Sinful Longing

As the song segued into the chorus, she sang along, letting the music keep her mind on the moment and far away from the afternoon. Just as she blocked on the roller rink for the jammers, she was blocking out the sides of her that had not been invited to play tonight.

Her outfit too was pure After Hours Elle. No steady, reliable flats and jeans-wearing Elle here. She’d decked herself out in her sexiest high-heeled shoes, a short black skirt that hugged her hips, and a clingy tank top. She was strong and toned from exercise, and she knew Colin liked to see as much of her skin as possible, so she’d picked this outfit for him.

As she turned off the highway, she dialed his number to see if he wanted her to call in the Thai order they’d talked about. It went straight to voicemail.

She went ahead and ordered anyway. Dinner would be her treat.

*

After the meeting with Kevin, he’d managed to carve out forty-five minutes pre-date for a trail run. He’d pushed himself extra hard with a punishing uphill route in the early evening heat. But he’d needed it, because Kevin was right. The challenging workout had helped settle his mind and heart, dislodging some of yesterday’s latent guilt and also strengthening his resolve to share his feelings with Elle.

Now, he stood under hot jets of water, rinsing away the remnants of the sweaty workout. He shut the shower, dried off, and wrapped a towel around his waist so he could get ready for his date—in his house. The best kind of date. As he finished brushing his teeth, his phone rang, so he tossed the toothbrush on the edge of the sink and grabbed the phone from his bed in case it was Elle.

It wasn’t.

Rex was calling.

“Hey, man, what’s up?”

“Okay, here’s the deal. I am almost ready,” Rex said, stretching out the word. “I’m like ninety percent ready. And I want to just kill it on this test. But there’s one problem that’s making me absolutely bat-shit crazy.”

“Lay it on me,” Colin said, as he opened a drawer to grab a pair of boxers.

Rex rattled off the details, and Colin walked him through the steps to solving the equation as he pulled on black briefs and hung up his towel. The other line rang as he reviewed how to crosscheck the work, but he didn’t look to see who was calling since he was mid-explanation.

“Awesome,” Rex said, relief and exuberance in his voice. “You are clutch, man. You are so clutch.”

Colin smiled at the compliment. “Need anything else?”

Rex cleared his throat, then said, “Um.”

Uh-oh. Rex never hemmed and hawed. The guy was the king of boldness.

“What is it? Just tell me.”

Rex sighed. “Shit, I hate to ask. But I need a ride tomorrow to the test. My mom is taking the car for a job interview, and Marcus’s ride is in the shop—his tires are being rotated. So he can’t drive us.”

“Us?” Colin asked, curiously. “He’s taking the math placement test, too?”

“Yeah. He heard I was taking it, so he signed up as well. He’s a fucking math whiz though, just like you. He’s done all the studying on his own, and he’s trying to place into calculus or some shit like that. He’s trying to find a ride, but I just figured I’d take the initiative and ask you. I guess I could take Uber though.”

“No, you won’t take Uber,” Colin said with a wide grin. He was so damn grateful to be hearing this—that both boys were eager and ready to learn. “Tell me where to pick you up and I will gladly be your driver.”

Driver.

That word clanged loudly in his brain. His dad had been a limo driver and would have been proud of him—not for driving per se, but for helping the kids who needed it, especially when it came to math. His father had never gone to college, but he’d tried to work on his own number skills during the last year of his life, taking accounting classes at night school. Maybe Colin had picked up where his father had left off, carrying on his memory as the numbers guy of the crew.

Rex gave him the address, and Colin wrote it down. “Got it.”

His bell rang, sending Johnny Cash straight out of an evening snooze and into a brief bark-fest at the door. He headed to the entryway and peered in the peephole.

Even through the tiny window, Elle looked edible.

He glanced down, realizing he’d only managed to put on boxers.

So be it.

He opened the door as he finished his call with Rex. “I’ll be there at eight a.m. That work for you?”

“Absolutely. You’re the best,” Rex was saying as Elle stepped inside Colin’s home and mouthed “wow” as she raked her eyes over his hardly-dressed body.

“See you then.” He hung up, tossed his phone on the entryway table, and kissed her.

A soft kiss for a mere few seconds.

Then a hard and furious one that had hands wrapped around bodies and fingers diving into hair and breath coming fast from both of them. They were a collision of lust and heat. They clawed at each other, grasping, grabbing, needing contact. Fierce and fevered contact.

She giggled, breaking the kiss.

He shot her a curious look, and she pointed downward. Johnny Cash was licking her calf.

“I think he likes my lotion.”

“Is it eau de filet mignon?”