Love on the Ledge (22 page)

He climbs on top of me and rests his elbows on either side of my head. Pins my waist with his. The light that comes in from the window makes his eyes brilliant. It’s like looking at an angel, the one that fell right at my feet.

“Hayden,” I whisper. I push up my hips so that he can feel how much I want him without me having to say it. “Hayden.”

My eyes flutter as he kisses my cheeks. “Sweet Sky. What’s all this?”

I smile against his kisses. “Don’t you like it?”

He slides down to kiss the top of my breasts. His hands grab my waist and squeeze in that way that drives me crazy. I can feel his kisses right through the white lace. He parts my legs with his hands and kisses the inside of my thighs. He looms over me, and I love how big his frame is compared to mine. I press my hands on his hard abs. I undo the button of his jeans and tug on them. I catch the waistband of his boxers with my teeth and pull. He moans when I reach in and grab his dick, pull it out, and stroke it.

I want to remember what seeing Hayden naked for the first time is like. It’s like every inch of his body was carefully crafted to perfection. Thin blond hairs trail from his belly button, an arrow that shows me where I need to go. When I press a kiss to the head of his penis, it lengthens. I have a desperate need to know what Hayden tastes like, and when he says my name, like he’s begging, I can’t take it anymore.

I take him into my mouth. I get on my knees on the bed to get at a better angle. I grab his shaft and suck on the tip. He moans, and I take my mouth off. I press a finger to my lips. His eyes are far off and dreamy. His hand threads through my hair and tugs, guiding me back to him.

I grab his hardness and massage it with both hands, letting the tip rest on my tongue.

“Shit,” he whispers.

I love the way he reacts to me. Love that he tugs my hair some more. Love the wetness that follows his grunts. His precum tastes sweet. Leti says that’s what happens when guys eat lots of fruit. I lick the wet trail and take his length as far as it can. I relax the back of my throat so I don’t gag.

He pulls on my hair so hard that I moan. The moan vibrates against his tender skin and his dick throbs in my mouth. I wet my finger with my tongue and trace tiny circles around the sensitive skin of his head.

“Sky, you’re driving me crazy.”

“That’s the point.”

He bites his lip and grabs me, pushing me onto my back. He finds the snaps that keep my teddy together and pulls them open.

“Sky,” he whispers in my ear. His warm breath makes me tingle. “I want to know what you feel like.”

His finger traces a line through my wetness until he finds my clit. When I arch my back, he presses down in slow, delicious circles.

“Hayden,” I tell him. “I need you now.”

He nuzzles into my neck. “As you wish.”

His thick, strong finger slides into my pussy. My walls squeeze around him. I ask for more and he inserts another finger. I bite back a moan. I grab the mattress with one hand and his dick with the other. I move my hand up and down. He presses harder against my body, sliding a third finger in.

He bites my ear and in response, I jerk him off faster. He hooks his fingers inside of me. I don’t know if it’s the combination of getting each other off, or if he found the mythical g-spot, but I start to come undone. My center pulses as I come, wet, all over his hand.

“Sky,” he says. “Sky…”

“Come,” I whisper. I close my eyes, lost in the feel of his fingers inside me, touching a part of me that’s coming awake. He moans against my ear, and I grab onto him as he comes on my belly. I trace the slippery top of his head, and watch his eyes lust after me. I bring the finger to my lips and taste him.

“You are so fucking sexy.” He collapses beside me.

I giggle, and stretch into the delicious feel of his body in my bed. “You.”

He reaches over me for something on my bedside table. “I brought these for you. You sounded upset.”

I laugh quietly. “How can you tell? We were texting.”

“I can tell.”

I take the two roses and smell them. They’re a deep red and fully bloomed. I trace their petals along his skin. I feel something that goes beyond the orgasm he just gave me. It’s a spark that I’m afraid to light, but it’s trying desperately to be seen.

“Hayden?”

He’s started to drift off to sleep. “Hmm?”

“Will you be my date to the wedding?”

In the morning I watch Hayden sleep.

If he’s beautiful to look at when he’s awake, then I don’t know what to call this. His face is completely tranquil. His mouth is slightly open. That bottom lip is so kissable that I lean forward and do it. When I lean back, my Prince Charming answers me with a tiny snore. God, even that’s cute. He spreads out his whole body. My thin white sheet does little to cover his morning wood.

There’s a knock on my door. I jump up and reach for my bathrobe. I brush my hair a bit. I open it up a crack. It’s only Leti.

“Hey, hooker. Everyone’s going to the beach. We need to air out the bad juju from the house.”

“Oh, I’m not feeling so hot. See you later.” I start to close the door on her face, but she catches a peek of the sleeping god on my bed.

She shakes her fists and squees.

“Shh,” I whisper.

“Okay, Sky,” Leti says dramatically. “Feel better.”

Subtle. I lock the door behind her and go back to bed. I can hardly sleep with him just laying down in my bed. It’s like leaving out a piece of cake and expecting me not to eat it.

I trace a finger along his erect shaft. A smile spreads across his face. He grabs my hand and brings it up to his face to kiss. “Hey you.”

I rest my head on his shoulder. “Excellent news. Everyone’s going to the beach, so we have the house all to ourselves.”

“That’s an interesting development.” He turns lazily towards me and pulls me into a strong hug. “How come?”

“I think after yesterday’s fiasco, they need to all get out of the house.”

He lifts his head to meet my eyes. “What happened?”

What didn’t happen? “The cake topper came but it was a hetero couple. Pepe thought it was a personal attack. I think that when they were filling out the form online, they didn’t change the second one’s sex, but there’s no way to really find out. I went out yesterday to try to get one, but nothing. Isn’t this a big wedding town?”

“Earlier in the season maybe.” He kisses my shoulder. The white lace teddy is on the floor, but I still wear the matching bra. His hands find my breasts and squeeze. “So I have you all to myself today?”

I press myself against him, sling a leg over his side to press him into me. “Yep. Do you have to do anything today?”

“Not that I can think of, but I’m not at full brain power right now.” His hands trail down my spine and cup my ass. “Oh, wait.”

“Nooo, no waiting.”

He chuckles. “This is good, I promise.”

“Okay.”

“I have a surprise for you tonight. Gazebo at nine.”

I nod, but I’m not thinking that far ahead right now. I’m more interested in the way he turns me on my back and holds my hands over my head. His weight makes my breath catch. I love how solid he feels. He presses into me. I part my legs to give him better access.

“God, you’re fantastic.” His dick presses against my wetness, teasing me.

“And you’re not even in me yet,” I laugh.

This feels nice, being able to make light of something that means a lot to me. I’ve never been able to just have sex with any guy that I find attractive. River tells me it’s a waste of my youth, that one day I’ll be married and stuck with the same chump. Leti wants to be able to say that she’s fucked a guy in every country she travels to.

Me? I need to feel the
spark
. With Hayden, it’s more than that though. It’s full on fireworks. When he looks at me, I know he doesn’t want to be anywhere else. When he looks at me, I feel like he’s committing this moment to memory, because I’m doing the same thing.

Which is why, as much as I’d hate to ruin the moment, I have to pull back from his kiss.

“I’m on birth control,” I say.

“So am I,” he says.

“Hayden…”

He wraps his arms around me and flips us so he’s on the bed and I’m on top. I sit up to straddle him. I lean forward so the ends of my hair tickle his chest. He reaches up to touch my breasts.

“Sky, you’re the first girl in months. After I found out my ex was cheating on me, I got tested. I’m clean as a whistle. You?”

The minute I saw Bradley and Stella together, I went to my unit and had a test done. “Me, too. Nurse’s orders.”

I press my breasts against him and kiss him. Then, our stomachs grumble in synchrony.

“I’d be embarrassed,” he says, “if your stomach growl wasn’t louder than mine.”

“Why don’t you make yourself comfortable, and I’ll make some breakfast.”

He grabs my hand and pulls me hard against his lips. “Hurry, or I’ll come and get you.”

I untangle myself from the Adonis in my bed, throw my bathrobe back on, and head downstairs.

There is a most definitely bounce in my step. I’m going to have sex with Hayden Robertson. The thought makes me giddy and wet. Sure, I’ve been horny before. But that’s nothing a bottle of wine and a battery-operated device can’t take care of. Being with Hayden soothes parts of me I thought were permanently damaged.

As I crack eggs in a pan and throw in salt, pepper, and a little bit of Adobo, I realize that you can’t let someone else damage you. Even when your heart breaks, it still belongs to you. You have to take it back and mend it yourself, because no one is going to do it for you. Letting myself get close to Hayden makes me feel awake, like the sun is just a little bit brighter.

I wait for the toast to toast, and the scrambled eggs to scramble. I grab the orange juice and put in a splash of prosecco because that’s how I feel—like a bottle of bubbly ready to burst.

The doorbell rings. It’s early for mail, but things have been arriving non-stop all summer. I tie my bathrobe so that I don’t give the delivery person a peep show. I set the eggs off the fire, feeling as badass as James Hughes.

When I open the door, I feel like I’m still dreaming. No, this isn’t a dream. This is a nightmare. The fright of him makes me jump. I drop my glass and it splatters on the ceramic tiled floor. I go to shut the door, to push him back and slam it in his face, but he doesn’t go. He’s stronger.

“Sky, listen to me,” Bradley says. “Just give me a chance.”

When I step back, pain shoots up and down my leg. I see blood, but I have to keep walking back.

“Get out.”

He looks the same, but not. His hair is longer than usual. He’s grown facial hair, which makes him look older. His clothes are rumpled, like he slept in them and then drove the five hours to get here.

“Sky, baby, I know you don’t want to see me, but I promise. I promise that I’m not with anyone. Losing you was the worst mistake I’ve ever make. I love you, Sky. I love you.”

I step back, dragging glass and blood in a zigzag trail. The pain in my foot gets so sharp that I let myself fall down. Everything I’ve been trying to hold onto, all the happiness I’ve found in the last months, comes undone at the seams.

Bradley reaches for me. I’ve forgotten what his touch feels like. It’s something I’ve pushed so far away that he might as well be a stranger.

“Sky, you’re hurt.”

I slap his hands away. “You have no right to be here. Get out!”

“Sky?” Hayden shouts from upstairs. The steps creak with his weight. He’s running. He stands at the top of the steps looking down at us. He sees the glass. The blood. He’s wrapped a towel around his waist.

“Who the fuck is this?” Bradley asks.

“Get out, Bradley!” I’m stuck on repeat, but I’m too stunned to say anything else.

“Not until you tell me who this is!”

Hayden looks from me to Bradley. Hayden is mine. That’s what I should say. He’s mine. Instead, I force myself to stand, balancing on my good foot.

“You’re a real piece of work, Sky,” Bradley says. “You tell me that I lost faith in us, that I broke us, but look at you, moving on perfectly well.”

I laugh in his face. “Did you think I’d sit around for the rest of my life waiting for you? You broke us, Bradley. I would never in a million years, if you were the last breathing man left on this planet, want anything to do with you.”

He steps back, like my words slapped him. “You don’t mean that.”

“Why?” I ask, not to him but to the heavens. “Why can’t you take no for an answer? It’s you and it’s Xandro. It’s like you’re not fucking happy unless you’re the one ending things. Well you don’t get that, okay? I get to end it.
I
get to end it.”

“You’re being hysterical,” Bradley tells me.

Hayden looks at me like he doesn’t recognize me. I know that if I ask him to, he’ll physically remove Bradley. But Hayden isn’t my lackey. He’s my—love? How can I love anyone when my life is a mess?

“Get out.” It’s final, and he hears it. He turns around and slams the door behind him.

Hayden catches me before I fall back down on the floor.

“My kit is in my room.”

He carries me up the steps and gently sets me on the bed. Our romantic breakfast is cold, but I’m not hungry anymore. Hayden comes back with the kit and opens it up for me. I fold my foot so I can see the damage.

“I need a warm washcloth and the tweezers on the sink.”

I whimper when I pull out the biggest piece of glass. I rip an antiseptic wipe, just like I did for Hayden the first time we met. I’ve done this to so many people while telling them it only hurts for a second. I feel like a bitch because it hurts for more than a second. It burns like hell.

Hayden comes back with the other things I need. I bring my foot closer to my face. Normally, I’d want him to be impressed that I’m so flexible, but by the seriousness of his face, I don’t even begin to guess what he’s thinking.

“Napkin please.”

He goes and brings one to me. I pull out two smaller shards of bloody glass and set them on the napkin.

“Can I do anything else?”

I shake my head. “It’s not too bad.”