ever known.”  He pauses, trying to find the right words.  He runs his hands through his hair and he’s no longer looking at me.  “I don’t know how to say this without sounding cocky.  But I’ve never had to try very hard to find women who wanted to be with me.  They would openly flirt with me, give me their numbers, and offer to take me home.  And none of them,” he grabs my chin and tilts my head to look up at him, “have ever gotten under my skin the way you have.”

“Evan, there must have been others.”  I look into his eyes, searching for any signs of dishonesty.  But he looks deep into me and I know he’s telling me the truth.

“None.  Never.  It’s always been just about the sex.  Not just for me, but for them, too.” 

“What about a high school sweetheart?  You must have been Prom King or Homecoming King, or something.”

“I’ve dated, a lot.  But it was never serious.  I’ve never led any of them to believe there was anything more going on than there actually was.  I may be guilty of a lot of things, Juliette, but I was not dishonest with any of them.”

His answer doesn’t seem right.  How is it possible?  “Didn’t you ever want more?”

“Not with any of them.  They didn’t know me, they didn’t want me, the real me.  They wanted something from me, and I gladly let them have it.”  He breaks our connection and looks away from me and down at his hands.

I touch his arm to bring him back to me, “So what happened?”

“Well, I guess things kind of caught up with me.  There were a lot of things I didn’t take seriously in my life, women were just one part of it.”  His hands are now rubbing his face, like he’s trying to wipe away the memories. 

“Is that why you moved?  Why you left Houston?” 

“Mostly.  Maybe someday I can tell you more, but right now, please don’t ask.  I don’t want what we have here and now to be shadowed by my past mistakes.” He looks right into my eyes and I can see the sincerity in his words.  “Until now, I’ve never wanted to do better.  I’ve never wanted to be better.  I’ve never wanted someone the way I want you.” 

“Are you sure?” 

“Right now, I can’t imagine being with anyone else.  When you’re not with me, I’m thinking about the next time I will see you.  When you’re hurt, I want to make you better.  There’s a primal instinct in me that makes me want to protect you and make you happy.”  He takes a long pause before he continues.  “I never thought I would feel this way.  I never thought I would
want
to feel this way.”  He takes my hand and strokes it with his thumb. I love this feeling. I love being here with him.

“Evan, I feel it too, that connection.  I’ve been in and out of love before.  At least I thought it was love.  But it was different.  I feel this pull towards you that I cannot fight.  It was there the first time I saw you.” 

“I remember that day on the beach when Maddy jumped all over me.  Did I ever tell you?  You haunted my dreams that night.  The next day, when I saw you on the beach again, I was ready to make the first move.  Something I don’t normally do.  But then you got hurt.  And you had sand all over your pretty face.  I reached down to wipe it away and when I touched you, it was like nothing I’ve ever felt before.  It was like a bolt of electricity that shot right to my heart.  That’s when everything changed.”  He looks at me with those big blue eyes and that face that I know I will never tire of seeing.  I cuddle into his embrace a little deeper, wrapping my arms around his waist.

I admit, “I’m embarrassed to tell you how many nights you’ve visited me in my dreams since that day.”  I’m glad he can’t see me blushing.

“I know.”

“Excuse me?”

“Last night, while you were sleeping in my bed, well, you kind of talked a little.”  He looked down at me, grinning.

“What?”

“Well, I woke up first and you stirred a little.  Next thing I know, you’re in my arms lying on my chest, sound asleep.  I’ve never felt anything like it before.”  He leans down and kisses me gently.  “Then you said my name.  Nothing else, just my name.  It was the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard.”

He deepens our kiss and this time, our tongues twirl and caress, seeking more, wanting more, needing more.  Evan turns his entire body, and presses himself against me.  Slowly, I begin to lie back onto the sofa, bringing him with me.  I comb my fingers through his hair and he lets out a soft groan.  He’s hovering above me, hands planted on either side of me, and I melt into the cushions.