He held up his hands like my finger was a gun and shook his head, but I could’ve sworn I saw him trying to hold back laughter.
I stormed up the stairs. Maybe some doors below us were unlocked, and maybe I could even get to the lobby and escape from all of this, but I just wanted fresh air, and I knew the roof access had to be close. I started to feel how I'd overreacted and wished I'd taken a few more seconds to think, but pride and anger kept me from going back down and saying so. I had a right to be upset with him, but I could unfortunately see his side, too. William had put him in a crappy position, and he'd made the wrong choice, but it wasn't some malicious act. Forgiveness wasn't just an act of logic, though, and right now, my emotions were still broiling.
I pushed open the roof access door and wasn't sure if I should laugh or cry. Apparently, William planned to strand us together on the roof and force us into some kind of romantic evening.
The roof was decorated with string lights, candles, and flowers. Despite the size of the building, the only part of the roof that seemed accessible was just a little larger than two rooms side by side. The effect was a cozy, dream-like little slice of fantasy on top of New York City.
I jumped back in surprise when I saw Grammy standing by the table with a harmonica in her hand.
“Oh,” she said. “There were supposed to be two of you.”
“Uhh,” I took half a step back toward the door.
“Ryan paid me two hundred bucks to come up here and play some music for you two. I didn’t bother telling him I only play the harmonica.” She cackled and gave me a wink.
“Wait, Ryan paid you? He made it sound like William set all this up.”
“This was Ryan, honey. That boy really wants to get in your pants, in my expert opinion. When a man gets out the candles, it’s pretty much a flashing neon sign. They think if they make an effort, the least we can do is unzip and say thank you the way God intended.”
I felt my anger faltering against Grammy’s ridiculousness. “I never saw anything about that in the Bible.”
"Be fruitful and prosper. Something like that. Fruits are babies. You know how babies are made?" She held up one finger in the shape of a circle and pressed her index through it with raised eyebrows. "Beautiful, sweet, lovemaking. That's how. Let thine uglies bump upon the ugly of the hot guy I plugged in... well, shit, I don’t remember the exact verse. But it was something like that.”
“I don’t think there’s going to be any of that tonight,” I said.
“Speak for yourself. I’ve got a date after this gig.”
I opened my mouth, cringed a little, and then tried to do a manual shut-down on my imagination. “I meant between Ryan and I. We had a fight, I guess?”
“Well, good. Fights mean make up sex. Nobody has to formally apologize. You just get naked, do the deed, and then it’s implied that you’re both sorry, or else the sex wouldn’t have been so good.”
I laughed. “Is that also how God intended apologies?”
“No. That’s the way I intended them.” She raised her harmonica to her lips and belted out an ear-piercingly bad string of sounds, then gave me a wiggle of her eyebrows. “Now you let that boy apologize to you. Also, I ate all the shrimp because I got hungry. But there’s some crackers and wine on the table.”
She walked past me to the door and slapped my butt. “Cute little suit. What are you, a sperm?”
She closed the door behind her before I even had time to form a response.
I moved toward the table and saw the discarded tails of about three dozen shrimp. The woman had a serious appetite, apparently. I didn’t get a chance to straighten out my thoughts before the door to the roof opened again.
12
Ryan
Grammy had refused to explain why she was leaving early, or agreed to give me back my two hundred dollars when I passed her on the way up the stairs. I’d gone down a few flights of stairs and tried the doors, just to see if we were truly locked into this idiotic plan of mine. The apology hadn’t gone exactly as I’d imagined, and I thought maybe I could calm Emily down if I just took her back inside. Unfortunately, William seemed to have locked all the doors below us, too. For once in his life, the man had decided to be an overachiever, and he’d screwed me in the process.
I paused before the door to the roof and leaned my head against the metal. It had been so long since I’d felt anything close to this for a woman. Pushing down my feelings for Emily this long only seemed to make them bob back to the surface with even more intensity now that I’d let them out. In the back of my mind, I was still worried that I’d find a way to mess this up, too, but I didn’t want to stop. I still wanted this to work.
I could’ve strangled William. If he had just let things be, Emily wouldn’t have been pissed with me. Then again, I couldn’t put all the blame on him. If I hadn’t been a coward, I could’ve told Emily right away.
I opened the door and saw her standing by the table. She was still wearing the skin-tight suit of beige material she’d been wearing under her costume, and whether she realized it or not, she looked jaw-droppingly sexy. Every inch of her body was proudly on display, and I was having trouble thinking straight as I took it all in.
“There was supposed to be musical accompaniment,” I said, “But she had a hot date, apparently.”
Emily turned toward me. The city blazed with light behind her, and she looked like she’d been plucked straight out of a dream. “Your musician said I should let you apologize.”
“That was part of the plan here.” I gestured to the table, the lights, and the half-eaten food. “Apparently my musician wanted to make my job harder, though.”
“Well she helped me calm down, at least.” Emily looked thoughtful, then she gave me the faintest smile. “Actually, maybe it would be good for you to have to apologize. I let you off the hook for the cupcake incident in high school, and I was about to be too nice and say I forgave you for lying to me pretty much since the moment we met. But no, I want my apology.”
I nodded. “And you deserve it, because you deserve better than I’ve given you. You also deserve a guy who has the balls to come clean with you, even if he’s not sure you’ll stick around after the fact.”
She gestured for me to go on while still wearing that shadow of a smile on her lips.
“And you were the cutest, sexiest Bill of Rights I’ve ever seen.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “You’re getting warmer.”
“You make an even sexier sperm.”
“Colder.”
I took a step closer and she took a step back. I kept advancing until she bumped gently against the table, nearly knocking over the glasses of wine. “I’ve spent most of my adult life avoiding women and relationships because I was so sure they’d fail. I didn’t think it was worth the risk anymore. Or the time.”
“Colder?” she whispered.
“Ever since I met you, I’ve been trying to buy my own lie—that it wouldn’t work because it never has before, and that I was only setting myself up for failure. But I’m done lying, to you and to myself. You’re worth the risk.”
“Don’t you think it’d be a better apology if you said I wasn’t a risk at all?”
I grinned. Her tone was softening, and I could tell I was at least making a little progress. “You did say you were leaving for Paris in a few months. There’s always the risk that I won’t be willing to let you go, or that you won’t want to stay.”
“That thought has crossed my mind.”
“So what if I promise to let you decide when the time comes. No pressure. No convincing. Worst-case scenario, I get an amazing few months with you and we get to spend the holidays together, and then if you want to go, you go.”
“My worst-case scenario is that I don’t want to go. I let my dream die because I fall for a guy, and maybe three years from now we break up and I realize I made a huge mistake.”
I moved closer until I could feel the heat of her breath on my neck and the soft press of
her body against me. “It sounds like we’re a match made in heaven. All my relationships fall apart, and you don’t want it to last.”
She bit back a smile. “So we kiss like the room isn’t burning down around us?”
"Exactly." I cupped her chin and tilted her head up and took her lips in mine. She was soft. Warm. Absolutely delicious, and better than I'd ever imagined.
Hunger overcame me in a raw, blood-boiling instant. Adrenaline flooded through me and my head pulsed. All the suppressed feelings and urges of two weeks felt like two lifetimes as my hands roamed her like two starving animals with minds of their own. I cupped her ass and pushed her into me, but the bag of sugar in my baby carrier created a wedge between us.
Emily slid her hands around my back and gripped my baby carrier. “Would it be a turn on if I could undo this with one hand?” she asked.
“Absolutely.”
She wiggled her eyebrows and started fumbling with the straps. Her look of confidence slowly faded into frustration and then despair. After a minute of failed attempts, she put her other hand around my back and I heard a click and felt carrier slide off my shoulders. The bag of sugar thumped to my feet, where I scooted it away.
“I loosened it with one hand,” she said. She deepened her voice, “Are you not aroused?”
I choked out a laugh. “Was that a Maximus from Gladiator reference?”
“Okay, now I’m the one who’s aroused.”
“You mean you weren’t already?” I studied her face and ran my thumb over her already swollen and red lower lip. “I thought I was doing okay.”
“Hm, I’m not sure. I think I’ll need a few more samples before I make an official decision.”
I moved closer and felt my erection press into her stomach. She sucked in a surprised breath and locked eyes with me as her lips parted. “That feels more like a five-course meal than a sample.”
“Actually, you’re not supposed to eat it.”
She worked her lips to the side and scowled at me with amusement in her eyes. “I was just thinking about a taste.”
“Maybe if you play your cards right.”
I took her lips in mine again. I felt she still had words lingering there, but I couldn’t look at them another second without having more. I teased her tongue with mine as I lifted her up to sit her on the table. Plates and dishes clattered to the floor and broke.
“I promise, it’s not that my ass is big. This is just a small table,” she said.
“Can’t it be both?” I asked.
“Only if it’s the good kind of big.”
“I don’t know if you know this about asses, but there’s only one kind of big. And it’s good.”
She grinned. “Correct answer.”
“Do I get a prize?”
“Like what?”
“How about a few inches of that zipper on the back of your little body suit down?”
She looked up at me through her thick eyelashes, hesitating.
“I don’t know if you remember this, but we’re kind of on a deadline here. I don’t have the luxury of taking my time with you.”
“A few inches,” she said carefully.
I took the zipper at the back of her neck and started to pull it down. My eyes locked on the front of her body suit where the fabric began to release its grip on her chest and fall down. Her breasts caught it, giving me a tantalizing, but sadly PG-13 glimpse of her cleavage.
I stood between her open legs, painfully aware of how close I was to having every bit of her in every way that I wanted. I still wasn’t wanting to rush it, even if I was teasing her about it.
“And what do I need to do for my next prize?”
“Hmm,” she said, licking her lips slowly. “First, you need to get on your knees.”
I raised my eyebrows. Wasn’t expecting that. I did a quick check for any broken glass beneath me, then knelt down. “Okay…” I said, having to tilt my head up slightly to see her now.
“And apologize.” She said the words like a demand straight from the mouth of a queen. If it weren’t from the faintly mischievous look on her face, I’d almost have believed she was completely serious.
“I’m sorry I cupcaked your art in high school.” I kissed the inside of her thigh through her body suit, letting my hands wrap around her legs and force them open a little wider. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you William was staging stupid stunts to try to set us up.” I kissed my way a little higher. “I’m sorry I was dumb enough to think I didn’t want him to succeed at first.” I paused just between her legs so that my breath was warm against her. “And most of all, I’m sorry you didn’t let me unzip you all the way, because this would’ve felt a lot better if you had.”
Her surprised laughter cut short when I pressed my mouth against her and kissed the fabric between her legs. I could feel the heat radiating there, and I could even taste the faint hint of her sweetness already starting to make its way through her clothes. I explored with the tip of my tongue, feeling through vague hints of shapes beneath the clothing until I was sure I’d found her clit, where I circled for no more than two seconds before she grabbed me by the hair and pulled my head back.
“Okay. You win. All the prizes. Just unzip me and keep doing that.”
I pulled her to her feet, knocking more silverware from the table. I reached around and pulled the zipper down, peeling away her clothes like she was a piece of candy, and she might as well have been. I unwrapped her and helped her step out of the last of her costume before tossing it aside. Unfortunately, I threw it a little too hard. The breeze caught it and carried it over the edge of the roof.
Emily looked after it with a stunned expression.
I dragged my eyes across her body, taking in the lacy underwear she was wearing beneath. “I can get back on my knees to apologize for that, too, if you want.”
“Down,” she said, pushing my head down as she shimmied out of her panties.
She hopped back up on the table and let me press her legs apart. I took in the sight of her with a hungry smile. “Damn, is it too late to take back the part where I said I’d let you leave, no strings attached?”
“Yes, it’s too late,” she said. “Weren’t you supposed to be apologizing?”
I moved closer until her scent enveloped me. She smelled so fucking good. I traced a path up her folds with my tongue and then kissed her clit softly. I didn't move my lips away to speak so that the vibrations and movement would send chills through her. "I'm sorry I threw your sperm suit off the building. And I'm sorry you look so damn good in your underwear that I'm not actually sorry."
She laughed, but the sound was breathless and stilted as she arched her back and pressed herself into me. “Shitty apology.”
I sucked her into my mouth and swirled my tongue around her swollen bud, then kissed her deeply, letting my tongue explore every inch of her as I did. I paused just long enough to tease her. “I’m sorry my apologies suck.” I emphasized my horrible pun by taking her clit into my mouth again and sucking it against the base of my tongue.
Her entire body shuddered against me, and I was apparently doing a good enough job that she was too distracted to keep giving me a hard time about the quality of my apologies. Thankfully, I was also too distracted to think about how much I was already regretting the deal I’d had to make to get into this situation. It had all sounded easy enough to say, but was I really going to be able to let a girl like this walk away in just a few months?
13
Emily
Ryan was a magician with his mouth. I’d never exactly been in the hands of a man who came close to what I’d call a sexual expert, and I could tell Ryan was in an entirely different league in seconds. It wasn’t just his physical talents or how mouth-wateringly good he looked—even though he was still fully clothed somehow while I was almost totally naked. It was the connection that didn’t seem to stop sparking between us like a live, electrical current. Little more than a glance from him set my heart fluttering and my skin t
ingling with warm butterflies.
So when he finally put his mouth on me, it was an explosion. Maybe it was just trying to resist my natural urges to let something develop with him, or maybe it was all the times we flirted around the idea of it, but one way or another, he was amazing, and I was having a very hard time thinking I’d be ready to leave him behind in January.
I pushed that from my brain. I didn’t need to spoil this by thinking about the future, or thinking about anything for that matter.
I leaned my head back and let another moan slip out against my will. He was doing things to me with his tongue that I didn’t know a man could do. He swirled it inside me, sliding along my walls with the most wonderful kind of slick, warm friction I could’ve imagined. He kissed me there, hungrily even, like I was the most delicious thing he’d ever put his lips to. He blasted away any semblance of self-consciousness I might’ve had at being naked in front of him with how much he was obviously enjoying himself. Somehow, I thought he was enjoying going down on me as much as I was enjoying it.
I was able to lean back and enjoy myself with no sense of being rushed and no hint that he was just waiting for me to give him permission to stop. It was pure ecstasy. Before long, I was quivering against him, thighs scissoring his head as he licked and kissed me to my first climax.
“I don’t think it’s supposed to feel that good,” I breathed through the aftershocks of my orgasm.
He stood and kissed me while the taste of me was still on his lips. It was dirty, and any other time, I might’ve thought it was gross, but he made it feel like the sexiest thing in the world. I felt my core clenching all over again and my stomach rage with heat.
“Do I get to make you earn every piece of clothing I take off?” he asked. “Or maybe a few apologies?”
“As far as you’re concerned, I’m as innocent as a baby in all of this. You’re the bad boy.”
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