My Best Friend’s Mardi Gras Wedding: Boys of the Bayou

by Erin Nicholas

  “Admit it,” she said. “You would have been super embarrassed if a girl had done that to you.”

  “Okay, maybe a little. But I would have loved it too.”

  She believed him.

  “So was this one of the things you ran past Andrew and he tried to talk you out of?”

  “No. That was the start of our rule of running everything past him,” she said with a grin.

  “Did he see this whole thing?”

  “Oh yes. He was on the track team too. He came out just in time to see Priscilla come in.”

  “And he saved the day after?” Josh asked, his tone a little less amused.

  “He caught Priscilla and got her in my truck, helped me clean up the hallway, and the next day just laughed at it all and told people that it was hilarious and Marcus should be flattered.”

  “And that worked? That smoothed everything over?”

  “Well, Andrew was really well liked. He was the team captain for basketball and a great student and involved in everything. People still thought I was weird, but they didn’t tease me about it. At least not as much as they would have if he hadn’t stuck up for me.”

  “Was Marcus your Valentine then?”

  “Lord no,” she said. “He could barely look at me for the rest of the week. I’m sure he kept picturing me covered in pink frosting and pig poop. It took a little bit, but eventually we got to a place where we could talk awkwardly.”

  “Well, at least he wasn’t a dick about it.”

  “Oh, I’m sure Andrew told him that he would not be a dick to me.”

  “Sorry,” Josh said after a few seconds. “Any girl who’s got a pig and isn’t afraid to use her to express her affection is someone a guy should want to know better.”

  Tori felt a little thump in her chest. “That’s really sweet.”

  Josh shook his head. “You’re just so fucking adorable.”

  Tori felt her eyes go wide. Heat and what she could only call affection shot through her. He wasn’t appalled like Andrew had been or confused the way Marcus had been. Josh thought she was adorable.

  Her eyes had adjusted to the dark room by now, but she didn’t need light to find him. Heat poured off of him and pulled her in. She rolled to face him and reached out, placing her hand on his chest.

  She felt him tense, as if surprised, but a millisecond later he gave a low groan and flattened his hand over the top of hers.

  “Tori.” His voice was low and husky.

  She said the first thing that came to mind. “I like you so much.”

  “Ditto,” he said roughly.

  “And I want you. So much.”

  “Girl—” He cleared his throat. “That is absolutely mutual too. But we don’t have to—”

  “I want to.”

  His fingers tightened around her hand and he pulled in a breath. “Be sure,” he said firmly.

  Every single thing he said seemed to send pulses of need to her nipples, gut, and between her legs. She wanted him. He was such a great guy. He sincerely liked her. He made her feel smart and sweet and sexy.

  Plus he was easily the hottest guy she’d ever been this close to outside of a barn.

  Okay, even inside of a barn.

  Yeah, she definitely wanted him. This. Now. Right now.

  Tori shifted closer, pushing him to his back, and then swinging her leg over to straddle his lap. He was, as suspected, wearing only underwear, and his erection was hard and hot and big pressing against the crotch of her panties. “I’m so sure,” she said, leaning in to kiss him.

  He groaned again, and one hand went to her hip while the other cupped the back of her head. He immediately took the kiss into deep and wet territory. His tongue stroked hers and her clit pulsed as if he was stroking it.

  She followed his lead on the kissing, but her hands roamed his chest, shoulders, and abs. The hard muscles and hot skin made her want all of it against all of her.

  Josh’s hand slid from her hip to her ass, squeezing and pressing her down against his hard cock.

  “Not fair,” he said gruffly against her mouth. “These are not pajamas.”

  “Best I could do,” she said breathlessly.

  “You forgot your pajamas? Can’t say I’m sorry about that.”

  “No, I usually sleep naked.”

  He groaned and his fingers curled into her ass. “That’s awesome.”

  “Makes middle of the night calls to deliver colts and calves a little complicated,” she said, lifting her head to look down at him. “But I haven’t totally forgotten to get dressed yet.”

  He laughed. “And this way you won’t mind at all that I won’t let you get re-dressed again after.”

  “After?” she teased.

  “After I run my hands and tongue all over you and make you come so hard you couldn’t get dressed again if you tried.”

  Her eyes widened and her heart raced at the deep, gruff, totally sincere words. “I don’t think I would mind you not letting me get re-dressed after that even if I didn’t usually sleep naked.”

  Suddenly Josh rolled her to her back, bracing himself above her on one elbow, his other hand still on her ass. “Last chance to say no.”

  She knew that wasn’t true. She could stop him at any point. He might be disappointed but he’d never not stop. She loved that she could be so sure of him. “I love Louisiana,” she said. “I’ve got to fully immerse myself in this experience and sample everything this great state has to offer.”

  He grinned down at her. “Iowa,” he said.

  “What about it?”

  “This moment might be the last time you can remember that word.”

  She laughed, but it was quickly cut short by Josh shifting, and his big, slightly roughened hands gliding up her sides, taking her tank top up and over her head.

  And just like that she was wearing only panties in a big bed on a Southern plantation with a guy who drawled, “Holy fucking shit, Tori,” when he looked down at her.

  His appraisal made her want to arch her back and stretch like her cats did when she told them they were pretty. And in anticipation of being petted.

  But Josh’s hands didn’t go to her breasts or her hard, aching nipples. He hooked his middle fingers in the top of her panties and skimmed them down her legs, tossing them off the side of the bed.

  And just like that she was completely naked.

  “Damn, girl.” There was that drawl again.

  Tori felt the aching move swiftly from her nipples to her pussy and she shifted on the smooth sheets. She definitely needed to be petted. If he wasn’t careful, she was going to purr too.

  “Touch me,” she said softly. “Please.”

  “Nothing I’d rather do.” He went back on one elbow, lying beside her, and lifted a hand to her face though, cupping her cheek. “You’re so beautiful.”

  He’d called her adorable and sweet, but right now there was nothing about the look in his eyes that was as gentle and innocent as that. He was looking at her like he wanted to devour her.

  “Are you a virgin?” he asked, stroking his thumb along her jaw.

  She hadn’t been expecting that question. “Do I seem like a virgin?” she asked, actually curious.

  He hesitated, then gave her one of his grins. “I don’t know if there’s a good answer to that.”

  She grinned. “I seem like one, right?”

  “Let’s just say, I wouldn’t be surprised either way?” He definitely made that sound like a question.

  Tori shifted her legs on the sheets, wanting his hands on her but knowing they had to have this discussion too. “It’s hard to imagine me getting past pig poop to a bedroom?”

  He chuckled. “It’s hard to imagine these guys you keep describing being smart enough to get you into a bedroom.”

  She smirked up at him. “That was a pretty smooth answer.”

  He ran his hand down over her hip, making tingles dance down her leg and up to her nipples. “I would love it if I was your first.”
>
  His gruff answer, combined with the heat and affection in his eyes, amped those tingles up. “Damn, now I wish you were my first.”

  “I’m not?”

  “Sorry.”

  “Me too.”

  They smiled at each other for a long moment.

  “But you’re the first in a long time,” she finally offered.

  He ran his hand up and down her hip again, the calluses on his palm sending delicious shivers of desire through her. “How long?”

  She wet her lips, trying to lie still and just talk when she really wanted to grab his hand and press it against her throbbing clit. “Uh, a couple of years.”

  His eyebrows went up. “Yeah?” He sounded hopeful.

  She nodded. “Yeah.”

  He seemed to think about that. “Okay, that’s pretty good.”

  “It’s good? I haven’t had sex in two and a half years, Josh,” she said. “How is that good?”

  “Two and a half?” he asked, leaning in closer, his hand moving again.

  “Well, like two and three-fourths.”

  “Oh, three-fourths. I like that,” he told her, his voice low. “I like that a lot.”

  “You do?”

  He put his lips against her neck, brushing them over the sensitive skin and making her nipples tighten further.

  “I really do. For one, I love the idea that I get to make you hot and needy and wet and then stretch you out in a way you haven’t been in a long time,” he said roughly against her ear.

  She let out a little moan at that, shifting her legs on the sheets again, urging him to move his hand more to the middle.

  He didn’t. But he dragged his mouth along her jaw to her mouth and said, “And hey, that long period of time makes it a little easier to make you forget about any man before me.” He kissed her long and deep. When he lifted his head he said, “Not that I was really worried about that.”

  A little niggle in the back of Tori’s mind told her to be careful here. He was going to ruin her for other men. Not just because he was, well, him. But because he seemed intent on the mission.

  Of course, that niggle was nothing compared to the rest of her brain and every inch of her body below her brain yelling, Yes! Do that! Do it all!

  “Hey, Josh?” she finally said, her voice breathless.

  “Yes, Tori?”

  “I’m thinking about Anthony and his love for dogs and horses and his heroic rescue of a bald eagle during our last year of vet school right now.”

  Josh pulled back and looked down at her. “Is that right?”

  “Yeah. So you might want to get to work here before I start thinking about Chad and his big—”

  Josh took her mouth in a deep, possessive kiss and his hand ran down her hip, then up to cup her breast. Tori sighed happily as he ran his thumb over her nipple. That was more like it. She loved his hands on her and she loved, interestingly, the possessive streak he was showing. She liked him a little jealous. It was ridiculous, of course. He had no competition. But if it got him to quench this fire that was coursing through her bloodstream, then she’d use it.

  He lifted his head to look down at her as he plucked and rolled her nipple.

  “—TV,” she said, finishing her thought from before.

  “He had a big TV?”

  “Really big.”

  Josh grinned down at her, then lowered his head and took her nipple in his mouth, drawing on it hard, making her gasp and arch, before lifting his head and saying, “I’m very happy to show you how many inches a real man has.”

  She giggled. “Sixty inches?”

  He pressed his cock against her hip. “I’ve got eighty-four, baby.”

  Honestly, was sex supposed to be this fun? She slid her hand up to the back of his head and into his hair. He seemed to love when she did that. “Show me everything you’ve got.”

  He growled. “Gladly.”

  His mouth went back to her nipple and his hand slid down over her belly. He stroked back and forth sending ripples of heat straight to her core. He flicked his tongue over her nipple as the pad of his middle finger brushed over her clit. She tightened her fingers against his head and lifted her hips as her eyes slid shut.

  He moved to her other nipple as he pressed against her clit and made a lazy circle over the tight bud.

  “You’re so sweet,” he told her huskily. “I’m guessing you taste pretty fucking sweet too.”

  Her eyes flew open and she looked down at him as he slid down her body, dragging his lips over her ribs and stomach to the crease where her hip started.

  “Oooh,” she said softly. “No one’s ever done that.”

  He lifted a brow, his eyes hot. “Don’t lie just to make me happy, Tori.”

  She laughed. “What makes you think I’m not just trying to make me happy?”

  “Oh, I’m gonna make you happy. Happier than you’ve ever been,” he promised gruffly. “Even if someone else was here first. But I’d be fucking thrilled to find out that no one’s ever been smart enough to taste your sweet pussy until now.”

  10

  Josh watched Tori take in a quick breath, his entire body hard and pulsing. This woman. Damn. He needed her. This was more than want. More than anything he’d felt before. And he was thanking every last lucky star he had that she was here with him now. Like this. Naked and wanting him too.

  But the idea of being the first to give her pleasure? That was shredding him. Whether it was to be the first guy to feed her a Louisiana delicacy or the first to lick and suck her to an orgasm, he was all in here and it was, yeah, tearing him up. In a good way. As if everything he’d ever known or done or felt before was being ripped out and replaced with her.

  And thank God she seemed to love the dirty talk because he wasn’t sure he could hold back if he tried.

  “You’d be the first,” she told him. “Promise.”

  “Fuck yes,” he growled.

  He flicked his tongue over the spot just a few inches from where he really wanted to be. He wanted her all in here too. This might be a first, but he wanted her urging him on. Not because he thought she was hesitating. The way she was breathing hard and gripping the sheets on either side of her told him she was wound tight and wanted this. But he wanted to talk her through it all, have her here, taking every step because, well, it was hot as hell.

  “Spread your legs, sweetheart,” he said, his drawl deeper now.

  Tori complied quickly, nearly kneeing him in the nose. He chuckled as he jerked back to avoid the contact, but that quickly evolved into a groan as her legs parted, showing off the slippery pink folds where he wanted to be so badly it hurt.

  “I should probably warn you,” he told her.

  “Warn me?”

  “I haven’t been with anyone since I said goodbye to you on Bourbon last year. I’m probably going to eat you like a starving man. Because I am, baby. I am.”

  He felt her body tense with surprise. He looked up. She was propped on her elbows, staring at him.

  “Seriously?” she finally asked. “You haven’t had sex with anyone in over a year?”

  “Seriously.”

  “But…why?”

  He lifted a shoulder and said honestly, “Because of you.”

  She stared for another long moment. “Wow,” she finally said. Then she smiled, flopped back onto her back, and spread her knees further apart.

  He gave a soft chuckle. Then looked back down at her. “Damn,” he said reverently. He ran a hand up her leg as he moved to settle between her thighs. “This might take a while.”

  “Don’t remember how to do it?”

  He grinned and gave her inner thigh a light pinch. “I just can’t imagine ever wanting to leave here.”

  “Oh, I—”

  Whatever she’d been about to say cut off as he dragged his tongue up the smooth skin of her inner thigh. Yep, absolutely as sweet as he’d expected.

  He licked her again, noting how her body tensed. It wasn’t as if she might push him
away. It was very much as if she was on the verge of coming. Already.

  Josh kissed his way over her inner thigh to her pussy, spreading her open and then giving her clit one little lick. Damn it all, she was delicious.

  “Oh my…Josh.”

  Oh my Josh. Yeah, he liked that. “Buckle up, Buttercup,” he told her with a grin.

  Then he licked her harder, up both sides and right over that sweet little nub. He did it again and again as she writhed against the mattress, finally making him lay a hand on her lower belly to hold her still. Then he sucked on her. At first softly, swirling his tongue over her clit, then harder as she started to spiral closer to her orgasm. She was easily the best thing he’d ever tasted and he would never go down on another woman again.

  Holy shit. That was quite a thought. He loved oral sex. He loved giving as good as he got and he loved blow jobs. But yeah, he couldn’t imagine ever being with another woman like this. No one else would ever sound or feel or taste this good.

  Dammit. He might just have to move to Iowa.

  Hell, men had uprooted their lives and moved everything a thousand miles away for far less than the best pussy they’d ever eaten. And Tori was so much more than that.

  That thought hit him as he slid two fingers into her very tight, but very hot and wet channel, sending her over the edge and into a hard orgasm. Her muscles clamped onto his fingers and she bucked her hips, calling his name loud enough that Josh was certain the people next door heard it if they were in their room.

  He hoped they were in their room.

  He kept his fingers and mouth right where they were, gently working her as she came down from the climax. Then he crawled up her body and took her mouth in a deep kiss, making sure she tasted just how fucking delicious she was on his tongue.

  Finally he let her up for air.

  Don’t propose. Don’t propose. Don’t propose. He repeated the words until he was sure he wasn’t going to say something crazy.

  “Holy crap, can you move to Iowa and do that to me every single night?” she asked as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her body against the length of his.

  Okay, so she could say the crazy stuff. For now. He chuckled, holding her close, willing his heart to stop jackhammering against his rib cage. “Well, dammit, I guess I’m not done.”