Chapter Twelve
The wedding had been perfect. I’d had to fight back tears several times. Kaylee and Harley were so damn cute together. During the ceremony, the sun had set behind Harley’s wide shoulders, making him almost glow. Watching him stare at Kaylee while he’d said his vows, I’d all but melted into a pile of mush on the dock. I was beyond happy for them.
With the rowdy bunch from Kaylee’s side of the world mixed with all the Greek shenanigans from Harley’s, the whole night was full of laughter. It was the perfect fusion of down-to-earth and playful, just like them.
When I wasn’t preoccupied with Kaylee and Harley’s love, I was trying my best to ignore the live wire between Dane and me. I could always sense where he was and when he was looking at me out of the corner of his eye. When we stood for photos, goose bumps erupted all over my arms because his breath feathered on my neck, his warm chest pressing against my back with how we were positioned. I was thankful everyone’s eyes were on my best friend, otherwise I’d likely be called out for blushing.
Kaylee didn’t toss her bouquet, and Harley didn’t dig for a garter, but they did have lots of dancing and delicious food. They planted a tree, something about nurturing their love or some tree hugger shit. Then they staked a cool wooden sign next to the tree that served as a guest book, with everyone scrawling their best wishes on it with a silver Sharpie. When they left the celebration, we all blew bubbles as Harley and Kaylee ran toward her Jeep hand in hand.
Most of my anxiety had subsided now that the wedding was over and Kaylee was safely on her way to Boston with her now husband to catch a flight to Greece. I was whisked away with the other bridesmaids to sort out gifts and box up leftovers from the caterer. Out of my periphery at one point, I saw Dane escorting a granny to her car, but by the time I got to my hearse, he was nowhere in sight. All logic told me to go to Tilly’s to get my cards before heading back to the cottage. I had been so busy all day, I hadn’t made it there. But when I made my way to that part of town, I navigated to Dane’s shop without even thinking about it.
His back lot was gated shut, so I parked in front. When I walked up to the front door, it was cracked. I didn’t have his number, so I couldn’t text him I was here, but I saw a light on so I figured he must be tinkering.
As I slid in, my eyes adjusted to the bright light coming from one industrial bulb hooked on the lifted hood of an old truck. It was enough to light my way through the small lobby and cluttered shop.
“Dane?”
Maybe he wasn’t home yet? There were so many cars in his back lot, I didn’t even scan it to see if his was parked there come to think of it. Maybe I could leave a Post-it for him to call me before I left town?
Weaving through vehicles, tool chests, and tires, I made my way to the staircase. The reasonable part of my brain told me this was borderline trespassing, maybe even stalking. The nosy part of me was greedy for any details or snooping opportunities. The latter part won over, shocker, and I found myself ascending the stairway up to his loft.
By the time I made it to the top, I was holding my breath as my pulse thrummed in my temples, giving me a slight headrush. I crept forward. It was even darker up here with just a half pony wall dividing it from the stairway landing. Windows facing Main Street let in weak light. I could make out a couch and a long bar comprising a U-shaped kitchen.
A short hallway was beyond the whirring refrigerator. Wanting to rule out Dane was here, I inched even closer. A tiny, insecure corner of my mind worried he was out with some townie or a girl from the wedding. Maybe Harley’s hot cousin or something. Surely, he wouldn’t be here. But the closer I got, the noise I thought was the fridge was actually . . . groaning?
I closed my eyes in a desperate attempt to hear better but was quickly met with a distinct crack of a mannish noise followed by something slick. I leaned in closer, careful not to bump the door with my shoulder. Staring down at the handle, I waited a couple of seconds to hear a woman or some dirty talk, but nothing came, just deeper breathing and more wet noises.
My hand grasped the cold handle and swung the door wide. On the other side, Dane lay sprawled out in the bed, ruthlessly pumping his cock.
His thick, glorious , reputation-worthy cock.
He jumped then threw his head back on the pillow in a throaty chuckle as he continued. “Come for the show, sweetheart?”
“What the fuck are you doing?” I spat, fighting to look away but unable to stop watching.
“What does it look like I’m doing? Trying to get you off my mind.” His strokes were now looser, lazily gliding up and down. “You clearly don’t mind the view.”
The noises erupting between his palm and shaft sounded like a sinful symphony I wanted more of. If any other man were doing this, I’d be grossed out, but something about Dane’s shamelessness made it that much hotter. It felt oddly voyeuristic, like a line I shouldn’t cross. But oh god, did I want to cross that line. Seeing him mostly naked, sprawled out on his bed in the faint powdery blue glow of night made me want to latch my gaze on his groin until it was covered in his cum.
I dropped my purse off my shoulder and crawled into his bed. Without asking, I grabbed the band of his boxer briefs that were pushed down around his muscled thighs. He fought a smile, holding his dick while shifting his body to help me yank the fabric off his legs. I sat back on my heels, not touching him from where I remained on the corner of his bed.
“Keep pumping,” I whispered wickedly.
“You’d like that?” He twisted his wrist as he covered the crown, slathering more pre-cum. “You want to sit your pretty little ass in my bed and boss me around, tornado?”
“Hand,” I said sternly.
When he presented a calloused palm to me, I leaned forward, grabbing his wrist to spit in it. Flicking my eyes to his, I saw his jaw slack as he returned his hand to its rightful place.
“Oh, you’re so nasty, baby. I love it.” A new slant of desire lit his eyes, making his lids heavy.
“Show me what this cock can do. Prove it lives up to all the hype.” I mockingly scanned his headboard with exaggeration. “I don’t see any notches in your bedpost. How do you keep track of all the tourists you fuck in this bed?”
He growled in frustration.
“Doesn’t matter. You won’t want to fuck anyone else once you get this pussy,” I murmured, moving the flowy dress around to spread my legs wider from where I kneeled. “ If you get this pussy,” I amended.
He jutted up his jaw as his strokes quickened. “Prove it to me.” His eyes set on my breasts. I fleetingly wondered if he could see how hard my nipples were, if he could smell my arousal.
Steeling myself, I watched as his pulse beat in the ditch of his muscular neck, throbbing like something I wanted to lick. With each tug, his pecs bounced and shifted along with his abs, all the way down to the trimmed hair at the base of his cock. And oh god, his cock, it was . . . gorgeous. It wasn’t obscenely long, or what I’d like to call a cervix crusher, but it was more than enough for me. It was so thick with a fat head and had a nice curve to it.
Staring at it, I thought about how much I wanted to feel it scraping the sensitive spots inside me as I slid down on it. My pussy clenched and my knees threatened to close together, the slight twitch catching Dane’s attention, causing a knowing chuckle to husk out of him.
Trying to gain back control, I went on. “You don’t have to show off for me, big guy. You can just let it blow.”
He closed his eyes, steadying his breath. “It’s not going to work.”
“What’s not going to work?”
His eyes opened in a darkened squint, his voice gravelly. “Teasing me into submission. I don’t submit. And it’s a damn shame you’re trying to top me instead of just coming apart underneath me like the needy, little mess you are.”
His words snapped my brain like a rubber band. “What if I like it on top?” I asked as I lunged over him, shifting all the layers of my dress to straddle him, bracing myself with a hand on either side of his face. With my proclamation, he stopped touching himself. I continued to kneel over him, fighting the urge to sit.
“Just give me the green light,” he said as he brought his dry hand up to my chest, his finger tracing the trim of my dress as it strained against my boobs. “I could fuck you so good it would change the way you walk. But I promise I’ll never push you until you’re ready.”
With his words, I lowered myself. The only thing between his shaft and my pussy was a pathetically sheer, seamless panty. Both of us groaned, feeling my heat mixed with his slicked-up cock.
Fighting the urge to kiss him, I began to sway, feeling the rim of his head stroking my clit. “You can’t touch me. You hear me? You’re not allowed to touch anywhere this dress covers.”
Fighting ragged breaths, he gritted his jaw. “But I could taste you. Dip a finger in your pussy for me.”
Dear god, this man is straight up nasty.
He pinned me in place with his dominant words. Before I knew it, I was shifting my dress around to glide a hand under, concealing myself in the process. My middle finger slid against his cock as I dipped it inside myself, a little impressed but also alarmed at how wet I already was as I presented a glistening finger up to him.
He held my wrist and sucked as we continued to grind, his lashes fluttering with his heavy breath. “Fuck!” he hissed. “You taste so good. No wonder I can’t stop thinking about you.” He continued to tongue my finger, swirling around it in a way that mesmerized me and gave me way too many thoughts.
“I’ve been thinking about you, too,” I confessed, hoping my softening energy opened us both up. I continued to ride him, grinding on him in slow circles, feeling my underwear completely soak. His eyes hungrily sparkled underneath me as he kissed my palm, letting it drop, urging me on. “I think about all the unspeakable things I’d like you to do to me. I want to ride this cock until my pussy aches.”
“More,” he said with a low voice. He was lasting a long time, all things considered.
“I want to ache because you fucked me so well. I want your hot cum dripping out of me.”
“Yes,” he whispered, my words pulling him under. His hand traveled to skim the sensitive skin of my back that was exposed. His touch was so tender for such a big guy.
I felt myself wanting to slide my underwear to the side and just fuck him already. One moment, one decision, one second and all this could be over. The hairline choice reminded me of another moment we’d had together, and all my walls went up as I leaned in to murmur my last blow. “And I want you to stop being such a fucking gentleman.”
His nostrils flared as his abs constricted. He pushed me back slightly, so his hot load hit his stomach. It was the most vulnerable and virile thing I’d ever seen. Even his O-face was handsome. He moaned as he continued to spurt over and over again, the twitching of his dick making my core pulse with envy.
“Fuuuuck!” he hissed under his breath.
“Good god, that was way hotter than it should’ve been,” I muttered, mostly to myself.
Instead of the tangy funk of cum, he smelled, well, still like cum but a bit muskier, with a headier funk to it I strangely didn’t hate.
I watched in awe as he coasted down from his climax, his taut muscles easing. He looked soft but somehow strong, purely fuckable and huggable. His tattoos covered both arms and pecs, solar plexus, some along his sides, leaving his lower abs mostly bare only for the ink to start up again on his thighs clear down to the tops of his feet. I cursed the dim light preventing me from seeing all of them. Nonetheless, I was grateful for a stolen moment. One where he wasn’t watching me for once.
When his eyes cracked open, his face pulled in a lazy smile before we both shared a little laugh.
“Not the burglar you expected, eh?” I freed him by getting off the bed as he expertly cupped his junk and strolled to the bathroom.
“I’m going to hop in the shower. You’re welcome to hang out so we can actually, you know, talk.”
I didn’t even hide my gaze, watching his fine ass twitch with each step. But the second the water turned on, I slinked out of his place like a fucking coward.
Once inside the safety of my car, I looked at myself in the rearview mirror. Why was I running? Why couldn’t I go back to his loft and fuck his brains out? Or simply talk.
Because it wouldn’t be that simple.
He clearly had a pull on me. I would develop even deeper feelings, and then I’d want to wait around here in Maine, hoping he’d find a way to love me, to decide on me. Just like my mom had done for my biological father. Look where it had gotten her. I couldn’t rot up here, even if I’d have my best friend. This was Kaylee’s turf, not mine. I needed a place to call my own. But I couldn’t help but wonder if the emptiness inside me as I drove away was worth the risk of waiting for someone like Dane to come around.
When I returned to the cottage, I took off my dress and caught a patch of something wet at the bottom. My bridesmaid dress had Dane’s jizz on it. Needless to say, that was not the kind of party favor I thought I’d be taking home from my best friend’s wedding, goddammit.