“Peyton,” I said, my lips hovering just above the ridge of her ear.
“Bryce,” she whispered, her shoulders now rising and falling in slow deep movements with every breath.
“You can’t keep running.”
“I...I’m not running,” she said in a frail voice.
Releasing her hips, I spun her around and took her chin in my hand. “Sure about that?”
Peyton’s chest heaved up and down with deep breaths, and the flush crept slowly up her neck and then onto her face again. She jerked back.
“I thought we settled everything between us.”
“We settled nothing. Just stirred up a bunch of shit and left all these questions lying around.”
“Questions?”
“Yeah, questions I plan to get answers to.”
“What type of questions?” she asked nervously.
“Questions like what do you taste like here.” Dipping my head, I licked her earlobe.
My hands moved to her waist, pulling her against me. “Questions like how you’ll react when you feel how bad I want you.”
My dick pressed into the apex of her thighs, causing her breathing to increase and her eyes to drift closed.
“And questions like will you still sound the same when I do this,” I said, tweaking her nipple and pinching it between my thumb and forefinger.
“Mmha,” she moaned and bit her bottom lip.
“Or how that little spot tastes whenever you bite down on your bottom lip, and a speck of blood rises there,” I said, licking her bottom lip slowly.
Peyton’s eyes fluttered open after I moved back. Heavy with desire, they looked like the swirls in the sky after a summer storm.
Biting on my lip, I reached out and thumbed her other nipple, rubbing it until it became particularly hard.
“Did you miss me?” I asked, pulling her against me once more.
Peyton planted her hands against my chest, putting some space between us, forcing me to drop my hand.
“I can’t do this with you, Bryce.”
“Why not?”
“You know why. We want very different things, and I can’t reconcile what you want with what I need.”
Grasping her hands in mine, I interlaced my fingers through hers. “How would you know what I want and whether or not I can meet your needs if you haven’t even given us a shot?”
“Because I know that I’m not willing to be what you’re looking for, Bryce. Besides, I’ve got a lot going on in my life lately.”
I took a step back and rubbed the back of my neck. “Yeah, I know.”
“You know?”
“Summer Cove is a small town, and yes, I’ve heard that your ex-husband is here. That he’s been here to see you. Is that why you can’t be what I’m looking for?”
I felt as if my heart stopped beating while I waited for her response, scared that if it beat too loudly, I might not hear her.
Pulling her hands through her hair, she said, “No. It’s not about Jacob at all, Bryce.”
“Then what is it about, PJ? Because I don’t understand.”
“It’s about you, okay!” she shouted, pointing a hand at me. “It’s about you and how I feel about you, and how I’ve always felt about you.”
“How you’ve felt about me, PJ? How is that? Because I don’t even know. When I think I do, you push me away again,” I said in a husky tone drawing close to her once more.
Pulling her lip in between her teeth, she shook her head as she nervously glanced away from me.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“How is it, PJ?”
“I said it doesn’t matter.”
“Oh, but it does. It’s the only thing that matters.”
I could feel the heat growing between us, something brand new blossoming and springing forth. A bud breaking its head through the packed down drifts of snow as in the early days of spring.
Heat rushed to her cheeks, turning the burnished bronze skin of her late summer tan to a deep rose.
“I spent all of our freshman, sophomore, and junior years in college watching you go from one girl to the next. Then finally, in our senior year, you looked as if you were ready to settle down, and the person you chose was my best friend. You looked right over me. You never saw me,” she said on a whisper, tears falling from her eyes.
“I didn’t know, Peyton. I swear, I never knew.”
“Because you didn’t want to know, Bryce. All the signs were there. I did everything imaginable to make sure that you knew how I felt, yet, you failed to notice.”
“I would’ve just hurt you. We both know that I wasn’t ready for anything serious and that you would only get your heart hurt messing with a guy like me. I wanted you, too. All those times I’d flirt with you in college wasn’t about my damn books. It was about how I felt about you. But I knew you wouldn’t risk a chance on us. You were always caught up in what others thought.”
“What about Jackie? If you were so into me, how could you get with my best friend and try to have a serious relationship?”
“When I chose to get with Jackie, it wasn’t a slight against you. Just someone that I wanted to get with, who I was attracted to. To fuck her. Nothing more at first. My initial attempt to be faithful was only because she was your best friend, and I didn’t want to create shit for you. Then I challenged myself to see if I could do it and for how long. But it wasn’t to slight you, PJ.”
She let out a sarcastic laugh, wiping away her tears. “Believe it or not, I tried telling myself the same thing. It didn’t work, though. It didn’t stop me from wanting you. It never stopped my desire to be with you and wish that I were in Jackie’s shoes.”
“But Jacob?”
“Was a diversionary tactic to keep my heart intact and my thoughts off of you. A fine lot of good that did me,” she said, walking to her desk and grabbing tissues from a box.
I walked up to her pressing my hand over hers. “You started a relationship with and married a man to stop thinking about me?”
“No! Not to stop thinking about you, Bryce. To stop loving you,” she said in a whisper.
Fuck! What was I supposed to do with that?
CHAPTER 19 – PEYTON
DAMN! WHY’D THE AIR have to choose now to go out?
Labor Day weekend was always one of the hottest weekends of the year, despite the fact the summer was coming to a close. Or maybe, it just felt like it. No, today was the hottest.
There were parties all over the town, but I was skipping those and supposed to be going to the one at Bryce and Bishop’s family summer home.
We’d come to some sort of impasse, neither of us deciding what we would do about “us.”
I knew Bryce was scheduled to pick me up in an hour, but I couldn’t bring myself to move two steps. It seemed as if every step I took, it stirred the heat up more and caused the temperature to increase another five degrees.
I’d made it from my bed lying underneath the ceiling fan to the kitchen long enough to get some ice cubes. Suckling one in my mouth, I held the other against the nape of my neck.
This heat was driving me insane. I’d even contemplated chopping off my hair and going bald. Gianna told me I was going insane, and I should just come to her place. I didn’t want to do that either.
This heat had me feeling lethargic, and I didn’t want to move at all. It was too hot to think, too hot to move, and too hot to eat. Leaning forward in the chair I straddled, I pushed the button on the ice dispenser and grabbed a couple more cubes.
I slipped one down the front of my panties and slid the other over and under my breasts.
“Damnit!” I groaned when I heard the doorbell rang.
I wasn’t expecting any visitors any time soon. Scampering to the front door in nothing but my panties, I decided to peer out the peephole and tell them to go away.
But when I got there, I saw Bryce standing on my front porch.
Shit! Shit! Shit!
The last couple of days between us
had been intense. We’d spent time at Brighton Park swinging and walking through the park, reminiscing on old times. Slowly we’d begun to rebuild the friendship of our past, and bit by bit, Bryce found a way around the wall protecting my heart.
I’d never meant to say that I loved him the day he showed up at my office. But I couldn’t hide the truth any longer. The way he’d kept pressing me to open up to him, I needed him to know just how fragile I was.
He needed to understand how easy it was for him to break me. And selfishly, I’d hoped after my confession he’d be scared off. But there was no such chance.
If anything, he drew closer, and my poor heart couldn’t continue to hide behind the walls I’d erected to keep Bryce out.
“Peyton, I know you’re in there. I saw the peephole go dark,” his voice said from the other side.
“Okay, but I’m not quite ready yet.”
“It’s okay; I can wait for you.”
“Umm...I’ll unlock the door, but please count to fifteen before opening it. Okay?”
“Is everything okay?” he called back.
“Yes, but just promise me you’ll wait?”
“Sure.”
I unlocked the door and slid the latch out of place. Turning, I ran across the floor and made it to the edge of the living room before slipping on a wet spot on the wood floors.
My feet slid from underneath me, and I landed hard on my back and behind. Tears stung my eyes, and I bit down on my bottom lip, tasting the salty metallic taste of the blood that rose to the surface.
I knew the wet spot was created from the ice cubes that were dripping on my way into the living room.
I had no time to ponder that because I was running out of time. Those fifteen seconds would be up at any moment. Quickly I maneuvered onto my hands and knees, deciding I’d nurse the bruises I was sure would come later.
The sound of the door opening caused me to freeze in place.
Ass in the air, hands on the floor, my mouth fell open when I heard, “Peyton?”
I stood up and crossed my arms over my bare breasts, staring at him over my shoulder. “I said, fifteen,” I moaned.
“I did count to fifteen. What the hell’s going on?” he asked, looking around my living room and then back at me.
“The air’s broken. And it was hot, and I decided not to get dressed until it was time for you to get here. But you got here too early.”
“Oh,” he said with a nod of his head. “Why were you on the floor?”
Sighing, I hung my head. “I fell.”
Why did I say that? In three quick strides, Bryce was by my side, turning me around and holding me by the shoulders.
“Are you okay?” he asked, worry tinting his eyes.
“Yes. Or I will be. I’d just like to get on some clothes, please,” I said, glancing down at my barely covered breasts.
Mistake.
Bryce looked down, too but not instantly back up. He licked his bottom lip and chuckled.
“What’s so funny?” I asked, looking down at my breasts, spilling through my hands again.
“Uh...nothing. Nothing.”
“Nothing? What do I look funny to you? My body?” I asked in horror.
Bryce jerked his head back and frowned. “What? Hell, no. Your body is...” he reached up and pulled my hands away from my breasts and stared at them for several uncomfortable seconds, and then at me. “Perfect.”
“Huh?”
Bryce cleared his throat. “Peyton, I said, your body is perfect. If the way that I’ve loved on you doesn’t show it, then let me tell you. Everything about you is perfect,” he said. “From your highbrow to your rounded cheekbones shaped like the perfect apples. Perfection is etched all over your heart-shaped face in the definition of your delicately arched eyebrows, your sparkling eyes as blue as Deer Lake in Michigan. Your lips so plump and kissable...and fuckable,” he said.
The moisture growing in my panties had nothing to do with that ice I’d slipped down there moments ago.
“But nothing like the women you’re used to dating.”
“You know shit about that, PJ. I’ve dated women in all shapes, sizes, and colors. I don’t discriminate. When I get with a woman, it’s about the attraction I have to her, which can be physical or intellectual. But with you...it’s spiritual. It’s in my soul,” he said.
My breathing grew deeper as Bryce lowered his head and kissed my forehead, my nose, and finally, my lips. I stood in place scared to breathe, scared to move, scared to participate, scared to remember how I’d felt the night of the fire.
I tried to relax as he brushed his lips across mine, his breath warming my lips. Then hotter still when his tongue licked my lips, moistening them.
Bryce slowly dragged his mouth away and rested his forehead against mine. Lazily his finger traced a trail down my shoulder to my fingertips before he clasped them with his own.
Pulling my hand up, he kissed each of my fingertips while he looked into my eyes. Wrapping one arm around my waist, Bryce began sucking my fingers.
“Bryce,” I moaned.
“Always beautiful. Always perfect. Don’t you ever forget that.”
I closed my eyes, not sure how to walk away from this moment.
“C’mere,” Bryce said, tugging my hand and leading me into the kitchen.
I watched as he pressed the ice button and allowed a few cubes to fall out into his hands.
“Open your mouth.”
I obeyed, allowing him to slip the ice cube inside of my mouth. Moaning, I suckled on it.
“Damn,” he muttered.
Slipping another ice cube across my shoulder, Brice’s gaze pierced mine.
“That feel good?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“How about this?” he asked, taking another ice cube and sliding it between my breasts.
Dropping my head back, I hissed, “yes.”
My shyness and feelings of reservation fell away as I fell under Bryce’s spell.
Bryce drew near me; his tongue tracing the path of the ice cube. He was heating my body again but in a different, better way.
My fingers cupped the back of his head, and then my nails raked across his short haircut. His hair was soft and warm.
It felt as if everything was happening in slow motion as Bryce lowered to his knees. The ice cube was melting.
Leaning back, he stretched his long arm out and pressed the button once again. This time one ice cube fell into his hand. I watched as he popped it into his mouth before dragging my panties down.
Suddenly shy, I clenched my legs together and gasped.
Patiently, Bryce pulled them apart again. Ducking his head, he clamped his lips on my mound before dipping further. It wasn’t long before I felt the coolness of the ice cube combined with the warmth of his mouth on my core.
I shuddered, my hands grasping his head tightly. Nothing had ever felt this delightful.
My hips worked back and forth with a mind and a will of their own. I couldn’t control them if I wanted to. And I didn’t want to.
Not with the way he was kneeling before me and baptizing my body with his mouth.
The heat of the house, the plans to go to the island, all of that was long forgotten as he continued to lick. Suck. Drink. Every ounce of my natural juices flowing from my pussy.
Damn, he was so good at what he did. The feeling of the ice and the heat on me at the same time was more than I could take. But as it melted, I felt his movements slow down.
My eyes flew open as I watched him remove a peppermint from his pocket. It was too difficult to ask him what he was doing because I was still trying to regulate my breathing.
Unwrapping and then popping the peppermint in his mouth, he latched onto me one more time.
“Goddamnit!” I screamed as he sucked and licked away at me with his long wide tongue, the peppermint on the tip.
Bryce’s fingertips dug into my asshole as loud, slurping noises emanated from his mouth. It was more than I could take
. Within seconds I was screaming, and my juices were leaking all over his lips and tongue.
“You good?” he asked when I’d calmed down.
“Yes. What are you doing?” I asked, watching as he pulled his t-shirt off and began pushing his basketball shorts down.
“You’re right. It’s getting hot as hell in here,” he said in his deep, Southern drawl I loved so much.
CHAPTER 20 – BRYCE
I DIDN’T COME OVER here for this.
I didn’t come to Peyton’s house today with the intention of fucking her. I planned to pick her up, hit the road, and head out to the family beach house for the wedding weekend for my brother and future sister-in-law. I wanted to show her that I could be all about her without it being physical.
But then she went and answered the door, telling me to hold the fuck on. Jealousy spiraling in me had me wondering if she was ushering some other man out the back door.
And then I went and opened the door. And there she was. Those minuscule panties and her ass in the air like it was looking to be filled with dick. I was supposed to be hitting the road to make it to the island on time, to avoid pissing off my mom.
So, no, there was no way I was supposed to be here fucking Peyton, devouring her pussy like a hungry man, and getting ready to go balls deep inside of her.
But there was no way when the opportunity was laid out for me that I was going to pass it up.
Being an erotic romance author wasn’t something that I just happened upon. I started as a contemporary fiction author writing a little of everything. But as my audience grew, I noticed that it was sixty -three percent women and thirty-seven percent men.
The more I worked on honing that target audience and refining my works; the more romance reared its head. That shit came easy to me, but I was surprised at how quickly my audience grew when I changed my focus to writing to market.
I’d always loved women and specialized in knowing and understanding them.
What women wanted was to be appreciated, to feel beautiful, and to know they were wanted. They didn’t always enjoy sweet, simple lovemaking. Sometimes they did when they simply needed to be adored.
But more often than not, they were looking for a man that would fuck up their hair, make tears seep from their eyes, cause their legs to shake, make their pussy sore for days, and make them do shit they swore to their girls they’d never do.
Undeniable: A Friends To Lovers Romance (Love Desired Book 4) Page 13
