Small Town Pretender by Brighton Walsh

It was nearing two in the morning by the time Asher and Nat got home, and even though, thanks to Gran and Caroline, they weren’t going to have an early morning wake-up call courtesy of the kids, they still had to pick them up at a reasonable time. Which meant they needed to call it a night.

The only trouble with that was, he couldn’t get Nat’s words out of his mind. Had she seriously spent the past eight years under the assumption that he was bad in bed? Normally, he wouldn’t be bothered by something like that, certainly not enough to feel the unrelenting need to redeem himself like an actual thrum in his veins. But that most definitely wasn’t the case tonight.

He leaned against the doorjamb of their bedroom, his eyes feasting on Nat as she lay spread out on the bed. She always overheated when she drank, which would explain why she was currently lying on her stomach, sprawled on top of the covers with her head resting on her folded arms. Her legs were stretched out toward him, her ass on full display in her pink lace thong. She’d never been one for modesty—something their frequent bouts of skinny-dipping would attest to—but it was different now.

His cock grew thick as he recalled the kiss they’d shared right there in that bed. The look on her face when she’d walked in on him in the middle of making himself come to thoughts of her. Not to mention, all the affection they’d laid on thick at the reception in the Havens’ backyard… He’d been balancing on a tightrope all day, wondering if he’d fall off or make it across to the other side. The only trouble was, he wasn’t sure which was the ideal outcome.

“I wanna talk to you about something,” he said finally, breaking the silence.

“I was wonderin’ how long you were gonna stand there without sayin’ a word,” she said without lifting her head, her voice just a soft murmur. “Enjoyin’ the show?”

Probably more than she knew. Definitely more than he should.

Without answering, he pushed off the doorframe and strode toward her. “How long have you been under the impression that I’m a selfish lay?”

She snorted a laugh into her pillow before bracing herself up on her elbows and glancing over her shoulder at him. “I knew you’d fixate on that.”

“Fixate on the completely false rumor you made up just for shits and giggles?”

A slow smile spread across her face as she looked him up and down. “For someone who thinks it’s false, you sure do seem to have an awful lot to prove.”

With his eyes locked on hers, he crawled up from the foot of the bed, careful not to touch her, even though he desperately wanted to. Once he was braced directly above her, his fists bracketing her shoulders, he lowered his head and allowed his lips to brush her ear, reveling in the soft shudder that racked her body. “I’m not selfish in bed, wifey.”

She lifted one shoulder. “If you say so,” she said. Taunted, really. And from the look in her eye, she knew exactly what she was doing. Exactly the game she was playing. And she was all in.

“You gonna make me prove it?” he asked, his voice rough with barely restrained need. His cock was thick and hard, aching with a desperation to feel her again. This time, with far fewer clothes between them.

Nat bit her lip, the twinkle in her eye only increasing his desire. “I’m not makin’ you do anything. But…well…if it’ll put your mind at ease to prove yourself to me, who am I to stop you?”

Her words were nearly enough for him to lower himself onto her, crush his cock against her firm, round ass, and kiss her like both their lives depended on it. But first, he needed to make sure she was going to remember this in the morning. That she wasn’t too far gone to be able to make this decision. He wanted her, but not like that.

“How drunk are you?” he asked, eyes assessing.

She raised her brows. “My last beer was two hours ago, so you do the math.”

Slowly, he shook his head. “I need you to say the words, Nat.”

After a second of silence, she rolled over beneath him, the move causing her hip to graze his cock, and he hissed out a breath. With a devilish grin, she adjusted herself so her legs were outside of his, wrapped them around his hips, and pulled him down until his erection was nestled against the soft heat of her pussy. “I’m not drunk, Ash. Now, what is it you wanted to show me?”

He froze for two beats, then, with a groaned curse, crashed his lips against hers. This kiss was different than it’d been this morning—for one thing, he went into it knowing exactly how explosive it was going to be between them. Exactly how sweet she’d taste, and exactly how he’d respond to each throaty moan that slipped past her lips.

For another thing, he had no intention of stopping now until he was buried deep inside her.

“I’m gonna prove every one of your points wrong, and I’m gonna love every fucking minute of it.” He thrust into the welcoming cradle of her spread thighs, grinding down harder when she pulled away on a gasp, her fingernails digging into his bare shoulders.

“Oh God,” she breathed, rotating her hips up to meet each roll of his. “You feel good.”

“Christ,” he groaned into her neck. “Never thought it’d feel like this.”

Fuck, why had he worn sweatpants in here? And why did she still have any clothes on at all? He needed to see every inch of her, wanted to uncover parts of her he’d never known in their twenty years of friendship and commit them to memory.

He moved his lips down her neck, following the deep scoop of her tank top, exploring her skin but still needing more. Slipping his hand under the hem, he palmed the bare expanse of her stomach. “Can I take this off?”

In response, she crossed her arms and arched against him, tugging the article of clothing up and off her body, baring herself to him. “I appreciate you makin’ sure I’m okay with this, but for future reference, you’ve got a green light for whatever.”

“Whatever, huh?” he said, trying to maintain eye contact, but it was really damn hard with her tits staring him right in the face.

She raised a brow. “Let’s skip the butt stuff this time, but yes, whatever else.”

He snorted out a laugh and dropped his head down, resting his forehead between her breasts. “How can you make me laugh when I’m this fucking hard?”

“A talent we didn’t know I possessed when it came to you, I guess.”

“I think we’re gonna be learnin’ a lot of new things tonight…” He lifted his head just enough to curl his tongue around one of her nipples, his eyes locked on hers as he sucked her into his mouth.

She parted her lips and slid her fingers into his hair, matching her grip to the pressure of his tongue. “Let’s learn them faster.”

“After you told everyone I’m a ninety-second chump? Sorry, wifey, but you brought this on yourself.”

Pushing her head back into the pillow, she squeezed her eyes shut and groaned toward the ceiling. “I take it back. I take it all back.”

“Too late,” he said as he worked his way even lower, dragging his mouth along the underside of her breasts, across the soft curve of her stomach, the lines of script on her side, not all who wander are lost reminding him of exactly who she was and who she wasn’t. She belonged out in the world, not stuck here in Havenbrook. But she’d made a sacrifice for him, and he intended to make damn sure it wasn’t for naught.

“Where’re you goin’?” she asked, her voice breathless in a way he’d never heard before. A way he wanted to hear again and again.

“Provin’ a point, remember?”

She huffed out a laugh and shook her head. “You don’t have to. I totally made it up.”

“I already knew that.”

“Okay, so what—”

With his eyes locked on hers, he linked their fingers and fixed his mouth on her pussy over her panties, pressing his tongue against her clit through the lace. He groaned as her taste hit him, the material between them doing nothing to disguise it.

Only when she was good and panting did he pull back enough to say, “Thought that was obvious. Now hush up and let me enjoy this.”

“What about me?”

“If I’m doin’ this right, you should have a little fun, too.”

She breathed out a laugh, but soon it turned into a moan as he focused all his attention on her. As much as he wanted unencumbered access to her pussy, he loved getting her worked up like this. Whether from his mouth or her excitement, her panties were soaked, the scent of her pleasure making his cock throb with need. It took everything in him not to hump the damn mattress like some fifteen-year-old tasting a pussy for the first time.

She rolled her hips, faster with each passing second, her fingers gripping his as if she needed the touchpoint to ground herself. He knew the feeling. Being with her like this—having her on his tongue and hearing the throaty moans he’d never had the privilege to before—was surreal.

“Oh my God, take them off,” she finally groaned. “You’re killin’ me. I need your fingers, Ash. Please.”

As quickly as humanly possible, he stripped her of her last remaining article of clothing before settling back between her legs, his shoulders holding her thighs wide.

He ran his fingers through her pussy and slipped one inside, groaning as her wetness coated him. “Fuck, you’re soaked.”

She delved her hands into his hair and gripped tight, tugging him closer to her clit. “That’s enough chitchat.”

He groaned out a laugh as he inserted a second finger before affixing his mouth to her. Swiping his tongue through her slit, he reveled in her taste as much as her moans. The two of them had spent years being in sync, but this took it to a whole new level. He matched the pumping of his fingers to each roll of her hips, the throb in his cock begging him to hurry up and make her come so he could finally sink inside her.

She groaned as he slipped in a third finger before flicking her clit with unrelenting focus. “Ash…” she said on a gasp. “God, I’m coming…”

He hummed his approval as she tightened around his fingers and held him close while she rode out her orgasm, her pussy pulsing around him. He continued stroking his tongue over her clit, his fingers buried deep, wanting to draw out every ounce of her pleasure.

Finally, when she relaxed onto the bed and tugged his hair enough to pull him back, he lifted his head. He met her gaze with a smirk and a raised brow. “Well…we’ve definitely never done that before. You just came all over my fingers.”

She bit her bottom lip, her eyes heavy-lidded and lust-filled. A look he’d seen plenty, but never from her. “Let’s hope that’s not the only thing I’m gonna come all over tonight…”

He laughed, then froze, closing his eyes and hanging his head with a muttered curse. Of all the times to be caught without protection, he didn’t figure it’d be on his wedding night.

“What’s wrong?”

He sat back on his heels, ignoring the obscene hard-on trying to force its way out of his sweatpants. Running a hand down his face, he said, “I don’t have any condoms.”

“What?” she asked again, this time with a biting edge to the word.

“Didn’t exactly see this comin’…” He braced himself above her once again, trying to ignore the sight of her naked beneath him, her legs spread wide, her tits pointed directly toward his mouth. Except there was no ignoring any of it, and his cock twitched, brushing against her as it did so. “Ignore that.”

“Don’t think I can.” She hooked her legs around him again, pulling him down until his cock nestled perfectly against her.

“Fuck, you’re killin’ me,” he said on a groan. “I want inside you.”

She tugged his head down toward her and nipped his ear. “So, get inside me. I got tested last month, and I’m clear.”

Normally, he wouldn’t even consider going bareback—he’d never once had sex without a condom—but this wasn’t some random bed partner he was spending the night with. And he’d never been this tempted by a woman. “Me, too. You still have your IUD?”

“Mhmm,” she said, a sinful smile curving her lips as she ran her nails up his scalp.

He’d never trust anyone else at their word with something as important as this, but she wasn’t just anyone. This was Nat. His best friend.

Now, his wife.

“Why are you still wearing pants?” she asked even as she hooked her feet into his waistband and started shoving his sweatpants down his hips.

“You’re good at that.”

“If that’s all it takes to impress you, I’m about to blow your mind.”

He breathed out a laugh and shook his head. “Never had a doubt.”

After kicking off his pants, he hovered over her, blinking through a dozen different ways he wanted to fuck her, before finally settling right back between her legs. He wanted her to ride him, wanted to bend her over the bed, wanted to pin her to the wall and not stop until he could no longer hold them up. But more than any of that, for their first time, he wanted to feel every inch of her. Kiss her and stare into her eyes when she came undone beneath him.

His breath caught as he slid his cock through her wetness, his muscles trembling as he held back. “Still sure?”

“What did I say?” She reached between them and gripped him, stroking twice before notching his length at her entrance.

He slipped inside, just an inch, and his breath caught at the tight fist of her pussy. “Fuck,” he breathed, bracing his forehead against hers. “Tell me you’re not gonna regret this in the mornin’.”

Her eyes softened as much as he’d ever seen, and she slid her hands around his neck, catching his mouth with hers. She parted her lips immediately, their tongues twisting as he clenched his ass to keep from driving deep.

“I could never regret you, Ash.” She nipped his lower lip. “Now finish provin’ me wrong.”

Groaning, he pushed forward, sliding into her in one deep thrust. She gasped as she stared up at him with something that looked an awful lot like awe in her eyes. With every thrust of his hips, every slide deep inside, he lost himself in her. In the feel of her body beneath him, surrounding him. In her gasps of pleasure, her whispered cries of his name.

He knew her a thousand different ways, but he’d never known this.

“Christ, why is this so good?” he asked, pulling out before sliding back inside, taking her slow and deep.

“So fucking good,” she echoed, her eyes rolling back at his next thrust.

He palmed the outside of her thigh, hooking her leg higher, adjusting the angle enough to allow him to slide even deeper. He ran his hand over the flare of her hips, up the curve of her waist. Cupped a breast and sucked the tip into his mouth while she rolled her hips up to meet each of his thrusts.

“I take back everything,” she said through panting breaths. “Stacey was a liar.”

He breathed out a laugh, then groaned when her pussy rippled around him, squeezing tight. “Fuck. I’m close.”

“Wait for me.” Her hand disappeared between them, the back of it running along his clenched abs. And then she was touching herself, and he was going out of his goddamn mind, his resolve dust at his feet.

He gritted his teeth, every muscle in his body going taut as he tried to think about anything in the world other than the fact that Nat was rubbing her clit so she could come all over his cock. He sped up his pace, his hips snapping against hers while the headboard echoed each thrust. The sound of their bodies coming together peppered their labored breaths and Nat’s throaty moans until they mingled in the best piece of music he could’ve ever hoped to write.

“Now,” she breathed, tugging his face to hers, panting against his mouth as her legs tightened around his thrusting hips, her fingers a flurry against her clit.

He groaned, sealing their lips together as her orgasm tugged his straight from his soul, the pleasure ripping through his insides as he spilled himself inside her with nothing between them.

Never, in his wildest dreams, had he imagined he’d find himself here. Settled between Nat’s legs, his cock still hard inside her after the most intense sex of his life. He didn’t know if it was because she was his best friend, that they’d had a lifetime of experiences to build on… If it was because she was the first person he’d slept with whom he actually loved.

Or if it was because he was no longer so sure if that love was strictly friendship or if it was something more.