LAUREN

 

 

Tyler stood at the door, blood trickling from a gash above his eye, his nose swollen with a dark bruise appearing over the ridge, and his bottom left lip drooping dejectedly.

“My god! What happened to you?” I reached for him, pulling him inside. My stomach twisted at the state of his face but he was smiling. Well, smiling as much as he could with his misshapen lip.

“I did it,” he said. “I sorted things out with Gabe.”

“By fighting him?” I couldn’t escape the horror in my voice. This was not what I wanted. This was not what I asked for.

Tyler realised his error and waved my concern aside. “No, no. I didn’t mean like that. I mean, we did fight, but not like you think. We did it for Jake.”

I shook my head in confusion. “Are you sure you’re okay. You’re not making a lot of sense.” I closed the door. “Come down to the lounge, I’ll get some ice for your face. And a cloth.” I shuddered as another trickle of blood dripped over his cheekbone.

Tyler took my hand. “No, listen to me, Lauren. I don’t need ice, I don’t need to be cleaned up—”

“Yes you do,” I insisted, turning away from him.

“Please,” he said, stopping me by tugging on my hands. “Just listen to me first. I heard what you said last night.”

Colour flamed up my cheeks.

“I heard you when you said you were sick of feeling guilty about part of who you are. I get that now. I understand. All this time I’ve been petrified of losing you instead of just being grateful you chose to be with me. You didn’t have to. You were happy before I met you and probably would have gone on being happy with Gabe if it wasn’t for me.”

I started to shake my head. “I don’t think—”

But Tyler silenced me. “Let me finish. I was wrong to hold you accountable for Gabe’s actions. I want you, Lauren. All of you. Every part of your life, your past and your future, and I’ll be fucked if I let my jealousy of Gabe’s relationship with you ruin that. I was wrong. I was stupid. I let my jealousy and fears control my behaviour and I promise I won’t do it again. I’m yours, Lauren Greer. Yours fully and completely. If you’ll have me.”

I stood in the hallway, my hands in Tyler’s, staring up into those steel-grey eyes as he pleaded. I could barely compute the words coming out of his mouth. They were the words I wanted to hear, but they didn’t make sense. Why had they fought? Why was Tyler standing here, bruised and injured?

“Say something.” Tyler’s expression was desperate.

I shook my head, pulling my hands away from him. “I don’t get it.”

“Don’t get what?” He took a step forward. “I’m apologising. I realised what an arsehole I was and I wanted you to know that. I want you back. I want us back. I don’t want to face the next stage of my life without you.”

“But why are you all beaten up?”

Tyler rolled his eyes and grinned. “This isn’t going quite how I expected. It’s a long story and I promise I’ll tell you, but would you please just kiss me? I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and if I’m being perfectly honest, your lack of affection is rather ruining the moment.”

“So you and Gabe are good now?”

Tyler lifted one brow, wincing. “I wouldn’t say good, but definitely better with the chance of improving.”

He stepped closer again, cupping my face with his hands. “Kiss me, Lauren Greer.”

I lifted my face away from his hands and folded my arms. “Not until you tell me everything.” I still didn’t get it. I got that Tyler thought he had everything sorted in his mind, but I didn’t understand what had changed, how it had changed.

“Seriously?” Tyler let out a breath of air and ran his hands through his dark hair. “You are ruining all my fantasies here.”

Taking his hand, I led him to the bathroom. “Sit,” I ordered, making him perch on the side of the sink. “I’ll sort your face while you tell the story.”

He started the story from when he left my house to when he returned again, explaining the bizarre events that led up to the fight.

I gently wiped away the trickles of blood dried to his face. “So Jake’s been fighting for money?”

Tyler nodded.

“And you and Gabe sorted things out and then fought so Jake didn’t have to?”

“He was in a bad way.”

“So are you,” I scolded. “So who won?”

Tyler smiled. “Gabe.”

I was surprised by his response. It was hard to imagine a world where Tyler would have let his younger brother beat him, but judging from their past scuffles, there was no way Gabe would have won.

“You let him beat you?” I asked.

“Don’t you think that was best? I stole his girl, the least I can let him do is get in a few decent punches.”

“It’s just so different from the stance you’ve taken in the past. I’m struggling to believe it.”

“It’s the truth. I swear. Ask Gabe.” Tyler pulled his phone out of the pocket. “Talk as long as you want.”

I narrowed my eyes, not sure about the sudden change in attitude.

“Look.” Tyler rose from his perch on the edge of the sink. “Sometimes it takes a while for things to sink in. All I was thinking about was how it made me feel when you were around Gabe. It took a while for me to figure out that how you felt and how Gabe felt was different. I finally saw my behaviour the way you did, the way Gabe did. I’m begging here, Lauren. All I want is you.”

I crossed my arms again, not letting him know how much I loved hearing those words and leaned back against the wall. “Take your shirt off.”

Without hesitation, Tyler wrestled his t-shirt over his head and tossed it to the ground. “As you wish,” he said, a wicked glint to his eye.

“Are you injured anywhere else?” Slowly, I ran a single finger over the rise of his shoulder. Tyler shuddered and pressed his lips together, drawing in a deep slow breath.

Could it be true? Could it be this simple? One fight between the two brothers, some words exchanged and a change happens in them both? There was still hesitation and doubt in my mind but as I walked a circle around him and he stared at me with those steel-grey eyes, every part of my being wanted to believe him. Needed to believe him. Tyler was everything I wanted.

I let my fingers trail over his skin, studying his body for signs of injury at the same time as drinking in his beauty. My heart began to hammer with lustful familiarity.

When I skimmed over his left side he winced. “Gabe got in a good one there,” he said, though his tone had changed. It no longer held the teasing lilt that it had moments earlier.

Standing behind him, I pressed my lips to his skin, twisting my head to rest my cheek against his shoulder blade as I snaked my hand around his waist and splayed my fingers over his body. His chest rose and fell with each laboured breath, and his hand covered mine.

Lowering his head and turning to the side, he whispered, “I missed you, Lauren. I missed the feel of your hands on me. I missed waking up to your body pressed against mine. I hated going to bed at nights and finding it cold and empty.”

The sound of his voice vibrated through his chest as I leaned against his back. There was no way I could resist him. Not when he was standing before me broken and bruised. Not when the words on his lips were the very ones I had been dying to hear.

Snaking my other hand around his waist, I let it fall lower, dipping to the waistband of his jeans and fumbling with the button until it released and I was able to push his jeans over his hips. His boxers followed suit, falling to the ground, and I released my hold on him, once again trailing my fingers over his flesh until I stood facing him, looking him up and down as he had done to me so many times before.

His cock stood tall and hard, straining to get closer to me. But I stood still and let my eyes slide over him. He reached out to me and my body wanted to lurch towards him, throwing myself into his arms and crushing my mouth against his, but I backed away.

“Lauren, please don’t torture me like this. Let me touch you.”

Mimicking the wicked grin he had given me so many times before, I shook my head. “No touching.” And then I began to undress. Slowly. One item at a time sliding across my skin and falling to the ground. Tyler took himself in his hand, gently stroking back and forth as I undressed. His eyes danced over my body, watching my movements as my clothes fell away and I was left naked before him.

“Can I touch you now?” he asked almost reverently.

  I stepped so close I could feel the heat radiating from his body. “No,” I breathed, running my lips over his with the faintest of touches.

Groaning, Tyler’s hands moved to the curve of my waist.

“No touching,” I scolded, batting them away.

A devilish desire had overtaken me. I wanted to torment him. I wanted to make him suffer. As I sunk to my knees, I let my breath fondle his skin, skimming over his chest, his abdomen, and down the valley that led to his erection. Letting my hot breath wash over him, his cock twitched under my attention, straining hard, almost throbbing in anticipation. I kissed the insides of his thighs and pressed my mouth to the tender flesh of his groin. Moaning once again, Tyler’s hands pushed into my hair, but I plucked them away, warning him with a daring look. Instead, he ran them through his own hair, pushing out his chest as he took in a deep breath, his cock surging towards me. Teasing and taunting him with my hands and my mouth, I carefully made sure I touched him everywhere but the place he wanted it most. I let my tongue swirl over his salty skin as he breathed and moaned, wanting to take control. But this wasn’t about his control. It was about mine.

Getting to my feet once again, I walked behind him and pressed the length of my body against his, my breasts crushing against his back, my hands again curving around his waist and dipping low until they found his hardness. A sharp hiss of air escaped him when I finally took him in my hands. His head rolled back as I worked him and a rush of desire soared within me. Wetness pooled between my legs. He was so hard, so virile. And he was all mine.

“Lauren, please,” he begged.

Lifting to my tiptoes, I held my mouth against his ear as I spoke. “I have missed you too, Tyler Thornton. I have missed the way you made me feel. The insane amount of desire that I felt every time I looked at you. I missed your mouth, your hands, your—”

“Now,” Tyler said sharply, all the begging and pleading of his tone long gone. “I need you now. I want you now.” He twisted in my embrace, my hands leaving his cock as he took my face in his hands and crushed his mouth against mine. His movements were urgent and demanding, despite his injuries. His hands feverishly explored every part of my body as though it were the very first time. They were knotted in my hair, clutching the soft flesh of my breasts, fondling the cheeks of my backside, slipping into my folds. His mouth joined the assault. He was everywhere.

My body turned to fire.

My breaths turned to pants.

My skin glistened with desire and sweat and longing.

“You feel so good,” Tyler growled. Spinning me around, his hard cock pressed against my backside, his hands gripped to my breasts. “You have no idea how I’ve dreamt of this. How many nights I’ve lain there and imagined being inside you again.”

Sliding himself over my entrance, I opened my legs, allowing him better access, urging him to take me. The time for teasing had gone and I was desperate to feel him. Not needing any further encouragement, Tyler thrust inside me, plunging in without preamble and sinking himself with a contented sigh. He withdrew slowly, allowing me to feel every inch of hardness until there was only the tip remaining pressed against my entrance, and then he plunged back inside again, causing moans of pleasure to fall from my lips. He felt so right. My body welcomed him, tingling with the sensation of longing that had built for so long.

As Tyler dove into me, somewhere at the back of my mind, I became aware of the sound of keys jiggling in a lock. Then the familiar creak of the front door sounded and Sadie’s cheerful voice floated down the hall and into the bathroom. I had forgotten that she was due home.

Tyler froze, his cock still hard but his movements stilled. “Fuck,” he cursed, withdrawing. “What’s she doing here?”

With the sweat and lust of our encounter still covering my body, I laughed as he fumbled around the floor, looking for his clothes.

“She lives here.”

Holding his shirt to his chest, Tyler quickly pulled me to him. “Let’s go to my place.”

I bit the lobe of his ear, sending shivers through his body, all the while being aware that the bathroom door was still open. Sadie could appear at any second. “No. Let’s get dressed,” I replied, pushing him away.

“Are you fucking kidding me? Look at this? There is no way this is going down.” He peered at his erection still standing strong as I gathered clothing off the floor and hurriedly tried to pull it on. “Let’s sneak into your room before she sees us,” he suggested.

“There you are,” Sadie’s voice greeted us at the doorway. “Oh my!” Her voice rose an octave. “Oh my,” she said again, covering her eyes. “I did not want to see that. Tyler is that your naked arse in my bathroom?”

“You wouldn’t have to see it if you walked away.”

Sadie moved her fingers, peeking through the gaps. “But where would the fun be in that?” She winked at me, barely able to control her laughter. “Oh, please tell me you two were not just about to have sex in my bathroom.” Then she added, “And what happened to your face?”

Tyler, having covered the indecent parts of himself, grinned wickedly. “Not just about to. Already—”

“Stop!” Sadie shrieked. “Okay, you win. I’m officially more embarrassed than you now. I’m going to the lounge. I don’t care what happened to your stupid face. Join me when you’re finished.” Her eyes flew wide. “Not finished, finished. Finished as in decent.” She let out an exasperated sigh. “Just get dressed, okay?”

As soon as she left the doorway, Tyler’s clothes dropped to the floor again and his lips were on my neck. “I think we should finish before I explode.”

Laughing, I pushed him away. “I am not having sex while Sadie is out there waiting for us. She’ll know exactly what’s going on.”

“And?” Tyler asked, still attempting to convince me.

“And nothing.”

Dropping his head into his hands, Tyler groaned. “I can’t walk out like this.”

“I can still hear you guys,” Sadie yelled out. “Remember the walls are paper thin in this house.”

“This is not the reunion I was expecting,” he sighed grumpily. “How long until—”

I folded my arms and glared at him teasingly.

“Okay,” he said. “I get it. It’s not happening right now. Curse you Sadie Anderson!” he yelled. Sadie’s laughter drifted down the hall. “But as for you.” Tyler wrestled with his jeans. “I will be dealing with you later if my balls haven’t fallen off by then.”

Tyler sunk glumly to the couch when we finally made our way into the lounge. His displeasure was not lost on Sadie and I think she enjoyed the torment she was putting him through. Picking up a cushion from the couch he placed it over his crotch.

“So I take it you two are back together?” she asked sweetly, batting her eyelashes innocently but not waiting for an answer. “Well there needs to be some house rules if you are to be spending time here, Tyler. First of all, no having sex in places that I could possibly walk in on. I do not need to see that pale, naked arse again. Got it?”

That brought a grin to Tyler’s face. “Sure thing.”

“And no making sex noises, you know? Keep things quiet. I don’t want to wake up in the middle of the night to hear Tyler grunting and groaning as he—”

“Okay, okay.” I laughed. “No more details. I think we get it.”