Chapter 30
PACE – LATE OCTOBER
Ruin Our Friendship
She tastes as good as I’ve imagined. Coconut, pineapple, tequila. A dessert I want to fucking devour.
But she’s been drinking. I’m supposed to be the older, wiser, sober guy here.
I’m going to stop this kiss, just as soon as—
Her tongue slips between my lips and every sensible thought I have, every reasoned reservation, gets blurry. My whole damn head goes fuzzy as she groans against me.
I’m done in.
A primitive growl leaves the back of my throat as I wrap my arms around her and tug her entire body against mine. It’s fast and frantic, the way she fists my hair, the way I’m pulling hers, crushing her with my needy frame.
I’ve known I wanted this. I’ve nearly kissed her multiple times. But I didn’t realize how much I’ve wanted it until now.
Hand under her fine as hell ass cheek, I lift her until those thighs I’ve had astride me are wrapped around my hips and those cowboy boots that get my heart racing are crossed tightly at the small of my back.
The sliver of midriff she’s had on show all night, driving me wild, is pressed to my torso, the heat searing my shirt as I walk us into her room, turning to press her back to the wall.
Not for a second do our tongues stop licking, teeth stop biting, bodies stop craving more contact.
Every moan and grind she gives me urges me on. I know somewhere inside me that I have to stop this now but…
“I can’t.” I know the words leave my mouth when Annie pulls her mouth away from mine but her hands are still holding my face, eyes pleading with me, I think, to keep going.
“Don’t you dare, Tanner. Don’t you dare recite to me all the reasons this is a bad idea because I know them, okay? I don’t want to risk ruining our friendship, or whatever it is we have going on, and I don’t want to get my heart broken again.”
The same fear that’s written in her expression now, I feel, too. This woman terrifies me. Or the way I’m falling for her does.
“I meant I can’t stop it,” I tell her. “But, Annie, you’re right. There are too many reasons not to do this. I’m supposed to voice them now. Remind you that I’m far too fucking old for you and that if I cross a line with you, I cross a line with Colton.”
I exhale and lower her legs to the ground but she doesn’t move and I’m still pressed to her, knowing she must feel my body’s stiff contradiction with the words leaving my mouth.
“What about Nelson and Auston and—?”
“Tanner, kiss me. Kiss me again the way you just did. Make me feel the way you just did.”
“Annie—”
“Don’t make me beg,” she whispers. “I already feel ridic—”
I crash my lips to hers again. She should never have to beg a man to want her, or to feel ridiculous, because this one does, despite all the reasons she’s off limits.
We pick up where we left off, only this time, I carry her to her bed and lay her down.
She deserves to feel as beautiful and sexy as she is – hair splayed out on the pillows, teeth digging into her lip as she fights them turning up.
I climb on the bed, sitting astride her hips, and fucking delight in the way her greedy pelvis rolls up for me, the way her back arches as I trail my fingers down to where her vest ties.
She hasn’t been wearing a bra all night. I undo her top, pushing it off one side, then the other, two perfect tits on display. It defies logic that my dick can get any harder but as I stare at her, it does.
Then… she reaches out and turns off the bedside light, leaving us in near darkness.
I lean over and flick it back on, seeing the flush of embarrassment in her cheeks.
“Annie, you’re fucking stunning and this body has driven me insane for weeks.”
She opens her mouth but doesn’t speak. The fire she had moments ago has gone out.
“I’m not going to have sex with you, Annie, but if you’ll let me, I want to taste you.
I want to kiss every inch of this perfect body and finish right here.
” I trail my hand down her stomach, pressing it to the crotch of her jeans.
“But I want to watch you while I make you come. I want you to see how fucking crazy you make me.”
“Tanner, I’m not— Compared to the women you date— Auston always said—”
His name on her lips cuts like a knife.
“Unless you’re telling me to stop because of him, Annie, I don’t give a shit about Auston. I’m here for you.”
She glances up to the lamp, then back to me. If I hadn’t already formed the gray view that sex is the line I can’t cross, her nervous expression now gives me justification.
This is about Annie. Showing her how mind-bendingly sexy she is.
Maybe that’s how I remedy the conflict in my mind.
Leaning down, I press my mouth gently to hers, then whisper against her lips, “If you want me to stop, say the word, Annie. Okay?”
She swallows deeply but nods.
“Say you understand, Annie. I only want this if you do, too.”
“Fucking up together?” she asks with a laugh that dies quickly.
“Something like that,” I tell her, smirking. “Tell me what you want, Annie.”
Her lips part. “Whatever you’re willing to give me.”
I shake my head, weight on my forearms, fingertip tracing the line of her collarbone. “No, tell me. You’re in control.”
“I want— I want you to go down on me.” Her hips roll up to me as she speaks quickly and when I whisper in her ear, “Gladly,” goosebumps form on her skin.
Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, niggles in my mind but it isn’t loud enough to silence the need I have to satisfy Annie. To give her the confidence back that Auston stole. To sate my own need to lick every sweet part of her body.
I start right where I am, sucking, licking, nibbling the skin of her neck, intoxicated by what’s left of her perfume, mixed with outdoors and something distinctly Annie.
“Relax. I’ve got you,” I tell her as her body stiffens under my touch. “You’re safe. You’re fucking beautiful. And if you tell me to stop, we stop.”
She nods as she leans her cheek against my head and I can’t resist pressing my mouth to the dimples I adore, then her soft lips, forgetting for a moment that this is about her and her pleasure as I grind against her, our tongues slipping together like silk. Warm, wet silk.
I already know it’s going to take all my strength to not have sex with her after I watch her come. But I won’t. I can’t.
I trail kisses down her neck, gently tugging on her pearls and drowning in the way she moans when I reach the plump flesh of her breast, drawing it into my mouth, sucking until my mark is there.
No matter what tomorrow brings, there’ll be a reminder of tonight. That she let me explore her like this.
When I take the tight nipple in my mouth, I draw lazy circles around it with my tongue and nearly detonate when she pulls my hair and I hear my name on her lips in a way it’s never sounded before. Slow, lazy, heavy. Drenched in pleasure.
My own breath stutters and I take the release of one long grind of my rock-hard dick against her while I switch to the other side and do the same, hearing my name again, groaning or growling over the way it sounds.
“I’ve never wanted to eat someone out as much in my life, Annie.”
“Fuck,” she hisses, hands leaving my hair and reaching for hers and I suck my way down to the buckle of her belt.
“Can I?” I ask her one last time, because I know, when I get down there, I’m all in. I want to drink everything she’ll give me.
“Lord, yes. Get on with it, cowboy,” she tells me, making me smile against her stomach. Still my Annie.
“Yes, ma’am.” I unbuckle and unbutton her and she lifts her hips for me to drag down her jeans. I climb off the bed to finish the task, raising one eyebrow in her direction when I see how damn sexy her pink lace underwear is.
“You weren’t expecting me to put out on a first date now, Annie Quinn, were you?” I tease.
“I didn’t think we were dating, Mr. Rulebook.”
I scoff at the way her lips curve at one side.
“Even when I’m about to give you the best head of your life, you want to torment me?”
“Let me be the judge of that, stud.”
I crawl between her legs, admiring her curves as I go, wondering how in hell this woman believes she’s less than perfect.
“I am so fucking hot for you right now,” I tell her, before I bite the top of those pretty panties and nip the sensitive skin at her hip bone, enjoying watching her squirm in response.
I’m too greedy to take them down right away, so as I bite her thighs, I raise my eyes to hers and find her watching me. That’s my girl. I ask for her permission one last time.
“Show me what you’ve got,” she says. This is the version of her I can’t get enough of – the one who’s bold as brass around me. Comfortable. Confident. Absolutely smokin’.
I nudge her underwear to the side and draw one finger through her slick lips. “You’re so fucking wet for me, baby.” It’s there again. Baby. But this time, I say it without hesitation. I own it the way I want to own her orgasm.
I make sure she’s watching as I bring my finger that’s drenched in her to my mouth, surprising myself with how incredible she tastes, stiffening more as I thrust my cock against her and suck every last drop of her from my finger.
Her focus never leaves my mouth, fixed on watching me enjoy her. I am, a little too much. My jeans are killing me. But I daren’t take them off. They’re a reminder that Pace Junior will be met with my right hand later and that’s all.
As she writhes beneath me, greedy, I slide her panties down and off her legs. “Fuck me, Annie, every single part of you is flawless.”
“At this juncture, any man would say that.”
I decide to let that almost self-deprecation go without a verbal response, because I’m going to show her exactly how exquisite her pussy is.
I nuzzle my head between her legs and draw my tongue from the base up to her clit, and the noises she makes are better than sitting in the Grand Ole Opry.
The way she moves her hips, rakes her fingers through my hair and her nails down my back, the way she says my name over and over, all brings me to the brink as I can feel her getting right there.
“Come for me, Annie. Let me taste you, baby.”
As if my words are the final push she needed, she detonates, writhing and calling out, pinning me to her like she can’t get enough of the way I’m touching her.
And watching her is too much for me, too. More than I’ve been imagining. Better than any sex I’ve ever had.
Like a fucking kid in high school, one last grind against her has me seeing stars. “Fuck, Annie,” I grate out as I ruin my jeans.