"Stay here tonight," Emmy says. "You too, Tess."
"No, I should get home." I shrug, knowing the only reason I'd stay out all night was if Landon and I had a chance to reconnect. "Thanks though."
"Why? You don't even work tomorrow."
"Sorry, girls, I'd rather sleep in my bed."
"Is it nice? Your bed?" Tess asks. "You know, I've never even been to your place. Isn't that weird?" She scrunches her nose up and laughs. For a moment, fear fills my stomach. Are they going to ask to come over? I've dodged that bullet for months.
I am being such a shitty friend and, in a moment of vulnerability, I realize something: if they asked right now, I'd let them inside.
I need to be real with the people who have let me into their lives-and maybe showing them my apartment, where the My Little Ponies and the Barbie dolls are strewn about, would be the perfect way to reveal who I really am.
But Tess and Emmy don't press me. Mostly because we all know this penthouse is a hell of a lot more fun to hang out in than any apartment off the strip.
Ace and the guys walk into the room as I am standing to leave.
"Let me call a car for you," Ace offers thoughtfully.
"Actually, I'll help you get home," Landon offers. "I need to run, too."
"You sure?" I ask. "I mean, if you have somewhere you need to be?" I squint my eyes, not believing him. Where does anyone need to be at eleven o'clock at night?
"No, it's fine, I need to stop at the, uh, the...."
"Where you headed, bro?" Jack snorts. "The strip club?"
"I got her," Landon says to Emmy, ending the discussion.
I don't argue. This is what I wanted the moment I walked into this penthouse tonight.
Him and me. Alone.
Looking at Landon, warmth spreads through me, remembering his hands on my skin and my mouth on his. It doesn't take much imagination for my panties to get wet.
Leaning over to give Emmy and Tess hugs good-bye, I can't help but feel like I could have been a better person a million times over tonight. Truthful and real and an actual friend.
Instead, I'm sorta drunk and leaving with a man I let go down on me two weeks ago.
Chapter Seven
Landon
Claire steps into the elevator with me, biting her lip in a way she doesn't seem to realize gets me hard just by watching.
"Did you have a good night with Tess and Emmy?" I ask as the elevator falls to the ground floor.
"Yeah, it was nice to get out." She looks down at the floor and I notice her scuffed boots in contrast with my leather ones, polished and shiny.
The moment Claire walked into Ace's penthouse, I wanted her. I want to finish what we started.
"Do you really want to go home?" I ask, stepping toward her.
She smiles, licking her lips and looking back up at me. "Considering last time we were alone together we were naked … no. I don't want to go home."
"Well, that was a terrific night." I wrap my arms around her, pulling her close to me. My cock twitches in my trousers, and the need to take her to my room overwhelms me.
"Terrific?" She smirks. "That's all it was?" She presses her fingers to her temple. "I should never have drank so much champagne."
"The night of the wedding?" I ask, remembering her constant glass of bubbly that evening. Perhaps she regretted parting her legs for me. I sure as hell don't regret it. I just want more, something I probably don't deserve.
But then I remember her insecurity back in my suite, how she hadn't slept with anyone in a long while. Maybe those feelings are rising up in her again.
Claire sighs, and in doing so it's as if she lets down her guard. "No, I mean tonight, I had almost a bottle with dinner, because I'm an idiot." I want to press her against the elevator wall, and take her right here, right now.
But Claire doesn't lean into my body; she keeps talking, nervously.
Her words mesmerize me with their honesty.
"I liked everything about the night of the wedding," she says. "I only wish it hadn't ended so soon."
"You wanted more?" I ask, still holding her close. Not letting her go, ready to press my mouth on hers. "More of me?"
Her red lips open as if she's about to admit something, but the elevator doors slide open and we're deposited in the lobby of Spades.
"Your room then?" she asks.
I press the elevator button again and we fly back up to my floor.
Grabbing her hand as the doors open, I lead us down the hall. I swipe my key to let us into my suite, not able to move fast enough. I want to push her inside and pull down her panties and finish what we'd started weeks ago.
The moment we're in the room, she reaches for a bottle of water and drinks it nearly in one gulp.
"Thirsty?"
"Just can't afford to have a hang-over. I rarely drink so much. It was a bad idea."
"You seem sober enough now."
She doesn't slur her words or seem to be overly emotional-both stereotypical tells of a woman nearly drunk.
"I suppose I am. I had four glasses of champagne over the course of four hours, so I'm pretty good now." She lets out a deep breath before adjusting her jean jacket.
I don't know much about Claire, but I can tell she could use some money. She serves drinks for a living, but her shifts are terrible ones, usually during the day, and anyone in Vegas knows the good tips are in the late hours, when there are plenty of drunken men. Working eight a.m. to three p.m. is not a lucrative job opportunity.
"Landon," she asks, setting down the water and walking toward me. "Can we finish what we started?"
She's caught me off guard-which is odd. That never happens with women.
I've been so preoccupied with trying to understand who Claire is that I haven't noticed the look of desire in her eyes, the longing.
"Because, right now," she whispers. "Right now, I need to feel ... more than I am."
"Oh, Claire, I'll make you feel more than enough."
I pull her to me, and in one fell swoop my mouth is on hers.
She tastes so sweet. She looks like a vixen, but each kiss on my lips is tender and soft and full of longing. The kisses of a woman who has never been properly loved or properly fucked.
Her hands cup my face, as she pours herself into me. Her tongue finds its way into my mouth, encircling mine as we deepen our connection. The heat rises as she grinds against my growing cock, and I run my hands across her back, pulling off her coat, tugging down the straps of her black dress and her black bra.
I fill my hands with her perfect tits. They aren't massive and fake-Claire is one hundred percent real and it's refreshing and fucking hot to be with someone who seems not to be at odds in their own skin.
Massaging her tits, I watch her perky little nipples grow hard. I pull one into my mouth and suck as she pulls her dress off.
"Oh, fuck, Claire, you're so sexy," I tell her as she undoes my belt and buttons. We tumble into the bed, and I'm on my back as she pushes my trousers down, off. I pull off my shirt, wanting to feel her skin against my chest.
"You're so hard," she moans, taking my stiff cock in her hands as she presses her body on top of mine.
Our bodies are hot, so close to one another; she holds my cock in her hand as our mouths collide again. We kiss hard as my hands push at her panties. I want to touch that soft pussy again. I want to see those pink lips part, only this time I want my cock to spread them.
I want to feel her tightness around me as she swirls those hips of hers above.
She runs her fingers over my cock, massaging her clit with my base as she pushes us against one another. She bites my lip as I slap her little ass, and I love that she's getting wet as she touches me.
I want to touch her. I push aside her panties, and dip a finger into her juicy folds, wanting to loosen her a little before I plunge my massive rod into her.
Her entrance is so soft and warm, and my fingers flick slowly, wanting her to enjoy every moment of this. Her pussy is so ready for my cock-my hand is sopping wet when I take my fingers out.
She wrestles the panties off herself, and I appreciate her desire to be completely bare. It's exactly what I want, too.
A slow grin spreads across my face as I take in her naked body, every inch of her skin smooth and soft and ready to be devoured.
Her hands run over my chest, her blonde hair falling in her eyes. I brush it away, wanting to see her green eyes and heart-shaped lips, wanting to memorize the slight upturn of her nose and the subtle dimple in her left cheek.
"You are so beautiful, Claire. I could look at you all night."
"Don't," she says. "Don't say words that aren't true."
"You are quite the jaded woman, aren't you. Not into sentiment?" I kiss her shoulders, her protruding collarbone that for some reason is fucking making me hard as a rock.
"Look, Landon, I'm not bitter. Just a realist. And I don't need you to tell me I'm pretty to sleep with me. Right now, I just need to be fucked. It's been way too long."
Her mouth is on mine again, and I love that she isn't tiptoeing around what this is for her. This is about sex for her. And it can be about sex for me, too.