Chapter 5
Tyler
I’d chosen this place because I needed pizza and I needed Shelby relaxed. The thought of us together in a tiny, upscale place brought me back to all the fuck ups I’d made before. I’d treated her like my princess and ended up lying to her.
“I love this place,” she said, and twirled the wine glass’s stem between her fingertips. The dry white swished against the inside of the glass. “It’s not like the other restaurants we’ve been to.”
“I figured a change of pace would suit us well,” I replied.
The restaurant was crowded with groups who sat at long communal tables and a few couples or families at the smaller ones. It was loud, and waiters in long white aprons swept down the wood-floored aisles carrying plates of pasta or pizza.
The smells made up for the noise. Babbo Pizzeria was popular and probably better than an average pizza joint. Okay, a whole lot better. My mouth watered constantly, and for a change it had nothing to do with Shelby.
I hadn’t eaten a damn thing all day. I’d been too nervous at the prospect of messing this up again. It didn’t help that I had those tax documents from the Society secreted in my apartment. And Abernathy knew where I lived.
Not now. I couldn’t focus on that now. I’d promised myself I wouldn’t take up with Shelby again until I’d sorted that part of my life out, but damn, I couldn’t resist her. It was like she’d said yesterday—we orbited each other.
Shelby looked good enough to eat in a loose, cotton dress. It clung to her curves but swished loose around her thighs. I’d gotten a good look on the way in. Damn, fuck the food and everything else. I needed her –
“Oh god,” she groaned. “Everything on this menu looks amazing. I could eat it all, right now.”
“You and me both.” I scanned the list.
Shelby touched the toe of her pointed high heel to the inside of my calf. She rubbed gently and didn’t try going for my thigh. Thank god, because I wouldn’t have managed dinner if she had. I’d have taken her right here in the middle of the restaurant.
“Are we ready to order?” The waiter halted beside our table and gave us one of those classic server smiles. Too bright, and tired around the eyes.
“Yes, please,” Shelby said. “I’ll have the Salame Picante pizza and another glass of wine, please.” She polished off the last of hers and handed it over.
“And I’ll take the pepperoni.” Good old faithful. Couldn’t go wrong with a pepperoni pizza. “Thanks. Oh yeah, and another beer.”
“Right away,” the server said, and took our menus. He hurried off and left us in the buzz of noise and laughter.
I scooted my chair closer to the table, then leaned my elbows on it. “Did I mention you look beautiful tonight?”
“Yeah,” Shelby replied, “but I can’t hear it enough from you. Probably because I love the sound of your voice so much.”
“You’re making me blush.” I fanned my face with the napkin as a joke, then dropped it in my lap and reached across the table for her hand. I loved Shelby’s skin. It was soft as silk. I ran my fingers over it and absorbed the moment.
I’d thought I’d lost her forever. It’d been the only reason I’d taken that disastrous job at the Copley Plaza Hotel. I’d risked myself because I’d thought we were done.
“I’m so glad we’re doing this,” I said.
“I was a little worried about it,” Shelby replied. “I didn’t want to come out and regret this later. But this feels right.”
“Regret it?”
“You know what I mean, Ty. I don’t want to be an ass but yeah, we’ve been through a lot and it can’t be perfect.”
“Except it is,” I said.
Shelby dipped her chin down, the apples of her cheeks rosy. “It is.” She squeezed my fingers.
“How are things at work?” I asked.
“Better than ever," she replied. "I got a promotion. Well, technically it's just a chance to prove myself, and then I might get a promotion to the marketing department."
"Are you kidding?" I asked and squeezed her fingers back. "That's fucking amazing. What position are you in?"
"I'm co-assistant with Julie."
I hooted a laugh. "Fuck, that's even better. I bet she's angry as a bag of feral cats."
"You can say that again. She insinuated I was sleeping with your brother. Because, you know, it's the only way a woman like me can get ahead." Shelby shrugged as if that wasn't a big deal but it got to me.
"Typical,” I said. “She's jealous of you. Only reason she'd say stuff like that."
The waiter arrived with our pizzas and set them down in front of us. I forgot all about Julie and my brother and focused on enjoying the meal with Shelby. My stomach grumbled. I tucked into the pepperoni masterpiece without waiting and when I looked up a couple minutes later, Shelby had done the same.
We ate in silence, apart from a couple of appreciative moans about the flavor, and I only slowed once I'd gotten half of the pie down.
"Well, damn," I said. "I'd call myself a pig for eating this fast, but you're doing the same."
"What?" A string of cheese hung from the corner of Shelby's mouth. She slurped it up, then chased it down with a slug of wine. "Man, that's good food."
I grinned and looked around for the waiter. We both needed refills on our drinks. A flash of a suit caught the corner of my eye and ice dropped into my stomach and drowned the remaining hunger.
It couldn't be. Not here.
I scanned the unfamiliar faces at tables across the restaurant. And there he was. Anthony Abernathy. He hadn't bothered changing out of his suit before he'd followed us here. He hadn't even sat that far away from our table. But he'd made sure that Shelby had her back to him.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
What could I do, tell her that Anthony had stalked us here? Sure, I could, but she wouldn't buy it. She thought he was her friend and she had no idea that he despised me. That she was a ploy on his behalf to unsettle me, get me away from the Society. And if I brought him up, she'd have questions.
Shit, maybe she'd even want to go over and say hello.
"Nothing's wrong. Just looking for the server," I said. I spotted our server and waved him over.
The rest of the meal passed as peacefully as it could. Shelby gave me those bedroom eyes which drove me up the wall, but I couldn't concentrate on thoughts of us together. Every now and then my gaze wandered to Abernathy.
He sat staring at us, all steel and hard fucking edges. He hated me to the core. And he'd hate me even more on Monday when he heard all about our date from Shelby.
Forty five minutes later, we strolled out of the restaurant and caught a taxi to Shelby's apartment. She snuggled under my arm and I kissed her forehead, inhaling the coconut scent of her shampoo.
I glanced back only once and spotted Anthony just outside the door to the pizzeria, a familiar silhouette in the light from the front windows. I left thoughts of him behind and kissed Shelby on the forehead again.
Twenty minutes later I was in her apartment and the memories of our times here rushed back and hit me square in the chest.
"Everything okay?" Shelby asked. She'd already made us each a cup of coffee and place them on the table in front of the sofa.
"Yeah. Just brings back memories being here."
"I really did miss you," she said. Candy in that cotton dress. I'd unwrap her the minute I got a chance.
"You have no idea how much I missed you," I said, and dumped our takeaway boxes on the entrance hall table. "No idea."
"I'd love to know," she whispered. "Can you show me?"
Fuck yeah, I could show her. I let the energy build between us. It zipped across the living room, connecting us at last.
"Tyler." She walked around the sofa and stopped behind it. "Show me."
I swallowed. I'd savor this moment for as long as I could. I hadn't done that the last times. I'd been caught up in everything about her, the way she tasted and smelled, her moans, that I hadn't taken the seconds before to appreciate everything about her.
The strands of strawberry blond hair which brushed the hollow of her neck. The curves of her breasts beneath the dress. The sound of her breaths, faster than they should’ve been, building to a crescendo.
She didn’t move from the couch but I could tell she’d give anything to have my hands on her body.
I took a step toward her and she sucked in a gasp as if I’d already touched her.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Uh huh,” she whispered. “Please.”
I closed the distance between us in the span of a heartbeat. I wrapped my arms around her waist and tugged her into me, pressed my lips against hers, parted them, tasted her.
She melted against me, kissing back but collapsing at the same time. “Oh god,” she spoke into my mouth. “It’s been so long.”
“Uh huh.” I fumbled with the zipper on the back of her dress. I’d never needed anything this bad, not even the first time we’d made love.
She reached for the button on my jeans and undid it. The release of pressure wasn’t enough. My cock was trapped in there, harder than ever and desperate for freedom. I couldn’t wait to plunge it into her.
I tugged the zipper down. The dress tore. “Shit,” I grunted. “Shelby—”
She bit my bottom lip. “I don’t care if you tear it off.”
So that was exactly what I did. I ripped it off and exposed, oh dear god, her nakedness underneath. She hadn’t worn underwear to the restaurant. If I’d known - fuck, we wouldn’t have made it past that first glass of wine.
“I wanted you to know,” she said, “how bad I need you. And that you’re the only one I’ve ever needed this way.” She tugged my jeans down over my thighs and let them drop to my ankles.
My dick bounced free, at last, and pulsed against her flesh. Our heat mingled.
Shelby pulled off my shirt next and finally we were naked in front of each other. She wrapped her hand around my shaft and stroked gently, once up and down again. I jerked toward her, braced my hand on the sofa.
“Fuck. It’s too good already.”
“Condom?”
I fetched one out of my jeans, opened it, tossed the wrapper aside, then fitted my length into it. “I can’t wait a second longer. I’ve got to feel you again.”
She lifted her ass onto the top rail of the sofa, then spread her legs and exposed those silken pink folds, already dripping for me. I ran my finger between those lips and over her clit.
Shelby cried out and grabbed my shoulders. “Don’t play with me,” she said. “I thought you couldn’t wait?”
“Maybe I can.”
“No way.” She grasped the base of my cock and guided me toward her entrance.
The minute the tip of my head hit that point of heat, I lost it. I plunged into her and she dug her fingernails into my flesh, arched her back, gasped my name.
I folded my arms around her and kissed her neck, licking up the salt of her sweat which mingled with her perfume.
We molded to one another, dissolved into the moment and everything it meant to both of us. We ascended the hill together, her nipples taut and my muscles rippling from every thrust, and crashed over the top.
Finally, we were together again. Nothing could pull us apart this time.