by Steph Nuss
"How have you been?" I asked, waving her in for a hug.
She hugged me and sighed. "Really good, actually. I'm working for a PR firm. Keeping busy with clients." Her blue eyes searched my face and she smiled. "It's nice to finally see you again. I know Elly's been exceptionally happy since you've returned. You better not screw this up with her, June."
I laughed and shook my head. "I'm not planning on it."
"Good."
"What about you?" I asked, turning her gaze skeptical. "Is there a lucky bastard who goes by Mr. Paige Abram?"
She snorted a laugh and rolled her eyes. "No, it's just me, myself, and I, and I plan on keeping it that way. I don't have time for a relationship." She chewed on her straw and looked up toward the ceiling in thought before smiling back at me. "'Mr. Paige Abram' does have a nice ring to it, though."
* * *
She was talking about the different celebrity clients she had when Fletcher, Maverick, and Justin walked in. Cash pulled three beers and slid them onto the bar for them before helping other patrons. The three of them sat down around me, smiling and looking happier than I'd ever seen them.
"Why are you three so happy?" I asked, looking at each of them.
"They want to know if you and Elly had sex last night," Paige answered, rolling her eyes.
"Yeah, did you?" Fletcher asked, elbowing me and smiling a little too much for my liking. What Elly and I did or didn't do was none of their damn business.
"No, we didn't."
"Are you serious?" Fletcher snapped. He shook his head and reached for his beer.
Maverick grabbed his wallet out of his pocket and laid it on the counter. He peered over at me and shook his head. "You've got to be shitting me."
"Okay, you guys know the rules," Paige said. She propped her arm up on Justin's shoulder and smiled at Fletch and Mav. "We have to have confirmation from Elly before we take your money."
My jaw dropped and my mind instantly flashed back to the night before when Elly was more than ready for us to take things further. Did Elly know about the bet? I looked around at the four of them and smiled. "You guys bet on whether or not we had sex last night?"
"Yeah," Maverick said, tipping his beer back. "Thanks a lot, Jennings."
Fletcher turned toward me and studied me, pissed off and still in shock. "You seriously didn't have sex with her last night? Did anything happen?
"Fletch," Paige warned, raising a brow. "The bet was on intercourse only."
"What are we talking about?" Cash asked, looking around at the five of us. "Oh, did you ask him yet? Did you have sex with Elly last night?"
"No," I sighed, rolling my eyes. How many of them were in on this bet?
He bumped knuckles with Paige and laughed. "I knew they wouldn't."
"Getting back to the real question," Fletcher said, glaring at me. "Why would you not have sex with Elly? We should revoke your man card. She's one of the hottest redheads I've ever seen."
Before I could even answer, Paige answered for me. "Because Elly isn't like all the women you sleep with. If I know her, she probably wanted to wait. Right, June?"
I laughed and bit back the desire to correct her. The one time Paige was wrong, and I couldn't call her out on it! Clearly, Elly hadn't told her about last night. The five of them waited for my answer, but I was saved by the ding of the door and directed all my attention to the hottest redhead any of us had ever seen.
My redhead.
She walked in with Tessa by her side and immediately found me. She gave me a sexy smirk, and I felt the warmth from her brown eyes melting over me as she took in my appearance. She was in a short blue dress unlike any of the other dresses I'd seen her in lately. Her work dresses were tight and showed off her fit little figure, but had professionalism written all over them. The number she had on tonight was tight and short and had sex written all over it. Her pale skin glowed against the dark blue fabric, like a full moon on a clear, cool night. Her hair hung past her shoulders, and the smell of citrus surrounded me the minute her body pressed up against mine.
"Hey," she said, standing between my legs with her hands resting on my thighs. Her voice was soft and the word drawn out, just like when she moaned in pleasure.
"Hey," I said, looking her over once again. The only thing I didn’t want to take off of her was my eyes. They connected with hers again, and I smiled in approval. "You look beautiful." I ran my hands up her hips, along her hourglass curves, brushing past her breasts until my fingers were wrapped around her neck. I nearly drooled in anticipation of doing that exact same move later with my tongue, and the thought went straight to my dick.
"Thanks," she said, smiling. "You look really good tonight, too. I love it when you roll your sleeves up like this."
Her neck was so slender I could feel its muscles strain against my hands and her pulse quicken under my touch. I crushed my lips against hers, tasting her cherry-flavored lip gloss. The delicious flavor, mixed with her citrus scent, stirred a hunger deep within me, as only she could.
But, to be honest, she could be standing there in sweatpants, smelling of her natural body odor, with chapped lips, and I'd want her just the same.
Her lips broke away from mine and she turned to look at our friends. "Hey, guys."
They greeted her, and I wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her back into my chest and moving her hair to one side. I whispered into her ear, "Did you know about the bet?"
Her teeth pulled at her bottom lip and she tried unsuccessfully to suppress her laughter. "Um, I figured there probably was a bet, but I didn't know what it was." Everyone turned their attention toward us and listened in. She looked around at the gang and asked, "What was the bet?"
"They bet on whether or not we had sex last night."
"And they didn't," Tessa said, clearly disappointed. "I asked her and she said they didn't." She opened her wallet, pulled out a fifty and slammed it against the countertop.
"Dammit," Maverick said, laying another fifty down. He smiled over at us. "I thought we could count on you, Elly."
Elly shrugged and narrowed her eyes back at me. "Well—"
"No." Fletcher shook his head and looked around at everyone before firing his glare back at Elly. "I can't believe we've been sitting here for the last five years listening to you talk about him, and now that he's back you and your Little Debbie don't even try to unwrap a smile!"
Everyone laughed, and Paige distributed their winnings to Cash and Justin and stuffed the last fifty into her wallet.
I brought my lips to Elly's ear and whispered, "What'd you say about me?"
"Nothing," she teased, turning around to face me. "They'll probably disown you from the group if they knew you turned me down though." Her arms wrapped around my neck and I felt the tickling sensation of her fingers running through my hair. Her eyes searched mine and her smile diminished slightly. "But last night had nothing to do with any bet. I'm sorry I didn't tell you they'd probably bet on us. We like to place bets on each other. Not just about sex, but everything." She brought her lips up to my ear and whispered, "Tonight's bet is whether or not Justin will stay at the bar like we normally do on Friday nights or if he'll actually come with us to the club."
"Gotcha," I said, nodding. I started rubbing circles at the small of her back and she arched into me with a small, audible sigh. Her teeth nibbled my ear, causing my already stiff dick to grow almost painful, while her warm, slick tongue slid along my inner ear. Fuck, her tongue feels incredible. We still had a whole night ahead of us and I already wanted to take her home. Maybe I could try talking her into leaving the club early. My hands slid down the curve of her back and over her perfect ass to the hem of her dress and gripped the back of her thighs. Discreetly, my thumbs crept under the fabric and my dick twitched as I grazed her bare ass.
"I take it you like the dress," she said playfully, running her hands down my chest. When she moved her arms, her breasts swelled and peeked out from her low neckline, daring me to run my tongue alo
ng them and pull her straps down so we could have our fun. There wasn't one feature of Elly that I craved more than the other. I wanted all of her.
And I want all of her naked right now.
I grabbed her chin and brought her lips close to mine. "I'll like it even more when it comes off later." My other hand reached for her hem and tugged on the flexible material. "Nice stretchy material. Easy to rip off. Good thinking, babe."
Her eyes darkened with excitement and she crushed her lips against mine again, the soft moan that escaped her throat shooting straight down to where all my blood pooled. I moved over her lips ravenously. After last night, we already had each other memorized. The pressure we applied. The movements we made. The sounds coming from our throats. We knew each other better than we ever did before. Her tongue slipped into my mouth, twisting and sucking around my tongue as if it were my dick. My teeth grazed her bottom lip and she moaned against my mouth again loud enough for the group to hear. "I can't wait to take you home with me," she whispered.
"Get. A. Room," Paige complained, throwing a waded up napkin at us.
"Hey!" Fletcher scoffed, glaring over at her. "The least they could do is put on a show since they made us lose our money." He looked over at us and waved his hand. "Carry on."
Elly gazed down and studied my lips. I swiped my thumb across her now gloss-free, bruised lips, and smirked. She snorted out a laugh and grabbed my face. "Come here, you."
Chapter Twelve
Ellyson
The girls and I were in the bathroom at the club freshening up and taking a break from dancing. I wiped the sweat off my neck and reached into my clutch to reapply my powder and lip gloss. Fletcher's new club was amazing, as were all his clubs. The man knew how to provide a good time. The music was loud and the place was packed. The VIP room wasn't like the rest of his clubs' VIP rooms, though. Poison's had its own dance floor; it wasn't just a space where posh people sat around and sipped on their drinks away from the commoners. Those types of VIP rooms bored me.
Tonight, I wasn't bored. The electric lighting of the club turned us into silhouettes moving to the beat of the songs. With my back flush against Carter's torso, he held me tight and whispered sweet words of seduction into my ear, inviting every bit of my libido onto the dance floor with us. If his dance moves were any indication of his moves between the sheets, we had a long, beautiful, orgasmic night ahead of us.
I swiped on lip gloss and smiled at my appearance in the mirror. For the first time in a long time, I felt fantastic. Dancing always made me feel better, but dancing with Carter made me feel on top of the world.
"Can you guys believe Justin came out with us tonight?" Tessa asked, washing her hands. "And he danced with me! I, Tessa Wilder, got Justin Jameson out on the dance floor." She beamed with victory and stole my lip gloss. "I deserve a reward for that." She applied some gloss, then handed it back to me, and checked out her dress in the full-length mirror. "And he's a really good dancer. Did you guys see us out there?"
"Yeah, Paige owes me twenty bucks because she didn't think you could do it. Maybe it's a Justin thing, because he looked like Timberlake out there tonight."
Tessa's eyes widened. "Ohmigawd, could you imagine how much hotter he'd be if he could sing like Justin Timberlake, too? Next time we all go out, we're going to karaoke."
"You couldn't pay me to sing karaoke," Paige muttered, shaking her head. She pulled out a twenty and stuffed it in my hand. "And I still say Tessa's outfit got Justin out on the dance floor tonight." Her eyes ran over Tessa's short white dress and red heels.
"The bet wasn't about what got him to dance, just who," I laughed.
"I had to get my white in one more time before Labor Day," Tessa said, shrugging. She pulled her hair out of its messy bun and bent over to redo it. "And if a short, tight dress is what it takes for Justin to notice me, I'll wear 'em more often."
I laughed and grabbed my clutch. "Okay, girls. Well, I think Carter and I are gonna head out."
"But we just got here," Tessa whined.
"Actually, we've been here for three hours," Paige said, tapping away on her phone.
"Really?" Tessa slurred, drunk and confused. "It doesn't feel like we've been here that long." She walked over and gave me a hug. "You better text me tomorrow morning and tell me how sex the awesome was."
"You know I will," I said, laughing at her slur.
I linked my arm with hers and we followed Paige out of the ladies' room and back over to the couches where the guys were sitting. My eyes immediately connected with Carter's. The pounding between my legs intensified just at the sight of him. He was gorgeous in his dark jeans and red button-down. I bet he's even more gorgeous completely naked.
He smiled at me and stood from the couch. Tessa scooted in next to Justin and smiled up at us.
"You guys are super cute."
Drunk Tessa thought everything was super cute, but in this instance, she was right.
Carter wrapped his arm around my waist and kissed my forehead. "You ready?"
"Always," I said, smiling up at him. My libido was always ready when he was around.
He swatted my ass playfully, and I said goodbye to our friends and led us out of the club. He hailed a cab and scooted in next to me as I told the driver my address.
When we started to pull away from the curb, I attacked him. I groped his perfect stubble and pulled his lips into mine, fusing our mouths together, kissing, and biting, and tasting familiar flavors I couldn't get enough of. His masterful tongue dipped into my mouth and connected with mine, sucking and twirling around, doing a dance all their own. I ran my hands down his throat and wrapped them around the sweaty muscles of his neck, pulling him closer to me. He gripped my hips tight and deepened the kiss, moving rough lips over mine, giving me the burn I craved.
"The way you danced tonight." Kiss. "Had to be the sexiest thing." Kiss. "I've ever seen," he said, his eyes dark and blazing, staring back at me. His voice was deep and thick, dripping with the same need aching inside of me. We silently willed our driver to step on it while we continued devouring one another.
When the cab finally came to a stop in front of my building, Carter leaned down to my ear and rumbled in a rough, sexy voice, "Get your keys out. I can't wait. The minute we get up to your place, I'm burying myself inside of you. Right where I belong."
Ooh. He paid the driver and I fished out my keys as fast as I could and hopped out of the cab.
Carter got out and I grabbed his hand and practically sprinted up the steps of my building. He laughed deeply and I couldn't help but laugh at our enthusiasm along with him.
The minute we were in front of my door, we were panting for air and grabbing each other’s clothing. He pressed into my back and I could feel his erection through his jeans. He grabbed the hem of my dress and started pulling it up.
"Get us in the door so I can fuck you already."
I jammed the key through the lock, turned the knob, and crossed the threshold into my apartment. Large hands wrapped around my waist and hauled me back against the wooden door, the sexy beast unleashed.
His eager mouth was on mine and his greedy hands worked at our clothes. I fumbled around, undoing his belt and then undoing his jeans. I heard the distinct sound of material ripping and saw Carter toss my thong into the dining room.
"That was in my way," he breathed hotly against my lips.
With shaking hands I attempted to undo his button-down, but quickly gave up. I gripped the cotton and tugged with incredible force, ripping his shirt down the middle, buttons scattering all over the hardwood floor. His shirt fell open and I ran my hands over his perfectly carved six-pack and mumbled, "That looks way better without buttons."
He pushed my dress up above my hips as I pushed his jeans and boxers down over his, freeing his hard, gorgeous dick from captivity.
He gripped the back of my thighs tight, lifting me into his arms, and pinned me against the door with a breathtaking blow; I winced slightly as a tremor of pain ran
down my back. That was going to leave a bruise. I tightened my legs around his waist and twisted my fingers into his soft, messy hair, more than ready to experience him in a whole new way. His lips travelled down my neck and across my collarbone until he reached the curve of my breast. I rolled my head back against the door and closed my eyes, reveling in the feel of his hot, delicious mouth against my tender flesh, breathing in the musk of his cologne and soap that blended together to form the perfect scent of ecstasy. His hands moved from my ass to the neck of my dress and he pushed it down, revealing my lacy black bra.
"Beautiful," he said, running his hands over my hardened nipples and sending another ripple of pleasure through my body.
I anchored my hands tight around his shoulders, and then he filled me with more than I could've ever imagined. I spent the last nine years imagining what sex with him would be like, imagining the moment our bodies came together as one, but none of those thoughts compared to the exhilarating thrill of the reality of him and the wondrous mass of sensations he sent rippling through my system.
I dug my nails into his shoulders and held on tight for the ride I'd been waiting years for. He pumped into me over and over again, my clit rubbing up against him with each powerful thrust, and I moaned with each one. His strong thrusts and the rigid hold he had on me felt like he was branding me, ruining me for the rest of mankind. I was more than ruined. He had ruined me a long time ago without even kissing me. I knew sex with him would do more than just take me over. He'd completely consume me.
"Look at me," Carter breathed against my cool, sweaty skin.
I opened my eyes and felt my heart do a somersault as I stared deep into his dark, desirous eyes and saw just how monumental this moment was to him, too. Then his lips crashed into mine and, with one more deep thrust of his hips, he made my entire body shake with tremors of ecstasy, catching my moan in his mouth and then letting go with a deep, loud grunt.
I went limp in his arms, exhausted but totally satisfied, and already I could feel myself glowing like a neon sign in the night, bright and luminous, the smile on my face unbreakable. He rested his head against my shoulder and our chests heaved in unison as we tried to catch our breaths.