One Hundred & Twenty-Three
Ally’s [POV]
It was a dangerous thing to say. To pretend we were a little happy family. A happy, normal family, who wasn’t playing house for the sole purpose of procreation.
But right now, with Seth’s gaze hot on mine, and his hand on the small of my back, it certainly didn’t feel like we were playing.
Nor did it when we tucked a freshly clean Laurie in her bed-Seth had waited in his bedroom, as requested-and she asked me to read her story. I figured she’d want her dad to read it to her since he was right there, but nope, she pushed the book into my hand and then patted both sides of her bed so we could sit on either side.
My voice was trembling as I started to read about Mr. Peppermint’s pushy poodles. The story was lighthearted and fun, and Laurie giggled as the pushiest puppy fell face-first in a puddle. But by the time the puppy was plopped in the kitchen sink to get cleaned up, Laurie had fallen asleep, her cheek smushed adorably into the pillow, and her damp golden ringlets draping like spun gold across her face.
I touched them without being aware I intended to, cupping her soft skin in my hand. Watching her chest rise and fall with her even breaths.
“You love her too,” Seth said, and there was more than certainty in his voice. There was awe. Gratitude.
Even relief.
I nodded. “Yes. Didn’t you know that?”
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he adjusted her thin blanket. He wouldn’t look at me. “Different seeing it.”
He brushed his hand over her hair, nearly bumping my hand. The ink that swirled up his forearm caught my eye, and following the path higher to where it disappeared under the sleeve of his T-shirt was imperative. I’d studied his tattoos so many times. The snow leopard one, and most of the others too. Hell, I’d been there as he added to the collection over the years. But it was so much different when I could touch them.
Touch him.
“Different seeing this too,” he added huskily. I didn’t need an explanation of what he meant.
He was reading my desire as plainly as I was sending out those signals. Because he could read me. He’d always been able to, and I’d finally dropped my shields when it came to wanting him. Now he was getting the whole story.
Or a lot closer to it.
In silent agreement, we eased back from Laurie and rose, trooping silently out of her pink bedroom. Seth stopped to turn out her Winnie the Pooh light, leaving her cheerful carousel nightlights to illuminate the room in case she had a nightmare. He never wanted her to wake in the dark.
He quietly shut the door behind us, then he reached for me. Hands grasping my face, he brought his mouth down hard on mine. Lips that were soft in contrast to his rough touch teased me into responding.
Encouraging me to keep up. I went up on my tiptoes, clutching his shirt, my nails digging into his skin. He made a hungry noise in his throat and nudged me into the wall, hiking up my leg to wrap around his hips.
He shoved my panties aside and slipped his fingers inside, burying my moan under his insistent kisses. His daughter was feet away from us, safe behind the door, but God, his bedroom was just down the hall.
We couldn’t wait. Just could not.
We’d spent so many years stuck in the space between friends and more, and now that we’d moved forward, there was no slowing this train. It rode it or…
There were no ors left. Sweet mercy, I wanted to ride.
I reached up to tangle my fingers in his hair as he pushed his fingers deeper into my pussy. I couldn’t keep from crying out and he kissed me harder, so hard that I couldn’t breathe. My head was spinning from lack of oxygen and I was wet, so wet. His thumb brushed my clit over and over while his fingers pumped, and God, I was shameless about rocking into his movements. I couldn’t get enough.
When he moved his head, I chased his mouth, my teeth scraping his lips, our noses bumping as I sought his tongue. I needed it almost as much as his touch, working its wicked way on my body. He was turning me inside out, owning the parts of me only he knew. They were his.
I was his.
“Goddammit, not like this. Not this time.” Abruptly, he yanked back his hand and I whimpered, dropping my head to his shoulder to breathe. I was so close. A heartbeat away. I was throbbing so hard, and I could hear him licking his fingers. Jesus. Then he fisted his other hand in my hair and tugged it back, offering me his fingers while his wild eyes settled on mine in the dim light of the hall. “In my bed. Not against another wall. Not again.”
Consumed with my taste in his skin, I nearly didn’t hear him. He watched me suck on him and growled, backing me into the wall again. Bending his knees, he drove up his hips and the rigid column in his jeans rubbing against my clit was almost enough to push me over. Almost. I gasped, dizzy, still holding onto his hand as I licked his fingers. I couldn’t stop. And he thrust up against me again with only the thin barriers of my panties and his jeans between us, hitting the angle just right. So good. I dropped my head back, closing my eyes as flashes of light went off at the edges of my vision.
It wasn’t an orgasm but it was the next best thing. I couldn’t stop shaking. If he’d shoved me down on my knees and told me to deep-throat his cock, I would’ve done it without blinking. Anything he wanted.
I wanted it too. Anyway, he could give it to me.
“Christ, you’re so fucking hot,” he mumbled, buzzing his scruff along my cleavage, on the verge of popping out of the top of my dress. “How did I miss it?”
“Asshole.” Indignation fought its way through the heavy lust pulsing in my lower belly. In my breasts. Hell, everywhere. I bit his palm, making him laugh.
Instead of arguing with me, as was our way, he dropped my leg and swooped me up in one smooth move. Epically smooth, since I started to screech and he caught my mouth with his before I could. If I hadn’t been more than a little off-center from my near-miss orgasm and being hauled into the air, I wouldn’t have kissed him back. Probably. But damn, he was good at it, and he kept me thoroughly distracted as he carried me down the hall and backed into his room.
He kicked out and shut the door, managing not to slam it. His next move was to flip on the lights. I expected to be tossed onto the bed like a sugar sack, but he placed me on his messy comforter carefully, as if I was made of porcelain. “Never know,” he whispered, reading my thoughts as he drew his fingertip down my belly.
I was still reeling from that when he stepped back and reached behind his head to drag his T-shirt off. Golden abs covered in swirling dark ink rippled, and I swallowed hard, suddenly riveted by the slash of his navel above his jeans. He undid the button teasingly, leaving it gaping while he stepped toward me again where I was spread out on the bed like his feast.
Quaking, wet, needy. All for him.NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.
I still wasn’t through kicking his ass for his missing my hotness-though come on, my hotness was debatable anyway-but he was already peeling off my dress as if it served as wrapping for his very favorite present. He touched me reverently, pulling the fabric aside to bare my bra and tiny panties before dispatching those too. Lowering his head, he licked one tight nipple, his gaze locked with mine. Every minute movement made me clench inside, tighter and wetter than I’d ever been. I splayed my legs wider so he could move between them, already writhing against the soft spread under my back.
“Tell me what you want.”
I shook my head and shut my eyes. Dammit, he was supposed to know. Wasn’t that his job? Best friend and all, for fuck’s sake. He was supposed to know I was dying for him to keep doing that to my breasts while he fingered me and made me come. Then he was supposed to move down my body and-
“That’s it. Tell me. Every dirty word.”
I blinked. Had I spoken? Oh, that wasn’t good. Except maybe it was because he was doing all of that. His big hand covered my pussy, rubbing gently before he parted my swollen lips and stroked my clit in circles. Over and over so that I had to grind myself wildly against his palm. He released my achy nipple with a pop and slid down my body, his intended target clear. Instead of closing my eyes again, I leaned up on my elbows and licked my lips, ready to watch every lewd moment-
“Daddy!”