Элла Франк - Entice

Mason’s head turned toward him so fast that Josh stood quickly, knocking the chair back. “Ahh, she said that wrong,” Josh assured Mason, coughing.

That was when Lena started to giggle and kiss Mason’s cheek. “Relax, Casanova. He said you two caught Rachel with your magazines open, showing all different positions, and she went nuts.”

Josh watched as Mason leaned in, kissed her lips hard, and then pulled back. “I’m confused. How did you got on the topic of porn again?”

Josh reached behind him and grabbed the bag, holding it up. “Doughnuts?”

“Doughnuts?” Mason repeated.

Lena grinned and let him go, moving back to the table. “Yep, doughnuts…” She paused and looked to the front door. “I was checking to make sure he knew that he was risking the wrath of Rachel because of the store pastries, and he told me her reaction could be no worse than—”

“Us finding her with the pornos. I got it.” Mason stated, ending her sentence for her.

Lena grinned as she sat down, and Josh breathed a sigh of relief while his friend walked over and took a seat. It had been so long since he’d hung out with Mason that he wasn’t sure if he was joking or not about the whole situation.

As Mason reached for a powder-covered pastry, he bit into it and said around a sugary smile, “I’m not scared of Rachel, and neither is Josh. We have way too much on her for her to threaten us. Ever. Isn’t that right?”

Josh nodded, picking up his own doughnut, as the lady in question walked in.

Her blue eyes, the same color as her brother’s, zoomed in on his hand holding a doughnut, and then her gaze moved up to lock onto his.

“Put it down, Daniels,” Rachel warned.

“Aw, come on, Rach. Just one little bite?” he asked, winking at her as she moved closer.

“Don’t try and charm me. You’re too much like my own brother for it to work. So, put down the doughnut,” she enunciated slowly.

Josh watched as she made her way across the dining room with a Hessian bag. With her purple hair braided into pigtails, she was dressed in tight black leather pants and had a bright red hoodie zipped to just between her breasts.

Josh tried to look at her as a woman, someone he’d never met, just to see if he could. But no such luck. She was Rachel—his best friend’s baby sister. She would always be the little brat he’d picked on. It was a shame really because she was extremely attractive in an in-your-face wild kind of way.

She stopped in front of him and held her palm out flat, looking down at him with twinkling eyes full of mischief.

“Give me that horrible excuse for a doughnut.”

Josh lifted it slowly and licked right across the top of the powdered sugar, winking at her. That was when she reached out and pushed it into his nose. Coughing, he pulled it away, hearing both Mason and Lena laughing behind her.

“Don’t mess with her pastries, Josh,” Lena told him through a fit of giggles.

Looking up at Rachel, he watched as she grinned and reached out to swipe his nose with her finger.

“Powdered sugar doesn’t look right on you. You aren’t that sweet.”

Josh frowned. “Aw, come on, Rach. Now, you’re just trying to hurt my feelings.”

Turning, she moved around the table and took a seat, putting her feet up on the chair opposite her.

Josh watched as she crossed her arms, and then he asked, “How can I make it up to you?”

She sat forward before questioning him. “Do you still like to dance?”

Groaning, Josh shook his head and rolled his eyes. Back in the day, Rachel, Mason, and himself all use to frequent the clubs. Sure, now I do it a lot less, but I’ll go if she really wants me to. Plus, I might meet someone.

“Yeah, I don’t mind it. Got a place in mind?”

She nodded, putting her feet on the floor. “Friday night. We’ll all go to Blue Moon.”

From across the table, he heard Lena cough a little, so Josh turned to look in her and Mason’s direction.

“You don’t like Blue Moon?” he inquired cautiously.

Mason reached over and took Lena’s hand. He squeezed it, and then said, “We’ve only been once.”

Josh watched Mason turn to Lena, speaking softly, “Let’s go and change that memory, huh?”

Lena nodded, and Josh could tell there was more going on than he knew about. He turned back to Rachel, who was sitting quiet and pensive, lost somewhere else in her own thoughts as she stared out the window.

Josh kept his eyes on her, wondering what was on her mind. Instead of asking, he told her, “Okay, count me in. Friday it is.” He paused, reaching for the doughnut. “Now, can I eat my doughnut in peace?”

Rachel turned back to him, plastering on a too happy smile, and took the offensive doughnut, dropping it on the table. She opened her bag, pulled out a cling-wrapped plate with what looked like homemade beignets, and placed it on the table in front of him.

Josh pulled his eyes away from the plate, moving them back to Rachel. He grinned. “You’re an angel. Anyone tell you that?”

“Stop sucking up, Daniels. Just know that when this melts in your mouth, I saved you from polluting your taste buds.”

Picking up one of the tasty morsels, he took a bite and groaned, looking over at her smug face.

“You can say it now,” she instructed him.

“Say what?” he questioned around the second bite.

“That I’m right, and I’m a genius,” Rachel pointed out smugly.

Grinning, Josh leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “You’re right, and you’re a crazy purple-haired genius.” Sitting back, he watched the smirk creep onto her face. He looked at Mason and Lena and winked as he ended with, “Who loves to look at her brother’s porn.”

He watched with delight when her eyes widened, and the other two at the table burst out into laughter.

“Oh, I hate you, Daniels!”

Finishing off the beignet, he blew her a kiss. “Nah, you don’t. I’m gonna take you dancing.”

Shelly was standing in front of her mirror, inspecting her reflection, when she heard the intercom peal through her condo. Quickly, she dashed over and hit the enter button.

Lena had called her the other night and asked if she wanted to go out dancing. At first, Shelly had hesitated, thinking it was a set-up, until Lena had told her to bring a date.

Enter Paul Worthington, a man that would most certainly prove my father’s theory on my dating skills wrong. Enter a successful, stable, reliable man.

Shelly had called him back when she’d gotten home Monday and was surprised when he told her he wanted to get together and maybe even give things another try. Not having any other interesting offers available, she hadn’t seen the harm in giving it one last shot, even though she had a rule about repeats. Never repeat bad words you hear, never repeat bad dates you had, and never ever repeat a bad sexual experience.

In all fairness, Paul hadn’t been bad at anything. He just never followed through. He’d told her over and over that he wanted to wait so it would be special. Wait for what? Marriage? It wasn’t like I was saving myself since those days were long gone. So, what was he waiting for?

Before she talked herself out of the date, she slicked her lips with gloss, tugged down the hem of her black dress, and made her way to the front door. Pulling it open, she found Paul standing with his back facing her.

He was dressed in a dark brown sports coat and cream-colored slacks. When he turned, his green eyes shined as he smiled at her, looking her over. She reciprocated, looking at the blue button-up shirt that was tucked neatly in at his waist. She finally pulled her gaze up to land on his.

“Paul, it’s so nice to see you again.” Reaching out her hands, she watched as he took them and squeezed her fingers.

“You, too, Shelly,” he told her as he moved into the condo. She turned away to grab her bag and coat as he said softly, “You look fantastic.”

Smiling over her shoulder at him, she took his hand in hers. “So do you. Ready to go dancing?”

He tensed a little, and Shelly got the impression that he was not looking forward to it at all. Ahh, prayers answered—a boring suit, a nice man, and a personality that I can predict. That’s what I want, right?

The music was pumping through the club and bodies were gyrating when Rachel dragged Josh through the doors. The dim lights were a welcome relief from the bright floodlights outside where they’d been waiting in line. His eyes scanned the sea of people, looking for his friend, but he was coming up empty. Man, I could use a beer, he thought as they pushed through the crowd. When they got to the bar, Rachel turned and rested her back against it.

“Man, I love this place!” she shouted over the music.

“Really?” he queried, looking at her as she scanned the crowd.

Josh was starting to get the impression that Rachel’s outlandish hair and outfits were all part of some kind of bigger picture that he and everybody else may be missing, and he wanted to see if she would confirm it. She turned her head, facing him, and grinned.

“Yeah, really.” She paused, and then looked back out at the dancing crowd with that same almost sad look on her face from the other day. Then, she brightened again and nodded as if confirming her first thought. “You can totally lose yourself here. I love it!”

Josh looked at her, smiling. Now, that statement is completely Rachel.

She was dressed in a tiny pink PVC tank top and leather pants tonight. She looked like a tiny little dominatrix that had been spray-painted with Pepto-Bismol.