“Professional? You want to keep things professional? Where was that when you were in there discussing my business with my mom?”
“Hey, she brought it up! I didn’t ask her about it!” I shout as I stomp after Blake.
He spins around and points a finger in my face. “Yes, you did. You asked what and then you made your dumbass comment about my personality.”
I cross my arms across my chest. “Aren’t you a little too old to be this immature? Why are you so butt-hurt that your mom is talking about her sons with someone they grew up with? It’s not like we were gossiping about you.”
I watch as Blake removes his flannel shirt and takes a long sip of the cold water he had gone inside to get. Beads of sweat run down his neck and chest in rivulets. I watch his Adam’s apple bob with each gulp. I’m completely mesmerized by his tanned abs glistening in the sun and the small happy trail of dark hair that dips below his low slung jeans. I’m staring. I try to count the ab muscles before he’s done, but I’m caught.
“See something you like?” he asks as he wipes his mouth with the back of his arm.
I roll my eyes and scoff before walking back up to the office. I hadn’t realized that I broke out in a small sweat while watching him. I remember seeing him in the hot tub when I was younger, but his body is different now. He’s probably put on thirty pounds of muscle and grown another few inches. He’s at least six four with a neck like a tree.
I stop right before I get to the door and turn. I can still see him. He pulls on his gloves and goes back to chopping wood. I didn’t even realize people still chopped their own wood till now. His body is like a fine-tuned machine, his muscles bunching and rippling with each blow of the ax. I lick my lips and remember how his rock-hard body felt against mine and the heat that radiated off his chest. I don’t even realize I’m squeezing my thighs together till I hear the crunch of gravel and see Trevor approaching in his mom’s car.
I let out the breath I was holding and wave at him, hoping he doesn’t catch on to the fact I was spying on his very shirtless brother.
“What are you doing out here?” I ask as I approach him.
“Just thought I’d come out to visit with you and Mom. See how things are going and if I can help out.” He shrugs his shoulders and it reminds of Trevor from high school. He’s changed a lot, grown up and filled out, but I still see the boy I’ve always known in his mannerisms. He’s not as tall as Blake, just under six feet, and still lean. He has a runner’s body, long with sinewy muscle. For the first time, I wonder what his ex looks like.
“I’d love to show you my plans. I just went over everything with your mom, but maybe you could give me a second opinion?” I try to act cute…although if I’m honest, I don’t have the slightest clue how to flirt. I purposely reach out and pull my hair out of my ponytail, fluffing it to one side and attempting to pout my lips a little.
Trevor either doesn’t notice or ignores my sad attempt because he claps his hands and then rubs them together. “Sounds like a plan. Let's do this, P-brain.”
Ahh, another one of his silly little nicknames he used for me growing up. I like to think of them as terms of endearment, but now I’m worried they’re more like kid sister names.
“I need to make him jealous.”
“What? Who?” Jade looks confused as she stands in the door of her apartment.
“Can I come in or what?” I say, holding up two bottles of wine.
“Lead with that next time. Now, what the hell is going on?”
I walk over to her tiny galley kitchen and grab two wine glasses. “Trevor. I need to make him jealous. That’s the only way this plan is going to work.”
“Oh, Jesus, have mercy. You’re still on this plan?” She flops onto the couch before reaching up and taking one of the glasses from my hand.
“Hear me out.” I take a big gulp before diving into my plan. “I spent several hours with him today at the cabin office, and he just sees me as a guaranteed thing, right?”
“I literally have no idea what you’re saying, but go on.”
I roll my eyes. “Okay, so growing up, he was the one who would have a girlfriend here and there, and he was the one who would be too busy. I, on the other hand, have always been the one to be at his beck and call. So, I was thinking I make up a boyfriend or something so he thinks I’m seeing someone. That way, when he wants to hang out, I’ll be too busy or have a date!”
Jade still looks completely confused. “Okay, sweetie, this plan…I don’t love it. Have you tried just being honest with him about how you feel? Just tell him you’re interested and you’d love to see where it goes?”
I take another slug of wine and avert my gaze.
“What’s that look? What happened?”
“Nothing. I thought about that approach, but I don’t think it’s the right one. He just got dumped, so he’s hurting and I think he’ll just say the ‘I just got out of a relationship’ line and it will just be too easy to set myself up for failure.”
I can tell she’s not buying the plan. I reach out and grab her arm. “Jade, I just want Blake to see me for who I am. See me as a grown-ass woman and not just the nerdy, Star Wars lov—”
“Blake?” she asks.
“What? Why’d you say Blake?”
“No, you said Blake. You just said I want Blake to see me as…”
“No, I didn’t!” I feel my cheeks heat up.
“Yes, you did, and your voice is like crazy high right now. What is going on?”
I panic. “It’s just the wine. I haven’t eaten all day, and I had an argument with that shithead Blake today at work. You know I meant Trevor.” I’m not sure who I’m trying to convince more: her or me.
“Whatever you say. Blake is hot as hell, though. He’s got that older guy, daddy thing going on.”
“Ugh! Please never say Blake and daddy in the same sentence again, okay?”
“Hey, I’m just saying he’s hot. You can’t deny that. I’d take him over Trevor any day.” She lifts her glass before finishing it.
“Really? He’s so…moody, though.”
“Yeah, and the quiet, moody ones are always the ones that are good in bed. I bet he’s dominant but in a sexy, passionate way. I saw him dance at last year’s Fourth of July party and whew! That man can move his hips.”
I can feel my face burning like it’s on fire. Thoughts of his hips moving beneath mine flash into my brain. The way he loosened his hands from my grip before flipping me onto my back. Jade wasn’t wrong about his dominant side. I wonder if we had gone further, how he would have taken me.
“I bet he has a huge co—”
I sputter wine out my nose before Jade can finish her sentence, and thank God, because I can’t deal with those thoughts right now. I rush to the bathroom to clean myself up, splashing some cold water on my face and neck. I have to get these thoughts of Blake Winthrop out of my head.
Six
Blake
“Vampires? That are cyborgs?” I snort. “That’s the dumbest load of shit I’ve ever heard.”