“I just left Beth’s and thought you might like some bagels, so I—”

That was as far as she got before he hauled her into his arms and his mouth came crashing down on hers. He heard the bag hit the floor with a thud as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pressing her curves against him. Within moments, her dress was down at her waist and her panties were torn and sliding down her legs. When his hand found her sex he groaned. “Ellie, you’re so wet. Wrap your legs around me, baby, I need to fuck you. He lowered the waist of his jogging shorts, freeing his cock. She let out a wild moan as he positioned himself at her entrance, rubbing back and forth in her warm heat. Unable to hold out another moment, he surged forward, burying his length in her.

“Declan, mmmm, feels so good.”

The sound of her voice seemed to break the last shreds of his control and his hips pounded forward. She locked her ankles behind him, lifting her hips to meet him thrust for thrust. He leaned down to take one nipple into his mouth, nipping the tip sharply. He felt her body shudder at the small bite of pain mixed with pleasure. He went wild when she repeated the move on his nipple. Feeling those small teeth against his nub, sent him off into orbit. He set a relentless pace and she was with him every step of the way.

“I can’t hold back any longer baby.” That was all it took to push her off the end along with him. Their shouts of completion filled the apartment. Anyone unfortunate enough to be walking down the hall at that moment would get more than they bargained for.

Too weak to stand for much longer, he staggered back until he felt the couch against his knees. He collapsed on a soft cushion and Ella sprawled on top of him. When they had both caught their breath, she pulled back giving him an impish grin. “I guess this means you’ll take me to the new Expendables movie? It’s got everyone in it, including Jason Statham. I just loved him in all of the Transporter movies.” Feeling his chest shake, she pulled back wrinkling her nose in an adorable fashion that was all Ella. “What?”

“You know you make my dick hard when you start talking about stuff like that. Your bad-girl side is so damn hot, Ellie.”

She gave him a grin, slowly swiveling her hips against his ever-growing erection. “You like bad girls, Mr. Stone?”

Pulling her hips down and grinding against her clit, he growled, “You bet your sweet ass I do, as long as they are you.” Her laugh turned into a moan as he bucked upwards, sliding deeper into her hot depths. Declan knew it would be a miracle if they made it to work on time now. But how could he be expected to walk away from the beautiful woman riding him now with such abandon? Impossible.

Chapter Eighteen

“Alright, where did you go?”

Ella knew she must be giving Beth a blank look but she had no idea what she was talking about. Beth rolled her eyes, “That’s about the third time you’ve zoned out on me. I even told you my vagina was on fire and you didn’t even blink.”

Ella felt herself blush. She was supposed to be helping Beth with her wedding plans, but instead she was obsessing over Declan. “Do you think it’s weird that Declan didn’t invite me to meet his family today? Evan was spending the day with him at his place and Brant and Ava were coming over to meet him.”

Beth dropped the bridal magazine she had been holding in her lap. “Oh honey, I don’t think so. You know how weird men are.”

“You met Nick’s parents really early on didn’t you?”

“Well sure, but they are also Gray’s parents so it was kind of hard not to and, heck, those two are more like buddies than parents.”

“I know it’s silly,” Ella signed, “but he acted almost guilty about it, like he was intentionally keeping me away. We went to dinner and a movie last night. We went back to my place, which usually leads to . . . well, you know. Instead, I got a kiss, just one, and then he focused on some point past my shoulder and told me he had to get going because he had an early morning since Evan was coming over for the day. We had been talking about taking him to the zoo. When I mentioned that, he got all shifty, and mumbled something about his family coming by to meet Evan instead. Then he actually said, ‘See ya, babe.’”

Nick must have caught the last line as he came into the room, because he quickly started to back out. “Whoa, where are you going?” Beth asked.

“Anywhere but here. This sounds like a conversation I could lose my guy card over.”

Beth rolled her eyes and waved him back in the room. “Just answer a question and we’ll let you off the hook. When do men usually introduce the woman they are dating to their family?”

“Like never,” Nick deadpanned, “Unless they are thinking long-term. I mean really long-term here. In dating, your family is the Holy Grail and you don’t let anyone make that trip until they are worth it.”

Ella felt her bottom lip tremble. “So, I’m not good enough for the Holy Grail? I’m not a long-termer.”

Beth shot Nick a dirty look. “Oh, shit,” he moaned. “I knew I shouldn’t have stayed in the room. Why couldn’t you just let me leave?” To Ella he said, “I didn’t mean you. I was a bastard when I was single, so you can’t go by anything I say. I’m sure Declan doesn’t think you’re a short termer. You probably have weeks or even months left together.”

“Oh my God,” Beth groaned. “Please just stop and go away.” Nick took off at a fast clip, obviously relieved to be dismissed before things got worse. “Ella, honey, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. That was just his off-base opinion. I’ve seen the way Declan is with you and he isn’t just sleeping with you. He cares about you a lot. He probably thought that it would be uncomfortable for you to meet his family. He doesn’t know how they’re going to react to meeting Evan.”

She gave Beth a weak smile of reassurance. “That’s probably it. I’m sure I’m just making too much out of it.” She didn’t believe what she was saying any more than Beth was probably buying it, but at this point she knew that her friend had enough on her mind without worrying about her love life. If Declan didn’t want her to meet his family, she couldn’t exactly blame him. Look at how well both meetings with her family had gone. She should just count herself lucky. If another person besides her mother called them fornicators, she wasn’t sure she could take it.

* * *

“Where’s your girl?” Mac asked.

Declan knew it was useless to play dumb with one of his oldest friends. Mac could read him like a book. He had arrived ahead of the others and they were sitting on the deck outside, while Evan played with his toys in the doorway. “I thought I would spare her from this painful family hour today.”

Mac tapped his thumb against his thigh, looking off into the distance. “I see. I was surprised to hear you had gotten involved with someone. It isn’t your usual MO.”

“No, it’s not,” he admitted. “It just happened before I realized it.”

“So where do you think it’s headed?”

Declan shot him a look of surprise. “Nowhere, you know that. Just because we’ve been together more than one night doesn’t mean I’m picking out china patterns. I’m not settling down, and Ella damn well deserves better than some fucked-up mess like me.”

“Don’t you think that’s her call?”

“What about you?” Declan snapped, “I don’t see you making any life-changing decisions. How many years are you going to waste, hung up on my sister?” Declan sat back and waited for Mac to explode. Usually anything to do with Ava was a sure trigger with him.

Instead, Mac settled back in his chair and took a moment before replying. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m not exactly a great example, but at least it’s not from lack of trying. I’ve loved Ava since we were kids and I know she loves me in her own way. Sometimes it’s just not enough. I’ve . . . been thinking of moving on with my life. I’m not getting any younger.” Pointing to Evan, he added, “and I wouldn’t mind having one of those at some point.”

Surprised, Declan said, “That was about the last thing I expected to hear from you. I never thought you’d throw in the towel there. Maybe you should talk to her before you do that.”

Giving him a sad smile, Mac said, “Why? For years she’s kept me—and every other man—at arm’s length. She’s . . . well, she’s like you, Dec. She has sex with a guy, and then moves on. She doesn’t do it near as often as you, but it never happens more than once.”

“You can’t know that for sure.”

Smirking, Mac said, “Come on, I run a security company. You should know I’ve kept a tail on her for years. I hate like hell to read those reports sometimes, but I won’t let anyone else hurt her, man, I can’t. Even if I hadn’t promised your grandfather to watch over her, I would have anyway. She’ll always be mine, even when I move on.”

Declan tipped his beer back before replying. “Is there anyone normal among us? I guess Brant is about it, even though he’s as strange as they come.”

Mac grimaced. “Boy, that’s just sad isn’t it? So what about you? When will you finally move on?”

“I don’t have anything to move on from. No long lost loves or anything.”

“Dec, give me some credit for knowing more about you than the average person you bullshit. You may not have an Ava in your past, but you damn sure have a Craig, which is probably worse. When are you going to deal with all that baggage and move forward? You know he wouldn’t want this for you.”

“I’m fine. I was the way I am years before Craig came along.”

“You might have had some of the usual issues, but Craig changed you. We were all there, Dec, and everyone hated it like hell. You just took everyone’s guilt though and carried it. Nothing you could have done would have saved him. If it hadn’t been that day, then it would have been another one.”