He nods and steps forward. I close the door behind him and he takes a seat on the couch. I can’t help but feel nervous as I make the journey over to him. He sits on one end of the couch and I sit on the other, wanting to keep my distance.
“You wanted to explain, so explain.”
I nod and take a deep breath. “First, let me start by saying how sorry I am for taking you on that stupid show. I know it was a bad idea. I just . . . the night I applied for it was the night we kissed. We kissed on that dance floor and then Calvin wanted to leave right after, and it felt like there was unfinished business between us. I was hoping we’d kissed because you’ve always secretly felt something for me too.”
I risk looking up at him, but he isn’t looking at me. He’s staring straight ahead, so I continue. “I got home that night and I was drunk, but I wasn’t tired. I was fueled by that kiss. I wanted to do so much more and it felt like I was left high and dry. So I got into bed and flipped through the channels and found that show. At the end was a casting call, and in my drunken stupor, I thought it was a good idea. I thought it would be a grand gesture to show you how much you mean to me. The next day, I’d forgotten all about it until I received an email stating I’d been chosen. I went back and forth on going through with it, but I thought that if I did it—actually went on the show—that it would keep me from backing out. I’d decided many times over the years that I was finally going to tell you, but when it came down to it, I’d always chickened out.”
My phone rings and I pick it up off the table and answer it. It’s Calvin, and as much as I want to watch that movie with him, fixing what I broke with Preston is more important right now. Calvin sounds like he understands, and we agree to do movie night some other time.
“I just . . . I don’t understand why you couldn’t just tell me. Why embarrass us both on that show?” he asks.
I roll my eyes in an attempt to hold back the tears. “Because I suck. You know this,” I laugh out and he laughs with me.
He finally turns to me and takes both of my hands in his. “I love you, Piper. I really do. You’re my best friend and the only person other than my brother who has always had my back. And that’s exactly why I can’t go there with you. God, I wish I fucking could go there with you. I see how perfect it could be. I really do. And it’s not because I don’t find you attractive or anything like that, because you’re beautiful and perfect. I just need you in my life every single day. And throwing dating, sex, marriage, and all of that on top of it would kill us. We’d end up hating each other and losing a lifetime of friendship. I can’t risk losing you.”
I nod as a tear finally wells up and falls down my cheek.
He releases one of my hands and wipes it away. “Every decision I make is to protect us—to protect you and our friendship. I won’t ever make a choice that could ruin us, Piper.”
I do my best to dry my tears. “I know, Preston, and that’s why I love you too. I’ll admit, the line got a bit blurred there for me, but this time apart has taught me something: I can live without being with you, but I could never live without you in my life.”
He smiles. “Good, because I can’t live without you in mine either.” He pulls me in for a big hug, and even though I don’t get exactly what I want, I get exactly what I need. I get his promise to always be in my life—holding my hand when I need it, and protecting me even when I don’t know there’s danger coming. Preston may not be my happily ever after, but he will be in my ending.
The two of us sit, talk, and catch up on what’s been going on since the last time we saw each other. We watch some TV and eat some popcorn. It’s pushing 12:30 a.m. when he finally gets up to leave. I lock the door behind him and turn to clean up our mess before taking a shower. As I’m loading the dishwasher, the doorbell rings and I head for the front door thinking Preston must have forgotten something. I don’t bother checking the peephole. I just pull the door open with a smile, happy to have my friend back.
“What did you forget?” I ask, just as my eyes land on Calvin. “Oh, I thought you were Pres. What’s up?”
He walks in and I close the door behind him, turning to face him. He shakes his head and looks a little nervous, maybe even sick. “I just wanted to check on you. You said that Preston was here and I wanted to make sure things went well.”
I nod. “Oh, yeah. Things went great. I explained myself and why I made the horrible choice I did. He explained his side of things, and we came to an agreement that made us both happy.”
He sits on the couch, resting his elbows on his knees and leaning forward. “Care to clue me in?”
I sit beside him. “We agreed to be friends. I think he’s right. If we were to get together, we’d break up for sure. I mean, we’re the same in a lot of ways, but we’re also really different. Staying friends is the only way to ensure we’ll always have each other.”
“And you’re okay with this?”
I nod my head. “I’m okay. That doesn’t mean I don’t have some work to do on my side of things. I mean, it does kind of feel like I’ve been broken up with even though that’s not the case. I just need a little time to clear my head and get over him. I’m not in any hurry to start anything serious. I just need to be me for a while.”
He nods his head as he listens. “So the two of you aren’t going to start something up?” His brows are pulled together and his jaw is flexed with tension.
I shake my head. “No, not now, not ever. We mean too much to each other to let that happen. I only wish I would’ve realized it sooner. And honestly, now that I know it, I feel so stupid for not knowing it before. I mean, what would I do if my best friend became my husband, then things went south? Who would I talk to? I wouldn’t have my best friend anymore.”
He lets out a long, drawn-out breath and seems to be relieved. He’s no longer looking sick or nervous. “Good,” he breathes out.
Confusion settles over me. “I don’t understand.” I look up to study his expression.
His icy eyes are trained on mine. His sharp jaw is tightening like he’s trying to hold something back, and his back is straight, muscles flexing. “Piper . . . I . . .” He breathes out as he pinches the bridge of his nose and clamps his eyes shut. “Oh, fuck it.”
The next thing I know, his mouth is against mine. His tongue comes out and demands entrance. Every inch of my body has hardened with confusion, but that tingle in my stomach begins to form. His lips are soft and warm, and they feel amazing against my own. I don’t know what this is. The other night, it was a drunken kiss that was brought on by feeling safe from realizing he’s always been there for me. But here he is again, rushing to my side when he thought I might be hurt.
As my brain realizes something my heart has always known, my body relaxes and I pull him closer as I begin to kiss him back. All this time, I’ve been blinded by Preston. How could I miss Calvin? Something tells me he refuses to let me overlook him any longer. My arms wrap around his neck and his snake around my waist as he lays me back against the couch. His hips make their way between my legs as he covers my body with his without breaking our kiss.
His weight pressing down on me feels right. His hands touring my body feel even better. As his lips kiss their way down my jaw to my neck, his hands begin pushing my shirt up my stomach. Suddenly, his lips are no longer on my neck. Now they’re on my stomach, kissing his way up toward my breasts. I know I should stop this. I don’t even know what this is. Does Calvin have feelings for me, or is this just a one-time thing? I don’t have an answer, but right now, I don’t care. His hands, his mouth, his body—it all feels too good to stop.
I haven’t been with a man in over a year, and God, do I miss it. I lose all train of thought when his mouth closes around my nipple. He sucks it into his mouth and makes it tingle with excitement. My stomach muscles tighten with anticipation as a flood of want washes over me.
My nails scratch up and down his back before moving between us to unbutton his dress shirt. My hands are nearly shaking, but
I manage to get all the buttons undone before loosening his tie. He quickly pulls away and rips the shirt off his arms and the tie over his head. One second later, his mouth is back on mine as he pulls me against him by my waist.
To my surprise, he picks me up against him. “Where’s your bedroom?” he asks against my lips, pressing my back to the wall, waiting for me to direct him.
“Through there,” I breathe out, nodding toward the hallway that leads to my room.
He jerks me away from the wall and carries me through the hallway and into my bedroom. His hands are supporting my weight by my ass and his mouth never stops moving with mine as he finds my bed and lays me down. I hear him kick off his shoes before crawling up my body, pushing my shirt up as he does so.
Now that we’re both lying down with him on top of me, he pushes my shirt the rest of the way up, breaking our kiss for a moment to pull it over my head. It gets tossed to the side, revealing my bra. His mouth moves down to kiss the swell of my breasts and bury his face between them, pressing hot kisses to the skin while his hands work at the clasp. It pops free and he swiftly pulls it off my arms, causing my breasts to bounce with the rough action.
While his mouth devours my breasts, his hands work to unfasten my pants. I tangle my fingers through the silky strands of his hair, tugging his head back slightly to have his eyes lock with mine. He releases my nipple and moves his mouth back to mine.
“You have no idea how long I’ve dreamt of this, Piper,” he whispers against my lips as his hands push my pants down my legs.
I wish I could say the same, but Calvin has only had this effect on me recently. I’m at a loss for words. Instead of lying and telling him the same, I simply say, “Take me, Calvin. Tonight, I’m all yours.”
He lets out a growl as his mouth moves back to mine, kissing me hard and rough and pushing me to need more of him. My hands trail down his back, around to his stomach, and then down to the waistband on his dress pants. I unfasten his belt and work on the button. The metal of his belt buckle clanks in the darkness and the sound makes my skin break out in goosebumps. His tongue is dancing with mine when I push his pants over his hips, then I wrap my hand around his length and . . . oh my God, he’s huge!
I can honestly say I’ve never even thought about Calvin’s manhood before, but he is by far the largest I’ve ever personally encountered. I can’t help but think back on that time I walked in on Preston and Hannah going at it in high school. Preston has nothing on Calvin. Suddenly, I’m wondering if this is going to hurt. Out of curiosity, I wrap my right hand around his shaft at the base, and then my left hand above my right. I have both hands on him right now and he’s still not completely covered. This man better marry me, because I’m going to be ruined after this.
Even with both of my hands wrapped around him, I’m amazed to find that my middle finger doesn’t touch my thumb on the other side of him. Not only is he long, but he’s got girth!
Oh, he’s going to fuck my brains out and I’m not going to be able to do anything but tremble in pleasure. “Calvin, I . . .” I say against his lips.
“What is it?” he asks, moving to kiss my shoulder and neck.
“I’ve never . . .” I close my eyes, hoping that’ll give me the courage to say what I need. “I’ve never been with someone as big as you before.”
He pulls his lips away and pushes himself up so he can look down at my face in the near-darkness. He offers up a sexy little smirk. “We’ll just have to make sure you’re good and ready then, won’t we?” Without warning, he’s down between my legs, pulling my panties off and tossing them over his shoulder. “Are you sure about this, Piper?” he asks from between my parted thighs.
I can’t speak. All I can do is nod.
His lips find my inner knee and he slowly kisses his way up my thigh. Just when I think he’s going straight to my core, he skips over it and moves to the other leg. He kisses down it just as slowly. Finally, he slowly runs his tongue along my slit. I can’t help but jump when he brushes the tip of his tongue against my sensitive nub. My eyes flutter closed and I hear him let out a soft chuckle, but he doesn’t stop. Instead, he dives in harder and faster, and just when I think I’ve caught on to his pattern, he changes it up—a tantalizing mix of flicks, sucks, and twirls.
I’m breathing heavily. He’s going to think I’m having an asthma attack or something. But I can’t think of that for long, because I may be having a heart attack with the way my heart is racing. Yep, pretty sure it just skipped a beat. My muscles tighten as that familiar tingle forms in my lower belly. As it spreads throughout me, my toes curl, my breathing stops, my heart freezes—or beats so fast I can’t even feel it anymore. My release washes over me hot and heavy, and I can’t help but call out his name over and over. I can’t even manage to keep myself still. My back is arching off the bed like I’m being lifted up from my center. My legs are squeezing his head—holding him in place and quite possibility suffocating him. My hands are fisting the sheets, pulling and tugging on both sides of me. In the last year, I’ve been doing this myself, and my orgasm has lasted all of 20 seconds, but right now, it’s been going for at least a minute. Just when I think I’ve hit the peak, it climbs higher and higher.
As the tingles start to fade away, everything gets easier to control. I lower my back and release Calvin’s head from between my thighs. My fingers let go of the sheet and my whole body relaxes. Calvin pulls away and wipes at his glistening lips.
“Fuck, I thought I was going to suffocate down there,” he says, breathless.
I can’t hold in my giggle as I bring my hands to my face, attempting to cover it now that I can feel the heat radiating from it. “I’m sorry. I just . . . you’re very good at that.”
“That’s not all I’m good at,” he says, grabbing his pants off the floor. He pulls out his wallet and takes out a shiny foil wrapper. He stays between my legs—watching me as he rips it open and slides it over his length.
I watch in amazement as he rolls the condom down over himself. I half expect it to snap off like a rubber band that’s stretched to its limit, but it doesn’t. It rolls into place and I watch as he works his length up and down. “Still not backing out?” he asks as he lowers his body back to mine.
I reach for him, placing my hands on his sharp jaw as I direct him to my lips. “No way.”
With his body fully on mine again, he’s right where I need him. He reaches between us and places himself at my opening. He gently pushes forward and already, I’m stretching around him.
I tense and squeeze his bicep.
“Just relax,” he whispers, lowering his lips and pressing soft kisses down my neck as he slowly moves into me. I let out a soft whimper and he gently glides himself out before pushing in again. With each thrust, he goes just a little bit deeper, and my body quakes with the need to come again.
“Fuck, you’re perfect, Piper,” he breathes out against my skin.
I lace my fingers through his hair as he pumps into me, pushing me closer and closer to coming undone.
“Calvin, I’m almost there,” I cry.
His hand moves between us, massaging my clit as he pushes deeper, harder, faster. My release builds and breaks free, shattering me into a million tiny pieces.
My headboard is banging off the wall and the box springs are squeaking beneath us. His skin is clapping off of mine and I’m moaning like a seasoned porn star. His heavy breathing and low grunts fill the room. Just as my release begins to fall away, every single one of his muscles tightens as his thrusts become more erratic. With one last jerk of his hips, he lets his release go until he’s collapsing on top of me.
Neither one of us can move. My entire body is tingling and numb. My head feels like a balloon that’s floating up above my body. Every hair is standing on end and vibrating. My heart is pounding so hard it just might jump right out of my chest, and his is the same way. I can feel it racing alongside my own.
He presses a kiss to my collarbone before withdrawing himsel
f from me and lying at my side. He pulls off the condom and tosses it into the trash before lifting his right arm and sliding it beneath my head. I roll to my side, resting my head on his chest as I think over what we’ve just done.
I just had sex with my best friend’s brother.
Ten
PIPER
I have so many questions rolling around in my head right now. Like, what the hell was that? Are we a thing now or was it just a hookup? Does Calvin have feelings for me? Deep down, have those feelings always been there? If they have, how must he have felt all these years when I was chasing his brother? Why would he keep picking me up time after time if he’s always felt this way? Why hasn’t he written me off already?
And Preston! What will he think of all of this? Will he be happy I’ve moved on? Will he be mad that it’s with his own brother? Will he think that this is just me settling since I can’t have him? It’s all so confusing.
The one thing I am sure about, though, is what I’m feeling right now. There’s excitement, fear, worry, bliss, but most of all, happiness and contentment. I thought after it was all said and done, there would be this awkwardness between us, but it’s not awkward. It doesn’t feel weird lying here in Calvin’s arms. Instead, I feel safe and protected. He’s soft and gentle. He doesn’t find an excuse to run off like so many others I’ve been with.
He turns his head and presses a kiss to the top of my head. “What are you thinking?” he softly asks.
“I’m not.”
“Nothing at all?”
“Nothing, but . . . that was amazing. Why didn’t we do that sooner?” I joke.
He lets out a deep chuckle that rumbles throughout his chest. “I don’t know, but we should have.”
“Do you have to go?”
He looks over at the clock to see that it’s pushing 3 a.m. “I can stay a while.”
I smile to myself. “Good.” I snuggle closer and close my eyes. I breathe his scent in deeply and it soothes everything away. Before I know it, I’m fast asleep, sleeping better than I ever have before.
The WRONG Brother: A Friends to Lovers Romantic Comedy (Love You Forever Book 1) Page 9