The Deal Dilemma

I’m not sure what time it is when I wake to the warmth of Crew’s lips trailing over my skin, but I don’t open my eyes until he tells me to, finding him bent beside the bed with a grin. His room was the one of choice last night. By some miracle, we were able to sneak out of the bar by three this morning, and we fully intend to take advantage of his one day off this week, the same one I, somehow, scored off as well.

“Time to get up, Sweets. Your bath’s getting cold.”

I quirk a brow, my face still smashed against the pillow. “Bath, you say?”

“Oh, yeah. All the bubbles and shit, too.”

I fight a smile. “I didn’t have any bubble bath stuff.”

“Shampoo, Sweets. Even I know that.”

Chuckling, I push up, stretching my arms over my head.

“Shouldn’t you be sleeping still?” I follow him into the bathroom, smiling when he undresses me.

Crew smacks my ass hard enough for it to sting, and I frown playfully at him. “Don’t worry about me. Get in the water. Relax. I’ll be back in a minute.”

“You’re not getting in with me?”

“Don’t tempt me.” His gaze tracks my skin inch by inch as it disappears beneath the water.

Only when he’s satisfied I’m settled does he walk out.

Dropping back, I let out a small sigh, weaving my open palms through the water.

I don’t even have words for how incredibly shocking my new world is.

When the boys left home, I didn’t know what to do with myself, but I held on to the fact that I’d see them every break and have them home all summer long. It lasted the first couple years, but then Crew kissed me and never came back.

That’s when I turned my thoughts of following them here into an actual plan, one my parents were thrilled about, until they realized, Memphis or not, this was still where I wanted to be. Deep down, I think they knew what Crew was to me, but like me, I doubt they ever imagined we would be more, and then I got here, Crew not but a few blocks away at the time, yet somehow, he felt farther than before, until eventually, there was no denying he was.

The distance between us was Grand Canyon wide, and I saw no chance of crossing it, not when he grew so angry at the world for reasons I never knew.

When I called him to try and make my deal, I had secretly hoped it would take a while to get to the endgame, allowing me time with him, but when he denied me, yet again, I was a mess of emotions. Sad he couldn’t seem to stomach the thought of touching me, but thrilled he was willing to find time to be around me, even if it was just to help me find another man—something I now know he never had any intention of doing.

He said he wanted to put a pause on my rush to rid myself of my virginity, and he’d figure out what to do about it later, but his possessiveness, his inability to hide how he hated other men anywhere near me, was too potent for the man he grew into.

He was a boy before who fought an onslaught of temptation, as all boys must at some point, but Crew was no longer a boy when I came to him, and while some learn patience with age, he was not one of them. My man has little self-control when it comes to me, and I swear I could choke on the flutters knowing so gives me.

My man.

What a wild fact.

What a wild ride this has been. So fast, so easy, as if we were meant to endure the distance between us, so we could end up right here, right now.

Each of us stronger and ready for what the world offers with age, because really, what could seventeen-year-old me do for twenty-one-year-old him?

The bathroom door creaks open, and Crew walks in, a tray of deliciousness in his hands.

“What did you do?” I eye him suspiciously, stretching my neck as he bends. “Pancakes?” I squeal.

“With strawberries and whipped cream.”

I sit up, opening my mouth instantly, and Crew laughs, sliding a forkful past my lips. Moaning around the fork, I close my eyes a brief moment. “So good.”

Crew grins, seemingly proud of himself, and I reach out, skating my wet fingertips over the sides of his freshly cut hair.

“You know you don’t have to do all this kind of stuff for me.” When creases form along his forehead, I lift a single shoulder in a small shrug. “The office at the bar, the fresh stack of my favorite frozen pizzas in the freezer, all this, this morning.”

He scowls down at me. “Let me spoil you.”

A soft chuckle leaves me, and I shift in the water, leaning my arms on the edge of the tub, and accept another bite. Swallowing, I add, “I just want you to know you don’t have to.”

“I avoided you for years because I was afraid of what I might do, but I’m pretty sure it would have looked a lot like the night I dragged you from the bar. You tossed over my shoulder, me going fucking crazy with your pussy so close to my face, I was tempted to take it right then. Now that I can, now that you’re mine, I want to do all the things I didn’t get to think of because I was too busy trying not to claim you for myself.” He dips close, glaring. “So let me.”

My skin heats, an entirely different kind of excitement flittering through me, but amusement is trickled in with it. “You’re cute when you go caveman.”

“I want to fuck you like a caveman, so hurry up and eat, so I can.”

I open my mouth, and he chuckles, obliging me with a mouthful.

We chat about the data I’ve found in all the old files thus far, and I share with him the next step in my and Layla’s plan to get the ball rolling on her and Willie’s new adventure—we’re supposed to go to their house tomorrow afternoon. He also tells me how his crew is happy with the produce they’ve been sampling each night from the three merchants we narrowed our search down to.

We make plans to take a trip to the cabins my parents used to take us to before summer is over, and I convince him that the Chevy needs to be driven at least twice a week to keep the engine healthy, which he literally knows is a load of crap, but he relents easy enough, eager to drive it, but unwilling to admit as much, considering I pimped him out and used it as payment.

In time, I tell myself with a grin.

It’s not long after that the plate is wiped clean, Crew sharing the sweet, both literally and figuratively, meal with me, but when I climb out, stepping into my room, he doesn’t allow me to open my dresser drawer, but slides up behind me, cupping my bare breasts in his large, calloused hands.

My head falls back onto his shoulder, and he kisses my temple.

“Is it playtime now?”

His lips curve against their place on my skin. “It is. And later, I want to take you to dinner.”

“Mm, that sounds nice.”

He palms me a little rougher, spreading his fingers wider, so he can wedge my nipples between his knuckles for a long, tight squeeze. “Is there anything new you want to try?”

“Yes.”

Crew freezes, slowly shifting his upper body until his gaze can possess mine. “That was quick,” he accuses, eyes narrowing. “You’ve thought of something you want to do and held it back?”

“I wasn’t sure—”

“No,” he cuts me off with his sharp word and the shake of his head. “Consider me your guinea pig, test dummy, personal fucking blow-up doll. Robot, even. You want, you don’t wait, don’t hesitate, don’t ask. You take, and believe I’ll be ready to give.”

Heat whirls in my core, and I nod.

My submission is all he wanted, as the grin that follows is far too mischievous. He jerks forward, nudging my legs open in the same motion, and I’m forced to lean, catching myself with my palms on the top of my dresser.

His hand is between my legs from behind in an instant, his fingers teasing at my opening. “What is this… naughty thought my baby had, hmm?”

I try to push back into him, but he holds me steady, refusing my body with his torturous curiosity, but I think I’ll give him something better than the control he lives for.

“Sorry, but I heard you loud and clear.”

My voice is raspy with need, my nipples sharp with desire, my body humming with anticipation. My muscles relax, and like I knew he would, he presses softly against me, waiting for the wetness to flood between my legs, as he knows it will, but I spin before he can, nudging him in the chest.

“I’m afraid this is my show now.”

Crew’s pupils double in size, his teeth sinking into his lower lip as I guide him backward. “Baby, what are you after?”

“Does it matter?”

“Not a fucking bit,” he groans, ready for what comes next when he has no idea what it is.

His knees meet the mattress, and he drops down, his hands coming up to grip my waist, his head quickly dipping to kiss my stomach.

Sighing blissfully, I run my hands through his hair, my fingers tangling into the thick waves on top before nudging him until he’s flat, and he takes my cue, sliding back on the bed. Olive gaze unblinking, he tracks me on my way to him, glued to me as I climb up, my knees pressed to either side of him. I then crab walk my way past his hips.

The hint of embarrassment I expected to creep in doesn’t come, and while my chest does flush, there’s something empowering about the way Crew’s looking up at me, perched on the pillow at the head of the bed.

One knee at a time, I climb higher and higher, Crew’s chest rumbling with realization as my bare ass slides along his skin until I’m straddling his shoulders, my sex inches from his chin.

His mouth must water as he swallows good and hard, his jaw flexing with anticipation. “Baby, you about to ride my face?”

“Don’t make me shy,” I whisper, yelping when Crew goes Crew and demands a little control, grabbing me around the ass and hauling me the last few inches, my clit now pressed to his warm lips.

I suck in a sharp breath, my hands latching on to the headboard behind him, and his smirk is half-hidden beneath my body, waiting for me to do the work. He doesn’t have to wait long.

Eyes on his, I let my knees slide a little farther on the pillow, and suddenly, my lips are fully pressed to his. I clench instantly, the feeling of my skin to his enough to send a shiver of desire through me, but it’s not enough. He knows it, his gaze wicked and playful as he does no more than part his lips, his tongue teasing, rested at the seam of my entrance.

Slowly, I begin to make forward-rolling motions as Crew’s eyes take on an entirely new shade. They’re low and liquid, dazed in pleasure at the sheer sight of my own.

His hands come up and around my thighs from behind, and he palms my inner legs, massaging them as his tongue takes center stage. Finally.

He licks across my clit, swirling around while slowly sucking me into his mouth. I press firmer, grinding down onto him, and he groans, shifting slightly, and then his thumb meets my ass crack. He glides it lower as I lift myself to tease my own body, so he’s barely there, but in the exact spot I need him most. My muscles grow taut, my body shaking, and I cry out, my head dropping back, hands growing sore from fisting the frame so hard. I try to move, to ease the heat that’s threatening to tip me over the edge too soon, but he doesn’t let up.

He holds me there, showering my pussy with sloppy, wet kisses and swift, sharp sucks.

I gasp, my lungs starved. “I can’t… it’s too much, I can’t—”

“You can. You will,” he growls, his words muffled and cut at the end by my hips grinding down onto his face.

His thumb finds my hole then, rubbing small circles and making a new part of me clench. He applies pressure right as his teeth close over my swollen clit, and my body surges forward.

Uncontrollable shakes bound through me, the sounds leaving my mouth downright dirty. Sinfully loud.

Begging.

“Crew, please. I need… God, I need…”

“Fuck my face, baby. Almost there.”

My muscles lock, every inch of me trembling, my eyes clenched shut as I clamp my legs around his head, likely cutting off his hearing, though he doesn’t seem to mind.

He growls against me, his thumb pushing a little harder… or maybe it’s me who’s pushing back into it. I freeze, shuddering, and Crew begins to roll my hips for me, not letting up, giving me no time to prepare for the break that’s coming.

Suddenly, a hard pinch comes down on my nipple, a quick sting of pressure on my hole at the same time, and I cry out, my neck rolling until my chin is dropped to my chest, my limbs twitching.

I come so hard I can’t breathe, desperately seeking air I can’t seem to find, until finally, my gasp breaks through the knot in my throat, and I gasp.

“Oh f-fuuuck.” I twitch again.

I don’t know how long I stay hunched like that, but when my hair is pushed from my face, Crew’s warm hand holding it in place, I peel my eyes open and look at him.

His eyes shine brighter than normal, like a candy apple sucker, the caramel kind, so full of hunger and satisfaction.

Appreciation.

Love.

I slide down his chest, and he rolls me so he’s half on top, his forehead coming down to mine for a brief moment.

“I want you,” he rasps.

My legs fall open with no guidance from me.

A smugness falls over him then. “Not that you seem to mind but let me wash my face first.”

Warmth floods my cheeks when he dramatically laps his tongue in a giant circle around his lips.

With a low laugh, I hit his chest, and he grins, slipping off the mattress and into the bathroom, while I pull on the discarded T-shirt and step into the sleep shorts on the floor in case we left windows open in the living room.

“I’m dying of thirst.”

“I think I drank all I can drink for now,” he shouts back. “I might even burp, I’m so full.”

I roll my eyes, though my smile is wide as I pull the fridge open, debating between a Squirt and a Squeezit, but before I can decide, there’s a knock on the door. Frowning, I go for the Squirt, popping it open as I close the fridge and make my way to answer.

“Expecting anyone?” I shout, but my voice is likely drowned out by the water, so I unlock the dead bolt, leaving the small security chain Crew recently added in place.

My entire body freezes, my face falling, cool liquid splashing all over my legs as the can slips between my fingers.

“Davis?” Crew calls from somewhere behind me.

I don’t answer, frozen in place as I stare at the man on my porch.

Blue eyes lock with mine, and my lip begins to tremble.

“Sweets, who is it?”

My lips part, but it takes me a moment to speak. “It’s—”

Crew’s chest meets my back, and we speak his name at the same exact moment.

“Memphis.”