By Your Side (New York City Fixers Book 2) Page 8

  He tugged her legs a little higher around his hips and then paused right at her entrance, looking at her from half-opened eyes. Alicia was breathing quickly, her chest expanding with every sharp intake of air, and her hands tightened in the sheets as she tried to pull him closer, pull him inside.

  Between one moment and the next, the teasing was over. He was once again on the brink of need so big it made his chest tighten.

  When he pushed into her, they both moaned loudly. Shawn grabbed her hips and entered her all the way, going as deep as he could as she clenched around him.

  "Fuck," he groaned at the sensation.

  He set up a hard rhythm, fast and deep, and Alicia met his thrusts with her own as she pushed back. It seemed like she was trying to pull him deeper and deeper, but then one of her legs slipped from his hip and the change of angle made her scream.

  Shawn adjusted and quickened his pace, but Alicia put one of her hands into her mouth to stave off any loud noises. He wanted to tell her no, he wanted to hear every sound she made as they did this, but in the next second she clenched hard around him, pulling her legs closer as the orgasm rolled over her, and he followed right after, coming against shuddering muscles inside her.

  They stilled for a long moment, their harsh breaths the only sound in the room other than a muffled hum of the city outside. Shawn came back from his high slowly, in parts—put Alicia's leg down, relax your grip, pull out. The excess energy was still buzzing under his skin, the synapses giving out sparks like little echoes of the amazing orgasm.

  Alicia was grinning at him as he moved to finally lie next to her, and he grinned back before he thought about it. Action and reaction, give and take, this entire evening—even before this, before the sex and her naked body against his—had been a series of exchanges culminating with them now, in this moment. And Shawn wouldn't trade it for anything.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Alicia stretched her body out as she came to, slowly waking up from a dream already forgotten, but one that filled her with energy and good mood. Still, there was something slowly creeping into her consciousness, something new and different than her usual mornings.

  Shawn. That single thought, when it went off in her head, was enough to raise her head quickly from the pillow—no, not the pillow, his arm. He was still asleep, and that made her relax slightly, the reflex to jump out of bed silenced for a moment.

  She stared at him in the early morning's grayish light coming from the corner of the window where the curtain wasn't pushed to the end. Shawn's face was calm and relaxed, and Alicia realized that recent weeks had made him perpetually tense, and she had almost forgotten what he looked like without the sharper lines.

  He was as handsome as they came, too. Most of Alicia's exes weren't handsome in a traditional way, and she'd thought conventionally attractive men simply weren't her type. But somehow, ever since she'd seen him in the lobby on her way for a job interview, it hadn't seemed to matter what her type was—or used to be. There was Shawn, and there were other men.

  And now she was in bed with Shawn.

  Being in love with her boss had never been easy, especially when he'd been dating someone, and she'd had proof of that all over his work calendar, as if she'd needed reminders of his life outside of the office. She knew he'd probably slept with women she didn't know about, too. She'd overheard Shawn once saying he wasn't a one-night-stand kind of guy, but she also knew that in the right circumstances, everyone could change their minds.

  Like you did last night, that annoying voice in the back of her head pointed out.

  She didn't regret it for even a second, but she did wonder what would it mean to them now. They hadn't stopped to talk things through, and she would have taken that risk no matter what, but Shawn… She didn't know what he wanted—if anything at all.

  Alicia sucked in her lower lip, rolling it between her teeth. She had been on a date twice in the last year, both times talked into it by well-meaning friends. The second guy had looked a bit like Shawn, and she'd found herself thinking that she could go out with him again because of it. It had scared her off of dating after that. She'd decided on no more dates until she got that Shawn situation under control, and now, months later, she was still waiting for that to happen.

  Or maybe I wouldn't have to anymore.

  She pulled herself up on her elbow and looked down at Shawn. Could it be that easy? Sudden explosion of passion didn't make them a couple. It didn't mean that he cared or that they had any kind of future together.

  But Alicia couldn't help that growing spark of hope that maybe, possibly, this wasn't a fluke, wasn't a one-time thing.

  She knew she was greedy. Last night before the party, she would have happily taken a one night stand over nothing. Now, after getting that, she wished for more.

  To be fair, she had wished for more for almost a year now, so it wasn't exactly new. And she knew, deep down, that she would take what she could get. If one night was it, then she would deal. She would at least have memories. If Shawn would be open to more…

  He sniffed next to her, and Alicia held her breath. She watched him blink, his eyelashes fluttering as his sight focused on her before he smiled.

  "Hey."

  "Hi."

  She had no idea what to do. She needed him to give her some clues.

  He rolled onto his side and put a hand on her waist, eyes not leaving hers. "Have you been up long?" he said quietly. His voice was low and gritty from sleep, and she could feel her heartbeat speeding up.

  She shook her head. "Couple of minutes maybe." His thumb running over her side was distracting, and she reached down to stop the tickling movement. He turned his hand and tangled their fingers together, and then used that to pull her closer against his chest.

  Her thigh fell between his legs, and it seemed like Shawn's cock was very much awake right now. Alicia could feel her body answering in kind, heat pooling low into her belly.

  Shawn leaned in for a brief kiss, tugging at her hair lightly. The answering shiver that ran through Alicia's body surprised her, but he only grinned and tugged her hair once again, this time a little harder.

  Alicia tilted her head back, closing her eyes. That felt very nice.

  Not one to be outmaneuvered, she rubbed her thigh over his erection, eliciting a grunt. Next thing she knew, Shawn flipped them and leaned over for a kiss before moving down her body.

  The next while was the best kind of torture as he sucked and licked her clit, scissoring his fingers inside her slowly. The orgasm, when it came, rolled over her almost lazily, like a wave when the ocean was calm.

  She got Shawn off with her hand, stroking him in a hard grip as he panted into her neck, pushing back into her hand, and it wasn't long before he spilled over her fingers and stomach.

  He fell next to her on the mattress and pressed his lips against hers. They were both grinning, so the kiss was sloppy, but it didn't matter at all.

  She felt her eyelids getting heavy again, and not a minute later, she fell back to sleep.

  ***

  When Alicia woke up a while later, Shawn wasn't in the bed anymore. Luckily, before she could start on her doubts, she heard the shower in the bathroom being turned on, and she relaxed back against the sheets. She couldn't remember being so well-rested. She smiled into a pillow, stretching her body. Her thighs ached a bit, and the skin there was a bit oversensitive, probably from Shawn's unshaven jaw rubbing against it earlier.

  The smile turned into a grin. Well-rested and well-fucked. It had been even longer since that happened.

  She pulled the sheet off of her and rolled out of bed, stretching her arms up after she did so. She grabbed the first piece of clothing she found—Shawn's shirt—and she covered her front with it before stepping to the window and pulling the curtain to the side.

  Sun blinded her in a moment, and Alicia shielded her eyes with her hand, cursing quietly. After she blinked the black spots away, she was rewarded with a sight of New York that she rarely
got to see. Shawn's apartment was on the fifteenth floor, and it had one of those views most people only saw on postcards or in the movies. She hadn't paid attention to it last night, she was busy with other, more important things, but now she definitely appreciated it.

  She missed the shower cutting off as she stared, so Shawn's voice a few feet behind her actually surprised her.

  "Jesus Christ."

  She turned and he was there, as if he'd stepped right out of her fantasies—with the towel around his hips and damp skin with a muscle definition she'd repeatedly caught herself staring at in her brother's gym.

  Now she didn't have to hide she was staring.

  And he was staring right back. She belatedly remembered the back of her body wasn't covered, so she was currently flashing her ass to half of the Downtown Manhattan, but the heated look in his eyes was more than enough to render her unable to move.

  She watched him cross the room and pull her to him, framing her head with both his hands and kissing her, slow and deep. She let go of the shirt covering her body and threw her arms around his neck. They were pressed against each other, so the material stayed like a barrier between them, seeping the water that still clung to Shawn's chest.

  He groaned when he ran one of his hands down her body and gripped her ass. He turned them away from the windows and Alicia chuckled into his mouth.

  They pulled apart, at some point, and just stared at each other for a long moment. Neither even glanced at the shirt that fell on the floor. She was standing there in front of him, completely naked, and he was looking right into her eyes.

  "Toast for breakfast okay?" he asked, brushing a strand of her hair out of her face.

  She nodded. "Can I use your shower first?"

  "Of course." Shawn tilted his head to the dresser. "You can also borrow some clothes, if you want. But don't think you have to," he added with a smirk.

  She snorted, taking a step back. "I'll borrow something, thank you." His clothes would definitely be more comfortable than getting into her dress from last night.

  Under the shower, she sighed at the perfect water pressure. It was much better than at her apartment, but then again, her apartment lacked more things than good water pressure when compared to this one. Alicia knew Shawn's living standards were different than hers, but knowing it and seeing were two different things.

  When she was done, she pulled on the clothes she picked earlier—a deep red Harvard T-shirt and sweatpants she had to roll at the bottom. She looked far from sexy in the oversized clothes and with her hair curling in every direction, but she couldn't help but smile at her reflection. Sexy or not, she was about to go out there and eat breakfast with Shawn.

  She briefly wondered what was going to happen next, but she pushed that thought away as she used his mouthwash. We'll see.

  When she left the bathroom and Shawn saw her, she expected a laugh, a joke about drowning in his clothes. What she got instead was a heated look and, as soon as she was close enough, Shawn caught her by the arm and pulled her against him for a kiss.

  "My clothes have never looked better," he murmured against her lips before brushing the tip of his nose against hers.

  Alicia smiled into the kiss, and for a while, she forgot about everything else but the taste of Shawn, the press of his body against hers, and the way his tongue was driving her crazy—crazy enough to consider rubbing against Shawn's thigh he pushed between her legs.

  They only pulled apart when the coffee maker announced with a series of beeps that it was finished. Shawn gestured for her to sit down at the table.

  "I've promised you breakfast," he said before pulling out red and blue mugs from one of the cabinets.

  He handed her coffee—just the way she liked, with milk and one sugar—and right when he turned to the toaster, the phone started ringing back in the bedroom

  She recognized that ringtone. Mom.

  Alicia was tempted to ignore it, not ready to spend half an hour or more listening to her mother, but finally, she sighed and got up.

  "It's my mom, I have to take this."

  Shawn nodded and moved away from the toaster to sit down at the counter. "Sure, I'll be here."

  That bubble of hope inside her grew even more at how easy this morning was going. How Shawn hadn't sent even one signal that he wanted her gone.

  "Hi, Mom," she said into the phone, picking up probably right before the voicemail would kick in. "How are you?"

  "I always thought your father and I didn't raise any fools, but today, I'm starting to reconsider," her mother said, tone somewhere between bewildered and scolding. "You should've never gone to work for these men, I knew it was a bad idea. And now this!"

  Alicia held her breath as her mother's words registered.

  Oh, no.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Shawn was looking at the city through the window as he sat at the counter, sipping his coffee and trying not to grin too hard. Yesterday before the party, he wouldn't have dreamed of spending this Saturday morning like that—with Alicia in his clothes, having breakfast with him after spending the night in his bed.

  And now, here he was. Happy. Relaxed. Energized in a way he couldn't remember being for a long time.

  Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. Shawn recognized Nate's usual signal right away, but for the first time in possibly ever, he hesitated to let his friend in.

  He glanced down the corridor, but the bedroom door was still closed, and he couldn't hear anything.

  The knocking came again, this time louder, and Shawn headed to open the door. Whatever happened, happened. It wasn't like he'd been planning to keep all of this a secret, but he wished he were able to talk to Alicia first, and only then break the news to his friends.

  If wishes were horses…

  He opened the door without further delay and immediately tensed at the sight of his best friend's frown.

  "What is it?"

  "We need to talk," Nate said, stepping inside. He moved to the middle of the room, clasping his hand on the nape of his neck.

  "What happened?" Shawn asked, closing the door slowly. A dozen ideas ran through his mind, anything from a work emergency to somebody being dead.

  "That's a great question. One I would like to get an answer to myself." Nate pulled his tablet from the front pocket of his hoodie, and after a few swipes of his finger, he turned it to show Shawn the screen. "Tell me this isn't what it looks like."

  "SHEPPARD'S LOVER ALREADY MOVING ON?"

  Under the article's header, there were three photos of him and Alicia from last night. One during the party as they danced, another as they waited for the car, and then the third one as he helped her get into the backseat. In all the shots, they were close, touching intimately, and everybody could clearly see they were more than friends.

  "Fuck." Shawn could feel the sudden weight settling in his stomach as he took the tablet from Nate. "Damn it."

  "It is what it looks like, then." Nate nodded once, sharply, and crossed his arms over his chest again. "What the hell, man? I don't even know where to start."

  Shawn didn't know what to tell him. He didn't expect this, the photos, and before yesterday, he hadn't seriously considered anything happening between him and Alicia either...

  But telling that to Nate would only make things worse, probably. How could he explain it when he wasn't sure how he went from zero to wanting her at his kitchen table—both in his clothes for breakfast and out of them for something else.

  The voice in the back of his head told him he hadn't been at zero for a long, long time now, but it wasn't really important right now, was it?

  He glanced towards his bedroom, half-hoping, half-afraid the door would open and Alicia would come back.

  "What the hell were you thinking?" Nate didn't even sound angry anymore, just resigned, and it made Shawn feel worse. "Alicia? She works for us. She's our friend. She's not..."

  "I know," Shawn finally said, leaning against the back of the couch. "It's not like th
at."

  Nate gave him a sharp look that clearly told him what he thought of that excuse.

  "It isn't," Shawn insisted. "Look, I—" He looked at the photos on the screen once again. "I don't know what's going to happen, because I didn't have that conversation with her yet, and it for sure won't be happening with you first. But if I have my way, it's not a fluke, it's not a one-off, and it's not something I regret, okay?"

  Nate tilted his head back. "That's great," he said, but his tone didn't match his words at all. "As your friend, I'm happy for you. And for Alicia, too, if she wants what you want. But as her employer..."

  "Are you fucking kidding me?" Shawn pulled away from the couch and stood straight, glaring at Nate.

  His friend glared right back. "You were supposed to keep a low profile, and then you went out and got caught with our company's office manager."

  "Alicia," Shawn told him. "I was with Alicia."

  "Who is our company's office manager," Nate repeated slowly as if Shawn didn't understand him the first time. "I know you're not stupid, so don't play dumb with me."

  "I can't believe you would even imply…" Shawn shook his head. The weight in his stomach grew heavier as he battled with his temper. "You should know better."

  Nate snorted. "What I should know apparently doesn't really matter since I didn't even know you were interested in Alicia in the first place!" He lowered his voice, so he wasn't shouting, but it was obvious he was angry. "That was something I definitely should've known."

  That was the moment the bedroom door opened. Shawn noted that Nate froze next to him, but he didn't care. All his focus was on Alicia, who appeared in the living room after a few seconds, wearing the dress from last night and avoiding their gazes.

  "I'm just gonna go," she said in a voice Shawn had never heard before. It was as if all the emotions were drained out of her.