Chapter 43

CHAPTER FOURTY-THREE

TAM

54 bobas left until they both die … (the same day)

I had Maggie drop my suitcase to Lake’s room earlier, so that I could stay here for the night. We’re much less likely to be bothered in a room where only Maggie, Daniel, and Jacob know I am. I change into a loose white sweatshirt. It’s cream and the sleeves are a little long. I’ve been told by many, many different people that if Tam Eyre were to hug them in this sweatshirt, that they’d literally die.

So, we’re going to test that theory out.

I put on sweatpants again because Lake seemed to go nuts over ‘em last time. These ones are cream though, and not gray. Also, I showered real quick and brushed my teeth, because I’m finally going to fuck her tonight, and I want it to be good.

Lake doesn’t hear me coming, fiddling with the TV remote and cursing. I sneak up behind her and crawl onto the couch, putting one arm around her waist, my chin on her shoulder, and stealing the remote with my other hand.

I press the button for Netflix, and I sign into my own account.

Netflix and chill, right?

“Let’s watch a horror movie tonight,” I suggest, and she shivers. Neither of us is crazy enough to think we’re going to watch much of this movie. It’s just a ritual. A game. We’re playing together, me and Lake, and I love that she’s getting off on the very same things that I’m getting off on.

She spent months chasing a reclusive, standoffish grump, so I’m going to make that up to her. It’s my turn to do the chasing, and she’s the one shying away. Just a little. Just a tease.

“Should we have a drink?” Lake suggests brightly, but when she tries to stand up, I keep her where she is.

“No. No alcohol. I don’t want to blur the edges of reality. I want us both right here, together. Grounded.” I nip her ear, and she shifts a little.

I start the movie, and we settle in together at the far end of the couch. She’s right there in my lap, between my legs. I wrap the long sleeves of my sweater around her and listen to the sigh of satisfaction that slips past her lips.

I used everything I had for that kiss, and somehow, I still feel it was amateur. I was thinking about how to please Lake the way I’ve been taught on-screen, but then I realized that I needed to figure out what she liked. In the end, I just went blank and let my body do the kissing for me.

I’ll have to work on that.

We watch exactly forty-two minutes of the film when I give a small laugh, breath ruffling the hair by Lake’s ear. She hasn’t so much as glanced my way. Hasn’t said a single word. She’s stiff in my arms, and I’m going to tease her about that. “I should make you beg me to fuck you,” I whisper, and she turns suddenly to look at me.

“Well, I won’t beg you, but I’ll ask you nicely.” Lake clears her throat. “Tam Eyre, will you please fuck me?”

I laugh at that, and then I readjust Lake so that she’s facing me. On my left, there’s a nice view of the city. We should maybe close the curtains, but what does it matter now? I made a decision when I kissed Lake in public. I’m in my hotel room right now, and I’ll do whatever the fuck I want.

“Nope,” I say, taking her chin in my fingers. She shudders and then scrapes her fingertips over my chest, wetting her lips at the feel of it. Yep. I think she likes my sweater as much as I like hers. When she went to change in the bathroom, I asked her to put it back on over her tank top. Only now … she isn’t wearing a bra underneath it. “Not good enough. Asking nicely isn’t going to work on me tonight.”

I stand up, and I take her with me. She makes a sound, and her legs come automatically around me; the expression on her face is the sweetest, most delicate thing I have ever seen in my life. Her breasts are now pressed tight against me, and they’re so fucking soft. So soft. She’s so soft.

“I like the shape of you better without a bra,” I admit, and Lake makes a strangled sound that has me smiling. I move us into the bedroom, kicking the two French doors shut that separate this space from the living room area. I wanted to put Lake in my hotel room from the start, but I was trying to give her space.

She’s just reminded me that she doesn’t want any.

“Don’t stop until I tell you.”

I take her seriously, climbing right onto the bed with her still clinging to me. I lay her down, and then I put my mouth up against the side of her neck.

“Oh my God,” she whispers as I chuckle, reaching up to turn off the bedside lamp. The room is thrown into darkness, the faint echoes of our abandoned movie coming from the other room. Good. It’ll help drown out the sounds.

I brace myself on my knees and forearms, leaning over her, my nose still touching her neck. When I exhale, Lake’s body erupts in goose bumps. I try my tongue as an experiment, not just to see what she does, but also to find out if her neck is as sweet as the rest of her. My first taste of this girl was explicit. I kissed her between the legs before I kissed her mouth. The thought is getting me off, so I reach down for Lake’s hand, and I show her exactly where I want it.

I press her fingers into the hardness beneath my sweatpants, hold her there as I rock my hips. Lake makes another sweet, little sound, like she’s getting off on touching me there.

“What was it you wanted me to do?” I ask her again, because I love when she says that word. My favorite word. I want to hear it again.

“Fuck me,” Lake whispers back, and then I bite gently on her neck, and she reacts so strongly that I’m surprised. Her hands claw at my back, and her hips move up off the mattress. Ah. This is where she likes it? I kiss and lick and suck on her neck until she’s writhing, pulling at me, heels messing up the blankets beneath us. “Tam, please.” Lake is begging now, and I’m in love with the sound of her breathing. These sharp, little hiccups punctuated by strong swallows and shaky exhales. “Tam, fine. I’m begging you.”

“Oh?” I’m surprised she gave in that easily. I move away from her, and she makes a sound of frustration, but I’m only sitting up to take my sweater off. “You’re sure? Even after everything I said about the paparazzi and—”

“I don’t give a shit about the paparazzi or anything else.” Lake sits up onto her elbows, and I wish there was enough light to see her properly. Maybe I should turn the lamp back on? But then her hands come out to find my bare chest, and she makes another adorable sound of excitement. “I only care about me and you. Our thing. What we’re doing. The spotlight doesn’t matter to me either way, just so long as I’m not nothing to you. I almost felt that way when we were at the park for the photoshoot.”

“You weren’t nothing to me,” I tell her, and it’s true. I wasn’t looking at any of the employees or the hair and makeup team, not the security guards or the fans. I was only looking at Lake. Standing shyly off to the side. Lake, putting a glass of water by my elbow. Lake, smiling when she heard me sing.

“Don’t run away from me after this, okay?” she says as I reach down and press her hands into my skin.

“You’re telling me that? Lake, don’t you run away from me either.” I push her hands down my chest and stomach, and she shudders and tries to pull away. I keep her where she is, slipping her hands underneath the waistband of my sweatpants.

“Tam, shit,” she whispers back to me, and then I let her go so that I can push my sweatpants down my hips. Lake surprises me yet again when she takes my cock right into her hands, stroking and playing with me before I get another chance to guide her.

I groan and relax back onto my calves, head thrown back, fingers still curled around the waistband of my own pants. I can’t move. She’s paralyzed me, just like she did when I was sitting in that chair and she put her mouth on me.

I grab her wrists to stop her, pushing them away so that I can kick my sweatpants off. I didn’t bother with boxers, so I’m already naked. I want Lake naked, too, but first I’m going to touch her in this sweater. I use two fingers to push her back into the pillows, and she gasps as I cover her body with my own.

My mouth gravitates to hers, tasting all of that gentle sweetness on her lips. The softness of them, the little rough spot in the bottom center from her teeth. The wetness of her tongue. The heavy desire in her sighs.

We breathe the same air as my hands find her waist, roaming over that silky sweater until I find one of her breasts. My fingertips make dents in the soft flesh that have Lake pushing her entire body up and into mine.

And oh God.

She feels better than I thought she would, even when I was jerking myself off in the shower thinking about her. The fantasies don’t compare to the reality, even if the fantasies were a little more explicit. We’ll get there, to that spot in my dreams where I simply tell Lake I need her, and then I bend her over a couch and take her.

We will.

Just not yet.

I feel her up and kiss her at the same time. Even if I’m questioning myself, she seems perfectly happy with the way I’m kissing her. She relaxes into it and lets me guide our movements, sighing and shifting beneath me. My hands can’t get enough of her shape, the fullness of her chest, the little tuck in her waist.

I move a palm to her lower belly, and she clutches at my shoulders in anticipation. I wait until she relaxes a little more, and then I slide my palm up and take her naked breast into my hand. My thumb traces lazily over her nipple as I kiss the moans off her lips.

Each one is just a little sweeter than the last until she sounds like she’s close to tears from wanting. Only then do I sit up and take her top off for her, leaving her upper half naked. My eyes have adjusted to the dim light, so I can’t see much but I can see some.

Round, soft weights with furled pink tips.

I exhale to calm myself down, and then I take her sweatpants in my hands. I give them a rough yank and drag them over her feet, tossing the useless fabric to the floor.

“We’re both naked now,” I whisper to her, straddling Lake’s body on my hands and knees. I put one of my knees between her thighs and push them apart, listening to the sounds she’s making to judge what the experience is like on her end. And then I drop a hand down to that slick well, stroking a finger up from her wet opening to find her clit. She seemed to like this back at her house, when I was using my tongue.

“Thomas,” she breathes, and I grin, dropping my head to nuzzle the side of her neck.

“Call me Tam,” I whisper back, because I want to hear her use both names. I want her to like both sides of me.

“Tam.” The word is like a prayer, so I take it as a supplication, slipping my finger into her warm heat. Just the one. She moans and reaches her hands up to dig at her own hair. Lake’s body wraps around mine, contracting beautifully on that single digit.

I release a sharp breath, my cock twitching. I can feel that I’m wet, too, right at the tip. Pre-ejac to make this whole thing easier on Lakelynn. I push a second finger into her, and the sound she makes against my ear has me gritting my teeth. Shit. Fuck. I’m not going to last ten goddamn minutes.

I draw my fingers back out, and then I use the lube from Lake’s own body to rub my dick. Just a little, a tight fist and a few jerks. Nothing like the gentle caress of her insides. I put my other knee between her thighs, so that she’s spread nice and wide.

When I place my palm on the soft silkiness of her inner thigh, she trembles so badly beneath me that I’m almost worried about her. I might be, if I didn’t feel it, too. Her hands are still in her hair, panting, eyes squeezed shut. I stroke and pet her leg, my touch lingering on the inside of her knee.

“Tam, fuck.” Lake grabs my hand and pushes it right back between her legs. With another laugh, I nuzzle against her neck.

“Just for that, I’m going to drag this out a little longer.” I lower my body over hers, taking her mouth and thrusting my hips at the same time I move my tongue. I’m not thrusting into her or even touching her. I’m grinding into the mussed sheets, Lake’s body close on either side of my own. She moves her hips, too, up and into my stomach.

She’s getting me all wet, and I love it. I cup her ass with one hand and encourage her to work her slick folds against my abs. The more I squeeze her ass cheek, the deeper I thrust my tongue, the harder she grinds against me. Lake is panting into my mouth, and I’m only pausing my kisses so that she can take a breath here and there.

I redirect my hand from her ass, slipping it between us and pushing my fingers into her core. She gasps into my mouth, hips churning hard and fast against me. My cock is grinding into the sheets, the tip of it bumping Lake’s ass when we move just right.

She flutters around me, and there’s this quiver inside of her, this dizzying electricity.

“No, no, wait,” she gasps, grabbing at my shoulders and pushing. “Wait, wait, wait. Stop.”

“Don’t stop unless I tell you to stop.”

I don’t even move. I stay exactly where I am, but I’m sweating and panting, too. I have this knot inside of me that’s this close to coming unraveled.

“Are you okay?” I whisper, and Lake is nodding frantically at me. I can see the faintest shimmer of tears at the edges of her eyes.

“I’ve never had an orgasm before. Not once in my entire life. I don’t even … I can’t get past this point, Tam. I don’t know how.”

Oh.

Shit.

Okay, that explains some things. I was curious why she stopped me back at the house. I sort of assumed it was just that her mind had caught up to what her body was doing, and she needed a minute. This is better. I was about to make her come, but she’s never made that journey and doesn’t know what to do.

“Well, I’m not a woman, but I think you need to let go and relax. You have to let yourself fall over that ledge.”

“Not yet,” she pants, and when she tugs on my wrist, I remove my fingers from inside of her. “Not yet, but I want you to come.” She tugs at my hair, pulling me back down to her, kissing my neck. I close my eyes as her hands trace my body, using my wet fingers to grip her hip nice and tight. “I want you to come,” she repeats, and I spot my sweater on the nightstand.

I lunge for it, bundling it up and sticking the fabric between our pelvises.

And then I pin Lake’s wrists to the bed, and I mount her with nothing but a sweatshirt between us. I fuck into that sweatshirt while looking down at her, feeling her all around me, smelling her. I should’ve grabbed a condom before all of this.

Only, I left them in the living room, tucked into my suitcase.

What a goddamn idiot.