Tangled in Tinsel: The Celebration Series, Book 1

What the hell just happened? One minute, I’m standing in front of her, desire to rival mine glowing in her face, and the next, she’s pinning me with accusing eyes.

I knew she was attracted to me; there was no doubt about that. I’d caught her more than once eyeing me from head to toe. Each time, she’d turned away quickly, but not before I saw the want in her eyes.

It had to be because of her relationship with her friend. What was her name, Randy? No, Brandy, yeah, that was it; the one who looked like she was total high maintenance. In respect to her, I needed to keep this cool between us.

When we got back from the hardware store, I explained what I was doing, and she helped me each step of the way. At one point, she was holding the wallboard up against the wall, and I stood behind her to put a screw into the wall over her head. Her breath sucked in abruptly as I brushed her back harder with my chest than necessary. I stood behind her after I’d put the screw in and stared at the way her dark hair hung from a ponytail down her long neck and between her shoulder blades.

She was leaning into the board, her arms above her head like she was a suspect that I was about to pat down. Her hips jutted out slightly toward me, and all I could imagine was running my hands over her to check every inch of her body and then gripping her hips as I slammed into her from behind.

“Jesus,” I muttered as I spun away.

“What’s wrong?” Casey asked as she looked at me over her shoulder.

“Nothing,” I didn’t make eye contact with her and forced myself to avoid touching her as I put in the next two screws above her head. I ran more screws down the side and then a few on the other side. “You can let go now.”

She stepped away slowly, “You alright, Thad?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I put in a few more screws for good measure, and when I was done, I glanced her way to find her arms crossed and a pissed-off look on her face. “What?” I snapped.

“I’m trying to figure out what the hell just happened. Everything was fine, and then all of a sudden you’re huffing and growling under your breath.” She cocked her head to the side.

“Trust me, you don’t want to know.” I put the drill down and searched in my toolbox for something, anything, to keep my hands busy and off of her.

“Yeah, actually I would like to know. If I did something, then I’d like to know what I did to upset you.”

“You didn’t upset me, Casey. I thought about something and that upset me, alright? Let it go.” I stood and turned away from her.

She grabbed my arm, “What were you thinking about, Thad?” I stared at the hand.

“Casey, please let it go.” I tried to step away, and she gripped my wrist tightly, she was stronger than I had anticipated. I glared at her, my chest rising and falling quickly as the fantasy I’d just had raced from my mind to my groin in one second flat. “You really want to know what I was thinking about?”

She lifted her chin defiantly, “Yes.”

“Better yet,” I reached for her wrist, spun her around and had her up against the wall in one second flat, a surprised squeak popped from between her lips. “Let me show you, instead.”

My chest pushed against her back and I took both her hands and put them above her head. “This is what I was thinking about, Casey. I was thinking about doing this.” I ran my hands down her arms to her underarms, then lower, where my fingertips brushed the sides of her breasts. I felt her shiver and her head dropped forward to the wall.

I wrapped one arm around her waist as if I was checking the waistband of her pants, two fingers slid under the edge of her sweat pants and her stomach quivered at my touch. My other hand gripped her hips as I pulled her back toward me. Her soft ass ground against my groin, but I wasn’t the only one moving here. No, I felt her rotating her hips back against me and the last threads of sanity began to snap as the hand on her stomach shifted and moved up between her breasts. A moan floated in the air between us as I ran my hand under her breast. Did she moan, or was that mine?

I didn’t know. I didn’t care.

“Casey,” I breathed into her ear and nipped at her exposed neck. “What do you think now, Casey? Glad you asked?”

“Thad,” her voice was low and dripping with desire.

“Yes, Casey?” I shifted both hands to the front of her hips, my fingers inches away from her sweet spot. I nibbled on her ear, bent my knees, and then rose slowly to brush my length against her ass, my hands going dangerously close to the insides of her legs. She whimpered.

I wanted to touch her, and her body was begging me to do it. Her head rolled back to rest against my shoulder, her chest rising and falling as fast as mine. My hand rose up to grasp and knead her left breast and she released a sigh, one of her hands left the wall and reached behind her to touch me. Her fingers brushed against my neck and gave me chills.

“Jesus, Casey,” I breathed against her neck. “I’ve never wanted someone as much as I want you.”

Her fingers stilled, and I felt her tense from head to toe. “Let go of me.”

“Casey,” I tried to wrap my arm around her waist to keep her there, but she twisted out of my grasp. Her face was flushed, her eyes glazed over with unspent desire. What the hell did I say?

“You should go.” Her hands fisted at her sides, and she met my stare for one second before she looked away.

“Casey, let’s talk about this.” She held her hand up.

“I really appreciate what you have done for me, Thad, I really do, and I’m well aware that I just asked for that, but that was wrong, very wrong.” She shook her head, “You need to gather up your tools and leave, please.”

“Wait, Casey,”

She nailed me with a hard glare, “Please, Thad, gather your things and leave.” She spun and raced down the hallway, her bedroom door slamming shut behind her.

I ran my hands over the top of my head. What the hell just happened? How had I lost control of that? I’m the one that instigated it, no wonder she was upset.

I stared at the wall. It wasn’t finished, but at least it closed up the hole. Screw that. I’m not leaving this half done. Before I left, I spackled the screws holes and joints on both sides. Then I cleaned up my mess, packed my tools, and went home without another word from Casey.

I grabbed a beer when I got home, kissed Corrine on the temple, and then sat down on the couch with Tommy. What the hell had I been thinking? She had already told me to back off once, and then I practically tore her clothes off while I had her spread-eagled against the wall.

I wanted to smash the beer bottle over my head. I had never been aggressive while having sex, ever. In fact, I was just the opposite. I thought I was too careful, too gentle, maybe, to the point of being boring sometimes.

What about Casey brought it out in me? Jesus! I’d acted like a fucking caveman, crushing her to the wall while I touched her everywhere that I could reach. I’d wanted to ravage her, hear her scream while she came. I sucked back half of my beer in one guzzle.

“You alright?” Corinne asked as she leaned in the doorway, arms crossed over her chest.

“Yeah, I’m fine, tired.”

“Did you get everything done?”

I glanced at her, “As much as we could today. Is dinner almost ready?”

“Yeah, it is. Do you want to call Casey and invite her over for dinner?”

Oh, hell no! The last thing I needed was her sitting at the table with Corrine and Tommy while I couldn’t keep my hormones in check. “Nah,” I took a long pull on my beer, “she was getting ready to eat when I left. She said she was tired, going to turn in after she ate.”

Corrine shrugged, “Alright, we can invite her another night. Tommy, go wash your hands.”

Tommy climbed off my lap and scampered toward the bathroom as I stared at the twilight coming through the living room window. I was at a loss, but I did know I needed to apologize for what I had done. Tomorrow after I got home from work, I would go over and apologize, sand down those areas that needed sanding, and show her the best way to put primer on—and I’d keep my hands to myself this time.

The next morning, I had to work, and I was out the door by five. I hadn’t slept well and I wanted this day over with as quickly as possible. I glanced toward Casey’s house as I drove by and saw a light on in the back, probably the kitchen. She was already up. Maybe I should stop in and apologize now. I took my foot off the gas, but then put it back down. It could wait until tonight.

My day was busy, and the majority of the time I was at the station doing paperwork and making phone calls. That wouldn’t have been bad, except Missy had taken a day shift, and every time I turned around, she was there.

I finally snapped around three in the afternoon when she came up to me and rubbed my shoulders. I shrugged her off and turned to her, “Missy, I appreciate what you are trying to do, but I’m not interested.”

“Why not, Thad? I thought we had something good,” she pouted.

“Missy, we have never had anything together. We are friends, plain and simple. I’m not interested in anything further, and I would appreciate it if you could keep your damn hands to yourself. I’m tired of being pawed at.”

She blinked rapidly like she was fighting back tears, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you felt that way.” A tear slipped out and ran down her cheek, and she swiped it away and turned quickly.

“Missy,” I called out after her. Jesus, could I be any more of a prick? I went after her and caught up to her at the door to her office.

I took her by the arms, “Missy, I don’t mean to hurt your feelings, sweetie, but honestly,” I took a deep breath and released it, “I’m totally interested in someone else right now. I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright. I get it. I really do. You’re too good to be true anyway, especially for someone like me.” She wiped at another tear as it slid down her cheek.

“Damn it, Missy, don’t say that. You’ll find someone, just stop trying so hard.” I pulled her into my arms and hugged her. I knew that I probably shouldn’t have been doing that, especially in her office, where people who walked in could see us—and just after that thought crossed my mind, the bell chimed. I let go of Missy and turned around to find Casey glaring at me through the glass.

Missy sniffed and wiped her eyes quickly. “Can I help you?” she asked Casey, and for a moment she didn’t get a reply because Casey was too busy throwing daggers at me. What perfect fucking timing!

“Ma’am, can I help you with something?” Missy asked her again, and Casey shifted her focus to Missy. Her eyes scanned over her face and I saw disdain in her eyes.

“This is not what it looks like,” I approached the desk, and wished I had gone the other way so I could have gone out the door to the lobby.

She arched one eyebrow my way and then dismissed me. “Do you need a permit to get an alarm on your house?” she directed the question to Missy.

Missy shook her head, “No, we don’t require permits, but we do ask that you register it once it is active.” She handed Casey a card, “You can call that number and do it over the phone. No need to come back in.”

“Thank you.” Cased nodded bluntly and spun to leave.

“Casey, wait! Can we talk for a minute?”

I turned and ran out of the room, nearly taking a chunk out of the door frame as my holster slammed into it, and then ran to the door of the lobby. By the time I got out of the lobby, she was almost to her car. “Casey!”

I saw her steps falter, but she kept going. I ran to catch up to her and reached her just as she arrived beside her car.

“Casey, please, let me apologize. I was going to come by after work and apologize for last night, and what you saw in there right now was not what it looked like. She was upset, I gave her a hug. That’s all it was.”

She turned to face me, her face stripped of any emotion. “What you do in your life is not my business. Your apology is accepted for last night, Thad. As much as I appreciate your help yesterday, your services will not be needed to finish the work. In other words, you’re not welcome at my house.”

She reached for the door handle. “Wait a second, Casey!” I grabbed her arm and spun her around, “I was not the only one taking part in that yesterday. Don’t you dare deny that up until the moment you told me to stop that you wanted me. You were into it as much as I was.”

“You’re correct,” she replied with a shrug. “I don’t deny it, but I won’t allow it to happen again. It was wrong, Thad. Wrong, even if there is some crazy-assed chemistry between us, it was wrong.” She scanned the area as she said the next set of words, “I’m not interested in anything more from you. We’re neighbors, and that’s all.” She crossed her arms over her chest and glared up at me.

I knew what she had just said was a lie. She was very much interested in me, but for some reason, she didn’t want to move forward with it. Okay, fine. I would need to figure out why and fix it.