by A. C. Arthur
“Hot chocolate,” she continued. “And I have my own special recipe.”
She was moving competently through her little kitchen, yelling “flip” just as she poured milk into a saucepan. When Del was finished with both sandwiches and had them on the paper plates she’d directed him to, he watched in awe as she opened a cabinet and stood on the tips of her toes to grab a bottle of Hennessy.
“In your hot chocolate?” he asked having never heard of this particular recipe before.
“Absolutely!” she replied. “And in yours too.”
She poured a splash in the two Disney mugs she’d filled with the milk, cocoa mix, cream, sugar and vanilla. She handed him the cup with the vicious looking Scar on it and lifted hers with the lovely Princess Tiana. Reaching around him she grabbed a plate.
“Come on,” she said and went to the living room again.
Del followed and sat beside her on the couch, placing his mug on the end table closest to him.
“So, was this the only place you could find in town?” Del asked and lifted half the sandwich.
Rylan had already taken a bite and slowed her chewing when he looked over to her. When she finished, she used a napkin she’d had beneath her plate to wipe her mouth.
“There’s nothing wrong with my apartment,” she replied. “But if you don’t like it here, you’re welcome to leave.”
Del shook his head. “No. No. That’s not what I’m saying. It’s a cute little place. I’m just wondering why you moved here. Your parents’ house is pretty spacious and you know Noah and Ethan renovated those lofts down by the industrial district. High ceilings, great natural light.”
Rylan took another bite of her sandwich and Del did the same.
“So, you’re working to lease your brothers’ lofts? You guys are totally committed to each other,” she said.
She sounded irritated, which was not what Del intended.
“I’m just saying, I remember how you used to practice martial arts in our basement because your mother never let you do it at your house. You have zero space to do that here.”
She shrugged. “I haven’t done it much lately.”
“Why?” he asked and began working on the second half of his sandwich.
“Work.”
Del nodded. “Yeah. I know that tune.”
“What happened with you in D.C.? Why’d you leave the DEA?”
He almost choked on the bread. Another thing about Rylan, she was candid as hell.
“It was time to get out,” he replied and finished chewing his food.
When she didn’t say anything immediately, he knew it was because she was waiting for more of an answer. Del didn’t think he had one to give.
“Fighting the war against drugs can seem pointless at times. Especially when you’re on the inside of that fight,” he told her and pushed the last of the sandwich into his mouth.
He wasn’t hungry anymore, but he wasn’t ready to leave either. And he didn’t think he wanted to have this conversation.
“I can imagine,” she said to his surprise. “But it was all you’d ever wanted to do. You and Lance. You played cops and robbers so much Camy and I knew you were either going to end up wearing a badge or stealing one.”
When he looked at her it was to see a small smile ghosting her lips. Very kissable lips.
“It was all I thought I could do,” Del told her. “Until I didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t do it anymore.”
She nodded as if she understood that he was ending the conversation now.
“Did you enjoy the sandwich?”
“Very much,” he replied and reached over to take the napkin she’d been using to wipe his mouth. “Now to try this spiked hot chocolate you made.”
Del reached for the mug and took a sip. “Mmmm,” he said. “This is really good. Rich and smooth. Easy going down but with just that hint of spice from the brandy.”
He sat back on the couch and watched as she finished her sandwich and drank from her mug as well.
“Hmmmmm, I love it. Especially on cold winter nights.” She took another sip. “Especially when it’s all I have to keep me warm.”
She turned to look at Del then as if she hadn’t realized that she’d said that aloud. He smiled. “Well, tonight, I’m here. So, I can definitely keep you warm.”
Her smile came slow, lifting her already high cheekbones and filling her eyes with a warm light. Del liked how she looked when she smiled. He liked it a lot.
“I’ll bet you can,” she said and took another sip.
He patted his thigh. “Come here.”
She waited, watching him set his mug on the table. Del leaned forward and took the mug from Rylan’s hands. He set that on the table too.
“I said, come here,” he whispered before lifting her off the chair and setting her sideways on his lap.
He wrapped his arms around her and cuddled her close to his chest.
“Warm enough?” he asked.
“Definitely,” she replied.
“Good.” Del found the remote control between the pillows on the couch. “Now, let’s see what’s on late night television.”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I’m usually asleep at this time. You know, when I’m not chatting online.”
She wrapped an arm around his neck, while the fingers of her other hand ran along the edge of his jaw.
“Yeah, that online chatting is dangerous,” he joked and turned on the television. “You never know what type of lunatics you might meet.”
She play punched his chest and he chuckled.
He kissed her on the forehead. “And you never know what the internet might reveal before your very eyes.”
Rylan tilted her head up. “Ain’t that the truth,” she whispered before Del kissed her lips.
At seven-thirty a.m., Rylan’s alarm clock blared like it was pissed off at someone. The sound had her lurching up from the bed, same as every morning of her life. But she wasn’t a morning person, so without the help of her trusty, but annoying as hell clock, she would always be late. After slamming her hand down over the clock, she lay back against the pillows, eyes closed and ready to steal a few more minutes of sleep. Just as she did each morning.
But the second she felt the bed shifting beside her and the hand splaying over her bare belly she realized there would be no additional sleep. Because she was not alone.
“Mornin’,” Del said, his voice far too chipper at the crack of dawn.
Del was in her bed. He’d come over late last night and stayed. Wow somehow didn’t cover that realization.
She should no longer be shocked at what was going on in her life. Two months ago, she’d been fine believing that she’d work at Kent Automotive for the rest of her life and continue bringing herself sexual pleasure until the moment “Mr. Right” came waltzing into Providence to sweep her off her feet. Because Rylan knew just about every guy close to her age in town and she was certain none of them were “Mr. Anything” where she was concerned.
Apparently, she’d been wrong.
“Mornin’,” she replied and cleared her throat.
Her voice was very husky in the morning. Like she was a sixty-year-old man. And her hair. Damn, she hadn’t tied a scarf over her hair before climbing into bed. That meant she was probably running a close look-a-like contest with Medusa right about now. And her teeth, her breath…dammit, she was not prepared for this.
But Del was.
He dropped a kiss on her shoulder, the one left bare because that t-shirt she’d been wearing when he came over was two sizes too big. Rylan didn’t like shopping so when she realized she’d had the wrong size, she’d decided it would be a house shirt only, instead of dealing with going back to the store to return it. The next kiss was over the tight bud of her nipple, which felt as if it were cutting through the material of the t-shirt. After that bare skin was once again on the scene because while she’d slept the shirt had wrapped around her, rising up so that it bunched beneath her breasts.<
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Del kissed her torso, he moved further down and kissed her navel, pausing to look up at her.
“Was this here before?” he asked.
He was referring to the piercing. Rylan nodded. “Since our eighteenth birthdays. Camy thought it would be fun.”
“I don’t know about fun, but it’s definitely sexy as fuck. Don’t know how I missed it before.”
Probably because his face hadn’t been so close to her…before. And, Rylan had just changed to this particular belly ring after her shower when she’d returned from the garage yesterday morning.
He used his tongue to flick the gold Wonder Woman pendant that hung from the ruby-studded clasp of her belly ring.
“You’re definitely a wonder,” he whispered and continued moving lower until his breath whispered over her shaved mound.
Her leggings and panties were probably still in the living room where Del had taken them off after they’d finished their brandy-laced hot chocolate. Whose life was this?
Rylan didn’t have a second to answer because Del used his fingers to part her folds and his tongue to whisper the best good morning she’d ever experienced. How did he know just where to lick and suck? And please, to every holy being, let him continue.
Her fingers gripped the sheets tightly as Rylan spread her legs wider for his assault. Del’s hands were now on the back of her thighs, pushing them up into the air. She moaned and bit down on her lip until she was quite sure she would draw blood. Del kept right on licking and sucking her, the sounds he was making just as erotic as the way in which he was bringing her pleasure. He came up onto his knees and pushed her legs back further so that Rylan felt as if she were doing some sort of crazy yoga position that had her butt completely off the bed. He continued to lick and suck her with an unobstructed fervor. His tongue was everywhere, from the hood of her clit, down to a place she’d once thought forbidden.
Rylan came with a scream that probably rivaled the alarm clock. Her body shook and colors burst in a kaleidoscope behind her closed lids. Del lowered her legs then and came to lay beside her, gathering her up in his arms. He kissed her lips giving her a taste of herself as he sucked her tongue into his mouth. Rylan went with it. She wrapped her arms around him tightly, lifting a leg to circle his waist and kissed him like an almost thirty-year-old virgin—which she was not.
“Good morning,” he whispered when the kiss finally broke.
She nodded. “Uh huh, good morning to you too.”
It had been a very good morning until Del and Rylan stood on the sidewalk and looked at the SUV he’d rented which now refused to start.
“What are the odds?” he asked and frowned at the smoke billowing from his mouth because it was cold as Antarctica this morning.
“Apparently for you, not so good,” Rylan replied. “I’ll take you home and then drop you off at the bar.”
“You sure?” he asked.
She looked startled by the question and then nodded. “Unless you have a better plan. I’ll wait in the car while you go into your house and then I’ll just drop you off at the bar. I won’t go in so nobody will see us together.”
“You think that’s what I’m worried about?” he asked, still frowning but now for a different reason.
Rylan shrugged. Her outfit today was another pair of jeans and a black sweatshirt over a blue t-shirt. On her feet were work boots that looked way too sexy at the ends of her long legs. Her coat was a white parka with a fluffy fur hood that made her look partly like a snowman as she stood on the sidewalk.
“I know this isn’t exactly what either of us planned,” she said. “I’m fine with keeping it under wraps until it’s run its course, I guess.”
Because they weren’t going to be anything other than lovers. Del could relate to that line of thought. He just didn’t know how he felt about hearing her say it aloud.
“I’ll be quick,” he replied and began moving toward her car. When she unlocked the door, he slid into the passenger seat.
Once she climbed inside and had her seat belt on, he continued, “Only because I’m opening this morning, not because I’m rushing to get away from you.”
Del was confused by the need to clear that up with her, but when she only nodded in response and started the car’s engine, he simply sat back and remained silent throughout the rest of the ride.
An hour later, they pulled up in front of the bar. Del released his seat belt and was about to get out. He stopped and leaned over to touch his lips lightly to hers.
“Any man, myself included, would be lucky to have you in his life. You’re not like other women, but that’s a really good thing, Rylan. A really good thing.”
Del stepped out of the car before she could reply. He jogged over to the door of the bar, unlocked it and slipped inside. He didn’t look back, nor did he think too hard on why he’d been so bothered by her words. Did she think he was ashamed to be seen with her? Was he? And what exactly were they doing now?
This had gone past the one time they’d promised each other. Hell, he’d spent the night at her apartment, sleeping beside her in that small ass bed, holding her warm body close to his. Del had never spent the night with a woman before. Some had tried to set up those circumstances, but no matter the time or even if he’d had a drink or two, he always got up and went to his own bed. And he never invited anyone to share that bed with him. Sleeping was a solitary function for him, or at least it had been.
He’d told Rylan she wasn’t like other women. Last night had proven that point. It would be good if he could reconcile with why that mattered so much to him. But it was almost ten a.m. and they were opening in an hour. Staff would be pouring in within the next half hour. He had inventory lists to go over and expense charts to review and approve. He didn’t have time to stand around thinking about Rylan. But if Del were perfectly honest with himself he would admit that he would probably think of nothing else but her today.
It was becoming a habit; one he wasn’t that uncomfortable with.
9
“Hold it right there, missy!”
Rylan spun around in the parking lot, ten seconds away from lifting her arms and assuming the position as she heard the order given in a loud tone. If it weren’t for the click-clack of heels on the sidewalk she would’ve believed she was being arrested, for what she had no idea. But she saw Camy walking confidently toward her, wearing black leather boots zipped up her calf.
“Good morning to you too,” Rylan said and met Camy halfway, stuffing her hands into her coat pockets because she’d left her gloves at home.
That was most likely due to the fact that there’d been a man in her apartment this morning while she’d been getting ready for work.
“Oh no, we’re skipping right past the pleasantries and getting down to the nitty gritty,” Camy insisted with a shake of her head.
As of three weeks ago, Camy’s hair was a honey bronze color with blonde streaks similar to the ones Rylan had in her jet-black hair. Camy’s hair was styled in fluffy curls that rested on her shoulders. Today she wore black pants, the boots, and a black leather coat belted at the waist. She looked like a model with her carefully made up face and manicured nails, while Rylan burrowed into her thick coat and kept her mouth closed to keep her teeth from chattering.
“Yes, we can do this inside,” Camy said, reading Rylan’s mind.
She laced her arm through Rylan’s and quick-walked them to the door of the body shop. Rylan entered first, with Camy hot on her heels.
“Mornin, Dad,” Rylan yelled into the garage, but lead Camy in the other direction toward the offices.
“Mornin, Mr. Will,” Camy yelled after her and closed the door to Rylan’s office seconds after they entered.
Rylan was taking off her coat when Camy continued.
“Okay, tell me why you were dropping Del off at the bar this morning,” she said before leaning her butt on the side of Rylan’s desk.
Rylan had been hanging her coat on the back of the door as Camy spoke
. She was grateful to not be facing her friend at the moment that question rolled out. Her motions came slower as she pulled the gray and white polka dot scarf she’d had tied around her neck and tucked under her coat, off and hung it up too.
“Stalling,” Camy continued. “That means I was right to follow you here to ask questions instead of just texting you.”
When Rylan turned to face Camy it was with a slight frown on her face. “You were at the bar? Why didn’t you toot your horn, wave, say good morning? Something. You followed me all the way to work, which is on the opposite side of town from the school where you should be heading to teach your noon class.”
Camy had always wanted to be a singer, but her mother’s illness had kept her from leaving town right after high school with the talent scout that had heard Camy sing in the school talent show. After her mother’s death, Camy decided that her place was in Providence, living in their family home and taking care of her brothers. For the past three years she’d taught a music class at the high school.
Camy shook her head, gold hoop earrings shaking with the motion.
“Don’t even try it, missy. I want answers. Because while I know Del’s truck is in your shop, I also know that he rented another SUV yesterday afternoon. I also know that from the direction you were driving, you had to be coming from Del’s house and not your apartment. So, I’m asking you why.”
Rylan walked around her desk. She pulled out the chair and sat down, hoping her fingers would remain steady while moving across the keyboard as she booted up her computer. She wanted to check her emails to see if Lamborghini Guy had responded to her latest round of messages.
“The rental broke down. He called to have it towed back to that shady company down on 5th Street. They rent anything to tourists, but I told Del he shouldn’t pay for any repairs, or the rental and towing costs,” she said as she worked to bring her computer to life.
Camy had moved from the desk, taking a seat in the brown guest chair that was a part of the same set in the waiting room.
