by Sara Brookes
The fresh scent of blooming dogwood trees drifted to her on the gentle spring breeze. Judging by the variety of other flowery scents, the season was in full swing. While it wasn’t her favorite season, she certainly had a new outlook on this time of year. Her mood lifted the closer she got to the coffee house. By the time she reached the brick building, she nearly walked on air.
The small bell over the door resonated as she stepped inside. A line of customers waited patiently to order, the line nearly as deep as the one she’d found just one short month ago. Patrick was behind the counter, preparing orders much more efficiently than the first time she’d met him.
When his gaze met hers, his knowing smile caused her stomach to flip in a lazy somersault. Muscles deep inside her pussy tightened so quickly, she nearly gasped. The instructions last night had made her much more aware of her entire body. Being near him apparently heightened those sensations even more.
Oh I could get used to this. Very used to him and everything he makes me feel.
Her body seemed to now be in a perpetual state of arousal. The longing flowing through her veins wouldn’t be satisfied until proper relief vented it away. That relief was Patrick.
She had no doubt he damn well knew he’d inflicted a delicious torture on her that he’d barely lifted a finger to achieve. Need spiked and swelled so quickly between her legs, she almost felt uncomfortable. The feeling caused her to swallow hard as she carefully stepped into place at the back of the line.
He signaled for her to join him behind the counter, but she politely shook her head. She needed some distance from him. If she didn’t, the other customers would find themselves observers of several of those very pornographic images she’d dreamed last night.
Ten minutes later, it was her turn to order. Afraid of what could happen in the next few seconds, she pressed her palms against the cold metal. Focus.
“Good morning, Allison. Would you like your usual?” His clear, bright tone gave no hint of the devilish man she’d talked to on the phone last night. But the steely glint in his eyes hinted at his own arousal.
“Yes, please.”
He moved away to prepare the double espresso for her, allowing her to observe him at work. Those talented hands of his cradled a steaming pitcher as he waited for the espresso to brew. She tried not to notice how his biceps bunched and flexed as he pulled out a gallon of skim milk to dump into another pitcher. When he turned to place the container on the counter opposite the bar, she’d never wanted anything more than to vault over the bar and sink her teeth into his flesh.
How would it feel to strip each other of clothing, sucking and licking every exposed piece of flesh? How would it sound to listen to sweat-drenched skin gliding together as he slowly fucked her on the coffee bar? She could almost feel the length of his thick cock inside her as he moved with sure, even strokes. As he purposefully denied her release or commanded she come so he could feel her muscles spasm around him.
Even better was the image she created in her mind about something they hadn’t gotten around to. Her mouth watered as she thought about the way his cock would feel against her tongue as she brought him to climax.
How does he taste?
“Sleep well?” he asked as he slid the take-out cup across the counter.
She shook off the images and met his gaze. “Fine.”
“Glad to hear it.” He pushed a damp towel over the counter as he swept away a few crumbs. “I had a very, very long night myself. Oddly enough, my mind seemed to be focused elsewhere.” His gaze lowered to some point below her side of the counter, leaving no room for misinterpretation just what he’d thought about. Heat speared through her pussy, her muscles clenching at the thought. Her body screamed loud enough for the man across from her that she was sure the other customers could hear it. “Odd thing is that I can’t seem to think why. Perhaps you know?”
To hell with mixed company. Just as she was about to lean forward to tell him in colorful detail, his expression changed. A quick glance over her shoulder found a customer waiting to order.No way to respond and not embarrass herself. “Give me a call later and maybe we can come to a resolution together.”
She walked out of the store before he could answer, because she was fairly certain he wouldn’t be as judicious with his word choice. He’d been right on the edge of out of control.
Once more, she found herself drawn to him. Given different circumstances, they would have undoubtedly been all over each other. Instead, she had to go to work and suffer for the next nine hours thanks to an intense conversation with her boyfriend.
She stopped dead in the middle of the sidewalk, stammering an apology to the man who walked into her. Boyfriend. She’d just referred to Patrick as her boyfriend.
What the hell?
The past few weeks they’d spent together certainly spoke volumes. The movies they’d seen. The dinners they’d had together nearly every night for a week solid. The meal they shared at least once a week after that. They’d gotten to know one another both sexually and personally.
She knew about the rocky childhood with his mother because of the choices he’d made in high school. And she’d heard about when he’d put baseball before his studies all through college. He knew about the accident with her bike when she was fourteen that had given her the scar over her eyebrow. The fear she’d once had about swimming in the ocean after seeing Jaws for the first time. They knew personal and intimate details about each other.
People only shared that type of information when they dated.
Whenever something went right—or more importantly, wrong—at work, he was the one she wanted to talk to about it. A perfect example of such a case had been last night. She’d called him to blow off a little steam because Stephen had been such an asshole yesterday.
Things she shared weren’t just relegated to work either. Whenever she’d successfully accomplished a feat in a gaming session she’d struggled with before, he was the one she talked to. Not her gaming buddies. Even though Patrick didn’t have a clue when she rambled on about leveling up or loading the latest downloadable content package for Skyrim, he’d still listened attentively. Bless the man, he even asked questions out of genuine curiosity. He’d made the everyday seem important. Small things such as that made her want him even more.
Oh God, he is my boyfriend.
Surprised, she fumbled her cup. She managed to right it before she spilled too much, but the hot liquid still burned the side of her hand. Had she more experience in the relationship area, she probably would have noticed sooner.
Sometime during the past few weeks, they’d become a couple.
Did he feel the same way about her?
* * * * *
Patrick rang up the pound of decaf coffee beans, approving the sale after the customer swiped her credit card through the machine. “Do you want these beans ground, Ms. Teefer?”
The elderly woman who lived in an apartment over the coffee house gave him a warm smile. “No. My grandson prefers for it to be freshly ground and he won’t arrive for a few days. I picked up one of those grinders on the wall over there yesterday so he can have freshly ground coffee to his heart’s content.”
He watched the portly woman wind through the tables. No doubt she would find some way to return before her grandson arrived. People who lived alone such as she did tended to show up at the coffee house just to have company. Exactly the kind of atmosphere they were striving for.
With the break in the crowd, he started to wash the ceramic cups that he’d dumped in the sink during the morning rush. The simplicity of the chore allowed his mind to wander. It wasn’t long before he thought about how he’d felt as he’d watched Allison enter the shop. The expression on her face had been an open book. She’d followed his instructions to the letter. That thought alone made him anxious to talk with her more in-depth to discover how her night had gone.
He hadn’t exaggerated about his restless night. A raging hard-on had kept him awake for the few hours he
’d been in bed. Frustration had forced him into the shop earlier than usual before anticipation had nearly caused him to go insane. The second he’d spotted her in the doorway, his agonizing all-nighter had been worth it. When his shift ended, he would make plans to take her to dinner.
“Uh oh, he’s got that look again.” Alex shrugged off his jacket, hanging it on a peg before slapping Patrick lightly on the shoulder. A slight smile curved up one side of his mouth as his eyes indicated the smile was genuine. Something had shifted in his attitude during the night. While Patrick had no idea what it was, he was certainly glad to see the old Alex back and in fine form.
Patrick filed away any more thoughts about Allison. He needed to talk to his brother about the encounter with Vivian last night. Something still didn’t sit right with him. After checking to see if there were any customers in line, he followed Alex into the back office. “Business has been steady all morning. Tell Genevieve she’s got a winner with those cranberry scones. Ran out of them in record time. Actually had a few disappointed customers.”
“That’s good. I’ll add them to the daily order. Have you seen the invoices for the milk deliveries? I think the bill is due in a few days.”
“Uh, yeah, third stack on your right, second sheet of paper down. Due next Thursday.”
Alex extracted the thin sheet of paper. “How the hell do you do that?”
“It’s a gift. You know, the system Allison installed is designed to help out with the inventory so you don’t have this mess on your desk.” Patrick glanced at the oversized clock on the wall, noting it was just after one. “Hey, listen. Darla’s due any moment and she can handle things for a bit. Why don’t you and I have lunch across the street at Wayne’s Deli? My treat.”
“I’d love to, Patrick, but I’ve got too much to do.” Paper shifted as Alex lifted another stack of paperwork, searching for more bills that would need his attention. “I have got to get all these invoices paid and filed before it gets away from me. Though it seems a little late for that.”
“I saw Vivian last night at Brogans.”
Alex’s fingers twitched. “So? She’s free to party up her life if that’s what she wants.” He tossed down the invoice, closed his eyes and pressed his fingers against the lids.
Patrick reminded himself Vivian’s comment couldn’t go ignored. “Does that include blaming me for whatever’s going on between the two of you? I mean, I don’t know about you, but if I’ve fucked up, it’d be nice to know what it is that you think I’ve done so I can defend myself.”
“She’s just trying to lay the blame somewhere else.”
“For the first time in your life, I think you’re lying to me.” It bothered him that his brother would dismiss this incident so quickly. If he hadn’t run into Vivian last night, he wouldn’t have known he was being blamed for their problems. “Sorry, but I don’t take kindly to it. Nor do I appreciate your nonchalance about the subject.”
“It’s my business, Patrick. Back the fuck off.”
Patrick’s hand slammed down on the papers Alex had been about to organize. His temper flared to life, which rarely happened because he prided himself on his ability to maintain control. He’d watched his father lose his temper too many times growing up to let it happen now that he was an adult. “It was your business until your wife called me out and said I was the one to blame for your separation. I think that’s plenty of justification as to why I’m owed an explanation.”
“Fine,” Alex said tightly. “Give me twenty minutes.”
The smells of various meats and freshly baked bread at Wayne’s Deli greeted the men. They settled into a vacant booth across from the gleaming glass case holding pounds and pounds of fresh meat. Patrick wasn’t particularly hungry, but he ordered a roast beef on rye anyway.
His brother ordered the same. “How are things with Allison?
Ah, the small talk he hated to deal with. Not to mention a diversionary tactic. Alex may have wanted to avoid the subject they’d come here to discuss, but Patrick wouldn’t let him get away so easily. “Great, but we both know that’s not why we’re here to talk. What’s going on?”
Alex fidgeted on his side of the booth. His brother sighed heavily, folding his hands on the table in front of him. “I know why Vivian moved out, despite my insistences otherwise.”
The statement confirmed his suspicions. A spouse rarely didn’t know why their loved one had suddenly packed all their belongings and left. There were always signs, however minute. “So you knew. What I can’t figure out is why she said I’m responsible for it.”
“You’re not. At least not directly. Vivian is mistaken.”
“And indirectly?” Alex’s hesitation only irritated Patrick further. “Can you please enlighten me so I know what the fuck I did?”
“I told her about Sanctuary.”
He’d never kept the space and its purpose a secret from Alex. Especially because of the night he’d barged into their mother’s boardinghouse while Patrick had been entertaining. If binding a woman to a chair so that her legs were spread wide so he could feast on her pussy could be classified as entertaining.
They’d argued for hours afterward as Alex tried to force his opinion about how wrong restraining someone was. At first, Patrick had tried to reason with Alex, but it had quickly become an exercise in futility. They’d finally agreed to disagree.
That fight had been one of the main reasons he’d come up with the idea for Sanctuary. While the choices he made weren’t things to be ashamed of, he recognized the fact not everyone shared his open mind. “So she’s offended by my choices when it comes to sex? Seems to be more of an excuse as that has nothing to do with you in the least.”
Alex averted his gaze. “She thinks your choices influenced me when I asked her how she would feel about exploring different sides of our sexual relationship. You know, find out what sort of things we liked that were something more than just the plain old missionary position. So she’s blaming you when she should really be blaming me. I told her about Sanctuary because I thought it would be a safe place we could explore…well, I don’t have to tell you.”
Well, holy shit. Alex Conners wants to tie someone up. Patrick decided not to point out Alex’s one-eighty opinion about BDSM, because now wasn’t the time. Vivian’s vitriol the previous evening certainly made perfect sense. “You can’t let that be a reason to end your marriage. Can’t you try to work it out with her?”
“I’ve tried to talk to her twice. She’s refusing to speak to me about anything. You can’t work out something when the other person simply denies you the right to have your say. Maybe I was wrong for bringing it up in the first place.”
Patrick had been down the path of trying to make someone else happy. And he’d failed miserably. Time for a little tough love. “So instead you’d be in an unhappy marriage? You know as well as I do that it would just be something else down the line. Some simple problem that flares wildly out of control because this issue isn’t resolved.”
“But I’m unhappy now,” Alex protested.
“If you didn’t say anything—which you have a right to do—you’d be miserable for the rest of your life. Is that what you want? Remember what you told me when I first said something to you about Allison?”
Alex averted his gaze. “Not exactly, but I’m guessing it was about love?”
What Alex had unknowingly done was remind him how it was being in a relationship. He realized, in a very short amount of time, that he’d found that special place with Allison. The trouble Alex and Vivian had reminded him relationships required the work of both partners.
While the sex with Allison would seem one-sided to the casual observer, it was anything but. She would have never agreed to do anything with him if it hadn’t been something she desired in return. He may have taken her to new territory, but it wasn’t anywhere she hadn’t wanted to go already. Sounded as if Alex wanted to go into an area Vivian considered completely off-limits. And wasn’t that just a damn shame.<
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“It goes both ways. If Vivian refuses to talk to you because you want to make the relationship work, then maybe it’s time to move on. She obviously doesn’t feel the same.” He certainly didn’t condone giving in so easily, but someone could only bang their head against an immoveable object for so long. He’d done it enough to know better.
“Alex, remember Mom always told us relationships are a two-way street, especially when it comes to compromise. Jesus, if nothing else, our parents’ marriage falling apart should be a reminder of what not do. Mom stayed even though Dad couldn’t give two shits about any of us except when we made a handy punching bag. Do you really want that for any kids you and Vivian could possibly have in the future?”
He combed his fingers through his thick hair, leaning forward on his elbows. “No, I would never wish our childhood on any kids.”
“If Vivian’s not willing to work with you on the issues, there’s nothing you can do to force her. In fact, I can pretty much guarantee that forcing her would definitely be the wrong thing to do in this instance. Maybe this is for the best for both of you after all. This gives her a chance to move on and find someone she is willing to compromise with.”
“Sure as hell doesn’t feel that way.”
“You know as well as I do that everyone should bend a little in a relationship, but not entirely. Especially if it’s a compromise that makes you utterly miserable. Maybe this is your chance to figure out what you’re looking for.”
Alex shoved his sandwich into his mouth. “I don’t even know what the hell I want. I thought I wanted to explore that with Vivian. She slammed the door in my face and we’re finished. I’m just…having trouble moving on.”
Patrick knew of something that could possibly help, but was hesitant to make the suggestion. “Have you thought about going out to Element Twenty-Six? They have an open house night for newbies interested in learning more. There’s no participation or anything, but you could look around to see if it’s what you’re really looking for.”