Page 39 of One Bet

Jameson had ended up in the hospital after practice today from a bad hit he took from Ryder. “And now he’s used her to get to you, don’t let him get you kicked out of school.”

I flexed my hand and shook my head. “I’m leaving school anyway.”

Finn frowned. “You don’t have to. Mr. Kennedy took care of everything. We’re all covered.”

I was covered anyway because I was innocent, and I didn’t give a fuck about anyone but Avery. I had to get to her, had to make sure she was okay.

By the time I got to the boat, she was standing on the dock, arms folded at her waist while she watched the boat burn.

“Avery?” I didn’t care if she’d set the damned thing on fire, just that she was okay.

She turned, held out her hand as if to ward me off, and backed up a couple of steps. “Get away from me.”

“Avery…I didn’t know he taped us.” I moved a little closer and she jerked a little further away, hand still extended between us.

“Well, how the hell else would you prove you won the bet?”

Oh no.

“Avery, let me explain. Please.” When she shuffled around me, I reached out to grab her, I just wanted her to stay, to listen.

And she stopped walking but looked down at the spot where I held her arm. “Get your hands off me, or I swear to God, you’re going to need a surgeon to sew your fucking fingers back on.”

“Avery, please don’t go.” But she walked past me, down the dock and away, and until the next morning, I thought maybe she would give me a chance to tell her all of it. I’d also hoped she would forgive me. But by the time the sun came up and the school’s blog was published, I knew it was over.

23

Avery

Maybe it was lack of sleep or the fact Keaton Shaw took up all the oxygen in my house, but I couldn’t form a cohesive thought. I hoped he would stay even though I knew it was unlikely. I wanted him to take me in his arms even though I knew there was only hurt on the other side of this day.

But when he stood and pulled me into his arms, kissed me until I couldn’t breathe, nothing else mattered. Not that Ryder was in town or the Susie/Alex issue or the fact Keaton was probably leaving, I didn’t care.

I cared about his arms around me, his lips urging mine apart, the hand he had braced between my shoulder blades, the way he let me lead us backward until I was pressed between his body and the wall. He pulled me close to him, then lifted me so I could grind against his hard cock. If that wasn’t why he lifted me, I didn’t care. Need thrummed through every cell and vein in my body, the need to feel his skin, to find a release for the building pressure, to kiss more of him.

The shadow of his beard rasped against my throat when he kissed my jaw then took my earlobe between his teeth. I could feel the evidence of his wanting me without his warm breath on my ear, but the sensation along with the words went straight to my panties. I locked my legs around him and ground against him, driving my fingers into his hair while he wrapped his hand around my thigh then brushed his fingers against my pussy.

I put my legs down and used my body to push him toward the back onto the table. Desperation gave me grace and fluidity I didn’t have without it and I used the chair to climb on top of him. The table came with the cottage so I couldn’t be sure it would hold us, but damned sure we were going to give it a try. I didn’t have time for a stroll through the house to the sofa or to the bedroom, I needed him right now.

He reached up to kiss me, but I put a hand on his chest and held him down while I gyrated, and his breath caught. I wanted to taste him and fuck him and be tasted and be fucked by him and I wanted it all right now. He pushed his hands under my sweater and shoved my bra up then pinched my nipples until my pussy tightened and I moaned. Nothing felt as good as Keaton between my legs with his hands on my body.

I tugged his shirt free from his pants and yanked the buttons open. Holy hell, this man had a chest and stomach that made me want to kiss every square inch of his skin. Instead, I ran my hands from his throat to his waistband and attacked the button and zipper on his jeans. He gasped as I yanked away his boxers then stroked him as I slid away and used my free hand to strip off my clothes.

“Fuck, I love it when you touch me, Avery.” His voice was low, husky, sexy, and my body vibrated as he reached for me and his eyes raked over me as physical as any touch. My skin heated but I continued to stroke him, to watch his face as his eyelids fluttered and an easy smile turned his lips. “Come here.”

I wanted more than to climb on and ride him, but I couldn’t wait another minute to feel him inside me, to lower myself onto him, to throw my head back and lose myself in every sensation that came along with making love with Keaton.

He thrust and I moaned, the table creaked and I moaned. He pulled me down so we were chest to chest and mouth to mouth and I moaned. Then he arched up, kissed my breasts, and held me while we rocked, and the table threatened with more creaking and a few groans of its own as Keaton shifted so his thrusts came harder and faster and I could meet each one with an answer.

I wanted more, so much more. Enough that if he left to go to Los Angeles, I would have a memory to keep me warm until I figured out how to go back to living without him. He held me with one arm and braced himself with the other then drove into me until I couldn’t think anymore, couldn’t do more than gasp and hang on, and still he kept going. My world spun apart, and I could only see Keaton and feel Keaton, want him, breathe his name. “I love you.”

It wasn’t until I was back in the room, until the stars in my eyes faded that I realized what I’d said and tried to hide my face. Keaton pulled back so his shoulder no longer provided the security and protection from his gaze. “I love you, too.”

Maybe I always had, I just wished I could stop saying it at moments like this.

He leaned his forehead against mine and brushed his finger down from my temple to my jaw then across to my chin.

“If you don’t want to come with me to California, that’s fine. I’ll move here.” He grinned. “I just don’t want to let you go again.”