9. Sterling
STERLING
My idiot brother has been a pain in the ass all night long. He keeps bumping into Eden, asking her if she likes this song and even going so far as to ask her to dance.
He’s such a man-whore.
I didn’t realize how bad it was until tonight.
I finally butted into their third dance together and got rid of him.
Eden had never danced before tonight, but she leaned into me and let me lead, eyes shimmering in the overhead lights.
I knew getting her out of the house tonight would be the right move. She’s been cooped up for weeks.
When we finally get home around one a.m., Duke is singing so loud that I’m concerned he’ll wake up the neighbors.
I get the door open, letting Eden go in first before shoving my way in ahead of Duke.
“Where am I gonna sleep? Can I share the bed with you, E?”
“No,” I growl, resisting the ever-present urge to strangle him with my bare hands.
“Then I want the couch,” he protests.
“No. You get the floor.”
Eden has kicked her boots off. She stands up straight, exhaling as she rolls her neck.
“Here, let me give you a shoulder massage,” Duke dares to offer, stepping toward her.
I see red. Before Eden even has a chance to respond, my right hand has fully wrapped around my brother’s neck. I shove him against the wall, my left hook making its way around to deck him in the side of his face.
I don’t even feel the pain as I pound into him. He starts laughing like the complete psychopath he is after the second hit.
“I knew it!” He knees me in the gut, temporarily loosening my hold on him.
“Touch my wife again, and you’re a dead man.” I throw him to the side.
He crashes into the floor lamp, knocking it over as the blood from his nose splatters on the floor. Eden is standing back by the couch, face so pale that I’m afraid she’s not breathing.
I release an exhale before stepping closer to her. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”
Her lips are parted, eyes wide. But she doesn’t look afraid, like I expected. She looks … intrigued. She licks her lips, nodding.
“Is he … is he okay?”
I grab her arm gently, pulling her back toward the bedroom. “He’ll be fine.”
I couldn’t care less if he bled out right now as long as he doesn’t get any blood on my sofa. I hear him chuckling like the dickhead he is as I walk with Eden back toward the room.
“You two sleep tight.”
I grit my teeth, slamming the bedroom door shut behind me.
Eden moves over to the bed and sits. “Wow, he’s … he’s a lot.”
“You have no idea. I don’t usually let him get to me like this. I’m sorry if he made you feel uncomfortable. I haven’t told him about anything you’ve gone through.”
If I had, he might have laid off on hitting on her—maybe. There’s no telling with Duke. I move over to her, taking a seat behind her.
“Sterling, it’s really okay.”
I start slowly massaging her neck. She groans, and I feel the sound in my dick.
“Maybe … maybe you should sleep in here tonight and let him have the sofa.”
My head jerks up. I meet her eyes in the mirror mounted across from us on the wall. I keep massaging her neck, the steady pressure of my fingers reminding me of the last time she let me touch her, somewhere far more intimate.
“Are you sure?”
She nods. “I want you in here.” Her voice is barely above a whisper.
I wrap my fingers around her neck, slowly turning her around to face me. “Why?”
She gnaws her bottom lip. “I didn’t tell you not to touch me.”
“I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable. You said you were glad I understood.” I swallow over the lump in my throat.
I thought her response meant she was glad I understood that she didn’t want to be touched. It’s been difficult to resist her, but I wanted her to realize she mattered so much more than that. I wanted her to know she had every right to tell me no and that she didn’t owe me a thing.
“I was glad. I am glad. I still want … I still have the dirtiest mind on the planet, and I physically need you to touch me more than I’ve ever needed anything. It’s all I can think about when you’re walking around with your shirt off every single day.”
Fuck.
Fuck me.
I gaze into her eyes, struggling to believe that she’s been in here, sleeping in my bed, down the hall from me, wanting me all this time, and I had no idea.
She licks her lips. “We are married after all. It’s technically … allowed.”
“Have you been touching yourself?”
She shrugs, cheeks warming as she looks down. “I tried.”
“You tried?”
“You’re so much better at it,” she whimpers.
My chest puffs up, and I slowly release the air in my lungs. Blood floods my groin, making it hard for me to form words.
“Baby, why didn’t you say something?” I scoot closer to her. “I could’ve been taking care of you. All this time, I wanted to take care of you.”
“Why do you keep calling me that?”
“Calling you what?”
“Baby.”
“Did I?”
Shit. I didn’t even realize.
I grin at her. “Would you prefer sunshine? Maybe wifey?”
“I like all three, but I need to know why you would if we’re, you know, friends slash roommates slash fake married or whatever.”
I lean into her, brushing my lips against her temple. “Maybe I want you to be more than just my friend slash roommate slash fake wife.”
She bats her eyelashes, chewing on her lower lip. “Layla is really pretty.”
I raise a brow, wondering where that came from.
She stands, shaking her hands out, like she’s anxious. “I just heard Duke saying that she used to want you. And I know that I’m keeping you from a real relationship with someone like her, someone without all this … baggage.”
I reach out and grab her hand, pulling her to me so that she’s wedged between my spread knees. I squeeze them together to lock her in place.
“I’m a grown man, very capable of deciding how I want to live my life and who I want in it. You are not baggage. Your baby is not baggage. Which, by the way, are you going to open the envelope?”
He eyes it on the bedside table, where I put it after the doctor’s appointment.
“I’m not ready.”
“Okay.”
“You’re too good to be true. Do you know that?”
I chuckle, interlacing our fingers.
“Let’s keep talking in the morning. It’s way past your bedtime.”
Golden light filters through the curtains. My hand is wrapped around something warm. I squeeze, freezing when I realize it’s Eden’s hip. Her breathing instantly quickens.
My body is only inches from hers, until she wiggles her butt back and brushes up against the hard length in my sweatpants.
I groan. She halts her movements, but doesn’t pull away.
“Morning, Sunshine,” I rumble into her ear.
I don’t know how this happened. I don’t know when her reactions suddenly started meaning so much to me, but right now, all I can focus on is whether or not she’ll push me away or invite me in.
She releases a half moan, half sigh, and I take it as a green light.
I gently thrust into her backside, wanting her to feel exactly what she does to me. She gasps. I do it again, slower this time.
The friction makes me squeeze her hip tighter, my fingers digging into her. She lets out a breathy moan, and I fall apart.
I pull her shoulder back, capturing her lips with mine.
It’s been too long since I’ve tasted her.
I move my lips against hers, sucking her bottom one through my teeth.
She’s so responsive to me, so pliable. She thrusts her hips into me, her fingers sliding up through my short hair and scraping against my scalp desperately.
My tongue swipes over her lips, and she instantly lets me in.
“Oh, Eden, baby,” I mumble into her mouth, moving over her and pressing her against the bed.
She kisses me back, gently tugging me down closer. “Took you long enough.”
I chuckle, peppering kisses on the corner of her mouth. I make my way down to her breasts, kissing each one before traveling to her navel and pushing up my USMC sweatshirt she’s wearing.
She’s so modest. She’s wearing her leggings with it. I peel them down her legs, revealing the silky smooth skin of her upper thighs and the plain cotton panties I bought her after we first met.
“I don’t know why, but I think these are so fucking sexy on you.” I bite the waistline, tugging them down with my teeth.
She moans, thrashing against her pillow. “Sterling, I’m so, so …”
“So what?”
She whimpers, shaking her head. I peel the panties and leggings all the way down before tossing them off the bed and positioning myself between her knees.
“Say it.”
She looks down at me, cheeks blazing pink. “I’m so ready for you.”
I lick my lips like a starving man about to divulge in a feast I’ve been deprived of for far too long.
“Why didn’t you say so, Sunshine?”
I dip my head down and swipe my tongue over the seam of her lips. She bucks her hips. I push her down firmly into the mattress. My fingers press into the flawless skin of her inner thighs.
“I’ve got you. I’ve got you, baby.” My tongue moves over her more gently this time, swiping up slowly. “I changed my mind. This is the best thing I’ve ever tasted.”
She tastes sweet. Her arousal is seeping out of her. I push my index finger into her entrance, feeling how tight and wet she is.
“Oh, sweet baby, you’re soaked for me. So tight and ready.”
“Sterling … Sterling, I can’t. It’s too—”
“Too what?”
“It feels too good.”
“You’re not even there yet.”
I pin her down, ravaging her pussy with my tongue and my lips.
I suck on her clit, pulling it between my teeth and my lips until she lets out a cry.
My finger pushes up inside her, curling toward me until she’s fighting against it.
I know she’s not fighting me; she’s fighting her orgasm, just like she did the first time.
My tongue moves over her clit, massaging it in steady, quick movements until I feel her thighs vibrating under my hands. She writhes underneath me for a few long, tense moments until my name tears from her throat like a plea and a prayer.
“Sterling … Sterling …”
I feel the wetness spurting out of her in little bursts.
Eden is a squirter.
I lap it up, cleaning her entire vagina off with my tongue. She’s panting and gasping for breath. I rip my sweatpants down to my knees and crawl on top of her. Her eyes are wide as she searches my face.
“What are you doing?”
I blink down at her, my hard cock in my hand. I hesitate to answer her, not knowing how to respond.
“Oh, oh … you want to put it in me now?” she asks.
Fuck.
I pull back, reining my galloping desire in.
“Uh, no, not if you don’t want to. Sorry, I thought …” I start pulling my sweatpants up.
She grabs my shoulders. “Yes! Yes, I want you to. I didn’t know you … I didn’t know you wanted to. Do it.”
My erection is already starting to subside.
I shake my head, swallowing. “No, it’s okay. We don’t have to. I don’t—it’s okay.”
She squeezes my shoulders, her voice going frantic. “Please put it in me! Please, Sterling. I want it. Right now. I want your … I want it.”
I narrow my gaze, crawling back on top of her. I really look at her, focusing on the spattering of freckles and the emerald green of her eyes.
“Say it again.”
She blinks at me, sighing. “I want it in me.”
“Not it.” I trace my finger over her jawline as my erection fills with blood again.
She blows out an exasperated breath. “Dick. I want to feel your dick inside me, please.”
“That’s it, baby. I love it when you ask me nicely.” I brush my lips against her ear. “Good girls get rewarded—you know that?”
She shudders as I brush the tip of it over her entrance. I do it again, three more times. She writhes under me.
“Stop teasing me. I need it. I need you so bad.”
“God, I love when you beg.” I shove it inside, just an inch.
She gulps, gripping my arms. I pull out and push back in another inch.
Her eyes roll back in her head. “Right there. Oh, right there. More. I need more.”
I pull it back out before I shove all the way into the hilt, groaning from how damn tight she is.
“Baby, fuck, baby.”
“Don’t curse.”
“You feel too good for me to filter myself right now,” I pant into her neck. “You’re fucking perfect.”
“I didn’t know it could feel like this.” She wiggles under me, clearly needing more friction.
“Hold still, Sunshine. I’m trying to…resist. It’s been a while. You feel … you feel unreal.”
I shut my eyes, trying to reel myself in. When I open them again, she’s staring up at me like I’m her entire fucking universe, and damn if it doesn’t crack something open inside my chest.