Possessive Best Friend

“I think she did the latter with me.”

She laughs. “Don’t tell me. I think she wants you to tell me, so don’t.”

“Is she a Jedi?” I ask her. “I mean, she’s playing some kind of mind game, right?”

She gets up, walks around the table, and sits in my lap. “Yes and yes. But she’s an evil Jedi.”

“Sith,” I mumble.

“Right, whatever.” She kisses me. “Hey, let’s go see the warehouse.”

“Right now?”

“I can’t leave this second. But tomorrow. Think Ron will give you the keys?”

“We can always sneak in again.”

“I’d rather do it properly.”

“Okay.” I sigh. “I’ll find him and talk him into it.”

“Perfect.” She grins and gets up. “You’re so easy to manipulate, you know.”

“Put a pretty girl in my lap and I’ll do anything.”

“Oh, I thought it was just me.”

I get up, pull her against me, and kiss her. “It is,” I say.

She grins up at me. “Go smoke cigars with my uncle and laugh at his crass jokes.”

“I’ll do my best,” I say.

She laughs and leaves the room. I hesitate, glancing back at the tea set. For a second, I think I understand what Sylvia wanted me to hear.

But then it’s gone, lost in the moment.

So I leave the room and go hunting for Uncle Ron.15LoraDean unlocks the huge front doors and slides one open. It takes a lot of force and he grunts with the effort, but I have to admit, I love watching his muscular arms and back do their work. Slowly the door crawls open and he lets out a sigh. “Breaking in would be easier,” he grumbles.

“Oh, don’t be such a baby.” I get up on my toes and kiss his cheek. “Come on.”

I slip into the space and he follows me. It’s just like I remembered, but everything is different now.

The same high ceilings, the same open space. I notice the trash and debris this time, how worn some things look, how some of the windows are broken. It’s not perfect, it’s far from pristine…

“It’s all mine,” I say with a grin.

“Still like it?” he asks.

“I hope so. Would you kill me if I said no?”

He laughs. “Nope. Not my money.”

“You did quit your job for this.”

“I can get another one.” He walks into the space. It’s bigger than I remembered and I follow him inside. “So, boss. What now?”

I shake my head and look around. “Batting cages over there,” I say. “Arcade over there. Little go-kart track over there. Maybe a concession stand there. Maybe a roller rink there. What do you think?”

“I think we cram it all in here,” he says with a laugh. “But we should start somewhere first.” He takes out his phone and holds it up.

I frown and take it. There’s a Craigslist ad open. “What’s this?”

“Some mini golf course is closing a couple towns over,” he says. “But look at the bottom.”

I read the ad over and get to the very last line. “Batting cages?” I ask.

“They’re selling it all,” he says. “It’ll be used, but I think that’s the way to go.”

“Well, all right,” I say, laughing. “Let’s go get them.”

“Already emailed,” he says. “And I’m in the process of negotiating a good price. I think you’ll be happy with it.”

“I’ll leave that all up to you, business manager.” I grin at him.

“Co-owner,” he says, coming up to me. He kisses me, holding me tight against him. “I’m all in, remember?”

“I remember.”

We kiss for a while, standing there in the wide-open space.

It feels good to taste him on my lips. Every time we kiss, I’m reminded why I keep coming back, why I can’t get enough.

Slowly we break apart. “Come on, co-owner,” he says, his voice soft. He pulls me away from the center part of the warehouse and pushes me back against a pillar. I gape at him. “What are you—”

He kisses my neck, hands on my body, and I don’t need to finish that sentence. I kiss him back, tongue on his tongue, as his hands move up my skin. He pulls my shirt off, throws it on the ground. I feel so exposed, out here in the middle of this wide-open space, but there’s nobody around. He takes off my bra and lets it fall onto the floor as he kisses my neck, my chest, my nipples. My heart’s racing with need for him, and I let out a soft moan as he bites me gently then kisses my lips again.

I reach out and unbuckle his jeans. I tug his belt off and let them fall to the floor. I stroke his hard shaft before tugging his boxer briefs off, dropping down to my knees in front of him. The concrete is hard and cold on my knees but I don’t care as I take him in my mouth, sucking him deep and slow.

He growls his pleasure, grabbing my hair. “I’d quit a thousand jobs for you,” he says. “And if anyone can make this place special, it’s you.”