“Are you sore?” he asked in concern. They had been fucking for hours and he was built as big as Eve was small. He knew from experience he could leave her very uncomfortable for several days if he wasn’t careful. “I don’t wanna hurt you.”
“I want to be sore,” she said softly. “I want to feel you when I’m all alone in New York without a friend in the world.”
His heart clenched at her words and there were a million responses on his lips, some said he was sorry, others disobeyed his father and told her he would go with her but all he said was, “Okay.”
He grabbed her hips and guided himself into her. Eve gasped when the head of his cock entered her. “Slow, Paul Guy. I want it to hurt so good.”
He bit his lip as the feeling of her warm, tight pussy around his cock caused every instinct he had to jump alive and urge him to push into her hard and fast. But his life had taught him nothing if not how to follow rules. He moved into her achingly slow as she moaned beneath him.
Eve shifted, bringing one hand up to where their bodies were joined, her fingers running around the base of his cock as if she were memorizing the feel of him buried inside her. Then she started rubbing her finger against her clit, doing it harder and faster than he would have. Her moans became low and throaty. Her body started clenching around his and it was driving him insane.
“Can I move?” “Go crazy.”
He started moving slowly but firmly inside her. Each thrust was done with purpose and her moans were getting louder the longer they did this slow, torturous version of mating.
“Your mother,” he reminded her when she got too loud for comfort. “Shhh.”
She groaned, her head falling forward heavily, her braids flopping down to either side of her face as she buried it in the comforter. Paul felt a fresh surge of desire pulse through him. Eve had been his only lover. They had discovered the joys of sex together, and when she touched herself like that it drove him wild.
“You’re hot,” he panted, moving in her faster because he couldn’t help himself. “I like when you get yourself off.”
She moaned, pushing her hips back in a counteraction against his as her fingers moved fast and furious over her clit. Paul felt sweat roll down his back and drip from his temples. His body was tense with the need to come as his balls tightened and his gut clenched. As a distraction, he bit down hard on his lip but it only added to the blinding pleasure that was going to force him to finish before he was ready.
She suddenly threw her head back, choking out, “I’m coming.”
He gasped in relief and started fucking her without restraint. Eve climaxed with a muffled scream into her comforter. Her pussy started to spasm around his cock, milking him and forcing him to follow her over the edge.
Paul’s head fell back and he bit his lip once more to keep silent as his orgasm slammed into him. Pure, unrestrained bliss pulsed through his body and he shuddered from the force of it. Despite his efforts to avoid it, a small groan burst out of him as his stomach muscles clenched repeatedly from the pleasure radiating through him.
Eve collapsed beneath him, forcing him out of her as she sprawled on the bed. Her neck was flushed, her bare back glimmered with sweat and she appeared completely heedless of the wet stickiness smeared between her thighs.
He sat crouched on his knees between her spread legs and stared down at her in concern. “Do you want a towel?”
“Whatever,” she said breathily. “God, I’m sleepy.”
She was so carefree, completely different from most of the prissy girls they had gone to school with and he adored that about her. He ran one large hand down her back, tracing the curve of her spine. “I love you, Evie Girl.”
“Love you too, Paul Guy,” she said softly and then turned her head to look back at him. “Come to New York with me.”
“I’ll lie down with you instead,” he said, crawling over to her. If she could lie in the wet spot, he could too. “I’ll hold you until you fall asleep.”
“Will you be here when I wake up?” she whispered, resting her cheek on her arm as she stared at him with green eyes shimmering with tears.
He gave her a sad smile. “No, but I’ll wait for you while you’re in New York. Even if it takes you twenty years to come back home, I’ll wait for you.”
“You’re a liar,” she said, her full bottom lip jutting out miserably. “This is it for us, isn’t it?”
He felt the truth of her words in his heart. He knew she was right. This was the end of the road for them. Both their childhoods ended at this moment and they were walking into adulthood with broken hearts.
He let his head fall sideways, resting it against her shoulder. “I promise I’ll love you forever… Never, ever forget that.”
“I won’t,” she whispered. “I’ll love you too. Always.”
Ten Years Later
Fresh from the gym, sweaty, with no makeup on and her hair tied into a messy ponytail, Eve walked down the aisles of the grocery store, listening to her mother rant on the cell phone about a recent scandal in the church. It seems the youth pastor had left his wife of thirteen years for a twenty-year-old girl who, until her true colors were revealed, was one of those girls Eve’s mother would look at with glowing eyes and wish until her dying breath her only daughter would be more like.
Eve’s life had sunk to such levels that she was enjoying the scandal and listened with a curious ear rather than blow her mother off. Eve paused in the aisle, her mother’s voice droning on, and realized this was the most interesting thing that had happened to her all day—some twenty-year-old getting it from a youth pastor.
She was getting a buzz off someone else’s sex life instead of her own.
“Does the girl not care that the man has children?” her mother asked, her shrill voice pulling Eve back to reality.
“Why are you blaming her?” Eve shook her head to clear her morose thoughts and picked up a box of bran flakes, staring at the label more as a distraction than anything. “He’s thirty-something and Sara’s just a girl. Why not blame him?”
“You know men can’t control themselves,” her mother said dismissively. “And twenty is old enough to know better. Her poor mother, she’ll never be able to show her face at church again.”
“Mom, I gotta go,” Eve mumbled, putting the bran flakes back because she found herself appreciating the high fiber content. She was getting boring and old. That was not supposed to happen. “What was I getting you again?”
“Vanilla ice cream. I’m making apple pie for the ladies group. You should come.
I’m hosting this week.”
“Not likely,” Eve said, her eyes widening at the thought. “Your churchwomen’s meetings are what my specialized version of hell is going to consist of.”
“I wouldn’t joke about that.”
“Vanilla ice cream, got it,” she said, ignoring the rest and hanging up before her mother went off on a rant about Eve’s sinful ways.
“Evie Girl?”
Eve gasped in surprise, her heart jolting from the nostalgia caused by a nickname she hadn’t heard in a very long time. The smooth male voice was too close for comfort and she moved away instinctively before she spun around. Her jaw fell slack as she stared up at the tall, dark and handsome man standing in front of her.
This was not happening. She was not running into Danny Carlow, one of the sexiest males to walk on two legs, when she was an utter mess from the gym and her life was in shambles. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he also happened to have been Paul Mattling’s best friend since kindergarten. She hadn’t seen her ex-boyfriend since she was eighteen and this was
not
how she wanted to be reported about to Paul ten years later.
“Hey, sweetheart,” Danny said, a grin tugging at his full lips as his eyes ran over her. “I’ve been following you from the produce section. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I thought you were in New York.”
“I was.” Eve absentmindedly tried to smooth the wisps of hair escaping her ponytail. How very typical that she should meet Danny when she looked her worst and he was still devastatingly handsome, perhaps more so than she remembered because age suited him. Even in a black t-shirt and jeans, he wore an air of self-confidence in his own attractiveness that left Eve feeling plain. “Things didn’t, um—work out like I planned. I’m back home for the time being.”
Danny ran a hand through his dark hair that was shorter than she remembered. His eyes ran over her appraisingly and Eve wished they wouldn’t because he had her feeling awkward and sixteen again. He was tall and lithe, all hard, cut muscles and tan skin. His mother was Cuban and he inherited all the best her people had to offer. His heritage showed in his full lips, his nicely arched eyebrows and in the smoldering fire of his dark, bedroom eyes.
Life changed nothing. Eve still felt inadequate next to him. She had been a goddess in New York, finally confident in the beauty God had given her, but facing Danny had her feeling like the thin, geeky girl she had convinced herself she was throughout her adolescence. She hated that she was shamefully flattered he had followed her, even though they had once been the best of friends. His handsomeness and raw sexuality left her feeling like she was lucky just to be around him.
“That’s a shame,” he said, his voice rolling like silk off his tongue. “Because it looks like New York suited you. You look fantastic.”
Eve rolled her eyes and laughed self-consciously. “You’re still full of shit.”
He didn’t have a chance to defend himself because she launched herself at him and hugged him. Not because he was beautiful and she wanted an excuse to touch. She had really missed him, more than she ever realized. He had been one of her best friends too once upon a time. She, Danny and Paul had been like the three musketeers from grade school all the way up until they graduated from high school.
She inhaled the alluring scent of cologne mixed with the slight tinge of tobacco clinging to his shirt. His breath was warm on her skin as he buried his face into the curve of her neck, smelling like Cuban coffee and mint. His scent was the best of Tampa and she hated being home a little bit less as she clung to Danny. Cuban coffee, cigars and sexy Latin men, hating Tampa was impossible, even if being back there meant she’d failed at her dash for freedom from an oppressive mother.
“It’s great to see you,” Eve said, her face hurting from smiling so broadly. “I can’t believe you’re still in Tampa.”
He shrugged, an easy, graceful gesture that caused the strong muscles of his arms and chest to shift subtly. “It’s not as exciting as New York, but I like it here. I never felt like leaving.”
“Wow.” Eve floundered under the weight of her shock at seeing him. Danny was like riding a bike, the feelings she had around him were something her body and mind didn’t forget. “Have you seen Paul?”
Eve asked it automatically, because she couldn’t see Danny and not think of Paul. Even if she was horrified at being found when she was at such a low point in her life, a part of her heart that was still just for Paul swelled at the thought of seeing him again.
“Seen him?” Danny laughed, pulling back in shock as if the question was ridiculous. “I live with him. He’s going to freak when I tell him who I ran into.”
Eve’s smile turned nostalgic then, thinking of Paul. She had forgotten her reactions to Danny but Paul she thought of often. Eve would be lying if she said she hadn’t been attracted to Danny but Paul had been so sweet and open about adoring her. Falling in love with him had been easy. She had become a woman with Paul and her heart had never stopped beating for him.
“I miss him.”
“But not me?” Danny asked, feigning hurt.
“I’ve missed both of you,” she admitted. “Walk with me, Danny Boy. My mother is in need of ice cream and there will be hell to pay if I don’t get it.”
Danny shrugged and followed obediently. “So what happened to New York?” “Ugh, what didn’t happen?” Eve groaned, hating to think of New York, but finding
she still had camaraderie with Danny and didn’t mind revealing herself. “The studio I
worked for got shut down for tax evasion and I lost my job. My fiancé left me for my best friend and my dog died.”
Danny winced. “Gosh, I’m sorry.”
“Yeah,” she said, shaking her head sadly. “I really loved that dog.” Danny smirked. “Dog is man’s best friend.”
“And woman’s.”
“You’re not a woman, you’re Evie.” He draped an arm over her shoulders and pulled her close. “You’re one of the guys.”
“If you try to give me a noogie, I’m going to find my ice cream on my own.” Eve tilted her head up to glare at him. “And I got news for you, I am a woman. I got tits and everything.”
He cocked his head, boldly eyeing her cleavage that was more than obvious in the tight spandex top she had worn to work out in. “Yeah, you sure do,” he agreed. “Did you have those in high school?”
“Okay, get off me,” she said, pushing him away and glaring at him. He guffawed loudly. “I’m just teasing. You’ve always had nice tits.” She gave him a droll look. “It’s a wonder you ever get laid.”
“Yet I do,” he said, his arrogant, self-confident smile back. “Frequently and often.” “Frequently and often mean the same thing,” she said dryly as she pulled open one
of the doors to the cooler and randomly picked up a vanilla carton. “Look it up.”
“I’ve missed you. Come over to our place tonight.”
Eve arched an eyebrow at him. “I missed you too, but not quite that much.”
“Ah, no, Evie Girl,” he said, shaking his head and sounding genuine. “Just for dinner. We’ll have a few beers and catch up. It’ll be nice.”
Ordinarily, Eve would try not to be so eager. But hadn’t she just been mentally moaning over her lack of social life and also happened to be in desperate need of an excuse to get out of the house before the women’s meeting?
“Yeah, sure, great,” she said rapidly, reminding herself of sixteen again. She pulled a face of distaste. “But I don’t drink beer.”
Danny pulled back with a wide, dark-eyed stare. “Sure you do.” “My tastes have evolved.”
“Oh well, excuse me, Miss New York,” he said, raising his voice and putting on a mock act of being impressed. “I’m sure we have some wine lying around somewhere.”