She’s not giving up. Not yet.
And even though I never thought of the possibility of not wanting to grow up—why wouldn’t I want to? My childhood was hell. Leaving it was all I ever hoped for—the way her eyes sparkle when she looks at this book makes me want to prove to her that I can do it. That I can let her help me, and that it will make a difference.
So I open the book and start reading.
***
My head hurts from focusing on the letters and words for so long, but the book is funny, and her giggles have me grinning, despite my pitiful reading efforts.
She takes a look at me afterward, asks if I’m okay, and I pull her up, on my lap, and kiss her. Hard.
She’s breathless when we finally draw apart, and so am I.
Then someone is knocking on the door of the shop, staring through the glass, and I make out Joel’s form.
“I was waiting for you, asshat,” he grumbles the moment we let him in. “We were going to meet at the gym for some wrestling. You forgot again.”
Dammit, I did. I hang my head, until Candy whispers something in his ear and then her arms are around me—and Joel slips behind me, molding himself to my back.
Holy shit, it feels good to be held like that between them.
“Let’s go home,” he says, his breath warm on the ba
ck of my neck, making me shiver.
Fuck, yeah, let’s.
And as I turn around, I see for the first time his neck where I sucked on him last night, and I get dizzy, all my blood heading south, thickening my cock.
Holy shit, I marked him. He has a hickey, a dark bruise I left there. I wonder if he got into any trouble at work because of it, though I bet everyone thought it was a girl who put it there.
Their arms go back around me, thank fuck because my legs are unsteady. I’m caught in a time warp as they pull me, still caught between them, out of the shop and to Joel’s car. I’m hazy on the logistics—where Candy left her car, what she told Joel, what he said back, when it was decided that we’re going back to our apartment, together, all three of us.
Fuck if I care.
Candy slips in the back, and I take the passenger seat. Her arms slip around my neck as Joel heads out into the traffic. Her hair tickles my jaw, her lips ghost under my ear.
“You smell good,” she whispers, and all the blood rushes to my dick so fast I have to press down on my hard-on, trying to ease some of the pressure.
Joel glances at me, at us, and his gaze grows hooded and dark. He puts on some old rock, and we don’t speak. There’s a hum in the air, a tension, anticipation that’s driving my mind right into the gutter.
Not that it wasn’t there already, but you know… deeper. Images flash before my eyes of our bodies writhing together, and it’s all I can do not to come in my pants.
I don’t even know how we manage not to jump each other’s bones during the fifteen-minute ride, how we manage to get out of the car and troop inside the building, Joel in our center, his arms around both of us.
Candy stops us at the entrance, pulls out her phone and takes a selfie of all three of us. “Just for me,” she says and elbows Joel who’s frowning. “Relax. I won’t show it to anyone.”
Then we’re inside the elevator, riding up. The moment we reach the landing and get out, Joel drags Candy to him and kisses her, then pushes her against the wall and kisses her again, while I fumble for my keys, turning crazy with lust.
I finally open the door and step aside as they stumble past me into the apartment. Then Joel reaches out and drags me inside with them.
We tumble on the sofa, tearing at each other’s clothes. Joel’s legs are under me, his chest to my back, and Candy’s on top of mine as I helpfully tug her sweater over her head.
Behind me I barely register Joel being just as helpful with my sweater. He pulls it off me, and I lift my arms as he impatiently rips it off me. He’s hard as a rock against my ass, and it sends a thrill of arousal through my balls.
“No glasses today, Candy?” he whispers.
“Contact lenses,” she gasps and I grin.