Page 33 of Something Reckless

EASTON

A fter dinner and a card game that Jagger teaches me, my son runs off to brush his teeth. (Yes—he’s my son, dammit. No stupid DNA test is going to tell me otherwise.)

I notice that the little guy doesn’t even wait to be told. I realized since day one that Alba has been doing a great job raising him, because damn, I sure was never that well-behaved. The more I hang around, the more apparent it becomes how amazing Alba Anderson is.

I’m sitting in Jagger’s room now, reading him a bedtime story while Alba cleans up the kitchen.

I seriously tried to tell her I would take care of it—hell, I’m the one who made the mess—but Alba insisted. So we made a deal; I handle bedtime while she handles the kitchen.

Teamwork for the win.

Besides, I’d never turn down some quality time with Jagger. I freaking love my kid. I love teaching him new things. But I’m discovering that I also learn so much from the little guy whenever we spend time together .

Alba just finished putting the last of the leftovers inside her fridge when I stroll back into the kitchen. Skirting around the spot she just finished mopping, I open the oven and snatch the piece of apple pie that was leftover from dinner.

I grab two clean forks and Alba’s hand, forcing her to abandon the mop in the middle of the kitchen floor. She suppresses a giggle as I pull her toward the front door.

“Want to take this outside and talk?” I ask as I move toward the porch, her hand still clasped in mine.

She chuckles, swiping the blanket off her couch as she follows after me. “Do I have a choice?”

“Always.”

“Well, you’re holding half an apple pie in your hand, so obviously, this is coercion,” Alba shoots back, and I’m captivated by the playful twinkle in her eye. God—she’s so beautiful.

We exit the front door and take up the same spots on the porch as the other night. I hand her a fork, and we both dive in, eating straight out of the pie tin. For a while, we talk and laugh and catch up, with the swaying leaves of the big oak tree acting as our privacy screen against the world.

These quiet, stolen moments are becoming my favorite parts of the day. Somehow, I already see how this could become our routine. Our thing.It would be way too damn easy to get used to evenings like this.

I listen to the story she’s telling me now, unable to look away. Somewhere between Alba talking about the naughty toys she found at her cleaning job and about the nude garden gnome that her neighbor put in their yard, it hits me.

I have a major crush on my son’s aunt.

Fuck.

“What?” Alba asks, interrupting her own story. By the way she’s frowning at me, I’m guessing she caught me staring.

“N-Nothing.” I give my head a slight shake.

She jabs me in the bicep. “Stop lying to me, Mr. Tower. Come on. Tell me. What are you thinking right now?”

On a sigh, I bring my gaze back to her face, letting my eyes roam over every corner. “That you’re pretty. That’s all.”

Alba lets out a snort. “Easton Raines, we both know there’s nothing pretty about spending an evening cleaning other people’s toilets.”

I’m shaking my head again, more vigorously this time. It’s hard to follow the conversation when I’m sitting this close to her and staring into those green eyes.

“That’s just…I’m...Sorry, I’m trying to…” I pause to take a deep breath. “I can’t help it…I really can’t.”

“You can’t what?” She laughs nervously.

“You’re absolutely beautiful, Tiny Tiger. And I have a feeling you haven’t heard that nearly enough over the past nine years. That sort of fucks with my head.”

“Wow,” she deadpans, her eyes dimming with embarrassment. “I shouldn’t have opened my big mouth. I told you I’m a virgin, and now you’re looking at me like I’m some poor charity case.” She wraps her blanket tighter around herself as if for protection.

I scoff. “Are you freaking blind, woman?”

In my eyes, Alba is anything but a charity case. She’s the ultimate temptation. She’s gorgeous. Smart. Funny. Kind. And she loves my child the way a mother should. It’s quite the fucking combo, if you ask me.

“Ugh,” she groans. “Would you stop flirting with me? We’re just friends, and I swear, Easton, I’m fine. Being single isn’t so bad. I’ve been living vicariously through my romance books.” Then she mumbles something else, it sounds an awful lot like she mentions her vibrator.

My cock snaps to attention. “What was that?”

“N-nothing.” She drops her gaze to her lap.

I find myself scooting closer to her, lowering my voice. “Well, I’m sure that books are fun and all. But they could never live up to the real thing.”

“Are you sure?” she asks wryly. “Because, let me tell you—some of my books get intense. ” She fans her cheeks with a napkin.

I wag my head, finding myself leaning closer to get a whiff of her sugary scent. “The feel of somebody’s skin on yours…The weight of another person’s body on top of you…The sounds…The smells…The tastes. Yup. Books could never capture that.”

Alba shifts where she’s sitting on the bench next to me, and I don’t miss how her thighs clamp together a little tighter. Fuck—she’s getting turned on. But can I blame her? I’m breathing all over her, whispering in her ear, practically telling her that I want to fuck her.

Suddenly, she slaps my shoulder and scoots away. “Yeah, well, books also don’t get you pregnant.”

I flinch. “Touché.”

Alba faces me, offering a delirious little smile. “Dammit, Easton. Stop looking at me that way. You’re making me feel like maybe I should give that stupid dating app a try.” She laughs.

My back stiffens. “Dating app? What dating app?”

Alba shakes her head and takes another bite of pie. “Long story short—my friends downloaded a dating app onto my phone while we were all drunk and goofing around during girls’ night. ”

“Well, why didn’t you delete it?” I ask with a frown, my voice a little too rough and demanding for the occasion.

She shrugs. “I don’t know. I guess I’m starting to feel…curious.” Her eyes flit guiltily to my mouth before dropping to her lap.

“Curious?” I question her.

“About all the things I’ve missed out on over the years.

I didn’t exactly do a lot of exploring in my early twenties, and now I’m creeping closer to thirty.

I don’t want to be an old, lonely lady in a few years.

Jagger’s already bugging me about getting a kitten, and I know it’ll be a gateway to cement my cat lady status. ”

I nod slowly, the wheels spinning in my head. “So, you want to do some ‘exploration’ then?”

“I guess…Yeah. Sure, why not?” She sets down her fork and starts picking at her fingernails.

When she lets out a big sigh, I can tell she’s got more on her mind.

“I love Jagger more than life itself, and I don’t regret a single sacrifice I’ve made for him.

But every once in a while, in the back of my mind, there’s this lingering reminder that I never got to experience…

life, lust, intimacy. You know, the kind of intimacy I read about in romance novels.

Sometimes I worry that it might be too late. ”

I don’t need the porch light on to tell me that her face is beet red right now.

“It’s not too late,” I say, sounding more confident than I have any right to.

“It’s not?” she says with a disbelieving laugh.

“No, it’s not…” I declare.Then I suck in a breath. “Because you’ll do it all with me.”

“What?!” Her shriek is loud enough to spook the dogs down the street. They start barking in the distance.

“You and me,” I say confidently, “All those things you’re curious about doing, you’ll do them with me.”

“Do you hear yourself?” she hisses at me. “Do you hear how crazy you sound?”

“Alba Anderson, you listen to me,” I say, unable to control the bossy tone in my voice.

“I don’t want you putting yourself in dangerous situations with strange men from dating apps just because you’re curious.

That wouldn’t be safe for you or for Jagger.

So you’ll work out all your curiosity with me.

While I’m here in Fairy Bush. I’ll answer all your questions.

I’ll teach you things you’ve never tried. I’ll fulfill your fantasies.”

“My fantasies…?” She swallows.

“Yes. Each and every one of your fantasies, Alba.” I hold her gaze, trying to keep the gravel out of my voice. “We’ll role-play. We’ll do whatever you want.”

“You…you’re my sister’s ex…” she hisses at me.

“I’m not your sister’s ex,” I say through a wince. “Raya and I hooked up exactly one time. Almost a decade ago!” And at this point in time, I don’t give one flying fuck about Raya and her opinions .

“But that hook up produced something permanent—a child. You said so yourself.” Alba’s eyes are wide and round from behind her glasses.

I try to downplay the madness. “All I’m offering you is sex. Isn’t that what you want? You’re acting like I just said we’re getting married and buying that house that’s for sale at the end of the cul-de-sac.”

A conflicted look darkens Alba’s eyes, and I’m almost ashamed of myself for even suggesting this. But I notice her hardened nipples poking at the fabric of her T-shirt, and my cock twitches. There’s no way in hell I’m backing down now .

I lean in closer, tilting her chin with my knuckles and forcing her to look into my eyes.

“You and I are going to have some nice, safe, dirty-as-fuck adult fun.” I press my lips to the sensitive skin beneath her ear, causing her to inhale sharply.

“And you’re going to get that curiosity out of your system once and for all.

Sounds good?” I grip her waist, allowing my palm to slip beneath her top and drag across her soft lower belly.

I can virtually feel her melting under my hand.

Alba is downright panting when she scoots across the bench, putting space between us. Then she gives her shoulders a vigorous shake, like she’s trying to shrug away all the visceral things she’s feeling.

“Okay, okay. We’ll do it…” she says, sounding completely sober and surprising the shit out of me.

“Really?” I blurt out.

Am I pleased that Alba is agreeing to this? Hell yes. But I’d expected that she’d put up more of a fight.

Instead, she lifts a shoulder dismissively, clearly trying to convince herself that this is not a big deal.

“I need to lose my virginity at some point, right? And since my proverbial one true love is late to the party, I…I might as well just get it over with. Plus, you and I are friends. So you’re as good a candidate as any. ”

Ouch.

Her casual words hit me like whiplash. Because here’s my secret—I have always had a crush on this woman.

The ugly truth is, I was eighteen and out of my mind for Alba Anderson before I left this town. But I couldn’t admit that to myself. Nor could I admit that I didn’t think I was good enough for her.

I didn’t know how to handle the fact that she was my hockey coach’s untouchable daughter, and that I was a kid from the wrong side of the tracks, and that I could never dream of having a chance with her.

But now the opportunity to have her in my bed is finally here, and Alba’s dismissive approach to this situation proves that I was right about us all along. She’s a woman I’ve always had a thing for, but the attraction has never been reciprocated. Like, at all .

Damn. I’m really not her type.

Alba is completely oblivious to the way she just bruised my ego. She stabs at her apple pie with her fork and takes a little nibble as the gears in her brain churn. “So, um, what now?” she asks, her eyes eager and bright when they turn to me.

As I watch her lick the apple filling off the spokes of her fork, I realize that I’m a little lost. I have no idea where to take the ‘curriculum’ of these lessons I’m supposed to be providing. This is harder than I imagined. Because Alba’s not just some stranger, which means I can’t mess this up.

But that gives me an idea.

“Okay, first assignment,” I announce, wiping my sweaty palms on my thighs.

She looks at me with curiosity in her eyes and she waits.

“You need to write me a spicy wishlist,” I say.

She frowns. “A spicy…wishlist?”

“Yeah, you know. Write down the things you want to experience. Everything from your dream dates to your dirty fantasies.”

“Ooh!” Her eyes sparkle. “So, you’re like a sex genie. You’ll give me three wishes.”

Her words go straight to my groin. “I’ll give you way more than three wishes,” I say, my voice coming out much more suggestive than I meant it to. But it’s true. I don’t plan to put a limit on this. Whatever she wants, I’m going to provide.

Alba bites down on her lower lip. “Okay. Give me the night to think about it?”

“Of course.”

I rise to my feet, needing to call it a night before I haul her inside and start her exploration right this minute.

Yet still, I can’t help myself—I lean down, cup the back of her head and sweep my mouth over hers.

She responds eagerly, parting her lips when my tongue licks at her mouth. Fire floods through my body as my tongue plays with hers for a too short moment.

I swallow back my groan. “I’d rest up if I were you. We start tomorrow, Tiny Tiger, and you’re going to need your energy.”

“O-okay,” she says, all breathy.

I start to walk away, but then I pause. Over my shoulder, I shoot her a smirk as she continues to stare at me with heat in her eyes. I make one final demand before I march down the stairs. “And Alba?”

“Yes?” she whimpers longingly.

“Delete the fucking dating app.”