by Amber Heart
He shoved the other cup down and turned his attention to that breast, sucking and teasing her until she was crying out. Her fingers were buried in his hair now, keeping him where he was as she worked her body against his desperately.
Eli let her go suddenly, yanking his shirt off. He needed to feel her skin against his. He wrapped all those long curls around his hand and tugged, dragging her head back so that she met his mouth again and again. Riley’s hands moved down his chest to the buckle of his belt.
“Take me to bed, Eli,” she murmured against his lips as she unbuckled it.
When his jeans hit the floor, he stepped out of them and scooped her up again, carrying her down the hall quickly. He dropped her onto the bed and pushed her skirt up around her waist. Her panties were a scrap of black lace that matched the bra, but Eli didn’t have time to appreciate the aesthetic. Not with his cock throbbing in rhythm with his heart beat. He tugged them down and moved over her, caging her in with his body.
She looked up at him, her lower lip caught between her teeth. “God, you’re sexy,” she whispered, running her hands down his chest again. “All this muscle....” she trailed off, leaning up to kiss him. “I’m gonna have to kiss every inch of you some other time,” she informed him.
“Oh yeah? Why not now?” he asked, kissing the hollow of her throat and pressing forward over her.
“Because right now I need you as deep inside me as you can get,” she answered. “Unless that’s a problem?”
He kissed her and thrust forward, filling her up. She moaned against his mouth as she arched up to meet him, letting him slide deep inside her heat. He braced himself above her on one hand, using the other to reach between them and rub her swollen little clit with his thumb. Her head tossed on the pillow, spreading her red hair out in a halo on the pillow. But she sure didn’t fuck like an angel.
“Yes,” she cried. “Oh, harder, Eli, harder!”
Eli was happy to oblige her. He wrapped one arm around her waist and rolled over onto his back, settling her on top. He wanted to watch her ride him in that black lace bra with her skirt tucked up around her waist. He wanted to see her as desperate for him as he was for her.
It didn’t take long. Riley leaned back, riding him like she’d been born to do it, teasing her clit with one hand. He reached up and cupped her breasts again, letting the lace scratch his palms, feeling her nipples hard beneath the fabric. She worked her hips, taking him deep and then rolling up so that only the head was inside her.
Eli groaned, watching himself sink into her. She was so wet that his shaft glistened with it each time she moved up. He wasn’t going to make it much longer. Not with visuals like this.
“Come for me, Riley,” he growled. “I want to feel you.”
She bit her lower lip and began to rub herself in earnest, her breasts bouncing as she worked to push herself over the edge. Eli jerked his hips, bouncing her on his shaft and she let her head fall back again.
“Do that again!” she begged, so he gripped her hips and pushed her down as he thrust up.
Riley rubbed harder and Eli tightened his grip on her hips, willing himself not to come. Just when he thought that he couldn’t take more, her pussy tightened around him even more and she screamed to the ceiling.
“Yes, Eli, yes!”
He half sat up, wrapped her in his arms and rolled her underneath him once more. Then he shoved deep and fucked her like he’d been dying to. Her orgasm didn’t wind down, instead it spiraled up once more and he felt her nails rake down his back as she screamed again.
Eli pressed his face into the side of her neck, tasting her sweat in his kisses and groaning when he realized that he couldn’t hold back anymore. When he came, every sense seemed to heighten for a brief moment. The sensation of her body against his, her voice calling his name, her hands on his skin, it was all suspended in one crystal clear moment of pleasure. More pleasure than he’d ever had before in his life.
After it was over, he pulled her against him while he caught his breath. Riley clung to him, pressing her face against his chest. He could feel his back beginning to sting from the scratches and he relished every second of knowing that he’d made her feel just as good as he did.
“Can I sleep here?” Riley asked, her voice low and slightly husky from her screams of pleasure.
Eli ran his fingers through her tangled hair. “I’m sure as hell not awake enough to take you home,” he said. “So you don’t have much of a choice.”
She gave a soft laugh. “You’re so sweet.”
He kissed the top of her head. “I do what I can.”
Chapter 3
Eli wiped the steam off of the mirror so that he could see his reflection again and then slathered shaving cream on his face. He’d only made two passes with the razor when the bathroom door opened and Riley came walking in. She was still completely naked and he took a second to admire the view.
It was just as good as he’d thought it was last night. He’d discovered that there was a lot to be said for sober sex in his years on the wagon.
“Morning,” he said amiably. “I won’t take too long.”
“You’re fine,” Riley said breezily, leaning into the shower and turning on the hot water. A second later, she was behind the shower curtain. “I’m using your soap, by the way.”
“Fine with me,” Eli said, still watching her. Those small, firm breasts were just an outline behind the shower curtain, but it was enough to make him recall how they’d felt in his hands the night before.
It was too damn bad that there wasn’t time to do more than look, but he hated being late. He’d already pushed it by keeping her against him when he’d woken up. But it had been so long since he’d had a woman in his bed when he’d woken up that he hadn’t been able to resist.
“So, if you’re taking orders instead of giving them this morning, I like my eggs sunny side up,” Riley said over the splashing water. “And I wouldn’t mind some bacon on the side. ”
Eli grinned. He was sure as hell going to have to get her number before she took off. It wasn’t just the sex he enjoyed with her. He liked her wicked grin and her sense of humor too.
“Yeah, neither would I. But I gotta get to work and I’m already running late, so the outlook isn’t good.”
She pulled back the curtain and looked out at him. Her hair was soaked and slicked back from her face and soap suds clung to her body, tipping her breasts and running down her smooth stomach.
“Okay fine, but be warned that I’m mentioning this in my Yelp review.”
He laughed and went back to shaving. “I’d rather take my chances with you than with my boss,” he said.
Shane was a stickler about time. Eli knew that he wouldn’t get fired, but he’d get his friend’s day off on the wrong foot and that wasn’t his favorite thing to do. Especially when he wanted nothing more than to get his hands on that Superbird. Today, he vowed, would be the day.
“What do you do?”
“I’m a mechanic. Head mechanic, actually.” He was proud of that and he didn’t see any reason not to mention it. “What about you? What do you do?”
“Nothing at the moment,” she admitted after a second or two. “I don’t guess your boss needs a software developer, does he?”
“Not that I know of. Harris isn’t the most tech friendly place,” Eli said, raising his chin to shave his neck without cutting himself. “We’ve got lots of old fashioned ledgers and handwritten receipts laying around.”
“Harris? You work at Harris Garage?” she repeated, sounding more interested now. She actually sounded a little surprised. “I guess you know my brother then.”
Eli could have sworn that he felt his heart stop, but he took a deep breath and told himself not to jump to conclusions. There were a few other guys that worked there. There was no reason why she shouldn’t be related to one of them
“Yeah?” he asked, keeping his tone casual. “Who’s your brother?”
“Shane Harris. He owns t
he place.”
Eli cut himself with the last pass of the razor. He swore inventively and grabbed a towel, wiping his face as he yanked the shower curtain back with a quick movement. Riley squealed, ducking back under the hot water.
“It’s cold out there!” she protested.
“Did you say that Shane’s your brother?” he demanded. “Are you serious?”
“Of course I’m serious,” Riley said, reaching out and yanking the curtain back into place. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Because he’s my best friend, that’s why!” Eli pushed his hands through his hair, which was still damp from his own shower. Good God, why the hell couldn’t she have said something last night? Why hadn’t he thought to ask her what her last name was? Even he usually got that information before he took a woman to bed.
“So?” she asked. “I don’t really get why this is such a big deal, Eli.”
“So I just fucked his sister! How do you not think that this is a big deal?” Eli tugged the curtain to the side once more and looked at her seriously. “Don’t mention this to your brother, okay? Please.”
Riley raised an eyebrow and looked at him as though he was something she’d found on the bottom of her shoe. “Don’t flatter yourself, Eli. You were just a one night stand anyway.”
****
Eli went into work and got straight under the hood of the nearest car. It wasn’t the Superbird. With the tension he was carrying now, he didn’t want to risk messing it up.
Riley had gotten dressed and called a cab without speaking to Eli again. He’d stood on the porch with her to make sure that the cab didn’t ditch her, but for all the attention she paid him he might as well have been across the country. She stared down at her phone the whole time, surfing Facebook and Instagram. She hadn’t even returned his goodbye.
It was bugging him more than he wanted to admit. The only thing that worried him more was how in the hell he could manage to avoid Shane today. It was a small shop, but he needed to figure something out. His friend would see the guilt written all over his face, he was sure of it.
Eli had thought that his luck had turned around in the past few years. Now it felt like it had only been lying in wait to screw him over in the worst way possible. He’d had a one night stand with his best friend’s sister, for God’s sake. Everything he had, he owed to Shane Harris. And then he’d done this. Shane would never forgive him.
“Eli, can you come here for a minute?”
Eli’s breath caught in his chest. Shane didn’t sound happy. He stood up and took a deep breath, rubbing his hands down his jeans to dry the sudden sweat. He’d be honest and he’d take what came of it. It was no one’s fault but his own.
“Ye-” he cleared his throat and tried again. “Yeah?”
“Remember I told you that my sister’s flight was getting in last night?” Shane asked, his face drawn.
“Yeah, yeah, you uh...you said she was coming in.” God, what was he doing? Wasn’t this the moment to admit what had happened?
“She didn’t come home.”
“What?”
“She never came home. I know that the flight got in, because I called and checked. But Riley never showed up. I called her a few times and she didn’t answer.”
He’d heard her phone ring a few times while they’d been tangled up in each other. Eli rubbed the back of his neck, trying to get the image out of his mind.
And hell, he’d figured that she’d at least stopped off at home first. Apparently she’d gone straight to the bar. And then straight to his bed.
“I don’t know what to do,” Shane admitted. “I mean, she’s an adult. I don’t want to check in on her or anything...but this is just weird. She’s always been so responsible. This isn’t like her at all. Just to leave me hanging like this.”
“I don’t think it could hurt to call,” Eli said, chickening out spectacularly. There was no way that he could get the words out of his mouth. There was no way that he could tell his best friend that the reason his sister hadn’t come home was because she’d been underneath him.
“I mean, let her know that you’re worried. And she might be there by now. Maybe she just took a later flight or something.” He’d never hated himself more than in that moment.
“Maybe,” Shane said with a distracted nod. “All right, I’m gonna be in the office.”
As Eli went back to working on the car, he heard Shane’s voice raise. It sounded like he and Riley were having a fight. Maybe there was some harm in calling after all. He listened carefully, wondering if Riley was telling Shane where she’d been. He felt sick with relief when Shane came back out and grabbed a wrench.
“She won’t say where she was, but she’s home now,” he said. “Go find something else to do, I’ve got this.”
Eli took the suggestion.
Chapter 4
Nearly a week had passed and Eli hadn’t had any indication that Shane knew what had happened between him and Riley. He felt like a complete pussy for being so relieved, but he was. That didn’t mean that he didn’t miss her.
Eli found himself thinking of her more and more as the days passed. He wondered how she was settling in at Shane’s house. He wondered if she’d managed to find a job. He wondered if she thought about him at night the way he thought about her.
He wished that he could ask Shane about her, but there was no way he could. Not without raising questions he really didn’t want to answer. And Shane seemed incredibly stressed lately. He hadn’t even touched the Superbird and he spent a lot of time alone in the office.
He claimed to be catching up on paperwork, but Eli didn’t believe it. For one thing, Shane hated paperwork. For another, Eli hadn’t been able to lay his hands on an invoice for the past four days without digging through the teetering mountain on Shane’s desk. Maybe he should offer to take him out for a drink, get him out of his own head.
Eli was pulling his phone out of his pocket when it rang. He didn’t recognize the number and he answered it absently, still thinking of how he’d drag Shane out of the garage that night. It was probably a bill collector.
“Hello?”
“Hey there, handsome.”
A sultry voice came down the line. He frowned for a second and then his heart thumped as he suddenly recognized the woman on the other end of the line.
“Riley?”
“Oh, good job. You got it right in one try,” she said, a giggle making it slightly harder for him to understand her. “I must have been memorable.”
“You’re memorable,” Eli allowed. “You’re also drunk.”
“Ding ding ding!” She laughed. “You are on fire tonight, Eli!”
“It’s a good thing one of us is,” he said. “What can I do for you, Riley?”
“I’m so glad you asked,” she purred. “You can come pick me up.”
“What?” He could hardly hear her over the noise around her and her voice had been low. Surely she hadn’t said what he’d thought. He’d been wanting her to call him and say that almost since she’d left him that morning a week ago.
“Come pick me up,” she repeated over the loud music that threatened to drown out her voice.
Eli sighed. Just because she was what he wanted, that didn’t mean that she was what he could have. “Listen, why don’t you give your brother a call, Riley?”
“Because my brother isn’t a muscular biker dude,” Riley said as if it should be obvious. “He wouldn’t fit in here.”
“Yeah? And where are you, exactly?”
“Lion’s Den.”
Eli held back a groan. “Are you serious?”
He knew exactly where it was, but he’d never been in because it set off every warning bell in his brain. He’d been in too many places like it back home in North Carolina and he didn’t want to go in now. The trouble was, he didn’t want her there either. He’d never felt protective of a woman before.
“Yeah,” Riley said, her voice sounding just a bit shaky now. “I’m not having a good time
anymore and I want to go home.”
He rubbed his forehead. There was no way in hell that he could tell her no. Not when she sounded like that. Not when all he wanted was to make sure that she was safe.
“Okay,” he said roughly. “I’ll come and get you. But you’ve got to meet me outside, okay?”
He didn’t want to go in. It would be too much like walking backwards into a past he’d much rather forget.
“Yes sir,” she said briskly. “I’ll see you soon.”
When Eli pulled up outside the bar nearly half an hour later, and parked his motorcycle as close to the entrance as possible, he was ticked off to discover that she was nowhere in sight. He waited a few minutes, watching as the crowd ebbed and flowed, but she didn’t appear. Where the hell was she?