He left his handprint all over me. He marked me in places no one had ever even touched before. My body is still buzzing from his touch. I’ve never been so drained and yet so satisfied in my life. I lie in bed, with him next to me, and say a silent “thank you” to whoever up there loves me enough to bring Wyatt into my life. I watch his eyes flutter as he sleeps peacefully beside me. The gentle sound of rain mixes with the sound of passing cars from the street below. I look over at the clock by the bed; it’s four in the morning.

I’m exhausted but I don’t want to close my eyes and miss this moment.

Our moment.

I turn on my side, facing away from him, but go in close so I can snuggle against him. He instinctively wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me tighter. My lips glide into a smile, and he wakes and nibbles on my neck.

“Sorry, I woke you,” I whisper.

“I’m not,” he says as he trails his fingers along my spine and down to my lower back. His touch alone makes my head spin. I slipped on one of his tee shirts sometime in the middle of the night and now he’s seeking what’s under it. He grazes my thigh; I shake my head and turn to face him.

“No, you don’t, Mr. Hunter. Four orgasms is my limit.”

“It’s your fault, you can’t lay here next to me wearing nothing but my shirt and think I’m going to let you rest,” he says as he cups my ass. I sigh knowing he could have me right now and I would be powerless to stop him.

“No, I need to rest and so do you,” I purr.

“Okay, you’re right. I will behave, and I promise not to put my hands on you,” he says.

“Thank you,” I reply, knowing full well he’ll never keep his promise. A few moments later I feel his cock behind me. He’s stone hard. He takes out a condom from the nightstand and presses up against me. It feels heavenly.

“Hey, you said—”

He cuts me off. “That’s not my hand, baby.” I lean my head back and laugh. But soon the laughter gives way to a series of moans and whimpering as he slides his hardness between my wet and pulsing mound. My eyes roll to the back of my head as I give in to the ecstasy he creates in me. I hear him groan and swear in a gruff voice as he slowly inserts himself deeper into me. He reaches out for me, and we interlock our hands and hold on tightly as we climax. When it’s over, we don’t let go. I think that’s why I love him; he never lets go.

***

It’s nine in the morning and Wyatt has gone over the plan with me about a hundred times. And he wants to go over it about a hundred more. I am forced to put a stop to it and remind him that all I’m doing is acting normal. That doesn’t really require practice. But I give in because I know he’s just looking out for me. So, we go over the plan, yet again, and I finish my coffee and head for the door.

“Where are you going?” he asks.

“I ‘coffee’ cheated with you this morning and now I have to go and meet Jana so I can have coffee with her and act like it’s my first cup.”

“We need to go over the plan again,” he says, blocking my way.

“The plan right now is to meet with Jana and run away from my crazy boyfriend.”

“I just want to make sure we have all our bases covered,” he says. I walk up to him and suck on his bottom lip. We begin to kiss and I guide him over to the sofa. He greedily tries to get as much of me as he can, and when his eyes are closed, I escape to the hallway. He follows me and shouts, “So not fair babe!” as the elevator door closes.

***

I actually lied to him about meeting Jana. I plan to meet her later on, but first, I meet his mom so we can talk about his birthday. The only reason I know it’s coming up is that Shelby sent me a text. I can’t decide if I like her or not but I like that she’s herself and doesn’t try to be anyone else.

Mrs. Hunter and I plan a small dinner party for Wyatt because I know he won’t want anything extra loud and crazy. She also helps me with the gift that I was planning on giving him. I didn’t know it was his birthday when I began looking for the gift but that works out perfectly.

When we’re done planning, I head over to Jana’s apartment. Last night, I told her about Wyatt giving us the townhouse and this morning, I texted her about us finally making love. I’m not sure which she’s more excited about—wait; I think it’s the fact that we finally had sex.

I didn’t tell her I was stopping by but I thought I would surprise her and take her out. She helped so much with Bree and she’s still dealing with the ups and downs of dating, so some best friend time is definitely called for. I enter her building and knock on her bright red apartment door. I can’t wait to get in and get warm. It’s no longer raining outside but it’s super cold.

The door opens but it’s not Jana standing on the other side—it’s Decker. A very naked Decker wrapped in Jana’s bedsheets. “OHMYGOD!” Jana says as she runs up to the door with only a tee shirt on. She pushes past Decker’s frozen face and stands in front of him. She closes the door slightly so that I no longer have a view of the background.

“Hi!” she says in a high-pitched voice.

“Hi…” I reply, smirking as I tilt my head to the side.

“I wasn’t expecting you,” she says.

“Yeah, I can see that.” I shout over her head, “Hi, Decker!”

“Ah, hi Winter,” he says awkwardly in the background. “I’m gonna go find my clothes,” he says as she disappears into the back room.

“Well, I um…okay so—”

“Hey, we need coffee and a lot of it. So, pause your story and I will wait outside for you to get dressed. We’ll go eat. That is if you and Decker are done,” I offer.

“Yeah, we…yeah. Be right out,” she says as she closes the door.

Shit, what the hell? I can’t wait to find out how this happened. Is this a good thing or…crap. C’mon, Jana, dress quickly.

I wait in the hallway as Decker, now fully dressed, walks by. He says he’ll see me later tonight. For the record, I enjoy every second of his discomfort. It’s like teasing a brother or a good friend. Not long after Decker leaves, Jana appears in the hallway, dressed and ready to go. That’s not good enough. She better be ready to spill her guts.

God, this will take more coffee than Starbucks has to offer…

***

 

We decide to go to the cafe two blocks from her house because it has a big comfy lounge feel to it. It’s fairly quiet and the coffee is outstanding. We don’t go there on the days we have to work because the damn chairs are so comfy; there is a good chance we would never leave. However, the center is still closed, so there is more than enough time to sit and chat. And thank God because that woman owes me some details.

We order sandwiches and extra-large mugs of coffee; we wait for the waitress to bring it over before we begin to talk. I want to get to the Decker issue right away, but I try to be a grown-up and tend to the work stuff first. The act of moving the center to a new location will take planning, so we use the first hour to create a solid starting point. Once that’s done, we move on to the good stuff.

“Spill it, woman! What the hell happened?” I ask excitedly.

“Decker was at home when he got the news from his lawyer that his ex-wife agreed to joint custody,” she says.

“Really? That’s amazing! Why didn’t he tell us that?”

“He knew Wyatt was dealing with Rose’s birthday and he wanted to save the good news until after. He went to a bar to have a drink and I bumped into him.”

“I thought you were slowing down on the bar scene and that you were looking for something more…serious,” I reply.

“Yeah, I total am. My hormones didn’t get me to the bar, my greed did. You know the bar about five blocks from here—Sophie’s?”

“Yeah, amazing cheese sticks.”

“Yes! Well, I was really craving some and delivery was like a two-hour wait and cost a small fortune. So I dragged my ass down there, in jeans and a big ‘blah’ looking coat. My goal was simple: get food and get out. You could tell because my hair was a mess, I had no makeup, and I’m pretty sure there was a crayon in my hair thanks to my neighbor’s toddler, who I babysat earlier that day.

“Anyway, I ran into Decker, who was trying to get away from this oversexed woman who kept asking him to let her feel his gun. I stood there and watched him wrestle with the best way to get out of the situation, and man, did he fail. After a while, I had pity on him and interjected.”

“How? Did you pretend to be his girlfriend?”

“Even better, I marched up to them and scolded Decker for leaving me alone with our ‘new baby’ and disappearing for three days.”

“Nice!”

“Yeah, I even added a bit about being a loving girlfriend who was okay with his current situation—his inability to perform,” she says as we share laugh.

“He was pissed but he didn’t contradict me because, well, the woman was really awful. So I dragged my ‘boyfriend’ outside. I then laughed at him like any mature adult would, and he gave me a ride. He told me about winning custody of his little girl and I invited him to come and celebrate like any classy lady would.”

“With cheese sticks and beer?” I ask.

“Exactly. Anyway, we ended up talking for a long time, then before I knew it…we were tongue wrestling.”

“How was it?” I ask carefully.

“Good; really good,” she says in a somber tone.

“Jana, why do you say that like it’s a bad thing?”

“Decker and I had ‘the talk,’” she admits.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Do you remember Halloween, when you and Wyatt were at the back of the bar, and he got you to stop and talk to him?”

“Yeah, I remember. It was like a perfect night,” I reply. She looks at me and raises her eyebrows.

“You and Decker…?”

“Winter, the conversation was so good, and not because we were trying to get to the sex part. In fact, I didn’t even need the sex part. It was enough just to sit and talk. Did you know that he speaks five different languages? Did you know that he gave up a promising football career to become a cop? And that the first time he had sex, he sent her a thank you card?” she says, completely smitten.

“You’re kidding, he didn’t actually do that.”

“Yeah, he did. And his first day as a cop, he was on patrol in a neighborhood where this old senile lady kept mistaking him for her son, who never visits. Her name is Myrtle. He didn’t have the heart to tell her he wasn’t related to her, so he ended up going inside her house, where the two of them have been playing bridge ever since.”

“Aw, that’s so sweet!”

“Yes and no. The two of them are so good, they are now well known as the sharks of the bridge scene. And have racked up some serious cash.”

“Bridge?” I ask in disbelief.

“Yes, and he gives her his half of the winnings because she’s saving up to move to Sarasota, Florida. According to old lady Myrtle, that’s where all the hot retired men go.”

“Noted,” I tease.

“He told me about the first time he held his daughter…and what it’s been like for him these past few weeks, knowing he might lose her,” she says, filled with sympathy.

“And the sex…?”

“Fantastic. And, he stayed,” she says mostly to herself. “When I’m done sleeping with a guy it’s usually a race to the door. He gets up so quickly, it’s like he’s fleeing a crime scene. I get it. I do the same. But Decker didn’t do that. He didn’t leave. Instead he just held me. It was…nice,” she says softly. She takes a deep breath and shakes her head. “I shouldn’t have slept with him. Now even if it could have been something good, it’s worthless.”

“Not necessarily,” I counter.

“Winter, now I’m a one-night stand to him. And he’s just some guy I slept with. One-night stands don’t ever become more than that. I was so stupid. He was a nice guy, we talked and got along, and then I opened my legs. Now, I’ll never know if he could have been a soup guy,” she says sadly as she sips her coffee and looks out the window.

“Well, Wyatt’s told me a lot about Decker and I think he is a good guy. And I don’t think you should count him out yet. I’m sure he’ll call you.”

“Yeah, he will, for another bed session. I want more than that. Or at least I think I do. When the chance came, I went and messed it up.”

“Jana, it’s not easy fighting your urges. I should know.”

“Yes, let’s talk about that. No more Decker talk. I need a blow by blow of last night. What he did and how long he did it,” she says, perking up way too quickly. I’d like to find out more about what took place between her and Decker but I can tell she’s trying to downplay it, fearing it is over before it even starts.

I get how she feels and so I let the subject drop. I tell her about my night with Wyatt in detail. She’s excited that we finally did it and she orders me a sundae with a cherry on top. When we are finally done, we walk out, full and satisfied.

“Are you really going to be used as bait?” she says as we step onto the sidewalk. According to her tone, she’s wanted to say this for a while.

“It’s going to be fine, all I have to do is eat Thai food, watch TV, and go to bed. Think about it, I’ve been training for this my whole life,” I joke.

“I don’t know how you got Wyatt to agree,” she grumbles.

“I know, I kept expecting him to change his mind—and don’t think he hasn’t tried.”

“I get where he’s coming from. I don’t like the thought of you in danger, Winnie.”

“I’m not a fan myself. But again, it’s just food, TV, and sleep. It’ll be fine,” I reply as I pull her in for a big hug.

“Be careful, okay? And call me as soon as it’s over,” she orders and she hugs me firmly. When we pull apart, I can see a hint of sadness in her eyes. It’s not just the operation we set up for later tonight that’s bothering her; it’s Decker. She’s wishing she could go back and not sleep with him. That way they could still have a shot...