CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
A simple knock at my door nearly gives me a heart attack. It’s him. Ty is here.
I walk over and look through the peephole. He’s in the hallway, dressed all in black. His hair is crazy and his makeup dark. I’m afraid it matches his mood.
I open the door to let him in. “Hi.” I’m suddenly shy.
“Hi.” He looks me up and down, giving me no indication of what he’s thinking or feeling. “Can I come in?”
I move out of the way. “Sure. I’m glad you came.”
“Me too.”
The moment I shut the door, he pulls me into a hug. His arms wrap around me and hold me tight. Whatever misgivings I might have had before he got there melt away.
I’m surprised by how enthusiastically he’s embracing me, but I’m not complaining. I hold him tightly, just breathing and enjoying the sensation of his body against mine. He’s warm, solid, and all man. I had no idea what I was missing out on not having a boyfriend. Not that he’s my boyfriend or anything, but this is two nights in a row we’ve been together, and I’m loving every minute of it. Maybe his moodiness should be putting me off, but I’m finding it intoxicating. I never know what I’m going to get with him, and I love the challenge. It’s like looking at a birthday present and wondering what’s going to be inside the box under all the wrapping paper. So far, it’s always been something good.
“I really needed this,” he says into my shirt at my shoulder.
“Me too.” It seems monumental to be admitting this to one another. We’ve only known each other for a couple days. I’ve gone my whole life without his hugs, and I’ve been just fine, so why does it feel like I can’t survive without them now?
“What’s for dinner?” he asks, finally pulling away. He moves through the room over to the windows.
The abrupt change from intimate hug to businesslike request for a meal throws me for a loop. I stand there stunned for a few seconds before I can answer. “Whatever you can find on the menu, I guess. Or we could order something from somewhere else if you want and have it delivered.”
He’s staring out the window with his hands shoved deep into his front pockets, his shoulders rounded forward. “No. I’m sure the restaurant here is fine.”
I take the menu from the desk and walk over to him, reading out a few of the options.
“The steak sounds good,” he says absently. “I’ll have that. Medium rare.”
I look over the menu, trying to pick something for myself. I feel his hand on my shoulder and look up.
“I don’t expect you to call it in for me. I can do it.”
I shrug. “It’s no big deal. I’ll do it.”
His hand falls from my shoulder. “Sometimes I forget that not everybody is at my beck and call.”
“What do you mean?”
He goes back to staring out the window. “I gave you my order like you’re some kind of waitress. I didn’t mean to do that. It’s just that . . .” He looks down at the floor and sighs. “The only people in my life these days are people who have been hired to take care of me or people who play music with me. It’s new to me. I’m not doing well with it.”
I think I understand where this is coming from. “When was the last time you saw your brother or your parents?”
He shakes his head slowly. “I haven’t seen my brother in more than a year. The last time I saw my parents was right before I came here, six months ago.”
“Where are they now?”
“My parents are outside of Philadelphia. My brother . . . Who knows?”
“Is he okay?” I ask delicately. I’m so worried about his answer and what it might dredge up for him, but to not ask would be cruel and insensitive.
“I assume so. I haven’t heard otherwise.”
I rest the menu on a nearby table. “Do you mind if I ask you what the circumstances were of your brother going missing?”
“No, I don’t mind.” Ty actually sounds a little relieved. “He’s not missing. Not exactly.” He walks down the length of the room, still looking out into the night. He stops at the corner where two windows meet. “He just couldn’t take it anymore. He left. For a while he was living with a friend of his, but then he moved out and didn’t leave a forwarding address.”
“Have you tried to find him?”
“No. But I’m thinking about doing that now.”
“Why now?”
He doesn’t answer for the longest time. Then he turns around and looks at the leather-bound folder on the table. “You want me to call in our order?”
I pick up the menu and walk over to the telephone. “No, I’ll do it.” He obviously doesn’t want to talk about his brother right now and I’m not going to push him. I hope he does open up to me, though, because I think this is important . . . maybe even critical.
When the ordering is done, I hang up the phone and turn to face Ty. He’s not looking out the windows anymore. He’s staring at me.
“What?” I look down at myself. “Is there something wrong?”
“Why would there be something wrong?”
“You’re staring . . . It’s pretty intense.” I try to laugh through it, but the look on his face stops me.
He walks slowly over to me, his gaze smoldering. I’m no mind reader, but I don’t need to be in order to know what he’s thinking; I’ve already been stripped naked in his head and now he’s reaching out to touch me.
His fingers come up and trace from the hollow in my throat down to the middle of my chest. He slowly releases the top button of my shirt.
“I thought of you all day today,” he says in a hoarse whisper.
“Me too,” I whisper back. My pulse is racing and I’m already wet between my legs.
My second button is now undone. His finger glides across my skin to my left breast, where he slips it under the edge of my bra. It both tickles and makes me hot. I shiver. He stops to undo the rest of the buttons of my shirt. It falls off my left shoulder, but I do nothing to stop it. Cool air brushes across my skin, bringing up goose bumps.
“You are so sexy. So natural. So real.” He seems mesmerized.
“Thank you. I’m glad you feel that way.” I can’t believe my luck; I think I’ve found the one musician in the entire world who doesn’t want a woman with bleached-blond hair and boobs up to her neck.
“I do. I really do.” He pauses, his expression going almost pained. “I want to be inside you so bad right now.”
His directness sends a shock through me, but not the unpleasant kind. I’m warm all over, trembling in anticipation of what he’s suggesting.
“What’s stopping you?” I ask.
He looks up at me as if to verify whether I’m joking, but when he sees that I’m not, he rushes in.
Suddenly, our arms are around each other and we’re stumbling toward the bedroom. My shirt falls to the floor and my bra quickly follows.
He yanks his T-shirt off and flings it across the room. We fall to the bed in a heap, him on top of me. He has a raging hard-on and I can’t get my pants off fast enough.
“You smell nice,” he says, trailing kisses across my chest.
I was just going to say the same thing to him. He smells like a man, so different from me and the scents I’m used to at home. It’s alien and foreign and entirely sexy.
He moans, pressing into me, reaching around to squeeze my rear end. I moan too, unable to stop myself. The sensations are too much. I’m losing control already and we’re just getting started.
He pulls my panties down with little finesse. I’m only able to get one leg out before he’s released his rock-hard cock from behind his zipper. I hear the ripping of material and feel a jerk around my waist, and then suddenly he’s there pressing inside me.
“Condom!” I squeak, in a panic.
“Fuck. Sorry.” He pulls away and scrambles around, trying to get into the back pocket of his pants that are still halfway down his legs. He finds a package and rips it open, quickly taking care of business. He rolls over partially on top of me and looks down into my eyes. “I’m sorry about that. That was stupid.”
“Don’t worry about it. You fixed it.”
He reaches up and strokes the hair away from my face. “You are so beautiful. I don’t want to fuck this up.”
I reach up and take his hand away from my face and place it on my breast. “You are not going to fuck anything up, unless you stop what we started before we finish.”
He smiles for the first time since walking into my room. “Yes, ma’am.” Then he’s there again, so physically present—heavy and solid—pushing against me and then into me.
I close my eyes with the pleasure his body brings me. This is so much better than I imagined it would be. He goes in and out, smooth like silk yet hard as a rock. How did I get so lucky? I’ve found a guy who challenges me and keeps me guessing while also making me feel like a million bucks in bed.
This time it’s different with him. There’s a sense of urgency and desperation. I think he’s using my body to exorcise the demons from his life. I don’t mind; I want to help him find peace, even though I love his intensity. And it’s not like I’m not getting something out of the deal too. It feels amazing to have our bodies communicating on this level, almost like we’re enjoying a spiritual experience. I feel closer to my creator, closer to understanding why my body was built the way it was. Ty and I were meant to be together like this. I can feel it in the deepest part of myself.
“I’m sorry, babe,” he says between gasps. “I can’t hold back for very much longer.”
That crazy feeling is coming over me again, the one I can’t control, whose origin is the place where Ty and I are most intimately connected—the spot he’s rubbing and stroking, heating up with every inch of his rock-hard body. I’m so close, nearly there too. “It’s okay,” I say, sounding like I’m pleading. “I’m ready for you.”
My words work like magic for both of us. He loses control at the exact moment that I do. He’s yelling and then so am I. The two of us cling together as we rock out a rhythm that rubs me in all the right places. Our bodies strain toward each other and then suddenly there’s an explosion of light in my mind.
I close my eyes and fall into the abyss that follows when the fireworks fade out. Tears gather in my eyes as emotions overwhelm me. This was meant to be. I’m so glad Ty is in my life, and now I’m worried about what will happen when I leave New York in two weeks.
As Ty is collapsing on top of me, a knock at the door causes me to stiffen. Someone is here. He rolls off to the side, giving me a quick kiss on the mouth. “I think our dinner has arrived.”
Oh, yeah. Dinner. I had forgotten all about it.
I go to roll off the bed and get to my feet, but he grabs me around the waist and pulls me back, burying his face in my neck.
I giggle uncontrollably. “What are you doing?”
“Kissing you goodbye.”
“I’m just going to the door.” I push him away and he pretends I’m stronger than I am, flying backward to land against the pillows.
“Rejected,” he says, grabbing his chest near his heart and pretending to cry.
“Please.” I snort. “If what I just did is rejection, I can’t wait to see what acceptance is.”
He winks, his fake crying disappearing in a flash. “Me neither.”
I grab the fluffy white bathrobe and wrap it around me, grinning the entire time. I love this playful side of Ty. “Stay there,” I say, adjusting the belt around my waist. “I’ll take care of this.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he says, saluting.
I go to the door and let the hotel employee inside. He rolls in a fancy cart loaded down with food, napkins, condiments, silverware, water, beer, and my tab. I sign it, giving him a generous tip before seeing him out the door.
I roll the cart into the bedroom and grin at the handsome man who has settled himself under my covers. “Dinner is served.”
He smiles lazily back at me, his makeup smeared and his hair standing out everywhere. “Come over here and let me feed you.”
I let the robe drop to the floor and give Ty a few seconds to feast his eyes. Grabbing a strawberry off one of the plates, I bring it to bed with me, giggling when I hand it to him and join him under the covers.
“What are you laughing at?” he asks me, grinning like a fool.
“Nothing. I’m just happy.”
He takes a bite of the strawberry.
“Hey!” I say in mock outrage. “That was supposed to be for me. You were going to feed me, remember?”
He leans over and presses his lips to mine, transferring the bite of strawberry into my mouth.
“Mmm. Yummy.” I giggle again. This is so ridiculous, but I don’t care.
I slowly chew the fruit as we continue to kiss. It’s a little gross, but I have to admit, strawberry kisses are pretty damn awesome. I don’t know where the rest of that fruit ends up, but suddenly his hands are on my breasts again. Our food is going to get cold, but my body is heating up, and that’s all I care about right now.
I climb on top of Ty, straddling his naked body. “This time, I’m in charge.”
He puts his hands on my hips and looks up at me, a sexy grin lighting up his dark eyes. “Yes, ma’am, if you say so.” He leans over to grab his pants off the floor and locate another condom.
Soon enough, he’s ready for me and I’m ready for him. As I slowly lower myself over his erection, I grin with pleasure and satisfaction. Oh, yeah. This is going to be a long, beautiful night.