One More Time Read online

  Chapter 12

  Tide

  “FUCK, ARIA,” I groan, ripping my mouth from hers and pushing her gently back onto the bed as I stand. “Get your shirt off, baby.” Sitting up, she pulls the loose shirt over her head, dropping it to the bed beside her, then she reaches behind her back to unhook her bra. When she lies back, bending her knees and cupping her breasts, my dick throbs.

  I flip open the button of my fly and tug my jeans down over my hips as my eyes devour her. I’ve never met a woman more soul-deep beautiful than her, never thought I’d let a woman own me like she does. Putting one knee on the bed, I place my hand on her shin, then skim it up her knee, smiling when I feel her shiver. I slide my hand down her inner thigh and slip my thumb under the edge of the dark lace covering her.

  “You okay?” I ask when she comes up on her elbows.

  “Ye… yes,” she stutters as I lower my face and let out a warm breath. “Oh God.” She falls back on the bed, attempting to close her thighs.

  “No.” I dig my fingers into her soft skin and cover her with my mouth, sucking deep through the thin material while my other hand slides down, my thumb slipping easily over her clit before entering her. Wanting all of her, I don’t think; I rip her panties away from her body, ignoring her startled gasp as I slide my hands under her ass and lift her up to meet my mouth. I devour her like a man starved, getting off on every groan and whimper coming from her pretty mouth as I force her closer to the edge. When her fingers latch onto my hair, I pull her clit into my mouth, sucking hard, and don’t let up as she cries out my name. When her body goes limp, I kiss her right above her pussy, nuzzle her stomach, then move up to loom over her. Her long lashes flutter open, and her hand comes up to rest against my cheek.

  “Hi.” She laughs softly, making me grin.

  “You doin’ okay?”

  “Yes.” She lifts her legs to wrap around my hips while her hands slide softly up my sides.

  “Good.” I drop my mouth to hers, kissing her softly before I nibble down her neck to the tops of her breasts. “Have I told you how perfect your breasts are before?”

  “No.” I hear the smile in her voice, so I lift my head to see it.

  “They’re the perfect size.” I cup one, squeezing gently. “They fit perfectly in my hands.” I kiss the dusky tip, watching her nipple harden. “They seem to like me too.”

  “They do.” She arches up when I pull the tip into my mouth, circling her nipple with my tongue before nibbling it softly, then let it go with a pop.

  “I don’t want my other friend to feel left out,” I tell her, smiling when she laughs. I treat her other breast to the same devotion while I slide my hand down her belly, stopping between her legs. Her hips lift in anticipation, and I slide one finger then another over her clit before filling her.

  “Oh God.” Her nails dig into my skin while her walls clamp down around my fingers. Wanting to feel her wrapped around me, I remove my fingers and wrap my hand around my cock, sliding it through her wetness before slipping into her, gritting my teeth.

  Leaning back to watch myself disappear into her, I bite back a curse as she lifts her hips, forcing me to sink into her in one smooth thrust. “Are you trying to kill me?”

  “I need you.” Fuck, that statement does me in, and I lose control. I pound into her as she digs her nails into my biceps, taking every thing I’m giving, relishing in every stroke, every slap of skin. Her hand moves between us, and I lean back to watch as she plays with her clit, arching and moaning.

  “You’re so tight and wet baby, I wish you could feel what I feel when I’m deep inside you.” I lean forward, and nip her bottom lip then thrust my tongue into her mouth feeling her as she pulses around me. Close, so fucking close, I let her mouth go. “You need to hurry up and come, Aria, ’cause I’m gonna lose it.”

  “Please, harder,” she moans, making me groan and curse. I pull out of her quickly, then flip her to her belly and pull up her hips. I don’t even give her a chance to adjust before I sink into her again, smacking her ass as I fuck her hard. Her head flies back, then her arms stretch out in front of her. Seeing my handprint on her ass, I smack her other cheek, hard twice, sending her into her orgasm as she drags mine from me. Darkness skims the edge of my vision, and my cock throbs as she pulses around my length. Weak and completely spent, I cover her with my body, pushing her into the bed, then roll us to our sides, not wanting to lose our connection.

  “Are you okay?” she asks, pulling my hand up to rest between her breasts, sounding breathless and content.

  “Never been happier.”

  She hums her agreement, and I give her a squeeze, then pull my hips back, hearing her mewl as she loses me, then turn her to face me.

  “How’s your ass?” I get up on my elbow and rest my head in the palm of my hand while using my free hand to slide over her bottom.

  “Warm.” She blushes, making me smile, and I lean forward to kiss her. “How about a shower? I know you gotta leave soon to meet Gia.”

  At the mention of her plans for the day, I notice her eyes lose some of the happy light that was there moments ago. “What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t think we should go to the party,” she blurts, and my hand resting on her hip tightens. “I never even wanted to go in the first place, so I have no idea why I even agreed to it.” She waves a hand between us. “I mean, I do know why, but I shouldn’t have.”

  Studying her closely and seeing the worry she’s trying to hide, I lean forward and rest my lips against her forehead briefly. “If you don’t want to go, I’m good with that, baby, but you gotta trust that I can handle your parents and your ex.”

  “I trust you. I just....” She licks her lips while looking over my shoulder. “I’m worried.”

  “About what?” I cup her cheek, and her eyes come back to me.

  “That I won’t be able to control myself if they treat you poorly,” she admits, and I feel my face soften. “I know that it seems crazy, because you and I are new, but I…” She cuts herself off, nibbling her bottom lip for a moment, before whispering, “I would choose you over them.”

  Letting out a deep breath, I wrap my arms around her and roll to my back, sliding my hand over her hair and down her back. “I never want you to have to make that choice, Aria.”

  “I wish my parents were normal.” The pain in her voice makes my chest ache.

  “I wish I had the power to make that wish come true.” I kiss the top of her head and hold her closer, saying quietly, “We’ll do whatever you want. If you don’t want to go to your parents’ party, we’ll do something else. If you want to go, we’ll go. You don’t have to decide right now.”

  “Thank you.” She lifts up, rests her hands on my chest and her chin on top of them, and studies me. “Part of me wants to go, just so I can rub it in everyone’s face how happy I am.”

  “Everyone, as in your ex?” I grin.

  “Yes.” She laughs. “I know it’s immature, but he always made it seem like it was my fault that neither of us were happy, and even though I knew that wasn’t true, there were times I would stress myself out to make myself into who he wanted me to be, hoping it would make things better between us.”

  “There’s always two people in a relationship. Sometimes shit just doesn’t work.”

  “And things just didn’t work out with you and Anna?” she asks carefully, and I sift my fingers through her hair at the side of her head.

  “Us splitting up was inevitable. From the beginning of our relationship, we’d fight over shit that didn’t mean shit. Olivia was the glue that kept us together longer than we should have been.”

  “At least you realized that you shouldn’t be together before you spent your life unhappy.”

  Letting out a deep breath, I tell her the truth. “I might have known it wouldn’t work, and that what we had wasn’t healthy, but I would never have given it up. I didn’t want to miss out on my time with Olivia.”

  “I’m sorry.” She reaches up,
tracing my jaw with the tips of her fingers, no judgment or anger in her eyes as they roam my face.

  Taking her hand, I kiss her palm, then hold it flat against my chest over my heart. “It still sucks, but as Olivia has gotten older, it’s gotten easier. And now that we share fifty-fifty custody, I don’t feel like I’m missing out on so much.”

  “You’re a great dad and she adores you.”

  “I try to be, but I’m sure that one day she’ll tell me all the ways I fucked up. Then again, that’s parenting. No one knows what the hell they are doing. You just gotta hope for the best.”

  “I guess you’re right.” She drops her eyes from mine.

  I place my fingers under her chin and lift until her eyes meet mine. “I know you don’t have the best relationship with your parents, baby, but you’re doing what’s best for you when it comes to dealing with them. You have the right to put boundaries in place to protect yourself.”

  “I know, but what you said makes me wonder if I need to look at things differently, if maybe I need to stop expecting them to be who I want them to be and just accept them for who they are.”

  “It probably wouldn’t hurt,” I agree before I roll her to her back and loom over her. “I’ve got friends and family who’ve shown me time and time again what kind of people they are, and nothing they do or say surprises me anymore. Sometimes you gotta put people in a box, so you don’t get your feelings hurt.”

  “You’re very smart.”

  “Nah.”

  “Yes you are.” She lifts her palm to my cheek stopping me when I lean down to kiss her. “Even if we didn’t get together, I would have still been lucky to count you as a friend.”

  “We could never have been friends, Aria.” I tell her honestly, and her brows dart together.

  “Why not?”

  “Because I would have been constantly trying to come up with ways to get in your pants.”

  “You’re an idiot.” She laughs.

  “It’s the truth.” I burry my face between her neck and shoulder, nibbling her skin, making her laugh, then lean back to look at her smiling face.

  “Now, we really need to shower. You have plans with Gia, and I gotta meet my mom to help her drag out all the Halloween shit from the attic.”

  “Your mom still decorates the house for Halloween?” She smiles.

  “My mom decorates for every fucking holiday, but she loves Halloween. She is always the most popular house on her block, because she hands out full-size candy bars to all the kids.”

  “I love that. Back in San Francisco, I used to do the same thing. I’m going to miss not seeing all the kids in their cute little costumes this year.”

  “I’ve got Olivia on Halloween. We’ll hang at Mom’s, then take her around the neighborhood for trick-or-treating. So you won’t miss out.”

  “Really?” Her beautiful eyes light up. “Do you dress up?”

  “The last time I had her for Halloween, I went as Pascal, and Olivia went as Rapunzel from Tangled.”

  “Oh my God, please tell me you have pictures.” She giggles.

  “I’ll show them to you tonight.” I kiss her swiftly, then haul her out of bed and straight into the shower.

  ________________

  STANDING IN MY mom’s kitchen I pull my cell out of my pocket when it rings, and smile when I see Aria is calling.

  “Hey, babe,” I answer, ignoring my mom when she smirks at me from across the room.

  “Hey,” she says softly. “I talked to Gia about everything, and she thinks we should go to my parents’ party; that way I can say I tried, and if anything goes wrong, we can leave early and go get dinner.” She drops her voice. “Really, I think she just wants a reason to wear the dress she found.”

  “I do not!” Gia shouts in the background, making me laugh.

  “Are you sure you’re okay with going?” she asks me, sounding unsure.

  “Like I told you, baby, I’m good with whatever you want to do.”

  “Thank you.” She sounds relieved. “Will I see you at my house in a couple of hours?”

  “Yeah, and I’ll pick up dinner on my way just let me know what you’re in the mood for.”

  “Why don’t you two have dinner here tonight?” Mom asks, proving that she’s eavesdropping, and I raise a brow. “Don’t look at me like that. I want to finally meet her.”

  “Did your mom just say she wants me to come for dinner?” Aria asks, sounding nervous, which is surprising, since she’s spoken to my mom more than once on the phone and the two of them tend to chat about everything under the sun.

  “She did.”

  “Okay, so I’ll meet you at your parents’.”

  “Baby, you don’t gotta do that,” I say, and my mom glares at me from across the room.

  “I want to. I’ll meet you at your parents’ house in a couple of hours.”

  Sighing, I shake my head. “I’ll meet you at your place, and then we’ll come here together.”

  “Are you sure? You’re already there?”

  “I’m not driving home separate from you after dinner.”

  “Right.” I hear the smile in her voice. “In that case I’ll see you in a bit.”

  “Later, babe.”

  “Bye.” She hangs up, and I tuck my cell into my back pocket.

  “You love her, don’t you?”

  I frown, focusing on my mom when she asks that question.

  “What?” I start to shake my head.

  “You get the same look on your face whenever you’re talking to Olivia,” she cuts me off, holding up her hand with her face softening. “It’s sweet.” She picks up one of the totes that we brought down from the attic. “Anyway,” she starts, carrying it toward the front of the house and yelling over her shoulder, “grab the box with the bats. There’s lots to do before you need to leave to pick up Aria.”

  With a shake of my head, I scan the boxes, searching for the one she wants, with my mind replaying her statement over and over. I try to tell myself she’s wrong, that I care about Aria, and enjoy every minute I spend with her, but I don’t love her. But the more I think about it, the more I know she’s right. Somehow, without even knowing it was happening, I fell in love with her. Then again, I think I started falling in love with her the moment she opened the door, looking adorably disheveled, and since then, the way I feel for her has just grown deeper.

  Now I just need to figure out what to do with this realization.

  Chapter 13

  Aria

  “OH MY GOD, I need a copy of this picture.” I laugh, pointing out a photo of Tide in the bathtub when he was about three, sporting a shampoo Mohawk and a bubble beard.

  “I’ll have a couple of them printed for you,” Tide’s mom Jolene says, ignoring the look Tide gives her.

  “So are we going to eat anytime tonight?” Tide’s dad Hunter asks, and I press my lips together to suppress a smile. He and his son not only look a lot alike, but their personalities seem very similar. Hunter and Tide are both a little rough around the edges, which makes their sweet qualities that much more endearing.

  “You act like I didn’t catch you eating the leftover spaghetti when you got home a couple of hours ago.” Jolene glares at her husband, and he shrugs.

  “I’ve been smelling your roast since I got home and have been looking forward to it since then. It’s not my fault you’re such a good cook.”

  “Whatever,” she replies without heat, proving the compliment did its job. “Are you two ready to eat?” She looks between Tide and me.

  “Sure.” I hand her back the photo album I was looking at, and she slides it in its place on the bookshelf. “Do you want me to help you with anything?”

  “There isn’t much to help with. We normally just make plates in the kitchen and take them to the dining room.”

  “And we don’t normally eat in the dining room,” Hunter says. “Normally, we eat in front of the TV in here.”

  “We can eat in here if you like,” I say as Tide ta
kes my hand and pulls me up to stand.

  “We are not eating dinner in here, Hunter.” Jolene gives her husband a look that he ignores. “And you’re not going to expire from missing one of your TV shows, especially since you got everything set up to record and can watch it later.”

  “Calm down, woman. We’re eating in the dining room.” He pushes out of his recliner. “Lord knows we need to, since you paid an arm and a leg for that God-awful wallpaper hanging in there now.”

  “It’s beautiful.” She spins around, planting her hands on her hips. “You said so yourself.”

  “No, I said that if you like it, then you should get it, and I said you did a good job,” he returns, and I choke on laughter and end up coughing to hide the sound when I can’t hold it back any longer.

  “Sorry.” I wave a hand out as Tide pats my back, his own lips twitching.

  “Let’s get you some water.” Jolene grabs my hand and tows me with her to the kitchen, where she pulls down a glass, filling it with water before handing it to me.

  “Thanks.” I take a sip, and she nods at me before going to the double oven and lifting a roasting pan out of the top one, setting it on the island. She then opens the bottom oven and takes out a tray of biscuits that look like something out of a magazine, along with a pan of roasted vegetables. My mouth waters and my stomach growls as she grabs a stack of plates, setting them on the counter.

  “What do you want to drink, babe?” Tide rests his hand against my lower back, and I meet his gaze over my shoulder.

  “This water is fine.”

  “Are you sure?” Jolene asks. “I was going to open a bottle of wine for us girls, since the guys will likely have beer.”

  “I’ll have a glass of wine with you,” I say, and she looks at Tide.

  “Will you grab a bottle of red and open it for us?”

  “Sure.” He kisses the side of my head before walking away.