His Temptation (X Enterprises Book 4)

by Tanya Gallagher

  Geoff pushed open the first door he saw, relieved to find a darkened master bedroom. He locked the door behind them, backed Avery against it and had his mouth on her neck before the latch was even fully in place.

  She moaned and raked a hand through his hair, sending lighting tingling down his scalp.

  His cock hardened against her hip, and she leaned into his touch.

  The words slipped from her lips. “So about that wardrobe malfunction.”

  He pulled her to him. “I know I complained about your red lips before, but I’m going to take back every bad thing I said about them.”

  “You like?”

  “God, yes, Ave. I fucking love.”

  Her eyes widened under her mask, and he crushed his lips to hers. He was going to make a mess, but it didn’t matter. She was here with him tonight, all layers of silk and satin, and her eyes a beacon in the dark. Her mouth tasted like wine, and he drank her in—the fruity, intoxicating taste of her.

  Avery pulled back, breathing heavy, her eyes dark with arousal. “I approve of your approval.”

  Geoff spun her away from the door, walking her backward until they bumped into the velvet-covered chaise stretching across the foot of the bed. When the edge of the bench hit the back of his knees, he sat down hard and pulled Avery down onto his lap.

  He kissed her like the world was ending, stroked a hand up her side and held the other against her bottom, holding her into place so he could buck his hips against her, his cock notched against her slit, separated by layers of clothes.

  “Oh my god, Geoff,” she moaned.

  “Quiet,” he whispered. “This needs to be fast.”

  Geoff helped Avery balance as she climbed to her feet, unbuckled his pants as she slid her panties over her high heels and stepped out of them. She spared a glance down his body and grinned. Geoff wore a tight gray long-sleeved T-shirt with a bunch of gray Home Depot paint swatches pinned to it. “Fifty Shades of Grey, I take it?” she asked.

  He nodded back at her. “I thought it screamed, ‘I’m literary and also super sexy.’”

  She rolled her eyes. “It screams something alright.”

  He narrowed his eyes at her. “You’re going to be screaming something, too, if you roll your eyes at me again.”

  “I certainly hope so.”

  Avery grinned and peeled his shirt off his body so the swatches wouldn’t cut her delicate skin. Then she lifted the skirt of her dress and climbed onto the bench, a knee on either side of Geoff’s body. She braced herself on his shoulders and slid onto his cock, everything wet—hot sensation and lust.

  Geoff’s eyes shut at the moment of pure pleasure, and he reveled in the bliss of Avery’s body squeezing around him. “You’re mine,” he groaned.

  “All yours.”

  She began to move quickly, taking her own pleasure from him, her motions becoming more and more frantic as she fucked him, her breath shallow and wild. They were getting good at this, learning each other’s bodies, something familiar yet new every time. He guided her as she rode his cock, felt his balls tighten at the same time that she began to stiffen.

  “I want you to come so hard, sweetheart. I want you unable to walk.”

  He pushed the top of her dress down and took one creamy breast in his mouth. Avery’s head lolled back, giving him access, and he flicked his tongue over her nipple. She spasmed against him, writhed silently, save for her ragged breath.

  “Geoff,” she whispered, a plea and a salvation wrapped into one cry.

  He didn’t see her come, but he felt it, her body clamping down around him, milking him, so he exploded, too. “Avery, god—” he called, his orgasm brutal, fast, and hard.

  Avery dropped her forehead to his, and they sat silently in some stranger’s master bedroom, his heart so loud in his chest he was sure someone would hear it and knock on the door.

  “Halloween might be my new favorite holiday,” Avery whispered at last.

  Geoff kissed her gently. “Mine too.”

  She groaned and pulled away from him. “We should head back. Someone’s bound to miss us.”

  “The only person I care about is right here in this room.”

  Avery gave him a look that made him feel a million feet tall and pressed another kiss on his lips. “Come on. Although you might have gotten your wish. I’m not sure I’m able to walk.”

  “Then I’ll hold you up.”

  She tugged Geoff to his feet and handed him his shirt, and he pulled it over his head while she arranged her dress. Her hair was a mess, and her carefully painted lipstick had smeared at the edges, but she was fucking glorious.

  “Was this a trick or a treat?” he asked her.

  “Definitely a treat.”

  “Good girl.” He slipped his hand back around one of hers, fully intending to keep his promise of holding her upright as she opened the bedroom door.

  Avery pulled open the door and stopped so quickly in the threshold of the doorway that he bumped into her.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, and then he looked over her shoulder.

  Geoff’s chest squeezed, and sharp prickles ran over his skin.

  Oh, holy shit.

  Chapter 23

  “What the hell is going on here?” Sophie stood in the hallway outside the bedroom with a red Solo cup in hand and the blood draining from her face. She looked back and forth between Avery and Geoff. “No fucking way.”

  Geoff took half a step forward, his hand still in Avery’s. “This isn’t what it looks like, Soph.”

  Sophie’s eyes narrowed, and her voice came out cold and hard. “No, I’m pretty sure it’s exactly what it looks like. You’re fucking my best friend.”

  Avery’s stomach dropped, and her throat went dry. This wasn’t the kind of thing that was supposed to happen. She and Sophie had always told each other everything. Hell, Sophie had called her in the middle of the night back in college to tell her when she’d traded in her V-card. And now this secret had been building for weeks.

  Geoff’s fingers tightened around Avery’s hand. “I like her, Soph. I’m not going to hurt her.”

  But even the confidence and care in his warm, low voice couldn’t soothe Avery. Not when Sophie looked at them like someone had kicked a puppy in front of her.

  Sophie shook her head, her face pinched. “Not on purpose. But it’s what you always do.” She’d stuck a whole pack of Hello, my name is ___ name tags on her shirt, with a different name on every sticker. “Identity Theft,” she had said when she first showed up at the party. Only now her costume echoed Avery’s own deceit back at her.

  Avery licked her lips, but her voice came out scratchy. “We were going to tell you, Soph. Before the wedding.”

  Sophie wheeled on her. “And you.” She jabbed her finger at her. “You’re smarter than this.”

  “I like him, too, Soph.”

  Sophie squeezed her eyes shut. “No. Something’s going to give and then you’re going to put me in a shitty situation.”

  Geoff’s voice came out gruff. “I already told you, nothing’s going to change your friendship with Avery.”

  But maybe this already had.

  Sophie rubbed the heel of her hand over her chest. “How long has this been going on?”

  “Since the show,” Avery said.

  Sophie’s face went even more pale.

  “I asked you if you listened…” Geoff started, but Sophie cut him off.

  “Don’t. Me not listening to your show isn’t the reason you’ve been lying to me.”

  Geoff stretched to his full height, and all the paint swatches on his shirt rustled together like leaves on a tree. “Like Avery said, we were going to tell you. And the only reason we needed to keep this from you was because we were pretty sure you were going to overreact. The way you’re doing now.”

  Avery winced. He didn’t need to provoke her, but he was her brother. Geoff and Sophie had never held back their words or emotions when they needed to.

  Sophie’
s face turned red, and she shook her head. Her voice rose with every word. “I’m going to guess I’m not the only one you hid this from.” The Solo cup crumpled in her tightening grip. “So, now you’ve gotta ask yourselves, why are you still hiding? Who are you hiding from? Or do you just like the feeling of lying?”

  “I want this,” Avery said. “And I know that’s hurting you, Soph, but I’m tired of trying to do the popular thing. I’ve spent my whole life trying to not to make waves in my personal life. But this is what I really, really want.”

  Avery’s friend just spun on her heel and stalked toward the stairs, taking them two at a time away from her and Geoff.

  Avery buried her face in her hands, and Geoff gave her a quick squeeze on the shoulder.

  “I’m going after her,” he said.

  She nodded up at him, her heart racing but her body paralyzed, caught. “Go,” she whispered.

  The muscles in Geoff’s back rippled as he walked away from her. She knew he’d do the best he could to fix this. But Sophie was right to be mad. They’d lied about their relationship, and then lied about their lies. If Geoff picked his sister, she wouldn’t blame him. But she hoped to god he was going to come back.

  James Bond was saying something about cell phone networks when Avery felt the heat of Geoff’s body at her back. She’d made her way numbly through another glass of wine after he’d left, and his presence near her body made her sag against him in relief. Feeling anything was better than feeling this panic, this tight-chested fear that she was going to push both of them away.

  Geoff brushed a hand over her shoulder, and a shiver raced through her. “We should go.”

  James Bond looked at him sharply. “I think that’s up to the lady to decide. She seemed to be having a good time right here.”

  Actually, Avery would rather wade into a pool of hungry sharks than hear him talk about service coverage for another second. At least that would be over quickly.

  “That’s okay,” she said to Bond, and his face fell. “It was nice to meet you.”

  Geoff kept his hand at her lower back as they wove through the crowd and out onto the street.

  Until the October air swirled around her bare shoulders, Avery didn’t realize how hot she’d gotten, how flushed her skin was. Low clouds scuttled across the moon, and the crowds who’d flocked to the streets when they’d arrived at the party had thinned. The only trick-or-treaters on the streets were high schoolers now—ones who’d thrown together makeshift costumes and who carried glow sticks instead of flashlights as they drifted door to door.

  “Going to call us a Lyft,” Geoff said, and Avery winced.

  Sophie had been their driver tonight.

  Not anymore.

  Avery wrapped her arms around herself as her heat leached out into the cold.

  “Is she going to forgive us?” she couldn’t help but ask.

  Geoff studied her face, his features hard. “Yeah, eventually. You sooner than me, probably. You’ve got the female advantage. Like some sort of shared brainwaves.”

  She tried to smile at his attempt to make her feel better, but dread pooled in the pit of her stomach. “Where do we go from here?”

  “Right now, we go home.”

  A Nissan Leaf slid to the curb in front of them on cue, the Lyft driver offering his greetings as they slid into the backseat.

  Geoff gave the driver directions to her house, and they rode in silence through the streets of Seattle, the driver fiddling with the radio, Thriller playing at a low volume with a watered-down effect.

  They pulled to the curb in front of Avery’s apartment building, and she climbed out onto the street. She turned when Geoff didn’t follow, a light sweat on her skin. “You want to come in?”

  He rubbed a hand over his jaw and gave her a pained look, but he shook his head. “I think with the way everything went down tonight, it might be better…”

  His voice drifted off, and he sighed.

  “Right,” she said, too brightly, a band-aid over the cut of his rejection. “Right.” Her heart galloped in her chest, and she wasn’t sure she had enough air in her lungs to force more than another syllable from her lips.

  Avery closed the door behind her and stood on the curb, watching until the Leaf pulled from the curb and the taillights of the car turned around a corner. Disappeared.

  Chapter 24

  Geoff rolled out of bed on Saturday morning, his head pounding and his mouth dry.

  Maybe the vodka tonic before bed last night hadn’t been wise. But it had sure as hell been necessary. It had been a few days since the Halloween disaster—one month rolling into the next—and the change of seasons reverberated in his bones. He’d become hollow inside, any new emotion bound to echo.

  Geoff had spent the time sending idle texts to Avery, half-hearted attempts to let her know he was there. But he’d milked the few days until the weekend, telling himself he was giving her space to get her work life back in balance.

  He was a chickenshit, so there was that, too.

  Maybe Sophie had been right after all. Not about hurting Avery, but about how this was going to drive a wedge between the three of them. And despite the fact that his little sister was a giant pain in the ass, it had been a few years since he’d had a huge network in Seattle. He needed every friendly face he could get, and Sophie was one of the good ones here. She kind of had to like him.

  Geoff rolled out of bed and padded into the studio, hoping work would help. Even though his programming break had been self-imposed, every episode he didn’t record was one fewer opportunity to pull in sponsorship money. And that money was what funded his life.

  He clicked open his email and skimmed the latest message from his contact at Slay All Night.

  Geoff, it seems like your show is going in a different direction than where our brand is headed, and I don’t know if we can keep going along for the ride. This break might be a good time to reevaluate our relationship. If you can share some of your plans for the episodes in the upcoming season, it might help us understand if our relationship can continue to be a fit or if we’ll need to part ways. Please send us the latest.

  What? No.

  Geoff’s hand twitched around the computer mouse, the bite of the plastic in his palm grounding him to the here and now. Those fuckers. His show subscriptions were up, and episode downloads had reached an all-time high. How did three little episodes about Avery change things?

  Geoff pushed back from his chair and paced through his apartment. First the fight with Sophie, now the message from Slay All Night.

  He was good at reading signs, and this was a fucking billboard.

  Something needed to change.

  He reached for his cell and pulled up Avery’s number. Typed out a text message, tightened his fingers around the phone. Can you come over?

  Hit Send.

  Avery appeared in Geoff’s doorway like a mirage, even though the display on his phone showed that he had, in fact, summoned her. She wore a crimson boatneck sweater, her face pale above the fuzzy neckline.

  “Hey,” she said, and he stepped back to let her in.

  How did he do this? He had to keep himself from reaching for her—it was only going to hurt more if he did—but his fingers twitched with the effort.

  Geoff led her into the living room and nodded toward the couch. “Why don’t you have a seat?”

  Avery’s face tightened, and she wrapped an arm around herself like she could feel the air changing for the worse. “I’m good. What’s up?”

  He closed his eyes. Opened them to find her staring at him, her face already falling. He steadied himself with a deep breath, but the whole world spun. “I’ve been thinking a lot about what happened the other day with Sophie.”

  She nodded but didn’t speak.

  “And I’m starting to think she might be right.”

  “You’re right.” Avery frowned. “We shouldn’t have lied to her. It was wrong.”

  He swallowed hard. “Not about lyin
g, Ave. About us. I don’t know if I’m built for relationships, okay?”

  Her mouth twitched. “Me neither, but I’m willing to try. What we have is really fucking good, Geoff.” She blew out a frustrated breath. “You know, part of this is on me. I was so worried about losing you and how that would look that I didn’t tell you what I really want. But if the secret’s out, we don’t need to keep running away. I want this, okay? I believe in it. Do you?”

  Geoff ignored her question. “If I had this kind of fallout when all I did was tell my sister about us, what’s going to happen when I tell my fans?”

  Avery stiffened. “I’m sure your fans will love and support you.”

  “Not all of them.”

  She shot him a look. “Weren’t you the one who told me you’re not trying to impress everyone? That your hardcore fans are going to love you either way, and that rest of the people didn’t matter?”

  Well, fuck. She wasn’t the only one whose words could come back to bite them in the ass.

  “Maybe you’re right.” A muscle tensed in Geoff’s jaw. “But I do need to impress my sponsors above anyone. I got a message today from one of the higher-ups at my top advertiser, Ave. They want more programming like what I delivered in the past, or they’re going to pull their funding.”

  Avery’s voice came out flat. “And what you gave them was a single guy playing the field.” Geoff couldn’t look her in the eye, but it didn’t stop him from catching the way she shook her head. “So you’re going to listen to a stranger instead of me?”

  “Not a stranger. I’ve had a business relationship with them for the past three years.”

  Avery’s voice shook. “And that counts more than whatever you and I have, right?”

  He felt so fucking helpless, defending himself when everything she was saying was true. Because yeah, his job mattered to him. It was the thing he’d built, the thing he’d been able to cling to no matter what other shit life had thrown at him. On his show he was important—not the abandoned kid whose dad had bailed on him after the divorce. He was the star.