Opening Up

by Lauren Dane

  This was Asa, Duke, and Mick. Like it had been for years.

  “Jesus. I bet she’s going to make me pay. She seems the type,” Mick said.

  Young and crazy, she’d teased him. Asa’d had his share of crazy women, and she really wasn’t in that category. Which was a very good thing. But she had enough of that energy, enough sass and sense of self that she embodied the things he dug about those sorts of intense people without the restraining-order parts.

  “She’s not a pushover. And you were an asshole. Also, I should have told you this up front, but she’s got a temper, which you’ve seen a bit of. That middle finger was just the tip of that iceberg. Wear a cup.”

  CHAPTER

  Fourteen

  She’d just settled into bed and had started to drift off when the knock came at her door.

  Asa had texted her earlier to see if she was still up, but she’d just wanted to go to sleep, so she’d ignored it. Also, she was annoyed at him and his friend and she didn’t want to deal with any more foolery from them that night.

  She pulled on a robe and headed out, looking through the peephole to be sure it was him. And it was.

  Seeing him sent all her annoyance skittering away. He looked so good out there on her porch. He’d smell good too. And make her come at least once. But since he’d be feeling guilty she could probably count on a minimum of two orgasms.

  She opened up.

  He gave her a smile but stayed outside. He held up a couple of shopping bags. “I come bearing gifts. Chocolates. Caramels. Some wine. Me.”

  PJ put a hand at her hip. “You’re trouble.” Which was why she would let him in, of course.

  “I know. But I’m usually worth it in the end. Can I come in?”

  She stepped to the side, locking up once he’d come in.

  “Mick is going to be calling you this week to apologize. I feel like I should tell you a little about him. Not to make excuses for what he’s done, but maybe to help you understand some.”

  “Come in. I was in bed. Bring the chocolates, caramel, and you.”

  He snorted, getting rid of his boots and then following her to her room.

  She slid the robe over the top of her door and got back in bed.

  “Am I safe getting in there with you?”

  She grinned. “You’re an adrenaline junkie, Asa. Take your chances.”

  Laughing, he pulled off every last stitch of clothing and jumped in bed with her.

  “Mick was in the army with me and Duke, as you know. We met early on. He and Duke were in the same company, and I came along after one of their buddies got killed.”

  He shook his head, his gaze going far away for a moment, and she realized how little he spoke about this stuff.

  “He’s the youngest of seven kids. They’re very religious and he’s bi. They didn’t kick him out or send him to therapy, but they have quietly and gravely judged him for being gay since he came out.

  “He’s my brother, like Duke is my brother. He’s protective and he saw you as a threat because you’re young and pretty. He thought you were out to use me. But we hashed it out. Duke and I both talked with him about you. He’s a hothead, but he’s also got honor. He’s not used to fitting anywhere. But he does with us, and you came into that space and he freaked. I hope you’ll give him a chance once he apologizes, but if you don’t I get that too.”

  Well, how could she not give the guy a chance after that story? “I’m not a heartless brute.” She snuggled down under the covers and he spooned her from behind.

  “I have an idea. Something to help you sleep,” he said, nuzzling the back of her neck.

  “Stop talking, that works best,” she muttered and he laughed.

  “I’m sorry.” He said it quietly, his lips against her pulse on her neck.

  “For what?” She turned to face him.

  “I invited you somewhere and then you got treated poorly by my best friend. That’s a shitty thing to have to deal with. It shouldn’t have happened. I’m sorry you had to.”

  She sighed. “It’s all right. I mean, it’s not cool that he was such an insulting dickbag. But if he’s sorry, truly, and he apologizes, and it was because he wanted to protect you, I can get past it. Shit happens. Wait till you meet my family. It’ll be so much fun.”

  He guffawed. “I’ve met your oldest brother and your sister.”

  She rested her chin on his chest, closing her eyes a moment when he played his fingers through her hair.

  “I’m still sorry.”

  He wanted to protect her. It hit her hard, so she turned her face to kiss his chest over his heart as she tried to get her head around what it was that Asa had just shown her such a private side of himself.

  He’d made himself vulnerable, and she wasn’t sure he’d even realized to what extent he’d done it.

  She breathed him in, kissing his skin once more before raising her face to his. “It wasn’t the first time there’s been some sort of drunken shoving thing at a race. Or a party. Or any gathering of our friends. I’ve seen you in a few of them. At the time I didn’t know it was you.”

  One of his brows rose. “Really?”

  “Once up at Mukilteo I saw this brawl. Fifteen, twenty dudes. Fists flying. People flying.” It had been epic, even for the knockdown, drag-out guys there. And then they’d all sat down—or lain down, in some cases—and drunk beers together as they bled. It was so weird and yet oddly endearing.

  He groaned, putting a hand over his eyes. “Yeah, that was me.”

  She laughed. “I know. Your hair was different. But I remember the swinging fists. Tonight when you tossed Mick back after picking him up I realized it was you.”

  Asa was a man who had a great deal of creative talent. He was a smart businessperson as well. But he wasn’t above a fistfight when he thought it necessary.

  She’d never dated anyone like him before, but that he was so rough and hard but never touched her with anything less than great care only made him hotter. That he wanted to protect her and shield her from hurt was a powerful thing. It made her feel so beautiful.

  “You’re not kicking me out the door?”

  She sat, confused. “Why? Do you think I expected you to punch Mick or something?”

  Asa snorted. “He’s got the hardest fucking head I’ve ever punched. It really would have hurt, so I’m glad he saw reason.”

  “You’ve already punched him? In the past? Was it about me?”

  Asa sat and she exhaled hard at the sight of his abdominal muscles bunching as he did. And of course the cock. And the bar.

  He stole a hard, fast kiss. “When you look at me like that I want to fuck you and cuddle you all at once. It’s confusing. Anyway. It wasn’t about you. Some guys need to be punched in the face from time to time. He’s one of them. I’m probably one of them too. But I wasn’t asking if you wanted me to leave because I didn’t punch Mick. You just admitted you know I’ve brawled around. You’re not the going-out-with-a-brawler type. Aren’t you turned off by that?”

  “You’re not the first person to say I’m confusing. It’s a flaw.” She laughed when he stole another kiss. “I know who you are to me. And that’s what counts. If you used all that to threaten or harm me it’d be different. But you don’t. You like to punch people who appear to be okay with punching and being punched, and while I admit to being totally confused by it, it’s who you are. I like the Asa I’ve come to know over the last seven months.”

  He paused, thinking. “So you wouldn’t freak if I told you about the bare-knuckles fight league Duke and I are in? I guess Mick now too. Which needs to happen because he’s better than all of us.”

  “God, I think you just got the same look you do when you see my boobs. I’m going to get a complex. Maybe I need to start punching people. Do you need a moment alone to think about your team’s extra-special new knuckles?”

  He wasn’t sure what he’d expected from her when she’d opened the door earlier. Generally, unanswered texts said, Leave m
e the fuck alone, I’ll let you know when I’m ready to talk to you. Or she could have been asleep and that’s why she hadn’t texted him back. But the truth was, he’d figured it was the former instead of the latter.

  He’d come anyway because he’d let himself want sleeping next to her and it had been yanked away from him. And because her temper was so fucking hot he couldn’t help but poke at her a little.

  She’d listened to what he’d said about Mick and had been kind. Asa knew Mick well enough to be sure his friend would be one of PJ’s biggest fans inside a month. Oh sure, she’d make him pay a little, especially if Mick didn’t give it enough grovel. But that would only make him like PJ more.

  And then she’d let him come into her bedroom and hadn’t even flinched when she’d brought up that brawl he’d been in. Duke had broken his ring finger on his left hand and Asa’d had bruised ribs and a black eye for a few days.

  “Did you think I’d run off screaming and crying? Do you really believe I’m so fragile that I didn’t understand what sort of man you were before I let you in between my thighs? Or did you think I just was so hot for your cock I didn’t care? I was hot for your cock, by the way. Still am. But it doesn’t surprise me you’d willingly let someone punch you in the face. Please tell me you at least take your piercing out of your nose first.”

  He caught her hand, bringing it to his mouth to kiss her palm. “I don’t know what I expect from you sometimes. You’re something entirely new to me.”

  Her smile softened. “I may not have done everything you have, but I’m not fragile. If everyone in your fight group is there willingly and you all get something from it, I don’t care. It’s not like you’re rampaging through Seattle beating up passersby.”

  Ah. “I don’t think you’re fragile. At first, yes, because you’re so pretty and blond and young—and I already apologized for that, so don’t frown—but anyone who’s been around you for longer than ten minutes wouldn’t think you were fragile.”

  She waved a lazy hand. “I’ve spent a lot of my life trying to be the person my father would finally see. Finally listen to. I dressed like I was expected to. Did what I was expected to. And then I just… I dropped out of college.” She snorted a laugh. “I dropped out of college and you’d have thought I burned someone’s house down. Anyway. I wanted to prove myself on the job. I didn’t want to go to college. I wanted to learn things differently and so I tried to be the best I could at Colman.

  “I’ve been working so hard to prove myself their way. But they never considered me capable. I can sell lots of tires. I was top-notch at it, and they’ll miss that, probably. But I can guarantee my uncle and my father haven’t even considered how shitty and paternalistic it was to tell me I was only allowed to make my mark at Colman in a way they defined for me up front. They think I’m fragile and useless and silly. And I’ve spent years trying to change that. So. Yes, I have a button about it, and that’s why.”

  He pushed up to sit in the middle of the bed. “Panties off and get in my lap.

  She complied quickly and Asa sighed happily as she wrapped her legs around his waist and settled on his lap as he started the story.

  “In high school I had a job at a florist. I worked in the mornings when they got their flower shipment. Up at five, and then I could work a few hours before my first class. I learned then that a lot of roses we used in arrangements were pretty and all, but they barely had a smell. But there was this climbing rosebush near the bus stop. In an empty lot, so it was something that drew your eye. The blooms were bright pink and they didn’t just open up, they seemed to explode outward with scent. They weren’t perfect like those faintly scented ones we sold for sixty bucks a dozen on Valentine’s Day. They were wild and heady and a thousand times better.”

  She watched him. Vulnerable. He brushed his thumb over her bottom lip.

  “You’re that wild rose, PJ. So pretty at first glance, but the longer I look, the more beautiful you are. Unique. You’re vibrant and sensual. There are a lot of words I’d use to describe you, but fragile isn’t one of them.”

  “I was going to make a joke. And then I thought how rude it would be of me to do that instead of thanking you for such a beautiful compliment. So thank you.”

  He kissed her chin.

  She tipped her head back, arching her spine, her pussy hot and wet as it grazed his cock.

  He yanked her shirt off, caressing all over her upper body, taking extra time with her nipples and the rings in them.

  “I missed you on me.” Her whispered words a plea.

  She shredded him.

  Without even knowing it, she took him apart. He shifted forward a little to kiss her chest, between her breasts.

  She held his head, bringing him to her body as they both just soaked each other in.

  “I missed being on you too. I had plans for you at my house. You need to come over tomorrow.”

  Thursdays were the one day he tended not to go in to work. He wanted to spend the day in his bedroom with her, and he wanted to punch Mick all over again for ruining that.

  “Maybe.”

  He heard the laughter in her response and he nipped her skin and then over to her ribs. She shifted, laughing until he’d rolled on top of her again.

  “Yield.” He’d meant it to sound teasing but ended up feeling and sounding far more serious about it.

  Yes, that’s what he wanted right then.

  She looked up at him with those big, beautiful blue eyes. Waiting.

  She stole his senses. He found himself opening up with her in ways he hadn’t planned. But she listened. It wasn’t like he’d been lonely before PJ. It wasn’t as if he didn’t know women looked at him. But PJ didn’t just check out the outside and appreciate it. PJ focused on all of him. Gave him her full attention, and it made him feel ten feet tall.

  And he knew she’d think it was a small thing, but it was everything.

  She rolled him over and scrambled atop his body. She kissed him, tasting with sweet kisses, followed by slow sips. It seemed impossible to be turned on and totally relaxed all at once, but there it was.

  She kissed down his neck, over to each ear, and then paused at his nipples.

  “I love that you’re so sensitive here. It makes me so hot to lick over the bars.” She did just that and they both moaned.

  The flare of her hips as she shimmied down his body called to him, made his mouth water.

  “More,” he growled, and she drew a deep breath as she got into place on her knees between his thighs. She scored her nails up the sensitive skin of his thighs and over his balls.

  She held his gaze, but he couldn’t stop himself from moving from her eyes down to her hands on him, to her tits.

  Dipping her head, she gave hot, openmouthed kisses to his hip bone and to his cock at long last.

  She played with the piercing over and over until he was so hard he throbbed. And then she swallowed the head of his cock. One. Two. Three times and then all the way to the root and back up.

  He cursed as that last move dragged him to the edge, since he had no plans to come just yet. He liked watching her suck him off. Liked the way it felt even more.

  Asa had plans for PJ, and they included fucking her hard and fast while he held her hair in his fist.

  He shivered. Yes, that needed to happen, and so he needed not to come just yet.

  But that didn’t mean he was ready to end this. He watched down the line of his body as she took him into her mouth over and over. Her ass moved from side to side, her tattoo so pretty and sexy in the dim light of the room.

  She pressed two fingertips against the space just behind his balls and he grunted, thrusting up into her mouth.

  “Yes. Fuck yes.”

  She hummed, her tongue on the bar so it vibrated through him, and he let himself get so very close he had to actually grab her by the shoulders and haul her off.

  “Hey!”

  “You’re only hotter when you pout. You know that, right? Your lips are
swollen from my cock. You’re pouting because you want more. Jesus.”

  He rolled off the bed and rustled in his pants to grab the condoms he’d brought.

  “Feet on the floor, top part of your body on the bed. You know how I like it.”

  She managed to get off the bed and then gave him a look over her shoulder that had him hurrying back her way.

  He put the condoms just out of her reach, but in her view. So she’d know what he was planning. When he was ready.

  But for right then, he had other things to do. He stepped to her, kissing his way across her back and down her spine, dropping to his knees.

  She thrust her ass out and he nipped her cheek, right where it met her thigh.

  “Hungry for it?”

  “Yes!”

  He licked his way up the inside of her thigh, spreading her stance wider with palms at her ankles. “I need you all wide open for me. I want all of you right here.”

  She made an inarticulate sound into the mattress. Her muscles jumped as he nuzzled her open.

  “Nervous?” He licked against her clit a few times.

  “Less so now,” she said.

  He smiled and went back to it. There was something about going down on a woman from this angle. Totally open and vulnerable, all that slick, sweet pussy where he could touch and taste. That she offered herself that way only made him want her more.

  The burn of her blush was even hotter against the cool of her comforter where she’d buried her face.

  It wasn’t like no one had ever gone down on her before. Hell, Asa had gone down on her before! But this… She’d never actually had it like this. Totally exposed to him.

  He’d told her to trust him and she’d said she did. So she let go and enjoyed it. Let go and fell into how good it was, how he made her feel with those work-rough palms holding her thighs wide open.

  He took what he wanted and she gave it to him. Loved it that he wanted her so much, and when she came she’d been so into it that she didn’t realize he’d stopped and was thrusting his cock into her until he reached the hilt.