“Huh—what?” Crystal asked distractedly.
“Yeah—exactly.” Mia snickered. “Just walk around and let him follow. He’s definitely going to.”
Crystal started down a nearby hallway, intending to wipe her sweaty palms and take a breath before approaching Mark. She barely had time to register the sound of footsteps, before her arm was in his grasp and she was swung around and pushed into an empty room. She started to struggle until she heard a masculine voice say, “Angel, it’s me.”
That was it for her. Those words were the equivalent of gas on a flame. She used her hands to locate him in the darkness. “Mark . . .” He made what sounded like a grunt of surprise as she blindly pressed her lips against what she hoped was his mouth. Actually, it turned out to be his cheek, but she moved to the right until she found what she was looking for and her lips met his.
“What do you need, Angel?” he asked huskily as he rocked against her.
“Touch me,” she begged. He took a couple of steps forward until he’d braced her back against a wall. He pulled her strapless dress down and her bra along with it. Her breasts sprang free into his waiting hands.
“Fuck, I want to see you, baby. But right now, I’ll settle for tasting.” With that, he sucked a bud into his mouth while flicking the tip of the other one. When she moaned, he whispered, “You have to be quiet, Angel, or someone will hear us.”
Moments passed in sheer bliss, as Mark pinched and teased her nipples, while his tongue was back in her mouth. She was hanging on the edge, when suddenly a sliver of light lit up the small space. Before either of them could pull apart, the door flung open and she was gaping at her brother-in-law in horror.
Crystal had to give Declan credit for not being easily shocked, because he simply blinked a couple of times before shutting the door without saying a word. She heard him yell down the hallway, “The broom’s not in the closet. I’ll get the one from the garage.” Apparently, Ella was determined to check for herself because a second later, because Declan, in a voice heavy with amusement, said, “Trust me, Ellie—there’s nothing in that closet that you need to see right now.”
As their voices faded away, Crystal slumped against Mark. “Oh, my God,” she moaned in horror. “My brother-in-law just saw my boobs. Maybe even worse.”
“He left pretty quickly, so I doubt he saw much,” Mark murmured reassuringly.
Maybe she should be utterly embarrassed by what had just happened, but Crystal was surprised to feel a giggle escape, followed quickly by another. Before she knew it, she was slumped back against Mark’s broad chest, shaking with laughter. “This is totally my luck,” she managed to wheeze out. “I mean, I finally throw caution to the wind and decide to go for it, and I bare my tits to Declan!” She heard Mark chuckle in her ear before he nipped it with his teeth. “Ouch!” she yelped, sticking her elbow in his stomach to defend against his love bites.
“Careful, Angel,” he warned. “I have something wedged up against my ass that I suspect is the broom Declan was hunting. If you force me back another step, I’m probably going to become intimately acquainted with it.”
“Oops, sorry,” she replied, trying to stifle a snicker.
“We’d better get presentable and out of here before someone else comes along,” Mark said as he began pulling first her bra and then her dress back up. “I have no idea where the light switch is in here, so we’ll have to check to make sure everything’s as it should be when we step out.”
“Mark . . . I want to go home with you tonight,” Crystal found herself saying as she stared at his outline in the dark. Wait—had she really just asked to have sex with him? Well, yes, she had. Heck, who was she kidding, she’d do it right now, even knowing that Declan was probably watching the door by this point.
“Angel,” Mark said, sounding both surprised and uncertain. “When and if you’re ever in my home again, it won’t be for another sleepover and it won’t be to make love. We’ll fuck—because that’s what I do. And you don’t strike me as a woman who goes for that type of entertainment.”
“That’s exactly what I want,” Crystal found herself replying. “I’ve never had that before. Actually, I’ve never made love either, if I’m being honest.”
“Wait—what? You’ve been married, Angel. How could you possibly be a virgin?”
“Um, what are you talking about?” she asked. “I didn’t say I was a virgin.”
She heard him sigh in the darkness before he said, “Honey, if you haven’t made love and you haven’t fucked—then what have you done? That about covers it, I believe. Shit, surely you didn’t just do oral while you were married, did you?”
Crystal’s mouth fell open at his statement. “No!” she sputtered. “Bill didn’t do stuff . . . you know . . . down there. What I meant was that my ex-husband wasn’t very good at sex. At least, I don’t think he was. He was my first and only, so I have nothing to compare him to. But I don’t think what we did could be classified as either lovemaking or the other thing. From the things that my friends say, though, there’s a lot more than I’ve experienced, and I want it—with you.” Oh crap, I didn’t mean for that to come out sounding so desperate.
His voice sounded strained when he finally said, “Angel, I can’t be your white knight, and, baby, you deserve to have one. I’m not capable of giving you what you’re looking for.”
Crystal felt his arm move around her, and she knew he was looking for the door handle. She had just seconds to get his attention before the moment was lost, so she gave it her best shot. “Mark, I want to know what it feels like to be fucked—just the way you’d do it. I don’t want rose petals and champagne. I want dirty, sweat-soaked sheets. I want aches in places I’ve never imagined, and I want to take a man in my mouth for the first time ever.” Stiffening her spine, she added, “If you aren’t interested, then I’ll find someone who is.”
The last word had barely left her mouth when the door was wrenched open once again. She blinked against the light to find Mark’s driver, Denny, standing there grinning. “Let me be the first to toss my name in the mix. Because if my cousin is crazy enough to turn you down, then I’m happy to be your backup plan.”
She could only gape at the other man, mortified. Mark stepped up behind her, putting a hand on her waist. “What in the hell are you doing here?” he gritted out.
Looking completely unaffected by his boss’s biting tone, Denny held up his phone. “Well, actually, you invited me, if you recall, and also ordered me to bring a case of your favorite wine. So I made my delivery but couldn’t seem to locate you anywhere.” Putting a hand on his heart, he continued. “I was so worried that I tracked your phone. Imagine my surprise when your little red dot led me right to the broom closet.”
Having gotten over the initial embarrassment, Crystal was enjoying the sparring going on between the two men. She had liked Denny right away. And the way he teased Mark was nothing short of hilarious. “Thanks for saving us.” She grinned at the other man. “Mark was under attack by an overeager broom.”
“Oh, my pleasure, beautiful.” Denny grinned before extending his elbow to her. “Shall we join the others while my cousin sulks?”
She looked over her shoulder at Mark to find him glaring at them. When he met her eyes, his expression softened slightly before becoming perplexed. He didn’t know what to do with her. It was written all over his face. She had a feeling that he didn’t often suffer from any kind of indecision. Well, while she had him off balance, she’d do everything in her power to keep him that way. He’d wanted her in that closet, and tonight, she would use all of her limited knowledge to entice him further.
When she walked out onto the back deck with Denny, Ella came over at a fast clip. “Where have you been?” she whisper-shouted before pulling her away from Denny with a smile of apology.
“Making out in your closet,” she replied to a stunned Ella. “Oh, and Declan totally busted us, as I’m sure you’ll be hearing about later.”
“Did
you have someone in there with you?” Ella asked, looking hopeful.
“Els, of course. Even I’m not desperate enough to masturbate at your barbecue.”
Ella started choking, while Crystal reached over to thump her on the back. A few feet away, Declan caught her eye and lifted a beer as if saluting her. Ella, noticing the interaction, looked back and forth between them before exclaiming, “How in the world does my husband know something like that before me?”
“Er—he might have walked in on us,” Crystal admitted sheepishly.
Before Ella could respond, most of their female friends had surrounded them. Mia smirked then elbowed Suzy. “You got lucky, didn’t you, Crys?”
Suzy gave her an appraising look before saying, “She certainly did something. She has the rosy, sexy glow going on.”
“What’d I miss?” Gwen waddled up to the group, holding her back.
Crystal saw an opportunity for a distraction, and she jumped on it. “Gwen! You’ve been avoiding us since your ultrasound appointment. I’m dying to know whether I’m having a niece or nephew, so spill.”
Gwen shook her head before dropping it. “We chickened out.”
“Pardon?” Claire asked, looking confused.
Emma pointed to Gwen’s stomach. “You do realize that you’ve got a little person in there and it’s too late for backing out, right?”
Beth gave a rueful smile. “I had some of those moments of panic myself. But Nick kept telling me that returns were illegal.”
“Oh no, that’s not what I meant,” Gwen sputtered out with laughter. “We’ve decided to wait until the baby is born to find out the sex. We’ll probably be moving to a bigger place shortly afterward anyway, so it doesn’t make a lot of sense to go all out on a baby room. Our families are disappointed, but it’s something we both wanted.”
“Well, if you ask me, there’s not enough mystery left in the world,” Suzy agreed. Pointing to Ella, she added, “Just please don’t go all Linda Blair when you’re in labor like that one did.”
“She scared the holy hell out of me!” Ava giggled. “I’ve told Mac not to even think about having children until I get that memory out of my head.”
“At least you were the skinny skank,” Suzy said dryly. “Although I’m pretty happy being the queen of the whores.” Everyone laughed, having heard the story of Ella going into labor while she was with Suzy and Ava and calling them all kinds of horrible things from the pain she was in.
Then Mia pushed her under the bus. “Crys, your lipstick is smudged all around your mouth and the seam of your dress is askew.”
Crystal looked down to find that yes, indeed, when Mark had helped her with her dress, he hadn’t exactly done a great job in the dark. The side seam now ran down the middle of her chest. Why hadn’t she gone to the bathroom after leaving the closet? She might as well be holding up a sign that said I JUST GOT GROPED IN THE CLOSET.
“And Declan busted them,” Ella blurted out.
“Way to have my back there, sis,” Crystal deadpanned. “All right,” she said in resignation, “Mark pushed me into Ella’s broom closet, and we kind of made out.”
“Shut the fluck up!” Beth squealed excitedly.
Suzy rolled her eyes. “I swear, with all of these kids around now, we can’t even curse anymore. I’ve been reduced to ‘mothertrucker’ and ‘duckhead.’ It just doesn’t give me the same feeling of satisfaction.”
“No kidding,” Claire agreed. “Jason rolled out the F word in front of Chrissy a while back and she was like a parrot. She must have said it in front of my mom and Louise a dozen times. It got to the point that they were giving me dirty looks and suggesting I go to church more often.”
“So, we already know that Mark had his hands either down or up your dress, since it’s all turned around.” Mia laughed. “Dare I hope that he had them both places?”
Crystal knew that her blush was giving her away when Mia’s eyes widened. Throwing up her hand in a high five, she said, “You go, girl!”
“It was amazing,” Crystal confessed before adding the part that worried her. “But he said that he couldn’t be what I was looking for. I tried to assure him that I only wanted hot sex, but he seems to believe I’m looking for a wedding ring. A relationship down the road would be good, of course, but I’d be happy with a man who actually puts me first—even if it’s only for a night.”
“Honey, every woman deserves to have her toes curled.” Suzy nodded. “You just need to take the reins here and make it happen. If he shoved you in a closet, then his composure is hanging on by a thread. All you have to do is reel him in. Take this time to torture his ass.”
“Suzy’s right,” Mia agreed. “He’s sitting over there talking to Seth. So you’re going to follow me, and when I sit on Seth’s lap, you sit on Mark’s.”
“Okay—Wh-what?” Crystal’s eyes widened. “I can’t do that. He’ll think I’ve lost my mind.”
“Trust me.” Claire smiled. “That’s not going to be what’s on his mind.”
Gwen clapped her hands and bounced up and down in excitement, causing the other women to look at her in alarm. “Cool your jets there, baby mama, or something’s gonna fall out,” Emma advised, looking wary.
Before Crystal could run in the other direction, Mia grabbed her arm and pulled her toward where her boyfriend sat. Seth started to get to his feet, but Mia pressed him back down then settled across his lap. I can’t believe I’m doing this, Crystal thought before she followed suit and perched gently on Mark’s lap. She heard his quick intake of breath before his arms encircled her, almost as if by reflex.
Then her traitor of a friend smoothly got to her feet and tugged her boyfriend up with her. “Come on, babe. I need a drink.” In the blink of an eye, they were gone and she was left alone in the corner with Mark.
“You have no idea who you’re dealing with, baby.” Mark sighed as he tightened his grip on her.
Stroking her fingers through his thick dark hair, she said earnestly, “I know you think I’m some sort of goody two-shoes, but I can be bad—I want to be. I’ve never been given the opportunity before—but I know I can do it.”
Looking pained, Mark laughed—although it came out sounding more like a wheeze. “Baby, this isn’t some kind of baking contest. There is nothing wrong with being a good girl. Hell, that’s one of the reasons I can’t keep my hands off you. Your innocence must be like some sort of crazy bat signal to me. I’ve never spent time with a woman like you, and frankly, it’s messing with my head,” he admitted wryly.
She had no idea how to respond to his confession. He’d both pushed her away and pulled her closer with just a few words. Other than his good looks, she was attracted to him because instinctively she knew he would take her places in the bedroom that she’d only imagined in her dreams. If he asked her to leave right now and go have sex with him, she would do it without question. After all, she’d spent her adult years making first her mother and then Bill happy. She’d paid her dues, and she was damn well tired of waiting around for what she wanted. Instead of her life finally starting, it felt some days as if everything was passing her by instead. “Then stop fighting it,” she advised. “I want you, and you seem to feel the same. We’re both adults and free from any other obligations. Er—you don’t have a girlfriend or a wife, right?”
Mark tapped her chin, shaking his head. “Angel, of course not. I thought I’d covered the fact that I didn’t do the relationship thing.”
Smiling brightly, she said, “So we’re good, then. Do you have like a toy drawer with all of the supplies we’ll need or should I buy them? Do you think they sell that kind of thing at Walmart? I usually buy my KY Jelly there, but it’s in the pharmacy section.” Snapping her fingers, she added, “Amazon! That’s where I purchased my—thing, so I can just order what we need. I have a Prime account, so I get free shipping.”
His head slumped against her neck as his body shook. “Are you all right?” she asked as she looked at him in concern.
>
“Baby, what ‘thing’ did you order from Amazon, and why do you need KY Jelly?” he asked in a tight voice. “Shit, if you’re talking about a vibrator, then don’t tell me. I can’t handle knowing.” Crystal looked away, not saying anything. He’d said he didn’t want to know, after all. “Fuck, that’s what you bought, wasn’t it? Do you ever use it and imagine it’s me inside of you, Angel?”
She shifted uneasily on his lap, knowing her face had to be bright red once again. She didn’t dare admit that she’d even named her battery-operated boyfriend Mark. He’d think she was some kind of weirdo for sure.
They were locked in their own little world until a loud voice jerked them apart. “Mark, can I talk to you for a minute?” She looked up to see Declan scowling down at them. Actually, a quick glance around showed most everyone shooting them curious looks. She could only hope that no one else had been close enough to hear their conversation. This day had probably taught him more about his sister-in-law than he’d ever wanted to know. Ella was going to kill her.
“Um—sure,” Mark agreed as Crystal scrambled from his lap. He got up slowly, putting his hands in his pockets. He gave her a wink before following Declan into the house. She didn’t want to answer all of the questions that she knew the other women would have, so she stayed where she was, waiting to see if he’d come back.
She’d barely had time to start worrying when she felt a hand on her shoulder. “Sorry, Angel, but I’ve got to run. I received a call while I was talking to Declan. It’s nothing major, but I need to take care of something.” Crystal noticed Denny standing a few feet away, obviously waiting for his boss.
“Oh—okay,” she murmured, trying to hide her disappointment. For some reason, she’d had it in her head that tonight would be a turning point for them. Now it looked as if she’d be a party of one—as usual. “Drive safely,” she added, knowing it sounded lame. What she actually wanted to do was stick out her lower lip and sulk like a teenage girl with her first crush.