This Time Around (Road to Blissville, #4)

by Aimee Nicole Walker

  I held up the dress and turned to Milo. All color had leached from his face, and he looked scared. “No wonder you acted funny when I introduced you to Ollie. You had no idea you gave my NA sponsor and friend a boner.”

  “Oh, I knew I’d given him a boner, Andy. I did that on purpose to make you jealous. I didn’t know that I’d given a pastor a boner! What the hell were you guys thinking when you set that up?”

  “That a drag queen would sing him a little song. I didn’t expect you to dry hump him until he creamed his jeans.”

  “Did he?” Milo asked. He took the dress from me and returned it to the closet then began removing the sequined number too.

  “Is that important?” I fired back. “Would that make the scenario somehow less awkward?”

  “I don’t normally act that way,” Milo said softly, hanging the shimmery dress up. “I’m sure you saw the difference in my performance for the grooms before I locked eyes with you when I rounded the table.” He put his hands on his lean hips, and I tried to stay focused and not stare at his toned abs or the bulge in his boxer briefs.

  “No, not really,” I replied, crossing my arms over my chest. “I saw you straddle that guy’s lap at the grooms’ table and let him run his hand along the inside of your thigh.”

  “He slipped me a tip,” Milo said, dismissing my jealousy.

  “He wanted to slip the tip of his dick in your mouth.” Milo didn’t even bother trying to deny it. We both knew it was true.

  “What about you, Andy? Were you seduced by my actions?”

  I said nothing, working my jaw while I battled for composure. I had zero right to be so jealous, but I was.

  “I saw the way you leaned into Ollie at the table, and kind of lost my mind a bit.”

  “Kind of?”

  “Okay, I was insane with jealousy. I just knew he was the guy you were fucking every Wednesday night. And he could’ve been.”

  “I can’t apologize for something I didn’t do, Milo. We had to lean toward each other to be heard over the loud music and singing. I never once led Ollie on, not that night or any other time in our acquaintance.”

  “So, what did you fellas do after you left the show?” Milo asked. “I know for a fact that you didn’t go straight home since you pulled in behind me at the gas station.”

  “We grabbed a late bite to eat before we all went home. Alone. Why were you out so late?”

  “All the queens were hungry after a long night.”

  “I bet,” I said dryly.

  “What’s that mean?” Milo demanded.

  “I was referring to that backstage action that surely goes on.”

  “Are you asking if consenting adults find a convenient place to fuck, or are you asking if we give private dances or some shit?”

  “Um…”

  “Surely, you’re not implying we queens were offering other services for a fee.”

  “No,” I said quickly, shaking my head. “I meant that every man in that room wanted a chance at your ass.”

  “Is that so?” Milo asked, closing the distance between us. “Even you?” Milo licked his lower lip seductively, and I wanted to feel that pouty mouth wrapped around my cock.

  “Especially me. My body recognized you, even if I didn’t.”

  Milo snorted. “Andy, it’s okay that someone other than me made you horny.”

  “But it was you,” I told him. “You were just in drag at the time.”

  “So, what would you have done with Peach if you’d had the chance?” Milo placed his palm on my sternum then slowly slid it down until he cupped my erection through my clothes. Milo released my cock and walked backwards until he stood in front of a dressing table. “Say we were alone in the dressing room after the show or between performances.”

  Milo turned to face the mirror then bent over so that his perfectly round, biteable peach of an ass was thrust up in the air.

  “Better hurry, Slugger. Someone might catch us.”

  I just stood there staring at his perfect offering. Did he doubt how much he tempted me? Did he think I needed more encouragement? He must have because he reached back with his right hand to pull his briefs down below one delicious ass cheek. His eyes dared me to take what he offered, to get lost in the fantasy with him.

  I crossed to the vanity and dropped to my knees behind him. I kneaded and rubbed the exposed cheek with my right hand while revealing his other cheek with my left. Fuck, I wanted to bury my cock between the tight mounds, but first, I needed just a tiny bite of his peach. I sank my teeth hard enough into his right cheek to make him gasp, but not hard enough to hurt.

  I pulled back and admired my handiwork, loving the slight indentations my teeth left behind. “Mmmmm, so sweet,” I said before marking the left one in the same way.

  Milo didn’t pull away from me, he pushed his ass tighter against my face and reached back to grip my hair. My peach loved it rough and wanted to be bruised, so I marked him in ways that only we would see. Then I stood up, stripped down, suited up, and showed Milo exactly what I would’ve done had I been able to live out the fantasy playing in my mind when he teased Ollie and the guy at the groom’s table.

  I punched my hips forward, filling him fast and hard enough to knock over all the bottles on the vanity table. I had no idea what he used all that stuff for, but I didn’t care. I locked eyes on his in the mirror over the table and watched his skin flush pink as passion and pleasure washed over his face.

  Skin slapped against skin and masculine moans and whimpers echoed throughout the room as I set a swift pace that would guarantee a fast orgasm for both of us. Afterward, we clung to each other in the shower while hot water sprayed down on us.

  “I love you, Andy,” Milo whispered. “Welcome home.”

  I’d been home for two years, but that’s not what he meant. Walls and roofs provided shelter, but Milo’s heart was my real home.

  “There’s no place I’d rather be, Milo. I love you too.”

  After Milo had fallen asleep, I opened the bedroom door and went in search of his feisty feline. She looked up from the chair she’d curled up in and meowed. “Are you coming or not?” I asked her.

  If I wanted a happy future with Milo, and I wanted it more than anything, then I’d need to find a way to make peace with his sidekick who felt slighted by my presence. Plus, it would reduce my risk of stepping in cat puke when I slid my foot inside my boot.

  Milo turned into me when I climbed between the sheets again, and I held him in my arms in the center of the bed while I waited to see what Alli Cat decided to do. She jumped up on the bed and sat by our feet for a long time, long enough that I started to worry for my safety. Slowly, she walked up along the edge of the bed until she reached my pillow. I could feel her staring at me, and it was all I could do not to laugh. Finally, she somehow arranged her large body in a tight ball on the edge of the pillow.

  I was lulled into a false sense of security by her heavy purring but was reminded that she was still in charge when I felt the faintest nip of sharp teeth on the outer rim of my ear before she rubbed her head against the back of mine.

  “Truce,” I whispered into the darkness.

  I didn’t wake up feeling like a new man just because Andy told me that he loved me the previous night, or because he didn’t get angry when he learned about my alter ego. Well, he was a little angry, but only because he was jealous about the lap dance I gave Ollie. I still couldn’t believe that I’d given the man a boner. Did he pray for forgiveness? How’d that even work. Ollie was unapologetically gay, but how did he feel about random boners and casual sex? Hold up there, Peach. That’s a rabbit hole we don’t need to tumble down.

  I woke up feeling like the same man, just completed in ways I never dreamed would come true. It put a little extra sway in my hips while I fried bacon, eggs, and hash browns.

  “I smell biscuits,” Andy said, stumbling into the kitchen still half asleep. He was rubbing his eyes with one hand and scratching his chest with the other.
“I’m so hungry after last night.”

  “Yeah, your stomach isn’t the only thing making demands,” Memphis piped up.

  “Fuck!” Andy said, dropping his hands to try to cover his junk in such an adorable fashion. He needed more than two hands to cover up his morning wood. “Warn a guy next time, Milo,” he grumbled as he turned and retreated to my bedroom.

  I looked over my shoulder at Memphis who sat grinning from ear to ear. Our eyes met, and we burst into laughter.

  “Stop!” I said, trying to catch my breath. “Andy’s going to get a complex.”

  “Not with a dick like that,” Memphis said. “You’re one lucky bastard, Milo.”

  “I know,” I agreed. As much as I loved Andy’s cock, there was so much more to love about him.

  Andy’s face was slightly flushed with embarrassment when he returned to the kitchen wearing a T-shirt and loose shorts he’d left over earlier in the week. “I see I have a drawer already,” he said gesturing to his clean clothes. “I like it.”

  “And I like you.”

  “Should I leave?” Memphis asked when Andy I stared into each other’s eyes long enough to make him squirm. “Or grab a video camera. I can’t tell which would be more appropriate at a time like this.”

  Andy looked over at him. “Stay but keep your video camera put away.”

  “Did I forget to mention that Memphis stops over for breakfast on Sundays?”

  “Knock knock,” Maegan said, coming through the back door.

  “Maegan and Elijah too,” I said.

  “You failed to mention that, Milo,” Andy replied, sending Memphis into another laughing fit.

  “What did we miss?” Elijah said, looking between Andy and me. “Should we leave?”

  “Hell no,” Maegan said, pulling out a chair and plopping down. “There’s a story here, and I want to hear it.”

  “Milo neglected to tell Andy that we come over for breakfast every Sunday morning.”

  “And they come over to my place on Wednesdays for a French toast brunch,” Maegan said. “You’re more than welcome to join us.”

  “I sense there’s more to the story, Freckles,” Elijah said, a wry grin spreading across his face.

  “I saw Andy’s dick,” Memphis said then started laughing again.

  “It’s a good damn thing I’m a confident man,” Andy said, pinning Memphis with a baleful look. To Maegan and Elijah he said, “I came down here buck-ass naked because I smelled biscuits. I was rubbing my eyes with one hand and—”

  “I’m not sure we want to know,” Elijah said, holding up his hand to stop Andy.

  “I was scratching my chest, not my balls,” Andy told Elijah.

  “He’s talking about how hungry he was after going at it with Milo all night long,” Memphis said.

  “I did not,” Andy replied. “I just said I was hungry after last night. I’ll have you know that Milo and I really—”

  “I’ve lost my appetite,” Maegan said. “There are things a twin sister doesn’t need to know.”

  “Listen here, Miss Yes! Yes! Yes, Elijah! At least the neighbors haven’t called the cops on us.”

  “I was going to say that we kicked ass at bowling, but yeah, we had a really good night once we got home. Didn’t we, Peach?”

  A little thrill snaked down my spine when I remembered the slight bruises on each butt cheek. Yeah, I checked as soon as I woke up. “You can say that again.” I winked suggestively at him, not caring who the fuck was watching.

  “I love being the fifth wheel,” Memphis whined.

  “Hey, there are plenty of nice guys around here,” I told him. “You just have a taste for tatted-up bad boys.”

  “True.” Memphis smirked. “I try going out on dates with squeaky clean ones, but I like them edgy.”

  “Wait,” Maegan said. “Did he just call you Peach? As in…”

  “Yeah, he knows now.”

  “All of it?” she asked.

  “Yeah, he vividly remembers the performance,” I told my wide-eyed sister.

  “So does Pastor Ollie,” Andy said smugly.

  “Who’s that?” Elijah asked.

  “He’s the guy Peach gave a boner-inducing lap dance to the night we went to the club to celebrate his birthday. He also happens to be my NA sponsor.”

  Maegan spat her coffee across the table.

  “Gross, where the hell are your manners?” I asked.

  “It was that or choke to death,” she said defensively wiping her mouth with the towel Andy handed to her. “I think I made the best choice.”

  “Not so sure I agree,” Memphis said. He had coffee splattered all over his face and T-shirt.

  “Oh no, Memphis,” Maegan said, rounding the table to wipe him up. “I’m so sorry.” Maegan eased his glasses off his face and cleaned them before setting them on the table.

  “Don’t give me a spit bath,” he teased when she started to wipe off his face.

  “I figure you got enough of my saliva on you for one day,” Maegan replied.

  “Memphis, grab yourself a clean shirt from my bedroom and toss that in the laundry room on your way back. I have to do laundry in a bit anyway.”

  I checked my hash browns, and they were a perfect, crispy golden brown. I put them in the warming drawer with the cooked bacon and checked to see how my biscuits looked.

  “Mmmmm. This time I’m not moaning about your ass,” Andy whispered in my left ear. “Those look perfect.”

  “Just a few minutes longer,” I told him. “Just enough time to make the eggs.”

  “Scrambled?”

  “Fried,” I answered. “Do you still like yours fried hard?”

  “Yep, no runny yolk,” Andy replied adamantly. “Cook them to death.”

  “Got it.” I had just reached for the carton of eggs when my phone rang. I saw it was my mom and just couldn’t send it to voicemail. “Good morning, Mama Miracle.”

  “Milo, make sure you bring Andy to dinner.”

  “I will ask him if he’d like to join us,” I replied.

  “What’s she fixing?” Andy asked. I held the phone up so he could hear her.

  “Braised short ribs in a wine sauce, herbed potatoes and carrots, and homemade bread,” my mom said.

  “I’ll be there, Jackie. I’m looking forward to it.”

  “Peach cobbler for dessert with vanilla bean ice cream,” she said just before I pulled the phone back. Andy waggled his brows.

  “Mom, he already said he was coming to dinner.”

  “See you later, love. Make sure Memphis knows he’s invited also.”

  “He knows,” I assured her.

  “I think I met someone that Memphis might like,” she told me.

  “Does he have tattoos?” I asked.

  “Um, not that I know of,” Mom said.

  “How about piercings?”

  “Milo, I didn’t ask these things. He wore a leather jacket and looked like a ‘bad boy.’ I didn’t ask a total stranger if he had tats, piercings, or if he wore briefs, boxers, or went commando. Let Memphis discover some things on his own.”

  “Don’t forget jock straps.”

  “Excuse me?” I could picture her brows lifting.

  “Mom, a lot of men prefer jock straps for convenience.”

  “Convenience for what? Do they worry they’ll take a knee to the groin or something?”

  “They don’t tuck a cup in their jock, Mom. They just… Never mind.”

  “Anyway,” she said cheerfully, “this guy was in town asking questions about Bliss House. I can’t wait to talk to Maegan about it tonight.”

  “Where in town? When?”

  “Books and Brew, of course. It was last night when I stopped in to pick up the books you ordered for me. He said he was in town doing some recon for a television show he produces. He has a friend who lives in town, and he’d mentioned possibly featuring Bliss House on his show. Something about ghosts and whispering.”

  “Paranormal Whisperer,” I said
into the phone. I couldn’t keep the smirk off my face when Memphis nearly fainted at my table. He wanted to be the guy’s cock whisperer.

  “Mom, did you tell him that your daughter is in the process of buying that house and could grant him access once the closing is final?” By this time, Maegan and Elijah are just as alert as Memphis for different reasons. My sister wants to solve the Anthony Bliss mystery, and Elijah doesn’t want any man around my sister. “He’s unapologetically gay, E,” I assured him.

  “Yes, he is,” Memphis sighed. I was pretty sure he came in his pants.

  “Mom, why didn’t you call Mae so she could come down to the bookstore to talk to him?”

  “He was just passing through, so I showed him some books on the history of the town, which he bought, thank you. He seemed to be really interested after talking to his friend and looking at the books. He said he’d email Mae this upcoming week because, of course, I told him my amazing daughter was buying that house.”

  “What’s she saying, Milo?” Maegan asked, coming to stand beside me.

  “Here, you talk to her. See you tonight, Mom.”

  “Bye, darling.”

  I turned my attention back to frying eggs in the cast iron skillet. “Okay, so frying eggs in the leftover bacon grease isn’t healthy, but it tastes so damn good.”

  “Bring it on,” Andy said bravely.

  I half listened to Mae’s side of the conversation with Mom. She sounded so excited that she might be able to solve Anthony Bliss’s disappearance. “I just know he never left the property alive. It’s his ghost in the house.”

  “I think I should be jealous,” Elijah said. “She was looking at old photos and fussing over how handsome he was.”

  “You can’t be jealous of a ghost,” Andy reasoned with him. “What could he possibly give Maegan that you can’t?”

  “Mystery and adventure?” Elijah asked with a shrug. “We’re going to have big problems if he starts showing up during sexy times. All I need is a ghost who falls in love with Maegan and tries to knock me down the steps or some shit.”

  “Sounds to me like your problem could be solved really soon,” I told him. “Maybe before you even move in.”

  Elijah raised crossed fingers up in the air.