Chapter 4

My heart raced. I couldn’t believe I’d seen her! She was pretty brazen, doing that when I was around!

But then I caught myself. Actually ... she wasn’t.

If I’d opened the door, she would’ve heard me and immediately moved. I would’ve been none the wiser by the time I had entered the room. And from the angles, only the trick of the glass had allowed me to see her. If it had been daylight out, or the angles slightly different, I wouldn’t’ve seen a thing.

I checked the noodles, which were doing nicely, and realized I was behind on getting the sauce ready. I busied myself while my mind continued to churn.

Clearly, Natalie was horny, and clearly she’d enjoyed using the hot tub jet to get off. She’d implied she had a high libido like Cheryl, though perhaps not so out of control.

Her libido made sense. Mine was sky-high, too. It was probably genetic, I mused. Heck, I was jacking off every morning, but in the privacy of my room. Not in the hot tub.

But, as I finished up the sauce, I realized I hadn’t answered my own question. What was I going to do?

I had just finished cooking when Natalie joined me in the kitchen. She’d changed into sweats and socks and the tips of her hair were still wet. She set the empty screwdriver glasses on the counter near the sink before her eyes fell on the food.

“Ooh! I have the best little brother!”

“Yeah, you owe me.”

“Owe you?” She mock pouted with puppy dog eyes. “You aren’t going to do the cooking and cleaning just to be nice?”

I scoffed. “And cleaning?”

“I’m going to make more drinks. What do we have besides vodka?”

“Wine. Rum. A little beer. That brand Dad likes.”

“Mmm. Rum and cokes?”

“How about wine with dinner?” I gestured at the pasta. “The bottle of Pinot Grigio will go better with the food.”

She nodded and opened the fridge. “Chardonnay ... Sauvignon Blanc ... Ah. Pinot Grigio.” She reached into the back and pulled it out. “So ... when did you become all knowledgeable about wine?”

“When I started dating.”

“Huh. I would’ve taken Cheryl for a tequila girl.”

“She was, but she wasn’t the first woman I dated.”

Natalie smirked. “Just the first one that wanted to screw her dad.”

I laughed. “You just cannot let that go, can you?”

She shrugged. “It’s just too wild.”

“Yeah. But there’s wilder stuff out there.”

“True, but nothing—” She suddenly clamped her jaw shut.

My brow shot up and my heart skipped.

“Nothing...?” I prompted.

“Nothing I’ve known someone actually did.”

“We don’t know Cheryl did it with her father.”

She shrugged agreement. “So where’s the corkscrew?”

“Dunno.”

Natalie poked around and found it while I plated the food and got the table set. Once we were settled, I raised my wine glass in a toast.

“To the best sister ever.”

“And the best brother.”

We clinked glasses and then started to eat. After a few bites, Natalie looked at me with wide eyes.

“This is really good!”

I smiled. “Told you. I had to impress the ladies.”

“Well, this lady is impressed.”

“You’re my sister. You have to be impressed.”

“No ... No.” She shook her head vehemently. “If this were a date, I’d totally consider this foreplay.”

“Too bad it’s not a date then.” The words were out of my mouth before I thought about them, and I froze, worried I’d offended her.

But she was looking at her plate and not me. She shook her head again. “Yeah. Too bad.” Then she looked up. “What do you have planned for dessert?”

By the time we finished dessert, Natalie wasn’t sloppy drunk but she was definitely feeling no pain. I told her to pick a movie out while I put away the leftovers and loaded the dishwasher. The stuff to be hand-washed could wait until morning.

I found her stretched across the couch, laying on her side, and clicking away on the TV remote. Apparently nothing on Netflix really interested her. She saw me and grinned.

“So where am I supposed to sit?”

“Right here.” She sat up and patted the little throw pillow where her head had been.

“Okay...” I pushed the cushion aside and sat.

“Goodie.” She grabbed the throw pillow, put it on my lap, and dropped her head back down.

I laughed in surprise.

She rolled so she could look up at me. Her eyes were wide and she gave me a broad grin. Clearly, clearly drunk.

“Your lap’s comfy.”

“Yeah, you like having your head in my lap.”

She sniggered and rolled back to face the screen.

My face heated. Had I really said that?

I had ... but she hadn’t gotten upset.

Before I could muse on that more, Natalie found a show she liked and clicked play. A rom-com, no surprise. It looked like a Netflix original, since I’d never heard of it.

She squirmed a bit on the couch, getting comfortable. Then the movie started and I decided to just focus on it.

It turned out to be surprisingly good. When it finished, Natalie sat up and smiled at me.

“Hot tub?”

I laughed. “Again?”

She shrugged. “Don’t have one at home.”

“Yeah.” I sighed. “True.”

“So ... martinis this time?”

“We don’t have any gin.”

“Vodka martinis.”

“We don’t have any vermouth.”

She pouted and made puppy dog eyes.

“Okay,” I sighed. “I’ll see what I can do. Meet you in the tub?”

“Thank you!”

She gave me a hug and climbed off the couch.

I didn’t come up with any good drinks. We hadn’t planned on having a full bar, and the vodka and rum were mostly me just grabbing them for the heck of it. Dad drank beer and Brenda—well, I didn’t care what Brenda drank. She and Dad could buy their own liquor.

I didn’t want to make more screwdrivers. We were running low on orange juice. I had bought apple cider, and I didn’t think that would work well with vodka or rum, but I didn’t have many alternatives. Except...

... we did have peppermint schnapps and instant hot chocolate. Those weren’t hot tub drinks, though.

I decided to try the rum with the apple cider. After tasting a small glass, I decided it wasn’t bad. So I mixed two large glasses and made Natalie’s strong.

Maybe the booze would loosen her tongue.

Natalie loved the rum and cider. She smiled at me after she took her fist sip.

“You are the best little brother!”

I chuckled. “You’re welcome.”

She grinned and took another sip.

“So...,” I said. “I told you about Cheryl. Your turn.”

She eyed me warily. “What do you want to know?”

“You, sitting on the sink, with another woman.”

“Oh, that.” She smirked.

“What happened?”

She shrugged. “I met her dancing. She came onto me.”

“And you said okay.”

She grinned. “I was a little drunk.”

“Was it good?”

“Amazing.”

I chuckled.

“We went back to her place. Well, hers and her boyfriend’s.”

“Did you...?”