Page 27

Chapter 27

Nick

NOVEMBER | Tarot: Nine of Pentacles

I hadn’t thought everything through.

I wanted Annie to come into a romantic setting at my house for our first lesson. I wanted it to be special for her, just like it was for me. I rushed around, trying to do a bunch of things as soon as we got in the door. Annie watched as I dug through a kitchen drawer in search of a lighter.

“Um, I need to take Greg out before we . . . yeah.”

“Are you nervous, Nick?”

“What? No. I just want everything to be nice.”

Her smile was gentle. “What’s nice to you?”

“Um, candles and music and soft lighting and like, flowers and stuff.”

She crossed the room and took my hand. “How about we walk Greg together?”

“Oh, you don’t have to—” I started, but she leveled me with a look.

“Greg misses his mommy, right? Let’s go take him out. He’ll like having both of us.” She pushed up on her tiptoes and kissed my cheek, then shut the drawer I’d been digging through. “Come on.”

The night was cool when we stepped outside, Greg indeed thrilled with the group walk. My breaths were ragged, my insides all coiled up. I kept clenching and unclenching my fist, wanting to touch Annie, but somehow second-guessing myself now that we were getting ready to officially start our arrangement. I’d had her nipples in my mouth earlier that day. Whispered filthy words in her ear until she came in my lap. It had been so easy to kiss her before we went to dinner, but that was at her place. We were on my turf and it all seemed so real. This was what I’d pictured for so long, since we made our agreement in my bed when I was sick. Why was I such a mess?

Annie had no such trepidation, sliding her fingertips down my forearm and lacing her fingers with mine. She leaned her head into my shoulder as we walked.

“You might be nervous, but I think we’re going to have a lot of fun,” she said. “I’m not going to judge you, Nick.”

“I want to get it right,” I said quietly.

“You will. We’ll do it together. I know where you’re coming from now. I didn’t this summer.” Greg stopped to do his business and she turned me to face her, sliding her arms around my waist. “I’m glad we know each other better now.”

I kissed her forehead. “Me too.”

I was still intimidated as hell, but there was a certain warmth that hadn’t been there before. When we got back and got Greg settled, I used my phone to put on a playlist that I’d made the night before with painstaking detail. I headed back for the kitchen to get the lighter again, lighting a candle when I got back in the living room.

“You don’t have to set the mood, Nick.”

“I want it to be special,” I said.

“It will be. Because it’s us. Come here.” She crooked a finger at me and I came to stand in front of her. Her hands went to my hips, gently lifting the bottom of my shirt. “This okay?”

“Yeah. But I think it’s about touching you tonight, right?”

She stuck out her bottom lip and shook her head. “It’s for both of us. Group effort.”

“Is there anything you don’t want?”

“Let’s just take it slow and see where things go. Just like earlier. Feeling and talking and listening. Sound good?”

I nodded. Her hands slipped under my shirt, exploring my chest. She made a quick visit to my nipples, giving them a little rub to my sigh. I steadied my trembling hands on her hips.

Her eyes were soft as her brow quirked up. “You like that?”

“Yeah. But I think I’d like to kiss you more.”

She faked rolling her eyes. “So needy.” Then she swept me into a tender kiss, her lips soft and imploring. I was even nervous to start using my tongue, cautiously swiping it across her bottom lip before I went on. She hummed and met me there, pressing her body more into mine. We parted briefly for her to remove my shirt. The cool air met my skin, her warm hands scraping down my back.

“You want to do this here or in your bed?”

“I think I owe you some time in a bed,” I laughed. “No more golf courses and locker rooms.”

She grinned. “Those have their merits too. But let’s take this candle so we don’t burn the joint down if we don’t come out again tonight.”

That thought alone had my stomach tangled up. I’d be spending the rest of my night naked in bed with Annie. My angel. I hadn’t spent a night in bed with someone since Shane.

She put the candle by the bookcases, and Greg had followed us down the hall. He was headed for his ramp to my bed, and I had to stop him. “Sorry, buddy. You can’t hang right now.”

“Oh, how could you?” Annie whined, meeting Greg’s marble eyes as I carried him to the comfy chair in the reading nook.

“Do you want him in on the action?”

“Well, no, but he doesn’t understand.”

“Don’t let him fool you,” I said. “He’s got enough libido for all of us. He knows exactly what’s up.”

Annie walked over and tucked him into a blanket. “Sorry, little buddy. Mommy will snuggle you later.”

“You two,” I scolded them. “Get over here, ‘Mommy.’”

Annie’s laugh was musical as she approached me. Joking about Greg had loosened me up. I needed to just go for it. Stop messing around. “Are you jealous?”

“Very,” I growled, nibbling her neck. “Jealous and needy and ready to make you scream.”

“Oh yeah?”

I sucked her into a deep kiss, needing every single part of her. I raked my fingers into the back of her hair, taking a fistful as I captured her mouth. She breathed heavily under me, parting long enough to peel her shirt away.

“More,” she moaned, reaching for me again.

“There’s gonna be plenty more, angel.”

“Show me.”

I wrapped her leg around my hip and leaned her back onto the bed, her hips already seeking my hardness. I stepped back to unbutton her jeans and work them down her legs. Her bra and underwear matched, for fuck’s sake.

“Can’t believe you, Markham. You just wanted to shower so you could have this matchy-matchy thing going.”

“Oh, do you not like it?” she teased.

“Hate it. Gotta take ‘em off.”

She giggled as I flipped her to her stomach, unhooking her bra. Then I used my teeth to peel her thong over her ass. I briefly stopped to nip her butt cheek to her delighted squeal. I rose from my position at her feet, turning her to her back and dragging my tongue over her pussy. Her breath caught, then released in little pants as I continued kissing up her body.

“That’s how you’re going to make me scream?”

“This time I’m getting you with my hands,” I said. “Just wanted to make sure you’d be wet enough, but I see that’s not a problem. Are you into me or something?”

“I’ll be more into you if you take off the rest of your clothes. I’ve never seen all of you.”

I shook my head as I shoved my jeans down, then my boxer briefs. “Needy, needy, needy. What are we going to do with you, Annabelle?”

Her eyes twinkled as she smirked. “Put your money where your mouth is and make me come, right?”

I grabbed under her arms and tossed her into the pillows, diving after her and climbing on top. I fit my cock against her slit, gliding through her wet. “That good, angel?”

“Yeah, but it’s not your hands.”

“I’ll show you hands,” I said, squeezing her tits in each palm and pushing them together. She groped down my back to my ass, giving me a grab and a smack. I retaliated by sucking on her nipple. I shifted to lay beside her and bent to spit on her pussy. She braced her legs and arched her back, letting out the most gorgeous moan. “You liked that?”

She panted, swallowing as my finger roved over her pussy lips. “It’s so filthy. Hot. You don’t expect someone as sweet and polite as you to do something that dirty.”

I wanted to have some witty thing to say back, but I just basked in the praise. I loved getting it right for her. “You ready? You’ll tell me what feels good, right?”

“Yes,” she said. “Just like I showed you.”

“I’ll do my best, but correct me if I’m wrong.”

I swiped my finger up and down a few times, and her hand met mine. “Like this.” She pressed into my fingertips, showing me the varied pressure and motions she liked.

I looked to her for confirmation: flushed cheeks, rolling spine, breasts heaving. “This good, angel?”

“A little softer,” she said. “That’s better, baby. You’re doing good.”

I closed my lips around her nipple as I continued, her sighs getting louder.

“God, Nick, yes.”

I leaned on one elbow, giving me access to one breast while my right hand did the hard work. I gave her drugging kisses as she writhed under me. For a while, it was just her looking into my eyes, half-hooded and breathing heavy.

“You’re so fucking pretty, Annie.”

She seemed overwhelmed, tugging me to her for more kisses as she got more frantic. She pulled away. “Can you give me two fingers inside? I’ll show you another thing.”

I smirked. Before obeying her request, I tried quicker rubs over her labia, something I’d seen in porn to get girls to squirt. I’d done plenty of studying since my last mishap, and by studying, I mean I got a subscription to a women-led porn site. I wasn’t about to totally screw it up with Annie like I did on my poor date.

“Fuck, Nick!” she screamed.

“That’s it, angel. You want more of that?”

“Mmhmm,” she managed.

“Say please, baby.”

“Please,” she mewled.

My cock was rock-hard against her thigh, leaking at her delicious sights and sounds and hell, even the way she smelled, her arousal thick in the air. “Oh, I got you, baby.”

She shivered under my touch, squirming toward the headboard. “Fingers inside now if you want to feel me come.”

Didn’t have to tell me twice. I took a look to make sure my fingers were going in the right place and slipped my ring and middle fingers into her pussy. My cock throbbed, wishing so badly that it was going inside her instead.

“And . . .” she breathed, “use your thumb on my clit. Circles like before.”

I did as she asked and her pussy tightened around me with a vise-like grip.

“Nick.”

“There you go, angel. Are you getting close?”

She nodded, on the verge of tears, her brows pinched, lips swollen, begging. Her hands clutched my arms, conveying her desperation in her grip.

“Let go for me, baby. Come for me.”

She squeezed her eyes shut as her hips twitched, her pussy pulsing around my fingers as she cried out, curse words and my name and big breaths leaving her.

I waited for her to open her eyes before kissing her, keeping my fingers inside her.

“How’d I do?”

She gave me a dreamy smile. “You got it, bub.”

“Thought so. I don’t think you could fake that kind of intensity.”

She shook her head. “Not a chance.”

I removed my fingers and cupped her pussy in my palm because that seemed like a comforting thing to do. “You were so beautiful, angel. Seeing you like that felt like a special treat.”

She laughed. “It was a special treat for me.” She turned to her side to face me, lacing her fingers with mine. “What are we going to do for you?”

I bit my lip, looking around all coy-like. “We don’t have to do anything.”

“That’s very noble of you, but I’m not here to play games. I believe earlier I said I wanted it in my mouth and you said I could have it.”

I drew her closer, framing her face with my hand. “Annie Markham, I think you’re my favorite little freak.”

“Why thank you,” she said with a giggle, pushing me to my back. “Let’s see how I do on my knees not in a patch of mulch.”

I helped her tuck her hair over one shoulder, enjoying how that left one breast exposed, and one covered, her nipple poking through a sheet of gorgeous blonde waves. But it was her eyes that were the equivalent of stabbing me in the heart and blood gushing out everywhere. Sparkling emerald green, mischievous, and watching me. She settled on her knees between my legs, pushing her ass up just like she had when we were in the field.

And then she got to work. It’s hard to express what she did to me, other than that it was blinding, abject pleasure. Her tongue on my underside, sucking around the head, gagging around my deeper pushes, her smiling eyes as she checked my reaction.

“Annie, it’s gonna be quick.”

She hummed, presumably telling me she was ready. I sat up, curling my abs and grabbing her ass, sinking my fingers in as I exploded in her mouth. She let me sit, melted in her warmth for a moment before pulling off and wiping her lips.

“How was that?”

I yanked her up on top of me and kissed her. I ran my fingers through her hair and looked deep into those forest-green eyes. “You’re perfect, angel.”

We dozed off like that, her with a leg slung over me, her breasts smashing into my side, her head tucked into the crook of my shoulder. And it was indeed perfect.