by Nikki Sloane
“Hey, is this guy bothering you?” a familiar voice said.
Relief swept through me as my gaze landed on Greg. He looked amazing in jeans and a black button-down shirt that fit him perfectly. But his attention wasn’t on me. His intense, severe expression was directed at the guy in my face. The guy glanced at Greg, then back at me, and threw his hands up in the air as he moved backward.
“No, I was just trying to pay her a compliment. Tell your daughter to chill out, bro.”
I cringed, but Greg didn’t miss a beat.
“She’s not my daughter, bro.” His tone was dark. “You heard her. Get lost.”
The guy scanned Greg with a skeptical look, then shook his head and gestured for his friends to follow him as he moved off. “Whatever.”
As soon as the threat was gone, it flipped a switch in my body. I was supposed to be annoyed with Greg for making me wait, but the feeling had evaporated, and now I was just overwhelmingly happy to see him. His concerned eyes landed on mine. “You okay?”
I shrugged one shoulder, pretending it was no big deal, even though my heart was still pounding. “I’m fine.”
His expression was fixed. “That was impressive.”
“What?”
He shifted toward me, placing a hand on the small of my back and drawing me near. The warmth of his touch made the space between us feel intimate. Like it was just the two of us in the evening shadows.
His gaze captured me and refused to let go. “What you said to him. How you put that jerk in his place.”
I couldn’t think straight when he was this close and I could breathe in his cologne. “I’m not an object,” I said and made a face. “I mean, I’m not going to be treated like one anymore.”
The statement hung for a moment. He knew who I was talking about and nodded slowly in understanding. “Is it okay if I tell you that you look amazing, though? Because you do.”
I softened. “Thank you. I’m glad you’re here.”
“Me too.” His posture relaxed, and he motioned toward the entrance. “Ready?”
EIGHTEEN
THERE WEREN’T WORDS TO DESCRIBE how awesome Joven was live, but getting to see them with Greg beside me? That was magical.
During the slow acoustic part of their set, when the stage lighting was subdued, everyone turned on their flashlight apps on their phones and swayed to the rhythm. Like lighters, but it bathed the arena in silvery light. It was intimate and beautiful, and I snuck a glance at Greg.
The sharp lines of his face were exaggerated with shadows, but he was perfect like that, all handsome and carefree. We had to look like the strangest couple ever under the artificial haze, but I didn’t feel strange beside him.
It just felt right.
And then Joven neared the end of the concert, and I loved how the bass reverberated through my body. I moved with the crowd as the music built. Hands were thrown in the air as people joined in, the music working everyone into a frenzy, especially the floor section where we stood. Even Greg was swept up in the energy.
As the band hit the climax, gold confetti burst from cannons, filling the air, and the crowd roared their approval. I screamed against the impossibly loud sound, grinning madly as I watched the confetti slowly flutter down, catching glints of light as it fell. My gaze snagged Greg’s, and I found him wearing the same wide smile I had.
It was a perfect moment—one I knew I’d remember forever, no matter what happened to us. The way he looked back at me, it seemed as if he was thinking the same thing. It made my heart clog into my throat.
I didn’t hear the crowd as they thundered and cried out at the end of the song. Everything faded from my ears as he set a hand on my cheek, tilted my head toward him, and sealed his mouth over mine.
No one would notice us in a sea of eighteen thousand people, especially when the strips of gold were still raining down, landing on our heads and shoulders. So, the kiss he gave me was safe, but—oh, it wasn’t. His seductive, passionate kiss was incredibly dangerous. It left me feeling adrift and like he was the only thing I could cling to.
I told him I wasn’t going to be anyone’s possession, but maybe I’d been wrong. Because this kiss? It owned me.
“Stay with me tonight,” he shouted in my ear, over the sound of fans screaming for an encore.
When I’d bought the tickets, the plan had been I’d crash at Lilith’s place after the concert was over. I hadn’t told my mom that had changed, so she wasn’t expecting me until tomorrow morning. And although I hadn’t gotten the invite from Greg until now, I’d prepared for it. I’d packed an overnight bag, tossed it in my passenger seat, and parked my car outside Lilith’s house.
Just in case, she’d lectured me earlier today, the opportunity presents itself.
He peered at me with a hopeful expression, waiting on my answer, and when I nodded quickly, a thrill shot through me. I’d never really spent the night with a man. Sure, I’d slept over in Preston’s room a few times in college, but it was on a futon, and his roommate was there. It wasn’t the same. This was how adults did it, and I was eager for Greg to see me as an equal.
Our Uber driver was a nice guy, but so talkative, Greg and I could barely get two words in edge-wise once we crawled into the back seat. My phone vibrated in my purse, and I dug it out.
Greg: Want to go for a midnight swim?
I grinned and thumbed out a response. Meanwhile, the driver continued to tell us his thoughts about the Titans’ chances in the upcoming football season.
Cassidy: What if I didn’t pack a swimsuit?
I stared at Greg across the darkened back seat, and his expression left me breathless. He looked wickedly sexy, even as his gaze dropped down to the glowing phone in his hands.
Greg: Did you?
Cassidy: Yeah.
Greg: Good. It’ll be fun to take it off.
The anticipation was so hot, my face burned a thousand degrees.
I changed into my black string bikini in Greg’s bathroom and twisted my hair up into a bun high on my head. He’d put on his trunks in his bedroom and then had gone to get us drinks, telling me through the door to meet him poolside when I was ready.
It was almost midnight, but still hot outside. The humidity was domineering, and the bugs in the woods beyond the fence were noisy, buzzing in cycles that ebbed and flowed. The exterior lights on the side of the house weren’t on, but soft, yellowy light streamed down on the pool from the enormous windows overhead. And the deep end of the kidney-shaped pool glowed from the underwater lamp.
Two folded towels were stacked on the edge of one of the lounge chairs, and my gaze drifted across the stone patio until I found Greg, hunched over one of the skimmers, replacing the lid. As he straightened, I traced every sexy muscle on his strong back. They corded and flexed when he strolled to the table and retrieved two bottles of beer, each sleeved in a koozie with the hospital logo printed on the side.
He turned.
Jesus, it was unbearably hot the way he looked at me. His gaze started at my eyes and then poured down my body, lingering over my breasts, my waist, my thighs. When he reached my ankles, his gaze started back up, moving even slower. His Adam’s apple bobbed with a hard swallow, and his expression oozed lust and sin.
It took every last bit of my strength to stop myself from yanking the beer bottles from his hands, tossing them to ground, and leaping on him. I’d wanted a lot of things in my life. Getting into a good school. Someday becoming a veterinarian. Maybe even a father who gave a fuck about me. But I’d never wanted anything as badly as I wanted Greg right now.
“I figured beer instead of wine.” His smug smile was reflected in his voice. He held out one of the bottles, and I padded over, taking it from him. “Cheers,” he said, clinking the necks of our bottles together. “Thanks for asking me to go with you. I’m sorry I was late.”
I nodded. “I get it.” He’d told me between acts at the concert that one of his patients had developed a nasty post-op infection, and the ca
ll had been a lengthy deliberation between doctors on how to handle it. It really put my annoyance at waiting for him in perspective. I took a long drink of my beer. “I mean, it was literal life and death, right?”
“Yeah, but—”
“Then I can wait. I’m not that important.”
Greg froze mid-sip, and then lowered his bottle. “Don’t say that. Of course, you’re important.”
I squirmed on the inside. “Yeah, I know. I just meant in your list of priorities at that moment.”
“It couldn’t be helped, but, Cassidy, you should know I was looking forward to tonight all week.”
He looked so damn sincere, I momentarily worried my knees would give out. I sucked in a deep breath, but my voice went shallow, regardless. “Me too.”
The beer was abruptly pulled from my hand, and he thumped both of our drinks down on the edge of the pool.
“What are you—” I started but couldn’t finish as he scooped me up. He lifted me until I had no choice but to fold my legs around his waist and band my arms across his back. I held on tightly as he strode toward the steps of the pool and then descended into the water, one stair at a time.
Our mouths crashed against each other as the cool water lapped at our bodies. I floated weightlessly in his arms, lacing my fingers together behind his neck as he pulled us further along and the water reached our shoulders. Deeper we went in both the pool and our kiss. His lips pushed mine open, and he thrust his tongue inside, slicking his over mine.
The pool temperature was perfect. It controlled the fire between us, keeping it a simmering burn instead of letting it rage completely out of control. I ground my lower body against the bulge swelling beneath his dark blue trunks, and something inside him seemed to snap. He moved us so fast, it made a wake in the water, and before I could catch my breath, I was pressed against the cold, hard wall at the side of the pool.
He played with the strings holding my top in place, toying with me. A shudder shook my shoulders as he drew the pad of a finger down the line between my breasts and up the other side, tracing a V over my chest. My skin was hypersensitized to his touch.
It was so strange, and yet not at all, the way we could communicate without words.
Greg leaned forward, set his forehead against mine, and watched me intently as he tugged at the knot behind my neck. Tension went out of the strings. He caught one and used it to peel the wet cup away from my breast, exposing my already-erect nipple to the night air.
His arms wrapped behind my back, causing me to arch upward, and I stared at the stars in the sky above us as his mouth closed on my breast. He licked, and sucked, and bit softly at me, and I made all the quiet cries of pleasure he’d told me he loved hearing. I couldn’t stop myself, even if I had wanted to. The empty ache between my legs was constant and throbbing.
The other half of my bikini top was shoved out of his way, and after he’d given that nipple the same amount of attention, the knot at my back was undone, and the wet swimsuit top splattered up onto the pool deck.
I hooked an arm around his neck to anchor myself to him, freeing me up to touch him. I massaged him through the thick fabric of his swim trunks, and our hands tangled as he undid the Velcro closure, allowing me total access. I wrapped my fingers around his firm, long cock and squeezed. The way his eyes hazed with pleasure made a smile creep across my lips. He was so handsome and distinguished normally, but seeing him coming apart was infinitely better.
I pumped my fist on him. Once, and again, going faster until the water between us sloshed noisily against the side of the pool. His skin was slippery in my palm, making it easier to pick up the pace. I studied him the same way he did me. I watched every labored breath he took. Each muscle that flexed along his jaw. How his lips parted to get more air.
Suddenly, he shifted his hips and broke my hold. His hands slid under my arms, and I yelped as he stood, lifted me up, and seated me on the edge of the pool, where I dripped and sputtered with surprise.
Greg’s expression was dark and hungry. “Lie back.”
Goosebumps lifted on my thighs at his urgent command, and I followed it instantly. The stone was warm on my back, but unforgiving, and I set my hands on my stomach, not sure what else to do with them.
He’d untied my bikini top slowly, but now he attacked the knots at my hips, yanking them open. I gasped as he jerked the fabric away, tossed it into a heap, and nuzzled his face between my legs. The rough, coarse ends of his beard brushed against my inner thighs. I clenched a hand on the back of his head, holding on as his tongue probed the most intimate part of me.
His kiss was electric. It jolted me with a shock, and I cried out on every long, deliberate lick he delivered. I moaned as he fluttered and massaged the tip of his tongue against my clit. Sparks shot across my skin, making me convulse. Greg wrapped a hand around each of my thighs and pushed them back toward me, opening me further to him.
The pleasure was intense. Like nothing I’d ever felt.
A breeze swept through the patio, and I shivered, but it was oddly good too. My nipples were pointed so sharply, they ached, but it was like he knew. One hand came off my thigh and reached up, roaming over my chest until he found the right spot to twist and pull that caused a dark groan of satisfaction to roll out of me.
I was quivering, beyond ready . . . not to mention, a little cold and uncomfortable on the stone. “I want you,” I whined, lifting my head to stare at him.
His eyes flashed with cockiness. “You want me to . . .”
It was almost too much. My body responded to his confidence, clenching me like a vise. I had to squeeze the plea from my mouth. “Fuck me.”
He slapped his palms loudly against the stone and vaulted up out of the pool, dripping on me as he pulled off his swimsuit and added it to the pile. His gaze swept appreciatively along the nude line of my body and then moved on to one of the lounge chairs, the one that lay flat. He flung a finger at it.
“There. Now.”
It was like he could only think in basic words, and I understood why. He wanted to satisfy a raw, primal need. I wanted it too and scrambled to my feet. It was only once I took a knee on the cushion, turned, and lay down on my back that I realized what was about to happen.
Greg was going to fuck me in the exact same spot he’d watched me last month with his son.
NINETEEN
WHY DID THIS IDEA turn me on so badly?
As I got comfortable on the cushion, I watched Greg fling aside the top towel in the stack and snatch up the condom he’d brought out. Then he stalked toward me, his face serious, as he tore open the edge of the wrapper with his teeth and pulled the condom out. He came for me like a man on a mission.
His body was beautiful. Rivulets of water cascaded down his chest, slaloming between the defined ridges of muscles, and he glistened in the soft light coming from inside the house.
The chair beneath me groaned as he planted a knee between my legs and then finished rolling the condom down the length of himself. My breath caught in my lungs. Everything inside me was tight with anticipation and need. As he knelt between my knees, he cast his eyes downward, following the stroke of his own hand, readying himself.
“This is my fantasy,” he said. He rubbed the tip of his cock on my slit, making me squirm and shift. I needed him inside me. Couldn’t he see how desperate I was? His gaze moved along my body until it connected with mine. “My fantasy,” he continued, “every day since I saw you out here with him.”
My mouth dropped open in surprise then rounded into a silent moan as he pushed himself into me. It felt like he was everywhere. Inside my body, inside my mind, inside the deepest recesses I didn’t allow myself to go. It couldn’t be his fantasy—because it was mine. I tried to tell him, but his first thrust was so powerful, all I could do was grab the cushion beneath us and hang on.
“I was jealous. So unbelievably jealous.” Greg widened his knees, which were tucked under my spread legs, and pumped his hips a second time. I recoiled wi
th pleasure, and a victorious look lit up his eyes. “Watching him get to fuck you, when I wanted it to be me. I wanted it to be like this.”
Oh. My. God.
I was a stick of dynamite, and his confession cut the fuse in half. One spark and I was done for.
He set his hands on my knees and slid his palms along my inner thighs, pressing me wide open to him. “I stood there watching, and I didn’t know I was capable of being that jealous about anything until then. I wanted you so fucking bad, Cassidy.”
I let go of the cushion and placed my palms against his damp chest, needing to touch him. I wanted more contact. Craved his mouth on me. He obliged my unspoken request and set his hands on the cushion on either side of my head, lowering his lips to mine. Our wet skin stuck to each other, and I moaned into his kiss as he eased faster, moving at a steady, seductive pace.
“What did you think,” he said between hurried breaths, “when you caught me watching?”
His open mouth hovered, his lips brushing mine and threatening a kiss, but he was just far enough away, I’d have to commit to it. I undulated beneath him, and the way he teased the kiss was . . . sensual. But he acted as if I’d only get my reward when I’d earned it and told the truth.
“I wanted it to be you,” I said in a blur. I hadn’t even admitted it to myself, and now here I was, saying it out loud. “After I saw you—” How far should I go with this? Should I tell him all of it? “I closed my eyes and imagined I was with you.”
“Oh, fuck,” he said and descended upon me.
The intensity of our movements went wild. Finding out our dark appetites matched each other was liberating, and we reveled in it. His rhythm changed from seduction and passion, and crossed into a territory that was more primal.
