All of You

by Dee Tenorio

  Right when she was about to grab his shirt and tear it open right there in the hall, he pulled back and inspected her face, rocking her back on her heels.

  “That’s better. Back in a few.” He was gone before any second thoughts had a chance to form.

  Not that she was sure she was really going to have any. The truth was, she wanted Kyle there, even if she didn’t want to want him. She walked into the apartment with a sigh, turned on the lights and looked around with a critical eye. Better to concentrate on the room than the hormones demanding to know where their favorite candy went. He was coming in because of a foot rub and a torte. Sex was not on the menu. Period.

  I’m not sleeping with him and I mean it this time.

  And she had to make sure he knew it. The living room looked decent enough, colored in sedate creams and mauve, its couch and stuffed chair oversize and plush. The art on the wall was a little impersonal, but she wasn’t changing that on the off-chance he went into investment mode and started quoting her art values. She fluffed every pillow, carefully adjusted the lights so it was neither too bright nor too dark. Intimate. No, inviting. She wanted him to feel invited, not intimate. He didn’t need any extra help getting her naked.

  Because you’re not getting naked. You are not sleeping with him.

  She eyed the couch again, this time picturing him sprawled across it wearing nothing but that teasing grin, aroused to his full, thick length, just waiting for her to decide if she wanted to take him in her mouth or simply slide him in and ride him until he was begging for release.

  Her smile turned self-mocking. Yeah, right, she didn’t even believe herself anymore. And while her imagination might cast her as a sexual goddess who called all the shots, in reality, the odds were way better that he’d have her bent over the cushy couch arm in seconds, her skirt up to her ribs while she hung on for dear life and he pumped into her from behind.

  Her breath shuddered out of her and her sex clenched tight at the visceral imagining.

  No, definitely not helping him. It always started with sex. Give him an orgasm and he’d take the next fifty years of her life, turning her into something she wasn’t. Not even for chocolate torte could she let it happen. To make sure, she brightened the room just that little bit more. Her retinas stung, but that was the price she could pay for freedom.

  A knock sounded at the door. She checked her watch. Fifteen minutes had already passed. One more glance around the room made her shrug. Time was up.

  She entered the hall, ran a hand over herself to smooth her once-crisp white shirt and gray skirt. Expelling a deep breath, she reached over and opened the door with as good a smile as she could muster.

  But instead of Kyle waiting there, she found a different surprise.

  * * * * *

  Twenty minutes, on the dot. Not bad. Sure, he’d had to blaze a trail back across town to the bakery he liked best, and there might have been a few casualties on the return route, but he had the torte and in just a few seconds, he’d have Jessica to himself. With Dory safe at the hospital, maybe he’d have that opportunity to see if Jessica was willing to give him a chance after all.

  He mentally rallied his arguments. They had a special chemistry that would be a crime to ignore. He made her laugh and you couldn’t throw away a good laugh, could you? He’d be willing to give her foot rubs as often as she wanted. The sex was incredible, though he figured that would be a last-ditch reminder.

  So last ditch, he should forget he even thought of it…the way her mouth made that soft little O shape right before she came, or how when he was inside her buttery-soft pussy, there wasn’t a sensation on earth that was better.

  No, he needed to wipe it from his mind. No reliving the taste of her pussy, sweet and tart, or the little grumble-groan she made when he licked through her folds, teasing her clit by the barest of strokes. Nope. Don’t think about it…at all. He closed his eyes, since his erection was threatening to blacken his vision anyway. Time and a place, buddy. Time and a place…

  He needed more, stronger arguments—she was a lawyer, she’d be able to talk him in circles if he didn’t have enough. He thought harder. He enjoyed her as a person and he was pretty sure she felt the same about him. They both had time-consuming jobs, so they’d never fault each other for needing to reschedule here and there. At least, until they got married and started having kids. Then she’d need to slow down quite a bit. He filed that as probably unwise to bring up until at least the fourth date. That idea made him grin like an idiot. He hadn’t had a fourth date since high school.

  He could do this. They could do this. It would be great. She’d realize how perfect they were together. They’d spend some time getting to know one another better, get married and have two—no, four—kids, and life would be complete. That thing missing from both their lives would be filled. He just had to get through this one conversation and they could have the future he’d been dreaming about for months.

  He knocked on the door and waited for it to open. Waited a while, actually. He knocked again, then stepped back and frowned when it opened. “Daniel?”

  The big man smiled. At least, it looked like a smile. Both sides of his beard moved up in a shrug. “Hey, Kyle. Forget your key?”

  He stepped inside while Daniel turned around and strolled into the living room. Kyle absently set the locks with one hand, holding the torte in the other by its knotted twine.

  “Is that cake?” Daniel asked.

  “Uh…yeah, kinda.” Kyle followed him, stifling the urge to check his watch. How long had he been gone, again?

  “Great, I’m starving. I didn’t eat before I came out and it’s been a hectic time at the hospital. A lot of paperwork.” Before he’d even realized the man had moved, Daniel had lifted the pink box out of his grasp and went past him into the kitchen. Like he had every right.

  “Kyle, is that you?” Jessica called from what sounded like the room at the very end of the apartment, the one he’d once thought was her bedroom.

  “Yeah,” he called back, not sure what he should do next. What should have been pretty easy to call had suddenly spawned into a twilight zone of bad situations. He followed her voice and looked into the only dark room he’d seen so far. Burgundy walls and dark wood paneling. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves hugged a large desk in front of a window that faced the street. Leaning in further, he saw Jessica bent over and stretching to put the corner of a fitted sheet over a hide-a-bed mattress.

  She bounced, creating an instant ache in him. She sighed with satisfaction when the sheet went into place, then looked over her shoulder at him when he groaned. Her eyes were wide—he noticed once he got his own eyes off her firm, raised ass—possibly surprised that he found something as mundane as making a bed to be suggestive. Shocked the hell out of him, too. Then again, she could be emptying the trash in that position and he’d instantly be capable of hitting the first-ever hands-free home run.

  She scrambled to her feet, brushing her hair out of her face and tucking it behind her ears, her cheeks flushing to an adorable shade of pink. “I’ve never had to use this aspect of the couch before, didn’t realize the mattress was so irregular. I guess calling them full-sized sheets isn’t a guarantee that they’ll fit, but they’re all I have.”

  He nodded. She nodded. Great.

  “Kyle, dude, this cake is the best!”

  Jessica had the grace to look pained. “He showed up a few minutes ago. He dropped everything to come here for his mom. He doesn’t have anywhere to stay tonight.”

  Kyle blinked. Maybe if he smacked himself in the head a few times, that would make some sense. “Why can’t he stay at Dory’s?”

  “She lives in senior citizen condo community. They have strict rules about visitors and they especially don’t allow motorcycles. Since she doesn’t have a car, it’s not like he can use hers to get around. Besides, look at him. The way she talks about her neighbors, he’d give half of them heart attacks just sneaking past the gates.”

  “So
…he’s staying here? With you?”

  “I thought it was the least I could do.”

  “Jess, you don’t know the first thing about this guy.”

  “I know Dory. I’ll be fine,” she said, her brows coming together, her back going up.

  Not a good set of directions. Hoping to keep himself out of trouble, he considered other options. “What about a hotel?”

  “I can’t just throw him in a hotel.” The whispered response sounded more like a hiss.

  “Why not? My parents stay in one when they come visit.”

  “Because I’m not heartless.” She seemed to realize what she was effectively saying because she pinched the bridge of her nose and tried to start over. “I don’t know if he can afford it, honestly. And he’s worried about Dory. She wanted him to get some rest. He doesn’t have a cell phone and if anything goes wrong, they’ll call here and we’ll both know.”

  Call him a caveman, but heartfelt words escaped his oddly gritting teeth before he even realized he was saying them. “I. Don’t. Think. So.”

  Irritation put a line between her brows. “I don’t remember asking your permission.”

  Uh-oh. He didn’t have to be a genius to know a swift redirect was in order. “What if he stays with me?”

  “The hospital doesn’t have your number.”

  “You will. I’ll leave you all of them.”

  “I already told him he could stay.”

  “So un-tell him. I’m sure he’ll understand that this isn’t—”

  “I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself, Kyle. There’s no reason to throw him out just because he’s making you nervous.”

  “Of course he’s making me nervous. He’s the size of a Sasquatch!”

  “What does his size have to do with anything?”

  “You said yourself he’d kill a dozen senior citizens on sight. He could tear you in half without breaking a sweat.” Was his voice rising? Hers seemed to be.

  “He’s bigger than you too. Are you Superman or something? What makes you magically able to survive when I can’t? Are you militarily trained? Did you take classes in self-defense? Do you have a gun under your bed?”

  “No.” Did all of that mean she was and she did?

  She crossed her arms and glared at him, her mouth skewed to the side, her head tilted in patent aggravation. “Maybe it’s time we said goodnight.”

  He wanted to argue. He wanted to smooth the crease of her frown. He wanted a piece of that cake, the foot rub and maybe a chance to kiss her goodnight.

  “Jess—”

  “Goodnight, Kyle.”

  But a man occasionally had to admit when he wasn’t going to win a round. “I’ll call you tomorrow, to check on Dory,” he added when she looked like she was going to tell him not to bother.

  She nodded and went back to making the bed for Daniel. Obviously dismissed, he sighed, turned around and headed back down the hall.

  “Dude, thanks for the cake. Excellent stuff.” Daniel grinned, definitely this time. “I just want to thank you guys again for letting me stay. I’ll find something better tomorrow, promise.”

  You guys? “Thank Jessica. I’ll be seeing you at the hospital tomorrow.”

  “You’re going?”

  “Yup, headed home.”

  “You don’t live here?” Daniel asked, seeming to be taken aback. “I thought…Mom said you two were a thing. I figured you were married or something.” He turned his head in the general direction of where Jessica was making the bed up for him. “Oh, man, I’m sorry. I never would have asked if Mom hadn’t mentioned it. I’ll work something else out.”

  “No, it’s okay, Jessica wants you to rest here. Tomorrow’s good enough,” Kyle made himself say, though it felt like he’d cracked a tooth before unhinging his jaw enough to speak. Daniel really did look exhausted. He’d probably sleep like the dead. Kyle hoped. Jessica would kill him if she thought he’d interfered and sent Daniel away.

  “Nah, I’m good. I don’t want to cause trouble.”

  “You’re not any trouble,” Jessica said from behind Kyle, her voice a low purr. A dangerous purr, if the hairs on the back of his neck were any indication.

  “It’s okay, Jessica, really. I didn’t know you lived here alone. It wouldn’t be right if I stayed. Thanks though, I really appreciate it.” He was already moving into the living room, picking up his jacket and his duffle bag.

  Kyle felt the spikes in Jessica’s gaze on the side of his face and he had a feeling he was going to be taking a big blame for this. Huge.

  “If you’re intent on going, why don’t you come with me? I’ve got a spare couch,” he offered, risking a glance at her. The spikes turned glacial. Oh yeah. Total blame. He looked back to Daniel.

  “Really? You don’t mind?”

  “Nah, not at all. Go ahead and get your stuff, I’ll just leave Jessica all my numbers to be sure we can be reached from the hospital.”

  She eventually gave him a pad of paper and a pen. He wrote his home number as well as the cell she already knew, well aware she was ready to poke holes in him with dull objects. “I didn’t tell him to leave, Jess.”

  “Sure, you didn’t.”

  This was going well. He handed her the paper. She folded it in precise halves, seven times. By the time she was done, it looked like a bullet. Not a good sign.

  “Okay, Daniel, let’s get going. I’ll call you,” he added to Jessica as they passed her threshold. He leaned to kiss her cheek, but she leaned away. He all but hopped backward to keep his nose attached to his face when she slammed the door.

  “That didn’t look good for you, man,” Daniel remarked while they stared at the silent door.

  “Yeah,” Kyle muttered with a deep sigh. “Tell me about it.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Kyle couldn’t quite make himself go to sleep. He needed it, but none would come.

  He tried imagining Jessica eating his torte and smiling. No dice. He tried remembering her bent over the hide-a-bed in that slim skirt. Nuh-uh. He tried without the skirt and developed a whole other problem. Groaning, he figured a snack and some hot milk might help—an old trick that still that worked from time to time—and rolled out of bed.

  Being mindful of his guest sleeping on the couch, he crept out of his room. At the end of the hallway, as he approached the partition that divided the living room from the kitchen, he realized something was out of place. No snoring. Daniel had been threatening the structure of the building two hours earlier. Kyle stopped and craned his hearing for anything. For all he knew, Daniel had rolled onto his side and was now sleeping like a baby. Not likely, but hey, you never knew.

  He leaned out a bit, surprised to see the small reading lamp on. It didn’t give a lot of light, but it was good for sitting in the corner chair and making notes by the phone. The brief peek before he slipped back into the hall showed Daniel folded into the chair, a complicated jumble of leather, denim, arms and legs, his dark head bowed into his hand. He was on the phone.

  “I need another day or two,” Daniel’s deep voice rumbled quietly. “I know it’s bad timing, Cody, but I’m not leaving her.”

  Kyle grimaced. He should head back to his room. Daniel was probably talking to a friend or something, letting him know he was going to be gone for a while. There was more mumbling on the other side of the wall, but Kyle didn’t bother listening to it.

  Just because Daniel was a little scary looking was no reason to think the worst of him. He’d been polite and good-natured. He’d immediately backed out of Jessica’s when he realized she would be alone with him. Hadn’t he come racing down the state line because his mother was in the hospital? How many hardened criminals did that?

  Shaking his head, Kyle turned back to his room. He could just lie in bed until sleep came. It would eventually. He’d even taken a whole step when Daniel’s voice picked up, the pitch becoming a deep growl of anger.

  “You tell Santos he can wait until I’m damn well ready to make the d
eal. I’ll be there Sunday. I’m here for the next thirty-six hours and that’s just the way it is. He might find other buyers but he won’t find any before then who can take that kind of shipment without needing extra time. He can wait a day. You tell him that. Tell him I’ll make it worth his while to wait.”

  Shipment? Buyers? That didn’t sound like a friend. Kyle moved back to the edge of the partition.

  “Fine. Sunday, five o’clock.” The phone clanked when he put the receiver back in place. Kyle listened to Daniel’s heavy sigh, a few swear words and then nothing. Not the sound of the light turning off or Daniel moving. Not even him breathing. It was almost as if…as if he was listening for someone.

  Kyle rolled his eyes. Great, Daniel knew he was there. Of course the possibly drug-dealing biker who was a foot taller and a good fifty pounds heavier could tell when he was being spied on. In about ten seconds he’d probably creep around the wall to see for himself. Standing there and getting caught was not a palatable concept, so Kyle took a risk and scrambled to his door as silently as he could. Rattling the doorknob, he made it look like he was pulling the door shut just as Daniel stepped into the hall.

  In the shadows, Kyle was dismayed to discover that Daniel looked even bigger. His feet were braced wide, hands already into fists, as if he were trying to look menacing. He took up the entire portal, like a giant shadow with a lot of hair.

  “Everything okay, Kyle?” he asked, his deep voice resonating in the tense silence.

  “Sure, just can’t sleep. Thought I’d get something to eat.” It wasn’t that he was scared. More that he wasn’t stupid. At least, that’s what he told himself.

  Daniel seemed to be deciding if he was faking or not.

  “I thought you were asleep.” That was a good, casual excuse.