Strung Out (18 page)

“I need to be inside you.” His lips moved against the column of her throat, pressing damp kisses to the sensitive skin and making her body thrum with excitement.

The skirt of her dress hovered near her hips, her thighs and part of her ass exposed to the air. Putting one hand on the wall to steady himself, Erik drew back far enough to meet her gaze. The intensity in his green eyes made her shiver. She couldn’t have told him no had she wanted to. He held her in thrall, body and soul.

His free hand kneaded the soft flesh of her thigh where it met her buttocks, pulling her leg upward and dragging her crotch along his body. The motion pulled her tight against the bulge in his pants. The muffled sensation wasn’t enough. She wanted his hard length between her legs, rubbing against her clit until she gained the friction she needed for climax. Undulating against him, she begged without words for what he could give.

He took hold of her lace panties. “Not yet.”

One tug and her pussy was bare against him. Cool air tickled her sensitive flesh, and she bit her lip to keep from moaning and giving them away to anyone who might pass by.

Two fingers spread her engorged labia while a third dragged an agonizingly slow trail through her slit, pausing just short of her throbbing clit. Her fingers dug into the muscles of his shoulders, and her eyes slid shut. Every fiber waited for one touch, one stroke to bring her what she needed. Never had she been ready to implode this quickly.

“Touch me, Talia.”

She picked at the buttons on his dress slacks until she’d freed his cock from the tight fabric. He hissed, his teeth clenched tight as she stroked him from base to tip. Liquid seeped from the plum-shaped head, and she swirled her fingers through the silky fluid, teasing mercilessly and hoping to push him past the point of no return.

In the shadows she could only just see the tortured expression on his face. Leaning forward, she brushed a kiss across his lips and tasted the longing she saw there. “Erik.” His green eyes slid open at the sound of her voice. Passion made them hazy, his intellect drugged with need. “I need you inside me.”

Her words pushed him over the edge. His hand dipped down and grasped her leg, stretching it upward until she thought it could go no farther. The position bared her slick opening, spreading her cunt wide and allowing him to press forward. His thick crown pushed at her entrance, the odd angle restricting entry and increasing the friction until she was shaking with anticipation.

When his hot length finally slid deep, her body convulsed, her muscles welcoming his intrusion and drawing him in farther still until the head of his cock pressed against her womb.

Her leg buckled, unable to sustain her weight through the onslaught of sensation. Catching her with both arms, Erik lifted her up and pressed her back against the wall. Her legs wrapped around his waist, drawing him tighter still and spreading the sensitive hood of her clit against his pelvis. Flexing his hips, Erik drove into her body. With his cock deep inside and her clit rubbing maddeningly against him, Talia’s orgasm hit hard and fast.

Contracting muscles bore down on his cock, and still he thrust through the storm. He dug his fingers into her hips and used the wall for leverage as he fucked his way through her shattering climax.

As the waves began to recede, he stiffened between her legs, every muscle in his body going rigid. A tremor ripped through his cock before he lost control. He gave one final thrust, holding her fast against the cold bricks as semen burst from his body to bathe her depths with his essence.

He shifted, his arms cradling her body though they remained joined. His lips brushed a gentle kiss over her forehead. “I’m sorry I didn’t come and find you sooner.”

Talia chuckled. “If this is what you intended to find me for, I’m sorry you didn’t do it sooner too.”

Shifting back, he allowed his cock to slide free of her pussy. The exit left her empty and longing to have him back inside her where he belonged. But this was real life and not fantasy. And they couldn’t duck real life forever.

Thoughts of real life brought the dinner party details rushing back. “I don’t want to go back downstairs.”

Erik sighed and tucked his cock back into his pants, zipping them closed before reaching down to help her settle her dress back into place. “I don’t want to go back either. How about we go someplace else?”

“Just the two of us?”

He placed a playful kiss on the tip of her nose. “I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

Chapter Seventeen

“Oh this is definitely more like it.”

Erik grinned. He couldn’t see her smile, but he could hear it in her voice. And he loved it that she didn’t mind coming to a place like Jack’s. But it was one thing to hang out at Jack’s, drink with Nicolai, and shoot the breeze. If she was going to exist in his world, she had to be able to command a room in both places.

He glanced around the dimly lit employee lot stashed behind the bar. He had a long-standing agreement with Nicolai about parking here, but sometimes the Porsche drew an unsavory type of admirer. True to her nature, Talia didn’t wait for him to come around and open her door. She shoved it open and climbed out on her own.

“Oh wow, the whole no panties thing is weird out here in the free air.” She stood and shook her hips.

Erik took her hand and tucked it into his arm. “If you’re constantly reminding me of that, you’ll find yourself up against another wall with my cock inside you every five minutes.”

She jostled her shoulder against him. “Don’t hold back on my account. If you think you can go every five minutes, I’m game.”

He pulled open the back door and led her inside. “Woman, you’re going to drain me dry.”

The sound of her laughter was drowned out by the jukebox music drifting back through the kitchen into the narrow hallway. The three cooks manning the line nodded to Erik on his way through.

She lifted an eyebrow. “They don’t care that you’re back here?”

He hadn’t yet decided if her keen observations were simply part of a curious nature or a side effect of growing up in a completely different demographic. Courteney had come with him to Jack’s once. And before pronouncing it disgustingly unhygienic and horribly blue collar, she’d expected the staff to treat him with deference without ever wondering why they did. Talia wasn’t Courteney, and he owed her a full explanation of things.

“Let’s go find Nicolai and get you a drink.”

She gave him a warning look. “I’ll let you duck my question this time, but only because you just provided me with the mother of all orgasms.”

“To think that orgasms are the secret to female cooperation.” They emerged from the hallway into the bar. “I could make millions selling that secret.”

She snorted. “Wouldn’t work for everyone. I know plenty of guys who could try all day without your results.”

Her cheerfully delivered and yet understated compliment warmed him in ways he wasn’t yet ready to explore. He waved to Nicolai, who promptly cleared two seats at the end of the bar.

“The one lady I’m actually glad to see again.” Nicolai’s broad smile brought a pretty blush to her cheeks. “It gives me hope for Erik that he has the sense to hang on to you, pretty Talia. What can I get you this evening?”

She jumped up onto the bar stool. “You chose something fantastic last time. I think I’m going to put myself into your capable hands tonight as well.”

Nicolai leaned forward and slanted a sly look at Erik. “If you ever want to really make good on that offer, you know where to find me.”

He threw his head back and laughed at his own joke, and Talia chimed in with her bubbly no-holds-barred laugh. Watching them howling like a couple of rowdy teenagers, Erik was struck by the realization that while the insinuations made earlier that evening about trying out Talia had bothered him coming from Mark and Todd, he had none of the same hang-ups with Nicolai’s jokes. Not because he had a desire to share Talia with Nicolai, but because he trusted his longtime friend.

Two worlds, two sets of rules, and no sense. Go figure.

“And how about you, boss man?” Nicolai’s rough voice brought Erik back to the moment. “What are you drinking tonight?”

“Bring me the usual.”

Nicolai rubbed his lower lip with the side of his index finger. “You sticking around for a while then?”

“What do you think, Talia? Should we hang out here for a while?”

She swung her bar stool around to get a better look at the room. The movement sent one scrap of a sleeve drifting down her shoulder. The creamy tops of her breasts were visible above her dress, and Erik longed to make a thorough sweep of them with his tongue. He’d had no chance to appreciate their soft perfection earlier.

“You know, I think that sounds like a good idea.” Talia winked at Nicolai. “Bring on the alcohol, Mr. Barman.”

“You got it, pretty Talia.”

“So, why here?” She crossed her legs and pegged him with a thoughtful stare.

“Sometime you’re going to have to tell me your secret.”

“Which one is that?”

Erik put both elbows on the bar and leaned back against the worn wood. “You’ll have to explain how you manage to make me tell you all my secrets.”

Her smile faded. “Oh I doubt I’ll ever know all your secrets, Erik Aasen. But I have been making a study of you lately.”

Erik looked at the low ceiling, the wood beams stained from years of cigarette smoke. A dozen or more tables were crowded with the typical assortment of people just looking for a place to wind down. It was a weeknight, so the crowd was thinner than a Friday or Saturday. But it didn’t stop them from having a great time.

He thought about the first time he’d ever walked into this place. A privileged jackass with more balls than brains and a silver spoon stuck up his ass. It’d been nearly ten years since that night, and yet he still remembered it clear as day.

“Almost ten years ago, I walked in here and picked a fight with the biggest, baddest, meanest drunk I could find.” He turned and offered her a smile. “Nicolai saved my life and kept me out of jail.”

“Why did you do it?”

“I was looking for a way out.” He glanced across the room without seeing anything. It was hard to admit he’d been a coward ready to run from his responsibilities. But it was the truth. “I didn’t want to go into the family business, but I couldn’t find a way to tell my father.”

She reached out and placed a hand on his forearm. Her fingers were a warm weight against him. “What happened?”

“Nicolai offered me a job.”

“Here?”

He nodded. “I quit school and started bartending. Without school I had no dorm, so I lived upstairs to avoid moving back home and listening to my father rail at me for being a failure.”

“You weren’t a failure.”

“Maybe not, but I still ran.”

Her blue eyes took on a faraway look. “We all run from responsibility sometimes. That’s why mothers willingly let their five-year-old children grow up in foster care.”

A vise closed around his heart, squeezing painfully until he wanted to gasp with the pain of it. “Their loss is my gain.”

“How so?”

He reached out and took her hand, meshing their fingers and bringing them to his lips. “Whatever happened before is responsible for the sequence of events that included us being together that night.”

A soft smile tugged at her lips. “You don’t seem like the type to believe in fate.”

He swung both hands out to encompass the room. “I own this place. And that was all fate.”

Talia blinked in surprise. “You own it?”

“I worked for Nicolai for almost six months, living in one of the apartments upstairs and hiding from everyone I knew. Eventually Desiree found me and convinced me to come home. My father had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and Aasen Investments was in danger of a takeover. About the same time, Nicolai got into a bit of financial difficulty.”

Two drinks and a basket of french fries appeared on the bar behind them. “I had a gambling problem,” Nicolai supplied. “This clown bought my debt and kept me on to run the place.”

“It wasn’t that simple,” Erik reminded him.

“Nope. I had to join a twelve-step program and stick with it. I’ve been in recovery for nine years, six months, and five days.”

Talia flashed Nicolai a smile that reminded Erik why he could never get enough of her. “That’s an amazing accomplishment. It takes a remarkable amount of personal strength to go through something like that and get a grip on it.”

“God, I love this woman, Erik.” Nicolai sighed and wiped his hand on a towel. “If you screw it up, I swear I’m going to keep her myself.”

Nicolai’s ridiculous claim on her didn’t seem to bother Erik if his chuckle was anything to go by. His green eyes were filled with warmth, and he looked more relaxed than she’d seen him since that first night. It was obvious he was far more comfortable away from his corporate world than he was immersed in it. So why did he insist he belonged in a boardroom full of stiffs?

It was definitely a question worth asking, but for now she was going to have to attend to her demanding stomach. The scent of fresh fries was mouthwatering, and she hadn’t eaten in what her stomach was convinced to be decades.

Picking up the ketchup, she squeezed a generous amount into the corner of the paper basket and then liberally dipped a golden fry before savoring the taste on her tongue. As she’d expected, it tasted like ambrosia from the gods. She picked up another one between thumb and forefinger. “I could live on bar food.”

“You know,” Erik drawled, “I don’t think I’ve ever actually watched a woman other than my sisters eat fries. They’re all too health conscious.”

She swallowed and reached for another. “They’re all crazy.”

Erik threw back the last of his beer and nodded to Nicolai for another. “I think that’s probably an apt description.”

Thoughts of Sara and her two giant dates flickered through her mind. “Can I ask you about Seth and Joshua?”

A wicked grin kicked up the corners of his mouth. “Ask away.”

“Do they actually share women?”

“Yes.”

“At the same time?”