by Annie Evans
He wanted her to talk to him, except he should know by now that she wasn’t the type to discuss her problems. Getting details out of her was like chipping away at a mountain of stone with a butter knife.
While he loaded the dishwasher, she tossed her laundry into the dryer then threw another load into the wash. He was sitting on the coach in the living room absently surfing movie channels when she found him. Instead of plopping down beside him, she straddled his lap, her hands immediately going to the snaps of his shirt. She snatched the two halves apart then moved on to his belt buckle.
He caught her wrists in his hands. “Bell, wait.”
Green eyes lifted to his, but they were shadowed by what looked an awful lot like pain. His conscience wouldn’t let him ignore it in favor of a fuck, no matter how badly he wanted her.
“For what? I don’t want to watch television.”
“You’re doing it again.”
“This isn’t gratitude sex, Eli.”
He switched off the TV with the remote then tossed it on an end table. “I don’t mean that. You’re looking for a place to hide from whatever’s bothering you. The same way you did the night we met. You chose me over a bottle of tequila, remember?”
“So guess what? It works if you’ll play along.”
“I’ll be more than happy to if you’ll just talk to me first.”
She slid off his lap with a huff. “I don’t need to talk.”
“Yes, you do, and I’ll listen.”
Her fingers traced the piping on the couch cushion beside her hip while she watched him, her teeth worrying the inside of her bottom lip. Eli took off his boots before sliding to the floor and removing hers, along with her socks. He massaged the arches of her feet, the tops, sliding his hands under the legs of her jeans to rub her calves. Her tiny appreciative moan made him smile, but he wanted to see her smile back.
“You would rather hear me, a girl, talk about my problems instead of having sex? That doesn’t make any sense. You’re a man. I thought sex always took precedence over the touchy-feely stuff.”
Damn, that stung. This relationship shit was hard. “I’m going to ignore that remark because I know you feel cornered and the natural reaction is to lash out at the closest thing. That thing being me.”
She squeezed her eyes closed, opened them, blinking rapidly. “I’m sorry, Eli. Normally I’m not this bitchy.”
He placed her feet on his thighs, reclined back on his hands. “I know that, and I forgive you.”
Patiently he waited for her to summon the courage to tell him what was going on that was making her want to lose herself in sex.
“That was my mom who called earlier. I told you my parents are on a trip out west, right?” At his nod, she continued. “They’re at the Grand Canyon now before heading to Arizona, then New Mexico. They won’t be home for Thanksgiving.”
“You can spend it with the Carters,” he said.
“The reason she called was to tell me she received the tax bill on my grand—on my house, and that it’s almost five thousand dollars. Then she told me to sell it.” Her bottom lip quivered before she clamped it into obedience with her teeth.
“Why does the idea of selling it bother you so much?”
Bellamy sat forward, bracing her elbows on her knees while she rubbed her forehead. “Because I love the place and I don’t understand how she can be so callous about the home she grew up in. Doesn’t it mean anything to her at all? Hold any memories? Why doesn’t she understand how much it means to me? Growing up, I spent every summer and school holiday there. Every chance I got, I was in that house right up until my grandmother grew too feeble to live alone. The thought of some stranger living there…or taking a bulldozer to the place…it’s hard to take.”
“Have you tried telling her how you feel, Bell?”
“I shouldn’t have to. I’m her daughter. She should know. She should see, but she’s never paid attention. She doesn’t care.”
“Sure she does.”
A harsh, watery laugh. “No, she doesn’t. You don’t get it, Eli. My mom and dad are nothing like your family. There’s no warmth and joy and closeness. No hugs and kisses and tender moments. No fun family dinners, like tonight. The only people I got that from were Nana and Grandpa McCoy.”
He grabbed her hands in his, squeezing them, kissing the backs of her fingers. Praying she wasn’t about to punch him for what he was going to say. “You’re not gonna like what I’m about to tell you, but just hear me out, okay?”
She nodded.
“It’s just a house, Bell, on a piece of dirt. A big wooden box for all those special memories, like a keepsake chest where you toss newspaper clippings and old photos and letters. And if the house goes away, the memories won’t. You’ll always have them, no matter what. You got the best part of them both. Even though your cousins took all the material stuff, you carry them around inside you every day, right here.” He touched her chest over her heart. “I think right now you’re so attached to the place because you’ve just moved back and everything feels connected. Being there, in that house, makes you feel closer to your grandparents, even though they’re gone. It’s like a grounding rod for you, something tangible you can touch. A safe harbor when you needed it most. But you won’t always need it. Does that make sense?”
She sniffed, wiping the dampness from her cheeks. “Sure.”
When Eli rolled to his knees in front of her, she sat back on the couch, making room for him between her legs. “I can understand how you might feel overwhelmed or scared, moving to a town where you don’t know a living soul, taking over a business from your uncle and having to prove yourself to his customers. But you’re brilliant and funny and determined, so you’re going to do just fine. Better than fine.
“Here’s what you need to know most of all, though—you’ve got friends who are pulling for you. There’s Kai and Fritz and Sage. Mom and Dad. Most of all, me. And even if this thing between us ends, I’ll always be here for you as a friend. Always. No strings attached.”
“You really mean that?”
“Wouldn’t say it if I didn’t. I told you I like you, and that includes all parts of you, not just your body.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder, her words muffled when she said, “You’re the sweetest, kindest man I’ve ever met. Also, the hottest.”
He laughed while he rubbed her back. “I’m just being honest, sugar. I hate seeing you upset.”
“I appreciate what you said, and it does make sense. It might be that I do have to sell the place one day, but right now, I need it for all the reasons you mentioned and some you didn’t. I’m not ready to let go yet.”
Eli could certainly understand wanting to hold on to something…because he was starting to hope he never had to let go of her.
Chapter Ten
Bellamy came awake to the feel of Eli’s breath stirring her hair, his body solid and warm behind hers, his rough palm gliding up and down her spine beneath her shirt. Firing nerve endings under the skin with the slow yet deliberate caress.
They were spooned together on his couch, where they’d fallen asleep after their talk. And wow, what a talk. He’d moved her like she’d never been moved before. Filled her heart with feelings she didn’t know how to handle. Except to acknowledge they felt good. A bit frightening, but she suspected that was because they were new and different and fragile as glass.
She started to roll over to face him but he stopped her, tightening the arm that crossed her chest just below her collarbones. “Hold still,” he murmured, the rough order like a tongue stroke across her nape.
Then his fingers deftly unhooked the clasp of her bra, that one talented hand coming around to move the lace cup aside and cover her left breast. He caught her nipple between two fingers and squeezed, then kneaded her until she arched into him, pressing her bottom to his groin.
He was hard against her, hot even through the layers of his clothing. She wanted to reach bac
k and cup him, stroke his length with her palm, smooth it down to the tender sac beneath, squeeze and hear him groan in her ear. Feel him grow even harder and hotter from her touch.
“Unbutton your jeans,” Eli said, fingers still toying with her nipple. Her hands shook as she did as he instructed. “Push them off, but leave the underwear.” That task wasn’t as easy with his arm still holding her trapped against his chest, but she managed to wiggle them down her thighs, where he hooked a foot in the fabric and shoved them the rest of the way off. Bellamy kicked them to the floor.
“Better,” he said.
She held her breath while his hand moved down her stomach to tunnel beneath the elastic band of her panties. No teasing outside the scrap of cotton. No hesitancy either. His palm cupped her mound while a long finger eased between her lips, separating her, finding the slick entrance to her body and sliding inside. The hot intrusion pushed a low moan from her throat. He drew the dampness back up to her clit, getting her wet with her own juices so his finger could move easily along the cleft.
“I love touching you,” he said, the low timbre of his voice fueling her excitement. “Could listen to you make those sounds all night long.”
He thrust a thigh between her legs and lifted, urging her to spread for him, make room for him to work her harder. Drive her slowly mad with each stroke. Her fingers curled against his forearm and thigh, aching to cover the hand on her sex, needing something to hold on to as the pleasure built between her hips. Her face heated, lips parting with her gasping breaths.
Eli pressed his mouth to the side of her neck, using his nose to push her hair aside so his lips could brush her skin. She was on fire. Flames licked between her thighs. Beneath his fingers, her clit grew molten. Her hips rolled into his touch while behind, he pressed close to her ass, a subtle pressure on his cock.
When his teeth closed on the tender skin beneath her ear, the frenzy broke and Bellamy came, shuddering and groaning as Eli’s arm cradled her to his chest. His hand slid from her panties, impatiently shoving the material down her hips before going to his fly. He freed himself, adjusted their bodies to his liking, and slid his cock between her thighs.
His harsh “fuck” as he thrust once across hot, hypersensitive tissue made arousal flare again, scorching and so sharp it was almost painful. She felt it in her throat, low in her belly, in the palms of her hands and the soles of her feet. She squeezed her thighs together, knowing she was pushing the limits of his control, forcing him to that razor’s edge between letting go and holding back. His hand tightened on her hip as he flinched and cursed again.
“You have no idea how bad I wanna slide inside you bare.”
Bellamy almost said, “Do it,” drugged by the raw need dripping from his comment, but she swallowed the reply, waiting him out. No question it would feel amazing without the artificial barrier, and she was on the Pill, safe and clean, but now wasn’t the time for that sort of serious conversation. Not when they were both so caught up in the moment, their judgment compromised by emotion.
But then he was releasing her to scramble off the couch, common sense overtaking lustful urges. He was back in less than thirty seconds, jeans open and loose around his hips while he rolled a condom down his shaft. Just that sight made her shiver.
“Get on your hands and knees.”
Oh God, that voice. Gruff and demanding, with just a hint of desperation. His words chased another tremor down her spine as Eli worked her panties the rest of the way off her legs and snugged himself in behind her, the tip of his cock nudging once before sliding deep inside. The stretch was so unbelievably good, laced with a tinge of discomfort as her body adjusted to his size. Her head tipped down, hair falling forward against her cheeks and throat, catching in the corners of her open mouth as Eli rocked into her, bottoming out on a hard groan. His fingertips dug into her flesh, layering sensation upon sensation, pain on top of pleasure.
Bellamy curled her fingers on the fat arm of the couch, the leather soft and supple beneath her hands and knees. She lifted her head with the intent to look back at him over her shoulder when her eyes caught on their reflection in the window next to the couch. It was dark as pitch outside, transforming the smooth surface of the glass into a mirror. With the curtain pinned back, the view was unimpeded.
And to borrow a phrase from Eli, Goddamn, what a view.
Her breath caught as she watched him move—his flexing abs, shoulders and biceps tight, facial features lax as he stared down at where their bodies were joined together. The image was so erotic she felt another orgasm begin to gather in her core.
Eli huffed out a short laugh, drawing her gaze to his in the glass. “I think you might have a kinky side, honey.”
She tried to smile, too caught up in the moment to speak.
Another handful of deep thrusts, then he wrapped an arm around her waist and drew her up and back to rest against his chest, whipping her remaining clothing over her head. Their motions slowed until they found a new cadence that worked with the position, but once they were in sync, it was pure magic.
“Touch yourself. I wanna watch while I fuck you.”
Jesus. This was all so new and different for her. Never before had she been so turned-on by a man or his dirty, bossy mouth during sex. Or anytime, really. One look, one word from Eli and she was lost. Except he didn’t believe in keeping it short and sweet. No, he preferred detailed and filthy.
“That’s it,” he said as her fingers circled her clit. “When you do that, you get so tight around me I nearly come on the spot.” After a few lazy strokes, she moved them down to where his cock slid in and out of her wetly, attempting to make a tight ring of her thumb and middle finger. He grunted, pinched her nipple, saying, “Damn, you’re evil.”
She grinned. “Just trying to unravel you.”
“S’working,” he murmured, voice drunk with endorphins.
Bellamy dropped her head onto his shoulder while he thrust into her. In the glass, her expression looked hungry, the whole picture a bit lewd but no less arousing. He covered a breast with a big hand and one of hers landed on the back of his neck, fisting his hair, while her other hand worked at pushing her past the tipping point.
An orgasm that rivaled them all burst from her center, radiating outward in scalding waves, one after another, until the breath trapped in her chest turned into a sharp cry. Eli’s arm tightened. The hand on her hip slid to her stomach, holding her closer as he came, shuddering and whispering her name into her hair, the sound making her heart flutter behind her sternum.
Breathing hard, she stared at their reflection, watching as the tension gradually ebbed from their bodies. Sweat shone on her belly, on the side of Eli’s throat and high on his cheekbones. His dark hair fell across his eyes. She looked decadent, thoroughly debauched, her hair wild around her flushed face.
Who was that girl? And what was this man doing to her?
His features softened then his gaze met hers in the glass. He dropped a kiss to her shoulder before disengaging his body from hers.
“Shower,” he said, hiking up his jeans.
After a quick rinse amid playful gropes and sloppy kisses, they migrated to his bedroom. It was decorated much the same as the rest of the house—simple, masculine and homey, in soothing shades of tans and browns, the exterior walls being the natural logs with cream-colored chinking between each one. A flat-screen television hung on the wall opposite the bed. Dark green curtains covered the only window. If he did the decorating himself, she was impressed.
He tossed her one of his t-shirts to sleep in while he stepped into a pair of loose plaid boxers. So far, all she’d seen him in were the snug kind, not that these weren’t sexy too.
At Bellamy’s curious look, he said, “I like to let the boys breathe at night.”
“Ah. I’m sure they’re grateful. Why not just sleep naked?”
“Never could get into it.”
Together they climbed onto his giant manly bed with its amazing mattress and fluf
fy pillows and soft, rumpled sheets that smelled like Eli’s skin. Bellamy was practically snoring by the time she pulled the blanket up to her chin and he switched off the lamp on the nightstand.
“Talk to me about this vegan thing,” he said.
Now? She thought great sex was supposed to put a man into a coma.
“Must we?” She rolled onto her side to face him and cracked an eyelid.
His head was propped on one hand, his eyes much too alert for the hour. He nudged her with a knee beneath the covers. “Come on, I want to understand it.”
“Well, for starters, I’m a vegetarian, not a vegan. There’s a difference, but please don’t ask me to explain because there are varying degrees of veganism. We could discuss the particulars all night. I simply don’t eat meat. Once in a while I might have a piece of fish, but I couldn’t tell you the last time I did.”
“So for protein you just eat what? Eggs?”
Bellamy rubbed her nose. “Plus nuts, dairy, soy products, beans.”
“Huh. And you don’t miss meat at all. Not even a fat, juicy burger?”
“Nope. Even when I did eat it as a kid, it was always in small quantities.”
“Does your job have anything to do with it?”
She shrugged. “I’m sure it does in some ways, since I work with tame animals for the most part, but I doubt the majority of large-animal vets share my aversion to meat.”
“Anyone give you a hard time about it?”
“Oh yeah. Over the years, I’ve heard it all. My dad thinks it’s unnatural. Says humans didn’t climb to the top of the food chain to eat grass.”
“That’s harsh.”
“And terribly antiquated, but that’s my dad. He’s former military. Speaks his mind no matter whose toes he steps on, even if they’re his only child’s.”