She panted, her body jerking with each movement. She held on to me, giving me complete access to her. The lace scraped over her tender flesh with my fingers, adding to every sensation she was feeling.
“Kapena. Please. I need to come. Please don’t stop.”
I nudged her panties to the side to feel her wet pussy. I pressed against the tight knot between her cheeks with my thumb and stroked two fingers deep inside her, growling when she came instantly.
“Yes. Oh, yes. More. God, please more.”
I flicked her clit with my pinky, the best hang-ten I’d ever flashed, and pumped into her. Her ass eased, almost welcoming me in, but when I pressed, she tightened up just enough to let me know she wasn’t ready for that yet.
I focused on her pussy, sliding my fingers deep into her and dragging them out slowly, knowing she liked it deep and hard almost as much as she liked a slow burn. I teased her clit with every other stroke into her and within a minute was rewarded with another shaky breath followed by her begging me for release once more.
“I’m so close. Harder. Oh, God, more.”
I dropped my other hand down the front of her panties and used that one to thump her clit, pumping deep and hard into her with my other hand. She held me, her weight completely on my shoulders as I worked the orgasm free in seconds.
She screamed nonsense, her body thrashing in my arms as the orgasm took over, leaving nothing of Ada except the sexy woman who knew exactly how to get everything she wanted from me.
I eased my hands out of her panties, pausing to circle her tight hole. She moaned and leaned into me again, but I didn’t push.
“I don’t think I can stand,” she groaned, taking a step with shaky legs.
“That’s too bad,” I whispered against her throat. “Because I was planning to bend you over my couch and take you from behind.”
The sharp breath she sucked in told me she was as into the idea as I was. “I’ve never done that before.”
“Because you don’t want to?”
She shook her head and peered up at me from under her lashes.
Desire was thick and hot between us. It nearly choked me. If I didn’t get inside her within thirty seconds, I wasn’t sure I’d survive the night. Death by no sex? That was a thing, right?
Ada turned her back to me and eased her soaking wet panties down her thighs. She stepped out of them and took the few steps to stand behind my couch. She looked back at me over her shoulder and nibbled her lip.
“I don’t know how I’m supposed to stand,” she said.
The vulnerability in her eyes and voice destroyed me. She was doing it for me. Because I wanted to. Oh, there was definitely interest in her eyes, but she was nervous.
She was doing it anyway.
I tore my clothes off quickly, grabbing a condom from my pocket and rolling it on before I moved to her side. I kissed her shoulder, smiling when her hair caught in my stubble. I brushed it away, bringing my other hand up to glide down her back.
“You don’t have to do this,” I told her.
Ada shook her head. “I want to. Especially with you.”
Chapter Thirteen
I nodded and moved behind her. I kissed down her back and nipped at the top of each cheek. I smoothed my hand down her back, pressing her flat. She set her arms on the back of the couch, her head resting between them.
Her tension was a living thing between us. There was no way in hell I was going to let her not enjoy sex. I reached around to toy with one of her breasts as I settled my cock between her legs. I didn’t enter her, but stroked myself through her folds. My other hand met my cock between her thighs, gently playing with her clit until every last shred of tension slid from her body.
“Are you ready for me, sweetheart?” I murmured in her ear.
“More than,” she whispered back.
With one hand on her hip, I guided myself into her wet heat. She tensed for a second, then relaxed into me with a moan that went straight to my cock. It pulsed inside her, ready to go off already. I gritted my teeth and eased both hands over her ass.
“I’m going to move now. Are you okay?”
“So good.”
With a smile, I eased back, then slid into her again. She spread her legs an inch, and on the next stroke I slipped deeper into her. She moaned.
Painfully slowly, I stroked out and slid in, clenching my jaw to fend off the tingle in my throat that said I was a breath away from losing it into her. She adjusted her position, straightening slightly, arching her back, letting her head hang lower. I waited for her to pick one, but she seemed like she was searching for just the right place.
“Grab your ankles,” I told her.
“Huh?”
“Your ankles,” I gritted. “Put your hands on them.”
“I thought you wanted me over the couch.”
“I want you. Period. I don’t care how I have you, Ada. As long as it’s you I’m inside, I couldn’t be better.”
She looked back at me, the shock on her face reminding me that this was supposed to be sex. We weren’t starting something serious. We couldn’t.
She tore her eyes away and bent at the waist until her hands gripped her ankles. I eased out and back in again, and she gasped.
“Better.”
“Oh, God,” she moaned, spurring me on.
I cupped her hips and increased my pace. She thrust back against me with each stroke and before long, our flesh was slapping together, my cock buried deep into her.
The first ripple of her orgasm made my balls tighten. I didn’t want to miss a second of her coming. I slammed harder into her and rimmed her tight hole with my thumb. She shattered, the force of it making her knees buckle.
I wrapped my arm around her waist and held her up. I couldn’t stop the train racing through my dick and followed her into bliss seconds later, her limp body still hanging off my arms.
We sank to the floor together, my legs unable to support our combined weight when they had better things to do. Like collapse.
I slid from her body as we hit the floor. She curled against me like she’d always been there. I listened to her breath return to normal as my heart pounded a beat that had my head ready to confess things my heart kept locked up tight. Things she wasn’t ready to hear.
“Holy shit,” she finally said. “That was unbelievable.”
I nodded against her neck knowing no words would do it justice. Would do her justice.
“We might need to try that again one day.”
And just like that, the barriers I put up around myself snapped back into place. I couldn’t plan for more sex with Ada. She was one of those women I’d never have. The most important one. She defined out of reach.
“This, whatever this is, we’re not starting something,” I said, regretting the harsh tone of my voice.
But she laughed. She extricated herself from my embrace and looked back at me with amusement in her eyes. “Of course not. I told you I’m going to have fun. I’m enjoying sex. You didn’t think you were the only one I was with, did you?”
The casual dismissal of what just happened between us stuck in my chest like a barb. I deserved it, and I knew it, but it still fucking hurt.
“Of course. It’s fine. Whatever. We’re not in a relationship. That’s all I meant.”
She nodded and stood, her sexy body pulling my gaze. Every inch of her demanded my attention, holding it until she blocked my view with clothes.
Clothes?
What the fuck?
“Are you leaving?”
She smiled and pulled her shirt over her head. “Uh, yeah. I’m not going to stay here. We slept together. We aren’t in a relationship. You just said that.”
“But last time…”
“Last time I was drunk. I haven’t had anything to drink.”
“You tasted like wine when you got here,” I accused.
She smiled. “I had one glass at dinner. Hours ago. There’s no reason for me to stay, Kapena. Unless yo
u can think of one.”
I scowled and shook my head.
She nodded once and finished getting dressed. I sat on the floor and watched her, wondering when she’d become the one in our non-relationship who didn’t want things to get intense.
She dipped her finger in the cheesecake I destroyed in an attempt to paint her with it. She slid the finger into her mouth and released it with a pop. That really is delicious. Enjoy the other piece!”
She was gone before I could ask her to share it with me.
For the second time in less than a month, I was at a wedding as a guest. It was downright painful to sit there, but Braden was a good guy.
Ada performed the ceremony flawlessly, her voice carrying over the simple landscape that finally looked normal again. Kiki had the insurance money and had fixed everything on site. The plants were the last of the repairs, bringing Opposites Attract back to the beautiful place she carefully created when she found the little house with the big backyard for sale years ago. The tsunami knocked us down, but we weren’t out.
I was proud as hell of my sister and the world she created. She gave people everything they wanted, something Braden mentioned during our surf lesson. Lynn didn’t have family so she wanted a wedding that could be truly about them. It was expensive, but she insisted they have a wedding in paradise that would let her forget all the things she didn’t have.
Kiki gave that to her.
The reception was small, only about fifteen people including me. Bistro tables were scattered around a stone patio I helped Kiki put in two summers ago when she got sick of renting a dance floor and having it destroy her grass. The stones had just enough texture to prevent falls, but not so much that it caught or ruined dresses that hung to the ground.
I never understood why women wore dresses that long for an outdoor wedding, but I wasn’t the wedding planner.
I stood on the other side of the bar talking to Alvin and watching the wedding party. Mostly friends, but a few people that appeared to be family moved around, dragging tables together when they wanted to sit with a bigger group. I sipped the beer I had while Alvin chatted up one of the single women.
Ada moved through the crowd like she was one of them. Her dress, long and flowing and a light blue color that made her hazel eyes look like ice, stretched out behind her as she walked.
I couldn’t help but watch her. She was like a flame, and I was the dumb moth who wanted to get closer. Always closer. I knew she’d burn me, but in that moment, I didn’t care.
She was stunning. The reason I avoided so many of the weddings Kiana put on. I went to some of the first ones, but seeing Ada laugh and flirt with the other men had me ready to knock the shit out of all of them.
I wanted to go. I needed to go. It would only end badly if I stuck around. But then she turned and caught my eye.
A challenge.
Silent, but clear in her arched eyebrow and twinkling damn eyes.
She wanted me to be jealous.
I growled at no one and set off across the open space. Her eyes widened for a second, then that damn smirk curled her lips up, and I knew I was screwed.
She held her ground, waiting for me to reach her. She was smiling at a guy sitting at the table she was standing near.
I didn’t hesitate, just wrapped an arm around her waist and dragged her off with a ‘sorry’ to the guys we left behind.
“What are you doing?” she asked when we ducked behind the building.
“You’re torturing me.”
Eyebrows pulled together in a look that said she was trying not to let on that she was doing exactly that.
“Don’t fuck with me, Ada. You were screaming my name two nights ago. I haven’t heard a thing from you.”
She laughed. “I told you I wasn’t getting involved with anyone else for a while. I meant it, Kapena. That wasn’t a line to get you to chase me. It was the truth.”
Everything I thought I knew about her tilted and left me feeling off balance. For years we danced around each other, both of us aware that there was ridiculous chemistry, but neither of us acting on it. When we slept together the first time, I didn’t want to admit that things changed for me, but they did.
When we slept together the second time, I thought it changed for her, too.
But I was wrong.
“Listen, we’re having fun. We can keep having fun. You can sleep with whomever you want, and I’ll sleep with whomever I want. It works out best for both of us.”
I nodded numbly, trying to make sense of what she was saying. I couldn’t. It didn’t make sense at all.
I choked back the need to do something stupid, like tell her she couldn’t sleep with anyone else, and asked, “So are you looking for someone to hookup with here?”
She nodded. “Definitely. I figured that was your plan, too.”
“And that wouldn’t bother you at all? If I took another woman home from the wedding?”
She shrugged and shook her head. “Of course not. We’re good. You can do whatever you want.”
I nodded and let that sink in. I wanted to believe she was lying, but her eyes flickered past me toward the party that was out of sight. Was she checking to make sure no one saw us together?
I moved aside so she could walk past me and said, “Enjoy your night.”
She smiled at me with knitted brows and walked away.
I didn’t like the swirling in my gut that said I was fucking this whole thing up. I was flying blind. I’d never been there with her. Other women, sure. Women I was more than happy to let walk away because I didn’t really want them.
But Ada?
I couldn’t ignore the pull that had always been there. I pushed it aside for years, but after having her in my bed, I couldn’t close my eyes and pretend it didn’t exist. When I closed my eyes, I saw every detail of her body, every second of our times together. Every twist of her face as pleasure scorched her. Pleasure I gave her.
Either I was a glutton for punishment or I was an idiot. Either way, I walked back to the party and found a table out of the way that didn’t look like anyone had staked a claim yet.
Food appeared before too long, and I admitted to myself that Micah really could cook. I liked him a little more knowing he wasn’t the guy Ada was passing me over for. At least, not the only one. I hadn’t figured out if she was sleeping with him or not, but I was leaning toward yes if she was spending as much time with him as Kiki said.
I snacked on the food and watched the crowd to make sure everyone had eaten before I headed back to the buffet for a little more. No one joined me at my table until the drinks were soaked into pores and sweat spilled out. I smiled at the raucous Braden and Lynn’s friends caused. They were obviously a close group.
Braden fell into the chair next to me after a dirty dance with his new bride that almost made me blush.
“Why aren’t you out there with us?” he asked, sipping the dark liquid from his glass.
I shrugged. “Not in the party mood.”
Braden glanced around and immediately found Ada flirting with one of his friends. “You have nothing to worry about. He’s not a bad guy.”
I huffed a laugh and shook my head. “It might be easier if he was. Then she’d turn him down.”
“Do you think she’ll go back to his room?” Braden asked, his words tripping over each other.
I nodded and glanced at them again. Ada ran her fingers through the guy’s dark hair and laughed at something he said. His eyes lit up, taking in the column of her neck. I had my tongue there two nights ago and some complete stranger looked ready to sink his teeth into her.
And I couldn’t do a thing about it.
“She didn’t seem the type,” Braden said, blinking slowly.
“She’s not. Bad break-up.”
“You?”
I snorted. “No. We’ve never been involved.”
“Until now,” Braden said. Not a question. He knew it was the truth, though God knew how.
“Yeah.
Except we’re not. She’s ‘having fun’ and I’m a part of that when she feels like it.”
“So make her feel like it,” Braden said, as though it was just that simple.
He stumbled away after another minute, leaving me to think about what he said.
Could it be that simple?
I kept to myself the rest of the night, trying to come up with a plan to make Ada want me and only me. If she was after fun, I could give her plenty of that.
I spent so many years telling myself I couldn’t have her forever that I never considered having her for now. Things were different. She wasn’t looking for permanent. I wasn’t cut out for permanent. Maybe there was a way to make that work.
I spotted Ada heading toward the pathway that led to the parking lot and knew I had to catch her before she left. She paused to talk to Kiki, giving me enough time to reach her before she disappeared.
Kiki nodded and hugged Ada. They exchanged whispered words that left them both giggling. When Ada pulled back, she met my eyes for a second before turning to the guy I hadn’t noticed standing next to her. She reached for him and said, “Let’s go, Nick.”
Are you fucking kidding me?
I wanted to put my fist through Nick’s perfect face. Teeth whiter than a cloud. Eyes bluer than the ocean. Hair as dark as solid lava. He was a little shorter than me, but still taller than Ada, which she loved. He wore a suit too expensive for me to afford and looked natural in it. He had that clean-cut, rich guy look that I’d never pull off even if I cut my long hair. And he was broad, with shoulders almost as wide as mine and a narrow waist that she wrapped her arms around.
What the fuck?
I didn’t mean to growl when they walked past me, but the look he gave me said I did exactly that. Nick tipped his head at me and walked side by side with Ada toward the parking lot.
“Who the fuck is he?” I demanded from whoever was willing to answer.
Kiki shrugged. “A guest. Nick apparently.”
“And you’re going to let her leave with him?”
Kiana blanched. “She’s thirty-one years old. She can do whatever she wants to do.”
Better vs. Worse Page 12
