Baby, It's Cold Outside (Romance From a Male POV) (Fire & Ice) Page 13

  “Okay, but let’s get a room first.” Yes, I was the practical one in this relationship.

  “Sure honey, I’m flexible. Every hotel has a casino downstairs.” She winked at me and I grabbed her hand, practically pulling her out of the wedding chapel and back into our rental car.

  We cruised up the strip, vacillating between staying at Paris or the MGM Grand, but as we drove past the Bellagio and saw the fountain show we both decided staying there was the ticket.

  We finished the check-in process with minimal fuss, even though the lady checking us in had looked from Justine’s bruised face to me suspiciously.

  We had hardly set the bags down when Justine surprised me.

  “You know, Carter, I think I’ve changed my mind. I want to see if married sex is any different than what we’re used to.” It’s about time my wife got her priorities straight. I gave her a piercing look to make sure she wasn’t playing with me and as soon as I saw she was serious I pulled off my shirt. I wasn’t going to waste a second.

  I was stripped naked before Justine even had her jeans off, and I stood by anxiously awaiting the glory that was Justine’s nude form. She didn’t complain when I popped the hook on her bra and let her tits spring free before I started kissing her neck and running my tongue under her ear. It always makes her squeal and she didn’t disappoint. She didn’t waste another second; she turned around and attacked me, launching herself at my head and locking her legs around my waist.

  I was inside her instantly, imbedded to the hilt. I was holding onto Justine’s ass, so I lifted her up and slammed her down on top of me again.

  “Ow babe, ow.”

  “Am I too much for you?” It wouldn’t be the first time; I can’t help it that my dick is the size of a giant sequoia.

  “No, I think you’re grinding me into the light switch.” Oops.

  “Sorry, babe.” I moved us away from that spot on the wall and over a couple of feet.

  “Don’t stop. Everything else is perfect.” She didn’t need to tell me twice, I started moving her up and down on my pole and a few seconds later she was coming all over me.

  “Oh god.”

  “I’m not god, honey.” I growled into her ear as I continued to pound into her.

  “You are to me.” She said the words quietly, but they still sent me over the edge and I emptied into her a second later.

  “I love you, Mrs. Ross.” I kissed her nose and set her back on the floor.

  “I love you, Mr. Ross. Now, get your clothes back on, Double Diamonds is calling my name.” She slapped my bare ass as she said it and gave me a saucy grin. She is fucking perfect.

  “Is there not a drop of sentimental blood flowing through you right now?” I knew Justine and I knew her mind. She was already down in the casino.

  “No, I’ve got gambling fever, now hurry up.” I got dressed fast. I didn’t want to keep my bride waiting on her wedding day, if she wanted to gamble I was all over it.

  “Let’s go lose some money,” I told her while I took her hand to pull her out the door.

  “Are you kidding me? I’m on the luckiest streak of my life.”

  My sentiments exactly.

  Prologue as Epilogue

  Love at First Sight

  “Carter, hurry up and take out the trash. I’m trying to get this kitchen cleared up before Cheryl and her friend get here.”

  “I’m coming. Just a minute.” I had to yell through the bathroom door because I was still fixing my hair. Nothing I did could tame the wild mess that grew out of my head. I didn’t understand it. Neither of my parents was cursed with this shaggy black mane. I had let Cheryl experiment with her straightening iron last summer and although I liked the results it just seemed a little bit too gay to do to myself every morning before school. I ran my fingers through it one more time before giving up and I smiled at myself with an open mouth. I had just gotten my braces off last week and I still liked to check myself out without seeing shiny metal.

  I walked down the stairs in no hurry. It wasn’t that I was lazy or anything, but Mom was racing around like Cheryl was bringing Princess Diana over or something. I didn’t get the big deal. It wasn’t as if Cheryl lived across the country and only came home for holidays. She lived in the dorms at UT. We saw her all the time. Too much if you asked me. I was finally in high school and I liked being the only kid in the house. For the first time in my life I didn’t have to fight anyone over the Fruity Pebbles and make do with the crappy bran cereal my parents ate or try to get to the Oreos before Cheryl commandeered them to eat in her bedroom with her pack of friends.

  I entered the kitchen and saw my mother at the stove stirring a huge pot of something. It didn’t smell too bad, so that was a good sign. I walked over to peer over her shoulder and repressed a shudder. Whatever it was didn’t look very appetizing.

  “What’s that?” I tried to swallow my disappointment at the fact my mother was cooking which automatically ruled out pizza.

  “Chili. The watery mess in the pot was supposed to be chili?

  “Mmm.” I loved my mother with all my heart, but she just could not cook. I figured the nicest thing to say was nothing so I just moved along and grabbed the bag of garbage and carried it outside to the can. I had just closed the lid when Cheryl’s Jetta came barreling up the driveway. She screeched to a stop and jumped out.

  “Hey Carter, did ya miss me?”

  “I just saw you last weekend. I haven’t even had a chance to yet.” Actually, I did kinda miss her. It was still a little bit strange not to be able to walk across the hall and talk to her if I wanted to. We had always been close and the fact that she was four years older than me meant that we were too far apart in age to get into all of the normal sibling arguments. She came up to me and gave my arm a squeeze. I looked over to her car as I saw the passenger door open.

  “Justine, this is my brother Carter.” The girl getting out of the car looked over the roof at us and it felt like I got the wind knocked out of me. I met the eyes of the hottest girl I had ever seen.

  “Hi Carter. Cheryl has told me all about you.” Her voice. Holy crap it was sexy.

  I wanted to tell her hello, but my mouth refused to work. I ended up nodding at her stupidly before turning on my heel and walking back into the house. I realized I probably seemed rude, but this was the first time I had ever come face to face with such a gorgeous woman. I opened the back door and walked quickly past my mom.

  “Cheryl is here,” I managed to say as I made my way back to the stairs and to the sanctuary of my bedroom. When I got there I flopped down on my bed cursing myself for being such a pussy. What the hell is wrong with me that I couldn’t even talk to a hot girl? I had to snap out of it immediately and try to reclaim some coolness. I was in high school now; I couldn’t let myself look like a fool.

  I stood back up and walked over to my closet. The first order of business was to change out of my sweats and into something that made me look more mature. I pulled out some jeans and a blue sweater. I kicked off my sneakers and sweats and hastily pulled on my jeans. I left my tee shirt on and put the sweater on over it. It didn’t hurt to bulk up a little bit. I pulled my sneakers back on because I didn’t want to look like I was trying too hard and I tried to smooth down my hair. I was going to go back down and impress…shoot, I don’t remember what Cheryl called her. Damn it. Now I was going to look stupid if I asked her name. I shook my head and started back down to the kitchen. I could hear the females talking so I straightened up before walking into the room.

  “There you are. Are you okay sweetie? Cheryl said you were acting strange outside.” I gave Cheryl a glare before answering.

  “I’m fine. I just remembered something and I had to take care of it before I forgot.” Whew. My voice had recovered and I sounded coherent. Cheryl looked me over and raised her brow. I should have realized she would notice that I changed clothes. Luckily she didn’t say anything out loud, though.

  “Well, I hope everybody is hungry. Justin
e, I made chili in honor of your visit.” Justine, her name is Justine. Thanks mom.

  “I certainly am. Thank you for going to all this trouble for me, Sharon.” Justine was the only one of us to express her feelings of hunger. Cheryl and I knew mom’s cooking for what it was. Practically inedible. Mom pulled some bowls down from the cabinet and started doling out portions.

  “Not much for me, Mom. I’m not that hungry.” I was starving but I would come back later and make a sandwich or something. I wasn’t going to sit here and try to choke down the “chili” in front of Cheryl’s friend. I wanted to look smooth in front of her and there was no way to do that while eating mom’s cooking.

  “Me either. I didn’t know you were cooking and I ate some Twinkies before we left.” Cheryl knew the drill, too. Poor Justine was going to be taken off guard by mom’s food.

  We all sat down at the kitchen table and I took the opportunity to grab a handful of shredded cheese to dilute the chili taste. When I looked down at my bowl it was easily two thirds cheese. Perfect.

  I was trying to watch Justine out of the corner of my eye. She was so pretty that it was making me act unnaturally.

  “So Carter, what grade are you in?” Oh no, she was talking to me directly. I tried to look nonchalant as I met her eyes.

  “I’m a freshman.” I thought that sounded better than saying ninth grade.

  She smiled at me and I could feel myself blushing. Geez, this had never happened with Cheryl’s other friends. Okay, that wasn’t entirely true, Heather was pretty hot, but she didn’t have anything on Justine. She was like a goddess.

  “So Justine, what’s your major?” My mom stepped into the breach left by my embarrassed silence.

  “English. I want to write but I didn’t want to go into Journalism. I really wanted to go to cooking school but my mother insisted that I go to a “real” school.” She made air quotes around the word real and rolled her eyes, so I figured she didn’t agree with her mother’s assessment of her educational choices.

  “Well, I’m glad you came to UT, otherwise I wouldn’t have met you.” Cheryl piped in while stirring her bowl. No one but Mom had taken a bite yet. Maybe Cheryl had alerted Justine in advance. I hoped so; it didn’t seem fair to make a guest eat this food without forewarning.

  Justine smiled and took a bite. She kept smiling as she chewed her mouthful. I looked at Cheryl and she winked at me. Good, that meant Justine knew what was up and was being polite. It made her that much cooler to me.

  We sat there chatting and “eating” for about half an hour more before I got up. It was almost time for me to go to my friend Jeff’s house. Crud. It had seemed like a good idea to make plans to be out of the house tonight when Cheryl said she was bringing a friend, but now I was mad at myself. I wished I could make up a reason to stay home but his mom was taking us to a movie.

  “Well, I have to go. Mom, can I have some money for a movie?” It sucked that I had to ask my mother for cash in front of Justine, but I didn’t have anything left after I spent my money on my new telescope. I was actually kicking myself about that purchase since I lived in Austin and the sky was drowned out by all of the light.

  “You can grab a twenty out of my purse. Do you want me to drive you?” God, this was getting worse by the minute. Now mom was pointing out that I was too young to drive. I needed to get out of here before I looked like even more of a kid to Justine.

  “Nah, I’m good.” I walked over to mom’s purse and grabbed out a twenty dollar bill before stuffing it in my front pocket.

  “Bye Carter, see you later.” Cheryl got up to hug me so I hugged her back.

  “It was nice meeting you, Carter.” Justine’s smooth voice made my name sound like a caress. I think I’m in love.

  “You too. Bye Mom.” I walked out the back door and into the garage to get my bike. I hopped on and took off to ride the four blocks to Jeff’s house. I had just met my dream girl. I just hoped Cheryl would stay friends with her so that I would have a chance to get to know her better. Next time I would be ready with some intelligent conversation and possibly some witty banter. As I got closer to Jeff’s house I peddled faster; I could hardly wait to tell him about Justine.

  Tonight Was the Night

  Ten years later

  Tonight was the night. I was going to ask Justine out. On a date. My palms started sweating as I waited for her web page to upload. I needed to remind her to upgrade her DSL speed; this slow shit was irritating. Okay, focus man. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves but it didn’t work. I was a nervous wreck and I felt like I was sixteen and asking Rachelle Browne to go to the movies on my first real date after I got my driver’s license. No, scratch that, this was much harder than when I was a teenager. I liked Justine way back then, when she was so far out of my league as a junior in college, that I would never have dared to ask her out. I really didn’t know how I was going to have the cojones to go through with it tonight, though I felt under pressure since her website was finished and with it my reason for coming over here and helping her.

  I had to believe that I wasn’t going to get shot down right off the bat. I had caught her staring at me a few times and then blushing. I knew when a woman was into me, I hadn’t gotten to be twenty four without my fair share of female companionship. I mean, lets be realistic, the ladies thought I was hot. Hell, I bet even dudes thought I was hot, in a non-gay way, of course. I’m not conceited, but I do have eyes. I wasn’t sure if that was going to be enough to sway Juss, though.

  I had actually been stealthily trying to worm my way into her consciousness for the past several weeks; standing in her personal space, making comments that were just shy of being innuendos, and most of all, making sure she could see me outside of the realm of “Cheryl’s little brother” when possible.

  The timing was perfect. She had finally seen her ex for the douchey prick he was and kicked him to the curb a few months ago, thereby leaving the path clear. It was like a sign when she called me up and asked me to help her set up a website. Thank you, Cheryl. Now, it was all up to me.

  Upload Complete. So that was it. My work for her was done. I half considered telling her there was some kind of problem, allowing me at least one more official visit, but I just couldn’t do that to her. She was really excited about her website idea and I was interested in seeing where she was going to take it. Also, that would have been a really dick move on my part and not the way I wanted to start off a possible relationship. The time was at hand.

  I stood up and stretched. I could smell the chicken pot pie she was making for us tonight, part of her payment for my web design services. My stomach rumbled, but unfortunately it was nerves and not hunger. Well, it was hunger too, but mostly it was the fact that I was trying to gather up all of my mojo for the task at hand. I refused to wimp out. Go out there, pussy. I mentally flipped my inner voice the bird and started for the kitchen, slowing my steps as I came around the corner. Justine was standing with her back to me, slicing a cucumber and singing a song that I didn’t recognize. I stood there for a minute watching her until I decided to make some noise to alert her to my presence.

  I cleared my throat and she spun around holding the knife out in front of her.

  “Geez Carter, you scared me.” Her cheeks got pink but she smiled at me. “The food is just about ready. How is it going in there?”

  “All done. You obviously need to check it over before it goes live, but I’ve done everything we talked about. It looks great.”

  She beamed at me with delight. “I’m so excited. I can’t thank you enough for this, Carter. I could never have gotten this done without you.”

  “It was my pleasure. The food has been well worth it. I’m going to miss all of these home cooked meals.”

  She just smiled at me and blushed before turning back to her cucumber.

  It was now or never. “So I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me?” She turned back to me a couple of seconds later.

  “Go out?” Uh oh, I cou
ld tell she was trying to buy time before answering me.

  “Yeah, you know, to dinner or something.”

  “Um. Well, I work most nights.”

  “I know. I was thinking maybe next Monday. I’m finished with your site and I know Mondays are your off days. I thought that instead of you having to cook we could go out. Then, maybe we could catch a movie or whatever.” I had to admit that my invitation didn’t sound very smooth or well thought out, but I had to hope she would overlook that and want to spend time with me anyway.

  “Just you and me?”

  I nodded.

  “You mean a date?”

  “Well, yeah.” Did I not make myself clear enough?

  “I don’t know, Carter. That would be kind of weird, you know?”

  She was turning me down. To be honest, it didn’t occur to me that she would really say no. It took a second for my mind to recognize the feeling in my stomach as disappointment.

  My brain went straight into high gear. I knew she liked me, so I had to make her see the benefits of an actual date.

  “Why would it be weird? We’ve known each other for years. We’ve been spending every Monday evening together for three weeks and there hasn’t been any awkwardness.”

  “That’s not the same as a date.” She held her hand up as I opened my mouth to protest. “You’re Cheryl’s brother. That is making things awkward. Plus, I’m too old for you.”

  “You’re not too old for me, Justine, that’s ridiculous. We’re not in high school. We’re both adults. I really like you.” Shit. That did sound a little bit high school.

  “Carter, don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re too young for me.”

  Was it possible to take it the right way? I was stuck for a reply to that. I had nothing.

  “I really like you, too, though.” She started blushing so I jumped on the only chance I was going to get.