by Ayesha Patel
Keeping her close, I brushed my lips against her neck. Goose bumps puckered her skin. I kissed her throat again, this time with a quick lick, and blew against the slight moisture. Pree shivered. We slow danced to the music in our heads, lost in the atmosphere of a golden-lit room as a storm raged outside.
There were so many things I’d wanted to do to Pree on the dance floor that night. Now we were alone, in the perfect mood, the perfect setting. There was no other place I’d rather be, and Pree had no intention of asking me to leave.
I pressed my fingers into her lower back, nuzzled her neck. My hands slid up beneath her shirt to her breast, so firm and enticing that I couldn’t stop now. She gasped. My other hand slid between her lacy panties and cotton shorts.
Damn, she felt so good. Soft, supple skin. My tongue tingled with the need to explore. I could tell by the way she squirmed and panted and clawed at my shoulders that she was close to another climax.
Maybe she wanted more, maybe she would venture outside of her little bubble, maybe she wanted to go into the bedroom…because she reached down and felt my excitement. I groaned. She was killing me.
“Pree,” I muttered, “don’t do that unless you want me to take you to your room.”
She pulled away. Don’t stop.
“What is it?” I asked.
A brilliant shade of pink colored her cheeks. She tucked her hair behind her ears. “Um, I’m okay.”
“I’m not done with you.”
I gently pushed her against the wall, chest to chest. Her curves were perfect and yielding, the way I always imagined they’d feel against me. I took her mouth with mine, nipped her lip. Her arms draped around my shoulders. As our kisses heated up, Pree’s grip in my hair tightened until she was practically pulling. No matter, I liked the little bit of pain. It showed how much she liked this, how badly she wanted me.
She rolled against me, her breathing fast and hard.
“You like that?” I asked in a rough voice.
“Mmhmm.”
“Do you want me to stop?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“You positive?”
She groaned against my mouth. It didn’t take long at all. With her release, she was louder this time, and I wondered how loud she’d get if I were inside her. I wondered if she was the type to scream, call out my name.
I had to practically hold her up afterward. Just knowing I could satisfy her, satisfied me.
Sex had always just been sex. This? I had to fill her every need, please her. Everything was for her.
With hardly any space around us, Pree leaned back and caught her breath. Before I could figure out if she wanted more, she slipped out from my embrace and guzzled down the rest of her wine.
Backing away into the bedroom, she said, “Um, I should get some sleep. Thanks for keeping me safe…and other stuff.”
“You sure I can’t join you in there?”
“I’m sure.”
I waited when she disappeared, deliberated on what to do. I couldn’t push too far with her, but the fact that she let me get this far was huge progress. I wanted her so bad it hurt, but I couldn’t make a mistake.
I paced the room a little, glancing at her door every now and then. She left the door cracked open. Was that an invitation?
I took off my shirt in the stifling heat and removed my pants before getting comfortable on the couch in my boxer briefs. I listened for Pree. If she so much as even uttered my name or stepped out, I would be in her bed and on her in an instant.
Maybe she wanted me to go after her, but what if she wasn’t ready? It would destroy all of my hard work.
My head crashed onto the couch arm. Come on, Pree. Give me a sign.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Priya
After lighting a candle on my dresser, I lay on my right side and watched the cracked-open door.
Part of me hungered for Ty to make a move, come in, and ravish me with that magnificent body. But maybe that was the alcohol-absorbed part of me as my thoughts trailed off to rock-hard muscles and his…well, other firm parts.
Part of me was glad he didn’t come in, the part of me that refused to be a hypocrite, and the part of me that loved how respectful he was. He didn’t push me.
I must have fallen asleep and dreamed horrible things, because the helplessness and terror of being attacked escalated until I screamed and woke up.
Clutching the covers to my chest, I shot up in bed, desperately searching the room until my cognitive faculties reassured me that I was safe and sound in my apartment. The storm continued to pound against the window, the wind howled, and thunder rocked the skies in unison with lightning.
The room lit up, revealing a figure that advanced from the hallway and walked through the door. I screamed again, but clamped a hand over my mouth when I remembered Ty was here.
“Pree,” he said, his voice alert and in control. He cut across the room and landed on the bed beside me.
Ty wrapped me up in his arms, cocooning me in his protection and absolute serenity.
He ran his hand over the back of my head and gently gripped the nape of my neck. “Bad dreams, babe?”
If only he hadn’t said anything. The visuals of the mugger’s eyes glowing in the alley rammed fright straight down my throat. I twisted to face him and flung my arms around his neck, noticing he was without a shirt and in underwear. His bare flesh burned against mine. It only comforted me even more.
“It’s okay. It’s just a dream. I’m here. No one will hurt you,” he muttered into my shoulder.
I pulled away and nodded. Ty kissed my forehead and crawled out of bed, but I grabbed his wrist and tugged. He chuckled. “I’m just going to light some more candles. Or is that too much of a fire hazard?”
Instead of a laugh, I whimpered.
He found the matches beside the three-wick candle and the already burning smaller candle on the dresser. A strong glow warmed the room. Ty returned to me, drawn in darkness and accented in light, adding deeper contours to his naked muscles.
All I wanted was to hug him again, have him hold me and protect me.
Without spoken invitation, he slipped beneath the covers, drew me against him so that he spooned me, and pressed his massive hand flat against my belly. I loved the way he felt against me, and I felt every bulge.
“You’re safe,” he said.
I nodded.
“Do you want me to stay in your bed with you?” he asked.
“Yes,” I finally admitted. “Don’t go.”
I closed my eyes and savored the throbbing rush of sensation Ty’s fingers sent through me as he stroked my skin beneath my shirt. He was close to the hem of my shorts and slipped beneath them every now and then.
I swallowed, suddenly very thirsty and very awake. “Ty?”
“Babe?” he responded in that gritty voice that made my stomach twist into knots.
Those knots only tightened and multiplied when he kissed my shoulder. I sucked in a choppy breath but didn’t push him away. He dragged his lips to my neck, nibbled and licked. He slid his hand up and cupped a breast…and it felt beyond amazing. I exhaled as he groaned.
He pushed my shirt up as I shifted to face him. His mouth found mine while his hand slid down my side, my leg, and grabbed my knee, bending it. He hooked his arm beneath my leg, my knee in the crook of his elbow. He rocked against me, swayed with a smooth, erotic cadence as our kiss deepened. Wherever he touched, skin, hands, tongue, lips, set me ablaze. A white-hot fire consumed my body until I couldn’t stand it. I needed him.
“Tell me what you want,” he whispered in my ear.
“I don’t know what I want.”
“You know.”
I dug my nails into his hard, chiseled sides as his grip tightened. Ty pushed me onto my back, never allowing a gap between us, and settled in between my legs. He took my knees and pushed them back, opening me so that I could feel him in every sense.
Oh my freaking goodness!
Things were no longer a matter of logic and planning, but following my gut, listening to my soul, and letting my body do what it had wanted to do since the moment Ty had walked into my ED. I thrust against him. He pushed harder against me. Without thinking, I shoved him away and took off my shirt.
Ty looked surprised, but just for a moment. He sprang into action and met my hands behind my back to undo my bra. He tossed it to the floor and lowered his mouth to my breasts as I tugged down on his briefs. His mouth felt so incredibly good, I couldn’t think straight, couldn’t move fast enough.
“That a girl.”
I squirmed and writhed as he slowly, excruciatingly made me suffer. I yanked down on his boxers when he snatched my wrists and held them above my head.
“Say it.”
Heat rose to my cheeks.
“You should never be embarrassed in front of me, babe.”
I bit my lower lip, drawing his attention to my mouth. The words eased out of me as the most basic of truths. “I want you, Ty.”
“Yeah?”
“I want you so bad.”
He swallowed and released my hands. I pulled myself up and licked his throat, something I’d wanted to do for so long. He closed his eyes and sighed, pausing as if to savor.
First, Ty slid my shorts and underwear off in one shimmy. Being so exposed and raw made me want to cover myself, but Ty had a way of putting me at ease. He made me feel safe, secure, flawless.
With a few appreciative caresses down my body, he took off his boxer briefs.
I gawked. Maybe it was the lighting. Maybe I was in way over my head. I’d seen those things before, namely in class and on patients. But that was school, medicine, work, things that required professionalism and in no way sparked eroticism. But this thing on Ty was beautiful, arousing, and a bit alarming.
I panicked as he returned to me. “Oh, no, no. That’s never going to fit.”
He laughed. “Relax. I love the compliment, babe, but we are made for each other.”
He returned to torturing me with his hot, sweaty flesh in delightful friction. This man was maddening!
“Ty,” I begged.
“What do you want?”
“I want you inside of me.”
“Hmm,” he hummed as if deliberating.
“Ty!”
His laughter cut short as soon as he penetrated, slow, careful, considerate. I gasped.
“Are you okay, babe?” he asked.
I nodded. He was so gentle that I almost cried. He had a satisfied look on his face that said being inside me was the best thing in the world. It seemed he knew my body so well because everything he did had me elated, floating on air. He knew when I was close, because he’d stop or slow down. Even when I tried to go faster to finish this agony of desperately wanting to reach the end, he pinned me down.
Ty liked to be in full control, and he liked to make me beg. Honestly, it turned me on even more, and by the looks of things, it turned him on, too.
The rest of the night went on like this: sweet and passionate kisses, gentle touches, mind-blowing climaxes. At the end of one heck of a ride, Ty held me in his arms, naked and sweaty. I struggled to catch my breath and pulled the sheets to my chest.
Ty stroked my arm and kissed my head. “Didn’t I tell you you’d like it?”
“I loved it,” I said, my lids heavy with sleep now that the pounding adrenaline had ceased.
“So I’m your first?”
“Mmhmm.”
“So that makes me special?”
“Only a handful of guys can say they were my first.”
He chuckled as I drifted closer to slumber. I vaguely felt him remove the sheets between us so that we were full flesh on flesh. And I barely heard him, or thought I heard him, mutter in my ear, “Damn, girl. I am so in love with you.”
I slept hard. It was perhaps the best sleep I’d had in a very long time.
When I awoke, Ty wasn’t in bed, but I smelled coffee and faced prying sunlight through closed blinds. I yawned and stretched. My feet hit cushioned carpet, leaving a faint trail of footsteps. I dressed and opened the blinds, unleashing the full breadth of sunshine and revealing a soaked ground after last night’s downpour.
I found Ty moving back and forth in the kitchen, stopping me dead in my tracks. Reality smacked me upside the head.
Holy. Freaking. Crap. I’d just lost my virginity. Ten hours ago, I had railed on Vicki to slow down and not do the deed with her boyfriend of three months who wanted to marry her, preordained by their parents. Me? I’d made love to Tyler O’Connor, the American down the hall, who wasn’t even my boyfriend, in a whirlwind moment of fear and undiluted need.
I expected my inner voice to scream, “Hypocrite!” but it didn’t. My body was warm, sore, and perfect. In fact, I ached for more. This thing with Ty was my addiction. I’d fought it for so long, but now that my body had had a taste, I wanted more. I wanted everything and all of him, forever.
I sniffed my breath. Rank!
I backtracked into the bathroom and took care of business, washed my face, fixed my hair, and made sure no embarrassing stains or holes marked my clothes. When I was satisfied all was well, I walked into the kitchen, where Ty ambushed me with a kiss so deep he might as well have sucked the life force out of me. Good thing I’d brushed my teeth!
He left his hand on my neck, which was an unbelievable turn-on, and muttered, “Slept well?”
“Yes,” I panted.
“Coffee and pancakes?” He led me to a bar stool where he served me.
This was unexpected. Wouldn’t a normal man have asked if he could pick up where we left off and pleasure me in the privacy of my bedroom? How about some mutual gratification in the area of mind-blowing orgasms? Or, as I assumed about most men, expected me to cook breakfast for him?
This was more like a relationship, one that had been going on for a long time.
“Did you sleep okay?” I added half-and-half and sugar to my coffee.
“You going to have coffee with your sugar?”
“Har har.”
“I slept just fine, thanks to you.” He sat next to me, nudged my shoulder with his, and ate in silence with one of those epically adorable smiles that said he couldn’t be happier.
Ty was so stinking cute! His untucked shirt clung to muscles, and his bed head was horribly sexy. Sleepy eyes winked at me.
He sipped his coffee. “So, listen. My cousin’s wedding is in a few months. Do you want to…sleep over at a hotel the night before?”
I pushed around syrup into a pattern as it oozed back into an amorphous splotch. “That sounds fun. Is the wedding in town?”
“Right outside Houston.”
“I already found a dress.”
“Bet you’ll look tasty in it. You can drool over how exquisite I look in a tux.”
“Like a penguin?”
He laughed. The front door rattled and opened behind us. Vicki walked in, surprised and a little scared to see us, or maybe just to see me.
“Hey guys,” she muttered.
Ty gave me a look. One that said my next move, my next choice of words, might determine where my friendship with Vicki ended up.
I smiled, not forced or fake, but sincere because I could clearly see that my best friend had fallen in love and had probably lost her virginity, too. Vicki had been in love with Raj for a while and it pained me that she hadn’t confided in me sooner.
“Breakfast?” I offered.
Vicki sighed and slumped her shoulders as if the weight of the world had magically disappeared from her back.
“I’ll let you guys catch up,” Ty said. He made Vicki a plate, poured a mug of coffee for her, cleaned up his mess, and washed the dishes. Well, dang, the man couldn’t get any more perfect.
“Thanks, Tyler.” Vicki ate while I walked him to the door.
He hugged me and kissed my jaw, making me momentarily forget we weren’t alone.
“Thanks so
much for sleeping over.” I played with his shirt, trying not to molest his chest.
“Anytime, babe. I look forward to another ‘sleepover.’” He looked past me. “Later, Vicki.”
“Bye, Tyler!”
I closed the door after him, walked behind Vicki, and hugged her, rocking her side to side.
“What’s that for?”
“How could you think you couldn’t tell me the truth about Raj? That you were this into him?”
Her face turned red. “I dunno, I thought…”
“That I would judge you? Come on, we’re friends with Tulsi, and have you ever heard me bad-mouth her?”
“No.”
“You’re in love! Did you sleep with him?”
“Well…” A giant smile spread across her face. “We did.”
“How was it?”
“The first time was awkward, but last night was amazing.”
“How long have you been sleeping with him?”
“Since the day he came over to hang at the pool.” She couldn’t stop smiling.
“Oh, snap. Have you told anyone?”
“Tulsi and Sunni know. They were very helpful about stuff.”
“Did it hurt?”
“No, because he was so gentle and…prepped me beforehand.”
“Prepped you? Oh…” Yeah, I didn’t need to hear the details, although the thought reminded me of what Ty and I had done last night. That had been good prep. The main event had been even better.
Vicki snapped her fingers in my face. “Are you there?”
“Oh, what? Yeah.” Oops!
“Did you, uh, get some yourself last night?”
“Vicki!”
“It’s okay if you did. You guys are so made for each other.”
“No, we’re not. You know my mom has Manuk picked out for me.”
“Yeah, yeah, the dentist from Dallas. Blah blah blah. You’re in love, honey buns.”
“No, I’m not. He just—”
“What? Makes you feel good, all hot and tingly? Makes you wanna drop your panties every time he walks into the room?”