“Okay. Good night, James.”
“Good night, Eliza.” Her body felt alive under his gaze.
“Wait, I know this is a little crazy, but, why don’t you like to be called Elizabeth?”
“You really want to know?”
“Yeah. I mean, if you want to tell me.”
“It’s not really a big secret. My mom called me Elizabeth whenever she was angry. I always hated the name.” She shrugged. “Changing my name just seemed like a headache.”
“I like Eliza.”
She laughed. “Thanks. Good night.”
It looked like he wanted to say something more, but he didn’t. Finally, he turned and left. He didn’t close the door.
She climbed into the bed and lay staring at the ceiling. She heard the shower running and she imagined him naked, under the spray.
Even his cock.
What is wrong with me?
She didn’t fantasize about men in the shower or their cocks. The two boyfriends she’d had even called her frigid because they felt she wasn’t experienced enough in the bedroom. She knew what she wanted, and they just didn’t satisfy her. Their idea of a good time was doing it with the light on. They didn’t believe in foreplay either.
“Why am I thinking about them?” The shower stopped and her thoughts immediately returned to James.
He’d had a reputation in high school. The girls he’d been with, she would hear them talking about how good he was. How he took care of a woman’s needs before his own. Was it real? Did he really care?
Did she want to be another notch on a Hard boy’s bedpost? All three boys were known for working hard and playing hard. Even their dad had had a reputation before he married.
She rolled over.
It didn’t matter because she wasn’t going to fall into James’s bed. He didn’t want her, anyway.
Chapter Four
“I thought flowers, chocolates, dinner, and a date was what got women to fall for you and stay the night. You, you run them down with a bike.”
James was going to pound Rome’s face in. This was the reason why he hadn’t taken Eliza to breakfast with his parents this morning, and they’d hung out instead. He’d called his parents to let them know they would be over for dinner. He wanted to keep an eye on Eliza before he brought her to his family. He’d hoped his brothers wouldn’t be there, but of course, no such luck. “I didn’t do it like that.”
“He was actually trying to look at her in the florist shop,” Caleb said, snorting. “She’d gone out for lunch. He ran her down.”
“Now she’s in there with Mom and she’s probably telling all kinds of unattractive stories,” Rome said, wrinkling his nose.
“You know your mother. She’s taking care of her. Making sure she can cook,” Theodore said.
They were hanging out the laundry. Their mother had decided Sunday was the day to clean the sheets, and as such, with the sun shining bright in the sky, the men could hang it out.
James remembered doing this chore growing up as well. He hated it when it started to rain. He’d have to run out and quickly grab it in, especially if it had dried. His mother didn’t like using the dryer unless she had to. She believed it was a waste of time and energy, unless it was snowing.
“I don’t need Mom telling her any more stories. She told Eliza about my wetting the bed. I kicked that habit within months. I was a kid. I wasn’t even in school.”
“Let your mother have her fun. You know she’s always wanted a daughter.”
James knew after Rome, she had wanted to try again, but the doctor had advised against it. They had tried for a daughter but only a couple of months into the pregnancy, she’d miscarried. Lost the baby and nearly died from the blood loss.
Theodore and Jane had decided three boys would be enough, and maybe one of them would bring home a wife, and she’d have the daughter she always wanted.
“This is at my expense, though. You do know this. How am I expected to woo a girl if she’s telling them all of my naughty things from a when I was a kid?” James asked.
“You do know you sound like a child right now,” Caleb said.
“Wait until you bring home a woman for Mom to torture. You won’t be so happy either.”
“The trick is not to fall for a woman. I’ll never fall for a woman. I won’t give anyone that kind of power.”
“Then you’re a fool,” Theodore said.
“What?” Caleb asked.
“Any man who doesn’t allow himself to fall for a woman because they think they know best, or not to have power over them, is a fool and an idiot. Being in love isn’t some kind of fucking curse. It’s a feeling that I hope all three of you feel one day. I’ve been in all of your shoes. Playing the field, thinking I know best. Using women for my pleasure and tossing them aside. You will all find the right one for you.”
He took the time to look at each of his sons. “You can mock me all you want to, Caleb, but you will fall too. I hope you all do. I hope you all find a woman who makes you feel as complete as my woman does me. There’s no better feeling in the world.”
“I bet James already feels that way about Eliza,” Rome said.
“You better shut your mouth.”
“Or what? Are you going to punch me?”
He rolled his eyes. There was no way he was going to start a fight in his parents’ backyard. His mother would have no problems with punishing him by either making him stand in the corner or something. She’d done it before. Admittedly years ago, but still, with Eliza around, he wasn’t going to test it.
“No, but the next time you want a place to crash, you may find I’ve changed the locks.”
Rome looked away and he knew he had him. They both knew why he worked late at the school, and it wasn’t because of doing good for the town either.
“How the hell am I going to get her to even like me after I ran her down?”
“I think it’s safe to say she likes you, otherwise, she wouldn’t have let you take care of her,” Caleb said. “Come on, it’s not every day you run down a girl and get to take care of her. You’ve got to look at the positives.”
“Yeah, like the fact she’s sitting on the porch with Mom, checking you out,” Rome said. “Don’t look. Then she’ll know you know, and you’ve got to play it smooth.”
He didn’t know how to play it smooth. She thought the reason he’d mown her down was because he was looking at flowers. It was all so fucked.
They finished putting the washing out and he carried the basket, resting it on his hip as he walked up toward the house.
Eliza sipped at her lemonade and as he passed, she gave him a smile. “I had no idea you could be so domesticated.”
“I can be a lot of things, baby.” He quickly moved back into the kitchen before he made a fool of himself.
Baby.
Were they even at that point? Shaking his head, he groaned. This was all just a little too much. Actually, it wasn’t moving fast enough for him, but he wasn’t going to complain. With the basket back in the laundry room, he grabbed himself his one and only beer and headed out to be with his family. Rome was telling them all a story about them out at the pond. It was one where Rome refused to get out and even threw his underwear at his mother. It was the day his mother told Rome all about the alligators and pirates. Rome never went into the pond again, and his ass shone all the way back to the house as he screamed.