What The Heart Finds (23 page)

“You
didn't...” Lena said, feeling awkward but also undeniably
pleased that someone liked her cookies enough to think they were
worth ordering.

“Oh
yes I did,” Liam said, handing her her mug with an amused
smirk. “The look on her face was priceless.” Liam pushed
Eric's mug toward him, looking between the two of them with a
furrowed brow, his almost transparent gray eyes seeing right through
her. “So you guys are having sex,” he said.

Lena's
eyes went wide, turning away quickly to cover her embarrassment.

“That
was pretty quick,” he added, moving out from behind the
counter. “even for you,” he said to Eric.

Lena
took a deep breath, sipping her coffee, drawing courage. “That's
interesting,” she said.

Liam's
head turned to the side, looking genuinely curious. Always wanting to
know new things. “What is?”

“Your
interest in our sex life,” she said and his brows raised. “Is
it because it's been so long since you got any?”

Liam
looked at her for a second, his face impassive, before he threw his
head back and laughed. A loud, booming sound. He reached out and
whacked her on the shoulder. “Glad to see this scandal hasn't
but a damper on that spirit of yours.”

“Girl,”
a voice called from the door, loud and out of breath. Maude Mays.
“what a stir you have caused,” she declared, moving
through the store and coming upon them.

“Maude,”
Eric said, his voice holding warning.

“Oh
pish tosh, you,” she said, waving a hand at him. “though
it's nice to see you stepping up and defending her. I always told you
that you'd grow up to be a good man.”

“Maude
please,” Eric groaned.

“Relax,
I'm not here for you. I need to have some words with Lena here.”

“I
don't think...” Eric started.

“I
wasn't asking for your permission,” she said, her eyebrow
raised. She walked over to Lena, linking an arm through hers. “Come
on, let's take a turn about the store,” she said, pulling her
along.

Lena
looked back over her shoulder at Eric who just shrugged, to Liam who
shook his head and looked down at his feet. Fat lot of good they were
doing her.

“What's
up, Maude?” she asked, unable to stand the nervousness in her
stomach.

“Oh
I just wanted to ease your mind a bit. I know you have Eric and Liam
who know the true story, but I wanted you to know there are still
some friends for you around here,” she said, her voice kind and
maternal. “You know... it would all just blow over if you told
everyone the truth.”

“How
do you know the identity theft thing isn't the truth?” she
asked, looking out the front window of the store.

“Because
I know,” she said, a strong emphasis on the word 'know'.

“Right
because you're psychic,” she said, her tone dry.

“Exactly
right,” Maude said. “It's the same reason I know your
mama used to bring you along at night when she had to clean office
buildings because it was too dangerous to leave you home alone in
your neighborhood.” At Lena's open mouth, she nodded. “Yup.
You used to crawl up on office furniture and sleep until she was
done. So... I know.”

“Right,”
Lena said, sipping her coffee anxiously. She felt extremely exposed
around Maude. Someone who apparently managed to know all the details
of her life she had tried so hard to keep buried. “I can't come
clean about this though.”

“Because
of your boss' plans.”

“Right,”
Lena agreed.

“Okay,”
Maude said, sliding her arm out of Lena's. “I just thought I
would try. So you and Eric enjoying yourselves?” she asked,
wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. “Don't give me that look.
If you're old enough to have sex, you're old enough to talk about
it.”

Lena
laughed, shaking her head. “I don't know how it's going,”
she said, looking over at Eric. As if sensing her inspection, he
looked up and smiled at her.

Nineteen

Eric
walked her back to his shop a few minutes later, holding her hand in
his again, his palm squeezing hers tighter occasionally. He walked
her to the staircase, telling her he would have to get back to work.

Lena
nodded, taking the first step, then feeling Eric grab the waistband
of her pants and haul her backward. Her stomach dropped, feeling
herself falling. She landed across Eric's outstretched hands, her
breath escaping her chest.

Eric
smiled down at her, his arms holding her easily. “Did you think
I was going to let you walk away without a kiss?” he asked, his
eyes bright.

“You
could have just asked me to turn around,” she said, one of her
arms going to his shoulder.

“Yeah,
but where's the fun in that?” he asked, lowering his face to
hers. His lips went to hers, hard and unyielding, bruising almost.

Lena
put both of her arms around his neck, sighing into his mouth. He
carefully put her back on her feet, his hands slipping underneath her
shirt and reaching for her breasts, squeezing. Lena groaned. His
mouth moved from hers, hauling her shirt up, and pulling the material
of her bra down, exposing her.

“Eric,”
she yelped, reaching for her bra, trying to pull the material back
up. He slapped her hands away playfully, his thumbs moving to the
sensitive nubs “anyone can walk in,” she objected.

Eric
smirked down at her. “What's the matter? You scared?” he
asked, his tone challenging.

Lena
squinted her eyes at him, rising to the bait. She reached down to his
pants, quickly unfastening his button and zipper and slipping her
hand inside. “Do I seem scared?” she asked, taking his
hard cock into her hand and stroking, squeezing tightly.

Eric
sucked in his breath, pinching at her nipples. “Doesn't prove
anything,” he said, his voice husky.

“No?”
she asked, slowly going down onto her knees, pausing a moment before
taking his hard length into her mouth. Eric hissed, his hand slamming
out to the staircase banister to steady himself. She worked her mouth
on him, fast and twisting until his breath was coming out in short
gasps. “Did that?” she asked, pretending to not be
glancing around to make sure someone hadn't happened upon them.

“Eh,”
he said, his eyes heavy.

Lena
smirked, reaching into her purse quickly and then going back onto her
feet. She reached for her zipper, unfastening it and slowly pulling
down her slacks and panties. She stepped awkwardly out of the legs,
still in her heels. “How about this?” she asked, her
heart slamming painfully in her chest, a part of her exhilarated, the
other part absolutely petrified.

“I
dunno...” Eric said, his eyes sliding over her body.

Lena
reached, pulling herself out of her bra and shirt. She held her hand
out toward him. A condom sat in her palm. Eric looked at her, an
eyebrow raised. “You're going to fuck me,” she said, her
words sounding a bit shaky with both need and nerves. “fast and
hard,” she told him, watching with pleasure as his eyes got
hungry.

He
took the condom, slipping it on quickly and grabbing her hips and
turning her away from him. He pressed her forward until she grabbed
the rails of the staircase in her hands, her ass sticking out toward
him.

“Spread
your legs,” he said, moving up behind her, but not touching
her.

Lena
complied, opening them hip width, feeling her pulsing need inside.
Eric's hand went between them, touching her quickly, stroking her
wetness. “Thank god,” he growled out, moving up behind
her. His cock pushed against her opening for a split second before
slamming deep inside.

“Fuck,”
she yelled, no longer caring if someone heard her. Not caring if the
whole town gathered and watched them. All she cared about was him
deep inside her, his hands digging into her hips, hauling her up
against him as he thrust, just short of painful. Over and over, her
pussy grabbing at him desperately.

“You
have twenty seconds to cum,” he told her, thrusting faster. “or
you don't get to cum at all.”

Lena
smiled, grabbing the rails tighter, sticking her ass further out,
wanting more of him. One of his hands went to her hair, pulling her
bun into a ponytail and pulling it until she arched backward. His
other hand reached out, slapping her ass hard once, the pain smarting
and intoxicating. His cock hit her deep inside, pressing her close to
the peak. “Harder,” she ground out, her voice foreign to
her own ears.

Eric
made a growling noise, the arm that wasn't holding her arched back
toward him, went around her belly, pushing hard against her pelvis as
he slammed his cock harder inside her. “Five... four,” he
said between clenched teeth.

Lena's
hands grabbed desperately at the rails as her orgasm slammed through
her, overwhelming, making her legs shake uncontrollably. Eric's hand
pulled her hair harder, groaning loudly as he came deep inside her.

His
body shook against hers for a moment before he finally released her
hair, her scalp stinging. His hands went to her ass, slowly pushing
her forward as he slipped out of her. He leaned forward, planting a
kiss on one of the cheeks before moving away.

Lena
stood up slowly, her legs still feeling wobbly underneath her. She
turned and Eric was slowly zipping up his jeans, his eyes a little
disbelieving, sweat running down the side of his neck. “Guess
you're not so uptight after all, baby,” he said, looking her
slowly up and down. Her eyes shot daggers at him as she reached for
her clothes. He moved closer, grabbing her chin and forcing her to
look at him. “I knew you weren't. I needed to prove it to you
that you aren't. You're fucking amazing,” he said, leaning
closer and planting a kiss on her neck. “Now get your fine ass
upstairs before someone sees you,” he said, reaching out and
slapping her backside as she turned away.

Lena
let herself into the apartment, walking straight to the bedroom and
curling up in bed, leaning into the spot where he had slept the night
before, still smelling him there. She pulled her knees to her chest,
covering her face in her hands.

What
had gotten into her? While she had always enjoyed sex, she had never
been brazen about it. Never wanted it so badly so often. Never would
have even considered going down on someone at his place of work. Or,
worse yet, strip naked and have sex with him right there for anyone
to happen upon her.

And
she had never been so submissive, following orders. Or enjoying
getting her hair pulled or her ass slapped. She had never commanded
someone to fuck her. Or practically screamed when she orgasmed.

Everything
felt new. Different. More intense than she ever remembered it being.
Like she was a virgin all over again and each thing was overpowering
and exciting and... delicious.

Lena
stifled a laugh against the pillow. That was what Eric O'reilly was.
He was just... delicious. Fun and easy and intolerably sexy.

Maybe
it wasn't so bad to enjoy a little romance. Maybe fighting it so hard
had been stupid. Especially when she could have been enjoying this
all along. She had really been missing out.

Why
did she feel like she had to always deny herself? Was it really so
selfish to enjoy herself every now and again? In fact, wasn't it more
selfish to spend all of her time keeping herself locked up and not
sharing herself with anyone else? Wasn't that the most greedy thing
she could do... hoard up all her thoughts and feelings and
experiences and keep them locked away?

Lena
climbed out of bed, going to the closet and grabbing a pair of his
sweatpants. Nothing she owned was even remotely as comfortable as his
pants, all worn in and soft. She went to her own bag and grabbed her
blue cotton tank top, slipping it on.

She
could enjoy a fling. Especially since there just so happened to be an
expiration date on the whole thing. No awkward conversations about
how it was fun while it lasted, but they had to move on. No hurt
feelings. They both knew what they were getting into. Once her car
was fixed, she would be packing all of her things and heading out.
Back to her life.

Away
from Eric.

She
tried to deny the strange pang she felt at that last thought, moving
into the kitchen and getting herself a piece of leftover apple
praline bread.

She
found she actually really liked Stars Landing. It was an unexpected
realization, being someone who had spent her entire life in a city
and enjoyed the convenience that was ordering pizza at midnight or
all-night coffee spots. Dry cleaners. Limitless markets to explore
for rare ingredients.

But
there was something about a small town that was sweet and refreshing.
When she looked past the rumors that she had brought upon herself,
the people seemed kind. Involved with each others lives, concerned
about the community as a whole.

It
must be easy to be born into a small town. To know everyone. To know
that if something went wrong, someone would be there for you. To know
your purpose from a young age: farmer's children became farmers,
shopkeeper's children became shopkeepers, mechanic's children became
mechanics.