Page 21 of Let Me Love You
Chapter Five
“So, what’s eating you?” Stacey’s sister, Jennifer, asked while sipping her coffee at the small kitchen table tucked near the window.
Stacey stood in her hot pink pajama shorts and matching tank top at the stove, flipping chocolate chip pancakes on the griddle pan. Growing up, and now whenever the girls stayed with their parents, their mom would cook chocolate chip pancakes on Sunday morning. Since their parents’ retirement last year, they had been touring the United States in an RV. They’d flown home in the Spring when Stacey’s divorce finalized to lend her a shoulder to cry on, but they were back on the road now. So, whenever Stacey stayed at her sister’s or Jen stayed with her, tradition called for Stacey to make the pancakes. A tradition that provided both girls comfort and satisfied their love of chocolate.
“Nothing is eating me.” She refused to look at her sister. No one could read her emotions better. Despite Jennifer being three years younger, they had a bond like twins. Damn Jennifer for having that sisterly sixth sense of knowing when something bothered her.
“I’m calling bullshit.” Jen noisily sipped her coffee. “You came all the way down here and we just had a ‘sleep-over’ last weekend. Spill it, Stace!”
She flipped a couple pancakes on a plate and turned, setting them in front of her sister, but avoiding her scrutinizing gaze. She slid two pancakes on her own plate and turned off the gas stove. She sat across the small glass table, and the adjacent window bathed them in the morning sunlight, warming her. Stacey laid the teal napkin across her lap and lathered her pancakes in butter and syrup before looking up.
“I slept with Ren yesterday.” The words sprung from her lips before she could stop them. Relief washed over her. The situation had been eating at her like a dirty secret, like she’d done something wrong.
Jennifer spit her coffee out like in the movies, flying spittle landing on Stacey’s hand and plate. “Come again?” Her eyes widened and her mouth formed an ‘O.’ She set herLife’s a Beachceramic coffee mug on the table as if afraid Stacey saying the words again might cause her to drop it.
“I had sex with Ren.” The thought of yesterday afternoon caused her whole body to flush. Heat rose in her cheeks and twisted in her belly. The rush of blood through her veins made her feel more alive than she had in months.
Damn!
“Ren? Your hunky college neighbor, Ren?” she asked, clarifying.
“Yes.” Stacey bowed her head. Even though she didn’t seduce Ren—quite honestly, it had been the other way around—she couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed. She was older, wiser. She should have known better.
“Hot damn, big sister!” Jen grinned from ear to ear. She held up her hand for a high-five. “Good for you.”
“Put your hand down. Good for me? That’s your response?” She shook her head, appalled at her sister’s reaction, at the look of pure joy. “I had sex with a recently graduated college guy, eight years my junior and all you can say is ‘hot damn’ and ‘good for you?’” She grabbed the teal napkin off her lap and wiped at the coffee all over the place. “By the way, I wanted a little coffee and your spitinmy pancakes. Thanks.” She quirked her head to the side and smirked.
“I’m sorry.” A ridiculous smile stretched across Jennifer’s face. She pulled her napkin from her lap and dabbed the table. “You caught me off guard.”
“You don’t say?” Stacey wiped her hands with the napkin.
“I don’t know what I expected you to say, but it wasn’t that.”
“Well, I hadn’t expected it to happen.” Her voice cracked with indecisiveness. Feeling alive and desire conflicted with the guilt and worry.
“Since Randy left, you basically isolated yourself from everything. Well, except maybe me. And you know I love you, but you needed to move on.” Jennifer sighed. “I’ve been telling you that since the asshole confessed to cheating and even more so since the divorce was finalized. You spent some time licking your wounds, but you can’t do that forever. Maybe getting it on with a hot twenty-three-year-old will get you going. I mean, Ren is fucking hot. I’ve fantasized about tapping that.”
Stacey’s jaw dropped open at that comment, and Jen giggled. “What?”
“You’ve fantasized about having sex with Ren?” Her stomach tightened in knots at the idea of another woman, even her sister, looking at Ren in that way. She didn’t like it. Strange that she had any feelings like that. It had been a fling. Nothing more.
“He’s a young, extremely hot guy. I don’t masturbate to visions of him, if that’s what you’re thinking. But I have thought he’d make a good bed buddy.”
“Jennifer. TMI!”
“Hey! You asked. Over the last few years, whenever I’ve been to your house and he’s around, I’ve noticed him. How could I not? And I can’t believe my older sister nailed him!” She threw her head back with a full belly laugh. “This is the best news ever!”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Annoyance thickened Stacey’s voice at all the hilarity she seemed to find with this.
“It seems outside your usual decision making.” Jen squeezed her sister’s hand. “That’s all I’m saying. You’re a hot catch. Obviously, Ren sees that.” She stuffed a bite of pancake in her mouth. “Are you going to tell me about it? Or will I have to drag it out of you one juicy detail at a time?”
Stacey’s cheeks flamed again. She’d never been a kiss-and-tell kind of girl, except with her sister. They shared their exploits through high school and college. But Randy had swooped in on Stacey at the ripe age of twenty and she’d been faithful to him for over ten years. So, her stories hadn’t been as exciting once she and Randy got into their routine. Most often she lived vicariously through Jen and her adventures.
Plus, she had no idea where or how to begin to describe the experience of being consumed by Ren. Deliciously devoured.
“Well? Come on. You can’t keep something like this to yourself.” Excitement rose in her voice. “Is he good in the sack or what?”
Stacey stared at her coffee cup resting on the table. She’d always been able to tell her sister anything, but all of the sudden, a shyness washed over her. “Yes. Amazing, actually.” Her words came out hushed.
