Rock Solid

by Phillips, Carly

  “What’s that?” she asked tentatively.

  “For all the amazing ways that I fucked you, and all the times I made you come, there’s one thing I never had the chance to experience,” he said, his tone dropping seductively low.

  “And what . . . what was that?”

  Excitement made her voice unsteady, and listening to her getting turned on ramped up his own arousal. “I never had the chance to feel your mouth on my cock.” Her soft little moan echoed in his ear. “It’s a fantasy I’ve thought about endlessly since that night. Want to know how it plays out? And just to make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into before you say yes, my go-to fantasy is hot and filthy and x-rated, and you, sweetheart, are so damn brazen in it when it comes to giving me what I want and need.”

  “Yes.”

  One word had never sounded so sweet. Keeping a snug grip on his erection, he closed his eyes, picturing the erotic scenario in his mind, the one that made him come long and hard whenever he conjured it up. “It starts out with you and me kissing like we can’t get enough of each other. Hot, deep, wild kisses that make me hard as steel. I’m leaning back against a wall, you’re in front of me, and your hands are frantically trying to get my jeans open. You’re so eager I have to help you, and once my pants are pushed down to my thighs, your soft hand is wrapped so tight around my dick, and you’re already jerking me off, but I stop you because that’s not how I want to come.”

  “How . . . how do you want to . . . come?”

  Considering the choppiness of her sentence, he was pretty sure her own hand was busy between her legs. “I want to come in your mouth,” he murmured, his stomach muscles tightening as a bead of moisture formed on the head of his shaft and he used his thumb to rub that silky fluid over and around the plump crown. “You want that, too, don’t you, Katie?”

  “Yes,” she groaned.

  “Yeah, I knew you would.” His erection pulsed relentlessly in his hand as he pumped it slow and steady. “I push you down to your knees, and you go willingly, and when you look up at me with those dark brown eyes filled with lust, I go a little crazy. I fist my hand tight in your hair so I’m in control, and guide you toward me as I push my aching cock past your eager, parted lips. And fuck, your tongue is so soft, your mouth so damn hot and perfect, I know it isn’t going to take much to make me blow.”

  She was breathing hard now, soft little unmistakable gasps of arousal, and it spurred him on.

  He stroked his cock a little tighter, a little faster, feeling his climax building. “You have a mouth made in goddamn heaven,” he said on a low, raspy growl. “And when I demand you suck me harder and deeper, you don’t hesitate to obey. You accept every single inch of my dick, all the way to the back of your throat, and Jesus Christ, when I’m buried there to the hilt, you swallow around me, once, twice, and fuck . . . ” He was going to come.

  “Oh, God . . . Connor.”

  He heard her inhale a sharp breath, heard her moan of pleasure escalate into a soft, muffled cry, and knew she was in the throes of her own climax. The tight pressure in his balls throbbed up along his shaft as his hips jerked upward and he pumped his erection through his fist, again and again. His orgasm erupted through him, the muscles along his abdomen clenching as his intense release nearly incapacitated him.

  After they’d both had sufficient time to recover, he checked in on her. “Katie?” he asked in a gravelly whisper.

  “Mmm?” She sounded sated and content.

  He envisioned her relaxed on her bed, a satisfied smile on her beautiful face and her skin flushed as she enjoyed the orgasmic endorphins still ebbing through her body. “Is your hand still between your legs?”

  “Maybe,” she murmured huskily, the sexy, flirty lilt to her voice telling him which way that maybe was leaning. Yes.

  He chuckled, adoring this lighter, more playful side to her that he’d missed—and wanted more of. “Did that orgasm make your pussy nice and slick with your release?”

  Her soft exhale tickled his ear through the phone line. “Yes.”

  He took the fact that she wasn’t trying to dissuade his dirty talk as a good sign. “I want you to do something for me, baby,” he cajoled seductively, wondering just how daring she would be with him. “Taste yourself, Katie.”

  She was silent for a good fifteen seconds, probably in shock, before she responded in an uncertain tone. “Connor . . . ”

  “You just made yourself come with me on the phone, so don’t go all shy on me now, sweetheart,” he said, half-amused and the other half not letting her off so easy. “Put your wet fingers in your mouth and suck them. Use your tongue to get them nice and clean and imagine it’s me licking the taste of your orgasm off of your fingers.”

  She made a soft, provocative “mmm” noise in the back of her throat that made him hard all over again. “That was so . . . ”

  “Fucking hot?” he finished for her, and she laughed. “The only thing that would make it any hotter was if I were there watching you do it in person, instead of imagining it over the phone. You’re going to do that for me when I can watch, Katie. Very, very soon.”

  “You sound awfully confident.”

  Oh, he was. It was too bad she couldn’t see his self-assured grin, because after tonight, there was no doubt in his mind that seducing this woman was going to be much more pleasurable than he’d imagined.

  “And that very enthusiastic orgasm you just enjoyed?” he pointed out. “There’s more where that came from,” he promised, just to give her something to think about when he wasn’t around. “Sweet dreams, Katie. I’ll talk to you tomorrow night.”

  He disconnected the call before she could say anything more.

  Chapter Seven

  “So, what’s going on with you and your baby daddy?”

  Katie glanced at Avery from where she was standing on a chair as she and her friend put up pink streamers across the patio’s awning for Val’s birthday party later that afternoon. Avery had come over to help with the decorations while her husband watched Leah and Val and put them down for a nap before all the activities began. Not only did it help not having any little ones underfoot while she prepped for the party and the bouncy house was being set up, Katie wanted Val to come home and be surprised to see the backyard transformed into a magical wonderland for her big day.

  “My baby daddy?” she repeated in amusement as she stepped down from the chair and repositioned it in another corner.

  Avery shrugged as she handed Katie the roll of crepe paper. “That’s what he is. He’s not your boyfriend. He’s not your husband. He’s the hot guy you hooked up with that resulted in a baby. So yeah, your baby daddy. How are things going with him?”

  She hadn’t had the chance to really talk to Avery since Katie had met up with Connor at the park the previous weekend. Between getting last-minute things ready for her daughter’s party and being on a tight deadline for a few client ads that had claimed all her free time, she and her friend hadn’t had any time to chat and catch up on things.

  So, how did Katie explain how things were going with Connor when so much had changed in a short period of time? In the week since he’d met Val, Connor had talked to her every single night, and now her daughter expected Katie’s cell phone to ring right before her bath time. The little girl carried the phone around with her, and as soon as it lit up and Connor’s name showed on the display—which Val had already come to recognize—she’d run to Katie for her to unlock the screen and answer it first.

  It was the sweetest, cutest thing to watch Val walk through the house talking to him—her daughter couldn’t sit still—and how enthusiastic her conversation always was. She told him about her day, in more detail than Connor probably cared to hear, but there was no shortage of chitchat from Val.

  Connor never talked to Katie right then. No, he always waited two hours later, when he knew Val was fast asleep at night, and then he’d call back so it was just the two of them on the phone. And just like her daughter, Ka
tie had come to anticipate those calls, which always started out casually, with Connor asking about her day, or they’d talk about her work, or his business and his close friends, and his own childhood and family—which was the complete opposite of how hers had been, especially with his parents still being happily married.

  There was a lot of getting-to-know-you stuff during the first part of their conversations, but somehow, someway, he’d inevitably say something that turned things hot and sexual. The man was a master at dirty talk—and no, she wasn’t complaining—and for the past three nights, since that first phone call, she’d hung up the phone with her body relaxed and satisfied from the orgasm he’d effortlessly coax from her as his deep, husky voice filled her head with all the erotic, sinful things he claimed he wanted to do to her. Just remembering last night’s panty-melting exchange made her face feel warm and flushed.

  “Hello?” Avery snapped her fingers a few times, startling Katie out of her intimate and arousing thoughts. “Where did you go? You totally zoned out on me . . . ” And then Avery’s eyes grew wide in playful accusation. “Oh, my God! Have you and Connor been hooking up?”

  “No!” Katie protested immediately, and threw the roll of streamers at her friend’s head, hoping to distract Avery from her line of questioning—and anyway, phone sex did not equal hooking up.

  Avery caught the bundle of crepe paper before it fell to the floor and completely unraveled, but her face was lit up with glee, like she’d just figured out a huge secret. “You’re blushing furiously, Katie Kaswell, which I’ve never seen before. You and that hot hunk of a man are totally doing something.”

  Trying to ignore Avery, Katie stepped down from the chair. Finished with the streamers, she opened the package for the My Little Pony plastic tablecloth and started arranging it over one of the long folding tables that would hold the sandwiches and snacks.

  Avery helped straighten the tablecloth, though her grin never wavered. “You know, it’s okay to have a sex life even though you have a kid. You know that, right? You obviously had some kind of chemistry with Connor in the first place, so clearly the two of you are attracted to one another.”

  Yeah, desiring Connor and wanting him grew stronger every night when he seduced her mind and body. Katie didn’t have many good friends, and she suddenly had the urge to talk to someone, to help her sort out all the confusing feelings swirling inside of her. Avery was her person, the one she trusted the most, and Katie knew her friend wouldn’t judge her.

  Katie arranged the matching plates, napkins, and paper cups on the table. “Connor has been talking to Val every day, which she loves and looks forward to. It’s a great way for the two of them to get to know each other without it being forced. But later at night”—she met Avery’s curious gaze, feeling her complexion warm all over again—“well, he calls me and we talk . . . and do things.”

  Avery laughed. “Do things? As in, phone sex?”

  Katie nodded. “Yeah.”

  “Is it good phone sex?”

  “So good,” she admitted with a grin.

  The man had a filthy mouth and a wicked imagination, which made the orgasms he enticed from her beyond amazing. While having phone sex was safe emotionally and physically, she’d be lying if she didn’t admit that she missed real sex. The kind she’d had with Connor in Denver. Feeling his big, strong hands on her body, his mouth driving her wild before he pinned her down on the mattress and filled her with deep, driving thrusts that had her gasping with pleasure and need. Self-induced releases and vibrators just didn’t compare to that, to him.

  “So, you two have great phone sex,” Avery said, pointing out the obvious. “Seems like a natural transition to doing it in person, don’t you think?”

  That was a question she’d struggled with herself. “I think Connor has every right to be a dad to Val, in every way, but I’m just not ready to be in any kind of relationship. With any guy.”

  Bottom line for her, she didn’t trust her man-instincts any longer, and it was so much easier, and less complicated, with it just being her and Val. Then there was that fear of falling hard for Connor and getting hurt in the end when or if things didn’t work out between them, because there certainly weren’t any guarantees. She also had to remind herself that his picture had just been splashed all over a major magazine as one of Chicago’s hottest bachelors, and he was probably a very hot commodity at the moment—although he did spend his nights with her on the phone.

  “I’m not sure I get what the problem is,” Avery said, bringing her back around. “Has he asked you to be in a relationship?”

  Katie fussed with the pink and white balloons tied to one of the patio’s pillars. “Well . . . no.”

  “Okay, so there’s one fear you don’t have to worry about, so why not just go for it and enjoy the sex? You already know how good it is with Connor, and it’s not like he’s a stranger. If you think about it, it’s the perfect arrangement.”

  Over the past few days, Katie had surprisingly found herself coming around to that way of thinking. Considering all the things they’d already done on the phone together, it wasn’t a stretch for them to transition all that sexual tension to a physical affair. They were clearly heading in that direction.

  Luckily, Katie was saved from having to reply to Avery as the doorbell rang, which was the beginning of the various deliveries she had ordered for some of the food and the cupcakes. The bouncy house was finished being set up, and Katie put Avery in charge of getting the snacks in bowls and mixing the punch for the kids while Katie put together some party games for the little ones to play.

  A half an hour before the event was set to start, Avery went back home to gather up the girls to bring them over so Val could be the first to see all the party decorations before her guests arrived. Katie took the short but free time to change into a comfortable dress, and just as she finished zipping it up in the back and slipped into a pair of sandals, the doorbell rang again.

  Thinking it was Val and wanting to witness her expression when she saw all the party decorations for the first time, Katie rushed to the door and opened it without looking in the peephole. Seeing Connor standing on the front porch instead, looking so breathtakingly gorgeous, with his blue eyes sparkling with a genuine happiness and his sinful mouth curving with a smile . . . all that hotness nearly short-circuited her brain. It definitely had her body doing inappropriate things right before her daughter’s birthday party.

  “You’re early!” she blurted out.

  He tipped his head curiously. “Is that a problem?”

  “I, uh, no . . . of course not.” Jesus, what was wrong with her? “I just wasn’t expecting you to be the first one to arrive.”

  His smile deepened. “I wanted to see and talk to Val before the party starts and her attention becomes all about the games and presents and cake.”

  “Oh. She’s not here yet.” She nervously smoothed a hand down the front of her dress. “She stayed over at my neighbors for the afternoon while I got everything ready for the party so it would be a surprise when she saw it. She should be here soon.”

  “Okay . . . ” His brows rose, his eyes now glimmering with humor as she continued to stare at him. “Can I come in?”

  Oh, my God. Get it together, Katie! “Yes, of course!” She stepped back as he walked inside, and she noticed for the first time that his hands were filled with numerous gift bags that were clearly for a little girl’s birthday party. “You’ve got at least a half dozen presents. How badly did you spoil Val?”

  “I swear I didn’t go overboard,” he promised. “And these aren’t all from me.”

  That surprised her. “Oh?”

  “A few of them are from my sister and my parents.”

  Why that made her feel . . . bad, she didn’t know. Considering her own parents had never even met Val, she never expected his family to accept the little girl so easily without ever meeting her. “I’m sorry they weren’t invited,” she said, meaning it. “I . . . just didn’t want
Val to be confused by seeing people she didn’t know or recognize on her birthday.”

  “They understand the situation, Katie,” he said, not at all offended. “My mom and sister were just excited to buy some girly stuff and toys. I couldn’t very well tell them no. They’ll meet Val soon enough.”

  He set all the bags on the coffee table in the living room and then turned back toward her. “I have to say, this has been one of the longest weeks of my life, but my phone calls with Val have gone a long way in keeping me from getting too impatient,” he admitted, right before his eyes went a little darker and more intimate. “And our phone calls . . . well, those kept me pretty damn happy, too.”

  His gaze dropped to her lips, which she’d just dampened with her tongue, and when he stepped closer, she didn’t move back, because the desire flaring to life inside of her kept her riveted, and dear God, she wanted him to kiss her. Ached for the feel of his lips sliding against hers . . . not the fantasies he spun on the phone, but with the flesh-and-blood man.

  Blinking slowly, sensually, he lifted a hand toward her face, and as his fingers touched her jaw, Katie heard her daughter’s high-pitched voice from the front yard outside, heading toward the door. That snapped her out of her trance, and she jerked back just as the door burst open and her daughter ran through, wearing the cute pink party dress that Katie had given Avery to change Val into, and her hair pulled back into a ponytail with a pink bow.

  Val came to a sudden stop when she saw Connor, the little girl’s eyes slightly narrowed and confused, and Katie could nearly feel the anxiety pouring off of Connor, that his daughter wouldn’t remember who he was since she hadn’t seen him since last Sunday.

  “Happy birthday, Val,” he finally said, and it was the rich timbre of his voice, which his daughter had heard every single night, that made a huge smile spread across her face and light up those matching blue eyes.

  “Connor!” she said happily, clasping her hands beneath her chin. “You came for my buthday!”