20. Bishop
bishop
. . .
My cock was straining against my jeans as Lennox pressed play on the second film. In fact, it’d been hard since I saw her standing in my office doorway wearing a sleepy smile and long legs on display.
I’d never considered myself a leg guy, but I couldn’t stop staring at Lennox’s. She constantly fidgeted, causing her muscles to ripple beneath her tanned skin. There were a few scars from accidents over the years—some I remembered and some I wanted to explore.
We’d started out with an arm’s length of space between us, but Lennox had been right; her damn dog hogged the fuck outta the couch. Our bodies had been touching for the past hour. I felt every single twitch she made, every small sigh, or scared gasp.
At one point, she’d screamed and gripped my thigh so hard that it nearly took my breath away.
Not because it’d hurt, but because I was surprised by how much I liked it.
And then I’d started thinking about what it would be like for her to slide her hand up to my cock, for her to stroke and squeeze me until I felt like I was ready to come in my goddamn pants from a daydream like a teenager .
It didn’t matter what I thought about—apparently, reciting football teams didn’t work like they said it did in movies—I was still rock fucking hard.
I laid one of her fluffy pillows in my lap to hide the bulge threatening to break free, hoping it would be enough to keep her from asking too many questions.
After the first movie ended, I should’ve called it a night and walked home.
It was late enough. We both had work tomorrow, and it sure as hell would’ve made me feel like less of a creep.
But here we were.
“You’re good to start the second one, right?” Lennox asked, snuggling into the couch. She reached for the blanket that’d fallen to the floor earlier and draped it across her body. “I know it’s late.”
“Yeah, it’s fine,” I said, laying my arm along the back of the couch. I tried to convince myself it was comfortable, but it wasn’t. The angle was all wrong and way too high. It did, however, mean that every now and then, when one of us moved, my fingertips grazed her shoulder.
I’d call that a win.
“You sure?” she asked, raising her brows. “I know how grumpy you are on a normal day. I shudder to think what you’re like sleep deprived.”
I snorted. “You’ve seen me running on a couple hours of sleep more times than you think.”
“Is that the secret?” Lennox turned to face me, plopping her hands in her lap. Her knees brushed my thigh. “You’re just always running on E?”
“Naw, killer. I’m just a dick who is easily annoyed. I can’t stand ninety-five percent of the people I’m surrounded by.”
“Five percent are in your good graces? They must be important. Who makes the cut?” Lennox looked so eager. I didn’t know how she had so much energy all the time. It was almost exhausting .
Yet another reminder of the thirteen years between us. She was so young and had her whole life ahead of her, and I was an old bastard set in my ways.
I shifted under her gaze. My arm dropped lower, skimming her shoulder. “I don’t have a list. I was just pulling numbers outta my ass.”
“But there has to be a list. Like, if you were trapped on a desert island and could bring any five people with you, who would they be?”
A question like that wouldn’t stump most people, but I wasn’t most people. I didn’t have anyone who didn’t already belong to someone else. No one for me to put first or vice versa. It felt pathetic to admit that.
“Are we gonna watch this movie?” I asked, trying to change the subject.
Lennox pushed out her lower lip in a pout. “Why won’t you tell me?”
“Why does it matter?”
“Because I want to get to know you,” she said matter-of-factly.
“You’ve known me damn near your whole life. I’d say you know more than most,” I sighed.
“But I don’t know you, know you. Like I don’t know what your favorite color is?—”
“Red.”
“—Or if you prefer sweet or savory foods?—”
“Always savory. Sweets upset my stomach.”
This time, she reached out, placed her hand on my chest, and gave me a small shove. “Okay, smartass, can you let me finish a sentence?”
I waited to see if she’d move, but she didn’t. Her touch lingered, fingers absentmindedly fiddling with the buttons of my shirt. If I was smart, I’d have told her it wasn’t a good idea to touch me, that I was barely holding onto my restraint as it was, but she didn’t need to know that.
And selfishly, I liked the way it felt.
“I’m just telling you the things you said you wanna know,” I said, peering down at her.
“What if I wanna know everything?” Her large blue eyes scanned my face, slowly dropping to my lips before flicking back up. She was holding steady in a taunt, a fucking temptation I was close to giving into.
I dropped my arm, pinning myself between her body and the couch. She glanced down at the spot my hand rested on her waist. I toyed with the hem of her t-shirt, slipping beneath the fabric when she didn’t object.
“I’ll tell you anything you wanna know,” I answered honestly. “As long as you ask. I’m just not that good at talking about myself. Not much interesting there.”
Lennox shifted forward, letting her fingers drift along my skin. She trailed them through my chest hair, watching and waiting for me to tell her to stop.
I didn’t have it in me anymore.
It was a horrible idea—truly terrible—but I couldn’t stop myself. I didn’t care about all the ‘what ifs’ and ‘shouldn’ts’ tonight. For the first time in my life, I wanted to be selfish.
“I dunno about that,” she whispered. “I think you’re kind of terrifying.”
“Terrifying?” She nodded. “I didn’t think there was anything that could terrify you.”
“Not much does,” she said, and there was an undeniable hint of honesty in her voice. “I’ve always been what people call ‘reckless and irresponsible.’ I’d call it fearless, but…”
“But?”
Lennox licked her lips, and I ached for her touch. To know what it would feel like to have her swirl her tongue around my tip and? —
“But you scare me more than anything. I can’t stop thinking about you, and it’s—I don’t know—it’s fucking me up.
If I’m not thinking about how infuriating your snarky little comments are or trying to convince myself that giving in would be a cataclysmic mistake, I’m thinking about what it would be like to kiss you and?—”
Lennox didn’t finish her sentence. I didn’t let her. Before I knew it, my mouth was on hers, and we were moving. I clung to her waist, gripping it tighter as she swung her leg over, trying to straddle me.
“Lennox…” I breathed, but she wasn’t listening.
“Stupid penis pillow,” she mumbled, yanking it from my lap and throwing it across the room.
Penis pillow?
But then she was on top of me, grinding down onto my hard length in a way that was downright pornographic.
Fuck. It was better than I ever imagined.
Her lips came down hungrily on mine, tongues eagerly exploring one another until we were consumed. She groaned into my mouth as my fingers dug into her hips. I hoped they bruised. I hope she left this loft with my fucking mark imprinted on her skin.
Lennox breathed my name as I pulled myself away to place slow, languid kisses along her jawline. Her skin was just as sweet as I remembered, and like a man starved, I devoured her.
Her hands slid from my shirt and up my shoulders until they were wound in my hair, pulling me closer. She tipped her head back, letting me run my tongue along the column of her neck.
“Fuck, killer… You taste so good,” I whispered, letting a low groan loose as she moved her hips. Shit, now I really was going to come in my pants. “You gotta slow down.”
“What?” she mumbled, pulling back just enough to look down at my pained expression. “Oh my god, don’t tell me you don’t want this now. Don’t go back on your word and?— ”
I brought my hand between us, wrapping it around her neck and lightly squeezing so she stopped talking. “Did I say I was going back on my word?” I growled, enjoying the way her eyes widened in surprise. She melted into my touch. So pliant. So fucking beautiful.
Lennox shook her head, and I leaned in. “I just needed you to stop grinding that perfect pussy on me because I am so close to embarrassing myself.”
She glanced down between us, a devious smile spreading across her lips. “Bishop Bryant, are you gonna come in your pants?” Her hips rolled again, and I bit back a moan. “You flatter me.”
I squeezed tighter. “You’re a fucking brat.”
“Tell me something I don’t know, Bish.”
“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since that night in the bar,” I said, leaning in to kiss her. “Haven’t been able to stop wondering if you only came home with me because you were drunk or if you really wanted to. Haven’t?—”
“I didn’t get sick because I was drunk,” she panted. “I stopped drinking after you whispered all those dirty words in my ear because I wanted to remember everything.”
I furrowed my brows, and I dropped my hand to her waist. There was no way she’d sobered up. I remembered her clinging to her beer like it was a lifeline. “What? But you got sick?”
She grimaced. “Alright. Not the best topic of discussion in the middle of a hookup, but I guess we might as well get it out of the way. So, you know how we picked up Taco Bell on the way home? Cleo and I had been starving because neither of us had really eaten that day. I’d scarfed down three soft tacos, but she’d said hers had tasted funny and didn’t finish. ”
Oh no.
“Apparently, I should’ve followed her cue because the tacos combined with leftover alcohol on an empty stomach had my gag reflex kicking in, and… Well, let’s just say they weren’t a great combination.”
“You weren’t drunk?”
“I hadn’t had a drop of liquor in over two hours by the time we got home,” she said. “I was perfectly in control of myself”—she leaned in and pressed a kiss to my left cheek—“and my actions”—another kiss on the right—“and my desires…” This time, she gently pressed her lips to mine.
“What about now?” I asked breathlessly.
Lennox smirked, circling her hips in a slow taunt. “No alcohol in sight.”
I quirked a brow. “What about tacos? Should I have a hazmat suit on hand?”
“Haven’t touched them in four months—which is truly a travesty because they used to be one of my favorite foods.”
Lennox ran her hands up her thighs, looking up through long lashes as she gripped the hem of her shirt. I sucked in a sharp breath as she slowly—so fucking slowly—lifted the fabric over her head and let it fall to the floor.
“Christ, killer…” I whispered, running my gaze across her nearly naked body. “You’re fucking gorgeous.”
Even though it was dark, I didn’t miss the blush creeping across her cheeks.
She smiled, preening under my attention as she leaned back, putting herself on display for me.
Then she moved, rolling those fucking hips and drawing a noise out of me that I didn’t recognize.
That body would be the goddamn death of me.
“Gee, Bishop… The way you’re reacting might make a girl think you like what you see. ”
I bit out a harsh laugh, letting my hands travel up her thighs to her hips, holding her in place. “Well, you’re topless and grinding down on my dick like it’s an Olympic sport.”
Lennox’s lips parted in an O shape. “How close am I to getting a medal?”
The tingling in my spine told me she was pretty fucking close to going for gold. What the hell was wrong with me? “You’re such a brat.”
“What’re you going to do about it, old man? You gonna spank me?”
Yeah, I fucking am.
Lennox screamed as I lifted her off my lap and draped her across my knee. I ran my hand beneath the hem of her shorts, palming the plush curve of her ass. My fingers swept along the edge of her panties.
Fucking. Soaked.
I liked being in control, and I liked the thought of punishing her smart mouth and making her beg even more. Throughout my years, I’d found that some women believed they enjoyed being bratty and dominated more than they actually liked the reality of it.
But Lennox was made to smart off. She loved the way I took control, the way I promised the mixture of pain and pleasure.
“These shorts have to go,” I said, reaching for the elastic band and pulling them down her legs.
She was left in nothing but a scrap of pale pink fabric that barely covered her ass.
“Too many fucking layers.” I reached over, lifting her blonde hair out of her face.
I wanted to watch every expression flicker across her face.
“So, you are going to spank me?” she asked breathlessly, peering at me from over her shoulder.
I smiled, running my hand along the length of her spine. “I want to,” I said honestly. “I know we didn’t talk about this last time, but if this isn’t something you like…”
Lennox laughed. “Being spanked by you would be a highlight.”
“That so?”
She nodded. “I liked the things you said last time. The names and wicked promises… ”
I squeezed her ass, and she moaned. “You like the thought of being a slut for me, killer?”
And then I struck. My palm landed against her soft flesh, and the sound echoed throughout the barn. Her eyes flew open, a gasp leaving her lips as she bucked against my hold.
“Answer me,” I grit out. It was getting hard to control myself when all I wanted to do was find out how perfectly I fit inside her.
“Y—yeah,” she breathed. Her body squirmed, and I felt the heat radiating from her aching center. She wanted this. She wanted me .
“Of course you do. Your panties are soaked, and I’ve barely touched you.”
“Says the man who nearly came in his pants five minutes ago because we were making out,” she barked back.
I landed three smacks quickly, her cries going straight to my cock. “Your smartass comments have repercussions now, killer. Better watch it if you wanna be able to sit down tomorrow.”
“If it hurts, will you kiss it better?” she asked.
I raised my brows and dropped my gaze to her ass. “Oh yeah? Is that what you want?”
She bit her lip. “Maybe.”
I’d have to file that away for later because that was something I absolutely wanted to explore, but I didn’t have the patience tonight. Leaning forward, I let my fingers graze the wet spot on her underwear. She squirmed around, searching for the friction that’d ease her suffering.
“Please…”
“Please, what ? What does my little slut want?”
“God, why is that so fucking hot?” she whispered, rolling her head to the side. “You’re killing me here.”
“I’m just teasing you like you teased me. For fuck’s sake, you’ve paraded around here for months, taunting me with someone I couldn’t have, but now I’ve got you right where I want you.” I pulled her panties to the side, sucking in a breath at the sight of her glistening cunt.
Jesus Christ.
Lennox Hayes had me in the palm of her fucking hand, and she didn’t even know it.
“Please, Bishop…” she whimpered. “Touch me.”
And it was the sound of my name in that desperate fucking tone that broke the final tether of my self-control.