Teach Me Like That (LMLT Book 2)

by Marie James

  I turn on the shower, gazing into the mirror while the water heats. My almost-sexed cheeks are flushed, and the tingle in my core reminds me, not so gently, that I’ve been left unsated. I quickly remind myself that my body doesn’t rule my brain.

  The bathroom door opens. Still looking into the mirror, my eyes meet his.

  “I get it,” he says wrapping his arms around my waist. “No condom, no sex.”

  His cock jerks behind my back as if to argue with him giving in so easy.

  “Good. I’m glad we see eye to eye.” I break free of his arms and climb into the shower.

  “Oh, make no mistake, we aren’t seeing eye to eye. I’m not happy about this, but I’ll respect your wishes,” he says climbing into the shower behind me.

  “Kegan,” I sigh in frustration.

  “Are you mad?” his playful smile drops.

  “No.”

  “You sure?” Before I can reassure him, he’s on his knees, and his hot breath is tickling my pussy. “Let me make sure you’re not.”

  His mouth hits me like a bolt of lightning shooting through my entire body. I don’t have an ounce of energy left when he brings me to orgasm faster than ever before in my life.

  “Kegan, no.” I look out the window as we make our way toward his parents’ house.

  With as often as I have to chastise him, you’d think I was at work.

  “What are we doing?” He ignores me and keeps driving. “I’ll wait in the truck,” I tell him as he turns off the ignition and climbs out.

  Seconds later my door is tugged open. He reaches in and unsnaps my seatbelt. “You’ll be waiting a while, baby. It’s Sunday dinner. Come on; the girls are inside.”

  My eyes snap to his. “The girls?”

  He shrugs. “Just like every Sunday, Lexi. My family has been hounding me to bring you.”

  “Family? As in all of them? Kegan, look at me.” I point down to my clothes, then hold up hands with chipped nail polish. “I look like a homeless person. I can’t have dinner with your family.”

  “You look amazing. It’s going to be very difficult for me to keep my hands off of you in there.” He tugs my hand and practically drags me out of the truck. “You can walk,” he says crouching lower and reaching for me, “or I can carry you.” I slap his chest. “You’ve met every one of them before. It’s no big deal.”

  “This is a terrible idea,” I complain as we walk to the front door.

  “How about we make a deal?” His breath runs down my neck as he whispers in my ear. My body’s response to that is not what I need walking into a house full of Coles. “You do this with a smile on your face, and I’ll go to every dinner party with your friends that you want.”

  I grab his arm, stopping him before he can open the front door. “I don’t want you to go to them because you feel like I forced you.”

  His eyebrow arches and he cuts his eyes to his parents’ massive front door.

  “You aren’t forcing me, Kegan. I just want to make a good impression. Worn jeans and a ratty t-shirt were fine for grocery shopping earlier, but dinner with your family? They’ll hate me.”

  He pecks my lips. “They love you already, Lexi, and you’re not forcing me to the dinner parties either. I want to be where you are. If you’re at the dinner party, I’m right there beside you.”

  “Who are you?” I ask cupping his jaw. “Where’s the crass, no-filter Kegan Cole.”

  He laughs and pulls me against his chest. “You know, Kadin asked me the exact same thing a few days ago.”

  I brush his lips gently with mine as a thank you for just being who he is, a praise for the way our last couple of days have been. Leave it to Kegan to slip his tongue past my lips as his huge hand cups one of my ass cheeks.

  “Yuck. Just like Mommy and Daddy.”

  I pull as far away from Kegan as I can. I don’t get far because his arms are still wrapped around me. My cheeks flush when I look over and see Anastyn and Lennox standing in the open doorway. I want to shrink away when I notice London standing behind them with her lip between her teeth trying to keep from laughing.

  “Why is everyone standing in the doorway,” Kegan’s dad says just before his face appears around the door. A smile spreads across his face as he notices me in Kegan’s arms. “Thank God,” he mutters before turning back inside and yelling at his wife.

  I slap at Kegan’s chest and continue to try to pull away as Mr. Cole yells, “Karen! Your youngest son brought you an early Christmas present!”

  “Is it that new Michael Kors purse?” she asks from somewhere inside. She stops dead when she sees me, and I swear a tear pools in her eye. “Oh, this is so much better than a purse.”

  “See?” Kegan whispers in my ear. “You have nothing to worry about.”

  After the shock of my presence wears off, we eventually make it inside. Less than ten minutes later, Kegan has disappeared with his dad, and I’ve been pulled into the kitchen with all of the other women.

  I answer questions that Mrs. Cole is firing off at me with ease as she finishes working on the main course. I’m dicing vegetables for the salad as Anastyn and Lennox tear the lettuce into manageable pieces. London is sitting on a stool holding Easton while he drinks a bottle. Kegan’s family is so laid back; I don’t know why I was so worried.

  I’m rinsing my hands in the sink when Mrs. Cole looks over her shoulder and speaks to London. “Can you go tell Kevin and the boys that dinner is almost ready?”

  London passes Easton off to me to go get the guys. It’s exactly how Kegan finds me, standing in the kitchen cooing at the adorable little-redheaded boy.

  “You know,” Kegan says in my ear, “if I went bare we could end up with one of those. Easton is pretty hard to beat, but I bet ours would be cuter.”

  My spine stiffens. How can he possibly go from zero to asking for marriage and a baby in a matter of weeks? How can he jump from not wanting to hang out with my friends to bringing me to his weekly family dinner? He hasn’t gone backward like I’ve expected him to do, but barreling forward at a million miles an hour is freaking me out. You know those warning signs? The ones that give you hope but at the same time make you want to run for the hills? Yeah, that’s where I’m at right now.

  “Excuse me,” I say placing the smiling baby in his arms. I make my way to the bathroom down the hall, planning to hide out until the dinner is over.

  Chapter 33

  Kegan

  Waking up with Lexi in my arms feels different this morning than it did yesterday. If I let myself worry enough, I know things have been different since dinner last night. I’m still in her bed, so that’s a plus. She’d complained of a headache shortly after the meal was finished and once we got back, she shut down all advances I made to help her heal her pain naturally. But seriously, I read an article that said orgasms help with headaches. I was only trying to help her out.

  She didn’t make me leave, which I’m grateful for. Holding her all night, even though she wouldn’t tell me what was wrong, eased some of the fear that she was gearing up to leave me. Knowing I could lose her so easily turned my stomach all night, preventing me from getting much sleep.

  I’ve been lying here awake listening to her breathe for an hour before her alarm went off. Once the shrill sound echoes off the walls for a few seconds, I turn it off and hold her closer, unwilling to let her go just yet.

  “I have to get ready for work,” she mumbles against my chest.

  “We have time,” I insist, refusing to let her crawl out of my arms. If changing her alarm to give us thirty extra minutes this morning after her saddened mood last night makes me an asshole, well, I guess I’m an asshole.

  “How’s your head?”

  “Better.” Her hand roves down my stomach as she stretches out her muscles. She sighs loudly against my chest. “I hate mornings,” she complains.

  “All mornings?”

  I feel her grin against my skin. “Any one that starts before nine.”

  “I’ll
make you love morning time,” I promise sliding out from underneath her and pulling her nipple into my mouth.

  As much as I’d love to spend the day in bed with her, we both have to work, and the last thing she needs is more trouble where that’s concerned.

  My mouth trails kisses back up to hers. “I’m wet for you,” she confesses against my lips. “I had amazing dreams last night.”

  I’m glad her night was better than mine.

  Her words have me scrambling for the drawer in the side table and making quick work of getting the condom rolled down my eager cock. I check her for readiness, and my cock jumps when my fingers glide through her slick desire.

  After licking them clean, I line up and glide slowly into her. I want to pump in and out of her, build her up and back off until she’s begging me to let her come, but we don’t have time for that. I quicken my pace and bite my lip at the pleasure I feel when her fingernails dig into my back.

  “Harder,” she begs.

  “Over,” I command pulling from her. She scrambles to her knees and elbows, hissing loudly when I thrust back in.

  Her cries are caught by the pillow stuffed against her face, but her muffled moans make me fuck her harder. My hands clamp her hips, but I’m merely holding on as she slams her body back repeatedly. Even in this position, she’s the one fucking me. I love every single grip of her tight pussy as she brings both of us to rapid orgasm.

  The grunt as my cock explodes is animalistic and spontaneous. I can’t control it; I don’t even want to.

  The “Thanks, Doll,” and quick slap on the ass isn’t as well received.

  “It was a joke!” I yell at her back as she closes and locks the bathroom door.

  “What did you say to her, Kegan?”

  I’m trying to explain to Kadin about the pushback that is rolling off of Lexi in waves, and this is the shit he asks me? I know he’s asking because he knows me so well.

  “Which time?” I mumble into the phone as I walk across Lexi’s yard toward the job site. “Hey,” I say realizing what Kadin’s implying. “What makes you think it was something I said?”

  An audible sigh comes through the phone. “It’s always something you say, Kegan.”

  “She makes me wear rubbers,” I complain.

  “As you should.” My own brother is siding against me.

  “Well,” I groan, “I can’t seem to let it go.”

  “What. Did. You. Say?”

  I scrub my hand over my face. “The first time I just grumbled. The second time I argued a little bit. She’s on fucking birth control, Kadin. I don’t see the big deal.”

  “And the third time?” he asks without missing a beat.

  “I, ummm… I asked her to marry me.”

  The phone goes silent, and I wait impatiently for Kadin to laugh at me and call me an idiot, much like Lexi did yesterday morning.

  “As a joke?” he finally asks.

  “Yeah, of course.”

  “You’re the biggest fucking idiot in the world. You don’t say shit like that in jest, man. Don’t you know a damn thing about women?”

  “Apparently not.” I look around the job site and as much as I love getting my hands dirty and turning piles of wood into a beautiful house, I’m just not feeling it today.

  “Is that the last time the condom issue came up?” If he was confrontive about the proposal, he’s definitely not going to like this.

  “She was holding Easton yesterday at dinner,” I begin.

  “Oh God,” he mutters, but silences so I can finish digging my grave.

  “I might have mentioned that if she wasn’t so adverse to me going bare that our baby would look even cuter.”

  “First off, not possible. Easton is the cutest baby in the world. That level of adorable can’t be beaten, not even by you, little brother. Secondly, and I repeat myself. You are the biggest fucking idiot in the world.”

  “I’m getting that now. I’m surprised she even let me stay last night.”

  “If she did, then there’s hope for you yet. And this morning?”

  “Well…”

  “God damnit, Kegan! There’s more?” I can hear the frustration in Kadin’s voice, but this is my first serious relationship as a grown man. Yes, I remember Rhonda, but I was not even close to being the man I thought I was back then. My point is, with this being my first, I’m bound to fuck this up.

  “I didn’t even push the subject this morning. I strapped up like a good boy.”

  “Good. You may be in the clear.” His voice is calmer.

  “I thought so too, but then I smacked her ass and said…”

  “Thanks, Doll?! Please, for fuck’s sake, Kegan. Please tell me you didn’t do the same thing to her you’ve been doing to women for the last ten plus years?” I remain silent for a long moment.

  “I fucked up.”

  “You fucked up,” he agrees. “You better fix this shit. After you guys left last night, mom got out the Neiman Marcus catalog.”

  “Tell her I want blue on the china,” I mutter before hanging up on him.

  “I expected at least a smile on your face when I saw you walking this way.” Leave it to Tony to call me out. “If spending the night with that beautiful girl puts you in this kind of mood, maybe you should go home at night.”

  “Can we get to work rather than standing here grabbing each other’s asses?”

  I walk past him toward the house that is now framed out. This is going to be one long-ass day.

  I text Lexi off and on all day, but she never responds. I vowed, after getting off the phone with Kadin earlier that I was going to do my best to fix whatever it is that I’ve messed up with my stupid mouth.

  It’s going to be hard to do if she’s ignoring me. It took all my power not to drop what I was doing at work to go to the school and make her speak to me. Thankfully, I had plenty of things to keep me busy, and I only wanted to kill Tony once when he brought up my sour-ass mood.

  The guys call it a day, and I head back over to Lexi’s. When she asked me to lock the door when I headed to work, I thought she’d be home by the time I wrapped up my day. She isn’t.

  I head to my condo for a quick shower. I also pack a bag because if I go back to Lexi’s and she’s home, I don’t plan on leaving. If she’s still mad at me, I’ll sleep on the damn porch if I have to. Anything to be close to her.

  Even after several more text messages, my phone remains silent. It seems I can’t hold onto this girl for more than a few days at a time. Since I never want to let her go in the first place, I’m seriously struggling right now.

  The sun has already set by the time I make it out of my parking garage. Knowing I can’t show up and grovel empty handed, I head to the grocery store. What woman can resist an apology when I have chocolate and wine in my hands? Seems simple enough.

  Chapter 34

  Lexi

  Don’t get me wrong; I love some of the stupid things that come out of Kegan’s mouth. He’s honest, playful, and most days, funny. I seriously think he thinks he’s funnier than he actually is. He has to. I know the shit he’s said lately isn’t coming from a mean place, but that doesn’t abate the sting any more.

  He knows my history of losing the baby. I’ve even told him I don’t want children. I know what you’re thinking, but it’s not a lie. I can’t imagine going through the loss of another child, so I don’t even want to risk it. For him to just throw shit out there like marry me and ours will be even cuter cuts deep. Those aren’t jokes. That’s not something you just throw out there to get a laugh.

  Thanks, Doll.

  That sure as hell isn’t something you play with. He pulled that shit the first time he fucked me against the window. Yes, he fucked me so thoroughly that it didn’t even compute until after he left, but after I had the chance to think about it, his words twisted my gut. I expected that from him the first time. This morning? He made me feel like he cared for me only to ruin it minutes later with that damn mouth of his.

 
I’m so over it; I can’t even focus on my class the way they deserve. I’ve ignored Kegan’s texts all day. I’m angry, and my feelings are hurt. I don’t want to respond until I have a chance to work through that. My day quickly goes down the drain when I find a note in my box during my conference period to see Amelia DuPont after school.

  I only have to worry about what the evil headmistress is going to throw my way for one more class period. Fifty minutes of stomach turning worry. I find myself dragging my feet and speaking longer to parents this afternoon just to put off the inevitable.

  I knew she wasn’t done after that little confrontation in the supply closet. I knew she was too vindictive to let it go, but it has been weeks without a word about it. Yes, there have been snide remarks, but the closet was never brought up again.

  A trembling hand reaches for the door to the front office. I eye the exit and for a split second think about just walking out and pretending that I never received the note in my box, but I know it’s only putting off whatever is happening today.

  The front office is empty and so is Amelia’s office, but I follow a group of voices to the conference room around the corner. A sheen of sweat covers the back of my neck causing my hair to stick to my nape. It makes me feel dirty and in desperate need of a shower.

  The back of a man’s head comes into view as I walk closer to the conference room, and my gut twists further. Amelia, noticing me walk up, gives me a concerned look, one of almost pity or disappointment. It’s a contradiction to the sneer that usually covers her face when she sees me.

  “Ms. Carter, please have a seat,” she says pointing to a chair on the opposite side of the table. Ms. Carter? This isn’t going to be good at all.

  Further entry into the large conference room reveals several others at the long table. I recognize several of them from the school’s website. She has convened the school board for this occasion. My job is gone, and that knowledge is causing the burn of tears behind my eyes. I clear my throat in an attempt to remove the lump that is trying to close it.

  A small ounce of gratefulness hits me when I notice that the room is void of a police officer. With any luck, I’ll make it out of here without criminal charges.