Twist Into Me Read online

  Rory sent him off in the right direction as I rubbed my now chilly skin until the bumps rescinded. I slid off the stool onto wobbly legs. “You okay, girlie?” she asked skeptically, her hand catching my arm above the elbow.

  My lips pressed into a tight smile, and I dazedly nodded yes as a chuckle reverberated in my throat. Oh, hell yes.

  Blurry fingers suddenly snapped in front of me. I was seeing double, but I had the sneaky suspicion that only one was real. “What?” I blurted, trying to whack them both away.

  “Are you drunk?”

  “What? No!”

  “You didn’t drink something someone gave you, did you?” she asked harshly, crossing her arms now that I wouldn’t let her try to support me.

  “No!” I cried out again. “All’s I had was two of those Jell-O shots. That’s it.”

  “Jell-O shot?!” Rory began laughing at me. Why, I didn’t know. “Oh, Tessa… There’s a reason those things are called Pantydroppers. They’re so damn strong all it takes is one!”

  I was pretty sure it was the reaction on my face that had her laughing, but everything was so numb I couldn’t be sure. “That…” I began, my thoughts struggling to put a coherent thought together. I suddenly realized how tingly my tongue felt. “…makes so much sense now.”

  Rory took my hand and guided me, stopping at the bar to grab me a bottle of water. Grateful, I swallowed a third of it by the time we reached the others. Lis was on her feet now, but I could tell by the way she held her hand to her forehead that she was feeling it hard. Made me wonder what Brady said to her to get her on her feet without incidence.

  Hell, I knew he was convincing. Just his touch was enough to command me. Had we been somewhere private, no way we wouldn’t be naked right now.

  “How the hell did she get drunk so fast?” I asked Rory. “I saw her like ten minutes ago and she was fine.”

  Rory looked at me funky. “Uh, Tessa. I don’t know how to break this to you, but you did not see her ten minutes ago. You and Brady have been swapping spit in that corner for more than an hour now.”

  Surely my eyes popped out of their sockets…it certainly felt that way by the intense way they ached. “Na-uh!”

  “Yeah-huh!” she mocked back, enjoying my spacey ass way too much.

  I slowly shook my head, which I quickly stopped because it only made me feel like I had vertigo. “But I just…” I closed my eyes and swallowed. “How the hell did I lose that much time?”

  Rory put her arm around my shoulders. As tired as I felt, I welcomed the comforting touch. “One very long word. Pantydropper. Be grateful you’re wearing really tight jeans tonight.”

  We did some rearranging for the ride home. Apparently Sarah and Matt weren’t done for the night – whatever they’d been doing; I didn’t want the details knowing what I’d been doing the past ninety minutes – so he and Rory went home in Sarah’s SUV. Lis and I were diverted to Brady’s pickup. It would’ve been nice to ride up front, but Lis was sick enough I stayed with her in case we needed to get her in the grass fast. I sat in the middle of the seat and gently rubbed her head, trying to help her sleep all the way home.

  The ride was quiet, but I kept catching Brady’s eyes in the rear view mirror.

  Thanks to the water, my buzz was wearing off. I honestly didn’t regret one thing that happened tonight – given I actually remembered everything. But there was this weirdness in the air between us. Like we weren’t sure what was going to happen once he dropped me off.

  I gently stirred Lis awake when Brady parked in front of her apartment building. She moaned and groaned before fighting her eyes open. Even then I didn’t think she was ready to get out.

  “Lis?” I asked a few times¸ getting louder with each attempt to reach her. Brady turned around in the seat and said her name more forcefully.

  Her eyes snapped awake. It took her a moment, but she stared at the two of us, me a little longer than Brady, like she couldn’t remember right away who I was. “You ready?” Brady asked.

  Lis looked out the window, her eyes scanning up the building. “No. Take me to Owen,” she whined slowly, her voice pitching on random syllables.

  Brady popped his seatbelt and opened his door. A few seconds later he opened hers, reached in for the keys that sat on her lap and said, “Owen’s already asleep upstairs. Come on.”

  “Oh,” she said dumbly, then awkwardly slid from the truck.

  “I’ll be right back,” Brady told me before shutting the cab door.

  As he escorted her upstairs and into her apartment, I moved to the front passenger seat, anxiously awaiting his return. Now that we were going to be alone, I wondered if he’d say anything on the way to my house.

  I wondered if I’d be able to say anything.

  I liked Brady, I really did. I was just surprised how easily I let go of all my inhibitions with him earlier. Having a conversation that involved my tipsy ass taking a flying leap past the friend zone wasn’t something I really wanted to have right now. So when he got back into the truck, I immediately tried to move the conversation to safer territory. “I bet Owen loves what came home to him tonight,” I mumbled sarcastically.

  Pulling out of the parking spot, Brady tiredly replied, “Owen’s back home. I just told her that to get her up there.”

  “And she didn’t fight to come back down?”

  “Nah. She completely forgot by the time we got up there. And I hid her keys should she think of it later. Lis going out to get drunk is one thing, but Owen having to deal with it at two in the morning? I’m not going to do that to him.” After thinking on it a moment, he shook his head. “But maybe if I had done that all these times he’d be tired of her by now and we wouldn’t be babysitting her to begin with.”

  Obviously everyone seemed to have issues with Lis that began long before I came around. To me she seemed like every other college girl out there, so I wasn’t sure what the big deal was. But I wasn’t going to open my mouth on the subject either. If Lis did something in the past to bug them all, maybe it was best I didn’t know the deets. Who she was then may not be who she was today, and I sure didn’t want people judging me by all the things I did at some random point in my past. So how hypocritical would it be for me to do it to her?

  At the house he got out with me, following me to the back door. My mind wandered. The last time we said goodnight, he left thinking I had no interest in him and he ended up giving me more space than I cared to have.

  Standing there looking into his eyes tonight, I felt a whirlpool of emotions inside me. There was definitely some interest, curiosity, a smidgen of lust, and yes, even a little fear. Fear that it wouldn’t last, fear that we could very well part ways by summer’s end, fear of not being what he really wanted or him being what I really needed. But still, I knew I didn’t want space. Even if we parted ways in two months to go to our respective colleges, there was something between us worth exploring.

  “So…” I began, my lips beginning to curl upward. I was beginning to feel hot again, worrying that my cheeks might’ve been blushing. Trying not to die from embarrassment, I looked off to the side. “Tonight was…”

  I had nothing. Tonight was…good? Fantastic? Sexy? Surprising?

  “Informative,” he replied casually. A little confused, I turned back to get a better read on him. His hands were in his pockets, his body still as he took me in. “I’m going to go with informative.”

  “How so?”

  “I’m learning how to read you better.”

  One of my eyebrows arched quizzically. “Dare I ask what you think you’ve learned?”

  He stepped closer, leaving just a foot of space between us. I caught the scent of his cologne on the wind, and my heart decided to rev up its pace. His hand flattened against the door behind me, but his arm wasn’t really supporting any of his weight. “You…are kind, beautiful, definitely comfortable in your own skin.” His eyes traveled up and down my body, and by the twitch in his smile, I knew he was remembering the w
ay our bodies moved as one earlier tonight. Heck, I was too; and already my insides were filling with little swimming tingles. “…and usually confident, but still hesitant about your actions.” With a twisted smile, he added, “Except when you’ve had a few. That hesitancy seems to slip right past you then.”

  “So is that why you keep your distance when you drop me off? You sense hesitancy on my part?”

  “Oh, I’m sensing something,” he replied, his chin and eyes motioning to my stance. I looked down. When exactly had I crossed my arms over my chest? I released them, but it was awkward. I didn’t really know what to do with them and I suddenly felt vulnerable.

  “So I’m not sure if you regret what happened tonight or not.”

  “Okay, look,” I said, cutting my hands through the air. “Quit looking at my body –” the look on his face was priceless, and obviously it was something he didn’t want to do, but that wasn’t the point – “and just listen to my words. I’m actually very simple to figure out. You just ask a question and I’ll flat out tell you an answer.”

  “Alright…” he replied, slightly skeptical. It was funny that he was now the one crossing his arms, like he was the one suddenly putting up a wall. “How do you feel about what went down tonight?”

  “I think…”

  I probably could’ve told him how I felt in words. How a part of me had always found him attractive. How he amused me, kept me on my toes. How much I really did want to get to know him better.

  But sometimes actions spoke louder than words. I stepped up and gripped his forearms, pulling him closer. If he hadn’t been into kissing me, I would’ve been screwed. But I saw the amusement flicker in his eyes and his smile intensify before our lips came together. His arms fell away and looped around to grasp both sides of my face, holding me like he wasn’t going to let go any time soon. His kisses sped up my pounding heart, warmed my belly, made the spasms inside me go from plain old nervous to full on spastic in two seconds flat.

  I really, really wanted to let him in. And the way our mouths and hands were searching out the other, the way I seemed to yearn for just a little bit more, I knew we’d be advancing this relationship faster than any of the others I’d had so far in my life. But heck if I could let myself advance it that far the same day I kissed him for the first time!

  But if I was being completely honest with myself, if Nana hadn’t been inside this building… If he had taken Lis to his house to be with Owen and we’d had this conversation there instead of here… If the flower shop didn’t constantly bring Brady down emotionally… Yeah. I had lots of things to credit for tonight’s self-control.

  I let our tongues continue their wrestling match a few more minutes before I forced it to slow back down. When I finally pulled away, it was a slow act, keeping our lips pressed together though the motion had stopped. Our gazes entrapped the other. I sucked in my bottom lip, still tasting what remained of him. With a sly smile, I bravely asked, “Did that answer your question?”

  “Thoroughly. You should answer all my questions that way.”

  I lightly laughed, leaning away to pull my keys out of my pocket. I unlocked the door and let myself in, opening it just far enough to allow passage for only me. Then I turned and said, “Goodnight.”

  “Really?”

  “Really.” I had to bite back the smile.

  “You know I’m still going to be back here tomorrow to harass you, right?”

  “Oh, I’m counting on it,” I teased, just as I sealed the space between us.

  True to his word, Brady came back Friday before closing and dragged me out for dinner. Okay, so dragged might’ve been an overstatement. Maybe, just maybe, I was skipping around inside like that younger version of myself that used to play here. I could play it cool when it counted, but inside I was still just a girl who loved to be wooed.

  I had only been in this town for a little over a week and already I had found a suitable summer fling. Or was it even a summer fling? Truthfully, I had never had one before. If I left in the fall for school, would it automatically fall under that category? Or were summer flings just people you strung along for a good time, both of you knowing all the way through that the summer was all you were going to get. I guessed that helped to curb any emotional attachment you might feel for the guy. But what the hell did you do if the end of summer came and you weren’t ready to let go?

  I sort of wanted to ask Brady his thoughts on the subject, but I feared his answer. What if that was exactly what he wanted from me? Summer fun with no commitment? Casual dating, casual sex? The thought plagued me all through dinner, though I refused to let it show.

  We made the entire evening spontaneous. Shared a pie at the local pizzeria, held hands as we walked down Main Street after the outside lights came on, then went for a drive that eventually led back to Brady and Owen’s house. My heart strained a bit when I saw it. The last time I’d been there, both his parents were still alive, and this house that currently sat in the darkness was once filled with light and laughter. Flowers used to thrive in the now dormant pots that followed the curvy wraparound porch.

  He turned on the lights behind us as I kicked off my flip flops and left them by the front door. On the inside, nothing much had changed. Same colors on the walls, mostly the same furniture, a few more pictures displayed than before. But I couldn’t help but notice nothing had been added since their high school days. Memories flooded my mind, taking in the images of the past, and suddenly I could see this room filled with life again. Their father resting in the armchair watching the news… Their mother in the kitchen baking those treats she was famous for… Brady and Owen chasing one another through the room and out the door, water guns filled and firing at one another for a good ole game of guns…

  I used to get incredibly drenched when I played. I sucked at that game. And back then we used to dye the water because their parents wouldn’t let them have paintball guns to play with. My shirt would be a smorgasbord of color bursts, especially when our whole group got together. But it wasn’t usually Brady who targeted me. Owen seemed to have it out for me back then, and my shirt’s splatter design was always predominately the blue he carried. My aim and reaction time was so bad hardly anyone got my orange on them.

  I smiled at the memory, having the sudden urge to set a trap somewhere that would dump a pail full of colored water onto Owen. Payback was a bitch, and I had the whole summer to find the perfect moment for revenge.

  I took in a deep breath, and with it the smell of stale air in need of flushing. “Wow. Hello time warp.”

  Brady chuckled, dropping his keys onto the table. “Yeah, we haven’t done much to change it up. I don’t really know what we’re going to do with this place. Owen wants to keep it, but mostly because he practically lives and works in the barn out back.” He leaned against the sofa table, his hand rubbing the back of his head. “Me? I don’t mind selling him my half and finding some place new to live. But it’ll be years before either of us can afford to do that.”

  I simply nodded, my eyes still scanning the intricacies of the room. All the little things their parents left behind. A stack of Southern Living and Better Homes and Gardens magazines in the rack… A worn book of crossword puzzles that their father used to do... Semi-melted candles with a coat of dust scattered about that I recognized as the same brand their mother always burned…

  It all kind of made me sad, seeing how much of their parents remained even years later. Like their sons were afraid to completely move on, letting the little things remain to comfort them when needed.

  “So,” Brady began, “want the tour?”

  I shot him a look. Like I didn’t understand that was code for come see my bedroom. “Because it’s changed since the last time I was here?” I challenged, a twang suddenly appearing in my voice.

  “My room has,” he explained mischievously, reaching out to grab my hand, pulling me up the staircase. I followed obediently, trailing behind as we passed two bedrooms and a bathroom before rea
ching the last door in the hall. He swung me into his room first, shutting the door behind us. His bedroom was pitch black, nothing but a weak stream of moonlight filtering in through the window.

  Warm kisses began raining down the back of my neck. “See?”

  “I see nothing,” I said flatly, even though my insides were waking up just being this close to him…and in this very room.

  His mouth left my neck, and shortly after the ceiling fan came on. The light was blinding at first, but he quickly dimmed it to the softest of glows. His hands smoothly slid up and down my arms, stroking me with his palms.

  “The tour,” he began, angling my body to face what was probably the same full-size bed he’d always had, though I was pretty sure the black linens were new. And judging by the looks of them, they were far better quality than the scratchy sheets we all had as kids. “Bed.”

  I simply gave him a hmm, not even bothering to open my mouth.

  I was twisted slightly to the right, now facing a closed door. “Closet.” Hands firmly rotated me even farther to the right. “Desk. Dresser.” Both of which were the same pieces of stained pine from before, with just a little more wear and tear. I withheld the chuckle when I saw a glass from The Donkey’s Tale partly filled with coins on his desk. I was going to have to scan that wall and figure out which napkin was his one day.

  Turning completely around to face the back, I saw his flat screen on the wall. “Smart TV.”

  He let go and I came full circle. The room was incredibly tidy. So much I wondered if he was really this neat, or if he took the time to clean like a madman to get it this way since last night. If I had agreed to leave the club early with him, would it have been any different? I was curious.