by Piper Rayne
“Where do you think you’ll live?” my dad asks as we all eat our chicken and potatoes.
“We don’t know yet,” Luca says. “We’re living together over where Lauren’s been living for the moment.”
Complete silence blankets the table.
Damn it. I should’ve warned him.
“You’re what?” My mom’s fork hits her plate. “You are just engaged not married, correct?”
“Mom,” I plead for her not to make a big deal of it.
Ashton and Davis snicker and I glare at them both.
My mom stands and disappears into the kitchen.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I throw my head back and slide the chair out.
“Luca, we don’t believe in living together until marriage. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you this, but our Lauren is a virgin,” my dad says.
My feet stop right before the archway to the kitchen.
No. No. No.
Ashton full-on laughs out loud and coughs out the word delusional. My dad throws a roll at his head.
Luca’s fearful eyes meet mine and my head falls forward in defeat. I should’ve known this was never going to turn out the way I’d hoped.
“Mom,” I say and enter the kitchen, where she’s seated at the table.
“You’re living together?” Her shoulders are slumped and she’s shaking a bit from crying.
“Yes. Luca needed a place and I needed someone to help me pay the rent after Vanessa and Maddie moved in with their boyfriends.”
Her hand goes to her chest. “All of you are living in sin?”
You’d think I told her World War three has started from the look in her eyes.
“Yes. Mom. It’s the twenty-first century.”
“Lauren.” Tears stream down her face. “You’re not a vir…”
She can’t even finish the word. Even worse is the fact that I have to have this conversation with Luca in the room. A man I haven’t actually even had sex with.
“No, Mom, I’m not.”
Her forehead falls to the table with a big thud and she cries so hysterically you’d think her dog, Parker, died.
“Why wouldn’t you wait? This is the problem with today’s youth. I married your father at eighteen. You girls all want a career and your own money before you settle down.”
“Yes Mom, we do and we deserve it. Did you enjoy always being Dad’s servant? Didn’t you ever want something for yourself?”
She raises her head to look at me. “I was happy with you and your brothers. I wanted to be a mom.”
“Well, I’m sorry, but I’m not. I want a career and a family.”
“I know.” She pats my hand. “I just…it’s different now.”
I came to grips a long time ago that my family dynamic would never change. The boys would always be superior in my dad’s eyes and my mom would never understand me wanting to have a career after I got married and had kids. This is why I wanted to keep this fake engagement to myself because I knew they’d be so happy. They’ve been waiting ever since Cody for me to announce that I’m getting married so I can fulfill my destiny.
“I can’t do this!” Luca’s voice pulls my mom and I’s attention away from each other.
We rush back into the dining room to find Luca standing up, his napkin on his chair.
“Mr. Hunt, I’m sorry.” He’s looking at me now. “I can’t sit here and listen to it anymore. I come from a family without a sister so maybe I don’t understand.” He pauses for a second, trying to collect himself I think.
“Nope. You know what? I’m not even going to use that as an excuse. Lauren is an amazing woman. She’s strong and independent. She loves her job and have you ever seen her with a client? ‘Cause I have and she’s so good with them. There’s this little girl Briana, and she adores your daughter.
Yes, Lauren is gorgeous, but there’s so much more to her. She’s faithful and loyal to her friends and her family. After we marry, she will continue to work. She will make her own money and we will build a house together. Our kids will probably go to daycare so she can continue working. Maybe I’ll balance the checkbook, maybe she will. Maybe I’ll clean the toilet, maybe she will. Maybe I’ll take the trash out, maybe she will.
“I’m sorry Mr. Hunt, but I can’t sit here anymore and listen to you degrade your daughter just because she’s female. She could probably kick both Ashton and Davis’s asses at the same time and you should be proud of that fact.” He points to the wall that is like a shrine of my brothers’ athletic accomplishments. “She should be on that wall. She worked her ass off to be captain of her soccer team and she deserves to be up there more than Davis who was third string.”
Tears well up in my eyes and my mom threads her arm through mine. We stare at one another in amazement.
I thought my mom might fear my dad’s wrath after Luca’s speech, but she seems almost proud.
“I do not degrade my daughter,” my dad says, throwing his own napkin down.
“Then you’re blind to your own ignorance.”
Luca’s eyes find mine and he shoots me the apologetic look he has most of today. I shake my head, he shouldn’t apologize for sticking up for me.
My dad looks at me. “You think this? That I love your brothers more?”
I nod.
“Oh. Well.” He stands up and without another word he walks downstairs, leaving even Ashton and Davis’ jaws hanging open.
“I’m sorry, Mom,” I say.
“Give him time. You know your dad.” She pats my shoulder. “You two go and give him some space.”
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Hunt,” Luca says as we both walk toward the front door.
“Too many sorries tonight.” My mom opens the door and shoos us out. Luca hesitantly steps out of the house while my mom embraces me in a hug.
“Everything will work out how it’s supposed to.” She pats my back.
Her words do nothing to help me feel better.
The door shuts before we make it to the truck and I stare at the windows where the basement light shines out into the night. I should go down there and hash it out, but my mom is right, that’s not how my dad works. He needs to stew for a bit.
When I turn around, Luca’s leaning against the truck, his hands stuffed in his pockets. “I’m sorry, Lauren. I’m fucking this all up. I never meant to cause more problems with your family.”
I approach him, rising to my tiptoes to do the one thing I’ve been dying to do. Luca’s speech empowered me to love the person I am. And I’m the kind of person who takes what they want when they want it. Without thinking of the future or what it means, I press my lips to Luca’s.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Luca
Lauren’s lips are softer than I imagined. She presses them to mine and I swing my arm around her waist pulling her into me.
A current of warmth rushes down from my lips to my toes. I want to unleash her hair from that braid and bury my hands in her long dark strands. She opens her mouth to me and I slide my tongue in between the seam of her lips. I groan when we make contact and she sinks farther into my body.
Our kiss continues like we’re saying a long goodbye and parting for a long time rather than heading back to the same house, but I’m more than okay with that. We delve deeper and then lighter, and my cock strains against the zipper of my jeans. The hunger for one another that we’ve been denying each other unleashes. My hands slide down her body until I cup her ass. She hops up and straddles me, so I turn us around and she’s pressed against the truck.
I’m grinding and she’s bucking, neither of us able to get enough of one another. Needing more, I close the kiss, letting her legs go.
She slides down my body and rests her forehead against my chest, both of us gasping for breath. “I just told my mom I’m not a virgin, let’s not scare her too much.”
“Home?”
“Definitely.”
I open the truck door, Lauren slides in and I round the front of the truck, s
liding the key into the ignition immediately.
On the way home, my mind works overtime questioning why she decided to kiss me now. I tell myself that it doesn’t matter, who cares? I’m finally doing something I’ve wanted to do with her since I was fifteen. Only an idiot wouldn’t take what she’s giving you and ask questions instead.
But I am an idiot because instead, I say, “Why?”
“What?” Her voice pierces the darkness of the truck’s cab.
“Why did you kiss me?”
“Because I’ve wanted to for a long time and your speech made me realize that I’ve been a coward. I’ve been so worried about you not feeling the same that I’ve shied away.”
I let her words sit with me for a moment because I almost can’t believe them.
“You wanted to kiss me?” I know we had that moment on the couch, but I considered it a one time heat of the moment thing for her.
I stop at a traffic light and lean over to kiss her on the neck. Let her get a glimpse of what’s going to happen in fifteen minutes when we pull up to the house. If we make it to a bed, it’ll be a miracle.
But her lips find mine and my hand lands on her cheek as our tongues try to perfect a rhythm.
Horns honk behind us and I strip myself away from her.
“I have,” she answers the question I asked before we lost each other again.
“For how long?” I ask.
She leans over the console, her head resting on my shoulder for a second. “I don’t know, but from that kiss, I’m thinking you might have wanted to kiss me, too?”
We’re stopped at another light. Seriously we can’t catch a break. “Lauren, I’ve wanted to kiss you again since we were fifteen.”
I catch her smile right before I land a kiss on her lips, but we’re cut short when the green light illuminates the cab of the truck.
“What? We haven’t kissed before.” I haven’t seen her this easy going and happy in so long. It shouldn’t elate me as much as it does seeing her like this.
“We kissed during spin the bottle, remember?”
She laughs. “I do remember, I’m kidding.”
Thank God for a second I thought I was the only one.
“I’ve wanted to kiss you since then.”
“Luca, you can’t be serious.” She’s shaking her head and her body is buzzing with energy. Energy I need to make good use of.
Finally, I get us into the garage, but I have to see her face when I confess. So we file out of the truck into the house and I toss my keys on the kitchen island.
“Lauren, since you’ve decided to throw balls to the wall tonight—”
“Well, not really balls,” she says.
“Tits to the wall?” I ask, and she laughs, falling into me.
“I guess so.”
“Regardless, since you’re taking a chance, I need to as well. Just don’t freak out.”
“Okay.” She slides up on the counter, opening her legs for me to nestle between them. With my hands on her outer thighs I rub back and forth.
God, it’s so good to be able to touch her how I want. Now that the invisible wall has dropped away from between us, I’m not going to stop touching her.
“I’ve had a thing for you for a long time. I meant everything I said at the Christmas party and earlier today. Caramel and vanilla do remind me of you. I used to watch you with Cody, wishing it were me. This entire engagement was for my mom, but being this close to you again, made all those feelings resurface. You’re the girl I’ve compared all others to since high school and the prospect that I might hurt you scares the hell outta me.”
Her hands land on my cheeks and our eyes lock. I have no idea what she’s thinking so I stand there on edge until she speaks.
“You won’t hurt me. I won’t let you.” She smashes her lips to mine and I don’t shy away from where this is going.
Somehow, I manage to undo her braid, unwinding her hair with my fingers and once the silky strands are freely moving through my fingers, I groan and dig deeper, never having enough of her.
“Upstairs,” she mumbles against my lips.
She’ll get no argument from me. Picking her up, we make our way to my bedroom.
I place her on the bed, toeing out of my shoes and she flings hers off. Then my lips are attached to hers again as she slides up the bed to the pillows. My leg wedges between her thighs and she grinds along my hard thigh.
I can’t remember the last time I wanted someone this bad. Every taste makes me hungrier for more. My hands are a frenzy of wishing I could touch every inch at the same time. Like I’ll never have enough time to explore her. Like she’ll cut me loose, leaving me a mess of a man who never quenched his thirst for the only woman he’s ever really cared for.
“Luca,” she pants, her head falling to the pillow and I nibble along her jaw and down her neck. My knuckles trace a path between her breasts until I reach under the hem of her shirt. She’s so responsive to my touch. Her torso arches as my hand runs up her bare skin and cups her breast.
She rocks against my thigh and I pull the cup of her bra down, needing to spur another response out of her.
Every moan and whimper are a high I chase with my hands and mouth.
Pushing her shirt up, she groans when my thigh leaves her center. My fingers unhook her bra and she helps me remove her shirt and bra.
Fuck. I gaze down at her, bared to me and my balls pull up tight.
“Pure perfection.” I cup each breast, my thumbs running over the pebbled nipples.
Needing to taste her, I devour one breast while squeezing the other.
Her hands fall to the back of my head and her legs widen for me to fit between them. Please God, let me stay here for infinity.
I unbuckle her jeans and I slide my hand down under her panties. She’s hot and wet and my cock strains against my pants. “I’m not sure how slow I can go,” I admit. I’ve imagined this with Lauren for longer than I care to admit and the fact that we’re here, about to do this, has me on the edge.
She pulls at my shirt. “Me either.”
Clothes make their way off our bodies, landing in a heap on the floor. Before I know it, we’re skin to skin and nothing—nothing—has ever felt so right.
“Condom?” she asks.
I reach across her, grab a condom and get to my knees in front of her.
“Let me.” She takes the wrapper from my hands and rips the foil packet open, sliding it down my length.
My cock in her hands? Beat off material for a month.
“And that’s enough playing before I embarrass myself.” She lies back on the mattress and I follow her down. I entwine our fingers, locking them at her side until I guide the head of my cock into her wet opening.
A groan leaves my throat. She’s tighter than a fist. I pull back and push in a little more, looking down to watch my length disappear inside her.
Taking her other hand, our fingers stay locked together as I fully push inside of her.
“Fuck, Lauren, you feel better than I imagined.” I pause for a second before I lose my load in the first two seconds.
I start rocking my hips, thrusting in small bursts, her hips meeting mine with every push. Soon I have no choice but to unlock my hands, to sit up with my heels to my ass so I can go deeper. I want to claim every part of this woman until it’s only my name to leave her lips.
Her shoulders still press to the mattress as I thrust into her and grind my hips. I have the best fucking view in his position and I glide all the way back and then slide all the way back in, watching while her body accepts me.
Her hands clench the sheets beside her and moans fall from each of our lips at the same time. We find a rhythm that drives us both half-crazed. I should’ve known this is where we’d be perfect. We’re both intent on getting the other off. Making sure it’s the best fuck we’ve ever had because that’s the way we are. Winners in all aspects of our life.
I need to feel her lips, so I adjust back to where we were—her
underneath me with her legs like a vise grip around my hips and I search her mouth out.
Pleasure infused words leave our lips as our hands explore every curve and crevice of each other’s bodies. Bringing her leg up to her chest, her fingernails almost break my skin from how deep I claim her.
“This is the best,” she pants.
I kiss her neck, my tongue sliding across her sweat soaked skin. “It’s never been better.”
She’s exactly as I envisioned all those times I’ve beat off. In my mind, I’ve had her bent over my desk, up against a wall, in the shower—and I fully intend on doing all of that with her.
Her hips rise off the bed, and I don’t need her to say the words, I know she’s close. I thrust harder, faster. My kisses grow hungrier. Our caresses turn into grabbing and pulling.
“Luca,” my name falls from her lips like she’s being punished and needs me to save her.
“You’re so beautiful,” I whisper, and I feel her clench around my cock before she gives up her fight and enjoys the spiral back down from euphoria.
I fall to my elbows, my lips at her ear, my jagged breathing unable to even out as my own orgasm builds inside of me. She brings her legs up and squeezes my cock as my hips work double speed, riding out my own pleasure until I come.
I let some of my weight fall and I kiss the skin under her ear, never wanting to leave, praying nothing is awkward with us as I push up on my elbows.
“Luca,” she says, breathless. “That was…”
I tentatively open my eyes. “You’re really fucking good at that.”
She laughs, rising up on her own elbows to kiss me. “So are you.”
I kiss her relieved she wanted this as much as me. It wasn’t just her desire that spurred this, but maybe, if I’m lucky, her feelings for me.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
