10. Tyler
I waited, fighting every muscle in my body because they all wanted to move in close and claim the woman in front of me. Who the hell was she going to meet that had her leaving her house at three in the morning in that short little sundress?
"Well, he is hot," she said with a smirk.
The green-eyed monster of jealousy flared inside me. Hadn't she just agreed to go on a date with me a few hours earlier or had I dreamed up that moment?
Down, boy. She's not yours.
Yet.
But she damn well needed to be. These past few months had been a special kind of torture that taught me one very important lesson: Naomi Harlowe was it for me. She was the one, and not just because the idea of being with anyone else left me feeling hollow inside.
I'd never imagined a future with a woman before. I'd never wanted a future with anyone, not until Naomi crossed the line I didn't have the balls to cross myself.
Maybe donating my car to her fundraiser was a little over the top, but it wasn't like I was trying to win her over with the gesture.
Was I hoping it would help her see me in a different light? Yeah. Would I regret giving my Impala away if she still wanted nothing to do with me afterward? Not for a second. Helping her out was the only thing that sat right with my conscience.
Before I could muster up a response that didn't make me sound like a possessive caveman, she shook her head and added, "But it's not a date."
I quirked an eyebrow.
"I was actually headed over to his house to read him the riot act for being a giant, selfless jerk." She glared up at me expectantly.
Between her irresistible scent and the jumble of chaos churning inside me, it took a second for her words to really register. Did she just imply she was headed to my house? A flicker of hope lit a fire inside me.
"At three in the morning?"
She was still glaring, but a hint of a smile played at the corners of her lips. "Maybe."
"And this selfless jerk?—"
"Giant selfless jerk," she corrected.
I nodded. "This clearly obnoxious guy," I went on, swallowing back the need to grab hold of Naomi and never let her go. "What exactly were you planning on saying to him?" It took every ounce of my self-control to keep from taking that last step forward.
Every. Damn. Drop.
I'd laid it all on the line at her fundraiser. So, the next move had to come from her.
Naomi licked her lips, a move that pulled my already half-hard cock to attention. "This." She took a step toward me with a look in her eye that snapped my control. I met her halfway, slipping a hand around the back of her neck and kissing her like I'd been waiting my whole life to do it.
The hunger that had been gnawing at me for years, a hunger that I'd foolishly tried to slake in all the wrong places, exploded into a rough, primal need. Exactly the way it had that first night on her porch.
But this time, my only fear was that my need for her might frighten her. It was that barely contained desire that had me walking her backward through her open front door and kicking it shut behind us.
She was right there with me, hands yanking at my belt as we stumbled through her house. Could she feel the heat from the inferno raging inside me? Or was that heat coming from her?
I honestly couldn't tell.
Dragging my lips away from hers, I peppered kisses up her jaw to her adorable ear as I slipped her jacket off her shoulders and let it hit the floor. "Tell me where to go."
Her head rolled to the side, giving me unfettered access to that gorgeous neck of hers, and she let out a sound that shot straight to my dick. "Up."
A set of stairs were on my left, leading up to the second floor.
Too far. I want her now.
A low growl had me pulling up short. I turned my head slowly to see Sparrow, a dog that had never shown even a hint of aggression toward me, standing in the living room with his teeth bared.
"Is that his way of telling me to leave?" I asked, keeping my voice low and level.
Naomi laughed. "It's okay, Sparrow. Be a good boy and go lay down." She snapped her fingers once and pointed to the monstrous dog bed in the corner of the room.
Seriously, I could probably sleep comfortably on the thing.
The fierce German Shepherd waited for a solid two seconds, his amber eyes trained on me, before trotting over to his bed with a grumble.
I looked down at Naomi and let out an exaggerated sigh of relief. "That was close. And here I thought he liked me."
"He does." She leaned further back, tugging the hem of my shirt up. "He's just become a little more protective in the last few months."
The brush of her fingers against my skin made my abdominal muscles pull tight, and I sucked in a breath. I took over, yanked my shirt off, and threw it aside.
"Then I'll have to make sure he gets used to seeing me here." I eased away from her and pointed to the stairs. "Now, I want you to plant that pretty little ass of yours on the fifth step up."
She scoffed at the request. "Excuse me?"
"Naomi." I said her name like a warning, and the flare of challenge that lit her hazel eyes was a thing of beauty. Cupping the side of her face in one hand, I guided her back a step. "I have been dying to taste you for months." Another step. "And I don't think I can wait another minute." When I backed her up again, her heel bumped the bottom step, and her hand flew out to grip the railing. "So, be a good girl, sit down, and don't let your dog bite me while I make you scream."
Hesitation colored her expression. "I don't really..."
I eased back, giving her a little space. Was I coming on too strong? From the way her body responded to mine, I didn't think that was the problem, but this was the last thing in the world I wanted to screw up. "We don't have to?—"
She cut me off with a shake of her head. "It's just that I've never really enjoyed oral sex."
Ah. "That probably means no one has ever done it right."
She shot me a skeptical look.
"Tell me no if you want to, but all I'm asking for is a chance."
Keeping her eyes on me, Naomi stepped back onto the first step, then the second. She sank down onto the hardwood, keeping her knees pressed together.
She was something else. Bold and brash by day. Slinger of some of the best insults I'd ever heard by night. But she was shy about letting me go down on her?
I would have to work on that, and step one was showing her what she'd been missing.
When I knelt in front of her and took off her ankle boots one at a time, all the passion in the world couldn't mask the vulnerability swimming in her expression. "Do you trust me?" I asked, rubbing gentle circles over her ankle with my thumb.
Naomi gripped the step just above her hips and nodded. After all the shit we'd given each other over the years, that silent confession sent a wave of pride zinging through me.
I slid my palms slowly up her calves and over her knees. The temptation to draw out the moment was there, but that would have to wait for another time. I spread her legs wide, and what did I see from the woman whose blush and heat were already driving me crazy?
No panties.
"Oh, you naughty girl," I whispered, because seeing her on display like that took my breath away.
She shifted nervously.
"Hold on tight, Naomi," I growled. Then I sank down between her legs and got my first taste of heaven.
Her flavor alone was addictive. Add in the way she squirmed and gripped my hair as I worked her with my mouth, and the sounds she made... good God.She came hard for me, with a cry that had my cock throbbing painfully and my blood roaring through my veins.
This was exactly what I'd been afraid of all those months ago; that after a night with her, I'd never get enough.
We hadn't even made it off the stairs, and I was already ruined.
I rocked back, licking her taste off my lips and watching with bone deep satisfaction at the way she was sprawled on her stairs panting. "How are you feeling?"
She let out a breathy laugh. "Like I'm not sure my legs will hold out long enough to get upstairs."
"Not a problem." I held my hands out and helped her to her feet. Once she was up, I didn't waste a second picking her up and cradling her in my arms bridal style.
Her little squeal of surprise made me chuckle. "Tyler Fox, you are not carrying me up these stairs."
"Want to bet?"
Naomi squirmed, though the effort was half-hearted, and it stopped entirely when I started up the steps. "Which room?"
"First door on the left."
I carried her up with her lips lighting tiny fires along my skin, but when she flicked on the lights as I stepped through, I ground to a stop. Her room was nothing like I'd imagined.
Naomi was polished. Her shop was neat and orderly with a cozy vibe, a lot like her porch and her living room. Her bedroom, on the other hand, looked like something out of a story book.
Her bed was suspended from the ceiling by four thick cords of rope, and everything about the blankets, throws, and the abundance of pillows spoke of softness and comfort. It was all light and airy, right down to the shabby chic dresser and nightstand.
The kicker, however, was the fairy lights. They were spread through the room creating a soft, almost ethereal glow, but they weren't strung along the edges of the ceiling or arranged in a cascading curtain. They lit the room from the corner opposite the bed where twisted white branches covered in delicate white blossoms seemed to rise up right out of the floor before spreading along the walls and the ceiling.
"Don't laugh," she said defensively.
"I would never." I spent another second taking in the space—her space—before walking over to the bed and setting her down gently. "But I think I've misjudged you." And my new understanding opened up a whole world of possibilities for how I could spoil the shit out of this woman.
Her expression pulled tight with caution.
I motioned to the room. "It would appear my sexy little razor-tongued vixen is actually a..." I pressed a hand to my chest. "Hopeless romantic."
"There's nothing wrong with being a fan of romance," she said defiantly.
"I didn't say there was, but I am curious as to why you hide that side of yourself away in this room."
"We all have secrets."
"We do. I was just expecting yours to be more of the hot pink vibrator variety."
She cast a fleeting glance at the nightstand.
"Looks like I wasn't that far off," I said with a hungry smile.
"It's purple, not pink, and if you make fun of me right now, Tyler, I swear to God..." She scooted back on the mattress, but I reached out and caught her by the ankle.
"I'm not making fun." I lowered to my knees in front of her and pressed a kiss to the sole of her foot.
She let out a surprised giggle and tried to pull back. "What are you doing?"
"Worshiping," I said, dusting her ankle and shin and knee with soft kisses.
She hummed under her breath, a sound of satisfaction that drew my balls up tight. When I was inches away from the promised land once again, my mouth watering for another taste of her even as my cock ached to be inside her, Naomi's hand threaded through my hair and tugged.
"I want you, Tyler."
I cast her a heated look. "I'm right here."
She shook her head. "Now."
Who was I to deny this woman want she wanted? I climbed the rest of the way up her body, simultaneously loving the feel of her curves beneath me and cursing the clothes we were both still wearing. Though, I didn't have much time to lament that part of it before she was unzipping my jeans and slipping her hand inside my boxers. My cock was painfully hard and leaking pre-cum, and just her touch pulled a groan out of me.
"Looks like the rumors are true," she said in a sultry voice.
I wasn't about to ask what she meant by that. Whatever rumors she'd heard didn't matter. The fact that I was only just realizing how unprepared I was, however, did. "I don't have a condom," I admitted, easing back.
Her grip on me tightened and I sucked in a sharp breath. "Are you clean?"
She wasn't suggesting what I thought she was, was she? "Yeah. I always wrap it up and get tested regularly, just to be safe." That wasn't a line. I might have been a bartending slut, as she'd put it, but I was always careful. "Are you?"
She nodded. "And on birth control."
Fuck me.I'd never been tempted to throw caution to the wind with a woman before, but Naomi was different. The idea of having no barriers between us, of making her mine, was almost too much.
"Are you sure about this? We can wait." My balls might not appreciate it, but I wanted to do this right.
Naomi's hand caressed my length again, and my hips bucked in response. Her eyes searched mine. "I'm done waiting."
I grabbed her wrist, pinning it to the mattress beside her head as I shoved my jeans down over my hips and lined us up with my other hand. I still had my boots on. She was still wearing her sundress. But unless she gave me some sign that she wanted to stop, no other power on Earth could keep me from finally claiming this woman.
When her gaze met mine, there was no doubt in it. No hesitation. So, I rocked my hips forward, sinking in that first torturous inch.
Her eyelids fluttered shut. "Tyler," she whispered my name, but it was a warning as much as a request.
I'm done waiting. That was what she'd said, and the truth was, so was I. I might not have realized it until the night we kissed, but I'd been waiting for her for a very long time.
"Open your eyes, Naomi," I growled, barely able to control the animal inside me that was clawing to get out.
Her eyes snapped open, burning into me with so much fire and passion. That was all it took. I drove into her hard, bottoming out with an explosion of heat across my skin and a guttural groan that only amplified her own cry.
"Fuck," I grunted. She was squeezing me so tight I could barely breathe.
I grabbed her left leg and threw it over my shoulder. I didn't dare risk pulling back yet, so I rolled my hips and ground deeper into her.
"Oh!" She cried out. Her inner walls tightened around me even more. "Oh, god, Tyler. Don't stop."
"I don't know how long I can make this last," I confessed. She felt too good, and I was too pent up after thinking about her and dreaming about her for months.
"Next time," she breathed, rocking her hips and increasing the pressure that was threatening to blind me with pleasure.
A jolt of satisfaction cut through the fog when my brain processed her words. Next time. For the first time in my adult life, I really wanted there to be a next time. And another one after that. And every day for the rest of our lives, if she would have me.
Naomi's hands balled into fists and she arched beneath me. She was close.
So close. If I could just hold on for another minute...
I pulled back and drove into her hard. Her inner walls clamped down around me, sending a riot of goosebumps racing down my back and arms. Everything about her was throwing my body and my mind into chaos.
"That's it, Naomi. Let me hear you," I ordered. Then I did it again, and again, with my jaw clenched so tight it was a miracle my teeth didn't break.
But Naomi did. She shattered with a high-pitched cry that triggered a cascade of sensations inside me. I let go of her wrist, grabbed her by the back of her neck, and hauled her up, crushing my mouth against hers. She didn't miss a beat, her hands flying up and tangling in my hair.
We stayed locked together like that, grinding against each other as the tingles that had been creeping toward my middle from every distant point of my body coalesced for a few torturous seconds before I lost myself inside her.
I rode the wave of mind-numbing pleasure with a handful of jerky thrusts, and Naomi never let go.
Kissing her swollen lips again, this time a hell of a lot gentler, I was in awe. "That was..." Except I couldn't even think of a way to describe what just happened.
She laughed softly. "Yeah."
I rolled to my back and pulled her to my side. "How are you feeling?" I'd never enjoyed cuddling, but with Naomi, I didn't want to let her out of my arms.
She pressed a kiss to my chest. "Like we should have done this years ago."
I knew exactly how she felt, but I was pretty sure if we'd hooked up years earlier, I would have screwed everything up. Just like I almost did by not calling her after that first night.
That was a mistake I would never make again. I would call Naomi every day. Twice a day. I would take her out to eat at her favorite restaurants, and we could watch campy horror films every Sunday with Sparrow hanging out on the couch with us if that was what she wanted.
She might not realize it yet, but she was mine now, and I would do everything in my power to make her happy.