by Whitley Cox
She lifted one eyebrow at him. Could he feel her skepticism?
He sighed, taking her hands. “Listen, Gabe loves you, but as you know, he doesn’t do well with change and is easily set off. We all need to be eased into this. He knows you as his therapist, but if he suddenly started seeing you on the weekends and seeing us kiss and cuddle, he might get confused. It was really hard on him when Cheyenne left. I don’t want to give him false hope if you realize this is all too much for you.”
She pulled away from him and stopped dancing, her brows furrowed. “So it’s all on me then?”
Frustration filled his eyes. “No. But I’ve been down this road before. I’m just protecting my son. Please understand that.”
It was hard to stay mad when he was just so fiercely protective and in love with his son. His eyes softened, and he tugged her body toward his again, once again setting their bodies off to a light sway.
He brushed his lips across hers before continuing. “I like keeping you all to myself. Don’t you like it when I show up on your doorstep on Saturday nights, a pair of handcuffs in my back pocket and a bottle of wine in my hand?”
She struggled to keep her mouth from turning up into a smile. He had her there. Those nights were fun. She usually slept in on Sundays because she was so tired from all the orgasms.
“We’ve both been burned, right?”
She nodded. Yeah, they certainly had. He’d told her all about his ex Cheyenne and the way she’d left him and Gabe. They’d both been devastated. And Ken had burned her so bad, she still smelled smoke whenever she drove near their old apartment.
“So we need to ease into this whole thing. Dip our toes in. Keep it light and fun until we’re ready to take the next step.”
Which was?
It was like he read her mind. “We’re also working on your independence, right?” His hand slipped down from her lower back to cup her butt. He pulled her against him to let her know how much he wanted her. His cock was hard, long and prodding her repeatedly in the hip as they continued to sway.
“We are. I am.”
“And I want to help you get there. I want to help you achieve your goals of becoming a behavioral consultant, of opening up your own therapist clinic, fulfilling your dreams.”
Her heart thumped wildly in her chest from his words of encouragement. Ken had never been so encouraging. Sure, he’d made promises of helping her get through school once he was finished his own schooling, but he also made enough utterances about how he didn’t think she needed to work, and who was going to look after their kids? To let her know that he’d much have preferred her barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen than a successful career woman.
“Tori.” He stopped their dancing. She looked up into his mesmerizing eyes. “We haven’t been together very long. Just enjoy what we have.” He squeezed her butt and thrust his hard-on into her pelvis. “Am I not satisfying you? Do I need to show you just how much you mean to me? Just how sexy, irresistible and dirty you can be? How insatiable you make me?”
She bit her lip.
He tugged her lip out from beneath her teeth and ran the pad of his thumb over it.
Her pulse quickened. Her panties became slick.
She looked up at him beneath her lashes. “Take me to bed.”
His grin made her nipples tighten to painful points. “With pleasure.” Then he hauled her off down the hallway, only stopping to shut off the music and lights.
10
Mark lifted up the cold bottle of sauvignon blanc and let just a drop or two flow down the neck and into Tori’s bellybutton. She was naked and blindfolded on his big king-size bed, spread-eagle and flushed from all her previous orgasms. Her hair fanned out behind her on the pillow like strands of dark chocolate silk, and her fingers bunched in the bottom sheet.
He’d never seen anything more beautiful in all his life.
She squealed and squirmed when the cool liquid hit her warm flesh, causing most of the wine to slosh out of her navel and down over the sides of her belly.
“Careful.” He chuckled. “You’re spilling it.”
“It’s so cold.” She pretended to chatter her teeth. “What is it?”
“Wine.”
“You’re wasting wine? That seems sacrilegious.”
“It’s white wine. I’m not nearly as big of a snob when it comes to this stuff. Can barely stand it unless it’s cold as an iceberg.”
She licked her lips. “Agreed. That bottle of malbec you gave me was incredible.”
“Nothing like a full-bodied, dry red.” He moved down her body and ran his tongue up from her ankle toward the tops of her thighs. He reached the V of her legs, where her landing strip called to him. “Though I’m just as into brunettes.” He flicked his tongue out over her labia. Her hips jumped off the bed, causing more wine to spill.
“You’re wicked.” She dipped her finger into her bellybutton and brought it to her mouth, sucking the sweet elixir off her digit like it was chocolate on his cock.
“You’re doing that on purpose,” he purred, tracing figure eights with his tongue around the tops and insides of her luscious thighs, nipping just enough to get her adrenaline surging. “You know I need a few minutes to refill.”
She sucked on her fingers again, her mouth spreading into a devious little smile right before she pulled them out with an audible pop and then licked them clean. “I’m doing no such thing. I just wanted to taste the wine.”
He hit her clit with his tongue and her leg spasmed. “Two can play … ” He hit her clit again, and her leg jerked a second time.
“The wine is probably getting warm,” she chided.
She wasn’t wrong. He hated warm white wine.
Levering back up over her body, he bent his head low and swirled his tongue around her flat abdomen, slurping up the sweet wine from her navel and laving at the rivulets that ran down her sides onto his sheets.
When he was finished, he grabbed the bottle off the nightstand and held it to her lips. “Drink.” She did as she was told. Then he poured a small amount in the hollow of her neck and over her breasts, loving the way the skin around her nipples and areolas turned to gooseflesh and tightened as the cool wine flowed over it. He took a sip of the wine himself and held it in his mouth, then he took a tight nipple into his mouth as well and sucked, swishing the liquid over the tender nub and letting the mix of temperatures and sensations heighten her pleasure.
Tori’s mouth parted, and her hips churned on the bed.
He loved that she was so easily turned on, so responsive to his touch, his presence, his attentions. His ex had not been nearly as easy to arouse or excite. Tori was a breath of fresh air in more ways than one.
He twisted and tweaked the other nipple with his fingers, plucking the peak like he would the strings of a harp.
She mewled when he tugged up with his teeth, arching into his mouth, pushing her chest up so he could take more of her. He removed his mouth and kissed up her chest, scraping his teeth along her throat to the hollow in her neck, sipping at wine there but keeping it in his mouth.
He captured her lips with his and wedged her lips apart with his tongue, letting the wine flow into her mouth, tasting it on her tongue and enjoying the unique flavor she gave it.
Her hands came up from where she’d been gripping the sheets, and she ran her fingers through his hair, tugging on the ends until a dull ache warmed his scalp. He didn’t mind the pain. Especially because he knew it meant she was getting all the pleasure.
Her fingers tightened in his hair, and she tugged until he lifted his mouth from hers. He removed her blindfold, and their eyes locked. Heat wormed its way through him, beneath his skin, in his belly, his heart. His chest constricted from how much he cared about this woman. In such a short time, she’d stolen his heart. But he needed to remain guarded. Things were still too new.
She held him there, her hands in his hair, their faces only inches apart. “I … ” Her throat bobbed on a swallow, and he held his b
reath. They weren’t there yet. Even if he knew in his heart of hearts that he loved this woman, they weren’t at a place yet where they could say it. Things were just too new. Too fresh. Too raw.
It would kill him if she said it and he hesitated or didn’t say it back. The look in her eyes would gut him.
“I want to be on top.”
Oh thank God.
His smiled down at her, his heart no longer heavy, and worried that she was going to go there before they were ready. She just wanted to get her sweet body on top of his and ride him like the cowgirl he knew she could be. He couldn’t wait to watch her tits jiggle as she bounced up and down on his cock.
“Absolutely.” He rolled off her, sprawling out on his back, just as naked as she was, and tucking his hands behind his head. “Ravish me, woman. Have your way with me.”
Sassily, and with a smile he would never get enough of, she sat up and swung one long leg over his waist, positioning her cleft right over his rising cock. She wasted no time, sheathing him inside her. Their groans of pleasure echoed around his dimly lit bedroom.
“Fuck, you’re beautiful,” he murmured, watching in awe as she began to move in a way that was as graceful and erotic as a professional striptease. She was so confident in her body, in her sexuality, and her fearlessness only made her hotter. She stretched, and her hands pushed her hair up and off her face. Her back arched slightly, and her breasts tilted up toward the sky, her raspberry nipples hard and tight, teasing him to take them back into his mouth.
She shut her eyes, and her top teeth sank into her bottom lip.
She was a sight to behold.
His sight.
She was his.
Pushing himself up to sitting, but careful not to disturb the woman on top of him, he leaned back against the headboard and buried his face between her breasts. She smelled divine. Like Tori and wine. A heady combination of floral and sweet, musky and sexy.
Everything about this woman, his woman drove him wild.
Releasing her hair, she brought one hand down between them and began to rub her clit. He loved it when she took her pleasure into her own hands. She wasn’t afraid to make herself feel good, and he enjoyed the show. Sometimes when he wasn’t quite up for business again, she would touch herself in front of him, bringing herself to climax with her own fingers. Or when they were at her place, she would use that impressive piece of hardware she lovingly referred to as “Dwayne,” appropriately named after Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Mark wasn’t sure how he felt about that, but he did love watching her use that toy on herself. He even loved using it on her. Pushing it inside her slick slit while his tongue ran laps around her swollen clit. Those were some of her biggest orgasms too.
“Oh baby, I’m close,” she moaned, her hand speeding up and her bouncing becoming a bit more erratic.
He latched onto a nipple and sawed back and forth over it with his teeth while bucking up into her, hitting her deep and feeling her walls ripple around him.
Her free hand found its way back into his hair, and she gripped him tight, pulling as she found her release. Her body went rigid for a moment as the climax hit her full force, her channel pulsing around his cock, pulling him deeper and welcoming him home. He sucked hard on her bud but couldn’t stop himself and opened his eyes to watch her. She really was the most exquisite thing when she came. Her lips parted just so, her eyes fluttered shut, and the most beautiful shade of red flushed her ivory skin. And when she would finally open those eyes of hers, they would be the brightest of blue, content and almost sleepy.
She bobbed up and down on him a few more times before collapsing forward against his shoulder, her body spent and boneless.
“Give me a sec and I’ll keep going,” she mumbled against his shoulder. “Kind of lost my head on that one.”
He laughed. She was so blunt and honest, especially right after sex. He loved it.
“Take all the time you need, sweetheart. I’m happy where I am right now.”
And he was. He was finally happy with his life again. He liked where he was at that very moment and didn’t want a thing to change.
“Or you could pull out and come in my mouth,” she suggested, pushing off his shoulder and staring down at him with a dreamy, dopamine-infused smile.
He put his hand gently on the top of her head.
Her smile grew wider as she pulled off him and slunk down his body, taking him in her hand.
“Maybe just tonight we can pretend I’m your dirty secret mistress,” she purred, licking his cock from root to tip. “Or better yet, how about the professor and the student, and I’ve come to ask for an extension or see if I can do something for extra credit.”
She deep-throated him, and Mark’s hips shot off the bed. “That right there is definitely extra credit,” he breathed, then he shut his eyes, slid back down on the bed and enjoyed the best thing that had ever happened to him.
11
“You’re sure about this?” Tori asked, wringing her fingers in front of her as they approached the double doors of the big modern Seattle home set in one of the most elite neighborhoods in the entire city. “I’m not intruding on your boys-only club?”
Mark shook his head. “Nope. It’s not poker night. It’s just a barbecue on a drizzling Sunday afternoon. Relax. You were invited.”
“A barbecue in March?”
“We’re on the West coast. Every season is barbecue season. Besides, it’s more of an excuse for Liam to show off his new grill. We’ll be eating indoors.”
“Are there going to be other women there?”
He lifted one shoulder before extending his arm up to knock on the heavy wooden door. “Maybe. Not sure if anyone is dating right now. Lots of kids though. Most of us, if we’re not full-time parents, have our kids on Sundays.”
She swallowed hard, but no matter what she did, she was unable to shove the golf-ball-size lump down her throat. It had lodged itself there permanently the moment Mark mentioned the party at Liam’s.
Hadn’t she wanted them to do more things as a couple? He was introducing her to his friends, The Single Dads of Seattle. This had to be a big deal.
Even though she wanted this, wanted them to bring their relationship out of hiding, she wasn’t so sure anymore. And she definitely wasn’t sure if this was the best way to do it. What if they all hated her simply because she was a woman? Was this a woman-hating club?
Mark hadn’t said if one of the prerequisites for club admission was being horribly burned by a woman—or ex. Come to think of it, she hadn’t bothered to ask if any of the dads were gay, widowers or otherwise.
She would find out soon enough.
The door swung open to reveal a very attractive, tall, blond man with dark brown eyes and smile that spoke of nothing but mischief and cunning. It had to be Liam.
“You must be Tori.” His smile grew wider as he blatantly raked her body from head to toe. Too bad she was in her big, puffy winter coat. She resembled the Michelin man more than a svelte ski bunny.
She tore off her glove and stuck her hand out. “Hi. Yes, I am. I’m assuming you’re Liam?”
He winked. “Sure am.”
“You have a lovely home. Thank you for inviting me.”
He helped take her coat while Mark helped Gabe remove his coat and boots.
“Had to get a glimpse of the vixen that has rendered ol’ Marky Mark into a puddle of goo.”
Heat flooded her cheeks. What had Mark told them about her?
She glanced at Mark, and he simply smiled and rolled his eyes. “Thanks for inviting us.” He thrust a six-pack into Liam’s arms. “I know you said not to bring anything, but whatever. Payment for the massive steak I’m going to eat.”
Liam’s chocolate eyes twinkled. “Sirloin. The best the butcher had. I’ve had them in the fridge with the rub on them since Thursday night.”
Mark slapped his friend on the back, and they all followed Liam around the corner to a big kitchen filled with men and
small children.
Tori did a quick survey. Not another pair of breasts in sight. She gulped. Talk about the gauntlet.
All heads swiveled in her direction, smiles erupting on most of their faces. She recognized Emmett, Mark’s doctor friend, but he wasn’t smiling.
“Welcome, welcome!” Liam boomed, resting a warm hand on Tori’s shoulder. “There’s food on the counter, more out on the covered patio. I know it looks cold, but I have heaters, and it’s actually quite pleasant. Can I grab you a drink?”
“She likes red wine,” Mark said, coming up behind her, but not slipping an arm around her waist like she wished he would. Instead he kept a firm twelve-inch gap between them. “The darker the better.”
“Dark red coming up,” Liam said with a nod.
One by one the men came up to her, introduced themselves, shook her hand and told her they’d heard nothing but good things about her from Mark, particularly regarding the amount of progress she was making with Gabe.
Were they lying just to make her feel comfortable? Or did Mark really spend his Saturday night poker games talking about her?
Liam brought over her wine. “2013 Merlot from Golden Sunrise Vineyard in Mission, B.C. Let me know what you think. A friend of mine is married to the vintner and brought this down as a gift last year.”
Tori took a sip. It immediately hit her toes before it even registered on her tongue. She instantly felt a million times better. Alcohol really was liquid courage. “It’s incredible,” she said, dipping her nose slightly into the glass to smell it. “Very earthy but with a plummy aftertaste.”
Liam’s eyes glimmered. “That’s exactly right.” He turned to Mark. “She knows her wine.”
Mark smiled but still didn’t touch her. “That she does. Hey, who’s the new guy?” He jerked his head in the direction of a tall blond man with gorgeous gray eyes. He sat quietly on the couch reading to an adorable little girl with the same color hair, only hers was long and put in pigtails with bright yellow ribbons.
