We all look over at the two women sitting at my desk, eating their lunch. Addie is long, curvy, and blond. Her makeup is minimal today, making her look young and fresh. Tiffany is shorter, with less curves and dark hair cut short. She’s wearing her signature red lipstick, and a smile that brightens the room.
They’re quickly becoming friends.
“Yeah, I don’t think that’s going to happen, buddy.” I clap Steve on the shoulder.
“Pity.”
IT’S BEEN A long day, but we’re finally finished with the three songs we originally wanted to record today. I have musicians lined up for tomorrow, and Steve has left for the night.
The girls moved their little party out beside the pool about an hour ago while we wrapped things up. Addie seemed to enjoy the studio time. I loved having her here. I loved answering her questions, and watching her face when Steve sang.
Even with as many years as he has under his belt, the man can still sing.
“Hey, guys,” Tiffany says as she walks into the room. “Can I have a minute with Max?”
There’s something going on. I narrow my eyes at her, but she just smiles, silently reassuring me.
“Is Addie by the pool?”
“Yep. We’ve been talking about you.”
“Great.” I laugh and walk out the door, closing it behind me, and immediately see Addie sitting in a chaise under a wide, red umbrella. “How are you, baby?”
“I’m great.”
“Why do I get the feeling that Tiffany has a secret?”
“Because she does.”
I scoop Addie up, then sit with her in my lap. “What is it?”
She shrugs and settles against me, burying her face in my neck.
“Do you know?” I ask and kiss her head.
“Of course. What do you think we’ve been talking about?”
“But you’re not going to tell me?”
“Not my secret to tell,” she replies simply.
“Okay, tell me about Craig instead.”
She doesn’t stiffen, or look uncomfortable. She simply kisses my neck. “He’s the past, Jake. We were together for a long time, but we couldn’t make it work.”
“Steven says he heard that Craig cheated on you.”
“I’ve heard the same rumor,” she replies softly.
Suddenly, the door to the studio bursts open and Max comes running out, his eyes wide and excited, and if I’m not mistaken, wet.
“What’s wrong?” I ask as I stand and set Addie on her feet next to me.
“Not one thing,” he replies and pulls me in for a hug. The kind of hug that usually makes men very uncomfortable. “I’m gonna be a daddy.”
“What?” I pull away and grip his shoulders in my hands. “Seriously?”
“I’m pretty sure the dozen or so tests I took aren’t wrong,” Tiffany says as she joins us. Max whoops and lifts Tiffany into the air, laughing and crying at the same time.
And I join them. Hugging them, laughing and crying with them. I love these people. I couldn’t love them more if they were related to me by blood.
“I can’t believe it,” I say as we all settle down and pull Addie in for a hug. “We’re going to have a baby.”
“Um, I believe I’ll be having the baby,” Tiffany mutters. “But you can hold it.”
“And change its diaper,” Max adds.
“No way. That’s your job.” I grin, so happy for them and also trying to stop feeling the ache in my heart for Christina. She and Kevin are trying again this month. “A baby.”
“Okay, I’m taking my woman home to celebrate.” Max wiggles his eyebrows, making Tiffany laugh. “Have a good night.”
“Congratulations,” Addie says. “And Tiffany, don’t forget to call me.”
“Trust me, I won’t.”
I settle Addie and me back in the chair. “You guys became fast friends.”
“She and I went to the same high school,” Addie says. “It’s a small world.”
“Hmm.”
“Plus, she’s a sweet woman. You can tell that she has a really good heart.” There’s a sadness in Addie’s voice now, making me frown.
“You’re definitely right about that,” I reply cautiously. Addie’s quiet for a long minute. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t think I have a good heart,” she whispers. “My heart isn’t a pretty place, Jake. You should know that before this goes much further.”
Oh, baby.
“Why would you think that?”
She shrugs. “Jake, my own parents don’t want to be around me much. Men walk all over me. I have wonderful friends, but I don’t think I’m particularly lovable.”
“You’re wrong, you know.”
She simply shakes her head. “No, I’m not. My heart’s been fucked with too much. I’m callous. I’m cynical.”
“So, you’re saying you’re human,” I reply and tilt her chin up so I can look her in the eyes. “Addie, you’re a grown woman. Of course you’ve had life experiences that have broken your heart, made you guarded. I don’t need someone with a spotless heart. Give me someone who’s been through some shit, who’s had to pick herself up, dust herself off, and get on with it.”
“I just wish I was less cynical and more kind.”
“Stop it. You are kind. And you’re not necessarily cynical. You’re guarded, and that’s okay. You’re a smart woman. But I see you showing kindness to people all the time. At your job, to your friends, to my friends.”
She frowns, and I kiss her forehead, then settle her against me again. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, sweetheart. It may have taken me a while to break through some of your walls, but here we are. You’re wild about me.”
“I tolerate you,” she replies with a smile in her voice.
“Stop fawning. It’s embarrassing.”
She throws back her head and laughs, and I’m pleased to have made her smile again. “So, you like to swim?” she asks, tracing the tattoos on my arm.
“Love it. You?”
“I can swim,” she says softly. “I learned when I was little.”
Suddenly, she stands and strips out of her clothes, leaving me painfully aroused and my jaw dropped.
“I bet I can beat you, from end to end.”
“Do you?” I stand and strip out of my own clothes. She cocks a brow at the sight of my hard-on, but I simply shrug. “Your fault, sweetness.”
“I didn’t do that.”
I laugh. “You’re breathing. I’m hard. That’s how it works.”
She smirks and jumps into the deep end of the pool, then comes up treading water. “Are you in or not?”
“What do I get if I win?” I ask and jump in after her.
“Me.”
“And what do you get if you win? Which you won’t, by the way.”
“I get you.”
“Sounds like a win-win to me.”
She shrugs and braces herself on the edge of the pool. “We’ll push off from here. Ready?”
“This is going to be embarrassing for you,” I warn her.
“Go!”
I watch her push off and swim away, and then I join her, giving her a three-second handicap.
Because I’m about to crush her in this race.
Just as I pass her, she grabs my ankle, pulling me under. She lets go, but instead of continuing to the other end of the pool, I simply pick her up and throw her toward the deep end.
“Hey!” she sputters as she surfaces. “That’s cheating!”
“And pulling me under isn’t?” I ask with a laugh.
“You were passing me,” she replies primly. “That wasn’t fair.”
“It was a race. That’s what happens when someone is winning.”
“You aren’t supposed to win,” she replies, as if I’m a slow child who just doesn’t understand what’s being said.
“Sore loser, are you?”
“I like to call it competitive.” She giggles and swims toward me, wraps her arms and legs aro
und me, and holds on tight, pressing her core against my pelvis. “Sex in the pool always looks fun in the movies,” she says, then wrinkles her nose. “But it’s not fun in real life.”
“No?”
“No.” She shakes her head and kisses me. I reach down and guide myself inside her, but stop there, not moving in and out, and walk out of the pool to a chaise lounge in the setting sun and lay her back on it. “But this works.”
“This absolutely works,” I agree, still seated deep inside her. “God, Addie, you feel amazing.”
She’s tight. And warm. And fuck me, her skin pressed to mine is the closest to heaven I’ll ever be.
I slide in and out slowly, making her wetter, making her moan and writhe beneath me. I fucking love how vocal she is when I’m inside her.
“How do you feel?” I whisper.
“Sexy,” she replies as her eyes find mine. “Full. Wet.”
I grin and move faster, in short thrusts, rubbing her clit with my pubis each time. She moans, making my dick harden more, if that’s even possible.
“You’re so fucking incredible.” I lean down to pull a puckered nipple into my mouth. “Can’t get enough of you.”
“You can go harder,” she says with a smile.
“You want it rough, baby?”
She nods. I pull out and flip her over, slap her ass, then push inside her from behind and fuck her hard, gripping her hips roughly. I reach down and pull her hair from the scalp and feel my eyes cross when she reaches under to clutch my balls. I’m pounding her. I can’t get far enough inside her.
I’m marking her.
The orgasm sneaks up on me and pulls me under quickly. I rock against her perfect ass, coming inside her. She’s pushed back against me, spasming around me, coming with me.
“Fucking incredible,” I whisper and kiss her shoulder before I pull out and chuckle when she collapses on the chaise, spent. “Tired?”
“Mm.”
“Hungry?”
“Mm.”
I bite her shoulder. “Ready for a shower?”
“Can’t move.”
I grin.
“All of this praise for my masculinity is really overboard, babe. Just a simple thank-you is sufficient.”
She chuckles and turns onto her side so she can see me.
“Can I please cook you dinner?”
“Cooking twice in one day?”
“I’d like to poke around your kitchen.”
I scoop her up and pad, both of us naked, to the house. “You can poke around anything you want, baby.”
“Good, because I also want to poke around your bedroom.”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
Chapter Nine
Addison
“God, I needed this,” Kat moans two days later as she and I sit side by side in massaging pedicure chairs, our feet soaking in hot water as we wait for our turns.
“Me too. We spend a lot of time on our feet.”
“In heels,” she agrees with a nod. “Mia needs this too.”
“Mia won’t take enough time off to do this.” I sigh as the rollers in the chair run up and down my back, on either side of my spine. “She worries me.”
“She worries all of us,” Kat says. “She’s a workaholic.”
“We’re all workaholics,” I remind her. “Mia’s a workfanatic.”
“Truth,” Kat says. “Maybe she needs an intervention.”
“I think that’s what it’ll eventually come down to. And now that we’re talking about expanding the restaurant, she’s going to need more help. She can’t keep firing all of her sous chefs.”
“She’s a perfectionist. I wouldn’t want to work for her.”
“She’s a tyrant,” I reply with a laugh. “I mean, I appreciate that she just wants the customers to have what they asked for¸ but geez.”
“Mia just wants people to come back. She wants them to have the best experience ever. We can’t fault her for that.”
“No.” I shake my head and smile at the woman who sits on a little stool at my feet and begins taking my old polish off. “What’s new with you?”
“Oh no,” Kat says with a laugh. “We’re going to talk about you. Please tell me you and Jake . . . played Parcheesi,” she says, wiggling her brows and making me giggle.
“Parcheesi?” I ask with a snort. “Is that what we’re calling it?”
“For now it is, yes.”
“Yes, we played Parcheesi.”
Kat claps her hands and shifts in her seat. “Finally! How was he? Does he know his way around the, um, board?”
“He doesn’t need a GPS, that’s for sure.” I take a sip of my iced latte. “He stayed the night, then took me to his place the next day. It’s a nice place.”
“I bet it is,” Kat replies with shrewd eyes. “What else happened?”
“I met Steve Jennings.”
“The rock god, Steven Jennings?” Kat squeals. “Shut the front door!”
“That’s the one,” I reply with a nod. “He’s quite the flirt.”
“He’s old,” she replies with a frown.
“Doesn’t mean he’s not a flirt. Besides, old or not, I bet he doesn’t have to work very hard to get women in his bed.”
“True. But back to Jake. Things are going well?”
“I think so.”
She turns her head to me, one perfectly sculpted eyebrow raised. “You think so?”
“How do you always have such perfect makeup?” I ask, deliberately trying to change the subject. “I mean, have you found a new setting spray you haven’t told me about? Because you need to tell me these things.”
“I swear, you two are like kids who don’t know what they’re doing, and you’re too fucking stubborn to admit it.”
“We are not like kids,” I reply with a frown.
“You think things are going well,” Kat says. “Are you guys not talking? Or are you just playing Parcheesi?”
“Of course we talk,” I reply, getting angry now. “I’ve only been out with him a handful of times, Kat. We just started sleeping together. We’re still learning each other. It’s not like we’re eight years in and I still think it’s going well. Did you expect him to put a ring on my finger already?”
Jesus, just the thought of that terrifies me.
“From the look on your face right now, I’ll say absolutely not,” Kat replies with a chuckle. “I know it’s early, and it’s totally cool to take your time, Add. In fact, take all the time you want. But you should know if it’s going well or not. I mean, does he piss you off? Irritate you? Snore too loud? Use up all the hot water? Is he nice to you?”
“He’s very nice to me,” I reply softly. “And he doesn’t irritate me.”
“Good.”
“How about you?”
“He definitely doesn’t irritate me either, but I’m not the one fucking him.”
The woman rubbing Kat’s feet whips her head up in surprise, then looks back down.
“I mean, I’m not the one playing Parcheesi with him.”
“No, I mean are you seeing anyone?” I close my eyes, enjoying the calf massage I’m getting. God, my heels make my calves hurt so bad.
But they’re so worth it.
“Yes,” Kat replies dryly. “I’m seeing the wine delivery guy twice a week.”
“Isn’t he married?”
“Yes, smart-ass, he is.” Kat laughs, then sighs in pleasure as her pedicurist hits a good spot on the sole of her foot. “I don’t have time to date, Addie.”
“Neither do I, but I’m fitting it in somehow.”
“I guess if I met someone worth making room for I would. But he’s still a myth.”
“He exists,” I reply confidently. “You’ll meet him.”
“God help him,” Kat says with a laugh. “I’m a handful.”
“We all can be.” The lady moves to my other leg, twisting her hands around my ankle. God, I love her right now. Seriously, can I just date her?
�
��What are you doing after this?”
“I’m going home to do some laundry and dishes, then get ready for work. You?”
“Riley is dragging me to yoga,” she says, making a face like she just swallowed sour milk. “What did I ever do to her? Why does she want to laugh at me like that?”
“What’s up with you and Cami and your aversion to the gym?” I ask with a laugh. “It’s a good stress reliever.”
“So is stabbing people, but I don’t do that either.” Her pedicurist looks up at her in horror again. “I just said I don’t do that.”
“Yoga is fun.”
“Why did I choose friends who always want to get together?” she asks grumpily, pursing her bright red lips. “Why can’t we all love each other from afar?”
“You love us,” I reply, reaching over to pat her arm. “You’ve loved us since we met at college, and you and Cami were roommates, and you’d miss us if you never saw us.”
“Yeah, yeah. Says the girl who gets to go home and be alone today.”
“So bail on Riley. She’ll understand.”
Kat frowns. “No. I won’t bail.”
“You’re a good friend.”
“I am where it’s earned,” she replies, sober now. “And I think the five of us have earned it.”
“In spades,” I agree.
I HAVE BLOUSES hung all over my condo, drying. I don’t ever put them in the dryer because they’ll shrink up in the bust area, and while I don’t mind showing off the girls now and again, I am not a stripper. They don’t need to be in anyone’s face.
Well, except Jake’s. He seems to like it when they’re in his face.
I smirk and fold a pair of panties from La Perla. I only have a few pairs of these, and they are so worth the expense.
Jake loves them.
Jake, Jake, Jake.
He’s all I think about these days, and that’s starting to irritate even me. Am I one of those annoying women who obsess about a guy and annoy everyone around them?
And is Kat right? Am I too stubborn to admit that I don’t know what I’m doing?
Do I know what I’m doing?
“What the fuck are we doing?” I ask the empty room as I fold towels. We’re getting to know each other. We’re having great sex.
Amazing sex.
The best sex in the history of sex.
But more than that, I like him. Like, really like him. So does this mean that it’s going to hurt more when he breaks my heart?
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