Page 11

11

SARAH

I diot. Idiot. Idiot.

I pace the floor in my office and think about the idiotic way I opened my mouth and suggested fake dating Riley. I mean, sure he’s cute. Okay I’m lying to myself. He’s fucking handsome. But he’s also younger than me. And I’m his publicist. So there’s that. I could have used my brain and said I would put out a statement on his social media accounts denying any coupling happening between us. But I didn’t. And now I’m in this mess with Riley until April.

I yawn for the tenth time in thirty minutes as my lack of sleep is finally catching up with me. I’ve been up since before the sun trying to get the story of Riley and I being linked killed before either of us has a chance to figure out what it is we’re supposed to do. While the story was taken down, there is no guarantee that people didn’t screenshot that article or the photos of us.

A knock on my door causes me to jump.

“Yeah?” My voice comes out squeaky and I clear my throat .

Jeff pops his head in and his brows furrow in confusion when he sees me in front of my window. “Everything okay?”

And the cause of my pacing stands in my doorway. I can only hope he’s been too busy with his own clients, managing those of us who work for him, and being a father to have had the chance to read the article. If it’s any inclination that he did see it, maybe he’s waiting for me to fess up? Because if he did, he would’ve stormed into my office the first chance he got. But if he didn’t see it, then I have a chance to take the lead on where Riley and I go from here.

You know where you want to go , my evil twin says.

“Yep. Perfect.” I lie with a smile.

Jeff regards me as he knows I’m lying, but accepts what I tell him regardless. When he closes the door I continue with my pacing and thinking. Pacing and thinking. Over and over until I stop in my tracks. Then it hits me. I scramble to pick up my phone from my desk and pull up Kamryn’s contact.

“Hey,” she picks up and answers on the third ring.

“Hey. I have to ask you something that might be intrusive.” I start and resume my pacing. Anything to keep from sitting still.

“As opposed to the last ten years of our friendship?” She says with laughter in her voice.

“Fair,” I start and take a deep breath.

“Sarah? What’s up?” Kamryn asks when I’m silent for longer than usual.

“When you and Liam were test driving your friends with benefits relationship, when did you realize you had feelings for him?”

A deep breath is released into the phone. “Wow. You weren’t joking about being intrusive.” I hear a heaving breath on the other end of the line and I just know she’s tipped her head back in her office chair to gather her words. “ I always had feelings for Liam. You know that. But if I had to pick the exact moment, I think it was the week before I met Mason. Liam ghosting me helped me to move on faster though. Why do you ask?”

“I’m being linked to a hockey player,” I tell her.

“The one you’re supposed to babysit?”

“That’s the one.”

I hear tapping and assume she’s looking it up. “Oh, he’s hot.”

“Kamryn,” I whine.

“I’m sorry,” she laughs into the phone. “Okay, what’s the issue?”

“He’s my client, he’s younger than me, and instead of putting myself in save-mode I suggested we fake date.”

Silence. And then laughter. Kamryn’s laughter is so loud that I pull my phone away from my ear and wait for her to compose herself.

“Okay. I’m sorry. Really, I am. Fake dating. That is– Let me ask you something. If he wasn’t your client, would you be hesitating?”

“No.”

“What about his age? If he were older than you would you be hesitant?”

“No. But you wouldn’t even know he’s younger than me unless you looked him up or asked him.”

“Looks like you have your answer, Sarah Jane. The other question is, what are you going to do?”

There's my best friend. “Well, I told him we give the fake dating thing six months and then go our separate ways.”

“Six months?” She questions skeptically.

“Is that a long time?” I ask, now fearful that it’s too long to keep up a charade. “That’s when hockey ends,” I tell her.

“No. The timing doesn’t really matter. But, Sarah, I’m worried about you falling for him.” She tells me. “And I know you haven’t told me everything that happened with you and Paul, but know that I’m here. When you choose to love again, and I hope you do because you have so much love to give, I want you to remember that love should be freeing.”

I snort into the phone. “You don’t have to worry about that.” Paul ruined me for any future relationship I planned to have. So me falling in love is nothing anyone should worry about.

“Okay.” I hear the skepticism in her tone again and then hear noise from her office and a muffled voice in the background. “Damn. I have a meeting to get to. But, we’ll talk later, okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, and I want to be the first to know when you’re no longer “fake dating,” she says with a teasing lilt to her voice.

I snort into the phone at her optimism. “Never gonna happen. Love you.”

“Love you,” she says and then hangs up.

Walking over to my computer, I pull up my calendar where I have all of my clients schedules laid out. None of them have anything pressing that I can’t handle from home. Just a few emails and a phone conference. Decision made, I pack up my things and stop by Jeff’s office before leaving.

Knocking on his office door, I pop in. “Hey, I’m gonna do some admin work from home.”

He looks up from his laptop. “Okay. Everything okay?”

“Yeah. I have to work through something that I can't do here,” my tone is even as I explain it to him.

“Why don’t you just work from home the rest of the week?”

“Are you sure? ”

“Positive,” he tells me and surveys me carefully. I hope he comes up empty. “Are you sure everything is okay?” Jeff asks me again.

No. “It will be.” I say and leave him with a parting smile.

My to-do list is down to this final task. I look over the contract one last time and fire off the email to Riley. I’m not sure why I didn’t think of a contract before I opened my big mouth. I’m meticulous in my job. Contracts make me horny. But making this sporadic deal with him scrambled all rational parts of my brain. My email pings with a check-in from Jeff and soon I’m back in the trenches of brand negotiations and mapping out my travel schedule for the next year.

I’m walking out of my home office an hour later when I hear the rumble of a motorcycle echoing down my street. I don’t think much of it as my neighbors drive all sorts of cars. But it’s my doorbell ringing that halts me in my trek to the kitchen and I freeze like a deer in headlights. I could be a sensible adult and hide. Because I’m not expecting anyone or a delivery from one of my many late night shopping excursions. And I’m a millennial who doesn’t answer the door for anyone she’s not expecting. The doorbell rings again followed by a knock on the door and I cautiously make my way to the door. Checking the peephole, I see Riley on my front stoop with a helmet in his hand.

“Hey.” I say after whipping the door open.

The late September air chills me, but my body burns as his eyes track over my body from my scrunchy sock-covered feet to my shorts that barely cover anything to my exposed midriff to the messy bun and finally meeting my eyes. In my hide-from-the-doorbell panic, I forgot I was dressed in clothes not appropriate to answer the door in.

“Hi,” Riley finally says after a hard swallow.

“Is there a reason you’re at my house?” He only dropped me off at home once, and that was at night, so his memory is impressive.

“Yes. No. Fuck. I got your email while I was at a pitstop and figured it would just be faster if I read and signed it in person,” he explains. “I went to your office, but they said you went home for the day. So I came here.”

“Huh. Okay, then. Come in.” I hold the door open wider and he steps inside. He’s the first man in my house since Paul and it’s doing trippy things to me.

“Nice house.” Riley says after I shut the door.

“Thanks. The contract is in my office. Follow me.” I hurry up the stairs and listen as Riley sets his helmet on the floor and toes off his boots, with the unexpected soft stomping as he trails up after me.

My office is as feminine and moody as you can get while still looking professional. A huge light oak desk sits in the middle of the room with an area rug underneath to hide the cords. I have two matching oak bookshelves flanking me with the window to the right of my desk that overlooks the backyard. The walls are covered in a dark floral print wallpaper that makes the space dramatic and romantic. I completed the space with a rust colored loveseat with deep set cushions on the opposite wall with a couple of throw pillows and a blanket.

Riley whistles when he completes his perusal of my space. “Why would you ever work in an office?”

“I need to get out of the house sometime,” I tell him with a smile and pull up the contract. “Here. You can read through and then use the trackpad to sign. ”

Riley takes the seat I vacated and looks over the contract. I curl up on the love seat couch that’s on the opposite wall and scroll on my phone. I catch up on social media posts and respond to texts while he reads the contract I’ve drafted up.

The contract is straight forward.

1. PDA in public, but we keep it to a minimum

2. We don’t launch our relationship on social media since this is all a facade

3. No falling in love

The last one is for both our benefits. But six months should be enough time to fake it til we make it. And hopefully by the end, the public is no longer focusing on who he’s dating.

“Done,” Riley says.

“Perfect. Will you hit save and then I’ll file it.”

I hear the light clicking of the mouse and then Riley is standing up and coming to sit next to me. With him on this couch this love seat has all but shrunk. I’m all too aware of him and his body heat sinking into me. Warming me from the close proximity when he should just leave.

“Are you worried you’ll fall in love with me?” Riley asks.

I look up from my phone and the smile on his face is disarming. If I were a hopeless romantic, I would say yes. But I’m more optimistic than anything.

“No. That’s more for your benefit than it is for mine.” I tell him, tucking my phone into the side of the couch and giving him my full attention.

“And why would I be the one to fall in love with you?”

I know he doesn’t mean it in a rude way, but that stings a little. “Because you’re younger than me. And for some reason my incredible charm gets people to do just that. Also, I don’t do love. At least not anymore. So it’d really be you doing all of the falling.”

His eyebrows come together with a furrow. “So you’re saying that in a few years my charm will do wonders?”

“No. And anyways, what are you doing on a motorcycle so close to the season starting?” I turn my body to face him and rest my arm on the back of the couch.

“I like the freedom that a bike gives me. And since it’s so close to the season starting, I wanted one last ride before I put it in my parents garage. Have you ever been on one?”

I shake my head quickly and his eyes crinkle with a smile.

“My offer still stands if you want to ride,” Riley says and with those words the air is suddenly charged. I always knew the chemistry I felt with Riley wasn’t a fluke. And in this moment it is undeniable.

For me, it’s so easy to put us in the Athlete and Publicist category. If he were anyone else I could lose myself in him and never come up for air.

“I think you should go,” I whisper. His innuendo continues to hang heavy in the air and the longer we stay locked in each other's stare the easier it is for me to forget about our roles. I could lie and tell him we need to practice for PDA. We don’t need practice, but the longer we sit on this couch meant for two, the easier it would be to just let my walls down. To give in to whatever this burning chemistry is between us in a single breath.

Riley moves.

I move.

Our lips crash together and Riley wraps his hands around my waist and hauls me onto his lap. I feel his hardness pressing against my clothes-covered clit and gasp. Riley uses the moment to slip his tongue into my mouth. Our tongues tangle and I lift up, scooting closer and sitting on his erection. His hands slide up my shirt, he groans when he realizes I have nothing underneath and tugs my body closer to him. My hands slide into his hair and I pull hard on the blond strands. Breaking the kiss, I kiss down his neck and lick into the divot at his neck. My hands fall to the bottom of his shirt and I pull the material up his body until his chest is exposed and the material bunches around his neck.

“Off.” I say through heavy breaths.

Riley takes off the shirt that I’m cursing and tosses it to the side. I can finally see him in daylight. The tattoos that cover his chest are done with precision and a kaleidoscope of colors take over his body. My hands trace the designs and I watch in delight as his abs constrict with my feather-light touches with goosebumps following in a trail. I move forward to kiss his chest. Trailing my lips across his chest and flicking a nipple with my tongue. His groan vibrates through my body and hits my clit as I continue to move down his body. I slide off the couch and move my hands to the button on his jeans. Riley lifts his hips when they’re loose and I slide them down until they’re bunched right around his knees. His cock springs free and I wrap my hand around his length, rubbing my thumb across the tip and smearing the pre-cum that’s beaded on the tip.

I hold eye contact as I lean forward and lick up the cum that’s leaking from his cock. Sucking the tip into my mouth, I use my hand and pump him from root to tip. Never breaking eye contact, my other hand slides down my body and slips into my shorts. I’m soaked and my fingers slide right into my opening. I moan around his length as I pump and curl my fingers inside of my pussy.

“Pull your fingers out,” Riley pants. “Show me how wet you are. ”

I whimper around his length as I do what he says. The emptiness is noticeable and I squeeze my thighs together to try and relieve the ache.

“Fuck, you’re dripping.” Riley says and grabs onto my wrist. Wet heat envelops my fingers as he sucks them into his mouth. Cleaning my juices off the appendages. The next thing I know, I’m pulled from his length and straddling his lap. “Enough with this. My cock hasn’t been in your pussy in way too long.”

I wrap my hand around his cock and Riley pulls my shorts to the side. Rubbing the blunt head through my opening. “You mean this pussy?”

Riley’s head falls to the back of the couch as I continue to tease us. “Yes,” he groans, “stop being a tease and give us what we both want.”

“Since you asked so nicely.” I lift higher on my knees and line him up at my entrance. Slowly. Oh, so, slowly I lower on his cock as he fills me up. I coat his length little by little until I’m sliding down his cock and full of him. I throw my head back as he fills me and give my body a few seconds to adjust to the stretch before I’m rising on my knees, leaving the tip of his cock buried inside me and sliding back down.

“Oh, god damn, baby. Your pussy was made for my cock.” His head falls to the back of the couch again and I clench around him as his words slide into my soul.

“Eyes on me.” I tell him as I place his chin between my fingers and fix his gaze back on me.

His eyes burn into mine and his hands slide up my torso, ripping my shirt off. I fall forward, my hands falling to the back of the couch, caging him in as I ride his cock like a mechanical bull. My nipples are so hard and my breasts ache from the pleasure. Riley cups my breasts in his hands, his thumbs tease my nipples and he pulls one between his lips causing me to whimper. His eyes hold mine as he pulls a nipple between his teeth and lightly tugs. I feel the tug down to my clit and I speed up my movement.

“Play with my clit,” I whine. Riley delivers and his hand slides between us as he pinches and rubs my clit. Over and over until I explode. I ride out the wave of ecstasy as my orgasm hits me.

I slow down my movement and weave my hands into his hair. My hips slow and roll as I trail my lips down his neck. Sex with Riley is the best I’ve ever had. I won’t tell him that though. His ego is at an all time high and I don’t need to add anymore ammo.

“Hold on tight, baby.” He warns before he grabs my hips and ruts up into me. Chasing his own release. I kiss the underside of his ear and tug on the lobe with my teeth. That sets him off and he explodes with a roar. I feel the warmth from his cum as his orgasm hits. My hips continue to work him through his release and I feel his cum slide out between us. “Fuck,” Riley whispers against my head.

I sit back and look at him confused.

“I didn’t use a condom.”

“Oh. Well I have an IUD and I haven’t been with anyone since you.” I tell him, almost feeling shy about the fact that he’s the last one I was with. But what I don’t tell him is that I tried to sleep with other guys to chase the high that he ignited in me. We didn’t use a condom the first time, which was risky business and it took a lot of trust for us to be bare together.

“Same,” he tells me.

The longer we hold eye contact, the more I feel him hardening inside of me. I quirk an eyebrow at him. “Again?” I ask incredulously.

He leans forward and kisses and licks along my neck. “ You expect me to not have a reaction after telling me you haven’t been with anyone since me?”

“Okay, caveman.” I moan out as I reflectively roll my hips along his length.

“Nuh uh.” Riley says and gets up, keeping my legs locked around his waist. “Where’s your bedroom?”

“End of the hall.” I tell him and kiss along his jawline.