Page 5 of Accidentally in Love

Chapter Two

NOLAN

I smiled from my end of the couch as I watched Avery laugh at something my brother said. I hadn’t been paying attention to the conversation one bit. My horny brain was more focused on waiting for everyone to leave so I could get Avery underneath me.

I met Avs two years ago. I was done with my shift at the brewery and headed home when I saw a pretty brunette crying into her beer. I asked the bartender to send her another on the house. One beer led to two, which led to her underneath me, moaning my name. It was supposed to be a one-time thing, but it kept on happening. Somehow along the way, we became friends.

Since my divorce a couple years ago, I wasn’t one for relationships. I never wanted to fail someone the way I failed Kath. That’s why I told Avery we could only be casual, even though I was pretty sure I caught feelings for her the very night we met. I learned to tamp those feelings down because I knew she didn’t feel the same way.

“Right, Nol?” my brother’s voice cut through my broody thoughts.

“Hmm?”

“Buddy! What a Space Cadet.” Declan laughed and drank down the rest of his beer.

I shrugged.

Gemma sighed and finished her glass of water. “It’s late. I better get going.”

“You okay to drive?” Avery asked.

Gemma held up her water. “I’m good. I had one beer an hour ago.”

Avery stood up and hugged her sister. “Text me when you get home, okay?”

The younger woman rolled her eyes. “Yes, mom!”

Declan stood up, too. “I’ll walk you to your car.”

“You don’t have to,” Gemma said in protest.

“I’d feel better about it,” he argued.

“Dec, you live in Drakesville. I feel much safer walking at night here than in South Philly, and I do that all the time. I’ll be fine.”

Avery sighed. “Gem, let Declan walk you to your car, okay? It’s on his way home.”

I walked Gemma and Declan to the front door and locked it behind them. When I walked back into the living room, Avery had her head tipped back against the couch, and her eyes were closed.

“You want me to walk you home?” I asked.

Drakesville was such a small town that the walk to her apartment on the other side of town wasn’t that far. I never timed it, but it was maybe ten minutes, probably a little less. Sometimes it was just easier to drive over there, but I didn’t like to drink and drive. I might have only had two beers since Avs got here, but that was enough.

A drunk driver killed my parents. I didn’t fuck around with that shit.

She shook her head. “I’m not tired.”

“You look tired,” I said while I stalked over to her. I lifted her chin, and she gave me a sly smile. Then she reached a hand up and rubbed it across my crotch. “Oh, I see.”

“Do you?” she asked and looked up at me with those big blue eyes. The kind of eyes a man could get lost in.

“C’mere you,” I growled and lifted her into my arms. She giggled while she wrapped her legs around my waist. I slid my hands under her dress and stumbled up the stairs into my bedroom. It shocked me when I came across bare flesh.

“Naughty girl, not wearing any panties.”

I put her down when we got into my bedroom.

“I had to take them off,” she said.