DEREK STEPPED OUT onto the front porch as Talia pulled into the driveway, making her even more nervous. She’d never left her house in the middle of the night for sex before. But wow, look at him. He was all long hair and sultry eyes. His button-down shirt hung open, revealing planes of perfectly sculpted man.
Is this a booty call? she wondered as she stepped from her car.
Was it considered a booty call if they were in a relationship?
He strode toward her, and she couldn’t take her eyes off the treasure trail leading down the center of his body to a patch of dark hair above the waist of his low-riding jeans. There was no hiding the fact that he wasn’t wearing underwear. She grabbed her bag and practically ran into his arms, nestling against his hot, hard body like it was made just for her. He took her bag and devoured her mouth as they stumbled into the house. His skin was damp, and he smelled fresh from a shower.
“Damn, I missed you,” he whispered against her lips, obliterating her worries about booty calls altogether.
She didn’t care what this was called. She wanted to be there with him, for him, beneath him.
He took her in another toe-curling kiss, cupping her ass, lifting and pressing her against his erection. She heard a wanton sound and realized she’d made it, but there was no room for embarrassment. She didn’t know changes could happen this fast, but her heart was in this, and when he broke their connection to close and lock the front door, the look in his eyes told her his was, too.
“You know those glasses turn me on in ways they shouldn’t.” He ran his fingers along her cheek. “So sexy.”
“Shouldn’t?”
His arm swept around her waist, and he spoke directly into her ear. “They make me have cliché fantasies about my sexy professor.”
“I want to know all your fantasies.” She was shocked she’d said it, but as they headed into his bedroom, she meant every word. She wanted to know his fantasies, his hopes, his fears. She wanted to know everything there was to know about him.
His mouth came aggressively down over hers, taking her in a rough, insistent kiss. He locked the door, and his gaze turned fierce. Lord help her, because she’d thought about his dirty promises on the drive over and was already wet at the mere thought of them. She’d taken her thoughts darker, fantasizing about all the things she wanted to do with him—to him. Things she’d never initiated before, but she couldn’t hold back from wanting with Derek. Her body was vibrating with need. She wanted his ferocity. She wanted everything he had to give.
He dropped her bag and hauled her into his arms. He pushed his hands into her hair and held on tight, his eyes boring into her.
Ah, yes. The erotic sting sent scintillating shivers slicing through her.
His mouth brushed over hers. “I missed you.” He nipped at her lower lip, tugging it like he’d done the other night. “I need your mouth, Tallie girl.”
His mouth crashed over hers, kissing her so hungrily she went up on her toes, seeking even more. He tightened his grip on her hair, and lust seared to her core. Before she could lose her nerve, she reached for the button on his jeans and tore it open, earning another greedy noise from her man. She thrust her hand beneath the denim, her fingers circling his shaft. Oh my goodness. The feel of his hardness, the thrust of his hips, made her mouth water. She’d known he was bare beneath his jeans, but discovering it like this, without hesitation or urging, made it that much more enticing.
She pried her mouth from his, feeling bolder and sexier than she ever had, and said, “I need my mouth on you.”
She backed him up to the edge of the bed, grabbed the waist of his jeans, and yanked them down. His lips quirked up, those heavenly eyes stripping her bare. She put her hand on his chest and pushed, sending her willing victim to the mattress. She dragged his jeans over his bare feet and dropped them to the floor, wrestling with the troubling thought trampling through her mind.
“Um . . . are you . . . Have you . . .”
He sat up and cradled her face in his hands. “I’m clean, babe, if that’s what you’re wondering. You?”
She nodded.
Wickedness filled his eyes, and she pushed him to the mattress again. He was so beautiful, big and broad with a slim waist and thick, powerful thighs. His chest was covered in a dusting of dark hair, and his cock eagerly awaited her on a cloud of the same. She took a moment to admire his beautiful, athletic body as he watched her with laser focus, making her feel even more naughty. She straddled his legs, still dressed, which she did for her own sake, knowing if she were naked, she’d never get to do what she so desperately wanted.
He reached up and caressed her cheek. “Hey, baby,” he said just above a whisper.
Her hair tumbled over her shoulders, brushing his chest. Heat flared in his eyes, and he shuddered beneath her. The reaction was so unexpected, so alluring, she swished her hair over his chest again. He sucked in a sharp breath between gritted teeth.
“You have no idea what you’re doing to me,” he said, and tangled his fingers in her hair.
“I have no idea what I’m doing, period. But I’ll figure it out.”
“Jesus, Talia. You’re killing me. How can you be so sexy and so innocent?”
She licked her lips, watching him as she lowered her mouth and pressed a kiss between his pecs and then across his chest, slowing to tease his nipples, earning more of those tense, male, sinful sounds. “You’ve shown me that stepping out of my comfort zone is a good thing.”
“Tallie.” He breathed her name like a secret as she continued kissing her way south, following that treasure trail.
“Let me show you just how good.”
“You don’t have to do this,” he said, playing with her hair as she kissed his abs.
She gazed down at the broad crown of his erection, wrapped her fingers around his shaft, and pressed a kiss to the tip. He moaned and tangled his fingers in her hair again. She ran her tongue over the head, and his hips bucked up. She’d never done this, not even with Terrence. Some part of her had always wondered if that was one reason he’d cheated, because their sex had been so vanilla. But he’d never asked for more, and she’d never wanted it. As she lowered her mouth over Derek’s cock, feeding the emotions stacking up inside her, she wanted to bring him as much pleasure as he’d brought her. She felt closer to Derek in the short time they’d known each other than she had to Terrence the whole time they’d dated.
She loved him with her hands and mouth, learning what he liked by the sounds he made, the way his body moved and arched with her.
He cradled her jaw in his big hand and said, “Christ, you’re amazing.”
She’d always been a stellar student and an overachiever. His praise made her want to earn more gold stars. She found her rhythm, working him faster and tighter, earning one sexy noise after another. She was trembling and so turned on, she felt like one touch might make her come. She’d never realized that doing this to him would turn her on so much. She needed much, much more, but he was breathing hard, his fingers fisted in her hair, his jaw clenched tight, and she wasn’t sure if it was okay to stop. Oh man, she should have done some research.
“Baby, baby, baby,” he said in quick succession. “You’ve got to stop.”
She released him like a hot potato. “Did I hurt you?”
“Fuck, no.”
He pulled her over him and kissed her so hard and deep, his tongue probed every dip and curve of her mouth, making her want to suck his cock again. He eased his efforts, and her body mourned the loss of it.
“You were going to make me come if you kept sucking me like that. But, baby, if you keep kissing me like that, I’m going to lose it.”
She loved knowing that and crawled backward toward the foot of the bed, slowing to lower her mouth over him again and suck the length of him to the back of her throat. She slicked her tongue from base to tip, lingering at the crown until he was shaking. Then she took him to the back of her throat again. He fisted his hands in her hair so tight, she moaned at the sting on her scalp, earning another buck of his hips. She added that little moan to her growing list of things that drove him wild, and then she did it again.
“Tallie. Stop, baby. Please? I want to be inside you.”
She slowly kissed the length of his shaft, then tasted her way down his thighs and stepped off the bed.
He watched her intently, fisting his hands in the sheets, as she whipped her sweater over her head. He whistled softly, and the sexy sound gave her an idea. Her heart hammered relentlessly as she turned her back and peered over her shoulder. She trusted him to the ends of the earth. She didn’t know if she’d ever get used to him dancing in front of other women, but she could at least send the message that she was trying. She swayed her hips in a little striptease as she wiggled out of her bottoms and bent to strip them off. He gripped her hips and sank his teeth into her ass cheek, sending shocks of lust zinging through her. He pushed a hand between her legs, teasing over her wetness, then swiftly pushed his fingers in deep as she straightened her spine.
“Derek,” she said breathlessly.
She moved up and down, fucking his long fingers, as he drove her out of her mind, licking and biting her behind. She arched and reached for his free hand, guiding it to her breast. He groped her roughly, pinching her nipple, making her sex pulse around his fingers. He grabbed her hand and guided it to her sex, using her fingers to tease her clit. She stilled, having never done this in front of a man before. She’d already crossed about a million lines she’d never dreamed of crossing.
“It’s just us, baby. Do it for me,” he urged, holding her fingers to her wetness.
She closed her eyes, nervous and excited at once, knowing she’d do anything for him. His fingers stroked over that magical spot inside her as their joined hands sent her up to the edge.
“That’s it, baby. You’re so fucking sexy. Don’t stop.”
He released her hand and brought his wet fingers to her nipple at the same time he lowered his mouth to her bottom again. The combination of sensations as he tweaked her nipple—his wet mouth, sharp teeth, probing fingers, and her own hand—worked her into a frenzy. Her insides swelled and pulsed, chasing the orgasm that teased in the periphery of her senses. When he sank his teeth into her flesh and squeezed her nipple, she spiraled out of control. Her hips bucked, her sex clenched, and a long, low moan streamed from her lips. He reached up with the hand that was on her breast and put his two fingers in her mouth. She closed her lips around them, sucking as hard as she’d sucked his cock. His fingers withdrew from between her legs, and she heard him tear open the condom packet. She wanted to tell him she was on the pill. The confession was on the tip of her tongue, but she’d only gone on the pill to regulate her periods. She’d never given up that piece of herself or put that much trust in any man.
Sheathed and ready, he gripped her hips and guided her down onto his cock, sitting backward on his lap. Fireworks exploded inside her as he filled her so completely she felt every blessed inch of him, and she began to move.
He moved with her, cupping her breasts and kissing her shoulder. “You are everything, Talia. Everything good, everything sweet, everything I want.”
His breath sailed over her skin, but it was his words that sent her heart into overdrive. “I need to see you,” she pleaded.
In the next breath she was cradled beneath him, cocooned by his body, loved by his touch, and cherished by those devastating blue eyes as he whispered the words that fed her soul over and over again between frantic kisses.
“You’re everything I want, Tallie. Everything . . .”
Then his words silenced, and their bodies took over, transporting her to a world billowing with passion. Her skin was on fire, and she felt full to near bursting as her climax engulfed her like a magnificent beast, crashing over her in thunderous waves, dragging her to the depths of pleasure as Derek swallowed her cries, surrendering to his own powerful release, and ground out her name like a prayer.
Much later, after they came down from the clouds, Talia lay wrapped in Derek’s arms, her cheek on his chest as he ran his fingers through her hair, pressing kisses to her forehead between sweet whispers of adoration, each one filling an empty space inside her. She drifted off to sleep feeling safe and whole for the first time in her life.
The scent of Talia wound through Derek’s dreams, drawing him closer to wakefulness, but he fought against it. He didn’t want to leave the blissful place their bodies had taken him. He wanted to memorize every little thing about her. The feel of her hair brushing over his chest, the nervous and insanely sexy look in her eyes as she lowered her luscious mouth around his cock, and the overwhelming feeling of unity when he lay buried deep inside her. But the most trusting thing, the thing that told him she was his, happened afterward. When he’d gone to wash up, she’d been too sated and tired to move. She’d let him bathe her with a warm, damp cloth. It was a first for him, and he somehow knew it was a first for her, too. His urges to protect her, to care for her, to love her and be close in every way possible were stronger and more natural than anything he’d ever experienced. They hadn’t had sex. They’d surpassed lovemaking. He’d only been half-right when he’d said Talia was his everything. They were everything.
Talia sighed in her sleep, snuggling against him. He blinked away the fog of sleep and pressed a kiss to her forehead. She lay on her stomach, the covers bunched around her hips. Her dark hair streamed across the pillow like silk. He gently pushed a lock away from her cheek and brushed several kisses there.
“Mm.” She tipped her cheek up for another kiss.
“Morning, beautiful.”
He moved over her, kissing her shoulders, the gentle curve of her spine, all the way down to her perfect ass. He ran his hands over her hips, lavishing each cheek with kisses, then trailed his tongue down the backs of her thighs. Her hips rose, and he slid his hand between her legs, finding her slick heat, which pulled a moan from his lungs. She turned beneath him, gazing up with sleepy eyes and smiling. He kissed her softly before moving lower and running his tongue in circles around her nipple, then blowing cool air over the wetness the way he’d learned she loved.
She inhaled a jagged breath. “How much time do we have?”
“Never enough,” he said, and glanced at the clock. Six thirty. His heart sank. They had maybe an hour before his father woke up, which meant they really had about half an hour just to be safe. Rushing through their first morning together wasn’t what he’d imagined, but then again, he’d take whatever they could get.
She touched his lips with her fingers and said, “Stop thinking, start kissing.”
And he did. Thoroughly. They made love in bed, fooled around in the shower, and as they dressed for the day, he watched her step into a pair of pretty lace panties and itched to touch her again. He raked a hand through his hair, aroused again as she put on her bra and turned, giving him an eyeful of her in a matching lace bra—then stole it away when she pulled on a sweater.
He folded his arms around her as the sweater tumbled into place. “Come home with me after dinner with your parents tonight.”
“You sure? What if your dad sees us and has a hard time?”
“Then we’ll reconsider. I hate sneaking you in and out like this. Thank you for putting up with it.”
A tease rose in her eyes as she said, “It was pretty hard to put up with the best sex of my life, and waking up in your arms? Well, that’s annoying.”
He pressed his lips to hers. “You know what I mean. I feel ridiculous sneaking around.” Thinking of how quickly his father forgot things, and how his reactions to identical stimulants were not always the same, he said, “I’d like to think we’ll figure something out, but I’m not in a position to make any promises.”
“Stop worrying. I’m not a kid who doesn’t understand responsibilities. Besides, this is another page for our journey book.”
“Our book?”
“Sneaking around deserves a page, and I’ve been thinking, I’m probably not the only one stepping outside my comfort zone. Have you ever snuck a woman into your room before?”
“A woman? No. When I was sixteen, I snuck a girl in. We didn’t have sex. We just kissed and I think I felt her up. The next morning I was arrogant as hell, and my father looked over the rim of his coffee cup and said, ‘Next time you sneak a girl in, I’m dragging your ass to her house to tell her father why you thought it was a good idea.’”
Talia laughed. “Did you do it again?”
“Are you crazy? Nothing’s scarier than a teenage girl’s father.” He twirled her hair around his finger and said, “But I’d gladly explain this to your father. Nothing scares me where you’re concerned, Talia. Except the thought of not being with you.”
He lowered his lips to hers, and the alarm on his father’s door sounded. They both froze. Derek cursed under his breath.
“Sorry, babe. This might get uncomfortable.”
“More uncomfortable than confronting a teenage girl’s father?” She slipped her feet into her heels and pulled her bag over her shoulder. “I think we can handle this. You go out and distract him, and I’ll slip out the front door.”
“I should be shot for putting you in this position,” he said as he put on his boots.
“Does that mean you don’t want me to come tonight?”
“Baby, I want you to come many times tonight.” As he expected, her cheeks flushed, making his heart squeeze. “I feel guilty, but not guilty enough to want a night without you.” He took her in one last, fierce kiss and said, “Operation Distraction, here I come.”
He found his father standing at the living room window in his blue pajamas. “Good morning, Pop. How’d you sleep?”
The familiar pause hung between them as Derek’s father scanned his face, and Derek held his breath, wondering if he’d be Archie or Derek or if he’d frighten his father altogether. His father turned back to the window, gazing outside for what seemed like forever.
“Are you hungry?” Derek finally asked.
His father studied his face again, and Derek imagined drawing this image in a journal, showing himself suspended between darkness and light.
His father’s eyes shifted over his shoulder and brightened. “Who is that?”
Derek turned, and Talia winced, mouthing, Sorry.
He mouthed, It’s okay, then said, “Pop, this is my friend Talia.”
She wiggled her fingers with an apology she didn’t need to make showing in her eyes. “Good morning.”
“Well, hello.” His father walked past him and said, “Talia is a pretty name. Would you like to have breakfast with us?”
She glanced at Derek with a question in her eyes. He was so damn happy to have averted an unpleasant scene, he said, “Yes, she’d love to join us. I’ll make tuxedo mochas.”
“Wonderful.” His father walked into the kitchen and said, “I’ll cook.”
Derek dropped a kiss on Talia’s cheek and said, “Thank you, baby. We’ll make it quick so you’re not late.” He hurried to his father’s side. Knives and Alzheimer’s were not a good combination. “We’ll do it together, Pop. But how about if we get you dressed first?”
Talia set her bag in the foyer and joined them in the kitchen.
“I am dressed,” his father said. He glanced at Talia. “And she looks beautiful and hungry. She needs applewood bacon and eggs on flatbread. Get the spinach, would you, Derek?”
It was funny how, as a kid, the way his father said his name incited different feelings. First name only was usually good. First and middle came with a scolding. But now, any time his father used his name was a gift in which he reveled.
“That sounds delicious. Can I help?” Talia asked.
“Spinach, coming up,” Derek said as he grabbed the greens from the refrigerator.
“You can help shave chocolate for my boy’s froufrou drink,” his father said. “Then sit your pretty little behind down and let the men make the feast.”
“Now that sounds like a plan.” She smiled wide, her brows lifting in Derek’s direction, obviously as pleased with the morning’s welcome as he was.
Derek set the ingredients on the counter, put a hand on his father’s shoulder, and said, “I think it’s going to be a really good day.”