Chapter 15
“Are you going to try again?” he asked, after I finished my story.
“Jules and I go to Louie’s bar like twice a month,” I answered, sinking farther down into the tub.
He chuckled low in his throat, and I hated how soothing the sound was deep in my broken soul. “Having a threesome. Are you going to attempt to have another threesome?”
“Oh, oops, I totally missed that question. No. Like I said, I regretted getting on that website as soon as I did it. Revenge excitement is not for me.”
“What type of excitement is for you, then?”
Why is his voice so gravelly? And what is wrong with me that I like it? Fuck, I’ve just been dumped by my fiancé.
“I have no idea. I can’t think of anything. Do you have any ideas in your gorgeous head?”
Okay, why the fuck does my voice sound like that? All whispery and desperate for his attention.
“I …” He cleared his throat. “I’m sure we can think of something.” His dark eyes dragged down my face and glared at the bubbles covering my naked body as if they had done him wrong in more than one of his lives.
“You’re the one who put the bubbles in the tub. Why are you so mad at them?”
He didn’t remove his gaze from the offending bubbles, like his glare would make them run and hide.
I blame the alcohol for urging them to do just that.
“Don’t ask stupid questions,” he muttered, still not glancing up. “You’re better than that.”
A zing skittered down my spine and tickled my stomach at his words.
“Why are you being so nice to me?”
I’m a coward. He opened the conversation and I closed the door firmly.
“Once again, stop asking stupid questions.”
“You’re infuriating.”
“Fine, let’s see. You’re not attempting to give me a concussion, you appear to have had one hell of a day, and you’re naked.” He gestured with his hand as if I wasn’t aware of my naked body. “You’re also getting pruney.”
I looked at my hands, which were in fact pruney. “The night’s still early. A concussion could be in the cards for you if you play your hand right.”
He rubbed his hand over his face, which was sporting some sexy stubble. “All right, lightweight champion of the world, let’s get you out before Jules gets here.”
He glanced down at the dwindling bubbles. I stood. I wasn’t aware I was doing it until I felt the water sluicing down my body.
Mr. Easton’s eyes were methodical as they traveled from the top of my head to where my shins met the water. He gulped, and I couldn’t help the smirk gracing my face.
I watched in fascination when his methodical perusing turned into a chaotic motion, pinging from my lips, to my breasts, to my perfectly shaved vagina, back to my breasts, and right back to my vagina.
He stood slowly, and I swallowed when I noticed the large erection pressing against his zipper.
“Is that a banana in your pocket or are you happy to see me?”
“What did I say about asking stupid questions?”
I giggled. Goosebumps pebbled over my skin, and I didn’t know if it was from the cool air on my wet skin or from the heat steaming off his gaze.
“Of course it’s a banana. Why would anyone be happy to see you?”
I blinked when I registered what he’d just said, and then a full belly laugh erupted so unexpectedly, I bent at the waist, my knees going weak.
“It is an organic banana,” he added, which had me wheezing.
My fluffy robe wrapped around my bent frame. I struggled to put my wet arms through the arm holes. “Holy shit, who would have thought Easton had jokes?”
I stood, and my chest was inches from brushing his.
“It’s Mr. Easton to you, Ms. Rachel.”
HOLY.
FUCK.
My loud gulp echoed off the tiled walls of the bathroom. His dark green eyes were gone, overtaken by his black pupils. He put out his large hand, and without thinking I placed my smaller one inside. He helped me out of the mostly empty bathtub, our gazes glued together.
“Please forgive my overly friendliness, Mr. Easton.”
Was that my voice?
The breathless huskiness would have made any movie vixen jealous.
“You’re not forgiven.” The hand not holding mine snaked around my waist, pulling me flush to him.
“I’m not?”
He smirked, his head angled down, refusing to break our stare off.
“No, you’re not.”
“Whatever should I do to earn your forgiveness?”
His eyes darted down to my mouth. My tongue darted out in a shameless invitation.
“This is a very bad idea,” he whispered, his lips dangerously close to mine.
“Why is that?” I’d never been happier I’d brushed my teeth. When I asked, I pushed out my lips, allowing them the tiniest brush against his.
“Shall I list them? Your fiancé just broke up with you, you had a failed threesome attempt, you might still be a little drunk, even though the amount of vomit that exited your body was impressive, and we don’t like each other.”
“I kinda liked you a lot before you just listed my failures.”
I knew his words were supposed to bring us both crashing down to reality, but given the fact he hadn’t stepped back, and his hand was still possessively anchoring me to him, I didn’t take much heed in his list.
“Yeah, I may have liked you from the moment your fist connected with the back of my head.”
“Is that so?”
“Very much so.”
“I want you,” I admitted, grinding my stomach against his extraordinary banana.
“I want you more.” He stroked his tongue over my bottom lip, retracting before I could allow mine to meet his.
“I’ve always heard rebound sex is some of the best sex a person could have.”
I’ve never once heard this insane notion before in my life, but I’m willing to lie, steal, and grind against him to get Mr. Easton naked.
His breath hitched, the expanse of him plastering itself even closer to me, which I wasn’t aware was even possible.
“What are you suggesting?” His hand wandered down, stroking my ass over my robe.
“I’m suggesting we have dirty, wild, rebound sex. No commitment, just lust.”
“Ms. Rachel, I’m willing to take you up on your proposal as long as we are exclusive in our rebound state.”
“I accept your amendment.”
“How noble of you. Promise me when you are fully rebounded from the catastrophe of your life, you’ll tell me before moving on with someone else. No feelings, no breakup. I’ll accept it, and allow the much lesser man to win without any complaints.”
“Done. Now please kiss me.”
He hesitated. “No feelings. Promise me. I don’t do commitment, and I refuse to go into this if there is any chance this is going to get sticky.”
“I’m hoping I’ll get sticky.” I licked his top lip, and instead of driving him insane, I shivered at the slightest taste of him driving me insane instead. I wanted … no, needed more.
“I’m serious.”
“Fine, I agree. I will not under any circumstances catch feelings for you. This will be the rebound of the ages. A little hiccup before I find someone willing to settle down with me without getting hives at the thought. Is that enough for you, or do you want me to sign it in a blood oath?”
“That will do.” He reached down, grasping the back of my thighs and lifting me.
I wrapped my legs around him, his impressive length fitting snuggly between my legs.
Our lips still hadn’t met, and I was quivering inside with the sheer want of his mouth on mine, but I waited.
I’d given into his demands, although the thought of feeling anything for this man other than the need to feel him inside of me seemed more farfetched than Jules getting back into a relationship.
“Oh, shit! Jules.”
Mr. Easton paused his steps toward my bed. “Rachel, although I did specify I didn’t want you to have any feelings for me except lust, I don’t feel comfortable with you calling me by another person’s name, even if it’s your best friend.”
I giggled, placing small nips against his neck, holding out on him kissing me first.
This girl needs to keep some of the power in this, whatever this is.
“Jules is supposed to be here soon to take over babysitting duties.”
His eyes widened like he had also forgotten a world outside of our raging hormones existed.
“I’ll call her and tell her you fell asleep,” he offered, lowering me down to the bed.
“She’ll still want to check on me. She’s going to think I’m heartbroken over Bradford.”
He cocked his head as he hovered over me. “Are you heartbroken over Bradford? Which is the dumbest name I’ve ever heard, by the way.”
I blinked. And blinked again.
Was I heartbroken over Bradford?
“The right answer would be yes.”
“I don’t want the right answer, I want your answer.” He continued to hold himself above me, and I wanted nothing more than for him to blanket his body over mine.
“I don’t know. I’m angry at him. I invested a lot of my time in him. When Jules and I were opening Marketing Madams, I made sure he never felt neglected. I could’ve put more energy into starting my business.”
“Your business is fine. Now tell me about your heart.”
“This is way more talking than I expected for a rebound hook-up,” I teased, pushing my hips up to connect with him. “By the time we get to your banana it’s going to be rotten. Bananas are notorious for going bad quickly.”
He shook his head. “I wasn’t planning on giving you my banana until I knew we were both clean and unable to plant any accidental spawns.”
I giggled again. He made me feel unburdened and light. “Well, I don’t know about your banana, but I just had my papaya checked.”
“Fuck, can we please stop with the fruit analogies? And why would you need to be checked? You were engaged. Never mind, tell me about your clean papaya and then answer my original question.”
“After Jules went on her little unicorn excursion, she wanted to go get checked, even though they were completely safe.” I added that part, since there was a slight chance our best friends would also be making a fruit salad.
“She was nervous, so I took one with her. I haven’t been with Bradford since I got my test results.
Ta-da, perfect papaya. Also, my papaya has an IUD, so you can plant yourself as much as you want, with no worries about little Mr. Eastons. ”