Chapter 3

Allie fires my blood to a boiling point.

We've just crossed a line we can never come back from, and I find that I don't mind. This is where I want to be, suffocating between her thighs. I have no idea how I managed to avoid touching her this way for the past few years, but now that I've got a taste of her, I won't be able to scrub that off my mind … for as long as I live.

With her flung across my shoulder, I take the keys from my pocket and slide into the brass doorknob. The old mechanism resists before it gives way.

This is only the second time we've stepped foot inside. The first one was on spring break during sophomore year. Back then, Allie found it so creepy that she begged to leave only a minute into "exploring" the house.

The door creaks open, revealing a vast hallway with patches of darkness and lit only by the outdoor lights. Dust motes float in the beams of light filtering through the grimy floor-to-ceiling windows. The grand staircase is the same as it's always been, and Allie yelps when I transfer her from my shoulder to my arms, carrying her bridal style.

She's busy looking around too, and we ascend the stairs in silence. We reach the top, and the long corridor stretches out before us, lined with closed doors.

The parquet floor beneath my feet groans as I speed-walk from one bedroom to another, trying to remember where the hell the master bedroom is—the only one with a clean bed … probably, and hopefully.

Ah, here it is.

I kick it open, and my eyes zero in on the massive four-poster bed, with sheer white fabric draping over the canopy. The bed itself is made, smooth and undisturbed.

Perfect.

I fling Allie onto the bed, and she laughs when a cloud of dust envelopes her.

"We can just check into a hotel, Bun. I made a reservation earlier."

She shakes her head, eyes glinting. "No, this is perfect. Besides, I can't wait anymore. I need you inside me."

Her earlier mirth is gone, and her eyes are at half-mast. Goddamn, she looks different when she's like this. Allie is usually all rainbows and butterflies. But this? It's like she's morphed into someone else. Someone naughty, sensual, and … well, a walking wet dream basically.

The air in the room shifts and thickens. I become hyper-aware of her—the thin fabric of her dress sticking to her body like a second skin, molding her tits, showing her peaked nipples.

Her hair has managed to escape the bun, and she's looking at me like she wants me for her next meal.

"There's no coming back from this, Bun. You can still back out now."

"No."

That's all I need to hear. The sweetest ‘no' I've ever heard. "It's gonna hurt, so we'll try just the tip first. Okay?"

She chews on her bottom lip and feasts her gaze on me as I lift the shirt over my head and toss it to the floor. She doesn't look away even while I take off my pants, leaving me in nothing but my boxers.

Allie's eyes almost bulge out of their sockets when she spots my hard cock, and I feel a weird sense of pride and bump in my masculine ego that she finally sees me as a man. Not some best friend who won't feel anything even as she ditches the bra in front of me or walks half-naked most of the time.

No.

I am a man and I only want one thing.

Her.

A thought niggles in my brain. Maybe if I made her feel so good, she wouldn't want another man. Maybe if I show her I can take care of her nicely in bed, she wouldn't bother with that ex-roommate's brother. Maybe … maybe she can be mine. Only mine.

Tugging my boxers down, I hold her gaze and wrap a hand around my rock-hard erection. The way she licks her lips almost pushes me to the edge, but I have to get a grip on myself. I have one mission—to make her come harder than before. And I'm gonna focus all my energy on pleasing her.

I won't stop until I accomplish that.

"Let's take you out of that dress first," I tell her and lift the dress over her head. It joins the pile on the floor with a splat.

Seeing her naked will forever be burned into my brain. Those tits she used to call ‘small' but actually fit perfectly in my palm. Those delicious curves and dips I want to explore so badly. That tiny scar on her stomach after her emergency appendectomy in eighth grade.

Everything about her is beautiful.

And now it's getting increasingly hard to keep my hands to myself.

As if propelled by some unknown force, I kneel on the bed, the mattress dipping under my weight. My hands run up her legs and thighs until I reach the junction. My fingers massage her pussy, which now glistens—from the rain or arousal, I'm not sure.

When I graze the slit with my middle finger, Allie bows off the bed, her fingers clutching the sheets. "Oh God."

The dust tickles my nose, but I ignore it. No one and nothing can keep me away from her pussy right now.

I position myself in front of her, widening her legs, and wedge the tip at her entrance. Fucking hell. I can come from this alone. Slowly, I slide inside of her. She's so tight that I have to be extra mindful of the way I move my hips forward, but it helps that she's soaking wet.

When the head is fully sheathed inside her, I raise my gaze, only to find her with her head thrown back, her hands squeezing her tits.

Holy shit.

Those should be my hands and mouth, so I grab both wrists and trap them above her head with my hands. My cock hits her barrier, and I bury my face in her chest, taking one pebbled nipple into my mouth and sucking on it. Her moans only make my cock twitch. I run my tongue along the valley between her breasts before I suck on the other nipple and give it the same attention.

She manages to pull her hands back, and her fingers go to the back of my head, pushing my mouth to take more of her.

So I do. My hands find her breasts, squeezing, kneading, pinching the nipples, while I graze the sensitive spot on her neck with my tongue, running along the tendons until I reach her earlobe. I nip the soft skin before swirling my tongue along the shell. "This is gonna hurt a little, Bun, and I'm sorry but there's no other way around it."

"O-oka?—"

She doesn't finish it because I slam into her, tearing her hymen and burying myself to the hilt. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

"Are you okay? Bun, how do you feel?" My eyes scan her features but save for the lip biting, there's no other indication that she's in pain.

"I'm okay. Please don't stop." She punctuates it by rotating her hips, and it's all I can do not to spill my seed inside her. It's all the encouragement I need.

Slowly and without any sense of urgency, I slip in and out of her, watching her face the whole time.

"Stop staring at me, Tristan. Suck my tits and fuck me."

Something explodes within me. The fraying thread of control snaps, and I feel a roaring in my chest.

Grabbing her hips and pulling her to me, I ram forward and begin fucking her in earnest.

"Yes, yes! God, yes. Harder, Tristan!"

I tunnel my fingers through her hair and kiss her roughly, biting and sucking her lower lip while pounding her into a moaning, trembling mess. In return, she drags her nails along my arms and tries to meet my drives even though it's hard for her to move.

"Tristan, I-I'm coming."

I don't change my rhythm, but I pull back just enough to see her face twist into one of absolute ecstasy. Her eyes snap shut, lips screaming my name. Yes, screaming. Because despite the noise of the rain outside, her voice echoes around the room.

That's it. I don't think I can stave off the orgasm any longer.

I flip her onto her stomach and yank her against my body. With Allie on her knees and her ass in the air, I slide into her tight walls with ease. My hips begin to rut wildly, hands roughly cupping her tits, teeth biting her shoulder. My spine tightens as I get thicker inside of her.

My own orgasm crashes into me, making my head spin. This is so much better than all the fantasies I've had to live with for years. I don't draw out from her, but we collapse on the bed, and I tuck her on my side.

"T-that was…" Allie trails off and snuggles closer.

"Yeah."

It doesn't take long before she dozes off. I try to do the same, but I can't sleep. I spend the next two hours staring at the intricately carved ceiling. My mind races, and I can't seem to silence the thoughts rampaging in my mind—some good, some bad. My arm, which Allie uses as a pillow, starts getting that pins-and-needles feeling. I can feel it falling asleep under her weight, electric pulses on my fingers.

I don't want to interrupt her sleep, so I shift slightly and adjust my position, gently sliding my arm from beneath her. She stirs but settles quickly, her head now resting on the pillow.

To be fair to the house owner, it's not as dirty as I imagined it would be. Maybe the maintenance staff came by recently. Even the sheets don't feel itchy, and I no longer get the urge to sneeze.

Blood rushes back into my arm, and I wiggle my fingers.

I stand up slowly, careful not to disturb her, and slip out onto the terrace, finding a folded quilt on a chair and wrapping it around my waist. Bless you, whoever left it there.

Stepping into the cool night air and leaning against the balustrade, I look out over the estate.

I've always liked this place.

Even as a teen, it was my dream to someday own something like it. The upkeep must be expensive, which is probably why the homeowner limits maintenance to a few times per year.

He probably regretted cheating on Lucille. I was told he groveled for years, even when she already married Allie's grandfather. Eventually, the guy gave up and left this place.

Barring his cheating, which is inexcusable by the way, it's always sad when love is one-sided. I can relate to that part. I mean, I've loved Allie for years. Watching her laugh at another guy's jokes or witnessing someone else try to get close to her felt like small deaths, like a hot poker twisting in my gut. I don't know how we'll be in the morning, but for now, I want to savor the happiness.

At one point, I thought of sleeping with her and flushing her out of my system. The joke's on me. After what happened and with the way she writhed and screamed, how can I ever go back to being her best friend? How can I look at her and not think of the way her lips mold to mine? How can I sit beside her and not want to touch her and take her again?

This was stupid. Why did I agree in the first place? Now I'm assaulted by my visions of a future with her. A future where she's mine. Completely, irrevocably mine.

Maybe I'll even buy this godforsaken estate.

I'm so lost in my thoughts that I barely register her presence until she slides her arms around me and intertwines her fingers over my stomach. She leans her cheek on my back, and I stiffen, unsure of where we currently stand and terrified to break this fragile state we're in.

"Come back to bed, Tris."

"Bun…"

"You don't want to?"

Jesus. What kind of a question is that? "God knows how long I've wanted to."

That's the closest thing to a confession I've ever said, and her arms tighten around me. She understands quickly, and thank God for that because I'm way too wound up to explain. "How long, Tris?"

"Probably since you came to school wearing that god-awful Black Sabbath T-shirt even though you didn't like their songs. All because you knew I loved the band. Or maybe when you hugged me in front of the whole school. Me, the loser no one wants to hang out with. Or maybe when you fell asleep holding my hand."

It takes her a few beats before she replies, "So why won't you come back to bed?"

With a sigh, I scrub a hand across my face. "Because if we continue doing this, it will reset my brain. It will rearrange everything I know is true. It will convince me that you're mine, and there's no way I will let you leave my bed for another man."

She walks in front of me, gripping my arms with her small hands. Our clothes are still wet, but she's bundled in a thin bedsheet. The crisp night air didn't bother me earlier, but I see goosebumps peppering her skin, so I open my quilt and wrap it around both of us.

I refuse to look at her eyes because if I see even an ounce of pity, it will end me. Instead, I focus on her slender shoulder. But I've forgotten how stubborn Allie can be. She grabs my face and pulls it down, so now I don't have any choice but to stare at her flushed just-fucked face.

"Tristan…"

"There's nothing I want more than to spend my days with you, Bun. As your best friend, sure, but also as your lover. I want to be buried inside of you, making you moan, making you tremble with pleasure. But if you're inviting me to bed again to gain more experience in the sexual department so you can sleep with someone else … I'm sorry, but I can't do that anymore, Bun. I thought I could, but apparently, I'm a weak man when it comes to you."

Instead of a hundred different scenarios I pictured in my head, Allie does the complete opposite. She rests a palm on my cheek, and the contact has me reeling. Her touch always does this to me. I know I should pull back and stand my ground, but there goes my weak ass leaning against it and feeling her skin on mine.

"Can I tell you something, Tris?"

"Sure. As long as it's not about another guy."

Allie laughs softly and smiles. "I lied."

Something heavy settles in my stomach. "About what?"

"I'm not going out with Bryce, Melissa's brother."

My brain cells are quite possibly at their limit because I stare at her stupidly. "What? Wasn't this all?—"

Allie rolls her eyes, not unlike the way Lucille did. "Because I've been waiting for you to make the first move for years! When Gram told me you looked at me like I was your crush, I tried to shrug it off. Then I realized you always dropped everything for me, never said no to my craziest requests, and more importantly, you always listened to me. Always." A soft smile plays on her lips. "It didn't matter if it was something trivial or stupid. You listen to me."

Allie has rendered me speechless. All this time, I thought it was a one-sided love between us. I can't believe it. Part of me refuses to believe it. So instead of responding to all those sweet words that make my heart explode with happiness, I point out the safest subject. "Gram, huh?"

She lifts a shoulder, throwing me a lopsided smile. "This was her idea. She thought that maybe you'd eventually ask if you knew there was competition. You did have competition back in college, but you still didn't do anything."

"Those dicks weren't your type."

"True.

I can totally picture Lucille convincing Allie and both of them scheming while they drank tea. "The whole ‘take my virginity' thing, was that her idea too?"

Allie purses her lips and looks down, but not before I spot a deep blush on her cheeks. "Oh, no. I might have gone a bit overboard with that one. I took it to the next level because go big or go home, right?"

I laugh and pull her to me, squeezing her ass. "Then we definitely should go back to bed. Wouldn't want all that scheming to go to waste."