Loving the White Liar (6 page)

“Things you might think are strange, that maybe we should save for a later date.”

“Come on, try me,” I said, taking a sip of my wine. I was feeling the effect of its magic as my body settled further into my seat, the pasta growing heavy in my belly. I was already drunk on the view across from me and elated as the pressure of finding a job rolled off my shoulders. It was heaven.

“A clean house, walking my retriever, Trip, good food, finishing a piece of furniture and delivering it, The Beatles. And I added kissing you about an hour ago.”

And
that
was the moment I knew I was onto something.

“Jayden, God,” I rasped as he continued to kiss my neck just below my ear.

Our kiss goodnight had turned into some serious, heavy petting and by the tenderness of my swollen lips told me had started over an hour ago. It took every bit of strength I had not to invite him in. Even if I did, I didn’t think he would do it seeing as how he hadn’t suggested it in any way since we started our hands on exploration over our clothes. We were kissing now as we had at the restaurant before we went inside. I was on his side of the truck, my arms around his neck as he brushed up and down my sides, barely grazing my breasts.

“I don’t want to stop,” he said as I moaned into his next kiss. When we separated, he bit down on my shoulder with his teeth and I cried out.

“I love that sound,” he whispered in a voice filled with sex.

“Don’t stop,” I pleaded as my sex pulsed, begging for release.

“Fuck it,” he snapped, pulling me into his lap to straddle him right before he gripped the sides of my head as his mouth crashed into mine. I began rubbing myself over him, seeking the delicious friction I needed so badly.

“Damn, Hilary, I want you,” he said without apology, rubbing me back and forth over his obvious erection. I didn’t stop him when his hands finally found their way under my shirt and traveled to my chest, but broke away, feeling slightly embarrassed.

“There’s...”—gasp—“not much...”—gasp—“there.”

“Don’t you dare.” He captured my mouth again as I melted into him as his fingers whispered over my constricted nipples before he cupped one and molded it into his warm hand. I felt the pull begin as I kept moving over him, my entire body firing in agreement with my movement. “God, Jayden, I think...I’m going to come.”

He lifted my shirt just enough so he could cover my nipple with his tongue and I arched my back, letting go. I let out the fast, rapid gasps I typically did when I came. It was involuntary, but it was a habit of mine and I went with it. Jayden quickly pulled his hands from my shirt, gripping the sides of my head, watching my mouth as I finished hard in his lap. When it was over, I looked at him shyly.

“I’ll never get that image out of my head,” he said, licking my lower lip. Still fired up, his need bulging beneath me, he kissed me with everything in him and I took it, greedy for more. After another long, lust filled kiss, he adjusted my shirt and opened his door, pulling me out of the driver’s side with him. He walked me to the door and shook his head quickly, as if to ward off the lingering heat between us.

I wished him well with that. I would need a few cold showers even after that orgasm.

“I was just going to kiss you before dinner,” he said with a chuckle.

“How did that work out for you?”

“The same way it worked out for you. Please go inside before I get all Neanderthal.”

“Okay, but for the record, that was incredible.” I leaned in to kiss him quickly, but he jerked away his eyes in warning.

“I’m leaving now.” He walked away swiftly as I laughed and thanked him. He held up a hand, letting me know he heard me, but moved faster toward his truck.

I went inside, running through the apartment to see if Gerri was home from work yet. I opened her bedroom door to see an amazing and fully masculine ass pumping like hell in and out of my best friend. I shut the door, relieved neither of them had seen me and finally recognized the feel of the red panties on the knob as I closed it quietly. That was her bat signal.

‘Red panties on the door means Gerri’s being a whore’.

I damn near laughed out loud. It’d been a long time since those panties had made an appearance. That’s when the loud moaning finally registered. She’d clearly marked her room and I’d missed it because of the Jayden fog I’d been in.

HOLY SHIT.

Gerri was getting it on with Mike. It seemed like both of us were having a good night. I wiped the mental image of their sex out of my head. I had something much better to concentrate on in Jayden.

Deciding to give them their privacy, I put on my suit and decided to go for a midnight swim. I left quietly, hoping neither of them knew I’d been there, and made my way to the pool, attempting to creep in. Technically, the pool closed at night, but if you were quiet about it, no one ever really complained. I was fumbling in the dark blindly down the path when I ran right smack into a now familiar chest at the gate.

“Woman, I’m trying my best here.”

“Great minds,” I giggled as Jayden followed me inside the gate. “Does your roommate have the screamer back?”

“Yep, you?”

“Same scenario.” I could barely see him and the moon did little to help us. We were cloaked in darkness except the streetlight that seemed a mile away. Jayden threw a large towel on the lounge chair and jumped into the shallow pool, looking up at me. I walked slowly down the steps and made my way toward him.

“I walked in on them, you know,” I said in a husky and almost unrecognizable voice. “I didn’t see much.”

“Stay where you are. Don’t come any closer,” he warned.

“What if I want you to touch me, Jayden?”

“Then I’ll touch you, Hilary, but I don’t want to, not now.”

“Jayden,” I urged as I took a step closer.

“Fuck, the way you say my name.” I heard a splash as he hoisted himself out of the water to sit on the side of the pool. I kept my distance as he had asked. I really didn’t want to push it too far. If it ended with just sex between us...I wasn’t ready for it to end. And I wasn’t about to ask him as much. Not when the night had been so amazing to begin with. I’d let him keep his motives to himself.

“We did the old high school dry hump. It’s been a while,” I poked as I thought about how we’d fogged up his truck just minutes ago.

“Yeah, it was ...”

“Amazing,” I complimented.

“Yes, very,” he agreed. I sat on the steps on the opposite side of the pool.

“I was just about to text you,” he said, his beautiful chest barely visible, his voice covering me from the other side of the pool. “I was going to ask you out again.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah,” he said emphatically. “You’re the first date in a long time where I haven’t listed your flaws mentally after it was over.”

“Brutal honesty.” I laughed. “That’s comforting, I guess,” I piped, amused and straining to see as much of him as I could. I drifted into the pool, wading in the water.

“I’m kind of picky,” he admitted.

Oh...this is interesting.

“How so?”

“I have a few rules about the women I date.”

“Oh, and I fit the criteria?”

“So far.” I laughed at him and pushed a wave of water his way, unsure if it would hit him.

“So what’s on Jayden’s list of criteria?”

“Can’t tell you.”

“That’s fine. I’m kind of picky myself. We will just have to see if you make the cut.”

“Challenge accepted,” he said so sweetly I melted in the cold water. Trying to take my mind off the fact I wanted him surrounding me, I searched for conversation.

“What are your plans tomorrow?” I asked simply, curious.

“Hanging out with the guys, you?”

“I’m having brunch with my family.” I treaded through the water until I was eye level with his knees. He towered over me as I kept my distance, but now I could see him more clearly. He looked down at me with a smile playing on his lips and warning in his eyes.

“Do you have a large family?” he asked.

“Three sisters, one brother. Yeah, I’d say so.”

“Wow,” he said, looking down in the water.

“How about you?” I retorted, curious. “We didn’t cover family at dinner.”

“Just me and my mom and her brother, my uncle Stephen, who played father when my dad split.”

“I’m sorry,” I said quietly.

“I’m not.” I didn’t argue with him. He seemed fine with it. I wanted to lighten the mood so I grasped for straws.

“Fishnipple?” He burst out laughing as I asked it.

“Oh yeah, that.”

“Okay, explain,” I ordered.

“Promise not to get mad?”

“Nope,” I said with forgiving humor.

Jayden went on, anyway. “Well, I was hurting so bad from the burn, for a second I kind of...temporarily...forgot your name, so when I programmed your number in my phone I just pounded in the first thing that came into my mind.”

“And it was fishnipple?”

“You swim like a fish and of course your beautiful nipple was staring at me.”

“Nice,” I said, swimming away from him.

“You said you wouldn’t get mad, Hilary, Hilary, Hilary.”

“I’m aware you know my name...now.”

“Come on, beautiful, I was frying in the sun and in agony. Give me a little room for error.”

“It seems my nipple made more of an impression on you than I did,” I scoffed as I faked hostility.

“Hey, I’m a man, that’s my only defense. But I will add it was worth the agonizing twenty minutes you kept me back in the sun to get your number.”

“Well played,” I said, splashing more water his way.

“Thank you,” he replied, his voice still husky with need. Deciding to toy with him, I moved to the steps and out of the water, walking over to his towel. Wrapping the large, soft cover around me, I unfastened my bikini top and pulled it off. He sat motionless as I taunted. “I think you falling asleep on our first date was more than enough leeway, don’t you?”

“Did you just...your top is off. Jesus, it’s definitely off. Fuck, woman, I’m not going to last much longer.”

“You’re going to have to,” I said as he jumped in the water, coming for me fast. I dodged him, running up the stairs then towards the gate.

“Better step your game up, Jay,” I said as he caught up to me just as I closed the gate, separating us.

“For you I will,” he said sincerely.

“That means coming up with all new lines,” I said as I wrapped my arms around his neck and leaned into the gate separating us from the waist down. He leaned in as well, his forehead to mine, as we shared a breath. “Thank you for tonight, Jayden.”

“I’ll call you tomorrow...fishnipple.”

Looking into his beautiful blues, I smiled and pressed my lips gently to his. We said nothing else and I felt his eyes on me until I disappeared down the stone path back to my apartment. I heard no moaning as I entered and made my way quickly to my bedroom. Stripping off the rest of my wet suit, I dried with Jay’s towel, which smelled amazing and like him. I replayed our date over and over until I drifted off.

Gerri: You are never going to believe what happened last night.

Me: I saw the red panties, MONA. I’m scarred for life.

Gerri: Mona?

I gave her a second to think about it.

Gerri: Ha ha very funny and so worth scarring you.

Me: Talk later, my mom is lecturing me. I have news too!

Gerri: :)

I set my phone down as my mother drove her point home. “I’m just saying, Hilary, it’s time you made a decision. You’re going to blink, and then you’ll be thirty and stuck in a dead end job.

“Mom, that’s what I’m trying to do. Trust me, I’m putting enough pressure on myself already. My new prospects may not be a career choice, but they are better than waitressing. I’ll handle it. You already have the successful lawyer in Alexis, the young tycoon in Bradley, Molly’s about to graduate and take over the fashion industry, and well, I can’t help you with Sabrina. Three out of five ain't bad. Cut your losses.” I gave her a stern look as I cut dough for fresh biscuits at her long, marble, kitchen counter.

“Never, and I don’t categorize my kids into a good pile and bad pile, or by what you’ve accomplished. I want you happy, and the way you’re burning through your years, I just worry. You aren’t married and you are still stuck in your habits from years ago.”

“MOM!” I heard Alexis call as she joined us in the kitchen. I’d never been so thankful for the interruption. She deposited a box full of liquor on the counter and my Mom eyed her suspiciously as she emptied its contents.

“What in the hell, child? We aren’t getting sauced at brunch,” she scolded as she studied each bottle.

“Chill, Mom, half of them are mixes and I wanted to stock up for later. I’m staying with you. I am officially on vacation for the next three days.”

My mother’s eyes lit up as she beamed at her first born. Alexis went and wrapped herself around our mother then pulled back and eyed her with concern. “How are you?”

“Most days are okay. I miss him.” She was referring to our father who had died suddenly last fall. One minute he was griping about raking the never-ending pile of leaves in our yard and the next he was gone. At least that was how it seemed it happened. He’d gone up to bed after Sunday brunch for a nap and never woke up. A brain aneurysm had taken him without apology, leaving us all completely devastated.

“It’s okay to talk about him, Mom, especially with all of us here. We need it, too,” Alexis encouraged. Our mother held his death close to her, but rarely spoke of him. We all assumed it was too painful for her and were giving her time to deal with it her way, but we were becoming concerned with each month that passed with little mention of him. Her denial was beginning to wear on us.

I stopped cutting the dough to watch my mother’s reaction to Alexis’ statement and it was the same response she always gave. “I will, baby, I promise. I just can’t do it yet. I know it’s not fair to you kids, but not yet, okay?”

Alexis nodded, cutting her concerned eyes to me. “Sup, sis.” She made her way to me and gave me a long hug. Alexis and I were the closest next to my baby sister Molly. We’d all agreed Sabrina was just weird but somehow she fit. My parents had managed to create five of the most insanely different children on the planet. Not only were our personalities unique to each of us, but our looks as well. Our family portrait looked like it had been cropped from others and pasted together. And my family was what I cherished most in the world.

“Mom!” Bradley entered the kitchen next, sans his forbidden girlfriend, and gave us all pats and grins until he reached my mother, who he hugged fiercely. “How are you, Mom?” It was the same concern Alexis had shown, which both comforted me and worried me. But today was not the day we would try and get her to crack her well placed stoicism where my father’s death was concerned. It was a special time for us all to be under the same roof and I relished in it. An hour later, and with the arrival of the rest of the clan, we dined on a five star breakfast courtesy of my amazing mother, with only a hint of my help.

I enjoyed cooking, but noted having to do it constantly when I wasn’t in the mood would ruin it for me. I mentally crossed it off of my list of possible career choices.

Chef

Sighing heavy, I sipped my extremely strong Bloody Mary and munched on my mother’s rosemary baby potatoes while looking absently around the house. Our family home was absolutely beautiful, and it was massive as well. It was a colonial style, country home complete with old fashioned shutters, and I’d always hoped to own one like it one day. I’d begged my mother after my father’s death not to sell it, for selfish reasons. I never really told her why, but I think she knew deep down I’d hope she’d keep it in the family. Somehow, I felt like it was the last piece of my father I had left. I sat in the expansive kitchen at the table thinking that if I didn’t get my act together, I could never afford to keep it up for her once she was unable to. The thought alone had me sipping more vodka and spiced tomato juice.

I looked down at Molly, who was her usual quiet self. She was doing her typical observing and only put in a comment here and there. Most of the rest of us were outspoken and it just seemed fit one of us would need to be more reserved. The funny part about it was if you pissed sweet Molly off, she would become the loudest and most obnoxious of us all. I chuckled thinking about her last outburst at Bradley. She’d mentally scarred him.

Bradley looked between me and Molly, seeming to read my mind. “Hilary, you still dating that douche bag?”

“No, Brad, I broke up with him almost a year ago and I tell you every time we come to brunch.”

“Good, I couldn’t stand him,” he said, shoveling a heaping amount of egg into his mouth.

“Well, it’s a good thing I have Jayden now.”

Every head at the table turned to me as my verbal diarrhea caught up with my brain.

Why the hell did I say that?

“Who is Jayden?” Sabrina asked as she moved her weave out of the way to take a bite of eggs. Yes, Sabrina had a weave. She also had thirty-two piercings, unlimited tattoos, and only dated men who used their last name as their first: e.g. Harrison, Ford, Turner, Carter. She was even more exhausting than me when it came to indecision. She had worked every job imaginable, as well as exercised her freedom in religion. She’d delved into Buddhism, Hinduism, the Wiccan practice, and actual witchcraft (which is different, just ask her) to everything else available. I looked at her with an honest answer.

“Honestly, just a guy I had one date with, no big deal.” I sat completely stunned that I’d even spoken about Jayden, though he’d been heavy on my mind all morning.

“Apparently he’s made an impression,” my mother chimed in.

“Maybe, and we’re not discussing it,” I said.

“You brought it up,” Bradley said, making me feel more uncomfortable. So I shot back, “Let’s talk about
your
girlfriend, Bradley.” Only my mother was allowed to call him Bradley. He narrowed his eyes. I still saw my baby brother as the awkward kid with the cute lisp who used to run around pulling pranks on the family. Namely duct taping the kitchen faucet so when we turned it one we were instantly soaked. I blamed shows like
The Wild Boys
and
Jackass
. They had been his greatest influences. It was a nightmare watching him reenact the stunts, including the time he slid down our huge staircase on a snowboard. He’d cracked his skull and needed sixty-two stitches. Nothing had ever been funnier to me than my foul mouth baby brother at nine years old cursing horribly on the doctor’s table to my mother’s horror like a grown man while getting his head stitched.

“If thath murther furken snowboard hadn’t been so flurking sthlippery I wouldn’t halph busted my head on the sthupid sthairs.”

From that day on I’d made it my sole responsibility to keep the boy safe from himself. I caught hell from him, but I couldn’t under any circumstances stop myself. He was my pride and joy and I couldn’t handle the thought of him getting hurt. I was sure one day he would thank me for keeping him from blowing his hand off with fireworks, or covering for him when he took the family car out at eleven-years-old for a joy ride. The child was a daredevil and I was the only one who knew his tells, or when shit was about to go down. He grew out of it a few years later when he discovered girls and that had been another nightmare altogether.

“Yes, Bradley,” Alexis added, “please tell me you are wise to her motives.”

“She’s not
the
one, okay. Lay off. I’m not an idiot and I’m not interested in getting married yet. I’m only twenty-two.” That was his explanation and he was sticking to it.

“She’s disgusting,” Sabrina said as I turned to her, noticing her newest hair disaster was filled with eggs. I pushed my plate away, no longer interested in my food once I observed it in hers. Molly chuckled as she looked as Sabrina’s protein filled hair then turned to me with wide eyes. We shared a private eye roll and giggle before Alexis caught it and smiled.

“Sabrina, you have eggs in your horse hair,” Alexis spouted as she nodded toward her drenched hair.

“That’s disgusting,” Bradley said, wrinkling his nose.

My mother seemed to be bothered by my sister’s new getup, commenting next, “Baby, you have beautiful hair. Why don’t you just let your natural hair through? What is the point of this wild Cleopatra thing you have going on?”

“Or the people of Wal-Mart thing you have going on,” Alexis added with a laugh and a snort.

Sabrina stiffened as she prepared to defend herself. “I like it, Mom. Screw you, Alexis. When is the last time you got action?”

“In the courtroom yesterday, sasquatch,” Alexis defended.

“Ladies, act your age,” my mother scolded before turning to Sabrina. “Then wear it your way,” my mother said softly as she diffused the situation then smiled at her daughter.

It was the look she gave Sabrina that confirmed my mother meant her words. She wasn’t keeping score; she was measuring smiles. I knew then no matter what decision I made about my life, she wouldn’t let me live with it until I’d found what made me do that the most.