“You, Frankie Curtis, are one of the best things to ever happen to me.”
Okay. “I can’t top that. You guys—I’ve known Coop and Jake forever, but you and Ian, you’re my guys, too. I missed you guys this summer.”
“Well don’t be a dope again,” he chastised. “I couldn’t figure out what we’d done wrong. You were so…distant at Bubba’s party, and then you just disappeared again.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No, you—Frankie, do you understand why we made you untouchable? Why Jake popped that guy? Why I basically tried to dominate your time so the others would back off?”
“Well, you said it was because you thought I didn’t want to date.” They’d all said that. I never took any offers, so they didn’t want anyone foisting themselves on me.
“Yeah, you didn’t seem to want to date. You blew us off when we flirted, and I took you out every weekend six weekends in a row, and you didn’t seem like you were interested. At all. You were a buddy. Then… I asked out Pris—Pam—some chick with a P in her name.”
“It was Christine,” I reminded him, and he blinked.
“No P?”
“No, P is Patty, your most recent girl.”
He grimaced. “You sure it wasn’t a p? And you know what, ignore that. That’s not the point. She gave me all the signals back, so I asked her out, and she said yes. When I told you I had date, do you remember what you said?”
I frowned; the words didn’t immediately leap to mind. “No?”
“You said,” he pitched his voice low as he dropped his hands to my hips and lifted me forward until we were breast to chest. “’Archie, that’s awesome. Where are you going? What are you going to do?’”
I squinted one eye shut and stared at him. “And that was bad?”
“That told me you weren’t jealous. You seemed genuinely happy for me. Which meant, as much as I might like you, you didn’t like me back. Not the same way. I kinda figured maybe it was one of the other guys, but nope. We flirted, and you would laugh, play it off like it was a joke, and that was that. We didn’t just block other guys from asking you out because we thought you weren’t interested—I just didn’t like the idea of seeing you with someone else.”
The admission seemed to cost him.
“I was jealous that you would look at someone else the way I wanted you to look at me. That makes me selfish, I know…then you started seeing Frenchy…”
“Once, Archie,” I told him.
“Twice. You went to lunch and you were thinking about him and it put this giddy smile on your face. Now some dude is sending you roses. I’m… not going to lie. I hate it, but then you said you wanted to date. When we asked you out, you were shocked, and that was an ego check.”
I wanted to hide my face, but there was nowhere to go. We were too close.
“So you want to date the guys? Fine. I don’t have to like it. At least I know they’re not going to be too stupid with you. But I’m a possessive guy, Frankie. Now that I have your attention…you better fucking believe I plan to keep it.”
Those damn tears pricked at my eyes again. The bracelet he’d given me caught some of the lights from above, a soft, muted gold against his neck. He sighed, his body language shifting as the earlier tension eased and his expression gentled.
“I like you, Frankie. A lot. Sex or no sex. I have liked you for a long time.” Then he licked his lips. “But God I hope you say yes to sex whether it’s tonight or not.”
I laughed, because—Archie. He took my breath away. He kissed me, slow and warm, coaxing noises from me with every catch of our mouths, every touch of his tongue.
A low sigh, a gasp, and when he deepened the kiss, he flattened one hand against my shoulder blades and there was no room between us, no air. The contact of my breasts to his chest had me moaning. I swore my bones were melting and the temperature in the hot tub climbed.
He eased back from the kiss a moment, both of us panting. The rush of his breath against my lips just made me hungrier. Then he kissed me again, a little more luxuriously, wet and deep as he slid his free hand down my back and dipped it below the negligible scrap of cloth that served as the bikini bottoms.
I lost track of how long we kissed, but he shifted the angle. Sometimes slow and deep, then harder and faster as he squeezed my ass and I rubbed against his crotch. The earlier need flamed hotter and higher.
“Tell me no,” Archie whispered, in between kisses. “Tell me no, and we’ll stop.”
I did not want to tell him no. I wanted.
There was no object to that sentence, I just wanted. Archie tasted good. He wanted me. He’d wanted me for so long, and I hadn’t known.
“I didn’t know,” I promised him each time he released my lips. “I didn’t know how you felt.”
“I know,” he soothed then sucked on my lower lip before releasing it to stare at me. “I know you didn’t. I want you so badly right now, Frankie. Tell me no and I’ll stop.”
I wasn’t afraid. I’d been terrified earlier, but he was right. We’d been friends for years, and I’d always cared about them, cared about him. The fact he wanted me, that they all did, it was heady and powerful stuff. Being held and cherished, being needed?
I was here and so was he.
“Frankie?”
But I had to bring Mathieu to the party the next day. Digging my fingers into his shoulders, I tried to catch my breath. “Yes.”
He raised his eyebrows, shock etched into his expression. “Yes, you’re going to tell me no, or yes I can take you upstairs and kiss every inch of you?”
Trepidation wiggled through me. We were crossing that line. Once I was over it there was no going back. “Do you have condoms?”
“I have condoms,” he confirmed.
“You’ll wear one?”
“Yes.”
Hope flared in his expression and that nudged me the last millimeter over.
“Then yes, Archie. I want to go upstairs and kiss every inch of you, too.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Boom
My lips tingled from the kiss he’d given me when I said yes. The kiss he continued to give me. Interspersing sharp bites with short licks as he devoured me. His damp hands on my face kept me focused on him, how his breath teased me and how he stroked my tongue. The rigid line of muscle along his shoulders flexed as we moved together.
When he finally let me up for air, I couldn’t catch my breath. Archie smiled, stroking his thumb down my cheek and then he whispered kisses against my lips before mouthing a gentle pass to my ear. The scrape of his teeth against my earlobe had me clenching my thighs against his and digging my fingers into his shoulders.
“I have to ask you a question, babe,” he whispered.
Drunk on him, I slid my fingers against his throat. The rapid beat of his pulse fluttering beneath my fingers was heady stuff. “Hmmm?”
“No details, just yes or no…” The soothing croon stroked over my senses. I loved the sound of his voice like this. “First time?”
No details? I tried to unstick the tangle of thoughts and then leaned back to look at him. The intensity in his expression made me want to kiss him again. His cleverness and intelligence all focused on me. Not my first time making out or getting off…no those went to Ian and then Jake respectively, but the rest? “Yes.”
“Okay,” he whispered, gripping my nape as he sucked in a deep breath.
“Bad?” If I’d thought he seemed intense before, it had nothing on the way a muscle in his jaw ticked or how his nostrils flared.
“No,” he assured me, squeezing my nape gently. “Babe, nothing about you is bad. Just need to make sure I get my head in the right space to not lose my mind because I’ve been thinking about this for four years.”
Heat swept through me, and I leaned in to nuzzle his jaw. His pulse leapt and I had to smile against his cheek, before pressing another kiss. “Just tell me if I do something wrong.”
Rich, warm laughter rolled over me.
“I’m going to make it good for you…trust me?”
He’d already made it good for me. “Yes,” I whispered. “But we have to get out of the tub to go upstairs…”
“Yeah,” he groaned. “That means I have to let you go.”
We clung together like that, and then he shifted and his mouth was on mine again. This kiss was slower, gentler, and it soothed almost as much as his croon had. The crashing tempo of my heart slowed. When he stood abruptly and carried me up with him, I had to lock my thighs to his hips.
A startled laugh escaped as he climbed out of the hot tub. I held on tighter, but not once did I slip.
“Well,” he murmured when we stood beside the hot tub. “Look at that, I didn’t have to let you go after all.” Thunder rumbled like bowling pins colliding and crashing. Lightning flashed and the misting rain changed to a sudden downpour.
I lifted my head to look out at the curtain of rain falling. Archie nipped at my jaw, pulling my attention back to him.
“What are you thinking about?” He asked as he set me down like I was something fragile. He snagged a towel from the cabinet and then began drying me off, swift and efficient, and the soft roughness of the towel on my skin had me shifting. Especially when he lingered over my breasts then down my belly to my hips.
“That I’m really glad it rained…”
On one knee, he toweled off my legs, his hand hesitating right between my thighs and then he grinned. “Me too.” Then he pressed his lips to one of my thighs and I shuddered. He kissed the other one and, despite the chill in the damp breeze, I was burning.
When he pressed a kiss to my abdomen just above the line of the bikini, I sucked in a breath. Was he going to right here?
His dark eyes gleamed and held a smile as he rose and toweled himself off with a couple of careless rubs. Done, he tossed it aside then picked up our wine glasses. “To us?”
When we clinked them together, I drained the glass as he drained his and we never once looked away. The air seemed to vibrate even as my pulse slowed. Excited. Wound up. Soothed. One of those things was not like the other. He left the wine glasses on the table, then caught my hand and led me back inside.
Words were lost as he led me back into the house. We followed the quiet hallway to the stairs and then climbed them, hand in hand. At the top of the stairs, he paused for a moment, then kissed my collarbone and then my neck, his breath rushing over my skin. The air conditioning was glorious against my overheated body.
In his bedroom, he didn’t slow, walking us straight into his bathroom. He let go of my hand, and then stripped off his swim trunks and… all the moisture in my mouth fled. He was beautiful. His cock was long, thick, and had just a hint of a curve to it. The tip was shiny, and swollen. As he switched on the water in the shower, I bit my lip. Would it be as hot and smooth?
“C’mere,” he murmured, and I dragged my gaze up to find him watching me with an adorable smirk. When I narrowed the distance, he trailed his fingers up my arm to the strap of the bikini top. “May I?”
Gut clenching, I nodded.
With care, he tugged the bow free, letting the pair of straps fall before he slid his hand to the back and tugged the bow there. The scrap of cloth fell away and leaving my chest bare. Archie’s eyes never shifted, his gaze pinning mine as he trailed his touch to my hips. Two light tugs and the bottoms were gone, too.
The nerves chose that moment to hit, but Archie tilted his head and ran his gaze over me from head to toe and then zeroed in on my eyes again. “You’re gorgeous.”
Heat swept over my cheeks, and then we were kissing. I had no idea who moved first, just that his mouth locked on mine. Steam filled the air around us, but I barely noticed it. His cock strained against my belly and left a little smear of dampness as he coaxed my tongue to stroke against his.
The weight of his fingers pressing against my hips kept me from grinding, even if everything in me just wanted to rub against him. His chest against my nipples was a delightful torture. A moan clawed up my throat when he pulled back.
“You’re killing me,” he managed, his voice thicker than normal. “Rinse off first. Chlorine tastes like crap. Then we’re going to do this in a bed, where you can be comfortable, and I can play with you.”
A quiver raced through me. The way he looked at me, there was nowhere to hide, nowhere to duck away to—not that I wanted to do either of those things. He kissed me again, just as slow as before.
“C’mon,” he whispered. “Shower. Then we’ll play. I am going to make this so good for you.”
How the hell did I tell him he already had even though he hadn’t really touched me yet? The hot water was a shock on my skin and a gasp slipped out before I could stop it. Archie ran his hands over me, following the sluicing water. Lingering on my breasts, he rubbed his calloused palms against them.
Back arching, I mirrored his example, caressing his shoulders, then his chest. The muscles in his arms flexed when I glided over them and his abdomen tightened as I slid my fingers down to his groin.
“You touch me and I’m going to come right here,” he warned.
I really wanted to see that. I wanted to lick him and taste. “I want to touch you.”
“You can touch me, babe,” he said, drawing us back from the water. “I don’t think I’ll have any problem getting it up again.”
“In here or…do you want to wait for the bed so I can make it good for you, too? I’ve never kissed someone’s cock before, but I think I can figure it out.”
Releasing a ragged groan, he pinched one of my nipples. The sharp tug enough to send a sting of pain through me at the same time as it made my pussy slick and soft.
“Fuck me,” he exhaled. “That mouth on me, and I’m definitely done for…but whatever you want. This is about you…”
“That doesn’t seem fair,” I told him then pressed a kiss to his pec.
“Yeah? Fuck fair.” He shut off the water and then he was crowding me right up to the tile as his mouth claimed mine. Then he dragged his lips down to press against the hollow of my throat. “Towels. Dry. Bed. Now.”
The growl did something entirely. When he lifted his head, I couldn’t see the color of his eyes for the way his pupils blotted them out. He thrust a towel in my hands, then gave my nipple another pinch. The jolt got me moving and I stared at him as we stepped out of the stall. I made two swipes with the towel, basking in the way he looked at me before he yanked the towel and pulled me to him. Then our mouths were fused, and we were moving. Somehow, we got across the room to the steps leading up to his bed and he lifted me.
The sheets were cool against my back when we landed and then Archie was leaning over me. “Tell me what you want, Frankie.” It wasn’t a request.
Licking my lips, I said, “I want everything. I want you.”
I did, I wanted it all.
“Tell me…”
He wanted specifics. Okay.
“I want to feel you touching me. I want to touch you. I want to feel your mouth on me. I want to taste you. I—” He cut me off with his mouth as he thrust his tongue in to duel with mine. The callouses on his palms were rough and gentle at the same time as he ran them over me. When he abandoned my mouth and locked his lips around a nipple, I arched up off the bed. Taut little kittenish licks strained me before he did a hard suck that sent a pulse straight to my pussy.
His cock brushed against my thigh, another smear of dampness. I dug my fingers into his hair, then down to his shoulders. Anywhere I could reach. Archie moved from one breast to the other until I was writhing. When he kissed down my belly, I jolted. Was he going…?
Pressing my thighs apart, he paused to look at me. I froze. The way his expression shifted, the wonder and the heat, did all kinds of wild things to my system.
His nostrils flared and his reactions captivated me as he eased my right leg up over his shoulder and then shifted his gaze to stare up at me. “You smell…amazing.”
I swore my eyes had to have turned into saucers
even as the air backed up in my lungs.
“That taste you gave me earlier?” The eddies of his breath against my pussy made me ache. I wanted to lift my hips, but he had a firm grip on them and I wasn’t going anywhere. Being held still sent off little rockets of desire through my system. I had no idea how nice that could feel. I wanted to reach for him, but I had fisted the sheets. “So good. So good. Now I’m going to dine on you—this is my dessert.”
Not looking away, he licked me from entrance to clit. Transfixed, I stared at him as he nuzzled and kissed and sucked. My thoughts scattered, there was so much I wanted to do, and it was everything I could to hold on as he thrust his tongue into me.
My head fell back, and I yanked at the sheets as he worked his way back to my clit. I swore he said something, but I couldn’t hear it past the need unspooling rapidly. The moment he sucked my clit against his teeth, I arched. My legs went taut and, if not for his angle, I think I might have squeezed his head.
He didn’t let up, the pressure just increased, and I came with a sob. The orgasm hit me fast, I couldn’t see as I thrashed. But Archie wasn’t done. He kept licking, sucking, and nipping and I came again.
Tears slipped out of my eyes, and I beat my fists on the bed. He eased off as the quaking shook me. He turned his face against the inside of my thigh and the hot pull of his mouth against the skin there. It sent a spike through me as he nuzzled there for a long moment, then he turned and did the same to my other thigh.
Shudders rocked up my sides and then he pressed a kiss my pussy, another lick and press to the sensitive flesh. The weight of him shifted and then he was kissing me, I could taste myself on him and maybe that should have been a turn off, but I clung to him. The faintly musky flavor mingled with something that was all Archie along with hints of chocolate and the wine.
Absolutely blitzed for him, I dug my fingers into his back. Pleasure collided with need as it barreled headlong into want. As good as I felt, I wanted more. Lifting his head, he cupped my face and stroked away the tears.
“Frankie,” he whispered. “C’mon, Frankie, open your eyes. That’s it, open your eyes.”
Rules and Roses: Untouchable Book One Page 33