To say my plan backfired was an understatement of epic proportions. I accomplished nothing with my stunt. Not the satisfaction of seeing her reaction to me. Not a bite or lick of her lips was had. Instead, I was the one left with wanting to brush my hands across her creamy flesh and a hard-on that wouldn’t quit.
Goddammit.
Then I further messed things up by pointing out the whole wet see-through shirt thing and making the “it’s going to happen” statement, then asking her about what was beneath her panties. Bermuda, that was what.
What was I thinking?
I wasn’t thinking. Not with the right head anyway.
I mean, yes, I knew I’d have to rise to the occasion when we finally got down and dirty, but I didn’t think seeing her would affect me the way it did. She never had before.
And I was supposed to be the one keeping sex and our friendship separate. I was supposed to focus on a woman’s response to me, not my response to her. And I definitely wasn’t supposed to have the thoughts that were currently going through my mind about my best friend.
Shit.
Fuck.
What now?
Pacing didn’t help me work through my thoughts, and my erection didn’t want to let up. I needed a shower. A cold one. I had to get myself under control, then call his whole thing off. It was wrong to ask Tenley to help me. Our friendship was going to suffer. It possibly already was. All because of me.
I made my way to my bathroom with the full intent of doing nothing but shocking the blood back to the right head. With a twist, I turned on the cold water to full blast, then began to undress. As I pulled down my shorts, I felt something weighted brush against my thigh. I reached inside my pocket to find the tube of lipstick Tenley had thrown at me. I hadn’t even realized I stuffed it in my pocket.
Naked Tenley flashed in my mind first. Then I remembered the way her lips moved when she said, “Romantic.”
I stepped out of my pants, then stepped into the shower. The cool water instantly rushed over my face, causing me to shiver. I bowed my head as it made its way down my body to let it wash the day away. One hand was braced on the wall while the other was still clutching the lipstick. For safekeeping, I put it on the shelf where it taunted me, then reached for my shampoo. With my eyes closed, I scrubbed my hair clean. I repeated the process, this time my body with soap. As I ran the sponge across my pecs, I heard a noise.
My ears perked up at the sound of a soft moan coming from the other side of my shower. The same wall that was shared with Tenley’s.
Holy shit.
To make sure it wasn’t my imagination, I waited. It wasn’t, though. It was like I’d developed super hearing. I could hear the water pounding on the tile.
Then the moans came again. Why hadn’t I ever heard anything before? I’d been in this shower every day for the past three years. And was Tenley always this vocal? Or was she still paying me back for my wet shirt comment?
Fuck.
It didn’t matter. I was picturing things happening in the shower next door, and I couldn’t take it any longer. My dick, which never fully deflated, grew impossibly hard at the thought of her touching herself. The cold shower didn’t do anything. And since I had no desire to catch pneumonia, I turned the knob to warm. The hot water heated my blood, and the thought of what I was about to do made it boil. The only thing that would fix my situation would be a little hand-to-fist action.
I closed my eyes, then gripped myself impossibly tight. I was hard to the point of painful. The second I heard another moan, I stroked up.
I’m going to hell.
If I was going to hell, I was going to feel good before I went. As I started moving my hand up and down my shaft, I visualized Tenley. Tenley without a shirt on. What I imagined her body would look like completely naked… in front of me. I fantasized about what it would feel like the first time I sank into her.
Heaven.
That thought made me grip myself tighter. Stroke myself faster.
But I forced myself to slow down so my hard breathing didn’t cover her sounds. I needed to hear if she was still in the shower, so I listened intently. I heard the water running but nothing else.
I was about to give up and finish what I started when I heard my name. At least, I thought I did.
It was possible my mind was playing tricks on me. Maybe I was so lost in the fantasy that I was making it all up.
My hand gripped around the tip of my dick, and I squeezed as I waited to hear if she’d say it again. And holy shit, she did.
I pictured her lips saying my name as I rocked into her. And I couldn’t stop. Holding my hand still, I couldn’t keep my hips from mimicking the movements I would make if I were in her.
Her moans came faster.
My hand was working faster than that.
I closed my eyes to focus on every sound and moan and purr coming from the other side of my wall. Maybe I was making them up too, but I didn’t fucking care.
My breathing was rapid. And I was sure I was grunting. Loudly. I wanted Tenley to hear me too, which was strange. I’d never been vocal in bed. Probably because my last partner told me it made it hard for her to concentrate if I made a peep.
Don’t go there, Preston. Think about Tenley.
My hand slapped the wall to brace myself for the impact of what was about to come.
I heard the wall bang on the other side. And I imagined our hands touching the same spot. The thwacking sound was followed by the longest moan in history.
Was she coming?
When I opened my eyes, the lipstick that was painted on Tenley was right there.
I envisioned her, satisfied from her orgasm, lowering down and opening her mouth to me. My balls drew tighter to my body.
I jerked myself one last time to the vision of her lips, nipples, and pussy all in that shade sitting on my shampoo shelf. Then I came. I came with an animalistic sound that was half growl, half Tenley’s name. There was no doubt in my mind she heard it, but I didn’t fucking care because it felt so good.
While I slowly stroked out the last of my orgasm, reality sunk in. I just yanked myself to the thought of Tenley. The girl I shared a textbook with on her first day of school because the only empty desk was next to mine. And when she saw I was hiding a comic book inside, she didn’t tattle. Instead, at recess, she asked me about the characters in the story.
And it wasn’t that I was ashamed of what I did. What scared me more was that I was looking forward to doing it again. And for real.
This plan of mine—that I decided I didn’t want to end anymore—was either going bring us closer together or tear us apart. I was hoping it would be the former.
11
Preston
Show her your playful side.
I HIGH-FIVED TENLEY after I spiked the volleyball on the other side of the net. In victory, we did our old-school handshake from elementary school. So what if we borrowed the idea from Turk and Elliot from Scrubs, it was sick. Back then, we thought we were badasses on the volleyball court. Hell, we still were.
We were at a friend’s beach house for a weekend in search of good times, good friends, and even better drinks. It was something we did whenever Keaton’s, our high school friend, parents’ rental house was free, which wasn’t often.
It was also the perfect way to break the ice after the whole shower scene from yesterday. As soon as I read the message from Keaton, I texted Tenley the same time she texted me. Beach house free tomorrow, you down?
She had an early morning yoga class and told me she would meet me there. It took all of five minutes after she arrived and this volleyball game to let me know everything was all good between us.
“Prepare to eat sand,” Tenley yelled at Keaton and Isaac just before she served the ball.
A sliver of skin under the pink tank top she wore over her bathing suit was exposed when she jumped with her hand raised to hit the ball. I’d seen Tenley in a bathing suit before, but apparently, I had been blind all these years. Seeing my best
friend topless made me see her in a whole new light. And that light was hot as hell.
The sound of Keaton’s loud voice pulled me out of my daydream. “I got it.”
I rushed the net, knowing I would be setting up for Tenley’s and my victory. The ball came at me in the perfect position. I tapped the ball with my fingertips to let her take the next hit. In perfect form, Tenley spiked the ball, causing both Keaton and Isaac to fall face first in the sand as they both attempted to recover it. They didn’t stand a chance. Tenley and I remained undefeated.
She did her cute little victory dance as the guys brushed away the sand from their bodies.
It was early in the afternoon. After a hard game, we decided to grill some burgers and kick back.
“Want a beer?” I asked Tenley as we moved our chairs under the tent. The sun was rising, and the temperature was heading into the nineties.
“Sure.”
I reached into the cooler to grab two of those cider beers I was growing to like. Keaton stood by the grill flipping burgers. He paused mid flip, and under his breath, I heard him whisper, “Damn.”
I turned to look, assuming he was talking about some beach bunny who would no doubt be in his bed later. All the man had to do was blink and they came running. It didn’t hurt that he had the whole “I’m a doctor” thing going on. Keaton Valentine had game.
But when I saw who he was eyeing, he almost earned himself a black eye. He was licking his lips as he watched a bent over Tenley. She was putting her shirt in the bag she brought with her towels and lotion. The ruffled skirt of her flowery bikini should have been innocent, but it had flipped up, giving us a view of her plump cheeks. I knew what Keaton was thinking because I was thinking the same thing. Sexy schoolgirl meets Tenley Ray. Her ass was round and full, perfect for holding onto when I took her against the wall.
Fuck.
It didn’t help my current situation growing in my shorts when she stood and turned around. I followed the hourglass shape of her hips up to her stomach. It had a slight softness to it that screamed woman.
Tenley wasn’t a skinny chick, thank God. No, she was lush and curvaceous and just so damn beautiful, and I wondered what she would feel like against my hands. Against my everything. As she stretched her hands above her head, probably to work the kinks out from the game, my eyes moved up more. The motion squeezed together her tits I dreamed about all night, forming the most unbelievable cleavage. I won’t even say what I thought about when I saw it.
“When did Tenley get so fucking hot?” Keaton asked.
I faced my friend, and Isaac decided it was his turn to gawk. “Dude, I’d tap her.”
“Watch your mouth,” I warned.
“No offense to your best friend, but how have you not hit that yet?”
“You know the rules. Tenley’s off-limits.” Back in high school, I made them promise to keep their dirty paws off her. I didn’t want to beat the crap out of my friends for taking advantage of my girl.
They raised their hands in defeat but weren’t quite finished.
“There were no rules about looking, right?” Keaton asked.
Although I couldn’t stop him, I could find a way to stop it from happening. “Sure, if you don’t mind my fist blocking your vision.”
Thankfully, a bleach blonde showed up with her equally blonde friend to distract my asshole friends from Tenley.
The thirty steps to my chair gave me enough for me to cool down from the conversation. Tenley was rubbing lotion over her skin, and my body tensed up in a completely different way.
Down boy, not yet. I reminded my dick to behave. Tonight, he wouldn’t be getting any relief since I was sharing my usual room with Isaac.
I placed the beer in the cup holder of the chair. I was about to sit when Tenley asked me, “Can you get my back?”
She turned, holding the sunblock over her shoulder while I ran a cooled hand over my face. Someone was testing my willpower. She shook the bottle to get my attention again. I grabbed it, and after I squeezed some in my hand, I touched her warm skin. She shuddered. “Your hands are cold.”
“Sorry, it’s from the beer,” I apologized.
She bent her head down as I covered her shoulders. I moved lower until I hit the strap of her top, which was in the way. She reached her hands behind her, and with a snap, she expertly undid the hooks.
My dick perked up. If I was being tested, I failed the first part… don’t get excited in your shorts when putting sunblock on your best friend.
“My skin burns easily this time of the year, so I want to make sure I’m covered.”
Her skin was naturally a golden brown, but it didn’t stop me from envisioning a pink glow across it when she orgasmed.
No, no, no. Not yet. Foreplay. Lots of foreplay.
“Don’t worry. I got you,” I whispered to Tenley. This time, she didn’t shake from my cold hands.
I reached for more sunblock to get the rest of her back. My hands traveled until they hit the top of her bikini bottom. I dipped the tips of my fingers below the elastic. “Just a little bit more,” I told her.
Tenley’s breathing picked up as I covered my hands in more lotion. Then when I continued to knead her soft skin, she stopped breathing altogether. When I finished, I closed the hook on her bathing suit once again. But before she stepped away, I wrapped my arms in front of her and placed my sunscreen-covered hand over her stomach. I didn’t know what I was thinking except I needed to get the truth off my chest. “Your bathing suit is driving me fucking crazy. I need to go for a swim to cover what you’re doing to me.”
I stepped away, then bent to grab my boogie board. I needed something to cover my obvious hard-on. If it was just Tenley and me here, I wouldn’t give a shit. But somewhere during the whole sunscreen scene, the party grew to about fifteen.
Running into the water, I hit the wave with my board. The Gulf was still cool for early spring, but even so, it took a good thirty minutes for me to calm down. By the time I came back, my beer was gone. Tenley handed me a new one. “I drank it. I didn’t want it to get warm and waste it.”
She didn’t mention what had just happened, and for that, I was both grateful and disappointed. Maybe I imagined her response to me. Hell, maybe I dreamed last night in my head. Maybe we were the same Tenley and Preston we always were. Except we weren’t, or at least, I wasn’t. And I didn’t want to go back. At that moment, I couldn’t think about it. It wasn’t the time or the place for me to discuss moving to the next step with her. I didn’t want to spend the entire night in the ocean thinking about it either. Tomorrow would be a different story. So I dropped it. For now.
“How many have you had?” I asked her.
She held up two fingers. “And some shot Isaac made.”
I looked at Isaac, who was giving me a knowing smile while he mouthed, “You’re welcome.” He made some lewd gesture with his fingers and tongue.
My response was to flip him off. “I guess I have to catch up.”
“I’ll be right back,” Tenley said before heading off toward Isaac and his makeshift bar, which was his surfboard perched on top of two chairs.
After I drained my first drink, she came back with two burgers on a plate in one hand. In the other, she was balancing three shots.
For the rest of the day and into the night, we swam, talked around the bonfire, and played drinking games… cups, quarters, beer pong. There was no way either Tenley or I would be driving home. Keaton gave her one of the spare rooms. And once I made sure she was in there for the night, I headed to mine on the opposite side of the house. When I turned the knob, it was locked.
“Go away, dude,” Isaac grunted. “I’m busy.”
“Open up.” I banged on the door. Exhausted and halfway drunk, I wasn’t in the mood.
The door opened to a fully naked Isaac. I covered my eyes while yelling, “What the fuck?”
“I told you I was busy. Go share Tenley’s room.”
He slammed the door in my face. Ev
ery other room was occupied along with the couch in the living room. With no other choice, I made my way with my bag in hand to the room Tenley was staying in and knocked.
“Tenley, it’s me.”
I was ready for a shower, then bed until she opened the door still dressed in her bathing suit.
“Ummm. Isaac took over the room. Do you mind if I crash on the floor?”
She didn’t say a word, just opened the door wider to let me in.
“Did you want to change first?” I asked because I needed her out of that bikini—not out of it but dressed in something like flannel long-sleeved, long panted pajamas.
Her skin blushed. “I kind of didn’t bring another shirt to change into. The tank top I wore is covered in sand.”
Shit.
She continued. “I was going to ask Keaton for a T-shirt when you showed up.”
Like hell, she was going to wear his clothes. I opened my bag and handed her my favorite comicbook T-shirt, the one she hadn’t claimed. “Here.”
“Thanks. I’ll just change quick. Then the bathroom’s all yours.”
I busied myself with setting up some pillows and a blanket on the floor while trying to ignore the sound of the shower in the bathroom. The door opened, and my jaw hit the floor. Tenley stood wet-haired and braless with my shirt stretched across her skin and her white cotton panties riding low on her hips. She tugged the fabric away from her body. “It’s a little tight.”
It was goddamn perfect was what it was. “I disagree.”
Tenley sat on the edge of the bed. Nervously, she started rubbing her hands on her knees and looking pale.
I kneeled in front of her and pushed her hair away from her face. All the other things were forgotten. I was worried about her. So it was time for me to stop lusting after Tenley and take care of my best friend. “Are you okay?”
She shook her head.
“Are you sick?”
“No. I was just thinking.”
I didn’t care what she was thinking about, only that she was fine.
“I was thinking maybe we could do this like a Band-Aid.”
All the Right Moves Page 7