Caught Up in You Read online

  “Are you going down to the lake?” he asked, running his eyes up and down my body.

  I nodded. “I’m just about to leave.”

  “Well, have fun,” he said, making no move to leave.

  I stood there awkwardly for a few seconds. “So, I guess I’ll see you later then.”

  “Ok,” he said as a smile spread across his face. “How about I come pick you up about six?”

  “No.” I shook my head so fast I got dizzy. He totally wasn’t picking up what I was putting down. “I didn’t mean that literally—it’s an idiom. Like it’s raining cats and dogs or I’ve seen the light.”

  “I’m not good at this sort of thing—you know, just being honest without any lines or angles,” he said, jamming his hands into his pockets. “—I had fun with you last night.”

  I gave him a reassuring smile. “Yeah, it was a good time.”

  “You’re pretty and funny—totally different from the girls around here,” he said, moving a little closer to the door. “I really like you. I wanna keep getting to know you even after you go home. Please come out with me tonight.”

  “Gosh…” I was taken aback—no one had ever said anything like that to me before. He looked so sincere when he said it that it was kind of hard to say no. “I guess six—”

  “What’s going on, Jake?” Myles put one hand on the door frame and slid the other around my waist, pulling me back against his firm body. “It’s pretty early to be beating down our door.”

  “Hey, Myles…” Jake looked completely confused as he darted his eye from the flowers to my reddening face. “I thought you were neighbors?”

  “We are.” I tried to move away but Myles tightened his arm across the front of my body and pressed his fingertips into my hip.

  “It’s convenient.” Myles lowered his chin to my shoulder and looked at Jake. “Did you need something?”

  “I guess not,” Jake said, shrugging his shoulders.

  Myles smiled as he brought his other arm down and wrapped it around me. “How are your folks?”

  The guys started chatting back and forth about their families and people they knew in town while I stood there trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. Elbowing my way out of Myles’ grip crossed my mind more than once, but I gave up and just went along with it.

  In his unique asshole fashion, Myles had saved me from caving in and going out on a mercy date with Jake. Being in his arms wasn’t exactly torture either, even if I had every intention of pretending like it was.

  Every time Myles laughed he leaned into me and his arms tightened. He kept his chin on my shoulder and occasionally leaned his head against the side of mine. It was the first time I’d actually witnessed him talking normally to someone. He’d never once spoken to me that way. The more I listened, the more I found myself wishing he would.

  The second Jake stepped off the porch Myles dropped his arms and walked into the kitchen. I followed right behind him and placed my flowers on the table. I went to the cabinets and started opening each one, looking for a vase.

  “That was a real asshole thing to do,” I said. “Now it looks like I lied when I told him you and I are just neighbors.”

  Myles opened the door above the sink and pulled out a mason jar, holding it out in my direction. “How about a fucking thank you?”

  “For what?” I grabbed the jar, but when I went to pull it away Myles held on.

  “Saving your ass.” He kept his hold on it for another second before letting go.

  “From Jake?” I laughed as I stood at the sink filling the jar with water. “You of all people think I can’t spot a douchebag player when I see one?”

  “The flowers and his confession about how amazing he thinks you are had you all doe-eyed.”

  “I was being nice,” I said, carrying the jar over to the table, “trying not to hurt his feelings.”

  “That dickbag doesn’t have feelings,” Myles said, leaning against the counter. “He just wants to ram his cock into you.”

  “At least someone does.” It came out before I even had time to think about who I was talking to. It immediately felt like every inch of my flesh sizzling.

  I heard Myles exhale as he moved up and stood behind me. “The other night—I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

  “I’m not all lovesick over it, so don’t flatter yourself.” I turned around and forced myself to meet his eyes briefly before looking away. “It’s called instalust. The kiss was just because you were there—it didn’t mean anything.”

  Myles put his index finger under my chin and tipped my head so I had to look at him. “I know. That’s why I didn’t kiss you back.” He dropped his arm and went to his bedroom.

  The second he was gone I grabbed my bag and headed out to the lake. What had started as such a promising day of relaxing in the sun had turned into a complete mess. I spread my towel out on the end of the dock, pulled my tank top off, and laid down on my stomach with my head resting on my arms.

  Every time I closed my eyes I saw Myles. The hot sun on my back reminded me of the way it felt when he held me against his chest. I hated how much I loved being close to him.

  It wasn’t true that I’d only kissed him because he was there. I didn’t want to be with just anyone—if that was the case I would’ve been perfectly fine with Jake or even Tom’s friend Kyle back home. The awful truth was that for some completely insane reason I wanted Myles. Having the first guy I’d felt any kind of attraction to in years push me away was hard to take.

  Footsteps on the dock made me grab my tank top and scramble to pull it back on over my bikini. I looked over and watched as Myles walked to the pontoon boat that was tied to the side of the dock. He leaned over and dropped a cooler and a couple of bags onto it.

  I turned around and closed my eyes. At least if he left I’d be able to go in the cabin without worrying about another argument. I didn’t even get why he was still awake. High noon was usually his prime sleeping time.

  Myles walked down the dock and nudged my foot with his. “Hey…”

  “What?” I didn’t look up at him.

  “Come out on the boat with me.”

  “Ha!” I rolled over onto my back and looked up at him. “Last time I just blindly followed you somewhere I ended up here—not doing that again.”

  He squatted down at my feet. “Just get your shit and c’mon.”

  I sat up and wrapped my arms around my knees. “Do you honestly wanna be stuck on a boat together with no escape plan for when we start arguing—because trust me, it’ll happen.”

  “Here’s the plan—whoever loses the argument has to swim their ass back to shore.”

  I laid back and flipped onto my stomach. “I don’t wanna go—sorry.”

  It wasn’t that I didn’t want to go with Myles—I actually did. But every single time we were together it ended with a slamming door or someone—both of us sometimes, shouting obscenities. I didn’t have it in me to do it twice in one day—especially not on a boat.

  Myles started dragging the back of his hand lightly up and down the bottom of my foot. “Brantley…”

  “Quit!” I pulled my foot away and glared at him. “What makes you think you can always just come up and touch me?”

  Myles shrugged. “You haven’t told me not to yet.”

  I tried to hide my smile. “You’re an ass…” He was an ass that was right. I probably wasn’t going to tell him to keep his paws to himself any time soon. “What do you have packed in those bags? Plastic? Duct tape? Cement perhaps?”

  “Come find out,” he said, nodding toward the boat.

  I put my head back down. “I don’t need to know that badly.”

  “Fuck it then,” he said, standing up and walking back up the dock.

  I expected him to get on the boat and leave. Instead he started unloading the stuff he’d brought out from the cabin. It looked like since I wasn’t going, neither was he. That’s all it took for me to realize that once again, he was t
rying to be my friend and I was being a bitch.

  “Wait,” I said, turning over and standing up, “I changed my mind.”

  He stopped what he was doing and let his shoulders sag. “So now you wanna go?”

  I grabbed the towel and my bag. “Yes, I wanna go with you.”

  Eleven

  Myles

  Moore Lake was packed with boats towing inner tubes and people on jet skis. I went around the outside and headed for a small canal that connected to another lake. When we came out on the other side, it was like being in an entirely different place. There weren’t any houses or beaches, just trees surrounding the entire lake. It was quiet, and outside of a few small fishing boats, the place was empty.

  When we got to the middle of the lake, I cut the motor. I pulled my shirt off and then walked over to the front of the boat where Brantley was laying. I picked her feet up and sat down, placing her legs across my lap.

  A smile spread across her face. “There you go touching me again.”

  I wrapped my hand around her foot and gave it a squeeze. “Pick your battles wisely—it’s a long swim home.”

  The girl had absolutely no idea how appealing she looked all stretched out in the sun. At least she was merciful enough to leave her tank top on over her bikini. Just imagining what was underneath was bad enough without being tortured by the actual sight.

  The guy I was two years ago would’ve had a lot more than just her feet on his lap. Now I was just content having her all to myself. If someone would’ve told me a few years earlier that one day I’d find a girl who could make me feel that way I would’ve called bullshit.

  When I woke up and came out of my room to find Jake handing over flowers and saying all kinds of sappy shit to her, it took everything I had not to kick the screen door into his face and punt him off the porch. I wasn’t sure if I was so fucking mad at him for trying to move in on her, or if I was pissed that he was saying all the things I wanted to tell her myself but couldn’t.

  I’d half expected Brantley to punch me in the jaw as soon as we were alone. It would’ve been worth it after getting to have her in my arms. I’d purposely kept the conversation going with Jake just to keep her next to me a little longer. It was also to drive the point home that she was off-limits to him. Asshole move—I didn’t care.

  Now that I had her alone and there were no doors to slam, I had every intention of pushing past the constant bickering between us. I didn’t know where it was going to lead, but the first step was getting on the same page.

  Brantley

  I watched as Myles tipped his head back and closed his eyes. I took the opportunity to soak in the sight of his bare upper body. The guy was just unbelievably sexy. As I ran my eyes over the sculpted muscles in his chest and arms, I found a new appreciation for the weight bench in his apartment. Yeah, I was definitely taking back every bad thought I ever had about it.

  I gave him a little nudge with my foot. “Aren’t you supposed to be sleeping right now?”

  He shook his head. “I took a couple of days off.”

  I couldn’t help laughing. “From sleeping?”

  “From working.”

  “So you sleep during the day and work from home at night?” I honestly thought he was just up all night playing games. “What do you do?”

  “A buddy and I started developing a video game when we were in college,” he said, turning his head to look at me. “Last year we got a Japanese company to invest in it—you know, buy the rights and all that.”

  “That’s kind of awesome,” I said, nudging him with my foot again.

  “Yeah, we’re just finishing up,” he said, dragging his fingers lightly along my ankle. “It’ll be released next summer.”

  “When it becomes super popular and you’re famous, I’ll be able to say hey I used to know that guy.”

  Myles sighed and closed his eyes. “That’s right…”

  I couldn’t help noticing that he didn’t seem all that pumped about his job. I also noticed that the bandage on his arm was completely screwed up and part of the gash was exposed.

  “You did a crappy job bandaging your arm,” I said, sitting up.

  Myles picked his head up and checked out the gauze. “You were too busy with drugstore Jake to help.”

  “Whatever…” I scooted closer so my legs were bent over his lap. “I only met drugstore Jake because I had to get medicine for you.”

  Myles placed his arm on top of my knees. “You didn’t have to.”

  “Really?” I glanced over at him momentarily as I removed the gauze. “Were you planning on getting it?”

  He shrugged. “Not likely.”

  “Then I had to,” I said, lifting his arm as I began rewrapping it.

  Myles reached around and let his hand rest on the small of my back. “Thanks.”

  “No problem…” I pressed the tape in place and then let go of his arm, acutely aware of the little circles his fingers were making on the sensitive skin on my lower back. “Why do you do that shit to me?”

  “What shit?” His hand slipped underneath the bottom of my shirt and he started inching his fingers up my back.

  I inhaled sharply as his touch got lighter, sending chills up my spine. “That...” I knew the best thing to do would be to move. My mind couldn’t get my body to budge though. “You’ve made it clear you’re not into me. So why bother playing games?”

  Myles slid his hand out of my shirt. “When’s my birthday?”

  “How would I know?” I laid back on the seat, keeping my legs across his lap. “What’s mine?”

  “No clue,” he said, holding his hands up.

  I sighed. “What the hell has your birthday got to do with you being all grabby when you’re not into me?”

  “The point is that I don’t know if I’m into you, Brantley. Fuck, we barely know each other.”

  That was going to be the show-stopping problem. I couldn’t get to know Myles without letting him get to know me too. I wasn’t sure how to do that without lying to him about my past. Once I stared down that path there’d be no going back. I’d always have to keep him in the friendzone.

  “I did the fuck-now-question-later shit all through college—I’m over that,” he said. “If that’s what you’re into then I’m not your guy.”

  I folded my arm behind my head, thinking about his words. “What if that’s not what I’m into?”

  “You only have one choice then…” Myles scooted in beside me on the bench. He stretched out on his side and let his head rest in his palm. “Don’t bitch when my hands end up on your ass and tell me your birthday.”

  The boat drifted around the lake all afternoon while we talked. Myles had some part of his body touching me at all times—even if it was just his foot on top of mine. He wasn’t overtly sexual about it. It was as if he simply craved the contact as much as I loved having it.

  I hadn’t felt the kind of contentment that came from being with Myles since my life went up in flames. His laugh, his voice, especially the way it felt when he touched me. I took in every bit of it, replacing some of the terrible memories I had with good ones.

  I felt myself falling hard and fast for him. It scared the hell out of me. The entire time we talked I was teetering on a knife’s edge. One wrong word could lead to a lie I wouldn’t be able to take back, or even worse—something true that would scare him off.

  Myles gave my ponytail a tug and smiled. “So, do you plan on working at the pub for the rest of your life?”

  “Maybe…” The question could’ve easily had me offended. The genuine curiosity in his eyes as he waited for my answer just made me smile. “I like my job. I can’t imagine sitting on my ass behind a desk all day.”

  He nodded slowly as he studied me. “So there’s nothing else you wanna do?”

  “I don’t know...” I reached up and tightened my sagging ponytail while I thought about his question. “I guess there’s one thing…”

  Myles didn’t say anything as he sat ne
xt to me on the bench. He kept his eyes on mine like he wanted more.

  I turned my head and looked across the lake at the distant shore. “Even if I can somehow manage to do what I really want, it won’t be anytime soon.”

  “Never know... Hell, I’m getting paid to develop a video game with my best friend,” he said, bumping me with his shoulder. “We never thought that shit would happen when we started working on it a few years ago.”

  I shrugged. “That’s different.”

  “Tell me what you want,” he said, slipping his arm around my back. “I’ll decide if it’s different or not.”

  I shook my head. I’d never breathed a word about wanting my own bar to anyone. It’d probably sound so childish coming from a girl who didn’t even know how she was going to make her next rent payment.

  “C’mon, Brantley…” His fingertips gently pressed into my ribs as he smiled. “Tell me or I’ll get it out of you the hard way.”

  “Don’t even—” I started giggling and tried pulling away but he grabbed me. “Please…”

  In an instant he had me over his lap on my back tickling both of my sides relentlessly. “Tell me…”

  “Myles…stop!” I squealed and wiggled, trying to get away. “Quit…” He was faster and stronger and not giving up. “Fine—fine!” I gasped for air, still giggling as his fingers stopped moving but didn’t leave my sides.

  “Out with it.” His smile was the brightest I’d ever seen as he stared down at me. “Unless you want some more…”

  “Don’t you dare.” I pushed up and got to my feet, still breathing hard with aching sides. Before I spoke I turned my back so I didn’t have to see his reaction. “I want my own bar. A place like Puck’s, but mine. Somewhere fun that’s full of friends and memories…”

  Myles wasn’t saying anything as I rambled on and on. I figured he was probably too busy fighting off silent laugher. I couldn’t believe I was telling him. Something about him just did that to me though—he made me want to share things I wouldn’t dare say to anyone else.

  Finally I turned back, prepared to face the embarrassment confessing to silly things can bring. I found him just staring at me with a little smile. I exhaled and felt my face flush. “Oh god, what?”