Not About Love (This Love Book 2) (8 page)

“I’m texting the investor.”

“Oh,” he replied, seeming disappointed.

“Where’s Ella by the way? Aren’t the two of you attached at the hip?” I asked, raising one eyebrow.

He laughed and shook his head. I expected him to give me a few fighting words about my joke, but he just smiled. I hadn’t seen my brother this happy in a very long time. Seeing him at peace was the best feeling; I felt so relieved.

“She’s spending the morning with Lieke. Ella has been her babysitter for more than a year and she’s about to leave. Lieke is not taking it very well.”

My phone buzzed, and I managed to take it in my hands before my curious brother had a chance to peek at the name on the phone.

Woke up not too long ago. About to make some coffee. Want a cup? ;)

I loved that this woman went straight to the point. Things were so easy, so natural between us. A sensation of warmth spread in my chest as a thought clouded my mind:
This feels right.
No, I had to shake that kind of idiotic notion out of my head. This thing we were doing was just a passing distraction. I had broken one of my rules, but it didn’t mean I was going to make a one-eighty about relationships.

Relationships were not my thing. The last few years had been great because I hadn’t tied myself to anyone. I was on my own, and I liked that. I didn’t need anyone.

We had been meeting up at her house these last few days, and I had lost count of how many times I had made her come. I’d even memorized the expression on her face when I drove her to the edge, her beautiful, luscious lips forming an O. This woman was different from the ones I usually fooled around with. She had a gorgeous face and a mouth that liked to tease me. She was smart and witty. I was as much a fan of her personality as I was of her body. Soft with curves in all the right places, sexy as hell—she was a work of art, and my cock could not get enough.

I couldn’t get enough of her pussy or her mouth.

Shit.
I had to stop thinking about her. I was sitting with my brother, for crying out loud, not to mention walking all the way to her place with a boner was going to be rather uncomfortable.

“Sounds like the investor wants to meet right now. I’ve got to go,” I lied. “Will I see you later?”

“Yes, but don’t forget we’re leaving tomorrow. Don’t disappear,” Lou said in a grave tone, pointing his finger at me.

* * *

Ally opened the door and the first thing I looked at was her breasts.

Well, it was her T-shirt’s fault, mostly. It said
Heaven Is A Place With Cheese
. I burst out laughing, and she gave me a scowl as she gestured for me to come in.

“What? No making fun of my shirt.”

“I’m not,” I said, snickering. She cocked an eyebrow, clearly skeptical. “I’m serious. It just took me off guard. Actually, I kind of love it. I think my mother would, too. Where did you get it?”

“Your mother, huh?” she asked, tipping her chin at me, her hands on her waist.

“I forget you two have met.”

“We haven’t just met. We’re actually
crazy
for each other. Your mother is a great lady. What can I say? She’s got great taste,” she said with a smirk.

“You’re right. She’s great. I know I’m lucky.”

The conversation between us stopped, and neither one of us seemed to be able to make the first move. It probably didn’t help that I had started talking about my mother. Bad move.

“Where’s that cup of coffee you were talking about?” I asked, trying to break the tension. We went to her kitchen and she poured coffee in two mugs. She handed me one and then stood against the counter, wrapping her arms around her stomach. As I took a sip of coffee, I noticed she wasn’t wearing a bra.

I let out a growl and stared into her gorgeous blue eyes. She bit her lip, and a faint blush appeared on her cheeks. The woman was purposely taunting me. I put my coffee down on the kitchen counter. I was done messing around. I wanted her. What was she waiting for? She had told me to come over, but now she was waiting for me to make the first move. I knew she wasn’t shy.

I leaned against the wall behind me, taking her in. Her red curls were loose and messy, her face pretty even without any makeup on, though I figured she would never agree with me on that. I looked down and only then noticed she had no pants on. I had thought she might be wearing shorts, but that wasn’t the case.

Her milky skin was a trigger for me. It reminded me instantly of what it felt like being inside her with her soft, shapely legs wrapped around me.

“Fuck, Ally…do you even have any underwear on?” I let out in a growl.

I wanted to push her against the wall and fuck her until we were both satiated, but I also didn’t want to be an animal. I always seemed to be the one initiating things. I wanted her to take control.

I looked up at the ceiling for a second, and in that fragment of time, she closed the distance between us and raised herself on her tiptoes to hug me around my neck.

“What if I’m not wearing any underwear? What are you going to do to me? Tell me…what do you want to do to me, Boyd?” she whispered seductively as she placed lingering, searing kisses on my neck and on the part of my chest exposed by my V-neck. Her hands traveled down and slid inside my jeans, and she grasped my cock.

Fuck.

I groaned and placed my hands on her waist. I leaned down and met her eyes, teasing and playful.

“God help me, Ally, I’m trying to be good here. I want to take you against this wall. I want to fuck you all over your house. I want to give it to you until you beg me to stop.”

Her eyes went wide, but the look of shock was soon followed by a sultry smile.

“This sounds very promising. You better get down to business then.” She took off her shirt and stood naked in front of me. Her skin was my drug. I wasn’t going to be a gentleman for much longer. I was going to take her and make her cry out with pleasure. I’d do anything she wanted me to do. My fingertips caressed her shoulders, the swells of her breasts, her waist, and her hips. I slid my hand between her soft thighs and parted her lips with my fingers. She was wet and warm. I couldn’t wait to bury myself inside her. I wanted to eat her sweet pussy. She moaned against my neck as my fingers moved into her.

“Ah!” she cried in surprise when I grabbed her legs and lifted her over my shoulder.

“Boyd! Put me down!”

“No freaking way!”

“Then take me to bed, metrosexual mountain man,” she said, feigning outrage as she grabbed hold of my ass.

“As you wish,” I replied, unable to wipe the smile off my face.

December 2014

I STAYED IN A HOTEL
the night after Ella’s show. My parents lived in a small town an hour outside Nashville and Ella wanted me to stick around for a couple of days. I hadn’t seen her in months, pretty much since she’d started touring in the US. She told me she would be leaving for New York soon to visit her parents, and she was taking Lou along with her. He needed all the luck he could get. Ella’s parents were nice people, but a little too stiff for my taste. They reminded me of my parents, in a way, although the Ferrises had never been as overbearing as Mr. and Mrs. Fitzpatrick. They never influenced my choices. I made the choices, I called the shots, I made the mistakes all by myself.

When Lou and Boyd’s mom Leanne heard I was staying in a hotel, she protested and talked to me on the phone, telling me they had plenty of room at her house and that she would love to have me over. My hotel was paid up for one more day, but it seemed rude to refuse, so I went to the Rivers’ house the next day. When I arrived, Leanne was busy in the kitchen preparing for a holiday party for friends and family.

Ella was already helping her in the kitchen when I got there, and I decided to join in and help out by preparing the appetizers.

“You’re my guest, you shouldn’t be helping in the kitchen!” she complained.

“It’s no trouble at all.”

“The caterer is going to show up later today, but I just wanted to make something extra. I want to make sure I’m keeping my guests fed.”

“You sound nothing like my mom. She would have put us all to work hours ago, and she’d be as neurotic as Mrs. Bennett in
Pride and Prejudice
.
My nerves!
” I cried, imitating Elizabeth Bennett’s mother, and she laughed.

I liked Leanne. I had met her the year before when hanging out with Lou over the holidays. I could see where her youngest son got many of his traits. His mother was kind and sweet, and had such a beautiful, welcoming smile. Her eyes were a beautiful dark green, just like Lou’s. Her hair was gray, and she kept it tied in a ponytail.

“Where’s Boyd, Leanne?” Ella asked. She shot me a glance and smiled. I knew what she was doing. She was trying to study my reaction. I rolled my eyes and looked away.

“I don’t know. He’s out with friends, I think. I’m telling you, I’m not too happy about it. He said he might not even come back tonight! I told him he better,” she fired back in her southern accent. “I’m already mad at him. He hardly ever comes around any more. We don’t see much of him at Christmas or any other time of the year. That boy has lost his way, I tell you!” She sounded frustrated, but I couldn’t help laughing. I also couldn’t help but find the similarities between his behavior and mine. I didn’t enjoy coming home that much either. Everyone I knew had moved on, and besides my parents, there wasn’t much left of my old life calling me back to Tennessee.

I had specifically come back home for the holidays the previous year out of guilt, and this year I had decided to make the trek so I could spend some time with Ella. I especially wanted to see her play in the US since I had only seen her perform in little bars around Amsterdam.

“Where is Boyd when you need him?” Lou grumbled as he and his father tried to make their way through the door with an enormous Douglas Fir tree. It smelled amazing, and the living room was instantly filled with the aroma of the fresh cut tree.

After the two men got it upright in the tree stand, we helped Leanne decorate it.

I hadn’t decorated a Christmas tree since I was in high school. Every time I went home during Christmas vacation, my parents’ home was already decked out.

We spent the afternoon drinking spiked apple cider and lost track of time. By the time we put the last of the decorations up, we barely had time to go get ready before the guests would arrive.

I was glad I had packed something dressier to wear. I stared at my reflection in the mirror and smoothed the viscose dress with my fingers, feeling a ping of excitement in my stomach thinking about what Boyd’s face would look like when he saw me in it. My happy mood, however, crashed and burned when I remembered his mother’s words.

He might not even show up.

Stop thinking about him.
Screw Boyd.
Why did I even care?

Either way, I felt beautiful and confident.

My dress was a bit flirtier than what I usually wore. It was bright red, had a sweetheart neckline that made my boobs look amazing—though part of that was due to the plunge demi bra I was wearing—and the knee-length flared A-line skirt showed off my legs. I put some makeup on, fixed my hair, and accessorized with a pair of statement earrings. I headed downstairs, trying to contain the butterflies in my stomach, and reminded myself not to have high hopes for the evening.

* * *

Mr. and Mrs. Rivers introduced me to a lot of their friends, but just as I suspected, Ella, Lou, and I were the youngest people in attendance. I struck up a conversation with an attorney friend of Leanne who had studied at Georgetown twenty years before I did, but soon found myself wandering around in the house and staring at pictures I hadn’t had time to look at before.

I was also getting buzzed. I’d basically been drinking all afternoon and had now switched to brandy. I walked around the house and came across a wall filled with photos. I had seen the wall earlier in the day, but I hadn’t had time to look or study the pictures up close.

My eyes fell on a picture of a much younger Boyd with some other guys and a girl who looked about the same age. He had long hair almost to his shoulders and didn’t have a lick of facial hair.