I was also worried that Cade’s promise to be my personal Uber might fall through of no fault of his own. What if his car broke down again? Another part of me worried that my dad would cut me off completely. Then I’d be homeless as well as carless, and I didn’t know how I’d live.
What I did know was that I felt personal triumph when the car key landed at my father’s feet. Talk about a mic drop.
I didn’t need a Beamer to have a good life.
My father and Tony could have each other.
The sun was setting, the sky fading into beautiful purple, orange, and yellow the way it did this time of year. Cade was in his element behind the wheel—either in my smooth-as-butter BMW or now in the Camaro with the blubbering motor. It didn’t seem to matter what car he was driving; Cade should be driving.
He navigated out of the pretty part of town and into the more run-down part, until we arrived at a destination familiar to both of us.
Alley Road.
The site of his accident. An accident I’d witnessed from far away, my blood turning as ice cold as the freezing winter wind. The second the accident happened, everyone had scattered. They knew the ambulance would arrive shortly. That cop cars would swarm. Nearly everyone had been drinking alcohol or had weed in their pockets, and most had placed bets. It wasn’t somewhere a college student wanted to be when the authorities arrived. And everyone had assumed Cade was either dead or headed to jail.
Miraculously, Cade hadn’t died or gone to jail. My chest swelled with gratitude so acute, I reached over and squeezed his arm.
In spite of twilight fast approaching, Cade wore his sunglasses. He pulled to a stop and parked not far from the fire hydrant that had damaged his voice. I waited for him to speak, threading my fingers through his. We sat in silence for so long that when he spoke, it surprised me.
“I was try-trying to save him,” he said softly. Tightness pulled his mouth into a flat line.
“Who?” My eyes followed his gaze to the fire hydrant.
He took off his sunglasses and threw them onto the dashboard. His light brown eyes flicked to mine. “Dad.”
“By street racing?”
He nodded.
I figured Paul had needed the money, since he’d been gambling at the time.
“Well. He’s not gambling anymore.” I didn’t know that for sure, but it seemed like the right thing to say. “He’s doing well, isn’t he?”
“Y-you tell me.” Cade rubbed his fingers together, the universal symbol for money, and I knew he was talking about the envelope Paul had offered that I had refused. Embarrassed, my cheeks warmed.
“I didn’t take it.”
Cade’s mouth pulled into a small smile. “An-and your dad?”
I smiled back at him. “I didn’t let him scare me off either. I liked doing things with you, so I wasn’t about to stop.”
“I l-like doing things with y-you.” He spoke carefully, working through each syllable. “T-Tasha.”
My name came out on a whisper as he lifted his hand and brushed his knuckles along my cheek.
My life was better since I’d started spending time with Cade. I didn’t know it at the time, but I’d even enjoyed the moments when he wasn’t talking to me and we’d sat in silence in his bedroom. Who would’ve thought, back when I was visiting the hospital room and sitting at his bedside, that the guy I hated would become someone I…liked.
Liked a lot.
You never hated him.
I hadn’t, I realized now.
“Did you t-talk to him about me?”
“Paul?” I asked, confused.
Cade corrected with a shake of his head. “Dumbass.”
“Oh, you mean Tony.”
A low laugh came from Cade’s chest and gooseflesh cropped up on my arms. I loved his laugh. Loved the way his mouth smiled and his dimple appeared. Loved the way the sound eased the tension in the air between us.
Well. Not all the tension. There was a lot of sexy tension in the car.
I looked at my hands. “I didn’t correct his assumption that you and I were…you know.”
Cade lifted my chin. His smile faded as his gaze burned into mine.
“I’d like to,” I whispered.
Alley Road was abandoned. Old factory buildings, and no, not the nicest part of town, but not the worst. We were alone save for a homeless woman standing near a shopping cart at the end of the adjacent block.
I only had to lean in a tiny bit before Cade slanted his mouth over mine. He kissed like a dream. No dream I’d ever had for myself, though. My dreams had been about my future. A budding, successful career. Homework and passing tests. And for some ungodly reason, I’d spun Tony into the web of my future.
But not anymore.
My future wasn’t clear, or maybe it had been an illusion all along. A story I used to tell myself so that I could sleep at night. The thin soap bubble that used to hold all my plans had since popped.
Not knowing what came next was exciting.
Cade pulled his lips from mine. Frowning, he murmured (stutter free, I might add), “Where do you go when I kiss you?”
I blinked up at him. “I—nowhere.”
Like he wanted to hear my rambling thoughts about my future and my past and how confused I was about where I would end up. Like he wanted to hear how every time I thought about my future I thought of him with a big question mark following and didn’t know how to fill in the blank.
“Stay with me,” he murmured.
He pulled me close, one hand threaded into my hair as he forced our faces closer, the light scruff on his jaw scratching my chin.
I stayed with him.
I focused on the feel of his warm, wet tongue. The way his strong fingers gripped my waist, then traveled to my shirt, where he thumbed my breast over my bra. The taste of him, the smell of him. Clean, like soap and fresh air.
No, my mind didn’t wander this time. I was one hundred percent focused on him. Soon I forgot we were on Alley Road. Until he pulled away from me, his chest lifting and dropping, his eyes molten. I guessed pulling away from me took a lot of self-control.
“This…isn’t our date,” he said, his tone suggesting he hadn’t meant to let our kiss spin out of control. But here, on Alley Road, where he’d spun out of control, it felt right.
Night was beginning to fall and a breeze swept chilly air into the car and around our bodies.
“I guess I lost track of time,” I said.
“Me too.” One short peck of a kiss later, he put the car into gear, sending me a heated gaze that held the promise of more.
I liked that I had the power turn him on, to make him forget where he was.
I liked the way he liked me. As much, I hoped, as I liked him.
Chapter 13
Cade
The plan was to take Tasha to Ridgeway State Park, lie under the blanket of stars, seats leaned back in the Camaro, and just…be.
The park closed at sunset, which meant we’d have no company for our stargazing. When I arrived, I was nervous, and not because I had to get out and unhook a metal sign warning: VIOLATORS WILL BE PERSECUTED.
Ahh, Ridgeway. Leave it to my town to misuse a word in a warning.
After I pulled the car past the gate, I let her idle while I put the chain back. The reason for my attack of nerves was because I had packed a picnic and a blanket, and I wasn’t sure if I’d done it right. Dates in the past had consisted of bar food and shots, so I was a little out of my element.
Tasha was nervous for a different reason. When I climbed back inside the car, her hands were clenched together in her lap.
I eased along the road into the dark, abandoned park, resting my hand over her interlaced fingers. “Never broke into anywh-where before?”
“No.” She licked her lips before turning to eye me in the grainy darkness. “It’s kinda fun.”
“Stick with me, kitten. I’ll sh-show you fun.”
“Kitten.”
I sneaked a look at her a
nd saw her lips twist.
“That’s what you called me the night you hit on me with that horrible ‘Cade train’ line.”
There was a time I would’ve laughed that off, but instead, I winced.
“It was pretty bad.” She was laughing, which hadn’t been her reaction at the time, so I guessed she’d forgiven me.
Even so, I said, “Sorry,” the S dragging out a few humiliating beats.
Her hand over mine, she said, “It’s okay now.”
Yeah, I supposed it was.
I navigated past the parking lot, bumping along the grass. We were well out of sight of the road, but I couldn’t trust the trees to hide the car completely. If someone was in the park, he’d spot us, but when’s the last time you saw a park ranger on duty?
Tasha was shivering—I doubted it was from the exhilaration of breaking into the park.
I reached behind me for the blanket.
“I’m fine.”
Said her chattering teeth.
“Haven’t fixed the heater y-yet,” I told her. I killed the engine and spread the blanket over her bare legs. She tugged the blanket over her whole body, and much as I hated her covering up, I liked her better wearing a warm smile. The curve of her lips and the way she closed her eyes and snuggled down in the blanket made her look very kittenlike.
I was tuning in a radio station, the volume low, when she asked, “Is that a cooler?”
I met her raised eyebrow with one of my own. “Maybe.”
“Do you always come prepared for a spontaneous make-out session?”
“I was pr-preparing to do this anyway. The m-making out is a bonus.” I grinned and she grinned back. “Eat, then therapy.”
“Therapy?” She looked excited, which was damn cute. I’d just agreed to let her work on my lips and tongue, and if I wasn’t mistaking her expression, the prospect of helping me speak clearly made her more excited than us making out.
I lifted the blanket and slapped a sandwich in her hand, then pulled out a bottle of water and waggled it at her. “Have y-your straws?”
“It just so happens I do.” She grinned.
She had no complaints about her ham and cheese sandwich, so I took that to mean it was at least edible. I wasn’t much of a gourmet. Afterward we went to work. I did her puckering exercises. I sounded out the ooos and I popped my puhs.
She must’ve caught me grimacing at the straws. She pulled one out, unwrapped it, and stuck it into the water bottle, then said, “You know…this is simply a warm-up for your tongue.”
She had my full attention when her tongue darted out to wet her lips.
“If you’d like to try an alternate workout…”
Arm on the back of her seat, I leaned in close. “Yes.”
The word came out without thought. I hadn’t even tried.
Her laugh was a signal of her approval. I liked that a hell of a lot.
“Are you surprised?” she asked. “That therapy actually works?”
“Kinda.” And a clear K. I’ll be damned.
“Well, you know what they say. Practice makes perfect.” She came closer and I stopped caring about the words coming out of my mouth and focused on hers.
I closed the gap and kissed her. She wasted no time slipping her hand under my T-shirt and scraping my abs with her fingernails.
“This is my favorite kind of therapy.” Her voice was husky, feathering at the edges. I loved when she sounded like that.
“Mine too,” I muttered against her neck as I kissed my way south. Hand under her shirt, I unclasped her bra, freeing her gorgeous, creamy breasts. I took one on my tongue a moment later, and it peaked, begging for more. Her back arched, her hips thrusting as my hand wandered in that direction.
I didn’t get far before she was lifting my head and kissing me mercilessly. She rubbed her palm on my cock over my jeans as my breath whooshed from my lips.
This girl.
“Tasha.” I didn’t have to say more. Delicate fingers undid the stud of my jeans and lowered the zipper on my pants. The throb in my dick was supersonic. If she did what I thought she was about to do…God.
I’d have to pull it together to last longer than a few minutes. Just thinking of her mouth on me made my heart rate triple and my palms sweat.
She tossed the blanket over my lap and disappeared under it.
Holy shit.
I leaned back on the headrest, staring at the star-studded sky. I mused that my stargazing idea had taken a turn for the better, but the moment her wet, warm mouth closed over me, my brain cells incinerated. Not seeing what she was doing amplified every sensation. She kissed the tip sweetly before swirling the head with her tongue. I groaned as she took my cock into her mouth inch by inch. Then she was sucking me deeply, laving me with her talented tongue as my hips gave a helpless jerk.
My hand had rested on her head over the blanket. I was conscious of not forcing her mouth down, but there was no need. She was getting me off without my help and needed no guidance. Her perfect rhythm sent fire licking up my spine.
The buzz in my cock shot through my limbs, then numbed my face. I knifed up and threw the blanket off my lap to warn her I was close to coming. Damn. If I’d known she was going to do this, I’d have cleaned the pipes this morning before I came to get her. I swept her hair off her face.
“Tash,” I breathed, my voice ragged.
She peeked up at me but determinedly continued her work.
She didn’t want to stop.
I kept my eyes locked on hers, unable to get my tongue to work for a totally different reason than usual. The best I managed were a few meager groans.
Tasha never came up for air.
Seconds later, my legs were tensed straight, my feet pushing into the floorboard. My ass clenched, and my eyes were shut when my release slammed into me. I pumped into her mouth, coming, moaning, writhing, and she let me. Then my muscles relaxed, my mind nothing but a fuzzy veil as my head fell back on the headrest.
Her mouth left my cock and she kissed my belly button, then my chest, hauling my shirt up as she explored me with her mouth.
“I love your body.” She placed an openmouthed kiss on one of my nipples.
“I love yours.” I shuddered, then lazily opened my eyes.
Tasha, with her rumpled hair and flushed cheeks. God. I was beginning to think I could love a whole lot more than her body if pressed.
I tossed the blanket into the backseat and kissed her. She tasted like sex and I wanted to lick every inch of her.
“Say something else,” she whispered against my mouth.
“I want inside you.”
I didn’t know if she was testing my speech abilities, but I didn’t care, either. An answering heat flared in her blue eyes. I kissed her deeply and she kissed me back, and I let my hands wander from the neck of her shirt to her breasts.
“Here?” she asked.
I nodded. It was about time to christen this car. I wanted Tasha like that. In the car. Bucket seats would make this a challenge, but I was up for it.
“Don’t you need a minute to…recover?” she gasped when I yanked her shirt over her head. She took a cautious look around, but there was nothing in the surrounding woods save trees and crickets and stars. And her. Even in the gathering darkness, she was the most beautiful girl I’d ever laid eyes on.
“Don’t worry about me.” I had other plans and they didn’t involve sex. Not yet. I had plans to go down on Tasha, and I was sure the rest of me would get back in the game eventually. I shoved her floral skirt over her thighs and leaned across the seats, suffering the wrath of a stick shift to the ribs.
Second thought…
I climbed out of the car, walked around, and opened her door.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
I turned her body and pulled her legs out of the car. She said my name on a sigh when I coasted my hands up her thighs. The sound of Tasha Montgomery sighing my name was unparalleled. I wound eager hands around her panties, my m
outh watering in anticipation.
“No. You don’t have to do that.” She put her hands over my hands beneath her skirt.
“I know.” I wanted to. I wanted her on my tongue more than I wanted my next breath. “Therapy.”
I sent her a grin and she grinned back. Tasha said I needed tongue exercises, and this qualified.
She relaxed her hands and settled back as best she could in the bucket seat. I threw her legs over my shoulders.
And there, in the park, hidden behind a hill in a patch of trees, I started exercising.
Tasha
I was sure there would be no way I could relax with Cade between my legs in a public place, but I realized shortly after he tugged my panties off and threw them at me that I was about to be proven very wrong.
I was fully prepared to fake it the way I had with Tony. To be completely honest, this wasn’t my favorite activity in bed. “In the car,” however, it was quickly zooming into my top five. Even though my lower back was pressed against something uncomfortable and my knee was wedged against the car’s frame.
Gradually, every worry and discomfort fell away as Cade licked and sucked. I grabbed his hair while his mouth moved over me.
And then I realized I was going to come like this with hardly any effort at all. My heart was racing, and the tingling of my nipples signaled my building orgasm.
Cade knew. He picked up the pace, his focus narrowing on my clit as I tipped my hips upward, my fingers in his hair pulling harder.
Oh God. Oh, yes, this was working.
On the good-girl-doing-very-bad-things scale—letting a boy with tattoos take me in his convertible—I was about to earn a gold star.
“Cade,” I breathed. He didn’t answer. It was just as well. What followed was a series of unintelligible moans.
He hummed low in his throat, and the sound vibrated against my sensitive flesh. I threw my head back. Close, so very close. He was settled in for good, but I came two seconds later, writhing against his face while whispering my praise. My body clenched and released and my fingers continued their pulling even as I sagged lower in the seat.
Shut Up and Kiss Me: A Lost Boys Novel Page 13