by L. E. Bross
Avery let go of my hand and stepped next to the bed. With a quick look at me from under her eyelashes, she reached down and grabbed the hem of her T-shirt and pulled it up. Slowly. Inch by agonizing inch, she exposed her bare skin.
My mouth went dry. Soft curves caught the strips of light coming in between the window blinds. It looked like some kind of fantastical corset, hugging her middle. My fingers itched to run over the lines on her body.
The shirt went higher and she pulled it over her head, then dropped it at her feet. She didn’t try to cover up, just stood there while I got drunk off looking at her.
“Nothing I imagined even comes close to how fucking hot you look right now.” I heard my voice, heard the harshness in it, and realized I sounded mad. I started to apologize, but Avery looked over at me.
I saw glittering desire in her eyes.
She lifted her hand toward me, and I was drawn to her. When I slid my fingers between hers, an uncontrollable fierceness flooded my entire body. Then she ran her nails down over my chest, and my ability to breathe left me entirely.
“Fuck, baby,” I murmured, “you’re killing me.” Her lips twisted in a wicked grin, and I leaned in close. “And I can’t think of a better way to go.”
She laughed, and I felt like beating on my chest.
“Oh, that’s funny, is it?” I grabbed her around the waist and threw her onto the middle of the bed. Before she could scramble back up, I was on her, nudging her thighs open with my leg so that I could nestle between them. I slid my hands up her sides, then around to cup her breasts.
She arched up and moaned when I ran my thumbs over both hard tips.
This Grant guy must have been fifty shades of idiot to screw Avery over. I pinched and rolled her nipples until she closed her eyes and thrust her hips against my dick.
I could feel the heat, the wetness, seeping through the fabric of her shorts. Her breathing grew harsher, and she gripped the blanket in her fists at her sides.
“Lift your hips.” When she did, I pulled her shorts completely off. I was right. She didn’t have on anything underneath. Before anything else happened, I wanted to see her come apart again. I ran my hand back down between her legs. She was so wet. So ready. My finger slipped easily inside her.
“Open your eyes, baby,” I whispered. “I want to watch you.”
Her eyelids fluttered, and finally her gaze rested on me. When I was sure I had her attention, I drew back, then slid back in slow. I loved the way her breath caught in her throat. How her body arched into my touch.
Soft whimpers fell from her lips, and her eyes drifted shut. I stopped moving.
“Eyes open. On me, Avery.”
She groaned in protest, but once again she looked at me.
I don’t know where the control came from. Sure, giving pleasure was fun, I wasn’t a selfish prick with women, but this was more of a need. I needed Avery to feel everything. I needed her to know who was making her come.
I wanted to claim that part of her. Give her something no one else had. I wanted to make her mine, but I pushed that desire deep inside. I had no right to feel that way. I could give her nothing but this.
My fingers dipped into her willing body, and her soft whimpers filled the room. Slick walls gripped my fingers when I dragged across the nerves centered on the upstroke.
“Oh, God,” she whimpered, her eyes wide but unfocused.
Her body tensed and sweat glistened on her face. She twisted the blanket in her fists. It took everything I had to keep driving my fingers into her. I wanted to pull off my jeans and sink between her legs. Drive something else into her until she sobbed my name.
I gritted my teeth. No. Not until she shattered on my fingers.
I flicked my thumb over her clit on the outstroke. Her body tensed. I did it again. Her eyes got wider, wilder. She panted in and out, trying to stay focused on my face.
“Seth. Oh, God, please.” Her hips started rocking. “Don’t stop,” she gasped. “Please. Don’t. Stop.”
I couldn’t if I wanted to. I had to see her come apart more than I needed to breathe.
“Let go, sweetheart. I got you.”
“Seth,” she whimpered. Her whole body shook.
“I got you, Avery. I won’t let you go. I promise, baby.”
Her gaze met mine, and she arched off the bed, a loud cry coming from someplace deep inside her. I saw it all. Like fireworks were going off behind her eyes. Blood surged to my dick, making it ache. Her slick insides gripped and squeezed my fingers, growing even wetter with her release.
When the tremors slowed, I slid my fingers gently out of her and slowly climbed up her body. I pressed my lips against her glistening skin until I reached her breasts. The hard peaks rolled on the tip of my tongue, and Avery gasped.
I felt her hands tangle in my hair, pulling me closer, holding me against her chest.
“I want you so bad,” she said.
“I want you too, baby.” I moved from her breasts to her neck, then to her lips. They were so soft, giving, under mine. I ran my tongue between them, and she opened immediately. She tasted so fucking sweet.
Her fingers were at my waist, fumbling with the zipper on my jeans. I leaned up on my elbows, giving her the room she needed to push them down my hips. I had to roll over and kick them off myself, but she came with me, lying across my chest.
She pressed kisses over my shoulders, then down the middle of my chest. Her fingers ran down the ridges of each muscle, making them jump under her touch. When she slid lower, her mouth trailing hot kisses to my stomach, it was my turn to twist the blanket in my fists.
“Look at me.” Her voice was husky, and it scraped across my skin.
I lifted my head and watched her. A wicked glint played in her eyes. I groaned when her breasts dragged across my dick, but it was nothing compared to when her hot mouth closed over the tip.
“Fuck.” The word hissed out from between my clenched teeth. My eyes drifted shut at the surge of pure pleasure.
“Keep your eyes open, baby.”
Goddamn, she was fiery. Turned my own game against me. A low groan rumbled through my chest, but I opened my eyes.
“That’s better.” She smiled with a mouthful of my cock and it was the fucking sexiest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. I’d let her play this out a little longer. Then I was going to flip her over and show her just how much I wanted her.
Except she opened wider and slowly slid her mouth over on the entire length of me.
Air stuttered in my lungs.
Lights danced in my vision.
What the fuck was my name?
“Enough,” I growled.
“I’m not . . .” Avery didn’t get a chance to argue.
I sat up, grabbed her under the arms, and flipped her over. I moved my hands to the insides of her thighs and pushed them wide open. Wedging my thighs between hers, I reached across to the nightstand and grabbed a condom.
The package tore easily and I rolled it on.
“Seth.”
Her whispered moan sank down to my bones. How could I deny her anything?
I ran the tip of myself up her folds, making sure to drag slower over her clit. She groaned, her breath coming out faster now. My muscles tightened. This was torturing me as well, and I was too selfish to wait any longer.
With my hands on the insides of her thighs, I sank myself into her.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Seth
“I’ve got to go meet someone,” I whispered in Avery’s ear.
Sun shone brightly through the windows, and I knew it had to be at least ten in the morning. I can’t remember the last time I slept so well. No wonder, though. I couldn’t seem to get enough of Avery last night, and judging by how many times she fell apart around me, she’d felt the same way.
“Stay,” she protested sleepily, tracing her fingers down my bare chest.
I groaned and told myself to get the hell out of bed. I leaned over and pressed my lips to her should
er. “You sleep, baby. I’ll come back later, promise. If you want me to, that is.”
Awake now, Avery pushed to sitting. Her hair was a halo of tangled curls around her head and there was a crease along her cheek from the pillow. Even first thing in the morning she looked sexy as fuck.
Last night she had looked like an angel when she fell asleep. I lay next to her and stared for a good hour, knowing that I was sinking into creeper territory, but I couldn’t stop. She was so fucking beautiful.
Everything about last night was perfect.
Like I was dreaming or something, because guys like me definitely don’t get chances like that. I didn’t want to fall asleep because I was afraid when I woke up, I’d be in my crappy apartment, alone.
I couldn’t remember the last time I felt so relaxed around someone besides Ryan. I’ve never told anyone that when I was five, I had a stuffed dog I named Cat. Avery almost fell on the floor she laughed so hard. I kept telling her silly secrets just to watch her laugh again.
“I’m awake now,” she said with a naughty smile. She ran her fingers up over my thigh and stopped right before the noticeable bulge in my boxers.
I grabbed her hand before she could touch me, because if she did, there was no way in hell I’d be on time to meet Jim.
“Nope,” I said, pulling her fingers to my mouth, where I kissed the tip of each one. “I have to get dressed.”
“Me too.”
I watched her walk away from me, in just a tiny pair of pale pink panties and a tank top. Now, that was a view I could get used to seeing every morning. Avery tossed a flirty smile over her shoulder and disappeared through the doorway.
I exhaled and fell back onto the bed, lacing my fingers behind my head. What the fuck was I doing? She and I, we wouldn’t have the happily-ever-after fairy tale ending. In reality, it never worked that way. But I was one hundred percent with Avery using me to get whatever itch needed to be scratched out of her system. Girls like her fooled around with guys like me, but they ended up with the ones who could give them big houses and fancy cars.
I heard the shower start and could picture her under the water, rubbing soap all over her body. Shit. I reached down and adjusted my dick, which hadn’t calmed down since waking up next to her.
Tonight I planned on laying her out on this bed and making her scream all night long. Again. Just the anticipation of sinking into her made me harder than I thought possible. I sat up and grabbed my jeans from the floor. It was going to be a tight fit.
By the time Avery stepped out of the bathroom, I was dressed and had my raging hard-on partially under control. Until I saw her. She’d twisted her hair up into some kind of knot on the top of her head and had on a short but not too short denim skirt. The top she had on only had one shoulder, and the other side tucked under her arm and framed her breasts.
She had on the same sandals that laced up her calves.
Stupid-assed me couldn’t find my tongue to tell her how amazing she looked.
“You look amazing,” I finally managed to croak out.
A blush crawled up her cheeks, and her gaze dropped to somewhere around my nose. She got the same look whenever I told her that. As if she didn’t know it. Girls like her always did. And yet . . . her embarrassment seemed genuine.
“I’m not just saying that, you know. You really are beautiful. Inside and out.” Jesus, I sounded like some corner store discount card, but I meant it. I’d never met anyone like Avery before. She was good, and not just on the surface. It wasn’t an act either. I know because I’d been watching her for weeks while we were working, and no one can pull off acting nice all the time.
Eventually they slip up.
Davis was one of those assholes. He’d pretended to be a good guy at first. Hell, I even liked him, and he made my mom happy. It wasn’t long before his true colors came out, though. Then the drugs started, but Mom was too far gone on his lies. She trusted him and it killed her.
Davis was going to fucking pay for what he did to my family.
Soft fingers wrapped around my hand and brought me back to the present.
“Everything okay?” Avery asked.
I looked down and saw both my hands had clenched into tight fists. Tension sat on my shoulders, and I knew I was probably glaring. With a deep inhale, I shrugged it off as best I could.
I relaxed my fingers and threaded them with hers.
“Everything is perfect. Now I really have to go before I’m late.” I tugged her out of the bedroom and down the hall. She stood on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around my neck. I could get used to that.
All of it.
“You want to come over for dinner?” she asked. “There is still the eggplant that we didn’t get to eat last night.”
“Dessert first?” I bent down and pressed my lips against the pulse beating in her neck.
“Maybe.” Her grin turned coy, and she pushed me backward toward the door.
“I might be back in time for lunch, you know.”
Avery threw back her head and laughed. I fucking loved that sound. After one last kiss, I made myself leave her place and headed down the steps. My truck stuck out like a sore thumb among all the fancy imports.
I glanced up as the engine turned over slowly, and Avery smiled and gave me a small wave from her balcony. She looked gorgeous standing there. And she was looking at me.
Christ. I’d stepped out of a prison cell and into a freakin’ alternate reality. No other explanation. It took fifteen minutes to get to Jimmy’s, and I pulled into the half-empty parking lot. Even on a Saturday morning at eleven there were people drinking already.
I killed the engine and sat with my hands on the steering wheel. Everything was riding on this. Sara’s future was inside that bar. My hands shook as I pulled the keys out of the ignition. This had to work.
I headed inside. The clink of glasses and pool balls greeted me. Jim was behind the bar, and several guys sat in front of him, their hands wrapped around half-full glasses.
“Right on time,” Jim said when he saw me. “You’re already doing better than half my staff.” He chucked the towel under the bar and nodded his head to the guy at the other end of the bar. “Can I get you a drink before we talk?”
“Nah, I’m good.”
I followed Jim over to a quiet table in the corner of the room. “So, I think I got an offer for you. The missus has been on my ass to cut back here and spend some time with her. I need a manager, someone I can trust to keep everyone in line. I can’t imagine any of the locos having enough sense to do it right, but I know you and you’re a good kid and I think it’s about time someone gives you a break.”
The charity part of this didn’t sit well with me, but I really didn’t have a choice. I needed a job to earn enough money for that damned lawyer’s fee. If it meant getting Sara away from Davis, I’d shovel shit if I had to.
“What are you looking at? I still have a few weeks of CS left so I can’t do days.”
“I’m talking about nights. Six to one Wednesday through Saturday. One fifty a night.”
Numbers flew through my head, and my jaw almost hit the table. Six hundred dollars a week? Was he fucking for real?
“You’re shittin’ me, aren’t you?” This had to be a joke.
“Nope. It’s not gonna be easy money, though. Inventory and ordering and making sure no assholes leave the place so drunk our license is on the line. I got three night waitresses, and sometimes the customers get a little too friendly with them, but they’ll let you know if they need your help. They’re pretty good at handling themselves,” he said with a chuckle. “You might be filling in behind the bar if it gets busy, or delivering food, or whatever else needs to be done. Cleaning up after close is a team effort, so it don’t usually take too long. Walk the girls to their cars after shift. That’s just something I do and I expect you to do the same.”
I nodded in agreement.
Jim grinned broadly and smacked me between the shoulder blades. “Well, if
you’re crazy enough to take it, let me get the paperwork. You can start Friday night, trial by fire and see what you think.”
Jim laughed and walked into the back, and I sat in the chair, trying to wrap my head around this. Not only did I have a job, but a fucking great-paying one that would get me the money I needed in two weeks. Two weeks and then I could start thinking about saving Sara from that asshole Davis.
My phone buzzed as I waited for Jim, and a glance told me I had a text from Avery.
I have a surprise for you. Meet me back at my place at two if you’re feeling adventurous. ;P
I couldn’t keep the grin off my face.
Nothing in my life had ever gone this good.
Between Avery and this job, I actually felt like I might have a fucking chance at a future.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Avery
I sent the text to Seth, then threw on a pair of denim shorts and a T-shirt, grabbed my purse, and ran out the door. I already knew exactly what I needed and where we were going.
I missed him as soon as he left, a feeling I never had with Grant, and had been racking my brain for an excuse to spend the day with him when it hit me.
There was someplace I wanted him to see. A place I’d never taken anyone to before.
The corner grocery a few blocks from my place was small, but it had an excellent selection of food and wine.
I grabbed a basket and started looking for everything I’d need for the impromptu picnic I had planned. I grabbed some apples and a bunch of grapes, then went to the back of the store where I knew I could find a gorgeous selection of cheeses and fresh loaves of crusty bread.
I knew I was grinning like an idiot, but I couldn’t help it. I felt . . . amazing. Not just from all the orgasms, although that had been better than I could have ever imagined.
I liked Seth. A lot. Liked spending time with him, liked cooking with him, and I loved falling asleep in his arms. I shook my head and picked through the cheese. Brie was my favorite, but that needed to be warm and melted. With the apples and bread, an aged sharp cheddar would be perfect.
A couple of bars of dark chocolate and, on a whim, some fresh strawberries, and I was done. It was going to be perfect.
