Keep It Simple (MMG Series Book 4) (5 page)

Sometime later a noise woke me. It took me a minute to realize it was Sarah fumbling around in the dark and cursing.

“What are you doing?” I sleepily asked.

“Sorry I woke you, but my brother will have us both strung up in the town square and lashed a thousand times if I don’t show up at home before sunrise,” she said.

“I take it he’s protective of you?”

“That’s putting it mildly.”

I didn’t know what to say to this. The last thing I needed was the girl’s brother on my ass. Right as she started to exit the room, I stopped her.

“Sarah, come here.” With one boot on and one off, she hopped over to me. When she got close, I grabbed her and pulled her onto my lap. She let out a squeak of surprise. I stared deeply into her eyes.
I could get lost in these eyes.
“Kiss me,” I commanded. She leaned in and touched her lips to mine. Cupping her beautiful face in my hands, I gave her a long, deep kiss goodbye. Then I lifted her from my lap back onto the floor. “Better get home before you get in trouble.”

A brief look of disappointment appeared on her face, before she hopped off the bed and pulled on her other boot. Then she snagged her jacket and purse and headed for the door. Right as she reached it, she turned around and gave me a devastating smile.

“Later Killer,” she said and, with a two finger salute, was out the door. A few minutes later, I heard the front door close. I stood at the window and watched her get in her car and drive away.

For a precious moment in time, she made the sadness disappear. I’d forgotten how empty my life had become.

Sarah

‡

M
ax is going
to kill me.

I made sure to check my phone for any missed voicemails or text messages before pulling out of Cas’s place. There weren’t any, but that didn’t mean Max wasn’t waiting up for me. Memories of all the nights Max waited up for me when I was in high school flashed through my head. I was so angry at the world back then.
Angry and rebellious
. Here I was about to selfishly disappoint him again.
So much for learning from my mistakes.

Ellie had kindly offered me her car for the week. I glanced over at the clock on the dash and flinched
. Three-thirty.
Somehow, I didn’t think she meant for me to use it quite like this.
I can’t believe I fell asleep. Well, actually I can
.
Cas and his magic cock wore me out.
Thoughts of what Cas had done to my body made me shiver and I gave myself a mental slap.
Now is not the time, Sarah.
Still, it was hard not to compare tonight against my very limited past experiences.

The week after my seventeenth birthday, I met Timothy MacCallan at the coffee shop where I work. After six weeks of dating, I felt I was ready to take the relationship further. Everyone I knew was having sex except for me. Up to this point, Tim and I had kissed and fooled around a bit, but that was it. When I told him I was ready for sex, he was all in. Timothy was everything I thought I wanted in a guy. He was light to my dark, meek to my mild and very in touch with his emotions. After growing up with Max and his over-the-top alpha friends, I felt I would be better suited with someone like Timothy. Too bad he was as dull as dirt. There were no fireworks or pulse pounding moments between us. There was no crazy chemistry. I did not want to jump his bones or tear off his clothes. His kisses were nice and nice was, well…nice. Tim was a good guy who treated me like a queen. I ended up breaking his heart. The whole experience was awful. I had feelings for him, but as it turned out they weren’t sexual in nature. Of course, I didn’t discover this until the deed was over and done with. Timothy was just big enough in size to make it hurt, and it hurt…a lot. At the end of the day, we both lost out. Tim called me a few times after that night, but I never returned his calls. He stopped coming to the coffee shop and I was thankful, as I had no clue what to say to him. I had a few sexual partners following Tim, but never a relationship. Relationships were messy and messy is what gets you hurt. I learned that first hand from my brother.

I’d fought my attraction to guys like Cas for so long. Tonight’s experience with Cas made me second guess everything. Maybe this was what I had been secretly waiting for, but just didn’t realize it until now. Cas was alpha, sexy and complicated…very complicated. I wasn’t deluding myself. It was obvious the man had some issues. A few times tonight, when he thought I wasn’t looking, I saw glimpses of such sadness in his eyes. At other times, I glimpsed anger, or maybe it was bitterness. I didn’t know him well enough to judge the difference. As soon as I thought I’d figured him out, he would surprise me with kind words or witty banter. And the dirty talk during sex…I would be replaying that in my head for the next decade or two. I shouldn’t find him so intriguing. I, of all people, know how much secrets and lies can hurt. I’ve lived with both for too many years to count.

Before pulling into the driveway, I cut the lights to the car. The summer before Max sent me away he taught me how to drive. I’d perfected that skill in Scotland with Grant Hodson. Like Max, Grant loved cars. He had an old Land Rover and would take me to the country on the weekends and let me drive it. It reminded me of Max and of home.

I pulled in the driveway and stared at the garage.
No way am I opening the garage door this time of night. Knowing my luck, it will wake the whole neighborhood.
As quickly as possible, I locked the car and bolted around the back of the house to the patio. The second I opened the door, I knew something was wrong. The alarm wasn’t on.
Maybe they forgot to turn it on tonight
. I quietly closed the door and locked it behind me. Then I turned toward the stairs.

“It is after three in the morning,” Ellie calmly stated.

In the back of my mind, I knew who was talking, but it didn’t stop me from jumping out of my skin. I slapped my hands over my mouth to stifle the shriek bubbling up from my gut. My eyes shot to the sofa where Ellie was curled with a blanket over her legs.

“You scared the hell out of me!” I loudly whispered.

“Where the
hell
have you been?” Her voice shook with anger.

“I was at Amanda’s and fell asleep,” I stammered. “I’m so sorry.”

Ellie held up her hand. “Stop. We both know you are lying, Sarah. Be glad it’s me that woke up and found you hadn’t come home, and not Max. I do not need him worrying about you, not the week of our wedding. After everything we’ve gone through to be together, he deserves better. Don’t you agree?”

I felt horrible. Ellie was right. I was a selfish cow. “It won’t happen again. I promise,” I assured her.

“Good. Now I’m going to bed.” She stood and walked out of the room.

With a heavy heart, I made my way upstairs to bed.

That night I fell asleep thinking about Cas. I wanted more. The question was, did he?
He didn’t ask to see me again. He didn’t even ask for my number. What if tonight was it?
The thought made me sad.

The next morning I made myself get up bright and early to help Ellie make breakfast. I was grateful when she acted as if last night hadn’t happened. Still, I could tell by the way she kept avoiding my eyes she was disappointed in me. When Max left for work, I took the time to formally apologize to her. I was ready and willing to confess my sins and tell her all about Cas, but when I started to tell her, she cut me off.

“If I don’t know what you’re up to, I can’t tell your brother. It’s better this way, don’t you think?”

I didn’t know what to think. I had so many questions and thoughts rolling through my head. Was it normal to feel such a strong connection to a guy I’d just met and had sex with only one time? I wasn’t sure. That afternoon Ellie had errands to run. I stayed at the house and drove myself crazy with thoughts of Cas. Finally, not able to stand it any longer, I called Amanda and told her everything. Her advice was to nail him as much as possible while I was in town and to forget about him once I was back in Scotland. Maybe she was right? By the end of the conversation, I decided to just ride it out and see what the rest of the week would bring. What other choice did I have? I felt I owed it to myself to further explore the situation. I promised Cas to keep it simple, and that is what I was going to do.

That night, Max drove us over to Joss and Kurt’s house for dinner. On the drive over, I wondered what Cas was doing. Was he working tonight? If so, what was he working on? Was he with Bobby? Was he planning on stopping at Patterson’s when he got off work? If so, would he pick up another girl…take her home…have sex with her? The second after the thought registered, I dismissed it.
Cas is a very busy man. He told me he was on a case that would consume most of his time.
Still, after the best sex of my life, all I could think about was being with him again. The thought that he might not feel the same way bothered me more than I wanted to admit.
Oh God, I’m obsessing aren’t I?
I gave myself a mental slap and tried to focus on where we were going.

We pulled down a long driveway and parked in front of a very impressive house. Max told me over the phone that Kurt had bought Joss a house with a pool and hot tub as a wedding present and Piper was currently living in the pool house. The house was amazing.

As we walked through the front door, I smiled at Joss and Kurt. Then I spotted, Garrett Lanier, Max’s best friend from college. I hadn’t seen him in years.

“Garrett? What are you doing here?” I couldn’t believe how much he had changed. The boy with the shaggy brown hair and pretty hazel eyes that used to spend weekends with us had grown into a man. His once scrawny chest was now broad and muscular and he had traded his shaggy hair for a buzz cut and goatee. When he picked me up and swung me around, I could feel the definition in his arms. He set me down and we stared at each other.

“I knew you’d be a beauty. Hell, you were a beauty back then,” he said with a smile.

“Look at you, Rambo!” I exclaimed. I made a show of squeezing his muscles and he laughed.

Max came up behind me and put me in a head lock, something he and Garrett used to do all the time. “Hey Gar, do you remember when we used to practice all our wrestling moves on her?”

Garrett chuckled. “Yeah, I remember you teaching her your famous foot snapping technique and her testing it out on my balls.” The room erupted into laughter.

I slapped Max’s arm and he marginally loosened it around my neck, so I could speak. “Your balls broke my big toe!”

“I’d completely forgotten about that,” Max howled.

“Teach me,” Ellie chimed in.

“Hell no!” Max said.

“I’ll teach you later,” I whispered and Max tightened his hold on my neck. I playfully slapped his arm. “Honestly, Gar, what are you doing in Charlotte?” I asked.

“Yes, Garrett, do tell,” Ellie sarcastically repeated. She crossed her arms over her pregnant belly and tapped her foot expectantly, which made me giggle.

Max quickly let go of my head, grabbed his bride to be and gave her a big smack on the lips, before explaining, “When I found out Rocky was finally going down, I had Garrett relocate to Charlotte to watch Ellie for me. He ended up liking it so much, he decided to stay.”

“Tell the rest, Max,” Piper said from the kitchen doorway. “Ellie had no clue who the hell Garrett really was. She thought he was just a guy Kurt hired to tend bar at Dragonfly,” she explained.

“Pi, you made it!” Ellie moved to Piper, pulled her into her arms and whispered in her ear. Piper flashed us a lukewarm smile. The feeling I was missing something washed over me and I made a mental note to ask Max about it later.

“Ellie got over it and is now my friend,
right
?” Garrett stressed the word right.

“Right,” Ellie rolled her eyes before hesitantly agreeing.

“When do I get to see Dragonfly?” I asked.

“I have to go by after dinner. How about I take you with me?” Kurt suggested.

“Speaking of dinner, it’s ready to go whenever we are,” Joss announced from the dining room.

Over dinner Max asked Garrett a million questions about his new business. Apparently Garrett had hired two new guys. I paid half attention to the conversation. I was, however, sad to discover I’d missed Ellie’s bachelorette party by a few days. Piper, Joss and Ellie had me in tears describing how Joss hired the police strippers to pretend to arrest Ellie.

“You should have seen Ellie’s face when the policeman whipped off his pants and jingled his jangle,” Joss howled.

“All I could think about was getting to Ellie before they cuffed her. I was ready to tackle him if need be,” Piper laughed. Max scowled, which made us laugh even harder.

After dessert, Kurt had to drop by Dragonfly and I happily went with him. It kept me from thinking about Cas and all the things he could be doing.

Dragonfly was amazing. The guy behind the bar was even more so.

“Hey D. How’s business tonight?” Kurt asked.

“Not bad.” He glanced at me and then back to Kurt. “So much for marital bliss,” he dryly stated.

“Funny. Meet Max’s sister, Sarah. Sarah, this is Dillon Whitaker.”