I PACE in front of Shawn’s apartment for five minutes before I finally have the courage to knock.
I sent him a text asking if we could talk, and he invited me over for a drink.
It’s dangerous to be here so late in the evening, but the dark sky on the way over gave me the motivation I needed to actually stand here and wait for him to open the door. If it was noon or three in the afternoon, I wouldn’t have dared.
He’s going to tell me I’m out of my mind. That this is a bad idea and something we definitely can’t do.
But if he’s still thinking about that kiss in the supply closet like I am, I think he can be persuaded.
Shawn opens the door a second later, and he smiles when he sees me. “Lace,” he says. “Come in.”
“Thanks,” I say.
I step past him, and as I glide inside, I’m painfully aware of how short my skirt is. The velvet material barely hits the top of my thighs, and, paired with the knee-high boots I have on, I might as well not be wearing any clothes at all. I unzip my jacket and glance at him over my shoulder.
“Let me take that for you,” he says with a hoarse voice, and his eyes dart away from my ass.
He looks like he got caught doing something bad, and I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from grinning as I hand him my coat.
“Appreciate it.” I stroll into his living room and marvel at the floor-to-ceiling windows. “How was your day?”
“Long. I have a busy week. The holiday party is Wednesday night, then we leave for Cleveland on Friday.” He leans against the wall and crosses his arms over his chest. “Want to tell me why you’re here?”
“Can I have a drink?” I ask. I perch on the edge of the sofa and smile at him. I catch his gaze moving down the length of my legs before he nods and heads for the liquor cabinet.
“Whiskey again?”
“Let’s make it bourbon this time. Neat.”
“Sure. You still want three fingers?” he asks, and there’s a low tug in my belly with his question.
I smooth my hands over my skirt and get out the imaginary wrinkles. “Yes, please. I can handle it. Thanks.”
“I’m sure you can.”
Shawn makes our drinks and walks toward me. He hands me a glass and we knock them together. I take a sip and indulge in the sharp sweetness on my tongue. I wonder if it would taste better if he was the one tipping my neck back and pouring the mahogany liquid down my throat. Not stopping until my mouth was full and the liquor trailed down my neck, a mess he’d gladly lick up.
“Delicious,” I say, and I’m stalling for time.
“I know you didn’t come here just for a drink. Not when a beautiful woman like you could go to any bar in town and drink for free,” he says. He sits next to me and drapes one arm over the cushions of the couch, and the other holds his glass. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” I take another sip of my drink and set it down on the table next to me. “I have a proposition for you.”
“Another proposition?” he asks. He lifts his eyebrow and sits forward. His T-shirt stretches across his chest, and I look away from his distracting biceps. “I can’t wait to hear more.”
“Maybe proposition isn’t the right word. Amendment is more accurate. I want to make an amendment to our current arrangement,” I say.
“Well go on, then,” Shawn says, and his voice is a caress against my cheek. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”
Suddenly, I’m not sure this is a good idea after all. I’ve lost my bravado because he’s looking at me, and I’m thrown back to when he took me in his mouth and made me want to jump from the highest cliff into a pool of glittering wonder below.
Three minutes with him, and I nearly tipped over the edge, frustration and longing and tension rising to the surface like an old friend.
Friend.
Shawn is my friend.
A friend who was hard when he was kissing me.
I can do this.
“I want you to fuck me,” I blurt out, and Shawn nearly drops his glass. His eyes widen and his mouth opens like he’s about to interrupt me, but don’t let him. “A one-time thing, to get this attraction to each other out of our systems. I know you were affected by our seven minutes in heaven. I was too. If we just do it once, it’ll scratch that itch. We can go back to not kissing each other and pretend like it never happened.”
He stares at me, then he does the one thing I was not prepared for: he laughs.
Shawn throws his head back and his shoulders shake. He clutches his chest and tries to catch his breath. I frown as his deep and rumbly laughter rings in my ears.
“What’s so funny?” I ask.
He sets down his drink. “You want us to fuck?”
“That’s what I said, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, but I’m trying to understand why.”
“Because I’m not the only one who liked that kiss, Shawn. I thought about it all night last night when I got home from the game. I replayed it when I used my vibrator this morning,” I say, and he lets out a strangled sound.
Good. I want him to suffer. My toy wasn’t nearly as good as his fingers would be, and I’ve been daydreaming about how deep he’d be able to get all afternoon.
“I’ll admit the kiss was good,” he says, and his laughter stops. “Better than good. You’re hot as shit, Lacey. And, in the spirit of transparency, I thought about you when I jerked off in the shower last night,” he adds, and the tips of his ears turn red. “But hooking up with each other could complicate things. Didn’t we agree to not be physical? Fucking goes against that plan.”
“We did, but that was before we realized the chemistry between us. You’ve seen my boob, Shawn. What’s a little more?” I ask, and I hate how desperate I sound.
Shawn rubs his hands together. His eyes bounce away from my face and his attention catches on the low-cut sweater I tugged on before I left my apartment. It’s cruel to tease him like this, I know. But I’m a woman with needs, and he’s the only one who I want to fulfill them.
“Just once?” he asks slowly, like he’s trying to process what I’ve asked and is seriously considering going along with the idea.
“Just once. We have one good night, and then tomorrow it’s like nothing happened,” I say.
“You want me to finger you and then pretend like it never happened?”
I swallow and play with the zipper on my boot. “Yes.”
“You want to say my name when you come and then pretend like it never happened?”
“Mhm. That’s exactly right.”
“You want me to taste your pussy then sit down next to you at Maggie and Aiden’s house for dinner and pretend like it never happened?” Shawn asks, and I nod.
“Yup. We’re adults. We’ve both had one-night stands before. What makes this any different?”
“Because we’re best friends who constantly orbit in each other’s vicinity,” he says. “We’re going to see each other on holidays for the next forty years. What if it’s awkward?”
“You saw my boob, Shawn,” I say again. “I touched your dick. But here we are, having a conversation like it’s no big deal.”
He runs his hand through his hair and leans forward. “If we do this, we don’t tell anyone,” he says. “Not Maggie. Not Aiden. No one. It’s just between us.”
“Fine,” I agree.
“One time. That’s it.”
“That’s what I said.”
“We stop if anything feels weird,” he says.
“Define weird,” I ask, and he levels me with a look.
“Like when I tell you to sit on my face and you start to giggle,” Shawn answers. “That means it feels weird.”
Oh.
I squeeze my thighs together.
I do want to sit on his face. There’s nothing weird about that.
“Okay,” I say, and my voice is barely above a whisper. “That’s fair.”
He throws back the rest of his drink and wipes his mouth. “We’re going to do this my way.”
“And what way is that? A quick fuck, then you send me home?” I ask.
Shawn shakes his head. He moves across the couch and lifts me into his lap. His fingers graze up my thigh, and I think I’m going to die. I can feel him hard beneath me, and his cock presses into the curve of my ass.
“No, Lacey girl,” he whispers in my ear. He brushes my hair to the side and drags his teeth down my neck. I let out a shallow breath and close my eyes. “If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it right. I’m going to take my time. I’m going to savor you. I’m going to have you every way I want, and fuck, do I want you.” He folds his palm around my leg, and he spreads my thighs apart with a gentle shove. “Open up. Let me see how bad you want me to slide my fingers inside your pretty cunt.”
Oh, hell.
My knees open, and I relax against him. I feel my heart race in my chest, and I’ve never been so turned on in my life.
This man knows what he’s doing. He’s someone who knows how to please and what gets a woman off. There’s not a selfish bone in his body, and that’s going to spill over into the bedroom, too.
I just know it.
“Shawn,” I say, and I tremble against him.
“Last chance to back out, Lacey,” he says. He kisses my ear, and his fingers tap against the inside of my thigh. “Because once you tell me yes, I’m going to make sure no man is ever good enough for you again.”
“Yes. Yes. Yes, Shawn,” I say. I think I might shout it. I might scream it a hundred different ways because he hums at my enthusiasm.
“You thought you could come over here in this outfit of yours and get me to do what you want, didn’t you?” Shawn pulls the left side of my sweater down, and cold air bites against my bare skin. “Would you have gotten on your knees for me, Lacey?”
“Not before you got on yours first.”
He chuckles and works the strap of my bra down. My nipples are already hard, and my back arches as his touch moves across my body.
“Fuck,” he whispers, and he tugs on the other side of my sweater. He unhooks my bra, and my breasts spill free. “Your tits are incredible. I want to suck on them. I want to come on them, too. Would you let me do that?”
“You can do whatever you want to me,” I say, and I mean it. “Anything. Everything.”
