Page 4 of Hazel
I giggle and turn away. My cheeks are burning up and I don’t want him to see me blush. I’ve hardly been able to stop thinking about this man since the moment we met. And now here we are, all alone. I can feel his presence close behind me. His deep, woody scent. The dark light from his shadow running across the floor to my side. I want him to wrap his arms around my waist and feel his lips against my neck. I want to push his hand between my legs and let him rub my aching, wet pussy.
Yesterday, it felt like we were having a real connection. But it’s been so long since I’ve been with a guy, I’m not sure if I’m reading the situation clearly. He’s older than me. He’s drop-dead gorgeous. What the heck would he want with a woman like me? My mom always used to tell me I’m gorgeous, but deep down, I know better. I’m chubby and geeky, and I’m always the last girl a guy looks at when I’m with my friends.
It’s not like I’m bitter about it or anything. It’s just the way things are. Some people are great at math. Some people are world-class pianists. Some people are Brad Pitt. I’m none of those things. I’m just Hazel. Fat, ugly Hazel who likes to bake.
“I’ll make us some coffee,” I say, dragging myself out of my reverie.
I turn back around to ask him what he’d like to drink, but my foot lands on the rolling pin. My legs fly into the air. Suddenly I’m looking at the hole in the ceiling and my feet are off the ground and there’s this thought in my head that whatever’s about to happen next is going to be really, really painful.
But, instead of hitting the ground like a sack of wet potatoes, I find myself being held by a pair of thick, strong arms. Finn’s face is just inches above mine. One of his hands is on my ass. Squeezing it tight. Holding onto me and stopping me from falling to the floor.
“Careful,” he growls, “I’d hate to see anything happen to that gorgeous body of yours.”
“Gorgeous body?” I squeak, “you think I’m gorgeous.”
“Aye,” he purrs, “you’re a rare-looking woman, Hazel. Take my breath away.”
His mouth lowers towards me. I close my eyes ready to receive his kiss. Our lips meet. Softly at first, and then I open my mouth and his tongue darts in. I wrap my hands around his neck and kiss him back.
We fall to the ground and he’s pulling off his t-shirt when the bell from the door rings.
I look up and see a huge man standing above us. He looks from me and then to Finn and then back to me again. A wide smile spreads across his heavily bearded face.
“Seamus,” Finn says, standing up and helping me to my feet.
“Aye, brother,” the man grins, “aren’t you gonna introduce me to your friend?”
4
Finn
“What the heck are you doing here, Seamus?” I take a sip of my tea and shovel a mouthful of bacon between my lips.
We’re at the diner across the road having breakfast. The place is almost empty. A middle-aged man with a dirty shirt and a crooked tie hums to himself as he drinks his coffee. He looks like he’s been up all night drinking. When the waitress walks by him he reaches out a hand and she has to slap it away. I want to walk over there and punch him in the face. Not because he’s drunk. But because he’s an asshole. That, and because my brother just caught me making out with Hazel in the middle of the floor in her bakery, and now there’s so much sexual tension building up inside me I feel like I might explode.
“What am I doing here?” he laughs. “What d'ya think?”
“Ma,” I sigh.
“Aye, so you’re not as stupid as you look.” He lets out a chuckle that turns into a cough and signals to the waitress to bring over more coffee. He’s a big, rugged man with a big beard and a permanent smile. He’s eleven years older than me. Has himself a nice wife and three boys. He’s the closest thing I’ve ever had to a father. “There I was,” he continues, “all tucked up in bed ready to go to sleep when Ma calls up practically in hysterics. You know what she’s like. Ever since Dad ran out on us, she always thinks we’re gonna disappear on her. She was blabbering on about how you never came home and how you aren’t picking up your phone and how she thinks something really bad’s happened. I tell her not to worry. That you’re a grown-ass man and you can look after yourself. But then she keeps calling and calling. Every frigging hour. And eventually, it’s three in the morning, and Cathy’s not best pleased about being woken up so many times, so I have to get out of my nice warm bed and put my shoes on and come and drive around town hunting my baby brother. And what do I find? You, half-naked on the floor with a girl.”
“She’s not just any girl,” I tell him. “I think she’s the one.”
“Aye,” he smirks, “they're always the one with you. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that, I’d have my own private island in the Caribbean.”
“I’m serious, Seamus.” I scratch my chin and try and put the way I’m feeling into words. “I’ve never met anyone like her. The moment I saw her… it was like being hit with a lightning bolt.”
“And that’s why you’ve been up all night working at her bakery?”
“I guess.”
“And that’s why you’ve told her you’re gonna get it all fixed up for her in a week? Even when you know there isn’t a chance in hell the inspector will come down and sign off your work.”
I clench my fists under the table. What he’s saying is totally right. It’s what I’ve been telling myself all night. But the way he’s saying it makes me mad.
“If you’re not gonna help, Seamus,” I say, “then just leave me be.”
“Woah!” He rests his knife and fork on the plate and leans forward. “Who said I anything about me not helping? What kind of big brother would that make me?”
