Chapter five
Lyric started as a hit—a touch of a hand outside of a church. Then she crept into my bloodstream and now I was addicted.
She was still at my house finishing up some chick flick with my sister, and I was walking into her apartment building with a box of chocolate, some red rose petals, and a bottle of whiskey that I was going to pour all over her body, then get drunk on the taste.
“Hey, Charlie,” I said as I walked past the doorman.
He gave a single, polite nod. “Mr. Huntington.”
Charlie reminded me of my dad—if my dad were a friendly man with a kind smile and sense of humor. He was mid-forties, if I had to guess, tall with dark hair, clean-shaven, and always dressed to perfection. The first time I visited Lyric’s penthouse, he gave me the type of interrogation you’d expect from a father on a first date. Lyric walked up in the middle of it, hooked her arm in mine and smiled.“Don’t worry about this guy. He’s one of the good ones,”she’d said.One of the good ones.Either she was lying to get Charlie off my back, or I sure the fuck had her fooled. I went with lying. Lyric wasn’t easily fooled.
The questions ended and Charlie and I had remained friends ever since.
I glanced at the candy dish in front of him, then held up the box of chocolates. “I brought my own today.”
He smiled. “I see that.”
I passed the set of elevators that lined the back wall of the lobby and headed for the hallway on the left—a hidden alcove with one singular elevator. Other than taking twenty-seven flights of stairs, this was the only way to the penthouse. There was always a security guard camped out in a chair with a newspaper and cup of coffee. Monday through Thursday, it was Ralph, a middle-aged widower who liked to talk about football. Jack took the Friday through Sunday shift. He always greeted me by glancing up from his paper with a grunt. Jack was an asshole.
The penthouse was set up so that the elevator opened directly into the large open floor plan. A wall of windows overlooked the city. It was dark outside, making the city lights the perfect backdrop for what I had planned. I wasn’t romantic, but this view sure as fuck was.
I walked through the kitchen, set the chocolates on the counter next to the whiskey, put the rose petals in the bathroom, then came back and plopped down on the couch. I’d been here enough when her dad was out of town to know how to make myself comfortable. I stared out at the lights, letting them calm my nerves. I left the weed and the Percs at home. She hated that shit anyway, and today was her day. My mind was going a million miles per minute. I wasn’t a virgin by any means, but this time was different. This was more than just a fuck.
Lyric was mine, and tonight she would find out exactly what that meant.
Before I got too lost in my thoughts, the elevator doors opened and she walked in.
She licked her lips when she saw me with my legs stretched out and arm splayed across the back of the couch. That strong as fuck electrical charge that was always there whenever I saw her vibrated all the way to the tip of my dick.
I grinned. “Happy Birthday, baby.” I hopped off the couch and walked over to her. “I finally get you all to myself.”
She let out a sigh. “I hate lying to her.”
She was talking about my sister. I didn’t like lying to Tatum either. I also didn’t like how my father talked about Lyric like some dirty little secret. I wasn’t hiding her because I was afraid of what other people thought, including my dad. I kept our secret because Lyric asked me to.
I cupped her face in my hands. “Then don’t.”
“She wouldn’t understand. The day I met Tatum, she said I was different from everyone else. That was why she liked me so much. Since we were kids, she’s always just beenTatumto me—neverLincoln’s little sister.She’s so used to girls getting close to her to be with you. You were always the one thing she said would never come between us.” She looked up at me, her eyes rimmed with red as if she was holding back tears, and it made my stomach clench. “What if she asks me to choose?”
Fuck.
That wasn’t something I wanted to think about. Not right now. I’d lose her for sure. Lyric and Tatum had been friends since they were ten years old. No amount of dry humping her ass into a mattress could compete with that.
I lowered my face to the curve of her neck and inhaled her scent. “We don’t have to talk about this.” I kissed her skin. “Not today.” She tilted her head to the side, and I ran my tongue along the column of her throat. “We don’t have to talk at all.”
She let out a moan, making me smirk against her skin.There we go.
I hooked my fingers in the top of her leggings and yanked them down along with her panties. “Time to unwrap the present.”
Lyric smiled and looked up at me with that goddamn sexy, innocent look in her eyes. “Shouldn’t I be the one doing the unwrapping?”
“It’s your day.” I took a step back and folded my arms across my chest. “Go ahead. Finish what I started.”
She arched a brow and for a second I thought I was going to have to rip her fucking shirt off myself, but then she reached down and pulled it over her head. She kicked out of her leggings as she tossed the shirt on the floor, leaving her standing there in nothing but a lacy black bra. And fuck me if the sight of it didn’t make me want to claw right out of my skin. I planned on making tonight special, on taking my time with her, on doing this right. But the devil on my shoulder was fighting for control. He wanted to ravage her, to own her from the inside out.
“The bra,” I said, trying to steady my breath.
She reached behind her back and unfastened her bra.