by Quinn, Taryn
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t,” she called at my back.
I stalked across the darkened half of the café to the pass way between the two buildings. I didn’t even bother trying to be gentle with the nailed-in board this time. I ripped it free and let it swing down, then I ducked into the slim crevice and let the chipboard snap back behind me.
Music was playing. Televisions were up on the walls now, and the darkened Myers house filled multiple screens. Gideon was half hidden by a wall-mounted television he was screwing into the wall.
This one was still black, so I knew I wasn’t in any danger of stopping him in the middle of wire work. He was distracted and definitely didn’t see me. Things had progressed hugely since the last time I’d been in the room.
Booths were uncovered, walls were painted, and the floors were still covered in drop-cloths, but I was pretty sure that was more to protect them than anything else needing to be done. Speakers were stacked around and empty television mount kits were stacked on top.
But it punched me in the gut. This place was real. It was mine.
It was more than I ever thought it would be.
He turned to me, the quick, startled look giving way to worry. “Is something—oof.”
I leaped on him, locking my legs around his hips. “You’ve been ignoring me.”
He grunted, but the hold on my ass never wavered. “I’ve been working.” His gaze dropped to my mouth before returning to lock with mine. “You keep ruining my surprises.”
“I don’t care about surprises.” My short nails bit into his neck and shoulders as I closed the last bit of distance between us. He was one of the few men taller than me by a good chunk and I loved it. He growled into my mouth as we drunkenly swayed, banging against the closest booth. I barely felt the glancing blow, then he righted himself and stalked to the bar with me wrapped around him like a damn monkey.
He shoved a dirty drop-cloth away and set me on the firm bar top. “We need to slow down.”
“If we get any slower, it’s going to be 2027 before I fuck you. I’m not waiting anymore, dammit.” Our tongues tangled and the low frequency hum I’d been living with finally kicked up a notch. I hummed at the taste of him. My coffee and something hotter, bolder—Gideon.
I’d never experienced it before or since.
“I didn’t want the first time to be here, dammit,” he said against my mouth.
“It really had to be, don’t you think?” I lightly scraped my fingers down his bearded cheeks.
I was slightly above him due to the height of the bar. His eyes were dark in the shadowed room. Pendant lights were the only illumination save for the movie. He dragged my shirt down my shoulder to get to my skin. His mouth raced across the space between it and my neck. He scraped his teeth over the high curve of my shoulder while his other hand tunneled under the bottom of my shirt. His roughened fingertips tickled over my ribs to find the sturdy cotton of my bra. Too bad I’d wasted my hot lingerie on our date night and he’d barely copped a feel. He swiped his thumb over the tip of my nipple unerringly. He tugged at it through the material, making me hiss.
He dragged my shirt down enough for him to cover the tight center with his mouth. He watched me as he made a wet spot through the black cotton before finally jerking the cup down to release my breast to his hot, hungry mouth. I arched back to give him room and gripped his hair to keep him there, letting him know that was right where I needed him.
I lifted my knees to clasp his ribs. He might’ve been tall as hell, but it was still a bar. Everything was just a little bit off for this.
Frustration arced between us. He shoved up my shirt so he could move between my breasts, his beard scratching and heightening the sensations with each nip and bite.
He wasn’t easy—wasn’t sweet. I’d half expected it from his personality. He always seemed so careful around people due to his size.
For once, being a tall and sturdy woman was to my advantage. If only we could get lined up.
I slid forward on the bar until my legs dangled and denim finally rubbed against denim. He was a hard column of need between my legs. Thank God. I ground against him, fire leaping between us. It wasn’t nearly enough. Nothing would be enough until he was inside me.
It was only fitting for it to be here—in this place he’d created for me. He’d taken my schematics and insane sketches and made sense of them.
He’d taken my dream and made it real.
We were so tangled up after years of working together and keeping a barrier firmly between us for so long. But here and now, he was mine. Even if it was just for a short time. I’d take it. Allow myself to be greedy.
I didn’t know how to accurately convey just how amazing this place was. Just how much I’d needed this man to be with me in this moment. To finally let him in. To finally trust that I could share something with another human.
That he could know me so well. Understand me like no one else ever had.
I dragged his mouth back up to mine. Our eyes locked, the shock of what we were doing seemed to be dawning in his eyes. I tugged on his lower lip with my teeth. I watched him as I lightly traced his lips and brushed my nose along his.
“I want this.” God, was that my voice? Practically thready with need.
He seemed to look over my shoulder for a moment, his brow furrowed. Want warred with worry.
“She’s fine. She’s painting pumpkins and getting spoiled by four women.”
His gaze refocused on me. “We actually have time?”
“Only if you don’t waste it.”
He touched his forehead to mine with a laugh. “Here?”
“Here.” I nodded and whipped my shirt over my head, leaving me in only my bra. “Here is perfect.”
I could’ve brought him upstairs, but that didn’t feel right. This felt truer than any bed could be. Besides, he might change his mind, and then I’d have to kill him.
I pulled his hand up from the grip on my hips to cup my breasts. He pushed the two little mounds together to pop out of the confines of my flimsy bra. I wasn’t exactly blessed in the breast department, but it didn’t seem to matter to him. He scraped over the softness to find the hard tips.
I twisted my hands behind me to unclasp the stupid bra then it joined my shirt at the end of the bar.
All that mattered was that he was touching me.
He wasn’t going to stop this time.
I fumbled between us for his belt, undoing the heavy buckle and peeling his jeans open to find the thick length of him already springing into my hand. He groaned against my neck as I freed him and stroked the very lovely and impressive length of him. Thank freaking God. I mean, I’d work with whatever he had, but damn, it was nice to see he was as blessed in the front as he was in the back.
Good goddamn.
I reached lower for his balls and gave him a good tug. He grunted and pushed me back until I was flat on the bar. “Watch what you’re doing down there.”
I lifted myself up on my elbows. “Or what?” I lifted my foot to dig my heel into his ass, drawing him against me.
He went for my zipper. “Lift that perfect ass of yours.”
I grinned at him and obliged, thanking the yoga classes Rylee had been making me go to. I could hold this pose for a good minute—maybe two. Enough to kill him if I really wanted to.
From the look in his eyes and the heavy swallow working the long column of his throat, it was working.
I laughed and threw my head back as he stripped me of my jeans and then there was no more laughter. Nope. Not with that clever, busy mouth of his.
He hooked my knee over his shoulder and spread me open to give me one long, lazy lick. His gaze was a little wild, a lot hot, and just a touch scary.
Then he went on the attack.
I didn’t have anything to grab onto, so his shoulders had to do. I arched under his touch as his tongue found my clit with an accuracy I never imagined possible. Most guys needed a little guidance, especially wh
en the room was this dark.
But nope. He seemed to know exactly what to do. And holy fuck, was I forever grateful.
I curled around his head as my body wept and my mind cleared for the first goddamn time in too many years for me to count. It was bliss. It was heaven. It was perfection.
It was a perfectly built latte with extra sweet foam with a sharply rich coffee blend hidden under the wispy clouds of orgasm. His name was a prayer on my lips as I literally died.
I collapsed back against the wood, my feet sliding away from him as my arms splayed wide.
He straightened and grinned down at me, his mouth still wet. “You didn’t think that was all, did you?”
I laughed, my chest heaving with exertion and the need to find oxygen. “Nope. That was just the qualifiers, right?”
He nipped at my inner thigh. “I’ve been dreaming about this pussy since the first day you told me off. There’s probably something wrong with me.”
“The only thing wrong is that you waited this goddamn long to get me horizontal.” I rested my black socked foot against his shoulder and pushed him back. “Now show me what you’ve got.”
He nuzzled his beardy chin against my ankle. “Cute socks, Mace.”
I glanced over at the black cat socks with a shrug. “Love me a good pair of cat socks.”
He scraped his blunt-tipped fingers down my inner thighs before swiping his thumb through my drenched folds to find my clit once more. As large as his fingers were, they were achingly accurate. “You’re sure about this?”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes back into my head and snap my legs closed over his hand. Sensitive didn’t cover it. My lingerie drawer wasn’t the only thing with cobwebs. “Not that I don’t love a man who is willing to give head with no reciprocation, but get that cock suited up. I’m not done with you either.”
He tipped his head back. The hair of his beard was tightly groomed, but a line of shadow snaked down to whorl around his Adam’s apple. “Christ, what am I doing? My daughter’s in the next room.”
“Pretty sure parents across the Cove have done the same thing.” I sat up and reached for him, giving his rock-hard length a good stroke. “It had to happen here.” I nipped his lower lip. He tasted of me. “Unless your horndog of an employee got down and dirty in here, I damn well should be christening it. We should be christening it.”
He groaned into my mouth, our tongues tangling. “Fucking hell, Mace. You never say anything I’m ready for.”
I arched a brow and swiped the perfectly silky head of his cock through my wetness. “Damn right.”
He kissed me hard and dug into his pocket.
I teased him along my entrance. “Hurry up. I need this inside me.”
“Jesus.” His warm breath burned my tongue along with the nip of his sharp teeth.
My face was going to be all beard-burned, but I didn’t even care. I cupped the surprisingly soft hairs on his cheek and scraped my nails through the shorter, trimmed ones around his chin. I licked around his lips, getting a more thorough mix of myself and his unique taste.
I moved to nibble on his ear. “You’re going to wear me home tonight, Gideon.”
“I’m never going to wash you off. You taste fucking perfect.”
I swirled my thumb around the head of his cock and leaned back enough to watch him. “Should I take a taste of you too?”
“Sweet fuck, you’re going to kill me.”
I slid closer to him, shivering as I drew my pussy along the lower part of the shaft of his dick. “What a way to go.”
He stepped back, slapping his wallet on the bar. He gripped the lip of the bar on either side of me as he bowed his head. “Give me a second.”
I slid my fingers through his hair to cradle the back of his skull. “What’s wrong, Gideon?”
“You’re going to kill me, and I want to enjoy the first stroke inside that perfect pussy. Not blow my load like a goddamn bottle rocket.”
I laughed against the crown of his head. His scent had sunk into me already. It really didn’t matter how it went from here on out, this was perfect. Right now, if he was a two-pump-chump, I wouldn’t hold it against him.
Then he locked his gaze with mine as he rolled the condom down his length. “At least I’m slick with you inside this rubber.”
My heart rolled and flipped in my chest. Then he was there, between my legs. He yanked me to the edge of the bar, so my ass was barely on it before he slowly, effortlessly, invaded the last part of me.
He’d already chased me in my dreams.
He’d already haunted my endless insomnia-fueled nights.
He’d already distracted me on a daily basis.
And now, he was the perfect key into my lock.
His fingers snaked into my braid and he gripped my head to keep eye contact as he thrust into me again and again. Long, measured strokes that touched every part of me. He widened my legs to get us closer, then pulled me into him until there was no space between us.
We were chest to chest, belly to belly, and breath to breath. He burrowed deeper as if he was going to fucking climb into me. I curled my arms around his shoulders, my nails digging for purchase as the freefall started.
I tried to break away from him.
The connection was too deep. Too everywhere.
But he wouldn’t let me go.
He surrounded me, enveloped me, and overwhelmed me.
Sweat poured between us as the friction ratcheted everything up to another level. His huge hands held me tight and safe. His arms wouldn’t let me fall.
The soundless scream traveled up and strangled me as our hips found a synchronicity unlike any other. The angle had him dragging against some part of me that had never been touched each time he left me. When he filled me again, there was nothing but warmth and fullness.
For the first time, I didn’t feel alone.
For the first time, I felt part of something—someone.
I shuddered around him, my lips trembling as he slowly, sweetly kissed me before the end opened up before us. His hips slammed into mine as we both raced for the finish. I held on and buried my face in his neck while my orgasm obliterated me.
As the world stopped for just one beat, maybe two. Silence and calm flooded my jangling system before I was slapped back into reality—the end credits of the movie still playing all around us.
Finally, he lifted me off the bar, somehow still inside me, and we landed in a heap of drop-cloths and laughter. The heaviness of the moment popped like a soap bubble.
“It’s probably not manly to say my knees liquified from coming, right?” He stretched his arms over his head, arching his back as if to get the kinks out.
For God’s sake, he hadn’t even taken off his damn T-shirt. An arrow of dark, silky hair climbed up from where we were still tangled. His abs were a damn work of art. Not the perfect gym rat kind, but the working man kind.
I wanted to crawl all over him and find every ridge and curve.
I inched his shirt up, scraping my teeth over his muscled chest and finding a nipple in the fur.
He growled and seemed to firm again as I slid down his length. His fingers dug into my hips. “Don’t start something you can’t finish.”
“Who says I can’t?” I undulated my hips to hold him tight inside me.
He lowered his mouth to my neck, finding some insane combination that only he seemed to know. The edge between tickle and pleasure made my blood thicken and slow. I slid back just enough that he could get his hand between us, his thumb swirling over my clit. “Jesus, you’re so fucking sexy.”
I arched my back as the next trip started.
Jesus, how long had it been since I’d had an actual string of orgasms?
Then both our phones went off and thunder erupted on the chipboard doorway between The Haunt and the café.
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” came Rylee’s voice.
“Then don’t,” I yelled back as I rocked against his hand.
; “Sorry! Emergency!”
I groaned as the climax started to dissipate instead of escalate. “No.” Was that my voice coming out in a whine?
“Baby on board! Ivy’s in labor!”
Both of us went as still as statues. We both shouted, “What did you say?”
“I hope you two managed to get the job done, because time is up!”
We both scrambled apart, legs tangled. Gideon tripped on the drop-cloth trying to get up and I slid back onto him, my knee jamming into his thigh.
He instantly rolled me so his dangly bits were safe. “Please don’t unman me just after I’ve finally gotten you naked.”
I snorted. “You think you’ll get to do it again?”
“I fucking better,” he muttered as he rolled off of me to take care of the condom and zip up.
I relaxed onto my back, the giggles coming up faster than I could breathe. “Can you find my pants?” They came at my head a second later. I couldn’t stop laughing like a maniac.
“I hate you so much.”
Nah, you love me.
Holy crap, I’d almost said that out loud. Suddenly, the giggles dissipated like my orgasm.
Gideon was standing over me with his hand out. “You all right?”
Nope. So far from fucking all right.
“Yeah. Time to add another mom to the collection, right?”
He helped me to my feet. “Is there a reason why you are so against kids?”
I opened my mouth to reply when another floor-rattling knock interrupted us. “Guess we’ll have to wait for that story until another time.” I hopped my way into my jeans and stuffed my feet into my shoes.
I found my shirt at the end of the bar and waved Gideon ahead. My racing heart needed another second. It had to be the orgasms. They were messing with my head.
Twelve
“You couldn’t wait for Lucky Charms to get home?”
Ivy let out a half laugh as she did those weird breathing exercises. “Nope, just like her dad, this one wants out early.”
I tried not to wince. Ivy was on my couch. Evidently, that would be going into the scrapyard behind Dare’s shop. Maybe I’d have him make me one of those fancy truck bench ones like he and Gage made for Rylee.