More Than Friends (8 page)

“No, you know what’s stupid?” She dropped her foot. “You doing everything in your power to make me come, and then not giving me the same opportunity. You using your hands and your mouth all over my body, getting me off like a hundred times, and then not caring enough to wait for me to return the favor.”

His eyebrows shot up as his eyes widened.

“It’s just stupid that you had a naked woman in your arms, a woman who’d have done anything for you, anything to you, and the best you could offer was an indifferent orgasm after a couple swipes at your own dick.”

She leaned forward, sticking her butt out and keeping her back straight, until her hands touched the floor. Her hamstrings burned from the stretch. Lucy held the position to the count of ten, then stood straight again and carried on speaking as if nothing had broken her stride.

“Not only is it stupid, it’s demeaning. And humiliating. And it left me feeling as desired as a stale walnut.” She hated walnuts. Stale walnuts made her want to throw up.

“Christ, Lucy, believe me, it was never my intention to—”

She cut him off, not ready for him to have his say. Not yet. She had two days worth of pent-up frustration to blow off, and blow it off she would. Seb could just shut up and listen. “Know what else is demeaning and humiliating? When a man kisses your breasts. And your pussy. When he kisses every inch of your skin, even leaves his mark on your body—several times—but he doesn’t have the respect to kiss you on the lips. To touch his mouth to yours and make the whole encounter just the tiniest bit intimate. The tiniest bit personal.”

“Loo—”

“And you know what makes it even worse? Makes you feel even more stupid? When you love that man and he knows it. When you’ve poured out your heart and soul to that man, and instead of him returning those emotions, or standing by his assertions that he
doesn’t
feel the same, he rips the clothes from your body and puts his mouth and hands wherever he can, making you think he could love you, but then he rips your heart from your body when he leaves. Without kissing you. And without offering you the dignity of getting him off. And without bothering to contact you again after the fact.”

Her breath was coming in huge gasps, leaving her panting even more than she had during her run.

“But you wanna know what the stupidest, most humiliating part of all is? When that man is—”

This time Seb cut her off. Just sliced off her words in the most effective way possible. He grabbed her hand, hauled her into his arms and kissed her.

He molded his lips to hers, pushed his tongue into her mouth and kissed her until her toes curled and her body melted and she could do nothing more than kiss him back with every iota of passion and tenderness he kissed her with.

And he
was
tender.

God, was he tender. He stroked his tongue over hers, gently, softly, sweetly. Wrapped his arms around her, pulling her still damp body into the curve of his hard chest and kissed her and kissed her and kissed her.

He kissed her while his semi-erect cock stiffened and grew against her belly, and he kissed her as he hauled her up into his arms and shuffled over to the couch, seating himself on the cushion and her on his lap.

He kissed her as he pulled her against him, breasts to chest, and he kissed her as her anger and frustration fizzled and evaporated on a puff of air.

He kissed her as though she were the most cherished woman on earth, as though he was starved for her mouth and her tongue, and he kissed her as though she were a goddess, thrusting his tongue between her lips in a perfect simulation of sex.

And though it turned her on, got her hot and hormonal, made her pussy weep and her breasts tighten, she did nothing but kiss him back.

And though his erection ground against her ass, a hard, pulsing, immovable object, and hoarse moans tore from his throat, he did nothing but kiss her thoroughly. His whiskers scraped her cheek, abrading her skin, and Lucy loved it.

He kissed her so thoroughly, and for so long, Lucy saw stars. And heard bells ring.

They reverberated through her ears, the sweetest sound possible.

Only problem was, they didn’t stop.

One ring turned into two. The sweetness became annoying, intrusive.

Which was when she realized the ringing was not her imagination, nor was it brought about by Seb’s magic mouth.

No, the ringing was the doorbell, the same one she’d pressed earlier.

She broke the kiss with regret, drawing her mouth away from his. He chased her movement, caught her lips with his and kissed her again. She almost ceded to sensation.

But the bell rang a third time.

She forced her eyes open. “Seb, your bell. Someone’s at the door.”

“Hmm?” His eyes were closed, his face angled towards her, and his lips were cherry red and swollen from her kiss. He looked…edible. Delicious. Lost in the moment. Lucy would have liked to eat him whole. Or nibble on him from top to toe, one sweet inch at a time.

“Your doorbell is ringing,” she told him, the voice of reason in a moment that held no reason whatsoever.

“What’s a doorbell?” he asked, his face taking on a dreamy expression that did funny things to her heart.

She grinned in delight and shook his shoulder. “Snap out of it, dopey head. Someone’s at the door. You have a visitor.”

“Don’t want visitors. Only want you.”

“I’m flattered.” She wasn’t just flattered. She was blown clean away. “But whoever’s here isn’t leaving.”

As if to corroborate her words, the bell rang a fourth time. And just like that Seb snapped out of his reverie.

Gone was the dreamy expression, and gone was the erection against her bottom. He deflated like a pricked balloon even as his spine straightened.

Seb set her aside so she sat on the couch beside him. He dragged a hand over his head and jumped up. “Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

“Fuck what? Why?”

He scratched his head. “Shit, this isn’t what you think. Isn’t what it looks like, I swear.”

“What isn’t?” she asked, bewildered.

He held up his hands, flustered. “I’ll explain it all as soon as I can. I promise. Just let me get a shirt on and answer the door.”

He charged down the passage and disappeared into his room.

Not sure what to make of his behavior, Lucy shook her head, made her way to the door before the visitor rang again and opened it.

Fast as he could, Seb grabbed a shirt from his cupboard, tugged it over his shoulders and sprinted back down his passage.

Apparently he wasn’t fast enough.

Lucy stared at him from beside the open front door, a bland, expressionless smile on her face. “Ah, Seb. There you are. Good. Look who’s here. It’s Sarah. Looking stunning and all ready for your date tonight.”

Chapter Six

This time when Seb banged on her front door, he had no false expectations. If Lucy was home, she wasn’t going to answer.

Still, he gave her the opportunity, just in case. He banged, rang and banged again. When his efforts proved fruitless, he gave up trying, hauled his keys from his pocket and let himself in. Last time he’d chosen not to invade her privacy. This time he didn’t bother with civility.

He was well past the point of gracious courtesy.

There was not a chance in hell he would let Lucy ignore him. No way. No how. She’d left his place earlier with that perfectly bland expression on her face. The same expression she adopted when she spoke about Brian or Keith. The one that told him she didn’t care about him one way or the other.

If he had to tie the woman to her bed and make her listen to every last word he had to say, he would. There wasn’t a freaking chance she was throwing her
cut-you-out-my-life
bullshit at him and getting away with it.

She’d screwed with his head enough. Blown his world apart with her confessions and her body and her fucking feelings, and then put it back together all wrong, and he wouldn’t stand for her crap for one more second.

If she could mess with his head, he could mess with hers.

And mess with it he would.

He threw the door open and marched inside, slamming it closed behind him.

Much to his surprise, Lucy stood right there, holding a box.

“Ah, good. You’re here.” Her face was blank, her tone impassive. “That’ll save me a trip to the post office tomorrow.” She shoved the box at him, leaving him with no choice but to take it. “This is yours. It’s full of all the gear you’ve left here over time. A couple of T-shirts, one jumper, your sunnies, a book that I never thought you’d read but definitely isn’t mine, some pens from your office and a couple of other odds and ends. There’s your chocolate too. Thanks for it, but no thanks.” She wrinkled her nose. “Okay, maybe I’ll keep the chocolate after all.” She snatched back the bars. “The rest is yours. So, thanks for stopping by to collect it. And I’ll see you around. Or…not.”

He grimaced and planted his feet firmly on the floor. “I’m not going anywhere. Not leaving here until you and me have had a chance to talk, so forget about the box, forget about my gear, shut up for a minute and start listening to me.”

“I think we’ve said quite enough, don’t you?”

“No, babe, I don’t think I’ve said nearly enough. You’ve had your say, several times, now it’s my chance to have mine.”

“Look, it’s nice of you to drop in, really, but it’s time to leave. So thanks for coming and goodbye.” She waved at him.

Damn, he hated the dull lifelessness in her voice, the lack of interest in her face. “Pretending I don’t exist isn’t going to work. Not with me. Never with m-”

“Wait.” Lucy threw a cautionary finger up into the air, looking startled. “Hush. Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“That noise.”

“What noise?” He’d heard nothing other than her lackluster dismissal.

“Shh. Listen.” She cocked her head to the side.

He listened intently and still heard nothing.

Lucy slapped her hand over her mouth. “Oh, God, I don’t believe it.” She raced to the door, yanked it open and stared out, gasping.

Alarmed, Seb followed her, stepping in front of her to protect her from whatever might be out there.

There was nothing.

Two hands landed on the small of his back and pushed, hard.

Caught off guard, he stumbled forward, dropping the box.

“Goodbye, Sebastian,” Lucy said. “Have a nice life.” She shut the door behind him, leaving him gaping at the mess, stunned that she’d pulled one over on him.

It took a minute, but finally he grinned, filled with a ridiculous sense of pride. Damn, she was good. Brilliant, really. He’d never have thought her capable of such treachery, and yet here he stood on the wrong side of her door, outfoxed by her brilliance. She’d asked him to leave, and when he hadn’t, she’d simply manipulated circumstances to get him out of her place.

He had to use that maneuver in one of his adverts.

Taking a minute to refill the box with his stuff, he set it against the wall, reached once again for his keys and unlocked her door.

Lucy sat on her couch in front of the TV, an unwrapped chocolate bar in hand and her mouth full. She took her time chewing and didn’t bother swiveling around to look at him. Her gaze remained on the telly.

“You’re back?” she asked dispassionately.

“I’m not leaving until we talk.”

“Whatever. Could you at least be quiet? I’m watching Survivor.”

“You hate Survivor. You hate all reality shows, remember? TV’s for escaping reality, not reinforcing it.”

“Shh.” She bit into the Aero and chewed silently as she watched a reward challenge.

With a disbelieving shake of his head, Seb walked over to the couch, picked up the remote control and turned off the TV.

Her gaze didn’t move an inch, even when he planted himself squarely in front of the telly.

“So here’s the deal, babe. You don’t get to cut me out of your life, and you don’t get to pretend I don’t exist. You don’t get to treat a friend like that, and you don’t get to ignore me when I try to talk to you. What you do get, is me. Lock, stock and barrel, whether you want me or not.”

Lucy hesitated mid-bite. Her hand trembled for just a second, but then she bit off the Aero, her gaze fixed firmly on his stomach, which blocked her view of the telly.

“See, here’s what happened after I left your place the other night. Here’s why I lost track of time and never realized it was Tuesday afternoon and time for our weekly run.”

Lucy chewed her chocolate and dropped her head back on the couch to stare up at the ceiling. She looked…thoroughly bored.

Goddamn it.

“I left you because I had to work, not because I wanted to. But you fell asleep and I was on deadline. Peter’s Peanut Butter Bars needed a mock-up ad, and since it’s my account, it was my responsibility.”

“You know what I think?” Lucy lifted her hand above her head and stared at the chocolate. “Aeros are getting smaller. There aren’t nearly as many minty bubbles in here as there should be.”