Sips & Strokes: Love wasn't part of the deal

by Sarah Skye

I glance around and spot Marco staring in Lily’s direction. She looks up, her cheeks flushing and her jaw clenching when she notices his eyes on her. He quickly looks away, pointing out something on Harmony’s plate and stabbing it with his fork. I turn back to Lily and notice that she’s slumped in her chair.

  Whatever happened in that little moment with Marco just now and earlier in the orchard has sucked Lily back into that stiff shell of hers. She nods along to her mom’s ramblings and picks at her food. When the meal is over and we’re all being herded to the bonfire outside for hard cider and live music, I fall back and grasp her wrist.

  “We’ll join you in just a sec,” I say with a gracious smile to her parents, and then lead Lily around the corner to an isolated side of the barn.

  She twists out of my grasp. “What’s up?”

  “That’s my question. Thought we were putting on a ‘brilliant show’. You’ve gone silent on me.”

  She toys with her hair. “We are. It’s going great. Everyone is buying us as a couple somehow.”

  “Somehow?” I cock my head. “What’s that mean?”

  She shrugs and looks away. “I just mean it’s going good.”

  “That’s not what you mean, and it’s not what you’re acting like. What’s wrong?” I try to hook her chin to make her look at me, but she flinches away.

  “Nothing.”

  I cross my arms. She fidgets with her hair again.

  “Well, nothing. Nothing, just—come on, let’s go see the fire and get out of here. Everyone’s waiting.”

  “You’re making excuses again.”

  “Yep, let’s go.”

  I’m not about to restrain a woman in the dark behind a barn, so I let her lead us to the crowd and hand me a cider. We glare at each other, having a silent conversation that we simply don’t know each other well enough to understand. She’s not happy, and I’m not sure why.

  Just then I hear a cackle in the distance, then the squeal of tires. I squint and see Mayla’s Mini Cooper peel out of the parking lot.

  Lily chuckles. The lightness and joy of that sound makes my chest ache. “I guess I’ll have to introduce you to my aunt some other time,” she says with a sad smile.

  “Thank god she left,” Marilyn mutters as she walks up to us. She gently grabs both of our arms. “Oh, but here we go!” She nods just outside of the flames, where three buggies wait. They’re hitched to tractors with drivers sitting atop. The buggy is wooden, three-walled sides and an open back with a bed of hay and a blanket waiting ready. “You kids should go first. Harmony and Marco are already heading over. Take your cider and have fun!”

  “We should head home, Mom,” Lily tries, but Marilyn rolls her eyes and shoos us toward the empty cart. “Sorry,” she whispers to me as we go.

  “We’ve talked about you not apologizing so much,” I say lightly as I help her into the hay. I hop in and settle as the tractor rumbles to life and trundles us away from the barn. I’ve no idea where we’re headed—through the orchard would be a logical guess—but it doesn’t matter much. As soon as the bonfire fades, it’s just us and the full moon and the wind in the trees.

  Lily breaks the silence. “I didn’t mean to get weird. I’m glad this façade is going well. It’s almost hard to believe everyone is buying it so easily, I guess was my point. After the blowup with Marco, and over a year of being the single girl who ran off to be a teacher, I’m surprised that everyone would act like me dating someone like you is entirely plausible. And I’m super proud we’re selling the sham, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.”

  Her words knit my brows. “Someone like me? A—what did Nate say?—twenty-first century Fabio? Yeah, plausible is a bit of a stretch, but not the way I’m hearing you say it. You deserve the best, Professor Lily. I’m not him. I’m just a self-centered bloke who got lucky enough to make a career out of something I love. Don’t put me on a pedestal. It’s not warranted.”

  She rubs her eyes. “Shut up, you’re fantastic and you know it.”

  I laugh. “Well, yeah, I know I think so, but that’s a requirement for a job like mine. Self-doubt doesn’t sell. But I’m also very damn sure that that attitude comes with a price. Superficial is my MO because I’m too busy working all the time to pay much mind to others. It’s a bit lonely if I’m honest, but we all make sacrifices. Besides, I can’t say it’s not fun.”

  She’s listening attentively now, sipping at her cider, eyes narrowed in thought. “Superficial?”

  I nod.

  “I guess that’s why it’s easy for you to fake this relationship.”

  I slide my gaze toward her, trying to decide if I hear the subtext I think I do. “I’m fucking awful with discerning tones, Lily. Hence why your rules are easy to follow. They’re clear, no games or guessing. But I think I hear a hint of disappointment in your voice.”

  “No, no not at all, I just… I just… Really, really have a hard time following your rule about saying what I want,” she finishes with a sigh. “Sorry. Again.”

  I shake my head. “Shush with all that. And anyway, you’re wrong. Well, you’re not, but. Superficiality is why I can fake this relationship, sure. But it’s you who’s making all the rest so damn easy.”

  “What do you mean? I make what easy?” Her voice has gone soft in the silence of the night.

  “So far, I reckon ‘everything’ is a good summation. You make it easy to hold a single pose for half an hour in the classroom, easy for me to look like a respectable boyfriend to an amazing lass… and very, very fucking easy to get lost thinking about the way you kissed me on your sofa that night.”

  Slowly, she turns to look at me again. Her chest rises and falls with a labored breath. “I want… Calder, I want…”

  We’re leaning closer, and I’m not sure who’s responsible. “Tell me and it’s yours,” I breathe against her lips.

  “I don’t care if it’s a fake or not, but… Remember I said I didn’t want you to push boundaries?”

  “I remember.”

  “Push them, Calder. Please. That’s what I want.”

  I release my held breath in a soft chuckle and thread my fingers into her hair to hold the back of her head. “With fucking pleasure.”

  Her lips open for me without hesitation this time, no moment of closed-lip action like at her flat. This time, her tongue finds mine in that killer tease right off. I groan when she licks and then nibbles on my bottom lip. Her fingers tangle in my hair, and she pulls me on top of her in the hay.

  “Naughty,” I chuckle against her mouth.

  “Hush,” she hisses, so I throw the blanket over us and run my hands from her face down her body. Her spine arches, another moan rumbling low in her throat. “Calder.”

  “Lily.” I flick open the buttons on her top and kiss down her chest, burying my face in her cleavage. She shudders and arches again as I lick and bite the swell of each breast above her satin bra. “More?”

  “More,” she pants, fisting my hair and shoving my face against her body again. “More, more, please more.”

  “Shh, love, you can’t be too loud. The driver will hear.”

  Lily freezes, and I laugh and put my lips to her ear. “Such a naughty, sweet thing. We can’t have him knowing that I…” I snatch a kiss. “Can’t,” another kiss, “stop… kissing…”

  My attempt to speak gives way to a long, languid exchange that has her lapping at my mouth and running her hands from my hair down my back and then up my chest. She squirms underneath me, and Christ am I about to lose my fucking mind. I’m aching, straining my pants, but this isn’t about me.

  “Lily. Tell me what you want,” I murmur between kisses.

  “More.”

  “Yes, dear, you said so. How much?”

  Her heavy eyelids struggle to open. “Um… what… what can I ask for?”

  “Your wish is my command. I already told you, but you better hurry.” Even as I say it, we’re turning in a wide arc, headed back to the party.

  “Touch me.”r />
  Her words are so soft, they’re barely audible. But she says it against my lips, and I feel it from my brain to my toes. It’s exactly what I want to do in this quiet little cocoon of hay. Hearing her ask for it is too fucking hot.

  I flip to my side and kiss her again, coasting my hand over her bra. I dip my head and bite gently at her nipple through the fabric. She shudders and claps a hand over her mouth as I attend to the other breast, chuckling to myself at her muffled whimpers. My thumb rubs a circle on her hip bone patiently until she spreads her legs further apart and lifts her hips off the hay.

  “Please, Calder. We’ll be back soon…”

  “Don’t worry, darling. You’re not going to need long, and I do like watching you respond when I—” I bite her bra again. She whines and squirms impatiently.

  “Alright, alright, since you asked so nicely.” I hitch her skirt up and tease my fingers along the elastic of her underwear. Her thighs are soaked, her skin is hot, and I’m gritting my teeth not to plunge in too soon. “So wet, Professor.”

  She palms her eyes and groans, but I laugh.

  “None of that. You feel fucking amazing, Lily. In fact, I think I have to confess.”

  “What?” her voice is ragged; her hips are twisting, seeking my touch.

  I run my finger over her underwear, teasing her clit through the fabric. “I wish we weren’t in this damn wagon. I’d give just about anything to taste you right now.”

  “Cald—”

  “Shh,” I chuckle as I hook her panties and slip one finger, then two, inside of her.

  “Cover my mouth.”

  My brows shoot up, but she repeats the request so I oblige. Behind my hand, Lily whimpers and moans. Around my soaked fingers, her body pulses and quivers in the same rhythm.

  I tease her as long as I can, backing off whenever she tightens up too much, but too soon the orange bonfire appears as a glimmer in the distance. Lily’s eyes dart to the glow and then turn, panicked, to me.

  “Shush. They’re still far off. It’s just us right now. Relax and let go for me, love.”

  I work her clit with my thumb and curve my fingers against her front wall. Lily’s chest heaves, her eyes fluttering closed. As her body clenches around my hand, I free her mouth and kiss her, swallowing her moans of pleasure. They are what I’ll use when I relieve my own tension later. They are sweet and unleashed and as fucking beautiful as she is.

  Slowly, she goes slack. Her eyes flutter open, a dopey smile curving that gorgeous mouth. “Hmm.”

  “I’d say so.” I grin and throw the blanket off us. I’m so damn hot I’ve got sweat slicking my hair. We both sit up and gulp fresh air as we smooth our hair, right our clothes—

  And step out of that buggy smiling but completely composed. No one has a damn clue, and something about that knowledge—plus the way she won’t stop holding my hand—will keep me smirking hard for the rest of the evening.

  The flavor of her mouth and the way she pulsed around my fingers will keep me just plain hard for the rest of it, too.

  14

  Lily

  With trembling legs, I hop off the buggy, still reeling from that dynamite orgasm Calder just gave me with his hands.

  He lifts an eyebrow at me, then reels in the cheeky expression of his. “So I guess we should probably say hi to—”

  “No.” I cut him off. “We’re leaving now.”

  For the briefest second, his eyebrows furrow. But then that smug smirk of his takes over his face. “Now?”

  “Right. Fucking. Now.”

  Being with Calder has unleashed something inside of me that I haven’t experienced before. Yeah, today was stuffy and uncomfortable and a bit of a drag… but he made it better. Just having him here to hold my hand, whisper cute comments in my ear, and make me laugh until my stomach hurt made the day a million times better than it would have been without him. And he held his own against the insufferably pretentious comments from my parents and their friends.

  Not to mention he was a champ when Marco tried to trip him up by chatting art. He didn’t fall for that dick-measuring contest, nor did he go all alpha when Marco’s gaze lingered a little too long on me—all things that endear him to me even more.

  But more than that, it’s the effect that Calder is having on me. It’s something I’ve never experienced with any other guy before. I’m actually saying what I want. I’m actually putting myself and my wants first.

  And it’s got me crazy turned on.

  He grins wide at my growled command. “As you wish.”

  With Calder’s speedy driving, we make it back to my place in just under an hour.

  “I didn’t think it was possible to make that drive that quickly,” I joke as I unlock the door. I can feel my heart thudding in my ears.

  As soon as I walk inside and he shuts the door behind him, he grabs me by the waist and turns me to face him. His gemstone eyes are dilated. “If you asked me to swim from here to Bermuda, I would,” he growls. “You’re that amazing, Lily.”

  “Bedroom. Now.” I grab his hand in mine and lead him upstairs.

  I barely have enough time to turn on the lamp on my nightstand before Calder’s hands are on me once more. With a firm grip on my hips, he pulls me against the front of his body and captures my mouth in a kiss.

  “Do you have any idea how hot it gets me when you tell me what you want?”

  I run my hand down his chest and palm the steely bulge in his pants. A soft, strangled sound rips from his throat.

  “Judging by this, I’d say very, very hot.”

  He grins before kissing me again. Then he walks me back to my bed. The backs of my knees hit the edge and I fall into a sitting position. As he stands over me, I yank at his belt.

  “Take off your shirt for me,” I command.

  But he wraps his hands around my wrists, stilling me. “Do you know how long I’ve wanted to do this with you?”

  The sincerity in his voice catches me off guard. It sends a jolt to the center of my chest. I shake my head, and the corner of his mouth quirks up.

  “Pretty much ever since I walked into your classroom, Professor Lily.”

  His hands fall away, and he starts unbuttoning his shirt. The tips of my fingers tingle as I loosen his belt buckle and unzip his jeans. A second later, a cascade of cotton and denim falls to the ground. He’s left in these snug gray boxer briefs that perfectly highlight the very blunt—and very generous—shape between his legs. I reach for the waistband, but he gently grabs my hand to stop me.

  “Now it’s my turn to say what I want,” he says.

  “Which is?”

  He pulls me up to stand with him. “I want all your clothes on the floor too.”

  My cheeks catch fire as he peels away my blouse and skirt. Despite my boldness, I can’t help the few pings of self-consciousness that plague me. I’m not ashamed of my body at all. But Calder is a living, breathing Greco Roman statue. I’ve seen him without his clothes on a million times ever since he started posing for my class, but he still takes my breath away. All those hard lines, that chiseled flesh...it leaves me breathless and my mouth watering every single time.

  And then there’s me. Cute for sure, but definitely not a perfect physical specimen like him.

  Just then he hooks my chin with his hand to look at him. I didn’t even realize I was staring at the ground.

  “What’s going on in that brilliant and beautiful head of yours?”

  I let out a soft laugh and wrap my arms around my bare torso. Other than the cotton panties I’m wearing, I’m naked.

  I swallow and look him in the eye. “It’s just been a while since I’ve been naked with anyone. It feels weird.”

  He squints an eye. “Bad weird?”

  “Exciting weird.”

  He smiles. “Say what you want, Lily.”

  His words center me; I feel emboldened once more. I run my hands through his hair, tugging just the slightest bit. He groans. And then I trace his lips with my index
finger and press a kiss to his mouth.

  “I want your mouth where your hand was during the hayride,” I say, my lips hovering over his, just barely touching as I speak in the softest tone I can manage.

  If eyes could catch fire, that’s exactly what Calder’s do at that moment. His mouth curves up in a grin. “With pleasure.”

  He pushes me gently to sit back down on the edge of the bed. Then with his palm on my belly, he presses me to lie down. I turn my head to the side so I can watch him as he kneels between my legs. He runs his palms up and down the tops of my thighs, which are twitchy with anticipation.

  Everything inside me is buzzing. My heart, my muscles, my lungs, my brain.

  I close my eyes as my breathing starts to speed up. His hot breath wets the inside of my thighs. Then there’s the soft press of his lips on my skin. I force a slow breath in, then out. I’m going to hyperventilate if I don’t get my panting under control.

  But Calder… holy shit, Calder. How he can make me this hot, this quickly, without so much as a kiss is making my head spin.

  Before I can think too much, he gently kisses the inside of my thigh.

  “Do you know how bloody gorgeous you are?”

  His accent is thick again, which makes my stomach flip. He’s losing control too—because of me.

  Instead of answering, I let out a whimpering noise.

  He kisses the inside of my thigh once more. “Let me show you.”

  A slow, long lick kicks things off. My jaw drops. Holy motherfucking shit. How can one lick feel so damn good? But before I can think too hard about it, there’s another. And another. And another.

  I’m clutching at the bedsheets, gasping for air. It’s only been seconds, and I’m barely hanging on. Pressure builds and builds from the center of my abdomen all the way up my chest and neck. Just when I think I’m about to burst, Calder changes his rhythm to something faster. It sends tingles to the tips of my toes and fingers.

  “Holy…”

  I go off right when he starts to switch to a suction move. A delicious, heavenly suction move. My eyes fly open and my jaw drops.