Losing You (Stars On Fire #4)

by Ryleigh Andrews

  Marc spun around to look at her. “So soon?” he asked, not hiding his disappointment.

  Mia glanced up and frowned. “Unfortunately.”

  Her eyes met Tom’s and he saw through her bullshit but didn’t call her out on it. Probably better that way.

  “When will you be back?” Marc asked.

  “I don’t know,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders. “Definitely New Year’s Eve for a show.”

  “Oh, yes! Big party with the band and all our friends. I can’t wait!”

  “It’s been awhile since we’ve had an intimate show like that in Chicago. It will be a blast.”

  Why did Tom not hear any excitement in her voice? No emotion even.

  “All our parties seem to be epic,” Marc reminisced.

  “Pretty much,” Mia agreed with a little laugh. Tom liked hearing that noise. He’d missed it.

  “One of my favorites was the night I introduced you to all the guys,” Marc said.

  Before answering Mia found Tom’s eyes. “One of the best nights of my life.”

  Even though he and Mia weren’t together anymore, he’d have to agree. She had been such a part of his life—an amazing friend. Too bad their timing sucked. “I’d have to say the same,” he answered and watched the tears immediately rush to her eyes. Mia breathed deeply, battling to keep them from falling.

  He needed to get out of there because he wanted to pull her into his lap like he used to and do whatever he could to calm her down. And it was the whatever part that scared him. The kissing. The touching. The fucking. So instead, he held her eyes, not letting her close them like he knew she wanted to, hoping she would know that things would be all right. Then he placed his napkin on the table.

  “I should get going,” Tom announced. “I have an early client meeting.”

  Marc stood up and shook his hand. Tom pulled him into a hug. “It’s good to have you home.”

  “Thanks, man. See you Friday.”

  After he’d said his goodbye to Marc, Tom stepped towards Mia.

  “Tom,” she said when he stood just a couple feet away.

  “It was, uh, good to see you again,” he lamely said because he didn’t know what else to say.

  Inhaling sharply, she closed her eyes and when the tears choked her, his arms went around her.

  “I’m so sorry, Tom,” she said, clutching him. “I gambled and lost. I—”

  As she cried, he kissed her forehead, down her cheek, and stopped at her ear. “Shh . . . shh . . .” he whispered. “It’s okay. We’re okay.”

  Mia turned her face to his, her lips so close to his.

  “I did love you. I always will,” she whimpered then placed her pouty lips against his cheek. He’d never thought he’d ever feel her mouth on him again and it had him reacting. With a loud exhale, Tom turned into her and their lips met and for a short, yet heated moment, his mouth moved upon hers, infusing her with all the feelings he had for her.

  “Same here,” he whispered against her lips before pulling away. “Please take care of yourself, Mia,” he said. Then he turned around and left.

  Enough now.

  When he reached his bike, Tom wiped the tears away. This was the last time that he’d say goodbye to her. He had Lizzie now and he wouldn’t give her up without a fight.

  Lizzie

  How she wished she could be finished with work and relax on this flight, but things needed to be done whether she was in the air or on the ground. The moment she could turn on her electronics again, Lizzie had been in a zone, crossing off a lot of items on her list and hadn’t heard the flight attendant approach.

  “Excuse me, miss, would you like something to drink?”

  Lizzie glanced up from her laptop to see the blonde flight attendant in front of her. She was grateful for the break, too engrossed with the financials for the new office. She really needed a glass of wine to mellow out. Looking at her laptop one last time, she closed it. The financials could wait until Monday.

  “Yes. I’d love a glass of Merlot.”

  The flight attendant smiled knowingly. “Sure thing. I’ll be right back with your drink,” she replied and then scurried off.

  Lizzie had just finished packing up her laptop when the flight attendant returned. Taking a sip of the wine, she let it wake her tastebuds and stared out the window, the jagged peaks of the Rocky Mountains below. Halfway home. Finally, after five straight weeks in San Francisco. The opening had gone as planned—no major issues to report, which made her very happy . . . as well as her boss.

  The night before, Parker had come out to San Francisco to see the new office and to take the team out for a congratulatory celebration. He’d pulled her aside and they sat down at the bar. Then without preamble, he asked her if she’d be interested in heading up the new office.

  “Take some time. Think it over,” he had said, before handing her an envelope.

  When she returned to her hotel room and opened the envelope, Lizzie freaked after reading the contents. The extremely generous offer was a huge step forward for her. The location of the office was perfect. Easy access to public transportation. A great view of San Francisco. Plus she loved it in California. Loved being by the bay as well as the ocean.

  Her dream.

  In the little free time that she had, she explored the San Fran area and vicinity by car. She’d crossed the Bay Bridge and experienced the East Bay area, falling in love with Berkeley and all the merchants as well as the free spirits on the streets. She’d shopped for gifts to bring home, strolled the streets, and enjoyed the sights that they offered.

  So what was the problem then?

  Fingering the bracelet on her wrist, she thought about Tom. He’d given her this bracelet as a reminder of him. Her entire time in San Francisco, she hadn’t been able to see him. Even worse, she’d barely had time to think about him with the twelve to fifteen hour days she’d been working.

  When she’d called him a couple days ago, it was because she’d seen that he’d called. She had missed too many calls. She immediately called him back—eight hours later. The conversation left her confused and feeling a little insecure. Something was up. She had felt like he didn’t really care that she would be finally returning home. Had he found someone else? It hurt to admit it, but she couldn’t blame him if he had. She hadn’t been the best girlfriend the past few weeks. She’d rarely called and when she had, there hadn’t been much time to talk or she’d been utterly exhausted. The two-hour time difference hadn’t helped the situation either. He was already at work when she awoke and he was asleep when she returned to her room.

  Even so, excitement coursed through her veins. She wanted, needed, to see Tom so badly. She checked her watch and changed it back to Chicago time. Only a couple more hours.

  The limo stopped outside of Tom’s house a little before eight Friday evening and the driver helped her bring the luggage to the porch. After tipping him, Lizzie regarded Tom’s home. It looked different to her. She shook the feeling off. It had definitely been too long since she’d last seen it.

  Lizzie didn’t bother to knock. No one ever knocked at Tom’s house, especially her. She opened the door and placed her luggage in his office right off the foyer. Smoothing the jacket to her black pin-striped suit once more, she wished she’d taken the time to go home to change. The suit was extremely uncomfortable. With a deep calming breath, she moved further into the house, quietly making her way through the groups of people, intent on finding Tom.

  As she walked into the living room, she spotted him chatting among a group of guys. The sight of him had the nervous excitement she’d felt since entering his house increasing tenfold.

  On the flight back, she had fleeting thoughts that the transfer to California could be the right decision for her. Then she caught Tom’s eye and the brightest smile came across his face. Doubt filled her mind as he started moving towards her. Could she leave him again? She left the question unanswered as she rushed him and threw her arms and legs around h
im in a fierce embrace, his strong arms holding her up against him. His lips caught hers in a deeply passionate kiss.

  Lizzie could feel the eyes of the party-goers on them but didn’t care and, it seemed, neither did Tom as he lightly caressed her behind with his thumbs. God, she missed him more than she’d thought. She needed him so much. The transfer to California wasn’t the right decision. Tom was the right choice. She couldn’t leave him again—her heart wouldn’t allow it. How could she have even considered it?

  He kissed her again quickly, then pulled his head back to look at her.

  “So you’re back?” he asked, watching her chew on her lower lip.

  “Yes,” she said, her face brightening in a smile.

  “For good?” he went on, a hopeful expression on his face.

  She kissed him softly and the smile returned. “Yes.”

  “Good. Now that that’s settled, all I want to do is get you alone and fuck the hell out of you,” he whispered against her ear before he attacked her deliciously long neck. As he spun them around a couple of times, a smile spread over her face, but when she opened her eyes, she received quite the shock—Marc behind Tom. His stormy blue eyes showed it all—hurt . . . disbelief. When their eyes met, he turned and thundered away.

  Marc was back.

  Holy fucking shit!

  Or was she imagining him?

  When she looked in the direction she thought he’d gone, Clark and a tall, blond man were hurrying off after him.

  “Mm . . . Marc’s back?” she stuttered.

  His hands loosened their hold and she slid to the floor.

  “Yeah, for a few days now . . .”

  Tom knew? What the hell?

  “You didn’t think to warn me?” she roared, her anger taking over.

  “No. I didn’t want to tell you while you were thousands of miles away. I’d wanted to tell you here, but then I saw you and you jumped in my fucking arms—I’m sorry. This could’ve gone a whole lot better.”

  Ya think?

  Lizzie realized something as she took a step back to think. “He didn’t know about us.”

  Tom shook his head. “No.”

  She didn’t know what to think about that. The growing noise level was getting to her and she rushed up the stairs to Tom’s bedroom. She tore her suit jacket off and paced the room, so many warring thoughts flying through her battlefield of a mind. Marc had been tucked into the far reaches of her mind, not wanting to think about him or how she felt about him, but now he was here and she had to.

  She violently shook her head, fighting all her emotions.

  He was home. And that made her want to cry.

  “Lizzie,” Tom said, shutting the door behind him.

  “I don’t know what to think right now or even how to feel about this. On one hand, I’m pissed that you didn’t say anything to me. But overpowering that is the fact that he’s back. He’s back . . .” she repeated, her voice breaking. “He looks good . . . healthy.”

  “Because he is.”

  “I wanted him to be okay for so long.”

  “Me too, Bits,” he said, moving closer to her.

  “Despite him leaving me, I never wanted to hurt him.”

  “Of course you wouldn’t. My best friend wouldn’t be my best friend if she did.”

  “But we did . . .”

  “No matter how he found out about us, it was bound to hurt him,” Tom said. “The only way to not have hurt him would’ve been not to be together. So . . . the question is, Lizzie, do you want to be together? Do you want to stay with me?”

  The complete and utter shock she felt at his words had her spinning around and looking at him. What was he saying? “Tom . . .”

  “Do you want me?” Tom asked, his body right in front of hers.

  “Of course, I want you, Tom. I just don’t know how to handle this.”

  “I’m here to help you with it. You don’t need to run off. Just talk to me. I think that he made his bed and he should lie in it. He’s a grown man who made a choice that he knew would have far-reaching effects. His choices completely influenced yours. You can’t say at this point ‘what if’ because it happened. He made a choice. And because of that you made a choice—you chose me, and my life hasn’t been the same. My best friend whipped out her breasts in a dressing room, and I couldn’t look at her the way I used to. My eyes had been opened. Your choice affected mine because I chose to not close my eyes to you,” he said, pulling her against him. She lifted her face and looked into his fiery blue eyes. “All I see is you.”

  His words pummeled into her.

  All I see is you.

  And in that moment all she saw was the handsome man before her.

  “I see you, Tom,” she said, wrapping her arms around his waist.

  His sigh of relief was followed by a smile. “Good,” he replied, completing the embrace, her body now flush against his. She had Tom.

  That content feeling that washed over her changed when he tightened his grip on her. It changed for him too—his fiery eyes had darkened with desire.

  “I missed you, Lizzie,” he said, lowering his head, his eyes on her lips.

  “I missed you too,” she answered.

  Then all hell broke loose. His mouth fused to hers while they moved clothing out of the way for their hands. Before she even made it to the bed, Tom had divested her of her pants and unbuttoned her blouse. He knelt down, his heated gaze on her as he pushed her breasts together and deliciously attacked them, sucking them, lapping at them with the flat of his tongue, before leaving them and moving back up to her mouth.

  His hard-on felt like it pulsed against her inner thigh. She needed him inside of her. Now. She didn’t want to break this connection. Her period was due any day now. She knew she couldn’t get pregnant. Plus she trusted Tom implicitly.

  So she made a decision. Grabbing his cock, she guided him to her opening and pushed up, enveloping his cock, and oh dear God, did that feel wonderfully different.

  “Holy fuck, Lizzie,” he exclaimed as he froze.

  “Don’t stop. Please. Don’t stop,” she begged, her eyes locked on his, so full of surprise as well as worry. “Tom. Please. We’re fine,” she said, squeezing his cock. “Oh, God, you feel so good.”

  That broke the freeze and he drove into her entirely, both releasing a satisfied groan.

  “Fuck.”

  Then Tom unleashed himself on her, drilling into her body—her heart—with each powerful stroke until she completely shattered beneath him, the orgasm exploding out of her. His followed right after hers, his release filling her for the first time ever.

  Collapsing beside her, his head cocked in her direction. “I could have gotten a condom . . .”

  “I didn’t want to let you go,” she replied.

  He sighed and his smile returned. “Next time you want to go bare you need to discuss it with me first. The consequences of it don’t just affect you.”

  “I’m sorry . . .” she said, properly chastised. “It’s just that I trust you and my period is due in a few days. We’re safe,” she said, feeling the blush rush up her cheeks.

  He pulled her to him and she snuggled up against his body, happy to be in this special place again, as his fingers meandered up and down her side. “I was afraid I would forget what your body looked like,” he said, trailing a finger down her arm. “I think we need to spend this weekend making sure I’ll never forget. You game?”

  She kissed his chest and looked up at him. “Very.”

  His smile lit up his face, showcasing his white teeth. “Good and as much as I’d like to stay here and start our weekend, I think we should rejoin the party. They’re probably wondering where we are,” he said, disengaging himself from her arms.

  “Oh, they know where we are and what we’ve been doing,” she said.

  Marc

  “Fuck!” Marc screamed into the night.

  Though he knew that Lizzie had let him go—he still had the text she sent—Marc had never i
magined this outcome.

  Her with Tom.

  His best friend with his girl . . . or his ex-girl.

  And it fucking hurt to find out like he had. Like a freaking baseball bat to his gut. To see her lips on his, his hands on her ass.

  Marc turned at the sound of footsteps and saw his brother and Marty walking over, glad they were here.

  “You want to go?” Clark asked when they got to him. Marty stood silently by his side, his support unspoken.

  “I . . . I don’t know,” Marc answered, rubbing his hands over his face. What he wanted were answers. “Did you know?” he asked his brother and friend.

  “Not a clue,” Marty said and Clark agreed.

  The two men hung with him outside in silence. Marc wasn’t ready to go back in yet. He wasn’t ready to face this. The dream of Lizzie and him together had been his goal, but that had been absolutely slaughtered tonight. And he didn’t know what to do. Not only did he really lose Lizzie as his girlfriend, she was with Tom.

  He turned to his brother. “Now how do I keep both of them in my life? How do I do that?” he ranted and when Clark didn’t answer, Marc spun around to leave, but stopped when he saw Tom heading his way.

  “We’ll be inside,” Marty said as they left him to talk with Tom.

  “Marc . . .” his best friend spoke as he approached him.

  He studied the man’s face who had welcomed him back just a few days ago, who had said he was glad to have Marc back. And then he thought about what he just saw in the house and Marc got angry.

  “You couldn’t have told me when I saw you a couple days ago? Or even before she arrived and said, ‘Hey man, while you were gone, Lizzie and I started seeing each other.’ Was it some sort of punishment for me leaving? Is that what it was? I know what I did, I know who I hurt, and it almost killed me to leave my brother and my friends, to leave her, to leave my best friend who always had my back. I told her I knew that with me leaving that I had basically destroyed any future we may have had. I knew she’d move on, but what I didn’t know was that my best friend basically led me off to slaughter by not fucking telling me that he was with my girl!”