She sighed. “I don’t know,” she said. “Sorry, I know it’s a weird question. I just wanted to ask.”
“I get that,” I told her. “But it doesn’t make a lot of sense to dwell on things like that now. No one knows what the future holds.”
She gave me an odd look. “You’re right,” she said finally. “Thanks, Stratton.”
I grinned at her. “So…….do you want to consummate the marriage?” I raised my eyebrows in an attempt at humor but Leda didn’t laugh. Her pale cheeks flushed pink and I felt a stirring in my cock. She was so beautiful when she flushed, and I let my eyes wander down her neck and linger on the bodice of her sundress.
Leda bit her lip. “Is that a good idea?”
When I realized she was actually considering it, I almost spat out my mouthful of beer. “Sure,” I lied. “What could happen?”
Shyly, she looked up at me again. “Okay,” she said in a quiet voice. “Let’s go home.”
I couldn’t believe it. I tried not to gape at her as we paid the tab and settled up. She was giving me this coy little smile and it was driving me crazy. Being surprised by a woman is one of the sexiest things I can think of, and I couldn’t believe Leda had actually pulled it off. The whole way home, I couldn’t keep my mind off of her. I kept looking at the slight curves on her body, her smooth skin, her lusciously full bottom lip. All I could think about was getting her alone and tearing her clothes off and making her scream my name.
Maybe this marriage thing won’t be so bad after all, I thought to myself with a grin. Sweet little Leda all to myself for a few years…the thought made me salivate. She walked ahead of me and I could have sworn she was swaying her hips on purpose. Leda was many things, but sensual wasn’t really one of them, at least not before now.
As soon as we got in the house, she pressed close and crushed her body against mine. She jumped into my arms and wrapped her legs around my waist, kissing all over my face with her hot little mouth. Instantly, my cock sprang to life between my legs. It stiffened as I felt the heat from Leda’s body sink into my skin. She tasted like beer and peppermint and vanilla and the combination was heady. Closing my eyes, I tangled my hands in her hair and kissed her deeply, caressing her tongue with my own. Leda moaned into my mouth and rubbed against me. I could feel the area between her legs was pulsing and warm, and with one hand I blindly groped on the wall for the light. Stumbling into my room, I fell with Leda onto the bed. We didn’t stop kissing the entire time and my vision was cloudy with lust. As her hands frantically undid the buttons on my shirt, I shivered and groaned. Leda’s movements were furiously fast and she yanked the fabric off my torso within seconds. Instantly, I slipped my hands under her dress and slid it up to her waist. Her legs were warm and toned and soft and caressing them felt heavenly. I couldn’t wait to find out how she smelled; thinking about it made my erection twitch with anticipation.
I tugged Leda’s dress off of her head and tossed it on the floor. She was wearing pale pink cotton panties and a pink bra that gave her surprisingly ample cleavage for her small frame. I dipped my head and kissed the swells of her breasts. Leda panted and moaned softly in return. Encouraged, I found the clasp of her bra and pinched it open. I watched Leda’s face as she loosened the straps from her shoulders and let it fall on the floor. She blushed and it spread down her neck and onto her delectable little breasts. I grinned.
“You’re gorgeous,” I told her. “You look incredible.”
The pink flush turned bright red. “Thanks,” she whispered. Leda held out her arms and I dove into them, kissing and nipping at her neck. Her stiff nipples brushed against my chest and sent shivers of pleasure down my spine.
“How have I never noticed these before?” Leda asked, tracing her fingers around some of the tattoos on my chest. “They’re gorgeous.”
I grinned. “Proof that I was an idiot undergrad once, I guess,” I told her in a husky voice as I nuzzled her neck. Just as I slipped my hand down her back and to cup her ass, we heard the front door slam closed. Leda jumped away as if she’d been burned and wrapped my duvet around her body. I frowned.
“What’s wrong?”
She pointed to the door with wide eyes. “I should go,” she whispered. “Maybe this wasn’t a good idea.”
I groaned. “Leda! Please don’t go,” I begged. “Just stay and cuddle with me, please? I was enjoying this so much.”
I watched her eyes dart around nervously. I could tell she was thinking it over and I grinned at her.
“No,” she said finally. “It’s too dangerous.”
Keeping my blanket wrapped around her body, I watched Leda hop awkwardly around the room and collect her clothes. If I hadn’t been physically aching with desire for her, it probably would have been cute. But as it was, I just felt frustrated. The minute that Leda surrendered to her feelings, I’d felt admiration for her.
“Fine,” I said flatly, when I realized she wasn’t going to stay. She threw me a wounded look. “Don’t act like I didn’t try,” I said, leaning back on the bed and folding my hands on my chest. “I want you to stay,” I repeated. “But if you’re too freaked out…”
She gave me a long, searching glance then shook her head and left.
Chapter Three
Leda
“I’ll have a beer, whatever’s on draft,” I told the waitress at Sushi Maki. She nodded at me and scurried back towards the kitchen.
Megan and Tyler sat across from me, their bodies angled away from each other. My initial irritation of her inviting him to “our” sushi place aside, I really wanted to go home. The two of them weren’t even talking. Hell, they weren’t even looking at each other.
“It’s so good to see you!” Megan gushed, much too loudly. Her voice echoed through the small Japanese restaurant. “Did you have a good summer?”
I picked my napkin off the table and started shredding it in my hands. “Yeah,” I said after a beat. “You know, the same. Nothing happened. I tutored at the library.”
Megan nodded. “How’s your mom?” She pressed on. “And Judith?”
I wrinkled my forehead; Megan hadn’t ever asked about my sister before. Or my mom, for that matter. “They’re fine,” I told her. “Why, what’s all this about?”
“She wants to ask you questions to distract from her own unhappiness,” Tyler quipped. “Oldest trick in the book.”
Megan shot him a glare. “Shut up,” she hissed under her breath. To me, she said: “Sorry, he thinks he’s being funny.”
I shook my head. “It’s fine,” I said after a beat. “I think I’m gonna go, though. You guys enjoy dinner.”
“No!” Megan yelped. “Don’t leave, please.” She looked at me desperately.
I shook my head again. “Guys, this is awkward,” I said slowly. “I don’t need to be dragged into this.” They both watched with wide eyes as I got up and threw a wad of bills on the table for the beer that I hadn’t even drank.
I was in the parking lot when I heard footsteps slapping on the pavement behind me.
“Wait!” Megan caught up to me, breathing hard. “Leda, I’m sorry, I know I broke our rule. I didn’t want to bring him there. He followed me when I left.”
My forehead creased and I wrapped my arms around my best friend. “Wow, I had no idea,” I said honestly. “What happened?”
Megan’s face crumpled and she started bawling. Awkwardly, I guided her into the passenger seat of my car and ran around to the driver’s side. She was hunched over sobbing and I rubbed her back with one hand as I drove home. We were in the driveway before she could finally spit out a coherent word.
Turning the key in the ignition, I shifted in my shift and pulled Megan into my arms.
“What happened?”
She sniffled. “Well, he moved in with me at the beginning of the summer. And I thought he was going to propose really soon.” She looked up at me with a guilty expression on her face. “So maybe it’s possible I went through his stuff…”
�
�Megan,” I said in a disapproving voice. “You always told me not to snoop around on Matthew. If I hadn’t listened to you, I would have found out he was cheating months before when I actually knew.”
She looked down and I watched as a mascara-stained tear rolled down her cheek. “I know,” she said quietly. “But I had this feeling that something was wrong, and I..”
“You wanted to prove it?” I asked her, not unkindly. Megan nodded.
“So I snooped,” she admitted. I dug a tissue out of my purse and handed it over; within seconds, it was soaking wet and stained with mascara.
“What did you find?”
Megan glared at me. “Nothing, obviously,” she said. “Not even an engagement ring. Not even a box!”
“So why the fighting?”
“I don’t know,” she said with a shrug. “It’s like no matter what I did, he always got on my nerves. And then today, when I was supposed to meet you, he fucking followed me out of the house! It’s like he doesn’t trust me any more than I trust him.”
I shook my head. “Come inside,” I said finally. “We can talk more there.”
Megan climbed out of the car and trudged up the stairs towards the house. I was already panicked about running into Stratton and having to explain, but luckily she was so distracted that I didn’t think she’d notice anything weird.
Settled in my room with snacks and a few bottles of beer, I put a movie on in the background and curled up on the bed with my best friend. She seemed to be feeling better, but I noticed that she kept fidgeting and checking her phone.
“What is it?” I asked, after the tenth time she looked at the screen, sighed, and then shoved it away from her.
Megan shook her head. “I just want to hear from Tyler,” she said softly. “I should go home in a while.”
There was a part of me that felt nothing but irritation towards Megan. I felt guilty, and like a shitty friend, but it was so strange to see her mooning around like this. Megan was always the one who swore that she’d never build her entire life around a guy, and yet this was exactly what was happening. Plus, Tyler was so controlling. It was like he never wanted to let her out of his sight. I frowned when I realized that maybe underneath all of my irritation, I was just jealous.
“Tyler’s going to pick me up,” Megan announced in a quavering voice. “Thanks for letting me hang out for a while.”
“So you’re just going to go home with him like nothing happened?” I narrowed my eyes. “Don’t you just think that’ll make things worse?”
Megan glared at me. “You don’t know anything about being in an adult relationship,” she snapped. “This is how things work in the real world, Leda.”
“Fine,” I said flatly. “Leave.”
Megan gathered her things and left without saying goodbye. I managed to hold in the tears until I heard the front door slam, and then it was like a floodgate had opened within me. I buried my face in my hands and sobbed and sobbed. The stress of not telling Megan about Stratton combined with her bitchy remarks made me feel wounded and vulnerable, and I tearfully worried whether or not I was beginning to lose my best friend. I had always worried that we’d grow apart when one of us found a serious relationship, but now it seemed like that was actually going to happen.
Despite telling myself that I wanted to wallow and feel pathetic, my tears dried up eventually. When I looked in the mirror, aside from faint puffiness in my eyes, I looked just like I always did. No one would even be able to tell that I’d been sobbing for close to two hours. In some ways, it frustrated me. It was like no matter what I did, I couldn’t push myself out of the emotional lockbox that was on permanent hold in my brain. When Matthew and I had broken up, he’d confessed that at times, he hadn’t even known whether or not I cared about him. Hearing that had absolutely broken my heart because most of the time, I was convinced that it was so obvious, everyone could tell. Most of the time we were together, I felt like my love for him was dripping out of my pores like sweat.
There was a buzzing in my lap and I looked down to see my phone ringing with a call from Megan. I thought about not answering it, but then I realized maybe she wanted to apologize.
“Hi,” I said tentatively. “What’s up? How was the drive?”
There was a muffled squish into the speaker and I heard Megan’s voice, punctuated by sobs. “We broke up,” she mumbled after what seemed like an eternity. “We broke up and now he’s kicking me out. Can I come over?”
“Oh, my god, yes, of course,” I told her without hesitation. “I’ll be here all afternoon.”
“No,” Megan said with a sniffle. “I mean to stay with you for a little while.”
“Sure,” I repeated. My face began to feel numb. “Just come over whenever you can with some stuff. I’ll be here.”
I heard a faint yelling in the background and Megan hung up. With a sigh, I flopped on my bed. I knew it was selfish, but how was I ever going to get any alone time with Stratton now?
Chapter Four
Stratton
I was studying in my room when I heard a knock at the front door.
“I’ll get it!” I heard Leda yell, but I followed her into the hallway anyway and leaned against the wall with my arms crossed.
Leda yanked the door open and wrapped her arms around Megan, pulling her inside. Megan’s face was covered in mascara tracks and her eyes were bright red. She stared at me with little comprehension on her face.
“Hello, girls,” I said politely. “Is everything alright?”
Leda nodded. “It’s fine,” she said.
“Tyler and I broke up,” Megan blurted out. “I’m going to crash here for a while, is that alright?”
I bowed. “Of course,” I told her. Behind Megan, Leda glared at me and I shot her a little smirk. “If you need anything, let me know. Or if you want me to kick his ass for you, I will.”
Megan smiled through her tears. “Thanks, Stratton,” she told me. “That’s really sweet of you.”
Leda rolled her eyes and grabbed her friend by the arm. “Yeah, that was nice,” she snapped. “Come on.”
I watched with an amused grin on my face as Leda dragged Megan and her suitcase down the hall and into her room. I still didn’t know what my presence did to annoy her so much in front of others, but it was funny sometimes. She was so obviously sensitive to my presence in the room, but she only gave in when we were alone. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was really trying to hide something.
The girls’ hushed voices from Leda’s room carried down the hallway. I wasn’t going to eavesdrop, but I heard my name come up followed by a shriek of laughter. Quietly pacing down the hallway, I pressed my ear against Leda’s bedroom door.
Leda was talking in an irritated tone. She said: “he’s so obnoxious, Megan. He won’t ever leave me alone!”
“Would it kill you to talk to him?” Megan said through giggles. “I wouldn’t mind him following me around. He’s brutally hot.”
“Shut up,” Leda hissed. “You don’t know how annoying he really is!”
I frowned. Maybe her little act was stronger than I thought.
“You just think he’s sexy,” Megan teased. “You want to make out with him so much.”
“I do not!” Leda replied indignantly.
The floor outside of Leda’s bedroom creaked and I jumped. The voices stopped from inside of her room and I cringed, pacing quietly backwards so they wouldn’t see me if they opened the door. I held my breath as I waited for Leda to discover me, but the door never opened. In relief, I slunk back to my room, thinking about what I’d just heard.
Was it possible that Leda only avoided me because she was so attracted to me? The idea hadn’t ever crossed my mind; she was always so prickly. But then, sometimes seemingly for no reason, she warmed up. Like the night at the club when we kissed on the dance floor. And like our “wedding night,” which still gave me blue balls to think about. Frowning, I wondered what the problem was. I wondered why she pretended to
want nothing to do with me. At any rate, she couldn’t keep it up forever. I knew there would come a day where she’d have to acknowledge how she felt—for better, or for worse.
For better or for worse, I repeated to myself, thinking of our sham wedding and the vows we’d repeated. The whole situation had been incredibly surreal, but at least now there was a pretext for me to be around Leda as much as possible. I was determined to make her warm up to me, if it was the last thing I did. No woman had ever resisted me for so long, and I hated to admit it, but Leda playing hard to get was a huge turn-on.
A glimmer of an idea popped into my head and whistling, I walked down the hall and rapped on Leda’s door.
BAD BOY ROMANCE: DIESEL: Contemporary Bad Boy Biker MC Romance (Box Set) (New Adult Sports Romance Short Stories Boxset) Page 134