One of the Guys

by Shiloh Walker

  He started to push inside her and then he stiffened, pulling away from her mouth, from her hands, from her body so he could crouch between her spread thighs. “Shit. Condom.” He found the last one buried in the tangle of sheets and Jaynie watched with heavy lids as he tore it open and unrolled it over his thick cock. The plum-shaped head was ruddy. Jaynie reached out and wrapped her hand around his width and stroked up, down. Through the thin layer of latex, she could feel his heat. She passed her thumb over the head and then stroked him again, tightening her hand as she neared the base of his cock.

  He hissed out a harsh breath between his teeth and swore. Brian caught her hand in his and when she would have reached with her free hand, he caught it too. He forced her back down to the bed under the weight of his body, pinning her wrists and holding them up by her head. “Watch me,” he muttered. “I want to watch you and I want you to watch me.”

  Their gazes held as he entered her. She was sore and sensitive and he felt so damn big inside her, bruising her. She loved it. She rocked her hips up, taking him deeper and moaning his name.

  He responded by lowering his head and murmuring, “Your pussy is so snug, so hot and you taste so damn good. I could spend hours lying between your legs and tasting you, licking you and feeling you come against my mouth.”

  How could she get any more turned on? Jaynie didn’t think it was possible but he went and proved her wrong. He laughed a little when she shivered. “You like dirty talk,” he teased. “If I tell you that I want to fuck you until neither of us can walk and then I want start it all over again, would you like that?”

  She whimpered and rocked against him, her hands clutching his sweat-slicked shoulders. “What else do you like, pretty girl?” he murmured. “Would you like it if I pulled out and then rolled you over, came into you from behind? You’ve got a pretty little ass but I haven’t been able to admire it that much.”

  A hot fist of need wrapped itself around her belly. She said nothing but Brian saw the answer somewhere on her face. Or maybe felt it in her body as she bucked underneath him. Brian pulled away and rolled her onto her belly. Jaynie tried to push onto her knees, but he held her still with a hand pressed to the base of her spine. She couldn’t see him and when he bent low and brushed a kiss against her spine, a shiver racked her body from head to toe.

  Then he smoothed his hands over her rump, squeezing and kneading the flesh. The weight of his body pressed her into the tangled sheets as he covered her. His hands sought her wrists again, holding her in place as he lifted his upper body. He shifted a little and used his knee to spread her thighs. For some reason, that action seemed damn erotic. “You like being held down, Jaynie?” he murmured. “We haven’t had enough time to play. What kind of games do you like, baby girl?”

  What kind of games? Hell, Jaynie didn’t know. It had been too damn long since she’d played at anything. Yeah, dirty talk did her in every time, but she’d had no idea that Brian’s playful domination could get her that hot.

  “Damn it, Brian. I want you inside me.”

  He shifted his grip so that he held both wrists in one hand, pinning them to the mattress over her head. Then he slid his free hand between her thighs and pushed a thick finger inside her. “Like this?”

  “No,” she groaned, frustrated. She tried to lift up for him, but he wouldn’t let her. He leaned back over her, using his big body to keep hers immobile. She couldn’t reach for him, either because he still held her wrists in one hand, stretching her arms high over her head.

  The inability to move was almost as erotic as the feel of his body pressing against hers. He moved between her thighs and she tried to push up onto her knees, but he didn’t let her. He kept her pinned to the mattress and pushed into her with her lying facedown. He didn’t penetrate as deep but it didn’t matter. She was primed and ready to come and if he would just—

  “Brian!” she screamed his name into the mattress as he rolled his hips against hers. He bit her shoulder lightly and then whispered against her ear, “When you come, your pussy gets so tight, it feels like you’ll squeeze my dick off. I love it. I’m going to make you come again. And again. And again.”

  She believed it. Jaynie realized that later she might be embarrassed about it, but Brian had figured out her secret. Hot, dirty pillow talk was enough to have her burning and ready—a little roughness went a long way for her and dirty talk could just about beat foreplay.

  That part of her had been neglected lately and it was as if she was starving for it. Starving for more than just physical contact, and for more than just sex.

  Him.

  It leaped unbidden to her mind that she had been starving for him.

  Brian’s idea of foreplay, the way he cupped her breasts and rubbed his thumbs over her nipples, the way he kissed his way down her spine and bit the taut flesh of her rump, the way he pushed two fingers inside her and scissored them while he circled his thumb around her clit.

  He let go of her hands and Jaynie whimpered in disappointment but then she gasped, her breath hitching in her throat when he fisted a hand in her hair and used it to turn her head. He angled his around so that he could kiss her. His hips slammed forward, slapping against the curve of her ass as he shafted her. He kissed her until she was breathless and before he pulled away, he bit her lower lip. “You’ve got the prettiest damn mouth. I never noticed it before. But it’s so damn pretty.” His voice took on a teasing lilt and he whispered into her ear, “I bet it would look damn pretty wrapped around my cock.”

  She came. Just that easily. He teased her about giving him a blowjob, but the way he said it, the words he used and his rough, sexy, growling voice, combined with the slow, thorough way he shafted her was all it took to send her screaming into orgasm.

  As though he had been waiting for just that, Brian wrapped his hands around her wrists again and slammed into her, using all the strength of his back and lower body to fuck her until he stiffened over her, coming in a rush and moaning her name against her shoulder.

  CHAPTER THREE

  That one night had left a mark on him. Brian couldn’t see Jaynie without his dick getting hard. Even right now, as she left surgery, her scrubs stained liberally with blood from the dog she had operated on. He already knew that she’d been forced to amputate the Golden Retriever’s left hind leg and he knew when she was done talking to the dog’s owners, she’d retreat to her office and cry for a minute.

  He’d always known she was a good vet, and normally, he would have followed her into her office and offered his shoulder while she cried. He’d done it before and never thought twice about. But that was under normal circumstances and nothing had been normal for him for the past four months.

  Jaynie, though, carried on as usual. She acted as though the night had never happened and it irritated the hell out of him. He wanted some kind of reaction when she saw him. He wanted to catch her staring at him. He wanted to see her blush when she realized he was staring at her. He wanted to see her nipples stiffen under the plain cotton scrubs.

  More than anything, he wanted her naked and under him again as he rode her hard and made her scream. He dipped his head as she walked by, hoping she wouldn’t notice the heat in his eyes.

  She’d promised him a night of sex, no strings attached. But she hadn’t come through with that promise, because Brian still felt plenty of strings, all on his end and all drawing him toward her.

  It wouldn’t be so damn bad if he didn’t have to see her every day. Brian, at least, wanted to think that. He wasn’t so sure though. Because he dreamed about her every night. Not always the sex though.

  If it had just been the sex, he might have been okay. After all, a lot of healthy men had a sexual obsession, right?

  But he also had dreams about the way she’d looked that night when he’d come home and found Dean standing there, saying things that brought tears to Jaynie’s big hazel-green eyes. He had dreams about the way Jaynie had looked a month ago when they’d all gone out on Wolf Bay to f
ish. Kate had spent the afternoon working on her tan while Jaynie, Brian and Kate’s now-ex-boyfriend fished. Jaynie had worn a simple tank suit—black, cut high on the thigh and designed to flatten her breasts, more than enhance them. Brian had spent the entire afternoon trying to hide his hard-on. Even a dip into the bay hadn’t done anything to ease the ache.

  She passed by him and he closed his eyes, breathing deep to drag the scent of her inside. His hands closed into fists. He wanted to turn around and grab her, grab the long sun-streaked blonde braid and pull her back against him, strip her naked, spread her thighs and push inside.

  Instead, he disappeared into his office and locked the door behind him.

  Wouldn’t do to have one of the clinic’s employees walk in while he was jerking off.

  * * * * *

  As far as days went, Jaynie guessed it could have been worse. It was Friday, she’d managed to save that pretty golden’s life, if not her leg, and she had the weekend off. Brian was down to cover the emergencies and she had plans to spend tomorrow out on Wolf Bay. She climbed out of the car, grabbed the takeout bag and the two cloth bags of groceries. She bumped the door with her hip to shut it and then climbed the stairs to the apartment. Juggling the bags, she managed to open the door and she stepped inside with a relieved sigh. The cool air wrapped around her and she realized how hot and sticky she’d gotten. Nothing like September in Alabama.

  Four months ago when she’d moved out of the little bungalow she had shared with Dean, she hadn’t been able to find any place of her own. Well, that was a lie. There was that big, gorgeous house on Highway 180. She loved it and if she had totally wiped out her savings, she could have afforded it.

  But she was a single woman and it looked like she was going to stay that way for a while. She’d be lost in a four-bedroom, two-story house. She barely had enough stuff to fill the little apartment she was renting from Brian and Kate.

  The apartment was over their three-car garage. Both Brian and Kate had taken turns living in the garage until their mom remarried and moved to live with her new husband in Baton Rouge. She’d sold the house to them and said when one of them was ready to get married, they could fight it out.

  The garage apartment had been sitting empty and after a month of trailing around after Jaynie on her endless house search, Kate breezed into the guest bedroom one evening and dropped the keys into her hand. “Rent is six hundred a month. But since you’re my best friend, I’ll let you have it for four-fifty. Just stop dragging me around looking at all these houses and apartments and condos—you’re driving me crazy. And promise me you’ll cook once in a while.”

  So Jaynie was living in a nice little apartment that cost less than half of what she had been paying when she lived with Dean. She was banking the rest of it but if she stayed here much longer she was going to need to buy something else besides a bed. The old couch was left over from when Brian had lived up here and the card table was something they’d found down in the basement.

  The table was rickety and she doubted it would hold anything much heavier than a pizza. She usually ate on the couch or with Kate and Brian. Not that Brian was around much anymore. They worked together but sometimes they hardly saw each other. She’d catch a glimpse of him in the hallway or they’d pass each other in the break room.

  She frowned a little. Usually when he was on his way out. She heard a car door slam and walked to the window to watch as Brian climbed out of his truck. He glanced up at the apartment. She lifted a hand to wave and started to open the window to see if he wanted to come up to eat some of the Chinese she’d picked up but he turned away and headed inside the house.

  “He is avoiding me,” she muttered. She’d suspected it for a while, but lately he didn’t even want to be in the same room as her. Oh, he wasn’t doing anything to make her uncomfortable and he never said anything about it. But he didn’t want to be around her. It made her belly knot thinking about it. She hadn’t thought things through that night before she went to him, and even if she had, Jaynie doubted she would have done it any differently.

  She’d needed something and Brian had given it to her.

  But she realized it had messed up their friendship. Heaving a sigh, she turned to stare at the white takeout bag. Her belly revolted at the thought of eating anything and she grabbed the bag and stuffed it inside the refrigerator. Jaynie wasn’t hungry anymore.

  Her mail from the past few days was in a messy pile on the counter. She shuffled through catalogs, credit card offers and other junk and dumped them all in the garbage can. It thinned the stack out by half. There was a letter from her mom, some coupons for pizza and tanning beds, a credit card bill and an envelope made from thick, heavyweight paper that had that linen feel to it.

  An invitation.

  She recognized the return address, though the handwriting was a sweeping feminine script that wasn’t at all familiar. The knot in her gut got worse. Her eyes started to burn. By the time she’d torn it open, she felt like she was going to puke. The envelope had shiny foil lining under the flap, done in a soft pastel pink. Her hands were shaking as she pulled the invitation out and by the time she finished reading it, she was glad she hadn’t eaten.

  Puking up Chinese was disgusting.

  Blood roared in her ears as she read the invitation to Dean’s wedding.

  Dean’s wedding. To Kit, aka Kirsten Dawn Austin. In less than two weeks. It had only been four months since she had found the two of them together and they were getting married? Jaynie had worn Dean’s ring for two years and they hadn’t done much more than argue about a formal church wedding versus a more casual beach wedding.

  It looked like Dean was going to get that formal wedding.

  Feeling a little catty, she muttered, “I wonder if Landon’s going to be part of the wedding party.”

  Jaynie sat there with her legs drawn to her chest, staring blankly at the wall in front of her without really seeing it. As if it had just happened yesterday, Jaynie could hear Dean’s voice again.

  Jaynie, you wouldn’t know how to be a real woman if your life depended on it.

  It’s amazing you can fuck without freezing up.

  She crumpled the invitation in her hand, though she could still see the shiny pink script. It seemed as if the words had been burned on the inside of her eyelids and she didn’t know if she could stop seeing them even if she wanted to. “You son of a bitch,” she whispered. She surged up from the ground and stomped into the small bathroom. She stared at her reflection and then she reached up and jerked at the thick band that held her hair. Jaynie pulled it out and used her fingers to comb through the tangles in her hair. She needed a comb—no, not a comb.

  Scissors. She left the bathroom and dug through the drawers in the kitchen until she found the scissors. She didn’t even bother going back into the bathroom until she started cutting her hair.

  Dean had always loved her hair.

  She kept it long for him, not because she liked it. It was hot. It was heavy. It was a pain in the ass to wash and it took forever to dry.

  Ten minutes later she was surrounded by long strands of hair. She felt a good ten pounds lighter.

  You wouldn’t know how to be a woman…

  In order to drown out his hated voice, Jaynie grabbed a bottle of wine from the fridge. She didn’t even bother with a glass, just popped the cork and settled down on the floor, surrounded by the shorn strands of hair.

  “Congratulations, darling,” she purred, spying the crumpled invitation from the corner of her eye. “I hope the two of you have a long, miserable life together.”

  * * * * *

  “Damn.”

  Jaynie heard the door shut and she turned her face away, burying it in the couch. “Go away,” she mumbled.

  “I take it you received the invitation,” Kate said quietly.

  “Go. Away.”

  “Geez, Jaynie, do you have any hair left? What were you thinking?”

  Grouchy, she turned her head and slitted on
e eye open so she could see Kate making her way through the piles of hair. “I was thinking that hair was hot, heavy and I only kept it that long because Dean liked it. Why mess with it now? I’m tired. I’m hung over and I want some sleep.”

  “So you get an invitation to the wedding from hell and instead of crying or calling me or overdosing on Häagen-Dazs, or all three, you drink an entire bottle of expensive wine and cut your hair.”

  Jaynie turned away from Kate and muttered, “It was a gift from Dean. Supposed to be for our anniversary. Seemed appropriate. And FYI, I cut my hair before I drank the wine.”

  Kate was quiet for a while and Jaynie hoped maybe she’d quietly sneaked outside. But no such luck. With a sigh, she rolled onto her side and saw Kate sitting on the floor by the beat-up couch. “So you cut your hair—because Dean liked it. Did I get that right?”

  Jaynie squinted. “Seemed to make sense at the time.”

  Kate’s smile came slowly but it grew until it lit up her whole face. She rolled onto her knees and propped her elbows on the couch so that she was just inches away from Jaynie’s face. “So let’s go all the way.”

  “All the way?” Jaynie reached up to touch her hair and winced as she realized how very little there was left. Some strands were longer than others, but if she was lucky, it might be a few inches past her shoulders when she got it fixed.

  And it badly needed fixing, she suspected. Now that the anger had dulled a little, she was having some second thoughts about the impromptu haircut. Too late now, though. For more than ten years, her hair had been long enough that she could almost sit on it and now, without that weight, she almost felt naked. “What, you think I should go bald? Sinead O’Conner pulled that look off. I can’t.”

  Kate poked Jaynie in the ribs. “Not talking about your hair. I’m talking a do-over. I’m talking about you ditching those ratty clothes you wear and taking you for a real haircut, and baby, you need one. I’m talking we do you up like Cinderella on the night of the ball and you go to that wedding looking like a million bucks.” She inspected the butcher job on Jaynie’s head then leaned down and pressed her cheek to Jaynie’s. “I love you, no matter what. And I know you don’t like to mess with hair, makeup or any of that girly-crap. But come on, don’t you want to make him sorry for what he did? What he said? You don’t have to turn into a diva or anything. You can still do your jeans and you don’t have to start fiddling with makeup, though, honestly, once you get used to it, it’s not much trouble. I’m talking a shopping trip for some new clothes. I’m talking one day where you go all out and you show him what he lost.”