Page 4

CHAPTER 4

ALANIS

I stand in front of my full-length mirror, taking in my outfit, a curve-hugging red dress. By putting this on, I’m definitely asking —actually, screaming— for Chance to give me his undivided attention tonight. I’ve always been proud of my womanly curves. I’ve got the badonkadonk with a capital B. And a little cleavage never hurt anybody. But I make sure I always stay classy. With this knee-length dress with the slight slit up the leg and wrap-around front that showcases the girls, it’s inviting without being glaringly obvious what I’m looking for.

Plus, I feel awesome in this dress, and that’s all that really matters.

Glancing behind me at the clock, Matty still isn’t home yet, and I want to sneak out before he gets back. He catches me and I know what he’ll say, or at least I think I do.

Matty is overprotective, and most of the time, I love that about him. But I also easily get annoyed with him. In the end, though, my brother only wants me to be happy. That’s all he’s ever wanted and worked so hard for. It’s what he makes sure to accomplish every day.

But I think I could be happy with Chance. He’s sexy, intelligent, sweet, and funny. He’s already best friends with my brother, so my brother likes him, which has always been questionable about guys I was attracted to before.

Cause there’s been a string of real… winners . And I use that word in the most sarcastic way ever.

There was the guy who thought giving his savings to someone who said they could pull an iceberg to Florida was a good idea. It wasn’t. The iceberg wasn’t real. I gave him my condolences on losing all his money, but that only told me how he handled his finances.

There was the guy who trained his parrot to call me “my bitch” when I walked into the room. “How’s it going my bitch?” from a white parrot was a little amusing, but when I told him it was a cute trick, but I didn’t want to be called that. He said he couldn’t stop it after it started. The parrot was the one with the balls.

And lastly, there was the guy who decided to make shrimp ceviche when I was clear that I’m highly allergic and then tried to force feed me because he thought it would be cool to see what happens.

Death. That’s what could happen.

I was outta there, fast.

But Chance didn’t try to kiss me. And he didn’t come back after taking the phone call. A little bit of me has my past with guys waving a little red flag. Even though I’m confident in every other aspect of my life— dating, is at the top of the “I’m Not the Best at This List.”

That and sex, apparently.

There was one guy in college who I dated for a year. It was lust at first sight, and then he took my V-card and never looked back. I have to give him props for hanging in there for… a few weeks. But he was a ghost once the deed was done. I battled with the thought that I was terrible in bed.

The next guy told me I was “too cautious” and kept trying to get me to loosen up and enjoy sex. But for whatever reason, that didn’t work either.

Maybe some people don’t get the fireworks with sex, and being close to someone must be enough.

I mean, I do get a rush from my job. The thrill of stealing back airplanes and helicopters riles me like no other. It can take days to come down from such an adrenaline dose.

And for me, that’s been more exciting than sex or even giving myself an orgasm. Stealing a plane right in front of the person is the biggest turn-on a woman like me could ever have. The look on their face is priceless. Thinking about it gets my palms itchy and my heart racing.

But lately being around Chance does the same thing. Tingles. Everywhere. Toes to roots of my hair— zing, zing, zing!

Matty walks in. I hear his keys fall into the bowl by the door. His footsteps echo through the house as he heads into the kitchen. I wince at not getting out of here before now.

“Alanis, you want to go to Sip for dinner? Chance has something to do tonight, so it’s just me, maybe Kian, and a couple of guys from the team.”

Sip Happens is the neighborhood hangout. I go to dinner there occasionally, but Matty’s team is often there after games. They’re loud, boisterous, and kinda remind me of my girls’ group. I still recall a couple of times that Matty laid into them about even thinking about touching me. Every time a new player joins, he goes through a speech, loud enough so everybody in the bar hears what he says. It's both annoying and endearing.

Come to think about it, my brother could also be a significant reason for my lack of quality experience with men. He scares everybody away from me.

Well, not everybody.

Not Chance.

I yell back, “I have a date.”

It doesn’t even take a second. His feet pound down the hallway, and he peeks his head into the doorway. His eyes go wide as he looks at me, then they narrow. “A date? Since when?”

I huff and glare back, “Since when the guy asked me out.”

The doorbell rings, and my knees shake.

He can’t possibly be this early?

I still have ten minutes.

Doesn’t he know that a woman wants all the minutes…

My heart becomes an out-of-control train, and I refrain from chewing my lip— no need to get red lipstick on my teeth.

Matty pulls his phone out of his back pocket and looks at the doorbell video. He laughs. “Well, you’re not going out with him . I’d kill him.” He taps his phone, and the lock on the front door unlocks.

Well, this isn’t going to go great. I blow out a long breath to try to decompress. I’m never going to have a happy, loving relationship at this rate.

Will I ever have another orgasm not self-initiated?

I finish putting in my earrings and slipping on my heels. I grab my clutch and work my way to the hallway.

“Bro, let’s go,” a tenor voice echoes down the hallway.

My heart slows down, and I let out an exhale. Chance’s smooth bass voice is nowhere to be heard. It’s a little more high-pitched. Somebody else. Thank you.

“Alanis, I’m gonna head to Sip with Kian. Be safe. If you need me, call!”

“Okay. Thanks.”

Elation fills me and I do a little happy dance. It was a real possibility that he was going to hang out until I was picked up.

Explaining to Matty the whys sounds exhausting. Maybe I can just fly Chance and I somewhere and we can figure this out without the pressure of Matty on our back…

Probably not great to run away. Doesn’t scream “adult.”

Although I’ve always done the smart thing. Doing something a little off-brand doesn’t sound bad right now. Plus, I’m an adult. I want this.

“Later, Alan!” Kian calls out, his nickname for me making me shake my head.

Kian, the catcher to my brother the pitcher on the field, would’ve stayed, doing the intimidation thing, too. It’s bad enough I have one brother, now I have a freaking baseball team who watches me like I’m their kid sister.

I enter the living room as the front door clicks shut and locks. Since I moved in, Matty set up a pretty impressive home security system.

Five minutes later, the doorbell rings, my heart sputters, and my stomach flutters.

It’s him…