She still lingers on my lips when we enter the warm garage serving as the auction house. Fans are blowing in every direction. There is air conditioning, but with all of the doors open to bring in the larger items for the auction the heat seeps in. Magnolia looks out of place in a room full of old people. I watch her walk the perimeter searching for whatever items she’s seeking. Her long brown ponytail is high, brushing her shoulders as she leans over to get a closer look at a tagged item. She looks up to where I’m standing and waves me over.
“Look at this,” she says, pointing at a box of jewelry that looks like the nineties puked out. Sifting through it she adds, “I probably need this along with that dining set.” Magnolia motions to the corner where an old ass table with six chairs sits.
I nod. “They are real gems,” I exclaim, raising one brow.
She hits me on the shoulder, watching her hand as our bodies touch. “Don’t pretend to know what you’re talking about. Just ask me questions.”
I do ask. I know everything I can possibly know about Victorian furniture twenty minutes later. We take our seats in the brown, folding chairs as the auctioneer speaks faster than I knew possible. I watch his mouth as he runs through the gamut of random bobs and bits until he gets to Magnolia’s dining set.
She throws her paddle up in the air and calls out a price before he can even introduce one. Another man double our age does too. And so it goes for a couple of minutes that feel like hours. I break out in a cold sweat when I realize she might not win the table, and in this moment, my heart’s truest desire is that she wins. A fucking table. It’s my competitive nature. I’d take out the old geezer if this were a different kind of fight. Magnolia stands up, paddle in the air and calls out an offer significantly higher than the last one he gave. The old man shakes his head and puts his paddle down in defeat.
“Sold, number one one niner,” the auctioneer calls when the bidding war concludes. I’m surprised I’m at the edge of my seat.
Leaning over, I realize she’s breathing heavy. “That was intense,” I remark.
“It always is,” she replies, smiling at me. “I knew you’d like it.”
“This table must really be worth something.” I narrow my eyes at the piece of furniture once more.
“I have to fix it up a bit, but it will so be worth it.” Her eyes light.
I load the heavy set into the bed of her truck and we’re back at her house in record time. I unload the table into her workshop garage as carefully as I can and then we’re standing in the heat of her workspace, staring at each other. A drop of sweat rolls between her breasts and I press my lips together. It reminds me of the last time we had sex. Hot sex. Sex that changed everything for me. It was sex so desperate and passionate that I can’t even view her sweat without getting turned on. “Going to give me a tour?” I ask, watching her mouth, gesturing to her house with a head movement.
She nods. “We have forty minutes before Kendall gets out of school. Let’s go.”
There is no actual tour. She locks the door of her bedroom the second we enter, retreats to the restroom for a brief moment and then moves toward me like a lioness. I don’t have time to speak a word. She’s on me.
Chapter Ten
Magnolia
I KISS HIM LIKE MY body doesn’t need oxygen. He kisses me like he might never taste me again. I thought it would be less desperate this time, but I feel the same wild connection as the first. Anytime his fingers brush my bare skin, I react. His tongue is in my mouth, his hands are pinning mine above my head, and I’ve lost all thoughts except those of him. And us. Together.
The auction was nearly unbearable as the thoughts of what is happening right now were warping my senses. In every look, in every word spoken, Aidan conveyed how much he wanted me. As I explained patina finishes, he stared at my mouth like it was drawn by the hand of God. Or like maybe a Lladro figurine might pop out of my body. I doubt he remembers anything I said.
As his hand raises my shirt, his tongue slides up my collarbone and neck. I help pull the shirt over my head and the cool air tickles my skin. “I’ve wanted to do this all day,” Aidan rasps, unbuttoning my shorts and sliding them along with my panties, down my legs. He smells like soap and his deodorant—some fresh scent that makes me think dirty thoughts. “Since the last time I had you naked,” he amends when I don’t respond, lost in my appraisal. “You have no idea what you’re doing to me, Magnolia.”
“I know what I want to be doing to you,” I reply, grinning when I catch his gaze with mine. My stomach flips, and I hold my breath.
Aidan leans away, biting his bottom lip, in that desperately handsome way that makes me even wetter than I was seconds before. A monstrous feat, if we’re being honest. “Show me,” he says, muscles flexing as he raises himself off my body. “Show me what you want to do to me. Do we need the paddle?”
I shake my head. “Lay down on the bed,” I say. I make the rolling motion with my pointer finger. He flips over and removes the rest of his clothing. “If you think this is weird, tell me, but I’ve wanted to try this since our first date.” He didn’t let me do anything that night. My core clenches at the vivid memory.
He smiles and takes my face in his hands. “Nothing you can possibly do to me naked will I construe as anything except awesome. Promise. Let your freak flag fly.”
My heart is pounding out of my chest and I hear my pulse in my ears. This isn’t a person I’ve ever been. Not with Paul. Not even with myself. This is the person I’m becoming. I feel strong, and out of my element. As delicately as I can, I straddle his face backward, leaning forward to slide his dick into my mouth.
Aidan’s hands clasp tightly on my thighs. He pulls me down onto his face with a growl and his lips and tongue are working my clit. It takes work to focus on my own task with his zeal for his job, the warmth from his tongue diving into my most sensitive places. I glide my hand up and down his shaft as I try to be careful with my teeth. No one ever tells you how hard it is to have something in your mouth without letting your teeth meet said object. Just another impossible standard women are supposed to live up to.
Aidan pauses his assault to readjust his grip, lifting me and lowering me at a different angle. “I could eat this pussy all day,” he says, lapping at me languidly. My breath catches and I pick up my pace, moving my tongue against the side of his shaft. Whatever he says next is muffled by my body and his ferocious head movements. I come apart, shaking, moments later. His lips relax, his tongue licks slower, his grip loosens. I can’t help but stop sucking him, my body won’t allow it during the post-orgasm haze. “How are you so good at that?” I sigh, letting the haze of lust eat me alive.
“Eating is my favorite sport.” I can hear the smile in his voice. “I live for cheat day and you’re the best treat.”
“I need to finish for you,” I sigh, catching my breath. Aidan slides a finger inside me. “I didn’t anticipate being this distracted. It’s your fault.” Closing my eyes, I’m a slave to the pleasure he’s giving me. A moan slips.
His chuckle slides over my body like a sedative. Or maybe it’s because he’s stroking my G-spot, but my whole body fires at his touch. I rock back onto his finger. “Want another one?” Aidan says, his tone low and gravelly. He takes my movement as my response and inserts another.
“This isn’t me finishing,” I moan, halfheartedly bobbing on his dick.
“This view is finishing me, Magnolia. Looking at you, having you like this. Resisting every urge to put my cock where my fingers are.”
“Fuck me, then.” It’s agonizing, but I slide forward, causing his fingers to leave my body and turn to face him, my hands on either side of his hips. His face is flushed, and his lips are parted. That half-mast gaze tells me how much restraint he’s using, and it’s enough to make my core clench. “If you want to, that is,” I add.
He flashes a grin and coaxes me up his rippled body. I detour around his clutching arms to fish out a condom from the pack in my nightstand I bought fo
r an occasion such as this. I hold it up, victorious. “For you,” I say, handing it to him. “First time shopping for them, but I got the kind I saw you had.” I beam proudly at my accomplishment.
“You put it on,” he says, glancing at his watch as he speaks. “Wait. We only have fifteen minutes, never mind, I rescind my offer.” He snatches it, tears it open with his teeth, and has his throbbing dick sheathed in mere seconds. I’m still standing next to the bed, wide-eyed, shocked at the speed in which he completed the job. “Get over here. I want you.” His order makes my legs quake.
I glide, because I do feel like I’m floating in this moment, suspended in a place of pure elation, and join him on the bed. Ensconced in his strong arms, he lays me beneath him. “I can still taste you on my lips. Give me more,” he speaks against my lips. Aidan’s kiss is furious, and it takes a second for me to catch up, to get on the same level. The palm of his hand skims down, grazing my breasts and waist until it lands between my legs. When his fingers meet wetness, he drops his head against my forehead and replaces his hand with his cock.
Aidan rocks into me in one solid thrust and we both sigh in the sweet relief of connection. Me filled, him surrounded by me. I raise my hips to meet him thrust for thrust as he picks up his pace. We breathe together, his lips against the pulse at my throat. I can taste him, scent his skin, and I’m filled by him all at the same time. Aidan’s muscles are coiled tight as he thrusts. He swallows hard as the pace of his breathing quickens, the scratch of his moans are a desperate plea for more.
Wrapping my legs around his waist allows me to rub against his pelvis at the perfect angle. “This,” I say, panting, “feels so good.”
Aidan grinds into me. “Not stopping until good turns into earth-shattering,” he says, licking a line from my neck up to my earlobe. My skin prickles at his touch and my stomach dances. It’s not implausible I’m having sex with Aidan right now. It’s shocking at how much I’m enjoying it.
He clears his throat after he lets out a huff of air. “You’re so tight. I want to come right now. Magnolia, you’re so fucking perfect.” He kisses me on the side of the head and then presses his lips against mine, in time with his thrusts. A dance.
He could have said a million different things, and he said the one that would turn good into earth-shattering. My legs tighten as the orgasm hits. Aidan keeps his pace and comes seconds after my sexual war cry drowns into mere panting. He tucks his face into my neck. It makes me feel a way—something I’m unable to describe. Instead of my heart slowing into a normal rhythm, it batters against my chest, against him. His cock throbs one last time, deep inside me, and a bit more of his body weight presses me into the mattress.
The cool of the air skims the places where Aidan’s skin isn’t on mine. I tilt my head to the side, searching for him. He turns, and I’m met with his steely, intense gaze. “Is this the point where I tell you, that was amazing?” he asks, a smile lighting his face.
“It was amazing, wasn’t it?” I counter.
He pulls out of my body slowly. “You’re a game changer, Magnolia Sager,” Aidan declares, walking toward my bathroom, the used condom in hand. My bedside clock says I need to get the huge, naked man out of the house. STAT.
Aidan saunters back into the room, chuckling. His brown hair tousled, muscles so damn perfect, the mere sight of him causes me to lose my breath and my manners. “If I’m a game changer, that makes you the game, right? I never want to stop playing you.” That was almost an admission. Something I’m not sure I’m ready for.
He grins at me. The type of grin that would soak my panties if I was wearing them. Sighing, I scoot off the bed. Standing in the middle of my bedroom, this man has more confidence and presence than any other man on the planet. “We can arrange for free gameplay whenever you want,” Aidan says, then his smile slips.
Crossing to him, I lay my palms on his hard abs. “Deal. What’s the matter?” I ask. Trying to ignore the fact that Kendall’s bus will pull up any minute.
He swallows hard and looks down at me. His jaw clenches. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” Taking my face in his hands, his thumb on one cheek and his pointer finger gripping the other one. His abs rise and fall quicker than before as he gazes into my eyes, leaning closer. “Still trying to figure out what to do with that,” he admits, tipping my face up to meet his lips.
I break from the kiss. “Want me to tell you what to do with it?” I ask, trying to control my pulse.
Aidan bites his lip and nods slowly, just once.
“Love me back,” I whisper.
His eyes flare wide, and I think for a second that I’ve scared him—that I’ve said too much, that I’ve been too honest. After a beat or two, his shock diminishes.
He smiles, shakes his head, takes my face in his hands again and owns me with a kiss.
_______________
Kendall is in a bouncy mood, kicking her feet back and forth as she does her homework splayed on her bed—her earbuds in, oblivious to the fact I’m watching from her doorway. There’s a shadow of guilt every second that passes that I don’t tell her about Aidan. It’s mostly because I feel like a completely different person and I’m hiding it from the person I care about the most. Paul left a message on my cell phone to tell me the child support check would be a week late. He knows it’s fine, he knows my finances are in line. The inheritance from my grandparents gave me enough to begin a new life and keeps us afloat on the months when sales in the antique shop are slow. I never had to touch it when I was married to Paul and I’d like to think my grandpa would be proud to see the life I created with what he left behind.
I’m wavering between leaving her alone and peppering her with questions about her day. She seems happy. Happier than she’s been in a long time. There’s a bounce in her step. Is it possible she’s thriving off of the good energy I’m putting into the atmosphere? Maybe she knows without details I’m happier? I sit next to her on the bed and lay a hand on her calf swinging in the air.
Kendall takes the earbud out of one ear and smiles. “Hey, Mom. What’s up?”
“You seem happy today,” I exclaim, letting my gaze take in her beautiful face. “Can I bring up a snack?”
“Nah, that’s okay. I grabbed an apple when I got home. Everything okay?” she asks.
God, she can tell something is different. I panic. “No. No. I’m fine, honey. I wanted to tell you hello. Craving anything for dinner?” I lead the conversation away from happiness and back to something safe—typical.
“Something quick? I’m riding down to the beach after homework. If that’s okay,” she says, taking the other bud out of her ear. “Juliet will come with me.” She’s really trying to sell it. “And you can track me like an FBI agent using the app or whatever.”
“What’s down at the beach again tonight? You seeing someone? A boy?” I try to keep my tone teasing because hell hath no fury like an offended teen.
“Maybe,” she replies, pressing her lips together.
“Who is it?” I ask, mentally ticking through the boys I’ve met that I’ve seen around more than a couple of times.
She smirks. “That would be bad juju. It’s nothing right now, nothing special anyway. Boys seem like so much work. We’re just talking. Promise. Nothing serious.”
Of course I trust her, but there’s a niggling feeling of something not quite right. “Sure, of course. When you’re ready to talk about him.”
“So, I can go?” Kendall asks, eyebrows raised.
“Sure, sure.” I can’t help myself, it’s physically impossible. I give her the safe sex lecture and the no means no lecture and when she’s absolutely mad and annoyed, I leave her to finish her homework praying my words trickle in. She’s a smart girl. My hope is that she’s smarter than I was.
I stop into my small bump out office and attend to business on my laptop and head into the kitchen. My cell phone chimes with a text from Aidan.
Jumping out of airplanes tonight. How does it feel
knowing you’d be my last thought if my parachute doesn’t open?
I smile. Morbid? And a little flattered.
Just a LITTLE flattered?
Fine, a lot flattered. Make sure your parachute is in full working order though. I want free gameplay time again tomorrow.
His text response is quick. There’s nothing else I’d rather do.
I’m smiling, the phone pressed to my chest when Kendall walks in and asks what I’m giggling about.
I lie.
Chapter Eleven
Aidan
IT’S BEEN ABOUT THREE weeks since I fell in love with Magnolia Sager standing naked in her bedroom, my heart on display in a way it’s never been before. The real kind of love that drives you absolutely wild with wonderment and complete abandon. Her daughter is at an overnight cheerleading camp for the weekend. Magnolia showed up to my house with a weekender three hours ago. For any other man in love, this would be the best thing that could possibly happen. I’m not any other man. I want so badly for Magnolia to think I’m perfect for her. That nothing that I’ve done or have endured will be impressed upon what she means to me now.
She’s grabbing a glass of water from the kitchen tap, humming a song that’s been playing non-stop on the radio. Standing in front of the full-length mirror in my room, I give myself a mental pep talk. You can do this. This isn’t a big deal. A woman spending the night is common. Normal. I can be normal for her. For me. I deserve that. I must.
“Do you want anything?” Magnolia calls out.
A lobotomy, a rewind button, and a dose of fuck-it-all probably isn’t what she means.
“No thank you,” I reply, wiping away a layer of sweat from my forehead. My friends were over at my place shooting the shit earlier. Since they left, I’ve received approximately ten thousand texts asking if I’m really having a sleepover or some variation of taunting laced encouragement. The last text I read before silencing my phone was one from Mercer that said, “You’ve lost your goddamned mind. I better be the best man.” I didn’t even reply to dispute it. Tahoe’s text said, “Breathe.” That’s the one I’m currently focusing on. In through my nose and out through my mouth. A simple thing. Breathing. You don’t even realize you’re doing it most times. When you focus on it, it’s the only thing you can think of. It keeps you alive.
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