by Marika Ray
I dropped my forehead to Amelia’s shoulder. Only in Hell did we do everything in public where the town gossips could witness every word. Someone needed to stop this appalling trend. My head started bobbing and I realized Amelia was shaking with laughter. There was nothing funny about this whole thing and, yet, it really was so ridiculous as to be funny. I started laughing with her. Knowing she loved me and wanted to make things work made me feel as light as that fluffy donut I’d had earlier.
I had to act fast. If I didn’t, something else would cut us off and I was done with interruptions. Lifting my head, I grabbed Amelia by the waist and swooped her over my arm, smashing my lips to hers in a swoon-worthy kiss. God, it felt so good to feel her against me, the press of her lips as desperate as mine.
The crowd reacted and I couldn’t fuckin’ care less. Let them watch the whole thing. All that mattered was having Amelia back in my arms. For good. The kiss was indecent and sloppy, full of passion not fit for general audiences. Then again, we were on my private property, so they were the ones in the wrong. When my arms started to shake, I brought her upright again, lowering her slowly down my body until her feet hit the dirt.
Keeping my forehead pressed to hers, our labored breath mingling, I gave her my answer. “I will most certainly give you a second chance. A third and fourth and a millionth if needed. You’re it for me, Amelia. You forever hold my heart and if you hadn’t unfriended me, I would have stayed single forever, pining away for you like a sad sack. But this? You loving me back? This is what my dreams are made of.”
The worry left her eyes and she grabbed my neck to kiss me again. “God, I love you. And what did you do to your hair?” she said against my mouth minutes later.
I trailed my lips against her jawline before taking the time to answer. “Stupid dare.”
She flinched and I realized what I’d said.
“No. Not Douchebag. Bain and the guys dared me to shave my head. So I did.” I lifted a shoulder. “And some other things.”
Amelia let out a whoosh of air. “Okay, good. I mean, I hated the mullet, but it kind of grew on me.” Her voice lowered, stirring my blood. “Gave me something to hang on to when you drove me wild with that tongue.”
Fuck. I was going to embarrass myself in front of whomever was still hanging around. Jeans these days weren’t made with enough extra material to cover erections. I grabbed her hand and yanked her behind me. The crowd had dispersed, leaving only our circle of friends, but I had no time for them either. I needed Amelia.
Somebody let out a wolf whistle, probably Rip, the asshole. I flipped him the middle finger and kept marching on. My truck seemed like a mile away. I just needed to get Amelia alone. The last two weeks had felt like an eternity and I just knew getting inside Amelia would soothe this desperation that clawed at me.
The second we hit the driver’s side of my truck, I wrenched the door open and tossed Amelia in. She giggled the whole way, scooting over just enough for me to fit behind the wheel. I fired up the truck and left a strip of rubber on the street tearing out of there and back to the house I shared with Rip. Or anywhere with some goddamn privacy.
“They all know we’re going back to your house to have sex, you know,” she said between giggles.
I shot her a look, making up my mind. “They’d be wrong. We’re going out to the coast. There’s a sea cave with our name on it and we’re getting our second chance.”
“Ooh,” she cooed. “I hope the rock won’t scrape my new tattoo.”
My head whipped over. “New tattoo?”
Her eyes lit up and the devil came to visit, a look I was all too familiar with when it came to Amelia. She got up on her knees and swiveled her gorgeous ass in my direction. Next thing I knew, her yoga pants were rolled down and all that flesh I wanted to savor like a fine wine was exposed.
And then I saw it.
My name in a scroll font and a red heart over the I.
Amelia got my name tattooed on her ass.
I yanked the wheel, realizing belatedly I’d almost run us off the road. She pulled her pants back up and had a seat, a shit-eating grin on her face. I tossed my head back and laughed.
Poppy was right. Life would definitely be fun with Amelia by my side.
26
Amelia
I had a scrape on the back of my shoulder that Titus had apologized for approximately fifty times since coming back to my hotel room from the sea cave. I, on the other hand, wore it like a badge of honor. I’d gotten my man so excited he’d let go, driving into me so forcefully, he made us both see stars. I hadn’t even felt the pain of a rock gauging into my back until the next morning.
We slept entangled in each other, sleeping surprisingly well. You’d think we would have been at it all night, too consumed with our renewed passion to think of anything else, but neither of us had been sleeping since we broke up. Our heads hit the pillows and we were out until the sun was high in the sky. I called in sick, not at all a shocker to my staff who’d already heard about my very public proposal slash groveling the day prior. We’d only woken and gotten out of bed because of a knock at my door around ten. Titus threw on pants and opened the door to find a basket of edible goodies.
He brought the basket inside the room and I ducked under his arm to see who it was from. A tiny square card lay atop a feast of freshly baked bread, cheese, fruit, and a bottle of champagne.
We’re all so happy for you.
B&L, J&L, C&F, H, & R
PS-don’t worry, I didn’t do any of the baking. Hazel : )
“Oh my God!”
We both laughed at our silly, thoughtful friends and brought the basket to the bed. My stomach let out a rumble that couldn’t be denied. We dug in, suddenly starving and appreciative of the room service.
“I need to talk to Wayne about adding a la carte room service to our list of services.” I popped a grape in my mouth and took in the long length of Titus stretched out on my bed right where he belonged.
My phone dinged and I checked it quickly.
Lenora: Her name’s Megan Lizzarro. Don’t ask me how I found out. Did a quick Google search and she’s an exec with a big builder in San Jose. If you’re reading this, shame on you! Get back to that hottie of yours.
I snorted and put the phone away. I knew I could count on Lenora to get the scoop. Plenty of time for diving into that mystery later. Titus didn’t say a word as we ate or ask about my text message, just eyed me with those light blue eyes that lit an answering fire in my belly. He finally reached for me and I dropped the slice of cheese I had in my hand. His fingers tugged through my knotted hair and he brought me close. Would I ever get enough of him?
“I hope not,” Titus said, making me realize I’d asked the question out loud.
“Oh! Wait.” I pushed away from him and scrambled to my feet beside the bed. “I have a surprise for you. An outfit just for you. It was supposed to be part of my grand gesture, but then you took me to the sea caves and I kind of just forgot. Sorry. Grand gestures are new for me.”
He grinned and my heart oozed out a beat. The man was sex on a stick, but he could also make me feel as content as a balmy summer day with an ocean breeze.
“Stay here.” I spun and ran into the bathroom. I tugged on the outfit I’d picked out with Hazel when we went shopping. I smoothed the hat over my hair and hoped I did the right thing.
“What’s going on in there?” Titus called through the door.
“Close your eyes! I’m coming out.”
Easing open the door, I peered out to see him, naked as the day he was born, his eyes closed and that famous grin of his in place. What the hell was I doing? I started second-guessing myself the moment the door was fully open.
His eyes flashed open before I could head back into the bathroom and beat myself up mentally for even thinking this was a good idea. He froze. I froze too. The moment hung there, suspended between us. Him probably wondering if I’d lost my mind. Me wondering something awfully similar.
Titus let out a loud guffaw, half snort of disbelief, half laugh that couldn’t be held in.
“What the hell, Amelia?” His eyebrows hit his hairline, the smile still in place, though it held a large measure of disbelief.
Go big or go home. The famous Amelia motto.
I cocked my hip with all the sass I could muster in a suit of felt and spun around, giving him my backside. We all have our best angle, okay? In this outfit, the back was definitely my best. A large plume of multicolored feathers swung through the air and I gave them a good shake for emphasis.
I was wearing Auburn Hill’s finest peacock costume, replete with the crazy beak on top of my head and an ass full of feathers.
Titus sounded like he might be drowning in his laughter. A loud bang had me startled enough to quit my twerking and face the guy who’d seen me at my worst and still chose me. Well, maybe this moment was my worst.
Titus had fallen off the bed and was currently laughing so hard I feared he might lose consciousness. I put my peacock hands on my hips—the costume people had taken creative license with the arms and claws—and gave him a stern look.
“Hey, I’m showing you that while I can be your little peacock, I’m not actually into pea cocking anymore.” I paused, not sure he heard me. “Titus?”
“Oh my God,” he panted, swiping at his face and trying to pull himself into a seated position on the floor. “Just…just give me a second. Or two…” He dissolved into another peal of laughter, during which I calmly waited him out.
A smile of my own tugged on my cheeks. His laugh really was contagious. And let’s be real. As far as sexy time outfits go, this probably wasn’t what he had in mind. Or what anyone had in mind. But Titus had called me a peacock and what better way for us to celebrate getting together than to be reminded of the night the real live peacock had brought us together?
“You’re so weird, Lia,” he said, sobering enough to finally stand up.
The beak hat started to slide to the left side of my head. “And you fucking love it. Right?”
Titus snagged the puffy chest plate of the bird costume and tugged me closer. The hat tumbled to the floor. His eyes heated degree by degree until I started to worry the costume might be one of the cheap flammable kinds that wouldn’t survive his gaze.
“Strip for me, peacock,” he whispered, a tease against my lips.
I smiled, knowing we were finally getting down to business, and reached behind me with both hands. One sharp tug and the whole costume split in half as the Velcro released. Two quick steps and I was out of that hot suit and deliciously naked.
“I dressed up for you too.” Titus hadn’t touched me yet, his gaze drinking me in slowly.
I quirked an eyebrow and gave him the once-over right back. The liar didn’t have a stitch of clothing on, not that I was complaining. Before I could question his definition of dressing up, he twirled around and pointed at his ass. But he shouldn’t have worried, I was already looking there, not turning down a chance to ogle this fine specimen of a man who worked with his hands all day long. The amount of muscle he carried on one human frame should be illegal.
But then a flash of color caught my eye. I gasped.
“Your virgin skin!” I exclaimed.
Titus tossed a smirk over his shoulder. I crept closer, reaching out to run a finger down the cartoon peacock he now had tattooed on his right ass cheek. It was adorable yet fierce with a stiletto-sharp beak, its colors vibrant and bold. I was speechless.
Titus lifted a sculpted shoulder and let it fall, muscles rippling along his back with the movement. “You got my name on your ass. Figured the only way I’d deface my virgin skin was with a little peacock.” He swung around and my finger was no longer on his ass. It was now on his bobbing erection, proving equally as fascinating.
He cupped my jaw and tilted my head up to look at him. “My little peacock. I gotta keep a close eye on you, but just when I think you’re being mean with your jabs, you transform into something so beautiful, my brain just can’t keep up.”
My eyes started burning, a reaction so stupid to a backhanded compliment I could barely stand myself, but it meant that Titus really understood me. Loved me for who I was, faults and all. I ran at the mouth way too often and was often a hard-ass when some sensitivity would do better, but he saw beneath all that to the marshmallow center of me. He accepted me for me, as only a best friend can.
Titus’s grip tightened. “Are you crying?”
I scrunched up my nose. “No, of course not.” I sniffled and my voice shook. “My eyeballs are just floating.”
Titus chuckled, kissing me mid-laugh, pulling me firmly into his body. His lips coaxed my mouth open and his tongue darted inside. Not one ounce of me held back or played hard to get. This wasn’t a relationship built on games or bullshit pretenses. This was the most real thing in my life, and just as I dove headfirst into trouble, I’d dive headfirst into love with Titus.
He pulled me down onto the bed, his long body pressing me into the covers and his heavy cock settling between my thighs. His lips trailed down my neck before breaking away. His long arm reached for the nightstand where I kept a box of condoms. I stilled his movement.
“No. Not anymore. Just you and me, okay?”
Titus hovered over me in a flash, his eyes looking wild and unfocused. “You sure?”
I nodded quickly. “I’ve never been with anyone without…” I trailed off, knowing he’d understand what I was saying. The gravity of trust I placed in him.
“Me neither.” He swallowed hard, but didn’t move, other than to catch my lips in a sweet kiss, his muscles trembling from his body hovering over me.
He took his time, his kiss unhurried, the roll of his tongue and the nip of his teeth a lazy stroll instead of a galloping race. When my head felt ready to fly up into the clouds from his kiss alone, he shifted, kissing my cheek and then a spot below my chin. His kiss moved to my clavicle and then between my breasts.
“What are you doing?” I breathed, liking it but wondering what was up with the jump-scotch kisses routine.
“Shh,” he muttered, moving to kiss me again on my stomach. “I’ve decided kissing every single mole of yours is my goal for today.”
My brain sparked and fizzled, desperately trying to remember if I happened to have a mole on my clit. Was it even possible to have a mole there? “Girls don’t have moles. They have freckles,” I told him. Damn, my mouth just would not shut up.
He raised his eyebrows at me, his mouth so close to my happy place I could feel his breaths fanning the flames my sassy mouth was probably dousing. I made the motion of zipping my lips and throwing away the key. His head dipped back down and he went back to work, finding and kissing every freckle on my front side before climbing back up my body.
“Titus,” I whined, my hands grabbing on to his back and trying to pull him down on me.
“I like it when you whine. But I like it even better when you scream my name.” Titus’s voice sent a shiver down my limbs.
He leaned in to kiss me, finally letting his weight sink. There was nothing like the weight of a man pressing you down right before he filled you with his cock. Titus didn’t disappoint, kissing me until I wiggled underneath him and spread my legs wide in invitation. He took the hint and bent my leg to give him more access. He let his cock drag over my slit several times, his blue-eyed gaze watching my face intently.
I opened my mouth to let him have it and he chose that moment to plunge forward, filling me completely and stealing away my words. His hands found mine, linking our fingers together and pressing our hands into the mattress as he slid almost all the way out of my body before thrusting back in. The drag of his bare cock was now my drug. The one thing that could set my body on fire at first touch.
“Fuck, Amelia.” Titus’s jaw was locked tight, his gaze never leaving my face.
I gave him my eyes as I gave him my body, needing the connection at both points. His ab muscles flexed above me, the bands of mus
cles in his arms bunched tight on either side of me. I wrapped my legs around him and dug my heels into his ass, urging him on. Pleasure spiraled, building so fast I nearly wept when he jerked back and pulled out.
“Why?” I whined again.
Titus only gave me a look I’d describe as a reprimanding smolder. He lay down next to me and rolled me to my side, lifting my top leg and sliding back home. He didn’t say a word, but his intent was clear. Everything about this moment was soft and slow, the desperation for each other beat back by a deeper yearning for connection, one that would last a lifetime. He tilted his hips to a better angle and let his hands roam my body. He touched me everywhere, all the while smiling at me lazily.
This wasn’t fucking and it wasn’t even sex. This was lovemaking. And I suddenly wondered why I’d never known there was a difference. Then again, I’d never given Titus a chance before now.
Sixteen years after the fact, I finally got it right.
I grabbed his ass, the one with the little peacock now etched in his skin, and urged him faster. I couldn’t take the slow thrusts much longer or I’d beg him to take me hard and fast. He complied, hooking my leg over his arm and reminding me of how strong he was. I could handle most anybody with my sharp mouth, but Titus could own me with his strong body in bed. The headboard slapped against the wall with each powerful stroke and it only took a few seconds for me to go up in flames. I moaned through the release, the sounds soon turning to whimpers.
My eyes wanted to roll back in my head, but I forced them open, remaining on Titus even as pleasure washed over me so intensely I wasn’t sure my blood pressure could handle it. So full of concentration, he bit his lip and reminded me of when we were kids. He’d bite his lip whenever he was learning something new and he wanted to get it right. My heart melted, knowing my best friend, the one who’d always been there for me, was now my boyfriend. My one true love. He rocked my world then and he most certainly rocked it now. Different, but even better.
Titus grunted, long and low, his hips faltering. He leaned over and claimed my lips as his body shuddered. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I kept him close until his breathing evened out. A contentment so strong I knew there must be another word for it that just hadn’t been created yet grew in my chest. I finally had everything I’d ever wanted. Could have had it a long time ago if I’d pulled my head out of my ass.