Tailwind (Love By Design Book 4) Read online

  Ms. Halle filled me in that her daughter was a local judge and her son-in-law was the high school football coach. She lived in Vermont and visited regularly but loved her peace in the mountains.

  We were a few rounds in when Ms. Halle leaned over to give me a few pointers. Her powdery scent filled my nose and her hands shook pointing out which cards I should keep and which I should get rid of.

  “Tell me dear, are you dating anyone?” Ms. Halle was non-pulsed dealing out cards for the next game. Catherine ignored us attacking her pile of cards with the jurisprudence I expected from a judge or at least what I’d seen on TV.

  “Not presently, but I’m only visiting and will go home at the end of summer.

  Ms. Halle hummed to herself and we played the next round. Catherine put her cards down when her phone buzzed and she excused herself mumbling about ungrateful children.

  “Don’t worry about her, she’ll trip over her gavel one of these days trying to set my grandchildren up with dates.”

  “She does that?” I asked and Ms. Halle nodded with a frown.

  “My grandchildren are like wildflowers growing her sculpted garden. I wished she’d learn she can’t control everything thing.” The comment felt loaded and I wanted to ask out of curiosity, but decided I better not. “And you? How do you see yourself, Winnie?” I felt like Ms. Halle was weaving some kind of grandmotherly voodoo but I couldn’t be sure.

  “Well if there’s one thing I know about being a wildflower, or wildcard in the deck, we kind of do what we want, but I’m sure it will all work out in the end, right?”

  “Yes, I believe it does.” She seemed to mull this over and we played a new game while waiting for Catherine to come back and pick up her cards. “So you said pet sitting? For your aunt?”

  “Oh, yes. Her house is by the elementary school. Three dogs, total chaos.” I picked up my cards and knew I wasn’t winning this round while I answered her questions politely trading a card for a card.

  “Oh, have you met the town vet yet?” She switched out my cards from the house desk.

  I felt the blush creeping up over my cheeks. I couldn’t exactly say I fainted in his arms and the dog farted in the room, I’d just met the woman and was getting the hang of this game.

  “Heh, funny you should say. The dogs have appointments all summer it seems. I wondered why my aunt decided to travel so much but he’s not bad to look at so I’m sure it won’t be a hardship to take them.”

  Ms. Halle grinned from behind the hand holding her cards like she was also holding a secret. “Yes, I’m led to believe he’s quite a looker that young veterinarian.” Ms. Halle put down her own hand kicking my ass as Catherine came back letting us both know they had to leave. Something about a DUI case she had to review that was an emergency. “Welcome to town, Winnie Grey. I hope we’ll be able to play cards again.”

  I smiled shaking her hand gently and had this weird feeling I would see Ms. Halle again and I looked forward to it.

  6

  Winnie

  I stared at the red numbers glowing back like evil eyes summoning me from sleep. The alarm clock buzzed obscenely early at nine in the morning, and I smacked the small black box twice to turn it off. I’d been sleeping in the guest bedroom the past week, shacking up with someone different each night.

  Last night was a real doozey. I stretched my arms over my head, letting the muscles pull, lengthening, and my neck popping, releasing pressure. Three at once was way more than I could handle even in my wildest days clubbing in the village. I wasn’t slutty. I had gone through my wild girl phase mostly unfazed and unscathed. So when I rolled over looking at the face covering the pillow next to me, shaking my head with a groan was the only acceptable response. I didn’t know how I got through the night with his horrible breath trailing to my side of the bed. I looked down and saw deep brown eyes with wild whiskers boring into me accusingly. He was definitely no Franggy Yanez.

  “What? I don’t even know how you got up here, Pumpkin. The hound dog bellowed, causing Roswell to yap from his spot next to me. The snaggle-tooth pierced between his doggy jowls as he ran over my back leaving imprints.

  “Wooo-Wooo.” Bailey let me know she was present, dancing at my feet and stepping over my legs.

  “Yeah, yeah, you’re all hungry. Let’s go.” My life was a cruel representation of Animal Planet or a dog food commercial as I helped Pumpkin off the bed and let the other two follow me to the kitchen. I was pretty sure the doggy smell mixed with my Coco Channel was now my new perfume since I couldn’t escape them.

  I poured dry food into dishes and headed into the bathroom to get a shower before Bailey’s vet appointment. I tried to shut the door, but Roswell eyeballed me, growling. “Seriously?” I looked the pug up and down, wondering what I did in a former life to deserve this kind of censure and left the door open, stripping down naked. If he wanted to see tits and ass, who was I to say no. I looked back to see him watching me intently before licking his chops. Shrugging, his reaction was nicer than my last boyfriend as he drooled a puddle onto the tile floor.

  “You must have been a dirty old man in another life.” Pointing my finger at the dog, he barked at me and lunged for my ankle. “Okay, fine, but the show is over!” I turned the water on and was about to step into the shower when I heard yelping behind me.

  To my horror, Roswell the little shit was humping my clean clothes. “No! Bad dog!” Roswell barked and growled, forcing me to back up naked as the day I was born while he became territorial about my no longer fresh undergarments. So much for saving them for Dr. Calloway. Huddled behind the shower curtain, I took water from the spray, trying to scare him off. Damn dog just shook the water off and went back to pleasuring himself on my pile of clothes.

  “I give up. God, take me now.” Tossing my hands up, I got into the shower, hoping to scrub the visual of doggy peen from my mind, but failing miserably. He was definitely staying home with Pumpkin the fumigator when I took Bailey to the vet.

  “You can come back in now,” Dr. Calloway-Doolittle as I thought of him fondly called to me from the open door of the exam room. His too gorgeous eyes scanned my body, causing me to overheat in a sticky bun delicious dessert sort of way. The thick head of messy sleep rumpled hair shouldn’t have looked that good as I fisted my trembling hands to keep from reaching out to touch him. I scanned the room, which was free of acupuncture torture devises, and let my eyes settle on his large muscular hands that held the door open for me.

  “Thanks.” Sheepishly I entered the room and found Bailey eyeing me suspiciously. I couldn’t blame the poor dog either because I had left her to get a shot while I stayed safely out of the faint zone in the waiting room.

  “No more dizziness?” He held on to my arm, guiding me into the exam room. My arms felt like fire where his bare calloused hands touched my skin. I wasn’t dizzy, but the sudden hormone overload had my stomach doing circus acrobatics while I stared down at his fingers brushing against my skin.

  “Not right now, Doctor…” I gulped back, trying to control my unsteady voice. I was never like this with boys I liked, but I felt thick tongued and stupid around him. Maybe the difference was that Chase was obviously not a boy, but a man and everything south of my gray matter responsible for logical reasoning recognized this hot hard fact.

  “Chase, Winnie, you can call me Chase.” He smiled kindly and my face flushed while other parts of me swelled, causing me to shift my stance. I should have worn yoga pants today and not a flirty little skirt.

  “Right, okay.” I pulled back from his grasp, and he let me go gently, giving me space he must have thought I needed. “How is Bailey girl?”

  “She did fine. I doubt anyone likes getting poked, animal or human.”

  Yeah, I’d like for him to poke me, but I didn’t think it would be appropriate to ask. I could think these thoughts all I wanted as long as I kept them to myself.

  “Of course not.”

  “It’s a routine vaccination so just watch the i
njection site for any unexpected swelling or if she shows signs of unusual behavior. She’ll be back to barking and jumping as usual.”

  “Okay, thanks.” I took Bailey’s leash from him and his hand lingered over mine, forcing me to look up into his face. Pausing, I checked out the fine sculpted features and his broad chest emphasized under the white lab coat he wore. His name was embroidered over his chest, and I had a weird fascination to trace it with my fingernail looping over each cursive letter. It seemed criminal a man this beautiful was living up here in the middle of nowhere when I would be leaving in a few weeks. I mean, who would appreciate his hotness the way I could?

  “So I’ll see you next week?” His voice broke the silence, and I snapped myself back to the reality of the sterile office.

  “Uh?” Houston, we have a problem. My brain knew I was bringing Pumpkin back for his acupuncture, but the words didn’t connect to my mouth as I watched his own lips speaking. What the hell was wrong with me? I was acting like a lovesick girl with a guy I didn’t even know.

  “Pumpkin’s acupuncture,” he repeated.

  “Oh, of course.” I tried laughing it off, but typical Winnie, it came out as awkward and forced.

  “Actually, I was kind of hoping to see you before then.”

  “Really?” If there was a mouse in the room, I think I stepped on it squeaking.

  “Don’t look so surprised.”

  Chuckling to hide my discomfort, I was wondering if he was asking me out. Oh, please, let that be the case. My radar was off lately, and I wasn’t in the mood to work very hard at this dating thing. Especially not with my mom’s ultimatum of get your shit in order.

  “What did you have in mind, Chase?” There was one movie theater in town that featured a double movie, but I saw potential in a few of the restaurants considering this was a college town nestled between mountain ranges ice ages old.

  He raked a hand through his hair leaving me stupidly mesmerized. “I have a Fourth of July barbeque to attend, and I was hoping you might like to accompany me.”

  “Barbeque?” Good job. One-word sentence structure, he was definitely into me now.

  “I’m hoping you’re not a vegan or something. The ribs will be fantastic.”

  I looked at his chest and wondered what his ribs would look like. Damn it. Wandering brain strikes again.

  “Oh, yeah, no, I like meat. Any kind of meat really.” I should have shut up while I had the chance. One-word responses were better than sexually charged innuendoes.

  Think.

  One.

  Word.

  “Well, that’s great because there will be plenty of that.”

  “Of what?”

  “Meat. Because you like it.”

  “Right, I like good meat.” Holy fucking awkward. Would it be rude to smack my own forehead?

  “Okay then, I’ll pick you up on Saturday around noon? The address in the chart is yours?” He questioned and I nodded.

  “Yes, my aunt’s house, where I live right now.” As opposed to the box under the bridge where my mother would like to dump all my personal affects since she was pissed at me.

  Bailey started barking and pulling on the leash, jerking me out of the door and my mental haze. Thank God I left the other two at home.

  “I’ll see you Saturday!” Chase watched me leave, and I bumped into the wall exiting the room. My shoulder and elbow stung, but Bailey kept pulling and off we went.

  “Bye!” I called out and everyone in the office waved at me as I chased the dog out the door. My mortification was complete.

  Bailey stopped the second we got outside, prancing around a bit before she pulled me down the street excited to be away from the office of torture.

  “Damn it, dog, next time can you do that before we start talking about meat, please?”

  Bailey barked and kept going, her tail a happy wag. I would have been happy too if the heat in my cheeks subsided, along with the sting in my bruised shoulder, then we’d be just dandy.

  7

  Chase

  I thought all week about my date with Winnie, nervously shifting in my seat as I drove to her aunt’s house the day of the barbeque. Kristen would be her usual nosey self, sure to ask inappropriate questions. My mother would give the inquisition and probably try to pry her social security number out of her to have a background check run. I was surrounded by boundary-less females and my hope of getting at least a kiss out of today’s encounter was slim to none.

  Knocking on the door, I heard commotion from inside the house. “Hello?” I called out, but no one answered unless you counted the barking dogs and who I assumed was Winnie yelling at one of them. Twisting the doorknob in my hand, it clicked open, and I slipped inside, following the loudest of the sounds into the living room.

  Stepping inside Helen Moody’s house was like stepping into a time warp. Antiques and strange items filled the space with museum like quality. A gilded mirror and a suit of armor decorated the hall while the walls held oil painted portraits and samurai swords. It was interesting and something to ask Winnie about later. My Date, though, was wrestling what I assumed was her dress from Roswell. Bailey and Pumpkin barked wildly, their tails wagging and bodies jumping in the way.

  “Damn it, Ros, you little pervert!”

  I cleared my throat, not wanting to scare the shit out of her. Winnie’s back was facing me and what a glorious sight it was. Forget getting a kiss, seeing her ass cupped in bright red lace was the equivalent of two full ripe Empire apples at the height of picking, the bottom of her cheeks peeked out teasing…and that was a better treat at the moment. Seeing her in yoga pants with strategically stitched lines was nothing compared to peach skin in the flesh. My eyes followed the line of her spine from the dainty swirl of a tattoo that rested on her right shoulder to the crease where her panties began dipping down, it was more like a fucking cherry on top of what promised to be an interesting afternoon to say the least.

  “Heel, Ros!” My command to the dog startled everyone in the room. The dogs all backed off, hunching low. Pumpkin let out a nervous whine, followed by an obvious stream of gas from his overactive intestinal track.

  “Oh, shit!” Winnie glanced over her shoulder at me wide-eyed, pitching forward as Roswell let go of her dress, causing her to fall backward. I stepped forward to catch her, but found myself tripping over the step down into the living room on the hand-woven carpeting. We both collided as soft skin landed against me and my hands grabbed around her to keep her from hurting herself. We were a tangle of limbs and wet slobbering kisses by the time we stopped moving and rolling over on the hard floor. I ended up on the bottom with Winnie on top of me at the tail end of it all.

  We stayed like that a solid minute, just looking at each other awkwardly as the heat built between us and our breaths mingled there on the floor in a house filled with trinkets that was sure to haunt me years from now. I wore too many clothes for this as I felt the perspiration build between my shoulder blades with Winnie’s pliant body nestled perfectly against me. My dick responded in kind and there was no hiding that on my part.

  “Um, hi. I guess I was running a little late.” Winnie bit the bottom of her lip, looking uncertain and waving her hand shyly in my face. Maybe I was wearing enough clothes after all that she wouldn’t notice that huge rod of mine creeping up toward her. No amount of kinky surgical cones could excuse the rise in my pants because I wasn’t just happy to see her, I was seriously attracted to this girl. I tugged her hand down so I could see her pretty face.

  “I was a little early, so maybe it was my fault. It’s okay if you want to blame me.” Chuckling together, the moment ended on an awkward little sigh. Damn, she smelled good. The little wiggle of her hips definitely didn’t help but hey, in for a penny, in for a pound.

  “Yeah, I’m going to go with that. This is all your fault.” Looking between us, Winnie’s chest heaved and her small breasts lifted in the cups of her very sheer, very red, very fitted bra. I liked it more than I should at
the moment by the evidence between us.

  Pumpkin decided he wanted in on the action and came over to lick the side of Winnie’s ribs, tickling her and forcing her to collapse over me, her arms hugging my head and her breasts...fuck, those delicious globes were smashed against my face and the term motor-boating suddenly held a lot of appeal. Luckily, my brain kicked the twelve-year-old in my head to the curb quickly.

  “Ahh!” Winnie and I rolled. I tried to keep the dogs away from her, but I only managed to tangle us up more, limbs locked together.

  “Whoa!”

  They bombarded us, and we squirmed to get up from the fray, licked and messy. Winnie’s hair became a dark tangled knot and her lips pouting.

  “I should probably get dressed.”

  “Probably.” I swallowed back the other thoughts swirling in my head, the term down boy repeated over and over.

  “So we can go to the barbeque. You know, because you promised me meat.”

  “Yes, I did.” Did I? Right, because she means actual food. Suddenly, I was a fumbling teenage boy with his first crush and not a thirty something man.

  “Uh huh.”

  “Right, I’m getting pretty hungry.” Winnie shuddered and her skin prickled with goosebumps. It was then I saw our roll had dislodged one pretty pink nipple from the lace cup of her bra. “Uhh…Win?” I wasn’t sure what to say or do, but there was no ignoring it now as her breast proudly hung out from our untidy squall.

  “What?”

  I looked down, trying to give her privacy and shrugged. Disgruntled was a start at describing her new expression.

  “Argh! Damn it! I’ll bet you are.” She cupped her breasts, covering and arranging them back into place as her hips wiggled over my lap cruelly. Her voice sounded as strained as I felt. We weren’t talking about the barbeque at all and while I had no problems with missing it, I did not want to incur the wrath of both my mother and my sister.