A Mess of a Man

by A. M. Hargrove

  Once she goes boneless, I flip her on her stomach and leave her legs hanging over the edge. I reach under her and lift up her hips, urging her on her knees. Then I line up my dick and I’m inside before I realize no condom.

  “Fuck.”

  The word means all kinds of things as I berate myself from the oversight. But I also curse because damn if it doesn’t feel like heaven. I pull out and find my pants.

  “What’s wrong?” she calls out.

  “Condom.”

  She looks sexy as fuck and I feel on the verge of coming again. I find a condom and sheath myself as fast as I can. When I get back and place one hand on her hip, I’m inside her. It’s not quite the same, having felt heaven, but it’s good enough, especially when she starts pushing her ass into me to spur me on.

  “What do you want, baby? You want it hard and fast.” She nods. “Then say it.”

  “Please.”

  I move languidly, angling to hit the spot that I know excites her.

  “I want to hear you say it.” With my hands on her hips and swallowing a groan, I command, “Say it.”

  “Hard and fast,” she whimpers.

  So I give her exactly what she wants as she cries to the heavens for a release, which grips the both of us and milks me dry. I collapse on top of her and roll us to our side still joined. I circle one arm around her middle and cup her breast with the other.

  As our breaths slow, she takes a while before she asks the question. Belatedly, I think being inside her has the calming effect I need to answer.

  “When did your best friend die?”

  Normally, I don’t like talking about it unless it’s Cate because she understands. But somehow the words dislodge from my throat.

  “Over a year ago,” I begin. “He was my best friend since before we were old enough to go to school,” I choke out. “He was like my brother.”

  She tries to move, but I hold on tighter. I know she probably wants to face me and share her compassion, but I don’t want to pull out even though I should take care of the spent condom.

  “I’m sorry. I’m sure it’s been hard on you.”

  Her sentiment is far different from Karen’s. And more thoughts launch out of my mouth as if I’d been holding them back forever.

  “I watched him waste away into a shadow of himself.”

  She nods. “I’m sure he appreciated you being there.”

  I hope so.

  “There were times I didn’t know what I would do without him. I still miss him. It’s hard losing the best friend you did everything with, you know?”

  This is the point of the conversation where Karen accused me of being gay. I brace myself for it.

  “Getting over someone who was a brother to you will take a long time. I’m not sure you will ever fully be over it. But in time it will get easier and maybe you’ll be able to think about the good without the loss hurting quite so much.”

  And hearing someone not related to me say it eases something inside me. I whisper the words, “I hope so.”

  She reaches up and covers my hand and something warms in my chest. I swipe hair away from her neck.

  “This girlfriend thing is turning out better than I hoped,” I whisper in her ear before I gently bite her lobe. Then I press a soft kiss at the base of her neck. Her eyes close and I nip there before I trail nips and kisses back up to her jaw. I squeeze her breast before pinching her nipple.

  Her giggles and moans stir my cock to life and even I’m surprised by my recovery time.

  “Is it the girlfriend thing or the fact that you can cop a feel? I’m not sure it’s me you like or my boobs.”

  She’s referring to the hand that hasn’t let go of her breast like it’s the Holy Grail.

  “What’s not to like about you? You’re beautiful, you get along with people, you’re hard working and determined, and you don’t let me get away with my shit. And your tits are definitely up there. You have to know that as a breast man I can stamp yours as spectacular.”

  Her grin dims. Before I can question it, her eyes glaze over with pleasure as I move in and out a few strokes before I know I have to take care of business. Girlfriend yes, being a father is a no. Slowly, I pull out grabbing the base of the condom.

  “Where are you going?”

  I hold up the condom. “To take care of this.”

  “I should get my suitcase.”

  Slyly, I smirk at her. “Don’t bother. You won’t be needing clothes the rest of the night.”

  “Aren’t you forgetting something?” I ask.

  “What’s that?”

  “We have a poolside party to attend, which means we need to get our butts in the shower and I need to get ready. Like now.” I move to get out of bed, but he pulls me to him and instead, I find my mouth trapped by his lips. He does one of those quick flips and I find myself hemmed in beneath him as he deepens the kiss. All my buzzers are going off, but I have my duties to see to, so I reluctantly pull my mouth free of his.

  “You’re not making this easy.”

  “Neither are you.”

  “What am I doing?” I ask.

  “You’re naked, in this bed, with your tits pressed against me, and I’m already hard again for you. Now my dick is going to be giving me fits, unless you do something about it.”

  “Damn, Ben, you’re insatiable.”

  “I wasn’t until you pranced into my life.”

  Steel gray eyes pin mine and my lust for him intensifies. “The shower. But give me a minute. I need to go across the hall and get my bag.”

  “Not a fucking chance in hell. You stay here. Give me your key and I’ll go get your bag.”

  “No! You’ll do something to Nick and I can’t chance that. Besides, I have to give him some sort of an explanation.”

  He crashes his mouth onto mine and his tongue sweeps every last thought of Nick away. The only thing I want is Ben and his body on and in mine. My head spins from the sensations swirling even after he ends our kiss.

  “Get your ass in the shower. I’ll join you after I get your bag. And I promise not to hurt Nick. All I’ll say is that we’ve worked out our differences and that you and I will be sharing a room tonight.”

  “That’s it?”

  “That’s it. I promise.” He kisses me again, gets up and starts getting dressed. What a fine body he has, too. His jeans do nothing to hide his extraordinary hard dick and I can only imagine what Nick will think of me.

  “Get in the shower, Sam. I’m going to fuck you wet and raw when I get back. Now get the water warm.”

  He grabs the keys and is out the door. I’m just turning on the shower when I hear the door open back up. Not long after, he opens the bathroom door and enters. Naked Ben is damned impressive.

  “Put the soap down, Sam. That’s my job.”

  I hand him the bar and he takes over. Only he’s much more thorough than I would’ve been. By the time he hits my intimate places, my head spins because I’m oxygen deprived. Not much later, he gives me orgasm number one by mouth. Or was that number three? I’ve lost count. But he doesn’t stop. Once I come, I hear the tearing of the condom packet that he conveniently thought to bring, and then his hands are under my ass lifting me. The cool tiles press into my shoulder blades as his cock buries deep into my pussy. His mouth swallows my cries of ecstasy while he captures my lips in a kiss. We breathe as one until he tenses, and I know he’s close. But then, so am I. In only a few more thrusts, I’m carried over the edge, and I hear him groan out his own orgasm as he follows.

  “I think you’ve just fucked the sense out of me.”

  He kisses my neck. “I hope that’s a good thing.”

  “For my body, yes. For my job, no. I need to get a move on before my reputation with a certain older Mr. Rhoades is destroyed.”

  His deep chuckle sends a wave of heat coursing through me that I force myself to ignore.

  “Don’t worry, baby, I’ll put in a good word for you.”

  A giant gurgle of
laughter explodes out of me. “I can just hear it now. ‘Dad, she couldn’t help being late. We were in the shower screwing and we had to have one more go at it.’ Can you imagine?”

  He joins me in laughter and seeing him like this, is such a change from the serious Ben I’ve been exposed to lately.

  He adds, “I have an image of my mom’s expression.” His faces changes and he immediately turns off the water.

  “What is it?”

  “Oh, you’ve never faced an angry Julia Rhoades. I have to get you ready. And fast.”

  Now I really get the giggles. He wraps me in a towel and appears to be on fast forward. I’ve never seen anyone move so quickly in my life. He dresses in record time and then wants to know what I’m wearing. I am so amused by his comical actions, I can’t stop laughing at him.

  “This is serious!” Then suddenly he says, “Fuck!”

  “Now what?”

  “I told Jenna and Cate I would meet them in the bar twenty minutes ago.”

  I have to clamp my hand over my mouth as his hands twist his wet hair into the craziest style I’ve ever seen. He grabs my rollie bag, tosses it on the bed, zips it open, and grabs a handful of clothes.

  “Here. Put these on.”

  Finally, I realize the man needs help. I reach for his shoulders and say, “Ben, honey, it’s going to be fine. Calm down.”

  “Oh, just wait. You don’t know my sister. Or my mom.”

  I take the clothes he’s holding, set them on the bed, and grab the outfit I had planned to wear. It’s a casual black halter dress and I put on the shoes I brought to go with it, a pair of sexy strappy black sandals.

  “You’re wearing that?” He licks his lips as he stares at me.

  “Yeah. Why?”

  “It’s just that, well …” his eyes drop down and I notice the bulge in his pants.

  “There’s no help for you now, but later there will be. Now here.” I run my fingers through his hair and make it look like it should. “That’s much better. Now go and meet your sister and Cate. I need a few more minutes to fix my hair and makeup.”

  He looks me up and down, then eyes the door. “No, I want us to go down together.”

  “Are you trying to make a statement?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “If you’re okay with it, then I suppose I am, too.”

  “You don’t mind if Nick knows?”

  My brows shoot up. “You’re asking me that now? After you charged into the room and got my bag?”

  “Oh, yeah.” He smirks.

  “Now let me finish getting ready. My hair is a bit of an issue since it got destroyed in the shower.”

  “Looks downright sexy to me.”

  “You would say that. It’s bedhead.” I finish my makeup and do the best I can with my hair. I end up putting it up in a messy bun, and pull out several tendrils to hang on either side of my face. Then I add earrings and a necklace.

  “All ready.”

  “Sam, have I told you how gorgeous you are?”

  “I don’t …” and before I can answer, he kisses the rest of my words and thoughts away.

  When he lets me go, he runs his thumb across my lower lip and says, “When I first saw you, I thought of sunshine. But now I believe you’re the brightest star in the heavens. You sparkle like them—you know how they do on the clearest of nights? So distinct you think you could almost reach out and touch them. That’s you, Sam.”

  He’s just stolen away every word from my brain.

  “Shall we go?”

  I nod in stunned silence.

  We walk down to the pool together and when I get there, I make myself busy with checking on things. Martin and Julia soon arrive, and Jenna and Cate follow. Nick comes next and his eyes are filled with questions, which I do my best to avoid. But he soon gets me alone and I finally confess that Ben and I were seeing each other but had some issues, which we have now resolved.

  “Oh, so you and Rhoades are an item?”

  “Yeah, I guess you can say that. We didn’t broadcast it, though. We both wanted to keep it quiet.”

  “Can I just say something? The dude is a major ass.”

  “I’m sure he was to you. He’s the jealous sort. Or maybe I should amend that. Now that he knows you and I are not together, he’ll be fine to you.”

  “I see,” Nick says, though I can see he’s still skeptical. I don’t care. He can deal with it. I give him some things to take care of and he wanders off to handle them.

  I’m just about to find the food and beverage manager when Jenna and Cate approach me.

  “You’re Samantha Calhoun, right?”

  “Yes, and you’re Ben’s sister, Jenna. It’s nice to meet you.”

  We shake hands and she says, “And this is Cate McKnight, my bestie, who Ben also considers his sister.”

  “Yes, he told me about you, Cate, and I’m so sorry for your loss.”

  Both women’s eyes nearly bulge out of their sockets. Then they look at each other for a second before Jenna asks, “He told you?”

  “Yes. I’m sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned any of this.”

  “No, no, it’s just that he doesn’t usually talk about it to many people. Wait, how long have you two been seeing each other?” Jenna asks while Cate watches.

  The heat rises from my neck and shoots straight out the top of my head. I would pay for someone to bring me a fan to stand in front of right now, because I sure do need it.

  When I don’t answer right away, Jenna says, “Oh no. He’s not …”

  But I don’t let her finish. “He’s … we’re … together.” I’m not sure what she was truly implying, but I have a damn good idea. And for whatever reason, I want to protect him at all costs.

  She cocks her head and we lock gazes. For a long time. “I love my brother. Very much. So does Cate here. They’ve both been through an extremely difficult time. Last year was, well, I won’t go into it, but let’s just say I don’t want my brother to get hurt. I know what his reputation is around town, and that it’s not very good. But the fact that he’s told you about Drew says a lot to me.”

  Cate cuts in. “What’s she’s trying to say is that he acts tough, but losing Drew …” her eyes fill and I sweep my eyes for the nearest napkin. I pick one up and hand it to her. “Thanks. Ben doesn’t give himself much credit. But without him, I wouldn’t have survived. He’s got the biggest heart but hates to show it. Please, don’t hurt him.”

  My hand presses to my chest because it suddenly aches for Ben. And when I look at Cate, I blink repeatedly to force the tears back. The pain these two people endured when they lost the man they loved so much must have been gut wrenching, and still is, from all accounts.

  Jenna’s back like they are tag teaming me. “To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure he would survive getting his heart broken. And then I’ll be forced to kick your ass.”

  Swallowing to get rid of the giant nugget that’s formed in my throat, I say, “I’m not in the habit of breaking hearts.” I let out a rueful laugh. “I’m usually the one on the receiving end of the breaks. I’m pretty sure Ben’s is safe with me.”

  Both women smile at me and that’s when the subject of our discussion shows up.

  “Ah, I see you’ve met my Sam.” And he puts his arm over my shoulders.

  “Yes, I see you’ve changed your mind?” Jenna smirks.

  “Where have you been hiding her, Ben?” Cate asks.

  He ignores his sister leaving me to wonder what she meant and answers Cate. “Here and there.”

  “I wish Drew were here to see this.”

  There is weariness in Cate’s eyes, but Jenna’s already talking.

  “You need to stop that and bring her over for Sunday dinner.”

  There is some sort of challenge in Jenna’s words.

  “I will,” he says as he leans down to kiss my cheek. I look up at him and smile back. He seems so much happier now than he was earlier. I’d like to think it’s me, but I don’t
want to get my hopes up.

  The rest of the employees start trickling in and soon the party is in full swing. Food and drinks are flowing, and the band we hired is playing. People are dancing including Ben and me. It’s a great time and I’m even having fun getting to know Jenna and Cate.

  We’re all standing in a small circle, including Nick, when Ben looks up and says with a scowl, “Who the hell invited her?”

  I follow the direction of his gaze and see a gorgeous blond headed our way. She’s wearing a short black skirt, stilettos, and a top that bares her midriff. She makes a beeline straight for Ben, wraps her arms around his neck, and says, “Hello, honey. Didn’t you miss your fiancée?”

  If I’ve ever felt like a deer in headlights, it’s now. What is Karen doing here? Why the fuck does she think she’s my fiancée? Is she completely delusional? I pry her arms from around my neck as Samantha stands there like she’s seen a ghost, her eyes large and confused.

  “Ben, I’ve missed you. Now I understand—you were pushing me away. You were planning a proposal. I’m so stupid. But it makes sense you haven’t been seeing anyone.”

  Snapping out of my stunned stupor, I step back, putting space between us. “I’m not sure why you’re here, but I never planned to propose to you.”

  Her high frequency smile falters as she glances around. “That can’t be. I got a call from someone at your office saying you wondered why I hadn’t come to the client meeting earlier. I hadn’t thought you wanted to see me, so I didn’t. I was told by the caller you specifically asked about me.”

  Gears churn in my head as I wonder who at the office made that call. Maybe someone contacted her because she’s a client, and Karen read more into it.

  “I can assure you, I never asked for you.” I pull Sam over. She stumbles towards me, taken off guard by my sudden need to tuck her against my side, apparently as stunned by Karen’s appearance as I am. “I don’t think my girlfriend would like that.”

  Karen’s eyes bug out before she takes a stumbling step back. “Girlfriend!” she shrieks, garnering the attention of everyone around us. “You told me … I thought you didn’t do relationships.”

  “Things change.”