Page 31 of Under the Influence

Exhaling deeply, I hate how stubborn I feel right now. I want to keep Edith with me. All my common sense seems to have been murdered by my need for this woman.

“Next time, we could go to a hotel,” Edith says, staring up at me and seeming especially fragile. “I don’t want my first time to be in the back seat.”

“No, I want you spread out on a bed.” During a quick kiss, I feel my normally sensible nature reigniting. “But we could wait until after the wedding when things settle down between our families. Then, you could come to my place. I’d make you dinner. It wouldn’t feel so rushed.”

Edith’s expression shifts from hopeful to wary. “I don’t want to wait that long.”

“Because you don’t think we’ll be together by then?”

“No, because my lust is making me nuts. I might end up rubbing my crotch on the furniture if I have to wait until after the wedding.”

“You know you can take the edge off on your own,” I tease as I give her gorgeous body a long look. “After last night’s backseat fun, do you think I went to sleep without a little help from my hand?”

“Touching myself is fine normally, but I want you to be the one to make me feel good.”

Edith’s tone is too unguarded. My common sense falls away, and my protective nature surges forward. I’m again cagey about letting Edith leave my side.

“It’s only a few more weeks,” I mumble, speaking to myself more than her.

As I wrap Edith against me and hold on, she stares up at me and insists, “I’m unwilling to wait until after the wedding. If you deny me, I’ll trick you into porking me in my SUV.”

I frown down at where she smiles at me. “How easily duped do you think I am?”

“If I was naked, I bet you’d be very willing to be duped.”

As my hands rest on her hips, I kiss her forehead and sigh. “Even if you were naked and willing, I’d still say no to your first time happening in the back seat.”

“So, you’ll meet me at a hotel?”

“Would we spend the night?” I ask, hating the idea of her driving home late. “A quickie in a hotel isn’t much better than one in the back seat.”

“Can you spend the night?”

“Of course,” I say and slide my hands up her waist before tugging her closer. “I’ll tell my family I spent the night with the stripper. They won’t want to know more details.”

“My family already wants to meet the accounting nerd. If I spend the night, they’ll push me to invite the guy to dinner.”

“Claim you don’t want to steal the attention away from Val during his rushed engagement.”

“My secret lover is a nerd,” she says, nearly laughing at me. “No way will anyone believe he can steal attention from Val. You’ve seen the way my cousin prances around. How can a poor accounting schmuck compete with Val’s dramatic exuberance?”

Grinning at her explanation, I point out, “I don’t think I can compete with that shit, either.”

“No one can. Even West is insecure about his own dramatic exuberance. It’s why they’re always wrestling.”

“Do you really want to do the hotel meetup? I can wait.”

“I can’t think,” she says, shoving my hands off her body and scowling at me like a woman unaccustomed to being told no. “You’re making me crazy. Just rubbing one out won’t cut it. I need real relief, so I can be myself again. Now stop being selfish and pork me already.”

Sharing her smile, I slide my hand to the small of her back and guide her against me. Our lips meet in that electric yet comfortable way they’ve shared since our first kiss.

Once again, Edith feels like mine. I’m a rational man. I know I have no feasible future with this young woman. She wants things I don’t. I’m bound to disappoint her.

The breakup will be painful. Grudges will be nursed between her people and mine. I should end this relationship before it destroys everything I’ve tried to protect.

But I can’t do it. There no going back to the man I was before I met Edith Mooney. I need her now. The end of us might kill me, but I need to ride this relationship out to the end.

EDITH, AKA CAN’T HIDE THIS FEELING ANYMORE

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