by Lindsey Hart
She looked up at him, blinking slowly again, purposefully, and spread her legs just a little wider. She knew exactly what she was doing, and it was such an abrupt change from the way she’d walked into his house that it floored him. He’d wonder if she was just playing with him, but he knew there was no way she’d be that cruel.
The whipped cream explosion was just a happy accident, and now she was sprawled out on his bed, as turned on as he was. She might be able to fake a lot of things, but she couldn’t fake that wetness glistening on her bare sex.
“Do you think I taste as good as that whipped cream you licked off me?” she purred.
Holy shit. She was going to drive him insane. How the hell could this be the same protesting Syd in the kitchen? Unless she figured, shit, she might as well give it a try. Unless she was finally lowering her defenses and letting him in. She could be. Syd was unpredictable. Mercurial like summer weather. Maybe it was one of those, if you can’t fight it, join it moments.
Honestly, Jesse couldn’t figure it out, but he was done thinking. He was done trying to reason and rationalize his way out of it.
He spread himself out over the bed, hooking his hands underneath Syd’s legs. She let her head fall back against the pillow, her hair splaying out in all directions. He noticed that there was still a glob of whipped cream that he’d missed.
He trailed hot kisses up her thigh, savoring the taste of her skin. She was fresh from the shower, with the hint of his body wash still clinging to her satin skin. Just that kiss nearly sent him over the edge. His whole body tensed up, but he managed to keep kissing and tasting his way up her thigh.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he mumbled against her skin as he nipped her gently.
Syd arched up into him. Her hands tangled in his short hair. Her fingers tugged and scraped against his scalp, creating a burn that settled straight in his groin.
“I remember exactly the way you taste and it’s a hell of a lot better than shitty whipped cream. Although, I liked it a lot better licked off you than I ever have.”
She made a strangled noise in her throat and her hips arched upwards at the same time she tugged his face to her. Hard. “Shut up and do this already.”
He blinked up at her, innocently. “Do what?”
“I’m going to kill you,” she panted, digging her nails in harder. They were so short though, that they did little damage.
“Murder isn’t exactly legal.”
“I don’t care. I’ll stuff your body in the basement. No one will ever find you. This place is so fucking huge, the search parties will get lost. They’ll get distracted in the shower, it’s so crazy excessive.”
“Maybe we’ll get distracted in the shower later.”
“Arghmph…” her answer comes out completely non-coherent, and yeah, he got it. Big time. He pretty much felt the same way.
That time, when her nails dug into his scalp and she tugged his face into her, he didn’t resist.
CHAPTER 14
Sydney
Oh holy Swiss cheese, didn't even begin to describe that first second, that first touch, that first kiss, and caress. And when Jesse bent his head and placed an open-mouthed kiss straight between her legs… the pleasure that rocketed through her was so intense that she nearly jacked right off the bed. Her hips slammed up into his face because she couldn’t stop them. She couldn’t stop the gasp that tore from her throat or the whimper or the way her fingers curled brutally into his scalp, dragging him forward.
She should have regrets.
She should be shoving his head away and scrambling after those sweats and her panties.
She should be concentrating on how to get the hell out of his house and fix the mess she’d dug herself into with a fucking backhoe.
She should have, but the only thoughts running through her head were how to spread her legs wider and how to direct Jesse to apply just the right amount of pressure on her aching clit.
Sydney didn’t even have to guide him. He used his tongue and lips and teeth in perfect tandem. The sensations ripping through her were so intense that it wiped every other thought out of her head. Of what should be and shouldn’t have been and blah, blah, blah. She wasn’t thinking about that. All she was thinking about was Jesse.
And what he was doing to her.
And god, it felt so amazingly good.
He stroked his index finger over her swollen folds as he blew out a breath that was warm and cold at the same time and sent a flurry of shivers up her spine. Her skin erupted in goosebumps. And then… good lord, and then he used his finger, soaked in her juices, to graze over her clit.
He circled her there, slow, confident, lazy circles that turned her insides into a raging pile of molten lava-like mush.
His other hand slipped around her hips and cupped her ass, lifting her into his face. He kneaded his fingers into the tender skin of her bottom, while he whispered against her overheated sex.
“God, you’re incredible. I missed you, Syd. Missed this. Missed us.”
It should have set off a thousand warning bells in her head, induced a hundred triggers, but it didn’t. It didn’t tear her open inside either, like claws ripping at a fresh batch of wounds. Instead, those words stitched her up inside and made her feel whole since the day she’d walked out of Philly determined to put her past, and Jesse, behind her.
For him. It was all for him. But what if she was wrong about what was best for him?
What if she’d stayed and things actually had worked out.
“You’re thinking too much,” Jesse said as he nipped her inner thigh. “Why are you thinking when I’m going down on you? Maybe I’m not doing a very good job. Maybe I should stop.”
“No!” She gripped at his hair, nearly clawing his face in the process. “Seriously, don’t stop. Don’t stop or I will hide your body in the basement, never to see the light of day again.”
“So violent.”
“You haven’t seen real violence until you stop.”
He peppered hot kisses over her mound then slid lower, letting his tongue do devastating work that turned every single cell she had in her body into a raging inferno. She was burning out of control, her limbs so heavy that she could barely move them, a tingle starting in her feet, trailing up her legs, shaking her thighs. Heat spiraled in her belly and her nipples were practically cutting through the t-shirt she still had on.
His tongue teased at her folds, sweeping over in broad strokes that made her want to cry big fat happy tears along with an ugly scream because it felt so amazing. He brought his finger up and explored her in time with his tongue. He danced over her clit a few times, which sent jagged shards of pleasure tearing through her.
“Please,” she begged. And she never begged.
He got the picture. And he didn’t make her explain to him, in detail, what exactly please meant. He doubled up two fingers, smeared them through her wetness, and filled her with them just as his mouth descended on her clit. He licked and suckled and then nipped her lightly while he worked her with his fingers.
He took her higher with every stroke, every luscious lick, and nip.
She honestly wasn’t the kind of person who orgasmed easily as she’d found out later on. She rarely climaxed with a partner. She didn’t want to admit it, but Jesse was the only guy she’d ever actually been able to find the magic O with and she’d done it four times that night. Four. She said she didn’t remember, but oh hell, she remembered. You don’t just forget four incredible, mind-numbing orgasms.
Just like she wasn’t going to forget this one anytime soon. He had the most talented mouth and his hand came in a close second because he kept working at her until the pleasure shot from her toes, tingled along her legs like a line to an explosive pile. When the flame hit her core, it detonated, and she went up in flames. Her entire body clenched and shivered, and she thrashed and bucked against his hand, shamelessly rode his mouth, as she flew and soared.
She didn’t come back down for a sol
id minute and when she did, the pleasure left her wrung out, twisted and gasping, her heels dug into the black comforter below her, her whole body trembling violently, her chest heaving.
“Holy shit,” she breathed. “Tell me I didn’t scream out anything embarrassing.”
Jesse looked up at her and winked. “Just my name.”
And that’s when his phone rang.
His phone, on the nightstand.
It sent a jarring high-pitched sound through the room that sounded less like a ring tone and more like an angry ghost wailing and rattling its chains. Or maybe that was just her inner goddess, the embodied spirit of her va-jay, throwing a tantrum because she seriously did not want Jesse to move away from her.
“I have to make that stop.” He shot her an apologetic glance before he moved away and grabbed his phone.
“Don’t you have voicemail,” she hissed. “Or a silence button?”
“I forgot to turn it on.” He glanced at the screen and groaned. “I’m going to have to answer this.”
“Don’t you dare answer that.”
“I have to. It’s never going to stop ringing otherwise.”
“Throw it in the toilet.”
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
He slid his finger along the phone and held it up to his ear as she did her best, unsuccessfully to stifle a groan.
CHAPTER 15
Sydney
It was all it took, hearing Jesse’s mother’s voice drift over the phone, to break whatever spell she’d been under. God, maybe he’d drugged the food. That had to be the explanation. There was no other logical reason that she’d fallen into bed with him so damn easily after ten years of telling herself to stay away.
Moving fast, her face on fire, Sydney scrambled off the bed. She grabbed up her panties, which were embarrassingly wet and not just because she hadn’t dried herself well in the shower or any stupid thing like that. No- they were definitely wet because she’d been hella-turned on by that crazy whipped cream licking, face sucking, tender clean up routine in the kitchen.
She glanced over at Jesse as he groaned. “No, mom, seriously, we are not in the process of making you a grandchild. If we were, you would have totally interrupted it anyway.”
“Oh, my fucking god,” Syd swore under her breath.
She slid into her soaking wet panties even though they were cold AF and grabbed up the sweats Jesse loaned her. She should never have put them on. It was getting out of the shower and finding his clothes neatly folded outside the bathroom door that had done her in. Wearing his clothes was sexy. It was like a sexual caress all on its own, a strangely intimate and possessive thing.
Jesse mumbled something to his mom and hung up. “Sorry,” he said before he turned around. “I think sometimes that my mom is on drugs….”
His voice faded away when he stopped and took in the fact that she was fully dressed. Her eyes dropped to his boxers, which were still currently tented. Like, really tented. By a really impressive tent pole.
“I can’t believe you still have a hard-on after talking to your mom,” she muttered. “Gross.”
He shook his head, running his hand over his face so hard that it made a rasping sound. “Good God, don’t say things like that. It’s disgusting. I had to talk to her, yes, but I had the taste of your come on my lips, in my mouth, down my throat, the whole time, so also yes, it’s pretty much impossible not to have a boner right now.”
Panic tightened her insides and crept up her throat. It was the same kind of panic that she felt after she’d woken up the next morning and found herself in bed wrapped up in her best friend’s warm, heavy limbs. Sore and achy in all the right places after four amazing orgasms.
“Jesse… seriously. I- I’m sorry. I can’t do this.”
“What?” His eyes widened. “Are you freaking serious right now?”
“Y- yes. This is- this is exactly why I left before. I had to. Because I knew what would happen if I stayed. Your parents want this. Your mom always wanted us to fall in love with each other. I knew she’d be thrilled. My mom would be too. She would have wanted me to wait a little while. Make sure it was what I wanted and all that. We were too young for all those expectations.”
“We’re not young anymore.”
“No, but we barely know each other, and our parents are still over the moon. This- this isn’t going to work. I can’t stick around with everyone wanting it so bad. I can’t deal with all that pressure. I know it will make us fail and then everyone will hate me. Everyone will hate me because I’ve always been the wild one. I’ve always been the restless one. I’ve always been the exact opposite of you. I act first and think later. I’m like a wrecking ball most of the time. I don’t even know if I could be tied down with a person for the rest of my life and we’re like strangers now. I’m sure as heck not ready for kids. I’m not ready for any of this. I really was just drunk and I- I didn’t mean it. I can’t do this. I can’t do any of this.”
“Really, Sydney? You had to let me eat your pussy first before you had the freak-out? Why not before? It would have saved me a lot of work.”
He was goading her, and she knew it. “Fuck you,” she said as she flipped him the bird.
He grinned. “That’s more like the Syd I know. Seriously. You’re just having a freak out just like you did then. I knew you were scared. I freaking knew it. You let that fear rule your life. You let all the stupid what-ifs and the unknowns take over what could have been. We could have been happy. We could have had a beautiful family by now, or spent years doing whatever it is you wanted to do. We could have started the company together, spent all our time working on helping make other people’s lives better. We could have been that unstoppable power couple. We still can be, or whatever you want. Whatever. The couple that lives in the middle of nowhere like creepy cavemen recluse style people. The average couple with a nice car and two kids and a cat and a dog. That couple that travels the world together and never has kids. It doesn’t matter to me. I just seriously want you to calm down and think about this. We might have been young before, but this time, we’re old enough to know better and if you’re going to let fear rule your life a second time, then you’re not the Syd that I thought I knew.”
She stared at him. He stared right back. Her chest heaved with her harsh, frantic breaths, and so did his, even though he was the one trying to be calm and rational.
“Fine conversation to have standing in your boxers.”
“Would you like it better if I wasn’t in them?”
She threw up her hands. “This is why this isn’t ever going to work. Because we know each other too well. We know all of each other’s secrets. There isn’t even a hint of mystery about us. I know that one day, maybe not for years, but one day, we’ll get bored and wonder if there was more to life than just each other.”
Jesse shook his head furiously, eyes burning. “Not going to happen.”
“It could happen. It could seriously happen. Maybe you wouldn’t do anything. Maybe it would all be me. Actually, I know it would all be me. I was always the one getting us into trouble. Always. You were perfect. So nice. Sweet. Kind. Always thinking of other people. I’m not built like that, Jesse. I’d only bring you down. It would take the media all of five minutes to figure out who I really am and stick a fork through me and call me done. Call us done. I know it’s not going to work. It wouldn’t have worked then, and it won’t work now.”
“You’ll break my mom’s heart.”
Oh god, there he was going with the guilt trip thing again. She wasn’t going to let him get away with it this time. “I- I know I will. That’s my point. One day, I’ll screw up. One day, I’ll do something wrong. She wants grandkids. Seriously, I don’t even think I want to have kids. I always said that.”
“You did always say that,” he admitted.
“Yeah, and- and you’re too- too good for me, Jesse. You always have been. Seriously. I’m not just saying that, I know it’s the truth. The
thing is, we made good friends. Friends. It doesn’t matter if you’re good at- uh- well- doing things to me and it doesn’t matter that your body likes mine or whatever-”
“I really like you.”
“That doesn’t matter though!” She wanted to stomp her foot, but she knew how childish that would look. “Chemistry doesn’t matter. Love doesn’t even matter. Most times, that’s not enough. A lot of other shit gets in the way.”
“That’s only when people don’t have anything to fall back on.”
“And what do we have to fall back? A bunch of little kid memories and one random night we both can barely remember? Seriously? That’s not enough. It’s not enough and you should never have said you’d marry me because my stupid brain dredged that up when I was stupid drunk and I stupidly drunk posted that and I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I wish I could take it all back, but I can’t and now I’m here and this is already turning into a huge steaming pile of poop.”
“Yeah. We used to do that too. Gather up the dog crap from people’s back yards and light in on fire on the doorsteps of those snobby bitches who used to say you were too much of a tomboy to be pretty and any teachers who dared to give you a failing grade, because god, forbid, you ever deserved it. I always took your side, Syd. I always will. This can work. It can work, you just won’t give it a chance.”
“It can’t Jesse because we don’t know each other anymore. We’re just strangers.”
“Syd-”
“No.” She had to cut him off because she saw the pain in his eyes, and it was everything she couldn’t deal with seeing the first time she left because she never wanted to hurt him. She’d rather cut out her own heart than hurt his. “Call your Jeeves guy, whatever his name is. I want him to bring his helicopter and come get me. I want to go home. Please, Jesse. Please just let me go home.”
His jaw clenched. A muscle in it jumped right where his pulse point beat so hard. She wanted to put her hand over it, to feel that life beating under her fingertips. No, she didn’t want to do that. What she really wanted to do was put her lips there, press herself up against him, wrist to wrist, heart to heart, until all their pulse points were hammering together, beating in time.