“Nice,” she whispered.
Ryan dropped onto the mattress at her side, the warmth of his body sending her pulse leaping to heady heights. His cock dug into her leg, large and hard and oh, so tempting.
“Your turn,” she ordered Caleb.
This was a gift. These two men were good and decent. Not once since her arrival at their flat had she felt sleazy or threatened.
Caleb scrambled from his remaining clothes and joined them on the bed, taking the other side so she was sandwiched in the middle. She rubbed against them both, subtly teasing while her hands wandered. She tested golden masculine flesh with her mouth, her teeth, her fingertips.
Ryan stroked her rib cage, tongued the tiny sparkling belly ring at her navel. Her hips arched upward in silent invitation. Luckily Ryan was no dummy and read her hint. While Caleb kissed her mouth and played with her breasts, Ryan went south. Desire tightened her stomach, hummed through her insistently, no longer a low-level pulse.
“Yes,” she whispered, quivering because she was so desperate for a greater intimacy. “I need…I need your fingers, your tongue.” She could smell her arousal, the scent intertwined with the men’s heady musk and the faint trace of soap.
Ryan roughly parted her legs to stare at her. “Aw, beautiful. Caleb, you have to see this. She’s swollen and wet. So pretty.” Ryan’s voice was thick, gritty.
“Of course because I want you,” she muttered. “You’re both gorgeous and seem to know what you’re doing.” Heat gathered in her cheeks, unusual because she didn’t blush.
“Are we embarrassing you?” Ryan winked at Caleb and the heat in her face intensified.
“Are you going to do something instead of staring holes in me?”
“She wants us to do something,” Ryan said to Caleb. With a gentle forefinger, he parted her folds while Caleb watched with close attention. Ryan swirled his finger and lifted it to his mouth. Helplessly, she watched him lick it clean. A corresponding twinge of her clit pulled a frustrated moan from her.
“Sweetheart, you’re beautiful. Every part of you.” Caleb touched her too, running a finger through her juices and raising it to his mouth to taste.
Julia bit her bottom lip, her muscles straining as she rolled her hips upward in silent entreaty. One touch and they’d push her over the edge. She shivered as Ryan sprawled on the mattress again and froze as his warm breath puffed over her inner thighs.
God, that felt good. Just a little higher.
“Come up here,” she said to Caleb. “Let me touch you.” She needed something to do, some way to mute this weird urge to beg. She never begged a man for anything. Never. Lessons learned from a past boyfriend. Her gaze slid to Caleb’s cock, in case her meaning wasn’t clear.
Ryan’s breath misted across her folds, hit her clit. She let out a throaty moan. A pity this was a one-time thing. They were good. Better than good.
His tongue dipped in for a taste, and it was like a torch to her sexual appetite. The familiar tingles started. Her breath caught as Caleb positioned his body near her head. She felt Ryan tongue around her clit, delicately tasting her flesh and setting fire to her pleasure. He used both his fingers and tongue and she caught her breath, instantly shoved to the precipice. The tingles intensified, growing bigger and more urgent.
They were going to spoil her for other men. She groped her mind for the why of it all, but couldn’t concentrate, not with these wild, frenzied feelings coursing through her body.
“Have you had anal sex before?” Caleb whispered.
“Hmm.” She focused on the gathering maelstrom. Blindly, she opened her mouth and closed her lips around Caleb’s cock. She licked, letting his musky flavor flow across her taste buds. She sucked lightly, trying not to move too much because she wanted to ride this rollercoaster, flowing with each curve, each dip and plunge.
“God, Julia. Yeah, just like that,” Caleb said. “Not too much. Just enough to tease me.”
“Good hmm or bad hmm?” Ryan asked.
Julia released the head of Caleb’s cock. “Depends on the man.”
“Is that a challenge?” Ryan watched her tongue flicker out to collect a bead of pre-come from Caleb’s slit. Her mouth opened and her cheeks hollowed, sucking Caleb deep. Ryan cursed softly and she laughed around a mouthful of cock.
Julia was aware of Ryan moving then. A drawer opened and soon a cool wash of lube made her yelp. He tongued around her clit again, keeping her on edge, but backing away whenever he sensed she was getting close. His fingers glided across her puckered entrance. She tensed at first, but Ryan knew what to do. He took it slowly, pushing against the delicate nerves, brushing his fingers back and forth until she relaxed. His finger slipped inside, working in tandem with his tongue brushing her clit. She trembled, but he didn’t back off. He caught her throbbing nub between his lips, tortured her while his finger breached her ass.
“That’s it, babe.” Julia was aware of Caleb murmuring praise and doing his bit to both reassure and drive her desire higher. He plucked at her breasts, his tugs on the hard side, the spurts of pain counteracting nicely with the building pleasure.
Gradually, Ryan added another finger, sinking it into her heat, letting her adjust to the intrusion, twisting his fingers and stimulating her clit. Her hips jerked frantically upward, burying his face in her sex. He sucked on her clit again.
“What are you doing down there, man? She likes it.”
And she did. She gripped Ryan’s shoulders, the tension in her thighs threatening to crush him, groaning when he pulled away to roll on a condom.
He clasped her hips and lifted her over him. She did her part, grinning as she guided his cock to her entrance. Ryan groaned when she impaled herself, the stretch of his cock feeling perfect. Caleb moved behind her and worked into her gradually until they all writhed in easy strokes.
Her breath caught. So, so good.
Ryan pushed his hand between their sweaty bodies and stroked her clit. She was slippery. Wet and swollen. Unhurried, he caressed her clit with easy glides of his finger.
She shuddered, a spasm tightening her flesh. Her vagina twitched, gripping Ryan’s cock and starting a chain reaction. Caleb grunted at the tight squeeze, his stroking becoming erratic, but it didn’t matter. She climbed higher, faster, the tingles foretelling climax becoming prickly. Insistent. She strained for pleasure, but held between the two of them she remained trapped, couldn’t adjust her hips to get the right pressure. They were teasing her, pushing her, driving her crazy.
“Ryan.” She moaned, the tortuous flares of pleasure not enough to propel her into orgasm. More.
More!
She twisted her body, giving an abrupt jerk. Her breath whooshed out. Her eyes flew open. Confusion gripped her, her clit giving a quick twang before she groaned in frustration.
“Oh hell.” She lifted her sweaty face from her page of bullet points, scrubbed her hand over her cheek and a smear of ink came away on her fingertips.
Every muscle in her body ached from falling asleep in the awkward position.
“Hell.” The muttered curse squeezed past her lips, and she stumbled into her kitchenette to grab a glass of water, her body still protesting being ripped so violently from the midst of an erotic dream.
She pulled a glass from a cupboard and took the opportunity to splash her face with cool water. Her nipples, swollen and needy, rubbed against her lacy bra while moistness coated the crotch of her panties. She sipped the water, trying to ignore the insistent twinge of arousal.
Muttering another curse, she set the glass on the counter and stomped to her bedroom. She stripped off her clothes, leaving them where they fell. The cool air kissed her skin, made her nipples prickle. Her stomach twisted, arousal a sharp knife cutting at her flesh. With a low groan she sank onto the bed, ripped open the bedside drawer and grabbed her favorite vibe. She shoved it roughly into her pussy, guided the tickler to her clit and turned it on. The low hum pushed up the tension inside her, twisted her gut. Tears welle
d, dripped down her cheeks even as she exploded into an orgasm that shot white light across the inside of her closed eyes.
Ryan was back. He said he wanted her, and she, weak-willed woman that she was had agreed to let him see her, to help at the club. This was bad. Very bad, and it couldn’t end well.
Chapter Six
A knock on the front door of Julia’s apartment the next morning brought a frown. The clock on the microwave showed it was ten minutes past seven. Heck, she hadn’t even managed to start the coffeemaker yet.
She stumbled to the door, yawning. Years of living alone made her pause to check the security hole. She muttered a naughty word and flung the door open.
“What are you doing here?”
Ryan grinned and pressed a quick kiss on her cheek before brushing past her, several brown paper bags and a coffee cup holder in his hands. The scent of freshly brewed coffee trailed after him, an incentive for her not to stomp her foot and kick him out. He’d gone to a lot of trouble and must have sweet-talked someone to let him into the apartment complex.
Julia scurried after him. “And I repeat, what are you doing here? I thought we were meeting at the café on K’ Road.”
“I wanted privacy and decided to grab breakfast. I bought your favorite apricot pastries.”
“I thought your memory wasn’t good.” Suspicion colored her tone—she could hear it, and she was certainly thinking he was playing her.
“It’s not perfect, but in this case I asked Caleb. He told me you picked an apricot Danish one time we’d breakfasted together.”
“I see.” But that wasn’t the truth. She didn’t see at all. Ryan confused her, pushed her back into uneasiness. The hours away from him had bolstered her determination. She really didn’t want to do the long-distance romance, and since Ryan was in the music business, she couldn’t see any alternatives. But the moment she was with him, every feminine hormone snapped to attention with a lusty salute, her body melted, and she turned gooey like chocolate in the midday sun.
Danger, Julia Maxwell.
“Latte with low-fat milk.” He shunted one of the coffees across the counter to her. “No sugar. Is that right?”
She gave a clipped nod. “Thank you.” It would be petty not to drink the coffee when he’d gone to this trouble. And of course, she needed caffeine to clear the muddiness of her thoughts.
“Should I take a seat?”
Her brows winged upward. “You mean you’ll leave if I ask you to?”
A flash of white teeth gave her an answer. “A meal is always better with company.” He started ripping open the brown paper bags. “Plates?”
“In the cupboard to your right.” She sank onto one of the bar stools at her breakfast counter and watched him. His slow, deliberate actions were different from all those months ago after they’d married. It was almost as if he were concentrating hard, in case he forgot a step.
“How much of your memory is missing?”
“There are still gaps.” He hesitated. “I didn’t remember much about us, but some things came back when I saw you at the club. I’ve been getting new flashes all the time. Tell me about how we decided to get married.”
She hesitated, not wanting to relive the heady sweetness of their courtship. The memories made her feel vulnerable. Stupid.
“Please,” he said. “The holes are frustrating.”
Julia picked up her coffee and took a quick sip. Then, unable to resist his plea, she started talking, “You asked me for my phone number before I left you and Caleb, after we spent the night together. You said you wanted to call me when you returned to Auckland.”
“Did I call you?”
“You rang me every night until you made it back.”
He nodded, his eyes twinkling as he absorbed the details. “That was an intelligent decision. Did we have phone sex?”
She caught her bottom lip between her teeth and stared at the plastic lid of her coffee.
“We did.” Masculine smugness floated in the air.
“We might have. Do you want to hear this or not?”
He made a buttoning motion across his lips, his gaze expectant and unnerving.
“When you made it back to Auckland we spent every hour together. And when you were away, you rang me.” The bones of their story without a mention of the way she’d felt waiting for his calls—the anticipation and the excitement. The evolving of their relationship from lovers to more. The heady sensation of falling in love.
“When did I tell you about the band?”
“You had a week off over Anniversary weekend and asked me to go to Fiji with you. I agreed, and you sang me one of your songs. You told me about the band and the reasons you’d decided to keep it quiet. You told me you didn’t want secrets between us, and wanted me to know because I was important to you.”
“Was I romantic?” His cocky grin made her want to laugh in response. She took another sip of her coffee instead. “We married in Fiji, didn’t we?”
Julia pictured the scene, feeling the warmth of the sun and the sand between her bare toes. She remembered his hands tightening around hers as the marriage celebrant pronounced them man and wife. Their first kiss as a married couple and… “Yes. You remember that?”
“Bits and pieces. All I know is when I look at you I can’t sign the divorce papers and walk away. I want us to get to know each other all over again. Sweetheart, I want this marriage. Your face, it was the only thing that kept me going. Memories of you helped me keep sane and balanced through the rest of the tour.”
She accepted the plate he handed her and bit into the apricot and custard pastry while she considered his words. The pastry was crisp, the apricot sweet yet a bit tart and the custard oozed into her mouth. She almost moaned at the first bite. Pure sinful delight.
“God, don’t do that,” he muttered, ripping his gaze off her to stare down at the coffee cupped in his hands.
“Don’t do what?”
“Watching you eat reminds me of sex. Do you know how long it’s been for me? Do you want me to have an embarrassing accident?”
Julia snorted. “Please. If you’re talking about dry spells, I’ve almost worn out my vibrator.”
“Well,” he said after a long pause in which she cursed inwardly for giving him the truth. “We could always take care of our problem together.”
“Good try. I don’t want—”
“Give me a chance to woo you again.” He spoke at the same time, causing her to break off her outright rejection. “Please, Julia. You loved me enough to marry me. You owe me this chance to put things right.”
“Maybe I don’t want to make things right,” she whispered. Liar, liar, pants on fire. If she didn’t want him then why had she rejected every request for a date she’d received in the last few months? She’d stayed at home instead of going out, unless it was with one of the Tight Five. But he’d broken her heart, broken something inside her. If she took a leap, trusted him again…
“You don’t mean that.”
His grimace and slight shake of his head made her heart twist with indecision of her own. He was right. They might have had a short courtship, but she hadn’t gone into their marriage lightly. “Could we shelve the talk of marriage and take each day as it comes instead of planning for the future?” Please let him say yes. This was the only way she’d get through the next few months with the club and her mother.
“As long as this is the final discussion we have about divorce, I’m willing to take each day as it comes. Let me help and be a part of this. Let the band rehearse at your club and let me hang out with you. You agreed last night. What’s changed?”
Julia dabbed the crumbs on her plate with her finger, unable to meet his gaze. “Everything kept going around in my mind. I didn’t sleep much.”
“I have a solution for that as well. Let me move in here with you. No,” he said when she stood. “I’ll sleep in the spare room or on the couch. I don’t care. I promise I won’t do anything to upset you. Maybe we began
our marriage with the wrong mindset. We need to start from scratch and get to know each other instead of leaping into bed at the first opportunity.”
Julia picked up her pastry and took another mouthful. It tasted even better than the first bite. She swallowed and licked a bit of custard off her top lip before glancing at him again. “I don’t think—God, don’t look at me like that.”
He advanced on her then, prowling around the edge of the counter to take her pastry and set it aside. “I won’t do anything more than kissing.” His warm hand smoothed down her back to come to rest on the curve of one buttock. He pinched hard enough to make her jump, chuckling at her start of surprise. “And maybe some groping. Nothing else until you say we can take things further.”
She pushed him away and snatched up her pastry, determined to enjoy the last bite. Delicious and worth every calorie. “I—”
“Julia, say yes.” He backed her against the counter, until the hard edge dug into her back. His wiry strength held her in place, yet she didn’t feel threatened.
“You’ve lost weight,” she blurted.
“My appetite disappeared after the mugging, and I haven’t been sleeping well. I have headaches.” He shuddered but didn’t add more.
Most guys would be whining but he was very straightforward. Smart move on his part. Yikes, bitch alert. “How bad are they?”
“They’re worse when I get overtired or stressed.”
“What did the doctors say?”
“They think the headaches will gradually taper off. So, do you feel sorry enough for me to invite me to stay?”
“You’re playing me.” Bother, she just couldn’t keep her bitchy side contained.
“A little.” A cheeky grin surfaced—one containing an edge of flirtation and a smidgeon of boyish charm. The sort of grin that tugged at a person and made them want to return the sentiment. His dark eyelashes fluttered, a striking frame around his pale blue eyes. “Is it working?”
Julia bit her lip to stop laughing, ultra-aware of the gleam in his eyes, the light press of his weight against her and the prod of his erection. To give him credit, he didn’t attempt to grind against her or do anything else tacky. Instead they stared at each other, silent messages flying back and forth while she tried to remain grounded.
Past Regrets: Love and Friendship, Book 2 Page 7