Bad Boys Online (21 page)

She whispered on a ragged breath, “You’ve fallen out of your shorts.”

And he was so glad he had. Evan gripped Halley by the waist and rocked against her. Even though every inch of her was still covered by clothing, he was on the verge of coming. On the edge, about to jump off.

Just to feel her, to smell her, to taste the saltiness of her skin, had him ditching common sense at the door. He was driving himself between her thighs, her soft flesh clenching around him, the rustle of her pants causing hot friction on his cock.

He was fighting for control, but it was slipping away from him. He had wanted Halley for so long now, and she had looked so vulnerable to him, fighting back tears. Needy. Evan knew how hard she worked on her business and she didn’t deserve to lose it. Staring into those big shiny green eyes, he had been overcome by the urge to kiss her and make it all better.

Granted, he’d done a little more than that, but Jesus, he was only human.

“My mistake,” he said, staring into her bewildered and glazed eyes.

“Evan.” She broke eye contact and shuddered. “You have to stop.”

He had already slowed down to soft pulsing strokes, and he really didn’t want to stop, but he was damn surprised she’d let him get away with as much as he had. Not that he’d planned on sliding between her legs, but when he had burst through the slit in his shorts, he’d gone with it.

But he stopped now, and pulled back with a smothered groan. Yeah, he could stop. Sure, no problem. He took a painful step backwards and ran his fingers through his hair.

This wasn’t exactly how he had planned to tell her his feelings extended just a little beyond friendship. He stood there a minute and tried to think of something to say that didn’t sound idiotic or perverted. He wasn’t having much luck.

Halley gaped at him. “Well, don’t just stand there. Put it away.”

That horrified tone in her voice didn’t help his speech making capabilities. Neither did looking down and seeing his cock, sort of rising there between them.

This was embarrassing. But he really didn’t think he could put it away. If he put his hand on himself, there was no telling what might happen, and he didn’t think it would fit back in his boxers right now anyway. Like trying to stuff a bull into a cat carrier.

“Just give me a minute.” Or twelve or thirteen.

“Evan!” She adjusted her tank top and flushed pink. “I can’t just stand here when you’re… hanging out.”

Hanging was the wrong word. Rearing up was a better way to phrase it. He felt the start of annoyance. She was acting like he had shown her a box full of worms and tried to make her touch them. “It’s not like you haven’t seen one before.”

“Yeah, but I haven’t seen yours.”

Actually, she had once when she’d walked in on him changing, but Evan didn’t think now was the time to point that out. Instead, he asked her seriously, “Why do you think that is?”

Halley had responded way more enthusiastically to his kiss than he ever would have imagined, which was exactly why they had ended up standing here like this. She had kissed him back so hard and hot, that the next thing he’d known, they had been grinding into each other.

Her lips pursed together, and she fanned herself. “Because friends don’t show each other body parts.”

Evan grinned, feeling relieved despite the grimace on her face. For years he had been afraid that Halley thought of him like a big platonic buddy. That kiss told him differently, and that’s all he needed to know. “Maybe we should change that.”

To appease her, he moved his cock and gave it a painful shove back into his shorts, where it made a nice tent, stretching the fabric as far as it could go.

“Button the little button.”

Now she was pushing it. “No, those things are a pain in the ass. If I button it, then I’m fumbling around trying to unbutton it. When you’re in a public restroom it looks like you’re playing with yourself.”

She rolled her eyes. “Just keep it where it belongs then.”

He grinned, giving her a cocky tilt of his head and a hands-out gesture of acquiescence. “Sweet stuff, I can’t think of any better place where it belongs than…”

She cut him off, looking more flustered than angry. “That’s not funny.”

She moved back, away from his reaching arms, and tripped over his garbage can. “Eww. You’re apartment’s disgusting, by the way. Don’t you ever clean?”

Nothing was alive, as far as he knew. That was good enough for him. “Sure, I clean. I cleaned everything top to bottom in May.”

“It’s August.”

And her point was?

“Listen, can we get back to why I’m here?” She tucked her blond hair behind her ears.

“You’re the one talking about my cleaning schedule.”

“Why… why did you just do that?”

“Do what?”

“Kiss me and everything,” she whispered, turning a pretty little pink color.

“I told you. I was comforting you.” He smiled slowly at her, watching her eyes go wide and her mouth drop open. He suddenly felt really damn good about his options with Halley. “Did it help?”

She nodded, obviously too stunned by his prowess to speak.

This was it. He could move in for round two. Now that his cover as asexual pal was blown, he might as well take advantage. He took a step forward, eager to touch her again. “Should I comfort you some more?”

Her head flew back and forth in a vicious shake. Okay, that wasn’t good. Maybe her speechlessness was terror that he might touch her again.

“No, I have to get back to work. Now.” Halley twisted her earring in her ear and darted her eyes, avoiding his gaze.

Evan sighed. For five years he had been keeping a tight lid on his emotions and in one morning, he had lost control and gone at her like a sex-starved lunatic. Which he was.

“Halley, I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable or anything. I was just trying to make you feel better.” He mentally groaned. Crap, that sounded awful. Like he just whipped out his dick whenever anyone was upset.

She blinked. “Oh, well, I do. Feel better. Thanks.”

Halley turned and left the kitchen, heading for his front door at a fast clip.

“Give me a couple of hours and I’ll have your site fixed.”

Her head bobbed up and down, but she didn’t look back at him. “Thanks, I really appreciate it.”

“No problem.” He stood silent, in agony, trying to formulate a better apology. He wouldn’t be able to stand it if he lost Halley as a friend. She meant everything to him.

Rubbing her palms on her brown pants, Halley stopped and turned in the front doorway. She opened her mouth, then closed it, probably just to torture him.

“What did you mean about revenge?” she asked.

Something that had seemed like a fun, friendly kind of thing to do together. Before he’d buried himself in her thighs and blown their friendship forever.

“I have a lead on who one of the Three Commandos is. I thought we could do a little hacking of our own. Fix his website up the way they did yours.”

On any other day, one where he hadn’t kissed her senseless, Halley would have said yes. He just knew it. But that frown on her face showed him how much he had risked and lost by listening to his libido.

“I really have to get back to the office. Maybe… later.”

No surprise there. She wanted to get away from him and he couldn’t blame her. But it would have been fun to screw around with those guys with Halley next to him, giggling and coming up with evil reverse hacking suggestions.

His heart ached painfully. He missed her already and she hadn’t even left.

Hey, he would just have to do the hacking on his own then. He couldn’t stand those cocky shits who ran around the Internet messing with people’s heads and/or their websites. Halley didn’t deserve to have her business screwed with just for some geek’s jollies, and it was the least Evan could do in the way of an apology.

“I’ll call you when I get the site fixed,” he said.

“Great,” she said with a nervous smile. Then she edged out the door backwards like she was afraid he might make a grab for her and fondle her silly.

“Bye, Evan.” With a wave, she took off, the sound of her sandals slapping down the stairs as she ran echoing in his miserable heart.

“Yeah. Bye, Halley.”

Kicking his nasty, festering, overflowing garbage can, he sent a half filled fountain drink skittering across the floor. As it leaked three day old Coke on the vinyl, he stomped out of the kitchen and down the hall to his bedroom.

The only reason Halley had come to him, her old friend Evan, was to cover up her tits on her website, not to be tortured with his clumsy seduction attempts. He should just fix the site and be done with it.

Or he could stare at the screen all day and fantasize that Halley really was naked in front of him, and he was the cherub.

Evan blinked at the image still on his computer and swore out loud.

Damn, he was hungry.

Comforting her. Evan had been comforting her.

As she ate her lunch, Halley tried to force Evan’s kiss out of her mind. She would have had more luck lifting a semi-truck with her finger. It was all she could think about.

Evan had been comforting her, and she had leapt onto him like a nympho in a sex video. Admittedly, he had responded, after all, she’d felt that thing between her legs
and
had seen it in all its glory. Impressive glory that it was.

But Evan was a man. And it was hardly surprising that he would get an erection when she was dirty dancing on him. She had long ago determined that men’s penises acted independently of the rest of their bodies, including their brains and hearts.

That’s why she had gotten the hell out of there. If she had pushed it, pulled out the breasts and a few other tricks, she probably could have convinced Evan to sleep with her.

Which was comparable to throwing ten years of great friendship down the toilet.

Geez, maybe she needed to go home and rent
When Harry Met Sally
to remind herself that sex between friends was a major no-no.

Of course, Harry and Sally had gotten together in the end.

Halley threw down her sprouts and avocado sandwich on her desk and grimaced. Brushing crumbs off her fingertips, she glanced at the pile of messages Nora had left on her desk. She didn’t want to look at them, knowing they were nothing but bad news. In the two hours since she’d been back, the phone had been ringing constantly.

Her sandwich churned in her stomach and she was left with the horrible feeling that if the absolute worst happened, and she lost her business, she would be left with nothing. No business, no Evan.

That thought had her flinging down her paper napkin and standing up. She had worked damn hard to make this business successful. Maybe she had screwed things up with Evan, but she couldn’t just sit still and let Bite Of Heaven crumble down around her. This was a minor setback, that’s all. With a little damage control, everything would be fine.

“Nora,” she called as she stepped out of her office.

The hum of a half dozen employees talking ground to a halt as she entered the reception area. Eyes avoided hers. Horace, one of her younger drivers, boldly ogled her, running his gaze up and down.

Anger raced through her. She was about to reprimand him when Horace shook his head in confusion.

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

Caught off guard, she asked, “What doesn’t?”

“That’s not even you in the picture. I can tell by looking at your…”

So much for the thirty dollar water bra she had bought. Halley cut him off. “Alright, I got it! And of course it’s not me.”

Like she would ever pose for nude photos in the first place.

The faces staring back at her were a mix of confusion and pity. It made her feel sick. Taking a slow, even breath, she said, “The problem is being dealt with. Let’s all just go about our business, shall we?” And stop mulling over her breasts.

There were nods, half-smiles, and a reluctant pulling of various bodies off of desks where they had been leaning. Talking about her. Probably about how boring she was, and how unlikely it was that her naked picture would ever be splashed on the Internet.

Not that she cared. She didn’t want her picture on the Internet. So what if she was boring and flat-chested and so starved for sexual attention that she had to throw herself at her best friend? Big deal. She was successful. She had scratched and clawed her way out of Hazen, West Virginia, and had made something out of herself. Something she could be proud of.

A workaholic who hadn’t had sex in two years.

Argh. That wasn’t helping.

Nora left the others and approached Halley where she stood clenching her fists and glaring, feeling like a bull just itching to charge. At what, she didn’t know. The Three Commandos would be the logical choice.

Nora took her hand and pulled her aside. “Listen, Halley, did you read those messages I put on your desk?”

Since Nora looked ready to pop a pacifier in her mouth and cuddle her in a blankie, Halley guessed they weren’t filled with uplifting news.

“No, I haven’t gotten to them.”

Nora squeezed her hand. “Well, it’s just as well that I tell you myself then.”

That was promising. “More cancellations?”

Nora tucked her red hair behind her ear and shook her head, giving Halley another maternal look even though she was nearly five years younger than her. “No, actually, things have been quiet on that front, thank goodness. Just more requests for nude catering jobs.”

Great. Just great. “I hope you declined.”

“Of course!” Nora bit her lip. “But the part you’re really not going to like is that your dad called.”

“My
dad
?” Ohmigod, her father never called her. Her dad worked twelve hours a day, and when he wasn’t on the job, he was not a chatty guy.

“Did someone die?” Her heart dropped to her shoes, and she wondered if something was wrong with her mom or one of her three younger sisters.

Nora shook her head. “No! But he saw the picture.”

“
What
? How is that possible?” Her dad paid no attention to anything other than the news on the Internet.

Nora whispered, looking distinctly uncomfortable, “I guess your cousin Jake has a Google alert on you. When he told your dad last night, your dad insisted Jake show him.”