A dullness invades those bright eyes, and without a word, Lauren turns her back on me and walks to the street, flagging down a taxi and driving away.
I run my fingers through my hair, pulling harder than I should and knowing I deserve the sting in my scalp. “Fuck.”
Chapter Ten
Michael
My heart is poundingin my chest as I enter the apartment the next afternoon. I’m not sure what’s waiting for me there, and hoping things with Lauren aren’t so fucked up after what happened last night that she won’t want anything to do with me. Though her radio silence to my good morning message indicates they probably are.
Why did I kiss her?Why did I stop?
The sight that greets me has my heart pummeling down to the pit of my stomach. “What are you doing with those?”
Lauren is sitting on the couch with at least a dozen different listings spread all over the coffee table, and from what I can see, they aren’t in great neighborhoods, even though they’re all roommate listings. I assume because she’s still trying to save up, and any other option would mean giving up her dreams.
She looks at me with wary bloodshot eyes, her gaze lifting to my still-damp hair.
“Where’d you sleep last night?”
“On the couch in the studio. I showered in the gym after my morning recording session.” Her response is a tight nod. Then she just turns back to her papers. “You don’t have to leave, Lore.”
“Michael, I get it.” She lifts a listing and studies it intently, swiping a finger through her bangs before closing her eyes and sighing, her hand falling to her lap to fidget with the hem of her blue t-dress. “You don’t want me, and yesterday I practically forced myself on you. You never came back last night; I drove you out of your own apartment. I’m not so pathetic that I’d impose where I’m clearly not wanted.”
I sit next to her on the couch and touch her hand, trying to get her to look at me, without success.
“Lauren…” I sigh and rake my fingers through my hair. “You were drunk. I didn’t want us to end up doing something stupid you’d regret in the morning.”
“I had a couple of mojitos. I was barely tipsy,” she replies dryly and picks up another listing.
“You can stay,” I state again, only to be met by a silence that stretches on and on until finally Lauren lifts her gaze and looks at me with so much sadness it breaks my heart.
“You know, I sit with my friends, and I feel like I’m missing out on something because, sure, I don’thatesex, but the way they describe it sometimes…” She slumps back on the couch, shaking her head. “I thought they were wildly exaggerating, but then we kissed, and I thought hey! He would probably shake, rattle, and bang my world.” Her entire posture is defeated as if all the bubbly energy was sucked out of her along with that sparkle in her eyes, and it kills me to see her like this. “But you don’t want to, and I know when I’ve worn out my welcome.”
“Lore—” She shakes her head to silence me.
“It’s okay, Michael, really.” Just the way she calls me Michael, as if it leaves a bitter taste in her mouth, it’s enough to have me regret pushing her back and mull over in my mind the ramifications of giving in to this unrelenting want.
“Is that really all you want?” I ponder. “A little shake, rattle, and bang?”
Her reply is a short snort followed by a sigh. “I am so over relationships after Jason. I just want some of those mind-blowing orgasms I keep hearing about.” And just like that, my brain shuts down, and my cock springs to life.
Screw the ramifications.
Catching her wrist, I tug her closer to me, guiding her hand to the front of my jeans, her eyes growing wide when she feels the hard evidence of my attraction. “I’ve wanted you from the second I crawled into bed with you.” A wave of relief washes over me when I release her and she doesn’t pull her hand back. My fingers tangle in her hair, and I pull her face close to mine, almost too rough, but once I allow the desire to pulsate through my veins, it burns all my delicacy with it. “I’ve been going crazy, Lore, fantasizing about all the ways I want to make you come.”
Lauren moans softly and then giggles. “Isthisdirty talk?”
I can’t help but smile at her question, her short breaths caressing my lips and my palm gliding up the soft flesh of her thigh until it meets drenched fabric.
Pressing my fingers to the wetness, I slant my mouth over her, my tongue dipping in for a quick taste before I pull back to look into her misty eyes as I move her panties aside.
“Dirty talk would be me telling you how I’m going to throw you on the bed…” I run the length of my finger over her slit, slowly spreading her lower lips as Lauren’s breaths become shorter and shorter. “Push your legs apart so I can bury my face between them…” I find her clit and start rubbing it in circles. Lauren’s eyes haze over, and she bites into her bottom lip with a soft mewl. “Eating your undoubtedly sweet as sin pussy until you come all over my face.”
Her eyes go wide with a gasp when I plunge the digit deep into her, the flutter of her inner walls tight around it, and I kiss her again, spurring my tongue deep into her mouth before pulling away and staring into her eyes. “Tell me how much you want me.”
“As if you’re the last piece of cake after I’ve eaten celery all day.” The single unsexist thing a woman has ever said to me, but it’s so genuine and so Lauren that I can’t help but groan, grinding up into her palm so she’d feel how wrong she was about me not wanting her. At the same time, I work my finger in and out of her tight warmth until she’s whimpering with want.
I pull out and catch her waist, kissing her as I lift us off the couch, those long slender legs wrapping tightly around me. “The things I’m going to do to you tonight is the stuff they write songs about.” I press her soaked front into my hard bulge, desperate to get rid of the layers of clothes between us. “The kind of songs you can’t play on mainstream radio.”