Saturday Afternoon
SUNLIGHT FILTERED THROUGH my opened blinds.
It pulled me from the semi-state of consciousness I’d been under since coming to bed. A limbo. I was neither awake nor asleep, but still fully aware of every move going on outside these four walls.
The sound of doors opening and closing. The sound of my sister giggling two hours ago on her way to her bedroom down the hall. The subtle shift in the air—the slight shadow that told me someone stood just outside my door thirty minutes ago.
They didn’t knock, but I knew who it was.
Bailey.
There was no doubt in my mind that she’d come—more than likely wearing that same light pink tease of a pajama set while debating on whether to knock, shifting from foot to foot while biting down on that plump bottom lip I now yearned to taste more than anything.
My beautiful girl worked up the nerve to stand before my door, wondering if I was up yet.
During my teenage years she’d always come and wake me up on the weekends. Just like today, she’d come and pause—her shadow beneath the door’s edge shifting in an uneasy pattern. Her feet moved in a rather telling way: sliding from side to side and always favoring her right leg.
She’d prop her left foot behind the other.
I’d caught her once doing that awkward dance years ago on a night I’d come home late from basketball practice. Thought she looked adorable. Never told her that I’d seen her either, but I now knew what to look for in the small shadow beneath my door.
“Fuck,” I groaned low, my abdomen clenching while imagining her still there. Listening. Wet and swollen.
The house had become quiet. Not a motherfucking peep while I stroked my cock to thoughts of her last night.
Eyes closed, I bit down hard on my bottom lip—fought everything within me not to say her name. My thumb flicked the smooth barbell at the end of my engorged head, spreading the pre-come that dripped from the slit down my shaft. Each stroke brought on a new memory:
How sexy she was.
How her scent embedded itself into my DNA and became a part of me.
How she rocked me to my core that night all those years ago.
Why had I locked that memory away? Because she was young. Too young for you, and you were leaving the next day.
But still. That moment in time with her inside the pool had left a mark. Subconsciously or not, it was after her declaration that I’d become a monk. I’d lied to myself. To everyone.
She was why no one caught my eye. Why I submerged myself in school and avoided the kind of temptations my friends enjoyed.
Because of her.
It always came back to her.
Back then it wasn’t right, and I backed away. Wasn’t our time.
But now, things were different. We both were, in a sense.
Moreover, with one look into those jewel-toned eyes, I’d become a prisoner within my own mind yesterday. Shackled to this unexplained need to take and mark. To embed myself into her system and live there.
Bailey had done what no other woman could with that simple flick of her stare.
She owned me.
“Christ, baby,” I hissed out as raw pleasure zipped through me then. The acknowledgement of her ownership caused my cock to pulse and my hips to buck hard into my tight fist.
I fucked my hand with her name on my tongue in rough strokes that bordered on painful.
Each drop of pre-come was a heated caress that I pretended was hers. Upward strokes came with a twist and tightening of my hold. It was nowhere near the pleasure her pretty little pussy would give—the flutter of her walls and the heady scent that would surround me—but for now it would do.
“Are you up yet?” Her voice floated into the room then, catching me mid-stroke. For a second, I paused. Didn’t breathe while her small fist thumped against my door. “Hunter?” Every muscle locked tight, waiting on her to say something else. Anything. “I know you’re up.”
Again, she knocked. Harder this time.
“Give me a minute.” Tried like hell to keep the hunger from my voice, but its gravelly tone was hard to disguise. That shadow moved a tiny bit, a shift, and I stroked myself to her nervous stance.
“Can I come in?”
“Fuck, baby girl. I’ll have you coming soon enough,” I muttered low, and the doorknob jiggled. A rush of adrenaline—the thought of being caught rushed up my spine and my eyes closed.
My back bowed, and my hips rocked faster. Nirvana was just within my reach, I just needed a little more...
“Oh my God.” She was closer. Within my space, and immediately, I looked toward my door and caught my angel standing within the threshold, hands holding on to the frame. Her eyes followed the movement of my hand while my cock swelled for her, my completion almost volatile. Messy.
“Bailey,” I groaned low, leaving no doubt hanging in the air over whom I was coming for. Where my thoughts had been.
She was both my personal heaven and hell.
I let her see how each spurt of hot come on my lower stomach had been spilled with her in mind.
And she’d seen it all. Every inch, and the metal that pierced the now sensitive head.
That spark of hunger in her eyes confirmed it for me.
Even as she stepped back out of the room and closed the door without a word, her body language said everything she couldn’t just yet.
This feeling was mutual. Even after all these years, she was still attracted to me.
It was another hour before I went downstairs.
Our kitchen was empty, as was the backyard, except for our Shih Tzu that lay with his body facing the pool area. Last night I hadn’t seen him, but Bruiser was now busy watching me and assessing my character, determining if I was more friend than foe.
Slow and with meticulous precision, he stood from his spot and shook out his fur. Took a step closer while sniffing the air, and then paused his olfactory investigation only to lick his nose.
Bruiser never took his eyes from mine, especially while making a slow ascent toward me.
Studying me. He let out a series of grumpy grunts and then...
“That’s a good boy?” I laughed. Bruiser rolled onto his back, paws up and belly exposed, just waiting for a good rub. “Missed me, didn’t you?”
This earned me another small woof and then a lick to my forearm. Scratching his chest, I looked around the kitchen and noticed Mom had left a plate out for me. They were nowhere in sight, but I knew the girls were home.
I’d heard them discussing their plans while walking toward the stairs. They weren’t exactly quiet, and their voices carried.
They were having guest over, and I’d planned to make myself scarce today while they entertained.
I didn’t want to see anyone other than Bailey. However, that was before I realized I’d been wrong in my assumption that bratty teenage girls would be infiltrating my home.
Hell. No. They’d invited who I assumed was Emily’s boyfriend.
And if that kid was here, then his brother would be too.
Same douchebag who’d been after my girl.
Who tried to kiss what wasn’t his. Touch her.
“Feel like pissing on him for me, Bruiser? Huh?” The dog just looked at me as if I were crazy, but at that point, I was well past the range of insanity. Now, I wanted to crack his skull open for ever considering her his.
A round of laughter came from the den down the hall, pulling my attention away from our needy dog. Suspicions confirmed, I grabbed a muffin instead of eating my breakfast and followed the sound.
What I found inside the dark room pissed me off.
There, at the edge of the largest sofa, was my Bailey trying to keep her distance from who I assumed was Brad. The overgrown child was sitting in the middle with his legs wide open and an arm thrown over the back. He took up almost the entire sofa for himself, forcing her to be close.
The kid was about five feet eleven and over a hundred and seventy pounds of idiocy. From what I could see, he had blond hair and blue eyes—a stereotypical jock. What most girls his age found attractive.
However, not Bailey. Her body language screamed uninterested.
No one noticed me at the door except for Emily, and the smile dropped from her face at my expression. “Hey,” she greeted cautiously, “are you joining us? Or on your way out?”
I didn’t answer, too focused on my girl’s clear discomfort. How could my sister just sit there and not help her best friend? Anyone with two working eyes could see how much little B. disliked his attention.
This wasn’t jealousy. No.
This was fury at his audacity. Ire at his lack of common sense.
You never force your presence on an uninterested woman. Never.
“Move.” The barely contained growl caught everyone’s attention, and they all turned to look at me. Three with surprised looks, the others with curiosity and desire—while Bailey turned the lightest shade of scared. Pale and worried.
Little thing had nothing to worry about when it came to me. She’d never have to fear me.
My eyes roamed every face inside the room and stopped at three girls near the window. They’d forgone the sofa and instead had laid atop a series of comforters and pillows. All smiled in a flirtatious manner with a tiny giggle at the end. High-school girls never change.
One in particular, a redhead, patted the empty space beside her. “There’s plenty of room over here,” she said, and from the corner of my eye, I noticed the way Bailey scowled in her direction.
I had to bite the inside of my cheek to hold in my amusement.
“Sorry, but I was talking to the kid sitting beside my Bailey.” Her smile dropped at my answer, but I paid her no more attention and turned to look at Brad. “Move it.”
“Who the hell are you?”
“That shouldn’t be your biggest concern. Two minutes—you move, or I’ll do it for you.”
“Hunter!” Emily and Bailey shouted in unison, but my focus stayed on the smart-mouthed jerk.
He’d shrunk back in his seat at the mention of my name. Good. The idiot knew who I was, and so did his brother. I didn’t miss the bit of space he put between himself and my sister.
Seemed Brad was smart enough to know his place. That chest he tried to puff out was put away, and he moved over, squeezing himself against the other armrest while glaring at the TV.
“Emi, hit play.” A few seconds after my request, my sister did as I asked. I took my rightful place beside Bailey and pulled her to me, her skin on mine. That small bit of contact felt like heaven.
“Are you insane?” My little B. turned her head into my neck and whispered, lips skimming my flesh. “You’ve just given your sister ammunition to hound me all night, you jerk.”
“Ask me if I care, sweetheart?” It was rhetorical, and she let out a small, frustrated huff, one that stopped when I lowered my hand to her hip and dipped my fingers below the waist of her yoga pants. I caressed the soft skin there. “I’m not hiding us.”
“There is no us, Hunter. I don’t even know you anymore.” For all her denial, she never left my embrace. No. Instead, she scooted just the tiniest bit closer. “Please stop trying to mess with my head.”
A soft cough pulled me away from Bailey. Emily was staring at us, eyebrow raised and smirking. About time, she mouthed, and I rolled my eyes. Her giggle followed, but I ignored her antics and turned back toward my misguided girl.
I nuzzled the side of her head. For a few minutes, I just stayed there pulling her sweet scent into my lungs. Enjoyed the feel of her supple body against my own.
“Sweetheart, I don’t play games. I only take what I plan to keep.” Without bringing too much attention our way, I tipped her face up to mine and stole a quick kiss. It was all I could take from her at the moment, giving her a small preview of what was to come. That small peck served to soothe my hunger—her decadent taste calmed the almost painful need. “And you, I want. Let me in.”
With a final kiss to her mouth, I faced forward and continued to watch the movie playing on the screen. She didn’t remove herself from my hold, and I took that as a good sign.
We’d be more than okay.
But first, I’d have a talk with the moron sulking to my other side. He’d learn or walk away with a broken limb.
Either worked for me.