Kinky Claus (13 page)

“No, more like I’m that hopeful.” He snagged her by the waist and hauled her under the cascading water with him. Her breasts rubbed against his chest and he groaned, both of his arms banding her in a slippery hug. His gaze dark and piercing, he lowered his face toward hers and claimed her mouth. She clutched at his shoulders, trembling under the fierce intoxication of his kisses. His knuckle grazing her cheek, he sipped at her lips. “You’re shaking.”

“I know.” She swallowed past the thick emotion in her throat. “It’s what you do to me.”

He stared into her eyes for an endless moment before drawing her in for a deeper kiss. She lost track of time and everything else beyond the wonderful heat of Trig’s body pressed against hers. Eventually his mouth slid from hers and traveled to her neck, blazing a trail of kisses toward her collarbone. He hunkered lower and swirled his tongue over her nipple, deliberately teasing the pebbled peak while the silky rivulets of water streamed over her sensitized flesh, adding to the exquisite torment. She shivered, and he looked up at her with a hot intensity that seared right through her.

His grip firm on her hips, he coaxed her closer to the dampened tiles of the shower wall. “Arch your back a bit. Yeah, just like that.” The water snaked down her belly and he eased up the hood of her clit, allowing the jettisoning spray to lave directly over the aching nub. Incredible as the sensation was, it only got a million times more intense when he wiggled his tongue inside her slit and began to slowly fuck her with it. She whimpered and sifted her fingers through the soaked ends of his hair, holding on for dear life as he steadily drove her toward the pinnacle of rapture. She broke on a shuddery wail, a thousand pinpoints of brilliant light shattering in her vision.

Dimly she became aware of Trig fumbling with the condom wrapper. A second later he hoisted her up against the tiles and surged inside her with one hard, deep thrust. The welcome fullness of him relit the fuse on her orgasm and she began coming again, each pump of his cock triggering a new round of aftershocks. His fingers dug into her hips, clenching tight, and a groan worked its way from his chest. Fascinated, she watched his face as his release washed over him. His jaw slackened, bliss etched into every centimeter of his features. His gaze remained locked with hers as he pulsed and throbbed inside her, increasing the intimacy of the moment.

Her heart overflowing with more emotion than she knew what to do with, she stroked her fingertips along his cheek. The words she longed to say remained prisoner to her uncertainty. If she told him how she felt it’d only scare him away. The days she had with him were limited enough. She wouldn’t shorten them further by using the dreaded L word.

His breath ragged, Trig leaned his forehead against hers. “Rissa...”

Her pulse quickened at the softness in his gaze. Maybe she hadn’t imagined the connection between them. “Y-yes?”

“I need to put you down before I drop you.”

Her heart sank at his words. Yes, it’d been completely foolish to think he’d been on the verge of confessing his love for her. She needed to stop with these ridiculous fantasies before she fell for them and ended up hurt.

Reluctantly untangling her legs from around his hips, she slid onto her feet. Trig steadied her with a chuckle. “Well that was world rocking.”

She offered up a weak smile. It was. More than he would ever know.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Trig slumped into the chair across from Jack’s desk. “I think I may have royally effed up.”

Jack took his sweet time finishing up whatever the hell he was doing on his computer before shooting a glance toward Trig. His look of distraction instantly morphed into one of concern. “Shit. You fucking did it, didn’t you?”

“What?”

“Whatever dumbass thing I specifically told you
not
to do. Ten to one it involves a woman.”

“How do you know that?”

Jack jabbed the air with his finger. “Because it always does. Damn it, you need to stop thinking with your dick.”

“It isn’t like that.” Trig swiped a hand through his hair. “Okay, it’s a little bit that. But the thing is she’s different. More than that, she makes
me
want to be different.”

“You can’t change yourself just to please a woman. Trust me, that’s one of the biggest mistakes you can make and it
will
bite you in the ass.”

“I know that. I
do
” he responded testily to Jack’s grunt. “And I’m not talking about radically changing myself. Marissa is the last person who’d want me to do that.”

Jack frowned. “Marissa? As in your sister’s best friend, Marissa?” He groaned when Trig nodded. “Buddy, what the
fuck
are you doing? You realize that’s a disaster waiting to happen, right?”

“Why?”

Jack leaned back in his chair and studied Trig as if he were trying to piece together exactly at what point he’d lost his ever lovin’ mind. “For starters, when you two break up your sister is going to make your life hell on Earth.”

His best friend wasn’t informing him of anything that he didn’t already know, but it still cheesed him. “Why do you assume we’d break up?”

“Because you don’t fucking do relationships. The word’s not even in your vocabulary.”

“Look who’s talking.” The second the comeback slipped from him he felt like a huge dick. Not as if he could take it back though. Besides, Jack didn’t appear the least bit wounded by the remark.

“I fully acknowledge that I’m not built for the white-picket life,” Jack stated. “And I’m fine with it. Better than filling my head with nonsense and giving a woman false hope in the process.”

Was he filling his head with nonsense? The emotions Marissa stirred in him didn’t feel like insubstantial make believe. The last several days had brought them closer and closer. And not just sexually. Though there was no denying that the sex was out of this world. He loved holding her while they watched TV. He loved going grocery shopping with her, and then later preparing meals, and making her giggle and blush when he suggested scandalous things he’d do to her with the carrots she was chopping for their salad. He loved lying in bed with her, exhausted from a marathon of bone-melting sex and feeling her heartbeat sync with his as she fell asleep. He loved...her.

Or at least he was fairly sure he did. He didn’t have much to base it on, seeing how this wonderful and entirely gut churning sensation was certainly nothing he’d experienced before Marissa.

“Deep down, you obviously know it wouldn’t work out. You said it yourself—you fucked up.”

“I said that because I think I screwed up by not telling Marissa I love her.”

Jack straightened in his chair. “Wait a sec. You haven’t said anything to her yet?”

“No.” There were countless times those three words hovered on the tip of his tongue, but his doubts always kept them from taking that leap of faith.

“Good. Then it means you
haven’t
fucked up. Yet.” Jack leveled him with a fierce look. “Do yourself and Marissa a favor and get your head on straight. Before you end up saying something you’ll regret.”

The insistent chirp of Jack’s cell phone interrupted Trig’s response. Jack glanced at the display and grimaced. Trig only knew of two people who routinely garnered that response from his best friend, and odds were ten to one it wasn’t Jane on the other line.

Jack stabbed the Talk button with his thumb. “What do you want, Ava?” He clamped his palm over the receiver when Trig shoved up from his chair. “I’ll only be a minute.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got to hit the road anyway.”

“Remember what I said, and don’t do anything stupid.”

Trig nodded and headed for the exit. He passed through the doorway as Jack returned to his conversation with his ex.

“Jesus, of course I heard you. You’re fucking yelling, and I’m not deaf.”

Cherrie caught his eye and waved him over. After a quick look over her shoulder, she led him into the supply closet and cracked the door partly closed. “He’s the last person you should take love advice from.” She held up her hand. “Yes, I was eavesdropping. It’s my civic duty as official Mama Bear to do so.”

Trig scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “Some of what he said is true though. What if I’m not cut out for relationships?”

Cherrie made an indelicate snorting noise. “That’s an excuse a man tells himself when he’s scared. Or confused, like you are. The only way you’ll know for certain is by listening to what your heart tells you.”

“What if this ends up getting in the way?” He gestured to their surroundings.

“I assume you’re referring to the escorting, and not that mop and bucket over there,” she said with a teasing grin.

“There’s a reason most of us are single. I can’t pretend my job isn’t a big relationship hazard.”

Cherrie squeezed his shoulder. “Like I said, listen to your heart. Because in the end, that’s where your true happiness lies.” Her intercom buzzed and she scrunched her nose. “Go on and scat before he realizes you’re still here and decides to dish out some more moronic advice.”

After bussing her cheek with a kiss, he snuck from the closet and managed to make it out to the parking lot without Jack being any the wiser. He hit the lock release and slid in behind the wheel, his gaze drifting to the cup holder where his cell phone rested. Not giving himself another moment to second guess his actions, he snatched the device and pulled up Marissa’s number. Her voice mail popped on. He cleared his throat and mentally instructed the nerves making a mosh pit in his stomach to pipe down. “Hey, baby. I know you’re probably busy and can’t talk right now, but I thought maybe we could grab lunch together. Call or text me when you have a chance.”

He hung up and gusted a breath. Shit. He didn’t do anything more than invite her out to eat and he felt like he was going to puke. If that wasn’t love then he didn’t know what the hell was. He pitched his phone back into the cup holder and an instant later his ringtone announced an incoming call. His pulse revving, he grabbed the phone. “Hi sweetheart.”

“Shit. That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

He exhaled heavily at the sound of Jane’s voice. His sister had been blessedly mute this whole week. Why did she have to pick now of all times to launch her attack? “To what do I owe this great honor?” Like he didn’t know.

“We need to talk.”

“Pretty sure that’s what we’re doing right now.”

“No, I mean in person. Meet me at the Towers ASAP.”

Gritting his teeth, he started the engine. “I’m busy.”

“Tough shit. Make time. Unless you want me showing up at that damn strip club tonight and harassing you there.”

Goddamn it. “How do you even know I’m working tonight?”

“I called to verify.”

Of course she did. “Fine,” he bit out between his teeth. “Be there in roughly half an hour.”

“I’ll look for you downstairs.”

She clicked off and he resisted the urge to thunk his forehead on the steering wheel. Jane and her BS were precisely what he didn’t need at the moment. But there was no way in hell he was risking the chance of her showing up at Sinners. And he sure as shit wouldn’t put it past her.

Resigning himself to the inevitable, he exited the lot and cruised in the direction of her work. On the plus side, if Marissa was free to have lunch he’d be right there to pick her up. As if it’d been waiting for him to conjure that thought, his cell beeped. He scanned the text displayed on the screen.

Sounds wonderful. Meet you downstairs around noon?

He tapped a quick response to Marissa.
Perfect. See you soon.

Even that tiny communication with her eased the stress settling between his shoulder blades. She was precisely the balm his soul needed after what was sure to be a trying ordeal with Jane.

He reached the Carleton Towers with a few minutes to spare. Hopefully the fact that he was early would result in Jane going easy on him.

Yeah, right. And pigs would miraculously sprout wings and start flying.

Pocketing his keys, he took the long walk of doom to the building’s entrance. Even with it still being a good hour away from the lunchtime mass exodus, the downstairs lobby was filled with people coming and going as well as plenty others milling around chatting. He spotted Jane’s platinum locks amongst the crowd and strode in her direction. She pushed away from her station near the elevator and joined him. “You’re not late. I’m impressed.”

“I don’t have all day for your sarcasm. Is there someplace private we can go, or were you intending to shout at me in public?”

“Who says I’m going to shout?”

“Considering how you left things last time, I figured it was a given.”

Her eyes narrowed. “How
I
left things? Did you forget that you’re the one who refused to finish the conversation that night?”

“Conversation? Is that what we’re calling you browbeating me these days?”

“Fucking A, you’re a baby.” Her expression exasperated, Jane grabbed him by the sleeve of his jacket and hauled him toward a distant bench tucked beneath one of the stately palm trees landscaping the lobby. She pointed imperiously to the wooden seat slats. “Park your ass.”

He wanted to tell her what she could do with that surly suggestion but he was more desperate to get this over and done with. Grumbling under his breath, he complied with her wishes. She surprised him by sitting beside him. He’d half expected her to retain her position of bullish authority by standing over him the entire time.

She sucked in a deep breath and expelled it slowly. “I know I can come across harsh or judgmental. And I don’t mean to be that way. It’s just that I love you, and it hurts me to see you throwing your life down the crapper.” She pressed two fingers to the center of her brow and sighed. “Shit. I so suck at this. That isn’t what I meant to say. Well, it is. I had it all worked out in my head in a much nicer way but it’s like I have fucking Tourette’s.”

She shifted to face him. “Do you really want to spend the rest of your life getting paid to fuck women?”

“I’m not a prostitute, damn it.”

“Then what the hell were you and Marissa doing in the bathroom? Playing sex moan karaoke?”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “What she and I have together has nothing to do with my job.”

Jane blinked. “What are you saying? The two of you are dating?”

“Yeah. Sorta.” He stared at the toe of his boots. “I don’t have a fucking clue.”

“In other words, you’re leading on my best friend,” Jane said flatly.

“No. I’ve been very upfront with her about everything.” Other than the distinct possibility that he’d fallen in love with her. But how could he tell her that when he was utterly and completely twisted up inside about how they could make a relationship work?

“You know damn well that Marissa deserves better than you two-timing her.”

He bristled at Jane’s accusing tone. “Do you really have that low an opinion of me?”

“No. But isn’t that exactly what you’d be doing every time you take another woman out on a date?”

“That’s strictly professional. I’m not fucking any of them, Jane.”

“Does it matter? You’re still giving your attention to women who aren’t Marissa. Look, normally I’d be the last person to say anything negative about the line of work you do for a living.” She returned his disbelieving stare with a calm look. “I know I’ve said snarky things. But that’s just me. My problem has
never
been about you stripping off your clothes on a stage or getting paid to escort women. You have so much talent inside you that has nothing to do with those things, and I worry that by focusing all your energy away from your art you’ll become complacent and lose sight of your real dream.”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“Don’t say that. Because it can.” Jane crossed one knee over its mate and rested her elbow on the back of the bench. “Remember when I had grand ideas of becoming an interior designer?”

“Sure. It was all you used to talk about.”

“And look where I am now. My job has
nothing
to do with interior design.”

He scratched his jaw. “I thought you loved your job.”

She rolled her eyes. “I love the security and the steady paycheck. And let me tell you, it’s real easy to let those things lure you away from your dreams.”

He grunted. “Then why were you so dead set on getting me a job at the place you can’t stand working at?”