Insta-Hate (Instant Gratification #1) Page 20

  I grinned against his lips. “Stalker.”

  “Damn straight.”

  ***

  Unlocking a door was really hard to do when making out. I fumbled, dropped the set of keys on the concrete porch, and then fumbled again. Arsen’s lips were soft and punishing, holding all of the pent-up emotion both of us shared. I poured my need and want into him, gathering him closer to me, but even the tiniest space between us was too far away.

  Arsen growled and took the keys from me, opening the door. We plastered ourselves together on the other side. His mouth was warm mint and rapturous fire and I was burning in his flames.

  “God, Lex. I need to feel you.”

  “Yes,” I breathed into his ear. His stubble scraped my neck as he kissed, nibbled, and sucked.

  Putting on the brakes, he admitted, “I haven’t been with her. Not since you cornered me in Doc’s office. I just want you to know.”

  “Okay,” I answered as I kissed his jaw, giving him the green light.

  “I need you out of this dress.”

  I needed me out of the dress, too. And him out of his... everything. He spun me around and pinned me against the back of the door, unzipping the gown slowly, painfully. “Hurry up!”

  “No,” he said, smiling against my ear.

  “Evil.”

  He chuckled, easing the dress off of my shoulders. It pooled at my feet on the floor and I kicked it away. “Greedy girl.”

  I spun around and eased his jacket off before loosening his tie. Then I tortured him by easing each button from its hole, one by one. His undershirt was next, and then my hands found his belt and his pants found the floor.

  “Boxer briefs?” I smiled.

  “My God, what are these called?”

  “Panties,” I answered.

  “Barely.”

  His fingers worshipped my skin and we were a tangle of pent-up need. “Take me to the bedroom.”

  “Fuck yes,” he breathed into my mouth.

  He unclasped my bra and eased it off my shoulders. We lay on the bed, his skin on mine, his scent and mine mixing into something divine. Seeing a pained look on his face, I stilled. “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m trying to control myself, Lex.”

  “Fuck control. Give me everything, Arsen. Let go.”

  His jaw ticked once and he gritted his teeth, positioning himself at my entrance. I opened my legs for him, wrapping them around his waist as he entered me, slowly. His second stroke wasn’t slow. It was angry and filled with greed.

  It was hate and love and everything in between.

  Hard and fast, he drove into me, unrelenting and strong. He laved and sucked my nipples, sharpening their tips and making them reach to him for more. His hand found my clit and he rubbed the bundle of nerves until I was a thrashing, screaming mess until I came, exploding into a million pieces of light and crashing back down to the earth.

  Our bodies, sticky with sweat, didn’t want to part afterward. So we held each other. “I’ll take my time next time, Lex. I just... couldn’t.”

  Tears fell from my eyes. Arsen. Arsen was love, and it and he weren’t missing from me anymore.

  THIRTY-SIX

  Waking up in Paradise

  Arsen

  I groaned dramatically. The sunshine outside filtered through Lex’s white curtains and woke me up. Her arm was slung over my chest and her left leg was rubbing my morning wood.

  “Minx.”

  Lex gave a throaty laugh. “Somebody’s happy to see me.”

  “He is. He loved getting reacquainted.”

  “I forgot how big he is.”

  Mmm. I pushed my erection into her. “He loves compliments.”

  “Does he love warm tongues?”

  “Hell, yes he does.”

  Lex threw the covers back and approached him with a devious grin. Damn, I loved my dick again. Oh, fuck. Her mouth is like fucking silk. Warm, wet fucking silk. Oh, shit. Don’t come. Don’t... come.

  I fisted her hair in one hand and the sheet in the other. Lex worked me with her hand, her mouth, her little sounds, and I exploded like an inexperienced teenager in no time.

  ***

  Alexandria

  My sister had the most horrific timing of anyone on the entire planet. I’d just climbed out of the shower, leaving Arsen to clean up, and that was when she chose to knock. I threw a t-shirt and yoga pants on and ran to the door, unlocking the deadbolt and trying to hide the fact that Arsen and I had been having sex since we left the party last night, and that I just ran through the house like a crazy person.

  I opened the door and greeted her with a smile.

  “Good morning! How was everything last night?” she said slyly.

  I refused to acknowledge the innuendo, but where was my child? “Where’s Tally?” I looked behind Meg and didn’t see her anywhere. No movement in the car.

  “She’s having breakfast with the men folk. I was told to leave.”

  “But she’s a girl.”

  Meg snorted. “Tell her that. Is that the shower I hear running?” She grinned like the Cheshire cat. “May I witness the walk of shame? Who is he? Did you pick him up at the party? You’re so bad, Lexie.” Then her smile faded. “You can’t bring strange men around Natalia.”

  I rolled my eyes, imagining a flowerpot falling onto her head and little birds flying in circles around it before I realized how wrong that image was. That image was sort of me. “Duh.”

  At that point Arsen stepped into the hallway, wearing his suit trousers and undershirt and drying his hair with a towel.

  Meg leaned in to me as she stepped inside. “I want details. Tonight.” She peeked around me. “Hi Arsen.”

  Arsen tensed. “Long time no see, Megan.”

  “Yeah. Um, so I’ll let you two go back to fucking like rabbits. I’ll bring Tally home around two.” My mouth gaped open as she turned around and trotted down the sidewalk. I slammed the door closed behind her.

  “Why are your cheeks red, Lex? Sexy Lexie. That’s what the guys on the football team called you.”

  I groaned. Figured. Men and their dicks.

  ***

  In the kitchen, I searched for milk and cereal while Arsen made coffee, pouring a ton of sugar into it and humming Def Leppard’s Pour Some Sugar on Me. He searched the row of mugs, pulling two out. The one he handed to me had a picture of a broom, and in cursive were the words: ‘Bitches Brew’. He placed his mug under the Keurig and filled it. However, when he turned around, he looked constipated. Wait, no. His mug read: ‘Excuse my permanent resting bitch face’.

  I giggled, blowing over the surface of my coffee.

  “I need to run home and get some clothes,” he said, sipping the dark liquid.

  “Yeah. Are you coming over Wednesday?” Something felt like the fairy tale weekend we’d had was over, like it was midnight and everything in Cinderella’s world was falling apart, or turning back to normal, which was basically the same thing.

  “No,” he paused. “I’d like to come back this afternoon, if that’s okay.”

  “That’s more than okay.”

  He watched me sip my drink. “One more round before I leave?”

  “Hell yes.” I sat my mug down on the counter next to his and jumped on his back, piggyback style. Arsen ran down the hallway and into the bedroom. I ducked beneath the doorframe and laughed as he jumped onto the bed, both of us bouncing onto the mattress.

  When a man loved a woman, he took his time—in and out of the bedroom. Slowly, and with several more naughty mugs (which I hid from Tally), he showed me how much he loved Trinity; how much he loved me. That evening he came back and brought dinner and dessert. After that, he came over every evening.

  After several months when Tally asked, “Why doesn’t Dad just live here?” I didn’t have a good answer for her. So I asked Arsen if he’d like to move in with us. It was a big deal, and my palms sweated during the entire conversation and the eight days that came before it.

  His r
esponse was to run to his car. I thought we’d scared him away, or that I pushed him too far too fast. But he came jogging back with a box wrapped in gold paper. It was just large enough to hold a mug and I was seriously afraid to open it. Would it say: ‘No thanks’?

  I eased the paper off and opened the lid of the box. Inside was a mug that read: ‘Will you be my wifey?’ Arsen got down on one knee and held out a beautiful gold ring with a huge freaking rock on it.

  “Will you?” he asked.

  I wrapped my arms—mug and all—around his neck. “Yes! I was always yours, even when I didn’t know it. Tu me manques.”

  Arsen kissed me, tangling his fingers in my hair. “Never again. Never missing from each other again. I’ll love you beyond forever, Lex.”

  EPILOGUE

  July 15

  Alexandria

  Arsen was in the back yard with his friends Cody and Josh and his family. Josh said it best when he said it was hotter than a nine-peckered billy goat. And it was also Natalia’s birthday! The men manned the grill, upon which sizzled hamburgers and hotdogs and all things processed meat. Summer never looked as good as it did with a dozen children running through the grass out back. In the spring, Arsen and Tally had built a swing set onto her playhouse. It now had tubes to crawl through and twisting tube slides on both ends. The kids took turns slipping down the hot plastic, yelping when the too-hot plastic heated their little legs.

  Through the back door, I heard the doorbell ring and ran to answer it. Meg was due any minute and I didn’t know why she didn’t just use her spare key, but when I jerked the door open I almost peed a little.

  Ren was on my porch. Sasquatch balls. What in the hell? How long had it been?

  “Uh, hi,” I said, like a cavewoman.

  “Hi. I tried your apartment, but you don’t live there anymore.” He grinned, one dimple popping in his cheek. Yeah, no thanks, buddy.

  “I don’t. I live here and… How did you find my address?”

  “The people who bought your apartment found it on the closing papers.”

  “And they gave it to you.” Of course they did. Thank you, old rich assholes.

  “So do you want to hang out, for old times’ sake?”

  ‘Hang out’ in Ren-speak meant screwing against the wall. And the face I was making, with my nose scrunched up like my sister did when she lied, meant ‘Ew, no’.

  “Who’s this?” Arsen asked from behind me, holding the door open wider. The heat from his chest burned into me.

  “Just an old…friend.”

  Ren sized Arsen up. And with my sister’s typical shit timing, she pulled up just then. Will and Chase ran into the back yard through the side gate and I heard Tally squeal.

  “Who’s this?” Meg asked, out of breath as she tugged a large cooler up the steps. Arsen stepped up to get it from her and carried it inside.

  “This is Ren. He just stopped by. For old times’ sake.” My eyes pleaded with her to get rid of him.

  She smiled menacingly. “Sasquatch balls?”

  Holy shit. Not that way! Meg was mean and a little bit evil. “I really think you should go. She showed me your nutscaping, but now Lexie’s into clean-cut men. Everywhere, if you know what I mean.”

  I tried to salvage…something. “She means I’m getting married,” I blurted, wiggling my bling at him.

  “I didn’t realize you were seeing someone. I’ll just—” He hooked his thumb toward the road beyond, stuttered an awkward goodbye, and walked toward the curb.

  Arsen reappeared at the door. “What did he want?”

  Meg giggled, motioning for Evan to hurry up. He was sitting in the car on his cell. He held up one finger and pointed at his phone, mouthing the word, “Mother.” Clapping Arsen on the shoulder, Meg said, “I sense a little brother/sister-in-law bonding time is in order. Come, and I will regale you with tales of Ren’s hairy balls.”

  “What?” He laughed, looking to me, but I couldn’t look him in the face.

  When Evan came running up the walk, he looked confused. “What did I miss? Who was that guy?”

  “Go sit near your wife. You’ll hear all the gory details.”

  He rubbed his hands together. “I love gory details.”

  Lovely.

  Acknowledgments

  Now, you’re probably envisioning me skidding down the floors in my hallway in sock feet. You may or may not be right about that. I’ll never tell. But, I will tell you that this book threw me for a loop. I had a beautiful arc plotted, a sweet and funny love story that was light and fun and airy and then BAM! Alexandria told me her story. I hope you enjoyed it. More than that, if you know someone who is being abused in any way (mentally, physically, sexually) I hope that you encourage them to get help. There are hotlines, the police, and support groups.

  When I sit down to write this portion of the book, God comes to mind first. He’s blessed me in immeasurable ways and there will never be enough time to thank Him properly. I think of my husband and children. They support and cheer me on—every single day. My parents do the same and showed me by example what a loving relationship was, and taught me that I was good enough to be in one. Some women don’t have that. I’m grateful.

  Thanks to Stacy Sanford for polishing this book and making it shine with her amazing red pen super powers and to Regina Wamba for designing the cover. It’s stunning and perfect and exactly what I imagined. Thanks to Nathan Weller and Layla Hill for letting me snap pictures of them for the cover image. They were kind and professional and we had fun! And thanks to Allyson Gottlieb of Athena Interior Book Design for making the files for both the paperback and e-book.

  A huge thanks to both Cambria Hebert—an inspiration to me personally and a wonderful friend and colleague.

  And to my bestie, Rachael Brownell. You’re a lady boss. Thank you for reading the book before anyone else.

  I’m grateful to Amber Garcia. The woman is such a hard-worker. She is organized beyond my comprehension and I appreciate her so much. My street team (the Bond-tourage) is always so excited about anything I write and it’s sort of surreal. That goes for all fans. You are so awesome. I’m just a WV girl who decided to write stories. But I thank you all for your love and support. It means the world to me.

  Look out for two more books in this series, coming later this year.

  About the Author

  C. L. Bond, also known as Casey L. Bond, lives in West Virginia with her husband and their two beautiful daughters. She loves to write young adult, new adult, and adult fiction.

  You can find more information about Bond’s books via the following links:

  Website

  Newsletter

  Facebook

  Twitter & Instagram: @authorcaseybond

  Other Works available from C.L. Bond

  ADULT TITLES:

  Sin

  Temptation

  Dark Bishop

  Shady Bay

  Crazy Love

  Devil Creek

  YOUNG ADULT TITLES:

  The Frenzy Series

  Harvest Saga (set)

  Reap (FREE)

  Resist

  Reclaim

  Catalyst

  Prep for Doom (anthology)

  Liquid

  Winter Shadows

  Fractured Glass: A Novel Anthology

  Chasing Wishes

  Prisoner of Prophecy