by Nina Lane
Thanks to Kate.
He riffled through a file folder, absently scanning what looked like more recipes for Sugar Rush chocolate products of the past. With Evan’s cocoa bean project and the recent acquisition of Alpine Chocolates, chocolate had been a big thing on the company agenda for the past year.
He sat at the desk to review the haphazard pile of papers. He found three other candy recipes, which he read carefully before texting his brother Spencer. Where are u?
SPENCE: Lab.
TYLER: Can u come to library? Need to ask u something.
SPENCE: I’m going to lunch in 10 minutes. Meet you at Gumdrop Bistro.
Tyler slipped the recipes into an acid-free, archival quality envelope and headed out of the building. The afternoon sun hung behind a thin layer of ocean fog, and the salty breeze made him briefly wish that he could be out surfing or boating.
He crossed the manicured gardens, nodding at a few employees he recognized, before reaching the brightly colored Gumdrop Bistro with its gumdrop-shaped tables and cushiony chairs.
Spencer sat at a table by the window, studying a newspaper on his tablet. He glanced up over the tops of his glasses when Tyler sat in the chair across from him.
“I hear you’ve been showing up for work,” Spencer remarked, pushing his tablet away.
“I guess miracles can happen, after all.”
“Maybe that means tomorrow you’ll actually shave before coming to the office.”
Tyler shrugged off the jab. He opened the envelope and pulled out the recipes.
“Actually the library is kind of cool. All that historical stuff. I mean, some of it is dead boring, like the accounting ledgers, but Sugar Rush has an interesting history. Did you know we launched a bunch of rescue and aid efforts after the San Francisco earthquake in 1906? When the company was headquartered in the city, our building was the only one in a three-mile radius that wasn’t destroyed by the quake.”
Spencer raised his eyebrows—not as if the information was new to him, but as if he were surprised that Tyler found it interesting.
“That’s true,” he said. “Our great-grandmother took that as a sign that Stone Confectioners had been spared for a reason. That reason being that the company had an obligation to help others in need. That’s why social consciousness has been part of the company philosophy for so long.”
“Cool.” Tyler put the recipes on the table and tapped them with his finger. “I also found these. Old recipes for different chocolate and candy products. Do you know if we make them anymore?”
Spencer leafed through the recipes. “Not that I know of. Why?”
“Do you think you can recreate them?” Tyler asked. “In the lab, I mean. Do you have all those ingredients?”
“Not all of them. Some of these things aren’t available or used anymore. Why do you want to know?”
“I thought it would be cool to see if it’s even possible to remake chocolate and candy that’s historically authentic. As much as it can be, anyway. Kind of a Stone Confectioners revival.”
A spark appeared in his brother’s eyes, which was exactly what Tyler had been expecting. Spencer loved a challenge—especially one that could be created through science.
“I can try,” Spencer finally said. “Might take me a while to figure out the ratios and ingredients, though.”
“No prob. I’m not going anywhere. Not for the foreseeable future, anyway.”
“Okay.” Spencer nodded and put the recipes back in the envelope. “I’ll take these and see what I can come up with.”
“Wait a sec. No can do.” Tyler took the envelope from his brother. “These are delicate original documents that you can’t just manhandle. I’ll digitize and email them to you.”
Faint surprise flashed in Spencer’s expression, a reaction that pleased Tyler. He thanked his brother and walked away. Turned out it was fun to surprise his family by being responsible. And a heck of a lot better than disappointing them at every turn.
Speaking of surprises…
He pulled out his cell and dialed.
“Yes?” a woman responded in a sexy, throaty tone.
“Veronica, it’s Tyler Stone.”
“Tyler!” Her voice warmed considerably. “How wonderful to hear from you. It’s been so long. When are you coming to see me again?”
“Tonight, if you’re available.”
“Indeed, I am.”
Chapter
SIXTEEN
“Another café au lait, sweetheart?” Veronica, a gorgeous, curvaceous woman in her mid-forties, stopped by Tyler’s chair and rested her hand on his shoulder.
“No, I’m good, thanks.”
“All right.” She glanced toward the curtained dressing area on the other side of the room. “Shall I see what’s keeping Miss Darling?”
“No, she’ll come out when she’s ready.” He injected a “please leave now” tone to his voice. “Thanks.”
“Very well. Just ring if you need anything.” She indicated the bell on the table and left the room in a waft of expensive perfume, closing the door behind her.
Tyler took another sip of coffee, sank deeper into the plush chair, and waited some more. Most women he knew shopped at the exclusive lingerie boutique LuLa for their overpriced bits of silk and lace, and it wasn’t the first time he’d sat in the private dressing room waiting for a girl to come out and display her assets in a push-up bra or G-string.
It was, however, the first time he’d ever waited for a woman like Kate. A woman who’d already proven to be the opposite of what he’d initially thought. A woman who, every time he thought he’d figured her out, kept surprising him. A woman who was anything but a cliché.
“Darling,” he called.
“Hold on.” Behind the curtain, Kate’s voice sounded tense. “Can’t you just let me pick out a few things I like and be done with it?”
“Nope. You wanted my opinion, and I can’t give that to you without seeing what you’re wearing.”
“I think you just want to ogle me.”
“Yes, I do. Among other things.”
A muffled laugh emerged. The curtains twitched. “Ready?”
“Considering I’ve been sitting here for half an hour and I haven’t even seen you in a bathrobe, yeah, I’d say I’m ready.”
“Okay.” She poked her head around the side of the curtain, her hair tousled around her heart-shaped face. “Veronica told me it’s called a merry widow.”
“I love merry widows.”
Kate stepped out from behind the curtain. All the breath escaped Tyler’s lungs in one hard whoosh. His coffee sloshed over the cup. He managed to set it down on the table, then he just stared at her.
Holy mother of God. He’d known she’d look great in sexy lingerie, but he hadn’t expected her to look like…this. Like a goddamned sexpot bombshell with the lace bodice skimming over her curved waist and hips, her long legs encased in black fishnets, and her tits pillowed up to display her cleavage, a deep valley of temptation that he wanted to thrust his cock into right then and there.
He groaned, shifting to ease his instantly hard dick. Kate frowned and adjusted the straps of the merry widow.
“What’s wrong?” she asked. “Doesn’t it look good?”
“Yeah, it looks good. It looks fucking incredible.” He dropped his hand to his groin. “You look like Betty Boop.”
Kate laughed and walked over to view herself in the mirror. Tyler craned his neck a little to get a glimpse of her ass, which peeked out from beneath a lace ruffle like a perfect, round moon. He wanted to see her ass bouncing against him as he thrust into her from behind. Then he wanted to stroke his dick and shoot all over her creamy skin…
“I can’t say it’s the most comfortable thing I’ve ever worn.” Kate slid her hands around to the front and plumped up her breasts. “But it feels pretty sexy.”
Tyler tore his gaze from her, wincing as his erection pushed against his jeans. A knock sounded at the door before Veronica, the
boutique’s owner, came in again. He groaned inwardly.
“How is everything here?” She closed the door. “Oh, that’s a perfect fit, my dear. Is it chafing anywhere?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Move around a little and see if it’s uncomfortable. We can always adjust the fit.”
Kate walked around the room. Tyler couldn’t stop himself from watching her, even though his self-control stretched tighter and tighter with every passing second. Her tits bounced, her hips rocked, her ass swayed, her hair swished back and forth.
He gritted his teeth, wanting to rip that expensive thing from her lush body and plunge his dick between her warm, wet thighs—
“I’ll try on the bustier next.” Kate disappeared behind the curtain again.
Veronica left with the assurance that she’d be back momentarily. Tyler resisted the urge to lock the door behind her and have his way with Kate right on the dressing room floor.
Veronica happened to be a good friend of his aunt Julia. His bad behavior would get back to Julia in light speed, and God knew he didn’t need any extra family aggravation. Not to mention, he never wanted his indecency to hurt Kate.
She paraded out again—this time in a royal blue lace bustier and matching panties. The material was so sheer that the dark circles of her nipples were visible—and hard. Tyler wiped a trickle of sweat from his temple, resisting the urge to grab his crotch and give his erection a relieving squeeze.
“Oh, lovely!” Veronica sailed back into the room, a pleased smile curving her lipsticked mouth. “I have some matching thigh-highs for this one, too.”
Tyler suffered through five more rounds of lingerie modeling before Kate decided on what she wanted to purchase. Veronica ordered the salesgirls to package all the items in pink boxes lined with tissue paper. She waved away Kate’s attempts to give her a credit card.
“That’s not right.” Kate looked at Tyler with dismay. “I told Tyler I wouldn’t let him pay for anything.”
“He’s not, dear,” Veronica assured her. “Consider it a favor to his aunt.”
Kate paled. “I appreciate that, but the last thing I want is to be indebted to Ms. Bennett.”
Veronica considered that, then gave a brief nod. “How about I give them to you wholesale?”
After some conferring, while Tyler stood by the door still trying to get his dick to calm the fuck down, Kate made the purchases, and the salesgirls started toward the door with six beribboned boxes set in a tower.
“I’ll take them.” He gathered the boxes, shoving the glass door open with his hip as he waited for Kate to precede him.
“I will admit,” she said, after they’d gotten back into his car, “that that was more fun than I thought it would be.”
Not so much for him. He’d always liked watching girlfriends—not that Kate was technically a girlfriend—model their lingerie for him, but he couldn’t remember ever being this turned on by it. Like he was ready to take out his dick right now and jerk off like a fifteen-year-old. If he weren’t in the middle of bustling downtown Indigo Bay, he might have done just that.
He inhaled a deep breath, smothering his lust to the point where he could drive safely to Kate’s house. He was supposed to meet his friends back at his house so they could caravan up to the city for a blues concert, but his current interest in music was less than nothing.
He pulled into the driveway and took all the lingerie boxes out of the trunk while she opened the front door. Tyler set the boxes on the coffee table and straightened, his chest heaving and his heart pounding in total disproportion to his actual physical exertion.
“Thanks.” Kate gave him a bright smile, blinking at him like a little owl with those big-framed glasses. “I know you have to get going, but—oh!”
Her gasp of surprise was lost under the pressure of his mouth. Before she could finish, Tyler had crossed the room in three strides and hauled her into his arms. His mouth crashed down on hers without tenderness or finesse. Pure raw lust spilled through his veins. Kate’s brief shock gave way to surrender as she twined her arms around his neck and arched her body against his.
Tyler guided her over to the sofa, not taking his mouth from hers. His dick pushed painfully against his jeans. He worked his hand between them to unfasten the buttons of his fly and shove his jeans over his hips. Through his boxer briefs, his erection nudged against Kate’s thigh. She drew in a sharp breath, pulling away from him slightly to look down at his hard cock.
“Good lord, Tyler,” she breathed. “Was it the lingerie?”
“Damn right.” He clenched his teeth to prevent himself from throwing her onto the sofa and shoving between her legs without preamble. “Go put one of them on for me.”
“Now?”
“Yes, now.”
“But why? If you want to—”
“So I can take it off you, woman.” He released her and gave her ass a gentle slap. “Go on. The black one.”
Kate flashed him a smile, grabbed the boxes, and hurried into her bedroom. When she returned an eternity later, Tyler’s heart almost hammered out of his chest. She was a fucking goddess with her perfect breasts, curvy hips, and those mile-long legs. He thanked every god of every religion that Kate had spent her life wearing clothes that hid her gorgeous body because men would have been crawling after her like slaves if they’d known her secrets.
He clenched and unclenced his fists, not wanting any other man in the universe except him knowing Kate Darling’s secrets. Hell, he didn’t want any other man knowing anything about her. He wanted her all to himself…and that thought had to stop right there before he started getting any more possessive of her than he already was.
“You know…” Kate slipped her hand over her thigh, her fingers toying with the flimsy string holding her panties together. “I was getting aroused knowing you were watching me.”
Tyler stripped off his jeans and stalked toward her, his lust firing hotter than before. At least in the lingerie shop he’d been restrained by the fact that Veronica could walk in any second. But here…
With a groan, he yanked Kate into his arms again and kissed her until his head spun and she was moaning and squirming against him. He got them both onto the sofa as she tugged off his boxer briefs, and then his dick was throbbing in her warm hand and he almost shot all over her new lace panties.
“Wait.” He pulled away from her, his breath heavy. He wasn’t going to lose control before doing what he’d fantasized about.
He got to his feet and tugged her to a sitting position, unable to take his eyes off her. With her skin flushed pink, her eyes filled with arousal and her hair spilling around her shoulders, she looked like a woman out of a dream.
He rubbed her breasts, flicking his fingers over her hard nipples. Much as he wanted to suck on them, he had another agenda in mind. He tugged her bra down to expose her tits, pressure tightening his groin at the sight of them—full, creamy, and topped with round, pink nipples.
Kate shivered, her breath catching. He rubbed the crevices beneath her breasts and pushed them together to create a deep valley of cleavage. He inhaled a hard breath, struggling for some modicum of control.
“Tyler?” As if sensing his sudden restraint, she looked up at him. “What’s wrong?”
What was wrong? Beneath the thick layer of lust, he knew the basic truth—he didn’t want to ever do anything to push her away. He’d told her he liked sex raw and dirty, but with her lack of experience, she might think even his brand of tame sex was too much.
“I want you to know you can always tell me if you don’t want to do something.” He lifted one hand to touch her hair. “Or if you want me to stop. Just tell me, and I will.”
Kate gave a breathless laugh, wiggling her hips on the sofa cushion. “Tyler, I am deeply appreciative of your concern, but I am begging you not to stop. Whatever you want to do, I’m all in. I want to learn, to experience things with you, to do things I’ve never done before. So please don’t stop.”
Her plea sank into him, firing his lust hotter. He pushed her breasts together.
“Hold them like this,” he ordered, his voice rough with desire. “I’m going to fuck your tits.”
Kate’s eyes widened. “You’re going to what?”
“I’ll show you. Hold them.”
A visible shudder went through her. She lifted her hands and cupped her breasts, her fingers circling her nipples. Tyler’s dick was so hard it hurt. He grabbed his shaft and stroked it up and down, then moved closer to her, positioned himself right at the underside of her breasts, and thrust.
“Oh!” Kate gasped, her teeth biting down on her lower lip.
Pleasure and heat flooded Tyler in a wave as he sank into the depths of her cushiony flesh. He pulled back and thrust again, his pathway eased by both Kate’s perspiration and the fluids dripping from his cock.
“Oh my God, Tyler, that feels so…amazing.” Kate tore her gaze from him and looked down at her pillowed breasts. “A little weird and totally dirty, but amazing.”
“Hold them tighter.” He grunted, plunging forward to sink his cock as far as he could into the soft heaven of her tits.
Kate panted, shifting to the edge of the sofa, her thighs rubbing together. She stared in fascination at the sight of his cock appearing and disappearing between her breasts. He increased the pace, his urgency ratcheting higher with every thrust.
He drove his hands into her hair. He dragged in a hard breath and stilled.
“Lick it,” he said hoarsely.
Kate let out a little whimper that told him she was already as close to the edge as he was. She lowered her head and touched her pink tongue to his cock. Heat shot through him. He tightened his fingers on her hair. She swirled her tongue around down his shaft as far as she could before enclosing the head between her lips and sucking.
“That’s so sexy,” she whispered, pulling back to look up at him. “Can you come like this?”
