Undeniable

by Cross, Amity

  "Joe?" Her fingers fumbled with her phone, like my appearance had flustered her.

  "Alexis Storm?" I asked, raising my eyebrow. She just shrugged, trying to hide the fact that she was flushing a thousand different shades of red. Fuck, she was sexy. "You write books filled with sex." I picked up a book from the shelf and turned it over in my hands, inspecting the beefcake man-chest cover.

  "Erotic Romance." She snatched the book from me and shoved it back on the shelf. "It has a plot you know."

  "I'm sure it does."

  "Don't touch it," she hissed.

  "Why are you so pissed at me?"

  "I didn't expect to see you again." She ran her fingers over the spines of her books like she was caressing something sacred. I wished she'd touch my cock like that.

  "And that's a bad thing?" I asked, shifting forward so we were standing closer than was decent. "It was a mind blowing fuck, but that's not why I'm here."

  "Then why are you? I thought we had an agreement?"

  "I saw your beautiful, wild face on a poster and it was fate."

  "Fuck, you sound like a douche."

  "You are wild underneath all of that hostility, Alexis. I can't believe you don't see it."

  "That shit only happens in books." She went to stalk off through the shelves, but I grabbed her arm, tugging her back into my chest.

  "It happens in real life, too," I murmured into her ear, trying to hold onto my control. Fuck it all to hell, I wanted to put my cock in her right here in the middle of the store, privacy be damned. "It happened that night in Hong Kong and it's happening right now."

  "Please let me go."

  "I saw the wild thing in you as I pumped my dick in and out of your pussy-"

  "You can't say shit like that in public." She slapped my arm away, looking madder than a bee in a jar.

  "I want you." Her eyes glided down my body and settled on my crotch. "You can have it, if that's what you want."

  "I don't-"

  I placed my fingers over her lips and felt my cock twitch even more when she drew in a sharp breath. "At least let me take you to dinner before you blow me off." I smirked at the thought of her blowing me in a different kind of way.

  "Dirty prick." Fuck, I loved that she got it.

  "At least I'm up front."

  "It was a fantasy, Joe. It was never meant to go further than that."

  "Does the fact that we're standing here right now mean anything?"

  "It wasn't real."

  Stepping forward, I brushed my lips against her ear. "It was real, Alexis. It was the realest thing I've ever felt. I should never have let you walk away." Her entire body went rigid. "Say yes."

  "Let me go."

  "Say yes, Alexis." Nodding toward the table she'd vacated and the line that was forming, I added, "Say yes. You're fans are waiting."

  "If I say yes, will you let me go?"

  "You have to show up, you know." I ran my thumb up and down her arm, caressing her soft skin, imagining my lips against hers.

  Her body slackened against mine. "Okay."

  "I'm staying at the Hyatt. I'll wait for you in the hotel bar. Seven o'clock." Pressing my lips against her skin, against the corner of her jaw, her breath fluttered against my neck. I effected her more than she was letting on. I let my grip slacken on her arm and she pulled away, striding toward the table where a woman with ginger hair was staring at us with a knowing smirk. She said something to Alexis, who then turned to glare at me. Fuck, I never felt so turned on by a woman's rejection before.

  I'd felt it as I held her against me, as I kissed her below the ear. She could deny it all she wanted, but her body told another story. By the end of dinner, I'd have her in my bed again and this time I wasn't letting her walk away so easily. This time, she was mine.

  Striding from the bookstore, I felt my cock rub painfully against my jeans. There was hard, and then there was hard to the point of falling off. I was going to have to rub one out so I could make it to dinner time. So, that's what I did the moment I got back to my hotel room. I sat on the end of the bed and thought about Alexis, fucking glad that my cock still worked after last night's episode at that random bar.

  Wrapping my fingers around the base of my dick, I imagined Alexis' hands on me, her wet pussy ready and waiting, and began to stroke myself. She'd felt better than any other woman that I'd ever stuck my cock in. She'd milked me fucking dry over and over as I made her come and I still had more for her. Fuck, Alexis had awakened something unstoppable inside of me. I could fuck her all day and all night. Hard, fast, slow, from behind, against the wall, over the table, missionary, her riding me into the fucking sunset. I never wanted to stop.

  Pumping my cock faster, I rubbed the crown with the pad of my thumb, spreading the pre-cum, imagining what her tongue felt like licking it off. Her smart mouth wrapped around my shaft, sucking, dragging her teeth along the underside, my tip hitting the back of her throat.

  As I began to come hard in my own hand, spurting over my thighs, I couldn't hold in the strangled moan that bubbled up in the back of my throat. Fuck, what had this woman done to me?

  Alexis

  I fidgeted nervously in the short matte black leather skirt and matching silk blouse that Jade made me wear. A pair of studded black ankle boots finished off the outfit, all from my glamazon agent's wardrobe. The moment she saw me and Joe together in the bookstore that afternoon was the moment she spun into a cyclone of destruction. Once the signing was over, she dragged me to her place and dressed me up like a punk rock Barbie doll.

  Now, her pet project was standing outside the Grand Hyatt on Collins Street, feeling like an inadequate piece of shit. I peered through the window into the bar and saw Joe sitting with his back to the street, on his own. Every now and then he'd take his phone out of his pocket and look at the screen and then put it back again. Was he that amped up to see me?

  Glancing down the darkening street, I took a deep breath. Why was I nervous? After the things we'd done in that hotel room in Hong Kong there was no room for it. Even as the thought flashed through my mind, I knew it was a lie. Last time, we had the barrier of our little deal to protect the parts of one another that made us tick. What if this time, he didn't like the other parts of me? The real parts?

  Squaring my jaw, I pushed inside the lobby, the heels of Jade's boots clicking on the tiled floor. It was better knowing that staying in the dark right? If I was facing rejection, then I may as well get on with it so I could get back to work. I had ten thousand or so words to write in a week. I could use a quick turn around.

  Ironically, this was the part in the story I was up to writing. The make or break. As I walked into the bar, it was like crossing the point of no return.

  He was wearing a black suit jacket and a pair of dark jeans, his hair just as messy as it had been that afternoon in the bookstore. Totally fuckable with the right amount of rock bad boy. Simply put, he scrubbed up well. Coming to a halt next to him, I leaned against the bar and noticed the glass of brown spirits he was nursing. It was still full.

  He looked up instantly at my appearance and it was all fireworks and electricity and the sight of him kicked me in the guts yet again. His gaze travelled up my body and met mine and I was suddenly grateful for Jade's fashion police intervention. I didn't own anything half as nice as what she'd draped me in. He drew in a sharp hiss of air, his drink forgotten and a misguided hope began to swell in my heart. It was my body he liked, not me.

  "I'm here," I said, resting my hand on top of the bar.

  Joe rose to his feet, standing so close, I could feel the warmth from his body. "You are." We stood awkwardly for a moment. "I had the concierge book a restaurant across the road," he said, nodding out the door. "Shall we?"

  To my surprise, he offered his arm and I stared at it, not quite believing the deviant I'd experienced in Hong Kong was so…gentleman like.

  "Take my arm, Alexis," he said, a commending lit to his voice and I blinked hard, slipping my arm through his.r />
  He led me out of the hotel, my entire body aware of his pressed against mine, my thoughts instantly going back to Hong Kong. My mouth wrapped around his cock in the shower. His fingers stroking my pussy. The feeling of him filling me again and again. Blinking hard, I realized he was opening the door to a restaurant, ushering me inside. The hostess checked the reservation and seated us at a table in the middle of the room.

  The place was fancy. Gold embroidered tablecloths, sparkling silverware, polished wineglasses - I felt totally out of place and Joe stuck out like a sore thumb in his suit jacket and T-shirt, tattoos peeking out from under the cuffs, but he didn't seem to give a stuff at the way other diners were glancing at us. He was watching my every move like I was some kind of main course.

  A waiter in a tailored white shirt and black dress pants handed us a menu and a moment later someone else came along and filled our wine glasses. People like me didn't go to fancy restaurants. I was a simple fast food kind of girl. I'd rather go down the pub for a ten dollar meal and a pint of cider. I sat awkwardly, like I had a sick up my ass, and flipped open the menu so I had something to do other than feel like a reject of society.

  "Order whatever you want," Joe said, my gaze flickering to his.

  Nodding, I glanced over the menu and almost died. They wanted how much? I mean, I could afford it, but eighty bucks for a main was ridiculous. Twenty five bucks for a desert? If he was trying to impress me, it wasn't working. Other women probably fell all over themselves to be spoilt with fancy food and wine - everyone except me, that is.

  The waiter came back and took our order and collected the menus and Joe and I hadn't even exchanged more than a few pleasantries. The whole thing was awkward central. Pair that with my wandering thoughts and it was a wonder chaos hadn't broken out.

  "I'm sorry," I said, trying to control the blush that was rising up my neck. "I've never been on a date before."

  "What? Never?" He seemed surprised.

  "Not like this." I glanced at the restaurant around us. "I've always just fell into relationships. There hasn't ever been any of this."

  Joe frowned. "Do you want to leave?"

  Before I could answer, our meals arrived and I took the opportunity to cast my gaze down. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be saying. I wasn't sure I even wanted to be here. If it wasn't for Jade, I would be at home working on my manuscript - my way of sticking my head beneath the sand and ignoring the world.

  Once the waiter left, Joe leaned forward and asked, "Do you want to be here, Alexis?"

  Shit. I thought I'd gotten out of that one. I didn't have an answer, because half of me wanted to stay and the other…

  "Don't worry about hurting my feelings. I've heard it all."

  "I don't know-" I hesitated.

  "You don't know what?"

  I stared at my hands. Where had Alexis Storm gone now? The bitch had abandoned me to crash and burn.

  "Alexis?"

  "Why me?" I asked, meeting his gaze again.

  "I don't know," he replied, staring right back.

  I bit my bottom lip and began worrying it. He didn't know who I was and the things that made me like I was. Undeserving.

  "Do you want to be here?" he asked again, this time a lot more gently.

  I shook my head. No, no I didn't. He leaned back in his chair, a look of disappointment flooding his handsome as fuck face.

  "Not here," I said. "Not this place."

  Joe looked at me with a mixture of relief and confusion, then ran a hand over his face. "You're a hard fucking read, you know that?"

  "Sorry."

  "Do you want to be with me, Alexis?"

  My nipples began to ache and I squeezed my thighs together. How could he just say a few words and make me instantly want him? It was beginning to infuriate me and I didn't know why. I nodded slightly.

  "If you want it, then why are you doing your hardest to convince me otherwise?"

  I sucked in a sharp breath and shook my head, staring down at the plate of salmon in front of me. It was artfully arranged just so, with little shavings of things I didn't recognize. Total wanker food. He should've just taken me to a fast food joint, then this argument wouldn't be so mortifyingly embarrassing.

  "Alexis."

  Glancing up, I bit my bottom lip. His eyes were pleading with me to let go and just tell him, but my hermit tendencies were too deeply ingrained.

  "If you wanted it, then why didn't you come back?" he prodded.

  "I didn't think you wanted me." He hissed through his teeth. "I mean, I was playing a part. I was pretending-"

  "Pretending?"

  "I-"

  "You can't fake what we did, Alexis. You can't pretend to be all those things in the middle of an orgasm."

  "How do you know?" I spat, but my face fell instantly. "I guess you would."

  Reaching into his back pocket, he pulled out his wallet and pealed out a couple of fifties and threw them on the table. Standing, he held out his hand. "Last chance," he said darkly. "But you've gotta tell me what you want."

  I stared at his hand for a moment, not knowing what I was supposed to do. Take his fucking hand you stupid bitch. It was real for him and the moment I admitted it was real for me too, was the moment it all came crashing down. Shit, I wanted him.

  Standing, I slid my hand in his. "Let's get the fuck out of here."

  Joe's lips curved into a wicked grin as I stepped away from the table. Tugging me into his side, we left the restaurant, our food sitting untouched behind us.

  Out on the street, I felt some of the expectations lift from my shoulders and I sighed, my breath shaky.

  "Why would you think I wouldn't want you?" Joe murmured into my ear.

  I shivered against him and his grip tightened. "Look at you. You could have anybody. Anybody but me."

  "I don't want anybody else."

  "I'm boring and plain. I'm better on paper than in person."

  "You're fucking beautiful."

  "Alexis Storm isn't my real name," I argued, turning to face him.

  "No shit."

  "Once people realize what I do and what I write, they expect me to be this wild, sexy woman. I'm not like that."

  "I could form a whole argument against that statement," he drawled.

  "I already told you-" I began to argue, but he stepped forward and pressed his mouth against mine, sucking on my bottom lip. I didn't realize how much I wanted to kiss him again until we were actually doing it. Fuck, he was like a drug. I kissed him back, sliding my tongue against his, digging my fingers into his biceps as his caressed my waist, drawing me closer…deeper. Fuck, we were standing on the street where anybody could see and I didn't care.

  I was a second away from sticking my hand down the front of his jeans when he pulled back. He let out a sexy as fuck laugh, his hand rising to cup my face. "Boring, plain women don't kiss like that," he said, leaning his forehead against mine.

  I swallowed hard, caught in his gaze, his arms locked around me.

  "What do you want to do?" he asked. "Just say the word."

  "I don't like fancy restaurants," I replied.

  "I got that."

  "I like low key."

  "We can go back to the hotel and order room service." His thumb traced my bottom lip and he dipped closer, pressing a soft kiss in the wake of his touch.

  "Okay." Like I had a choice. I was a total fucking goner.

  I sat in the middle of Joe's bed, barefoot, a plate of potato wedges in front of me. He sat opposite, his boots somewhere on the floor behind him. It was what I'd wanted from the beginning. Easy. That fancy restaurant and the expectations it carried had almost scared me away.

  He grinned at me in that sexy lopsided way of his and reached out for a wedge, dipping it into the tomato sauce.

  "I like this better," I said.

  "You're not a flowers kind of girl?"

  "More like a hamburger and fries person, you know?" He laughed at my analogy. "Don't tell me you like that shit?"
I asked, cocking my head to the side.

  "Not really. I'd rather greasy takeout. When you're on the road for the better part of the year, you learn to love room service and fast food joints."

  "If you can't put it in the microwave, I don't wanna know about it." I shoved a wedge into my mouth, letting the salt melt on my tongue.

  "You say all the right things." He winked and all the right parts began to squirm.

  "How old are you?" I asked, reaching for another piece of hot potato.

  "Twenty-seven." He licked some salt off his lips. "How old are you?"

  "Did you just ask a woman to reveal her age?" I laughed as his face fell. "I'm twenty-six."

  "You seem pretty accomplished for twenty-six."

  "Look who's talking."

  "There's something about a woman with drive that turns me on."

  I'd told myself that I knew all the right comebacks, but when you sit in front of a computer, you've got all the time in the world to hash it out and find the right combination of words. In person? Not so much.

  Joe picked up the bowl of potato wedges and put them on the bedside table.

  "Hey," I exclaimed. "I'm not done, you know."

  "I'm dying for desert." He pushed me back onto the bed, lowering his body over mine. "So, Alexis," he said as he started kissing my neck. "Is that your real name?"

  "Yes," I gasped as his hand brushed across my breast.

  "Storm isn't?" His breath was hot against the curve of my neck.

  "No. My last name is Broadbridge."

  "It's just a name," he whispered before lightly sucking on my skin. "If you were called something else, it wouldn't change you."

  Joe placed his knee between mine, forcing my legs to part and pressed his thigh against the sweet spot. Rolling my hips forward, I moaned softly at the contact, wanting more. Needing more.

  He began undoing the buttons of my silk blouse, one at a time until he reached the top. The material slid away and revealed the black and red bra that Jade had also made me buy that afternoon on the way to her place. Joe's eyes darkened even more and he lowered his lips and licked the swell of my breasts.

  "Fucking sexy," he growled, tugging the material down so it trussed up my tits. He began sucking a nipple, his tongue lavishing attention on the little ball of nerves and I plunged my hands into his hair, tugging his messy locks. Right then, I was extremely grateful that Jade had made me spend the money in the over the top and expensive lingerie department at David Jones.