Between the Sheets (5 page)

After cruising by two bars, we finally
find two empty seats next to each other and sit down. When I’ve
deposited another twenty into the bank account of the ridiculously
rich people who own this place, the bartender trots himself over to
me. “What can I get you?”

A
bottle
of something good, I want to
tell him, since I’ve already paid plenty for this drink. “X-Rated
and Sprite.” I’d like a Big Gulp size, but instead he brings me a
glass the size of a Dixie rinsing cup. “Keep ‘em coming,” I tell
him after I’ve tossed a five in his tip cup. Hopefully that’s
enough to get a refill around here.

Ty orders a beer. Sometimes he’s so
much like his sister, I feel like I’m sleeping with my best friend.
“You’re gonna give in eventually, Mel. So why don’t we just get it
over with?” He tilts the bottle of beer to his lips and downs half
the liquid before placing it back down on the bar. Yup, just like
his little sis. “Or maybe you’d rather see the view at night? I
bet, with the city all lit up, it’s spectacular.”

I give him the bird, and he swipes my
finger in his big hand and kisses it. Damn him. My resolve can only
hold out so long.

Trying to ignore his sweet face and
lingering stares, I tap at the screen determined to get a royal
flush. It happens, right?

Three drinks later, I’m a little
buzzed and holding a ticket worth twenty-five cents.

“
How about one of the
tables?” Ty suggests. “Blackjack?”

“
Hell no!” I shout. “I’ll
end up getting in a fight if some dumb ass gets pissed because I
hit on the wrong card or stayed when I wasn’t supposed
to.”

“
Show?”

“
How about food?” My body
takes that as a cue to groan like I’ve passed gas inside my
stomach. Embarrassing much.

Ty laughs. “Yeah, let’s get some food
in that belly of yours before it starts eating your
insides.”

We find a spot at a small fast food
counter and Ty orders for both of us. Chili cheeseburgers and
fries. Chocolate shakes too. I love this man. He knows the key, or
keys, to my heart are fries and chocolate. And wine.

“
I think we should crash a
wedding while we’re here.” Ty winks as he chomps down on a
fry.

“
Okay. Sure.” Sarcasm laces
my words.

“
No, seriously. Let’s just
head by the chapel and see if we can peek in. Maybe some crazy
groom will be wearing an Elvis costume.” His goofy grin reminds me
of his boyish looks. When we were kids, he always had the most
ridiculous ideas. One time, he convinced Shel and me to smoke
cigarettes. We were only ten at the time but he figured that if we
did it, we couldn’t tell his parents on him and his friends. As if
I would’ve ever done anything to get him into trouble. Another
time, he suckered me into crashing a dance class at the Y. The two
of us waltzed like an old couple and shared cookies with the senior
citizens when the lesson was finished. The ladies loved him, of
course. And the old dudes thought he was hysterical with his dirty
jokes. I must have been about fifteen at the time, but even then, I
knew Ty was special. A heart of gold and a smile that could get you
to do anything.

“
Stop that,” I tell him,
lowering my eyes before his grin has a chance to hypnotize
me.

“
What?” What, my ass. He
knows exactly what he’s doing. If I don’t get my ass in that
elevator and go to the top of this sucker right now, my panties are
going to melt. I can almost feel the crackling of burning material
right now as his sexy stare brands me with heat.

I let out one long sigh. “You’re
killing me, you know that.”

He dabs a fry into a glob of ketchup
and then holds it to my lips. “I’m just eating, Mel.”

I bite into the delicious carb
hoarding vegetable and watch Ty as his eyes narrow on my mouth when
I lick my lips. Crap. How can he take a fried food, smothered in
ketchup, and turn it into something sexy. If I wouldn’t scare the
children trekking by with their parents, I’d push him down on this
little table and have my way with him.

“
Let’s go,” I tell him, as
I stomp off through the casino.

“
Where are we going?” He
has the nerve to smirk.

“
Let’s get this over with.
My legs are twitching and my panties are on fire, so unless you’re
gonna strip me right here and relieve me of the stress you’ve
created, I need another way to release some energy.” He smiles
again, and I have to squeeze my thighs together when my lady love
throbs.

He bends down and presses his lips to
my temple. “You’re going to love this. I know it.”

“
God, I hate you.” Stepping
out of an elevator after traveling almost 900 feet above the safety
of the first floor, I feel like I’m ready to pass out.

Ty glances at the couple who took the
ride with us. “Excuse me while I calm my woman.” With a quick grasp
of my waist, he twirls me so I’m facing him, presses his lips to
mine, and kisses me senseless.

The touch of his soft lips molds to
mine with a force that makes me want to wrap my legs around his
hard body and cry uncle. I can hardly remember my name much less
where we are. How does he do this to me? His tongue sweeps into my
mouth, and my knees buckle. Ty’s strong arms flex around me,
pulling me closer to his body till I can feel the length of his
passion digging into my belly. Are there rooms up here? Because I
feel an intense need to take care of business right here and right
now.

Breathless, I close out our kiss with
a few pecks to Ty’s throat. He buries his face into my neck, “Feel
better now?”

“
Hell, no. I’m horny as
hell in a public place.”

“
But you’re not scared
anymore?” His warm breath on my skin sends tingles down to my
toes.

My eyes meet his. “No. Not
scared.”

He kisses me again, lowering his hands
down my shoulders, the length of my arms until his fingers thread
through mine. “Then, let’s go take a look.” He stays focused on me
out of the corner of his eyes as he leads us to the indoor
observation deck.

I suck in a gulp of air before we
reach the glass.

“
Breathe, baby.”

I exhale, not even realizing I had
forgotten to.

With one hand in his, I scoot closer
to him and hold his arm with my other hand. I feel like a little
kid hiding, and peeking out from behind a door or wall. I glance
down at my grasp on Ty and smirk at the white knuckles on my hand.
I loosen my hold a bit.

“
Thank you,” he says. “I
was starting to lose feeling in my arm.”

“
Shut up. You got me up
here so if you have to have your arm or fingers amputated because
I’m cutting off your blood circulation, it’s your own damn
fault.”

He chuckles.

“
Don’t laugh at me, you
jackass. This is fucking scary. I feel like I’m going to fall a
hundred floors to my death.”

He touches the glass. “You’re not
going anywhere, Melly. You’re completely safe.”

“
Bite me.”

“
Later.” He smiles, his
eyes softening. “Now, I can’t distract you with kisses forever.
Let’s enjoy the view.”

“
Kisses sound better.” I
take another deep breath trying to calm myself since apparently
Ty’s not going to stick his tongue down my throat again until I
take a look.

“
You can do it, babe. Have
a look. It’s beautiful.” He reaches behind me, placing his hand on
the small of my back, and pushes me forward. “Now, open your
eyes.”

My eyes are closed? Yeah, I guess they
are. With another swoosh of air, my eyelids pry open and I’m
breathless again.

But not because I’m hot and bothered,
or because I fear for my life, but because of the view.

He was right. Like always.

It’s spectacular.

“
I swear I can see my house
from here. It’s amazing,” I tell him.

“
It’s crazy how the hotels
look so close together from here, but if you were to walk from one
to another it could take hours.”

“
And some of them look so
small.”

“
How are you feeling?” he
asks with a squeeze of my shoulder.

I look up at him. “I’m okay. Still a
little rattled. But this is worth it. Thank you for this.” Most of
my fondest memories are shared with Tyler, and Shelly. And this
just adds to them. He has a way of getting me out of my comfort
zone to experience some amazing things. As we slowly walk the
entire 360 degrees around the deck, when I see the Red Rocks, I
remember our trip to the Grand Canyon. Shel and I were in junior
high and I went on a family vacation with them. I was too afraid to
get too close to the edge at the many viewpoints. At one stop,
while the others were eating and taking pictures, Ty took me by the
hand and led me to one of the look-outs. I didn’t even realize
where we were until he stopped talking and the entire abyss of the
canyon was below my feet. I looked down at the gorgeous layers of
rock and up into his smiling eyes, and almost cried right there. I
was so happy to see it, and so happy that he cared enough to help
me experience it.

“
What are you thinking
about?” he asks.

A smile forms on my lips. “The Grand
Canyon.”

A spark of sweetness flashes in his
eyes. “That was the first time I really held your hand. I didn’t
want to let you go. I can still remember the cheesy smile on your
face when you looked down into the canyon. It was
priceless.”

“
Kind of like my cheesy
smile now?”

Ty leans down and presses a gentle
kiss to my temple. I close my eyes to his touch and enjoy the
moment with everything I have.

Things haven’t changed much since I
was a kid. Ty is still helping me conquer my fears and I’m still
following him around like a lovesick puppy dog.

Shelly

“
Hey, Matty,” I call over
my shoulder to my new husband. I still haven’t gotten sick of
calling him that. My husband. Let me say it again. My very sexy,
hot and sweet husband. “Did you put Mel’s wine in the freezer? You
know she loves it wicked cold.”

My new husband walks into the bathroom
as I’m brushing mascara onto my lashes. “Yeah, of course. I put
your beer in there too.” His hands slide around my waist from
behind and meet in the front. I raise a brow at him as his fingers
travel under my shirt and the warmth of his palm on my skin sends
heat pooling between my thighs.

“
Oh no, buddy. They’re
gonna be here any minute. I can’t have my brother seeing me all
flushed after we get busy.”

“
Get busy?” Matt laughs
into my neck.

I smile at him in the mirror when his
eyes meet mine. “Knock boots?”

“
Sure, just don’t say bump
uglies because there is nothing ugly,” his hand starts to slide
down the front of my shorts, “about this.”

Dropping the tube of makeup onto the
counter, I lean into his chest and tilt my head back to press
kisses to his neck.

Matty’s mouth finds mine just as the
doorbell sounds.

“
My brother
sucks!”

“
Give me a minute,” he
says, pushing his hardness into my ass. The thin material of our
clothing separates us but there is no mistaking my man’s
wood.

I swivel my hips into him and then
tear myself away. “Later.”

“
Count on it.”

“
You’re finally back!” Mel
shouts as I open the door. Her outstretched arms circle me as she
steps inside the house. My brother follows her with a shake of his
head.

“
You two act like it’s been
years since you’ve seen each other. It’s barely been a week.” He
leans over and kisses the top of my head. “How was
Harry?”

“
Oh my god. Amazing. Come
in and let’s get some drinks, and we’ll tell you all about it.” I
turn on my heels and walk toward our kitchen. “And by the way,
buttface, it’s been over a week since I’ve seen my bestie. I don’t
think we’ve gone that long without seeing each other since
…”

“
Ever,” Mel
answers.

“
Where’s Matt?” Ty
asks.

If I’m right, he’s in the shower.
Nothing like a dose of cold water on his nuts to get the bad boy to
go down. “He’ll be out in a minute.” I try not to snicker, but I
can’t hide the smile spreading over my face or the shaking of my
shoulders.

“
Did you guys just finish
doing it?” Mel asks. “I guess the honeymoon isn’t over.” My best
friend flutters her brows at me and if my bro wasn’t standing there
glaring at me with a disgusted look on his face, I’d high five
her.

“
No, we didn’t just do it.”
Ty looks relieved, placing a hand to his chest and letting out a
long breath of air. So dramatic. I can’t let that go. “But we were
about to when you showed up so Matty’s waiting till he’s not
pitching a tent in his pants before he comes out.”

“
Oh god.” Ty presses his
hand to his forehead. He opens the fridge, closes it, and then
pulls the bottom drawer of the freezer open. He grabs a bottle,
twists off the cap and downs a few gulps of brew. “I’ll be in the
other room trying to forget my little sister has a
husband.”