Simmer

by Stephanie Rose

  His aunt’s expression softened when her gaze stumbled on mine. I nodded with a slight shrug. I couldn’t blame her for her opinion, especially since there was so much painful truth to it. I’d never use Drew, but we were an obligation he wasn’t ready for. My feelings for him clouded my judgment, but friendship was all I had the right to offer him. I slowed my breathing to ward away the burning in my nose, the weight of disappointment heavy on my chest.

  “You guys aren’t going anywhere. Excuse us.” Drew pulled me by the wrist into a small storage closet by the kitchen. He turned the light on and shut the door, caging me against the wall with his arms on either side of me.

  I grasped his arm and pushed, but he wouldn’t budge. “You should be with your family anyway. Don’t worry about us, please.” His angry eyes rooted me to the floor. I couldn’t move or lie. Hiding anything from Drew was impossible, and I’d never resented it more than at that moment.

  His eyes narrowed as he inched closer. “Five minutes ago, you had no problem staying and were excited about our plans for tomorrow. You aren’t running, Caldwell.”

  I exhaled a defeated gust of air. Why did he have to make this so damn difficult?

  “I heard you and your aunt just now. She’s right. You don’t need an older woman with a kid dragging you down. I thought that . . .” I trailed off as his dark eyes heated through me.

  “You thought what? My aunt doesn’t know anything. Don’t use her ignorance as an excuse to bail on us.”

  I let out a long sigh and shook my head. I framed his face, my thumbs running over the stubble tempering his cheeks. He was chiseled perfection, even while pissed off. Maybe especially.

  “You know how I feel about you. That’s why I can’t let you—”

  He cut me off with a kiss. A deep, determined kiss that took everything. Drew possessed me with his mouth and his hands as he pinned me to the wall. I whimpered into his mouth as his tongue tangled with mine, our teeth scraping as the two of us couldn’t get close enough.

  “You were saying?” He panted as he leaned his forehead against mine. I was dizzy and confused and so turned on my hands shook as I pressed them into Drew’s chest.

  “I want you,” I whispered, “but we can’t—”

  Drew’s hand fisted in my hair as our lips crashed back together. My mouth was sore and bruised but I still wanted more. With Drew’s family—and my daughter—only on the other side of the door, we were lost in each other. He looped my leg over his hip, pushing his erection between my thighs. His aunt had just warned him away from me, and here I was dry humping him against the wall in his family’s house, but the realization didn’t make me stop. There was no running or walking away. My body wouldn’t let me. It needed him too much. I needed him too much. My teeth sank into his bottom lip as our kiss slowed, pulling a groan out of his throat.

  “Did I get through yet?” he whispered against my lips. “I’ll do this all night long until I do.”

  I dropped my head into his chest, breathless. He tightened his arms around me and kissed the top of my head.

  “Look at me.” His voice was husky and rough.

  I raised my head to Drew’s flushed face and widened nostrils.

  “Foolish. So foolish.” My hand drifted across the strong plane of his jaw. I always called him foolish, but this time, I meant the both of us.

  “Do you want to walk away from me?” He grazed a finger down my cheek.

  “No,” I admitted in a barely audible whisper.

  “Good, because I’m not letting you. She’ll get used to it. And if she doesn’t . . .” He shrugged as he trailed off.

  I smoothed my palms over my hair, wishing I had a mirror to fix my most likely smeared lipstick. “Do we look like we’ve been in here making out all this time?”

  A smirk tickled the side of his mouth as he brushed my hair off my shoulder. “Maybe. Your lips are a little red and swollen.” He cupped my chin and feathered kisses over my raw bottom lip. I clutched his biceps to keep from pooling into a puddle. “Another thing I don’t care about. You’re mine. People should either accept it or get out of our way.”

  “Yours?” I choked out. Heat flashed in Drew’s eyes as he nodded.

  “Damn right,” he whispered. “Mine. Now get something to drink and make yourself comfortable.” His fingers twisted around my hair and pulled, forcing me to look up. “Because you aren’t going anywhere.”

  Sara

  AFTER A TEARFUL goodbye with Victoria, I headed back to school. Tearful because I already missed her, not that I was jealous of her new family or terrified I’d made the right decision as when I originally left her in Josh and Brianna’s care. I started my last semester lighter, dare I say even happier. The couple of weeks I had with Victoria made my end game even clearer. I’d get us a great apartment and enjoy our life without being preoccupied with the daily struggle of making ends meet by the skin of my teeth—paycheck to shitty paycheck.

  I breezed into the diner, smiling at people I didn’t even know for fuck’s sake and made my way to our usual table. Drew and I had taken a turn this holiday, too. We couldn’t pretend to be friends now that I knew what he tasted like. I shivered thinking of the growl erupting from his throat whenever his tongue brushed mine. He said I was his, and I didn’t argue, but often wondered what the hell that all meant. After graduation, I was headed back to Middle Village in Queens to find a place close to Josh and Brianna. Drew was based here, and we weren’t—well, at least I wasn’t—in a place yet to be talking about what we expected for the future. I was playing a dangerous game, as every day in this wonderful man’s presence, I fell even harder for him. He saved me on Christmas Eve and saved me when I first arrived here. I’d gone from wanting him to needing him, and lately craving every single little thing about him. I painted myself in quite the corner, but I loved being with him too much to think beyond today. One day at a time was all I could handle.

  “Hey, beautiful.” Drew slid into the booth next to me and planted a long kiss on my lips.

  “Um, why are you sitting on this side?” I glanced at the empty seat across from us as I squinted back at Drew.

  He shrugged as he opened his menu. “I get to touch you whenever I want now, so why would I sit all the way over there?” His hand drifted up my thigh under the table and squeezed.

  “You sound whipped, Kostas.” My lips curled into a smirk. Drew pinched the sensitive skin on the inside of my leg, making me yelp and draw an odd look from our waitress.

  “And I’m embracing the shit out of it, Caldwell. Don’t pretend you don’t love it.” He winked and draped his arm around my shoulder.

  “That brings me to my next question.” Drew turned to face me. “The guys are out tonight, that stupid January kick-off party at Night Owls they forget sucks every year.”

  I nodded. “Lisa’s been after me to go with her. I’m not feeling it. I’ll go to the bar once in a while, but parties—yeah . . . no. What’s your question?”

  “Well . . .” A sheepish grin tilted his mouth. “I thought maybe you could come over to the apartment. We could order in, watch TV, maybe make out a little.”

  I smiled and inched closer. “Sure, but one exception. I want to cook for you. Has the kitchen been used since I brought you soup?”

  “Hell, no. Well, other than the toaster. You cook all day long. I don’t want you to have to cook just for me.”

  I snaked my arms around his neck. “What if I want to cook just for you? It won’t be anything fancy on a morning’s notice, but . . .” I shrugged. “I want to.”

  Drew cupped my cheek and tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. “You sound a little whipped, too.”

  I elbowed his side and twisted my lips into a scowl. I was enjoying the shit out of it too, but wouldn’t admit it.

  “That was the greatest dinner ever.” Drew rubbed his stomach with one hand while the other sifted through my hair in lazy strokes. I cuddled into his chest, my eyelids fluttering every time Drew’s fingers graz
ed my scalp.

  “Homemade macaroni and cheese was your best dinner ever?” I scoffed as I held back a yawn. “I feel sorry for you, Kostas.” His laugh rumbled against my cheek. I was so relaxed and contented, I forgot for a moment that we were alone. Sure, we went a lot of places together, just us, but we’d never been anywhere—only us. Carlos and Brian were out, so it was Drew, me, and the flicker of the TV I wasn’t paying attention to.

  “I’ve never had it that good. Honestly.” He rested his chin on the top of my head. “Having a chef for a girlfriend is awesome.”

  I pushed off Drew’s chest and shook my head. “No, I’m not.”

  He held my gaze with a smirk before sliding his hands under my arms and pulling me on top of him. “You’re not what? You’re not a chef or you’re not my girlfriend?”

  “I’m a student,” I whispered so close to his lips, they almost brushed. “Nowhere near being a chef, yet.”

  My breathing hitched as he cupped my neck. I stilled at the heady realization that once his lips touched mine, there was nothing or no one to stop us. Excitement and terror pulsed through my veins and made the room spin around me.

  “But you’re mine, Sara. All . . .” He kissed my chin and dragged his lips down my neck. “Fucking . . .” My body sagged from the wet, open-mouthed trail of kisses across my collarbone. My fingers threaded into Drew’s hair as his lips and his tongue continued their pursuit, devouring every inch of skin before reaching my earlobe. A whimper escaped me when he clutched my hips and pulled me even closer. He was warm, beautiful, and hard—everywhere. I rocked back and forth, savoring the friction of his pulsing erection against my clit. He growled and lifted his hips to meet the movements of mine. It’d been so long, and I wanted him so much. Every cell in my body buzzed with want.

  “Mine. All mine, baby.” His hands drifted down my back and landed on my ass, grabbing both cheeks and slowing the rhythm down to an aching pace.

  “Kiss me,” he hissed, his eyes dark and hooded.

  I crashed my lips into his, still writhing on top of him and moaning into his mouth. Heat pooled between my legs and seeped through my leggings. Before I knew it, my back fell onto the couch cushions and Drew leaned over me, his breaths heavy and quick. “We don’t have to do anything you aren’t ready for.” He gave me a slow, sensual kiss as he settled between my legs. “I just want to make you feel good.” His hand drifted up my shirt, cupping my breasts and making soft circles around the outline of my nipple, now rigid and piercing through the lace of my bra. He brought his lips back to mine, delving his tongue across the seam of my lips before sliding it inside with deep strokes. A throbbing grew in my core and rippled up my spine. Drew was about to make me come by only kissing me.

  “Drew,” I groaned his name. My hips bucked off the couch, searching for the release my soaked and swollen core cried out for. He smiled against my lips before tracing the waistband of my pants, slipping one finger inside the stretchy fabric and gliding it along my stomach. I gasped into his mouth as his fingers moved lower, inching inside with a tentative touch as if waiting for the point I’d tell him to stop.

  I broke away from the kiss, my cheeks hot and damp. “Touch me. Please, Drew . . . touch . . . oh, God . . .”

  His hand glided over my slick flesh, his thumb drawing sweet and slow circles around my clit.

  “Sara,” he grunted as his calloused fingers slid inside me. “You’re so fucking wet . . .”

  “Harder, Drew. All of it, harder.” A guttural moan escaped him before he pushed the hem of my shirt up to my neck and pulled at the lace of my bra until I spilled over the cups. He sucked one nipple into his mouth, pulling at the bud with his teeth.

  “So beautiful,” he murmured as his tongue trailed to my other breast, tracing circles around that nipple before closing his lips over it. The silk of his tongue, combined with the bristles of stubble around his lips, was an overwhelming but delicious contradiction. I wanted his mouth all over me. My hips bucked off the couch, urging him lower, but he wouldn’t budge. Drew rained open-mouthed kisses down my chest and over my stomach as his hand moved between my legs, drifting back and forth over my soaked folds. My clit was hard and swollen under his thumb, and one more little circle would make me fall apart underneath him. Was this what it was like to be worshipped? To have your body glorified by a man’s touch? My sex life was a fuzzy memory, and from what I could recall it was . . . nice. Drew’s lips and tongue tracing every crevice of my body wasn’t nice—it was mind-blowing. My legs didn’t quiver, and I didn’t ache to the point of torture before Drew put his hands on my body. Sex with this man would ruin me—as if he didn’t ruin me enough already.

  “All right, Gorgeous. I’ll give you what you want.” He hooked his thumbs on the sides of my panties and inched them down my legs, over my knees, torturing me with his mouth all the way to my ankles until he pulled them off and threw them on the floor. I peered down at Drew’s grin as he flattened his tongue and gave me one long lick. Sounds I didn’t know I was capable of fell from my lips as ripples started up again in my spine.

  I sat up on my elbows and watched as Drew’s tongue zigzagged along my core, touching a different sweet spot each time. My eyes blurred at the hot as hell sight in front of me. I grabbed a fistful of his hair as I cried out his name. I was right there, so close it hurt, but as much as I squirmed, he never upped the friction. He ate me like a delicacy, but I wanted to be devoured. I wanted lips, teeth, and punishing tongue as he possessed me. Sweat poured down my face as the fucker gave me a smile. His hooded eyes locked with mine as he wrapped his lips around my clit and sucked hard.

  “Jesus, Drew . . .” My head fell back as he inched it out of his mouth and then latched onto it again—only harder.

  “I always knew you’d be sweet like this.” He twisted two fingers inside me and pulled them out, my body jerking at the loss. He grinned, his lips and chin soaked with what he did to me. “You love my mouth, don’t you, baby?” he whispered against my core, peppering kisses all over me before sliding his tongue all the way inside. I mewled, unsure of how much more of this I could take. Holy shit, I was about to split in half.

  Drew’s fingers dug into my thighs as he thrusted in and out, the muscles in his arms tense and bulging as he held my body in place.

  “Tell me, do you like this?” He swirled his tongue around my clit, drawing out a desperate whimper as any words I had were gone. “Or this?” His tongue once again plunged inside me as he pressed his thumb onto my clit. My whole body went stiff as I shattered into a thousand pieces.

  “That’s it, baby. Give it to me. All of it.” His lips found my clit again, licking and sucking until my legs flailed back and forth, my body limp and spent. His throaty chuckle rumbled against my stomach before he crawled up to give me a slow kiss. I always avoided kissing after a man did that to me but tasting myself on Drew’s tongue sparked tingles between my legs.

  “You’re gorgeous when you come. I can’t wait to be inside you.” His words fanned against my neck, making every little hair stand straight up.

  Once I could open my eyes, I dove right for his belt buckle, unable to open it with my quivering, impatient hands.

  He caught my wrist and shook his head. “Not tonight.” My hands dropped to my sides. Not tonight? Drew was so hard he wasn’t only tenting his jeans, the inside of the zipper jutted out of his fly and seemed ready to burst open.

  “This was about you.” He flipped us over, bringing me back on top of him. “When we . . . get there, I’ll own you, and you’ll own me.” He tapped my chin and brushed my lips, peering at me with more adoration than desire this time. “And there’ll really be no going back.”

  Sara

  “THIS IS GOING to be the longest semester ever,” Valerie, one of the other internship students at the restaurant, lamented as she took a long pull of her beer. She somehow convinced me to have a drink at the bar next door after our shift was over. I thought it would be just us, but she invited our boss, Aaron,
on the way out. He sat beside us, quietly sipping from his beer mug. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up when I felt his focus turn to me for most of the night, but I did my best to ignore it.

  “It’s going to be harder, that’s for sure.” I nodded while playing with the label on my own bottle of beer. “I like that we’re finally getting to the good stuff. All the dishes we made tonight, we’re finally doing more than just observing. It’s exciting.” My mouth split into a wide grin before taking a quick swig. I meant every word. I was still assisting but getting a real feel of what it would be like to be a chef. The fast pace, the intensity, I loved it all.

  My intention was to nurse one beer for a little while and head out. Instead of making excuses when one of my friends or classmates asked me to come out anywhere, I tried to oblige, within reason. I was exhausted and only wanted to hang out with my bed tonight, but thought making a quick appearance wouldn’t hurt. I never felt socially obligated before, but I liked having friends, or at least people I was friendly with.

  “I like the excitement, Sara.” Aaron smiled at me, and again, something about the way his eyes lingered made me uncomfortable. His father officially owned the restaurant, but Aaron managed the employees. He was a sweet guy, slightly shorter than me and on the stocky side. I’d noticed as of late he was overly attentive to me. He’d taken to lingering in the back when I was working, attempting uncomfortable small talk. I could have killed Valerie for asking him to join us. I’d lost count of the managers who’d hit on me during all the waitressing jobs I’d had, and I always set them straight right away. Sometimes they backed off, but many times they made my life hell to the point I had to look for something else. Something else wasn’t an option for me. I needed this internship and job for the next few months, and I hoped ignoring Aaron’s staring and the skin crawl it caused would work for the time being.

  I offered a stiff smile back and diverted my attention toward the back of the bar. It was different than Night Owls, more sport than student-oriented with giant TV screens covering most of the walls. My eyes scanned the room and widened when they landed on something familiar. Or someone. Drew sat at one of the tables in the back with what looked like Carlos and Brian next to him, and a blonde girl on his lap. She threw her head back in laughter at something he said and nudged his chest. I reached for my beer and downed almost half as I glared at the awful scene unfolding in front of me. The air stilled in my lungs, but I couldn’t look away. She was gorgeous and cozy as she snuggled against him, her arm draped over his neck, as if they’d done this a million times before. How could he do this?