Coralynn: A little something to leave you with.
The picture is of her, a peppermint candy held between her top and bottom teeth, a teasing smile, a wink, and a glint in her eyes that’s full of mischievousness. I’m in for it. Completely. Now it’s time for me to think about my next play. The victory is going to be sweet as hell, exactly like Coralynn Parker.
ONE
Coralynn
PRESENT DAY
“It’s going to be worth it in the end,” I tell myself, looking at the caution tape leading upstairs to where the addition is being added to our studio, LITHE.
“That’s what I keep telling myself, too.” My sister Shae comes up beside me with Luke, her man, but he’s more like her husband already, even if they haven’t sealed the deal. The slight bump she’s sporting has them fast-tracking a wedding, which takes place a week from today. A literal winter wedding where they’ll say their nuptials in a forest-like setting. It’s going to be beautiful, over the top, and everything my sister and her fiancé deserve.
“At the rate everyone’s working, it won’t be much longer,” Luke says. It’s hard to see because right now, the yellow glaring caution tape bars the entrance to the existing staircase. The one snafu in the building plans that Crew and Serena ran into was being in compliance with the city ordinance as well as the historic society. I knew we’d have to incorporate an elevatorsomehow, but managing to keep it cohesive with the rest of the building inside and out was a nightmare.
It's a good thing Jagger and his company, Jagged Edge Builders, were more than up for the challenge, going so far as to call in reinforcements in the form of friends. We all pulled our weight and managed to get the demolition portion done on Sunday and Monday. Of course, that also meant seeing Doctor Anthony Gallo, the man who preoccupies my every waking moment. He’s also the man who has held my attention the longest. Anytime I run, he chases, and there’s a thrill to knowing that I have a man like Tony wrapped around my finger.
And little does he know that I’m more than infatuated with him, too.
He’s the kind of man who commands your attention without asking, and up close, his features only amplify him being god’s favorite because of how he’s sculpted—sharp angles softened by his smile, hair that’s a tousled mess of dark curls, reminding me of a look that’s touched by sleep, or my personal favorite, my hands running through it. And that single curl that always falls onto his forehead, no matter how many times he tries to get it to stay out of his eyes. The lock of hair seems to defy gravity, giving him a boyish charm to his otherwise ruggedness.
His eyes hold a stormy depth, the sort that suggests he’s always thinking about his next move. Then I just happened to notice the last time we were alone together, when the sun shone a certain way, the flecks of gold in his otherwise warm green eyes, and all they did was make me want to stare longer. The complete opposite of what I should want when playing hard to get.
Of course, it doesn’t stop there. Tony’s shadowed beard traces the line of his jaw, emphasizing his strength. It isn’t precisely groomed, more of an effortless roughness going along with the man who more or less wakes up looking good withoutmeaning to. His mouth… My god, his mouth. It’s soft by comparison, natural full lips that make him look perpetually on the edge of smirking or whispering some kind of dirty thought in your ear.
And Tony’s body… I felt him, all of him, and every time I have one single thought about him, my own comes to life. My blood warms, my muscles tingle, and my core instantly aches with a need I’m unable to fulfill as of late. I’ve felt all of his relaxed but undeniably powerful body. His chest was rising and falling with an easy and steady breath. By the time our hot and heavy make-out session was over, I realized what I’d done. The buttons of his shirt were undone, showing off the dusting of dark hair that I’m more than sure tapers down his torso. Broad shoulders, corded muscles with a leanness, and there were even peeks of tattoos that seemed to tell a story: constellations, shapes, and symbols marking his body with clear intention.
Everything about him, his posture, his stillness, the way I felt every inch of his delicious body, only made me want him more. Then he came and helped everyone with the demo phase of the renovation. Tony’s shirt came off, and I nearly lost my footing.
“Earth to Coralynn, is anyone in there?” Shae breaks through the fog of remembering every last minute of when I saw Tony a few days ago. He’d gotten a call and had to leave. I later found out from Luke that his parents called, and his mom was frazzled about his dad. He left his shirt, and I did what any other woman who’s worth her salt and slightly obsessed with a man does: I snagged it when no one was looking, stuffing it in my purse and going about my business.
“Leave her be. She’s daydreaming.” I hear Luke make anoofnoise and turn to look their way. Shae handled my future brother-in-law seamlessly, always looking out for her younger sister all these years later.
“Am not. I’m thinking about how much we have to do leading up to the wedding. Obviously, the bachelorette party won’t involve male strippers, my sister being put on stage, or copious amounts of alcohol. That still leaves us with manicures, pedicures, massages, and talking shit about the men in our lives.” We’re all closing our respective businesses or offices on Thursday and Friday to return Monday, save for the newlyweds. They’re going on a two-week honeymoon to the mountains. Shae wants cold weather the entire time instead of a cold front, which happened to coincide with her wedding this weekend.
“Don’t worry. The guys aren’t going to have too much fun, either. Poker night at Johnny’s place, pizza, booze, and losing money.” I almost make a face to say ‘yeah, right.’ Except my sister’s hormones have been off the charts, and I’m not trying to make her cry, even if it’s a joke.
“Not too many of us left standing. Gallo, Colt, Locke, and Zane.” Luke zeroes his gaze in on me, and it takes all I have to not roll my eyes at his antics.
“Come on, let’s get out of here. My classes are done for the day. Coralynn has one left, and she said she’d close the studio down tonight. Even though it’s my night.” The big sister in her appears again, this time admonishing me for taking over her night to shut down LITHE.
“It makes no sense for you to go home or go out to dinner and come back here. You can do me a solid another time. Who made this week’s schedule anyway?” Shae usually has this down to a science, making it work for all of us, including Lyric, who works a few days a week.
“Me, but I was tired. I’m always tired. This baby I’m growing sure is making me exhausted. Whoever said your energy comes back after the first trimester lied.” She covers her mouth when an unexpected yawn attacks.
“Get out of here.” I shoo the happy couple out with my hands.
“Come on, baby girl. Dinner, a shower, and putting your feet up are in your future.” Luke may like to give me hell about who he calls Gallo, even though to me, he’s Anthony or, the at rare times Tony when no one is around, but the truth of the matter is, Luke loves my sister endlessly.
“Fine, I can tell when I’m not wanted,” she replies but moves to wrap me up in a hug. While Shae has dark hair, mine is blonde, and while she’s tall, I’m on the shorter side. We’re complete opposites, each of us taking after a different parent.
“I’ll see you tomorrow. Go eat and rest, or, you know, make Luke rub your feet,” I whisper, doing so loudly enough that Luke can hear while smiling in that sisterly kind of way over her shoulder. He lets out a laugh while Shae giggles. “Okay, now, I know that giggle, and there’s not enough bleach in the world to even touch on the subject my sister is conjuring up. It’s time for you two to leave.” I pull back from my sister. She, in turn, moves toward Luke, and he takes her hand immediately.
“Bye, sis, love you,” Shae tells me.
“Later, little sis. Text us when you’re in the house for the night,” Luke repeats his mantra, much like he does every single night, and if he doesn’t, our father does. Then there’s the group chat with all of the girls as well as the one with the whole group. It gives me a headache thinking about the one time I woke up to one hundred plus messages I had to scroll through to get the Cliff Notes. All for it to be about a group dinner. I suggested someone create a calendar event, then invite us to it, because that was too damn much.
“I will, big brother.” They head out the door, in the nick of time, too, since my phone buzzes around on the small workplace where the computer is located. Naturally, I didn’t put it face down, so they would have seen who decided to greet me with a text.
