Текст книги "Sexy"

Автор книги: J. A. Huss

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Текущая страница: 17 (всего у книги 18 страниц)

Chapter Thirty-Five

 

I don’t stop her when she walks out.

I don’t stop her because everything she just said hits me in the chest like a brick. It stops me dead.

Instead I sit back down and stare out at the water, wondering if Samantha feels the same way about me as Tiffy does. Wondering if, in the process of trying to fix things, all I did was fuck them up more.

I pull out my phone and tab Sam’s contact. She picks up on the third ring, kids laughing in the background. “Hey,” she says, a little out of breath. “How’d it go?”

Samantha moved out of the mansion last September. She graduated from nursing school and sat me down that night, thanking me for all my help, but anxious to take control of her life and make it on her own. “Got an offer,” I say without much enthusiasm.

“Great!” But my silence betrays my thoughts. She knows me too well. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know.”

“Fletcher,” she says in that stern voice she uses with me often these days. “We’ve been over this. I don’t need that house. And you’re selling for all the right reasons. I don’t want you to keep it because you think you owe us. Or,” she adds quickly, “because you think your granddad would be disappointed. He had no way of knowing how it would all turn out. He doesn’t want you to struggle. He wants you to live a good life and put the past to rest. And even with the Hollywood money, it’s a big commitment to keep that property.”

“I know,” I say. But my fight with Tiffy is weighing on my mind right now.

“You don’t need to take care of us anymore, Fletch. We’re good. And I’m so thankful. But I can’t steal your life away just because you feel obligated.”

Her words are just another brick hitting my chest. “I’m gonna take the offer,” I say.

“Good.” She laughs. “Good. I’m so happy for you, Fletcher. Really.” There’s some squealing of girls in the background and I know she and Shells are at a friend’s house for a pool party.

“Well, I’ll let you guys get back to the fun.” I force the cheerfulness into my voice so she won’t ask any more questions. “I just wanted to let you know.”

“Congrats, Fletcher. Talk to you soon.”

I end the call and lie back on the sand, letting the wind whip around my body. It’s hard to let Samantha go. And I bet it was even harder for her to take her life into her own hands and trust that she had what it took to make it on her own. Walker is still hanging around and part of me suspects that Sam wanted some distance from me so she could sort out her feelings for him.

That hurts too, since I was the one who was there for her and Shelly. He walked out, just like his name implies. Too many big dreams to be saddled with a high school girlfriend and a new baby. Walker and I had this competitive gene that hooked us when we were kids and never let go. So I wonder… did I step in for Samantha and Shelly? Or did I just want to prove to my brother that I was a better man than him?

Tiffy’s doubts about her mother’s love have shattered my preconceived notions about what I have been doing all these years. Will Shelly grow up thinking she was an obligation that needed to be dealt with? Handled like a problem? Will she accuse me of stealing her mother’s life? Will she accuse her mother of taking the easy way out? Will she doubt my love for her because I felt the need to provide? Step in and save them under the guise of doing the right thing?

I don’t want that.

And it’s not gonna happen. But none of these changes were because of me. It was Samantha who took things into her own hands and made the hard choices. It was Samantha who said no to our arrangement and decided there was more to life than… stability.

That word echoes in my mind and more of what makes Tiffy tick starts to make sense.

So I tab another contact and wait for my realtor to pick up. “Take the offer,” I say. “And keep me posted.”

I listen half-heartedly to his enthusiasm on the other end of the line for a few seconds, and then I end that call too.

I don’t go back inside the house. It’s just too much right now. They want to buy it furnished, which I can understand. It makes sense if you like the decor. Filling up all that space with new things is an expense that costs both time and money.

But it hurts. I took what I wanted before the first showing. All the things that tugged at my heart. But it still hurts.

So I weigh my next move in my head. Back to LA tonight? Or sort things out with Tiffy?

In the end that decision is made for me. Because when I finally make my way back to the driveway, on the windshield of my car, tucked under the wipers, is a ticket for the opening night of the new Mountain Men show at the Landslide Hotel.

If she’s still interested, then so am I.

I’m all in.

Chapter Thirty-Six

 

I stand backstage, peeking out through the curtain, staring at the auditorium doors while everyone else bustles around me getting ready for the show.

“Just go sit at your table,” Claudio tells me for the billionth time. “He’s coming, I know it.”

“What if he doesn’t?”

“Tiffy,” Claudio says, taking my face in his hands. “The man is in love with you. He hasn’t said it yet, but he is. He’s coming.”

“We had a fight, Claudio. And we didn’t part on good terms. And he said he was going back to LA—”

But my words catch because Fletcher Novak walks in.

He’s… stunning. Dark jeans that accentuate his legs and taper down just right. A white dress shirt, sleeves rolled up, casually, owning the look like no other man I’ve ever seen. And his blond hair is combed back, the unruly loose wave of curls trying to break free as they brush against his shoulders when he turns his head.

Is he searching for me?

I take a deep breath.

“Go. Sit with him.”

“God, I’m so nervous. What if we argue again? It will kill me.”

“He’s here, Tiffy. Don’t let him get away.” Claudio kisses me on the lips, and lets go of my face so he can get back to work. “I’ll handle everything, girlfriend,” he calls over his shoulder. “Go get your sexy on.”

I laugh, and then slip back behind the curtain and make my way out to the auditorium through the side door.

The event is sold out. People called the hotel for months complaining after the show was cancelled. It was the only thing they cared about. The magician is good, and it will be nice to have two shows, but I’m banking on the Mountain Men to make this hotel a success.

Fletcher spots me coming just as he finds the front-row center table I reserved. I had no idea he’d be in town, but I have a feeling Claudio had something to do with that. He was the one who insisted I keep the reserved VIP table for myself.

“Hey,” Fletcher says, reaching for me as I walk up. He takes my hand, pulls me close, and then leans in and kisses me on the cheek. “You look pretty.”

I blush. I’m wearing a flirty peach-colored sundress that hits me just above the knee and my favorite new four-inch heels. I dressed for him, so that’s a huge relief. “Thank you. I’m sorry—”

“Don’t.” He places a fingertip over my lips. “You don’t need to be sorry for anything.”

“I know, but I just need you to know that it wasn’t fair for me to throw this show in your face. Not when I’m basically doing the same thing. I was wrong to judge you.”

He gives me a crooked smile that reaches all the way up to his eyes. “The apologies are over, and you were right about everything, Tiffy. I’m here because I want you. Not the new you, not the old you. Just you. Any way you want to be, I’m in, princess.”

I take a deep breath and look him in the eyes. “I’m in too, Fletch. I have never felt this way about anyone in my life. You are always there. Always on my mind. And even though I know I can do it without any help from anyone now, I don’t want to.” I swallow hard. “I really don’t. I want you there with me. Next to me, every night, for as long as you’ll stay.”

“I love ya, Tiff,” he says, pulling me to his chest and kissing my head. “I love ya. I want to be in your life and I’m not going anywhere unless you kick me out.”

I check my watch, and then have an idea. “We have twenty minutes before the show starts. Can I show you something?”

“Show away, princess. I’m your captive audience tonight.”

I pull him along by the hand, since he’s still holding mine, and go out the door into the lobby. “It’s upstairs.”

He waggles his eyebrows at me. “Sure it is.”

We get into the elevator and I lean back against the mirrored wall, fanning myself with my free hand. “I’m nervous.”

He just smiles. We get off on my old penthouse floor and he chuckles as I lead him down the hallway. “I like where this is going.” I bite my lip as I look over my shoulder at him. “Hey,” he says. “No using my tips and tricks against me tonight.”

But then he does that little tongue thing where he touches it to the tip of his front teeth, and I laugh. “I like your tips, so feel free to use them on me all you want.”

He shakes his head as he smiles. I walk past my old penthouse door and keep going, straight to the one at the end of the hallway.

“The roof?” he asks, his eyebrows up.

“Just wait, Fletcher.” We go through the door and walk up the flight of stairs that leads outside.

I stop and look at him for a second, my hand on the knob, ready to show him what I’ve done. Somehow the fight is over. It’s like we needed to say all that stuff back on the beach in order to move forward and now that it’s out in the open, everything feels… right.

I open the door and step aside, letting him get a good look at what’s beyond.

“Holy shit, princess. You turned my rooftop into the royal gardens.”

“Do you like it?” I ask, looking at my recently completed project with his eyes for a moment. The raised beds are filled with flowers and shrubs. The ground has been paved with stones, and little bits of grass and moss peek through the edges, like it’s been growing this way for a hundred years. White lights are strung around the perimeter, and the glow is just enough to give it a special ambiance that mixes with the fading sunset.

“I love it,” he says, taking it in as his gaze wanders from garden bed to garden bed.

“I just had the trees planted last week. In fact, I just moved up here from my old room a few days ago. And look what I did to the garden shed, Fletch.”

I realize when I say his name that we are true friends now. These last few minutes are new and old in all the right ways. He feels like a part of me. He feels like he’s been with me this whole time. He feels… real.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

 

The wonder and happiness in her face settles my nerves and calms me down. I have never been so filled with apprehension going to meet a girl as I was tonight. Everything raced through my mind as I pulled up to the valet. All the possibilities left hanging between us. All the ways I could fuck it up. Just how easy it would be to lose this girl and how I’d feel if that happened.

It wasn’t going to happen, I decided. I wouldn’t let it.

So when she came up to me downstairs and let me take her hand, it felt right. Like every decision that led to this moment was right.

She pulls me along towards what used to be the shed. But now it’s bigger. The dingy old cinderblock bricks have been painted white. The windows have shutters and flower boxes spilling over with color.

She opens the door to the new and improved garden shed and steps back to let me walk in first. It’s not big. Just a room, really. With a small kitchen where the old potting bench used to be and a king-size bed where I laid her down on the floor and ate her pussy until she came.

I shoot her a sidelong look. “How many men have you fucked in this bed?”

She laughs, getting my joke. “None, you sicko. I make them stand.”

I walk forward, hungry for her, and take her face in my hands so I can kiss her on the lips and whisper in her mouth. “You get me?”

“I get you, Fletcher,” she whispers back. “I do. Everything about you is sexy. But not the way you think. You’re sexy on the inside. Your heart is big, and your brain is smart.”

“I’m sorry, Tiffy,” I say, pulling back a little. “I was guilty of everything I accused you of.”

“We always wanted the same things, Fletcher. We were just trying to get them the wrong way.”

It makes sense, I realize. She thought she needed Cole to provide for her because her mother taught her to want that. And I wanted to take care of Sam and Shelly to prove I was a better man than my brother. “It’s strange how that happens.”

“We’re gonna miss the show,” Tiffy says, still kissing me.

“This is the show, sexy. The only one that matters.” I pull back and start unbuttoning my shirt.

Her eyes are trained on these small movements immediately. Her fingertips flutter down to the hem of her dress and begin to lift it up. She shows me a bit of leg as I continue to ease the buttons of my shirt free. When I get to the last one and shrug it off, she turns around and swipes her long dark hair off the nape of her neck.

I reach for the zipper and slide it down as she peeks at me over her shoulder. “Keep going,” I whisper. “Please don’t stop now.”

Tiffy grins as she looks down at my pants, and then my fingertips are on my belt buckle. It jingles as I free the leather strap, and I unbutton my jeans.

She sucks in a little air through her teeth and turns back to face me, allowing one strap of her pretty dress to fall over her shoulder. She chews on her lip a little and I’m about to lose my mind as her tease overtakes me.

I drag my own zipper down and fist my cock for a moment. Her breasts rise and fall underneath the thin fabric as her breathing hitches. She slips one arm out of her dress, then the other, so that it falls to the curve of her hip. Just the way it did last summer when she was driving me mad with desire.

My dick is already hard. Almost throbbing from the anticipation of seeing her body again.

But she’s slow and deliberate as she wiggles just enough to make the dress fall to the floor with a whoosh of air that wafts up, bringing the scent of her desire with it.

I drag my cock from the confines of my boxer briefs just as she lowers herself to the floor on her knees.

“Fuck, Tiffy. I think you’ve been practicing.”

“No need to practice, Fletch.” She grabs my hard length and gives me a squeeze. “I learned from the best.” And then she wraps her mouth around me and I moan.

Her sucking starts slow, but increases in intensity as my head falls back and I fist her hair, pushing her towards me. Urging her on. Wanting more with each passing second. I pull away to stop myself from coming down her throat in a rush.

“I want more,” I whisper. “I want to make this last all fucking night.” So I take her hand and guide her up off her knees so I can kiss her mouth. “Finish what you started,” I say in a gruff voice.

She places both palms on my chest and pushes me back until I bump into the bed and sit down. She straddles my lap, our eyes locked together. “You want me to tease it out of you?” she laughs.

“More than anything else in this world, Tiffy.”

She smiles knowingly. The shy girl from last summer has found her stride. She reaches behind her back and unclasps her bra, letting it fall forward just a little bit, just enough to give me a peek at her full breasts as they drape against her ribs.

I moan again. “Fuck.”

She slides the straps down her arms until I have a full view, and lets the bra fall into my lap. I reach for her, cupping her soft breasts, and this time she moans. I ease my face down to her nipple and take one in my mouth, sucking on her gently.

Her hands wrap around my head, fisting my hair in encouragement. I reach behind her ass and stand up, taking her with me. And then I toss her playfully down on the bed and watch her tits bounce.

“I really want you,” I say.

“Please,” she whispers back. “Take me.”

I kick off my shoes, drag my pants and boxer briefs down in one swift movement, and then kick them aside as I reach for her panties. She lifts her hips to give me access, and those panties go flying off over my shoulder.

Her legs come up, the shyness plastered across her face once more. And I die for that. Just die. I hike her knees up to her face and press my mouth to her pussy, letting my tongue swirl around her clit until she’s wriggling beneath me.

But I’m paying close attention to her. I monitor her moans and squeals. The way her legs clamp against my neck when it gets intense. The way she arches her back when I suck on her clit and stick my fingers inside her.

And just when I know she will explode, I stop.

“No,” she moans, so sorrowfully I almost feel guilty.

“I want to come with you this time, Tiffy.” I grab a condom out of my wallet and roll it onto my cock. She watches me, her attention one hundred percent on what’s coming next.

Us.

We’re coming next.

I ease into her, filling her up, and she clenches against me. Squeezing my shaft with her muscles and letting me know she’s so very, very close.

Us.

That’s the next chapter in our story.

Us.

I don’t fuck her. I love her. I love her hard and soft. Far longer than I should be able to with the heat of our desire and the rising intensity.

I savor every moment until we peak together and let out months of regrets, filling ourselves back up with a lifetime of possibilities.

We miss the show.

But no one cares.

We are right where we are supposed to be.

Epilogue

 

One Year Later

“Life is a game and everyone’s a player. Whether you believe it or not, the only thing that matters is the score.”

I’m so excited, I have to take deep breaths as we watch the season one premiere of Sexy in the Landslide bar. Everyone is here. Claudio and Steve. Samantha and my piece-of-shit brother, Walker, who I am learning to like again, even if it’s just in small in increments. And, of course, the whole staff of the hotel and the cast of our revamped Mountain Men show.

When I finally forced myself to leave Tiffy’s new and improved penthouse, I went back to LA to negotiate the terms of the contract. Since the screenplay was based on my experiences as a male stripper here at the hotel, I wanted the show to be true to how I wrote it. So I offered up the Landslide as the location.

It was hardly a negotiation, since the studio thought it was a great idea. And it kept me close to home while we were shooting.

The hotel has been balls to the wall since the opening night of Mountain Men 2. The show was off-the-charts popular, and we have a franchise in the making with a contract being negotiated for Vegas and a traveling show that will start touring in a few months.

Her dad would be proud. She manages the charities she left his billions to in addition to the hotel. And me. She manages me too.

I chuckle and have to hide a smile so she doesn’t think I’m up to something when she drags her eyes from the TV and looks over at me. God, that girl. She’s everything to me.

We got married on Valentine’s Day on the beach just outside. It was my idea. Who knew I was such a romantic? But I’m fooling myself. I’ve always known it. And I guess that’s why I was so pissed off when Walker left Samantha when she got pregnant. Sam hasn’t quite forgiven him for that either, but she’s trying. He’s trying too. And as Tiffy often reminds me, everyone makes mistakes, so I cut him some slack and let him find his way forward with the family he regrets leaving behind.

Tiff and I found out we’re expecting our first baby last week. The first of many, I hope. So in a few months life will be… I have to stop and catch my breath, that’s how fabulous life will be. I loved every minute when I was helping Samantha bring up Shelly, so I can only imagine that joy will overwhelm me once my own little person comes into this world.

When I made the decision to sell the house it felt like a failure. For about… five hours. Because that’s the amount of time that went by until I met Tiffy at the show that night. And that meeting has changed my perspective on everything.

Each of us gets a life and each of us gets to live it the way we want. I wasn’t in debt to my granddad’s wishes any more than Tiffy was to her mother’s. We do our best and no one has a right to ask us for more. And who knows, maybe one day that house will be up for sale again and I’ll be in a position to take it back.

But I’m not waiting around for it.

Because I was right. Life is a game.

And there are many ways to win it.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo