Chapter 18
Luke
This is where I belong—on my knees for Annie.
She looks like a dream sprawled out on my kitchen counter, her brown eyes almost black with lust, and her lips swollen from my kisses. My dick throbs when I see my bite mark on the top of her breast, and I am already impossibly hard after getting just one taste of her.
While I would be fine spending the night with my head between her thighs, making her scream my name over and over, I’ve been thinking of her with this little blue toy of hers for weeks now.
I can’t take my eyes off her as she sucks her bottom lip into her mouth, biting hard as she places the toy on her clit, her head falling back when she feels the sucking sensation right where she needs it. I lean in and kiss the fingers that are holding that toy to her pussy as she lets herself fall back on the counter and begins rocking her hips.
Annie’s moans are like music to my ears, and I grip her thighs, pulling them apart as I watch her move the toy against her dripping pussy. Then my eyes catch on something on her hip.
I don’t remember Annie having a birthmark there .
In the darkness, I can’t quite make out what it is, and then she pushes one of the buttons on the toy and it speeds up, making me completely lose my train of thought.
I can’t take it anymore.
I unzip my shorts, pulling them down with my briefs enough to pull my cock out, and I’m already seconds away from embarrassing myself when I slide my hand down my length.
“Fuck,” I breathe as I watch her, and a groan escapes my throat as my name falls from her lips, my hand fisting my cock as I jerk myself off to the sight of her getting herself off.
And then she’s there, falling apart, and I’m right behind her, her name falling from my lips.
“That was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen,” I announce when we finally come down from our high. Annie turns off her toy, setting it down beside her as she pushes herself up on her elbows. She rolls her eyes, but there’s a smile on her face and a flush to her cheeks.
She looks down at me, and her eyes slightly widen when she takes in the sight. When she sinks her teeth in her bottom lip, I concur that she likes what she sees.
“Look at what a mess you made,” she purrs as she reaches her arm to the right, turning on the sink next to her. Then, she hops off the counter and walks into the guest bedroom, her ass swaying with each step.
“Clean yourself up, bartender,” she says over her shoulder, “and sleep tight.”
And then she shuts the door behind her.
***
There’s a new feeling in the air when I wake up this morning, last night still fresh in my mind. The sun feels like it’s shining brighter, my mind feels clearer, and my heart feels like it’s beating louder than usual.
And I know it has everything to do with Annie.
Last night was incredible for more than one reason—one being how I’ll never get the image of her on my counter out of my head.
Annie finally let her walls down around me. She’ll deny it, but I know she did.
I know my work is far from over, and I know that there is only one possibility for how the aftermath of last night will unfold.
First, she’ll lie to both herself and me and say it meant nothing.
Then, I’ll do everything in my power to show her that it meant everything .
I can hear Annie showering when I make my way out of my bedroom. I slip on a sweatshirt and a pair of shorts and find Rosie waiting for Annie outside the closed bathroom door, her head popping up when she sees me walk up to the door.
Annie can pretend all she wants that last night didn’t shift things between us, but I refuse to let her convince herself that it was just a one-time or spur of the momen t kind of thing.
I knock twice on the bathroom door, not giving her time to say anything before I walk in, the steam from the hot water clouding the bathroom and my view of her through the glass shower doors.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she squeals, sliding the door enough for her to peek her head out. Her brown hair is thrown up in a messy bun to keep out of the water, and her tan skin is covered in bubbles from her body wash—the scent of jasmine immediately invading my senses .
I open the cabinet above the sink, pulling out my toothbrush that sits beside the one she put in there. “Brushing my teeth,” I answer as I grab the toothpaste we share, putting some on my toothbrush before walking over to the shower.
“You couldn’t wait?” she huffs, and I want to kiss the pout off her lips. She watches me as I reach into the shower, and she fights to keep her expression neutral as I put my toothbrush under the water, getting it wet.
“Nope,” I answer, popping it into my mouth.
“The sink is right there,” she quips, sliding the glass door shut, but I’m not about to leave her alone.
I let a few seconds pass, knowing I’m already past pushing my luck. “What do you want to do today?” My voice is a little mumbled around the toothbrush, but she answers right away.
“What have I told you about minding your business?” I can’t see her through the glazed glass, but I can make out the silhouette of her mind-numbing body.
The body I had my hands all over last night.
I have to stifle a groan at the thought, right along with imagining how easy it would be to step into that shower with her—even if I’m unsure that I’d make it out alive if I gave into that temptation.
I spit into the sink, rinsing my toothbrush in the sink. “I thought we could spend the day together.”
The shower turns off, and she pulls down the towel hanging over the glass door— my towel. I’m sure she’s already armed with some sassy rejection, but I don’t give her the time.
“I have some errands to run.” And while these errands aren’t necessarily fun or romantic, they won’t scare Annie away. Bombarding her with roses and surprise beach picnics would have her running for the hills. “I have to stop by the ice rink to reserve my rec team’s practice nights for the month of September and pick up dog food. You can come with me.”
She slides the shower door open with one hand, the other holding the towel wrapped around her, and steps out onto the bath mat. “I don’t want to spend the day with you.” The white cotton makes her pink cheeks even more noticeable, and her big brown eyes are narrowed on me. She looks just like a gift waiting to be unwrapped, her long tan legs glistening with droplets of water.
I’m staring, but I don’t care.
Annie does.
She steps up in front of me. “Hey,” she says, snapping her fingers in my face. “It’s nothing you haven’t seen before. Get over it.”
“Never.” I shake my head, hoping to bring thoughts back into my brain. “While I’d much rather look at you wrapped in my towel, get dressed. The rink opens at nine.”
“I’m not running errands with you.” She looks down at the towel she’s holding around her, and I follow her gaze. “And it’s my towel now.”
I don’t even register what she says because my eyes are now fixed on the bite mark just above where she’s holding the towel around herself, the sight of the red indent going straight to my groin.
She sees my eyes still on her chest, looking down and shaking her head. “Didn’t know you liked to bite,” she teases. She’s trying to sound like she couldn’t care less, like she’s just giving me a hard time, but I know better.
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Annie girl.”
She rolls her eyes. “What I do know is I have my own errands to run. So, move.” She squeezes past me to get through the door and over Rosie who is still laying just outside the bathroom, heading straight to the guest room, but I don’t give her time to close the door, being only a step behind her. “Perfect. We can make any stop you need when we’re out. I’ll even buy you a matcha.”
She ignores me as she pulls a pair of underwear, shorts, and tank top out of the laundry basket at the foot of her bed, her room even more of a mess than the last time I peeked inside it. Turning around and wanting me to leave for her to change, she huffs, “Do you mind?”
“Not at all. Go ahead and drop the towel, honey.” I give her a smirk and cross my arms, leaning against the door frame. “Like you said, it’s nothing I haven’t seen before.”
Her brows furrow, and I can almost see the thought of throwing something at me cross her mind.
She just has to ask me again, and I’ll leave her alone, but instead, she shrugs her shoulders and smiles, calling my bluff. “Fine.” She drops her towel and my knees go weak. “I need to pick up some baking supplies. We can stop at the store after we pick up Rosie’s food.”
My head falls back just as the towel hits the floor, and I don’t even care about the groan I make. Partly because I’m annoyed at how she never fails to do the opposite of what I think she’s going to do. The other part because she has no idea what her bratty little tendencies do to me.
I reach out, gripping the door hard enough for my knuckles to turn white. “We’re leaving in ten minutes,” I growl, and I shut the door before she has time to tell me no.