Page 22 of The C*ck Down the Block

I dared. I definitely dared. Not only did I toss one whole handful right over the top of her head, I shoved the other handful down the front of her shirt. If I was lucky, I’d be helping her pick that straw out of her bra later.

“Oh my giddy baby Jesus, you are going down.” Trix lunged and surprised the shit out of me by pulling on my waistband.

While I stopped and prayed that her hand was going down my pants, I got a fistful of straw in my shorts instead.

“Hey, truce,” I called out, laughing and bouncing around, trying to shake the straw out when a particularly sharp piece ended up down where the sun don’t shine.

Trixie smiled at me, her eyes sparkling with mischief. But the mischievous glint in her eyes told me she was far from done. “You started it.”

She was the only one who ever beat me at my own games. But this time I was going to win. Win her over. I gave her my best smoldering smile and wink. “Yes, I did. You ready for a roll in the hay now?”

Trixie snort-laughed. Like actually snorted. “That was the worst dad joke ever. Come on, let’s go do the coop before it’s time to go.”

She walked away and waved for me to follow after. Which, of course I would.

How the fuck was I a university graduate, the star quarterback of the bowl winning pro football team, a multi-millionaire, small business owner, and loving older brother, and still couldn’t figure out how to charm the sweetest, curviest, smartest, kindest woman I’d ever known?

Fuck.

Foghorn the rooster trotted over to me and stood by my side as we both watched Trixie’s hips sway as she walked toward the coops. I looked down thinking I had a brother in... feathers, wings? The damn rooster looked up at me and then pecked me on the damn heels. “Okay, okay, you little dinosaur, I’m going. Trix, wait up.”

We finished up the rest of the chores the sanctuary set out for us, still joking and palling around, but I needed some advice before I attempted to flirt with her again. I was questioning Everett’s advice to just be myself. She already liked me, but she didn’t love me. Hmm. Maybe I could stop for roses on my run tomorrow morning.

Trixie went to go sign us out, but returned with a slightly older woman in overalls and an old school camera. Nobody had made a big deal about who I was when we arrived, which had worked out perfectly for getting to spend time with her without anyone watching us. But maybe that wasn’t the right way to go. If we were in the public eye these next few weeks, we’d be forced to act more like a couple.

“Hey, the owners wondered if you would mind doing a quick photo.” She indicated toward the sign nearby with the name of the sanctuary, where Foghorn the rooster was perched. Because of course he was. “They could maybe post on their social media? You’d probably get them a ton of attention and that will bring in donations to feed and—”

“Sounds great.” I pulled Trixie over the sign, wrapped my arm around her and pulled her into the famous V-J Day dip, but didn’t actually kiss her. I. Didn’t. Kiss. Her.

I stared down into her sparkling blue eyes. I should have kissed her. I should have fucking kissed her.

Right on cue, the owner click-clicked away on her camera. I heard the flappity flap of chicken wings go right over our heads and the owner lady coo. “Oh, that’s absolutely adorable.”

It probably was the perfect shot, until Foghorn landed on my head and dug his claws into my scalp. I yelped, and he went flying again. Trixie and I tumbled to the ground, and I rolled to protect her, taking the brunt of the fall on my back and clasping her in my arms. She landed on top of me, and I held her against my chest a bit too long.

A tingling awareness of every inch of her curves molding against my body spread through me like fire. This was a sensation more potent than the adrenaline that usually surged through me on game day. Her hair smelled of hay and sunshine, her body warm and soft in my arms. This was Trixie, my friend, but she was also the woman I was utterly in love with.

In that moment, with her laughter still echoing in my ears, her body pressed to mine, the danger in this ruse hit me right in the gut, knocking the wind out of me as if I’d been sacked.

“Chris?” Her voice was soft, questioning. She straightened her glasses that had gone askew in our tumble, and looked down at me, her eyes wide and vulnerable. Did she feel it too? The shift in our dynamic, the crossing of a line we could never fully retreat from?

“You okay?” I released her a little too quickly and scrambled to my feet to help her up too.

“Yeah, I’m good.” She smiled, but in her eyes was a flash of confusion.

A part of me wanted to confess everything right then and there, to tell her how I felt and what I wanted. But that wasn’t the plan. I’d prove myself to her first. So instead, I brushed straw and dust off my clothes and forced a laugh. “Foghorn sure has it in for me, doesn’t he?”

The owner, camera still in hand, looked between me and Foghorn, who was strutting around like he owned the place. “He’s just an old romantic. Likes to make sure the hens he loves are protected,” she said, her voice soft and thoughtful. “I expect you’re the same.”

Her words struck me like another sack before I even had my breath back. Was that what I was doing? Protecting what I loved, even at the risk of losing it? The stakes had never been higher, and the game had never been more real. I wasn’t playing at being Trixie’s lover. I was desperately, hopelessly trying to become her love.

I made a quick anonymous donation on my phone to their 501c3 to keep their animals fed for the rest of the month.

We drove back from the sanctuary, the easy banter and laughter from earlier in the day gone. The lines of what I was doing, the plans I was trying my damnedest to execute, had blurred, and the unspoken emotions between us were a fucking chasm. This wasn’t what I wanted. This fake dating was supposed to bring us closer.

“Did you have fun?” I knew she had, but I was trying to gauge her feelings now in this uncomfortable silence we’d landed in.

Trixie looked over at me, surprise flickering in her eyes. “Of course. I had a blast, didn’t you?”

---