Fall: Montgomery Men #3

by Harms, C. A.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Knoxville

  One single creamy shoulder extending to the most gorgeous back peeks out from beneath my blue sheets. Golden hair spills all around, tickling my nose, but I can’t pull away. I want this to last and moving even an inch could disrupt the solitude I’ve found.

  Tinley is in my arms, in my bed, sleeping. The woman who I’d been instantly attracted to had fought me at every turn, yet here we are.

  Her gentle intakes of breath followed by a slow release are hypnotizing in a sense. Closing my eyes, I continue to breathe in her scent while focusing on the way her body feels pressed to mine. It is a feeling I know I could get used to; in fact, I want to rely on it.

  She shifts, just a small fraction, and in doing so the sheet falls lower, exposing the side of her bare breast. A flash of our night before, my mouth exploring and tasting, the hardening of her nipple between my lips…it all stirs excitement inside me.

  Her bare ass moves back, pressing into my hardening cock and my nostrils flare as I try to fight the urge to roll her over and slide inside her heat. Closing my eyes tightly, I think of anything but the way her body felt pressed up to the wall of my kitchen as I slid into her. Or even the bedroom door where she shifted herself on me, taking control of our movements.

  Fuck none of this is helping. I am harder now than seconds ago.

  When Tinley rolls her body around to look up at me with sleep-filled eyes, I know there is no way I will be able to stop myself from feeling her again. “Good morning,” she whispers.

  “Morning.” My hand rests on her naked hip. I glance down and swallow hard, noticing her tits that I swear are calling for my mouth.

  “My face is up here.” Shifting my gaze back to her, I find a brow arched and a smile that is irresistible. She can fake offense all she wants, but that smile tells me otherwise.

  “Give me just one second.” I don’t wait for her to argue before I lean down and pull her nipple between my lips and suckle gently. Flicking it with the tip of my tongue triggers her to arch upward. I bite and tug a little and when she moans, I release and pull back. “Sorry, but I blame the action on impulse and I’m an ‘act in the moment’ kinda guy.”

  “Is that so?”

  Without pause I carefully shift my body over hers and she welcomes me as she parts her legs. Settling between them I nod and shift my hips. When she closes her eyes and bites her lip I watch in amazement. Her reaction tugs at something inside me and I try my best to tame it. Slow and casual…I have to chant this over and over in my head when it comes to Tinley. I want to go full speed ahead, I want to have it all, but I know she isn’t even close to that. Sometimes in life you have to meet in the middle, and this is one of those times. I want her in my life, which means I’ll sacrifice just a little to keep her there.

  “Is this another one of those impulsive moments you were referring to?”

  “Oh yes.” I teasingly shift my hardness against her, and she bites her lip. “I have no control over them,” I add, still using my movements to drive her out of her mind. “And with you I don’t want to.”

  “Good.” Tinley gasps when the head of my cock slips into her wetness, gently penetrating her. I pause, remaining still as I watch her chest rise and fall, making her hardened nipples tease my chest. “I greatly enjoy your impulses.”

  Then she does that little shift with her own hips, taking me inside her just a little deeper. Then it hits me: I’m not wearing a condom. She groans when I pull back and her eyes open, looking down where we were joined moments ago.

  “Condom,” I say in explanation and recognition registers in her eyes.

  I hurry to gather one from my nightstand drawer and quickly cover myself before settling back into place. “Now, where were we?”

  One of the biggest smiles I’ve seen on Tinley spreads across her face and I feel a tightening in my chest. I’m realizing quickly how much I thrive on that smile alone.

  “I’d say that feels about right,” she says in a breathy whisper.

  The feeling of her warmth as it slowly engulfs me feels unbelievable, but I can’t manage to take my eyes off hers. I love watching the way her lids droop just before her eyes roll back then close. Or seeing the way her mouth is slightly agape and at the last very second, when I am fully seated inside her, she bites her bottom lip, is perfection. It’s all something I know I’ll never get enough of.

  Then she lets go and together we begin to move like we’ve been doing this for years.

  * * *

  “Nevaeh,” I holler through my open office door and wait for my secretary to appear. When she does, I again ignore the choice of blouse she wears and make a mental note to send out a company-wide email about appropriate attire. Don’t get me wrong, she has a great rack, but I don’t need it playing peek-a-boo with me every time she moves.

  “What can I do for you, Mr. Montgomery?” She is harmless, really, but her consistent flirting suddenly bothers me. I am sure it has everything to do with the woman who spent the evening in my bed and my sudden loyalty to her.

  “I’d like to book the Blue Room.” I look at my calendar and begin flipping through my schedule. “The twenty-first, let’s say from seven to midnight. Full bar, hors d’oeuvres, waiters, etc. I think a little celebration of the successful advances of Montgomery, Inc. is long overdue.”

  “A company appreciation,” Nevaeh smiles wide, “I like it. Is it plus one for all or…?”

  “Sure, plus one for all sounds good.” I ignore the hopeful look in her eyes. Even without Tinley, she and I would never happen. I have a strict rule: never date within the company. This event is my payback to Lexington, the whole promise to get Greg out and give him the opportunity to get his in. Though I feel it will backfire, I’ll at least hold strong to my end of the deal.

  It will also be the first event I’ll attend with Tinley at my side.

  “Make sure you add both my brothers on the approved attending list as well as their plus one, and a Lexington Russell too.”

  “Great idea, sir.” She is almost giddy. “I’ll get right on this.”

  I reach for the phone on my desk and lift it from its cradle. Tapping out a number I’ve already memorized, I lift it to my ear and smile even before I hear her voice through the receiver. “Don’t tell me you’re already feeling those uncontrollable urges again.” I close my eyes and imagine that gorgeous smile of hers.

  Damn, what is this woman doing to me?

  “It’s crazy. All I have to do is think of you and it’s like this crazed feeling hits me. Like a maddening streak of need. It makes me say, do, and require a lot of things I never knew existed.”

  “Sounds agonizing.” Tinley laughs.

  “No,” I correct her, “I can assure you it’s not agonizing. It actually feels pretty damn good.”

  She remains silent and I’m not surprised. Showing weakness wasn’t her style. But I know she agrees, I have her moans embedded in my memories to confirm that.

  “I wanted to call you and tell you to leave the evening of the twenty-first open for me.” I can see it now, that fiery look in her eyes.

  “Tell me, huh?” And there you have it.

  “Yeah.” I’m playing with fire, but it feels amazing to be burned by her. “It’s those impulses. They’re telling me I should be assertive. I shouldn’t give you the chance to back out or make other plans. I should demand your company and not take no for an answer.”

  “Because telling me what to do has gotten you where in the past?” I hear the humor in her words.

  “If memory serves me correctly, there were a few times last night I demanded you to—”

  “Okay,” this time she does laugh, “I don’t need you to remind me.”

  “Remind you that we’re amazing together?” She quiets her laughter. “It’s okay, I don’t need to hear you agree, I already know it to be true.”

  “So sure of yourself, aren’t you, Mr. Montgomery?”

  “I’m sure about us.
” I have never been more sure. She makes me happy, fuck she makes me feel alive. I want to hold onto those feelings.

  “Clear your night on that date for me.” I change my tone. “I would love nothing more than you agreeing to spend the evening with me, and maybe into the morning.”

  “Greedy, are we?”

  “With you,” I sit back in my chair and soften my voice, “I’ll always be greedy. Can’t seem to get enough of that gorgeous smile and even the attitude. You’ve captured me, beautiful, and I’m happy to be caught.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Tinley

  “I wanted to tell you,” Tripp says, and I can sense the discomfort in his voice. But in my defense, it hurts me that he felt he had to hide it.

  “Then why didn’t you?” I sit down on the end of my bed and let the towel I’d been using to dry my hair fall to my side.

  There is a silent pause we share before he speaks again. “I know she reminds you of…” Another pause, like he is unsure how to bring up the past.

  “Of the night my life changed. Reminds me of the night Rob stripped away the girl I once was.”

  “Yeah.” Tripp got arrested that night too. After he’d found out what happened to me, he’d gone crazy. Anyone in his way suffered the wrath of his devastation. Devastation that he was unable to save me,

  “She really misses you, Tin,” he sighs. “We talk about it often, and she wanted to call so many times.” I miss Naomi too, and I know our distance is my fault, not hers.

  “I’m glad she has you,” I confess.

  “It’s not a fling.” Tripp is known for his one-night stands. He rarely sees the same woman twice.

  “I hope not, because she deserves a man that loves her. A man that understands her kinda crazy and adores her for it.” Naomi is insane, she always had been, but in the best kind of way.

  “Who knows? Maybe she and I can come up for a visit.” I want that idea to spring fear in me, but it never comes. I smile, realizing that I owe my new-found stretch to Knoxville, not that he’ll understand what he is giving back to me. I’ve been so limited with what I allow him to know.

  “I think that would be nice.” My heart aches at the thought of seeing both of them again, but for different reasons. Before, it was bringing back the past, but now it is due to all I’ve missed. The stages of my brother and my best friend falling in love—I missed that. I’ve been so distant that I made them feel they couldn’t share their happiness with me. “I’d love that actually.”

  “We would too.”

  * * *

  “My feet are killing me,” I complain as I sit down in the chair across from Knoxville. I’m meeting him for a late lunch after working a seven-hour shift at Griffin’s. Last night I worked a catering gig, too. My feet had very little break time over the last twenty-four hours.

  Suddenly he leans down at the side of the small table and grabs my feet, making me shift in the chair. In one swift move he has my feet in his lap, and I am looking around to see who noticed the actions of the crazy man before me.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  “Rubbing my woman’s feet,” Knox says so casually as he drops one shoe then the other to the floor at his side. I am still stuck on the “my woman” comment. “Now figure out what you want to eat and let me work my magic.”

  He nods toward the menu before me and I’m just about to make one of my infamous snarky remarks when he begins to rub. Orgasmic, that’s all that comes to mind. His hands on my feet feel so incredible.

  “Good, right?” he adds cockily, as if he didn’t already pick up on my pleasure from the satisfied sigh that escapes me almost immediately.

  “Arrogant ass.” I don’t even open my eyes to peek at him because I already know he is still wearing that same I am God grin, the one that makes me melt on impact and has my stomach tight and my pulse racing. A grin I know could get me to do just about anything. Just another one of the many rules I’d made for myself that he managed to shatter.

  “Still using your sarcasm and wit to get out of any real honest answer, I see.”

  I sense the irritation his voice, though I’m sure he didn’t mean for me to pick up on it. I swallow past the lump that forms in my throat and continue to enjoy his touch. Ignoring the tension becomes easier when our waitress arrives.

  “What can I get the two of you?”

  I straighten up in the chair and attempt to pull my feet away from Knoxville’s lap, but he ensures I am unable to. In fact, he holds them hostage in his lap as he smiles up at the eager girl. She, of course, is completely focused on him, offering what I assume to be her flirtatious smile. Would it be rude of me to ask her if she is constipated? Because in reality that look she is wearing does nothing for her. But when accompanied by the C’s she is sporting and thrusting in Knox’s direction…hm…who knows? It might work for her.

  I chance a glance at him and find he is watching me with a smirk. Ass I mouth, and he chuckles.

  “So, babe, what’ll it be?” Still he watches me, waiting for my response. It is eerie how he can read my thoughts without me even speaking a word.

  “I’ll take the club with a side of fries.”

  “She’ll also have a side of ranch,” Knoxville interjects, and I narrow my eyes at him.

  “Am I wrong?”

  I’d be agitated with his domineering ways if I wasn’t so insanely attracted to him. Truth is that this man has burrowed in deep and even if I want to run away and hide, I know I would miss him insanely.

  “You’re not wrong,” I confess and enjoy his triumphant smile instead of smashing it with my need to be difficult.

  After Knoxville places his order, our waitress hurries off and he continues to rub my feet.

  “Are you ready for tomorrow night?”

  “Are you going to tell me what we’re doing?” All I got was to “wear something nice.” Now that could mean just about anything. Nice as in dress and heels, or am I to take that as a nice pair of slacks and blouse? The man is giving me nothing. “Because at this rate, I’m gonna wear something completely inappropriate and you’ll be forced to look like you showed up with a hobo at your side.”

  “Remember that dress you wore that night I first saw you outside of an event where you were working? The bar where you decided to diss me in front of your friends.” I nod and do my best to hide my smile. By the way, it doesn’t work.

  “Wear something like that, and heels.”

  “So, it’s a fancy event? Am I going to be forced to socialize with those people that normally demand drinks from me without leaving a tip? People that will know within seconds that I don’t belong in their group?”

  “I can assure you that if anyone at this event makes you feel even slightly uncomfortable, they will be asked to leave. Most likely lose their job too, but I’m not worried,” Knoxville says with such confidence that a warm chill runs through me and I wish we were alone so I can reciprocate some of that fieriness he’s showing.

  “So at least now I know it’s a work event.” I arch my brow at him, showing how pleased I am with gaining just a small amount of detail. Oh, how easy it is.

  “A company appreciation event at Club X, in the Blue Room.” He shrugs as if that isn’t a big thing.

  “Club X,” I push against his thigh with my foot, “you say that like it’s the playroom at McDonald’s.” This gets a chuckle out of him. “That place is the hardest club in the city to get into unless you know someone who knows someone.”

  “And I know that someone.” There’s that cocky side of Knoxville that gets a rise out of me.

  Crossing my arms over my chest, I wait for him to continue.

  “You do know who my oldest brother is, don’t you?”

  “A Montgomery.” I pretend to bow, and he shakes his head, still grinning happily. The man has a killer smile, one I feel from my toes to the top of my head.

  “Ashton Montgomery, mega-millionaire, owner and investor of many business throughout the city.” He
uses his thumb to press a little firmer in the center of my foot and begins to move in a circular motion. It is hypnotizing, really, making it harder to concentrate on what he is saying. “Whenever I want a room at Club X, it’s mine, since my brother is the majority share-holder.”

  “Cocky much?”

  “Did you say coc—” I hold up my hand to stop him and he laughs. Not a chuckle but a full out laugh. Did I mention how much I love his laugh? Love. I break eye contact quickly as the thought hits me.

  “Here you go.” I shift in my chair just as the waitress places my plate onto the table before me. Knoxville slowly lowers my feet to the floor and when he attempts to place my shoes on my feet, I grab them quickly and do it myself.

  I am getting in a little too deep too fast. I know I need to slow down a bit. So why does the idea of placing some distance between me and this beautiful man terrify me?

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Knoxville

  I am lying across the end of my bed, one hand propped behind my head as I watch Sports Center highlight the stats of the week’s games in the NBA. I can hear Tinley moving around in my bathroom, behind the door she insisted on closing and locking. I tried a few times to get her to let me in, but apparently I was being too handsy. Her words, not mine.

  I figure leaving her alone is my best option considering it took me more than an hour to convince her to get ready for the party at my place and not hers. Taking her to the event pissed her off because I can’t leave well enough alone.

  I am so focused on the playback of Kristaps Porzingis dunking it that I don’t hear the bathroom door creep open. What does gain my attention is the flash of blue out of the corner of my eye.