Make It Last (6 page)

             
“Hey, Babe, I’ve been wondering if Pam was ever gonna give you a break.” Kent whispered in her ear

             
He said it loud enough for Colin to hear, and Briana notice
d
him stiffen at Kent’s words and his obvious familiarity.

             
“Yeah, I’ve got a quick one.
” Briana turned and gave him a grate
ful look, before going up on her
tip toes to meet him for a
brief
kiss.

             
She thought she heard a grunt or something come from Colin, so she turned to give him a smile and an introduction.

             
“Oh, sorry,” she said, though she wasn’t in the least. “Kent, this is Colin. W
e went to high school together. Colin, this is Kent.”

             
“What’s up, man?” Kent asked, extending his hand for a shake.

             
Colin looked at the of
fered hand, then back at Kent
who may hav
e been an inch shorter than him
and shook it.

             
“Not much. You must be new around here.” Colin said.

             
Briana tried to hide a smirk at Colin’s discomfort. It looked like he wanted to punch Kent in the face
.

             
“I’ve been here for about two ye
ars. I work over at the paper. Y
ou know, just temporary, to gain some experience and move on to a bigger gig.”

             
He seemed
happy to hear that Kent was j
ust a transient and that he’
d be moving on eventually.

             
Briana couldn’t help but think that Colin
had no right to be jealo
us of anyone in her
life. He was the one who
walked all of those years ago.

             
“Cool, man. We
ll
,
I’ll leave you two to your b
usiness and I’ll see you around,
” Colin said
,
eager to get out of there. “Bye, Bree.”

             
“Yup,” was her only response. She pretended to i
gnore him as he walked away, focusing
her attention on Kent. “Thanks for coming to my rescue.”

             
“Who was that guy?” Kent asked, looking up at Colin’s retreating back before looking back down at her. “At first I thought he was your date or something, but the look on
your face changed my mind. I
t looked like you wanted out of the situation. I hope you didn’t mind me coming up behind you like that. It just seemed to fit the situation.”

             
“No, I didn’t mind, I appreciated it. We dated in high school and I really hoped I’d never have to see him again. Pretty stupid, considering how small the town is, but he’d never planned to move back here.”

             
Kent was quiet for a moment.
“Oh, so he’s the d
ouche from high school.”
He
looked up again, as if wishing Colin was still standing in front of him.

             
“Yeah, but it’s no big deal. It was a long time ago. He just took me by surprise
,
is all.” As did the feel
ings she’d had when his hand
touched
her. It didn’t seem fair
that the one person she never wanted to see again was the one person who could set her body on f
ire
with one innocent touch.

             
“Al
l
right, Babe. You know that
I’m
here for you anytime you need me. If you want to tel
l him we’re together, feel free,
” Kent said with his cocky little grin lighting up his face.

             
Briana touched her hand to his cheek and smil
ed, wishing she fe
l
t
the things for Kent that she’d felt for Colin.

             
“Thanks, but I’ll be okay. I don’t want to cramp your style and r
uin your chance with the ladies,” she
responded playfully, trying to soften her negative response.

             
Kent looked down at her seriously, his heart in his eyes.
“Bree, you know, all you have to do is say the word, and there will be no other ladies.”

             
She nodded
, wishing she could give him the answer he wanted.

             
He
smiled again, all seriousness leaving his face. “You still want me to pick you up at one tomorrow?”

             
“You su
re you still want to go?” she
asked, giving him an out if he wanted one. “If you have other plans, I’ll understand.”

             
“Nope,” he replied. “I’m all yours
.
”

             
“Okay. One o’clock will be perfect.” She tip toed up to give him a quick kiss before turning to go back to the kitchen. “I’ll see you then.”

Chapter Six

             
Briana and Kent were among
the first people to arrive at the gravel pits. They parked along the s
ide of the dirt road and
unloaded
the stuff from the car. Kent grabbed the charcoal grill and started walking.

             
“Hey, Bree, i
f you can bring the bags and blanket, I’ll come ba
ck for the food and charcoal,” h
e grunted back at her, as he carried his heavy load.

             
“Okay,” s
he r
eplied, grabbing
the backpacks
and following
him down the lane.

             
Once they reached the end of the path, they walked through a hole
in the chain-link
fence. I
t opened up
to a large pool of
crystal blue
water.

             
Kent walked up to their usual spot by the water and set the grill down. He turned and st
opped to kiss Briana’s forehead
before heading back to the car to get the rest of their stuff.

             
She
set up their blanket and put their backpacks down to hold it in place.
It was a p
retty hot day already, so she
pulled her hair back into a pon
ytail and put her sunglasses on
, then applied some sunscreen and chapstick. When she saw Kent coming back in through the fence, she went over to grab a bag from him.

             
“Kara texted
and said that she and Pete are
almost here. They just stoppe
d to put ice in the cooler
.” Briana said.

             
“Sounds good
.
I’ll just
get the charcoal started. That way it’ll be
hot enough to start cooking when
everyone gets here. If you want to
jump in while you have the place to yourself, go ahead.”

             
Briana loved swimming,
and Kent knew she cherished the
se moments of solitude in the water. Pretty soon the pits would be filled with people, so she decided to take him up on his offer.

             
She looked out over the water
as she shimmied out of her cut
off shorts, so she didn’t see the look on Kent’s face as he watched her get undressed.
She took her top off next
,
then ran to the water and dove in.

             
She swam around, enjoying the feel of the cool water on her hot skin. When she came up for air, she turned ba
ck to say something to Kent, and saw that
Pete and Kara had arrived. T
hey were setting up next to Kent
.
Sh
e swam back towards the shore to
get out and join them.

             
She walked out of the water, her hair slicked back with droplets cascading down her body.

             
That was the image that greeted Colin when Rich ushered him in through
the fence. He stopped abruptly. Rich ran
into his back, and
Colin
stood there, mouth open
,
as he watched her.

             
“Dude,” Rich yelled. “What the hell?”

             
Briana looked up at the sound of Rich’s voice and saw Colin watching her. The look on his face was enough to make her body tingle, and she couldn’t help but feel some satisfaction in the stupefied look on his face.

             
Kent looked up at Rich’s shout as well, and was less
than
happy to see the way Colin stared
at Briana.
The only one who seemed oblivious was Rich, who was still trying to shove Colin through the gate.

             
“Colin,
I can’t walk through you, d
ude.”

             
Rich’s voice finally registered, and Colin said, “S
orry, m
an,” as he got out of the
way.

             
Briana
walked over to her friends and
pulled Kara off to the side.
“What the hell
is Colin doing here?” s
he asked
, trying to keep her voice down
. “Did you know he was coming?”

             
“No, I had no idea,
” Kara replied. “I’m sure Rich invited him. It’ll be fine. There will be so many people
here that
you
’ll
never have to talk to him.”

             
Kara walked back over to finish setting up her blanket and unpacking her things.
Briana watched Colin and Rich go up to Pete and slap hands to say hello. They all star
ted talking, probably catching
up since they
last saw each other, and she
took the opportunity to look Colin over while he was distracted.

             
He wore solid blue swim trunks
with a tank top in the same shade
. His arms looked really good, t
one
d and tan
. She felt that tingle run through her again and she couldn’t help but remember what it felt like to touch his body.

             
Back when she’
d the ability to touch him whenever she wanted, she’d always loved to run her hands over his back and feel the taut muscles underneath. She’d always thought his body was amazing, thanks to the training he’d
had to do
every day.

             
She looked around and realized that there would be a lot of eye candy for the ladies
today. Between Colin, Kent,
Rich,
and Pete
there wasn’t an inch of body fat. She couldn’t wait until it was time to go swimming
.

             
Maybe she would just enjoy the day and not worry about Colin. The town was small, but it was big enough for the both of them. Since they were bound to run into each other often, she might as well make the most of it.

             
Kent started grilling the food as the rest of the
people started showing up. Everyone cracked
open the beers and malt beverages.
Kara pu
t on some
tunes and everyone
started to enjoy the water and the company.

             
Briana was sitting on her blanket talking to Pete, when they noticed Kara walking o
ver to where Rich and Colin stood
talking.

             
“Don’t take it personally, Pete,” Briana said quietly to him.

             
“I don’t,” Pete replied. “I’ve known Kara a long time
, Bree, and
I know that she thinks
that she can’t have a serious relationship because her mothe
r never could. B
ut she’s wrong.”