I twitch. “Oh, fuck. You’re good at that.”

  I gotta get me one of these back in Boston.

  Again, he says nothing. He merely groans as his tongue works me over and over again.

  I gasp. “Oh, you’re really good at that.”

  My thighs tremble. I’m so close to the edge, but I’m almost too scared to fall. His tongue taps a burning rhythm, somehow finding the right place, the right spot to send me over.

  He stops.

  I gasp. “No, don’t stop—!”

  He chuckles. The bastard chuckles.

  “No, seriously, dude, I’m really close,” I say.

  “I know,” he says, shifting onto his knees between my thighs.

  I laugh, devoid of mirth. “But do you also know that we’re both supposed to finish, right?”

  “Jenny…”

  “It’s kind of the point.”

  He crawls his fingers up my thighs, my skin tingling beneath his touch. “I know,” he says again. “And I promise you, you won’t leave this bed unsatisfied.”

  I tremble, still on the edge. “Well, okay then.”

  He chuckles. “May I continue?”

  “Yes, please.”

  Joey reaches for his belt and unzips. “If you don’t mind, these are starting to feel uncomfortable.”

  I bite my lip, curious to see it anyway. “Not at all.”

  His pants slip downward. I inhale sharply as my eyes ride down the line of his Adonis belt toward his…

  “Whoa.”

  “What?” he asks, but he knows damn well what.

  “You got a license to carry that thing?”

  He smiles. “You got somewhere I can hide it until I do?”

  I sit forward. “I thought you would never ask.”

  I open my mouth to him, happy to return the favor. He lurches with the first swirl of my tongue, his tip already wet. I delight at the sound of his breath quickening and the warm groan deep in his throat as I suck. He shifts closer, letting me take him deeper inside, his hand coming to rest on my hair. Fingers twirl in my locks, his grip tightening.

  “Moan if I can push you down,” he says.

  I moan.

  What can I say? I like it sometimes, and this guy is hot as fuck.

  He tests me with a slight push, forcing his cock into my throat. I hold my breath, willing my reflex to chill, and he gives me another sweet groan of pleasure.

  “Good girl,” he says, letting me up.

  And here comes the praise kink.

  I keep sucking, my lips on fire. Fuck, he has a nice cock. I bob on his tip, teasing the sensitive skin beneath with my edge of my tongue. He tenses and quivers, his shaft as hard as it could be.

  “I could fuck that mouth all night,” he whispers, his voice rugged with lust.

  I suck. I flick. I deep throat him, making his grip tighten and pull again. Tears sting my eyes, but I don’t dare stop. I reach down to touch myself, cradling my clit in my fingers and moaning for him to fuck my face.

  “No,” he says, grabbing my hand. He tosses it away and pulls out of my mouth. “I’ll do that.”

  I lie back to catch my breath. Joey moves to my side, bringing his cock back to my mouth. I waste no time opening to him again, my tongue tired but aching to taste him more.

  As I pleasure him, he reaches down my body. He finds my clit in an instant, the swollen bud still so sensitive. I moan on his cock, each firm rub prompting me to suck him harder.

  “There,” he whispers. “You like that, Jenny?”

  I moan again. His hand works harder, faster. My toes curl.

  “Look at you,” he says. “So fucking hot with my dick in your mouth.”

  My pulse pounds. My desire deepens.

  “Are you gonna come with my dick inside of you?” he asks, not expecting an answer. “In that sweet mouth?”

  My hips buck against his hand.

  So close…

  “How about in here?” he asks, moving his hand down.

  He slides a finger inside of me. I gasp in surprise, his cock nearly slipping out from between my lips.

  “Are you going to come with my dick inside your tight cunt?” he asks.

  I break with his words, my senses dissolving beneath me. I move in rhythm, his cock in my mouth, his finger in my pussy. In and out. Back and forth. Pleasure tingles every nerve, every piece of me, until I finally find the edge again.

  “Good girl,” he says, easily feeling the orgasm deep inside of me. “You’re so fucking hot.”

  I whimper, my lips too numb to go on. I lick him instead, focusing on his tip as he slides his finger out and draws a slow circle around my clit. I’m so sensitive it hurts, but I don’t make him stop. I yearn for the pain of it as much as he enjoys toying with me. I quiver, I shake. I yield to the tension until it finally breaks me all over again.

  Joey halts his touch, giving me the break I so desperately need. He backs off the bed while I tremble, enjoying the brief climax. It’s small, but triggered deep inside, the effects echoing through my fingers and toes. He steps out of his pants and stands at the edge of the bed as naked as I am.

  “You good, Jenny?” he asks.

  I laugh. “Fuck you, man.”

  He laughs. “I keep my promises.”

  “I’ll never doubt you again.”

  I take the chance to admire his naked body. He works out, obviously. A lot.

  Joey takes a swig from the whiskey bottle, then offers it to me. I accept it, leaning upward to drink while he wanders around the room. My head spins, my body buzzing with sex and alcohol. I barely feel it as he mounts the bed again, his knees thrusting between mine. He kisses up my body, leaving sparks of pleasure on my skin until he reaches my mouth. We kiss, our lips tasting like whiskey. He takes the bottle as it slips from my fingers and sets it down on the bedside table.

  “We’re not too drunk to discuss protection, are we?” he asks.

  I laugh, feeling his erection pressed between us. “I don’t think so.”

  “I have condoms.”

  “We should probably use them. You don’t know where I’ve been.”

  “Good point.”

  Another kiss. Another aching moment passes without him inside of me. He shoots an arm toward the bedside table, nearly knocking the bottle over as he fumbles through the drawer. I watch, throbbing and desperate, as he tears a condom off the roll and puts it on.

  “So, how long has it been since you’ve fucked someone?” I tease.

  He guides his cock home. “Let’s just say it’s been a long semester.”

  I gasp, his thrust hard and deep. My entire body sighs as pent-up urges release all at once. My pulse spikes. My nipples harden. My pussy, so slick and wet, stretches around his girth. I spread my legs wider as I tremble in sweet agony.

  Joey groans, the sound delightful to the ears. “You feel as good as you taste,” he whispers, his breathing labored as he fucks me harder.

  I moan, unable to form words. Instead, I cling to him. I wrap my ankles around his back, tilting my body to accept his thrusts. He takes me with an even deeper grind, his body moving in that perfect way that makes my eyes roll back and my clit catch on fire. Every buck of his hips sends pleasure to places I didn’t even know could throb.

  I gasp and moan, his lips never far from mine. His kisses are firm but slow, a tender counter to his rough thrust. I smile, picturing the delicious bruises I’m sure to have tomorrow morning.

  “Is this okay?” he asks.

  I let out a rather unsexy cackle, but it can’t be helped. “You’re not sure?” I ask.

  He laughs as he kisses my neck. “I like to check in,” he says.

  “Consent is good.”

  Another kiss, this time with the soft nibble of his teeth. “Even better when they’re begging me not to stop.”

  I shudder with need. He’s not wrong.

  “Don’t stop,” I beg. “Don’t stop fucking me.”

  His lips curl. “Are you sure?”

  I kiss him, our tongues still drenched in whiskey. “Fuck me like you’ll never see me again.”

  Joey takes hold of my hands and pins them above my head. “Be careful what you wish for,” he teases.

  Harder. Faster. Unyielding. I settle back, unable to do anything but lie beneath him and take it.

  I regret nothing.

  Waves of crashing, tingling pleasure rush over me. Sweat drips off his brow onto mine, our body heat blending until we can hardly breathe at all. But we don’t stop. We don’t let go. We—

  He stops.

  He fucking stops again.

  Before I can protest, Joey releases my hands and moves down, tossing my knees over his shoulders and burying his face between my thighs again. I gasp, gripping his hair and smothering him as climax tempts me. I’m so close, so sensitive. So vulnerable beneath this stranger, but his wild tongue tells me all I need to know.

  I come hard, my fingers digging into his scalp. I roll my hips, using his nose as I ride out my orgasm, but bar guy doesn’t seem to mind in the slightest.

  “You’re so fucking beautiful,” he says, finally able to breathe.

  I twitch on the bed, my entire body in blissful ecstasy. “Uh-huh.”

  Joey rolls onto his back beside me to catch his breath. In a moment, he closes his eyes, his face slick with my cum.

  “You’re not falling asleep on me, are you?” I ask, somehow still full of energy.

  “Hell no.”

  “Good,” I say, sitting up. I straddle him, throbbing all over as I guide his cock back inside of me. “But I’ll take over for a while.”

  Joey chuckles. “Hell yes.”

  CHAPTER 4

  HUNTER

  I hear the gentle whisper of feet along the floorboards. It’s so subtle I almost ignore it completely. Then, I remember I didn’t sleep alone last night.

  She’s still here.

  I open my eyes, squinting to adjust to the morning light peeking through the curtains, and I see her sitting on my chair in the corner. She bends down to tie her shoes, unaware that I’m watching her. I admire her in silence. Her blonde hair sits to one side, falling elegantly over her shoulder. Her black eyeliner is faded, but her blue eyes are no less bewitching, especially in the sunlight. She accidentally tugs her laces free, disabling the knot. She grits her teeth and starts over. Poor thing might still be a little drunk.

  That’s adorable.

  “Hey,” I finally say.

  She glances up. Happy to see me by the look in her eyes. That’s a good sign.

  “Hey,” she says.

  “You got somewhere to be?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Right this second?” I ask.

  She smiles. “No.”

  I reach out. “Come here.”

  There’s a moment of hesitation in her before she stands and walks back to the bed. I sit up as she plops down, crawling my arm around her to keep her close to me.

  “Thanks for celebrating with me.”

  “Thanks for the invitation.” She chuckles as my lips graze her cheek. “I bet you’re happy I showed up at the last minute.”

  “Oh, you have no idea,” I say. “I was this close to asking that old guy to come home with me instead.”

  She laughs hard. I study her face as her nose curls and those cheekbones poke out. Maybe I’m still a little drunk myself, but I can’t get over how stunningly beautiful this girl is in every single way.

  “Well, I’m happy to have been useful for once,” she says, her voice falling.

  She looks at the floor, casting shadows over her eyes. I remember what drove her to that bar in the first place. I nudge her chin back up and give her a kiss, letting it last for as long as she needs it to.

  Skipping to the end doesn’t mean we have to rush.

  “Stay with me,” I whisper.

  Her smile returns. “Why?” she asks.

  I shrug. “Break up sex.”

  “Break up sex?”

  “It’s over, right?” I say, inching close to touch my lips to her cheek. “This is the end of us.”

  She nods. “It is, yeah.”

  “So, I vote we go out with a bang, so to speak.”

  I kiss her. She laughs.

  “I don’t know,” she says. “I think I’m gonna vote for the fight.”

  “The fight?”

  “Yeah. A big fight.”

  I scoff playfully. “Dammit, Jenny. You’re always like this.”

  “What can I say?” she says. “You always bring out the worst in me, don’t you, Joey?”

  “Oh, so now this is my fault?”

  “Add it to the pile.”

  “Okay, fine. Go. Leave. That’s what you’re good at.”

  She throws up her hands. “Not as good as you are at giving up.”

  “Me?”

  Her lips twitch. “Yeah. You.”

  “I didn’t give up.”

  “Sure sounds like you are right now.”

  “Then stay,” I say, curling my arms around her again. “I’ll stay. You’ll stay. We’ll work it out together. You and me.”

  “And after?” she asks. “Can we honestly say we won’t be right back here again tomorrow?”

  I don’t answer. I look down, exhaling hard to sell the pain.

  She cups my face and kisses me. After a moment, she stops, staring deeply into my eyes as she whispers, “Can’t say we didn’t try.”

  I kiss her again, full of passion. We laugh together, the illusion broken.

  “Thanks for the roleplay, bar guy,” she says, guiding my arms away. “But I gotta go.”

  “Let me give you a ride back,” I say, not ready to let her go yet.

  “No,” she says. “It’s not far. I’ll be all right.”

  “You sure?”

  “I’m sure.” She plants a sweet kiss on my cheek before standing up. “Good luck to you.”

  “And to you,” I say. “If you’re ever in the area again, you know where I live.”

  “And where you work,” she adds. “That’s terrifying for you.”

  “I’m shaking already.”

  “Good boy.” She smiles. “Bye, Joey.”

  Hunter, I think to myself.

  What I wouldn’t give to hear her say it just once.

  “Bye, Jenny,” I say instead.

  She walks away. I listen to the sound of her shoes, mapping her movement as she heads straight for the front door.

  And she’s gone.

  “Bye, Daisy,” I whisper.

  CHAPTER 5

  DAISY

  March

  “Smile, everybody!”

  The Johnson family stares at me with stiff postures and fake grins. Father and mother. Son and daughter. Just the perfect little picture of the perfect little American family. I might even add a white picket fence into the background later to sell the illusion.

  I take the photo. The flash makes all of them blink. Good. It’ll be more difficult for them to see my eyes rolling if all they can see is spots.

  “That was awesome, you guys,” I say. “I think we got it.”

  Their posture instantly sags. The teenagers withdraw their phones from their pockets. The father, too.

  “Can we take a look?” the mother asks me, clearly the only one who wanted to be here today.

  “Of course.” I point across the studio to the computers in the corner. “Head on over and I’ll meet you there before we print.”

  She gives a kind smile and taps her oblivious children on the shoulders to guide them all across the room.

  I detach the camera from the tripod and slide out the memory card.

  “Hey, Daisy.”

  I turn around, throwing on a happy face for my boss as he lingers over my shoulder. “Hey, Malcolm. What’s up?”

  He doesn’t even glance up from his clipboard. “I need you to take that open shift on Saturday.”

  My chest tightens. “I have the next week off. Remember? I’m going to Chicago for spring break to visit my sister. Remember? We talked about it. Thrice.”

  Malcolm’s lazy eyes flick over at me, just as dead inside as I feel even having to argue with him about this. “Trey has an emergency. I need you to take the shift.”

  Fucking Trey. Malcolm’s nephew. I wonder what emergency they’ve come up with this time to cover up the fact that they’re getting high and playing video games.

  “Okay, but…” I sigh. “Isn’t there someone else who could take it? I will not be in town.”

  “You’re the only one free.”

  “I’m really not, though.”

  He leers at me a little longer. “Daisy, you know what it’s like here this time of year.”

  “Yes, I do, but—”

  “We’ve got Easter coming up. Then, Mother’s Day. Then, it’s dads and grads.”

  “Which is why I worked through it non-stop last year. And the year before that. You’re the one who promised me spring break off this year if I did, so… I’m not working on Saturday. You and Trey will just have to figure it out.”

  Malcolm makes a quick mark on his clipboard, most likely checking off Ruin Daisy’s Pathetic Life scrawled between Eat a Shit Burrito and Don’t Do Laundry for Three Weeks and Hope No One Notices. A bit of his stench wafts in my direction as he shifts closer. I force myself not to gag while ignoring the sudden churn in my stomach.

  “I don’t care for your attitude lately, Daisy,” he says. “You used to be a team player.”

  And you used to be able to pass a piss test.

  I don’t say it out loud. I still need this job.

  I take a step back into breathable air. “Well, I apologize,” I say. “But corporate has already accepted my time off request. I’ll be back next Monday. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a customer to close out.”

  I walk off and throw on another smile as I join the Johnson family by the computers.

  If you had told me three years ago I’d still be working in this portrait studio today, I would have insisted you were crazy. There was just no way. I was young and bright. Blonde and hot. The sky was the limit for me. This job was supposed to be first base, just one stop on the path to home plate. I’d work here for a while, learn all I could, and build up a portfolio before waging my middle finger at this place and driving off into the sunset.