In His Bed(10)

“I usually swim in the evening, but if you’d like to use the pool with a date, I can change my routine. I’m flexible.”

The only sexy female Colin wanted to see naked in the pool was his new landlady. “I’m not dating right now. Focusing on my career is a priority. Not much time to deal with the drama. Know what I mean?”

“I’ve decided dating isn’t worth the headache.” She paused. Colin agreed but knew a date with Lea would be worth any headache, like the one he was going to get if his mom found out he planned to ask Lea out. “I can…why are you looking at me like that?”

Colin suppressed the image of his mother shaking her head at him and said, “I’ll go get my things from the truck.”

“I can help you bring your things in. This staircase can be brutal to carry things up.”

“No worries. I can handle it. Pretend like I’m not here. I don’t want to interrupt your day.” He meant it. He could do forty-five minutes of cardio and lift for an hour. The staircase wasn’t going to be a problem.

“Okay, I’ll be in my office if you need anything—through the parlor and past the French doors.”

“Sounds good,” he said and opened the screen door. “Oh, how about three-fifty a month? Would that work?”

She rested her hands on her hips. The way her lips split into a smile made him want to delve in and taste the heat between them. “I think that’ll work.”

He leaned his forearms on the tailgate of the truck and chuckled, watching Lea follow Charlie all over the yard, checking the flower beds. He studied the landscaping. The lawn had seemed so vast before he’d left for college. Now, much like himself, so many things were put into a different perspective.

Finally, he had a real shot at showing Lea he wasn’t the young kid she remembered throwing baseballs. He could be the man she needed. Taking risks was in his blood and gambling on his mother’s opinion of his feelings for Lea was a chance he was willing to take.



*****



“I’m making a salad,” Lea said into the cell phone. “Colin wanted to make steaks for dinner.”

Rachel’s sarcastic “Oh...” made her stop the knife from cutting into the tomato.

“It’s not like that.” She wanted to clarify before Rachel’s dirty mind carried this uncomfortable conversation any further. “He’s Stacey’s son, Rachel, so get your filthy mind out of the gutter.”

“Uh huh,” Rachel mocked. “So, the fact little ol’ Colin grew up into a hottie-mchottie has nothing to do with how defensive you are?”

Lea slid the knife through the tomato, hoping to keep her voice even. “The fact he’s off limits is enough to make this conversation absurd.”

“Listen, I’m not saying to jump into bed with the stud, maybe just have a little fun. I know he’s Stacey’s pride and joy, but I could tell he was into you, Lea. She will understand...I think.”

Colin walked into the kitchen carrying a handful of plastic grocery bags. “I got potatoes for the grill,” he said then noticed she was on the phone. “Oh, sorry.” He set the bags on the counter and started to unload.

“Is he wearing those white baseball pants?” Rachel asked, making Lea’s cheeks burn. Being a mature woman, she refused to fantasize about Colin running around in tight baseball pants. Rachel continued, “Please...please tell me he’s wearing those. I can imagine how great his tight ass would look in them. Come on, tell me what he’s wearing, Lea. It’s a bestie code to share hot guy information.”

She peered over her shoulder in time to see Colin bend over to grab a can of soda from the refrigerator. Damn, she hated feeling like this. The betraying thoughts made her stomach hurt. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” she said, swiping the phone off and getting back to chopping the veggies for the salad. The image crept back into her mind, forcing a fantasy of grabbing his firm backside. She tried to shake the image, but it stuck like epoxy.

When Colin went on the back deck to put the steaks on the grill Lea took the opportunity to hide in the bathroom and splash cool water on her face. She gazed in the mirror. “Stop this, Lea. Stop it right now.”

Turning from the mirror, she leaned against the vanity and crossed her arms over her chest. Imagining Colin in her bed, pumping his lean waist to fill her wetness, wasn’t a fantasy she was proud of, but God help her, her mind couldn’t stop going there.

What would it be like in his bed? Would he be a ferocious lover or take his time and ravish her slowly?

“Lea?” Colin’s voice raced through her forbidden thoughts.