Because of Ellison

  Because I wasn’t …

  I was going to take my time memorizing every inch of her body. If there was something to be seen, I was going to see it — and if my mouth could go there, she was going to feel my kiss. I didn’t know if this was the only shot I had to be with her and I wasn’t going to move it along any faster than I had to.

  I pulled her up off the ground just enough so I could reach behind her and release the strings of her bikini. Tossing her top aside, I looked back to see that the thin beads of her necklace were laid out beautifully between her breasts — and they were absolutely fantastic breasts.

  Finally — fucking f-i-n-a-l-l-y — I was able to take the tip of her breast into my mouth and when the salt of her skin met my tongue, I almost lost it right there. She arched her chest up when my tongue smoothed over the tight peak and my hand went beneath her so I could hold her to tight to my mouth. I worked on one breast for what felt like forever before I moved over to start on the other. The sound of her little mewls, gasps and moans was driving the blood through my veins even faster and it felt like I would explode at any second. I bit down into the sensitive skin of her breast and her fingers found my hair, wrapping into it so tightly, it pulled at my skull adding a delightful element of pain to the intense pleasure that was consuming me.

  “Fuck. Oh god. Hunter, I need … I need … ”

  It was all she had to say. I knew what she ‘needed’ and I was going to deliver.

  My mouth released her breast and I worked my way down, kissing along the curve of her stomach, making sure to tickle her over the belly button before pushing myself up over her. The bottom to her suit was tied at the sides and all I had to do was pull on those strings and I would finally be admitted into the only kind of heaven I ever wanted to know. Who needed a happy white fluffy fucking cloud to float on when they could have Ellison James naked and writhing beneath them? Certainly, not me. If Heaven actually existed, it was in the arms of this woman and she was waiting to give me everything I could ever need.

  I pulled at those strings and removed the last bit of fabric from her body. She was laid out beneath me, gloriously naked and the sun shone off her skin as if it wanted to kiss her as much as I did. She was perfection, she was the definition of beauty, and she was the epitome of every good thing a woman had to offer. I didn’t just love her body, I didn’t just love her perfectly kiss swollen mouth, I loved the words that came out of that mouth and the crazy thoughts hidden behind the blue eyes that sparkled up at me from where she lay.

  I lowered my head down and flicked my tongue between the slick skin at the apex of her thighs. Her taste was like ambrosia. Holy shit! My organs were twisting over themselves as I licked and kissed and nipped along every single part of her. Her body wiggled beneath me and her hands massaged her breasts as I watched her from where I was positioned. I was lost in what I was doing to her — in what she was doing to herself — but at the same time I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. There were no words to describe the view of her body. It was beauty in motion — art brought to life. I was an absolute cheeseball for even thinking those thoughts but there was no better way to describe what I was watching.

  She reached down with her hands and tangled them in my hair forcing me against her and I gladly flicked out my tongue and used it to push inside her. My hand came up to join the actions of my mouth and the moans that rolled through her vibrated along my body. Giving her what she wanted was enough to get me off, but I wouldn’t allow the release until I was buried as deep inside her as I could get. Moving so that I could suck on the bundle of nerves I knew needed attention, I crooked my finger so that I hit that magic spot inside her and she lost it. Her fingers gripped so tightly in my hair that it caused me to hiss in reaction. The pain was exquisite because I knew that it meant she was taking me along for whatever ride she was experiencing. And I’d done that to her — for her. When I heard my name shouted from her mouth, I had to physically stop myself from ripping off my shorts and mounting her. Her inner muscles clenched at my fingers and all I could imagine was the feeling of being inside her.

  When her body calmed and all that was left were the small aftershocks and tremors from her fall back to Earth, I slowly moved up her body, paying special attention to her stomach and breasts on my way. My mouth crashed into hers once more and I could feel her chest brush across me from the excited pants that were quickly escaping her. She reached down to grasp me through my shorts, but then she moved to pull the material off my body. Helping her, I forced the shorts down and kicked them off my legs, my bare ass now on display for any person who happened to walk by.

  I didn’t care.

  I didn’t fucking care if there was an audience of 50 people standing around, taking fucking pictures, or cheering us on while peanuts and beer were being sold off on the sidelines, I was going to have Ellison James and there was nothing that would stop me.

  “Shit. Hunter? Do you have a condom?”

  Except that.

  That would stop me.

  FUCK!

  I dropped down on top of her and buried my face into the perfection of her breasts. “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! NO! This is not fucking happening.”

  She laughed at my pain. What else was new?

  Of course, I didn’t have a fucking condom. Who the fuck thinks oh hey, I’m going hiking with my buddy, I’d better be sure to bring along a rain jacket, just in case? Not me. That’s who.

  “Hunter … ”

  I held up a hand without lifting my face from her chest. “I know.” The words were muffled. “You don’t have to say it. Trust me, I know.”

  Sonofabitch!

  A myriad of reasons of why I HAD to stop plowed through my head. Actual tears threatened my eyes when I realized that not using protection could lead to some real complications that would potentially ruin both of our lives. We had a future to work towards and a baby was not in the cards for at least another seven to 10 years — for her. Not me. I decided to reach in and pull out that baby card from my deck just before tearing it in shreds and setting it on fire. But I knew Ellison would become a mother someday. It would be an absolute crime against nature if she didn’t.

  “I could … ”

  “No.” I reached up to place my hand over her mouth. “Don’t say it. My entire world just shattered around me and there’s nothing that can be done that would make it any better. It’s best we let junior calm down and then maybe I can just work through the blue balls during the 13 miles we have left to go on the hike.” The sarcasm in my voice was intended on that comment.

  She giggled. “Junior?” Running her fingernails along my back, she whispered, “You don’t have to be so dramatic, you big baby. There’s always next time.”

  I didn’t know why I said ‘no’. If any other woman had offered that, I would have shoved her down so fast she wouldn’t have known what hit her. But not Ellison. Nope. I wanted the grand finale and after having it cruelly and mercilessly ripped from my grasp, the opening credits could never make up for it. Once again, I’d made a decision that was so unlike me.

  And I realized it was official …

  Ellison James was a wizard.

  ~ ~ ~

  The rest of the hike was a nightmare. After discovering that a big stop sign had been placed in between us, we’d gotten dressed and made our merry way up the trail. My balls were being assholes and painful shocks erupted as the blood in my groin worked its way back into my body. It was a nice 13-mile reminder of the roadblock with which I’d just had a head on collision. It wasn’t her fault and I didn’t hold it against her. I was pissed at myself for not having thought of that problem before taking things as far as we had.

  Ellison looked at me with sympathy every time she noticed I was hobbling and the expression did nothing for my ego. I brushed it off and replaced it with thoughts of ‘next time.’ Ellison had said those words and I was holding her to them — and I was doing so armed with a brand spanking new box of condoms. There was nothing th
at was going to stop me again. There was going to be a ‘next time.’ It was the mantra that pushed me through the rest of the trip — the ONLY thing that pushed me through the rest of the trip.

  “So, there’s another bonfire tonight, if you want to go.”

  We were climbing through the small path that El had cut between the trail and our houses. It was single file only and she had to turn around and look over her shoulder when she mentioned the bonfire.

  “Sounds good. Do we get to hang with Sensitive-Guitar-Guy again? Because it’s so much fun.” I smiled my megawatt grin to let her know I was joking and she laughed in response. I knew it was the dimples that made her grin like that. They were magic.

  “Finn will probably be there, but we’ll do our best to avoid him. He really is a good guy, Hunter, he just has to get used to seeing me with other men.” She turned back to continue down the path.

  I inwardly gloated about that fact until I realized that after I returned home, I would have to get used to seeing her with other men as well. It was the wonder of the social networking phenomena: endless reminders of people who were in your life, who you wanted out of your life, and who you would most likely never have in your life again. It sucked.

  Staring at the back of her head, I admitted, “I don’t think he likes me very much. I mean, he’s nice and all, but he knows why I came down here.

  “Because of your car and your parents’ pool? Yeah, he told me all about that.”

  My body tensed. I wanted to destroy him.

  “But none of it really matters to me and I told him how I felt. It doesn’t matter why you came down here in the first place. All that matters is what you’re doing now.” She turned to face me after saying those beautiful forgiving words. My eyes burned into hers and I took two broad steps before grasping her head in my hands and crashing my mouth to hers. We were still far enough out that nobody would see us from the houses and I wasn’t going to give up the last opportunity I had to show her exactly how I felt about her. I was still banking on ‘next time’, but I wasn’t about to give up what I could have ‘this time.’

  I pulled away only when I had to breathe. Her cheeks were flushed and she was slightly unsteady on her feet. The previous hit to my ego was soothed.

  Her lips pulled up into an adorable smile. “Was it something I said?”

  “It’s everything you’ve said, since the first day I fucking met you.”

  Her eyebrow arched.

  “Okay, maybe the second day. But still … ”

  She stared up at me with an odd expression on her face. Finally she laughed. “Okay, freak, whatever you say.”

  I growled at her and she laughed again before turning to walk the rest of the path. We broke out of the woods between the two houses and I saw a car I didn’t recognize in the driveway. Lily stood by it when she turned to look at El and me. She waved quickly, however, her expression was anything but friendly.

  “Who’s that?” Ellison looked at me. “Think Ryan bought a new car?”

  I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know.”

  We crossed the yard quickly and I couldn’t see who was sitting in the driver’s seat of the car because of the tint to the windows. Whoever it was had money because the car had to have been worth more than $50,000. Lily shot me a murderous glare when I approached and the driver’s side door of the vehicle opened so they could climb out.

  My eyes flicked over and the smile fell from my face.

  No.

  This was not happening.

  This was not fucking possible.

  Ellison looked between the woman who’d stepped out of the car and me. She gave me a strange smile but then walked over to offer her hand. “Hey, I’m Ellison James. Are you a friend of Lily’s?”

  “Hi. Uh, no.” She smirked at me when she talked to Ellison. “I’m Tiffany. I’m Hunter’s girlfriend.” She stressed that last word, by the way. On purpose.

  Ellison’s jaw dropped and my eyes were glued to every expression that sped across her beautiful face; each one taking a piece of my heart with it. She looked back up at me and that’s when I saw something in her eyes that caused my shoulders to drop and what was left of my heart to sink into my stomach.

  It was shock.

  It was anger.

  It was pain.

  And it was the absolute and complete annihilation of ‘next time.’

  Chapter Twelve

  Ellison

  I didn’t know what to say or what to do. This woman stood in front of me saying words that didn’t make sense. Or maybe they did.

  Come to think of it, I’d never directly asked Hunter if he had a girlfriend back home.

  Wanting to make a quick exit to avoid shedding angry tears in front of Hunter’s girlfriend, I plastered on a fake bright smile and said, “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Tiffany. I’m sure you want some time alone with Hunter considering it’s been a while since you’ve seen him. I’m just going to head to the house and get a shower. Maybe I’ll see you around later.”

  I didn’t know what else to say. It wasn’t like I could be mean to her, she’d done nothing wrong. It was Hunter who I wanted to strangle. I was a little shocked to see the type of girl he dated back home, but then I remembered he was a different person when he’d first arrived. And judging by the fact that he’d neglected to mention his girlfriend, he was probably still that same type of person. I’d been stupid enough to fall for his charm and I was damned sure I wouldn’t be making that mistake again.

  I tried not to look at him when I strode quickly away towards the house. Lily was fast on my heels and I was both aggravated and comforted to know she’d be joining me inside. I wasn’t in the mood for 20 questions and I knew she’d be unloading them as soon as the front door slammed shut behind us. My heart was pounding painfully against my ribs and my knees shook as I made my way back to the house.

  By the time we were safely outside of sight of Hunter and his girlfriend, I lost it. My eyes shed angry and hurt tears and my fists balled up in desperate need to impact with Hunter’s face. Since he wasn’t available at that moment, I hit the wall instead — and immediately regretted it.

  “Ow!”

  Cradling my hand to my chest, I bit down on my lip to try and keep from screaming. Lily ran to my side and pulled me towards the kitchen before plopping me down in a chair at the table. Moving to the freezer, she quickly gathered up a few cubes of ice. After wrapping them in a towel, she sat down beside me and placed the makeshift ice pack to my hand.

  “Well, that was surprising.”

  “Surprising?” I laughed like an idiot. “No, Lily. Winning the lottery is surprising … that was absolutely heartbreaking. I opened my burning eyes to look over at her. “How long has she been here?”

  “She drove up about 15 minutes before y’all got back. I’d just come home from Ryan’s house and was heading inside to get ready for tonight when I saw her. Judging by the car she was driving, I thought it was Hunter’s parents comin’ down to check on him. I didn’t expect to be met with brunette Barbie when I approached.”

  “She is beautiful, isn’t she?”

  Lily sighed. “Well, yeah, if you like the fake and plastic look, I guess a person could say she is.”

  I could rely on many things with Lily and the most important was her honesty. Lying to me and telling me that Tiffany wasn’t beautiful would have only made me feel worse to know she was saying those things to make me feel better — and that would have been pathetic.

  My thoughts immediately went back to what Hunter and I had almost done. For a split second I was thankful it hadn’t gone as far as it could have and I regretted not having kicked him between the legs as he hobbled home. I’d felt sorry for him then — but now I was thinking he’d gotten off too easily. Well, not ‘off off’, but you know what I mean.

  “She was perfect; her hair, her clothes, her makeup, her nails. There wasn’t a single part of that woman that wasn’t put together. I can’t compete with that, Lily. I
don’t know the first fucking thing about most of it.” I was babbling because of my anger. Normally girls like Tiffany didn’t bother me and I usually felt sorry for them because they spent more time looking at themselves in a mirror than they did looking at the world around them. It had to get depressing spending day in and day out watching yourself get older. But that was beside the point and this girl was different. I’d opened myself up to Hunter, I’d exposed my heart, and I’d had it ripped from my chest with nothing more than a stupid expression written across his face.

  “Her boobs were fake. Your boobs are much better, if you ask my opinion.” It was Lily’s weak attempt at consoling me. Oddly, it did kinda help.

  “Thanks.” I looked down at my chest and remembered all the things Hunter had been doing to it only a few hours before. God, I hated him — although he was really good at what he was doing to it. I can admit that. And it just made the situation that much more sucktastic.

  “So, did she say if she’s staying? How much longer do we have to deal with her being around?”

  Lily shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. She didn’t really say much. She just kept stressing that she was Hunter’s girl and she wanted to see him. I was as shocked as you. I take it Hunter never mentioned her.”

  I folded my arms on the table and laid my head on top of them. “No, of course not. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have … ”

  Her eyes bugged out. “Wouldn’t have what? Oh shit, Ellie, did you have sex with Hunter? I mean, I knew you two were hanging out and all, but I didn’t think it was that serious.”