by L. S. Pullen
“It’s cool, H,” I say again in affirmation.
I’m happy for both of them. And I get it now––why I had to let her go. It was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made, but it was the right one.
“I’m going to make a move,” I say to Nathan, holding out my fist.
He pulls me in for a quick hug. “He did it, man. Finally, the retribution Emilio deserved,” he says, pulling back from me.
I nod, the emotion of it all suddenly overwhelming.
Clearing my throat, I take one last look at Henry leading Meg away.
“He deserved that win,” I say, and I’m not only talking about the fight.
Nathan pats my back in silent understanding, and when I walk away this time, it’s for good. When I look up, Lottie is watching me, sitting alone at our table. I pull out my phone and send her a message.
Me: Don’t suppose you want to get out of here?
I watch as she reads the message, biting her bottom lip, and I have this sudden irrational fear she’s going to turn me down.
Charlotte: Okay, I need to let Olly know I’m not going back to his though.
When she glances back at me, I wink and give her a slight nod, but there’s something in her expression that worries me, and I can’t quite put my finger on it.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Charlotte
If Olly is suspicious about me leaving, he keeps it to himself. I might have Rachel to thank for that. I know Molly is with Lily, and without me there, they have the rest of the night to themselves. I had initially planned to stay over; I didn’t know how tonight would pan out. I’d hoped Ethan would want me to go back to his, and as conflicted as I feel about the wave of jealousy I felt, the way he looks at me makes me feel wanted.
He texted and said he’d be waiting for me outside, and when I exit, I glance around and see him leaning against the wall. When he spots me, he kicks off with his foot before he stalks toward me and reaches for my hand, pulling me closer and leaning in for a kiss—one full of so many possibilities.
His lips trail from my mouth to my ear. “I’ve wanted to do that all night,” he whispers, his voice deep and damn sexy.
“Oh yeah? Is that all?” I ask, feeling brave, aware we’re in public but not giving a shit as I nip at his jaw.
He lets out a low growl. “Hell, no. What I have planned requires you and me alone in my bed, with you naked and open for me.”
I gasp and pulse between my legs. How does he turn me on so effortlessly?
“Oh, sounds promising,” I reply, sucking softly on the flesh of his throat.
“Keep that up and I might need to take you up against that wall.”
My pulse begins to race, and my breathing speeds up.
“Such a tease,” I say breathlessly.
His hand grabs mine, and he pulls me along with him. I find myself having to take two steps for every one of his.
“Oh, I’m not teasing,” he says, leading me into the dark recesses of the alleyway.
Fucking hell, he’s serious.
His mouth comes down on mine so fast I can barely catch my breath as he steals the air from my lungs. Pushing me back against the brick wall, I can hear the sounds of muffled voices, and I wonder if anyone can see us. But I don’t have time to overthink it as his lips work their way to my throat.
“Oh my God,” I say, my voice breathless as I arch against him.
He drops to his knees and grabs the hem of my dress and pushes it up until it’s at my waist, then hooks the elastic of my thong, sliding it down my legs.
I watch, not even wanting to blink as he brings them to his face and inhales a deep breath, and fuck if my ovaries didn’t just somersault.
“I’m keeping these,” he says, stuffing them into his jacket pocket.
And then, before I have a chance to prepare myself, his mouth is on me and his tongue is circling over my clit.
“Fuck,” I hiss and turn my head, expecting to be caught at any moment.
Ethan hooks his fingers inside me as his tongue continues to tease me. I’m so wet and turned on that it takes him no time at all to get me off as I tug at his hair.
He rises to his full height and pulls my dress back down as his mouth finds mine, and when I taste myself on his tongue, I’m desperate to get back to his house. I’m still coming down from my orgasm when he pulls out his phone, the screen lighting his face. There’s a satisfied smirk visible and my pleasure still glistening his lips.
“Come on, cabs here,” he says and kisses my nose before taking my hand in his.
I follow him like a loyal fucking cockapoo.
The drive back to his house is charged with sexual tension. Thankfully, the cab driver is none the wiser and busy singing along to the radio.
I’m wet between my legs, and the fact Ethan did indeed keep my underwear isn’t helping, which means with every bump in the road, the vibration runs straight to my core, with only the material of my dress between me and the open air.
Exiting the cab, I walk beside Ethan. The hairs on my arms rise as his hand touches the small of my back, and I suck in a breath. Once we reach his front door, he grabs me by the shoulders and spins me until I’m pressed against the cold surface.
“How turned on are you right now?” he whispers in my ear.
I swallow, and my answer comes out in a breathy rush. “Like I’m about to implode.”
“Good.” His hand trails down my waist, reaching the hem of my dress, and he pulls it up, his fingertips grazing my flesh with a feather-like touch, every cell of my body buzzing in anticipation. My breathing becomes ragged, but the contact I crave never comes. He smirks before unlocking the door and stepping back for me to enter.
A slight whimper escapes me, and if I were in my right mind, I would likely laugh at myself for being so damn needy, but no one has ever affected me the way he does with just his touch.
“After you,” he says.
My heels click against the hardwood flooring as I enter the hallway, the only light streaming in from the kitchen.
“I didn’t like that guy thinking he had a chance with you,” he says.
I turn to face him, and I see his uncertainty for the first time since we met.
“You seemed pretty preoccupied to me,” I say before I can stop the words spilling from my lips. I cross my arms as he kicks the door closed behind him.
“If you’re talking about Meg, she’s my best friend, that’s all,” he says, stepping closer. “Believe me, you have nothing to worry about.” And I didn’t realise how desperately I needed to hear him say it until he did.
“Maybe all the sneaking around is just getting too much.”
His shoulders tense. “Are you saying you want to stop?”
I shake my head. “No… I don’t know.”
“We’re good together, Lottie––you and me,” he says, reaching out and cupping the back of my neck and drawing me closer. “And I don’t want that to stop.”
“Neither do I,” I reply, licking my lips, his eyes locked on my mouth.
Dropping his hand, he steps back and circles his finger in the air. “Good, then prove it… turn around and take your dress off,” he says, and I face away from him. “But leave on your shoes.”
I reach for the hem of the dress and pull it up over my thighs and waist. It’s not the kind I can just slip out of and allow to pool at my feet. The cool air touches the exposed skin of my arse and pussy, causing me to shiver. My cheeks heat, knowing he’s getting a show, which only turns me on more. Inching the dress higher, I pull it up and over my bra before dropping it to the floor.
I turn my head to peer over my shoulder, watching as he undoes his tie.
“No, keep facing forward and remove your bra,” he says, his voice low.
Oh my God. My skin prickles in anticipation as I do as I’m told.
“I’m going to blindfold you unless you tell me otherwise,” he whispers in my ear.
“Okay,” I say, my voice croaky.<
br />
He reaches around my face and covers my eyes, tying it behind my head.
My senses are heightened from losing my sight, and I inhale a ragged breath.
“You’re a fucking vision, have I ever told you that?” he says.
I no longer feel his body heat behind me. My nipples harden. I am completely bare to him and at his mercy at this moment. My need pulses between my legs.
Ethan’s fingers touch my ankle, and I startle.
“Shh,” he soothes as his tongue trails a torturous path up my leg and to my inner thigh. Pausing, he sucks my flesh and then pulls away.
“Fuck, I want to mark you, so every time you undress, you know it’s me who put it there––and that you are mine.”
I melt under his words and let out some kind of incoherent response.
“Would you like that?” Ethan asks.
I nod my head, and a small, “Yes,” escapes my lips.
And then his mouth is back on my thigh, sucking as his fingers knead my arse, and I lean into him and reach out blindly until my fingers thread through his hair as he moves to my other thigh and sucks on the flesh there too.
Ethan spreads my legs wider, his hands roaming over my buttocks, his finger trailing a path down the crease of my arse cheeks, and I tense.
“I won’t do anything you don’t want me to. Just tell me to stop. You trust me, right?”
I do––from the night he gave me his shirt and walked me back to the flat. “Yes,” I reply, my voice low, gravelly.
“Good.” His warm breath washes over my clit right before he sucks it into his mouth, causing my nerves to spasm.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Ethan
Lottie trusting me elicits so many emotions and sensations. I just want to worship her until the rest of the world fades away.
When I told her to strip, she did without hesitation. I could have pounded one out as she stood before me. Her body is mesmerising. Naked except for those stilettos.
She presses herself against the wall for support as I continue to tease her clit with my mouth, spreading her wider. She tugs at my hair, urging me to give her more, so I reach for her ankle and hook her leg over my shoulder.
“Oh God…” she gasps.
My hard length strains in my trousers. I need them off, but until I have her screaming my name as she comes in my mouth, I’m not getting off my knees.
One of her hands leaves my hair, and I glance up and watch as she takes turns to fondle her breasts whilst she writhes above me. A keening sound slips past her partially open lips.
I breathe her in, a heady mix of passion and sex as I continue to feast on her tangy juices. My fingers join in, coaxing her higher to the point of no return.
Her movements become jerky as she shatters around me, and my name spills from her lips in a heavy moan, her pussy contracting.
“E-than…”
She’s panting hard, her walls pulsating around my tongue and fingers until her legs almost give out. I draw back and climb to my feet. Undoing my belt, I whip it off and strip out of my trousers and boxer briefs, quickly followed by my shirt.
Lottie raises her hand to remove my tie from her face, but I stop her, leading her into the living room and towards the armchair.
“Bend over,” I say, my voice gruff.
She lets out a small gasp as my hand slides down the length of her spine, urging her forward until her stomach rests over the arm of the armchair.
I squeeze myself, drawing my foreskin back as I work my length.
“Do you trust me?” I ask again, leaning over her, so my erection presses against her bare arse.
“Yes,” she replies. I don’t know why I love her admitting that out loud so much, but it does a thing to me. I kick her legs open with my foot before falling to my knees, and then I spread her arse cheeks.
A whimper escapes her.
“Shh, it’s not what you think,” I say before swiping my tongue up her crease, and her entire body trembles. I slip a hand between her legs and insert two fingers in her wet pussy from behind, and then I start rimming her.
“Oh, fuck,” she says with a gasp.
Pulling back, I give her a few seconds. “Do you want me to stop?” I ask.
“Strangely, no,” she says, her voice lilting.
And it’s all I need to hear before I go back to my ministrations as she lets out mewling sounds of pleasure and my engorged head leaks pre-cum.
Slipping my fingers free, I draw back and get to my feet. Taking myself in my hand, I rear up inside her from behind.
She murmurs a sigh of ecstasy as I pull almost all the way out and then thrust back inside her, holding onto her hips as an anchor.
Our sounds are amplified in the quiet of the room as I pummel into her tightening channel.
“Fuck, Ethan, I’m coming,” she cries out, and I’m done for, giving her three more thrusts as I fill her with my seed.
“Don’t move,” I say.
She lets out a muffled response, but I have no idea what she said as I reach for my shirt and use it to clean her up.
I pull her to my chest and undo the tie, letting it drop to the floor.
I stare at her face, those beautiful eyes, her just been fucked smile, and damn if I’m not momentarily rendered speechless. I brush the hair from her cheek and tuck it behind her ear.
“I can’t believe I let you do that,” she says with a shy giggle.
I lean back a little. “Did you like it?” I ask, aware it’s not for everyone.
She blushes, but her eyes hold mine when she answers. “I did. It was just different… but in a good way.”
Taking her hand in mine, I tug her to follow me. Her heels click on the hardwood flooring when we enter the hallway, and my dick twitches.
I stop and hold her at arm’s length, my eyes roaming her body. I can see where my fingers dug into her, where I marked her inner thighs. Fuck me.
“I love this look on you. You’re every guy’s fantasy,” I say.
“Well, I wouldn’t let just anyone see me like this.”
Squeezing her hand, I lead her upstairs and into the bathroom and turn on the shower. Once the temperature is set, I kneel and help her step out of her shoes.
“After you,” I say, standing to my full height.
Covering her chest with her palm, she smiles. “Ever the gentlemen.”
I swat her arse when I climb in beside her, and she lets out a small yelp.
Stepping under the spray, she lets out a contented sigh. “Oh, this feels good.”
Grabbing my body wash, I lather my hands and signal for her to turn around.
She hums in satisfaction as I begin to work the suds all over her body.
“Was tonight hard for you?” she asks, and I tense, my mind automatically going to Meg and Henry.
Lottie peers over her shoulder. “Watching Henry fight,” she clarifies.
I try to find the words to express what it was like for me to be back there.
“It was nostalgic. All I ever wanted was to be a professional fighter. We both did. So, no, it’s not hard watching him fight, but it does sting, knowing it’s no longer on the cards for me. Life just had other ideas,” I say with a shrug and carry on washing her back.
She turns to face me, her hands going to my waist as she wraps her arms around me. She presses her cheek to my chest.
“You know it’s okay to mourn something you love,” she says.
My heart beats faster, and I wonder if she can feel it, because her words hit home. I don’t think I ever really took the time to mourn my fighting career. I was too busy trying to act like I was all right. That I hadn’t just broken the heart of the girl I loved, that my life hadn’t been flipped upside down.
“You’re something else. You know that, right?”
Lottie stares up at me and rolls her eyes with a slight shake of her head.
Reaching for the nape of my neck, she pulls my head down for a slow, tender kiss, and I hope this kis
s says all the things I’m too afraid to admit out loud.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Charlotte
Ethan and I take turns washing one another between kissing. There’s something very intimate about showering with him. I’m trying not to let myself become too attached, but it’s difficult to do when he looks at me like I’m the only one he sees. And yet, I’ve seen the way he stares at Meg, and I know he said she’s his best friend, but my gut is telling me he’s holding something back.
I wrap myself in a towel before grabbing one for my hair and towel drying the ends.
“What did you say to Olly when you left?” Ethan asks from somewhere in his bedroom.
“That I was meeting with a friend.”
He comes back in the bathroom with a T-shirt in his hand, wearing a pair of boxer briefs, and I can’t help but appreciate the sight before me.
“Here.”
He passes it to me. I smile and follow him back into his bedroom, and he turns and watches me as I drop my towel and slip the T-shirt over my head, and then he pulls me to his body.
“You’re staying, right?” he asks.
I look up and search his face.
“It’s up to you,” I reply.
Pulling me closer, he leans down to whisper in my ear. “Well, I want you to stay, but I also don’t want you feeling like you’ll be doing a walk of shame in the morning either.” His lips graze my earlobe, and I let out a shiver.
“What do I have to be ashamed about?” I ask.
He pulls back, his honey-coloured eyes searching my face. “Absolutely nothing,” he says with a toothy smile before kissing the tip of my nose.
Something about how he does that has my insides melting, and all coherent thoughts leave my mind.
“So, you’re staying?”
I nod.
“Good, the spare toothbrush I bought won’t go to waste then.”
For some reason, my cheeks heat and I’m suddenly tongue-tied. Clearing my throat, I step back.
“I just need to use the bathroom,” I say, my voice pitching higher.