Naughty but Nice: A Best Friend's Dad Christmas Romance Page 25

  “You can go wait over there. I have to make a call.” I walked across the room and stepped behind one of the larger props I’d designed and pulled out my phone. I had a bone to pick with my best friend.

  Her voice was already filled with caution as she said hello. “Please tell me you had nothing to do with this, Shauna.”

  “With what exactly?”

  I could hear the worry in her tone.

  “Don’t play stupid. You’re the smartest woman I know, which leads me to think you were having an off day when you decided to put me and your brother in the same place!” I tried to keep my tone level, to keep it from turning as harsh as Duncan’s natural tone when she began to apologize.

  “I’m sorry, Rachel. It’s just that I felt it was time for the two of you to work things out. He’s not seeing anyone, and neither are you. You’re both living in the city now, we could all be together again, one big happy family like the old days.”

  Her words were spilling out so fast I could barely wrap my mind around them.

  “He broke my heart, Shauna. He left me, making it perfectly clear where we stood.”

  “You still love him. Don’t even lie. You ask me about him at least once every other week and then get mad if I try to discuss him for too long.”

  I had been trying to use restraint and had even made her promise we wouldn’t let the break-up come between us.

  “And how often does he ask about me?” I waited for her response which came after a bit of hesitation.

  “He asked me about you the other day.”

  “Really? And how often does that happen?”

  “Okay, it’s not often, but it’s the way he asks and when he asks. Rachel, he’s never stopped caring, I just know it. Please talk to him.”

  “I have no other choice, do I?” She’d made sure of that. I’d see him every single day until this production was over and as I was thinking of what to tell her next, her phone cut out.

  “Hey, I have another call. I’ll call you back.” She hurried off the phone, and I peeked around the prop, seeing Duncan who was ducking off to the side on his phone. Shauna. He’d called his sister too. I knew the two hadn’t planned this together because Duncan was just as surprised as I had been.

  I stared as he chewed his sister out. God, he was gorgeous. He’d really grown up to a be a beautifully fierce man. I tried to ignore the heat building between my legs and quenched the burning with anger as I crossed the room.

  I walked right up to him where he leaned over whispering into the phone and tapped him on the shoulder. He spun around and straightened, becoming a good head taller, and I looked directly into his eyes. “Tell Shauna I’m not done with her.” I crossed my arms and shifted on my feet, as Jefferey waved for my attention over Duncan’s shoulder mouthing ‘are you okay’.

  “I’ll call you back, Shauna. Neither one of us is done with you.” He hung up the phone and spun around to see Jefferey giving him the eye. I had no doubt that as fierce as Duncan was, Jefferey wouldn’t back down if need be and he wouldn’t let anyone disrespect me.

  Then he turned back to me. “We need to talk.”

  Need to talk? I remembered the night that he broke up with me. He’d called me out to the backyard, to the swing set where the two of us used to play as children, under the tree we used to climb, where I got my first skinned knee, and he was the one to comfort me while his sister went to get my father. That night, I had told him that we just needed to talk it out, but instead he had told me that he had nothing more to say; what was done was done.

  I dropped my hands to my side, balling them into fists as I glared at those damned hazel eyes. “I’ve got nothing to say to you.”

  As his eyes narrowed, I turned and stormed away.

  CHAPTER FIVE - DUNCAN

  So much for my week. It had started off perfect, but after canceling the date with the blonde which I had only set up hours before seeing Rachel, it had taken its turn. Not that I cared at all about missing out on the date, but now I had to figure out how to get Rachel to give me the time of day. At least I’d have the duration of my new contract to try and make that happen, but I’d seen that look of determination in her eyes. She’d shot at me, and I couldn’t blame her.

  I had been home for an hour, contemplating my next move and trying to get my laundry sorted from the cleaners. I still had to have my clothes perfectly pressed and kept my townhouse apartment tidy. It was instilled in me to the bone like many other things, so after my shirts and jeans were all hung up in the closet, I decided to call my sister again.

  She answered the phone with a hesitant tone. “Hello.” She’d never answered the phone so formally for me in her life like she knew the scolding she was due, or worse like I was our father. I got a pang of guilt and decided to take it easy on her.

  “You should have warned me.” I kept my tone level and soft.

  “I know. You’re absolutely right to hate me right now, but I didn’t see it backfiring.” She let loose a long breath as if she’d been holding it since we last spoke.

  “I don’t hate you, never that, but I am a little pissed you didn’t tell me sooner that she was in this area and single. You could have asked me if I wanted to meet up and for God’s sake, Shauna, think of how this made Rachel feel. I broke up with her, and if today is any indication of her feelings for me, then I’d say you’re wasting your time.”

  “No, I don’t think I am. I’m not sorry I got the two of you in the same room. I’m only sorry that I was a sneaky about it. She still loves you. I know she does.”

  “Yeah, well she’s got a hell of a way of showing it. Those lasers of death in her pretty green eyes today told me differently.” She’d always had the brightest green eyes, like a new spring leaf, with tiny flecks of gold, but that gold had turned molten with anger.

  “She was just shocked to see you. She asks about you all the time, she’s never dated anyone steady, Duncan, and I mean, like no more than one date. And according to her, well, she’s never even been with a man. I can’t help but think that all this time, she’s longed for you.”

  “You don’t know that. I could have just turned her off men completely.” I wondered if she truly was a virgin or if any of those one-nighters had been fruitful. Even after all these years, the thought of another man’s hands on her made my gut clench.

  “You have another chance now. Make it count. You can’t tell me that you don’t want her, that you don’t still love her.”

  “It’s been years, Shauna. Things change. Look at us. I’m not with her because I didn’t want her wasting her life waiting on me. Not to mention, her father had a lot to do with it. So, unless he’s dead, there’s still that obstacle.”

  “He’s alive and kicking, but he’s accepting that he can’t control Rachel’s life. Aren’t you surprised you didn’t find her in a courtroom somewhere? She’s made her life her own. She told me that you wanted her to follow her dreams. She’s done that, and now the only thing missing is you. Make it right, Duncan.”

  “Maybe she’s still better off without me.” I ended the call and lay back on the bed with the phone resting on my chest. I’d let her go when I hadn’t really wanted to. I’d let her father convince me that her waiting was the worst thing she could do and though I agreed, that she shouldn’t sit around pining for me, I’d longed for her to wait for me. I remember all the years I’d sat around wondering who she was loving. If it had been one of the local guys, or perhaps some guy she met in college. It was a relief knowing that no one else had touched her like I had. Or was Shauna misinformed?

  I hadn’t gone all the way with her. I was content to let her keep her virginity intact, to respect the fact that she was so young and not yet ready for that. My worst fear had been getting her pregnant, and so we’d been left with lots of petting and long make out sessions.

  I hardened thinking about those times, those long, hot kisses, her soft tongue darting against mine, tasting like fruit gum. I still remembered her perfume, tha
t soft, flowery scent like honeysuckle, the salt of her skin as I kissed down her neck.

  I tugged down my shorts, gripped my cock, and thought of the night she’d let me touch her. Her breasts, those perfect swells, just barely a handful, and their tight little rosy tips, how she’d let me kiss them. I was as gentle with her as I could be, the urgency of wanting to be inside of her nearly drowning my good sense. It was all I could do not to let her put her mouth on my cock, even when she offered to.

  Instead, I had rubbed her soft mound, the barely-there tuft of blonde that covered it had been as soft as a kitten and as I remembered the way she purred rubbing against me, her mouth never leaving mine. I’d never wanted anyone more since.

  She’d grown up and filled out a bit more, just like I always knew she would, beautifully. I pictured myself kissing her. It’s what I should have done when she ran into me. I should have grabbed her and kissed her. She would have had something to be mad about then. I chuckled and stroked my cock as a tiny tear formed at the tip. I dragged my thumb across it and spread it around as I worked my hand down my shaft.

  I used my other hand to tug my sac, to massage my balls, kneading them. It felt good to work them over, sweat beading on my brow. I rose from the bed, still stroking, as I went to the shower.

  After setting the temperature of the spray, I stepped in, still holding my cock and lathered it up, imagining my hand against her soft little mound. I wanted to taste her, to lick that nectar from her little slit and let it melt on my tongue. I wondered how tight she’d be and imagined my cock sliding in, and how I’d break her apart. The sound of her little purring moans, how they were almost a whimper, her quiet little voice begging for more, knowing she would only go so far.

  She’d shuddered beneath me as her pleasure overtook her, as I’d rubbed her slick juices all around her little clit. I remember her eyes widening as I tasted her, the heat rising to her cheeks and staining them with blush. I’d kissed her after, and she’d moaned then too as if to tell me she tasted herself.

  I imagined if I had only gone further. If I’d given her my cock. I would have rubbed it all around that little, wet hole, coating my tip in her nectar and spread it all around before I buried it deep inside her tenderness. I’d have rutted deeper with each thrust, every single grind until I shot my load deep inside that tight little channel. I wanted to come inside her and fill her up only so I could pound it in.

  My release shot out against the tile and was quickly rinsed down the drain. As I sank back against the shower wall, I knew I had to have her. The thought that anyone else might take her sent a growl of frustration through me. I did love her, I’d always loved her, and she was mine. I’d been a fool to let her go and now had to make it right.

  I hurried out of the shower and didn’t bother drying off as I went to my phone and called Shauna.

  She picked up the phone and before she could even finish saying hello I blurted, “What’s her number?”

  CHAPTER SIX - RACHEL

  My bath water was warm, the bubbles were high, and my wine was chilled to perfection. It would have been the perfect relaxing moment had I not been thinking of the day’s blind side. I loved Shauna, but I couldn’t believe she’d done it. We’d made a pact, and I understood that he was her brother, but that shouldn’t give her the pass to interfere. If I’d known he was living so close, that he hadn’t gone back into the military like I’d assumed after their mother’s death, then I would have maybe asked her more about him, maybe even asked for his number. And if I hadn’t, it would have been my choice.

  Duncan and I had known each other for years, but he’d always mostly hung around the other older boys in the neighborhood and didn’t have much time for Shauna, his baby sister, and me. We were three years younger so to me he was just another smelly boy until I noticed the other girls noticing him.

  We were about eleven and Duncan was fourteen when he had his first girlfriend, and it was only after that when I started noticing him in a different way. I’d wanted to be like those older girls, not only because their bodies were more developed, but because he was interested in them. I remember seeing Duncan around his house wearing nothing but sweats, and how he’d come in one day from seeing his girlfriend down the block. He was sweaty, his face flushed, and he had a raging hard on that was pitching out the front of his joggers. I had noticed immediately, and he caught me staring and gave me a wink. I felt the heat stain my cheeks, but later I noticed something else. I noticed that he started treating me differently.

  He didn’t push me away like an extension of his little sister. Instead, he tried to strike up a conversation with me as if what I’d seen that day brought us to a whole different level. Not that he would ever touch me or kiss me, no, I was far too young, but it was like there was a special secret between the two of us; an understanding. And I didn’t stop noticing him from that day on.

  It was painful watching him with the line of other, older girls. They were like cattle in a revolving stall, and when he started playing sports, it only got worse. He was one of the most popular boys in school and somehow, at the end of my freshman year, things changed.

  It was like one day, Duncan had decided that I was old enough and interesting enough to garner his attention. My father had not been happy. When we’d first started dating, he’d had a fit. He didn’t like the idea of me being with someone older, someone who was surely more experienced in the ways of teenage lust. I’d convinced Daddy it was okay and that Duncan was respectable. I also assured him that with Duncan right next door, he could keep a close eye on him.

  After that, my father did keep a much closer eye, and he stopped letting spend the night with Shauna. Fortunately for me, my father hadn’t figured out I was really hanging out with Duncan until the summer was already over.

  It wasn’t like anything had happened with his sister around anyway. We’d stay up late watching movies with Shauna and would crash on the living room floor like always, except then he’d gravitate my way by morning.

  Shauna was supportive from the start but warned me that her brother was a heartbreaker. I should have listened. By the end of my sophomore year, he ended things abruptly, harshly, and over the goddamned phone, and I wished I’d paid attention to her warnings.

  My insides burned at the thought, my gut twisting in agony as if it were the very day it had happened. I took a deep breath realizing tears were streaming down my face. I quickly dried them and wondered if I’d wasted my whole life on him.

  I’d only ever dated a few men since and that was in hopes that something would blossom and they’d replace Duncan in my heart, but it had been impossible. There was no replacing him.

  Maybe it was because my only sexual experience had been with him and I had a hard time being intimate with the other men. Those few times I’d let someone touch me, hadn’t compared to the way I’d felt when Duncan had. He’d given me my first orgasm and managed it with only his fingers and no penetration. I’d been too afraid to go all the way, and he’d admitted that he was worried he’d get me pregnant, and that once he got going, he’d be unable to stop. It had been heaven with him, knowing- well thinking- that he’d loved me the same way I’d loved him.

  And then, in a blink, it was over.

  The phone on the side of the tub vibrated and gave me a start. I looked at the screen but didn’t recognize the number. I almost didn’t pick it up but decided I better. It could be someone from work. “Hello?”

  “Rachel don’t hang up. I want to talk.” The voice was desperate, and though it was much rougher than I remembered, I’d know it anywhere.

  “I’m in the tub.” I don’t know why I said that, it wasn’t as if it made a difference and my cheeks flared as if he could actually see me naked.

  “I can call back if you’d like, but I’d like to talk things over.” He sounded out of breath, and I wondered if it took him much courage to call or if he was used to this sort of thing. No doubt he’d had many other women and much more experience than me.


  “No, it’s fine.” I kept my tone indifferent and settled back in the tub, heating my water a bit from the tap which I left running at a trickle. “Though I’m not sure what there is to say, we’re strangers who shared a past.”

  “That’s not true. I’ve missed you, and I want to take you to lunch tomorrow. I know my sister set us both up and I got on her about it. She should have talked to us both first, but I’m not sorry that she did what I’ve been too afraid to do all these years.”

  Hearing those words had my heart soaring, but I knew it wouldn’t all be that easy. He had repairing to do, and I wasn’t sure he was really up for the task.

  “You’re the one who broke things off in a text message. Our undoing was your fault, not mine.” I reached up and shut off the trickle of water and laid back so fast that the water swelled up over my breasts. Seeing the water splash out over the side of the tub made me realize my tone had been a bit harsh.

  “You don’t think I know that? I was only trying to protect your future, and it wasn’t my idea alone. Your father made it perfectly clear that I was to end things before I left. He didn’t give me much choice and even though that the last thing I wanted to do, I did it for you. I didn’t want you to ruin your life waiting around for me. You had talent and a bright future. Your father convinced me that with me out of the picture you had a real chance to do great things in life.”

  “My father was there to console me when you gutted me and left him with the pieces. He said he didn’t understand it any more than I did, so I don’t know what you’re trying to pull, but it’s a little low bringing my father into this!” I said, my voice raising angrily.

  “If you don’t believe me, call him and ask him. And while we’re on the subject of parents, why didn’t you come to my mother’s funeral? She loved you like a daughter, and you weren’t there for Shauna or me.”

  I’d been unable to attend because of work, but I had a feeling he thought it was because of him. Maybe it had been. The thought of seeing him there terrified me and work had been a welcome excuse.