Going Full Throttle

Chapter 27

"Pia, can you cut some veggies?"

Before I could respond to Beau, Scotty scoffed, "Do you want her fingertips mixed in there?"

"I'm not that bad," I said as I glared at him. "Have you ever even stepped foot in the kitchen?"

Scotty rocked back in his chair and stretched his arms behind his head as he smirked at me. "That's the one with the microwave right?"

I rolled my eyes and stood up from my lawn chair. The grass under my bare feet was cool as the late afternoon chill settled around us. There was something in the air that made my skin tingle. It was hard to place whether it was a smell or a feeling, but I could tell a storm was coming.

"Feel that?" I asked Beau excitedly as I walked by him to go inside.

"The storm?" He responded. "Of course, my knee is aching."

"You two are loons," Scotty called dryly over his shoulder as he settled back in his chair. "It's blue skies."

I giggled as Beau brought his hands to his mouth and perfectly recreated a loon call. I went inside and left them to bicker about the weather. Beau had set out all of the vegetables on the counter for me and left me a cutting board and a knife that looked way too sharp.

I smiled when I heard Finn's giggles in the front yard. He and Twyla had been gardening together all day. Every time he found a new bug he'd come racing to show me. There was a shift between us since we spent a week apart. Suddenly, it felt like he was more focused on me, and wanted me to be focused on him. Even when he was doing something with the others, he wanted to know I was paying attention.

To say I loved it was an understatement.

"Do you know what you're doing?" Tyler asked from the staircase. I looked up from the mess of vegetables in front of me and scowled at him. He was at the top of the stairs, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. Once our eyes locked he slowly walked down toward me. There was something predatorial in his eyes that made my stomach flutter.

I stood stiffly at the counter as Tyler skated behind me and peered over my shoulder. He tisked as he eyed my work and shook his head. I narrowed my eyes at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Here," he said in a husky voice. He pressed himself against my back and covered my hands with his. My breath quickened as his dominant presence wrapped around me. He made my hand hold the tomato and curled my fingers in. Then he slowly guided my hand around the knife.

"Better," he whispered in my ear as I followed his physical direction and cut the tomato into even cubes. He let go of my hands and allowed me to continue on my own. I expected him to step back but he stayed pressed against me. His calloused hand fell to my hip and slipped under my shirt. His fingers rubbed languidly against my hip bone then dragged along the hem of my shorts.

"Tyler," I warned.

"Cut the vegetables, Bambi," he growled back in my ear. His hands drew lazy circles across my stomach as I tried to focus on cutting.

"Then stop distracting me," I ground out.

"Distracting? You don't even know the meaning of it," he said quietly. His hand dipped toward my shorts again and I put the knife down as a shiver shot up my spine. Tyler didn't seem to care though as he continued his game. "Do you know how distracting it is to watch you all damn day and not be allowed to touch?" As though he had to prove his point, he flexed his hips closer to me so I could feel the evidence of his frustration.

"It's only been a couple of days," I breathed. It was hard to find any time alone since Finn was back. Plus Grace and Jedd were leaving soon so I felt like I had to soak up as much time as possible with them. I had to admit that it did feel like Tyler and I barely got a taste of each other before I'd put it on the back burner.