by Penny Dee
Taylor was inside her apartment, sitting on the couch comforting her brother. When I walked in, she looked up and her face broke. I went to her and she stood up, falling into my arms, and burying her face in my chest.
“I’m sorry,” I said softly, smoothing down her hair and pressing my lips to the crown of her head. “Wanna tell me what happened?”
She nodded, and I felt her soften against me with a sigh. Stepping back, she wiped her wet cheeks.
“He was going to watch Noah while I was at work. He was in his chair. I thought he was asleep. He looked so peaceful…” Her chin quivered. But she was trying to remain strong for Noah, so she straightened and inhaled sharply. “They said he died in his sleep…”
Noah sobbed, and I crouched down in front of him. “It’s okay, buddy. Going in your sleep is the best way. He wasn’t in any pain that way.”
He nodded and fought his tears, trying to be strong. “We were going to watch The Magnificent Seven.”
I glanced over at Taylor, surprised by the movie choice.
“He loves westerns,” she said.
“So far we’ve watched Shane, Once Upon a Time in the West, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Pickles said The Magnificent Seven was his favorite, and Taylor found it in the bargain bin at the store.”
The poor kid looked crushed.
When a deputy from the sheriff’s department appeared at the door, his face crumpled again.
“Ma’am, we’re done,” he said.
While Taylor stepped outside to talk with the deputy, I distracted Noah.
“I haven’t seen The Magnificent Seven since I was a kid. You feel like watching it with me?”
For a moment his face lit up, but then dropped again, and he had to squeeze his lips to stop himself crying.
“You think Pickles would mind if you watched it with someone else?”
He thought about it for a moment, then shook his head. “No. I think he’d like that.”
I knew I was no replacement for his friend. But perhaps if I was here while he grieved, maybe this kid would find some kind of comfort tonight, even if it was only briefly.
And to be honest, I wanted to stay for Taylor, too.
She was a strong woman. Feisty and resilient. But even the toughest of hearts needed to be held up occasionally.
I told myself that was all it was.
I was someone to lean on tonight.
Nothing more.
But when Taylor stepped back into the doorway, and the late sun cast a golden aura around her, something unlocked inside of me. She looked like a goddess. A beautiful, broken-hearted goddess whom I had a sudden urge to take in my arms and kiss until she was breathless and I was drunk on the taste of her lips.
But I pushed the sudden longing into the dark pit of my brain where all the other craziness lived.
“You okay?” I asked. She smiled as she nodded, but it was fake. “Want to talk about it?”
She glanced at Noah and then back to me, shaking her head.
“I promised the kid we’d watch the movie. Is that okay?”
“Don’t you have a bachelor party you need to get to?”
I took a step closer to her, resisting the urge to take her hands in mine. “I’m in the mood for some Steve McQueen and pizza. Besides, Maverick won’t even know I’m missing.”
“Somehow I don’t think that’s true.” She gave me a reassuring smile. “You don’t need to stay. We’re fine, really. Go to your party. Tell Randy I’m sorry about tonight. But I’ll help clean up tomorrow morning.”
I put my hands on her arms. “I’m not leaving.”
Our eyes remained locked in battle until she finally relaxed and gave in. A small smile played on her lips. “Fine, I’ll call for pizza. But just so we’re clear, you don’t need to stay. Especially while there is a clubhouse party happening. Aren’t you the least bit curious what chaos they’ll sow in the absence of their king?”
“They’ll get up to plenty. And I don’t want to see any of it.” I grinned. “Believe me, I ain’t missing out on anything.”
I gave her a wink.
I had been to a million fucking clubhouse parties.
And I was already where I wanted to be.
TAYLOR
He stayed.
Until midnight.
Gave up Maverick’s bachelor party to stay with us.
But he didn’t try anything.
No kiss.
No sexual innuendo.
In fact, a lot of the night was spent watching TV in comfortable, easy silence. We ate pizza. Watched movies. The three of us sitting together on the couch. It all seemed so natural. Even when Bull reached for my ankles and dragged them over his lap, it felt easy.
Despite losing Pickles, Noah seemed content and calm, and I had no doubt it was because Bull was here and he felt safe and comforted.
Finally, he’d fallen asleep during the last movie, and Bull had lifted him off the couch like he weighed no more than a feather and carried him to his room.
Watching him, I was taken aback by the sudden flood of emotion in me, and when he set Noah down in his bed, I had to draw in a sharp breath because I felt something inside me let go.
“Thank you for tonight,” I said when we returned to the family room.
Bull took a step toward me, cupping my face. “Promise me you’ll call me next time something like this happens.”
The intense look on his face made me want to soften against him and lose myself in his arms. I was tired of fighting this.
But instead, I simply nodded. “I will.”
For a moment our eyes lingered, before the smallest smile played on his lips and he pulled away. “I’d better go.”
Disappointment weaved its way through me. I had wanted him to kiss me, and now he was leaving.
I followed him to the door. A little disappointed when he pushed the screen door open to leave. “What, no sexual comments? Not even an attempt to kiss me?”
I made out like it was a joke. But the truth was, I didn’t want him to go. I was ready to give Bull what he wanted. What I wanted.
“Your kid brother is in the next room.” He leaned forward to kiss me goodbye on the cheek, but not before I saw the wicked gleam in his eye. “But tomorrow, when you’re not busy being a big sister, I’m coming for you, little bird.”
And with that, he disappeared out the door.
The next morning, I arrived at the clubhouse early to help clean up, and was stunned by the aftermath of Maverick’s bachelor party.
Two prospects and a couple of old ladies were already attempting to clean up around the sleeping bodies lying scattered throughout the wreckage of the clubhouse. The air was thick with stale alcohol and weed.
To my surprise, Bull was already there. He was leaning up against the bar drinking a cup of coffee and talking to Red. He winked when he saw me, and I felt a sudden thrill zip along my spine.
“Hey, Taylor.” Red greeted me cheerily. He didn’t drink alcohol, so he didn’t have a hangover. “Can I get you a coffee?”
“That would be awesome, thank you.” When Red disappeared into the kitchen, I stood next to Bull and looked around the room. It was in shambles. “Looks like it was a wild night.”
“This is nothin’. An hour ago it looked like hell.”
“You mean it looked worse than this?” I asked, just as Davey—who was lying at the base of the stripper pole— suddenly sat up and vomited on the floor between his parted legs. “Exactly how bad are we talking?”
“Think of your worst-case scenario…and then pump it full of steroids.”
“Wow.”
“And then there was Hawke’s threesome.”
“A threesome…?”
He nodded toward one of the couches up against the far wall. “I found Hawke passed out and buck naked, still entwined with two naked girls. My eyes are still bleeding.”
I laughed. But as our gazes met, something zipped between us. An electrical charge. A chemical reacti
on. The air snapped with tension. Our gazes lingered. Heat burned beneath my skin.
Tomorrow, when you’re not busy being a big sister, I’m coming for you, little bird.
Remembering his words, a flash of excitement rippled through me.
“What are you doing here so early?” I asked. “I didn’t think I’d see you until later.”
Before he could answer, a stunning blonde walked in from the hallway. Dressed in a tight blue dress with her heels in her hands and some serious I’ve-been-fucked-big-time hair, she stopped walking and scanned the room, a smile spreading across her face when her gaze landed on Bull.
My stomach dropped.
We made eye contact, and she smiled sweetly as she walked over to us.
“I had a great time last night, thanks,” she said to Bull, her voice velvety and seductive. She winked at him. “I’ve made your bed.”
Disappointment soared through me. She spent the night. And she spent it in Bull’s bed.
“Nice,” I murmured, taking a step away from him.
Bull looked at the blonde walking out the door and then back at me. “I think you and I should talk before you go and put two and two together and come up with five.”
“Is that right?”
“Let’s talk in my office.”
“No need. I think I’ve got this figured out all by myself.”
But Bull fixed me with a pointed stare that told me the conversation in his office was happening whether I liked it or not.
“Fine,” I replied, my face stiff.
I followed him out of the bar and down the hallway, hating the uneasiness tingling at the base of my spine as my head started to boil with images of him and the blonde girl.
Once inside his office, he leaned against his desk. “It’s not what you think.”
I shrugged. The best thing I could do was show him that it didn’t matter to me if he’d been balls deep in the blonde. Then go home and smack myself for being so stupid.
“You don’t owe me any explanation.”
“But you want one.”
“Not in the slightest.”
“You’re not jealous?”
“Hardly.”
He stood up and slowly walked toward me. “So it wouldn’t bother you if I said I spent the night with her?”
My teeth snapped together and my jaw ticked. Going by the sudden flush of heat washing over my body, it appeared I would mind.
I would mind very, very much.
But before I had the chance to deny it, Bull closed the gap between us. “That’s what I thought.”
He pulled me to him and crashed his lips to mine, stealing my breath and making me see stars. His kiss was hot and demanding, his lips deliciously sweet, his tongue just as masterful as I remembered it.
But I pushed him away.
Jerk.
“Don’t think for a second that you get to spend all night with her, and then get to kiss me like that.”
His eyes gleamed predatorily as he pulled me back to his powerful body. “You know I didn’t fuck her,” he said, his voice smoky and dangerous. “And you know I didn’t spend the night with her.” When I tried to pull away from him, he held me tighter. “That the only woman I’m interested in fucking is the one I’m about to.”
I resisted him. The nerve of him. The arrogance.
“Then who is she, and why is she making your bed?”
Amusement tugged at his lips.
“Her name is Melanie. She’s Hawke’s sister. She drank a little too much and stayed in my room.”
“With you?”
“After I left your place last night I went home, jerked off while fantasizing about your beautiful body, and with your name on my lips when I came. So, no. Not with me.”
My eyes narrowed, despite the thrill of excitement his words sent through me.
“You know, for someone who isn’t jealous, you’re pretty aggressive.”
“And you’re an arrogant—” His mouth sealed over mine again. I resisted at first, but his kiss was demanding and warm, and the way he moved his lips over mine was too inviting to fight.
When he pulled away, his eyes roamed over my face, searching, looking for a sign of hesitation. When he found none, he pulled me back to him and tangled his fingers through my hair, tilting my head back to seal his mouth over mine again. I had surrendered. I wasn’t strong enough to fight it anymore. I wanted him. I wanted him so bad I could barely stand it.
“Tell me, dammit,” he demanded huskily. And when I didn’t reply, he tangled his fingers tighter into my hair. “Tell me you want me.”
I moaned, feeling the delicious tension in my scalp. “Yes…yes…I want you.”
He groaned and kissed me again, getting me high on his sweet lips and the deep licks of his tongue into my mouth.
He walked us backward, feverishly kissing me, and when he dropped into his luxurious desk chair, I climbed onto his lap and spread my thighs on either side of him, the move placing my aching clit right onto the erection growing behind his zipper.
He growled when I started to grind against him, shamelessly rubbing against him as we kissed desperately.
I had weeks of pent-up sexual craving aching to get out. Weeks of wanting him. My body so ready for whatever he could give me.
I kissed him fiercely, hungrily, losing myself in the tension building in me. His cock was hard, and I was throbbing as I moved against it.
God, I’m going to come.
The thought both excited and mortified me, but I had no intention of stopping. It was too late. His groans, the sounds of us kissing, the thick erection behind his zipper…it was all making me crazy. I started to whimper.
When he saw that I was going to unravel on top of him, Bull grabbed the back of my thighs and held me against the rigid outline of his erection, the move forcing my panties to rub harder against it. He started to move, little thrusts of his hips, which pushed me over the edge.
“Bull…” I moaned his name as I started to come. I pressed my palms into the thick muscle of his shoulders and trembled, my eyes losing focus as I fell to the mercy of an exquisite ecstasy, after months of wanting him, craving him, fucking needing him. My head fell back and my breath left me in a rasp, my eyes closing as I was rocked to my very core by my shattering climax. I trembled against him and Bull groaned, latching his lips to my throat as I came floating back down to Earth.
“You look fucking amazing when you come,” he rasped.
Still trembling, I slumped against him. My heart pounding. My body throbbing. My breath panting.
I found his lips and kissed him again. My orgasm had been mind-blowing. But it wasn’t enough. Especially when I could still feel the thick, hard outline of him pressing into my soaked panties.
“Fuck me on your desk,” I whispered against his lips.
He chuckled, and with a delicious groan, lifted me up in his powerful arms and placed me onto the desk. Without a word, he parted my thighs and pushed my dress up to my waist, my face flushing with heat as he slid my panties down my legs.
He stood above me, his eyes dark, his face a mask of raw need. As he reached for his belt buckle, his gaze burned into me. “Are you ready for me, little bird?”
BULL
I’ve never fucked anyone in my office.
No pussy was going to break the sanctity of the president’s office while it was mine. Unlike the presidents before me, it was a rule I’d remained steadfast to for the past ten years.
But now, fuck me, I was going to blow that rule to smithereens.
She had gotten me so hard rubbing herself against me, so fucking turned on that wild horses couldn’t stop this from happening. After weeks of wanting her, of fantasizing about her, hell, I’d almost lost it myself and come undone beneath all that grinding.
But now I was going to savor the moment. Temper the urgency.
I slid her ass across the desk and lowered my mouth to kiss her, while she reached between us, opening my zipper and springing me
free. I groaned into her kiss, my heart almost pounding out of my chest.
Jesus, just the touch of her palm against my flesh sizzled and brought me close.
I was desperate to be inside her, and she was desperate for me to be there. But I wanted to take my time with her. We had been leading up to this moment ever since we’d met outside of Noah’s school, and I wanted to soak in every sensation.
My hands slid up her thighs until I found the slick flesh and it suckled at my fingers. She groaned against my mouth as my thumb found the sensitive nub of nerves, and she trembled, her gasp falling between us as I teased her, rolling my thumb in circles until she was quaking with need.
She said my name into my mouth, but my mind was already gone, lost in the warmth and sensation of my fingers sliding into her, and her hand rolling up and down the hard length of me.
She ripped her mouth from mine and looked up at me with heavy eyes, her face ravaged with lust. “I need you inside me.”
The feeling was mutual.
I had a condom in my wallet. I ripped it open with my teeth, and once sheathed with that important layer of latex, I pressed the head of my aching cock into the soft, dewy lips of her pussy.
“Look at me,” I growled, and she did, just as I slowly pushed my rigid length into her, inch by fucking inch.
Her face shimmered and her hooded eyes darkened as every hard inch of me filled her. She bit down on her lip, and it drove me crazy. I started to rock into her, slow strokes so we could hear how wet she was. She widened her legs, and we both watched, fascinated and on the brink, as I slid in and out of her body, her pussy sucking my cock, the noise and sensation driving us both wild.
Wrapping my hand around the base of my cock, I eased out and rubbed the thick head through the lush, velvety skin. I found her clit again, and began to torture it with tight little circles, bringing her to the edge, but pulling away from the swollen nub before she could fall.
“Please…” she begged. “I need to come.”
My smile was wicked. “You’re so greedy.”
Her fingers pressed into the muscles of my shoulder. “Fuck me, goddammit.”
Only too happy to oblige, I plunged into her, and she cried out at the sudden intrusion. At my size. At the way I thrust deep and hard into her, making her gasp, making her claw desperately at the wooden desk beneath her. Grinding my pelvic bone against hers, I pressed harder, my hips straining to be as deep as I could ever be, while rubbing against the sensitive bud of nerves.
