Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
McCabe
I ’m nursing my third and final beer of the night, when AJ finally responds to the text I sent her an hour ago.
McCabe
You doing okay? Need anything?
Sunshine
I’m fucking fantastic.
I tap on the photo that comes through. It appears to be a glass bottle, shattered in a puddle of liquid on a tile floor.
Sunshine
How about you?
McCabe
What happened?
Sunshine
I was trying to open this bottle of makeup remover one-handed, and it slipped and broke. Now I’m cleaning it up with a towel.
McCabe
Need help?
Sunshine
No, I’ve got it. I’m just frustrated that I STILL can’t use my damn hand.
McCabe
It’s been three days. You heard the doctor, you need to give it time to heal.
Sunshine
Easy for you to say. You’re not the one trying to do everything one-handed.
I glance up then, and the entire table of my teammates are staring back at me.
“What?”
“Dude,” Zach laughs. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, why?”
He and Drew exchange a glance. “You were just so lost in whatever message you were sending that when the waitress came up and asked if you wanted another beer”—he nods toward my almost empty pint glass on the table—“you didn’t even acknowledge her.”
“So, who’s Sunshine, anyway?” Walsh asks from beside me.
Have we always been this fucking nosy about each other’s lives? Thank god I changed her name in my contacts, because if I’d just been that lost in a texting conversation with my boss, there’d be a lot of questions.
“It’s my nickname for Abby,” I say, while mentally chastising myself for the lies. If I keep piling them on, it’s going to be hard to remember them. “That’s just a text thread with her nanny. He was updating me on the day.”
They don’t need to know that I already talked to Nicholas when he FaceTimed me earlier this afternoon so I could see Abby before I left for my game.
Walsh nods, but from his expression, it’s clear he doesn’t believe me. Drew, Zach, and Colt look less suspicious.
“Anyway, I have to go. He needs to talk to me about...an appointment she has tomorrow.” I scoot out of the booth and say, “Let me know what I owe for my drinks, and I’ll send someone the money.”
S he leans against the partially open door, her arms crossed over her stomach, as she asks, “What are you doing here?”
“Well, that’s one way to congratulate me on the win tonight.” I hold up the pharmacy bag with one hand and push the door open with the other. “I got you something.”
Backing into the room as I step inside, AJ looks up at me with a lifted eyebrow. “I don’t remember inviting you in.”
“Seemed prudent not to stand in the hallway where anyone could see me.” As the door clicks shut behind me, I hand her the paper bag.
She reaches into it and pulls out a small glass bottle. I’m not one hundred percent sure it’s the same one she had, but it’s a glass bottle with a black lid like the one I saw in the picture.
“You . . . got me makeup remover?”
Is it my imagination, or does she sound touched? That thought pisses me off, because replacing something she accidentally broke feels like such a minor thing—yet I don’t think she’s ever had someone to do that for her. Not a guy, at least. I’ve never wanted to punch Chet in the fucking face more than I do right now, and that’s saying something.
Setting the bag aside, her eyes meet mine, and I see the war raging in her gaze. She doesn’t want to want me here, but she does.
I understand the feeling completely.
I shouldn’t want her. I shouldn’t be here with her. It makes every single thing about my life more complicated, and I don’t do complicated. But no matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to convince myself that I don’t want her.
And now, I’ve decided to stop trying.
If she doesn’t want me in return, she can be honest about that, and I’ll respect her decision. But I’m pretty sure we’re in the exact same boat here.
“Would you like me to leave?” I ask her.
She works her lower lip between her teeth like she’s considering my question, and I step closer.
“You need to stop doing that.” My voice is low, almost feral with the longing that courses through me at her proximity. No one else has ever made me feel so damn needy, so desperate for her attention and affection. I would have thought I’d hate this feeling, but I don’t hate it. Not at all.
Her look is coy as she releases her now-glistening lower lip. “Doing what?”
I turn toward her, and she takes a step back, right into the wall behind her. The quick grunt of pain she lets out as she winces reminds me that her entire back is bruised.
“Fuck, I’m sorry,” I say, pressing my hand against the wall next to her head as I lean in. “Are you okay?”
“McCabe.” Her voice holds that warning tone that turns me on. “You shouldn’t...”
“Be here. I know.” My throat bobs as I swallow, and her eyes focus on the motion, but she doesn’t respond. “Tell me to leave.”
As she glances up at me this time, her tongue darts out, running along the line of her upper lip, but still, she says nothing.
I lean in closer, my face a breath away from hers.
“You smell like beer,” she says.
“That’s because I just had a few with the guys to celebrate our win.” I trail the bridge of my nose along her cheek until my lips reach her ear, relishing the way her breath catches. Dropping my voice even lower, I say, “Tell me to leave, AJ.”
Her responding whimper has my entire body wanting to press into hers. But I’m not going to kiss her up against a wall without an open invitation to do so.
Not even when her hands rest on my chest before sliding up to my shoulders. Not even when she toys with the hair at the back of my neck. Not even when she parts her lips and sighs as she meets my gaze.
“Or tell me to stay.”
One way or another, I need this woman to put me out of my fucking misery.
“Stay.” The word is so quiet it’s practically inaudible.
“Say it again, Sunshine. Nice and loud, so we’re both clear that you want me here.”
“Don’t be a dick,” she says, her fingers tightening in my hair and holding me in place when I try to step away.
“I’m not being a dick,” I assure her, as I wrap my hand around the back of her neck while my thumb strokes the space where her jaw meets her ear. “I want to make sure that there’s no miscommunication at all. Because once is an accident , but if I stay here with you again tonight, it’s not an accident, and it’s not a mistake. It’s a choice. ”
Her sigh is stuttered and halting, like the magnetic pull we’re both experiencing makes it hard for her to even exhale. “We shouldn’t...”
“I know we shouldn’t.” Dipping my head back toward her, I graze my lips over her forehead. “But are we?”
She tilts her head back against the wall and focuses on my face. The pink spreading across her cheeks, the ragged breathing, the way her eyes are practically black with desire...everything I’m seeing tells me she’s feeling exactly the same way I am.
“Yes.”
I don’t know who moves first—we’re tangled together so quickly it’s impossible to tell. But her lips part instantly as she lets me invade her mouth, her tongue slanting against mine with utter possession. This is no languid kiss; this is the release of pent-up longing that’s been locked away for far too long. I know how long I’ve wanted her, but this makes me wonder how long she’s wanted me back.
She moans into my mouth as she presses forward, her entire body flush with mine. Bringing both my hands to her waist, I anchor her against me, pressing my cock into her stomach as my fingers slide up her sides under her shirt. I run my thumbs along the waistband of her shorts, while the tips of my fingers toy with the seam of her bra.
I’m so keyed up I feel like I might explode as she moans into my mouth again. When I pull back, breaking the kiss and giving my body a few inches of distance from hers, her eyes widen. “What are you doing?”
My voice is raspy when I say, “I need a second to breathe, to collect myself, or I’m not going to be able to take it slow.”
She lets out a small huff of a laugh. “What in the world would make you think I wanted you to take things slow?”
“AJ...” I move my hand so I’m cupping her face in my palm as I give her the reminder we both need. “You’re injured. The last thing I want to do is hurt you more.”
“How about you let me be the one to decide what kind of pain I can endure? Because sometimes...” Reaching down, she cups her hand over the zipper of my pants, and as my balls tighten up, I’m afraid I’m about to embarrass myself. “...a little pain is...just...fine.”
Holy shit.
“Well, I was going to take it easy on you, but sure, we can do things your way...” I slide my hands under her ass and pick her up so fast she gasps, laughing and wrapping her legs around me as I step into the bathroom because that’s got the closest horizontal surface.
She’s always beautiful. But a laughing Alessandra Jones? She’s unbelievably gorgeous.
I set her on the counter, next to the sink, then step between her legs as I unbutton my dress shirt. In the pale glow of the light emanating from behind the large mirror, she watches my every movement carefully, like she’s trying to memorize everything about my body the same way I did with her this morning while she slept.
When I toss my shirt on the floor outside the bathroom, she reaches out to undo my belt, then shakes her head when she remembers that one of her hands is splinted. I take that arm by the elbow, raising her hand to my lips. “I’d never have wanted you to get hurt like this. Never. But is it wrong that I’m the tiniest bit grateful that it led us here?”
“I don’t know yet,” she says, her voice breathless. “Why don’t you take your pants off and make it worth my while?”
My chuckle fills the entire bathroom as I set her hand back in her lap. “You literally can’t wait to get me naked.”
Defiance takes over her face. “Don’t tell me the same isn’t true for you.”
“Oh, Sunshine, I’ve been waiting for you for a fucking decade. I could wait longer...I would wait longer, if I had to.”
Her lips part with a soft sigh. “Why do you have to keep saying things like that?”
“Because they’re true.”
“Ronan . . .”
God, I fucking love it when she uses my first name.
She stares up at me like she doesn’t know what she wants to say next, so I plant my hands on either side of her and lean in close.
“Yeah, Sunshine?”
She clears her throat, and whatever sentimental thought she was having disappears. “You’re wearing entirely too many clothes.”
“As are you,” I say, then grasp the hem of her t-shirt, lifting it over her head and carefully sliding it over her injured arm after she’s pulled her head and her other arm through. Beneath it, she’s wearing a nearly sheer bra with underwire cups. There’s a ribbon of lace that runs from the center, across each breast, to the strap, and beneath it, her nipples are so hard they’re pulling the lace away from her skin.
Hooking my thumbs under the fabric, I slide the cups down under her breasts so those pretty pink nipples are exposed, rubbing the rough pads of my thumbs up and over them. She’s biting her lip as she moans out her pleasure, and her legs come around behind me, circling my waist and pulling me to her.
Dipping my head, I trail my tongue across one of her nipples while I continue toying with the other, then suck it into my mouth with a long pull that elicits another deep moan. Moving to the other side, I repeat the motion as she tilts her hips up, grinding her center right along my cock.
“Fuck,” I groan as I pull back and take her in—how her nipples are wet and glistening where I hold her tits in my hands, the way she’s anchored herself to my dick, how she’s panting with longing. “You look good when you want my cock.”
She glances down at where our bodies meet. “And you’d look a lot better without those pants on.”
I unbuckle my belt slowly, watching her face as she focuses on my hands. I wonder if she even realizes how she’s licking her lips in anticipation? I kick my shoes off, then hook my thumbs in my waistband, sliding both my pants and boxers down my thighs and letting them fall to my feet, where I kick them out the door into the hallway.
“Is this more to your liking, Sunshine?”
She drags her gaze up to mine like it’s taking a lot of effort to tear her attention away from my cock, but the small smile on her face lets me know she likes what she sees. “I guess that depends.”
“On what?”
“On what you plan to do with that thing.”
I step back between her legs until my thighs hit the countertop and my dick is pressed up against her stomach. “Alessandra.” Leaning in close, I cup her breasts in my hands again, sliding my thumbs over her nipples and making her squirm as I say, “My plan is to ruin you for every other man, forever. You just have to ask.”
There’s a momentary look of doubt that passes over her face, like I’ve pushed her too far and she’s unwilling to ask for what she wants. And then it occurs to me that maybe no one has ever asked her what she wants. Maybe sex has never been about pleasing her . I hope that isn’t the case, but given some of the things she opened up about last night, it wouldn’t surprise me if that was true in her marriage, at least.
“I want you to make me feel good. I want to forget that my wrist hurts and that my ex-husband was a spineless dick and that we’re still down one game in this series.” She reaches up and presses her good hand to my breastbone before trailing her fingers down between my pecs and along the groove between my abs straight down to my waist. And when she wraps her fingers around my throbbing hard cock and runs her hand up and around the head before sliding back down to the shaft, my eyes roll back. I have to force myself to take a deep breath through my nose before I fucking pass out. “Go ahead.” She nods and raises her eyebrows like she’s challenging me. “Ruin me.”
My mouth crashes into hers with a tortured moan and, like always, she meets my energy. But the long pulls of the kiss, the soft and eager sounds escaping her throat, combined with the way she’s working her hand up and down my shaft, have me way too close. So I pull back, lifting her hips and sliding her thong down her legs, then dropping to my knees on the cold tile floor.
She lets loose a hiss that turns into a sigh as I bring my arms under her thighs, smoothing my hands over her hips and then resting my palms on her lower abdomen as I use my thumbs to spread her pussy open in front of me.
Her silky pink skin glistens with her arousal, and when I lean in to taste her, she releases a shuddering breath. As my tongue works circles around and over her clit, she gasps once and then once more before sinking into the sensation, her hips beginning to move to the rhythm I’m setting. A small moan escapes her parted lips, and when my eyes flick up to hers, she clamps her lips between her teeth like she’s embarrassed by her reaction.
“No way, Sunshine,” I tell her. “Those sexy moans belong to me. I’m working for them, and I want to hear them. I need to know what this does to you, and you’re going to tell me...or I’m going to stop.”
“Oh my god,” she says on a gasp as she leans back, resting her shoulders and head against the mirror. “Don’t you dare fucking stop.”
“Then don’t hold back.” I lean forward again, licking her from the bottom of her pussy up to her clit, and back. “Tell me what you like.”
“This,” she pants, and I return to lavishing her clit with my undivided attention. And when my chin is soaked with the evidence of her arousal, I change the angle of my face so I can press two fingers to her entrance.
Her gasps and moans, her sweet scent, the warmth of her body—they all consume my senses, and I swear I’ve never been more turned on by a woman in my life. I think I might die if I don’t get to see her come undone for me.
“Yes,” she encourages, looking down at me. “I want to feel you inside of me.”
I slide my fingers into the tight space, and the way her pussy clenches has me moaning, too.
“Fuck yes,” she says, then whimpers, “I’m so close. Oh my god...”
She’s meeting my fingers thrust for thrust, the silky walls of her cunt clamping down on them so hard that I can’t wait to know what she feels like on my cock. But first, I want to know what she feels like coming on my fingers and my face, so I curl my fingers inside her slightly, feeling the telltale ridges that I know will give her even more stimulation while clamping my lips around her clit and sucking her against my tongue.
“Oh fuck! I’m...” she trails off, words lost as she cries out while her muscles contract against my fingers and her legs shake where they rest over my shoulders. The almost inhuman sounds coming out of her mouth while she rides the waves of her orgasm have me on the verge of coming, but I hold back because there’s no way I’m not feeling myself slide into her after this.
When she’s done, her back slides down that mirror and her hips press forward into my face. It’s like someone’s taken all the bones out of her body, and she chuckles in response, saying, “I can’t move. I think you broke me.”
I rise, standing between her legs and leaning over her where her back and head now rest against the deep counter atop the vanity. “I’m pretty sure you’re not broken. Seems like you work just fine.”
I wrap one hand beneath her neck and my other arm beneath her lower back so I can bring her up to sitting. Moving my hand from behind her neck to cup her jaw, I say, “Kiss me. I want you to taste yourself on my tongue.”
“What?” The word barely squeaks out as her eyes widen.
“You’ve never tasted how sweet you are?”
“No. That’s...” For a moment, I think she’s going to refuse me, but then she wraps her hand around my neck, pulling me to her. The kiss is tentative, like she’s not sure what she’s going to find when her lips part and she meets my tongue with hers. But I deepen the kiss, holding her against me, rubbing my cock along her abdomen and feeling the way her nipples scrape along my ribs. And when she wraps her lower legs around mine, her calves pulling me into her even harder, that’s when I know she still wants more.
Tilting her head back, I break the kiss and enjoy her resulting whimper. Her face is pouty, like I’ve just taken away something she wants. I’m living for this side of her—where she’s not trying to hide how she feels about me.
I lift her hips, setting her on the tile floor and turning her to face the mirror. Standing behind her, I move her hair off her back, sliding it over her left shoulder so I can dip my head down to her ear. Without breaking eye contact in the mirror, I ask, “Have you ever watched anyone fuck you?”
Her jaw drops open slightly, and then she glides her tongue along her upper lip. Out of pure instinct, my fingers curl around her hip bones as I press my cock into her lower back.
“Because I want you to see how fucking magnificent you look when you come.”
Her eyebrows scrunch in question, creating an adorable divot between them. “But I already came.”
“And you’re going to come again, this time on my cock.”
The vibrations of her shaky exhale ripple against me, and I press my hips forward into her again.
“I can’t . . .” she pauses, and I wait her out. “. . . come that way.”
“You’ve never come that way, or you can’t ?” I ask, but either way I’m determined to prove her wrong. She can, and she will.
Her eyes lock with mine in the mirror, and with a roll of her eyes, she says, “Same difference.”