by Lila Cole
“I had a friend like January in my life once, too.”
“What happened to her?”
He looks over at his wife and smiles. “I married her.”
I find January sitting in the hallway across from the door to my penthouse. She’s sitting there with her gorgeous face in her hands, the hem of the dress she was so proud of skimming the floor.
“Jan,” I say, calling to her. It’s only been three minutes, tops, since the whole thing went down, but she’s in some kind of a daze. She looks up at me, regret filling her eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she says, standing up and nervously running her hands across her waist. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to ruin anything with the Shaws.”
I tug on her hand and pull her into a tight hug. I press a soft kiss against the crown of her head. “You didn’t ruin anything. You could never ruin anything. You only make my life better,” I tell her, because it’s the truth.
“But tonight was so important, and—”
“And I got the contract. So don’t feel bad about a single thing, okay?”
“You got the contract?” she asks. That news brings back some of the brightness to her face.
“I did. And I kicked Victoria out.”
“Damn it,” she sighs, looking down at the ground.
“What? Should I not have—”
“Oh, you definitely should have,” she answers, giggling. “I just wish I had been there to see it.”
“I can arrange a repeat if you’d like?”
She laughs. “No, that’s okay. I’ll just have to spend lots of time imagining it.”
I take her hand and lead her toward the door.
“Wait, where are we going? You have to go back to your party?”
I shake my head. “I’m right where I need to be. This is more important.” I caress her cheek, cupping it in my palm. “You’re the most important thing to me.”
She blushes, and I can’t wait to get her out of that dress and see how much I can make her blush in other places.
“Why? Why am I the most important thing to you?”
I let out this small huff of a laugh. “Because I’m in love with you. I’ve been trying to be respectful of your wishes to focus on your education and I don’t want to pressure you, but I love you. I want you. I’m tired of hiding it.”
“I didn’t want any distractions, but…you don’t distract me,” she says, bringing the tips of her fingers up to brush along my jawline. “You make me better.”
What a fucking relief. “I’m your biggest fan. I’ll do whatever it takes to help you succeed. Move in here with me. I’ll turn one of the spare bedrooms into an office for you so you’ll have a quiet place to study. I’ll make sure you eat, make sure you sleep…” I pull her closer, till her breasts are pressed against my chest. “I’ll make sure you relax and have some fun.”
She laughs. “I bet you will. I’ve thought about it a lot.”
“Thought about what?”
“All the ways we could have fun.”
I smile and brush my lips against hers, kissing her sweet mouth. She clings to me when I deepen the kiss, and we get lost in each other for minutes or hours. I lose track of time. My cock is hard and ready, aching for her.
“I’m in love with you,” she whispers. “But I don’t think I could afford half the rent on this place.”
I laugh as I pick her up and carry her inside. “I think we can work something out.”
7
Josh
We kiss our way through the foyer and into the living room. I press her against every wall to get my hands all over her body, to give me leverage to taste every inch of her perfect mouth.
When we pull apart, Jan’s gorgeous lips are swollen and she’s panting. Each breath pushes her breasts against me, and I’m about to lose my damned mind.
“Do you know how long I’ve wanted to kiss you?” I ask.
She shakes her head.
“Since that day we met up on the quad at school. You were wearing that A-Team shirt and I thought you were the cutest thing I’d ever seen. You seemed so much younger than me then, it felt wrong wanting you. Now, it feels like the only thing right in this world.”
She wraps her hand around my tie and pulls me down into another kiss.
“You can kiss me whenever you want to now,” she says, punctuating the sentence with a cute, giddy giggle.
“Remember when you fell asleep on the couch a few weeks ago?”
She looks deep into my eyes, then gives me a slow nod. “Yeah.”
“You fell asleep with your head on my shoulder, and this place has never felt more like a home to me. I wanted to kiss you awake and tell you how I felt about you.”
Her lids are heavy with desire, her breaths hitched and needy. “What else did you want to do?”
I glide my hand up her side and cup her ample breast in my hand. So full, so perfect. I can feel the perfect little peak of her nipple against my palm.
“I wanted to lick you, taste you, make you come with my mouth and then with my cock. I wanted you to ride me, right here on this couch, and after you came the first time, I’d take you back to the bedroom and go slow, tortuously slow, until I’d forget where I ended and you began.”
She hooks her arm around the back of my neck. “Josh,” she whines, needy.
“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about making love to you ever since.”
Her hand runs along the length of my rigid cock, which is confined by my pants that are growing tighter by the second. “Yeah, I can tell,” she says with this breathy laugh that makes me lose control.
She links her fingers through mine and guides me over to the couch, where she sits down in front of me. I watch her through half-lidded eyes as she unbuckles my pants. I throw off my jacket, loosen my tie and toss it to the side, then do the same with my shirt. I want nothing more than skin on skin with Jan, to feel every inch of her body against mine.
Her cheeks are flushed and her mouth is open, breathing quick, short breaths. But her hands? They’re steady as rocks. She knows what she wants and she’s gonna take it.
I reach over and pull out the bobby pins holding her hair up, then watch her hair tumble over her shoulders. It’s wild, sexy. I want it to tickle my skin when she rides my cock.
She pushes my pants and my boxer briefs down and my erection springs free. She must know I’m aching for her, because she doesn’t tease me, she just reaches over and strokes me with her hot little hand, gliding her thumb along the precum dripping down the tip. She rubs that spot on the underside of the head that makes my whole world spin.
I hold my head back and let out this strangled, throaty noise I’ve never made before. She takes me into her mouth, all warm and wet, and I make that noise again. She works me with her hand and her talented tongue, taking me deep as she learns all my favorite spots. I run my fingers through her hair to guide her gently, not wanting to get too rough with her.
It takes every ounce of self control I have not to thrust into her, and I manage until she reaches up and tweaks her nipple through her dress as she sucks me off. Watching her touch herself with my cock in her mouth nearly makes me come on the spot.
I pull out and kiss her with everything I have, tasting her fully. Then I guide her up on her feet and turn her around so I can take that damned dress off of her. It’s perfect, but for now its place is on the floor. As I’m dealing with the buttons at the collar and working the zipper down, I step out of my shoes and toe out of my socks and kick what was left of my clothes to the side.
As I slide her zipper down her back, I kiss every inch of skin as it’s exposed, then watch as her dress falls down her hips and onto the floor. I carefully move it to the side, not wanting it to get ripped in my desire for her. She’s definitely going to be wearing that again.
She turns around and I peel off the strapless bra she’s wearing, exposing her perfect tits. Her nipples are a dusty pink and are just begging for my mouth. I urge her to sit
down and fall to my knees in front of her, taking my time licking and sucking and teasing her nipples into taut nubs.
“Spread your legs, beautiful,” I say, guiding her ankles up so she’s perfectly open for me. “I want to taste your sweet pussy.”
She melts back into the couch, doing as I ask. She’s gorgeous like this, all naked and wanting. Dripping wet for me.
I tease her with my tongue a few times, licking along one side of her swollen clit and then the other. Jan hisses as she grips my hair through her fingers, holding my face close to her like she’s scared I’m gonna stop.
Fat fucking chance.
I glide the flat of my tongue along her wet slit, then suck on her clit. She bucks her hips against me, and I grin. I’m planning on taking her to the edge and back until she’s begging for me. So that’s what I do. I hold her hips down and eat her out like a starving man. I ease off whenever she starts to tense up, ready to come. Her hair is spread out on the cushions, and she alternates between dropping her head back with pleasure, and watching me with desire in her eyes.
“Josh,” she pleads. “Please, please, I need…”
She can’t articulate what she wants, but I know. I’ve teased her enough. I fuck her with my fingers as I lick and suck her until she’s coming hard against my mouth. I can’t get enough of her smell, her taste. I lap her up as I glide my hands across the insides of her thighs, working her through the pleasure.
She pulls me up and kisses me. “You’re amazing, I feel amazing.”
I sit down on the couch and pull her over to me until she’s straddling my lap. My hard, aching cock is trapped between us, rubbing against the wet heat of her pussy. I want to thrust deep, to lose myself in her.
“I should get a condom,” I say, cursing myself for not thinking of that sooner. The last thing I need to do is get her pregnant right now. Even though that’s a thought that makes me impossibly harder, her stomach swollen with our baby.
Later, after. When she’s graduated.
She gives me this wicked smile. “I’m on the pill. I trust you.”
8
January
I run my fingers along the side of Josh’s face, just taking some time to caress his cheek and live in the moment. I’ve dreamed about this for so long, I want to fully enjoy it now that it’s happening. Josh loves me, he wants me. The room is dim and the moonlight shines in through the windows, illuminating his gorgeous face.
Despite the way it started out, tonight is turning out to be perfect.
I move my hand down to Josh’s chest, wanting to feel the muscles I’ve fantasized about for so long. I kiss the trail that my hand leaves behind, getting to know Josh inch by inch until he cups my face and smiles.
He kisses me, breathes me in. “I’m so in love with you.”
The words make me giddy. I’ll never get tired of hearing them. “I’m so in love with you.”
He kisses a path across my breasts, then takes one of my nipples into his mouth again, teasing it with his teeth. After a much-needed moment of sweetness, I’m all ramped up again, especially with the way the tip of his cock keeps bumping up against my clit. It sends this pleasant shock through me every time; I’m still so sensitive from my last orgasm.
But I’m tired of waiting and I can tell by the tight, corded muscles in Josh’s neck that he’s tired of waiting too.
I reach between my legs and guide his cock inside of me, letting my eyes flutter shut as I sink down onto him. He feels so perfect, he stretches me so good. I collapse forward, bringing my forehead to rest against his, needing a moment to breathe.
When I pull back, I get lost in his eyes before I roll my hips once, just to see if I’m ready.
Josh’s head drops back, and I get drunk on the sight of the pleasure that I’m making him feel.
“Fuck, you feel good,” he says, palming my breasts.
I lean forward and kiss his lips. “You feel amazing.”
He plants his big, strong hands on my hips and starts guiding me as I ride him. I rock back and forth, then he moves me in the perfect circuit that glides my clit along the ridge of his cock and ends with him hitting me so deep that my eyes roll back from sheer bliss.
I take his face in my hands and kiss him as I ride. I get lost in his taste, the sweet softness of his lips, the insistence of his touch. He feels so good everywhere. I’m surrounded by him and I want to spend the rest of my life just like this. His hips piston up to notch up the pleasure, and he hits me in this spot that sends sparks skittering out to my fingertips.
He wraps his arm around my waist and rolls us over to the same position we were in before; me sitting down with my legs open wide, him nestled perfectly between them. Only this time he’s inside of me, and he’s using the leverage he gained to snap his hips against mine, driving even deeper than before. I wrap my legs around his waist to pull him close, and he collapses onto me, kissing me, palming my breast and pinching my nipple.
Josh moves faster and faster, driving his cock into me with dizzying force, my whole body crying out for him as our skin slaps together. He lets out this deep, needy grunt when I press my heels against his ass to get him closer. My clit is rubbing right up against his pubic bone, and we’re both totally lost in it. Kissing each other, holding each other, struggling to catch our breath.
“Oh my god,” I breathe. “Josh, I’m…I’m…”
“Come for me sweetheart,” he says. “I wanna feel you.”
He rubs his thumb in quick circles around my clit and I fall apart, muscles squeezing his cock, bringing him along with me into oblivion as he tenses and pulses inside of me.
We lie there holding each other, coming down from the high. He presses a trail of sweet kisses everywhere he can reach, and I hold him as tight as I can, never wanting to let go.
“That was perfect,” he breathes. He kisses me once, then again. “I’m only ever gonna do that with you from now on. You’ve ruined me for anyone else.”
I laugh. “Sounds like a deal to me.”
He reaches up and touches one of the earrings he gave me, holding it between his thumb and forefinger. “You look good in diamonds,” he says. “I plan on giving you more.”
“You do?”
“Mmmm,” he agrees, brushing his soft lips against my collarbone. “Gotta put some here,” he says, kissing the valley between my breasts.
He brings his lips to the inside of my wrist. “And a few here.”
My heart is pounding so loud I’m positive he can hear it.
He takes the ring finger on my left hand and kisses it, then stares deep into my eyes. “Definitely one here. Probably more.”
It’s a promise, I know it. “Josh,” I whisper.
“I’m gonna marry you, Jan.”
The corner of my mouth lifts up into a smile. “I can’t wait.”
We kiss and cuddle a little more, then Josh’s watch beeps. He pulls me up and walks me over to the window.
“It’s almost time,” he says, wrapping me up in his arms.
We count together. Five…four…three…two…
He kisses me, soft and sweet.
“Happy New Year.”
I grin. “Happiest New Year.”
He lets out a low, rumbling laugh. “Happy birthday, my love.”
I hum happily. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to hearing that. “Thank you.”
Fireworks light up the sky in bright colors, and I think back to something that Joy said earlier and get a case of the giggles.
“What is it?” Josh asks, smiling.
“I was just thinking about something…Joy told me that she hoped we’d send this year out with a bang, and it looks like we did.”
Josh tilts his head back and lets out a loud, happy laugh. “Might as well start the new year with one too.”
He kisses me, and it turns heated quickly. He presses my back against the door to the terrace and hikes my hip up. He rubs the tip of his cock along my slit and then pushes inside.
&nbs
p; I sigh, feeling whole and complete as he moves inside me.
And so it begins, a new year for the world and a new year for me, and fireworks booming both inside and out.
9
Epilogue
JOSH
THREE YEARS LATER…
Over the next few years, January and I start our own New Year’s tradition.
We have a quiet meal, cuddle on the couch, make love and then watch the fireworks together out on the terrace.
It’s a nice time to regroup and spend some much-needed time together at the end of the holiday rush. January graduated right on time, and we got married the following spring. She got a job straight out of school working at a start-up, and then Rebecca made her an offer to come work for the company that she couldn’t turn down.
She’s heading up a team in marketing, hoping to work her way up through the ladder and prove herself so that no one can argue that she got where she is because her last name is on the building.
After the work she did on the recent launch for the latest FiTech collaboration and the subsequent record-breaking numbers, I don’t think anyone would dare doubt her now.
I couldn’t be more proud of her, and I fall deeper in love with her every day.
It’s unseasonably warm here in Pine City this New Year’s, so we’re both sitting out on the terrace, fully naked beneath the blanket we have wrapped around us. I’m sitting with my back propped up against the building, and January is using me as a human chair. She’s sitting between my legs, lounging against my chest with her head resting on my shoulder.
She’s drawing nonsensical patterns against my thigh with her nail.
“It’s been a long year,” I say, kissing her temple.
“But a good year,” she says. “So much has happened.”
“It has.” I cuddle her close, my forearms sliding beneath the underside of her breasts. My cock jumps to life again, and I can tell January notices by the way she wiggles her ass against it.
