Taming Val Read online

“I’m wearing jeans and a t-shirt, but I’ll take it.” She smiled, her fingers going to the button and zipper of his jeans. “Get your cock out, please,” she said, sweetly.

  Val helped her undo his jeans with a grin, mumbling softly, “Why is your friend so obsessed with Rome?”

  “Shut up,” she said, pulling his jeans apart and falling to her knees, taking his boxers with them as she pulled them to his ankles. His dick sprang to attention, and she had it between her lips instantly, shielding her teeth as she allowed him to sink slowly into her warm mouth, wrapping her hand around the base when she knew she couldn’t possibly swallow him whole.

  A strong frown clouded his face as she took him into her warm mouth, and his abs contracted, fighting a violet battle to keep his screams at bay. Her soft lips were like heaven and hell, because there was no way something that felt this good wasn’t wrong in every way.

  There was no way any of this wasn’t wrong in every way. Their entire arrangement had spiraled so quickly it made Val’s head spin to even begin thinking about it. At the moment, however, he couldn’t care. All that existed in his world was her mouth, and her tongue, and her lips, and how fucking beautiful she looked.

  “God you’re so beautiful, Zo. I don’t know how I ever lived without this, baby.”

  “Mmm,” she sighed around his cock, enjoying his taste and the words. She held his eyes as she moved him in and out of her mouth, and he was just as riveted as she was. Sitting across from him in that living room, watching him watch her, had been too much. She honestly wasn’t sure how she was ever going to sit in another room with him again without giving in to the urge to let his amazing dick fill her. It didn’t matter how he filled her, or with which space he decided to do it, she just needed to have him, to take him, in any and every way she could.

  “Zo, I’m gonna cum.” He was asking to get inside her, knowing he couldn't waste a drop, but her lips felt so good around him that he wasn’t sure he meant it.

  She certainly wasn’t buying it, not letting up for a second as her lips pumped his dick. She pulled away, releasing him from her mouth and working him with her hand just long enough to whisper, “Do you want me to swallow it, baby?”

  He was defenseless. All logic flew out of the window. “Yes, baby, swallow it… swallow it…” He croaked when she took him to the back of her throat once more, doing everything he could not to scream as he came inside her sweet mouth, unable to stop the buck of his hips as they shoved his dick deeper inside, deeper into her hot throat. She took the invasion with ease, her surprise only showing in a slight joining of her eyebrows that quickly relaxed once her throat got used to his size. He exploded more times than he realized he was capable of, fisting chunks of her hair desperately as he finished in her mouth.

  It was a miracle he hadn’t screamed out loud, and his mouth still hung open in awe as he fell limply from between her glorious lips. Instantly, he fell to his knees, coming down to her. His hands were still clutching huge chunks of her hair, and he released them before softly stroking them back into place.

  “We got a little out of control,” she said, grinning as he stroked her hair. “I don’t think any little Marcus’ have ever been made by swallowing, but I’ll double check my Cosmo.” Her laugh was muffled when he caught it in a sweet kiss, not minding the lingering taste of himself on her tongue.

  He needed her lips too much to care. With his mouth still fastened to hers, he stood to his feet, bringing her gently with him. Once they were both on their feet, still kissing softly, he took her waist and lifted her onto the bathroom counter, coming naturally between her splayed legs as they made out as quietly as they could.

  Even with effort, their lips and tongues still smacked audibly in between rampant kisses, and Val clutched her head, holding it steady as he moaned into her mouth, savored her taste.

  Zoey was the first to pull away, gasping against his lips and throwing her head back when he took his warm tongue to her neck. “We should stop before they realize we’re both gone.”

  Val moaned from where he was sucking the skin of her neck, his hands traveling to her breasts. He cupped them greedily over her t-shirt, taking his lips from her neck long enough to tug the shirt up over her bra, revealing the lacy black cups. With a moan, he buried his face between the full peaks, cupping and lapping at the skin there. Driven by her hushed pants, he reached into one cup and released her nipple, instantly taking it into his hot mouth.

  “Oh god, Val,” she whispered, torturously. “We can’t do this here, they’ll hear us.”

  “I don’t give a fuck,” he whispered, releasing her other breast and giving it the same treatment. “I wanna lick your pussy, baby. I wanna see you cum.”

  Zoey almost screamed when his hand went to her jeans, snapping the button apart with ease. He was losing control, and it was only a matter of time before she did, too. “I won’t be able to stay quiet…” He made her feel too good. She was being truthful. Letting him have her there would end with a screaming orgasm, and everyone on the other side of that door would hear.

  Then they would proceed to kill Val.

  She wasn’t ready for that. She wasn’t ready to lose him.

  He pulled away. “Okay.”

  She placed her hands on his arms, and his forehead fell onto her shoulder as he attempted to gather himself. “Besides, I can’t leave Angie out there with Roman for another second. She’s not used to guys making her panties wet. Her head might blow clear off.”

  His laughter vibrated against her shoulder.

  Zoey ran her hands down the back of his hair, and as he pulled back with regret in his eyes, she wondered if she would ever be ready to lose him.

  The answer to that question scared her more every day.

  ***

  Two weeks later, Val and Zoey sat across from each other in her tiny bathroom. Zoey was against the wall on the floor, with her knees pulled up to her chest, and Val was on the toilet, bending forward while running the beds of his fingers slowly across her knees.

  Zoey became entranced by the slightly ticklish, but mostly hot-as-hell, feeling of his fingers barely touching her knees. Who knew a kneecap could have so many nerve endings? She clutched the pregnancy test in her hand as it plugged away slowly, making them sweat waiting for the result, and she wondered if a man could tell how wet a woman was without having touched her. Because she was definitely wet. For him.

  She found herself selfishly hoping that she wasn’t pregnant, just so the excuse to keep sleeping with Val wouldn’t be lost forever. Once he’d knocked her up, surely he would be done with her for good, right? For the last few weeks he’d spent every night at her place, but she still wasn’t sure if it was because he wanted to, or because he felt obligated to. A man with as many women at his disposal as Val couldn’t possibly be looking to settle down. Right?

  Zoey jammed her eyes shut, wondering when that had become something she wanted. To settle down with Val. She wanted it badly, and it was becoming harder and harder to fight.

  “Hey?”

  Her eyes flew open at the sound of his voice, and she became riveted to his fingers brushing her knees.

  “You okay?” He searched for her eyes.

  She somehow found the will to look up at him from where she’d been staring at those fingers of his gliding over her knees, and held her breath when she found him looking back.

  “What will we do if it’s positive?”

  His eyes softened. “We’ll wait it out. Probably for the entire first trimester, just to make sure everything’s okay.”

  “You just said the word trimester. You have no idea how weird that sounds coming out of your mouth.”

  “Probably about as weird as it feels for me to say it.”

  She laughed softly.

  “We’ll wait,” he said. “Then, once we’re in the clear, we’ll get to work telling the family.”

  “They’re going to fucking die.”

  “They are. But not before they kill me first.”


  “Oh yeah, they would definitely take us first, then they would die.”

  “Not you, just me.”

  “Why do you keep doing that? I’m a grown woman, Val. I’ve played as big a role in all of this as you have, all right? I made the decision because I saw how badly you want to be a father, and I refuse to sit around and watch while you lose that chance forever. The fam will be confused, but they’ll get over it.”

  He swallowed heavily.

  She saw it move down his throat, saw the intensity in his eyes shift to a deeper level, and forced herself to look down at the stick. Her mouth dropped.

  “What is it?” He whispered, his own eyes wide.

  She looked at the stick for a second longer, noticing that his fingers had stopped running softly over her knees. He was now gripping them fiercely, swallowing them whole under his giant hands.

  “It’s negative,” she said, watching as his head immediately fell.

  “Fuck,” Val whispered. They’d been avoiding this test for almost a month. During the many passionate nights they’d spent together, they’d continued to find reasons not to take the test, all the while avoiding the truth.

  The truth. If she was pregnant, they didn’t want to know, because they would no longer have an excuse to keep sleeping together. If she wasn’t pregnant, they didn’t want to know that either, because then they’d be obligated to start exploring other options. Options that didn’t involve him cuming inside her, or eating her out, or seeing those plush lips of hers pumping his dick. For an entire month they’d been avoiding their truth, their reality, but now it was right there. Slapping them both in the face.

  She wasn’t pregnant. He didn’t know how to sidestep the feeling of being shredded to fucking pieces. So he allowed his head to fall, he hid his face from her. He felt her hands go into his hair, felt her lips on his head. “Fuck,” he whispered, jamming his eyes shut when tears came to them.

  “I’m sorry, Val. I’m so sorry.”

  He didn’t look up, but he did cup her wrists from where her hands were still buried in his hair. He didn’t want her to see him on the verge of tears.

  “Why did I wait? Why did I wait so fucking long? I’m almost thirty years old, and I don’t have anybody. Why did I wait so long to stop fucking around?” He looked into her eyes, and heard the real question rolling around in his head. The one he was too afraid to ask out loud.

  Why the fuck did I wait so long for you?

  The answer to that question was also rolling around in his head. He knew the answer, but he’d learned to avoid it. He’d learned to avoid the painful reminder of why he could never have her.

  How had he let this all get so out of control?

  She wrapped her arms around his neck from where she was kneeling before him, tucking her lips into his shoulder when he circled his big arms around her waist and sat tall, bringing her with him as he did. Her knees left the floor, and she straddled his hips, unable to stop herself from slipping a hand between their bodies, and rubbing her small fingers along his crotch. He was hard as a rock. How long had he been so hard? She clutched him, and her pussy responded immediately.

  “Zo…” His protest was weak, almost pitiful.

  “You have me,” she whispered into his ear. “Unless you really want to stop this, and go the sterile route, you’ll always have me, Val.”

  He did want to stop this. He did want to go the medical route. Before he was really gone for good. As he pulled back and looked into her eyes, he realized he already was. “What’s happening with us, Zo?”

  “I don’t know…” She ran her hands slowly down his face. “Maybe we shouldn’t worry about that right now, and just remember to enjoy each other.”

  “I’m always enjoying you.”

  “It’s so funny… how different everything is now.” Her eyes went wide. “Up until a few weeks ago, I thought you hated me.”

  He looked at her like she was speaking Portuguese, like those were the craziest five words he’d ever heard a human being utter. “I don’t know how to hate you.”

  “You say that like you’ve tried.”

  “I have. I did. I tried… for a long time.”

  “Why? Why would you try to hate me?”

  Val had spent ten years of his life avoiding the answer to that question, and he was done. He was done running from the answers, from the truth, from her. He couldn’t fight the suffocating need to have her, not anymore. He wouldn’t. He realized he didn’t want to have to go looking for any excuse to make love to her. He just wanted it when he wanted it, and he wanted it constantly. He needed her constantly, and with such vigor that it was beginning to take precedence over absolutely everything. Everything that’d made so much sense to him a month ago no longer computed. “Zoey… the truth is—”

  Her phone rang to life from where it was sitting on the bathroom counter before he could finish, and Val grabbed it for her, getting a look at the screen just as he was about to hand it to her.

  He took the phone back just as quickly as he was handing it to her, turning it towards her so she could see the text message on her notification screen.

  Reggie: See you at Drais? 9pm?

  “Please tell me this isn’t who I think it is,” Val said, closing his eyes. When the silence went on too long, his voice rose. “Please tell me you’re not actually seeing Reginald King.”

  “I’m not seeing him. I mean, I saw him once. We met at a club a while ago, and he spent the night. He still hits me up to come hang out, but I ignore him.” The horrified look on his face sent her heart racing. “I saw him one time, Val, but then it hit me how terrible that was… and I ended it before it began.”

  Val let that sink in. “So you fucked him?”

  “Once. Yes.” Zoey had never been one to apologize for being sexual, or for enjoying the company of an attractive man, but she suddenly felt ashamed of herself. She felt afraid. Afraid of what it meant to Val. For the first time it hit her. She was afraid to lose him. “It was just one time.”

  “So that really was his truck? Parked outside your apartment that day?”

  She bit her bottom lip, feeling like that day had been a decade ago, when it had really only been a month. With hesitation, she nodded her head.

  “And where were you?”

  “We were hiding in the closet.”

  Something shifted in his eyes. “You know what?” He took her waist and guided her off of his lap. “Maybe it is best that we forget all about this.”

  She was taken aback.

  “Actually, it is.” He stood tall, making her realize, for the first time, that he was way too big for her bathroom. “It is for the best.”

  “You’re doing it, again,” she accused. “You’re treating me like some stranger you just walked passed on the street, or some bug on the bottom of your shoe. You’re trying to hate me. Val, why do you do that to me?”

  “Zo, you’re fucking Reggie. You’re fucking my worst enemy.”

  “No, this has nothing to do with Reggie. This has been going on since way before Reggie. You’ve been cold to me like this since I was fourteen years old. Since back in high school when you treated me like a stranger in the halls, and then crawled into my bed at night.” As she said the words, the anger and confusion that had tormented her since she was a teenager came bubbling to the surface. Mixed with the emotion that had been rapidly evolving in the weeks she’d been sharing a bed with him, she was unstoppable in her persistence. “Do you have any idea how fucking confusing that kind of behavior is for a fourteen year old girl? Huh? To have a guy crawl into bed with you, curl his body around you, hold you while you cry, and then wake up to find that same guy gone the next day, pretending like he doesn’t even know you, completely rejecting you in public? Do you have any fucking idea how it felt to hate you, and need the hell out of you, all at once? That’s what you did to me, Val.”

  Val’s breathing hitched, and his eyes went ripe with vulnerability. She’d never brought up those qui
et nights in her bedroom in quite the way she was now. Neither had he. They’d never had the courage to. Now that she had, he felt like she’d opened up a floodgate that would be impossible to close. She had no idea how dangerous the questions she was asking actually were. “That has nothing to do with this.”

  “The fuck it doesn’t!” she screamed. “And I want to know why, Val. Right now. I think I deserve at least that.”

  He licked his parched lips. “You were hysterically crying every night. I could hear you from my room. Lying in bed with you was the only way to get you to stop.”

  “So I really was just some nuisance to you, huh?”

  He flinched. “Those sweatpants I wore were pretty thin. I’m sure you could feel how little of a nuisance I found you to be.”

  “So you only climbed into bed with me to get your fucking rocks off while I hysterically cried over my dead parents? I guess a girl’s body being wrecked with sobs would make for a pretty good grind if your dick is pressed in just the right spot, and yours always was, wasn’t it?”

  He’d had enough. “Like I said, none of this has anything to do with you fucking Reggie King.”

  “It has everything to do with everything, Val. You’re talking about Reggie, but I’m talking about the whole picture. I understand why you’re upset that I had sex with him, but that’s not what this is about. That’s not what’s driven you to treat me the way you’ve treated me our whole lives, playing these confusing, fucked up games with my head. Acting like you hate me, then acting like you can’t be without me in the same breath. When all of this started, you said that you just wanted me to carry your child, hand it over, and then proceed to play aunt in the background. But that was never our truth, was it? That was never a realistic goal for either of us, and you know it. There was no way we could have ever fucked platonically, or technically, because there’s something deeper here that’s gone unacknowledged for a really long time. It’s all changed now. It changed the night you made love to me.”

  Val looked away from her, running his hand down his face before looking back. “I told you I got out of control that night.”