by C. Morgan
He grinned. “You didn’t ask. I offered. Come on inside. I need to set the alarm. Then we’ll hop in my truck.”
I should’ve been more annoyed that my car wouldn’t start. But the idea of spending more time with Tyler made me smile. He was smoking hot. And his compliment earlier seemed genuine. Genuine enough that he wasn’t trying to touch my ass while he presented the compliment to me.
I’d grown accustomed to that kind of attention. Men trying to grope for my curves while feeding me compliments to get me in bed. I’d gotten used to ignoring them, too. Brushing them off and focusing on my son, rather than their wandering hands.
But with Tyler? It was different. I got reminded very quickly that my systems were still fully functioning. And that my hormones were practically screaming at me for release.
I opened my door and followed him back inside. My eyes slid over his body as he had his back turned to me. My thoughts swirled. I suddenly wanted to know what he looked like underneath his red polo shirt and khaki pants.
“Melody?”
“Hmm? Yes?”
Tyler smiled. “Just wait in the back room for me. Once I’m done, I’ll come back there, set the alarm, and we can be on our way.”
“Fair enough. Anything you want me to do while I’m back there?”
“Take a load off and rest.”
I watched him disappear through another door. I made my way into the back room and sat down at the computer, rolling the comfy chair away. I glanced around the room. I sighed and closed my eyes. It felt good to stop. To rest. To just exist for once in my life.
“All right,” he said. “Just need to set the alarms and we’re all good to go.”
My eyes opened at the sound of his voice. I rolled back to the computer to get out of his way. But then I felt him approach me from behind. I looked up and saw him grinning down at me. Then, he pointed to the mouse next to my hand.
“I need to access the computer for a second,” he said.
I nodded silently, trying to scoot myself out of the way. He bent down toward me, maneuvering his face so his cheek almost rested against mine. I looked over at the wall that pinned me against him. A wall I couldn’t simply barrel through in order to get farther away from the computer.
“Sorry for the intrusion. Just one more second.”
My eyes fluttered closed. The smell of his cologne filled my nostrils. I felt my breath coming in short spurts as I tried keeping my blushing at bay. It was no use, though. I felt it creeping down the nape of my neck. I drew in a shuddered breath, wondering if he knew how much I was struggling.
Something about this man pushed all my buttons. And I wanted to explore him to figure out why.
“All right. Good to go.”
My eyes opened, and Tyler moved away. I felt myself spinning around before his hand came into view, offering me a hand out of the chair. I took it, feeling him pull me upright. And as I took a step forward, my foot got caught against one of the wheels of the chair.
“Shit!” I exclaimed.
I tumbled into him. I felt him catch me with his strong arms. I clung to his shirt, trying not to fall as he steadied me against his body. My eyes whipped up, wide and filled with embarrassment. But his grip didn’t release me.
If anything, it tightened the more I straightened up.
“You okay?” Tyler asked.
I nodded. “Yeah, yeah. I just got my foot caught up. I guess.”
“Ready to go?”
And as I opened my mouth to speak, nothing came out.
Before I knew it, Tyler’s mouth was against mine, capturing my lips as his tongue requested access into my mouth. My eyes widened. His arms cloaked my back. I didn’t push him away.
Instead, I snaked my arms around his neck.
My tongue found his, and they did battle. I moaned down the back of his throat. I felt his cock growing against me, proclaiming his want for my body. This felt good, being wanted by a man. Being wanted by a man after so many years of being alone.
Tyler let out a growl of satisfaction. His tongue slid across the roof of my mouth. He kissed me with such skill that my knees physically grew weak, collapsing me further into his strong form.
His hands wandered. His arms fell into the dip of my waist. He kissed down my neck, making me gasp as his teeth raked along my pulse point. I pulled his shirt out from behind his belt. His fingertips made quick work of my jeans. His lips traveled farther south as he slid my pants down my body, helping me step out of them.
Then, like lightning, he whipped me around, causing me to fall against him once more.
Then his ass fell into the chair I’d just been occupying.
Chapter 7
Tyler
Holy fuck, she tasted like sunshine. Her tongue felt like velvet against my cheeks. I pulled her into the chair, feeling her damp panties sink against my cock. My hands fell to her ass cheeks. I massaged them. Spread them. Spanked them just to listen to their sound. And when she yipped, my heart slammed against my chest.
I adored every sound she had for me.
I started to pull my cock out, but her hand wrapped around my wrist and stopped me. She placed my hand back against her hip. But I sure as hell wasn’t giving my command over to her.
I leaned up from the chair and raked my teeth over her lower lip. She whimpered for me, grinding against my pelvis as a grin spread across my face.
Then, I fisted her braid and pulled her head back.
“Tyler,” she gasped.
I kissed down her gorgeous skin. I finished pulling my cock out. I slid her panties off to the side, and her womanly scent filled my nostrils. My eyes widened. Blood rushed through my ears. I bit into the swell of her clothed breasts, feeling her succumb to me again. I ached for her. My cock wept to be inside her. She rocked against my girth as I pulled her closer, wrapping my free hand around her waist.
When her pussy swallowed me whole, I grunted.
“Shit.”
Her lips fell back to mine, and I released her hair. I fisted her hips, holding her to me as I swiveled. She whimpered softly against my lips. I swallowed her moans as my pelvis massaged her clit. Her pussy jumped around me, massaging my girth as her tight walls expanded for me. Opened up for me. Like the good girl she was.
I pounded into her body. Her juices soaked my clothes. She breathed the air I afforded her before her face fell into the crook of my neck. She clung to me. Her thighs quaked against my own. As the chair bashed into the desk behind us, I kissed every part of her skin my mouth found.
I couldn’t get enough of her.
“Tyler. Please. Holy shit.”
“I’ve got you. Come for me, Melody.”
“Tyler.”
“Fucking hell.”
“Tyler, faster!”
“Harder, and you’ve got it.”
Her body felt unlike any other woman I’d had against me. Her sounds made me feel alive. I felt the cracks of my heart fill with every droplet of arousal that poured down my balls. Melody was one of a kind. The shape of her. The feel of her. The noises she made. The way my name fell from her lips.
The love I already had filling my heart for this woman caught me by surprise.
But I didn’t push it away.
“Tyler! Yes!”
“That’s it. Come for me, Mel. Do it.”
“Oh—Ty—you—I—”
Her body locked out, falling against mine as her pussy quivered. My cock pulsed before it exploded within her. My eyes rolled back. My toes curled in my fucking shoes. Her pussy clamped against me so tightly, she pulled me deeper into her wondrous body. She fell against me, shaking violently from the massive climax my cock had wrung from her.
I struggled to catch my breath because of the pleasure she had afforded me.
She panted against my shoulder. I held her as I sat there, her body still straddling me. I didn’t want to let her go. Especially since I only had her for a few hours a week. My heart pounded with delight. It felt like home, being she
athed within her.
It was a feeling I didn’t want to give up.
“You know, you still need to give me a ride of another kind?”
I chuckled. “That means we should get dressed.”
“That sounds terrible, though.”
I sighed. “I know it does.”
I kissed the side of her head, then relinquished her to the room. She smiled sheepishly as she worked her panties over her pussy. And the only thing I wanted more than her on my lap was my mouth against those lower lips. The two of us got dressed, and I finished setting the alarm for the store.
Then, I escorted her to my truck.
I had to help her in because her legs were still shaky. That pulled a proud grin across my face. As she talked to me on the way to her apartment complex, though, it brought reality crashing back. It reminded me of just how little she really had.
A single mother with a small child. Her life was already complicated enough without money worries on top of that.
I could help her pay some bills. Get her in a better place.
Hell, even if she worked part time at my shop for the pay I offered my other two employees, she could afford something better than this.
“Right here,” Melody said. “This is the building.”
I pulled into a parking space and heard music thumping in the distance somewhere. I knew I could pull her away from this nonsense. Put her in a safer neighborhood for her and her son. Get him into a better school system. Provide a better education. Probably better meals, since she probably survived off charity pantries.
Possibly food stamps.
A relationship won’t come easily, though. If she’s even interested.
“You want me to walk you up?” I asked.
I peered up at the guys hanging off the balcony on the second floor. Drinking, laughing, and smoking God knew what.
“No, I’ll be fine,” she said. “They’re harmless, believe it or not.”
“You sure about that?”
“Positive. I’ll talk with you Monday.”
“Maybe I better come—”
“Tyler. I promise, it’s okay.”
I looked over at her and saw the worry in her blue eyes. I saw that wall going back up. The one she’d let down long enough for me to pleasure her body. I didn’t want her throwing that damn thing back up all the way. So, I backed off. As much as I wanted to march up there and tell those assholes they weren’t the only people living in the building, I stopped myself.
“I’ll talk with you Monday, then,” I said.
She slid out of my truck, and I watched her walk up, floor by floor, before she leaned over and waved at me. She passed by those boys, and I saw them look her up and down. I saw them staring at her ass. And it boiled something within me.
By the time this month is over, she’ll be mine.
By the time this month ended, I’d show her I was the right man for her. That I could give her what she wanted. What she needed. Protect her, as well as her son. I had no fucking clue what it was about this woman. What she did to me or how she’d crawled underneath my skin. But I wasn’t willing to let her go. Not without a fight.
Not before showing her how good we could be together.
Chapter 8
Melody
“You need a ride home?” Amy asked.
“I’d love one, actually,” I said, sighing.
“Any idea what you’re going to do about your car yet?”
“I can’t even keep up with my bills. I’ve got no clue what I’m going to do about my car right now.”
“Come on. I’ll wait for you outside. Once you’re done cleaning up, come find me.”
I wrapped up my breakfast shift, thankful that I’d been called in. I hated not spending my Sunday morning with my kiddo, but I had bills to pay and a car to replace somehow.
I clocked out and found my best friend, Amy, leaning against her car. And on the ride home, things were mostly silent.
“So, I kind of have a second job,” I said.
Amy paused. “How in the world are you figuring all that out with your car?”
“Well, it was kind of something I figured out before my car died.”
“What’s the second job? How’s Austin adjusting?”
“It’s only ten or so hours a week. And only for the next month or so.”
“Ah, temporary holiday work or something?”
I paused. “More like hourly work to pay off Austin’s birthday present.”
“Uh, what?”
“You remember that truck I was telling you about? The one Austin wanted for his birthday?”
“Yeah?”
“The damn thing was five hundred bucks.”
“Five hundred? Are you kidding? For a kid’s toy?”
“Yeah, no. I’m not kidding. At all. But the owner of the shop, Tyler James, cut me a nice deal. I got to take the truck home with us for his birthday, and I’m working ten hours a week for four weeks in his shop to pay it off.”
“Are you sure he doesn’t want something more than just your labor?”
I paused. “What do you mean?”
Amy shook her head. “Come on. I know you’ve been out of the ‘man game’ for a while. But you’re not stupid. You mean to tell me this random man has done something nice for you simply out of the goodness of his heart?”
“Why else would he have done it?”
“To get in your pants, maybe?”
I scoffed. “No. Nothing like that.”
But it forced our encounter to the front of my mind. Saturday night. In his back room.
Tyler wasn’t like that, right?
“What are you hiding from me?” Amy asked.
“I’m not hiding anything,” I said. “Just told you about a new development in my life.”
“You’re hiding something. What is it?”
“What?”
“I see the worry in your face. He’s already done something, hasn’t he?”
“No, nothing like that, Amy.”
“Melody.”
“What?”
She gasped. “He’s made a move on you, hasn’t he?”
“Just—can we drop this, please?” I asked.
“You didn’t.”
“Didn’t what?”
She stopped at a red light. “You’ve already slept with the man?!”
I rolled my eyes. “Forget I ever said anything.”
“You’ve got to be careful, Melody. He’s preying on you. This isn’t good. How long have you been working for him?”
When I didn’t answer, she shook her head.
“Sometimes, people, especially men, don’t show you who they really are right away. Just be careful. If it’s a bit of fun, then so be it. Lord knows you deserve it. But if it’s not just fun? You need to tread lightly. Because men never offer a woman something like this without expecting something in return.”
The rest of the drive home, I was in a daze. I didn’t want to believe Tyler had offered me this deal just to sleep with me. Then again, it wasn’t the first time it had happened in my life. A particular memory that came to mind was a frat party I attended in college, where a handsome boy came up to me and complimented me. He tucked my hair behind my ear and told me he’d been staring at me all evening and how he had to come over and get to know me.
Complimenting me right out of my clothes. Telling me I was the love of his life. Telling me he’d stay with me, at my side, no matter what. That we had a connection. A bond unlike any other. That he’d prove it to me. Show me the kind of man he was.
Before abandoning me and changing my life nine months later.
I stood at my front door. Tears brewed behind my eyes as I drew in a deep breath. I’d never regretted having my son and I never would. But I did regret the fact that he didn’t have a father in his life.
I sighed as I headed into my apartment. I found Miss Patty running her fingers through my son’s hair as he slept with his head on her thigh. I looked around the room,
taking in what they had done. More playing with his truck. Coloring pictures. Glitter bombs I’d have to vacuum out of the carpet.
“We had a good morning after he woke up,” Miss Patty whispered.
I smiled. “Good. I’m glad. Here, I’ve got some money for you.”
“Don’t you dare. I know you need the help.”
I pulled out the smallest of wads of cash. “I know it’s not much, but it’s something. Please. You’re doing me a massive favor with all this extra babysitting. Take it.”
“You keep it. Get yourself in a reliable vehicle. You can do that for me.”
“I want to pay you back.”
“Pay me back by raising this boy right. That’s all I ask.”
Her words brought more tears to my eyes. I didn’t know how the hell I lucked out in having a neighbor like her. A woman I could rely on outside of Austin’s regular daycare provider. But I’d never take advantage of her. I’d always make sure she was happy with our arrangement.
Would Tyler do all of that for me?
“Everything all right?” Miss Patty asked.
I shrugged. “Just a guy.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah.”
“What kind of guy?”
“The kind I think I need to stay away from.”
She giggled. “And why’s that?”
“I don’t know.”
“You must know something if you’re all out of sorts over him.”
“I just—how do you know, you know? If they’re using you for a good time or serious? And if I can involve my son or not? This is new for me. Completely new. And I don’t know.”
She smiled brightly. “Let me tell you, guys have it too easy if they can have the option of being spooked by a cute little four-year-old boy.”
“Any advice?”
“You can do what I did with my son when I met my husband. Make him part of things from the start. Let the man know you’re not interested in a good time, but a good partner. And show him the dynamic he’s walking into with you and your son. Be honest up front with how your life works. The time you have for him. If he wants to integrate himself into that, he’ll find a way.”