One in Waiting (Reedsville Roosters Book 2), page 4
“Do you want me to fuck you, princess? Good hard screw so you’ll remember me?”
No response, beyond her ass grinding ever so slightly against the front of his swim trunks.
He slid his hands down and parted her cheeks, worked himself between them. “I would say that’s the only thing you missed about me, but you can get cock anywhere.” And certainly, she had in seventeen years. He wasn’t so stupid he’d think she hadn’t found release with another man in all that time, but fuck, it pained him to think about someone else being there. It should have been him.
She said nothing. Just raised up onto her toes and pressed herself against his crotch.
He scoffed. “If you want my dick, you’re going to have to ask for it. Ask for it by name, so we both know you realize who’s standing behind you right now.”
She let out a long, frustrated groan. “Stop talking shit and fuck me, Leary.”
“Oh, I’ll fuck you.” He dropped his hand to her wet slit and spread her slickness between her cheeks, rubbing her tighter hole. “Should I see how different your pussy feels after seventeen years or put my cock in your ass? Wouldn’t want to accidentally knock you up again, seeing as how pulling out didn’t work so well the last time.”
She tensed beneath him as if preparing to move.
He grabbed her wrists and pressed her hands flat to the bed. “Stay right there, princess, and tell me where you want to be fucked. If it doesn’t matter, perhaps we can flip a coin.”
The suite door swung open and the woman, Ceria, stepped in clutching her keycard with Ren at her heels. She backed off and left the room, but Ren stepped in, agape and agog. His gaze fell to the squirming spectacle on the bed in front of Leary, but other than to turn her head, Emilie didn’t move much. Apparently her assistant was used to walking in on Emilie in compromising positions. Another thing Leary didn’t want to give much thought to.
“Are you coming, Mr. Ardent?” Ceria asked from the hall.
“Come on in and get acquainted with Emilie, Ren. She doesn’t mind, do you, sweetheart?” He gave her ass a little love tap.
She rolled her eyes.
Nope. She didn’t mind. They may have been apart for a lot of years, but Emilie said no when she meant no. He didn’t imagine that would change about her.
Ren worried at his bottom lip for a moment, then waved at Ceria.
She let the door close.
Leary waved him over. “Come on over and shake hands so you can have a proper meeting.”
After a few seconds of hesitation, Ren walked closer, giving Leary a suspicious leer as he moved.
“Emilie, I’d like you to meet my boyfriend, Ren Ardent.”
She tensed again, but he held her firm.
“Now, now. He knows I play with girls a little on the side. So does he, but you probably already guessed that. You’re probably more surprised I fuck men than he is at seeing you here. I might never have learned that about myself, either, if you hadn’t chucked me with so little regard. Still want me to fuck you?”
Her gulp was audible, her grinding against him unmistakable. “Less talking. More doing.”
He looked to Ren, who still wore that concerning, confused expression. Leary had never seen it before. Obviously, Leary would need to be having another serious talk with someone later. “She needs a good, hard fuck. Can you hold her wrists for me so I can make sure she gets it?”
“You want me on the bed?”
“Yeah, just get in front of her. Keep her still however you see fit. You don’t mind, do you, princess?” He gave her ass another little tap that had her pushing up onto her tiptoes again.
“Do what you need to do, Leary. And don’t worry about getting me pregnant. As far as I know, your sperm isn’t magical so much as enthusiastic.”
Ren pushed up an eyebrow. The question in it was obvious: Why are you doing this?
Leary just shook his head. He didn’t have a good reason, really, beyond being so fucking angry at her that he got a painful hard-on.
Leary pulled his hand free from Emilie’s wrists, and Ren knelt in front of her, pressing a gentle hand to them. He was going to have to give her a little more than that, but he’d figure it out on his own.
Leary loosened the laces on his swim trunks and skimmed the plastic aglets at the ends over Emilie’s enticing rump. She shuddered, squirmed, and tried to pull her arms free, but Ren pressed them down. Leary had known he’d figure it out.
He let down his trunks and nudged them aside with his foot. Pressing his palms to her cheeks, he parted her and probed his cocked against her slit. Back and forth, back and forth, collecting some of her wetness and easing the way for himself.
Shaved smooth. Why? Who’s seeing her? Touching her? Probably a lot of men if she were so comfortable with her body that she’d strip down naked to get into a hot tub.
He ground his molars and wondered why he even cared. At best, what they were doing was just a hate-fuck. He’d get his rocks off, and they’d argue some, resolve nothing, and go their separate ways. But at least he’d be able to get a last word in, unlike last time when her lawyer had had it.
He slid into her pussy in one slow, unceasing motion that had her moaning into the covers.
“I like to think I’ve gotten a little better at it,” he said. He pulled out almost all he way and slammed back into her, and then again. He watched the flesh of her ass ripple with each thrust and hissed at her constriction around him.
She looked so good. Felt so good. Didn’t matter at the moment that she was a scheming bitch, because the pussy was majestic. He thrust again, swiveling his hips and making some room for himself.
“Don’t get big dick very often, huh?”
She didn’t respond beyond clamping down on him hard.
Ren gave his head the barest shake and let his gaze fall to the place where Leary and Emilie joined.
“How’s the view for you, babe?” He pulled her by the hips toward him and pressed his dick in as far as it could go.
“Fuck,” she whispered, her legs shaking beneath her.
Good.
“View could be better,” Ren said.
“I’m sure. You know, Emilie, Ren and I don’t share. Not for lack of desire to, but because we don’t have the same type.”
“Uh-huh.” Her voice was husky and dreamy, her eyelids half-hooded and fingers twitching against the inside of Ren’s knees.
She wasn’t paying his words a damn bit of mind, so he tucked he tip of his thumb into her ass.
“God!”
“You like that, don’t you?” He rocked his hips and took a deep breath, trying to ignore the prickles, the tightening in his core. He wasn’t a three-minute man, but damned if he wasn’t about to disprove that. “You’ve had a dick in your ass before. I bet you like it dirty.”
“Are you…are you waiting for me to argue?”
He put his thumb in a little farther and stretched her.
“Don’t…oh God, yes…don’t hold your breath waiting.”
The sharp exhalation that immediately followed wasn’t Emilie’s, but Ren’s. The other’s man face bore a flushed tint and a bead of sweat had formed at his brow. He knew how strong Ren was. They played ball together and worked out together, so the physicality of holding Emilie’s wrists would probably not have been giving him much trouble. There was something else in play. He let his gaze fall down to Ren’s crotch and saw his cock pressed against the leg of his trunks, so snug that Leary could see the exact outline of head and shaft.
“I think you might be Ren’s type, Emilie.” Leary increased the speed of his thrusts and stoked her like he feared a life-giving fire was on its way out. He fucked her as if there was an epic battle raging where there could be one victor, and he had to be the last one standing. He fucked her so hard that…
That maybe she’d never forget about him again.
Fuck.
Is that the deal?
He closed his eyes and tried to block out all other sensation—the sight of Emilie’s well-honed and stunning body, the sound of Ren’s breaths, the smell of fruity alcohol and tropical flowers. He tried to block out everything except the feeling of her pussy. But then all the old emotions came out of hiding.
You loved her.
You fucking loved her.
You loved her like you love Ren.
And was that really something that could be turned off? If it could be, it wasn’t love in the first place.
She clenched hard around him and muttered some very unladylike swears into the mattress, and he opened his eyes, saw her writhing body. That feminine waist and hips turned up to him, and he came too.
His body rejoiced as his seed filled her, but his mind was a mess. More than a mess—a disaster area. Why had he done it? Why had he…
Ren loosened her wrists and rubbed them, and she did something odd. Still panting and writing against Leary’s thighs, she grabbed Ren’s hand and squeezed it hard, judging by the speed his fingertips turned white. He didn’t pull away, though. Didn’t shake her off. He just went very still, looking down at her as if waiting for some instruction.
Leary pulled his cock and finger free of her and evidently ignited an aftershock orgasm that had her moaning through clenched teeth.
She loosened her hold on Ren’s hand, and when the orgasm was over, took it again and whispered something to him.
Ren leaned down and put his ear to her lips. To whatever she said, he nodded, and sat up.
Leary gave him a speculative look, which Ren couldn’t hold.
What is up with that?
Leary went into the bathroom and cleaned himself up before returning to the bed with a washcloth for Emilie. He left it draped over her backside and snatched his swim trunks off the floor.
She pressed the cloth between her thighs and straightened up.
He’d expected her to walk with a little limp or at least a little cringe, but she gave him the most epic fuck you by sauntering her prissy self past him with not so much as a hitch in her step.
She closed herself into the bathroom and the lock clicked.
What the fuck?
Ren stepped in front of him, arms folded over his chest.
Leary concentrated on retying his trunks. “What?”
“What was that?”
“What did it look like?”
“It looked like you were trying to fuck her hard enough to open a gate to hell and toss her through it.”
“Something like that.”
“Is that how you fuck all women?”
“No. She’s a special case.”
“Why? Because you’re mad or because you’re that horny?”
Leary didn’t answer. He leaned against the wall near the bathroom door and itemized sounds from within. The snick of the shower curtain being pulled. The beating of the water against the tub bottom. She wasn’t off the hook yet. They needed to talk, and she wasn’t going to be able to hide in that bathroom all night.
“Answer me, Leary.”
“How ’bout you answer me this. What’d she say to you at the end?”
Ren’s jaw hinges twitched and eyes narrowed. “You don’t need to worry about it.”
“That’s a cop-out.”
“Look who’s talking. I asked you a simple question.”
“What’s so simple about it? Huh? If I knew how to answer it, in a way that didn’t involve me spewing oh-so-much bullshit, I’d give it to you. So, what do you want me to say? Tell me what answer you want me to give so I can give it to you.”
“Just tell me the truth.”
“When I figure it out, I’ll tell you.”
Ren scoffed and ranked his hands through his dark hair. “Great. You stay here and figure that out. I’m going to go finish my dinner and have a few drinks before we have to go dry for the next five games. I’ll see you in the room later and you can tell me all about what you figured out, ’kay?”
Leary couldn’t think of anything to say to him as he pulled open the suite door and stepped into the hall.
Not one fucking thing.
CHAPTER SIX
Ren put his beer to his lips and stared unseeing at the naked dance party in front of him.
Fuck.
Fuck.
He swallowed again and again, letting the dark ale burn his throat and fill his belly.
Fuck.
He knew some things for sure about his relationship with Leary. One was that other men didn’t come between them. Ever. That was a rule neither of them broke, and had no particular inclination to. Occasionally, they both craved a woman’s touch, though, and they didn’t deny themselves from fulfilling that need. For Ren, it’d always been about touch and a little feminine affection, albeit temporary. For Leary, it had always been about sex, assuming he was aroused enough to go through with it. He rarely was, and Ren felt a perverse pleasure about that. He knew he’d never lose Leary to another man, and had thought the same for women, but…now he wasn’t so sure. Leary was a man who rarely showed passion for anything beyond Ren and baseball, so the fact tat he’d been so emotional with Emilie was a red flag.
Fuck.
He grabbed another beer from a waiter passing by and handed him the empty bottle.
“You have good taste, Mr. Ardent.” Ren turned slightly to the left and found Ceria standing with a beer of her own. She wore about ten strands of flower leis and wooden beads over her conservative button-up shirt, and looked a bit tired in spite of her immaculate posture and crisp attire.
No, a lot tired. Bags hung heavily beneath her dark eyes and her smile was weak, though seemed genuine enough.
He indicated the empty chair to his right. “Take a load off. I’m sure we’re waiting on the same thing.”
“Thank you.” She settled into the chair, crossed her legs at the knees, and nudged her hair back from her ear to tap her hearing aid. “Sorry. There’s condensation in the tube. I need to get them replaced.”
“Not cheap, I bet.”
She scoffed. “The tubes are affordable enough. The whole damned units need to be replaced. They’re obsolete.”
“Nice.”
“Pretty much my assessment. So, apologies if I ask you to repeat yourself.”
He shrugged. “’S’all right. I grew up with my grandparents. Granddad couldn’t hear worth a shit and was too proud to get hearing aids. Got used to repeating myself.”
She laughed. “So, I guess I don’t have to ask what you’re doing down here.”
“Nah, I think it’s pretty obvious.”
“I assume you and Mr. Marshall are more than just teammates.”
“Yep.”
“How long have you been together?”
“About a year. Open relationship, though.”
“By whose decision?”
He shrugged. “You know, I think it was just one of those situations where our friendship gradually changed into something else and we just kept on keeping on with certain parts of our lives. We never really had a discussion about it.”
“Ah. I see.”
“I know it’s weird.”
She shook her head and took a sip of her beer. “I’m not one to judge. After all, I’m sitting down here and not huddled in a corner somewhere covering my eyes. There isn’t much that’ll scandalize me.”
“Including your boss skinny-dipping in a hot tub,” he muttered.
Ceria seemed to take a moment to hear it—to process what he’d said. She didn’t ask him to repeat. She was probably doing the same thing Granddad did and filling in the parts she didn’t hear too well with words based on context clues. “To be quite honest, I’d prefer her to streak through the streets of New Orleans than to withdraw into a shell. When she’s being outgoing, I know she’s fine.”
“And there are times she’s not fine?”
She sipped some more, and didn’t answer. Just as well. Wasn’t any of Ren’s business, although he’d be lying if he’d said he wasn’t intrigued by the woman. The way she’d grabbed his hand—her quiet authority. She may have been letting Leary fuck her at the moment, but there was no doubt who was in charge. Ren had felt like she’d taken one look at him and saw right through him. Pegged him for exactly what he was. And then she’d whispered, “Want to change places?” and what the fuck was he supposed to say but yes?
Time for a subject change.
“Have you been here before?” he asked.
Ceria shook her head. “No. I’ve been working for Emilie since shortly after she inherited the ranch. I used to go to church with her late foster parents. They loved her as if she were their own.”
“Doesn’t she have a family of her own? Biological family, I mean.”
“She does. Her parents are alive. Suffice it to say that sometimes family is something you find and aren’t born into it.”
“Right.” Ren really couldn’t ask for more. Wasn’t his business. If it were anyone’s business, it was Leary’s, but damned if he wasn’t curious. “So, a ranch?”
“Mm-hmm. Longhorn, mostly, though being in Texas and all, Emilie does pretty good trade in rodeo horses.”
“Yeah? I used to do bronc bustin’. Kinda had to choose between rodeo and baseball. Baseball seemed less likely to kill me. Some days, though, I wish I’d never left Granddad’s ranch.”
“You don’t really mean that.”
“Hey, I said some days. I’ll probably end up retiring when Leary does. Need to figure out what I’m going to do with my life.”
“Your grandfather no longer has his ranch?”
“Nah, he sold it about five years ago. Cost of hay was getting too high. Hell, cost of everything was getting too high. He figured he might as well get out of the business debt-free. If he waited another year, that might not have been the case.”
“Sometimes, you’ve got to make hard decisions, I suppose.”
He grunted and watched the fire dancer on the stage twirl his staff for a few measures before leaning back in his seat and setting down his beer. If he drank any more of them, he wouldn’t be able to get up in the morning. He was chomping at the bit to leave. Not so much because he was eager to play another game, but to get Leary away from…everything. To see where his head was. Find out if he was going to kick him to the curb. He would have if he were Leary.
