Snap Decision

by Jami Davenport

  Zach hesitated, as if ready to go another round with Tyler. Instead, he turned his attention on her. He tossed a broad grin in her direction. “Hey, El, honey, when you get tired of this dick and want a real man, give me a call.”

  Tyler growled, but Lavender stepped between them and smiled sweetly at the man. “I’ll be sure to do that, Zach.”

  Zach kissed her cheek, lingering a little longer than necessary. Then he, too, followed the rest of his teammates out the door.

  Tyler stood near the doorway, hands fisted, legs spread apart, as if debating whether or not to go after Zach.

  “Drop it, Ty. He’s trying to get to you, and you let him.”

  Frowning, Tyler turned back to her. “Yeah, I know, but you won’t be calling him.”

  She considered taking exception to his order but decided to drop it. “So, you’ve chased them all out, now what did you have in mind?”

  “I have a lot in mind. Derek told me to go to your house, said he doesn’t want to be kept awake all night.”

  “You told him we’d make noise?”

  “I didn’t need to. He knows me. Let’s get out of here. Your bed’s waiting.”

  “My bed? I had something more daring in mind.”

  Tyler grinned, always game for sex in unusual places. “Tell me.”

  “It’s your turn. Come up with something.”

  He ran his thumb across his lips. “Yeah. I have just the place.” He nodded and started putting glasses in the dishwasher. The sooner they cleaned up, the sooner they could get naked.

  “For wild monkey sex?”

  “Oh, yeah. I love how your mind works.”

  Lavender leaned forward and milked his erection through his jeans. “I bet it’s not my mind you love.”

  “Oh, baby, you have that right. Minds are overrated. Give me an X-rated body any day or night.”

  A second later, Tyler hopped behind the wheel of her car. They sped down the road to an unknown destination.

  * * * * *

  Tyler drove easily, maintaining an aura of nonchalance. To be honest, he didn’t know where the hell he was going. He figured he’d drive until he got there. Sex in an elevator was out. He didn’t think there were any on the entire island. A back alley didn’t do it for him because of the dumpster smell. Plus, it seemed pretty damn tacky. He craved something more. He struggled for the right word, but the only word that came to mind was romantic. Being romantic was not him. Regardless, he kept coming back to the word, a foreign—though intriguing—concept.

  A full moon shone in the clear night sky. He pictured Lavender’s naked skin illuminated by the soft light of the moon. Unseasonably warm weather and windless conditions resulted in temps in the balmy low sixties. Sex outside would be in the realm of comfortable possibilities. Not that he and Lavender couldn’t generate enough heat to be comfortable in below-freezing temperatures.

  Purple lady didn’t make it easy on him or his rough-and-ready cock. She stroked him through his jeans, making it damn hard for him to concentrate on his driving. He skidded around one corner a little too fast. His distracted driving didn’t deter her. She unbuttoned the top button on his jeans and slid down the zipper. He raised his hips to give her easier access, even as he bared his teeth and bit back a primal groan.

  Her hand slid inside his jeans. She cupped his balls, squeezing lightly.

  “Oh, yeah, baby. Keep that up, and we’ll screw right here on the double-yellow line.”

  Her soft laughter touched his heart. Damn, he loved the sound of her voice whether it was soft, sexy, sassy, or demanding.

  Rounding a corner on the two-lane road, Tyler spotted a sign indicating the entrance to a county park. He grinned and slowed down the car. Rescued at last.

  “Here?” Lavender’s fingers froze between his legs. She stared into the dark woods at the side of the road.

  “Why not, El?” Hell, any place was a good place for sex, especially with Lavender.

  “The park is closed for the night.” His bold little vixen turned into a shy, proper lady. He knew better. She was anything but proper. With a slight tremble, she pushed her red hair off her face and stared out the window.

  A little thing like a locked gate never stopped Tyler. He pulled off the side of the road and parked the car. “You got a blanket in this thing?”

  “In the back seat.”

  “Grab it and let’s go.” He didn’t want to keep his boy waiting. It’d been patient for way too long. He unfolded his long legs from the driver’s seat and hopped out, checking his wallet for a condom and finding three. He couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across his face. His dick twitched, reminding him to get back to the matter at hand.

  Lavender hung back. “Tyler, are you sure? What if someone comes along?”

  “Then we’ll give them a show, won’t we?”

  “This is not a good idea.”

  “This is an excellent idea. Since when are you a coward?”

  She glanced nervously at the gate and twisted that damn ring. “I’m not. It’s just—”

  “Get the blanket.”

  He expected her to balk at the authoritarian tone of his voice. She didn’t. Good thing. She’d had her turn being the boss. Lavender grabbed the blanket from the back seat and followed Tyler. He stood near the gate and waited for her. He hooked his arm over her shoulders and guided her down the dark path.

  Lavender stumbled, but he caught her, hugging her to his side. “Do you have any clue where you’re going?”

  “Nope. I’m not one to hang out in parks.”

  “This is such a bad idea.”

  “I like this idea. Great outdoors. Communing with nature. All that crap.”

  “You can’t be that horny. Let’s go home, or at least to the car.”

  “I’m in a perpetual state of horniness.” He might be horny, but he loved the anticipation, the craving, the torture of wanting something, and controlling his lust until it finally exploded like the grand finale in a fireworks display.

  She sighed as if he’d asked her to work a double-shift or something. Little faker, she wanted this as badly as he did.

  “Watch your step, baby.” Tyler stepped over a log, and she clung to him. He liked that. A lot. Rarely did Lavender depend on anyone, and even a small gesture like this one made him feel needed. He liked the feeling.

  The path opened up into a clearing. He stopped at the edge of a patch of grass near a picnic table. Beyond the grass, a steep, rocky bank dropped down to the waters of the Strait of Juan De Fuca. Yeah, this was the place. Taking the blanket from Lavender, he spread it out on the tabletop.

  “A picnic table?” She stepped back as if ready to flee. Not a chance in hell would he let her disappear on him.

  “What’s wrong with a picnic table?”

  “Nothing.”

  “You’re worried about doing it here? Hell, we’ve done it in my truck.”

  “I know, but there were windows to steam up and protect us from others watching us.”

  “El, no one is around. The park is closed. We have it all to ourselves.” He lowered his voice a notch, cajoling her. “Don’t you crave the forbidden, the possibility we could get caught? Doesn’t that turn you on?”

  She lifted her face to his and dug those sexy red fingernails into his arm. “Yes. A little.”

  He rubbed his cheek against hers, tugged on her earlobe with his teeth, finding that spot that drove her beyond sanity. She gripped his arm harder and turned her head to seek out his lips. He covered her mouth with his, sucked on her tongue, applied perfect pressure calculated to drive a female crazy. Oddly, the only female he cared about driving crazy happened to be his purple lady.

  Panting, she drew back and looked up at him. Way up. She was such a petite little thing. The determination in her chocolate eyes weakened his football-damaged knees, while his dick jerked inside his unzipped jeans.

  “Just screw me. Anywhere. I don’t care. Just bury your big guy inside me and drive down the fi
eld.”

  “Impatient, aren’t we?” With a grin, he put his hands on her waist and lifted her up until she stood on the bench, which put them eye-to-eye. “If it makes you feel any better, waiting hurts me as much as it hurts you.”

  “I doubt that. You’re the epitome of calm.” She rested her hands on his shoulders and gazed into his eyes. He gazed back, liking what he saw.

  “It’s my game face. Trust me. Inside I’m a raging ball of lust.”

  She raked her gaze down his body and back up again. “I want you.”

  Oh, damn. If she looked at him one more time like that, it’d be all over. “You’ll get me, but tonight I’m in charge.”

  Tyler unzipped her hoodie and pushed it off her shoulders. “Let’s get you a little more comfortable.” He unbuttoned her blouse, and it, too, followed the sweatshirt to the grass. Lavender leaned toward him in an attempt to press her body against his. “Don’t move or you’ll face the consequences.”

  “Don’t tempt me.”

  “Oh, honey, just play along. It’ll all be worth it in the end.”

  She nodded and stood straighter, hands clasped behind her back.

  “Good. Keep your hands there.”

  With an exaggerated sigh, she thrust out her breasts and stood still before him. The breast thing tantalized him and tugged at his control.

  Getting back to the job at hand, he unzipped her jeans and slid them down her legs, taking his time despite the need throbbing through his groin. She stepped out of them without him asking. Standing back, he surveyed her almost-naked body. A hot-pink lace bra barely confined her big tits. Her nipples stood out under the lace. He couldn’t discern their outline in the moonlight, but his imagination filled in the blanks. His gaze dropped lower to her curvy hips and pink panties. They didn’t cover much more than a G-string. Pretty soon those panties wouldn’t cover anything.

  Tyler leaned his head close to her until their breath mingled. Holding her face in his hands, he traced her lush lips with his tongue. She moaned in response, and her hips rubbed against his. He found himself smiling, loving the power he had over her, even as he acknowledged she possessed a similar power over him. His cock strained against the fly of his jeans, demanding attention. He forced it to wait because tonight was about Lavender, not him.

  The realization gave him pause. With Cass and other women, he’d made it about him. Sure, he met their needs at the same time. He was just that good, but he’d never focused solely on a woman’s pleasure and forced his desires to take a back seat.

  Her mouth opened to his tongue. He closed his eyes and let his talented tongue work its magic. Their mouths mated, starting slow and working to a fever pitch, a fever he’d better rein in if he planned on taking this slow.

  Pulling away despite her protests, he worked his way down her body. Lingering at those mouthwatering nipples, he scraped his tongue across them through the thin lace barrier of her bra. She wiggled and pressed herself against him. He took one in his mouth, sucking on it, wetting the lace, sucking harder. He switched to the other, gave it the same treatment.

  Holding her waist to keep her from moving, he knelt down and kissed a path to her belly button, then lower. He slid the panties down her legs and ran his hands up the inside of her thighs.

  She trembled and swayed, as if her knees wouldn’t hold her up.

  He parted her and buried his head between her legs, seeking out the moist heaven concealed there. He used his tongue to toy with her clit. He took her clit in his mouth and sucked. Her body shook with a spasm. He sucked harder. Her hips pumped, grinding her cunt into his face. She came with a rush. Her sweet juices coated his face. She cried out into the still night and sank downward.

  Tyler caught her before she fell off the bench and laid her on the blanket.

  His turn.

  She lay still, limp and spent. Her legs splayed out to the sides, opened wide for his pleasure. Her wet pussy glistened in the moonlight. Tyler rubbed his shirt sleeve across his wet face. His cock demanded some action. A tremor shot through his body in warning. His fine thread of control was in danger of snapping.

  He closed his eyes for a moment and breathed deeply. In. Out. In. Out. Oh, man, that made it worse. All he wanted to do was plunge his cock in her tight, wet pussy and forget the rest of the world existed. When he was with her, nothing else did exist.

  She blinked and raised her head slightly to look at him. “Screw me.”

  He nodded. His head hurt from the strain of holding back. It was time to give his cock some relief. He unzipped his jeans and dropped them to the ground. He had a condom out of his pocket and on his dick in record time.

  Moving close, he guided his cock into her entrance.

  “Give it to me. Hard. Don’t hold back.”

  Ah, hell. How could any sane man resist that invitation? He let loose with the fury of a man who’d waited too long. Slamming into her, he took up a rhythm and went with it. Hard, fast, and deep. All control gone. She writhed under him, crying out words of encouragement, pushing him into sweet insanity until the world exploded and took them with it.

  Chapter 19—Kicking it Away

  Tyler stared out the window at Lavender’s house. Usually she was home by mid-afternoon. She cooked an early Sunday dinner for the brothers’ at Homer’s house. Those old goats couldn’t stay up much past seven thirty.

  Behind him, Derek read a sports magazine on his tablet. Murphy ignored them both and stared mindlessly at the TV as some reality show droned on and on while he stroked Coug. Not only was the asshole alienating his team, he’d sucked the cat into his web. Tyler should’ve stuck with dogs. Dogs were loyal. Cats were opportunists.

  The rest of the guys had gone whale watching and would meet Murphy at the ferry landing. Tyler couldn’t wait to get rid of the jerk. How they’d managed to avoid beating the shit out of each other, only the football gods knew.

  Derek put down the iPad and stood next to him. After a long silence his rat bastard cousin got to the point. “I’ve never seen you like this before. You need to get over it, Ty.”

  “Get over what?” Tyler stared straight ahead and ground his teeth to the roots.

  “Ryan.”

  The word hung between them, binding them together in mutual pain while driving them apart. Tyler said nothing. He glanced at Murphy, but the guy had the TV cranked loud and no way could he hear them.

  Derek sighed and leaned his forehead against the windowpane. Finally he straightened and faced Tyler. “Hey, his death ripped my heart out, too, but it’s time to let go and move on. Ryan wouldn’t want you like this.”

  “I should’ve dragged his mother back. I should’ve offered her a shit-ton of money she couldn’t refuse. I didn’t because I wanted her to do it for Ryan, not the money.” He met Derek’s kind eyes. “You know what? Ryan saw through me. No one sees through me. He did. When he was lying there in that hospital bed, he told me he loved me. I remember every word of what he said next: ‘I was wrong. You do care. About people.’” Tyler’s strangled voice sounded like someone else’s. “Oh, God. I don’t deserve all the good that’s come my way. What the hell have I done with it? Any of it? I’ve squandered it away. Wasted it on my own selfish pursuits. Good people like Ryan make a difference in people’s lives. I don’t. I use people and throw them away.”

  “You’re finally growing up. That party boy/asshole role isn’t easy to hide behind, is it?”

  Tyler didn’t even bother arguing or playing the tough guy. His cousin stared out the window at the bay, having said his piece. Tyler’s entire body ached as if he’d played a brutal double-overtime game—only the game was life, and he didn’t have a clue how it would end.

  “Lavender is good for you.” Derek’s words came out of left field. He studied his cousin over the rim of his beer glass. “I like her.”

  Tyler snapped his head around so fast a sharp pain shot up his neck. He reached up to rub the affected area. “So what? You like everyone.”

  “I l
ike her, too.” Murphy walked up beside them. “But I don’t understand what she sees in a fuckhead like you.”

  “Guess what, assholes. I don’t give a shit about your opinions. Or anyone else’s for that matter.”

  “Bullshit, and you know it. It’s all an act, Ty. This is your cousin you’re talking to, your lifelong best friend. I know what’s under the hood of that hard skull of yours. Why don’t you date her? Take her out? Treat her like a real girlfriend?”

  “Yeah, she deserves to be more than your fuck buddy.” Murphy added his unwelcome two cents.

  “She’s not my girlfriend. I don’t even like her outside of the bedroom.”

  Derek threw back his head and laughed. “Coulda fooled me. You love how she calls bullshit on you, argues, pushes your patience to the limits.”

  “Why would I love that?”

  “There’s no figuring how your messed-up mind works. I can only guess because she’s a challenge, keeps you guessing, while Cass only challenged you in bed and spent your money.”

  Derek hit too close to a truth Tyler hadn’t admitted to himself. He didn’t like to be the last person clued in on something, especially when it pertained to him. “Are you two packed? The next ferry leaves at five thirty p.m.”

  “Trying to get rid of us?”

  “Damn right. Especially him.” Tyler pointed at Murphy, who’d already gotten bored with the conversation and returned his attention to flipping channels on the TV.

  Derek just grinned, way too immune to Tyler. “Not a problem. We’re tired of your company anyway. You’re just jealous because the brothers like me better than you.”

  “Take them with you, too, would you?”

  “What and deprive you of their company? I don’t think so.”

  “Damn, I need to get off this fucking island.” Tyler ran his hand through his hair, considering his options. He didn’t like any of them.

  “You’re not a prisoner here. Just pack up and go.” Murphy grabbed another one of Tyler’s good beers and leaned against the bar.