One Last Touch Read online

  He was a part of my past that I still thought about. I don’t know why, but there had been connection between us and as I stood in front of him now, him looking down at me, I had a feeling that the connection between us was alive and well, ten years later.

  “Mariss.”

  “Cal.”

  “Do you two know each other?”

  Cal answered his friend by saying that he did. “Yeah, uh we met a long time ago. A decade or more?”

  I agreed. I didn’t like to think about how long ago it was because it just reminded me how old I was getting. It also made me remember how strange and pathetic my love life was that I still thought about him this many years later.

  He had the same self-assured smile as before and he pulled me in for a hug after I pushed my hand out to greet him. His hard body was smooshed against mine and so help me I remembered the ripples that were his chest and the hardness that was the rest of him. It was all just too much and the longer that his scent was filling my nostrils and his hardness was pressing against me, there was no hope for me. It was just that simple.

  I had to push him away and it was then that I remembered that we weren’t the only ones there. Several people were looking at us, but the one I was worried about was Jesse, Anna’s fiancée. He had a grin on his face that was hard to deny, and he just couldn’t stop smiling. I didn’t want Anna to know about Cal. She knew what I had told her before about him, ten years ago right after it had happened. It would be awkward if suddenly, he materialized after all these years.

  “It’s good to see you again Cal. We should catch up while I’m here.”

  “Yes, we should. It’s damn good to see you again. You look just as good as you did before.”

  His words made me smile to myself, but he always did have a way with words. His reputation used to proceed him, and I had a feeling that he wasn’t much different than he was before. Men like Cal didn’t change. That much I knew for sure. He was most likely the same playboy that he was in college.

  “Thanks Cal, you always was a charmer.”

  I tried to detach from him and not seem too friendly with him. When it came down to it, I really didn’t want anyone to know about what happened before. It was a one-night stand. Everyone had them, but of course I was the one that ran into them years later and had to fight the urge to jump on him. He was just so damn sexy, still and I knew what Cal was capable of with his hands and mouth.

  “You were always easy to charm.”

  My smile fell a little and I didn’t know if he was taking a jab at me for that night. I don’t know what had came over me, but I wasn’t that way. I wasn’t before that night and I wasn’t after. It had been an isolated incident and even though it shouldn’t bother me, it did that he thought that way. I wasn’t easy, and I took offense to it.

  “Well that was a long time ago when I was dumb and didn’t have much sense.”

  Anna’s fiancée was looking from one of us to the other and I didn’t try to smooth over the situation. I could have if I’d wanted to, but instead I just let it go. I didn’t want to admit how easy it had been for him to get into my panties. My very wet panties I might add. And I certainly wasn’t going to admit to the moisture state of them now.

  “That was all in the past, water under the bridge, right? You guys ready to go?”

  I was trying to act like I wasn’t shaking inside, but I was. I couldn’t help it. Seeing him again was not what I’d expected from this week. I wasn’t prepared, even though I don’t know how I could have been prepared for him. Seeing Cal after all these years was a blast from a past that was so different than now.

  We all got in the truck and I was wedged between the two men. I wanted to tell them that I would have been better off just getting a cab, but Anna had insisted. I knew that she wanted me to get along with her fiancée, I just didn’t know that it was going to entail having to see Cal again. My luck, he was going to be in the wedding too.

  I asked him about it when we were going down the road, trying not to act like I cared, but more that I was just making conversation. I needed to know how much I was going to have to be around Cal.

  “I will be his best man.”

  “You guys have known each other for a while?”

  Cal and Jesse agreed, and it was almost in perfect step with each other. They were around each other a lot and I could see what Anna was talking about. I had to keep asking myself what I had gotten myself into agreeing to this wedding. I don’t know if I would have come if I would have known about seeing a ghost from my past. This was going to be a rough one.

  I didn’t try to keep any conversation going because it felt weird in the truck. It was tense in there and the more I tried to force it, the weirder it got. I had a lot on my mind suddenly and it looked like Cal did too.

  When we got to Anna’s place, I knew it because I’d visited several times before. I was glad that Jesse was staying with her. It would have been worse if it would have been in a place that I wasn’t already familiar with.

  I practically pushed Cal out of the way when he opened the door and went in to see Anna. I left my bag out there because I wasn’t thinking. Anna knew who Cal was and I wanted to tell her about it. I was ready to lose it already and I’d just gotten here. I thought it would be the wedding itself that upset me, not Cal. Why did it have to be Cal of all people?

  Chapter 3

  Cal

  “So how well do you know this chick?”

  After watching the hot little piece of ass run in the house when we got to Anna’s, I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to deny all. He knew about her, in a roundabout way. I couldn’t believe she was here, in front of me. It had always pissed me off that she just took off and now that she was here. I was finally going to get some damn answers. I was determined.

  “Pretty damn well. I can’t believe you just went and picked her up and she’s staying with you for a week.”

  “Why, is she crazy?”

  I could have told him that she was, but there was nothing crazy about Mariss. I hadn’t gotten to know her, but there was a vibe and feeling about her that was hard to deny. She’d been laid back and mellow. Even now in this situation she was not getting too freaked out, except for her quick exit.

  “No, nothing like that. I was thinking about her earlier today.”

  “She was your mystery frat girl?”

  I forgot that he’d coined the phrase for her when I told him about her. I was trying to find out if I could track her down and see her again. The next day I had a fixation on finding her to no avail. I tried repeatedly, but I never did get close to her.

  “Yeah, that’s her.”

  “Oh.”

  That was all he said, and I betted that there was a reason he said it that way. He must have remembered how I had been back then when I was trying to find her. I’d drove the people around me crazy about it. But it hadn’t lasted all that long. I gave up after a certain amount of time and picked up the next girl I saw. I’d been doing that ever since. Marsha was a rather new development and after a year together it was all moving too fast. I hadn’t worried about it before because I didn’t really care. Now I wondered if that was the wrong approach.

  I kicked myself for all the thoughts of me and her rekindling something. I’d forgotten about the fiancée that I was supposed to marry in less than forty days. How was I going to explain it off to either one of them?

  “Yeah, oh.”

  We were quiet for a bit and then he looked over the truck bed at me.

  “Well I guess it’s a good thing you’re getting married, huh? Now you won’t have to worry about it because you aren’t available anymore.”

  I hadn’t said anything about us getting together, but it must have been rather obvious. Maybe there was something between us that was palpable like I felt it, or he just assumed because Mariss was hot as hell and I was a hot-blooded man that had a problem controlling myself.

  “I’m not. Is she?”

  He looked at m
e like I was stupid or something.

  “Why in the world would I know that?”

  I didn’t press because I could see that he didn’t want to talk about it. I just dropped it because it didn’t really matter. He was right. I was about to get married soon and the same reasons that I was doing it before I saw Mariss was the same. I didn’t really have a choice. If I didn’t go through with, the life that I knew and loved would change forever. I don’t know if I was ready for that or not.

  “Don’t get yourself in trouble over this chick Cal. I can see it in your eyes. You’re out on the hunt.”

  I ignored him and took the bag of hers inside that she’d left behind. Was she as bothered to see me as I was to see her? I liked to think so, but there was just as much of a chance that it was merely because she missed her friend.

  We had plans to go drink some beer down at the bar with Kyle and Sean. It was our weekly thing and even though we had weddings in our future, some part of our lives didn’t have to change. This night was our sanctity. It was the one night that we were able to forget about the females in our lives.

  Stopping by my house to get changed before we went to Mickey’s Pub, I couldn’t stop thinking about that damn girl. What the hell was she doing here now, after I’d given up on finding her?

  ***

  “I haven’t seen you this drunk in a while Cal. Something on your mind?”

  I scowled at Jesse and told him to drink some more. He obviously was too sober to be here with us and I pushed another drink his way. Kyle ordered another round of shots and another pitcher of beer. We hadn’t been here an hour and I was already halfway to drunk.

  “You know damn well what is on my mind.”

  “I’ve never seen you like this. What is it about her? I mean, I get it, she’s hot and all, but so is Marsha.”

  I knew that he was bringing her up because he wanted me to not fuck up. We worked together, and it would be a shame if that changed. I knew where he was coming from, but he didn’t know where I was coming from and that was why he asked. How could I put it into words?

  “You ever been sucked off until you felt like the girl had sucked the very life out of you?”

  He nodded his head and leaned in.

  “You ever met a girl that was so tight, hot and wet that you almost busted a nut before you even got two strokes in?”

  “Come on Cal, where is this girl at?”

  I didn’t like Kyle’s question and I didn’t answer him.

  “She’s all those things and so damn much more. I don’t know what it was about her. It was only one night.”

  I paused because it did sound crazy when I really thought about it. It had been only a few hours and the imprint was there. Talking about her in that way had also made me want her. It was hard for me to not want to relive the best sex of my life. But Mariss didn’t seem like she was all that receptive to me.

  That idea got me taking another shot. I was stuck in the middle and that was before adding Marsha into the equation. What the hell was wrong with me?

  ***

  “You going to be okay to drive?”

  “Yeah Jesse, I’m fine.”

  “You’re swaying man, I don’t think you should drive. Come on and I’ll take you home. We can go pick up your truck in the morning.”

  I agreed because I did doubt if I could drive home or not. It wasn’t but a couple of miles, but that still seemed like a long way to go in my present state.

  We got to my place and I was looking everywhere for my keys. “I think I left them at Mickey’s.”

  “It’s closed now. I don’t think we’re going to be able to get them till tomorrow.”

  “Shit just drop me off at my truck and I will sleep it off a little while.”

  “You’re not going to do that Cal. I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but you got to get your shit together. Come back to my place man. Damn you look like shit.”

  I had to agree. What other choice did I have?

  Chapter 4

  Mariss

  It was dark, and I was stumbling in the unfamiliar house, trying to navigate far enough to the bathroom. It was hard to see because I hadn’t given my eyes time to adjust to the darkness. It wasn’t an easy as I thought it was going to be and I almost fell when I kicked something that was on the living room floor.

  Pausing so that I didn’t break my neck, my eyes finally started to turn the dark shapes into something that I could distinguish. There were boots on the floor and I didn’t know whose they were. It seemed out of place here and there was no way that Anna would let Jesse leave them out like this. She was partially OCD and there was no way.

  The longer I was in the room observing things, I could start to see the shape on the couch. It was a shirtless man and he had a tattoo on his shoulder that I’d seen before. It was a dragon swallowing up the sun. I never did get it and I asked Cal about it that night, but he hadn’t wanted to talk much about it or anything else really. He wanted to get down and at the time, it was all that I’d wanted in the end as well.

  Now I was able to check him out and I didn’t have to worry about how it all appeared. It was wild that he was here, not just right now, but in general. The city was huge and filled with a lot of people. I didn’t know how it was possible that we would find each other here and he would be the best man at my best friend’s wedding. It just seemed all too much almost.

  His body was visible because he wasn’t even covered up. His chest was broad and covered with sprinkles of wiry hair that tickled my face when I’d laid my head on his chest. The man was made like a Greek God and I could still feel the power that he had inside of him. It was hard to not see it now and not get the same rush of desire from before.

  I was caught off guard by his presence, but more so to the fact that I was getting wet just looking at him. I’d gotten wet in the truck, being so close to him and smelling the same scent that he’d worn before. It brought back all the physical feelings that I’d had for him and there was no way to deny it any longer. I wanted him. It was that simple and that complicated, all at the same time.

  I made a couple of steps towards him before I stopped myself. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking, but I knew that I wasn’t going to do that. I was about to back up a little bit and his eyes popped open. I almost made a squeal because I was so surprised, but I held it in. Anna and Jesse were upstairs, and this wasn’t a time that I wanted them racing down the stairs to see what was going on. I would have been mortified to be caught by the whole house watching Cal sleep. It was bad enough that he was looking at me with the same grin on his face as before, I didn’t want anyone else to know what I’d been doing. Now I was glad for the dark to hide the heat in my face.

  “Are you going to say anything?”

  There was an urge to just go back upstairs without saying a word. I don’t know how that would work out, but maybe I could say that he was seeing things, or I was sleepwalking. It was really a thing, right? I could use that if nothing else.

  “I tripped on your shoes. I didn’t know you were down here.”

  “Well here I am Mariss and here you are.”

  He had a slurred speech and it was becoming a little clearer why he was here. After what I told Anna I was sure that she wouldn’t have invited him to stay the night. He had been too drunk to go home. It wouldn’t have been so bad if I hadn’t been caught checking him out while he slept.

  “I didn’t mean to bother you. I was just going to the bathroom. I will be out of your way in just a minute.”

  “I don’t want you out of my way. I want you to come here. We have some things to talk about.”

  That was not something that I wanted to hear. It was complicated, and he didn’t seem to have a filter tonight.

  “Why don’t we do it in the morning when you’re feeling better?”

  “I won’t be able to get it out in the morning.”

  That was one of the most honest answers that I’d ever heard. I felt the same way sometim
es and it made me want to stay. I moved towards him and sat next to him on the couch when he sat up. He was just as handsome as I remembered.

  “What did you want to talk about Cal?”

  He paused for a moment like he was trying to think of what to say and I just gave him time. Cal seemed almost vulnerable in his state and I almost felt like I was taking advantage of it.

  “So, what the hell happened to you Mariss?”

  “What do you mean?”

  This was starting right from the meat of things and I braced myself. I couldn’t believe he really wanted to talk about this. Was it weighing on his mind as much as it was weighing on mine?

  “You know what I mean. You took off while I was sleeping, and I never heard from you again. You knew how to get ahold of me.”

  “It wasn’t like that Cal. I had a lot going on. I had to take care of my aunt and that meant that I didn’t have any time for anything fun or for myself. You were both. I had to leave, and I didn’t think that it would matter if you heard from me again. I knew your reputation.”

  “Wow, I don’t know what to say. I guess I have done some things that I’m not proud of, but you didn’t even give me a chance.”

  “Like I said Cal, it didn’t have anything to do with you. My aunt got sick and I had to drop out of school. I never even got to go my first day. If I would have stayed and been around, I’m sure things would have turned out differently.”

  “Yeah?”

  He was looking at me with these hopeful eyes and it made me wonder what would have happened. I mean, really wonder. Would we still be together? All these years later. It seemed unlikely at best. But then why did I think that maybe it wasn’t as farfetched as it seemed?