“Very good. It’s still another hour away, so I hope you two can amuse yourselves for that long.”
Alyssa grinned at me. “I’m sure we can find something to do to occupy our time.”
My throat went dry as Alyssa said the words. I hoped she meant it in the way I took it, but had no way of knowing for sure. At least until she practically pushed me in the direction of my bedroom.
Before the door had even closed behind us, her lips were on mine and my hands had found their way to her back. Without wasting a second, I unclasped her bra and cupped her boobs.
She pushed me until I crashed against the side of my bed and then she climbed onto my lap and ground her hips against mine. We’d discovered this little dance just a few weeks earlier and fuck if it didn’t feel fantastic. Her tongue clashed with mine as she kissed me with a rhythm that matched the sway of her hips.
Between the feel of her silky skin and hard nipples under my palms, the relentless grinding of her heat against my cock, and the way her lips caressed my mouth and jaw, I knew I wouldn’t last long.
Years ago, when I’d first discovered the pleasure of my own hand, I’d never dreamed that I could feel so damn good without direct skin-to-skin contact. Although as incredible as it felt to have her on top of me, a new fantasy struck me. I thought about Alyssa’s hand snaking down the front of my pants, of her gentle caress wrapped around . . .
The thought was enough to do me in. With a grunt and a moan Alyssa stifled with her mouth, I came hard. For a moment, Alyssa stared at me as I collapsed into a spent heap. Then with a frustrated look, she grabbed my hand and guided my fingers to her centre—over the thin material of her panties.
With gentle strokes, I matched the same rhythm she’d set when she was grinding her body against me. A moment later, she tipped her face up to the ceiling as her body grew ever more restless. Her hips rocked forward, urging my fingers to press harder until I could feel her dampness through her panties. I considered how easy it would be to brush aside the thin scrap of material and touch her properly. She tilted her head down and met my questioning gaze.
With a tiny nod, she gave me permission. I groaned nearly as loudly as she did when my fingers brushed across her slick flesh.
Her hands came to rest on my shoulders and fisted in my shirt. The movement brought her body closer to mine and I could feel her hot breath rushing against my ear as she panted and gave low, almost inaudible moans of pleasure.
I reached out with my free hand, drawing her face closer and forcing her lips to mine.
“Fuck,” she muttered under her breath as her body grew rigid.
“Declan. Alyssa.” Mum’s voice came at the exact second she knocked. But she must have pushed the door handle at the same time because the door swung open. Alyssa and I sprang apart in a flash and she crossed to the other side of my room, surreptitiously crossing her arms in front of her chest to hide the fact that her bra was unclasped.
For a brief moment, which might have been comical if not for the mortification that rolled through me, Mum’s gaze swivelled from left to right, between Alyssa and me. A deep red swept up her cheeks, and from the corner of my eye, I spotted the same colour rising on Alyssa’s face.
“Uh, I, um, I just wanted to see if you wanted something to drink?” Mum’s voice was high-pitched and filled with nerves. Both Alyssa and I shook our heads and answered with a hasty no.
I risked a glance over at Alyssa, meeting her gaze. A nervous chuckle almost burst from me. She was bright red and flustered, whether because she’d been denied her release or from embarrassment I couldn’t tell—it may have been a combination of the two. Her eyes flashed with irritation and she was glaring at me as if she expected me to do something.
“Look, Mum, sorry. Can we just have a moment?” I asked when my brain finally reconnected to my mouth.
For another moment, Mum looked a little dumbfounded, but then nodded. “Yeah, uh, yeah. Of course.”
After she’d left the room, the nervous laughter I’d been holding in burst from me.
“I’m glad you find it funny, you arse!” Alyssa snapped, but there was no anger in her tone. Only incredulity and embarrassment.
“I’m sorry,” I said, but I couldn’t stop my laughter. I stood and crossed the room to her, trying my hardest to ignore the sticky wetness in my boxers.
Pulling her into my arms, I touched my lips to hers, even though the laughter was still on my tongue.
“It’s not funny,” she said, giving me a gentle nudge away. Laughter fell from her mouth as she said it though, so I knew she wasn’t pissed at me. At least, not for the moment.
I moved closer to her again, pinning her to the wall with my body. My laughter gave way to desire as I drew her in for another kiss. When I moved to deepen it, Alyssa pushed me away.
I trailed my fingers through her hair and brushed her cheek. “What’s wrong, baby?”
“Your mum is right outside the door!”
“Nah, she’ll be in the kitchen now.” I trailed my lips along the column of her neck.
“But she could come back in at any moment.” Alyssa’s argument was breathless and weak.
My fingers brushed along the hem of her shirt, teasing her stomach and earning a shiver in response. I walked my fingers over her silky skin, trailing over her stomach and tickling her ribs. “You don’t really want me to stop, do you?”
“Dec,” she murmured. It wasn’t a request to stop, nor was it a plea for more. She seemed torn, but I was willing to play dirty to convince her to do things my way.
“Where was I before?” I didn’t add the, “we were interrupted,” because I refused to offer any reminder of the incident moments earlier and risk her stopping me. I wanted to show her how much she meant to me and finish what we’d started.
My hand brushed her thigh, and my fingers skimmed the hem of her skirt. With a desperate sigh, she tilted her head back against the wall. The small sound gave me courage and I lifted my hand higher, pushing the material up out of my way.
When my fingers reached the edge of her panties, I pushed them aside and grazed her clit.
“Oh, God,” Alyssa’s exclamation flowed across my skin in a warm rush.
I claimed her mouth as I rubbed the pads of my fingers back and forth across her heated flesh. Her breathing sped up and her hips bucked in time with my movements.
“Can I try something?” I asked in a hushed whisper.
“Always,” she murmured.
“Tell me if I do something wrong, okay?”
She nodded.
I increased the slide of my fingers against her skin, rubbing along the length of her pussy. Her hips rocked forward in time with my movement and, when they did, I slipped the tip of my finger inside her.
The gasp that issued from her was the best sound in the world. It was part surprise, part needful, and all wanton. She wrapped her hands around my neck and used the hold to support herself as I repeated the action. I used her reactions to guide my touch, increasing the things that caused her to issue throaty, needy moans, and not repeating things that made her pull away. I brushed my thumb over her clit while sliding my fingers in a rhythmic motion until she came, desperate and panting, around my fingers.
“You are so fucking beautiful when you come,” I murmured to her as I held her boneless body against my chest.
“What about—”
I silenced her with a kiss. “Just enjoy the moment, will you?”
She chuckled but relaxed against me. I picked her up and carried her across to the bed, dropping her down as gently as I could.
“Can you roll over and face the wall?” I asked.
“What?”
“I just need to sort out . . . my situation.” I glanced down at my crotch. “It’s uncomfortable as hell and I just need some privacy for it.”
“Oh. Okay.” She rolled over to face the wall as I’d asked.
I yanked off my shorts and boxers, using the dirty clothes to clean myself up befor
e balling them up and tossing them in my hamper. I reached for clean shorts and boxers. A sound from my bed made me turn my head toward Alyssa.
She was on her side, facing me, and her eyes were wide. A grin stretched across her lips.
“What the hell are you doing?” The words left me before I could stop them. I couldn’t really be pissed at her. After all, when the shoe was on the other foot, I’d copped all the “accidental” eyefuls that I could.
She looked a little contrite. “I was curious.”
I pulled on the boxers. “Like what you saw?”
The corners of her lips twitched. “Maybe.”
With a chuckle, I pulled on my shorts. “It’s a damn sight more impressive when you work your magic on me.”
She laughed in response. “I don’t doubt it.”
I flopped onto the bed beside her and drew her to my side. For a moment, we just held each other while we lay on my bed, silent, with our gazes locked and small smiles on our faces. Her fingers entwined with mine and our breathing fell into sync.
“This is perfect,” I said after she brushed her hands through my hair.
“So perfect,” she agreed.
I rolled onto my stomach, wrapping my arm over her chest. “Why can’t it always be like this?”
A tiny sigh escaped her lips. “I wish I knew. All I know is that when I’m with you like this, alone, it all makes sense. When other people are involved . . . it’s just different.”
I rested my cheek on her chest. “I know exactly what you mean. Maybe we should just run away together? Live like this every day?”
She laughed. “It’d be nice. But where would we live? What would we eat?”
“You don’t have to be the sensible one all the time, Lys. Dream a little with me, please?”
“I’ll try.”
We spent another ten minutes talking about what we might do if we just up and left, before I was finally ready to give up my alone time with Alyssa and head out to spend time with my parents.
The instant we emerged from my room, dinner was on the table—almost as if Mum had been waiting for us but had refused to come in to draw us out. Dad had obviously arrived at some point, and was sitting at the head of the table staring pointedly at me. I could almost hear the words running through his head—all to do with being “safe” if we were getting serious, and not getting too attached.
I held Alyssa’s chair for her, earning a glare from Dad, and then Mum placed plates down in front of each of us.
“It looks lovely, Kelly,” Alyssa said, as polite as always.
Mum seemed almost startled at the words—as if she’d been lost in her own world. “Oh, thank you. It’s Declan’s favourite.”
“So what have you two been doing while squirrelled away in Declan’s room?” Dad asked.
Mum kicked him under the table and Alyssa flushed bright red. I reached for her hand and brushed my thumb across her knuckles to reassure her. She glanced down at my fingers—the same ones that had carried her to pleasure not half an hour earlier—and her blush grew.
“Playing snap and doing our homework,” I said, glaring at Dad and daring him to continue.
“How’re your parents, Alyssa?” Mum asked, even though she’d probably spoken to Ruth no more than a week earlier.
“Good,” Alyssa squeaked.
I started dinner, hoping that everyone else would follow suit and the awkward air surrounding us would die down. Unfortunately, no one else seemed ready to touch the food.
“An interesting report was circulated today at work,” Dad said. I was relieved that he was changing the subject. At least, until he looked straight at me. “Did you know new estimates place the cost of raising a child in today’s environment to be somewhere in the vicinity of a million dollars?”
With a groan, I rested my head in my hands. Alyssa cast me a questioning look, but I just shook my head.
“Interesting, isn’t it?” Dad said. “It definitely gives you pause to consider the benefits of waiting as long as possible to have children.”
“I disagree, Mr. Reede.” Alyssa’s voice was clear and without any waver. “A child needs love and not money. You can raise one on a fraction of that cost if you need to.”
“But at what sacrifices? The child will miss out on so many opportunities.”
“Opportunities that can be forged in other ways. Throwing money at a problem isn’t the only way to solve it.”
“How’s school?” Mum asked both Alyssa and me.
I shrugged. “Okay, I guess.”
Alyssa went into detail about her latest English assignment—an in-depth study of Romeo and Juliet. She made a backhanded remark about fathers putting their own desires and dreams before their child’s needs, which made Dad roll his eyes. There didn’t seem to be any safe topics any longer.
It was easy to see the conversation was disintegrating into something uncomfortable for everyone. With nothing more than a meaningful glare across the table, Mum and I had communicated our need to divide and conquer.
I launched into a conversation about some of the changes Dean wanted to make to the VK. Dad’s eyes lit up at the shop talk while Mum distracted Alyssa just as beautifully. After the deed was done, Mum and I shared another loaded glare and a knowing nod. At least I’d avoided birthday heartbreak—for the moment.
After dinner, Dad headed for his computer and Mum, Alyssa, and I played cards for a while before Mum offered to drive Alyssa home. Of course, I had to accompany them because there was no way I was going to leave Alyssa alone with Mum, just in case the opportunity to ask about our secretive activities in the bedroom came up.
I walked Alyssa to her door and we shared one last, almost chaste, kiss on the doorstep.
“What you said earlier, about running away? You’re right. Maybe one day, we should elope and just get away from all of this.”
My face fell as she shut the door. She’d taken my impulsive statement about freedom and turned it into some type of marriage proposal. I wasn’t ready for that. Not at all.
Maybe Dad had been right about Alyssa’s dreams.
CHAPTER NINE: THE END OF WISHING
THE TRACK WAS the one place Alyssa refused to spend time with me. Even though I was going well in the series, she wouldn’t come and support me. It was too boring for her, apparently.
It probably wasn’t far off the truth really because once I was in the zone the car was my only focus. I couldn’t afford distractions, not if I wanted to continue my fuck-hot debut year running as well as it had been. She wouldn’t even come to the kart track with me, which was a little more fucked up considering that was usually just for fun. Once, I’d been able to convince Josh to go with me, but after I’d handed him his ass by lapping him multiple times he refused to go ever again.
Tightening my hands around the steering wheel, I forced myself to focus on the task ahead—the car and the race—and not concerns about Alyssa’s lack of support. I barely had time for three deep breaths before the flags went down.
The thrum of the engine filled my veins and I came alive with the press of the accelerator. Just like I had for the whole season, I was feeling the car. It was nothing but an extension of me. The race, the season, it was all mine for the plucking. Turning seventeen had given me a new maturity behind the wheel and I’d taken every advantage of it for the last couple of months. Even though I was up against wannabes at least twice my age, there was no one who could touch me. So far, of the six rounds we’d raced, I’d earned a podium in them all. Three of those were in first place.
The car hugged the turns, with barely any body roll as I floated through the bends. In the car, I was at home. Nothing ever made me feel as powerful and potent as I did behind the wheel. With the narrow view of my visor, I was free. I was able to dream of the day my fantasies came to life. Unlike half the wash-ups on the track, I had the potential to make it onto the professional circuit.
I just needed the right person to notice me.
That did
n’t mean I was sitting back and waiting for someone to chance across me. It was already October and I only had a little over a month left to plan my next step after I graduated school. In the hope of securing a contract with a team, any team, I’d drawn up a portfolio detailing my successes in both the karting and sports sedan series I was in and sent it to every racing team I could.
There was one I wanted to attract the attention of more than any other though: Sinclair Racing. Their Holdens were the most formidable on the V8 track, and I’d dreamed of being in one of their cars long before I’d ever jumped behind the wheel. Even when I’d started in karts, it was with dreams of a place with Sinclair running in my head. It was their logo I imagined on my race suit when I kitted up for a race.
The only drawback with Sinclair was their location. The team headquarters were in Sydney, which meant that I’d have to move if ever I was lucky enough to be granted a position.
Alyssa and I had never really discussed whether she’d be willing to move if my dreams did come true, mostly because she didn’t actually believe they would. We rarely spoke about my racing at all outside of how inconvenient practices, races, and my dream was to the time she wanted to spend with me. Her every action proved to me that she saw my racing as nothing more than an expensive and time-consuming hobby. For some, that might have been the case, but not for me. There was no doubt in my mind that I would make it one day. Someday. Somehow. And even if I did fail, it wouldn’t be for lack of trying.
When it came to her dream, things were different. I’d spent so many of my precious few spare weekends with her walking around university campus after university campus. She’d initially told me there were two she wanted to look at, but that had ended up being four—including one down on the Gold Coast. She was just lucky I loved her.
By the time the flag went down at the end of the race, I was a good two seconds in front of second place. The win basically stitched up my season. There was no way anyone else could take the series from me, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t be at the track the next race—the weekend after the formal. Every second on the track was practice for what was to come the rest of my life.
Declan Reede: The Untold Story (Complete Series) Page 8
