“Hey, Grant.” His boss, Tyler Reddington, tapped him on the shoulder, pulling him from his thoughts.
He tossed the towel he was using to wipe down the bar over his shoulder. “Yeah?”
“Geno’s wife just messaged me. His daughter had a seizure and he’s got to take off. Can you cover the rest of his dance shift?”
Derek ground his teeth together—at the news Geno was about to be dealt and at the idea of taking off his clothes for anyone other than Talia. But this was his deal, and without it, Our Friends’ House would never come to fruition.
Talia lay on her back in the middle of her bed looking at the drawing in which Derek had cleverly wrapped the flowers he’d given her. She’d spent the evening perusing romantic getaways on the internet for her mother’s birthday and imagining what it might be like to be at them with Derek. She’d finally found one for her mother, texted all her siblings and made arrangements for her mother’s gift, but her mind lingered on Derek for the rest of the night. He’d texted around eleven to say he had to work late to cover his friend’s shift—dancing. She’d felt queasy at the thought of all those women with grabby hands and willing mouths pawing at him, but then she’d looked at the drawing and knew it wouldn’t matter who wanted him, because he only wanted her. He’d drawn himself as an octopus standing behind a bar, serving drinks to big-breasted fish with puffy red lips and stars in their eyes and male sharks with sharp teeth and hungry eyes drooling over them. The octopus had a drink in each of its eight arms, a bored expression on its face, and a thought bubble over its head filled with tiny pictures of Derek and Talia. He’d drawn them kissing in her office—she loved knowing he’d hoped to do so before they actually had—lying in his bed gazing into each other’s eyes, and holding hands under the table when they’d had dinner with his friends. In each drawing he had red hearts in his eyes, except the one of him standing behind the bar. In that one, his eyes were a dull blue. The In-Between Hours was written in curly letters along the edge of the paper, running from the bottom to the top.
She pressed the drawing to her chest, missing him more than she should after only a few hours. She’d gone to walk Molly after work, and she and Fletch had talked for a long time. He seemed genuinely happy for her, but he’d cautioned her, as any good friend would, reminding her about how she thought she’d known Terrence and he thought he’d known his ex-wife. But she knew Derek was nothing like Terrence. No man could be as unselfish as Derek and as selfish as a cheater. The two just didn’t go together. She glanced at the gorgeous flowers beside her bed, thinking about the afternoon. She’d been nervous about mentioning her and Derek’s relationship to Greg Harbin because even though Derek wasn’t her student, he was a student at the school, and she didn’t want to be seen as doing anything inappropriate. But all it had taken was one look at the man who had quickly become so important to her and she’d known she couldn’t—wouldn’t—deny their relationship. After Derek had left her office, Greg had raved about his drive and determination. He’d mentioned that Derek had missed classes due to his father’s illness, but he’d not only followed up to make sure he had all the required materials to do well, but he’d also gone above and beyond with each of his assignments, often having intense conversations with Greg via email long after the assignments had been turned in for no reason other than sheer interest. She had the feeling her boyfriend was an academic at heart.
Her cell phone rang a little after one o’clock, and she felt herself smiling before she even saw Derek’s name on the screen. “Hi.”
“Hey, there.” He sounded tired. “Did I wake you?”
“No. I was just admiring a blue-eyed octopus.”
His low laugh rumbled through the phone.
“How was work?” she asked as she rolled onto her side and leaned on her elbow. “You sound tired.”
“Work was . . . work. I’d much rather have been with you.”
Butterflies fluttered in her belly, and she closed her eyes, picturing his face when she’d pulled him against her in her office, his full lips, the way he’d caressed her cheek. She could almost feel the sting on her scalp when his fingers threaded into her hair. “I wish you were here with me right now.”
“Me too, but I need to give Maria a chance to go home. You could come to my place . . .”
She rolled onto her side, hope and desire swirling inside her. “What about your dad?”
“I was thinking . . . We’d have to get up earlier than he does, because I still think seeing you in the morning might throw him off, but I’m willing to try if you are. I don’t want to wait to see you. Come over. Be with me, babe. Please?”
Her heart beat faster with every word he said.
“Take another step outside your comfort zone and we’ll add another page to your journal.”
She sat up, her pulse running rampant. “But don’t you need your sleep?” Please say no. She didn’t even know why she’d asked.
“Babe, I’ll live on thoughts of sleep if it means I can be with you. Be with me tonight, Tallie. I want you in my arms. In my bed. I want to be buried deep inside you and kiss you until you come apart and then hold you safe and close as you doze off.”
Her insides burned with desire. She wanted his mouth on her, his rough hands holding her down as he feasted and teased and took her to the moon and back.
“I will make you feel so good,” he said seductively, his voice slithering through the phone like a drug lulling her in, “that next time you won’t hesitate to accept.”
Her eyes darted around her room as if her answer were written in the walls. But there was only one place her answer lived. She put her hand over her heart and said, “Let me pack my things.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
DEREK STEPPED OUT onto the front porch as Talia pulled into the driveway, making her even more nervous. She’d never left her house in the middle of the night for sex before. But wow, look at him. He was all long hair and sultry eyes. His button-down shirt hung open, revealing planes of perfectly sculpted man.
Is this a booty call? she wondered as she stepped from her car.
Was it considered a booty call if they were in a relationship?
He strode toward her, and she couldn’t take her eyes off the treasure trail leading down the center of his body to a patch of dark hair above the waist of his low-riding jeans. There was no hiding the fact that he wasn’t wearing underwear. She grabbed her bag and practically ran into his arms, nestling against his hot, hard body like it was made just for her. He took her bag and devoured her mouth as they stumbled into the house. His skin was damp, and he smelled fresh from a shower.
“Damn, I missed you,” he whispered against her lips, obliterating her worries about booty calls altogether.
She didn’t care what this was called. She wanted to be there with him, for him, beneath him.
He took her in another toe-curling kiss, cupping her ass, lifting and pressing her against his erection. She heard a wanton sound and realized she’d made it, but there was no room for embarrassment. She didn’t know changes could happen this fast, but her heart was in this, and when he broke their connection to close and lock the front door, the look in his eyes told her his was, too.
“You know those glasses turn me on in ways they shouldn’t.” He ran his fingers along her cheek. “So sexy.”
“Shouldn’t?”
His arm swept around her waist, and he spoke directly into her ear. “They make me have cliché fantasies about my sexy professor.”
“I want to know all your fantasies.” She was shocked she’d said it, but as they headed into his bedroom, she meant every word. She wanted to know his fantasies, his hopes, his fears. She wanted to know everything there was to know about him.
His mouth came aggressively down over hers, taking her in a rough, insistent kiss. He locked the door, and his gaze turned fierce. Lord help her, because she’d thought about his dirty promises on the drive over and was already wet at the mere thought of them. She’d taken
her thoughts darker, fantasizing about all the things she wanted to do with him—to him. Things she’d never initiated before, but she couldn’t hold back from wanting with Derek. Her body was vibrating with need. She wanted his ferocity. She wanted everything he had to give.
He dropped her bag and hauled her into his arms. He pushed his hands into her hair and held on tight, his eyes boring into her.
Ah, yes. The erotic sting sent scintillating shivers slicing through her.
His mouth brushed over hers. “I missed you.” He nipped at her lower lip, tugging it like he’d done the other night. “I need your mouth, Tallie girl.”
His mouth crashed over hers, kissing her so hungrily she went up on her toes, seeking even more. He tightened his grip on her hair, and lust seared to her core. Before she could lose her nerve, she reached for the button on his jeans and tore it open, earning another greedy noise from her man. She thrust her hand beneath the denim, her fingers circling his shaft. Oh my goodness. The feel of his hardness, the thrust of his hips, made her mouth water. She’d known he was bare beneath his jeans, but discovering it like this, without hesitation or urging, made it that much more enticing.
She pried her mouth from his, feeling bolder and sexier than she ever had, and said, “I need my mouth on you.”
She backed him up to the edge of the bed, grabbed the waist of his jeans, and yanked them down. His lips quirked up, those heavenly eyes stripping her bare. She put her hand on his chest and pushed, sending her willing victim to the mattress. She dragged his jeans over his bare feet and dropped them to the floor, wrestling with the troubling thought trampling through her mind.
“Um . . . are you . . . Have you . . .”
He sat up and cradled her face in his hands. “I’m clean, babe, if that’s what you’re wondering. You?”
She nodded.
Wickedness filled his eyes, and she pushed him to the mattress again. He was so beautiful, big and broad with a slim waist and thick, powerful thighs. His chest was covered in a dusting of dark hair, and his cock eagerly awaited her on a cloud of the same. She took a moment to admire his beautiful, athletic body as he watched her with laser focus, making her feel even more naughty. She straddled his legs, still dressed, which she did for her own sake, knowing if she were naked, she’d never get to do what she so desperately wanted.
He reached up and caressed her cheek. “Hey, baby,” he said just above a whisper.
Her hair tumbled over her shoulders, brushing his chest. Heat flared in his eyes, and he shuddered beneath her. The reaction was so unexpected, so alluring, she swished her hair over his chest again. He sucked in a sharp breath between gritted teeth.
“You have no idea what you’re doing to me,” he said, and tangled his fingers in her hair.
“I have no idea what I’m doing, period. But I’ll figure it out.”
“Jesus, Talia. You’re killing me. How can you be so sexy and so innocent?”
She licked her lips, watching him as she lowered her mouth and pressed a kiss between his pecs and then across his chest, slowing to tease his nipples, earning more of those tense, male, sinful sounds. “You’ve shown me that stepping out of my comfort zone is a good thing.”
“Tallie.” He breathed her name like a secret as she continued kissing her way south, following that treasure trail.
“Let me show you just how good.”
“You don’t have to do this,” he said, playing with her hair as she kissed his abs.
She gazed down at the broad crown of his erection, wrapped her fingers around his shaft, and pressed a kiss to the tip. He moaned and tangled his fingers in her hair again. She ran her tongue over the head, and his hips bucked up. She’d never done this, not even with Terrence. Some part of her had always wondered if that was one reason he’d cheated, because their sex had been so vanilla. But he’d never asked for more, and she’d never wanted it. As she lowered her mouth over Derek’s cock, feeding the emotions stacking up inside her, she wanted to bring him as much pleasure as he’d brought her. She felt closer to Derek in the short time they’d known each other than she had to Terrence the whole time they’d dated.
She loved him with her hands and mouth, learning what he liked by the sounds he made, the way his body moved and arched with her.
He cradled her jaw in his big hand and said, “Christ, you’re amazing.”
She’d always been a stellar student and an overachiever. His praise made her want to earn more gold stars. She found her rhythm, working him faster and tighter, earning one sexy noise after another. She was trembling and so turned on, she felt like one touch might make her come. She’d never realized that doing this to him would turn her on so much. She needed much, much more, but he was breathing hard, his fingers fisted in her hair, his jaw clenched tight, and she wasn’t sure if it was okay to stop. Oh man, she should have done some research.
“Baby, baby, baby,” he said in quick succession. “You’ve got to stop.”
She released him like a hot potato. “Did I hurt you?”
“Fuck, no.”
He pulled her over him and kissed her so hard and deep, his tongue probed every dip and curve of her mouth, making her want to suck his cock again. He eased his efforts, and her body mourned the loss of it.
“You were going to make me come if you kept sucking me like that. But, baby, if you keep kissing me like that, I’m going to lose it.”
She loved knowing that and crawled backward toward the foot of the bed, slowing to lower her mouth over him again and suck the length of him to the back of her throat. She slicked her tongue from base to tip, lingering at the crown until he was shaking. Then she took him to the back of her throat again. He fisted his hands in her hair so tight, she moaned at the sting on her scalp, earning another buck of his hips. She added that little moan to her growing list of things that drove him wild, and then she did it again.
“Tallie. Stop, baby. Please? I want to be inside you.”
She slowly kissed the length of his shaft, then tasted her way down his thighs and stepped off the bed.
He watched her intently, fisting his hands in the sheets, as she whipped her sweater over her head. He whistled softly, and the sexy sound gave her an idea. Her heart hammered relentlessly as she turned her back and peered over her shoulder. She trusted him to the ends of the earth. She didn’t know if she’d ever get used to him dancing in front of other women, but she could at least send the message that she was trying. She swayed her hips in a little striptease as she wiggled out of her bottoms and bent to strip them off. He gripped her hips and sank his teeth into her ass cheek, sending shocks of lust zinging through her. He pushed a hand between her legs, teasing over her wetness, then swiftly pushed his fingers in deep as she straightened her spine.
“Derek,” she said breathlessly.
She moved up and down, fucking his long fingers, as he drove her out of her mind, licking and biting her behind. She arched and reached for his free hand, guiding it to her breast. He groped her roughly, pinching her nipple, making her sex pulse around his fingers. He grabbed her hand and guided it to her sex, using her fingers to tease her clit. She stilled, having never done this in front of a man before. She’d already crossed about a million lines she’d never dreamed of crossing.
“It’s just us, baby. Do it for me,” he urged, holding her fingers to her wetness.
She closed her eyes, nervous and excited at once, knowing she’d do anything for him. His fingers stroked over that magical spot inside her as their joined hands sent her up to the edge.
“That’s it, baby. You’re so fucking sexy. Don’t stop.”
He released her hand and brought his wet fingers to her nipple at the same time he lowered his mouth to her bottom again. The combination of sensations as he tweaked her nipple—his wet mouth, sharp teeth, probing fingers, and her own hand—worked her into a frenzy. Her insides swelled and pulsed, chasing the orgasm that teased in the periphery of her senses. When he sank his teeth into her flesh an
d squeezed her nipple, she spiraled out of control. Her hips bucked, her sex clenched, and a long, low moan streamed from her lips. He reached up with the hand that was on her breast and put his two fingers in her mouth. She closed her lips around them, sucking as hard as she’d sucked his cock. His fingers withdrew from between her legs, and she heard him tear open the condom packet. She wanted to tell him she was on the pill. The confession was on the tip of her tongue, but she’d only gone on the pill to regulate her periods. She’d never given up that piece of herself or put that much trust in any man.
Sheathed and ready, he gripped her hips and guided her down onto his cock, sitting backward on his lap. Fireworks exploded inside her as he filled her so completely she felt every blessed inch of him, and she began to move.
Love Like Ours (Sugar Lake Book 3) Page 13