by Ava Claire
Because You Need Me (Falling For You, Book Two)
Ava Claire
Copyright © 2015 Ava Claire
The Falling For You Series
Because You Want Me (Falling For You, Book One)—May 29
Because You Need Me (Falling For You, Book Two)—June 26
Because You Love Me (Falling For You, Book Three)—July 24
E-book License Edition Notes
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Table of Contents
Copyright Page
Chapter One: Penny
Chapter Two: Xander
Chapter Three: Penny
Chapter Four: Xander
Chapter Five: Penny
Chapter Six: Xander
Chapter Seven: Penny
Chapter Eight: Xander
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chapter One: Penny
I want him inside me.
That singular thought shouted down all else.
My eyes found him before the hostess could even lean in and ask me what my secret was, or give me an incredulous once over. Xander Wade was the kind of man that stood out in a room; everything else went hazy and became immediately insignificant. You found yourself drawn to him, like he was a fantasy come to life. He was devastating perfection made into flesh and bone.
He was out of his usual sleek and professional attire, looking almost mortal in a t-shirt that clung to his muscular frame. I spotted a black jacket draped around the back of the chair and I couldn't help but sigh with relief, momentarily distracted from salivating. He wasn't one of those San Franciscans that wore short sleeves come hell or high water.
But that was fleeting because his delicious flesh still demanded attention. His golden brown skin gave me no choice but to embrace the throbbing between my thighs. His muscles reminded me of waves crashing into the shore. I'd never considered that image sexual, but suddenly my pulse quickened as the frothy, warm waves rushed to meet the sand.
His body commanded my eyes to feast, to imagine what it would be like to strip off his v-neck shirt. His face was masked, his attention on the phone in his hands, but even his dark hair made me bite my lip. It was a little wilder than usual, with the glisten and ease of a recent shower. Perspiration beaded at my temple as I pictured his hands pressed against the wall while the water pounded his skin. A few hours ago I was haunted by him while I stood beneath the stream of water. Did he think about me? Did he long to kiss my lips?
He glanced up just as the heat in my cheeks matched the warm, intoxicating ache that was making walking a chore. There was only one remedy: him.
His smile made my heart flutter to my throat. I must have been standing there with the dumbest look ever plastered on my face because his eyebrow twitched upward, then his eyes flicked to my right. I didn't trust my fingers to clutch anything just yet so I didn't reach for the chair, following his inquisitive gaze instead. I'd completely forgotten about the hostess, and it was clear from the way her eyes were glued to my boyfriend that she'd forgotten about me too.
My boyfriend.
A rush of jealousy swept through me. It almost made me rush forward to plant a kiss on him that would leave no doubt that he was taken, but reality was just as devastating. My boyfriend...for now.
I gripped my chair, my fingers finally working. My brain was too, and with it, all the events that led me to the table in this fancy restaurant in the first place. I'd met Xander Wade at The Red Door Club, a sex club in the city. Ironically, we hadn't done the deed. He listened to me blabber on about my family, then I learned he had his own mega family drama. The cherry on top of a truly bizarre night was when he made a unique proposition-be his girlfriend for a month. I'd have a date for my sister's impending wedding, meet his parents, and walk away with $20k.
Easy money, right? Considering my teacher's salary, it was damn near close to winning the lottery. But we'd kissed. And then we kissed again. And then the winery happened, and I saw how vulnerable he was beneath the charade of the super confident, charismatic businessman without a care in the world. At the winery beneath the warm sun, he’d used his mouth to draw me to an ecstasy that still made me tremble with delight. That's when I knew it was happening, the very thing that would make this house of cards come tumbling down.
I was falling for him.
Even now, as he rose with a mischievous smile lighting up his handsome face, I knew I was a goner. I was falling harder with every second that ticked by.
He rounded the table and my confusion was replaced by 'omfg!' as he wrapped me in his arms, dipped me backward like we were in some romantic movie, and kissed me like his very life depended on it.
My eyes were open at first, shock holding me hostage. When did this become my life? And why is everything around us suddenly quiet, like the entire restaurant simultaneously turned to watch the spectacle?
And then I just let go.
Let them watch. Let them wonder. Let them ache for a love like ours where two people didn't care whether they were in their bedroom, or in the middle of Times Square.
I ran my fingers through his sexy brown locks. Yanking him closer. Swallowing the moan of surprise that fell from his lips. I ran my tongue around his like I couldn't get enough of him. I sank my teeth into his bottom lip like when we got home, it was on.
I felt like I could pass out from sheer exhaustion of our kiss. Our chemistry turned everything into butterflies and quaking knees.
I went slack, but he held me tight, his lips caressing mine. My eyes fluttered open as the world slowly blinked back into existence. His eyes were still closed, like he didn't want to leave the embrace of my lips. Not yet.
The hostess cleared her throat and I gave him a 'ahem' peck. He finally opened his eyes. The green irises swirled with a happiness that made me feel like I'd never touch solid ground again.
“Hi Penny,” he breathed lustily.
I extricated myself, trying to pretend I didn't notice the other patron's eyes on us, combining with the hostess’, who was definitely killing me very slowly with her gaze. “H-hi Xander.”
The hostess held my menu between her pointer and thumb like she could barely stand to touch something that was about to touch me. If she had used the hand on her hip to plug her nose, there'd be no mistaking her complete and utter disgust. “Your waiter will be right over.”
I offered her an undeserved smile, fighting the urge to grab Xander's ass or kiss him on the cheek, just to rub her nose in it a little. “Thanks!”
She sulked back to the front of the restaurant and embarrassment returned to my cheeks with undeniable force when I realized that he wasn't taking one last look at her. He wasn't committing her to memory so he could conjure up the curves of her ass on demand. Those devastating green eyes were devouring me.
His lips curved into a smile that told me he was still thinking about that kiss—and plotting the next one.
I was smiling, almost forgetting my sister's little visit a few hours ago. Why couldn't I shake this feeling of being safe with him when all roads pointed to heartbreak?
He smiled that disarming smile and pulled out my chair like the perfect gentleman. Cheeks still blazing, I moved to sit, letting out a yelp when he pinched my ass.
“Xander!” I hissed, firing him a look. His grin just broadened be
cause embarrassed or not, my eyes gave me away. If he slipped his hands inside my panties, other parts of me would confirm the wet, delighted truth. I loved his boldness. I loved that he claimed what he wanted and didn’t apologize for it. I even loved the way the word ‘love’ bloomed in my head. The single syllable word was something beautiful and terrifying.
That word got you in trouble before, remember? Be afraid of that word. Be very afraid.
Xander strode back to his seat, giving me a mouth-watering view of how delicious and squeezable his ass was.
He reached for the wine list. “I ordered a Perrier to start-”
Before he got the rest out, I’d already swiped the bottle, downing the fizzy water. When I finished, a burp rose in my throat and blasted from my lips in a decidedly un-sexy manner.
If my cheeks got any hotter, my shame would melt my freaking face. “Excuse me.” I had to force my eyes upward, expecting him to be waving for the check, but he didn’t look remotely disgusted. In fact, I saw concern in the way his brow furrowed and the playfulness in his eyes dimmed.
“Is everything okay?”
Dread writhed in the pit of my stomach. It was easy to forget why I’d asked him to meet me for lunch; heck, easy to forget my shame when he kissed me like he cared about nothing else but my lips, but now the other stuff was back with a vengeance. I cleared my throat and got on with it.
“I got your flowers.” My lips twitched into a smile. “They were beautiful.” The sea of red, the letter, and my sister’s face screamed into view, tearing me from the pages of the romance novel that my life had become. Her warning dumped me into the painful grip of reality. If you stay with Xander Wade, he’ll break your heart. “But they were a bad idea.”
He scanned my face and I tried to stand tall and hold my own, but the weight of his gaze made me jerk my eyes away. I halfheartedly read the wine list like I was interested in anything in their cellar. I wasn’t thirsty. I wasn’t hungry. I was terrified because as romantic as those flowers were, they were also tangible proof that it was only a matter of time before this thing between us would wilt.
“I haven’t done this dating thing in a while, but if memory serves, it’s perfectly acceptable for a boyfriend to get flowers for his girlfriend. Especially if he’s been a dickhead.”
The dread had teeth and it climbed from my stomach, burrowing into my chest. It took a bite out of my heart and I knew tears weren’t far behind. I pushed the menu away and cleared my face of all emotion, trying ambivalence on for size. “A simple ‘I’m sorry’ would have sufficed, Xander.” He opened his mouth to say something charming and likely frustrating, so I blazed forward. “Just like I don’t need helicopter rides to Livermore. You don’t have to sweep me off my feet.”
The playfulness evaporated altogether and his eyes hardened to emerald slits. “How about we get to what this is really about, Penny. Your time is valuable, as is mine. I didn’t come here to be scolded about helicopter rides and flowers, and I don’t think this about either of those things anyway.”
“Well, it sounds like you have it all figured out.” I balled my hands into fists beneath the table. We were still getting to know each other, but there was one thing I knew was true-we were both stubborn. It was a recipe for disaster. “Why don’t you tell me why I asked you here?”
He raked his hand through his dark locks and I saw the tension clutching his face, the fight glittering in his eyes. “Damn it, talk to me. This won’t work-”
“Why don’t we stop right there? This won’t work.” I swore the air in the room changed instantly. It was charged with electricity. Heavy with words that had been said and couldn’t be taken back. Everything around us from chatter to forks scarping plates to movement as life spun on around us seemed to be a whisper compared to this moment. It would have been easier to weather the pain that those words evoked if he didn’t seem completely leveled by it. For the first time since I met him, he was slack jawed and speechless.
Nothing about any of this was what I expected. When we met, I’d seen a man driven by lust, but then he actually listened and shared. He made it no secret that he wanted me; I felt it in the way he looked at me, touched me, and tasted me. But then he did things he didn’t have to. Livermore. The roses. Meeting me when I was sure he had better things to do than having lunch with his fake girlfriend. A fake girlfriend that treated him like he was guilty until proven innocent.
“I like you Xander,” I blurted out, trying to infuse some truth into the conversation. I swam against the current that was taking us out to sea. “And this won’t work because–and I’m speaking for you now, so feel free to correct me–I think you like me too. And I don’t see how this works when you’re you, and I’m me-”
“And who am I?”
I blinked at him, the raw ache in his voice taking me by surprise. “W-what?”
“You seem to have me pegged.” He sat back with a sigh like he was battening down the hatches for something good. “So who am I?”
I knew it was an important question, and my opportunity to come clean about my sister’s prediction that he’d break my heart. I opened my mouth and let it go. “You’re the kind of guy who goes to sex clubs and doesn’t do relationships. The kind of guy who makes grand gestures that make other women who should be saying ‘how sweet!’ say things like ‘he’s gonna hurt you’.”
His eyes clouded over, his jaw tightening until the angle looked sharp enough to cut. “Sounds like you’ve got it all figured out. It must be pretty nice to hone in on everyone else’s shit so you don’t have to deal with your own.”
“Hi! I’m Brianna!” Our waitress had impeccable timing, squealing every syllable of her name. “What can I get you two to drink?”
“Whiskey, neat.” Xander growled, crossing his arms.
I glared right back, angry that he’d turned my suspicion back on me. Even pissed as hell, I noticed the way his biceps rippled. I longed for him to pick me up, hold me down, and take me.
“Since we’re drinking hard liquor at 1pm, I’ll do a vodka tonic with lime,” I bit off, lasering holes in his frustratingly beautiful skull.
She passed us the menus, her bubbly energy grating on my nerves. “I'll give you two a moment to look over the menu and I'll be back to see what yummy dishes you chose.”
I granted her a tight grin before I turned back to Xander, counting down the seconds until I could give him a piece of my mind.
“And let me just recommend our crab cakes. And our salads are to die for!” She giggled like a schoolgirl. Her eyes were focused on some far off place as she tapped her pencil against her chin. It was a place of culinary delights, where all her picks slowly rotated on glittering Lazy Susans. Every mouthwatering detail had to be shared with the couple that was clearly mid-argument from the awkward way we half listened, waiting for her to go away.
She sighed, her eyes readjusting as she turned her attention back to us. “Anyway, I'll leave you to it!”
I leaned in when she skipped away, my voice a hiss that I struggled to keep low and for his ears only. “I don't know who you think you are-”
“Get over here.”
I frowned, sure I'd misheard him. “Excuse me?”
He didn't answer immediately. He took a long swallow of water, then lowered the glass back to the table. He fixed his gaze on me, a gaze that demanded obedience...and made me throb between my thighs.
“Get up and come sit beside me.”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I pulled at my blouse, the temperature shooting from something bearable to I've Gotta Take Off All My Clothes. I wasn't sure what was more disturbing, that I was turned on by the way he’d just told me what to do, or the fact that I listened.
I rose to my feet and shuffled to his side of the table, squeezing into the booth beside him. The anger that had whipped inside me like a tornado was a gentle breeze as I breathed in the scent that was all Xander. It was understated and overpowering. He had my full attention and desire flowed thr
ough me like an electric current.
Our knees touched and I hitched a breath that I tried to cover with a sniff. Considering I was burning up, it was far from a cold. The only illness I had was an inexplicable desire to be close to a man that could shatter me. Would shatter me. But this close, knees touching, eyes searching, lips yearning, I decided that I didn't care.
His eyes darkened with something besides anger. “It started that night at the Red Door Club. I had a plan. To fuck.”
I almost drew blood when my teeth sank into my bottom lip. I never knew the F word could be so sexy, or that mere touching of knees could be foreplay. My pulse quickened. My nipples pebbled beneath my shirt as I leaned in closer, silently surrendering to him.
His lips curved at one side, a smirk that told me he knew what he was doing to me. “And I will fuck you. But ever since I started to get to know you and let you know me, I've realized I want more. I want all of you, Penny.”
His fingertips danced across my knee and I trembled, saying a silent prayer. Please don't do what I think you're going to do. The lust in me embraced the naughtiness and prayed for the exact opposite. Touch me, Xander.
His fingertips skimmed my inner thigh and I finally eked out, “Are you-”
“Going to finger you in this restaurant?” He leaned in, his lips brushing my ear just as he brushed the seam of my core through my panties. He let out a moan of approval as he pressed against the fabric, feeling my wetness. “Absolutely.”
He slipped his fingers inside my panties and I squeezed my eyes shut, struggling to keep the moans from pouring out my lips.
He paused and they flew back open. I shook my head effusively, but my words were a hushed whisper. “Please don't stop.”
He shook his head too, his dark locks sweeping back and forth until he scooped a hand through the mahogany strands. His eyes glowed with molten desire. “I want you to look at me,” His deep voice rippled through me. “And I want to look at you.”
I held my eyes open, every nerve, both erotic and cerebral, was turned on with breathtaking clarity as he buried his finger inside me. The pleasure whipped through me like something wild and untamed. I rocked against his strokes, my eyes locked on him like he was the only thing keeping me from losing it altogether. Our moans were in our gaze, the pitch building as he increased speed and I saw that this was more to him than fingering. He was touching me, possessing my body in a way that I'd never experienced...and I was touching him too. Without words, I was telling him to take my body; to take my heart. Begging him not to break it. He was telling me to trust him against all odds. To trust that he'd give me what I needed, and what we both desired. He was promising something that wouldn't wilt in a month.