“They weren’t your friends; they were mine.” She smirks at him. “Or at least they all liked me more than they liked you.”
“Smart-ass.” He smiles for the first time since he got here, which makes me relax slightly.
“Someone’s phone is ringing,” Cammy says, and Cybil looks up at me.
“I think that’s me. I’ll be right back.”
Once she’s inside, I take a seat in one of the chairs and raise a brow at Margret when I find her watching me. “What?”
“I love her, like . . . love her, love her. You’d better not mess this up.”
“I wasn’t planning on it,” I say as the door behind me opens, and I turn to watch Cybil come out. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, it was the girl who runs my website. She just wanted to give me a heads-up about a glitch on my site that might mean I receive some weird emails until she gets it sorted.”
“Got it.” I drag her down to sit on my lap, and instead of trying to move, she gets comfortable. As the mood lightens and everyone including her falls into the ease there’s always been with our group, I hold her a little tighter, wondering how the fuck I’m going to be able to let her go and starting to doubt I’ll be able to at all.
Chapter 18
CYBIL
I stand under Tanner’s arm and wave as Mav, Blake, Cammy, Margret, and Mason head off down the lane. It was a great night, even with the ever-present undercurrent of tension that seemed to fill the air. As Tanner leads me back into the house and shuts the door, I open my mouth to tell him that I like his friends but end up squeaking when he turns me to face him and presses me against the wall in the entryway.
“Time to finish what we started earlier.” He grins at me before dropping his mouth down to mine. I don’t hesitate to kiss him back; then it’s a race to get each other undressed as we make out, our hands roaming over each other as we pass the living room and kitchen and head down the hall. When we reach the bedroom, Tanner pushes me back onto the bed, where I land with a bounce.
“Hand above your head, sunshine, and don’t move it,” he orders, and I instantly comply as he crawls up the bed and kneels between my legs. Startling me, he spreads my legs wide, then uses his fingers to hold me open and ducks his head to suck on my clit. Never having experienced anything like this in my life, I don’t know if I should push him away or beg him to never stop. But as the sensation of bliss hits me, I hold on to his hair with one hand, making sure to keep my damaged hand above my head where he told me to keep it, not wanting to give him any reason to stop what he’s doing. A task that is almost impossible as my toes curl and my insides turn liquid.
“Tanner.” His name comes out on a moan as his tongue circles my clit and his fingers pump in and out of me in a rhythm that is maddening. As I lift my hips to get closer, to get more, my head bows off the bed and my core begins to clench. I thought I knew what an orgasm was, but standing in his bathroom earlier, he showed me I was wrong, and now he’s proving that what I felt earlier wasn’t some kind of fluke: a buildup of sexual frustration that meant I came harder than I ever had before within minutes, if not seconds, of him touching me.
“Oh God,” I whimper as his lips wrap around my clit and he sucks. Tapping that hidden spot, he sends me into a tailspin. My breath catches, stars start to dance behind my closed eyelids, and my body seems to vibrate from the inside out. Dizzy and panting for breath, I fall flat on the bed and cover my face with my hands as I fight the urge to laugh and cry at the same time.
“You did good, sunshine.” I feel his smile against my belly button before his lips trail up my stomach, then between my breasts. When his knee bumps my legs farther apart and he makes room for himself between my thighs, I remove my hands and stare into his beautiful eyes that are dark with lust and warm with some emotion that makes me feel hot all over. “Cybil.”
“Yeah?” I place my hand on his bare shoulder, lift my leg up over his hip, and use it to pull him closer.
“You okay?” he asks gruffly, sweeping my hair off my forehead.
“Better than okay,” I admit truthfully. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier than I am right now. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more connected to another person, and that should scare me, given how long we’ve known each other, but it doesn’t freak me out. Not anymore. Now it just feels like this is how it’s supposed to be.
“Are you okay?” My breath hitches when I feel the head of his cock bump against my entrance.