23. Miles
Chapter 23
Miles
I forgot how much I hate being alone in this apartment until I woke up this morning, freezing as fuck in my bed, all alone.
When I got back from helping Trevor last night, it was late. I was hoping Stella would still be out with Sawyer, or at least awake because I had grabbed flowers and champagne to surprise her so we could celebrate. I was serious when I told her that, so I was a little bummed when I came home and found that she was asleep…in her room.
I mean, it’s not like we’d talked about our sleeping arrangements. I guess I had just assumed that she would go to my bed even if I wasn’t there, since that’s how it had been every other night. I guess those nights were a little different since we were hanging out together beforehand, so we just sort of gravitated that way together when it was bedtime.
This isn’t a feeling I’m used to, the feeling of missing someone when she’s gone, even when you saw her just a few hours before. I hated the feeling of sadness I felt when I woke up and saw the spot she slept in the night before empty and cold, which is why I’ve spent the last couple of hours upstairs in the gym, working off whatever frustrations I could manage.
When did I become the guy who missed a woman so much it physically hurt?
And more importantly, when did Stella become the girl that I no longer felt I could live without?
Fuck. I really need this engagement party over with so I can talk to Rex. I’m tired of hiding my feelings for her, even if I’m only just realizing the full extent of them myself.
Thankfully, her shift at the bakery is over, but I forced myself to run another mile before I could go down there so that I could give her some time to unwind before I bombarded her with my need for attention. It’s cute when it’s a puppy acting that way, not a grown-ass man who plays hockey for a living, so I do my best to take it down a notch.
When I finally make my way back down to the apartment, I find Stella already in the kitchen baking, a cute little apron on while chopping strawberries, yet again. She’s tried so many different variations of strawberry cupcakes, but it hasn’t quite been perfected yet.
I thought she was going to land on a strawberry lemonade cupcake that she made a couple of days ago, but she said it wasn’t hitting the spot. After that, I think she tried a strawberry cheesecake, strawberry shortbread, strawberry shortcake, and a dozen other strawberry varieties. I think today she’s trying to make strawberry cupcakes with a sweet strawberry frosting, and with how much I love strawberries, my fingers are crossed this will be the winner.
“Hey,” I say as I walk into the kitchen, setting down my gym bag before walking over to where she’s standing at the counter.
Wrapping my arms around her, I gently pull her back into me. I don’t need her getting all crazy with that knife she’s wielding.
“I missed you,” I tell her, and I feel her body stiffen for a moment before she sets down the knife, finally relaxing into my hold.
Weird.
“Hi, Miles,” she says quietly.
“When I got home last night you were asleep…in your bed,” I grumble, pouting like a petulant child, but I have zero regrets.
“Yeah?” she says nervously. “Where else would I have been?”
“My bed?” I growl, turning her to face me. “What’s with the attitude today, baby?”
She quickly turns back away from me as tears well in her eyes. I hear her sniffling softly as she wipes away her tears before reaching for the strawberries and the knife, but that’s when I finally stop her again.
“What’s going on?”
“I figured you’d had enough fun last night that I could take the night off of being your fucktoy,” she snaps, and I feel her words slap me across the face.
“What are you talking about Stella? You’re not—you’ve never been just a fucktoy to me,” I plead. Standing next to Stella, I watch her, seeing the sadness in her eyes, watching the lone tear roll down her cheek, and it kills me. She still won’t look at me. “Where is this even coming from? I was out last night with Trevor, helping him, then on the way back I stopped at the store—for you.”
Walking to the other side of the kitchen, I open the cabinet below and pull out the flowers, already in a vase, before grabbing the bottle of champagne from the fridge and setting them next to her.
“I was later than usual because I went everywhere I could to find hydrangeas because I remembered they were your favorite flowers, and for some reason the place we went to today had every damn flower under the sun except hydrangeas. Plus, I got champagne because I wanted to celebrate you and how much work you’ve put into the Nashville bakery, and the fact that you have an opening date in two weeks…that’s amazing,” I plead, hoping she sees the truth in my words and doesn’t think I was out doing anything with anyone else. “Baby, please believe me!”
“That’s not what my brother said,” she grumbles.
“What the fuck did Rex say?” I snap, annoyance at his meddling, even if unintentional.
“He said the only time he couldn’t get ahold of you in the past was when you were getting your dick sucked. Since you didn’t answer, he said that’s where you were.”
“Jesus, Stell. Your brother is an idiot who thinks any time one of us isn’t answering the phone it’s because we’re getting our dick sucked—he’s made that joke since the first year I met him. That being said, the real reason I didn’t answer his phone call was because I was at the flower shop ordering flowers for his engagement party, and we wanted them to be a surprise.”
She still doesn't look at me, her hands moving back to the mixer like she's on autopilot, little sniffles slipping out every once in a while as she stands there measuring out flour, sugar, and things in canisters I've never seen before. But all I can do is hope she listens to me, and—just maybe—she will believe me.
“Stella, talk to me,” I plead, my voice breaking as the reality that she might not believe me starts to set in.
“Pass me the strawberries in the yellow bowl,” she says, pointing to a bowl with her knife.
Doing as she asks, I bring them to her as she continues adding things to the mixer until she has a pink cake mix that looks delicious enough to eat with a spoon. Her movements are stiff, almost robotic, as she moves to grab the muffin tins which must already be prepped, and she starts portioning out the cupcakes until we have a dozen pink cupcakes popped in the oven to be baked.
They. Look. Delicious.
While she moves to a bowl with fluffy pink frosting in it, I stand frozen, wondering how I can prove to her that I’m telling her the truth. I grab the bottle of champagne and two glasses, pouring us each one. After stealing two of her sliced strawberries to garnish the glasses, I walk back over to Stella and pass her the glass, ready to take a risk and just hoping she allows it.
“Thank you,” she mumbles as she takes the glass, drinking half of it in one gulp.
“Look at me,” I say as she continues working, looking anywhere but at me until I step closer, pressing my body against her back as I pin her against the counter. “I'm talking to you, baby, and I don't like when you don't look at me,” I plead.
Her body freezes as she spins around, her back against the counter, and looks at me. “Yes?”
“Much better,” I purr, lifting her chin slightly, tapping on her bottom lip with my index finger. “Open.”
She obliges, and I place her glass against her lips, pouring more of the sweet champagne down her throat. Swallowing greedily, she watches me, licking her lips, teasing me, while still not actually talking to me.
Bringing both hands up to cup her face, I look into her eyes, internally begging her to listen to me. Dropping my hands to her waist, I lift her gently and set her down on the counter, my hands never leaving her as I drop my forehead down to hers.
“Stella, you can't believe your brother. But unless we want to steal their thunder, we should wait until after the engagement party next week before telling him. I don't want Sawyer kicking me in the dick for ruining their party,” I tell her, hoping she believes me.
“I hated hearing him say that. Especially because he said he overheard Trevor talking to you about a girl.”
“Fuck,” I say, snapping back, thinking how Trevor and I were talking about a girl when he got a phone call, only the girl happened to be her. “So, remember how we talked about not telling people? Yeah, uh…Trevor knows.”
“What the fuck, Miles. Out of everyone in this world, you tell my brother’s best friend of what…a fucking century?”
“That’s a little dramatic, don’t ya think?” I say, hoping to lighten the mood, but she just glares.
“No, Miles. I don’t think it’s dramatic to say that telling Trevor was probably the worst idea in the world.”
“Let’s just say he’s been keeping this secret longer than we both realized, so we’re probably safe.”
“What do you mean by that?” she asks, but I just wave her off.
“Don’t worry about that right now—we can talk about it later. I just don’t want you to worry because it’s fine. He knows we are going to talk to Rex after the party.”
“Miles…this feels like a lot. It feels too risky now with him knowing.”
“Stell, it’s you, me, and Trevor. We can keep it in our tiny little bubble for just a bit longer, and then we will talk to Rex.”
“About that… So last night it kind of came out, and Sawyer sort of knows.”
“Sawyer knows, or she sort of knows? I don’t understand,” I tell her. Fuck…it was one thing with Trevor, but Sawyer?
But it is Sawyer, and she really isn’t a huge gossip…not when it comes to us at least. She loves everyone in our group, and she really does want us all to be happy. If she knows that Stella and I are seeing each other, she’d probably keep it a secret because she likes things to work out for us, and she’s been giving me a hard time about settling down.
“She knows, but not the nitty-gritty details. She saw my Nashville board when we were looking for ideas for the engagement party. And well, she started asking questions and one thing led to another, and I sort of accidentally said the word ‘we’ when I mentioned going to Nashville. Then, she put it all together and let’s just say…she was fucking excited.”
“And you’re not worried about her telling Rex? Her fiancé?” I ask, unsure why we’re worried about Trevor but for some reason we aren’t worried about Sawyer.
“Nah, she’s a good secret keeper, especially because she’s well aware of just how overprotective my brother can be, so she won’t want to bring that on.”
“Then what are we stressing about?” I ask, leaning in to press a kiss to her neck, grabbing the glass of champagne next to her.
“I don’t know,” she whispers, her eyes locked on my mouth.
“Wanna get messy, baby?” I whisper as I move back to that tender spot right below her ear. The little spot that drives her crazy when I kiss it while I’m buried inside of her.
Yeah, that spot drives me a little crazy, too.
She nods, squirming as she sits on the edge of the counter, her legs on either side of me as I do my best to hold her in place, my hands gripping her waist as I undo her apron, slipping it over her head and tossing it aside.
“Then we’re going to have to get you out of this,” I say as I tug on her t-shirt. “And into something a little more revealing.”
Without another word, she pulls her t-shirt off, tossing it over my shoulder onto the ground.
“How’s this?” she rasps out, her eyes locked on mine as she looks at me.
“Close…but not quite,” I tell her, my fingers sliding up her body, brushing gently along her collarbone as I slip both straps of her bra off her shoulders. Moving to her back, I unhook her bra until she’s sitting on my counter, topless.
Goddamn, I knew she was the best thing I’d ever eaten in my kitchen; I just didn’t expect to get to experience the delicacy again so soon.
“Fuck, baby. You look exquisite up here on my counter. To hell with the cupcakes—I want to eat you .” I groan as I stare down at her, her rosy nipples peaked, just begging to be played with, but there’s other things I want to do first. “Lift up,” I command, tapping her thighs.
She obliges immediately, and I slide her shorts and panties off, leaving her completely bare on the counter. Grabbing the glass of champagne, I take a drink before leaning in and kissing Stella, passing the champagne between our lips as she moans into my mouth. Stepping back, I gently push on her shoulder until she’s lounging back, her body on the counter, laid out perfectly for me.
“Fuck, Stell, you’re beautiful,” I praise her, my finger trailing over her skin, tracing a path from her navel up to her collarbone, her eyes watching my every move. With the glass of champagne in my other hand, I tip it over her body, sending a cascade of bubbles down her breasts until it pools at her navel before finally sending a trail of champagne down her core.
My tongue follows the same path until finally lapping up the last drop down her center. Setting the glass down, I grip both of her thighs and spread them, leaving her wide open on the counter for me as I lick and suck, tasting every drop of her as she squirms against my hold, her moans getting more desperate with every passing touch.
“Miles, fuck,” she whimpers as my lips surround her clit, sucking and licking as I slide a finger into her tight, pulsing cunt, squeezing me as I work it slowly in and out of her. “More.”
“More what, baby?” I ask, pulling back enough to see her looking down at me, her pupils blown, eyes wild.
“I want to come Miles,” she pleads.
“Like this?” I ask, reaching for the glass of champagne again, pouring the rest down her body, drinking it all up as it slides past her clit.
“Yes,” she hisses.
Standing up, I grab the strawberry from her glass, taking a bite before leaning down and pressing our lips together. She moans against my mouth as she opens, letting my tongue slide against hers, the taste of her sweet lips, the champagne, and the strawberry all mingling together, creating the sweetest concoction I’ve tasted in my life.
Breaking the kiss, I drop back down to my knees and immediately bury my face between her legs, licking, sucking, tasting, until she’s a writhing mess, the intensity building as I slide in my finger, adding a second this time.
I vaguely hear the sound of a knock on the door, but I ignore it. Unless the building is on fire, it can wait.
“Don’t…stop,” she pleads, her voice shaky, and I can tell she’s close.
Gently teasing her clit, I nip and suck as I angle my fingers just right, hitting that spot deep inside that I know has her seeing stars. The second she screams, I hear the front door open.
Fuck my life.
Thankfully it catches on the chain, only allowing the door to open a few inches.
“Please don’t stop, Miles…I’m so close,” she whines, so I ignore the door, remaining focused on the woman laid out before me as I go back to making her scream loud enough that I’m sure half my building could hear.
That is…until the person at the door speaks.
“Miles, I know you’re in here.”
I freeze, recognizing Rex’s voice.
Fuck .
I pull back, but before I can stand up, Stella’s hands move to my hair, tugging me back between her legs.
“Don’t. Stop.”
“But—”
“Miles, please,” she begs, and that’s all I needed to hear before I’m back to devouring Stella, all while her brother yells at me from the front door. Thankfully he must hear us because he stops talking all at once.
I don’t care to look though; that’s a problem for another day. I vaguely hear the door click shut as Stella falls apart, screaming through an orgasm as her legs squeeze against my face as she squirms against my hold.
“Now hold still baby. I’m not stopping until you give me one more.”