by Lana Dash
* * *
VERONICA
The ride back to my place takes forever, and Miles has to banish me to the passenger side of the car when my wandering hand distracted him, and he nearly side-swiped a line of parked cars on the road back to my place.
I reach out for him, but he catches my hand in his and brings it up to his mouth for a kiss.
"I've waited almost ten years for this moment, and I'm not going miss out because you are distracting me, and we get in an accident.”
“You’re no fun,” I pretend to pout.
“I promise you that when we are safe in your house, I will make it worth the wait.”
Heat pools low in my belly, and I have to press my thighs together to ease some of the ache. My body is reacting to Miles in a way it has never had with any other man before. I feel like I’m losing control of myself when he’s near me. Maybe it's because, with him, it's more than just physical. There's an emotional connection I've never shared with anyone else. When I’m with him, I feel like I don’t have to hide who I am. I can be open and not feel like he’s going to judge or reject me. When he looks at me, I feel like the most beautiful woman in the world.
“I’m the second house on the left after the stop sign,” I tell him.
He pulls into my driveway and shuts off the engine.
“Are you sure you okay with this? We can wait if it will make you more comfortable."
I don't know if it's the two glasses of wine I had at dinner or the fact that I'm so amped up for him that I toss any inhibitions I had out the car window. I remove my interlaced fingers with his and resume my hand’s earlier exploration.
“Oh fuck,” he breathes out, resting his head against the headrest of the car.
I rub my hand over his hard cock and squeeze gently.
“Does that answer your question?”
“Hell, yes.” He leans over the console and cups the back of my head, pulling my mouth to his for a scorching kiss.
I can’t get close enough. I want to feel the warmth of his naked body pressed against mine.
"Let's go in," I say after I accidentally lean my elbow on the horn, and it lets out a loud blaring honk that most definitely woke up any of my sleeping neighbors.
We manage to get inside without any other incidents that might draw the attention of some of my nosier neighbors, like Mrs. Adelstein. I swear that woman’s face is permanently attached to the front window of her house. Nothing goes down in this neighborhood without her being the first to know.
The moment the front door closes, Miles reaches for me and pulls me against him. His strong arms explore my body as his mouth kisses a hot trail up my neck to my ear.
“Where is your bedroom?” he asks, his voice so deep it sends shivers down my spine.
“It’s at the end of the hallway,” I pant.
“Good.” He leans down and scoops me up into his arms like I don’t weigh a thing.
“What are you doing?”
“Thought it was fairly obvious.” He chuckles.
“I can walk on my own.”
“I couldn’t take the chance that you might get distracted, and I would have to wait one second longer to get you naked."
He sets me down by my bed and kicks the door shut behind him. I watch as he wastes no time pulling off his jacket and unbuttoning his shirt. The ache between my thighs amps up to a new level, and my legs wobble unsteadily the moment he opens his shirt, and I can see the thick wall of muscle in his chest. I sit down on the edge of the bed and watch him with rapt attention.
“You aren’t getting undressed.” He smiles his crooked grin at me.
I lean back on my hands and lift my leg to run my foot across the hard bulge in his pants. "I'm just sitting back and enjoying the show."
He laughs. “You want a show?”
I nod and bite my lower lip.
Miles steps up onto the bed, caging me in between his legs. He reaches up and holds onto the canopy bar above my bed as he swivels his hips as though he's dancing to some music only he hears. I sit up and run my hands up his muscular thighs and over his cock. I grip him gently and stroke him up and down.
“You aren’t playing fair,” he groans and jumps back down to the floor in front of me.
“Will this help?” I ask, standing and brushing my body against his. I lift my arms and turn so he can see the zipper of the dress sewn into the side.
Miles tugs gently on the zipper until it’s down as far as it will go. I lower my arms and let the spaghetti straps slip from my shoulders and the silk dress puddles at my feet. I stand still as his heated gaze moves down my body.
“You,” he rasps out as he holds his hand over his heart. “You take my breath away.”
I feel powerful in my curves, knowing that Miles appreciates every part of me. He pulls me into his arms, and I rest my cheek against the warm skin of his chest. Miles runs his hands up my back and unhooks my strapless bra. I reach between us and unbuckle his pants, letting them fall to the floor next to my dress. He leans down and wraps his hands around the back of my thighs and lifts me into his arms, my legs wrapping around his waist.
“I want to feel you inside me,” I whisper into his ear.
My request is met with a deep rumble of pleasure from his chest. Miles moves up onto the bed and lays me down on the pillows. His fingers dip beneath the sides of my panties, and he tugs the fabric down and off my legs. My knees drop apart, giving him a full view of my aching center.
I nearly cry out when he brushes his fingertips down my inner thigh and over the slick folds of my pussy.
“You’re wet for me,” he says, his voice barely above a whisper.
I nod and plead, “I need you.”
Miles leans down and kisses up my inner thighs, over the soft curve of my stomach the heavy swell of my breasts. He pauses to allow for his hot mouth to lick and suck on each sensitive nipple. I arch off the bed, not wanting to lose the feeling of his tongue on me when he leans back.
"I'm going to take my time worshiping the perfection of your body later, but right now, I need it hard and fast.”
“Yes,” I moan, as my fingers press against my clit to help ease some of the pleasurable pain coursing through me.
Miles tugs how his boxer briefs and situates his hips between my thighs. I close my eyes, and he rubs his cock up and down my wet folds, building up the pressure inside me that is nearly all-consuming.
“You ready?” he asks into my ear.
I nod once before he pushes his cock deep inside me. “Oh god!” I scream out.
Miles gives my body only a moment to adjust to his thick length before he starts working his dick in and out of me, slowly at first but then quickly picking up the speed. It doesn’t take long for me to feel the pleasure build up inside. My brain is on sensory overload as Miles’s hips piston hard into my body.
I lose myself to my release, screaming his name, but he doesn't stop. I don't ever want him to stop. This feeling is unlike anything I've ever experienced in my life. Miles inside me is my new drug, and I will never not want a fix.
I can feel another orgasm begin to grow inside me. I manage to hold off the release until I feel Miles tense above me and we both come undone. The sounds coming from him are wild and untamed as he comes inside me. He slumps against me, his head on my chest as we both try to catch our breath.
“I love you,” he breathes out as he holds on to me.
I circle my arms around him and hold him tight. “I love you, too.”
I wait to see if the words feel wrong, like I'm saying them only because he's just given me two mind-blowing orgasms. But I feel only confidence that what I’m saying is truly what my heart feels. I feel at peace when I drift off to sleep with him in my arms.
6
MILES
Veronica and I spend the next few days in bed. I deliver on my promise to worship every part of her body for the beauty it is. I don’t want to let her go, but after skipping a day of work, she gets a frantic call
from her assistant and is called into work for Mackenzie’s wedding preparation. Apparently, Mackenzie's bridezilla-like demands were too much for her, and she needed Veronica to step in. I offered to say something to Mackenzie, but Veronica insisted she would handle it on her own. She was a professional.
“What has you smiling so big?” Mackenzie asks when I meet her for lunch later that day.
“It’s a sex high,” I blurt out.
Mackenzie scrunches her nose and holds up her hand. “Stop! I don’t need to hear about you having sex.”
“I didn’t offer, you asked.” I laugh.
"I thought you were going to say that you found a job, and you were staying in town for good."
My sex high evaporates at the mention of me finding a job. I can't keep crashing at my mom's house while she's away. Eventually, I will have to find a job or start taking on the freelance work that is being offered to me. But that means I would have to start traveling again. I was done wanting to travel for my job long before getting together with Veronica. Now the option is entirely off the table. I'm here for good.
Before, I thought putting down meant buy a home or finding a steady job, but I've quickly realized that the cliché home is where the heart is, is a cliché for a reason. Veronica has my heart. So wherever she is, I want that to be where I put down roots.
“I haven’t had any realistic offers for a job yet, but I’m hoping I can find something soon.”
The engagement ring I picked out to give to Veronica will cost me, and I want to make sure I have my life figured out before I ask her.
“Do you think you will keep doing some freelance work until you find something steady?”
“It’s possible.” I shrug. “I’m not at that point just yet, but I haven’t ruled anything out yet.”
A few magazines I've worked for over the years had some big issues coming up, and they were requesting me for the job. The money was almost too good to pass up. If I could just work them quickly, I could set myself up with a cushion for Veronica and me.
“How is the wedding planning coming along?” I ask.
Mackenzie sighs. “Veronica’s assistant is eager, but she still has a lot to learn if she is going to make wedding planning a career.”
“I hope you aren’t making it hard for her, which then makes things harder for Veronica,” I warn.
“Oh, calm down, it’s not a big deal. Besides, you are the reason that sweet little assistant had to take on more work since Veronica took the day off.”
I roll my eyes at her, but she’s right. “Just cool it.”
“Fine, I will be nice to her when I see them both when we check out some of the venues this afternoon.” She shakes her head when she sees me opening my mouth to offer to go with her. “No, you cannot go with us. I need Veronica’s full attention. I don’t need you giving her sex eyes and distracting her.”
“Sex eyes?” I laugh.
“You know what I mean. It’s that dumb look on your face when you think you are giving a girl a sexy look, but really you just look constipated."
"I hate you," I grumble into the menu.
“It had to be done.” Mackenzie laughs.
* * *
VERONICA
I check my phone for the fifth time, looking for a text message or a voicemail from Mackenzie letting me know that she is on her way.
Usually, when I take a bride out to look at venues, I insist on us driving together for this very reason. But Mackenzie had called me earlier at the office to tell me that it would be easier if she could just meet me at the first venue. And since I'm not in any position to lose her as a client, I agreed.
“Any word from the bride?” Adam, the event planner for the venue, asks.
He and I have worked together a handful of times over the past year. I think it’s because of that professional relationship that we share that he's being so accommodating.
“Not yet, but I’m sure that she will be here any minute.”
“Want to take a seat?” he asks, pointing to the benches used in the glass chapel section of the venue.
“Sure,” I say, grateful for a break from standing in these heels all day. “Thank you for understanding. I told her how important it was to be here on time.”
Adam sits down next to me on the bench. “Don’t worry about it. I know what it’s like working with brides and grooms thinking that the world revolves around them.”
“Exactly,” I laugh. I hardly get the chance to talk with other people who deal with the same crap I have to deal with on a daily basis. "We get it, it's your big day, but for us, it's just another Saturday event we have to work."
“It’s nice to vent with someone who understands,” he says, resting his hand on my knee and squeezing gently.
I stare down at his hand in surprise before I look up, and he kisses me. I'm so stunned it takes me a moment to realize that what is happening is real and not some bad dream. I push against his chest to get him off me.
"What the hell was that?" I ask as I stand and take a few steps away from him.
“I thought,” he stares up at me in surprise.
“You thought what?”
“I thought that we were having a moment.
“We were having a conversation about our jobs. How is that at all say that I want you to kiss me?”
“I’ve wanted to kiss you for a long time, so I figured I’d take a chance.” He shrugs, like what he’s done is no big deal.
“You don’t get to kiss women just because you want to, you asshole!”
“Don’t get so emotional.”
Rage flares up inside me. I’m so tired of men thinking that they can do what they want to women and then act like we are the ones acting out of line when we call them out on their shit.
"I'm not being emotional. I'm letting you know that if you ever try something like that on a woman again, you may not enjoy her reaction when she kicks you in the balls and leaves you on the floor in the fetal position.” I turn and start to walk away, but turn around to say once more thing, “And just so you know, I will be letting everyone know what a slime ball you are. I don't think you will have to worry about another late bride since you won't be keeping this job much longer.”
“Don’t be such a bitch!” he calls after me, but I don’t look back as I push out the glass doors.
7
MILES
“Whoa, slow down,” I say into the phone when Mackenzie calls me. I barely had a chance to say hello before she started yelling something about seeing Veronica with some guy. “What are you talking about?”
“Aren’t you listening to me?” she yells. “I said that I was supposed to meet up with Veronica at a potential venue site, but when I got there, I saw her kissing some guy."
Her words send a shooting pain in my chest. It's suddenly hard to take in a deep breath. "Are you sure it was her?"
"Miles, I know what I saw. She was sitting on the bench with him in the chapel area. He put his hand on her knee, and then they kissed."
I clench my hands in a fist, and I'm surprised the phone doesn’t crack from my grip.
“Did he kiss her, or did she kiss him?”
“What does that matter?” she asks.
"It matters, Kenzie," I say, trying to hold myself together. "If he kissed her, then maybe she wasn’t a willing participant. And that means I’m going to track him down and kill him. But if she kissed him, then—” I can’t even finish saying the words.
"I don't know," Mackenzie sighs. "One minute they weren't kissing, the next, his tongue was practically down her throat."
I pull the phone away from my ear and try to take a calming breath. This isn’t the time for Mackenzie to be embellishing what she saw. I’m teetering on the edge as it is right now. I don’t need her fanning the flames of my anger.
She’s still talking when I put the phone back up to my ear.
“I left her a voicemail and told her that she was fired.”
"You can't fire her," I s
ay, feeling the need to protect Veronica still. "We don't know the full story."
“I know enough,” she snaps. “I saw it with my own eyes. I’m not about to let her break your heart and get away with it.”
“Will you stop!” I yell.
She does, but I think it has more to do with the fact that I’ve never raised my voice to her before in our lives. Mackenzie was always the mouth, and I hardly ever got a word in edgewise when she was around.
"Thank you for letting me know, but I need to go talk to Veronica. I need to hear it from her that it went down as you said."
“Are you calling me a liar?”
“No.” I run my hand over my face in frustration. “I just need to know her side of what happened.”
“Fine, go ask her. She’s just going to deny it happened.”
“Well, if she does, then that is a bridge I will have to cross when it happens.” I pause. "I know that you are doing what you think is best for me, and I love you for it. But I love her too and can’t take a chance of losing her without talking to her first.”
“Fine. Let me know what she says.”
“I will.”
* * *
VERONICA
I was in the car driving back to the office when my phone started ringing. I tossed my purse into the backseat in frustration when I got in, so I couldn’t check the voicemail until I was in the office and sitting at my desk.
"You are so unbelievable, Veronica Gardner!" Mackenzie's voice bellows out. "I saw you. I saw what you did, and I'm calling to let you know you are fired!"
I don’t hear the rest of the message after she says that I’m fired. I barely have a moment to process what just happened when the door to the shop rings out.
Tabitha has the afternoon off after she covered for me yesterday. So, I push to my feet to greet whoever has just walked in. Relief floods me when I see that it’s Miles, at least it does, until I see the angry expression on his face.
