Addicted

by Claire Adams

  "How do you do that? It's annoying." I stopped at the stoplight in front of me and crossed my free arm over my chest while I waited for the green light.

  "I know you, remember?"

  "Why can't that be the future, though? That sounds so much better than all the other options that have played through my head."

  "Because it doesn't work like that. Someone is going to steal his heart or yours if you don't leave your fear behind you and try this out with him. It's stacking up to be something incredible, Viv. Stop pushing him away. Give this a chance."

  "I can't." I shook my head and gripped the steering wheel as I hit the gas. "I don't know how to."

  "It's natural to think that you don't, but you do. Go with the flow, and make decisions with him based on the fact that he loves you and wants to be a part of your future."

  "What if he doesn't though?" I realized how stupid I sounded, but we were too far into the conversation to stop now. "Then what?"

  "Then we move on, but you're not even giving him a proper chance. Let your guard down. Promise me that you'll try tonight."

  I nodded and let out a sigh of resignation. "I'll try, but that's all I've got right now."

  "That's good enough."

  Chapter 24

  Easton

  Just hearing her voice left me wanting to find her wherever she was. Warmth infused me as I dropped the phone on the couch next to me, and I let out a long groan, closing my eyes and thanking the stars that she answered and agreed to see me.

  I needed to work on a good handful of write-ups for work but having something take most of my afternoon was going to work out well. Keeping my mind on task and off of Vivian was going to be the trying part.

  I worked diligently and wrapped up my portfolio of write-ups for Miami by four-thirty. After packaging everything up nicely, I got in the shower and cleaned up quickly. I wanted to get to the restaurant a little early with flowers so I could make sure the dinner went exactly as I had planned in in my head the night before.

  She deserved so much more than I felt like I had to offer, but I was going to pull out the stops and see if it didn't push her a little more in my corner. I'd take as long as she wanted me to, but I needed another night in her arms soon. She brought me to life in ways that I couldn't remember feeling for a long time. Everything was a little brighter, my mood much better, my disposition much more giving.

  I dressed in black pants and a dark green button-down, hoping the outfit would scream class and yet comfort. I tugged on a heavy black jacket and decided to forgo the tie. The owner of the restaurant was a friend of mine from college, his father having given him the place when they decided that traveling was something he and his wife would rather be doing.

  A driver picked me up forty-five minutes before six, and I was itching to get there and get everything set up. I wanted a driver in case we had a few too many drinks. We'd have a quick, responsible way to get back to my place.

  "I need to stop by the flower shop on tenth and Johnson." I leaned forward and looked up to catch the driver's eye in the rear-view mirror.

  "Not a problem, Sir." The guy tipped his hat to me and pulled out of the circle drive in front of my building.

  After grabbing a dozen white and red roses, I got back in to the Lincoln and forced myself to relax. This wasn't a first date, nor was it a blind date. I knew Vivian as much as she'd let me know her. I was quite positive that she was the girl of my dreams though. That was the reason I couldn't stop my leg from bouncing, my heart from fluttering incessantly in my chest.

  "Here we are, Sir. I'll be waiting in the valet parking lot. Just text when you're ready and I'll drive right up for you." The driver turned and smiled at me. "That okay?"

  "That's perfect. Thank you." I got out of the car and walked into the restaurant as Jared turned and clapped his hands together.

  "Easton Parks. You old dog." He laughed and reached out to shake my free hand.

  "Jared. How are you, my friend?" I smiled and gave him a quick hug.

  "I'm excellent. Now, you're here on a date, right? No critiquing my shit tonight?" He reached for the flowers. "Let me have these. Lucky girl..."

  "It's a bit more complicated than that, but it's a date slash job interview. I want to get this girl a job with my company, but I need to see her in action. It's a date because I want her in my life."

  "For the long haul?" Jared glanced over his shoulder. "You know your momma would be thrilled."

  "I think so, but we just met a week ago. I need to get to know her a little better, but everything I've seen so far leads me to believe that she's the one." I chuckled. "Yeah, my mom's actually being reserved with this girl for some reason. She's been pushing at me so long, that having me actually find someone would leave her with nothing to bitch at me about. Then what would she do?"

  "Start in on your brothers. You're just first in line. You know that." Jared smiled. "Come on back. Let me show you the room."

  I stopped by the open door at the back of the restaurant and smiled. "This is perfect. Are you letting me use this private room tonight?"

  "It's all yours, buddy." Jared glanced at a server who was working on the table. "Put these in a few vases and make the room look romantic. Low lights and such."

  "Thanks, man." I let out a long breath. "I'm nervous."

  "You? No fucking way." He turned and walked toward me, brushing down the front of my jacket. "There's nothing to be worried about. You're Easton Parks. There wasn't a girl at NYU that wouldn't have dropped her panties for you. I'm more concerned for the girl."

  I laughed and pushed at him. "Get the fuck outta here. She's a tall, beautiful redhead. Her name is Vivian."

  "I like her already." Jared patted my chest once more and walked to the door. "The menus are on the table. Just order whatever you want. It's on the house."

  "No. I got this." I reached for him, but he turned, leaving me to grasp air.

  "You're one of my good friends from college, East. It's not happening. Enjoy and good luck with the girl. I hope she's worth a good guy like you." He closed the door behind him as I picked up a menu and scanned it.

  "It's me that needs to be worth her time and effort." I started to run my fingers through my hair and stopped. I'd put a little bit of gel in it and didn't want it jacked up before she got there.

  Twenty minutes later, a knock sounded on the door behind me, and I moved to open in.

  "Hi," I spoke softly as my eyes moved down her delicious figure. Her cream-colored dress looked like a summer day on her. "Beautiful."

  "Thanks. This is incredible." She pressed her hand to my chest and looked up at me. "What are you up to?"

  I laughed and bent down, kissing her cheek once before moving back. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

  I moved back and her breath caught in her chest. "Easton."

  "It's okay. Just a dinner and a bit of fun. I love overdoing things, but I didn't get a chance to in Miami. Let me have my fun, and you just relax and enjoy the evening. I ordered us a four-course meal to share. That okay?" I took her coat as she slid it off her shoulders. The dress hugged her breasts tightly and fanned out, but had no sleeves or straps. I yearned to press my lips to her shoulders and taste her skin again.

  Soon. Chill the fuck out.

  "Okay. I can do that." She sat her purse down on an empty chair near the door and walked to the table, leaning over and smelling the roses. "I don't remember this restaurant doing all of this."

  "They don't." I pulled back a chair and nodded toward it. "Sit down and let's eat. We can play our twenty questions game and perhaps get through more than two questions."

  She chuckled as she sat down. "Yeah, maybe we could start on something other than marriage and kids."

  I moved around to take my seat, but paused to pull my jacket off. I loved the way she watched me, as if she were in a slight trance. If I were a third party observer, I'd have figured her to be as taken with me as I was with her. I could only hope my assessment was true.
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br />   "Okay, here's the other thing I want to do." I pulled my napkin into my lap, leaning forward to engage the beautiful girl a little more. "Let's have you critique each dish and then either I can write it up, or you can. I'd love to see how well your tastes align with my own reviews of Jaspers. I owe the owner another round of reviews on the place in a few weeks, and I refuse to send Kevin here."

  "How fun." She smiled brightly and pulled her napkin into her lap. "I can type them up. Are you wanting to see them once I'm done?"

  "Absolutely. I'll share them with my boss, Jon. If you're okay with that?" I sat back as a bowl of dark orange soup was delivered to the table and placed in front of us.

  "This is our cream of pumpkin soup with sherry, bacon, and toasted pumpkin seeds. Enjoy." The waiter bowed to us and walked away.

  "You wanna use your phone or mine?" I smiled as her face lit up even more. She couldn't have been more entrancing to me.

  "Mine." She got up and retrieved her phone, my attention resting on her the entire time. She sat down and pressed the button, recording the dish and a few descriptors as she tasted it. She pressed the stop button and glanced up. "I'm usually so nervous to critique in front of anyone."

  "Not me, though, right?"

  "Not at all." She blushed, and I reached across the table, running my fingers over the tops of her knuckles.

  "Good. Now, tell me your favorite color." I leaned back and picked up my spoon, tasting the soup and listening intently as we walked through the various facts about ourselves that meant little to the commoner, but to a lover, everything.

  Jared kept the music low and romantic, the wine flowing, and the food coming in slow waves. We laughed throughout the meal, and by the end, she was relaxed, her posture a little less stiff and her smile authentic.

  I stood from the table and offered her my hand. "I know you're stuffed, but I'd love to dance with you, if you'd do me the honor."

  "I'd love to." She took my hand and moved to stand in front of me, sliding her free hand up my chest and around to lock onto the back of my neck. "Why do you have to be so damn smooth?"

  "You'd rather I be overly hairy?" I lifted my eyebrows in playful confusion.

  She laughed and snorted, causing me to laugh as well. "Stop it, or I'll fall madly in love with you, Easton Parks."

  "And that would be bad because?" I pulled her closer to me and turned us toward the open floor just behind me.

  "Because you said yourself that a relationship was impossible due to you traveling all the time." She glanced down, and I felt her pulling back from me yet again.

  I tightened my grip and leaned down, brushing my nose by hers. "And you said that I should find a woman that wants to be on the road with me."

  "I know, but that's not going to happen for a while, if ever." She stopped moving and I shook my head.

  "No. You're not blocking me. Not tonight." I forced her to spin with me and moved us toward the balcony, releasing her and opening the doors. She walked out onto the patio and stood by the outdoor heater as she pressed her hands to the railing and took a sharp breath.

  "This is incredible." She glanced back at me. "You're killing me."

  I wrapped my arms around her and kissed the side of her neck, wanting my place to always be behind her, holding her up, supporting her in any way she would let me.

  "I don't want it to feel like a death, Viv. I just want to think about working toward what you want." I kissed her again and moved up to suck her ear lobe into my mouth.

  "And what do I want?" Her voice was airy as she spoke.

  "To live life with someone. I'm not asking for forever just yet. I just don't want to give up what started in Miami. It doesn't have to be anything insanely serious. Just be exclusive to me, and I'll do the same." I kissed the side of her jaw and slid my hand up between her breasts to cup her throat as she turned her face and pressed her lips to mine.

  The groan that left me would have been embarrassing if it were anyone else. She echoed it with a precious moan of her own, and I tightened my arms around her. I couldn't lose her. It just didn't feel like a possibility I was willing to accept.

  She broke the kiss and licked at her lips before turning in my arms and wrapping me in a tight hug. "What if I'm scared, Easton?"

  "Then we'll be scared together. You have to learn to trust me, which will take time. I have all the time in the world." I moved down and pressed my lips to hers, kissing her tenderly, but not penetrating the warmth of her mouth until she opened up for me. The minute she did, I shifted my hips forward to let her know just how much she turned me on.

  "Let's get out of here," she panted against my mouth.

  "Come home with me tonight. I've asked and been rejected too many times so far. Don't turn me down again tonight." I rubbed the tip of my nose along hers and stole another quick kiss.

  "No. I won't." She lifted to her toes and pressed her soft warm lips to mine.

  I knew without a doubt that I had her. Keeping her would be a challenge, but for the night, she was mine again.

  Chapter 25

  Vivian

  There was no need to fight it. Whether we could work out any sort of future together was irrelevant. I simply wasn't strong enough to pass up another night with Easton. He knew he had me, too. I could see the recognition of my surrender in his eyes.

  He scooped me up closer and pressed his soft lips against mine, tilting his head and rubbing his tongue along mine as he took a series of deep breaths. Heat rose in the center of my stomach and danced along my nerve endings as desire pumped through every pressure point I had. I wanted him, no, needed him to bury himself deep inside of me and claim me as his own.

  It was primal and a bit too edgy for me, but being near him left me wanting to be whatever he needed me to be.

  "Let's go." I moved back and pulled at his hand.

  "Yeah. We'll get your car later. I brought a driver in case we had too much to drink." He pulled out his phone and texted someone as I held onto his hand, biding my time and maintaining my patience. "You sure about this?"

  "Ask me again and I might change my mind." I lifted my eyebrow, loving more than anything the smirk that played on his sexy mouth.

  "It won't happen again." He moved toward the exit, tucking me by his side with his tight grip on my hand. A good-looking guy with a fitted, slate-gray suit and bald head moved into our path.

  I stopped short, not sure who the guy was, but having no doubt that it had something to do with the fact that we needed to pay the bill.

  "You heading out, East?" The guy’s tight features relaxed into a warm smile, and I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding.

  "Yeah. Dinner was incredible. We'll have a write up for you soon, buddy." He glanced back at me and winked. "Viv, this is a good friend of mine, Jared Jasper."

  "Nice to meet you. I love your restaurant." I smiled and extended my hand, shaking the guy’s hand as it engulfed mine.

  "Pleasure's all mine. We've all been waiting for the day when old East here was nervous over a girl. I'm waiting until I get off tonight to call all our old friends and tell them to mark their calendars." He released me as warmth swam up my chest and left me flushed.

  "Really, man? You gotta tell her that I was nervous? What kind of friend are you anyway?" Easton chuckled and pulled on my hand a little, forcing me to move up to his side. "She's gorgeous, isn't she?"

  He glanced back at me as I swatted at him. "Stop. You're embarrassing me."

  "She is." Jared winked at me. "You're beautiful, but don't tell my wife I said that shit. She'll cut both you and me."

  I laughed and shook my head. "Never in a million years."

  "Good woman." He reached out and patted Easton's shoulder. "Alright. You kids have fun and be safe. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

  "That leaves a lot of doors open," Easton muttered as we walked to the front door and out into the chilly night's air.

  "I like him, and I adore the restaurant. This was the one my dad loved.
" I moved to get into the back of the dark, sleek car that pulled up.

  Easton got in beside me and turned, smiling devilishly at me as he licked his lips.

  "I'm glad. It's one of my favorites. Jared and his family are great people. We'll go again sometime soon if you want." He pressed a button beside him and the window between us and the driver rolled up, the darkened glass leaving only the moonlight to fill the backseat.

  "Why do I feel like I'm playing Little Red Riding Hood and you're the Big Bad Wolf?" I smirked and slid my hand along his smooth face before pulling him toward me.

  "Because you know that I haven't stopped thinking about eating you up since we met?" He licked at my mouth before pressing a deep probing kiss. His words blistered my insides and caused my heart to race.

  I pulled back and sucked in a quick drink of air. "How long do we have?"

  "Fifteen minutes. I live downtown." He moved as if he was going to shift to the floor, but I pulled him back up.

  "No. It's my turn." I shifted to my knees before he could say anything and pressed my fingers to his lips. "No words, just grunts and groans."

  He smiled behind my fingers and nipped at them. "I would tell you not to have me fall in love with you, but I'm already knee deep in what could be."

  "Hush." I slid my hands down his chest and wiggled my way between his thighs, leaning over and brushing my breasts over the thick swell of his erection as I worked on his expensive belt. He watched me intensely, which only egged me on to make my time on my knees good for both of us.

  Running one hand down his shaft, I used the other to undo the button of his pants. I moved up and took the zipper between my teeth, tugging it down in one slow motion before using my nose to part his fly.

  "Damn, Viv. I'm gonna cum just watching you, baby." He reached down and ran his hands over my shoulders as his chest rose and fell succinctly.

  "Not yet." I reached up and tugged his pants down, making sure to bring his underwear with me. He lifted up as I jerked them over the curve of his ass and left them sitting idle mid-thigh. His cock twitched as I leaned down and brushed my nose up his length.