I looked up at Ed. “Do you have to deal with idiots like this often?”
“Yup.” He tucked his hands in his front pockets, looking relaxed, and content to find out what I’d say next.
I rounded on the tourist. “That ‘little guy’ that won,” I said, fairly certain he was referring to J.D., “is a world-class professional fighter. If you didn’t do your research before you bet against him, that’s your own damn idiot fault.”
I gestured for Paul, who still lurked in the shadows. Paul glanced at Ed, Ed gave a small nod, and Paul stepped closer. He loomed at over six and a half feet tall, with a bull neck and thighs the size of tree trunks.
I glared up into the poor loser’s washed-out blue eyes. “Now, if you don’t shut your whiny mouth and man up, we’re going to have Paul, here, rearrange your face. Is that worth $5,000 to you?”
The man looked at me, and then at Paul. I wasn’t scary in the least, but the big guy sure as shit was. He had one expression, and that was a menacing glower. He crossed his arms and leveled his trademark at the human carrot.
The complainer backed up a step.
“You could recoup your losses,” Ed suggested, “if you want to climb into the ring. I’m sure J.D. would be willing to prove his skills on you. Even losers win a thousand dollars. Stay five rounds, and…”
I smiled. “That sounds fair. You should put him in with J.D. Let the ‘little guy’ whoop his ass.”
Mr. Carrot was shaking his head. “You,” he said suddenly. “I’ll fight you for my $5,000.”
“Me?” Ed asked. “I’m the Guidefather.”
“The Guidefather?” I asked.
“That’s a stupid title,” the man scoffed.
Paul took a step closer and Ed held up a hand, keeping him from ripping the idiot’s head off. To me, Ed explained, “It was a title held by my father, and which he passed down to me. Guidefather.”
I was sure my face still reflected puzzlement.
“It means I’m in charge,” Ed clarified.
“But anyway,” Carrot said, shifting back a bit, “you look like you’re not a total wuss. Get in the ring with me, let me fight you for the money.”
“And what do I get when I win?” Ed asked.
Carrot made an impatient sound. “You get to keep my $5,000.”
“I’m already keeping it,” Ed said. “Name something else.”
The man shifted around, looking from Paul to Ed and back again. “Um… I brought my wife. She’s real pretty. Maybe she could—”
“That’s disgusting, man. And wrong. No. Name something else.”
“Uh…” The orange man probably hadn’t brought much with him except the clothes on his back and some fishing equipment. Probably a camera, maybe a laptop. The wife’s jewelry.
I watched his eyes flicker as he tried to decide what he was willing to offer.
Ed breathed a gusty sigh and threw him a bone. “Your silence. I want your silence. You win, I give you your money back. I win, and you walk outta here without your money, and keep your mouth shut about the whole thing. Deal?”
The man nodded eagerly.
“Okay. Let’s go.”
I grabbed Ed’s arm as he started to brush by me. “What are you doing?” I hissed. Ed was too nice a guy to be trading punches with someone. I didn’t want his face, or his hands, or his chest, or any part of his wonderful body messed up. I didn’t want him hurt, period.
“Keeping this guy quiet,” he said, looking down at me with what appeared to be growing amusement. “Why? You worried about me?”
I lowered my voice. “Can you fight?” I wasn’t letting him go until he gave me some assurance that he’d be okay. I mean, what if the guy punched him in the face? His beard might cushion the blow slightly, but he could still lose teeth. Or have an eye gouged out. Or wind up with one of those horrible cauliflower ears.
“I’m the Guidefather,” he whispered back, as if that were any kind of answer. Then he peeled my hand gently off his arm, and walked toward the door.
I moved to follow.
“Oh no no no,” he said, putting a hand up at chest-level to stop me. “You’re not gonna watch.”
“But—”
“You’re staying right here, you little fainter. I’m not done talking to you.”
“But—”
“I’ll be back in five minutes. Maybe less.” He nodded at Paul, who moved to block the door.
“Hey, wait,” said Gary. “I want in. Do you have that rule, on your first night at fight club, you fight?”
Ed nodded. “You can fight after me.”
“Sweet.” Gary thrust his dart rifle into Helly’s arms. “Here honey,” he said. “Hold this for me.” He pressed a quick kiss to her mouth, and followed Ed out the door.
Paul put himself in the opening, blocking our view, and our exit.
I crossed my arms. “Son of a bitch,” I said.
Helly took a deep breath. “Am I the only one that doesn’t want to wait here for a talking-to?” she asked.
“No. I’m kind of pissed off at men in general right now.”
“Me too,” she said.
We both looked at Paul. He gazed back with his indifferent glower. At that moment, I found it quite infuriating.
Maybe Helly did, too.
“Fuck it,” Helly said. She shouldered the dart gun, and shot him. Then—I’m guessing it was for good measure because the guy looked like he weighed a ton—she shot him again. The man crashed to the floor with the heavy finality of a buffalo driven off a cliff.
“Let’s blow this joint,” she said.
“Wait.”
She looked at me.
“I’m staying.” I wanted—needed—to have this confrontation with Ed. I wasn’t going to run from it. Not now.
Turning on my heel, I went and sat in his big chair. For it could only be his. ‘Guidefather’, indeed.
I settled back, grinning, and crossed my legs. Let him find me like this. Let him find out who’d actually be getting a talking-to. And who’d be groveling on his knees.
Suddenly, Ed was in the doorway. His chest was bare, his muscles taut. His eyes, as they found me, narrowed.
I frowned. Hadn’t he been going to fight? He’d only been gone a minute, tops. Maybe he’d forgotten his good luck headband? Or—
Helly fired a dart at him, but he dodged it. The dart whizzed through the doorway and into the crowd. Ed lunged forward and snatched the dart gun from Helly’s hands. Then he crossed to me, and scooped me up out of his chair.
“Whaaa—!”
He was already walking, with me hanging, once more, over his shoulder. He ducked through the doorway.
I pushed myself up, peering toward the cage, trying to figure out what the heck was going on. They were just pulling a limp, carroty-colored dude from the ring. He certainly wasn’t whining anymore.
“Did you kill him?” I demanded, thumping my fist in the small of Ed’s back.
“What? No. I just knocked him out.” He put his hand on my ass, his fingertips digging into my crack in a proprietary way. I squirmed as he took the stairs.
“Where the heck are you taking me?” I asked as he turned to the right and started up another set.
“Guest bedroom.”
“Oh. Oh.” I wiggled some more, not sure how I felt about this. Ed had been lying to me, and he was apparently a sexist prick, and— “Oh!” I said, as I landed on my back on the bed. The door closed behind us, shutting me in with him.
“You scared me today,” Ed said. There was only dim light coming through the curtained window, but it caressed each of his hard muscles as he loomed.
“Um,” I said, transfixed.
“You used your gossiping powers for evil, and…” He leaned closer, his eyes gleaming. “…I think maybe you deserve a punishment.”
I rolled my eyes, but then squealed when he grabbed my ankles, and dragged me to the edge of the bed. “What are you—?”
He was disrobing me, that’s
what. He popped the button of my ugly pants, and dragged them and my panties down my legs.
I kicked free and started to crab-crawl backward. “Ed, we can’t. In the guest room? It’s too public. We’ll be caught.” My voice was breathless, betraying my excitement. I came up against the wall.
Ed crawled after me. “You’ve been a bad, bad girl,” he said, his voice a husky whisper.
I squeaked again as his warm hand wrapped around my bare ankle.
“Shhh,” he said. “Like you said, they’ll hear you.” He crawled even closer, tugging me downward, pushing my legs apart.
My heart raced. My pussy was liquid fire. “E-e-Ed,” I stuttered.
He dragged me away from the wall, and shoved my knees up so I was fully exposed to him. Then he buried his mouth against me.
“Aaah!” I arched under him, shuddering at the shock of it, twisting my fingers in his hair.
His tongue slid upward along my slit. He licked me in several long, soothing, opening strokes. He guided my legs even wider, then slid his hand up to cover my trembling belly.
“Oh,” I sighed, finally relaxing under him. Waves of sensation flowed through me, making my breath catch. What he was doing felt fabulous.
I pressed myself up against his mouth as I started to pant. “I thought—I thought this was supposed to be punishment.”
“Oh, it will be,” he murmured. His tongue probed between my inner lips, pushing into me, lapping me up.
I had no idea how that could be, but at this point, I didn’t freaking care. “Oh… gawd,” I groaned.
He was making sounds of appreciation, humming against my clit, slurping me up. The sensations were raw, and the wet sounds made me want to squirm—except I already was.
Someone pounded on the door, making me jump. The knob rattled. “Suzy, you in here?” Helly called.
“Shhh,” Ed said again, and this time I was content to follow his orders. He was, after all, eating me out. He moved upward, swirling his tongue around my clit.
I shuddered as his long, hard finger slid into me, then moaned and dug my heels into the bed as he quickly followed it with another. I rocked my hips up to meet his thrusts, my whole body alive with tingles as I tracked the unpredictable wanderings of his tongue. It slipped, and stroked, and flicked, and I couldn’t tell where I ended and the hot flood of his breath began.
My lower belly was tightening, but the rest of me relaxed under his care. I was giving myself over to it, accepting anything he had to give me.
His fingers pushed into me. Harder. Deeper. I pulled at his hair, each of my panting breaths a beseeching moan.
Pound, pound, pound. “Suzy?”
Aw, hell. Fucking—gasp-and-a-shudder—Helly.
Ed’s fingers changed their stroke, curving inside me, and a wash of sensation made me arch with a groan I tried to muffle. My eyes rolled upward. His lips closed around my clit, and he started to suck. I bucked under him, the rush of pleasure just too freaking much. I tried to yank his head away.
He stayed in place, stroking, sucking.
The universe was imploding. I couldn’t get enough air.
The door rattled. “Suzy! Are you in there?” Helly sounded impatient now.
I shook my head from side to side, biting down, trying not to make verbal evidence of the tsunami of pleasure cresting inside me.
“Scream for me,” Ed said. His efforts redoubled with long, strong, thick plunges of his fingers, each one stroking that spot. And then his tongue, his mouth, that wet suction.
My body went up in flames. I was shaking, my thighs trembling, feeling like I was being burned alive. But still, I held my jaw clamped.
“Suzy? I hear someone in there.” The knob rattled again.
He groaned as he felt me squeezing his fingers. “Do it,” he growled, his voice vibrating against me.
I moaned instead.
He chuckled, but his voice sounded strained. “You stubborn little thing.” Then he slid his pinky into my butt.
I arched. Choked. Went momentarily blind. Felt like my nerve endings were incinerating. Might have squirted a little.
Then I screamed.
“Gary, help me with this!” I heard from far, far away.
The door crashed open, splinters of wood flying in every direction. Light blinded me, and some instinct grabbed at a blanket and yanked it up over my naked legs and Ed’s dark head between them. Ed was laughing, his breath hot puffs against my inner thighs, his mirth shaking the bed.
And his finger, as I looked up to see my best friend in the doorway, was still in my ass. He wiggled it.
I squeaked, then tried to look casual.
Helly just stood there, taking in the scene. I hadn’t covered Ed up entirely, not nearly. His lower back and legs were clear, crouched on the edge of the bed. Thank God he was still wearing pants.
“Wow,” Helly said, “this is awkward.”
Gary peered in over her shoulder, snorted a short burst of laughter, then ducked out of sight behind the jamb.
“Is this… erm… consensual?” Helly asked.
Ed licked me.
I whacked his ribs with my heel, then smiled at Helly. “Yes,” I said.
She continued to stand there. “So… that was a scream of pleasure, not pain?”
“I’d say it was at least 50% surprise,” Ed said. He emerged up to his neck from the blanket, and grinned at me.
I was going to kill him. The gorgeous, ridiculous bastard.
Gary scooped his still-stunned fiancé-to-be out of the doorway, and leaned in to grab the knob. “Forgive us for disturbing you,” he said. He winked at me. Then he swung the door shut.
The door swung almost instantly back open. “Wait,” Gary said. “Where’s my gun?”
Ed lifted his hand from my belly to point to it leaning next to the door.
“Thanks, man.” Gary grabbed the gun, and pulled the door shut again.
I shuddered as Ed withdrew. He flipped the blanket aside and surged to his feet. His eyes gleamed down at me.
“Put your pants back on,” he said. “I’m taking you back to my place, and I’m going to fuck you every which way and sideways.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ed had ahold of me, and where before he’d been hesitant, now he was sure. His grip was firm. I wasn’t getting away; I was going where he wanted.
Which was okay, because I’d been looking forward to this for a long time.
He pushed me in through his front door, not rough, but not exactly gentle. I felt like giggling. I preceded him through the living area, down the hall, and into his opulent bathroom.
“We’re taking a bath,” he announced.
My skin prickled, my whole body tingling. My breath was coming short, and I felt alive, standing in front of him, waiting for him to indicate what he wanted.
Because I’d give it to him, whatever it was. Because I loved him. And because he’d just eaten me out. I grinned like an idiot.
“Stay,” he said. He got the water running and dumped some bubble bath in. I was still doing it when he turned around. His gaze perused my features. “What are you smiling about?” he asked.
I straightened my face. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I’m totally afraid of you. You have me cowed. I’ll give you whatever sexual favors you demand.” I cleared my throat, lips twitching again. “Boss,” I added.
He chuckled. “Is that right?” He raked a dark, smoky glance down me, and I suddenly felt sexy despite my horrible outfit.
I nodded and bit my lip. Damn, but I wanted him.
He stepped closer, till I had to tip my head up to meet his eyes. The air between us grew charged. He reached out a hand, and his fingertips brushed softly across my clavicle. They trailed downward just inside my collar, making me shiver.
“I was worried about you,” he said. I could barely hear his quiet proclamation over the rush of water in the tub.
I stilled.
“I was worried,” he continued, “that you were hu
rt. And you were somewhere else, and Suzy, I was frantic with the fear that you might—”
I nodded, lifting my hand up to cover his. I flattened it over my heart. “I’m sorry.”
“I was worried you might die,” he said.
I was such a shit. “I know. I’m sorry. It was rotten of me. It was a rotten lie,” I whispered.
He was inches away as he looked down into my eyes. His tender gaze traced my face. He squeezed my shoulder lightly. “Don’t do it again.”
I nodded, pressing my palms to his chest, feeling tears burn my eyes. “I won’t.”
“Good. Now get on your knees.”
I blinked at him.
“‘Whatever sexual favors I demand’?” he said silkily.
A rush of lust blindsided me, weakening my knees. “Yes. But I didn’t think you’d take me up on it.”
He snorted softly. “As if I—or anyone—could resist an offer like that.” He smiled at me, watching as I began to sink downward.
I didn’t fall to my knees, because I did so like to tease. Instead, I went slowly, caressing him as I went.
“Do you know what I want?” he asked. He worked on the band in my hair, until my wild curls sprang free. A strategic error on his part, but I didn’t comment.
“Ha. As if I—or anyone—could misinterpret an order like that,” I said. I looked up at him from my knees on his really nice bathroom floor.
He was watching me intently, his breath rasping in the small space.
I traced his waistband inward, appreciating the hard bulge already waiting for me beneath his jeans. I placed my hand over him, rubbing through the material. He shivered when I dragged my nails lightly over him.
“I was thinking of you,” I said suddenly.
“Hm?” He was distracted, trying to negotiate my hair. I imagine he wanted to run his fingers through it, but it was just too damn curly.
“The night I spent at your house,” I said, flicking open his button. “The night in town. I was lying there, couldn’t sleep, and…” I rubbed him again, letting him see the passion that had darkened my eyes. “…I was thinking of you. I masturbated to thoughts of you.”
Ed grinned. “Just once?”
Two Captains, One Chair: An Alaskan Romantic Comedy Page 27
