Page 28 of Love is Fake (Love is Everything #1)

Chapter

Thirteen

When I wake up the next morning, my eyes squint against the sunshine streaming through the curtains I forgot to close because I got distracted by…

My head turns enough to see the dark head on the pillow next to mine and I jerk upright, taking a moment to realize I’ve slept next to, or more like on top of, Lennox Gray all night.

“Morning.” His eyes blink open slowly, making him look all sleep tousled and sexy as hell.

A muscular arm, belonging to the man in question, pulls me back down beside him and I pull the bedsheet up to cover my bare chest. The move earns me an amused look as if to say it’s a little late for modesty.

I blush at the reminder of everything we did together last night and try to shift my legs out from where they’re tangled in his.

“Morning,” I answer awkwardly, doing my damnedest not to look him in the eyes.

“Are you always this quiet before your first cup of coffee?”

“Only on mornings when I wake up in bed with my boss,” I mumble, my brain to mouth filter apparently still asleep.

He chuckles low in his throat, the sexy sound sending heat between my legs.

“That happen often?”

I turn my head towards his to give him a ‘what do you think?’ look and it’s impossible to look away.

He threads his fingers in my hair and pulls me gently towards him, stopping just shy of his lips and forcing me to make the decision to close the distance between us. It’s a no-brainer; any intention I had of escaping him gets shot all the way down.

He kisses me until I forget to remember to care about anything except the way his lips feel against mine.

“You know, if this were a romantic comedy, me rear-ending you would be called a ‘meet-cute,” I point out, when I regain the power of speech.

“Yeah? Well if this were a romantic comedy I probably wouldn’t have been such an asshole to you.”

“You weren’t an asshole,” I hedge and Lennox gives me a ‘come on’ look, making me break out into a grin. “Well maybe a little,” I concede.

As we’re opening up to each other, there’s something else I want to know and I decide that now is as good a time as any to find out. “Why did you pretend you didn’t recognize me?”

A laugh rumbles in his chest. “You didn’t forget about that, huh? I was sort of hoping the champagne might have blurred that part of the night out.”

I roll my eyes, poking him in the side. “I had two glasses, not the whole damn bottle. So…?”

Lennox shrugs, looking uncomfortable, but his discomfort makes him even more endearing. “I guess it was easier to pretend I didn’t remember you because then I wouldn’t have to admit how cruel I was to you in high school,” he admits, quietly.

I shake my head, stroking his stubbled jaw as he suddenly looks so damn vulnerable. “You weren’t cruel to me,” I say. “The people you hung out with were a different story. I’ll grant you that – but you were never mean to me.”

“I didn’t stand up for you, either. I just let it happen in front of me and apologized to you in private, because I was so damn worried about what other people would think of me.” Lennox shakes his head in despair of his younger self. “I’m not proud of the person I was.”

“You were eighteen,” I reason with him. “None of us were our best selves as teenagers. I know I sure as hell wasn’t.”

You’re way too nice for me, you know that?”

I wrinkle my nose at that word ‘nice’. It’s not the descriptor you want from the guy you’ve just had the best sex of your life with. And then the fact that I’ve just voiced the thoughts rumbling in my head makes me cringe.

“The best sex of your life, huh?” Lennox smiles like the cat who got the cream and my eyes widen at what I’ve just done.

I cover my face with the pillow because it’s the closest I can get to disappearing, but Lennox’s chuckle penetrates it with ease. Gently, he pries the pillow from my grasp, looking down at me with a mixture of amusement and warmth.

“You don’t have to look so pleased with yourself,” I grumble, still trying to avoid eye contact.

“Will you look at me, Izzy?” he asks. To be truthful, I would really rather just study the threads of the bedsheets because I’ve proven I am literally the least cool person in the entire world.

“Will you look at me if I tell you last night was amazing?” he asks, his voice husky in a way that makes me wet in an instant. “That it was the best night of my whole damn life?”

Those words shock me so much that I do in fact meet his gaze.

“There she is,” he breathes reverently as he traces the lines of my face. “You really are incredible, you know?”

I bite my lip to keep the surge of emotions his words have provoked at bay. “You’re not so bad yourself,” I tell him quietly and in an instant we’re on each other again.

My lips say all the words I’m not ready to tell him out loud just yet. And he kisses me with an intensity that makes me feel like the most desirable woman in the world.

His hand strays down underneath the sheet, cupping my breast and I moan against his mouth, my inner thighs already slick with wanting. I’m so ready for him. I reach out to stroke his shaft to find him hard as a rock and he groans as I touch him.

“Want you…so fucking much.” Lennox breathes against my mouth and the feeling is more than mutual.

It takes a few seconds for the insistent knocking on the door to penetrate the bubble of desire I’m floating in as we kiss and stroke each other.

“Izzy, you home?”

I let out a small chuckle as Lennox curses loudly at the sound of his friend’s voice.

“Remind me to kill Kai,” he mutters.

“He’s not going to leave,” I point out quietly, before raising my voice. “Hey Kai.”

Lennox gives me a murderous glance, making me roll my eyes.

“You sleep through your alarm, chica ?” Kai laughs. “Are we training today or what? You know how freakin’ anal Nox is about being on time.”

Lennox looks mildly offended, making me giggle. “To be fair, he’s not wrong,” I point out. “I’ll go talk to him.” I move to get out of the bed, but Lennox pulls me back down.

“Fuck that,” he shakes his head. “You’re not going anywhere and Kai’s not seeing you wrapped in nothing but a damn sheet.”

Stalking out of bed, naked as the day he was born, Lennox moves toward the door.

I shamelessly ogle the blatant gorgeousness of the man and make a little sound of disappointment as he pulls on the boxer briefs he discarded on the floor.

He flashes me a look, his eyes glittering with lust, telling me he heard me, and I’m too turned on to even blush.

“Hold that thought, beautiful,” he tells me, before opening the door to his friend.

He angles himself so Kai can’t see inside, his big frame filling the doorway.

“You need something, Kai?” Lennox stands there, arms crossed, looking like he’s just got out of bed, my bed.

I slap my hand against my head. So much for keeping this between us.

“Hey man,” I can hear Kai’s frown. “I – um, was looking for Iz, but I’m guessing she’s – uh, busy.”

The amusement in his voice makes even my ears turn red.

“She is.” Lennox grunts. “Busy with me.”

As if there were any doubt over what was going on, I roll my eyes at his territorial tone, although I’d be lying if I said I didn’t kinda like it.

“I can see that,” Kai’s smile frames his words. “About damn time, man.” Kai mutters the words to his friend, making me wonder if what was happening between us had been obvious to everyone apart from us.

“Goodbye Kai.” Lennox grinds out the words, his annoyance earning him a snort from Kai.

“See ya later, man, or maybe not,” Kai jokes. “Bye Iz!” This time, he raises his voice, peering through the open door. I wave at him weakly before Lennox manhandles him out, all but shutting the door in his face.

Lennox turns around to face me, his eyes smoldering and my inner thighs clench in anticipation.

“Now, where were we?”

Later, much later, Lennox and I have made our way into the pool.

I pointed out he didn’t have any trunks with him, but that didn’t bother him and I was more than happy to see him in all his naked glory.

The man really is something to behold. I can’t help but watch him, standing in the shallows, the water up to his hips, the marked vee below his abs pointing down to what I now know is a more than impressive cock.

He flicks water at me, when I remain on the edge, my feet dangling over the side.

“You know, the bikini isn’t necessary when I’ve seen everything underneath,” his voice drops suggestively. “But I’m not complaining when you look so damn sexy in it.”

You would have thought that by this point I’d be physically incapable of blushing, but apparently not.

Slowly, like a predator stalking its prey, he makes his way through the pool and closer to me.

Automatically, I open my legs as Lennox comes to stand in-between them, his hands grabbing hold of my ass.

I only get a moment’s warning in the form of Lennox’s mischievous grin before he’s pulled me all the way into the water and I squeak at the sudden movement.

Lennox’s hands are still on my ass and, instinctively, I wrap my legs around his waist as he walks us backwards to the lip built into the side of the pool, sitting down and settling me against him.

There’s no hiding how turned on he is and my whole body warms at the feeling of his erection against my upper thighs.

He looks at me how I imagine the big bad wolf looks at red riding hood. “This bikini is nice, but your tits are much nicer.”

His hand covers one and then the other. My nipples are already rock hard.

Impatiently, he pushes the bikini-bra over my head so I’m bare to him and I watch in fascination as his pupils dilate.

His head dips down to lick, suckle and bite the soft flesh of my breasts, his hand attending to one and then the other as if he doesn’t want to play favorites.

“So damn beautiful,” he exhales against my skin.

My hands are on his shoulders, gripping the muscles there, struggling to remain upright because he’s turning my whole body to jelly. My pussy actually aches for him, for his touch, his hardness.

“Nox, touch me.” The pleading voice sounds so unlike me it takes a moment for me to register I’ve spoken my need out loud.

I feel, rather than hear, Lennox chuckle darkly against my neck. “I think I like Impatient Isabella.”

Shoving my bikini bottoms to one side, he thrusts his fingers inside of me, already finding me wet and wanting.

I moan as he strokes me as if he’s known my body forever and not just for one night.

His touch is patient and insistent at the same time, making me dizzy with pleasure.

It doesn’t take long before I cry out, seeing stars as he drives me over the edge with his fingers inside of me and his mouth sucking hard on my nipple.

“I love watching you come, darlin’.” I’ve noticed Lennox’s accent comes back in force when he’s angry or turned on as hell.

I meet his eyes, loving the hunger swirling in his irises as I reach down to grip his shaft under the water.

His eyes flutter closed as soon as I start to stroke him and he growls low in his throat when I squeeze his cock, sweeping my thumb over the tip.

My lower body tightens at the fascination of watching and feeling his whole body tensing against mine.

Lennox’s hands are still busy on my breasts, moving from one to the other.

A savage sound comes out of him as I pump him from base to tip.

Grabbing hold of my shoulders, he stops me. “I fucking need to be inside you.” He hooks his arm around my hips, forcing my legs to wrap around his waist as he sits on the submerged step in the pool.

I move just an inch, settling myself over his shaft, my entrance hovering just above his tip and I meet his eyes.

“Izzy, shit, I don’t have a -” he curses under his breath, his expression conflicted.

“It’s okay,” I assure him, squirming over his cock. “I’m clean, I’m on the pill.”

“Me too,” he grits out and then shakes his head, “the clean part, not the pill. I always use protection. Always. ” His stare is intense, making sure I’ve understood. This is the first time he’s been completely skin to skin with someone and my heart sings at the fact he wants it to be with me.

“Me too,” I admit.

“ Are you sure?” he asks, still stopping me from sinking down over him. “I want to have you bare so fucking much, but I need you to be sure.”

“I am, Nox,” I kiss him because I can’t be this close to him and not. “I want this.” I let my weight carry me lower, so that I’m sinking down onto his naked tip.

With my body, I’m telling him that I trust him. There’s no way he has any idea how much of a big deal that is for me; for me to trust someone so completely.

He watches me as he guides me down over his shaft, taking him deeper and deeper inside me until he completely fills me up.

Sex with Lennox was one thing, but staring into his eyes as we’re closer than I’ve ever been with anyone else is a whole different ballgame.

It’s intense and it’s freakin’ sublime. And then I start to rock, his fingers on my hips, squeezing tighter as he urges me on, moving up and down his hardness, reveling in the friction between us.

“I’m so close, Nox.” I’m wound so tightly I can barely get the words out. My nails dig into his arms as I turn into nothing more than a ball of need.

“Izzy.” My name on his lips shatters me and I scream as I climax.

Three more thrusts and then four. Lennox pumps into me hard. My inner walls clench around him, milking him as he explodes inside of me.

Breathless, I wrap my legs tighter around him, holding him even closer as we crest this wave together.

His arms hold me firmly against him as my body shakes with the aftershocks. And I realize in that moment that I don’t want him to let me go. Ever.