Chasing Love (Love Collection)

by Natalie Ann

  But tonight, she wanted Troy to do whatever he wanted to her. She wanted to just lie there and absorb all those feelings knowing she was going to remember them forever.

  That everything she’d been dreaming about and fantasizing over was finally going to come true.

  He pushed the door open to her bedroom with his toe and then brought her right to the foot of her bed and set her on her feet.

  She sat to take her boots off, but he knelt down and unzipped them himself and pulled them off one by one. Then he reached for her hand and tugged her back up, brought her into his arms and just kissed her.

  There was no rush in this kiss. No urgency. Nothing more than his lips on hers letting her know they had all night for this.

  That one time wouldn’t be enough. That maybe he’d been waiting for this as long as she had been.

  Somewhere lost in the kiss that seemed to be going on for minutes, she felt his hands on the bare skin of her waist, then gliding up her ribs and lifting her sweater over her head and tossing it away.

  “Now this is a surprise,” he said.

  His eyes were staring at the nude lace bra that did very little to cover her chest. She’d never been large chested, but she liked her size B cups just fine because they were perky enough to not even need a bra half the time.

  Tonight she’d put on one that was little more than two strips of lace covering her and offering no support or coverage because she didn’t need it. What she needed was something sexy to turn a man on.

  “Why is it a surprise?” she asked, her voice sounding hoarse to her own ears.

  “Because I expected something bright or bold. Red, maybe to match your hair.”

  “Sometimes the understated sexy is more effective.”

  “If you reached your hand down you’d know that statement is one hundred percent true.”

  He said she could, and she’d been dying to, so she did exactly that. Placed her hand on the bulge inside of his jeans. “Mmm. Then you’re going to love what’s under the skirt.”

  “Ah hell,” he said, dropping his forehead to hers. “I wanted to go slow and you’re making that hard.”

  “Seeing what each of us has on under our clothes shouldn’t determine speed,” she said.

  But she knew it was a lie when she said it. Right now she wanted to rip every article of clothing off of him and put her hands and mouth over each groove and curve she could.

  “We’ll see about that,” he said. His hands went to the zipper on her skirt and lowered it, dropping it to the ground, exposing the matching thong she had under it. “How were you not cold outside?”

  “Because you were heating me up,” she said. The thong covered about as much as her bra and left nothing to the imagination. “Now let me see what you’ve got going on under those clothes.”

  He took a step back, which surprised her. She thought maybe he’d push her hands aside and tell her later, but he was allowing her to do what she wanted. He wasn’t trying to control everything tonight and she liked that about him.

  That it was about both of them participating equally.

  Her hands went to the buttons on his shirt and quickly undid them, then sent his shirt off his shoulders. The plain white cotton shirt he had under it went flying just as fast. Then her hands had to glide up and down his bare chest. They just had to.

  “Brian wasn’t kidding when he said there was no hair on your chest.”

  “Is that a problem?” he asked.

  “Does it look like I’ve got a problem with it?” she asked seconds before her mouth started to lick around the muscles like she’d been dreaming of. She figured he was built, but never like this. Wow, who would have known the body he had.

  His groan was answer enough for her, so she just continued to touch and taste while he stood there and let her have her way, his fingertips lightly moving over her shoulders and down her back, sending shivers over all parts of her body. The contrast of heat and chills was pretty erotic.

  Not that she thought she’d grow tired of his chest, but there were other parts of his body she wanted to see, so she attacked the button on his jeans and pushed them down to the ground while he toed his shoes off and kicked them away.

  “I’m so glad you aren’t a brief type of guy.”

  He laughed. “You’re not into tighty whities?”

  “No. Boxer briefs are more my style.”

  “Glad that I happened to be wearing your style then,” he said.

  They were hugging his body, making his package stand out even more. She just couldn’t wait any longer and slid her hands in and gripped him.

  “Oh, you’re so hot,” she said. The heat of his body was almost burning her hand.

  “You’re the first to say so,” he said and there was humor in his voice.

  “Not what I meant, but it applies too. Any woman who didn’t think so, it’s her loss and my gain.”

  “I like your thinking.” His hands went to the back of her bra and unhooked it, then slid it off. Not that her nipples had been hidden from his view because the lace was unlined, letting him see everything going on with her body.

  This time though he did nudge her onto the bed, then came down on top of her. Not to kiss her mouth, but to kiss every other part of her body he could.

  He started at her breasts like she was hoping for. He didn’t lightly pull her nipple into his mouth. Didn’t even swirl his tongue around. No, he was trying to put as much of her in his mouth as possible, his hands squeezing and kneading and letting her know he was starving and she was going to be the meal he really wanted tonight.

  “Troy?” she said her back arching.

  “Shh,” he said, “just let me have my moment.”

  She stopped talking because she didn’t have much of a choice. Between his mouth on her breasts, his other hand flicking her other nipple and his hips grinding into hers on the bed, she felt like she was in high school again afraid to have sex but knowing she wanted to fool around. That foreplay was almost more enjoyable and an absolute necessity.

  Only this time she was an adult and knew what sex was about and she was sick of waiting for it. Waiting for him when he was in her room, barely dressed, and making her feel so good.

  “Your moment is up. I want to feel you inside of me right now.”

  He didn’t argue with her. He didn’t do much more than ease back and slide off his underwear, then find a condom in his wallet and quickly slip it on while she got to admire his body.

  Then she inched up further on the bed while shimmying out of her thong. His body covering hers, his mouth on hers, he slowly slid inside like the homecoming they’d both been dying for. Both been waiting for most of their lives.

  His hands went to hers and threaded their fingers together, pushing them up over her head and holding her while he moved in and out. While he stroked her and held her.

  While his body moved in the same rhythm as hers.

  While he made her start to tense and rise up, then hold her breath, and shout out a swear word when she went tumbling down the hill he carried her to.

  While Troy Walker made love to her.

  Our Little World

  The next morning, Troy found himself propped up on his elbow staring down at Meena sound asleep on her side.

  Her hair was still up in the front and loose in the back, but this time it wasn’t styled so nicely. Neither of them did much more than fall into an exhausted sleep after the third time they’d rolled around on her bed.

  He should feel guilty right now that he spent the night with her.

  Well, not guilty that he did it—that he made love with her—but that they were keeping it from Brian.

  The problem was, he didn’t know what to say to his best friend. He’d thought it would be better this way and now he imagined it was probably going to be worse.

  If Brian wasn’t happy, it’s not like Troy could just back away. He wouldn’t. He couldn’t.

  He couldn’t have backed away before they made lov
e last night. But now he definitely couldn’t after having a taste of Meena. After knowing that it wasn’t just sex that made them compatible with each other.

  He’d been missing this so much in his life, wondering if he’d ever find it. Now he knew he wasn’t meant to find it with anyone else because it’d been right in front of his face all along.

  He took his thumb and traced her cheek with it, then her jaw.

  Her eyes fluttered open, then her smile filled her face. “Morning,” she said.

  “Good morning,” he said back. “Any regrets?”

  “It’s a little late for that question now.”

  “But you still didn’t answer it,” he said.

  She moved quickly, her naked body covering his and pushing him onto his back, her hips pressing into his. “Is that answer enough?”

  “It is.”

  Rather than reach for a condom, he just held her. He just let his hands roam up and down her back, caressing her more than anything. Making sure this was real.

  “What are you thinking?” she asked.

  “Not much.”

  “Liar,” she said, placing a kiss on his lips and moving them to his ear now. “I know you too well.”

  He sighed. “I’m worried about what to tell Brian.”

  She rolled off of him. “What a great way to ruin my mood.” She sat up and pulled the sheet with her. “There’s time yet to worry about it. Can’t we just live in our little world by ourselves for a bit?”

  “We can. The thing is, I’ve never lied to your brother before.”

  “I’m not telling you to now either. What are the chances of him even asking if we are seeing each other? Honestly.”

  “Slim to none.”

  “Exactly. That isn’t lying. If he asks you, then fine. Tell him and forewarn me you did. I’ll do the same. But I’m telling you right now: there is no way Brian could even guess. It’s not even on his radar.”

  Meena was right when a week had gone by and he’d talked to Brian here and there. Nothing out of the ordinary for them. Meena’s name hadn’t come up once and there was no way Troy was going to bring it up.

  But when a second week went by and Brian stopped over one night after work, Troy was thrilled it was a night Meena was working late; otherwise, she might have been at the house. There was no way he wanted Brian catching them in the act.

  “Hey, what have you been up to?” Brian asked when he walked in the door, reminding Troy that Brian always did that. He never knocked; he had a key. Good grief, if Meena was in his room, or worse yet, if they were together in there naked...that could have been a nightmare. This was turning into all sorts of crazy guilty scenarios.

  “Not much. Just work. What about you?” That wasn’t really lying, was it? He had been busy with work.

  “The same. I’ve got a date on Friday.”

  “That’s great. With who?” Brian asked. It was normal to tell each other when they had a date. It just seemed Troy didn’t have them often, so at least Brian wouldn’t think much of it if Troy didn’t say that lately.

  “Someone I met on a case.”

  “You’re going to go on a date with a client? Isn’t there some ethical thing with that?” Troy asked. Damn, there was the guilt again.

  “It’s not with my client but his sister. I just settled a case for him and I’d met his sister after he took me out for a celebratory drink.”

  “That’s nice.” God, please don’t let Brian bring up his sister.

  “She’s got a friend. She wants to go on a double date. Says she’d feel safer that way. Since I know you haven’t gotten any action lately and probably don’t have plans, I told her I had just the man for her friend.”

  Shit. “Ah, I can’t. I’ve got plans.”

  “Really? What? Are you going to work? It’s four days away. Give me a break. You’ve got plenty of time to get work done,” Brian said laughing. “Come on, Troy. All you do is work and sit around the house now. Sabrina did one hell of a number on you and it’s time to get back on the horse.”

  “I don’t know. I’ll let you know in a day or so.”

  “Sweet. I’ll tell her it’s a date,” Brian said, helping himself to a beer.

  “I said I’d let you know,” Troy reminded him. This was getting complicated. He wanted to just tell him about Meena but had no clue how to go about it.

  By the time Brian had a second beer and left two hours later, Troy still hadn’t been able to tell him and it was late enough he figured Meena would be in bed so he couldn’t even call her.

  He was being a coward, he knew it, but now he backed himself into a corner as if a starving lion was waving sharp nails in his face.

  ***

  “Hey, Brian. What are you doing here?” Meena asked.

  “I need a haircut. Do you have time for me?”

  “I can squeeze you in,” she said. “What’s the big rush? You always give me some notice when you need a cut rather than just stopping in.”

  “I’ve got a date in a few days and had a short window between clients and thought I’d take a risk and come on over.”

  “Then let’s get your hair cut so you can get back to work. What else have you been up to lately?” she asked, hoping to get him talking. She was annoyed that Troy still didn’t want to say anything to Brian about their relationship. At least he hadn’t brought it up lately.

  And in her eyes, that was exactly what it was. A relationship.

  They’d been dating for a few weeks now. They’d spent several nights together. Him teaching her how to cook. Her trying to get him out of the house and experiencing something new now and again.

  She couldn’t remember ever having such a connection with someone before and she was just dying to tell the world about it.

  Instead it had to be this secret with her family, making her feel almost ashamed of her behavior. She’d spent too much of her life feeling ashamed of her actions and thought she was past that now. She thought wrong.

  “Not much. Just spending a lot of time working. I haven’t even seen Troy in a few weeks. We’ve just talked a few times here and there. I stopped over to see him on Monday night though.”

  “Oh,” Meena said, pulling her clippers out and starting once she put the smock on over Brian’s shoulders. Troy had never said a word to her about that when he talked to her on Tuesday.

  “Yeah. I stopped over and tried to convince him to go on a double date with me on Friday.”

  The clippers zipped a bigger lock of hair than she intended, but not enough that she couldn’t fix it. “What did he say?” she asked as straight faced and disinterested as she could.

  “He said he’d get back to me.”

  “Oh really.” She felt her blood boiling right now and if Brian wasn’t in her chair and she didn’t have the means to scalp him with the slightest misstep, she’d be marching back to her office right now and calling Troy. Is that why Troy hadn’t said anything about Brian’s visit yet? Because he was hoping to get some action on the side? She’d scalp him next!

  “Yeah. I think he’s avoiding me though. He hasn’t confirmed, but I thought he sounded interested. I’ll pin him down when I leave here.”

  “You do that,” Meena said, grinding her teeth. And see if there was anything left of Troy to pin down when she was done with him.

  Betray Her

  The minute Brian was out of Pulse, Meena stormed back to her office and grabbed her jacket. She was almost out the door when her next client walked in. Crap!

  She took a few deep breaths, put a smile on her face and said, “I was just coming out to greet you in the parking lot.”

  Darlene laughed. “That’s sweet. I don’t believe you, but it’s still sweet.”

  “Come on back,” Meena said, preparing her speech in her head while she spent the next two hours touching up Darlene’s roots.

  This time, the minute she was done, she made sure she had no one else on her schedule and stormed out.

  She was still trying to f
igure out what to say when she saw Troy, but right now she was just praying he was in his office. She didn’t even think to see if his truck was in the parking lot.

  “Can I help you?” the receptionist asked.

  “Is Troy in?”

  “Do you have an appointment?”

  She didn’t want to take her mood out on the receptionist as much as she just wanted to march by her. “No, but if you tell him Meena is here, I’m sure he’d make time to see me.” She hoped that sounded sweet and endearing. She was trying but wasn’t sure she could pull it off in her current mood.

  “Just a minute.”

  Meena waited less than a minute, trying to gather some composure, but it was no use. When she was this angry—this worked up—she had very little control over what came out of her mouth. She was like a leaky faucet that you tried to tighten the handle only to have it break off in your hand as the water came gushing out.

  “Hey, Meena,” Troy said, opening a door. “This is a surprise.”

  “I just bet it is,” she said, her lips tight.

  “Is there a problem?” he asked.

  “Can we go to your office?”

  “Follow me,” he said, putting his hand on her lower back. It took everything she had not to twist it off of her and was ticked off even more her body was betraying her and wanting to lean into his touch like a stray kitten for a gentle rub between the ears.

  The minute they were behind his closed door, she whirled around and put her hands on her hips, all but growling the words, “So you’re going on a date Friday night?”

  “What?” he asked, his face paling fast.

  “I caught you. Admit it. Don’t lie to me. I can tell by your ghostly complexion that you were going to cheat on me. I should have known better. My whole life I was looked at as the party girl that was good enough for a quick lay but not good enough to bring home to their mother.” Tears were welling in her eyes. “I thought you would be different.”

  Why did this have to hurt so much? How could Troy betray her this way?

  She turned to leave. She couldn’t stand here and look at him right now. She shouldn’t have come.