The laugh that burst out of Allie had a touch of relief in it. “God, is that all it was? I was so dramatic about it before, thinking you…well, clearly money is a sore subject. I’m sorry forflying off the handle when you asked for it at the diner. I guess I’m living up to the redhead reputation.” She grimaced.
“It’s not a problem,” I told her. Still stuck on the thoughts she’d inspired moments before, I went on to add, “I actually admire it. That fire. I’ve been accused of being cold, especially with new people. So that heat…” God, why was my face heating as I said this? And why couldn’t I shut up before I finished with, “It’s got a certain appeal.”
“Fire and ice,” Allie murmured. “Makes sense that we clashed so hard. Even after…well, we had no issues in Vegas.”
“The liquor helped,” I quipped. She snorted, and damn it, even that was kind of sexy somehow. Every new piece of Allie Tate that I uncovered, no matter how hard I tried to keep her hidden from my overly romantic heart, made me want her.
And now that she’d brought up Vegas, I was seeing that younger, tipsy, sparkly dress version of her in front of me, feeling everything that I’d shoved down for all these years. A warm, sensual heat threatening to turn my dick hard in my pants. Sure, she looked delectable in the short lilac romper she wore, her long legs smooth and seemingly endless. Any man would want those legs wrapped around his waist as he plunged into her heat. But there was also something fluttery and rose-tinged about the feeling. The romantic view of her I’d held onto all these years was making itself more known than ever, especially now that we’d cleared the air and she was as sweet as I thought.
I wondered if her wet heat was still as sweet too. The memory of how her pussy tasted all those years ago had gotten me off more times than I could count, and now that she was so close to me, looking at me, near enough to touch…fuck, I wanted more than a memory.
“Gavin might be a while yet,” I heard myself say to her. My heart was thudding harder in my chest. I was painfully aware that we were alone. That we had this whole beach house toourselves, since Luca had traveled back to the city to attend an event with his youth soccer team tonight. “Would you…want to see some more of my sketches? Maybe some things I’ve actually made?”
As far as pickup lines went, it wasn’t terribly original. I was bad at this—always had been. So I didn’t expect her easy agreement, the soft tone of voice she used to say, “I’d like that.” The sultry note in it that told me her mind had wandered in a similar direction to mine. Of course it had. Allie was the girl who hadn’t batted an eye at the idea of sharing three men in one night, after all. That insatiable desire in her lived so close to the surface. It was impossible to resist.
Still, I feigned innocence as I started leading her up the stairs toward the bedroom I’d been living in for our stay in Allie’s town. It was an airy, comfortable space, complete with a large canopy bed and its own en suite bathroom, and I’d kept it neat ever since the day we’d checked in—bed neatly made with its ocean-blue sheets and crisp comforter, my clothes in the small closet, my work stacked neatly on the desk. Gavin had given me this room because of the desk—it sat in a cozy window nook and had a view of the beach that my best friend knew I’d find inspiring for my art.
Passing close to the foot of the bed, I guided Allie to the desk. The warm pink-purple sunset over the water felt like the perfect light to show her some more of my sketches, but I turned on the little desk lamp anyway. Following the pretense that I’d brought her here for purely artistic purposes.
I started to fan out some of the sketches for Allie to look at. She was at my side, barely an inch away from touching her bare arm to mine, as one of her slim fingers darted out to trace the lines in a drawing I’d made for a footstool.
“Such crisp lines,” she said, surprising me again by sounding like such an experienced art critic. “But then these carvings…they’re so much more…”
“Ornate?” I finished for her, moving in closer and testing the boundaries by letting my hand brush hers as I dug through the papers to find a specific drawing I thought she’d like. Her quiet laugh was breathless.
“I was going to say pretty. But that works too.”
It was tough, but I resisted the urge to be cheesy as fuck and say,you’re pretty.
She was though. As she flipped through some more of my drawings and then ran her fingers over the grooves in a small wood piece I brought with me—a box I used to carry some of my carving supplies, its lid adorned with a forest tree line—it seemed that our bodies were getting closer and closer to one another. More soft touches that could have been written off as casual or accidental if we weren’t both thrumming with need, if every time we made contact, Allie almost gasped, her lovely skin flushing a perfect pink under all those tantalizing freckles.
All the while, we were talking about art. The one thing other than lust that kept drawing us together. Well, lust and maybe a child. But I wasn’t as concerned about that when Allie and I were touching. Especially when she didn’t protest as I moved in behind her, pressing my chest to her back. I breathed in the scent of her, my lips hovering over her neck but not yet touching her skin. She was like strawberries and cream.
“Your art makes me wish I had more time for my music,” Allie admitted, her voice a low purr that made me hum back. “I love being a mom, but…it’s hard, not being able to really prioritize my art. You’re so…dedicated.”
I never thought I’d be turned on by being calleddedicated,but I was sure I felt my cock twitch, dirty thoughts filling my head. I wanted nothing more than to dedicate myself to givingher body all the pleasure it deserved. My voice came out rough. “You’re talented. When you find the time…nothing will be able to stop you.”
“How would you know?” she laughed huskily, and I settled my hands on her hips, feeling bolder than I had before. Bold enough to tell her the truth.
“I googled you,” I admitted with a grin that I pressed against her neck. It wasn’t quite a kiss, but I knew by now that Allie would welcome a kiss, more than a kiss. I’d known it all along, if I was honest with myself. I was thrumming with anticipation as I continued, “Found your YouTube channel. I sent it to Gavin first, but I couldn’t resist…I went back and watched every last video you had.”
And after torturing myself with the image of her at various past stages of her life, with longer hair and fewer curves but that same cheeky smile and that same decidedly Allie allure, I’d kept myself up at night from wanting her. Stroking my cock at the thought of how we’d fit all those years ago. How much better the fit would be if I got to sink into her now.
Not that I could say that to Allie. I wasn’tthatbold. At least not with my words.
I was sure Allie could feel my hardness now. The brush of my erection against her ass as she rocked back into my arms made both of us gasp. Then, unable to take it anymore, I rotated her hips with my hands, encouraging her to turn around, face me. Her pupils were blown with lust and her breath was coming out a little ragged, her chest rising and falling with enough exaggeration to emphasize her cleavage to a painfully beautiful degree.
What the hell choice did I have but to kiss her?
When our lips met, it was equal parts relief and frustration. A need to be closer even as we pressed against each other, our tongues in a heated push-pull that had every inch of my bodysinging to life. Allie was deliciously responsive. That signature fire drawing me closer, a helpless, willing moth to her body’s irresistible flame.
Maybe I should have cared more that Allie had already slept with Gavin recently. Though I hadn’t seen any problem with the group fuck-fest we’d all shared back in Vegas, I didn’t make it a habit to sleep with my friends’ conquests. I should have stopped this, told her I couldn’t. That I was usually a monogamous sort of guy and she did not strike me as the type to settle down, especially not with me. That sleeping around was completely not my style.
But nothing could have pulled my mouth from hers in that moment. Maybe I was the non-monogamous type now, or maybe Allie Tate brought it out in me. I was going to fuck her. This was premeditated as much as it was a spontaneous tryst. I hadn’t counted on her coming over today, hadn’t counted on us ever fucking again before she looked at me and complimented my art, but I was only a man. And she’d been the best sex of my life back in Vegas, even though I’d had to share her.
I was painfully hard at the idea of getting to have her all to myself this time.
“A lesser man would maybe be pissed off to see this,” Gavin’s voice suddenly came to us from across the room. I jumped away from Allie, our kiss ending as quickly as it had begun, my body pulsing in annoyed anticipation. My best friend was watching us, one brow raised, his expression otherwise totally calm.
