The Trouble with Dating Sue (Grover Beach Team #6) (21 page)

“Bowling or baseball, what do you want to play, Susan?” a very annoying voice disrupted our moment.

Sue sucked in a barely audible gasp. She quickly found her composure again and carefully pulled her arm out of my hold. After a soft cough, she slipped past me and called to Ethan, “How about golf for a change?”

I loved my brother. But sometimes I wanted to strangle him.

Gnashing my teeth, I spun on my heel and followed Sue into Ethan’s room. He might have ruined a perfect kiss moment, but he wouldn’t hide Sue from me for the next two hours, oh no.

Susan had already made herself comfortable on his bed while he set up a game. I flopped on the mattress beside her and suggested, “Three players?”

Ethan turned around and shot Sue a questioning look. She rolled her eyes, sneaking a glance at me, but at the same time she smiled. I guessed she was fine with me staying.

Ladies first.
Ethan handed Sue the controller. She climbed off the bed, not caring that my legs were in the way, simply making her way over them. Ready, she took up position in front of the TV and took a swing with the controller. That shot was a major miss. At least one hundred and fifty virtual yards past the hole.

Ethan was next, and he wasn’t any better. My turn. I’d played this game a lot with T-Rex when we were younger, so I had enough practice to get a hole in one. In the following forty-five minutes, I squashed them at Wii golf.

When it was Sue’s turn again, I cringed at how she took up a lax position. “You’re holding it wrong. It’ll never work with that shot.” Sliding behind her, I reached to her front and placed my hands over hers on the controller.

Sue stiffened in my casual but not entirely innocent embrace. The soft strands of her ponytail tickled my chin, and I blew them away…maybe very, very, absolutely unintentionally also blowing on her neck.

“Please, this is so cliché, Chris,” she scolded me, wiggling her shoulders to shake me off. But her voice trembled, and her breathing was much too fast for merely being irritated. She was turned on by my sensual hug. Maybe she would have let me hold her longer, if my brother hadn’t been in the room with us.

Um…Ethan? Could you get lost for a moment?

But of course that wasn’t happening, so I let go of Sue and sat down on the edge of Ethan’s bed, chuckling. Sue stared at me hard, then she teed off and missed, again, by miles.

“Told you so,” I teased, arching my brow. The blush that had cooled off a second ago after my sneaky embrace flared up again. She was one scrumptious little thing. Trying not to get dragged too deep into the thought of nibbling on her, I cleared my throat. “Anyway, it’s time to stop playing and get to work, or we’ll be eating at ten tonight.”

We all moved to the kitchen, where Ethan and I had already laid out everything we were going to need for preparing the meal and dessert. Susan sat down at the table and watched us with open curiosity as my brother and I got busy. While Ethan chopped vegetables and checked on the marinated steaks, I began pouring all the ingredients I needed for the cream into a bowl.

But cooking without music was no fun, so I switched on the radio. It was what Mom liked so much about my brother and me cooking anyway.

An Italian song played, with a rhythm you could shake to. I twisted across the room—passing Ethan, who danced to the other side—and got three eggs from the fridge. On the way back to the island, which I’d completely covered with my bowls, chopping board, and hand-held blender, I juggled the eggs. Yep, it was totally to show off to Sue, and I prayed to heaven none would drop to the floor. Cutting a glance at her every now and then to make sure she appreciated my skills, I found that she was sitting much too far away from me.

At Ethan’s request to pass him the vinegar, I put the eggs down, gripped the bottle by its neck, tossed it in the air, and caught it again behind my back. Seven months, I’d practiced this move—and I’d shattered close to fifty bottles in that time, much to my mother’s chagrin. But it paid off, even if just for this very moment.

Susan caught her breath and slowly let it out again, seemingly horrified, yet equally impressed when I didn’t break the bottle. I chuckled as I patted the empty spot on the counter for her to come sit with me. Eyes narrowed, she shook her head.

Why so shy?
I crooked my finger, beckoning her.

At that, she mouthed the word “no.”

Now, come on...
I expelled a deep sigh and rolled my eyes at her. Always needed an extra,
extra
invitation, didn’t she? Fine, she could have it. I walked toward her and, ignoring her shocked gaze, took her hand to pull her up from the chair. Not giving her a chance to protest, I twisted her around me and caught her to my chest. Another hug—the second of today—and my heart rejoiced. She smelled so damn good.

Startled, Sue laughed as she placed her hands on my shoulders for balance. I took one of them in mine again and danced her in a sexy Latin style to the corner of the kitchen island. Once there, I grabbed her hips and lifted her onto the counter.

Like a shy little girl, she clasped her hands in her lap, crossing her legs at the ankles. It was fine with me, as long as she was close.

I mixed the yogurt and mascarpone, added the other ingredients, and tasted it once the mass was smooth. Yummy. Sue should taste it, too. Without a whole lot of thinking, I dipped my finger into the cream and held it out for her.

Sue scrunched her face in disgust. “Seriously?” Her gaze moved to my finger. “Gross.”

All right, it seemed we weren’t exactly where I wanted us to be yet. No problem, the afternoon was long. I laughed and sucked the cream off my finger myself.

Time to chop some fruit. Sue was blocking the drawer with the knives, and I had to move her a bit to get in there. One hand on her hip, I slid her over a foot, which made her squeak with surprise. After I’d retrieved the knife, I slid her right back in place, and this time—apparently prepared for the move—she just giggled.

Whatever Ethan had prepared in the meantime, he was finished, because he told me he was going to need the oven in a minute. The cake I’d made this morning was still in there—no longer baking, of course, but so that it wouldn’t dry out.

Pulling out the tray holding the cake, I placed it next to Sue on the counter. Ethan turned on the oven and put a ceramic bowl of meat and sauce inside. “Half an hour,” he announced while I put the cream on my cake.

I juggled some oranges to the next song that came on, until one dropped to the floor. Thank God it wasn’t an egg.

Ethan picked the orange up with a reprimanding look. Yep, he knew I could do better than this. Anyway, enough juggling for one day. Ethan was done, and I still had to chop the fruit for the cake, lay it out, and prepare some liquid chocolate for decoration.

Picking the bananas and grapes from the fruit bowl, my heart sank when I didn’t find the most essential topping for my cake. “Where are the kiwis?”

The breath that Ethan sucked in through his clamped teeth just then caused the hair on the back of my neck to stand up. “Crap,” he said, looking like a boy who’d accidentally burned his little sister’s Barbie Dreamhouse. “I completely forgot about them.”

An irritated growl rolled out of my throat. “Go get me some, now.”

Ethan folded his arms over his chest. “How about you go get them yourself?”

Why not? Uh, I knew why. Leaning forward, I braced my hands on the counter and leveled the same taunting look at my brother. “I’m grounded.” Smart ass.

Ethan grimaced, grasping my dilemma. “Right.”

“Hey,” Susan spoke up, making us both turn toward her. “I can go get them.” She gripped the edge of the counter and slid forward, moving to hop down. But I didn’t let her.

Placing one gentle but firm hand on her knee, I kept her where she was. “Ethan can go.
You
stay right where you are.” No way would she leave this room now. I made that clear with a fiery look into her eyes. She swallowed, totally understanding my intentions.

“Be right back,” Ethan’s voice drifted to us as he left the kitchen. Good. The corners of my mouth tilted up as the slamming front door announced he was gone.

I was alone with Sue.

Finally.

SUSAN MILLER’S NERVOUSNESS was charging my kitchen to a point where touching metal might be dangerous.

To give her a chance to adjust to the new unchaperoned situation, I turned off the radio and tried to be very
un
intimidating. But heck, was that even possible when I was practically sweating excitement? Yeah, better shut up too, or something stupid might pass my lips to make her go all defensive again.

Half expecting to get zapped as I passed her to fetch a bowl from the cupboard, I gave Sue a quick glance. With wary eyes, she watched my every step as I went to melt the dark chocolate with some butter.

As the chocolate heated, I stirred it with a whisk and tested the slowly melting mass with my finger. It couldn’t get too hot or it would taste bitter later. From the corner of my eye, I could see how Sue sat rigid where I’d put her on the counter, thighs pressed together, hands still nervously clasped in her lap. Not relaxed yet. Oh dear.

What in the world could I do to make her feel comfortable with me? If we kissed now, chances were that she’d bite off my tongue by accident. A shudder raked through me. Not the best way to get intimate.

I didn’t want her all keyed up and sweating because of me. It stressed me out, too. Maybe that was the reason I burnt my finger when I dipped it into the bowl again. The chocolate sauce had gotten too hot too fast. I jerked my hand back, swallowing a pained yowl, and a dark drop of chocolate landed on my white t-shirt.

“Damn.” Pulling my tee away from my chest, I tried to wipe the stain off with my thumb, but that only made the smear worse.
Terrific.
I turned off the burner and put the sauce aside, then I shrugged out of my gray shirt and pulled the stained tee over my head. Sue watched me like she actually wanted to lick her lips—badly. Yep, she totally loved what she saw. As I tossed the tee across the room, where it landed with perfect aim on the backrest of a chair, I couldn’t stop myself from smirking at her. Her throat twitched hard as she swallowed.

To give her a moment to cool down again—and myself too—I turned away, buttoned up my dark gray shirt, leaving the top buttons open, and went on to season the chocolate sauce with rum and grated orange peels. A nice smell of citrusy, warm chocolate enveloped us, making my alone time with little Sue all the sweeter.

While chopping some orange wedges, an idea took shape. It was risky, oh yeah, but that wouldn’t stop me. I tested the temperature of the molten chocolate. It had to be warm, but not too hot for what I had in mind. Sue shouldn’t burn her mouth on it.

All this time, she hadn’t spoken a single word. The only sound in the room was the knife hitting the board as I sliced through a banana and the whisk brushing the stainless steel side of the bowl when I stirred.

Eventually, the chocolate had cooled down enough for my plan. From the fridge, I got a plate of strawberries and set it on the counter beside Sue, playing my part with nonchalance. “Close your eyes and open your mouth.”

Surprisingly, Sue followed my order. I wouldn’t have thought it would be that easy. But of course, it
wasn’t
that easy. The next moment, one of her eyes shot open again and she looked at me sharply. “You’re not going to stick your finger in my mouth, are you?”

A laugh escaped me. To use her own word, “Now that would be a little
gross
, right?”

Expelling a relieved breath, she closed that eye again, only to open both half a second later. “And you’re not going to kiss me, either?”

Cutting her a quick sideways look, I kept stirring the chocolate sauce next to her. “I wasn’t thinking about it.” Okay, total lie, but what the hell. I teased her with a smirk. “But now I’m wondering why you were.”

“You better play nice, if you want me to stay through dinner,” she warned me with an almost-growl.

“I always play nice, little Sue.” Not
fair
, maybe, but nice for sure. “Now close your eyes.”

This time, she obeyed.

I put the eggbeater away, tilted my head, and just looked at the girl in my kitchen for an endless moment. Did she even know how beautiful she was? How much her bare neck tempted me to stroke my fingertips gently down her skin each time she had her hair in that sassy ponytail? The lashes of her closed eyes rested calmly on her cheekbones, but her almost erratic breathing gave away how nervous she still was.

Pulling myself together, I resisted the urge to brush my knuckles down her cheek and instead moved a little closer, so our legs touched through our jeans. “Open your mouth,” I said again, softly.

She did, but only so much that a tiny blackberry would fit through her parted lips. We were dealing with oranges and strawberries here, so she would have to open up a little more. With an amused smile, I asked her, “You don’t trust me?”

Her lips parted a bit wider. Good girl. I picked up an orange wedge, bit off one half, and dunked the other into the warm chocolate. When it had stopped dripping, I carefully placed it in Susan’s mouth.

With her teeth, she pulled the half wedge out of my fingers and ate it. A pleasurable moan escaped her.

Captivated by that sound, I swallowed with a dry throat. “Good?”

Eyes still closed, she frowned and gripped the edge of the counter, finally loosening up. “Jeez! This is
awesome
!”

Happy about our small progress, I chuckled. “Next one.”

When she opened her mouth for me again, I put a chocolate-coated strawberry right on her tongue. Slowly…

Sue closed her lips around my fingers. At that instant, I could see and also feel how she stiffened next to me. It didn’t stop me from dragging my thumb across her bottom lip to wipe a small drop of chocolate away. I licked it off my finger.

She’d practically been panting since the moment my brother had left us alone, but now her breaths almost came to a standstill. Yet she was a good girl and kept her eyes closed.

“Susan?” I whispered.

Sucking her bottom lip between her teeth, she croaked, “Hm?”

I leaned closer and drew in the mellow scent of the coconut lotion coating her skin. She smelled illegally good. Intoxicated, I gently nuzzled the spot behind her ear with the tip of my nose. “What’s the temperature in hell right now?”

Sue’s eyes shot wide open. Staring at me in total astonishment, she couldn’t find the breath to give me an answer. I didn’t care. Her silence was answer enough, and it was the perfect moment. I stroked my fingers over her cheek, tilting her face a little more toward me.

For an instant, her eyes screamed, “Oh my God!” but a second later, they lazily closed.

I brushed my lips over the corner of her mouth and then breathed, “Are we getting close to freezing point?”

Again, she didn’t answer, but turned her head even more to me. That was all I needed to know. Pleasant waves of excitement rolled through me. Shaping my palm to her cheek, I placed the first real kiss on her mouth.

Ah, God, finally. I’d never waited this long for a kiss. And Susan was ready for it, too. She let me in and, from the way she met the play of my tongue with her own, she enjoyed every moment of the kiss as much as I wanted her to.

With my hands softly splayed on her cheeks, I tilted her face a little farther up as I stepped in front of her. Sue opened her knees for me to stand between her thighs. Her hands moved to my chest, shyly flattening against it. They were trembling ever so slightly. She dug her fingers into my shirt to stop them from shaking.

Enjoying every warm breath of hers on my face, I explored her mouth with a lazy slowness that allowed me to stroke her tongue into total surrender. She tasted of chocolate and strawberries—my favorite.

Dying of hunger for her, I lowered my hands to her waist and pulled her closer to the edge of the counter so her front was flush to mine. Her fingers crawled up my chest, over my shoulders, and to the back of my neck. Heck, they felt cold there. A chill ran down my spine.

Nibbling a trail along her jaw to her ear, I teased her, “Hey there, Frosty.”

She immediately pulled her hands away. That was not what I wanted, so I caught them and put her arms back where they felt best—around my neck. Her cool fingers weren’t uncomfortable on my skin. They were thrilling.

My hands braced on the counter on either side of her hips, I began kissing down the side of her tender neck. Small, gentle kisses that would remind her of the hickey after our soccer match a few days ago. Susan breathed a dreamy sigh.

In response, a heated moan escaped me, and I returned my attention to her sensual mouth and nibbled on her bottom lip with gentle demand. Her forehead dipped against mine. Sue was totally relaxed now. I kissed her harder, deeper, pulled her tighter against me, and then—

A fucking car stopped in front of the house, and someone slammed the door shut.

Ethan.
Hell, no!

Go away
, I silently prayed, letting out a growl as I inched back from Sue. I wanted to keep making out with her. But with her reluctance to surrender to me the past couple of weeks, it was probably best not to nail the fact that we’d finally kissed on a billboard for all to see. I wanted to leave it up to her to decide when it was time to come out with the truth. Even to my brother.

I skimmed a few stray wisps of hair out of her forehead and then nudged the tip of her nose with my finger. Looking into her flushed face and warm eyes made me smile. “Now…that wasn’t so bad, was it?”

A slow grin tugged at the corners of her mouth as she shook her head.

Happy with the new direction this afternoon had taken, I stepped away from her and stirred the molten chocolate. Ethan entered the kitchen seconds later.

“Hey, guys,” he called out. “Here are the kiwis.” He threw me the fruits one by one, and while he went to check on the steaks in the oven, I sneaked a final glance at Sue. Her intense gaze was on me, so I winked at her and gave her a crooked smile. Shy again, she looked quickly away.

I was still busy laying the fruit out on the cake as Ethan prepared three plates with his meal. Susan hopped off the counter and helped him.

“God, Ethan, this is delicious,” she complimented him later as we all sat around the table, eating steaks with veggies and pepper cream sauce. She was right; my brother had outdone himself today. That meal would be hard to top, but hopefully Sue would still like my cake.

I checked on it after I’d carried our plates to the sink, but the cream wasn’t yet cold enough. “It could do with another twenty minutes,” I told them from behind the refrigerator door.

“Maybe we should clean up the kitchen before dessert,” Sue suggested.

“Good idea.” I closed the fridge and smirked at the two of them. “Ethan can do it.”

Obviously irritated, my brother leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms defensively over his chest. “Why me?”

“Because you forgot the kiwis today.”

His brows dipped into a frown. “Well, I actually drove to the store again and got them. You clean up here.”

Damn.
I wanted more alone time with Sue, and having Ethan clean the kitchen would have given me that time. I stared Ethan down, but he wouldn’t cave. When had he become such an annoying brother? There was nothing he would get out of the situation if I had to do the dishes—apart from more time to play Wii.
Screw him!

Since all this hard staring was an obvious impasse, there was only one possible solution. He must have come to the same conclusion, because we said at once, “Let’s play it out.”

With Susan in tow, we stalked to the back door and out into the yard. Ethan fetched the basketball from the shed and brought it to the small paved square that was our court. There was only one hoop fixed on an iron bar that my father had cemented into place for us when we were little. Ethan gave Sue the ball and asked her to throw it in the air.

When she did, we both jumped for it. I grabbed it first and started running for the basket, bouncing the ball along with me. Ethan tried to cut in, but he had no chance. Smoothly, the ball slid through the hoop. “Two—zero,” I hollered and tossed the ball to Ethan. Round two…

Though I’d have much rather spent the time kissing Susan in my room, I did enjoy the game with Ethan. Basketball was the only thing in the world that could turn off my mind completely. When I played, there was only the ball, the opponent, and me. I loved it. But the incentive of winning some more alone time with Sue made me give my all to the game.

From the corner of my eye, I noticed her returning to the house. Tired of watching us? No one could blame her for finding one-on-one basketball boring.

“Twenty-two to twenty,” Ethan finally grumbled almost half an hour later. It was a tight victory, but it didn’t matter. I won, and while my brother could do the dishes now, I’d get pretty little Sue all to myself again.

Wiping the sweat off my forehead with the hem of my shirt, I walked back inside and left the ball for Ethan to put away.

As I came back to the kitchen, I stopped dead in the doorway, my heart thumping in my throat all of a sudden. Sue stood by the table, holding my stained t-shirt to her face. She didn’t notice me but, holy damn, she was sniffing my tee! Like she really loved my scent or something. She heaved a dreamy sigh, as if she might be auditioning for a romantic chick flick.