Clearly amused by Tyler’s sudden testiness, Jay nods, a secretive smile decorating his lips as if he’s on to some intel he finds entertaining. “Sweet dreams, Grumpbunny.” Nodding at me, he adds, “Night, Ivi.”
I let go of Tyler’s hand and step over to hug Jay. “Thanks, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
For a few long minutes into the drive to Tyler’s, I let the dust settle over whatever came over my private beloved enigma, who’s now absorbed on the road ahead. A few long minutes in I try very hard not to jump to the conclusion that his sudden withdrawal has something to do with me. But the intrusive thought of, perhaps now that I’m finally here . . . I’m not that appealing, torments me. Just like a long lost toy that you miss while it’s gone, but once you find it . . . it’s nice to have but quickly loses its appeal. Five minutes is about as long as I can hold my tongue before breaking the silence. “Earth to Tyler,” I say through a little grin, eyes hesitantly gauging his reaction.
Snapping out of his brooding, Tyler gives me a sidelong glance. His own mouth curves into a smile when he notices mine. He sends his hand to link his fingers with mine. Squeezing it once, he brings our joint hands to his mouth. Gently grazing his lips against my palm, he says to my skin, “I’m so glad you’re here.”
I let out an inward sigh of relief. “Glad to be here.” On a lower chord, I add, “With you.”
Tyler’s eyes, dark and intense, leave the road to look at me. Breaking our eye lock, he throws a glance at the rear-view mirror, another quick one at the windshield and in one swift move swerves sharply onto the graveled shoulder and stops. In the same urgent fashion as he brought the car to a stop, he yanks off the seatbelt and turns to me. His hands haste to frame my face. For a stilled beat, holding my face in his large hands, he wordlessly stares at me. And then he leans in and kisses me. Kisses me like he can’t stop himself, like he needs me to stay alive.
Soft moans of need funnel through our meshed mouths as Tyler releases my seatbelt and pulls me over to sit on his lap, his lips never leaving mine. Everything inside me quivers as we take turns in dominating the kiss. Tyler’s hands find their way under my shirt to my waist and mine band around his neck.
In no time, we forget where we are. Utterly consumed in each other, our innocent kissing devolves into almost full-on exhibitionism. With his lips hovering over my exposed chest and his hands making their way inside the back of my pants, Tyler says my name, “Ivi.” It doesn’t sound lustful but rather a call for my attention.
Shamelessly grinding over him, with my own hands on his bare abs, eyes closed in bliss, I hum an incoherent response. “Mm.”
“Ivi.” It’s a bit harsher this time.
I snap my eyes open to find Tyler frowning while reluctantly adjusting my shirt, covering me.
Clearing his throat, looking utterly deliciously disheveled, he says, “A car just stopped next to us, and you know . . . paparazzi, I don’t want to risk — ”
“God.” I jolt to straighten on his lap, adjusting my shirt tighter around me, eyes wider than humanly possible.
Tyler chuckles, his dimple joins the merriment. “Not that I mind showing you off to the world, but I’d be damned if I let anyone see you so damn wanton, or your gorgeous tits.”
My instant blush in response to his words feels a bit prudish following the brazen grinding and kissing.
The little smirk tickling Tyler’s lips, I’m pretty sure, is a product of my sudden bashfulness. “Let’s go home. I need to do this properly.” His concluding kiss is a prelude for things to come.
Tyler shuts the door behind us and all of a sudden the familiar foyer of his home feels different, maybe even a little intimidating. Maybe it’s because this is the first time since I left that it’s just the two of us, alone in this big house with so much pent up longing that I’m having a hard time breathing normally. I take a hefty breath and raise my eyes to him.
Tyler takes a step my way. “Finally, I have you here.”
My next breath is a little shaky, perhaps due to my anxiety and uncertainty that my words come out as a question. “You have me here . . . for?”
He takes another step and chuckles. “Booty call?” His elated stare morphs into a serious one when I don’t share the humor.
Biting on my lip, I say in a meek voice, “Please go easy on me, Tyler.” Meaning, I left everything for you, and I feel a little foolish, and more than a little vulnerable.
He takes the last step to reach me and takes my hand in his. His tone turns lower and graver as he speaks next. “Why are you here?” His stare deepens. “To be with me?” He squats a bit to align our stares. A gentle, warm smile tugs at his lips as he goes on. “To be my girl? Try us out? Be my girlfriend? My woman? Either one, or all of them, pick one, whatever it takes to clear this uncertain look off your face.”
I link our fingers together. “Tyler.” I expel a pensive breath. “I’m just . . . It’s overwhelming. I’m really here . . . with you.”
He lifts our joined hands and places them on the left side of his molded chest. “Can you feel it?” he asks softly.
I nod. My own heart picks up its rhythm to Tyler’s accelerated heartbeat. “I feel the same way. I nearly lost my damn mind over wanting you so much.”
He leans over intending to kiss me and stops. Looking at me, he waits, I’m not sure for what.
It’s one him. One me. And so much crackling, exhilarating tension.
“Why aren’t you kissing me?”
“I’m taking it easy on you, Kiisu. You set the pace, I’ll follow.”
I retrieve my hand to hug him tightly. Resting my forehead on his chest, I close my eyes. “God, I lo — ” Panicked by what’s almost left my mouth, my voice hitches and “L-like you,” comes out somewhat croaky.
Tyler returns my hug, embracing me deeper into him. His lips touch the center of my head. There’s lightness to his voice when he says to my hair, “I like you too. Incredibly much.” He eases back a fraction. When I look up at him, he gives me the most adorable smile. “Tere.” His dimple pops out.
“Tere.” I return his smile.
“Can I kiss you now?”
Stare deep in his, I bob my head. “Please. Everywhere.” The last word is a rasp plea.
I’m lying on the faux fur rug, the same one I laid on a few months ago, when we began, Tyler and I, on Christmas Eve. Slowly and reverently, Tyler peels my clothes, covering my skin with succulent, hungry kisses. Till he stops.
I look up at him in confusion as I notice his sudden hesitation. He looks . . . pissed.
“Tyler?”
The muscle under his square jaw works overtime as he looks at me with a different kind of heat now. Heat of the angry fashion. His next words sound more like a growl. “You’re wearing his damn underwear.”
“It felt weird to wear Jay’s pants with no underwear.” I try to explain.
Tyler closes his eyes and murmurs, “I’m trying not to lose my shit.”
“Tyler, what’s wrong?” It’s my turn to frown.
“You’re wearing another man’s boxers for Christ sake.” Breathing in, he seems to try and collect himself. “Just take them off.”
About to shimmy out of the controversial article of clothing, I do everything I can to keep the smile off my lips. “Are you . . . jealous?” I blink at him when realization dawns on me. “Wait a minute, oh my God, that’s why you flipped all of a sudden earlier at Jay’s?”
“You know how I felt coming home, looking for you and you weren’t here? I thought you changed your mind. Not to mention, finding out that you chose to go to Jay first thing when you arrived. . .”
Humor leaves me when I look at it from his perspective, how would I have felt if I were in his shoes. “I just didn’t want to be alone; I was anxious and exhausted and all I wanted was you.” My eyes move between his. “No one knew when you’d be back. . . it felt like, at the time, that being with a friend — ”
Tyler nods, still seeming a bit exasperated which
, if I may, is a very sexy combo.
Needing for the tension between us to go away, I shimmy out of the nefarious fabric, sliding them aside with my toe. As I stand naked before Tyler, who’s apparently quite possessive about me, I finally let my smile bloom and salute. “Mission completed, sir.”
His constricted features mellow into a small, wicked, wicked grin that’s followed by a breathy chuckle. And in no time, I’m back on my back with Tyler above me.
And when he kisses me again, his taste explodes in my mouth with a hint of mint, his warm breath, his addicting scent, and that perfect weight of him on me. Through our kiss, in joined forces, we get rid of his clothes.
Flesh to flesh, we halt, locking our stares, immersed in the sensation of . . . us. And then we lose control. Utterly and deliciously, lose control. With every breath we draw we grow more desperate. We’re a chaos of burning passion. Frantic hands exploring, swollen lips seeking untouched flesh, sloppy kisses, tongue sliding against tongue, harmonized by moans and groans and a well of blasting chemistry.
My breath is stolen from me when Tyler sinks into me. I close my eyes and drop my head back, utterly consumed by the feeling of him in me, on me, in my body, in my soul. We move together, rocking against each other. Tyler seeks my mouth, grasping my bottom lip between his lips, biting it till it both stings and makes me burn for him even harder. “I can’t handle myself around you,” he says thrusting harder. “You have no idea how crazy you make me.” With his last words and the way he moves in me I explode into blinding sensations. My body is shivering under his touch, under the feel of him. Chasing his own release, his thrusts become frenetic, fervent. With the sexiest of groans, Tyler’s stills in me and lets himself go. With his weight still deliciously wrapping me in warmness and his addicting scent, he drops his head to the nook of my neck and lets his labored breath and thudding heart slow down. Wordlessly, Tyler rolls to his back, tugging me along to lie on him. And everything feels so incredibly right. So, simply right.
I doze off on Tyler’s chest, weary from the long flight, from finally being with him, and from the sweet exhaustion of being with him.
When he stirs below me, trying to cover us with a throw blanket, I open my eyes to look at him. He smiles at me, a sweet little smile.
“You and I are . . . a . . .” I start. Tyler raises an eyebrow, waiting, his lips slightly twitched. I mirror his intimate smile. “We’re a statistical anomaly. That’s what we are.” I state with confidence. “We. This. It never happens in real life.”
Tyler grins like he and his scandalous dimple find me utterly adorable. “And yet, here we are.”
“Here we are,” I murmur.
He tilts his head to peck my lips. “Fucking love being a statistical anomaly with you.”
“Some say the devil is in the details, other argue that it’s God. I say, it’s love. Love is in the details. You want to know how he really feels? Look for the little details. It’s not just a look, a kiss, a touch, or a hug, it’s the essence of these gestures. I call it the special attention signs; look carefully, if you’re the one, you’ll see them, you’ll know.”
- Told to a seventeen-year-old Ivi by her dad — an enlightening life lessons after her first heartbreak. An ordeal that lasted a whole of five hours and three minutes.
Who knew that starting the kettle could be such an elevating, joyful task. Or reaching up for a mug. Or waking up. Or breathing, for that matter. I smile to myself like a complete idiot as I drop a teabag into the white ceramic mug on the kitchen counter before me. I’m quite positive that even if I tried, I couldn’t subordinate my little silly, dreamy grin. It’s been plastered on my face since the moment I leisurely woke up to warm, lazy kisses along my spine that then descended from the nape of my neck down to little dimples marking the hem of my lacey boy shorts. Followed by a not so leisurely wake up. Boy did Tyler wake me up. It felt like the sheets were on fire with all the panting and burning I experienced, clutching them with my fists while my body chanted hallelujah. Making up for lost time? I support that.
Long moments after, Tyler held me in his arms as he slowly fell back asleep. Silently, I stepped out of bed, gave him another swoony glance and tiptoed to the bathroom. I can get used to waking up like this every morning. As if possible, I beam even brighter at the thought. It’s almost ridiculous how I feel about this man.
I drop two slices of bread into the toaster when Adina’s distinctive low, sensible heel’s patter reach the kitchen. Tyler gave her the day off yesterday, making sure we had the place to ourselves. Entering the kitchen with a navy peacoat buttoned up to her neck and the warmest of smiles, Adina makes her way to me.
“I’m so, so glad you’re back, darling.” She wraps me in an affectionate embrace, her voice exuding geniality.
I return her hug. “I missed you, too.”
We draw back with matching soft smiles. Adina unbuttons her coat with one hand, the other holds her bowler bag. “I want to hear all about Nepal.” She gestures to her en suite adjacent to the kitchen. “Let me get changed first.”
“I’ll start the kettle,” I call after her.
When Adina returns with a crisply ironed pinafore and her silver hair slicked back in a low bun, I wait for her at the long table with a mug of tea, butter honey toast and a steaming cup of coffee. Adina notices the coffee awaiting her and sends me a motherly smile. She takes the seat next to me and sips at her coffee. Attentively, she listens to me as I recount stories from my trip that right now feel like ancient history. Every so often, she nods and asks questions.
Tyler walks into the kitchen half an hour later, catching me swapping my pointer finger over a dollop of honey on my plate. He keeps watching me as I bring it to my mouth, his eyes crinkled at the corners. Praised be Jesus, the smile he has directed on me. I swallow the sweetness, hard.
“Morning,” Tyler’s graveled morning voice greets us.
Adina collects her empty cup and stands up. “Good morning, Tyler. Glad you made it back safely, I was worried. Last night they said on the news that they were expecting rough weather in New York.”
Tyler nods, his lips tip up a little. “You never have to worry about me. Forces of nature and majeure are no match for Eli. He always makes sure I’m safe, regardless of the circumstances.”
Adina’s lips purse into a flat smile with a subtext that tells Tyler he should never joke about safety, or danger.
Tyler and I watch her, holding a grin at the little wordless scold she just gave Tyler. She reaches for a spray bottle and sprays the herb planter by the bay window near the sink. Turning around and noticing our subdued amusement, she shakes her head with a fond expression and leaves the room, spray bottle in hand.
Still grinning, I stretch on my tiptoes to press a light kiss on Tyler’s prickly jawline. “Coffee?” I ask after he steals a kiss from my mouth, a less chaste one than the one I just gave him.
He nods, eyes eating up my sporty attire – a racerback sports top and matching, knee length capri leggings for the work out I’m planning later. Taking a seat next to Tyler, I hand him a steaming cup of coffee.
Tyler keeps his stare on me, taking a drink. My heart does a little twirl with how happy he looks as he gazes at me.
Setting the coffee on the table, Tyler’s hand trails to my thigh. “Jeremy will stay over this weekend.”
An affectionate smile takes over my face. “I can’t wait to see him.” I clear my throat. “Um, he knows I’m back, right?”
Tyler shakes his head slowly from side to side with a hint of a smile. “Thought we’d surprise him.”
A little frown settles between my brows. “You sure about that? Don’t you want to . . . prepare him?”
Tyler chuckles lightly. “He hasn’t stopped talking about you since you left. There’s nothing to prepare him for, he’ll be thrilled.”
I nod, contemplating. I raise my eyes to Tyler. “Yes, but . . . If he asks, well, the circumstances are a bit different now. I’m wearing another hat this
time.”
Tyler’s subtle grin grows a little. “You shouldn’t be wearing anything this time.”
I twist my mouth with a little headshake. “You know what I mean.”
Tyler’s hand leaves my thigh to cup my cheek. “It’ll be okay, Kiisu.” My response stays caged in mouth as Tyler claims it with a kiss that in light speed evolves into hard fondling.
Footsteps of self-assurance followed by heel patters and an administrating throat clearing have me jerk back from Tyler’s arms. In a clumsy move, I jump back to my seat, nearly losing my balance along the way. Tyler watches a tad puzzled; greater part amused. Smothering a squeal, I croak out, “Hey,” moronically giving Eli a small wave. I can literally feel the apples of my cheeks warm up. Tyler’s brief amused snort prompts me to send him a death threat with my glance.
“Miss Kert,” Eli nods, ever the image of a pissed drill sergeant.
“Ivi,” Tyler and my voice clash as we respond in stereo.
Eli nods again. “Welcome back.”
“Thank you,” I say, standing to adjust my disheveled clothes. The undercurrent of Eli’s gaze blazing at me makes me want to hide under the table. I point my thumb in the direction of the living room, my road to salvation. “I’m going to work out.”
“Before you go,” Eli’s commanding voice stops me in my tracks. His stare moves on to Tyler, “Will miss Kert — ”
Tyler’s next words interrupt whatever was about to leave Eli’s mouth. “My beautiful woman’s name is Ivi, and since she’s here to stay, I think we can drop the formality.” I give Tyler a diminutive smile. “Or Kiisu . . . if it works better for you.”
My glare meets Tyler’s smirking face, along the way catching Adina’s joyous expression. I swear she looks like she’s about to pull out some confetti from her apron’s pocket.
Eli, seeming unfazed by Tyler’s animated scolding, trades stares between Tyler and me, stopping at Tyler he asks, “Will miss Ivi join you for the award ceremony?”
Unplugged II: Unplugged, #2 Page 4