The lies you love, p.4
The Lies You Love, page 4
Annie moans out a long, tantalizing cry, and her cunt explodes around my tongue. While she comes, her mouth pauses, but damn if she doesn’t lick my balls the entire time. Her body shakes a little, but she never falters, her mouth speeding up, taking me back into her throat after her orgasm subsides. I’m lapping at her languidly now that she’s sensitive, and I realize this woman is built for fucking speed. It makes a little more sense to me—why she so eagerly left with me. Annie doesn’t have a gun. She has an appetite for sex. I honestly cannot think of a better woman to land on.
“Let’s,” I say, tonguing her clit gently, “fuck.” One more flick to drive my point home.
She turns off me and arches her back as she places her knees on either side of my hips.
Her neck works as she swallows hard. “I have no idea why that felt so good.”
I grin, wiping my mouth off with my forearm. “Do orgasms not always feel good?”
She shakes her head. “Not like that. I can’t get enough. I can’t get enough of you.” Stroking my arms, chest, and abs with a light touch, she’s deep in thought, long lashes batting as she turns her gaze to a new part of my body. “You’re perfect.”
“I’m far from perfect. That must be the alcohol talking, Annie.”
At her name, her gaze locks on mine. There’s a pregnant silence where we marvel at each other. She’s exactly what I need, and I seem to be just what she wants.
“Condoms are in the bedside table.” That statement breaks the haze.
She grabs a gold foil package from the drawer and tears the corner open with her mouth. The scent of latex wafts gently, and I don’t know why some people don’t love the scent. I associate it with fucking, so it’s one of my top three favorite scents on Earth. Annie plays with my heavy balls, fondling them in one hand as she rolls the condom on with the other.
Closing my eyes, I enjoy the moment. “Multitasking at its very best,” I remark. “You might be the best multitasker I’ve ever met.”
“Tell me how you want it,” she says. “Unless you want me to take that over too. Tell me what you want.” There’s a pleading edge to her soulful eyes, and it makes me want to give her anything. Everything. It vanishes just as quickly as it came.
“I just want to kiss you and fuck you until I come. Until we both come.”
Another flare of emotion crosses her face, but she obeys, leaning down to press her mouth against mine. I take her hips, lift them in my hands, and roll so I’m on top of her, between her legs. I deepen the kiss and tease her entrance by jutting my hips so the head of my cock seeps inside her.
Annie lifts her hips, seeking more of me as her tongue presses against my lips—seeking entrance, permission. I press into her and feel every coiled muscle in my body relax for the first time in a month. Finally. The promised land. I fuck her with thirty days of pent-up frustration. With thirty days’ worth of ignoring this base side of my nature. This is release, plain and simple. It’s an escape. Her body, molded to perfection, is a mere vehicle for my pleasure. She’s giving it to me, and I’m taking it. Except when I open my eyes, her gaze holds more. There’s connection and fire. Attraction and desire. A lust-tinged passion that excites me on a new level. I kiss her with my eyes open because I don’t want this moment to die. I want to absorb this chemistry for as long as possible.
“Do you like that,” she cries out, pink lips grazing over my own.
It feels like she’s asking do you like me. “I like it all. Everything,” I say, leaning my forehead on hers to pick up the pace. I taste her breaths and feel her legs hook around my waist to brace her small frame against the pounding. “Too much. So much I’m going to come. Too quickly,” I grind out, trying not to think about how blissful her cunt feels squeezing me, holding on to the head when I nearly slide out.
“Come,” she orders. “I’m about to come, too.”
When she says that, all self-control leaves the building. I let myself think about exactly what I want to think about. Her body, where my dick is, intimate connection with another human, and how mind-numbing it feels to let go. Slamming my eyes shut, I press my lips against hers and release, hot and strong, seated deep inside her.
Annie circles her hips against me once more and comes, gasping against my lips, clutching my biceps. The waves of her pleasure grip me, and everything else disappears. It’s over quicker than I wanted it to be, but when I pull back to read her face, I know she’ll want more. I’ll give it to her.
Holding the base of the condom, I pull out of her and dispose of it in the bathroom trash can. When I return, she’s still on her back, staring at the ceiling doing her best to pretend she didn’t just watch me walk away.
“As far as one-night stands go, that was the best one I’ve ever had,” she says, her pert breasts rising and falling as she continues to catch her breath. “Exceptional sex.” She’s complimenting me, I think, but it also sounds like a science experiment.
I flop down on the bed next to her and rest an arm on her stomach. “The night isn’t over yet. Are you saying you’re a one and done? Ready for sleep?”
She rears back at my statement, brows crinkled. “You think I’m going to sleepover?”
I frown. “You can if you want. Did you think I was going to kick you out of my house and bed when I was finished?”
Annie exhales noisily. “No. I guess not.”
“Guess?” I prompt, lightly dragging my fingers across her flat stomach to create goose bumps. “Tell me how it usually goes.”
“How do you know this is a usual thing for me?”
I clear my throat. Dangerous territory. “I don’t.”
“I do,” she says, smirking. “It’s okay, I’m not going to bite your head off. This is easier for me than the alternative, and I don’t stay the night. Not ever. Just to clear the air there.”
I wince. “What exactly is the alternative?”
“Long, meaningful relationships that end in crippling heartbreak and haunting sorrow. The kind of relationships that screw your future and decimate everything you thought you knew in the past. That’s the alternative.”
Nodding slowly, I say, “Noted. Well, I’m glad you chose me tonight, even if it’s just for the night.”
“Do you want it to be more than a night?” she counters.
“Thing is,” I say, readying my speech. “I work a lot. Six months on, six months off, year-round. You could call my relationship life pretty alternative, too. Do I want you in my bed for more than one night? Hell yes. But I can only have you for a month. Then I’m gone again.”
Annie looks away, presumably to hide her feelings. “I see.” Turning in bed to face me, she cocks her head to the side. “Then we better make this the best night of our lives, right?”
My face must fall with disappointment because she leans in to kiss me as a consolation prize. When she pulls away from the kiss, my lips are warm. “I understand,” I reply. “Tell me how you want it next?”
“You can go again so soon?” Her eyes light up. “Right now?”
I lick my lips and bite the corner of my bottom lip. Her cheeks redden. “Oh, baby, you just promised the best night of my life. I fully intend on cashing in on that. Tell me how you want it.”
Annie’s face reddens even further, her creamy skin flushed crimson on her neck and chest. “Well, you do give insanely good head,” she says, casting her long lashes down.
“Are you being bashful?” I ask, my dick standing straight up at attention.
“No!” Annie exclaims. “Of course not. It’s just sort of… greedy to ask for more after you were so generous already.”
“Annie,” I rasp. “Shut up and sit on my fucking face.”
She giggles but obeys, her wet pussy dripping on my nose and cheeks. I eat her out until she’s screaming my name and her body is limp from multiple orgasms, then I fuck her doggy style while I watch her face contort in ecstasy in the wide mirror on my wall. Our go-to move in between sessions is her riding my face. She can’t get enough and doesn’t need to rest in between. Intense orgasms, one after another, are how she recovers. The sun is rising by the time we go in for round five, and I know how to play her body like a goddamn instrument. Her clit is mine, and I can deconstruct her in mere minutes by using it. What she does to my body defies all possible logic. She edges me close to the brink and then walks me back, and by the time I come, it feels like my entire body might shatter if I don’t get inside her to release.
I’m sure about a lot of things, I have to be, but this one I know for certain: this one-night stand is the best one I will ever have in my life.
CHAPTER FOUR
Auden
The OPEN sign buzzes to life when I tap the button. The storefront is quiet this early in the morning. Leaving Beckett wasn’t easy, in fact, it was downright torturous knowing it was coming to an end. The best sex of my life took place all night long. I snuck out of the fire escape in his bedroom window after he passed out. I did go home to shower and change clothes, but I haven’t slept a wink. Sleeping is of little consequence when I’m still reliving every moment with the guy of my dreams. What would have happened if I had stayed? Would he have taken me to breakfast? The conversation surely would have been weird after he had his face and dick in every place the good lord split.
He doesn’t know my real name. Most likely, I’ll never see him again, which is what he wants, I’m sure. The story he gave about only being able to see me for a month reeked of lies. Walker made me immune to lies and bullshit excuses. Men just don’t want to go all-in with me. I adjust a few racks and unpackaged new merchandise while checking my watch. We’re not officially open for another hour, but I figure if I’m here, I might as well take customers.
The boutique is my safe haven. I threw everything I had into making it successful. After the recession took hold, the government started handing out business loans left and right to stimulate the economy. I had always wanted to own my own pet store, and Walker left me, so this was my pet project—the first attempt to fill the void in my heart left by the bastard. It has a vintage feel with furniture I brought back to life from the antique shop two blocks over. All of the stands that hold doggy sweatshirts and high-end collars are armoires covered in ivy and crawling plants. Customers love it not only for the unique products I offer but also because it’s a selfie mecca. Everything has an aesthetic edge. It’s a magical, whimsical place that makes my heart sing. Usually. Today, a thick fog of dread hangs over me and this entire building. I text my friends to let them know I’m alive, and I think they might be right. Their talking points last night are valid. After I do that chore, crossing my fingers they’re all still sleeping. I call Ramsey. As always, she answers on the first ring.
“About last night,” I say, sighing dreamily.
She squeals. “Tell me everything.”
“He was super hot. The hottest I’ve had in a while.”
I hear clinking in the background. Her morning espresso for sure. “But how was the sex?”
If I told her the truth, it would scare her or make her seek him out for a night for herself. I don’t want either to happen. “The best I’ve ever had. I’ll keep it PG to keep it classy, but the man was inhuman in stamina and was hung like a beautiful warrior. He was tall and muscular, with this jawline, and oh my god, his smile. I’m getting wet thinking about it.” And what he did with his mouth. I cross my legs on the other side and hook my heel onto the stool I’m sitting on. “I just, I just, I don’t know. I think my period is coming. I’m emotional.”
“Good lord. When are you seeing him again? He fucked you right to the Promised Land, Auden. Not only am I jealous, but you might have found the one.”
“The one? What does that even mean?” I counter.
“The guy that will make Walker look like a piece of chump change.”
I twirl a necklace on the stand that sits on the table by the register. “He already did last night.”
Ramsey slurps coffee but then starts laying into me and lecturing me on giving men a chance outside of the bedroom instead of just inside of it. You think she’d take her own advice? Oh, no. Never. “Please tell me you got his number.”
Pressing my lips together, I ready for her anger. “No. Holy shit, wait,” I say, remembering the hazy time we spent at the bar. “I do have his number.”
“Call it. Call it right now. Ask the man for a date. Then force him into another round.”
I clear my throat and spin awkwardly on my seat. “I wouldn’t have to force him. He said, well, he said he’d do more than one night. I was kind of the holdup.”
“Sometimes, I don’t know why you’re my best friend. I get subpar sex in a bar bathroom and you get full nights of having your world rocked. You’re just not appreciative.”
“You’re my friend because no one else would be your friend. You’re a little pushy,” I tease. “And you’re the one meeting men in bathrooms, you ho. Get some standards.”
Half of me wonders what we’ll have in common if one of us gets a boyfriend. She moved into the apartment building next door and didn’t know a soul. I ran into her outside of my building, and she asked me flat out if I wanted to be her friend. When we realized we were both in the same phase of life—the starting-over phase, we bonded over our love for meaningless sex. Ramsey’s parents died in a riot, she said, and with her inheritance, she’s just trying to live her best life. I support that.
“You’re right,” she breathes, her French accent making an appearance. “But call him,” she hisses back. “Promise me.”
Walking to the back room, I pick up an empty burger wrapper from who knows how long ago and press the button on the coffee machine to make a cup. “I’ll call him.”
Maybe half true, I think. I don’t have the courage to damage the perfect vision of our night. Some men are assholes in the light of day. It’s why I always refuse to spend the night. I tell Ramsey I’m at the store, and she lets me know she has errands to run. It’s probably code for another booty call, but I’d never judge her too harshly.
“Good,” she says. “Let’s grab a late lunch together then.” We decide on a place and say goodbye.
I’m blowing the top of my mug when I hear the chime alerting me to a customer. I hurry from the back, anticipating an eager person hoping to score new pet goodies, but find Beckett instead. His wide back is turned away from me as he inspects something in the storefront window display. My heart sinks when I see it’s the same necklace I wore last night. It is made of thick plastic with adorable hand-painted beads. He spins, holding one of the necklaces from the display, and reaches into his pocket with his other hand. He pulls out the plastic cardinal charm I left on his windowsill before I left. I’m not sure why I left it. A token of our night, I guess, but never did I think the man would put two and two together. He doesn’t have an animal. I didn’t think he would even know my store existed.
“Annie,” he says, voice low, demanding, and questioning. “Is it?”
How does he know that’s not my name? Why is he in my store looking good enough to eat when I didn’t decide if this is what’s best for me? “Beck, hi, uh, how did you find me?”
He holds up the bird and the necklace. “I recognized it. I saw it when I was walking down this way after a business meeting last week. I’d never seen anything like this before. It caught my eye when I saw it dangling from those lighted branches upfront. My sister’s favorite bird is a cardinal.”
“You didn’t recognize it last night around my neck? I was wearing it, and well, I’m sure you saw when it broke.”
I collected all of the pieces after the string broke and put them in my purse. The little red bird was on the floor by the window when I made my escape this morning, so I picked it up and set it on the windowsill.
He swallows hard. “Yeah, part of the night is hazy, but I definitely remember breaking the necklace with my cock. I guess I didn’t put two and two together because I was distracted.”
I blush furiously. If I could turn into a bird and fly away, I would. I’d never come back. “Well, I just, you could have called. You have my number in your phone.”
“Listen, you up and left without so much as a goodbye. You left a plastic bird. Last night could have been a whole fucking dream because it was so great, but I woke up alone and wasn’t sure of anything. I wanted to see if it was the same necklace for myself.”
“You thought last night was great?” I brighten and can barely help the smirk that I know is on my face.
He looks at me like I’m crazy. “Were you, or were you not in the same room as me last night?” Beck looks at the wall closest to him and then back at me, “Auden.” He backs away, face ashen like he’s finally figuring out how awful I actually am. There’s a huge wooden photo canvas of me hugging a dog, my name and the date I opened the store are on a placard beneath it. “Why did you tell me your name was Annie?”
I open my mouth to lie and then close it. “Because I never thought I’d see you again. There’s the truth. Names don’t matter when it’s just fucking.” I meet his eyes, and it’s a mistake. My stomach flips and my heart races. X-rated images float through my mind after I finish my sentence.
“It was just fucking then,” he replies, wide jaw working side to side, hands fisted by his side.
No. No, it wasn’t. “Yes. You knew that. One night.”
He tosses the necklace on the counter. “Here’s a tip, Auden, if you ever want a man to want you for more than fucking, you should be honest with them. At the very least, give them your name. It’s a real fucking turnoff.” Beck turns and walks to the door.
“We don’t know each other!” I argue. “It’s just a name!”
He offers a devil may care smirk. “At least when you were fucking my face, you were calling out my real name when you came.”
That stops me in my tracks. “I’m sorry.”
