Roll Play (Second Helpings) Read online

  He parked in front of my house and jumped out before I had a chance to change my mind. Were we really going to do this?

  My heart lurched and my insides became as hard as a rock as we walked to the front door. He glanced at me and smiled. Our eyes locked for a moment and a thousand memories rushed in. Almost all of them good and wonderful.

  “This is going to go fine,” he said with a reassuring tone that made me feel a little better.

  I nodded as I opened our front door.

  “I’m home,” I yelled as we stepped in.

  “Ashley,” Tammy and Michele yelled as they raced around the corner to pull me into a tight hug. Tammy was growing up so fast. At fourteen she had that coltish look still but it wasn’t long before she’d fill out and drive the boy’s crazy. Michele, at Ten, was still the little girl I remembered.

  Both of them slid to a stop when they saw Eric. Tammy’s eyes growing wide, Michele’s turning into a frown as she tried to figure out what was going on. She’d only been five when Eric and I had broken up. I wondered if she even remembered him.

  “Ashley,” Mom said as she came around the corner of the kitchen wiping her hands on a towel. Her eyes shot open wide as her jaw dropped when she saw Eric.

  “Mom, you remember Eric Thompson,” I said as my stomach dropped.

  My mom froze for a moment, obviously surprised.

  “Hello, Mrs. Parker,” Eric said. “Something smells wonderful.”

  Mom smiled at him then glared at me. “Is this the boyfriend you mentioned. Why didn’t you tell me it was Eric.”

  My mind froze. Thankfully, Eric wasn’t so slow.

  “We thought we’d keep it a surprise,” he said as he glanced at me and shook his head. “Probably not smart. But you know Ashley.”

  Mom glanced at me and shook her head as she stepped forward to wrap her arm into his and pull him towards the kitchen. “I don’t know what I am going to do with that girl. But since you are here. I need someone to taste these deviled eggs.”

  My heart stopped beating once I realized my mom and Eric were going to be alone together. There was no telling what they would talk about. But at least she’d believed me.

  “You girls take Ashley’s and Eric’s bags down to their room.” Mom said to my sisters as she continued into the kitchen.

  WHAT?

  “Mom,” I said as I hurried to catch her.

  She glanced at me and smiled. “Your Aunt Beverly is here. I’ve given her your old room. I assumed you’d want to be with your boyfriend. You are an adult after all.”

  My insides crunched up as Eric shot me a quick look. I swear he was enjoying my misery. Five minutes into it and I was already wrapped up in deception and subterfuge. How could I possibly share a bed with this man. Especially that bed?

  “I don’t want to make things uncomfortable,” Eric said. “I’m more than willing to get a hotel room.”

  Mom patted his arm and shook her head as she looked around to make sure my younger sisters were there. “Don’t be silly. There is no need to pretend.”

  My insides fell as I realized my mother was willing to break every one of her rules if it meant I was married off.

  Eric laughed and all I could do was stand there and take it. When would the universe get back on my side?

  “We’re having pizza tonight,” Tammy said as she came back in from taking our bags downstairs.

  “So, tell me, Eric,” My mom said as she handed him a deviled egg. “What has been going on in your life.” She shot me a quick look letting me know that she was going to give me a hard time for not letting her know that Eric and I were back together.

  Eric shrugged as he devoured the devil egg and smiled. “Just like I remember them. Perfect.”

  Mom smiled. And I swear she almost blushed. Jesus, the boy was a charmer. I didn’t remember that part of him. It must have been something they taught him at Stanford.

  She hung on his every word as he told her about the business they were starting, the investors, and everything that made him sound so fascinating. When he mentioned looking for office space locally she shot me a quick look.

  “So, you are moving back to town?”

  He nodded, “Probably, if we can find the right place.”

  She smiled like she’d just won the state fair for apple pies. I could see it all rushing through her mind. Her daughter’s successful boyfriend was going to open a business here in town. A mother’s dream come true.

  Suddenly I realized how upset she was going to be when I had to tell her that we had broken up. The thought of that conversation sent a cold chill down my spine.

  After that, I sort of lost control of the situation. Eric became monopolized by my family. Even my Aunt Beverly pulled him into the conversation and pumped him full of questions. He shot me a quick look over the top of her head and I felt myself relax. He wasn’t hating me.

  But, in the back of my mind, I couldn’t get the thought of sharing a bed with Eric from monopolizing my thoughts. I spent a good part of the evening trying to come up with a solution. The closest I could come up with was building a pallet on the other side of the room.

  Either that or sneaking out and hiding in the park for the night.

  Later, as I was cleaning up the kitchen after dinner, Eric came in and hip-checked me.

  “Hey,” I snapped.

  He smiled, “Remember, we are playing a role. We are supposed to be a couple. They will think it’s weird if we don’t act like it.”

  All I could do was nod as I looked up at him. The man had the deepest eyes I had ever seen. I could fall into them and never come out.

  He smiled down at me then pulled me into a tight hug as he kissed the top of my head.

  “Michele is watching us,” he whispered into my ear.

  My heart lurched as I realized he was right. As if on their own, my arms snaked around him and held on as I lay my head on his chest.

  A girl could get used to this, I realized. This safe, secure spot.

  The two of us stood there in the kitchen for a long moment, the both of us lost in our own little world. Just together.

  “Michele,” Mom yelled from the living room. “You come here and leave them alone.”

  The both of us backed away, neither willing to meet the other’s gaze.

  “If you want,” Eric said. “I can sleep on the floor.”

  My heart lurched sideways as I realized how much I despised that idea, yet the alternative scared the living crap out of me.

  “No,” I said. “You don’t have to do that. We’re adults after all.”

  He laughed and slowly shook his head. “I don’t know. Sometimes, around you. I feel like I’m seventeen again.”

  I swallowed hard because I knew exactly how he felt.

  Chapter Three

  Ashley

  Each tick of the clock was like a knife to the gut. Reminding me of what was coming. I glanced over at Eric, he was sitting on the couch between Aunt Beverly and my mom. He shot me a quick smile that was part smirk. Just enough so Mom wouldn’t figure it out. But I know he was thinking about us sharing a bed.

  My insides turned over, sending a shiver down my spine.

  No, Ashley, I told myself. Don’t go down that path. He was doing me a favor. That was all this was. I could not let my hopes take control. Not even my secret dreams. If I did, it could only lead to heartache when it didn’t work out the way I wanted.

  Eric covered a yawn and said, “It’s been a long day. I think I need to go to bed. How about you Ash?”

  My stomach dropped as my mouth suddenly became so dry I couldn’t swallow. All I could do was nod.

  As we both stood up, mom looked at me with a smile. What had happened to her? I was taking a boy downstairs. There was a time in my life when she would have gone apeshit crazy. Now, it was like she was pushing me into it.

  This was what I got for lying to her. Don’t tell me that Karma isn’t a bitch.

  As we headed to the stairs leading d
own to the basement, Eric placed his hand on the small of my back and a warm sense of wellness flashed through me. Why did this man have this hold on me? What was it about him that made my world seem right.

  Eric held the door open for me and followed me down the stairs. Each step felt as if I was descending into a prison. All I could think about was before. Before we broke up. Before my world shattered. What would our lives have been like if we hadn’t?

  Once I got to the bottom I opened the bedroom door and went in. The room had been added by the previous owners. Mom had turned it into an office, then switched it over to a spare bedroom a few years later when she thought Nana was going to come live with us.

  It was the big double bed that caught my eye and refused to let me go. I forced myself to swallow and pulled my gaze over to Eric to try and figure out what he was thinking.

  Unfortunately, he was ignoring me. Getting his stuff from his suitcase. He headed to the bathroom that had been built at the same time as the room.

  Without even looking at me, he went into the bathroom and closed the door.

  My stomach clenched up. What now? What was I supposed to do? My mind frantically cataloged what was in my suitcase. My god, all I’d brought was sexy lingerie, me trying too hard again. Mr. Prick didn’t deserve me.

  No way I could wear that, Eric would get the wrong idea. He’d think I was trying to seduce him. No, under no circumstances could he think that. There were a lot of things in this universe that could not be allowed to happen. Eric thinking I wanted him was very high on that list. Not after the way we broke up.

  Gritting my teeth I grabbed an old T-shirt from the bottom of my case. It should be long enough, I thought with a twinge of doubt.

  The bathroom door opened. My mouth dropped as Eric stepped out in nothing but tight boxers.

  “All yours,” he said as he put his toothbrush and other clothes back into his suitcase.

  All I could do was stare. The man was built out of granite. Since when did Eric get a six-pack? This was not the high school boy I used to know, I realized. He’d always been solid, but this was perfection. All man. And that bulge in the front of his shorts.

  It was nice to realize that somethings didn’t change.

  He glanced at me and my cheeks burst into flame as I realized he had just caught me staring at him like a lovesick puppy.

  Pulling myself together I hurried into the bathroom where I leaned on the counter and tried to get my heart to stop racing.

  Get a grip, I told myself. It was just Eric, and he was only a man, just like any other. Of course, I knew I was lying to myself. But I was going to have to do that if I was going to make it through the night. When I was all ready to go back out there I took a long breath and looked at myself in the mirror. “Now, or never,” I whispered to myself as I pulled the door open.

  Eric was already in bed, his naked shoulder peeking out from under the blanket. On the far side, he was turned away from me. Obviously giving me some sense of privacy.

  So that was how we're going to play it. Pretend that we were just two people with no history. No overpowering attraction for each other. People who hadn’t once held a special bond.

  No sooner had a sense of disappointment washed through me when Eric glanced over his shoulder at me. His eyes traveled up my bare legs to the hem of my T-shirt and eventually to my eyes. I saw a look of hunger in him that gave me a thrill of feminine power.

  Our gaze held for a long moment then something changed and he turned away from me to stare at the far wall.

  Sighing, I turned out the light and scurried across the room to slip under the blankets. Once in, I turned my back to him and froze, afraid to move, afraid to even breathe less I draw attention to the situation. The manly scent of leather and smoke washed over me, sending me into deep memories.

  “Goodnight Ash,” he said.

  “Night Eric,” I whispered.

  The two of us lay there, back to back, a chasm a foot wide between us. Neither moving. Nothing but our shallow breaths disturbing the night. A tension held me in place. A suffocating awareness of the hard male person next to me. My own thought racing and imagining.

  It was going to be a long night.

  “Thank you,” I said, desperate to break the tension. “For pretending.”

  “No problem,” he said, “Your family has always been pretty cool.”

  I laughed, “your mom never liked me,”

  He chuckled. “Especially not after you broke up with me. It was a good thing you weren’t in our house when she found out.”

  My insides rolled around. “I didn’t break up with you.”

  “Ash, you said the words, ‘I think we should see other people,” that is the definition of breaking up.”

  A flash of anger began to build up inside of me as I turned over to face his back. “You had just received a full scholarship to Stanford. What was I supposed to do? Wait until you dumped me?”

  Eric turned over so he could stare at me, our faces only inches apart. “No, you were supposed to give me time to figure out a solution. To trust me.”

  My heart lurched to the side, I had hurt him, I realized. At the time I had been so broken up that I had never really thought about how Eric had felt. All I had seen was him dumping me so he could start his new life. The thought had terrorized me.

  The two of us continued to stare into each other’s eyes. I mean really stare. The kind of deep gaze that can move a person’s soul.

  Suddenly, he smiled and slightly shook his head.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Nothing,” he said, trying to dismiss it as not important.

  “No, I want to know,” I said as a burning curiosity grew inside of me.

  He sighed heavily then shrugged his shoulders. “I was remembering the last time we were in this bed together. I remember it being less intense. Which is strange if you think about it.”

  My heart continued to race. “Do you think about it often,” I asked before I could stop myself.

  He shrugged his shoulders. “Not much, probably only once a day. Sometimes twice.”

  I smiled at him, the boy always knew the perfect way to say something.

  Still, we lay there, our heads only inches apart. God, I wanted him, I realized as a need flared at my very core. I had never wanted a man so much as that moment.

  “Ash …”

  “Eric …” I said at the same time. We both paused for a moment, then came together like two stars pulled together my uncontrollable attraction.

  His lips found mine as his arm slipped over my waist and pulled me in tight to him. He tasted of heaven. Safe, secure, familiar yet unique. All Eric.

  Our lips explored as his tongue gently probed, I opened, taking him as I too explored. My hand traveled down his back over his hard, sharp muscles. Cataloging, caressing.

  God, the man was designed to drive me crazy. A fire had been ignited deep inside of me and there was only one thing that would tame it. Without thinking, I draped a leg over his, silently pleading for what I wanted. What I needed.

  A sharp sense of pure pleasure burst inside of me when I felt his erection poking at me, demanding to be released from his boxers.

  Eric moaned as he pulled me in tighter, his hand traveling down my back to squeeze my rear. Then, without warning, he pulled back and looked into my eyes.

  “Are you sure. Or is this some kind of bounce back fling because of what happened this morning.”

  I stared up at him. “Would it matter?”

  He laughed and returned to kissing me, then pulled back again. “I didn’t bring any protection. This was not in my plans.”

  I nodded as I rolled away from him and fumbled for my suitcase in the dim light. I pulled out a pack of condoms from the bottom and hurried back, halting at the edge of the bed. As I stared down at him. With the best sultry smile I could produce, I slowly removed my T-shirt.

  Eric’s eyes lingered on my breast as once again he had that hungry look. Like a wo
lf following his prey. A woman could live off that look for a solid year at least.

  “God, you’re beautiful,” he said. “You always were.”

  I smiled as I slid in next to him so that we could lay skin to skin. We stared at each other then he leaned forward to kiss me again. Tender, softer this time. Like long familiar lovers. As we kissed, the need inside of me continued to build. This burning desire that demanded to be extinguished.

  Reaching down, I slid his boxers off so that I could take him in my hand. Hard, big, powerful. Velvet steel. Everything I remembered. Everything I had ever needed.

  As my hand stroked him, he lowered his mouth to my breasts. I froze as I sank into the bliss that was his mouth sucking at my breasts. Every nerve inside of me came alive. Every thought became focused on Eric and what he was doing to me.

  Then, he pulled away and slowly started to rain kisses down my stomach, drawing lower and lower.

  No, did he …? A sudden hope and fear rose up inside of me as he looked up at me and smiled. His hands slipped into the band of my panties and slowly pulled them down. I swallowed hard as a sudden sense of vulnerability flashed through me. I was exposed.

  He began kissing my knees, slowly rising to kiss the inside of my thighs. Yes, I thought as I slowly opened my legs to give him access. To give him permission to give me what I wanted.

  His lips found my core and a flash of pleasure shot through me as he began to kiss and suck at my very essence. My body responded immediately as I pressed myself toward him, demanding more.

  Eric’s tongue found my spot as his finger gently caressed then probed, entering me.

  “Yes,” I called out as I felt a wave begin to build inside of me. A wave that I had been wanting since the first time I saw him that morning. Twisting and turning, I fought the coming wave then grabbed a pillow and held it over my face as I screamed with release.

  Over and over my world exploded into a thousand sparkling colors.

  Chapter Four

  Eric

  Rising up, I smiled at Ash as she came down from her climax.

  The woman was perfection. Every late night dream. Every wish and need, answered.