Author’s note: If you follow my spinoff series about Matt Greenwood, just know that this is his parent’s love story. This chapter is the first part of a 35k romance novella. Please let me know if you want more!
Andrew
It was supposed to be a nice relaxing weekend. It was my last weekend working as an intern with AC Builders, and tomorrow, I was supposed to head back to the little rural town I grew up in. I’d hoped to enjoy an evening out on my last night, but instead, it was the worst possible weekend to be out on the town. Atlantic City was always busy, but this weekend had been worse than normal. And the worst part? College students everywhere.
There was some kind of conference. I wasn’t even sure what kind of conference it was, but the convention center was packed, the traffic was a whole new level of miserable, and all the bars were bustling with kids barely old enough to drink.
The evening in question, I was sitting alone in the far corner of a bar, nursing a Yuengling and watching a boxing match where Wayne McCullough was absolutely demolish his opponent on the screen; some new up-and-comer who was big and strong but didn’t have a damn chance against the speed and the skill of the the Irishman.
My spot at the back corner of the bar was quiet enough, and I finally started to relax from the stress of the week, when this group of college kids bumbled in, the seven of them piling into a booth right behind me. How they all fit in the single booth I will never understand. They were snickering and laughing like assholes, looking over their shoulders like they were waiting for something.
“Look, there she is!” one of them hissed.
“Shut up or she’ll hear you.”
“God she’s such a dork. I can’t believe she wants to be a news anchor. Who actually sets out wanting to do that?”
“What did you tell her?”
“Told her I’d meet her at the bar at six,” a guy’s voice cut through the giggles and chatter of the girls. “I figure she’ll either give up, be waiting on me all night, or she’ll find us back here. Either way it’ll be fun to watch.”
I snuck a look over my shoulder to take a peek at the table. Yep. Fucking college students. Girls wearing tops too low and shorts too short, and pretty little rich boys in their khaki shorts, polo shirts, and boat shoes with haircuts that cost more than my wristwatch.
I turned my attention back to the fight and tried to block out their snotty voices.
“Hah, she’s just sitting there. The bartender is gonna make her buy something.”
“She’s not even old enough to drink yet, and she doesn’t have a fake ID. She’s too much of a goody two-shoes to even get one. Mike was selling them for, like, ten dollars.”
“What a little princess. ‘I got a scholarship and my daddy pays the rest,'” one girl said in a mocking tone.
Their conversation was starting to annoy me. I risked a glance to my left to the other end of the bar where the object of their harassment sat by herself. The tall, average looking brunette was awkwardly sipping a soda, looking around like she was waiting for someone.
Poor girl needed some new friends.
I turned back to the match and tried to pay attention. I managed to block them out when the third round started, but when the commercials came on, I couldn’t help but listen in again.
“Damn she ordered cheese fries, like a fat-ass.”
“Guess she’s done waiting on you, Brandon.”
I glanced over to the girl. Sure enough, she was happily munching on a plate of cheese fries, and watching the news on the screen in front of her. Her face was a mask of indifference, but there was a tightness in her shoulders that hadn’t been there before. She knew she’d been stood up.
She was trying to make the best of a shitty situation. Being stood up by a boy she liked, and being shamed into buying something from the bartender, she was putting on a brave face. She’d probably finish her fries and drink and escape as soon as she was done.
I downed the rest of my beer and decided to bail on my own shitty situation. I’d probably have better luck relaxing in my hotel room and paying for the match on pay-per-view than if I continued to sit here, stressed and pissed off by kids who were clearly still too young to be out on their own.
“Look, she’s checking out that hot guy at the end of the bar.”
“Which one, there’s like, six.”
“The one in front of us with the ball cap.”
“Shut up, Angie, he’ll hear you. He’s right there.”
Oh great. Now they’re talking about me. I raised my hand for my check.
“He is pretty hot though.”
“Eh… I guess… he looks pretty built. Maybe he’s an athlete.”
“Is he a Mexican?”
“I think so.”
“I don’t do Mexicans.”
It took a tremendous amount of self-control not to turn around and give them a piece of my mind about proper etiquette in a restaurant, and a history lesson on Native American tribes, but I kept my mouth shut. It wasn’t their fault anyway. All they could see was my back.
“Well, Maria does, apparently. She keeps checking him out.” Another obnoxious giggle, and I gave up with the bartender, leaving a twenty on the bar and headed for the exit.
I had to walk past the girl, Maria, in order to get to the door, and I couldn’t help but look at her. As I neared, I slowed, wanting to take her in fully.
She was tall, athletically built, with long flowing brunette hair. She was tan, but had freckles and sun spots on her arms and a few scattered across her cheeks. She was cute, but no prettier than the average brunette. But there was something about the curve of her jaw, the flush of her cheeks, and the fire in her warm brown eyes that made me slow, then stop, and then lean against the bar.
I studied her shamelessly. When had she looked up at me? She blinked twice, and a tentative smile pulled at her lips as she met my gaze.
“Hi.”
“Hi.”
She sat straight in her chair, holding her clasped hands firmly, resisting the urge to fidget. She did reach up and push her hair behind her ear.
I tried to listen to the obnoxious squabbling behind me, but they were silent. Well, maybe I could redeem a little bit of Maria’s dignity here for her tonight.
“Now, I know, for sure, that a pretty girl like you could not have been stood up by a date… so, what are you doing here by yourself on a Friday night?”
She kept my gaze, but rolled her lips into her mouth. “I… I was, actually.” When she spoke, I couldn’t help but notice her soft, pink, plump lips.
“Well,” I said, letting my eyes roam her figure. “His loss.” Her jeans showed off firm but curvy legs, and she had a cute blouse on that was just short enough to reach the waistband, and showed just a hint of cleavage. My eyes got stuck there for a moment too long.
She blushed, and her eyes darted awkwardly to the side, and then back at me again. There was something intense in her eyes that told me this girl was not easily put down.
“I’m Maria,” she said, and offered a hand.
I took her hand to shake it, and I was impressed with the strength of her grip and the confidence of her stance. This was not a little girl. Sure, she looked young as hell and just out of High School… but the expression and the confidence in her body, and the strength of her hand told me she did not like to be fucked with.
And that was… kind of sexy.
She raised an eyebrow at my silence.
“Andrew,” I said. “I… My friends call me Drew.” That was a lie. Nobody called me Drew. But she didn’t need to know that.
Something flashed in her eyes and she gave me a quick smile, and turned back to the tv in front of her. “My friends… are laughing at me in the back of the bar right now,” she muttered.
“I think you need new friends,” I said.
“No kidding.”
“You here for the convention?”
“Yeah, we drove up from New Jersey City,” she named the university about two hours away.
Another burst of giggles from the back, and then a lot of shushing interrupted our conversation.
Maria sighed, closed her eyes for a moment, and reached for her purse, digging through her wallet to find some bills. Her jaw was clenched in frustration and embarrassment.
“Maria,” I said, and she looked up at me.
I took a step forward, not really knowing what I was doing until I was there; I reached out and caught her chin in my hand, tilted my head towards her, and brushed a soft kiss across her lips.
She froze under my touch, and when I pulled back, her eyes were wide and her cheeks were pink.
My lips tingled from the kiss. Some strange kind of tension was growing between us and I couldn’t tell if it was sexual, or if she was offended. But there was some kind of chemistry, and I didn’t want to let her go yet.
Maria’s eyelashes fluttered slightly, and her tongue darted out and wet her lips just a little. It was an innocent gesture that didn’t seem to match the confidence with which she’d spoken and held herself a moment ago. The juxtaposition of the two attributes had me curious. Fiery and innocent. Feisty with a hint of submission under the surface.
“Listen,” I said as quietly as I could. “I’ll back off right now if you want me to. But you’re going to have to be clear about it. Otherwise…”
“Otherwise?” There was a playfulness in her voice that I didn’t expect. She seemed like such an innocent little thing. Maybe because her friends had called her a “goody two-shoes.” But that glimmer in her eye was back, and it made me wonder what would happen if she let it out.
“Well, beautiful… if you let me have my way, you’ll never be the same,” I said, leaning against the bar with one elbow. We were close enough that her knees were almost touching my legs.
“Is that right?” she laughed.
I sighed dramatically and shrugged. “You’ll never be happy again… I’ll ruin you for other men.”
She tossed her head back and laughed with a big smile that seemed to take up her whole face. It was loud, and energetic, and bubbling, and it made me want to hear more. There was a cheekiness in her expression, like she was daring me to make a move. “Empty promises,” she tilted her head.
I kept her gaze and gave her a slow smile, and reached out for her again. I caught a strand of her hair and twisted it around my fingers, feeling the silky texture slide against them.
It was weird… The more I looked at Maria, the prettier she became. Her eyes were brighter, and her freckles were endearing. Her breasts shifted as she moved her arm, and they looked firm and lucious. She crossed one leg over the other, and I saw the pink nail polish on her toes peek out from her sandals.
“You better be careful. A man like me might take advantage of you if you keep smiling like that.”
Her smile grew, and she slid off her stool and onto her feet, standing directly in front of me. Close enough to touch. Close enough to kiss. Close enough that the sounds around me started to fade away as I studied her face and her eyes and that beautiful wide, cheeky smile.
At the same time, we moved towards each other, but she turned her head right before our lips touched, and whispered in my ear instead.
“Ruin me, Drew.”
Well if that wasn’t an invitation I didn’t know what was. I took her face in both my hands, and kissed her hard.
She was so soft, and so sweet. She tasted like strawberries and her lips were like velvet against mine. I reveled in her hitching breath, and the taste of her lips, and the way her hands delicately set on my chest to steady herself, slowly fisting the material of my shirt. I let go of her face with one of my hands, and moved it to her waist, slowly wrapping my arm around her and pulling her hips against mine.
I couldn’t get enough of her. The intensity of our chemistry seemed to explode out of nowhere.
“Maria,” I whispered against her mouth as she rocked against me.
“Drew.”
“Let’s get out of here.”
“Okay.”
I pulled my mouth away from hers and shuffled through my back pocket to find another twenty, left it on the counter, put my arm around Maria’s waist, and escorted her out of the bar.
Maria
My mother always told me, when you have two things you’re trying to decide between, pick the one you know you’ll regret if you don’t.
That was the only reason why I threw caution to the wind and left the bar with the tall handsome stranger who had introduced himself as Drew. Because I knew I’d always wonder, for the rest of my life, what would have happened the night I said no to the quiet stranger with the gorgeous face and the deep, gruff voice.
He’d caught my attention when I’d started looking for Brandon, and heard a familiar laugh in that direction. Drew had been staring up at the TV in front of him. He had dark, deep-set eyes with thick straight brows, and a nose and cheekbones that looked like they were carved out of stone. His skin was a beautiful light brown with a hint of red in it, and he wore a ball cap that covered his hair. He had on dark jeans that were frayed at the bottoms, and a black button-down shirt with a tree embroidered on the breast pocket. Even through his shirt, I could see the broadness of his shoulders and the tone of his arms and chest.
When he walked towards me, his dark eyes fixed on me with an intensity I’d never seen, all rational thought had left my mind. And now, Drew and I were in a parking lot, and he was holding the door to his truck open for me, and offering a hand.
I hesitated for a split second. I didn’t know this guy. He was clearly older than me, stronger than me, and could be taking me anywhere.
“I’ll walk you back to your hotel if you’d rather not get in the car, sugar.”
Will I regret it? No, my gut told me I’d regret walking away right now. I shook my head and took his hand, and he helped me up.
While he drove, we talked.
“What are you studying?” he asked.
“Communications. Are you a student?”
“Oh… no.” He laughed once. “I own a construction company in Cherokee, North Carolina. Just here to pick up some new skills before I take ’em back home.”
“Are you Cherokee?”
“Yes ma’am. Grew up on the Res.” He took his ball cap off, and a long black braid tumbled out from under it. His hair was longer than mine, and I could tell it was shiny and slick.
“Oh. Wow. I’ve never been to North Carolina… but I did a research project in High School about the Appalachian Trail and its influence on current Native American art. It’s what got me my scholarship at school.”
“Pretty and smart… You should visit sometime.”
“Yeah… I should.”
“How old are you? I… should have asked that first…”
“I’m nineteen.”
He let out a sigh. “You’re just a baby,” he muttered.
“I am not a baby.”
“You are <i.absolutely< i=””> a baby,” his voice was gruff. It made me shiver.</i.absolutely<>
“How old are you?” I countered.
“Twenty eight.”
Oh, if my mother could see me now. In the car with a man almost ten years my senior, planning to let him do who knows what to me.
After a few minutes, we arrived at a run-down Holiday Inn at the edge of town. It was a far cry from the hotel at the convention center I was staying at, but I didn’t care. Drew parked and hopped out of the car, walking briskly to the other side to help me out. He held me by the waist and lifted me down like I barely weighed a thing, and I laughed. He put a finger under my chin and made me look at him.
“Last chance, sugar.” Drew brushed a thumb across my bottom lip. “Last chance to walk away and keep whatever innocence you have left. Because I guaran-damn-tee you won’t have a shred of it left by the time I’m done with you.”
“Promise?” I smiled.
His answer was a deep, rumbling growl. He took my hand and led me towards his room.
Inside, I set my purse on the little desk by the door, and began to shrug off my jacket, but Drew came up from behind me, and caught my hands. I looked down at our hands, mine dwarfed in his. They were warm, and rough from years of working with them. Standing directly behind me, he held me against his body, and I felt his firm chest and the hardness in his jeans. He dipped his head and pressed his lips firmly right under my ear, slowly kissing down my neck. His breath tickled my skin and the firmness of his kiss made my stomach flip.
His hands took over my job of gently removing my jacket, and he set it on the table beside my purse. His hands dropped to my waist where his fingers gently edged themselves under the hem of my t-shirt, barely touching my skin. His lips moved, and he left a trail of kisses down my shoulder and towards my arm.
I couldn’t help but move against him. My hips rocked and shifted as he gently brushed his fingers against my skin, and I lifted my arms as he began to pull my shirt up. I felt like we were performing some secret dance that we both knew, but that I’d never realized I’d known.
Drew lifted my shirt inch at a time up off me, and let it fall to the floor. He sighed in satisfaction as he looked down at my breasts.
“Maria… you’re gorgeous, sugar.”
I opened my mouth to answer but it came out as a sigh as his hands tightened around my waist. One of them inched up towards my breast, and he squeezed it gently.
“Let’s take this off… let’s take this all off.”
His hands came away from me, and unsnapped my bra. I practically shook the thing off of me, and then dropped my hands to my jeans. I needed his hands back on me again as soon as possible. I turned to watch him as I kicked my shoes off and shoved down my jeans, my underwear coming with them. I was momentarily distracted by the sight of him unbuttoning his shirt, but I hurried to kick off the fabric wrapped around my ankles. He was still fighting with the buttons on his shirt, and I grabbed the fabric of it and pulled him against me, crushing my mouth against his.
Drew made love to my mouth with his lips and his tongue. He was firm, slow, and demanding. We breathed together, tasted together. He dragged a soft moan from my mouth with a caress of his lips. He explored me, letting his tongue run along the roof of my mouth. Our teeth crashed. He sucked my tongue into his mouth, and my stomach clenched and I let out an embarrassingly desperate sound.
I’d never been kissed like this. This one kiss was more intimate and more sensual than anything I’d ever experienced in my life.
I was still fighting with the buttons on his shirt, and I finally got them off and shoved it open. My hands ran up and down his chest, exploring the mountains and valleys of his toned body. All the while, he was relentless in his kiss. His arms wrapped around me, one hand pressing into the small of my back, and the other working his fingers into my hair.
With a small tug of my hair, he pulled my face away from him. “Woman,” he growled. “Let me get my damn pants off. Get on the bed.”
“I could kiss you all day,” I whispered.
“Let me inside you and I’ll kiss you all night.”
I snaked my arms around his neck and kissed him while he walked us back towards the bed and he fought with his belt and his pants. We shuffled awkwardly backwards until the backs of my knees hit the bed, forcing me to sit down. I kept my arms behind me to prop myself up, smiling as I watched him finish undressing. He was just as gorgeous as I’d imagined.
I watched as he pushed his pants down, kicking them off his ankles and standing in front of me completely naked, and… Sweet. Baby. Jesus.
“Oh,” I breathed. “That… that’s what you meant.”
He said he’d ruin me for other men. I took that to mean he was a good lover, not that he would literally break my body with the monstrosity hanging off his hips.
I met his eyes. That terrifying intense stare was back, and he looked like he was going to eat me alive. For all I knew, he would.
Without breaking eye contact, Drew bent down and went to his knees at the foot of the bed, grabbed my legs, and pulled me closer to him, spreading my legs wide as he did so.
“Lay back, sugar.”
“What are you going to do to me?”
He was still staring at me. A slow smile graced his face. “Lay back and find out.”
“You’re going to… kiss me?” I whispered. “There?”
He nodded.
The idea of his face between my legs made my breath catch.
“You… have done this before, right sugar?”
“Well, yeah… just, not that.”
He let go of one of my legs and put a hand on my shoulder. He pushed me back as he said, “Well, I warned you.” Then he lowered his lips to me.
Sweet bliss washed over me in an instant. I gasped, and moaned, and shivered. Drew lapped at me like I was the sweetest treasure he’d ever put in his mouth. A slow, deep rumble from his chest traveled straight into my body through his lips, shaking me to my core. His tongue dove inside me, exploring me. He sucked on the lips of my sex, and the circled his tongue around my clit, sending powerful shocks of pleasure straight to my center.
He was building me up to something big. Something beautiful.
He eased off right before I exploded, and I cried out. “Drew, don’t stop, please,” but he stood, pushed his hands against my hips, and slid me farther onto the bed.
From his bedside table, he pulled out a condom and rolled it on. It didn’t quite go to the base. I tried to reconcile how that massive thing was going to fit inside my body, but I was too worked up to worry about it.
“You ready for me, sweet thing?” he grunted as he climbed onto the bed. He crawled towards me like a wolf stalking his prey. I could only nod.
He spread my legs wide and pressed the head against my slit, gently working the tip in and out. He was thick, and just the tip was enough to make me feel like I couldn’t possibly take him all.
“Relax, beautiful,” he whispered, and leaned forward so his arms were on either side of my face. “Look at me. God you are the prettiest little thing, aren’t you.”
I felt him push a little deeper into me. Holy hell he was thick. I gasped and winced.
Drew tilted his head and took my mouth with his, kissing me slowly as he rocked in and out. His lips and his tongue matched the pace of his thrusts, and I felt myself relax as he slid deeper and deeper inside of me. He stretched me and pushed me until he was all the way in, and he pulled his mouth away from mine just long enough to let out a string of curses before he took my mouth again.
I couldn’t breathe. Everything about him was too big, too much. He held my head firmly in place as he kissed me, thrusting into me and grinding his hips so that he hit every single spot I didn’t even know I had. Right as I was nearing my climax, he pulled all the way out and pushed himself off of me, pausing to catch his breath.
“No,” I whimpered.
“Hush,” he gasped. “I’m not ready to be done with you yet.” He hesitated a few more moments before he slid back inside me, resuming his relentless pace. This time, he spread my legs wide and ground his pelvis against my clit while he thrust into me, and with only a few careful movements of his hips, I exploded in pleasure around him. Waves of heat and ice crashed onto me, and I fought to breathe through the intensity of my orgasm. Moments later, he groaned and collapsed forward onto me, and I could feel him pulsing inside me. His breath was hot against my neck, and he kissed my neck and my mouth again as he pulled back, giving me a chance to breathe.
“Drew,” I whispered, barely able to speak. I’d had my fair share of orgasms, both self-induced and courtesy of partners, but nothing like what I’d just experienced.
“Beautiful girl,” he said, and moved slightly so he could wrap his lips around my nipple. He sucked and tongued at it, and pulled at it with his teeth.
“Careful,” I laughed, and shifted under him slightly. “I’m sensitive.”
“I certainly hope so,” he murmured. “I’m not done with you yet.”
“Oh really?” I said.
His hips rocked into me again. I grunted. I was sensitive from the intense orgasm I’d just had. But somehow, he was still hard.
“Drew?”
“Maria. There’s something you need to know.”
“What’s that?”
He slid out of me, grabbed me by the hips, and rolled me onto my stomach, spreading my legs and crouching behind me. He lined himself up with my entrance.
“Greenwoods don’t quit until they decide they’re done.” He filled me with a snap of his hips, and I was once more thrust into bliss.
Maria
When I woke up, there was an arm thrown over me. My eyes adjusted to the light, and I turned my head and looked over at Drew. I sighed.
Andrew Greenwood was a machine.
After doing me from behind for what felt like forever, he’d hauled me up into his lap and made love to me with his arms around me and our foreheads pressed together. I’d watched his eyes widen and roll back in his head as he came inside me, followed by him holding my face in his hands and staring at me like I was the missing piece of his soul he’d spent his whole life looking for. He kissed me as he slowly shrank out of me, and then carried me in his arms like a bride into the bathroom where he’d showered me, washed my hair and my body, and treated me to another mind-blowing orgasm with his fingers.
My mom was right. I would never regret this night.
Drew woke with a snort and rolled over, pressing his body against mine and wrapping his arms around me, squeezing my breasts with one hand. The other hand inched down towards my sex.
“Oh,” I laughed. “Don’t you dare get me started again.”
I felt him smile into my neck. “Or what.”
“Or I’m going to be late for the book signing at the conference. And I really want that book signed.”
Drew nibbled at my neck and sucked at my ear lobe. His fingers worked down towards my peak, making small circles with the pad of his fingers until I was soaking wet and whimpering.
“Better get up and get to that book signing,” he said as he pulled away, but I could hear the humor in his voice. I caught his wrist and pulled him back down to me, and he slid his hands under my butt and dropped his mouth into my sex.
Good God I’d never felt anything that delicious in my life.
He chuckled darkly at my moans. “I still can’t believe you’d never had your pussy eaten before, sugar.”
“I’ve never… Oh… Nobody has ever made me… come like that… Drew, don’t stop… please…”
This time he didn’t stop; his tongue flicked lightly against my nub until I shattered around him, and he kept going until I begged him to stop.
He reached for the condoms on the bedside table, and I knew I was definitely going to be late to that book signing.
After several rounds and too many orgasms later, we both finally showered and dressed. I smelled like his soap, and I loved it. He drove me back to the convention center and dropped me off at the front door with a kiss on the cheek and a wink.
“If you’re ever in Cherokee, North Carolina…”
“Oh, I’ll find you, Andrew Greenwood.”
A subtle smile graced his perfect lips, and I shut the door to his truck. My eyes followed the dark green tree decal on his truck until he was out of sight.