Someone Like You (Someone To Love Series) (10 page)

I press a heated kiss over his lips, soak in his sweet taste—memorize the soft velvet of his tongue, the framework of his teeth. I want to remember all of this, in the event it doesn’t happen again. In the event he sees me for what I am, like the rest of the world, and reduces me to nothing more than a bad girl. Or worse, Blair hogties him and claims him for herself. At least I’ll always know these intimate pleasures. Blair, or whoever Morgan ends up with in life, can never take that away from me.

Morgan

A
blast of unholy light burns through my lids until they disintegrate. My body grinds and shakes, feeling as if it just stepped out of the microwave.

I let out a moan as the scene from the night before comes back to me in pieces. Bacon, Ally, and hot fucking sex equaled a trifecta of perfection.

“Hey.” I reach over and try to hook onto her waist but an empty mattress greets me. My lids crack open, affirming the depressing theory. My dick and I were sort of hoping we could start the party all over again. Instead I find a note tucked under the pillow.

Spending the day with Tess. See you at the club tonight.

Thank you,

Ally

I stare at it a little longer than necessary, as if I’m hoping the tiny paper square will somehow morph into a pair of creamy smooth thighs, legs that stretch from here to Oregon.

A dissatisfied groan escapes me, and I’m suddenly unmotivated to get out of bed—especially knowing that Kendall is out there probably good and pissed at me for screwing her bestie. It’s sort of her fault anyway, for trying to push us together in the first place. I could always throw it in her face since this is what she basically wanted. What did she think was going to happen, anyway? That Ally and I would hold hands and share ice-cream cones all summer? Besides, Kendall owes me a thank-you for exposing the fact these walls are made of onionskin. Maybe that perverted boyfriend of hers will spring for a muzzle since he’s clearly into indecent bedroom toys.

I kick the cuffs at the end of the bed with my foot. Wish I’d thought of employing them last night. Maybe I can rough things up with Ally the next time she feels the need to get down and dirty. Every last part of her screamed there would definitely be a next time. At least there’d better be. I’m not done—not by a long shot.

A knock vibrates over the door and my brain jumps in my skull in rhythm.

“Dude, you up?” It’s Cruise. He probably wants me to pack my shit and get the hell out for ruining his marathon fuckfest with my sister. I’m sure the libido killing works both ways.

“What?” I gravel it out, still worn out from the calisthenics. I could use another four or five hours of shut-eye; hell, it might take the entire day to recover.

“Kenny’s out running some errands, so I thought I’d head over to the gym. You up for it?”

I push out a breath. “All right.” I roll off the bed, landing my feet on the cold hard floor.

May as well get this over with.

It takes about four minutes into the car ride for Cruise to clear his throat like some father figure about to gift me an unwanted lecture on waiting until both Ally and I are ready before diving into a carnal commitment.

“So”—Cruise shakes his head—“heard the fireworks. You initiate that?” He frowns into the road as if this were the last place he wanted to go with our nonexistent conversation, but I’m beginning to see the bigger picture—our playdate at the gym was arranged by none other than my little sis.

“Nope. Not me. I was happily chowing down on a midnight snack when she came at me locked and loaded and ready to blow.” Well, not really blow, but it sounded good so I went with it. Besides, is it really Cruise Elton’s business who I party with? I think not.

“Cool.” He nods into the road, continuing to propagate his disinterest in my midnight mattress moves. “So, bottom line—Kenny doesn’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Really? Could have sworn I saw
Kenny
in the cheering section.” Knew it. I’m going to nail Kendall for not having the balls to tell me herself. Does she really think I’m going to let Cruise navigate the direction in which my balls move?

“She
was
in the cheering section,” he says, stymied by this himself. “Look, she doesn’t want Ally to get hurt. It’s her friend. You moved a little fast, and I think it spooked her. Kenny says you’re the love ’em and leave ’em type, and Ally needs someone who’s willing to be a permanent fixture. She has a kid.”

“Ruby.” I nod, sinking in my seat a little, feeling like an ass. Not that I plan on loving and leaving Ally anytime soon. I’d be there for her twenty-four/seven if she wanted. Hell, I’d set up residency in her life if she let me.

“She told you about Ruby?” He looks stunned by this.

“Yup.”

Cruise shuts the hell up from the apparent miracle of it all.

“Look”—I grind my palm into my eye, still trying to wake up for the day—“Ally doesn’t want anything serious with me. She got all hot and bothered and asked me to do her a favor, nothing more, nothing less.” Odd that she gave and yet didn’t want to receive. Not sure what that was about. Never had a girl deflect my efforts that far into the game before.

He shakes his head as if he heard my thoughts and is as perplexed as I am.

“Ally’s a funny one. I’ve known her for a good few years now, and have never seen her spend more than two minutes with a guy. I tried telling Kenny that it was probably mutual, but she was insistent that you clubbed her and dragged her to the room by the hair.”

“Nice to know she thinks so highly of me.”

“She does. That’s the funny part. I think she’s just as, if not more, worried about you getting hurt. But let’s just keep that between us. I’d hate for Kenny to think I’m ratting her out.” We pull into the gym parking lot and he finds a space near the front. Cruise looks over and socks me in the arm. “You’re going to be my brother, dude. I don’t want to see you getting hurt either.”

“Ally couldn’t hurt me if she tried.” My chest cinches like it’s calling bullshit. She could interrupt my midnight snack any damn time she pleases—Ally beats bacon any day. Not one part of my body can argue with that. I swing open the door and pause. “You know anything about Ruby’s dad?”

“Nope. Lauren probably does. Kenny might, but I doubt it. Ally’s pretty tight-lipped about her past. All I know is she’s constantly broke, but join the club, right?” He holds up a finger and gives a small laugh. “She posed nude for Kenny’s art class last semester, but the payout was great, so who could blame her?” He shakes his head as if he’s reliving a memory.

“Well, if it’s in the name of art.” I can picture her sitting on a stool, her hair falling over her back. Her smooth skin exposed for the world to see. “I guess a person with Ally’s body owes it as a debt to society.”

He nods, his demeanor a little more serious than before. “Just watch what you’re doing. Summer will be over before you know it, and I’d hate to be sweeping both your hearts off the floor when you break ’em.”

Broken hearts.

Does Ally have the power to break my heart?

Something tells me she just might.

The gym is balmy as hell. It makes me want to stand in a fire just to cool off.

“No AC?” I ask Cruise as we head toward the weight room.

“Let’s ask the douche himself.” He slaps Cal some skin as he bumps into us. “Dude, this is Kenny’s brother, Morgan. He’s going to destroy those batting cages you got out back.”

“Is that so?” He squeezes out a thin-lipped smile. Cal is bronzed, and ’roided out so bad he’s got veins crawling all over his arms like garden snakes.

Cruise scans the vicinity. “So what’s up with the private heat wave?”

“I’ve got two very erotic words for you boys—hot yoga.” He tips his bald head in the opposite direction and we follow him down the hall where the humidity intensifies.

He gives a gentle pat over a narrow window. I can make out at least a half dozen girls bent over inside, with their bottoms pointed toward heaven.

“Hot damn.”

“Would you stop?” Cal smacks me in the stomach to keep me from gaping. “Come here.” We follow him through a door marked
P
RIVATE
. “This is my personal office.” It’s dark as shit inside as we follow him to a large picture window leading into the hot yoga room. It affords me a better glimpse of the bodies in motion.

“Fuck, dude,” Cruise spouts off. “You’re breaking like ten different privacy laws. You’re not going to get away with this. You know that, right?”

“What?” He shrugs into the glass. “Everyone knows two-way mirrors are for safety purposes. If one of those girls gets hurt, it’s my ass on the line. It’s my civic duty to serve and protect.”

“Right.” Cruise lets out a little laugh. “And I suppose you and Lauren take turns keeping watch.”

“She’s been apprised.” Cal nods toward Cruise like a dare. “Besides, she’s enrolled in one of these classes. We’ve got this thing, you know. She does special poses because she knows I’m watching.”

“Speaking of special poses”—Cruise starts as we head out of the den of depravity—“Ally did a special pose for Morgan last night.”

“Get
out
.” Cal seems amazed. As he should be. If the downward dog floats Cal’s boat then the acrobatic feats that went on in that bed last night would have Cal blushing like a nun. “That girl talks the talk but I’ve never heard of her walking the walk, or should I say riding the bull.” He socks me in the stomach while belting out a laugh.

Geez.

I nurse my quasi wounds as I make my way back to the weight room, smacking into a soft body as I round the corner.

“Hey, handsome!” It’s Molly. Her hair is pulled back in a ponytail, making her look all of twelve. Her hand glides down over my chest and dips into my boxers before I catch her. “Good morning to you too,” she moans.

“Looks like I need to watch where I’m going.” I glance back to find both Cal and Cruise are MIA.

“You know”—she bites down on her lips and looks up at me suggestively—“I have to move some really heavy boxes, but I hurt my back yesterday riding my bike. Do you think you could help me?” Her almond-shaped eyes recede just enough to plead in a way that only a woman can, or in Molly’s case, a woman-in-training.

“Yeah, sure, why not.”

“Great!” She takes up my hand and speeds me along until we hit the stairwell. I gently pull my hand away and secure it over the rail as a means of not giving her the wrong impression. I stuff my left hand in my pocket in the event she does the math and figures out I’ve got another free limb she can molest.

She leads us outside to the first floor in front of a Dumpster. We head down another set of stairs that lead to a darkened doorway and head inside.

It’s cool in here, and the space is as wide and long as the eye can see. A hallway veers to the left, and I can make out a couple of doors.

“This place is huge.” And empty, and I don’t see a box in sight.