Ripple Effect (Effect 1)

My insides were jumping with anticipation. I was going to have sex with Adam tonight, and he seemed like he maybe wanted more. I wanted more, too. Just how much more I wanted was still a mystery to me. I needed to keep my heart in check because this dangerous game I was playing would get me hurt if I didn’t keep it all in perspective.

In the end, I was just a Pleasure Buddy.

Pleasure Buddy—that’s it.

Nothing more.

The moment Ainsley let me into her apartment, I wanted to strip her down and taste every inch of her. Her long chestnut hair was thrown on top of her head. My cock ached for her.

From the kitchen, Nora’s sister, Emilyn, called, “Hey, man friend. You came to dinner. I could tell you wanted spaghetti.”

Man friend. I didn’t know whether to curse the name or not.

When that shithead at the grocery store, Joel, had tried to ask Ainsley out, I’d wanted man friend to mean a hell of a lot more than it did. My unexpected thoughts and behavior had shocked the hell out of me. After leaving the grocery store, I had driven back to the club where Brandt had basically kicked me out for my attitude.

His words echoed through my head. Adam, go find Ainsley. Who gives a shit where you two sleep together? Get over your own fucking rules, and just enjoy each other. You’re not promising forever by having sex with her outside of these walls.

Holding out my peace offering of garlic bread, I said, “I did, if it’s still okay. I brought you some garlic bread. A little birdie told me that you might not have any.”

Emilyn came bounding up to me. “You brought garlic bread? Ainsley and I forgot to make it. Will you be my man friend, too?”

Ainsley started coughing, and I wanted to laugh. There was no telling where Ainsley had come up with the term, and each time it had been said, a slight blush would appear on her cheeks.

“How about we become good friends? That’s a step above man friend.”

The little energetic girl gave me a hug. “I like that a lot.” She pulled away and started bouncing.

Where do kids get all this energy from?

“Will you stay for the movie, too, Adam? I want you to stay. We’re watching The Last Unicorn. Ainsley and I need someone to sing Prince Lir’s parts.”

I looked toward Ainsley to bail me out of the situation I had somehow gotten myself into. Ainsley gave me a sweet smile in return.

Oh, I’m going to get her back.

I crouched down to Emilyn’s level and touched her nose. “I think I will stay for the movie. I’ll have to watch it this time, so I can sing next time. Sound good?”

Emilyn started clapping. “Yes! Yes! Yes! It’s my favorite. You’re going to love Prince Lir.”

“I bet I will.”

I stood up and walked from the living room toward the kitchen. I went over to where Ainsley was standing while she’d watched the exchange. She was barely containing her amusement. On purpose, I invaded her space. I liked how her body responded to my proximity. Her pale blue eyes were searching mine. This was brand-new territory for me. It still didn’t mean we are going to have anything more, but why should we limit ourselves? Brandt had a point. Ainsley seemed like she could keep the boundaries up in her mind. We both might as well enjoy it as much as possible while this lasted.

“It smells delicious. What can I do to help?” I asked.

Being this close to her, I could smell her perfume, and blood rushed to the muscle I wouldn’t be able to exercise for a bit. As she stood up on her tiptoes in her short shorts, I knew I was going to take her while she bent over something this evening. Her body was perfectly toned. I had to adjust myself as my dick pressed against my zipper. This would be a long evening of waiting for Emilyn’s mom to get off work.

Emilyn called out, “Ainsley, I’m going to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”

Ainsley opened up a cabinet door. I ran my hand up her leg, and she gasped.

“Adam, Emilyn is here.”

The door to the bathroom closed.

“Shh…I’m listening. I need to feel you.”

I slipped my finger inside her, and she leaned against the counter. There wasn’t a lot of room, but I was still able to get soft little moans of pleasure from her, even with her shorts on.

She spread her legs wider and involuntarily sighed. “Oh, Adam.”

The bathroom door opened, and I withdrew my hand and brought Ainsley back to a standing position.

“Tonight, I’m going to take you over the back of your couch. We’re going to go at it like animals.”

Her body shivered at my words. Just above a whisper, she said, “Please.”

Emilyn walked back into the room. “Are we ready to eat?”

Ainsley took a deep breath and turned toward Emilyn. Ainsley appeared unaffected, except for the slightly fast rise of her chest. “Yes. Adam was just about to get the glasses down. I’ll take the noodles off the stove and drain them.”

The opened cabinet door showed the location of the glasses. I pulled three down. Ainsley and I gave each other a knowing smile as she drained the noodles. Fire burned in her eyes, and I was going to stoke that fire every chance I got tonight.

I definitely made the right decision to come over here. Here’s to hoping she accepts my new proposal.

We sat on the couch with Emilyn between us. She had insisted that she be in the middle. Ainsley had giggled at my failed attempts to put her in the middle. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her while she and Emilyn sang along to this white unicorn movie.

Ainsley is enchanting.

It was obvious the girls had watched this hundreds of times with how they would keep saying the lines out loud. Throughout the entire movie, the heat between Ainsley and I kept building whenever we glanced toward each other. Each time our eyes made contact, images of her bent over this couch would flash through my mind.

I imagined being inside her again and mouthed to her, I can’t wait to fuck you.

Her face reddened, and she glanced down at the otherwise engaged Emilyn.

Looking at me again, she mouthed back, Me either.

That did it. I was officially at a raging hard-on state during this movie.

Prince Lir needs to get on with it and stop pussyfooting around with whatever her name is.

Where the hell is Emilyn’s mom?

Emilyn was a cute girl, but right now, I felt like I was being cockblocked. I was five minutes away from giving Nora a paid night off.

Ainsley’s phone pinged. She picked it up from the edge of the brown cloth sofa.

“Hey, Squirt. Your mom finished early and will be here in twenty minutes.”

Hell yeah! My night is about to get a lot better.

“Oh, man. I wish I could stay the night.” Emilyn’s voice sounded hopeful. “Maybe we could all play a game, and then you could take me home, Ainsley.”

Shit.

Ainsley glanced at me and pressed her lips together before she reached over and started hugging Emilyn, who giggled in response to loving the attention.

“Not this time, Squirt. But we’ll plan something soon, okay?” Ainsley kept squeezing her.

Emilyn responded, “Okay.” She sounded disappointed.

There was guilt at the cute little girl’s pleading voice, but it wasn’t enough to change my plans. My dick was definitely in charge at this point.

Ainsley squeezed Emilyn harder. “Hey, turn that frown upside down. I got you all day today. Your mom will want to spend a little time with you tonight. We’ll have a girls’ night with Nora sometime soon.”

Emilyn gave Ainsley a big hug. “You’re the best.”

Ainsley was incredible with kids. I was impressed.

We finished the movie, and there was a knock on the door a few minutes later.

“That’s my mom.” Emilyn took off toward the door.

I looked around Ainsley’s apartment without being obvious for places we could have sex. The walls were sparsely decorated. Everything was minimal but comfortable.

Emilyn opened the door. “Hey, Mom. Ainsley’s man friend came over, we ate spaghetti, and then watched a movie.”

Ainsley let out a deep breath.

I mumbled to her, “It’s your fault. You’re the one who came up with it.”

She threw a pillow at me. “You were no help. Desperate times called for desperate measures.”

Emilyn let her mom into the room as I gave a low chortle.

Ainsley stood. “Hey, Nancy. Hope your dinner went well. This is my friend Adam. Adam, this is Nancy.”

I stood and crossed the room to shake Nancy’s hand.

She eyed me over and then gave me a smile. “Nice to meet you, Adam.”

“Nice to meet you also.”

Nancy looked at Ainsley. “Thank you. You’re a godsend. I’ll be in touch. Emilyn, grab your backpack so we can get home and read some more of Swiss Family Robinson.”