Chapter 12
Vanessa
Martha Stewart had nothing on Kyle Cleary. Even the man’s cabinets were immaculate. When I pulled open the bleached oak doors, I’d never seen such organization. Not only were the plates of various sizes held in their own racks, but also his breakfast cereal was removed from their original boxes and placed in plastic containers labeled with the contents. He and Brae were separated at birth. I had a feeling he didn’t have a junk drawer. Note to self, clean out kitchen cabinets.
Kyle walked in with a brown paper bag filled with Chinese takeout boxes. Waving my hand over the set table, I said, “This was why I suggested pizza. Chinese requires too many dishes to clean up, and you’re not the type to eat directly out of the containers like I do.”
“Yeah, not usually.” He placed each white carton down in the center of the dining table next to a bottle of wine before recycling the bag. “And based on the last time I had it, I was suddenly in the mood for Kung Pao again.” He wiggled his eyebrows before pulling out my chair, which earned him a glare. “What?”
“Pulling a chair out is definitely date type shit.” I sat down, and he chuckled behind me before kissing the top of my head and then moving to sit in the chair next to mine.
“It isn’t date type anything. It’s called manners. So, don’t freak out when I open a door for you. My mother raised me right. That’s one thing about us Canadians, we know how to treat a woman.”
“So, is that why a beaver is your national symbol?”
“Wiseass.” Kyle shook his head before opening all of the containers. He ordered enough for at least four more people. “As far as your easy pizza theory, we’ll do that the next time. We can even sit on the floor so you don’t have to worry about me pulling out your chair.”
“Sitting on the floor eating pizza were your original conditions when we were in your lab. Again, you’re a swindler, Mr. Cleary.”
“Guilty as charged.” He served me some of the Kung Pao, and I served him some of the rice. He added an egg roll to my plate. I added dumplings to his. We each cracked apart our chopsticks and dug in. Kyle chewed before working a swallow. “Speaking of my lab, what did you think?” he asked, stabbing a dumpling and taking half of it in one bite. Once again, the image of him wearing just a lab coat popped into my head. I hadn’t realized I smiled until he said, “What are you smiling at?”
“Nothing.”
“You don’t make a good liar.” After I let a few moments pass, he added, “I can torture it out of you.” He gripped my thigh beneath the table to support his threat.
“No don’t, I’m hungry. I’ll tell you.” The moment I conceded, he removed his hand. “I envisioned you sitting in a lab, kind of similar to yours, but you had on a white lab coat and nothing else.”
“Really?” He popped the rest of the dumpling into his mouth and grinned around it. “That could be arranged. Do I get to wear shoes in this fantasy?”
“Sure. I guess. But you do have to wear your glasses. Those are important to the visual.”
“Done.” I felt his left hand slide under my hair to hold the back of my neck. I’ve come to learn Kyle liked touching me there. Sometimes, such as at Jude and Brae’s place, I wasn’t even sure he was aware of it. With his right hand he ate his meal, and with his left hand he made it hard for me to act cool.
“Um… so what made you become a mad scientist?” His fingers began stroking my skin, causing an impromptu hot flash to erupt. Opting for the water, I gulped down half of it in an attempt to cool off as I waited for his response.
“Well, it was sort of an accident.” He pulled his hand away to take a quick sip of his wine. “In my normal procrastinating fashion, I waited until the last minute to work on my eighth grade science project. I had nothing, and my only option was the local five and dime. Sitting on the shelf was one of those arts and craft perfume kits. Since I was out of time and had no choice, I used my own savings and bought it. I concocted a perfume that won me an A—end of story.”
“Just like that?” He shoved a piece of chicken into his mouth and nodded. “Did everything in your life come so easily?”
“Not everything. My finances were a mess before Soren took them over. Algorithms, Table of Elements, or the metric system, I love. Debits, credits, stocks, bonds, and all that shit, I despise.”
“Aren’t scientists supposed to be good in math?”
“I am good in math,” he said in an obvious manner.
I pushed my plate away and sat back. “Regardless, even if you stumbled upon your career, you still need to be smart to major in chemistry.”
“It’s just the way my brain works. I see things in smells, in textures.” At the look on my face, he shrugged. “I know that sounds strange.”
“I just guess I figured you more for beauty than brains.”
“Gee, thanks.”
I realized how that sounded once I spoke the words. “No, that’s not meant as an insult. The first time I saw you, I assumed you were very vain. Now, having gotten to know you a bit, I can see your intellect actually adds to your looks. I really don’t know you all that well; it’s just an observation.”
“You know me better than you think.” He glanced down at his empty plate and dished out another portion of Kung Pao, plucked a peanut between his chopsticks, and popped it into his mouth. “What were you like in school?” I responded with a casual shrug. Undeterred, he added, “I picture you as the head cheerleader that every guy wanted and every girl hated. Smart, hot, funny—the entire package.”
I blushed from his compliment. “I was more of a daydreamer in high school… and very easily distracted. Even in college, I never embraced everything it had to offer. I kind of moved through in a daze until I woke up one morning and realized I was a month from graduating without any real skills to show for it.” My shoulders rose in a shrug. “It was my own fault for letting so many opportunities swirl down the proverbial drain.”
I wasn’t sure if it was my forced blasé attitude or the sadness in my eyes that he picked up on. His otherwise content expression turned to one of concern. “What happened to distract you, Nessa?”
There was no way I was tugging on that thread. I forced a smile and laughed. “Oh, let’s see. I had friends who loved to party and have a good time. And I found out pretty quickly that I did as well.”
My heart clenched from the look on his face. Going down the pity road with a man I agreed to being fuck buddies with was not an option. Fuck no.
“At first I thought you over ordered, but you ate a ton of food. I’m always getting flak from Brae that I don’t eat healthy enough. She’d be lecturing us right now.”
“You’re in incredible shape, Nessa. I wouldn’t change a thing. You’re stunning.” Hunger was the only way I could describe the look on his face when he said that… and I knew enough to know it wasn’t food he wanted.
“Thanks.” After a quick pause, I veered the conversation back to him. “How do you stay so fit?”
“I have many methods,” he said with a devilish grin. Finally pushing his plate away, he quirked up a brow and added, “Can I show you one of my favorites?”
And like a magic trick, my innocent question managed to derail his thoughts and aim them toward the reason we were sitting in his kitchen eating bad Chinese takeout to begin with.
Sex.
Kyle
“What time is it?” she asked, fiddling with her bra.
I glanced at my wristwatch and came up behind her. Taking the straps from her fingers, I proceeded to fasten them myself. The backs of my fingers ran a horizontal line as I drew the two pieces of black satin together. Her body responded to my touch, and goose bumps appeared over her flesh. I then placed one single kiss between her shoulder blades and responded, “One.”
“One! As in one a.m.?” Clarity hit in the way her widened eyes met mine in the mirror that we faced. “Fuck, I have to work tomorrow.”
“So do I.” I wrapped my arms around her waist and nuzzled my nose in her hair. “Stay. I’ll drive you home in the morning.”
“It is the morning.” Every muscle in her body went rigid from the hold I had on her. She tried to pry my arms from her body, but the more she did the more I tightened my grip. “One day in and you’re already breaking two rules, Kyle.”
“Two?” I asked before kissing the back of her neck. “What two?” A few more peppered kisses caused her to relax a bit. “Only one rule.” The final suck on her shoulder blade had all tension leaving her as quickly as it had appeared.
“Wining and dining,” she said breathlessly. Her body grew heavy as I nibbled on pieces of her from neck to shoulder. “Um… and requesting a sleepover… um… that’s two rules.”
I lifted my head and met her gaze in the mirror. “Just because I served wine while eating doesn’t qualify tonight as a wining and dining situation.” With our eyes still pinned, I skimmed my hand from her belly to tit and ran a thumb over her pebbled nipple. In our reflection, I watched her eyes slide shut.
The way she pushed her butt into my crotch meant I was revving her right back up again. The way I hardened in my boxer briefs meant I was right behind her.
“And regarding the sleepover part,” I continued, switching from grazing her nipple to pinching it. “Well, that’s just me being the gentleman I was raised to be.” On demand, she moaned, one of her hands flying down to rest around my bare thigh. “Therefore, you have two choices. It’s late, and you can either allow me to drive you home now… or later.” I skimmed my hand down to dip into the front of her thong, adding, “If later, technically it’s not a sleepover if we don’t sleep.”
“Oh, God,” she whispered so softly I could barely hear it. With one hand around a perfect breast, I skimmed over her pussy from side to side, back to front.
I needed to play this just so, because she could easily go running if she saw through my motives. The truth was I wanted her to be with me tonight. But while trying to convince her to stay, I hoped my plan didn’t backfire. Especially since the way she responded caused my own response that would be hard to shut down if she did decide to leave.
Her scent fucking intoxicated me. I couldn’t get enough of it and wished I could bottle it. Inhaling, I ran my nose over her smooth skin from ear to shoulder. Just as I sucked a spot at the top of her shoulder blade, she rasped out, “Kyle.”
“Hmm?”
“Some of us have to work for assholes. I am one of those people. I have to go.” I didn’t buy what she said. The tilt of her head, the way her body relaxed against me, and even how her fingers gripped my leg when mine slid into her meant she didn’t want to go anywhere.
“Give me this asshole’s number. I’ll talk to him.” More kisses came as I ran my lips in the other direction back up toward her ear. “What do you do, Nessa?”
“I sit at a desk all day.” I pinched her nipple and her clit hard and at the same time, bringing her close. “And I… oh, fuck…”
“And you what?” I asked, applying more pressure.
“Um…” That was the last sound she uttered as she trembled and came. Witnessing every expression on her face, every muscle in her body react when she climaxed, made me hard as stone. Her eyelids rose, and her green eyes met mine in the mirror. As if nothing had just happened between her legs, she continued saying, “And I daydream of places I want to go and ways to kill my boss.”
A deep chuckle I couldn’t stop erupted against her neck. Gripping her waist, I spun her quickly until we came face to face. “Please don’t kill him. I like this little arrangement we have going. I like watching you come.” I kissed her lips long and hard. “And please don’t go tonight. I need more of you.” She stiffened in my arms, and I veered left with my questioning. “What places do you daydream of visiting?”
“Everywhere,” she responded, quickly falling for my tactics. “My short list is Paris, London, Rome.” All places that hung on her living room wall. I wanted to take her to those places. I wanted to witness the look on her face when she first saw them with her own eyes and not on a poster. “Where’s my shirt?”
“By the window.” I released her, and she walked over to where her shirt lay on the floor. Her magnificent ass in her tiny thong caused my palms to itch. I fucking loved a woman in a thong. Not fifteen minutes earlier, I had my hands on that ass as she rode me on my bed. But I wanted her again. The woman made me insatiable for her.
I followed to where she stood and just as she raised her arms above her head to put her shirt on, I snatched it away and tossed it back to where it had been. “Hey! Stop that, Kyle. I really need to go.”
“I’ll make you a deal. If you stay a little while longer, I’ll let you play in my lab and create something.”
Her eyes whipped up to stare into mine. “You would? Anything?”
“Anything.”
She couldn’t hide her excitement, and it was really the first time I’d seen her so intrigued over something. Vanessa had a way about her that portrayed a level of boredom with life. As if she moved along the track waiting for a derailment of some kind… and not necessarily a disastrous one, but one that shook her world.
The fire in those green eyes that I just ignited with one simple question meant she needed a challenge at every turn, and I was just the man to give it to her.