Lip Service [Private Relations 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) Read online

  “Fuck. You like that? Is that what you need?” he asked, his voice rough.

  “Yeah. Fuck. Don’t stop,” she begged.

  He thrust against her more quickly now, his body slamming against her. Looking down, he watched himself sliding in and out of her. Another wave of lust hit him. He felt her begin to tighten and flutter around him.

  Thank fuck, because he was two seconds from losing it.

  “Oh fuck. That’s it. Chris,” she said, moaning out her release.

  Thrusting once more, he let her orgasm push him over the edge. Emptying himself inside her, he called out her name.

  Sliding out of her, he released the grip he had on her hair, then collapsed against the bench seat panting. A moment later, she slid down next to him.

  Reason now creeping back into his brain, he asked, “You okay with what just happened?”

  Looking at him strangely, she asked, “Did I seem like I didn’t enjoy myself?”

  Giving her a look, he said, “Not that, smart-ass. I meant the condom thing.”

  “If I wasn’t okay with it, now would be a hell of a time to mention it,” she said. “But, even when you’re not inside me, I still feel the same about it.”

  Nodding, Chris said, “Okay. Just checking.”

  “If this,” Chloe said, waving her hand between them, “gets old, or you decide you want to see someone else? Just tell me. That’s really my only requirement.”

  “Same goes. We’re friends before any of this. I’d like that to remain the case no matter what happens.”

  “Agreed,” Chloe said, “By the way. How’s the knee? Because I’m starting to turn into a raisin.”

  Holding up her hands, Chris saw her finger tips were wrinkly.

  Moving his knee gingerly, he said, “Much better. Let’s get out of the tub.”

  Reaching out, he snagged his bath towel off the hook, then wrapped himself up. Walking over to the linen closet, he grabbed a towel. Walking back over to the tub, he handed it to her.

  After she had climbed out, he reached over to drain the tub.

  Wandering out into the bedroom, he yawned and said, “Wow. It’s 12:30 a.m.?”

  Smirking, Chloe said, “A man of your advanced years should probably be in bed already.”

  Giving her a nasty look, he said, “May I remind you that I just fucked you silly less than ten minutes ago?”

  Laughing now, she said, “I’ve always liked older men.”

  “Really?” he asked, intrigued now.

  “Oh yeah,” she said, smiling. “You were actually the star of a few of my teenage fantasies. You used to wander around with no shirt on. My poor adolescent hormones.”

  Grinning now, he said, “No way. Really?”

  “Totally,” she said. “Eventually Jude Law took your place, but you had a nice run.”

  Shaking his head, he said, “Jude Law, huh?”

  “I was fourteen. What do you want from me?”

  Chris smirked at her, then continued to dry off. Sliding on a pair of gym shorts, he asked, “You staying the night?”

  “Are you asking me to or trying to figure out how to get rid of me?” she asked.

  He looked at her for a moment, then reached into his dresser drawer and tossed a T-shirt at her.

  She caught it in one hand.

  “Stay,” he said.

  Smiling, she set the T-shirt on the end of the bed and said, “Since you asked so nicely.”

  As she began to dry off, he realized he was ridiculously thirsty. He picked up his wet towel, and hung it back on the rack in the bathroom, then wandered out to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water. Snagging one for them both, he heard her moving around in the living room now.

  She was standing there, brushing her wet hair. The bottom of his T-shirt brushed against her upper thighs. He smiled when she yawned and asked, “Tired?”

  She nodded and said, “Incredibly relaxed, too.”

  Putting her brush back into her purse, she moved toward him. Wrapping her arms around his waist, she laid her head on his chest.

  Squeezing her against him for a second, he said, “Let’s go to bed, sleepy girl.”

  She leaned over to snag the wet towel off the edge of the sofa and asked, “Where should I put this?” as they walked toward the bedroom.

  He took it from her hand and moved it to the rack in the bathroom with his, then shut off the bathroom light. Handing her one of the bottles of water, he moved over to one side of the bed, and crawled under the covers.

  After she slid in on the other side, he pulled her up against him and brushed a kiss against her forehead. He absently stroked down her back as he thought about the very sudden change in direction that their friendship had taken today.

  A moment later, her mind probably on the same wave length as his, Chloe said, “I don’t know what exactly I expected, but this wasn’t it.”

  He exhaled and said, “I’ve got nothing intelligent to add to that statement. That sums it up nicely.”

  Yawning now, she said, “We’ll see how it goes, I guess.”

  He brushed another kiss across the top of her head, and felt himself drift off.

  When Chris woke up the next day, he realized he was cold. Looking over at Chloe, he realized that she was sprawled out over two thirds of the bed, and had ninety percent of the covers. He briefly considered snatching some more of the covers, but she seemed to be sleeping so peacefully he didn’t have the heart.

  Grumbling slightly, he got up to start his day.

  Fifteen minutes later, he was making coffee when he saw Chloe walk into his kitchen. Her hair was messy and she still had lines on the side of her face from the pillow.

  “Morning,” she said with a slight wave.

  “Morning. Cover hog.”

  Narrowing her eyes at him, she said, “Am not.”

  Laughing now, he said, “Are too. When I woke up you were laying across most of the bed and had all of the covers.”

  Chloe paused to consider his statement, then said, “Seems legit. Sorry. Next time, just take them back and move me over. I won’t even wake up. I sleep like the dead.”

  Nodding, he said, “Consider it done. I was freezing this morning. What’s on your agenda today?”

  “Sorry,” she said, wincing now. “Some work for my online class, grocery shopping, laundry. Nothing huge. You?”

  “Laundry, gonna half-ass watch some preseason football. Mostly hanging out.”

  She hovered there, uncertain for a moment.

  Walking over to her, he wrapped his arms around her and said, “If you want to stay, I’d be very amenable to that. I wasn’t asking your plans as a segue to kicking you out.”

  He felt her relax against him, and then she said, “‘Kay. In any case, I really can’t stay much longer. I have a paper to write.”

  Nodding, he asked, “What’s your schedule looking like this week?”

  Tilting her head to the side, she thought for a minute then said, “Monday is insane. I’m wrapping up a project. Tuesday I’ll be getting destroyed at CrossFit. Not sure about the rest, yet.”

  “Monday and Tuesday are clearly out. How about Wednesday I come to you and we order in or something? I don’t think I’ve seen your place since you moved last,” he said.

  Nodding, she said, “Yeah. That could work.”

  Reaching up, she brushed her lips against his and said, “I’ve gotta get going now. Fifteen pages of case study are calling my name.”

  Releasing her, he said, “You’re a wild woman. Don’t know how I’m going to keep up.”

  Shooting him a nasty look over her shoulder, she walked out of the room and left him there, sipping his coffee.

  He was surprised that she hadn’t pushed a conversation about their status yet. He was glad, too, though. Maybe she wasn’t one of those girls who wanted to talk things to death. Finishing his cup of coffee, he moved the empty cup to the dishwasher, just as she walked back into the kitchen fully dressed now.

  “
Walk me out?” she asked.

  He followed her out to the living room, watching her slide on her shoes and grab her purse, then trailed after her to the door. Opening the door, he walked out into the driveway barefoot. When they reached her car, he tugged her forward into his arms and pressed his mouth to hers.

  When her lips softened under his, he slid his tongue into her mouth, stroking over hers until he heard a low moan in the back of her throat. Tightening his hands on her, he deepened the kiss some.

  Feeling her press more firmly against him, he roughly said, “Much more of this and you’re not leaving any time soon. Fair warning.”

  He felt her pull back slightly, a reluctant look on her face. She said, “Tempting offer. You have no idea how tempting.”

  He slid his hands down to her hips, and brought her lower body into contact with his erection and smiled, saying, “I may have some idea.”

  Backing up, he released her and said, “But you’ve got a paper to write.

  Looking torn now, she said, “You don’t play fair.”

  He felt his mouth pull into a grin, and he said, “Playing fair is no fun.”

  Stepping toward her now, he brushed his lips against her and said, “Last night was incredible. Thank you. Now, get out of here before I decide to keep you.”

  She smiled and said, “No. Thank you. You’re right though. I gotta go. Talk to you later?”

  Nodding, he said, “Yeah. I’ll call you.”

  He watched her now as she dug through her purse, grabbing her keys and unlocking her car. As she slid inside, he felt a vague sense of regret that she was leaving. Still, he continued to watch her back out and then moved to head back inside once she’d driven off.

  Chapter 9

  As she drove down the street, she exhaled and said, “Holy shit.”

  Immediately, she plugged in her cell phone to charge in the car, then dialed Kelli on speaker. After three rings, Kelli picked up and said, “You slut! Are you just leaving his place now?”

  Laughing, Chloe said, “Yes. Just wanted to let you know I’m alive. I saw your eleven thousand texts last night.”

  “Well,” Kelli asked, “How did it go?”

  “It went really well,” Chloe said.

  “I’ve been hearing you agonize over this for the last two weeks. I’m gonna need some details,” Kelli said, impatiently.

  Sighing, Chloe said, “I don’t really have the words. The sex was unbelievable. I thought there would be some awkwardness between us, but it was perfect.”

  Kelli was silent for a minute, then said, “At least he was good in bed. That would’ve sucked if there was no chemistry.”

  “Totally,” Chloe agreed, “But no worries there. I came so hard at one point I thought I was going to black out. He was incredibly attentive.”

  Giggling now, Kelli said, “Sounds like you’ll be seeing him again? Or was this a one off?”

  Feeling less awkward now, Chloe laughed and said, “Oh, I think we’ll be doing that as often as we can manage. I don’t know how I missed the chemistry between us all this time.”

  “I told you about it the night we all went out,” Kelli said. “I’m glad it worked out for you.”

  Changing the subject, Kelli asked, “So did CrossFit destroy you too? I can barely lift my arms today.”

  “Yeah. I could barely lift my arms when I got out of bed this morning. Are you sure we have to keep doing this? Could you find someone else to go with you?”

  “You don’t want to go anymore?” Kelli asked.

  “I’m in a severe amount of pain today. I’m going to do one more class with you and if it doesn’t get any better, I’m quitting.”

  “Fine,” she responded. “That seems fair.”

  They continued to talk a few minutes more about work, until Chloe pulled into the lot of her apartment complex. Grabbing her phone off the charger, she told Kelli she had a paper to write. They planned to have lunch tomorrow, then hung up.

  Walking from the sub garage up to her apartment, she texted Sara to let her know that everything had gone well on her date and that she’d catch up with her a bit later this week.

  Receiving an instant response back, Sara replied, “Well since you’re just now responding to me, I’ll take it to mean your date went really well. Call me. I want details.”

  Responding back, she said, “Just getting home. It was fantastic. I’ll call you later. Please don’t mention anything to Deacon.”

  Her phone buzzed again and she laughed. “I’m certain Deacon knows you’ve had sex before. Seriously. Call me before Sunday football. I command it.”

  Smiling, she slipped her phone into her bag and unlocked her front door. Immediately after she had plugged in her phone to charge, she stripped out of her clothes and put them along with some other dirty clothes into the washer to start a load of laundry.

  After she’d taken a quick shower and changed into a pair of flannel pajama bottoms and a tank top, she grabbed her macroeconomics book and settled down on her couch. By the time 4:00 p.m. rolled around, she had twelve pages of her paper written. It wasn’t due until Friday, so she figured she’d finish the rest on Tuesday after her CrossFit torturing.

  Rolling her shoulders, she winced. She seriously considered skipping Tuesday’s class, but she’d promised Kelli.

  Getting up, she moved the last of the laundry to the dryer, then changed into jeans and a T-shirt.

  Heading to the grocery store, she grabbed a week’s worth of frozen lunches, some vegetables and fruits, and a few other items. Impulsively, she grabbed a six-pack of Chris’s beer and added it to the cart, then moved on to get a few items from the meat department.

  By the time she got home, it was five thirty and she was starving. Sitting down in front of her lap top, she put some pasta on to boil. Checking her work e-mail, she saw that the case she’d been working on for the frozen yogurt chain had just gotten more interesting.

  Her boss had forwarded a link to a news story. Apparently, the manager that had been embezzling from them had been arrested for trashing the store after they had fired him. Wincing, she responded back to her boss saying that the evidence had been cut and dried.

  She added some sauce to the cooked pasta and had started to eat when her phone rang. She picked it up off the desk and looked at the caller ID. Seeing it was Deacon, she almost dreaded picking up the phone. She hadn’t talked to him since he’d seen the picture.

  After letting it ring one more time, she picked up.

  “Hey. What’s up?”

  “Not much. Hadn’t talked to you at all this week. Figured I’d call and see how you were.”

  Chloe narrowed her eyes, knowing that this was a fishing expedition. Not ready to spill her guts yet, she said, “I’m good. Just hanging out. I started doing CrossFit with that girl Kelli you met at Greeley’s a while back. Working on a huge case study.”

  She heard him wince and then ask, “The one with the whinny?”

  “Deacon! She’s a nice girl. Stop it,” Chloe responded, even though she was also nodding in agreement.

  “I didn’t say anything that was untrue. She does whinny when she laughs. CrossFit? Isn’t that like boot camp type shit? I didn’t realize you were in that kind of shape.”

  Laughing now, she said, “I’m not. I feel like my arms are going to break off. I’m going to have to get a masseuse to follow me around if I keep this up.”

  He responded, “I hate to point out the obvious, but you know you could just not do the classes anymore, right?”

  Her voice heavily laden with sarcasm now, she said, “Thank god you didn’t just wash your hands of me when I turned of age, Deacon. I don’t know what I’d do without your expert guidance.”

  “Smart-ass,” he responded affectionately. Then he asked, “Anything else going on?”

  Her lips twitching now, she said, “Clearly you’ve got something on your mind, Deak. Spit it out.”

  “So, you and Chris, huh?” he asked, no longer being subtle.<
br />
  “I think so. You okay with that?”

  “Just be careful. I love you both. I don’t want for shit to get weird,” he said.

  Softly, she said, “I love you too. Everything is going to be fine. We’re on the same page, and if that stops being the case, we’ll stop doing whatever we’re doing. We are both adults.”

  “For what it’s worth, I’m pretty sure he’s been into you for a while. Sara mentioned it at your birthday party. He seems laid back, but I think there’s more that goes on under the surface.”

  Taken aback, Chloe said, “Are you warning me not to hurt your friend?”

  Deacon said, “Don’t get all pissy about it. I basically gave him the same warning. I’m going to be pissed if I have to pick between you at some point. We’re family, and you’ll always win, but he’s been my best friend for over a decade now.”

  “I get what you’re saying. I’ve known him just as long as you have. I don’t have any desire to torch a friendship over this either,” Chloe said on a sigh.

  “Fair enough,” Deacon said. “You still coming over for Sunday football this coming weekend?”

  “Yeah,” Chloe said, “Wouldn’t miss it. Hopefully the Legion will be able to put something together this season. They looked miserable last year.”

  “No kidding. Since they cut Lamar Riggs in the off season, not that I blame ‘em, it will be interesting to see if they can put any kind of running game together.”

  They spoke for a few more minutes about nothing in particular when her phone beeped, signaling another caller. Quickly checking, she saw it was Chris.

  After telling Deacon she had another call she had to take, she agreed that she’d try and grab dinner with him at some point this week, then switched over.

  “Hey,” she said.

  “Hey,” he said. “How did your case study thing go?”

  “Almost done. It’s due on Friday, so I should be able to knock it out over the rest of the week. More than half-done. How was the rest of your day?”

  “Good. I got everything done that I wanted to. Took a nap.”