---

 

I stroke her cheek, rubbing my thumb over her soft skin. Her blue eyes peek up at me through her eyelashes, and her teeth sink into those plump lips of hers. Her tongue peeks out as she glides it over the indents on her bottom lip, and I feel my cock rising in response. I’m holding my breath as I wait for her to reply to those three words I said.

I was in love with her. But did she feel the same?

“Jackson…,” she says softly, and my heart accelerates as I think about the words falling from her lips. I rub my nose against hers and down her face, tracing my lips over her jaw.

Tell me, baby.

I cup her face and rub my lips over hers gently, and she sighs into my mouth, granting my tongue access to hers. I nibble gently on her lip that she’d recently chewed on before gently stroking my tongue against hers.

The sound of my phone vibrating breaks us from our heated liplock. I pull the phone from my pocket, and I feel as if someone has their hand wrapped around my throat when we see the name flashing across the screen.

Sam Remington

Shit.

“Fuck. Did Tucker call him?” she shrieks as she reaches for her phone. Her eyes widen. “He called me too! God dammit, Tucker!” She begins to rub her temples, and I wish I could take her back to bed to really calm her down, but I know now isn’t the time.

“Stop swearing; it’s not ladylike,” I tell her with a hint of humor in my voice, knowing she’s known to swear like a sailor. Especially when she’s on the brink of an orgasm. Shit, Walsh, do not think about her orgasms seconds before you talk to her father.

“Don’t make me blow you while you’re on the phone with my dad.”

I narrow my eyes at her and immediately put my hand over my dick as if that would do anything. “You wouldn’t.” She moves toward me to get on her knees, reaching for me on the way down. “Ah ah ah!” I tell her as I back up. “Okay, okay, you would.” I point at her. “Fucking behave, Ava; I mean it.” I pick up the phone on what I assume to be the last ring.

“Sam. How’s it hangin’?”

“What took you so long to answer?” he barks into the phone.

“Sorry, Sam, I was--” I look over at Ava, wondering what exactly I’m supposed to say, and she shoots me a wink, pulls her lips into a pucker, and blows me a kiss. I raise my eyebrow at her and shake my head. “I didn’t realize it was ringing.”

“Uh huh. I’m sure. Now listen, I’m sure you know why I’m calling…,” he trails off.

Do I? Maybe Tucker hasn’t called him? Fuck. “I have an idea.”

There’s a silence on the other end that’s almost deafening. “You love my girl?”

I gulp. “Yes, sir. I do.”

“She loves you back?”

Dig the knife in deeper, thanks. “I’m not sure; she hasn’t said for sure.” Ava narrows her eyes at me and frowns, knowing she’s the she I’m talking about.

“Good, I hope she makes you sweat a little bit.” He chuckles, and I feel my jaw tick in irritation. Sam was like a second father to me, but I hate him a little bit right now. I’ve just laid my heart out to a woman for the first time in my life, and she hasn’t reciprocated. I am not interested in entering a battle of wits with her father. “I’m not thrilled to hear about you defiling my princess,” he continues. Really Tucker, you had to tell him everything? “But, I suppose there could be worse guys out there.”

I am shocked this conversation is taking a vastly different turn. “You don’t sound like Tucker.”

“Tucker didn’t notice the way she used to look at you.”

My eyes find Ava’s again, and she’s staring at me curiously. Okay? She mouths at me, and I nod once. Her eyes light up, and she smiles, momentarily rendering me speechless.

I hold one finger up and walk out of the kitchen so I can press Sam for a bit more information and so she wouldn’t be a distraction. “How she looked at me?”

“Ava always had a little crush on you, Jackson. The first week you left for college, she barely left her room. She was only ten at the time, but she was crushed. Her mother and I assumed it was just a harmless crush, and she would get over it. Of course, with time she did. But then you didn’t come home for her high school graduation…that hurt her.”

I remember that. For some reason Carla called me earlier in that week to ask if I would be home for Ava’s graduation. I had a final the day before, and then I wanted to celebrate being done with school, so I had no intentions of coming home. Carla understood, but I didn’t know her daughter didn’t.

“Either way,” he continues, “she’s always admired you, Jackson. Looked up to you. She’s always cared about you, in more than just a big brother type of way.”

“I-- I had no idea.” Well not until recently when she told me she’d had a crush on me. But I had no idea it had run that deep.

“Ava will probably kill me for telling you all of this…,” he chuckles. “Don’t worry about Tucker; I’ll straighten him out. What’s he doing just barging into your bedroom, anyhow? Y’all ain’t got boundaries?”

“Evidently not?” I rub my face thinking about how my best friend caught me in such an intimate state with his little sister. I can only imagine how mortified Ava felt. Speaking of which, I should make sure she’s okay about that. We never really got a chance to talk about it.

“Well, lock your doors, son! And… take care of my princess.”

“I will.”

“And Jackson?”

I freeze, knowing what’s coming next. Although Sam is taking this better than Tucker, I can only imagine the pain he’d inflict if I ever hurt Ava. And he’s about to let me know that— now.

“Yeah?”

“If you fuck this up, I’ll kill you.”

 

 

I walk back into the kitchen to see Ava furiously texting on her phone. She hasn’t noticed I’ve walked in, so I take a second to admire how beautiful she is. Never in a million years would I have thought I would fall for little Ava Remington.

She looks up just as she slams her phone face down with a huff, and her angry eyes find mine. They soften dramatically as I make my way across the room, desperate to have her in my arms again. “He’s being such a jerk,” she pouts as I box her against the counter, pressing my groin against her back. I rest my chin on her shoulder and nuzzle her ear.

“He’s just protective. You know this.”

“He didn’t have to hit you.” She turns around in my arms to face me and runs her fingers over my bruised jaw. “What did my dad say?” She winces as she remembers where I’ve been for the past few minutes.

I tuck a hair behind her ear. “He…took it better than your brother.”

Her eyes light up instantly. “Really?”

Sam Remington’s words play through my head on a loop, and I wonder if it’s possible she’s in love with me because-- she’s always been in love with me. The thought sends a spark through my body. “I’m sorry I missed your graduation—both of them,” I add, remembering I had also missed her college graduation, though I’m sure she wasn’t expecting me for that one.

She furrows her brow in confusion as if she doesn’t know what caused this chain of thought. “I promise I’ll be at the next one, baby,” I tell her, referring to her law school graduation.

She must finally realize what her father told me as she nods in understanding. “I did want you there,” she tells me softly. “I came to yours.”

I smile as I remember a ten-year-old Ava, sitting next to her parents and her brother as I walked across the stage a year early. “I know I missed a lot in your life growing up. But-- I want to be in it now,” I tell her honestly. “For-- as long as you want me to be.”

She doesn’t say anything, and I’ll admit it stings that she didn’t use the opportunity to tell me how she feels. Maybe she isn’t there yet, Walsh. She is younger, and you’re the first man she’s had a relationship with or been intimate with. Give her a minute to process everything.

But in the same regard, she has always had feelings for you. If she loved you, she’d know by now.

Right?

I shake my head, trying to stop myself from the arguments forming in my mind. I’m trying to keep myself from the point of no return, which ends with me deciding that all I am to Ava is her first— not her last. “Now, as much as I want to go find your brother, I do think he needs some time, and I believe earlier you said something about blowing me?” I grin, despite the fact I’m somewhat hurt at her lack of reciprocating those three words I want to hear.

 

 

She bounces a few times as that perfect little bottom of hers hits the bed, peeling her shirt and bra off in between. Before she lies down, I have her leggings down her legs and my head between them. She’d forgone underwear in her haste to get dressed, leaving me with her folds on display, which were already glistening with her arousal. I lie between her legs and push my nose through them, tickling her clit with my nose. She shudders beneath me and runs her hand through my hair. “You’re so sweet. I’ll never tire of this,” I whisper into her skin.

I spread her legs, digging my fingertips into her thighs as I mercilessly lick through her folds. Her hands pull hard, pulling at the roots of my hair, and I groan out of both pain and pleasure. I feel her pelvis rising up and down in time with my tongue as if she’s literally fucking my face, which only succeeds in making my painfully hard cock even harder. The sounds coming out of her are almost guttural as I hear my name escaping her lips over and over like a prayer. I feel the moment her orgasm wracks her petite frame, her folds quivering around my tongue and her body shuddering over and over.

Ava has told me how perfect I am, how much I turn her on, how good I make her feel, but nothing could prepare me for the words that leave her lips at the peak of her orgasm. “Fuck, I love you so much,” she moans, and I freeze, my tongue mid-lick as my eyes dart to hers. She must know what she’s said because her eyes fly open and meet mine. I sit up slightly, the bottom half of my face covered in her juices as she looks away nervously before her eyes flick to mine.

I shoot her a half-smile. “Hey, it’s okay.” I reach up and rub her cheek in an effort to alleviate the pink tint. People say things when they’re on the brink of orgasm. The moment where you momentarily lose control of all your senses. I’ve never told a woman I’ve loved her during sex, but I may have promised one or two women my firstborn.

I’m sure Ava will be thrilled to hear that.

Getting ahead of yourself there, Walsh. Who says she’ll be giving you any borns?

She signals me closer to her and lies on her side. I lie next to her as her hand runs up my arm and finds my cheek. “I’ve loved you for so long, Jackson Walsh.” She smiles, and my heart skips a beat. “Before I really understood what love was. I was so young but you were like— a God. Then you left…and I knew you had to, but it still hurt.” I’m stunned by her admission, and it kills me that I ever caused this woman I love so deeply any type of pain. “Don’t mistake what I’m saying.” She chuckles. “I haven’t spent the last twelve years pining over you. I got over it and you. But now…,” she trails off and runs her hand through my hair. “I love you...so much. Not in the ten-year-old crush way, but the true love way.”

She loves me.

I don’t even try to hold myself back from attacking her and pouring everything I can into the kiss. The kiss is urgent. Sloppy. Wet. Sensual. It’s all teeth and tongues, and at one point I feel her teeth bite down on my bottom lip. I melt into the kiss, pouring all of the love I have for this woman into it, both of us reaffirming our professions of love.

I don’t know how long we are at it, but when we finally pull away, her lips are swollen, red and glossy from the mixture of our saliva. I feel her hands at my belt, and I help her slide my pants and underwear down to free the painfully hard erection I’ve been sporting since I tasted her arousal.

I trail my hands up her torso to find her breasts, rolling her nipples between my fingers. They pebble instantly, and I look up to see her staring down at me through hooded eyes. “You don’t even know the possession I feel for you knowing I have something no one else has. To know that you’ve only ever belonged to me in this way.” The feeling is so contradictory. I go back and forth between wanting to show her off to the world, knowing that she’s mine and only mine, and keeping her locked away for my eyes only. There’s only one word that’s the same in both scenarios-- mine.

She wraps her legs around my waist and rubs her folds against my cock, and just like that, I’m home.

 

 

Ava and I must have fallen asleep post-sex because when I wake up, she’s cuddled against me. Her head is resting on my chest, her hand splayed just under my shoulder blade, and her leg is threaded through mine, her naked pussy pressed against my thigh. I blink my eyes a few times as I try to chase away the last few moments of sleep. I try to move out from under a sleeping Ava, but she just whimpers and grips me tighter. I take a moment to look at the true beauty of the woman in my arms.

It’s just before dusk, which means I can still make out Ava’s features in the low lighting of my bedroom. The orange hue of the sunset bounces off the white walls and casts a glow over Ava’s naked body. The streams of light make shapes against her porcelain skin. I trace my finger along her arm, following the pattern.

I smile as a sigh escapes her slightly parted lips in response to my touch. My gaze leaves her mouth and journeys up her face to her eyes, her long lashes fanning out over her skin. The smile fades just as fast as I think about my best friend, God-knows-where, angrily cursing me for not telling him the truth.

I should have told him.

I should have been honest about my feelings for Ava.

I somehow manage to pull out from Ava’s grasp and slip out of the room without waking her up. I walk into the bathroom, putting my phone to my ear as I call Tucker’s number. I pinch the bridge of my nose, willing the headache away as I think about all the routes this conversation could take. There are a few different scenarios playing through my mind, but I’m stunned when I get his voicemail.

He’s really pissed.

“Tucker…,” I trail off, wondering what I’m even going to say. “Call me,” I tell him simply before I hang up the phone. I drop the phone from my ear as I wonder if I sacrificed my relationship with my best friend for the woman I love.

I wouldn’t take it back. But-- is Tucker really not going to be able to get past this?

My eyes find the sink as I stare at Ava’s pink toothbrush next to mine in the holder. Something so simple, so domestic, and yet I can’t stop the smile from crossing my face at the level of intimacy it means. My mind recalls all the times I’ve watched her brush her teeth in the morning, her hair still tousled from sleep, her long, toned legs peeking out from my Harvard Business School shirt that she sleeps in, and the way her ass peeks out from under the shirt as she leans over to spit.

It’s all so-- real.

 

 

I walk down the stairs, leaving Ava to sleep off the rest of her sex-induced slumber, and I’m shocked when I find my best friend sitting on my couch eating pizza and watching Sports Center.

I narrow my eyes at him and cross my arms over my chest. “You’re looking real comfortable in my living room, all things considering.”

He doesn’t even look at me as he raises his middle finger. “Don’t make me hit you again.”

“You do, and you got one coming back, asshole.”

He mutes the television and props his feet up on my fifteen hundred dollar coffee table like he owns it. “How long has this been going on?”

I let out a sigh before crossing the room. I sit down in the adjacent seat as not to be within arm’s reach of Tucker. “A couple months.”

“And you hid this shit from me for that long?”

“I know, Tucker. I know. I should have told you.”

“You should have come to me first.”

“For what?” I scoff. “To ask your permission? Don’t be ridiculous, T.”

“It’s my sister!”

“She’s a grown woman, for fuck’s sake!” I snap. I get that he’s mad I didn’t tell him, but Ava doesn’t have to ask his permission for shit, and I certainly don’t.

“And you’re my best fucking friend; you should have had enough respect for me and for us to at least let me know that you were having-- feelings.”

“And that means I deserved your fist? And all that shit you spewed in front of Ava? Do you think I need her hearing that shit? That I want her thinking about all the women that came before her? You think I don’t know I treated women like shit in the past? Like you’re so much fucking better,” I snort.

Now I’m pissed. What kind of bro code allows for a guy to talk that kind of shit in front of another guy’s woman?

“The difference is I’m not fucking your sister,” he barks back, and I flex my fist, my fingers itching with the need to hit him.

“And I’m not fucking your sister, Tucker,” I growl, so sick of having to repeat myself to the guy who should know me better than anyone. “I’m in love with your sister. I want to be with her…for the rest of my life. I get that you’re pissed-- especially given how you found out, but cut me some slack, Tucker. When have I ever told a woman that I loved her?”

His eyes never leave the television, although I know he’s not actually watching. I continue, “You know I would never do anything to hurt you or your family. I was expecting a level of your skepticism, but I’m telling you I love her. I’m telling you that I would never hurt her. That should be enough to settle your fears. After everything we’ve been through, over twenty years of friendship, do you really think I’d do anything to jeopardize our friendship if it was just about sex?”

Tucker remains silent, and when he still doesn’t look at me, I shake my head. I begin to speak when I’m interrupted.

“I can’t believe you’re being like this!” A voice resonates through the room as Ava comes storming in. She stands in front of the television, her hands planted firmly on her hips, daggers shooting out of her eyes.

“YOU’RE NOT DAD! God, even he supports this. What the hell is your problem, anyway?” She puts her hands up. “You know what, I don’t even care. You’re acting like a fucking child.” She looks at the pizza and turns around to the television before turning back to her brother. “And what are you even doing here? What makes you think you’re even welcome here right now? You should really leave.”

“Ava…” Yes, I’m pissed, but I would never tell Tucker he couldn’t stay here. Hell, he’s got keys anyway. I know she’s trying to protect me from how terrible her brother is being, and I love her even more for this fierce “take no shit” attitude.

She looks at me, and it’s as if our eyes are having a conversation of their own. After a few moments of staring at each other, she sighs and rolls her eyes as she accepts defeat. “Fine, whatever. I have to get home anyway. I need to study.”

I narrow my eyes at her before I’m on my feet and guiding her out of the room. At this moment, I could care less about Tucker’s attitude. Ava was leaving, and I wanted a plan in place for when I’d see her again.

“You can’t study here?” I brush the hair behind her shoulders. I swat her hand away as I zip up her jacket for her and pull her into my arms. I’m mildly aware that I’m still within sight range of her brother but maybe he needed to see this. He needed to witness our interactions and our love for each other, up close and personal.

“I wasn’t planning to stay here while he was in town, so I didn’t bring my books with me. The plan was for me to go home and maybe meet up with you guys later, remember?”

“I know. We’ll--” I look over at Tucker, who I can tell is trying not to look at us as the scowl on his face fades by the minute. “Well, I’ll at least come pick you up later.” The plan may have been for us to all have dinner, but if Tucker was still pissed, I wanted her to know I was seeing her later regardless.

She nods and lifts her chin, presenting her lips to me. “I love you,” she says just before my lips meet hers, and I don’t miss the feeling of euphoria that runs through me hearing her words again.

“I love you, too.”

I plant a simple kiss on her lips, not wanting to risk things becoming obscene with her brother present. I can see the devilish look in her eyes when we pull apart, and sure enough, she licks her lips before sinking her teeth into the bottom one.

“You need to go,” I tell her, my voice low as to not alert the guy several feet away.

She shoots me a cheeky grin before turning her stance toward her brother. “Tucker,” she bites out, and only then does he turn his gaze toward us, the sad look on his face making me feel somewhat bad for the lashing Ava is probably about to give him. “I’m happy. Can’t you see that? We’re both happy. And if you of all people can’t be happy for us then…you’re not the guy either of us thought you were.”

 

 

Tucker left that night. I tried everything to get him to stay, but he made up some excuse about a work emergency. He tried to tell me it had nothing to do with what had happened, but I knew. There was no sense in trying to convince him to stay.

He needed space.

But now, it’s been two weeks. Two weeks of radio silence. Not one word from him. I’ve called him a few times, but they went unanswered. Ava was trying everything to cheer me up, knowing I was feeling a little unsettled about where things stood with my best friend. She, on the other hand, was ready to breathe fire onto her brother. She wasn’t calling him, knowing he wouldn’t take her calls either. But she was certainly preparing for an in-person battle the next time we were back in Philly.

The Remington house was about to be a war zone come Christmas.

Tucker was supposed to be in town this weekend, but we assumed that either he wasn’t coming, or he’d gotten a hotel room, and we wouldn’t be seeing him while he was in the city. I certainly wasn’t expecting to walk through my apartment door to see him sitting at my breakfast bar drinking a beer.

Ava’s laughter immediately halts as her eyes find her big brother, and I see the daggers shooting out of them. I grab her, knowing her next move, and lift her slightly off the floor. “Hey!” she yells and turns her face to meet mine as she kicks her feet slightly to try and touch the ground.

“Hold on before I let you at him.” I try to calm my hot-headed girlfriend.

“Why the hell does he still have keys?! Babe, change your locks.”

“Don’t be so dramatic,” I tell her as I set her back on her feet.

“I’m dramatic? He’s the one throwing a temper tantrum because he’s jealous you have a new best friend or some shit.”

I chuckle at her very juvenile explanation of this situation. But a part of me wonders-- is there more to Tucker’s anger?

“You’re both dramatic,” I tell her. “It must be in the Remington DNA.”

“Bite me,” she retorts, and if her brother wasn’t ten feet away from us, I’d already have her pants off.

“Don’t try and seduce me in front of your brother, Ava,” I growl in her ear before I bite down on the lobe gently. She giggles, and for a moment I’ve forgotten he’s even in the room until he clears his throat.

I turn back to Tucker as I make my way over. “Can’t take any of my calls?”

Upon closer inspection, Tucker looks exhausted, and it makes me wonder if he’s been just as unsettled by the recent developments in our friendship. “I just needed some time to process everything.”

“Process what, Tucker? We’re together; get over it,” Ava interjects before I can respond.

“Ava.” I look at her. “Go finish your paper.”

She crosses her hands over her chest and furrows her brow. “Excuse me?”

“Is it done?” I ask her, knowing full well it’s not. She was supposed to finish it last night, but I pounced on her the second I got home from work, effectively derailing her from finishing the twenty-paged Procedural Law paper that was due at the end of this weekend. After that, we’d made a strict no touching of Ava’s womanly parts rule until she was finished.

She scoffs. “You don’t know me.”

“Your books are still in the study,” I tell her, ignoring her petulant “you don’t know me” comment.

“Thanks, dear,” she mutters before disappearing out of the room.

“How’s school for her?”

“Good.” I nod.

“You seem to know a lot about it.”

I shrug. “I ask.” It was meant to be a dig. Tucker used to check in on Ava every few days, but his stubbornness has prevented him from calling to see how she was doing or how school was going. “And I help her study sometimes.”

“That’s nice of you.”

I shrug again. “Least I can do. I’ve banned her from studying with half of the guys in her class.”

He laughs, and for the first time in weeks, I see a glimpse of how things used to be. “This the real thing…? You and my sister?”

“Yes,” I tell him honestly. You finally getting that through your thick skull?

“Marriage?”

“I’ve mentioned it. She thinks I’m crazy. But… I’m twenty-eight. I know what I want. I would say she’s not sure but-- she is. She just enjoys tormenting me.”

“You sure about that?” He raises an eyebrow at me.

“Yes, dick.”

“So, we’ll be brothers…,” he trails off, and it seems like he’s finally accepting it.

“See, the thing is, I thought we already were.”

He gives me a tight-lipped smile, and I think he feels worse than he already does. “Look man…” His hand finds the back of his neck, his face contrite. “I’m sorry. I was…such an asshole.”

“You were.”

“Can we just…call it even?”

“Even? Really?” I ask, wondering how in the world we could possibly be even for anything after this.

“You wrecked my brand-new bike when we were twelve, asshole.”

I scratch my beard as the thoughts of crashing his bike while I was attempting a trick I’d seen on television fill my mind. “Okay, fair.” I shake my head. “Shit, you’ve been waiting a long time to use that.”

“I had to wait for it to be something really good.”

“Touché, my friend.” I put my hand out. He grabs it, and before I know it, we’re in a manly embrace. Our hug is interrupted by a loud “awwwwww” coming from the other side of the room.

“It’s so sweet, I think I just got a cavity,” she adds.

“Aren’t you supposed to be writing a paper?” Tucker asks her as she crosses the room and moves into my arms.

She scoffs and puts her hand up. “You’re not the boss of me.”

“I’m just saying what he said!” He points at me.

“Well, that’s different. He is the boss of me.” She smirks, and I see the blood drain from Tucker’s face, turning ghostly white as his eyes snap shut and his hands fly to his ears.

“I DON’T WANT TO KNOW! God, no, Ava. NO!” he roars as he backs away from us, slowly muttering something about my baby sister.

“You had to go there, didn’t you?” I ask her, and she shoots me the most devilish look.

“Oh, this is going to be so much fun.”