Mitch glanced at the time as he pulled into his drive. When was the last time he had gotten home from the club before two a.m., let alone before midnight? But his dash didn’t lie; it really was only 11:52. At least tonight he could pinpoint where his discontent was coming from. He spent the evening with one woman, a sexy woman who relished what he dished out and was a good match for him sexually, while thinking about another woman, a completely unsuitable woman in every way except maybe friendship. The look of anger as well as hurt that crossed Crystal’s face right before he left was one he has been seeing a lot recently, a look that told him she was wanting more from him than to be his occasional fuck buddy. A look that told him it was time to play with some of the other members of the club, because if his thoughts were occupied with Hannah while he had Crystal’s willing, lush body under him, it wasn’t fair to let her think he might eventually want more with her. Truth was, he liked Crystal, had been playing with her for a few years now and they have grown comfortable with each other. But it was more the comfortable fit of a friend for him and he thought it was the same for her until recently.
He was stepping out of his truck when Ethan came out of Hannah’s house, the two of them laughing. The instant, nearly painful bite of jealousy nipping at him only reiterated what he had been hashing over. As long as he had this fixation with Hannah, he wasn’t going to be thinking seriously about anyone else. Mitch returned Hannah’s wave before she closed her door, then waited by his truck as Ethan walked over.
“You’re home early,” Ethan said, his hand holding tightly to the bag Hannah put his take home packages in.
“You’re at Mrs. Hershberger’s late. What gives?” Jesus, did he sound like a moron or what?
Ethan couldn’t help it, the urge to needle Mitch was just too tempting. “Hey, what can I say? We hit it off, found we have a lot in common, and, for an older prude, she’s fucking hot.”
Mitch took a step toward him, his fists clenched, then caught the gleam in Ethan’s eyes and the small smile playing around his mouth. “Playing with fire, kid, will get you burned.” She might be older compared to Ethan’s not yet twenty, but for him her age was perfect. And after seeing the way she looked at him, the way she flustered so easily when near him, Mitch was willing to bet he could break through her prudish, moral objections with a little time and effort. Shit, now who was playing with fire, he thought derisively.
“Lighten up, Mitch. Seriously, she’s nice and man, can she cook.” Lifting the bag, he practically salivated, saying, “Homemade,
greasy
fried chicken, mashed potatoes, fresh green beans all followed by the best cherry pie I’ve ever had. And, if you tell my dear stepmother that, I’ll deny it to my dying day, or yours, which, given your age, will probably come first.”
“You’re such an ass, but I like you anyway. It takes you until midnight to finish dinner?” he asked, unwilling to let it go, which was just fucking insane.
“No, Dad. I set up a website for her new photography business, as well as a business e-mail. After that, I showed her how to access all that on her cell phone, another thing she was completely clueless about. I mean really, she didn’t even know she could get internet and check her e-mails on her phone. She was completely baffled when I showed her how to text. What do those people do all day?”
Only a teenager couldn’t see the merits of simpler times before the technology craze took over, Mitch thought. “Probably spend more time with family and growing their own vegetables. Drive carefully, Ethan.”
Mitch went to his study and booted up his own computer intending to get caught up on answering some mail from his Master M account, which he has neglected lately. Six weeks ago he sent notice to Nathan that he needed to find someone to take over the advice column for his BDSM website, but, as of yet, he hadn’t gotten back to Mitch. When he saw the number of unanswered messages he had, he vowed to push Nathan into finding a replacement soon. Some he answered by rote, typical questions mostly from women who read a steamy novel and suddenly decided that’s for her. Half the time he felt like a parent dealing with a hormone driven teenager. He did manage to put Hannah and his growing interest in her aside long enough to put a good size dent in the messages before shutting down for the night, but as he was turning off lights before heading upstairs, he saw the empty, now clean dishes she brought dinner over in sitting on the kitchen counter, waiting to be returned.
He couldn’t very well replace her thoughtfulness by not returning her dishes, now could he? Recognizing that he was using that as an excuse to pop in on her didn’t keep him from looking forward to tomorrow, his day off, with more enthusiasm than he has felt in a long while.
Hannah woke up irritable after tossing and turning all night to visions of sharing her bed with Mitch. This wasn’t like her, she mused as she stepped into the shower. She was raised to believe sex should be between two people in love with the sole purpose of starting a family together. Even though their couplings never resulted in a child, Hannah had relished the close connection she felt every time she and Caleb made love. Was that what she was craving now, she wondered as she lathered her long hair, simply a way to connect with someone in the outside world? God knows, she has been lonely since being widowed, and more so now that she was away from her family and friends.
While sex with Caleb had been pleasant, it hadn’t been anything earth shattering and in the months since her husband has been gone, she has missed the closeness with her beloved husband more than the act itself. Which was why her reaction every time she saw Mitch and the obsessive thoughts that have plagued her the past week were so confusing. Even more confusing was what to do about them. She wondered if there was a Dummies book for seduction she could add to her growing collection. If she had any inkling about how to seduce a man, she would attempt to get Mitch into her bed, if for no other reason than to put an end to this inappropriate, obsessive infatuation. Maybe, once she discovered there was no more to sex with a man she barely knew than there had been with the man she loved, these distracting sensations and thoughts would quit plaguing her and Mitch could be a good friend.
Hannah finished washing quickly, the light, quick swipes of her soapy washcloth over her breasts and between her legs enough to make her shudder with renewed longing. There must be something wrong with her, she decided as she dried off. Her body’s reaction to the lightest of touches simply wasn’t normal, at least not for her. Maybe she should visit a doctor and get a physical. Better yet, she’d call Aunt Mary. She always could tell her anything and as a woman infinitely worldlier than her, surely she could give her some much needed advice.
“Aunt Mary, you’re not helping matters,” Hannah groaned a short time later, her head cocked to hold the phone between her shoulder and ear while she stirred the cake batter. “You do know I’ve only slept with one man and we were both virgins!”
“Precisely why you need to grab the bull by the horns, or the man by the balls in this case. Trust me, sweetie. All you have to do is ask Mitch if he’d have sex with you, no seduction needed. He’s a guy, you’re beautiful. He’ll jump at the chance without a second thought. And I can vouch for his character. You’ll be in good hands.” Secretly, Mary couldn’t be more pleased to hear Hannah was taken with Mitch. He would be the perfect person to show Hannah everything Mary suspected had been missing from her marriage bed, through no fault of Caleb’s. They had both been too young, neither experienced and while she never doubted their deep feelings for each other, she always suspected Hannah wanted more out of life than what the Amish would allow. It was precisely why Mary left her community thirty years ago and she has never regretted her decision.
“You really think I should just
ask
him to have sex with me? Do you know how mortifying it will be if he says no?” Hannah stirred in some cinnamon chips to the apple spice cake batter as she tried to slow down her racing heart. Maybe calling Aunt Mary hadn’t been such a good idea. How could she have forgotten her favorite relative didn’t have a shy bone in her body?
“Then you’re no worse off than you are now and we’ll work on plan B.”
“I do not want to know what plan B is.”
“No, dear, you probably don’t. I’ll want details tomorrow. Love you.”
Hannah set the phone down then poured her batter into a pan and slid it into the oven, wondering if it was Aunt Mary’s suggestion or the heat in the kitchen that was making her so warm. Stepping out back, she gathered tomatoes and cucumbers from the garden and mulled over her aunt’s advice. Having a one-night stand went against every moral code she has lived by and when she left Ohio to seek answers for her discontent, she vowed to stay true to her beliefs. Aunt Mary had done the same thing thirty years ago and she had been faced with the same dilemma when she realized which way her desires ran, and she has been happy ever since even though her lifestyle would be frowned upon by members of their community and she’d be completely ostracized from Caleb’s community. There have been prices to pay for her decision; keeping her sexual orientation a secret from her family and friends all these years, visiting once or twice a year without her partner, Patty, hasn’t been easy. But Mary assured her that the sacrifices were worth it and that, since both she and Mitch were single, they wouldn’t be hurting anyone by one night of sex. She had been as persuasive as her body has been and Hannah decided she would trust her aunt and ask Mitch over for dinner and sex. Nothing like jumping from the pan into the fire, and if she got burned, well, she’d have a few choice words for her aunt tomorrow.
“Gosh darn it!” Hannah rubbed her head where she whacked it under the sink when the sound of the doorbell made her jump. “Great,” she muttered backing out and standing up on the still damp floor. “Now what?” Her plans to invite Mitch over for dinner before asking him up to her room had been derailed by a busted water pipe, one she has been trying to fix, after she managed to get the water turned off, for over two hours now. After spending the afternoon bolstering her courage to go next door, having to put her plans on hold didn’t sit too well with her. Determined knocking on the front door sent her stomping in her wet shoes through the den to the entry and flinging open the door, only to cringe in mortification from having Mitch see her in a frustrated mess again.
“Another problem, sweetheart?” Mitch inquired as nicely as he could without breaking into a wide grin. Once again her face was flushed, tendrils of her caramel hair that escaped her braid clinging to her damp cheek and trailing down her neck. Instead of grease, her white blouse was wet enough he could easily see her plain white bra, the soft cotton clinging to her even softer breasts. His gaze moved down, noted the damp splotches on her plain black skirt and the soaked hem as well as her thoroughly wet tennis shoes and socks. “Let me guess, plumbing problem?”
Hannah wasn’t in the mood to be teased, and the way her body instantly sat up and took notice when she opened the door to see his six foot two frame leaning negligently against the brick wall, didn’t improve her mood. “Gee, what gave it away?” she asked with saccharin sarcasm.
Smiling widely now, he shouldered past her, saying, “Lead the way to the problem. I happen to know a little about plumbing.”
“Of course you do,” she muttered as she traipsed back to the kitchen. “Under the sink. I tried duct tape, but that didn’t work.”
“Duct tape is great, but it isn’t a cure all,” he said, admiring her for trying. A copy of Home Maintenance for Dummies sat on the counter and an open copy of Plumbing for Dummies lay on the floor, now probably ruined from sitting in a puddle of water, making him wonder how many of those books she had. God, he hated plumbing, Mitch thought as he wedged his wide shoulders under the sink counter to see what the problem was.
Hannah sat down and removed her shoes and socks, set them on the back stoop to dry out then grabbed the mop from the utility closet. She was hoping the chore of cleaning up will take her mind off the sight of his long legs encased in tight jeans stretched across the floor, these jeans just as snug across his pelvis as the ones he wore last week. It was unseemly of her to keep looking in that direction, unlike her to wonder what he looked like naked, immoral of her to fantasize about what he would feel like moving inside her and downright humiliating to feel her nipples pucker tightly, her core grow damp from her musings.
Hannah had a tool box sitting on the floor, and as Mitch fumbled in it, she rushed over to get him what he needed. “Which one?”
“I need a big wrench if you’ve got one.” He watched her dig through the tools, pull out exactly what he needed, then turn bright red when their hands touched as he took it before letting his gaze make note of her small, cute bare feet. “You okay, Hannah?” He couldn’t resist needling her a little; she flustered so easily.
“Fine.” Hannah moved back and barely resisted the urge to blow on her hand, her toes curling when his lips quirked. This had to stop. Surely it was just her curiosity that has her reacting so ridiculously.
But what if it wasn’t just curiosity, a nagging inner voice taunted as she started to pace. What if it was more than a basic human desire to connect with someone of the opposite sex, more than wanting to feel that special closeness she has missed so much since being widowed? Just like there was more to learn, more to discover and experience each day outside of her Amish community, maybe there was more to intimacy than what she had experienced with Caleb in their marriage bed. Her strict moral beliefs have been at odds with her growing curiosity and her body’s continual demands since their first, brief encounter last week. She felt herself weakening, the constant inner battle to remain true to her values which didn’t allow room for her to even consider having a pre-marital, loveless sexual encounter, was losing to a physical ache she desperately needed assuaged but had absolutely no idea how.
Just ask him
, Aunt Mary had said, face the problem head on, like she did with the car and water leak. She could do this, she told herself as she paced a little faster, just come out and ask him. If he said yes, and odds were he would because, like Aunt Mary said, he was a man, then she’d at least put an end to these distracting sensations and her wayward curiosity and be able to concentrate fully on her photography business and move on with her new life.