Friends and Lovers (12 page)

He studied her thoughtfully and finally shook his head. “I don’t get it.”

Lauren closed her eyes and squeezed them tight for a second, obviously sifting through her own thoughts. When she opened them again, Wes was calmly watching her.

“This is really hard for me,” she said. “I don’t know how much to tell you.”

His head went up. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No,” she said hastily. “It’s just that I’ve been carrying this inside for so long I don’t know how to let it out.”

“Then take it slow.”

She turned her attention to the damp label on her bottle and picked away at it, the tight corner of her mouth and one pinched eyebrow the only thing he could see of her expression from the side. “You know when you came to the shelter a couple of weeks ago?”

“Vividly.”

She smiled at his reply and peeled a little more of the paper away. “Well, I felt so many things—shock, terror, excitement.”

He frowned, confused. “Why?”

“I can’t lug this secret around anymore. It’s too heavy.” She groaned and gripped a handful of her hair. “Because I never got over you.”

She had his attention now.

Wes sat forward, both feet firmly on the floor. “Come again?”

Lauren nodded, taking a quick peek at him before hiding her eyes again. “I had a big crush on you, and it never went away.”

“No shit?” he said with a soft smile of surprise.

Lauren cringed behind her hand. “I’m sorry.”

Wes reached out and squeezed her knee. “Don’t be.” He laughed at the irony. “Oh, man. I had serious wood for you too.”

Lauren’s head snapped up, her eyes wide with disbelief. “You did not!”

Wes smiled. “I did.”

Lauren blustered, “Then why didn’t you do something about it? You were going after everything in a bra at the time anyway.”

His smile faded. “Two reasons. One was Sherry. She said she’d redecorate my car with a baseball bat if I messed with you, and two, because I wasn’t ready to stop chasing everything in a bra. I cared enough about you not to want to hurt you. I wasn’t ready for someone like you, and Sherry was right to warn me off.” This wasn’t an easy admission for him. “It’s a good thing Sherry never told me how you felt.”

“She didn’t know,” Lauren mumbled.

“What a mess.”

“No kidding.”

“What happened between you two? You were so tight.”

Lauren went back to gripping her hair, the label on the bottle in her other hand all but forgotten. “You were the biggest secret I ever kept and the
only
one I kept from Sherry. It just got too hard to hold it in.”

Wes frowned. “I’m confused.”

“I felt dishonest, and I was afraid to tell her the truth. I didn’t think Sherry would understand or forgive me because I always pretended I was just as disgusted by you as she was.”

He gave a soft, involuntary laugh of surprise. “Disgusted?”

“Well, at the time,” said Lauren, clearly anxious to soften the blow.

Wes stopped her. “It’s okay. You don’t have to explain. I earned her bad opinion, but I’ve worked to repair it.” There was sincerity in his eyes when he said, “That’s what I’ve been trying to do with you.”

“You never had anything to repair with me.”

“I didn’t know that.”

There was timid hope in her eyes. “You really liked me back then?”

“I’ve tried hard not to think about you for years, but I can’t control it. My parents, Sherry, they were only excuses to come back. I needed to find you and deal with it, one way or another. Unfortunately, you’d dropped out of Sherry’s life, and by the time I’d gotten settled, I didn’t know how to approach you again.”

“Unbelievable.”

“But true.”

“So now what?”

“Well, I guess Sherry’s just going to have to deal with this, because you’re fair game now and I’m not going to back off.” He set down his bottle and smiled. “And I can afford better car insurance these days in case she goes batting for my headlights.”

* * * *

Lauren’s heart started thumping wildly as Wes moved closer and lifted the beer out of her hand. He set it aside and cupped her neck. His lips brushed hers, and they were soft and full of promise. She wound her arms around him and held on tight as the kiss deepened.

Wes lowered Lauren to the cushions and smiled. “Just so you know…this is on purpose.”

Then his mouth sealed over hers and his tongue slipped inside to caress hers. Lauren moaned and arched against Wes, hooking her leg around him. His large palm covered her breast and he gave it a gentle squeeze.

Sighing against her cheek, he asked, “Do you have any idea how many times over the years I’ve thought about touching you like this?” His voice sounded rough as he nuzzled into her neck.

Lauren turned her face into his shoulder and confessed, “No way could it be close to the numbers I’ve racked up.”

He pulled back and grinned. “You don’t say? Just how far did you get in these fantasies of yours?”

“I have the right to remain silent.”

“Sure you do, but I bet you won’t.”

Lauren shuddered at the molten heat in his eyes. That was a wager she wasn’t taking.

“Tell me if I’m pushing you too fast,” he said, kissing her lightly on the lips.

Lauren caught the back of his head and brought him in for a deeper kiss, pressing her body against his at the same time.

“But not here,” said Wes, pulling himself up. He stood and offered his hand. “Come on.”

Lauren felt a little stage fright as Wes tugged her to her feet and into the bedroom.

At the edge of his bed he spun her around and caught the bottom of her shirt. In one sudden flash of periwinkle, the shirt was whipped up and over her head and dropped to the floor.

“I knew you’d move fast,” Lauren said, not quite sure whether she wanted to cover herself or go for his clothes more. She was half afraid she’d disappoint him. She couldn’t compete in the experience department with most people she knew, and this was like the audition of a lifetime. She hoped she didn’t blow it.

Wes crowded her with his body and whispered, “I do when I know what I want.”

He eased back and his eyes lingered on her sexy new bra. The corner of his mouth twitched up and he nodded in approval. With a flick of his hand, Wes unsnapped Lauren’s jeans and kissed her as he drew the zipper down. Her jeans followed, pooling around her feet.

Wes paused and stared at her panties then knocked himself in the side of the head with the heel of his hand and said, “Mental readjustment.”

“
What
?” she asked, completely lost.

“I always pictured you in white cotton bikinis.”

“Oh please.”

Wes laughed, and hooking his finger under the band, pulled them out to take a peek. “But these work.”

Lauren’s self-confidence surged back. She was living her dream, only it was so much better. Encouraged, she jerked Wes forward by the waistband and released the button of his jeans. One tug at his zipper and it practically opened itself, parting under the pressure behind it. A swelling mass of burgundy bulged forth and she blinked at it for a moment before breaking into a giggle.

“And here
I
always pictured you in whitey tighties.”

“Touché.”

He was wearing snug briefs but from the looks of things they were a bit more snug than normal.

“Lose the shirt,” she commanded.

“Yes, ma’am.” He pulled it over his head and tossed it aside.

Wearing only their underwear, they looked at each other and started to grin.

“Feel a little awkward?” Wes asked.

“Oh yeah.”

“Me too. We need to get over it.”

“How?”

Wes grabbed her around the waist and sent her tumbling onto the bed with him. Their laughter was stifled when their mouths reconnected.

Wes rolled over Lauren and pressed his body tight against hers. She moaned in approval and pushed back, more than a little excited by the hard ridge biting into her leg. Wes kissed down her neck, her throat, her chest, until he came to her lacy bra. He mouthed the dusky tips through the delicate cloth until he left a wet mark over both. Lauren combed the back of his head lovingly with her fingers, lost in sensation, amazed at where she was and what was happening to her at last.

Wes unsnapped the front clasp of her bra and the elastic sprang apart. Lauren’s breasts spilled out of it and into his hands, and Wes made a low throaty hum and dipped his face, rubbing his cheeks between them. Lauren laughed and he looked up with a wink, but he had an objective and he bent back down, licking first one nipple, then the other, drawing it into his mouth. His rhythmic sucking produced an answering hum from her.

Lauren’s lashes felt heavy. She let her eyes droop closed as his mouth tugged on one breast and his hand kneaded the other. Her feet began to move up and down on the blanket in time with the suction of his mouth, and he chuckled softly, amused by it. Shifting over just a little, he moved to the next and began the process again. Her feet resumed their pointless climb.

The hand on her breast relaxed and skimmed down her stomach and under the elastic of her panty. She was so wet the fabric clung to the back of his fingers as they curled over her mound and strummed her clitoris and labia.

Lauren’s legs froze in mid step and she shuddered.

“Everything okay?” he murmured knowingly.

“No complaints from me.”

She gasped as he fluttered two fingers over her, and it was a shock to feel how readily her body opened to him. Her invitation accepted, he delved into her heat and pressed deep. His thumb toyed lightly over her clit and she quivered with the next firm slide.

Wes smiled and blew on the damp nipple, watching it draw impossibly tight. His bicep flexed with the next thrust of his hand and her hips rose off the mattress to meet it.

“Wes,” she groaned impatiently.

“Had enough?”

“Not even close.”

He laughed and rolled away from her breast, reaching one hand into the drawer of his nightstand. A quick fumble and he pulled out an unopened box of condoms.

“Give me a second.” He eased his hand out of her and peeled her panties down her legs.

Rolling onto his back, he shed his underwear while she tore into the box and ripped the plastic off the first condom she grabbed. He moved to take it from her, but she held it out of reach and pressed him down with her hand, shaking her head. “Oh no, I’ve got this.”

Lauren straddled his thighs and curled her hand around him, stroking him intently as his eyes rolled back and closed.

She couldn’t get over it. She was sitting on him. Wes! They were on his bed.

She indulged her fingers, her palms, and let them ride along this warm silky part of him. He didn’t seem to mind. He was all she’d pictured and more. She’d imagined the hair right, the girth, oh boy she had that wrong, and his length, very, very right. She ran her thumbs up the underside of his cock and stopped just below the head to give him a dual thumb rub. Wes groaned and bucked under her. Lauren smiled and cupped his balls. Perfect, utterly perfect, and way too much fun. Did life get any sweeter? Oh yeah, it was about to get a lot sweeter.

She dropped over him and tongued his nipples, his chest, and his lean stomach then pushed back up, unable to hold off another minute. She needed him—now.

Picking up the temporarily forgotten condom, she rolled it over him and looked up to find Wes watching her. She was starting to shake from a whole array of emotions, not to mention an incredible amount of tension, when she rose up and lowered herself over him.

The pressure, the stretch was exquisite. She was already shuddering by the time she settled onto his lap. Lauren closed her eyes and savored how he felt inside of her.

Wes rubbed his hands slowly over her thighs, soothingly, caressing away her tension. As her breathing stabilized he moved up her torso and lifted her breasts from underneath, his hands a living underwire. He circled the nipples with his thumbs, and Lauren relaxed with a sigh and he gained another inch inside her snug body.

She let out a soft “Oh,” of surprise.

He smiled. “You okay?”

She nodded and gave him an intimate squeeze and arched into his hands. With her head and arms thrown back like Winged Victory she let him support her weight for a minute. Then he lowered her and latched onto a nipple, drawing it deep into his mouth. Lauren hovered there, finally dropping her hands to his shoulders. She purred when he flexed his hips up and into her.

“Mmm, I like that,” she said. “Do it again.”

He was very obliging. “Two-for-one special today.”

“My lucky day.”

Lauren rose and plunged on top of him, moving sinuously to get the most bang from her buck. Wes planted his heels, lifting to meet her, his thrusts slow and deliberate. Unfortunately the position exhausted her in no time.

“I can’t.” She collapsed on top of him, panting.

Wes wrapped Lauren close and rolled them both over then pressed deeply inside of her.
God, she feels so damn good.
She fit him perfectly, her body as snug as a warm sock on a cold morning. He couldn’t get enough of the soft brush of her tight nipples against his chest, the scrape of her nails on his back and shoulders, the softness of her legs closed around his. He couldn’t get enough of her smell, that sexual scent leaking out around him, the dewy flush of her skin between her heated breasts, under her hair. He dropped his face into her shoulder and took a long deep drag of the essence of Lauren and knew he was home.

Her hands rode up his arms, his shoulders, and she nodded. Wes thrust again and Lauren matched it. And then they were off, racing to the finish, each straining to reach the tape first, each driving the other to keep up. The relentless pounding shook them both, sapped their energy, and spurred them on. Wes slipped his hand between them and jostled her clit and Lauren faltered, her muscles seized, and she plunged forward as if in a freefall. With a sharp cry she collided into him, dragging him with her. Wes gasped and clutched Lauren close as he exploded.

“Holy shit,” he said, panting afterward. He pulled his face back to look at her and they both stared for a moment before breaking into laughter. “We should have done this sooner.”