Page 15 of Ride By Your Side

I’m sure I look like a little kid as my mouth twists in disgust, but can anyone truly blame me? That doesn’t look like something that should go intoanyone’smouth, let alone mine.

“Seriously, Bennett?” she asks, shaking her head. “Come on, I ate these when I was a little kid. Surely you can stomach one now as a thirty-one-year-old man.”

“That’s the thing. I’m no longer a kid who just puts anything in his mouth. I know what I like and what I don’t, and just by looking at that, I can tell it's something I’ll hate.”

Maybe I should give it a chance, but given the visceral reaction I’m having just by looking at those things, I can only imagine the ammo I’d give her if I tried one. I’d likely not just gag, but also puke.

“Fine. More for me then,” she happily decides as she sets the oyster back down on the platter, moving the whole thing closer to her. “But you know, they say that oysters are a natural aphrodisiac.”

I’m not sure why she thinks that’s some kind of draw, and my face says it all as I raise an eyebrow once again in her direction. “Are you planning on getting some action tonight?” I ask, my gag reflex tested all over again as I watch her slide yet another one into her mouth.

“Who knows?” she says, shrugging one shoulder, a wicked smile appearing on her face. “I’m a single woman now. Plus, theysay the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else, so maybe that’s exactly what I need to be doing.”

My lips curl into a frown. “You really think that’s a good idea?” I ask, raising my glass of wine to my lips. Sure, I was the one who brought it up initially, but now that she’s actually considering it, the idea starts to annoy me more than I expected.

“Why not?” she asks, clearly not on the same page as she dismisses my worries. “I’m supposed to be using this time to forget about my troubles back home, and letting go with a good orgasm sounds pretty tempting right about now.”

My eyes go wide as I do everything in my power not to spit out my drink. I definitely don’t need to be thinking about Veronica having any kind of orgasm. I suppose I can understand the pleasure and relief an orgasm brings, especially when you’re looking for a much-needed distraction, but I think I’d much prefer she find another way to stay distracted.

I clear my throat. “But why complicate things by bringing a complete stranger into the mix?” I ask, before lifting my glass once more.

This time, it’s her turn to lift a questioning brow. “Are you volunteering as tribute?”

I can’t fight it anymore and actually choke on my wine as I attempt to regain my composure. “N-No. Of course not,” I stutter, my cheeks and ears turning a bright shade of red.

“Chill.” she giggles, shaking her head as she reaches for her own glass. “I was only kidding. Can you even imagine? Blair would kill us.”

I wish I could laugh this off as effortlessly as she does, but I struggle to find the humor, especially when the joke comes at my expense. And worst of all, despite what she’d just suggested—joke or not—she’s still as poised as ever, while I look and feel like a damn clown.

“Good, because I can assure you, something like that will never happen between us.”

“Promise?” Her lips curl into a teasing grin as she swirls the liquid in her glass.

“I can promise you, Vee. Nothing is ever going to happen between the two of us.”

Sure, she may be sexy as hell, but I don’t ever plan on crossing that line with her, and I’m positive that she feels the same way. We hate each other, or at least I sort of do—she’s weirdly grown on me these past few days, even if she still insists on stuffing weird and slimy food into her mouth. I thought the candy was bad, but those suckers are a million times worse.

9

Veronica

Hislipspepperfierykisses on my neck, trailing down to my collarbone before making their way even lower. My fingers sink into his soft blond locks as his mouth works its way down south, making a sudden detour as they stop at my bare breasts. One hand reaches up to palm one, meanwhile, his mouth expertly takes in the other, flicking my pebbled nipple with his tongue before teasing it with a soft nip of his teeth.

“Fuck, Miles,” I cry, savoring the way the pain only adds to the aching pleasure between my thighs. “I need you,” I pant, breathless, but just as he looks up at me with that wickedly sexy smile of his, a knock sounds at the door.

“Just ignore it,” Miles insists, his lips traveling even lower. As much as I want to listen to him, the knock grows even louder, finally pulling me out of my dream as my eyes shoot open.

The absence of a warm body above me should bring relief, yet the persistent ache in my core tells an entirely different story.

“Vee, are you okay in there?” Miles’s actual voice calls out, softly muffled by the shut door between our adjoining rooms.

“Oh God,” I mutter to myself. What if everything I’d just said hadn’t only been said in dreamland?

Pushing myself out of bed, I don’t even stop to consider how crazy and frazzled my hair must look as I move to unlock and open the door that separates our rooms.

“Yeah, I’m fine. What’s up?” I try to ask as casually as possible, praying to whatever God exists that my rosy cheeks don’t reveal the truth of what had just been happening in my delusional dream. Seriously, that’s where my brain went?

“Oh, uh,” he says, his eyes looking me up and down as he clearly takes in the white silk and lace teddy with matching panties that I’d specifically picked out for my honeymoon.

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