“Wolf?” she asked, moving her fingertips to the animal’s profile on my shoulder.
“Fox,” I corrected.
“A fox?” She wrinkled her nose, too damned cute naked and next to me.
“Silver-tongued fox.” Fuck, I liked the way that rolled off my tongue.
“I’ll say,” she breathed against my lips before kissing me. I couldn’t have been more proud of how far I’d come. At the compliment of having a satisfied Tasha Montgomery trust me with every single part of her.
“Come here,” I said, lifting the blankets and covering us both. I didn’t want to talk anymore. I wanted to hold her and sleep in and deal with tomorrow when it came. I pressed a kiss to her forehead, loving the way she wrapped an arm around my waist and smashed her naked breasts against me.
Mine, my mind echoed. I didn’t overthink it.
—
“You’re in a good mood tonight,” Devlin pointed out, stepping from his office at Oak & Sage and locking the door behind him. I shrugged as I lined the trash can with a fresh bag.
He grinned. Wide.
“What?” I barked.
“Didn’t peg you for a bang-in-the-park kind of guy, but whatever.”
The rest of the kitchen crew had gone, which left just Devlin and me—and the dishwasher, who was noisily finishing a final load. For that reason, I didn’t pummel my half brother into silence.
“Fuck,” I said. Stupid Baron.
“Well, if you want to be crass about it, I guess you could call it fucking.” Devlin was still grinning, the bastard.
The dishwasher, a short guy named Juan, poked his head around the corner. “Finished, boss,” he told Dev.
“Thanks, man. Go out the side. We’ll lock up.” Once Juan had gone, Dev turned back to me. “Baron told Roy. Roy told Rena’s mom.”
I put a hand to my head and massaged my now-aching head. “Rena’s mom knows?” I dragged that letter M out a little, but maybe it was because I wasn’t happy to hear how this news had trickled to parents who didn’t need to know these sorts of things.
“She knows you were in the park after hours. I think Roy spared her Baron’s opinion that you and Tasha were doing something other than therapy.” He tilted his head, sending his longish black hair over his forehead, and narrowed his eyes. “Seems to be working, though. Who knew the way to untangle tongue was through your dick?”
I muttered a surly “Fuck off,” but my smile emerged the second I turned my back to him. I couldn’t help it. Remembering what Tasha and I did together made me happy. Happy was a new emotion for me. I could get used to it.
Devlin’s phone chimed behind me as he was shutting off the lights. “Rena’s here. Let her in?” he said as I walked to the side door.
Then my heart stopped.
Rena was there, but so was Tash. I hadn’t seen her since yesterday morning. We had waited for Paul to leave for work before we came out of the bedroom (her request), and then I’d driven her home.
I didn’t realize until I was looking at her how much I’d missed her. I unlocked and pushed open the door. Rena grinned knowingly at me.
“I know,” I grumbled. “You know.”
“Oh,” Rena said, her smile turning evil. “But I know so much more than you think I know.” She winked at me before walking straight to Devlin. Then they started making out as Tasha and I exchanged glances.
“Hi,” she said, biting down on her lip. “How was your—”
Pulling her close, I kissed her. Sweetly. I didn’t care if Devlin was behind me. I only cared about getting a taste of my girl’s mouth and reacquainting myself with her flavor.
As delicious as I remembered.
She pulled her lips from mine, her eyes opening a second later. I liked watching her lips pull gently to the sides. I liked being the one who made her smile. I liked her, period.
“How was your day?” she asked, her hands resting on my chest.
“Good and getting better,” I answered. I’d even spoken a few times in the kitchen. I decided today that whether or not I stumbled over a letter, I wasn’t walking around mute any longer.
I hadn’t talked to Hamilton directly, but the sniveling salad guy had gone slack-jawed when I pointed and said, “Hand me that bus tub, Slick.”
It was priceless.
“Who wants a drink?” Devlin asked. “I’m buying.”
Chapter 15
Tasha
Since Cade had worked today, and Rena had the day off, after my classes I went out with her for a while. And, okay, you guessed it. I told her absolutely everything. And I don’t mean I told her almost everything. I mean I told her everything.
I had to tell somebody, and who better to ask for sex advice than my best friend? I trusted Rena. She trusted me. She was my ultimate safe space.
So after she’d stopped squealing about how happy she was for me, and how nice it was that Tony knew I’d moved on, Rena and I went shopping. Well, I went shopping. Rena sort of moped around with her shoulders down, groaning about how we were looking at clothes she didn’t want to buy. She was a jeans and T-shirt kind of girl. Me, I couldn’t leave without the black and white striped dress I wore now.
Given the spark that lit Cade’s eyes when he saw me, I was considering it a very good purchase.
Devlin herded us to the bar and promptly served drinks like an old pro. We sat, wine in front of Rena and me and beers in front of the boys, enjoying the barely lit restaurant. I liked being here when Oak & Sage was closed. It felt kind of wrong. I liked that about as much as I liked everything else I was doing that felt kind of wrong.
I cocked my head at Cade. Was I exorcising a few demons with him, or were my feelings for him real? Too soon to tell.
“You look incredible,” he told me.
“Thank you.” I fingered the hem of the dress, which stopped way, way short of my knees, liking how he watched hungrily when I inched it higher up my thighs.
“If you two would like to stop gazing into each other’s eyes for a few precious seconds,” Devlin said, “I would like to borrow Cade for a round of quarters.”
“You’ll lose,” Cade said, back straight, a look of challenge in his eyes.
Sexy.
“We’ll see.” Dev flipped a quarter in the direction of a beer glass a few feet away. It landed in the bottom with a plink.
“Go.” I nudged Cade. “Kick your brother’s ass.” He grinned at me, then leaned over and kissed me long and slow.
While Cade and Devlin set up their game at a corner booth, Rena picked up her wineglass and moved to the seat next to me.
“Has it graduated to the boyfriend stage yet?” She stole a glance at our guys across the room. I knew she was digging, but I had kicked that door open today. I wanted to talk about it. I needed to talk about it.
“Honestly?” I put down my wineglass. “I’m not really sure what to call it. We’re friends. And the sex is…Well, I told you about it.”
“If memory serves, you used the words ‘mind-blowing,’ ‘tooth-tingling,’ and ‘knee-numbing.’ ”
“I never said ‘knee-numbing.’ ” Though it wasn’t untrue. A deeper truth was that Cade made me feel worthy. Protected.
“He’s different than he was before,” Rena said, eyes narrowed on Cade. A quarter hit the edge of the glass and then the floor, and Devlin shouted in triumph at the bad toss. “In the few months I’ve been around him, he’s changed.”
I hoped he was different because of me. Was that selfish? I liked to think I’d contributed to his life in a positive way. He was changing my life in ways I doubted it would have changed without him.
Rena was right, though. Cade had changed. He’d gone from a cocky, smart-mouthed jerk to a cocky, silver-tongued hunk.
Almost silver-tongued. I knew he wasn’t totally out of the woods, but he was doing so well.
“Devlin was telling me about the girlfriend Cade was seeing his freshman year,” Rena said, her voice low. “It kind of makes sense why he was
such a jerk after she left. I can’t imagine what it would have been like to…” She trailed off, probably because she noticed that a completely mournful expression had overtaken my face. “Oh, Tasha. You didn’t know?”
I shook my head, slicing a glance at Cade, then back to her.
“I’m sorry.” Rena winced, her expression suggesting she hadn’t meant to overstep.
“It’s okay,” I said, forcing a smile. “We only just started…”
I didn’t finish that because the truth was I wasn’t sure what to say. What had we “just started”? Sleeping together? Communicating like civilized human beings? Exercising independence from our parents? I didn’t know how to fill in that blank, and I wasn’t sure if it was too soon for that conversation or too late.
“Anyway, that’s not the point.” Rena smiled. “You two are embarking on something new, and you should explore that without me causing problems in any way. No more gossip.” She pretended to zip her lips, lock them, and throw away the key.
I shook my head vehemently. “You are not causing problems, Rena. Whatever he did freshman year is none of my business. It’s not like I’ve told him everything about my past boyfriends.”
Only I kind of had. Tony was the totality of my past boyfriends. I might play the part of the flirt, but I hadn’t dated anyone else long term. Tony was my first. And now, Cade.
Cade and I hadn’t had that conversation. I didn’t want to. I didn’t want it to be a big deal. I didn’t want Cade’s past to be a big deal either. Only now…I felt like it was.
After the boys played quarters, we settled at the bar as a foursome and I did my best to block out what I had gleaned out about Cade’s past.
“All right. Time to take you home.” Devlin, stone sober—though I had no idea how—wrapped a drunken Rena in his arms. Her eyes were at half-mast, her smile loose and cute and a little sloppy. Just like her long, dark ponytail.
“I can drive you home,” I told Cade. Then wrinkled my nose. “I think. Is Blue 2 hard to navigate?”
“She’s big,” Cade said. “But you can do it.”
I reached into my purse for money, but Rena shoved my hand back inside the bag, her voice slightly slurred when she commanded, “Don’t you dare leave a single dollar on this bar.”
“Yeah,” Devlin said, “Make Cade pay.”
Rena clucked her tongue, and Dev sent her a wink. I felt my belly go warm at how much they meant to each other.
“We don’t expect money from you either,” Rena told Cade.
We. I loved the way Rena took on Oak & Sage as if it was her restaurant as much as it was Devlin’s. Those two had gelled. Despite the lack of a wedding ring, or any other official future plans, Devlin and Rena were a unit. It challenged absolutely everything I thought I knew of tradition. What I thought I wanted. Who I thought I was.
Stability had always been important to me. Even while my parents went through their bitter divorce when I was in the ninth grade, I knew I wanted to get married someday.
When I had dated Tony, I thought we would end up together permanently. We fit. He was studying sports medicine; I was studying physical therapy. We’d planned to travel during our twenties and start a family in our thirties, and our forties seemed light-years away, so we didn’t even talk that far out.
I wondered again about Cade’s girlfriend. If they’d made plans.
Cade placed his palm firmly on my knee, and I snapped out of my thoughts.
“Ready?” he asked, his eyes steady.
I nodded.
“More therapy?” Devlin asked, coming out from behind the bar. “Interesting services you offer, Tash. Maybe you could teach Rena a few of your tricks.”
“Watch it.” Cade’s voice was low, a little dangerous, and sent a trail of goosebumps up my arms. I liked it when he sounded dangerous.
“I can’t get used to you like this.” Devlin spoke to Cade, arms folded over his chest. Then he glanced at me, his eyebrows lifting. “Both of you.”
“Thank you for the drinks,” I said. “I guess we’ll just…” I sought Cade’s eyes for an answer but didn’t see it there. “Get out of here.” Driving him home meant going to his place, unless he wanted me to take him to my apartment. Which was tempting and exciting.
“You’re welcome. Hey, little brother,” Devlin said, and Cade’s expression slipped into one of mild disdain. “Be good.”
Cade walked me to Blue 2 and put the keys in my hand. He pressed me against the passenger door, caging me with his arms. “What’s your bedroom like, Tasha?”
“How much have you had to drink?” I asked with a breathy giggle.
He shook his head. “Enough that I don’t want to have a run-in with Baron again, but not so much that I’m worried you’ll take advantage of me.
I grinned. So did he.
“Invite me over,” he said, lips hovering over mine.
I tilted my head, but he pulled away, not kissing me.
“Tasha,” he whispered.
“Want to come to my place?” A zing of excitement echoed through me when he bit down on his bottom lip.
“Y-yeah.” His eyes turned down for a second, but when I would have worried he was beating himself up for the stammer, he turned his golden eyes on me. A small smirk lifted half of his mouth. “Sounds like I n-need therapy.”
“Do you need to grab anything from your house first?” I draped my arms over his neck, my heart racing at the idea of the contrasting sight of tattooed Cade on my pastel bedding. Imagining him there was sexy as hell—all those corded muscles wrapped in Egyptian sheets and a thick down comforter.
He pressed a kiss to my mouth. “I’ll u-use your toothbrush.”
“Eww!” I teased, but he kept his smile as he got in the car.
Cade
She invited me over.
That was the only thought circling my brain on the ride to her place. It felt like a win—another boundary she’d let me step over. Yeah, I’d been to her apartment before, but that was before we’d had sex. Before she’d let me sweep her into my arms and kiss her. Before I knew what she sounded like when she came. This was my chance to be with her in an environment where she could truly let herself go.
I was kidding about the toothbrush. At my request, she swung into a convenience store on the way home, and I grabbed a stick of deodorant, a toothbrush, and condoms. I wasn’t sure if she had them, but it wasn’t a risk I was willing to take.
As she unlocked her apartment door, she sent a foxy little smile over her shoulder and I followed her heart-shaped ass inside.
In the kitchen she poured herself a glass of wine. I could tell by the way her slender throat worked as she swallowed how nervous she was. Nervous after all we’d done?
Maybe she was nervous because she was thinking of what we’d done the night before last. Body-to-body, hot-and-sweaty, moaning-panting sex followed by her in my arms.
Knowing I was about to claim her for myself again had the blood roaring through my veins. I had the bizarre urge to beat my chest.
On the opposite side of the counter, she smiled demurely up at me. That short striped dress was killing me in the best way. Sexy and simple, and those legs…
Her blond hair sat on her shoulders, thick black lashes darting downward as she lifted her wineglass and took a drink.
“Do you want to watch some TV?” she asked after she licked her lips.
I liked how she waited for me to come to her. That she wanted me to pursue her.
For now, an ugly part of my brain chimed in. Between running the trash to the dumpster and sliding across the grease-covered floors at work tonight, I’d thought about how I couldn’t give a girl like Tasha what she deserved. But there was one thing I could give her that no other guy could.
Me.
My attention. My body.
“No TV,” I said. “I could use a quick shower, though.” I’d tugged on a clean T-shirt and jeans at the restaurant. I always kept a change of clothes in my locker, but it’d be ni
ce to wash my hair.
“No shower. Let’s get dirty first.” She blushed.
I liked her timid. It made me bold.
I came around the counter and wrapped my arms around her lower back. My fingertips wanted to go lower to cup her bottom, but I resisted for a moment longer. She was being sweet. I wanted to try it.
She lifted her arms and wrapped them around my neck like she had out by my car. I liked when she did that, and the way her eyes turned up to my face. I lowered my lips to taste hers, and she kissed me back. Then she pulled her lips from mine to kiss the underside of my jaw. She tongued the hollow of my throat, peppering kisses along the side of my neck.
I threaded her hair through my fingers, forgetting my intention to seduce her as she seduced me instead. A shot like a lightning bolt zipped down my spine when she lashed her tongue against my Adam’s apple. God. Her mouth on me. I’d never been so turned on. I tightened my grip around her soft, silken hair, out of my mind with wanting her.
She drove me crazy.
I held her to me, one hand in her hair, one fist wrenched around the material of her dress. I hauled her skirt up and cupped her ass. Her bare ass. I trailed my fingers along those cheeks and found the string of her thong. A fucking thong. My erection hardened as she scraped her teeth up my neck and stuck her tongue in my ear.
A growl sounded between us—mine.
She wasn’t wasting any time. Her fingers glided beneath my shirt and her nails raked my abs, my pecs, and over my nipples. Her mouth hit my chest, lighting me up with a series of damp kisses.
The idea of going slow went out the window. I lifted her chin and slammed my mouth over hers, flattening my palm against her ass and pressing her closer. Her tongue stroked mine again and again, and that lightning bolt I mentioned earlier? My bones hummed like I’d been plugged into a power source.
“Amazing,” I murmured between kisses, unable to keep from voicing how damn good she tasted and felt. I bent my knees and lifted her, setting her on the kitchen island. She squeaked in surprise.
“I do have a bed,” she said.
“C-counter.” It was the only word I bothered to say. The rest I’d show her. I took off her dress and tossed it over my shoulder, loving when she didn’t cover her body. She hadn’t hidden from me since the first time I’d stripped her in my bedroom. We’d come a long way. Under the bright lights of her kitchen, she didn’t act a bit shy.
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