So Trashy (Bad Boy Next Door Book 2)(9)

He gave my shoulders a light squeeze, sending unfamiliar tingles into my belly. My breath caught and my gaze roamed over his features. His left eye was swollen and bruised from his scuffle with Lonnie. The muscle ticked in his strong jaw. His chin was set and determined with its cleft. His lips suddenly fascinated me. How had I never noticed them before?

He leaned in.

Panic swept through me in a flash of heat colliding with cold. “Don’t you kiss me, Buck. I’m warning you.”

As though I’d thrown cold water in his face, his hands flew up and he stepped back. His features went through an array of emotions. Surprise. Confusion. Embarrassment.

Embarrassed? Buck?

His mouth worked for a moment, as though he might say something. Then it snapped shut. His eyes roamed my face.

I’d never even considered kissing Buck. But, right then, it’s all I could think about as I stared at his mouth, imagining what it might feel like on mine.

I grabbed his shirt, yanking him close again, and pressed my lips to his.

He was so still. Oh, God. I was wrong. He wasn’t going to kiss me.

But then he did.

His tongue slipped along the seam between my lips. His arms came around me, pulling me in tight against his muscled frame. His scent filled my head and his strength filled my heart.

He sucked in my lower lip, and the sensation rocked me to my core. I opened my mouth to him and…

And everything changed.

That was the moment I fell—no, I plummeted—in love with my best friend.

Thing is, I didn’t know it then, but that was the beginning of the end.

I throw myself backward on my bed, the butterflies in my belly the product of stubborn memories that should be forgotten.

I crawl under the covers and switch off the lamp.

Buck kissed me by the roadside that day, but stopped before his hands went below my waist. Once he broke that kiss, he backed away and refused to discuss it for so long that I finally gave up. I decided I needed him as my friend more than I needed to understand what happened. I mean, it wasn’t like I could cut him out of my life for not talking about that scorching kiss. Buck meant too much to me.

After all these years—it seems like an eternity—the memories are as crisp and clear as if it were yesterday. Unfortunately, the feelings Buck evoked in the teenaged me seem to simmer right beneath the surface in the adult me.

My fingers trip over my belly, slipping between my legs. I pinch my clit, thinking of the first time Buck did the same.

His big fingers grazed my nub, sending a thrill through me as he nipped my bottom lip, his tongue delving into my mouth. I held onto his shoulders as he sank his finger into my slit, circling until I arched to him, my body thrumming.

I slide my other hand beneath the blanket, dipping into my entrance to smooth the moisture over my clit. Imagining it’s Buck, I push my finger inside, trying to imitate how he brought me to the edge with just his touch, before moving down to kiss my pussy like he was kissing my mouth, until I crashed over the precipice.

My hands are a poor substitute for the real thing, but I rub my bud and thrust my fingers as deep as I can. I recall every touch, every dip of his tongue, every pounding plunge of his cock, until my pussy pulses with the memory and gives me a fraction of the release Buck evoked.

Some release is better than nothing. It’ll have to do, because getting involved with Buck again is the path to ruin, and I’ve been down that road.

I’ll have to avoid him until one of us leaves.

Shouldn’t be too hard. His camera crew will keep him occupied. And I’ve got this house to contend with. All I need to do is figure out where we’ll get the money to finish all the projects Uncle Manny didn’t get to complete.

Unfortunately, separating from the military doesn’t come with a golden parachute. It didn’t come with much, really. A DD-214, a military education in munitions and ordnance assembly, and a nice piece of paper with a shiny gold seal and scrolled writing declaring my honorable discharge.

Whooptie-fucking-do.





FIVE





My door bursts open. I crack an eyelid. Oh joy, Sadie, Aunt Delores’s real niece, is here. Fabulous. I raise my head just enough to pull the pillow from under it and yank it over my eyes.

I whisper, “Go away.”

“Time to get up, Sleepyhead. Aunt Delores tells me you’re going to town later. I need a ride.”

I wave her out the door. “Later doesn’t mean to wake my ass up at unreasonable hours of the day.”

“Unreasonable? It’s ten-thirty.”

I sit bolt upright. “Ten-thirty?”

Damn Buck. I left his ass downstairs last night, but he didn’t leave my mind all night long. Thoughts of him—of us together—kept me awake until almost dawn.