Strangers with Benefits (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Jennifer Willows

  Every game night, she came home and played with herself for hours afterward, sobbed his name into her pillow while her children slept the sleep of innocents.

  Tonight would be worse, as she would have to leave the neutral space for the intimacy of the pizzeria. It was a small space that would be crammed to the gills with teens and parents alike. She would just have to hope that she could sit far, far away from him. Maybe the distance the table would offer could dilute some of his scent and presence so that she would be able to eat.

  She was a fool for even thinking there was a way she could sit in the same place as him and not crave the taste of his tongue on hers.

  When Mark and Katie came back clean and fresh from the shower, she saw Den give Mark a high five, while Katie wrapped her arms around his waist for a hug. Mark caved and hugged Den as well. She tried not to look at the adorable sight and wished that she could take a picture.

  They all looked so happy together.

  Then Katie looked up at her with the sweetest smile that she had ever seen. “Mom?”

  Then she caved. “Fine.” And she leaned into the embrace.

  Damn. It felt like she was home.

  Sidonie leaned away first and rubbed her children over the scalp.

  “You better run, or you’re going to hold the bus up. We’ll be there in a bit.”

  The pair jogged off with the boundless energy of youth.

  She followed at a more sedate pace, until she reached the parking lot and unlocked the car door. Den jogged forward and opened the door for her.

  “Thanks,” she mumbled and fastened her seat belt.

  When they were on the road, she paid too much attention to the drive, even as her peripherals were all about him.

  Den broke the silence with a question. “You’re going to ignore me, even now?”

  “Yep.” You can do this, you can do this. You can so-ooo do this.

  “Come on, what harm is there in a little conversation?” If he were anyone else, conversation would be so easy. But with him, her body always seemed to have the final say so. And it was so easy to fall on his cock. So easy in fact, that she wouldn’t even have to think about it.

  “When do you go back to work?”

  Den coughed. “Oh, so you want to know when I’ll be out of your hair?”

  “Didn’t say that.” Yes, she was. But she didn’t have to admit it to him.

  He chuckled. “Just wondering. But I go back after my visit to the doctor next week. Apparently, I was overly vigorous and tore the stitches open.”

  “Oh, okay. The twins like you and they’d be disappointed if you just stopped coming.” She sighed and knew that she would be disappointed right along with them.

  “I know, I like them, too. And I have already worked it out.”

  Instead of asking, she shrugged. “Okay, that’s good to hear.”

  “I miss you.”

  “I’m right here.”

  “Yeah. But you’re not here, if you know what I mean.”

  “Believe me, I’m more in the moment than ever.”

  “I don’t think so. I think that your mind is racing a mile a minute while you ignore me. I used to think that you were so smart, but now, I’m not so sure.”

  He had some nerve. One minute he stroked her ego to a temperature as hot as he made her body. The next, he insulted her. “Are you calling me stupid?”

  “Don’t put words in my mouth. I just think you are playing dumb to the fact that we burn for one another.”

  “I don’t feel one way or the other about you at this point, McTavish.”

  “Liar,” he whispered.

  When Sidonie reached out to turn the radio on, he grabbed her hand in his. She shivered and tried to pull away, but his clasp was too strong for anything more than a feeble attempt that went nowhere.

  “I’m not a liar.”

  “Prove it.”

  “How in the heck do I prove that?”

  “Kiss me.”

  “No way, Jose.” She finally tugged her arm back but still felt the heat from the touch.

  “Pull over.”

  “No.”

  She slowed down at the light and held her gaze forward. He leaned over and grabbed the front of her shirt. She was pulled toward him and before she knew it his lips were a scant inch from her own.

  “Kiss me.”

  She shook her head. “No.”

  He took the choice from her and touched his mouth to hers, a simple meet and greet that only lasted a split second. Sidonie gasped and then he was voracious, ate her lips in a manner that made her eat him right back. Her cunt quivered and her belly followed as she tightened her thighs in an attempt to shut her protesting body down.

  She was a grown woman that had lived without sex for years, she had control over herself.

  Bee-eep!

  Beep-beep!

  Sidonie pulled away to see that the light was green and she pressed the gas pedal. Den leaned back, but she had given him the answer that he sought. Yes, she still craved him. Yes, she still wanted him. He wiped his thumb over her mouth and sat back in his seat properly.

  Damn it, how was she supposed to stay away from this? He was a Molotov cocktail to her libido and her body wanted him with a veracity that chipped away at her ability to fight it.

  She had grown exhausted fighting it.

  “You might want to ignore me.” His thumb rubbed the right temple then his hand swept lower, over her collarbone, and then over her heart. “But this won’t let you.”

  When his hand smoothed over her belly, she shivered from head to toe and shook her head to try and get her mind right. Didn’t work.

  But he skipped around her sex and his fingers rubbed over the thigh.

  “It’s okay. You’re not alone.” His statement was baldly honest and richly seductive, even if the words were not the hearts and flowers that she kind of… craved.

  Damn him.

  When she was a breath from capitulation, she pulled into the pizzeria and parked on the side. Sidonie unbuckled her belt and tried to open the door before Den could stop her.

  “You can run, but I suggest you stop right there.” The statement was bold and felt more like a demand, rather than the request the verbiage implied.

  She looked over at him and put a hand out. “Stop it, buster.”

  “Nope.” He grabbed the hand that she had thrust before her and used it to bring her halfway over the console.

  His lips met hers again.

  She broke away and protested. “Please?” She was supposed to ask him to stop, but the whisper seemed to plead him for the very opposite. She didn’t mean it, she didn’t mean it, she didn’t mean it…

  “I’ve got you.” He planted his lips back onto hers, until she forgot why she even wanted to stop in the first place.

  Yes, she did mean it. It only took a split second for her to fall back into the headspace she was so certain she had left behind. She didn’t even realize he’d let her go, released her hand but clasped the back of her neck instead.

  The feel of his lips on hers drugged her, chemically enslaved her and thrust her back at square one. By the time his tongue teased hers, she was physically bound when all she wanted was to climb over the center console and let him take her all over again.

  He was the one to stop it this time and when he pulled back, Sidonie was so embarrassed that she blinked twice and grabbed the door. When she stepped away this time, he let her.

  As she walked into Slice of Life, she made way straight for the bathroom and used the tap water to cool her heated cheeks with a wet paper towel that only seemed to reflect the warmth right back at her.

  It took a minute, but she calmed her roaring libido with a mental pep talk about the merits of the new vibrator that arrived the day before. TOM should do the trick.

  Nothing else had. It seemed like she needed multiple orgasms each night to get any kind of sleep. But she never felt totally satisfied until she broke out her favorite Den fantasy when
she was desperate and wanted to exhaust herself.

  When she walked into the dining area and saw the table, Sidonie sighed. Of course he would make certain that the only seat was next to him. In fact, the place was jumping and their track teams took most of the free tables in the place.

  Somehow, he had managed to get a table for two near the back wall. This was not looking good. Not at all. He didn’t let her take a seat at the bar, instead he walked over to her and took her arm. “Come on, I just ordered us a pie.”

  “Okay.” She sat down at the small table and their knees bumped.

  When the server brought out two drinks, Sidonie looked at him.

  “Oh, I took the liberty of ordering for you. That okay?”

  If she complained, she would only seem churlish. “That’s fine.”

  When the server walked away, he leaned over. “You know something?”

  “What?”

  “I touch myself every night and think about you.” The words were so laden down with lust, she could almost see what he described.

  Naked, skin damp and his hand on the thick erection she had taken many a rocky ride upon. Now she had something else to add to the spank bank she used to get her rocks off, yet, she needed the extra fodder like she needed another hole in her head.

  “That sounds like a personal problem. Maybe you should see a doctor.”

  “You telling me that you haven’t?”

  “Of course not.”

  “You are the worst liar I’ve ever met, Sidonie. I know you rub that thick clit and think about my lips on it. I know I think about your mouth, your ass, your tits and stroke myself until my knees are weak.”

  He’d left a few things off that list, but she made no mention of the obvious.

  She shrugged. “I don’t. I can come just fine on my own, thank you very much.”

  “I know you can come just fine, but can you make yourself scream? That’s what I’d like to know.” He grinned and winked. Damn, he knew how to paint a wicked picture and an even gave a wickeder cocking to go with it.

  “I don’t need to scream to get off.” Wasn’t that the truth? Strictly speaking, it was. But at the end of the day, it was always better with him. Always.

  “Yes, you do. I bet that you have to come six times before you can fall asleep.”

  Five, but who was counting? Not I. “Not true.”

  “Yeah, wait until the next time we’re together. I bet that we get another noise violation.”

  “There’s not going to be a next time,” she said, even as she hoped there was. And maybe another after that.

  “That’s a lie. As a matter of fact, I plan on seeing you naked in the very near future.”

  She growled. “Shut it, McTavish.”

  “You’d like that wouldn’t you? For me to let you get back into your own head, but let me tell you. Not any safer there, ‘cause I know that when you go off into space, you’re thinking about me. I can feel it.”

  “You are delusional.” But was he?

  Nope.

  “You’re the delusional one if you think that you can avoid me forever. I won’t let you.”

  Sidonie rolled her eyes and went for the honest tack. “Look, I may want you. But that doesn’t mean that I have to give in.”

  “You’ll give in,” he whispered, his mouth just inches from her ear.

  She shuddered, imagining what he could do to her with full knowledge of what he had already done before.

  His nose nuzzled over her jaw. “That little shiver is because you remember. I know you do. I can see it written all over your face. I remember what you feel like too. All tightly wrapped around me as you explode and scream my name.

  “When I’m alone, you know, I think about how wet you were for me, how hot you are inside when you want to come.” He looked at her and sucked his lower lip into his mouth as if he fought a war to not touch her. “You used to beg me to let you come. You say stop now, but I know what that really means when it comes to me and you.”

  “No, means no,” Sidonie muttered and leaned away.

  “You say no because you want me even more than you did before. Admit it.”

  “No.” But her voice wavered too much to make her statement stick.

  Den pulled back and looked at her. “Don’t make me prove you wrong. I can and easy enough that you’d hate me for it.”

  She looked over at him and his expression was a challenge in and of itself, not even what he’d said matched it. “Fine. Den, I wanted you. Happy?”

  “No. You want me right now.”

  “Of course not. This is not the place for that.”

  “Doesn’t matter if it’s the right place or time. You still want me, even in this moment.”

  She shook her head.

  “Admit it, Sidonie, before I prove it to you and the world.”

  The server popped back over before she had to respond and she was grateful for the diversion, even as she sought a way to make the girl stay longer.

  “Uh, can I get some cheese and peppers?”

  “Sure, they’re right here.” The girl leaned over and grabbed the shakers from behind the standing beer menu against the wall.

  Den just looked at her and grinned. He knew what she was up to and she let the girl go without asking for another thing.

  Sidonie placed her hands on the arms of her chair. “I, uh, need to go to the bathroom.”

  “Okay. But seeing as you just went, maybe you need to go to the doctor or something.” He winked.

  She sighed and remained in her seat.

  “So?” Den asked as he pulled off two slices of pizza and offered her a plate.

  “Yes.”

  “You can do better than that.” His gaze trapped hers squarely and she was a moth to the flames hidden in the orbs.

  “I want you, happy now?”

  “I’d like it with a bit more feeling, but that will do for now.” He winked and took a bite of his pie.

  By the time she polished off two slices, Den ate three in quick succession and moved on to a fourth. The last one, he ate slowly with deliberate nibbles as he watched her face. She tried not to take something so simple so sexually, but his expression of delight was hard to ignore.

  Especially when he moaned around a mouthful of the greasy cheese. That made her only think about the last time she was privy to that particular groan of satisfaction, not to mention how satisfied she was to be the recipient of that sound.

  “You want more?” he asked, but she felt as if he meant more more, and she didn’t mean pizza.

  “No, I’m full, thanks.” She sipped her soda and looked at her gregarious children interact with their teammates in the center of the room.

  “You sure? There’s plenty more where that came from.” He grinned and she had to make herself look away.

  The man was an invitation to sin. To sin so badly that no prayer would suffice. The only way to save her soul would be to go to a nunnery and feed starving children and fosterlings for the rest of her life after he finished with her.

  Maybe even nurse a war victim or two.

  He was so dirty in the very best way imaginable, so sexually intense that she was halfway ashamed when she reminisced on it, even as she wanted to rub herself like a cat in heat at the delicious wash of arousal at the memories every single time.

  Damn, that was more than she was ready to admit to him.

  “So what are you thinking about?” He rubbed his fingers in a napkin and took a drink.

  “Uh, nothing.”

  “I know what nothing looks like and that’s not it.”

  “Whatever.” She turned away and wondered when the kids would be ready to leave. She had to get out of there, ASAP.

  “I know that look,” Den muttered. “It’s time to run, huh?” He knew her absolutely too well.

  She barely held her seat, because for a moment she almost bolted. To where, she had no idea as the children would need a ride back. But she could have at least gotten a breath of fresh
air and let her hot thoughts cool down to a simmer before they had to sit in a confined place together.

  A few minutes later, she watched as a couple of children broke away from the table. She took the chance their departure presented and stood up. Katie and Mark looked at her and gave theatrical sighs of disappointment.

  But they stood up and grabbed their bags.

  “We have to go right now?” Katie complained.

  “Yep. Let’s go.”

  The ride back was made in silence, until she parked a few spaces away from Den’s truck.

  “Have a good night,” Sidonie offered.

  His eyes lit up. “Oh, I plan on it.” Den winked and turned around. “I’m proud of you guys. Both of you did great tonight. I have something for you in the truck. Go get it.” He lifted his keys and clicked the fob twice. The headlights blinked and remained on to signal that the vehicle was unlocked.

  Her kids bounced out and over to the truck.

  “Yes!”

  He leaned over. “Kiss me, woman.”

  “No, they can see…”

  Den shook his head. “They can’t see a damn thing from over there.” He leaned over and she leaned in. “Kiss me.”

  She did, he was just too close to not kiss him. He was the equivalent of a brownie smothered in chocolate ice cream smuggled into a fat camp.

  “Just one… quick kiss. Promise.”

  “Promise.” His lips met hers and time went still.

  Not still enough, as once he pulled away she leaned in need to get closer. Be… closer.

  “That’s why I’m not letting you go,” he muttered but opened the door as her excited children bounced at his side.

  “Oh, my god I can’t believe you got us ice skates!” Katie giggled and jumped up and down. Mark grinned with a thumbs-up.

  “I’m so posting these on my Instagram!”

  “Why am I not surprised?” Sidonie chuckled, even as her loins were on fire.

  By the time the twins bebopped back into the backseat, Sidonie put the car in gear and waited for Den to close his door.

  But he didn’t, so she asked him to. “Can you close the door?”

  “You guys want to have dinner with me on Friday?” He didn’t respond to her original question at all, instead, posed one of his own.