Chapter 24
CHAPTER 24
ALEX
I open Elliot’s door, looking in on him as he sleeps on his side. His forearm has a small bandage with a splint, but it didn’t require a cast. He breathes softly. I smile, thinking about how he led the way with the fun in the hospital, how brave he was, and how much closer he brought me to my girl.
Something magical happens, too. As I stand here, it’s like I can let go of the unfair resentment I’ve clung to since the crash, since the affair, since all that pain. I’m able to be a proud uncle-slash-guardian-slash-father figure.
Closing the door softly, I go to the front window. The security car flashes its lights at me, letting me know everything is as it should be. I’m restless and pacing despite the day’s events, knowing that I should probably try to get some sleep before work tomorrow.
My shift starts at ten. It’s already one thirty. But I can’t sleep as I think about last night, the date, the dinner, my woman in her mouthwateringly stunning dress.
When we said goodbye this evening, I felt her clinging to me as though she wanted to stay, as if she didn’t want to let me go. But then she pushed herself away like she was forcing herself.
Does she still think we have any chance of being distant and casual?
When my phone buzzes, I grab it up quickly, feeling like an overeager teenager. But screw it. I’m done pretending her texts don’t mean a lot to me. They make my day.
Tori: I know you won’t get this until tomorrow morning, but I just wanted to say, Alex, that last night meant something to me. The date was incredible, the beach after is something I’ll never forget, and, as weird as it sounds, even the hospital was nice.
Alex: That doesn’t sound weird at all. Pretending to be Elliot’s parents was funny and touching.
Tori: Do you ever sleep?
I smirk, walking to the back door and onto the porch, looking out at the ocean. About twenty feet away is the rock formation where Elliot often leaves his bike. I’ve got no cameras that far out, but the fact that the wheel was loose has my hackles raised.
Would Damien do that? Loosen a kid’s bike wheel? Then again, it’s not like he hasn’t done worse.
Alex: Before I met a specific poet, I slept like a baby. But now I can’t stop thinking about the date, the kiss, the hunger I feel every time I touch you.
Tori: Hunger, huh? Are you a vampire?
Alex: Judging by how I was biting you earlier, I think I might be.
Tori: Don’t start talking about that. You’ll make me go crazy all over again.
Alex: The way you were moaning had me going crazy. It was so damn beautiful, my virgin, voluptuous Valentine.
Tori: I need to think of a nickname for you. How does ‘sexy surgeon’ sound?
Alex: Haha, I could get used to that, though I’ve never thought of myself as sexy.
Tori: What? Have you ever looked in a mirror?
Alex: I’ve never given a damn about how I look. I know how that sounds—like a load of bull—but it’s true. I work out because I like how it makes my body feel, stay relatively clean-shaven because I don’t like the feeling of stubble, and keep my hair trimmed because it’s better for work.
Tori: Well, let me express serious gratitude for all those factors. Because, newsflash, my sexy surgeon… you’re a hunk.
I laugh.
Alex: If that means you’re going to moan for me like you can’t take it anymore, then call me any damn thing you want.
My manhood stirs, my body growing hot even when the relatively cool night air whispers against me.
Tori: You seriously need to stop.
Alex: Why’s that? Why do you want me to stop telling you that trailing my tongue up and down your petals is all I can think about? Why do you want me to pretend I’m not obsessing over your round, creamy ass? I want to bend you over, stroke my hands over your roundness, bring my swollen end to your hole and thrust inside, feel your wetness kiss me.
Tori: You’re getting me wild.
Alex: Wild, how?
My balls are flooding, my length burning with heat.
Tori: Wild like I’m thinking about asking you something I wouldn’t have dreamed of before.
Alex: If you’re thinking of asking me to arrange a ride for you here, you better ask me before I go ahead and do it anyway.
Tori: Whoa, are you a mind reader?
I smirk.
Alex: When it comes to you, I’m becoming one.
Tori: Maybe I’ll just leave it in your hands.
Alex: I’ve already decided. I’m going to tell your security detail to give you a ride here. I’d come to you—I’d run across the damn city if that’s what it took—but I can’t leave Elliot.
Tori: I get that. You’re a good dad. Sorry—uncle. That was a genuine typo.
It probably was, but it doesn’t change how her text makes me feel. Before she came along, I sometimes wondered if I’d find a woman to have kids with or a woman I’d care about enough.
Tori: What should I wear?
Fuck, that question makes me ache. I reach down and grind my hand up and down the front of my pants, my manhood throbbing, trying to break free.
Alex: You could wear full ski gear, and you’d still be the sexiest woman I’ve ever laid my eyes on.
Tori: Okay, charmer, but what do you want me to wear, huh?
Alex: Something I can tear off easily.
Tori: I’m not going to lie. I’m nervous AF about doing this, but I’m also excited too.
I’ve worked myself into a frenzy by the time she arrives, my body burning, my steel so solid it’s soaking my underwear with precome. I open the front door, and she slips inside wearing a jacket that cuts just above her knees.
She takes a few steps, looking around the living room, then turns to me and opens her jacket. “So…” She bites down nervously. “What do you think?”
I stare at my Valentine in her bra and underwear. Both are lacy and purple, the bra pushing her large mounds together, creating a view of sumptuous torture that has me pulsing and aching all over.
I stumble forward, feeling like I’m in a dream.
“Oh, fuck,” I murmur.