Authors: Angela Verdenius
“Trust me, this’ll impress her.”
After paying for the statue, he
carted it outside and managed to fit it into the back seat of the car. Hopping
into the driver’s side, he started the engine. Yeah, Carly would love the
goanna statue. She wasn’t like other women. And he certainly wasn’t going to
just bring her flowers. She was special.
A statue would last forever.
Unless it broke.
When Carly had agreed to go out
with him, he’d felt like the luckiest man on the planet. Understanding her
past more, he’d agreed when she’d asked him if they could take the relationship
slowly. Hell, he’d have agreed to anything just to have her beside him. The
last thing he wanted was to drive her away by coming on too strong.
Of course, it hadn’t been easy.
Every kiss he shared with her had him craving more, every touch, every taste,
tortured him in his dreams. His shaft was achingly hard in the mornings – not
to mention the middle of the night – with his unslaked desire, the need to bury
himself in her lush curves and wet heat.
But slowly. Slowly. He’d
promised she’d not regret agreeing to take a chance on him, and he was
determined to take it at her pace.
Even if it killed him, which it
probably would, but he’d die a happy man. Or so he told himself, manfully ignoring
his carnal cravings.
They’d done two proper dates,
movies and dinner, and now he decided it was time to buy her a gift. This was
one hell of a gift; it’d look awesome in the garden, something to remind her of
him every time she saw it. Plus it just looked
awesome
. Maybe he’d go
back later and buy another for his garden.
He felt good until he turned into
the street for home. Seeing the beautiful flowers bursting with colour in the
well-tended gardens, doubt set in.
Crap, maybe it wasn’t such a good
idea. Who gave a woman a grey statue of a lizard? What if she hated it? What
if she
wanted
flowers? What if she expected them?
For the first time, Sam wondered
if he’d made a big mistake.
Pulling into his driveway, he
hopped out of the car and dragged the big goanna statue from the back seat,
placing it on the lawn and looking at it anew.
It still looked bloody awesome. But
would Carly like it? Maybe he should park it in his own garden and run to the
florist for a bunch of flowers for her instead, maybe that would be a better
plan.
“Oh, my gosh!” A voice trilled.
Glancing up, Sam almost groaned out
loud when he saw Shelly on the other side of the garden fence.
“Oh, my.” She pressed one hand
flat to her barely-covered bosom. “That gave me quite a start.”
“It’s just a statue.” Opening the
car door, Sam took out the keys and locked it. Time to head for the house.
And safety.
Unfortunately, Shelly had other
ideas. She was through the gate and standing on the other side of the statue
before Sam knew it.
Her smile was pure predator.
He actually took a step back.
“Well, gotta go.”
“Going inside for a cold drink?”
Uh-oh
. She was going to
turn it into an invitation. “No. No, not at all.”
“Inside for a shower?” Her eyes
gleamed as she took another step forward.
Shit!
“No.” He
desperately cast around for something to throw her off track. “I – uh – I
pulled a muscle getting the statue out.” There, that should make her pause.
No real man would admit to it. To make it seem more plausible, Sam put a hand
to the small of his back and winced. “Better go in and rest it.”
She practically leaped over the
statue. “Oh, you need a good, long massage. I give wonderful massages.”
Sam backed away quickly, nearly
going arse over tit when his heel hit the veranda step behind him. Stumbling,
he righted himself quickly, holding out one hand palm outwards. “No!”
Coming to a stop, Shelly placed
her hands on her hips and smiled. “Why, Sam Willow, are you shy?”
“What? No.” Annoyed and
apprehensive, yes.
“I promise, once you have one of
my massages you’ll never want anyone else’s.” Openly provocative, she licked
her lips.
He didn’t like embarrassing
people, but it was time to get a little blunt. “I have a girlfriend. She’ll do
my massage.”
“Oh baby, she won’t massage half
as well as me.” Shelly advanced another step.
Jesus, she was shameless.
“Sorry, not interested.”
“She doesn’t have to know.”
“I’ll know,” he returned sharply.
“The answer is no.”
Not in the least mortified by his
rebuff, she continued towards him slowly and deliberately. “I give great
head.”
He wasn’t surprised by her bold,
crude statement. It wasn’t the first proposition he’d had by a persistent woman.
“I don’t care. Get off my property.’
“Why, Sam.” Surprised, Shelly
stopped. “You sound like you mean it.”
“I do. I told you, I have a
girlfriend and she’s everything to me.”
Her eyes narrowed.
Not liking it because it went
against every grain of politeness his parents had taught him, but not about to
risk his precious, new relationship with Carly, Sam opened his mouth to order
Shelly bluntly to get lost. For Carly, he’d do anything, but before he could
get a word out,a blast of rap music rent the air.
“G’day, Sam!”
Irritated, Shelly turned around.
Sam looked across to the voice,
his mouth falling open at the sight of Ed and Huggie slouching across the
road. Ed had a bottle of whiskey in one hand and what looked to be a DVD in
the other hand. Huggie, sporting a frown that just highlighted the ring in his
nose and the heavy, brooding expression on his face, was holding a stereo in
his meaty hand from which the rap music blasted.
“Who are they?” Shelly queried in
distaste.
“Friends,” Sam replied, feeling
both relieved and puzzled.
Kicking the gate open, which
caused Sam to wince, Ed waved the DVD in the air and yelled out happily, “Hey,
man, want to watch a titty movie?”
“Got some arse in it as well,”
Huggie bellowed for everyone in the entire city to hear, never mind the street.
“Uh…” Sam said.
Ed took a slug of whiskey straight
from the bottle.
Crusher stuck his head out of
Huggie’s leather jacket pocket.
“Can’t take the jacket off,”
Huggie said as he stopped by the statue and propped one booted foot on its
head. “Got a bloody massive boil in my arm pit. The quack reckons it’s
because my arm pit is so hairy and sweaty.”
Ed leered at Shelly. “Sheilas
like a sweaty man. Isn’t that right, darlin’?”
Her upper lip curled.
“Means we’re doing the shagging
properly.” He winked, took another slug of whiskey, and rested his thonged
foot on the back of the goanna statue. Leaning his forearm on his skinny leg,
the hairiness of it evident by his torn shorts, he smacked his lips. “Bloody
good booze.”
SJ appeared from around the corner
of the house, his ears flat on his head. Sam had no doubt it was because of
the music, because sure as hell his ears felt like they were pinned back to the
side of his head to try and let the music go past rather than into his ears.
Crusher took one look at SJ and
started barking.
SJ’s whiskers quivered, his eyes
going black as his pupils dilated.
“Want a slug?” Ed offered the
bottle to Shelly.
“No, I most certainly do not,” she
replied frigidly.
“What?”
“No.”
“What? I can’t hear you because of
the noise.”
“I said
no
!”
Ed cupped his hand around the back
of his ear. “What? You gotta repeat that, girlie.”
Sam grinned.
Crusher continued barking and SJ
stalked slowly forward, his gaze pinned on the tiny dog in Huggie’s pocket.
“I said-” Shelly began to yell.
“Here, let me turn this down.”
Huggie twisted the knob and the music blasted louder. “Oops.”
Fuming, Shelly looked at Sam.
Seizing the opportunity to stop
her thinking about him romantically, sexually, deviantly, or in any other way,
Sam strode forward and grabbed the DVD from Ed. “Man, I love movie hour.”
“Tits and arse, man,” Ed yelled
above the noise. “Maybe Shelly would like to watch it as well?”
“What?” Shelly yelled back.
“I said-”
Huggie switched off the stereo.
“Maybe, Shelly, you’d like to join
us in watching some tits and arse!” Ed continued to holler in the sudden
deafening silence. “Then you could show us your ti-”
A loud crack of Shelly’s hand
across Ed’s face had the skinny bloke almost spinning around on the spot.
Crusher stopped mid bark and
ducked back into Huggie’s pocket.
“How dare you!” Seething, Shelly
glared at Sam. “You perverts!” Stalking off, she slammed the gate shut behind
her.
“Heh heh.” Huggie looked at Ed.
“Damn.” Ed worked his jaw. “Shit,
I think she loosened a tooth.”
“Man, thanks guys. I thought she
was going to eat me alive.” Sam looked at the DVD. “Hey, this is wrestling.”
“Disappointed?” Ed touched the
side of his face gingerly. The red hand print was plainly visible.
“Relieved.” Sam looked at the
whisky bottle. “Is that…?”
“Yeah, and I need it now.” Ed
took another swallow before pulling the cap from his pocket and screwing it on.
Then he took another look at Sam. “Want a slug? You look like you need it.”
Sam shook his head.
“Saw you had a little problem.”
Ed jerked his thumb in Shelly’s direction.
“She wouldn’t take no for an
answer. Thanks for the rescue mission. Impressive, by the way.” Sam looked at
Huggie. “Do you really have a massive boil in your arm pit?”
Huggie grinned.
“I didn’t think so, but I like
your style.”
“Looked like she was about to grab
you by the ponytail and drag you inside.” Ed leered. “Go all cave girl, have
her nasty way with you.”
Crusher stuck his head out of
Huggie’s pocket, and Huggie patted his head.
Sam handed the DVD back to Ed.
“I’m not interested.”
“In the DVD?”
“No, you nong. Shelly.”
“Yeah, that’s what I meant.”
“And get your big foot off the
goanna.” Sam squatted down and brushed the statue off. “Mate, I really
appreciate what you two did. Thanks.”
“You’re too nice for your own
good,” Ed told him. “You gotta toughen up.”
“I don’t find it easy being rude
to people.”
“Not for any reason?”
“If they push me enough, I’ll
bite.”
“Ooohh! I’m so scared.”
Wryly, Sam looked up at him.
“I tried to tell Carly to go for a
rough, tough bikie,” Ed said. “Instead, she falls for a sweet pretty boy
who’ll no doubt influence her snappy temper and make her as gooey as he.” He
gagged.
“I wouldn’t change Carly for
anything.” Picking up the statue, Sam straightened.
Huggie grunted approval.
“You couldn’t change her if you
tried,” Ed replied. “Woman’s got a will of iron. Which reminds me, how the
hell did you get her to agree to go out with you?”
SJ sat at Sam’s feet and gazed up
at Crusher. Crusher actually shivered when SJ gave his throaty hunting meow.
Huggie pointed a finger sternly at SJ and grunted. SJ hissed in return.
“I mean,” Ed continued, following
Sam down the garden path, “after that jerk hurt her, I never thought she’d take
up with another bloke so soon. What’s the secret?”
“No secret,” Sam said. “I asked
her.” Begged, to be truthful, and he wasn’t ashamed of it. He’d have given
her the moon if he could have, just to get her to agree. That she’d done so
was a miracle.
“Had to be more than ask.”
Sam just smiled.
Ed followed him out of the gate.
“By the way, where are you taking that thing?”
“Present for Carly.”
“What? That ugly-arsed thing?”
“Yep.” Refusing to give in to his
doubts, sure he’d done the right thing, Sam walked through Ed’s gate and
studied the daises that lined the garden path.
Halfway down the path, he set the
goanna statue between two daisy bushes so that it appeared as though it was
walking through the flowers to the path. Straightening, he stepped back and
studied it, nodding. Yep, that’d do the trick all right.
“You could have bought flowers,” Ed
pointed out.
“So I’ve been told.” At a twinge
of unease, Sam looked at him. Ed was her uncle, he would know her likes
better. “Which would she prefer, do you think?”
“You mean delicate flowers versus
a T-Rex?”
“It’s a goanna.”
“Right. Big lizard. Same thing.”
Sam looked back down at the
statue. “You don’t think she’ll like it?”
“Man, it’s from you. She’ll like
it.”
Doubts started to plague him
again. “Yeah, but will she
like
it?”
“We’ll find out. Here she comes.”
Anticipation filling him, Sam
watched as the little blue Honda turned into the driveway. Carly saw him and
smiled, and he could see the pleasure in her expression which matched his own
at the sight of her.
Striding forward, he met her as
she got out of the car, dropping his head to kiss her on the lips in greeting.
“Hi, honey.”
Blushing, she glanced past him to
where Ed stood with a big grin on his face. Looking back up at Sam, she
smiled. “Hi.”
Sliding his arm around her waist,
he pulled her away from the door and swung it shut. “How was work?”
“Busy.”
She was deliciously soft against
him. “I’m getting turned on.”
“Sam, I’m in work clothes.” She
laughed. “How could they turn you on?”
“It’s the Mary Janes. They do it
to me every time.”
“Do you want me to leave you alone
with them?”