Bashful

by Lo Brynolf

  Bash exited the kitchen and handed me a short glass full of amber liquid.

  “Why’s he gotta fondle the balls? Oh God, they zoomed in on his codpiece!”

  Gabe covered his eyes with his hands, opening a small slice between his fingers to peek through. Tucker lifted one eyebrow, clearly enjoying the scene unfolding next to him. “You know what a codpiece is? Are you sure you’re straight?”

  “And on that note,” Bash intervened, picking up the remote from the side table. “Why don’t you take Gabe out to the bar for a while, maybe buy him a pitcher of beer since you’ve scarred his manhood for life.”

  “It’ll never leave my brain,” he cried.

  Such an idiot. I swirled the drink in my hand, the ice cubes chasing one another around the glass. I swallowed a sip, the strong taste of bourbon burning my tongue. I just wanted to be alone with Bash, and from what I could tell, he did too.

  “Fine, fine, come on, big guy.” Tucker sighed, offering his hand to Gabe.

  He slapped it away. “I’m not taking your hand, you trust-killer.”

  I watched as they both slipped on their shoes and coats before heading out. Finally. Bash and I locked eyes, smiles of relief on both of our faces. “So.”

  The door reopened the tiniest amount. “Psst!” Tucker whispered, only his face visible in the gap. “Text me if we need to find somewhere else to stay tonight, wink wink. Leave a proverbial sock on the door, if you know what I mean.”

  Bash rushed toward him, putting his hand over Tucker’s face and shoving him out of the way before closing the door.

  “Wait, we need a code word!”

  I watched as Bash put his forehead against the door, sighing as he flicked the lock. After a garbled “he smeared my glasses,” came from the other side, it was silent and I knew we were finally alone.

  Forty-One

  SMILING NERVOUSLY, I SWITCHED THE glass from hand to hand, waiting for him to turn around. It wasn’t lost on me that he was probably waiting for me to make the first move, say the first thing. Mustering up all the courage I could, I whispered the second-most phrase he needed to hear. The phrase I owed him before I could say the other words.

  “I’m sorry.”

  Bash lifted his head and turned ever so slowly, his eyes dark.

  He needs to hear more than that—okay. Tell him how you feel. I chewed my lip, trying to find the words. “I’m sorry about what happened this morning, and I’m sorry for being a freaking idiot for three years, but I’m not sorry for last night. Even if you never want to talk to me again, I’ll never forget how connected I felt”—I stumbled with my words—“feel with you.”

  I waited eagerly as he stayed locked in place, his eyes hooded and jaw clenched.

  Say something, anything.

  He remained a few yards away from me, the silence prickling my skin. I backed away and placed my glass on the table next to the couch, avoiding eye contact, his burning gaze too painful for me to bear any longer.

  “Thank you for coming back for me tonight,” I mumbled with my back turned, discreetly taking off my glasses and setting them on the table. Nothing was worse than crying with glasses on, and I could see that this might be headed in that direction. Again. “I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t been there.” I inhaled slowly, focusing on the carpet fibers.

  “Callie.”

  My stomach fluttered at the sound my name made on his lips; he spoke it with such tender strength. I turned slowly and lifted my head a fraction, just enough to see him stride across the room and land in front of me. My chest heaved at his proximity, each heavy rise brushing against his shirt before he wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me to him.

  “I’ll always come back for you.”

  My eyes shuttered closed, drowning in the warmth of his body wrapped around mine. I just wanted to soak there a little longer.

  “Callie,” he whispered, stroking his thumb along my jaw and pulling me back to the surface.

  “I can’t wait anymore.”

  He kissed me before I could respond, his lips crashing against mine with more passion than I’d ever experienced. Our first kiss was amazing, but this one was exponentially...more. This kiss wasn’t simple, it wasn’t an everyday kiss. No, this kiss spoke to me. It screamed to the heavens that I wasn’t falling for Bash—I was too late for that. I was head over heels, insta-butterflies, can’t-live-without-him in love.

  Bash palmed my face with both hands and tilted my head slightly, the minuscule action fusing our mouths even closer. Warmth spread from my belly to my chest like wildfire as he lowered his hands to my ass, scooping me up before they moved to the underside of my thighs, wrapping them around his waist. My hands twined in the dark hair at the nape of his neck as he kissed me feverishly, taking as much as he could give. He nibbled on my lower lip, the movement so unexpected that I inhaled sharply. The groan that came out of his mouth was hot.

  Holy hell.

  His teeth tugged at the tender flesh as I pulled away, the shock on my face apparent. Everything was so intense, so fast. I knew where this was headed and my body hummed with excitement.

  “Take me to your room.” I peppered kisses along his jaw, following the sharp line until I hit his ear. Taking it into my mouth, I wrapped my lips around it and sucked, tugging the lobe with my teeth and he shuddered. Goose bumps prickled his neck, and I continued the assault on the other side as he carried me down the hallway.

  I was hot, wet, and full of ovary-exploding need as he put me down slowly, each inch sending me into a frenzy. When my feet were finally on the ground, he lowered his head and kissed me again, kicking the door closed with his foot at the same time. My little multitasker. My hands flew to his pecs, traveling down the hard planes of his abs before reaching the hem. I slipped my fingers under the soft fabric and dragged my fingernails softly along the sensitive area between his hipbones, my plans to go lower dashed when he clasped my hands in his own and lifted them away.

  With shallow, heavy breaths, Bash broke away, and my heart ached at the absence of his lips on my own. I rubbed them with my fingers, feeling the swollenness and imprinting it into my memory. His expression blazed with heat as he focused on my body with hooded eyes.

  “If we don’t stop now,” he huffed, “I don’t know if I’ll be able to. I want to do this the right way, Sweets. I want you to know how much you—”

  I want to implode, too. Don’t be a gentleman right now.

  “Shh.” I placed a finger over his lips. “I never said stop.”

  Kudos to his noble ways of wanting to do this right, but I wasn’t having it. We were going to have sex tonight, dammit. Mustering up as much courage as I could find, I confidently gripped at the fabric on his chest and spun him, the backs of his knees hitting the edge of the bed. I promptly pushed against his stomach until he fell backward, landing on his elbows. I climbed on top of him, my legs straddling him and my core hitting the hardness in his jeans.

  “Please let me take off your shirt, Bash,” I asked sweetly, bunching the cotton up his abs. They contracted as I dragged the fabric farther, stopping for him to lift it over his arms and head. A little dirty teasing was fine, right? I smiled devilishly before lowering to his skin, trailing kisses down until I hit the faint hair of his happy trail. Tugging the waistband of his jeans down slightly, I sucked and nibbled at the inner hollow of his hip bone.

  He bucked off the bed, grunting my name. Yeah, I knew that was a sensitive spot.

  “Did I do something wrong?” I asked innocently, toying with his belt with a small grin on my face.

  “You’re evil,” he moaned, scrubbing his hands over his face. “Torturous.”

  My grin stretched even farther across my face as I undid his belt and popped the button of his jeans through the hole.

  “Bash?”

  “Y-yeah.”

  He was breathing heavily. This game was fun.

  “I’m going to take your pants off now.”

  Forty-T
wo

  I LICKED MY LIPS AS soon as his boxer-clad cock sprang free of his jeans. Scrambling off the bed, I removed the bunched denim before wriggling out of my own and climbing back on top of him. This sexy, confident version of myself was normally so out of character for me, but I felt completely at ease—this wasn’t some random guy. This was Bash, and he was looking at me like I hung the stars.

  His rough hands gripped my waist, shifting us on the bed until he lay flat. Anticipation built in my core and I couldn’t help rocking slowly against his boxers, the friction shooting pleasure straight to my head. My nipples tightened as I continued to grind against his cock, warmth growing in my belly. Bash slid his palms up my thighs before he reached around and cupped my ass, lifting me just enough that when I came back down, he was grinding directly against my sensitive clit.

  “Oh my God,” I moaned, my hands flying to my breasts.

  I felt everything through the two scraps of fabric between us as I rubbed against him harder. He startled me, bunching the fabric of my shirt over my head in one swift move. My eyes flew shut as he cupped each breast, weighing the heaviness in his hands. I threaded my fingers behind his neck and held on for dear life, unable to control the pace of my writhing at each pass of his thumb over my nipples.

  Bash growled, a shudder running the course of his body before propping up on his arms to kiss me. In no time he’d unclasped my bra and wrapped his arms around my waist, carefully flipping me so I was on my back. He tipped his head, worship in his glance as he looked me over, studying my body.

  “You’re so fucking perfect, Callie,” he whispered, kissing a trail down from my collarbone to my breasts. He ravaged them until they were tender, the stiff peaks zapping waves of pleasure to my core.

  There was no semblance of time as I fell deeper, focused on the heat building in my belly. Before I knew it, Bash was at my waist. He twisted his fingers around the waistband of my boyshorts and slid them off. I shivered as his hot breath danced up my thighs, intensity building as he teased the sides of my opening with kisses.

  The tip of his tongue stroked upward until he hit my sensitive bundle of nerves. My body caught fire from the inside out as Bash’s tongue stroked my clit repeatedly, every cell spontaneously combusting. Muscles I didn’t know I possessed tightened as he built me up higher, the pleasure overwhelming. “Don’t stop, please,” I begged, climbing toward the peak. Just when I thought I couldn’t any longer, he sucked my clit hard and I bucked off the bed.

  Bash rode out my orgasm, his tongue flicking up and down until I was satiated. My chest heaved, begging for oxygen as I recovered.

  “Oh my God,” I whispered, the molten embers reigniting inside me as I got an eyeful of his hard cock.

  He smirked and moved up my body and kissed me. I tasted myself as he thrust his hips into my center. I needed him inside me. I whimpered and moved my hands lower, struggling to reach his boxers. Damn short arms.

  “Bash,” I moaned. “I need...I need...”

  He nuzzled into my neck and mumbled, “Whatever you want, it’s yours.”

  My neck had always been my sweet spot, and a wave of goose bumps danced along my skin. “I can’t reach your boxers,” I groaned, a full shudder overtaking me as he drove into me again.

  He lifted his head so we were nose-to-nose, his full-dimpled smirk on display. He let out a small laugh.

  “God, I love you,” he said sincerely, adoration shining in his eyes.

  “Like love me love me?” I gulped, my eyes wide. “Or are you saying that because I blurted something awkward again? Or maybe because—”

  “Callie,” he said gently, but with a firmness that told me this was no joking matter. “I love you, with my whole heart. I’ve always loved you. I’ll never stop.”

  Warmth flooded my veins, bursting into my heart with those three little words. “I love you too, Bash.”

  He kissed me tenderly, both of us ready for what was yet to come. Pushing him back ever so slightly, I grinned and propped myself up on my elbows as he slid off the bed. I watched as he quickly removed his boxers and pulled a foil packet from the drawer in his nightstand.

  Watching Bash sheath himself was hot, and I wanted nothing more than to scramble off the bed and climb him like a tree—until he one-upped his own sexiness. I eyed him hungrily as he took his cock into his hand and almost died when he slid it between my folds.

  “Don’t tease me, please,” I begged. I couldn’t take it much longer. In one swift thrust, Bash entered me and I gasped as I felt myself stretch around his length.

  With a shaky breath, Bash began to pump slowly. Another orgasm was building and I gasped, the multitude of sensations bringing me close. I wrapped my legs around him and pulled him into me harder, faster.

  “St-stop,” he groaned, his face pained. “If you don’t slow down I’m going to come a lot quicker than I’d planned, Sweets.” He closed his eyes for a second and let out a controlled breath.

  I clenched my walls around his cock, the devilish look on my face all he needed before gripping my hips and returning to the speed I’d set. He tilted his head down and ran his tongue around one nipple, biting it as he pounded relentlessly. I was so close again. I’d never had two orgasms back to back—I didn’t know if I could.

  I experienced that fine line between pleasure and pain, my body screaming as he worked me with his length and his thumb.

  “Come with me, Sweets,” he begged as our rhythm increased.

  I shuddered in response. I slammed my eyes shut, stars bursting behind my lids as I came. He leaned forward and crashed his lips again mine, groaning into my mouth as he pulsed inside me.

  He pulled back and rolled over, bringing me with him until I was settled into the crook of his arm.

  “Holy shit.”

  “Holy. Shit.”

  Forty-Three

  WE LAY TOGETHER UNTIL OUR breaths returned to a normal level, the oxygen welcome to our brains. Bash stroked the side of my stomach gently, and I relished in the sweetness. We’d waited so long to connect, and now that we had, it was like a puzzle had finally found the missing piece.

  “So this didn’t mean anything, right?” He kissed the top of my head.

  I jerked up, squinting at him before punching him in the chest.

  “You’re such a dick,” I smarmed.

  “You enjoyed this dick, according to all those noises you made.”

  “Oh my God,” I groaned and fell back into him.

  “Hey, I proved what you said, didn’t I? Pretty sure you said I was ‘extremely knowledgeable at giving women orgasms.’” He smirked cockily. Such a little shit.

  “Meh.” I pretended to study my cuticles. “You could use some practice.”

  In a flash, he was on top of me again, caging me in. “Oh yeah?” He kissed me sweetly. “We can practice again right now,” he said at the same time he started to harden again.

  I thrust my hips upward just as my phone pinged from somewhere in the room.

  “Shit!” I scrambled off the bed, pulling the blanket around myself as I searched. Lifting my jeans from the floor, I ripped it from my back pocket.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s Evie,” I told him, scanning through the multiple variations of ‘SOS’ she’d sent to me.

  “After the performance, she went back to our apartment to wait for me. I completely forgot to text her after everything that happened, and then we got here, and, well,” I implied. She was probably getting ready to call the police, if she hadn’t already. I scanned to her last text, sent just a minute or two ago. My thumbs flew over the screen as I punched out a response.

  Evie: If you’re not lying in a ditch somewhere, I’m going to find you and kill you. TEXT ME BACK!

  Callie: I’m alive. And if you killed me, you’d have no one to do your laundry. I’m at Bash’s place.

  Evie: You’re WHERE?! Now I’m the one who’s dead. Why are you there?

  I smiled and glanced over at Bash, who was patt
ing the open space between his legs. Crawling back onto the bed, I settled in front of him as he wrapped his arms around me and settled his chin on my shoulder.

  Before I could respond, the front door slammed and the noise echoed throughout the apartment. “Honeys, we’re home!”

  I jumped off the bed, frantically searching the room for my discarded clothing.

  “I can’t find my underwear!” I whispered to Bash in a panicked frenzy.

  He lazily rolled off the bed, strolling toward me in all his glory. It wasn’t until he backed me up that I spotted them in the corner. “You don’t need those,” he grinned before reaching around and opening a few drawers.

  He handed me a black T-shirt and boxers before grabbing some for himself. After I had put them on, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. The T-shirt was so big on my tiny frame you could barely see an inch of the boxers underneath. The sleeves went down to my elbows.

  “I look naked,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

  Bash wrapped his arms around me from behind and stared at my reflection.

  “You look beautiful,” he whispered, tilting his head to kiss my cheek. Breaking away, he slapped my ass playfully before unlocking and opening his bedroom door. “For the record, you in my T-shirt doesn’t even come close to how amazing you look naked.” He winked. “But it’s a close second.”

  I rolled my eyes, secretly relishing in the warmth that his compliment brought me.

  “I’ll be right back, Sweets. I’m going to go tell the guys to leave us alone tonight. Do you want anything from the kitchen while I’m out there?”

  I was still soaking in happiness and covered from head to toe in post-sex glow. Nothing Tucker and Gabe said would faze me, and truthfully, Tucker seeing me this happy might really freak him out. I giggled, standing on my tiptoes to place a kiss against Bash’s lips.

  “I’m just going to text Evie real quick, and then I’ll be out there. Maybe we can all watch the rest of Labyrinth together,” I said, and Bash just shook his head.

  “See you in a minute, then. I love you, Sweets.”