LuckoftheDraw (7 page)

She hugged Rachel tight. “God I’m so happy for you.”

“I’m so happy for me too,” Rachel whispered back. “Thank
you.”

They held each other for a moment, then Rachel pulled back
first.

“I’ll give you all the juicy details later. Right now I
should go downstairs and help Bree finish getting dinner ready. Come down and
celebrate with us.” Concern softened her features. “Alex is going to be here
pretty soon as well.”

Petra’s stomach dipped and her heart fluttered.

“I would hope so. It wouldn’t be a proper celebration
without him.”

“Take your time,” Rachel said, giving her a quick kiss
before she left the room.

It didn’t take Petra long to add a light dusting of powder
to her face and swipe some mascara on her lashes. She brushed her hair and
changed her shirt, grabbed a sweater and headed for her friends.

She was halfway down the stairs when Alex rounded the
landing at the bottom.

“I was just coming to look for you,” he said with a smile
that took her breath away.

He looked amazing in dark jeans and that fisherman’s wool
sweater she loved, his hair tied back into a low ponytail.

Sunshine. Her heart filled with it, the warmth spread through
her entire being. Rachel could not have picked a better word to describe him.

“You were?” She went down a few steps and stopped when they
were eye level.

“If seeing each other was going to be awkward after last
night, I would rather have it be awkward without everyone watching.” His gaze
traveled over her hair and face, lingered on her mouth a moment before
returning to her eyes. “Do you feel awkward?”

She thought about it. “I don’t.”

His smile went lopsided and the bottom dropped out of her
stomach.

“Yeah, neither do I.” His hands spanned her waist and he
leaned in. “I was also thinking, you know, if there was no awkwardness that I
might be able to get a kiss.”

“I like the way you think.” And the way he smelled and
tasted and kissed.

The way the knot in her chest loosened and then let go as
they let the kiss linger.

Petra slid her hands over his broad shoulders. Eyes still
closed, she rested her forehead against his. “Alex—”

He cut her off with a shake of his head. “I know what you’re
going to say.” He lifted his head. “I told you how I feel and you told me where
you stand. I’m a big boy, Petra. I can handle things the way they are if you
can do the same.”

Could she? Could they continue being friends and sleep
together too?

That frivolous part of her that she rarely set free wanted
to believe they could and come out on the other side with their friendship
intact. The rational part of her that was usually in complete control warned
that continuing was a train wreck in the making.

When he slid his big hands around the small of her back and
drew her close she couldn’t ignore the way it made her whole body sing with
joy.

“I can’t think clearly when you do that,” she whispered when
he kissed her neck.

“That’s the point,” he murmured, then grazed his teeth over her
throat.

His hands moved under the back of her shirt and he chuckled
when she shivered.

“Will you stay tonight?” frivolous Petra asked.

There was mischief in his eyes and on the curve of his lips
when he looked up.

“Pete, a hundred-man SWAT team couldn’t keep me away.”

“If the nursing thing falls through you should consider
party planning.”

Alex leaned in the same doorway where Petra was standing,
quietly observing the crowd celebrating Ben and Rachel’s engagement in the
sunlit greatroom of Ben’s parents’ house. He loved the contented look she got
in her eye when one of the parties she threw was going well, whether it was one
of her sex parties or something more refined, like the classy afternoon shindig
she’d organized with Ben and Rachel’s moms.

“Maybe when I retire.” She looked at him and his heart
tripped on a couple of beats over the way she smiled. “I love those kids too
much to give it up any time soon.”

He did too. He and Ben had started talking about becoming
doctors way back when they were kids, but Alex’s parents hadn’t been able to
help him pay for college the way Ben’s had. Alex had gotten a nursing degree as
both a way to get his foot in the door to working in medicine and a way to pay
for medical school on his own. By the time he landed a permanent spot on the
pediatric floor of the teaching hospital, he’d decided he was more than happy
doing what he was already doing.

“Besides,” she added, turning her attention back to the
crowd. “I’m not sure how many more parties I have in me.”

“Oh? Why is that?”

She lifted one shoulder in half a shrug and he had to remind
himself that biting it would not be appropriate. The more time they spent
together in bed, the harder it was becoming for him to keep his hands off her
out of bed.

He was finding it especially hard to not touch her
throughout the party. She was mouth-wateringly sexy in a dark-blue
body-skimming dress and high heels, long silver earrings dangling against her
bare neck, hair pulled back into a low, stylish ponytail.

The look was conservative and classy, with only the long
line of her neck and her pretty calves and ankles showing. The fact that he
knew the woman inside the dress was anything but conservative when she was
naked was driving him out of his mind.

Alex took a large swallow of his drink and had to look away
before the stirring in his cock became something more serious.

“Maybe Bree will let me throw her an engagement party if she
and Cooper decide to get married someday, but I’m finished with the key
parties.”

“No more matchmaking?”

“My girls are happy,” she said, clearly meaning Rachel and
Bree. “Mission accomplished.” But there was something incredibly sad about the
way she said it.

In fact, there had been a little sadness lingering in her
expression all day, even though Ben and Rachel’s engagement was a happy
occasion.

“I want to show you something,” he said, linking his fingers
with hers.

She looked at the party, then back at him. “But what if—”

“The moms have it.” He gave her hand a gentle tug. “There is
also an army of caterers making sure everything goes smoothly. Come with me.
Please.”

They slipped into the formal living room that had been at
their backs.

“Where are we going?”

He gave her a conspiratorial smile. “You’ll see.”

Actually, he had no real destination in mind except for one
of the upstairs bedrooms so he could have her all to himself for a minute.

“Let me guess. They’ve kept Ben’s room the way it was when
he left home as some kind of shrine,” she suggested playfully.

He laughed. “That would be creepy, wouldn’t it?”

Actually, he hadn’t seen Ben’s old room since he helped him
move out to go to college fifteen years ago. It could still be just as he’d
left it for all Alex knew.

“
Ooh
, I know. They have a kinky playroom in the
attic.”

“Sadly, I believe there’s just old furniture and holiday
decorations up there.”

“Well that’s boring.”

“The St. Andrew’s Cross is in the basement.”

“Then what the hell are we doing up here?”

He walked her to the last room at the end of the hall,
pulled her inside and closed the door. “Here we are.”

She looked around, frowning. “I don’t get it. It’s just a
room.”

“Yes, but now you’re in it.” He held her face in his hands
and kissed her lightly.

He made an involuntary sound as if he’d been starving and
then given something delicious to eat. “I’ve been dying for that kiss,” he
confessed, their lips still touching.

“No need to die for it, Lex.” She sighed beautifully when he
kissed her neck. “All you have to do is ask and I’ll be happy to oblige.”

He resisted an urge to bite and sat on the edge of the
nearby bed.

“Come here.” He held her hand and drew her between his legs
so she could sit on his thigh. “Tell me what’s going on with you today.”

She frowned and shook her head as if she had no idea what he
was talking about.

“You’ve been sighing dramatically when you think no one is
looking. All day.” He lifted her arm closest to his chest and wrapped it around
his neck. “Talk to me.”

She sighed and rested her forehead against his. “She’s going
to leave me.”

It took him a fraction of a second longer than it should
have to figure out who she meant. “Rachel?”

She nodded. “She’s going to get married and leave me.” Her
head came up. “I think they’re already looking for apartments.”

“Well, they have been engaged almost two months now, and the
wedding isn’t until May. No one waits to live together until after they’re
married any longer.”

She sighed and put her forehead on his again. “I don’t want
her to go.” Her head came right back up again. “Do you think it would be weird
to tell her Ben can move in until after the wedding? I mean, they would be able
to save a lot of money they could use toward the wedding and a house when
they’re ready to buy one someday.”

He laughed. “Sweetheart, you don’t have to sell me on the
idea.”

“Right.” She gave him a sheepish look and he kissed her
lightly again.

“You really don’t want to live alone, do you?”

And with that the biggest white elephant
ever
walked
into the room.

Alex could tell by the way Petra stilled that she could feel
it too.

They had been officially dating for two months. They’d been
good friends for years before that. They’d added amazing sex to their
relationship without damaging what they already had between them, but she had
yet to tell him she loved him. If she ever would. He and Ben were both already
at the house all the time, but they still had their apartment, and making it
official was an entirely different matter.

“It’s a lot of house for one person,” she finally answered,
her words sounding carefully chosen. And then, “You should both move in.”

He sighed, feeling elated and crushed at the same time.
“Petra, I’m not going to move in just so you don’t have to be alone when Rachel
moves out.”

“Of course not, Alexander,” she said with impatient emphasis
on his name.

Damn he liked it when she got stern. It made her that much
harder to resist.

She stroked the back of his neck. “Move in because it’s a
great idea.”

Was it a great idea? Was now the time to question her?

He loved the idea of being able to go to bed with her and
wake up next to her and have her within arm’s reach all the time, but was she
asking for the right reasons?

“I’ll think about it,” he said, and knew he was sunk when
she beamed at him.

She slid higher up his leg and kissed him, one hand still
lightly caressing the back of his neck and the other on his face.

“Let’s seal the deal,” she suggested in a husky voice that
went straight to his cock.

It thought she had a damn good idea.

He touched his lips to hers. “How about if we save it for
later, when we’re alone.”

“We are alone.” She scooted higher so her thigh bumped
against what was going to be a full-blown erection in a second. “Not even a
quick one?”

It took every single bit of willpower he possessed to stop
her when she went for his belt. “Do you really want to go back downstairs with
your lips bruised, dress wrinkled and fuck knots in your hair?”

“
Yes
.” There was frustration mixed with amusement in
her expression.

Alex held both of her wrists in one hand and cradled the
back of her head with the other. He indulged in a long kiss that had her
instantly squirming on his leg, and then he stood, dumping her on her feet and
cutting her off as quickly as it had started.

“Too bad,” he told her with a chuckle and led her out the
door.

* * * * *

They barely made it through her front door before Petra
freed Alex’s cock, shimmied out of her panties and climbed him like a tree. He
pinned her to the wall right there in the foyer and bit down on her bottom lip.

“This—” She gasped as their bodies came together on a deep
thrust of thick and unbelievably hard cock. “You…oh damn. Oh, Alex.”

She couldn’t think, couldn’t form the words in her head or
on her tongue to tell him how turned-on she’d been throughout the rest of the
party. His kisses, that moment, had left her buzzed. She’d spent the rest of
the afternoon feeling loose-hipped and silly.

And now he was fucking her in long, hard strokes and it was
so damn good.

“This…was all…you…
ah, fuck
…could think about?” he
asked through panting, ragged breaths. He pushed deep and stopped. “This was
all you wanted?”

The way he was looking deep into her eyes made her pulse
race. He was so open, honest and fearless. So fucking confident.

“
This
,” he thrust so hard the pictures on the wall
rattled precariously on their nails, “is all you’ve ever wanted?”

She took his face in her hands, momentarily startled by the
resounding answer that came from her heart.
Yes
, it said.
This is it.
He
has always been it.

She licked her lips and he crushed her mouth in a brutal
kiss.

And then she wasn’t thinking again. She was lost in the
steady pounding of his body into hers, his taste and his scent. He released her
mouth with a rough groan and rested his forehead on the wall next to her head.

“Answer,” he growled, his breath hot on her neck. “Tell me
this is what you want.”

“Yes.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. Her toes were
curling and her eyes were watering. She was so close to coming already. “This.
You.”

Suddenly they were moving. He carried her out of the foyer
and to the stairs, where he laid her down without their bodies coming apart. He
pushed open the neckline of her dress so hard she heard a couple of stitches
come loose, and then it was forgotten when he sank his teeth into her shoulder.
She pulled the elastic out of his hair and dug her fingers into its thickness,
encouraging him by holding him close, angling her head so he could reach that
tender spot where her neck curved into her shoulder.

She pulled at the back of his shirt, gathering the fabric to
pull it off over his head, realizing too late he was still too buttoned up to
get it off him. It wasn’t good enough that they were still dressed, and fucking
on the stairs would never do. She wanted him naked, had to have access to every
inch of his skin. She needed the crush of his body on top of her like nothing
she’d needed before.

Petra brought her legs up and dug her heels into his
hipbones, pushing him away with a little laugh before she turned to scramble up
the stairs on her hands and feet. She let out a surprised squeal when he caught
her ankle at the top.

He pushed up her skirt and planted a solid smack on her bare
ass, then another. Her clit throbbed deliciously with each blow and the muscles
of her pussy tightened in anticipation. She didn’t have to wait long to have
him inside her again. He pushed his cock into her from behind, buried himself
all the way to the hilt on a hard stroke that made her cry out, and stretched
out over her back.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked darkly, his
mouth by her ear.

“Nowhere.” She reached between her legs and gently pressed
his balls to her clit, making him moan long and loud against her neck. “Here.
Everywhere.”

She released his balls and grazed her nails against the
inside of his thigh and he went wild, fucking her like a mindless, rutting
animal. God it was good—his thrusting so deep it almost hurt and the hard dig
of the edge of the top step into her thighs.

Still it wasn’t enough.

She braced her arms and pushed with everything she had. He
was so big and so strong he could have held her there and finished what he was
doing if he’d wanted, but he let her go with only a grunt of protest as they
came apart.

Somehow she managed to get her feet under her. She stumbled
down the hall and turned to look at him when she reached her open doorway.

“I’m going to make you pay when I catch you,” he told her,
slowly climbing up the last couple of stairs on his hands and knees, peering at
her ominously through that vivid red hair hanging in a disheveled mess over his
face.

She rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

Despite her feigned indifference, she squeaked and bolted
into the room when he sprang to his feet and charged her. She had her dress off
when he came into the room and slammed the door shut mere seconds later. He
caught her in his arms so fast she hardly had time to register that he’d moved.

He popped the clasp on her bra and made it go away. Then she
was clinging to him naked, holding on for dear life as he took her mouth in a
kiss so deep, so all-consuming she would have been hard-pressed to come up with
her name if anyone asked.

“Naked.” The one word escaped her mouth on a pant. “Now.”

She hooked her fingers into the front of his shirt and
pulled. It came open on a series of rapid pops and he helped her get it the
rest of the way off. She slid down his body, pushing his pants down as she
went, and he stepped out of them.