Chapter 9

chapter

nine

JOEY

I ride on the back of Kael's Harley to Lorraine's house with my stuff crammed into the backpack I usually carry with me to class.

I don't have a lot of experiences with sleepovers, but I do have a ton of experience with packing essentials quickly. I grabbed a few toiletries, my ancient laptop and kindle, as well as the tiny Go Bag I've had since I was a child.

Is it paranoid to pack it when I'm only going to be gone for one night? Maybe. On the other hand, when you have a childhood as transient as mine was, you cling to what you have. Thankfully, all the most important stuff fits in my ratty backpack.

When we arrive at Lorraine's, Barry's rig is indeed parked in the driveway. She opens the door wide to let us in, pulling me into her arms and clucking sympathetically as I try to minimize my reason for being there.

Obviously Kael ruins that plan, jumping in and breaking down what happened with Brandon. By the time Kael is done, Barry, who I've never even seen swat a fly, looks ready to muster up a posse.

Lorraine–as per usual–is all grins. She loops her arm through mine and drags me off towards the back of the house. "Why don't we let the menfolk handle the security measures while I get you settled in the guest room.

The second she closes the bedroom door behind us, Lorraine cocks one heavily make-upped eyebrow at me.

"What?" I ask, dropping my backpack on the bed.

"You have beard burn on your cheeks and throat."

I roll my eyes, feigning a desperate need to unpack my bag. "I don't know what you're talking about."

But we both know it's a lie. You'd think with all the drama of the night, one little orgasm wouldn't loom so large in my memory. Then again, it wasn't exactly a little orgasm.

My cheeks flame at the memory and another surge of lust shoots through me.

"So you're warming up to him. Good. What all did you do?" Lorraine asks, her smile broadening.

"We kissed."

Back at my place, I'd tried to nip this in the bud, and instead I… I ended up being the one nipped.

"And?" Lorraine prods. "Come on, sugar, I'm an old married lady. Let me live vicariously through you and that hot man out there." She gives me a look.

I huff. "Fine, we made out for a while." That's all I'm willing to admit. No way I'm telling her more than that. "And I agreed to go out with him tomorrow night. Or rather go home with him." I drop my forehead in my hands. "What was I thinking, Lorraine? I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't do that. I'm not a one-night stand kind of gal. I just don't know how to let myself go with someone I don't know."

Well, that was a big fat lie.

Yes, it was true every other day of my life. In every other way. With every other person.

But tonight? With Kael?

All I'd been able to think about was his wicked mouth and the wicked wonderful things he was doing to me with it. I'd come harder and faster than I ever had before.

As if she knows exactly what happened, Lorraine snorts with obvious delight.

"You don't have to marry this man. You're not making a lifetime commitment here. It's one night." She gives me a secretive grin. "When a man like that wants to take you home for a night of hot, sweaty sex, you say yes. You do not pass GO, you do not collect two hundred dollars. You just go."

I look at her and then back down at my hands. Biting down on my lower lip, I breathe out slowly.

That's exactly what I want. I can't deny it. I want more of his kisses. I want to see him without his shirt on again. I want the chance to explore all those yummy muscles in a non-medical way. And I want to see his dick. He felt huge. I want to see what he's working with and how well he works with it.

Every other guy I've been with has seemed like… well, a guy. Kael seems like a man.

"Have fun," Lorraine says, like she knows the conclusion I've come to in my own mind. "You work all the time, and when you're not working, you're studying. You deserve this, Joey. Go. If it makes you feel better, you can text me a picture of where you end up and his license plate so I can call the cops if you don't show up to work the next morning."

"Very funny."

Am I really going to do this?

Yeah, I probably am.

Because Lorraine is right.

He's so hot and so sexy, and ohmygod is he a fantastic kisser.

Not to mention all those other amazing things he did with his mouth.

My skin prickles at the memory and butterflies scatter in my belly. Well, in truth, it feels more like a herd of elephants. And even more worrisome are all those other feelings he stirs up. The way he makes me… yearn for something just out of reach.

And believe you me, I am not a yearner.

I got rid of that urge when I was a kid. After longing for something that never appears, you learn pretty quickly to just not want anything.

And if I'm honest with myself, I think that's why I agreed to go home with him tomorrow. Not just because I want more amazing orgasm, but because I'm almost afraid not to go home with him. I have to just do it and get it over with.

I can tell deep in my bones that if I don't sleep with him, I'll regret it for the rest of my life. I'll yearn for him, the rest of my life.

I refuse to let that happen. So tomorrow night, I'll go home with him. I'll have my first and only one-night stand. I'll have as many orgasms as he can give me in one night. And then I'll never have to see him again.