His Temptation (X Enterprises Book 4)

by Tanya Gallagher

  “Morning, Cheese.” He pressed a kiss to the side of her head, breathing in her sweet shampoo. She’d showered last night before climbing into bed, but the scent of strawberries still hung in the air.

  “Morning to you, too.”

  “Feel okay?”

  Avery grinned. “Never better. I feel incredible.” She stretched against him, and his cock perked up at the invitation. “Like I could touch anything and turn it into pure gold.”

  “That’s why they call it getting lucky.”

  She giggled and stroked a hand over his chest. “Maybe we should buy Lotto tickets.”

  “Sign me up.” He shifted her body so he was facing her, then stroked his hand over her hip. Avery had pulled on a camisole last night, but it left little to the imagination, and as he touched her, he watched her nipples bead up into little peaks.

  He’d been there.

  Claimed her.

  And he wanted to do it again.

  “I don’t want this to sound wrong,” Geoff said, “but I can’t believe you haven’t done that before.”

  She gave a tiny shrug, not self-conscious, just self-explanatory. “I’ve gotten close. Done everything but. I had this boyfriend back in college, and things were pretty serious. The night I was finally ready to give it up to him, I planned a whole thing. Cooked dinner at his apartment as a surprise, lit candles. Tried to be romantic.”

  Geoff nodded, not wanting to break her train of thought with his words. And anyway, what could he say? He didn’t want to hear the end of the story, even though he could guess how it turned out.

  “He showed up at the apartment with another girl. Looked like he was going to vomit when he realized I was there to surprise him.” Avery shook her head. “Thank god it wasn’t him. But after that…” She sighed. “I guess I got a little gun shy, and then it became this bigger thing in my head. I put more pressure on it than was really fair. Maybe tried too hard.” She laughed. “I mean, I’m surrounded by sex on a daily basis. It’s my job. And I like it. I just didn’t have first-hand experience.”

  He nuzzled the side of her neck. “Until now.”

  She smiled and brought her nose against his. “Until now.”

  Avery’s kiss made his cock twitch, the sounds she made sealing the deal.

  Geoff tugged a hand through her hair and pulled gently, so she was looking him in the eye. “Your ex-boyfriend? He was an idiot.”

  She blushed and nodded. “He was.”

  “Let me show you just how much.” He trailed his hand from her hip to the edge of her underwear, and she shivered at his touch. “You sore?” he asked.

  Avery bit her lip and then grinned. “Of course I’m sore. You’re a rock, remember?”

  He shook his head. “What am I going to do with you?”

  “You’re going to fuck me again.” Avery’s eyes darkened with arousal, and she nodded like this was a very good idea.

  “But you’re sore.”

  “This is true. I’m also horny as hell, and you’re half naked in my bed. I don’t see the problem.”

  This woman. She’d been hiding behind the tongue-tied girl he used to know. Geoff grinned back at her and dipped a finger inside her slit. “I think I unleashed a monster.”

  Avery arched against his hand. “Or a superhero, whatever.” She closed her eyes as he stroked inside her, a soft moan sending more blood to his cock. He let out a deep breath, and she opened her eyes with a smile. “You okay, Rock?”

  “The sounds you make might just kill me.”

  She reached for him, rubbing him through the fabric of his boxers. “But what a way to go.”

  Geoff leaned forward to kiss her, and as the kiss deepened into a heady, sensual touch, its intensity grew. He was circling her clit, she was jacking him with her hands, her breasts bouncing under her shirt, and good god, he really was eighteen again, all his fantasies come to life.

  But then Avery pulled back from him, pulled out of reach and pushed him flat on his back.

  She slid to the end of the bed and removed his boxers, then crawled back to him on her hands and knees. She stopped between his legs, gave him a racy smile, and then lowered her mouth to his cock.

  Hell fucking yes.

  Avery’s lips circled him, and her tongue darted out to taste him. Her touch started as slow, gentle strokes with her tongue, but when she pulled him deep into the back of her mouth and sucked hard, Geoff realized her first touches weren’t tentative. She’d just been letting him warm up.

  And, Jesus Christ, was he up.

  He relaxed into her touch, his eyes drifting closed as she worked him with her tongue and her hands. “That feels incredible, Avery.”

  She moved her mouth away long enough to tell him how good he tasted, then brought that damp heat and suction back to his skin. Every nerve ending screamed for release, and his hips churned for her, his heart beat for her.

  Geoff reached for her the back of her head and pulled her closer, fisting his hands into her hair. All of his awareness was centered on her mouth around his cock. A robber could have burst through Avery’s apartment doors and stolen all of their earthly possessions, and he wouldn’t have known the difference.

  He was right here with her.

  Until he felt his balls tighten.

  “Not yet, Ave,” Geoff gasped, pulling away. She murmured a protest, and he opened his eyes to shoot her a look. “I want to be inside you.”

  She gave him a pleased smile. “We can arrange that.”

  “Good girl.” He turned to reach for the drawer on her bedside table and removed a condom from the drawer.

  Avery took it from his hands, opened it and rolled it onto him, her fingers so eager that they shook.

  “Want to try something different than last night?” he asked.

  “I want to try all the things,” she said breathlessly. “Everything with you.”

  He grinned. “I like the sound of that.” He wanted to try all the positions in the damn book with her, and make up a hundred new ones, too. But he’d start at the beginning. The classics were classic for a reason. “On your knees, gorgeous.”

  Avery complied, lifting her ass into the air and waiting while he climbed behind her. She looked over her shoulder at him, watching with huge eyes as he gripped the base of his cock and positioned himself at her entrance.

  Geoff pushed himself against her lips, teasing her, wanting her wet and ready for him to ease the pain. “You sure you’re not too sore?”

  “I’m sure if you don’t keep going I’m going to lose my mind.”

  “We wouldn’t want that,” he said as he slid inside her.

  “No,” she gasped, “we wouldn’t.” A low moan rolled through her, and he smoothed a hand over her ass, pushing in deeper, inch by inch.

  Her greedy cunt took him all the way to the root, rippling around him, and Geoff almost lost it right there. Nirvana was a place, and it was balls-deep inside Avery Beeker’s body. No return ticket necessary.

  “Okay?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she cried. “Sore but very, very okay. You’re so damn deep.”

  Her words made him that much harder. “Touch yourself.” The gruff command tore from his throat. “I want to feel you squeeze me as you come.”

  Her moan was an acknowledgment, a submittal. She brought one hand between her legs and braced herself against the headboard with the other.

  Geoff pulled out and then pushed back in, letting Avery sheath him. The sensation of her tight, hot body made him groan, the air rushing out of his lungs so he was lightheaded—dizzy and drunk on her.

  “Harder, Rock,” she panted, and hearing that nickname made him tighten even more. “You’re not going to break me,” she promised, but god he wanted to try.

  He thrust into her again and again, and her body jerked beneath him, her ass slapping against his thighs, their bodies growing slick with arousal and sweat. He reached one hand for her breasts, kneading them as they bounced with the rhythm of their sex, and she
moaned as he tightened his fingers around a nipple.

  “You’re going to make me come,” she breathed.

  “That’s exactly the point.”

  Geoff kept up the barrage, fingers flying over her breasts, his other hand kneading her ass, guiding her, and her legs tightened and her sex quivered and then she was calling out, pulling him over the edge along with her so they were one body, shimmering with light and magic as the world fell away.

  After a minute, Avery’s body quieted, and he rested his forehead on her back, his chest still rising and falling with ragged breath.

  “Oh, fuck, Ave.”

  “I know.”

  He pulled out of her, wrapped an arm around her and drew her against his chest, down on the bed. He pressed a kiss against her temple, then lower, behind her ear. The scent of strawberries and shampoo and sex was everywhere, and it might be the best combination he’d ever smelled.

  Avery threw a luscious leg over his, gave him a lazy smile.

  “Still okay?” he asked.

  “Still golden.” But her features twisted, her mouth pulling into a tiny frown.

  “Hey, what’s wrong?”

  She shook her head like she was trying to clear away a thought. “Is it stupid that I’m jealous of every other girl who got to do that with you?”

  Geoff laced his fingers with hers and tugged them to his lips. “Trust me, Ave, it hasn’t been like that with anyone else. You and me, that’s…different.”

  She gave him a small, pleased smile. “Good. Well, I’m not going to lie, you’ve wiped me out today.”

  He grinned and kissed her forehead. “Go back to bed, and I can catch up on some work from here.”

  She gave him such a hopeful look. “You sure?”

  “I’m sure, Cheese Girl. Get some rest. I’ve got plans for you later.” He kissed her shoulder and slipped out of the room.

  Geoff padded out into Avery’s living room, which looked exactly like they’d left it last night—complete with the ice cream container sitting out on her coffee table.

  Oh shit. He lifted it and discovered the melted ice cream had softened the carton’s sides into a soggy mess.

  Oh well. Best ice cream he’d ever tasted.

  He poured the soupy ice cream down the drain in Avery’s kitchen, then tossed away the carton and ran a damp rag over her coffee table. When he’d cleaned up enough to pass muster, he stretched out on the couch and dove into emails on his phone.

  The benefit of working for yourself was you could work from anywhere, and today was no exception. One of his sponsors, Slay All Night, had sent him a message. Re: new season opportunities.

  Geoff skimmed the message, and his heart sank. In theory, new season opportunities were a good thing. Hell, sponsor advertisements were one of the largest revenue streams for his show. But Slay All Night, the hookup app, wanted assurances that they’d have roughly the same audience demographics and the same variety of episodes in the upcoming months. Geoff was going to lose major advertising dollars if he didn’t deliver the kind of content he was already known for. And since he was known as the single-guy dating expert, that meant keeping a lid on this thing with Avery—at least until he could figure out what it meant for his show. And for his life.

  Geoff sighed and typed back a message. Once he sorted out where he stood, he could adapt and adjust. In the meantime, he was going to proceed in his business like he always had. He was Geoffrey Carter, host of How to Hook a Hottie. He had a reputation to maintain. His living counted on it.

  Chapter 17

  Avery shifted her purse onto her shoulder, adjusting the bag of sex toys she’d brought home from work in her hands as she turned the key in her apartment’s mailbox. It was an awkward angle, and the one-handed approach didn’t work. Her mail spilled out of her grasp, a stack of bills and grocery store flyers scattering on the tile floor.

  Better mail than sex toys.

  Those she had plans for.

  She bent down to scoop up the dropped envelopes, rifling through them until her fingers hit a thick, deep-blue envelope with her name calligraphed on the front in silver ink.

  Oh.

  Avery straightened and hurried into her apartment, lowering her purse and the sex toys onto her couch. Then she slit open the blue envelope and gasped as a wedding invitation fell into her hands. The creamy paper was thick and textured, and the design scrolling across the page was simple but elegant.

  Miss Vanessa Reese and Mr. Jeremy Glass warmly request the honor of your presence at their wedding on Saturday, November 17 at the Arctic Club Hotel. Ceremony at 5 PM, reception to follow.

  The wedding logo, a birch tree with their initials twined over the leaves, crested the top of both the invitation and the enclosed reply card.

  Avery skimmed the note.

  They’d invited her and a plus one.

  She drew in a deep breath. Her fingers twitched to dial Geoff, to ask him right now to be her date. The idea of him in a suit made her press her thighs together in anticipation.

  But just because she wanted to ask him didn’t mean it was a good idea. They’d barely started this relationship, but it felt so deep, so intense—like they’d been building to this all along. She knew, though, that back in high school she wouldn’t have been ready for him. She was too worried about being the person everyone else wanted, not confident enough to be fully herself. But Geoff had drawn that part out of her, all the awkward quirks that seemed to endear her to him instead of pushing him away.

  Telling him about her ex should have felt like an embarrassment, but it felt solid and mature instead. Geoff deserved to know her, the way he was letting her in as well. And she was giving him every part of herself, letting him see her without makeup, without clothes. Skin to skin was about as real as you could get.

  Either way, the whole thing had been worth the wait. Sex with Geoff was mind-bending. Paradigm-shifting. There was before and there was after, and Geoff was the constant that carried her through.

  Avery walked into her kitchen and dropped the envelope onto her counter. She still had time to respond to the invitation. She could let it sit for a day. First, she had some work to do.

  A knock sounded on Avery’s door, and she glanced up sharply. Was it seven o’clock already? The last few hours had flown by.

  She moved her laptop off her knees, setting it on the edge of the coffee table and rushing toward the door. She swung it open, and her breath flew out at the sight of Geoff in a dark green long-sleeved T-shirt that drew out the color of his eyes. His expression was deeply pleased, and her body thrilled in his presence. She wanted to lean forward and kiss him, so she did.

  She could do things like that now.

  How lucky was she?

  Geoff grinned against her mouth. “Nice to see you, too.” He smelled like a warm, rich cologne, and she drew in a deep breath.

  “Want to come in?”

  “Thought you’d never ask.”

  Avery led him into the living room, and he stopped short of her couch, his eyes wide.

  “What?” She followed his gaze to the sight of all her sex toys lined up on the coffee table. “Oh.”

  Geoff gave a low, heated laugh. “Is this like a Choose Your Own Adventure story?”

  Avery waved her hands at the table. “Sorry, just got caught up in work things. I’m doing a roundup blog post of some of our favorite toys for couples to push to a few of the top industry blogs and publications.”

  “Is it so wrong that I want to get caught up in your work things, too?”

  She bit her lip and tried to read his face. “Seriously?”

  “Yeah, seriously, Cheese Girl. Show me what you’ve got.”

  She grinned. This probably wasn’t following her own advice that she’d doled out on his show, but who the hell cared? She was a grown-ass woman who worked in the adult products industry, and she had a boyfriend who wanted to play. “You asked for it. First up, we’ve got a wand massager which is great for massaging, well, every
thing. But we all know that it’s going straight between a woman’s legs. It’s super powerful and definitely a fan favorite for a reason.”

  Geoff raised an eyebrow. “You’ve tried that one?”

  She tried to hide her smile. “I might have done my due diligence.”

  His growl of appreciation made her skin heat.

  “Next up we have a vibrating cock ring. It’s designed to keep you harder longer and make a more intense orgasm. It’s also got a clit stimulator, so when a guy thrusts, it’ll stimulate the woman’s clit.”

  “Sounds like winning for everyone.”

  “In theory. I don’t have a cock, so I haven’t personally taken it for a spin.” Avery pointed at the table. “Last up for this batch is the couples’ wearable vibrator. It’s worn inside during sex, and it stimulates the woman’s G-spot, along with providing vibrations for the guy’s shaft. This one’s quiet, but it’ll make you scream.”

  “Oh my god, Ave.”

  She laughed. “That’s just the marketing text.”

  “I see why the people at your job like you so much.”

  She rolled her eyes. “It comes with the territory.”

  “Yeah, well, I like the way you think.” Geoff drew her close, a hand sliding down her spine to cup her ass.

  Avery blushed. “Thank you.” Her phone chirped an interruption before she could say more, and she wrinkled her nose. “Let me get that and turn off the phone.”

  Geoff nipped her earlobe, sending a shock of arousal through her body. “Good plan.”

  She stepped out of his embrace to silence her phone, frowning when she read the text on the screen.

  “Everything okay?” Geoff asked from his spot on the couch.

  Avery held up her phone. “Your sister wants to know where I’ve been all weekend. What do I say?”

  An unreadable look crossed his face, and he ran a hand over his forehead. “You might have been right about Sophie,” he admitted.