The Scale (Martha's Way) (35 page)

“Go fuck yourself,
asshole!”

In a fetal position,
stirring in pain, Phillip hollered some sort of threat to Lily. “You will pay
for this.”

“Yeah, come try it. I
have crazy brothers who will be more than happy to beat the shit out of you.”
She turned to Minka and put her arms around her shoulder. “Come on, let’s go
get a drink. By the way, my name is Liliana. But you can call me Lily.”

Blake had remained
quiet and let her talk through it. When Minka stopped and broke down, he held her
and let her cry until there were no tears left to be shed.

“I’m sorry you had to
go through that. I can beat him up for you,” he said, which brought a chuckle
from Minka. “I’m Blake.”

“Minka,” she replied,
wiping the tears away. “You’re a senior.”

“No, I’m in the law
school program. How about we meet for coffee tomorrow morning?”

The next morning, as much as common sense told her not to go
to the Student Center to meet Blake, she had gone and spotted him right away,
leaning against the wall with two cups in his hands. He had waved at her,
walked over and handed her the coffee.

Minka had noticed the stares, the curious looks. She would
have done the same thing. Blake was tall, built like an athlete and definitely
was on the top scale of the hot radar and he only seemed to have eyes for her.

From that morning on, she had fallen in love with him. As
their friendship developed, her crush cultivated to something stronger. He
never made an advance or attempted to kiss her. To him, they were friends,
which Minka had sadly accepted. He never talked to her about his dates. She was
aware he dated a lot, but he always dismissed them as nothing serious. That
gave her hope.

Blake had remained her fantasy, her “one day” until two
years ago when she introduced him to her sister. Their connection had been
instant and it broke Minka’s heart.

She had wept with hopelessness over their budding
relationship and until a week ago; the despair over the fact that her sister
had managed to capture his heart had been the driver to her emotional state.

Minka shook her head, finally recognizing her feelings for
Blake were nothing more than an infatuation that lasted a few years too long.
His smile, as beautiful as it was, didn’t send her heart racing. It wasn’t his
touch that coursed through her veins like fire, waking her senses to the
unimaginable.

* * * *

Blake’s elbow landed on Jason’s ribcage. Minka looked on as
Jason winced in pain and pressed his chest closer to Blake’s back. He leaned
forward, reached in and snatched the basketball out of Blake’s possession and
sprinted forward to the basket. He grabbed the ball in his wide palm, bounced
it once or twice then threw it hard over to Blake.

As Blake dribbled the ball past Jason, Jason quickly turned
on his heels to catch up with his opponent. But Blake was also quick on his
feet. He spun around Jason as he made a drive for the basket.

Caught up in the intense competition between the two men,
Minka leaned forward and continued to observe. She could detect the competitive
edge taking over Jason. Something else was there too.
Anger.
He reached from behind and smacked the ball away from Blake. As he did so, the
two men tangled just before their bodies came crashing down on the hard court.

“Flagrant foul,” Blake said, clearly irritated by the hit
from behind.

“That’s bullshit!” Jason said, just as irritated.

To make matters worse, Blake chuckled, took the ball and
made his way to the basket.

“That wasn’t a foul,” Jason complained.

“Want to ask our audience?”

Things unraveled quickly. Minka turned to see Keely watching
with a concerned look in her eyes. Lily also looked concerned but not so much
for Blake. Adam stood leaning in the doorway looking amused. Lastly she caught
sight of Jason, his facial expression revealed nothing. But she knew him well
enough by now to know inside he was a raging mess.

He knew.

She felt his frustration.
Her deception.
She almost walked away from him over Rita, but not once had she come forward
about Blake. Instead she buried it and in a way almost pretended her infatuation
with his best friend didn’t exist.

She was a hypocrite.

She heard Jason admit to the hard foul. Blake made one of
the two shots, which meant Jason still managed to win the game by one point.

The two men shook hands and shared one of those men hugs,
the incident water under the bridge. Keely walked over, patted Jason’s
shoulder, silently letting him know all was well. Minka waited for him to come
to her. To show him her heart only belonged to him, but he walked past her
without even a glance in her direction.

Her heart sank.

Minka entered the bedroom just as Jason emerged from the
shower stark naked with a towel drying his hair. She remembered their first
morning together, how embarrassed she had been by his nudity. Now every inch of
his body was familiar to her. He slipped into a pair of gray boxer briefs
before reaching for his jeans and slipped into them.

“Enjoying the view?” he asked with his back to her. His
voice indicated he was clearly amused by her.

Feeling caught in the act, Minka quickly looked away. She’d
followed him to the room to talk and clear the air. After the display on the
basketball court, she couldn’t continue ignoring the big elephant between them.
But he was quickly by her side and reached for her hand.

“Don’t be shy.” His voice was soft and gentle.

A slight smile touched her lips. “I’m working on that. We
need to talk.”

Tilting her chin up with his free hand, his lips covered
hers with a soft kiss. “Talk later. Let’s work on that shyness thing,” he
whispered against her lips. “Do you want to?”

As always he had the ability to make her do whatever he
wanted. “Yes,” she answered somewhere from the back of her throat.

“Good. Make me hard then,” he said as he placed sweet
butterfly kisses along the nape of her neck.
“With your mouth.”

Minka had limited experience with the actual physical act of
oral sex. Her experience amounted to zero. It wasn’t that it hadn’t crossed her
mind. God, every time Jason had touched her, she wondered, but shyness and lack
of confidence had held her back.

Fear of disappointing him rushed through her mind. Jason was
experienced, had been with many experienced women. No way in hell would she
live up to any expectations he had or past experiences.

“Jason…” She opened her mouth to tell him she couldn’t, not
because she didn’t want to, On the contrary, she didn’t want to fail.

“Do you want to?”

She nodded.

He smiled. That damned sexy smile that always made her
quiver. “Tell me.”

This whole talking thing and telling her partner what she
wanted, what felt good was completely out of her comfort zone, but with Jason
she had become more vocal. And the more she did it, the more comfortable it had
gotten. So she said the words she knew he wanted to hear. “Yes.”

He
smiled,
a slow satisfactory
smile. “Then you should probably unbutton my jeans.”

Clumsily, her fingers snapped the waist of his jeans open.

“Pull me out,” he
said,
his face a
dark mask of desire.

Minka licked her bottom lip and reached inside the thick
material to feel Jason. Her fingers automatically tightened around him. His
eyes met hers with a teasing smile when she pulled him free from the constraint
of his jeans.

She longed to touch him, to caress him, to take him in her
mouth. Like a kitten, she started to slide her body down to her knees. He
reached and held her back.

“If you do that, I won’t last.”

A slow devious smile curved her lips and she lowered herself
to her knees. With her hand around him, she stroked him back and forth before
sliding her tongue around the crest of his shaft, taking him fully in her mouth
in one slow,
swooping
movement.

She heard him hiss before letting out a sharp curse as he
buried his fingers into her mass of curls and pushed himself deeper inside her
mouth. Loving the reaction she got out of him, a sense of confidence rose inside
her. Lifting her head, she looked at him. He looked back at her. Feeling
empowered, she ran her tongue over his shaft once more before swallowing as
much of him as she could while increasing the thrusting rhythm with her mouth.

“Damn it, Minka.”
His voice dark with
torture.
“Slow down, sweetheart,” he begged. “Shit.”

The pleading sound enticed her more. Never had she felt this
much in charge. It made her hungry for more. Removing him from her mouth but
only inches away from her lips, she asked, “Would you like me to stop?”

She prayed he said no. She had never seen him looked so
tormented, so much so that she half expected him to bring her back to her feet,
but he shook his head and dropped his hands to his sides. He looked defeated.

“No,” he growled. “I will let you know when I’m near.”

She heard the words, but didn’t care for them. His reaction
to her touch made her want to please him more. Her lips wrapped around him once
again. He muttered something in French before his body joined her lips in a
thrusting motion, allowing her to control the speed.

Up and down, she moved her mouth, her tongue sliding,
circling over him. Jason sucked some air deeply into his lungs. His hands found
her head again, his fingers buried deep in her curls as he helped guide her
mouth over him.

The whole scene drove her crazy. She felt free and, probably
for the first time in her life, completely uninhibited. Wanting to pleasure him
even more, she leaned her body a little forward so that she could allow more
room in her mouth to take him further in. She heightened the stroke of her
mouth and tongue along Jason’s hardness.

With his fingers deeply buried in her curls, she felt Jason
lift his hips to push himself deeper in her mouth. A slow moan of pleasure
escaped her throat. Minka shifted her body on the floor so she could take most
of him in her mouth.

“Minka, it’s time…let’s…”

He tried to remove himself from her, but her hands cupped
his butt and pressed him deeper in her mouth, not allowing him a chance to
escape.

His body shivered just as a tremor ran through her. To her
surprise, Minka realized she also had reached that pinnacle just from
pleasuring him.

After a few seconds of silence, he reached and brought her
to her feet into his arms. She buried her face in his chest.

“Look at me, Minka.”

Shyly, she did as he asked.

“You didn’t have to do that.” His voice was gentle as he
said the words. “I know you’ve never done that before.”

“I wanted to,” she confessed. “Was it not good?”

He laughed and held her tighter. “Darling, it was beyond
good. You blew my mind.”

Her cheeks warmed with pleasure. “Oh.”

Her eyes stayed on him, the salty taste of him still in her
mouth. “Jason…”

“Yup…”

He was back to being the cool, laid-back Jason.
I’m in love with you
, she wanted to
confess, but unable to voice the words. The reason for her hesitation was
clear. In order to give herself completely to Jason, she had to deal with
Blake. Close that chapter in her life and say goodbye to him. Only then could
she free herself and embrace the future.

She closed the space between them and wrapped her arms
around his neck and kissed the man who had managed to take her heart and soul.

Chapter Twenty-Six

“You can't put being
in love on a scale. Either you are or you aren't.”

Jenny Han,
We'll
Always Have Summer

Minka walked over to the sofa to retrieve her shirt. The
house was still quiet, but she knew most of them were awake and busy packing.
They were just moving a little slower than usual, hung over from consuming too
much wine on their last night. She wrinkled her nose. She was in the same boat.
They all were; well, not Jason. He had gone for his usual early morning jog.
Minka had chosen the opportunity to do
a
once-over to
make sure nothing was left behind.

As she stepped on the patio, she spotted Lily’s lithe figure
exiting the pool house where Adam had chosen as his place of residence for the
weekend. Minka quickly tiptoed out of view but continued to observe the
situation.

Adam appeared by the door, dressed in a pair of dark pajama
pants. With his thick, unruly curls, he leaned between the doorway and pulled
Lily back into his arms for a kiss. Her friend didn’t seem to hesitate and
kissed him back before walking away. Their hands intertwined until the distance
eventually caused their fingers to drift apart. Without looking back, Lily
crossed over the yard to the house. Adam continued to watch her until she
disappeared before closing the door behind him.

With a smile, Minka followed her friend inside and cleared
her throat, announcing her appearance. Caught in the act, her friend spun
around to look at her. Minka noticed a glow on her friend’s face that wasn’t
there when she first arrived or had ever been there before.

“Had a good night?” she asked.

Lily immediately picked up a pillow and fluffed it. “Blame
it on too much wine.”

Minka let out a soft chuckle and shook her head. She
wouldn’t let her friend get off that easy. “Or maybe it was just good.”

Lily rolled her eyes. “Well, obviously. But my friend, you
can wipe that smirk off your face and kill the hope while you’re at it. That
was just sex.”

“I didn’t say anything,” Minka said with feigned innocence.
They knew each other too well.