His Assurance (Assured Distraction Book 3) (20 page)

“Look. I want you to be happy, but dammit, I want us to be together. I don’t want to lose you to some prick doctor in Houston.” I pushed a panic button in my mind now that I had allowed thoughts like that to slip the fuck in.

“Whoa, Gunner. Don’t get carried away just yet. First, I don’t have the job, and second, I don’t know where I’m going to live when I do get a job. Let’s just see how things go. Maybe I won’t want the position if they offer it and I find out what it entails. Don’t write me off too quickly.” I knew she was saying all of those things to make me feel better because if they offered her a job, there was no way she would turn them down.

She kissed and gently bit below my ear as she moved around to straddle my lap. I looked down into her deep, chocolate eyes. “So you’re going to ply me with sex now to get your own way?”

“Would it work?” she said between nips at the dip in the bottom of my neck. I pulled her hips forward and rubbed her against the boner that was now growing.

“Doesn’t it always?” I slid my hands under the bottom of her tank top lifting it over her head, where a racy, little, red bra made of nothing but intricate lace greeted me. Her gorgeous tits showed through the lace, making me harder by the second. I leaned her back so I could feast on them without removing the lingerie from her tanned skin. I bit at the pebbled nipples and ran my tongue around one, knowing that lace was adding to the friction of the movement. Sucking the peak into my mouth caused a low deep moan to escape her lips, and I knew she loved the attention to her sensitive breasts.

I turned and laid her down on the leather sectional. Her legs wrapped around my body, so I picked up the outside one and kissed behind her knee because she loved that spot to be caressed. I nibbled my way up; my progress stopped by her shorts.

“Oh,
chéri
, we need these little babies to be off already.” I ran my finger under the inner seam and felt the wetness gathered on her panties. “You’re wet for me, too.” I moved my finger under them to run it up her slit to her swollen clit where I circled it without actually touching the nub. As I slid down her body, I bit her mound through the material, and she arched off the couch trying to get closer to my mouth.

Not being able to stand it any longer, she tore at the button and zipper of her shorts, and I pushed them down her body. The matching lacy red that barely concealed her smooth skin was fucking hot, and I laid down with my face hovering just above the triangle. I leaned in, covered her pussy with my mouth, and pressed down on her clit with my tongue through the lace.

“God, Gunner. That feels amazing with the lace scraping my skin.” Her head moved from left to right as I continued my assault on her sensitive clit.

I moved the G-string to the side so I could add my fingers to the mix and traced a line from the clit I was worshiping to her opening. I slowly circled the slick entrance with the tip of my index finger as my shoulders pushed her legs further apart. “Put your foot on the back of the couch,
chéri
. I want to have all of you.” I wrapped her other leg over my shoulder, so I had complete access.

I pushed the lace in harder on her clit with my tongue pointed into her while I continued circling her entrance without slipping inside. “Gunner, do it, please. I’m dying here.” Her breathy sound barely audible.

“No babe, not yet. Just a little edging for you, and when you do come, it’ll be the best ever.” I continued to bring her to that edge with my tongue on her clit and my finger circling but stopped each time she was on the precipice of falling over.

“Gunner, OH. MY. GOD. Please just make me come already.” I loved hearing her beg.

“Soon, I promise.” I continued my assault knowing it was driving her crazy, but it was going to be great, she would be thanking me later. Finally, when she started trying to control the experience by grabbing at the back of my head and grinding against me, I circled her opening and plunged two fingers in while I bit down softly on her engorged clit.

“Gunner, Gunner, Gunner…don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop.” She was screaming louder and louder as I curled my fingers upward and rubbed over that roughened patch in the front of her slick channel each time I pushed inside her. I kept it up until she finally stopped shaking and contracting on my fingers.

I rested my head on her abdomen and waited for her to rejoin me. Before she found the energy to speak, she ran her nails over the top of my head as my long hair fell down on her soft skin. I loved the way it felt on my scalp as I listened for her breathing to even out to match the calm strokes she touched me with.

“What the fuck was that, Gunner?” she said when she started curling her fingers around the strands.

“That was the best way to experience an orgasm for a woman. Do you agree with this statement?”

“I so fucking agree. Why are we just now practicing this experience?” I raised my head and looked at her as she dropped her hands to the shaved back of my head.

“The girls shouldn’t leave those Cosmos around while I’m sitting here waiting for you to get dressed unless you don’t like me learning new things to try out on you.” I kissed my way across her stomach, stopping to leave some wet kisses at her cute little navel.

“If it means I get an experience like that, I’ll buy you your own subscription.” She laughed.

“I’m assuming then that you’ll like what I do next.” I rolled her over on top of me as I moved her up my body to position her above my mouth.

“Is that subscription available online?” She gasped aloud when I slid a wet little finger over her back entrance.

Our time together ran out far too quickly, and the group of ‘freaking hot babes’—Hayden’s words, not mine—piled into the SUV, and we waved goodbye to them. Damn, they were a sight, but I missed Lola already. She said she was sad to leave, but I knew she was fucking excited to get back and prepare for her interview. I couldn’t hold her back now that she had made up her mind. I could already see myself burning up Interstate 10 all the way to Houston every damn chance I could. This fucking sucked.

“Dude, I’m heading home. I swear these weeks have been the best of my life, but my ass is dragging.” Hayden walked to his truck. “Besides that, I’m really missing my Crew-man. He’s been spending way too much time with his cousin, and now it’s time for payback.”

“How the hell are you going to do that? Peri won’t leave that little rug-rat of hers. She’ll hardly leave yours either,” I said as he climbed in and started the motor.

“Yeah, I know, but I made her promise me to let me keep them both so they could have a few days of alone time. They never leave Tucker, so tomorrow morning they are going to go out to Fredericksburg for a few nights in one of those nice bed and breakfast places. I tried to get them to go off to the Caribbean, but she wasn’t having that. Said when she left the country, he would be sitting between them on the plane. Crazy woman.”

“That’s not crazy. That’s love, dumbass.” I tapped the hood, and he backed out of the driveway, waving as he went.

Maybe that’s the kind of life I needed to be thinking about creating. I fucking loved having Lola with me every day we were together, and now she was gone. What was I supposed to do with myself while I waited on her? It was going to suck a big one.

I called KeeMac when I got in the house to see if he wanted to get together and go over some music he mentioned, but didn’t get an answer. “Ugh,” I said out loud to no one. “I hate being alone.”

I put on my bathing suit to hang out at the pool. I felt like a damn kid sitting in the house pouting. I planned to drink some beer and try to enjoy the rest of the day. Once I had the tunes adjusted, I headed out the door, making sure to put on flip-flops before I stepped out on the hot sidewalk. I learned the hard way about not wearing them at the beginning of the summer.

The first thing I saw when I got out there was that big ass bucket of lotion the girls used during their volleyball game turned naked-nubile-nymphs pool extravaganza. I wondered if that little shit Hayden knew how lucky he was. The jug was turned sideways on the pool deck, and I knew it had spilled out from the greasy looking ring around it. Some had made its way into the pool, also.

“Damn kids. Probably got this fucking mess all in the pool filter, too,” I said as I went to pick it up.

“Holy shit!” My feet went up, and my head went down.

“Girls, you’re giving me a massive headache. Could you keep it down just a little?” I had been listening to a play-by-play recap of their time in Austin. It was the best time I’ve had in forever, but do I really need to know every move they made? I didn’t even WANT to know some of the things they were sharing. “Your ability to over-share, Ivy, is amazing.”

“It’s not over-sharing if you were there, Lola. It’s more like a re-experiencing. Surely you did some things you would like to share with us, too.” I glanced in the rearview mirror and saw a look that had curiosity written all over it.

“That would be a big no.” My comment caused the girls to burst out laughing. I laughed too, but I wasn’t sure if they were laughing with me or at me. At some point during the time there, we had all been caught in some compromising position and by the end, the girls grew so brazen with their actions, that getting caught seemed like their objective.

The laughter died down when Journey asked me, “So, would you prefer to share your feelings for Gunner?”

“Why would you go there, Journey? I don’t know if I want to talk about it.”

“I went there because you’ve been having an amazing time with a great guy once you two got your heads out of your asses. You had to have developed some feelings for him, right?”

I drew in a deep breath not knowing how to address her comments. “Oh, Journey, I don’t know. He is great in so many ways, but can I base a relationship on two weeks of my life?”

Ivy jumped in. “Hell yeah, you can. What’s not to like about him? How far from perfect can he be?”

“There’s no such thing as a perfect guy, Ivy,” Abbie added.

“And you base this on personal knowledge, Abbie?” Ivy shot back. “Have you ever even had a relationship with a guy?”

“Yes, I have. I’ve been in love.” Abbie sounded indignant.

“Oh, really, Abbie? Is this with a real guy that we know?”

“Yes, it’s a real guy. We were in high school at the time, but I loved him.”

“Loved him, loved him? Like enough to sleep with him?” Ivy prodded for more information.

“That’s none of your business, Ivy.”

“So that would be a no. How can you know some guy is perfect if you’ve never done the nasty with him?” Ivy goaded her.

“You don’t have to have sex to know if a guy is a great person,” I jumped to Abbie’s defense and told the entire group.

“That’s true, Ivy,” Journey added. “You don’t have to have sex with them, but it sure helps for making up your mind. So back to my question, Lola. What’s going on with you and Gunner?”

“Ugh. I don’t know what’s going on. I like him, a lot. We are great together in every way. We’re very compatible, and I know he only wants the best for me. He’s excited about my job prospects, but he wants me to be in Austin so I can be with him. I’m not sure I am willing to give up a job at Texas Children’s to work in Austin. I think it’s a lot to ask, but I do want to be where he is. I’m confused as to what to do right now. Guess I’ll decide after I get offered the job.”

“What does having a job have to do with being in love, Lola?” Journey looked at me like I was crazy.

“Wait, no one said anything about being in love.”

“But could you see yourself falling in love with him?” she asked.

I couldn’t answer that question as quickly as the others. In love? I hadn’t given that much thought. Could I fall in love with him? He was a great guy, kind and caring, always putting my interests first. He was the best lover, and we were definitely compatible in that area. He was smoking hot, and his body was perfect. Hmm, there was that term again. Was he that close to perfect? Yes, I thought so. I wondered if being apart would cause us both to forget those things, or if he even felt the same about me.

When we arrived at home, they unloaded from our car with all of their things. The girls had a couple of days before they returned to Paris, which was enough time to regroup. Knowing this group, they would spend their time either partying or lounging by the pool. College life was such a great time, at least for these lucky ladies.

On the other hand, I needed to wade through my pediatrics books from college and review all I could before my interview. I was familiar with it, but I wanted to be on point with all of the knowledge necessary to ace the questions they were sure to throw my way. I knew they would ask a wide variety that I needed to know to be an integral part of their team. I wanted this job and was determined to do whatever it took.

As I sat with my computer, the conversation with the girls kept playing over in my head. Could I love Gunner? I missed him already. He had such a fun personality, and I would never find anyone better in the looks department, but he was more than that. He obviously only wanted the best for me because never once did he ask me not to interview for this job after he knew how badly I wanted a position like it offered. He would always put my wishes first. His loyalty and honesty would never be in question. I knew that for sure. He treated me like I was everything to him but was he everything to me?

I never thought about being in a relationship with him, though. He had asked me to stay but didn’t pressure me. What would happen when he went on tour? Could I stand being alone for months on end? There was a lot to consider. The one thing I knew was that I did like him, and maybe, just maybe, I could see us being together or possibly giving it a try.

I fell asleep with a thick book on my chest but woke up to Gunner’s ringtone, which was his drum solo. He recorded it for me before I left so I would never confuse his calls.

“Hello, Gunner. I called when we got home, but you didn’t answer me. It’s been six whole hours since I heard from you. Missing me already?”

“Oh, Lola, this isn’t Gunner. It’s Chandler. I found cherry pie in his phone and hoped it was you.”

I sat straight up. I knew from her tone of voice something was wrong. “What’s happened, Chandler? Where’s Gunner?”

“He’s had an accident. We are at the ER. I only wanted to let you know what was going on. I didn’t know if it was the right thing to do, but if I were you, I would want to know.”

“Yes, Chandler, thank you so much for thinking of me. Yes, I definitely want to know. Just tell me what’s happened.” I stood up and started dumping out my suitcase so I could reload it if necessary.

“We don’t know exactly what happened, but we think he had a bad fall and hit his head.”

“Oh, God. Can I talk with him? Is he conscious? What tests are they running?” I knew I was rapid firing questions, but they were important, and I needed the answers.

“Wait, wait, wait. I don’t know the answers to any of these yet.”

“Okay, sorry. Tell me what you do know.” It was all I could do not to ask more.

“We went to his house this evening, and he wouldn’t answer the door. We knew he was home because his car was there, and the music out back was blaring. We decided he couldn’t hear us knocking, so Carter used his key on the front door.” Chandler stopped, and I could tell she was trying hard not to cry. “It’s not good, Lola.”