Promises & Pen Names (The Riley Siblings #1)

5. Blake

Chapter Five

BLAKE

W ith a groan, I roll to my back, my head a little fuzzy, and my cock harder than stone.

Sidney has been at my house for two days now, two whole days and three nights, and my dick has pretty much been in a constant state of arousal the entire time.

Oh, Sidney’s in the room with me? He twitches like he’s been electrocuted.

She’s sitting next to me on the couch while we work on edits. Instant semi.

I walk in on her doing yoga in the middle of the living room. Hello hard-on from hell.

Is that Sidney singing in the shower all naked and soapy? Why yes, it is, and my cock is practically ready to explode from the mere thought.

Apparently sharing space with the woman I never got over, and am still head over heels for without making any sort of move on her is enough to take me back to my youth. So, I can now say I’m channeling twelve-year-old Blake Riley who popped boners like it was his job to do it because mid to late teen Blake Riley was able to do something about those boners with mid to late teen Sid Porter.

And the worst part of it is the fact that I can’t bring myself to jerk off while Sidney’s here.

I tried, honest I did, that first night she stayed after she fell asleep against my shoulder halfway through The Dark Knight. I put her to bed in my guest room but between the cute little sleepy noises she made and the way Sid kept nuzzling into me, my dick was diamond hard so I got in the shower determined to take care of business, but he wasn’t having it.

Nope.

Not even my best efforts made a difference to my impossible boner because apparently, he isn’t going to be satisfied until he’s buried so deep inside Sidney she won’t ever be able to get me out of her beautiful soul.

Muscle memory is a real bitch.

So now, at thirty-seven-years old, I wake up every morning with a painfully hard dick that barely behaves during the day, only one way to relieve it and that one way is sharing my space and completely oblivious to my inner turmoil.

At least I hope she is.

If Sid knows I’ve been sporting the hard-on to end all hard-ons for the last few days, she’s a real gem for keeping her mouth shut.

And the thought of her catching sight of my erections doesn’t have me nearly as embarrassed as it should. I know I’ve been blessed in that department and so does she, so if Sid busted me, I’d just smile and ask her if he’s everything she remembers him to be. Maybe even ask if she wants to go for a ride. For old times sake and all.

Probably better than what she’s used to, that’s for damn sure .

I don’t even have to meet her ex in person to know that jackass probably has a small dick and no idea how to use it.

That makes me chuckle as I scrub my hands over my face. They wander a little further where I scratch my bare chest, my stomach, then lift the sheet and scowl at my dick that’s trying to win a tent pitching contest.

“You need to get your act together,” I grumble down at him. “Seriously. We may be in love with the woman but you’re going to scare her off if you keep popping up whenever the hell you feel like it.”

Not to mention all these conversations I seem to be having with my cock. That’ll probably send Sid running for the hills.

And yeah, I’m in love with her.

I had a pretty good feeling that’s what was going on before she got here but I was able to confirm it the second I saw her. I’m still in love with Sidney and I very literally don’t know how to handle it right now.

Other than the constant inappropriate boners.

I grab my sweatpants off the floor as I plant my feet, dick still standing tall as I grunt my way to my bathroom. With practiced ease, I avoid pissing in my face, thank the boner gods mine disappears almost completely, then slide on my sweats and head out to start some coffee.

Coffee I already smell before I even open the door.

Sidney .

I smile because I have to, then exit my bedroom.

The last couple of days have taught me a lot about the grownup version of my Shortcake, stuff I couldn’t have known without being in person, and one of those things is the fact that despite what she did the night before, Sid wakes up around five every morning to start her day.

She puts on coffee first, sets out mugs and creamer because that’s all she puts in her coffee, then goes right into her yoga routine. After that, Sid drinks her first cup then takes a shower, where she sings horribly off key to whatever song is stuck in her head at the time. So far, it’s been “It’s Raining Men” twice and “Poker Face” once. After she’s done checking out the acoustics in my extra bathroom, Sid has coffee number two and sits outside to either read or write.

She claims this is all from being a mom and a teacher, says she can’t sleep -in past six AM because her body has been trained otherwise, but Sidney also says she’s not a morning person at all, she just plays one on TV .

If I hadn’t caught her before her first coffee of the morning the first day she was here I would have argued with her, but I did, and there is no disputing what she said.

My Shortcake was replaced by a grumpy, grunty, squinting little demon who looked sexy as hell with her bed head and rumpled clothes but damn, all I did was look at her and Sid growled at me. Hand to God, the woman growled in lieu of using words. And when I laughed because I am actually a morning person, I swear Sidney wanted to punch me. She says she’s worse if you wake her up in the middle of the night, something else I refuse to believe until I see it, but Shortcake claims if you aren’t one of her kids and bug her while she’s dead to the world, rumor has it she’ll fire at will.

And damn if I don’t want her in my bed to test that theory because we were limited when we were kids so I have nothing to compare this too, hence new experiments.

On a yawn, I shuffle into the kitchen only to find the pot just starting to brew so I check the clock.

6:45 am.

Shit, we both slept in.

Not that I’m totally shocked, we were up really late finishing edits then spent a good hour or so chatting about the signing before that turned into two hours of me trying to talk Sidney off a ledge .

Day one of the conference is today and I had a feeling it was only a matter of time before Sid freaked out over it.

She was good by the time we went to bed though but waking up this late probably has her rattled all over again.

Better find her to be sure.

Big fucking mistake.

The second I walk through the dining room into the living room, those words slam into my brain like a goddamn wrecking ball.

Sidney.

Sidney bent over.

Bent over talking to my dogs.

Sidney bent over talking to my dogs wearing nothing but my t-shirt—she still sleeps in my clothes even though we went shopping—and the sexiest little lace panties I have ever seen. Panties I never would have seen if she wasn’t bent over with her fantastic ass pointed at the doorway.

Oh, sweet mother of Marvel, Sid has an absolutely immaculate ass.

Creamy fair skin.

Round, biteable.

Firm and perfect.

Jesus, I seriously want to take a bite out of Sidney’s ass before I devour the rest of her.

“You are such good boys,” she croons to my dogs. “Yes, you are. You did your business so well this morning, didn’t even tinkle on the patio.”

My heart swells—as does my dick—while she baby talks Lock, Stock and Barrel. I love my boys, love them lots and I know they love me, but since Shortcake got here, they’ve forfeited my bed for hers and until this moment I might have been a little sour over it.

Staring at the fleshy globes of her ass while she praises them over not pissing on my patio definitely helps .

“We have to tell your daddy. Yes, we do. I will tell your daddy you held your pee-pee so good, and he will be so proud of you. Yes, he will. I bet daddy will give you extra treats.” All three dogs start basically vibrating in front of the slider, dancing and trying like hell to remember the no jump rule while they get all the compliments from the prettiest girl they’ve ever seen. “And if daddy is stingy, then mama will make sure you get all the treats.”

My heart stops mid-beat, barely stutters back up as her words sink in.

It may have just been to my dogs but hearing her refer to herself as their mama , fuck that does something to me. Something like when I hear her talk to her kids, hear how much they adore Sid, how much she loves them back.

Something that makes me want to do crazy things like buy a house in Atlanta big enough for all eight of us then put a baby inside Sid’s belly. Things no one else has ever made me even consider before except her.

And while I could stare at her ass and dream of a life together all day, we have a signing to get to, so that has to wait.

“Morning.” I grin as I sit on the arm of the couch. Sid jumps about thirty feet before she spins to face me. “Slept in a little, huh?”

She tugs my shirt down and attempts to cover what I’ve already seen. “A little.” Then Sidney swallows hard, her eyes laser focused on my bare chest. “You too.”

Jesus, she needs to stop staring at me like that.

If she’s not careful, I’ll have us both out of our clothes and up against the wall faster than she can take her next breath.

“I... I, uh...” Another hard swallow. “I let the boys out.”

“I heard.”

“And... whoa ... and I started the coffee.”

“I saw. ”

A blush creeps up Sidney’s chest, painting her neck and cheeks a pretty shade of pink. “And... wow... and I ordered breakfast.”

“Yeah?” I’ll give her five more minutes to quit stumbling over her words and looking at me like that before I do something we both clearly want.

Five. Minutes. “What did you get?”

“Um...” She frowns at my pecs. “What?”

“What did you get for breakfast, Sid?”

“I got... um... I...” Suddenly those crystal blues snap to mine. “I can’t fucking talk to you like this.”

Damn .

Her five minutes were almost up.

But I laugh despite my disappointment. “Like what, Shortcake?”

“This!” She flaps her hand at my naked torso. “All shirtless and tattooed and shit.”

“And shit?” God, she’s cute when she’s flustered.

“Yes! And shit! Chest hair, abs, fucking happy trail. It’s all super distracting.”

Chuckling and pretty fucking satisfied, I bend down and pick up Stock as he and his brothers trot over. “Better?” I grin because my French bulldog hardly covers any of the aforementioned shit Sid is referring to.

Which she clearly notices. “No!”

“And you standing there basically naked underneath my t-shirt is less of a distraction?” Yeah, I can dish it right back.

“Of course, it is!” Sidney tugs my shirt down again. “I don’t look like that!”

“And thank god for it.”

She scowls for maybe two seconds before she completely dissolves into a fit of giggles. “Jesus, Blake.”

I would have loved to have her yell that the same way she yelled everything else, but now isn’t the time. We only have a couple hours before we need to leave for the signing and between showers and breakfast, the much-needed coffee, that isn’t nearly enough time for it.

Truth? Two hours doesn’t even come close to the amount of time I want to get this woman screaming my name. All night is a bare minimum.

Another truth? A lifetime might not even cut it, but that’s what I want with Sidney. A lifetime of her screaming my name between the sheets and just as long with her by my side as my partner in every. Fucking. Way.

I won’t settle for anything less.