One Week of Summer

by Amber Rides

  “Mr. Marcus,” he said. “You should have called us.”

  “I’m fine,” Teekay muttered angrily, and plucked irritably at his orange-stained shirt. “Stupid asshole spilled his drink all over me.”

  His drink?

  That’s what he was so mad about?

  Teekay’s eyes followed Jimmy as the crowd parted to let him and the first bouncer through.

  “We’re here to help,” the second bouncer added.

  “There’s the occasional piece of shit I prefer to deal with on my own,” Teekay replied, and then turned to me. “We’re leaving.”

  My eyes whipped from him to the spot where Jimmy had disappeared, then searched the crowd for Kirby. She was nowhere to be seen. I glanced back to Teekay, wondering if he’d seen her too.

  “Maggie!” he snapped.

  My feet seemed to be glued to the floor.

  “Now, Maggie,” Teekay ordered through gritted teeth.

  His hand closed roughly on my elbow, and he propelled me across the bar.

  Teekay was moving so quickly that I was practically running. At the door, he paused and growled something at another bouncer. The big man spoke into a Walkie Talkie, then moved aside to let us out. I glanced back and saw that he was now blocking the exit with his whole body. Relief made me relax, but Teekay wasn’t done with his mad dash, and by the time we reached his sports car in the parking lot, I was nearly out of breath.

  He reached into his pocket, yanked out his keys, and opened my door. He didn’t move aside to let me in, though. Instead, he smacked the glove compartment, hard. It flew open and a bottle of pills tumbled to the floor. Without looking at me, Teekay snatched them up, popped off the lid, shook two into his hand, swallowed them back quickly, then sagged against the car.

  He held his keys out. “You need to drive.”

  “I can’t.”

  “You have to.”

  “Teekay, I can’t.”

  “Fuck, Maggie,” he snarled. “I cannot drive. You’ve got to put on your big girl panties and take me the fuck home.”

  I took a step away from the venom in his words.

  “I don’t have my license,” I admitted quietly. “Maybe Donnie can—”

  Teekay drew a fist back and drove it into the car, cutting me off.

  “Donnie has the night off. I’m not willing to give up this tiny bit of freedom.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “Time for a crash course.”

  “What?”

  “In driving, darlin’.”

  He tossed the keys my way and I just barely managed to catch them.

  “I’ve never even started an engine,” I said.

  “Do you want Kirby and her entourage to catch up to us?” he countered.

  So he had seen her. My heart pinched more than a little at the thought of them together.

  “Maggie, is that what you want?”

  “No, but—”

  “In then.”

  He dragged me to the driver’s side door, opened it, and shoved me inside. Then he leaned across me and stuck the key in the ignition, filling my nose with a heady, alcohol-tinged scent that wafted from his damp shirt.

  “First things first,” he said. “The parts.”

  He slid a hand down my left leg, grabbed my foot, and pushed it onto a lever.

  “Clutch,” he stated. “You’ll need to push that in if you want to shift gears.”

  He moved on to my right foot.

  “Gas,” he said, then shifted my foot once more. “Brake. Don’t get those two mixed up.”

  Already my heart was hammering in my chest and we hadn’t even turned the key.

  Teekay righted himself and met my terrified gaze. “Repeat it.”

  “Gas, brake, clutch,” I breathed nervously.

  “Good.”

  He slammed my door shut, then strode to the passenger side and climbed inside. He took my hand and placed it over the knob just in front of the center console.

  “Gears,” he said.

  “Gears,” I repeated.

  “All right. Push in the clutch and the brake at the same time, then turn the key.”

  I did as he instructed and was pleasantly surprised that the car hummed to life. It vibrated underneath me. For some reason, the feeling was altogether different than sitting in the passenger seat.

  Power, I thought as I remembered how Teekay had described his love of motorcycle riding. It’s all about the power.

  “You all right?” Teekay asked.

  “Fine. Good. I’m ready.”

  “Okay, darlin’. I want you to close your eyes.”

  Close my eyes?!

  Teekay chuckled at my expression. “Relax. I’m going to guide your hand with the gears and move it into first. I want you to feel the car shift. And when you do, I want you to move from the brake to the gas and ease up in the clutch. Slowly.”

  “And then I can open my eyes?”

  “Unless you feel like a literal crash course.”

  My stomach churned. But I still obeyed him. And magically, the car obeyed me. Or it sort of did. It lurched forward, once, twice, then stalled.

  “I can’t do this,” I muttered.

  “You can,” Teekay argued. “And you will. Like the boat.”

  “Just because you say so?”

  This time, his chuckle was dark. “Exactly.”

  He had me run through the same motions again, and on my third attempt, I finally got the vehicle moving. It was still jerky and I was still shaking nervously, but Teekay kept his hand over mine and murmured instructions as we went, and I managed to get the car into second gear.

  The streets of St-Marie Pierre were quiet, and we made it to the edge of town with surprising speed.

  “All right, Maggie,” Teekay said as we hit the final stop sign and I managed not to stall. “I want you to give it more juice. We’re in second now, but I want you to take it to third. As soon as you hit forty miles per hour, you’re going to push the clutch in again, shift to third, then let the clutch up and give it a little more gas.”

  We moved onto the highway and I followed Teekay’s instructions.

  We sped up again, and he had me move into fourth gear. The acceleration scared me, but it thrilled me too.

  “Am I doing okay?” I asked after a few silent minutes.

  “Perfect,” Teekay said, sounding like he meant it.

  Now that we were out of Kirby’s range – and Jimmy’s, too – he seemed to have calmed down.

  That, or whatever pill he popped is working.

  I shoved down the thought and kept my eyes on the road. We could talk about it later.

  And I was doing fine until another car came tearing down the mountain toward us. My heart seized as it approached. With the road winding the way it was, it was impossible for me to tell if the other driver saw us, and he seemed to be all over the road.

  I screamed and lost all control of what I was doing. I could no longer remember which one was the clutch or the brake or the gas, and my hands slipped off both the steering wheel and the gear shift.

  “Maggie!” Teekay hollered.

  I tried to focus on him, and couldn’t.

  “Maggie!” he shouted again, and I felt him lean over to grab the wheel himself.

  He yanked it sideways, and with a noise that sounded like a hundred pieces of metal scraping against a hundred pieces of metal, the car jerked to the right and bounced to a shuddering stop.

  “Holy fuck!” Teekay’s curse was barely more than a whisper and I almost didn’t hear it above the rush of blood though my head.

  Teekay unlatched his seatbelt, then reached across me to undo mine as well.

  “Come here. Now,” he ordered, then softened it with, “Please.”

  Somehow, I managed to extract myself from the seat so I could clamber into his lap.

  Teekay smoothed back my hair and kissed my face about a hundred times.

  “Tell me you’re okay,” he said.

  “I’m ok-k-kay,” I stammered
.

  “I don’t know why I’m always such a fucking fool,” he murmured into my skin.

  “It’s n-n-not your fault,” I replied.

  “Like hell. This isn’t one of your rooting for the bad guy, looking for a reason for his fuck-up moments.”

  “Th-th-that’s not what I mean.” I paused and took a steadying breath. “I liked it, Teekay.”

  He leaned away, surprise evident on his face. “You liked this?”

  “Well. Up until we almost died.”

  He ran a finger down my cheek. “What did you like about it, darlin’?”

  “The control.”

  “Ah. What else?”

  I swallowed nervously as his hand continued its descent from my face to my throat to the top of my cleavage. “I’m not sure.”

  “All that torque underneath you?” he teased.

  I still had no idea what torque was, but Teekay’s voice was thick with innuendo and his hand was now cupping my breast while his fingers played over my nipple.

  “Yes. I don’t know. Maybe that,” I replied breathlessly.

  “And a little bit of danger, maybe? Underneath that control?” he prodded, then leaned in to nibble on my earlobe. “Is that what you like about me? Always on the edge, riding that fine line between risk and discipline?” He bit down on my skin, then laughed softly when I yelped. “You know what I liked about having you drive, Maggie?”

  “What?” I gasped.

  “Watching you enjoy it. I think I could watch you enjoying the things I teach you to do all night.”

  When he leaned back and grinned that cocky, devilish smile of his, my body lit up. Teekay grabbed my leg and swung it around so I was straddling him. I could feel his erection, straining against his pants and pressing into me and I had to stifle a moan.

  And I suddenly knew what I had to do to erase Jimmy’s memory. To erase the visuals of Teekay and Kirby.

  “Would you like to touch me now, Maggie?” Teekay asked, his voice low and sexy and sure of my response.

  My face was warm as I answered. “Yes.”

  Somehow it seemed like an inadequate word. I didn’t just want to touch him – I needed to. I was desperate to feel him in my palm, smooth, and hard, and waiting. Crazy to have him inside me.

  “You can undo my jeans, darlin’. Slowly.”

  With shaking hands, I did as he suggested. It took me four tries to grip the button and release it. And when I went for his zipper, Teekay’s own hands found my thighs and slid my dress up, and I couldn’t even grasp the slippery piece of silver.

  Teekay chuckled. “Easy, Maggie.”

  But he’d edged the fabric up and up his thumb and forefinger were framing the spot where my panties should have been and my heart was thumping crazily in my chest. When my fingers finally did manage to close on the zipper and I yanked it down, it was anything but slow and anything but graceful.

  And I couldn’t get a hold of him fast enough.

  I slipped my hand into his pants, under his boxer briefs, and around his hot, hard erection. I thought I might feel some relief at getting to touch him. Instead, my insides tightened and heated up and I wanted him even more.

  I tried to focus on him. I drew my hand up and down, stroking him. The attention made him – impossibly, incredibly – harder. And the back and forth motion drove me crazy too. Even though no part of him was inside me, I was dangerously close to succumbing to another orgasm.

  Oh, god.

  How was I ever going to hold on?

  My head swam as desire threatened to overwhelm me. I couldn’t take it for much longer. I thrust forward and dragged the tip of his erection toward me. And one of his hands closed over my wrist.

  “I need you to tell me you want me,” he said, and looked me directly in the eye.

  “I want you,” I replied boldly.

  “Say my name.”

  “I want you, Teekay,” I said, my voice soft, but sure and firm. “I don’t think I’ve ever wanted anything as badly as I want you.”

  “In the glove box, Maggie. A condom.”

  I reached behind me to open it, arching my back as I did it, and his mouth found my nipples – one, then the other. I nearly forgot that I was supposed to be looking for something.

  Teekay paused in his ministrations.

  “Quickly,” he urged.

  I dug blindly through the glove compartment – not caring at all that he was the kind of guy who carried protection in his car except to be glad about it – until my hand found a little silver package. I pulled it out and held it between us.

  “My mouth,” Teekay said.

  I held it to his lips and he tore it open with his teeth. The action was indescribably sexy.

  “On,” he commanded.

  My chest rose and fell rapidly as I unrolled the latex and slipped it onto his perfect, beautiful self.

  “Now?” he asked, his voice full of need.

  In reply, I raised my hips, positioned him between my legs and eased myself onto him.

  “Fuck,” he growled. “So tight.”

  I wanted to say something back to that.

  So big. So hard. So—

  Teekay grabbed my waist and forced me down a little further and whatever I’d been thinking flew from my mind as he drove straight into me, far deeper than I thought possible.

  “Oh!” I cried out.

  His grip loosened. “Does it hurt, darlin’? I can stop.”

  “Please…please, no.”

  I rocked my body against his, trying to find the same spot he’d just hit.

  Right. There.

  I moved again, up, then down, then up and down. Upanddownandupanddown.

  I took the full length of him into me, again and again, gasping each time I sheathed him. It did hurt, but in an achingly good way that I never wanted to end.

  But as I thrust forward once more, I knew I was going to burst. And when Teekay’s fingers pinched my nipples, and exquisite pleasure shot from my breasts to my core, I realized it was going to be sooner rather than later.

  Faster and faster I moved, desperately trying – and failing – to hold on to what little self-control I had left.

  And suddenly I couldn’t hold on anymore. I tightened my legs around him and threw my head back and cried out his name again.

  “Teekay!”

  “Come for me, darlin’,” he growled. “Come with me.”

  And I did, my whole self writhing with the feel of him inside me, pulsing in time with me, matching my release. Then I collapsed against his chest, my body aching inside and out. He held me very tightly, rubbing my back and murmuring in my ear until at last our breathing calmed and Teekay pushed my shoulders back so he could examine my face.

  He touched my cheek. “The way you make me feel…I can’t control myself. But I want to give you so much more. How many days do we have left?”

  My stomach rolled. I didn’t want to think about a time limit.

  But I forced myself to answer. “Um. Still two if we’re counting tonight. And if we’re not…one?”

  “We’re definitely counting tonight, darlin’. Now…Let’s get this car started again so I can take you home and make you forget anyone but me exists.”

  I eased myself back into the driver’s seat and thought of Jimmy’s cruel face, and I hoped to god that Teekay really could make me forget.

  Day Five

  18)

  Fire.

  The distinct smell of it, and the sudden blare of a smoke alarm yanked me unceremoniously from sleep. I sat bolt upright in bed. Teekay was nowhere to be seen and the whole house was ringing with noise.

  I jumped to my feet and raced from the bedroom to the top of the stairs. Acrid smoke billowed from the direction of the kitchen.

  Paying no attention to the fact that I was still dressed only in Teekay’s underwear and his t-shirt, I raced down the stairs. I reached the bottom step just as Donnie flung open the front door. I barely took the time to notice his plaid pajamas and wild hair.
Together, we sprinted toward the smoke.

  When we reached the kitchen, I froze, stunned by the scene in front of me.

  Teekay stood in the middle of the room, covered head to toe in sticky batter. Something – it was hard to tell what because it was so badly blackened – sat in the sink, and smoke poured up from whatever it was. Flames licked at the metal sink and threatened to pour over to the granite.

  Donnie moved quickly, snagging an extinguisher from the pantry and opening it up on the fire. The flames died quickly, buried under a pile of fine powder.

  “What the hell were you doing?” he demanded.

  Teekay shrugged. “Making breakfast. But apparently I can’t fucking cook.”

  “Apparently not,” Donnie muttered.

  He opened a window, then traded the fire extinguisher for a hand vacuum, which he handed to Teekay.

  “Hey!” Teekay protested. “This is your mess.”

  “I’m not a maid anymore than I’m a goddamned butler.” Donnie rolled his eyes. “And I’m going back to bed. Clean it up. Or ask your girlfriend to do it.”

  Then he stomped unceremoniously from the kitchen, leaving me with a red face at his use of the word girlfriend. And Teekay was eyeing me in a way that made a cold sweat break out on my forehead. I snagged the vacuum from his hand and flipped it on, trying to cover my embarrassment.

  Teekay had made good on his promise to help me forget about everyone but him – even though he didn’t know the details, or understand just which memories I wanted to let go of. His lovemaking – once when we got back to his bed, and once again when he reached for me in the night – was slower and sweeter than it had been in the car. It had been just as satisfying. Maybe even more so. And before we drifted off for the final time, he’d murmured to me how beautiful I was.

  But girlfriend? It seemed like a stretch. A presumptuous one.

  “Why?” Teekay asked.

  My face flamed, realizing I’d spoken at least some of my thoughts aloud. Teekay was right behind me, and he reached around to flick off the vacuum. His arms stayed around me as he kissed my neck.

  “Don’t you like me?” he asked.

  “Yes,” I said back, my voice not much more than a whisper. “But just because we…you know…”