Page 29 of Happy Endings

He kissed her hard and deep—until they were both gasping for air.

“One sec.” He ran behind the bar and grabbed something from underneath.

“A bit overconfident, aren’t we?” she teased, glancing at the handful of condoms he dropped onto the bar.

“Remember the night after the Endymion Parade?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Mardi Gras carries good memories.” Trixie closed her eyes. Images of their torrid all-nighter wearing nothing but the beads they’d caught at the parade flashed in her mind. Her pussy throbbed. Apparently, that part of her remembered, too.

She curled her finger and called him back to her. No argument from him now. As soon as he was close enough, she reached for his belt loops. Making quick work of the button and zipper, she slipped her hands inside his boxer briefs.

They both gasped as her skin made contact with his cock. Her hand curled around his hardness. She felt the veins pulsing around his girth. Fingers danced down the length of him, until she reached the head. He inhaled sharply when her thumb grazed the tip and found him wet. For her.

With one hand still in his pants, she reached for one of the condoms on the bar.

“You’re not going to make me wait any longer, are you?”

“No more waiting.” His voice hoarse as her thumb circled his most sensitive part the same way his tongue had circled her nipples. He tugged at his boxers to free his erection.

She released him to tear open the condom.

Suddenly they heard a clang. They froze, the condom hovering over his cock. A quick glance around showed that they were the only ones in the front of house.

“I thought we were alone,” she whispered.

“We were.” He cocked his head toward the kitchen. “Sounds like Luis is here early to prep for the pop-up. It’s okay. Let’s go to my office.” He touched her cheek and pulled her in for another kiss. “Let’s finish what we started.”

Dishes clattered in the kitchen, and the fog in her head dissolved. What the hell was she doing? They were falling right into old habits. She’d been down this road and had been disappointed. In the end, Andre gave up on them. She couldn’t go through it again. Not if she wanted to win this contest and open her boutique. Not if she wanted to finally pay back her parents and prove to them she wasn’t a washout.

“I’m sorry, I can’t do this.” Trixie pulled away. Grabbing a napkin from the bar, she wrapped it around the unused condom. She ignored her heavy breathing and the wetness between her legs. Her bra and wrap dress quickly returned to their original positions.

“What the hell, Trixie?” Andre’s chest rose and dipped as he tried to catch his breath. His face scrunched as he gingerly tucked himself back into his jeans.

She looked away to avoid the hurt in his eyes. Too bad her eyes dropped right onto his cock standing at full attention. A bead of arousal glistened on the tip before disappearing into his shorts.

“I broke our rule. We’re supposed to keep things professional.” She smoothed out her hair. “It won’t happen again.”

Trixie moved to grab her bags. Andre touched her arm, and she jerked away. When she saw the hurt in his eyes, she immediately regretted it.

“If that’s what you really want.” He nodded and backed away to give her space. Andre straightened his clothes.

“It’s what I want.”

He frowned. “Okay. I respect that. Actually, I’m glad we stopped.”

“Wait, what?”

“We can’t keep avoiding the conversation about how I left things in New Orleans. Between us. We—I need to tell you what happened. Can we talk after the pop-up?”

His hands rubbed the stubble on his chin.

“No,” she whispered. She couldn’t dredge up old feelings right before her show. She didn’t need to remember how it felt to flunk out of the pharmacy program. Or the disappointment in her parents’ faces when she told them. Or how she came home to his stupid, stupid note.

“Trix—”

“No!” she blurted, and dashed to her bags. “It’s all in the past, and we can’t change it. No point in bringing it up again.”

“I can’t promise you that. We can’t pretend the past doesn’t affect us.”

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