Intrigue Me

by Lacee Hightower

  She flinched, muffling a scream, pleading, as she fell into the pillow beneath her. “Please. God, don’t stop. It feels so good, Tage.”

  I couldn’t stop if I tried.

  Pivotal bliss made me shudder all over, her submission perfectly breathtaking. I wanted to spill my release inside her. Come so damn hard and long that my seed ran down her thighs in a warm thick rush. But she wasn’t quite there. I could wait.

  “You want me to keep going?” I took her auburn tresses in my palm and pulled, forcing her to look up. “Then turn your head to the side and look in my eyes, dammit. Watch me as I’m pleasuring you,” I growled. “Respect me.”

  Look at me. Touch me. Make me stop needing you, dammit.

  I rammed into her forcibly, savagely, one hand still clinging to her nipple as the other twined through her hair.

  “God. Oh, God,” she murmured. “It’s so good, Tage. Sir.”

  “Then tell me how much you appreciate my cock and how fucking sensational it’s going to feel when it’s deep in your ass. Tell me how much you love me torturing your tits and how hard you’re going to come around me. Thank me, Ava.”

  “Tage,” she cried, her body tightening, shaking. “Thank you for giving me your cock. For making my breasts feel amazing. And pleasuring me.”

  She was beautiful to watch. I pumped into her deep, twisting my hands through her hair as she hoisted her hips into each punishing thrust. This wild attraction, this insane lust—fuck, it was so strong—so intense and so damn perfect. I flipped her over onto her back again, fucking her deep into the mattress and lowering a hand to pinch her clit before ramming my cock back inside, deeper and harder. Clutching her neck with one hand while the other stayed against her blood-swollen nub, I felt her muscles clenching tighter, convulsing, and squeezing the complete hell out of my cock. Her palms reached for my ass, the tip of a finger easing slowly into my asshole.

  Motherfucking hell!

  For the love of all that was holy, her finger was in my ass, rocking my fucking world and doing things to my body that had never been done before. This was harsh bestiality, a building storm, intensity and passion so raw and carnal, that it eluded all reason of sanity. Before I had time to even think, before I’d given her the orgasm that she damn well deserved, I was gone, slipping over the edge into nothing but bright lights and nirvana. Crashing surges of heat shot up my cock as I cried out her name with a breathy moan, collapsing against her chest as a second heavy climax thundered through me like a rocket.

  “You make me come so fucking hard.” My body shook, a groan erupting low in my throat as I jerked, filling her with my release, coming in fathomless pulsing thrusts. I rolled over onto my back, still inside her, pulling her with me and holding her tight. Refusing to let her go just yet. My breath was still coming hard, this feeling behind my ribcage a fuzzy blur. It was unclear, alien. Fuck, I wasn’t sure what it was.

  There wasn’t a damn thing I was sure of right now.

  “Come here.” I was drained and exhausted from the heaviest orgasm of my life, and now, all I wanted was her beside me, touching me, recovering alongside me. I tilted her head up, looking into fatigued, watery blue eyes. “That was beautiful, doll.” I pushed the mess of tangled waves behind her ear and kissed her, caressing her cheeks, her shoulders, her back. I couldn’t keep my damn hands off of her. I felt a desperation, a need so dire and deep that it scared the fuck out of me. “Sleep here tonight. Beside me.”

  She sighed, nodding. “Okay. Maybe for a minute.”

  I lowered her off my body and walked to the bathroom, returning with a warm cloth and a soothing ointment to rub on her ass. I lowered the comforter she’d raised over her shoulders, and gently massaged the ointment into her sweet ass cheeks and also over her breasts and nipples, before stroking her hair from her face. “Are you okay, sweetheart?”

  “Just tired,” she whispered.

  I reached for the bottle of water beside the bed and held it to her lips, trying to ignore the unnerving sensation blasting behind my chest. “Let’s get you settled for the night.” With another soft sigh, she nodded, turning onto her side and closing her eyes. I took a long swallow of water and climbed in behind her.

  “I never forgot you, Ava,” I whispered against her ear. “I’ve never lied to you. I was in the Navy on active duty for just under four years. I haven’t ever been married, haven’t ever loved a woman. I’ve never even had a dog since I was a child. I still listen to rock music, and same as back then, I want you like my next breath. But there’s not a damn thing about this that isn’t going to be difficult, doll. Not a damn thing.”

  Fuck me. Fuck! Fuck!

  I had been with a lot of women.

  Had plenty question my background.

  I’d never offered any one of them an explanation.

  And now here I was, a woman in my bed who was seconds from falling into slumber, while I rambled off personal bullshit like it was normal.

  What in bloody hell was happening to me? Who was I becoming?

  No feelings, Tage. No emotion.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Ava

  The day had been a damned difficult one. Time had idled away swiftly, but my mood still reeled with a blur of different emotions—mainly Melli—after the life-changing discussion we’d shared. Days had passed and she hadn’t mentioned a word, but I knew it was on her mind.

  While she sat calmly, staring at me with eyes wide and inquisitive, I’d explained that Tage was her biological father and tried my best to justify her grandfather’s dire mistake in a way she could understand. While it had been one of the hardest things I’d yet had to do as a mother, she’d stayed perfectly calm, while I fought like hell to keep my composure. With her sweet little bottom lip trembling, her only question had been why her Papa Mike didn’t love Tage.

  “Baby, sometimes people think they know someone, when in fact they really don’t. Papa Mike was having a very tough time back then. He made some terrible choices that hurt a lot of people, and for now we need to take some time away and let him think about what he did. But I want you to know that your Papa Mike loves you and always has.”

  I was an advice columnist. I responded to similar questions almost daily. But trying to explain my father’s hatred toward Tage to an innocent little girl who held nothing but bright skies and double rainbows in her heart hadn’t come easily. Truth was, I really didn’t know where all his hostility came from. Tage came from money, but wasn’t the privileged kid my dad claimed. Money didn’t equal happiness. It never had. It never would.

  Had I made a mistake in choosing to keep her from the only grandfather she knew? Perhaps, but it felt like the right thing to do.

  Maybe my dad would one day realize the depth of his mistakes and try to atone for them. Maybe one day I could forgive him. And whether Tage and I worked out, or whether one, or both of us walked away disappointed, I would find a way, somehow, to make sure Tage remained a positive influence in his daughter’s life.

  I wouldn’t settle for anything less.

  I stared at the ridiculous karaoke machine still in the middle of the kitchen.

  First a boombox and now this. What was he going to bring next? A truckload of instruments? A live boy band? Harry Styles in the flesh?

  After nearly a week without a word, Tage had stopped by last night, unexpectedly, with no quaint machine, but a Singtrix Party Bundle Premium system, along with a second speaker. Like a kid in a candy store, Melli was beside herself. They belted out every Harry Styles song, and then, after he introduced her to none other than Def Leppard, the real party began. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d laughed so much, or watched Melli have that kind of fun. Her happiness absolutely soared to ecstasy when Tage was around.

  At nearly 10 PM, she could no longer hold her eyes open, and climbed into his lap, asking him to take her to bed. Other than sharing a few kisses and maybe a dozen words after he tucked Melli in, he’d left with nothing but a light kiss to my cheek.

/>   With my mood souring, I stared out the kitchen window, taking in all the deep green grass and blooming flowers that usually cheered me up. Today, they only looked like … grass and flowers.

  I missed Melli, and really hadn’t felt comfortable allowing her to attend the circus with CJ, her best friend, and her family tonight, considering all she’d been through. Having been planned weeks ago, I also knew she would have been sorely disappointed if I hadn’t let her go. Knowing my Melli, she was having a blast and thinking of nothing else.

  I felt terrible in an eerie kind of way, craving junk food … lemonade … fish tacos … and another Tage Morgan generated orgasm. Just the thought of his name made my body burn. He was so damn fine. So damned male. So dangerous for my heart. How deep, I wondered, was he into sadism?

  How deep was I?

  Wednesday’s Wrangle was just about to get underway, and days like today when my emotions were yo-yoing all over the place, I was thankful I had chosen to handle the hour-long afternoon affair from the comforts of home. Grudgingly, I reached for a Dove dark chocolate bar from the freezer, tearing the wrapper off and biting into it pitilessly, then sat down to look at the afternoon’s first question.

  Dear Ava,

  For seven years, I’ve been living with “Prince Nobody.” He won’t commit, stays out late nearly every night, and comes home with perfume on his shirt. He makes fun of my mid-section that I’ve struggled with since giving birth to his child two years ago. He professes love, then turns around and tells me my backside is wide. I’m afraid to leave. I want my fairytale ending. My handsome prince. Is there any hope, Ava?

  Depressed and Disheartened

  Words like these made me want to shake some sense into women that stayed in these kinds of poisonous relationships. This one was all too familiar, and I responded with hard quick strokes against the keyboard, trying to keep my mind where it needed to be, and not where it wanted to.

  Depressed and Disheartened,

  Toss the loss! Find yourself a real man who will handle you with respect, treat you like a queen, and tell you you’re beautiful. If you stay in this toxic situation, you will end up angry and pathetic just as this ugly toad is. Sweetheart, all the fairy dust in the world won’t change Prince Nobody into Prince Charming. My advice is to kick him to the curb while the kicking’s good, and never look back. Ava.

  Just after five, I poured myself a glass of wine and started a warm bath. I was done with Wednesday’s Wrangle, had wrapped up a quick phone conversation with Melli and CJ’s mother agreeing to go ahead and let Melli stay the night, and now I had a few minutes to relax and unwind. I was so grateful for their friendship, and her family. They did so much for Melli. I really needed to return some of their generosity.

  I turned off the water and practically dove into the scalding hot bubble bath with a glass of Pinot in hand. I took a long swallow of the red wine, still shaken from a message I’d received from a young woman with suicidal tendencies, and wondering if I had done enough by enclosing the telephone number of the Suicide Hotline. My heart went out to people in such desperate need, but suicide was one topic I was far from being able to give advice on.

  I leaned back in the bathtub, letting the warm water rush all the way up to my chin and trying to will away a flare of building anxiety. Amy Lee and Evanescence wafted from a Bluetooth speaker in the bedroom as I stared at the silent phone on the bathtub ledge, only to pick it up and click on email. Check Facebook. Log back onto Messenger. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat one last time.

  “What the hell am I looking for?” I whispered, knowing damn well what I was wishing for, yet pretty positive that Tage had probably never been or would ever be the type to send unnecessary personal messages or emails.

  Why did this man have such an effect on me and bring out such a desperation? Eight years ago, he made my head spin, my body throb, my sanity disappear.

  Today proved no different.

  Thirty minutes later, the water had gone cold and my skin had shriveled. I dried off and slipped into my favorite soft pink satin robe, hoping Melli was having a good time and wouldn’t be too tired for school tomorrow.

  Adam was holding another company dinner this evening, and like so many others in the past, I was nowhere near feeling like attending.

  Jesus, V. You work with these people. You like these people. It’s your job.

  I spread lotion over my legs, then carried the tube into the closet, moisturizing my arms and shoulders with coconut-scented cream while looking through clothes. Only seconds passed before I was opting for a knee-length, medium-blue sheath dress with three-quarter length sleeves and cut-outs on the shoulders. Inexpensive and simple, the Steinmart purchase was one of my favorites. It fit me well and made me feel secure.

  After a quick makeup touchup, I styled my hair in soft waves and slid into the dress. With only a minute spent picking through jewelry, I decided on a drop pendant with matching dangling earrings. The sapphire duo was very dear to my heart. It had been my mother’s. Mama. I miss you.

  I looked good.

  But felt awful as I walked out the door.

  Three keys jangled on the large silver keyring as I stepped inside the six-month old, blacked-out Volvo XC40, and pressed the key fob to start the ignition. Seether was belting out one of my favorites on the radio, and suddenly I was wondering if Tage liked them, or who he listened to, besides Def Leppard. I smiled, certain that I knew what he didn’t listen to. Without a second’s hesitation, I turned up the volume and took a left out of the neighborhood instead of a right, heading straight toward Chef Chen Diner, opposite of The Zodiac.

  Tonight, I wouldn’t be attending the employee dinner. I didn’t feel like chatting. Didn’t feel like listening to one of Adam’s motivational speeches, or watching the women’s panties heat every time he flashed one of his seductive grins or cracked a joke. Instead of fancy and elegant, all I wanted was simple and unsophisticated. Nothing more than a bowl of hot and sour soup and some fried dumplings to take home.

  And icy blue eyes.

  I shivered, despite the warm temperature. My hormones had been like a roller coaster today. One minute I was smiling. The next I was biting back tears. I was hot, then cold. But one thing was in full perfect overdrive—my libido. I sucked in a deep breath, lust impelling my heartbeat, a hot tightness building between my legs. God, I wanted him. I wanted my hands on every square inch of his lethally hot body. I wanted his tongue stroking over mine nice and slow. I wanted to drop to my knees and lick him into sexual oblivion. I was panting softly, my body suddenly so damned hot. So damned horny.

  Jesus, Ava. When did you become such a horn dog?

  True to the small Asian restaurant’s reputation for excellent fresh food, the aroma inside was phenomenal, smelling like ginger and a whole array of decadent spices. The line was three deep, and I smiled at the older gentleman behind the glass wall that I’d seen dozens of times, as he flipped food around in a wok with a large spatula.

  “Ava!”

  My stomach dipped at the sound of the familiar voice that meant one thing.

  Lance was behind me.

  Shit. Tempted to claim a sudden work emergency to avoid another uncomfortable conversation, I knew he would know better. I hoped he wouldn’t mention the photos again that I still hadn’t returned.

  Dressed in tight black jeans with the knees scuffed, along with a button-down deep grey shirt tucked in neat and tight, his trademark square-toed western boots covering his feet, he looked just like the handsome Texas cowboy he was and had always been. I couldn’t remember ever being anywhere with my ex that every woman that could see him didn’t focus in on his rugged charm and good looks. Lance had always been irresistible to women.

  He also had a roving eye.

  His gaze met mine—sensual and desirous, a warm gust of wind sweeping by as the door fell shut. “Funny seeing you here.” His brows arched as his eyes dropped down my torso, my heart squeezing at the familiar look I’d once loved. “Wow. You loo
k awesome, V. Let me guess. Hot and sour soup with fried dumplings?”

  With the past long behind us, I still couldn’t help but smile, a tinge of sadness yanking at my heart at his memory of my favorite foods. I stared hard at my ex-husband. The boy whom every vagina in Farmersville High School wanted. Voted Most Handsome. Named Homecoming King and Most Likely to Succeed. I’d only known him casually in high school, but today he knew me better than anyone. I’d once been convinced he would be my forever. Things had been good in the beginning. We couldn’t keep our hands off each other and couldn’t get in bed quickly enough after getting Melli to sleep. Lance did his best, and for a while, I had been content. Time passed, happily. Everything was fine. Then, once I began earning twice the money he did as a high school football coach, it all turned sour in an instant.

  Things were never the same. The cheating began. The lies. The insults.

  The end of a marriage.

  The end of a dream.

  “Hey, can I come by and pick up those photos if you’re headed home? We could eat Chinese together like old times. Where’s Melli, by the way?”

  Crap! I winced. “I don’t know, Lance. Melli’s with CJ, and I—oh, shit. I guess there’s no harm.” We’d just recently argued over something as little as family photos, and the last thing I was in the mood for, especially with my seesawing emotions, was more of the same, but thought maybe we could get through a quick dinner civilly.

  It was nearly nine when we finished eating, and it almost felt natural, like early in our marriage. We didn’t argue. We only talked about our jobs, Melli meeting Tage, my father, the upcoming football season, and the Dallas Cowboys. He was shocked about my dad, but handled the news about Tage way better than I’d anticipated, actually admitting it was for the best.