35. Ari
thirty-five
Ari
“Happy birthday, Ari,” Lucia says sweetly as she lets me into her room.
I flop onto her bed, hands over my eyes. “I don’t know how I feel about being thirty.”
She laughs as she comes to sit next to me. “I’ve been doing it for almost two years. It’s not that bad.”
“I always forget that you’re old,” I smirk.
Her jaw falls open in response. “I’m not even two years older than you, Morgan!”
“But still older than me.”
“Sounds to me like the birthday boy doesn’t want to get lucky tonight.”
Lucia squeals as I grab her wrist and pull her over on top of me.
She’s not dressed for the night yet, but my breath still catches in my throat.
The way her deep, brown eyes sparkle when the light catches them.
The way her silky, dark hair falls on either side of her face as she gazes down at me.
God, she’s fucking beautiful.
“I don’t think I’ll have a problem getting lucky tonight,” I rasp, brushing my lips over hers.
“I can be very stubborn, Ari,” she teases, resting her finger under my chin.
“I prefer headstrong,” I say, earning me a soft smile. “You never do anything you don’t want to do.”
Lucia smirks. “Which includes you, Casanova.”
I let out a hearty laugh. “Oh, I know. That’s how I knew you wanted me on New Year’s. You wouldn’t have fucked me if you just wanted someone to hook up with.”
“I think I hate how perceptive you are.”
“I’ve got beauty and brains, Luc.”
She collapses onto me while laughing. “Your fucking ego.”
“You denying I’m attractive, Spitfire?” I raise my eyebrow.
She bites her lip and shakes her head. “I really like it when you wear your glasses.”
And I’m officially never wearing contacts again.
“Is it hot that I can’t see then?”
Lucia chuckles. “Maybe I just have a thing for nerdy men.”
My tongue wets my bottom lip. “You saying you have a thing for me, sweetheart?”
Her eyes go wide, and she stumbles over her words. “No, of course not!” She scrambles off me. “That’s not what I’m saying. I don’t have a thing for you!”
I bark out a laugh and sit myself up beside her. “Bit of a blow to my ego, I think.”
“Do you want me to have a thing for you?”
“God, no,” I reply emphatically.
“Good,” she says, and I think I catch a waver in her voice. “We’re on the same page. This is just sex.”
“Just sex.”
I’m sure the guys would tell me differently, but what do they know?
Well, I guess they know a lot since they’re literally all in serious, loving relationships.
But that doesn’t mean they’re right about Lucia and me.
My phone vibrates next to me on the bed now, and I get myself out of my head. When I see the name, though, I can’t help but sigh.
Tom Morgan is the last person I want to talk to right now.
In a move surprising even myself, I flip the phone over, ignoring the call completely.
Lucia looks at me in surprise. “You aren’t going to answer?”
“No,” I breathe. “Talking to him will only ruin my mood. I’d much rather just enjoy my night with you.”
She eyes me curiously. “And our friends.”
“Right,” I mutter. “And our friends.”
Lucia moves off the bed and pads over to the hotel dresser. “I should probably get dressed then.”
“Do I get to watch you?” I ask, dick stirring under my jeans.
“You’ve seen me naked countless times, Ari,” she laughs. “I don’t care if you watch me get dressed.”
I watch as she pulls her tank over her head, letting her bare breasts fall free. Next, she shimmies out of her leggings, leaving her in a black cotton thong.
Before she does anything else, I stride over to her, bracketing my arms around her and gripping the edge of her dresser.
“God, you look good, Lucia.”
Her breathing grows more rapid as I lean closer to her. “You just like my tits.”
I let out a dark laugh. “Oh, I fucking love your tits.”
“You over here to talk about how much you like my tits?”
I smirk at her. “Over here for this, actually.”
I reach into my back pocket and pull out a black bag before handing it to her.
“What is this?”
“Open it and find out.”
She pulls the strings on the bag and takes out the black silicone item inside, staring at it in curiosity. “I don’t know what this is, Ari.”
“That is the toy that’s going to let me play with you all night,” I say, trailing my hand down her chest and resting it on the fabric between her legs. She’s already fucking wet for me. “That’s a vibrator, one that I’ll have the remote control for.”
She licks her lip. “Am I supposed to wear this tonight?”
“Mhmm. There’s a magnet to secure it to your underwear, and the vibrating part will rest right against your clit. I’m going to edge the fuck out of you while you have to act normally around our friends.”
“Want to help me get it in place, baby?”
I nip at her lip as I grab the vibrator from her. I slip it into the front of her panties, brushing my fingers over her clit as I do, and then secure it with the magnet.
I reach into my back pocket again and grab the remote, pressing the button to turn it on.
Lucia immediately moans in front of me, and fuck if it doesn’t make me hard.
“You’re gonna need to be quieter than that, sweetheart. Those sounds are only for me, so you’ll have to make sure the guys don’t hear them.”
She bites her lip and nods, fighting to keep from crying out as I increase the speed of the vibrations.
“You’re doing such a good job,” I rasp against her ear. “You can be a good girl when you want to be.”
She barely acknowledges what I’m saying, keeping her focus on not making any noise. With her keeping quiet, I have to rely on her body language to tell me when she’s getting close. When she begins to tremble in front of me, I turn the vibrator off completely.
“Ari!” Lucia yells. “I was so close!”
“Which is precisely why I stopped. I’m going to work you up all night, Luc, but you don’t get to come until my cock is inside you tonight.”
“Have I told you how much I don’t like you?” she grumbles.
“Every fucking day, Spitfire,” I chuckle. “Now get dressed. Our friends are waiting for us.”
Lucia picked her outfit to fuck with me.
I just know it.
I’m here in a gray T-shirt and black jeans, while she’s over there in a tight black shirt that puts her tits and toned stomach on display, and wearing the tiniest pair of cutoff denim shorts I’ve seen.
She keeps her eyes locked on mine as she wraps her cherry-red lips around her beer bottle before winking at me.
She knows I’m imagining those same cherry-red lips wrapped around my cock.
It’s far too fucking easy for her to completely take over my mind.
Lucia Torres is all I can think about right now.
Cole pulls me out of my trance. “How does it feel to be the last of us to turn thirty?”
“Your wife and sister, as well as Liv, are all younger than me.”
He shrugs. “You’re the youngest of us here.”
“It doesn’t honestly feel much different,” I reply. “It’s just more ammunition for Tom Morgan to keep coming at me about.”
“At least you ignored his call earlier,” Lucia adds. “He can’t give you shit today.”
Cole practically spits out his beer. “You ignored his call?!”
“It’s not a big deal,” I say dismissively, even though it is, in fact, a big deal.
“Kinda seems like it is, though,” Lane chimes. “From what you’ve told us before, you never ignore his calls.”
“I just… didn’t want to deal with him today,” I admit. “Life has been good lately, and I don’t want him to fuck that up.”
Josh smirks. “Why has life been good, hm?”
I roll my eyes because it’s obvious what he’s insinuating. Lucia beats me to the answer, though.
“His career is going well, and he’s getting great sex regularly. Of course, life is good.”
I throw my head back and laugh. She has no shame, and it’s such a fucking turn-on.
I rest my hands on my thighs, and that’s when I feel the item I forgot about.
After getting lost in all of our conversations, I somehow forgot I was supposed to be edging Lucia.
Right now is the perfect time to start.
I reach into my pocket and turn the vibrator on, and she immediately startles next to me. I have to fight my smirk.
“You alright, Lucia?” Knox asks, taking note of the tension in her face.
“Yep!” she replies, voice high and strained. “Doing great.”
If she’s doing great, that means I’m not teasing her enough.
Lucia sinks her teeth into her bottom lip as I increase the speed.
“You sure you’re good, Luc?” Lane looks at her with concern.
“Totally fine,” she says with a dismissive wave.
She looks relieved when the guys let it go.
So, I turn it up a notch again.
This time, she lets out the slightest whimper and grabs my thigh under the table.
She’s getting close.
I immediately turn it off.
Lucia digs her nails into my thigh in frustration, and I just smile at her.
“Anyone need another beer?” she asks, standing up quickly. “I need another beer.”
“I’ll take one,” I answer, downing the rest of the beer I have currently.
The rest of the guys turn down her offer, and she walks over to the bar.
As soon as she steps in front of it, I hit the button again.
Lucia whips her head around and stares daggers at me, and I wink at her as I turn the vibrations higher.
She crosses her legs and drums her nails against the bartop to keep herself busy as I continue to torture her.
I turn back to my conversation with the guys for a few moments before peeking at her again over my shoulder. She’s got a death grip on the bar now, so I hit the button again.
Lucia throws her head back, and I imagine she’s groaning at the second orgasm I’ve denied her since we got to Tipsy Turtle.
I chuckle and let her be. I’ll mess with her more when she comes back over.
“So,” Cole says, gaze directed at me, “why are you really happy right now?”
I shrug. “What Lucia said. My career is going well, and I’m having fantastic sex.”
Knox levels me with a look. “You expect us to believe that it has nothing to do with Lucia?”
“It obviously has something to do with her,” I smirk. “She is the one I’m having fantastic sex with.”
“You know what we fucking mean,” Lane states.
“It’s more than the sex, and you know it,” Josh adds.
I sigh.