When You Were Mine

They reached the Moreno’s catering van near a corner in the parking garage as they both checked out their surroundings. There was no one around. Alex peeked into the van parked next to theirs to make sure no one was in it. Without warning, he lifted Valerie with such a quick swoop she yelped then covered her mouth, laughing softly. The moment he pinned her against the Moreno’s van, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him madly.

They’d done stuff like this often enough that Alex was good at working fast. She’d like to think it was his experience with her and only her that made him this good at being sneaky.

Within seconds, he had a condom on and had pushed the crotch of her shorts and panties aside. In the next second, he was inside her. As usual, she’d been so ready for him it’d been an effortless plunge deep into her. She moaned as he drove into her fast and hard against that van. It was such a rush she’d felt the buildup almost from the moment he pinned her against the van. She was going to come fast, and she could tell he was too.

She wrapped her legs around his, pushing her hips up against him, wanting as much of him inside her as possible. When he let his head fall back, she sucked his beautiful, thick neck. Already beginning to climax, she got carried away sucking a little too hard. By the time he was done, he had a good-sized hickey right on the front of his neck.

It almost took from the ecstasy of it because she knew it’d be a dead giveaway of what they’d been doing while there were gone. Almost. She was still throbbing in pleasure when he set her down and began zipping his pants.

Alex leaned against the van, catching his breath. “Damn, sweetheart, that was good.” He clutched his chest, surveying the area cautiously.

A car drove down and around toward them, and Valerie smiled when Alex used his big body to shield her and did so completely. “You decent?”

“Yes.” She laughed softly, touching his hard back with her hand. “You just pushed things aside, remember? Never actually pulled anything off me.”

The car passed them, not even noticing them between the vans. Alex glanced back at her, holding out his hand. “C’mon, you dirty little girl. I swear you’re gonna give me a heart attack one of these days.”

“It’s what you say you like most about me,” she reminded him, taking his hand and eyeing him playfully.

He pulled her in front of him, wrapping his big arms around her from behind. “I do,” he said against her ear then kissed the side of her face. “But that’s just one of the many things I f**king love about you.”

Valerie tried not to tense at his use of the word “love.” He’d never used it in relation to his feelings for her.

It was just a figure of speech.

The idea that he might actually have feelings that strong for her was not an absurd one. Their crazy relationship, whatever it was, had been going on for years. But it excited her as much as it terrified her. If he started saying things like that to her, then it would only make things that much worse when things inevitably went south as they always did eventually.

Valerie had known for years she was in love with Alex. She’d just never said it out loud to anyone, least of all him. She never denied it though when Sarah, Isabel, and even her dad suggested that she was. Because she was—hopelessly. She just never went around saying it herself.

They strolled around the festival for just a bit and grabbed a couple of beers. It wasn’t even until she glanced up at him after sipping her beer that she saw it and nearly spit up her beer.

“Oh my God.” She laughed, bringing her hand to her mouth.

“What?” Alex asked with an unsure smile.

“It didn’t look that big in the darkened parking garage.”

He still stared at her confused, but since she was staring at his neck, he touched his neck. “What didn’t look that big?” The second he asked she knew he realized because his eyes opened wide. “A hickey?”

She nodded as he looked around then pulled her hand with him toward the building with the mirrored windows. “I thought you were sucking hard, but it felt too damn good to tell you to stop.” He stopped cold in front of the window and stared at it for a second.” Valerie!” he finally said, turning to look at her then back at the window. “This is huge and dark!”

“I’m sorry.” She laughed. “I got carried away.”

Alex let his head fall back, his laughter turning quickly into a groan. “I’m never gonna hear the end of this from my brothers. They’ll know exactly what we were up to.”

Now that would be embarrassing. “I have cover up,” she offered.

Glancing away from the window and back at her, Alex peered at her strangely. “Cover up?”

“Yeah.” She nodded. “It’s in my purse back at the booth, but I can try and sneak it—”

“They make stuff for this?” he asked, his expression going a little hard. “And you use it?” The hardened expression went even more severe. “For what? I don’t give you hickeys.”

If he didn’t seem so mad suddenly, she might have laughed but she didn’t dare. Instead, she explained quickly. “No. It’s not for hickeys. It’s makeup. I just call it cover up because it’s to cover up blemishes and zits and stuff.”

That was as long as she could go without laughing because the thought that he’d actually think they made something specifically to cover hickeys and that she conveniently carried it around in her purse was hilarious.