Lingus by Mariana Zapata

  "Come here," he motioned me forward, keeping his eyes trained on my face and throat. His jaw was clenched, but then he licked his lips when I was right in front of him. If I would have taken a step forward our knees would brush against each other, or I'd find myself standing in between his legs.

  He sat up as his gaze made a hot trail down the path from my nose to my mouth before circulating down to my throat, collarbones, and finally landing on my chest. I was self-conscious but not at the same time. A blind man could see how hard my nipples were through the thin silk fabric and obviously, Tristan's bad eyesight was only limited to small printed words. He started to reach up with both hands, the L shape created by the webbing of his index finger and thumb hovered over the undersides of my breasts for a split second before they suddenly dropped to his lap.

  Tristan cleared his throat and shook his head. "Definitely not this one," he said in a husky voice.

  My mind reeled at what I thought he was going to do for a moment. It looked like he was going to touch me, and I would've let him a thousand times over but he didn't. I knew Tristan was all about control. Control. Control. Control. That was one of the requirements for being a man in porn. They couldn't be three-minute pump chumps like my first boyfriend in high school. Tristan knew how to control himself and I kind of hated him for it. Maybe always. As I stripped out of my dress and put on my jeans and shirt from earlier, I made a quiet wish to myself that he'd lose control because I was getting tired of waiting. What did Nicole tell me? I needed to keep living my life.

  When I came out of the restroom, Tristan wasn't in my bedroom anymore, but instead he was sitting on the couch with his new best friend, Matlock. He gave me a tightlipped smile when I sat down next to him. I watched him pet my idiot cat for long moments, stroking his long fur very gently. It was silent but okay and easy. "You should wear the light blue dress," he blurted out.

  "Okay," I replied with a short laugh. "Why that one?"

  "It's the longest one," he looked at me, and then had the audacity to wink.

  Chapter 39

  Ryan Quinn was trying to seduce me.

  I was also shamelessly eating up his attention in the same way I would devour a bowl of strawberry ice cream.

  His game was on the moment I opened up my door to invite him in. He stood there, all six feet of glorious, dark hair and warm eyes, leaning up against the doorframe with a red rose in hand. I wasn't really a roses-type of girl, but I could definitely appreciate the gesture. "Kat, I do believe you might be the most beautiful thing these eyes have ever seen," he cooed, eyeing my sea foam colored dress appreciatively. "This is for you," he finished, extending the rose toward me.

  I rolled my eyes but blushed profusely, taking the flower from him and waving him in so I could grab my shoes. "Come on in, Romeo."

  He was a complete gentleman throughout the service, opening up doors and gently leading me wherever we were heading. Ryan was attentive and sweet, introducing me to all of his friends and touching me every chance he got. We trekked our way across the parking lot to the reception hall where the dinner and dance were taking place. We had just sat down at a table when my phone chimed, alerting me of a text message. I expected it to be Zoey, but of course, it wasn't. 'Magellan' spelled out across the display.

  I miss you. How's the wedding?

  Was it wrong that I enjoyed the fact that he missed me? I didn't think so. I chanced a look over at Ryan to see him in the middle of a conversation with one of his friends.

  Miss you too! Good so far, about to stuff my face :]

  Mere seconds later, my phone chimed again.

  What time will you be home? I'm having a bad day.

  No idea. Maybe midnight? What's wrong?

  "Kitty?" Ryan murmured against my ear, effectively pulling me out of my focus.

  Slipping my phone back into my purse, I smiled back at him. "Ry?"

  "Did I already tell you that you look amazing?" he asked, gray eyes sparkling in mischief.

  I couldn't help but snort. "Yes, you did. Thank you again."

  "Carlos! Take a picture of me and my beautiful date!" he said, turning to face the brown-haired man sitting across the table. Ryan tossed his phone to him before slipping arm over my shoulder.

  "Smile," Carlos, his friend, instructed us.

  I slid my seat over just an inch, so that our cheeks were practically pressed together before smiling in the direction of his phone. A moment later, Carlos tossed the phone back over to Ryan, who pressed random buttons on the screen until he slipped it back into his pocket. "I hope you're aware that by being my date, you can only dance with me. You may also have to let me kiss you," he said with a straight face, but his cheeks were pulled up tightly in a smile.

  "Yes to the dances, and I don't know to the kisses," I told him with a laugh.

  Ryan frowned at me in amusement. "I'll win you over with the kisses."

  Sure enough, after a few glasses of bitter wine that I chugged down, Ryan was freely kissing my cheeks and keeping his arm steadily around my shoulders. He was warm and handsome, focused directly on me despite the fact that half the women in the reception hall had come over to introduce themselves by shoving their tits in his face. When he got up to use the restroom, I pulled my phone out of my purse to see if I had any missed calls or texts. I realized that I did in fact have alerts telling me that I had three new text messages and four new Facebook alerts. I checked my Facebook account first to see that I'd been tagged in a picture, had two people who 'liked' said picture, and one new comment.

  The picture was of Ryan and me a couple hours before, the same one that Carlos had taken of us. I had to be a little conceited because it was a really cute picture. Nicole Jonasson and Tristan King 'liked' the picture. Zoey Quinn had commented on it, "I hope you catch the bouquet LMAO!" I couldn't help but laugh my ass off at her comment, Zoey was such an idiot. Of course I knew she was keeping up her charade for the sake of making Tristan jealous, and I loved it.

  Exiting out of the app, I pulled up my messages to see that I had a new one from Zoey and two from Tristan. I opened up Zoey's message first.

  I L-O-V-E YOUR DRESS! HOPE YOU LOL-ED MY FB MSG BC I LMAO

  In Zoey language that would mean I love your dress! Hope you laughed out loud at my Facebook message because I laughed my ass off.

  I texted her back a quick message:

  Of course I did. I love you!

  Opening up Tristan's texts, I got to the first one that was sent right after my last message to him.

  I'll call you. I got fired off two scenes today.

  I fucking miss you.

  My heart clenched while I read his messages. I could only imagine how hard his day has been and how it led him to tell me in those words that he missed me. I debated for a moment whether or not to sneak out and give him a call to check up on him, but right then fingers appeared dancing across my shoulders and arms. Ryan stood next to my chair with an extended hand. "Come dance with me."

  I smiled up at him before taking his hand and let him lead me to the dance floor. His hands immediately went to my waist while I wrapped my arms around his neck. He pulled me in a lot closer than I'd expected.

  "Are you having fun?" Ryan asked, looking down at me.

  "Yes, thank you for inviting me."

  He smiled. "I don't understand why you're still single, Kat."

  I shrugged a lonely shoulder at him as I batted my eyelashes, smirking. "Me neither, Ry."

  "Is that guy you hang out with gay?" he asked with a laugh, spinning me around abruptly.

  "No, he's not gay. We're just friends."

  Ryan snickered, pulling me in even closer to him so that we were practically pressing our chests together. "I don't see how any man besides Josh can just be friends with you, beautiful."

  "Shut your mouth," I giggled in response. "You sound like my dad."

  "I'm dead serious. Your dad knows what he's talking about. Why aren't you together?"

  I debated for a moment whethe
r or not to tell Ryan about Tristan's Robby Lingus half but I didn't. I knew Tristan, not Robby. "I think he's been with a lot of girls," I tried to explain.

  His eyebrows went up in understanding. "Most guys nowadays have been with a lot of girls, Kat."

  I knew what he was saying was the truth. I knew it was also the same reason I hadn't immediately decided that I wasn't against being with Tristan in the future if there was no Robby. I remembered that one of my exes had admitted to me that he'd slept with at least eighty women before me. Did it make me upset? A little. I mean it was gross to think that he'd willingly been with so many other females before me, and it was also the reason why I always forced him to wrap his peen up. I appreciated his honesty, and for that year we were together he'd been a nice and attentive boyfriend. Ultimately, we both just wanted different things and split up. Last I heard, he'd gone back to his man-whore ways.

  "How many girls have you been with?" I jokingly asked.

  Ryan opened and closed his lips in quick succession, frowning for a moment before grinning. "A lot?"

  "Really? You aren't a virgin?" I teased.

  He chuckled deep in his throat, leaning forward to plant a kiss on my cheek. "I don't want to tell you. It's a lot."

  "Just tell me," I insisted. The curiosity killed me. It was a well-known fact that Ryan slept around quite a bit, but something inside of me needed to know the vague details.

  Ryan sighed while pressing his cheek against the top of my head. He smelled wonderful. "Maybe like... a girl a week for three years... plus more?"

  Now, I didn't follow through with my plans to study aeronautical engineering because I sucked at math, but I could easily deduce that Ryan had been with close to two hundred women. Two hundred! Shit. I wished I knew how many Tristan had been with but at the same time, I didn't. I was secretly scared that the number was more than my stomach could handle.

  "Please don't tell Zo," he pleaded against my skin. Zoey would eat him alive for sleeping around that much especially with the amount of shit he'd given her when he found out about her career. He was kind of a hypocrite and he knew it.

  I pressed my palm against his chest to push him just a couple inches away. "I won't, I swear."

  His handsome face dropped into a sad smile. "I ruined any chance I had of getting you into my bed tonight though, didn't I?" he asked smoothly, kissing my cheek again.

  I snorted against him, burying my face into the lapels of his jacket. "It wasn't going to happen even if you didn't tell me."

  Ryan stroked the skin on my shoulders softly. "Then you owe me some sugar at least."

  Hours later, he was walking me up to my apartment, his smooth hand trailed laps across my shoulder blades. I was a little buzzed from all the wine I'd drank at the wedding, and I knew for a fact that Ryan was sober. He drank a single beer while we ate, and that had been the only thing he had apart from water. It was a little after midnight by the time he was dropping me off, telling me funny stories about things that had happened at the hospital. He was such a nice, goofy guy just like his beloved sister.

  "Want to come in?" I asked while unlocking the front door. I felt comfortable enough asking him inside because I knew he was aware of the fact that nothing would go on between us that could ruin our friendship. He had rubbed his boner against me countless times in the past so even if we kissed, it wouldn't be any worse than that. To be honest, I really wouldn't mind those pink lips on me. I liked kissing and had missed the feeling you shared when you kissed someone right on the mouth.

  He gave me a silly smile almost like he thought I was an idiot. "You know the answer to that... but I should be getting home, I have an early shift tomorrow." He stepped forward, holding my face between my hands. "Thank you for coming with me."

  Ryan leaned in searching my eyes to make sure I was not going to kick him in the balls before he brushed those thin, light pink lips against mine. He kissed the corners of my mouth and it just felt nice. I kissed him back after the second, his hand trailed up to cup the back of my neck while the other rested on my hip. We kissed more; long, sweet kisses with our mouths closed until my phone started ringing from its spot in my purse. He pulled away giving me a sheepish smile.

  "I'm so sorry," I mumbled, digging into my clutch to silence my phone.

  Ryan grinned at me, shrugging. "Don't worry about it. I really should get going."

  "Okay," I managed to respond with a sigh.

  He leaned into me again and pressed his lips against mine one last time briefly. "Goodnight, beautiful." Ryan smiled and headed back down to his car.

  I couldn't help but smile as I went into my apartment and stripped out of my clothes to get ready for bed. Ryan was a good friend in a completely different league than any of my other friends including Tristan, and I was lucky to have him. There weren't any expectations with him or any hope of heartbreak; he'd kiss me as many times as I'd let him and we'd still be fine. I finally crawled into bed with the lingering feeling of warm lips on mine.

  Chapter 40

  I felt like the worst friend in the world the next morning when I unlocked my phone to see the missed call in my log.

  Shit. I'd completely forgotten that my phone rang while Ryan and I were outside. It was from Tristan just like he had promised. I glanced at the clock and noticed it was around ten already. Chances were that he was probably up and about. Pressing the screen to call him, I cleared my throat a bit while it rang. After about two rings a throaty voice coughed on the other end.

  "Hello?"

  "Hey Mag, it's Kat. I'm sorry I didn't call you back last night," I apologized.

  He coughed once more and yawned long and low. "Hey," he said in a much cheerier voice than I expected. "I was worried about you."

  I groaned to myself feeling really fucking guilty that I didn't call him back. "I'm fine, Ryan had just dropped me off when you called, and then I fell asleep. You okay?"

  "Oh." He was silent a moment too long before he sighed this pitiful, drawn out noise that sounded like defeat. "Yeah, I'm okay," he answered but his voice had lost that cheery edge to it.

  "What happened? Why did you get fired?" I swear I almost threw up as I asked him those questions. My heart started beating erratically in my chest at the possibilities as to what could have gotten him fired. I wanted to know but I didn't. I didn't think I could handle him blurting out that he got fired for reasons I couldn't come up with. What could a guy get fired for in porn? Putting it in a girl's butt instead of her vag? Or maybe blowing his load too quickly? That lost thought made me gag.

  "One of the directors told me I wasn't fit to perform," he answered steadily.

  I choked. Fit to perform? I steeled myself ready to reassure him with words that could potentially create an awkward situation for us, but I had hopes that our friendship was solid enough to withstand my horny nature. After all, isn't that what friends do? Pick you up when you're down and help you kick the person's ass who got you there? "Tristan, you are probably—," I sighed at my words, debating whether or not to continue on my train of thought before giving up. "No, you are the hottest guy I've ever seen in my life. How could they tell you that you weren't fit enough to perform?"

  I don't know what I was expecting him to respond with but it definitely wasn't the loudest over the phone laugh in existence.

  "Kat," he gasped for air. "I couldn't get hard," he laughed even louder. "It wasn't that they thought I wasn't attractive enough, but thank you. You just made my day," he cackled obnoxiously.

  "Oh," was the only thing I managed to spit out. My entire body flushed fire engine red at my stupidity. Oh my God. Of course that's what he meant. I needed to kick myself in the ass after that. I wanted to ask him why he couldn't do his job but his laughs were too distracting.

  Tristan laughed for a minute longer before controlling himself. "You really think I'm the hottest guy you've ever seen?" he had the nerve to ask.

  I groaned and slapped myself on the forehead with my palm. "Shut up."

&nb
sp; "Goldie," he said in that velvet voice that could seduce every woman on the planet. "Just tell me."

  "Maybe," I mumbled out before thinking of a better response to get him to shut up. "Andrew Wood is a close tie. You win because you have better abs." Tristan was a lot more attractive than Andrew Wood, I knew this with every fiber of my being but still. He didn't need to know that.

  This time it was Tristan's turn to groan. "I think you're full of shit."

  I couldn't help but laugh at his frustration. "That's the difference between you and me. I know you're full of shit and you just think I am."

  "Uh huh," he muttered, but I could hear the amusement in his voice. "I'm coming home tonight, want me to come pick you up after I get Yoda?"