Katie Ashley - Strings of the Heart

Furrowing my brows, I asked, “How did you owe me?”

Not meeting my eyes, Rhys ran a finger along the wooden groove in the bar. “You stayed tonight.”

“Of course I did.”

His gaze flickered from the bar to me. “You didn’t have to though. After seeing what happened with Ellie and all the fucked up shit that is my family, you could’ve bailed. Hell, you probably should have.”

I shook my head. “What happened tonight was horrible. My heart aches for Ellie and for you. But it could never make me care about you less.”

As his jaw clenched and unclenched, Rhys’s eyes remained firmly on mine. “You do care about me, don’t you?”

“Very much. I always have and always will,” I replied, my voice humming with emotion. I reached across to close my hand over his. “I’ll always be here for you, Rhys.”

“Take a shot,” he commanded, his expression tense, his eyes unreadable.

Goosebumps pebbled my arms at his assertive tone. I wasn’t used to him being so forceful. For a moment, I couldn’t process his words. It was like the tone of the entire conversation had veered off course. Reluctantly, I followed his orders. When I started to reach for a lime, he stopped me. As I eyed him curiously, he took the shaker of salt in his hand. Tilting his head, he shook the bottle along his neck. Then he leaned over and brought the shaker to my neck. My breathing became erratic at the nearness of him. But most of all, it was the way the tension crackled in the air between us. Nothing really had been spoken out loud, nothing had been done to change things, but in that moment, everything was different.

“Take a shot,” he repeated.

With trembling fingers, I reached for the glass. I took it in one hand and the lime in the other. Leaning forward on the stool, I dipped my head down to his neck. My lips hovered over the warmth of his skin. Flicking out my tongue, I brought it against the stubble on his neck. Rhys sucked in a harsh breath at the contact. Slowly, my tongue trailed upward over the faint line of salt, eliciting a small groan from Rhys.

Once I finished, I pulled away. I didn’t dare look at Rhys—my skin burned just from the intensity of his stare. Tipping up the glass, I downed it in one fiery gulp. As my eyes pinched shut in pain, I slammed the lime against my lips. My teeth cut through the fruit, as my mouth sucked off the juices. When I swallowed again, a shiver echoed through me.

I opened my eyes to find Rhys still staring at me. His dark eyes shone with such intensity that I would’ve given anything to know what he was thinking. He reached for his glass and lime. His eyes never left mine as he bent over. I tilted my head to give him better access. At the feel of his warm tongue on my neck, I shuddered, and I remained trembling even after he pulled away. He then downed the tequila without even bothering with the lime.

“Another?”

“Yes.”

We repeated the process again. And again. Until we had downed five shots and licked and sucked our way up each other’s necks. My skin still tingled from the feel of his tongue. Of course, my entire body was tingling from the strong alcohol pumping through every cell and molecule. It made me feel so alive. While it had just been his tongue on my neck, the feel of his hands drove me crazy as they brushed on my shoulders and whispered across my collarbone. I fantasized that his tongue was following the same path across my chest and down to my breasts.

More than anything in the world, I wanted this man, and tonight I was going to get my wish. From the lust-filled looks he’d been giving me, along with the groans of pleasure when I had licked his skin, I knew what was going to happen. I was finally going to have Rhys.

It was official—I was fucking wasted. Swaying on the bar stool, I licked the remaining salt off my upper lip as my last shot of tequila burned its way down my stomach. When I glanced over at Allison, my dick jerked in my pants. Damn, she was so fucking sexy. The feel of her tongue on my skin had lit me up like I had never imagined possible. If she could do that just touching my neck, what would it feel like for her to have her hands and mouth on the rest of my body? I shuddered at the pleasurable thought.

Not only had her tongue felt good on me, but her skin had felt satiny smooth under my own tongue. I could have spent days kissing and licking up her neck and face. More than anything, I wanted to kiss those lips that parted each and every time my mouth came close to hers.

Staring at Allison was getting to be too much, so I turned my gaze to the pool. “I think we should swim,” I blurted out of nowhere. Considering how we were both looking at each other like we were in heat, it would probably be a good idea to cool the fuck off before things got out of hand.

Allison stared at me in surprise. “Seriously?”

“Mmm, hmm.” Without another word to her, I fell off the stool and staggered over to the pool. The water appeared so cool and inviting. Beads of sweat had popped out all over my body from the tequila while itchy warmth had spread its way over my skin. I didn’t give it another thought—I just dove right into the deep end.

The coolness of the night made the water chillier than normal. Gliding through the water felt like I had tiny pelts of ice nicking my skin. When I surfaced, Allison stood at the edge of the pool, staring down at me with a worried expression. “What the hell are you doing?”

Treading water, I replied, “Swimming.”

“In your tux top and kilt?”

“Fuck the tux. I wanted to swim.” I grinned up at her. “Come in. It feels wonderful.”

Allison’s brows lined as she gazed down at her dress. When I thought she would just jump in and join me, I was wrong. Her hands went around her back, and I soon realized she was unzipping her dress. Mesmerized, I watched as the top slid down her body. Blinking rapidly, I licked my lips as she shimmied the dress off her hips. When it lay in a puddle of satin on the floor, she stepped out of it, standing before me in nothing but a strapless bra and panties. Oh fucking hell, I was in trouble. Allison had the body of goddess—a goddess made for sex.

“Quite a little strip tease you have going on,” I said, trying to distract myself for the moment. Although as drunk as I was, I could have been yelling at her to take it all off.

With a shy smile, her arms crisscrossed over her waist. “It’s just like a bikini,” she protested. Instead of jumping in, she went to the stairs. Slowly, she took them one by one, the water enveloping her body in a teasingly sensual way. I couldn’t have kept my eyes off of her even if I wanted to. She was too fucking sexy. And what was totally endearing is she had no idea what kind of effect she had on me.

She swam to me in long strokes, her body causing delicate ripples as it cut through the water. But when she reached me, she kept right on swimming. Eventually, she dipped under the waterfall and disappeared from my view. Weighed down by my clothes, I kicked hard in the water to swim after her. As the waterfall cascaded over my head, I searched for her. She rested back against the man-made rock formation. Her eyes tracked my movements toward her.

Allison seemed so far away. I knew what I had to do once I got to her—I had to fucking devour her. I had spent the last two weeks playing the gentleman by keeping my fucking perverted thoughts at bay. I had also kept reminding myself that she was just a friend, and more importantly, she was Jake’s sister. But I’d spent way too much time denying myself someone I truly desired, which was Allison. There was no way I was letting this night end without making her body mine.

When I reached her at the rocks, I tugged her to me. Her slick body fused against mine, causing my cock to twitch with anticipation. “What have you done to me?” I asked, as I stared into her eyes.

Allison’s brow lined in confusion. “I haven’t done anything.”

I shook my head. “You’ve done something to change me—to make me want you.”

“Maybe you wanted me all along and didn’t realize it,” she challenged softly.

“You mean these past few weeks?”

“I mean for a long, long time. Longer than you would like to admit.”

Blinking several times, I tried processing her words in my inebriated state. Through the haze, I wondered if Allison was right. Had there been something between us for a long time? And what the fuck did she mean by longer than I would want to admit? She had been just a kid—a teenager—for most of the years I’d known her, and I sure as hell wasn’t some pervy dude who got off on young girls. “I don’t know about that. But I do know I want to kiss you again.”

“Then kiss me.”

For a few seconds, my mouth hovered over hers. I felt her quick pants of breath feather across my cheek. Then without another moment of delay, I pressed my lips to hers. The cold water seemed to have doused the intensity we had before when we were doing the shots. This time Allison was tentative at first, letting me take what I wanted. But then the silk warmth of her tongue flicked across my bottom lip. A groan left my mouth almost instantaneously.

Pulling away, I stared into her face. “Damn, you’re so fucking beautiful,” I murmured.

She fluttered her eyelashes prettily at me. “Do you really mean that?”

“I would say it was the tequila talking, but I think my wood would prove me wrong.”

As her arms came to encircle my neck, she pressed herself against me. “I don’t want it to be the tequila talking. I want it to be what you feel deep down inside.”