Deliciously Bitter (Naked Brews Book 3)

by KB Jacobs

  Damian peeked inside. “Let’s see what you’ve got. Snowcaps and Junior Mints. Excellent movie-watching choices. What is this?” He held up a small plastic bottle.

  “That’s the best popcorn seasoning you’ve ever had.” I pointed at the cheesy film strip logo. “It’s made by the dilapidated theater downtown. The place is an absolute wreck, and I’m pretty sure this seasoning is the only thing keeping them in business.”

  Damian’s eyes got this bright light in them that transformed his entire face. “Interesting.”

  “We should go down there sometime.” I bit my lip. Hard. What the hell was that? Did I just ask Damian on a date?

  His face shut down, the light zapping out in a second. He ignored my comment and went rooting through the basket again. “You like horror movies?” Damian lifted up my ancient copy of Children of the Corn.

  “Yes and no. I’m a big wimp and scream at every scary part, but I love watching them, and this is one of my favorites.”

  Damian smiled, but it wasn’t as good as when his face lit up like a Christmas tree. I’d still take it, because even his almost-real smile got the butterflies fluttering again. “Why don’t you go get the movie set up, and I’ll put on some corn?”

  I nodded and tossed him the jar of seasoning. Kicking off my shoes, I shuffled back to the living room to get the movie set up. It was a cozy room with a deep couch and a few end chairs. My first night here, Damian had sat in one of those chairs, keeping his distance from me. Last night, I had invited him to sit next to me, because apparently, I like torturing myself. I plopped down into the middle of the couch and waited for the sound of corn popping in the kitchen to stop.

  Damian walked in, a big bowl of popcorn in his hands...and a T-shirt covering his chest. He must have run to throw one on. Disappointment hit me in the gut, but it was probably for the best. I didn’t need the temptation, and I was only here to help Damian get through the night. And if I kept telling myself that, I might actually start to believe it.

  “Got room for me under your blanket?” he asked.

  I lifted the corner of the throw and patted the couch next to me. “Always.”

  He slid in and set the bowl of popcorn on my lap before scooping up a handful. “Let’s see if this seasoning is as good as you say it is.” He threw the kernels into his mouth and closed his eyes while he chewed. “My god.”

  I smiled, silently pleased with myself for kind of being responsible for making him happy. “I know, right?”

  “It’s salty and sweet at the same time. How the hell do they do that?”

  I laughed. That’s the same question I’d been asking ever since I discovered the little theater a few months ago. “Don’t question the gift.” I scooped up my own handful of buttery goodness. “Just enjoy it.”

  Damian looked at me, his eyes darkening as his expression turned serious. “I can do that.”

  The butterflies went wild because that look. That look said things. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph on a donkey. I reached up a hand and ran it along his jaw. “I think it’s been a while since you’ve been given a gift. Since you’ve been willing to accept one.”

  Damian dipped his head into my hand and closed his eyes, nodding.

  “How long?”

  He swallowed, and I resisted the urge to pull him into me, protect him from my own question. But I didn’t. Damian didn’t need my protection; he needed my...something else. And I wanted—no, needed—to give it to him despite the niggling in the back of my head telling me this was an extremely bad idea. What could go wrong? He’d be leaving soon.

  “Almost three years.”

  I hissed in a breath.

  Damian pulled away from my touch. He tossed the popcorn bowl on the table. “I don’t need your pity.”

  “Question.” Is that what he really thought I felt for him? That was so far from the truth. I admired and respected him, not only as a person, but for all he’d overcome. I put my handful of popcorn back in the bowl and turned so I could face him fully. “Do I strike you as the kind of woman who would sleep with a man out of pity?”

  Damian swallowed again but shook his head, looking anywhere but in my eyes.

  “Question two.” I reached up and grabbed his face with both of my hands. “When is your birthday, Mr. Thorne?”

  “August.” The word was barely more than a whisper.

  “Happy early birthday.” I pulled his face down to mine and kissed him like I could fuse our lips together.

  Within seconds, Damian’s arms wrapped around me and he kissed me back, matching my intensity. His head dipped, and his mouth left a trail of hot kisses and bites across my jaw and down my neck, but I needed more. So much more.

  I slung my leg around to straddle him and grabbed the edge of his shirt to pull it over his head. Damian froze, his fingers clenched around my wrists. The panic was there in his eyes, but it warred with the desire burning there as well.

  Leaning down, I kissed his temple where the burns started and worked my way down the side of his face, kissing every inch of burned skin until I reached the collar of his shirt. “You are beautiful.” I brushed my lips along the edge of his ear where the skin was puckered and ridged. “Every last inch.”

  He shuddered.

  Damian let go of my wrist, and I lifted the shirt up and over his head. Starting where I finished, I kissed down his shoulder and down his chest. I slid off his lap to plant a trail of kisses down his abs and couldn’t resist letting my tongue have a taste.

  I moaned, the butterflies fluttered in my stomach, and my hands reached for the waist of his gym shorts.

  Damian grabbed my arms and pulled me back onto his lap. “Oh, no you don’t. It’s been three years, and I intend to make this last.” He tugged my shirt up, and with a single flick had my bra unhooked and tossed to the floor.

  “Three years, huh?”

  The wicked grin twisting his lips set my core on fire. “Just like riding a bike.” He drew my left breast into his mouth, and it took everything I had not to come right then. I ground my hips into him, and his erection pushed back against me, barely restrained by thin layers of pajamas.

  His hands rushed up and down my bare spine, sending shivers and goosebumps over my body. I thrust harder against his thick shaft, and Damian groaned, his teeth scraping against my swollen nipple.

  “Dammit, Alex.” He lifted us both up and tossed me back against the couch. “Are you trying to send me over the edge?”

  I reached up and ran my nails along the generous length of his cock, pressing against his gym shorts. “Maybe.”

  He hoisted my hands up over my head and pinned them there with his hand. “You’re going to pay for that.”

  “I hope so.” The words were barely out of my mouth when he descended on me, pulling my right breast into his mouth, swirling the nipple with his tongue, and sucking it just the right way.

  I wriggled under his weight, but he had me boxed in with his legs. He took his time, teasing and pleasuring my breast while his free hand touched and explored everywhere.

  Finally, his mouth made its way back to mine, and he released my hands to run through his hair. But no sooner had he let go than his fingers were tugging at my pajamas. In two seconds, he had them tossed to the floor, and I was naked.

  His mouth tore from mine to kiss a straight line from my mouth to my belly button. My pussy throbbed with need. He hadn’t even touched me there, and I was already soaking wet. Gently, he spread my knees apart and kissed my thighs, right, left, and then right again, each time moving closer and closer to my pulsing heat.

  “You, my dear, sweet Alex, are the beautiful one.”

  Damian dipped his head and tugged my swollen clit into his mouth. My hips surged to meet him, and he grabbed my ass, pulling me closer, deeper. His tongue swirled around, drawing out my pleasure and pushing me closer to the edge.

  “So good,” he growled into my sex, sending a new thread of sensation straight to my core. He alternated between soothing movement
s and demanding need, keeping me on edge until I didn’t think I could take anymore.

  My muscles clenched, and my body drove closer and closer to an orgasm. “Damian,” I yelled out as he slid two fingers inside me and hit the bundle of nerves hidden there as his teeth played at my clit. I threw my head back and grunted as the orgasm pulsed through me, sending shockwaves down into my trembling legs.

  Damian kissed his way across my stomach and back up to my heaving breast, but I was done with the games.

  I pushed against his shoulders until he was looking at me. “Damian, I need you to fuck me. Now.”

  He stood and dropped his shorts, his erection slapping against his stomach in agreement. I couldn’t help but lick my lips. Maybe not tonight, but soon, I would have that delicious cock in my mouth.

  Damian leaned down toward me but froze with his hand planted on my hips. “Jesus fucking...I don’t have a condom.”

  “Movie case,” I panted out, needing to feel him inside.

  Damian reached over and opened the DVD case where I’d stashed a few condoms before coming over here. It had felt assumptive at the time, but praise Jesus. He opened one of the foil wrappers and slid the condom over his glorious shaft.

  “Now.” I reached up and pulled him down to me, arching my hips to welcome him in.

  He slid into me, my core opening and stretching to accommodate his size and then pulling him in deeper. It started slow, but I was too far gone for a prelude. I grabbed his hips and bucked to meet his thrusts.

  “Fuck, Alex,” he hissed between breaths. “I’m not going to last.”

  “I brought more than one condom.” I scraped my nails up his bare ass and urged him even deeper into me. My muscles clenched in preparation as I balanced on the edge of another orgasm. “Come with me.”

  Damian leaned down and took my mouth in his, tangling our tongues and biting at my lips. He slipped a hand between us, and his thumb zeroed in on my clit, rolling the tingling bud in tiny circles that matched the pace of his frantic thrusts.

  I broke his kiss as the tension built, drawing me closer and closer to the edge of ecstasy. My back arched, and I let out a guttural scream as he assailed my senses and the orgasm tossed me over the edge of bliss, my toes curling as pleasure exploded along every nerve. Damian grunted and pulsed with me as he found his release with my shaking body.

  He collapsed on top of me, and I wrapped my trembling arms around his shivering torso. We lay that way for what felt like forever, content to just soak up the moment.

  “That was...” His voice trailed off as if he was overwhelmed.

  “Only the beginning,” I whispered in his ear.

  Good or bad, we’d taken the leap. All we could do was hope for a soft landing on the other side.

  Chapter Twenty

  Damian

  I awoke to the amazing sensation of Alex wiggling her ass against my growing erection. My hand cupped her bare breast, her nipple pebbled under my palm. I groaned low as I fondled her with intent as her hips pushed back against me.

  “You’re not too sore?” I asked.

  “No, never,” she whispered, her voice thick with sleep and arousal. “Feels too good.”

  I kissed her neck where her floral scent was strongest. I loved that my sheets would smell like her.

  We’d made love several more times throughout the night, relocating to my bed after the second time in the shower. I thought she’d been overly optimistic when I’d seen the strip of condoms in the movie case, but as I grabbed the last one off the nightstand, I gave thanks for her forethought.

  As I shifted my hips to suit up, muscles unaccustomed to this kind of workout screamed at me. I chose to ignore them. What was a little discomfort when faced with this kind of incredible pleasure?

  She reached back, grabbing hold of my ass cheek and tugged me forward. My hard length ran along the folds of her hot, wet core. I reached around in front of her and fingered the hard bud of her clit as I slid inside.

  Her muscles tightened, grasping at my shaft as I thrust in and out. Even though my stamina should be better after the gymnastics of the evening, my balls were already tightening with impending warning. As I got to know her body, the sex got more and more amazing. I began to recognize all those little signs of her coming orgasm, which just ratcheted my desire for her higher, faster. “You feel so damn good. milking my dick like that.”

  She tightened her inner core harder, leaving me groaning out a harsh, long, “Fuuuck.”

  Thrusting in and out, lost in the sensation of our bodies joined as one, I panted into her neck.

  “Damian!” Her core rippled over my cock, pushing me into orgasm.

  I jerked and shuddered as the pulsing waves took over, my cum jetting into the condom.

  The aftershocks took several minutes to subside. I lay on my side, Alex cradled in front of me, my half-hard dick still inside her, and I never wanted to move from this position. Perfection.

  She still had a hand on my ass cheek, stroking my flank. “Can I request you act as my alarm every morning? This was so much better than that annoying buzzing.”

  I chuckled. “I’m not sure if I should be flattered or annoyed. Rating slightly above an alarm clock? I was shooting a bit higher on the scale than that.” I reluctantly pulled out of her tight heat, taking care of the condom and dumping it into the trashcan by the bed.

  She rolled over to face me. “Hmm, I see your point. Maybe you should just keep practicing to see if—”

  The doorbell for the house chimed. I glanced at the clock on the nightstand. Seven forty-five. Way too early for a visitor unless something was wrong. I searched the room for my cell phone as I jumped out of bed.

  Alex must have had the same thought. “We left our phones downstairs.” She scrambled out of the bed after me, grabbing clothes and throwing them on haphazardly. “Do you think something happened to the brewery?”

  I snapped the button on my jeans and threw on a sweatshirt. “I hope not.”

  We both rushed down the stairs.

  I flung the door open and stumbled to a halt. “Mom?”

  “Oh, Damian. Thank God.” My mom pushed her sunglasses on top of her head and grabbed me into a huge hug. “I’ve been so worried about you.” She released me and stepped back, examining me, but then she caught sight of Alex standing beside me. Mom frowned.

  She swept a judgmental look the full length of Alex from her bare toes to her shirt on inside out and backward to her obviously sleep and sex-mussed hair tumbling in knots around her shoulders.

  It was quite a contrast to my mom’s totally put together and groomed appearance. While my mom was still young, barely fifty, she dressed like someone much younger. She wore jeans, knee-high, brown boots that matched her leather, shearling-lined jacket, and a bright-red scarf wrapped artfully around her neck. Her long, brown hair fell in waves around her shoulders.

  She had money...a lot of it...and anyone looking at her could see it. She just had that finished, polished look about her that spoke of high-dollar hair and spa visits.

  Mom turned to me with anger, glaring daggers. “What the hell are you doing? Cheating on Walsh after he’s stood by and loved you for years? How could you, Damian?”

  Alex made a choked sound behind me that I couldn’t interpret or even focus on, not right now with my mom standing in front of me about to go nuclear.

  “Mom, calm down.” I ran a hand through my hair. “It’s not what you think.”

  Mom pushed past me and descended on Alex, pointing her finger. “What? He didn’t tell you he was gay?”

  I closed my eyes and said a silent prayer, hoping this was all just one bad dream.

  “Or that he has a wonderful partner who loves him?” My mom turned on me. “Walsh deserves better, Damian. No wonder you haven’t been returning my calls. How could you do this to him? Does he know that you’ve shacked up with”—she flung her hand out at Alex before looking her up and down with a sneer—“this.”

  Alex had b
een watching in stunned horror until that moment. But now she squared her shoulders and gave my mom a look that equaled in ferocity. Alex threw her hands on her hips, her eyes flashing in temper. “I think Walsh will survive it, since he’s on his honeymoon with my best friend in Ireland. And I am not a ‘this.’ My name is Alexandra Nichols.”

  My mom’s eyes widened in recognition.

  Alex gave her a satisfied grin. “Yes, that Alexandra Nichols. And yes, I recognize you, too, Ms. Alworth. I’ve always respected your work at CBC and how you’ve managed to thrive in a predominantly male-run, corporate world of media. I’m hoping your surprise this morning is what has turned you into a raving bitch. Obviously, your son has been keeping secrets from both of us. But I can assure you he is not gay.”

  Alex turned on her heel to grab up the basket of things she’d brought last night. I wanted to go to her and do...something.

  Mom turned back to me, hurt shining out from her eyes. “You’re not gay? How can that be? I joined PFLAG, Damian. I went to a pride parade.” Her eyes filled with tears.

  I rolled my eyes. “You know, Mom, generally the tears come when their kid comes out as being gay, not the other way around.” This was typical of my mother, making it all about herself. She’d never been able to see me and what I wanted, which is why I’d come up with the lie in the first place. I needed her to give me some space. Using Walsh as a buffer between us had worked for that.

  Alex skirted around me, not meeting my eyes. “Damian, don’t worry about coming into the brewery today. I’ll cover for you. Spend some time with your mom.” She glanced at my mom who was muttering about how my dad had been right as she texted him.

  I shook my head. “Mom, I’m going to walk Alex out real quick.”

  My mom gave Alex the stink eye but didn’t say anything. Mom just nodded, her lips pulled into a tight, unhappy line.

  After I closed the front door behind me, Alex turned on me. “Holy shit, Damian. Your mom is Penelope Alworth. She’s in charge of the largest broadcasting company in the US.”

  “Believe me, I’m well aware.” This probably wasn’t the time to bring up the fact that my dad was Christian Thorne, and my grandfather, Brooks Thorne, had founded one of the largest banking corporations in the world, Thorne Group.