Indulgence

by Liz Crowe

  “Why not? I don’t understand. He looks at you like the entire world just stopped because you were in his line of vision. That cowboy is falling for you, Princess. I know it like I know my labels. You know I know my labels!”

  “I just don’t see how it could really work in the long run. He lives in Texas. I live in New York.”

  “So he moves here or you move to Texas. Oh, no, that would mean I’d have to move to Texas. I don’t know if my hair could handle that heat!” He patted his perfectly coiffed hair to make sure even mentioning it didn’t mess it up.

  “Stop being a drama queen. I’m not moving to Texas.”

  “You don’t think you’re moving to Texas. You don’t know what the future holds, Pen. Just let the coming weeks happen. I’ve never seen you happier. Enjoy being with Hank. He seems to enjoy the hell out of you.”

  “Who enjoys the hell out of you, Angel?” I set the white wine in front of her. It amazed me how quickly I picked up and socked away information about her likes and dislikes. In previous relationships, those details just didn’t matter to me. With Aspen, I wanted to know everything about her. Dean handed me the small plate of food and I set that down in between us to share.

  “You, Stud.” That sparkle in her eyes when she’d said it made me want to bow at her pretty feet.

  “Well, ain’t that the truth.” I leaned over and pecked her on the lips. She gripped my neck and pressed our lips together harder. Just when I was starting to get into it, she pulled away, looking shy.

  Everyone at the table laughed. So far the party had been great. I’d met the ex-President of the United States, and a few other muckety-mucks. Also, I enjoyed talking with Dean. He was nothing like his prissy boyfriend. He was cool. I liked the fella a great deal. Could see myself watching the games with him on occasion in Aspen’s TV room. Maybe we could even go to a live game. I briefly wondered if Aspen liked sports.

  “Hey Darlin’, you like sports?” She cringed. That pretty much gave me my answer.

  “Pen! I can’t believe you’re here!” London yelled as she ran over. A lanky fella smoothly followed in her wake. London threw her arms around her sister. Aspen smiled brightly. I loved seeing that smile on her face. Looked like whatever disagreement they’d had back at the house a couple weeks ago had come and gone.

  “London, Tripp, I’m surprised you’re here! Don’t you have a client?” she asked as she hugged her sister back.

  “Yes. But this one’s a couple! So I’m actually free to do what I want on the weekends unless I tag along with them. The wife wasn’t too pleased with my unconventional methods. She’s the jealous type. Can’t blame her though. Her hubs is a hottie!” she squealed. I made a mental note to ask Aspen more about her sister’s job.

  Aspen hugged the tall man. I gripped my hands into fists as the man squeezed her with too much familiarity. “Tripp, I want you to meet Hank.” She put her pretty hand on my shoulder and glided it down my good arm. The movement sent chills through me.

  God, just a small touch and she had me almost painfully hard. It didn’t help that we hadn’t made love today. I wanted to fuck her into next week, the longing for her soft body so strong.

  “Hank, this is Tripp Devereaux. He’s London’s best friend and assistant.” The one she beds on occasion, I thought.

  “Some of the time, beautiful. Only when she needs the help. Which has been more often with business booming.”

  Beautiful? The ease with which he said the nickname sent prickles of jealousy up my spine.

  Tripp held out his hand. “Good to meet you, Hank. I understand you’re the man that saved our Pen’s life. Thank you for that. I couldn’t imagine dealing with Bridge if anything had happened to her sister.”

  Our Pen? I shook the man’s hand making sure to squeeze it harder than someone would who’s being polite. Tripp’s eyes squinted at the gesture. Message received. Good.

  “Bridge? Who’s that? Your wife?”

  “Wife?” The man laughed a full-bellied laugh that caught on to the rest of the group. “No, big guy. Bridge is what I call London. You know, kind of like “London Bridge Is Falling Down.” You see?”

  “Uh, sure. Okay.” To each his own.

  The two newcomers joined the group and the drinking started in earnest. I hadn’t had so much as a sip of alcohol since my accident, so by the time I’d had three beers, in a glass no less, I was feeling pretty good.

  “Hey Stud, this is fun. You’re fun,” a tipsy Aspen slurred.

  “I’m feeling mighty fine myself, Angel.” I laid a beer-laced kiss on her lips. She hummed in appreciation and smacked her chops.

  “I love how he calls her Angel. Isn’t that so sweet?” London spoke to the group. She leaned on the table, face in her hand, as Tripp rubbed a hand up and down her back. I hadn’t figured them out yet. They were close—really close. But then again, so were Oliver and Aspen, but they were not sexual in any way. Tripp and London, on the other hand, seemed very familiar with one another. “Why do you call her Angel, Hank?” London asked.

  Aspen looked over at me, a huge smile on her beautiful face. “Because when daggers were raining from the sky, she was there. All golden and white and keepin’ me centered.”

  There was a collective “aww” from everyone at the table. Everyone except Aspen. She had her perfect little pink bottom lip snared between her teeth. I knew that face. That look could bring a team of football players to their knees in an instant. She was turned on. Fuck me, she looked good enough to eat too.

  “Hank, will you escort me to the restroom, please? Tall heels and all?” I looked down at her heels. They were very sparkly and high. Connected to the best set of gams I’d ever seen, too.

  “Of course, Darlin’. Lead the way.” I’d follow her to the ends of the earth if her ass was my view.

  On the way to the washroom Aspen was stopped at least a dozen times. Everyone seemed to want a piece of her. Hell, I wanted a piece of her. We made it to our destination and I was about to turn around and get settled against the wall when she tugged my tie and pulled me into the room with her.

  Her lips covered mine the second she pushed me against the door. I was bathed in the smell of vanilla and honey, good enough to eat. At this moment I was starved.

  “Hank, I want you. Now.” Her lips singed mine they were so hot, slick and delicious. Our tongues tangled in deep strokes. The wine she was drinking earlier awakened my taste buds with hints of cherry, plum and my angel. She pulled away and her slippery little tongue licked a trail from my ear, down my neck, and back up again. Fuck, the woman knew how to twist me up into knots.

  I shoved my hands into her hair, diamond pins flying everywhere, letting her hair fall in curling waves over the softest bare shoulders. “Christ! You’re perfect.” And she was. Every facet of her blew me away. The way her body arched toward mine as if she couldn’t control it. How her breasts heaved waiting for me to handle them. The absolute heaven between her thighs that wept for my touch. These things combined had me spinning with want and need.

  Her nimble fingers pulled and plucked at my belt. I heard the telltale signs of my zipper going down in the all-too-quiet room. I slapped the switches near my hand. The fan whirred to life, helping to mask some of the sound. My angel was not a quiet woman in the sack. I ate up every sound she made, but I didn’t think the rest of the party would want to hear her—especially not her mother.

  “Hank, I need you to fuck me. Right here, right now.”

  A low growl exited my throat as I pulled up her dress and she freed my cock. She was wearing those fucking black stockings again. I slipped my fingers in the tiny scrap of fabric at her hips. They shredded against my onslaught in seconds.

  She groaned as I tucked them into my pocket and walked her backward over to the sink. Her mouth hung onto my neck like a leech. When her ass butted against the counter, she lifted herself up on the edge. I would have loved nothing more than to pin her against the door and fuck her, but my shoulder was not up to t
he task of holding her weight … yet.

  Soon I’d be wall-banging her. With little finesse I yanked her thighs wide apart to accommodate my body between them. She was dripping wet. Soaked. Her juices coated my fingers.

  As I slipped two fingers into her channel, her tongue trailed along the part of my chest she’d exposed. When she had undone the buttons of my shirt was lost on me. All I could focus on was her wet heat, her scent like warm honey on a summer’s day. She was so damned hot for me. Her lips down low coated my hand, ready to accept me.

  “Oh, Angel, so eager for my cock.”

  She nodded against my throat, teeth piercing my skin. I’m sure she’d just marked me. “Ah, fuck!” I lined up my cock, pulled on her ass, and rammed into her in one hard thrust.

  “Oh God!” I tried to drown out the sound by kissing her. She was too wild. “Harder, Hank. Please. Fuck me, hard.” She bit the tender cartilage of my ear and I pounded into her. My thrusts were relentless in rhythm; I had her begging and pleading to God. She held onto me so tight I wasn’t sure I could breathe, so caught up in all that was her.

  The way her body smelled and tasted, the pull and clench of her pussy around my cock, the heated breath against my neck. The woman was my kryptonite.

  When we were connected physically, she owned me body and soul. I couldn’t get close enough. Twisting my hips, I pinned her clit between us, grinding against her. Her inner walls clamped down like a fist around my cock, shooting pleasure through the thick staff between my thighs.

  She was going over the edge. I wanted more. “More, Angel. Always more. Give me everything.”

  I bit at her lips, pushed down the top of her strapless dress her bra with it and pinched her rosy nipples, tugging them into tight aching little points. She liked it a little rough. I sucked on her right breast and plunged my hand down between our bodies. It was intoxicating to feel myself pushing in and out of her wet heat.

  I felt like I was ripping her apart. Hell, she was ripping me apart.

  She bit into the tender flesh at my neck once more and I held back my own cry, trying my damndest to keep quiet, but it was too much. She was too much. I pounded ruthlessly into her body. She started making these little whimpering noises and I knew she was on the precipice of a monster orgasm.

  Swirling my thumb on her hot little wad of nerves and biting down on her nipple had her arching and screaming out her release. I held my other hand over her mouth to muffle the sound as best I could. She bit my hand but I held on, pumping into her roughly, extending her pleasure and finding my own.

  “I love fucking you,” I whispered through clenched teeth.

  A few more thrusts and I was coming into her hot tunnel. Her legs held tight around my waist pulling at my body. It was a good five minutes of taking huge gasping breaths before we both calmed.

  “Jesus, Hank. You undo me,” she whispered, placing light kisses along my neck and face.

  “Good. I want to be the only one who does. You got that?” I rubbed my softening dick against her. “Only me from now on.” I punctuated with a thrust and a deep kiss, fucking her with my mouth as my lower half relaxed.

  She kissed me and tugged on my body. “Keep that up, Angel, and I’ll be fucking you again.” My dick was already getting hard within her. That’s how much this woman affected me. Once wasn’t nearly enough.

  “You’re crazy, you know that?” She laughed and pushed me away. My cock slipped out of her along with a gush of our combined fluids.

  “Crazy ‘bout you, Darlin’.” I grinned while buttoning up my shirt, then fixed my tie.

  She cleaned herself up and put herself back together sans panties. Those were in my pocket for safe keeping. I had a duffle bag full of these ripped pieces of lace. Her hair was a lost cause though.

  Aspen inspected herself in the bathroom mirror. Long fingers tugged through her sex-hair. “Oliver’s going to be pissed that you pulled my hair down.”

  “I don’t give a shit what he thinks. I’ll sick Dean on ‘em.”

  “You really like Dean?” she asked. Her fingers ran through her golden hair. It still looked perfect to me. Then again, everything about her did.

  “I do. He’s a good guy. Man’s man, you know?”

  “Yeah, I get it. You have more in common with Dean than with Oliver. I’m glad you’ve made a new friend. I think you’d really like Tripp, too. He’s a mix between a manly man and a chick. You never really know either way. One moment he’s kissing a woman, the next he’s taking it in the ass from a hot male model.”

  “Whoa, Angel, too much info. Jeez. You gotta keep that shit to yourself,” I told her, smiling wickedly and squeezing her ass.

  We exited the bathroom and went back to our group. Food had been served and there were two plates sitting at our table. After the bathroom acrobatics, I was starving and the pain in my shoulder was thrumming. Nothing another beer wouldn’t fix. ’Sides, I’d gladly take a little pain for a lot of Aspen.

  “You had to fuck with her hair, didn’t you, Hank? Damn it! That took me forever to get just right.” Oliver pouted and gave me the evil eye.

  “I’d say I was sorry, but we both know I’d be lying, so I won’t. Had to be done.” I told him as I pulled out Aspen’s chair for her to sit.

  Dean, London, and Tripp laughed so loud other tables were staring.

  “It had to be done or she had to be done,” he quipped. Oh, my Buddy wanted to play. Yeah, I was definitely warming to the fella.

  “Both,” I grinned and he gave me a fish face.

  “I’ll take note that you prefer her hair be down when you’re going to go all macho on her.” He harrumphed and took a sip of his wine.

  “Are you kidding? Aspen, tell him it was you who attacked me!” I clasped my beer and chugged the entire thing down smiling like a loon.

  “Shut the hell up, Ollie.” Aspen pinched Oliver in the shoulder.

  “Ouch!” He moved closer to Dean and out of her reach.

  “Such language, Aspen. You realize who’s here tonight. You should be minding your manners,” said the cool voice of Aspen’s mother from behind her.

  “Oh, Mother. Not everyone is as perfect as you are.” Aspen downed the rest of her wine and held the glass out to me. “Another, please.”

  I jumped up, not wanting to participate in a battle of words with Aspen and her mother. I wanted to take my angel home and fuck her until morning, and then start all over again. Fighting with her about her mother was not going to fit into that plan.

  Dean and Tripp followed me to the bar.

  “God, that woman is insufferable.” Tripp was the first to break the silence.

  “I’ve never understood why she was such a bitch to Aspen. Out of the three children, Aspen is by far the most successful. You’d think she’d be singing her praises, but instead she finds every opportunity to prod her.” Dean jumped into the first seat on the Hate Aspen’s Mother train.

  I just let the two men vent, listening intently to their opinions on the mother-daughter dynamic.

  “Oh great, and then the party takes a complete nose dive,” Dean gestured over to Aspen. A nice-lookin’ fella in a suit was standing next to my angel. His hand was on her shoulder, his thumb creeping along her bare neck. I could see her visibly shrink back.

  Oh, hell no. I saw only red.

  I made my way through the crowd coming up behind Aspen. With my good arm I flicked the man’s hand off Aspen and circled her waist with my hands possessively. I pulled her tight against my front. She leaned against me willingly. Kissing the soft flesh of her neck where the man had touched her gave the added oomph I needed to make the man’s eyes widen in shock.

  “I missed you, Angel.” I kissed her neck once more.

  Her mother’s eyes were blistering with anger as she took in our comfortable body language. Instead of letting her go, I reached out my hand to the space invader. “Hank Jensen. And you are … ?”

  The man’s composure turned from shock to perfectly composed in mere
seconds. “Grant. Grant Campbell, I’m Aspen’s—”

  “Business partner on Bright Magazine,” Aspen completed his sentence. I knew who the fucker was and I already hated him with a passion. He had hurt her not once, but twice. That alone was worthy of a beat-down, but his smug “I’m better than you” tone was a close second contender. Though at that moment, I wanted to hurt him just for shits and giggles.

  “So who are you to Aspen, Mr. Jensen?” the man asked a sneer twisting his lips.

  “I’m the boyfriend.”

  Chapter Ten

  My eyes must have been the size of baby elephants. Hank just announced in no uncertain terms that he was my boyfriend. Holy shit! Grant’s reaction almost matched my mother’s horrified expression, except hers was delivered with a gasp. Next time she’d think pretty hard about inviting my house guests to her events in the future.

  “I can’t help but say that I’m surprised to hear such news.” Grant was always good under pressure, but his jaw was his tell. He had a tick and a small vein that ran up his neck that proved his anger.

  Something about the way he said he was surprised made my own jaw twitch. “And why’s that? It took no time at all for you to choose a new flavor of the month.”

  Grants mouth twisted into a scowl. That’s right buddy, suck on that. I held Grant’s gaze as his eyes shone bright with fire.

  Hank’s arms squeezed my waist. “Hank, are you ready to go home?” I asked over my shoulder. One of his hands met the tender skin at the nape of my neck, really sealing the deal of his possession. I still wasn’t sure if he’d claimed boyfriend status to help me save face in front of Grant, or because he’d genuinely meant it. One way or the other, we would discuss it. First, I needed to get away from Grant and Mommy Dearest.