Maybe it was the tiny strand of guilt that caused Blake to add the final part against his will. “I was always the fucking odd one, hanging in the background making everyone uncomfortable. What happened with Jodie just made it easier to get out. What the hell do you want from me now?”
Visibly caught off guard by Blake’s outburst, Kevin stood there gaping as Blake shouldered his way into the building. But before the door could close, Kevin caught it and stomped through the doorway behind Blake. “You know something, Munroe? Your head is so fucking far up your ass, you can see out of your belly button.”
Blake kept walking. “You got that from Elaine.”
“You see that? That’s why we stay friends.” They stopped outside Blake’s apartment door, Kevin stabbing the air with his finger. “Because we know each other better than anyone else, even if it’s mostly bad shit. Like the time we caught Tommy jerking off in a pair of nylons.”
“Jesus, I’d managed to forget about that.”
“Yeah. Well?” Kevin said, his mouth spreading into a smile. “Lucky you.”
His old friend’s smile was offensive. The nerve of it slid under his skin like a knife blade. “You knew. You all knew what Jodie was doing and didn’t say shit.”
Ignoring Kevin’s crestfallen expression, Blake shook out his keys and stabbed them into the lock. “If that’s friendship, keep it.”
One of Blake’s feet was inside his apartment when he heard the front door to the building open and close. He glanced over Kevin’s shoulder and saw Autumn enter, the sunlight making a halo on top of her blonde head. Goddamn. She was so beautiful. She paused upon seeing him, popping out one of her earphones, her hazel green eyes inquisitive. In her black pants and tight, white button down, she looked different from the girl in the red dress, but she was still her. Painfully, exquisitely her. Yet, Kevin didn’t turn to look at their new arrival, as though he didn’t know or care that they were no longer alone. “Blake, you’ve gotta understand…”
Panic trickling in, Blake jerked his head toward the exit. “This has been heartwarming, but it’s time for you to go.”
But Kevin was clearly still hung up on the last thing he’d said. You knew. You all knew what Jodie was doing and didn’t say shit. “We were young and stupid, all right? We did things a-and knew things…without understanding the consequences. I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t ask for an apology,” Blake said, his voice low and tight. “Don’t want it, either.”
“You got one anyway,” Kevin’s hands went to his hips, then dropped. “Look. We’re having the block party—same date it’s always been on. 124th on the beach block. You should come.”
Blake had no choice but to tear his attention off Autumn where she was attempting to blend in with the mailboxes. “You can’t be fucking serious.”
“I want you there.” Kevin backed toward the door. “Deal with it.”
Kevin turned to leave and finally saw Autumn, but she was looking at Blake curiously, despite the high color on her cheeks. And it took Blake a moment to realize Kevin was splitting a gradually knowing glance between Blake and Autumn…because Blake could barely stop staring at her, either. How much had she heard, goddammit?
The wounds he thought he’d closed long ago were open. Suppressed memories floating to the surface. How dare anyone see him like this? Especially Autumn. She’d come to him wanting strength, someone to fear, but he felt the furthest thing from her imagined beast right now—and it pissed him off, because that was all he had to offer. Being confronted with the past had taken away his careful control. It was unacceptable.
Kevin left, the door snicking shut behind him, leaving the foyer silent. Dim, except for the single, muted halogen. Autumn’s wary expression told Blake his bitterness was showing on his face. And with the hunger to take back control sizzling in his gut, he decided what he was going to do. He crooked a finger at Autumn. “Let’s go, Blondie.”
Her steps were hesitant but when she drew closer, Blake could see her pupils were dilated, her pulse tick-tick-ticking at the base of her neck. “Who was that?”
Even through the unfounded resentment he was experiencing toward Autumn for overhearing the conversation, Blake had just enough restraint left to make sure she wanted what he was about to dish out. “If you come inside, I’ll be asking the questions.”
He slid a hand over her smooth collarbone and closed it loosely around her neck, stifling a growl when her mouth popped open. “Where were you last night? Let’s start there.”
Autumn’s back arched, eyelids fluttering. Oh, she liked that. Maybe she thought his possessiveness was part of the game. It wasn’t. “Work emergency. A-a dog got his head stuck in a family-sized pretzel tub and Owen asked me to help him get it off.” Blake watched Autumn wet her lips with a nervous tongue as relief speared him. Just at work. “If I come in, are you going to let me…do something for you this time?”
“Is that a condition?”
“More of a request,” she whispered. “In the spirit of fairness and all.”
No, dammit. He didn’t want her to be adorable. It gave him a stretching sensation in the region of his chest and it was too much right now, on top of everything else that had happened in the last twenty minutes. He’d closed himself off for so long, feeling nothing, risking nothing. But right now the risk of feeling too much seemed so fucking high, when all he wanted to take was reward. To drop out and forget.
The sound of the moving elevator pierced through the trance only Autumn could put him in and he guided her into the apartment, his hand still around her throat. Her pulse started going wild against his palm the moment they crossed the threshold. Blake could relate. His dick was at a ninety-degree angle, his skin begging for contact with hers.
They stopped in the living room, Autumn shivering as Blake circled around behind her, dropping the package on the coffee table in favor of running a hand over her gorgeous ass, gathering one cheek in a rude squeeze. “You want to get me off this time, is that right?”
“Yes.” One shaky breath. Two. “Please.”
Damn, there was a part of Blake that wanted to kiss her, gently push her until she was kneeling and praise her while she sucked him off, just for being so brave and walking into the lion’s den during feeding time. But that part of him was dwarfed by the need to reassert himself as the one who dominated her. That’s what she wanted, anyway. She didn’t want the bullshit complications. She wanted her safe cracked and he knew he had the combination.
It might have felt a little too good, feeling Autumn tremble as he skimmed his teeth up the side of her neck, listening to her breath catch. Yeah, it felt too good, because the hunk of flesh taken from him today was going to be given back tenfold. Too good because Blake was going to use Autumn for that purpose…but when her head lost power and fell to the left, allowing him to feast, how could he stop himself?
“Did you come to tell me you’d be late with the rent next month? Again?” Blake asked, tilting her chin up and to the side, as if inspecting her offering. “Maybe you came here to pay me with this little mouth.”
The game veered in out of nowhere and Blake didn’t put the brakes on. Couldn’t. Not with Autumn vibrating like a motel bed, her eyes glazed with permission to keep going. To let his instinct take over. “I promise I’ll have your money next time, but…”
“But?” Blake hit the T hard, snapping his teeth around the syllable as he pressed a thumb past Autumn’s lips, sliding it deeper and deeper. “But this time all you have to offer is a wet place to stuff my cock?”
Her nod was vigorous, even as she swayed on her feet.
“Well, go on. Convince me.” Blake gathered her hair in his free hand, twisting it around his fist and tugging her head back. “God knows it’s a beautiful mouth. It goes with the rest of you…”
He pressed his bared teeth to her ear. “And we both know I’ve been watching the rest of you. Real close. Especially when you give me a show, walking up the stairs with your tight ass on
a platter. Little Blondie the building pricktease. Isn’t that right?”
Blake sensed the anticipation inside of her pulling tight, tight. She was alternating between holding her breath and taking great big gulps around his thumb. He slid the digit out just long enough for her to say, “I don’t mean to be one.”
“You know exactly what you’re doing.” His thumb sunk home once again. “Now show me what your mouth will do around my cock.”
The joke was on Blake when Autumn started to pull on his thumb with whimpering sucks, her eyelashes making stark, black patterns on her cheeks. Still holding her hair in his left fist, Blake pulled until her throat was exposed, the delicate muscles moving with her enthusiastic efforts to suck his thumb. And he could no more stop his tongue from bathing and stroking those shifting muscles than he could stop time.
“Good girl,” Blake grunted at her temple, removing his thumb from her mouth. “Can you suck that hard from your knees?”
“Yes.”
“You’ve got yourself a deal, then.” He eased her to a kneeling position, anticipation licking at his insides, hot and sharp. Autumn—every little detail of her—was definitely the reason Blake was so goddamn turned on, but it probably didn’t help his patience that he’d been mostly celibate since moving into the building. It took everything in his power not to push her down to the ground and use her mouth like a depraved animal. “No rent next month, Blondie. Just my personal use of your pretty pink mouth.”
Her hands trembled while unzipping his pants. “Thank you, Mr. Munroe.”
“Put me between your lips and say that again.”
Until Autumn jolted, he’d forgotten it was the first time she’d seen his cock. Her hands seemed unsure what to do, her chin dropping toward the floor. “Oh…I might have to come up with some sort of game plan here. Maybe I can handle it in sections or, like, bring in both hands and my boobs at the same time?”
The sight of cute comedian Autumn peeking through their shared fantasy was like a twig jabbing into his chest, but Blake forced himself to ignore it, lest he pick her up off her knees, hug her and end this scene she needed to find satisfaction. Satisfaction he needed to give her to get back in control. “You’ll take it all.” Blake fisted his cock and pressed it past her lips, stopping after a few good inches had been sunk into the incredible damp heat. “Suck it. Or you’ll pay the rent like everyone else.”
Her eyelids drooped, but when they lifted again, the incredible hazel green was glazed over and she began to service him. Oh my God. Blake must have said it out loud. This gorgeous creature he’d been infatuated with since she moved in was on her knees sucking his dick…and loving it. In many ways, he knew himself to be an arrogant man, but hell if her lips stretching around his girth and the tiny catches in her breathing didn’t humble him. This was trust. Kneeling before a man twice her size, delicate and defenseless, and offering her mouth like a sacrifice.
Blake’s heart rapped against his ribs like birds hitting a screen door. God, he wanted to lay her on his couch and fuck her. Rip open that prim work shirt so he could wrap his tongue around her jutting nipples and suck them until she screamed. The size of his cock had shocked her. Did that mean she’d whine a little bit and beg him to start slow? Would he even be able to? Or would he lose control and pound into her pussy without restraint, using his mouth to trap her cries?
Need this girl. Need her like nothing else.
He didn’t realize his head was tipped back, mouth open, hips rolling forward until he missed the sight of Autumn’s eyes. He sought them immediately, finding them lustful, but curious. Somewhat compassionate. His heart stuttered, heat ripping up the back of his neck. Were his open wounds showing?
No. No, fuck that. Blake didn’t want her sympathetic. Didn’t want anyone’s sympathy, let alone Autumn’s. He wanted her lost in the moment. To see his strengths and not a single weakness. That’s what she needed, wasn’t it?
He glared down at her. “You’ve had enough time to get used to it. Take some more, like a good girl.”
Panic flared in her eyes, but she wrapped both hands around his base and sunk down another inch, choking a little. Fuuuuuck it felt perfect. She was perfect. His inner thigh muscles jumped and flexed, the base of his spine beginning to tighten. “Suck it harder, Blondie. Finish me off so I can recover. Then we’ll start all over again.”
Autumn’s hands paused, her body tensing.
He cupped the side of her face. “Oh, you didn’t think I’d let you leave, did you?”
Her chest started to rise and fall. Fast. So fast.
“You thought I’d let a sweet, young thing like you walk out of here, now that I know how good you are at sucking cock? That’s not how this works.” Blake slid his hand around to the back of her head, twisting strands of blonde around his fingers and thrusting crudely into her mouth. Deeper. Harder. The force pushed her knees backward a few inches on the floor. “That’s my mouth now. I’m keeping it. It works for me. By this time next week, I’ll have fucked it so many times, you’ll have paid rent for the whole building twice.”
Autumn whimpered, her thighs restless. She loved this. Jesus Christ, he loved it, too. Loved watching her get horny while his flesh tunneled into her mouth. And just when he thought she couldn’t blow his mind more thoroughly, she scooted closer and began to flat out worship him. There was no sympathy in her eyes now. Hell no. She wanted to make him come. She wanted to taste it. Her hands jacked him off with clumsy twists which grew more confident with each passing second, probably because Blake groaned loud enough to break a fucking window.
“Enjoy using your hands now, little blonde girl. You won’t always have them. I’ve got a rope with your name on it.”
Moaning, she cupped his balls with a hesitant hand, as if unsure she should be doing it…and when she looked up at him with obvious nerves, a lump built in his throat. “The only thing you could do to hurt me is stop,” he rasped, dropping the game in a split second. Seeing nothing but her. “You’re making me feel so good, I can barely fucking stand it.”
Blake didn’t process his own words until after the fact. And he expected her response to be humor or disappointment over him breaking character. In a million years, he never expected the sort of breathless confidence that stole over her features. Or the rough sucking that followed, her mouth bobbing up and down on his cock in a fantastic blur of pink, her hand massaging his balls.
“Harder,” Blake choked out, propelling his hips forward to meet her mouth in a faultless rhythm. A roar built in his throat. “Harder. I’m going to blow down your sweet little throat.”
Autumn took him deep and hummed, that vibration shaking up his cock and sending shock waves to his balls. His entire body.
“Oh, Christ. Fuck.” Blake’s lungs seized, scalding, hot come climbing his cock so fast he staggered on his feet, Autumn’s mouth still pressed to his lap. He didn’t know how he found it in him to rear back and drive deep one more time, only that he didn’t want the perfection to end. There had never been pleasure like this. It delved in his bones and spiked his blood cells like footballs in the end zone.
Standing became a challenge, especially when Autumn let go of his cock with a pop and he looked down to see her hand was inside her pants, her face upturned and full of pleasure. Her forearm only moved twice before she went off, her petite body shaking, a harsh whimper echoing in the apartment. Watching her in the throes of a climax sent another spurt of liquid heat up Blake’s cock and he couldn’t help but jerk off his semi-hard-on, stepping closer to Autumn and letting it land on her lips.
Mine.
Mine.
They stayed like that for a moment, catching their breath. As Blake put his cock away and Autumn wiped at her mouth, he ordered himself to do something. Something had to be done when your lover sat slumped on your living room floor. But all the options he came up with sounded wrong. Hold her. Would she want that?
Smile at her. He wasn’t sure how.
Talk to her. Abo
ut what?
“I fed the pigeons outside.”
Fucking idiot.
Autumn’s lips slowly lifted at one end. “Feeding them is gateway pigeon enabling. Next stop, full on pigeon healing.”
Blake scoffed. Wrestling with himself for a moment, he scooped his hands under Autumn’s armpits and stood her up, immediately taking a step back. “Don’t hold your breath, Fun-Size. I told them it was a one-time thing.”
She visibly softened, her eyes glowing and her lips becoming plump, but he had no idea what to make of it. He hadn’t told her about the pigeons to please her. Had he? Blake cleared his throat. “Well, then.”
“Well, then.” She rolled up a shirt sleeve, then shoved it back down to her wrist. “I…I didn’t mean to overhear you and that dude out in the hallway, but since I may have heard some stuff in an accidental, completely non-eavesdropping way, was that guy your friend?”
“No,” Blake snapped, that hot tide rising a degree under his skin. How had they gotten back here? “Let’s drop it.”
Autumn’s chin lifted—a new show of bravery he loved, because it meant she didn’t fear him. But he resented it all the same because he didn’t want her asking about this.
“I talked to you about Ian,” she said. “I just thought—”
“You thought what?”
Blake could hear his mean, brittle tone, but there was no help for it. Even though he hated the way Autumn withdrew, putting distance between them when he hadn’t decided yet if holding her was in order. The past had already bit him in the ass once today. The sting of betrayal and shock he’d subdued for a decade was startlingly fresh and he didn’t want Autumn to know about any of it. Being cheated on by his fiancée while his friends were well aware. Finding out about it while in an uncharacteristically vulnerable state, brought down by an injury, his chosen career—the career passed on by his father—in tatters. These were humiliations he wouldn’t be able to stand her knowing about him.
It was a testament to how much better of a human being she was than him. Because even though he’d fucked her mouth like a savage, then snapped at her twice, she reached out and laid a hand on his arm. “I don’t know. I thought…we could be friends. Since neither of us has any?”
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