Wait a second.
Just wait.
I slowed my steps as the harsh realization sunk in.
Was I…growing? Like…maturing? Emotionally?
No. That wasn’t possible. Guys like me took decades to grow up and have Emotions, didn’t they? One night of mind-blowing sex with the girl next door hadn’t turned me into an actual adult with Feelings, had it?
Maybe I should slow down.
“Just kidding,” I added quickly, taking my arm from her shoulders. “I’m always thinking about sex.”
“I know this about you. And yet I’m still considering your offer. What does that say about me?”
“That after years of suffering and deprivation, you are finally ready and willing to enjoy yourself.”
She sighed. “OK fine. You win. I’ll ask about taking three days off. But I need to go home. Do you want to drive me? Or should I take your car?”
“I’ll drive you. Pack up while you’re there, too. Then we can leave whenever we want.”
“Slow down, cowboy. I haven’t talked to Michael yet.”
“Sorry. I’m just excited to get you all to myself.” Oh, shit. “You know, for all the sex.”
Rolling her eyes, she thumped me on the chest. “You’re an animal,” she said. But she actually looked happy about it.
On the way to her house, she called Michael, her pastry chef, who was back from his long weekend and more than happy to manage the shop for her the next three days. She double-checked with both waitresses scheduled to work this week, and each said she would be glad to pitch in with extra hours if needed.
“See? Everything is under control,” I said.
“Seems like it.” She chewed the tip of her index finger. “And they can always call me if they need to.”
“Exactly. But they won’t. And you know what? This tells me you’re an awesome boss. You’ve trained them well.”
“Thank you.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe I’m actually taking a little vacation. I haven’t—oh shit.”
“What?” I glanced at her and followed her gaze down the street. Daylight was just starting to fade into dusk, and I easily made out the red Mustang in her driveway and the burly douchebag in a suit getting out of it. “Oh, shit. What do you want to do? I can keep driving and we can pretend we never saw him, I can wait for you in the car, or I can walk you in. Your call.”
She eyed me. “If I say come in with me, can you manage not to get in a fight with him?”
“Possibly.” I pulled alongside the curb, noting unfriendly stance of said douchebag, who looked like he was ready to throw a punch. “But unlikely.”
“Oh, God. Please don’t, OK?”
But Dan was already stomping across the lawn toward us, chest first. In general, I’m a lover not a fighter, but I have a big enough mouth that I’ve gotten myself into trouble a few times. I took off my glasses just in case, popping them into the glove box under Natalie’s worried gaze.
Dan yanked open the passenger door. “Can we talk?”
“Not right now,” she said breezily. “Dan, you remember Miles. Miles, Dan.”
I leaned over her and smiled. “What’s up?”
He ignored me. “I really want to talk to you.”
“Well, give me a call at the end of the week.” She got out of the Jeep. “I’m going out of town tomorrow.”
Score! I thought, hopping out and following her up the front walk. Now please, please ask where she’s going and with whom.
Dan walked on the grass to get ahead of her. “Out of town where?”
“None of your business,” she said, pulling her keys from her purse.
We reached the front porch, and Dan stepped in front of the door. “Where were you last night? I came back to talk to you, and you weren’t here.”
She shrugged. “That’s none of your business either.”
Goddamn, I was proud of her. If he tried to touch her, I was going to move in, but as long as she could hold her own, I thought it was best to let him see her stand tall without any help.
Dan flicked his beady douchebag eyes at me. “What’s he doing here, anyway?”
“He’s my friend. Now get out of the way so I can go into my house.”
“Not until you agree to talk to me.”
“There’s nothing to say right now, Dan.” Natalie threw a hand up. “Go be free! Enjoy your space! You were right. We need a little time apart, a little distance to reevaluate what we want out of life.”
Dan looked nervous. “You’re reevaluating your life?”
“Yeah. I am.” She sounded just as surprised as he did. “Just because you had a plan doesn’t mean you should follow through with it, right or wrong. There’s dedication, and then there’s blind stubbornness.”
“But…” He ran a hand over his hair. “But what if the break was the wrong plan?” He lowered his voice. “I couldn’t sleep last night at all.”
“Sorry to hear that. But you know what? I didn’t get much sleep either.”
I snorted. I couldn’t help it. But then I thought Natalie might kill me, so I tried to turn it into a cough. She gave me a nasty stink-eyed stare over her shoulder before shoving Dan out of the way. To my surprise, he gave up, standing there slump-shouldered and dejected while Natalie opened the door and gestured for me to go in. “Go on, Miles. I’ll be in in a minute.”
Reluctantly, I slipped past her into the front hall and eavesdropped on their conversation through the partly open door.
“You’re punishing me. I deserve it,” said sad sack Dan. “I know I do.” I rolled my eyes and gave him the finger through the door.
“You cheated on me, Dan. That hurts.” Her voice was like steel.
“I’m sorry.”
“Was it more than once?”
I didn’t hear anything so he must have nodded or something, because she laughed coldly. “I should have known. God, was I just stupid?”
“No! Look, it happened but we can put it behind us now, Natalie. I don’t want anyone else.”
“Until the next time.”
“There won’t be a next time. I promise.”
“I’m not interested in your promises anymore, Dan. What are you even fighting for? It’s time we admit things between us haven’t been good for a while now—they’ve been forced, and that’s partly my fault, because I didn’t want to face it. Now we have to.”
“I don’t think it was forced,” he said, his tone defensive. “I think it just got comfortable, and I took you for granted.”
“Whatever it was, Dan, there has to be something better. I’ve decided I’m too young to settle for comfortable.”
God, I wanted to tackle hug her for that so hard.
“But I love you, Natalie. I still want what we had planned. I just didn’t want it so fast.”
“I get it. And I’m glad you were finally honest with me. It’s giving me a chance to take a closer look at what I want now. To figure out what’s really going to make me happy.”
“I hope it’s still me.”
It’s not you! I felt like shouting. You don’t even know about her G spot, you fuckwad! Unexpected rage curled my hands into fists and flared my nostrils when I thought about him having sex with her. About his mouth on her, his hands on her, his stupid lazy dick. And if she went back to him, he’d get that spectacular body to himself. He’d get to eat that sweet little muffin. He’d get to glaze her buns.
That was fucking unacceptable.
I wanted to glaze her buns.
Molten fury rose in my chest, and I clenched my fists at my sides.
“I don’t think it’s you anymore, Dan. I’m sorry. We’ll talk next week, OK? Goodnight.” She came in the house and shut the door, leaning back against it, breathing hard.
“Oh my God. I can’t believe I just did that.” She put her hands over her stomach. “I broke up with Dan. For good.”
It was dim in her front hall, and I didn’t have my glasses on, so I couldn’t read her express
ion too well. “Are you OK?”
She nodded, her eyes wide. “Yes. But I’m in shock. I think I just drastically changed my life.”
I smiled. “Fuck yeah, you did. How does it feel?”
“Good. Liberating. I’m filled with all this…” She waved her hands around frantically. “Insane energy right now.”
I leaned toward her, boxing her in against the door with both arms. “Want some help burning that off?”
“Yeah,” she breathed, running her hands up my chest. “I think I do.”
Thirteen
Natalie
Don’t think, I told myself as his lips slanted over mine, his tongue stroking inside them. Don’t panic, don’t worry, don’t analyze. Forget about everything but the way this feels.
I gave myself over to Miles, to the smell of his skin, the feel of body against mine, the way his breathing changed when he got close to me. I slipped my hands beneath his t-shirt and ran them over his warm abs and chest, brushing my thumbs over his nipples, making them hard. He moaned lightly and reached under my skirt, rubbing me over my cotton panties. His mouth moved down my neck, his tongue warm and wet against my skin.
“Want to know what I’ve been thinking about all day?” he said in my ear, working his fingers in circles over my clit. “Getting my mouth right here. Tasting your sweet little pussy. Making you come again with my tongue.”
“Really?” I put one hand on his crotch and rubbed the bulge in his jeans. How did he get hard so fast? Had he been like this already?
“Really. And I don’t think I can wait any longer.” He dropped down in front of me and pushed my skirt up, putting his mouth on me without even taking my panties off.
“Oh God, that feels good.” Breathing hard, I threaded my fingers through his hair, watching him soak my underwear with his mouth—or maybe it was me soaking them. He flung one of my legs over his shoulder, kissing and licking and biting my inner thigh before moving my panties aside to get his mouth on my bare skin. God, I loved the way he didn’t rush, loved the languid strokes of his tongue up the slick, hot seam at my center, the decadent swirls over my aching clit, the sweet, slow way he devoured me…I felt like he loved making me come as much I loved doing it, like he’d be happy to do this all night, like he didn’t care how long it would take me.
Not that it would take long.
“Fuck,” I whispered, the tension coiling tight at my center. “How do you do it? You make me come so fast.”
“Good.” He switched to hard, quick flicks with the tip of his tongue, then sucked the hot little bud into his mouth. When he slid two fingers inside me, my leg trembled and I dropped my head back against the door.
“Yes, yes, yes, like that,” I whimpered, my fingers clutching his hair. I clenched the leg he’d thrown over his shoulder, pulling him into me. “Right there, oh my God…”
He plunged his fingers deeper and sucked harder, and when I looked down at his head between my thighs, I cried out as I watched him take me over the edge, my clit throbbing inside his mouth, my core muscles contracting around his fingers.
“Fuck yes,” he said, his breath warm against my wet skin. He bit my inner thigh once more. “I love the way I can feel you come. I love it so much, I want it again.” He pulled my drenched panties down and I stepped out of them. When he stood up, I grabbed the hem of his shirt.
“Take this off. I love your arms and your chest,” I said. “I want to see them.” He reached behind his neck and pulled it over his head, tossing it aside before caging me against the door with his arms. “Yes,” I whispered, biting my lip as I ran my hands over his upper body. I kissed his collar bone, the ink on his bicep and forearm. Reaching between his legs, I rubbed my hand over the erection straining hard against the denim, and circled his nipple with my tongue. It was hard already, and I stroked it, kissed it, flicked it. When I bit it gently, Miles exhaled sharply and grabbed my ass.
“Fuck, that feels good,” he said, his fingers sliding low to penetrate me from behind. “Mmm, you’re so wet. I want to get my cock right there. You want it?”
“Yes.” I looked up, meeting his eyes, and he grabbed my jaw roughly with one hand.
“Say please.”
My core muscles clenched. “Please.”
He kissed me hard, and I tasted myself on his lips and tongue, felt the dampness on his chin. Quickly I unbuckled his belt and unzipped his jeans, desperate to get my hands on him. The moment I freed his cock, he leaned forward, one hand braced against the door again. While I stroked him with both hands, I teased his other nipple with my tongue, sucking it into my mouth and biting down a little harder than before.
He groaned. “That feels so fucking good. I could make a mess all over you in ten seconds.”
“Do it,” I breathed, pumping him harder. “I want you to.”
“But there’s something I want more right now.” His hands gripped my waist. “Now wrap those legs around me, because I’m going to fuck you senseless against your front door.” He picked me up, pinning my back against the door, my skirt bunching up at my hips. I twined my legs around him and braced myself on his shoulders while he angled his cock underneath me.
He hesitated. “Oh. Is this gonna be OK?”
It took me a second to realize he meant not wearing a condom. I hadn’t even thought about it, because Dan and I hadn’t used them since I’d been on the pill. I had none here. But fuck—fuck! Miles was no angel. Was this safe?
As if he’d read my mind, he said, “I’m clean. I get tested often and I can show you the results. I always wear a condom, too. Always—and I haven’t even been with anyone in months. But if you don’t—”
“It’s OK.” Possibly it wasn’t, but my decision-making capacity was impaired by the smell of his skin and the blue of his eyes and the tip of his cock brushing my wet pussy. “Maybe I’m senseless already, but I really, really want to get fucked against my front door. And since you’re here…”
“Allow me.”
I sucked in my breath as he penetrated me one hot, wet, bare inch at a time.
“Yes. Go slow like that,” I whispered. Our eyes met, and I held my breath.
“I love how tight you are.” His voice was low and raw. “I love how deep you take it.” When he was buried inside me, he dug his fingers into my ass and moved me against him in slow, grinding circles, my upper back against the door.
“Oh God, I love this door,” I sighed. “I really fucking love it.”
“I bet you looked at this door every day and thought, ‘I wish Miles Haas would come over and fuck me right here.’” On the word fuck, he thrust violently hard, making me shriek.
I smiled, clutching him tight around the neck. “Had I known how good it would be,” I panted, “I would have.”
“Do you know how much I thought about this?” He switched to holding me steady and thrusting up with deep, slow strokes. “Do you know how many times I got myself off just thinking about it? My cock gets so fucking hard for you. Can you feel it?”
“Yes.” I met his eyes, which looked dark and hungry. “It’s so deep it hurts, but I love the way it feels.”
“You love my cock deep inside you?” He pumped into me a little more violently, hitting that spot that made me whole body clench into a hot ball of fiery tension.
“Yes!” I cried, hanging on tight.
“Say it,” he ordered through gritted teeth.
“I love your cock deep inside me! Oh God, don’t stop!”
“Not until you come all over it,” he growled, driving into me, steady and fast. “I want to feel that sweet little pussy come all over my cock.”
Fisting my hands in his hair, I bit his shoulder as my entire body pulsed with white hot ecstasy.
“Fuck!” His hips went still and he grabbed my ass, jerking me roughly up and down his cock as he came long and hard inside me.
“Jesus,” I whispered when he finally slowed down. “Maybe we should just stay here for three days. I’ve got a lot of other doors.”
Miles laughed. “I have doors at my place too. And tables and closets and a couch and chairs and a bed.” He turned his head, spoke low in my ear. “And ropes and beads and wax and silk scarves and a ball gag.”
I gasped. “Really? You have all that stuff?”
He straightened up. “Well, maybe not the gag. But we can stop and pick one up if you’d like.”
“That’s OK. Really.”
“Chicken.” He bumped his forehead to mine before he set me down and pulled out. “Uh, can I get you anything?”
“It’s OK. I need to clean up anyway. Let’s go upstairs.”
I was going to take a shower, but Miles had another idea once he saw my big bathtub. “Let’s get in it.”
“A bath?” I wrinkled my nose. “It will take forever to fill. And it’s a pain to wash my hair in a bath.”
Miles put a hand on his chest. “I will wash your hair. In fact, I will take care of everything. You go away, and I’ll call you when it’s ready.”
I sighed. “OK, fine.” Shaking my head, I went into the second bathroom and cleaned up a little. With the adrenaline rush over, my mind started to wander back to the conversation I’d had with Dan. Was it really over? Why didn’t I feel more devastated? Was it because it had been over already and I’d just been clinging to an idea? Was it because he’d cheated on me? Maybe I was still in shock and it would hit me later, but mostly what I felt was relief.
I wandered back to my bedroom, where I heard the water running through the closed door to the bathroom. I also heard drawers being open and shut as well as the vanity cupboards. What the hell was he doing in there?
Inside my closet, I undressed and pulled on a short robe. From a high shelf I took down a small suitcase, opened it on the floor and dropped a few things inside it. I wondered if I needed anything dressier than shorts and jeans, and if I should pack a swimsuit.
A few minutes later, Miles poked his head in. “Ready.”
Happy Crazy Love Boxed Set Page 36