Avoiding Temptation

by Van Dyken, Rachel

  “Yo!” Finn’s voice sounded about a minute later when I was still busy fantasizing about his sister and gripping myself.

  Worst day.

  “H-hey,” I rasped, bracing myself against the wall.

  The shower turned on.

  Thank God he wasn’t going to talk to me.

  “Slater, I made you a cup of coffee, just in case, it’s on the counter when you’re finished.”

  God, I wish I could finish.

  I gripped myself harder, feeling my balls draw up, and then a hand slid into my shower.

  What the fuck?

  It was a feminine hand.

  Her hand.

  “Finn, it’s me,” Tatum said in a voice that went straight to my dick. “Did you want me to grab you a sausage breakfast burrito?”

  “Sausage?” I mouthed.

  Her hand inched across the tile.

  I could see part of her face. She was in sweats that hung loose on her body, and her hair was still wet.

  She peeked in the shower and winked and then touched my dick, shoving my hand aside and replacing it with hers.

  Wrong! It was so wrong.

  I put my fist against my mouth and bit.

  “Yeah! Sounds good! Love those sausage ones!” Finn yelled back. “Slater, want one?”

  “Yes!” I yelled. She pumped my length in her hand, hard, so hard, I moved my hips toward her, as my legs turned to rubber. God, I was going to burn as I moved against her hand, only to have her hand pull away and come back with some of my body wash.

  “Someone likes his burritos,” Finn joked. “Thanks, Tatum!”

  “I love being helpful!” She was at it again, grabbing me, pumping me dry as I drove into her hand, stopping just short of pulling her into the shower and impaling her against the wall.

  God, it would feel so good.

  I would grip her breasts with both hands, drive into her from behind, move one hand to pull her hair just hard enough to expose her neck while I kissed the water that slid down it.

  “Thanks, Tatum, I know Slater appreciates it too, sorry about last night too.”

  “Yup,” I agreed, desperately hoping he didn’t pick up on the tightness in my voice. “Thank you.” A violent shudder exploded through me, and I spilled all over her hand, the shower, the wall. I was making graffiti art with my body. I clamped my jaw closed to keep the low moan in the back of my throat from erupting.

  Her hand was gone in an instant.

  “No worries, guys.” Was it me, or was her voice different? Filled with lust, maybe? My imagination? “I’ll be right back.”

  Footsteps sounded.

  And then she was gone.

  And I was still trying to catch my breath as guilt descended on me like a choking fog.

  Weak. I was so damn weak.

  Had I truly lasted less than twenty-four hours?

  I wasn’t sure how long I stared at the shower wall, but I made a pact with myself, no matter how tempting… I was done.

  I wasn’t playing this game.

  Not when a friendship was on the line.

  Chapter Four

  Tatum

  I was shaking by the time I made it back to the dorm room. I didn’t even remember grabbing the breakfast burritos. I only knew that my legs were rubbery, my heart was racing, and my face was still flaming and flushed when I got there and set out the guys’ burritos.

  Had I really done that?

  Just gotten a complete stranger off?

  I had never, in all my life, been that girl.

  In fact, that was a large reason why I’d switched schools to begin with because I’d dated a relentless asshole who wanted everyone to believe the worst about me.

  He’d wanted to see me naked.

  And when I made him wait?

  Well, he wasn’t happy.

  And because he was jealous and slightly insane, he wanted to make sure I was shunned.

  And shunned I was.

  I swallowed past the lump in my throat and nearly jumped out of my skin when Finn swung the door open to their room, eyed the burritos on the table, and flashed me a thankful smile. “You’re the best sister ever.”

  “I’m your only sister,” I pointed out like I did every time, only to earn a wink from the big bro who I knew girls all over campus would murder each other for.

  He was my brother, but that didn’t mean I didn’t see why girls fell all over themselves.

  He worked out hard and had a magnetism about him that had stupidly followed him around since he was seven. He’d had his first kiss in our parents’ basement with the sound of Toy Story in the background.

  “Slater!” he yelled. “Bro, eat your burrito before Megan gets here!”

  “Coming,” Slater said as he stepped into the room and locked his eyes with me.

  I expected a smirk.

  Not a heated gaze that made me squirm beneath its intensity. I crossed my legs then uncrossed them. He was the reason I ached. He was the reason I had slept like complete crap, frequently waking up and thinking about his hot mouth on mine.

  And then this morning, I just… said screw it. I was so done playing by the rules and suffering the consequences anyway.

  So, I’d acted.

  And now I was the one who felt like a sexually repressed sailor who’d been away from the opposite sex for the last decade.

  “Helloooooo.” Finn waved a hand in front of my face. “Could you at least try to hide that look on your face when I’m in the room?” He rolled his eyes. “Damn, and I thought guys were bad about picturing girls naked, and here you are, just peeling his clothes off one by one.”

  This time Slater did smirk as he grabbed the other breakfast burrito and waved it in the air. “Thanks for this. I guess that’s how I pay you back? You get a free show, and I get a free burrito?”

  It was on the tip of my tongue to say something like, you realize you got more than a free burrito, bud, but then Finn would know, and their friendship would be over, so instead I said, “We’re even.”

  Slater’s eyes narrowed like he didn’t believe me.

  Finn grabbed his phone and checked it. “Shit, Megan can’t get into the dorm because she forgot her student ID. I’ll go let her in, be right back. Touch my burrito and die.”

  He left.

  The door shut with a click that might have been heard around the world.

  We were alone.

  Slater dropped his burrito on the table and stalked toward me. I gulped as he dropped to his knees and then, without asking, dipped his thumbs into my sweats and gingerly tugged them down to my ankles, taking my thong right along with them.

  My jaw dropped as he ducked his head between my thighs and made a noise that definitely told me he liked me more than a damn burrito.

  I gripped his head with my hands.

  This was insane!

  My brother could walk in any minute!

  I tried to do the math.

  Fourth floor.

  Elevator could take— “Oh God, don’t stop, don’t, please don’t…” My hips bucked as his tongue slid against me, and then his fingers joined his tongue, and forget math, I couldn’t even remember my stupid name.

  “Slater!” I gripped his head while he chuckled against my moist skin.

  And then I was gone.

  So gone, I saw stars.

  He pulled away and swiped his lower lip with his thumb, then whispered, “Now we’re even.”

  I couldn’t move as he pulled my sweats back up.

  Couldn’t even process what had just happened as he casually got to his feet, walked over to the breakfast bar, and shoved part of the burrito in his mouth.

  And when my brother came back into the room five seconds later, I still hadn’t moved.

  “All right, let’s do this.” Finn stretched, and I watched as a girl with curly brown hair to die for, and brown skin gave me a small wave and followed them both into their room.

  The door clicked shut.

  And I wondered
how the hell I was ever supposed to get past the best orgasm of my life—given to me by my brother’s business partner and best friend while my brother could have returned at any moment.

  Chapter Five

  Slater

  I was supposed to be focusing on helping Megan get over her recent breakup. I said all the right things, touched her in a way that a good guy friend touches, and I handed her tissues.

  All the tissues.

  “I know you guys warned me not to jump into a relationship too soon,” Megan blew her nose. Poor Megan. We did, in fact, warn her, she’d been a client twice before, and both times we told her to stay far away from any guy on the baseball team.

  But the baseball team was her catnip.

  “But—” She squeezed the tissue in her fist. “He was just so nice!”

  “Most guys are when they want something,” I said softly. “And you’re stunning, so worth wanting. So, of course, he was nice.”

  She gave me a sad smile. “You always know what to say.”

  “It’s my job to know what to say,” I pointed out so she wouldn’t get the wrong idea. We weren’t allowed to date for a reason. “Why don’t you just take a break from dating for a while? Take some Megan time.”

  “Great idea,” Finn added, getting to his feet and pulling one of the many gift cards Wingmen Inc gave to us for clients from his desk. “Use this for a free ninety-minute massage.”

  Fresh tears slid down her cheeks. “You guys are too nice.”

  “You deserve nice, Megan.” Finn handed her the card and squeezed her denim-clad thigh. “Remember your worth. It’s a hell of a lot more than Bobby Weizer the second.”

  She burst out laughing. “He hates his full name.”

  “He should,” I added and then winked. “All right, we need you to stay on track this time, why don’t we schedule you out for the next five weeks and then we’ll see where we’re at. Being single for a while will help you remember what you love the most about yourself so that when you’re with someone who’s truly a good match, you’ll know who you are the minute you enter into a partnership.”

  She sighed. “Thanks, guys.”

  I pulled her in for a hug, my mouth still buzzing from its meal—and I didn’t mean the burrito,

  Guilt pounded into my chest.

  I was an asshole, just like Bobby.

  But something about the way Tatum’s gaze had burned into mine.

  And then that idiot Finn had left us alone like the tension in the room wasn’t enough to set the couch on fire.

  Megan squeezed me a bit tight then, honest to God, smelled my neck. It wasn’t the first time, and it wouldn’t be the last, but if she knew the direction of my thoughts… mainly Tatum, she’d realize she didn’t stand a chance in hell even if I could date.

  Shit.

  Finn could never know.

  It had been a one-time thing.

  Like a thank you for your services.

  My smile felt strained when Megan finally did leave.

  Finn shut the door quietly. “Out with it.” It was just the two of us in that too small room, and as guilt-ridden as I was, it had to be written all over my face.

  Hell, a bead of sweat ran down my back. “What?”

  “You’ve been acting weird ever since your Sponge Bob boob dream.”

  I groaned. “Can we please not call it that?”

  He shrugged. “What? It’s true.”

  I wiped my hands down my face then ran my hands through my overly long hair. It was short on the sides but long on top, giving me a bit of a rocker look.

  “You’re playing with your hair. It’s your tell,” Finn pointed out. “So, what did you do?”

  “Fooled around,” I blurted. “I fooled around.”

  “I knew it!” He threw a pencil at me. “Hey, whatever as long as you’re not dating, scratch that itch my man…”

  I winced. “Yeah, about that…”

  “As long as the person scratching isn’t my sister, we’re cool.”

  It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him, but then I’d be throwing both of us under the bus. Plus, how would that conversation even go?

  So, while talking about sausage, she was stroking mine with body wash that will forever make me permanently erect?

  “Received that message loud and clear last night,” I said with bravado that was so fake I wanted to cringe.

  Finn rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I know, and you’re loyal. That’s why I didn’t smother you with your Avenger pillow last night.”

  “Ah, how sad, that Thanos would be the last vision I have before meeting Jesus.”

  “Cute you think you’re going to Heaven,” Finn teased.

  I flipped him off and then reached for my keys. I had to get out of there. I needed air. Fresh air that didn’t smell like burritos or body wash. Or couches that didn’t remind me that I’d had Tatum spread eagle for a few blissful minutes.

  Already I felt my dick twitching.

  Yeah, yeah, settle down.

  “I’m gonna go grab a Starbucks. You want?” I said it as casually as I could while I mentally calculated how I was going to stay away from his sister when I could still taste her on my tongue.

  “Nah, man.” He checked his phone and cursed. “Sorry, the parents are driving me crazy.”

  His parents were normally more hands-off. In fact, I could count on one hand how many times they’d even called him while at school. I stared at him with a frown. “Why are they suddenly interested in your life?”

  He snorted. “Because I get my trust next year, and they want what they can’t have.”

  “Meaning?” This was news to me.

  “Meaning my grandparents loved me more than they loved my parents, so while my parents were left with a measly seven million, their words not mine, Tatum and I were left with twice that each.”

  I whistled. “Geez man, you have a car wash stamp card, and you’re sitting on fourteen mil?”

  He just shrugged. “The minute I turn twenty-two. It’s not something I share with people since women are hard enough to deal with here on campus.”

  “Yeah, you’re telling me,” I grumbled. “All right, well I’m off, good luck dealing with the poor relations.”

  He burst out laughing. “You get me.”

  “I really do,” I called over my shoulder and then bolted from my room to the suite door at about the same time Tatum came out.

  I didn’t make eye contact, mainly because I didn’t trust myself not to do something stupid.

  I quickly left and walked down the hall.

  Then heard footsteps behind me.

  I pushed the down button on the elevator an aggressive three times before it opened.

  And when I stepped in.

  So did she.

  Her perfume swallowed up that small space like a starved Pacman.

  It smelled like burnt honey.

  And I was suddenly obsessed.

  And currently telling my body to calm the hell down before she assumed my dick responded positively to Mariah Carey elevator music.

  The elevator moved at a snail’s pace, opening on floor three, letting a few girls on. They took one look at me and gave tiny waves and winks.

  I almost rolled my eyes as Tatum took a step closer to me.

  Of course, the elevator stopped on floor two.

  Awesome, more girls.

  More choking perfume that made my eyes water.

  And more laughter in my direction, discreet cell phone usage that appeared to be selfies when I knew they were just taking pictures. After all, I was Slater, one part of the Pleasure Ponies, loaded—though not as much as Finn—and all-around flirt.

  God was punishing me, wasn’t he?

  I took another step away from the girls as the doors closed.

  Tatum moved in front of me.

  “I’m using you as a shield,” I whispered, bending close, my tongue darting out of its own accord to trace the top of her ear.

  She moved her ass
back against me.

  I choked out a groan as my dick very impatiently sprang to life like a genie stuck in a lamp that had just been rubbed oh so roughly.

  I clenched my teeth as the elevator moved.

  And then, because I was punishing myself, I gripped her hips, digging my fingers into her skin as I slowly circled my pelvis and then thrust just once against her ass.

  She sagged back against me.

  It would be easy, tugging her leggings down.

  Fuck, there was something seriously wrong with me!

  I didn’t even know her!

  And I’d never been so tempted.

  Or so hard for that matter.

  She reached behind her and palmed the front of my jeans, briefly, like she was searching for an aroused piece of lint, and then dropped her hand.

  “We have to stop this,” I whispered behind her.

  “Wish I knew how,” she fired back.

  The elevator doors opened and closed. Neither of us got out as I slammed my hand against the red button and then pulled her against me.

  We met in a frenzied burst of mouths and teeth, I gripped her ass with my hands while she slid against me catching my dick in a very compromising position, my tip ready to make an appearance over the edge of my jeans.

  “Stop.” I pulled back, chest heaving. “We have to stop.”

  “Why?” Her mouth looked bruised as she reached for me.

  I dodged out of the way. “Because that’s all this is, some sort of twisted forbidden attraction. I don’t know you. It’s just lust…” Even as I said it, I knew it felt different, but I needed to end it before I lost my best friend. “It would just be fucking you out of my system, and Finn’s sister deserves more than that.”

  Her face paled.

  Shit.

  “I’ll take the stairs,” I muttered as I hit the red button, and the elevator doors opened once again on the top floor.

  I didn’t think about the tears in her eyes that I had put there.

  Or the fact that I was the one who had the self-control problem.

  I ignored the pain in my gut and the inkling that she was different, that things could be different with her.

  Because I knew when the positions had been switched, it took me years to get over it. To get over my sister’s death and my old best friend’s involvement.