The Shacking Up Series

by Helena Hunting

  He drops the towel, parts my legs, and climbs between them. “Now was that so difficult to say?”

  “Yes.”

  He pushes up on one arm. “Why was that hard?”

  A piece of truth slips out. “I don’t know what we’re doing.”

  He drags gentle fingers down my cheek. “Well, I guess that depends.”

  “On?”

  “On what you want.”

  “What about what you want?”

  “I’m already getting what I want.”

  “Which is?”

  He drops his hips. “You. Naked. Me, inside you.”

  “Again?”

  “Only if you want.”

  “Yes. Please.”

  * * *

  “Amie, baby, I gotta go.”

  My eyes flip open and I blink against bright sunshine. The male voice does not belong to Armstrong, and it takes me a second to remember where I am.

  It takes another second or two to process the incredible vision of man in front of me. Lexington Mills is standing beside the bed dressed in a charcoal gray suit. I can’t believe he’s not sweating. I’m naked and covered only in a sheet and I’m extremely warm.

  And it all hits me, like a huge cock in the face. I slept with Lex. Literally and figuratively.

  Four times. Four unbelievable, nerve-shattering, mind-bendingly orgasmic times. It’s no wonder I’m sore. I need an Epsom salts bath, for like six hours.

  “You doing okay there?” Lex’s expression is carefully neutral.

  “Other than needing Tylenol I think I’m good.”

  “There’s some right here for you.” He taps the nightstand.

  I stretch and then groan. “What time is it? Where’re you going?”

  Lex reaches out and caresses a bare nipple with his fingertip. “It’s eight-thirty. I have a meeting. I actually have meetings most of the day, but I’ll be back around dinner. Would you like to eat with me tonight?”

  “Sure. Yes. Okay.” I guess this means he was serious about this not being a one-night thing. Relief threads through my anxiety.

  “We can talk then.”

  “Talk?”

  “I can see your mind working, Amie. The second your eyes opened. Everything is going to be fine. Go back to sleep, but make sure you’re up by noon.”

  “Why noon?”

  “I set up some spa appointments, market research and all that. I’ll message later.” He presses a soft kiss to my lips and then he’s crossing the room.

  “Wait,” I call out. “Let me see your socks.”

  He pauses. “My socks?”

  “I want to see them.”

  He lifts the hem of his right pant leg. His socks are sky blue.

  “Are those palm trees?”

  “Fitting for the location. Anything else you need to see?”

  “Do your boxers match?”

  “You’ll find out the answer to that later.” With a wink, he turns and walks out the door.

  He’s such an interesting paradox. The intense sexuality he oozes seems to be balanced with this fun side I’m getting to know better. I like that he doesn’t take himself too seriously.

  I flop back on the pillow, my smile slipping a little. Spa appointments? Dinner? Talking?

  I have to wonder exactly how complicated we’re about to make things.

  He said everything will be fine. I want to believe him.

  I want him to be right, even though I know he isn’t.

  Thirteen: Swoon

  Amie

  At noon a tiny woman shows up at my door and escorts me to the spa. I spend the afternoon being pampered, starting with a full body soak, followed by a wrap, a massage, a facial, and ending with a blow out and a mani-pedi. My toe is bruised and the nail is destroyed. Heels won’t be an option for a while, but I can walk in flats without a limp.

  It’s five by the time I return to the bungalow. A gorgeous bouquet of flowers sits in the middle of the table. I pluck the card from the center.

  Looking forward to dinner. See you at 7:30. Check your closet.

  ~Lex

  I do exactly as the card demands. Sadly, Lex is not inside, naked, but there is a garment bag. Dragging the zipper down, I reveal a gorgeous flowy dress in a shade of blue that I’m almost positive matches my eyes. Based on the designer, it was probably expensive, and it’s also my size. I wonder how Lex managed that.

  I left my phone to charge while I was busy being pampered, so it’s full of texts and messages. I have several from Ruby, a couple from my mother, one from Armstrong’s mother, and more than I’d like from Armstrong, including a few voicemails.

  The only ones I check are Ruby’s, asking if I’m okay, and to please give her a call when I’m done with the dick in my mouth. I really do love her and her faith that I’ve managed to secure a hook-up while I’m here. But that gets me thinking about what happened last night, and what’s likely going to happen tonight, as well.

  Lex setting up a day of spa treatments, sending me flowers, buying me a dress—which is totally unnecessary but so thoughtful—and arranging a dinner date is beyond sweet, but it raises a lot of questions. I need to squelch any ideas that this can be more than just two people having sex. Getting comfortable with him isn’t a good idea. I’m worried it’s already happening, that it started when we sat next to each other on a plane for all those hours, and that I want it to continue. I shouldn’t even be considering anything beyond my time here, but I am.

  I’m amazed at how much lighter I feel emotionally today, despite everything. These simple, but thoughtful gifts and all this pampering make me feel appreciated in a way I never did with Armstrong.

  Sex and drinks is one thing, sex and food and gifts and thoughtfulness make me want to swoon, and that’s dangerous. Swooning leads to feelings, and I’m only in the beginning stages of dealing with what Armstrong has done. The annulment papers haven’t even made it into his hands. I’m aware that by seeking comfort in Lex physically, making him my escape from reality, I’m transferring my emotional state onto him. Either way, tonight we should set boundaries.

  I don’t even know if I can or should tell Ruby about this. It adds another layer of complication. I don’t reply to her messages yet, she’ll have just finished her performance for the night. She’s usually hopped up afterward, and that means she’ll want to talk and I’m not sure what I should or shouldn’t say.

  I grab a bottle of water from the bar fridge and head out to the deck so I can enjoy the fabulous view and the sunshine. The volcano rises out of the pale blue water, vibrant green against the cloudless sky. I wonder if the people who live here ever worry that one day a switch will flip and that sleepy volcano will awaken and destroy all this beauty. Sort of like Armstrong did to our relationship by putting his penis in Brittany’s mouth.

  No matter how hard I try, when I’m alone like this, I can see very clearly how I ended up in this situation. I tried to make the idea of Armstrong into something real.

  Only too soon will I be home and forced to face the mess that is now my life. At least with Lex I can play pretend, and he seems to be willing to be part of the fantasy.

  Tonight I’m going to be my best, uninhibited self. I have plans to deep throat Lex since I haven’t done that yet. I’d go straight for anal as a big double middle finger to Armstrong for being so vanilla about sex, but Lex has a lot of cock and I think I’m going to need to work my way up to the stainless-steel butt plug before I can honestly make an attempt with his man dangle. I’d be willing to give it a shot out of more than just sheer spite, though.

  Unable to relax thanks to nerves and giddiness, I grab my makeup case from the bathroom and bring it outside. Creating a video tutorial with a volcano background is exactly the kind of distraction I need. The last time I put up a makeup tutorial was just before the Halloween soirée, which was months ago. My makeup wasn’t particularly exciting, but I’d had some fun ideas and it had been months since I’d uploaded a video. Mostly I just wanted to s
ee if I still had any kind of audience. The video garnered over a quarter of a million views in twenty-four hours.

  I spend the next half-hour making a short “Island Makeup” tutorial. Then I spend another hour editing it down to a reasonable seven-minute video. I’ve learned that’s about the amount of time an average person is willing to spend on things like makeup prep. I’m in the middle of reviewing the video post-upload when a shadow passes behind me. I startle as warm fingertips caress my shoulder and yank the earbud free.

  I press my hand to my heart and exhale a relieved breath when I realize it’s just Lex. “You scared the crap out of me!” My entire body warms at the sight of him. I don’t ever remember having this kind of reaction to Armstrong. Sure, he was Prince Charming handsome, but Lex is just . . . dark and sexy. Charisma wrapped in a perfect package.

  He isn’t wearing a suit like he was this morning. Instead, he’s paired khakis and a white golf shirt with casual shoes, showing off the vibrant sleeve tattoo that’s usually hidden under button-downs and suit jackets. His hair is perfect, combed neatly to the side, the dark strands yielding to his whim. I’d like to yield in the same way, which is very unlike me.

  His smile holds as much humor as his eyes hold heat. “I knocked first, but you clearly didn’t hear me. What’re you doing?”

  I turn back to my iPad, the video still running. Embarrassed, I rush to turn it off, but Lex snatches it before I can.

  “It’s nothing. I was just messing around.” I make a grab for it, but he holds it out of reach.

  “It doesn’t look like nothing. What is this?” He unplugs the earphones and my voice becomes audible.

  He holds it over his head, still trying to watch it. I grab onto his shoulder and attempt to propel myself high enough to take it back. “Give it!”

  “I’m trying to listen. Is this a tutorial?”

  “It’s not important.” I jump again.

  Lex glances down at me. “You wanna take your bikini top off and do that again?”

  I pinch his nipple through his shirt. In one swift move he spins me around, pulling me into him with my back to his chest, arms pinned to my sides. His lips are at my ear. “Settle down, Anarchy Amie, why don’t you want me to see this?” He lowers the iPad so I can see myself on the small screen.

  “I don’t know. It’s stupid. It’s just a hobby.” I cringe and avert my gaze, not wanting to see my own face reflected back at me with someone else watching, too. It makes me feel oddly exposed.

  “Why is it stupid?” The video ends and my most recent tutorials appear on the screen. “How many of these are there? Holy shit, this one has a million views.”

  “Some of them are a few years old.”

  He releases me and takes a step back, his expression curious. “Why are you embarrassed about this?”

  I can feel how hot my face is. “I don’t know. I don’t want to seem vain.” In social circles like ours, people love to be critical, and some of the negative comments are rather scathing in the feed below the videos.

  “How would this make you seem vain?” He scrolls through the videos, clicking on one I made when my mom was sick while I was in college. It had taken a bit of convincing for her to let me make that video, but it was one of several in that series that garnered a lot of views. Lex’s eyes go wide as he watches. “This is your mom?”

  I nod.

  His voice is soft when he asks, “What kind of cancer?”

  I swallow thickly, thinking about how scared I was when she finally told me. It had been at the end of my third year of college. I hadn’t been home in months and she’d encouraged me to stay in New York during the fall semester, citing trips and spa vacations. But when I finally came home for a visit at Christmas I realized she’d been keeping me away on purpose. She was in the middle of a course of radiation treatment. “Breast. We were really lucky to have caught it early. Stage two.”

  “That’s good.” His words are genuine, as is the understanding look in his eyes.

  “It was. They were able to perform a lumpectomy and remove it. She’s been cancer free since. She had all these holiday events while she was undergoing treatment. She didn’t want everyone to know, so I did her makeup. No one would’ve guessed there was anything wrong, which is what she wanted. She just didn’t want the focus to be on her illness, you know?”

  Lex nods somberly, continuing to scroll through the series of videos. “I do. My mom would’ve loved these when she went through treatment.”

  “I didn’t know Mimi had cancer.” Ruby had never mentioned it.

  “It wasn’t something she broadcasted. You know how it is. She just sort of disappeared for a while. People suspected, but we kept it pretty quiet. It’s the reason behind the Halloween fundraiser.”

  “She’s okay now though?”

  Lex smiles. “She is. She’s a real fighter. She wasn’t as lucky as your mom, she had to have a mastectomy, but she had reconstructive surgery at the same time. Anyway, this is really incredible.”

  I blush and look away, unable to manage the compliment. “They’re not all like that. Some of them are just Halloween makeup and how to be a sexy zombie, but that series was special. It was hard for my mom to be around people when all they wanted to do was be sympathetic. This made her feel normal.”

  “What’s this one?” He taps the screen.

  “We went to the cancer ward over the Christmas holidays and I did makeup for the terminal teens. We had to get waivers signed by the parents to make the video, but we raised something like seventy thousand dollars, so as hard as it was to see, it was totally worth it.” I wave my hand around in the air because talking about it makes me teary.

  Lex sets the iPad on the lounge chair and takes my face between his palms. His expression steals my breath, something like reverence passes behind his eyes as he searches my face. “You’re an incredible woman, I hope you realize that.” I attempt to shake my head, but Lex keeps me still between his palms, thumbs stroking my cheeks. “Don’t argue with me, just say I know.”

  I smile and whisper the words.

  “Good girl.”

  I shiver when he brushes his lips over mine, the sadness washing away, everything ceasing to exist except for him. All it takes from this man is a touch to melt me from the inside.

  “So incredible.” I tip my head back when he tugs the end of my hair so he can nip along my jaw. “You taste like coffee and oranges,” he murmurs.

  “That’s because someone sent me to be pampered today.” I’m glad for the change of topic, I don’t want to think about sad things right now. I just want to enjoy this time with Lex while I have it.

  He skims along my collarbone, and follows the contour of my breast. My nipples harden with the simple touch, then tighten further when he grazes one with his thumb. He moves in closer, until his chest comes flush with mine, and his roaming hands finds the center of my back, thumbs smoothing down my spine until he reached the waist of my bikini bottoms.

  “You enjoyed yourself, then?”

  “Immensely.” I run my palms over his chest, his gentleness sparking need. I don’t know if we have enough time before dinner to enjoy each other, and waiting until after dessert seems like unnecessary torture.

  “Good. I’m glad.” He’s still looking at me intently, eyes traveling over my face. I wish he was kissing me again, with tongue this time. “What was your favorite part?”

  “The flowers, the dress, and you here, right now.”

  His smile widens. “I meant the spa services.”

  “Oh, right. The massage was nice. Everything was, actually.” I palm the back of his neck and tug.

  He resists slightly, that smile still playing on his lips. “Not interested in conversation anymore?”

  “That’s what dinner’s for, isn’t it?” I slide the screen door open and step inside the bungalow, pulling him along with me. The clock to my right indicates it’s just seven. We have plenty of time for pre-dinner sex. I pull the tie at my neck, and the
one between my shoulder blades. My bikini top falls between us at our feet. “I thought maybe I could be your appetizer.”

  “Did you now?”

  I tug the ones at my hips and the bottoms join my top on the floor. His erection strains against his pressed khakis. “I wouldn’t want you to be uncomfortable through dinner.”

  “That’s very considerate of you.”

  I palm him through his pants. “That’s me, Miss Considerate.”

  Lex runs his hands down my sides and cups my ass. His lips glide along my shoulder, teeth nipping at my neck until he reaches my ear. “I was very distracted during my meetings this afternoon.”

  I free the clasp on his belt. “Oh? What was the issue?”

  “I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”

  “What kind of things were you thinking about?”

  “About the ways I want to have you, about the hours I had to wait before I could touch you again. Kiss you”—his mouth descends on mine as he walks us further into the room, but not in the direction of the bed—“fuck you.” Lex spins me around and bends me over the back of the couch. His warm palm travels down my back. “Here is okay?”

  “Anywhere is fine, as long as your plan is to get inside me.”

  His hands move to my ass, staying there for a moment before he slips one between my legs. I clutch the back of the couch as he eases two fingers inside me. I’m already wet, but he plays with me, teases, strokes, and caresses until my knees are weak and I’m shaking with the promise of release. The rip of the condom follows and then he’s pushing inside, groaning as his hips come flush with my ass. “I promise I’ll take my time with you later.”

  His shirt appears beside me, and then his chest is flush against my back. Trailing gentle fingers down my arm he lifts my hand and wraps it around the back of his neck. I need the other one to keep my balance, so I’m unable to rub my throbbing, needy clit. I moan when he grabs my hip and rolls his own. He’s deep, the head of his cock hitting the same magic spot with every thrust. I shudder and he chuckles.

  “Fuck, Amie, all day.” He shifts his hips back and pushes in slowly, lips still at my ear. “All I could think about was being inside you.” Another deep thrust. “About those sexy, sweet sounds you make when I fuck you.”