The Lies: The Lies We Tell About Love, Life, and Everything in Between

by Christina C Jones

  I threaded my fingers together as he spoke, looking me right in the eyes. “Don’t worry about it,” I told him, once he was finished. “It was a miscommunication. We’re good.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah.”

  He nodded. “Aiight. You mind if I chill out here on the couch while the dryer runs? I think the weather might break long enough for me to shoot home after that.”

  “Yeah, it’s totally fine.”

  Now, the air between us was awkward. As soon as he stepped into the living room, I eased out of the kitchen, and into my bedroom down the hall, closing my door gently behind me.

  This was all bad.

  He was right – no, I hadn’t really been flirting hardcore tonight, but I had before, and had said – and gestured – way worse to him than anything he’d done tonight. I was glad to hear him apologize for touching me without permission, because that was something totally different than words. But honestly… I knew my reaction had very little to do with his words, and everything to do with what I’d assumed his intentions were.

  With my back to the door, I let out a heavy sigh. There was a time – a pretty damn recent time – that I would have let Kyle take me right there on my kitchen counter. I was attracted to him. I wanted him. The only reason that had changed was because I lived by a philosophy of never wanting a man that didn’t want me.

  I didn’t think Kyle Everett wanted me.

  Apparently, that hadn’t even been the case… but maybe it would be now. That was something I could live with, but awkwardness… I couldn’t. We were going to have to talk about this.

  I pushed out a breath, then left my room, slowly approaching the couch. Kyle was draped there, playing on his phone, but he looked up as if he’d sensed my presence.

  “What’s up?” he asked, casually as ever.

  Maybe this won’t be so bad.

  I took a deep breath, and opened my mouth, but what came out wasn’t an olive branch. Instead, it was, “Did you only come over here tonight for ass?”

  He dropped his head, with a chuckle that sounded damn near defeated. “No,” he said, when he looked up again. “I came here thinking I was getting my ass to safety, between KellyAnn at the store, and the storm outside. But… shit, you’re killing me B. Why do you think I’m getting ready to chance that shit to just get the home.”

  “I’m just trying to understand,” I said. “If you didn’t come over thinking it, then… why?”

  “Because you’re not wearing any damn underwear,” he said, shrugging. “No, you weren’t flirting as hard as usual, but when I turned around from the sink to see you bent over the dishwasher, with your pussy peeking at me from under your shirt… I made a calculation. The wrong one, apparently.”

  My hands shot up, covering my mouth. “I…Oh my God. I forgot that I didn’t put anything on.”

  “Obviously,” he teased, and I shook my head.

  “If Zion was here, I would have had shorts on, but he wasn’t, and I’d gotten comfortable, and—”

  “You ain’t gotta explain that shit, B. I lounge and get comfortable in my spot too.”

  “Yeah but…” I turned around, shaking my head as I looked up at the ceiling. “This is just… embarrassing.”

  “What are you embarrassed for? From that little peek I saw, it’s pretty as hell.”

  “Oh my God, please shut up!” I whined, turning back to see him grinning hard as hell about teasing me.

  “Why I gotta shut up though? A man can’t tell the damn truth around here?”

  I blew out a sigh, trying unsuccessfully to tug the shirt down a little lower. Just as I was about to respond, the dryer buzzed to let us know it was finished. I pointed toward the laundry room. “Saved by the buzzer. Lock the door on your way out, I’ll do the deadbolt later.”

  “Wait,” he called after me as I turned down the hall. His long legs had him in front of me in no time. “If we’re back on good terms… I need to kick it a little longer. I was looking at the weather radar, and the shit is still all bad.”

  I scowled at the window as the rain seemed to pick up even harder as he spoke. “Fine,” I groaned. “But I’m putting shorts or something on. I’ll be right back.”

  “Don’t change on my account,” he said, pushing his hands into the pockets of his shorts as he leaned against the wall. “Be… free. I don’t mind at all.”

  “Kyle,” I said in a warning tone, and he shook his head.

  “Come on, B, damn. I’m playing with you, like I always have. What’s up? Did I do something before tonight that pissed you off? Are you still mad about tonight?”

  “No, and… no.”

  “Okay… so you just want me to stop messing with you anyway?”

  I pushed out a sigh. “I… don’t know.” He moved closer to me, crowding my personal space, and even though I had plenty of room to move away from him, I didn’t.

  “I think you know what you want.”

  He was at least a foot taller than me, so I had to tip my head back to look him in the face. “And what do you think that is? You?”

  “Maybe,” he shrugged. “Just be real about it. What’s on your mind?”

  I scoffed. “What’s on my mind is that you must think I’m easy.”

  “I don’t think that at all. And while we’re at it, I think that’s a bullshit term anyway. It’s not even crossing my mind whether a woman was “easy” for me to get or not.”

  “Oh please,” I said, waving him off, but he caught my hand, lacing my fingers with his.

  “I’m serious. We’re grown, B. The only thing I’m concerned about when I’m with somebody is making sure they want me like I want them. So… do you?”

  I tried not to focus on his thumb stroking back and forth on my hand, or the fact that he was close enough that I could feel the heat from his body on mine. “Do I what?”

  “Want me like I want you?”

  Did he have to be so straightforward? Did he have to put me on the spot like that? “Kyle,” I started, but he interrupted by grabbing the front of my shirt, right at my stomach, and pulling me towards him. Surprised, I looked up, and fell right under whatever spell he was casting with those golden eyes.

  “Just answer the question.”

  “Fine. It… depends on what it is you want from me. I’m not trying to be your girl, or anything like that,” I told him, not backing down from his gaze.

  Not trying to be anybody’s girl would have been a more accurate statement. Not that long ago, I’d been all about finding the right one, settling down, being serious. But it seemed like the harder I looked, the worse the prospects got, to the point that – despite me, deep down, wanting something like what all those “We Met on Twitter” people had – I started to wonder if Iris had been on to something with that whole “dating herself” thing.

  So I was giving it a shot.

  Grudgingly.

  So far, the lonely Valentine’s day had been the hardest.

  Had been.

  I’d never planned to take it as far as Iris had anyway – my abstinence over the last few months hadn’t been purposeful, more like circumstantial. Circumstances being, I hadn’t come across anyone I wanted.

  Except Kyle.

  “So you’re saying you just want me for my body, huh?” he asked, tugging me right up against his chest.

  Since he was being so hands on, I figured he wouldn’t mind if I was too. My fingers slid underneath the soft fabric of his shirt, teasing the waistband of his shorts. “Would that be a problem for you?”

  He shook his head, and studied me through half-lowered eyelids as I dipped past his waistband, and wrapped my hand around him. “It would actually work well for my circumstances.”

  “What circumstances?” I asked, making him groan a little as I gave him a gentle squeeze. He was just as gifted here as I’d expected him to be. Nice and thick… perfect length for me to wrap both hands around, plus some extra. “I thought things were complicated before, but they wer
en’t now?”

  “Might get re-complicated,” he said, his voice slightly strained from what I was doing to him with my hands. I grinned. If we were doing this – and at this point, I definitely planned to – it was going to be on my terms.

  “But for now?”

  He backed away from my hands, then bent to hook his hands behind my thighs, easily picking me up, and heading for my open bedroom door. “For now… I’m about to fuck the shit outta you.”

  Giggling, I draped my arms over his shoulders, pushing my fingers into his locs. “Silly boy. I’m pretty sure it’s about to be the other way around.”

  He stopped walking just as we passed the threshold of my room, eyes boring into mine. A grin made the corners of his lips turn upward, just before he turned us around, pressing my back to the wall. “That was strike three,” he said, and then his mouth was on mine, and his lips felt just like I’d imagined they would – perfect. Soft enough to cushion the bruising effect of his mouth on mine as he devoured me with a kiss that made my heart slam to the front of my chest.

  I opened my mouth for him, welcoming his tongue, relishing the flavor of sweet basil and wine that lingered on him from our dinner. He gripped me hard, fingers digging into my ass cheeks as he kissed me with languorous, skillful strokes of his tongue. I pulled the band from his locs so I could run my hands through them freely as I kissed him back, giving as good as I got. I could feel him between my legs, hard as steel, and I rocked my hips into his. He groaned into my mouth, then rocked into me, as soon we were going back and forth, creating a friction that had me right on the edge.

  “Stop,” I told him, pressing my hands to his shoulders the very next time we came up for air. His expression was confused, but he did as I asked, letting my legs down. As soon as my feet were planted on the floor, I grabbed the hem of his shirt, tugging it upward. He lifted his arms, letting me pull it over his head. I put my hands on those sculpted abs, pushing them up over his chest, and then into his hair. I grabbed a handful on either side, gently tugging him down to me, and he obliged, which I rewarded with gentle nibbles to his bottom lip before I sucked it, making him grin. “I want you on the bed,” I whispered against his lips. In the light streaming in from the hall, I saw his eyebrows lift, but he grinned.

  “Shorts on, or off?”

  I bit down on my lip, then pushed up on my toes to kiss him. “Off.”

  While he took care of that, I bent to grab condoms from way far back in the bottom drawer of my nightstand. I yelped out loud when I felt – and heard – the smack of his hand on my ass, but I couldn’t help the moan I let out when he caressed the sting away.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, as he turned me toward him, still gripping my ass. I got my answer when he pulled me into another kiss, this time with his dick between us, pressing into my stomach.

  I moved with him as he walked backward, until he got to the edge of the bed. One hand moved to the front of my thigh as he sat down in front of me. His lazy, savory style of kissing was honestly addictive, and I dipped my head to stay with him, to stay connected as his fingers moved again, dipping into the wetness between my thighs.

  “How are you this damn wet?” he groaned into my mouth. His other hand moved up to my neck, pulling me closer as he pushed his middle and pointer finger into me, then covered my clit with his thumb.

  “Ahh,” I whimpered, my knees damn near buckling under me as he buried his fingers as deep as they could go. His lips got even more insistent, tongue a little greedier as he rubbed tight circles against my clit. My hands went to his shoulders, then back into his hair as I brazenly rocked into his hand.

  He curved the fingers he was using to stroke me, and suddenly he was pressing a magical little button that hadn’t been pushed in a very long time, since before my self-imposed dating hiatus. Almost instantly, the pressure that had already been building skyrocketed, and my grip in his locs grew even tighter.

  “Stay right… there,” I groaned, frustrated as he made a slight shift that took him off the right trajectory.

  “Here?” he asked, readjusting, and my back arched into him as I shouted, “Yes, God yes!”

  He chuckled, and used his free hand to snatch my shirt up. I gasped as his mouth closed over one of my nipples. I felt the long suck he gave me right between my legs, and I enunciated my pleasure with another loud, “Yes!” I didn’t know when I’d put my knees on the bed, but they were up there, and I was glad, because I would have been on the floor otherwise.

  Kyle pressed his thumb hard against my clit and didn’t move it, creating a throbbing sort of bliss that brought a fresh round of wetness trickling down my thighs. He moved it, giving me a break, giving the air a chance to cool my smoldering skin for a few seconds, but then it was back, moving back and forth so fast that it pushed me over the edge.

  My mouth fell open, and I let out a long, satisfied moan as I released, and long-built tension melted from my body as I collapsed against him. He snickered as he pulled my shirt from over his head, where it had drooped, then slowly removed his hand from between my legs.

  “Seemed like you enjoyed that…” he said, in a clearly teasing tone. I narrowed my eyes, then eased off the bed, bending to pick up the condoms I’d dropped at some point. I pulled one off, then tore the wrapper open, holding it between two fingers are I stood in front of him in my wrinkled shirt.

  “Lay back.”

  He smirked, but he did it, moving backward to the middle of the bed. I climbed onto the bed beside him, and emboldened by the semi-darkness, I pulled the shirt off and tossed it aside. I could feel his eyes on me, greedily taking in as much as he could as I hiked my leg over his torso to straddle him.

  “This stays between us, right?” I asked, as I lowered my face down to his. I waited there, our noses almost touching, for him to answer. There was understanding in his eyes when they met mine.

  “Yeah. If that’s what you want.”

  I nodded, then pressed a soft kiss to his lips. “Keeps things simple, you know?”

  His adam’s apple bobbed as I lowered my head, to kiss his exposed throat. “Yeah. Keeps our nosy ass friends from trying to turn it into something we don’t want it to be.”

  “Exactly,” I said, sprinkling light kisses across his chest, then down to his stomach. “So after we do this, you can’t be acting all weird around me, okay?”

  He chuckled – an action that quickly gave way to a groan as my tongue slid along that sinful “V” shape where his pelvis dipped in, and my hand wrapped around his dick. “Tell yourself that,” he shot, sitting up on his elbows to watch what I was doing. “If anybody starts acting up, it’ll be you.”

  “Me?” I asked, in an exaggerated, innocent tone as I sat back on my knees. I was straddling his thighs, and his dick was in my hand, enticingly thick and hard. “Why would I be acting up?”

  He held up a finger. “One word: Sprung.”

  I grinned, holding his gaze in the low light as I lowered my head to press a single, closed-mouth kiss to the tip of his dick, making him suck in a breath. “It’s so funny that you think I will be the one who’s sprung.”

  With my next motion, I rolled the condom onto him. The moment after that, I was lining him up, then sinking down. Moans stretched from both of our lips as I sank down as much as I could on the first attempt, then lifted up before I descended again, a little lower.

  His hands came to my hips, trying to guide me, but I batted them away. He grinned, hooking them behind his head instead as he laid back to watch the show.

  And I certainly gave him one.

  Once my body had stretched to accommodate him, I quickly found a rhythm. I pressed my hands to his chest as I wound my hips against him, with a slow up and down that made him let out a low “fuck” that made me smile. He groaned as I purposely clenched around him as I moved, gripping and releasing while I circled on top of him. Intense satisfaction settled over me as I watched him bite down on his lip, then curse again under his breath.

 
; It was definitely good for him.

  And me too.

  The slight, leftward curve had me feeling a little crazy, in the best possible way. I rode him harder, faster, sank deeper, losing my rhythm as I pushed away thoughts of everything except how damned good this was.

  His hands came back to my ass, gripping and squeezing and pulling me down harder. Sweat built on my forehead as I anchored my knees against his sides, riding him with abandon. His hands went up to my breasts, caressing and groping, rolling my nipples between his fingers as my head fell back, face pointed at the ceiling.

  Suddenly, I felt him thrust upward. His fingers were digging into my hips, trying to keep me still, but I pushed them away, then pressed my hands to his chest again to keep him from taking over. I sank down as far as I could and stayed there, grinding onto him in circles, no more up and down. Reaching behind me, I cupped his balls in my hand, squeezing just hard enough that he pushed up from the bed.

  “Goddamnit, Brandi,” he groaned. “What the fuck are you trying to do to me?”

  I grinned, and did it harder.

  Seconds later, his hands were back at my hips, holding me tight as he plunged up into me with a growl. I didn’t stop moving, and he didn’t stop moaning as I rode him, chasing the feeling that had already been building until I hit my peak a few moments after.

  I collapsed onto his chest with him still inside me, throbbing from his release.

  “We should’ve done this a long ass time ago,” he mumbled into my hair, and I giggled as I pulled my head up from his chest.

  “Things were complicated for you, remember?”

  “Trying not to,” he said, covering his face with his arm.

  Shaking my head, I pulled myself off of him, then immediately put my hand between my leg, and squeezed my thighs. It had felt great while I was on it, but now, the soreness was making me second-guess riding him with such enthusiasm.

  “Well, well, well,” My head shot back to find Kyle sitting up, looking at me with a knowing smirk. I rolled my eyes, which only made him chuckle as he lumbered up out of the bed, patting me on the shoulder like I was a teammate as he passed me, then stopped in front of me. “You need some help up?”