“You off?” he asked.
Completely off, now that he’d shown up.
“Yeah. Yes. I mean, I am.” Wow. How did he do this to me? Every time. English was my native language, and I spoke clearly and concisely until I was in front of him, then nothing but single-syllable words came out of my mouth.
“Rena, you’re balanced,” Chet said, dismissing me. “Dev, what’s up?”
“I need to talk to Rena about the schedule next week. You done in there? We need a few.” His tone was casual, but my heart dropped into my stomach. Then between my thighs. At least that’s what I thought it was. Something was pounding down there.
“I’m not making another cut for an hour.” Chet flipped his keys against his palm and flicked a glance from Devlin to me. He left the door open. “Take your time.”
He walked off, and Devlin gestured for me to go ahead of him.
I did, knowing his eyes were on my body the entire way, anticipating being alone with him again after not seeing or hearing from him for two days. He shut the door and dropped into the swivel chair, wasting no time clutching my thighs with his palms and pulling me close…so close that my breasts were practically lined up with his mouth.
I tried to calm my thundering heart. And failed.
He grinned up at me, looking delicious and dangerous. His bruises had faded somewhat and, under the bright office lights, looked yellow and green. “Lose the apron, sweetheart.”
I reached behind my back to untie my apron. My shaking fingers gave away my excitement. What comes next?
Me, I hoped.
He undid the button on my pants and I sent a nervous gaze to the door over my shoulder.
“Lock it,” he said. I pushed the button on the knob, the click twice as loud as the hum of the ancient computer on the desk, and my pulse pounding in my eardrums. Since the door was a few inches from where I stood, I also shut the blinds.
The zipper on my black work pants slid free, and I looked down to see Devlin arch an eyebrow in approval. I’d worn red silk panties. I didn’t know what possessed me…other than the hope I’d see him tonight. I wanted to be prepared. Since I owned only the most utilitarian of undergarments, I had to buy these, and a few other pair. Never in my life had I bought underwear for a boy. I could see his approval in the heat in his eyes.
“Is this why you came in tonight?” I sucked in a breath as he kissed the skin just under my belly button.
“No.” He licked a slow, wet circle around it and dipped his tongue past the waistband of my panties while I clutched his hair for dear life.
Oh God, his hair.
I’d grabbed a handful of it from behind the other night, but this was so much better. I could see it—dark, wavy, and disheveled. Could feel how cold he was from being outside.
He slid off the chair, kneeling in front of me and my heart rate shot through the roof. Hands wrapped around my panties, he yanked them down and took a long look at me before leaning close.
“After I saw you”—I felt his breath on my most intimate part, then he slicked his tongue against me and I moaned—“I decided to grab a bite to eat while I was here.”
I started to laugh, but the sound turned into a low sigh when he went to work licking and suckling. He palmed my ass at the same time he dragged down my panties, tugging me closer to his ravishing mouth. My knees started to give. I fisted his hair and tugged, my stifled whimpers snagging in my throat as he buried his tongue into me over and over.
I was so close. So, so close…“Dev—”
A knock at the door made me jump, but he tightened his hold on my hips and went to work on the tiny bundle of nerves between my legs. That tiny bundle pounding in response to his every move. I pushed his head away, but he remained planted, reaching up to squeeze my nipple through my shirt and bra. I jerked as pleasure jolted through my entire body, and sucked a breath through my teeth.
The knock sounded again, and he paused briefly to yell, “Occupied!”
“Maybe we should—” But my whispered words were cut off when he licked me again.
“Concentrate, Rena.” He cupped my butt and gazed up at me, at my service on his knees. He licked his damp lips. “We’re not leaving this room until you come.”
No problem. I nearly did right then.
This time when he put his mouth on me, he slipped his fingers into my tight entrance as well. His tongue danced over the most sensitive part of me and I moved my hands from his hair to his shoulders. I rose to my tiptoes to make sure he had the best access, and when he inserted another finger and increased the pressure on my clit, I had to bite my tongue to keep from screaming.
My orgasm left me bent in half, shuddering, holding onto his shoulders for support. When I finally straightened, he placed a kiss on my stomach, one on each hip bone, then pulled up my panties and pants, too. I stood over him, eyes closed, my entire body tingling and, hell, probably glowing like the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center.
He rested his chin on my stomach, just above my unbuttoned pants, and looked up at me, his blue eyes as transparent as I’d ever seen them.
“Thanks, baby,” he mumbled.
So shocked by his words—the “baby” endearment more than the other—I barked a sharp laugh. “Don’t you think I should be thanking you?”
His eyes narrowed. “You owe me more than a thank-you.”
Ah, there was my dark angel. My lips curved, liking the sound of “more.” He pushed himself from the floor and reclaimed the chair.
“I’d be happy to reciprocate,” I said, not one hundred percent sure where my brazen words had come from. I would, though. I’d gladly take him into my mouth, have him under my control the way he’d had me under his. I loved the idea of Devlin under my control.
“Oh, you will.” He patted his legs. Obediently, I sat and practically melted into him. “What were we supposed to talk about?” He sifted a few stray hairs behind my ear, the act almost sweet. I blinked at him demurely, feeling treasured while he held me close, his fingers in my hair.
Caught up in this, and the words Thanks, baby still rolling around in my head, I had to think for a minute about his question. Finally I answered him. With a question. “Schedule?”
“Yes.”
I raised my eyebrows and waited for him to continue.
“You’re going to pick up a shift tomorrow.”
Tomorrow was Sunday. I had a non-date with my mom’s boyfriend’s nephew. It seemed so wrong. Especially after what just happened. I didn’t know what to think. Devlin wasn’t my boyfriend. I had no claim on him. For all I knew, he could do this with a different girl every night of the week. My stomach soured at the thought, but I didn’t want to ask. Because if the answer was yes, and it very well could be, I didn’t want to know.
“I…can’t,” I said. “I have a family dinner.”
He studied me while I rearranged his longish hair and tried not to picture another girl’s mouth on his body. I loved his hair. Glossy black, soft, and thick.
“With?” he asked.
“The guy my mom’s dating, and his nephew.”
Dev nodded, and I wonder if he thought “nephew” was synonymous with “ten-year-old.” I didn’t even know if he’d be jealous if he knew the truth. There was no reason for him to be jealous. I had as much interest in Barney as I had in poking myself in the eye with a fork. None. My masochism only extended to the man on whose lap I sat.
“After dinner, then,” he said.
“But won’t that be too late to have a section?”
“No section.” He fiddled with the ends of my ponytail. “I need you to pick up an envelope for me.”
My fingers froze in his hair. Was this why he’d come in here and brought me to orgasm with his mouth? To use me to run one of his bookie errands? I pulled my hands away and started to stand but he tightened his arm around my waist, keeping me on his lap.
“Rena.”
I knew this was why he’d seduced me. Why he’d turned me inside ou
t with his talented mouth. Why he was snuggling me now. Devlin didn’t snuggle. Yet here I sat, in his lap, held in his arms. My face must have betrayed my thoughts.
“Sunday has nothing to do with now,” he said.
“Oh, you weren’t trying to convince me to say yes?”
His lips tipped into a tempting curve. “I was trying to make you scream my name.”
I liked that so much, my hand returned to his hair automatically. I refused to give him the benefit of seeing my flattered expression, so I looked past him. But seriously…that might have been the sexiest thing anyone had ever said to me.
“Sadly, we’ll have to try again later,” he said, “because it didn’t work.” I faced him and his eyebrows gave a quick lift.
Damn. He was good. Only he wasn’t. There was nothing good about him. This time when I stood he stood with me.
“Tomorrow?” He tipped my chin and waited.
I blew out a breath of defeat. I’d do anything he asked. No sense in denying it. “Tomorrow,” I confirmed.
He left the office first, walking to the back door and into the parking lot. By the time it slammed shut behind him and I’d fetched my things from the storeroom, I realized Devlin had once again left me without a kiss goodbye.
Without a kiss above the waist at all.
—
Mom’s kitchen smelled like pie, which might be a good thing if she could bake something other than scones. To date, she’d failed at every attempt at pie over the course of my lifetime. It didn’t stop her from trying, which, I guess, was kind of admirable.
“Apple?” I guessed as I hung my coat in the hall closet.
“Rhubarb!” she called, bent over the oven.
I cringed. I had no idea what rhubarb was or why she’d attempted to put it into pastry. “Oh.”
She stood, sliding the pie onto the stovetop. She wore the apron I bought her for Christmas, the one with a cartoon bottle of wine that read: I POUR BETTER THAN I COOK.
We both frowned at the sunken layer of dough. “It’s raw in the middle,” she announced with a quirk of her lips.
Yet the edges were black. Amazing. Maybe instead of being a horrible baker, she was an incredible baker, because I had no idea how she could mess up pie one hundred percent of the time.
“Do you think I should call Roy and ask him to pick one up from Kenzie’s Bakery?”
Yes, I thought. But instead, I said, “Um, I probably won’t stay for dessert. I have to go into work after all.”
Her face fell. “Rena!”
“I’m staying for dinner.” I held up my palms. “My boss said I had to come in…” Or else, he’d stop inflicting me with orgasms. I managed not to smile. Barely. My gosh. I was shameless.
“You have to stay for dessert. Don’t make Barney and Roy eat this by themselves.”
Our gazes strayed to the puffy, burned-on-the-outside, pale-on-the-inside pastry before us.
“Um. Okay.” I sort of resented my mother right then for making me have a pseudo-date with someone “appropriate.” Maybe because I wanted Devlin instead, who was most certainly inappropriate for me. Which made him the one who should be resented, and not my mother at all.
Sigh.
I set the table and my mother placed the questionably cooked pie next to a casserole dish. She typically played it safe with dinner. There were what appeared to be potatoes and cheese under the glass dome. She came in with a plate of sliced ham—thankfully baked by the grocery so all she’d had to do was heat it in the oven—then snapped her fingers.
“I forgot to make the green beans! Shoot.” She ran for the freezer, announcing, “They’ll only take six minutes in the microwave.”
I heard the front door pop open and Roy’s voice sound through the hallway. Which made me think of my hallway and blush furiously. Would nothing get my mind off Devlin? I lifted my water glass from the already set table and downed half of it.
“Did you hear us comin’?” I heard Roy ask. “Barney roared in next to me in that hot rod of his like he was revving up for the Indy Five Hundred.”
“Uncle Roy, do not start that.” The new voice was deep, male, and filled with humor. Roy’s nephew addressed my mom next. “Ms. Lewis.”
“So wonderful to meet you, Barney.”
Roy laughed. I heard Barney let out an audible sigh. I peeked around the corner but only saw the backs of their heads—Roy’s taller, graying one and Barney’s reddish-blond.
“It’s Baron,” Barney said, turning slightly so I saw his profile. “Uncle Roy’s been teasing me and calling me Barney—as in Fife from Andy Griffith—since I joined the force two years ago.” He shot an elbow into the ribs of his very tall, mustached uncle. “Still thinks it’s funny.”
“It is!” Roy argued.
I smiled. Baron seemed nice. Like a real family guy.
“Oh, you!” Mom threw a hand at Roy and then turned toward where I leaned against the doorway. “He teased me this entire time,” she said to me with an eye roll. Her whole face lit. Roy made her really, really happy, which made me happy. Roy and Baron turned and followed Mom into the kitchen. My would-be suitor wore a nice button-down plaid shirt, his hair cut short and gelled into a simple style. Nothing like Devlin’s carelessly tousled, black medium-length hair. Baron wasn’t as tall as Dev, but I noticed he had a firm, solid build. I pictured him in a uniform, and I’m not going to lie, it wasn’t a bad picture. Then I pictured Devlin naked and that picture was even better.
Stop comparing the two of them.
Baron smiled as he approached, shoulders back, confidence intact. He offered a hand. “You must be Rena. Nice to meet you.”
I shook it, earning an amiable smile. No zings of warning, exciting or otherwise, shot through me, despite the warm clasp around my fingers.
“You, uh, aren’t going to call me Barney, are you?” he asked with a teasing smile. His teeth were white and straight, his face not exactly rugged, but pleasant.
I felt my mouth pull into a smile. “Cross my heart.”
He made a relieved face, releasing me to pull the back of his hand over his brow for show. He was probably popular, or had been in high school. Came from a good, normal family. I tried to decide if he was attractive, lining his features up with Devlin’s. But that wasn’t fair. They weren’t the same at all. Baron was attractive in his own way. He had kind, tame blue eyes. Not the electric color of Devlin’s, but a washed-out blue that suited him, and met mine unerringly.
Over dinner we talked about school, our hobbies, where we worked. Roy and Mom mostly chatted with each other since Baron and I were rapt in conversation. He was easy to talk with. I learned he had played soccer in school, but not to any high standard.
“After about a year and a half with a science major—I was going to become a park ranger—I shifted to forensic science and focused on law enforcement instead,” he told me.
“A park ranger.”
“Not as hot as a cop, right?” He smiled a genuine smile, and I was learning every one of his smiles were genuine.
“Damn straight,” Roy interrupted, before turning his attention back to his refilled plate.
“But, like a park ranger,” Baron started, holding up a hand as his face cocked into a mock seriousness I found endearing, “I do get to blow a whistle really loud if I catch you skinny-dipping in the pond.” He grinned at me, his flirting technique really, really effective.
Potatoes went down the wrong way when I laughed, causing me to cough and sputter for a full minute. Baron was half out of his chair despite my waving him off. He laughed when I laughed first. When tears streamed down my face, he used his napkin to mop the trail off my cheeks.
“You were safe with me. I know the Heimlich.” A sly, but sweet smile crossed his lips as I accepted the napkin from him. “I hate what a lady-killer I am sometimes.”
I straightened in my chair, returning his smile with a watery one of my own. Mom and Roy had begun clearing the table, leaving us alone. Intentionally?
Roy’s nephew was definitely a catch. Cute and smart, and able to bring down criminals as well as wield an affable charm. Any girl would be glad to have his attention. Any girl who didn’t belong to the mysterious Devlin Calvary, a man who was involved in “completely illegal” gambling.
My smile erased as I considered how opposite from the law Dev was from the two men at my mother’s dining room table. I eased back into my chair. I didn’t “belong” to Devlin, but I wanted to, I realized, suddenly scared of the bend of my thoughts. How had I gotten in so deep so fast? Especially when I knew, in Devlin’s mind, I was a good girl on loan until he ran out of errands for me, or until his face healed and he was back to working the front of the house.
The thought made me melancholy. All through dessert, I picked at my rhubarb pie while Baron choked down every last miserable bite. In a rush of certainty from the pit of my stomach, I understood that Baron was a better, smarter, safer choice for a boyfriend than Devlin.
Too bad I was done being safe.
Chapter 11
Rena
Oak & Sage was hoppin’ for a Sunday night. I strode through the front door, wool coat collar popped, scratchy against my frigid cheeks. The weather had gotten colder since dinner at Mom’s house. Snow had coated the ground earlier, too, but at least the roads had been clear then. My tires slipped and slid all the way here.
Inside, the lighting was soft, pale yellow, and glinting off the shining wood walls and dividers.
Relieved I wasn’t on the clock, I nodded hello to Heidi, one of the hostesses, and cut through the bar on my way to the kitchen. Diners sat, glasses of wine in hand, and ordered around the bustling, harried staff.
The back of house was a different world. Harsh, bright fluorescents glared overhead, servers rushed by, calling out orders to the kitchen staff. The sounds were not of tinkling silver but clanging pans and shouts of “on the fly!”
Chet loaded plates onto a large oval tray and called for a runner, and I felt a small smile tickle my lips as I thought of Dev hauling me into his office for yelling at him. If he’d meant to reprimand me, his tactic had failed. Then I thought of last night, when he’d hauled me in there for a different reason. Worry niggled at me as I tried to understand why I’d shown up exactly like he asked. I wanted to believe I was helping out a friend who was hurt, but really, how puritanical was that? And how false? I was helping him because he’d gone down on me. And he went down on me so I would help him.
Fighting for Devlin (Lost Boys #1) Page 10
