by Rina Gray
Warmth spread throughout her chest. She leaned in. “Imagine what?”
He shook his head. “Dangerous thoughts. I’ll keep them to myself.”
She rolled her eyes, frustrated that he wouldn’t say how he felt. It was her fault. She was the one who’d asked him to take it slow. And he had. Reeeeal slow. So slow, he was giving twelve-year-old choirboys a run for their money. She might not have been ready for sex, but she was ready for something. It was apparent that she would have to take the initiative.
“What if I don’t want you to keep your thoughts to yourself?”
Nathan clenched his jaw. “I’m trying to be good, Peaches.”
Screw being good. “I promise I won’t be scandalized. I want to know. No, I need to know, Nathan.” She heard the urgency in her voice, but she didn’t care.
He leaned in closer. “Fine. I wanted to jerk you away from that pretty boy. Take you to my place, or hell, maybe even the nearest room, privacy optional, and feast on you. Your lips are sweet, baby, but I’m guessing your other lips are sweeter.”
Tiana clutched her necklace. “Oh, my—”
“I’m not done.” His chocolate eyes glowed as he whispered the rest. “After I ate you better than a birthday cake ice cream that you so love, I’d turn you around, bend you over and fuck that smug look you used to have off your face.”
Yes, please. Warmth spread again, this time at her core as she imagined his luscious lips locked on hers. She craved to reenact his fantasy.
“How about we try the first thing? We can work our way up to the second fantasy.”
His eyes ignited. “After dinner?”
Screw recreating memories at Diago’s. “No. Now. I can’t wait, and I don’t want to. Unless … ” She moistened her lips. “Unless you’re too hungry to leave.”
Standing abruptly from his chair, it nearly toppled over. Tiana stood and threw her napkin on the table.
“Is everything okay?” A petite young woman with mousy brown hair took them in. Her eyes looked concerned.
He rushed to Tiana’s side of the table and grabbed her hand. “Sorry. We’ve gotta go.”
Tiana laughed at the server’s comical expression. “Slow down, Nathan.” She demanded as he dragged her past the hostess station and toward the entrance. “We have all night.”
He pushed the doors to the restaurant open and then stopped in front of the building. “The woman of my dreams just told me she would reenact one of my dreams. I’m about to burst out of my pants.” He tilted her chin and devoured her lips. “Fuck slowing down.”
• • •
Nathan’s heartbeat tripled as the cab driver dropped him and Tiana in front of his condo.
He gently traced patterns on the palm of her hand as they walked through the lobby and to his home. He’d promised himself that if he ever had a chance to get Tiana to return to his apartment, he’d make her his. He’d make up for the words he’d said and the way he’d treated her during Massage-gate.
Fighting against his desire to toss her on the couch and lick her clean, he led her to his bedroom. Tiana, who was oddly quiet, sat on his king bed. The bed dipped lower when he settled beside her. He wanted to peel off the hot pink maxi dress. He wanted to worship her body. But most of all, he wanted to thank her for her trust.
Turning to face her, he kissed her bare shoulder, moving up to her neck, and then the corner of her lips.
Her taut body melted. “Nathan,” she sighed in a wispy and reverent tone.
He pulled her to the edge of the bed and did just as he desired. He peeled off her dress, revealing sexy pink and blue lacy lingerie.
She glanced at him under hooded lashes. “I-I’m … not ready to get fully, umm … naked,” her hoarse voice whispered.
“That’s fine, baby.” His hands settled just above her core. “But you may want to step out of your panties. He rubbed his fingers against them. “They’re already soaked.”
She nodded. “You do it.” Grabbing hold of her underwear, he rolled the thong panties down her long legs.
He stared at her. Cleanly shaved. Just as I imagined. “Thank you,” he said, right before diving in. Tiana’s juices poured like honey into his mouth. Sweet and hot and juicy. Until this moment, he hadn’t realized just how fitting his nickname “Peaches” had been for Tiana.
Her moans and writhing spurred him further. Pulling her closer, he wrapped her legs around his shoulders as he licked, twirled, and, he hoped, tortured her with his tongue. Her heels dug into his shoulder blades and she canted her hips further into his mouth.
“Nathan I … I’m coming!”
Her body wracked with shudders, but he couldn’t stop. He wanted to drive her to insanity.
“P-please, Nathan,” she whimpered, her body now limp.
Lifting himself up, he leaned over an exhausted Tiana, her eyes closed with a small, satisfied smile.
“Thanks for being better than the fantasy.”
He stood from the bed and adjusted his stiff dick.
“Where are you going?” she asked in an imperious tone that did nothing to soften his hard-on.
To go take care of myself. “I need to go to the bathroom, Peaches.”
She licked her lips. “But I didn’t tell you my fantasy.”
He wanted to clutch his dick. If he got any harder, there would be a permanent peephole in his pants. “What’s your fantasy, Peaches?”
She crawled on her knees toward him. “Reader’s Digest version is me, on my knees, and you, in my mouth.”
He whipped off his belt, jerked down his zipper, and shoved away his pants. “Let me make your dreams come true.”
• • •
Wrapped in a cozy blanket, Tiana snuggled into her comfy queen bed. She grabbed her laptop and stared at the blue screen. Tonight, she’d ask her siblings about celebrating Thanksgiving with Nathan and his family.
She wasn’t all that fired up about introducing him as her boyfriend. A brand-new relationship, plus the twins’ insatiable need to drive away men they deemed unworthy of their big sister equaled trouble. Thank God they never met Greg.
Drawing a deep breath, she clicked the video chat open. After a few short beeps, Courtney and then Casey answered.
“Hold up, sis,” Courtney greeted in a breathless voice and smile. She raised her hands in the air and bent over at her waist, resuming some sort of exercise routine.
Casey threw his hands in the air. “C’mon, I ain’t got all night!” he whined.
Tiana bristled at his grammar. “You don’t have all night. Surely your Ivy League education at Yale has taught you the difference.”
Her brother muttered something under his breath.
“Three, two, one! Okay, I’m back.” Her sister’s face came back into view, braids swinging against the screen.
“I can call back. Did I catch you at a bad time?” Tiana asked, ready to stall their soon-to-be awkward conversation.
“No, no. I popped in an exercise DVD and thought I had enough time to finish. We haven’t talked in forever!”
Dipping her chin, she frowned. “And whose fault is that, young lady?”
Casey smirked, and Tiana pointed her finger. “You, too, Casey. Seems you both never have time for your old hag of a sister.”
He rolled his eyes. “You know we love you, yadda, yadda, yadda.”
“Of course we do, Tee-tee!” Courtney’s toothy grin covered the screen. “Why, Casey and I were just talking about how we’re going to make sure we put you in the most expensive old-folks’ home in twenty years.”
“Hardy-har-har. I’ll be the ripe old age of forty-nine.” She rubbed her sweaty hands on her lap. “Anyway, I called you guys to discuss Thanksgiving.”
Her brother leaned back in his chair. “What’s there to talk about? We’re still coming. You’re still cooking, and we’re still eating you out of house and home.”
Tiana laughed, knowing full well he secretly loved to cook and would be helping her in the kitchen.
/>
Courtney rubbed her hands together. “And since we’re twenty-one, you promised we could drink this year. I want you to try my signature cocktail.”
Tiana’s attention snapped to her little sister. “Signature cocktail? You just hit the legal age a few months ago. How in the world do you already have a signature cocktail?”
“I, uh, well, you know … ”
Casey tried to save his sister. “We’re college students. College students drink from time to time.”
Tiana crossed her arms. “I didn’t drink until I was the legal age.” Sighing, she massaged her temples. “It’s too late for a lecture, but I expect you both to be careful and refrain from doing something that would jeopardize your lives or scholarships.”
“We won’t,” they both agreed in droll voices.
Tiana nodded. “All right … back to Thanksgiving. I, that is, we were, um, invited to celebrate Thanksgiving in Connecticut.”
“Oh.” Courtney’s brows wrinkled. “With Melly and her new boo thang?”
“Ummm, no, not Melanie and Damien, although the offer was extended.”
Her sister leaned forward, her face nearly a blur on screen. “Who then?”
“With, well, with my boo thang, Nathan.” Boo thang was putting it lightly after the night they spent over the weekend. They hadn’t had sex, but they’d done just about everything else.
Courtney tilted her head. “Who the heck is he? Sounds familiar. And why didn’t you mention him last time we spoke?”
Casey smacked his hand on his forehead. “It’s that guy that kept calling me Simba. Courtney, he’s the dude I told you about.”
“The one who took care of Tee-tee?”
“Yeah, well, after he lied about who he was. I guess he did take care of her.”
Tiana snapped her fingers. “Hello, children. Still here. Anyway, no pressure. We can still do the Holliday-only Thanksgiving celebration.”
Courtney shook her head, a gleam igniting her eyes. “Oh, no. We most definitely will be meeting your boo thang.”
• • •
Tiana rubbed the back of her neck and blew a cleansing breath as she took in the estate, better known as Nathan’s childhood home. If Melanie’s parents weren’t millionaires, Tiana would’ve been intimidated by the roundabout driveway and looming stucco mansion surrounded by manicured lawn.
This was it. The Hollidays meet the Lawsons. Twisting in the driver seat of her rental, she faced the twins. “Guys, please, please, please be on your best behaviors.”
From the back, Courtney huffed a breath and tilted her nose in the air. Oh, no. She was going to do her horrible British accent.
“Best behavior, she says. As if we’re savages raised amongst wolves. Did you hear that, dearest brother?”
“That I did, sister, sharer of my mother’s womb,” Casey’s deep voice answered in an equally terrible British accent. “Though our mother was an alcoholic and drug addict, can we not rise above our circumstances? Will we always be marked by her sins?”
Tiana sliced a hand in the air. “All right, I get it. I’ve had enough of Shakespeare from the ‘hood. Let’s move.”
Her sister whistled as she stepped out the car. “Nice digs. You could do worse.” She nudged Tiana.
Tiana pinched Courtney’s side. Hard to do without an ounce of fat on her lean and trim sister, but she managed.
“Ow!”
“Oh, hush. Your bony-ass elbow poking my side was worse,” Tiana whispered as they approached the door. Before she could ring the bell, the robin’s egg blue door swung open.
“Peaches.” Nathan pulled her close. He inhaled as he placed a gentle kiss on her neck and then swung her around to face the music. Courtney looked amused. Casey looked pissed. “Simba.” Nathan stuck out his hand for a shake.
After a few beats, her brother accepted. “Don’t swing my sister around. You’re gonna break her neck,” he said with a bit more bass in his voice than usual.
Courtney cleared her throat and smiled.
Nathan focused his attention on her sister. “And you must be the brilliant future scientist, Courtney.”
Tossing her braids, she gave him a dazzling smile. “Oh, yeah, Tee-tee.” Her sister nudged her side again. “You could do much worse.”
• • •
Nathan shook his head and smiled at his nervous little Georgia peach. She was all “yes, sirs” and “no ma’ams.” After a few hours, she finally relaxed around Pops. Not surprising that his father, an ace at putting people at ease, got her to laugh and enjoy herself.
Tiana squeezed her hands together in her lap, and her feet tapped a panicky rhythm under the dining room table.
“Wine, Tiana?” Nathan rubbed her tensed shoulders.
“I’ve already had my glass for the evening. I have to drive back to New York. Precious cargo, you know.” She jerked her head toward the twins.
“I’m driving you guys back, Peaches.”
“You are?”
“Pops picked me up and drove us here. Drink up, if you want.”
“Try my signature drink, Tee-tee,” Courtney yelled from the other side of the room.
“Like I already said … you don’t get to have signature drinks. Not until you’re in your late twenties or early thirties!”
Her sister gave Tiana a sweet smile and then tilted her head. “Like you?”
“Smart ass,” she mumbled under her breath.
“Dinner is ready!” Martha announced from the kitchen. “Courtney and Casey, can you help me bring the dishes in the dining room?”
“Of course, Mrs. Lawson.” Casey unfolded his tall frame from the couch with Courtney following closely behind. Laughter rose from the kitchen, and Nathan wasn’t sure who was charming whom.
His stepmother seemed to be basking in having Thanksgiving guests, and Pops had been regaling them with stories of growing up in Virginia and Nathan’s childhood.
The twins also shared stories, mostly centered around Tiana.
His chest swelled with pride. He’d had an inkling before, but after hearing stories about how Tiana had sacrificed her teenaged years to raise them, he knew she was sweet to the core. She did everything a good mother would—read them stories when they were kids, attended parent-teacher conferences, and made sure they were well fed and dressed. And somehow, she was able to maintain high grades in her high school honors classes.
Tiana shrugged it off, claiming that her best friend Melanie and her parents had helped them over the years. But the twins wouldn’t allow their sister’s modesty.
Anyone who walked up to one of them and said that Tiana didn’t walk on water and fart sunshine would get sucker punched.
Dinner was lively, and Tiana eventually relaxed. Afterward, they all sat together in the formal room to play several rounds of Taboo.
Eventually, Tiana yawned against his shoulders. “This was wonderful.”
Nathan kissed the top of her forehead. “I’m glad you came. I really like your family.”
Laughing, she leaned back to look into his eyes. She curved her fiery red lips. “Even Casey?”
“Especially Casey. He’s just looking after you, but he doesn’t have to do that anymore.”
She scrunched her cute button nose. “Why not?”
“Looking after you is my job now. And as you know, I take my job very seriously.”
Chapter Twenty
Nathan stared at the email on his screen.
Interview scheduled for Nathaniel Lawson – Director of Marketing – Tuesday, December 5th at 3:30 PM.
He took a deep gulp of coffee and turned his head toward Tiana. Although the results of the campaign were a major factor for the director’s position and less than a month away, Isaac had requested that they both apply.
She gave him a tight smile. “I take it you’ve received the invite for the interview with Mr. Hart and Mr. Goldberg.” Laughing nervously, she swiped her long bangs from her face.
He nodded. “What are you thinking, P
eaches?”
“I … ” She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “I’m thinking we should prepare for our interviews.”
She returned her focus back to the keyboard on her desk. Long seconds passed as she stared at the screen. Taking a deep breath, she wiggled her fingers and resumed typing.
Probably confirming her availability. Hell, I should be doing it, too.
But he couldn’t concentrate. “Are you nervous?”
The clacking on her keyboard ceased as she tilted her head. Her eyes were guarded, and her jaw clenched. “Why would I be nervous?” Her tone returned to the imperial ice queen he’d thought he’d vanquished. “I’m a qualified applicant. I have a master’s in business, and I’m—”
“I am.” He gripped the mug and turned to face her.
“You are?” Her tone remained cautious but her eyes belied her anxiety.
“Yes, I am. I know you’re qualified and so I am. To be honest, both of us would do well. But for once, I’m not worried about my career … I’m worried about us.”
“Nathan I … I’ve never been here before. I’ve never had to compete against someone I cared about.” She pushed away from the desk and folded her arms. “I’m way out of my depth.”
“Me, too. Any ideas?”
Tiana laughed and rolled her eyes. “No. Not at all. But I’m all ears.” Dropping her smile, she cleared the laughter from her voice. “I really want this job.”
A cold front invaded his chest. He raised the coffee to his lips and inhaled the warmth. What about us? “So do I.”
She stood and smoothed a hand over her pants. “But I … ” Her eyes focused on his. “But I want you, too.”
The cold front moved, and his heart picked up pace. “What are you saying?”
“That we can somehow make this work. Only one of us can get the job.” She shrugged. “It’s bound to be uncomfortable, but we can deal. If you don’t mind, I’d rather not talk about the interviews since we’re competing with each other and we can stick to our plan. Whoever doesn’t get the job will transfer and let’s agree to each be a good sport. We deserve to give this relationship a real chance. To see where this goes.”