Thunder Rolls (The Almeida Brothers Trilogy Book 2)

by Trevion Burns

  Lila shifted. “I drove back to New York last weekend, checked on my mother. We had a long talk about life. About love.”

  His eyes moved to her lips, stayed for a while, and then rose back to hers.

  “She told me that you’ve been coming to see her every time you visit the city. Says you’ve been visiting her since high school. She told me that she sees your face in that house more than she sees mine.” When he continued watching her in silence, she swallowed. “She told me that we only have this one… This one beautiful life.” She breathed deep. “And I realized something. I realized that, without you in my life, that beauty?” She laughed. “It just doesn’t exist. It doesn’t feel right. It doesn’t feel real. This new darkness creeps in that was never there before. And now I know it was never there before, because you’ve always been there.” She covered her mouth with her hand. “You’ve always been right there, flushing it out, shining your light. And being without that these past few days has been… torture. Chase, I’m sorry.”

  He shoved his hands in his pockets while looking away.

  Lila looked down at her battling hands, sure that she was mere moments from pulling her skin right off the bone. She tried to bite her tongue, but the words that had been building up in her head since the last time she’d seen him were too desperate for release.

  “I shouldn’t have lied to you, but I truly felt like I was protecting you.”

  “You don’t have to protect me.”

  The sound of his voice startled her. So much so that she stood to her feet, wringing her hands once more.

  His eyes met hers, and his face tightened. “I’m not thirteen years old anymore, Lila.”

  “I know you’re not. That’s very clear.” Her eyes traveled him. “And probably the second reason I lied to you.”

  His eyes finally softened.

  “I guess I was afraid… of what the truth would mean. How it would make you see me.”

  “Yeah, well, you know what? I got news for you, Lila. Jack would leave Kelly in about two seconds if he knew it meant having you back. He would call off the entire god damn wedding today if he knew it meant having you back. So, if this is about jealousy, then please stop wasting everyone’s time, and go fucking get him.”

  Lila took deep, even breaths, trying to think past her hammering heart. Chase being this cold with her was not only something she wasn’t used to but also something that sent her reeling in a way she’d never experienced.

  “I. Don’t. Want. Jack,” she finally managed to say.

  “You don’t have a clue what you want.” His voice finally began to rise. “I’m sick and tired of waiting around for the day when you decide to wake up and make a real decision. Will it be today? Will it be tomorrow? Ten years from now? I can’t take anymore, Lila.”

  Lila turned away from him, covering her mouth with her hand as she faced the board.

  Regretting his words, his tone, all of it, Chase looked off into the distance, and then smiled. “You know…Some days I wish you’d just left me in the dark. I knew you were lying to me, but a weird part of me was okay with that.” His voice lowered. “I couldn’t decide which was worse. Being in the dark, or knowing the truth. I still can’t.” He moved closer as she faced him again. He felt like he had a chain around his neck, and she had the end of it squarely in her hand, reeling him in with those big brown eyes, refusing to allow him to retreat. “Lila, I don’t want you to want me just because Jack hurt you.”

  Lila jammed her eyes shut with a shake of her head. When she opened them and looked back up at him, she was overcome.

  “That’s not why,” she whispered, stepping toward him.

  “No, I think it is.” Chase took hold of her waist, keeping her at arm’s length. “But it’s not right for me to be pissed off at you for feeling. So go ahead and feel what you’re feeling.”

  Lila’s eyes fell to her feet.

  “Because, Lila…” Chase watched her, licking his lips. “You and I?” He reached up and covered his heart with his hand, waiting for her eyes to meet his. “When you and I happen… it needs to happen on our terms. Not his. Because, when I go in with you? Lila, I’m going all the way in.”

  Lila’s eyes rose to his, and she had to remind herself to breathe.

  He reached up and ran his knuckles down the side of her face. His eyes darkened as they searched hers.

  Something changed with him in an instant, and his fingers tightened on her waist, pulling her in.

  “Are we still not at Harvard?” he whispered.

  Lila parted her lips, and could only manage a swift shake of her head.

  He leaned in and covered her lips with his. He’d meant it to be a sweet kiss. Fast. Soft. Just to show he was there, and that he wasn’t angry anymore.

  Lila whimpered in response, wrapping her arms around his waist and clawing at the back of his shirt. As she snaked her arms around him, his bag moved off his shoulder and fell to the floor.

  His lips traveled hers slowly, carefully. Lila dipped her tongue out, wetting his lips in question, but Chase wouldn’t succumb. His lips continued brushing so softly against hers that she could barely feel it.

  She pulled one hand from where it was clawing at his back and ran it up his chest. She took hold of the back of his neck and lifted her leg, anchoring her thigh high up on his waist. When she fell back onto the desk behind her, she took him with her.

  He came between her splayed legs and almost came undone. Losing the slightest hint of control, he finally offered her his tongue. They tasted each other in moist haste. The small indulgence was to his undoing, and Chase was unable to stop himself from deepening the kiss, taking more of her.

  He was a fool to think he could maintain control. His body was defenseless to her, always had been. He moaned roughly as their kiss deepened, feeling like he could swallow her whole.

  “I want you.” Lila cradled herself on the desk before bringing her other leg up to his waist, opening herself to him completely.

  Her spread legs prompted Chase to crash in between them, pulling her pelvis flush with his own, making her skirt bunch high on her bare thighs. With a moan, he tilted his head and deepened the kiss. Lila braced one hand behind her on the desk when the weight of him became too much. She purred from the back of her throat, struggling to keep up with his rampant kisses as his excitement grew. She could feel him pressed hard against her center, and had to pull back, gasping against his lips.

  Their eyes danced, and she sighed when Chase buried his head in her shoulder, breaking their eye contact. He was still fighting. She wanted nothing more than to show him how little her attraction to him was about his brother, placing feather kisses against his neck.

  Her kisses grew more fervent, egged on by his deep moans as he gave her neck the same ample attention. Gasping for breath, Lila reached between her spread legs and took a hold of his belt buckle. She undid it expertly, followed quickly by the button and zipper of his slacks. Her fingers shook.

  “Please,” she whispered.

  “Fuck.” Chase gasped against the soft skin of her neck as she dipped her hand into his slacks, gripping him between the warm vise of her fingers. His Lila, the woman he’d dreamed about damn near every night for years, was touching him in the most intimate way. It felt so right that it shook him to his bones. It claimed every inch of him and stole his thoughts. His words. All he could feel was blinding need. “Fuck, Lila,” he pled.

  “Mmm…” Lila lapped a slow trail from his neck to his ear as she clutched him inside his boxers. He was so hard. She looked hungrily between their bodies, tucking her hands into the waistband of his jeans to push them down.

  “I need you so bad,” she whispered.

  A sudden pounding on the door startled Lila so much she actually screamed out loud.

  Chase was alarmed, as well, eyes widening to twice their size.

  Their lips broke away in a flash, but their bodies remained locked tight. It was as if a spotlight had blared to life, expos
ing them, blinding them with its power, but at the same time, opening their eyes. Waking them up to the fact that they’d been about to fuck in her classroom. Even as they woke up, however, unpeeling themselves from each other completely still proved too torturous a task. She clawed at his back, and he gripped her splayed thighs, his dick still hard as a rock, hard enough to sink right inside.

  Another pound came, and then a jiggling of the handle.

  Chase breathed a deep sigh, cradling himself on the desk on either side of her. He’d been mere moments from throwing all caution to the wind and making love to her right there. For too many years, he’d dreamed of making her scream, hearing her cum, seeing the look on her face when she surrendered completely. There was only so much he could take before all logic flew out the window. It damn near had. His body had been on the verge of clouding his mind with blind need for her. He tucked his head into her shoulder, breathing heavily and then finally stepped away from her just as another knock rang through.

  Lila hopped from the desk and straightened her skirt.

  “Stop,” she said, placing a hand on his heaving chest. She could feel his heart pounding. “Count to ten.”

  They both mentally counted to ten, and then took deep breaths, simultaneously.

  It was enough to calm their lust filled, erratic breathing, not completely, but enough that it wouldn’t make whoever was on the other side of that door even more suspicious than they already would be.

  “You were confused about today’s lesson, and I was giving you some one on one time,” Lila said.

  He nodded his understanding. The desire was still bright like fire in his eyes, which at the moment, he couldn’t tear away from her swollen lips.

  Lila patted his chest and swallowed heavily before racing up the stairs to the door, unlocking it just as another knock rang through.

  When she saw who was on the other side, she cursed out loud.

  “Where the hell have you been, young lady?” Chelsea pushed passed her, entering the classroom. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in weeks, damn it! And why is the door locked--”

  Chelsea froze at the top of the staircase, taking in the sight of Chase sitting at a desk at the bottom of the auditorium. He had a book and a notepad open in front of him, currently frowning into them as if he were deep in thought.

  He looked up and met Chelsea’s eyes.

  “Well hello, baby cub,” Chelsea grinned a knowing grin.

  “I was confused about todays lesson,” Chase said, robotically. “Professor James was giving me some one on one time.”

  Lila almost rolled her eyes as he mechanically repeated the words she’d just said to him, to the letter.

  “Was she now?” Chelsea moved her knowing smile to Lila. “Well, Human Sexuality can be a very hard course.”

  Lila cut her eyes at her friend.

  Chelsea was already looking back to Chase, eyes falling to his lap. “Very hard, indeed.”

  --

  “Tell. Me. Everything.”

  Lila didn’t even look across the bar at Chelsea. “There’s nothing to tell.”

  “I always suspected you wanted that baby cub, and who the hell could blame you, but in the classroom? In the middle of the day? Professor James, I never!” Chelsea feigned horror, pressing a hand to her chest before taking another sip of her martini.

  “You never what?” Lila asked, shooting her a look.

  “I have never been prouder.”

  “So, you’re not going to report me for inappropriate activity with a student?” she teased, raising an eyebrow.

  “Report you?” Chelsea cried. “Hell, I’m going to track you. Study you. Steal every last one of your bad-for-teacher tricks. By the time I’m done, I'll have a detailed spreadsheet on how you did it, point by point, and I’ll follow that shit to the letter.” Chelsea raised her chin. “There’s a baby cub in my literature class that I wouldn’t mind rolling around the desk with.”

  Lila sighed into her drink.

  “You can’t even wipe the shit eating grin off your face!” Chelsea beamed. “I’ve never seen you this stupidly happy. Not since the day I met you.”

  Lila was happy. It was because of Chase. That fact was now impossible to deny. “I just don’t know how it’s ever going to work.”

  “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let’s talk dick size.”

  Lila frowned at her friend. “I haven’t seen it, and even if I had, I would never allow it to be a topic of discussion with anyone.”

  “Selfish bitch.” Chelsea grinned.

  Lila looked to the bartender with desperate eyes, but he just shook his head with a laugh. She and Chelsea were regulars at this bar, so the workers there knew better than anyone how insane her friend was.

  “So, that means you’re really done with Jack now, huh? Is this going to be the one engagement that finally sticks for my baby sister?”

  Lila looked across the bar, met Chelsea’s eyes, and cringed. “Jack who?”

  13

  “I’ve wanted you for so long.” Chase’s breath came hard and fast against her lips before he reclaimed them with his own. From where he lay between her splayed legs, he thrust hard, moaning into her lips. “I want to be inside you so damn bad.”

  Lila drew in frenzied pants from where her head was thrown back on the bed of his pickup truck. From the tiny slits in her eyes, she could see the movie flickering away on the shoddy drive-thru screen, but hadn’t the capacity to decipher what any of the images meant. Her entire world had been swept away by Chase’s skilled hips, his roving hands, and the hard bulge in his jeans, which he was currently shoving straight into the crotch of her denim shorts, with such intent, she worried he might unhinge the wheels from the truck in his passion to get it in.

  She pulled her lips from his and tucked her head into his neck, tasting the sensitive skin.

  “I thought we agreed we wanted to go slow,” she whispered, even as she took the back of his jeans and pulled them down as far as they would go, revealing the swell of his strong ass as it thrust between her legs.

  She grinded her hips hungrily, in return.

  Chase moaned in response, reaching blindly between their bodies and undoing his button and zipper.

  Once he did, Lila shoved his jeans down further, enough to give his dick space to breathe in his cotton briefs. She swirled her hips with his until she’d gotten the bulge into the opening of her short shorts, the opening that led straight to her wetness.

  She gasped as he hit her spot, that valley right between the drenched lips and her clit. “Oh god, Chase…”

  “I want you so bad, baby.” He grabbed the front neck of her t-shirt and tugged it down. Her bare breast dropped out, and he immediately sealed her nipple in his mouth.

  Lila cried out.

  His hand flew up to cover her mouth, smiling around the hard bud he was currently playing between his teeth, and flicking with his tongue.

  “Shhh…”

  His admonishment only warmed her nipple more, and he returned all of his attention to the sensitive nub, sucking it hard between his lips, lapping it with his hot tongue.

  Overwhelmed, she had to turn her face in his hand and bite down on his thumb to keep from crying out again.

  He gave her all of it, pushing it between her lips, feeling her clench her teeth down with a fury, even as he lapped at her nipple with love.

  Weakened in his fervor for her, he pulled her t-shirt down further, until both large globes of her breasts were spilled out before him. Taking the nipple he’d wet with his tongue between his fingers, he pinched as he moved his parted lips to the other, tasting every inch, licking under the heavy mound, on top of it, around it, lapping at the areola until it glistened. “I knew you weren’t wearing a bra the second you climbed in this truck.” He finally encircled the other nipple in his mouth, pulling at it with his teeth and his tongue in the same manner. “You must be trying to kill me.”

  She bit down harder on his thumb while cupping his ass, pulling
his dick between her spread legs harder.

  That was response enough. She was definitely trying to kill him.

  “I want you inside me,” she said against his thumb, suckling it tenderly now.

  A bright beam of light flickered into the truck from above.

  They both froze in mid grind.

  Somehow, they both knew the bright light wasn’t a special effect from the movie.

  Their heads flew to the foot of the truck, and the moment Chase caught sight of an elderly man wearing a cap that read ‘Boston Drive-Thru Security’, he knew the fun was over. He held Lila’s chest to his, hiding her naked breasts from view.

  “One warning and one only,” the elderly guard warned, moving the flashlight back and forth between their squinting faces. “Then you’re out of here.”

  “We’re very sorry, Sir,” Lila said, even as Chase remained planted between her legs.

  “Sorry.” Chase’s apology was much less genuine.

  After fixing her top, they unpeeled themselves from each other. The guard waited until there wasn’t a single inch of their bodies touching before he finally moved on.

  Lila met Chase’s eyes, and they both burst into laughter.

  He caught her as she collapsed into his arms, her laughter quieting down, and cuddled her close to him as he leaned against the back window of the truck.

  “It shouldn’t have happened here anyway,” he said after a long silence, holding her close, smelling her hair as their frantic breathing gradually died down. “Not like this.”

  “Good thing he showed up,” Lila said.

  They’d been about two seconds from working out some serious frustration in the back of his truck. In their excitement to get to the Boston drive-thru so they could have a real date night, and avoid being spotted, they hadn’t even thought to check whether or not the theater had security scouring the area.

  It had been a blessing in disguise. Lila was with Chase on that. She wanted their first time to be special too, and there was nothing special about the bed of a pickup truck, with a bad Will Ferrell movie playing in the background.