Текст книги "Right Next Door"
Автор книги: A. J. Pryor
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Текущая страница: 13 (всего у книги 19 страниц)
“Here, let me help you up.” After an incredibly awesome hospital visit, I decided Addison and I needed to work out, or at least I needed to work out. Emily was great, and Addison was amazing with her, playing Would You Rather? until she’d run out of questions then watching re-runs of American Ninja Warrior. Addison knew every contestant, every move they made, where they went wrong and what they needed to work on for the next competition. It was a little frightening how caught up in these people’s worlds she was and I can only hope I’m going to give her a better life than one living through other people’s dreams. She needs to have her own.
I had dreams at one point as well, and they all came crashing down. When your life suddenly changes courses without asking your opinion in the matter, you need to readjust what you want out of life. Sort out the good and forget the bad. Life has a lot to offer, and if you want to find all the amazing parts, you can. It may be lurking in a hidden corner, out in plain sight or have just moved right next door, but it’s there, and I plan to show Addison how great life can be.
“What’s up peoples?” Fucking Reed walks onto the track, his arms outstretched, and a shit-eating grin on his face.
His shirt is ridiculous.
“Oh my God, Reed, that shirt’s worse than any of my mugs.” Addison is cracking up, and I want to deck the guy for thinking it was okay to wear a shirt around Addison that says, ‘When I get tired of snatches, I jerk it.’
Sure, it’s a CrossFit shirt, and I own a few of them myself, but have some fucking class.
“Don’t throw those dark mean eyes my way, Damian.” He throws his shit on the ground and turns on the music. Far East Movement’s “Like a G6” begins to play and I turn towards Addison, helping her with another pull up. I love the dude like he’s my brother and having four of them, that’s saying a lot. But at some point the guy’s got to grow up.
She loses her grip, and I’m not paying as good of attention as I should. Her hands slip off the bar and she lands right into my arms, causing us both to fall to the ground. “You okay, Green Eyes?” I’m holding her, as we lay on the grass and it dawns on me we’ve gone all day without having sex. I begin to wonder why I brought her here instead of home and straight to bed. After spending over twenty-four hours in nothing but our birthday suits, real life came calling this morning. She was too nervous visiting Emily hand in hand to have a roll between the sheets with me today, and I was too antsy to get her into bed when we got home. All her questions this afternoon threw me. How can I ever tell Addison the real reason Thomas doesn’t want me around? I promised Megan I’d never tell anyone what she divulged to me that night, but she left out the fact that she had a daughter. I’ve often wondered if that makes the promise null and void, if her lack of information gives me the right to take action, even though it’s the last thing Megan would have wanted. I’ve never been able to answer that question.
I’ve been sitting on the couch for two hours, staring at a blank wall. My mind has been racking up the thousands of questions about an orphaned girl who I should have been caring for instead of wasting my life away on this couch.
Reed hasn’t left the apartment, every so often coming out and staring at me. Like right now.
This time I stare back. “Where is she?”
“A foster home in Goleta. She’s good. I’ve been keeping tabs on her, checking in with her social worker.”
“What’s her name?”
He hangs his head, his hands in the pockets of his jeans and takes a deep breath. “Emily. Emily Jones.”
“That was Megan’s last name. Where’s her dad?”
He shrugs. “No one knows. Her birth certificate lists no known father.”
That stings.
“I want to see her.”
He nods. “Get your shit. I’ll drive you.”
We pull up in front of a one-story home on the outskirts of town. There’s nothing special about it. It’s not a shit hole, but it’s certainly no mansion. A woman with short brown hair is twirling a blonde little girl in the front yard. The minute the girl’s feet hit the ground, she turns, her big blue eyes locking onto mine for a split second. My heart completely cracks in two. She looks exactly like her mom.
“Get me out of here.”
Reed pulls away from the curb and I call my attorney.
I don’t give him a chance to say hello before I ask, “Did you know?”
“Yeah. I knew.”
“I don’t care what it takes, get me some sort of visitation rights, some sort of involvement with that little girl.”
“You need to pull it together before any court grants you custody, Damian.”
“As of right now and from here on forward, I’m together. And I’m going to make it my life’s mission that Emily Jones will be properly taken care of the rest of her life.”
“Let’s go work out at home.” Addison’s seductive voice shakes me from my memory.
I smile and kiss her hard.
“New rule!” Reed is shouting and it startles us both. “No PDA, no touching unless absolutely necessary, and no sneaking off early to grab a quick fuck.” I flinch at his description of our relationship but also at the accuracy at which he’d just pegged us. “I get it, guys, I really do. And I’m happy for you both, really, I am, but just because you’ve found some . . . some cosmic event that you can’t explain, neither one of you are getting out of our workouts. So get the hell up and give me fifty!”
We both stand and Addison reaches on her tiptoes trying to whisper something in my ear. I bend down to hear her better. “Take off your shirt, and I’ll give you a blow job later.”
She drops to the ground and starts her push up routine.
I’m hard.
Again.
And can’t do much about it.
But I want a blowjob, and even though I know she’d probably give me one anyway, I take off my shirt and expose my skin to the cold post-rain air.
At least that took care of my hard on.
We work out for over an hour, Reed shouting directions at us, and both of us following every word he says. By the time we’re ready to head home, I want to kick Reed’s ass but mostly, I want to fall into bed with Addison.
I grab her around the waist and throw her over my shoulder. “See you later, Reed,” I yell behind me as I get us both out of there and home as quickly as possible. I need to be inside her, and I need it like I need air to breathe. I’ve been semi erect since I woke up this morning, and it’s beginning to get painful.
I choke on the bite of Wheaties I just took as I watch Addison’s breasts bounce slightly when she sits down in the kitchen chair. She’s wearing a white terry cloth robe she insisted on bringing over here. But it’s not tied and the sight is more erotic than if she were walking around in the nude. A scrap of skin down the middle of her body, the round insides of her breasts, her tiny belly button which isn’t quite an outie, but doesn’t go very deep either, are all I can see and it leads straight down to the crease between her legs which isn’t covered by anything at all. When she moves slightly or crosses her legs, the robe will move to the side and an entire breast will become exposed.
My appetite for food is quickly dissolving into a deep hunger for her, but I’m still undecided if it’s her breasts or the slick folds between her thighs, I want to taste first.
“Would you rather have sex here . . .” I press my palms flat on the wood of my kitchen table, until it creaks slightly, then capture her eyes with my own intense stare, “or outside, on the balcony?” She laughs and her breasts bounce again.
Fuck.
I’m so hard.
No matter what we do together, my desire for this woman can never seem to get satiated.
“Um, this table because I’m not sure the neighbors could handle that kind of a show.” She takes another bite of cereal and her breasts bounce slightly as she slowly chews.
“Would you rather I bite down on your nipple or run my tongue between your legs?”
She drops her spoon, and they bounce a different way, her eyes lighting up in excitement.
Fuck.
This is torture.
“Is it possible to do both at once.”
I laugh, “Probably not, but I’ll figure something out.”
I want to suck one of those erect nipples into my mouth. I’ve never been much of an exhibitionist, but since I’ve met Addison I’ve lived practically shirtless, and since Friday night, there’s been a rare occasion where either of us had any clothes on. It’s close to midnight and she has to go to work tomorrow. Maybe my constant erection will ease up when I’m not around her.
Standing, I place my bowl in the kitchen sink and pull out an envelope from a drawer that I’ve been hiding for the past month.
“Your birthday is next month, right?”
She notices my change of subject but doesn’t protest. “How did you know?”
“I’m good like that. Happy early birthday, Green Eyes.”
She stands and meets me at the counter. Her eyes widen, then they squint. After widening again, she looks at me. “Is this . . . are these . . . are these what I think they are?”
“Two tickets to the Venice Beach taping of American Ninja Warrior.”
Her lips turn up in the biggest grin I’ve ever seen cross her beautiful face. She starts jumping up and down, and fuck, those tits just don’t stop. I can’t take it anymore.
Picking her up, she wraps her legs around my waist. I lean my head down and pull a nipple into my mouth, gently sucking. She moans and her bare entrance gets warm and wet along my abs. “I love your tits. They bounce, they react to me, and they’re too big to fit in my hand. They’re perfect.” I run my nose along the pink peak of her nipple and kiss the large swell underneath her dark areola. I’m so hard my cock is poking out of my shorts and reaching all the way up to her backside, resting just above her ass.
Nudging the robe down her shoulders, I trail kisses along her arms as I slip it off her body.
I slide a finger along the groove of her parted cheeks, and then rub my finger along the slick wetness of her opening. She’s burning with warmth, and I’m burning to be everywhere all at once. I start to walk back to my room, but she stops me, her legs falling to the sides and sliding down my body, taking my shorts with her. She’s on her knees, her half lidded eyes looking up at me.
Fuck yeah.
I’ve been waiting all day for this promised blow job, and my hips flex involuntarily knowing she’s about to bring me into her parted lips.
Her hand encases my throbbing erection, and her tongue licks the rim. I want her to suck me in deep, but she keeps teasing me with that damn tongue, running it along my length then around my tip. My legs can barely keep me standing, I need to turn, rest my hands on the counter and get a better footing.
“Do you like it when I lick you?” She snakes that tongue out again.
A bead of pre-cum rises to the surface and my cock swells. With a shaky voice I answer, “I like your mouth on any part of my body, Green Eyes.”
“Your legs are shaking, do you need some help, Damian?” Her voice is cocky, her eyes filled with mischief.
“I need to lean against the counter, Addison or I’m going to fall.”
She stands. Damn, not what I wanted. She places her tiny hands on my shoulders and turns me so I lean back against the cold stone counter. She kisses my lips, then down my neck. Her tongue and small bites of her teeth travels the length of my scar and I shiver. I may come before she gets to my cock, her small hands trailing along my skin as her lips continue to press kisses down my body. I grab her around the waist, my hips flexing into her and my desire for her so strong I’ve forgotten that I want her mouth and not her slick folds to encase me. I just want in somewhere, anywhere because this is such sweet torture.
She tsks me and backs away. I want to scream no and pull her against me, but she slowly lowers down to her knees and relief that this burning desire is about to be laid to rest washes over me.
There’s no more teasing, no more sweeps of her tongue. She’s done playing games and as she takes me fully into the back of her throat, as my hands grip the hard granite of the kitchen counter and as her eyes look up at me from under her dark lashes, I think maybe those books she reads have it right. I’m so deep inside her warm mouth and she has no problem taking me deeper. Her hand slips between her own legs and I lose my mind. Moving my palms to rest on either side of her head, my hips flex in and out between her lips, my cock glistening each time I pull out and push back inside. I can feel it build, the tension in my balls, the heat that begins to slide up my back and my legs, which are so shaky I can barely stand. She begins to moan as her hand moves at a fast pace and the vibrations that emanate from her throat do me in. Hot liquid shoots down my spine and through my legs as my balls tense up tight and I explode down the back of her throat. My orgasm shaking my entire body and my hands keeping her firmly in place as she uses her mouth to milk me of everything I have.
Tremors run through my body, and my knees fall weak. My vision blurs for a few seconds before it finally focuses and finds her still working herself, her eyes closed as her hand continues its persistent motion between her soft legs. Lowering to my knees, I place my hands on her shoulders, and her eyes open wide, surprised, and then thankful. I push her back and remove her hand, my mouth taking over where she left off. She’s soaked, her arousal prominent, and her scent intoxicating. I’m so into her, so consumed by what she does to me, the hard, cold floor pressing into my knees barely registers as my mouth soaks up all her wetness and her cries of pleasure ring in my ears. It doesn’t take long, before she’s cresting, her hands clenching my scalp, her body quivering and my name rolling off her tongue.
I’ve always known my limits when it came to women, not interested in one-night stands but never being fully committed either. Collapsing onto the hard stone kitchen floor, her body limp next to mine, our hearts frantically beating in sync, the only thought I have is that I never realized I did love.
Thomas wasn’t happy that I’d called in sick once this month already. He wasn’t happy when I showed up to work after visiting Emily without any of the information he’d asked me to gather, and now, almost a month later, he’s really going to be unhappy that I’m about to tell him, there is no way in hell I’m working on the Emily Jones case.
“Thomas, I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to pass on this opportunity.”
His beady eyes glance up at me from the papers on his desk, then he squints. “Say that again.”
I clear my throat, my fingers twisting and turning into each other. “I said, you’re going to have to find someone else to work on the Emily Jones case.”
Dropping his pen on his desk and sitting back, he stares at me for a moment before he speaks. “And why is that, Addison. Please enlighten me to the reason I shouldn’t fire you here on the spot.”
Oh shit, here it comes. “Because Thomas, I recently lost my dad to cancer, it’s too much for me to watch a little girl battle the same disease.”
He rubs at his temples and closes his eyes. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
Dropping his pen on the papers in front of him, he looks up in thought. “What about paperwork? You won’t need to visit her, but there’s someone I need to keep at a distance and I need help fighting back at his attorneys.”
He can only be talking about Damian. I can’t help him with this.
“My neighbor is Damian Walker.” I blurt.
His eyes widen. “Is this some kind of joke?” he asks.
I shake my head, and his eyes glare at me.
“Are you sleeping with him?”
Shocked, I don’t answer.
“How long have you known you were putting both my firm and your job at risk, Addison?”
Looking at the floor, my hands are twisting together when I answer, “About a month.”
He doesn’t even pause. “You’re fired.”
I knew this was coming, but it still stings. “Because I live next door to a man who only wants to see what’s best for Emily?”
“No, because you are refusing to work on a case that I’ve assigned to you.”
“Why do you hate him so much?” I ask quietly.
He stands, meeting my gaze. “Damian Walker was driving the car the night Emily’s mom died. He killed her. Has he ever shared that information with you, Addison? Told you he’s the reason Emily’s an orphan in the first place?”
I did not hear him right. This must be a mistake. We’ve talked about this, Damian’s told me Emily’s story and it never included him.
“You seem surprised.” I can hear Thomas talking, but it’s distant. Everything feels distant.
I collapse into the empty leather chair across from him, my mind spinning as to why Damian would lie to me.
“Probably a tiny fact you would have liked to know before you risked your job for him. Damian’s lucky I’ve allowed him this much access as it is. He’s not getting any parental rights over that little girl, and feel free to let him know that the next time he needs to borrow and egg. You’re dismissed.”
Emily’s mom died in a car accident. Damian’s car accident.
For the second time in my life, I feel completely abandoned by a man. Being left physically is one thing, being left emotionally leaves an entirely new scar on your heart. Throwing all my caution to the side, I’d jumped into this relationship, believing everything he told me about commitment and the future he wanted with me. But right now, I can’t see much of a future at all.
I have to get out of here. Forcing myself up from the deep leather seat, I bolt out of Thomas’ office and into my own, grabbing my purse and deciding I’ll pack my personal belongings another day. I need to talk to Damian.
“I’m sorry, Addison. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I was walking by Thomas’s office just now. Did he really fire you?”
Startled by the sudden intrusion into my thoughts, I almost crash into Veronica as I’m leaving the office. Nodding and doing my best to hold back the tears, I watch as she bites her bottom lip in contemplation.
“I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but it may make you feel better. Thomas was an orphan. That’s why he took this case.”
“What?” I’m not processing what she’s trying to tell me, too focused on the fact that Damian never shared the entire story.
“Thomas. He was ten when his parents were killed in a car accident, much the same way Emily’s mom died. He was a system kid, never got out of it until he was eighteen.”
“So, it’s personal for him,” I finally respond.
“Deeply.”
I give her a big hug. “Thanks Veronica. It doesn’t change anything, but it does explain things. I’ll be back in a few days to gather my belongings.”
“Sure, let me know if you need anything.”
Getting myself back together I race out of the double glass doors, and bump directly into a suit and tie, the smell of men’s designer aftershave surrounding me as a set of arms wrap around my body.
Looking up, blue eyes stare down at me. “Matt? What are you doing here?”
He smiles as he continues to hold me in his arms. “Looking for you.” He frowns. “What’s wrong?”
I will the threatening tears to stay put. “Everything.”
“Here, try this one,” Matt says as he places another glass in front of me.
I down the taster of pale ale micro-brew in two gulps. A good twenty mini-sized glasses line the bar, and none of them have done a thing to ease the growing tension in my gut.
Shocked at the information I’d just learned, the sight of Matt hadn’t rattled me as much as it should have. When he grabbed my hand and walked me to his car, I didn’t protest, my urge to get away from my office building stronger than any urge to get away from him. When he suggested we go get a drink to discuss what happened, I didn’t ask him to take me home, knowing I couldn’t face Damian.
He’d lied to me. Right to my face, he’d lied.
Matt placed his hand on my lower back and ushered me up to the bar, a possessive move letting anyone else in this restaurant know I was his for the time being. I didn’t push it away, even though for the hour that we’ve been here, his hand has stayed on some part of my body.
“Addison, it sounds like you were working for the world’s biggest asshole, this is probably the best thing to ever happen to you.”
I quirk an eyebrow in his direction. “What? You think I’m the world’s biggest asshole don’t you.”
“Your words, not mine,” I say as I drink another beer. I hadn’t told Matt the entire story of why I’d just lost my job. Still trying to make sense of why Damian would lie to me, spilling my guts to Matt felt like a betrayal I could never take back.
I could have easily left and gone home, but I’m not so much hating Matt at the moment. In fact, it feels oddly comforting to have someone from my past hearing my side of the story, and while I’ve left out exactly what Damian means to me and that, yes, in fact, I have slept with him, Matt agrees that working on a case with a sick child isn’t best for my emotional stability. Maybe it’s the alcohol talking, or maybe my mind recognizes that at one point in my life, Matt was the only person who could help me through a tough situation, but I’m enjoying this miniscule amount of time with him.
Matt’s hands are suddenly on my thighs and he’s turning me to face him. “Addison, remember when we graduated and I took you to the San Ysidro Ranch?”
How could I forget? The most romantic hotel in all of Santa Barbara and he’d brought me there. It was his graduation present to me—one night alone just the two of us. We’d spent it naked in front of a fire. I was so young but completely in love with the man sitting in front of me.
“You proposed and left the very next day, promising you’d be back for me.” He’d left me, and yet I’m sitting with him now as if five years hadn’t just flown by.
He squeezes my thighs. “I proposed, and I freaked out, Addison. I was twenty-two years old, had just spent half my savings on a hotel room for the woman of my dreams, and had no idea how I was going to give her the life she deserved.”
“And you thought I deserved being abandoned?”
He lowers his head and slides his hands up my thighs. “When I left, I knew the risk was you hating me forever. But I had to learn how to be a man. One you’d always want to come home to, one you’d never want to leave. At that point in my life, I was a boy struggling to make ends meet, I was a boy who needed to experience life before I could give you the perfect happily ever after you always dreamed of.”
“My happily ever after never included another wife, Matt.”
He gives me a guilty look. “Listen, I knew your dad’s financial situation was in dire straits, I knew you had no clue how bad it really was. But there was nothing I could do to help if I stayed here. This is such a small town, and if I wanted a real career in investment banking, I needed to go back east. But I never would have been able to convince you to leave your dad and come with me. Especially after he got so sick. Trying to keep up a long distance relationship when I knew I’d be working ridiculous hours was only going to end in us hating each other. Leaving seemed like my best solution, even if it meant destroying what we had. I knew if we were meant to be, we’d re-build it, Addison.”
An explanation, after all these years he’s finally delivering an inside glimpse as to what was going through his mind the day he took off. And while I appreciate his attempt at trying to get me to understand where he was coming from, it doesn’t take away the unnecessary pain he caused. “You could have called, told me you needed a break.”
He looks me straight in the eyes, his lips slightly curving in a grin. “There were a lot of things I could have done. But once I left, I put up an emotional wall. I only allowed you to enter my thoughts when I was alone and could have you to myself. My marriage was one of convenience. It was never a marriage of love. Not even from her. Helen married me because her dad asked her to; she’s been cheating on me since the beginning of our relationship.”
“Sounds like you two are the perfect match.”
He bitterly laughs. “Addison, let me back in. Answer my calls. Talk to me. Let me try to rebuild what we once had. You don’t have a job here anymore. Your ties to this city are few and far between.”
He’s right. If I don’t have a job, and my family is gone, why would I stay? I’ve always wanted to leave, and now I have the chance to start over some place new. I have a few months’ worth of savings. It would be entirely possible for me to leave. But the idea gives me a sudden sense of panic, and my heart sinks at the thought as the image of a dark-haired man with dark eyes and abs that crave my touch fill my mind. The thought of his face, the memory of his lips pressed to mine, his hands skimming over my skin are like a bucket of ice water over my head, clearing the cobwebs Matt has started to spin in my brain. I have to talk to Damian. I need him to tell me why he lied.
Suddenly sitting here with Matt feels very uncomfortable.
Lost in my own head, I don’t realize his face is in front of mine, his cheek sliding against my own, his lips moving to my ear. “Addison, please don’t shut me out.” His warm breath tickles my skin, and his hands, which had been on my thighs are now grasping me around the waist.
“I have to go,” I say as I stand and step back from his touch.
He pulls back in surprise. “Did you not hear anything I just said?”
Throwing my purse over my shoulder, I make sure I have his full attention. “I heard it all, but I still have to go.”
Racing towards the exit, I’m almost outside when he calls my name. “Addison!”
I turn, not sure what else there is to say.
Slowly he walks in my direction. “Will you at least think about not completely closing the door on us?”
Wanting to get out of there, I give the only answer that comes to my mind. “Sure.”
