The Avoidance of Love (The Daniels' Sisters Book 2)

by J. L. Monro

  Later rather than sooner, the appointment was over and I had all the notes that I needed. I jumped in my car and flew to meet Coops for shopping.

  Coops didn’t need to be asked twice to go shopping.

  “So why are you all enthusiastic about shopping today?”

  I updated him on what Jace had done for me this morning. Once I finished, Coops was one hundred percent on board with me and the plan to reward Jace.

  The first stop was Agent Provocateur. There were several times I had to question whether Coops really was gay. He had me trying on set after set of lingerie while he waited and viewed every piece. He then systematically decided which ones I would be buying and which ones weren’t fit for a stripper at Stringfellows.

  A four-digit figure later and we had bought all I needed to wear. Next, we needed to set the mood, as Coops put it. Apparently, I needed to create a romantic scene in the bedroom with candles, oils, and music. This was turning into one expensive shopping trip, but it didn’t bother me in the slightest.

  Three hours and one thoroughly beaten credit card later, and I was ready to get back and set things up for Jace.

  “Are you going back to your place or Jace’s?”

  “Jace’s. He has a few races coming up, so it’s easier if I stay at his place now. I have to admit I’m missing my place.”

  “If you’re comfortable staying with him then there’s no real reason to back to yours yet. Maybe stay a couple of days and then talk to him about staying a few nights at yours when he gets a break.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. I knew there was a reason I kept you around.”

  “I’ll see you at work tomorrow.” We gave each other a hug and kiss goodbye. Something I was becoming more and more comfortable with doing and initiating. Maybe the ice queen was thawing out.

  I had everything ready by the time Jace came home. Brielle hadn’t said much to me when I got in, which I was happy about since it meant I could focus on my task. I was unbelievably nervous when I heard him coming up the stairs. I had texted him earlier to let him know that I had a return surprise for him.

  I heard him say hello to Brielle then hit the stairs.

  “BonBon, where are you?”

  “Upstairs.” My hands were somewhat clammy. I had never done anything like this for anyone so I didn’t really know what kind of reaction to expect.

  “BonBon, I hope . . .” He didn’t finish his sentence as he walked through the door. “Fuck!” He looked me up and down, and then adjusted himself while he took in the room. The curtains were drawn with tea lights strategically placed to give enough light to see me but still maintain an ambience. I had on the Alina Basque thong set from Agent Provocateur with garters and stockings, and my pair of five-inch fuck me heels. I stood by the bed in the sexiest pose I could muster with my hand on my hip and one of my legs slightly bent. Coops had had me practicing this pose all day so I hope I had gotten it right.

  Jace shut the door, never taking his eyes off me, and now I felt very vulnerable. He stalked toward me, eyes unblinking.

  “Get on the bed, Mara and lay back.” Oh shit! I did as I was told, tentatively moving until I felt the mattress against the back of my legs. I lifted myself up and shifted so I was far enough on the bed that I could lay back without my head hitting the headboard or my feet dangling off the edge.

  Jace came to the end of the bed, still watching me. I couldn’t ignore the lust and desire in his eyes, yet he made no immediate move to touch me. He began to strip out of his clothes. First went the T-shirt. I could every muscle in his arms and chest moving to remove it. I wanted to get up and touch him. It took every ounce of control not to. He kept taking off each item of clothing just as slowly until he stood in front of me in just his boxers. I could see his erection trying to escape, and I was waiting for him to release it, but he didn’t. Then he moved toward me. Slowly and purposeful.

  His cock grazed my leg as he moved up my body and I tried to shift to get it on the path to the right destination. “Keep still. I’ll tell you when you need to move.” When his face reached the side of mine, he took a deep breath to inhale the scent of my hair, fanned out across the pillow. His stubble grazed my cheek, and I started to rub my thighs together to try to ease the fire that was coursing through my body. Only he had this effect on me and he would be the only one who ever did. He moved his knee in between my legs so I couldn’t ease myself, which made me moan. “I’ll help you out soon, baby. I just want to feel every inch of you right now.”

  He kissed my neck down and along my collarbone, which made me shiver. Palming my breast in one hand and suckling on the nipple of the other, he started to grind his cock right against my dripping core. “Jace, please?” He didn’t even answer me. The hand that had been kneading a breast reached for my thong and pulled it to the side allowing the cooler air to blow against me. My thong was soaked through. I wanted it off me.

  Slowly he pressed into me with his first finger and began to massage the source of my internal heat. Not long after, he added another finger and began to work faster, taking me to the brink, to an edge I wanted to run and leap off.

  Just when I thought I was going to hit my peak, he stopped. I opened eyes that I hadn’t realized I had shut, to see his head moving lower before I felt his mouth pressed against me. This was an assault of the senses. Between the grazing of his stubble, the flicking of his tongue, and the finger that was massaging my clit, I couldn’t make sense of all the sensations, but they were driving me crazy. I was making more sounds than I ever had. Pleading, begging, and gasping. All sounds rolled into one and not making an ounce of sense.

  “Fuck. I can’t hold off, Mara. Turn over.” Yes! I wanted him in the worst way and now he was going to make sure I felt all of him. I scrambled to all fours and had not steadied myself, when his hand came down on the nape of my neck, and he thrust into me simultaneously. My back bowed, and I took him deeper.

  I was no match for each thrust and when his palm came down onto my right cheek, which was all it too for the orgasm wave to come crashing over me and take me off the cliff where I had been teetering. I screamed his name, but he wasn’t there yet. He kept going, harder, faster, and the build- up returned. My body was quivering and my face was pressed into the pillow as I rested on my forearms, the strength in my shoulders long gone and unable to support my body any longer.

  I could feel the sweat on his thighs against my bum as the speed increased to a frantic pace. I felt his whole body begin to shudder and then come down over mine as he held himself up with one arm and used the other to return to my clit. This time we climaxed together before collapsing on top of the sheets completely spent.

  “Just what every girl needs before bed time: a nice hot piece of cockolate.” We both laughed.

  I had also bought a bag of tricks that Jace insisted we use before the night was over. By the time we had got to the final item, I was done for the night. I was tapped out and I think Jace was as well.

  “Hmmmmm, booty lube.”

  “You should be so lucky. You’re going to have to step up the romantic gestures to get to use that treat.”

  “I think my cock is out of order anyway. You’ve broken it.”

  “Good. Now go to sleep, sex slave of mine.”

  I WOKE UP to a text from Coops saying that he wasn’t feeling well, so he wasn’t going to be in the office today. It was already past nine in the morning. I had never slept in so late. I began rolling out of bed and was immediately pulled back under the covers against a hot naked body.

  “Where you going? I have more cockolate for you.” He ground his growing erection between my equally naked bum cheeks.

  “Cockolate will have to wait. I’ve got people coming into the office that Coops was going to deal with, but since he’s not going to be there, I need to haul ass and get there.” I gave him a kiss and ran to the shower. I had an hour to get ready and get to the office. I was cutting it close.

  I got ready in record time considering the
number of times Jace tried to drag me back into bed. Two minutes before I needed to leave, and I was running round like a headless chicken trying to find my office keys. The bedroom looked like an explosion had gone off in a sex shop. There was lingerie, sex toys and other sex paraphernalia littered everywhere around the room. No wonder I couldn’t find my keys. I’d need to stop off at Coops to borrow his set until I could uncover mine.

  Giving Jace a long kiss goodbye, I went to work. He said he would meet me after work and we could go out for dinner instead of me cooking when I got in since I was going to have a late day. I’d be silly to ignore that part of the reason he was still being so thoughtful was because he wanted to try the booty lube.

  Coops didn’t look that sick when I saw him, but he assured me it was akin to man flu that he had and he didn’t want me too close in case I caught his germs. I took his word for it since he never took time off work for illness.

  Work was boring with a capital B. Half the appointments that Coops had were time wasters with unrealistic projects. The last one was a young couple who wanted a house in the shape of a fruit so that they could influence the world with visual stimulation to be healthy. You know when you’re staring at someone and you just want to bitch slap the stupid out of them? That’s how I felt for a whole hour.

  The one thing I was looking forward to all day was dinner with Jace. So when eight o’clock came and he hadn’t showed, not only was I disappointed, I was pissed. There had been no call or text to say he was going to be late or not show at all. I had tried calling him several times to ask him where he was or how long he was going to be, but every call went straight to voicemail. By nine o’clock, I had given up. I shut down my computer and locked up the office.

  I could hear laughter coming from the house as soon as I came through the gate. The deflated feeling that I had when I left the office was replaced by anger. Walking through the house, I found Jace and Brielle laughing in the living room surrounded by empty containers of Chinese.

  He looked up and saw the thunder on my face.

  “BonBon, what’s wrong?” Was he serious?

  “We were supposed to be meeting for dinner. I was waiting for you.” He got up and walked over to me, but I backed to way. I was considering grievous bodily harm right now, and it was in his best interest not to come any closer.

  “Shit. I forgot. I am so sorry. I got back late from practice and Brielle had found a place to go look at so we quickly ran out to go see if it was any good. She suggested we get some food on the way back, and I was so hungry, I forgot I already had plans with you.” I looked past him to see Brielle trying not so hard to hide the smirk on her face. The bitch had a plan. If Jace was going to be blind to this, then I wasn’t going to stick around.

  “Okay.”

  “Okay? You’re not mad with me?”

  “Okay, Jace.” I turned and headed for the stairs.

  When I reached the bedroom, I dropped to my knees, grabbed my bag from under the bed, and began to pack my stuff.

  “What are you doing?”

  “What does it look like?” Thank God, I didn’t have much to pack. It didn’t take as long as I thought it would. Jace was hovering around me the whole time telling me to stop acting stupid, which of course wound me up even more.

  I carried my bag downstairs, and he stepped in front of me.

  “Get out of my way, Jace.”

  “You’re being irrational. I forgot dinner; I’m sorry.”

  “Jace, we’re in a three way relationship. Call me when she’s gone, but I won’t wait around forever.” With that, I stepped past him and went to my car.

  I want to say I was steady in my resolve while I drove back to my flat, but I wasn’t. The tears streamed continuously down my face the whole way home. I felt like I was back to where I was a year ago, where it was just me and no one else. The only difference was that I now knew what it was like to have more in my life. I knew everything I was missing and it hurt.

  As I walked into my apartment building, I could hear music coming from upstairs. Who has mid-week parties in this place? I had picked this flat because of the location and the type of people who lived here already. They were all professional or retired singletons that had carved out their careers and had very little time for much else.

  The more stairs I climbed, the louder the music grew. I was praying that it wasn’t one of my direct neighbors but it was worse. It was coming from my flat. Who the hell was in there? If I had acquired squatters while staying at Jace’s, I was going to be pissed. It had only been a few days since I stopped by and checked on the place.

  A part of me thought I was stupid for going in by myself, but I wanted to see what I was up against. Opening the door, the music was blaring, I was surprised no one had called the police to report the behavior.

  Never could I have guessed what I was about to see . . . my sister and my assistant doing the Charleston in face masks, dressed in a bikini and matching mankini.

  “What the fuck is going on?” Both heads whipped around to look at me.

  “Busted.” Coops announced and then they both started giggling. It was going to be pointless getting mad at them. They were both stinking drunk. Fuck it. When in Rome. I dropped my bag on the floor and went to the kitchen to find a bottle of wine and a large glass.

  I sat down on my sofa and, even though I felt miserable and rotten inside, it still felt good to be home. Coops and Lana eventually came and sat down at my feet like puppies that had been scolded.

  “So why have you been partying in my flat? You both have your own places. Lana, yours is bigger than mine.”

  “Yes, but we were the singles crew.” Her words were slurred, and she was struggling to keep upright. Coops slung his arm around her shoulders. “The three of us together. Forever destined to be single because no one appreciates our awesomeness.” Coops was nodding his head in agreement. I was more concerned about him spilling wine on my floor. “And then I shot myself in the foot, Mara. I found you love and now we’re all alone with our singleness.” I groaned and emptied my glass before filling it again.

  “Why are you here anyway? You’ve been staying at Jace’s most of the time.” Coops seemed the more sober out of the two.

  “Brielle.” I didn’t feel like the situation needed any more explanation than that, but the two drunkards wouldn’t let it go. I gave them both a recap of what had happened today and they added that they thought that Brielle had kept Jace from meeting me on purpose, even though he was still at fault for forgetting in the first place.

  Lana finally managed to sit up unaided. “Wow. I still can’t believe Eric did that. He’s quite easy going.” I raised an eyebrow at her. “No, we never did the vertical samba.”

  “I thought it was called the horizontal tango.”

  “That was last decade. It’s all about wall sex these days. Anyway, I remember we were out once and he saw this guy shouting at his girlfriend and he nearly knocked him out right there and then. He was ranting for ages that real men didn’t abuse women. Guess he’s got double standards.”

  “Yeah, maybe.”

  “So why have you thrown in the towel and left Brielle to feast on your man.”

  “I haven’t thrown in the towel. I just couldn’t do that kind of living arrangement anymore. He needed to make a decision. Either tell her to find somewhere else to live, or I go. So I went. I mean how could he not realize having his ex-fling there was going to grate on me?”

  “And you told him all this. Word for word?”

  “Not exactly.” Maybe she had a point. I hadn’t exactly coherently explained what my problem was to Jace. I had just expected him to know, to understand, and take the correct action accordingly. “Fuck. I’ll deal with it in the morning.”

  I decided to discover what my sister and probably best friend had been doing in my flat while I’d been away. Apparently, the routine was to get drunk on as many different concoctions of alcohol as they could create, dance until the buzz wore off ju
st enough to sit down, and watch Dirty Dancing. No part of me wanted this to be my life.

  We all crashed on my bed, sprawled out on top of the sheets with both Lana and Coops dressed in their swimwear. I never did get an explanation behind that part of the night.

  THE SIMPLE BIT of light that shone through the smallest crack between my curtains, managed to find my forehead and made me squint, which caused me endless pain. I was groggy and in pain. Groaning, I rolled to get past Coops barely covered body and find my bathroom.

  Lana was already up as usual. No matter how much she drank, she never had a hangover. It just wasn’t fair.

  I looked in my bathroom mirror and the face that looked back at me echoed how I felt. I was absolutely dragging. I quickly decided the best thing I could do was take a shower and get myself some coffee to try to kick-start my system into functioning mode.

  Stepping out of the shower and going in to my bedroom to get dressed, Coops was still laying half-dead on my bed. I got ready all the same. If he woke up, he wouldn’t be interested in anything he saw.

  Lana was sitting at my table drinking a glass of fresh orange juice when I came out.

  “Hey. How’s your head?” She looked amused, but I was surprised she didn’t make more of a joke about it.

  “Not great, but I’ll live.”

  Once I had my coffee, I sat down to join her.

  “So what are you going to do?”

  “Talk to him.”

  “There’s that sensible sister of mine. Make sure you do it sooner rather than later.”

  I needed to get in to the office. There was no way Coops was going to be in functioning order anytime soon. I don’t know why he did this to himself on a regular basis. I asked Lana to let him know that I still had his keys to the office and to come in when he felt able to, although part of me didn’t think I would be seeing him again today, unless I came home and still found him in my bed.