Caught Up in You (5 page)

I was happy to oblige, burying myself so deep within her I could feel my tip hit something solid. But it clearly didn’t bother her.

I leaned over her and pulled her arms out from under her, forcing her down onto her shoulders, her cheek pressed into the carpet. She groaned in pleasure as I grabbed her ass and kept it high in the air. The angle was magnificent. I could feel all of her wrapped around me at once.

I kept drilling into her, my balls slapping nosily against her.

“Fuck me,” she urged me, “Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me.”

Jesus, she felt amazing. Her body was amazing. Her voice was amazing. Her ass backed up against me was fucking amazing.

And whatever she was doing on the inside, squeezing me like a vice, God, I could get used to that.

“Are you close?” I whispered between my animalistic grunts.

“I want
you
to come,” she answered.

“But, you haven’t…”

But it was too late. One more thrust into her and it was all over. The warmth came bubbling up through me and shot out like a geyser. I felt my whole body go completely numb and then awaken with fire. Like someone had shut me down and jolted me back to life.

I grabbed onto her sweet little waist to keep myself from toppling over as I shuddered against her.

When I pulled out, she turned around and came crawling toward me, placing a wet kiss on my lips.

I collapsed against the base of the couch and let my head fall back. “That was unbelievable.”

She smiled and placed a leg on either side of me, still propped up on her knees. “Good.”

I lifted my head, my eyes level with her completely waxed pussy. It was pink and swollen. “What about you?” I asked, reaching up to run a fingertip against her. She wiggled slightly, as though I had tickled her. “You still haven’t come.”

She inched forward, pressing herself against my open mouth, and wrapping her hands around the back of my head. “Let’s fix that now.”

Eight

Alex and I fucked the rest of the afternoon. When it was time for me to leave for my shift at the restaurant, she pouted and told me she could think of much more worthwhile things to do with my hands than make drinks at that silly little restaurant. I couldn’t argue with that. I didn’t want to go. Especially after how awkward things had been the night before. But I felt I owed it to Lia to at least show up for the job she hired me to do. Plus, some small part of me wondered if she might apologize for her actions. Or at least try to make things right between us.

But she didn’t.

I got there and she didn’t utter a word about it. She just pretended that nothing had happened. That we hadn’t dry humped all over the dance floor less than twenty four hours ago.

And that’s when I knew for sure that the night had meant nothing to Lia Smart.

That I really was just a pawn in her game.

A means to an end.

So when Alex texted me two hours later with a picture of herself doing things with one of my neck ties that, let’s just say, are not what neck ties were invented for, I had no qualms about telling Lia I wasn’t feeling well and bailing.

I raced home, found Alex already naked and bound in my bed and we proceeded to fuck the rest of the night too.

Normally the girls I’m with are good for one round, maybe two, and then they’re done. But not Alex Smart. No, she wanted it every which way, in every which room, until my legs were shaking and my cock was numb and my lips were swollen from her rough and urgent kisses.

The next afternoon, she convinced me we should leave the house. I found it strange that she wanted to go to Hank’s of all places. True, Eastbrook is not exactly known for its exciting night life, but there were
other
bars in town. However, when I suggested one of the less popular ones, she insisted on going to Hank’s.

And she insisted on wearing some ridiculously provocative dress and fuck-me heels. In the middle of the Goddamn afternoon.

She groped me on the exact same dance floor where Lia and I had danced only a few nights before. She even snagged the same booth that we had all shared that fateful night.

“Any particular reason you wanted to come here?” I asked, as we took a break from dancing and sipped drinks in the booth. Alex was practically sitting on my lap, her long legs sprawled across mine. Her dress had risen up to just below her crotch. I tried to surreptitiously pull the hem down but she caught my hand and placed it on her boob instead.

“What’s the matter?” she asked in a baby voice that made my skin crawl, “jealous of all the other boys looking at me?”

I wanted to tell her that actually I was embarrassed by her blatant need for attention. That I was getting a little tired of watching “The Alex Show” twenty-four seven and was starting to wonder what else was on.

But I chose not to answer her question. Instead, I chose to repeat my own. “So…why here?”

She shrugged and took a swig of her whisky. “I like it here.”

“So it has nothing to do with the fact that I made out with your sister in this same booth?” I tried to turn the question into a casual ponder, rather than an outright accusation. But Alex clearly didn’t hear it that way.

“No,” she snapped. “Why would you think that? I could care less who Lia fucks.”

“Lia and I didn’t fuck,” I pointed out.

She rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

“You and your sister have a complicated relationship.”

She shrugged again. “All sisters do.”

I sipped my drink, cringing at the burn of the alcohol. “Not like that. You two are…I don’t know how to explain it.”

“Lia is jealous of me,” Alex said with such authority I had a feeling it was an answer she’d been giving people for a long time. “She always has been.”

I nodded and glanced around the bar, rocking slightly to the music. A blond woman sitting with a group of friends in the corner caught my eye and flashed me a smile. I gave her a quick raise of the eyebrows. An acknowledgement of her acknowledgement.

I was suddenly startled by a hand on my chin, yanking my head around so hard, I felt something pop.

“Ouch,” I complained, rubbing my neck.

“What are you looking at?” Alex demanded, her eyes narrowed into angry slits.

“Nothing.”

She leaned around me, her gaze zeroing in on the woman at the booth. “Uh huh,” she mocked sarcastically. “Doesn’t look like nothing to me.”

I sighed and took her face in my hands. “It’s nothing.” Then I kissed her, long and hard and deep. Hoping it would be enough to bring back the sexy, confident Alex that sucked on my dick earlier today. Her split personality was starting to wear on me. One moment she was the queen of the world (and knew it), the next moment, she was as insecure and needy as the lonely housewives who flirted with me at the bar.

It seemed to work. She kissed me back and snaked her hand into my crotch, squeezing at all the right places. When she felt me getting hard in her hand, she pulled away from my mouth and smiled seductively. “Let’s get out of here.”

She pushed herself off of me and stood at the side of the booth, holding her manicured hand out to me.

I wanted so badly to just go home alone. To lie on my couch with a beer and watch the fucking History channel. I wanted to tell her no. Tell her to go back to the city where she belonged. This—whatever this was—it was over. Long over. She’d proved her point. She’d fucked my brains out.

But I was starting to get the feeling that saying no to Alex Smart was just not something you did.

As though it were some kind of universal rule written on a stone tablet somewhere.

And so I pushed myself up and we left together.

Nine

 The next morning we were sitting on the couch, our naked limbs tangled, eating a breakfast of dry toast and more whisky. From the way Alex’s legs were wrapped around me, I could feel her wetness against my bare leg.

God, did that woman
ever
dry up? 

This was the day. The day she left. The novelty of her presence (and her naked body) had long since worn off and I was determined to get rid of her.

“Don’t you have to go back to the city?” I asked, trying to keep my voice light. Just a casual curiosity.

She shrugged. “Eventually.”

“Won’t Grayson notice that his fiancé is missing?”

 “I told him I got sent on a business trip to San Francisco.”

I felt a knot form in my stomach. I’d dealt with girls like this before. The clingy ones who don’t want to leave. Who lie to stay. But I never thought Alex would be one of them.

“And when does this imaginary business trip end?” I asked cautiously. If she did turn out to be one of
those
girls, I knew better than to upset her. Kind of like how you don’t want to poke a sleeping dragon.

She took a sip of her drink, leaned into me, pressed her lips against mine and let the warm, bitter liquid drip into my mouth, licking up the spillage with her tongue. I closed my eyes. As much as I was starting to want her out of my apartment, there was still no way I could deny that her tongue was magical.

Hey, I’m still a guy.

So sue me.

She was kissing me now. Hard and dangerous and consuming. I pulled back, holding her by the shoulders. “So, um, is this like a day-long business trip?”

“Blake.” She pouted playfully. “Are you sick of fucking me already?”

I sighed heavily.

Be strong,
I told myself.
Do not cave.

“No. It’s definitely not that. It’s just…” I hesitated, cringing inwardly. “I think you should probably get back to your real life. And I should get back to mine.”

“But I like
this
life.” Her hand encircled my cock and started to stroke, gently at first, then gaining speed and intensity, her fingers swirling and twisting as they moved upward. I collapsed back against the pillows, my paper plate full of toast crumbs drifting to the floor.

“No,” I resolved, pulling out from her grasp and standing up. “It’s over, Alex. You need to go home.”

I was well aware of the fact that I was standing in the middle of my living room at full attention and that this probably diminished my credibility by…well, a lot. But I didn’t care. The girl had to go.

Her eyes narrowed and I cringed, waiting for the recoil.

“You’re kicking me out?” she demanded, crossing her arms over her perfect breasts.

Be strong,
I told myself again.

“Yes. I’m kicking you out.”

“Who are the fuck are you?” she screamed.

“Me?” I found myself screaming back. I wasn’t a screamer. I didn’t lose my cool. But Alex, well, she apparently brought out the best in people. “I
know
who the fuck I am! I’m a
single
bartender living in a town full of lonely tourist housewives who tip really well when you show them just an ounce of attention.
You
are the one with a fiancé who loves you and a big fancy job and a
life
. So why don’t you stop fucking around with me and get back to it.”

She got really quiet and, for a moment, I worried she was going to cry.

Had I gone too far?

No! Fuck that. This girl was a manipulative bitch. She played with your emotions.
And
your cock. She knew just how to tug at you to get you hard, and just how to tug at you to get you soft.

I was done tiptoeing around Alex Smart.

Maybe it was true that Lia had been jealous of her sister her whole life.

Maybe it was true that those two girls had one of the most fucked up relationship I’d ever seen between sisters.

But Alex didn’t hold a candle to Lia. And she knew it.

And I had a feeling
that’s
what this was really about.

“He doesn’t love me.” She whispered it so softly I didn’t even hear it the first time.

“What?”

She stood up, her naked body displayed gloriously in front of me. I willed myself to keep my eyes up.

Her face, Blake. Keep looking at her face.

“He doesn’t love me!” she bellowed and now the tears really were spilling. And I had a feeling they weren’t fake. They weren’t the work of a master manipulator. They were nothing but tears.

They were nothing but pain.

I fought the urge to put my arms around her.

I fought the urge to tell her she was crazy. That, of course, he loved her. What was there not to love?

That’s what I would have said to any other naked girl crying in my living room. But I was done lying. It wouldn’t do either of us any good.

And besides, Alex
wasn’t
just another naked girl in my living room.

She’d been more than just another naked girl for a while now.

So I told her the truth. Well, not the whole truth. The fact that her fiancé was clearly in love with her sister was not my truth to reveal. I told her the truth she needed to hear right now.

“Then fucking deal with it,” I told her. “Stop hiding out here like a coward and face up to it.”

More tears fell. She sniffed them back and brushed her tangled hair from her face. For a moment there, I was pretty sure I had gotten through to her.

But then her face started to twist and her eyes started to burn and she glared at me like a mythical monster who’d just emerged from some dark, forbidden lake.

“What the hell do you know about facing life? You bring girls back here and screw them and then send them on their way so you never actually have to feel anything. You don’t face life. You fuck life in the ass. And then you leave.”

I tried not to let her words sting. I tried to put up my usual defense against them. A charming smile, a flip of the hair, maybe even a joke. But today I just couldn’t.

All I could do was stare blankly at her.

All I could do was simmer.

And then all I could do was watch her leave.

Ten

I never went back to La Bella Vita. I never even called Lia to tell her I was quitting. I just didn’t come to work the next day. Or the day after that. Or the day after that. I suppose she eventually figured it out and found another bartender. But I wouldn’t know.