Instead he lifted me from the coffee table and carried me back to the couch. I wasn’t used to being with such a physically strong man. It was a heady feeling.

  Before I could consider his actions, he had my pants and panties on the floor. I was completely naked, but Trey didn’t seem as interested in that fact as he was in seeing to my immediate needs. I was flushed and feverish and panting.

  He pushed my legs apart, shoving two fingers inside me. No preparation necessary. I wasn’t sure I’d ever been wetter.

  I cried out—in surprise, in relief. He stroked me deeply, quickly, and I let his powerful thrusts drive me to the brink. The last few months with Trey had felt like one long bout of foreplay. My body was on fire and it wasn’t going to take much to reduce me to a pile of ashes.

  Trey rubbed my clit with his thumb and I screamed, splintering into a million, bright shiny pieces, trembling in the aftermath of the most incredible orgasm anyone had ever given me.

  Neither of us moved for a long time. We were both naked and sated and in over our heads.

  Finally, he spoke. “Don’t go home tonight. It’s too late. I don’t want you driving alone.”

  I nodded. I was too exhausted to contemplate moving, let alone get into my car and make the trek home. “I’ll take the couch this time.”

  He started to protest, but I cut him off. “I can’t move. I don’t want to move.”

  He grinned, grabbing a blanket from the back of the couch. He covered me up, tucking me in with care. “If it gets too uncomfortable, come upstairs.”

  Damn. I did not need that tempting offer.

  “Okay,” I said, vowing I’d find the strength to stay right where I was all night.

  Somehow.

  As he moved around the living room, gathering up his clothing, I drank up the vision of his tight, bare ass, the defined muscles in his back.

  He was stunning. The model of male perfection.

  He turned and grinned when he saw me looking. Since I’d already been caught, I went for broke, allowing my gaze to drift to his cock, surprised to see it wasn’t quite as soft as it had been earlier. He raised the clothing in his hand and covered himself.

  “Jesus, El. You keep looking at me like that and I’m going to forget to be a gentleman.”

  I closed my eyes, sort of wishing that he would forget. It would take the pressure off me trying to regain some semblance of self-control.

  “I’m sorry, Trey, but, for the record, I think maybe you should be the one with the nickname Hottie.”

  He chuckled as he came to stand beside me. Bending over, he placed a quick kiss on my forehead. He even found a way to make a platonic kiss hot.

  “No,” he said. “The nickname is yours. All yours. Good night, Ellie.”

  I smiled, grateful to him for being able to walk away. I really wasn’t ready for more, despite what my body was saying at the moment. My decision to ask him if we could move away from friends to casual lovers was too fresh, too new. I needed a good night’s sleep and a clearer head to make sure my decision wasn’t based strictly on overwrought hormones.

  “Good night, Trey.”

  Chapter 5

  Halftime

  Trey

  The crowd at the party cheered when Ellie and I walked into Grace and Jamie’s house together. My friends always greeted newcomers to the party with a loud “Heeeey.”

  Ellie laughed and rolled her eyes. “Your friends are insane.”

  “They’re your friends too, babe.”

  It had been two weeks since our sexual celebration at my house. While the status quo of our relationship hadn’t changed, I got the sense Ellie was softening to the idea of dating me. When I’d asked her to attend tonight’s party with me, she’d accepted right away. Of course, I’d been careful not to call the outing a date, but as far as I was concerned, that’s exactly what it was.

  Jamie and Grace were holding their annual tacky Christmas sweater party. Today had been the last day of school prior to the winter break. The teachers drinking and eating in the living room were clearly ready to make merry.

  “It’s about time you two got here.” Grace walked up and offered Ellie a friendly hug and then I bent down to give Grace a kiss on the cheek. Grace gave me a saucy wink, clearly excited to see me arrive with Ellie on my arm.

  “All right,” Jamie said, walking out from the kitchen with three beers in his hands. “Hunter and Donovan are here. Now it’s a party.”

  Jamie handed each of us a drink and I burst into loud laughter. “What the fuck are you wearing, man?”

  Jamie’s grin grew. “You like my outfit?” My best friend was sporting dark green polyester pants that couldn’t be called anything other than high waters and a woman’s gaudy Christmas sweater that was too tight for his muscular build.

  Grace shook her head. “The sweater is an old one of mine. I found it in the attic the other day. Nearly died when Jamie said he wanted to wear it.”

  “And the pants?” I asked, gesturing at the three-decades-out-of-style polyesters.

  Jamie shrugged. “Got them at a consignment shop a couple years ago. Don’t you remember? They were part of my Halloween costume.”

  A memory returned and I nodded. “That’s right. You were a seventies porn star that year. Took you nearly a month to grow out that Fu Manchu as I recall.”

  Ellie cracked up when I mentioned the mustache. “Oh my God. I would have loved to see that.”

  Grace took a quick drink of Jamie’s beer. “I think I have pictures of it somewhere. I’ll dig them out.”

  “You two are looking pretty snazzy yourself,” Jamie joked, pointing to mine and Ellie’s matching Rudolph sweatshirts and red and black checked pants.

  “Ellie picked them up for us at Walmart. Can you believe this whole get-up cost less than ten bucks?” I joked.

  Grace giggled before walking away. “Yeah. I think I can,” she said over her shoulder.

  Jamie gestured toward the kitchen. “There’s a shitload of food on the counter. Beer’s in a big tub out on the back porch. God knows it’s cold enough out there to keep it chilled. We pushed the living room furniture against the walls to make a dance floor. Music’s gonna start soon. I’m just letting everybody lay a base first.”

  I nodded in understanding.

  “Lay a base?” Ellie asked.

  I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.

  “He means he’s letting us get tipsy before he starts all the crazy dancing and singing.”

  “Ah, gotcha. The Cougar Club playlist.”

  Ellie had teased us more than once about the way our gang had standard songs we played every time we got together.

  Jamie laughed. “Maybe we should release an album.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Let’s spare the rest of humanity from that.”

  Jamie tapped his beer bottle against mine and raised his eyebrows. “I’m going to go turn down the heat. It’s already too warm in here and I have a feeling once we start dancing, it’ll only get hotter.”

  I watched my friend walk away, then noticed more than a few of our colleagues from work taking in mine and Ellie’s matching outfits. Lucas was giving me a shit-eating grin from across the room and I figured he was going to start pressing for details. I wished there were deets to share.

  Jamie dimmed the lights and walked over to fiddle with the music on his iPhone. I grinned as I watched him. Jamie was the ultimate party host. He knew how to entertain and I hadn’t spent too many nights with the man that hadn’t been some of the most fun times of my life. The guy seriously knew how to have a good time.

  “You hungry?” I asked.

  Ellie shrugged. “I could eat. I skipped dinner because Grace warned me she was making a ton of food.”

  I took her hand and led her to the kitchen. We were just about to enter the room when Grace stopped us.

  “Wait,” Grace said. “Look up.”

  I glanced above my head and spotted the mistletoe. “You’re sabotaging your guests. Luring them in here for food.”

  Grace laughed. “Jamie’s idea. However, regardless of our underhanded tactics, tradition overrules in this case.” She gave us a wicked grin before turning to use the second doorway in the kitchen—also adorned with mistletoe—to take a tray of food to the living room.

  Ellie looked at the mistletoe before smiling at me. “Guess we wouldn’t want to break a time-honored custom.”

  I grasped her waist and pulled her close. That was all the invitation I needed. “I don’t want that guilt on my head.” I bent down and kissed her.

  If Ellie was expecting a quick, friendly kiss, she was going to be disappointed. I’d been lusting after her lips since the night she’d given me the greatest blowjob of my life. I wasn’t about to waste this opportunity.

  Ellie raised her arms and wrapped them around my neck, welcoming the long kiss, and returning it with a vengeance. When we broke apart, we continued to hold each other for a long time as I looked into her eyes.

  “I bought you a Christmas present.” I’d meant to give it to her at school today, but something had held me back.

  “You did?” She frowned. “Damn. I suck. I didn’t get you anything except a lousy card.”

  I chuckled. “I didn’t expect you to buy anything for me. And don’t worry. It’s just something little. Thought you might like it.”

  She smiled. “Where is it?”

  She looked like a kid waiting for Santa to arrive.

  “Back at my house. I thought we’d swing by and pick it up before I took you home.”

  She released me and nodded, her eyes sparkling. “Sounds like an excuse to lure me into your lair and have your wicked way with me.”

  I reached out to cup her cheek. “Would you mind if that were true?”

  I expected her to pull away, to offer her same reasons for rejecting my advances.

  Instead, she tilted her head and looked at me, really looked at me. “No. I wouldn’t mind at all.”

  My cock went rock hard in an instant. “Fuck. We’re in public, El. And there’s not a lot of support in these stupid lounge pants,” I muttered, adjusting the material to try to hide the tent she’d just erected my pants.

  She glanced around, confirming we were alone in the kitchen, and then she discreetly ran her hand along my rigid length. “Maybe I do have a present for you after all.”

  I closed my eyes, suddenly light-headed.

  “Well,” I started, only half joking when I said, “it’s been a great party. You ready to leave?”

  She laughed. “Jamie would kill you.”

  “I don’t want to run the risk you’ll change your mind.”

  She looked at me, her face suddenly serious. “I’m not going to change my mind. I want to be with you, Trey.”

  I closed my eyes and pressed my forehead to hers. “God, you have no idea how much I want the same thing.”

  She squeezed my cock playfully once more. “I don’t know. I think I have a pretty good idea.”

  She continued to giggle as she loaded up a plate of food and walked away, returning to our crowd of friends in the living room. I took several deep breaths, counted to a million, and willed my dick to go back to sleep. It was going to be a long night.

  Ellie

  I followed Trey up the porch to his front door and tried to think of one reason why I shouldn’t be here. But for once, my body and mind were in agreement. I wanted to be with Trey. Wanted to spend the night with him.

  It was just sex, I told myself. Just desire driving my actions. Well, that and the holidays. I was feeling a bit lonely and sorry for myself.

  That plus eggnog was a recipe for disaster.

  Tonight was a gift I would give myself and tomorrow I’d return to reality. Besides, maybe if I scratched this Trey-itch, it would relieve some of the constant arousal I felt in his presence.

  We walked in and I smiled when Trey plugged in the lights on his tiny tree. I’d helped him decorate it a few days ago when I discovered he didn’t intend to put one up. I’d called him Scrooge and showed up armed with a tiny tree I’d purchased from a roadside tree farm. We’d gone to Walmart to buy the lights, ornaments and our matching tacky outfits. Fifty dollars later, we had everything we needed for an instant holiday.

  It had been a fun night. Then again, most nights with Trey were fun.

  “Here,” he said, grabbing a brightly wrapped box from beneath the tree and handing it to me.

  “You really shouldn’t have done this,” I repeated, feeling guilty about not having anything to offer him in return.

  “Hush. It’s nothing. Open it.”

  I untied the ribbon, then ripped into the wrapping paper. I took the lid off the box and pulled back the tissue paper. Inside were two framed pictures. One was of Trey and I on the sidelines, surrounded by the team during a time-out.

  I glanced at Trey, wondering where he’d gotten it and he responded to my unasked question. “I asked Jamie to snap a couple shots during that game. He took it from the stands. I thought it was a good picture of you.”

  I smiled, tears springing to my eyes. The photograph reflected the joy in my face as I was in the midst of doing something I loved. Something with Trey by my side. “It’s perfect.”

  Looking back into the box, I uncovered the other picture and laughed. It was a shot of the Cougar Club at happy hour. I recalled Grace asking the waitress to snap the shot a week ago when we’d all gone out to celebrate the basketball team’s big win against Harper’s Ridge.

  Trey and I stood in the middle, with our arms around each other’s shoulders. We were flanked by Cheryl, Lucas, Grace, and Jamie—all six of us grinning widely. It had been another great night.

  I looked at the gift, more touched than I could say. It was one of the nicest I’d ever received. “I love them.”

  Trey shrugged, obviously pleased by how much I liked his present. “I thought you might like some pictures for your house. Start your collection over since you lost your childhood photos in that fire.”

  I struggled to swallow over the lump in my throat. He was helping me create new memories to replace the ones I’d lost. It was a beautiful gesture.

  “Thank you,” I whispered, unable to say more.

  Trey walked over and took the box from me. Placing it back under the tree, he returned and wrapped me up in his big, strong embrace. I returned the hug, my arms tight around his waist. Trey placed a soft kiss on the top of my head, the gesture more sweet than sexy.

  We stood there for several seconds, soaking up the warmth and comfort of merely being together.

  “Ellie. There’s something I should say before we go upstairs.” He paused and then amended his words. “If we go upstairs.”

  I stepped back to look at him. “If?”

  “I know you. And I know what you’re thinking, but you need to understand my perspective. You aren’t a one-night stand. You’ll never be that to me. If we go to my bedroom now, you need to be aware of my expectations. I don’t want to be just your friend anymore.”

  I expected his words to trigger a panic button, but they didn’t. I’d suspected his feelings, which was why I’d avoided giving into the pull of sleeping with Trey after the Blackjack game. “I know what you want.”

  I’d always known. Trey had never hidden his feelings.

  Instead he’d repressed them, held them back in order to respect my wishes, to give me time to get my shit together after Joel’s betrayal. I’d walked into his house tonight, promising myself one night. Just sex. I should have known Trey wouldn’t let me get away with that lie.

  His face was serious and I thought I detected the slightest trace of nervousness there.

  “If you don’t want that, I should take you home now.”

  Was he afraid I’d continue to reject him?

  “I don’t want to go home.”

  I was proud of the strength in my words, the assuredness in my tone. There was nowhere on earth I’d rather be tonight than here with him. I’d been a fool to consider for an instant that one night with him would ever be enough.

  I was almost certain I could maintain a friends-with-benefits relationship with Trey. We’d simply indulge in occasional sex—nothing serious or too heavy.

  Hell, it wouldn’t be much different than what we were doing now except for the added benefit of sex. We spent lots of time together, watching movies, picking up quick dinners and I knew there wasn’t another woman he was interested in at the moment.

  I could handle casual, no-strings-attached dating. After all, the trouble with Joel had surfaced after we’d moved in together, taken things to a higher level. I’d be fine as long as I kept things easy with Trey.

  He gave me a crooked grin and a suspicious glance. “Maybe we should test this.”

  She smiled. “How?”

  “What are you doing Christmas Day?”

  “Hmm. Let’s see. I’m spending the day at my parents’ house. My brother and his family are up from North Carolina and we’re all going to open presents in the morning and then travel to my aunt’s big farmhouse for Christmas dinner. What are you doing for the holidays?” I knew he was close to his family as well, though I definitely hoped he’d say nothing. I’d love than for my parents to meet him.

  “Same thing as you,” he admitted, somewhat reluctantly. “The family routine.”

  “Nuts.”

  He agreed. “What about the day after Christmas?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t have any plans.”

  “Good. I’ll pick you up and take you ice-skating. Then we can come back here for hot chocolate.”

  His words were spoken lightly, but I could see a glimmer of distrust in his gaze. There was a part of him that thought I’d say no. I felt guilty for holding him at arm’s length for so long.

  I took a step closer to him, moving until we were a hairsbreadth apart. “That sounds like fun. But tell me—” I reached down and ran my hand along his erection. Trey sucked in a gasp of air at my unexpected touch. “Do you mean we’ll literally have hot chocolate? Or is that code for something else?”

  I pressed harder against his rigid cock.

 

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