The Best Kind of Forever (Riverside Reapers, #1)(55)

Lila jumps up from the sofa, her ear-piercing squeal jangling my eardrums. Crunch shoots up from her spot on the cat tower and scampers off into my bedroom.

“Oh my God! Aeris, did you hear that? Look how proud he looks!”

Did I hear that correctly?

“And what is it about this girl that’s so special?”

Hayes forks his hand through his hair. “Everything. There aren’t enough words in the world to describe how incredible she is. I’m pretty sure I’ve laughed with her more than I have in years. She has this softness about her that I don’t think many people are capable of, but she’s equally just as strong.”

Yep, I definitely heard that correctly. I feel like I could cry. I might if he keeps talking about me like that. No, Aeris. Pull it together.

Oliver places his crossed arms on the table. “And how did you two meet?”

“We met at a bar. She was drinking by herself one night, and she caught my attention from across the room. I asked if I could join her, and I’m lucky she didn’t throw her drink in my face.”

A flurry of laughter fills the studio.

“Are you saying that a heartthrob like yourself has trouble picking up girls?”

Hayes makes a face, but it’s good-natured. “Oh, definitely. It can be intimidating being the first one to make the move. You never know how a person will react. I never used to get nervous around women before Aeris, but to this day, I still get butterflies when I’m around her.”

The podcast goes on for a bit longer, with Deacon and Oliver asking about everything from his workout routine to his guilty pleasures, but I’m still hung up on every word he said about me.

I need to see Hayes. Now.





29





WHO SAID DREAMS DON’T COME TRUE?





HAYES





The interview went a lot better than expected. I didn’t feel the need to choke anyone out, so that’s always a plus. I was planning on goading the guys into grabbing a drink, but I was surprised to find Aeris waiting in my bedroom instead.

I hang up my jacket on the back of the door. “Hey, what are you doing here?”

Aeris has her hands in her lap. “I saw your interview.”

“You did?”

“I did.”

She walks over to me and lightly touches my arm. Pinpricks line my exposed flesh, calling out for her body to merge with mine—to the point where we can’t decipher where one of us ends and the other begins.

“It was perfect, Hayes,” she says.

I don’t know if she realizes it, but she’s donning some pretty irresistible bedroom eyes right now.

“I mean, I was going for perfect,” I tease, my heart roaring as loud as an exploding landmine.

Without another word, she attacks me with an earth-shattering kiss, raking my bottom lip with her teeth. She sucks the breath out of me, and when I come back up for air, lust fills me like flour in a measuring cup.

I haven’t seen her in a week, but it’s felt like a lifetime. You’d be surprised how much sexual frustration can build up in just seven days.

I waste no time ripping a line clean down the middle of her shirt, with such force that it makes her voluptuous tits jiggle. I want to pull the pigment from her cheeks and paint every curve of her body; I want to make her see every color of euphoria when she orgasms.

My lips are on her neck, then on her collarbone, then I’m taking the top of her breast between my teeth. A dewdrop of purple blossoms against her flesh, and I soothe the bite with a tender lick.

She rubs the front of her body against me, galvanized to create friction. Aeris angles herself to give me the meat of her thigh to grind myself into, and the way she’s rutting her hips over my dick coaxes my balls to tighten.

I undress myself unceremoniously, but I take my time to help her out of her pants. I slide one leg down, then strip off the other. She’s wearing plain, cotton underwear—which are already slick with her arousal—and once I remove them, I’m greeted by the glistening sight of her puffy, pink lips.

My cock strains almost painfully, and as badly as I want to give it a firm rub, I keep my hands on the curve of Aeris’ waist.

“Aeris, after we’re done here, you’re not going to remember what other men have felt like inside of you,” I say.

My promise seems to rile her up, and she smushes her breasts against my chest, those pretty nipples of hers begging me to suck them in my mouth like I’m feasting on my own personal paradise.

Her teeth graze my earlobe, followed by the whispering of sweet nothings, and I lose any ounce of self-control I have. Aeris’ tongue travels the shell of my ear, knowing exactly how to make me fold under her dainty touch—which I do. I’m milliseconds from collapsing to my knees, and I grip her hips roughly in an effort to steady myself.

Her roaming touch, the warmth of her breath on every inch of me, the hunger and eagerness breaking through her gaze—they all work together to create a radioactive cocktail that stirs the ache in my belly.

“Is that so, Hollings? A little cocky much, don’t you think?”

“If I’m cocky for knowing exactly how to please you, then give me a fucking trophy.”

We trip over discarded piles of clothes on the floor, and I push her up against the wall. Not an ideal surface, but I’m too hungry to find a softer one. A surprised moan rends the air, though she’s quick to jump on board as her fingers claw through the scruff of my hair.