Alex went cold.
Lori laughed and said, “Save me from older brothers. Thank you, God, for not giving me any.” She caught his arm, batted her lashes at him, and held on like crazy as he tried again to move past her. He couldn’t exactly do much with her attached, could he?
“Get out of my way, Lori!”
“No.” She kissed his jawline. “We need to leave—”
“Yeah, you could say that again,” Alison said, cutting around Alex.
She was dressed now and Mike flinched at the sound of her voice. His gaze bounced off her and he had to fight the urge to cover his eyes, as if it would burn away what he’d seen.
Since he couldn’t unsee anything, he glared at the man he considered responsible.
“Outside. Now.”
“I’m not fighting you over this, man,” Alex said, even though he had a bad feeling he didn’t have much choice.
“The fuck you ain’t,” Mike growled, taking a menacing step in his direction. “I thought you were my friend, but you go and treat my baby sister like that? Get your ass outside unless you want me to kill you in here?”
Alison shoved her face into his. “Nobody is killing anybody, Mike. Alex is here because I want him here.”
“Alison, stay out of this.”
“Stay out of it?” She glared at him, eyes narrowed to slits. “This is my house. Alex is here with me because I want him here.”
“Well, I don’t,” Mike snarled, dragging his eyes from his sister’s face, ignoring the woman he saw standing there, focusing on the kid he remembered. He glared at Alex. “Ready?”
He took another step toward Alex, but Alison shoved him back. The strength in that shove came as a surprise, but even more surprising was the fire in her eyes, and the guts it took to face him down.
Alison was quiet, shy. Nervous. She never stood up to anybody. The fury in her voice somehow managed to cut through his and he faltered, glancing from her to Alex and then back.
“No,” she said fiercely. “Not over me. Not like this. If you can’t handle me being in a grown-up relationship, then leave.”
Alex moved closer to Alison, eyeing Mike warily as he wrapped his hands around her arms, and eased her back. “Come on, Ali-cat. We all need to calm down a bit.”
She glared at Mike, furious and shaking with it. “I don’t. This is my house, Alex. He doesn’t seem to remember that. And I’m grown up. I can do whatever I want.” And then, nastily, she added, “Or whom.”
Mike’s face flushed and he looked away. “Don’t, Alison.”
He floundered a minute and looked back at Alex, watched the way his best friend smoothed a hand down Alison’s shoulder. The gentleness there couldn’t be missed.
“If you’re intent on hitting me, we might as well get it over with,” Alex said, his voice grim.
Mike glared at him and turned around. Lori’s eyes caught his and she reached up, touched his cheek. “Come on.” She took his hand, tugged. “Let’s go outside a minute. Calm down. You just need to breathe.”
“I need to hit him,” he muttered.
But he let her tug him out to the porch and he moved to the railing, bracing his hands on it and staring out over the Ohio River.
A few minutes passed and the door opened.
When a floorboard creaked, he turned. Alex stood there.
Alex took the punch that came flying without even trying to dodge it. He ran his tongue over his teeth and spat out blood before looking back at his best friend. “I’ll let you have that one. She’s your baby sister and that…well. You get that one. But I care about Ali.”
Alison stood in the doorway, her eyes blazing.
Alex didn’t let himself look at her.
Mike’s jaw was locked, one hand opening and closing into a fist.
“You got one. Move at me again, and we’re going a round. I care about her, and that’s really all you need to know,” Alex said.
“Fuck. You.” Mike delivered the words in an icy voice and then turned, walking away.
Chapter Fourteen
The low lying pile of cinderblocks didn’t look like much of a bar. It lacked space, ambience, and locale, but the owner didn’t mind. It was right behind the station and it was exactly what the retired cop had planned—a cop shop. A few locals drifted in and out to watch sports, but it was too quiet a neighbourhood for party goers, and the cops who came in after shift weren’t looking for dates or to get laid so there wasn’t much trolling going on either.
Alex squinted through the dim light and saw Mike shooting pool—focused, determined—ignoring any and all talk going on around him. Alison had tried to offer him an easy way out but it wouldn’t have worked. No matter what, even if Mike had walked in on a candlelight and romance fantasy, he still would have seen his best friend fucking his baby sister—the shy little girl both of them had spent most of their boyhoods looking after.
Mike glanced at him from the corner of his eyes. “Got nothing to say to you. Get out.”
“I love her,” Alex said simply, tossing the players at the other table a bland look. They all glanced around, shrugged and wandered off as Alex leaned against the vacated table.
Mike snorted and took a long drink from his beer before taking his cue stick again and going back to his solitary game. “She’s a kid, Alex. And she’s not your type. I don’t know how in the fuck you talked her into—”
“I didn’t talk her into anything,” Alex said flatly. “That’s one thing we’re setting straight here and now. I moved on her when she came back from Ireland, and maybe I moved a little too quickly, but I didn’t talk her into anything. Your sister isn’t a kid. She’s a woman, and believe it or not, she’s a woman who knows what she wants.”
Mike’s face went hard and tight—a flat, cool look of dismissal there. He couldn’t see it, didn’t want to see it. Didn’t want to acknowledge his little sister had grown up. “And you think it’s you,” Mike drawled. “Hate to tell you this, pal, but Alison’s playing around. She came home from Ireland all aglow, lost her virginity there and now she’s ready to try out some new games.”
Alex blew out a ragged breath and rubbed his hands over his face.
Mike mistook the action for disbelief and laughed meanly. “Don’t believe me? As soon as she didn’t have me looking after her, she went a little crazy. That’s all this is, Alex. She’ll get tired of it. She finally hooked up with some guy—over in Ireland. Lori told me.” Mike’s mouth twisted. “Spent all my life protecting her and the minute I’m not there, she goes a little crazy. Now she’s moving on to you. She’ll get bored, man. She finally came out of that shell and she’s having fun playing, that’s all.”
He was going to be rational about this. He had known about the guy in Ireland. He had known. He wasn’t going to lose his cool.
“She didn’t go crazy in Ireland,” Alex said quietly. “I was her first. Months ago.”
Mike was in the middle of lifting his beer to his smirking mouth when he froze. Staring at Alex with narrowed eyes, he slowly lowered the bottle and asked, “When?”
Heaving a sigh, Alex said, “While you were on your honeymoon. The night that punk tried to mug her.” He moved back when Mike took a menacing step in his direction. “Don’t. We’ve already done that. After we get through this, if you want to pound on each other some more, fine. But this first. You can’t say or do anything I’ve not wanted to do to myself. You think I’m proud of it?”
“I’d suggest you get through whatever you think you need to get through. Because I really need to kill you,” Mike growled, hurling his cue stick down and stomping away. “Why, Alex? Can you tell me that?”
“Why that night?” Alex shrugged. No. He didn’t know why that night. He had been exhausted. She had been there, warm, soft, and everything he hadn’t realized he wanted. “Or why ever? I love her, Mike. And here’s the bitch of it all—I think I’ve always loved her. And I’ll be damned if I let you, or anybody else, fuck this up for me.”
&
nbsp; Mike plowed his fingers through his hair and glared at Alex. “She’s not your type, Alex. Damn it, you and me, we aren’t the kind of guys who are going to settle for regular, average sex. For crying out loud, you and I have shared women before…more than once.”
“That’s done.” Alex set his jaw even as he mentally winced at the thought of Alison finding out.
“No shit! But that’s not the point.” Mike glared at him. “How long do you think Alison is going to keep you satisfied, damn it?”
A slow, hot smile curved Alex’s mouth. “Forever.”
Something flickered in his friend’s eyes then.
Pushing off the table, Alex met Mike’s eyes. “We can go pound each other now, if that’s what you want.”
Mike glared at him and grabbed his cue stick and went back to his game.
∞
When Alison walked into the candlelight, she stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes ran over the living room, the familiar furniture, the staircase that led to the two bedrooms upstairs. Yes. It was her house.
But there were candles everywhere, and rose petals on the floor and a haunting, heart-breaking melody playing in the background. Alex moved around the doorway from the hall and smiled at her with a slow, hot tenderness.
Her heart stopped. “You’re still in one piece, looks like,” she said, pleased her voice was level. And feeling a little underdressed. She had just left the gym and her spandex and sports bra weren’t exactly as classy as the silk shirt and black trousers he was wearing.
“Looks like,” he agreed. He eyed her clothes and the duffel. “Gym? I was wondering where that nifty little body was coming from,” he mused, running one finger down her bicep.
Goosebumps flared under his touch and she shivered.
“Come on,” he said, taking her arm and guiding her into the bedroom. “I think I timed this about right. You said you’d be home by five or so…” he pushed the door to her bathroom open and Alison blinked and felt her heart melt. More candles, music playing just a little louder, a bath all ready for her in the deep sunken tub, more rose petals floating in the water.
“Are you, um, feeling all right, Alex?” she asked conversationally. “Mike didn’t crack your head open and cause some mysterious head injury that resulted in this, right?”
He grinned as he tugged the band from her ponytail down. “Fine. Nervous, but fine.” He bent over and kissed her lightly. “Take your bath.” He brushed his fingers over one nipple and said, “I’d love to help, but I can only handle so much.”
Alex waited until he heard her settle into the water before he walked out of the bedroom. He moved away before he could change his mind about joining her and met the boy at the back door and paid him an extra twenty to set the meal up.
A guy usually only planned on proposing once. He was going to do this right.
Especially since Alison had so kindly provided the candlelight suggestion. Alex wasn’t big on romance, but anything that put that soft look in her eyes was enough for him. After the kid left, he went back to pacing. He figured if he got it all out of his system now, he wouldn’t look nervous in front of her.
He didn’t know if she loved him or not.
And he didn’t know if she’d believe he loved her, not after the fiasco their first night had been.
He heard her moving around after about fifteen minutes, and grinned. He had reckoned on her being too curious to wait for long. He met her in the bathroom, her body wet and gleaming from the oils he’d found while rummaging through her cabinets. She smelled like vanilla and lavender and sex, Alex thought, moving closer and taking the towel from her, rubbing her dry, turning her to face the mirror so she could watch with him.
He settled her down on the chair in front of the mirror and pulled the clip from her hair, watching the shoulder length locks spill down before he started to brush it out. Once it was gleaming, he took her hand and led her into the bedroom and took the gown he had laid out for her—white silk, v-necked, cut like a slip. He pulled it over her head, leaving her oiled, smooth flesh naked underneath and then kissed her hand.
“Let’s go eat,” he said. And he wondered why in the flying fuck he had even bothered with dinner.
Romance, buddy. Romance.
He’d drawn all the curtains, blocking the sunlight, turned off the lights, and the candles were all glowing softly.
She had been smiling and staring into nothing when he came to take the plate away. He returned and pulled the chair out but kept her from rising, just turned her so that she was facing him as he dropped to his knees in front of her. “You look delicious, smell delicious, taste delicious,” he whispered roughly, stroking one finger over her cheek. His hands slid up her calves to her knees, gathering the silk and taking it higher. “Mind if I have some?”
Alex lifted her and laid her on the cleared table, drawing the gown off and studying her with hot eyes as he pulled her to the edge. Leaning over, he kissed her mouth gently and whispered, “I’m in love with you, Alison Ryan,” as he started to circle one finger around her entrance.
Her eyes flew open and she stared up at him, the dark green of her eyes glittering and wide, her mouth trembling. Slowly, he kissed her again as he slid two fingers inside her pussy, while she helplessly lifted her hips against his hand, her wet tissues tight and silky, the hard little bud of her clit swollen against his thumb. He drove his tongue inside her mouth, loving her taste, the weak hungry moan she made, how her hands clutched at his nape and held tight. Her tongue met his and he retreated, sucking hers into his mouth and shuddering when she came eagerly, tasting him, catching his lip between her teeth and nibbling before seeking his tongue out again greedily.
He drew away and pressed a kiss to her chin as her head fell back, her neck arched, and he rubbed his mouth against the rabbiting pulse he found there. He worked his way down to her breasts while he continued to screw his fingers in and out of her snug wet cleft. His mouth closed over one swollen, peaked nipple.
She sobbed out his name.
That simple sound caused an explosion inside him and his cock swelled to the point of pain and all he wanted to do was mount her and fuck her until they collapsed. Instead, he settled on his knees between her thighs and licked her—torturing himself with the sweet taste of her cunt as he stabbed inside her entrance with his stiffened tongue—until she was lifting her hips to meet him, riding his mouth, and calling out his name raggedly. He slid his hands under her butt, used his fingers to torment her by spreading her ass open.
He moved up and took her clit in his mouth and she screamed, arching up. He bit down gently and her body shuddered. He sucked and she came, screaming hoarsely, while lifting herself up and begging for more.
He rose and stood staring down at her as he slowly removed his shirt and trousers, his face gleaming wetly from her. He waited until she was staring at him, panting and reaching for him before he moved to mount her.
He shifted to the side and smacked her burning pussy lightly.
He stared into her eyes and waited until she looked up at him. Her eyes started to clear and he went to tell her. He wanted her to know, this time. Now.
But she smiled up at him, lifting one hand to his cheek. “I love you.”
Alex shuddered and lowered his head, pressing his brow to hers. “Ali,” he whispered.
“Make love to me.” She curled her arms around his shoulders, urging him on, but he held back.
“I love you.” He watched her eyes widen. “I love you,” he said again.
It was the first time he’d ever said it to a woman.
It wouldn’t be the last—he planned on telling her often.
“You…Alex…” Her lashes went wet with tears.
“Shhh….don’t cry.” He butted the head of his cock against her, kissed away the dampness from one eye. “Don’t cry.”
“I’m not…”
“Liar.” He kissed away a tear that leaked from the corner of her eye, twining his hand with hers. “Let me
love you, Ali.”
She gasped as he sank inside, slowly, taking her with more gentleness than he thought he had.
She was writhing and twisting, moving against him with desperate need but he kept his pace slow, pulling out almost to the tip and then filling her with exquisite slowness. He came inside her again, deep, tight and full, again and again, his cock rubbing against the sensitized nerve endings near the mouth of her womb as she pushed down on his hard, thick, hot shaft.
Against her ear, he whispered, “Love you, Alison, damn it, love you so much.”
His mouth covered hers and his tongue pushed inside, thrusting deep, echoing the slow, languid strokes of his cock.
Alison shuddered against him and he caught her hip, tugged her closer as he felt her tighten around him, her orgasm so close. When she broke around him, he began to move deeper, faster, harder, listening as she cried, as she whimpered, feeling every last tremor of her climax. He came with an intensity that all but levelled him, collapsing against her as his body went boneless.
He pushed a little deeper and rode it to the very end then rested briefly on her body before pulling out and rolling off to catch his breath.
When he could breathe again, he picked her up and carried her to the bed, stretching out next to her. She cuddled up closer and he closed his eyes, bliss rolling through him.
He was almost asleep when he remembered.
Jumping up, he moved out of the bedroom.
“Forget something?” she mumbled.
“Ah, yeah. The candles.” It wasn’t really a lie. Not safe to leave them burning. He went through the house in a rush, putting out the ones that were still aflame. He’d meant to do this earlier, but the sight of her in that silk, candlelight flickering across her skin…well, it had driven him to distraction.
He brought the ring back in and laid down next to her. She was half asleep when he took her hand. It wasn’t until he started to slide the ring on her finger that she opened her eyes.
Her breath caught.
“Wanna marry me, Ali-cat? I may not do the candlelight and romance part often, but I can do it. And I can’t think of anything I’d rather do than spend the rest of my life making every fantasy you have a reality.”
Wicked Wild Fantasies Page 13