by K. A. Linde
I swallowed, my body a treacherous, wanton thing. “You’d better.”
I’d forgotten. It sounded ridiculous, even in my own mind. But I’d forgotten what it was like to be desired. Not just for convenience or anything like that. But to be honestly and completely wanted. The look in Isaac’s eyes said that he could hardly wait another minute before shredding this new dress to pieces and taking me right here in the elevator.
My body thrummed in response as our lips finally met. It had all the fervor that we’d been holding back. Knowing that we both had to be responsible adults and return to our commitments. But there were no responsibilities or commitments here. There was just two people who wanted nothing more than to forget the rest of their lives existed.
His hand snaked under the slit in my dress and hiked my leg up around his waist. I gasped again as he held me in place and ground against me. Our tongues moved together in rhythm with our bodies. I half-considered pushing the Stop button on the elevator.
The elevator dinged, and we hastily broke apart. My lips were swollen, and my lower half was pulsing in time with my desire. He grinned again and kissed me once more.
“This is how you should always look,” Isaac said as we left the elevator.
I laughed. “How?”
“Unbridled.”
He wasn’t wrong. In dance, I was perfectly put-together Peyton. But for the first time in a very long time, I was letting my hair down.
Isaac located our room and tapped the card to give us access. My eyes swept the accommodations. A junior suite with a large waterfall shower, sitting area, and an oversize king-size bed at the center. The curtains were drawn to reveal a view of the lit city below us. But my eyes were only for Isaac.
“This is nice,” I told him.
He crooked his finger at me. “Come here.”
My heels carried me across the room. He still stood nearly a head taller than me, even in my heels, but I stood before him with my back straight and head held high.
“You don’t need this anymore,” he said, pushing my jacket off of my shoulders and tossing it to the chair behind him. His hands slipped down my arms and then back up my waist, leaving a trail of goose bumps in his wake.
I stepped forward into him. “Then, you don’t need this.”
I ran my hands under his suit jacket and helped him out of it. I dropped it next to mine then began deftly unbuttoning his shirt, one white button at a time. When I finally reached the bottom, I wrenched the shirt open, tugging it from its constraints and exposing the six-pack underneath. The sight of his body was so familiar and yet so new. I trailed my fingers over every ridge of his abdomen until I reached the seductive V that disappeared into his pants.
I hesitated only a moment before pulling his belt through the buckle. He inhaled sharply as I undid the belt and then popped the button open. My hands trembled slightly as I dragged the zipper to the base, caressing his dick through the material.
He jerked me forward almost involuntarily, and then his mouth was on mine. Needy and desperate. He’d been holding back, and I didn’t realize how much we’d both been restraining ourselves until that moment.
Isaac buried his hands in my hair, and his tongue stroked mine before he dove downward, leaving a trail of kisses down my neck and across my collarbone. His hand found the scant string holding my dress up, and he tugged it loose. The straps tumbled off of my shoulders, baring me from the waist up.
He growled deep in the back of his throat at the sight of my breasts, nipples brown and erect. His mouth dipped down to taste them, as if he were seated before a feast and I was every course. My head fell backward as one hand palmed my breast and the other tweaked my peaked nipple.
My words were incoherent. A combination of, “Yes,” and, “Please,” and “Oh God,” and I wasn’t sure how much of it was in Spanish or English, but Isaac didn’t seem to care.
I stepped backward as he led me to the bed and then laid me out on my back. Heated moans escaped my lips as his lips ran down my body, trailing kiss after kiss down my exposed stomach. He peeled the rest of the dress down my narrow hips and tossed the expensive material to the floor carelessly. Truth be told, I couldn’t seem to care either.
All that was left between us was my nude thong. I whimpered as he teased the edges of the material with his fingers.
“Isaac,” I pleaded.
But he didn’t heed me, just left me to writhe on the bed as his tongue took over. He licked his way across the seam and down between my legs, spreading me wider before him. My breath hitched as he dipped one finger into my thong, feeling my slick wetness proclaiming my want for him.
“Peyton,” he growled like a prayer.
Then, my thong was gone, and his mouth replaced the material. At the first touch of his lips on my core, I knew that I was a goner. Utterly and unequivocally.
He licked and sucked on my clit, building me to a crescendo like a virtuoso. And then his fingers began to play the melody, inserting one inside of me and then another. In and out while his tongue finished off the rhythm. Until I exploded on his mouth, letting him taste my desire.
While I was still lying helpless on the bed, he retrieved a condom from his back pocket and then shucked the rest of his clothes to the floor. He deftly fit the condom it to himself. My eyes widened at the sight of him. No wonder no one else had ever compared. He grinned when he caught me watching him. Then, he was prowling after me.
I crawled backward on the bed and watched how he was barely keeping himself from plunging into me.
“Peyton…” he began, prepared to ask my permission. As if I weren’t already spread wide for him and begging him.
“Please,” I gasped. “Please, Isaac. I want you…this.”
That was enough for him. His strong body covered mine. Our hips fit together, as they had so many times before. His biceps flexed powerfully as he held himself up over my body. Our eyes met, locked. The world disappeared.
The head of his dick settled against me. My eyes rolled back in my head, and I lifted my hips to meet him. He chuckled at my attempts to get him to move.
“Needy,” he growled.
“Aren’t you?”
He pressed a firm kiss to my lips. “Always with you.”
And then he eased into me. Inch by delicious inch until I was full to the brim. Everything went hazy with pleasure.
He dropped to his elbows, bringing our lips back together, whispering sweet nothings as he started up a rhythm. My body remembered the steps to this dance. Our bodies came apart and reconnected. I met him halfway until the slapping of our joining bodies was perfectly in sync.
As if Isaac had just remembered my flexibility, he pulled back and lifted my leg, hoisting it over his shoulder. My body contorted into a split, getting him deeper and deeper as he drove into me again and again. His eyes shuttered, and he lost all sense of control. I cried out as everything built within my body.
“Isaac,” I cried. “I’m close.”
“Come with me, love,” he breathed against my skin.
The world exploded.
I dragged my nails down his back, leaving scratch marks as I fell into oblivion. My orgasm hit me like a two-by-four. Isaac roared his pleasure into the hotel room.
My legs shook as I came down from the high. Then, he collapsed next to me. Both our chests were heaving, and a fine layer of sweat coated our skin. Maybe we would make use of that shower after all.
I curled into Isaac’s side. He slipped an arm around me and kissed the top of my head. This was even more familiar. This was perfect.
“I missed you,” he breathed.
“Mmm,” I mumbled.
He laughed. “No words?”
“I have words,” I said, mischievously glancing up at him. “I hope you have another condom.”
His eyes turned predatory once more, and he rolled me over on top of him. I straddled his hips.
“Round two already?”
“I don’t think either of us should pl
an to sleep tonight,” I said, teasing him with my hips.
He dug his fingers into my skin. “I hadn’t planned on it.”
Then, he brought our lips together, and I was lost to him all over again.
17
Peyton
“Stay in bed a little longer,” Isaac said, grabbing me around the middle and tugging me back down.
I giggled and nuzzled into him. “We’re going to be late for work.”
“Technically, I don’t have to work today.”
I huffed, “No fair.”
“I’m going to go in anyway because I have a million things to do before we take a week off for Christmas. But maybe only a half-day.”
“Half-day sounds better.”
“What do you have to do?”
I peeked up at him. “I have some work to take care of for Kathy. No rehearsals today for me to cover. And then the show at seven.”
“So…you might be free by the afternoon?”
“I might,” I said with an arched eyebrow.
“Any interest in coming over later? Aly and I have plans to make Christmas cookies.”
My heart lodged in my throat. He was asking me to hang out with him and his daughter. That was a huge step.
“Are you sure?” I whispered.
He placed a kiss on my forehead. “I’m sure.”
“All right. I’d love to. Let me text you when I’m done with work, and then I’ll come over.”
“Good,” he said, pulling me into another long kiss. “Because I can’t imagine going another day without seeing you.”
I flushed from head to toe. “Is that so?”
“It is. How do you feel about that?”
“Right now? Like I don’t want to get out of this bed.”
He laughed. “Fine. I’ll be the responsible one. We should get to work. If we hurry up, then I’ll see you sooner.”
“That is good logic, Donoghue.”
I hopped out of bed, and he smacked my ass as I reached for my discarded dress.
I yelped, “Watch it.”
“How could I do anything else? Look at that ass.”
I rolled my eyes and shimmied back into my dress. “Hours of ballet will do that.”
“Won’t find me complaining,” he said as he pulled his suit back on.
He tugged me tight one more time and kissed me breathless before driving me back to Piper’s house.
I tiptoed through the dark, empty house and just made it into my room when I heard a parade of feet running toward me.
“You didn’t come home last night!” Piper cried.
I sighed heavily. “I didn’t.”
“And you’re still in your dress.”
“Yep.”
“I’m so proud of you!” Piper said with a laugh. “Tell me everything. Well, not everything. Ew. But tell me most things.”
“As much as I would love to do that, I really need to shower and get to work.”
Piper pouted, sticking her bottom lip out. “Come on. At least tell me something.”
I waved her off and headed toward the bathroom. “Isaac and I were together last night, and I’m seeing him again when I get off work.”
“Eep! That sounds serious.”
I paused before walking into the bathroom and contemplatively looked back at Piper. “It is, I guess.”
Piper started to ramble about her excitement. I knew why she was so excited. She thought if I was happy enough with Isaac, as I once had been, then I might make a different choice. I might decide to stay here in Lubbock instead of go back to New York. But I didn’t want to think about that choice. Or the fact that I really only had one more week in town.
My chest tightened. One more week. It wasn’t enough time.
I shook my head to drown out Piper’s ranting and grabbed a quick shower. Afterward, I pulled my hair up into a messy bun, threw on leggings and my favorite sweater, and then went straight back out the door.
The radio announced a storm on the horizon. Possibly the first snowflakes of the season. I’d believe it when I saw it. Lubbock weather tended to do whatever it wanted. Snow when it wasn’t in the forecast and clear skies when it was supposed to snow. Everyone prepared like a blizzard was coming, but no one really believed it would happen.
When I parked in front of the studio, a couple in power suits was already waiting for me at the entrance. I took a deep breath before exiting. The wind buffeted against me as I jogged to the front door. Maybe a storm really was coming.
“Hi. Sorry I’m late,” I said, reaching for my keys. It was only five minutes, but the look on their faces told me everything I needed to know about what was about to happen. “Can I help you?”
“Yes, I’m Angelica Lawson, and this is my husband, Bart.”
“Ah, you’re Katelyn’s parents,” I said, realizing immediately where this was going. I pushed the front door open and gestured them inside. “Why don’t we go into the office, and we can talk?”
I directed them down to Kathy’s office, dropping my purse on the floor next to the desk and taking an authoritative seat. Katelyn’s parents settled uncomfortably before me. They were middle-aged and clearly well off, based on their appearances. Angelica’s suit was top of the line, and her forehead didn’t move. I recognized the signs from the donors back in New York. Bart’s hair was thinning, and he wore a grim expression, as if it were his job.
“Now, how can I help you?” I asked, raising my chin and waiting for the inevitable.
“We came to discuss your mistreatment of Katelyn,” Angelica said haughtily.
“Mistreatment?”
“You kicked her out of class!” Angelica cried.
“I did no such thing,” I said immediately. “I told her that if she wouldn’t comply with my rules that she could leave, and she chose to do so.”
“You had no right,” Bart growled.
I held my hand up. “Before you continue, I would like to make it quite clear that I have every right to run my classroom as I see fit. I am not here to coddle the children. I am here to teach them to be better dancers and ideally better humans in the process. My goal is for everyone to reach their potential through hard work and discipline. If you do not like that, then there is nothing more we have to say here. Katelyn is not required to take my classes. She is required to follow directions while she is there. If she doesn’t like that, she can leave, which she did of her own volition.”
“We didn’t donate all of our time and hard-earned money to this company to have our daughter be treated like this,” Angelica said, coming out of her seat.
“Treated how exactly?” I asked.
“Like she is beneath you,” Bart raged. He stood, too.
Both of them towered over me, but I refused to rise to my feet, to give them the satisfaction of thinking I was flustered.
“She’s not beneath me. This has nothing to do with me in fact. She is a student, and I am her teacher as well as the artistic director. She has to follow the rules, just like anyone else. No amount of time or money will change that.”
“How dare you!” Angelica said. “Katelyn is the best dancer in the pre-professional company. She has already been accepted to Joffrey’s summer intensive. How do you think it will look for her to leave your studio in her last year?”
“I don’t know, Mrs. Lawson. My senior year, I’d already been admitted to the School of American Ballet in New York City.” I smiled sweetly.
“That is beside the point,” Bart said, flustered.
“Katelyn should have been cast in the role of Clara over that talentless hack who showed up two years ago,” Angelica spat in her anger.
My heart hammered in my chest, but I carefully laid my hands out before me on the desk and slowly came to my feet. I wasn’t taller than either of them, but I’d had years of dealing with entitled people who believed someone else should take my spot. I would not see the same happen to Bebe if I could help it.
“I would appreciate it if you did not resort t
o insults. Everyone who is in the pre-professional company is talented. That goes without saying. Bebe might have less experience, but she is the hardest-working student in the company, pre-professional or otherwise,” I said flatly. “If you are going to continue to insult the institution that you believe you are defending, then you, like your daughter, can see yourself out.”
“We’re going to go to the board about this,” Bart threatened.
“By all means,” I said neutrally. Meanwhile, I was holding back the scream threatening to break free from my lungs.
“We’ll have your job,” Angelica snarled as she rushed toward the door. “We’re very powerful attorneys.”
“That is great to know. I’d be happy to hear what the board has to say.”
They each threw me one more glare before leaving my office. I collapsed back into my chair and groaned. My whole body was shaking with anger at the interaction. How dare they think that they could threaten me! How dare they come here and try to force my hand!
I took a few deep breaths and then jotted out a text to Kathy, letting her know what had happened. She responded instantly. Apparently, unsurprisingly, it wasn’t the first time this had happened. She would talk to the president of the board and with the executive director, Nick. I felt relieved that it wasn’t on my shoulders, but I felt an even greater need to shield Bebe. Katelyn was out for blood.
I still held my phone, debating on whether or not to say something to Bebe at the show tonight when it vibrated in my hand. I looked down in surprise at the text message from Katherine Van Pelt.
I finally have a moment to myself. Coffee? Please tell me there’s good coffee in this town!
Coffee. God, that sounded good. I stared at the pile of paperwork I needed to get through, but I just didn’t have it in me after that fight with Katelyn’s parents.
Monomyth on Broadway. See you in ten?
Monomyth was an all-white brick building just off of the Texas Tech campus on a bumpy red brick street. The word coffee was labeled in large red letters down the side of the building, and the inside was just as adorable with a cluster of tables usually filled with college students pretending to study. The best part was the incredible aroma whenever you stepped inside. Divine.