"You can try it on, but don't get any crumbs on it," he said.
This coming from the man who once passed out in a gallon of spilled milk and two boxes of Lucky Charms. When we were kids, Bryce was always the first in the mud, gunk, stink, or whatever trouble we found.
Was he planning to wear a wedding ring or handcuffs once this was over?
"I'm not eating anything," I said. "Safe from crumbs."
Bryce wasn't smiling. "Doesn't matter, man. No crumbs. No ink. No wrinkles. No nothing. Got it? Lindsey will have my balls if something happens to the tux."
"Think she already has ‘em."
"Name of the game. Just gotta power through until the wedding. That's when the shopping and planning and the decorations and the stress stops."
I laughed. "No … that's when it all begins."
He shrugged. "You wouldn't understand. I don't think you've been with a girl long enough to put her number in your cell."
"But I don't have to worry about crumbs, do I?"
Bryce left me to get dressed. "I guess. But it's worth it. That's what Lindsey says."
Right.
I suited up in the formal garb, tossing on the pants and shoes. Those fit, but I didn't think the shirt was supposed to be mine.
The shirt stretched, but I'd rip the material over my biceps and pop the buttons over my pecs if they expected me to wear it. While it'd make for a good show, Lindsey already warned me to keep my ink hidden. Apparently, both the Prescotts and my family thought the tattoos meant trouble. I was twenty-eight years old, and nothing changed from when I was a kid. The entire neighborhood had always worried for their daughters when I came around.
Well, only one girl had to worry.
And she was long past saving from my intentions.
So why the hell couldn't I get her out of my mind? I still tasted her on my lips, felt her clinging to my shoulders, and shuddered with the memory of her pussy milking my cock.
Maybe it was because I knew her? We grew up together, though back then she was just the annoying kid her sister used to babysit. Lindsey, Bryce, and I had five years on her, so it was a surprise to see her become a beautiful and sexy woman with dangerous curves and a sweet smile.
The bedroom door kicked open. I held my hands up.
"I don't have any fucking crumbs, Bryce!"
Mandy slammed the door behind her.
Oh, this wasn't a friendly visit, and it certainly wouldn't end with me pushed back onto the bed with her grinding against my lap.
A man could hope, but he also had to protect his boys in case the girl of his dreams happened to kick.
I grinned at her, half-naked. My arms crossed over my bare chest, flexing everything hard and inked for her inspection. My pants felt too tight, even with the button undone and the zipper down.
She took one look and stilled, eyes wide.
Perfect.
I winked. "If you wanted to undress me, all you had to do was ask, baby."
"Don't you dare."
Mandy reached for the only weapon she could find-my tie. I laughed as she whipped it at me, flapping my chest with the black silk.
It wasn't her most impressive showing, especially since I remembered her at five years old, making a summer snowball out of white legos. She'd pelted me, pitching it over the fence separating our yards. Still had the scar on my eyebrow.
I grabbed the tie in mid-air and tugged. She fell forward, and I wrapped the silk behind her back. Mandy gritted her teeth as I pulled her into my chest, but she couldn't hide her quick little breath. Her hands danced over my chest, trying to settle on skin that wasn't marked by a tribal tattoo.
Why wouldn't she admit to wanting me too? It had been weeks since we spent the night together, and our game of hot and cold frustrated me.
"You did it on purpose!" Mandy hissed and untangled herself. "Do you have any idea what you've done? Making the invitations? Sending them tomorrow?"
"Thought it'd be fun."
"Nate, by the time Lindsey fire-breathes her demands for these invitations, we won't be able to find a UPS store or Kinkos in one hundred miles that will let us through the door. And, if we're lucky enough to print them, we'll be up all night trying to finish."
I wrapped the tie around my neck and shrugged. "If I remember correctly, we had an all-nighter last time we were together. You didn't complain then."
"Is everything about sex to you?"
Was that a trick question? "Baby, you gotta know that was the greatest sex either of us has ever had."
"It was a mistake." Her voice hardened. "We never should have done it."
"We never should have stopped."
Every emotion looked good on her-anger, indignation, even shame, though I had no idea why she'd feel ashamed, or how desperately she'd try to hide it.
Christ, this woman was the best lay I ever had, and now she gave me balls bluer than the damn wedding invitations.
Those pouty lips clamped over words she refused to speak, and her honey-amber eyes averted to avoid my gaze. No matter how much of an edge she added to her voice or how stiffly she squared her shoulders, Mandy's bluff was weak.
So why did she fight me?
"You're still chasing me," she said. "Why?"
"Because I love to see those hips wiggle when you run."
"You already had me, Nate."
"I took you for one night. I never had you."
"Well, one night was our agreement, remember?" Her voice weakened, losing some of the fire that nearly scorched the pants off me. "You promised me one night, no strings."
I stepped closer, watching as her lip trembled over a lost breath. "You think I could forget that night?"
"You forgot the rules."
"No. I broke the rules."
"Why?"
"Because one night with you will never be enough."
Her eyes focused on my chest, my neck, the muscles of my shoulders. Her gaze traced everywhere she'd kissed that night. Her lips had trailed over my every muscle, and her tongue flicked along the tattoos over my pecs. She'd done wilder things as her lips pressed lower. She was inexperienced, but raw enthusiasm and natural talent was better than any practiced mouth.
Even if I never took her again, I refused to let her regret the night we had.
"It's been a month," I said. "That's too fucking long."
Mandy shook her head. Waves of dark hair fell in front of her face. I brushed her cheek to chase the ebony locks away. She stopped me before my hand caressed the soft angle of her jaw.
The best decisions were made from my gut.
The fun choices came from the twitch of my cock.
I pulled her into my embrace. Her eyes locked on mine. She meant to chastise me, but even she couldn't hide what simmered in her stare. It stirred everything inside me, and that desire was dangerous.
I shouldn't have wanted her so badly.
I had no idea why I did.
"I'm not sleeping with you again," she whispered.
"Why not?"
Her words trembled. "The first time caused enough trouble."
"The second time can cause even more."
"Not sure that's physically possible."
She squirmed. I let her go, but she lingered. Too close. Her hand trailed over my skin, and every touch shot bolts of pure adrenaline through my body, tearing through what wasn't ravaged with a surge of desire.
I had a bed. I had a beautiful woman.
And she threaded her fingers into the tie around my neck. My breathing stilled. I'd take a leash or a whipping from this woman, and it didn't matter as long as it was her delivering that pain or pleasure.
She gave me neither.
She wove the tie into a perfect knot, tightening it until it fit around my bare neck. I hardened, ready and willing to follow this woman wherever she led.
I hoped it was to the bed.
"I have to make it through this wedding," she said. "There's a lot of pressure on me to help. My parents can't stand each other, and Lindsey is going insane-"
"I know a good way to cope with the stress."
"You're making it worse."
I leaned in as her fingers curled around the tie. Our foreheads touched, and I breathed in the sweet vanilla scent of her.
Fuck, did she always smell this good? Look this good? Feel this soft?
Something about her was more tempting than before. It wasn't a need for her. I actually hurt. My thoughts bled into a headache, my fingers cramped against the urge to throw her on the bed, and my cock would split if she didn't drop to her knees and kiss away the strain.
A man could dream.
Mandy's voice steadied. "We can't do it again."
"You know this hard-to-get game just makes me hard."
"Let's talk after the wedding, okay?" She bit her lip. I ducked down to taste it. Denied. "We'll see if you still want me."
"I can't last two months before fucking you again."
"I think after two months you'll want out. I'm pretty sure you will."
"Baby, I'm like a man stranded in the desert … " My lips grazed her cheek. She couldn't hide the shiver. "I'm dying for something wet."
She tightened the knot and jammed it into my neck. "You're ridiculous."