by Murphy,Misti
Taking the stairs two at a time, I go in search of my missing companion. My. Such a funny word. Possessive. And she’s not. I don’t have time for possessing anything that means standing still, not a place I live, not a dog, definitely not a girl, and most certainly not Maxi. “Where are you, little nun?”
“Over here.” She calls out quietly, standing on the grass at the edge of the lake. Her phone is in her hand. “Just called home. I was coming back in.”
“Checking up on Sarah? That’s your sister’s kid, right?”
“R-right.” She stumbles back toward me, looking like she belongs at a celebrity after party. A few too many champagnes under her belt but still looking fabulous and utterly charming.
The maroon material makes the long wavy tresses of her hair seem extra dark. I can’t help but tug on one of the loose curls when she gets to me. It’s silky and springy in my fingers, and it makes me want to grasp a whole handful and bring her closer. “Aren’t you supposed to be keeping me company?”
“I was. I am.” Tucking her hand into my elbow, she leads me back the way we came. “But you seem to have it all under control.”
I may be a little less sober than I thought, because I like how she fits with me. I like that her head comes up to my shoulder, and the way her hand feels clasping my bicep. It’s just that with her next to me like this, I won’t get propositioned again tonight, won’t have temptation thrust in my face. Won’t be surrounded by the sick stench of women looking for love. “I don’t. I almost suffocated to death in a closet.”
She laughs at that. “Sure you did.”
“I’m serious. The woman was crazy. I’m too tall and magic is something only silly little boys play with, but she told me we had something special, something that could last through the ages. And then she promptly got tangled in a bunch of coats that I had to fight to get out of there.” We take the stairs, and I drag her to the bar with me. “Are you thirsty? I’m thirsty.”
I get us both another drink, because hell, it’s a wedding, and the alcohol is on me. Then the emcee announces that Razer and Claire are leaving, which is exactly what I’ve been anticipating all night. So we follow them outside to the limo that’s waiting. It’s like the longest goodbye in the world as they make their way from family member to family member, but the minute they’re gone so are Maxi and I.
“Shouldn’t we at least have left the glasses?” She giggles, tripping over her feet, but with her hand still tucked into my arm, I keep her from falling.
“Forgotten how to walk?” I tease.
“No.” Scowling, she drags the hem of her dress up to show me the high, strappy gold heels she’s wearing. “You try wearing these with a skinful of this.”
“Skinful?” Sometime she says the weirdest things that make me chuckle. They don’t make sense, but to her they’re normal.
“Slang for drunk, like maggoted, slaughtered, blind, pissed.” She thrusts the champagne glass in my direction. “I bet you couldn’t walk the rest of the way home in my shoes.”
“Probably not.” I take the glass from her and set it down, along with mine, on top of the closest mailbox, before scooping her up and tossing her over my shoulder. “But I can carry your drunk ass.”
“My ass is not drunk,” she announces, loudly. I bet if I tell her she yelled that out in the street tomorrow she’ll get all flushed and start worrying about who heard her, but right now she’s beautifully uninhibited.
“You’re right. It’s sexy.” I smack my hand down on it.
Jumping, she squeals. “What was that for?”
I lengthen my stride as the house comes in to view. I thought I’d swim, spend some time working off the alcohol doing weights or running on the treadmill. But maybe not. “You were supposed to keep me entertained. Terms of the deal, remember? You promised to keep me from doing stupid stuff.”
“I can’t help it if you run into closets with every willing woman. It’s not my fault.”
I bounce up the stairs, and she grips onto me, trying to keep her balance and squeal-laughing the whole time. “Put me down, Rush.”
“I don’t think so.” It takes a minute and a fight with the door, before we crash through it and stumble to the floor. “I think you need to make up for not sticking to your end of the deal.”
She’s under me, laid out on the dark rug, with its fireworks pattern bursting around her. Eyes big and shining, her tits rising and falling with each breath she takes. Propping herself up on her elbows, she gazes at me. “What did you have in mind?”
Trouble. I crawl over her, cupping her jaw with one hand and dipping my fingers between those juicy lips. Instinctively, she darts her tongue against them and the sensation tugs at my cock. “You were supposed to keep me distracted.”
And she is, a little too well. I want to strip her bare and fuck her right here on the foyer floor. I’ve wanted her back on my cock since the first time we did it, but that’s not how I am. It’s not how I work. Once should have been enough. There’s no point in tempting fate, but what the fuck do I care when her knees come up on either side of my hips, practically begging to embrace me.
“And you’re a grown man who should be able to distract himself. I only left you alone for an hour tops.” Her fingers find my tie, smoothing the silk before curling around it.
“And I nearly found my end in a closet.” I stroke from her knee to her thigh and dig my fingers into the waist of her panties, her dress bunching around my hand. “Don’t you think that deserves some kind of recompense?”
“I think you’re a magician who could have tricked his way out of such an awful situation,” she mocks me, tugging on my tie until her mouth is a mere inch from mine.
Her warm breath tickles me, and her slight smile goads me. I suck her bottom lip into my mouth, bite it gently. “And I think I want your sweet pussy on my cock.”
“Please,” she whispers, and that’s all I need to hear to know it doesn’t matter that I shouldn’t be doing this. That somewhere in my mind I recognize this is going to open up a door to something that isn’t just trouble.
Flipping her over on her belly, I hike her ass up in the air, and push her dress over her hips. White panties, fuck, damp with her arousal cover her pussy. Yanking them down, I run my fingers over her engorged slit, dipping inside her. Her back curves, pushing her toward me. With a groan, I press my mouth to her spine, lick down each bump to bite that sexy bit of flesh.
She whimpers, her neediness making the sound ragged. “You bit me.”
“And you enjoyed it.” I lift her hips higher, slide my tongue over her clit and through her pussy, licking up the taste of her. “Like you enjoy my mouth on you.”
“Yes.”
Digging my tongue into her entrance, my mouth is covered in her wetness. She’s something else, like a craving, a hunger that’s rooted deep inside me. A dangerous longing for something that can ruin me. I eat her anyway, push those thoughts right out of my head and let my brain melt with the desire to make her scream for me.
Her whole body rocks, while she’s on hands and knees, and I grasp one of her plump tits, pinching a stiff nipple while she cries out for me. It makes me feel like a god, the way standing in front of thousands of people makes me feel like a god. And all I need to achieve that buzz is to give her pleasure.
I pull away from her, lick and suck and bite my way up from that pert ass to her hip while I fish out my wallet and find the condom I carry, then yank on the zip on my pants and push them down my hips. It takes me a couple seconds to fumble with the condom and wrap my cock.
“Rush,” she warbles when I grip her hips and sink into her all the way to the hilt.
She’s a little slice of perfect, gripping my cock. So willing to take me.
Curling over her, I put her hand to her clit. “Touch yourself.”
I can feel her fingers each time I plunge into her, my balls smacking against her while she rubs herself accompanied by the sounds of her harsh little moans. Smoothing my palm
down her ass, I slide a finger over the tight little knot of her ass. I doubt she’s ever been touched there, but I’m compelled with the need to know if she’s the kind of girl who would like it.
She jerks away from my touch, but she can’t hide the moan that tumbles from her lips. “What are you doing?”
That air of inexperience, of innocence still lingers. The way it did the first time when I thought I hurt her. I’m not sure why my brain grabs hold of that while I’m thrusting in and out of her. “You liked being touched there, didn’t you, little nun? But you still fuck like you’re a virgin.”
“That’s because I am.” She hisses. “I mean was. Oh shit, did I say that out loud? I-I wasn’t going to tell you that.” Glancing over her shoulder at me, her eyes confess that she realizes she’s given herself away, but she pushes back on me, taking me deeper.
I can’t think to save myself with her on my cock. Can’t make heads or tails of anything other than how close she has me to cumming. Sliding my hand over hers, I rub her finger faster over her clit until she’s screaming for me, falling apart with her climax, her tight inner walls strangling me in a way that makes my balls feel like they’re going to explode, right before I jizz.
***
Fuck, my head. I wake up on the floor. The front door wide open, bright sunlight shining in my face. My cock sticking straight up and out of my pants. And a soft warm body pressed into my side. I grind the heel of one palm over my face to shake off the cruddy sleep feeling.
I’ve slept in worse places. Some of the hotels I’ve ended up in while on tours have nothing on the plush rug underneath us. Glancing over at her, I get an eyeful of dark tumbleweed hair. I can’t even see her face, but that’s mostly because it’s buried in my armpit.
She moans a little and wriggles against me, and I do nothing except narrow my gaze on her. The last time I woke up with a woman beside me, Chelsea had crashed out while we were watching an old tape of Siegfried and Roy. But this isn’t the same thing. For one, I never fucked Chels, and for another, I’ve never had this odd sensation tugging at me, telling me to put my arm around a woman and hold her for nothing more than the delight of it.
Resting my hand on her shoulder, I let myself enjoy her body in my arms. It doesn’t mean anything, and she’s asleep so she doesn’t need to know that maybe she gets to me in a way I don’t get. Just like I didn’t need to know she was a virgin.
I grimace and drop my hand from her shoulder. So much for enjoying the moment. I’m not interested in anything more than the here and now when it comes to her. I have my career and so much of life to enjoy. But I told her I didn’t want to cause her anguish if she got confused and thought it was more than it is. That’s why she promised me it was only a fuck.
Carefully, I slide my arm out from under her so as not to wake her. I tuck my dick back in my pants and grab a throw from the living room to cover her with before I shut the front door. It doesn’t have to mean anything. Other than she lied to me.
Leaving her to sleep, I go to the kitchen for Tylenol and water before brewing coffee. No, it doesn’t have to mean anything. My first time sure as hell didn’t. It was fast and fun and I’d swaggered out of that high school party like the king of the fucking world. I don’t even remember the girl’s name.
“Do you know your girl is asleep at the front door?” Tommy grins, letting himself into my kitchen.
“Do you know you’re a dumbass? She’s not my fucking girl,” I grumble. I’m trying to wrap my head around why the heck she chose not to tell me how little experience she’d had, and whether it means anything. The last thing I need is Tommy trying to rile me up by suggesting she’s my anything. “What happened to knocking?”
“Open door policy around here, bro.” He gets out cups and starts doctoring coffee. “You all walk into my house like you own it. I’m returning the favor.”
“Right.” I accept the coffee he holds out to me, though I would have preferred to make my own and not have my family sticking their noses in my business when I’m confused and trying to work out what the hell I’ve gotten myself into. “What do you want?”
“I thought I’d see how you pulled up. You were knocking them back last night. It was pretty impressive.”
“My head’s telling a different story. Too much champagne.”
Tommy laughs. “Women. I meant women. Did one of them drag you into a closet? Did that actually happen?”
“Yep.”
“Well thank Christ for Maxi then. She’s a good influence on you.”
“Is she?” I’m not sure. She’s having an effect on me, that’s for sure. I’m just not sure it’s a good thing. After sex cuddling? What the hell is happening?
“M-morning.” Maxi joins us, tugging her fingers through her hair.
Barefoot, still wearing last night’s dress and dirtied up makeup, she makes me smile. A response I try to hide in my coffee cup. When she looks meticulous and prim, I want nothing more than to mess her up, but in complete disarray like she is, I get a sense of satisfaction that swells my chest since it’s mostly because of me she’s so undone.
“Want some?” Tommy asks, waving the coffeepot in her direction.
She cocks her head to the side as though trying to make sense of the situation, while I’m still considering the significance of her lying to me. Or did she? I’m not certain she ever said anything that should have outright led me to form an opinion of her sex life. “Two sugars, Tommy.”
While he’s got his back turned, she pads closer to me. There’s this look on her face, the one she gets when her brain is working overtime. “Did I say anything ridiculous last night? Anything that might have come out weird?”
“No. I don’t think so.” I take a long draw on the hot liquid. So she remembers what she said, but I’m not going to blurt it out in front of my brother, and I don’t mind the idea of letting her mull over it. “What do you think you said?”
“Uh, nothing. No.” She flicks her attention to Tommy when he holds out her coffee. “Absolutely nothing. Don’t worry about it.” Taking the coffee, she heads back the way she came. “I’ve got phone calls to make.”
“What was that about?” Tommy leans against the counter, his arms crossed, one brow raised.
“As she said, nothing.”
“I can still get a read on you, moron.” He chuckles. “Why’d you tell her you didn’t know what she was talking about?”
“Because she’d be embarrassed.” And she would be. Mortified. And funnily enough I don’t want her hiding from me. No matter I don’t know how I feel about her omission, or even the fact that I held onto her this morning, I like her being with me. “I have work to do, so if you don’t mind let yourself out the same way you got in.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Maxi
I flop backwards onto the bed, clutching my phone. I cannot believe I told him that I hadn’t had sex before. Way to go and open my mouth. But he doesn’t remember so it’s okay. Except I do and I’m absolutely horrified that I let it slip. What if he does remember but he didn’t want to say so in front of his brother? What if he thought it meant something?
Throwing my arms over my face, I moan. That’s the last thing I need. For him to think I’m some love struck girl who thinks I can make him fall for me. So much for our deal. He’ll probably send me home on the next flight, and all I’d have is some fun and sweet memories of the man and a whole lot of wasted time that I should have been spending with Sarah.
Maybe I should pre-empt him and book my own ticket. Clutching my phone, I bring up an airline search. Yes, that’s what I should do. Go home before this gets any more awkward. Why the hell did I decide it was a good idea to have sex with him in the first place? Why did I even agree to his deal? Because it was my dream to land this interview, because he’s the most interesting man I’ve ever met? Because I thought I could handle it as long as I remembered he’s the kind of asshole who ends up leaving me with no sister and a child to raise.
T
he phone rings in my hand, and I drop it on my face. Grimacing, I pick it up and fumble it in my effort to answer. “Hello.”
“Hey, Max.” Eliza’s chirpy voice comes through loud and clear. “Thought I’d check in and see how the article’s coming along. Are you ready to send me your notes yet?”
“No.” I stare at the roof, trying to think of a good excuse to not send her the information she’s after, but I settle for the truth. “You won’t get it until it’s finished, and Rush has agreed for it to go to print.”
“Jesus, what kind of deal did you make?” She says goodbye to one of the other reporters, so she must be on her way out of the office. “What if he scraps the whole thing? What about your integrity to bringing the public the information they need?”
“Yeah, well I made an agreement.”
“Maybe you could loosen him up a little. Flirt with him or something.” Traffic whizzes by in the background. “Use those womanly charms of yours.”
“I’m not going to do that,” I squeak, heat filling my cheeks.
“Wait? What was that? Did you squeak?”
“No.”
“Oh my God. You’ve slept with him haven’t you?”
“N-no.” I aim for indignation. “I would never. That would be so unprofessional.”
“You have. You’ve ridden the magic dick.”
“No.” I grab a pillow and hold it over my flaming face, before whispering, “Is it that obvious?”
“You can’t lie to save yourself.” She laughs. “So how was it?”
“O-okay.” Better than.
“You hussy,” she babbles. “Is he as good at it as the internet rumors? You need to tell me the details. Spill, you dirty bitch.”
“It was good,” I whisper. “He’s really a nice guy.”
“Oh.” She stutters to a stop. “Oh! You like him.”
“Well, he’s likable. Not as egotistical as I thought he would be.”
I hear the mechanical announcement for the next stop of the train she’s boarded. “No, I mean you like, like him.”