by Vi Keeland
I jumped when his voice came through the intercom. “Yeah?”
He was so grumpy; I couldn’t help but smile. “Delivery for a Mr. Fox.”
I heard the smile in his words. “Delivery, huh? Whadda you got for me?”
“Whatever you’re in the mood for.”
The buzzer buzzed, opening the door before I’d finished the last word. I chuckled, feeling giddy.
But as the elevator climbed, other feelings started to take over. My body started to tingle, and my heartbeat sped up. My first booty call. No wonder people made such a big deal about it.
When I stepped out of the elevator, Bennett was waiting in the hall, shirtless, leaning against the doorframe of his apartment. He was the picture of confident and casual, and his eyes glittered as he watched me walk toward him.
He took a piece of my wayward hair between his thumb and pointer and played with it. “Whatever I’m in the mood for? That’s a pretty big statement for a little girl.” His voice was so damn thick and gruff—I loved it.
I shifted restlessly, feeling electricity crackle in the air all around us. Attempting to pull it together, I straightened my spine and looked up at his imposing frame.
“I’m here, aren’t I?”
Bennett’s mouth curved into a slow, wicked grin. “You most certainly are.”
I yelped when he lifted me off the ground. Yet my legs seemed to know what to do before my brain caught up. They wrapped around his waist and locked behind his back as he carried me inside his apartment. His lips sealed over mine while one hand balled up a fistful of my hair, and he used it to tilt my head where he wanted it.
Completely lost in the kiss, I had no idea we’d even been moving until my back hit the soft mattress behind me. Somehow we managed to strip out of most of our clothes while never breaking contact. Bennett dragged my thong down my legs, and my breaths were wild and jagged.
He brushed the hair from my face. “One last chance… Whatever I’m in the mood for? You’re sure?”
I nodded, though now I was a little nervous.
His wicked grin returned as he reached over to his end table and grabbed something out of the drawer. He held up a bottle of lube. “Full. Brand new. Bought it on the way home tonight in case the opportunity arose. We must be on the same page, sweetheart.”
His head ducked to capture one of my nipples between his teeth. He tugged until my back arched off the bed, and then closed his lips over the swollen peak and sucked gently. By the time he lifted his head to align with mine again, I was panting like a wild animal.
He shifted from on top to next to me, taking his body warmth and letting a cool breath of air hit my body. Goosebumps broke out in places I didn’t even realize could bump. The sound of the cap popping open on the bottle of lube made me jump.
“I’m assuming you’re an anal virgin. Am I right?”
My eyes widened. I nodded because forming words would’ve been completely impossible.
He kissed me gently one more time, then wrapped one arm around my waist and flipped me over like I was a ragdoll. “Up on all fours, beautiful.” His arm lifted and guided me.
The sound of my ragged breaths filled the air around us. Bennett positioned himself on his knees behind my propped-up ass. I felt like I might explode from nerves and anticipation. He bent and trailed a string of kisses from the top of my ass, up over my spine, onto my neck, and then nibbled his way to my ear. His body wrapped around mine, and I felt his cock nudge at my rear.
“We’ll go slow. I won’t hurt you. Trust me.”
I’d unknowingly been tense, and the warmth and concern in his voice helped my body relax a little.
Bennett rose to his knees behind me, and I felt tiny beads of warm liquid begin to fall at the top of my ass. Each drop intensified my anticipation. Traveling painstakingly slowly, they followed the natural path between my ass cheeks. It was the single most euphoric feeling I’d ever experienced in my life. My toes started to tingle.
“Jesus Christ,” he groaned. “That’s fucking hot.”
When the lubricant reached my lips, Bennett rubbed it into me, massaging my clit and teasing at my opening. He hunched over my body and used his other hand to turn my head for a kiss at the exact moment his fingers pushed inside me. Heat spread through my body when he murmured, “I want to be inside every part of you at once.”
He shifted his hips and replaced his fingers with his cock. The lubricant and my arousal slipped him inside with ease. He rocked his hips a few times, sinking deep, before lifting back to his knees behind me.
When I felt the tip of one of his fingers circling over my anus, my body immediately clenched in reaction.
“Relax. I won’t push you. This is all I’ll try tonight. I promise. Trust me.”
I closed my eyes and tried to unfurl the coil of tension inside me with a few deep breaths. Bennett gave me a little space and slowly glided in and out of me a few times before trying again. The second time, it still felt foreign, but I accepted it and let it happen. He massaged and pushed the tip of his finger slowly inside, in unison with his hips. Eventually I relaxed and started to move with him, even pushing back and meeting his thrusts. I was shocked at how good it felt.
I became lost in the feeling of being full, and in giving something so special to this man. My arms and legs started to shake, my body quivering in anticipation of the tsunami that had started to roll through me.
“Bennett…”
He pumped harder and faster, at the same time withdrawing his finger and then sliding it all the way back in. When I relaxed enough, he added a second finger. That was enough to set me off. I came hard and loud—sounds coming from me that I didn’t even recognize. When I thought I might collapse, Bennett hooked one arm around my waist to keep me steady and pumped into me harder. With a voracious growl, he leaned over, buried his head in my hair, and spilled inside of me.
We were both soaked with sweat when we collapsed on the bed. Bennett, aware of his weight, quickly rolled off my back, and the two of us struggled to catch our heaving breaths.
My hair was plastered to the side of my face. Pushing it off, I rolled over to my back. “Wow.”
Bennett pushed up on an elbow and stared down at me. He leaned over for a gentle kiss, then rubbed my bottom lip with his thumb. “Thank fuck that ex of yours is a dumbass and had no idea what you liked.”
I smiled a goofy smile. “I don’t think I knew either.”
He kissed me again. “It’s my absolute pleasure to help you figure that out.”
“I just did my first booty call.” I wiggled my eyebrows.
Bennett laughed. “Pretty damn appropriate name right about now, don’t you think?”
Chapter 37
* * *
Bennett
Content.
For the last half hour, I’d been lying here trying to figure out the last time I’d felt this feeling. If someone had asked me a few months ago, I would have said I felt it every time I had sex—that post-orgasmic relaxation that takes over your body. But I would’ve been wrong.
That was sated. I hadn’t realized until now that there was even a difference between feeling sated and content. But there is—a damn big one. Sated is that satisfied feeling you get after a good meal when you were starving. Or when you’re horny as shit and you get a release that drains the life out of you. Sure, I was drained right now; don’t get me wrong. And I also felt satisfied. But I wasn’t sated. Sated satisfies a hunger that always comes back. Content makes you feel like you don’t need anything more. Not ever.
And that’s fucked up.
Yet at the moment, I didn’t give a crap how screwed up it was that I felt this way. In fact, for the last half hour, I’d had to take a piss. But I didn’t, because I was afraid when my feet hit the floor, this feeling might be gone again.
Annalise’s head rested on my chest, as I stroked her hair. Her fingers traced a small circle around my abdomen.
“Can I ask you something?” Her vo
ice was low.
“Yeah. I can go again. Just move your hand down a little farther south for a minute.”
She giggled and play-smacked my stomach. “That’s not what I was going to ask.” She paused, and her voice turned serious. “But could you really do it again? We did it twice already since I got here.”
I took her hand and pushed it down to my cock. I was still semi-erect after the last go-round.
“Ummm… I think you might have a problem. It’s supposed to deflate once in a while, you know.”
“Well, now that we’re talking about my dick, he knows it, and he’s even more awake, so if you had a real question, you better get to asking it pretty quick. Your mouth is gonna be too full to speak in a minute.”
Annalise propped her head up on her fist, which rested on my chest. “What do you think would happen if we didn’t have an expiration date?”
I froze. “What do you mean?”
“What if we just worked together and one of us wasn’t relocating soon? Do you think we’d be doing this a year from now?”
I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but I needed to be honest. Words normally came from my brain, but it felt like this one ripped and tore its way up from my heart.
“No.”
She closed her eyes and nodded. “Okay.”
Fuck.
She turned her head and rested it back on my chest. A few minutes later, I felt wetness on my skin.
Fuck. Fuck.
She was crying. I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths. Then I rolled us until she was on her back and I could speak to her face to face. I wiped a tear with my thumb. She looked over my shoulder instead of at me.
“Hey. Look at me.”
I hated that her eyes were filled with pain when they met mine. Pain I’d caused.
“The answer has everything to do with me, and nothing to do with you. You’re…”
I was rarely at a loss for words. But I didn’t have any to accurately describe what I thought of her. Yet I knew it was important that my message get through. She’d just come out of a shitty, long-term relationship, and she needed to know what she was.
“You’re everything, Annalise. I’ve met two types of women in my life: every woman out there. And you.”
“Then I don’t understand…”
“You asked me if things were different, if we would be doing this a year from now. I’m being honest. We wouldn’t be. But I don’t want you to think it’s because I wouldn’t be the luckiest son of a bitch if I got to keep you in my bed for that long. Because I would. But some people just aren’t cut out for long term.”
“Why not?”
The truth was because they don’t deserve it. But I couldn’t tell Annalise that. She’d spend every last minute of the time we had left together trying to prove me wrong.
I looked away, because I couldn’t look into her eyes and lie. “Because I like being single. I like my freedom and not having to answer to anyone or have any responsibilities. You want candles and flowers on Valentine’s Day, and you deserve to get what you want.”
She swallowed and nodded her head. I decided it was about time I answered nature’s call. “I’m going to go to the bathroom and get something to drink. You want something?”
“No, thank you,” she whispered sadly.
Unfortunately, I hadn’t been wrong. By the time my feet hit the ground, my feeling of contentment was long gone.
***
She avoided me for days after that.
And I let her. We weren’t fighting or pissed off at each other. When we passed in the hall, we put on fake smiles, and she made up some excuse about an appointment she had to run to that I knew from stalking her calendar she didn’t have. Yet I didn’t call her out on it. There was no point.
It was starting to feel like our relationship had run its natural course, and the best night of sex of my life had turned out to be our swan song. It was probably for the best—put a little space between us, and it would make things easier. Our presentations to Star were next week, and Pet Supplies was scheduled for the beginning of the week after that. What was the point of keeping things going?
Yet I couldn’t stop myself.
Her door was shut, but I knew she was still in there. We were the only two left in the office at almost nine o’clock on Thursday night. I was also fucking starving.
I knocked on her office door after rummaging through the refrigerator.
“Come in.”
I held up a tin-foiled sandwich in my hand. “You hungry? I’ll split with you.”
She sighed. “Starving, actually.”
I walked to her desk and handed her half a PB&J.
Annalise licked her lips and took it, though she stopped with it halfway to her mouth. “Wait…this is yours, right?”
I grinned. “Just eat it. I’ll come in early in the morning and replace it.”
She glanced longingly down at the sandwich and back to me. “This is Marina’s, isn’t it?”
I bit half of my half off in one gigantic bite and spoke with my mouth full. “Mmmmm. It’s so fucking good.”
The corners of her lips twitched, but she bit into her half anyway. “You’re corrupting me.”
“I thought you were enjoying me corrupting you.” I tilted my head. “But you seem to have been too busy for that the last few days.”
Annalise’s smile fell. “Oh. Sorry. I’ve been…swamped.”
I glanced over her desk. Her laptop was shut, and a stack of files had been neatly piled up.
“Looks like you’re just finishing up.” I caught her gaze. “So does that mean you’re free tonight?”
She stared at me for a few heartbeats and then raised one hand to cover her mouth while she opened it for an obvious pretend yawn. “I’m really wiped out. Maybe another night.”
I knew she’d lied even before her skin started to blush, yet I let her off the hook anyway.
I nodded. “Yeah. Sure. I’m tired, too.”
***
I hadn’t been lying. I was tired.
Yet I didn’t go home.
Instead, I hit up the shithole bar closest to the office and ordered a double scotch. And then another one. And then another. Until the bartender told me he’d give me one last drink only if I handed him my cell phone.
I tossed it on the bar and slurred my words. “That’s an expensive drink. But go ahead…keep it. Just give me the damn thing.”
The bartender took my phone in one hand and poured me a drink with the other. He raised a brow. “What’s her name?”
“Annalise.” I laughed maniacally. “Or Sophia. Take your pick.” I tipped my glass toward him, and half of it sloshed onto the bar. “And she looks fucking great in a cowboy hat.”
“Which one we talking about? Annalise or Sophia?”
“Annalise. Beautiful, man. Just beautiful.” I swallowed a big gulp of my drink.
“I’m sure she is. I’m calling you an Uber. Where you heading after that drink?”
“She thinks I’m a dick.”
The stoic bartender sighed. “Pretty sure she might be right about that. What address you going to, buddy?”
“I don’t deserve her.”
“I’m sure you don’t. What about that address?”
I knocked back the contents of my glass. “Are you married?”
He held up his left hand. “Sixteen years.”
“How’d you know you loved her?”
“If you give me an address to call this damn Uber, I’ll tell you how I knew.”
I rattled off the address. He typed into my phone and then slid it across the bar to me. “You know that saying if you love something, set it free, and it will come back to you?”
“Yeah.”
He shook his head. “Well, that’s a crock of shit. If you love someone and you set her free, she might come back with herpes. So get over yourself and lock that shit down before you get an STD.” He paused. “Your Uber will be here in four minutes, so you should
start walking your drunk ass to the curb right about now.”
***
“We’re here.”
The driver’s voice jolted me awake. Slumped in the backseat, I must’ve dozed off on the short ride home.
I nodded. “Yeah. Thanks, man.”
It took me a few tries, but I managed to find the door handle and open the damn thing. I even stumbled out without falling on my face. The Uber driver mustn’t have been as impressed with how well I’d done, because he didn’t stick around to watch me make it to the door. He had his foot pressed to the floor to get the hell out of there before I could even finish swaying enough to walk the three steps to the curb. But I waved goodbye anyway.
Somehow I made my way to the front door. Luckily, when two-hundred-and-twenty pounds leans forward on the verge of falling over, it also propels a lot of momentum. I spent five minutes trying to get the key in the lock, but the damn thing wouldn’t work. I’d started to think someone had come to my place and changed the fucking lock.
I took a step back and squinted at the door, attempting to get a good look at the lock. But then the door swung open.
What the fuck?
Stumbling back, I blinked a few times.
“What the hell are you doing?” Fanny pulled her robe tight.
I’d gone to the wrong house?
Fuck.
Maybe I didn’t.
“I didn’t mean to hurt her.” I swayed back and forth. “I didn’t know how she felt.”
“It’s after midnight. I should call the goddamn police.”
I looked down and swallowed the lump in my throat. “I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry.”
I’d said the words so many times eight years ago. They did nothing for either of us back then. But what did I expect? Forgiveness? Forgiveness doesn’t change the past.
“You want me to tell you it’s okay? It’s not. Lucas told me about the girl you brought to Disney. You want me to accept your apology so you can move on without a guilty conscience? Is that what this is about? My daughter doesn’t get to move on, does she?”