The Deal

by Becca Steele

  “Ready so soon?” Avery licked her lips, staring at my growing erection.

  “That’s what you do to me. I’ve been walking around with an almost constant hard-on ever since I saw you in that red dress.” I crawled over her, bending down to kiss her throat. She shuddered, moaning.

  “One second.” I moved to the edge of the bed and fumbled for my wallet, which I’d left on my bedside table. I pulled out a condom, impatiently ripping open the packet and rolling it on.

  Moving back over her body I slid my cock slowly against her wetness, making her moan again. I felt her kick off her heels, and she stared up at me, the lust in her eyes overshadowed by apprehension.

  “Not too fast,” she whispered, biting her lip. “You’re big, and I haven’t been with anyone for a while.”

  “I’ll never hurt you, Avery.” Our lips met, and I slid my hand down between us, touching her until she was panting beneath me.

  “Inside” was all she managed to say before she was gripping my ass and I was easing myself into her tight wet heat. I went as slow as I could, letting her adjust to my size, until I was all the way in, and she hooked her legs around me, pulling my face back down to hers, sliding her fingers through my hair.

  “Okay?” I spoke against her lips, and she nodded.

  “More than okay.”

  After that, there was no more talking.

  I awoke with Avery wrapped in my arms, still fast asleep, her naked body severely testing my “one night only” promise. When was the last time I’d slept all night with a woman? It had been a long time, that was for sure. She felt so good wrapped in my arms that I had to remind myself why this was a bad idea. I gathered every shred of self-restraint that I possessed and gently slid my arm out from under her and slipped out of the bed.

  In the shower, away from the temptation of her body, I managed to compose myself. We’d crossed a line, but I was confident that things could return to normal now our one-night deal was over. Last night had been…intense. Unbelievable.

  Fuck.

  My cock hardened as I remembered the feel of being buried inside Avery. Gripping it, I gave it a tug, precum already beading on the tip, as thoughts of Avery consumed my mind.

  Stop. What was I doing? I needed to get Avery out of my head, and fast.

  I turned the shower onto cold and jumped as the icy blast hit me straight in the chest.

  That did the trick. Shivering, I stepped out of the shower.

  As I walked out of the bathroom, fully dressed, I almost walked straight into Avery.

  “Whoops,” she laughed, as I steadied her, gripping her shoulders. She was covered in one of the huge hotel robes, thank goodness. Our eyes met, hers half-lidded and sleepy, and she reached up to press a light kiss on my jaw.

  I shuddered.

  “Avery. No.” I kept my voice as gentle as I could, knowing that I was liable to put my foot in it if I made one wrong move. “We had our night together. As much as I enjoyed it, we need to keep the displays of affection for when we have witnesses. Let’s save it for the brunch, okay? We don’t want to confuse things between us any further.”

  “Enjoyed it? Enjoyed it?” Her voice rose, and she took a step back from me, then another. Her eyes darkened, anger and hurt replacing the softness that had been there moments before. “I had probably the best night of sex I’ve ever had in my life—scratch that—definitely the best night of sex, and you only ‘enjoyed’ it?”

  She sunk down onto the chair behind her, putting her head in her hands.

  “Avery.” I crossed over to her and sank down into a crouch, laying a tentative hand on her arm. “Listen to me, please.”

  “What?” Her soft, muffled voice came from behind her hands.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to play down what happened last night. I just…” I blew out a heavy breath, scrubbing my hand across my face. “I didn’t want to lead you on. We had a deal that it would be one night only.” Lowering my hand from my face, I placed it on her thigh, the soft fabric of the hotel robe a welcome barrier between her skin and my hand. “I’ll be honest with you and say that what happened was far beyond enjoyable. It was extraordinary.”

  “Extraordinary?” She gave a small laugh, lowering her hands and peeking up at me from beneath her lashes. “Interesting choice of word, but I’ll take that over enjoyable, any day.” She shifted in the chair, her robe gaping open slightly, and my helpless gaze was drawn to the curve of her breast. Memories of the previous night assaulted me—teasing her nipples, caressing her breasts, taking them into my mouth…

  I groaned.

  She leaned forwards, pulling my head towards hers, and our lips met, hers so soft against mine. I deepened the kiss, sliding my hands into her hair, and she responded by pulling my head even closer, letting out a soft moan that made me want to untie her robe and bury myself inside her.

  The sudden, shrill sound of the hotel phone had us jumping apart, Avery screeching in shock, then scrambling to pick up the phone while I collapsed back onto the floor, trying to get my head together.

  The wake-up call. Right. Checkout and brunch.

  What was this woman doing to me? Ordinarily I wouldn’t even need a wake-up call—I’d booked one with the front desk as a precaution, but I was never late. I glanced around me, at the clothes strewn all over the floor, wincing as I noticed that some of those were my own. Shaking my head, I rose to my feet. Time to focus.

  “We have—” I looked at my watch. “—thirty minutes to get everything packed, and get downstairs to the brunch. We need to check out at the same time, so when I say we have thirty minutes to get everything packed, I mean everything.” My words came out more harshly than I’d intended, and Avery’s face fell.

  “I’ll be ready,” she said quietly. She rushed into the bathroom, and I heard the shower go on. Sighing, I began to gather my things. That call had come at the right time—what was I thinking, kissing Avery after I’d explicitly told her we needed to keep our displays of affection for a time when we had witnesses? As she exited the bathroom, I called to her before she could head into her room.

  “I’m sorry. That kiss shouldn’t have happened. I got carried away, but I can assure you it won’t happen again.”

  She stared at me blankly, then simply nodded. She started walking into her room, deceptively calm, then stopped dead just inside the doorway, her back to me. I flinched as she threw out her hand and slammed the door violently behind her, leaving it rattling on its hinges.

  Avery was quiet, subdued, at the brunch. She picked at her food and only spoke when someone directly asked her a question. As we got up to leave, Victoria stood, rounding the table to us, and spoke to Avery, her tone low.

  “Mind if I borrow my brother for a moment?”

  Avery gave her a small smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Of course. I’ll go and wait in the lobby.”

  Victoria touched her arm before she could walk away. “It was lovely to meet you, Avery. I hope we see more of each other in the future.”

  Avery bit her lip, lowering her gaze. “It was lovely to meet you, too,” she said softly. Victoria gave her a quick hug, and we both watched as Avery practically ran out of the room.

  Victoria turned to me with a frown. She indicated her head towards the hallway, and I followed her out.

  “Okay, what have you done?”

  “What do you mean, what have I done?”

  She tapped her foot impatiently, her hands on her hips. “Ethan, it’s obvious that you’ve done something to upset Avery. I’m here to talk some sense into you, because I know how obtuse you can be, and I don’t want you to ruin things between the two of you. I can tell how much you care for her, and her for you.”

  I stared at her incredulously. “Let’s get one thing straight. There is nothing between me and Avery. We’re friends. I invited her here as my date and asked her to pretend to be my girlfriend for the weekend to get Mother off my back. And Clarissa, for that matter. We would never date in reality—
we’re far too different.”

  Victoria rolled her eyes and huffed. “While I can’t say that your tactic has surprised me, you are in deep denial if you think that there’s nothing between the two of you. The way you look at each other…” She trailed off, shaking her head. “Ethan, you can’t fake that kind of chemistry. There’s a connection between you that you can’t ignore. Your feelings are written all over your faces.”

  “That’s completely untrue.” I folded my arms across my chest, annoyance creeping into my tone.

  “Why must you be such an idiot?” Victoria muttered. “I’m not arguing with you about it anymore, but you need to fix whatever you did wrong and make Avery your girlfriend for real. Okay?”

  I looked at my sister, her dark eyes huge and serious. “Come here.” I pulled her into my arms. “I love you. Come and visit me in London soon. Bring Ralph, if you must,” I added reluctantly.

  “I love you, too,” she mumbled. As she stepped away from me and began walking away, she threw over her shoulder, “Just think about what I said.”

  I sighed heavily. “I’m leaving now. Bye, V.”

  As I reached the lobby, I saw Avery standing in the open doorway, her hair blowing slightly in the breeze, her yellow dress hugging her curves. There was no denying her beauty, but unfortunately looks didn’t matter when we were so different, and most importantly, my work came first. I knew Avery, and she was not the type of woman that would be happy with snatched moments here and there. She’d want, and deserve, way more time than I could ever give her, even if we weren’t such opposites in our personalities. No, it was far better this way. Soon we’d be back in London, living our own lives, only crossing paths in the office, and this weekend would seem like a distant dream.

  11

  Avery

  How did things become so awkward? It was now Friday, and since our silent car journey back to London, and the past week in the office, Ethan had been acting distant, barely speaking to me unless he absolutely had to. Lost in thought, my mind returned to the morning after the best night of my life.

  I took a tiny bite of my croissant, my appetite non-existent. Ethan’s words rang in my ears. “That kiss shouldn’t have happened… It won’t happen again.” That resolute look on his face…he’d meant everything he’d said.

  I looked up and noticed Victoria watching me with concern, so I made an effort to smile, pouring tea from my individual pot into my tiny china cup, which balanced on a matching saucer. As I added milk, Ethan leaned over to me.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “Nothing.”

  He frowned, then shrugged, deciding to take me at my word, turning to engage an older lady in conversation. As we got up to leave, Victoria took him aside, and I decided to go and wait in the lobby. I passed Derek, who was wheeling a suitcase towards the large front doors.

  “Avery, hi.”

  I joined him in the doorway, enjoying the feel of the light breeze on my skin. “Hi. How did things go with Clarissa?”

  He tapped his chin, contemplating. “Well, let’s just say that I was there to console her after Ethan’s rejection, but she has no plans for anything to happen beyond this weekend.” His focus switched to me. “Why the downcast face? Did Ethan do something wrong?”

  How could I explain? “Not ‘wrong,’ exactly. More like giving me mixed signals, and I’m kind of confused about everything at the moment.”

  “Well, for what it’s worth, the two of you seem to have great chemistry. Give him time. I’m sure you can sort things out.”

  “Thanks, Derek.”

  He glanced at his watch before smiling at me. “You are most welcome. I must get going—I have a long drive ahead of me, but I’m glad you caught me before I left. Maybe we’ll meet again in the future.”

  We gave each other a brief hug, and he was gone, tooting the horn of his vintage car as he pulled away from the manor, gravel flying up in his wake.

  I felt Ethan’s presence behind me but made no move to turn and greet him.

  “Are you ready to go?”

  I nodded and trailed him to his car, where he’d already stowed our bags. It seemed he wasn’t in the mood for conversation, either, selecting a music playlist as soon as he’d turned on the engine and setting the volume at a level that made conversation difficult. That was fine by me. I pulled my phone out of my bag and passed the time reading the latest West End and Broadway news and rumours, until the battery on my phone was completely dead and we were almost home.

  I’d driven myself crazy analysing the weekend, and I’d come to the conclusion that the feelings were mostly one-sided. It was obvious he’d been attracted to me, but it was clear that he had no interest in pursuing it beyond that one night. To be fair, he had reiterated that to me, after our kiss that he apparently regretted, the morning after. The way I saw it, he’d been caught up in the moment with the whole wedding atmosphere, and once that was over, reality had invaded, and he’d returned to viewing me the same way he always had. As a colleague and friend. Nothing more.

  Still, true to his word, a shiny new coffee machine had appeared in the office kitchen on Monday morning, so at least something had come out of the weekend. Despite the new machine, I still couldn’t seem to shake the habit of getting him a coffee on my way into work, but he’d been conspicuously absent from his desk each time I’d brought his coffee over. Today was no exception.

  I sighed loudly as I placed a full mug on my colleague Luke’s desk.

  “You okay, Aves?” Luke glanced up from his computer screen, his green eyes meeting mine.

  “I’m fine, just man trouble,” I muttered. I’d never, ever give him the details—there was the tiny matter of him being Ethan’s best friend. Not that he would want to hear the details, regardless.

  “My advice is to stay single. No chance of getting hurt, that way.”

  “Thanks for that. Great advice.” I rolled my eyes, and he grinned at me.

  “Hey, cheer up. Whatever it is, I’m sure it’ll work out.”

  “Thanks. Any plans for the weekend?” I changed the subject, needing to take my mind off Ethan.

  “Nothing much. I’m off to the nursing home after work to see Martha—they’ve got some dinner thing for the residents, and she’s asked me to come as her date.” He shook his head, a fond smile on his face. “Saturday, I’m heading to the rugby with Ethan to watch Alex. Nothing else planned apart from that. You?”

  Great. He mentioned Ethan. So much for taking my mind off him. “Nothing much, either. Anyway, I’d better get on with some work.”

  “Me too.” He turned back to his computer, and I wandered over to my desk, opposite his, slumping in my seat and taking a sip of my coffee.

  “Morning,” my colleague Eddie greeted me cheerily as he headed to the water cooler to fill up his bottle. He peered closely at me when I gave him a half-hearted smile. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing, really. Just feeling a bit down, I suppose.”

  “I’m going to the pub after work with George; do you want to join us? Maybe a drink with two handsome men will improve your mood.”

  “Thanks, that sounds great.” This time my smile was genuine.

  “Brilliant.” He smiled back. “It’s a date.”

  As I sipped my gin and tonic, I chatted with Eddie and his boyfriend, George, about everyday, mundane topics, feeling my mood lifting. We were in the middle of discussing our favourite West End musicals when my phone lit up with a message. A name appeared on the screen.

  Ethan.

  Flushing, I made a grab for my phone, but Eddie and George had both seen it.

  “Why is our boss sending you messages?” Eddie eyed me with curiosity.

  “Um. It’s probably to do with the project I had to work on with him last weekend.” As I looked at Eddie, I couldn’t bring myself to lie to his face.

  “Look, I’m going to tell you something because…the sad truth is, I don’t have any close friends to talk to about this, and I trust you no
t to say anything.”

  “Your secret’s safe with me. With both of us,” he assured me, squeezing my arm.

  “Okay. Good. You know the project I just mentioned? Well, it wasn’t exactly a project.” Settling back against the wooden back of the booth, I told them about the deal Ethan had made with me, the weekend where I’d felt like there was something happening between us, and the distance and awkwardness that had replaced our friendship.

  Eddie sat, deep in thought, as I finished speaking. “I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but it sounds to me like he’s interested in you as more than a friend, but he doesn’t want to start anything. You know what he’s like—he’s practically married to his work. He probably can’t see a relationship ever working out.”

  “And you’ve seen the type of women he usually goes on dates with. The complete opposite of me. Honestly, you should have seen his ex-girlfriend, Clarissa.” I shuddered dramatically. “Talk about a condescending bitch. As well as all that, he’s a bit of a neat freak, and I’m not.”

  “Those things aren’t important if you like each other.” Eddie’s voice was firm. “We don’t choose who we fall for. What we do choose is what to do when we fall for someone. Do we take a chance and make room for that person in our lives, or do we shut them out and carry on as we were before?”

  “Well, he made his decision. I’m not saying anything more would have happened between us, and we did agree it was only a one-night deal. What upset me was the way he brushed off what had happened between us as if it was nothing, and the way he’s acted since—basically ignoring me unless he has no choice but to speak to me.” I sighed as I finished the rest of my drink. “Nothing I can do about it, anyway.”