Firecracker: A contemporary romance

by Kelly Jamieson

  She nodded. “She wants a lot for you.”

  “I guess all parents do, but…for her it’s hard because she was supposed to have two kids to pin all her hopes on. Now it’s just me.” He shrugged, trying to look nonchalant even though this topic made his insides clench. “I’ve tried, but I can’t be everything to her.”

  She stared across the table at him, her eyes warm. “You put way too much pressure on yourself.”

  He frowned. It wasn’t him putting pressure on himself. It had been his parents, now just his mom, putting pressure on him…wasn’t it?

  “No child can be everything to his or her parents. If your mom really wants that, then that’s just wrong. You need to be your own person and live the life you want to live.”

  He didn’t answer right away, letting her words sink in. “But I’m disappointing her. Don’t you want your parents to be proud of you? Oh wait, I forgot I’m talking to the prom queen who could do no wrong.”

  She tilted her head to one side, studying him. Her scrutiny made him shift in his chair and drop his gaze. She seemed to recognize that this time the prom queen reference came out as more envious than teasing. And to recognize that it really bothered him that he’d disappointed his parents.

  “You don’t think I’ve felt like I let my parents down over the last few years?” she asked softly. “Living in a marriage that was a sham, letting myself get into such a huge financial mess, letting my husband down to the point that he felt helpless and took his own life?”

  “That wasn’t your fault.” He’d already told her that.

  “I know,” she said quietly. “I do. But still…I feel like a huge failure at life. I know they’ve been worried about me, and I hate that.”

  They had something in common there. Even though he’d found what he wanted to do, even though Arden hadn’t figured it all out yet, they both felt like they were letting people down.

  He reached across the table and closed his fingers around her hand. She met his eyes, and he gave her hand a squeeze. “Maybe we both need to ease up on ourselves.”

  She curled her fingers around his, holding his gaze. “Yeah. Maybe you’re right.”

  They managed to keep the conversation off sex, mostly, during their delicious dinner, but even so, having Arden sitting across from him in this romantic setting looking so goddamn gorgeous kept his dick at half-mast most of the time.

  He had to say, though, he was having fun. Even talking about nonsexual topics with Arden was entertaining…discovering they shared political views, had similar feelings about the importance of community and giving back, and both hated when people talked about everything wrong in the world being because of millennials, and stereotypes about them.

  “We’re not all the same,” Arden said with an eye roll. “Some of us actually do want secure jobs we can stay at for the rest of our lives.”

  “Like me.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Is that what you want?”

  She huffed. “I don’t know what I want. But I’m envious of you.”

  Once again, he had that fierce protective instinct, a feeling of wanting to look after her. Which he knew was not the way to go with her while she was finding her way. So he kept quiet about that, while vowing to do anything he could to make life easier for her and keep her safe.

  He signed off on the credit card slip for their meal, adding a tip, then slipped his card into his wallet. They’d finished the bottle of wine and that arousal was still a low-grade buzz inside him.

  “Okay,” he said. “Let’s get out of here. It’s time.”

  She blinked and reached for her purse. “Okay. Time for what?”

  He rose from his chair and moved around to pull hers back for her. When she stood, he leaned in and whispered, “Foreplay, baby.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  “My place.” Tyler shoved open the door and pushed into his apartment, tugging Arden in with him. He slammed the door shut and yanked her up against him, her back to his front.

  Excitement heated her blood, her belly doing a pirouette at being the object of Tyler’s intense, nearly rough desire. She felt how hard he was, pressing into her back, and a small whimper escaped her lips.

  “Yeah,” he said on a low growl, nuzzling the side of her neck. He slid one arm around her front, the other moving her hair aside so he could suck on her skin at the juncture of her neck and shoulder.

  Her breathing quickened. Her body quivered.

  He slid the narrow straps of her dress off her shoulder and glided his tongue across her skin there. His other hand gathered up the sheer fabric of her dress and lifted it higher on her thigh. He pressed his erection against her lower back, and she pushed back against his thighs. Electricity sparked over every nerve ending in her body. “Tyler,” she gasped.

  “Yeah.” He closed his teeth over her skin, gently, but still…it was a possessive, dominant gesture, and she shivered. “That was so goddamn hot sitting on that patio, people all around us while we were talking about me eating you.”

  “Oh God.” Thick liquid heat pooled down low inside her, remembering their dirty conversation.

  “Right?”

  “Y-yes. It was hot.” So hot. He’d shocked her a little, but she’d been so turned on…

  He now had her dress high enough that he could slip his hand over the front of her panties and then between her thighs. “Your panties are soaked, you sexy girl. I love that.”

  A helpless moan leaked from her lips.

  “Were you wet like this all during dinner?”

  “Yes.” Her thighs clenched on his hand as he cupped her over her panties.

  “Good. Because I was this hard.” He titled his pelvis, nudging her even more with his erection. “You make me this hard all the fucking time, Arden.” He rubbed his beard stubble against the soft skin of her neck, and she shivered again. “Thinking about you in my shower…seeing you leave wearing nothing but a towel…knowing you’re sleeping right across the hall from me in that sexy little nightie…or maybe naked…fuck.”

  She moaned. “Oh God, Tyler. I think about you too. I dream about you.”

  “Yeah?”

  She pulled in a shaky breath. Her confession poured from her lips as he rubbed her. “Sex dreams.” She panted as he kissed her neck then sucked on her earlobe. She pulsed against his hand.

  “I like to hear that.” His voice rasped near her ear. “Do you touch yourself?”

  “Yes. A couple of times…I nearly came in my sleep. I woke up and I was so turned on…so close…and I touched myself.”

  “Jesus.” He spun her around and stepped her backwards until her back met the wall forcefully. “That’s enough to make me come too.”

  He crushed her up against the wall and their mouths crashed together. He consumed her, nipped at her bottom lip, licked over it with his tongue, then slid his tongue into her mouth. The bold stroke of his tongue against hers rendered her boneless, and she sagged between his hard body and the wall.

  He licked inside her mouth, softly bit at her lips, then pushed her lips farther apart with a desperate hunger. She gasped but kissed him back. He found her hands and lifted them, pinning them to the wall above her head while he dipped his knees and flexed his hips, pushing against her soft core.

  “Feel that?” His lips moved against hers. “That’s for you, baby. You make me hard enough to drill through concrete.” He nipped her bottom lip. “That gorgeous body of yours and your hot mouth make me lose my mind.”

  Her head thunked back against the wall as his lips cruised over her cheek and neck and his cock rubbed against her. Desire swirled and heated inside her, her inner muscles squeezing, her breasts swelling. She caught his face in her palms and held it to kiss him again. He cupped her ass, bringing her closer to his erection.

  He released one of her hands and hiked her dress up again, rough fingertips brushing over her thigh and hip until he found her thong. He curled his fingers around the string and gave a sharp tug, and it s
napped.

  She whimpered again.

  He dropped her panties, grabbed her hands again and lifted them over his shoulders. “Hang on, baby.”

  “Condom,” she gasped, a faint voice of reason tricking into her consciousness.

  “Shit.” He groaned. “Got it.” He pulled his wallet out of his sagging pants and found the small package.

  She cried out when he pushed inside. Delicious tension throbbed in her body at the intrusion, clamping around him.

  “Fuck yeah.”

  “Oh God, Tyler, that feels so good.”

  She gasped and he kissed her, sucking her tongue as he filled her. Sensation burned and twisted inside her. It was dirty and wicked and so hot she thought she might burst into flames. And then she did burst into flames—a bright, burning conflagration.

  Moments later, both of them breathing hard and slumped against the wall, she attempted to speak. “Wow. I’ve never been banged up against the wall before.”

  He groaned. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t apologize.” She met his eyes. “I loved it. Although you did promise me foreplay.”

  He choked on a laugh. “What? The drive home wasn’t enough foreplay?”

  “The whole dinner was foreplay.” She smiled ruefully and pushed his hair off his forehead.

  And it hadn’t been just the sexy talk. Layers of feelings for him kept building the more time she spent with him. Hearing him talk about his mom and how he felt he was letting her down had made something inside her soften and warm. Yes, she was attracted to him. Yes, she liked him. But getting a glimpse of his vulnerabilities caused a feeling of warm tenderness, a desire to soothe him and reassure him that he was a strong, amazing man who had no reason to feel lacking. Even if his mom wasn’t proud of him—and Arden seriously doubted that—she was proud of him. And it made wanting him so much more intense. Almost scary intense.

  “True that. Christ, I can’t believe we didn’t even make it to the bedroom.”

  She smiled and rubbed her lips over his. “Take me there now.”

  “Not sure if I can walk yet.” But he stepped back, readjusting his hold on her ass, Arden lifting her legs to cling to him.

  “Gonna trip on my pants,” he muttered as he staggered down the dark hall to his bedroom.

  “Don’t drop me.”

  “Never.” The rough, vehement tone of his voice made her feel…secure. As if she could count on this man to be there for her always. For anything.

  But she knew from experience that wasn’t the case. She couldn’t rely on a man to protect her or make her feel safe and secure. She had to do that for herself.

  She pushed away those qualms. Because Tyler had just given her another one of those amazing orgasms he seemed so good at, and, call her greedy, but she wanted more.

  She got more.

  “Does it still count as foreplay if we’ve already boned?” Tyler stretched out beside her on the bed on his side, one hand between her legs, the other under her neck.

  “It does if we’re going to bone again.”

  “That’s the plan, baby.” His fingers slid through her slick heat. Her chin lifted, eyes falling closed, parting her thighs wider to give him access.

  Buzzing pleasure started, a moan climbed in her throat, and she reached for him, clasping his strong hip bone. The sweetness of his fingers and mouth on her was so deliciously erotic, turning her body liquid. She lost herself in it.

  “Wanted to taste this sweetness again,” he murmured. “You’re addicting, Arden. I can never get enough of this.”

  His words made her belly flip with lust. She started to quiver, her insides tightening, sensation twisting up hard and tight, higher and higher. She cried out, her hips lifting to his mouth as it rocked through her.

  “Beautiful,” he said, licking her tenderly.

  Consumed with the naughty, erotic pleasure of it all, she shifted down the bed, ran a hand over one of his butt cheeks, so firm and muscular, and took him in her mouth. And she answered his question about her preferences, keeping him in her mouth, relishing every groan and pulse until he finished, and then she let him slowly pull out with a last swipe of her tongue.

  He collapsed onto the bed beside her, flat on his back, his head at her feet. His hand came out to rest on her lower belly, over her curls in a sweetly intimate gesture that made her heart flutter. “Wow.”

  “Mmmm.”

  After long moments, he sat up, using impressive abdominal strength, and rearranged them both under the covers with her tucked in against him, his arms around her.

  “So you do put out on the first date,” he mumbled.

  She smiled. A strange happiness bubbled inside her, along with a luscious languor that settled in her limbs. “It was a good dinner.”

  He snorted, his arms tightening around her.

  “Seriously, it was. Thank you. And I had fun.”

  “Me too.” He paused. “Does that mean you’ll go out with me again?”

  Her skin prickled. “Tyler…”

  He closed a hand over one breast.

  “That won’t work.”

  He smiled against her shoulder. “You’re on to me.”

  “Oh yeah.”

  “It’s okay, Arden. Just go with it, okay? We both had a good time tonight. Better than good. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

  “I know. I know.” She did know that. But Jamie’s words about how Tyler was a relationship kind of guy floated back to her, and she squeezed her eyes shut. If he got serious and she didn’t, she’d be causing a whole lot of trouble.

  And if she got serious too…God. She couldn’t let that happen. She had to be careful here. Tyler made her feel so good, and she really, really liked him, and damn, he could turn her on so easily and make her come so hard…even when she was just dreaming about him. Which was all great, but also seemed kind of dangerous, when she was trying to make a new life for herself and show everyone she wasn’t just a spoiled prom queen.

  “I guess we’re sort of going out again tomorrow night,” she finally said.

  “Right.” He gave her breast a squeeze, and dammit, tingles started building again. “To see Danny’s show.”

  “It should be fun.”

  “If you say so.”

  She twisted her head around. “You don’t want to go?”

  He kissed her shoulder. “Not sure about the whole drag queen thing.”

  “You like Danny.”

  “Sure. That’s why I’m going. I’m keeping an open mind.”

  “You are open-minded. I like that about you.”

  “Hmm.”

  Her eyes drifted closed. It was getting late. Along with a few glasses of wine with dinner and a couple of mind-scrambling orgasms, being held all warm and safe in Tyler’s bed was making her sleepy.

  “Arden?”

  “Mmm?”

  “Why do you celebrate all those days…like National Muffin Day, or whatever?”

  For some reason, she didn’t hesitate to tell him the truth, even though it probably sounded pathetic. “I started doing that when…when I wasn’t so happy.”

  “After Michael died?”

  “Before, actually. I wanted to remind myself that…no matter how bad things are, there’s always something to celebrate.”

  His arm tightened around her again and his breathing changed. She heard him swallow. She relaxed into his body and his embrace.

  A moment later, he asked quietly, “Are you going to sleep?”

  “Maybe…?” Then her eyes popped open wide. “Oh. Do you want me to go home?”

  “Jesus, no.” He kissed her again and pulled her back against him. “Night, Arden. Go to sleep. Right here.”

  “’Kay.” She relaxed again.

  “Where you belong,” she thought she heard him murmur as she drifted off.

  Chapter Twenty

  “What the hell did you do?”

  Arden’s eyes swiveled to Mila as she marched into Jamie’s living room. She, Jamie,
and Tyler were waiting for Mila before heading to the supper club to watch Danny perform.

  “What’s up, hon?” Arden asked tentatively, taking in Mila’s tense posture and flashing eyes.

  “You.” Mila pointed at Tyler.

  Tyler’s eyebrows rose and a flush spread over his cheekbones. “What?”

  “You went to see Garth.” Mila advanced on him. “Why did you do that?”

  He lifted his chin. “Because he fucked with you, that’s why.”

  “Argh.” Mila closed her eyes briefly, her fingers curling into her palms.

  Arden’s gaze flicked back and forth between them. Tyler’d said he was going to have a chat with Garth, and she’d told him that wasn’t a good idea, but… “What happened?” she asked quietly.

  “Now he wants to get back together!” Mila planted her hands on her hips and glared at Tyler.

  “Isn’t that what you wanted?” He met her stare head-on.

  “No! He was in love with someone else!”

  “He wasn’t,” Tyler protested. “He realized he’d made a mistake.”

  “I don’t care!” Mila’s voice rose.

  Arden jumped up and moved over to her, setting a hand on her back and rubbing. “It’s okay,” she whispered. “Calm down.”

  Mila sucked in a long breath. “He’s an asshole, okay? He treated me like crap, and I don’t care if he made a mistake. He thought he was in love with someone else, and that’s it. We’re done. And anyway, he doesn’t like ladyhead, so why would I want him back?”

  “Uh…” Tyler’s mouth fell open and Jamie coughed.

  Arden tried not to laugh. “Good point.” She turned an I-told-you-so glare on Tyler, eyebrows raised.

  He grimaced and rubbed a hand over his face. “Sorry, Mila. You were hurt, and I thought…I just wanted to make things better for you.”

  Arden felt the tension exit Mila’s body, her hand still on her back.

  “Shit,” Mila muttered. She crossed the room and dropped into an empty chair, exhaling a long breath. “Okay, I get it. But you shouldn’t have done that.”

  “I’m sorry.” Tyler set his hand on his chest. “I had good intentions.”