Strip away tap that book.., p.13
Strip Away (Tap That Book 4), page 13
After that, nothing. He had no clue how he’d gotten home. He had to assume his father had hauled his ass home, though it seemed odd that his dad hadn’t taken him back to his childhood home.
Raising his hand and arm to block the sun from his dried-out eyes, he got his answer.
Out on his back deck, Astrid was doing yoga in her underwear.
That cleared some of the cobwebs from his brain. Didn’t help his hard-on, but definitely improved his mood and explained why he was alone. He wasn’t alone at all. His father had entrusted him to Astrid, which said a lot about the impression she’d made.
Astrid was in her thong, parallel with the house, and what must be one of his shirts, because it looked way too big on her. She’d rolled up the sleeves and tied a knot between her breasts. It was obvious even from his distance of twenty feet away that she wasn’t wearing a bra. She was in the warrior one position, her eyes closed as she stretched and meditated.
He had an amazing view of her legs, her tight ass, her smooth stomach, her lean arms, her graceful neck. Her hair was piled up on her head, and the sun was streaming across her.
His mood instantly improved, even if physically he felt like he’d been run over by a Zamboni.
Glancing to the right, he was grateful to see a water bottle on the coffee table. He grabbed it and unscrewed the top. His lip being swollen meant he had to just tilt his head back and open his mouth and pour it straight in, which was no easy feat with his head protesting, but he managed it. Then he forced himself to stand up. His stomach briefly protested but he ignored it. The only way to get to right was to push through it. He’d learned that over the years. Show weakness and your body would take advantage.
There was a ball cap tossed casually on a pile of miscellaneous things he had abandoned over the years on his kitchen table. He grabbed it and pulled it down low over his eyes so he could block the sun. Then he went over to the slider door and yanked it open. The scraping of the old and shitty door on the runner disturbed Astrid. Her head turned and she frowned at him, dropping her arms.
“Should you be up?” she asked.
“Can’t sleep all day. Don’t let me interrupt you,” he said. “Do your thing.”
Her legs were still in a lunge position and she was looking at him suspiciously. “Take that hat off, let me see your face.”
He obeyed, trying not to wince when the sun hit his eyes.
Her own eyes widened. “Oh, no. I feel so terrible. I’m sorry, the black eyes are my fault.”
He had black eyes? Interesting. He put the hat back on, and pulled the brim of the hat down lower again. “You do have bony elbows, but it was my fault we fell.”
“You remember?” She brought her feet together and bent over.
Because he was a man, and it was a golden opportunity, he moved further onto the deck so he was behind her. Her thong covered exactly nothing and that full bend was everything he could have hoped for and more. Her ass was tight and firm and her legs seemed to go on forever. For a split second, he could have sworn he saw the soft folds of her pussy.
“Jesse, did you hear me?” she asked, standing back up, her arms going wide and then up and over her head.
“Hmm?” There was no blood going to his brain. He could barely focus on her words.
“Do you remember last night?”
His mouth was dry and it wasn’t from being hungover. “What? Yes, I remember everything except for the ride from the ER to here. Thank you for staying with me.”
She nodded, glancing at him over her shoulder. “Why are you behind me? Come here so I can see you when I talk to you.”
He gave her a grin.
Astrid frowned in reprimand. “Jesse Lambert. How can you possibly be thinking about sex right now?”
“You’re almost naked and bending over. I can’t help it. I may be a little busted, but I’m not dead.” But he did obey and walked gingerly across the deck until he was in front of her. He took another sip from the water bottle. Or more accurately, he splashed it in the general direction of his mouth and managed to get some on his tongue.
“You should sit down,” she said, standing on one of his beach towels. “You look terrible.”
He didn’t doubt that for one minute. “I’ve never been a morning person.” Astrid gave a look that made him laugh. “What? You doubt me?”
“You seemed fine yesterday morning. I think this is more of a classic whiskey hangover.”
“I think it’s a combination of things,” he said, even as he took her advice and sank down onto his one lounge chair. “Keep doing your flow. I will sit here quietly.”
“Like a good boy?” The corner of her mouth turned up.
“I’m not sure I’m capable of that.” He stretched his legs out and sighed. “I can promise to be quiet, but I can’t promise my thoughts won’t be dirty.”
“I’d be shocked if they weren’t,” she said with a small smile.
Astrid went into downward dog and it almost made him forget his aching head.
He kept his promise. He sat there sipping his water and enjoying the cool morning breeze. He watched her go through her movements. He didn’t know much about yoga beyond the basic moves but she looked very comfortable in her positions and easily flowed from one to the next. Her body was still in each posture and her face was serene. Sometimes she closed her eyes when she breathed deeply, but most of the time she seemed to be gazing off into the distance at the far side of the lake.
He owed her an apology. It seemed logical, or wise, actually, to wait until she was relaxed before they delved further into what had happened the night before. Wishing he weren’t wearing jeans, he decided there was no reason he couldn’t shuck his pants off. Astrid was in her almost non-existent panties and they’d had sex already. More than once. He could be in his boxer briefs.
When he unzipped and shoved his jeans down to his ankles and kicked them off in relief, she did briefly glance over but didn’t give any reaction. She went right back to her thing. Her concentration was impressive.
Then again, he’d experienced her giving him a blowjob. The woman could concentrate.
When she was finally finished he was half-asleep again but snapped out of it when she sat down on the bottom of his chair.
“Why aren’t you wearing pants?”
“Why aren’t you?” he asked.
Astrid shook her head, looking amused and exasperated. “Thanks for letting me finish,” she said.
“A gentleman always lets a lady finish,” he said.
Astrid laughed. “You have the worst jokes. Seriously. The worst.”
“But you laughed.”
She smiled. “Yes. I did.”
“It was also an accurate statement.” Jesse snaked his arm lower on the chaise and found her hand. He laced their fingers together. “Astrid, I’m sorry for the proposal. That was totally wrong of me to put you on the spot like that. I wasn’t trying to do that. I just got carried away on whiskey and sexy music and you.”
Astrid studied him. “So that wasn’t intentional, and you weren’t trying to get a yes out of me by doing it in public?”
Ouch. He winced. He could see how she could come to that conclusion but it was the farthest thing from the truth imaginable. “No, not at all. I swear. I would never do that to you.”
She nodded, glancing down at their entwined fingers. “I believe you. Why did you propose then?”
How the hell was he supposed to explain what he didn’t understand? “I don’t know. Like I said, whiskey and a party atmosphere.” Then a thought occurred to him. “Why did you say yes?”
“What else was I supposed to say with a hundred people staring at us?”
“Fair enough.” He wasn’t even sure what he was really asking her. It wasn’t a real proposal and it wasn’t a real yes. If he remembered correctly, she hadn’t even said yes verbally, she had just nodded. “Just let me know how you want to proceed from here.”
The words sounded stupid but he really wasn’t sure what else to say. He didn’t want to pressure her into the fake engagement. She didn’t deserve that, even if she had told her father accidentally and created the whole mess. He would take the heat and deal with the fall-out. Astrid was too good of a person to pressure her into doing something that made her uncomfortable.
Astrid stared at Jesse. How did she want to proceed? Was he her lawyer? What the hell? The words didn’t even sound like him. Maybe he’d hit his head too hard.
“I’m not sure how I’d like to proceed. How would you like to proceed?”
“Whatever you want to do, I’m cool with.”
Clearly he was not hugely emotionally invested in this. She fished around for something to say. “Well. The more I thought about it the more I realized I don’t think my father should be guilting either one of us into doing anything and so I shouldn’t feel bad that we’re being deceptive with our fake engagement. I don’t want you to have issues with your contract negotiations so I’m willing to continue the charade until you’ve settled everything you need to settle.”
He looked relieved. “Thank you. You really are the best.”
Then why did she feel so terrible?
Because he sounded polite, and not much more.
It felt like a wall had been erected between them. Or more like they had both just retreated a few steps.
Simon says, take three steps backwards.
“Then it’s all settled. We’ll get this all squared away and then that will be that.” She instantly hated that it sounded like she was fishing. So she quickly added, “When were you planning to be in Minneapolis? Sasha and I leave first thing tomorrow morning.”
“I was planning to get there Monday night originally but we’re supposed to have dinner with your parents, remember?”
Astrid didn’t swear very often but she did then. “I forgot about that. Ugh. That does not sound like fun.”
He gestured to his face. “Great impression I’m going to make on them.”
“They already know you. What difference does it make?”
“They know me as a hockey player. Not as your boyfriend.”
Astrid swallowed hard. Fiance was so far removed from reality that hearing the term hadn’t really been that shocking. Well, a little shocking. But boyfriend felt oddly more intimate because if things were different– as in, Jesse actually liked her– he could be her boyfriend.
“Your face looks fine,” she said, sounding a little rough.
She pulled her hand from his and stood up. “You should eat something. I can drive us to the diner after you shower then you can come back and rest.”
“I’m supposed to be going out on Axl’s boat later today and stopping by a cookout at Brandon’s at noon. I’ll just eat later.”
“You’re just going to ignore the fact that you were knocked unconscious last night? That sounds like toxic masculinity to me.”
“You love my masculinity.” He put his knee between her legs and brushed against her sex. “Sex would make me feel better.”
“Forget it.” Not only did she not want to be responsible for his medical health, she wasn’t sure she could have sex with him again and not want more than she already did.
He’d apologized for proposing and clearly thought it was a mistake. He had said nothing about them dating in reality. Feeling Jesse inside her again was not a smart idea.
“Tomorrow?” he asked. “I can get an all-clear from the doctor if it would make you feel better.”
“A doctor’s note to have sex? I’m sure a busy physician would be thrilled to take his time to do that for you.” She shook her head. “No matter what the doctor says, I don’t think we should be jumping into bed. We should keep this more… businesslike.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Businesslike? I’ve eaten your pussy, Astrid.”
That made her feel flustered. She remembered what Sasha had said. That Jesse had owned her pussy. She reached down and took his water bottle from him and took a sip.
“See? That wasn’t businesslike,” he said. “We’ve already crossed that line. You can’t put the genie back in the bottle.”
“You know what I mean.”
“No, I don’t. You’re in your panties and you’re standing in front of me. I can easily do this.” He reached out and slid his finger from her clit down the center of her slit over the cotton. “And you’re not stopping me because we both like it and we’ve already gone there.”
Her body reacted accordingly and she felt heat blaze deep inside her core. Her nipples hardened. Moisture flooded her inner thighs.
“Jesse.” She closed her eyes. “You’re not listening to me.”
“What are you really trying to tell me?”
She forced herself to step firmly back away from him. “We have a deal. Get you your trade. That’s it. We’re nothing else.”
That sounded harsher than she intended, but she needed to say to remind herself.
But it had the desired effect. He dropped his hand. “Okay then. I didn’t realize that’s how you wanted it to be.”
She didn’t. She wanted him to fall madly in love with her and take her to bed and make her come every night and give her babies.
“It is,” she lied.
God, she hated when she lied. She tried so hard to never, ever lie. But if she were honest with him, he would talk her into sex and then she would have her heart shattered in a million pieces.
Jesse nodded. She couldn’t see his eyes because he had stopped tilting his head up at her and now the brim of the hat hid the upper half of his face. “Fine. But if we’re supposed to be engaged, we should be spending time together the next few days. Can you come to the cookout with me?”
Fabulous. Just what she wanted to do– publicly pretend to be a couple. “Sure, if Sasha can come with me.”
“I’m sure she can. Brandon and his wife have a great house in the woods, it’s perfect for entertaining. They’re definitely the more the merrier type of people.”
“Great,” she said, inanely. “You said his wife is pregnant, right?” Small talk felt like the perfect distraction.
He nodded. “Due in a few weeks. Plus they have a daughter who just turned nine.”
“Oh, wow, they’ve been together a long time.” They must have been together since right after high school. She admired young parents. She would not have been ready to have a baby at twenty.
“Only a year, but that’s a long story.”
“Isn’t everything a long story?”
Jesse laughed. “Maybe. I can tell you a short story.”
“What’s that?”
“My head hurts.”
She instantly felt sympathetic. “I’m sure it does. But that’s not really a short story, is it, because why your head hurts is more of a tale. Everything has back story to it.”
“It does. Do you know what I remember about you?” he asked her. “From hockey camp.”
“Oh, geez, do I want to know?” She listened with trepidation. She did want to know, but somehow she had a feeling it wouldn’t make her feel good.
“That you tried so hard. You were not naturally talented on the ice. Sorry if that’s news to you but you’re not.” He grinned.
Astrid laughed, a little relieved. That wasn’t earth shattering. “That is not news. Trust me, I knew that from three years old on. It only got worse as I got older and the talented kids shot ahead in their skills. I wanted to figure skate, but my father said no. It had to be hockey. But let’s be honest, I would have sucked at figure skating too.”
“I don’t know. I just watched you balance the crap out of yourself in yoga. Maybe you would have been good at it.”
But she shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. I did try hard, but hockey for me was not meant to be.”
“You had this earnest look on the ice where you would bite your lip. You still do that now when you’re feeling uncertain.”
That surprised her. Both that she did it and that he’d noticed. “I do?” She wished she were still sitting on the chair with him, but standing was safer.
“You do. I thought you were a very sweet girl. I hated how the other kids treated you.”
She hated that just hearing him say that could catapult her back to being that vulnerable teenage girl who wanted to please her father. “You tried to shield me from the jabs, verbal and physical, and I appreciate it. Though I don’t think you realized it, or at least I hope you didn’t realize it, but because you were so nice to me I developed a crush on you.”
To his credit, he did look surprised. “You did? I had no idea.”
“I like to think I was good at hiding it. At least from you. A couple of the other girls figured it out. They threatened to tell you unless I bought them concession stand snacks every day for a week. I had to shell out like fifty bucks.”
“Holy crap, girls are mean. Blackmail at fifteen? Harsh.” Jesse sat up straighter. “Wait a minute. Is that why you weren’t eating lunch? I remember the one day I asked you about it and you said you’d forgotten your purse.”
She couldn’t believe he remembered that. She nodded. “And you bought me lunch, which was really sweet.”
“You were so skinny, I couldn’t stand the thought of you not eating. Food is very important to me.”
“But you were a college student and my father had a ton of money, so it was a really kind gesture. Dad had me on a strict allowance and I was giving it all to the other girls, afraid you’d hear about my crush and stop talking to me.” She wasn’t sure why she was admitting that. But what difference did it really make at this point?
“That’s really sad, Astrid.” He stood up. “I wish I had known. I would have told those girls to mind their own business.”
She realized something then. Maybe it was better Jesse hadn’t recognized her. He’d liked her as the woman she was now. He hadn’t felt sorry for her like he had that gangly girl being picked on. He’d seen her as sexy and smart. Now she’d told him and those two images were married in his mind and she could hear the sympathy in his voice.
Huh. He’d done her a favor not recognizing her.
“Give me a hug,” he said.
