by CJ Azevedo
I find it comical that he has always corrected her on her language when she slips, which is extremely rare, but to hear him correcting her for using the word “eff” is hilarious. I really want to know where this protective side came from, but I also really need to talk to Ava, so I don’t have time for Greyden’s sudden change of attitude.
“Oh my gosh!! I didn’t even say the real word! Go back to your slut over there and let me get a drink!” Macie stomps past me in her pointy shoes and Greyden rubs his head in frustration before shaking it at me and following her.
I walk up behind Ava and wrap my hands around her tiny waist while pressing my back against her warm naked one.
“It’s not my dress, Dec,” she says right off the bat, holding up a hand. “Well, actually, that’s not true. Macie gave it to me to wear because after I saw what she was wearing, I was going to look like a forty-year-old virgin in comparison.”
I nuzzle her neck and speak softly near her ear. “I know this is Macie’s doing, but you also knew it was going to piss me off if you came here looking like this.” I rub my hands down the length of her body, watching as the waitress brings her a pink drink and me another beer.
“Well, now I’m mad too. You couldn’t just say ‘Hey, Sunshine! You look hot!’? Nooo, you couldn’t do that because you were probably too busy trying to figure out a way to get me out of here without causing a scene.” Ava spits out that last word, takes a long drink from her glass, and then continues on drinking it until it’s almost gone.
“I thought we decided you weren’t drinking tonight.” There’s a fine line between being protective and being an asshole. I know I’m teetering, I just don’t know which side I’m going to land on.
She spins around and puts one hand on my chest. “I thought I was going to have fun with my boyfriend tonight. Guess we both thought wrong, didn’t we? And YOU decided I wasn’t drinking tonight.”
I have no idea where this side of Ava is coming from, but damn, it’s turning me on. I could argue with her like this all night.
“Macie! Let’s go dance!” She spins back around and starts descending the stairs to the lower level dance floor.
I’m trying to wrap my head around what the hell is happening when Lyle puts his large hand on my shoulder and Macie takes off down the stairs after Ava.
“I’ll go down there and keep an eye on ‘em,” Lyle assures me in with a deep grumble of a laugh. “You finish that beer and get your girl another drink; she’s going to need it with your possessive ass tonight.”
He’s right again, she probably does need it, but I don’t want her drunk again today. I ask the waitress to have their drinks ready when they get back up here and brusquely sit down on the sofa next to Greyden, who seems to be in about the same mood as I am and for once, he’s alone. I glance over at him and when his matching scowl meets mine, he shakes his head with a look of defeat before waving over the waitress for more beers.
Close to an hour later, Lyle appears at the top of the steps, laughing with the girls as he supports them on either arm. The skirts that have been sitting on the arms of the sofa since Grey and I sat down don’t get up. Instead, the one next to Grey slips down so close she’s practically sitting on his lap and the one next to me attempts it before I tell her to get lost. She pouts but listens, thank God. Macie walks over to Sloan and whispers in his ear, her hands wandering a little too freely for my liking. He nods and she leans back in to whisper again. This time he laughs and pulls her into his arms. Lyle escorts a very drunk Ava to me and helps her sit down.
“I’m drinking Pink Panties for you,” she slurs. “Maybe if you know that, you’ll have sex with me tonight.”
Oh shit. Everybody around us roars in laughter, including my own drunk ass sister.
“It has pink lemonade in it, so I thought you’d like to suck on my tongue, you know, since you like lemons so much,” Ava continues, dead serious.
The only ones that aren’t laughing hysterically are Sloan’s groupies; they probably don’t get what’s so funny. Sloan is holding Macie up around the waist while they laugh and watch my sweet drunk girl go on, completely oblivious to the fact that it isn’t just me that’s listening to her right now.
“Ava, shhh.” I try to hold my finger up to her lips but I’m laughing too damn hard and she’s not having any of it. “Seriously, stop drinking that and just shut up, Sunshine.” I can’t help but laugh along with everyone else. She’s too damn cute like this.
“I’m serious, babe, you should taste it. It’s yummy.”
Grinning like an idiot, I play along. “You want me to taste your drink?”
“Her tongue, you dumbass. She wants you taste the tongue that’s going to taste like wet pink panties, Dec,” Sloan announces from a couple feet away.
Macie spins around to wrap her arms around his neck. Sloan’s been drinking for a bit, and normally he would be paying attention to the girl on his arm, not yelling his opinion at me about my conversation. In this case, I’ll take his intrusion since the girl on his arm is my little sister.
“Nope. My tongue. Is it pink?” she asks just before her naturally pink tongue darts out between her glossy lips “Does it look like pink satin panties? I’m pretty sure the waitress told me it would make my tongue look like pink satin panties and you wouldn’t be able to resist sucking on it.”
Oh my God. She is going to hate life in the morning. I can hear the guys giving me all kinds of shit and Macie telling Ava to stop talking, but none of it really matters because Ava is staring at me like we’re alone and she wants me to do some very naughty things to her pink satin panties tongue. I think it’s time to go.
I turn to tell Grey, but he apparently reads minds because he nods once and stands up to get Macie away from Sloan’s wandering hands. Sunshine has moved in on me, kissing my exposed neck and doing things with her hands that are illegal in public in some countries.
“Let’s go, Sunshine, time to get back to the room,” I tell her as I pull her up and into my arms.
Ava gasps and her eyes go wide. “Are we going to have sex? Please say yes! I swear if you don’t have sex with me tonight, Declan, I’m going to… Well, I’m too drunk to know what I’m going to do right now, but I know you won’t like it!”
Of course everyone is listening to her and the laughing continues. I want to crawl under a rock. That stopped me from laughing along with everyone. Not only does everyone know we haven’t had sex yet, she’s hounding me about it in public!
“Just sleep with the girl already, Boss; you’re driving her crazy,” Lyle booms from behind me, laughing along with everyone else.
I hold on to Ava with one arm and shake Lyle’s hand with the other, slipping him a large tip. “Good lookin’ out tonight, bro, I appreciate it.”
Lyle nods and tells me “anytime” as I carefully scoop Ava up into my arms; there’s no way she’s making it down the stairs drunk and in her heels.
I turn to find Sloan standing right behind me, whispering to Macie that he’s getting ready to take off too. He’s not, but I’m sure he’s telling Macie that to help us get her out of here. Greyden is furious, barely able to control himself, and I’m not sure if it’s because she’s being so flirty with Sloan and we know how Sloan likes his girls—naked—or if there’s some other shit going on there that I’m going to have to take care of. I sure as hell hope not; that’s not something I want to deal with.
“Mace, I’ll catch up with you again soon, okay?” Sloan says with a smile and wink. “It was good to see you again. Here, let Greyden help you down those stairs, beautiful girl, they’ll get you in those death traps you call heels.” Thank you, Sloan. Crisis averted. Drunken Macie goes willingly into Greyden’s arms.
We navigate our way through the club, making it outside into the throngs of drunken pedestrians with relative ease. Ava is cuddled up into my neck and Macie is completely passed out. Greyden’s having a hard time keeping her head from dropping back over his arm while at the same time try
ing to maintain control on her dress, which keeps hiking up. It takes a few minutes to get back to the hotel; we had to go up an escalator, over a bridge that allowed us to cross over the main strip, and then back down another escalator. Just as we step into the casino part of our hotel Ava mumbles into my chest, “I look like trash, you should put me down.”
“Sunshine, it’s almost three in the morning in Sin City. Anybody that can still see you knows how you’re feeling right now and I guarantee you they’re jealous of you not having to walk in your ridiculous shoes.”
“The shoes are sexy though,” she replies in a sleepy voice.
I laugh along with Greyden who just can’t help himself. “You’re right, they are definitely sexy shoes.”
We make it to the room and I take her to the bathroom. She can halfway stand so I slip her dress off and sit her up on the vanity. She doesn’t speak, she just does what I ask and watches me. I wet a washcloth and wipe the makeup off of her face before I brush her teeth. When that’s all done, I carry her to our bed and tuck her beneath the covers. She still doesn’t say anything but she kisses me gently then rolls to her side and snuggles down into the big comforter.
I brush my teeth and take a real quick shower then crawl into bed next to my very drunk Sunshine. As soon as my head hits the pillow, she drapes herself across my body and I’m starting to rethink this whole “Ava needs to be completely lucid in order to have sex with her” thing. I run my fingers through her hair and push the short, tangled strands off her face.
“Good night, Dec. I Love you.”
My heart just stopped. True statement. Shit, Love? She loves me? Do I love her? I know that seven full days without contact with her is not an option. I know that if I had my way, she and Harper would be a part of my everyday life without exception. I know that she’s a permanent fixture in my life and there will never be another woman who will be able to compare to her in any way and I haven’t even slept with her… Sonuva bitch… I’m in love.
Chapter Fourteen
Ava
Oh. Dear. Lord. I feel like my entire head is going to explode any second now. Everything hurts. Why does everything hurt? I thought hangovers gave you a headache; this is not your ordinary headache. No, this is the mother of all headaches ever born. Even my arms and my legs are killing me and what the heck is that ringing? I cover my head with the pillow and the ringing thankfully subsides. I can hear Declan grumbling somewhere to the right of me.
“Sunshine, you awake?” His raspy voice reaches my ears, the sound actually pleasant to the sensitive little things.
“No,” I manage to push out of my abused throat. I don’t really remember every minute of last night, but I’m thinking Macie and I had a ton of fun being the world’s sexiest dancers and the club’s loudest singers.
I hear him laugh and the mattress dip beneath me as he leans over my face. “It’s Harper,” he whispers. “She said, ‘Decky, put momma on da phone white now!’ She means business this morning, sweetheart. Time to wake up.”
I love my little girl, but I will never forgive her for waking me up today. I take the phone from him and rub the sandpaper from my eyes, then decide to just talk to her with my eyes still closed.
“Good morning, little lady.”
“Momma!” Oh my gosh! Seriously, where did this kid get her voice? It’s extremely high-pitched. I moan in slight pain from my head splitting in two, watching as Declan sits up and laughs before he walks to the living area wearing only his boxer briefs. “Miss Aubwey sleeped all night with me. Her sang twinkol twinkol and her prayed to God too, but her not do it like you do. I miss you, Momma.” What’s worse than the world’s worst hangover? The world’s worst hangover while feeling guilty for thinking I could never forgive my toddler for waking me up.
“I miss you so much lady, but you know what? I’m pretty sure Miss Aubrey is taking you for frozen yogurt after your Little Gym class; that’ll be so much fun, right?”
Frozen yogurt sealed the deal. Harper seemed to forget she missed me and started screeching for Aubrey to get dressed for her class. Aubrey confirmed that everything is going perfectly and promised to call back before bedtime tonight. I got up after hanging up the phone to use the restroom and kill my morning breath. I couldn’t care less that I’m walking around stark naked; I just want to take care of business and lie back down as quickly as possible. When I return to the bed, Dec is already there with a bottle of water with some pain relievers for me. The man is a saint.
I snuggle into him and he doesn’t say anything, he just pulls me closer. I lay there recalling the night before and how much fun we had, or I did, at least. I hope he had a good time too. Some parts of the night are fuzzy and there are few time frames that I’m missing completely. What I do remember, though, is that I told Declan I love him. I do love him, but saying so last night was a complete slip of the drunken tongue. I don’t remember him saying it back, and that’s okay, but I should probably clarify that although I said it because I was drunk, I really do mean it.
“I do, you know,” I say softly into his hard smooth chest.
“What’s that, Sunshine?”
“I do love you. I shouldn’t have said it last night, but it was only a mistake to let it slip out like that, it wasn’t a mistake that I was thinking it.”
I feel him relax and release the tension in his chest and torso. He rolls over so he’s hovering over me, his blue-green eyes just staring into mine. I’m taking this as a good thing but I do admit that I’m a tad bit uncomfortable that he has yet to use his words to acknowledge my drunk or sober declaration of love. The uneasiness of the conversation or lack thereof is easily outdone by his complete sexiness. I was giving him a hard time yesterday that he hasn’t slept with me but it really does bother me. He’s just so freaking hot and I want to experience all of him. I want to experience his bad boy looks while being loved by his soft loving side; he’s the whole package and it’s about time I get full access.
“You do? The kind where you’ll still love me even when I fuck up?” he asks quietly.
It never even dawned on me that he might not know exactly how I feel.
“Yes, just like that, Declan.”
He bows his head and kisses gently at first and then more forcefully. His long, lean, muscular body is now completely covering mine and even though he’s holding himself up, the pressure of his weight against my body feels amazing. He kisses down my jaw to my neck, sending shivers down my spine. He sucks lightly down to my chest and I practically gasp for breath.
He put me into bed wearing nothing last night and that’s still how I am this morning. He’s been in his tight black boxer-briefs all morning, but it’s past time for those babies to come off. I slowly rub the arches of my feet up his legs to the waistband of the offensive underwear. After I slide both my index fingers into the front of the band and slid them over to the indents of his V, where he shivers and takes in a deep breath, I hook my toes into the sides of the waistband and begin to drag them down. Declan stops kissing my heavy, aching breasts and looks at me with wide eyes. My boldness surprised him. Good.
Declan helps me out once I get his briefs down to his feet by kicking them off and losing them in the comforter and sheets. I feel his hot, smooth length make contact with my warm wetness and it makes the flames inside me burn brighter than ever before. My hips jolt upwards, forcefully pushing against him and provoking him to release a strangled gasp. Declan’s beautiful eyes glimmer with desire while we exchange silent words with each other. His tongue finds my tingling nipple quickly. As Declan’s warm mouth sucks on my breast, teasing my sensitive nipple, my lungs take in all the air they can manage before they feel like they’re ready to burst. I press my head back into the pillow harshly, arching my back to bring my chest closer to his warm mouth. He lifts himself up higher so his mouth meets with mine again and he kisses me so slowly, bringing me back to the present and triggering my lower belly to coil and tighten even more. He’s fiddling with something above
my head, but I’m too lost to focus completely. I feel his muscles bunching beneath my palms as I hold onto his back tightly, my legs wrapped around his with my feet pressing into the backs of his calves as I continuously lift myself up off the bed to get the contact my body is craving, begging for. I pay close attention to the way his minty mouth tastes against my tongue and the way my body aches when his teeth clutch onto my bottom lip. I have been wanting this for so long, I definitely don’t want to get too lost in the moment and forget anything. I feel him gliding against me, skin on skin at my entrance and I have nothing but pure desire and yearning for this man. My man.
His eyes meet mine once again and after a quick kiss he whispers across my lips, “I am so in love with you, Sunshine. I don’t think I have ever been this happy with my life. You and Harper mean the world to me. I love you both more than you could possibly know.”
My body is still reeling, but the man who owns my heart just took my breath away in a completely different manner. Tears silently but steadily leak out of my eyes and down my cheeks. “I love you too,” I say, my voice breathy and raspy.
Declan kisses away my tears as he eases himself into me. Finally. I take in a sharp breath as my eyes drift closed and my head slowly lolls to the side. Once Declan is fully seated inside me he pauses for a minute, both of us reveling in the feeling of one another before he gently grips my chin to guide my face back to his. He kisses my parted lips, his tongue slipping inside briefly.
“Look at me, Sunshine. I’ve waited too fucking long for this for you not to be right here with me.”
What was just crazy-lustful-intense-get-inside-me-now pre-sex has definitely switched up on me. Declan changed the tempo and we’re now in a mode of I-can’t-live-without-you-ever-again crazy-beautiful-don’t-let-go-don’t-look-away kind of lovemaking. I am so overwhelmed with different emotions and feelings. To hear the man you love say that he loves your daughter as much as he loves you…it’s indescribable. The motion of Declan moving above me and in me is pure bliss. I don’t have a headache or an aching body anymore; my body is in its personal paradise and quite frankly, I don’t ever want to leave.