“Go on, Mr. Curtis!”
He cleared his throat again. “Uh, right. There was an old man from Nantucket. He, uh, had a really nice bucket.”
I was having such a hard time not laughing now that I was trembling with it.
“Shh, Mommy,” Lily hissed. “He’s saying his poem.”
“Right. Carry on.”
That got me another dark look from Declan, who manfully and stiltingly proceeded. “The bucket was red. And, um, he put it on his head. And… and… sometimes under his chin he would tuck it.”
I was gasping with laughter at the end of his improvised limerick, and Lily burst into loud applause that spilled over into giggles.
Declan soon was laughing too, and he could barely keep his composure as Lily demanded that he recite his fun poem again until she had memorized it and could recite it too.
I met Declan’s eyes over the blanket, place settings, and mini-Christmas tree, and we shared a look of warmth and complete understanding.
Like we were in this together.
I couldn’t believe this was the man I’d had sex with a couple of days ago. I couldn’t believe he could be so hot and masculine and also so… sweet.
By the end of the tea party, I was well on my way to swooning.
I couldn’t swoon though. Not over Declan. This was too serious. I couldn’t let Lily get too attached, and I definitely couldn’t get too attached to him myself.
Declan wasn’t—he just wasn’t—the kind of guy to stick around.
He was the guy for one night. He wasn’t the guy for forever.
***
“Mommy?” Lily said later on the drive home, pulling me out of my brooding reverie.
“What, honey?”
“Does Mr. Curtis like you?”
I was so surprised I actually jerked, barely managing not to jerk the steering wheel. “What? What are you talking about?”
She looked concerned at my tone, which was harsher than it should have been. “I was just wondering. He wants to be around you a lot.”
I searched my mind, wondering what in our behavior had clued the girl in. I couldn’t think of anything since all our more intimate encounters had been when she wasn’t around. “We both work at the school, so we end up in the same place sometimes.”
“He looks at you like he likes you.”
I had no idea what to say to that.
“It’s okay if he likes you, isn’t it?” she added, an edge of concern in her voice.
“What do you mean?”
“Daddy is dead, so it’s okay for you to have a boyfriend, right?”
For a minute, I was too stunned to speak. It rarely surprised me anymore when Lily said something that was so beyond her years, but this? This was more than I knew how to handle.
“Mommy?” she prompted.
“Right. It’s okay. But Mr. Curtis isn’t going to be my boyfriend.” My mind was a confused whirl, and I just prayed I was handling this right. This was the first time the subject had ever come up.
“Why not?”
“Because we don’t like each other that way.”
“Maybe you do and you don’t know it yet.”
“I don’t think so, sweetheart. But one day I might like someone that way.” I met her eyes in the rearview mirror. “How would you feel about that?”
She reflected for a minute before she answered. “I would feel okay. We can still love Daddy, right?”
“Of course we can. We’ll always love Daddy.” For no good reason, I felt tears burn in my eyes.
It was so unfair—brutally unfair—that Nick had to miss out on all these years of being a father to Lily.
Lily nodded. “So it’s okay if we want to love someone else.”
I checked her expression and saw nothing but confidence. She believed it. She wasn’t conflicted. In her mind, there was no problem with loving a father who was dead and loving another man too.
The knowledge eased something I hadn’t known was anxious in my heart, but it generated a different sort of anxiety. “That’s good. That’s right. But Mr. Curtis isn’t that man, Lily.”
“Oh. Okay.”
I checked the mirror, and she looked content, staring out at the park we were passing. I breathed a sigh of relief, glad we’d gotten through that hurdle unscathed.
We were almost at home when Lily said out of the blue, “I think it’s a disting possibility.”
I frowned. “Distinct, honey.”
“Distinct,” she repeated, pronouncing the word carefully. “I think it’s a distinct possibility.”
“What is?”
“That Mr. Curtis is the man.”
I closed my eyes and groaned.
There was nothing I could say.
***
I didn’t have any duties at lunch the next day, so I planned to make good use of the time, finishing the lesson plans I hadn’t done the previous afternoon thanks to our impromptu tea party. Normally, getting behind on my work bothered me, but this time—since it was for something that meant so much to Lily—I didn’t mind.
I’d brought a sandwich from home, so I just ran to the teacher’s lounge for a cup of coffee before heading back to my classroom.
Declan seemed to come out of nowhere, falling in step with me in the hall. “Hello,” he said with a smile that was almost intimate.
I blushed. Like an idiot. “Hello.”
“How is your day going?”
“Okay. I’m trying to get some work done over lunch since I’m not on duty.”
“Neither am I.” There was a strange resonance to his tone—sexy, teasing, and naughty at the same time.
I took a deep breath and looked away from him. “You should try to get some work done too. Even if you’re not a real teacher—” I’d been speaking softly, but I broke off at his quick look. “Even so, you’re responsible for these kids’ education.”
“I know that. I’ve been killing myself trying to do a decent job while still watching out for Jessileigh. Believe me, it hasn’t been a walk in the park.”
I knew it hadn’t. And honestly, I was surprised and appreciative that he’d done as well as he had. Even Lily wasn’t complaining about his teaching anymore.
But I couldn’t let the softness show since I definitely wasn’t supposed to be feeling affectionate and admiring of him. “So you shouldn’t waste time you could be using to prepare for class,” I said rather primly. “There’s always something to be done—papers to grade, lesson plans to review. And I’m quite certain you have work to do for the Christmas pageant.”
He grinned at me, and his expression changed to one I recognized. “I love when you get all prim and talk like a teacher.”
My cheeks grew hot, and I dropped my eyes. “I am a teacher.”
He leaned in and murmured, “It makes me hot. That was another one of my fantasies. The naughty school teacher.”
He was making me hot too. I was all too aware of his expression, his body, the heat and tension I could feel vibrating off him.
“Have you thought any more about… possibilities?” he asked in that same thick tone.
I knew exactly what he was talking about. I nodded. “I’ve thought about it. As long as we keep it simple and no strings, then I guess we can—”
I broke off because I couldn’t speak. He’d taken my arm and was dragging me with him. I had no idea where until we’d reached a supply closet. Before I knew it, we were inside.
“What are we doing?” I gasped when he closed the door and turned around with a hot look.
His hands slid from my shoulders down to my hips and pulled my pelvis toward him firmly. I groaned low in my throat when I felt the hard bulge of his erection against my middle.
“What do you think we’re doing?” he murmured huskily, backing me up against a small table in the corner.
I felt my butt connect with the edge and shuddered as Declan pressed the entire length of his body up against me. “In a closet?” I whispered foolishly, feeling like I might me
lt away.
Declan heaved me up until I was propped on the edge of the table. “I told you it was one of my fantasies,” he said thickly.
“We…we shouldn’t…” I protested mildly, even as I clung to his shoulders while he started unbuttoning my blouse.
When he’d gotten enough of the buttons undone, he lowered his mouth and spoke over my bra. “Only convenient place at the moment.” Then he gave me a sexy grin. “Funny how that worked out, right?”
The vibrations on my breast made me moan helplessly. But as I cupped the back of his head with my hands and held his face more firmly to my chest, I managed to say, “Not much for patience, are you?”
He sucked hard on my nipple through the fabric of my bra, causing me to gasp harshly. “I’m about as far from patient as possible.” His tongue teased me. “I can’t stop thinking about you. I’m frustrated as hell right now.”
My head fell back when he started teasing my nipple once more with his tongue. “Maybe I am too.”
I was grateful I’d worn a skirt when he started bunching it up around my hips. Then his hand found the damp spot in my panties, and he made a throaty sound of approval against my breast.
I gave a little gasp when he raised his head, adjusted my weight on the table, and then parted my legs. “You better have a condom.”
“I do,” he said, reaching into his back pocket. “I was hoping you’d change your mind sometime soon. Actually, I prayed that you would. Every minute of every day.”
Feeling precarious and off-balance on the little table, I held on to his broad shoulders as he unfastened his pants. I felt wild and a little naughty to be having sex like this, with most of our clothes on, in the closet in the middle of the day.
I reached down with one hand to stroke his freed erection, thrilled when he moaned under my light touch.
“Now,” Declan grunted after a minute. “What was it you wanted?”
I parted my legs and tried to move him into position. “I thought you were the one who wanted it.”
He rolled on the condom and clamped his hands down on my hips and angled them slightly. Then positioned himself at my entrance. “I’m pretty sure you want it too,” he rasped, teasing me mercilessly with tiny, tantalizing thrusts.
Sucking in an urgent breath and clawing at his shoulders, I hissed. “Inside me, Declan. I want you inside me.”
He drove his pelvis forward, fitting himself inside me in one swift thrust.
I swallowed a sound of pleasure as he filled me with perfect, delicious pressure. I adjusted my hips until I was more comfortable on the edge of the table and brought my legs up to hook around his thighs.
“You do want this, don’t you?” he asked, his voice a hot breath against my ear.
“Yeah,” I gasped, clenching around him possessively. “God, yeah.”
On a hoarse grunt, he pulled back, pausing for a beat. Then he hooked one of his elbows under my knee, pulling me open more completely before he pushed back in—the momentum of his thrust forcing me back and up, only halted by his strong hands gripping me from behind. “Like that?” he gritted through his clenched jaw.
I bit my lip to keep from crying out, but my neck twitched erratically, tossing my head to the side. The delicious friction sent sharp sensations shooting out from my center. “Yeah. Just like that.”
He withdrew and thrust again.
My arms had somehow gotten twined around his neck, and I leaned forward until my mouth was at his ear. “Hard,” I whispered. “I need it hard, Declan.”
I could hardly believe this was me.
Sweet little Kristin Andrews was suddenly behaving like a very naughty woman.
And I was beginning to like this side of me.
Especially with Declan.
He took me harder. My leg that was hanging over his arm bounced with our rhythm, and I felt the jolts of pleasure from each thrust start coalescing into a swell of rising pressure. He must have been feeling it too, because soon he couldn’t maintain his steady rhythm.
Making little noises with the tempo of our motion, I pulled back to look at his face. I saw that his expression was twisted with effort and concentration, and I knew we didn’t have very long.
Feeling stable now on the table in the strength of his arms, I eased one of my hands past my bunched up skirt down to where we were joined, rubbing myself to speed things up.
The pleasure immediately intensified, and my inner muscles instinctively clasped at his hard flesh.
His hot, wild gaze had followed my hand, and a primal sound burst out from his throat. Declan started grunting out rough monosyllables now, and I heard him pant, “Come, Kristin. Come.”
I rocked frantically against him, trying to reach that peak.
“Come,” he grunted, this time with rough authority.
So I did.
I hissed in pleasure and bit down over the fabric on his shoulder as I felt the familiar waves of pleasure overtake me. My fingernails raked over the skin on the back of his neck. My head falling backward, I saw Declan’s face transform as he finally let himself come. My muscles clamped down around him as he kept pushing into me, muffling the sound of his own release against my neck.
My throat felt raw, and my breath was raspy as I started to relax. I clung to him tightly as the contractions faded. His body was hot and shaking a little under my arms, and his mouth on the skin of my throat was warm and moist.
He finally raised his damp face. Gazed at me for a long moment. Then kissed me gently, his tongue sweetly stroking my mouth.
When the kiss finally broke, I leaned against him, hot, breathless, and trembling. I couldn’t believe we’d just done that.
I couldn’t believe I’d just done that.
I’d never done something like that before in all my life.
His arms were still wrapped around me, but one of his hands now slid up until he was cupping my cheek, tilting my head back until I was meeting his eyes. “That was amazing,” he murmured.
“Mm hmm.” That was as articulate as I could be at the moment.
“You are amazing.” He caressed my cheek with his thumb.
I swallowed hard at the wave of emotion that washed over me at the tender gesture and the look in his eyes, different but just as powerful as the physical sensations of before. “You’re kind of okay yourself,” I managed to say, hoping to lighten the mood.
His smile broadened. “Glad to hear it.”
I was feeling so soft and emotional that I had to remind myself that this was just a fling. Sex and nothing else. “I had no idea that casual sex with no strings could be so hot,” I said, pitching my tone as teasing.
He blinked and didn’t answer for just a moment. Then he smiled again. “I think any sex between you and me is going to be hot. Strings or no strings.”
“True.” I really had to pull myself together since I was starting to read things into his words and expression. I pulled away from him physically as the first step. “Okay…well, uh....” Suddenly, I was at a loss for words. There was a part of me that wanted to lean in and linger, but I knew I couldn’t.
Shouldn’t.
So I pasted a smile on my face as I finished smoothing my skirt. “That was fun, but I better get back. My lunch break is almost over.”
“Mine too.” He straightened his clothes and ran a hand over his face like he was still a little befuddled.
But there was no way he was as befuddled as me. It wasn’t possible. “Talk to you later,” I said quickly, and then I left with a wave of my hand.
I ran to the bathroom to bring my body and my mind into some sort of order.
But ever since Declan had entered my life, all order and reason seemed to have vanished.
Ten
Declan
It takes a lot to throw me.
And I was thrown.
It took a solid five minutes before I could even think of leaving the damn closet because I was completely out of my element here. I’d seduced dozens of women in my
life, and I’d been seduced by just as many. But what just happened here with Kristin was far beyond anything I’d ever experienced.
And it scared the hell out of me.
You’d think I’d be happy, right? I mean, what man wouldn’t be over the freaking moon to have a woman who was all prim and proper one minute and a total sex goddess the next?
Me, that’s who.
I knew almost from the start that there was an attraction between us—hell, I pursued her with single-minded intent. I never wanted to get involved with a woman with a kid, and if anything, Lily was the perfect excuse to keep this simple. Uncomplicated. But now? I don’t particularly feel like I want that anymore.
Quickies in a storage closet are all fine and good, but watching her walk out the door had felt… wrong. I wanted her here with me. I wanted to hold her, kiss her… have more time with her. And even though I knew she had to leave—after all, we couldn’t stay in the supply closet all day—but there was still that element of her running from me that left me feeling a little sick inside.
Shit.
There was no way that I was actually feeling this way. It… it had to be something else. Maybe the fumes from the cleaning products in the closet were messing with my brain because I was so not the guy who was looking for anything more than a good time.
But who was I kidding. I couldn’t keep lying to myself, and I couldn’t keep having this same inner argument either. Something was changing, and it didn’t matter how much I tried to fight it. It was happening.
I was just trying to figure out which argument I was fighting for.
I straightened my clothes and fumbled for the light switch just to get my bearings. No one was in the hallway when Kristin walked out, but I wasn’t stupid enough to think we’d have that kind of luck twice. So I grabbed a box of tissues, some hand sanitizer and some paper towels, and carefully opened the door.
The coast was clear, and I all but ran back to my classroom. Once there, I looked around the room and cursed. Kristin had a valid point earlier. I should have used my time to do some stuff for lesson planning or at least stayed close to the cafeteria to keep an eye on Jessileigh. After all, that was the reason for my even being here.
Not to have hot sex in a storage closet with a fellow teacher.
Protecting the Girl Next Door (The Protectors Book 3) Page 11