by J. Lynn
This was all her.
Avery broke away and then placed a kiss on my chest, above my heart. I tensed as she tugged my shorts down. Loosened, the shorts pooled on the floor in a second. I stiffened, aching, as she placed her hands on my hips and kissed her way down my abs. When the edges of her hair brushed me, my hands curled into fists. And she kept going, sliding one hand around my front, causing my body to jerk as she wrapped her fingers around me. I pulsed—my entire body pulsed. Then her breath danced over my hardness.
I cupped her cheek, stopping her. “Avery, you don’t have to do this.”
She lifted her head. “But I want to.”
My mouth opened, but the words—whatever the hell they were—died on my tongue as she took me into her mouth. Sensation exploded in several points. I kicked my head back, groaning as her hand moved, steady and strong in rhythm with her mouth.
I didn’t want to last. My back bowed as she worked me. Fuck. I couldn’t last. There was no way. Release powered through me as my hips jerked. I tried to pull her away, but she was latched on. She wasn’t going anywhere. I came, shouting her name.
After what felt like forever, she pulled away. As my chest rose and fell raggedly as I dropped a damn near out-of-breath kiss on her forehead. “Avery . . .”
“You liked?”
I coughed out a laugh. “I loved.”
“I’m a quick learner.”
Damn straight she was. Placing my hands on her shoulders, I guided her onto her back. “Avery?”
She let her hands fall beside her head. “Yeah?”
“Get ready.”
A puzzled look crossed her face. “Get ready for what?”
I captured her mouth, letting my lips and my tongue tell her exactly what to get ready for and it was a hell of a long time before I used those two things for anything other than loving her.
“Cookies! I got cookies!”
“Oh! What kind?” Shortcake’s voice floated from the bedroom.
She’d left the door unlocked for me, something that I was going to have to talk to her about later, but right now I had a warm plate of special delivery. I headed back to the bedroom, finding her lying on her bed, hands folded across her stomach.
“Peanut-butter cookies,” I told her. “But special.”
She grinned as she stretched her bare feet. “How are they special?”
“Well, besides the fact that I just baked them in honor of you finishing your last exam, they’re not just any kind of peanut-butter cookies.” I sat the plate on the nightstand. “But Reese’s peanut-butter cookies.”
Her brows rose. “And that makes them different?”
“Hell’s yeah.” I jumped on the bed, grinning as Shortcake bounced. “What are you doing in here?”
“Being lazy.”
I studied her closer. “You okay?”
“Yes.” When she smiled and it reached her eyes, I relaxed. “Cookie?”
“Cookie . . .” I reached over, eyeing the plate for one that appeared moist. Once I settled on one, I handed it over.
Holding one hand under her chin, she bit and immediately moaned. “Oh my God, these are . . .” She took another bite. “So damn good.”
“I know, right?” I picked up one, popping the whole thing in my mouth.
Shortcake reached for another and I grabbed the plate, holding it away from her. She punched me in the stomach. I gave her a cookie.
After eating our weight in peanut-butter goodness, I stretched out beside her and picked up a strand of her hair, twirling it around my fingers. I smacked the ends across her nose as her eyes drifted shut. “So what does it feel like to finally be a sophomore in college?”
She retrieved her hair from me. “I’m not officially a sophomore. Not until school starts again in the fall.”
“I deem you a sophomore now.” Undeterred, I caught another strand and trailed it across her cheek. “What I say goes.”
“Then how does it feel finally being a senior? Next year is your last.”
“Amazing.” I traced her lower lip. “It feels amazing.”
Shortcake rolled onto her side, wrapping her fingers around the collar of my shirt. “It feels pretty damn good to be a sophomore.”
“Would be better if you didn’t sign up for summer classes.”
“True,” she agreed.
But it would work out. I was doing the summer soccer camp with the kiddos, so I’d be here anyway.
She wiggled closer, resting her head on my shoulder as she threw a leg over me.
“Close enough?” I asked.
“No.”
I laughed as I ran my fingers up and down her spine in a slow, idle line as I turned my head, kissing her forehead. These quiet moments were the best. I’d almost dozed off when she rolled suddenly, straddling my hips.
“Hey,” she said.
I liked where this was heading. I skimmed my hands over her waist. “Hey there.”
“So I’ve been doing some thinking.”
“Oh God.”
“Shut up.” She bent down, kissing me softly. “Actually, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. There’s something I want to do.”
“What?” I slid my hands down over her shorts, resting them on her thighs.
She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth. “I want to go home.”
Was not expecting that, nor did I like that. “Like back to Texas?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
She placed her hands on my stomach and rocked back, pressing down on me. I tensed, eyes narrowing on her. I had a feeling that was totally on purpose.
“You’re not getting rid of me that easy,” she said. “For just a day or two.”
“Damn. There goes my master plan of spending the summer like a sex-crazed bachelor.”
Shortcake rolled her eyes.
“What do you want to do if you go back there?”
“I want to see my parents. I need to talk to them.”
I patted her thighs. “About what happened?”
“I’ve never talked to them about what happened, not since that night.” She matched my movements with her fingers along my chest. “I need to talk to them. I know this sounds like a bitch fest, but I need to tell them that what they did was wrong.”
“It doesn’t sound like a bitch fest, but do you think it’s wise?” I placed my hands over hers. “I mean, do you think it’s going to help you and not . . .”
“Hurt me?” She smiled. “There’s really nothing more my parents can do that will hurt me, but I feel like I need to confront them. Does that make me a bad person?”
“No.” I didn’t like the sound of this. They could still hurt her.
“I need to do this. I also need to talk to Molly.”
Okay. I really didn’t like the sound of this. “What?”
“I need to talk to her and try to explain why I did what I did. I know it’s risky and if it comes back and bites me in the ass with the nondisclosure, then it does, but if I can get her to understand just a little bit, then maybe it will help her and she’ll stop contacting me.”
“I don’t know about that. The girl seems like she’s not the most stable person out there.”
“She’s not crazy,” she said. “She’s just mad and she has a reason to be.”
“And you’re not the reason why it happened to her.” I brought her hands to my lips, kissing the knuckles. “You know that, right? You’re not responsible.”
She was quiet for a few moments. “I need to do this for myself and for Molly. I don’t want to run anymore, Cam. And I know I can never really put this behind me. What happened . . . well, it will always be a part of me, but it won’t be me. Not anymore.”
This wasn’t what I wanted her to do and I didn’t think she truly needed to. What she didn’t realize was that she’d already begun to make peace with everything, but I wouldn’t stop her. “You know what I think?”
“I’m awesome?” Her grin was cheeky.
“Besides that.”
“What?”
“I think you’ve already made it that far, Avery. I think you have accepted it will be part of you, but it’s not you. You just haven’t realized that, but if you want to do this, then you’ll do this and I’ll be there with you.”
“You want to go with—”
She squealed as I shifted, rolling her onto her back. I hovered over her. “You’re not doing this by yourself. Hell to the motherfucking no. I’m going with you. And you’re not talking me out of it. When do you want to do this?”
Staring at me for a long moment, she smiled. “Got any plans this weekend?”
“Jesus.”
Shortcake placed the tips of her fingers against my cheek. “I need to do this.”
I dropped a kiss to the tip of her nose. “I don’t think you do, sweetheart, but if you think you do, then that’s what matters.”
“You really want to come with me?” she whispered.
“That’s a stupid question, Avery. And yes, there is such a thing as stupid questions. That was one of them. Of course I’m going to be there with you.”
Her lips spread into a wide, beautiful smile. “I love you.”
“I know.”
“Cocky.”
“Confident.” I kissed her softly. “I love you, sweetheart.”
She started to wrap her arms around me, but I moved away, climbing over the side of the bed. “Hey!” She frowned. “Get back here.”
“Nope. We got stuff to do.” I took her hands, hauling her off the bed. “And if you start feeling me up, we aren’t going to get anything done.”
The look on her face was bemused. “What are we doing?”
I bent, picking her up over my shoulder, and then pivoted toward the door. “We got some tickets to book.”
Twenty-Eight
Texas was ungodly hot. Like the circles of hell kind of hot. Even in the shaded interior of the rental car with cool air blasting from the vents, the heat seeped in from every tiny crack.
I couldn’t believe that I was actually in Texas.
My gaze drifted from the marble fountain to the monstrous-sized house. Avery hadn’t been joking when she said her parents were rich. They were like the 1 percent. Hell, maybe even the half of a percent.
Leaning back in the driver’s seat, I blew out a long breath. “Fuck.”
Shortcake was inside that place, with a mom that made Anthony Bates mommy look stable and loving. And I was out here, waiting in the car, half tempted to dive into the fountain.
She’d been in there for at least ten minutes and she hadn’t wanted me to go inside with her. Probably because she knew I’d lose my shit with a quickness. When she had opened up to me that day, she really hadn’t gone into a lot about her parents with the exception of how they had responded to what had happened to her, but over the last couple of weeks she’d told me about them.
And what I did know, I didn’t like.
At the fifteen-minute mark, I couldn’t sit any longer. I climbed out of the car and stepped into the sweltering heat. Sliding my cap around, I pulled the brim down to shield the sun.
I walked around the rented sedan, eyeing the entrance to the house. The marble columns were a nice touch. As I turned, gazing out over the manicured landscape that went as far as I could see, there wasn’t a single person moving about.
The place was empty, and in spite of the body-breaking temps, it was cold. I couldn’t picture Shortcake growing up in this kind of atmosphere or figure out how she’d come out as warm and loving as she was.
My shirt was already beginning to stick to my shoulders as I returned to the fountain. Closing my eyes, I willed my legs not to turn around and bust up into that house. I knew Shortcake needed to do this on her own, but I hated that she was facing them without me by her side.
I stuck out my hand, letting the warm water trickle across my open palm. What would her parents think if I took a dip? I was half tempted. I was also five seconds away from barging into the house when I heard a door shut behind me. Turning, I saw Avery heading down the wide stone stairs.
She was smiling broadly.
I hadn’t been expecting that.
Tension seeped out of my shoulders as I jogged around the car, catching her in the middle of the circular driveway. “How’d it go?”
“Ah . . .” She rose onto the tips of her sandaled feet, slanted her head and kissed me. “It went as expected.”
I held on to her hips, my fingers tightening as a surge of lust and love and a thousand other complicated emotions roared through me. “Want to tell me about it?”
“Over dinner?” She started to move away, but I captured her hand, holding her in place. “I’m going to take you to Chuy’s—”
“Avery?”
Steel poured down my spine at the sound of her name and I tightened my hold on her hand. She turned as my gaze narrowed on the tall man walking down the front stairs.
This was her father.
I knew it immediately.
His dark brown hair was gray at the temples and he didn’t look a day over fifty. He was dressed as if he were heading out to the golf club, pants pressed and polo shirt tucked in.
“If he says something ignorant, I cannot promise I will not lay him out right here, right now,” I warned her.
She squeezed my hand. “Hopefully that won’t become an issue.”
“Just saying.”
Her father stopped in front of us, his eyes—identical to Shortcake’s—looked from his daughter to where our hands were joined together. I dared him to say one thing.
“This is Cameron Hamilton,” she said, clearing her throat. “Cam, this is my father.”
Since it would be rude to give him the middle finger or punch him in the face, I extended my free hand. “Hi.”
He shook my hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“What’s up, Dad?” she asked when I didn’t return the polite greeting.
Mr. Morgansten dragged his eyes from me, and his gaze landed on his daughter for maybe a fraction of a second before flicking away. I could see the age on him now, settling in the creases around his eyes and mouth.
His chest rose with a deep breath and then said, “You know what I’ve missed most of all? I miss watching you dance.”
Shortcake was handling everything better than I thought she would, which meant I hadn’t given her enough credit. The girl was stronger than any of us realized.
Over dinner she told me how everything had gone down, and I was angry and disappointed for her when it came to how she was received by her so-called mother, but Avery had done what she had come here to do.
And it seemed her father expressed at least some amount of remorse or distress. The dancing comment . . . I got what it meant. There were so many things that Avery lost out on, and due to their own ignorance, so had her parents.
She still wanted to see Molly tomorrow, and no matter what I tried over dinner to change her mind, she was determined and I was going to support her the best I could. But to be honest, I wanted nothing more than to get her back home and away from all of this.
When we returned to the hotel room that evening, Shortcake immediately disappeared into the bathroom to take a quick shower. I watched her retreating form with an arched brow. She had been acting weird since the end of the dinner, in a hurry to get back here. I had no idea what she was up to, but I forced myself to lie down instead of joining her in the shower, which was something I wanted to do really, really badly.
I discovered the remote control and was still trying to figure out what channel was what when steam rolled out from the opened bathroom door about twenty minutes later. I looked up and the air halted in my lungs.
She stood in the doorway, her hair a dark red, clinging to her shoulders. She wore only a white towel.
Holy shit.
I sat up, speechless as my gaze swept over her, starting at the tips of her painted toes and ending at her flushed cheeks. My skin tightened as she walke
d to where I sat, her fingers curling around the knotted towel between her breasts.
I closed my eyes. “Avery.”
She placed a hand on my shoulder and climbed up, like she had done the evening on the couch, straddling me. “Cam?”
A small grin split my lips; it was all I could manage as I clutched her hips.
“What are you up to?”
“Nothing.” She paused. “Everything.”
My gaze dipped to the knot. “Those are two opposite things.”
“I know.” She pressed down on my erection, sending a bolt of red-hot pleasure through me. “Kiss me?”
She didn’t give me a chance to respond, which was fine by me. Her lips brushed over mine, a sweet sweeping of her lips. My hold on her hips tightened when she parted my lips with her tongue. The kiss went on until I was aching for her.
Hell, I was always aching for her.
“Touch me,” she whispered. “Please.”
Who in the hell was I to deny her? I ran my hands under the hem of the towel, gliding them over her thighs, coming close to the center of her heat.
“Now,” she demanded.
I laughed at her bold demand, but I wouldn’t be rushed. I brushed the back of my hand over her dampness, smiling when she moaned. “What do you want?”
She made a sound of frustration. “I want you to touch me.”
Bringing my fingers close to where she wanted me, I retreated quickly. “I am touching you, sweetheart.”
Her eyes flashed. “You know what I mean.”
“I don’t.”
“Please.” She pressed her forehead to mine. “Please touch me, Cam.”
I leaned back, brushing our lips together. “Well, when you say it like that, I think I get what you mean.”
“Finally,” she groaned.
I laughed again and then nipped at her chin. Her body jerked when I cupped her between the thighs. “Like this?”
“Yes.”
As I kissed the center of her throat, I slipped a finger into her wetness. “And this?” My voice was gruff, heavy.
Her back arched. “Uh-huh.”
Wrapping an arm around her so she didn’t tumble backward, I pressed down on her clit. Her body tensed in the most amazing way. “What about this?”
