by Anthology
She tastes so fucking good. I’m lost in the heady taste of her, of the way she moans with my mouth against her, in the way her legs tremble next to my shoulders. It’s so erotic, knowing I can make this beautiful, life-changing girl weak in the damn knees.
Aware that I don’t have much time left, using my fingers, I spread her open and press my tongue right against her clit. Her cry almost drowns out the sound of footsteps from the hall.
“Marley?” Savannah calls from the hallway.
“Oh shit,” Marley swears and drops the skirt of her dress, draping me in fabric from view, just as the door to her bedroom opens.
Oh shit is right.
2
CHAPTER TWO
Marley
My face is flush, I know it. There is no way it can’t be flush, not after the orgasm that almost popped out of me a few seconds ago. That and having Porter between my legs right now.
Savannah charges through the door, a worried look on her face. Can she see Porter? I sure as hell can feel him. His breath is right up against my very swollen and sensitive clit right now, driving me insane. Casually I glance down and only see dress, no trace of Porter. This dress is paying for itself right now.
“Marley, are you okay? You look really red.”
Laughing a little too hysterically, I say, “Just hot. That humidity, sheesh, it’s a rough one today, huh?”
“It is.” Savannah looks worried, I can tell by the way she’s twisting her hands in front of her body. “Um, do you want to—”
“He’s gone. He’s gone, gone, gone,” Paul cries, charging into my room, a hand on his head in worry. “I took my eyes off him for one second and he takes off.”
Through gritted teeth, Savannah lectures Paul, “I told you not to come up here, you fool.”
“How could I not? She’s my sister. I’m not going to let her go through this alone, not on this day.”
Note to everyone out there, Paul is the BIGGEST drama queen you will ever meet. That’s exactly why he’s snagging an old Teen Bop magazine from my desk and waiving it in front of his face.
“I just can’t believe it. I barely left—”
“You were out in the barn looking for Funyuns for God knows how long instead of watching over your friend.”
“Wait, what’s going on,” I ask.
“Porter left you,” Paul shouts right before pretend fainting on the bed.
From under my skirt, Porter squeezes my thigh, making me smile but before Savannah or Paul can see it, I quickly wipe it from my face. I know Porter, there is no way in hell he would ever walk out on me. It just isn’t the kind of man he is. He loves me. There’s nothing else to it, he’s mine forever.
“You don’t know that,” I say. “Maybe he went to the store to grab something.”
“What would he need right now?” Paul asks, still waving the magazine over his face.
“I don’t know. Maybe he went to get Funyuns for you.”
Sitting up, a look of awe in his eyes, Paul asks, “Do you really think he did?”
“No.” Savannah smacks him with a pillow. “Everyone knows you’re on a strict diet, he would never do that.”
Another squeeze to my thigh. He needs to stop doing that.
“What in the Abraham Lincoln is going on up here?” My dad steps into the room, now changed into his suit, looking very dapper.
The room falls silent, only little weeping cries coming from Paul fill the room.
“Well?” My dad presses on.
“Porter is gone!” Paul wails. “It’s all over, the wedding is over.”
Rolling his eyes, my dad states, “His truck is here, he couldn’t have gone far. Maybe he’s just sitting in the kitchen, getting a bite to eat before the ceremony.”
“We checked there.” Savannah swallows hard. “We checked everywhere. He’s not here, Bernie.”
Scratching his beard, my dad thinks about what to say next, trying to be the problem solver of the group. If only they really knew where Porter was.
The next words that come out of my dad’s mouth are words I never would have expected him to say. “I’m going to kill him. That boy will be murdered. No one, and I mean no one messes up my little girl’s day.”
Okay, this might be getting out of control.
“You know, I think he might be taking a walk actually. I know how much he likes to think about things.” Terrible, terrible lie.
“There is no way he is walking. He was complaining about the humidity earlier. He’s not outside,” Paul replies.
Duh, Marely. Think better.
“Oh, yeah. Um, you know, I bet you he’s back in the cabin—”
“Call him,” my dad cuts me off. “Paul, call him and see where he is.”
Now Porter is squeezing my thigh very tightly, almost as if he’s trying to send me some kind of Morse Code.
“Oh, we didn’t try that, yet,” Paul says, which doesn’t surprise me given his knack to jump to hysterics right away.
The squeezing to my thigh grows tighter. Does he not want them to call him?
Oh my god, he doesn’t want them to call him.
Paul pulls out his phone, sending nerves up my spine. “Don’t call him,” I almost shout, drawing the attention from everyone. “Maybe he, uh, maybe he has an upset stomach or something and wants to be left alone right now.”
“Please, if he needs to puke he can puke with me.” Paul lifts the phone to his ear and waits.
Sweat forms at my brow as I wait for what’s going to happen next.
Right on cue, Porter’s cell phone starts ringing, the distinct sound of The Rolling Stones coming from under my dress. Everyone in the room stops what they are doing and turns their heads toward my skirt.
Chuckling uncomfortably, I say, “That’s odd, I don’t remember getting the musical version of this dress.”
Not buying it, my dad raises an eyebrow at me. Oh crap.
Playing innocent, I add, “Um, would you believe it if I said I would want to be alone right now?”
“Porter,” my dad calls out.
The jig is up.
Crawling out from under my skirt, Porter stands and brushes off his hands. Looking at me, he says, “Well, the garter seems to be in place. Glad we got that in order.” Turning to my family, he addresses them, “Now that, that is settled, I shall return to my shack. Paul?”
With a puffed chest, he attempts to walk past my father who stops him in his tracks with a grip to his shoulder. Quietly, he says, “You’re lucky you’re marrying my daughter today, or else I would have your head mounted on my wall.”
Porter distinctively swallows hard. “Good thing we’re saying our I dos.” A weird chuckle comes from Porter before he takes off down the hallway, Paul chasing after him.
“If you wanted to play hide and seek, you should have told me,” Paul whines, his voice trailing behind him.
God, he’s annoying.
My father turns to me, a knowing look in his eye and says, “You look beautiful, Marley. Your mom would be beside herself right now.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
Wrapping me in his big, burly chest, he kisses me on the head five times and then says, “If you ever try to do frisky business with that boy again under my roof, I will have no problem grounding you, married woman or not.”
Yup, I wouldn’t expect anything less from my dad.
The rest of the day runs smoothly, despite Paul’s hysterical crying during the ceremony when Porter and I exchanged vows, or when we had our first kiss as man and wife, or when we had our first dance. Pretty much he’s been crying this entire time. According to him, he’s going through sugar withdrawals that have made him “extra hormonal.” I really don’t understand how Savannah is married to him. Bless her soul.
Under the bright stars, resting beneath the moonlight, next to the big oak tree Porter and I used to play under, Porter holds me against his chest, his mouth right next to my ear, occasionally pressing kisses to the side of my head.
“Did
you mean it?” he asks, his deep voice rumbling through my bones.
“Did I mean what?”
“Me being yours forever?”
Not even needing time to think about it, I answer him. “It was the most honest thing I’ve ever said. You’re my forever, Porter. You own me, in every way.”
Kissing my head again and squeezing me tightly, he responds, “You’ve owned me from the moment we met.”
Thank you so much for reading. Do you want to read about how Porter and Marley learned to love each other out on the open road? Pick up The Mother Road for a great novel full of heart, humor, and heat!
ABOUT MEGHAN QUINN
Born in New York and raised in Southern California, Meghan has grown into a sassy, peanut butter eating, blonde haired swearing, animal hoarding lady. She is known to bust out and dance if “It’s Raining Men” starts beating through the air and heaven forbid you get a margarita in her, protect your legs because they may be humped.
Once she started commuting for an hour and twenty minutes every day to work for three years, she began to have conversations play in her head, real life, deep male voices and dainty lady coos kind of conversations. Perturbed and confused, she decided to either see a therapist about the hot and steamy voices running through her head or start writing them down. She decided to go with the cheaper option and started writing... enter her first novel, Caught Looking.
Now you can find the spicy, most definitely on the border of lunacy, kind of crazy lady residing in Colorado with the love of her life and her five, furry four-legged children, hiking a trail or hiding behind shelves at grocery stores, wondering what kind of lube the nervous stranger will bring home to his wife.
Oh, and she loves a good boob squeeze!
CONNECT WITH MEGHAN
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STRIPPED BARE
Melissa Collins
1
CHAPTER ONE
Noah
“You’re not going to just sit there all night and sulk, are you?” A sharp elbow to my rib accompanied her question. Both were more than a little annoying.
Twisting the cap off my beer, I answered as politely as I could muster, “No. I promise.” And I was being sincere. I didn’t want to be in a piss-poor mood tonight. Chugging down half my drink, I leaned up against the kitchen counter. After taking a deep breath, I made a promise to myself to let go of the shit month I’d had. It wasn’t her fault, after all. “Besides,” I added as I pulled my best friend to my side. “I wouldn’t want to piss off Miss Bridezilla.” I was able to pop a quick kiss to the top of her head before she shoved away.
“Damn straight!” She laughed, grabbing my beer out of my hand. “And it won’t be long before it’s Mrs. Bridezilla.” A cloud of white floated through the air as she lifted the novelty wedding veil from the island. After adjusting it on her head, she smiled at me. “Let’s have some fun tonight. Forget all about that asshole of an ex-boyfriend. You deserve more than him anyway.” As she lifted the last of my beer to her lips, the doorbell rang and she raced into the living room.
More than thankful for the abrupt end to that topic of conversation, I opened the fridge and pulled out another beer. If I was going to have fun tonight, I was going to need at least a few drinks in me. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to be here, because celebrating Chelsea’s wedding was definitely important to me – even if that meant being the only man at her bachelorette party.
My sour mood had more to do with me not really wanting to be anywhere, lately.
My entire world was flipped upside-down when I came home one day, about a month ago, to find my boyfriend of three years in bed with another man. A haunting vision of that afternoon flashed through my head amidst the chatter of a few girls in the living room.
Exhausted, I fumbled with my keys. After finally getting the damn door opened, I was greeted by our golden retriever. “Hey, Katie girl.” Squatting in front of her, I scratched her head, making sure to get behind her ears. “Such a good girl,” I said against her soft fur. She wagged her tail so hard, she could barely stay upright. The house was quite, but I guess I should expect that much at six in the morning.
There was very little that was glamourous about being in med school – the least of which was the long clinical hours. After spending the last thirty-six hours at my emergency room rotation, all I wanted was a hot shower, some sweatpants, and my bed. My body ached as I walked through the house, but I knew if I didn’t let Katie outside now, she’d wake me up just as I was about to fall asleep so she could go outside. “C’mon, girl,” I called as I slid open the glass door leading to the backyard. “I’ll get you when I’m done in the shower,” I told her, as if she cared. Her attention was already focused on the squirrel invading her property
Shaking my head at her puppy antics, I closed the door and made my way toward the bedroom. I must have been so tired, I didn’t register the sounds coming from the room until I was standing in the doorway. For a split second, I thought my eyes were playing a trick on me. But nothing could blink away what was going on in front of me.
The muscles on Rob’s back bunched and pulled as he grabbed the hips in front of him. A long, low, groan filled the room as he sank into the body being offered up to him. Shock and anger raced through my veins. With his back to me, he didn’t even know I was in the room. I even debated turning around and leaving before he saw me, but there was no way in hell I was letting him get away with this.
“Having fun?” I called out, my voice booming over their moans of pleasure.
“Oh shit!” Rob yelled. Fumbling with the sheets, he rushed to cover himself which I found absolutely ridiculous. “I thought you had work today.”
Incredulity bubbled in my chest. Clenching my fists, I worked hard not to punch something – not to punch the unnamed man who was lying naked in my fucking bed. “You thought I had work?” I asked, my words laden with so much venom I could actually feel their weight as the fell from my mouth. “You’re balls deep in another man and all you could come up with is you thought I had work,” I seethed.
Before Rob could respond, the other man slid from the bed, pulling a blanket with him. Keeping his eyes trained on my bathroom door, I watched as he tried his best to avoid the confrontation entirely. “You don’t have to go,” I said to him as he froze in his tracks. Turning my attention back to Rob, I said, “I’m going to give you until noon to get all your shit out of here. That includes him.” It took all my effort to keep my voice as even and emotionless as possible as I pointed at the other man.
“But,” Rob started.
“But fucking nothing.” My voice boomed so loudly I thought a picture might fall from the wall. “I’ll be back at noon and you won’t be here.”
Turning my back on him was more difficult than I wanted to admit because even though I hated him more than anything in that moment, I still loved him. And I knew it would be the hardest fucking thing in my life to learn not to love him.
“Noah!” Chelsea yelled, pulling me from my horrid memories. “The limo is here. Get your sweet ass in here now.”
As I swallowed the last of my beer in one huge gulp, I also drank down my anger. Rob made his choice and as much as I hated that it wasn’t me, there was no point in wallowing in it.
Especially when my plans included a night at the hottest male strip joint in town.
2
CHAPTER TWO
Chase
Backstage stank of booze and sweat. Usually it didn’t bother me, but tonight the smell made my stomach turn. As the crowd filed in, the stench only got worse. Perfume and body spray swirled around the club as if it was a physical presence. I was actually thankful for the ridiculously loud music because it made the shrieks and screams of the women somewhat more tolerable.
But as much as I hated it, I had to put a fucking smile on my face and a G-string on my ass if I ever hoped to make it out of the shithole that was my life.
Not that any of it was my fault. Hell, it wasn’t anyone’s fucking fault, but it was certainly my responsibility.
“Crowd’s extra rowdy tonight,” Gavin announced as he walked to his locker. “God damn wedding season is in full swing, I guess. Seems like everyone out there has a tiara and veil on tonight.”
“Great,” I scoffed. “At least the tips will be halfway decent.”
Gavin nodded as he began to change. I tried my best not to look at him, but man-a-fucking-live he was hotter than any man I’d ever seen. And being a male stripper, I’d seen plenty of nearly naked men in my time, but none of them compared to Gavin. What made it worse was that he was my best friend. We’d known each other for years and when my parents died in a car accident, leaving me in charge of raising my younger brother, he was right there for me. As a joke, we both filled out the application here a few months back, figuring there was no way in hell we’d actually be hired. Luck was definitely on my side when I got the job, because there was no way I could’ve kept up with the bills.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of Gavin. Hating how my body began to react, I buried my face in my hands. Since I’d become essentially a single parent at twenty-three, I hadn’t made any time for myself – and that included sex. And while Gavin knew I was gay, I didn’t dare mention it to anyone else here. It was a battle I didn’t feel like fighting.
“You’re on,” Stacey, the manager, called out, pointing to Gavin.
“Yes ma’am.” He flexed his muscles and slid on his game face as the emcee announced his name. “I’ll get them all hot and bothered for you,” he joked as he walked past me.