Just a Number (12 page)

“God, Owen,” she pants breathlessly. “I can taste myself on your lips . . .”

“Do you like it?” I ask in a rough, unrecognizable voice. I don’t know where the question comes from, because dirty-talk isn’t something I ever really partake in, but it’s out there now, and the excited gleam in her eyes doesn’t make me regret it one fucking bit.

“I fucking love it,” she whispers, keeping her eyes locked with mine as she pulls me down for another torrid kiss.

Her hips move up off the bed, forcing my cock to slide between her legs until it brushes her entrance, and I have to fight the desire to thrust into her tight, wet heat. “Amelia, we…we need a…” Every upward thrust of her hips has me stammering for the remainder of my sentence, and I’m so glad that women are able to use their brains at the same time as their libidos, because men can’t—not ever—and she understands what I’m trying to say.

She twists her upper body away from me to grab a condom from her bedside table, and as soon as the rubber is in place, I reach above her and hold onto the edge of the bed as I drive my hips forward. I slowly bury myself inside of her, and she digs her heels into my ass in encouragement. While I want this to go on for much longer, the foreplay we’d engaged in has pushed me too close to the edge, and it doesn’t take much to send me over, my cock pulsing inside of her as she shifts her hips against me in an effort to chase down her own orgasm.

The final waves of ecstasy are lapping around me as she snakes her hand between our bodies, and it isn’t until I feel her hand move in slow precise circles against my pelvis and notice her eyebrows pull together that I realize she’s making up for what I failed to do for her a second time. Thankfully, it doesn’t take long before she joins me, and even though I’ve already finished, feeling her contract around me sends a fresh surge of arousal through my veins. As much as I would love for it to be, it’s not enough for round two—not yet, anyway—and I collapse beside Amelia, kissing her sweaty shoulder.

Sighing contentedly, Amelia’s head flops to the side and she kisses the tip of my nose. “That was awesome,” she pants.

I’m about to agree wholeheartedly, until I remember I wasn’t entirely responsible for her second orgasm, so instead, I apologize. “I’m so sorry.”

Her head pulls back, her eyebrows pulled together, but this time for an entirely different reason than a moment ago. “For what?”

I’m unable to put into words what I’m apologizing for, but I can tell she already knows, and it makes her giggle, my pride taking the hit and beginning to bruise. Before I can get too upset, though, she rolls over and straddles my hips. She’s still wet, and I feel arousal burning through my veins again as she continues. “You were
amazing
. So I needed a little extra nudge at the end there. That’s hardly something to be sorry about. I came
twice
, Owen. Because of you. Don’t ever apologize for that.”

And just like that, she’s done what she’s always been able to do: she’s set my mind at ease and reminded me that what we have is more real than anything else in my life. I wrap my arms around her, crushing her body to mine, and I realize that my feelings for her are growing rapidly. And it terrifies me.

But what scares me even more is the prospect of being without her.

The next two days fly by, and Julia calls me Thursday night to tell me she’s finished with the bedroom. She tells me she’ll leave the keys with the doorman and the plans for the rest of the house are sitting on the kitchen counter for me to look over in case I want to change something.

When I originally mentioned the condo remodel to Amelia, she told me I was acting a little crazy, but as soon as I brought up my reasoning, she seemed to understand. She’d only ever been to the condo once shortly after Gretchen and I bought the place and threw a house-warming party, so, when I invited her over for the weekend, she practically jumped at the opportunity.

She had a study session with Liz after her last class, but told me she’d be done by six and would head over then. I asked if Liz would be dropping her off, and she assured me she still hadn’t told anyone, and that she was going to take the bus.

In addition to talking to Julia, I get a call from the clinic, and stop by to talk with the doctor I’d seen earlier in the week and find out—much to my relief—that everything has checked out all right. While it’s not my intention to start having unprotected sex immediately, I’ll admit that it’s nice to know I didn’t contract something from one of Gretchen’s many escapades.

After finishing up at the clinic, I make a quick stop at the florist, where I grab a huge bouquet of red roses, and then I stop at the market after work that afternoon since I have yet to stock my fridge and cupboards. I want to have dinner ready for us when Amelia arrives, and since I have a couple hours, I decide to prepare a rack of lamb with a side of roasted asparagus and butternut squash. While everything cooks, I set the table for two, putting Amelia’s flowers into a vase and lighting a few candles to set a more romantic mood. By the time six-thirty rolls around, the condo has been infused with the delicious smell of our dinner, and I’m just pulling out a bottle of wine for the two of us to share.

At quarter-to-seven, my phone rings, and I pick it up, seeing that it’s the front door. The doorman is off at six on Fridays, meaning that any visitors have to use the buzzer system to gain entry into the building.

“Hey,” I say, knowing it’s Amelia on the other end. “Come on up.”

“Thanks,” she replies before I hit the pound button, granting her access to the main entry, and I head over to the apartment door and unlock it so she can just walk in.

About five minutes pass before there’s a light knock on the door and she steps inside. “Hey, sorry I’m late.” She pauses, and when I turn to her, I see her wide eyes as she takes in the room, from the flowers and wine, right down to the candle-lit dinner I’m just setting out.

“Wow,” she exhales softly. “This is gorgeous…and it smells delicious.” Smiling, she puts her fingertips to her lips. “I’m afraid I might be drooling a little,” she jokes.

I finish putting the lamb on the table before I cross the room to her, taking her bags and jacket and putting them in the hall closet before I whisk her into my arms and kiss her heatedly. When I pull away, a soft sigh falls past her lips, and her eyes flutter open. “Well that was quite the welcome. Had I known that’s what was waiting for me, I’d have hijacked the bus and driven here myself.”

Laughing, I take her hand and lead her to the table, pulling her chair out for her. “Yeah, but had you done that, then I’d have had to bail you out of jail.”

“Good call,” she agrees, leaning forward and lifting the lid off of the roasted vegetables and inhaling deeply. “Owen, this is amazing.”

Over dinner, I tell Amelia about my day, telling her that I’ve spoken with Stephen again and he’s started drawing up the divorce papers and has even been in contact with Gretchen’s attorney. I don’t dwell on this part of the conversation for long, because it’s really not how I want our evening to go. I change the topic, asking about her study session with Liz.

By the time our plates are empty, we’ve almost polished off the entire bottle of wine, and I can see that the wine is having the same effect on her that it is on me; her eyes are slightly hooded and her posture is a little more relaxed as she leans back in her chair and eyes me from across the table…then I feel her foot slowly sliding up my jean-covered leg until it rests in my lap.

She smiles, sinking her teeth into her plump lower lip and eyeing me coyly. “I missed you,” she confesses, lightly running her foot over the fly of my jeans and making my cock stir.

Shifting in my chair to get a little more comfortable, I clear my throat. “The feeling was more than mutual, sweetheart.”

Amelia places her foot back on the floor and pushes her chair away from the table, the feet scraping over the tile as she stands and slinks toward me. She straddles my lap and wraps her arms around my neck, leaning in and ghosting her lips over mine. “Well, what do you say we…
reconnect
in an effort to get rid of that loneliness?”

Laughing softly, I nod, my nose brushing hers softly. “I think I like it when you talk dirty,” I reply, letting my lips graze a fiery trail over her jaw and toward her ear.

With a soft sigh, Amelia cups my face in her hands and forces my eyes to hers. “Oh, you think that was dirty? You haven’t even heard the half of it.”

She crushes her lips to mine, and I groan, my hands ensnaring her hips and pulling her against my growing erection. Admittedly, it’s not the most comfortable feeling in the world, having my dick trapped behind a denim prison, but Amelia’s quick to wiggle back a little so she can unfasten my jeans. With my fly wide open, Amelia yanks my shirt up my body, forcing my hands from her hips until she’s removed it. She throws it on the floor before ridding her body of her own top and leaving her above me in a black lacy bra. It’s so sheer that I can see the dark pink flesh of her hardened nipples, and my hands fly to them like magnets.

Amelia throws her head back as I palm her sensitive flesh through the lacy undergarment, and I crave more from her. While I lean forward, I tug the right cup of her bra from her tit and place my mouth on her nipple, letting my tongue circle and flick the pebbled peak. She fists my hair, holding my mouth against her warm flesh, while my free hand moves down her body, unfastens her jeans, and slips inside to find her already wet. I move my fingers back and forth as much as I can between her legs, and her hips move in time with me.

 “Oh, Owen,” she sighs, resting her head on top of mine as I move my mouth to her other breast and discard her bra to the floor.

My teeth graze her hardened flesh at the same time I circle her clit, and she gasps, thrusting her hips forward again, making the chair tip back a little and knock against the table…or, at least I
thought
it was the chair knocking on the table until there were three more knocks that came from the front door.

Panting and startled, Amelia and I turn our heads toward the door and look at it as though we’re waiting for it to burst open and have our secret revealed to whoever’s behind it. Nothing happens right away, but soon four more loud knocks echo through the apartment, mirroring the pounding of my heart against my ribs.

As if the unannounced guest isn’t enough to deal with, the knowledge of
who
it is only adds to my distress.

“Owen! It’s me!” Alan says through the door. “Open up. I know you’re home.”

Amelia inhales sharply, holding her breath and slapping her hands over her mouth. “Oh, god,” she mumbles through her fingers. “What the hell are we going to do?” She’s panicking. I can see it in her eyes and feel it in the tremble of her thighs.

“Easy,” I whisper, easing her off my lap, handing her shirt to her, and pulling mine on as well. “Head to the bedroom and close the door. I’ll get rid of him.”

Amelia nods, pulling her sweater over her head and dashing down the hall to wait as I adjust my dick and do up my pants. Things have the potential to blow up in our faces right now, and I’m trying to remain calm for the both of us. Once I reach the door, I unlock it and pull it open, forcing a smile that I pray comes across as genuine and not nervous.

“Alan, hey,” I greet. “How’d you get in? I didn’t hear the buzzer.”

“Oh, one of your neighbors was leaving and held the door for me.”

I nod in understanding and secretly curse this unknown person. “So, what brings you to the city?”

“Well, I have the next couple of days off, and I decided to come into the city to take Amy to dinner, but she’s not home.”

Does he know she’s here?
The question repeats in my mind, and my heartbeat picks up. I’m certain he’s going to hear it.

He shrugs, stepping past me and into the main entry, even though I didn’t think I’d left that much room for him to do so. “She’s seeing someone,” Alan says. “That neighbor of hers told me that some guy’s been coming and going this past week.”

I relax a little because it seems he doesn’t actually know, and I casually lean against the wall. “Oh, yeah?”

“At first, I didn’t understand why she wouldn’t tell me,” Alan says, looking a little upset. “But then her neighbor told me that this guy looked like he was about fifty.”

I’m going to fuck that guy up.

Down the hall, there’s a low wooden thud, and I very briefly grimace, hoping Alan hasn’t heard it. But he has, and he instantly looks down the hall and then into the kitchen, his eyes widening.

“What the hell’s going on here?” he demands quietly as he absorbs the scene in the kitchen.

We’ve been found out. I stand up straight, shaking my head as I move with him to keep him from going anywhere. He may know, but I can keep him from laying into Amelia. I’ll take the fall for this.

“Listen, Alan, I can explain,” I begin. “I didn’t mean for this to happen, but—”

He turns his eyes back to me, and that’s when I see that he’s not shocked and angry, but shocked and…
proud?
Now I’m confused. “You dirty dog,” he proclaims in a hushed tone. “You took my advice, didn’t you? You went out and found some hot piece of ass to help you get over Gretchen.”