I wanted so badly to tell them how fine things were with Sophie, with the exception of last night. But being a gentleman and a man of my word, my lips were sealed. Besides, if word got back to her, she’d deep fry my nuts on a stick and sell them at the carnival.
“Things between Soph and I are great. She’s become a good friend. No complaints.”
“Really?” Colin said shocked.
“Yes, really. Is it that impossible for you to believe I could have a friendship with a woman?”
Colin looked up, thinking a little too hard about the answer. “Not impossible, just improbable.”
“Let’s leave our boy alone.” Hart came to my defense as usual. “From what Bryson’s told me, Doug speaks the truth. Sophie says seeing Doug every day isn’t as horrible a fate as she expected.” Colin spits out a laugh while I scrunched up my face in a silent fuck you. “You should be commended for the mature way you’ve handled yourself while living with another human being and following the rules of the house.”
I jerked my head toward Hart. “You know about the rules?”
“Bryson said Sophie has always been into making rules.”
Colin took a seat on the steps leading into Hart’s place. “So, what kind of rules?”
“Your basic ones—don’t make a lot of noise, clean up after yourself, etcetera,” I explained.
“It’s the etcetera ones I want to know about,” Colin said.
“What’s with all the questions? How would you like me to fire off questions of my own?”
“Fire away.” Colin eased back, resting his elbows on the step above.
“What’s the deal with you and my baby cousin?”
“We enjoy each other’s company. Next.”
It was really hard to think up questions on the spot.
“Will she be coming on the camping trip? Because I have no interest whatsoever being witness to the walls of your tent shaking.”
“First of all… gross. She’s your cousin for Christ’s sake. Second of all, we’re not at that point. Third of all, no. She has a big paper due for her anatomy class.” He looked at me with a smug smile plastered across his face. “I bet one of the etceteras is no bringing home of your usual brand of trollop. Which probably means Dougie here has been without sex for a while.”
My jaw clenched tighter and tighter
“What’s it like not to have felt the touch of a woman, Doug? Or even be wanted by one for that matter,” Colin prodded.
“I’ve had sex. Mind-blowing- off-the-charts sex.”
The words flew out of my mouth before I could cram them back down my throat. I don’t know why I always let Colin piss me off. I had to think fast. I didn’t trust myself to not say Sophie’s name if he asked. So I raised my hand and waved.
“Palm-mel-a and her five sisters keep me satisfied.” I tossed him my own smug smile.
Colin cringed.
“When are the two of you going to mature past the age of ten?” Hart said.
Just then the door to the house opened, and Sophie stuck her head out. Her bright violet eyes piercing mine.
“Dinner is served, gentlemen,” she said.
“Perfect timing. These two are getting on my nerves.”
Wagging her finger, she scolded, “Now boys, play nice or there’ll be no dessert.”
She gave me a coy smile before disappearing. Hart rolled out of the garage to the backyard and over to the deck which had a ramp into the house.
I stared at Colin who hadn’t moved. “Are you going to move your ass anytime soon?”
“Yes, I’m going to move my ass.” He sneered and stood.
I may have shoved on his shoulder as he made his way up the steps.
AS USUAL, BRYSON made an amazing dinner. She’s such a great chef. There have been times when I’ve thought her food was too good for this motley crew. I stayed clear of Colin, choosing to take a seat next to Sophie at the table. I loved Colin like a brother. Scratch that. I had a brother who I barely knew and didn’t want to know. I loved Colin like brothers should, and I knew he felt the same about me. But he enjoyed grinding my gears a little too much at times.
“Bryson’s parents will be over here by noon Friday. Considering it will take my lovely wife a solid twenty minutes to go over instructions with her mom for Hope and Butter, then to say goodbye to our daughter, we should be ready to leave by one. Ronnie will have his gear packed in his car. I think between mine and Colin’s car we’ll have more than enough room for everything else. Col, can you still come by the night before and we can pack up everything except the food?”
“No problem. And I’ll swing by Friday to pick Doug and Sophie up.”
“Why is Colin taking his car? I can drive mine,” I said.
“Because mine is bigger than yours.” He chuckled.
“Doug, it makes more sense to take three cars instead of four. We reserved three spots. One will be only for the cars,” Hart said.
Before I had a chance to argue, Bryson and Sophie walked in carrying dessert.
“We’re going old school tonight with fresh peach cobbler and vanilla ice cream,” Bryson said, placing the dish of bubbly goodness on the table.
As Sophie set the small bowls and carton of ice cream on the table, she captured my gaze again and that same coy smile appeared. As she passed behind, she let her hand glide over the back of my chair, brushing ever so gently across my shoulders. Taking her seat, she made a point to lean in so the side of her breast nudged my arm.
Hart’s lips were moving, Bryson was dishing out dessert, and Colin’s head was tilted back in laughter. But I couldn’t hear anything, because I was too busy concentrating on Sophie’s petite hand slipping down my inner thigh. I don’t mean near the knee inner thigh. She was well within range of the danger zone. My knee jerked, and hit the table, causing it to jostle. All eyes focused on me.
“You okay, buddy?” Hart said.
“Yeah. Leg spasm. Can’t control them.”
“Of course you can’t control them. That’s pretty much the definition of a spasm,” Colin said.
“Colin, what’s with you riding my ass tonight? I have a condition. Show some compassion.” I took the bowl Bryson was holding in midair and dug in.
Sophie didn’t ease up. She continued to slowly rub, inching closer to my increasingly hard dick. Beads of sweat popped up along my forehead and the room suddenly felt like a sauna. I stole a sideways glance at Sophie, only to find her sitting there calm, cool, and collected eating her dessert, all the while rubbing me into a frenzy.
“It appears that leg spasms aren’t your only condition. Seems like you’re tense. You might need to blow off some steam,” Colin said.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “I’d like to blow you off.”
The room erupted into laughter.
“You know what I meant,” I sneered.
While the others were in hysterics, I quickly yanked out my dress shirt to cover the front of my tenting pants.
Standing, I pointed to Colin. “Fuck you.” I then turned my finger toward Hart. “And fuck you too.”
I tossed my napkin on the table and stomped out of the room.
“What did I do?” Hart yelled through laughter.
I walked down the hallway headed to the bathroom. Between being pissed off and turned on, I needed a little alone time to collect myself. I stood in front of the open bathroom door when suddenly, two hands pressed against my back and shoved me inside. Before I had a chance to turn around, the door closed and the light flipped on. As I looked in the mirror, the reflection of Sophie leaning against the door looked back.
I turned toward her. “What are you doing?”
Without a word, Sophie pushed off from the door. Her hands hit my chest, pushing me back until I bumped into the counter. Grabbing a fistful of my shirt, she pulled my lips to hers. My hands found her ass and I tugged her toward me. The feel of her pressed against me had my blood flowing like a tsunami. I wanted more. I needed more.
&
nbsp; I crimped the soft red material of her skirt between my fingers, inching it up higher and higher. Sophie pressed on my chest and broke the kiss.
“We can’t here,” she said between gasps.
“You’ve already started the launch sequence. I’m at T-minus seven seconds.”
“Sorry. How about this, you make some excuse and head home. After you leave, I’ll say I have an early meeting tomorrow and meet you there. Then we can blastoff.” She sucked on her lower lip.
“That sounds like a hot sexy plan.”
“I’ll go out there first. Then count to a hundred before you come out. We don’t want it to look weird.”
She started to turn and leave, but I took her by the hand. “What prompted the under the table action?”
“I overhead you guys in the garage. It was sweet the way you kept our secret… The way you protected me.”
“Underneath this ultra-masculine exterior, I am pretty sweet.”
“I’m beginning to see that.”
We stared at each other for several seconds, before Sophie left me to count.
I MADE A quick and clean getaway, making it home in record time. Because Sophie had fun surprising me under the table and in the bathroom, I thought I’d do a little surprising of my own. Since we both knew what the rest of our night would consist of, I saw no problem with preparing in advance. I went to my room, stripped off my clothes, and pulled on the bottom of my pj’s.
When I got back downstairs, I turned off all the lights except for the small dim one that sat on the entryway table. I sat down on one of the lower steps of the stairs and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
And waited.
A half hour had passed before I saw the headlights shine through the front window. Good thing I was more horny than mad. Otherwise, I would have given up a while ago and called it a night. I got up and moved to the dark corner of the room, off the entryway. The front door opened. Sophie stepped inside, locking the door behind her. Turning around, she saw the entire place was dark except for the one small lamp. Confusion washed over her, but she stepped forward despite not knowing what was happening.
“Doug?”
I waited until she was in position. She was about a foot away from me when I quickly stepped out of the shadows. I pushed her against the wall and devoured her mouth. Her hands sunk into my hair, gripping hard. As my mouth worked its way down her neck, my hands grabbed the hem of her skirt and pushed it up.
“What took you so fucking long?” I breathed against her neck.
She gasped for air. “Bryson. Pictures. Hope.”
I made my way down her body. Wasting no time, I pulled down her panties and my tongue got to work between her legs. Sophie’s nails dug into the top of my scalp as she slung one leg over my shoulder. I wanted her to come fast, hard, and over and over. I was relentless. If I could have crawled all the way inside of her, I would have. Never in my entire life had I ever wanted to please another person like I wanted to please Sophie.
“What are you doing to me? It’s never felt this incredible,” she moaned.
Her words of encouragement spurred me on more, if that was even possible. Sophie’s body vibrated. Her legs tightened around my head as she rode the wave as long as she could stand before crashing. Not giving her much recovery time, I eased her leg off my shoulders and stood. Her body was still shaking, but she was able to reach for my pants and yank them down. I went back in and didn’t ease up until she fell again with me following right behind.
I was out of breath, sweaty, and exhausted. I’d never given that much of myself to anyone. When I first opened my eyes flashes of light was all I saw. Like the aftereffects of a flashbulb going off. After my eyes adjusted, I gazed at Sophie. Her expression was familiar. It was the same one she had the first time we were together, only this time I wasn’t going to let her go.
“You okay?” I whispered.
She just nodded. We disengaged. I stepped back and pulled up my pants. Then wrapped my arms around her, picked her up, and carried her over to the sofa. I sat in the dark with Sophie in my arms, realizing there was no other place I wanted to be and no other person I wanted to be with.
I STOMPED UP the steps with such force, I almost broke the heel of my blush colored Manolo Blahnik Mary Janes. I jabbed my key into the lock and bulldozed through the door. I slammed my bag and purse on the entryway table before ripping off my beige cashmere Armani pea coat cape, which coordinated perfectly with my Armani trousers and silk button-down shirt. I am the very definition and image of an intelligent, qualified, businesswoman. How dare the new bitch in town imply otherwise.
Joanna Sinclair had been the bane of my existence ever since she joined my department a month ago. She was one of those women who appeared to our bosses as an advocate for women in business. A true feminist who lifts other women up, wanting them to achieve their highest potential. Feminist my Aunt Fanny. Joanna’s female empowerment was nothing more than a pathetic charade. She was out for numero uno. Period. And she’d stop at nothing to get what she wanted.
But Joanna was a surreptitious ninja. The naked male eye was hypnotized by her flaming red hair and giant sopra seni gonfiati, which I was positive weren’t the ones she had been born with. The men were deaf to her condescending tone when talking to or about other female co-workers. And they never cared from whom ugly rumors originated. After only being at the company for two weeks, she planted the seed that I had climbed the corporate ladder on my back. Fortunately, my supervisors knew me after all these years and promoted me. A promotion I worked my ass off for and deserved.
Today, after the department meeting, which I ran flawlessly, Joanne felt the need to stay after for a little girl talk. And for some reason I let her petty, condescending remarks get to me. I was about to rip her a new one when the CEO of the company walked in looking for her. With all the eye fucking going on between the two of them, I quickly surmised that Joanna was climbing up the ladder by going down on Mr. Jonas. Joanna Jonas had a nice ring to it. Too bad the old guy was married. So I plastered a smile on my face and got the hell out of there before my mouth got me into trouble. For the remainder of the day, I was pissed and tense, unable to blow off steam.
I found Doug sitting at my grandmother’s antique mahogany dining table with open files scattered around, deeply engrossed in whatever was on his laptop. So much so he didn’t even look up when I walked up next to him.
“Hey.”
“Hey, Soph. I didn’t hear you come in.”
“Obviously. Are you busy?”
Not looking at me, he said, “Kind of. I’ve got a report due tomorrow. Why?”
I huffed. “Nothing. I had a shitty day at work and needed to blow off some steam. I was wondering if you wanted to have sex.”
As if he were The Flash, Doug bolted out of his chair and grabbed my hand. I was almost airborne as we soared up to my room.
Holding both of my hands, Doug led me over to the bed. “For future reference… You never have to wonder or question whether or not I want to have sex with you.”
A warmth that started in my chest spread through my body. It was becoming increasingly apparent to me, how being with Doug changed my mood from bad to good. He had already changed out of his work clothes, wearing faded jeans and a blue T-shirt. I pushed him down to a sitting position on the bed and stepped between his legs.
Griping the back of the shirt, Doug yanked his T-shirt off. His lips went to my neck as he unbuttoned my shirt from the top down. I held onto his strong, broad shoulders to steady myself.
“Doug, do you think I’m difficult?”
“Not at all,” he muttered against my skin.
Without breaking up Doug’s make out session with the crook of my neck, I stepped out of my heels, kicking them to the side. Then skimmed out of my trousers. Actually impressed myself.
“I’m serious.”
“About what?” His hands took hold of my hips.
“Am I dif
ficult?”
“You’re a woman who knows what she wants.”
“So you don’t find me crass and too direct?”
He’d worked all my buttons loose and slipped the shirt off my shoulders.
His mouth continued its journey. “It’s a charming facet of your personality.”
“Do I come across as cold and coarse?”
“You’re as warm and soft as a baby’s behind,” he said, nibbling my ear.
I blew out a breath and the nibbling stopped.
Doug looked up at me. “Where are all these questions coming from?”
I played with a few strands of hair on the back of his head. “It’s nothing.”
His gaze held mine for a second then his head slumped forward and a deep sigh seeped out.
“What’s wrong?” I said, standing in only my panties.
Doug reached for his discarded T-shirt.
“Raise your arms.”
I did as he instructed. Doug stared longingly at my bare breasts before slipping his shirt over my head and down my body.
“I thought we were having sex,” I said surprised with a twinge of offensiveness.
“So did I, but I think at the moment you need a friend more than a sex god.”
He scooted back on my bed, leaned against the headboard, and patted the empty spot next to him. I crawled over his long outstretched legs and snuggled into his side, draping my arm over his bare stomach. The weird thing was, it didn’t feel weird. Being with Doug like this seemed like the most natural thing in the world. I felt comforted and my muscles were already relaxing. I guess this was the friend part of friends with benefits.
His index finger made slow, soft circles over my upper arm. “Talk to me.”
“It’s nothing, really.”
“Soph.”
I hesitated, since I was feeling the calming effects of his touch. He gave me a slight nudge urging me on.
“A co-worker keeps spreading rumors that I sleep my way to advancement,” I confessed.
Doug’s hand stilled and his body tensed.
Crazy Sexy Love Page 16