by Melody Anne
I didn’t owe that scumbag a thing. I clenched my fingers. All I needed was five minutes. I could make sure that asshole never touched anyone again.
Ryan must have seen the direction of my thoughts because he nudged my shoulder. “You do everything the right way and Sara will be safe. I got your back, man.” Ryan waved to get the bartender’s attention and raised two fingers for another round. “So I stopped by last night with a six-pack and no one was home.”
“I was out. Well, in, actually.” I grabbed my beer and took a huge swallow. Ryan was my best friend, had been all my life, but for the first time I didn’t want to share the details. It wasn’t because I didn’t want him to know Avery and I hooked up—he’d probably high five me and tell me good job. Yet somehow this felt private, like something I wanted to keep all to myself. But he was Ryan: either I’d tell him or he would force it out of me.
“I was with Avery.”
Ryan choked when he tried to swallow. “Seriously? Holy shit, I didn’t see that coming. I thought you wrote her off. What happened?”
“I stopped pissing her off and found out she’s a really nice person.” With a shrug, I finished my beer and thumped the bottle on the table. The waitress came by and dropped off our burgers and fries. The food on the inside wasn’t great by any stretch, so I could eat a burger every day for the rest of my life and never get sick of it.
“Whoa. So you were with her last night? All night?” Ryan let out a long, low whistle. “You have got to tell me how this went down, since you swore up and down she was trouble.”
“Turns out she’s not exactly what I thought she was. She makes me forget when we’re together, you know.”
I caught the waitress’s eye, who asked if we needed anything else, emphasis on the anything. She was a cute brunette in a tight black T-shirt, and I could see the blatant invitation in her eyes.
I picked up a fry. “All good, thanks.”
Her smile dimmed just a bit. “No problem. Let me know if you need anything else.” With a wink, she moved back toward the kitchen.
“Holy shit, you’ve got it bad,” Ryan said with another low whistle. “The Seth I know would have been all over that. Hell, the old you would have had her in the bathroom backed up against the wall by now.”
He was right. I glanced at the girl, who pushed through the swinging doors. She definitely would have been my type, but looking at her now did nothing for me.
The only person I wanted was Avery.
We finished our food, and when I reached for the check, Ryan grabbed it. “Working boy can get it next time,” he said with a grin.
Christ, I didn’t deserve a friend like him.
“Next time is on me. And thanks for everything else, Ry. You’re the only one who stuck around, and I really appreciate it.” I slid off the seat and pulled my keys out of my pocket. I purposefully had only one beer and left the second round on the table untouched, since Avery had said she’d call me when the party was over to come by.
“Hey, Seth,” Ryan said just before I walked off. “Be careful, okay? I know how screwed up Melissa made you, and I can tell that Avery is already a lot deeper under your skin.”
I clasped him on the shoulder. “If it helps at all, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing anyway. Not like I need any more complications in my life right now. But I didn’t go looking for anything and neither did Avery, so we both figure we’ll ride this ride as long as it goes.”
“Long as you both know it, then have fun, my friend. Let me know if you need anything.”
“Will do.”
I tapped my thumbs on the steering wheel the entire drive home, hoping to be waylaid by a call from Avery. But by the time I pulled onto my street, my phone was still silent. Maybe swanky dinner parties did go until all hours of the morning.
What the hell did I know about shit like that?
Just like that, my phone rang, the screen lighting up with AVERY.
“Hey,” I said.
“Hey.” Her voice sounded strange, distracted and lower than normal.
Shit, something happened. A thousand different things flew through my head as I U-turned my truck around.
“What’s up? You sound off.”
She hesitated for a few seconds, then I heard a deep inhale. “Can you come over?”
“I’m on my way.” My heart started to thump against my ribs. “Is everything okay, Avery?”
“Not really.”
My stomach twisted into a tight knot. My knuckles turned white from gripping the damned steering wheel so hard.
“I’ll be there in ten minutes, baby. Did something happen? Do you need me to stay on the phone?”
“That’s okay. I need to change and wash up. I’ll see you when you get here.”
I jammed my foot down on the accelerator, and the truck jumped forward. Panic. Fear. Dread. It all twisted together inside me until I had convinced myself of the worst possible outcome.
When she answered the door ten minutes later, I couldn’t get a read on her mood. She seemed . . . distracted. She didn’t wrap her arms around me or kiss me or even take my hand. Instead she moved deeper into her apartment until she stood at the opposite side of the room, staring out the window with her arms wrapped around her waist. I stood frozen just inside the door.
“My dad knows about us.” Though her voice was soft, I heard it loud and clear. “He tried to get Grant and me back together tonight.”
“The ex? The douche with the truck?”
“Yeah.” She sound so . . . resigned. Fuck. Did she do it? Did she get back together with that asshole? My heart pounded against my ribs. “Did you?”
A lump started to harden in my stomach. Shit. Was she really thinking about listening to him? She admitted earlier today that she’d basically given her father the run of her future.
“Avery?”
Her silence was freaking me the fuck out. I wanted to turn around and walk out before she could say the words, but a masochistic part of me wanted to hear them. Wanted her to spell it out for me.
“Well?” There was a hard edge to the word.
“I’ve known Grant since I was two,” she said, not turning to face me. “Our families have done everything together for the past nineteen years. It was assumed since we were teenagers that we’d end up together. It was this . . . given that was always there. I never really had a choice, but the thing was, I didn’t care. I thought I loved Grant and our families approved and he was the kind of man I saw myself growing old with. I felt like I was looking at my parents when they were my age. His father is a politician, you know, and Grant’s all set to follow the family legacy. We made sense on a professional level too, which is really important when you want to eventually run for the presidency like he does.”
The lump in my stomach had turned to lead. How could she forgive an asshole move like cheating? She deserved a hell of a lot better than that. Or maybe she didn’t if she was going back to that fuckup.
“So you decided that a fat bank account matters more than you thought, huh? Wedding bells ringing and a happily-ever-after in the big fucking mansion on the hill?” The words tasted bitter on my tongue because she might deserve better than Grant, but she did actually deserve everything someone could give her.
That sure as hell wasn’t me.
“I get it,” I said. “I’m not so stupid that I can’t take a hint.” Shit, I let myself fall for the poor rich girl routine again. I just wanted out. Far away from her and her lies. I grabbed the doorknob and yanked the door open.
“Are you kidding me right now?” she said from right behind me.
When I looked over my shoulder, she stood a few feet away, her hands clenched at her sides and fire shooting from her eyes. “I was trying to explain how why, up until I met you, I thought the future my parents had laid out was fine. God, you are such an ass sometimes. I have more self-respect than to go back to Grant, and he knows it. But my father knows about you. He thought if I would take Grant back, they
could petition to have my CS dropped and then my ‘life can get back on track.’ Those were my father’s exact words, by the way. But the thing is, I like my life just fine where it is right now.”
She stood glaring at me and she had never looked so fucking sexy.
The door slipped from my grasp and clicked shut when I faced her. Now my heart thundered for an entirely different reason.
She stepped closer and glared up at me. “I thought maybe someone finally saw me for me, but I guess I was wrong. So what exactly do you want from me, Seth? Because everyone in my life wants me to be something I’m not. I thought things were real between us, but if you think I care about money, that I would go back to someone who destroyed any trust I have toward him, then you don’t know me. You don’t know me at all. Maybe you should just go.”
“Maybe I should.” But there was no conviction in my voice.
Neither of us moved.
Her chest rose and fell, and she was still glaring at me, but the honesty shining through the fury made me ache to touch her. To soothe the hurt she went through tonight. To show her that there was someone who cared about her just the way she was.
“I do see you, Avery.” I took two steps closer, and her breath hitched. That little sound went right through me. “I see the woman who stood up for herself instead of accepting what everyone else wanted.” I took another step. Her eyes widened as she stared at me. “I see a strong person who stood up and took responsibility for her life.”
Another step.
We were only a foot apart now. Close enough that I could reach out and touch her. So I did. I slid my hand around the back of her neck and tugged her closer. Her hands were like fire, branding me as hers when she laid them against my chest.
“I see you. The amazingly passionate woman who responds to everything I do and drives me insane.”
Her breath washed over my lips. So close. But not close enough.
“You deserve a hell of a lot better than me, Avery. I can’t give you shit, and my life is a series of fuckups . . .”
“Stop.” She slid her hands behind my head and pulled me the last inch of space until our lips touched. Her eyes were wide open, and she stared at me, so intense I swear she was looking at my soul. “I see you too, Seth. And the man I see is strong and capable and is doing his best to take care of the people he loves.”
I took her lips at those words, demanding and hard. I needed to be close to her, as close as possible to this angel who came into my life at the worst possible time. She gave me hope that things could be better, and I needed that as much as I needed air to breathe.
Avery was my air.
And I might not deserve her, but I was going to do my damnedest to make her feel cherished and important.
“Don’t ever fucking do that again,” I said against her lips. “You scared the hell out of me.”
I slid my hands down her ass, down the backs of her thighs, and then gripped her there and lifted. She squealed and tightened her hold around my neck. All I had to do was turn and I had her pressed up against the door. She locked her ankles behind my back, and I buried my face in her neck.
She smelled so good.
Her pulse flickered under my tongue.
“Don’t jump to stupid conclusions again,” she said, tangling her fingers in the hair at the back of my head. “I want to be with you, Seth. Only you.”
“Did you tell that dick ex of yours to fuck off?”
“In those exact words,” she groaned.
I smiled against her neck. “That’s my girl.”
Mine. A fierce wave of possessiveness made my muscles ache. I rocked my hips, and she groaned. The sound went straight to my dick. God, I wanted her.
Too much.
Not enough.
She gasped when I bit into the sensitive flesh between her neck and shoulder, then ran my tongue over the spot to soothe it. “Seth, please.”
Now I groaned. “Fuck. I like it when you beg.”
She tightened her arms and legs around my body and leaned close to my ear.
“Please take me to bed and fuck me until I scream.”
Her words were like gasoline on a raging fire. I took her lips, plunging my tongue into her mouth and swallowing her moan. Every step down the hall rocked her against my dick, driving me even crazier.
It didn’t matter that I wasn’t looking for complications in my life. This funny, innocent, unpredictable girl owned me now.
And I knew without a doubt that I would give her anything she wanted.
All she had to do was ask.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Avery
“Oh, God . . . that was . . . holy shit . . .”
I lay back against the sheets, limbs spread out everywhere. Holy God, I had no idea that I could orgasm twice. In a row. Seth had magical fingers and one hell of a talented tongue. I grinned at the ceiling like a fool. I wasn’t a statistic. I’d never really been one. The problem had been in the delivery with Grant. User error.
I worked just fine. Seth had proven it again and again.
“And we’re just getting started,” he murmured, burying his face in my neck. The languid feeling in my limbs quickly turned back to fire.
I trailed my fingers over his jaw.
“You have too many clothes on,” I said.
Laughter rumbled in his chest. “All you have to do is ask.”
I pushed myself up so that I was half lying across him. His eyes grew darker when I leaned down and ran my tongue across his lips. “Seth, will you please take your clothes off so that I can touch you?”
He groaned and pulled my head down so that he could kiss me again. His tongue stroked and thrust and reignited the fire that turned my blood molten. When he pulled away and rested his forehead against mine, he was panting. “You can have anything, baby, anything you want.”
“Good,” I said, sliding my hands up under his shirt. “Because I want you.”
He flopped back onto the bed and put his hands behind his neck. “I’m all yours.”
I slowly pushed his shirt up, savoring the inches of skin that revealed themselves. I loved looking at him, touching him. I leaned forward and brushed my lips across his tight stomach. The muscles there jumped at my touch.
A surge of power shot through me. His reaction to my touch never got old.
He groaned.
Heat pooled between my legs.
“Take your shirt off,” I said, running my tongue up the groove in the middle of his stomach.
His breath hissed out and he rose up enough to grab the back of his T-shirt and pull it over his head. I watched, fascinated, at the way his muscles rippled and moved. The black swirls of his tattoos seemed as if they were alive. I could spend hours just tracing them with my fingers.
Deep ridges lined his six-pack, and a yummy V on his hips pointed down, as if guiding me to the good stuff.
I smiled against his skin.
He was warm and solid and mine.
I sat up and threw my bare leg over his hips so that I was straddling him. Before, he’d been in control, but this time, I wanted to be the one to drive him crazy. I watched Seth’s face and saw his eyes narrow as he looked at me.
His hips shifted under mine. The hard bulge in his jeans rubbed against the spot he played so good earlier. Goose bumps erupted all over my skin, tightening my nipples to stiff peaks. I rocked slowly, never looking away from his stare.
“Christ, Avery, you’re gonna kill me.” Seth moved his hands from behind his head and rested them on my hips. His fingers dug in and he moved me back and forth, so slow that I bit my lip to keep from urging him to move faster.
Seth’s eyes blazed as he moved his hands around my waist, sliding them higher until he cupped my breasts.
“You wanna ride me, baby? I want to watch you move while I’m inside you.”
Fire exploded through my veins. I moaned and threw back my head. His thumbs brushed over the tips of my breasts and it sent shots of need racing betwee
n my legs.
“Seth,” I whimpered.
My hips moved faster, each thrust feeding the building desire that had started to consume me again. I felt wild, out of control, and I liked it.
“You look so fucking hot, Avery.”
I felt him grow harder between my legs. I did that to him. Me. He wanted me, and I wanted him. Inside me. It still took all my control to slide off to the side. My body was strung so tight I could barely see straight.
I fumbled with the button on his jeans, leaned down and kissed the line of skin just above his waistband, then pulled down the zipper. I don’t think I’d ever felt this level of want before.
Like if I didn’t have Seth inside me right that second, I’d die.
His hands stroked down my back, caressing my ass. When his fingers slid between my legs and teased the bundle of nerves where all the longing was centered, I moaned his name.
“I can’t . . . think . . . when you do that,” I gasped. I rocked back against his hand as the tension built again. Just when I was about to explode, Seth stopped and pulled his hand free, trailing a line of wetness over my thigh.
“Baby, I want you. Now.” He lifted his hips and pushed his jeans off.
He slid his hand up my arm and cradled my neck, then tugged me down so that our lips were only an inch apart. His eyes burned with desire.
“I need to be inside you, Avery,” he said against my lips.
I reached into his jeans, pulled out a condom, and handed it to him. Foil crinkled and he tore the condom packet open with his teeth. Then he handed it to me.
I stared at him wide-eyed.
I’d never done that before.
“I’m not sure . . .”
After I took it, Seth reached down and wrapped his fingers around his cock, stroking up and down slowly. God, it was mesmerizing to watch.
My fingers shook as I placed the latex over the head and started to unroll. It fit over his length like a glove, and the low moan in his throat told me I was doing something right. When it was completely on, I smiled at him, suddenly feeling shy.
