“Some guy in a uniform, huh?”
“Hayden! Focus!” I scolded him. “I came in each night maybe five or ten minutes before she did. You were always sitting at the same table, this table”—I knocked on the chipped Formica table we were sitting at now—“and you watched the door. When I came in, you barely glanced over the paper you were pretending to read, but when Cass appeared, your bravado slipped.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh.”
“I don't know what to say,” Hayden admitted.
“You don’t have to say anything. I just wanted you to know that this place was never about the pie. It was about you. All about you. Do you have any idea how hard it is to follow someone home but still beat them there? Even though I’d watched it play out night after night, I’d race back to the hotel, change into my pajamas and wait for Cass to knock on the door and come crawl into bed beside me and tell me about the amazing guy she’d met and how she was going to marry him one day.”
“She did not say that,” Hayden said pointedly in disbelief.
“She actually did. I think it was the second night. Or maybe it was the third night.”
“I didn’t even recognize her.”
“I know. That was the best part!” I laughed an honest to goodness laugh.
19
HAYDEN
I didn’t expectto have so much fun with Skye. The truth was, I’d come here not for the coffee and definitely not for the pie, but to avoid going home. Today had been pretty routine, thankfully, and after I’d spent almost two hours in the gym, I still wasn’t ready to face her. I don’t know why I was avoiding Skye, all I knew was it was awkward as hell.
After seeing her fall apart the other night, guilt hit me hard. Then when I tucked her into bed and she’d practically begged me to hold her, I felt like I was stuck. I couldn’t walk away and leave her like that, no matter how much my head was telling me to, my icy heart wouldn’t allow it. Abandoning someone in their time of need wasn’t something I’d ever do, I don't think I could even if I wanted to.
The problem wasn’t lying down on the bed next to her. The problem wasn’t holding her in my arms until her tears dried up and her sobs subsided. The problem was, I’d fallen asleep beside her and woken up with her head on my chest, our legs tangled together. The problem was the hard-on I’d woken up with tenting my boxers. The problem was the sweet scent of her strawberry shampoo clinging to my pillow. The problem was, I was too close.
So I’d done what I had to do. I’d put distance between us. As much distance as I possibly could, using work as an excuse to duck out early and stay out late. It was the coward's way out, but in the long run, it was what was best for both of us. At least that’s what I kept telling myself.
When she’d come into the diner, dripping wet, shivering and looking like one of the downtrodden, I hated that I was the one responsible. Skye didn’t deserve that. She’d been nothing short of amazing. Then we’d sat and laughed and eaten and just hung out for a while and I wanted to kick my own ass for avoiding her. Skye was awesome and I was the one missing out because I was too busy being an asshole.
“You ready to head home?” I asked
“Let’s do it.” She smiled a great beaming smile.
Grabbing a cab, we hurried back to my place to get out of the horrid weather and inside where it was warmer. I was dying for a hot shower but seeing the way Skye shivered, I knew I was giving her first shot at the hot water.
“You want a shower?” Skye offered.
“You go first,” I encouraged, toeing off my boots and unpacking my pockets onto the counter.
“I won't be long,” Skye promised before disappearing down the hall.
I could hear her singing over the sound of the water and my thoughts went straight where they shouldn’t. Skye, wet, soapy, and all that silky smooth skin. Trying to cool my rising temperature and get the ideas out of my head—ideas that had no place being there in the first place—I flicked on the TV to drown out the sweet, melodic sounds of Skye’s voice and grabbed myself a glass of ice water.
I’d just finished my drink, when Skye called out that the bathroom was free and I headed straight in that direction, unbuttoning my shirt as I stalked down the corridor.
Safely in the bathroom, I shut the door, stripped off, and stepped under the water. Turning it on as hot as I could handle, I leaned my head against the cool tiles and took a few deep breaths. It was the biggest mistake I could’ve made. Sitting on the shelf was Skye’s body wash but the scent was everywhere. Surrounding me. Engulfing my senses. My dick twitched and I tried to ignore it. Focusing on what I needed to do, I reached for my own shampoo and washed my hair quickly. My dick was aching. Reaching down, I’d meant to just adjust it, ease the pressure, but the moment my fingers wrapped around my shaft, I couldn’t help myself.
Two strokes, I told myself as pleasure flooded my body, every nerve ending alert and firing.
Before I realized it, I was jacking off, trying to ease the pressure in my heavy balls. Tipping my head back, I squeezed my eyes shut picturing Skye on her knees in front of me, taking me in her mouth. I could feel her fingernails digging into my ass as she licked and sucked and squeezed in the most magnificent rhythm I’d ever been tortured with.
“Fuck yeah,” I groaned as I twisted my wrist, a familiar tingling starting at the base of my spine. Moving faster. Gripping harder. Finding that perfect tempo, I bit down on my lip as ropes of cum exploded from me hitting the tiles.
Breathless and spent, I watched as the water washed away all evidence of my release as I came back down to earth. The itch was scratched, for now, but I wasn’t nearly satisfied. If anything, I’d woken the beast and now he was starving.
