Opposites Attract (The Locklaine Boys Book 2) (24 page)

When he finally uncovered my mouth, neither of us spoke a word. I remained silent as he yanked my panties down and whipped my bra off in quick, jerky motions. Panic began to take hold when he still hadn’t spoken as he slid a condom on. It seemed like it took no time at all to get us both completely naked. He buried himself inside of me with one powerful thrust, causing me to cry out as he stretched my body to accommodate him.

“I like you too, baby,” he panted as he began fucking me like a mad man, every pump of his hips pushing me deeper and deeper into the mattress. “I like you a whole fucking lot.” My chest warmed at the same time he hit that one spot inside me that threated to send me hurtling into a toe-curling release.

“Richard,” I breathed, my nails digging into the soft skin of his shoulders. Unable to remain still, I began lifting my hips, meeting him thrust for thrust.

“I can’t tell you where this is going, because I don’t know yet. Like you said, it’s still new. But I’m really fucking happy with how it’s been, and I don’t want that to change.”

He buried himself deep and began grinding, rubbing my clit with the perfect amount of pleasure.

“And I don’t want a goddamned Victoria’s Secret model,” he said on a growl. “I want you. All your gorgeous curves and that snort and the way you blush. Fuck that turns me on more than anything, baby.”

“Oh, God. I’m close. So close, Rich, don’t stop.” Each word out of his mouth just pushed me nearer and nearer to the edge. I was hanging by a thread as he pulled nearly all the way out before shoving back in, so hard it was almost painful. But that little bite of pain was enough to send me over. “Oh, oh,
oh! Yes! Fuck yes!
” I shouted as I came harder than I ever thought possible.

Blurry spots danced behind my eyelids as I threw my head back, every muscle in my body locking up with pleasure as he continued to power in and out, prolonging my orgasm. Seconds later, I felt him swell impossibly bigger before barking out my name in a fierce yell. His release spurred another one deep inside of me, and by the time I was able to see clearly again, every one of my bones had turned into Jell-O.

“Fuck,” he wheezed, collapsing on top of me. “Holy shit, Delilah.”

I ran my hands along his sweat-slicked spine. “Yeah.” It was the only word I was able to form after what he’d just done to me. I was pretty sure my brain had melted with pleasure.

His body shook mine as he let out a chuckle and lifted up on his forearms. With his index finger, he pushed my glasses back up the bridge of my nose and smiled down at me. “Tell me that works for you,” he said.

It took my sex-addled brain a few seconds to catch on to what he was saying, but once it did, I nodded with a small, blissed-out smile. Because it
did
work for me. At least for now. We were still new, but what we’d been doing so far had been really good. Knowing he didn’t want to lose that was enough to put all of my concerns to rest for the time being. Knowing he felt the same way about me gave me the comfort I needed to actually sit back and enjoy my time with him without overanalyzing every little thing.

“Yeah,” I finally managed to whisper, reaching up to brush a lock of hair off of his forehead. “That works for me.”

“Good,” he sighed, lowering himself back down, his arms wrapping tightly around my waist as he rested his head against my chest. It was the most intimate position I’d ever been in. “Oh, and don’t make any plans for Wednesday evening.”

I ran my fingers through his hair and asked, “Why not?”

He looked up at me, his eyes glowing as he smiled. “Because I’m taking you on a proper date, baby.”

My lips tipped up in a matching grin as he moved to give me a small kiss.

Yeah,
I thought as I kissed him back,
this totally works for me.

ALL I’D BEEN ABLE
to think about for the past two days was what Delilah had said to me Sunday night. I’d had a sour taste in my stomach ever since.

Not because I lied about how I felt about her, I’d told her the God’s honest truth. And not because she’d scared me off or was moving too fast. But I was suddenly questioning what I was capable of giving a woman in a relationship.

After Bree, I never had any intention of getting into anything serious again. I hadn’t expected someone like Delilah to cross my path, and I certainly hadn’t expected to care for her the way I did. But was I really looking for another long-term commitment? Was that something I was ready for?

I just didn’t know.

All I knew was that I wanted her. I felt good when I was around her, and I didn’t want that feeling to go away. It was like I had a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other. The angel was telling me I was a selfish prick, that it was wrong of me to want to keep things exactly as they were with no promises of anything further than the present. The devil was telling me there was nothing wrong with wanting to take things one day at a time and that Delilah must have felt the same since she’d so readily agreed that what we were doing was enough.

I knew I was being unfair, but at the same time I couldn’t make myself let her go. But I couldn’t promise more than I was able to give. And things were still so new, so fresh, that I couldn’t possibly know what the future held.

Or at least that’s what I tried to reason.

“Hello? Earth to Richard. Paging Richard, there’s a stripper-gram at the front desk for you.”

That snatched me out of my thoughts and into the present. I gave my head a shake and looked up at where Devon stood, just a few feet into my office.

“Thought that might get your attention,” she smirked. “Where the hell did you zone off to? I’ve been standing here saying your name for two minutes. You’re lucky you snapped out of it or I’d have had to try the stapler to your forehead to bring you back to reality.”

“Your affinity for violence it truly terrifying,” I said flatly.

“Meh,” she waved me off like it as nothing, “As long as you stay on my good side, you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

“You know my cousin’s a cop, right?” I just felt the need to point that out to her, just in case.

Her smile was a little frightening. “Yeah, but Pepper likes me more than you. So, what were you thinking so hard about?”

“Nothing,” I muttered, turning back to my computer screen. While Devon was the one link I had to Delilah, the one person who could help me get inside her head and really figure out what it was she wanted, I couldn’t risk her wrath. She was right when she said I needed her on my side. I wasn’t sure if there was anyone else in Delilah’s life whose opinion she respected more than Devon’s, and on the off chance I did something to epically fuck up what we had — which wasn’t all that unbelievable, seeing as I was a man and men were prone to epic fuckups — I needed to have an advocate in my corner to help get me back in Delilah’s good graces. “Was there something you needed or were you just coming in to give me your daily dose of shit?”

Her head jerked back as she snorted. “Wow, someone’s panties are in a real twist this morning. Now, I
know
it’s not due to lack of sex, because our building is sorely under insulated, so you want to tell me what’s really going on, or would you rather stick with the grumpy attitude and risk me slipping something into your coffee that’ll make your partner meeting later today
way
more interesting?”

So many things about what she’d just said struck me wrong, but one thing stayed at the forefront of my mind. “You’d really slip something into my coffee?”

“Wouldn’t be the first time.” Okay, I was officially more than just
a little
scared of my new assistant. “I got in the habit of keeping Ex-Lax in my desk at my old job for whenever the guy pissed me off, which was pretty often. Poor guy started to flip out and actually went to see a doctor about it.”

“You do know I’m never drinking a cup of coffee you bring me ever again.”

“Hey, you play nice, and I’ll play nice. That’s all I ask in this working relationship.”

I stared at her in amazement. I wasn’t sure whether or not to call security to escort her out or express my appreciation at her creativity. I was leaning more toward the former at the moment. “How is it possible that you and Delilah are best friends?”

Deciding this was a conversation that was going to last more than just a few seconds, she came the rest of the way into my office and sat down across from me. “Just like any great relationship, we balance each other out. She’s the sweet to my salty, the PB to my J, the—”

“I’m getting the point.”

“What I’m getting at, is that we’re each other’s perfect counterparts. She keeps me from doing things that could possibly lead to extended jail time, and I get her drunk and drag her out to find a random guy for sexy debauchery so she doesn’t end up adopting a million cats and crocheting her own clothes. Oh, you’re welcome for that, by the way.”

I was seriously regretting opening myself up to a conversation with this woman. She was a brilliant assistant, a good friend to Delilah, and a halfway decent neighbor, but the chick was a total fucking nutter. I pinched the bridge of my nose to try and ward off the headache I felt coming. “You know what? I’m sorry I even asked.”

She stood from the chair and rapped her knuckles on my desk. “Well, good talk. We’ll have to do this again soon.”

She started for the door and that was when I realized she hadn’t actually said why she’d come in in the first place. “Wait, was there something you needed?”

“Oh, I just wanted to let you know your mom called… for the third time. With the wedding getting closer, I guess she’s going into Momzilla mode and wanted to pour all her irrational mother-of-the-groom woes on your shoulders. She said something about you being the good son so I guess you’re the whipping boy for this one. You know how mom’s get when it comes to weddings and grandbabies.”

“Fuck me,” I groaned. “What did you tell her?”

She smiled proudly. “That you were in a mediation scheduled to last the duration of the week. You’re welcome for that, too.”

Damn it, if she kept going at this rate, I was going to
have
to give her a raise. “Thank you.”

“No problem. And don’t worry. I’m keeping a running tally of every time you owe me one. I’ll collect one of these days.”

She turned to go again when something else dawned on me. “Devon, can I get you to do me a personal favor?”

She quirked an eyebrow, clearly planning on giving me shit. “Depends on what it is and what I’ll get out of it.” And I was right.

“I’m taking Delilah on a date tomorrow night. Could you call and make a reservation at Delicieux?” It was the hottest French restaurant in Manhattan. I thought it would have been a perfect place for the official first date you took a woman who you’d already fucked every way but sideways on. Devon’s next words let me know I’d obviously thought wrong.

“You’re kidding, right?”

“What?” I asked, suddenly feeling very inferior. “What’s wrong with that place? It’s a Michelin starred restaurant. One of the finest in the city!” I argued.

She turned to face me fully and put her hands on her hips. “And what about Delilah makes you think that’s what she’s into?”

“But—”

Devon interrupted. “It’s a nice thought, Rich, really. But Delilah isn’t that kind of girl. She doesn’t need frills and expensive dinners. She’s low-key. She’d only feel out of place somewhere like Delicieux. You don’t have to lay out a butt-load of cash to impress her. You just have to be genuine.”

My elbows hit my desk and I propped my forehead in my palms and began massaging my temples. “Then what do you suggest?”

“I’ll make you guys a reservation at Taj. She loves that place.”

“The Indian restaurant where you sit on the floor and eat with your hands?” I couldn’t hold back the disbelief in my voice or stop my lip from curling up. That so wasn’t what I wanted for our first date. Suddenly I’d gone from an acclaimed five-star restaurant where the chef had won a James Beard award, to sitting on the ground with no utensils.

“Sometimes you have to step out of your comfort zone for the people you care about. Taj has killer food and a laid back atmosphere. Not only does she love the place, but she’ll be comfortable there and you’ll get the
real
Delilah. Not some stiff version who’s watching everything she says so she doesn’t embarrass you.”