Defensive Zone

by Catherine Gayle

  “I’m not playing tonight,” he replied. Before I had a clue what he was planning, he stretched out an arm and draped it across my shoulders in yet another possessive move.

  The schoolgirl didn’t miss the meaning behind it, considering the way her face fell.

  I didn’t miss it, either, judging by the thrumming in my core. My only question was whether Cody was finally ready to give in to whatever it was that had been building between us for months now.

  Because I was.

  Schoolgirl Barbie gave us a little wave, then headed several chairs away and took a seat. At least she gave up easily, which meant I didn’t have to take a bitch down.

  She was leaving us alone, but Cody’s arm remained around my shoulders, the weight of it somehow calming me, steadying me, even as it made me think of all the things he could do with that arm.

  “This is my kink,” he murmured, his mouth only a hairsbreadth away from my ear. “Spanking. A bit of role play.”

  “The professor and the naughty schoolgirl?” I whispered, my eyes straying over to the classroom setup. “That’s your thing?” Definitely not Mr. Rogers. I couldn’t imagine Mr. Rogers taking a naughty girl over his knee and spanking her, but with Cody, it was all I could think about. That and seeing how naughty I’d have to be in order to earn a spanking from him.

  “I’m not particular about the specific roles. That’s just been an easy part for me to play, and it suits some of the regulars here.” He put a finger under my chin and tipped my face until I was looking at him, his eyes dark with a sort of need that would undo me if I wasn’t careful. “And you can surely see we can’t be involved in any way, and definitely not with anything like this, because if your father—”

  “What I see,” I interrupted, “is that my father has no business sticking his nose into my sex life.”

  He pressed his eyes closed, and his head dropped back until it nearly hit the back of his chair. “Jesus Christ, Dani. You’re going to be the death of me.”

  My heart threatened to explode in my chest, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me. Not now that I had the bit between my teeth. “So do you want me to be a bad schoolgirl? Because I want you to spank me, and I’m not taking no for an answer.”

  EVEN THOUGH HE’D told the bouncer-esque guy up front that we were only observing tonight, a part of me had been expecting Cody to drag me into the classroom station (since they called him Professor OTK, whatever the OTK part meant) or one of the other setups nearby and spank me. Instead, he stood up and took my hand, urging me to my feet.

  Before I could process anything, he was leading me back the way we’d come in, moving too fast for me to stare at the activity in the main room. He nodded as a sort of good-bye to the burly guy at the front desk and threw open the doors to the building, and it was all I could do to keep up with his determined stride. His long legs were one of the things I loved most, but at the moment I hated them.

  “Where’s the fire?” I demanded once we were out on the street, pressing a hand to the stitch in my side and trying to catch my breath. Maybe I needed to do more of Bea’s Pokémon hunting, for real and not just as an excuse to get out and stalk Cody. At least then I’d be doing some exercise, and apparently, that was something I sorely (pun intended) needed.

  He didn’t answer me. Not with words, at least. His lips were too busy crushing against mine as he backed me against the wall, pinning me in place with his hips and a powerful thigh between both of mine. The rock-hard bulge of his erection pulsed against my belly, and someone whimpered. Probably me, but I couldn’t be sure because I was too busy trying to climb Cody like a tree with whatever limbs I could get free from his demanding grasp. Holy hell, but it felt good to have him be the aggressor for once.

  His kiss was hard, almost punishing. His tongue forced its way between my lips, not that I had any intention of barring his entry. He tasted like heat and sin and all the things I’d been craving, and his hands trapped the sides of my face, angling me exactly how he wanted me.

  I flattened my palms against his chest, bracing myself against his overwhelming strength. The pounding of his heart beneath my touch was just as frantic and erratic as my own.

  Then just as suddenly as he’d started it, he broke off the kiss.

  I grabbed hold of his lapels to steady myself as he backed away, my body unexpectedly turning cold now that the breeze could fill the space between us. Because I was overheated. Sweaty. Needier than I had ever felt before.

  I needed him.

  Blinking up into the almost-black pools of Cody’s eyes, I existed in a state of shock because of how rapidly everything was changing between us.

  “You make me lose my mind,” he ground out. “Like I’m not in control.”

  “Good. I want you out of control.” Because Lord knew I didn’t come close to anything resembling control when I was around him. I’d never done so many crazy things in my life as I had in the last several days, and I might have crossed the line between being kinda-sorta stalkerish and full-out stalking the guy.

  Took him long enough to get to this point, though. I’d been losing my mind over him for longer than was healthy. The first time I remembered noticing the way my girly parts tingled when I saw him, I was only fourteen. Back then, I couldn’t do anything about it. Now I could, as long as he kept cooperating.

  He shook his head. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”

  “The hell I don’t. I’ve never felt more alive than I do when your hands are on me. When you look at me the way you are now.”

  “And how’s that?”

  “Like you want me as much as I want you. Like you want to eat me alive.”

  He smacked a hand against the wall in frustration. “Fuck, Dani. We can’t do—”

  Not willing to listen to him tell me one more time all the reasons we couldn’t be together, I tugged on his jacket and stretched up on my toes, claiming another greedy kiss as I plastered myself to his hard body.

  This time, I was the aggressor. I spun us around, pushing him back against the wall and grinding my hips to his. I scraped my teeth over his lower lip to get him to open before thrusting my tongue inside to tangle with his. He tried to hold back—I could feel it in the taut muscles beneath my hands—but he couldn’t hold out against my assault for long. I swallowed his groan of frustration only moments before he wrapped his hands around my waist and lifted me high in his arms, crushing my chest to his.

  Stupid clothes, being in the way.

  Stupid being in public, for that matter. I supposed we were better off avoiding public indecency charges, so the clothes would have to stay.

  Until we got back to his place.

  He nipped my lower lip between his teeth, and I hissed with surprise at the unexpected bite of pain. It wasn’t anywhere close to being too much pain to tolerate, and he sucked on my lip immediately afterward to soothe me, but that just made me ache for more than he could give me while we were standing on a street in downtown Portland.

  I let out a pathetic whimper and dragged myself up his body, wrapping my legs around his waist so I wouldn’t slide down again.

  One of his hands landed on my thigh—skin to skin—before inching beneath my skirt and back to cup the spot where my hip and butt joined. And then, thank the Lord, he kneaded. His touch was almost too much but at the same time so freaking comforting because I’d been so desperate to be with him for longer than any woman should have to bear.

  “I need you,” I complained when he came up for air. In so many ways. I dropped one hand between us, lowering it so I could rub the insanely hard bulge in his pants.

  Cody let out a grumbly sort of growl and carried me toward his car, not bothering to put me down on my feet and let me walk on my own. He threw open the passenger-side door and set me inside, piercing me with a glare that was full of electricity. It was like a storm going on in his eyes, thunder and lightning and wild winds.

  I wanted to get caught up in the electricity of that storm. With
him.

  He shook his head, like he couldn’t believe he was going along with this. But he was. He absolutely was, and my whole body wanted to burst into a victory dance. Hell, if he kept staring at me like he was right now for much longer, I might just come without him putting a freaking finger on me. “You keep your hands to yourself until we get back to my place,” he bit off. “And then we’re going to lay down some ground rules before this goes any further. Understood?”

  “Sure. Fine.” I nodded to agree when his look said my words weren’t quite enough for him to buy it. But seriously, any rules he thought he was going to put into place weren’t likely to be followed. Not by me, at least.

  I’d never been very good at following rules. Laws, sure, but not simple rules. Bending them was more my style, if not outright breaking them. Being the youngest out of three kids in my family meant I got a lot of leeway on things because Katie and Luke had already worn my parents’ patience thin. I’d taken the free rein they’d given me and run with it in most areas of my life, using my personality to get me out of jams whenever I ended up in a sticky situation.

  I wasn’t sure Cody would fall for me giving him a contrite smile even if I didn’t feel sorry for what I’d done, but I’d just have to figure out how to butter him up after the fact. For the moment, I’d agree to anything that led to us finally doing the nasty.

  His glare shifted to one that said he didn’t quite believe my quick agreement—maybe he was smarter than I’d initially thought—but he slammed my door closed and stalked around to the driver’s side.

  When he got in, it seemed as if he was intentionally ignoring me. Granted, he was driving, so he had to pay attention to the roads and all the people walking around downtown, but still.

  “We’re going back to your place, right?” I asked.

  No response at all. He didn’t even blink to acknowledge that I’d spoken.

  “Because it’s probably not a good idea for you to come over to my place. You know, since Jamie and Katie are next door.” I still couldn’t get over how much he worried about us getting caught by my father, but whatever. I supposed Dad’s efforts to intimidate every guy who’d ever breathed the same air as one of his daughters were having the desired effect if he had Cody so worked up.

  Still nothing.

  The guy could at least talk to me. But he was silent, staring straight ahead and only occasionally glancing in one of the various mirrors.

  I didn’t deal well with silence, and someone actually ignoring me was as good as a slap in the face. Not his best move. Not if he wanted me to cooperate with him and pretend to follow his stupid rules, whatever they might be.

  Giving him a glare that would rival the one he’d leveled me with only moments ago, I reached across the center console and rubbed his dick again.

  It pulsed in my hand, even as he growled at me. “You’re supposed to be keeping your hands to yourself,” he bit off.

  “Maybe I don’t want to.” I gave him a little squeeze. Well, little was a poor choice of words. Nothing about him was small, so I couldn’t very well give him a little squeeze. The heat pouring through his pants and filling my palm was so intense I needed to give my thighs a squeeze, as well.

  “You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.”

  “You just showed me,” I pointed out, fighting off an eye roll. “And I told you I wanted it. I want you to spank me.” And fuck me. And…a heck of a lot of other things, too, truth be told. But we could start with the spanking and fucking.

  Cody kept his eyes straight ahead, but he reached down and grabbed me by the wrist, lifting my hand away from him. He didn’t use so much pressure that it hurt, but it was more than enough that I couldn’t keep touching him unless I wanted to start a knock-down, drag-out fight in the car. Probably a bad idea.

  Once he returned my hand to my lap, he took a moment to shift his eyes in my direction. They blazed with the same kind of lust I’d felt beneath my fingers, which only made me want him more. “Don’t. Touch. Me.” Each word came out like he was taunting me, testing me, trying my patience. Or maybe that was all in my head.

  We should’ve just stayed at his place instead of going to the club. Then we wouldn’t have to deal with the whole driving home thing. Ugh.

  It felt like an eternity passed before we finally arrived at his street. He reached overhead to press the button on a remote that opened the garage door. My entire body was vibrating with need, so much that I could hardly contain myself. As soon as he parked, I had my seat belt undone and I threw open my door so we could get inside and do what we both knew was coming.

  But damn if Cody wasn’t slow and steady, completely in control of himself. He took his time getting out of the car. I was already at the door to the kitchen, antsy to get inside even though the stupid thing was locked, and he was still putzing around in the car like he had all the time in the world. And like he didn’t have the boner to end all boners threatening to burst his zipper right open. I knew better. It’d serve him right if he ruined his zipper if you asked me.

  Of course, now I was wondering if anyone had ever jacked up their zippers because of a massive erection before. Hmmm… Something to ponder. And it could become a part of the business for me if I ever wanted to dabble in creating a men’s line. Erection-proof clothing. I had to bite down on my lower lip to keep from laughing out loud at the thought.

  And seriously? Cody still hadn’t bothered getting out of the car. He was staring at the steering wheel with all sorts of concentration, like the silly thing could give him whatever answers he was seeking. I waved my arm to catch his attention. He shot his eyes up to meet mine, so I glared with all the impatience raging through my veins, not that he seemed to care. He just glared at me in return, damn it all.

  So then I huffed so hard that my hair flew up out of my face. Most guys would have laughed at my visible frustration. Cody wasn’t most guys, though. He didn’t even do so much as roll his eyes.

  “You’re killing me here,” I called out once he finally unfolded his gorgeous body from the car.

  “Seems fair to me.”

  Fair? I’d teach him all about fair—once I had him naked.

  He unlocked the door and held out an arm, guiding me to head inside before him. I gave him another glare as I ducked under his other arm, for good measure. Looking in those deep pools of his eyes turned out to be a bad idea, though, because I nearly melted beneath their intensity. Good gourd, that man could turn me to a puddle of goo in a heartbeat. And I’d happily allow it.

  I didn’t see any point in messing around any longer, so I made a beeline for the stairs.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” he called out after me, sounding all kinds of gruff and cranky and sexy.

  I stopped on the third stair and spun around to find those eyes locked on me in aggravation. “Your bedroom, unless you have a better idea. I mean, I’m down with whatever. Kitchen. Living room. Bathroom. You name it, I’m willing and ready to go.”

  His scowl was deep enough to leave gouges in the hardwoods. “I said we needed to lay down the ground rules. But clearly you aren’t very good at listening to what you’re told, because I also said you needed to keep your hands to yourself on the way home.”

  There was no stopping my eye roll. Damn, but this man was driving me up the wall—in good ways and bad. At least he was keeping things interesting. “I don’t do rules,” I said.

  “So I noticed. That’s going to have to change if this thing between us is going to go any further. Go sit on the couch.”

  Then he turned around and reached into the fridge for something, so he missed me sticking out my tongue at him. Old habits and all. Maybe I wasn’t a kid anymore, but I’d always been the youngest sibling…

  When he faced me again, I still hadn’t budged from the third stair.

  He had two bottles of water in his hand. He raised a brow in challenge, setting them down on the counter. “All right, then. I guess I can just take you home and we c
an forget—”

  “Fine!” I cut in, stomping down the few stairs and heading into the living room. Because there wasn’t a chance in hell I was letting him kick me out without getting what I wanted. “I’m going. See?” I spun around and plopped down on the couch, like he’d ordered me to do, the fabric of my skirt billowing up for a moment because of the force of my exasperation. Once it settled in place, I raised a brow in challenge.

  For a long moment, he just stared, almost like he was issuing a dare of his own or testing me to see how long I could obey. But finally, he picked up the bottled waters again and joined me. He set one bottle down on the coffee table in front of me, but he didn’t sit beside me, instead moving over to take the chair opposite the couch. “Has anyone ever told you you’re a brat?”

  “Hundreds of times. Maybe thousands. That was Luke’s favorite name for me when we were growing up.” And being a brat, I was tempted to go over and sit on Cody’s lap again. I wanted to feel that big cock pulsing against me. I wanted it inside me. I wanted him more than I wanted air right now, but something held me back. A premonition, maybe, although Dad would call it common sense, recognizing the danger lurking in Cody’s gaze.

  Without breaking eye contact—his expression telling me he could read every thought running through my head, and he wasn’t very happy with them—he slowly opened his water and took a long swallow. “We’re going to have to do something about that,” he murmured.

  I didn’t get the impression he meant doing something about my brother calling me names. No, he wanted to do something about me deserving the term as a nickname.

  He could try. I’d probably enjoy his efforts more than he would.