The Farther I Fall by Lisa Nicholas Page B

fingers into her panties. She tried to go slow, but couldn’t. Gwen spread her legs and teased one of her fingers between her lips. She
was
wet, because of him. She focused on stroking circles around her clit, imagining his tongue, imagining long dark strands of hair dragging over her thighs.
    This was going to be over fast. Gwen’s pulse pounded in her temples as she rolled over onto her belly and shoved her other hand down between her legs. With Lucas’s voice still murmuring and groaning in her ears, she started riding her fingers, slowly at first, pushing the first two in while she stroked her clit with her other hand.
    She imagined straddling him, pinning his hands to the bed while she fucked him, stripping away his cocky bluster to reveal the wide-eyed man who got so aroused by her pushing him off her lap and twisting his arm. She wondered if he knew, if he’d tapped that potential to give over control. God, the very thought—she wanted to give him orders, to overpower him, to see him fall apart underneath her. Gwen’s hands were drenched as she pushed three fingers in, still not enough, still not Lucas, overwhelmed and compliant beneath her.
    When she came, she buried her face in her pillow to muffle the cries. Gwen thrust and writhed against her hands, curling the fingers inside her to send the pleasure spinning out of control throughout her body. Finally she went limp and drew her hands back up, wiping them on the sheets. She was too tired for more and the hot water of the shower and the sheer relief of physical release combined into a potent sleeping potion, one that had her asleep before she could even turn onto her side.
    When her alarm went off the next morning, she opened her eyes and groaned. She crawled out of bed and pulled on her robe. The thought of facing Lucas after last night made her quiver inside. She wanted him; she’d demonstrated that to a room full of people. Even if the entire affair turned awkward and weird, it might still be worth it. She opened her door and stepped into the living area.
    The door to the other bedroom was open. Lucas wasn’t there. His bed hadn’t been slept in at all.
Shit.
She scrambled for her phone, dialing Craig’s number. After three rings, he answered.
    â€œCraig, you were supposed to get everyone back last night. What happened to Lucas?”
    â€œHe’s not with you?”
    â€œNo.”
    Craig yawned loudly and Gwen could hear an alarm go off in his room before someone smacked it. “He’s probably still with Maggie. He went to her room when we came back.”
    Gwen felt a sudden sick lurch of her insides. “Oh right. Do me a favor, make sure, yeah? I don’t want to have to tell my sister I lost her biggest star.” She hung up and tried not to think about what else she might have lost.
    ***
    Craig confirmed that Lucas had spent the night with Maggie. He didn’t confirm if there was a third there, and Gwen didn’t ask. Rather than risk running into him doing a walk of shame, Gwen decided to have a real breakfast, with real coffee. With all the equipment already set up from the night before, she didn’t have much to do before sound check. May as well take advantage of it while she could. She ran into Cathy at the elevator.
    â€œHey, Gwen!” No one should be that cheerful so early in the morning. “I was about to go for a run. You wanna go with me?”
    A run would burn off some of this unpleasantness in her head, but she didn’t want to go back to the suite to change clothes. “I was thinking breakfast instead. I hear the café across the street has actual coffee.”
    â€œGet thee behind me, Satan.” Cathy laughed. “How’s the food?”
    â€œI don’t know, probably greasy and delightful.”
    The elevator dinged. “Okay, but we’ll still tell Craig I went running.”
    â€œMy lips are sealed.” The floors blinked past, and Gwen