Destroy You (Destroy #3) (5 page)

A few more seconds and I was going to beg him to move his hand higher. I had to put a stop to his roaming digits before I crawled into his lap and helped myself to what he was offering. I grabbed his hand, and he laced our fingers together.

He leaned over and whispered in my ear. “Watch a movie with me tomorrow night.”

I knew I should say no. There was a palpable attraction between us, and the odds we’d remain “just friends” were nil. The last thing I needed in my life right now was more complications, but I craved more time with him.

“I really want to spend time with you alone,” he continued.

I licked my bottom lip. “I don’t think we can behave ourselves.”

He traced the edge of my jaw with his finger. “Take a chance, Toni.”

Unable to speak, I nodded.

“Can I pick you up, or would you rather meet me at my place?” he asked.

“I’d rather meet you. Where do you live?”

“Above my bar.”

My eyebrow rose. “Your bar?”

“Tomorrow night we’ll talk and get to know each other better.”

“How much better?” I asked.

“That depends on you.”

“I guess we’ll just have to see how it goes.”

He flicked his lip ring with his tongue, and his eyes darkened. “Good, because this isn’t over.”

Chapter 4

Trent

Aside from Trinity occasionally crashing on my futon/couch and Melody stopping in once in a while before work, I rarely ever had anyone over to my apartment. I hadn’t even thought about which day of the week it was when I’d asked Toni to come over for a movie. Luckily, the bar was closed on Sunday, so I didn’t have to worry about getting someone to cover for me.

After being out late the night before with Toni, Jeremy, and Melody, I woke up after noon and had to face the miserable state of my apartment. For weeks I’d been working almost constantly and sleeping when I wasn’t attending to business in the bar. As a result, I had takeout containers piled on the counter, dirty clothes scattered around the floor, and probably an inch worth of dust on the surfaces.

I ran around picking up trash and gathering my laundry to put in the washer downstairs in the storage room. I typically only washed clothes on Sundays when my staff wasn’t around and the machines weren’t needed to wash bar rags and towels. For the next few hours, I scrubbed my entire apartment, did some grocery shopping, and went through my entire closet, but I ended up wearing jeans and a T-shirt like I always did. I checked my watch to see if it was time for her to arrive and then realized I’d never told her when to show up.

I picked my phone up off the table in front of me to call her. Once it was ringing, my mind started to race with incessant thoughts. I didn’t want her to know how nervous I was or how big a deal I was making out of her coming over.

There was no way she could know I’d never invited a woman to my place before. And she certainly didn’t need to know I never spent time with a woman I wasn’t fucking, and then the effort I put into the interaction was only a few words across the bar at the end of the night before going back to her place. I’d hated her insistence that we just be friends, but until I knew where my head was at, she was probably right.

Toni finally answered after several rings. “Hello?”

“Hey, Wildcat. Last night I forgot to discuss what time we were getting together.”

“Well, I’m ready now, so anytime works for me. I’ll admit I was starting to wonder if you were serious about having me over when I realized you never mentioned a time.”

“Yeah, I guess I was a bit excited you agreed, so the details escaped me.”

“Why does it sound like you’re embarrassed to admit that?”

My nickname for her fit perfectly. I could already tell she wasn’t going to let me slide by with my usual bullshit. “I haven’t actually dated very much. I’m twenty-four and clueless when it comes to keeping a female’s attention for longer than a few hours.” I bit my tongue and reminded myself I wasn’t going to tell her all the dirty details about my past.

“Lucky for you this isn’t a date,” she quipped.

“Whatever this is, I’m pretty sure I’ve never done it.”

“That makes two of us. So did you decide what time you wanted me to come?”

I chuckled. “There are a couple of ways I can answer that, but I’m trying to behave myself. Now…I want you now. I mean…I’d like you to come now. Shit, just head over here as soon as you can.”

She laughed; at least my awkwardness amused her. “This is going to be a very strange friendship. I’ll be there shortly,” she said and hung up.

I paced the length of my living room in front of the window that overlooked the street. Fifteen minutes later, I watched her parallel park in front of the bar and walk around the building. When I heard her climbing the metal staircase to my outside entrance, I rushed to the door, opened it, and stood in the entrance before she reached the top.

When she was right next to me, she slowly looked up at me and smiled. In that second I knew she owned me. I was no longer confused about where my head was when it came to Toni. I wanted to be with her in whatever way I could. If all she would offer me was her friendship, I’d take it, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t try to blur the lines a little.

“Come in. Let me give you the tour,” I said and placed my hand on her lower back before guiding her inside. Her body brushed lightly against mine, and her breath caught. Our eyes met, and I noticed her pupils were dilated. Toni claimed to be interested only in having a friendship with me, but her body was saying something else.

“It’s a short tour. This is my living room.” I gestured to the room we entered and shrugged. “I’ve got typical bachelor-pad furniture.” The room consisted of a futon, a wall-mounted flat-screen television, and a thrift-store coffee table and entertainment center.

Toni placed her hand on my bicep and turned me to look at her. “It’s nice, Trent, and really clean. I kinda expected empty takeout containers and laundry piled in the corner.”

I bit my lip to hold back a laugh. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do next. Usually, after I’d spent this much time alone with a woman, one or both of us would already be naked. We stood awkwardly in the living room, each of us waiting for the other to break the silence.

“Ready to go to the store?” I asked.

She sighed and twirled a lock of her hair. “Is this strange for you, too?”

I rubbed my hand across the top of my head for a second. “Only because I really want to touch you, and I know that’s against the rules. I’m fighting against all of my instincts with you, and it’s killing my game.”

Toni took a couple of steps until our chests were pressed together. She wrapped her arms around my waist, and I put my arms around her and held her tight against me. She tilted her head back so she could look at my face. “Let’s not put any rules on us, and as far as your
game
...just don’t try to play me.”

“I like the sound of that. Let’s go get a movie.”

***

The trip to the store only took around an hour. I wanted to make us dinner, but I also wanted to take advantage of our no-rules movie night and ended up suggesting Chinese takeout so my hands could be free if she seemed receptive to more than a friendly movie night. Choosing a movie was more difficult since Toni kept suggesting action movies that would not entice her to hide her face in my chest, and I countered with horror movies that would. Eventually, we settled on a drama. It was kind of cheating on my part, because I’d overheard Melody telling one of the waitresses how hot the movie got her after she saw it.

Back inside my apartment, Toni set out the takeout on my coffee table while I popped the disc into my Blu-ray player. I sat down next to her, and we ate in companionable silence during the first twenty or so minutes of the movie. When Toni pushed away her container, I paused it and cleared the leftovers away.

Toni sat stiffly at the end of the futon when I rejoined her. The way she kept looking at me out of the corner of her eye told me that she wanted to get closer but she wasn’t going to make the first move. I propped some pillows against the wooden arm so I could take advantage of the entire length of the futon, then I grabbed her arm and pulled her down in front of me.

I tried to be good, but the way her ass fit against my groin had me aroused, and I’m sure she could tell. Her breathing became shallow, and I was struggling to control mine as well.

A lock of dark hair fell into her face, and I tucked it behind her ear. It was soft and smelled like coconut. I continued to run my fingers through her hair, allowing them to graze down her neck and across her shoulder with each pass through the silken strands. Toni shivered, and I gave in, pushing all of her hair aside and letting my lips follow the same path my finger just had.

I’d decided to take things slow with Toni, but my blood supply was rapidly leaving my brain, and I was struggling to recall why we needed to take our time getting to know each other. I wanted her, and I knew I wasn’t going to stop wanting her even after I’d had her beneath me.

She was so much smaller than me that when I leaned forward, my mouth was able to reach her collarbone. I kissed along the ridge and let my tongue flick the hollow space at the base of her neck. She let out a low moan and pressed herself against my aching cock. Toni rolled her body over me until I was about to explode. I hadn’t come like that since I was a teenager, and I wasn’t going to embarrass myself now.

I sat up quickly and pulled her to straddle my lap. Our mouths crashed together, and we continued to rock against each other. The friction was enough to be frustrating, but not enough to get the job done. Besides, I wanted to see the look on her face when I sent her over the edge. She wasn’t ready to have sex with me, and I respected that, but that didn’t mean there weren’t other ways I could make her feel good.

I moved her next to me and quickly turned her around to lean over the back of the futon. I placed her hands on the top and held them there until she understood I wanted her to stay still. I kept expecting her to stop me, but she was as worked up as I was if her ragged breathing was any indication.

With quick fingers, I unbuttoned her jeans and slid my hand inside her panties. I stroked her over and over until she was riding my fingers, trying to get closer to release. I fisted my free hand in her hair and moved her face until I could reach her mouth with mine, then kissed her hard and fast the way I wanted to take her. When she began to moan against my mouth, I deepened the kiss and thrust two fingers inside of her, driving her higher and higher.

She shouted at the same time she contracted around my fingers. I slowed down my kiss and touch until the last of her orgasm pulsed through her body. When I removed my hand, she slumped forward to rest her chest on the cushion.

I tried to pull her to my side and settle back down to watch the rest of the movie, but my jeans had become painfully tight. It didn’t help that Toni’s gaze landed on the obvious bulge I was trying to hide. Her tiny hand stroked me on top of my zipper, and I groaned and tried to stop the tortuous movement.

“Please, let me,” she whispered.

I let go of her hand. How was I supposed to deny her? Of course I wanted her to touch me, but I didn’t want her to think she had to. “I don’t expect anything in return, Wildcat.”

She smirked. “That’s exactly why I want to.”

Toni worked off my belt and unbuttoned my fly. I hissed when she moved her hand inside my jeans and stroked me slowly and awkwardly at first, but the fact it was her touch nearly set me off before she’d established a rhythm. Quickly, she became bolder and more confident, and my eyes rolled back into my head.

I started to thrust into her hand, and that made her wild. She kissed me the way I’d kissed her earlier, and I couldn’t control the grunts and moans escaping my mouth. The fact they seemed to excite her made me quit trying.

When I felt the familiar heat race up my spine, I tried to warn her to pull her hand away, but she shook her head and picked up the pace instead. I practically roared as my release blasted through me.

I think I blacked out for a second, because the next thing I knew, we were slanted to the side and I was slumped on top of Toni. My gaze landed on hers, and she started to giggle. Not exactly the sound I wanted to hear most, and I gave her a questioning look.

“Um, I think we broke your futon,” she said, still laughing.

That explained why we were tilted at an odd angle. It only took a second before I joined her in laughing at how out of control we’d gotten. “I was thinking about getting a real couch anyway.”

I dropped my arm around her shoulders and pulled her into my side. Cuddling was new to me, but I wasn’t ready to let her go just yet. She began to relax until there was a loud knock at the door.

She pulled away from me and started to straighten her clothes. “Are you expecting someone?”

I shook my head. “Don’t go. Whoever it is, I’ll send them away.” I stood up and made sure my pants were buttoned and zipped before I opened the door.

I should have pretended I wasn’t home. “What are you doing here, Trinity?” I snapped.

“Don’t be an asshole. I thought I had a place to stay, but it fell through. I just need your futon, unless you want to share your bed.”

Toni stood up and started gathering her things. “It’s late,” she said without looking at me.

I groaned. “I don’t want you to go, but I can’t just send her away.” I laced my fingers behind my head and fought the urge to break things.

She blinked several times before shaking her head. “I can’t. This—” she gestured back and forth between Trinity and us, “—isn’t what I expected. I…I need time to think.”

“I hate the sound of that. She needs me, what am I supposed to do?”

Toni came up to me and kissed my cheek. “You’re supposed to do exactly what you’re doing. Don’t worry about it. We’re friends, right?”

Fuck. Thanks to Trinity, I’d been friend-zoned. “Toni, this isn’t over.”

She smiled. “Nah, it’s just to be continued.”