Dark Universe (6 page)

“So?”  I say glancing down and shrugging. 

“So, if you so much as breathe too hard, I’m putting you back on that counter.”

“Is that a…”  Before I can finish goading him, his mouth is on mine and his tongue is swirling around mine.  There are no teasing pecks to lead up to the deep carnal kiss he slams me with.  My mouth was already open mid-sentence and he just dove in.  My ass hits the marble top and my legs wrap around his waist, digging my boots into his thighs.  Drake brings both hands up and palms my breasts through my bra, making me moan into his mouth.  He removes one hand causing me to whimper at the loss, and then replaces it back on my body at my lower back to push me deeper against him.  His jean clad erection pushes against my core, and I break the kiss and drag in a deep breath.

Drake pushes against me one more time and I lose it.  I push him just far enough away from me to get a hold of the button of his jeans and pop it free.  I’m just about to push my hand into his pants, desperate to wrap my fist…

Bitch, answer your phone. 
Drake and I burst away from each other and search around the room before finally realizing my phone is ringing with another special ring tone.
Lola, its Nina! Answer your damn phone!
  I quickly put my shirt back on to regain some semblance of
control and dash to my cell phone to cut off Nina’s specially recorded ring tone.  Tossing the cell back in my purse, I pretend like Drake wasn’t about to just rock my world all over the kitchen counter.

“I think it’s time we had a talk,” I say, finally turning and finding him watching me warily.

“I couldn’t have said it better myself.”

I walk over to the dining table and sit down, trying to decide how to put what I’m about to say.  I look over at Drake as he sits next to me and decide straight forward honesty is best.  “Remember my proposition when we first met?”  I ask and he nods.  “Great.  Well, I wasn’t joking.  I think it’s the best idea considering our situation.”

Drake smirks at me.  “Care to spell out exactly what that is?”  He asks, his voice laced with humor and barely cooled lust.

“Isn’t it obvious?  We want each other, in a bad way; which wouldn’t be really a “situation” if either of us wanted a relationship. We don’t.”  Drake nods silently at me, so I continue.  “My mother has been thrusting every eligible bachelor at me for the last three years, and I’m so sick of it I could scream.  She will hate the idea of us seeing each other, but at least it will keep her occupied with something other than forcing me into the life of 2.5 kids and a home mortgage.”

Drake takes his time processing this and then meets my eyes.  “Would that really be so bad?”  He asks.  “Don’t all women want to find Mr. Right and fall in love and live happily ever after?” 

I sigh and shake my head laughing at the cliché.  “Dreams like that are for naive little girls who have yet to witness the horrible things two people who are supposedly in love can do to each other.” 

Drake’s eyebrows shoot into his hair at that statement.  “And you’re not one of those girls?” 

I shake my head.  “No this,
woman
, has seen enough of that to turn ten bright eyed little girls into
cynical women.  And you?” 

“No.”  He shakes his head and runs his fingers through his hair.  “No, I don’t have any illusions of finding true love either.  I’ve also seen the damage love can do to a person.”  We stare at each other for a few minutes and Drake finally nods and leans forward.  “I know you’re tough, Lola. I can still hurt you, trust me.  I don’t want to, but that’s exactly what will happen if we take this anywhere.”

“I’m a big girl, honey.  If it makes you feel better, that’s exactly why we aren’t going to let it go anywhere.  We’ll go out together, have fun and hang out, and get a chance to burn through this sexual tension on each other instead of someone who is looking for more.  Friends and sex, no more, no less.” 

It takes a few seconds for Drake to show any reaction.  When he does, it’s the first typical male emotion I’ve seen him portray yet.  He smiles wide.  “You want to be friends with benefits?”  He wags his eyebrows.

“Ugh, no.  We are not calling it that.  We simply have a mutually beneficial…”

“Fuck buddies.”  He cuts me off, daring me to refute the title.

“Fine!  We’ll be fuck buddies!  If we have to call it something, it’s better than that other juvenile title.  Might as well call it like it is.”  Drake starts to sit up and I stop him.  “One thing first, Thomas,” he sits back down and gestures for me to finish.  “I know you too well to just sleep with you now.  We have to wait.  Not until after the first date.  I don’t jump into the sack with men I know.”

“I’m not trying to be a douche here, Lo, but that is fucked up logic,” he says.

“I know it doesn’t make much sense, just trust me on this.  Familiar men are far more dangerous than strangers.”  He thinks about that for a few minutes and then nods again.

“When you put it that way, I can’t disagree with you.”

I stand and make my way over to his chair and put my hand out, “Deal?” 

Drake takes my hand in his and pulls me down and captures my mouth again for a deep brain scrambling kiss, before pulling away.  “Deal.”

CHAPTER 5

"There is only one road away from trouble, and this is along the straight and narrow road."

- Otto Wood

The next day, I decide to go see Nina to tell her everything that’s been going on with Drake.  We don’t keep secrets from each other, and I know if it were her planning some sordid relationship with a hunky cowboy, I would demand to know everything.  That thought makes me smile because I’m really not too far off.  I can’t decide what I’m more excited for, talking about my non-relationship with Drake or her budding one with Connor. 

I walk up to her door and ram my fist into the door several times.  Nina sleeps like the dead.  Well, despite the nightmares anyway.  This is early for either one of us, so I’m assuming she’s still in bed, hence the forceful knocking.  The door flies open and on the other side is the exact opposite of a petite, cranky and sleep worn brunette.  Thick legs meet tight boxer briefs that cut across the bottom of a rippling six pack and a hard chest that finally extends into a smirking blonde male.  Connor.

“HOLY SHIT!”  I yell and Connor winces.

“Morning, Lola.”  He pushes the door all the way open with a smirk and walks back inside.  I follow close behind him, and he grabs a pair of jeans off the back of the couch and pulls them on before shrugging on a white cotton t-shirt.  I take in the fact he answered the door so brazenly in his underwear only seconds ago and is now rushing to get dressed.  Either he forgot he was naked or...laughter bubbles up my throat and I have to bend at the waist to hold back my hysterics.

Connor raises his eyebrows at me and I grin back.  “You are smart, Con Man!  Does Nina know exactly how dirty you’re playing?” 

He smiles at me and shrugs.  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Sure you don’t.  Just an FYI, you don’t have to worry about a man knocking on her door.  Just little me; though feel free to forget your pants whenever you want anyway.”  I wiggle my eyebrows and smirk at him.

Connor frowns at that, and sighs sadly. 
Wow, intense much.
  He runs his hands through his hair and then crosses his arms over his chest.  “On one hand, that makes me extremely happy, but I can’t help but imagine how lonely that’s been for her.”

“Oh, Connor.  Yes, I’m sure it has, but it’s what she wanted, and as much as it kills me to say this, I can’t blame her.  She’s been let down by people a lot in her short life.”

“Yea, I’m getting that.  How long has she been having nightmares?” 

My hackles rise and I look him dead in the eyes and plant a finger in his chest.  “What exactly do you want with her, Connor?  Because these questions, they come with some heavy answers.  Nina isn’t going to be easy or normal and it’s going to be rocky, so if she is just a challenge or some passing fling in a small town you’re visiting, you better just cut your losses now.  I had no control over her being hurt the first time, and failed at protecting her the second, so I will not allow there to be a third.   You get me?”  I stab my finger deeper into his chest and glare up into his baby blues, putting every ounce of threat I can muster into my words.

“You don’t need to worry about that.  I’m more likely to get hurt than she is at this point.”  His words completely shock me.  Guys don’t ever admit to things like that.  “Now, I hate to be rude, but Nina is going to be out of the shower any minute now and I have some things to say to her when she does.  If you’re here when she gets out, she’ll use you as an excuse to get out of facing whatever progress I made with her last night.” 

I smile wide at him and pat him on the shoulder.  “It’s about time that girl had someone to care about again.”  I walk towards the door and turn around before exiting, to hammer the point home.  “Connor, I like you, but if you hurt her, I will not hesitate to nail your balls to my fence post and leave you for the birds, understood?”  Connor’s hand instinctively goes to protect the object in question and swallows. 

“Like I said, unnecessary, but yea… I hear you.  You know, you’re sort of scary.”  I look up at the hulking man who outweighs me by at least seventy pounds and has a good eight inches on me and smile. 

“I know, and when she finally trusts you, you’ll have a better understanding of why.”  He nods and I smile mischievously.  “Oh, I was going to ask her to go to the bar with me and a friend tonight.  It could be a double date.  Make sure she calls me,” I stress the last part.  I love making Nina spill her guts.  It’s so fun to get her all flustered.  He chuckles and shuts the door behind me.  As I’m walking away, I feel as though a huge weight has left my heart.  She’ll be okay.

I drive back to the club and notice Drake mucking the stalls on my way pass
the barn.  I never considered shoveling shit to be a sexy activity until now.  Drake’s muscles bunch and bulge as he scoops and dumps, pausing to wipe the sweat off of his brow.  Everything south of my neckline is standing at attention and heating up quickly as I watch the show he is unintentionally giving me. 

I really can’t help that my mind flashes to the physical aspect of our deal.  Although neither of us came out and said it, we both knew what we were agreeing to.  Right now, watching him parade that body all over the place is making
me want to dip into the fringe benefits of our arrangement now rather than later. 
This boy needs to cool down before he starts a fire!
  I smile at where my thoughts are heading and leisurely make my way to the barn.  Just outside the front door there is a water spigot surrounded by logs and a hose attached that I believe is long enough to reach him.

I turn on the water and carry the hose over to the stall Drake is currently working on and casually put my foot up on one of the posts.  Drake notices me standing there and leans his shovel against the wheel barrow before jogging over. 

“Hey, thanks, I’m dying of thirst here.  I swear if horses didn’t shit they would be perfect.  At least it’s not summer yet.  I hate doing this in the summer.”  I smile innocently at his small talk and nod while I hold up the hose for him to take a drink from.  Drake smirks at me and removes his ball cap to lean down and take a pull from the stream of water at the end.  When I’m sure he’s had a decent drink, I reach forward and pull the neck of his t-shirt out and shove the end of the hose into his shirt.

“Son of a bitch!!!”  Drake hollers as the freezing cold water cascades down his body and into his pants.  I dissolve into fits of laughter and choke out incoherent sentences about how he was too hot and I needed to cool him off. 

After thrashing around a bit, he manages to get the hose out of his now sopping wet shirt and kinks the end to stop the flow of water.  I’m doubled over laughing at the image before me; Drake soaking wet and shivering with a fierce scowl on his face.  I’m very pleased with my joke and just managing to control my laughter when the subject of my hilarity smiles broadly at me and reaches down to strip the clinging black tee from his body.  My laughter immediately halts and I have a hard time drawing a deep enough breath to manage anything other than a small gasp. 
Damn!
 

“Will you hold this for a second?”  Drake asks, handing me his sopping t-shirt.  I numbly reach out to take it in my hands and he turns and walks the hose back over to the spigot before turning the tap off.  Now that his back is to me I manage to pull my shit together and form a semblance of a smile before he turns around and saunters back to me.  Drake holds his hand out to take his shirt back and lays it across his left shoulder. 

“Sorry.  I couldn’t help myself,” I giggle.  “You’ve got to admit, that was hilarious.  No hard feelings, right?”  I put my hand out.  Drake smiles wider and puts his palm in mine.  Even though it’s ice cold, warmth still manages to seep from his skin into mine. 

“Sure, no hard feelings,” he drawls, and then reaches out with his other hand and grips me at the waist before hoisting me up and over his right shoulder. 

“EEEK!”  I squeak as I hit the hard muscle and start to flail my limbs around.  “Drake, put me down!  I’m sorry, okay!”  I holler.  Drake’s baritone laughter rumbles through him causing my body to quake across his shoulder as he carries me effortlessly.   All I can see is Drake’s perfectly formed backside and his boots as he slowly treads across the gravel. 

“Don’t be sorry, Lola.  Besides, Thomas’ don’t get mad…” he says cryptically as he comes to a halt.  “They get even.”

I’m thrown back over Drake’s shoulder and the next thing I know, I’m dunked into ice cold liquid backwards.  I emerge freezing and sputtering in the middle of the mother loving water trough. 
Well played
,
Thomas, well played. 
I do not say this, however.  What I do say is…

“You fucking asshat!”  Does Drake hear my insult?  No.  He is too busy shaking and rolling on the ground, paying no mind to the fact he has no shirt on and it’s barely forty degrees outside.  I shake my head and trip my sopping wet ass out of the giant bucket of ice, then stomp past Drake who is choking he’s laughing so hard.