by JA Low
“You’re right. I forgot how they can be.” He groans. “Maybe we should meet them at the restaurant instead.” He pulls out his phone and starts scrolling. “Oh, for fucks sake.” He turns the camera to me, and I see Audrey’s feed and it’s filled with images of the girls in various poses. I can’t look as closely as I want to because it’s Rhys holding the phone, but I think I might go back later tonight as there was a certain underwear shot that caught my eye. “They are going to take forever.” He pulls the phone back to him. Next thing he is running up the stairs, his footsteps echoing through the townhouse. There’s some mumbled talking then he’s stomping back down the stairs. “They will be out in five,” he grumbles.
“How about we grab a beer while we wait?” I ask him. He nods his head but before we get a chance to grab one, the click clack of heels echoes down the hallway and one by one, we watch long, tanned limbs walk down the stairs. The girls look beautiful, all dressed as if they are strutting a catwalk.
“What the hell are you wearing?” Rhys almost has a heart attack once he sees Audrey descend down the stairs. I think I’m having a heart attack over what Audrey is wearing too. I’ve never seen her dressed so provocatively before. She always looks beautiful, elegant, and classy, and that’s not to say she doesn’t look sexy but it’s in a more classic way. Tonight, she’s wearing a black sheer lace dress that dips low, exposing her voluptuous cleavage. The dress falls at high thigh barely covering her ass.
“A dress,” she answers sarcastically.
“Where is the rest of it?” Rhys asks.
“This is it, Dad,” Audrey jokes.
“You can’t wear that out.” Rhys’ voice raises as he looks over at me for support. I hold my hands up in the air, not my monkeys, not my circus. I want no involvement in this because it is going to end badly for Rhys or me.
“Um, yes I can,” Audrey states placing her hands on her hips.
“It’s her revenge outfit,” Rainn pipes in. “This is her first outing since breaking up with David.”
“We are in the slut phase of a breakup,” Nell explains a hell of a lot less eloquently.
“This is a slut free zone,” Rhys argues back, glaring at Audrey.
“Audrey wants to show the world that David didn’t break her,” Rainn explains softly to Rhys. He frowns and his face relents, but the tension is still there.
“Show him he made the wrong choice with Bora Bora Barbie,” Nell adds. I try and hide the laugh that bubbles to the surface over Nell’s nickname for Dior. I get it, show the douche what he’s missing. What he gave up when he messed around with her best friend. The court of public opinion are going to take one look at her in this dress and all eyes are going to be on David and what an idiot he was to let her go. And I guess there is power in that for Audrey. Even if I don’t like the fact that I know every breathing male in her radius is going to be hitting on her.
“Can’t she do it with a little more fabric?” Rhys asks.
“No,” Nell and Rainn answers together.
“I think you lost this one,” I whisper to my best friend who needs to quit while he’s ahead as he’s never going to win this argument.
“Okay, are we ready? You’re so grumpy when you’re hangry,” Audrey tells her brother.
“Yes. Come on then let’s go,” Rhys grumbles as he turns on his heel and walks out of his townhouse toward the waiting limousine. Nell and Rainn walk off ahead of Audrey, giggling about something.
“After you.” I hold out my hand as Audrey passes, before pulling the door to the townhouse shut.
“Is it too much, the dress?” Audrey turns and asks me, and I can see the uncertainty on her face as she seeks my opinion.
“I think you look good,” I say, staring at her, taking her all in. Her blonde hair is pulled up in a high ponytail, her skin is glowing with some kind of vanilla scented body glitter lathered all over her body. Then there’s those red lips, a weakness of mine. All I can picture when I see her pouty red lips is what they would look like wrapped around my dick. Shit.
“Just good?” she questions me not looking happy with my answer.
Leaning in I whisper into her ear. “I think you look sensational,” I tell her, letting myself be honest for a small moment. She turns and looks at me, I’m not sure what she is thinking, but I can see the wheels turning. Then she raises a brow at me.
“Coming from you, that means a lot.” Audrey gives me a grin.
“David’s going to rue the day that he ever let you go,” I tell her as I shut the townhouses door with a thud.
Dinner was nice. It was great catching up with my brother again who joined us with some of his polo playing friends. Rhys and I ended up leaving the girls with Remi, which I wasn’t too happy about, and came home so they could go out to an influencer party. It would look rather strange if suddenly, I decide to ditch work to go out with the girls. No matter how much I want to keep an eye on Audrey, I can’t because of Rhys. She’s in major revenge mode and her girlfriends are most certainly not saying no to her exploring her options. And I know men, they are going to smell fresh meat.
Why do I care?
That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it? I’m not sure when things changed, and I started to see Audrey in a very different light. It’s not that I have never not found her attractive, because she’s a stunning woman. I know she brought up her eighteenth birthday the other day, but little does she know that she’s not the only one that thinks about that night. She looked so beautiful in her red dress on her eighteenth birthday, sexy, elegant, and grown up. Then that asshole put his hands on her and all I wanted to do was beat him to a pulp. Fortunately, Rhys got there first. Then when we arrived back at her home, she confesses that all she wanted for her birthday was a kiss and it took me aback. I had no idea she liked me like that. Yes, Rhys teased her about her childhood crush on me but the older she got the more she became indifferent to me. It kills me that my hesitation on her birthday hurt her. That I might have inflicted some damage to her brand-new heart. But it was the right thing to have done, not kiss her that night. I was enjoying the trappings of making my own millions, as was Rhys, we were bachelors in the city enjoying everything it threw at us and that didn’t include my best friend’s little sister.
Doesn’t mean it’s time now either.
This is very true. It feels like something triggered in me with regards to her breakup this time. I’ve been around for plenty of them before. Not sure why this one is hitting me differently.
You’re just protective of her because Rhys isn’t here.
Maybe that’s it. Rhys left and that sort of threw everything into chaos, changed the dynamics. I’ve stepped into the role of protective figure that Rhys has left but because we aren’t family maybe I’m mixing up the brotherly instincts with something more. I mean I only have brothers not sisters, so I don’t know what I am supposed to be doing when it comes to them.
Or maybe I need to get laid. It’s been a while, so that’s probably messing with my mind too.
I toss and turn in my bed unable to get comfortable. I punch my pillow a couple of times trying to get my frustration out but nothing’s working. I’m testy. Maybe I need a quick rub out and then I’ll be able to fall asleep. I kick my covers off of me and slide the elastic of my pajama pants down exposing myself. I spit into my hand and run it along my shaft, feeling my dick tighten as the blood rushes along it. My mind wanders to Audrey and the indecent dress she’s wearing tonight. I let myself feel free to imagine bending her over the couch in that skimpy outfit. Lifting up the tiniest of hems on her dress and sliding her panties to the side before sinking deep inside of her. I think about wrapping my hand around her blonde locks and anchoring her to me as I piston in and out of her. Tiny mews and moans fall from her pouty lips as she takes me deeply. She’ll be begging me to help her come and I will only be to gladly to.
“Stirling.” My name falls from her lips, just like that.
Wait, that wasn’t in my h
ead. My eyes fly open as I notice an outline standing by the door.
Shit.
My hand releases my dick and I pull up my pants.
“Audrey, what the hell?” My voice is raw and angry. What the hell is she doing in my bedroom at this time.
“I … I…” she’s lost for words as her eyes stay glued to the tenting in my pants.
Questioning her through gritted teeth, I say, “I’ll ask you again. What the hell are you doing in my room?”
“I don’t know,” Audrey answers still mesmerized by my dick. “I just…” then her eyes meet mine and her cheeks turn bright red as the gravity of the situation hits her. “Sorry,” she mumbles before turning on her heel and rushing out the door.
Shit.
10
Audrey
Oh my God!
I don’t know what I was expecting when I decided to walk into Stirling’s room. I don’t even know why I was there. I think it may have been the copious amounts of champagne or the pompous assholes we met at the party that pushed me toward Stirling’s room when I came home. I couldn’t stop thinking about the tiny touches here and there between us. Then whispers of forbidden words that run in a loop around my head.
Did you think you would walk into his room, and he was going to take you then and there?
Maybe.
Kind of.
Hopefully.
What I wasn’t expecting was to see Stirling with his dick out. And what a glorious dick it is. Stirling’s body was tensed to perfection as he roughly took himself. I watched as he grunted and groaned each time his hand slid down his length. It was the hottest thing I had ever seen. Stirling jerking off is my kind of porn. Rhys would kill Stirling if he knew about what I had stepped into.
“Audrey.” Stirling strides into my bedroom and closes the door behind him. The normally pulled together Stirling Hartford is now a tense mess. “What you just saw…” he starts.
“No.” Waving my hand in his direction. “That was my fault. I should have knocked.” This is awkward because I can’t unsee what I saw. My eyes subconsciously drift down to his crotch.
What the hell, do you think you are doing, Audrey?
“Why did you visit my room tonight?” Stirling asks angrily through gritted teeth.
That’s the million-dollar question isn’t it. I don’t know what pushed me to go seek him out tonight.
“I don’t know.” I tell him honestly. My mind is trying to process a lot at the moment. I’m not sure if I’m making smart decisions.
“Yes, you do,” he pushes as he stalks closer to me. He’s dressed in navy pajama pants that hang low on his hips, exposing those V lines that make grown women weak. His chest is bare, every muscle ripples as he moves slowly toward me. I think I’m in over my head. I realize now that I’ve been dealing with boys and Stirling is a man. “Were you hoping to catch a glimpse of something you shouldn’t have?” A knowing smirk falls across his face.
“Um… no.” Embarrassment rushes over my skin at his question. My cheeks heat up as images of his hand sliding over him filters through my mind.
“Did you not like watching me tonight?” Stirling’s voice drops low which sends a shiver over my body. Who is this man? Why has he never shown me this side before.
I’m stumbling over my words. “I … I…” What am I supposed to say to that?
“I’m going to ask you again, Audrey. Why did you visit my room tonight?” Stirling’s green eyes flare with heat as he asks me again.
“I don’t know. I like being near you,” I tell him. My honesty takes him aback. “You make me feel protected.” Stirling’s eyes widen and I can see the wheels turning inside his mind. He must gather whatever is in his mind as he takes the last couple of steps toward me until we are almost chest to chest.
“I like being near you too.” Stirling’s confession makes my body feel warm and giddy. Then he reaches out and cups my face. “I shouldn’t be doing this,” he says, as his hand falls from my face. “I shouldn’t keep touching you like this.” It’s as if he is telling himself that more than me.
“We aren’t doing anything wrong,” I tell him.
“Yet.” Stirling states clearly which has my knees feeling weak. “I drew a line between us years ago and I’ve never dared try to cross it…” then Stirling looks up at me and then smiles, “until now.” Wow. Okay. As my body breaks out in goosebumps. “Your brother would kill me if he found out that you slept in my bed.”
“He doesn’t need to know about that,” I tell him.
“He definitely doesn’t need to know about that. He especially doesn’t need to know how my dick became hard pressed up against your peachy ass.” My heart almost leaps out of my chest at Stirling’s words. Eighteen-year-old me is hyperventilating inside. Am I dreaming? Because there is no way in hell Stirling is talking to me like this, in my brother’s home.
“Did it?” My mouth feels dry as I squeak out the question. Stirling nods his head as his eyes fall to my lips. Subconsciously my tongue licks my lips wetting them. An indecent growl falls from Stirling’s lips over the gesture. The sound vibrated all the way to my lady bits.
“Why the hell are you tempting me so much?” he muses as his eyes falls over my body, taking in my dress from tonight. I thought I could pretend I didn’t know which room was mine. And then he would invite me for some late night snuggles.
Biting my bottom lip, I say, “I could say the same thing to you.”
“Your brother would definitely kill me right now if he knew I was in your room alone, in the middle of the night and …” he shakes his head cutting himself off with whatever he was about to say.
“And what?” I ask him.
“I can’t, Aud.” Stirling looks pained as if the spell is slowly disappearing between us.
“You can’t what?” I push him.
Those green eyes flash with desire, heat and want and in this moment everything else falls by the wayside.
“Good night, Audrey.” Stirling turns his back to me and walks out of my bedroom without a second glance. The sound of my door closing echoes through my quiet room.
What the hell just happened?
I collapse onto the edge of my bed and stare at the bedroom door hoping that Stirling changes his mind and comes back into my room and claims me in the way that I want him too.
But he doesn’t.
I don’t know how long I sit there for but the next thing I know it’s morning.
I groan as I realize how early it is and I’m still in the dress that I wore last night. My eyes sting as last night’s makeup is still on. I throw the blanket off of me and jump out of bed. I make my way into the bathroom and freshen up then jump into the shower. The hot water flows over me washing away last night’s sins. Maybe Stirling’s right. There may be an attraction between us, but Rhys would never allow it. There’s too much for Stirling to lose if we give in. The moment may feel right but once the sexual fog clears there would be regret. I can’t do that to Stirling. It’s not even like we would ever have a future together anyway. I mean, that man could have anyone he wants. I don’t think it’s the little sister of his best friend and business partner is who he is looking for. We can be friends. Flirty friends even. That’s all. That’s all we can ever be.
I jump out of the shower feeling better than I did jumping in. I get ready for the day and head on downstairs to grab something to eat. When I walk into the kitchen, I’m stopped by the image of a sweaty Stirling in nothing but tight black shorts and a sweat stained wet T-shirt, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge.
Seriously universe?
This isn’t fair. He stills for the tiniest of moments when he sees me before pulling himself together.
“Morning,” he greets me warmly.
Play it cool Audrey. It’s Stirling, your brother’s best friend. The same guy that used to flick your pig tails and steal your candy.
“Morning.” There’s a light, breezy, non-awkward tone to my greeting. I’m not bo
thered by all the dirty words you said to me last night. “How was your run?” You’re doing good, Audrey. Stay the course.
“Just what I needed to clear my head,” he states. Why does his head need clearing? Have I made it foggy? No. It’s probably work. He’s a workaholic like my brother. It’s not always about you, Audrey.
“Hope it became clearer for you.” I say, as I move around the kitchen and grab myself a well-deserved coffee. “Because I interrupted last night’s stress relief?” Stirling chokes as he takes a big gulp at the wrong moment.
“You did,” he splutters through his words. “You should join me next time.”
What did he say? Stirling must see the shock written on my face before he realizes what he’s said.
“Shit, I mean you should join me running tomorrow, not you know.” He waves his hand nervously in the air which makes me giggle.
“Maybe I should,” I answer, raising a brow in his direction as I press the button on the coffee machine.
“Right. Tomorrow then,” he agrees awkwardly.
“You’re on,” I say, giving him a double thumbs up. Yeah. That was over kill Audrey. My action makes him laugh.
“So, we’re all good after last night?” Stirling broaches the taboo subject.
“Of course. It was my fault. I had too much to drink and walked into the wrong room.” Lies. All lies but I think we are both okay with them.
“Right.” He points in my direction. “Well, I need a shower. I stink.” He doesn’t. He smells like raw man and that has my body tingling all over on a primal level. Maybe coming to London was a mistake, it’s made my brain malfunction; I think I need to go back over the dateline and make it turn back time and go back to normal.
11
Stirling
“Morning.” I greet Audrey cheerily she grumbles something incoherent. “You ready to clear that head?” I start jogging on the spot.
“Are you seriously this annoying every morning?” she asks while glaring at me.
