by London Hale
Luke didn’t miss a beat, drawing out every second of pleasure he could from me before grabbing his cock with his wet hand and stroking himself. I watched in the reflection, obsessed with the way he kept his eyes on my ass, at the roughness of his pulls. Witnessing him take his pleasure was something I hadn’t thought would be so devastatingly hot, but it was. It totally was.
Wanting to help him, needing to see him reach that peak, I spun around. With a little hop, I was sitting on the edge of the counter, spreading my knees wide.
“Better?”
“Fuck, sunshine. Look at you all spread and swollen, still wet from my hands.” He groaned loud and deep, his hand moving faster, eyes pressing closed for just a moment. “I want to drop to my knees right here and lick you up again.” He leaned in to kiss me, his hand brushing against me with every stroke. Teasing me again. Every little grunt, every sigh or groan, had me dying for more.
“Remember in the boathouse,” I whispered, leaning closer. Letting my voice drop. “Remember when you came on my stomach after giving me my first orgasm with a partner in years? All those ribbons of your come lying across my skin like some sort of marking?” I bit his ear in a teasing sort of tug. “That was the hottest thing I’d ever seen. Until now.”
“Oh Jesus, Hannah.”
“Look at how rough you are. How fast your hand moves.” I reached out, running a finger down his bicep, palming his forearm as it jerked up and down. “I could never be that rough with you.”
Still, I wanted him to have more than just his own hand. Wanted him to let me make him come. And I wanted to taste him the way he’d tasted me.
“But I can do other things.” I shoved him back a step, dropping to my knees and swatting away his hand. Luke stared down at me, practically panting, his cock leaking right there in front of my face. So hard. So ready.
I leaned forward to kiss the tip, a moment of sweetness given to him before I opened my lips and took him deep inside. Swallowing around him. Luke grabbed my head, tangling his fingers in my hair as he moved me gently back and forth. As he rocked his hips into my mouth and back out again, fucking my face.
“Oh fuck, oh fuck. Should’ve known this mouth would be heaven. Just like every fucking inch of you.”
I groaned, placing my hands on his thighs and bobbing faster, sucking harder. I was already so wet again, so hungry for him. I had no idea how we were going to make it through another two days without exposing our secret, but I didn’t care. All I wanted, all I needed, was for Luke to come. I craved it.
I slipped a hand between my legs, teasing myself as Luke’s movements became a little rougher, a little off rhythm. He was close. And I—
Luke grumbled something that sounded like a string of curses, his hips snapping faster. “Are you touching yourself, sunshine? You love the feel of my cock in your mouth that much? Does the taste of what you do to me make you needy?” He brought his hand to my lips as I stared up at him. His finger traced the edge, so sweet and soft. So gentle with me even as he fucked my face. As he took what I offered so he could get off.
“You’re the hottest fucking thing I’ve ever seen.” He thrust three more times before coming with a groan, pressing deep into my mouth as I swallowed everything down. As I came with my fingers buried inside myself and a muffled moan on my lips.
On his cock.
“Jesus H. Christ, Hannah. You’re so fucking perfect for me.” Luke picked me up, picked me up right off the floor, and wrapped my legs around his hips. He carried me the few feet across the bathroom to the stone shower, kissing me the entire way. Gripping my ass like he owned it until we reached the taps. With one hand, he turned on the water, adjusting the temperature until it was warm and steamy in the little alcove.
“Come on, sunshine. Let’s get you cleaned up before we have to rejoin the rest of the group.”
After our shower together—and Luke kneeling between my legs to make me come on his tongue one more time—we dried off and headed back to the land of the not-completely-obsessed-with-inappropriate-sex. For hours, we circled one another, staying away as much as possible as we socialized with the others and waited out the storm. Coming together whenever we thought no one would notice to brush hands or arms, though Luke preferred to run his palm over my ass if possible. I had to bite back a smile every time, knowing I could give us away. Wishing we could retreat back to our little bubble of just the two of us.
But that was not to be.
“We should watch a movie,” Jessica said when the guys finally emerged from the TV room.
“That sounds good.” Aaron wrapped his arms around her and kissed her neck, something that made my stomach lurch. Luke and I couldn’t do that, not here. Not now. I caught his eye across the kitchen, noticing his frown, and knew he was thinking the same thing.
“The storm doesn’t look as bad,” Barry said, appearing at the opposite end of the kitchen. “Maybe we can actually escape to someplace cooler soon. No offense, Aaron.”
“None taken.” Aaron rocked Jessica, both looking pretty offended no matter what words were spoken.
“I don’t know, I think this place is pretty great,” Luke said, giving me a subtle wink. “Despite the storm, this has been one of the best weekends I can remember.”
Jessica smiled as she looked from him to me and back. But that smile dropped when Barry laughed.
“You need to get out more, bro. Hopefully, we can make it to the reunion tomorrow night and get this over with. Banana and I left the island for a reason, and I, for one, am ready to get back to the city and the real nightlife.”
“I’m with Luke,” I said, drawing everyone’s attention. “I’ve had a great day. Thank you, Jessica and Aaron. Your home is beautiful, and I’ve felt nothing but welcomed here.”
Barry frowned as he looked my way, his eyes seeming to want to delve deeper. To figure out what was going on with me. I kept a smile on my face and stared right back, not flinching. Not backing down. Luke had made the last twenty-four hours as perfect as they could have been, and I wasn’t about to let Barry take away that glow.
“You guys watch your movie,” he finally said, still looking at me with something close to suspicion in his eyes. “I’m going to grab my computer and get some work done. You do have internet, right?”
Aaron sighed and nodded. “Yeah. Come on, you can set up in my office.”
Within minutes, Jessica had one of the latest superhero movies on the big screen, popcorn in bowls spread out on tables, and the lights dimmed. But I couldn’t pay attention to the plot. I was too busy staring at Luke, at the way his jeans pulled tight across his thighs. At the patterns of ink stamped along his forearms. So when he caught my eye and angled his head toward the door before he got up and headed toward the kitchen, I couldn’t help but follow. I needed a moment alone with him even if it was just a few seconds.
I found Luke on the back porch watching the rain fall, his arms stretched out against the railing, his back tense. He reminded me of a caged animal in that pose, something I hadn’t been expecting.
I placed a hand on his shoulder, inching around to stand beside him. “What’s wrong, Luke?”
“I meant it, you know. What I said in there.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me into his arms. Clinging to me. Breathing me in with his face buried in my neck. “This has been one of the best days of my life, sunshine.”
“Mine too.” My admission came with a side of fear, though. Of worry. I curled myself into his hold, clutching his arms to me as we rocked with the pitter-patter of the rain on the roof. Wishing I could hang on to him every day but knowing that was a pipe dream. “What happens when it’s time to go back to the real world?”
“We go back together.” His words were so straightforward, so solid. So not doable.
“I live two hours away.”
He leaned down to kiss my neck. “We’ll make it work, Hannah. I promise.”
But as his hands slipped under my clothes, as he rubbed up and down my back right there
on the porch watching the rain, I worried.
Nothing could be as easy as his words implied. Life wasn’t that simple or guaranteed. We had another two days for sure, which was more than I could have hoped for. After that…
Well, there was no after that yet. There was hope and want, but no plan. No certainty. No forever.
It’d been hours—eleven, but who was counting?—since I’d last been inside Hannah. Sometime last night, it’d come to light that Barry had kicked Hannah out of his room when she’d talked to him yesterday, setting him straight about the fact that they were done. For good this time. Thank fucking God. But with the bridge to the mainland still flooded and keeping us all there, that’d meant she hadn’t had a place to sleep. Since we’d both agreed to keep this thing between us under wraps for the time being, I couldn’t exactly invite her to sleep with me. So I’d given her my room and gone to sleep in the basement.
Or that was what I’d told everyone.
Sometime around midnight, I’d snuck into the room, unable to deprive myself of her after going so long without. She’d welcomed me, spreading her legs wide as I’d slid into her bed, and then slid into the warm heaven of her pussy, cupping my hand over her mouth to keep her quiet, all the while whispering the multitude of things I’d wanted to do to her. Things I wanted to do to her right fucking now.
But it wasn’t going to happen. At least, not for a while. Not when we were in the kitchen surrounded by Jessica and Aaron, Barry roaming around being an asshole somewhere close. I couldn’t exactly pin her against the counter and bunny-fuck her like I wanted with all these witnesses. But, Jesus, I wanted. I was getting the shakes, like a junkie hungry for their next fix. It’d been too damn long since I’d felt her lips on mine, her fingernails digging into my ass, her breathy pleas begging me to go faster, deeper, don’t stop, never stop. As if I could.
Twelve years had come and gone since I’d first set my sights on Hannah, my interest piquing with something more than the platonic relationship we’d had. Twelve years I’d filled with work and friends and other women, and yet the thing I’d looked forward to the most had been some damn emails, a few texts, and a phone call once in a while if I was lucky. Anything where I could get a glimpse into her life. Anything that told me she was happy. That she was fulfilled and satisfied, even if it meant it wasn’t with me.
But all that contact had nothing on getting information from her in person. And it hadn’t even been what she’d said as much as everything she hadn’t. Her body language, her tired eyes the first night I’d seen her, how she’d curled into herself whenever Barry was around… She might love her job, but that was the only thing in her life that made her happy, all the while draining her.
Now, she sat at the small table in the breakfast nook, laughing at something Jessica said, not paying me any mind. Meanwhile, I couldn’t look anywhere but at her. Her head was tossed back, her shiny pink lips spread in a smile…so fucking beautiful. Her concern over what we’d do tomorrow when it was time for her to go back to the city, when it was time for me to go back to the brewery, to reality, just meant I had to be transparent in my intentions. Hannah wasn’t leaving Temperance Falls without knowing exactly what she meant to me—what she’d always meant to me. Now that I’d had her, now that I’d had a taste of what it’d be like to be with her? It’d take a damn force of nature to tear me away from her.
Despite the fact that she was my brother’s ex-girlfriend.
“Word to the wise,” Aaron said, breaking my trance. “Maybe try to be a little less obvious when Barry’s around.”
“Obvious about what?” I asked, not taking my gaze off Hannah, tracing my eyes over the column of her neck down to her chest, sure I could see the outline of her nipples through that shirt.
He snorted and leaned against the counter next to me. “Come on, man. She might be all the way across the room, but I’m surprised her clothes haven’t spontaneously combusted with how hard you’re eye-fucking her.”
I slid him a look, but he held up his hands and shook his head. “No qualms from me. I’ve always thought the two of you would be better together than her and that jackass. No offense.”
“Again, none taken.” I couldn’t care less if he called Barry every name in the book. Whatever he said would probably be true.
“So, what’s the plan?” He elaborated when I raised my eyebrows in response. “You and Hannah.”
I shrugged, hating the words even as I said them. “We thought it would be better not to make a big deal until after the weekend.”
“How do you think that’s going to go at the reunion tonight?”
“We’ll see if we can make it there, I guess.”
“Bridge is clear. I just got a message that the reunion is on.”
I blew out a breath, knowing it was going to be the hardest test of all. Being stuck in a house with all kinds of rooms we could disappear into was one thing. Being in a crowded space with her and not having her pressed against me? Not letting everyone know she was the one I wanted? It’d be difficult as hell, but we’d get through. We had to.
“It’ll go how it needs to go.”
“Let me ask you something,” Aaron said. “How long’s it been since Barry’s been back to the island? Been to visit your mom or stopped by the brewery?” The look he gave me said he already knew the answer.
Still, I said, “Never. He left and hasn’t been back once. Until now.”
Aaron hummed, tipping his chin down in a nod. “You wanna know what I think?”
My lips quirked at the sides. “I think you’re going to tell me no matter what.”
“You’re right. Seems to me he doesn’t deserve the loyalty you’re somehow still giving him. Something to think about.” He clapped his hand on my shoulder, then headed toward his wife and the woman who’d been my one true north for twelve years, the one I’d always kept in my sights even when I couldn’t reach her.
I let his words sink in, not realizing how much I’d needed to hear them until they’d been spoken. It helped me come to the conclusion I should’ve come to long ago. Barry was an asshole who cared about no one but himself. Family was a foreign concept to him, something born of obligation instead of loyalty. He hadn’t given me his in a long damn time—maybe ever.
It was time I stopped giving him mine.
I was sure this was a test. There was no other explanation for being forced to watch Hannah circle the room, laughing and talking with our classmates, many of whom we hadn’t seen in ten years, while not being able to touch her.
With the bridge clear, I’d finally been able to go home and change out of the clothes I’d been recycling for two days. Unable to find a good excuse for her to come with me, we’d agreed to meet back up at the reunion. I’d gotten there early after swinging by the brewery to make sure things were running smooth. AJ had practically pushed me out the door, and because I’d been so eager to have Hannah in my sights again, I went without complaint. And then she’d walked into the school right on time, looking like sex on heels and nearly making me fall to my goddamn knees.
Her hair was pulled back in a fancy looking ponytail, her lips brushed in something bright pink and shiny, her eyes dark and sexy. But it was the dress that did me in. Painted on her like a second skin, it stopped mid-thigh and dipped low at her chest—so low I knew there was no way she was wearing a bra. The subtle shadow of her tits in the deep V had given me my first hard-on of the night, and it hadn’t abated. The dress fit her like it’d been tailor-made for her, the pink pattern of it sparkling against the black backdrop. I wanted to rip it off her. Wanted to ruck it up against her waist, tug her panties to the side, and push into her snug little pussy, not stopping until we both got what we wanted. Until we were both breathing hard and sated, our names on each other’s lips.
And that was why I’d walked around for the past two hours rocking serious wood behind the zipper of my dark jeans and hoping like hell the lighting hid my reaction to her. I just had to make it a little whil
e longer, then I could make excuses, hoping Hannah did the same, and drag her back to my place.
That plan blew up in my face as I watched Barry strut over to her, tossing an arm around her shoulders as she talked to a couple people I vaguely recognized. Despite the way she shrugged him off, shooting him a look, despite the talk she’d already had with him, he still pushed himself on her. Still pretended they were an item and everything was fine.
Fuck. That.
I wanted to go over and shove him off her, wanted to press her right up against me where she belonged. But Hannah didn’t want to make a scene, so I stayed put, willing my feet to listen and not walk straight to her. Instead, I shot her a quick text. She ducked out from under Barry’s arm again and lifted her phone, glancing once at the screen before she sought me out in the gymnasium. When she found me, I tilted my head toward the exit. Her only answer was a quirk of her lips and the slight dip of her chin. That was all I needed.
With determination, I strode out of the gym after excusing myself from a conversation I was barely a participant in. Everything about the high school was still the same, so I knew exactly where I was headed, hoping the janitor’s closet on the far side of the school hadn’t been turned into something else. We’d called it the Boner Box in high school because it’d been where couples—or not-couples—would go to get their rocks off in the middle of the school day. Not the flowers and candles Hannah deserved, but I needed to be with her right fucking then, needed to remind myself Barry no longer had a hold on her.
When I got to the door, I sent up a silent plea as I turned the knob, blowing out a relieved breath when it opened with ease. I shot Hannah another text, letting her know where to find me. And then I waited.
A thousand heartbeats later, the knob turned before the door creaked open enough to show Hannah’s silhouette backlit by the lights in the hallway. I didn’t say anything as I yanked her into the room, shutting the door behind her and pressing her up against it.
