I could feel my toes curling as my eyes rolled into the back of my head. The fire that started in my feet was cascading up my thighs. I shook on top of his face. I pressed myself harder against the shower wall. His hands held me in place as his shoulders scooted behind my legs. He was ready to hold my body weight if I collapsed. He was ready to take the brunt of the fall if I lost myself in him.
This man loved every part of me, and as my climax rushed over my body, I made sure he knew it.
“Perfect. You’re perfect. Shit, Bryan. Yes. I love you. Yes. Oh, hell.”
I collapsed into him, and he studied my body with his strong, chiseled arms. I was heaving for air, my lungs gasping for life as I slowly slid to the shower floor. Bryan gathered me in his arms and held me close to him, my body curled up in his lap as his lips continued to kiss my skin.
“I love you, Hailey. There is nothing about you that is unattractive. I have been insatiable during your pregnancy, watching you blossom the way you have. There will never be a point in our lives where I don’t crave you.”
“I love you so much,” I said.
Tears rose to my eyes as I tilted my head back. I pushed myself up and captured Bryan's lips with mine, tasting myself on his skin. Tears of joy leaked down my face as our bodies continued to be battered by the warm water pouring from the shower. I could feel him grinning into my lips as my tongue slowly lapped at his, tasting as much of him as I could while my body settled down.
“I’m such a blubbering mess,” I said.
“I blame it on the baby,” he said.
“Already starting that habit?”
“I’m never too old to learn new tricks.”
I smiled as my arm wrapped around Bryan's neck. I brought his face back down to mine for another loving kiss, only this time, I could feel his body growing against me. I lifted myself to my knees and straddled his lap, my warmth hovering over his growing thickness. I watched his eyes darken as a mischievous smirk crossed my cheeks. Then, I reached down and wrapped my hand around his pulsing girth.
“We seemed to have hit uneven footing,” I said.
“How do you figure?” Bryan asked.
“That exchanged seemed a little one-sided, don’t you think?”
I slid myself down his throbbing cock, making a groan leave his lips. I leaned forward and pressed my lips against his cheek while his entire body trembled against mine. My body was humming for him, begging me to move as I stayed seated in his lap. His hands came up and gripped my hips, his fingertips burying themselves into the growing excess of my body.
“Make love to me, Bryan McBride,” I said.
“With pleasure,” he said.
Chapter 3
Bryan
I wanted to stop by Drew's tattoo shop to check on him and see how he was doing. He and Anna had drifted apart since the two of them had tried to get their new lives off the ground. Between Anna trying to get her legal aid services business up and running and Drew working on promoting his tattoo shop, they didn't have a lot of time to spend with one another. They had eventually broken things off, and I hated that I hadn’t been around to be there for him. It had all taken place while we were still in the middle of Hailey's European art tour, and I wanted to check on my friend and make sure he was doing okay.
From the moment I pulled up, I could tell his business was booming. There were cars looking for parking spaces, and there was a line out the door. I smiled as I parked my car, resolving myself to walk three blocks to get to the tattoo parlor.
I was already proud of my friend and former business partner before I even entered the establishment.
I expected the back up of people to be because Drew was the only inker. The last time we had talked about his business, he’d had no intentions of hiring anyone else. He didn't want to deal with a staff or payroll or anything like that. He just wanted to be a small, individual business he could flourish and run on his own. But that was not what I found when I walked inside. I pushed through people to find the door that separated the waiting room from the individual tattoo rooms, and I shoved myself through it. People were complaining as I scooted past them, but I tried not to let it get to me. If I was waiting in this line and saw some random guy pushing through, I’d be pissed too.
And I was surprised to see more than one inker. In fact, three other tattoo rooms were taken up by people who weren't Drew.
“Drew! Where the hell are you?”
“Bryan? That you?” he asked.
I watched him pop his head out of a room before a smile crossed his face.
“Oh, shit! Dude! You’re back! Get your ass back here. I’m almost done.”
“What the hell’s all this?” I asked. “What happened to just you running the place?”
“It’s been a happy mess since you’ve been gone,” Drew said, grinning. “Word spread like wildfire, and I had to hire people just to keep up with the demand. I still get the most requests, but get this. All these guys are artists.”
“Isn’t the term tattoo artist?” I asked.
“No, dude. Actual artists. Like Mikey over there. He’s got a degree in the shit. And Ace? Doesn’t say a fucking word but can do three-dimensional tattoos like you wouldn’t believe. And Gracie all the way in the back has that minimalistic shit going on.”
“Sounds like you’ve got yourself a wonderful staff,” I said.
“Yeah, and we’re raking in the money.”
The smile on Drew's face and the satisfaction in his voice were unlike anything I had ever seen. In all the years I’d worked with him at the construction company we built from the ground up, I had never seen him like this. I had never heard that kind of happiness and satisfaction in his voice. It warmed my heart to see my best friend so happy, and as he cleaned up his client, I stood back and watched him work.
“I can’t thank you enough for all you did to help me with this,” Drew said.
“You helped me start a fucking company. It was the least I could do,” I said. “Plus, all the support you gave me when Hailey and I were struggling? All in repayment.”
“You don’t have to repay me for any of that. You were there for me when Anna and I split.”
“Not like I should’ve been,” I said.
“You were supporting your woman on her art tour, dude! Get off it already. You ran up your phone bill taking my calls. I don’t even wanna know how much that cost, man.”
“How are you doing?” I asked. “I mean, with everything.”
“It is what it is. We both got busy with our lives and businesses and things just fizzled out.”
“You ever thought about asking her out again?”
“Why? Does she ask about me at work?”
“At work? You talk with her enough to know she works with me now?” I asked.
“No. It’s been a while.”
“Then how do you know she works at the foundation now?” I asked.
“Just answer the question, man.”
“Well, I’ve only been back in town a couple of weeks. I’ve stopped off at the foundation to check in on things, but I don’t go back full-time until tomorrow. But from what Hailey’s told me, she does ask a bit about you. I’m serious. You should give her a call now. Things have settled down on her end a bit now that she’s set up at the foundation, and you look like you’re running steady hours now instead of that twenty-four seven bullshit that’s required to get a business going.”
“I’m busier than ever. Open at noon and closed at eleven.”
“You run eleven-hour days out of this place? Are your inkers part-time?” I asked.
“Nope. All full-time staff. We’re just that busy.”
“That’s awesome, Drew. It really is. But back to Anna.”
“Dude, come on,” he said.
“It’s embarrassing at this point. Everyone knows the two of you are still into each other. People drift apart, but that doesn’t mean emotions fall by the wayside. You two were an item before, and then life got in the way. It happens to everyone. But you guys are settled a bit more now.”
“I don’t know if we can get back together, man,” he said.
“Why not?” I asked.
“I just don’t know, okay? Things are busy, and I hardly have time for myself right now. Just leave it for now. I’m fine, I promise. I know that’s why you came here, to check up on me and shit.”
“Yeah, well. Sue me for caring,” I said.
“So, you go back to work tomorrow?” he asked.
“Yep. I’ll pop my head in for a meeting with Ellen this afternoon, but that’s about it.”
“How’s Hailey doing with the baby? And how’s the art gallery?”
“Hailey and the baby are wonderful. You should come over one morning and have breakfast with us. She’d love to see you.”
“Even after failing to date her sister?” he asked.
“You two didn’t fail. You just drifted apart. Get it straight. And yes, she’d still love to see you. Your tattoo stuff is still up in her art gallery, which is going well. She’s having to look into hiring a new person full-time for when the baby comes, but that’s about it.”
“What’s wrong with the girl who’s there?” he asked.
“Graduating and moving away.”