How The Cookie Crumbles (20 page)

Finally, he led me into a bright guest room with a queen bed. “Okay, if you insist, here’s your room. All your own, so you can sleep in your granny nightgown and chastity belt.” I started looking around, but Jake tugged me further into the room.

“And this is the best part, Frankie,” Jake said, grinning widely and opening another door wide to reveal an ensuite. “Look! An indoor toilet!”

I couldn’t help laughing along with him, I had been an idiot. “Sorry, Jake. It’s just so hard to remember that you’re this big deal hockey player. You’re like, the most normal guy ever!”

He smiled down at me, “That’s nice. I guess I want people to treat me like I’m me, but they don’t. Of course, I don’t mind if they want to be extra nice to me….” He pulled me closer to him. “Especially if they’re really pretty, like you. Don’t forget, this is our big date weekend.”

“A date does not mean sleeping together. Make up your mind, do you want me to treat you like a normal person or act like an NHL groupie?”

“I didn’t know I got to choose,” he said excitedly. “NHL groupie, please.”

I laughed. “I don’t even know how to do that!”

“Well, you could start by worshipping the ground I walk on….” Jake was trying to look serious, but his crinkly eyes gave him away. “And then end by falling into bed with me.”

I looked at him, quizzically. “Do you really like that stuff? Girls that want to have sex with you when they don’t even know you?”

He nodded his head, grinning. “You don’t know much about guys, do you?”

“I know a lot about normal guys. My brother, Glen, absolutely hates it when girls come on too strong.” Matt had also been disgusted by random women crushing on him. But I had noticed that their distaste was in inverse ratio to the woman’s attractiveness.

“It’s life. One of the perks of my job.” Jake laughed again; he never took anything seriously. “C’mon, let’s get your gazillion suitcases up here.”

After I got unpacked, I changed into a swimsuit and went out on the dock. Jake was already there, and Tolly had arrived too. They were sitting in deck chairs, wearing only board shorts and flip-flops, drinking beer, and eating junk food. Somehow this seemed to typify cottage life to me. I was feeling happy and relaxed already, knowing I had two full days off.

Behind my sunglasses, I took a good look at Jake’s body. I had seen him at the gym, but never without a shirt. He definitely wasn’t fat, but he wasn’t all muscular either. He had a barrel chest, which explained why he looked big in clothes. Like me, if he didn’t emphasize his waist, he looked broad all the way down. His legs looked strong though, with defined thigh muscles. Although he was sitting down, I already knew he had a cute butt.

I wasn’t the only one checking someone out.

“Frankie, lookin’ good.” Jake tipped down his sunglasses and stared. I was wearing a one-piece, tropical print bathing suit along with a big sunhat. He sighed. “Any chance you also have a tiny bikini packed in your large suitcase?”

“As good as the chance you have a Speedo. I’m not the bikini-type,” I declared firmly. I preferred swimsuits that did their share of lifting and shaping. I sat down and started applying sunscreen. In scorching sun like this, I would burn in no time. “How are you, Tolly? Where’s Naomi?”

He grimaced. “We kind of had a fight, and she didn’t want to come.”

“Oh, that’s too bad,” I said, but Tolly shrugged and didn’t look that upset.

Jake took the sunscreen out of my hand, “I’ll do your back, Frankie.” He motioned towards the end of his lounger and I perched there. He took off my hat, pushed my hair to the front and then squirted sunscreen into his hands. He started on my shoulders, but he wasn’t just applying sunscreen, he was massaging it into me.

“Jake, you don’t have to….”

“Relax, Frankie,” he chided me. “I know what I’m doing.”

Tolly snorted, “Yup, old Jakester knows female anatomy. He’s an expert.”

“Yeah, I’m sure of that,” I agreed. But I was a little bugged at Jake assuming that I was always uptight, so I tried to relax and look out at the lake. It was pretty, so smooth and calm with trees along the shoreline and the occasional cottage. Jake had a powerboat tied up to the side of the dock, and he had mentioned going out on the boat later.

Jake did seem to know his way around female anatomy, and the warm touch of his hands on my back was kind of turning me on. He began on my shoulders, his thumbs pressing into the tense muscles of my shoulders. He moved down my back, spreading his big hands so his fingertips rubbed over the sides of me, tickling my ribs. I giggled and squirmed away, and he reached out, grabbed my waist, and pulled me back.

“Come back here, little Frankie,” Jake said, positioning me even closer to him.

Tolly cleared his throat and left, muttering something about getting another beer. Embarrassed, I turned and looked at Jake, but I couldn’t see his expression behind the sunglasses. “Um, thanks, but I think that’s enough now.”

“No, I don’t want to be responsible when you get a sunburn.” He kept one hand on my waist, and began working on the small of my back. As his thumb rubbed the place where my hips curved out, I felt a liquid heat inside. Not dating all summer was clearly making me needy. I shivered a little, and then abruptly got up.

“Gosh, it’s hot here,” I said, ignoring Jake’s protests that he wasn’t done. “I think I’ll take a dip.” I walked out to the end of the dock, and reached out with my foot to dip a toe into the water. The water was surprisingly warm, and I peered down wondering how deep it was. I only heard a slight noise behind me, before Jake toppled me into the water with him. I felt the shock of the water, and came up sputtering. He was treading water with one arm still wrapped tightly around my waist.

“Jake! You jerk! I like to go in slowly.”

“Really, babe? I like to go in slowly, too,” he snickered. He was squeezing me tightly to him, and I tried to get away. I could feel his whole body against mine, and again I was feeling uncomfortable. We were way too close together, with hardly any clothes on.

“Would you let go of me?”

“But Frankie, I didn’t know if you could swim, so I thought I’d better hold onto you in case you were gonna drown.”

“I can swim!” I shoved both my hands against his chest and he finally let me go.

“Jeez, you’re so touchy, Frankie. It’s the cottage, you gotta relax.”

“I swear, the next time you tell me to relax, I’m going to….” I wasn’t even sure what to threaten him with.

“Do what? You’re so scary, Frankie.” He was treading water and staring at me. I dove under the water, hopefully splashing him as I went.

Jake

It was weird, but seeing Frankie in her granny bathing suit was almost as hot as seeing another chick naked. I mean, I could see way more of her body than usual, but because she was still covered up, it made me want to undress her more. Now that she had finally agreed to go out with me, I figured this would be the big weekend for us. Man, I had never waited so long to get with a chick and I felt as excited as a kid at Christmas.

After I pulled her into the lake, she was kind of pissed-off at me. She looked extra hot when she was all wet and shiny, and I couldn’t stop staring at her. The tops of her tits were all slick, and her hair was all wet and slicked back. I wanted to make out with her right there in the water, but she swam away from me.

Tolly and I were going out in the boat, but Frankie decided to stretch out on the deck and read magazines. She actually seemed to be relaxing for the first time since I’d met her. When we got back, I bbq’d steaks and Frankie made some salads for dinner. Afterwards we decided to go into the bar in town, and see what was up.

“Who’s the designated driver tonight?” Tolly asked me, while Frankie was upstairs getting ready. I would rather take the Rover than his beater, but I wanted to drink.

“Let’s flip a coin,” I suggested. Tolly lost, and then suggested we get Frankie to drive so we could both drink.

“I dunno, I’d like Frankie to be able to drink as much as she wants,” I said. Last time she had a lot to drink, she was getting pretty friendly.

“Whoa, you’ve got it bad, bud. Never seen you like this with a chick,” Tolly observed. “Has she got something magical between her legs?”

All of my friends figured I’d been nailing Frankie all summer since I’d spent so much time with her. I wasn’t going to set them straight, and anyway this weekend I was finally going to score.

Tolly said he’d drive, and we decided to go to this bar off the highway that we liked. It was pretty busy on the weekends, and a good time.

Frankie came down in a black and silver outfit.

“No dress tonight?” I asked.

“Nope. I’m going to blend in tonight,” she said, twirling around. “You like?”

I nodded. “You could never blend in,” I told her, and it was true. When we got there, every guy in the place was checking her out. I put a protective arm around her shoulders and guided her to a table. Tolly took off immediately and started chatting up some chicks at the bar.

“Wanna dance?” I asked her, after our first round of drinks.

“Sure,” Frankie said, smiling happily. “I love dancing!”

So we danced a lot, even doing a little line dancing. Frankie was laughing and joking around the whole time. It was almost scary when she did relax, because then she was the kind of girl I could really imagine being with.

“Phew, it’s hot in here!” Frankie unbuttoned her shirt and flapped it a little. I went to the can, and when I came back, my wish had come true: she had taken off the shirt. Her little black top underneath was totally sexy, it looked more like underwear and pushed her magnificent tits up, like they were on a platter. I wanted to reach out and help myself to a big serving. Shit, she was hot.

“That’s a nice, uh, top-thing,” I told her.

She was fanning herself with the menu. “Oh, my bustier? Thank you!” Was that what it was called? Whatever it was, I wished she’d wear them all the time. She smiled at me, “I told you you’d be happy I packed a lot of clothes.”

“I’m happier that you packed a lot of tiny clothes,” I said. The waitress brought us another round, and Frankie had a sip of her little umbrella drink, then sat back and lifted her hair off her neck.

“I hate to admit it, Jake, but you were right; it’s so much fun to get away for a whole weekend. Knowing I don’t have to work and I can sleep in tomorrow is great,” she said. Sleep in tomorrow, did that mean what I thought it meant?

“Keep thinking that, y’know, that Jake is always right,” I told her and she laughed. I joked around with her, and she kept giggling. Then she leaned in and kissed me. On the cheek, but still, it was a good sign.

They slowed the music down, and I took her back out on the dance floor. I held her close, with my hands on her warm, bare back. She leaned into me, her arms around my neck and her tits smushed against me. Everything was going great: she looked hot, she had kissed me first, and now she was pushing up into me. Finally, she was making the first move!

“So Frankie, you wanna go home now?” I asked eagerly, once the song ended.

“Already?”

“Well, it’s almost midnight,” I explained, looking around for Tolly.

“Gosh, is it that late already? Okay.”

I went to find Tolly. He had hooked up with some chick there, and wanted to go back to her place, so I said we’d take a cab. Probably better anyway, I didn’t want Frankie to feel like she couldn’t go all crazy because Tolly was around. Man, this was going to be great.

26. Pressure

I would hate to have to admit it to Jake, but he was right. I was having a great time at the cottage. I knew I had two full days to relax, and no responsibilities other than getting meals on the table, which was something I’d love to do anyway. After a quick snooze on the dock while pretending to read Cosmo, I felt refreshed and ready to go. After dinner, I tried on a few outfits and wondered what to wear to a bar that was probably a total dive. My dresses didn’t seem right, so I started with a pair of red sandals, then added grey capris and this black designer bustier that I’d bought on sale back in Vancouver, and never had the courage to wear because it was kind of revealing. But tonight it worked perfectly since the weather was hot and I was feeling carefree. I wished Chloë was there, because I couldn’t figure out if the outfit was sexy or too sexy. No point in asking Jake or Tolly, because I was certain there was no such thing as too sexy for them. My shoulders looked bare, so I wore my hair down and added some silver chandelier earrings. I took one last look in the mirror, chickened out, and ended up buttoning a metallic silver shirt on top.

The place was as dive-y as I expected and Jake seemed to know everyone already. There was a lot of fist-bumping and bro-style handshaking. There were more than a few girls who greeted him with hugs and kisses too, but he didn’t seem to pay them much attention.

I was already in a good mood, and Jake put me in an even better one. He loved to dance as much as I did, and then he started goofing around, doing the robot and the sprinkler and generally being a hoot. When we finally sat down for a break, I couldn’t stop giggling.