The Offer

by Karina Halle

  The only problem is, now I feel a bit bereft at the absence of his dick. I want him inside me, all of him, not just his fingers and his tongue. I want him to make the bed shake again, for my breasts to jiggle as he slams into me. I want that wildness, that wickedness, that damn smirk as he knows exactly what he can do to make me scream even though I’ve been screaming into my pillows, lest we wake up Ava. And judging from how enthusiastically he’s licking me, like a fucking ice cream cone, I’m about to let loose. I grab the pillow out from under my head and hold it on my face as he pushes me over the edge. All the tight coils in my body release and I’m riding wave after wave of insane pleasure, my limbs jerking from the power of it all.

  Holy hell. Wham, bam, thank you, Bram.

  He lifts his head when my spasms begin to fade. “That’s how I like to wake my woman up.”

  I give him a look, my head swimming, my body floating. “What if I want to wake you by giving you a blow job?”

  “We don’t even have to compromise,” he says as he crawls on top of me. The iron-stiff length of his cock rubs against my slickness and I hope to God I have enough condoms in my drawer. The fool had only brought one last night. I’m not sure what the hell he was thinking.

  I’m about to bring it up – I may take the pill religiously but condoms are a definite must, especially with a player like Bram – when I hear a shuffle on the other side of the door and then the sound of the door trying to open.

  “Mommy, the door is locked!” Ava yells. “Let me in.”

  I exchange a look with Bram and realize he doesn’t have much in the way of clothes other than his pants. I leap out of bed, slip my house robe on and throw his pants at him. I open the door a crack, keeping Bram out of view, and slide my way through.

  “Hi, angel,” I tell her, my back to the door, holding it shut as I peer down at her. “You’re up early.”

  “Why was the door locked?”

  “Oh, that was an accident,” I tell her.

  Then the door opens and Bram appears and thank God his erection is gone.

  “Bram?” she asks. “Do you live here now?”

  Bram gives me a cheeky grin and then squats down to her level. “No, little one, I’m still next door. I just spent the night.”

  “Okay,” Ava says brightly then walks off to the bathroom. I know Ava isn’t old enough to get an idea of what adults do in situations like this. She’s thankfully far too innocent for that train of thought. But after Phil, I’ve been very careful about what guys I’ve brought over. There haven’t been many, but I was with a guy called Ben around the same time that Steph and Linden were first getting together. He was nice, which was why I was with him, but there weren’t any sparks. But Ava liked him and the more time he spent over, the more attached to him she got. Then when we broke up, it pretty much broke her little heart. Since I’ve learned she wants Bram to be her daddy as a Christmas present, it’s pretty safe to say that she’s going to get her heart set on him.

  As for me…I don’t know. I watch as Bram saunters into the kitchen, my eyes glued to the swing of his slim hips and narrow waist and that long expanse of muscular back. I regret not making any claw marks on it last night, but there’s always next time.

  Oh God, please don’t let that have been just a one-night stand, I think, suddenly afraid that he might revert. I know what he said last night about only wanting to fuck me, but for the life of me I can’t imagine where this will go.

  Then again, I told myself I wouldn’t analyze this to death. That’s not “fun.” That’s not wild and free. I was just going to enjoy the ride and worry about what may come later.

  “So,” Bram says as he puts on the coffee. I love how comfortable he is in my apartment, even though weeks ago it was annoying as hell. “When is your next shift? Do you have time to go to IKEA today?”

  “IKEA!” Ava yells. “Balls!”

  I laugh. “Yes, Ava, balls.”

  “I love balls!”

  “Just like your mum,” Bram notes, biting his lip to keep from laughing.

  “Hey,” I wag my finger at him. “Let’s keep this morning rated G.”

  “Balls!” Ava yells. “Bram-a-lama-ding-dong!” She runs back to her room and I hear her bouncing on the bed.

  “I don’t know where she gets her energy,” I say with a sigh, going to get the medicine and the glucose meter.

  “At least you can say she’s been doing great ever since she was diagnosed,” he says. As I brush past him for the cupboard, he grabs me around the waist and pulls me to him. “How are you?” He lowers his voice. “You seemed to enjoy the way you woke up.”

  I can’t help my smile. He keeps his grip firm on me and searches my eyes.

  “I did,” I tell him. “Better than coffee. Speaking of, you better hurry up or I’m going to gauge your eyes out.”

  “Ah,” he says. “You’re one of those angry ones who aren’t even human until their third cup. Good to know. Wake up Nicola with good head and coffee immediately after.”

  “That sounds like heaven.”

  “Heaven can be arranged,” he says and places a lingering kiss on my neck, kissing up until right under my jawline. “I think I’ve found my heaven right here.”

  I keep my head back and eyes closed and that ache between my legs flares up, wanting just as badly as before. But there’s no way that can happen today, not with Ava in my care. Unless IKEA has a sex pit, we’ll have to hold off on the bedroom stuff until it’s dark.

  “So,” he goes on, pressing me to him and inhaling deep. “Oh, sweetheart, you smell so good. It’s distracting as fuck.”

  “So,” I say to him, trying to keep him on track. “About today.”

  He pulls away and eyes me. “Yes. Are you free?”

  “Today is a day off,” I tell him. “I’m all yours.”

  “Good,” he says. “Because even if you weren’t, I intended to make you mine anyway. Remember all those things I said about you being totally underfucked? Well, it’s going to take a long time and a lot of practice until I have you on the right side. But you can deal with that, can’t you, babe?”

  Now that sounds like an offer I can’t refuse.

  ***

  Though it’s the afternoon when we pull into Emeryville again, it’s a weekday and IKEA isn’t as busy as I thought it would be. To be honest, I’m actually excited to be back. It’s like when we were here before that was a totally different Nicola and Bram. Now we’re here and though we aren’t together together, this time I know what his cock feels like when it’s inside me – I no longer have to wonder.

  Unfortunately, because we aren’t the first ones there, there’s a bit of a wait for the daycare fun center to fit Ava in, so we make the most use of our time by going into the dreaded customer service line and returning the couches. Apparently they don’t have any issues in taking them back and I’m sure the assembled couch will find itself in the “as-is” section, where the desperate and lucky souls go hoping to find that holy grail of all furnishings, the IKEA item that’s already been assembled.

  Finally when it’s time for Ava to get into the daycare, we’re pretty much done for the day and ready to go home. But Bram points out how excited Ava is about going and I can’t say no to free child minding, so we agree to take a look around the store again while she has her fun for an hour.

  After we wave goodbye to her, Bram pulls me close, his fingers firm against my wrist, his thumb delicately stroking the skin there. He whispers in my ear. “You remember the dare from last time?” he asks.

  I give him a steady look. “It was a few days ago, so yes. And still no. You can call me no fun again, but I am not going to sit on a showroom toilet and pretend to take a dump.”

  He smiles. “No, that wasn’t quite it. But it is a dare. One you’ll enjoy if you’re brave enough to believe me.”

  My eyes narrow. “I don’t know…”

  “Come with me,” he says and he leads me upstairs and back into the showroom area. We stri
de down the halls, past couples flopping down on couches and finicky women testing the smoothness of drawers.

  Bram tugs at the tulle skirt I’m wearing. “Glad you wore this.”

  I look down at it and the contrast with my Zara biker boots. “Thanks, I think it’s kind of ballerina punk.”

  “No, I mean I’m glad you wore a skirt.”

  “Why?” I ask and suddenly he’s jerking me into one of the showroom apartments. He takes me right around the corner of a sliding wood door and we’re in one of the bathrooms.

  “No,” I tell him, planting my feet firmly. “What did I just tell you?”

  “Relax, it’s not what you think,” he says and with one swift motion he grabs me by the hips and hoists me up onto the sink. I squirm even though I’m hidden from most shoppers. If anyone explored this faux apartment and turned the corner, they’d totally see me.

  But Bram just hikes up my skirt so it’s bunched around my waist and pushes my underwear aside. The sudden burst of air and exposure makes me freeze, as does the cold faux marble on my ass. He positions himself between my legs, grinning up at me the whole time.

  “Seriously, no,” I tell him. “We’ll get caught and kicked out.”

  “But what a way to go,” he says and then I feel the tickle of his hair on me and the hot zing of his tongue.

  I don’t even know how this is going to work. How can I relax and enjoy this knowing we could be found out at any minute? This isn’t pleasurable at all, this is nerve-wracking, it’s dangerous.

  Jesus, this feels good.

  I grip his hair in my hands and lean back, my head against the mirror as his tongue and lips get their fill of me.

  A moan escapes me but I don’t care. The sound is taken away into the buzz of the store. Just feet away, there are people staring at this apartment, pondering their home furnishings and yet behind a simple piece of removable wall, my pussy is on display for them all to see.

  Bram’s not taking his time like he was this morning though. His mouth is hot and fervent and as his tongue snakes in and out of me, I moan again, guttural this time, feeling like a very bad, very wild thing. When he takes his finger and plunges it inside, stroking my G-spot while his lips suck on my clit, I’m a goner.

  “Fuck,” I cry out, too loud. But Bram keeps going until my limbs stop shaking. For a few glorious seconds there I think I’m above both time and space—the seventh dimension where Bram-powered orgasms send you.

  “Wow,” I manage to say, lifting my head up. I expect to just see Bram but that’s not all I see. While he’s between my legs and staring at me with concern, probably because I look like I’ve just seen a ghost, there’s an elderly couple standing behind him with their mouths hanging open.

  The woman shrieks and the man covers her eyes and pulls her aside and out of our view. Bram quickly hops to his feet, bringing me off the counter and making sure I’m covered.

  “Oh, shit, oh shit, oh shit,” I swear, adjusting my skirt. I grab onto Bram’s shirt. “What do we do?”

  “They look like the types who’ll call security,” he says and even though I’m freaking the fuck out, there’s a hint of amusement in his eyes. I’m not sure I like that. I don’t ever want to encourage this kind of fun again. “I guess we better run?”

  I turn around and bang on the fake wall of the bathroom behind us. “Can’t you break through this or we can tunnel our way out? I don’t want to go out there,” I plead.

  He grabs my hand and kisses the back of it. “On the count of three, we run. Got it? One, two, three!”

  Somehow my legs move and he pulls me forward and we burst out of the fake bathroom and into the fake apartment. There are a few people staring at us, wondering what’s going on, but what’s the most frightening is that the elderly couple are talking to an Ikea worker and pointing right at us.

  “Keep going!” Bram yells and my legs keep moving even though the rest of me seems frozen in icy panic and we scamper out of the apartment and down the hall toward the stairs at the very end.

  I hear a “Hey!” of someone shouting after us but we don’t dare look or stop. We keep going, taking the stairs two at a time and run right to the daycare.

  It hasn’t been an hour but Ava is running around close to the entrance. I call for her, waving frantically while trying to not appear like a crazy lady and Ava is good enough to run right over to us without any coaxing.

  “You’re back already?” she asks.

  “Honey, we have to go right now. Do you want to run with us? Pretend we are being chased by dinosaurs?”

  She nods, always up for any sort of dino-related adventure.

  “What kind of dinosaurs?”

  “The bad ones.” I grab her hand and the three of us jog out of the store and away from anyone who may want to ban us for life. Of course we end up getting lost in the maze that is the parking lot, but once we find the Mercedes, we hop inside and speed away.

  I keep looking back at the yellow and blue building as it gets further away, imagining that angry IKEA workers are chasing after our getaway car with pitchforks and torches. It isn’t until we’re on the freeway that I burst out laughing. I can’t help it. Tears spring to my eyes and I’m just shaking from it all, howling like a lunatic.

  Bram looks at me in shock, as if he thinks I’ve lost my mind, but then he breaks into laughter too. Soon Ava is laughing, even though she doesn’t know why. Maybe she hasn’t seen her mom belly laugh in a really long time. Maybe she’s been infected by the strain of lunacy that’s been going on between Bram and I. Maybe she’s just happy her mother looks wild and free.

  We laugh all the way back to the apartment.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Nicola

  The one thing about sleeping with your best friend’s brother-in-law is that you’re not exactly sure how to approach the subject, or if you should say anything. But because it’s me and it’s Bram, it’s almost impossible not to spill the beans. I’m bursting at the seams to tell someone.

  When we got back from Ikea, Bram cooked me an amazing chicken and roasted vegetable dinner that both Ava and I loved and then the three of us spent the evening watching A Bug’s Life. When it was time for Ava to go to bed, well then Bram and I had a fuckfest fest all night. Even though I’d gotten off at Ikea – and finally lived out my secret dream of sex in public – I’d become more turned on for him, all of him, than ever before.

  But now it’s the next day and Bram is in meetings and Lisa is coming to look after Ava while I work. If I don’t tell someone, even Steph, what’s been happening for the last forty-eight hours, I’m going to lose my mind.

  I don’t know, Steph’s text back to me reads after I’ve begged her to meet. I’m kind of zonked and I had plans with my pajamas and Netflix tonight.

  I need to talk to you, I text back. You need to hear about who had sex at IKEA.

  There’s a pause.

  Then. WTF? Who had sex at IKEA? The store??

  Come to the bar tonight and I’ll tell you. And yes the store.

  OMG. Was it you? OMG. WAS IT BRAM?

  See you tonight.

  Fine. Gah, you bitch!!!!!!!! Tell meeeeeeeeeee.

  Later.

  FUCK.

  And that’s how I convinced Steph to come hang out with me while I did my shift at the Lion. Fortunately it was a slow night but not slow enough to be sent home, so Steph sat at the bar and I eased my way into telling her the big news.

  “Just spill the beans already,” she says, pounding back beer number two. So much for wanting to stay at home and watch Netflix.

  “All right,” I say and I can feel myself blushing.

  “Wait,” Steph says, holding up her palm. “I already know. I already know. Look at your face. You’re a giant tomato! It will always give you away.”

  I sigh and lean in, dropping my voice. Even though there aren’t any people close to us, I don’t want it to fall into the wrong ears. I’m not exactly a kiss and tell kind of girl, even though tha
t’s just what I’m about to do. “I slept with Bram.”

  “What?” she shrieks, and James looks over from the other end of the bar.

  “Steph, shut it!” I warn her, leaning across the bar to smack her arm. “I thought you figured it via my tomato face.”

  “Yeah but to hear you say it!” she exclaims. She wriggles in her seat. “Okay, okay, details. All the details. Tell me everything. Does he have a big dick? Is he like Linden?”

  “Calm down,” I tell her, knowing she was going to bring Linden into it somehow. “Okay, I guess it all started with IKEA.”

  “IKEA!” Steph says with a smile, putting her fist down on the bar as if IKEA was the name of a good friend of ours.

  “Yeah, well, he took me there, you know I told you, to get a new couch.”

  “Yeah…and you had sex on the couch!”

  “No. Just wait. Okay, so it was all fine. He was flirting with me, you know how he is, so damn direct about it.”

  “Just like Linden,” she says dreamily, her chin propped up on her hand.

  “Not like Linden,” I tell her. “Anyway, so later, back at home, he comes over to help me assemble the couch. I can’t remember if I asked him or not. Oh yeah, I needed a drill! Anyway, Ava is having a nap in my room and we’re talking…and…you know, he’s not at all what I thought.” I don’t want to divulge any of the private stuff he shared with me about the charity, but I say, “And I think he’s not at all what you think. Or even Linden. He’s a lot deeper than that.”

  She snorts. “Bram? Deep? Come on, the only way he’s deep is when he’s trying to calculate all the women he’s been with.”

  I have to admit, I’m getting a bit defensive. “Not true at all. I mean, yeah, there’s women. Or there was.”

  “Was?”

  “But I’m getting ahead of myself—”

  “You are getting way ahead of yourself.”

  “Anyway we were talking and…God, I don’t know. I just…I know it’s stupid of me but man, you know, all this time with the flirting and innuendos and I just wanted to see what it was like to be with him. You know? It started to become all I thought about, just looking at him, listening to that damn accent—”