Nothing But Trouble

by Ashley Bostock

  Maybe forever.

  She stirred as his lips trailed down the small indentions of her spine. She smelled like coconut and sex and he was loving her smell and the feel of her against his lips. He felt her quiver as he continued kissing the length of her back and, once he peeled more of the blankets away, passed those two indentations that made him crazy and along the seam of her ass. She moaned, and when she lifted her hips like she was begging for more, he knew she was awake and all his for the taking.

  He didn’t feel sorry for waking her in the slightest.

  Because now it was his turn.

  He promised he would make love to her, and he promised to fuck.

  He nudged her knees up, so she was on all fours, and Michael’s mouth found her pussy—already wet and waiting. His fingers entered her immediately, priming her for what he was about to do. She didn’t disappoint. She was greedy. She took it as good as he gave it to her, and it was difficult taming down his cock.

  He wanted her pussy primed before he fucked her.

  Her clit was already hard when his other hand came around to massage it, and she bucked her hips in response. Michael moved his fingers away and, with her still on her knees, spread her wider apart, so he could use his mouth to suck her. She tasted so fucking good that he wasn’t sure how much longer he could do this before he’d have to have his cock inside her.

  Her moans, all soft mewls of pleasure, sounded like the gates of heaven, and even though he wanted his cock deep in her, he couldn’t stop what he was doing. Not until she quivered her orgasm into Michael’s mouth.

  “Don’t stop.”

  He couldn’t answer her because his mouth was too busy. He just pressed his fingers harder into her thighs, willing her to finish. He knew it right before she came. Her arms buckled, and she fell into the bed. Her ass and pussy pushed into his face as she withered against his mouth in delight.

  Finally.

  Michael clambered onto his knees, grabbing a condom from the nightstand. He didn’t think he’d ever put one on as fast, and he made a mental note to get rid of the whole process as quickly as possible.

  He coated the tip of his cock in her juices. Slowly maneuvering it up and down along her seam. Teasing her. And himself in the process.

  “Do it, Michael. Just stick it in.”

  Michael’s hips bucked into her, and he was instantly on edge as her tightness gripped his dick. Oh, man, he thought she was tight earlier. In this position, with her head down and her honey-colored hair sprawled across her arms, her tiny ass up in the air, she was tight as fuck. He was still trying to get used to the feeling before he came way too fast. Seconds later, he growled in pleasure with the chokehold on his dick and began thrusting his hips against her ass.

  The sounds of pleasure that spilled out of her mouth, being muffled by the bed sheets, egged him on like a boxer in the ring. He fucked her hard. Fast. Their skin slaps bounced off the walls and sweat slid down his chest, but Michael didn’t let up. This little virgin was his, and he wasn’t even close to being done. He was relentless. He refused to slow down. Refused to stop. The pleasure was pure and explosive. He kept pounding into her over and over, happy that he had enough stamina to keep going. It crossed his mind that he might be hurting her fresh pussy, but he was too selfish to care.

  “I’m coming,” she cried out for release.

  Only until her hand moved in between her legs, where Michael envisioned she was assisting the heavy explosions in her clit and her ass backed up into his dick, did he lose control and the real world spun and careened on its axis.

  Michael fell, sated and exhausted onto her back, cushioning himself from crushing her with his body by using his legs and elbows to hold himself half up.

  “Was I too rough?” he whispered, nibbling a sweet spot along her neck and shoulder blade.

  “Not in the slightest.”

  “I’ve been waiting since the art gala to fuck you like that,” he admitted.

  “Mmm-hmm.” She mumbled into the sheets once again, and before he knew it, Sophia was sound asleep.

  Michael rolled off her onto his back and stared at the ceiling. He knew this feeling all too well. The one where he was knee-deep in trouble and the only way he’d feel great was to have this woman at his side.

  It always made him think of that silly one liner – you had me at hello. The only difference with Mindy was how toxic their relationship had been from the get-go. Michael didn’t have that with Sophia. It started differently with her. The thing with Sophia was that she was something Michael hadn’t bargained for. On the outside, she presented something entirely different than what she was on the inside. What all those men and women saw at her club, was different than what she was on the inside. Underneath it all she was a whole lot of things. Sweet. Caring. Beautiful. Smart. Determined. Horny as fuck.

  Michael couldn’t believe she’d been a virgin this entire time. He’d always sensed an innocence about her from the moment they’d met online, but never in his wildest dreams would he have guessed she was untouched. She was such a contradiction to the many layers he was beginning to uncover. All that innocence rolled up into a woman who could bare it all for strangers. Yet, unwilling to give that innocence away to just anyone.

  That semi-sweet, semi-smart mouth of hers that had Michael wanting to bend over his knee and smack her ass – would lead anyone to believe she wasn’t as shy and gentle as she was.

  He laid awake until the pink glow from the sun settled into the cracks of his bedroom window coverings, assuring him that it was morning. Their night had changed him. He resolved that he would do whatever was necessary to prove to Sophia that he needed her. Wanted her. He warred with how he could get her away from The Glass House, and aside from coming off like a complete asshole, ordering her to quit, he couldn’t think of a compromise.

  Being who he was, Sophia couldn’t work as a stripper. The second the media got wind of that, there would be every Tom, Dick and Harry lined up on the streets waiting to get a peek of her. There would be sick men and obsessive women wanting to get their hands on her.

  Not only that, but he’d have business associates dying to use shit like that against him or Together. Not to mention, what the hell would the board have to say? He didn’t think they’d want to fire him—Nina, perhaps—but the majority of his board, he was certain was on his side come hell or high water. There was no way he could do it—have a relationship with her while she worked there. That was a fact. An unwelcome one. But the truth. One superb night of sex wasn’t going to change reality as much as he’d like it to. He would just have to get her to see the logic.

  She made it clear that she needed the job, so for now, they were at a standstill. Until he could think of an alternative, she wasn’t going to leave that place. But lucky for him, he was good at thinking of alternative solutions to problems.

  “What are you so deep in thought about?”

  Michael turned at the sound of her soft, still-tired voice, and the sight of her lying in his bed with her hair tousled over her shoulders, took his breath away. Her eyes were half-closed; her pink full mouth was set into a little grin, and he wondered if she was always this beautiful every morning when she woke up. Bite marks marred her breasts, and a rich satisfaction unleashed on him for being the one that put them there. She brought light into his dead soul.

  “I was thinking about you. About how fascinating you are,” he admitted.

  “I’m just a normal woman, Michael. What do you find so fascinating?”

  “This.” He pointed to her cheeks. “How flushed they get when I’m around. I’m fascinated how you manage to keep your job separate from who you are as a person. You’re just amazing. The way you’ve managed to shine above everything that has been thrown at you and still keep your head on straight.” Michael laughed. “Christ, even being a stripper—in that atmosphere of sex—you’ve managed to stay a virgin this entire time. No offense to your co-workers. I’m not saying all strippers sleep around. I just bet
you get a lot of men in there who are rich and powerful—”

  “Like you.”

  He gave a cheeky grin. “I’m rich, but I wouldn’t say powerful. At least I don’t use my wealth to do powerful things. But I bet there have been a fair share of men who have been good-looking, rich, powerful”—he wiggled his eyebrows at her—“who would probably take you home in a heartbeat if they could. And you somehow managed to keep them all away, Contessa Sophia.”

  “It’s easy when you block them out. Besides, I avoided doing the worst when I could.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Shaking my boobs in their faces. Lap dances. I still have to do lap dances, but Jericho knows how much I hate them. I don’t do many.”

  “Because you feel dirty? Used?” Michael asked, as his heart sunk into his gut. He loved both of those things. Almost on point of being fetish-like. And she was so good at doing the lap dance thing. So. Damn. Good.

  “Yeah. In my mind, I think if I don’t do those things or at least do them sparingly, that I’m somehow separating myself from those that do. Pretending that I’m somehow better, have higher standards.” Her hands came up to touch his bare chest. Her small fingers flew over his chest hair, grazing his nipples and making his dick start to rise. She laughed. “Gee, that sounds so stuck up when I say it out loud to someone. Who the hell am I trying to be?”

  “I don’t think you’ve done anything wrong. There are things everyone puts a limit on, no matter what it is. Those are your limits. There’s nothing wrong with that. I’m sure your grandma is proud of you no matter what.”

  Sophia sat up quickly, bumping Michael on the chin in the process. “Oh my gosh, my grandma! I never told her I’d be out tonight. I need to call my apartment. Where’s my phone?”

  She scrambled off the bed in such a hurry, his hand was literally hanging in the air. Michael watched her naked and cute behind as she moved around frantically looking for her phone.

  “Try out by the door. I think that’s where you attacked me first.”

  “What? I’m innocent,” she joked as she raced out of his bedroom in search of her bag. “I have five missed calls. This can’t be good.”

  Even with her yelling from the living room and him in his bedroom, he could recognize the worry in her voice. Michael threw on his sweatpants and met her in the hallway. Her phone was to her ear, her mouth set into a tight grim line.

  “It’s my grandma,” she whispered, her gaze was clouded with tears.

  And in that moment, Michael had the sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach that her grandma had died.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “She was elderly. She died because it was her time to go. Nothing else, Sophia,” Dr. Ranger said.

  “It wasn’t from when she was sick before? When I had to get that prescription I’d fought the insurance on?”

  “I’m afraid not.” Dr. Ranger’s lips thinned into a small smile. “There was nothing any one of us could have done. She was ready.”

  Sophia could have done something. Sophia would have been at home if she hadn’t been out losing her virginity like some groupie to a certain sexy billionaire whom she was never going to have a long-term relationship with. Especially now. How could she ever forgive herself for this? How could she go back to all those good things she’d been enjoying with Michael when all along, her grandma was losing the battle to live? Every time she saw him she would think about it. How could she forgive herself for letting her grandma die? Alone? With no one there to comfort her, to hold her hand. Sophia pulled the last tissue out of her purse and swiped her eyes. Fairy tale life was over.

  “Sophia, please don’t blame yourself for this. This isn’t your fault.”

  “Thanks, Dr. Ranger.”

  What else could she say? She’d called the club and asked for a week off so she could prepare for her grandmother’s funeral. It wasn’t going to be much. She thought her grandma had a couple friends that were still alive and of course, herself. She wasn’t sure whether any of the ladies from the club would come to show their support. Her mother wouldn’t come. But her grandma, at least, would always have Sophia.

  Except for the one night she spent with Michael Vilander.

  That would forever be Sophia’s night. The one night she would hold closest to her heart because she would never allow that to happen again. She had to punish herself for not being there for her grandma. Maybe only then, could she understand some of her grandmother’s pain, of what she must have felt like when she knew Sophia wasn’t there beside her. Sophia deserved punishment. She could have called an ambulance. Despite Dr. Ranger saying it was simply old age, Sophia couldn’t let go of the feeling that she could have done something to save her grandma. She would still be alive if it weren’t for Sophia’s selfishly taking that one night to be with the man of her dreams.

  Dr. Ranger and Alice gave Sophia instructions on how things like this were to proceed. She made the necessary arrangements, all the while ignoring the emptiness in her heart. Loneliness. Sophia’s grandmother already had everything in order. Her memorial service was to be held at Mount Lindo Cemetery in Morrison. Sophia hadn’t gone with her to find this place, out on top of a mountain. Her grandmother had found it years ago with Sophia’s grandfather, who had also been cremated and buried out there. Sophia suspected because it was in the mountains, it would be a beautiful resting place.

  Michael showed up at Sophia’s door that night, looking as worn and ragged on the outside as Sophia felt on the inside. Without a word, she fell into his arms, seeking comfort. He filled her void of loneliness. Knowing it was temporary but wanting him to make her feel. To take the hurt from her when she wasn’t strong enough to help herself. When his fingers slipped inside her panties, it was the end of her.

  “I need you, Michael. At least for right now.” Because she’d never felt so lonely in her entire life.

  He gave her all that she wanted and needed, until she knew it was time to follow through with her self-awarded punishment. She’d been selfish once. Now twice. How could she let it happen again?

  “Don’t do this to yourself. To us. You couldn’t have done anything to save her, Sophia.” She hated the look in Michael’s eyes. The pain. It was almost suffocating.

  “Please don’t come back, Michael.” She wanted to swallow down the ugly words. But she knew that if he sensed any cracks in her composure, he wouldn’t leave her alone. “I don’t see how this will work between us. Knowing that I was with you, while I neglected her, will haunt me for the rest of my life. It can’t possibly work between us. We were doomed from the beginning.”

  “Sophia, you don’t mean that.” He reached out to her, and she stepped back knowing exactly how vulnerable she was.

  “I can’t, Michael. Every time I look at you, I will never forget where I should have been.”

  Michael turned his head, looking away from her and she hated what she saw when his gaze landed on hers. Pain. She’d been looking at it in the mirror for days now. “Don’t do this.” His voice broke. “You’re grieving. You’re blaming yourself for something you had no control over. The doctor assured you that you couldn’t have done anything to save her. This isn’t over, Sophia. I promise you, this isn’t over.”

  She gently shut the door in his face and ran back to her room, hurting all over again from the pain etched in his face. Michael called off and on the few days after their last time together, and she kindly asked for privacy. After a slight hesitation, he gave up, asking her to call him should there be anything she needed.

  As she stared at the twelve bouquets of red roses that were currently sitting in every available spot inside her apartment, Sophia should have known Michael wouldn’t give up completely. The man was a seasoned charmer. Aside from the flowers and the few text messages she’d gotten from him asking how she was doing, he hadn’t called again.

  Sophia was dull. Going through the motions of life, trying to ignore the utter pain that her heart was holding hostage over the
loss of two people she loved. After her grandmother’s funeral, where Sophia’s mother never showed up—no surprise—but Michael had, Sophia went about her life just as she had before. Before Michael. That was what her life had become, separated into timelines. When she was with Michael and when she wasn’t.

  Sophia went back to work, doing what she did best: ignoring all the feelings in her heart and in her mind. She’d hardly spoken to anyone. What was there to say? She went back to ignoring the men’s grabby hands as she performed. She tried to smile, especially when Jericho threatened to write her up for being late a few times and receiving a complaint that she wasn’t being very friendly to the customers. She even gave a young gentleman a lap dance. He was about her age and was so eager that she felt bad about taking his money. She didn’t enjoy it anymore. She didn’t get that same giddy-all-over, ticklish feeling she got when she had danced for Michael.

  Her life officially sucked.

  What was she going to do going forward? She essentially could do whatever she wanted now. She still needed her job in order to save money for her college classes. Perhaps she could enroll in more than one for the fall, knowing her days would be free. Maybe look for a different job where she could work during the day like a normal person and have evenings and weekends off. It seemed selfish to be thinking about herself for once, not having her grandmother to look after.

  Pushing Michael out of her life, she essentially had no one. The girls at the club offered their condolences and continued to make idle chit-chat, but Sophia couldn’t confide in them. Even before Jericho threatened to fire her, he asked if she wanted to talk about anything, but she declined. She couldn’t talk about Michael. The pain in her heart only worsened every time she thought about him. The thought of speaking his name out loud brought tremors to her stomach and caused the pain in her heart to spread throughout her body, settling deep into her bones.

  As far as Sophia could tell, she had one positive in her life, and that was the volunteer work at the Art Foundation. She hopped off the 505 bus and headed in to meet with Charlet. She was anxious to start a new project today, having completed the block rainbow painting in the old room, which would eventually be turned into a children’s room for painting classes. She hoped that when her schedule allowed, she could take the added volunteer classes to be trained in assisting the students who entered some of the art programs. It would be wonderful to work with children and adults alike. As it was, after working on the rainbow room, she was ready for something new.