Between Friends (Friends with Benefits) (7 page)

“Oh, God, Evan!”

“Yeah, baby,” he said breathlessly. “Come for me.”

“Yes, yes, I’m coming!” Thank God it was late night slash early morning and the parking lot was empty. There was no way I could be discreet here.

Evan’s entire body stiffened and he thrust his dick into me once more as he cried out. “Fuck!”

Just as he yelled, my own orgasm overtook me. My heart raced a mile a minute as I screamed, my body tensing before my bones melted in the heat of the intense waves of pleasure that crashed over me.

We fought to suck air into our lungs as we looked at each other.

“So,” Evan said, his chest rising and falling rapidly, “you still coming home with me?”

I smiled. Because I was a complete fool who never could stop when I was ahead, I said, “Try and stop me.”

Evan asked me out for the following day as I dressed to return to my apartment. Well, technically the same day since I didn’t leave his place until well after four a.m. Of course, I said yes. Not only was he gorgeous, the man had a nice, safe truck as means of transportation. Besides, Evan was clearly the calmer of the friend pair. Surely he had a quiet dinner at a restaurant in mind. Or so I’d thought.

I stared up at the enormous roller coaster. “You want me to get on
that?
” What the hell was with these dudes wanting to ride things that could kill me?

He laughed. “Uh, yeah.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me into the line. “Come on. It’ll be fun.”

“No,” I said, repeating my mantra as he practically dragged me along. “No, no, no.” I didn’t do roller coasters, just like I didn’t do motorcycles. Of course, the motorcycle thing was sort of iffy now, but still… a woman had to draw the line somewhere. Even if I had been a cat, I figured that ride with Justin had used up at least seven of my lives; I didn’t need to push my luck.

Evan blithely ignored me and we ended up in line anyway. I turned to run away and hit an expanse of hardness also known as his chest.

He grinned down at me, showing me his incredible dimples and catching me off guard. I found myself smiling back.

Sneaky.

Evan put his hands low on my hips. They soon slid down even more to graze the skin of my thighs as he turned me around to face the front of the line. He bent down, bringing his lips close to my ear. “Stay with me. Please.”

My head fell back as he pressed gentle kisses to the side of my neck. In my short shorts, tank top, and sandals, I looked good enough to eat, according to him. Even though I hadn’t believed him, I was starting to. He hadn’t been all that great at keeping his hands and lips to himself, much to my satisfaction. Plus, even in his baggy cargo shorts, he was sporting the beginnings of a definite erection. I couldn’t help but move my ass against it as discreetly as possible.

He growled right beside my ear. “Wait until I get you home,” he said menacingly.

I smiled. “Do I have to?”

Evan laughed and wrapped his arms around my waist. “On second thought, maybe we
could
find an out-of-the-way spot somewhere around here.”

My breath caught in my throat even as my pussy grew damp at the thought. Fucking me at a crowded amusement park? That had to be more of a Justin thing than an Evan one. Then again, the two had totally surprised me with their chosen venues for our hangouts—
not
dates. I would have pegged Evan as the one to give me a lakeside picnic and Justin as the one to have me ride a foreboding-looking roller coaster. They were throwing me for loop after loop and I couldn’t deny that I was thoroughly enjoying it.

“Hmm,” I said, trying to see if I could work his teasing suggestion to my advantage, “we should try to find that spot. We could do something more fun than riding a roller coaster.”

Evan was silent for a few moments. “Oh, you’re
good
. Almost had me.”

Damn. I laughed. “It was worth a shot.”

“Just this one last ride and we can go. I’ll even reward you for your bravery.”

I had to confess I wasn’t in much of a rush to leave. I’d had an amazing day, being silly and acting like a big kid. That hadn’t been old Stacy’s thing either. No, I’d always kept to myself and had my nose buried in a book. Now, I realized while that may be true, I was just shy and wanted any excuse I could find to keep from socializing. Books had been an easy way to keep to myself.

Today, however, I’d been surrounded by people. And their presence hadn’t bothered me in the least. I hadn’t felt overwhelmed once. That had to do with Evan, though. It was a breeze to be unaffected by that which you don’t even notice. The entire day, my focus had been on him—on us. “A reward for bravery,” I said. “Interesting. Will you win me a stuffed bear?”

“I was thinking more along the lines of… ah, an adult type of reward. But sure, a bear’s good too.”

I laughed and tilted my head back to look up at him. “I want both.”

Evan kissed my temple. “Deal.”

Actually, what I wanted at that moment was his lips on more than just my neck and above. I’d just had the man early that morning and already I craved my next fix like the addict I was becoming. I opened my mouth to tell him this when I saw that we’d managed to make it to the front of the line.

Gulp.

My mantra formed on my lips and Evan must have developed the power to know my next move, because I was about to make a break for it. Strappy sandals, don’t fail me now.

Evan wrapped an arm around my shoulders as he stepped beside me. “You can do this, baby.” He flashed those dimples, and for the second time in my life I found myself trusting someone whom I had absolutely no reason to trust.

I glanced up at the coaster before meeting his beautiful hazel eyes again and giving him a shaky smile. “Let’s do it.”

*      *      *

As soon as the safety bar latched over our laps I hated both myself
and
Evan, for talking me into this madness in the first place.
Oh, I believe in you! Yeah, well, I believe in the law of gravity. People shouldn’t really fuck with that too much.

The blasted ride, which had been dreamt up by Satan I was sure, gave no warning before it began its attempt to kill me. Who needed a gradual takeoff? That thing went from zero to what seemed like a thousand and one in a millisecond.

I was too stunned to even scream. I’d gone from sitting peacefully to being rocketed toward God only knew what. My heart tried to beat its way through my rib cage. Evan grabbed my hand. Grateful, all I could do was latch on before we plummeted. A scream did rip from my throat then as I shut my eyes. “Holy shit,” I cried. And I was, literally, close to tears. Before I had time to contemplate the many ways Evan would suffer for getting me into this, the sound of husky laughter wafted to me over my own shrieks. I glanced over and, sure enough, he was having the time of his life.

“Damn you, Evan,” I yelled before I was jerked back with a start. Oh shit. There
was
a loop on this thing. I squeezed Evan’s hand as hard as I could while trying desperately to keep my lunch down. My screams faded as the feeling of weightlessness settled on me. Suddenly, I was more amazed than terrified. This was probably as close to flying as I would ever get—outside of being in an actual aircraft, anyway. I couldn’t deny that it was rather cool, albeit very scary.

Cool or not, I was shaking like a leaf when the ride finally came to a stop. I seriously doubted my noodle legs would hold me. Evan laughed as he pulled me close, giving me a big hug.

“You did great, baby!”

My teeth chattered a bit as the adrenaline wore off. “I… I… c-can’t believe I… d-did that.” I looked up into his eyes and was riveted. He really did seem proud of me, and for something most people would have found silly. I could just hear my brother now:
For God’s sake, it was a roller coaster, Stacy. Get over yourself.
But it was a big deal for me, for the girl too scared to ever put a single toe outside of her comfort zone. The fact that Evan not only got that, instinctively, but felt pride at my measly little accomplishment warmed me to the core. I gave him a huge smile.

“Ready for me to win you that stuffed bear for bravery now?” he said with a grin.

I nodded. “Right after we ride one more time!”

*      *      *

After taking on the ride once more, I felt as if I could conquer the world. Motorcycles, roller coasters… what would I do next? Properly thanking the man who’d convinced me to give adventure a try was at the top of that list. I glanced over at the broad-shouldered hunk with the sexy stubble. Oh yeah, I’d think of various ways to thank him.

Evan readjusted the huge, stuffed bear in his arm. He’d won it for me by knocking down several pins in a row. The serious look on his face as he’d done it still made me smile, half an hour later. A little girl proudly held up her ice cream cone to us as we passed and he flashed her those dimples that never failed to make my stomach tighten.

Shortly after, we made the drive to the small entertainment district of downtown OKC. There were bars, clubs, shops, and restaurants. We strolled down the sidewalk, hand in hand, as we people watched and chatted about everything and nothing. I was exhausted, but happily so, and I didn’t want our time together to come to an end.

I came to a stop when Evan did, in front of a sports bar.

A wistful look came over his handsome face as he regarded the building. “Something about this size would be perfect,” he said softly.

Though he’d apparently said it to himself, I was still curious. “Huh?”

He smiled down at me. “Sorry. Lately I’ve been sizing up damn near every bar I see.”

I nodded, but I was still confused. After waiting a few moments, I nudged his side with my elbow. “Um, why?”

Evan sighed and ran his hand down his face. “I’m trying to get one of these for myself. I’ve been saving up for years now, but I still need a loan to make everything come together.”

“You want a bar?” I smiled. “That’s cool.”

His smile faded. “Is it?” He shrugged before we continued walking. “We’ll see if anything comes of my plans.”

“Something will come of your plans. You’ll see.”

Evan laughed. “You sound confident. I like it.”

“I
am
.” We sat on the perimeter of a huge fountain as the sun began to set. “Have you always wanted to own a bar?”

“Nah, when I was a kid, I was sure I was destined to be president.”

I laughed.

“Seriously,” he said, smiling, “from about grades second through fifth.”

“What happened to that dream?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Evan scratched his jaw. “It started to sound like too much work.” We both laughed then. “By the time I hit high school, I’d moved on to wanting to be an artist.”

I could definitely picture him as one of those. “What kind? Musician?”

Laughing, he shook his head. “I can’t sing. And the only instrument I don’t suck at is the piano. Not sure many bands are in need of a pianist.” He smiled. “I wanted to create—draw, paint, sculpt. Painting’s my favorite, though.”

I tilted my head as I considered that. “Why didn’t you?”

Evan stared at the water bubbling from the fountain. “My dad pitched a fit whenever I mentioned it. ‘There’s no money to be made in that.’ ‘It’s an unproductive life of instability.’ Yada, yada, yada.”

“I understand that.” All too well. I’d had brief hopes of going to school to be a nurse. My parents had scoffed.
A nurse? When you could be a doctor?
My own dream faded when my father convinced me, just as he had my brother, that a business degree was where it was at. “Did he have hopes of you being a doctor, a lawyer?”

Evan grinned. “A stockbroker.”

I laughed. “What?”

“He wanted me to work for his small firm in New York City, but I never—”

“Your dad owns a firm, Evan?”

He nodded.

“And you need a loan to buy a bar?” I scoffed.

“I’d never ask my dad for money. He owns a firm, yes, but then…” He sighed. “He’d also own me.”

I felt compelled to delve further into his life history, but I didn’t want to scare him off. I was still grateful he’d shared even this much. He was certainly less tight-lipped than Justin. “So how’d your family end up in Oklahoma?”

Evan’s smile turned sad. “I don’t really have one.”

I covered his hand with mine. “Oh, Evan, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

Though, really, how could it be? I didn’t know what to say. There was nothing I
could
say that would make a bit of difference, so I simply sat there with my hand on his as the sun sank lower in the sky. If he wanted to share more, he would. I wouldn’t push.

“My parents divorced when I was thirteen. I came here with my mom—her dad still lived here—and my brother stayed with my dad. I missed them, my brother especially, because we’d been close, but I didn’t want my mom to be alone. I know that sounds crazy. I was a kid. What the hell was I going to do for her? Anyway…” He shrugged. “I knew I was coming with her, but my brother didn’t want to leave our dad. I was little lonely when we moved here, and a lot pissed.”

“Because of the divorce?”

He nodded. “That, and the fact that I’d been forced to leave the only life I’d ever known behind. Yeah, even though I’d insisted on coming here. Crazy.”

“Not crazy,” I said quietly. He’d been a kid. He’d been allowed to have mixed-up emotions. Hell, I was firmly in my thirties and I’d started having them lately.

“So I was in junior high, with a chip on my shoulder, daring someone to try to knock it off. Then, I met a huge asshole who was determined to try.”

I smiled. “Justin?”

“Justin.” Evan groaned. “I couldn’t stand that prick for, like, the entire first year I knew him.” He chuckled. “After we kicked each other’s asses pretty good one day, we’ve been best friends ever since.”

I frowned. “I will never understand the male sex.” We shared a laugh. “So where’s your mom now? She still live here?”

He shook his head. “After her dad died, she met this loser and took off with him to parts unknown. Last I heard, they’d moved to Florida. She wanted me to go with her, with them, but I couldn’t stand that guy. Besides, I was nineteen—I didn’t exactly have to be with my mommy anymore.”