Red Hot Obsessions (125 page)

A slight frown flashed on her face and he ignored it. “It will. Besides we only have a few more weeks of work on the house and then we’ll hardly ever see each other.”

Nice try, but they both knew that wasn’t true. They saw each other weekly, at minimum. And frankly, he’d wanted her long before he’d become her contractor. “We also have the wedding coming up,” he pointed out. "We can't hide from those obligations."

“That’s in six weeks. I think we can manage to act reasonable until then, can't we?"

Yeah right. It was a damn good thing he’d be out of town for the weekend, because there wasn't a reasonable thought in his head right now. He wanted her again and he wanted her soon.

“You remember I’m in Omaha this weekend for drill, right? Tony may be around messing with the wiring a bit, but for the most part, the place is all yours. To paint or whatever you want to do.”

She nodded. “When are you leaving?”

“Four in the morning.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh my God, I’m sorry!"

To that, he smiled. “For begging me to fuck you? Never apologize for that.”

The blush on her cheeks was friggin' beautiful.

No. Not beautiful. Not even cute. It was…
nothing
. “I should go.”

“Right. Well…thanks, I guess." Her smile was so forced it made him flinch. “I’ll see you Monday morning then?”

This nonchalance shit wasn’t going to work at all, he could tell already. “Right. Monday.”

“Great. I’m gonna get out of here too, before it gets any nastier out there. Take the pizza with you, okay? It's the least I can do, you know...” She gestured toward the floor where moments ago they'd been nearly naked.

He chuckled. "Stud fee, huh?"

“Sorry." She grinned as she bent to sweep up her bra, balling it in her hand. The thought of her not wearing it… Her nipples unabashedly rubbing around the inside of her dress… “Josh?” She waved a hand in front of his face.

“Sorry,” he mimicked her and she smiled.

“Thank you. For everything. I think this was a really good idea. Wish we would have thought of it sooner.”

Oh, he’d thought of it. More than she could ever imagine.

“I feel better already, in fact.” She lifted her shoulders, pulled in a deep breath through her nose and exhaled through her mouth. “Yep, definitely better.”

His eyes locked on her ass as she pranced out of the room.

Too bad he couldn’t say the same.

Chapter Eleven

Despite having roughly
a month’s worth of yard work and painting to do at the flip, Carissa gave herself permission to spend Saturday being the model maid of honor. She picked Maddie up at 10 am for an indulgent brunch at Jose’s Diner…
before
their lunchtime dress fittings at Lolita’s Bridal. Then, elated they’d both fit perfectly into their wedding attire, despite chowing down on copious amounts of pancakes and bacon, they decided they each deserved an iced caramel latte. With whipped cream.
And
caramel drizzle.

“Mmm, so good,” Jenny, owner of La Beautif Salon in downtown River Bend, moaned as she sipped the cool coffee concoction Carissa and Maddie brought her as bribery for a couple drop-in pedicures. Given the orgasmic look on her face, the corruptive gesture had served its purpose.

Maddie laughed. “Told ya it would work.”

Jenny gave a thumb’s up and directed them into the open pedi chairs. “Hey, I haven’t gotten laid in three weeks. I so needed this drink.”

Carissa smiled as she kicked off her flip-flops and got comfy in one of the big seats. If Jenny thought three weeks was bad, she’d probably shrivel up and die at how long Carissa had held out. Of course, thanks to Cameron County’s hottest contractor, the issue had been resolved and her sex life fabulously rejuvenated. At least for one night.

“So the count is on, huh?” Jenny asked Maddie while she set out containers of nail polish for them to pick from and began her foot magic. “August 12
^th
is going to come so fast, your head’s gonna spin.”

“Oh, her head’s spinning already,” Carissa spoke up. “She’s just a master at the whole calm exterior bit. Must be the CPA in her. Always so quiet and collected.”

Maddie snorted. “Quiet? Dan will tell you differently, believe me.”

Carissa and Jenny both laughed.

“All I can say is I’m glad the two of you are catching a flight immediately after the reception and not spending the night in the hotel with the rest of us. No one but Dan needs to hear you screaming his name all night long.” Carissa winked and then handed Jenny a bottle of bright fuchsia polish.

“Oh, please. You say that like you’ve heard it before.” Maddie rolled her eyes.

“I have. I lived with you for two weeks when I first moved to town, remember?”

A crooked grin twisted one side of her friend’s mouth. “So I like to sing my man’s praises. Sue me. At least I’m getting some.”

Jenny groaned. “I probably would be too if it weren’t for that damn Heath—” She broke off quickly, wide eyes snapping up to Carissa. “Oh, shit. I’m sorry.”

A couple years ago, Carissa might have been too. But the truth was, Reed and Jenny had been each other’s slump lovers for years, way before Carissa had come along. That they’d rekindled their here-and-there fling of convenience after Carissa and Reed had broken up really hadn’t come as a surprise. Nor did it bother Carissa. Jenny had become a good friend and she’d respected Carissa enough to back off when she started seeing Reed. Of course, she'd also thought it necessary to ask Carissa’s permission to start sleeping with Reed again a few months back, which was just plain weird for Carissa, considering her relationship with Reed consisted of similar substance.

“You know I don’t care,” she said. “I mean, I don’t need details or anything, but what you and Reed do is your business.”

“I appreciate that. Not that it matters right now. Rumor has it he’s all hot and bothered over the bartender at McCauley’s.”

All three women shared a sigh and a few moments of silence as Jenny went to work on first Maddie's feet and then Carissa's. Maddie reclined back in her chair and closed her eyes, moaning softly every few moments, clearly enjoying herself.

Carissa was glad to see her friend taking a load off. Maddie had been working so diligently to get everything in order for the wedding and because of Carissa’s obligations at the flip, she hadn’t been able to help as much as she’d wanted. So, she savored the small, meaningful moments like this, knowing that she hadn’t let her friend down entirely.

As Jenny nudged Maddie’s toes back into the water and turned her attention to hers, Carissa's phone rang in her lap. The familiar ringtone forewarned her it was a call she didn’t want to take right now—or ever—so she let the cell ring one more time before sending it to voicemail. Today was about relaxing, not having it out with her older brother.

“You can’t hide from him forever,” Maddie spoke up, her voice quiet and slightly slurred as she continued to lounge like a languid cat. “Besides, of all the times to actually answer when he calls, this would be the one. You know…ten years and all.”

Right. Carissa was certain Cade was indeed calling because tomorrow marked the ten year anniversary of their mother’s passing. But he wouldn’t want to reminisce and share bittersweet stories about their childhood and the woman they both loved more than anything in the world. No, Cade would much rather remind her of the shitty daughter she’d been, shutting their drunk, broken father completely out of her life.

Since she'd already done enough of her own chastising over the years, she didn’t feel the need to subject herself to her brother’s cruel torture as well. Which meant she wouldn’t call him back. She never did.

Then her phone chirped, alerting her to a text message. Persistent today, wasn’t he?

Miss you. Love you. Call me
.

Well, hell. Carissa didn’t want to feel anything at the sight of Cade’s kind words, but she did, dammit. Smack in the middle of her chest.

“Everything okay?” Maddie asked, with one eye open.

“Yep. He’s just checking in.” Crap, her voice didn’t squeak, did it?

“You know I invited him to the wedding.”

“I labeled the invitation.”

“I invited your dad, too.”

“What?”

Like she hadn’t purposely betrayed her, Maddie lifted a shoulder. “He’s one of my dad’s best friends. And I spent all that time at your house while we were growing up.”

Carissa blinked. She’d spent a lot of time at her house growing up, too. Didn’t change her bitterness over the fact that, after her mother’s fatal accident, her father turned into a chronically inebriated recluse who’d abandoned his remaining family for the bottle.

“Don’t look at me like that, okay? Besides, you know he won’t come.” Maddie’s nonchalance seriously grated on Carissa’s nerves. How could she be so totally
whatever
about the one thing that kept Carissa up at night?

Okay, so maybe her falling out with her dad wasn’t the
only
thing that continually interrupted her REM—ehem a certain Marine—but it was for damn sure the most painful.

When the bells on the salon’s front door chimed, Carissa shook her head and dropped the conversation. She’d expected Maddie, of all people, to take her side in this. She needed
someone
to support her, because, as time went on, even she’d begun to question how she could go on, completely cut off from her dad and the place she’d once called home. Right now, she felt it, knew without a shadow of a doubt that she’d done the right thing by severing ties with Clay Brandt. Her heart simply wasn’t strong enough to endure that continual beating and, if she would have hung on, she knew the man would have ripped the organ right from her chest.

But other days these memories were harder to rationalize. She had a feeling tomorrow, the anniversary of her mother's passing, would be one of them.

“Ooh, pedicures. Fun.”

Carissa glanced up to see Ellie Morris approach. Her gorgeous blonde hair fell all the way down to her butt and her green eyes were just as big and happy as her boobs. Like Jenny, Ellie had been born and raised in River Bend and, after college a handful of years ago, she’d returned to her reign as town sweetheart. Except she really wasn’t all that sweet. At least not in Carissa’s eyes, because, a few months ago, rumor had it that she’d been very
dirty
with Josh.

Carissa dug her fingernails into her palms to keep the feline claws at bay.

“Hey, El.” Maddie smiled as the woman came to stand beside Jenny. “What’s the latest juice?”

Ellie, a journalist for the local newspaper, chuckled. “Mrs. Schmidt had a heart attack yesterday, but she’s doing fine. Kevin Thomas got pulled over for DUI last night and, because it’s his 4
^th
offense, he’s sitting in the clink. Oh, and I might've recently got a booty call text from your soon-to-be brother-in-law.”

Carissa growled and, if it weren’t for Jenny’s grip on her foot, she probably would've pounced.

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Ellie asked, turning to Carissa with a saccharine smile.

Down, girl. He’s not your man.

But seriously, how recently were they talking?

She swallowed down the bitter jealousy and forced her own sugary grin. “Just a tickle in my throat.”

“Well,” Maddie began, her tone amused, “next time you service Josh, you should hint about the wedding. He needs a date. Or at least someone to make sure he shows up on time and tucks in his shirt.”

“Ooh, that’d be fun. I’ve always wanted to bang the best man.” Ellie waggled her eyebrows and grinned.

Bile rose in Carissa’s throat. She knew what her sexual encounter with Josh meant—more or less
nothing
. A one-time deal. Just a quick scratch across an old itch. But the thought of him dating, let alone sleeping with, Ellie didn’t sit well. At all.

Jenny laughed as she nudged Carissa’s foot out of the water and began on Maddie again. “Who are you bringing to the wedding, Car?”

Maddie snorted. “
No one
. I think she’s trying out for Celibacy Apprentice or something. She had a totally gorgeous man ready and willing to nail her to the freakin’ wall last night and she chickened out.”

“I had heatstroke!” Carissa lied, despising this situation more and more with every passing second.

“Right. And obviously you’re feeling better, so you should come out with us later. Andrew’s in town for one more night.”

Damn, she’d walked right into that one, hadn’t she? “Uh…”

“Exactly.
Chicken
.”

Carissa might’ve been annoyed, except the soreness between her legs reminded her she was definitely not afraid to have sex with a gorgeous, sexy as hell man.

And apparently neither was Ellie.

Crap.

Funny how it didn’t bother her one iota that Jenny had been sleeping with Reed for years, but the thought of Josh and Ellie together for a night or two made her wanna lose every bit of fattening food she’d ingested that morning.

She was being ridiculous. She had no ties on Josh, no control over what or
who
he did. She also couldn’t stop Cade from calling and trying to reach out to her. And she couldn’t change that Maddie might feel obligated to have or even
want
to have her father at her wedding.

By now she should be used to setting aside her own feelings for those of others. She’d been doing it for the better part of the last ten years.

She pulled back her shoulders and reminded herself that she had more important things to worry about than things she couldn’t change. Namely having a place to live. The rest was just needless distraction that would get in the way of finally doing something for herself. And she deserved that, didn’t she? To make herself her number one priority?

She shifted in her seat and that delicious ache at the apex of her thighs made her smile. Yeah, she deserved it, all right.

***

Josh rolled back into Cameron County early Sunday evening. Normally, drill weekends left him feeling relaxed and satisfied. Like he’d been useful in some elemental sort of way. Hell, it was part of the reason he’d volunteered to courtesy drill with the Omaha reserve unit in the first place. That and his time with the Corps had quickly begun to dwindle.

Come September, his IRR would be up and he’d be back to civilian status. He’d been looking forward to that moment for the last two years. Only now, the impending departure had him feeling a little restless and a lot bittersweet.

But the end of his military career wasn’t the only thing that had him wound tighter than a snake.

A certain feisty little brunette with the most mesmerizing, whiskey colored eyes he’d ever seen was partly to blame, too.

She’d been on his mind all weekend. Over and over again, he’d replayed their time together. Three years ago meshing with Friday night. The brazen desire in her eyes. The shameless need she claimed only he could remedy. The disappointment on her beautiful face when he’d reminded her it would never happen again.

Shit.

He should have never given in. He could have held her off if he’d really wanted to, but they both knew he didn’t. Even in those few conflicted moments, when he’d tried to think with something other than his dick, he hadn’t given a damn about what was right or wrong.

All that had mattered was having Carissa one more time. Letting her fill him up with the most amazing, heady desire he’d ever felt, riding the high for a few moments, and then letting her sap it all from his body again like the greedy, sexy little vixen she was.

He’d loved every second of being with her and just the memory had his cock stirring.

No way, man. You know what they say about playing with fire.

Yeah, he knew all right. Which was why, despite Friday night being absolutely stellar, he was not going to sleep with Carissa again. Ever.