Chapter 24
“You’re sure this isn’t too revealing?”
Willa stood in front of the full-size mirror in her bathroom, staring at her reflection. She and Charlie had ordered a few Rent the Runway dresses to choose from, and she’d landed on a floor-length, silver dress that hugged her curves. It had off-the-shoulder sleeves and a low-cut V that showed off just enough cleavage. The slit in the side of the dress left her leg on display, and she wore black stilettos with a bow on the back. Her hair was pulled up in a loose up-do, with curls framing her face.
“Does it matter?” Charlie asked. “It’s a bunch of old people and your fuck buddy.”
“It matters,” Willa said. “I’ll never hear the end of it from Ida if I dress inappropriately.”
Charlie stepped into the bathroom wearing a sparkling, gold dress with a plunging neckline. She wore gold heels and curled her hair.
“You look hot and classy,” Charlie said. “It can be both! Like one of the contestants on The Bachelorette.”
“Okay, not helpful.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter, anyway,” Charlie checked her watch. “You don’t have time to change. They’ll be here any minute.”
Before Shawn left last night, he’d offered to give them a ride to the Ball. Charlie agreed before Willa could say anything, but she figured it was for the best. While Bingo nights were typically held at the church down the road, the Bingo Ball was held at a local hotel. It was slowly becoming clear to Willa that this event was much more extravagant than she expected.
And she couldn’t help but hope Shawn liked her dress.
She tried to squash the hope—push it away.
He wasn’t her boyfriend.
Just her friend.
With occasional, very amazing benefits.
She shouldn’t care what he thought.
Except she did, and she hoped he would nearly pass out from how good she looked. Because even though she wasn’t sure if she was dressed appropriately enough, she knew one thing for certain: she looked hot as fuck.
Her phone buzzed and a quick look at it told her it was Shawn.
“He’ll be here in a minute,” Willa said. “Let’s head out front.”
Looked like she was stuck wearing this dress. They both grabbed their clutches and headed to the driveway, where they waited for only a moment before Shawn’s truck pulled in.
He got out of the car and stopped in his tracks as he stared at Willa. The breath whooshed out of her as his steely gaze caught hers. His eyes dropped slowly—ever so slowly—down the length of her body. Willa felt hot under his scrutiny, like every inch his eyes touched were on fire. His eyes drifted back up the length of her body just as slowly, and he stilled once he reached her face again.
She’d barely registered that he was wearing a tux. The white shirt and jacket pulled tightly against his chest and arms, and the fit of the pants was perfectly tailored to his muscled legs. And he was clean shaven. He must’ve just shaved. He did so every few days, Willa had noticed. It was enough that a bit of stubble was always on his face, and she liked it. But tonight, the way Shawn had shaven perfectly showed off the chiseled jawline she loved so much. His hair was pulled tight into a bun toward the top of his head, and her mouth watered as she drank in the sight of him.
“Hi, Shawn,” Charlie said perkily.
“Hi,” Shawn said, not taking his eyes off Willa.
She felt frozen under his scrutiny, and she was torn between the desire to just look at him all night and the need to drag him to her bedroom and shove his head between her legs.
“Hurry up, Scooby!” Grams rolled down the window from the back seat and her voice broke the spell. “We don’t have all night, and I won’t have that she-devil arriving before me.”
Willa glanced at Ida and bit her lip.
“Sorry, Grams,” Willa said. “My fault. I’m not used to seeing Shawn in a tux.”
“You and me both, hon. Now hop in the front seat and introduce me to your adorable little friend so I can get to know her in the back seat.”
“This again?” Willa asked, glancing back at Shawn, who tossed her a bemused grin and shrugged. “Grams, why don’t you sit in the front seat?”
“You know I get carsick, missy,” Grams said. “Now do as I say.”
Willa rolled her eyes and walked to the passenger side of the car. Before she could open it, Shawn reached over her and grabbed it, opening it for her and extending a hand while he helped her in. The moment her hand landed in his, she felt a buzzing course throughout her body. God, this should not be happening. They’d been fucking for well over a month now. Shouldn’t her body stop reacting this way?
Charlie cleared her throat from behind them.
“Do I get the same white glove service getting into the car?” She smirked.
Willa bit her lip to hold back a laugh, and Shawn smiled at her before shutting the door and helping Charlie get into the car.
Shawn grippedthe wheel so hard his hands went numb.
But at least it took his mind off his hardening cock. He glanced over at Willa again, who was peering out the window silently as Charlie and Ida chattered in the back seat. Shawn tuned them out, instead focusing on the stunning creature sitting next to him.
He thought he’d forgotten to breathe for a moment there when he first saw Willa. Her legs looked a million miles long in the silver dress she wore, with one peeking out of the slit. She’d done her makeup differently, too. She didn’t often wear it, but when she did, she’d never worn it like this.
And her tits.
God, her fucking tits. Maybe it would be easier if he didn’t know exactly what they looked like underneath that dress of hers, if he hadn’t palmed them every day for the past month, if he hadn’t grown addicted to sucking them between his lips.
He’d almost blown their cover in front of Grams. He wanted to kick himself, but he couldn’t help it. She was too perfect. Too gorgeous. Too stunning. He lost his mind around her, and he didn’t know how he was going to make it through the night knowing he wouldn’t be sneaking over to her place later.
“You look good in a tux,” Willa said quietly, and Shawn’s head whipped toward her. “I like it.”
If she liked it, he would wear it every fucking day. Screw the fact that it made absolutely no sense and was not at all suitable for his line of work.
“You look delicious, actually,” Willa whispered.
His eyes flitted to the rearview mirror to see if Grams had heard, but she was happily chatting with Charlie.
“Delicious is too mild a word for how you look,” Shawn said out of the side of his mouth. “You’re testing my self control tonight with that dress, Greene.”
Willa grinned at him, then raised her eyebrows as her gaze drifted down to his crotch. “I can see that.”
He winked at her, then shifted in his seat and let his mind wander to other things. Fish guts. Cast nets. Shrimp. He started naming different types of fish in his head trying to get his boner to go down.
Trout.
Mullet.
Red fish.
Flounder.
Carp.
Catfish.
A few minutes later, they were pulling into a hotel parking lot and leaving their car at the valet. He helped Grams get out of the car and offered her his arm.
“Charlie’s my date tonight,” Grams said, as if it were obvious. “Go help Willa out of the car.”
“Grams, you asked me to come as your date to this every year. I don’t understa?—”
“Well, my new friend, Charlie, is my date this year.”
As if on cue, Charlie came up next to Grams and offered her arm. The two of them marched inside with purpose, leaving Shawn to watch them dumbfounded.
“Up to her matchmaking again, I see,” Willa said. “I thought she promised you she’d stop doing that?”
Shawn turned around and took her in again. Now that nobody was watching, he did nothing to hold back the pure lust and desire from his gaze, and he walked slowly up to Willa, cradling a cheek in his hand. His thumb brushed her cheek, and she closed her eyes and leaned into it.
“You wearing panties tonight?” he asked, knowing he was torturing himself by asking. He’d already looked at her ass in that dress long enough to know the odds were slim that she had anything on underneath.
Her eyes opened slowly and she shook her head, a cat-like grin tugging at her lips. He groaned.
“What are you trying to do to me?”
“Nothing,” Willa said, grabbing the hand that was on her cheek and tugging it to her side so she could clasp it as they walked inside together. “This dress is just too tight for panties.”
Shawn shook his head. “I’m convinced you do this to fuck with me.”
“You think I really think about you that much?” Willa asked lightly.
“I hope you do,” Shawn responded before he could stop himself.
She stopped in her tracks and looked up at him, eyes wide.
“Welcome to the Bingo Ball!” a piercing voice rung out, interrupting their conversation.
Shawn quickly looked at the source of the voice and found Amos. He nodded and they signed in before descending stairs into a long hallway that led to a ballroom. Willa’s hand rested delicately on his arm, and that one touch was enough to make him feel like he might combust.
As they passed a deserted hallway, Shawn tugged Willa with him down it and toward a door that went outside.
“What are you doing, Shawn?” Willa asked. “The ballroom’s back that way.”
“We’re making a quick detour,” he said, walking her to where the doors led outside to a back alley.
“A quick detour for what?” she asked as he opened the door and led her outside, pushing her back against the brick wall.
“For this,” he said against her lips before crushing his mouth against hers.
A small part of his idiotic brain knew he was being reckless and stupid. The chances that Grams would see them out here were slim, but somebody else could possibly come along. Still, he knew that this part of the hotel was rarely visited, and given that there was no parking back here and only a couple of trash cans, he figured they were safe.
Probably.
Really, though, most of his brain was focused on her lips. Her tongue. Her tight little body underneath his. The way her fingers trailed over his chest and then up to his jawline. He reached underneath her dress—the slit provided him easy access, and palmed her pussy.
“Just like I thought,” he said, burying his face in her neck and breathing in her scent before nipping her neck. “Fucking drenched.”
She whimpered as he teased her with his fingers, lightly touching her folds and her clit, pushing his forefinger inside her just barely before tugging it out again.
“Shawn, please.”
He knelt in front of her.
“What are you doing?” she asked breathlessly.
“Tell me your pussy’s not begging to be licked. Tell me you don’t want my mouth on you. Tell me you don’t want to come all over my tongue.”
She spluttered. “But… here?”
“Nobody will come out here,” he said confidently.
He grabbed her left leg—the one easily accessible to him through the slit in her dress—and tugged it over his shoulder before burying his head underneath her dress. He licked all the way up her pussy as slowly as he could, savoring every bit of her.
“Fuck, baby,” Shawn said against her entrance. “You taste so fucking good. Like a fucking dream.”
“Shawn,” she moaned, digging her fingers into his hair.
He groaned against her pussy and he felt her legs quiver around his face. He reached his hands up and cupped her ass, digging his fingers into her. He ate like a starving man, lapping up every last bit of her arousal with his tongue. Her knee began to buckle, and the one leg that kept her upright began to give out as she got closer to a climax. He held her steady as he ruthlessly tongued her clit, sucking on it as she came on his face with a breathless sob.
“Another,” Shawn said against her pussy.
“Shawn, I can’t.”
“Yes, you can, Greene.”
He wanted her to come on his tongue so many times that he was tasting her for days. Wanted to make her so fucking loose and relaxed all night because of the force of the orgasms he gave her. Wanted to remind her that he was the one who made her come every fucking day. Wanted to swallow the sweetness of her arousal until he couldn’t?—
“Oh. My. God.” A voice that wasn’t Willa’s pierced through the sound of her panting.
Willa tensed above him, and Shawn moved his head just enough so he could peak out from underneath where Willa’s leg still rested over his shoulder.
“Respect,” Charlie said, a Cheshire cat grin growing on her face. “Honestly, mad respect. I didn’t know you had it in you, Willa.”
“Oh, my god,” Willa said softly, throwing her hands over her face in mortification.
Shawn felt like he was being taken over by a caveman. Where he should feel mortified, he only felt gratified that Charlie knew Willa was decidedly his. That she got to see first-hand the way Willa succumbed to every sort of pleasure when Shawn was involved.
“Listen, I love public sex as much as the next girl, but Ida’s asking a lot of questions about where you two went,” Charlie said with a smirk, crossing her arms.
“Shit.” It was like a bucket of ice cold water was dumped over his head. He gently removed Willa’s leg from where it rested on his shoulder and put it down on the ground. He tugged her dress back down, straightening it out with his palms, then stood and tugged her hands away from her face. “You okay?”
She nodded. A few of her hairs had fallen out of place in the shuffle of things, and he gently pushed a few pieces back into place and tugged a stray curl behind her ear. Some of her eyeliner had run a bit, and he tried to hold back a smirk. He must’ve given her one hell of an orgasm. He brushed his thumb gently along her eye, ridding any excess makeup and clearing away any smudges.
Her lipstick still looked fine, but a little faded. He traced a finger along her lips and got rid of any stray red that had smeared when he devoured her mouth earlier. He grinned at her.
“You still look perfect,” he whispered.
She bit her lip and her eyes darted to his mouth. He tried to hide the smug look from his face, but he couldn’t. She laughed.
“Probably need to reapply some lipstick, though,” Charlie said, reminding Shawn they weren’t alone. He looked over and found her studying him with an unreadable expression. “C’mon, Willa. There’s a bathroom down the hall.”
Shawn stepped back and Willa held his gaze for a moment before heading toward Charlie, who was still scrutinizing him from where she stood. As they headed inside, Willa turned around and shot Shawn a quick smile.
“See you inside,” she said softly before going in.
As the door closed behind her, Shawn leaned his back against the wall and tipped his head up. His raging erection pressed uncomfortably against his pants, and he willed it to go down.
He was an idiot.
He knew that now.
Because he’d gone and fallen in love with the beautiful redhead next door who wanted nothing but sex from him. And Lord knew, he’d give her whatever she wanted—even if it meant he swallowed feelings that led him to do crazy things like eat her pussy in public.