Skin Deep (18 page)

I got downstairs to see Jackson still
sprawled out asleep on the couch, but Brandon and Luke were
standing by the door, both looking wide awake and ready to go.

“Why didn’t you guys wake up Jackson to go?”
I asked, baffled.

“Uh, well, we’re going to your parents’ house
and didn’t want to be presumptuous,” Luke replied.

“Well, it would be rude to leave him! Get him
up and lets go!” I looked at the clock on the kitchen wall and let
out a little shriek. “Now! We’re gonna be late!”

Fifteen minutes later, we were crammed into
Luke’s car and headed to my mom and dads. I really didn’t think I
was ready for this, but I’ve learned over the years not to argue
with my mom. It only makes things worse.

Chapter 12

Luke followed my directions and we pulled up
outside my parents’ house. I closed my eyes when I noticed that
every window curtain in the front of the house was twitching. I
opened them again to see that my family had quit being cautious and
were openly staring out the windows. My mom was in the window above
the sink in the kitchen. Leah and Jenna were each in a window in
the living room, and Allie’s face popped up above Leah. My dad and
Calland were peering out of the two small side windows framing the
front door.

Leave it to Hayden to be the ice breaker,
though. She flung the door wide, and as we got out of the car, I
heard her say, “Aun’ Emmy, Mommaw, Poppaw, Mommy, and Uncle Cow are
‘pying on you from the windows!

I laughed. “I know, sweetie. That’s because
they’re nosy, and Aunt Leah and Aunt Allie aren‘t any better!”

She nodded sagely at me before turning the
three men standing beside me. She craned her neck to look up at
them and her eyes widened. “Aun’ Emmy! You gots giants wif’ you!”
she whispered loudly.

I blushed, whispering, “Hayden! They aren’t
giants, and Uncle Calland is almost the same height.”

She cocked her head to the side, her little
hands on her hips, and studied each of the guys. “No. They bigger
than Uncle Cow. They prettier, too.”

I just shook my head and grabbed her arm,
dragging her with me into the house, Luke, Brandon, and Jackson all
trailing behind me.

We walked in and everyone had moved back from
the windows, pretending to be busy with something, with the
exception of Noah and Jarrod, who were playing Xbox and shaking
their heads. I rolled my eyes and began introducing everyone. When
I got to Jackson, I turned to my mom. “Sorry, Momma, there’s one
extra. This is Jackson and he’s in from out of town to visit Luke
and Brandon. I didn’t think you’d mind, though.”

“No, I don’t mind! The more the merrier!” Mom
beamed at Jackson, and the way she smiled made me wonder if she’d
been sneaking sips from the liquor cabinet this morning. She’s been
known to do that. Usually that results in her dancing around
everywhere with her lips pursed, bent halfway over, side-stepping
back and forth, all the while yelling, ‘Put in Billy Squire!
C’mon!’ Sheesh. Mothers.

Allie bounced over to Brandon, but came to a
dead stop when she got an up close look at Jackson. “Whoa!” she
whispered. I noticed Brandon looking at her funny, but Hayden
tugged on my hand and I turned my attention to her.

“We gots lots of yummy stuffs for breakfas’.
We hafta wait ‘til you got here wif’ you friends. Can we eat
now?”

Without waiting for my answer, she pulled
away from me and grabbed one of Luke’s and Jackson’s hands in each
of hers and led them to the table.

My sisters and I helped my mom carry the food
to the table and we all sat down to eat. Everything was going as I
imagined it would. It was chaos, everybody reaching for food,
talking over one another. Dad wasn’t saying much, just eyeballing
Luke every once in a while. Mom and Jenna were discussing new
curtains for Jenna’s kitchen, Allie and Leah were staring at the
guys, Noah, Jarrod and Hayden were all engrossed in their food, and
Calland was playing twenty questions with Luke.

When Calland said, “So, Luke, what are your
intentions toward my sister?” I slapped my hands down on the table
and hollered, “Enough!” I glared at Calland and he just shrugged at
me, smirking. My glare transferred to my father when I saw him
sneak a high-five to my brother. Ugh!

Fortunately, the rest of breakfast passed
without incident, and, after helping my mom clean up again, we all
piled back into Luke’s car. As he backed down the drive, I asked
him to drop me off at my house.

“Why?” he asked.

“Well, because I’ve got some things I need to
do at my house, I have to work tomorrow, and you will want to spend
some time with Jackson while he’s here.”

Without asking anyone else, Luke answered,
“We’ll just hang out at your house until you’re done and then we’ll
go back out to mine. You can stay tonight and I’ll drop you off at
work in the morning.”

I looked at him in disbelief before glancing
in the backseat, sure that Brandon and Jackson would have something
to say about it. Both of them just shrugged at me. I closed my
eyes, my head falling back against the headrest. I don’t know why I
bother.

We pulled up at my house and I unlocked the
door. All three of the guys brushed past me and headed in different
directions. Luke plopped down on the couch and commandeered the tv
remote, Brandon started methodically going from room to room,
checking my place out, and Jackson headed to the kitchen. I
followed him, curious to see what he was doing. Without a care in
the world, he popped his head into my freezer and then my fridge,
rummaging around.

“Jackson?” I asked, laughing.

“Hmm?” he replied, not bothering to remove
his head from the fridge.

“What are you doing? You cant be hungry, we
just ate!”

He backed out of the fridge, his arms holding
lunchmeat, cheese, and other sandwich fixings. “Yes, I can. I just
had one plate of food. I’m starving, wasting away to nothing!” He
stuck his lip out pitifully and whined, “Feed me, Emma,
please?”

I rolled my eyes at him, telling him that he
could have had more than one plate of food at my parent’s house
before grabbing the food from his arms, putting it on the counter
so I could grab the bread and make his sandwich. As soon as I had
the bread in my hands, he walked out of the kitchen towards the
living room, hollering over his shoulder, “mustard and mayo,
please! I couldn’t find any lettuce but if you have any, I want
that too!”

Shaking my head, I went to the fridge and
pulled out the bag of shredded lettuce I had in the crisper drawer.
Before I made his sandwich, I popped my head around the corner to
the living room to ask Luke and Brandon, who apparently had
finished wandering my house, if they wanted something too.
Surprisingly (to me, at least) they did. Even more surprising, Luke
got up off the couch, leaving Brandon and Jackson to fight over the
remote, and followed me into the kitchen to help.

We made sandwiches and Luke carried them into
the living room for them while I put everything away and started
some laundry. I unloaded the clean dishes from the dishwasher, and
then loaded the few dirty ones I had sitting in the sink. Then I
swept the floor and was about to mop when the handle was pulled out
of my hand.

I looked up in surprise and saw Brandon there
holding the mop and pointing me towards the living room. I started
that way when I heard my vacuum turn on. I walked in to see Jackson
sweeping the floor, but Luke wasn’t in the room. I walked down the
hall until I found him in the bathroom, where he was wiping down
the sink and putting away my hair stuff and makeup. He looked so
cute that I snuck up behind him and wrapped my arms around his
waist, pressing myself to his back. I felt him start, but he
recovered quickly and turned in my arms, hugging me tight and
kissing my lips softly.

“Why are you guys cleaning my house for me?”
I asked him in between kisses.

“You said you wanted to get some stuff done,
so we’re helping. Cuts down on the time between now and when I can
get inside you again.”

I gasped, his words making me tingle in crazy
places.

“What else do you want done, sugar?”

“I just need to do another load of laundry
and pack up my clothes for tomorrow. Is that okay?” I asked.

He nodded. “Yeah, but couldn’t you just load
up your laundry and take it to my house?”

He made it a question and the look on his
face was so cute I couldn’t resist. “Okay. I’ll do that.”

I couldn’t help but return his grin as he
kissed me one more time before pushing me away, saying, “What are
you waiting for then, woman? Get your shit, lets go!” He swatted me
on my ass as I turned.

Laughing, I walked away from him and packed
up my overnight bag with everything I’d need to get ready for work
the next day. Then I took my wet clothes out of the washer and
threw them in the basket to take with me to dry, and tossed my
other load to be washed into another basket. I didn’t have a chance
to even reach for one to carry it to the car before the guys came
in, grabbed my stuff, and loaded it for me.

Hmm. A girl could get used to this!

My cell phone rang in my pocket and I dug it
out to see that Allie was calling me.

“Hey, Al!”

“Well, someone’s in a good mood,” she
drawled.

“I’m surrounded by hot guys that are cleaning
my house. Who wouldn’t be?” I asked her, my glee evident in my
voice.

“You’re shitting me, right?” Allie sounded
incredulous.

“Nope! Well, they were cleaning, but now
we’re gonna head back over to Luke and

Brandon’s house.”

“What are you guys gonna do then?” she asked
me.

“I’m not sure. I was thinking about taking
stuff with me to cook dinner over there for them as a thank you for
cleaning my house today,” I replied.

“Ooh, what are you cooking?” she asked.

I could almost hear Allie salivating through
the phone. “I’m not sure, I was thinking maybe tequila lime chicken
with some Spanish rice or maybe stuffed manicotti? What do you
think they’d like better?”

“Oh, God, Emma. Please make tequila lime
chicken and invite me! I haven’t had that in so long and its my
favorite meal you make!” Allie was begging and I couldn’t help but
laugh at her.

I met Luke as he was walking back in the
front door and asked if Allie could come to dinner out at his
house. He shrugged and nodded, and then asked what we were having
for dinner. I told him, and he went right back out the door,
yelling at Brandon and Jackson that they were actually getting a
kick ass dinner for once.

I gave Allie Luke’s address and hung up with
her as I walked into the kitchen to gather the ingredients that I
would need for dinner.

After everything was loaded, including the
four of us, we headed out to Luke’s. He reached over and pulled my
hand to his thigh, locking his fingers with mine while he drove. I
smiled up at him, and my heart clutched when he smiled back and
winked before turning back to the road.

For the first time in a very long time, I
actually felt like this was something good, something that might
stand a chance, even if I didn’t agree with how domineering he
could be. He made me feel special, and that’s something I’ve never
had before. With D.B. Brad, he made me feel like I should feel
privileged that he was letting me hang around. Sex with him was
when he wanted it, on his terms, and I never got anything out of
it. N-e-v-e-r. Unless I did it myself. I used to swear I was
getting carpal tunnel from double clicking my own mouse just to get
anything from sex with him!

That one time that he was being an asshole
and trying to push my buttons, he had spanked me and was shocked
when it made me hot. He called me a whore and left. It wasn’t a
week later that I walked into his apartment and caught him
red-handed with his neighbor. And by red-handed, I mean literally.
They were painted head to toe with red body paint. At least I hope
that’s what it was. If not? That bastard has issues that he needs
addressed. Stat!

We got to Luke’s and the guys helped unload
the car. Allie pulled up about ten minutes after us and helped me
get my laundry started. There was a mountain of laundry piled up in
front of the washer, so I grabbed a bunch and threw it in with
mine. Men.

Allie asked if she could help me with dinner,
and I agreed, but she really didn’t do much of anything. She was
too busy staring at Brandon. When she wasn’t staring at Brandon,
she was staring at Jackson. When she was staring at Jackson,
Brandon was staring at her, a slightly disgruntled expression on
his face. That made me wonder a bit, but I wasn’t going to say
anything.

After I got dinner done, we all sat at the
table to eat. No one said much, aside from telling me how good it
was. For a while, the only sound was the clinking of the silverware
and one of the guys occasionally asking for someone to pass
something.

I felt surprisingly content, sitting at Luke
and Brandon’s table, eating with a group of people that I’d only
known for a short time, aside from Allie. The more I had pulled
away from Luke, the more he had drawn me back in, and I found
myself dangerously close to being completely in love with him. I
was half afraid I already was. Scratch that. I knew I was.
Yikes!

“Emma?” Luke’s voice broke into my
thoughts.

“Hmm?” I asked, turning to look at him.

“Something wrong?” he asked me, a small smile
playing about the corners of his lips.

“No, why?” I asked.

“You were staring at me and you looked a
little startled at first, and then a little concerned. I was just
making sure there was nothing wrong.”

I shook my head, embarrassed that I was
caught starting at him, and even more embarrassed that I hadn’t
even realized I’d been doing it!