Chapter 23
twenty-three
. . .
Archer
Happy Birthday and Happy Valentine’s Day! I think it’s very fitting that a romance author has her birthday on Valentine’s Day.
Winnie
Thanks, Archie. I agree. And thank you for the pastry you left on my desk. You even tied a bow around it. Nice touch.
Seems wrong for you to be working on your birthday.
Winnie
I’m almost done for the day.
How’s the read-through going?
Winnie
Really good. I’ve only got a few days left. How is work today?
Slow.
Winnie and I had fallen into a routine. We were together every day with Melody.
We’d have breakfast, and she’d head into her office to work, and I’d take my daughter to school.
And then she’d pick Melody up and take her to her activities.
We’d all three have dinner together, and after I put my daughter to bed, Winnie and I would make out like horny teenagers.
Things had grown more heated, and I’d spent most of my nights going to sleep rock hard.
But we both seemed determined to keep things casual; anything more than that scared the shit out of me.
I’d grown dependent on Winnie. I looked forward to seeing her first thing in the morning.
I liked that she was the last person I spoke to before I went to bed.
I wanted her in my bed.
I wanted all of her, and I felt like a selfish prick for wanting that.
Winnie
Want to come home?
Do you want me to come home?
Winnie
I do.
On my way.
Hell, I’d do anything she asked. We just got along. Winnie Smith had somehow become my best friend over the last few months.
My best friend who I was painfully attracted to.
“Hey, Lucy,” I said as I pulled my coat on. “I’m heading out early. I’ve got some errands to run.”
“All right, boss. I’ll see you later. Tell Winnie I hope she has the best birthday,” she called after me, because everyone here adored her. She baked treats for my office once a week, and she’d stop by and see everyone.
Lucy had found out her pen name, and now she was reading her books as well.
“Will do.” I held a hand over my head, anxious to get home.
I missed this woman when I wasn’t with her.
The lines were graying, but I just didn’t give a shit about fighting it anymore.
I stopped by Emilia’s flower shop and grabbed Winnie a bouquet of pink roses, because I knew they were her favorite, and then I drove the short distance home and pulled into the garage.
When I stepped in the house, I called out her name, and I chuckled when I saw the swear jar on the counter. I could see the twenty-dollar bill through the glass that my cousin Bridger had tossed in there when he’d said “shit” three times the other night when he and Emilia had stopped by.
He’d decided to prepay in advance, as he knew he’d go through his twenty bucks fairly quickly.
“Hey,” she said as she came around the corner. She was wearing a pink sweater with red hearts on it and a pair of baggy jeans. The front of her hair was pulled away from her face, and I noticed that the bow I’d wrapped around her pastry this morning was tied in her hair. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Yeah? Me too.” I moved toward her. “Happy birthday. Melody made me promise not to give you your gift until dinner tonight.”
I wanted to say “Happy Valentine’s Day,” but my nerves got the best of me. Winnie was the woman in my life, but nobody knew it. Nobody but she and I. But I felt like I should be buying her flowers for Valentine’s Day, so that’s what these were.
“These are gorgeous. Thank you. You did not need to do that. Nor did you need to get me a gift.”
“Of course we did. It’s your big day.”
“That’s true, and you said I should always voice what I want, right?” she asked as she took the flowers from me and grabbed a vase from the cabinet and filled it with water.
“Yes. Absolutely. What’s going on?” I leaned over the kitchen island as she placed the stems in the water.
“Well, remember I said that it had been a while since I’d had sex?” She set the vase down and looked me right in the eyes. Her golden honey-brown gaze locked with mine.
“Yes.” I adjusted myself because just the mention of it had me getting hard.
Who was I kidding? Every time I was with her, I was hard as steel.
“Well, today is officially two years. Two years since I’ve had sex.
” She moved around the counter, closer to me, and crossed her arms over her chest. “I know you don’t want to cross certain lines, but I do, Archer.
I don’t want to hold back any more. And it doesn’t have to mean anything.
It can just be sex, if that’s what we need it to be. ”
She’d barely finished the sentence before I rushed her.
I’d been waiting for her to say the words.
I fucking wanted this woman in a way I couldn’t explain.
My mouth was on hers, and I lifted her off the ground, her legs wrapping around my waist.
I was a man unhinged now.
I carried her down the hall, our lips never losing contact, as I kicked the door closed behind me. I pressed her against the door before letting her feet drop to the ground.
I pulled my mouth from hers, kissing my way down her neck before dropping to my knees.
She wasn’t wearing shoes, and I looked up at her as I unbuttoned her jeans and pulled down the zipper.
I slid the denim down her legs, and she lifted each foot for me to pull them free.
I reached for the band of her pink lace panties, glancing up at her.
Her breaths were coming fast now, and she nodded.
“I need to fucking taste you. I think about it every goddamn day,” I hissed.
“Tell me, Archer. Stop holding back and tell me what you want.”
“I want this. I want you. I want to bury myself inside you. I want to taste you. I want to fuck you in every room in this house. I want to make you cry out my name so many times that you don’t think of another man. That’s what I want.”
“Me too,” she said, her words breathy. “Please don’t make me wait another minute.”
I tore the band of her lace panties because I didn’t even have the patience to wait to pull them down her legs.
I pressed my face between the apex of her thighs, breathing her in. “Spread those pretty thighs for me, beautiful. I want you to come on my lips before you come on my cock.”
She gasped at my words and spread her legs as I reached for one foot and placed it over my shoulder. I licked her from one end to the other, dragging my tongue slowly through her slit and groaning at how good she tasted.
Teasing her over and over as she ground up against my face.
I fucking loved the sounds she made when she was turned on. Little moans and groans, letting me know how much she wanted me.
I reached for her other foot and pulled it over my other shoulder as my tongue slipped inside her, and her legs squeezed around the side of my face.
“Archer. Oh my. I, please,” she panted. “Please don’t stop.”
Not a fucking chance I’d stop.
I slid my tongue in and out of her heat as her hands tugged at my hair and she bucked against me.
Over and over.
Faster.
I couldn’t get enough.
“Archer, please. Please. Please,” she begged.
I pulled back just long enough to slip in a finger. I couldn’t get over how tight she was. I slipped in another, and she gasped.
Leaning forward, I sealed my lips over her clit.
Sucking and licking as I fucked her with my fingers.
Her head fell back against the door, thighs tightening around me as she gasped and panted, and I felt it when it happened.
She shattered as my name left her lips with a cry.
And I stayed right there as she rode out every last bit of pleasure.
I pulled back to look up at her, her eyes sated, lips parted as her breathing started to slow.
“Hey,” she said as I slipped her legs off my shoulders and set her feet on the ground.
“Hi.” I smirked and stood up. I towered over her. “You’re so fucking sweet, Winnie. I knew you would be.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, and I startled when I saw a tear moving down her face. I wiped it away with my thumb.
“You okay?”
She nodded. “Do you know that I’ve never done that? Jaden wasn’t a fan of it.”
“Of oral sex?” I asked, my gaze searching hers.
“Well, no, he liked receiving. He didn’t like giving it. He thought it was tedious.”
“You were married to a real selfish fuck, weren’t you?” I said, stroking her cheek.
She nodded. “I can’t argue with that.”
“Was that too much?”
Her lips turned up in the corners, and she shook her head. “No. It wasn’t enough. It was amazing. And I really want to return the favor.”
Her hand came down between us, and she stroked me over my jeans.
“You don’t need to return the favor. I fucking love making you feel good.”
“And I love making you feel good, and I’ve yet to get to do that.” She turned me so that my back was against the wall, and she dropped to her knees.
I nearly came at the sight of her down on her knees, looking up at me with those golden honey eyes as she licked her lips.
She reached for the button of my jeans, tugged the zipper down, and pushed the denim along with my briefs to the floor in one quick movement.
My dick sprang free, and to say that he was delighted about this turn of events would be an understatement.
I was rock hard, and her eyes widened as she took me in.
She wrapped her hand around my cock and stroked a few times as I sucked in a breath.
And then she leaned forward as her lips wrapped around me.
Holy fucking shit.
Her mouth was wet and warm, and she took me deep, gliding her lips back and forth over my shaft.
Her tongue swirled around my dick at the same time, and the sensation was so overwhelming, I had to close my eyes to keep from coming immediately.
My fingers tangled in her hair as I tugged and pulled while she sucked me harder and deeper.
My tip hit the back of her throat, and she just continued bringing me right to the edge as I pumped into her, over and over.
“Fuck, baby. I’m going to come,” I grunted as I tugged at her hair in warning for her to pull back.
But she surprised me when she stayed right there, taking me even deeper.
I thrust once more before coming so hard that my vision blurred.
Again and again.
I unloaded into her mouth, and she stayed right there.
I stroked her hair as my movements slowed, and she pulled back, making a little popping sound as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.
The move so sexy, my dick threatened to go hard again.
“Wow. That was—” I shrugged because there were no words. “Come here.”
I tugged her up on her feet and kissed her hard. My hand moved between us, stroking her with my fingers before I pulled back.
“You’re soaked. You liked that.”
“I like making you feel good,” she said, her voice just above a whisper.
I slipped my fingers in my mouth and groaned. “So sweet, Winnie.”
My phone rang from where it sat in the pocket of my jeans in a slump at my ankles.
“Definitely not taking that call,” I said as I leaned down to kick off my boots and jeans.
“You should check just to make sure it’s not Melody. Remember she had a tummy ache this morning, but then she said she was fine after she ate?”
I nodded. This woman was so thoughtful it was hard to wrap my head around it.
“Rosewood River Elementary School” flashed across my screen.
Fuck.
“I need to take this.”
“Of course,” she insisted.
I had a feeling our little afternoon booty call was about to come to an end.