by AM Hartnett
When they first arrived, he thought that she had been overreacting. Her mother wasn’t that bad, just a comfortable woman with salt-and-pepper hair. He was sure she had been feeling him out while they had their tea, and it was obvious she had taken his former status as a happily married man as a strike against him, though he suspected it would have been worse if he had been divorced rather than widowed.
Though, having heard the exchange between the two of them, he doubted it would have made much difference. Part of him could understand Freda being over-protective, but he didn’t like the way she had put April down.
April wasn’t immature. A little sheltered, yes, but he could see now how that had come to be and why she was so fiercely proud of herself those first few days after moving into Winsloe Court.
Look at her. She’d accomplished everything she had set out to achieve so far and he believed she’d conquer the world if she really wanted to. She was a brave little thing who sank her teeth into life at every opportunity, and being around her had made him a little more brave.
Her anger crackled around her as they headed back to the apartment, and when he took her hand she just let him hold it rather than toying with his fingers as she usually did.
Finally, he couldn’t take it any longer. He pulled over into a bank parking lot and cut the engine.
‘Hey, come here,’ he said, slipping his arm across the back of her seat.
She remained taut but let him hold her, and after a moment she sniffled.
‘You think I’m a brat.’
‘No, I don’t. I think you’re someone’s daughter.’ He pressed his lips to her temple. ‘It wasn’t that bad. She didn’t hate me.’
‘Give her a few days to think about it.’ She groaned. ‘Sometimes I see my friends posting pictures on Facebook of them with their mothers and they’re out doing things like shopping trips or brunch or bike rides, and I wonder why I can’t have that. I ask her to meet me for lunch and she gives me excuses. I go down there and she acts like she doesn’t want me there, but if I stay away she guilts me. Oh, God, I sound like such a whiny kid.’
‘Knock that off. You’re not the first woman whose mother makes her crazy, and you won’t be the last. There’s nothing the matter with you.’ He jerked his head towards the rear windshield. ‘Now you’ve got your fancy record player and the pleasure of watching me try and get that sucker in the elevator.’
April tittered. ‘I’ll help.’
‘You won’t be able to fit the both of us in there. We’ll probably have to put it on the elevator, hit the button to get it up there, and run like hell so we don’t miss it. Oh, you think that’s funny?’
In seconds she had gone from a quiet little giggle to laughter that rolled off her shoulders.
‘This was a bad idea, wasn’t it? I mean, where the hell am I going to put that thing?’
‘If not, we’ll have a nice little piece in the lobby for people to drop their groceries on while they get their mail. Ready?’
‘Yes, I am, but let’s stop for an ice-cream first. It’s the least I can do after you did all the sweaty work.’
‘Honey, an ice-cream isn’t going to make up for it,’ he said as she took his hand once more. ‘Tit for tat. You make me sweat, I’m going to make you sweat right back.’
Once they were back on the road, April twisted her fingers with his. Things might not be all right, but they were getting there.
‘Can I ask you something?’ she said after a long silence.
‘Shoot.’
‘I’m asking you as my landlord, and also as…I’m thinking about having a party. Can I?’
‘You don’t need my permission to have a party, as long as it doesn’t put cracks in my ceiling.’
‘Will you come? You know, meet my friends and that sort of thing?’
The idea scared the hell out of him, but even if he could come up with an excuse that would hold up, he didn’t want to give her one, not when one look in her direction told him how nervous she had been about asking him.
He squeezed her hand. ‘Yeah, I’ll come to your party. Just don’t make me dance.’
‘If you dance, I will never speak to you again.’
‘You saying I can’t dance?’
‘I’m willing to bet a lot of money.’
‘Well…you’re right.’ He shook off her hand and turned the wheel into the Dairy Queen parking lot. ‘Though, just for assuming it, my treat has been upgraded from ice-cream to a really dirty burger.’
Chapter Twelve
Seth never did like parties. The last one he’d attended was when he was eighteen, and even when he was a teenager he would get outside as fast as he could so he could smoke and drink without having people crowding him. In the last twenty years, he’d had his share of invitations, especially in the summer and around the holidays. He would have gone if Rita had wanted to go, but she was more anti-social than he was. Her idea of a good time was pizza and beer, then whipping his ass at video games.
Tonight, he’d gone because April wanted him there. He couldn’t keep expecting her to sit at home in front of the television with his hand in her bra. She was no party animal, but she was young and she should be having fun. So, even if he had to pretend to have fun, that’s what he’d do.
But this was torture.
When her first couple of friends had arrived, it had been all right. April had simply introduced him as ‘Seth’ and they didn’t ask how he knew her. Either she had told them beforehand that she and Seth were more than just friends or they had guessed it, but they simply smiled and exchanged a quick glance with April that he assumed meant they gave their approval. Now that the place had filled up, he was feeling a little lost.
When April was in the kitchen or the bathroom or just caught up by one of her friends, he introduced himself.
‘Seth’ was all he said as he extended his hand, and in the silence that followed he supposed he ought to clarify how he knew the hostess, but he didn’t know how. Landlord? Friend? Lover?
Not boyfriend. He would have gone along with it if April had been the one to give him the label, but he hated the way it sounded when describing a grown man.
So he didn’t elaborate, and the newcomer got the hint. He was Seth. That’s it. They shook his hand, and after some small talk they sought out April.
Now that he was sitting in the corner on his own, he was content to be ignored.
At least until April appeared at his side with a Coke in hand. ‘I put a bit of spiced rum in there. You look like you need it.’
‘Am I that obvious?’
She leaned close. ‘You look absolutely miserable.’
Sipping his drink rather than tossing it back like he wanted to, Seth wondered what to do with himself. She sat on the arm of the chair, and it felt like the natural thing to do was to wrap his arm around her hips and give her ass a bit of a squeeze like they were any other normal couple.
But she hadn’t made a move, either. They’d had hard and dirty sex in her bed not four hours ago and now they were acting like a couple of junior high kids on their first date.
‘In case you’re wondering, they’re all whispering about you.’
Her cheerful tone brought out a laugh as he lifted the glass to his lips. He took a sip – the woman, God bless her, had put more than a bit of rum in his glass – and glanced up at her. ‘What are they saying?’
‘Do you really want to know?’
‘Might as well.’
‘The consensus is that I’ve been completely justified in not returning phone calls, what with the large sex-god occupying my bed.’
He took another, bigger sip of his drink. ‘Christ.’
‘I know, right? They were all looking at me like I had founded a new religion. I almost told them about the spanking to see if they would offer me tribute for specific details.’
‘Knock it off, woman,’ he growled, but there was no sting to this embarrassment. His ego was being adequately stroked. It had been a very l
ong time since that had happened, and he hid his smile behind the rim of his glass.
Poorly, as April nudged him and cackled. ‘Maybe we should pull down the blinds and put on a demonstration.’
‘Well, why not? Maybe we can even broadcast it on Pay-per-view.’
‘Don’t be silly. Pay-per-view is so nineties. Live-streaming on the internet at two-ninety-nine per minute is the way to go.’
Her teasing eased some of his tension, but it wasn’t enough to make him have fun. He knew he should get up out of the chair and pretend he had some social skills, get to know her friends and put out there that he and April were something, but as she got to her feet he settled back.
‘I’ll be back to check on you in a bit,’ she said, and hesitated.
Get up, Wolfman. Put those big paws all over your woman and get everybody wishing they had you to get them excited when the party’s over.
He lifted his glass and smiled. ‘I’ll be here.’
With a curt nod, she headed back to the kitchen, and he sat there feeling like the biggest shit.
He didn’t need a sarcastic voice in his head to tell him he was acting like it, too. He knew he should get off his ass and join her wherever she was, joke with her friends and make her blush and roll her eyes. God, he wished he was that guy, but he never had been and he never would be, and he’d probably find out at the end of the night that he had disappointed her.
Patting his front pockets, Seth remembered that he had left his cigarettes downstairs. There were a few people hanging out on the fire escape and he thought about bumming one, but once he set aside his drink and was out in the open air, he just nodded and headed on down.
Just one smoke, Wolfman. Then you go up there and find her, make her glad she invited you.
But instead he parked his ass in his chair and lit up. He hadn’t ruled the building smoke-free, but he rarely smoked indoors unless there was a snowstorm. At the moment he just kept away from the window. He’d stay until the sounds from above started to die down, and then he’d head back up and make an excuse about how he had run downstairs for something. She wouldn’t know he had taken off on her.
Except it took her all of fifteen minutes to sniff him out.
‘So now I’m mad,’ she said as she stepped through his window.
Seth leaned forward in his chair and sighed. ‘I was hoping you wouldn’t notice. I’m sorry.’
‘As am I, Mr Axworthy, not that you left my party without telling me, but because you left my party without taking me with you.’
Once inside, she turned and shut the window, then drew the curtains. Seth watched, his expression puzzled, as she went directly to the kitchen and got herself a can of beer.
‘You think I wanted to hang around up there?’ she asked as she returned.
‘It’s your party.’
‘And I only threw it to get my friends off my back. I asked you to be there so I’d have someone to talk to and make me feel better when I felt like cutting the music and ordering everyone out, and you abandoned me.’
She sounded so cheerful that he lifted a brow. ‘Are you drunk?’
‘A little bit,’ she replied, and settled onto his lap when he beckoned her. Now he cupped her ass, giving the handful a squeeze, and he felt much better about getting caught ditching her party.
‘Need a bit of help?’ he asked as she tried to open the can with no success.
She handed it to him with a sigh, and rested her head on his shoulder. ‘Don’t worry. They won’t trash the apartment. Now that they’ve had a look at you, they’re all too worried you’ll hunt them down with a big axe.’
Popping the can open, he chuckled. ‘Is that the impression I gave?’
‘You bet. Someone called you a lumbersexual.’
‘For Christ’s sake. I don’t even want to know what that is.’ He took a gulp from the can, then handed it over. ‘I can’t believe you ditched your own party.’
‘No, you don’t get to judge me after you bailed on me.’
He slipped his hand under her skirt, grinning as she jumped from the chill left on his fingertips by the cold can. ‘Why don’t you think of a way I can make it up to you?’
‘Now?’
‘If you want.’
April cackled around the mouth of the can. ‘If that’s not justification for ditching my own party, I don’t know what is.’
Using his teeth, he tugged the strap at her shoulder lower, then pressed his lips to the smooth slope. She smelled like orange blossoms from the perfume she’d rolled on, but it wasn’t the delicious scent that made his mouth water, but the wet heat he found beneath her panties.
‘How long have you been like this?’
‘All night,’ she whispered, and set the beer aside. The panties were quickly discarded and the chair abandoned. Seth pushed her forward, onto her knees on the sofa, and pulled the skirt up.
‘Am I getting another spanking?’ she teased breathlessly.
It was a tempting enough thought, but he was getting quickly and painfully hard at the thought of sliding into that juicy pussy.
‘I’m going to let you earn it by letting me do something dirty to you.’
Leaving her exposed, he unzipped and shoved his jeans down to mid-thigh. Cock in hand, he used the fat tip to part her fleshy lips.
‘Someone might come looking for me.’
‘You don’t sound too concerned.’
‘Not really,’ she whispered, and a sinful little whimper escaped as he pushed forward. ‘Oh, this is way better than hearing about Danielle’s trip to Rome.’
He’d planned on a quickie, but once he was balls deep and was surrounded by her warmth, his body begged him to go slow, to enjoy her wet clutch on him. Hands splayed on her ass, he rocked lazily in and out.
‘You’re a terrible influence on me,’ he said playfully. ‘All I want to do these days is lock the door, close the window and fuck you.’
‘Mmmm, I know the feeling,’ she cooed and pushed back. Taking all of him, she shuddered. ‘How do you think I feel at work all day, thinking about you back here…’
‘Get a little excited?’
She giggled breathlessly and squeezed her thighs together, and Seth bit back a moan as he withdrew from the tightest squeeze.
‘My panties are soaked by noon. Sometimes I – oh!’
She arched as he shoved deep, then gasped as he gave her a firm smack on the ass.
‘Sometimes you…?’
He held her in place, rubbing the hot pink mark he had left on her as she panted and puffed.
‘Think about going into the bathroom and taking care of myself.’
Jesus, he could have come just thinking about it. He pulled out and turned her over, squashed her in the corner of the sofa. Knees on the edge, he grabbed the seat back for leverage and pinned her.
Her eyes grew wide as he cupped her chin. ‘Keep talking. I like where this is going. So you’re sitting at your desk, getting all juicy thinking about a little of this?’
Seth tilted his hips until only that tight mouth squeezed around his head. He wanted to fuck the hell out of her, to pump her so hard she had to wrap her legs around him and hold on, but he doubted there would come a day when he’d pass up an opportunity to take his time working her up.
He drew back, abandoning her completely. ‘You don’t want to talk to me, you can put your panties back on and go back to your party.’
She shook her head, freed herself from his grip and draped her legs around his thighs as he entered her once more.
‘I start off thinking about your cock in my mouth,’ she whispered shakily. ‘Right there at my desk. I think about you unzipping right in front of me.’
‘There we go. Keep talking.’
With the heat of her body moving through his blood and her wicked scenario thudding in his head, he picked up a magnificent rhythm.
‘You make me touch myself while I suck you,’ she went on shakily. ‘You come in my mouth, then you push my skirt
up, pull my panties aside, and tease me so bad that I can’t keep quiet.’
‘Until I’m hard again,’ he hissed, fighting to keep a steady pace as she talked. He wanted to hear the end of this sordid little fantasy of hers.
She nodded frantically. ‘Until you’re hard again, and then you bend me over my desk and –’
‘You got an office?’
‘Cubicle.’
He chuckled through the quake that went through him. ‘So I’m fucking you in front of your whole office.’
‘While they pretend they don’t hear anything.’
‘Or maybe getting off on it.’ Seth sagged forward, filling her up all the way. ‘Next time you feel like playing with yourself at work, I want you to do it and then come home and tell me every dirty thought in your pretty head. You got it?’
‘Oh, fuck, yes.’
With her promise, he took her in a fury, just the way she liked it, until she surged up with a throaty cry. He buried his cock into that sweet honeyed heat and let those delicious spasms take him home.
Once they had caught their breath, he had zipped up and she had wriggled back into her panties, April was all giggles.
‘I can’t go back up there,’ she said, her smile wide. ‘Everyone will know I came down here for a quickie.’
‘So?’
‘So, I don’t want to be known as the hostess who leaves her party to have a quick screw.’
‘There are worse things you could be. You could be the hostess who insists everyone use a coaster.’
‘Oh, God, now I’m the hostess who insists everyone use a coaster and leaves the party to have a quick screw.’ She raised her brows as he went to the window. ‘You’re coming back up?’
‘Yeah, I’m feeling more…’ He stretched and groaned, then grinned at her. ‘Relaxed.’
‘Ah, so that’s the secret to unleashing your groove?’
He didn’t really want to go back, but not just because he would have to endure another couple of hours trying to find his place in the crowd. He’d rather keep her to himself, stay down here and cuddle her on the sofa while the party went on over their heads.