by Niles, Abby
A growl came from his mouth, vibrating against her, as his hand clamped onto her hip and moved her right back where she’d been. His mouth pressing into her, his tongue circled her, then flicked. The pressure sprang back. Threatened to explode. She tried to shift away again, but his fingers bit into her skin, keeping her immobile, refusing her any control. The longer he continued his unrelenting pursuit for her orgasm, the more the intense pleasure took away her ability to think. She was numb to everything but what he was doing to her and how it made her feel. Surrendering to him, she moaned, and grabbed his hair in one hand and the back of the couch in the other. “Oh, God!” she cried out.
Tommy held nothing back. There wasn’t any tenderness, no apology for his aggressiveness. He took, just as she’d known he would. And it was so much more than she could’ve imagined. He focused on her, finding that nub and not giving it a second to relax. There wasn’t teasing or a slow building. He licked and sucked with the same intensity that he’d started this with. This wasn’t foreplay. He wanted her orgasm, and he wanted it fast. By the greedy noises he made, this was a man completely lost in the moment, who got just as turned on by pleasuring a woman like this as he did by being inside her.
He sucked her clit deep into his mouth one last time, and her body shattered. Arching her back, she gave a long moan of ecstasy as her climax ripped through her. His hands on her hips kept her lower body on lockdown, and he held her clit prisoner against his mouth, never releasing the pressure of his lips as she rode the intensity of her release. As she reached the most sensitive peak, she tried to jerk away. He denied her escape, his tongue as aggressive as ever.
“Too much,” she cried.
A noise she could only decipher as “No” came from him as he licked her again.
She grabbed his hair and pulled, but he stayed exactly where he was.
“I—I can’t. Too—”
He sucked her deep into his mouth again and the explosion was instant. Her body went rigid and she screamed as a second release barreled through her, more intense than the first. She bucked against his mouth as he made it go on and on, until she collapsed against the cushions.
“Holy shit,” she whispered over and over. Multiples. The man had just given her multiples.
After he finally lifted his head, he flipped her onto her stomach, her knees on the ground, her torso bent over the cushion. Anticipation shivered through her. He was going to take her. Two warm hands kneaded her bottom as a low growl echoed through the room. “Such a perfect ass.”
His words sent new waves of lust through her, and all she wanted was to have him inside her. Have him thrust into her with the same intensity as he just had with his mouth. She heard the low rasp of his zipper. Felt the head of his cock probe her center. And she knew she was moments from having him inside her.
“Please, Tommy.” She wiggled backward. “Now!”
He made a strangled noise.
“Jesus.” The warmth of his body leaving hers was shocking. She pushed up slightly to look over her shoulder. He was pacing the room, thrusting his hand through his hair.
“Tommy?”
His gaze flashed to hers, lowered to her ass, and his jaw clenched. “Jesus Christ, Julie, stand up and put your clothes on.”
He had to be kidding. He was doing this again? “But—”
“Now!” he roared, then turned his back on her.
She reluctantly pulled her pajama pants back on. When she stood, he finally faced her. “This can’t happen again, Julie. I don’t want it to happen again.”
Hurt and confusion flooded through her in equal measure. “I don’t understand. Why do you keep stopping?”
“Why? I just punched Brody for saying he was going to take you. I said you weren’t a fucking object, and not five minutes later I’m treating you like one. Just having my goddamn way with you with no regard for your feelings.”
“I don’t mind. I—”
Anger flashed in his eyes. “I mind. You deserve better than that. You deserve someone who is going to treat you better. And someone who’s going to stick around afterward. What was I thinking?”
She gasped as his words from this morning came back tenfold. Stepping forward, she reached for him.
He flinched backward, shaking his head. “Stay away from me,” he hissed, then whirled around and slammed out of the house.
And finally she understood. Tommy wanted to fuck her. He wanted to fuck her just as badly as he didn’t want to fuck her. She really wasn’t sure why that was. But she had a feeling it had to do with that protective instinct he’d always felt toward her. Except this time he was protecting her from himself.
Too bad for him she’d decided she didn’t need protecting. Especially from Tommy Sparks.
She had to have him.
And she intended to do just that.
Chapter 11
Tommy stood outside the house with his keys in his hand. It was a little after midnight, and he’d expected the house to be dark when he got home—the way it had been all week. But the living room light was shining brightly, letting him know Julie was waiting for him inside. He turned back to his car, moved toward the vehicle, then stopped, glanced back at the house, scrubbed his hand on the top of his head, and groaned. He couldn’t keep avoiding her. Hell, he missed her. Really missed her.
Which, it seemed, was why he had yet to find a place to live. Not from lack of searching, though. Any time he was shown a new rental, a rock formed in his gut and all he could think about was Julie and the mess of things he’d made with her. He desperately wanted to fix it. Couldn’t seem to be able to move on until he did.
Unfortunately, he was terrified to be around her. He couldn’t seem to be able to keep his hands to himself when he was alone with her. So he found himself in the frustrating situation of not being able to move out until he mended things with Julie but unable to do so because if he was around her, he’d just make everything worse.
When he was home, he kept himself locked in his room until she’d left for work each morning, and he’d stayed out past her bedtime each night for the past week. Some nights he stayed at the gym longer, some he drove around aimlessly, and others he went out with one of the guys and had a couple of drinks—as he had tonight.
Training had gone really well all week, and one by one the guys had started to come around. Not all of them, but most. And tonight he’d been invited to join them for a drink after practice. It’d been nice to hang out with the guys again, talk shop, bullshit.
But through it all, he missed Julie.
And now she was still awake, no doubt waiting up for him.
Inhaling a steadying breath, he strode up the walkway. You’re a man. So be a man.
When he opened the front door, he found her sitting on the couch. Lucy was curled up on her lap, while Warrior was nestled against her hip. It was a beautiful sight to come home to. He stepped inside and closed the door behind him, then went farther into the living room. A bottle of wine sat on the coffee table and she held a glass in her hand. Seeing him, she brought it to her lips and drained it.
“Rough day?” he asked.
“You can say that.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“Sure. Where’ve you been all week?”
He noticed the slight wobble to her head as she turned to look at him. She wasn’t drunk yet, but she was past tipsy. Her buzz gave him a security blanket, and he relaxed. Drunk women did nothing for him. When he took a woman to bed, he didn’t want anything dulling her senses. He wanted her completely aware of every decision she made, and everything he did to her.
“I’ve been out.”
“Obviously.” She lifted Lucy off her lap and rose. “With who?”
“The guys.”
“Uh huh.” Swaying, she crossed her arms across her chest. “To the bars?”
“Yes.”
“How many women did you fuck?”
Hearing that word uttered by the only woman he wanted to do it with
was a very dangerous turn of events, flashing images through his mind that would ensure he’d only make things worse between them. He needed to take control. Immediately.
He started toward her. “I think it’s time to go to bed.”
Her brows rose in challenge.
“Alone.”
She snorted. “I thought so.” She swayed again. “How many, Tommy?”
“Julie, don’t be—”
She slashed a hand toward him. “You won’t fuck me, so I know you have to be fucking someone else.”
Stop saying that word!
“I’m not fucking anyone,” he gritted out.
“Really?” She made her way to him, tripping over her feet. “So you’re just plain mean, then. Is that it?”
He jerked back. “What the hell are you talking about?”
When she stopped in front of him, she placed a finger on his lips, and the sultry awe on her face as she gazed at them made his cock instantly harden. “This mouth did wicked things to me, Tommy. Wicked things. I came so hard. Twice. I never came twice like that before.”
A gust of air whooshed out of him, and he was damn close to giving her another taste of his wicked mouth if she didn’t stop. She’s been drinking. The reminder helped…a little.
She ran her finger from his lips down his chin, between his pecs, over his abs, and then cupped a whole handful of him and rubbed. A groan slipped out, long and low, as his body stiffened right along with his cock. Fuck. Me. He couldn’t have moved away from her kneading fingers even if he’d wanted to. Which he didn’t.
One minute. He’d enjoy the feel of her hands on him for one more minute, then he’d stop her.
“Yeah, you were hard just like this, too,” she said as she pressed into the length of him, ripping another groan from him. He tried to smother it and failed miserably.
Latching on to her wrist, he started to tug her hand away, but froze when her other hand slipped between her own legs, stealing his ability to move. He watched, spellbound, as she began to rub herself. He’d give anything to replace her hand with his right now. Make her scream again. Taste her again.
So, why don’t you?
Because she deserved better than him.
“Then I felt you here, Tommy. Probing. Getting ready to thrust into me. I was so fucking wet and ready for you. And then you left me. You left me. ”
She dropped both of her hands and Tommy released a stuttered breath as she put some space between them.
“Do you want to know what I’ve been doing all week?”
No, he didn’t think he did. In the mood she was in right now, God only knew what might come out of that tempting mouth of hers.
“I’ve been fucking my vibrator. And guess what? It’s pissing me off. Why? Because I have a perfectly good real cock right there”—she pointed to the bulge in his pants—“that promises to seriously rock my world, but you won’t let me have it. I’d say that’s the definition of mean, wouldn’t you?”
He swallowed. It should be illegal for Julie to say the words “cock” and “fuck,” because watching her lips form around those dirty words made him want to get dirty. Goddamn it, he should have left while he had the chance. Or even better, should never have come inside.
He didn’t need to hear all this. Doing right by her was hard enough without hearing her say how much she wanted him. He stepped forward, taking her arm. “Julie, you need to go to bed. You’ve had too much to drink and have no idea what you’re saying.”
She yanked her arm away and scowled at him. “To hell with you. I am perfectly aware of what I’m saying, Tommy Sparks. You left me all alone and whimpering for more. You just walked away while I had my naked ass up in the air, begging for it. What the hell, Tommy?”
There was a world of hurt in that last question that punched him right in the heart. He really hadn’t thought about how his actions might have felt to her. He’d just been thinking about doing the right thing. Not wanting to hurt her had been the reason he’d stopped. But he’d hurt her anyway, and that killed him inside.
So it was time to be honest.
“Julie, I love you. You are my best friend. I can’t treat you the same way I’ve treated every other woman in my life. I won’t. Do you understand that?”
“Treat me like what? Like you want me so badly you’re almost out of control? Every woman wants to make a man feel like that. Jesus, Tommy, it’s hot watching you get that turned on.”
He shook his head. “You don’t get it. You deserve a man who can take his time, caress you, just simply love on you for hours and hours. I’m not that man. It’s just sex to me. There are no emotions involved. It’s all about the physical, the pleasure. I won’t do that to you.”
She studied him for a long time. “Are you actually telling me that anything between us would only be physical, nothing more?”
“Considering the way I’ve been with you so far, the way my baser side just takes over… Yeah, it’s going to be physical. If I can’t slow down with you—someone who means the world to me, someone I want to treat special, and tried damn hard to treat special, but failed—then, yeah. I really don’t think I’m capable of anything else. I’m just like my mom, Julie. You know how she was. I’m the same way.”
She appeared appalled. “You are not your mother.”
“Aren’t I? I’ve never had a relationship. Never wanted a relationship. I go through women the same way she went through men. I seem to be just as incapable of feelings as she was.”
Julie’s jaw worked. “Your mother was a heartless bitch, Tommy.” He didn’t even flinch at her sharp tone. She’d said those exact words many times in the past. “You do love,” she insisted. “Don’t you ever compare yourself to that woman again.” Eyes narrowed with unreadable emotions, she studied him again, then nodded once. “Okay, fine. We keep it physical. And we both go into it knowing that physical is all it is.”
Was she insane? Bringing sex into their relationship would mean the end of them. Of their valued friendship.
He waved a hand back and forth. “No way. I can’t take that risk with you. You mean too much to me. I can’t lose you. I won’t.”
“Too late. The moment you buried your head between my legs, you crossed that line. You are way past the point of no return, my friend.”
He dropped his jaw.
She shrugged, no apology in her expression. “I want you to fuck me, any way you want to, and I’m giving you permission.” She walked down the hallway toward her room. “If you continue to be a pain in the ass about it, I’m going to make damn sure you get the worst case of blue balls you’ve ever experienced. But I’ll give you some time to think about it. Since I’ve been drinking, and you have that stupid no-drunk rule, I know tonight is off the table. But this is fair warning. Tomorrow? I’m coming for you, Tommy Sparks.”
…
She’d scared off the jerk.
Julie didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Tommy was gone before she got up Saturday morning, and she had no idea when he’d returned that night. At some point he must have, though, because there were dishes in the empty dishwasher when she’d gotten up this morning, Sunday. She’d tried calling him, but he’d refused to pick up his damn phone. And now he was nowhere to be found.
Again.
Damn wine, letting her mouth get away from her. All she had done was warn him. Big mistake. Tommy clearly didn’t need a warning—he needed to be taken by surprise. Especially if he’d resorted to thinking he was anything like his mother. Yeah, the bitch had gone through men a bit like Tommy went through women. But that was where the similarities stopped. That woman hadn’t cared for anyone but her damn self. She’d left Tommy to fend for himself on more than a few occasions. Just disappeared for days on end, with no food in the house and no money left behind for him.
But Tommy never missed a day of school, always had a smile on his face, and, considering where he’d come from, had risen above the odds to be a damn good man. He wouldn’t
be so worried about hurting her if he wasn’t such a good man.
But now that man was on the run.
Groaning in frustration, she flopped down on the couch. Lucy immediately jumped up on her lap and she scratched the top of the dog’s head.
While she found Tommy’s reasoning admirable in theory—refusing to touch her because he believed she deserved better—in practice it annoyed the piss out of her. She was a grown woman. It wasn’t his place to decide what was best for her. That was up to her.
Though she did get his fear about losing her. Hadn’t she worried about exactly the same thing? However, his declaration last night that the physical was all he could give her had made her realize that the only thing Tommy was feeling for her was desire. Nothing more. Part of her was crushed about that. But the rest of her had to be realistic about the situation.
And reality was, the only way she’d ever get Tommy completely out of her system was if there was nothing left to wonder about.
She knew now what an amazing kisser he was. He was also masterful with his mouth in other ways. But ever since he’d knelt between her legs and slid his cock over her mound, she’d been tortured by the question of what he would be like in bed.
And until she found out the answer firsthand, Tommy Sparks would always consume her thoughts.
She refused to let that happen. Somehow, she had to get him to stop doing the disappearing act so she could proceed with some hands-on research. Maybe she needed to take Warrior hostage. Tommy might actually show his face then.
Speaking of the Labradoodle…
She glanced around. “Where’s Warrior?”
Normally he was with Lucy at all times. If they weren’t in the house, they were outside curled up under the tree together. But Lucy was right here. And Warrior was nowhere to be seen. She sat up as she looked by the front door.
His leash was missing from the hook.
Sudden panic clawed at her chest as she jumped off the couch and raced back to Tommy’s room. He wouldn’t just pack up and leave.