Listen to Me Read online

  “You’re the one who kept taking all of my choices off of me,” she reminds me with a smile, then links her fingers with mine and gives me a squeeze. This seems to be the form of public affection that she’s most comfortable with, and that’s fine.

  For now.

  “If you didn’t look hot in everything you wear, I wouldn’t have to take you out of it.” I glance down at the simple red dress she’s wearing now and begin to salivate all over again. I lean in to whisper in her ear, “And I can’t wait to get you home so I can strip you out of this one too.”

  “God, you’re such a man,” Christina says with a roll of the eyes as she leads us back to the kitchen. “And welcome, Addie. Next time, you can just come by yourself and leave that one at home.”

  “That one?” I pull Christina into my arms and twirl her around the kitchen in a quick dance. “Admit it, you love me.”

  “Oh, you mean the one with the ego,” Addie says with a nod. “Got it.”

  “You’re crazy about me,” I remind her and hand Chris off to Kevin as he comes in the back door with a plate full of grilled steaks. “Take your woman.”

  “Gladly.” Kevin wraps his arms around his wife and kisses her soundly as I reach for Addie and give her a turn around the kitchen.

  “Why are we dancing?” she asks with a laugh.

  “Because I like to dance,” I reply and kiss her nose. “Even though Chris has horrible taste in music.”

  “Don’t start,” Christina warns, pointing her finger at me. “You like my music.”

  I lean in and whisper loudly in Addie’s ear, “I tolerate her music.”

  “I heard that.” Christina laughs, then turns to toss the salad, but has to lean against the countertop and presses a hand to her belly. “Ugh, I wish I didn’t get so crampy after the doctor visits.”

  “Are you okay?” I ask just as Addie speaks at the same time.

  “You’re pregnant too?” Addie asks with an excited smile.

  “Too?” Christina raises a brow. “Don’t tell me you’re pregnant.”

  “No!” All of the blood leaves Addie’s face, and then she laughs. “No.”

  “Me neither,” Christina replies, shaking her head. “But we’re trying. I had in vitro today, so now we cross our fingers and hold our breath for a couple of weeks to see if it works.”

  “Oh, I’ll cross mine too,” Addie says with a wide smile. “I’m sure it’ll work.”

  I hope so.

  “So who’s pregnant?” Kevin asks.

  “Tiff’s pregnant,” I reply, watching Addie. How would I feel about having babies with this woman?

  Why am I even asking myself that question?

  “That’s exciting,” Kevin says.

  “Yeah, seems babies are in the air.” I reach to grab a slice of green pepper out of the salad, but Chris slaps my hand. “Ouch!”

  “I’ll have to call her,” Christina says with a smile. “If all goes well, maybe we can go baby shopping together.”

  Addie joins Christina. “How can I help?”

  “Are you any good at chopping tomatoes?”

  “I can handle it,” Addie replies.

  “Good, ’cause I suck at it. They’re too slippery.” Christina winks at me, and I can almost hear her thoughts. I like her. She’s helpful. She’s not lazy.

  I wink at Chris and steal the pepper anyway, chewing happily.

  “How did you and Jake meet?” Addie asks her.

  “He asked if he could cheat off me on a math test in the tenth grade,” she replies automatically.

  “And did you let him?”

  “No,” I reply for her. “She refused, but then offered to tutor me.”

  “That was nice of you,” Addie says as she cuts a cucumber.

  “He was pathetic in math,” Chris says as she grins at me.

  “Pathetic is a strong word.” I glare at her and cross my arms, but she just rolls her eyes.

  “You don’t intimidate me.”

  “Nothing intimidates you,” Kevin says as he passes by her, stopping to kiss her on the back of the neck. “That’s just one of the reasons that I love you.”

  “So did you tutor him?” Addie asks.

  “Yes. And then I never could shake him loose.”

  “I think it’s the other way around, C. I couldn’t shake you off. You’re a clingy woman.”

  Christina snorts, then laughs out loud as she pulls salad dressings from the fridge and sets the table. “Maybe we just found that we were kindred spirits.”

  “The geeks,” I clarify for Kevin and Addie. “Let’s call it what it was.”

  “I can’t imagine either of you as geeks,” Addie says with a shake of the head and smiles at Kevin as he offers her a glass of wine.

  “We have the yearbooks to prove it,” he says with a smile. “They’ve come a long way.”

  “So you grew up in Minnesota too?” Addie asks Christina.

  “Yep. It’s damn cold there.”

  “Is your family still there?”

  All humor leaves C’s face, and Kevin simply slips his arm around her.

  “No,” she replies, and I expect her to leave it at that. Christina doesn’t ever discuss this part of her childhood.

  But instead, she shrugs and passes me napkins to add to the table.

  “My parents were killed when I was young,” she says. “My family is here.”

  Addie nods politely, but then mumbles under her breath and pulls Christina in for a hug, surprising all of us, most of all Christina. “That fucking sucks and I’m sorry.”

  “It was a long time ago,” Christina reassures her. “But thank you.”

  “Who’s hungry?” Kevin asks.

  “Me,” we all reply, then laugh and sit down to dig in.

  “What about you, Addie?” Kevin asks. “Did you grow up around here?”

  “I did,” she replies. “My parents live in Hawaii now.”

  She looks down at her plate, but not before I catch a bit of the sadness I saw in her eyes last week, and I can’t help but wonder if that’s part of what had her upset.

  “Any siblings?” Christina asks.

  “Nope, just me,” Addie says. “Which was fine. I was a handful.”

  “Jake must have been a handful too,” Kevin says before taking a sip of his wine.

  “That’s a given,” Christina replies.

  “Why are you guys giving me so much shit tonight?”

  “Because it’s fun,” Kevin says.

  “What he said,” Chris adds, but her smile is soft and sweet as she watches me reach for Addie’s hand.

  When dinner is finished and the dishes have been cleared and the kitchen tidied, Christina catches me by the arm.

  “Can you help me out in the garage?”

  “In the garage?” I ask.

  “Yes, the garage,” she repeats between her teeth, as if that’s supposed to make me understand better.

  It doesn’t.

  “I think she wants to talk to you alone,” Addie says with a laugh. “Go ahead. I’ll help Kevin load the dishwasher.”

  I follow Christina into the garage and smile at her. “You could have just said that you wanted to talk to me.”

  “I didn’t want to sound rude.”

  “She’s not stupid,” I reply and feel my face sober. “She’s so fucking smart, C.”

  “I can tell.” Her limp is hardly noticeable tonight as she paces back and forth by her Volvo. “And I like her.”

  “I like her too—”

  “I like her,” she interrupts me, “but I love her for you.”

  I stop talking and watch my best friend as she tries to find her words. “She’s so great for you, J. She doesn’t take any crap from you, but she laughs with you. She doesn’t hero-worship you.”

  “Hero-worship me?”

  “You know what I mean. She’s not all starry-eyed because you’re Jake Knox.”

  “No,” I agree, “she isn’t.”

  “But the best
part?”

  “There’s a best part?”

  “Oh yes, friend, there is. The best part is, you’re you again. You’re smiling and teasing and you’re happy.” She has tears in her eyes as she wraps her arms around my middle and hugs me close. “And that makes me happy.”

  “I like her a lot, C.”

  “Good. Don’t fuck it up.”

  I laugh and hug her back. “I’ll do my best.”

  “I WAS SO sorry to hear about Christina’s parents,” Addie says beside me in the car on the way back to her place.

  “Yeah, it happened before I met her,” I reply.

  “How were they killed?”

  “Serial killer,” I say softly.

  “What?” Addie gasps and grips my arm. “Are you serious?”

  “I am.” I swallow. “She only told me about it once, but then I went and looked up old newspaper articles to get the full story. A man broke into their house late one night after they’d all gone to bed. He’d been terrorizing small towns around ours for months, but they couldn’t catch him.”

  “Oh my God.”

  Just wait.

  “He started in her baby brother’s room.”

  “No.” She’s shaking her head next to me in horror.

  “Yeah, he suffocated the baby in his crib, then went into Chris’s room and did the same, but didn’t kill her; she passed out, thank God. When she woke up and went looking for her parents, she found them, in their bed, shot to death.”

  I glance over to see Addie staring at me with her mouth dropped open, one hand covering it, and the other holding tight to my arm.

  “She went to live with her grandparents.”

  “That’s the most horrific thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”

  I nod in agreement, then unfasten her fingers from my flesh and kiss her hand gently. “She’s been through a lot, but she’s happy now.” She’s been through hell and back, most of it because of me, and God, how I wish I could make that right.

  “She’s with her family,” Addie says, finally understanding. “Good for her.”

  “So, are you glad you went?”

  “Yes.” She turns in the seat and smiles at me. “I had a great time. They’re really nice people. And they love you.”

  “What’s not to love, right?” I toss her a flippant smile, but she just tilts her head to the side, studying me.

  “You know, you look good in this car.”

  I raise a brow at the sudden lust that’s burning in her eyes. “Is that right?”

  “Mm.” She leans over and kisses my shoulder. “Your arms flex just so when you grip the steering wheel, and it makes me crazy.”

  “My arms?”

  “Sexy,” she whispers and unfastens her seat belt so she can get closer to me, then kisses my neck, almost making my eyes cross. “And have I mentioned that I love the ink on this arm as well?”

  “You didn’t have to mention it,” I reply with a grin. “You pay enough attention to it for me to know that.”

  She kisses down my arm as her hand drags up my thigh, and just like that, I’m hard as fucking stone.

  Before I can form a complete thought, Addie has my pants undone and my very hard cock out and in her sexy little mouth.

  “I’m going to wreck this car, Addison.”

  “No you won’t,” she says with a grin before sliding her tongue up my cock, from my balls to the tip. “We’re almost there.”

  “Son of a bitch,” I mutter and do my best to concentrate on getting us through Addie’s gate and to her building, then throw the car in park and bury my fingers in her soft hair as she works my cock with her hot mouth, sucking me hard, moving up and down in the perfect rhythm.

  “Addie, stop.”

  She barely shakes her head no and keeps going.

  “Addie, I don’t want to come in your mouth.”

  She hums, but doesn’t stop, and fuck me, I can’t stop the orgasm that shudders through me and she pulls away in time for me to come in her hand.

  I’m breathing hard. I’m fucking sweating. She sits up, wipes her hand off on a tissue, adjusts her dress, and steps out of the car, while I sit here, chest heaving, wondering what in the fuck just happened.

  She just sucked me off in my car.

  “Where are you going?” I ask as I jump out of the car.

  “Home.” She turns and grins. “You’re welcome. Good night.”

  “Hold it.” My voice is sharp, and I don’t do anything to soften it. “Either I’m coming inside with you or I’ll get you off right here for all of your neighbors to see. It’s up to you. I don’t get off and then leave you. That’s not how this works.”

  “Oh.” Her eyes are wide, and then a slow, sexy smile spreads over her lips, swollen from my cock.

  Her other lips will be swollen from my cock before the night is out too.

  She simply turns and walks to her door, unlocks it, and as soon as we’re inside, I slam it shut, then slam her up against the door and squat in front of her. I don’t have time to undress her, to kiss her.

  All I can think about is tasting her.

  “God, you smell so fucking good.”

  I pull the skirt of her dress up around her waist, lift one of her legs onto my shoulder, and yank her panties to the side, exposing her.

  “Your pussy is so fucking wet.”

  “You say fuck a lot when you’re turned on.”

  I can’t take my eyes off of her. I lean in and swipe my tongue from her opening to her clit, then back down again, and groan in satisfaction when she grips my hair in her fist, moaning and arching her back against the door.

  “God, Jake.”

  I press my thumb to her hard nub as I hollow my cheeks, pull her lips into my mouth, and fuck her with my tongue. She’s squirming, trying to pull me away and press me closer at the same time.

  Now I switch, pushing two fingers inside her and sucking on her clit, making her fucking crazy. I’ll likely be bald from her yanking on my hair when this is over, but I don’t mind in the least.

  Finally she stiffens and cries out, coming hard against my mouth. I stay here, kissing and caressing her as she rides out her orgasm, and when I stand, bracing her so she doesn’t fall, I kiss her hard, letting her taste herself.

  Which has me hard all over again.

  “Well, that was fun,” she murmurs with glassy eyes.

  “Oh, baby, we’re just starting.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Addison

  “I love the menu changes.” I smile at Riley, then look back down at the beautiful menus she designed. “Seriously, these are gorgeous.”

  “Mia came up with the content, I just designed them,” she replies and sips her coffee. We haven’t opened for lunch yet, so she and I are sitting at a table in the dining room, going over the menus and catching up. My waitstaff has arrived, and they’re bustling about, getting ready for us to open.

  One of my full-time waitresses, Daisy, walks past us, pulling on the neckline of her blouse, and smiles. “Good morning.”

  “Morning,” I reply.

  “So, we haven’t talked in a while,” Riley says and settles back in her chair. “Tell me how you’re doing. How are you and Jake getting along?”

  “I’m great,” I reply honestly.

  “Even after your minor meltdown a few weeks ago?”

  I roll my eyes. “It wasn’t a meltdown. God, you guys are dramatic. I just had a bad day.”

  “And called in sick,” she reminds me. “You worried us.”

  “No need to worry. I’m fine.”

  “And Jake?”

  I sip my latte and lick my lips. “I’m assuming he’s fine too.”

  “Don’t be a pain in the ass,” Riley says with a sigh. “I don’t see you very often. I need to know these things.”

  “We’re good,” I reply honestly and watch as Daisy pushes into the restroom. “That’s the third time she’s gone in the bathroom in the past hour.”

  “I noticed,”
Riley says with a nod. “Maybe she has a bladder infection.”

  “Mm.”

  “Jake. Don’t change the subject.”

  “The past few weeks have been great. We spend more nights together than apart these days.” I wiggle my eyebrows at Riley, and then we both dissolve into a fit of giggles. Just then, Daisy walks back out of the restroom.

  “So, he’s good in that department.”

  “Oh, girl. Good doesn’t begin to cover it. The man should teach classes on the art of cunnilingus.”

  “I hate you,” Riley says with a pout. “You get a rock star and he’s good at sex? No fair.”

  “You’re not celibate,” I remind her.

  “I’m not banging any rock stars either,” she says with a shake of the head. “But I’m happy for you. I can see that he makes you happy, and that’s all any of us want for you.”

  “Plus, he’s not a mooch or an asshole,” I add.

  “Right. Those things are important too.” We raise our cups in cheers and sip them just as Daisy walks past us toward the bathroom again.

  “Something’s up there,” Riley murmurs.

  “So, I’m not crazy.” I sigh and rub my forehead with my fingertips. “I’ll go check on her. She’s either got that bladder infection you mentioned or morning sickness.”

  “Does she have a boyfriend?” Riley asks with surprise.

  “I have no idea.” I shrug and stand. “These menus are perfect.”

  “I’ll send them off to the printer, then.”

  “Thanks, Ri.”

  I march into the bathroom and come to an abrupt halt as I watch, unbelievably, Daisy snort something up her nose. I’m immediately transported back to my modeling days, walking into trailers and bathrooms, even backstage at runway events, watching models snort coke rather than eat a meal, fighting to maintain both their weight and the little sleep they got from partying too much.

  “Am I interrupting?” I ask calmly and cross my arms over my chest, standing in front of the door so Daisy can’t escape.

  “Oh my God,” she moans and wipes white residue off her nostrils. “It’s not what you think.”

  “I think you’ve been coming in here all morning to snort cocaine up your nose,” I reply and tilt my head to the side. “Are you going to tell me I’m stupid?”

  “No.” She hangs her head in defeat and begins to cry. “My mom is really sick.”