Hunks, Hammers, and Happily Ever Afters (7 page)

“You’re seeing an awful lot of that young man.”

Do not blush. Oh, if he only knew. “Sure am,” I said cheerfully as the door buzzer went off. “That must be him.”

In truth, I doubted it. He usually texted me when he arrived, especially if he was hoping to avoid talking to my father. In the old days, he’d always made sure to stop by to talk to him, but lately he’d been more distant for some reason. And call me crazy, but I doubted he’d be hurrying upstairs for a chat tonight.

“You tell him to come on up here. I haven’t seen him in far too long.”

I nodded and didn’t reply as I hurried across the room. Oh, he’d just love that.

Hitting the intercom, I leaned close to whisper into the speaker. “Em, is that you?”

“Em? Who’s Em?” The female voice that replied definitely didn’t belong to my best friend. “Oh, you must mean Emerson. Hello, hottie. Lucky you, getting to spend all your free time with him.”

I frowned. The voice was disturbingly perky and familiar. “Jenna?”

“One and the same. I’ve brought reinforcements. Car, say hi.”

“Hello, sexy. Hope it’s okay we showed up without calling. I had a rare night free from nursery rearranging and we wanted to get freaky.” Carly’s sigh gusted into the speaker. “Or you know, eat shrimp by the pound at the Red Lobster.”

I had to laugh. Jenna Walsh was the other part-time receptionist at The Cage and we’d gotten to be friends during the last few months. Carly Anderson Costas was her best friend, and the wife of the most bad-ass fighter who trained at the gym, Giovanni. Carly was slightly younger than I was and married and pregnant with her first kid, which blew my mind. I had enough trouble trying to remember to maintain my ancient Honda, forget taking care of another human being. Carly seemed pretty chill about the whole thing though.

I liked both of them a lot and really appreciated them inviting me into their circle, since I’d never had many female friends. Somehow I’d just always gravitated to guys, but Jen and Car were a ton of fun. Any other Saturday night I’d be thrilled to get an invite to hang out with them.

Just not when I was hoping to get banged into next Sunday.

“Aw, dammit, I’m so sorry, but I’m waiting for Emerson to pick me up to visit another of our friends. He just got a new apartment. You know, housewarming type deal.”

How many times could I use that excuse? Until I got caught, probably.

“Dang.” Jenna again. “Oh well, we knew it was a long shot. What about next Friday night? We’re doing a double-date type thing, visiting a club in the city, Purgatory, while Car can still shake her groove thang,” Jenna teased. “You have someone you can bring?”

I bit my lip. I had two someones. Did that count? “Sure. I’ll find a date,” I said, wondering if I was just setting myself up to be a third wheel.

Emerson had a fight Friday night, as he often did, but maybe afterward he’d be up for swinging by the club. JC too. It wouldn’t hurt to ask, right? I was officially done with the chickenshit stuff, so I wasn’t going to just assume the worst.

I’d ask them—then assume it while I waited for them to answer.

“Awesome,” Jenna said. “You working Monday?”

We chatted about schedules and stuff for another moment or two, then I apologized profusely for sending them away just as Emerson texted me.

Downstairs.

I sighed. Good thing he spoke more with his body than with his lips or fingers or we’d never communicate anymore.

“Gotta go, Dad,” I called.

“Wait, you’re not going with your girlfriends?”

“You know I already have plans with Emerson and JC.”

“So why didn’t you invite the girls over too?” He appeared in the doorway between the living room and the foyer, his face cast in the flickering light from the TV.

Because I’m nearly positive they don’t want to see me fuck my two best friends.

“They were headed out to eat, and JC already ordered for us.” I rushed to him and pressed a kiss to his bearded jaw. “Gotta go, Daddy. Emerson just got here and he’s running behind.”

“Then you tell him to come in when you get back, you hear?”

“We’ll probably be late—”

“Just make sure it’s not too late.” He said that almost every time I went out at night. I rarely came home more than a few minutes past the time I said I would, but sometimes even that was enough to make him antsy.

Considering what he’d gone through, I supposed I couldn’t blame him.

“It won’t be,” I promised.

“Don’t make me worry about you,” he added, and I nodded, just to get out the door.

I rushed the flights down to the street and yanked open Emerson’s door, sliding inside with a gusty sigh. “God, next time, you gotta go up there and appease the old man, would you?”

He barely spared me a glance. “I talked to him last week.”

“Talking isn’t seeing, and you know how he gets if he doesn’t get to shoot the shit with you on a regular basis. Especially all his fight talk.” I snapped my belt into place and pretended not to be bothered by his lack of a hello any warmer than usual.

So what if I’d let him come in my mouth last weekend? No big.

He hadn’t hugged or kissed me during the past week either, but that had been different. We’d been out in public, either at the gym or in a restaurant. With all of our crazy schedules, it was harder to coordinate getting together during the week. I guess I got why he wouldn’t lean across the seat and slip his tongue into my mouth when my dad was just upstairs and happened to own a high-powered telescope, but why did it feel like he’d be no different when we walked into JC’s front door?

I wouldn’t let him retreat from me, from us. From this. I just wouldn’t. Not after what we’d experienced last weekend. I wasn’t ready to let it go.

“How are you?” I asked as he signaled away from the curb.

“Okay.” He cleared his throat. “Fine. You?”

“Good. Carly and Jenna from the gym just stopped by. Jenna called you a hottie.” I didn’t add that her remark had made me a little uneasy, because he was a hottie and he wasn’t mine, the previous weekend’s activities notwithstanding.

He smiled faintly and didn’t reply.

“How’s training going? You have another fight on Friday?”

“Mmm-hmm. It’s going well. I should beat Levy, no problem.”

“That’s great. Dad will want to hear about—”

“Will you lay off about your dad? I got it. He wants to see me, and you want me to pretend everything’s the way it used to be.” His hands tightened on the wheel. “Sorry, but I guess I’m just not as talented a liar as you seem to be.”

The retort stung, especially since he was the king of shutting down his emotions and diverting uncomfortable topics. He’d been doing it for years, since long before we’d gotten naked together.

Screw approaching this delicately. I was about to raze shit.

“So what’s on tap tonight?” Praying for courage, I tossed my hair back over my shoulders and stared straight out the windshield. “You going to actually fuck me?”

“Jesus, Lil.” His hand tightened around the wheel until I wondered how it didn’t snap under the pressure.

“Well?”

“You honestly expect me to answer that?”

“I expect you not to sit there while JC and I get busy and only join us because you’re guilted into it, or because it’s more uncomfortable for you not to—”

His harsh laughter made me fall silent. “You’re kidding, right? You think I was guilted into last weekend?”

I gripped the handle above my seat as he took a corner too fast and the tires squealed. “I don’t know, were you? It’s hard to say what you were, since it seems like you’re in complete denial about everything that took place. If your damn dick didn’t get hard, I wouldn’t know if you were even into—”

“Enough, Lily, fucking enough.” The tires squealed again and horns blared behind us as he jerked the car into a space a couple of blocks from JC’s place.

Before I could ask why he’d parked so far away, he undid his belt and reached across the space to do the same with me. Then his mouth crushed onto mine, stealing my questions and complaints and my breath.

Erasing everything but his minty taste as his tongue curled around mine and his large hands came up to frame my face.

We stayed like that for long minutes, our mouths slanting together hungrily, our unsteady breaths fogging up the windows. Though he kept his hands above my neck, I wasn’t so polite. I tugged at his T-shirt, pulling it up so I could feather my fingers over his taut abs and down to the button of his jeans. A quick brush of my knuckles told me he was already hard and straining. I started to reach for his zipper, wanting to touch more than denim, but he broke off with a groan and stilled my hand.

“Hang on, sweetheart. Not here.” The thumb of his other hand swept over my damp lower lip. “You asked me if I was going to fuck you.”

I shuddered. I simply couldn’t help it. “Yes.”

“No.”

My heart clenched and a sound escaped me that sounded dangerously like grief.

He cupped my cheek. “Our first time, I’m going to make love to you. I can’t do anything else, Lil.” He dropped his forehead to mine and I shuddered again, this time in relief and joy.

I wasn’t sure what he meant by using those words. Sure, we’d been close for so long, but this was a new level.

I just didn’t know if that new level meant he loved me differently now too. Deeper. Not just as the girl he’d been assigned by my father to watch over all those years ago. Not a girl that he was somehow—thank you, Jesus—attracted to. But...more.

The silence pressed in on me, making my heart race. I had to speak before I simply exploded. “Okay.”

Yeah, that was worth breaking the silence barrier for. Cripes.

At my voice, his eyes flickered open and met mine, dark and intent. “But after that...”

“After that...” I echoed.

“After that, hell yes, I’m going to fuck you. I’m going to make you take my cock like you took his. Make you beg for it until we’re both shaking and raw.”

Then with one last light kiss on my lips, he climbed out of the car and shut the door.

CHAPTER SEVEN

JC

My girl showed up with puffy lips and bright eyes, and I knew we wouldn’t be taking as long to get the party started this weekend as we had last.

“Hey babe.” I gave her a quick kiss, tasting the mint and cherry lip gloss that clung to her mouth, and tugged her inside.

I held out my other hand to Emerson for a fist bump.

“Hope you guys are hungry.” I closed the door and gestured into the living room. I’d made some progress over the past week. Not as much as I would’ve liked, but at least the flat screen had been mounted and I’d added a couple of club chairs. My built-ins would still be a bit longer. “I ordered pizza and—”

“No more beer,” Emerson interjected.

I laughed. Mr. Boy Scout always had to weigh in. It was funny how he didn’t irritate me as much now that I’d seen his oral skills and that beautiful dick I hoped to get in my mouth—and other parts of me—soon. “Nope, no beer. I was going to say wings. Spicy, of course.” I smacked Lily’s ass as I passed and she laughed flirtatiously.

Things were off to a good start.

Emerson and Lily took one of the couches and I sprawled on the floor beside the coffee table where I’d put out some of our food. I grabbed the remote and aimed it at the TV, cycling through the menu. “So what would you two like to watch?”

“Do you have any movie channels?” Lily asked.

“Sure. I have—huh, look at that.” I stopped and cocked my head. “Guess I have a porn channel too.”

“Smooth, man. Real smooth.”

I glanced back at Emerson, all innocence. “I’m hurt you think I’d set this up by design.”

I actually hadn’t. Granted, I’d been the one to pick this particular cable package, so I knew what options there were, but I hadn’t intentionally chosen an X-rated channel right off the bat. I’d figured we’d watch something wholesome or some shit. Rom com or maybe action adventure. My mind didn’t permanently reside in the gutter. Just most of the time.

But now that serendipity had led me to some kind of dirty movie, I sure as hell wasn’t going to move on. We could always reheat the pizza.

My surprise was complete enough that it took me a second to realize the action onscreen was a threesome. Not two guys and a girl, but the reverse. And the blond girl was already having the time of her life eating out the brunette while the guy jerked his dick in long, slow pulls.

“Seriously, you’re not going to change this?” Emerson shook his head. “Finesse, dude. Learn it.”

“It’s up to Lily, since I damn sure know you and I don’t have a problem watching this. No matter how you squeal like a little girl.”

“Not squealing,” he muttered, pushing aside his plate. I don’t think he’d taken a bite yet. “Just saying you’re being a little obvious.”

“As were Lily’s swollen lips when she walked through the door, but I didn’t ask what part of you she’d been kissing, now did I?”

Lily flushed and my cock leaped. Dinner was looking less and less appetizing by the moment.

“You’re a crass bastard, you know that?”

“Tell me something I don’t know.” I turned off the TV and picked up a slice of pizza. “Fine, we’ll skip the movie. Just sit here and—”

“I want to watch it.” I glanced back at Lily, afraid to hope I’d actually heard her say that. She nodded, eyes big. “I want to...broaden my horizons.”

Emerson said nothing. Evidently, he’d given up trying to rein in his pure little Lily.

“Okay then.” I stood and tossed her the remote, then picked up the pizza and wings boxes. “Not thinking we’ll be needing these for a while. They’ll be in the kitchen once we’ve worked up an appetite.”

Emerson rolled his eyes, but I didn’t miss the tug in his lips. Holy shit, was our favorite vault unlocking a bit?

The prospect of deliciously dirty sex could do that to the best of ’em.

When I returned, the movie was going in full auditory glory. Lily was, in fact, broadening her horizons as requested, but not by watching the porno. She and Emerson were already otherwise engaged. Her hands were in his hair and his hovered just beneath her breasts. And damn, they were kissing like they were in a war to consume each other.