Willows, Jennifer - Lust for Life [The Moreland Brothers 2] (Siren Publishing Allure) (26 page)

“I’m gonna miss that big dick, that’s for sure.” Charli smiled at him.

“So that’s all huh?”

“Well... maybe your cooking, too.”

“Hmm, that doesn’t sound like much to me. I guess that means that you’re not getting a souvenir when I come back.” He was headed to New York for
a meeting with a real estate agent for a property his company needed to expand their offices.

Charli watched him leave and missed him as soon as the door sealed his exit. That night he called her as she lay in bed, room dark and empty, and they made the most incredible
love she ever had imagined by phone. He described details so vividly she could taste his sweat on her lips when he was done with her.

“Charli I need to eat you, will you let me? Spread open your chocolate thighs and lick every inch of you, until you beg me for more. I love the way you feel around me after I’ve eaten you. Your pussy is so moist and supple… it sucks at my cock like a mouth.”

Charli couldn’t respond. Her mind wasn’t working right. She could only listen and hear.

“Such good pussy, you don’t know how good, and I can’t even describe it. There are no words that explain it. It’s like nirvana, and I can’t get enough of you. Like chocolate-dipped heaven on a stick. When I see you, I’m hard, ready to give you all the cock I own, just to feel you.”

Charli’s only words were gibberish and scattered half sentences left her lips.

“Yeah, baby...please...it’s sooo...” She lost sense of what she was saying, just that she missed him, wanted him. “Deven . . .”

“Yeah, pixie, I’m here. Nowhere to go but in you, baby. You love when we fuck, and you respond so perfectly. That’s why we do so frequently. Should have made you come with me. Could be inside you right now until we wake for breakfast. When we sleep like that I can feel you milk me while you sleep. I’ve had you come like that and bring me with you. Shit! I could come right now, and I’m not even touching myself.” Charli heard his breath, choppy and harsh. “I love the way you throw yourself into lovemaking. You take my breath away.”

Her response was a pitiful moan, as if the pleasure confused her. Charli lay on her side, curled in a ball, her womb clenching. She had come just that fast, and embarrassment at how easily he topped her made her hang up the phone. It rang immediately, and she answered, still panting.

“Hmmm.” Charli heard his satisfaction through the handset. “Scared you that bad, baby, you hung up on me? You know there’s something here. Otherwise you wouldn’t run scared from phone
sex. And you left me unsatisfied. I plan on getting my due when I get home.”

“Deven, kiss my ass!” Charli wasn’t going to play head games with him.

“You know I will, Charli. It’s my pleasure to kiss and taste every inch of you.”

Charli sucked a breath in through her teeth. “Deven, you need to get your head on straight.”

“It is. Maybe you need to check yours.” But with all of their bickering, Charli yawned, and when he hung up, she went right to sleep without any problems.

The hundreds of miles separating them that night were nothing. She never even touched her clit that night, his words and her clenched thighs enough to send her over. Even now the memory made her ache, and her unfilled walls were left to spasm around empty air. Charli hurt inside, need beat at her that strongly.

Charli tossed the toy she was attempting to use to the side of the couch and cut the movie off. Fuck it. She had a half pint of ice cream in the back of the freezer. It had been there so long it probably tasted burnt, but it was better than nothing. But when she opened the fridge, the cake looked so tempting she dug out the plate and cut a large slice. She sat on the floor and mashed at the wedge with a fork. It was good, but tasted like Deven, and she didn’t know why. The same flavors were there, but she could smell him amidst everything else in the cake. Her head leaned against the fridge as she nibbled the fat slice and licked the crumbs from the plate. The taste left her warm inside as well as provided a sense of comfort, and she washed her hands and went to bed.

She couldn’t sleep. Every time her eyes closed, her mind would go on replay with vignettes of her and Deven. The few moments she did sleep were filled with dreams of him. At one sleep-deprived moment, she thought he was next to her, could feel him in her bed.

Sunday morning, Charli cleaned her house again. There wasn’t much to do inside her place, so she started the apartment’s common foyer and the patio. She power washed the concrete after scrubbing liberally with vinegar and a stiff brush. Exhausted, Charli took a moment to breathe then jumped into washing the chairs and table off. She didn’t think she had time to wash the exterior of the house today, but she could go look for decorations for the restaurant. She texted Makenzie, and her friend agreed to meet her at one to peruse for some touches for the bathrooms and the dining areas.

When Charli began running a bath, the doorbell rang. It was too early for it to be Mak for the shopping trip. But she opened the door, and there was a huge bundle of flowers and a card on the front step. The deliverer was nowhere in sight. Carrying the large floral arrangement inside, she sat down to read the attached card. As she looked the note over, Charli laughed. The card said,

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

Charlene, I am the man for you

Deven was definitely not a poet. But she smiled and, remembering the bath she left running unattended, ran back. Thankfully, while she was distracted, the water hadn’t run over. When she finished bathing and got ready to dress, Charli pulled out a pair of jeans, but they fit funny, so she changed into a jogging suit instead. It was white velour, fitting loose at the bottom with a small, tight jacket up top. She brushed her bob into a side part and completed her outfit with gold bamboo hoops and a gold ballet flat. She was going to do some walking and needed to be as comfortable as possible. By the time she started changing her purse, she heard Makenzie walk inside the front door.

When she came into the living room, Mak was reading the card and touching the flowers.

“Like the flowers, Charli. They are beautiful. He’s no Langston Hughes though.”

“Yeah, I had the same thought myself.”

Charli ended up splitting the large bunch of gladiolus into three smaller vases and scattered them in the living room. The bright color added something to the room that she didn’t even know was lacking. The irony wasn’t lost on her how Deven added color to her life, just as much as the flowers had.

* * * *

Deven had delivered the flowers himself on Sunday, even though he took care to make sure that Charli didn’t realize it. He wanted to see her reaction, so he took a chance by ringing the bell and running. Just like a kid would for a nasty prank. He was just across the yard, behind one of the large trees shading the porch.

Deven left before Makenzie pulled in. She would have recognized the car up the street, as she had very intimate knowledge of the Challenger. So when he was coming down the street and saw her turn in the drive, he knew he caught a lucky break.

It was now Friday and an entire week had gone by since Charli gave Deven back his keys. He hadn’t come in as many days, not even by his own hand. In his dreams either his unborn children begged him to get their mother back or his woman teased him to a fever pitch of erotic madness. Deven most nights slept poorly on his couch, and every morning afterwards took his anger out the people around him. He felt snippy and short-tempered, but he couldn’t muster the need to care about anyone else. His secretary had called off for the last three days, after he’d snapped at her Tuesday morning, and from the look of things he was going to have to grovel to get her to come back to work.

Tiara was one of the wonders of the world and his office ran terribly without her. Deven was so bad off that he ended up taking the notes for the finished Yakima merger to a meeting with the professors of the in-progress school on Wednesday. That night he cornered Makenzie out of frustration and begged her to tell him the details he was lacking. He knew he was wrong for asking, but he had to know what he was facing to get Charlene back. What he learned that night made him fall in love even more with his woman even as he hurt for her. But it wasn’t until late Friday afternoon he overheard a small group of employees talking about his temper that he knew he needed to get control of the situation. They called him some unflattering names, among them
dickhead
and
asshole
, all of which were most likely deserved. He couldn’t give Charli any more patience. He left work for the day and packed up a couple of days’ clothing, it was time for an intervention.

Deven pulled in front of Charli’s house at seven p.m. on Friday night, attempting to keep his face stern, showing that he meant business, and walked to the door. He rapped on the wood frame, and the door opened slowly. She stood before him in a silken kimono robe, bright-shimmering-red matching her damp lids and nose. Charli just blinked and wide eyed, looked at him with her doe eyes. This was not going how he planned it.

“Let me in, baby.” Charli stepped backward and put her hand out, touching his arm. At the contact, he lost it. All his good intentions of a having logical and necessary conversation went out of the window. They could talk with their mouths later. He was going to speak with his body for now. Deven unbuckled his pants, toed off his shoes. He went slowly, giving her time to run or ask him to stop, if that was what she wanted. But the look in her eyes said she knew it was futile, and Deven saw the nervous glint held within her gaze. He stripped his shirt next, one button at a time. When he finished undressing, if Charli wasn’t ready, it was too bad. Apparently she was in need as well and he watched her eyes grow hungry and dark with lust at his disrobing.

 
Good, Deven thought, at least he wasn’t the only one in need. When he finished undressing, he leaned her against the open door way and after he arranged her hips to his liking, thrust home. The stroke was so violent, even he winced. Charli took the anger and turned it back on him, throwing her hips at his. Each stroke was too much to take, and she screamed hoarsely, unable to handle the fierce pistoning.

When he saw it was too intense for the both of them, he reined in his hunger and slowed down. They were still in the open doorway, and when he looked over, a couple walking their dog on the sidewalk stopped and looked nervously at the front of the house as if trying to discern if there was a real problem. From where they were positioned, one couldn’t see much, but that didn’t matter. There was a quite a bit to hear. From the noise level they made it probably sounded like she was being raped, as loud as she was calling God to help her. But Charli looked over at the neighbors trying to catch a good peek, and smiling at Deven, begged for more.

“Please, Deven, give it to me.”

 
He pulled her to the floor, nudging the door shut with his foot and gave her what they both craved. He tugged the robe open and pinched her nipples.

Deven saw her wince and roughly said, “Sorry, baby, I need you so much.” He did.

“It’s okay. I missed you, too.” Their lovemaking was raw, and no quarter was given. Each thrust slapped slick hips, and the sounds made music.

“You coming for me, pixie?” He was too close to hold back much longer and too many short nights filled with dreams of her made him feel like a minuteman. He’d been dreaming of doing this with her for a hundred and seventy hours, give or take. But he would bet every asset he owned she wouldn’t complain about it when she woke in the afternoon. He didn’t plan on either of them falling asleep until dawn.

* * * *

“Yessss...” Charli was coming, right then and there. She clenched any part of him she could, a vain attempt to hold on to a shred of sanity as she lost control of her stuttered and jerking body. Deven lasted no longer than she did as he followed her over the peak, groaning her name.

No sooner than he came, Charli smacked Deven in the arm. “Why do think you can...”