by Marie James
“Cannon!” she squeals as if she’s surprised how talented my tongue is. I vow to remind her daily what exactly it is I can do with my mouth.
She doesn’t pull away. She’s a greedy girl, wrapping her fingers in my hair and pressing tighter against my tongue. I can hardly breathe, but what a fucking way to go. Clamping my arms behind and over the top of her thighs, I suck on her clit, flicking it with the tip of my tongue until her sweet pussy is clenching rhythmically against my chin. I don’t miss the opportunity to tease her further, licking her until she rolls to the side and pushes me away.
“Goddammit,” she pants after a long moment. “Can every morning be like this?”
I laugh at her bliss and tug her against my chest, uncaring that the covers are bunched down around my calves. The cool air is perfect on our overheated skin.
Her fingers trace down my abs, and I swear her touch is everything I’ve been waiting for in life, but I won’t let her distract me from the conversation we need to have.
“Tell me what happened last night at the bar.”
She stills in my arms, her finger freezing before it circles my nipple. When she leans back so she can look in my face, I think she’s going to tell me to mind my own business, and if she does, it means she’s setting us back weeks of progress we’ve made to get to here.
Then her cheeks pink, her eyes blinking at me before darting away.
“I have more important things to tell you,” she whispers, still unable to look me in the eye.
“Yeah?”
She nods, but her focus stays on my chest where her palm is resting.
“I think I’m fall—”
Chapter 37
Rivet
My mouth snaps shut at the interruption.
Was I really about to tell the man I’m falling in love with him?
No freaking way. I blame the post-orgasmic bliss. That has to be it.
Cannon peers down at me, his blue eyes sparkling. “Saved by the bell?”
I groan and bury my head in his chest, but then the banging on my door continues.
We both look at the door when the doorknob begins to turn.
“I locked it last night.”
“I didn’t lock it when I went to get a bottle of water before I woke you up,” I mutter before looking back at the door. “Just a minute!”
The door shoves open anyway, and Cannon growls when I scramble to pull the blankets up over my body.
“You’re seconds away from an ass kicking,” Cannon growls at Bishop who is standing in my doorway, disheveled from sleep.
Bishop looks from Cannon to me like my man doesn’t exist. Cannon is pissed, so pissed, he’s not even concerned about covering up his bare cock after making sure I’m no longer flashing Bishop. Or maybe he’s using it as a way to non-verbally brag about his size. I could tell him he has nothing to worry about, that he’s got Bishop beat on length and girth, not that Bishop is small by any means, but I don’t think it will go over well.
“I need to talk to you. I’ll be next door.” And then my friend walks out. At least he’s not acting like a huge asshole as he closes the door behind him.
Silence swirls around me, and I wonder just how bad the fallout from this is going to be. The last thing I want is someone from my past, even if that guy just saw me naked… again, here in New Mexico causing problems for this new thing Cannon and I are building.
“Poor fucker,” Cannon finally mutters before pressing his lips to my forehead.
“Don’t feel sorry for him,” I snap. “We both know how thin these fucking walls are. He knew what he was walking in to.”
He kisses my forehead again. “You can’t help that you’re a screamer.”
I twist his nipple just enough to get a yelp out of him, and in no time flat, I’m tossed to my back with him hovering over me. Instead of speaking, he just peers down at me before slowly lowering his hips to press against mine.
“I’m feeling a little territorial right now,” he whispers before sucking one of my nipples in his mouth. “Like I want to fuck you, mark you, and spray my cum on you.”
“Sounds messy,” I whisper, but inside I’m kind of wanting that very same thing.
“Don’t distract me,” he grumbles, but his hips move.
“I’m just lying here.”
“Your pussy’s wet. I can feel how slick you are on my dick.”
With a practiced ease, he pulls his hips back and presses forward, sinking several thick inches inside of me.
My eyelids flutter because he feels so good. I’m insatiable, greedy as he likes to remind me when he’s near.
“I said poor fucker because of what’s about to happen.”
“You’re gonna make me scream again?” I glare at him when he pulls free and climbs off of me. “What the hell?”
“You’re going to get dressed and go tell that fucker that I’m your guy, and as understanding as I am about his obsession over you, I’m almost at my wits’ end with his shit. I won’t tolerate him touching you or busting in here while you’re naked.” His jaw ticks when he looks over at me, all playfulness from just a moment ago gone in the blink of my eyes. “You’re fucking mine, Angeline Herd, and I need him to fucking know it.”
“Yours?”
“We’ve already had this discussion.”
I climb up on my knees so I’m a little taller on the bed than him, forcing his head back so he can look up at me.
“If I’m yours and you’re mine,” I say as I settle on his lap, “why do you tease me and then leave me hanging?” His cock hasn’t flagged the least little bit.
His big hands grip my hips, preventing me from rolling them.
“I can come in your mouth again so he smells it on your breath when you go put him in his place,” he offers.
I should be disgusted, but I simply lick my lips instead.
“Get dressed.” He slaps my ass before lifting me off his lap. “I’ll make it up to you when you get back in here.”
I sigh, knowing he isn’t going to change his mind. When he strokes his cock the entire time I’m getting dressed, I pray I can get my point across to Bishop quickly.
***
I knock on Bishop’s door, waiting like a normal fucking person for him to answer it. I try not to blush when I step inside since this is the very room I climbed on Cannon and took his cock for the first time. Honestly, my life has never been the same.
“He’s protective of you,” my friend says as I take a seat in the corner of the room while he settles down on the edge of his bed, bends over, and clasps his head in his hands.
He didn’t ask a question, so I remain silent. He doesn’t seem as irritated as he did yesterday, but I’m still pissed about what he said.
When he looks up, he appears broken, and I hate that, but it still doesn’t forgive what he said to me. I expected an argument. Bishop was never one to pull punches and looking at him now I see the changes, the way I’ve somehow broken his heart without even knowing it.
He swallows, his palms running down the length of his denim clad thighs.
“I fell in love with you over two years ago.” My head snaps back with the news, but he keeps on talking as if he’ll lose his nerve if he doesn’t. “It wasn’t that night in Bahrain. It wasn’t when you discharged and I didn’t think I could make it without you. It was long before that. It started slowly. I’d notice the way the sun glistened off your hair and the way desert sand stuck to your golden skin. Stupid shit. Little things that in the grand scheme of things aren’t important, but they were paramount where you were concerned. I found myself waiting to hear your laugh. I could hardly breathe if I went too long without seeing your smile. I always thought I had time. Always thought once we were both out that we could start a life together. I knew you weren’t ready. I knew you had plans that were different from mine. I just prayed that one day we’d meet back up and things would just click, that we’d finally be together because in my eyes no amount of distance or length o
f time could keep us apart.”
“Brent,” I whisper, using his real name because this is a seriously personal conversation we’re having.
He shakes his head. “I know. Although I was hoping after our night together you’d finally see how I felt and maybe feel the same, it was clear when we woke that wasn’t going to happen. No matter how much I hoped things would be different, they weren’t. I had it in my head when you picked me up yesterday that you’d run into my arms. I imagined it being the perfect moment, but then you didn’t, and I knew I just had to wait a little longer. But after watching you watch him; I knew I never had a chance no matter how hard I’ve always wanted you to look at me the way you looked at him last night at the bar.”
My throat thickens, making it hard to swallow. He’s clearly heartbroken, but I’m not going to simplify what’s going on between Cannon and me to make him feel better. That’s not fair to anyone involved.
“Do you love him?”
“The potential is there. I honestly think it’s only a matter of time.” Man, that was easier to admit than I thought it would be.
“So, I have no chance?”
I shake my head. “I’m sorry. I love you, but you’re my best friend. I don’t feel anything romantic between us.”
He flinches before giving me a soft, sad smile of acceptance.
“I figured.” He stands, his boot hitting the duffel bag he hasn’t bothered to unpack.
“Are you leaving? We have two more days to hang out.”
“I can’t stay here, Rivet.”
“I don’t want you to leave. I’ve missed you.” That’s the honest truth. I miss my best friend, but if I’m being honest, I know we haven’t had that type of friendship since I got drunk in Bahrain.
“I miss you, too, but I can’t stay.”
He shoulders the strap of his duffel bag before crossing the room to me. Tears burn the back of my eyes when he presses a soft kiss to the top of my head. They roll down my cheeks when he backs away before I can hug him.
“Stay safe, Rivet,” he whispers, the words getting caught in his throat, and then he’s gone.
I don’t know if he just needs time to wrap his head around me being with another man or if he’s going to be gone forever.
I don’t chase after him, and the unknown guts me. I knew the beginning of the end, the clock counting down our friendship started that night with the first three shots of tequila, but the pain of the aftermath is horrific.
By the time I get back to my room, Cannon is missing, and the only thing I have the strength to do is throw myself on the bed and cry.
Chapter 38
Cannon
The clubhouse is silent when I leave Rivet’s room. A quick glance at my phone tells me just how brutally early it is. I couldn’t stay in her room and listen to their conversation through the wall. It wouldn’t be right, but more importantly I didn’t want to have to go in there and snap his neck if he talked shit.
I rub at my eyes as I leave the clubhouse, but nothing is going to wake me up completely other than a giant cup of coffee.
I’m not surprised to see Mom and Dad in the kitchen when I enter the house. Mom smiles at me before grabbing a cup out of the cabinet and filling it with coffee for me. I lean in to kiss the top of her head, but stop short when I realize the last thing I had in my mouth was Rivet.
Dad chuckles when he sees me hesitate, and Mom must speak his laugh-language because she swats me in the chest like I just told a nasty joke. I grin at Dad.
“Late night?” he asks, dropping his newspaper to the table and giving me his full attention.
“I stayed at the clubhouse,” I inform them as I doctor my coffee just the way I like it before joining them at the table.
“Is that right?” There’s more of a tease to his voice than irritation.
“Yeah.”
“In one of the empty rooms?”
I can tell he’s needling me, but I won’t let him agitate me today. Last night, this morning, both were too amazing, too important to catch an attitude with the very same man who taught me through his own actions how to treat a woman.
“I stayed with Rivet.”
Mom grins, but she’s too slow lifting her cup of coffee to her mouth to hide her reaction behind her cup.
“It’s awfully early,” Dad says, his eyes darting over my shoulder. I know he’s looking at the clock on the oven.
Seven in the morning is way too early for me, and we all know it.
“You didn’t piss her off, did you?” He glances at Mom from the corner of his eye. “Don’t tell me she’s leaving. She’s quickly become an instrumental part of this organization. We can’t lose her. Damn it, Can—”
“I think I love her.”
Dad chokes on his own spit, and Mom gasps like I just told her I’d gotten ten women pregnant in the same damn night.
“Excuse me?” Dad sounds just as shocked as I feel with the realization.
“I love her,” I say with more sureness in my voice this time around.
“Well, that changes things.”
Mom grins even bigger with Dad’s words.
“For me it does. I’m not going back to SDSU.”
Mom shakes her head. “You have to finish college, Cannon.”
“That’s non-negotiable,” Dad agrees.
“I’m going to take you up on your suggestion of finishing my last year online.”
Mom squeals so loud it startles both of us, but Dad’s look of shock turns to one of utter happiness. He loves nothing more than his wife being overjoyed.
“Really?” she asks, suddenly growing cautious as if I’m going to tell her I’m joking.
“I think it’s best,” I confirm.
“Because of Rivet?”
I look at Dad.
“I’m not going to lie and tell you that she isn’t responsible for part of it, but I’m tired of the parties and the frat, and being away from my family.”
“You can go to college and not party, Cannon,” Dad argues.
Mom slaps him in the chest. “Don’t try to talk him out of it.”
Dad rubs his chest like she actually hurt him but keeps his eyes on me. “I’m just stating a fact.”
“I want to be home. I want to learn more about the business side of Cerberus.”
“You won’t have time. You can’t juggle Cerberus, a new woman, the bar, and classwork. Something will end up sliding, Cannon. It’s too much to put on your plate.”
I think about his words for a long moment, taking deep breaths to prevent my anger from bubbling over. I’m a grown man. I know what I can handle and what I can’t. I also know what I would pick and choose to keep the things that mean the most to me. School and Rivet are tied at the top. I’d say that she’s number one, but our future is paramount, and I can’t take care of her if I don’t graduate.
I love my Dad, but he never misses the chance to try to overanalyze what his kids are doing in their own lives. And to think he calls Mom the helicopter parent.
“The spot at the bar is over at the end of the summer; the other full-time bartender is returning. It was always temporary. I can make time for both my homework and my girl.”
Mom continues to grin, and I know she never thought she’d see the day that I grew serious about someone. Hell, I never thought it would happen to me, but here I am sitting with my parents and declaring my feelings for one of my Dad’s employees.
Dad still doesn’t seem sure with the new information.
“I can work with you during the day. My schoolwork can get done in the evenings.”
“And Rivet?” Mom asks, her smile fading away as if she thinks I’m giving her up after further discussion.
There’s not a chance in hell. I’ll go back to feeling like a bum and not working at all before I drop my girl.
“She’s got my nights.” I wink at her.
Mom giggles like a damn schoolgirl when Dad grunts.
“Seems like you have it all figured out
.”
“I can work longer hours when she’s gone for work, and maybe get some time off here and there when she gets back,” I hedge.
“That works for me.” He takes a drink of his coffee, and I know the conversation isn’t over with. He’s merely working through scenarios in his head. “What happens if Ian Hale calls again after graduation. I know he offered you a job.”
He’s fishing and I damn well know it, but I open my mouth and set his mind at ease. “I’m staying in Farmington. Why would I want to go to Denver when everyone I love is here?”
Mom sighs like a lovestruck woman, but when Dad grins, I know everything is once again right in my world.
“If I’m working for Cerberus, do I get a cut?”
Dad narrows his eyes at me.
“Really?” I groan. “I’d look hella hot in a cut.”
“You didn’t serve your time,” he mutters, but I can tell from the gleam in his eyes that he wouldn’t be disappointed if it were to actually happen.
“Who makes that call?”
“All five of us.”
He’s referring to the original members—Him, Kincaid, Kid, Snatch, and Itchy. Dominic works for Cerberus but he’s never draped a leather cut over his shoulders. He’s an important part of the organization, but after twenty years in the Corps, he said he was tired of being owned by another group of men. Kincaid and my Dad always laugh it off when he says that, but I don’t see it that way. These guys, this club is amazing, and I’d be honored to be a part of that, but only if I earn it. I don’t want to be a gratuitous member. It wouldn’t be the same.
“Okay, so maybe I don’t get a cut, but how soon is too soon to ask for a raise?”
Dad finally laughs. “You aren’t getting paid. You haven’t finished the requirements to be hired.”
“My psych is next week, right after Griffin’s,” I remind him. “We did physicals three days ago.”
That’s how I kept busy when Rivet was in Mexicali chasing after those flighty girls who didn’t even consider the danger they were putting themselves in.
