LuckoftheDraw

by Jayne Kingston

  Rachel’s nod was almost imperceptible.

  “I didn’t tell you because it was humiliating.” Her nose burned and her eyes watered. “I begged him to stay but he left anyway.”

  Rachel wrapped her up in a hug.

  “I offered to wait for him.” She drew in a deep breath and to her relief the tears subsided. “He couldn’t promise me he was coming back, and he didn’t think it was fair to ask me to wait.” She straightened. “I’m sorry I haven’t told you this before.”

  Rachel’s lips twitched. “Oh, you think we didn’t know there was more to the story?” She outright smiled then. “Honey, Bree and I were friends with Jude too. We know he wouldn’t have just cut and run without giving you some kind of warning.”

  She should have been relieved, but the fact that they’d known she was keeping something from them only compounded the guilt she’d already been feeling.

  “How are the two of you still friends with me?” she asked.

  “Your air of mystery is just one of the many things we love about you. I think it’s safe to say you’re never going to shake us,” Rachel took Petra’s hands and gave them a little squeeze. “And you never keep your secrets to yourself for very long. Having your lover of many years leave is ugly. No one begrudges you wanting to keep a little of your dignity intact.”

  That’s when Petra saw it. “Oh my God I’m such a selfish asshole.”

  She brought Rachel’s left hand close. She was wearing a heart-stopper of an emerald-cut diamond in a gorgeous vintage setting.

  “Rachel,” she breathed, awestruck. “He asked.”

  Rachel’s face broke into a huge smile and tears shone in her eyes. “He did.”

  “Why didn’t you hit me over the head with this earlier?” She looked back down at the ring. “I feel like such an idiot for not seeing it sooner. It’s beautiful.”

  “What was I supposed to say? Hey, Pete, enough with the panic attack. Pay attention to me, dammit?”

  “Yes you were.” She put her hand over her heart. “He asked last night? Here?”

  “He said he was planning to make some kind of grand, romantic gesture, and then he thought it would be more fitting to ask me last night since we were reunited…” Her voice hitched and she positively beamed. “You know how we were reunited.”

  She hugged Rachel tight. “God I’m so happy for you.”

  “I’m so happy for me too,” Rachel whispered back. “Thank you.”

  They held each other for a moment, then Rachel pulled back first.

  “I’ll give you all the juicy details later. Right now I should go downstairs and help Bree finish getting dinner ready. Come down and celebrate with us.” Concern softened her features. “Alex is going to be here pretty soon as well.”

  Petra’s stomach dipped and her heart fluttered.

  “I would hope so. It wouldn’t be a proper celebration without him.”

  “Take your time,” Rachel said, giving her a quick kiss before she left the room.

  It didn’t take Petra long to add a light dusting of powder to her face and swipe some mascara on her lashes. She brushed her hair and changed her shirt, grabbed a sweater and headed for her friends.

  She was halfway down the stairs when Alex rounded the landing at the bottom.

  “I was just coming to look for you,” he said with a smile that took her breath away.

  He looked amazing in dark jeans and that fisherman’s wool sweater she loved, his hair tied back into a low ponytail.

  Sunshine. Her heart filled with it, the warmth spread through her entire being. Rachel could not have picked a better word to describe him.

  “You were?” She went down a few steps and stopped when they were eye level.

  “If seeing each other was going to be awkward after last night, I would rather have it be awkward without everyone watching.” His gaze traveled over her hair and face, lingered on her mouth a moment before returning to her eyes. “Do you feel awkward?”

  She thought about it. “I don’t.”

  His smile went lopsided and the bottom dropped out of her stomach.

  “Yeah, neither do I.” His hands spanned her waist and he leaned in. “I was also thinking, you know, if there was no awkwardness that I might be able to get a kiss.”

  “I like the way you think.” And the way he smelled and tasted and kissed.

  The way the knot in her chest loosened and then let go as they let the kiss linger.

  Petra slid her hands over his broad shoulders. Eyes still closed, she rested her forehead against his. “Alex—”

  He cut her off with a shake of his head. “I know what you’re going to say.” He lifted his head. “I told you how I feel and you told me where you stand. I’m a big boy, Petra. I can handle things the way they are if you can do the same.”

  Could she? Could they continue being friends and sleep together too?

  That frivolous part of her that she rarely set free wanted to believe they could and come out on the other side with their friendship intact. The rational part of her that was usually in complete control warned that continuing was a train wreck in the making.

  When he slid his big hands around the small of her back and drew her close she couldn’t ignore the way it made her whole body sing with joy.

  “I can’t think clearly when you do that,” she whispered when he kissed her neck.

  “That’s the point,” he murmured, then grazed his teeth over her throat.

  His hands moved under the back of her shirt and he chuckled when she shivered.

  “Will you stay tonight?” frivolous Petra asked.

  There was mischief in his eyes and on the curve of his lips when he looked up.

  “Pete, a hundred-man SWAT team couldn’t keep me away.”

  Chapter Seven

  “If the nursing thing falls through you should consider party planning.”

  Alex leaned in the same doorway where Petra was standing, quietly observing the crowd celebrating Ben and Rachel’s engagement in the sunlit greatroom of Ben’s parents’ house. He loved the contented look she got in her eye when one of the parties she threw was going well, whether it was one of her sex parties or something more refined, like the classy afternoon shindig she’d organized with Ben and Rachel’s moms.

  “Maybe when I retire.” She looked at him and his heart tripped on a couple of beats over the way she smiled. “I love those kids too much to give it up any time soon.”

  He did too. He and Ben had started talking about becoming doctors way back when they were kids, but Alex’s parents hadn’t been able to help him pay for college the way Ben’s had. Alex had gotten a nursing degree as both a way to get his foot in the door to working in medicine and a way to pay for medical school on his own. By the time he landed a permanent spot on the pediatric floor of the teaching hospital, he’d decided he was more than happy doing what he was already doing.

  “Besides,” she added, turning her attention back to the crowd. “I’m not sure how many more parties I have in me.”

  “Oh? Why is that?”

  She lifted one shoulder in half a shrug and he had to remind himself that biting it would not be appropriate. The more time they spent together in bed, the harder it was becoming for him to keep his hands off her out of bed.

  He was finding it especially hard to not touch her throughout the party. She was mouth-wateringly sexy in a dark-blue body-skimming dress and high heels, long silver earrings dangling against her bare neck, hair pulled back into a low, stylish ponytail.

  The look was conservative and classy, with only the long line of her neck and her pretty calves and ankles showing. The fact that he knew the woman inside the dress was anything but conservative when she was naked was driving him out of his mind.

  Alex took a large swallow of his drink and had to look away before the stirring in his cock became something more serious.

  “Maybe Bree will let me throw her an engagement party if she and Cooper decide to get married some
day, but I’m finished with the key parties.”

  “No more matchmaking?”

  “My girls are happy,” she said, clearly meaning Rachel and Bree. “Mission accomplished.” But there was something incredibly sad about the way she said it.

  In fact, there had been a little sadness lingering in her expression all day, even though Ben and Rachel’s engagement was a happy occasion.

  “I want to show you something,” he said, linking his fingers with hers.

  She looked at the party, then back at him. “But what if—”

  “The moms have it.” He gave her hand a gentle tug. “There is also an army of caterers making sure everything goes smoothly. Come with me. Please.”

  They slipped into the formal living room that had been at their backs.

  “Where are we going?”

  He gave her a conspiratorial smile. “You’ll see.”

  Actually, he had no real destination in mind except for one of the upstairs bedrooms so he could have her all to himself for a minute.

  “Let me guess. They’ve kept Ben’s room the way it was when he left home as some kind of shrine,” she suggested playfully.

  He laughed. “That would be creepy, wouldn’t it?”

  Actually, he hadn’t seen Ben’s old room since he helped him move out to go to college fifteen years ago. It could still be just as he’d left it for all Alex knew.

  “Ooh, I know. They have a kinky playroom in the attic.”

  “Sadly, I believe there’s just old furniture and holiday decorations up there.”

  “Well that’s boring.”

  “The St. Andrew’s Cross is in the basement.”

  “Then what the hell are we doing up here?”

  He walked her to the last room at the end of the hall, pulled her inside and closed the door. “Here we are.”

  She looked around, frowning. “I don’t get it. It’s just a room.”

  “Yes, but now you’re in it.” He held her face in his hands and kissed her lightly.

  He made an involuntary sound as if he’d been starving and then given something delicious to eat. “I’ve been dying for that kiss,” he confessed, their lips still touching.

  “No need to die for it, Lex.” She sighed beautifully when he kissed her neck. “All you have to do is ask and I’ll be happy to oblige.”

  He resisted an urge to bite and sat on the edge of the nearby bed.

  “Come here.” He held her hand and drew her between his legs so she could sit on his thigh. “Tell me what’s going on with you today.”

  She frowned and shook her head as if she had no idea what he was talking about.

  “You’ve been sighing dramatically when you think no one is looking. All day.” He lifted her arm closest to his chest and wrapped it around his neck. “Talk to me.”

  She sighed and rested her forehead against his. “She’s going to leave me.”

  It took him a fraction of a second longer than it should have to figure out who she meant. “Rachel?”

  She nodded. “She’s going to get married and leave me.” Her head came up. “I think they’re already looking for apartments.”

  “Well, they have been engaged almost two months now, and the wedding isn’t until May. No one waits to live together until after they’re married any longer.”

  She sighed and put her forehead on his again. “I don’t want her to go.” Her head came right back up again. “Do you think it would be weird to tell her Ben can move in until after the wedding? I mean, they would be able to save a lot of money they could use toward the wedding and a house when they’re ready to buy one someday.”

  He laughed. “Sweetheart, you don’t have to sell me on the idea.”

  “Right.” She gave him a sheepish look and he kissed her lightly again.

  “You really don’t want to live alone, do you?”

  And with that the biggest white elephant ever walked into the room.

  Alex could tell by the way Petra stilled that she could feel it too.

  They had been officially dating for two months. They’d been good friends for years before that. They’d added amazing sex to their relationship without damaging what they already had between them, but she had yet to tell him she loved him. If she ever would. He and Ben were both already at the house all the time, but they still had their apartment, and making it official was an entirely different matter.

  “It’s a lot of house for one person,” she finally answered, her words sounding carefully chosen. And then, “You should both move in.”

  He sighed, feeling elated and crushed at the same time. “Petra, I’m not going to move in just so you don’t have to be alone when Rachel moves out.”

  “Of course not, Alexander,” she said with impatient emphasis on his name.

  Damn he liked it when she got stern. It made her that much harder to resist.

  She stroked the back of his neck. “Move in because it’s a great idea.”

  Was it a great idea? Was now the time to question her?

  He loved the idea of being able to go to bed with her and wake up next to her and have her within arm’s reach all the time, but was she asking for the right reasons?

  “I’ll think about it,” he said, and knew he was sunk when she beamed at him.

  She slid higher up his leg and kissed him, one hand still lightly caressing the back of his neck and the other on his face.

  “Let’s seal the deal,” she suggested in a husky voice that went straight to his cock.

  It thought she had a damn good idea.

  He touched his lips to hers. “How about if we save it for later, when we’re alone.”

  “We are alone.” She scooted higher so her thigh bumped against what was going to be a full-blown erection in a second. “Not even a quick one?”

  It took every single bit of willpower he possessed to stop her when she went for his belt. “Do you really want to go back downstairs with your lips bruised, dress wrinkled and fuck knots in your hair?”

  “Yes.” There was frustration mixed with amusement in her expression.

  Alex held both of her wrists in one hand and cradled the back of her head with the other. He indulged in a long kiss that had her instantly squirming on his leg, and then he stood, dumping her on her feet and cutting her off as quickly as it had started.

  “Too bad,” he told her with a chuckle and led her out the door.

  * * * * *

  They barely made it through her front door before Petra freed Alex’s cock, shimmied out of her panties and climbed him like a tree. He pinned her to the wall right there in the foyer and bit down on her bottom lip.

  “This—” She gasped as their bodies came together on a deep thrust of thick and unbelievably hard cock. “You…oh damn. Oh, Alex.”

  She couldn’t think, couldn’t form the words in her head or on her tongue to tell him how turned-on she’d been throughout the rest of the party. His kisses, that moment, had left her buzzed. She’d spent the rest of the afternoon feeling loose-hipped and silly.

  And now he was fucking her in long, hard strokes and it was so damn good.

  “This…was all…you…ah, fuck…could think about?” he asked through panting, ragged breaths. He pushed deep and stopped. “This was all you wanted?”

  The way he was looking deep into her eyes made her pulse race. He was so open, honest and fearless. So fucking confident.

  “This,” he thrust so hard the pictures on the wall rattled precariously on their nails, “is all you’ve ever wanted?”

  She took his face in her hands, momentarily startled by the resounding answer that came from her heart. Yes, it said. This is it. He has always been it.

  She licked her lips and he crushed her mouth in a brutal kiss.

  And then she wasn’t thinking again. She was lost in the steady pounding of his body into hers, his taste and his scent. He released her mouth with a rough groan and rested his forehead on the wall next to her head.

  “Answer,” he
growled, his breath hot on her neck. “Tell me this is what you want.”

  “Yes.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. Her toes were curling and her eyes were watering. She was so close to coming already. “This. You.”

  Suddenly they were moving. He carried her out of the foyer and to the stairs, where he laid her down without their bodies coming apart. He pushed open the neckline of her dress so hard she heard a couple of stitches come loose, and then it was forgotten when he sank his teeth into her shoulder. She pulled the elastic out of his hair and dug her fingers into its thickness, encouraging him by holding him close, angling her head so he could reach that tender spot where her neck curved into her shoulder.

  She pulled at the back of his shirt, gathering the fabric to pull it off over his head, realizing too late he was still too buttoned up to get it off him. It wasn’t good enough that they were still dressed, and fucking on the stairs would never do. She wanted him naked, had to have access to every inch of his skin. She needed the crush of his body on top of her like nothing she’d needed before.

  Petra brought her legs up and dug her heels into his hipbones, pushing him away with a little laugh before she turned to scramble up the stairs on her hands and feet. She let out a surprised squeal when he caught her ankle at the top.

  He pushed up her skirt and planted a solid smack on her bare ass, then another. Her clit throbbed deliciously with each blow and the muscles of her pussy tightened in anticipation. She didn’t have to wait long to have him inside her again. He pushed his cock into her from behind, buried himself all the way to the hilt on a hard stroke that made her cry out, and stretched out over her back.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” he asked darkly, his mouth by her ear.

  “Nowhere.” She reached between her legs and gently pressed his balls to her clit, making him moan long and loud against her neck. “Here. Everywhere.”

  She released his balls and grazed her nails against the inside of his thigh and he went wild, fucking her like a mindless, rutting animal. God it was good—his thrusting so deep it almost hurt and the hard dig of the edge of the top step into her thighs.