Chapter 31

Lincoln

It might just be a day, but there are plenty of people in the town of Fiasco who prepare for Valentine’s Day as if it’s the most over-the-top important day of the year. Even more so when it falls on a weekend. Our town green is splashed in pink and red lights, while the shops along Main Street stay open late for their annual Galentine’s Day Sip I like having that just between Faye and me. I rub my thumb along my lip as I think about waking up next to her. The way she fits there so easily. The way I don’t overthink or get lost in my own head while I’m with her.

“It feels serious,” I tell her. “I wouldn’t have let her get close enough to my girls if I thought it wouldn’t be.” And that is what should have me concerned. It isn’t logical or level-headed, but that fucking curse always lingers beneath the surface. The idea of wanting her and caring for her doesn’t make me want to back away, though; it makes me want to hold on and protect her. Spend moments and embrace all the uncertainty because it’s worth it for how good I’ve felt with her around.

But then Hadley asks the one question I don’t have an answer to. “Does that mean she’s planning to stay?”

Before I can think of a way to answer, the trumpet starts in a low hum and then kicks in a high note, signaling the crowd to start paying attention. I take a taste of my bourbon—one with a smokier oak and hints of caramel. It has me remembering how much more I enjoy the taste when I’m drinking it with the beautiful woman standing beneath a pink spotlight. I let out an exhale and with it the lingering question. Is she planning to stay? “We haven’t talked about it...but I want her to.”

Hadley gives the bar top a little tap. “Sounds like something worth talking about, then. Work that Foxx charm so we can keep her, Linc.”

The strings tip in and the mood shifts as the singer starts crooning the words: “At last.” The slower-than-usual song flips the room’s lighting into a warmer pink as Faye comes into view with an oversized satin red bow tied perfectly over her chest, while the rest of the satin ribbon is wrapped around her body nice and tight. My body lights up for her. A full shiver that settles right into my cock. Fucking hell, I want her. The ribbon ends at the tops of her thighs, where just a sliver of skin peeks through before her red fishnet stockings wrap around her legs. I can’t help but smile and watch as she flirts with the couple at the table in front of her.

Her red fishnet gloves match what’s pulled up her legs, and she puts the tip of her middle finger between her teeth, pulling slowly and teasing the crowd just by removing something as simple as a glove. Fucking hell, she’s stunning, but the way she can work a room is more than impressive. It’s a talent that can’t be learned or practiced. Her blonde hair sparkles in the lights—plenty of that same glitter had been all over my house after her make-over fun for Lark’s party. Leaning my elbow on the bar, I fix my glasses and sit back as she sways her way through the audience.

“Damn, Linc. She’s got everyone here practically salivating, and she’s only removed her gloves,” Hadley says in awe.

“Beautiful,” I whisper, my eyes fixed on Faye’s lips as they tip up into a seductive smile as she continues to work the room. I rub my thumb along my lower lip and smile when I think about how I’m going to enjoy every inch of her later. My pulse races as I catch her eye, and it’s like she was looking because her lips, painted in red to match the tiny hearts along the edges of her eyes, tip up in a smile just for me. Her path changes, and she works her way in my direction, her steps a sensual strut that keeps my gaze glued to her.

The song rises to its finale just as she reaches me at the end of the bar. She steps close and turns around, facing the crowd before she hops up beside me.

Once her ass is firmly planted on the bar top, Hadley hands her a coupe glass filled halfway with champagne. Faye holds it up as the audience hoots and hollers, “To love!” And with that, she’s taking a sip and focusing on me. Her legs kick up high, extending one after the other as she slides smoothly off the bar to stand right next to me. She tips at her waist, ass out to the crowd while her top half leans into mine, and it’s taking everything in me to not interfere with her performance and kiss her already. Holding the ribbon end of her oversized bow toward me, she sweetly says, “Unwrap me, please?”

I can’t help but smile at the request and...her. I’m not sure how it’s possible to be this enchantingly sexy and also cute as fuck. But she pulls it off somehow.

And I do exactly as she requests. The band drags out the end of the song as I pull the ribbon. She spins away from me, unwrapping the red satin from her chest, all the way down to the tops of her thighs, leaving her in nothing more than red heart tassels perfectly placed over each nipple and the tiniest pair of panties—a red heart covering her pussy connected by two tiny strings leading to another heart that barely covers her ass. My adrenaline spikes as I watch on.

When she puts her hands on her hips and bounces just right to make those tassels spin, the crowd goes wild—every single person claps and hoots and whistles.

Hundreds of eyes on my girl, but that’s all they get. A show. The fantasy. It’s nowhere near as fulfilling as the real thing—worshiping this woman, tasting the way I turn her on, and rewarding her mouth and body with everything they demand.

She smiles against my lips. “You weren’t supposed to be like this.”

“Like what? Great in bed?” I laugh, trying to make a joke. “My reputation is failing me, then.”

She runs her fingertips along my chin. “What was it I heard in the bathroom at Bottom of the Barrel or at the rodeo...the slutty single dad?”

“Very to the point.” I wince, dragging my fingers lazily across her skin. “Fiasco is going to talk about something. Might as well make it something juicy, like sex and strangers. It’s better than the sad and lonely widower.”

Tilting her head up, she leans on one elbow. “Slutty, I can handle. But this...” She looks around my face and down to my chest. “You weren’t supposed to be fun and sweet. And you definitely weren’t supposed to be sexier than you already look. And this wasn’t supposed to feel...”

My neck warms, and the weight on my chest comes out of nowhere. “Feel like what, Peach?” I want her to say more. I need her to be the one to do it, because if I’m wrong and this is only a good time for her...

But she kills my nerves when she says, “It was never supposed to feel so right with you. We shouldn’t feel this right.”

Relief runs through me. Hearing that admission from her makes me feel like we have a new secret—one that I want to keep because it’s special and just for us. “Mmmm,” I hum as I let those words seep in and ease my worry. It finally feels like I’m right next to who I’m supposed to be. “But we do. Maybe we shouldn’t because of how we started, but I don’t think that needs to have anything to do with how we let the rest of this play out.” As I graze my fingertips along the under curve of her breast, she smiles and exhales a light, satisfied moan.

“You’re dangerous, Foxx,” she says with a lazy smile. I like how it feels when she says it. As if I’m the one who’s setting the tone in all of this when, really, it’s her. She talks to me like she has nothing to be intimidated by or fear. I know what my daughters meant when they said they liked how she talked to them. It feels honest and real. There’s care and warmth in everything she does. “You smile and these”—she circles her finger around the dip of my dimple—“they’re your secret weapon, because they make you seem cute.”

“I am cute.”

She ignores my remark, but it tips up her smile a fraction. I turn my head and grab her finger with my teeth, which makes her giggle. “See? dangerous.”

I close my eyes as she runs her fingers along my hairline, and it feels so good that all I can think about is: I want more of this.

With a sigh, she looks around the apartment above Midnight Proof. Hadley passed me the key and told me to have fun tonight. It’s a great studio space. High-end everything with no expense spared, because that’s Hadley. She left us both a note with a tube of lube that said, Just in case ... have a sexy time, lovers!

“Thank goodness for Hadley and this place,” I tell her. “I don’t think I would have been able to wait to get home after your performance tonight.”

She ghosts her fingers over my chest, looking up at me curiously. “You two were always just friends?”

I’m surprised it didn’t take her longer to ask. “Just friends—there’s no attraction there. She became a part of our family, and somewhere along the way, she turned into my best friend. We love one another, but it’s the same love I have for my brothers. I know that’s true for her too.” There’s more to Hadley’s story, but I’ll let her tell that to Faye someday if she wants.

She nods against me, smiling. “She’s been a good friend to me while I’ve been here. I get why you would consider her family.”

Lifting slightly, Faye trails her fingers down my neck and over my chest.

“That feels good. Keep going,” I say, peeking my eyes open to watch her. Her mouth tilts up, hinting at a smile as she moves her fingers farther—down the length of my stomach, and she sees that I’m already hard again. “I thought you were pushing forty, Foxx?”

“Not yet, Peach.” I tilt my head to the side, chuckling darkly. “With a comment like that, it’s like you want me to spank you.”

That seductive smile shines my way again as she turns her body over, chest rubbing against the arm of the couch and her perfect ass tilted up just enough. Her tits dragging across the leather, those thickly toned thighs and that curvy dip to her waist, is a path I want to claim. She looks at me like she’s equally turned on and ready for whatever I tell her to do.

Sitting up, I graze my teeth along her ass cheek, and she yelps before wiggling her ass for another.

I give the same spot a slap and then grab. Gritting my teeth, I tell her, “Your body is so fucking sexy. But this mouth...” I move to stand in front of where she’s perched, rubbing the pad of my thumb along her bottom lip. “I’ve had fantasies about this mouth. Open. Tongue out.”

And fuck me, she does it without hesitation.

I tap the head of my cock along the length of her tongue. One. Two. Three times, before I push it farther. I drag it back as she looks up at me, eyes telling me she’s ready for it all. Again, one, two, three times, making me slippery wet. “Now wrap those pretty lips around me,” I barely breathe out, because she’s already doing it before I finish saying the words. Pulling my cock back, I tease myself along her lips, a shiver rippling through me. “Keep that ass tipped up for me, baby.”

She makes a muffled mewl around me. “You like me calling you that?” Baby. But instead of letting her answer, I push into her mouth as I move my hand down the center of her back. She takes me down her throat so fucking far that she gags around it. But when I move to pull back this time, her hand wraps around my leg and she pulls me deeper. Fuck .

Relaxing her throat, she holds me there, and with a hum—like she’s turned on by all of this—swallows. My head drops back, eyes slamming shut as I thank every higher power right now. When she does it again, I practically see stars as the movement of her throat sucks the head of my cock. I hiss out air between my teeth and try to keep it together, but fucking hell, that might have just ruined me.

As I pull back slowly, feeling how wet and juicy her mouth made me, I hold my fingers under her chin.

She watches me through her thick lashes and watery eyes.

“You’re a fucking goddess,” I tell her as I rub my thumb across her lips now smudged from her leftover red lipstick. “That was perfection...” I lean down, kissing her, and then shift my body around her to get to what I want. “Ass up, baby.”

Arching herself more for me, I kneel behind her and let a finger drag down the crack of her ass and through her soaked pussy right to her swollen clit. I let my fingers play in that spot as she moans, fluttering along the crease of her ass cheek, and as I move it higher, I rub a small circle right in the spot I’m planning to slap. With one fast move, I spank her ass cheek, and then spread her open without another second wasted. I need a taste. I drag my tongue along the entire dripping length of her, relishing her whimpers and how she pushes back into me. I don’t miss any part from her pretty puckered asshole down to a pussy that I need to fuck.

She pleads for more, the sound of my name muffled by her mouth meeting the cushion.

“This isn’t going to be soft, baby,” I tell her as I roll another condom down my length. Her thighs are wet from how turned on she is by this, and she rubs them together in anticipation.

“Good,” she groans out. “Show me.”

I sink into her wet, swollen pussy in one fast move and give her a nice slap on the ass with my first thrust. Goddamn.

She moans with a laugh. “That's all you’ve got?”

I watch as my cock pulls out of her. It’s a filthy sight—the deep pink color of her pussy and the way she rewards me, coating my cock with a sheen of arousal. Wrapping my arm around her front, I bring her back flush against my chest. I nuzzle my nose along the crook of her neck and breathe her in. “Tell me what you want. I’ll do anything you beg me for right now.”

She hums and leans into the kisses I pepper along her skin. Gliding her fingers over mine, she moves my hand down to her clit as I rock into her. “Play with me. And I’ll come all over that thick and delicious cock of yours.”

It’s all the encouragement I need. I roll my hips into her hard, pulling back just enough to do it again, little slips of breath escaping her lips each time my hips punch forward. I move my fingers in circles along her clit until she’s shaking in my arms.

“I’m going to...” she cries out, just before her pussy pulses and squeezes around me.

I fuck into her as deep as I can, and it still doesn’t feel like enough. Not even when she moans my name, coaxing me closer. Turning and lying in front of me, she pushes her tits together.

“Everywhere, Foxx.”

I rip off the condom and do exactly what she asks. I paint her tits and stomach with my cum as my orgasm rips through my body, leaving someone I barely recognize in its wake. I rest on my heels as I watch her rub it into her flushed skin. It releases some kind of primal need I never knew existed within me. It feels like I’ve claimed her as mine—it’s dirty and so fucking hot.

She smiles as I help her rub my mess across her chest. “I like that.”

I blow out a breath and pull her up and into my arms. She laughs, not caring about the sweat or the come.

“Yeah, Peach.” I rub my lips along her shoulder and up the side of her neck. “I more than liked that, too.