He hopped to the kitchen, but XL, Monti, and Ash ushered him right back out. “By the time you have everything in place, the pizzas will be stone cold. Go and sit in the living room, old man.”
He stayed, just to be contrary. The guys worked like a perfectly greased conveyer belt, throwing shit to each other and putting it where it belonged. Correction: wherever they thought it belonged. Adrian was going to have a hell of a time finding his food. On the plus side, in no time they were all eating piping-hot pizza.
The TV screen was frozen on his pathetic game score. Rachel pointed at it. “You the one losing?”
“How do you figure?” Adrian asked.
“Boomers have bad eye-hand coordination.”
The kids burst into laughter.
“I’m not a boomer, and my eye-hand coordination is perfect. That,” he said, pointing at the screen, “is because of the pain meds.”
Now everyone was snickering, Rachel included. Tough crowd.
“Do you have Fortnite?” Adrian shook his head, and she continued, “Let’s download it. I see two PS4 controllers, a desktop computer, and a laptop. That means we can be a squad of four. What do you say, guys? Better to fight together than against each other.”
“We’re five,” Ash corrected. “The boomer high on pain meds will have to sit this one out.”
“Don’t worry, we can share. We’ll take turns,” Rachel told Adrian.
“Wait, no need,” Monti said. “I have my laptop in my backpack.”
Adrian didn’t have time to answer before everyone went into motion, pizza slice in one hand, soda in the other. Ash manned the desktop, Monti his own laptop, XL Adrian’s, and Rachel sat on the sofa where the PS4 controllers were.
“Come on,” she called. “Let’s download it.” She proceeded to explain the rules, apparently for Adrian’s benefit more than anything, since the rest seemed to have played already.
He’d never seen his kids being kids. They laughed and bitched and occasionally high-fived each other.
“How do you know so much about gaming?” he asked Rachel.
She answered without tearing her eyes from the screen. “My little brother.”
Sexting and gaming, the epitome of little brothers.
He’d half expected things to become weird between them. Awkward. But they weren’t. She was treating him like a friend—which made him angry and disappointed and confused. Suddenly the one who wasn’t feeling too adult-like was him.
The pizzas were gone, several bags of potato chips too, and they were still playing. Until the alarm on XL’s cell rang. “I’ve got to go.”
As he was putting on his jacket, Rachel approached him and whispered something to him. XL nodded.
“XL,” Adrian called.
“Yeah, yeah, I know what you’re going to say. No need, man. Grease Barbie already warned me.”
“You guys don’t have to worry,” Ash interjected. “XL is head over heels for her.”
“Shut up,” XL ordered, but Ash and Monti ignored him, waving and making kissing sounds.
Rachel went to the kitchen. “Pulled pork on the nachos?” she yelled toward the living room.
“Yes,” was the collective answer from Ash and Monti.
Adrian hopped to the kitchen. She had nachos on a tray and was grating cheese over them.
“I don’t have pulled pork,” he warned her.
“Yes, you do.” At his frown, she explained. “Your grocery list was… lacking. Kids’ decision. I agreed.”
He studied her. No awkwardness or anger. No hidden agenda. It was as if nothing had happened. Then it dawned on him; she’d probably been about to give him the “it was a mistake, we’re just friends” speech while he’d been trying to find the right words to tell her that he wanted to screw her brains out without any strings attached. Man, what a loser.
She sprinkled pulled pork on the nachos and put the tray in the oven. Still programming the timer, she said, “Done. Let’s go, Boomer. You shouldn’t stand on that foot too long.”
“You’re right.” And before he had time to properly think what the hell he was doing, he encircled her waist and dragged her to sit on top of him while he sat on a chair behind him.
She laughed as she went along, her sweet ass plopping on his lap. “What are you doing?”
She tried to get up, but he tightened his grip and spoke in her ear. “I never said it was a mistake, and it sure as hell wasn’t a lapse of judgment. What I was trying to say was that I’m not sure we should have started anything without clearly defining the parameters. I was hoping we could behave like adults and keep sex separated from other issues,” he said, finishing the sentences he couldn’t before.
Rachel chuckled. “Really? Your blood must have been all down south, because you expressed yourself like crap.”
Probably. He fisted her hair and pulled her head back, exposing her gorgeous long throat. He kissed her there. “I just meant to say this would complicate matters.”
Her voice was already husky. Fuck, she was responsive. “Sex would complicate matters?”
He raked his teeth over her sweet skin. “Women tend to use it as a gateway.”
“Sorry, but I haven’t agreed to have sex with you, let alone use it as a gateway to anything.”
“You don’t want me?” he asked, positioning her legs on either side of his. “Because your body says otherwise. Your breathing is choppy, your nipples are puckered, and the vein at the base of your throat is pulsing like crazy. You’re dying to be fucked. Deep and hard.”
She shrugged, trying to claim indifference. “Want and should are different concepts. You may want to use sex as a gateway to cling to me afterward. A girl can never be too careful.”
Adrian bit her soft skin, then soothed it with his tongue, and he was rewarded by a shudder that was anything but indifferent. “I won’t. Sex is all I can offer.”
He could hear her smirk in her voice. “Are you any good, Boomer?”
She hadn’t complained in Max’s bathroom.
“How long until the timer rings?” he asked, licking the hollow under her ear.
“Twelve minutes?”
“Enough time to prove it to you.” He separated his thighs, opening her legs even further. “Your sweatpants might be an affront to fashion, but they’re convenient,” he whispered, moving his hand under the waistband.
That might have broken the spell he had her under, because she jerked, stopping him with both hands. “You nuts? We have two minors in the next room. They could walk in on us at any moment.”
True. Adrian reached over to the door and turned the lock. “The former tenant was a bit paranoid. There are locks in all the rooms.” One hand was under the waistband of her panties, and he was sliding the other under her shirt. “I don’t have condoms here, but I promise I will make you come like crazy. You just have to be quiet. Do you think you can do that?”
She cleared her throat and spoke, her voice shaky and aroused. “I’ll try. Can’t make any promises.”
“Very good, baby,” he said, moving even deeper inside her panties, until he reached her core. Her bare, smooth core. “Fuck, you’re bare. I’m going to love eating you out. Not today, though. Today, I’m going to have you explode around my fingers, begging for more.” She jerked at his words. “You like dirty talk, huh?”