“Nope,” I said all too quickly.
“Go have fun,” Blair said. He picked up his drink, downing it immediately and lifting his hand to order another.
Once on the dance floor, the guy’s hands gravitated to my hips as he swayed with me.
“You are one sexy man,” he said as his lips found my neck, and I didn’t push him away. It felt good, but I wasn’t into groping, so if he went any further, I’d have to stop him. For now, I got lost in the music and let myself really feel the bass as I ground my hips against him.
When I opened my eyes, it was like coming out of a haze, and my cheeks flushed as my gaze moved across the room to search for Blair, who was in the same position I left him in at the bar. I thought maybe he’d roll his eyes or mock me, but I saw something else in his expression instead. His cheeks were ruddy red, which could’ve been from dancing, but his eyes looked hungry—or dare I admit it? Horny. When our gazes met, he looked away and swallowed roughly. My knees went weak as the realization crashed over me that I had done that to him. Or maybe just watching two guys together had.
It made me feel strange but also a bit powerful. Especially with someone like Blair, who had seen and experienced everything.
Maybe I wasn’t so vanilla after all.
Pretty soon I was grinding against different partners and lost track of Blair, who had also gone off with someone. But then I’d find him again by looking for the shiny blond hair along with the way he moved, his arms above his head, his hips rotating sensually.
I’d never seen him in his prime like this, and I admit, it was trippy.
The opening notes of another corny Christmas song began, and we both must’ve had the same idea to head back to the bar for new drinks.
“You having fun?” he asked, panting softly, holding his chest as if he couldn’t get enough air. I felt momentarily guilty, as if I was keeping him, but then remembered it was his idea to go out tonight.
“I am,” I admitted. “Thank you.”
His drink froze halfway to his mouth. “For what?”
“For this.” I motioned to the dance floor. “For encouraging me to go with it and be myself.”
“I’m not sure that’s really what I did, but hey, if I could help dislodge that stick up your ass, then we’re all better for it,” he quipped.
“You dick.” I pushed his shoulder. “You ready to get out of here?”
“I dunno. Any prospects for you?” He looked around the bar.
“Nah, not something I’m interested in tonight.” Also, not something I could imagine doing in front of Blair. Getting busy with some dude. “How about you?”
“No, thanks,” he replied, and I felt relieved, which I couldn’t even explain.
“How about a couple more songs?” he asked, his hips moving to the beat.
“Sure.” I followed him to the center of the floor and we danced together, which was fun, and I tried not to think about how my cloddy moves matched up to his.
The guy from earlier sidled up to dance with us, and soon enough he and Blair had me sandwiched between them. All in good, sexy fun. I could feel the guy’s hard dick against my lower back, and I could smell Blair in front of me, which was pretty heady. A mix of sweat and no doubt some expensive shower gel, and my dick got hard from the rutting motion. I knew Blair could probably feel my stiff cock, but he didn’t poke fun or move away. In fact, he seemed totally into it.
When the guy behind me thrust himself a little too hard, I wrapped my arm around Blair’s waist to steady myself, and my wrist accidentally rubbed across his erection. Holy fuck. The thought of brazenly gripping his shaft through the fabric while I placed my lips against his neck—smelled him, tasted him, sucked on his skin—briefly flitted through my brain, and I immediately shoved it from my thoughts. Besides, it would be way too awkward if we hooked up. But fuck, right in that moment I wanted him, and that was a sobering realization.
When the song ended, we headed off the dance floor, and Blair motioned toward the exit, his eyes tired and wary, his lip plump from biting it, and I had to wonder if he had a come-to-Jesus moment of his own.
The cool night air hit our faces, sobering me further. We didn’t make eye contact the rest of the way to the beach house, and I zoned out, taking in all the holiday lights.
11
Blair
What a night. I was still keyed up when we got home but also dead on my feet. I didn’t know what was so different about this vacation, but it was like my body was forcing me to rest after being constantly on the go. Both of us headed directly to the kitchen and downed tall glasses of water, apparently equally parched from our long evening of sports and clubbing.
I nearly laughed at the thought.
Properly hydrated, Caden walked onto the deck and threw himself into an Adirondack chair. He looked so peaceful out there, and I wondered if it was because of his night. Wishful thinking that I had anything to do with it, but it had been fun for me too. And watching him grinding with another gorgeous man on the dance floor gave me a fresh perspective—Caden wasn’t exactly shy with man-on-man action. And fuck if it didn’t turn me on.
I should’ve retired to bed, but instead I slid open the door and stepped outside. “Thanks for tonight. It was a good time.”
“It definitely was.” His easy smile was sexy and confident. Christ, laid-back Caden was alluring. Or maybe it was the alcohol talking. Unlikely.
Yawning, I turned toward the door to head upstairs, when he said, “Thanks for being my first kiss.”
My head whipped around, his statement stopping me cold. Had I heard him right? “What?”
“Well, you know what I mean.” He waved me off as his cheeks dotted pink. “First guy kiss.”
I held in my gasp. “You’ve never kissed a dude before?”
“Nope,” he confessed. “Used my hand on someone quick and discreet, but never a kiss.”
The quick-and-discreet comment made my dick instantly perk up. Damn. The only thing I could think about now was him messing around in a club or bathroom or something. What would that look like? The grinding at the club had already given me a pretty good visual.
I stepped in front of him. “You consider the jumbotron thing a proper kiss?”
“You don’t?” he scoffed. “Thanks a lot.”
“That’s not what I mean. You were only screwing around. We both were.” I sighed and sank into the chair across from him. It felt cold and stiff without a cushion, but I ignored the sensation. “That was not a true kiss. You should’ve taken your opportunity with that guy tonight.”
“Maybe,” he replied, then sat up as if having a light-bulb moment. “So then, give me a real jumbotron kiss.”
My heart tripped in my chest. Bad idea. Very bad idea. “Are you drunk?”
He shook his head. “I think I sweated it all off on the dance floor.”
I was silent a beat as I considered his offer. “I don’t want to be the one to steal that from you.”
Listen to me acting all cavalier. What the hell had come over me? But I did actually have a moral compass inside me somewhere and thought certain things were sacred. Not that I’d ever have anything that truly was. Big difference.
He rolled his eyes. “You already did.”
“Hey now.” I sprang out of my chair, the idea of it really bothering me, and I didn’t know why. “I wasn’t the one—”
“I’m just messing with you. Sheesh, Diva, now who’s having a hard time taking a joke?”
“Not with something like this,” I countered, anchoring my back against a wooden post.
“Why not?” He stood up and strode to the railing to stare out at the water. “Aren’t you a self-confessed man-eater?”
Heart beating out of my chest, I decided I needed to take the temperature down a notch and explain myself better. “Well, sure…but you…you’re…”
“What? You still think I’m so innocent?” he asked through clenched teeth. “I’ll have you know, I fucking loved jerkin
g another dude off.”
My brain was melting now. “Jesus, you trying to get me hard with that image?”
He turned to face me, eyebrow raised. “Why would me giving someone a hand job make you hard?”
“Are you kidding me? Have you looked in the mirror?”
He folded his arms. “I thought I was just a dumb jock to you.”
“Sure, with a killer body to prove it.” Fucking hell, I swore under my breath. Where was this conversation going?
He stalked toward me, grabbed the front of my T-shirt, and pinned me against the railing with his solid gaze.
“What the fuck are you doing?” My voice sounded a little breathless. But the way he was looking at me, part determination, part—what exactly? Desire?
“Recreating our jumbotron kiss to make it proper, if you’ll let me.”
I felt a fluttering of moths in my stomach, rapidly beating their wings. “In case you didn’t notice, we’re not in an arena and we don’t have an audience.”
“I’m well aware,” he replied with a little growl, which only made me plump up. Christ, what the hell was happening right now? “Is that a problem? Do you need an audience?”
I swallowed roughly as his eyes zeroed in on my lips. “Nope.”
“I figure it’s the same as kissing anyone else…so…”
I couldn’t take all the speculating, so I gripped his nape to get him to shut up. He gasped, his eyes focusing right on my mouth.
“You gonna chat about it some more or actually do it?” I asked, hoping to possibly scare him out of this bad decision.
I felt him tremble against me as our hips rested together.
“That’s what I thought,” I murmured. “No sweat, let’s get some sleep.”
And then he shut me right up by pressing his mouth firmly against mine. I froze for the second time in a row, trying to get my bearings.
He drew away, trepidation in his eyes, and I snapped out of it. Fingers on his neck, I dragged him forward so our lips met again, this time sealing our connection. When I heard a groan under his breath, I knew I’d made the right decision.
I pushed away the thought that he was my best friend’s brother and instead focused on the insanely sexy guy he was, knowing this kiss mattered. Not only because it was his first time and we had a history, but because I wanted to make it good for him.
He shuddered when I ran my tongue along the seam of his lips, and that was how I knew he was feeling it too, whatever this energy was between us. He stepped forward, his hip pinned mine to the railing, and the first time our tongues met, it was like an electric jolt to my system. I dived in, deepening the kiss, my hands in his hair as his nails trailed around my waist, making me shiver.
Caden’s lips were tender, and there was a hint of beer on his breath. The arousing velvety flicks of his tongue against mine made my cock fatten behind my zipper. Christ, this was too much, but I couldn’t make myself stop. Not yet. I wanted to taste more of him, feel more of him, so I flipped us around and sank against him, feeling satisfied when I could feel his stiff length against my abdomen.
Our kisses turned greedier, and when his fingers boldly squeezed my ass, I moaned into his mouth, feeling the urge to tear at his clothes and get on my knees for him. The low rumble in his throat when I sucked on his tongue nearly did me in.
What the actual fuck? A distant voice inside me was urging me to explore where this might lead us, while another was telling me to slow the hell down. It was only supposed to be a kiss. One decent kiss that turned into more. Much more.
That was the thought that pulled me back to reality as I drew away and stared at his puffy lips and unfocused eyes, his hair messy from my hands.
Damn, he was sexy. No doubt about it.
“Well, fuck,” I whispered, stumbling backward.
“Yeah, fuck,” he replied, panting. “Sorry if that was too…”
“It definitely was too, but it was also really nice.”
“Yeah…yeah it was.” He sighed dreamily. “We’ll probably regret it in the morning.”
“I’ll worry about it then,” I murmured, feeling exhaustion set in, most likely from all the stomach clenching and pulse quickening. Christ, I had just kissed my best friend’s brother. “Good night, Cady.”
His eyes narrowed, and I realized I slipped up. “Sorry, I’ll make an effort not to call you—”
“Nah, it’s cool. At least for right now. I know you mean well.”
“I promise I’m saying it with affection.”
I smiled, and when he grinned back at me, I felt a sublime warmth settle deep in my stomach.
12
Caden
I blinked my eyes open and sat up, the events of the night filtering through my brain like snapshots of a messy situation. One that my morning wood apparently really enjoyed.
Holy fuck. I’d made out with Blair, and he had more sense to pull away than I did. But his moans, and his rock-solid cock…damn, that was so hot. Also, not a great idea, but I’d totally gotten caught up in it, feeling emboldened after our fun night out.
So yeah, maybe I did regret it this morning. Yet not. What happened would probably rank somewhere on the bottom rung of experiences for Blair, but it would definitely help me figure more stuff out.
Because kissing Blair was like…damn. So unexpectedly sexy and good.
And it sucked because now I knew what he tasted like, and as my dick stirred to life just thinking about it, I wanted more. But then there was that whole awkward crossing-the-line, and I didn’t want to ruin anything. It would be enough to see him in the company of my brother and know we’d kissed.
I rolled out of bed, then took a leak and headed downstairs to the sound of tinkering in the kitchen. I was surprised to see Blair stooped over the coffee pot. “What’s the occasion?”
“Had a pounding headache,” he said, rubbing his temples. “So I got up to search for some aspirin and decided to make coffee for a change.”
“Cool, thanks,” I replied, shuffling to the cupboard for a mug. “You’ve been sleeping a lot, you know that?”
“Have I?” He swiped at his forehead, which looked slightly sweaty. “Just feels like I need it.”
I took a long sip out of my cup. “Most likely your body is cleansing itself of all those chemicals.”
He rolled his eyes. “Okay, Mr. Burgers and Beer.”
I laughed, my hand swiping at my gut. “Touché.”
I followed Blair to the couch and sat down on the other end, propping my feet on the coffee table. “I was thinking we need another grocery-store trip to stock up.”
“Stock up?” he mumbled as he sipped from his mug.
“For the holiday. Publix will likely be closed, so we should figure out what we want to eat.” I winced, wondering if he even wanted to stick around until then, but so far there didn’t seem to be any awkwardness between us. In fact, it almost felt like I dreamed it all up. But maybe he wasn’t thinking about it because of his headache or because it really didn’t mean much to him except a bit of fun, as I’d predicted.
Perfect. So why did it leave me feeling cold?
He scrunched his nose. “Do you want to make a fancy meal to like, note the holiday?”
I laughed at his expression. “Hell no. But maybe some good junk food?”
Blair chuckled. “Now I know why you run every morning. To work off those calories.”
I mock-threw a pillow at him, thinking we definitely needed to get some things he actually enjoyed. I worried he wasn’t getting enough fuel for his body, but then thrust the thought away because it was none of my business. He’d probably try to kick my ass if I brought it up. He didn’t need anyone nagging him; I was sure his parents did that plenty. At least, I hoped they did. They seemed hands-off throughout his childhood, seeming to treat him like an adult early on. Even though it drove me crazy when my mom coddled me, I welcomed it sometimes. All kids did. It showed they cared.
Did Blair have enough people who cared abo
ut him?
Again, none of my business.
On that note, I pulled out my laptop and checked the scores from my home teams because with my job, I needed to be aware whether I was on vacation or not. Plus, I was an avid sports fan and liked to keep my thumb on the pulse. Checking in on work emails only made me anxious and restless, so I clicked over to social media, promptly exiting after one too many sappy holiday posts. I didn’t need that kind of negativity.
I thought about my friends back home, what they were up to, and then my thoughts turned back to the guy on the couch, who currently had his eyes shut, his head resting against the cushion, likely trying to will his headache away.
I wondered how long it’d been since he’d been back to his own apartment, which was about two hours away from mine, as well as the fact that we lived relatively close but years had gone by without us seeing one another. Being here with him this week felt like I had someone in my corner, and I’d gotten to know adult Blair in the process. Honestly, I might’ve been way lonelier by myself. I might’ve even caved and reached out to Lauren, which would’ve been a mistake. We’d fallen into the same pattern too many times to count, and both of us were fully aware of that by now.
“Why are you smiling?” Blair asked, and I realized he’d been watching me as my thoughts went through the wringer. Shit.
But hell, I had nothing to lose by being honest. Seemed it was the theme of the week, and it made our time here feel cozier.
“Because you and me—who would’ve thought it?”
“You mean the kiss?” His cheeks dotted pink, which was adorable. I’d never seen him look so demure. Normally he wore his confidence well.
“Not exactly. I meant hanging out. Not trying to make it awkward.”
“Don’t sweat it.” He rubbed at his temples. “I know you’re only…experimenting.”
My stomach constricted. “Oh, is that what I’m doing?”
“Aren’t you?” he mumbled.
“Yeah, guess so,” I admitted, but that definition didn’t exactly fit what I was going through either.
Beautiful Temptation (So This is Christmas Book 2) Page 6