Scarred (Damaged Souls) (17 page)

“Oh my God! What t
he hell was that?! Did you really just come?!” Sloan exclaimed, sliding down weakly to sit on the edge of the tub.

“Yes.” Lexi said short of breath, still dazed by her reaction to giving him oral.

“But…but you didn’t even touch yourself! That was incredible. Each time with you seems to top the one before. Hell, this whole damn day has blown my mind!” Sloan marveled.

“I concur.” Lexi said sluggishly, exhaustion from the active day finally catching up to her.

“Let me get you dried off and into bed. You look like you’re gonna fall over any minute.”  Sloan said standing up on shaky legs and reaching out a hand to help Lexi off her knees.

“But what about dinner? It’s still early.” Lexi asked sleepily.

“Well I’m personally too tired to care. And we have an early day tomorrow.” Sloan reasoned.

“Hmm…” Lexi agreed.

Stepping out the shower, they quickly dried each other off. Still wrapped in towels they tiredly made their way to the bedroom. Too exhausted to care about putting on nightclothes, they crawled into bed. For the first time they put no barriers between them. Sloan wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her tight against him. He kissed the sensitive skin behind her ear and they passed out within seconds of their heads hitting the pillow they shared.

C
hapter 13

“
Stay With Me”

Lexi was having the strangest dream. She was riding her bike around town doing some shopping, but she wasn’t in Savannah, she was in Davenport. She happened to ride past Eric and she waved happily at him as she kept going, unafraid and unaffected by him.

She felt someone watching her as she parked her bike and walked into a store. As the eyes followed her she felt tingles in her clit. A moment later her arms were filled with bags and she was walking out the store, not knowing how she even paid for her items.

As she walked towards her bike she saw Sloan across the street
, once again in his torn and dirty clothes. The flutters in her core gained intensity and she dropped her bags in the unexpected throes of an earthshattering orgasm.

The orgasm was so strong that it brought her out of a dead sleep. She cried out and her back arched. It wasn’t until she felt the very real laps and flicks of a warm soft tongue on her clit that she realized the orgasm was real and brought on by the sexy man currently
taking up residence between her legs, waking her up in the most delightful way possible.

After gently bringing Lexi back down from her climax, Sloan raised his head
up from between her thighs, looking at her with a wide grin across his face. He crawled up her body and smoothly, slid slowly into her drenched core.

“Good morning.” He groaned against her lips before dipping his tongue into her
mouth as she gasped.

Lexi tasted herself on his tongue and moaned into his mouth
. Sloan stroked into her trying to be patient, for once not wanting to rush it. Then Lexi wrapped her thick legs around his hips, pushing him deeper with her feet against his ass. She plunged her fingers in his hair, holding on tight and kissing him fiercely.

Her passion sent Sloan into a frenzy and he gave up on his slow
pace and he pounded into her with a punishing speed. Their simultaneous release overtook them quickly and they cried into each other’s mouths. Sloan collapsed on top of Lexi prostrate.

“I figured it out. It’s your fault that I lose it every time we have sex.” Sloan said breathless against her neck.

“Me?” Lexi said innocently.

“Yes, you!” Sloan accused. “I try to be gentle and then y
ou throw a wrench in my smooth moves by becoming a tigress in bed. I can’t ignore that shit!” Sloan whined.

“Smooth move
s? Well it’s not my fault you decided to get me all worked up with a wakeup orgasm. Although that was the best alarm to wake up to ever!” Lexi sighed.

“Yeah, you looked so beautiful and peaceful when I woke up, I just couldn’t help myself to a little taste. But man you were sleeping hard. I thought for sure that you would wake up as soon as I started. So for a minute
there I started feeling like a pervert.” Sloan explained.

“No worries, you can be a pervert every morning if you want. I definitely don’t mind.” Lexi smirked at him.

“Oh I bet you don’t.” Sloan said kissing her lips softly before finally rolling off of her. “Alright, it’s time for me to earn my keep around here and get back to work.”

Sloan got out of bed and stretched. His muscles cracking and he groaned in response. Lexi watched as the muscles in his back and ass bunched, strained and then relaxed. She was amazed at what twenty-four hours could do. Yesterday she had tried to avoid his erection at all costs and now she sought it out.

Lexi marveled at all she had missed over the years. None of the men in her past had ever come close to making her feel the way Sloan did. He kept saying that he felt bad over being too rough with her, but she was loving every minute of his so-called “rough” sex.

Sloan walked out of the room to head to the bathroom and Lexi jumped up on top of the mattress
wrapped in the top sheet and did a little happy squeal and dance.
I actually had mind-blowing sex…
all
day yesterday and this morning! Thank God!
She danced around and stopped short when she saw Sloan leaning against the door jam, watching her.

“What are you doing, exactly?” Sloan asked grinning.

“Uh…doing a happy dance?” Lexi posed it as a question, her face burning red with embarrassment.

“
Mmm…Proceed.” Sloan said casually walking over to the set of drawers with his few clothing items and grabbed a pair of jeans.

Lexi flopped down on the bed, mortified that she was caught in the act.

“Don’t stop on my account. You looked adorable jumping around like a little girl.” Sloan said looking at her in adoration.

“It’s okay, I think I got it out of my system now.” Lexi looked down at her toes, unable to make eye contact.

“Well, if I was even a fraction of the reason you were compelled to do the “happy” dance, I couldn’t be more touched.” Sloan said seriously.

Lexi looked up at him and her breath caught at the look of love in his eyes. It scared and thrilled her.
Never in all my life…

“It’s been a combination of things
, really. This house, my new found freedom and learning so much about myself and how a man is supposed to treat a woman. But in that moment it was definitely seventy-five percent you and having the best sexual experience of my life.” Lexi confessed bashfully, feeling that he deserved to hear it.

“Thank you.” Sloan said softly, a telltale blush tinting his cheeks.

“So…I better get dressed too, so I can help you.” Lexi said scooting off the bed.

~~~

The next several hours Sloan and Lexi worked side by side sanding down the hardwood floor in her newly expanded bedroom. When they were done, they laid down tarp and worked at tearing down the drywall on the ceiling. They both breathed a sigh of relief that there was no permanent damage to the wood beams in the ceiling.

They removed the debris and carried it out to the dumpster. Sloan moved to the next project of pulling up the old moldy bathroom tiles covering the entire floor. His plan was to strip th
e upstairs of all the damage, creating a clean slate for the new ceiling, bathroom floor, fresh paint, and wood trim and crown molding. The extra men they had hired would be there on Monday, and Sloan wanted to make sure everything was ready before they arrived.

They were in the middle of breaking up the tile on the bathroom floor when Lexi’s cellphone went off in her back pocket.
Lexi pulled her phone out and nearly cringed when she saw that it was Dom.
Shit. Shit. Shit! I completely forgot about the damn double date.

She had been so wrapped up in amazing sex that the date had totally slipped her mind. She
quickly walked out of the bathroom into the bedroom, stopping in front of the sitting room window, not wanting Sloan to hear the conversation. But not wanting to be overly rude by taking the call out in the hall, like she was trying to hide something from him.

“Hey, Dom.” Lexi answered the phone warily.

“Hey, Lexi! Today is the day! I’m
so
excited! Aren’t you excited? You’re gonna love Aaron.” Dom raved on the other end.

“Uh…Dom…here’s the thing…” Lexi started hesitantly, looking over at Sloan in the bathroom, who had given up pretending
to work and stared right at her.

“Don’t you dare cancel on me Alexis Bolden! We’ve already made reservations at a nice restaurant. And I’ve been talking about you to Aaron for nearly a week and he’s so excited to meet you. Come on…for me?” Dom pleaded, when Lexi remained silent.

“I just don’t know Dom. I’ve kinda met some-” Lexi started.

“No no no…I won’t take no for an answer, especially only a few hours before the date!
So suck it up girlfriend, cause you going!” Dom said laying down the law.

“Fine, Dom.” Lexi finally gave in, turning away from Sloan, afraid to see his reaction.

“Oh thank God! Aaron will be there at seven to pick you up and then we’ll all meet up at the restaurant. The reservations are for seven-thirty.” Dom rattled off.

“Great.” Lexi said, voice filled with sarcasm.

“Alright, see in you in a little while. This is gonna be so much fun!” Dom said ignoring Lexi’s tone and then hung up before she could change her mind.

Lexi took a deep breath to prepare for
a battle with Sloan. Her palms instantly started to sweat, hating confrontation, because it normally didn’t end well for her. Turning, she faced Sloan, her heart heavy with guilt. Sloan had walked into the bedroom and looked at Lexi incredulous.

“Did you actually just tell her that you’re still going
on that date?” Sloan said in a deceptively calm voice.

“Sloan, she already made all these plans. I just felt bad leaving her hanging.” Lexi said looking at the floor, unable to make eye contact with him.

“Lexi! Are you fucking kidding me?! You’re gonna go on a date with another fucking man after yesterday…and this morning?!” Sloan finally exploded and Lexi cringed in response.

“Sloan, it’s no big deal.” She replied softly.

“No big deal? You don’t fuck a man all day long one day and go out with another man the next.” Sloan railed.

“I’m just doing it for her! I don’t
even want to fucking go, but I already agreed and if I cancel now that’ll make me a complete bitch. Why the hell do you care so much anyway?!” Lexi finally snapped, hating being yelled at over something she didn’t have much choice over.

“Why do I care? Why do I care?! Don’t you fucking get it?! Can’t you see, that I’m in love with you?! Of course the last thing I want to do is see you with another man!” Sloan poured his heart out, shocking Lexi.

“I…I can’t handle this.” Lexi said starting to freak out, feeling like the walls were closing in on her.

“I just ripped my heart out and presented it to you and all you can say is, ‘I can’t handle this’? That’s just fucking perfect.” Sloan exclaimed, feeling as if she
’d just kicked him in the gut.

“I didn’t ask for you to fall in love with me! I don’t even know if I can handle a relationship right now, Sloan. For the first time I’m trying to figure out who I am and what I want out of my life, without a man controlling it.” Lexi tried to explain, feeling her stomach tie in knots and her heart rip in half at the devastated look on his face.

“So what were you planning? To just use me as a casual fuck buddy until your house was done? And then that’s it? Nice knowing you?” Sloan asked, his voice filled with pain.

“I don’t know, Sloan?! I was just going with it. Trying to live in the moment, to just feel it out
.” Lexi said at a loss at how to explain how she felt without hurting him, but knowing she was failing miserably.

“You know what? I’m sorry. Apparently I’ve asked too much
of you. Go and enjoy your date…whatever.” Sloan said giving up on convincing her not to go, which broke Lexi’s heart even more.

Sloan turned away and headed back into the bathroom. He picked up the sledgehammer they had been using to break the tile
, ready to continue.

“Sloan, please. Can’t you understand where I’m coming from?” Lexi implored, coming up behind him.

“Don’t Alexis. If you’re gonna fucking go, just go. You don’t need to apologize to me, we were just having some fun apparently.” Sloan said not turning to look at her.

“Sloan-” Lexi started again.

“Jesus Christ, Lexi! Go! I can’t fucking look at you right now.” Sloan yelled, swallowing hard to control his emotions.

Lexi flinched back, tears instantly clouding her eyes. She hated hurting him, but she didn’t want to ruin everyone else’s night either.
She knew if she stopped and dug deep, that she’d find that she cared more for Sloan than she was willing to admit. But the thoughts of a new relationship scared the shit out of her. She was having the best time of her life with Sloan and at the same time she was terrified that if things got too serious it would wreck everything.

Her insides were so torn up and churning that she felt like she was going to puke. She turned and dashed out of the room and ran downstairs wiping at her eyes. She ran into the downstairs bathroom and shut the door. She leaned over the toilet and threw up the cereal she’d had that morning.

Sitting back against the tub Lexi sobbed uncontrollably. Her earlier euphoria was now nowhere to be seen. She had no idea how she was going to get through the date, because her heart wasn’t in it and she’d be so worried about how Sloan was doing.
Well…I’ve already made my bed, so I might as well lie in it.

Lexi stood up on shaky legs and leaned inside the shower to turn on the spray,
remembering their passionate love making the night before, beginning her preparations for the dreaded date in a couple of hours.

~~~