Operation Foreplay (19 page)

When he reached in to grab another dress, the top of my blue bikini fell to the floor. Bending over, he picked up the small swath of fabric and held it in front of him. “What’s this?” he asked, cocking his eyebrow.

I snatched it out of his hands, balled it up, and stuffed it in a drawer. “My bathing suit top.”

“That thing”—he pointed at the drawer—“covers those?” He pointed at my chest and I knocked his hand away.

“As a matter of fact, it does.”

“That’s something I have to see. Where is the bottom?” He ransacked my suitcase.

“Stop that!” I tried to close the lid and ended up tangled in his arms and we both fell to the floor with a thud, him lying on top of me.

Covered in a pile of my summer clothes, Jared and I froze. I could smell that he’d used my shampoo again and lavender had never smelled sexier.

I stared at his lips and my stomach flip-flopped. His hands brushed the hair away from my face and he leaned closer. My breath hitched and my voice caught in my throat as he brushed his lips against mine.

“God, you’re beautiful.” He dropped his forehead to mine and shifted his body. I gasped as a jolt of heat shot through me.

His mouth crashed on mine and his hands slid down my sides as mine pushed under his shirt. I lifted my hips as he pressed into me.

I bit my tongue as he scraped his teeth along my jaw and ran his tongue down my neck to my shoulder. The need to cry out only intensified the feeling. His hands cupped my breasts before he moved to grab my leg and hitched it up alongside him, his hand sliding to my ass. He pulled me toward him as our mouths met once again.

“Jared,” I whispered, knowing my parents were only steps away in the other room.

I felt his hand slide between my legs, his thumb rubbing against me though my panties.

“God, you’re wet,” he mumbled between kisses.

“Oh my God.” I bit my lip, afraid to make too much noise. I rocked my hips in rhythm with his thumb and it wasn’t long before the buildup rose through me. I pressed my mouth to his as I came quick and furious. I was still shaking when he removed his hand.

“You okay?” he whispered.

“Better than. You?”

“I’m good.” And there was that smirk.

“I can tell.” I shifted my eyes down as he adjusted himself.

“Uncomfortable?” His hips settled between my legs.

“Not really. You?”

“Naw. It’s neat how we fit this way. Like a puzzle.”

He was right. Our bodies fit together in such a way that even though he had at least seventy pounds on me, I couldn’t feel the weight. Just his heartbeat. And the warmth of his breath.

“Well, I guess we better not keep your parents waiting.” He stood, never breaking eye contact, and held out his hand.

I grabbed it and let him pull me up.

“Your eyes,” he started, “aren’t totally blue. They’re kind of green, too.”

“Hazel.” Was I actually blushing?

“Interesting. That they change, I mean.”

“Change isn’t always a bad thing.” It struck me that I was only beginning to understand the true definition of change. And changing fuck buddies didn’t count.

“No, it’s not.” he responded. “I think I’m going to like pretending to be your boyfriend this week.”

Chapter Fifteen

W
ow, Nora. Dinner was excellent. Thank you.” Jared patted his stomach.

“It was good. Thanks, Mom.” I finished the last of my wine and my dad was quick to refill my glass.

“Anytime, sweetie. I love cooking for you. Just wish I could do it more often—”

“Mom.” I rolled my eyes and stretched.

“Don’t ‘Mom’ me. You know we don’t see each other nearly enough. I mean, you’re just a drive down the highway. What’s a couple hours out of your weekend to come and see us?”

“Dad, tell Mom to stop making me feel bad.”

“Hey, I have no control over her, you know that. And besides, she has a point. The last time we saw you was when? Christmastime? You’re always so busy. What are you doing that’s keeping you so busy all the time?”

“I mean, if you had a family, we’d understand. But it’s just you! There is no excuse to go six months without seeing your parents.”

“Mom!” I groaned and began clearing the table.

“I’ll do that. You should sit, hang with your parents.” Jared took the dish from me.

“You’re killing me,” I whispered.

“I know. But look at it this way, you’ll be here all week. Get this guilt trip stuff they love so much out of the way so you can show me around this place.” He quickly kissed my cheek and brought our plates to the sink. I felt the burn from his lips down to my toes.

“Dad, I work. I put in very long hours.”

“You’re too young and too pretty to be wasting your life sitting behind a desk. When do you get out? Meet people? When do you have time to date?” My mother waggled her finger at me.

“What does pretty have to do with it? Besides, I date.”

“Who? Who do you date? Jared’s the first boy you’ve brought home since high school.”

“Look, I just haven’t found the right person for me. I don’t have time for relationships.” I slouched back into my chair before getting up and helping to clear the table.

“You mean you didn’t have time? I mean, you have time now, for Jared.” Jared smiled at my mom as she mentioned his name. “And seems like a perfectly lovely young man.”

“Thank you Mrs.— I mean Nora.”

My dad eased out of his chair and walked to the kitchen. He clapped Jared on the back and said, “I always knew my Melly was picky. And if you’re good enough for her, then you’re okay in my book. And if you need any pointers on how to keep an Ashford woman happy”—my dad actually winked—“I’ve got thirty-five years of experience.” He leaned in and whispered not so quietly, “It’s all in the foreplay.”

If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought Jared was blushing. I banged my head a few times on the cabinet door.

“Oh, Bill.” My mom walked over and kissed my dad, the kind of kiss no kid wants to see, even at almost thirty years old. Yeah, it was endearing but there was something not quite natural about my parents sucking face.

I gagged and my mom giggled as she pulled away. “Oh honey, like you’ve never kissed anyone before. I bet you and Jared kiss all the time.”

I realized I was standing awfully close to Jared when I felt his back stiffen. The hairs on my arm stood on end and my face heated. “Yeah, sure. Of course we do. Right, sweetie?”

Jared kept washing dishes. I elbowed him. “Right, sweetie?” I asked through clenched teeth.

“Right. Kiss. All the time. Love to kiss your daughter.” I nearly burst out laughing as his words rambled into a nearly incoherent string of syllables and his dish rinsing took on an intensity normally reserved for war.

“You two are so cute!” My mom pinched both of our cheeks. “Have you ever been to Wildwood, dear?”

“Ah, no. I’ve never been. Seems like a fun place.”

“Oh, Melly! You have to take him to the boardwalk. He’ll just love it!” My mom ran to her room. “Wait here. I have a card that has some credits left on it you can use for rides.”

“We don’t need your card, Mom,” I yelled after her before turning to my dad. “Dad, you have to tell Mom to lay off.”

“She just loves you, sweetie. And she’s so excited to meet Jared. When you were unpacking she told me she could tell it was true love. You two are going to end up together for a long time. I can feel it.”

All I could think was
Maybe.

*  *  *

After a pair of wiggly eyebrows sent us on our merry way, Jared and I headed toward the famed Wildwood boardwalk.

“So what’s all the fuss with the boardwalk?”

“Everything. It really is amazing. You’ll see the lights, but wait until night falls completely. You’ve never seen anything like it.”

Sure enough, as soon as we turned off Second Avenue and started walking toward the boardwalk, Jared’s eyes grew wide.

“Wow,” he said after a long whistle of appreciation.

“What did I tell you? Awesome, right?” I grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the crowd.

Once we hit the first pier, he looked around and tightened the grip on my hand. “How the hell have I never been here?”

“Yeah, Sarah said you guys never came here. I’ve been coming since I was a kid.” I signaled with two fingers to the guy at the lemonade stand. Reaching into my pocket I pulled out a twenty. Jared stepped ahead and paid the man instead. He handed me my lemonade as I shoved my money back into the front pocket of my kelly green twill shorts. He still hadn’t let go of my hand.

“Thank you.” I took a sip and closed my eyes for a moment to savor the sweet and sour goodness. “You’re still holding my hand,” I mentioned, attempting to inject nonchalance into my voice when in reality, he could probably feel the cold clamminess of my palms.

He lifted our clasped hands and said, “Huh. I guess I am.” He dropped our hands down, sipped his lemonade, and walked through a crowd of people. “Probably better to hold hands. Wouldn’t want to get lost in a crowd this big.”

“I just didn’t want you to get the wrong idea.” I couldn’t hide my smile.

“Are you trying to tell me you think I’m going to get all girly about holding your hand?” He batted his lashes. How had I never noticed how ridiculously long they were?

“Girly? Who said anything about girly?” I focused on drinking my lemonade.

“Relax. I know what the deal is. We’re pretending so Mommy doesn’t give you a hard time. Who knows, maybe they’ll magically appear out here and wonder why we aren’t making out or something. At least we can tell them we’re holding hands.” He squeezed my hand. “We can make out later.”

“If you’re lucky.”

“I told you, I don’t believe in luck.”

We weaved our way through throngs of summer beachgoers, stopping occasionally to grab a hot dog, fried Oreos, or cotton candy. God only knew how he could eat so much.

“You sure you don’t want anything?” he mumbled through a greasy mouthful of funnel cake.

“Thanks. I’m good.” I licked my thumb, reached up, and wiped a smudge of powdered sugar from the corner of his mouth.

He laughed and powdered sugar puffed from his lips. There really was no clean way to eat a funnel cake. “Did you just lick your thumb and clean me? Like my mom did when I was a kid?”

I stared at my thumb. “I guess I did. You had sugar on your mouth.”

“Thanks.” He leaned down and kissed me on the lips like it was the most natural thing in the world.

I licked my lips and tasted sugar. Jared’s eyes remained on me and threw me off balance. I quickly changed the subject. “Are you going to eat your way down the boardwalk? Pretty sure there’s a French fry stand you missed.”

“We’ll make sure to work it off this week.” He winked and squeezed my hand before using it to shove fried dough in his mouth.

His sexy, smirky, powdered-sugar-covered mouth.

Was it sad that I thought the way he ate funnel cake was sexy? How long had it been since I’d had sex? Four days? It was beginning to feel like four months. Something had to give.

“Glad to hear you say that. I was hoping for a workout buddy this week. It’s no fun doing it alone.” I handed him a napkin, afraid to wipe the rest of the sugar from his mouth. I figured if I touched him again I’d rip his clothes off in the middle of the boardwalk.

His eyes were trained on mine when he said, “Alone’s not so bad if you know what you’re doing, but it is
always
better with a partner.”

I forced myself to take a step back. The innuendo was slight, almost invisible, but I needed to remove myself from his personal space. “Be ready at six.”

He got the hint and resumed eating. “In the morning?”

“Can’t handle it?” I teased.

“I can handle anything you throw at me.”

“We’ll just have to see about that.”

The next few hours were spent riding roller coasters—something Jared probably shouldn’t have done after eating all that food—and playing games. By eleven o’clock we were headed back to the condo, each with giant stuffed animals under our arms. I’d won Jared a giant monkey and he’d returned the favor by winning me a large, stuffed banana. Dr. Ruth would’ve had a field day with all the dirty banana thoughts running through my head.

My parents had turned in for the night and I secretly thanked my lucky stars. There was no way I wanted to deal with them, especially when I had wondered to myself about the sleeping arrangements the entire walk home.

Jared made his way to the kitchen. I watched as he poured a huge glass of water from the sink, downed it, and poured another. This went on through four glasses before I abandoned my post at the counter and made my way to my bedroom.

I hadn’t brought much in the way of pajamas. Tiny shorts and a tank top sufficed, especially since my mom kept the thermometer at seventy-six degrees year-round. I liked to sleep cold. And seventy-six wasn’t cutting it.