Chapter Twenty

B urgess woke up knowing Tallulah wouldn’t be in bed beside him.

But he couldn’t help but stack his hands beneath his head and smile, perhaps a tad smugly. Because she had been there as recently as a couple of hours ago. He’d woken up to find her nose smooshed up against his chest, her eyelashes making fringy, black half-moons on her cheeks. He’d planned on waiting until the last possible second before sunrise to carry her back to her room, because he didn’t think she’d want to be discovered in his bed by Lissa, but the warmth of her must have put him back to sleep.

Burgess allowed himself a final, fleeting grin, directing it up toward the ceiling, seeing nothing but memories from last night. Tallulah being so generous on her knees that he was pretty sure he’d died and left his body twice. That slippery clutch of her mouth, the vibration of her throat, those eyes glassy with heat. Walking upright today was going to be a challenge with those images at the forefront of his mind, but the one now making him stiff beneath the top sheet was Tallulah’s body shaking, how she’d gone limp between him and the door, falling right into his arms where she belonged.

I’ve still got it.

He stroked a hand down his face and beard, scrubbing the satisfied smirk off his face.

All right, so maybe he still had it.

Didn’t mean he had the girl. Yet.

That thought handily erased the final traces of his smile and he tossed aside the covers, climbing out of bed. His back gave an ominous throb as he stood, a wave of queasiness rolling through him before subsiding, the ache settling into one he could manage. Would manage.

You were amazing out there.

Well maybe you had a couple steps to spare.

With Tallulah’s voice in his head making him feel ten feet tall, a puny little backache was nothing. It no longer felt like an injury signaling the end of his career; it was a minor worry—and he had a major one that needed his attention.

Tallulah was endgame.

He needed her to get that.

Burgess brushed his teeth, finger combed his hair, and threw on a pair of sweatpants. He started to put on a shirt, then remembered his muscles seemed to be working wonders and left it off, padding out of the bedroom and down the hallway. He heard Lissa and Tallulah before turning the corner into the living room and had to pause, the rightness of it hitting him right in the jugular. He liked their voices together. He liked the gentle sizzle of pancakes and his daughter giggling about something Tallulah said. These things made his apartment seem like a home for the first time since he’d moved into it.

Furthermore, he didn’t feel like an intruder as he stepped out into the open. Didn’t feel guilty for showing up and trying to fit into the family unit after being absent, thanks to hockey.

He belonged. She’d made him belong.

Now he just needed to convince her she belonged with him.

And when she turned at the stove with a deer in the headlights expression, he knew that probably wasn’t going to be easy.

Fine. Fuck easy.

“Hey, Dad,” Lissa sang, her bag packed at her feet. A quick check of the clock said Ashleigh would be there in ten minutes to pick up their daughter. Shit, he should have gotten up sooner. Blame the gorgeous grad student who’d melted his bones last night. “Good job, last night. You were extra mean.”

Burgess’s lips twitched. “Was I?”

“The other team looked so sad at the end.”

“Losing is good once in a while,” Burgess said. “It makes you try harder.”

“Losing is good?” His daughter’s eyebrows went up. “For you, too?”

“Hell no. Not for me. Other people.”

Lissa laughed. He started to walk past her, but decided to lean in for a hug instead, patting her gently on the back. “You’re good luck. Told you.”

She ducked her head, but he still caught her smile. “Yeah.”

Burgess locked eyes with Tallulah when he circled the breakfast bar into the kitchen, suddenly hungry for some acknowledgment that they’d given each other orgasms last night and slept in the same bed. He didn’t want to pretend it hadn’t happened. “Morning.”

“Morning,” she said back, pink filtering into the tan of her cheeks. “It’s raining.”

His attention drifted to the nearest window, taking in the gray sky, the droplets clinging to the glass. “Is it?” His eyes ran a lap around her face. “The sun is shining in here.”

She fumbled the spatula slightly, but caught it before it could clatter onto the surface of the stove, a telltale pulse moving at a gallop just above her collarbone. “Do, um... do you want pancakes or are you sticking to your Diet of Doom?”

“Have to stick. Especially during the season.” Playfully, he flexed a bicep for Lissa. “One pancake or peanut butter smoothie and this deflates like a balloon.”

Lissa snorted, digging into the plate of pancakes Tallulah set down in front of her. “No, it wouldn’t.”

Tallulah poured another circle of batter onto the pan, very obviously pretending not to watch him flex. “You know, half the joy of pancakes is sharing them with someone else. No one wants to watch someone eat egg whites while they’re adding a second layer of syrup to their breakfast. You enjoy it more when you get to watch someone else enjoying it, too.”

“Maybe in the off season.”

Lissa and Tallulah traded an eye roll.

His daughter was halfway finished with her first pancake when the intercom buzzed, the doorman’s voice filling the apartment. “Mr. Abraham. Your guest is waiting downstairs.”

“That’s my mom,” Lissa said, jumping down off the stool while in the process of rolling her second pancake up like a taco. “Thanks for the pancakes, Tallulah.”

“Anytime, babe. See you Monday.”

Lissa started for the door, but stopped and circled back to the kitchen, giving Tallulah a hug where she stood at the stove. “Bye.”

Caught off guard, Tallulah recovered quickly and squeezed Lissa in return. “Bye.”

Burgess picked up Lissa’s bag and followed his daughter to the door, his chest tight as he shoved his feet into the slip-ons he kept by the coat rack. Before he could walk out after Lissa, Tallulah cleared her throat in the kitchen. In a way that implied she had something to say. “Um.” She waved the spatula at him. “Aren’t you going to put on a shirt?”

“Wasn’t planning on it.”

She faced the stove again, her chin notched up. “Oh.”

“You want me to cover up?”

“It’s up to you.”

“Are you sure about that? Seems kind of important.”

Tallulah let out a high-pitched laugh that didn’t sound all that humorous. “I’m sure your ex-wife has seen you shirtless before. ”

“Yeah.” Hiding his smile was growing more difficult by the second. “Honestly, it’s hard to remember anything that happened in my life before you moved in.”

She wouldn’t look at him.

He took a jacket off the coat rack and put it on, buttoning all the way to the top, smiling on the inside when her shoulders relaxed. “I’ll be right back. Stay where you are.”

She shrugged daintily. “Fine.”

A moment later, Burgess got into the elevator with Lissa, trying not to let it show how eager he was to get back up to the apartment, but Jesus, his pulse was slamming in his veins, his mind coming up with ideas on how to wipe that half-confused, half-miffed expression off Tallulah’s face. And then later today, he was going to bring her to a place he’d been dreaming of taking her since... fuck. Since they’d met in California.

God, he’d been gone for this woman so long.

He wanted rings on fingers. Commitment. Permanency.

All the things she’d told him she didn’t want. From the beginning.

The closer they got, the more he wanted to pretend she’d never said those words, but that would be unwise. Just like last night, he’d continue to keep their relationship unlabeled. Even if in his head, they were each wearing a label written in black Sharpie.

Tallulah’s read mine .

His read hers .

Burgess got Lissa safely into Ashleigh’s car, stowing her bag in the trunk, before practically jogging back to the elevator and impatiently stamping the button for his floor. Watching the numbers go up on the screen, he pushed five fingers through his hair, reminding himself to be patient. Not to rush her.

While also making it clear he was serious.

Easy.

On his way to the apartment, he was already unbuttoning the jacket and he dropped it to the ground as soon as he was over the threshold. And he kept walking right to the kitchen where Tallulah was standing at the counter, just about to take her first bite of pancake. She dropped the fork when he was five feet away and that was good, really good, because he went into the kiss hard, spinning her around and lifting her feet clear off the ground, her ass rattling the lower cabinets as he slanted their mouths together, growling in a way that he hoped said this is how I want to fucking wake up . After her initial surprise wore off, and it wore off fast, her fingers dove into his hair and pulled, her mewl tasting like heaven on his tongue, his lips twisting over the top of hers, pulses pounding in his temples.

“Tell me you want to be the only one who sees my bare chest, Tallulah, and it’s done.” He wound her hair around his fist and tugged her head back with just enough force to make her suck in a breath. “Matter of fact, it’s done either way. Feel free to add some nail marks to it.”

His au pair appeared to be adorably scandalized. “Burgess.”

“Yeah? Say what you want.”

Two shallow breaths. “Right now, I just want you to kiss me again.”

This time, when he claimed her mouth, he was growling, a sense of victory spearing him in the dead center of his chest. He hadn’t felt this sense of purpose in such a long fucking time, like he had something worth winning right within his reach, and he packed intention into the kiss, using her fisted hair to tilt her left, coming at her like a starving man, keeping it up until she started to shift around restlessly between him and the counter. “What else do you want?” he said against her swollen mouth. “Do you want to see me tonight?”

“Yes.”

Thank God. The organ in his chest boomed wildly. “You want to come to my room again and call it a massage? Just see what happens?”

She was nodding, gratitude softening her features. “Yes.”

“Then that’s what you’re going to get.”

“Maybe I’ll let you massage me this time,” she whispered, winding her arms around his neck and very lightly dragging her tongue along the seam of his mouth. “You won’t be too rough with me, will you, Sir Savage?”

Son of a—

Heat ransacked his lower body, his hands moving of their own accord, boosting her up so he could pin her to the cabinets, her bare legs wrapping around his hips like silk. Tightening. Taking two handfuls of sweet ass, he thrust up between her legs with a grunt, instantly obsessed with the way her eyes glazed over with need. Excitement. “Gentler? Or rougher?” he asked, massaging that beautiful backside. “Just in case I need to know for later.”

Oh, she liked that. Appreciated the lack of firm planning. The lack of pressure. The spontaneity didn’t suit him, but the increasing welcome of her body, the euphoria that painted itself on her face when he didn’t demand answers? That sure as shit suited him, so they would play this game as long as necessary. “Rougher, gorgeous?”

“Yes.”

Burgess pumped again, harder this time, though he was still tempering his strength, and her nails dug into the back of his neck, a shudder going through both of them. At the top of that drive, he ground himself against her warm pussy, remembering everything he’d learned about it last night. How soft and tight it was. How wet it got from blowing him. “Rougher?” he rasped.

Her nod was vigorous. “Stop holding back.”

“Ahh. I’ll always have to hold back a little, Tallulah. I’m a beast, remember?” His grip turned bruising on her ass, his next thrust causing her ass to pound loudly into the cabinets. “But how’s that?”

“Good. Oh my God, so good. So good.”

Burgess groaned, burying his face in her neck and drove upward several more times, humping her through their clothes, the sound of her hitched whimpers like music to his ears. “If I didn’t have a postgame meeting this morning, I would spend the day like this. Throwing you up against every wall in this apartment and fucking you through your panties until you say you’re ready for me to rip them off.” He raked his tongue up the side of her neck. “Goddamn, you sucked me off so good last night. I can still feel your mouth working my dick.”

Her nails sank deeper into the meat of his neck, her thighs starting to quiver around his hips. “Please. A l-little more. A little more.”

“You want to come?”

She bit her lip and said something unintelligible that he interpreted as a yes. Her moisture was beginning to dampen the crotch of his sweatpants, her breaths turning stuttered and erratic. Close. “Tell me you still taste my come in your throat and I’ll finish you off.”

Tallulah’s moan filled the apartment. “I still taste you in my throat.”

Lust socked him in the gut. “Good girl.”

All it took was three more flexes of his hips to make her eyes glaze over, a violent shiver coursing through her body, her thighs squeezing around him so tight, so tight, like she wanted to close them completely to combat the pleasure, but couldn’t because he was blocking the action and now nothing could defend her from the twist of bliss, so she let it pummel her. He watched all that play out on her incredible face, looking right into her eyes, more connected to her than he’d ever been to anyone else in his life.

When her trembles started to lose tension, he turned her sideways and scooped her up against his chest, carrying her through the apartment to his bedroom where he laid her down in the messy sheets. After a moment of thought, he strode to the guest bedroom—hard dick and everything—to retrieve the balled-up sweatshirt she used as a pillow, bringing it in to her, making a gruff sound so she would lift her head, allowing him to slide it under.

“You’ll see me later,” he said, brushing his knuckles against her cheekbone.

After a beat, she nodded. “You’ll see me, too.”

“Good.”

She blinked, as if suddenly remembering something. “Burgess.”

“Yeah.”

A beat passed. “I think it might be a good idea to talk to Lissa soon. Not about us,” she rushed to qualify. “Not yet. I mean, maybe not ever. This could be a fling or temporary insanity—”

“You’re just asking to be panty fucked again, Tallulah.”

“I’m not. I mean... I wouldn’t turn it down. But what I’m trying to tell you is...” She wet her lips and propped herself up on one elbow. “Last night, she was talking again about you and Ashleigh getting back together. And I’m worried she’s getting her hopes up so high, the disappointment could hurt. A lot. That is, if what she wants isn’t going to happen—”

“It’s not.”

She studied his likely thunderous expression for a moment. “I know.”

“Good. I’m glad you know.” He stroked a thumb down the crease in the middle of her bottom lip. “I’ll talk to Lissa about it.”

“Okay.” She yawned, flopping back down again and curling her arm around the wadded-up sweatshirt. “See you later.”

Getting dressed and leaving Tallulah there, soft and a little bewildered looking in his bed, wasn’t an easy task. But he left the apartment with a smile on his face.

Because he had a date tonight with the woman he’d fallen in love with.