Better Than Heaven (The Bachelor Brothers Book 1)

by Honey Holloway

  “It tickles,” she giggles before capturing my lips with hers again. This whole thing feels new to me. Sex has always been so intense and serious for me in the past. This feels impossibly sexy and crazily lighthearted all at once.

  I want to get rid of the rest of her clothes. I tug at her shorts, but she’s still straddling me. She makes a surprised noise.

  “Oh, okay...one second.”

  She hops off the bed to take off her shorts and her underwear. I shuffle out of my boxers and watch her in awe. As she stands in front of me naked, she takes my breath away. Her curved hips and thick thighs look even better without her clothes covering her up. I just want her back on top of me so we can finish what we started. I want to touch every inch of her beautiful skin. I want to make love to her. I want to show her exactly what she means to me.

  “Come back,” I tell her, reaching to grab her hips and pull her closer. She leans in to kiss me, taking my cock in her hand and beginning to stroke it up and down.

  “As you command,” she purrs.

  Willow

  My past somewhat diminished my views of sex. I always saw it as a means to an end, not an act of intimacy. But here with Oliver, it’s different. My body has come alive in ways I never expected. I want this more than I’ve ever wanted it with anyone else. I’m so turned on by it all that I don’t even feel like I need to fake how much I’m into this. And now that both of us are naked, his cock in my hand and our lips pressed together, I feel a rush inside me, knowing exactly how good this is going to be.

  We clamber back onto the bed together as I pleasure him. His hands find my breasts and he pinches my left nipple between his thumb and finger and I groan against his lips. As I’m leaning over him, he encourages me back to my position straddling him and I think for a moment that he wants to go straight to sex, but then his fingers find the wet folds between my legs and her begins to run his fingers over my sex. Then his fingers slide inside me like they were always meant to be there and I moan, allowing him to start finger fucking me as I continue to pleasure him. I find myself grinding against his hand, thrusting him deeper and taking the sensation to another level. My eyes meet his and I can see how much he’s enjoying it. As he lies back and watches me on top of him, I can tell it’s like he’s living out his own personal fantasy.

  I’m used to being a man’s fantasy. That’s what stripping is all about...showing yourself off, keeping yourself just out of reach as they marvel at your body, craving your assets as you show them what they can’t touch. But I don’t want to be that to Oliver. I don’t want to be his fantasy. I want to be his reality.

  “Come closer,” he groans as his fingers delve deep inside me. I lean over to kiss his lips, still working his cock.

  “Close enough?” I murmur. He shakes his head.

  “Not even close.”

  I know exactly what he means. He’s done waiting. The foreplay is fun, but we both know what we’re really craving. Normally we might take this part slow and enjoy it, but it feels like I’ve been waiting a lifetime to have him inside me. Now, we don’t want to wait any longer.

  I find a condom inside my dresser and slide it on over his cock. Then I pull him back up into a sitting position and move myself over his member like before. I want to feel close to him as we do this. As I sink myself down onto him, I moan in pleasure. It’s been a while since I did this last, but as I begin to ride him, gripping him hard and holding him close to me, I know this won’t be like other times. As we move together, I close my eyes and savour it. His lips press to my neck, peppering my skin in tender kisses. It’s both hot as hell and sweet as sugar. His hands clasp my butt and he tilts his head back so that he can look into my eyes. We kiss as we amp up the heat, our bodies finding a new rhythm that’s faster, more intense, wilder somehow. I’m a little breathless. This kind of pace is new to me, but I guess I always lacked passion before. With each movement, he goes deeper inside me and it feels so good that I cry out and an orgasm hits me like a tidal wave. I feel dizzy with pleasure and I shudder, breathing hard as I ride it out, savouring every second of it.

  But he’s far from done with me. He grabs me by my waist and switches the dominance to himself as he tips me off him and lays me on my back. He slides out of me for a moment, but he’s back within moments, pulling my legs up around his waist as he enters me again. He thrusts deep inside me and even faster as I’m still trembling from my first orgasm. I lock him in with my legs and he moves his hands up to touch my breasts. We’re looking into one another’s eyes as he fucks me. I can see that he’s getting more confident, loving the look of lust that’s written all over my face. He’s good and he knows it. I guess he’s had the practise, but that doesn’t matter. He chose to be here with me now. Our past doesn’t matter anymore. Tonight has taught me that more than anything.

  Our bodies are one. We’re pressed close together and his hands entwine with mine as he continues to go deep inside me. I lean in, desperate to kiss him. Somehow, kissing him is the most intimate act of all. With his mouth on mine, his lips soft yet insistent, I feel closer to him than I’ve felt to anyone in a very long time.

  “You look beautiful, Willow,” he murmurs against my lips. My breath catches in my throat. I’ve never been called beautiful before. It’s not that I’ve never felt attractive, or that no one has ever appreciated me...but beautiful has never been a word used to describe me. It catches me off guard and tightens my throat. He senses the shift in mood and his movements inside me become slower, more gentle, more loving. He cups my face in his hands and we watch one another for a few moments, our eyes flickering over each other’s features. He kisses my neck slowly and gently, his mouth moving to kiss my collarbone.

  “So beautiful,” he murmurs. I have to hold back tears. I’ve never felt so special. I know that my worth isn’t based on my looks, and I don’t need a man to feel good about myself. But his softly spoken words and the gentle way he’s changed the course of the sex has made me feel so seen. He’s responsive to my feelings. He understands me without me having to say a word. I wrap my arms around his neck and his arms wrap around me. I close my eyes and feel the magic.

  This time, the climb to my orgasm is gradual and slow, but it’s also tender and my entire body feels sensitive and responsive to his touch. There are gentle caresses of our hands, eye contact that lingers, kisses that give me butterflies in my stomach. I feel like I’ve run through every emotion since the sex began, but it’s always a rollercoaster ride with Oliver. Maybe it always will be. But if it feels this good then who am I to complain?

  I feel myself crashing into my second orgasm just as Oliver grunts and finishes too, collapsing against me. Still inside me, he kisses me, his hands gripping me like he doesn’t want to let me go. He doesn’t want this to be over, and neither do I. But now that we have one another, we don’t need to worry that this is the last time. We can have this whenever we want.

  He kisses my forehead gently as he slides out of me. “I’ll be back...just got to clean up.”

  I nod, suddenly a little nervous. But when he smiles and kisses my lips, I forget to be scared. For once, I’ve got something good in my life, and the thought of him slipping away is a hard one to deal with. But he’s not going anywhere. He promised me, and I believe him.

  At least, I want to.

  Chapter Twelve

  Oliver

  There’s a new found peace inside me today as I walk to university. It’s been two days since I saw Willow, but we’ve been texting back and forth this whole time. Things are easy between us now, like we’ve been best friends for years. I don’t feel any pressure to see her every second of every day, though I wouldn’t turn down a single second with her if she had more time. I’m trying to play it cool because I don’t want to rush this and ruin it before it’s even started, but the truth is, I’m in pretty deep at this point.

  I’ve been tossing the idea around in my head of another study session so that we can hang out while she works. It’s not a dream
date, but if that’s all she has time for then I’ll happily take it.

  But I have this excitement in me, like I want to take her everywhere with me. I have this urge to take her on fancy dates to nice restaurants, to go mini-golfing with her, to snuggle in cinemas with her, to dance all night with her beside me in my favorite clubs. I want to take her on city breaks and explore new places together, then show her all my comforting, familiar places around town. All the things that Violet was trying to encourage me to do with her...and I want to do them with another woman.

  Knowing I’ll have to face her today is hard. I know how much I’ve hurt her and it’ll hurt even more when I opt to sit with Willow in the lecture hall today. I don’t know if our friendship can recover from this anymore. I’m angry with her too for trying to sabotage my relationship with Willow, but I guess that’s my fault in the first place. People make mistakes that they can’t go back on, and this was mine. Now I have to deal with the consequences.

  But I can’t help feeling like it was worth it for Willow. I have ten minutes until class, and I know she’s finishing up a shift at the coffee shop beforehand, so I decide to drop by. Seeing her standing behind the counter in her apron, I feel a smile forming on my face. She looks up and smiles at me, looking slightly shy as she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.

  “Hey. Coffee?” she asks. I smile.

  “Nah. Just wanted to come and say hello,” I say. I slip a fiver out of my pocket and into the tips jar. “And say that I had absolutely awesome service today.”

  She rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling. “I know I told you the tips are bad here, but you don’t need to make up for shitty customers.”

  I lean across the counter with a smile, waggling my eyebrows at her. “Oh, I’m not giving that up for free. I expect a kiss.”

  She flicks a packet of sugar at me in response and I laugh, backing off. “Alright, alright, I hear you. No PDA. But hey...I’m saving you a seat in class.”

  Her eyes soften. “You don’t have to sit with me, Oliver. You’ve got your own friends...and maybe you should be trying to patch things up with Violet.”

  “After class. This is the only chance I’ll get to see you today...I’m not wasting it.”

  Her cheeks are red. From what she’s told me she’s never had a steady guy before. We haven’t discussed what we are yet, but I’m working up to asking her to be my girlfriend. Maybe it’s premature, but this feels right, and I want her to know I’m serious. It’s been years since I felt this good, and that’s all down to her.

  “Okay...save me a seat. I won’t be long,” she says. Before she can stop me, I lean right over the counter and peck her cheek before rushing away.

  “You’ll pay for that!” she shouts after me, but I know she’s laughing. My cheeks hurt from grinning. This is how it should be. This is what I’ve been waiting for.

  My phone buzzes in my pocket and I take it out with a smile. It’s Tammy.

  Still on cloud nine?

  I’m higher than the clouds, I text back. I’m in heaven. Nah, scrap that. Somewhere better than heaven.

  Damn. Throw me a rope ladder? I’m still stuck in hell.

  Can’t, it’ll go up in flames.

  You’re the worst brother ever.

  I head downstairs to my lecture hall, still smiling to myself. Nothing can touch me today, I’m sure of it. Not even Violet if she’s got an attitude. Not even my other friends, who no doubt have heard about me and Willow and have taken Violet’s side since I haven’t heard from them in days. Not even the thought that I spent three years building connections here and now I have none can bring me down.

  The lecturer hasn’t shown up yet, but most of my friends are crowded in the lecture hall, looking at something on class clown, Hugo’s, phone. They’re all laughing raucously as though it’s the funniest thing on Earth. I have to admit I’m curious what they’re looking at. I approach tentatively. These are still supposed to be my friends, after all.

  “What are you looking at?” I ask, shifting my bag on my shoulder awkwardly. Hugo splutters with laughter, setting the others off. I start to get this intense feeling of discomfort and I almost wish I hadn’t asked. I’ve got a bad feeling about this.

  “Check it out. Your new girlfriend is the talk of the town,” Hugo grins, showing me his phone. My heart stops.

  The picture of Willow from the strip club is on his phone. I shake my head, willing the image to go away. Not because it matters what her job used to be, but because now that other people know about this, everything is going to change for Willow. This shouldn’t be public knowledge unless she wants it to be. How the hell did this get out? I know Rob and whoever was on his birthday night out saw these pictures, but they’d have no reason to share them around so callously. So who?

  I look at Violet and know immediately that something is amiss. She’s not laughing with the others. She won’t look in my direction. This has to be her doing. Her way of getting back at me. I feel my heart sinking to my stomach. I never thought my best friend would stoop this low. I guess this whole time I’ve been pretty oblivious to her true colours. Was it not enough for her to try and break me and Willow apart, to torture me with the knowledge that Willow was keeping things from me? Did she really have to dig deeper for satisfaction?

  “Stop looking at those pictures,” I snap. “She’s going to be here soon.”

  Hugo tuts, rolling his eyes. “Chill out, Oliver. We don’t want to look at pictures of your girlfriend half naked. Damn, who does? Really thought you had better taste, man.”

  I have to hold myself off from attacking him. If I get in a fight right now, I’ll get into trouble and the university will get involved. They’ll want to know why I beat that asshole senseless and I’ll have to expose Willow’s secret even more. I’m ending this here.

  “Delete it. Right now.”

  Hugo cocks his head at me. “I can’t delete it, man. It’s on the internet for everyone to see. It’s a free country...anyone can look at it. Does that make you uncomfortable?”

  I could punch him. Hugo has always walked the line between being entertaining and being an asshole. I watch as he snakes his arm around Violet’s waist and I grit my teeth. Now I see why he’s got it out for me. He’s Violet’s rebound and he knows it. This shit is more personal than I thought. I have to switch tactics. I hold out my hand for the phone.

  “Please, Hugo. Stop this now. I’ll do whatever you want.”

  No one is laughing now, but Hugo is still smirking. I guess no one expected the joke to go this far.

  “Nah. I don’t think I’ve had my fun with this yet. Hey look...here she comes now.”

  I feel sick as I turn to see Willow walking toward the door through its clear glass window. She’s smiling, a spring in her step. I turn back to Hugo.

  “Don’t you fucking dare…”

  The door opens and the room is silent. I turn and see Willow’s face turn from happiness to confusion and nervousness. Hugo leaps to his feet, ready to launch his next attack.

  “Give us a dance then, Willow,” Hugo bolsters, miming dancing on a pole graphically. Willow’s mouth falls open as a few people chuckle quietly, simultaneously mildly amused and wholly uncomfortable. They’re so concerned about protecting their status in the group that they refuse not to laugh at the cheap shot.

  But Willow stumbles back like she’s been shot in the stomach. I feel the blow as she does; the anxiety, the shock, the unfairness of it all. She thought it was behind her and now everyone knows about her past.

  Her eyes fall on me.

  Anger fills her eyes. She thinks I did this. My mouth falls open, but I can’t find any words to say. I’m glued to the ground, unable to move. I watch as she shakes her head to herself and exits the way she just came, rushing toward the stairs.

  No one is laughing now. I finally manage to move, turning to the group of silent onlookers.

  “I hope you’re fucking happy with where your cheap joke got you,” I spit at Hugo.
My eyes find Violet and I want to tell her how angry she’s made me, but the words stick in my throat like they’re coated in tar. I choke on my own anger. I don’t have time for it. They don’t matter. These bastards don’t matter at all. I have to find Willow and make sure she’s okay.

  I run from the lecture hall, barrelling past my tutor as I make for the stairs. He calls after me, but I’m gone in a flash. I don’t care about missing class right now. I just want to make this right. But when I get to the top of the stairs and scout the area, she’s already gone.

  Willow

  I don’t want to talk to anyone. I especially don’t want to talk to Oliver. I don’t know if he told a friend about the website or whether one of his friends leaked it, but he was there with them. Maybe he had a part in it, I don’t know. But I’ll never live this down now. The rumours about me will spread like wildfire. A guy like Hugo...people might not like him much, but they listen to him. Who cares about my story when he can make one of his own up for me?

  I bury my face into my pillow the second I arrive back at my flat and scream into it. I thought I was finally getting somewhere. I thought maybe I might be able to make some friends, have a nice guy to spend time with in my final year of uni and focus on being a young woman for a while. But who is going to take me seriously now? Everyone has this new perception of me that I won’t be able to shake. With the brand of a stripper comes so many assumptions about my personality; slut, sex-obsessed, kinky, unfaithful, promiscous, damged, broken little Willow. And yet at the same time I’m untouchable, bulletproof, hardened on the inside. Because don’t strippers learn somewhere just to let the shots fired at them ricochet off their thickened skin? Don’t they learn how to swallow tears and become money hoarding bitches who use their job to make men seem weak and feeble?

  I know every stereotype of strippers. I’ve faced them all from my old customers. They never quite saw me as a real human being. When Hugo looked at me today, I saw exactly what he thought of me. He saw me as beneath him, but he also saw a woman who’d climb on top of him. He made the assumption that I’m begging for it, that my profession was a way to fulfill some gaping hole inside me, some hidden, dirty desire to make my life all about sex. And even if that were the case, which it isn’t, why should that be his damn business? Why should he get to look at me like I’m nothing more than a sexual object and then claim that I’m the one who is sex obsessed?