Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
HAYDEN
Dinner turned out to be surprisingly fun.
Between Ivy filling any silence with her usual chatter and Sylvia sharing stories of me as a girl and stories of Micah in the time she’d lived beside him—most of the stories embarrassing as hell—there hadn’t been a single lull in the conversation.
I laughed almost as much as I had the night Micah and I first met.
I managed to find out more about Micah as we ate.
I learned he’d been with the Hope Valley Police Department since the start of his career as a police officer over thirteen years ago.
I learned his drive to become law enforcement came from his father, who was a cop in Richmond, but he preferred the slower pace of a smaller town and had left the city specifically for this job.
The better I got to know him, the more I liked him.
He was funny and down-to-earth, and he didn’t seem to mind that my baby girl had latched onto him like a suction cup.
But that was part of the problem. It wasn’t just about wanting to strip him naked and climb him like a jungle gym.
That attraction I’d felt the very first night, the one that hadn’t faded even while we were fighting, was there in spades, only now it was more intense, because I was getting glimpses of the real man beneath the surface.
He loved his job, he cared about the people in this town, and he was loyal to his friends and family.
That was a side of him I’d never seen before, and damn if it didn’t make him even more attractive.
When dinner wrapped up, he offered to help clean, but I quickly shooed him out of the kitchen to join Sylvia and Ivy in the garden while I took care of everything.
Truth was, I needed a few minutes to myself to get my head straight. I was discombobulated and off balance. As I washed the dishes by hand, scrubbing the hell out of the baked-on cheese in the casserole dish, I practiced my yoga breathing, hoping to find my center, as Sylvia would say.
I’d almost gotten myself there when a hand came down on my shoulder, scaring a yelp from me and making me jump around, slinging sudsy water all over the place. “Holy shit,” I exclaimed, placing a wet hand over my heart to keep it from beating out of my chest. “You scared the hell out of me.”
“Sorry about that,” Micah said, holding his hands up in surrender. “I thought you heard me.” One corner of his mouth curled up in a smirk. “So how much do you owe the swear jar?”
“Real funny,” I deadpanned, turning back to the casserole dish. “Do you need something?”
“Nope. I was just wonderin’ what was taking so long. Then I saw you scrubbin’ that dish like you were trying to get a genie to pop out of it or something. Didn’t even hear me call your name.”
“Oh. Uh . . . yeah. Um, baked-on cheese is a real bitch. If you don’t get it all off the pan right away, you might as well buy a new one.”
“Well, I think it’s safe to say you got it all.”
I looked down at the dish that was now so clean it was practically sparkling beneath the soapy water. “Oh.”
“You good, Red?”
Was I? He wasn’t standing close, but I was still able to smell his intoxicating scent, and that was enough to make my body react. Goosebumps had broken out across my skin, my pulse was thrumming, and my breasts felt heavy, my nipples tightening to stiff peaks beneath my bra.
“Mmmhmm,” I hummed, keeping my eyes on the sink as I pulled the plug and turned on the water to rinse the stupid dish. “Just finishing up here. I’ll be right out. You need another beer? I’ll bring one out for you in—”
The rest of the sentence got stuck in my throat when Micah’s chest pressed into my back and his arm came around my front, taking the dish from my hands and dropping it back into the sink before shutting off the water.
I spun around in surprise and had to lean way back in order to look up at him. I’d forgotten just how big he was. Big enough to make me feel small and protected. Damn it, Hayden! Get your head in the game. “What are you—?”
“What’s the deal, Red?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You come over to my place and apologize, invite me to dinner, then act like I’m a walking case of typhoid. What was all that stuff about earlier? Was it just bullshit?”
“No! Of course not!” He was standing so close. Too close. “Could you maybe take a step back?”
He moved, but only to brace his palms on the edge of the sink beside my hips. “Then what’s with the avoidance?”
His gorgeous face and clear green eyes were all I could see. His musky, manly smell invaded my senses. “I’m not avoiding you, I swear.”
“Bullshit.”
“Micah, please.” My chest was beginning to heave. “Please just step back.”
“Not a chance. Not until you tell me what the fuck is goin’ on with you.”
I tried to keep my eyes from straying, but they drifted down to his mouth and those perfect, plump lips of their own accord. Just staring at them made the skin on the back of my neck prickle. My tongue peeked out to swipe over my bottom lip before I pulled it between my teeth and bit down.
A deep rumble worked its way from Micah’s chest, giving me a start, and when my gaze flew back up to his, I knew I was busted.
“Ah. I see what the issue is.”
“Micah,” I said on a breathy whisper. “Move back.” A gasp was ripped from my throat when he closed the last remaining inches between us, pressing his body against mine from hip to chest, the unmistakable impression of his steely erection prodding into my belly.
My body jolted at the feel of it, an electric shock zipping its way through my limbs and coming to a stop at my core.
“You still want me,” he murmured, the green in his eyes darkening as his pupils expanded. “That’s it, isn’t it? You want me, and it’s freaking you out.”
“No, I-I don’t—That’s not . . .” I let out a tiny growl of frustration. “Please move. I can’t think when you’re this close.”
Instead of giving me space, he lowered his head, dragging the tip of his nose along the column of my neck until my whole body shivered against his. “What if I told you I still want you?”
Ah hell. There was only so much strength one woman was expected to possess. “We can’t do this,” I insisted, but the fight sounded weak, even to my own ears. “It’s not smart.”
Screw smart! That little devil shouted. Think of all the orgasms!
He made his way up, trailing his nose along my jawline and cheekbone before bringing his lips to mine, hovering millimeters away so they gently brushed against mine as he asked, “What would you do if I kissed you right now?” He knew what he was doing.
He knew how to tease so damn well I felt like I was about to come apart.
“Would you push me away or kiss me back?”
“I—” didn’t have a freaking clue. “This is too messy, Micah. We’re neighbors.”
“And apparently, I’m your kid’s new best friend,” he said, humor laced through his words. “But I don’t give a shit. You’re still the best I’ve ever fuckin’ had, and I’m dying for more.”
“B-But . . . we hate each other.”
“If I recall, those words never came outta my mouth, Red.”
He was right. “Well, no, b-but . . . I hate you.” I was so turned on, I couldn’t even make that lie sound believable.
His chest shook on a low, raspy chuckle. He knew as well as I did, that I was completely full of shit. “You can hate me all you want, Hayden. Just as long as you come undone for me again and again, the way you did in that hotel room.”
My panties were soaked, my nipples throbbed, and my pussy pulsated, wanting him almost to the point of desperation. I was about to close the last remaining bit of space between us, sealing his lips with mine, when my daughter’s voice carried in from outside. “Mommy! Can I have a popsicle?”
Micah and I flew apart like our bodies had given each other an electric shock. The spell was shattered, the air around us, humid and thick with lust only a second ago, now felt chilled.
“Uh, yeah, love bug,” I shouted back so she could hear me through the closed back door.
“Be right out.” Moving as far away from Micah as possible, I opened the freezer and pulled out a popsicle, hovering in the open door for a few seconds to let the cold slap against my cheeks and cool the heat that had built inside me.
When I had no choice but to turn around, Micah was right where I’d left him, watching me like a hawk might watch its prey.
“What just happened here, or almost happened, or . . .” I shook my head to piece my thoughts together.
“Whatever that was. It can’t happen again.
Not when we’re living right next door to each other. It isn’t smart.”
He moved in, taking the popsicle from my hand and bending low so his face was all I could see. “You might be right, Red. But smart or not, we’re inevitable, so you may as well wrap your head around that now.”
With that, he turned on his boot and headed out the back door, taking my daughter her popsicle while I tried to get my knees to work.
Micah
Lying on my back, legs spread, one knee bent, my hips lifted off the mattress as my grip tightened around my aching cock.
My hand moved faster up and down the shaft as images of Hayden flashed across my eyelids like a slide show.
Images of her smiling, of her full, pouty bottom lip glistening from where she’d just licked it.
The way her eyes glazed over as she stared at my mouth.
Pre-cum leaked from the tip, making my hand slicker as I jacked myself harder, twisting my wrist each time I reached the swollen, purple crown. I was so close, but I didn’t want to blow just yet. I wanted to make this last as long as possible.
The pictures of Hayden shifted, going back to that night. I let out a grunt as I remembered how tight her pussy had squeezed me. When I recalled the little mewling sounds of desperation she made as she clamped down tighter around me, my eyes rolled back in my skull.
I hadn’t been lying when I told her she was the best I’d ever had, and weeks upon weeks of coming from my own hand to the memory of one . . . fucking . . . night were proof of that.
I pictured her mouth as her lips formed around my name, the way her eyes widened for just a second before falling to half-mast every time an orgasm washed over her. I imagined I could feel her nails digging into my skin and raking down my back.
And that was as long as I could hold off.
On a groan, I went off, shooting all over my hand and stomach.
I came until I was out of breath, until stars danced in front of my vision.
Each time I thought I was finished, my dick would twitch and leak more cum until my balls were completely drained from nothing more than a goddamn memory.
That was how good she’d been. And that was why I’d laid it out for her earlier. I hadn’t been bluffing when I told her we were inevitable. If I had to handcuff her to my bed to keep her from running, I would have her again. And again. And a-fucking-gain.
A minute later, still feeling breathless, I got up and shuffled into the bathroom to clean myself up. Once I finished, I pulled my underwear back on and fell into bed.
After the exhausting day I’d had, coupled with a good meal and a release that nearly made my head explode, it didn’t take me long to find sleep. And for the first time in what felt like an eternity, when I crashed that night, I did it hard and uninterrupted.