by Lana Dash
“Early next week.”
“Well,” I pull out my wallet and drop a few twenties down on the table. “I guess we should enjoy the time we have before they figure out it was you.”
We head back to our apartment building. I take the long way back, enjoying the feeling of her warm, soft body pressed against mine. But like all good things, it has to end sometime. We walk up the steps in silence. Her small hand finds mine, and I don't want to let her go.
We stop at her door.
“Thank you for an amazing day,” she says, resting her hand on her rib cage—the plastic bandage covering her tattoo crinkles from her touch.
“Thank you for writing the letter.” I pull it out of the inner pocket in my jacket. She reaches for it, but I pull it back. “This is mine now.”
She smiles. “Fine, but if anyone comes around asking about letters, you know nothing.”
I give her a quick wink. She opens her door and steps inside, closing the door with a soft click behind her. Her absence from my side is immediately felt, and I know that I'm not ready for this day to end. She took a chance by stuffing a letter under my door. I can take a chance and knock on her door to see if what she wrote is still how she feels.
I lift my hand to knock, just as the door swings open again. We are both momentarily surprised before we each start talking at the same time.
“I don’t want to go home,” I say, just as she says, “I don’t want you to leave.”
"Thank God." I cup her face in my hands and pull her in for a kiss.
Our movements are awkward and frantic as we try to fumble our way inside her apartment without breaking our kiss. We spin awkwardly around, knocking into the end table near her couch and sending the lamp sitting on it to go crashing to the ground.
We break apart for a moment and then look back at one another. Neither one cares about the mess and needs nothing more than to feel every inch of the other. I shrug off my jacket and pull off my t-shirt. Lucy spreads her fingers wide against my pecs as she moves them down slowly over my abs.
I lean in and kiss her, craving the sweet taste of her lips. I run my hands down her sides, but she winces when my hand touches the tender skin where her new tattoo is.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
She shakes her head and pushes me down onto the couch. “Don’t worry about it.”
Lucy stands in front of me, and I watch as she slowly reaches down and lifts the hem of her dress over her head. My eyes travel up and down the delicate curves of her body. My cock reacts like it never has before. I'm pretty sure that it's going to tear apart the seams of my jeans if I don't pull it out.
I unbuckle my belt and tug down the zipper without ever taking my eyes off of Lucy. She reaches behind her and unhooks her bra, the straps loosening and falling off her shoulders. I can barely contain my excitement, waiting for her to drop the lace fabric to the floor and letting me see what I've imagined a few times today alone.
I push down my jeans and boxer briefs, my hard cock springing to attention between us. Lucy hooks her thumbs into the lace sides of her panties and pulls them down.
“You’re gorgeous,” I breathe out, unable to believe that I’m lucky enough to be here with her.
She steps forward and straddles my lap. I reach around and grab her ass and pull her towards me. I can already feel that she's just as ready for me as I am for her. I flip her to the side so that she's lying down on the couch. I kiss my way slowly up her body, enjoying the way the anticipation makes her squirm.
I pause briefly and see through the plastic on her side to the tattoo. It’s an envelope with a purple heart on it like it's sealed, the envelope closed. I realize now why she didn't want to show me earlier. She thought I might think that it was only about me, and at the time, I may have. But after listening to her talk at dinner, I realize this tattoo symbolizes her stepping out of her comfort zone and out of the shadows that her family tries to push her into. I’m glad that she picked something that will always have meaning for her.
Finally, she can't take it anymore. She cups my face and pulls me up to her for a deep kiss. She reaches in between us and grips my throbbing cock, and strokes it up and down a few times.
“I want to feel you inside me,” she says, guiding me to her slick entrance.
I don’t dare resist her. The fit is tight as I push in just the tip. The sensation nearly has me coming too quickly like some inexperienced teenage boy. Lucy grips the back of my thighs and pulls to push me in quicker. I oblige until she makes a face like it’s too much for her.
"Are you okay?" I ask, kissing down her cheek to her neck.
“Yes,” she breathes out. “Give me just a moment to adjust.”
I wait for her to tell me when to move again.
After a moment, her grip tightens on my thighs again, and I push forward until I'm fully inside her. I pull out slowly and push back in again. Gradually increasing my momentum and allowing the friction between our bodies, easing some of the pleasurable ache building.
I find myself getting lost in the moment with her. She's someone I never knew I needed, and now that I know, I can't ever let her go.
Lucy's inner muscles tighten around me, and I realize she's getting close. I increase my rhythm, the pleasure building between us even higher. I’m ready to let go the moment she is. Lucy holds on to me like she never wants to let go. I wish I could find the words to tell her that she will never have to worry about it. I press my lips against hers and kiss her like she is the only way that I can get air until she screams her release. I let go too. We fall together, the orgasmic bliss of our bodies merged as one is searing and binding. I will never want anyone the way I want her.
7
LUCY
The morning light filtering in is not where it usually is in my room. I peek one eye open and realize I'm still on the sofa. The sound of Beck breathing next to me is slow and steady. I feel so safe with his arms wrapped around me tightly. I don't think I've ever slept so well.
Something in my brain scratches at the door of my sleepy consciousness. I feel like I’m forgetting something, but I can’t seem to think what it is. The harder I try to think of what it is, the harder it is to remember. It must not be too important if I can't recall it.
My eyelids start to get heavy again, and sleep is ready to overtake me again when suddenly I remember where I'm supposed to be—Margot’s engagement party brunch. I look at the clock on the wall and see that I only have an hour to get ready and get to my parent’s house if I don’t want to be late.
I move to try and sit up, but the cage of Beck's arms around yanks me back into place, and I fall off the side of the couch with a thump.
“Are you okay?” I hear Beck ask groggily.
I look up and see him leaning over the edge of the sofa and rubbing his eye with the heel of his hand.
“I’m late for Margot’s engagement party,” I say, pulling the blanket we were sharing and wrapping it around me.
“That’s today?” he asks.
"I know it's like weirdly way too soon for me to be asking you to meet my family, but is there any chance you'd go with me."
Beck looks more awake now and doesn’t say anything.
"It's totally fine if you don't want to go. I just know my mother is going to be a nightmare, and if you are there, she might keep her claws retracted for once."
“Okay.”
"She's all bark and no bite, so—” I pause, finally registering that he’s already agreed to go. “Did you say you’d go with me?”
He laughs. “Yeah, you just breezed on by that answer. I was wondering when you were going to catch that.”
I lean in and kiss him. “Great, I’m going to go shower.”
"I'll join you," he says, jumping up.
I slap my hand on his chest to stop him. “You are going to shower at your place because I don’t trust either of us together in one shower not to get distracted.”
"But it will be a perfect di
straction."
I'm tempted to take him up on his offer, but there will be plenty of time later. No amount of orgasms at this moment will be worth dealing with my mother's wrath today.
I point to the door. "You have twenty minutes before I need you back here, so we can go."
Beck looks disappointed as he tugs on his jeans.
“And if you make sure we get there on time, I will make it up to you later,” I tell him.
He doesn’t wait around another second. Grabbing the rest of his clothes off the floor and bolting out the door.
We end up only being about fifteen minutes late, and that's my fault because I made him pull over my car, so we could have a quickie before we got to my parent’s place.
As we pull up, Beck’s mouth drops open when he sees the size of my parent’s house.
“You aren’t going to back out, are you?”
He takes my hand and gives it a quick kiss. “Everything is going to be fine. There are so many people I doubt anyone will notice us here.”
I hoped he would be right, but that isn't the case when we step out onto the back patio. My mother is standing near the door, talking animatedly with some of her friends but stops when she sees me walk out holding Beck’s hand in mine.
I feel his hand squeeze mine, and I know that he's already feeling uncomfortable. I won't make him stay here too long. I just need to make an appearance and look like the happy sister of the bride.
My mother excuses herself and walks over to us. She has a smile on her face that would fool many of the people in attendance today, but I know that is her fake smile.
“Lucy, who is your friend?” she asks me, but gives Beck an appraising once over.
I know that she’s clocking the lack of designer suit he’s wearing that is slightly wrinkled from our quickie in the car.
“Hi, I’m Beck. Lucy’s boyfriend.”
Her eyes widen in shock. I know that she can't understand why someone so good-looking like Beck could ever be interested in me. It's a question I asked myself too but quickly forgot about it until now after spending the night together. Beck mumbles in his sleep, and he mentioned my name and the word "love" a few times.
“I didn’t realize you had a boyfriend,” she says, to me and otherwise ignoring Beck.
I link my arm in the crook of his elbow.
"Yes, well, I don't tell you everything going on in my life."
“That’s very clear, darling.”
“We are just going to sit down, so you can be a good host and pay attention to your guests.”
It’s a subtle dig at my mother to someone who doesn’t know her. But questioning whether or not she is a good host, I might as well have slapped her across the face in front of everyone here.
Her eyes narrow on me, and she lowers her voice to barely a whisper, "You listen to me, Lucy. I will not have you coming in here late and ruining everything that I've done to make this party the success it is. It’s bad enough that you are wearing that off the rack smock that does nothing for your figure, but you couldn’t even be bothered to attempt the diet I told you to start three months ago so that you wouldn’t ruin the pictures today.”
I feel Beck tense next to me, but I’m so stunned by the hurtful things she’s said to me I don’t react quick enough to stop him.
“And you listen to me,” he says, his voice low too but not enough that some of the people standing around still hear him. “If you ever speak to Lucy that way in front of me or ever again, it will be the last time you will be seeing either of us at a pretentious, stuffy, lame-ass party hosted by you."
My mother sputters a few nonsensical sounds, unable to respond. I turn and stare in shock at Beck. He looks over at me, completely unfazed by what he just did.
“Do you want to leave?” he asks.
“Yes,” I laugh.
He turns us around, and we make our way back into the house.
“Hey, wait up!” I hear my dad call behind us.
Beck tenses again, ready for a fight. We both turn around and see the biggest smile on my dad's face.
“That was amazing.”
Now it’s Beck’s turn to look shocked. “I’m sorry?”
“No.” Dad holds up his hand. “I’m sorry. To the both of you. She should have never said that.”
“It isn’t the first time,” I grumble.
The smile on my dad’s face disappears. “I didn’t know that.”
"She's good at making sure she only shows that side to certain people. I guess I'm just one of the lucky few."
He shakes his head. “Okay, I’m going to talk to her about this. But in the meantime, why don’t you come back to the party. I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever,” he says to me and then turns to Beck. “And I’d like a chance to get to know this fine young man.”
Dad holds out his hand towards Beck. Beck’s jaw ticks like he isn’t sure that this is on the up and up. I squeeze his arm gently to let him know that everything is okay. He takes my father’s hand, and they shake.
We don’t stick around too long after that, just long enough for Beck and my dad to get to know one another. My mother disappears upstairs, and I doubt she will make another appearance until we leave.
“Thank you for coming with me today.” I kiss Beck on the cheek as he drives us home. “And thank you for sticking up for me.”
“I can’t stand by and watch anyone attack someone that I love.”
I try to contain my excitement of him finally admitting that while he isn’t asleep. “And I love you for that.”
“You loved me before that,” he teases.
“I did. And you’ve got the letter to prove it.” I kiss him again.
Epilogue
BECK
Today is the big launch of my game today, but the only thing I can think about is the ring in my pocket. It feels like forever since that first day when I first got the letter from Lucy, and now I'm going to ask her to be my wife.
“You ready?” Lucy’s dad asks, patting me on the back.
We already talked about the plan last night for me to ask her today when I called him about getting his permission to ask to marry Lucy. He didn’t need to remind me that his oldest daughter is a strong and independent woman who doesn’t need his permission to marry me, but he liked that I asked anyway.
He and I have grown close over the last year. When I told him about the game I was developing back at Margot's engagement party, he admitted that he likes playing video games in the afternoon after lunch for a few hours. And since he is president of his company, he could do that.
He liked my game idea so much that when it was finally ready to go around and pitch to the gaming companies, he came along with me to try and use his clout in the business world to help me. And it worked.
Now here we are a year later, and I'm ready to have two significant chapters in my life begin today. The most important one, just walking in.
“Good luck,” he pats me on the back and leaves me be.
Lucy looks over the crowd, searching for me. But I take a moment to really look at the woman who stole my heart with a simple but life-changing letter. I tug up my shirt sleeve and look at the envelope tattoo I had Trevor put on last night. It’s the same one that he gave Lucy.
“There you are!” She runs up to me and throws her arms around my neck.
The familiar scent of her rose shampoo fills my nose, and I take in a breath. Gathering the courage to ask her the question I’ve wanted to ask her since that first day.
“I know that this probably isn’t the best time or place to do this, but I can’t enjoy this night until I ask you something.”
Lucy pulls back, her brow creased with confusion. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes, I mean, I hope so. It kind of all depends on how you react.”
“To what?”
I reach into my pocket and pull out the ring I’ve been saving up for months. It’s not the diamond engagement rock that Margot had, but I think this vint
age emerald cut is just perfect for Lucy.
“I can give you the full speech later and the list of reasons you should say yes, but I want to ask the socially awkward girl that fell into my life and made me fall for her just as easily. Will you marry me?"
“Are you for real?” she asks, looking down at the ring and then back up at me.
"As real as the love letter that you sent me that started this all.”
“Yes!” She squeals. “Yes, I will marry you!”
I’m barely able to slip the ring on her finger before she grabs me by the lapels of my designer suit, that Lucy’s mom helped me pick out for this occasion and kisses me deeply. And forever.
If you enjoyed DEAR BAD BOY NEXT DOOR, check out the rest of the Sincerely Yours series!
DEAR BILLIONAIRE BOSS
DEAR BRITISH PROFESSOR
DEAR BROTHER’S BEST FRIEND
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