by Haley Travis
I was still twitching slightly from the incredible orgasm as he began to slide his shaft between my legs, coating himself in my juices.
“I love that you’re so wet,” he murmured. “You have no idea how much it turns me on that you want me.”
My eyes widened. “I can’t believe that you want me,” I blurted.
“Are you kidding, sweetheart?” His gaze roamed around my face, my breasts, as he took hold of himself and began to gently rub the head of his cock through my wetness.
“You’re the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen, Tana. I wanted to make love with you the first second I laid eyes on you.”
I felt myself blushing, reaching up to wrap my hands around the back of his neck. I could feel him teasing open the folds of my sex, the electricity coursing through my body like a low-level hum.
“I’ll be gentle, baby,” he murmured softly, “But I’m sorry, this might hurt a little.”
I pulled his lips to mine, needing him to kiss me through the awkward bit. Tyler grabbed my behind with both hands, pressing forward as he moved inside me.
I was so wet, so ready, that he slipped inside slowly without much pain, just a confused bit of tension as my body learned to stretch for him.
He took several long, slow strokes inside me, then filled me completely and stayed still. I’ve never felt so full, and so incredibly connected to someone.
“Tana,” he murmured against my lips, never stopping our endless kiss, “Things said during sex don’t count. So maybe you won’t think I’m crazy when I tell you that I love you.”
I stared at him, and blinking for a second, then said, “I think I love–”
He cut me off with a crushing kiss, sliding one hand under my shoulders so that it felt like he was holding my entire body as he began to rock slowly inside me.
This wasn’t just the most pleasure I’ve ever had, it was like entering an entirely new dimension. Even though I felt small compared to him, every kiss, every movement felt gigantic.
As my hand slid down his back, he pressed back against it. My hips shifted, and he followed my movement. Then, as if he could read my mind, he angled so that the base of his shaft was rubbing against my tender button with each stroke.
“Tyler,” I heard myself moan against his lips.
His slow, steady rhythm was creating a deep swell of heat and emotion that made me feel like I was floating and falling at the same time.
“You feel so perfect, baby,” he breathed. His hand slid up my shoulders to cradle the back of my head, tilting it back so that he could kiss down the column of my throat, down to my breast. Lazily circling his tongue around my nipple, he sent sparks through every inch of me.
“Yes,” I breathed, holding him tightly against me. It felt like his shaft was growing even thicker, moving inside me, hitting every single nerve that was awakening for the very first time.
After kissing his way back up to my lips, Tyler stared into my eyes. “I can feel you tightening around me, sweetheart.”
“Mmm hmm,” I mumbled, my vision starting to blur. All I could see was those gorgeous eyes and his soft smile.
Part of me couldn’t believe that this was happening. The much larger part knew that this was meant to be from the second we met.
His powerful thighs tightened, propelling his hips a bit faster. The sensation of his body moving against mine was incredible. Too perfect. Too much.
But it was more than that. This incredible man had been so open with me right from the start. Saving me, then caring for me, every step of the way.
Watching his eyes light up from every muffled moan I made was so sweet that I realized I was utterly, completely in love with him at the same second my lips fell open with a gasp.
“That’s it, baby.” His voice was darker, raspy. “Oh god, I can feel you squeezing me so hard. Come for me, sweetheart.”
Trying to hold back a scream, my fingernails tightened into his flesh as I shook, my thighs locked around his hips as he moved faster, deeper. Our open-mouthed kisses were ragged as we panted for air.
“Please,” I cried, “I need to feel you.”
Tyler’s deep eyes blazed at the word ‘please’. His thickness seemed to swell impossibly, creating such pressure that I gasped loudly again.
“Tana, baby,” he growled, pumping hard and fast as thick bursts of heat emptied into the far end of my channel, making me squeal. The feeling was so sexy, so raw, that it extended my twitching spasms.
When we finally stopped moving, Tyler grinned. He kissed me softly, then rolled off me, pulling me on top of him.
Pressing myself up, I searched his eyes, not knowing what to say. His intense smile was odd.
“Sweetheart, that was the sexiest, most incredible experience of my life,” he said softly. “But as a carpenter who fits things together all day long, I have to point out that was the perfect fit.”
Falling on his chest, I laughed so hard I was shaking. I loved that he made everything light and fun, even something as deep as our first time together.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
* Tyler *
I absolutely adored that I could make her laugh so hard. And come so hard. I’d never felt anything like the pressure of her soft, wet pussy clenching around me as she shook from head to toe.
I’d never been more proud of anything in my entire life.
The intensity of my feelings for Tana was shocking. I’m not sure whether I hoped she remembered what I had confessed in the throes of passion or not.
But I could feel that she loved me too. I don’t even know why I cut her off when she tried to say it. It was like the moment was too big, and I wasn’t ready yet.
It didn’t seem right to love someone this much this fast, but since I was as new to love as she was, maybe things weren’t supposed to quite make sense.
Even though I only had five hours to sleep, having my sweetheart wrapped in my arms was the most important thing ever.
When my alarm rang from my jeans pocket on the floor, I dug it out and clicked it off as quickly as I could. Cuddling beside Tana again for a minute, I kissed her forehead.
“Have a good day,” she whispered, half opening her eyes to kiss me.
“I’m going to miss you, baby. I’ll call you.”
“Mmm, okay.”
She drifted off again as I got dressed as quietly as possible. I was actually tempted to take a photo of her sleeping, she looked so angelic with her hair floating around her sweet face, her fingers wrapped around the pillow I’d just left.
It almost hurt to leave her.
Her sweet little kiss was definitely the best part of my day. Everything went progressively worse from the second I walked out through the lobby of her building.
First I was reminded as I walked past the directory that she shared the last name of a man who was quickly becoming a huge pain in our company’s ass. Then it poured rain for the one minute it took me to walk from my car to the coffee shop, and then into the building where we were working today.
I had barely chugged two sips of caffeine before Uncle John called me, worried about the job quotes we were sending this week.
There was something in the tone of his voice that didn’t make sense. I got that he really didn’t want a couple of jobs to go to Wright, but since we were already booked up anyhow, I didn’t understand why it mattered.
Then I wondered if it was because it was a new development company.
Maybe it was a point of pride to him. Perhaps he wanted a certain number of clients on his roster before he retired someday. We all had little goals that we tried to hit to keep ourselves going.
I felt bad for cutting the call short, but I had to switch vehicles to one of the larger trucks. Promising to send him a text later, I parked my car and dug out my keys for one of the trucks that we kept outside our warehouse.
After checking that the right load had been packed, I drove back downtown, wondering how much I should pry into Uncle John’s business. He had been s
aying that it was my business too, yet seemed to be unclear on some details, and keeping other things away from me.
It was strange, and becoming stranger.
Slowing down, I let a couple of cars merge ahead of me, never rushing at this hour. But then my shoulders clenched. Was John rushing to get us more work with this new company for any particular reason?
Could anything be wrong with the company or the market and he wasn’t telling me?
CHAPTER TWELVE
* Tana *
For the rest of the weekend, I had been floating on a cloud. But by Tuesday morning I was starting to get a little bit freaked out.
My logical mind said that I was overreacting. But my emotional mind didn’t have any experience in knowing how many days without contact was normal. Especially when everything had been going so well.
Work was fine all morning, but when I took my lunch, I thought that I’d better call Megan to make sure I wasn’t going crazy.
I knew that Tyler had been working on Sunday, and that he was probably really tired that night, since he hadn’t got much sleep on Saturday night. But yesterday he only sent a couple of texts saying that he was really busy. This morning there had been nothing.
I wasn’t really secure enough to call him out of the blue, so on my way to the sandwich shop, I called Megan.
“Hey, how was your weekend?” I asked.
“Pretty good,” she said. “Remember that guy I was seeing, Corey?”
“Sure.”
“It turns out that he was still pining for his high school sweetheart, so we ended it on Thursday.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” I said.
“No, actually it was fabulous,” she laughed. “It was totally mutual, and we’re absolutely fine with it. But when I accidentally ran into him at the liquor store Friday night, he was with his friend Brian. We totally hit it off and went out Saturday night.”
“That’s amazing,” I said.
It had always been so funny to me how Megan could just snap her fingers anytime she was in the mood to have a boyfriend. She was absolutely fine being single, but if she didn’t want to be, bam. A guy would just appear out of thin air.
“But enough about me and my exploits,” she said. “Tell me how your weekend went?”
I couldn’t walk into my usual sandwich shop during this conversation, so I went around the corner to sit on a bench on their patio. Thank goodness no one was around, because I already felt myself starting to blush.
“He came over for a little while Thursday night,” I said, trying to sound casual. “Then he came over Saturday night.”
“And?”
“We watched a movie,” I said. “And he stayed over.”
“Well?” Megan practically squealed. “Please tell me you finally had sex. I mean, all the way, kind of sex.” I paused for a little too long, so she burst into laughter. “I knew it! I am so proud of you, girl.”
“Quiet, it’s private,” I said quickly.
“Oh, whatever. There’s nobody around that can hear. So, was it amazing? Was he extra sweet?”
“It really was amazing,” I whispered. “I thought that we were getting along really well.”
“Uh oh,” she said hesitantly. “What’s wrong?”
“Probably nothing,” I said. “He’s been working crazy hours, and there have been some problems with his company. Nothing major, just things taking extra time. You know how it is.”
“So, what are you saying?”
“I just sort of expected a call by now,” I said. “But I’m being silly, right? He sent me a couple of texts yesterday saying that he was really busy and having a rough day.”
“Did you respond?”
“Yes. I sent him a photo of one of the giant ferns at the office wearing a pair of thick old man glasses.”
Megan was silent for a second. “I assume this means something to you guys?”
“I send him funny photos of myself in glasses to cheer him up,” I explained. “I figured if it was a really bad day, he might need something stranger.”
“Okay, that makes sense.”
“He texted back a smiley face, but nothing since then.”
“And you’re wondering whether you should call him?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“Now, you said that he was really sweet to you, right? This is definitely not a fling?”
“Absolutely not,” I said. “He’s not the type to have sex then run, if that’s what you’re implying.”
“Not really, but I just had to check,” she said. “He sounds like a total sweetheart, from what you’ve told me so far.”
“Exactly. So I’m just overreacting, right?”
“Probably. But listen, there’s no harm in you sending him a text tonight, just after dinner, asking if he’d like to tuck you into bed with a short phone call.”
“That sounds very specific,” I said.
“Trust me, it’s very strategic,” she said. “First off, you want him to picture you all snuggled up in bed. But also, you want to appear casual. You just wanted to see if he was into a quick chat to say hello. You’re not checking up on him or anything.”
I nodded to myself, staring up at the gathering clouds. “Okay, I guess that makes sense.”
“Ask him about work, and if he doesn’t want to talk about it, don’t pry. Just tell him some light stories from your office today, then say good night quickly. You don’t want him to think you’re needy.”
“I get it,” I said. “Yes, the last thing I would want to do is seem clingy.”
“Especially since you just had sex for the first time,” Megan said. “Some chicks completely flip their shizz after that happens, and are suddenly a barnacle attached to the guy so that he could never shake her again.”
“You know I’m not like that.”
“I know,” she said with a laugh, “But you two are still getting to know each other, so you have to make sure that he knows that.”
“Okay, I get it. Thanks.”
“If he contacts you before that, just be light and breezy. If he doesn’t respond to you at all tonight, do not contact him tomorrow. Wait until Thursday.”
My eyes rolled automatically. “Is there some sort of rulebook I should be aware of?”
“Don’t worry, sister, I’ve got you,” Megan said. “I have discovered all of this stuff from endless dating scenarios. Trust my experience.”
“I really appreciate it.”
“I’m sure he’s just tired and distracted,” she said gently. “Don’t panic. Remember, he’s still in the process of fitting you into his life. Things are going to be a little uneven for a while.”
“That makes sense. Thanks, Megan, I’ll talk to you soon.”
“No problem.”
I felt a lot better, especially after I discovered that today’s special was the chicken and spinach wrap that I absolutely loved.
Returning to the office with a lot more spring in my step, I churned through all of the scheduling for the month, assisted patients with all of their appointment bookings, and quietly spread the word that we would be selling eyeglasses here on the premises in just a few weeks.
During the afternoon lull at three-thirty, I went to make myself a cup of tea, desperately trying to think positive thoughts.
I knew in my heart that Tyler wasn’t the type to take off on me without a word. The strange fluttery panic deep inside me wasn’t real, I tried to tell myself.
As I sat quietly in the break room, I remembered a psychology article I read long ago. If a reaction is much bigger than the catalyst, that means it might be triggering childhood memories.
So if a person were to drop their pen on the floor, and burst into tears over it, it’s probably about a lot more than the pen.
Using this train of thought, I realized that my twitchiness was likely due to my microscopic worry that Tyler might absolutely disappear on me. Since every other man in my life had, that was probably the mental programming I was accus
tomed to.
This relationship would be absolutely perfect if I could either confess who my estranged father was, or if I could ensure that Tyler would never find out.
I honestly didn’t even know my dad.
When my father tried to weasel his way back into my life two years ago, I wanted nothing to do with him. Yet I felt that hearing him out was the right thing to do.
Luckily, I had the sense to meet him at a coffee shop instead of my apartment. He had shown up at one in the afternoon smelling like cheap bourbon, with a weird shifty look in his bloodshot eyes.
