by Nola Marie
When I’m sure I’ve gained a modicum of control, I rub my cock through her dripping lower lips and tap her clit a couple of times, making her eyes roll back. I pull her to me, placing her legs over my shoulders then enter her in one slick, forceful thrust. Her pussy wraps my cock like a glove. Like it was made for me.
Paradise.
Pressing in as deeply as possible, I drop my mouth to hers. I pull out nearly all the way, watching her face when I slam back into her, going even deeper. I move hard and fast, the sounds of the bed creaking and my balls slapping her ass fill the space.
Her moans are getting louder and louder. While I don’t care that anyone knows what we’re doing, I don’t want anyone else to know what those sweet, sexy sounds she makes sound like. Those are for me only.
I reach down, gently wrapping my hand around her throat to quiet her a bit. Her closed eyes snap open. I expect to see fear or nervousness, but it is sure as hell not what I get.
“Harder,” she tells me.
My mind is struggling to keep up with this version of her, but goddamn if I don’t like it. I circle my hips as I squeeze a little harder. “You like that don’t you?” I whisper. “You want everyone to see what we’ve done?”
“Yes,” she hisses. “Everyone.”
“Goddammit, Josie,” I growl as I lean even farther into her, pressing her knees beside her head. I reach between the two of us to rub her clit while squeezing just a little bit harder around her throat. The pump of my hips increases in speed and force. Her pussy begins to convulse around my cock squeezing me tightly as I begin to come with her.
I release her throat and drop my mouth to catch the scream. Pumping hard and deep inside her until I’ve drained us both.
“Fucking hell, Josie,” I pant as I drop my forehead to hers. My abs and thigh muscles burn from the exertion of using them to hover over her while I worked her over. “Pretty sure everyone on the bus heard that.”
Her chest rises and falls rapidly as she works to catch her breath, but her smile is brilliant.
“Yeah, we fucking heard, Mate,” Ryder grunts. “Thanks for the boner from hell.”
There’s movement going on outside our little curtained bunk. Footsteps walking through. “Where are you off to?” Ryder asks.
“Bathroom,” Maddox’s voice calls out rough and scratchy.
The sound of buzzing fills the air. Then the sound of Cami’s moans follows.
“Oh, bloody fucking hell. I need a blasted cigarette,” Ryder complains again.
“I’ve got the bathroom after Maddox,” Dane calls out.
I look to Josie. She erupts into a fit of giggles. She is completely relaxed and happy for the first time in twenty-four hours.
And all I can think is mission complete.
Josephine
Breathe. Just breathe.
“Are you okay?” Angel whispers in my ear as we make our way down the Pacific Coast Freeway.
“Fine,” I tell him as I chew the skin around my thumb. “Had to happen sooner or later right? So, what if everyone we know will be there to witness. Everyone likes a good train wreck, right?”
He pulls my hand away from my mouth. “It doesn’t have to be today.”
“I’d rather just get it over with,” I let out a long, weary sigh.
“Josie, you won’t let them talk you into coming back here, will you?” His voice is steady as ever, but his eyes are lined with tension and worry. The worry isn’t just for me. It’s for us.
I turn my body so that I’m facing him. I need him to see what I’m saying. “Angel, I love Los Angeles. I love the warm weather, the beaches, and surfing. God, I miss it every day.”
“Goddammit, Josie there better be a but coming if this is your way of answering my question.”
I give a small giggle at his distress. It shouldn’t be funny, but I can’t help finding his worry that I will return to L.A. for good humorous. I grip both sides of his face. “But it’s comfortable, predictable, and safe. I love all the things I mentioned. But I can’t be in the water all day every day, and that was the only time I was ever happy. The rest of the time I was miserable. I wasn’t happy in New York either, but I was working on it. I had more moments where I could see happiness. See the path that would lead me there. I never saw that path in LA. So, no Angel, I won’t be talked into moving back.”
His eyebrow pops up but his lips twitch as he works to hide a smile. “That’s it? Nothing else makes you want to stay in New York?”
I lift my shoulder in mock ambivalence. “Well, I would say my former best friend that I recently made up with is there, but he’s off becoming this huge rock star.”
His other brow lifts to match the first. “Best friend?”
“Is there something else I should call you?” I tease.
He reaches beside me and releases my seatbelt. I know what he’s about to do, but he does it so fast all the air rushes out of my lungs. He has me in his lap with his lips on mine in a heart stopping kiss. He pulls back with wild eyes and his hands tangled in my hair. “You should call me your boyfriend.”
“Can you two keep the sex sounds down?” Ryder taunts from the seat in front of us.
“Pretty sure we’re here,” Dane calls from the driver’s seat. “I need a gate code, Ang.”
“Four, seven, eight, zero,” we say at the same time.
“Wow,” Maddox murmurs.
“What?” I ask more than a little confused.
He just shakes his head with a smile. I don’t know if anyone else has noticed but Maddox’s mega smile hasn’t been quite the same since they played River City. It’s more forced than it usually is. Except when he’s high, which I’ve also noticed is happening more and more.
“Do you see those waves, Mads?” Ryder asks.
Maddox’s grin becomes more sincere as he stares at the blue water. “That is paradise.”
“Now I gotta worry about my band moving out here,” Angel laughs.
“Just half of them,” Dane turns his nose up as he corrects him.
“Ready?” Ryder asks as we park inside the garage. Everyone looks to me.
“Let’s just go,” I growl at all of them.
We all let Angel go through the door first. His father is already standing there with Alyssa waiting for us. “Angel!” Alyssa squeals in delight as she wraps her tiny body, lithe body around Angel.
I watch as he kisses the top of her dark head. He releases her to turn to his father, whose grin is wide as he grips his oldest son’s hand then brings him in for a hug.
Angel goes through introducing the guys and Cami and then Liam and Danny, who followed behind in a rental car. I manage to hide behind Dane’s wide body through them all.
“Where is Josephine?” I hear Michael ask. “You said she was coming too.”
I step from behind Dane. I have no idea why I’m hiding. Hiding is no better than running.
“I’m here Michael,” I tell him as I straighten my shoulders.
Angel smiles at me with a sexy smirk. He reaches for me, pulling me to him with a kiss to my lips. Michael arches an eyebrow, reminding me more of Angel than I ever realized. I always thought he looked more like Delilah, his half Armenian mother, but I’m seeing now, he actually looks like his father. Same silvery blue eyes, slim nose, and full lips. Michael Martin is a beautiful man, just as his son is.
“Apparently, you both have some explaining to do,” he gestures between the two of us.
“Do we really, Dad?” Angel asks with notable irony.
He looks at Angel’s arm thrown over my shoulder and my arms around his waist. “Actually, yes. A lot of it, but it can wait until later.”
We walk through to the patio where Angel’s two younger brothers and Lily sit at a table with Uno cards.
“Uno,” Max yells out.
Lily groans as she puts her next card down. Then Jeff lays down a draw four that causes an eruption to start. “That’s not fair,” Max yells out, ever the little hot head.
All three sets of eyes pop up. Jeff and Max’s eyes light up when they notice their older brother is there. Lily’s eyes light up for a second when they land on the guys behind us. I manage to get her attention. With a quirked brow I question who she’s looking for. She only turns red with a shake of her head.
Then my eyes lock with my mother who is talking to Angel’s mom. She places a hand on my father’s arm who turns his head until he sees me. I hold my breath as they come my way with Angel’s mom following.
Maddox, always so intuitive, comes beside me with an arm over my shoulder. “I can help you make a break for it,” he whispers in my ear. “I know a thing or two about overbearing parents.”
I look up to him, his brilliant blue eyes are hazy and bloodshot, the only evidence he’s high that anyone would notice.
“No. I need to deal with this now,” I say, hating my shaky voice.
“Want me to stay with you?” he asks. Damn he’s so sweet. His smile is nothing but comforting. Maddox Masters is so perfect yet so haunted by demons I know nothing about, but they are there, floating just below the surface.
“Why are you still single, Maddox Masters?” I ask as the question swims through my mind.
He laughs. “Can’t give away something that doesn’t belong to you,” he answers cryptically.
My heart breaks for him just a little. “Are all you boys hung up on girl you can’t have?”
His eyes move over my head with a smirk. “Not all of us.”
A pair of arms slide around my waist while a firm chin prop on my shoulder. “You didn’t think I was going to let you handle them alone, did you?”
“I told you this morning that I’ve been handling things alone a long time. It can’t be like it was. I can’t revert to you handling my battles for me again.”
“And I told you that it isn’t me handling your battles. It’s us handling the battles together.”
I swoon. Can’t help it when he says things like that. I lean back into his chest. “Thank you.”
“I’ve always got your back Josie.”
“Josephine,” my mother’s high pitched voice calls when they’re a few feet away. “Michael told us you were coming.”
“I’m here,” I say tightly.
“Angel, my God, you look more and more handsome every time I see you,” my mother gushes.
“Of course, he does,” Delilah says with her beautiful Hollywood smile. “He’s my baby, after all.”
“Kristine. Mom,” he acknowledges them both while giving them each a one arm hug. His other arm stays firmly around my waist.
“Josephine, Robert was so excited to know you were coming. He’ll be here any minute,” my mother exclaims.
“Kristine, I thought Michael told you not to invite him,” Delilah says to her.
My mother, naturally, waves her off. “I had to. He wants to see Josephine so badly; I couldn’t tell him not to come.”
Angel’s arm reflexively tightens around me as his fingers grip my waist.
“He misses you, Josephine,” she continues to ramble on obnoxiously. “All he has talked about since he found out you were going to be home.”
“Kristine,” my father finally speaks, “I think you have overstepped.”
“What are you talking about Tim?” she flourishes her too thin arms making the dozens of bangles on her wrist clatter together. “Of course, I haven’t. She just needs to talk to him. Then she’ll realize how much she misses him.”
In typical fashion, my mother stands there talking about me like I’m not there.
“Robert can get her to come home. To see what a mistake she’s committing. Robert can -.”
“Kristine! Enough!” my father snaps at the exact moment I say, “Mom just stop.”
My mother blinks a few times looking back and forth between us. “I was just saying -.”
“We heard what you were saying, Kristine,” Angel tells her, his voice low and full of warning.
“Oh, Angel, darling, you won’t understand. You and Josephine haven’t seen each other very much over the years, but she and Robert were made for each other. She’s just -.”
“Mom, just stop. Stop pretending you know what I want or need,” I demand.
“Of course, I know what you need,” she tells me condescendingly. “I am your mother. I know better than you.”
“Kristine, for once in your damn life, just shut the hell up,” my dad snaps again. This time my mother looks thoroughly rattled. My father has always deferred to my mother in ways I never understood. He has never spoken to her harshly or even disagreed with her. Not that I saw anyway. Until now. “Look and listen to your daughter.”
My mom opens her mouth to start again, but this time Delilah cuts her off. “Kristine, my beautiful friend, I love you, but you are going to lose your daughter if you don’t listen to her. Learn from my mistakes,” her gaze floats to Angel. “Look what’s right in front of you. Listen to what she is telling you.”
For the first time in my life, my mother has been stunned speechless. I don’t believe I have ever seen anyone put her in her place. In the span of minutes, her husband and best friend do just that.
“Mom, I’ve told you before, but I’ve come today to tell you again face–to–face. I’m not coming back to live here. I am not going to be an architect. I am not going to rescue Byer Development. There is nothing left to save. Even if there were, I still wouldn’t. I don’t want anything to do with it. It made me miserable to work there. Just like being with Robert made me miserable. I never loved him. He was just convenient and approved by you.”
“I’m not letting her come back if she tried,” Angel says as he kisses my head.
Delilah and my father look between the two of us with both astonishment and happiness. My mother takes us in as if she’s only just realizing that Angel and I are speaking to each other for the first time in years.
“You’re together?” Delilah is practically radiating excitement.
“Yes, Mom,” Angel grins. “We’re together.”
“Is this like when you were kids and attached at the hip?” my mother asks with narrowed suspicious eyes.
“Yes, it’s like that, Mom, but it’s also more,” I answer her.
“You’re really not coming back?” she asks as her overly Botoxed face tries to frown.
“Not to live, Mom, no.”
She looks between Angel and me again. “Are you two really together or is this a ruse to get me to leave you alone?”
“It doesn’t matter if you leave me alone or not,” I tell her. “It doesn’t matter if I’m with Angel or not. My decision will not change, but yes, we are together.”
“Okay then,” she says with a nod of her bleach blond bob.
“Okay?” I give her skeptical look. “You will stop pushing?”
“As long as I know Angel is watching out for you, then I won’t worry.” She leans over to me, placing a kiss to my cheek.
My jaw drops. I don’t believe my mother has ever let anything go so easily. I don’t believe she has ever expressed real concern or worry about me. I’m not sure she’s even done anything affectionately like kiss me on the cheek.
Delilah gives me a tight hug. “I always knew you two were meant to be. You just needed to lose each other to realize that.”
The three of them turn around to chat with other guests, leaving me standing there dumbfounded. I feel like I’ve entered the Twilight Zone. I look up to Angel who is grinning at me so widely his face should be ready to crack.
“Did that just happen?” I check with Angel in case I imagined all of it.
He moves his eyes to mine. “That just happened,” he assures me.
“Wow,” is the only response that crosses my befuddled and baffled mind.
He grips my face, pressing a quick kiss to my lips. “I told you everything would be fine.”
I wrap my arms around his neck, my own smile matching his.
“You are a damn liar, Angel Martin.”
“See if this is lying,” he moves his mouth over mine again. This time he searches deeper as his tongue enters my mouth, leaving me breathless and lightheaded.
“Josephine,” an all too familiar voice calls out to me.
Angel breaks the kiss with a growl, and I groan. “Can I punch him?” he grunts.
“No,” I say as I turn toward Robert. I take in his khaki pants and pale-yellow polo stretched across his broad shoulders with his blond perfectly slicked hair. Angel’s total opposite in every way. Light and dark. Professional and rebel. Vanilla and Rocky fucking Road.
Throughout college I sought out guys that made me think of Angel with his sharp angles, dark hair, and rebel without a cause attitude. At least, until my twenty-first birthday that almost landed me in jail. That’s when I realized I needed to get as far away from his memory as possible. When I changed my number, deleted social media, and my taste in guys. I thought it would keep me from thinking of him, but it didn’t stop a damn thing.
But Robert was safe. He wasn’t going to make me feel. He was never going to crawl under my skin and into my heart.
He was never going to be Angel.
“What can I do for you Robert?”
“I was hoping we could talk,” he says as his eyes survey Angels very possessive, protective arm around me. “Alone.”
Angel emits another low, rumbling snarl. I wonder if he knows how turned on his alpha streak makes me. “I don’t think so,” he tells him.
“I don’t believe I was asking you,” Robert throws back coming a couple of steps closer. “I was asking Josephine. Unless you’re worried that she won’t go back with you if she remembers how great we were together.”
Angel moves to go around me, but I spin quickly, pressing my hands against his chest. I see Ryder, Maddox, and Dane eyeing the situation, ready to jump in to protect their friend at the slightest hint of a problem.
When I can sense that Angel won’t go after Robert, I turn back to face him while Angel wraps his arms back around me. “Robert, I’m not going anywhere with you. I have no reason to.”
