by Melody Anne
“So beautiful,” he said reverently before bending forward and swiping his tongue along her heat, her intoxicating scent seeping into his central nervous system and sending him into overdrive.
Slipping his fingers inside her while his tongue explored her slick folds, he groaned against her. She was more than ready for him and he knew he could take her right now. But he didn’t want to. He wanted to taste her, feel her, make love to her all night with his mouth alone.
When he felt her body tense, he sucked harder on her swollen bud of pleasure — it was as erect as he was! — and she unleashed a delicious cry that almost echoed through the room as her body shook in ecstasy. A few more gentle flicks from his tongue had her nearly sobbing, and then he climbed back up her body. Now he would plunge inside her!
Kyla had other plans, however. Sitting up, she pushed him over onto his back and straddled him, her eyes blazing, the heat from her core warming his pulsing arousal — as if it needed more warmth. Leaning forward, she kissed him, and then she lowered her head and trailed kisses down his chest and over his stomach.
“I’ve always thought this small patch of hair is so sexy on a man,” Kyla said as she kissed his lower stomach, causing it to quiver with her tenderly attentive touch.
He couldn’t speak as her lips gave butterfly kisses all down his throbbing staff. When her wonderful fingers gripped him and squeezed, he groaned heavily, his head turning to and fro as he gripped the bedsheets to keep him from grabbing her and flipping her over.
Her tongue circled the head of his arousal before her lips covered him and she sucked him into the hot recesses of her mouth. He felt himself losing control as she explored him, savored him, and pleasured him beyond his wildest dreams.
“No more,” he managed to say, just barely. He reached for her and pulled her up his body, keeping her lying on top of him, until they were lined up perfectly for him to thrust upward and join their bodies together.
Wrapping his hands in her hair, he brought her face to his and captured her lips, driving his tongue into her mouth the same way he was about to drive his manhood inside her core.
She squirmed on top of him, her body quivering with her own need, and he guided her thighs further apart with his knees. He reached down to her backside and drew her close so he could rub his arousal on the outside of her heat.
Pushing her upward so she was now in a sitting position, with her legs straddling his body, he watched entranced as the candlelight flickered over her incredible beauty. After running his fingers down her back until he reached her hips, he lifted her up so she was hovering over his arousal, and then he paused.
“Don’t close your eyes now,” he said as they began to drift shut. “Don’t shut me out of your desire. I want to watch you while you feel me slide inside you.”
Pushing his hips up at the same time as he pulled her body into him, he felt a rumble of pleasure emerge from his chest and travel up his throat when their bodies finally connected, when her heat surrounded him and she pulsed around him.
“Ohhhh….” She cried out, her eyes on fire, her body shaking.
Tanner couldn’t look away as he thrust upward. Kyla quickly caught on and began following his lead in their primitive rhythm, but by no means taking a passive role. They picked up speed, her beautiful breasts bouncing, her skin gleaming.
Trying not to lose control, because he was afraid he might hurt her, Tanner did his damnedest to slow down, but she reached for his shoulders and moaned her disapproval, and then pushed down hard on him.
And he did lose it.
Gripping her hips tightly, he let go and thrust hard in and out of her beautiful heat. Their breathing was manic and their movements grew faster and faster, and then she tensed, and her core gripped him, and gripped him so tight. Her cry of joy and release rent the air. One more deep thrust into her body, and his cry joined hers as he spilled his seed deep inside her.
It was several moments before their breathing slowed and she fell against him, her breasts soft and warm against his chest. He started kneading her back, his hands cupping her bottom and then going back up to her shoulders and back down again. She sighed against his neck, her hot breath making his body begin to stir once more while they were still joined together.
“I could make love to you all night and day,” he said. She was so amazing. This was all so amazing.
She murmured something against his chest and he stopped kneading so he could raise her head.
“What did you say, Kyla?”
“I said, ‘I’m game if you are,’” she told him with a shy smile.
That was all it took to waken him right back up. Keeping their bodies still fused, Tanner somehow flipped her over onto her back without letting their bodies disconnect, and after kissing her properly, he did his best to make love until the morning light.
They fell asleep when the candles burned out and they were both too exhausted to go on for a single minute more.
Chapter Nineteen
Kyla woke up, her limbs still entangled with Tanner’s and she looked over at the clock. Crap! She was late. It was Tanner’s day off from the mall, but not hers. Slowly climbing from the bed, she managed to free herself and rise without waking the man.
They’d made love twice in a row, then drifted off to sleep only to wake again and make more love. Her body was sore, but she could hardly call herself unpleased with the way she felt. When she felt a rush of heat drift over her, she broke out in a broad smile.
The power was back on. Hallelujah!
Grabbing her clothes, she threw them on and then made her way out to Tanner’s living room and on to the front door. She cracked it open, praying no one was there to see her do her walk of shame.
No, she wasn’t ashamed they’d made love. They were both consenting adults, but he was the first man she’d ever slept with without being in a relationship. That made her feel slightly uneasy.
But it had been great, and she refused to regret it, but she also didn’t want him to think that she would now have all of these expectations of him. How could she? She didn’t know a heck of a lot about the guy. As a matter of fact, she didn’t even know Tanner’s last name.
As she snuck into her apartment, that thought hit her full force. She’d just spent the night in bed with a man whose last name she didn’t know. What did that make her?
No. She wasn’t going to do this to herself. She couldn’t take it back, and even if she could, she didn’t want to. It had been nearly three years since she’d made love to a man, years since she’d allowed herself a night of pleasure, passion with no guilt, no shame. She wasn’t going to take that away from herself.
After a quick shower, Kyla dressed and then slipped from her apartment. She was late to work at the mall, and she really hoped she didn’t lose her job over it. Yes, this was just a temporary job, but the agency she worked for had a lot of temp jobs, and she wanted this to lead to another one. She couldn’t blow her chances, even as an elf. She didn’t get very many hours with her other position as a part-time waitress.
“Hello, Kyla. Is everything okay?”
Kyla stopped as she ran into Wayne, the security guard who gave her the creeps. She hated feeling that way about anyone at all, especially someone who was there to protect them here, but she just didn’t like the guy and she wanted to be as far from him as possible.
“Everything is fine,” she said uneasily. “I’m just running late for work.” She began moving forward again toward the front door of the building.
“You weren’t too frightened last night, were you, with the power outage?”
“Yes. To be honest, it did frighten me, but the power is back on, so there’s no more problem.” She gave a nervous laugh.
“I checked in on you, but you weren’t in your apartment last night.”
The way he said this sent chills down her spine. The sooner she could get out of here, the better. “That was very kind of you, Wayne, but there are people here who need to be checked
on a lot more than I do.”
“I like checking on you. Did I see you in the video feed that you went down to the basement?”
That stopped her in her tracks again, and a shudder passed through her. “Yes. I was trying to see if the breaker could be switched, but it was in bad shape. It seems they must have fixed it sometime between when I was down there and when I got back up.”
“You really shouldn’t go down there, not without a guard, at least. You never know what you’ll find or what can happen. Was someone with you? It was dark, and it was hard to put a face to the people in that feed.”
“I wasn’t alone, and I agree, that basement isn’t a place for anyone to be going down into in the middle of the night. I am running really late, though, so I need to leave,” she said, taking another step away.
“Of course. I don’t want to make you late.” But he grabbed her arm and stopped her. No, she wouldn’t say he did it in a threatening way, but it still made an unpleasant shiver travel down her back. “I wanted to ask if you would like to go out sometime?”
His words stopped her in her tracks. That was the last thing she’d been expecting from him. Wasn’t it inappropriate to be asking out someone in the building he was guarding? She didn’t want to upset him, but she certainly didn’t want to go on a date with the fellow.
“I’m…um…actually seeing someone right now,” she said. She wasn’t, really — yes, she’d just slept with Tanner, but they weren’t an item, and she hadn’t the least idea whether they would sleep together again, but he was a convenient excuse to get out of what she knew would be an awkward date. “I really do have to go,” she told the guard as firmly as she could, and then she pulled her arm from his grip, pushed through the doors, and practically ran from the building, her horror story fully in her mind again. She couldn’t even imagine being down in that dark basement with Wayne. Just the thought of it sent a whole new level of terror racing through her body.
She knew the man was most likely harmless, but with the power outages, and her imagination, and her aversion to this particular man, her mind was running a million different scenarios through her mind.
Kyla made it to the mall, and luckily she wasn’t too late. No one reamed her out or threatened to call her employer, so she spent the day trying to make children happy. But her mind couldn’t help but wander. What had she gotten herself into? It seemed her life was one big roller coaster and she wasn’t sure when she was going to be flipped upside down again.
After her shift she would have to visit with Billy’s grandmother. She really hoped the woman woke up soon. The boy had dealt with enough loss to last him a lifetime, and he certainly didn’t need to lose his grandmother on top of losing his parents.
Her paperwork was filled out, and she would be there for the child if she could. Maybe they needed each other.
Her night of pleasure was certainly over — that was all she could say. The real world was intruding with a big splash, and she didn’t like it one little bit.
Chapter Twenty
I want all the information you can find about Billy Stephens and his grandmother, Vivian Stephens.” Tanner waited for his assistant’s answer before he added, “No one is to know about this.”
Without another word, he hung up. Why he even cared about this pathetic little kid was beyond him, but he’d been restless all day, pacing in his apartment, and he needed something to occupy his mind. How the hell had Kyla had been able to sneak away from his bed without his knowing it?
He didn’t normally fall asleep with a woman still in his bed, but the only reason he’d let Kyla stay in bed with him was to help maintain body heat and because she’d told him she was frightened of the dark. Yeah, that’s all it was. But even while nodding his head in agreement with what he was saying to himself, for heaven’s sake, he had to admit she was different.
He could tell himself all he wanted that he was going to walk away from her and never look back, but this small woman, this woman who was completely unsuited for him, was quickly wedging herself into his life.
He didn’t like that. Didn’t like it one little bit. And he would fight it like hell.
He’d just have to fight it until Christmas day, when he’d run like hell back to his bachelor heaven high in the Seattle sky. Take things one day at a time — wasn’t that what you had to do? Accept the things you couldn’t change? Suck it up? But a few more little fixes wouldn’t hurt. One thing Tanner knew for sure was that he wanted her back in his bed again tonight.
Waiting for her to arrive back home after work was killing him. Yes, he’d called the authorities and asked permission to walk over to the mall to accompany her here, and they’d denied him. They’d already let him go to the hospital, had let him have some leniency, they’d pointed out.
This damn ankle device was pissing him off. “Only a few more days to go,” he reminded himself out loud.
He was a good man, a man who gave to the community, who provided jobs, who obeyed the law. The two officers who’d so gleefully escorted him to this effing building didn’t seem to feel the same way, though. Well, to hell with them. He was only here for a little longer.
Okay, he had to admit that the thought of leaving and never seeing Kyla again was far less than appealing. But who knew what would happen in the next few days? He would just cling to the happy thought that he was temporarily insane, most likely from the mold he knew had to be everywhere in this old building.
When Kyla didn’t arrive back at the complex soon after her shift was over, he began to worry. What if something had happened to her? When two hours passed, he was about to break the law and go looking for her.
After a few more minutes, he made his way purposefully to the front doors of the building, not caring if the damn officers came and arrested him. She could be in trouble, and he needed to make sure she was okay.
Just as he pushed the doors open, she came through. He gave her no greeting as she looked up, startled, then quickly looked back down again. This wasn’t good. She wouldn’t even look him in the eyes.
“Where were you?” The question wasn’t meant to come out as so curt, but he’d been worried, dammit.
“What business is it of yours, Tanner?” she said as she looked back up, fire instantly leaping in her eyes.
“I was worried.” Again, Tanner was shocked when those were the words that popped from his mouth. He didn’t worry about people, and if he did, he certainly didn’t admit it.
“Oh.” Her temper quickly defused. “I went to visit Vivian. She still isn’t awake, but she looks better. The doctor said he expects her to wake up any time.”
“That’s wonderful.” Should he admit that he was checking on Billy, that he was trying to see if there was anything he could do for the boy? No. He shouldn’t, not yet, at least. He’d hold that card to his chest and bring it out when it would play to his best advantage. If he helped the kid — an act of boredom, of course — wouldn’t that make him more appealing to Kyla? Weren’t girls a sucker for a man coming to the rescue? Yes, they were. He was only helping the kid to get back into her pants. That thought made him feel better, and he refused to even think to himself that he was lying, even in his own head.
“I tried to get information on Billy, but they won’t tell me anything. Did you know the process to become a foster parent is long and drawn out? By the time I could do anything, his grandmother will be fully recovered. I’ve still started the paperwork. I just hate the thought of him being all alone and scared.”
“I know you hated handing him over, but if you hadn’t done that, you would have been considered a kidnapper. You did the right thing, Kyla.”
“It doesn’t matter if I did the right thing or not. I feel like I’ve betrayed him, and he’s already been through so much. It’s just…it’s not right,” she said, her shoulders sagging.
“Why don’t you come over? I’ll make you some dinner and we can talk about it…” Nice offer, he thought.
“I can’t tonight, Ta
nner. I’m so tired. I want a hot bath and to go to sleep. It’s pathetic, but it is what it is. And I am what I am.”
Before he was able to argue with her, or maybe persuade her, she turned and walked way from him. He was so surprised that he’d been rejected, and by a woman who knew all his best bedroom tricks — okay, not all of them — that by the time he realized she was getting away, she was already at her apartment and her door was shutting. Maybe he’d just go pound on it.
“Ouch. That looked like it hurt.”
Tanner turned around, fury rolling through him.
“Who in the hell are you?”
“Hey, don’t take your bad mood out on me. I’m Wayne, one of the guards here.”
“Well, I’d appreciate it if you keep your comments to yourself,” Tanner told him as he turned to leave.
“I’m just saying that she’s not the warmest cookie in the batch. The lady up on three-twelve heats up a whole lot faster,” Wayne said with a sly look.
“Go to hell,” Tanner said, and he slammed his door in the guard’s face.
It looked as if Wayne wouldn’t have a job come morning.
Tanner flopped down on the couch and made two more phone calls. This insane restlessness really pissed him off. He didn’t need Kyla to be with him to make him happy. It had to be this place. As soon as he got out of here, he would go back to being himself.
And that’s just what he wanted.
Chapter Twenty-One
“…and a Buzz Lightyear, and Megatron, and…”
The kid wanted a million presents for Christmas, and Tanner tuned him out. He didn’t care. If anything, this job had shown him that the majority of people were just plain greedy.
Not one child had touched him like Billy had almost three weeks before. He’d gotten the information back that he’d requested, but he almost wished he could erase from his mind what the report said.
Billy’s father had been a soldier, had been deployed for a year, and he’d just gotten home for leave. His wife, Billy’s mother, had picked him up from the airport and they’d gone over a bridge. Billy hadn’t even gotten to see his father again.