Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 98789 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98789 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Unlocking the door, I stepped into the kitchen, pushing the door shut behind me. It was quiet and dim, lit only by the light above the stove, and smelled faintly of ripe bananas. Fritz, who normally came hurrying over when he heard the door, was nowhere to be seen. I was taking my sneakers off when none other than Dashiel Buckley came sauntering around the corner.
Stark.
Naked.
His thick, wavy hair was wet, as if he’d just gotten out of the shower. For a moment I was paralyzed, one shoe on, one shoe off, my pervy eyes going straight for his crotch. I only caught the briefest glimpse before he saw me.
“Jesus!” he yelled, turning away from me. But that only presented me with his backside, which was just as mouth-watering as his front. “Ari?”
“Sorry!” I squeaked, trying to tug my high-top back on, hopping on the other foot. “I didn’t know anyone was here! I just came to let the dog out!”
Fritz, who’d trotted in at Dash’s side, looked back and forth between us, panting with his tongue hanging out.
I feel you, Fritz.
Dash grabbed a dish towel off the counter and faced me again, draping the cloth in front of his hips like a toreador’s cape. “It’s okay, I didn’t tell anyone I was coming home. Let me just go put some clothes on, and—”
“Actually, I’m late for work. I’ll just go.” Finally managing to get my shoe on, I yanked the door open and dashed back to my car, my shoelaces flopping.
Sliding into the driver’s seat of my crappy old Honda, I yanked the door shut and gripped the steering wheel with both hands before leaning forward and resting my forehead against it. My pulse refused to slow down.
What was he doing here?
Fuck, he looked good.
That face. Those shoulders. The abs. The long, thick, dangling—
No. Don’t think about the dangle.
Turning on the engine, I reversed out of the driveway and peeled down the street, tires squealing. Then I called Mabel.
“Hello?”
“No one told me Dash was going to be home!” I shouted.
“What?”
“I just went over to take the dog out for your dad, and Dash was there!”
“He couldn’t be. He’s in L.A.”
“I’m telling you. He is home.” I thumped the steering wheel three times. “I just saw him naked in the kitchen.”
“What?” she squealed.
“I let myself in, same as always, and he came strolling around the corner in his birthday suit!”
“Why on earth was he naked in the kitchen?”
“I don’t know, Mabel! I didn’t stick around to ask him!” Beneath my work clothes—black pants and a fitted Buckley’s Pub T-shirt—a sweat had broken out.
“Are you sure it was Dash?”
“Mabel. Please.”
She started to laugh. “He probably didn’t care. He was practically naked on Malibu Splash all the time.”
“Well, I cared.” My eyes were on the road, but I wasn’t seeing stoplights and yellow lines. Just skin. Muscles. And the dangle.
I’d have turned on the A/C if it worked. Instead, I rolled down the window.
“Are you still mad at him?”
Eventually, I’d confessed my foiled attempt at seducing her brother to Mabel. I was no good at keeping secrets from her. “Yes. No. I don’t know. I can’t think right now.”
“I’m Team Ari forever, of course, but I do hate that my best friend and my brother can’t be in the same room together.”
“We can be in the same room, Mabel. But not while he’s naked!”
“That’s fair.”
“He didn’t even have the decency to leave the room! He just stood there covering himself with a small kitchen towel like it was a fucking fig leaf.”
“Gross. I’m sorry you had to see that.”
“I suppose I’ll live.” My pulse was starting to decelerate. “Your dad must not have known he was coming home either.”
“Maybe he wanted it to be a surprise.”
“Then he got what he wanted.” My car made a whining noise as I turned onto Main Street. “He shocked the bejesus out of me.”
She laughed. “I wonder if he’ll go into Buckley’s Pub tonight. Are you working?”
“Yes.” Thinking about Dash walking into the bar tonight kicked my heart rate right back up again.
“Hopefully, he’ll have clothes on if he does.”
“He better,” I said, still trying not to think about the dangle. “He darn well better.”
THREE
ari
He came into the bar just after eight, and I knew the minute he entered. The air took on an electrical charge that tickled the back of my neck and made my hair stand on end.
When I glanced toward the front door, I saw him throw his arms around Xander and give him several thumps on the back. They were both tall, fit, and handsome, but they didn’t look much alike. Xander was dark-haired and bearded, with deep brown eyes. Dash had been light blond when he was a kid, but his hair color had deepened as he grew older. Tonight, it was mostly covered by a baseball cap, probably to decrease his chances of being recognized. His jaw, always clean-shaven on Malibu Splash, now had light brown scruff. It gave his good looks more of a rugged feel that punched me right in the lady bits.