House of Payne: Tag

by Stacy Gail

  “This is… I…” She groped around for the right words, and he couldn’t help but laugh. If she was going to be like this whenever he surprised her, he’d do it every damn day. “Catered? A…a catered dinner?”

  “Yeah. I’m mainly a junk food, burgers-and-fries type of guy who never thought about food for anything other than something I needed to stay alive, but these guys have me thinking differently about it after I read their menu. I ordered shit I don’t even know I’ll like, but it sounded so good I couldn’t resist. You like stuffed mushrooms, prime rib and chocolate mousse?”

  She turned to stare at him like he was speaking Russian. “Uh-huh.”

  “Then you’re definitely going to like tonight’s menu.” Smiling, he bent to kiss her one more time. “Let me get some music going on, and then it’ll be time to eat.”

  After fiddling with the remote for the great room’s built-in sound system, and then seeing the caterers to the door after everything was in place, he headed for the table and pulled out one of the new dining chairs for her. “Hope you don’t mind if I serve you tonight. Considering how our last meal here wound up, I thought four was a crowd.”

  “My man thinks of everything.”

  “No. Just you.”

  With a delighted smile, she slid into the chair and looked at the food in front of her. “It’s too beautiful to eat.”

  “If you’re going to be like that, I’m going to have to feed you.” He took the seat next to her and reached for the champagne. “It’s weird, but I’ve had more champagne since we met than I’ve had in my entire life put together.”

  She watched the pale liquid bubble in the flute in front of her. “You know I don’t need champagne to enjoy our time together, don’t you? Just being with you gets my head spinning more than any champagne ever could.”

  Christ. He had no idea what he did to be gifted this amazing woman, but he sure as hell wasn’t stupid enough to question it. “Gotta have the champagne, tiger.”

  “Why?”

  “When we’re together, every second should be celebrated. I’ve had too many days that were nothing, you know? Blank, colorless wastes of pointless time that I slogged through because I had no choice in the matter. Then I met you, and suddenly I need to celebrate every damn second because I’m actually glad I lived through my shit childhood just so I could get to where I am now. So you need to understand, whenever we’re together, champagne is required.”

  She pressed a hand to her heart while her eyes got misty. “You’re going to spoil me, you beautiful man.”

  “I can only hope I make you feel spoiled, and you’re the one who’s beautiful around here. Eat,” he added, holding up a mushroom cap to her lips. “I can’t wait to see if I like this shit.”

  She picked up a stuffed cap from the fancy rectangular tray on the table and held it up to his lips, mirroring him. “Let’s find out, honey.”

  He took the morsel in just as she did, and as the rich cheese, crab and garlic flavors burst on his tongue, all he was aware of was the delectable sight of Ivy’s lips closing over his finger. “Damn, tiger. How is it possible everything you do is off-the-charts sexy?”

  “It’s a gift.” Then she decided to nearly stop his heart by winking playfully at him. “Though actually, it’s not. You should’ve seen me when I was in high school. Even in a school full of art and tech geeks, I was a hopelessly awkward penguin.”

  He chuckled. “I can’t imagine that.”

  “Trust me, it’s true. It took me forever to learn how to walk in heels, and I almost fell off the dance floor during my senior prom.”

  “Because of your heels?”

  “Unfortunately, no. I was trying out a new dance move, kind of a mix between the electric slide and the running man. Come to find out, those two moves should never be mixed.”

  “Shit, you’re cute.” And because she was so fucking cute, he couldn’t resist feeding her a bite of his prime rib. “I wish to God I’d known you then. If I had, I would’ve actually gone to prom instead of blowing it off in favor of tagging Xanadu’s Scrap Metal and Siding.”

  “I know that place,” she said, laughing. “It was right across the street from my uncle’s auto paint shop. The guy who owned that place was a good buddy of Uncle Darius’s, and he always gave Teo and me gum whenever we were around. It was the minty, grown-up kind of gum instead of the kid flavors we liked, but it was still awesome of him.”

  “Glad I didn’t fuck up his place too badly, then.” He held another bite up to her mouth and tried to ignore the invisible punch to the gut that was delivered to him at the sound of her uncle’s name. What mattered now was her happiness, he reminded himself grimly. When she was smiling at him the way she was, he’d take an endless amount of hits to keep that smile in place. “I still think we would’ve kicked ass if we’d gone to prom together. King and queen, and all that shit.”

  It was her turn to feed him. “You probably would have been mortified by my electric slide-running man mash-up.”

  “You kidding? With you by my side, I would’ve been the envy of every swinging dick there.” After they exchanged a few more bites, he set his napkin aside and gently pulled her fork from her grasp. “Dance with me, tiger.”

  “Oh, my.” Her laughter rang around the room as she slid her hand into his and rose gracefully to her feet. No way in hell was he ever going to believe that she’d been an awkward penguin as a kid. Not his woman. “I had no idea you liked to dance.”

  “That makes two of us,” he murmured into her hair, his hands molding the sexy curve of her hips all the way up to her rib cage, and back down again. “I’ve never danced with anyone in my life before until now. No reason to.”

  “No reason to dance? Ever?” That brought her head up, and she studied him in a kind of disbelieving dismay. “I didn’t even know that was possible. How did you get to this point in life without ever dancing?”

  “That’s easy. I hadn’t met you. No one’s ever moved me so much that I fucking needed to dance with them. Then you came along, and that was it. I probably would’ve gone to my grave having never danced if I’d never met you.”

  Her smile was dazzling, starting in her eyes and radiating outward. “You say the most weirdly sweet things.”

  “It’s the company I keep.”

  “I blame your taste in people.”

  “My taste in people is awesome. Just look who I’m hanging with.”

  “The woman who makes you want to dance.” She sighed, as if the thought filled her with satisfaction. “I’m so glad I’m your first dance partner, honey.”

  “Dancing like this, anyway.” He held her closer and enjoyed the slow, pleasant friction of her body swaying against his. “When I was a kid looking for work—any work I could get my damn hands on—I did the interior of a strip club off Racine. The owners wanted it to look edgy and streetwise, so they let me loose in their place, and I did my thing. But when it came time to paying up, they shorted me.”

  She scowled, and in an instant the dangerous light of the warrior she truly was blazed out of her. “Assholes.”

  “But I was a big kid even back then, and I swore I had close ties to gang members who had the ability to make their lives a living hell. Remember, I designed tags for them, so it wasn’t exactly a lie.”

  “Good for you on the not-lying part.”

  “It was a good enough not-lie to rattle the club owners. Before I knew it, they were trotting out these girls and telling me to take my pick. I could have free lap dances for a month if I let them off the hook. So I did.”

  She snorted. “No way.”

  “For real. And for a long time, I thought that’s what dancing was, and the movies had it all wrong.”

  “I see.”A slow brow went up as she studied him. “So, basically you’re saying this is a bit too G-rated for your taste?”

  “G-rated?” His surprise melted into growing desire when he saw the seductive challenge in her gaze. “This kind of dancing’s good, tiger.
Real good. Question is, do you think you can make it better?”

  “I’m willing if you are.”

  He couldn’t get his ass in a chair fast enough.

  “You should know that there are certain rules about lap dances,” he said as he watched her move slowly toward him, her body swaying gently to the beat of the music. He didn’t know the name of the song playing overhead, but as of now it was his favorite. “You should also know that I’m not going to follow a single goddamn one of them.”

  “What rules are you talking about?” As she spoke she finally reached him, resting a hand on his shoulder before executing a surprisingly fluid turn so that her backside was to him and he could watch, up close and personal, a fluid body roll that prominently displayed her bubble-perfect ass.

  “No touching on my part. The people getting the lap dance aren’t supposed to touch the dancer, but that’s not going to happen. You’ve got to know that’s never going to happen.”

  “Good.” Swaying her ass side to side against his knees, she put a little pressure there to spread them. When he did, she looked over her shoulder with such sultry eyes his throbbing dick stiffened so abruptly he was shocked it didn’t make a shwing sound. “I love it when you put your hands on me, honey.”

  “Damn right you do.” His breath was audible now, but he hardly noticed as he reached out and molded that fine ass of hers with his palms, his fingers digging in with gentle possession through the thinness of her dress. Lord, he loved that his woman was such a woman, whose love of girlie skirts and dresses gave him easy access to all those luscious curves of hers. “This beautiful body was made for me, Ivy. That makes it mine. You don’t know how much I get off on knowing that.”

  “You always manage to say the right things at the right time.” Just as she was wriggling that beautiful ass back up against his crotch, she suddenly spun away. In a blink she was behind him, sliding her hands with slow deliberation down from his shoulders to his chest, then farther down to his abdomen where the muscles tensed with the burgeoning arousal he was trying like hell to keep in check. “Did you know, just listening to the sound of your voice makes me wet?”

  Fuck, fuck, fuck.

  “I,” he said very carefully, while the throbbing of his cock nearly drove him out of his mind, “am going to fuck you so hard, you’re going to forget your own name. But you’ll sure as hell remember mine.”

  He heard her breath catch a moment before she bent to gently catch his ear between her teeth. “Promise?”

  Jesus, this woman. “Promise. Now get your ass back where I can see it.”

  For an answer, her nails tensed against his shirt to rake a teasing path back up the way they came before she spun back into view. She moved so that she straddled one of his knees, her pelvis undulating in time to the music and moving like her hips ran on fucking ball bearings.

  Damn.

  His woman had skills.

  “I’m curious.” She leaned hands on his shoulders and body-rolled right in his face, filling his vision with epic amounts of boner-making cleavage. “What other rules are there when it comes to lap dances?”

  What a ball-buster she was, wanting to have a chat now. “Can’t request crazy shit, for one thing.”

  “Like what?” She pulled off a fluid little turn that put her back to him as she straddled his other knee, and this time her gyrating hips lowered until she was grinding her pussy against the top of his thigh.

  Holy fuck.

  It took him a few seconds to get his head together enough to answer. “Crazy shit like fetishes or kinks. One of the girls told me she once had a customer who wanted her to bark at him while she gave him his lap dance. Another one said she had a guy who wanted her to smack his junk around at the end of his dance. Takes all kinds, I guess.”

  “Hm.” She spun again and this time straddled both his knees, her legs spread wide as she twerked her hips a fraction above the increasing bulge behind his zipper.

  The almost-touch was killing him by inches.

  “Did you have any special requests, or kinks, or whatever?”

  “I was green as hell back then, so they had to teach me a few things before I found what I liked. For instance, holding myself back instead of groping all that T and A right there in my face gave me an appreciation for anticipation.” As he spoke, he slid his hands up her thighs to a place just under the hem of her lightweight, flouncy skirt. “That went a step further when one of the dancers there had a thing for edging. She’d go and go in her dances, grinding away on the laps of her clientele, but denying herself the satisfaction of release. She once told me she did it because it made her horny twenty-four-seven, and that was what she was into. I loved the idea of doing that to my woman, of having her turned-on and thinking about me giving her what she needed. So you could say my kink developed there.”

  “It’s a good kink to have.” Her breath caught when he suddenly tugged her down onto his lap, her pussy hitting right on top of his hard cock housed within his jeans, and it felt so damn good he couldn’t help but grunt at the sensation. “I’ve been fixated on you since you taught me what edging is. With each passing day, you become my universe.”

  “I’m glad as hell to hear it, tiger, because I’ve never wanted any woman to fixate on me, until now. You’re the one. My choice. And I hope to God I keep being yours.”

  “Every second of every day, my choice is you.” Her hips still rolled rhythmically, even though she was now fully sitting on him, her body rubbing against his clothes-sheathed cock until he thought he might shoot his damn wad then and there. As much as he talked about enjoying the anticipation, he had a feeling he’d have a cardiac arrest if he didn’t get inside her where he belonged.

  “Condom, tiger.” Digging his wallet out of his back pocket, Tag handed her the packet before he set her on her feet and made quick work of undoing his pants. “I want you to put it on me.”

  “My pleasure.” She sounded so breathlessly excited he couldn’t help but believe her. “I do have a question for you. Have you ever had a naked lap dance?”

  The throbbing in his cock was going to kill him. “No.”

  “Good.” Smiling into his eyes, she ditched her skirt and panties, along with her frilly top and bra, leaving her in only those ankle-breaking heels she loved so much. “I want to have that first with you.”

  “Sounds good to me,” he said, his voice rough as he watched her tear the condom packet open. “When we get time, we’re getting tested and you’re getting on the Pill. I’m at the point where I want nothing between us.”

  “Same here.” The song she’d been dancing to changed, and something bluesy whispered around the room. In a heartbeat she found its rhythm, her hips swaying as she reached for the opened front of his jeans.

  Yes.

  “There are so many aspects of you that I love,” she said, pushing his clothes down his legs with his help, before rolling the condom in place. “Your creativity. Your talent and vision. Your wicked sense of humor. All of that tops my list of favorite things about you. But I must admit your cock ranks right up there with everything else. Does that make me shallow?”

  “Only if it makes me shallow to be obsessed with your epic tits and ass.” His low chuckle faded into a groan as she once again straddled his lap, brushing the dark crown of his stiff dick as she gyrated tantalizingly against him.

  “You’re the only man I’ve ever given a lap dance to.” With her whiskey-light eyes sparkling with a desire so hot it left him feeling scorched, she rested one hand on his shoulder while the other wrapped around his cock to guide him to her threshold. “How did I do? Enough to earn myself a tip?”

  “Enough to earn yourself a trip to the artist’s city of Paris, or any other damn place in this world you wanna go. As long as we’re together, it’s all good.” The last of his comment ended on a sigh as his stiffened flesh became sheathed in the slick warmth of her body. It was a beautiful merging, a sense of coming home when he’d never had a home in his life. Ivy
was his home, and that filled him with an overwhelming warmth. “You name it, we’re there.”

  “Just as long as I’m with you.” Her words came out with shallowed-out breaths as she rolled her hips, taking him as deep as he could go. Her eyes closed and her fingers delved into his hair as she rode him with the most bone-melting rhythm he’d ever experienced. “You’re my universe.”

  “Ivy. Fuck.” Talking was fast becoming an impossibility, because the pleasure was ballooning hard and fast inside, roaring from deep within his gut. Hungrily he let his hands roam over her, not wanting to miss a single inch of her—the irresistible fullness of her mauve-tipped breasts, the flare of her hips and rounded ass, the sweet, scented skin that covered every perfect inch of her. He claimed her with his mouth, his hands, his cock, and everywhere he touched was heaven.

  The tightening of the walls gloving him told Tag she was coming even before she cried out. She was so tight, so slick, gripping his flesh with such excruciating sweetness that he joined her in the mind-shattering ecstasy. Even long after his orgasm eased into diminishing echoes, and she was wrapped up against his chest, he believed nothing could come between them. No matter how imperfect the world, when they were like this, he had perfection within his grasp.

  If he had to keep her in the dark for the rest of their lives in order to protect that perfection, then that was exactly what he’d do.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  When Ivy woke, for a split second she had no clue where she was. Then she remembered. Tag spoiling her with an amazing meal. A lap dance that had turned into so much more. Finishing up the evening in his ridiculously large bed, and enjoying three more spectacular orgasms before they both fell into exhausted sleep.

  The man definitely knew how to show a girl a good time.

  But second by second, reality was closing in on her. As much as she wished she could just coast along with the good times and ignore the nagging responsibilities hanging over her, the facts were inescapable.