#1 Crush

by T Gephart

  “Yeah, you should probably go,” Eric not so subtly hinted. “We have more things we need to discuss.” His lips against my throat punctuated the sentence.

  “Yeah, talking, that’s exactly what you’re going to be doing.” Roman rolled his eyes. “Come on losers, let’s get out of here.” He rounded up the other two and with quick goodbyes they were all gone.

  “So.” Eric’s eyes darkened, the hunger evident in not only his voice but also his body as his hands traveled up my torso, palming my breast. “I need to know what fantasies you had about me. When you would think about me, what did I do to you?”

  “You want to know what I thought about?” I swallowed, feeling the familiar pull between my legs as my body tingled.

  “Yes, everything.” He pushed me against his granite bench top, panty-melting smolder in full effect. “Then I’m going to systematically go through them all, one by one.”

  “Well . . .” The man was asking and by God I was telling him. “Usually they start with kissing.” My teeth played with my bottom lip as he stalked closer.

  “Kissing,” he said, lips starting at my ear and pressed small sweet kisses along my jaw till he got to my mouth. And then, those kisses weren’t so sweet, his tongue prying open my lips as he consumed me. Hot, heavy and intense.

  “That wasn’t.” The words came out in a gasp, not entirely sure I should be opening my mouth other than to kiss him back. “Where I wanted you to kiss.”

  He stopped, hands gripping the granite hard on either side of my body. “Oh, really.” A chuckle bubbled up his throat. “I should have known.”

  With his eyes locked on mine, his hand moved between my legs, his agile fingers caressing me through the denim of my jeans. “Is this where you wanted to be kissed?”

  “Yes.” I nodded, already feeling wetter than I should be considering he’d only just started.

  It wouldn’t take long, not with him looking at me like that. I was positive the minute he made contact with my bare skin I was going to explode into a thousand pieces.

  “Not here,” Eric growled, yanking me forward so my body hit his chest with a thud. “I want you laid out on my bed.”

  I didn’t even have time to argue, my world turning upside down as he tossed me over his shoulder like a marauder and hauled me up the stairs to his bedroom.

  “Eric.” His name left me with a whoosh, the air knocked out my lungs as my back hit the mattress. “Kiss me.”

  “I intend to kiss every last inch of you.” He started tearing at his clothes and tossing them aside.

  I watched in awe as he stripped, quickly and efficiently pealing his shirt, jeans, socks and boxer briefs off to reveal his deliciously toned flesh.

  God, I was so worked up. This was going to be over embarrassingly fast.

  With his body bare, he turned his attention to mine. His fingers worked from the bottom up, discarding each layer of my clothes with no more care than he’d shown his own.

  I was completely naked, lying on the top of his comforter as he kneeled on the floor. His eyes so fucking dark, it was as if his pupils had invaded his irises.

  “Shit.” I gasped as his palms parted my legs and traveled toward my thighs. My breasts heaved with each breath.

  “Watch me,” he whispered against the apex of my thigh, the gentle stubble of his chin tickling my skin. “Watch me kiss you.”

  I was going to come. He hadn’t even put his mouth on me yet and I was going to come.

  Hot breath blew across my core, my back arching as he sealed his mouth around me and sucked my clit.

  “Eric.” My fingers bunched at the covers either side of me, my hips rising to meet his mouth as his tongue lapped at my pussy. “That feels so—”

  “Good?” He lifted his head for a minute and inserted a finger, his thumb rubbing my clit before returning with his tongue.

  I didn’t get to answer, the sensations overwhelming me as the wave washed over me in a rush, every single part of my body obliterated as I came on his hand and his mouth.

  “I love the way you taste.” He slid out the finger he’d been fucking me with and placed it into his mouth and sucked. “So fucking sweet.” His eyes closed as his lips curled around it.

  “Holy shit, that was amazing.” My body shook, the tremors of my orgasm still echoing through me as I lay on the bed.

  “Now what, New York?” His hands were back in between my legs, rubbing my sensitive skin and making me shiver. “I just kiss you and make you come?”

  “No.” I struggled to bring my breathing to heel, my pulse beating out of control. “Then I kiss you.”

  His eyes widened as I turned, positioning my body so my lips were in line with his cock, and took him in my mouth.

  Like he hadn’t been, I wasn’t slow or soft. His hard-on lengthened in my mouth as I sucked him in deep, my fingernails grazing up his shaft before I started to pump.

  I loved to watch him. Peeking underneath my lashes as I hollowed out my cheeks while I sucked.

  “Fuck.” His body tensed as my tongue trailed up his hard length, twisting around the head of his cock and then trailing back down the other side.

  And because I didn’t want my mouth to have all the fun, my hand had started to pump, sliding up and down tight against his skin while the other hand cupped his balls, squeezing gently.

  He wasn’t going to stand a chance.

  I watched as he tried to fight it, his body coiling as he tensed and even tried to pull away from my mouth, but I wasn’t going to stop.

  I sucked and licked hard, my hands working him over in unrelenting bursts. I wanted to feel him come in my mouth, for him to lose control and unravel just as I had.

  “Tia,” he groaned, unable to fight it any longer as he rocked his hips, fucking my mouth. “I’m going to come.”

  “Come for me,” I mumbled against his dick, my teeth grazing his skin.

  “Fuck,” he cursed out, gripping my hair as his hot load spilled down my throat. My mouth clamped around him, continuing to suck until I was sure I’d swallowed every last drop.

  I’d gone down on him before, but never like this. It was as if I no longer had to hide exactly how much I wanted him, the byproduct enough to blow us both apart.

  “I love your fucking mouth.” He pulled out from between my lips and laid down beside me. “I love every single part of you.”

  “Mmm.” I licked my lips, my hands still around his semi hard cock as his hands moved to my breasts. His fingers twisted my nipples as I continued to jerk him off.

  “I love these too.” He sealed his mouth around one of my stiff peaks and sucked, using his teeth to bite a little as well. “You have the most amazing set of tits I’ve ever seen.” He moved his lips to the other one, giving it the same level of attention.

  “I love your mouth on me.” One of my hands kneaded my breast, feeling him suck one of my fingers into his mouth as he played with my nipples. “It makes me so hot.”

  I couldn’t believe that so soon after coming, my body tightened as warmness spread across my lower belly. My pussy so slick it was begging to be touched.

  “I want to see you touch yourself.” His voice rumbled, as if reading my thoughts. “Like you did in your hotel room the night you met me.”

  Oh Lord in heaven and all the fucking saints.

  I was on fire. Fire. Burning from the inside out.

  I didn’t argue, locking my eyes on him as my hand slid down my belly and in between my legs. My fingers coated in my heat as I rubbed circles against my clit.

  “God, I love watching you.” He parted my knees, fully exposing my pussy as he watched me finger myself. The slick sound of my core and gentle moans from my mouth were making him lose control.

  “I want to watch you too.” I lifted my head, seeing he’d already taken his heavy cock into his hand and was slowly stroking it. “Oh, Eric.” My back arched, the sight of him jerking off while I touched myself driving me slowly insane.

  “I can’t wait any
longer,” he groaned, pushing the head of his cock to my entrance and rubbing it against my clit.

  He hissed as my fingers touched myself and then him, his hand still stroking his shaft as I grabbed him.

  “I need to be in you.” His voice guttural and raw, tearing at this throat.

  “Please.” I lifted my lips to meet his as he filled me in one hard rush.

  He lifted my legs over his knees as his hips pumped into me, dragging his cock out slowly before sliding back in fast.

  “Yes. Oh my God.” My shoulders lifted off the mattress as my pelvis flexed, I wanted him in as deep as I could get.

  “Touch yourself,” he demanded, gripping my legs as he thrust into me. “I want to watch you while I fuck you.”

  My hand didn’t wait a second longer, reaching in between my legs and circling my clit as he pushed inside. It was too much, my body overwhelmed by every sensation.

  “Tia.” My name like a prayer on his lips, was my final undoing.

  “Eric!” I screamed, coming around his cock as he exploded into me with one last final thrust.

  Our bodies collided, falling onto the mattress in a web of limbs and slick skin. I couldn’t move, every part of me shaking and so deliriously spent.

  “We make your fantasy come true?” Eric rolled over taking me with him, tucking me up close to chest. “Because if we didn’t, you know I’m going to have to do it again.”

  “Do you even need to ask?” I laughed, my body sore in all the right places. “You made my fantasy come true the first time you slept with me, that—what we just did—I couldn’t have even imagined. And trust me, I imagined plenty.”

  I couldn’t move. My limbs felt like pudding, and I lost the ability to maneuver them in any meaningful way. And I wasn’t just tired physically; mentally I was exhausted from the emotional rollercoaster of the day.

  And what a day.

  I still couldn’t believe it. That by some miracle it had all worked out.

  There were no more secrets. Eric knew the truth—the whole truth so help me God truth. Not only about who I was and what I did, but how I felt. And he was still here. But not only that, he loved me.

  He. Loved. Me.

  I wasn’t sure if a heart could burst, but if it were possible, mine was literally falling apart at the seams.

  “What are you thinking about?” Eric’s hot breath on my neck made me shiver while the sweep of his hand instantly calmed me.

  “Thinking about you. And me. And us.” I hummed, feeling like I was floating on a cloud.

  “Look at me, New York.” His arms loosened so I could twist around to face him, his gorgeous blue eyes so clear I could almost see my own reflection.

  “I love you,” he said with no hesitation.

  “I love you too.” The words not feeling like they were enough. “I love you so much, I just want to keep saying it.”

  “And I want to keep hearing it.” He brushed off the damp hair sticking to my forehead. “I don’t care how we got here or where we’re going, but I know I want it to be with you.”

  God.

  My heart.

  Bursting.

  “You know I’m crazy, right?” I felt like he needed the disclaimer. One more opportunity to opt out. “And what you’re signing up for?”

  “Yeah, I know.” His gentle laugh vibrating through his body. “What about you? It’s not all hot sex. There are going to be long days and I travel all the time. And there’s the press. Trust me when I tell you it’s no field trip. You think you can put up with all of that?”

  He asked so earnestly, his brow furrowed like there was a chance of any other outcome. Little did he know that his world could be on fire, and I would happily stand by his side and burn with him.

  “There’s nowhere else I want to be, Eric. No one else I want to be with.”

  The world could stop turning.

  I could take my last breath.

  And I’d not regret a second of it.

  He’d stopped being my crush a while ago, and now he was my forever.

  IN A PERFECT WORLD, ERIC and I would have woken up the next day and climbed a magical beanstalk to our castle in the clouds. But as much as I was living the best kind of fairytale, we also had a big dose of reality to deal with.

  My life had always been in New York—my family, my friends, my job. And while I was happy to travel the country or even the world whenever wanderlust took hold, my soul was tethered to the east coast.

  The huge problem was while my soul was on the opposite side of the country, my heart now belonged to Eric. And Eric lived in Los Angeles.

  Biggie verses Tupac.

  Things were bound to get bloody.

  “So you’re going to move?” Lila paused, her voice dropping to a whisper. “To L.A.?”

  It had been one blissful, perfect—insert other adjective that basically means the best here—month. All the things we had spoken about that night had happened. Eric had started filming and was gone a lot. The press intensity on me and our relationship had increased. And while the sex was still smoking hot, it wasn’t as frequent as it had once been. Because life. And even adding all of that into the equation, I wouldn’t change a thing.

  And yes, I had been back home a couple of times—seeing my family and Lila—but it became increasingly obvious that I needed to make a choice. And for me, there really could only be one.

  “Well, we haven’t really talked about it yet but yeah, I will probably be moving here. He has a mansion in The Hills, I have an apartment in Brooklyn. He has to be here for work, I can work pretty much anywhere. It makes sense that I’m the one who relocates.”

  Hearing it out loud didn’t soften the blow. While I was eternally grateful—thanking all the gods—both Viking and traditional—that I had the love of the most amazing man alive, I was still giving up a lot. And yes, I realize how unappreciative I sounded which was why I was keeping those thoughts to myself.

  “Wow, I just never thought you would leave, leave.” She sighed softly, her voice with just a hint of sadness. “But I’m happy for you though.” Trademark Lila was trying to be upbeat. “I mean who the hell knew you’d end up shacked up with Eric Larsson? I guess if it was going to happen to anyone, it would have to be you.”

  “Thanks, Lila,” I chuckled. Looking at Eric had been made a whole lot easier these days, no web browser needed. And waking up in his bed every morning was out of this world awesome. “Promise me you’ll visit me all the time.”

  “Promise me you aren’t going to start wearing Ugg boots with shorts,” she countered.

  “Deal,” I readily agreed.

  “I’ll visit then.”

  “It might be nice.” I tried to find the silver lining. “No shoveling snow to get out your front door in the winter, I’ll probably not even need a coat.”

  “Yeah, that might be cool.” Lila’s voice drifted, reflecting in thought. “Though I bet even though we bitch about it every year, you’re going to miss it.”

  “That’s not helping,” I groaned. “I’ll have Eric. That’s worth more than anything. And I can still keep my job if I want it, Mr. Walker couldn’t give a rat’s ass where I live. As long as I keep the quirky pieces coming on time, he has no issue with sending my pay check to a California address.”

  “Well that’s good.”

  See, another positive.

  I had won like five lotteries all at the same time.

  Life was fucking awesome.

  “New York.”

  I sensed him before he’d said my name. Felt him even before his arm had curled around my waist. And even though I hadn’t turned around yet, the stupid grin I always seemed to wear whenever Eric was in the room was already on my face.

  “I’m talking to Lila.” I twisted in his arms, planting a kiss on his lips and pointed to the phone at my ear. You know, in case he missed it.

  “Hi, Lila.” He leaned across to the speaker, his mouth inches from mine. “Can I steal Tia for a few minutes, I guarant
ee you she’ll call you back.”

  “You need me?” I pulled the phone away from my ear, curiosity getting the better of me.

  Sure, we barely kept our mouths or our bodies off each other whenever we were in the same room. Ryan complained the whole time he drove whenever we were in the car together. But Eric had started filming last week, so not only was he gone for twelve—sometimes longer—hours a day, but even when he was home, he didn’t usually only need me for a few minutes.

  “Yep, I sure do.” His lips moving to the side of my neck, something he knew was impossible for me to resist. “I have to head back to the studio so I need to be quick.”

  Wow.

  I think I actually groaned.

  “Can you two wait until I’m off the phone?” Lila laughed, confirming my appreciation for Eric and his mouth hadn’t been silent. “I don’t need to hear my best friend getting busy with her movie star boyfriend.”

  “I’ll call you back.” I ended the call without a proper goodbye.

  I would totally call her the minute Eric went back to the studio, but for now I wanted whatever time I had with him.

  “Where do you want me?” I started unzipping my dress, my shoes getting kicked off carelessly. “How much time do you have?”

  “You’re adorable.” He laughed, stilling my hand at my zipper and moving it back up instead of down. “And the five minutes I have aren’t enough for me to have sex with you. I start that and I won’t make it back today.”

  “I bet you can make me come in three,” I offered, knowing it was possible. I was fairly sure he’d proven it at least twice.

  “I bet I can.” His lips curled into a smile as his hands anchored themselves on my hips. “But I wanted to talk to you instead.”

  Oh-oh.

  Talk.

  Not sex.

  And he looked serious.

  Maybe my declarations of awesome and lottery wins had been premature.

  “Is it . . . bad?” I swallowed, my brain free falling into every bad scenario it could. It had been too good to be true and this was where he told me it wasn’t working out for him.

  “No, it’s not bad. Or at least I don’t think it is.”