Page 22 of One Bet

She tasted sweet and salty, and if I lived to be a hundred years old, I would always love doing this with her. Especially when her muscles tightened, and I could lap up the sweetness of her orgasm and know I helped her get there. She cried out, dug her fingernails into my shoulders, and pulled me up to hang over her.

“Please tell me you have a condom.”

I did, not because I planned anything involving us, but because putting a condom in my wallet was as natural as sticking my money in there. “Hang on.” I reached for my pants and yanked out the foil packet. She took it from me, pushed me onto my back, and tore it open with her teeth then rolled it down my cock with such deft fingers that I almost came before she finished.

I almost didn’t last long enough for her to climb on top of me and lower herself onto my pulsing dick. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. She was amazing. And every move of her hips, every circular motion brought me closer to the edge of passion and reason and sanity. Avery Stroh was a goddess. Always had been, and now she was riding me with her back arched and her hips thrusting, circling, bouncing until I was sure I wouldn’t survive the pleasure.

My body tensed as she leaned over and kissed me hard and desperate, her moans vibrating with mine as we came apart together. I could only gasp as the world went out of focus and then, slowly, reality came back to me.

“It’s been too long since we did that.” She collapsed against my chest, with my dick still inside her. The change in position, the way her muscles contracted against me, made me want her again.

I smiled. “Well, maybe we should make up for the lost time.”

It was a wish more than a suggestion, but she lifted her head and grinned. “Can you?”

I flipped us so she was beneath me. “I guess we’ll see.”

The girl I’d known back then had grown into the woman beneath me and I wouldn’t be able to let her go this time. Not like I had back then. I just had to figure out if she felt the same way.

One Decade Ago

I couldn’t stand the look on her face, the distrust I could see in those stormy gray eyes. She wouldn’t sit beside me, wouldn’t even look at me, but she was here, so I had a chance. And I didn’t want to ruin it by pushing her or saying the wrong thing. But the silence was killing me.

“Avery.”

She lifted her head as if seeing me, but she focused on something over my shoulder and it was killing me.

“What’s your middle name? Where do you live? Why me?” She looked down at the sweater she’d pulled back around her then reached to slide off one of her shoes and hold it up. “I could understand if this was the shoe I wore all the time, but it isn’t and it probably never will be, so that begs the question, again, why me?”

I hadn’t thought about it much myself outside of the fact I liked her. She wasn’t the same carbon copy I’d dated for the last four years and then there was the bet. Which didn’t really matter but was still there in the background where I hoped it would stay until I could talk to Ryder and get out of it.

So, I started with the easy questions. “My middle name is Matthew, I grew up in Texas just a little west of Dallas and I like who you are. I like who I am when we’re in a room together.” Now she looked at me and I wanted to be honest. “I haven’t always been the most stand-up guy when it comes to dating.”

She frowned.

“But I’ve never videoed myself with a girl, ever. Sex is private, and I don’t take it lightly. I wouldn’t do that to your friend.”

“But you’ve hurt other girls?”

I nodded. “But not because I lied to them or humiliated them. Sometimes, when things don’t work out, they just don’t and when it isn’t the same for both people, one gets hurt.”

She rolled her eyes. “That sounds like a line every guy uses.”

“Sometimes we all say the same thing because it’s true. You’ve been in relationships, did you always walk away with a broken heart or did you give a couple?”

And before I even finished, I knew I was an idiot. Her eyes narrowed and her mouth tightened. “No. I haven’t. Either way. Guys don’t look at girls like me.”

What? Even with her torn leggings and enough eyeliner for every girl on campus, she was beautiful, and I couldn’t imagine a world where men didn’t look at her. “Why would you think that?”

I wanted to move beside her, touch the curve of her face, and look into her eyes so she could see how much I liked her. But I didn’t because I couldn’t stand the thought of her pushing me away. “Did you know that at any given time, I have six or eight pens in my backpack? I never needed your pen, I just wanted to talk to you.”

“So, you started off by lying to me?” Her dark eyebrow quirked over her left eye and it did something to me I wasn’t expecting, something that made me stare at her even longer. I was, to put it plainly, afraid that if I lied she’d have my balls in a vice in an instant.

“Wow.” If she wasn’t taking pre-law classes, the legal world was being cheated of a great mind. “Okay, yeah. I did, but if I would have walked up to you and just started a conversation with you, what would you have done?”

Now she looked at her hands, and we both knew the answer to that.

“And I would never lie to you now, I wish you could believe that.” I knew why she couldn’t. I’d given her no reason to do anything but doubt my word, I just didn’t want to get hung up on it. Not with her, but I could admit it. “You know, I’m scared too, Avery. I haven’t felt this way about anyone before. Not this fast, not ever and I don’t want to get hurt either, but I’m here with you right now because you’re worth the risk and because I don’t want to look for excuses to not be with you.”