Page 90 of Bourbon and Secrets

“Beautiful,” I whisper, my eyes fixed on Faye’s lips as they tip up into a seductive smile as she continues to work the room. I rub my thumb along my lower lip and smile when I think about how I’m going to enjoy every inch of her later. My pulse races as I catch her eye, and it’s like she was looking because her lips, painted in red to match the tiny hearts along the edges of her eyes, tip up in a smile just for me. Her path changes, and sheworks her way in my direction, her steps a sensual strut that keeps my gaze glued to her.

The song rises to its finale just as she reaches me at the end of the bar. She steps close and turns around, facing the crowd before she hops up beside me.

Once her ass is firmly planted on the bar top, Hadley hands her a coupe glass filled halfway with champagne. Faye holds it up as the audience hoots and hollers, “To love!” And with that, she’s taking a sip and focusing on me. Her legs kick up high, extending one after the other as she slides smoothly off the bar to stand right next to me. She tips at her waist, ass out to the crowd while her top half leans into mine, and it’s taking everything in me to not interfere with her performance and kiss her already. Holding the ribbon end of her oversized bow toward me, she sweetly says, “Unwrap me, please?”

I can’t help but smile at the request and...her. I’m not sure how it’s possible to be this enchantingly sexy and also cute as fuck. But she pulls it off somehow.

And I do exactly as she requests. The band drags out the end of the song as I pull the ribbon. She spins away from me, unwrapping the red satin from her chest, all the way down to the tops of her thighs, leaving her in nothing more than red heart tassels perfectly placed over each nipple and the tiniest pair of panties—a red heart covering her pussy connected by two tiny strings leading to another heart that barely covers her ass. My adrenaline spikes as I watch on.

When she puts her hands on her hips and bounces just right to make those tassels spin, the crowd goes wild—every single person claps and hoots and whistles.

Hundreds of eyes on my girl, but that’s all they get. A show. The fantasy. It’s nowhere near as fulfilling as the real thing—worshiping this woman, tasting the way I turn her on, and rewarding her mouth and body with everything they demand.

She smiles against my lips.“You weren’t supposed to be like this.”

“Like what? Great in bed?” I laugh, trying to make a joke. “My reputation is failing me, then.”

She runs her fingertips along my chin. “What was it I heard in the bathroom at Bottom of the Barrel or at the rodeo...the slutty single dad?”

“Very to the point.” I wince, dragging my fingers lazily across her skin. “Fiasco is going to talk about something. Might as well make it something juicy, like sex and strangers. It’s better than the sad and lonely widower.”

Tilting her head up, she leans on one elbow. “Slutty, I can handle. But this...” She looks around my face and down to my chest. “You weren’t supposed to be fun and sweet. And you definitely weren’t supposed to be sexier than you already look. And this wasn’t supposed to feel...”

My neck warms, and the weight on my chest comes out of nowhere. “Feel like what, Peach?” I want her to say more. I need her to be the one to do it, because if I’m wrong and this is only a good time for her...

But she kills my nerves when she says, “It was never supposed to feel so right with you. We shouldn’t feel this right.”

Relief runs through me. Hearing that admission from her makes me feel like we have a new secret—one that I want to keep because it’s special and just for us. “Mmmm,” I hum as I let those words seep in and ease my worry. It finally feels like I’m right next to who I’m supposed to be. “But we do. Maybe we shouldn’t because of how we started, but I don’t think that needs to have anything to do with how we let the rest of this play out.”As I graze my fingertips along the under curve of her breast, she smiles and exhales a light, satisfied moan.

“You’re dangerous, Foxx,” she says with a lazy smile. I like how it feels when she says it. As if I’m the one who’s setting the tone in all of this when, really, it’s her. She talks to me like she has nothing to be intimidated by or fear. I know what my daughters meant when they said they liked how she talked to them. It feels honest and real. There’s care and warmth in everything she does. “You smile and these”—she circles her finger around the dip of my dimple—“they’re your secret weapon, because they make you seem cute.”

“I am cute.”

She ignores my remark, but it tips up her smile a fraction. I turn my head and grab her finger with my teeth, which makes her giggle. “See? dangerous.”

I close my eyes as she runs her fingers along my hairline, and it feels so good that all I can think about is:I want more of this.

With a sigh, she looks around the apartment above Midnight Proof. Hadley passed me the key and told me to have fun tonight. It’s a great studio space. High-end everything with no expense spared, because that’s Hadley. She left us both a note with a tube of lube that said,Just in case...have a sexy time, lovers!

“Thank goodness for Hadley and this place,” I tell her. “I don’t think I would have been able to wait to get home after your performance tonight.”

She ghosts her fingers over my chest, looking up at me curiously. “You two were always just friends?”

I’m surprised it didn’t take her longer to ask. “Just friends—there’s no attraction there. She became a part of our family, and somewhere along the way, she turned into my best friend. We love one another, but it’s the same love I have for my brothers. Iknow that’s true for her too.” There’s more to Hadley’s story, but I’ll let her tell that to Faye someday if she wants.

She nods against me, smiling. “She’s been a good friend to me while I’ve been here. I get why you would consider her family.”

Lifting slightly, Faye trails her fingers down my neck and over my chest.

“That feels good. Keep going,” I say, peeking my eyes open to watch her. Her mouth tilts up, hinting at a smile as she moves her fingers farther—down the length of my stomach, and she sees that I’m already hard again. “I thought you were pushing forty, Foxx?”

“Not yet, Peach.” I tilt my head to the side, chuckling darkly. “With a comment like that, it’s like you want me to spank you.”

That seductive smile shines my way again as she turns her body over, chest rubbing against the arm of the couch and her perfect ass tilted up just enough. Her tits dragging across the leather, those thickly toned thighs and that curvy dip to her waist, is a path I want to claim. She looks at me like she’s equally turned on and ready for whatever I tell her to do.

Sitting up, I graze my teeth along her ass cheek, and she yelps before wiggling her ass for another.

I give the same spot a slap and then grab. Gritting my teeth, I tell her, “Your body is so fucking sexy. But this mouth...” I move to stand in front of where she’s perched, rubbing the pad of my thumb along her bottom lip. “I’ve had fantasies about this mouth. Open. Tongue out.”

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