Free Bondage on the 4th of July by Bonnie Bliss Page A

in his blue eyes. Grabbing her over the shoulder and pulling her in for a hug, he quickly kissed the top of her head.
    “Sorry, but I couldn’t resist.” She could hear the laughter in his rich inflections.
    “Yeah, yeah.” Millie shoved at him and turned back to the window and sighed. “Doesn’t matter, what I was watching went away.”
    Tom rocked back on his heels, shoved his hands into his khaki shorts. His gaze held mischief. She knew that look. He was planning.
    “What were you looking at, Millie?”
    He was quite handsome. He was just over six foot, and in such great shape you could see through his simple white t-shirt that hugged his muscular chest. His brown hair was cut in a sweeping style, short but modern, a stray piece would often fall onto his forehead when he wasn’t paying attention or straining himself. He had strong, masculine features like their father, and the same blue eyes as her. He was a good man, often encouraging her in anything she wanted to do. And the man could see right through her.
    Shifting from one foot to the other, she looked away from him, and a deep pink bloomed on her cheeks. He would know instantly. Tom, Brad, and Millie were friends all through school. The three of them caused trouble till they were too old to, then it turned to them going out and getting drunk together for the first time, then getting caught. They were all also grounded for a month together after that episode. But for some reason, when Millie started to make it clear she wanted Brad for her own, flirting with him innocently, Tom had started to discourage her advances. Saying that she didn’t know what she was getting into. When she would probe, Tom would shut down and just tell her to find a guy that wasn’t so in charge. Brad would only get all of them into trouble if he got hooked up with her. Didn’t matter, Brad would go through women like M&M’s and left the broken hearts scattered all throughout town. Millie knew one thing. She didn’t want to be just another broken heart. So she gave up, and stuck to being the little sister till he left.
    “Mrs. Jenkins, she was talking to someone I didn’t know, he looked dangerous.” She shrugged and started to walk past him at a fast pace.
    She knew better than that. His hand shot out and grabbed her around the forearm. He looked down at her with concern.
    “Brad came home didn’t he? Mom told me he was going to be in town.”
    She snatched her arm from his hold, glaring at him.
    “So?”
    Tom stabbed his fingers in his hair, and something knowing passed over his expression before that same hand he had used on his hair, scrubbed down his face.
    “We talked about this, Millie. You and Brad would be like oil and water in a relationship. Do you really want to ruin that friendship? It would ruin all of us. We could never be together all at once ever again!”
    Her glare was like daggers as she looked at her brother. The one person that had given her anything she wanted in the world was now trying to deny her the one thing she wanted the most.
    “I don’t know what you know that I don’t, but just remember, in locker rooms, girls talk too. Maybe more so if you get some liquor running in the conversation. I’m a big girl now, not some doe-eyed teenager trying to chase a man that only went after women.” She clenched her fists at her side. “You can’t tell me what to do, Thomas. He’s only here for a week, and I’ll do what I want in that week.”
    They both were so engrossed in the staring contest that was being dished out, that they didn’t notice their mother enter the room.
    “What’s going on you two? We aren’t going to fight on the fourth are we? Brad is home with a friend and we can’t have you two in a tussle, then the three Musketeers reunion would be a disaster. Save it for after he goes home. Whatever it is, has to be silly nonsense.” She came between them, brushing their backs a moment before pushing them towards the kitchen.
    “I