Damian Read online

  But at that very moment, I wished I would have worn anything else but that sweatshirt. I winced in embarrassment as I caught the guy’s piercing blue eyes dart to my right breast, where the large mustard stain resided, and I felt my face grow hot.

  The guy gave me a smile, and for that brief moment, I was paralyzed by that smile. For that brief moment, I was unable to move, think, or even tell you what my name was.

  “You should be more careful,” he said as he eyed me with amusement.

  “Sorry.” I gave him an apologetic smile and hoped he didn’t think I was some idiot. “My bag just broke.”

  “Perfect timing,” he said, and for some reason, I couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic. “Oh, and you dropped a few things,” he said with a devious smirk on his face.

  I pulled my gaze from his deep blue, mesmerizing eyes and looked down towards his hands. I cringed in horror at what I saw.

  Along with the Nalgene bottle that hit the girl’s shin, a strip of Trojan Magnum Ecstasy condoms and a pair of pink fuzzy handcuffs must have also fallen out of my tote because there they were, in the hands of this gorgeous man. My face grew hotter as he handed them to me. I thought I saw a twinkle in his eyes as he looked up at me.

  “Oh—” I began, unable to think, let alone speak.

  I grabbed the condoms and handcuffs and stuffed them back into my tote.

  “Umm …” I tried to think through the haze of mortification that was clouding my thoughts. “Those aren’t mine.”

  “Right,” the guy said as he dragged out the word and nodded. He was unconvinced.

  “I mean, they are, but…” I tried to explain, “but they were a gag gift from a friend.” I made a mental note to kill Deb when I saw her again. We had gone out the previous night to celebrate my last night in Cedar Rapids, and she had gave me a goodbye care package and said that they were essential items for my new life in San Francisco. It was a gag gift filled with an assortment of condoms and sex toys. We had a good laugh and I had thrown the items into my tote last night. I had completely forgotten that they were sitting in the bottom of my tote when I woke up this morning. I had completely forgotten all about them until now—until they were in the hands of this gorgeous man as he looked up at me with a raised eyebrow. He looked at me in a way that gave me goose bumps and studied me as if I were a question he couldn’t answer.

  “Nice friend.” He gave me another full-voltage smile that made it hard to breathe. “You can never be too careful.” He winked at me, and as much as I tried to fight it, I couldn’t help but get sucked into his cocky charm and smiled back at him.

  “Hey, I’m hungry,” the blonde pouted, her voice filled with an air of impatience. It wasn’t until then that I saw her for the first time.

  Damn! Of course she’s gorgeous. Blond with silky hair that was perfectly curled. Her skin was flawless and seemed to glow even in the dimly lit stairwell. She was classically beautiful, and I felt a surge a jealousy ripple through me. It was no wonder that this guy was with this girl. They were both ridiculously gorgeous, and together, they became an even more ridiculously gorgeous couple.

  “Can we please go already?” the girl whined as she shot me a look of annoyance, as if I were a disgusting bug under her Christian Louboutin stilettos.

  The guy laughed and turned to the girl. “Didn’t you just say you’re on some sort of cleanse diet and you can’t eat for a week?” he seemed to challenge.

  The girl paused, momentarily speechless. “Th—that’s not what I meant. Can we just go already?” She crossed her arms impatiently. I thought I saw a flush in her cheeks. Could this stunning blonde really be blushing with embarrassment? Or is it anger towards me? I wondered.

  “Let me first help her with her stuff,” the guy responded without taking his eyes away from me.

  God, those eyes, I swooned inside.

  The girl was about to protest but stopped before she said anything. Instead, she rolled her eyes and shook her head.

  “Besides,” the guy continued and turned to look at the girl, “what’s the rush? I thought we’re going up for a quickie? I’ll be quick this time.”

  I gasped uncontrollably, utterly surprised by his words. The guy shot me a quick look and chuckled while the girl smiled victoriously. “We are,” she said as she looked at me and then ran her hand along the back of the guy’s neck.

  The guy eyed me with amusement, his lips twisted into a smirk. “She obviously sees you as a threat.”

  My mouth fell open, shocked by both his boldness and what he had just said to me in front of the girl. Apparently the blonde was just as shocked as I was because when I looked over at her, she was gaping at him, wide-eyed, in silence.

  Me? A threat? How could I ever be a threat to this beautiful blonde?

  “So where to?” He lifted the suitcase in his hand and looked at me. Does he not noticed our shocked expressions or does he not care?

  This girl was a bitch, no question about that. But as I surveyed her dumbfounded expression, I was pretty sure that she had never had any guy say anything remotely negative about her before.

  Until now, I thought with amusement while I looked at this guy with a new set of eyes as he moved my suitcases to the front of my door.

  Who is this guy?

  CHAPTER TWO

  Damian

  “WHAT’S MY NAME?” I GROANED into her ear as I pounded my cock into her with such force it made her full, perky breasts bounce violently against my chest each time I entered her.

  “Damian!” she screamed out between her gasps and moans, her nails digging into my back as she grabbed on to me for dear life.

  “Say it again,” I demanded. I always loved the sound of my name coming out of the lips of a woman right before I made her come like she’d never come before.

  “Fuck! Damian! Damian Castillo!” she cried as she arched her back in pleasure and ran her nails down my back.

  “Grab my ass!” I ordered. “I want you to pull me into you. Hard! I want you to feel every last inch of me.”

  She obeyed and grabbed both of my ass cheeks with her hands. I felt her clench and tighten herself around my erection as she lifted her hips and pulled me deeper inside of her to receive the entire length of my shaft. My head jerked uncontrollably as pleasure shot through me with each urgent thrust into her silky sweetness.

  “I’m so close,” she gasped as her nails dug painfully into my ass cheeks.

  Without giving her any warning, I quickly pulled out of her. “Let me fuck you from behind,” I demanded as I flipped her around so that she faced the pillow. I began pounding my rock-hard erection into her warmth, pushing out a series of gasps from her lips.

  “Ooh ooh ooh! My! God!” she yelled out, one word at a time, in synchronization with my thrusts. “Fuck, you’re so deep!” Her cries were muffled into the pillow.

  “Who’s your God?” I roared.

  “You!” she wailed in a state of frenzy.

  In response, I rammed into her harder, deeper, and faster. I felt her wet sweetness clench me as her hands grasped my rich, blue satin bed sheets tightly.

  “Damian, I’m coming. Holy fuck, I’m coming!” she cried. Within seconds, she began to quiver under me as I felt her tighten and spasm around my erection, and I continued to plunge her farther down into the abyss of her orgasm.

  Finally, she relaxed her grip around me and became still.

  “Shit, that was unbelievable,” she said breathlessly when she was finally able to speak.

  “I’ll bet.” I smirked.

  “No, I’m serious,” She had assumed that my comment was made sarcastically. “I’ve never come that hard or that long before. That was fucking amazing.” There was a satisfied, glazed-over look in her eyes that I knew well.

  As she turned her body to face me directly, I stopped her. My hard, throbbing cock was still inside her, still needing its release.

  “We’re not done,” I groaned as I felt the blood coursing through my erection. “It�
�s my turn, baby. You haven’t satisfied me yet.”

  “Mmm,” she purred, “I’m all yours.” She arched her ass up towards me as she laid her face back onto the pillow, taking me deeper inside her.

  “You better be,” I said with a renewed sense of purpose. Now that I’d taken care of her, my only thought now was to take care of myself so I could go back to work. I had shit to do and this was supposed to be a quickie.

  As much as I loved casual sex with a hot girl, I was not one to spend an entire afternoon with a girl without busting at least a few loads. But for some reason, things were off-balance today. We had been fucking for almost an hour now and she had gotten off twice while I hadn’t even unloaded once. What the fuck was going on? I’d never fucked a girl and not gotten off. I sure the hell was not going to start now.

  Frustrated that things were going nowhere, I wet my thumb and circled the rim of her asshole with it, testing her receptiveness.

  She moaned and turned her head to look up at me. “I meant it when I said I’m all yours,” she flirted.

  Shit, this is the last time I’m fucking her, I told myself. She’s starting to get attached, and nothing good comes out of that black hole.

  I pushed the thoughts out of my head and focused on the business at hand: my cock. I pulled out of her, added some lube onto the condom that clung to my pulsing erection, and rubbed it up and down my shaft. I circled her asshole with the lube, and before she could change her mind, I slid my cock into her hole.

  She was tight, and I felt her clench on to me as I entered her. I threw my head back uncontrollably as a surge of pleasure ran through me. I slowly moved in and out of her, going deeper with each thrust. She moaned in pleasure as I picked up the speed and started pounding my rock-hard cock into her slick hole. My ball sack slapped her ass cheeks as she shrieked in sync with my thrusts.

  But as amazing as it felt, after several minutes, I still wasn’t anywhere close to coming. What the fuck is going on?

  “Hey—” I stopped mid-sentence. What’s her name again? Julie? Julia? Fuck it, does it matter? “Hey, you.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Let’s change positions,” I finally said in exasperation and pulled out of her.

  “Mmm,” she purred as she lowered her ass. “Anything you want.” She gave me a smile that said it all. She was whipped.

  Fuck, this is definitely the last time I’ll be seeing her.

  “Open your mouth,” I ordered as I rolled the condom off my penis. “Suck on it for a while. Maybe that’ll do the trick.”

  “I can do that.” She gave me a seductive smile as she gripped the shaft of my cock between her fingers.

  I lay down on the bed as she got on top of me.

  “How about we 69 it?” she suggested.

  Fuck no, I thought. Definitely not seeing her again. I couldn’t remember the last time I ate a girl out. That was entering the black hole of intimacy territory. The day I went down on a girl was the day I was no longer Damian Castillo.

  Of course, I wouldn’t tell this girl all that.

  “How about we 68 it, and I’ll owe you one,” I said with a chuckle.

  She looked at me in confusion. “Oh? How do we do a 68?”

  Shit, she’s dumb. “It was a joke,” I said, my voice laced with an edge of annoyance. “You know, 68 plus one is 69?”

  Her face was blank.

  I sighed. Let it go, man. You can’t teach dumb, I told myself.

  “Never mind. Just suck on it,” I said flatly as I motioned to my hardness below.

  She shrugged and obeyed. She started licking and playing with my cock with her tongue.

  Fuck, it’s been over an hour. What’s with the foreplay? “Take it like you mean it,” I barked, feeling the irritation rise.

  Within seconds, her head was bobbing up and down my erection as she deep-throated my cock with gusto.

  I have to hand it to her. She has talent.

  As if hearing my thoughts, she looked up at me, seeking my approval.

  I closed my eyes and tilted my head back as if I were in the depths of pleasure. In reality, it was my effort to avoid her gaze.

  What the hell is wrong with me? I thought in frustration. Sex had always been so easy for me. It had always been fucking fantastic—for both me and whatever girl I was with. It had always been systematic, a guaranteed O-moment. So what’s changed? It’s been over an hour!

  Then, out of nowhere, an image of that brunette I’d bumped into in the stairway earlier today popped into my head.

  Why am I thinking of her? More importantly, why am I thinking of her at this very moment when I have another girl’s mouth inhaling my cock?

  Despite my efforts to focus on the business at hand—my cock—my thoughts went to her.

  She was an unexpected surprise today. She had these baggy jeans and a beat-up University of Iowa sweatshirt on. Or was it University of Ohio? She was definitely a transplant, new to the city. I wondered what that huge yellow stain on her sweatshirt was. For some reason, I couldn’t stop staring at it. I couldn’t remember the last time I stared at a girl’s breasts for that long and not wondered how those breasts would feel in my hands and mouth.

  But as I thought about that brunette’s breasts now, I started to wonder how her breasts would feel in my hands and how deliciously sweet they would taste in my mouth. I was instantly turned on by the thought.

  Just then, an intense jolt of pleasure shot through me and my head jerk wildly back.

  I was finally coming. I opened my eyes and saw that the blonde’s lips were still engulfing my cock.

  I groaned in pleasure. “Fuck, I’m about to come,” I warned.

  She continued to move her mouth up and down the full length of my shaft. It was clear she wanted to swallow everything I had to offer.

  For some reason, I didn’t want to give her that satisfaction. Instead of coming into her mouth, I pulled out just as I climaxed, cum-shooting all over her face. I grunted as my body continued to spasm with pleasure.

  When the spasms subsided, I looked down at her. She looked pleased as she looked up at me, licking my cum off her face in satisfaction.

  I gave her a wicked smile and snickered. If only she knew.

  If she only knew that I was thinking about another girl when I came—the same girl she’d felt threatened by earlier today—she would not look so smug now.

  A picture of the brunette flashed before my mind again. I wished I had gotten her name. There was something about that girl that fascinated me. She was funny. She was feisty. She was everything I wasn’t used to. There was also an innocence about her—something I hadn’t seen in most of the girls I’d been with. It was enduring, almost hot.

  Who is this girl?

  CHAPTER THREE

  Alexis

  I GRABBED THE SHERWIN-WILLIAMS can of paint labeled Sea Salt and poured its gray-blue contents into the paint tray. It had been two days since I’ve moved into San Francisco, and as I looked around the near-empty studio, I realized how much I loved it. It was a small unit—definitely small compared to what I was used to in Iowa, where living space wouldn’t cost an arm and a leg, but nevertheless, I loved this tiny space that was now my home. I loved the high-vaulted ceilings, the bay windows, and the hundreds of layers of off-white paint that covered the walls from the many years of tenants moving in and out. These were the features that brought so much life and character to the studio, and these were the things I loved about this city: the abundance of life and character. It felt magical to me, like anything and everything was possible here. To me, this was a city where dreams could actually become a reality.

  But what was my dream?

  This was a question I’d been asking myself recently, and in all honesty, I didn’t know. Not at this moment, at least. At this moment, all I knew was that I wanted to have dreams—and lots of them. And I wanted to make them a reality.

  It wasn’t until two months ago that it had donned on me that I didn’t have any dreams, that
I didn’t have real goals or hopes for the future. It wasn’t until two months ago, when I walked in on Chris, my boyfriend of four years, in the middle of having sex with another girl, that I’d realized that I wasn’t living a life at all. I’d been stuck in a status quo that I created for myself—a place that was safe from the things I was truly afraid of. A place that was safe from losing the things I’d actually care about losing. A place that was safe from losing something I would love.

  So in many ways, I was thankful that I had walked in on my boyfriend cheating on me. I wouldn’t deny that it had destroyed a small part of me. I wouldn’t deny that it had hurt like hell and broke my heart.

  But despite that, I was truly grateful. It had been a wake-up call. It had forced me to acknowledge the truth—that I had decided to live in the small town I’d grown up in and lived in all my life for really one reason: to be close to my parents. I had stayed in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to feel connected to my parents, who had both passed away many years ago. It wasn’t until I finally faced this reality that I realized that there was nothing really holding me to that small town, and that it didn’t have to be my home forever.

  And that was how I found myself here, two months later, standing in this studio in San Francisco, thousands of miles away from my old home. For the first time in my life, I was in a city where I was completely alone, and as much as the thought of that scared me, it was also incredibly liberating. For the first time in my life, I could be anyone I wanted to be here. For the first time in the last ten years, I would not be defined by my past.

  With my paintbrush in hand, I looked around my studio and felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. I was halfway done painting the studio and tomorrow I’d start my first day of work.

  I’d been lucky enough to get a job as a legal assistant at Jackson & Wittman, LLP, a major law firm in San Francisco. I’d landed the job with Charlie’s help, who had some connections in San Francisco. Charlie was an old friend of my parents, and he had kept in touch and checked in on me when I’d moved in with Aunt Barbara’s family after my parents passed away. While working at an office job was not appealing to me, I was more than grateful to have a job that could pay for the ridiculously high cost of living here.