Wild Ride (22 page)

His muscled chest and abs were on display
, combine that with the sexy teasing grin he wore and she could feel her cheeks flame.  Still she couldn’t help but smile and laugh at him a little.  Grabbing his tie she yanked it loose.

“On your knees
, bad boy,” she whispered.

She should have known better…
she thought teasing him back would put an end to his antics. 
When had he ever done what she expected?
 

He stopped gyrating and dropped to his knees in the grass
.  Looking up at her he said, “I know I was a bad boy but be gentle?”  Several more women were now giggling at his antics and even a few men wore smiles of amusement.

“I don’t think so
,” she laughed as she reached down and loosened his tie even more and, grabbing one end of it, she pulled it out from around his neck.

Then walking around behind him she grasped the tie in both hands and brought it around his head plac
ing the middle of the tie in his mouth.  She tied it at the back of his head like a gag and then pushed his shoulders gently forward and said, “Now you’ve really done it… hands and knees,
Mister.
”

Looking up
, she saw Matt, Ben and the other little boy coming back out of the house.  As Chuck knelt there on his hands and knees in the grass she waited for the boys to come over.  Matt slowed down when he got a load of Chuck on the ground but Ben came rushing over with questions in his eyes.

Grabbing the ends of the tie that hung down the back of Chuck’s head she offered them to Ben and said
, “Your horse awaits, good sir.  He’s spirited… quite wild really… so hold his reins tightly.”

Chuck’s head whipped around to look at her in shock and amusement
.  Leaning forward she put her fingers to his cheek and pushed gently. “Eyes and face forward,
Mr. Reynolds.
”

The heated look he gave her made her legs shaky and if not for Ben jumping on his back and saying
, “giddy up,” she might have been lost in those blue eyes.

“Keep him at
a trot while I go change into my bikini,” she said.

Again Chuck’s head whipped around to stare at her and again she pushed his cheek back forward and said
, “Eyes forward… don’t make me get out the riding crop.”

A few gasps were heard but mostly laughter as she headed to the house to change.  As she neared the patio door Ashley, Caitlyn and Sara ran over to her with towels around their shoulders.

“We’ll come with you,” Ashley giggled as did the other two.

The four
headed into the house and even though she was slower on her leg than she would have been a year or so ago, being with her old college roomies felt like it had before the accident. 

They followed her up to her room and she was stunned to hear them talking amongst themselves about not only Chuck but the other guys from the shop as well.

“How do you know Chuck?” Ashley asked after they finally made it up the stairs.

Not wanting to tell them all of his business, she said
, “I work part time at the motorcycle shop where he works.” It wasn’t a lie exactly… it just allowed them to draw their own conclusions.

“He is even hotter in person than on
the TV commercials… are you dating him?” Caitlyn asked.

“If not you need to date him… I think if your brothers hadn’t interrupted he might have taken you right there in front of the DeHarts
,” Sara laughed.

She shared a laugh with them as she dug out her old bikini and silently thanked Chuck for ensuring that she would never again skip shaving as long as she lived. 

She headed into her bathroom to change and listened to her friends who were now piled on her bed, like old times.

After changing she looked down at her prosthetic.  Sighing heavily
, she opened up the bathroom door and stepped back out into her room. 
Here goes nothing.
 

The girls glanced at her missing foot, gave it a once over and then went back to discussing the guys from the shop…
having moved onto discussing Tommy’s butt.

It had been easier than she thought and
listening to their debates on who was the hottest amongst the guys she finally broke in, “You know that Tommy has a live in girlfriend right?  She is sweet and he adores her.”

“So if Bobby and Tommy are off the market for sure
, then that just leaves Chuck and the other guy that’s always in the background.  He’s kind of hot too even though he’s like old enough to be my dad probably,” Sara laughed.

“I think it’s obvious that Chuck is off the market too
,” Ashley said with a fake frown and then a laugh.

They headed back downstairs to the pool and after stepping back outside she noticed Chuck
, still on his hands and knees in the grass, with the other little boy who was around Ben’s age on his back. 
The only three kids at the party, of course they would be hanging around Chuck.
  Grabbing a towel from the bin near the door she slowly made her way around the pool.

When Ben and Matt eyed her they jumped up and down and yelled
, “She’s back Chuck!”

The other little boy jumped off of Chuck’s back and ran over to where Ben and Matt stood.  Chuck sat up on his knees clutching his back with an obvious fake wince on his face. 

Looking around she was surprised by how many couples had left early, probably from Chuck’s inappropriate behavior.  It seemed the DeHarts had left, though Josh had remained behind.  Approaching Chuck, she leaned in close and reaching around behind his head, she began to untie the tie.

“You smell good enough to eat
,” he whispered in a serious tone.

She could feel his breath on her belly and her hands began to shake at his
sexy words.  It took longer to remove the tie than it probably should have.  He stood up and finished unbuttoning the shirt before taking it off. 

Then walking over to a chair he pointed at it and smiled one of his heart stopping grins at a couple of the ladies sitting at the table and said
, “Can I use this chair?”

They
smiled, one actually blushed at him, and they agreed to let him use it.  Without shame or any sense of propriety, he kicked off his shoes and socks using one hand on the back of the chair for balance. 

He loaded his shoes, socks, the shirt and the tie onto the chair and then reached down and unzipped his pants.  She could only grin behind her hand when the ladies
’ eyes followed the movement of his zipper.

He paused for effect
, grinning at them from ear to ear, and when they looked away he removed his jeans and stood before them in swim trunks that hit him at the knees.  Folding the pants, he laid them in the chair and then said with a wink, “Thanks, ladies,” and headed toward her.

“Those women are older than my mother…” She said as he approached.

“Yep… I told you it’s art that should be shared,” he said with a grin as he rubbed his chest with one hand.

He grabbed her hand and led her to the shallow end.  Ashley, Caitlyn and Sara all called for the boys to go ahead and get in.

Sitting down near the edge, she removed her prosthetic and handed everything to Chuck who jogged back over to the chair where he had put his clothes. 

Showing the ladies what he held he said
, “Fake foot,” by way of explanation.  They stared at him and then looked at each other.  When he headed back her way she noticed their eyes following him and giggled again. 
Inappropriate Chuck was too funny sometimes.

As he neared the pool he took off at a run and then did a cannonball into the
water near the kids and the girls.  They all squealed and he came up in front of her just a few feet away. 

She tried to stop herself from looking at his chest and abs as the water rolled down but was unsuccessful.  He
waded the rest of the way over to her as she put her legs down in the water.

“Kind of makes you want to have your way with me doesn’t it?”
he asked.

“You’d like that wouldn’t you
,
Mr. Reynolds,
” she replied, as she scooted all the way to the very edge of the pool.

Grabbing her waist
, he lifted her down into the lukewarm water and pulled her up against his body.  She could feel the signs of his erection rubbing against her belly as she wobbled around until she found her balance.

“Oh God…
I
would
like that… very much Edith.  I’d take you home with me right now and let you do whatever naughty things you can think of if I could,” he said quietly while moving back away from her and then releasing her completely. 

He held his arm out so that if she lost balance she could grab for him.  She could swim and though it was different now
, it didn’t take as much to adapt to the missing limb as she thought it would. 

Once she had a grip on the side of the pool he turned away and went after the boys, splashing them and encouraging them to jump in offering to catch them.

They played in the water for a little more than a an hour when Grandpa Patterson made his way over near the pool.

“Chuck
, I’d like to leave soon.  If you want to ride with me, might I request you dry off and change first?” he said. “Unless you have another way home.”

“I can take him home
,” Josh offered from where he sat in his swim trunks on the side of the pool with his feet dangling in the water.

Judge Patterson frowned and looked at Josh.  Chuck wondered who exactly Josh was to Meredith but between the look from the judge and the expression on Carla’s face he knew they had been a couple at one time.  He just didn’t know the extent of the relationship.

“Don’t worry
, Dad, someone will get him home.  You go on and… thanks for bringing him,” Carla said, reaching up and giving her father a peck on the cheek.

He smiled at
Carla while patting her arm and then walked away toward the front of the house.  Carla watched him go and then turned back to the pool “Boys… bedtime…” she announced.

The other little boy’s parents were drying him off and getting ready to leave.  The boys groaned but got out and toweled off.  He swam
back over to Meredith and then looked at Carla and said, “Hey, hot stuff, can you get her a towel?”

Carla gave him a sarcastic smile
, but brought over the towel and un-wrapped it.  He lifted Meredith out and sat her on the ledge of the pool.  As her mother handed her the towel, he hefted himself out and went for his own.  Carla got to it first and held it out to him with a grateful smile.

“I’m glad you came tonight
, Chuck… I was starting to worry that we’d never see you again,” she said as though choking back tears.  Then she smiled again and thrust the towel at him before heading toward the house, calling to the boys to come inside.

He headed back out to the yard to retrieve his clothes and Meredith’s prosthetic when he noticed Josh stand up and head over to Meredith
to sit down next to her. 

He should have felt jealous or something but somehow he didn’t.  There was no doubt that Josh and Meredith had some history but something wasn’t right there.

Gathering up all the stuff, he pulled his shirt on and carried his other things over to where Meredith’s friends stood. 

The tall brunette, Ashley, leaned in close to him and said
, “You have no need to worry.  I think its confession time for Josh.” Looking to where Josh and Meredith sat side by side alone and out of earshot.

“Old boyfriend?”
he asked already knowing the answer.

“
Ex-fiancé
… now openly gay and in a relationship with a guy he started seeing right after her accident…” she said with an exaggerated grimace.

“She didn’t know he was gay?”
he asked in amazement.  It had seemed obvious to him.

“
He
didn’t know he was gay or at least wasn’t ready to admit it to himself or his parents.  He was going to break it off with her before the accident.  Then after the accident he didn’t want to hurt her.  After a while she became so bitter over her amputation I think he used that as an excuse.  Now it’s time to come clean and confess all… if you will,” Ashley replied.

“Did she love him?”
he asked, though he really didn’t want to know.  He’d been too chicken to ask her about past relationships for fear he would never measure up.

“Not like…”
Ashley stopped mid-sentence and looked at him and then looked away.

“Not like what?” h
e asked.

“Not like you. 
Before the accident she had been my best friend since our freshman year of college and I’ve never seen her like this… the way she looks at you,” she said. “You better do right by her… treat her good.  Don’t be a Josh.”