Heavy Issues (18 page)

“Do you get along?”

“Hmm?”

“You and your dad. Do you get along?”

“As well as two hardheaded men can.”

Cole had been a pain in the ass while growing up. His mother bailing out had made him withdrawn at first, then confrontational, but his father had stood by him through everything. They had butted heads often, probably because they were very similar. It’d taken him several years to realize being like his dad wasn’t such a bad thing at all. If he ever got to be half the man his father was, he’d be bouncing off the walls with happiness.

“He calls often, nags at me for not settling down. With James’s engagement he’s increased his efforts. The bugging is unbearable.”

She giggled. “How come you don’t have a cute Mrs. Cole Bowen lurking around?”

“I don’t need one. Don’t want one either. Putting up with the aggravation and the tedious job of keeping a female happy isn’t for me. The fights, the expectations, the crying, the nagging, the guilt-tripping you into changing yourself? Forget it. It gets too damn tiring to walk on eggshells all the time. Besides, no matter what you do or say, you end up fucking it up. You’re being an insensitive pig. They want you to remember dates, to be considerate with their feelings and in touch with yours.” Too many emotional demands, especially when he didn’t have the feelings they wanted him to be vocal about. He was just too set in his own ways, didn’t have the stomach for that kind of drama.

Christy laughed. “I see you think highly of women.”

He shrugged. “Nothing personal, babe.”

“Gee, thanks. So no Mrs. Cole Bowen for you. What about kids; do you want those?”

“Kids are okay, but they need to be raised in a family and I’m not going to be forming one of those.” He’d thought about marriage once, for about five seconds, then discarded the crazy idea. It might work for other people, but not for him. Besides, all the Marine Corps bunnies around base sniffing after medals and uniforms hadn’t done much to improve his overall opinion of females. Women were pretty and to be enjoyed, but always to be kept at arm’s length.

As for children, he’d sign up for the Little Buddies program. Spoil rotten the horde of babies James and Tate, with the way they were going at it, were bound to have. That would have to do, because if having a kid meant dealing with a wife, even if only temporarily, he’d sooner claw his own eyes out. As far as he was concerned, placing one’s emotional well-being in the hands of a woman was like joining a demolition derby without the common decency of wearing basic protective gear. Suicide, plain and simple. No, thank you. He could think of a thousand other less painful ways to off himself.

“Can I ask you something personal?”

He snorted, amused. “What? Are you telling me up until now you’ve gone for impersonal?”

She ignored his jab. “Why all the control?”

“I told you. I like to be in charge of my pleasure. And the woman’s.”

“Afraid she’ll get out of hand?”

“You got me,” he agreed with a laugh, not willing to elaborate. Giving free rein to a woman terrified him, but not in the sense she meant.

As they finished eating, Christy glanced at him with indecision. “Thank you for the food. It’s getting pretty late. Maybe I should go.”

He strode to her and bracketed her body with his arms. “Do you want to go?”

“I don’t know. You tell me. What does the sex workers’ union say about clients staying over?”

He laughed softly. “I’d have to check the man-whore union labor agreement because I’m not familiar with it. Although I’d say in this case, it’s up to the client.”

“Last time I was exhausted and accidentally fell asleep in your bed,” she hurried to explain. “I don’t want you to think—”

He interrupted her with a kiss. “Stay. It’d give me a perfect excuse to fuck you all night long. And I’ll be a nice, obedient boy toy and give you morning sex before taking you to work.”

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he realized asking her to stay overnight was a far cry from his usual never-stay-the-night, fuck-and-fly stunts. In fact, that they were at his place, half-naked, eating and joking after having sex was already a huge aberration for him. They were heading into relationship muddle, but fuck if he could stop himself. He liked being with her.

She snorted. “Obedient? Somehow I don’t see you that way.”

She had that right. “We can ride together to the library, give the volunteer ladies there something to talk about. Unless you’re scared it’d ruin your reputation.”

“Oh, I’m okay with the walk of shame. Besides, I think my reputation is ruined already. I don’t think there’s a soul in this town that would believe you’re up for immaculate dating.”

He traced his thumb over her lower lip. “What do you usually eat for breakfast?”

She shrugged. “All sorts of things, as long as they don’t have refined sugar or flour.”

So not a cereal girl. “Bacon, eggs, and coffee then.”

She puckered. “No coffee, I don’t like it. Anything that needs tons of sugar and milk to disguise its taste is not good.”

He chuckled. “Ah, and your diet soda is…?”

“A problem, I know. I’m working on it.”

Her smile was so sexy. “Okay, so bacon and eggs and diet soda it is.”

“Cole…?” she asked, her voice shaky as he parted her legs and wedged his thighs in between. “What are you…?”

“It’s three a.m.,” he said, nipping her throat. “I’m being a nice, obedient boy toy and giving you morning sex. Take the shirt off.”

She began to shake her head, but he curled his fingers on the side of her neck and, tipping her head back, kissed her. He wasn’t going to take no for an answer. He could work around her hang-ups. And Christy was much more agreeable when she was aroused.

It took several minutes of him kissing and petting her, but soon she was panting and didn’t complain when he slid her shirt off. She was flushed and for a second looked embarrassed, but she complied.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said as he tugged her mussed-up hair behind her, leaving her breasts and her stomach exposed, his hands gently exploring her.

She rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to try flattering me with empty words. You’re getting into my pants.”

He frowned. What was with her and compliments? He didn’t like the way she acted when he complimented her, how her chin jutted out stubbornly, how her eyes narrowed in disbelief. Every time he said she was beautiful, she acted as if he was lying.

Not willing to have an argument with her now, he decided to let it slide. Picking a fight with her wouldn’t help her loosen up.

“You need to learn I don’t say things I don’t mean, but you’re right about one thing: I am getting into your pants.”

He lowered his gaze to the glistering moisture falling from her puffy pink folds, dampening her inner thighs. Just the thought that she’d gotten that aroused by him kissing and fondling her made his cock pound in desperation. “Make yourself come, babe…for me.” She blushed even harder. “Come on, Christy, I want to see,” he said as he kissed her again and again, until she was back in that haze state where she seemed to forget all her inhibitions.

“You lick them this time,” she whispered, placing her fingers in front of his lips.

He grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles. Her fingers were small and cool, and her eyes glimmered in excitement as he licked her.

Slowly she took her fingers from his mouth and brought them to her pussy. Just like that he was ready to come.

She played with herself, a bit awkwardly, eyes closed, head tilted forward, hair falling over her face—hiding.

“Don’t hide,” he commanded, harshly stroking himself.

She obeyed, her hungry stare roaming over him, almost undoing him as it settled on his raging hard-on.

Little by little, as her cute fingers became bolder, she got more adventurous and tipped her head back, her legs opening more. Breath labored, her back arched, pressing herself against her hand.

She was trying and she was close, but she didn’t know how to get where she needed to go.

“Do you need any help, sweetheart?”

She nodded. “Yes, please. Make me come, Cole. I ache.”

“What do you want, sweet thing—my fingers, my cock, my mouth?”

She blushed. “I…ah, I want it all, Cole.”

At her words he got even harder. She was such a contradiction. Shy and embarrassed one moment, daring and wicked the next.

He kissed her hard. “Let’s start with my fingers, shall we?”

While she kept playing with her clit, he burrowed two fingers in her clenching pussy, then hooked them and rubbed her G-spot.

She whimpered.

“You feel amazing, baby.” He took one of her hands and brought it to his cock. “Feel how hard I am? You do this to me. Come for me, Christy. Show me how much you want me.”

“Oh God, Cole, I—”

“I got you. Give it to me, Christy. Now.”

He flicked his tongue over the side of her neck and took a bite, suckling and drawing her flesh inside his mouth.

She came, long and sweet, her tight pussy squeezing him, her whole body trembling in his arms.

Cock leaking like a motherfucker, legs shaking, and heart about to come out of his mouth, he watched her, mesmerized. He loved the way she came. Her body tensed while her whole expression relaxed, mouth slightly parted, eyes closed.

As she began relaxing, she covered her face and shuddered in silent laughter.

“What’s so funny?”

“I hate kitchens. Nothing good ever happened to me in a kitchen. Except for now. I think I love your kitchen.”

He pulled her to the edge of the counter and, taking himself in hand, directed his cock to her puffed-up folds. “And you’re going to love it more by the time I’m done with you.” He slid up and down her slit, circling her tender clit, reveling in her shudders. When he was totally wet from her juices and completely crazed from need, he poised at her entrance.

“Are you ready for me now? I need you so fucking badly it hurts.”

Eyes glazed with passion and residual pleasure, she nodded.

He slid the crown in, the instant heat zapping his brain. Oh God. He was halfway in when he realized he was bareback. He froze. “Fuck. Condom.”

What the hell was wrong with him? He didn’t do fluids…at all. Hell, he would have had his dick laminated a long time ago if that were a possibility. Apart from risking diseases, it was too intimate. The same as kissing. Or hugging. With Christy, though, it came naturally.

“I have to go for a condom,” he said, but he didn’t move. Couldn’t actually.

“Wait, Cole.” She looked at him with uncertain eyes, her pussy pulsing around his cock, her sweet hands clutching his shoulders. “I know now is not the moment to talk about this, but I am on the pill, have been for years because of irregular menstruation. You can come inside me if you want to. I’m safe. And clean.” She giggled quietly. “I guess you’d need to see some paperwork—”

He would have thought so too. He thought he’d need to have a long and extensive conversation with her. Go through her sex history, check some blood work, but apparently his cock didn’t need all that, for he surged into her. The extreme heat engulfing him robbed him of his last shred of control.

“Fuck, Christy, too good. Too fucking good.”

He should have told her before thrusting in that he was safe too, but at her offer he’d lost his mind. Along with his speech capabilities.

He didn’t have any elaborate words to describe what he was feeling. The condoms, thin as they were, allowed him to keep his distance and his cool. Being bathed in her heat, without any barrier, had him in total sensory overload. He could already feel the coming orgasm hurdling at the base of his nape, tightening his balls, his cum already pulsing at the head of his shaft, begging to jet out.

“Hold on to me, sweetheart,” he ordered in a guttural tone as he tugged her against him and began thrusting into her. He wanted her arms hugging him, her legs clasping around him, her pussy sucking him in. Suddenly he couldn’t stand the physical distance he craved during sex. All he needed was for her to hold on to him tight and let him come inside her—deep inside.

He stared into her eyes. Witch eyes. Hypnotizing him. “Sorry, babe…can’t make it last… Going to come.”

She kissed him deeply and squeezed her muscles around him. Fuck. Checkmate.

With bruising force, he let himself go and orgasmed for what seemed like forever. When it was over, he had the weird feeling she’d taken more from him than just his cum.

Christy paid for her soda and looked around. Tonight was a low-key event, no fund-raising dinner or dance, just good old outdoor-movie night. And thank God for it. Alden was a small town, but boy these people knew how to party.

The whole park was packed, but she soon found Sophie at the far end and walked toward her, dropping onto a wooden chair the second she reached her, tired after a long day. She hadn’t had time to properly sit when Rose and her entourage approached them, the beautiful blonde glancing around and then focusing on Christy, disdain oozing from her.

“Where did you leave Cole? Or has he gotten tired of you already?”

Sophie snorted. “Wouldn’t you wish that.”

“He’s filling in for Mike down at the gym—karate lesson. I’m very surprised you aren’t there drooling.”

“We weren’t drooling,” Rose retorted.

Ah, so they’d been there. What a surprise.

“I still can’t believe he’s dating you. Did he lose a bet or something?” she asked, looking toward her friends.

Bitch. Christy shrugged and offered her a sweet smile. “What do you want me to say? I just want to fuck the man, but he insists on dating me. Go figure that one.”

Rose’s malicious eyes narrowed on her. “Enjoy it while it lasts. You can’t hold on to a man like that. You don’t have what it takes.”

And with that parting shot Rose strode away, all long legs and swinging hips.

“‘You don’t have what it takes,’” Sophie repeated, mocking Rose’s tone. “And what’s that, Botox and a bad case of sluttiness?”

Christy smiled, although deep down she agreed with Rose; she didn’t have what it took to keep a man like Cole. Not that keeping him was part of the deal anyway.