Chapter 30
Trace
“You don’t have to force the right puzzle piece, it just fits.”
~ Dolly Briggs
My balls tightened towards release as I watched my body plunge in and out of Cara’s tight passage. If I wanted this to last, I had to close my eyes. The visual was so fucking hot that it was catapulting me to completion. But I needed to see the physical evidence that she was mine. That we were connected. That I was claiming her as much as she was claiming me. That I couldn’t tell where I ended and she began.
With each thrust, it was like I was marking her in some way. And, every time her inner walls clamped down on me, it was like she was marking me.
Mine. That one word kept repeating over and over as the delicious friction of our joining caused a feverish rush of need to surge in me. A frenzied yearning whipped through me as I delved deeper into her with each measured push.
I concentrated on that one word as intolerable pleasure built in me, hoping that being with Cara like this would ease some of the torment that had been stirred up in me listening to my sister and Destiny talk about “Derek” at dinner tonight.
Even knowing that Cara didn’t really have a boyfriend had not helped to buffer the anger that hearing people discuss it had flared up in me. She was mine.
There was no way I could walk away from this, from her, and go back to the way things had been. I’d been miserable before, but it had been manageable. Now that I’d kissed her, tasted her, and claimed her. I wouldn’t survive being put back into the friend zone.
That thought fueled me as I drove into her again and again. Every time my body disappeared inside her in possessive strokes, I soared higher and higher into the clouds of ecstasy. I was on a bullet train headed towards release and I wanted—no, needed—to take her with me.
Sliding my hand to where our bodies were joined I began running my finger over her swollen clit.
“Oh yes!” she cried out as I flicked my finger faster. “Like that. Just like that. Don’t stop! Yes.”
She continued exclaiming words of encouragement as I brought her closer and closer to her peak. Within seconds, her body was shaking in convulsions as she came with complete abandon. Watching her body tremble in release as her inner muscles squeezed me tight was too much for me to take.
In one final plunge, my whole world exploded in a jarring, earth-shattering orgasm. I buried my face in her neck and wrapped my arm around her, holding her as close to me as possible as I rode out the white-hot eruptions bursting through me. It was the longest, hottest release of my life.
I was still recovering when Cara wiggled against me as she giggled.
“The water’s getting cold,” she said.
“Oh, right.” Still holding her, I shut the water off, stepped out of the shower, and grabbed two towels.
Her arms wrapped around my neck, her ankles hooked behind my back, as I carried her into the bedroom. When I got to the bed, I lowered her to the floor and made quick work of drying both of us off. She shivered as I did.
The second we were both mostly dry, I threw the comforter back and climbed into bed, taking Cara with me. I lay on my back, and she automatically snuggled against me, her head resting on my chest and my shoulder, her leg draped over me. Then I covered us both up.
We’d fallen into this routine over the past couple of weeks when we went to sleep. I would lie down and she would get in what she called her “spot.” Every time she called it that, my heart expanded. I would run my fingers through her hair until she fell into a peaceful sleep. Then I would kiss her on the top of her head, tell her that I loved her, and go to sleep.
It was a chickenshit move by me to say those words to her when she wasn’t conscious. But it was either that or go fucking crazy. I needed to say those words even if she didn’t technically hear them. It was a physiological imperative, like breathing, eating, and drinking.
“I really missed you tonight. I’m glad you came home early.” Cara snuggled even closer to me.
“There was another reason I left early.” I hadn’t been planning on bringing the subject up. It’d just kind of come out.
“Oh.” She looked up at me from beneath her dark lashes.
“Who’s Derek?” I had no right to ask—and even less right to be mad. But there I was, asking and pissed.
Cara’s face scrunched as she tilted her head up so that she was facing me. “He’s a lawyer that works in my building.”
“Why do Harmony and Destiny think he’s your boyfriend?” I asked, anger in my voice.
Her eyes widened, and she sat up, pulling the blanket over herself in a protective move. I pushed up to a seated position as my entire body went numb. My mind was reeling.
Was this Derek guy actually her boyfriend?
She had been going into the office more often, but she’d said that it was because it was easier for her to focus there and with the added column she needed to work where she could concentrate.
I’d actually been flattered when she’d told me because I thought I was the distraction making it hard for her to keep her mind on her work. But, now, I wasn’t so sure. I’d known going into this that she’d just wanted to date and have fun, but we’d talked about not seeing anyone else, and I’d thought we’d been on the same page.
“Cara?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear her explanation, but I knew I needed to.
“Sorry.” She blinked as she brushed her hair behind her ear. “It’s just embarrassing. Um, the night I came home and you were at Colton’s, I had been out on a date with Derek. Then, the next day, I saw Destiny and Harmony at Sugar Rush, and Harmony said that she knew the date with Derek had gone well because I was glowing.”
I waited for her to say more, but when she didn’t continue, I grew impatient. I wasn’t sure what she was trying to tell me. Had the date gone well?
“So, you went out with him again?” I asked.
“No!” She shook her head. “No! That’s not what I… I wasn’t glowing because of Derek. I was glowing because of you. When she’d noticed my glow, I’d been thinking about the fact that you’d told me to wear my lucky panties and be at your office at six o’clock. But I couldn’t tell them that. So, I didn’t tell them anything.
“Then, when we went to lunch yesterday, they just assumed my glow was still coming from Derek. From just the look on my face, they were sure I’d not only lost my V-card, but that it had been really good. They were right about two out of the three. I am no longer a virgin and it has been good—better than good. But not because of Derek, because of you.”
Cara looked flustered, and as much as I wanted to pull her into my arms and tell her that everything was okay, I wanted something else even more.
“Break up with him,” I said.
“What?” Her eyebrows drew together.
“Break up with him,” I repeated.
“Trace, I’m not actually with him,” she explained slowly.
“I know that, but I want you to tell my sister and Destiny that you broke up with him.” Was I being unreasonable? Probably? Did I give a damn? Nope.
“Why?” she asked, confusion still swimming in her baby blues.
“I don’t care.” I shrugged. “He cheated. He has bad breath. A small dick. Make up a reason.”
Her mouth turned up in a wide smile as she tried to hold in a laugh. At least one of us thought this was funny.
She licked her lips before clarifying, “No. Not why would I break up with him. Why do you want me to say I broke up with him?”
“I told you I don’t share.” I’d thought I’d made that clear.
“Right, but he’s not really my boyfrie—”
“I don’t share,” I said with a little more harsh authority than I’d meant to.
Her eyes widened, and a blush, my favorite kind of blush, crept up on her cheeks. I’d loved that, in the shower, Cara had taken control. It had been hot and better than any fantasy I’d ever had. But I also loved the fact that she liked it when I took char
ge. It turned her on, and that was the biggest turn-on of all.
When her left cheek hollowed, I knew she was considering something. I had no fucking idea why breaking up with her pretend boyfriend wasn’t an easy yes, but I tried to be patient.
“Fine,” she finally agreed. “I’ll tell the girls that Derek and I broke up on one condition.”
For the love of… Patience was seriously not one of my virtues, and I wasn’t sure how much more testing of it I could take. I did my best to remain calm as I asked, “What?”
She swallowed nervously, and my gaze was drawn to her mouth as her pink tongue slid between her pouty lips.
“You know what I was doing in the shower?” she questioned.
“The blow job?” I asked, not sure where this was going, but if the condition for her breaking up with Derek was me going down on her, I was all in.
“Yes.” The blush grew deeper. “I want to do that again and I don’t want you to stop me.”
I had to have been hearing things. “Let me get this straight. Your condition to break up with your fake boyfriend is that I let you go down on me and not stop you when I’m going to come.”
“Yes.” She nodded.
It looked like patience really did pay off.
“Damn, I love you.” I hadn’t meant to say it. I mean, I’d meant what I’d said, but I hadn’t meant for the first time I told her that to be when she’d just offered to blow me.
“I’m sure you do,” she said sarcastically, playing it off like I’d been making a joke.
I wanted to tell her that I really did love her and I was sorry that I’d told her at such a shitty time. But, before I could say anything, she moved between my legs and wrapped her lips around the head of my dick. The second she sucked me into the sweet wetness of her mouth, my train of thought got derailed.
All I could do was feel. And the only word I managed to form in my lust-riddled brain was: Mine.
Chapter 31
Cara
“Her story had more twists than a pretzel factory.”
~ Dolly Briggs
Oh boy.
I was pretty sure that this was not what Trace had had in mind when he’d demanded that I “break up” with Derek a week ago.
Harmony tugged on my arm, pulling me across the parking lot of Briggs Sports Academy, where we were headed for the grand opening party. “You remember him, right? He came and stayed with us the summer when we were in middle school, right after his senior year when my aunt Claudia passed away.”
Of course I remembered her cousin’s visit. It was the summer after fifth grade and he’d been gorgeous. At the time, I’d thought that he looked like a movie star. All of Harmony’s brothers were good-looking, but her cousin Austin had stood out in the crowd.
His name was also seared into my brain because whenever anyone had referred to him that summer, they’d used his first and last name. Austin Stone. Girls would say things like:
“Have you met Harmony’s cousin, Austin Stone?”
“Oh my gosh, Austin Stone is so hot!”
“I’m in love with Austin Stone.”
From what I remembered, he was really nice but really quiet. And sad, for obvious reasons, since he’d just lost his mom.
“You remember him, right?” she asked again.
“Yeah. I thought your cousin was engaged?” I was grabbing at straws.
“He was.” Harmony lowered her voice to a whisper. “Three months ago, he was injured in Afghanistan, and after spending months in a hospital in Germany, he received an honorable discharge. He didn’t tell anyone that he was coming home so he could surprise Vanessa. He’d been gone on a fourteen-month deployment and wasn’t due back for four months. Well, he was the one who had a surprise waiting for him. He showed up, and she was six months pregnant. And the dad…is his best friend.”
I gasped as my hand flew to my mouth. “No!” I breathed behind my palm.
“Yes.” She nodded. “He told my dad everything last night when he showed up at my parents’ house. I may or may not have been eavesdropping from the washroom next to the study.”
In Harmony’s parents’ house, the vent from the washroom was shared with her father’s study. We’d sat in there and listened more than once when her brothers had gotten in trouble.
“So, see? It’s perfect.” Harmony clapped her hands. “You’re newly single. He’s newly single. It’s time for you both to get back up on the horse.”
“Um, I don’t think you can really compare my status to his. He was engaged. I was dating someone.” Actually, I wasn’t even doing that.
At least, not the person Harmony thought I was. And, since my brother had shown up yesterday, I wasn’t even sure if I was going to be seeing Trace anymore. I’d been at work when Trace texted me that Colton was back. I told him that I had a late meeting and would be home around eight. I ended up not making it home until nine. Someone had been waiting for me when I got there—Colton. He’d made dinner, and after catching up with him and eating, I went to bed and sent a text to Trace to say goodnight. This morning, I woke up to three texts from Trace. My phone had still been on silent from my meeting.
The first text said: Goodnight, beautiful.
The second was sent just minutes later and read: I miss you.
The third text was sent around six this morning and said that he’d be helping JJ with last-minute details for the grand opening and would see me tonight.
Last night had been one of the loneliest of my life, and I’d had my fair share of lonely nights. Especially when I’d been hospitalized for treatments and couldn’t really have visitors because my immune system had been so compromised. But none of those nights had come close to how empty and lonely my bed had been after having shared it with Trace for the past few weeks.
It wasn’t just the sex I missed, although sex worked much better than counting sheep, chamomile tea, warm milk, or any of the other relaxation techniques I’d tried to help me sleep. But that’s not what I missed the most. I missed being in his arms. I missed his smell. I missed the feeling of his heartbeat beneath my cheek. I missed his fingers running through my hair as I drifted off to sleep.
I missed him.
“Wow!” Harmony’s exclamation snapped me out of my inner thoughts.
We’d made it into the facility set up for the party, and it was breathtaking. It all looked state-of-the-art. Everything was brand new but still somehow had a down-home feel. The warehouse was shaped like a large barn. JJ had used his parents’ place for inspiration, and twinkle lights had been strung along the rafters. Tables with gorgeous wildflower centerpieces were spread throughout, and a wooden dance floor had been set up in the middle of the room. The Briggses did know how to throw a good party. It must have been in their DNA. Of course, the fact that JJ was a millionaire thanks to his years as a starting pitcher in the big leagues probably didn’t hurt, either.
Grandma Dixie approached us with her arms outstretched. “Well, don’t you two look prettier than a pad of butter melting on pancakes!”
She hugged us both, and we told her that she too looked lovely.
“Destiny is around here somewhere.” She waved her hand. “I’ve been telling that girl that she needs to stay off her feet, but do you think she listens?”
“No,” Harmony and I said in unison.
“No.” Grandma Dixie shook her head. “She does not.”
“May I have this dance?” Fred Rogers stepped up, offering Dixie his arm.
Fred Rogers (his real name!) was a retired school teacher who had set his sights on Destiny’s set-in-her-ways grandmother. It was fun seeing the two of them together. It had given me hope that nothing was ever too late.
“Well, I suppose so.” Dixie made a show like it was putting her out.
But anyone who knew her knew that the woman didn’t do anything she didn’t want to. I wasn’t sure how she felt about Mr. Rogers, but she liked his attention.
“Ohhh, there he is!” Harmony whisper-screamed
in my ear as she slapped my arm.
I looked up, and sure enough, a very grown-up, very sexy, all-man version of the same Austin Stone I remembered was across the room.
If I hadn’t already been head-over-heels in love with Trace, I would have probably kissed Harmony for trying to set me up with him. But I was. And I had to figure out a way to gracefully get un-set up.
“Harmony, I really don’t think—”
“Austin!” she called out, waving her hand in the air.
Seriously?
She knew exactly what I was about to say; she’d done that on purpose. When in doubt, though, there’s always the ladies’ room.
“I’m going to go to the bathroom,” I announced.
Harmony wrapped her fingers around my forearm, preventing me from leaving, and tugged me closer to her.
“Just meet him,” she said quietly through clenched teeth.
“I don’t—”
A voice so deep that it would have given Barry White a run for his money sounded in front of us. “I was summoned?”
“Yes, you were,” Harmony chirped. “Austin, I wanted you to meet one of my best friends in the entire world, Cara. Cara this is my ass-kicking cousin, Austin.”
“Hi, Cara. It’s nice to meet you.” Austin shook my hand.
Although his touch did not light my body up like the Electric Parade at Disneyland the way Trace’s did, he did have very large, very nice, calloused hands that I was sure would light up some lucky girl’s world.
“Nice to meet you, too.” I shook his hand raised my gaze to meet his.
Yep. Those were the same dreamy, green eyes I’d remembered. After a moment, Austin dropped my hand.
Never one to sit in a silence, awkward or otherwise, Harmony clapped her hands and announced, “So, I have to go…find Destiny. You two have fun.”
With that, she spun on her heel and was gone.
I was going to kill her.
“Well.” Austin stared at the spot Harmony had just vacated. “It looks like my cousin still hasn’t mastered the art of subtlety.”
I laughed, relieved that he seemed about as comfortable with this as I was. “No. Subtle is not really in Harmony’s wheelhouse.”
Convincing Cara (Wishing Well, Texas Book 2) Page 20
