Chapter Fifteen

B urgess handed Lissa’s overnight bag to Ashleigh the following Saturday morning, trading a grimace with his ex-wife as Lissa climbed into the passenger side of the car and immediately cranked Raskulls at full volume.

“Is it too late to write into the custody agreement that you’re required to bring Lissa to her first Raskulls concert?” she asked, pretending to cry.

“Yes,” he said, emphatically.

She laughed, the sound fading as she gave him a considering look. “Maybe you can sucker your au pair into earning some overtime,” she suggested primly. “According to Lissa, she’s young enough to enjoy Raskulls.”

Burgess grunted at the reminder that Tallulah was on his payroll. And young.

Especially considering he planned to take her skinny dipping tonight.

He also knew his ex-wife well enough to know she was fishing. “Is there something you want to ask me?”

“Who, me ? No.” She pursed her lips. “Does she stay here on the weekends, too?”

“Yeah, Ashleigh. She does. This is where she lives.” Thank God. “Obviously, she doesn’t move out every weekend.”

Her nod was exaggerated. “Of course not.”

Burgess sighed. He liked his ex. He did. She was a great mother. She’d been supportive of him when his hockey career had yet to take off. They had a good enough relationship to make co-parenting work for Lissa’s sake, but he didn’t like the passive-aggressive game she seemed to be playing with him this morning. It wasn’t typical of her, though, so he was going to let it roll off his back. “You want me to pick Lissa up Sunday night or will you drop her off?”

“I’ll drop her off.” She pried open the driver’s side door, winking at him before she ducked inside the car. “Enjoy your plans. Whoever they might be.”

Burgess frowned as the car drove away from the curb, waving at Lissa through the rear windshield until they turned the corner. During their marriage, there had been times while he’d been on the road for weeks at a time that Ashleigh had gotten understandably insecure, though she never asked him outright if he was being faithful. If she’d asked, he would have told her the truth—he never strayed. But she’d just kind of... poked at the possibility. A lot like she’d done just now. There was no way Ashleigh was jealous of Tallulah, though, right? She’d never even met Tallulah. Her wedding was set to take place next year and Burgess was invited .

The undercurrent of jealousy had to be his imagination.

On his way back into the building, Burgess happened to glance toward the top floor window and caught the wooden blinds swinging back into place. In the window that belonged to Tallulah’s bedroom. Had she been watching the exchange between him and Ashleigh?

Deep in thought, Burgess took the elevator back up to the penthouse floor and strode the short distance to his door, which he’d left unlocked, knowing that bringing Lissa down to her mother would only take a few minutes. Inside, the living room and kitchen were empty. He had practice in an hour and he needed to get his gear together, but despite the time crunch, Burgess found himself in front of Tallulah’s bedroom door.

Was it locked? He wondered, but he wouldn’t test the knob.

She’d have to let him in.

He rapped a knuckle against the wood.

Two seconds ticked by, followed by a creak of the bed and some muffled footsteps. The door opened to reveal Tallulah in tank top and rolled-up shorts, her hair in a haphazard knot on the top of her head. No bra. Fuck. He should have just gone to practice. That way he could have worked off some energy before seeing her tonight. Right now, he was fully charged, more than capable of picking her up, throwing her on the bed where her study materials were spread out, and licking the orange and basil scent off every inch of her skin.

“Hey,” he rumbled.

“Hey,” she echoed brightly. Too brightly.

Burgess propped a forearm on the top of the doorjamb, pleased to see her attention zip over to his right bicep. “Did I see you watching from the window?”

“What?” She sounded dazed. “Oh, I was just... making sure Lissa got into the car okay.”

“Were you worried I’d put her into the wrong car?”

“No.” Laughing, she slapped him on the left shoulder. “That would be silly!”

“I agree.” He tucked his tongue into the inside of his cheek. “So why were you actually watching?”

Tallulah seemed to be deciding whether or not to keep up the pretense, finally deciding against it, letting the ruse drop and rolling her eyes. “It’s natural to be curious about my... friend’s ex. Totally normal.”

“Okay.”

“Don’t say ‘okay’ like that,” she complained adorably, crossing her arms and dropping one of those sexy hips. “Why else would I be watching?”

“I don’t know. I guess I want to know how you feel about the fact that I’ve been married before. That my ex still comes around. I, Burgess, want to know what you think, Tallulah.”

“Why?” she whispered.

“Because you’re in my life. In whatever capacity you decide, you’re in it.” He blew out a breath. “And fuck, I would pay a million dollars to get inside of your head. That’s why.”

She threw a quick glance at the window, as if remembering what she’d seen. “I think...”

When she didn’t continue, he dropped his hand from the door, but remained on the threshold. “Can I come in?”

Face beginning to flush, she nodded. “Yes.”

The satisfaction of being trusted by this woman made him feel like he had a hundred medals pinned to his chest. “Thank you.” He kept walking until the backs of her legs met the bed, bringing his face down to hers, so he could study her every blink, every breath. “You think what?”

“I think... no, I know that Lissa is holding out hope you’ll reconcile. She told me.”

“Jesus.” Burgess hadn’t seen that coming. Had they missed having an important conversation with her? If so, they needed to remedy that as soon as possible. “I don’t need to tell you that’s never going to happen, do I?”

Tallulah hummed.

“What does that sound mean?” he growled.

“It’s just a sound.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Is.”

“Dammit, Tallulah.”

“I think I wouldn’t like it if you got back together!” The force of her outburst knocked her into a sitting position on the bed, putting her face level with his stomach, head tipped back so they could maintain eye contact. “Okay?”

“Because you might be out of a job?” He framed her jaw in his hand, brushing his thumb slowly down her cheekbone, dragging along her full bottom lip. And then going on instinct, he pushed his thumb into her mouth, a sound breaking off in his throat when she let him. She let him press that thumb all the way in, her pupils expanding until her eyes were darker than usual, her fingers twisting slowly on the comforter. “Or is there another reason you wouldn’t want me back with someone else?” he rasped, drawing the digit back out, rubbing spit on her beautiful lips and leaving them shiny. Slowly pressing it back in. Deep. “Suck on it if the answer is yes.”

A beat passed.

And then she drew on it hard, cheeks hollowing, dragging a moan from the deepest recesses of his body, the sound growing stuttered when the suction increased, more, more.

Tallulah let go of the bedding and flattened her palms on his stomach, observing her hands move in fascination, as if they had a mind of their own. Meanwhile, Burgess watched her with his lungs seized, waiting on her next action. Reeling from the very fact that she was touching him. Making admissions. Thank God he’d knocked on the fucking door.

When she lifted the cotton material of his white T-shirt, let his thumb leave her mouth in a wet slide, and pressed her moist lips to his bare stomach, her breath warming his happy trail, Burgess shuddered, his balls turning the weight of brass. His cock was hard as a motherfucker, obviously, tenting the front of his sweatpants, just hoping for a stroke. And his vocal cords were rubbed raw by his groan when she laved her tongue against his exposed skin, before moving in a southwest journey over the ridge of his dick, licking him root to tip through the garment.

Disbelief gave way to pure awe and his every brain cell went sideways over a cliff.

“I don’t think there is a woman alive who wouldn’t give this up and miss it from time to time.” Another torturous lap of his bulge, her hand coming up to grip his root, hold him steady while she sucked him through the sweatpants, setting his mind on fucking fire. “Or more likely... all the time. Every.” Lick. “Single.” A gentle bite that made him roar behind clenched teeth. “Night.”

Was this happening?

This was happening.

“You want my cock, Tallulah?” he panted. “Fuck practice. I’ll keep my hips bucking for the next thirty-six hours. But you better be sure.”

“Be sure about what?” she breathed, suctioning his tip through the cotton.

It took him a moment to answer because he was moaning for God. “Me.”

Panic zigzagged across her face. “Sure how?”

Knowing he was about to take a huge risk, Burgess nonetheless knelt down in front of her, his mouth slanting over hers before his knees even hit the floor, the kiss tumultuous and frantic as he leaned over her pliant body, his fingers plowing into her hair and upsetting her bun. “I’m not doing this with no strings attached,” he said, before taking her mouth in another ferocious kiss, his forearm scooting her ass to the edge of the bed so he could feel her ultrasoft inner thighs slide along his rib cage, her pussy warm against his chest. God, so perfect. Worth the risk of asking for too much? A million percent, yes. “I want to get attached, Tallulah,” he said on top of her mouth. “Nah, I’m already more than a little obsessed with you, aren’t I? You start babbling my name while I spoon-feed you orgasms, I will get attached. Happily. Just like I’ll happily knock out anyone else who tries. Be. Sure.”

Face full of conflict, she kneaded the muscles of his chest, as if deciding whether to push him away or draw him down on top of her. “I’m not sure,” she whispered in a burst.

Frustration clawed at Burgess, but he kept it to himself, as much as he could. Dropping his head forward, he breathed in through his nose, out through his mouth, forcing himself to remove his hands from Tallulah’s spread thighs. This was pain. Knowing she’d welcome a good, hard fuck. He could probably flip her over, pull down her shorts and panties to get access to her pussy. Eat it out until she’d come, then hammer her tight body from the back.

God. Was Burgess foolish to make demands on her, instead? He was definitely out of his mind to stop when she was so worked up, nipples stiff against the front of her tank top.

Ready. Willing. Flushed and beautiful and his. That was the problem; something inside of Burgess had been chanting mine. Mine. Mine. Since the first day they’d met. He couldn’t do casual. And he wouldn’t pretend to, either, because it did them both a disservice.

He rolled their foreheads together. “I’m too old to play games, Tallulah.”

“I’m not,” she murmured, still breathing hard.

“I know.” He licked into her mouth, enjoying the sound of her breath catching, the way her neck lost power after one stroke of his tongue, how she kissed him back like she couldn’t help it. “For now, I take you to watch the Red Sox. Take you skinny dipping. Whatever else you want to do. And you keep getting to know me and see if you want strings, too.”

“I—I’m warning you,” she stuttered. “I . . . won’t.”

“Okay.”

“Don’t say okay like that. Like you’re skeptical.” She turned solemn, looking him in the eye. “It’s not just the fact that I’m learning to be... unencumbered again. It’s just going to take me a long time before I stop worrying that there’s a different person lurking under everyone’s surface. I might never shake the fear, whether it’s rational or not. You could be wasting your time on me.”

“Time with you could never be a waste. Only a privilege.”

Tallulah closed her eyes and leaned back on both hands, giving him a lust-inducing view of her bare thighs, her braless tits swaying like a taunt. “Speaking of spending time together...” She suddenly looked anxious. “I might have to push adventure hour back a little bit.”

“Why?”

“I have a meeting.”

“A meeting.”

“Yes. I have to meet with a classmate, because he’s my partner on an assignment. And he’s going out of town next week, so we won’t get another chance to outline. After that, we can collaborate remotely. But I’m meeting him at a coffee shop later this afternoon.”

Burgess tipped her chin up, studying her face and trying to determine why she sounded so anxious. “Sounds normal. What’s the problem?”

“My partner is the geek from the club who was pushy about splitting a ride.”

“Nope,” he shouted, protectiveness sinking and twisting in his gut like a freshly sharpened blade. “Fuck that.”

“I can’t fuck that. And we’ll be in public, so there’s no reason I should be jumpy.”

“But you are .”

She squeezed her eyes closed. “I hate that I am. It makes me feel pathetic.”

“Hey. You are not pathetic.” She needed more from him. He could see it. So he tried to put himself in her shoes, which was nearly impossible, because he’d never been scared of another human being in his life. He didn’t have to be. Why had he never thought about the unfairness of that before? He took his safety for granted. But what if he couldn’t? “Tallulah?”

“Yes?”

It took him a moment to locate the right words. “How do you feel about telling this clown that he’s making you uncomfortable and he needs to back the fuck off?”

She hissed a breath. “Oh, I don’t know. I’d rather just get through it.”

“Is getting through it working?” When she only blinked at him, he searched for a different tactic. “When someone encroaches on my territory on the ice, I let them know it’s not okay. And I guess it’s... I never thought about it, because it’s just my job, but I guess it’s empowering. To demand somebody backs off. You have that right, too.”

“I know I do. But enacting it is harder.”

He got that. “What if I’m there?”

Twin lights went on in her eyes. “You’re going to come on my study date with me?”

“Hold up. Why are you suddenly calling it a date? It was a fucking meeting before.”

“Fine. Meeting. Sheesh.” She searched his face, her chest dipping deeply, before rising. “You’ll really be there?”

“I’m your bodyguard, aren’t I?” He dropped a reassuring kiss onto her mouth. “And you won’t always need one.”

She puffed a humorless laugh. “Are you sure about that?”

“Positive.”

They looked at each other for long moments. The sound of traffic hummed outside the window, the ceiling fan whirred, and they just sort of melted together, chests meeting as his mouth worked hers from above, the kiss wet and breathless, boundaryless, her palms moving over his pecs and shoulders like a sculptor. Need accelerated into pain and his tongue went particularly deep, Burgess tasting her hungry whimper, her hips beginning to rock restlessly on the edge of the bed—and he knew they had to stop. Because this was so much more than lust, as potent as it was. He was kissing her to comfort her, reassure her, bolster her courage... because he fucking liked her. A lot.

So he was trying to allow his heart and gut to make the decisions here. Not his dick.

He broke off with a curse, their panting breaths colliding. Could he realistically resist this woman who drew him in in ways he didn’t know were possible?

“Text me the place and time,” he said hoarsely, standing up and leaving the room, before his control deserted him completely. Thank God he’d have ample opportunity to blow off some steam before he saw her again. But even as the thought formed, he knew no amount of time would ever be enough. Could he convince her to take a chance on him before the steam finally blew his top off and he gave in?