I ran up the steps to my room, but as soon as I set my foot on the top floor, the bathroom door opened. I could still hear the shower running so I figured Oliver hadn’t shut it properly. It had been doing that for a while but I just kept forgetting to get it fixed. I strolled over to the bathroom to close it, but as I grabbed the knob I made the mistake of looking up.
The right thing to do would have been to close the door. The right thing to do would have been to respect his privacy, but my will faded the second I saw him. Oliver had one hand high above his head on the shower tiles while his other was wrapped around his dick, stroking himself long and slow. While my focus was glued to his body, the humidity of his hot shower hit my skin.
Fuck the dress. I want him now!
His head was facing the showerhead, and the muscles of his flawless tattooed back flexed as low grunts escaped him in the midst of his heavy breathing. It was the hottest thing I had ever seen. My entire body throbbed in need as I watched him simultaneously pumping and rolling his thumb over his engorged tip. Trying to soothe the need, I squeezed my legs together, but it didn’t help. My skin felt too hot and my clit ached to be touched.
Then, I tried closing my eyes for a minute to regain my composure, but that wasn’t working either. The moment I started to hear his ragged breathing my eyes reopened and my fingers slipped in between my legs to caress my sensitive skin. As I leaned on the doorway trying to steady my balance, I could feel the orgasm building already. It was going to be fast and hard. A low moan escaped me when I added a little pressure exactly where I needed it, and that’s when I felt them.
His eyes lowered to where my fingers were and I saw his Adam’s apple move as he swallowed. With his dark lustful stare fixated on what I was doing to own body, he challenged me; urging and begging me to continue to satisfy my needs. I closed my eyes and bit my bottom lip.
“Abbygail,” he bellowed.
Oliver
“Look at me.” I demanded as she started to shut her eyes. I needed to see the perfect sapphire blue, but I especially wanted her to know what she was doing to me. The thought that she was watching me while my hand was wrapped around my dick almost made me come instantly, but the game changed the minute I saw that she was rolling her fingers over her sweet clit. I don’t think I’d ever seen something more erotic in my life, and although I knew I wasn’t going to be able to hold on much longer I wanted the moment to last forever.
Her tongue ran along her agape mouth as she tried to maintain my gaze. I gripped my dick harder and twisted it, massaging my engorged balls while she watched me. I loved that under my order she wouldn’t tear her gaze away from mine.
“Oliver,” she whimpered. The rhythm of her panting accelerated and her fingers moved faster.
Fuck.
I tightened my fist around my shaft, my thumb circled my slick crown and I stroked, imagining Abby’s tongue and lips licking and sucking me.
“Abbygail, look at me.” I repeated. I thrusted my hard cock inside the palm of my hand while her eyes were fixated on mine. A sexy loud moan escaped her and I stilled, feeling my own release, as it washed away with the hot water.
Her eyes closed and reopened, when she saw that I was still watching her, she licked her lips and let out the sexiest fucking grin I had ever seen. I shook my head and smiled at her flustered cheeks.
Beautiful. Fucking beautiful.
Never taking her eyes away from mine, she removed her underwear, dropped them in the hamper, and left the bathroom without shutting the door behind her.
Chapter 21
Oliver
When Abby came down the steps, I couldn’t take my eyes away from her. She looked absolutely beautiful dressed in her simple black boat neck dress, and a pair of tan ankle boots. Even after what had happened earlier I found it hard to contain my delight, and by the bright sapphire color of her eyes I could tell that she was appreciating the look I was giving her. I loved the fact that our earlier encounter did nothing to tame our urges.
The entire drive to the restaurant was quiet. She kept throwing side glances at me, and every time she looked, my eyes were on her. I made a point of not saying a word. From the moment she stepped out of the bathroom, I wanted to run to her and swallow her next breath but I didn’t. I liked the silence between us. It was filled with words that I knew we didn’t have the courage to say to each other.
Now if I could only find a way to make you trust me…
We’d spotted Stephan and Laney waving at us as we rolled past the restaurant to find somewhere to park my truck.
“So you have no issue with Stephan dating your best friend?” she asked me curiously as I parked.
I removed the keys from the ignition and turned to look at her. She seemed lost to her own thoughts. “Nope. Do you?”
“I don’t know.”
I stepped out of the car and went to the passenger side to help her get out. As I made my way to her, I tried to understand why it would bother her. Granted, she didn’t know Laney all that well, but the way she tried to protect Stephan was a bit excessive. “She’s not going to hurt him, Abs.”
“You don’t know that Oliver.”
“Okay, you’re right, I don’t. But at some point you’re going to need to trust that everything is going to work out for the best for him.”
“The last person that asked me to trust that everything would work out broke my best friend’s heart one time too many.” She slammed the door and I could tell that for some reason she was still very angry with Kylie. I had no idea what had happened between them, and unfortunately, it slipped my mind to ask her. “You of all people should know by now that I have huge trust issues. Plus…didn’t Laney just end a four year relationship?”
“How’s that relevant to anything?”
She stopped walking and gave me a cute obstinate look. “Everything.”
“Abby, for Christ sakes, Laney and Stephan are old enough to make their own decisions. They’re adults, young ones, if I may add. Not all of us are ready to settle down and build a family with the person they love at the age of twenty-three.”
Whoa…where did that come from?
She cocked her head to the side and looked at me, trying to figure out if there was an underlying meaning to what I’d just said.
I’m so fucking screwed…
“Shut up.” I mumbled before she could reply.
“I didn’t even say anything.”
“No, but you’re about to. I’m just saying that you should just let them be.” I grabbed her hand. “Now come on, they’re waiting for us inside, and we’re already late because of you.”
“Not me. Her. It’s not my fault if I have to pee every ten minutes.”
“Well maybe if you’d stop drinking root beer slushies like you’re going to die of thirst, you wouldn’t need to go to the bathroom so much.”
“Again, not my fault. She claims them.”
“Lyvia cannot claim frozen drinks, she doesn’t know what they are. Stop using our daughter as an excuse to satisfy your cravings.”
She smiled. I loved the reaction she had every time I claimed Lyvia as mine; she had the most beautiful expression on her face.
“Wow, look at you two walking together hand in hand,” Laney teased as we met them inside the restaurant. “Are you guys like…together now?”
“No––Yes.” Abby and I responded at the same time.
“What do you mean no?” I asked her, pretending to be offended.
“What do I mean no? What do you mean yes?”
We both turned to their loud snort.
“We’re not together.” Abby reinforced.
“Like hell we aren’t.”
“Oliver, in order for two people to claim to be a couple, they have to do more than just talk on the phone and text. At some point they need to spend some time together.”
“Says who, you? And for your information, I’m pretty sure what we did no less than an hour ago should count as something”
&nb
sp; She blushed and stared at me in shock. Smirking, I stretched out my finger and shut her mouth. Laney had no idea how her simple question had helped. I winked at my best friend.
“Abby and I are together.”
Abbygail huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “Stephan, can two people be considered a couple if they haven’t even kissed?”
“I’m not getting mixed into this, babe. Keep me out of it.”
“I don’t need to kiss you in order for you to be mine, beautiful. I made that claim a long time ago.”
She rolled my eyes at me. “Yeah, God knows I would have loved to witness that conversation.”
“Oh trust me,” Stephan laughed, “you would have laughed your ass off. It sounded like something that came straight out of the Tarzan movie, except that Oliver sounded more like Donkey-Kong.”
“I did not.”
“Dude seriously?” Stephan looked at me. “It was one of the most epic moments of our sixth grade football tournament.”
“Sixth grade?” Abbygail exclaimed. “This has been going on since middle school?”
I smiled. Poor thing, she knew nothing.
Abbygail
“Thomas kissed you. It was his fault,” Oliver replied, trying to defend himself.
“He also pulled my hair that same day, did you kick his ass too?”
“I did, and I got detention for it.”
“I wish I could go back in time and kick your ass, Oliver Langton. That detention was so well deserved.” I narrowed my eyes at him, but all he did was grin. “I’ll have you know that I had plenty of guys ask me out.”
“Really? Like who?” he challenged.
“Seventh grade, Jeremy and Connor.”
“Sorry, babe,” Stephan retorted. “They don’t count.”
“Don’t count? How can they ‘not count?’”
“They both had a bet against each other, and they both lost.” Oliver answered with an angry tone.
“That’s it? That’s not much of an explanation, Oliver.”
He raised his eyebrow at me. “It’s more than what you need to know.”
“Fine then, what about Ashton? Was he a bet too?”
Stephan and Oliver looked at each other and as a low groan escaped my throat, they both started to laugh.
***
“Hey.”
I turned to see Ashton sitting on a bar stool at the kitchen counter. The guy was cute. He was tall, well built with pale blue eyes and black hair. The problem was that he was a hockey jock and had a horrible reputation. I smiled back at him and grabbed a bottle of Poppers Hard Ice from the fridge.
“Abbygail, right?”
Not quite understanding the game he was playing, my eyebrows furrowed together. Ashton and I were in the same physics class and had known each other since sixth grade. I walked past him and went out through the patio door without responding.
“Okay, fine,” he replied, following me from behind. I leaned on the wooden balcony fence, and he did the same. “You can tell me, I’m an idiot.”
I looked out in the distance. While many people were in the swimming pool, my group of friends were together near the basketball hoop. Ava was trying to get away from Oliver after she’d stolen his baseball cap, while Tyler and Stephan played a game of twenty-one. From the corner of my eye, I watched Ashton bring the beer bottle he was holding to his lips. He smirked at my silence, but the way he did wasn’t to mock me, it was more like he realized that he’d finally met his match.
“You and Langton,” he continued, “you’re pretty close aren’t you?”
I liked that people knew the kind of relationship Oliver and I had, it was like they knew that if anything were to happen to me he’d have my back no matter what.
“What would he say if I asked you out?”
I smiled, playing with the paper on my bottle. It was pretty hot outside and the condensation was making it easy to peel the label off. “I don’t know, what he would say,” I responded. “But what I am sure of is that you should be more preoccupied with what my answer would be. Don’t you think?”
“Okay, I’ll bite.” He chuckled, and took a side step closer to me. When he noticed that I didn’t react, he leaned closer to me and pushed a strand of hair away from my face. “Abbygail Evens, will you go out on a date with me?”
In the distance, I noticed that Ava and Oliver had stopped running around. I saw that the guys had stopped playing, and that they were all watching me. My best friend’s playful eyes turned curious, then dark. I knew he didn’t like Ashton, and truthfully I didn’t like Ashton either. But he was asking me out…
I brought the bottle to my lips, chugged down the entire content of my fruity drink, and then winked at the guy that held my heart. He raised his eyebrow and I noticed him squeezing the basketball he was holding in his hand.
Provoking him could possibly be my best idea ever.
I smiled at what I thought was a small achievement, and turned to the guy standing next to me. “I’m sorry Ash, not interested.”
***
“Was I a bet for him too?”
“Nope. Ashton’s intentions were most definitely to take you out,” he answered. “And then some…”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I’m pretty sure you can guess what it’s supposed to mean,” he replied, raising his eyebrow at me. “Luckily for you, some of his hockey teammates were also a part of the Giants.”
“I was able to take care of myself you know.”
“Never said you couldn’t.”
“Okay then, what did you do?”
“Oh I don’t know…what did we do to Ashton, Stephan?”
Stephan smiled smugly. “Let’s just say that after that party, every guy in school knew that you were off limits.”
“Did you hurt him?”
Both shook their heads. “No. It was the power of suggestion that made them understand.”
“Suggestion or threat?” I asked.
Oliver grinned. “I don’t do threats.”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
“Right.”
“No really…except you know, take all of his clothing while he was in the shower after his hockey practice and scatter it all around the football field.”
I rolled my eyes. “So juvenile.”
“Yeah, well, I was sixteen so you know...plus Ashton was a dick.”
He really was, after I’d said no, he backed away and grabbed my ass, alleging I would regret my decision.
“You do know that I declined his offer, right?”
Oliver cocked his head to the side. “That’s not what he said.”
“Your table is ready,” the hostess interrupted with a warm smile.
“So you chose to believe his word over mine?” I questioned as we started to follow her inside the restaurant.
Oliver pulled me back and pushed me lightly against the side of the wall. The small yelp of surprise that escaped me got everyone’s attention, but as Laney and Stephan looked at us, Oliver signaled them to go ahead and smirked at me. His warm hand caressed my cheek and pulled a strand of hair away, to hide it behind my ear. I could hardly contain myself.
“It started because I wanted to protect you,” he whispered. “Then it was because I fell in love with you. But let’s get something straight, Abbygail. When that happened everyone in school knew they weren’t to touch you because I made sure they knew you were mine. You have a smile that’s always only ever been only mine. The sapphire blue of your eyes that you have right now, that’s mine. Your heart beating as fast as it is right now, I know it only does that for me.”
I sucked in a breath and he smiled as he leaned closer to me.
“You fight it but trust me, beautiful, one way or another I’m going to win this game.”
His warm breath trailed from my neck to my jaw and made my skin shiver. It took everything for me not to moan. He stood still, imprisoning me between him and the wall, and I
had no idea what he was waiting for as his eyes traveled from my eyes to my lips.
“I’m trying real hard not to kiss you right now, Abbygail Evens.”
I bit down on my bottom lip and smiled. “Maybe you should stop trying to fight it, and start claiming the things that you say you own, Oliver Langton.” I defied.
He groaned at my challenge. “Oh trust me, Abbygail, I will…but only when I know you’re ready for this to be forever.”
I licked my lips. I wanted nothing more than to feel his lips on me, and somewhere deep down I could tell he knew what I desired. But instead of giving into what we both craved, he lowered his lips and kissed the corner of my mouth.
“Mine,” he whispered only for me to hear.
Chapter 22
Abbygail
“Are you going to get that?” I asked Stephan.
His phone had gone off at least three other times since we sat down for dinner, and each time he barely glanced at it. He just shook his head very discreetly and carried on with the conversation he was having with Oliver.
“Who keeps calling you?”
“No one important,” he replied without looking at me.
I frowned at his dismissive attitude, but he just reached out for his phone that was sitting beside his fork and ended the call.
“Steph?”
He gritted his teeth and looked at me. “Let it go, Abby.”
I did, but not as long as he would have hoped because unluckily for him, when our deserts arrived on the table, Stephan’s phone went off again. I’d had enough. I looked at him expecting him to at least cut off the ringtone, but he just ignored it and pushed it under his napkin. Intrigued, but mostly annoyed, I reached over the table and grabbed his phone. As I looked at the screen, I noticed that he had fifteen missed calls under Kylie’s picture.
Transcending Regrets (No Regrets book 3) Page 13