Warmth spread through my body, and I wrapped my arms more tightly around his waist. David could be so rough with me sometimes. In the beginning, I never would’ve believed he could also be endlessly romantic. “What did you see that first night at the theater?” I whispered.
“Hmm?”
“At the ballet when our eyes met. What did you see?”
“I just saw you. Clear. Raw. I felt like I was witnessing something I shouldn’t be. I’ve often wondered what you were thinking in that moment that you’d let me see inside you like that. Ironic, because for months after, you tried admirably to shut me out like everyone else.”
I closed my eyes and smiled as I remembered the night that changed everything. “I was with Bill, Lucy, Andrew, and Gretchen. The performance was so beautiful, wasn’t it? I remember thinking how much I loved it, and how I wished life was that perfect and flawless. I didn’t know that it’s not supposed to be that way,” I said, my voice suddenly hitching. “That a messy life can still be beautiful.” David raked a hand through my hair, soothing me. “I was thinking about how, even in a room full of people, I could still feel so alone. That’s the last thought I remember before I saw you.”
“You let someone in before you could stop yourself. You let me in,” he murmured. He pressed his lips to mine, and my body reacted instantly, melting into him. “I hate to think what would’ve happened to you if we hadn’t found each other,” he said.
“I had a good life, David. I never would’ve known anything else.”
“I can’t think of anything worse than nobody loving you as much as I do.”
My heart throbbed painfully with his words. I didn’t know what I’d done to deserve him, to deserve words like those from his mouth, but I promised to be good every day of my life to keep him.
He took my hand again, and we continued walking. At the house, he grabbed his bag from where he’d left it on the back porch. Though the rest of our group had already cracked open a round of beers in the kitchen, David and I said goodnight and went upstairs.
In the hallway, he dropped his bag with a loud thud and embraced me, dipping me slightly for a kiss. My arms automatically went around his neck. I was happy to know, and feel, that despite his fear of hurting me during sex, his desire hadn’t waned in the slightest. But I had yet to see if he’d still be able to let go with me.
With a low moan, he deepened the kiss while fumbling with the door to our room. I heard him kick his bag in without slowing the pace of our kiss. He backed me into the nearest wall before slamming the door shut with his foot. “I need you,” he growled between breaths. “It’s been too many days.”
“I tried to warn you,” I whispered back.
His lips devoured mine greedily as he pulled me away from the wall and closer to his body. He tugged the hem of my dress up around my waist as my hands plunged into his hair. His fingers hooked into my thong, and it dropped around my boots. I kicked it away, and his hands slid under my ass. He pried my cheeks apart while pulling me against him, inspiring a feverish heat between my legs.
His fingers found me wet, and I shivered against him when they massaged me. He slid two in slowly from behind, pulling out every few seconds to fondle my clit.
I writhed against him as his other hand wrapped around my shoulders and under my hair to hold me still.
“I want to be buried deep inside you where I belong,” he said into my mouth.
His fingers continued to leisurely probe into me as I hastily undid his pants. My impatient hands found him impossibly hard, and he sucked in a breath with my touch. I stepped back to tug his pants and underwear down, and when he squeezed me back to him, his erection dug into my stomach.
When his hand withdrew, I hopped up suddenly so he had to catch me. He smiled into my mouth right before I sank onto him, and we effortlessly came together. Frozen, we adjusted to each other, exchanging charged breaths. My arms and legs wrapped tighter around him, and I moaned from the way he completely possessed me. His hand ran up my back and gathered my hair before pulling lightly. I drew back from his mouth to look at him.
He didn’t say anything, just looked into my eyes as we stood, immobilized by the overwhelming connection. There were no words so we remained that way, breathing and kissing and feeling each other. We were so lost that once we started to move, it didn’t take long for each of us to climax. I held on to him as my orgasm swelled through me like my love for him: steadily, no end, no beginning. He rested my back against the wall right before he came with shuddering intensity, pulling my hair gently and groaning against my neck.
Later, I fell asleep with him hugging me so tightly, he was almost crushing me. I didn’t ever want it any other way.
25
At some ungodly hour of the morning, David shuffled around the room as light began to filter through a window. I threw an elbow over my eyes with a groan. “What time is it?” I asked.
“Surfing time. Sorry, baby.” The mattress dipped, and I lifted my arm. He climbed on top of me in only his board shorts and kissed his way up my neck until he reached my mouth. “Smell that ocean breeze?” he asked.
I smiled sleepily with closed eyes. “Mmm.”
He laughed. “Go back to sleep. I’ll be done in a few hours.” And then he was gone, so I rolled over and pulled his pillow between my arms.
I woke up later to a knock at the door. “Who is it?” I asked, slightly disoriented.
“Me.” In that one word, I heard Gretchen’s voice crack.
I sat up quickly and grabbed David’s undershirt from the floor. “Come in,” I said, throwing it over my head.
She entered with a red face, lifting her eyeglasses to rub her eyes. “Hey.”
“What’s wrong?” I exclaimed.
She climbed onto the bed to sit cross-legged in front of me and took a shaky breath as if holding back sobs. “He’s gone,” she said.
Greg. That fucker. “What happened?” I asked.
She shook her head, and once her shoulders had stopped quaking, she continued, “I don’t know. When we went to bed last night, we were fooling around, and he wanted to have sex. I wanted to also—we haven’t done it yet, and it’s been months. But I couldn’t bring myself to, Liv. I don’t know why. I said no, and he got pushy.”
My teeth ground together. “He got pushy?”
“Enough for me to kick him out of the room. This morning, I heard a commotion, so I went downstairs. David and Greg were face to face, arguing about Jordan.”
My heart dropped. David wasn’t known for controlling his temper. “Oh, no. Please don’t tell me they got into a fight.”
“They didn’t,” she said. “But seeing Greg standing there, waiting for me to defend him, I just . . . I don’t know. I didn’t feel any sympathy or like we were on the same side. So I said, ‘David’s right. You were out of line.’ Greg called me a frigid bitch, and before I even had a chance to respond, Brian appeared out of nowhere and grabbed him by the shirt!”
My mouth hung open. “Brian defended you?”
She nodded quickly. “He shoved him into the refrigerator. Greg said, ‘Fuck it,’ gathered up his stuff from the couch, and left. Just left.” She looked like she was about to laugh, but she burst into tears instead.
“Jesus.” I scooted close enough to embrace her. “Have you been crying all morning?”
“Yes, but I’m not even sure why.”
I pulled back to look her in the eye. “What do you mean?”
“Greg wants everything to go back to the way it was, but . . . it can’t.” She looked at me. “He acts like you and Lucy are still his best friends.”
“Me? I’ve barely seen him since he moved to Chicago.”
“I know,” she exclaimed, “and he’s only seen Lucy once!” She pulled her glasses away and rubbed her eyes again. “I don’t know. The fact that he left without talking to me makes me wonder if he’s changed at all.”
Thinking back over the past twenty-four hours, I didn’t have to wonder
long. “He hasn’t. I’m so sorry.”
She sighed, wiped away another tear, and looked around the room. “Gross. I’m sitting right where you guys had sex last night.”
“Pfft. No, you’re not.” I grinned. “We didn’t even make it to the bed.”
She made a strangled noise, and her face crumpled. “Even fooling around with Greg wasn’t that great. I remembered it better.”
As the words left her mouth, loud footsteps ran up the stairs.
“Crap,” she said and stood. “They’re probably back from surfing.”
“Don’t go,” I said.
“I’m a mess.” She straightened her shoulders, tugging at her pajama top. “I need to change.”
David started through the door, wet and shirtless, then stopped. “Hey,” he said.
“How was surfing?” I asked.
“Good, fine.” His eyes drifted between us. “Everything all right?”
Gretchen dropped her face in her hands and shuddered with her back to the door.
“Yes,” I said, “but can you just give us a minute?”
Brian appeared behind David and peered in. “Gretchen,” he said softly.
“Just go away, Brian,” Gretchen muffled from her hands.
He ignored her and pushed David aside to enter the room. My mouth fell open when Brian took her arm, pulled her off the bed, and wrapped his arms around her. “He’s not worth it.”
Gretchen stilled, and I was afraid she’d push him off, but instead, she moved into his chest and unleashed a fresh set of tears.
I glanced at David and mouthed, “Oh my God.”
He shrugged.
“You guys ganged up on him,” Gretchen said into Brian’s chest.
David crossed his arms over his chest, and his expression hardened. “He crossed a line.”
“But he was right,” she continued. “I was frigid not to sleep with him and a bitch not to defend him.”
“Hey!” Brian cried as if offended. He lifted her chin with his finger and looked down at her. “That’s a load of shit. He was disrespectful to David and Olivia and to you. You were right not to defend him.”
“He’s a coward,” David said, still near the doorway.
“And a chump,” Brian added.
Gretchen laughed softly and pulled away from Brian. She removed her glasses and wiped her cheeks with the backs of her hands. “I’m sorry. This is embarrassing.”
“I didn’t know you wore glasses,” Brian commented.
“Contacts,” she said, nodding. “Usually.”
His eyes darted over her as she cleaned her glasses on her t-shirt. She was red and puffy, but her eyes shone blue. Just like Brian’s. It struck me then how similar looking they were. Soft blond hair, tan complexions, and striking, Windex-colored eyes. How had I never noticed before?
“How about a surf lesson?” Brian asked her. “David’s taking Olivia. I can take you.”
“What about your girlfriend?” she asked with a sniffle.
“She doesn’t want to get wet.” Brian shrugged. “Go figure, we’re at the beach.”
“I’ve taken lessons before, but . . .” She looked at the floor. “Sure. I guess.”
“Atta girl,” Brian said. “Go put on your bathing suit, and I’ll meet you downstairs in ten.”
She smiled with her eyes still downcast and nodded before leaving the room.
“Thank you, Brian,” I said. “I know you two don’t get along, so I really appreciate that.”
“No worries,” he said, then added to himself, “She’s not so bad underneath it all.”
I arched an eyebrow. “What was that?” I asked.
He looked up. “Nothing,” he called over his shoulder as he left.
David sighed and finally entered the room. “I say good riddance.”
I rolled my eyes. “Did you wake Greg up from the couch just to yell at him?”
“Yep.”
“Do you feel macho now that you’ve put him in his place?”
I expected David to defend himself, but his chest just puffed up. “Yep.”
I laughed.
“Brian likes her, you know,” he said. “I can tell.”
“Gretchen?” I crinkled my nose. “I was wondering if he might, but she made a pass at him a while back, and he turned her down.”
“Trust me,” David said, running a hand through his damp hair. “He’s into her.”
“They act like they hate each other,” I said.
“There’s a fine line between love and hate, baby,” he said, rifling through his bag. “And she likes him, too.”
“Now that is definitely not true,” I said. “I believe ‘pompous prick’ is how she once described him.”
“You and your dirty mouth again, Miss Germaine.” He glanced up from where he squatted. “I never did give you that spanking.”
My eyes widened. “Give it to me now, then.”
“No, not now.” He pulled out a fresh change of clothes. “We still need to talk. You seduced me into forgetting that I was supposed to be restraining myself.”
“So, let’s talk.”
He stood, shut the bedroom door, and came to sit on the edge of the bed. “Here’s the thing, though,” he said. “I don’t have an answer.”
“I do.” I crawled over and set my hands on his damp swim trunks. “There’s nothing to worry about. I meant what I said. I trust you, and I promise to tell you if it’s too much. Maybe I should’ve said something the other night, but I was confused because I liked what you were doing to me . . . even though it hurt a little.”
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said earnestly.
“Your pleasure turns me on—you taking what you need from me drives me wild.” I bit my lip. “I love knowing I can give you that.”
“Only you.”
I nodded. “You won’t go overboard because you know, and always have known, exactly what I need. But I promise, if you ever do, I’ll tell you.”
“All you have to do is say ‘stop,’ and I will, no matter what.” His brows furrowed. “I’ll never get so far that I can’t stop.”
I smiled and leaned over to kiss his cheek. “I know. Now, are you going to spank me, or are we going to surf?” My laugh turned into a squeal when he grasped my waist and dragged me facedown across his knees.
“Like this?” he asked. Since I was only wearing his t-shirt, he pushed the fabric up and exposed my backside. His hand ran over it tenderly before giving me a hard slap. I groaned with a quick exhalation, and he began to knead my skin, running his hand over the backs of my thighs. “Okay, up you go,” he said suddenly, lifting me onto my feet.
“No,” I protested.
“Yes. It’s time to surf. Let me see that itty-bitty bikini. Although, no—not with Brian around.” He frowned. “Actually, did you bring a one-piece?”
I laughed and shoved his shoulder before dropping to get my suit out of my suitcase.
Downstairs, Brian waited in the kitchen by himself.
“Ready to shred?” I asked and glanced at David. “Is that the right word?”
Brian laughed. “Yes, ma’am. Just waiting for your friend.”
With a small shuffle of feet, I jerked my head toward the pantry, where Brian’s girlfriend stood. Had she been there the whole time? “Oh. Morning, Kat,” I said. “Didn’t see you there.”
“Hi.”
“Are you getting a lesson, too?” I asked.
She shook her head, the corners of her mouth drooping. “I burn easily.”
“Oh.”
David’s face brightened as if that reminded him of something. He grabbed a bottle of sunscreen from the counter and passed it to me. “Slather it,” he said. “Don’t argue.”
The Miami sun had the potential to destroy me, so I did as he said. As I finished rubbing in the suntan lotion, Gretchen appeared, all shiny again with her hair and makeup fixed and her contacts in. “Let’s hit the beach,” she said cheerily.
David and Brian s
tuck longboards under their arms as the four of us made the short walk to the ocean. “The waves are small right now,” David observed. “We can just practice in the whitewater.”
“Whatever.” I shrugged. “Let’s go.”
“Uh, not so fast, little mermaid,” he said. “First you have to practice on land.”
“Why?” I wrinkled my nose. “Can’t we just do it?”
“No.” He set his board on the sand next to Brian’s. “On your belly.”
“Yes, sir,” I teased.
His expression remained serious. “The ocean is no laughing matter, Olivia. And these have to go,” he said, sliding my sunglasses off and tossing them with our stuff. “You need to be alert out there. No messing around. You could get hurt.”
I saluted him. Gretchen and I giggled, but his jaw hardened. We stopped laughing immediately and dropped onto the boards. He demonstrated how we should paddle and pop up. We both imitated what he’d done and held our poses as instructed. David squatted next to me, fixing my stance by adjusting my legs, as Brian did the same for Gretchen. I tried in vain to flirt with David as he corrected my back foot.
“What’s all this?” I heard Brian ask Gretchen. When I looked over, he was waving his hand near her face.
“What?” she asked.
“All this hair and makeup just to get in the water. It’s ridiculous.”
“So I want to look good.” She shrugged. “Who cares?”
“I do. You don’t need all this. You looked prettier this morning. Bed hair, no makeup, and pj’s.”
“Shut up, Brian.” Her lips drew into a line. “Why do you have to be such a sarcastic dick?”
His brows knit. “I’m being serious.”
“Well, then,” she said, shimmying to straighten her back, “I don’t need your pity.”
“No need to get defensive,” Brian said. “All I asked was what the point is. It’s going to get ruined anyway.”
“It’s waterproof makeup,” she pointed out as if it was obvious.
Cityscape Affair Series: The Complete Box Set Page 87