With a scowl, I close the distance between Flint and me, then immediately pull up his shirt.
“Whoa,” he objects in surprise, but he doesn’t do anythin’ to stop me as I feel the hem of his cotton top for some wires or a hidden camera. I check all the way up to the neck of the T-shirt for good measure, and sweet molasses, he is ripped. Lines and dips and hard ridges stare back at me, and I freeze for a second, just to ogle his fine body.
“Find anything?” he teases as I continue to stare at him for way longer than can be considered polite. I quickly blink and get back to the mission at hand. But there’s nothin’. No wires or anythin’. I quickly drop his shirt, my face burnin’ at how blatantly I just checked him out. I will never get that delicious sight out of my brain.
I clear my throat. “Take your pants off,” I order him, movin’ from Flint to Alder so I can check his abs too. I mean shirt. Check his shirt.
My stars and garters, I am in trouble with these two.
“Now, darlin’, if that’s how you wanna play, I’m in, but I just met your mama, and I don’t want to ruin her good name, so why don’t we just shift this to our place?” Flint offers, his tone teasin’ but husky.
Yes, please, my inner hussy says, but I manage to scoff as I reach for Alder’s shirt. He just looks at me, his warm gaze intense as he says, “Help yourself,” in a way that sends my thoughts to all kinds of inappropriate places.
I try to shake the lust from my mind as I feel around his white V-neck shirt for anythin’ electronic and incriminatin’, but all I feel is sculpted muscles and warm skin. My downstairs basement might start floodin’ if I’m not careful.
I make sure to keep my eyes averted from his as I respond to Flint’s flirtatious dodge. “You wish, Countertop. I’m not puttin’ moves on you. I’m checkin’ you for wires and cameras. Allen knows his way around hidin’ those damn things in places they don’t belong.”
“No cameras, but I promise you that a night with me would have you wishing you’d recorded us,” Flint retorts with a wink and a confident smile that makes my vagina zing with anticipation.
I pretend like I’m not affected at all. “Please, all that bravado tells me is that you rely on your looks too much and either have a small pecker or no idea how to use it.”
“Damn,” Flint declares incredulously...and then he starts unbuttonin’ his pants as though he’s ready and willin’ to prove me wrong.
My gaze widens with surprise, and I freeze, waitin’ to see if he’ll really drop his pants right here on the overgrown lawn. If he thinks I won’t stare my fill, he’s got another thing comin’. I can’t help it—somethin’ about these two have me all revved up.
“What in the hell is goin’ on over here?”
My head snaps in the direction of my daddy’s voice. I feel Alder chuckle, like he thinks the scene we’ve just set is amusin’, and I can only imagine what this must look like from the outside lookin’ in. Me with my hands under a guy’s shirt, like I’m about to strip it off, and Flint rumpled and readyin’ his pants to be ’round his ankles.
Just peachy.
I snatch my hands away from Flint’s lavender chest, already missin’ the feel of all those muscles. “Hey, Daddy,” I greet innocently, but even I can hear the oh shit in my voice.
Luckily, Todd comes runnin’ from the side of the house just then to welcome my daddy home like he always does, and I immediately take advantage of the momentary distraction.
I step back from Alder, who just shoots me a wink, and I quickly straighten his shirt so it doesn’t look like I was just gettin’ fresh with two men in the front yard of my parents’ house for all of heaven’s angels and the neighbors to see.
Flint rushes to do up his pants, while my daddy strolls over to Todd and rubs him under his chin and coos at him like he’s just the most precious thing on this planet.
Flint blanches. “Uhh, is that a…”
“Yep,” I clip in answer to his half-asked question as the three of us watch my daddy as he grabs the bucket of golf balls and calls Todd the alligator, who comes wigglin’ to his side like an armor-plated dinosaur dog.
“I’ll be right back,” my daddy announces, but I hear it for the warnin’ it is.
He disappears around the side of the house with Todd in tow, and Flint and Alder just gape.
I roll my eyes. “That’s Todd, and yes, he’s a gator. He lives in the golf course lake behind the neighborhood. Yes, we’re aware that gators are dangerous, but he loves my daddy almost as much as I do and would never hurt him.”
“Where are they going?” Alder asks, shock leakin’ out of his tone and gaze.
I blush a little, because the answer is a little unsavory.
“Umm...well...see…” I stammer. Nope, there’s just no way to make this sound better than it is. “We take the balls we find back to the golf course lake. Todd likes it when we spread them around so he can have a go at the golfers who try to collect them,” I explain.
Their wide eyes make me release a deep sigh, and I look off to where my daddy and Todd disappeared from view.
“Yes, I am aware of how bumpkin that makes us sound, but it makes my daddy happy, and that’s all that I care about,” I defend.
I leave off the part where it’s funny as all get
