Tempting Tim: A Small Town Friends to Lovers Romance (Billingsley Book 4)

by Melissa Ellen

  “You’re perfect,” I murmured his words back to him, my fingers curling into the sheets, my hips lifting greedily.

  He lapped his tongue against my sensitive nub while slipping his fingers inside, then switched to small, tight circles until I was helplessly rotating against him, chasing what we were both after. Together we found perfection—a rhythm that shattered me into a million pieces. Tim planted tiny kisses along my inner thighs as I reeled from the aftershocks before moving back up my body, settling himself between my legs. I felt the firm tip of him against my sensitive opening as he reached toward the nightstand for a condom.

  I watched as he sheathed himself, wetted my lips and bit down on them as his arms and abs flexed with his movements. As he lowered back into position, he held my eyes, his hand brushing along my damp forehead as he shoved aside my hair.

  “It feels like I’ve waited a lifetime for this,” he said before pressing himself all the way in, braced on his arms at each side of my head.

  My eyes squeezed shut as my thoughts mirrored his. It had been a lifetime. He stayed still, waiting for me to open my eyes once again. When I did, he started moving. I wrapped my legs around his waist, letting go of any thoughts and giving myself to him. He kept the pace slow and steady and my mind warred with my body, one wanting nothing to change and the other ready to die from anticipation.

  My body won out. I shoved at his chest, moving quickly to roll us. His eyes widened slightly, then his hands found my hips, making divots in my skin, and I began to ride him. He tried to maintain the slowness from earlier, but I fought him, wanting to give him the same pleasure he’d given me. I moved faster and faster, watching for the tell-tell sign he was close. When his eyes squeezed shut, signaling just that, I milked him for everything he had. Not letting up on the rhythm, I slid a hand down my belly to touch myself, only to be swatted away by Tim’s as he did the honors. Seconds later he let a guttural groan, his body arching toward me just as I exploded once again.

  I collapsed awkwardly on his chest. A heavy arm fell over my back, holding me in place. We were damp from sweat and panting, our skin a sticky mess. It was utterly perfect. And I was in no hurry to move.

  Eventually he rolled us so I was on my side. He kissed my head and then slipped out of the bed to quickly discard the condom. He climbed back in beside me, my back to his chest, then pulled the blankets up over our waists as I pushed my hair from my face. Tim’s fingers trailed over my shoulder and down my arms, sending goosebumps prickling my skin in the wake of his touch.

  “Can we stay like this forever?” I asked, wiggling closer to him.

  His arms fully encircled my waist as he tugged me flush against his body. Soft kisses tickled the back of my neck, and I hummed with satisfaction, ready to fall asleep. “Yes,” he replied, as if it were all that easy.

  A phone rang, and we both groaned in unison, letting it die off and go to voicemail, neither of us ready or willing to let another interruption into our little bubble of bliss. When it rang again, I felt Tim’s warm breath on my skin as he released a heavy sigh. He reached for the phone on the bedside table. While staring at the number on display, his brow furrowed.

  “Who is it?” I asked, twisting my head slightly to look.

  “It’s the bar. It could be Melanie.”

  “Then you should answer it,” I said, even though I’d have preferred he ignore it. If Melanie was calling, it was likely urgent.

  He hesitated for only a second before answering the call. “Hello?”

  I listened to the muffled sounds of a frantic female voice. The muscles in Tim’s body stiffened. He sat up as she continued to speak, forcing me to do the same. I waited, wondering what had made him go from perfectly relaxed to on edge.

  “We’ll be right there,” he stated, then quickly ended the call without another word.

  “What’s going on?” I asked at the same time as my phone started blowing up.

  He shook his head as he stood from the bed. “Get dressed. We need to go to Dudley’s.”

  Confused at his sudden change in mood as he gathered our clothes from the floor, I picked up my phone and read all the alerts and messages. My stomach dropped as the bottom fell from my entire world.

  18

  Tim

  The air felt heavier, making it hard to breathe. Bobby Knox was in my bar. In the flesh. People loitered around him, wanting a piece of him, whether it be for an autograph or a photo. Conley went rigid beside me as she stared at him across the room. Her face paled as if she’d just seen a ghost. In a way, I guess she was seeing a ghost from her past. At least, I hoped he was her past.

  “What is he doing here?” The words were nothing more than a murmur on her lips, the question a rhetorical one for herself, but it was a question I wanted to know the damn answer to as well. When I’d hung up with Melanie and given Conley the heads up, she’d gone silent. We both had. Neither of us had known what to say about Bobby being in town.

  As soon as Melanie spotted us coming through the back exit, she left her post at the bar to meet us halfway.

  “I’m sorry,” Melanie said. “I tried to get him to leave, but he wouldn’t. And now…” She waved a hand in his general direction and the spectacle of people around him. Once word got out Bobby was in town and at Dudley’s, the crowd grew faster than even I would’ve been able to handle on my own. “I called Roger to see if he could come help with the crowd.”

  “It’s fine, Mel. You did the right thing,” I said, giving her a light squeeze on the arm before stepping around her and walking the rest of the way to the bar. She and Conley followed behind me, but only Melanie joined me behind the counter as Conley stopped a few feet away from Bobby, her hands diving into her back pockets. He was in the middle of taking pictures with two women from a few towns over. I watched her as she watched him, having no idea what was going through her head. I could barely keep up with my own thoughts. I couldn’t tell if the irritation written all over her was from him being here or from him flirting with the two women.

  It took Bobby a minute to notice Conley had arrived, but as soon as he caught a glimpse of her, a smarmy smile grew on his face. I wanted to punch it right off of him.

  “Excuse me, ladies,” he said, standing from his stool and sauntering the few steps over to Conley. He pulled her into his arms, giving her a hug and kissing on her neck. The jealousy in my core grew, my hands tightly gripping the wooden edge of the counter as I watched the entire scene unfold. The only thing that kept me from leaping over the bar, pulling him off her, and tossing him out was the fact that I knew she wouldn’t want a scene. I took solace that she wasn’t hugging him back. Instead, she’d moved her hands from her pockets to his chest, gently shoving him away.

  “Bobby, what are you doing?”

  “What does it look like? I missed you and wanted to see you…” His eyes roamed over her, like he was truly seeing her for the first time. “I wanted to be here with you as soon as the interview aired.”

  “Bobby,” she warned under her breath, her increasing uncomfortableness clear at the mention of an interview. “Let’s talk about this somewhere else.”

  “What interview?” The words flew from my mouth. I wasn’t about to stand by quietly and watch Conley walk out of here with him. She was trying to hide something, and I wasn’t sure if it was from me or the rest of the world.

  Bobby’s eyes cut to me. He took me in, a fake fucking grin on his face. “Hey, man. Long time, no see.” He flung his arm over Conley’s shoulder, dragging her the two steps to the bar. “I guess I should thank you for looking after my girl while she’s been back home.”

  It was easy to read between the lines. He was staking his claim, the way he always had. It was no secret that I’d had a crush on Conley back in the day. Part of me always wondered if that’s why he’d gone after her in the first place. When they’d started dating, he went out of his way to rub it in my face. I never understood it.

  Conley wiggled her way out from under his a
rm.

  “What interview?” I repeated my question, refusing to acknowledge anything else he’d said. I was over pretending like he and I could ever be friends again. I wasn’t sure we ever were to begin with. We’d only hung out because of the band. He’d been brought into the group by our drummer, who was a mutual friend.

  “The one that aired earlier this evening on ET. Didn’t you hear? We’ve finally set a date for the wedding. I just announced it in the interview.”

  What the fuck?

  My eyes flew to Conley, who’d become still and silent. I expected to see her as surprised as me by this. She opened her mouth as if to say something, only for the words to be trapped as she snapped her mouth shut. That was all I needed to know she already knew about this.

  She’d played me.

  She’d lied to me.

  And I was a damn fool.

  Without a word, I shoved off the counter and strode toward the door for the storage room and my office. I needed to get out of this fucking place. Away from them. Away from her. But I was trapped in hell with no way out.

  “Tim, wait!” Conley pleaded at my back moments before I slammed through the swinging door.

  19

  Conley

  Bobby chuckled next to me. “I see Tim hasn’t changed much.”

  Whatever cool I was still holding onto was quickly fading every time Bobby opened his mouth. I spun to face him, crossing my arms as I narrowed my eyes. “I want you to leave. Now,” I nearly growled the word.

  His laughter ceased. “Con—”

  “No.” I held up a hand. “I don’t want to hear it. You shouldn’t be here. You shouldn’t have set a date and told the world. It’s over, Bobby. I don’t know how else to make that clear.”

  “Why?” He had the audacity to look confused, as if this was recent information. “Is this about Tim?” He threw his arm toward where Tim had disappeared. His eyes filled with rage as a realization sunk in. “Did you screw him?”

  “That’s none of your business,” I said through gritted teeth, trying to keep my voice low. “Things with us are over. They were over long before I left. You need to retract whatever you said. Tell the world I cheated on you. I don’t care. Just end this. Now.”

  We stared each other down, both of us angry, wanting to lash out but holding back to avoid ending up on TMZ. It was all too familiar, but different at the same time. In the past, we might have fought it out behind closed doors and moved on to make-up sex. But now, all I wanted was for him to be gone and for things between us to end for good.

  He took out his wallet, grabbing a wad of cash. The tension in my muscles slightly eased, and I exhaled my relief.

  “You’re wrong. This isn’t over.” He threw the bills on the bar and then crowded my space, leaning in so his lips were at my ear. “I never lose to Tim fucking Hudson. Not my band and not my girl. He knows that as well as you should.”

  Before I could say another word, he stomped away and out of the main exit.

  I sagged against the bar, momentarily closing my eyes, feeling drained and afraid this crap with Bobby would never end. Not because he loved me, but because he’d made it clear: This was no longer about me as much as it was about him winning. I’d never understood what Bobby had against Tim. There was a time when I’d thought it was my fault, that I was the sole reason for the friction between them, but I was realizing maybe that wasn’t the case.

  “Girl, that was some Jerry Springer shit, right there,” Melanie said.

  Aiming an annoyed look over my shoulder at her, I stood upright and then made my way around the bar, knowing I still needed to talk to Tim. Melanie stepped into my path just before I reached the door to the storage room.

  I gave her a questioning look when she continued to stay rooted in place.

  “Look, Conley, you know I like you. But if you’re just going back there to mess with his head some more, I won’t let you.”

  Instinct had me wanting to snap back, but I knew she was only looking out for Tim. Anyone who had witnessed the scene from a few minutes ago would see me as the villain. I looked like the unfaithful woman who’d cheated on her fiancé, dragging one of the town’s favorite people into the middle of it all. I’m sure that’s the gossip that was currently spreading like wildfire through Billingsley and half of Greene County.

  Though I never wanted for people to think that of me, I was glad Tim had people like Melanie and his dad in his corner. At the end of the day, I could handle people hating me on misconceptions. But I couldn’t handle Tim believing any of it.

  “I promise, it’s not what you think,” I told Melanie.

  She studied me for a moment, and I hoped she’d see the truth in my eyes. I cared about Tim as much as she did, even more than she did. I never meant hurt him. She heaved a sigh and stepped out of my way. I was thankful she hadn’t put up any more of a fight, not because I’d be forced to tell her the truth about it all, but because I didn’t want to waste any more time not talking to Tim.

  I shoved through the door, finding him between two liquor racks. His hands held on to a shelf slightly above where his head hung between his arms.

  “Tim,” I said his name, hesitantly. I wasn’t sure if he’d heard me come in or if he’d even want to see me right now, but he needed to know the truth. His head lifted, and there was a blankness in his eyes. Whatever emotion he’d held for me earlier tonight seemed to have up and vanished without a trace. “Can we talk?”

  He lowered his arms and turned to face me. “I can’t do this right now, Conley. The bar is packed and I need to work.”

  As he made to leave, I took a note from Melanie’s book and stepped in front of him, holding my hands up to stop him as they gently pressed against his chest. “Work can wait,” I insisted. It was nothing more than an excuse, an avoidance, and I wasn’t letting him run from this. “We need to talk.”

  His eyes darted and glared down at my hands on him. My insides twisted. I dropped them immediately, but made no other move to get out of his way. When his hard gaze met mine, still burning with anger, he folded his arms over his chest. “You wanna talk? Fine. Let’s talk. I’m fucking thrilled for you two. Congrats, Conley, you got everything you ever wanted,” he snapped, exaggerating his sarcasm.

  “Don’t do that. Don’t throw this in my face and make this my fault.”

  “Are you telling me this wasn’t what you always wanted him to do?” He threw his arm out, gesturing in the direction of the main bar where I’m sure he thought Bobby was still waiting for me on the other side of that door.

  Tears welled in my eyes, and I bit down on my lip, holding back a whimper. Because he wasn’t completely wrong.

  “Why did you break things off, Conley? Was it because you didn’t love him anymore, or was it because he wouldn’t marry you?” I choked on a sob and he shook his head, disappointed. “That’s what I thought.”

  “Tim, please,” my voice cracked on the repressed sob as I grabbed his arm when he tried to push past me. He gently shook me off, his glare forcing me back a step. “Maybe that is why. Yes, I wanted to set a date and he wouldn’t. I wanted kids, and he wasn’t ready. But it doesn’t mean things wouldn’t have fallen apart, eventually. It just gave me the push to do what I always knew I needed to do. I was settling with him. I didn’t love him the way someone should love the person they’re going to marry. And he didn’t love me the way he should.”

  Tim’s head fell forward as he rubbed a hand over his face. “I can’t do this with you right now. I can’t sit here and listen to your lies. I’ve got a bar to run.”

  The sharp stab to my chest might as well have been a real knife digging in. “My lies? What are you talking about?”

  “Did you or did you not know about that interview before we walked in here tonight?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “That’s all I need to know,” he cut me off, not giving me the chance to explain. “You kept that from me. A heads up would’ve been fucking fantastic that I was slee
ping with an engaged woman. Instead, you let me be blindsided in front of the whole damn town. I was an idiot for thinking there was something between us this whole time. I was a pawn, a way to piss off Bobby and get his attention.”

  “You weren’t. You aren’t. I—”

  “You’d said it yourself. Things between us meant nothing to you.”

  I shook my head, my entire expression contorting in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

  “Forget it. I already told you I don’t have time for this.”

  It was as if the single, thin thread that had been holding me together all these years finally snapped with his reminder. I’d always be second place. The anger and frustration that had been building slowly, finally exploded inside me. “Fine!” I shoved at his chest. “Run away then. That’s what you do best. You’re a coward, Tim Hudson. You’re a coward for not fighting for what you want. For the dreams you had. For the band you loved… For me. Nothing about how I feel about you was a lie, and if you can’t see that, then you aren’t the man I thought you were. I need someone to look past the tabloids, past it all, and see me. But if running this bar is more important to you than me, then I won’t stop you. I won’t settle for being second place ever again, not even for you.”

  “I’m not the only coward in this room, Conley,” he growled, taking a step back as if he couldn’t stand to be near me. “I don’t see you fighting for what you want and your dreams either.”

  I opened my mouth to argue, only to clamp it shut. He was right. I’d let my own dreams fall to the wayside. I’d never stood up to Bobby and told him I wanted to finish school and work on my art. He’d made decisions for me nearly my entire adult life. And I’d gone along with whatever he’d said. I wasn’t about to make the same mistake again, though.

  The silence stretched as we held each other’s gaze for a moment more; it was obvious neither of us was giving in this time. I turned and marched out of the room and out of Dudley’s with tears welling and hundreds of curious eyes on my back. There was nothing more to be said. Tim made himself clear. I wasn’t worth the fight. And I wasn’t going to beg.