No Romance Required

by Cari Quinn

  Throughout the dinner and conversation that ensued, she’d devoured him with her eyes. He might’ve been flattered, had he not grown more certain by the hour that their impetuous sexual relationship would end badly.

  She would get bored with him. He couldn’t keep up with her, not with his work schedule. He couldn’t spend his nights singing with the glee club or organizing clothing drives for the church. And at his age and maturity, he didn’t have time to have wild, crazy sex in inappropriate places, the yoga studio aside. Though he could think of plenty of wild, crazy things he wanted to do to her in a bed, too.

  Some of them involved bondage. Others involved sensation play and all manner of erotic games he just knew she would enjoy, once she relaxed a little.

  But inevitably, things would go south. They always did. He hadn’t dated for a while, but back when he’d made more time for a social life, he’d never been good at knowing how to slip away gracefully when his time got too crunched. Casual relationships didn’t always mean the same thing to both parties. And he would have to endure yet another messy breakup, when they hadn’t even exactly started dating in the first place.

  Cory’s brain clicked back into the conversation as his stepfather gestured to his brother and the beaming brunette at his side. “Dillon and Alexa have some good news to share, which we’re just overjoyed about. Son?”

  “I asked Alexa to move in with me. She said yes.”

  “You’ve only been dating a few weeks. Don’t you think that’s a little sudden?” Cory asked, peering into his wine.

  No one paid him any mind. As usual.

  As excited laughter and conversation broke out around the table, Vicky nudged his arm. “Aww. Look at their smiles. How sweet.”

  “Adorable.” He was happy for them, he truly was. Seeing Alexa settle against Dillon’s side and glance up at him with love practically winging from her eyes was…nice. He wanted his brother happy, and obviously Alexa made him that way. But all this coupling up, fake and otherwise, was making him positively itchy.

  You started this, remember?

  Technically his parents had, but the faking thing—all him. All stupidity all the time, that was the channel he’d turned to two weeks ago. Now the dial seemed to be stuck and he couldn’t extricate himself from the mess.

  “I bet you all were worried she was preggers,” Nellie said with a giggle, toasting the table with her glass of what looked to be chocolate milk.

  Alexa rolled her eyes and patted Nellie’s massive belly. She looked ready to explode. “That’s all you, darling.”

  “It’ll happen soon enough. For you two, too, I bet.” Nellie grinned and waved across the table at him and Vicky. “Once you’re on the fast track, next thing you know you have a whole family.”

  Victoria smiled blithely as if the idea wasn’t the least bit off-putting. She and Nellie had gotten buddy-buddy before dinner and had spent more than a few minutes oohing and aahing over babies. He’d thought Victoria was just being polite, but maybe not. Maybe she really was—he shuddered—domestic.

  “Thank you for that segue, Nellie,” Raymond continued. “Today has also allowed us all the chance to celebrate with our family’s newest couple, Cory and Vicky. Though Cory and Vicky’s relationship seems sudden, we all know love has no timetable. Cory, do you have anything you’d like to say?”

  Cory gulped the last of his wine. “No.”

  “I will.” Victoria drew her hand away from him and bounced to her feet before he could meet her gaze. Instead he stared at her side. More specifically, her breasts, outlined in snug, stretchy cotton.

  Twitch.

  “I just wanted to say how happy I am to have gotten to know some of you better today. Others I just met, but I look forward to learning more about each and every one of you. Thanks to my snookums, I’ve gained not only a mate but a whole new family.”

  The word mate reminded him a bit too much of the mammals at the zoo, but no one seemed to think anything of it. She held the table enthralled as she spoke with her hands, smiling and gesturing as if she were on stage and loving every minute.

  God, she was beautiful. Golden hair glowing, cheeks pink with enthusiasm. No wonder his family—and assorted hangers-on—couldn’t get enough.

  “So tell us, dear. How did it happen?”

  Victoria bit her lip at his mom’s question. Cory willed her to sit down, to play it off. But of course Victoria never backed down from a challenge, even an ill-advised one.

  “Oh, it was working on the magazine. You know, all those long hours.”

  “So it’s a recent thing then?”

  “Oh, very recent. I can’t say I’d even noticed him before a few weeks ago.” She let out a breezy laugh that turned into a wheeze when Cory grabbed a handful of her ass. Better to have his stepfather raise an eyebrow at the PDA than to have Victoria embellish her lie past the point of believability.

  “She doesn’t like to admit how she’s pined for me for years,” he said tightly.

  Victoria cast him a glance that bordered on withering. “Honeybun, are you telling tales out of school again?”

  “Just pointing out the obvious, sugarteat.”

  Her pupils flared and she dropped down in her chair. For a moment, no one spoke through the veil of tension that now hovered over the table.

  And this was why it was better to keep quiet than to arouse needless suspicion. Not that she’d ever listen to him. Or even notice him, apparently.

  As conversation slowly resumed, Cory hooked an arm around her shoulders and tipped up her chin with his other hand. He pressed his lips close to hers and murmured, “Glad I’m so invisible to you.”

  She winged up an eyebrow. “Sugarteat? Really?”

  He shrugged. “Sorry. I’m not as good at the terms of endearment as you are. Next time I’ll try figgypudding. Or prunyraisin.” When she giggled, he kept going. “Sourapple? Smellysock?”

  Without warning, jazz music erupted from unseen speakers. “To the living room!” his mom called gaily, leading the charge out of the room.

  “What’s going on?” Victoria asked, still whispering although everyone had left.

  “Packing party.” This would be one of their last gatherings in this house so he didn’t want to miss a minute. “Mom will probably reminisce and go through baby pictures to embarrass us while she pretends to sort through things for the move. Everyone will get a little drunk and insult each other. You know, the usual family deal.”

  At the sudden dimming of her smile, he mentally clocked himself in the head. Way to go, ace. Her family hadn’t been “usual” for a while, and he fucking knew better.

  “Sounds kind of private. Baby pictures and all,” she said, obviously less than thrilled.

  Maybe she’d cheer up if she got distracted enough. He could hope. “Come on.” He grinned and tugged on her hand, but she didn’t budge.

  Strange. Even with her own strained family dynamic, he’d figured Victoria would be all about something fun like this. They wouldn’t have to talk or act much and could just relax for the most part. Yet she was frowning so hard he was afraid her face would freeze that way. What the hell?

  “I have an idea.” Her eyes lit with mischief.

  “But they’ll be expecting us to hel—” he said halfheartedly as she jerked to her feet and pulled him from the room.

  He followed her down the hall and waited as she tested various doors. Loud whoops sounded out from the packing party, but she paid them no mind. “The living room’s the other way.”

  “I know.” She stopped at the small half-bathroom off the kitchen and opened the door triumphantly. “Perfect.”

  “Oh, okay, I’ll wait.”

  “Wait for what?” She dragged him into the dark and shut them inside. “Finally,” she said, grasping his belt.

  Oh holy mother of—thank you God.

  “Uh, Vic, we shouldn’t do this.” How had she gotten her hand in his boxer briefs so fast? She encircled his stiffening flesh and he grunt
ed. “My parents are nearby. And the lock’s broken on this—fuck, I’ll hold it. What are you doing to me?”

  “I’m about to make you come.” She nipped a seductive path along the underside of his jaw. “The chance of getting caught makes sex so much hotter.”

  Did it? Considering the way it felt to have her kissing her way down his chest via the open vee of his sweater, he was willing to give new things a try.

  She didn’t drop to her knees as he’d expected. Instead she urged him toward the sink and wrapped herself around him from behind. As her soft, capable hands slid up and down his length, he braced his palms on cool porcelain and searched for the remaining vestiges of his self-control.

  Doing this sort of thing during a family dinner was not appropriate. His elderly neighbor Elba had a touchy bladder and she favored this bathroom. What if she tried to come in while Victoria was cupping his balls, feathering them with the delicate pads of her fingers? Or while she was slicking her other hand up and down hard enough to make him exclaim things more suited to the late-night cable channels than a good old-fashioned family celebration?

  “Elba better close her damn eyes,” he muttered.

  Leaning up, Victoria nibbled the back of his neck in between her pulls on his dick. She didn’t speed up her movements at his harsh pants of breath. No, she was much more ruthless. Her wicked fingers alternated from slow to fast and back to slow again as she transferred her oral attentions to his ear.

  “You know what I always wanted to do?” she breathed. “Role play.”

  His cock jerked. Jesus, did she have to stomp on all of his erotic buttons at once? “Like…you’re a maiden and I’m a pirate?” He’d even brought his own sword.

  “Maybe I’d like to be the pirate.” She licked his thundering pulse. “But yeah, just like that. We’re alone in the dark and you can’t see me, so I can be anyone you want. Your wildest fantasy come to life.” She pressed her full breasts against his back and her tight nipples dug into his flesh.

  He released a ragged groan. “Right now you can be anyone you want. Just don’t stop touching me.”

  “Uh-uh. Doesn’t work that way. You have to tell me who I am.”

  He gripped the sides of the sink and lurched forward at her increased strokes. If she kept this up for long, he wouldn’t have to worry about controlling himself. He’d let go all over this pretty pink sink, with her deliciously naughty suggestions filling his head and her breath hot against his cheek. She was panting right along with him, arching into his hip. Grinding with enough force to drag harsh gasps from her throat.

  God, he ached to slide her dress up her thighs to find out if she was hot and wet for him. If she was as close as he was to forgetting that anything outside this room existed.

  She made it so easy to let go. To just give in to everything that felt good and to hell with the consequences. Victoria was freedom in a shiny red bow, and he wanted it. Wanted her with an urgency that fired his blood to boiling.

  “You know you’re thinking about someone.” She slipped her palm up the underside of his cock to encircle the head. Pre-come smeared her hand and she used it to slicken her strokes. Faster and faster she drove him, until he dropped his head and closed his eyes against the flashes of light exploding in his vision. “Is she short and curvy, tall and dark? Is she wearing feathers or leather or better yet, nothing at all?”

  Unthinkingly, he reached up to grab the shelf above the sink, laden with candles and other sundries. He gripped the edge and jerked his hips, bearing down into the tight clasp of her hands.

  “Tell me who you dream about, Cory.”

  “She’s against the wall,” he murmured, barely aware he was speaking. “Naked. Pale as moonlight. Her long arms above her head, wrists bound. She’s helpless but she wants me to control her. She wants to submit.” She jerked, her hand faltering, but he didn’t stop. Couldn’t. Now that the trapdoor had been opened, he couldn’t slam it shut again. “She’s begging me to give her relief. To command her pleasure. Already I smell her arousal. Can taste it on my fingers after I give her what she needs.”

  She shivered against him, her small fingers losing their rhythm for an instant before she slid back into her erotic groove. She moved closer and flexed her pelvis so that her heat brushed the seam of his ass. Her breasts flattened to his spine, nipples scoring him even through his thin sweater. How he longed to suck them into his mouth, biting on her sensitive flesh while the tips flared as red as her dress. “Tell me more. It’s your wildest fantasy, and you can make it come true.”

  Yes, I can. I am. I will.

  How could she think he would imagine anyone but her? She fueled his most torrid dreams, and she was the only one who could bring them to life.

  “She has blond hair. Brown eyes, with lashes so light they almost disappear if you don’t look close. But I do.” Her touch fumbled again, but he didn’t stop. Even if it felt as if glass lined his throat, he’d get the words out. “In the red sweaterdress I peeled off her she looks like a miracle.” He gritted his teeth and fought to haul in air. “I don’t deserve one, but God, she makes me wish.”

  She whimpered and pulled hard on his throbbing cock, causing him to curl his fingers into the shelf. “I’m gonna come.”

  “Yes. Please.” She rubbed against his ass, encouraging him to live in the moment with her. “Give it to me.”

  When the rip cord of tension in his body snapped, he let out a muffled shout and yanked on the shelf, not cognizant of anything but the warm pulses of his release flowing over her hands and the soothing touch that grounded him through his climax. Damn. Damn. Damn!

  He heard the groan from the wall an instant before Victoria shrieked. And the shelf and its contents crashed down on top of them.

  …

  Breathing heavily, Vicky slapped on the light and stared at the mess around them. Candles and bathroom stuff had flown everywhere. Most of it looked to be intact, thank God. She turned on the faucet and quickly rinsed the sink and her hands, trying not to dwell on just how hot it had made her to feel Cory come in her hands.

  She glanced over her shoulder as he cupped the bleeding cut on his forehead and tried to zip up. “Here, let me help,” she said, sure she was blushing furiously.

  Way to go, Townsend. Get the guy off, break the bathroom.

  “You’re bleeding.” She reached up to stem the tide with a hank of tissue. Flying projectile, must be. Elephant toothbrush holder maybe, judging from the pieces on the tiled floor.

  “It’s okay. Did any hit you?”

  She dropped her gaze and stared hard at her feet. As hot as all of this had been, the shelf collapse had reminded her where she was. At a family party. A normal, together family, not fractured like hers was. Her sister out of town again for work, her brother with his team, her dad who-knows-where in Vegas, playing the slots. And her mom…

  It was natural for families to separate as the kids grew up. Hers had just started really early and it wasn’t the kids who had checked out first.

  She sighed and bent to pick up some of the scattered stuff on the floor. She was just horny, that’s all. Cory had gotten off, but she hadn’t. The family stuff, the faking stuff, even Dillon’s suspicions weren’t anything to worry about.

  So what if she and Cory weren’t anything but a big pair of fakers? Except the orgasms they’d had. Those were all too real.

  If she looked at it right, this was practically the ideal situation. People in her past had deceived her with declarations about emotions they didn’t truly feel. How many times had her mother said “I love you” before she’d walked out of her life? This way she wasn’t building up false expectations. She knew there wasn’t anything between her and Cory but friendship and fights and work.

  And incredible sex.

  As for his bondage and submission talk, she wasn’t going there. He couldn’t truly be into that, could he? She sneaked a glance at him under her lashes and quickly looked away from his intense stare. Maybe.

  No
.

  She nodded briskly and dumped the pieces of the elephant toothbrush holder into the trash. “I’m fine.” She turned to face him and tentatively touched the cut on his forehead. “Are you?”

  “Yeah.” He smiled grimly and opened the door. “Lucky for me, I’ve got a hard head.”

  He wasn’t the only one. Why else would she chase a man who saw her as a means to an end—and barely even that? And what would happen when that end came?

  Cory let out a long breath as Dillon and a couple other family members appeared in the hallway. “We heard a crash. Everyone okay?��

  “Thank you for your prompt assistance, but as you can see, we’re fine.” Cory glanced back at Vicky and motioned for her to follow.

  As Cory started to walk out, Dillon gave his groin a pointed look. “Fly’s gaping, bro.”

  “Jesus,” Cory muttered, yanking up the zipper.

  Behind him, Vicky buried her face against his back and laughed. Guess she’d proven they couldn’t keep their hands off each other.

  “I’m going to get us a couple drinks,” Cory said before heading up the hall in the direction of the living room. He probably couldn’t wait any longer to get his chance at another drink.

  This was the kind of night that demanded them.

  “Getting in a little post-pork quickie action, huh?” Dillon fell into step beside her. “Nice to see you two getting along so well. And so obviously.”

  She frowned and flipped her fingers through her hair. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Just that you were clearly out of sync at dinner and then you stage this big dramatic sex thing in the bathroom.” Dillon shrugged. “Feels forced is all.”

  Vicky came to a halt and propped her hands on her hips. It was handier to stash them there than to grab hold of Dillon’s sweater and shake him up a bit. She couldn’t solve everything with violence. Sometimes a deft touch was needed.

  Lord help them all.

  “First of all, I can assure you, it wasn’t dramatic. If you’d been listening outside the door, you would’ve heard us laughing.” Well, laughing and…other things.

  Dillon crossed his arms over his chest. “You forget I’ve known my brother even longer than you have. And he doesn’t have sex in public places, excepting that night in the gazebo. Hell, lately he hardly does in private.”