Changes and Chocolates: Untouchable Book Two

by Long, Heather

  He wrapped a hand around my nape and nudged my head around, then he kissed me. Firm and real, even as he squeezed my nape. With a tug, he sucked on my lower lip, then nibbled another kiss.

  “You feel that?” he murmured against my mouth. At my nod, he continued, “Good. I’m right where I want to be. You need me. I’m here. Hang on a little longer for me, babe. Can you do that?”

  Licking my lips, I nodded. I had to get this together. I didn’t just fall apart. Dragging the seatbelt on, I clicked it into place and then pulled the door closed. Grasping my hand, Archie gave it a squeeze and rested my hand on his thigh before he shifted gears, but he covered my hand.

  “Thank you for coming to get me.” Pathetic as it sounded, I was grateful.

  “Always,” he promised. “Now just hang on. We’re going to figure this out.”

  I didn’t know whether to believe him or not, but I wanted to.

  That was something, right?

  Chapter Seven

  Run to you

  Archie held my hand all the way to the drive-thru at the Braums. He picked up two pints of ice cream and a couple of burgers and fries. Then we snagged coffee from Starbuck’s. When he turned back toward his place, I stiffened.

  “Easy,” he murmured, catching my hand again. “Muriel’s already gone. She stayed a whole hour after you left before she took off. This time, she’s going to the spa for a couple of days.”

  I licked my lips. “What about your dad?” I really didn’t want to see him.

  “Call Jeremy,” he said, and his phone began ringing via the speakers.

  “Yes, Mr. Archie?” Jeremy answered the phone.

  “Hey, has Edward shown up, or is he still MIA?”

  “I have not seen him, but I could check if you would prefer.”

  Archie glanced at me, and I mouthed please and he nodded. “Yeah, if you would. Check to see if the Beamer is back, that was the car he went out in.”

  “Give me a moment.”

  “If he’s there, I have a plan B,” Archie said, then squeezed my hand. “Okay?”

  I nodded. “Thank you. Sorry to be difficult.”

  Chuckling, he shook his head. “Babe, you are not being difficult. I don’t want to see him either, especially after Muriel was such a bitch this morning.”

  With a grimace, I sighed.

  “Drink your coffee, it helps—a little.” The coaxing note in his voice lulled me. I really was much better than this. Why the hell I was so off-center, I really didn’t know. I couldn’t get past the knots in my stomach. It was ten times worse than when Archie told me their plan for Mathieu.

  That had only been the day before. How could so much happen in twenty-four hours?

  “Mr. Archie?” Jeremy’s voice startled me. I half-forgot he was still on the phone. “Mr. Edward is not on the estate as far as I can tell, and the BMW is not in the garage. I believe if you return and head to your wing, you will not encounter him, and I can warn you if he arrives.”

  “Thanks, Jeremy.”

  “My pleasure, sir.”

  Then the line disconnected. “That work for you?”

  A shiver went through me, but I nodded.

  “Okay, almost there, babe.”

  Once we were back at his place, it seemed almost surreal. My fourth time there in forty-eight hours. Friday night. Saturday evening. Sunday morning. Now.

  Two of the three had ended okay, so maybe this would, too. I hoped so.

  Archie snagged my backpack, and I carried the ice cream and coffee while he also got the food. We didn’t encounter anyone—not even Jeremy—on our way up. There was a mini fridge and freezer in the game room where he shoved the ice cream, and then we retreated into his bedroom and he locked the door.

  “Voila, privacy.”

  A little laugh escaped at his grand sweeping gesture as he spread his arms.

  “Better?”

  “A little,” I admitted.

  “Let’s get comfy and eat, then we’ll talk—but first…” He pulled his phone out and hit a number then put it on speaker. It rang, and finally Jake answered on the third ring.

  “What the hell man—” My heart did a little flip-flop at his voice.

  “Frankie’s here with me,” Archie said meeting my gaze.

  “Shit…”

  I bit my lip.

  “And someone there is documenting your visit with Maria.”

  “Excuse me?” A darker, edgier note crested in his voice.

  “You were tagged on Instagram,” I said, refusing to play coward. “Just you and Maria and hashtagging whether you guys are together again—and you weren’t answering my texts.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “Seriously, I am trying to get her and Sharon to…”

  At his hesitation, Archie said, “She saw it.”

  “I’m pretty sure the whole senior class has seen it.” I shrugged.

  “Fuck me. Give me an hour? Frankie? I’m going to wrap this up. She’s either going to help or not. But I’m not interested in them hurting you. If they keep this up…” Well, he didn’t clarify, but then, he didn’t have to. I could already read the resolve on Archie’s face.

  “Where are you two?”

  “At my place,” Archie said. “Frankie needed to get away from her mom, so now you know. Deal with Maria and then get out of there.” He hung up without waiting for his response. “We were trying to get rid of it before you saw it.”

  “Okay.” I believed him. His expression tightened as he studied me. “Not going to lie, the pictures hurt—the dates on them, but—I knew you guys dated and weren’t virgins. So…” I spread my hands.

  “Yeah, those pictures don’t mean a damn thing.” He sighed. “I’m just sorry she did that.”

  “She’s hurt.” Was I defending Sharon?

  “That doesn’t mean she gets to lash out at you.”

  I didn’t really want to talk about Sharon. “It doesn’t really matter. People are going to believe what they believe. And it’s not like there isn’t some truth to it.” I took a sip of the coffee and looked around, but before I could sit on the floor, Archie caught my arm and tugged me toward the bed. He set the food bags down and waved me on.

  A shiver went through me as I looked at the sheets, then at him.

  “I promise, yes I want you, no, I’m not doing this to get in your pants, no matter what you just said.” The last came out on a hard edge.

  “Archie… you guys are all technically dating me because I decided I wanted to date.”

  “I don’t care, Frankie. Everything about that post says we dumped them because now we have you, and to be honest, three of us were already history.”

  “Like I said, I know this.” Coop had to break up with Laura—again—though only Coop could end up accidentally dating someone. Of course, after tripping into all four of them, I really couldn’t talk.

  Shoes off, I crawled onto the bed and he fluffed the pillows up and held my coffee until I was settled. Then he sat right next to me and spread our food on our laps.

  “Okay,” he said. “We’re safe. We’re locked in. You know the picture about Jake and Maria is bullshit. What did your mom do?”

  Stomach still in knots, I stared down at my burger. Finally, I dragged my gaze up and met his. “Well, first she told me how happy she was with Eddie.”

  His expression of distaste had to match my own.

  “Bear in mind, she brought home fried chicken to celebrate with.”

  A frown tensed his brow, and he twisted so we could face each other. “Celebrate what?”

  “Bad meatloaf,” I told him. “Apparently, they’re moving in together. Or correction, we’re moving in with him.”

  Archie’s brows skyrocketed. “She said he asked her to move in?”

  “She said they made some decisions—they’ve been seeing each other for months.” I hated everything about this. “Archie—she said he and your mom are gonna get divorced.”

  “No they’re not.” He almost laug
hed, but seemed to think better of it. “I mean, I suppose they could, I have no doubt there’s an iron-clad prenup floating around, but—Edward’s…” He winced. “Frankie, this is not his first affair.”

  “I know. I tried to kind of point that out, but that didn’t go well.” I set the burger back down. I didn’t know if I could eat it, so I reclaimed my coffee instead. “I don’t want to move—I mean, I do eventually. But… where are we going to move in? Here? Where your mom still lives?”

  The corners of his mouth curved. “I’d love it if you lived with me, the guys might have cow. But I’d like it.”

  “Please be serious…”

  “I am being serious,” he promised. Then he reached over and curled the end of my ponytail around his hand. “Frankie, I don’t know what’s going on with them, and honestly—I don’t want to know. Edward’s… he’s done this a lot. He never leaves Muriel. Toxic or not, they are this volatile chemical mixture that just keeps churning.”

  Which meant my mom was going to end up getting hurt, again. I sighed.

  “Look, I don’t know what he said or what she wants to do, but it’s not a done deal yet, and hey—” He nudged a finger under my chin to lift my gaze to meet his. “Whatever happens, that’s on them. Not us.”

  “But whatever they decide is going to affect me—affect you.”

  “Not for long,” he said. “A few months and we graduate, and then we get the hell out of here. We go north, you go to Harvard…”

  “If I get in.”

  “When you get in. You know what, if you end up taking a skip year, fine, then we’ll go see Europe and get as far away from the drama as possible.”

  It all sounded great… “Arch, we live in the real world.”

  “Pfft, overrated. I much prefer my fantasies as long as you’re a part of it.”

  I laughed, but it wasn’t that funny. It was hard to dredge up the humor when it felt like I waged a war against tears. “My mom really likes him,” I told him. “She does this, I know she does…she falls for guys, and it never works out. But I’ve only seen her this happy a couple of times, and I made her mad—because I pointed out he was still married.”

  “You have a right,” Archie said. He’d eaten some of his burger, and he motioned to mine. “You need to eat.”

  “I’m not hungry.” I was still nursing the peppermint mocha. There was ice cream.

  “You have to be hungry, there’s ice cream and wallowing to be had.” All the teasing in the world wasn’t going to make this better. When that didn’t work, he moved all the food—including my coffee—and dragged an arm around me to pull me close.

  Closing my eyes, I buried my face against his neck and just held on.

  “It’s going to be all right, Frankie,” he said. “I know you hate this, and I know you’re worried about your mom. It’s going to be all right.”

  Yeah. She had plenty of breakup experience. Didn’t make it any easier.

  “You know what I hate most about this…”

  “No, but I’m hoping you’ll tell me,” he said, his tone dry. “I hate trying to guess.”

  I laughed. Okay. That was funny. Lifting my head, I looked at him and he grinned. When his gaze dipped to my mouth, I don’t know which of us moved first, but then he was kissing me, or I was kissing him. Heat bloomed in my belly, dislodging the heavy rock there, and it flared outward as I clung to him and he fisted my hair. The kiss hadn’t started gentle, and it didn’t seem headed that way.

  The scrape of his teeth sent a jolt over my skin, and my nipples tightened as I shifted on his lap. Then he sucked on my lower lip, dragging it out before releasing it with a pop. “Hi…”

  My breath came in little pants. “Hi.”

  “You were telling me something.”

  I had been, but I was tracking the way his lips glistened and when I leaned in, he opened his mouth to meet my kiss and let me trace my tongue against his as he slid a hand under my shirt. His fingers were so cool against my skin, it sent another race of goosebumps over me.

  His erection stiffened against my ass where I ground against him lightly, then he tugged my hair, breaking the kiss. “Frankie.”

  He was right. What was I doing?

  “Not upset in the slightest, but I’m interested in getting rid of these clothes if we’re going to keep this up,” he warned.

  Heat unspooled from my belly, and I clenched my thighs against his legs as I straddled his lap. The gleam in his eyes reminded me of Friday, and it would be so easy. Just focus on feeling good…

  “But nothing has to happen. I didn’t bring you back here to make out—sadly.” Then he made a face, and another laugh swelled up through me. “Not saying no, just saying you don’t have to worry.”

  “I wasn’t worried,” I admitted. “A little amazed that I can be mad at you and want you at the same time.”

  His grin grew brighter. “You want me.”

  My face heated. “I thought I made that clear on Friday.”

  “Oh yeah,” he said. “But it’s not Friday, and you’re right, you were mad.”

  “I’m still mad.”

  “No, you’re not,” he said, then soothed his hands down my sides. “You’re hurt, and that’s a thousand percent worse. But if you were mad at me, you’d never have texted me for help.”

  He had a point.

  “I don’t think I’ve forgiven you yet.”

  “But you want to, which we also covered.” He slid his hands under my shirt and continued his slow soothing strokes. I swayed a little at the contact, it eased some of the want simmering in my system and made me want to lean into him more.

  The quiet elongated, and he nuzzled a kiss to the corner of my lips before easing his hands up to my bra.

  “Can I?”

  A shudder passed through me.

  “I’ve been thinking about your tits since Friday, I want to play with them again, and I want to eat you out… You remember what I said about all the different ways I want to fuck you?”

  I did, and I didn’t pretend otherwise. When he kissed me this time, I pressed right into him and he unhooked my bra, the next time we broke apart, my shirt came off and then bra. He tugged his up and off.

  “Fair is fair,” he said with a grin, and then I was on my back and he was kissing me again. All I wanted to do was hold onto him, feel the way my breasts rubbed against his chest, and I ached for more as he rubbed at my pussy through my pants.

  Every kiss he gave me was like a drug and left me craving more. Every touch sucked me out of my head and left only Archie and where we touched. I dragged my hands down his back and slid my hands against his shorts. He let out a little groan when I pushed him up. As I reached between us to undo the button and zipper, he studied me.

  The earlier chill was gone. So was the vague sense of nauseating disquiet and uneasiness. I didn’t care about our parents or the shit the girls pulled. I just wanted this.

  I needed this.

  As soon as I got the zipper open, he shoved his shorts off, leaning back and up until they were gone along with his boxer briefs. He hooked his fingers into the waistband of my leggings and at my nod, he dragged them off. Then there was nothing but bare skin, and when he came back, I met him, mouths fusing together. He rocked against me, and everywhere his skin rubbed against mine, I wanted more.

  The first nudge of his cock against my entrance, and I pulled back, panting. Archie swore and reached over to the drawer. He yanked it out and pulled out the condom. Sitting up, he had it open and ready to roll on, when I wrapped my hand around his cock, and he froze. His expression went from hurried to strained, and he stared at me as I stroked him from base to tip.

  “I didn’t really get to touch you on Friday,” I admitted, and he let out a little groan.

  “Fuck, you feel good, babe.” He was hot and smooth; the skin was so soft and yet, pulled taut. I rolled my thumb around the tip and wondered if I could do that, could I put my mouth there and… “Frankie.” He dragged out my name,
his voice hoarse. So I helped him roll on the condom and then he had my thigh up and eased inside of me.

  The pressure was perfect and exactly what I wanted. I abandoned trying to reason or catalog anything. Just focused on feeling as he began to thrust. Every push sent a rush through my system. Hot and heavy against me, he deepened our kiss until his tongue thrust against mine with the same force as he snapped his hips. The grind sent sparks up my spine, and the spiraling tension coiled so tight, I thought I was going to burst.

  The hairs on his legs tickled mine, and he dug his fingers into my leg as he braced his weight on his other arm. When he lifted his head, he stared right into my eyes as he increased the tempo. All I could do was fight to keep up with him, and then heat burst out. I almost sobbed, it felt so good. Another three snaps of his hips, and his pace stuttered as he came. I fought to keep my eyes open to watch his blissed out expression.

  When he collapsed against me, I was shaking, or maybe it was him. Either way, I clung to him and held on. Gradually, my breathing returned to normal and his little panted breaths against my throat slowed. With a groan, he pushed upward and then eased out of me while keeping a hand on the condom.

  “I’ll be right back,” he promised, nuzzling a kiss to the corner of my eye. Oh, I was aching again. But it was so worth it. The drowsiness sweeping over me made me want to curl up and sleep. Little by little, the fact that light came in the windows sank in, and I let out a little laugh as I could hear Archie peeing.

  So—weird.

  So, normal.

  I shuddered and pushed myself up on my elbows and then glanced at the disheveled bed and our strewn clothes. There was still an empty paper bag lying on the bed.

  Sitting up, I reached over for my coffee because it was a lot closer than my clothes. I just lifted it for a sip when Archie came out of the bathroom, and he grinned.

  “Now that’s a sight I can get used to…”

  Heat scorched my face and my chest, but what the hell? He’d just been in me. Looking shouldn’t be such a big deal, and at the same time—I couldn’t really pull my gaze away from him. The well-defined arms, the hint of his abs, and the spark in his eyes. Even the bruise gave him a kind of rakish air.