by Joya Ryan
He cupped her hips and pulled her closer. “I’m not lonely right now,” he whispered.
She reached up and wrapped her arms around him and gave him the softest, sweetest kiss he’d ever had.
“Neither am I.”
She walked him back until he felt the edge of his bed, and he sat down. She instantly straddled him, her dress floating over his legs. He tunneled his hands in her hair and she reached between them to work his belt open and shimmy his pants just enough to reach in and grab his cock.
“Baby,” he whispered, “If you let me get up, I’ll get us both undressed.”
“Can’t. Maybe later. I need you now,” she said. She pulled harder and East was all kinds of ready for her. The fact that she needed him so much now made his chest swell with pride. Plus, there was that sweet promise of “later,” so for round one, he wasn’t complaining on getting inside of her, stat.
He pulled a condom from his pocket and handed it to her. He didn’t take his mouth from hers. He just unzipped her dress enough to let the top fall low, exposing her breasts.
She had the largest, firmest, most perfect breasts that he’d ever seen. And thank Christ she wasn’t wearing a bra. He latched onto a delicate pink nipple and sucked hard. Her little moan made him clutch her closer. He swirled his tongue along her flesh as she arched into him and put the condom on.
“Don’t stop doing that,” she said when his mouth continued blissful suction.
He gave a little nip to show his understanding as she pushed aside her panties and gripped his cock to guide it inside of her.
It was his turn to moan now.
Once she was seated on him, taking him all the way in, a deep sigh of fulfillment came from her. She held his head against her chest and rocked back and forth, up and down, riding him like she needed him, just as she’d admitted.
East wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, surging up as she sank down, never letting his mouth trail from her amazing breasts.
“I feel you everywhere,” she said and East knew exactly what she meant. Because he felt her everywhere, too. Especially in this tugging spot between his ribs.
“East…East…” Her breath was picking up and her hips were rocking in his lap. He opened his mouth wide and sucked as much of her breasts as he could. He flicked and lapped his tongue and felt her go even wilder on him.
She was riding him like a pro, and his own release was on the brink of rising. He couldn’t come until she did, though. He gently bit down on her pouty nipple, and that did it.
Hearing his name from her mouth, he felt her whole body shake with her orgasm as she used him to take it all. And he was right there to take it and follow her down.
He never let her go. Not with his hands, his cock, or his mouth as his orgasm swept over him and he thrust up hard, letting the lashes of pleasure hit his skin like a whip.
He could barely think, barely register anything but the sexy hellcat in his lap. But he did know one thing. Natalie was slowly killing him with pleasure.
Chapter Nine
East’s head was pounding. Even through his closed eyes the sun was blinding him, and he was pissed because the day was trying to wake him from the most incredible dream he’d had.
He reached out to grab his covers and felt the hot, smooth skin of Natalie’s perfect ass.
He peeked open an eye and saw her sleeping next to him.
It wasn’t a dream.
She was here, she’d stayed, and they’d had an incredible night. And now she was in his home, sleeping in his bed—
Knock, knock, knock.
Shit, that wasn’t pounding in his head. It was—
“East? You in there, man? Wake up!” Matt’s booming voice rang out from the other side of the front door.
“Shit!” East gently shook Natalie’s hip. “Baby? Wake up, wake up.”
She sleepily looked up at him, and if he hadn’t been so fucking terrified because her brother was on the other side of his front door, he’d have taken an extra-long moment to appreciate how beautiful she was in the morning.
She grumbled at him and, in her true sassy fashion, hit his hand away and tried to pull the covers up.
“Natalie, you have to get up. Your brother is knocking down my door.”
That made those big eyes pop open.
“Are you joking?” she asked.
Just then another round of knocking came, and Natalie got with the program.
“Shit!” she whispered.
“Right!” East agreed.
She looked around and grabbed her dress and her panties and hugged them close. “I guess it’s too much to hope you have a back door to this place?”
East shook his head.
Natalie quickly scanned the room and then headed for the closet.
“Natalie—”
She shot him a grumpy look. “Just go get rid of him, okay?”
East helped her in and then he shut the door behind her. Then he felt like a terrible idiot and opened the door to give her a quick smack on her lips with his.
“Are you out of your mind?” she whispered, but then kissed him back quickly before tugging on her dress. “Go answer the door before he breaks it down.”
East nodded quickly and tried to compose himself. He pulled on his discarded jeans from last night and walked through the short hallway into the main room to answer the front door.
“About time,” Matt said. “It’s after ten. Didn’t know you’d be sleeping in.”
“Long night,” East said.
“I bet,” Matt gave him a grin. “I saw you talking with Sara last night.”
East ran a hand through his hair and glanced over his shoulder toward his room. Christ, he hoped Natalie wasn’t hearing this. He’d hooked up with Sara once last year, and he dimly remembered talking to her. But he’d talked with a lot of people and obviously wasn’t looking at anything more with Sara.
“Nah, nothing like that.”
“Well, I was just checking in to see if you could make sure the chairs from Baughman’s rental company get to the garden for the ceremony on Friday. Also, will you pick out the groomsmen gifts? I just have a fuck ton to do. I’m going back to Connecticut for a few days then coming back for the ceremony. Oh, and keep the gifts around a hundred bucks a person.”
“So, I get to buy myself a gift from you?”
“Yeah, basically,” Matt said.
Matt walked to the kitchen, and East realized he had left his bedroom door wide open. That wouldn’t have been so bad if A) Matt’s precious baby sister wasn’t currently stashed in his closet, and B) her glasses weren’t right there on his nightstand, totally visible from the front room.
Fuuuuck….
This was why people had bigger houses and longer hallways! But unfortunately for East, he’d never wanted or needed much, and now Matt was a few yards and an easy glance away from seeing Natalie’s trademark glasses resting on his nightstand.
East tried to casually make his way to his bedroom door, but every time he took a step in that direction, Matt followed and kept talking about wedding details. East then tried to turn so his focus was away from the room and the tangled sheets he’d just had Natalie in last night. He felt like no matter what he did, though, it was written on his forehead.
A rush of terror and flood of guilt hit him all at the same time. Here he was, staring down his best friend while his best friend’s sister was hiding in his closet.
“You all right?” Matt asked.
“Yeah, why the hell is everyone asking me that lately?”
“Because you look weird.”
“You woke me up, asshole.”
Matt raised his hands. “Cranky. Must be hard having the day off.”
“I still work. I’m teaching the damn CPR class.” Just because the season was a bit slow didn’t mean he wasn’t doing anything. He still had training, equipment checks, and now the damn class.
“Fine, fine. Don’t get snippy because you didn’t get your
beauty sleep.” Matt headed toward the front door. Thank God. “One more thing. Bridget wanted me to kindly remind you that the wedding and reception are classy events.”
“Oh, and I’m not classy enough for her?”
Matt raised an eyebrow. Okay, fine, he wasn’t classy—certainly not classy enough to be at the St. Clair level. But hell, he was house-broken for Christ’s sake.
“We meant more like the best man speech could be classy, too.”
“Oh, so you don’t want me to bring up that one time we went to Mexico and found those women—”
“No.” Matt shot him a stern, no-nonsense look.
“I’m kidding,” East said. “I’ve got it covered.” Of course, he was lying. He had no clue what the hell he was supposed to say at a wedding, much less how to give a speech about love or committing to one person for the rest of your life. He was probably the least qualified person on the planet to talk about any of that. But he couldn’t let his buddy down. “Already working on something great,” he assured Matt.
He made a mental note to try to figure out what the hell he’d say for a speech and added it to his growing list of things to do.
“Oh, and thanks again for looking after Natalie. I saw you dancing with her. It was sweet.”
“It wasn’t a pity thing,” East said, a touch defensive. He didn’t like the way Matt sounded like he was doing her some kind of favor. If anything, Natalie was too good for him, and her even entertaining the thought of him was more than he’d ever hoped possible.
Didn’t change the fact that he couldn’t be the guy she needed, or would even want long term.
“I know,” Matt said. “I just think it’s nice she can count on you. I wish I was around more, but you’re doing a good job keeping an eye on her, especially with all this dating stuff.”
“Yep,” East said, feeling like a special kind of loser himself.
“Thanks, man. You know she’s really special.” Matt slapped his arm and walked out. East shut the door and locked it behind him. He waited until Matt’s truck pulled out of the driveway before he headed back to his room and opened the closet.
Natalie was standing there in her wrinkly dress and messy hair, her big eyes staring at him.
“Well, that was…” She glanced around. She stepped from the closet and went straight toward her glasses and picked them up.
“I’m so sorry. I would never hide you in a closet on purpose,” East said. And it was dumbest thing he could think of. But what else was he supposed to say?
“Sure, it was all an accident,” Natalie said. There was a bite to her words. East felt like he’d done something wrong, but it wasn’t like he’d shoved her in there. She’d been hustling in there before he’d even thought to hide her. But any trace of the dynamic they’d had last night was gone. All that remained was the confrontation of what was real. And what was real was that Natalie had just been stashed in his closet like a secret…because she was. For both their sakes.
Which was something they both knew and understood. So why did he feel this shitty?
“I’m going to get going,” she said.
“Well, let me give you a ride,” he said.
“I’m good. The shop is only a few blocks away.”
“Natalie, I’m not going to let you walk out there looking like—”
Her eyes snapped to his, and that made his voice cut off real quick.
“Like what?” she challenged. “Like I’m coming from a night at a man’s house with my panties in my purse?”
He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. So he tried again.
Then once more.
Finally, words decided to come.
“Not exactly,” he said. But this was Natalie. He couldn’t let her walk out of here, right? He was supposed to protect her from jerks, not be the jerk whose house she left wearing last night’s dress and makeup. He was in way over his head here. This was why he’d never had a woman to his home before.
She just blew a lock of hair out of her face and shoved her glasses up her nose and ran her hands over her dress.
“Well, don’t worry, East. Walk of shame or not, it’s nothing I can’t handle.”
That was like a punch to the gut. She marched to the front door and shut it a little harder than usual behind her. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d done the only he thing he could have in the moment…but why did it still feel like the exact wrong thing to do?
Chapter Ten
Natalie walked into Michelle’s boutique. It had been twenty-four hours and two long showers since she’d seen East the other night, and she needed a girl fix.
“Hey! I was wondering when I was going to see you,” Michelle said happily as she walked through the door, and came around the counter to hug her. “You left so quick at the party the other night we didn’t get a chance to chat.”
“Sorry. I was just tired,” Natalie said.
“I bet! Those cupcakes were amazing though! Beautiful work. And not a single one left over.”
“Thanks.” Natalie flicked through a few items on the rack.
“You looking for something particular?”
As Michelle spoke, Natalie caught sight of the back table full of what looked to be a new lingerie collection.
“Is this your new line?” she asked her friend. Michelle ran not only the hottest boutique in town, but also designed her own line of lingerie. It was just starting up, but it was already proving to be both fun and lucrative for her friend.
Michelle beamed with pride. “Yeah, just in time for fall! The dark red is my favorite.”
Natalie agreed. She held up the bra and matching panties, which were all hand-stitched lace and silk.
“For your date?” Michelle asked and wiggled her eyebrows lasciviously. Ha, if only she knew. East was far from a date, yet he was on her mind all the time. She’d always seen him as another big brother to boss her around, and it was hard to reconcile that feeling of affection and frustration with the pure animal desire she seemed to melt into whenever he was physically near. It was so annoying. And the more she tried to stop thinking about him, the more she found her thoughts wandering back to that night in her cupcake shop…or the night at the back of the bar…or the night he’d brought her—her, awkward ugly-duckling Natalie—to his home.
And then she’d ended up in the closet. That made her angry, but she didn’t really have a reason to be. East hadn’t done anything wrong the other night or the other morning when she’d hid from her brother. But it felt…bad.
So was this her being dramatic about something that she didn’t need to be dramatic about? Was this part of dating? No, because she wasn’t dating East. They were a secret. Not even that—they were some sort of negative anomaly that kept bouncing back to the same bad decision to have sex and then feel crappy afterward.
It was a swing. Back and forth, never changing, nowhere to go.
Have sex, say “never again,” then have sex, then “never again.”
On and on.
Still, Natalie wanted to talk to someone so much. Because, while she knew all the reasons why what she and East were doing was a mistake, she kept going back. And what was worse, every time she gave in, she felt more deeply. And to go from being in his arms and his bed—apparently a place no other woman had been—only to then be in his closet, felt…bad.
Like that tight-in-the-chest, sore-in-the-brain, ache-in-her-stomach kind of bad.
“Yeah,” Michelle said, and Natalie realized she hadn’t answered her friend’s original question. “Those are definitely date-type panties you’re looking at.”
“Something like that.” Natalie glanced at the garter belt and absently ran her finger along the silk. Michelle came to stand by her.
“I know it’s hard,” Michelle said, her voice soft. “Dating, men, expectations from others…it’s just hard. But some things you don’t have to hide. If you ever want to talk about anything, I’m here.”
Natalie glanced at he
r friend with a grateful smile, but then her words sank in. Did Michelle know about her secret relationship—or whatever it was—with East? Or was she being paranoid?
“What would I want to talk about?” Natalie asked with her best casual voice, probing to see if Michelle alluded to knowing her secret.
“Anything,” she said. “I do have expertise in dating the bad boy, you know.” She winked. “But seriously, sometimes secrets are hard to carry on your own. I just want you happy, and I’m here for you. That’s all.”
Crap…she’d said the word “secret.” Maybe she did know?
No, there was no way. East wouldn’t tell her, and Natalie hadn’t even mentioned him to anyone except in the same way she always had: with annoyance.
Whether Michelle knew about her personal life or not, she did know about what it felt like to fight for yourself against expectations. And Natalie must have been wearing her emotions on her face, because Michelle gave her a hug. Maybe she should confide in her friend. Discreetly, of course.
“Thank you,” Natalie said. “You ever feel like you’re trying to find something and just can’t quite get your hands on it?”
Michelle nodded. “I think you’re trying to find yourself and I think you’re doing great. You’ve really put yourself out there these past couple weeks. Whatever is helping you gain the confidence I’ve seen come out in you, keep it up. Because you deserve to feel that self assurance.”
Natalie thought of East, how he looked at her and how he made her feel seen. She loved that—like butterflies fluttered beneath her skin.
Then I go into the closet.
She shook that notion off. Michelle was right. She needed to stick to her plan to find herself and what she wanted. And she needed to survive the wedding and get her mother off her back.
“You know, even wearing something like this under your clothes can make a woman feel sexier. You don’t have to even show it. Just knowing you’re wearing it provides that hidden sense of confidence,” Michelle said as she gestured to the red lace set.
Natalie could see the point in that. Besides, she needed to feel sexy.
She’d gotten a different glimpse of East the other night. She’d seen past the smart attitude and right to the soul of him, and it connected to her on a level she hadn’t been ready for. While she’d known him most of her life, she was learning that there was a special side of himself he kept hidden, and she really wanted to see more of it.