Dirty at 30 (Love Without Batteries Book 1) Read online

  Brook’s hand reached up, and her fingers brushed her lips, making me want to kiss her again. Taking a step toward her, I stopped and closed my eyes, struggling with my own self control. Opening my eyes, my gaze lingered on her lips, and I was dying to taste them again. With a sigh of frustration, I realized that would have to wait for another day.

  “I included my phone number in the email. Call me after you serve Rob with the papers.” My voice sounded more strained than I would have liked, but there was nothing I could do about that.

  When Brook nodded, I headed toward the door, hoping she’d get those papers served soon.

  Chapter Five

  Brook

  Even after the front door clicked shut, I remained frozen in place, utterly confused by what had just happened. When Delaney had teased me about dating one of Luke’s friends, I’d never considered it a possibility, but I couldn’t deny Ty’s self-control was the only reason things hadn’t gone further today. While I’d stopped him the first time he’d kissed me, I hadn’t been thinking about doing so the second time. I still couldn’t decide if I was glad Ty had put a stop to things or not.

  My fingers went to my lips, remembering Ty’s kiss and how it had made me feel alive in a way I hadn’t in years. I couldn’t recall ever being this turned on, and I’d never expected to experience this type of arousal from one kiss. Ty definitely had a talented mouth, making me wonder how it would feel on other parts of my body. After a mental smack, I reminded myself that it was not okay to fantasize about my stepson’s friend. I also decided I should have kept my married name because Mrs. Robinson suddenly seemed very appropriate.

  I needed a friend to talk to, and Chelsea was probably a bad choice since she wouldn’t want to hear about me lusting after her younger brother. I’d have to tell her about Ty being Luke’s best friend, but not now. There was no way she’d known about that connection before sending Ty over or she would have warned me. Grabbing my phone, I hoped Delaney wasn’t too busy to talk.

  “Hello,” Delaney answered, sounding distracted, which probably meant she was writing.

  “Are you busy?” I asked.

  “Yes, but what’s up?” Delaney asked, more focused this time. Delaney wrote erotica, and she loved sex, which was why it made no sense to anyone but her that she’d only had battery powered lovers for several years. In Delaney’s mind, it was the only way to go. At least, that’s how she’d felt until recently, if her eager agreement to our pact was anything to go by.

  “Chelsea’s brother, the private investigator came by today,” I began.

  “And he’s hot,” Delaney finished for me.

  “How’d you know?” I asked. “Have you met him before?”

  “I was just hoping that was the case because it would make a great story,” Delaney replied. “From your reaction, I take it he is quite lickable. Let me guess. You wanted to strip him naked and explore every inch of his body with your tongue.”

  I practically moaned from the mental image she’d painted. I had no doubt Ty would look even better with no clothes on.

  “So, you gave in to the temptation to lick his body.” Delaney was completely focused on our conversation now. “Where is he? Did you wear him out already?”

  “Del!” I screeched. “What makes you think I’d just sleep with him because he’s super hot?”

  This was not the time to add the fact that Ty’s self-control was the only reason I was on the phone instead of in bed with him. Although, I supposed it was possible we wouldn’t have made it up to the bed. I really needed to stop thinking about sex with Ty.

  “Not just hot?” Delaney asked. “He’s super hot? Was my lickable description accurate?”

  That was the nice thing about Delaney. I didn’t need to sugar-coat this or gloss over details; I could just tell her what had happened without worrying about her judging me. “So hot I almost forget he’s not only Chelsea’s little brother, he’s also Luke’s best friend.”

  My statement was met with silence. It wasn’t often I shocked Delaney. When your friend writes naughty books for a living, she’s pretty much shock-proof.

  “Luke’s friend?” Delaney asked after a long pause. “Luke you’re stepson’s friend? Chelsea’s brother is not only younger than her, he’s also your stepson’s friend?”

  “Yes,” I interrupted so she couldn’t come up with more ways to ask the same question.

  “Are you fucking with me?” she asked.

  “I wish I were,” I replied. “I’m practically his mother!”

  Even I knew that was a ridiculous statement, which is why I wasn’t at all surprised when Delaney called me on it.

  “Luke is more like a little brother to you,” she pointed out. “You’re barely six years older than him.”

  It was true; I wasn’t old enough to be Luke’s mom, which had made for more than a few awkward moments when I’d married his dad. “This still has the potential to turn ugly. How would Chelsea feel if she knew I was lusting after her little brother?”

  Delaney let out a raspy chuckle. “So, you are lusting after Chelsea’s super hot baby brother. Did you take any pictures? I’d love to know just how hot he is.”

  “I wish,” I grumbled before laughing. “That sounded really dirty, didn’t it?”

  “You wanting to take pictures of the super hot guy so you could stare at them later?” she asked sweetly.

  “It sounds even dirtier when you say it,” I pointed out.

  “Everything sounds dirtier when I say it,” she added. “Now, tell me how hot and bothered you are after your visit with the sexy PI.”

  “Before calling you, I was tempted to go up to my room and relieve a little tension with Rafael’s backup. I’m sure he’s going to get a good workout tonight while I think about Ty. I really should feel guilty about fantasizing about Ty, shouldn’t I?”

  “Does he have lickable abs?” Delaney asked, completely ignoring my concerns.

  “Do you think he stripped naked in my living room?” I asked, trying hard not to let that image take root in my mind. I had no doubt Ty’s abs were quite lickable.

  “I was hoping he had,” Delaney admitted. “Do you think he’s got at least eight inches to offer? Seven works fine, too, I suppose, but I’ve always wanted to try nine. I write about it, but I’ve never had a solid nine inches. If he’s got a nine inch cock or bigger, you have to give me all the details so I know if I’m describing it right in my books.”

  “Del!” I screeched. “We are not going to talk about his dick. What am I going to do?”

  “Maybe you should seduce him?” she suggested.

  “Something tells me he plans to be the one doing the seducing,” I admitted.

  “Then I’m not sure why you’re unsure of what you’re going to do. Obviously, you’re going to get your douche husband served with divorce papers, and then you’re going to play with your new boy toy with the lickable abs and cock of unknown size.”

  “Ty is not my new boy toy,” I insisted. “And we agreed we would not talk about his dick.”

  I decided not to add that Ty’s dick was not of questionable size. It had been hard to miss his erection with my body plastered against his, and I doubted any woman would complain Ty was lacking in that department. Still, Delaney didn’t need to know that. One thing I’d learned over the last year was that it was a bad idea to encourage Delaney.

  “You said we couldn’t talk about his dick,” she pointed out. “I never agreed to that. As for him being your boy toy, he wants to be, and you want him to be. Why fight it?”

  “How about if I fight it because he’s way too young for me?” I asked.

  “Six years is not that much younger,” she argued.

  “He’s a year older than Luke,” I corrected her, not sure why I decided to make that clarification. Fine, I knew why I’d said it; I was hoping Delaney would talk me into giving Ty a chance. I wanted to give Ty a chance. I wanted Ty Jameson.

  “Five years is even less of a big deal,�
� she added. “I’m sure it seemed like a big deal when you were nineteen.”

  “It was a huge deal back then. I could have gone to prison,” I pointed out.

  “Are you telling me you thought he was hot back then?” she practically gasped.

  “No!” I replied quickly. “I thought he was a cute kid back then, but I never thought of him as more than a kid who hung out with Luke.”

  “And now, you think he’s super hot,” she finished for me.

  “Yeah, now, I think he’s super hot,” I admitted. “Luke would probably lose it if he knew his friend had come on to me.”

  “He must have had a crush on you for a long time,” Delaney mused.

  “What makes you say that?” I asked.

  “He insisted on meeting at your house, even though he could have handled this over the phone, right?”

  “That’s true,” I agreed. “Ty emailed me the details before he even showed up here, and then he refused to let me pay him, so there was no reason for him to meet with me at all.”

  Delaney laughed.

  “What’s so funny?” I asked.

  “Of course, there was a reason to meet with you,” Delaney replied. “He wants you.”

  “What am I going to do about Luke?” I asked.

  “I don’t know what you should tell Luke, but I don’t think Luke should be your excuse for passing up this opportunity,” Delaney insisted. “You’ve been without a real man too long, and you deserve to turn this dirty little fantasy into a reality.”

  “You do realize you’re a hypocrite, don’t you?” I asked. “Here you are telling me to go for it with Ty when I’ll bet you haven’t made any plans to look for a guy.”

  “I agreed to find a man, too,” she argued.

  “Do you intend to do that in the near future?” I pushed.

  “You know Justin is going to be jealous,” she pointed out. “We’ve been together too long to simply toss him aside.”

  “Justin?” I asked. “What happened to your new friend you bought last weekend? Did you forget to charge him?”

  Delaney let out a long-suffering sigh. “I do love that he’s rechargeable, so I don’t need to stock up on so many AA’s, but he doesn’t hit all the right spots like Justin does.”

  She let out another sigh, this one somewhat sad.

  “What’s bothering you, Del?” I asked.

  “I’m worried about Justin,” she admitted. “After what happened with you and Rafael, I keep thinking Justin isn’t getting any younger.”

  “Why not just get another one in the exact same model so you have a replacement when his time comes?” I suggested.

  “I tried,” she told me. “I bought him at a pleasure party over five years ago. He was an impulse buy I didn’t expect to like, so he sat in my drawer, ignored and unloved for three years before I even put batteries in him. Now, they don’t make that model anymore.”

  Hearing my friend talk about her vibrator made me realize how much we truly needed this pact to find men. I wasn’t sure I needed forever. In fact, after my mistake with Rob, I’d rather avoid marriage again and possibly even avoid any long-term commitments, but it was time to enjoy something real.

  “So, are you going to sleep with your super hot boy toy?” Delaney asked, sounding fully recovered from her worries about Justin’s health.

  “Yes,” I said, before remembering he was Luke’s friend. “Maybe. I am definitely maybe going to sleep with Ty.”

  Delaney laughed. “Did you just say you are maybe going to definitely sleep with your super hot boy toy?”

  “I’m not sure about sex with Ty,” I admitted.

  “Well, get sure about it,” she insisted.

  “What about Chels and Luke?” I asked.

  “Talk to them if you want to know how they feel,” she suggested. “Personally, I don’t think Chelsea will mind. I’ve never met Luke, so I can’t tell you if he’ll act like a little bitch about it or not.”

  That was the thing about Delaney; she never held back with her feelings on any subject.

  We talked a little more before I finally ended the call to find a text from Luke.

  LUKE: I know you saw Ty today.

  Crap! How did Luke hear about this so soon? Then I realized it was ridiculous to act like he’d seen everything that had happened between us. Ty must have mentioned seeing me.

  ME: He was helping me find your dad so I can get the divorce moving.

  LUKE: I told him it would be okay if he wanted to ask you out.

  ME: Why???

  LUKE: He wanted to. I’m telling you because I don’t want you to feel weird about him being my friend. You gave up a lot to take care of me. I want you to be happy. Whatever happens with you and Ty isn’t going to be weird for me.

  Tears burned my eyes. Luke had always been thoughtful. I’m not sure how I would have handled things if he’d been a difficult teen. I’d like to think I would have done the same even if he’d been a pain in the backside, but who knows? Luckily, that had never come up, and it had been easy being Luke’s guardian.

  ME: Have I told you how much I love you?

  LUKE: You don’t need to tell me. I’ve always known.

  I wasn’t sure Luke would ever have this kind of conversation with me in person. Even as a teen, his more emotional talks had been through text, and a few had even been through email. Still, he was awesome, and truly the only good thing to come out of my marriage. If I could go back in time, I’d still marry Rob just to have Luke in my life.

  “I’m going to sleep with Ty.” I said the words out loud, testing them and liking the way they sounded. Now, I just had to make sure it wasn’t going to ruin my friendship with Chelsea.

  I was about to call her when I realized I needed to be on a conference call in five minutes. It wasn’t an excuse to avoid talking to Chelsea about Ty, but I’d have been lying if I said it wasn’t a relief to put it off a little longer.

  Chapter Six

  Brook

  “Does anyone other than me feel like we should be celebrating with margaritas instead of tea?” That question came from Delaney, which didn’t surprise me since she wasn’t much of a tea drinker.

  “It was my turn to pick,” Chelsea reminded her from across the table where she was happily pouring tea from her little teapot. I was up in the air about the whole thing. The tea room was cute, and the tea was good, but I wasn’t sure about the little sandwiches that were supposed to be my lunch. I’d probably need to stop for a burger on the way home.

  “But this is Brook’s celebration,” Delaney argued. “Now that she’s served dickhead Rob with divorce papers, she can take her new boy toy out for a test ride.”

  “New boy toy?” Chelsea asked. “When did you get a new boy toy? Please tell me you didn’t take Delaney’s advice and ask Luke to fix you up with one of his friends.”

  “Er,” I hesitated, having no idea what to say. I had meant to tell Chelsea about my encounter with Ty—most of it, anyway. I’d actually called her to do just that, but we’d gotten distracted when Chelsea’s ex-husband, Jason, had shown up at her front door demanding to be let in. To say Jason hadn’t accepted things were over would be a huge understatement. While he’d signed the divorce papers with no complaints when Chelsea had agreed to let him keep their photography business, he hadn’t stopped calling her and showing up at her home. Chelsea believed it was because, even though he’d gotten the business they’d built together, she was the better photographer, and her new business was doing better. I was sure it was more than that. I’d met Chelsea’s ex-husband, and he seemed like the type who hated to lose. This was about more than his business, in my opinion.

  Chelsea’s lips twitched. “Don’t tell me you met my brother and decided he’s totally irresistible. I know some women feel that way, but I don’t see it.”

  “That’s a good thing since he’s your brother,” Delaney added.

  “True,” Chelsea agreed. “Oh, that must be what you called to talk to me about
the day Jason showed up at my house. Were you asking for my blessing to date Tyler?”

  “I’m not sure about dating your brother,” I hedged.

  “She wants to use him for his super hot body,” Delaney piped in.

  Chelsea wrinkled her pert nose. “Ew! Let’s never talk about Brook using my brother’s body. Not an image I want burned into my brain.”

  “I don’t want to use him for his body,” I insisted. “Well, maybe a little, but it would be really awkward, so it is not happening.” I was mostly trying to convince myself I couldn’t get involved with Ty, and I was failing miserably. I no longer found myself able to fantasize about any other man. I wanted him, which was why I needed to keep reminding myself of the many reasons it was such a bad idea.

  “I guess it would be awkward if you were using him for his body and you wanted to talk to me about it,” Chelsea mused. “I’ll have to insist that you refrain from sharing any details with me.”

  “So, you’ll have to tell me how big his dick is without Chelsea around,” Delaney added much too loudly for a tea room. “Unless it’s really small. You only need to tell me if he has an impressive cock.”

  I was suddenly very glad we’d all been too busy to get together last weekend and were meeting on a Thursday when the tea room was deserted. Today, we were only getting giggles and gasps from the employees.

  “Yuck!” Chelsea made a gagging gesture. “Never discuss my brother’s genitals. That is a hard rule, Brook. If you can follow that simple rule, I have no problem with you dating my brother.”

  “While I appreciate you being cool with this, I’m not dating your brother,” I insisted.

  “Just having a dirty affair with him,” Delaney added.