Falling for the Wingman (The Kelly Brothers, Book 3) (8 page)

Chapter Five

“Hello, Caleb,” Jermaine said with a wave as he entered the garage.

“Hey,” he said, waving back, wondering how many people in Jackson Grove already knew his name after the past couple of days. “Where’s Alex?”

“She went upstairs about fifteen minutes ago to get cleaned up. Said you was to go up and make yourself comfortable until she was done.” The black man rolled a tire across the garage to the stack in the corner. “You should’ve been here earlier, though. You missed seeing Kourtney more pissed off than a drenched cat.”

He paused at the staircase. Was Alex’s plan working? “What do you mean?”

Jermaine grinned. “She had her prissy ass more uptight than usual on account of you and Alex neckin’ all over town.”

“We haven’t been necking.”

“That ain’t what my mama said. She said you was more interested in Alex than dessert, and everyone in town knows how good my mama’s peach cobbler is.”

Caleb started putting two and two together. “Your mother is Miss Ada?”

“Yep. But getting back to Kourtney, she was yelling and screaming at Alex to keep her hands off you or else.”

Damn—Alex’s plan was working. He’d gotten glimpses of Kourtney’s jealous side while they were dating, but he’d never imagined she would threaten her sister. “And what did Alex say?”

Jermaine’s grin widened. “Maybe you should let Alex tell you that.”

“Tell him what?” Alex asked from the top of the staircase. She took a couple of steps and then turned to drag down a large ice chest behind her.

“Here,” Caleb said, running up the stairs, “let me help you with that.”

“Thanks.” She waited for him to grab the other end and hoisted it up with him. “Bubba said to bring plenty of adult beverages.”

“How many people is he expecting?” The cooler felt like it had about three cases of longnecks and enough ice to bury them in it.

“Just the six of us.”

“And will we be able to safely drive back?”

“Probably not, but if that’s the case, Bubba has a couple of guest rooms and a few tents.”

His mind immediately went to sharing a tent with Alex after a few beers, to imagining what it would be like to share a sleeping bag with her, their naked bodies entwined. The blood rushed to his dick, and his grip loosened on the cooler.

“Hey, Earth to Caleb. I can’t carry this on my own.”

Alex’s voice snapped him from his erotic daydream. “Oh, sorry.” He lifted the ice chest high enough to cover his crotch and continued down the stairs. “I’m not sure we can fit this in my car.”

“Not a problem since we’re taking my truck.” She steered him to the lot behind the garage and hoisted her end of the ice chest into the back of a classic Chevy pickup.

While she tied the chest down, he took a moment to admire the bright green truck. “What year is this?”

“A ’57.”

“What kind of engine do you have in it?”

Alex flashed him a mischievous grin. “One that’s barely street legal.”

“Nice.” He climbed into the passenger side. “Let’s see what this old girl can do.”

“You got it.” She started it up with a low, deep throttle that rumbled through the streets of downtown Jackson Grove. But when they reached the highway, she opened it and accelerated with enough power to knock him back against his seat.

Caleb rolled down his window and let the warm spring air whip past his face. The truck was a perfect combination of speed and power. “Let me guess—you built it?”

“Of course.” The corner of her eyes crinkled from her proud smile. “Wait till you see what I have planned for that Roadrunner.”

“Should my old Camaro be worried?”

“Most definitely.” She chuckled and brushed the hair that had blown loose from her ponytail away from her face, her mood light.

Another thud of his heart bruised the inside of his chest. If he’d been riding with Kourtney, she would’ve yelled at him the moment he rolled down the window for messing up her hair. Alex, however, took it as a cue to roll down hers and enjoy the breeze too, not caring if her hair wasn’t perfect.

She turned to him, and her grin faded. “Is something wrong?”

He shook his head. “I was just thinking about something. Do you want me to close my window?”

“Nope. I like driving down these old country roads like this.” She turned off the highway to a small two-lane road that should have been repaved about three years ago. “Hang on—it’s going to get a little bumpy from here out.”

“Oh, I forgot—here in Alabama, most of the directions include ‘Turn off the paved road,’” he teased. “I suppose mud-riding and cow tipping may be on the agenda tonight.”

She stuck her tongue out at him. “We can put them there if you want. Just be thankful I didn’t crank up my radio. I know how much you
love
country music.”

“If I remember correctly, the last time we hung out, you were playing more classic rock.” He grabbed the dash as a pothole jostled the vehicle. “That I can handle.”

“You’ll get plenty of that at Bubba’s.” She glanced at him, worry etching lines in her otherwise smooth forehead, and slowed the truck. “Here, I’ll be more careful so you don’t explode like a shaken Coke can.”

“I appreciate it.”

“And as for the beer, if you want, I won’t drink tonight so we don’t have to stay at Bubba’s.”

A stab of disappointment hit him. He’d actually been looking forward to sharing a tent with her.

Whoa! Watch it, Caleb. You’re in danger of crossing the line, and she’d only end up getting hurt
.

If she didn’t slap him for trying to take things too far, that is.

“I’m okay with whatever.”

Something flared in her dark brown eyes that made him wonder if she’d be more open to sharing a tent than he first thought. “Then we’ll see how the evening plays out. In the meantime, I want you to relax, enjoy some good food and some great company.”

“You’re great company.”

A hint of color rose into her cheeks. “Ah, thanks. You’re good company, too, and I think you’ll like my friends. We’ve all been like this since grade school.” She held up her crossed fingers. “J.T. was in the Army, so you can rib him about that, if you want. And Bubba makes some of the best BBQ in the state.”

“Just answer me one thing—is his name really Bubba?”

“Would you be shocked if I told you it was?” The twinkle in her eyes gave her away, but he shook his head, earning one of her unrestrained laughs. “Okay, you saw through that. His real name is Douglas Allen Grant III, but since his granddaddy goes by Big D and his daddy is Little D, his family decided to call him Bubba.”

“Ah, the intricacies of Southern nomenclature.”

She laughed again and gave him a playful nudge with her shoulder. “At least there’s a dignified name on the birth certificate.”

The road turned to gravel, and Alex slowed the truck down to a crawl. “We don’t have much further, Caleb.”

“I’m fine.” The road cut through a thick forest of pine trees. The afternoon light filtered through, making the coils of dust sparkle as the tires stirred them up. “This is actually kind of nice.”

“I love coming out here. This land has been in Bubba’s family for years. When they dammed up the Chattahoochee, it went from farmland to waterfront property.”

“Farmland?” The moment the word left his mouth, the forest parted to reveal a flat grassy plain and a cottage-style home with a large wrap-around porch. Beyond that, the blue waters of a lake shimmered in the dying sunlight. “Nice.”

“This is Bubba’s.”

As if he needed any clarification. A column of smoke rose from behind the house, filling the air with the mouth-watering aroma of hickory and roasted pork. His stomach growled. “I’m actually looking forward to this.”

“You should because our little scheme aside, you deserve to have a good time and to relax and just enjoy being back home. My friends are all easygoing, so the only person you’d have to worry about putting on a show for is Mindy, and she and J.T. aren’t here yet. Bubba and Lisa already know about my plan, so you can just be yourself around them.”

Caleb exhaled, the last of the tension leaving his body. He liked the idea of just hanging out with Alex and her friends. If they were anything like her, it would be a laidback evening where he could forget about the craziness of the last three days.

Alex drove the truck around to the back of the house, where a couple stood around a smoker. The man was placing a kiss on the woman’s cheek while his hand grabbed her ass. She gave him a half-hearted swat before turning around and waving at Alex and Caleb. “You finally made it. Bubba here was getting thirsty.”

Alex turned off the engine and climbed out. “Sorry—I was working on Miss Martha’s engine and forgot about the time.”

“There’s never an excuse for being late with the beer,” Bubba teased.

Caleb got out of the truck, waiting for the awkwardness of being the outsider to set in.

It never did.

Instead, Bubba took his hand and shook it. “You must be Caleb. Alex has nothing but good to say about you, and I’m glad to finally meet you. Let me help you get that cooler down.”

And just like that, he was part of the group. Alex introduced him to Bubba’s wife, Lisa, and once they set the cooler down between the smoker and the empty fire pit, they all reached in and grabbed an ice-cold beer. Half a bottle later, he felt like he’d known them as long as Alex had. And even though they appeared to be simple country folks with accents to match, he was surprised to learn that Lisa was a nurse at the county hospital and Bubba was a paper engineer at the local mill. Both were well-educated and could find jobs anywhere, yet they seemed content to enjoy their life in this small town. It made him wonder if there was something about this place that kept them here.

Lisa got up from one of the lawn chairs around the fire pit. “I’m going to go inside and finish up the sides.”

“Need any help?” Alex asked, rising from her chair next to Caleb.

“Nope, I’ve got it. Why don’t you take Caleb down to the lake and show him around?”

“Sounds good.” She took his hand. “Come on—the water will feel good.”

He finished off his beer in one quick chug and followed her to the narrow beach. The water was shallow enough to see the rounded rocks on the bottom for about ten feet out.

Alex took off her sandals and hopped from rock to rock with the grace of a ballerina. The short denim cutoffs drew his attention to her long, slender legs and her blue plaid button-down shirt tied at her waist, giving him a peek at her flat stomach. Her hair fell messily over her shoulders, the sunlight making the red and gold in the tousled waves burn like fire. She was the very image of a pretty country girl, but his thoughts were anything but innocent as he watched her.

He was thinking about how her legs would feel wrapped around his waist, about how silky the skin of her stomach would be as he ran his hands under her shirt to the gentle swell of her breasts, about how he’d love to tangle his fingers in her wild hair as he made her come. The haze of desire settled over his vision, and the blood rushed to his groin once again.

God help me, I’m not supposed to have these kind of thoughts about Alex
.

But every time he tried to push them away, a new wave would ambush him. There was nothing intentionally coy or seductive in her actions, but the longer he watched, the more he wanted her.

She paused on a rock a few feet out, the water coming up to just below her knees. “Are you coming?”

He bit back a groan. He wanted to come, just not in the way she offered. He hadn’t been laid since before he deployed, and judging by the hard-on she was giving him, it was nine months too long. If he didn’t get hold of himself, he’d be asking Bubba for one of those tents so he could take Alex into the woods with him and find out if she lived up to the fantasies that were invading his mind.

Time for the equivalent of a cold shower. He slipped off his shoes and waded out until the cool water came up to his waist. The ache in his balls ebbed, but the lake did little to douse his thoughts about Alex.

“Caleb?” she asked, her voice rising with a hint of worry.

“Sorry, Alex.” He splashed water on his face and forced those thoughts out of his mind. “I just needed to cool off.”

“You kind of spaced out on me there.” She came closer to him, stopping where the water lapped against the frayed edges of her shorts. “Are you not having a good time?”

The heat in his veins warned him that if she came much closer, he would be in trouble. He turned his back to her and continued to splash around until his T-shirt was as soaked as his shorts. “No, I’m having a great time. Almost too good of a time, actually.”

“Then care to tell me why you bolted into the water like you were on fire?”

He pressed his palms against his temples. If he told her she was turning him on, how would she react? On one hand, she’d responded to his kisses like she enjoyed them as much as he had. On the other hand, those kisses had all been part of their ploy to get people talking and make Kourtney jealous. Of course she’d act like she’d enjoy them. But until this J.T. arrived, they didn’t need to put on a show. She’d said they could just be themselves. And right now, he was dying to know how she’d respond to his touch when they weren’t performing for an audience.