by T Gephart
She shook her head, sliding down to her knees before circling the head of my cock with her tongue. “I need sleep too, and I won’t get any if you’re here. You’re too tempting.”
“Presley, telling me to leave when you’re doing that isn’t exactly convincing. Not that I’m complaining.” My eyes squeezed shut, her mouth taking my length. “Fuck, that feels so good.”
Yeah, leaving was going to suuuuuuck.
She pulled my cock out with a pop, kissing the tip before slithering back up to her feet, my eyes flashing open. “Then I’ll stop.” The grin spread across her lips.
Evil.
She was pure evil.
“You’re just going to stop?” My straining dick in as much disbelief as I was. “Whatever point you’re trying to prove, I’ve got it.”
“My point is for you to go home, sleep and then come back here after your shift. I assume you still have my spare key. I really like having you in my bed, Jared, and like waking up with you even more.”
On that we could agree.
My arms wrapped around her body, pulling her close as I kissed her. “And there’s no place I’d rather be. You going to be okay tonight by yourself?”
I hated even asking the question, worried it implied that I thought she wasn’t strong enough to deal. She was plenty strong, and she sure didn’t need me or anyone else. But even I would want backup if I had a crazy ex breaking into my apartment and whose intentions hadn’t been ascertained.
“I’ll be fine. Rae can give me a ride home and I’ll give Bennett a call to drive me in. I promised I wouldn’t take any unnecessary risks, and I mean it.”
Hearing her say that gave me a relief I didn’t know I needed. Not to say I was pleased that another guy was going to be involved. I still had no idea where Bennett fit into her life, and I wasn’t going to ruin what we had by asking.
“So now that we’ve gotten that taken care of.” I kissed her lightly on the lips, my dick still hard. “How about we go take a shower together, save time and water, and it means I can make you come one last time before I have to leave.”
Her body stiffened. Not a lot but enough for me to notice. And even though she was wearing a smile, I knew I’d crossed some invisible line. “Not sure much showering would go on, maybe some other time. You wanna go first?”
It was an offer I wasn’t excited about accepting, not wanting to push an issue I didn’t really understand. So instead of just asking her, putting whatever crazy ideas out of my head, I shrugged and told her she should go, and I’d get one at my place.
Tibbs had already messaged three times looking for me and I hadn’t responded. And if I hadn’t occasionally been known to spend the night with a girl and not check in, he might have been worried. So while he hadn’t put a trace on my phone just yet, looking to locate me, I had a hunch there would be questions when I eventually got in.
“Baby, I’m going to head home.” I grabbed my clothes and tossed them on, the redress not taking long since I was no longer distracted. “Text me if you need anything, and I’ll be back Thursday morning.”
Her head popped out from her bathroom door, the frosted glass hiding her beautiful body. “Okay, be careful out there and I give you permission to wake me with sex when you get in. Seriously, Jared, if you’re not going down on me when I open my eyes, I’ll be disappointed.”
“Not a difficult promise to make, Presley.” I swallowed hard, wanting to take her up on the offer right the hell then. I was still hard from the abandoned blowjob and needed very little encouragement. But she was right, we both needed sleep and leaving wasn’t going to get any easier. “You be careful too.”
Reluctantly I left Presley’s loft, taking the short drive to the apartment I shared with Tibbs. He’d be awake for sure, probably about a minute or two away from calling the chief to see if anyone had seen me.
“Jesus, Leighton, between you and my sister, not sure which of you is giving me the bigger headache. You want to answer your phone once in a while?”
Predictably he was annoyed, me going off radar for so long, not the usual. “Sorry, forgot to charge it,” I lied. “Anything I should know about?”
“You first. Where the hell were you?” He glared at me, and part of me was worried he’d figured it out. After all, he knew I was driving Presley home . . . might not be a stretch to assume I didn’t leave.
“I was with someone,” I hedged, not willing to volunteer anything but not wanting to dig the hole too deep. “Things got a little intense, so I stayed the night.”
Again, nothing out of the ordinary. While Tibbs occasionally did one-night stand drive-bys, I tended to stick around a little longer.
“So, what? You drove Presley home and then went and hooked up?” He scratched his head, completely oblivious that was exactly how it happened. Only thing he hadn’t clued in on, that there wasn’t another girl involved.
“Yes. I dropped Presley home, checked her apartment and then . . .” I left the sentence trailing, part of me feeling guilty I was deliberately being cagey.
He shrugged, usually not giving a shit about my sex life one way or the other. “Is that why you weren’t into the girl at the bar? You got someone on the regular?”
“I’m hoping so, but it’s early days. You know how it is.”
It had been a while since we’d had girlfriends and it wasn’t just the hours. Girls liked the uniform, the fanfare that went with it, and some even got off on the hero bullshit. Not too proud to admit I’d capitalized on it in my time, happy to accept the bountiful gifts the service gave me. But long term, it wasn’t as exciting as it sounded. There were missed birthdays or anniversaries, and times when all you wanted to do on your day off was crash for a solid ten hours. And it wasn’t fair to expect someone to wait around for the scraps you could maybe offer them.
That wasn’t even taking into account the worry, the idea that when that alarm sounded sometimes not everyone would make it home. Fuck, it wasn’t even just the fires. I’d had a gun pulled on me more than once, the last time three weeks ago attending a head on collision. The driver was obviously high, waving his 45 around and resisting medical assistance despite us needing to cut him out of his goddamn car. So yeah, a relationship was a heavy commitment you didn’t want to ask of someone unless you were fairly sure they had the stomach for it.
“Anyone I know?” he asked, probably wondering why I hadn’t already spilled.
Yep.
That was how it was going to go.
“You’ve met her,” I offered, figuring it was the closest I could get to the truth without fucking it up. “Look, I know you have a lot on your mind with Presley. We’ll talk about it after we see how it all pans out. Anyway, it’s very likely she’ll get sick of me and I’ll be back to single status before ever making it official.”
And as much as I hated to admit it, that wasn’t necessarily a lie. Who knew if after a week or two, Presley wouldn’t decide she wanted something else. Right now, we were both having fun and who even knew what the future held. All I knew was I wasn’t going to get worked up about it, enjoying what we had while it lasted, committed to not fucking up our friendship even if the sex stopped. It was a longshot, but I’d seen it done. Fuck, Cole—one of our EMTs—was the best man at his ex-wife’s wedding. He and his new wife even holidayed with the happy couple and somehow it had all worked out.
“Okay, but just because my head is tied up with my sister, don’t think I can’t shoot the shit if you need to. I already owe you with everything you’ve done, last thing I need is to rack up a debt from being a shitty friend too.”
Perfect, because I didn’t already feel like a jerk.
“Tibbs, it’s all good man.” I clapped him around the shoulder. “You’re far from a shitty friend, and there is nothing I need right now. But if this little heart-to-heart is over, I could use some decent sleep.”
He laughed, a smile spreading across his lips. “Gotcha, buddy. If the way you look is anything to go by, not
a lot of sleeping went down last night. Make sure you set your alarm though, we both know I can’t be trusted to wake us both up in the morning.”
“Brother, I could be half-dead and still make it to work on time. I’ll see you in the morning.” And with a wave, I forgot all about the shower I hadn’t taken and collapsed into bed.
“Jared.”
My name moaned from her lips was the sweetest sound I’d ever heard, one last flick of my tongue making her come hard on my mouth. She’d made me promise to wake her when I got in, and I had spent most of the twenty-four hours apart thinking of exactly that. She was obviously tired, probably getting home only a few hours earlier and I’d finished what had been a largely uneventful shift. Calls came in, we went out and when it was time to finally clock out, I waved goodbye to my buddies at the stationhouse and went right back to Presley.
Going down on her was the highlight of my morning, her fingers still gripping my hair as the last of the tremors left her body.
“Good morning.” I planted a kiss on her thigh, working my way up the bed. “It’s still early though, so if you want to roll over and go back to sleep, I’m happy to join you.”
A contented sigh spilled from her lips, closing her eyes as I shuffled in beside her. I’d already lost my clothes, stripping at the door, pulling her naked body next to mine under the covers. “Mmmmm, you feel so nice.”
Her skin was soft, the faint smell of bodywash still lingering as I kissed her shoulder.
“That felt sooooo goooood.” Her ass wiggled against my dick, the breathy moan and the ass action making me even harder. “I totally owe you a blowjob when I wake up properly,” she giggled.
“Let’s worry about my payment when you’re more coherent. If I didn’t know how tired you were, I might have been offended you just came and are ready to go back to sleep. But I’m a big boy and know how talented I am, so there’s no way it was lack of technique.”
She laughed again, grabbing my hand and shoving it up against her tit. “Lack of technique is so not your problem. But,” she yawned, “you’re right, I need sleep. Especially after that mind-blowing orgasm.”
I liked holding her while she slept, dozing off with her and knowing she’d be there when I woke up. Hadn’t really cared much about it before, not really concerned about cuddling. And if I hadn’t already been a fan, I’d become a full-blown convert when she took her turn waking me. My cock between her pretty pink lips, a sight I’d never get sick of.
After more sex, because clearly we were fiends, we showered—separately—and then got dressed. I’d been more organized and packed an overnight bag, meaning I didn’t have to head home to get a fresh set of clothes.
“You want to go get something to eat?” I asked, last night’s dinner a distant memory. “I know you don’t do breakfast, but surely it would count as lunch.” I checked my watch, the display showing just past noon.
“I have a meeting at Diablo and can’t be late. It’s an important client. But if you want to go get something and then meet me later, I don’t mind.”
Not sure what she was thinking but me leaving after having not seen her for an entire day wasn’t happening. I didn’t care when or where we ate, committed to spending as much time with her as possible. It was like a sickness, the need to be near her probably not very healthy, but I was far from wanting a cure.
“Or I can drive you to your meeting and then go get us something for when you’re done,” I suggested, positive at some point she was going to have to eat. “Unless you don’t want me cramping your style.”
She rolled her eyes, grabbing me by the T-shirt and pulling me closer. “Just kiss me already, you moron. You could never cramp my style.”
With our plans set we got into my car and drove to Diablo. Traffic was average, not taking us long to cover the couple of blocks between her loft and the club.
“So you’re going to get lunch?” She looked at me with excitement, her hand hovering on the door handle. “Or was that just a ploy to come creep on me at work? Because I have to say if you’re using food as a bargaining chip, that is not cool.”
I scoffed, pretending to be offended. “Oh, so I see how it is. You’re just with me for the services I can provide. Last time I checked, I didn’t turn into Uber Eats, Presley.”
“I know, I know, I’m terrible. But I get cranky when I’m hungry. You don’t want me to be cranky, do you?”
Just one look at those big brown eyes and I’d do pretty much anything she asked. Go get lunch, drive to Utah, get a tattoo on my ass of Diablo’s logo. She had to know the kind of power those babies wielded, willing to put myself through epic-level shit just to make her happy. “Fine, I’ll walk you in and make sure Bennett is around, then I’ll go get us lunch. You have a preference?”
“Anything, just no burgers. Proper food, okay? We can eat in my office when you get back.”
Agreeing to get her proper food, I walked her to the door and waited as she unlocked it. We walked in, the place completely deserted except for a guy at the bar restocking.
“Hey Boss.” He lifted his hand and waved. “Need anything?”
“All good, Hank, thanks.”
It was obvious the staff loved her, something I’d seen whenever I walked through the doors. Every single one of them would volunteer to drop what they were doing if she needed something, just like Hank had offered to do. It was similar to what I had at the stationhouse with the guys, the sense of family that elevated what I did from just being a job. And I liked she had that too, albeit with a different pecking order.
“You doing an inspection? I think you’ll find we’re up to code.” Bennett didn’t bother with the hello, materializing from thin air before folding his arms across his chest. He really was an agile son of a bitch. Something else to be glad about, especially since one of his jobs was to protect Presley.
“Just dropping Presley off, I’ll be back soon.” I tipped my chin, knowing he was probably expecting some pushback. “You want some lunch?”
It would have been easy to get into a pissing contest, to try and assert which of us had more of a right to be there. I was almost positive he was more than a little territorial, and that extended to Presley as well. Didn’t make me feel good to know he might’ve had designs on her. For all I knew, he was looking for the right time to make the jump from professional to personal. But if I was going to be with her, I was going to have to trust her. And regardless of whether he was just a meathead with a superiority complex or was in love with his boss, he’d take a bullet for her for sure. Something I could respect.
“Lunch?” he asked, his usual lack of expression MIA as he couldn’t hide his surprise.
“Yeah, I’m going out to get us something. You want in?”
He considered it, shooting his eyes to Presley before responding. “Sure, I’ll have whatever she’s having, let me know what I owe you.”
“All good, I’ve got it.” I waved, taking a step toward Presley before stopping.
Shit, without thinking, I was about to kiss her. Put my lips on hers in front of Hank and Bennett and whoever else was around.
It would have been just that easy.
But being kissed in front of her employees wasn’t only a bad idea but also stupid considering no one was supposed to know we were together. Fuck, as far as they were concerned I was the good “friend,” playing errand boy, giving her a ride so her brother didn’t lose his mind. So we were a hell of a long way from where I could just kiss her in public and it was okay.
With my reality in check, I gave her the same stupid chin tip I’d given Bennett, a weird wave and said goodbye. She looked amused as I retreated, no doubt laughing her ass off at my expense.
It wasn’t until I was at the door that my phone buzzed, the incoming message from the woman I’d just said goodbye to. No words just a kissy face emoji, the subtext not all that clear.
She’d either been taunting me or had wanted that kiss as much as I had.
There was no way
to know which.
So taking my fake role seriously, I went and got her, me, and the guy who may or may not be in love with her some lunch.
Because clearly, that made sense.
Presley
SCOTT ARRIVED MINUTES after Jared left, his beaming smile unperturbed by the scowl Bennett was giving him. And without much fanfare, I welcomed him into my office and locked the door.
“So you and some of your friends want to open a club in L.A. and need a venue manager.” He’d barely sat down when I started talking, the look of surprise on his face priceless.
“Smart as well as beautiful, that’s a lethal mix.” His smile edged wider, trying to recover. “But yeah, there is no one else who I’d like on my team.”
He continued at my urging, trying to wow me with how much social influence he had which of course meant he could turn up at a yogurt bar and draw a crowd. He had no actual market research and no real theme setting himself apart, just the promise that money was no object and he wanted some of the creative control. “I mean, the place is going to have my name on it, it should look like I had a hand in it too.”
Speechless, absolutely speechless.
It was only after he’d petered out—his brilliant and compelling pitch going for a full twenty minutes—that I attempted to speak. My words chosen wisely because what I wanted to say wasn’t very polite.
“Scott, as flattering as the offer is,” where I did all the work and he took all the glory, “I really don’t think our interests are aligned. Working with the amount of partners you are talking about will be messy, too many cooks if you know what I mean. And while you seem to have a clear vision of what you want to achieve, it would cost millions and months to get a venue up and running with those kinds of operational requirements. I mean, hot tubs and massage rooms, it’s a lot. Not to mention the possible violations it opens you up to.”
“See, that’s why I want you. You come in with your brainy stuff, make it all happen. Fuck it, I’ll even let you pick a room we can include. What do you like? Puppies? Lipstick? Cupcakes? Woah… we could have a section where you dance in frosting, like those crazy foam parties in Ibiza. Shit, that would be brilliant. And let’s face it, who the hell doesn’t like frosting.”