Go Away, Darling - Alexis Anne Page 0,48

me.

I ripped off my own clothes and condomed up, then took her slowly so I could savor and memorize how it felt to be with her. It was all eyes and hot breath as I filled her. I felt every inch, every quiver, the build, the tension, the need.

I loved her legs around my hips, her ankles at my back, her breasts in my hands or against my chest as we kissed. I held her hips in place as I drove into her over and over again.

“Chris! There. Please?”

Her words drove me wild. I wanted to hear them for the rest of my life. “I can feel it. You’re close, babe.”

“Yes.” She nodded furiously, eyes screwed shut as she arched up to me, meeting my thrusts.

“Eyes, Liv.”

She forced them open. They were unfocused and wild. The connection from our eyes to our bodies complete. “Yes,” she whispered, her hand coming to my face and stroking my cheek.

I drove into her again, deep and powerful. Her eyes rolled back as her orgasm took hold, but she blinked, refocusing on me, and all the pleasure I saw, mixed with her naked adoration, pitched me over the edge with her.

We slept back to back all night long. I made her breakfast and we wound up using the kitchen counter for another round of fast, intense love making. Then Beau texted to let her know they were on the way.

“I have nothing better to do until February. I’m here to help whether it’s picking Linc up from school or taking you out fishing to get away from everything.” I kissed her one last deep time, knowing it might be weeks or even months before we could really move forward. “I’m going to be the best next door neighbor you’ve ever met and Linc is going to get so used to having me in his life he won’t ever worry about me leaving you—or him—lonely.”

She smiled up at me sadly. “You really think everything will work out?”

I gave her chin a shake. “I know it will.” Then I hopped down her front steps, waving goodbye before Beau pulled into the drive.

Yes, I was a man well pleasured and satisfied, but I was also a man who had full confidence the world was at his feet. Liv and I were solid and once we navigated these murky waters we’d be together, once and for all.

But in the meantime I had someone else to win over.

As soon as I got home I pulled out my phone, hitting the speed dial. “Hey Trent. How do I become a baseball coach?”

Part II

15

Friend Zoned

9 Months Later…

* * *

Chris

To say things didn’t go quite as planned would be an understatement. I’m still not quite sure how I wound up so firmly in the friend zone, but here I was. Linc and I were thick as thieves though. And I was so close to Summer I was dangerously close to calling her my best friend.

And that pissed me off because my best friend was Liv and just two hours ago she called me “buddy.” Like buddy old pal. It was as if she were deliberately pushing me further into the friend zone and I didn’t know why.

“Has she met someone else?”

Summer frowned. “No.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. My sister is the definition of monogamy. If she were moving on she would tell you.”

“I feel like she is telling me,” I grumbled, catching the baseball Linc rocketed my way and threw it back. He’d turned into a pretty good ballplayer. I helped coach his fall ball team and between me, Summer, Trent, and occasionally, Beau, Linc’s home life had barely registered his mother’s new schedule.

That’s right, I was friends with Beau. We were one big modern family, minus the actual relationship-with-Olivia part of the equation.

“She’s...I don’t even know,” Summer sighed. Linc threw another ball that made my glove pop. “Dang, kid. Take it easy on the old man. He’s got to pitch tomorrow.”

Linc snickered. “I don’t throw half as hard as Wes does.”

Wes being Linc’s new favorite player. Linc had become friends with a lot of the guys this season. Getting to know Beau I also got to understand how very different we were. Not just the whole city nightlife part, but professionally as well. He almost never took Linc to games and rarely introduced him to his teammates. It was as if Beau’s football life was on another planet.

Whereas I wanted Linc there all the time. Every game he could come to, he was