One Night Stand

by Brooks, Sarah J.

“She was a little angel,” I replied. “She showed me some of her pictures, she told me about her books, and then she asked me to read her a bedtime story and then she just passed out. It was really cute.”

  “Do I sense a hint of a change of heart around you, Miss Nina?” she teased. “Come on, you can tell me.”

  “No, it’s not like that.” I shook my head. “I still couldn’t imagine doing this all the time. I mean, it’s fine for a couple of hours, but that’s it. I’m certainly not usurping your aunt position.”

  “Good,” she shot back playfully. “But still, Logan must like you if he’s letting you take care of her; he doesn’t let anyone near her normally …”

  “Or maybe he just knows I’m a friend of yours and trusts your judgment,” I pointed out. “I wouldn’t read too much into it, Ant, really.”

  “That’s exactly what someone who was trying to steal my spot would say,” she replied, yawning again. “Jesus, I’m tired. I’m glad I didn’t have to come over there in the end. I think I’d have been good for nothing anyway.”

  “What were you up to tonight?” I leaned back in the seat I had taken at the dining table and stretched my arms above my head. I still had a while till Logan came home, so I might as well catch up with my best friend.

  “Oh, nothing much,” she replied coyly, and I instantly leaned in.

  “Come on, tell me!” I ordered her. “Was it a guy?”

  “Maybe,” she replied, and just like that we were caught up in a conversation about a guy she’d been hooking up with recently and exactly what she thought the relationship meant to the two of them; I was happy to lose myself in the chat, in something other than the strange feelings that were running through my head being in this apartment all by myself.

  “Anyway, I should get going,” she told me after a long run of analysis and conversation. “I’ll see you later in the week, though, huh?”

  “Sounds good,” I agreed. “Keep me up to date with your man, okay?”

  “He’s not my man yet,” she reminded me.

  “But he will be soon, if you want him,” I replied, and she chuckled down the line.

  I felt a wave of relief; for now, at least, I’d managed to deflect any doubts she might have had about Logan and I and the nature of our relationship. I just had to make sure I kept her in the dark, and that nothing like what happened that night last week happened again.

  “I’ll catch you later. Good luck with the rest of the night with Erin,” she replied, and we said our goodbyes and hung up, leaving me all alone once more in that apartment and considering what we had spoken about.

  Right at the start of the conversation, she mentioned that Logan didn’t trust just anyone with his daughter. And I believed that; it was clear from just being in this place and seeing all the stuff she had here that he was a doting father, and there was no way that wouldn’t extend to protecting her from the people he was unsure of too. So why was he all right with having me around?

  Maybe it was as simple as what I’d told Ant, that I was a friend of hers, and by extension that meant he trusted me—but even that felt a little thin, considering we had only met a couple of times and both of those we fell into bed together. I knew things between us had only been physical so far, but was there something else going on there from his side that I didn’t know about?

  I felt a little flutter in my chest when I thought about it and realized that if he did have feelings for me, they weren’t exclusive to him. It might not have been much, but there was something there when I thought about him and remembered falling asleep in his arms after we’d hooked up. When I lingered on the power of his touch, of his words. I glanced around the apartment and remembered sneaking out of here first thing in the morning before either of them had woken up. Maybe it wouldn’t have been the worst thing in the world if I had stuck around a little longer, made some breakfast, enjoyed the rush as they got Erin ready for school …

  No. I pushed that to the back of my mind. Sure, it was cute in theory, but I knew that in practice that was the last thing in the world I wanted. If Logan had been single and child-free and as loose and easy as I was right now, maybe I would go for it with him, even if he was Ant’s brother. But back in reality, there was so much keeping us apart—the fact that I was his sister’s best friend and that she would take chunks out of both of us if she found out, his daughter, his job, my recent dumping, and rebound-seeking status. I could enjoy the little fantasy of fitting into their lives, but I knew that it would have been stupid of me to treat it as anything other than that—a fantasy. I was so far from being ready to settle down with anyone after what had happened with my ex, let alone someone with a kid who would need even more commitment from me than a regular romance. No, this was a dumb idea, and I wasn’t going to give it any more thought than that.

  I picked up one of the books that were stacked on the table and started to flick through it just to keep myself distracted. It was hard to believe that only a few days before, I had been sneaking out of here, making it out of this apartment without being caught the only thing I wanted, because now I felt so relaxed that I couldn’t imagine a place in the world I would rather be at that moment.

  Chapter 8

  Logan

  I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about that note all the way through my shift. Who was it from? Well, that wasn’t so much the question now, as was how my ex had managed to smuggle it into my work and dump it in my pocket.

  She was always playing games like this, swinging into my life occasionally full of this certainty that she was going to take Erin from me and claim the custody she’d never really bothered to fight for. I usually ignored it since it came in the form of a few texts a couple of times a year threatening all sorts of bullshit, but this was a step up even for her, and I had to admit that it had unsettled me.

  But I made it through the shift by keeping focused and working my ass off so that I couldn’t waste too much brain space on anything but what needed to be done at the moment. And before I knew it, I was finished—a little later than I’d thought, and I hoped that Nina wouldn’t be too annoyed that I’d kept her hanging around the apartment for so long. I drove home quickly, and when I arrived I snuck up the stairs so as not to wake Erin, unlocked the door, and slipped inside.

  “Oh, hey,” Nina smiled at me, getting to her feet, and speaking softly. “You’re back.”

  “Yeah, and I’m really sorry I’m late.” I pulled a face at her. “I got caught up with work, I didn’t mean to—”

  “It’s fine, really.” She waved her hand. “I actually … uh, I think I actually had a good time.”

  “You think?” I cocked my head at her and grinned. Even though I was just back from work and should have been exhausted, I wanted nothing more than to spend a little more of the evening with her if I could somehow convince her to stick around.

  “I mean, I’m not good with kids.” She shook her head. “So I think I did an alright job. But who knows, I probably traumatized her for life or something.”

  “What did you get up to?” I asked, going to make myself a drink. “You want something?”

  “Uh, what are you having?”

  “I was thinking of coffee, but maybe something stronger now I think of it,” I shrugged. “Wine?”

  “I would love a glass,” she agreed and settled back into her seat at the dining table. She looked like she belonged there, and I had to admit it was nice having someone over the age of ten to come home to for a change. I poured her a glass of a decent dry white that I managed to procure from work when they over-ordered, and I took my seat opposite her.

  “I really can’t thank you enough for helping me out,” I told her. “I would have been all the way up shit creek without you.”

  “Ant called while you were away.” She gestured to the phone. “She was busy this evening. I think she was glad that I was able to come up and help instead.”

  “I’ll bet she was.” I shook my head. “What was it, a guy?”
/>   “How did you guess?”

  She grinned. “Because I was always the one picking up the pieces after she got her heart broken as a teenager.” I sighed. “Though I supposed I deferred that duty to you at some point.”

  “You’re welcome.” She raised her glass. “Seems like you trust me with a whole lot of your family, huh?”

  “Seems that way,” I agreed, and I took a long sip of my wine. I should have sent her home, stuck my head in on Erin, then gone to bed, but I was buzzing with energy, the tips of my fingertips zinging with excitement at her being here.

  “Your daughter seems sweet.” She glanced in the direction of the hallway and grinned fondly.

  “Did she show you her books?” I asked. “She’s always into showing anyone who comes through the door her collection.”

  “She told me all about it,” she said with a nod and a smile. “It was actually pretty sweet. Though I haven’t read anything to speak of in years.”

  “Yeah, I was never much one for books until Erin started getting into them, and I suddenly had to catch up on all the children’s literature from the last hundred years.” I chuckled. “She’s turned me into a bit of a buff.”

  “You can say that again,” Nina shot back playfully, and I felt that chemistry between us ratchet up a notch. We had already broken the promise we’d made to each other, not to go any further than we already had so as not to hurt Ant, but I had promised her some kind of reward for her time and effort.

  “So, how was work?” she asked. “Was is it you do again?”

  “I work as a chef,” I replied. “And it was good. I think it keeps me sane because it’s the only time I really get to interact with other adults who aren’t my sister or the parents at the school.”

  “You should cook me something sometime,” she suggested, raising her eyebrows.

  “I’m sure I could come up with something,” I replied, and she grinned widely—so wide it looked as though it was set to split her face in two. I liked the way it seemed to light up her entire face, as though the smile was meant for only me.

  “I really can’t thank you enough for stepping in and helping out here.” I shook my head. “I would have been really fucked if you hadn’t been there to give me a hand.”

  “That’s what neighbors are for, isn’t it?” she remarked, running her hands through her hair. “Besides, I seem to remember that you were going to give me a damn good reason to help you out.”

  I remembered our conversation outside her apartment, and I cocked an eyebrow. “You aren’t a little tired for that?” I asked, and she shook her head.

  “For you?” She bit her lip. “No way.”

  I sat there and just stared at her for a long moment, and I tried to ignore the voice at the back of my head that was telling me what a seriously dumb idea this would turn out to be. If Ant found out …

  But then I saw the way her eyes softened as they dropped to my mouth, and all the resolve I was clinging on to went straight out the window. She seemed to sense it, and she moved toward me and ran her thumb over my jawline, right to that sensitive spot where my ear met my throat.

  “You’ve a had a long day,” she murmured, and she leaned in to plant this soft little kiss on my mouth. I felt myself stir to hardness at once. I wanted her, no doubt about it. Ever since that second time, I had wanted her, and now here she was, offering herself to me. How the hell could I say no?

  “Let me take care of you,” she breathed into my ear, and she began to kiss down my neck with light, gentle caresses. I reached out to touch her, to slide my hands over her waist and her belly where her shirt had fallen open to expose skin, and she let out a soft little moan and continued her journey down.

  Before I knew it, she was between my legs, knelt on the floor in front of me; her mouth looked so good, so sweet, so tempting, and I struggled to remember the last time anyone had given me head. She bit her lip again as she undid my belt and my jeans, and I lifted my hips, so she could pull them off fully.

  “Fuck,” she murmured as she pulled off my boxers and wrapped her hands around my cock; there was blind lust in her eyes, and I loved the way she looked at me, as though she could never imagine getting enough. She looked up at me and leaned forward, planting a kiss on my tip, and I sucked in a sharp breath and did my best to keep my voice down.

  “You deserve this,” she continued, her voice low as she stroked me a couple of times. “Working so hard …”

  “Mmm,” I reached down and ran my hands through her hair, silently urging her to move forward, to take me into her mouth, but she seemed determined to make me wait. She liked the game, I could tell, liked the way I looked at her like my head was going to burst from sheer desire.

  Eventually, she parted her lips and leaned forward and guided me into her mouth. Her lips were soft and her tongue warm as she swirled it over my tip, and then she moved down to take all of me at once, meeting her lips with her fist so that every part of me was accounted for. I tipped my head back in the seat and stared at the ceiling for a long moment, trying to keep my composure—she looked so fucking good with my cock in her mouth, and there was something impossibly hot to me about her getting on her knees and servicing me after a long day at work. As though she’d been waiting around especially for this.

  She went down on me like her life depended on it; alternate sucking hard with slow, soft licks all the way up the underside, leaning down to suckle gently on my balls while she jerked me off. My eyes were practically in the back of my head as she fucked me with her mouth, letting me guide her up and down by her hair. I found my hips pushing back to meet her, thrusting to match her pace, and soon enough I could feel myself getting close, so close. I noticed that she had slipped her hand between her legs and was stroking herself in time with her mouth’s movement on my cock, and that was almost enough to tip me over the edge right there and then. But I had no idea how she would take it if I came in her mouth, and I didn’t want to push my luck.

  She glanced up at me and briefly pulled her mouth away; she seemed to read the thoughts running through my mind and smiled sweetly.

  “I want you to come in my mouth,” she murmured, brushing her lips against the over sensitized tip once more, and she began to stroke me as my head rested just past her lips. The sound of those words coming out of her mouth matched the eagerness of her expression, and the sureness of her touch was all I needed to get me there—I came hard in her mouth, tipping my head back and letting out a low growl of pleasure as it hit me.

  She cleaned me with her tongue, going gently, and I watched her, catching my breath, committing the sight of her like this to memory. Her hand was still between her legs, but she hadn’t come yet, and there was no way I was going to let her walk out of here without giving her an orgasm to match my own.

  “Here,” I grabbed her, tucking my hands under her arms, and pulling her on to my lap. She grinned and leaned in to kiss my neck again, letting her teeth drag across my skin.

  “Good?” she asked.

  “Incredible,” I replied. “But if you think I’m letting you out of here without making you come, you’ve got another think coming.”

  “Thank God,” she breathed against my neck. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you, Logan. I just want you so badly …”

  If I hadn’t just come so hard, I would have thrown her down on that table and fucked her raw right there and then, but as it was, I wanted to make this all about her, to show that I could give as good as I got. I slipped my hand into her panties and found her already pleasingly slick. I rubbed two fingers on either side of her clit, and she gasped and buried her face into my shoulder.

  “Jesus,” she moaned, and I went a little harder, pulling the skin taut so that every single touch would feel that much more intense. I could feel her body tensing in my lap, and I ran one hand up her thigh and beneath her shirt; she wasn’t wearing a bra, and I pinched her nipple roughly, making her jump in my lap.

  “You’re so fucking wet,” I
murmured into her ear, and she shivered.

  “I need this, Logan,” she begged as I continued to tease her, not applying any direct pressure to her clit. “Please …”

  “Whatever the lady wants.” I grinned playfully, and I finally guided my fingers over her clit; she slumped against me, given in to the pleasure, and I began to stroke her softly, in slow circles, listening to the sound of her breath as she got closer and closer to coming. I could judge if what I was doing was right based on how she tensed, how she breathed, the little noises she made; she responded best to a gentle touch, and I was more than happy to give it to her, going slow and soft until I could feel her breath coming ragged against my neck. I dipped my fingers down and pushed two inside of her, getting them good and wet, and suddenly, she came.

  Her body was wracked with shivers as she sat there on top of me, her head tipped back to expose the shape of her throat; I ran my tongue over it, and she let out another sigh of pleasure as her pussy clenched around my fingers, her entire body giving in to the pleasure. I slowly withdrew myself from her, and she caught my fingers in her hand and drew them to her mouth. The sight of her, sucking my fingers clean, looking deep into my eyes as she cleaned the taste of herself from my fingertips, was enough to get me stirring to hardness once more. She could feel it and wiggled her butt playfully against my erection.

  “Already?” she teased, but she didn’t seem altogether annoyed by the development. I scooped her up and tossed her over my shoulder, and she giggled, a hand clamped over her mouth, as I carried her to the bedroom.

  “Already,” I replied as I lay her down on the bed once more, and she kicked off her jeans, spread her legs, and pulled me down on top of her.

  It was frantic after that, both of us throwing our clothes aside, trying to be as quiet as we could—but it was hard when I just wanted to sink my teeth into her, to make her scream, to hear her cry out my name as she came. I ran my hands over her glorious nakedness there in the dark as she reached for a condom, and I swiftly sheathed myself and then guided my cock inside her. I lasted for longer than normal, thanks to her attentions earlier, and she didn’t break eye contact with me once as I fucked her. I pushed her hands above her head and kissed her as I moved deep and slow into her cunt, and she wrapped her legs around me and rocked back, taking as much of me as she could, as though she couldn’t get enough of the way I felt inside her. I knew how she felt. Maybe it was just because it had been so long since I had been with anyone like this, but she felt beyond incredible, her pussy perfectly tight and warm around me.