“Nah, it was good for me. Call me crazy, but it’s exciting to know there is still pussy out there that’s beyond my reach.” His eyes lock on mine, holding me captive as he adds in a voice that is all sex and bare skin and hands roaming in places they shouldn’t, “But that maybe…if I keep working on myself…maybe someday…”
“In your dreams, bucko,” I whisper, but I don’t sound angry. I sound turned on, and God blast it, I am turned on. Some stupid part of me wants Cutter’s warm hands on my skin, his lips on mine, his green eyes sparkling into my soul as he shows me why women can’t seem to say no to him.
“Absolutely.” He grins in a way that makes me pretty sure he knows he’s slipped through my defenses. “I am going to dream about you tonight, Theodora. I hope that’s all right.”
“And if it isn’t?”
“Well, I can’t really control who I dream about, but I’ll try to dream about that other girl I met earlier, if you want.” He lifts his shoulders and lets them fall with a long-suffering sigh. “But she wasn’t nearly as smart or beautiful or bitchy as you…”
I laugh. I try not to, but I can’t help it.
As much as I hate to admit it, he’s charming, this older, wiser, less-asshole-ish version of Cutter.
“Fine, you can dream about me.” I hold up a hand before he can respond. “But only because you remembered my name without having to be told.”
“Of course I remember your name. I remembered it every time I passed by you in the hall at school and you turned bright red because I refused to look your way and hate you as much as you hated me.” He winks and pops that dimple again. “Take care, beautiful Theo. And take it easy on me in my dreams tonight, okay? It’s been a long time since I’ve been with a woman who refuses to put up with my shit. I might not know what to do with myself.”
I shake my head. “I’m sure you’ll do just fine.”
“Are you?” He gives a playful wiggle of his brows. “So does that mean you’ll reconsider the offer to ride my face until you come so hard you drown me in your girl juice?”
“Ew, gross, Cutter,” I say, shoving at his shoulder when he leans closer and insists, “It isn’t gross, it’s my superpower.”
“Not interested,” I maintain with a breezy laugh. “Thanks.”
“All right. But let me know if you change your mind.” His lightly glazed eyes drift across the crowd behind me. “In the meantime, I’d better go find a runner-up to the most beautiful girl at the party. I’d rather go home with you, but you know what they say. If you can’t be with the one you love…” He rises unsteadily, blowing me a kiss as he starts toward the dancers. “Good seeing you again, Squirt. Congrats on those gorgeous fucking tits, and don’t be a stranger.”
Don’t be a stranger…
I don’t want to be a stranger. I want to chase him across the sand, drag him back to my place, and take that ride all the way to Multiple Orgasm Junction. Even though he’s totally gross and totally a man slut and so not my type that it’s laughable.
I like nice guys. Faithful guys.
Guys who look at me like I’m the only one they want to touch, not like I’m simply one of the appealing options on the menu.
And sure, maybe I could have something casual with a man, even though I’ve never done casual before—but not with Cutter. He’s probably slept with half the country by now. He’s a bad case of cooties waiting to happen.
No way am I risking that for one night of fun with the guy who used to pull my pigtails when I was a kid.
No fucking way—literally.
* * *
So I do what any self-respecting woman in my place would do. I avoid him for the rest of the summer, turning down every pool party and BBQ invitation where I know Cutter is also likely to be on the guest list and spending more nights at home with my vibrator than I’d like.
But it’s all worth it when Cutter leaves to go on tour with the band in late August and I meet Baxter in early September.
Baxter is an elementary school teacher who loves food and cooking as much as I do, has never met an episode of Bob’s Burgers he can’t watch a dozen times, and who dedicates himself to my pleasure every Tuesday and Saturday night for the next ten months.
And even though Lips on Fire’s music is on the radio all the time by then, I don’t think about Cutter that much. Every once and a while, his wicked voice will drift through my head and send a shiver through my bones, but that night by the fire is just a sexy memory, nothing more.
When I see Cutter for the first time post-Baxter breakup, he’s at the beach with a gorgeous blonde, looking so smitten I can’t bring myself to interrupt them to say hi.
And why should I? It’s not like Cutter and I are friends. We’re just two people who rubbed each other the wrong way then grew up and got over it.
End of story.
So I walk away, putting him out of my thoughts for good.
Or so I assume.
Until the night several years later when I make the biggest mistake of my life.
The night I find Cutter all alone and decide to take him up on that oh-so-naughty offer…
BANG ON LOOSELY releases Winter 2020
About the Author
Author of over forty novels, USA Today Bestseller Lili Valente writes everything from steamy suspense to laugh-out-loud romantic comedies. A die-hard romantic and optimist at heart, she can’t resist a story where love wins big. Because love should always win.
When she’s not writing, Lili enjoys adventuring with her two sons, climbing on rocks, swimming too far from shore, and asking “why” an incorrigible number of times per day. A former yoga teacher, actor, and dancer, she is also very bendy and good at pretending innocence when caught investigating off-limits places.
You can currently find Lili in the mid-South, valiantly trying to resist the lure of all the places left to explore.
Find Lili at www.lilivalente.com
Also by Lili Valente
Red HOT Laugh-out-Loud Rom Coms
The Bangover
Bang Theory
Bang on Loosely
Learn more here
The Hunter Brothers
The Baby Maker
The Troublemaker
The Heartbreaker
The Panty Melter
Click here to learn more
The Bad Motherpuckers Series (Standalones)
Hot as Puck
Sexy Motherpucker
Puck-Aholic
Puck me Baby
Pucked Up Love
Puck Buddies
Click here to learn more
Sexy Flirty Dirty Romantic Comedies (Standalones)
Magnificent Bastard
Spectacular Rascal
Incredible You
Meant for You
Click here to learn more
The Master Me Series
(Red HOT erotic Standalone novellas)
Snowed in with the Boss
Masquerade with the Master
Click here to learn more
Bought by the Billionaire Series
(HOT novellas, must be read in order)
Dark Domination
Deep Domination
Desperate Domination
Divine Domination
Click here to learn more
Kidnapped by the Billionaire Series
(HOT novellas, must be read in order)
Filthy Wicked Love
Crazy Beautiful Love
One More Shameless Night
Click here to learn more
Under His Command Series
(HOT novellas, must be read in order)
Controlling her Pleasure
Commanding her Trust
Claiming her Heart
Click here to learn more
To the Bone Series
(Sexy Romantic Suspense, must be read in order)
A Love so Dangerous
A Lo
ve so Deadly
A Love so Deep
Click here to learn more
Fight for You Series
(Emotional New Adult Romantic Suspense.
Must be read in order.)
Run with Me
Fight for You
Click here to learn more
Lover’s Leap Series
A Naughty Little Christmas
The Bad Boy’s Temptation
Click here to learn more
The Lonesome Point Series
(Sexy Cowboys written with Jessie Evans)
Leather and Lace
Saddles and Sin
Diamonds and Dust
12 Dates of Christmas
Glitter and Grit
Sunny with a Chance of True Love
Chaps and Chance
Ropes and Revenge
8 Second Angel
Click here to learn more
Co-written Standalones
The V Card (co-written with Lauren Blakely)
Falling for the Boss (co-written with Sylvia Pierce)
Click here to learn more
The Happy Cat Series
(co-written with Pippa Grant)
Hosed
Hammered
Hitched
Humbugged
Click here to learn more