legs."
"If you're trying not to flirt, you're doing a bad job at it."
"Oh, I'm not trying not to flirt. I'm just being myself."
"Alec?" I look at him with my eyebrows raised.
"Yes, Princess?" He grins cheekily and puts his arm over my shoulders. Again.
"Shut up."
ALEC
The thought of putting my hands in the back pockets of jeans she's wearing isn't something I should entertain in public.
Her eyes flick up at me when I call her Princess and I put my arm over her shoulders. I have an irrational need to touch her, make sure she's not a figment of my imagination. Surely, someone as sexy as her can't be real.
''Shut up.'' The ends of her hair flick over my arm and I know she's real and she smells like strawberries.
Strawberries make me think of cream, and cream makes me think... Oh hell.
Licking strawberries and cream off her lightly tanned skin as she writhes beneath me...
I run my hand over my face. I need to get laid, and fast.
~
ALEXIS
My door opens and I know who it is without looking.
"Please, Bing, come on in. Make yourself at home," I say sarcastically. I look up from my Kindle when he drops himself on my bed.
Bing - my older brother. He's 20, and he's the biggest pain in the ass in the world. His real name is Samuel, but when he got to my age he already had a name in our area for the biggest man slut. Bing being Bing decided he'd live up to his name, and his friends said he could either be called 'Bing' or 'Tap' in honour of how many girls he'd slept with.
He said 'Bing' and its stuck for the last two years. Only my parents call him Sam. Even Grammy calls him Bing, the legend that she is.
"Hi to you too. You'd think after three months you'd miss your brother." He pinches my toe and I kick him.
"No. It's been lush without you." I smile sweetly.
"Such a rat." He looks around the room. "Nice crib."
I shake my head. "Thanks, gangsta wannabe."
"What?" He fixes his gaze on me.
"Never mind." I sigh.
He looks at me like I'm weird - rich, coming from him - and shakes his head.
"How's my favourite little sister then?"
I look at him like he's the most annoying person in the world.
Which he is.
"I'm your only sister, so I'm your favourite by default, idiot. But I'm fine."
"Good." Bing draws the word out and leans back, flexing his toes.
"Get comfy, Bing." I roll my eyes.
"Yeah, I will, thanks." He grins at me. "Who's that dude in the garden?"
"Oh. That's Alec." I turn my attention back to my Kindle.
"Who's Alec?"
"Grammy's help."
"Her help?"
"Yeah, she's getting old, Bing. Can't do everything she used to."
"Since when has that ever stopped her?"
I look at him over the top of the e-reader and tilt my head slightly.
He has a point. Even when I was ten and Grammy had her hip replacement she still insisted she could do everything. She's independent, strong, just like Mum. She'd never accept help from anyone..
"Maybe she's realised she needs to start taking it easy," I guess.
"She's off to Bingo tonight. What happens when Gram goes to Bingo, Lexy? She comes back pissed as a coot." Bing laughs. "Good on her."
"I dunno then." I shrug. "I think she's trying to set me up with Alec. Maybe the 'help' thing is just a ruse for that."
Bing taps his chin and muses it over. "You can see the garden from here, right?"
"Uh.."
He gets up and moves to the window. He slides the curtain across and pokes his head out the window. He comes back and sits down a minute later.
"You could do worse, Lexy."
"Gee, thanks," I retort, turning off the Kindle. Clearly, my brother has no intentions of leaving me alone.
"Just sayin', sis. You need a boyfriend. You could do with loosening up a little." He winks and I chuck a pillow at him.
"That better not have a double meaning, Bing!"
"Would I ever?" He mock gasps and holds his hand to his chest.
I give him the 'yeah, right' look and he gives in.
"Okay, okay," he acquiesces. "I'm just sayin' you could do with a bit of fun. I know you're worried about
Richard Ellis Preston Jr.