Текст книги "Dance for Me"
Автор книги: J. C. Valentine
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Текущая страница: 7 (всего у книги 12 страниц)
FOURTEEN
I spent way too much time picking an outfit, and now I’m late. Jed’s is packed for a weeknight, but Brody’s ability to plan ahead allows me to go straight in. The hostess points me toward a table in the back, and even though I spent the entire afternoon filled with doubt and a creeping sense of unease due to Annie’s strange behavior, I still find myself searching for any sign of Ransom.
I hate myself for being so weak. Why can’t I just stop thinking about him? I need a distraction, something to help me take my mind off everything. I feel some of the tension I’ve been carrying around dissipate when I spot everyone seated around the table. Brody brought a couple of his friends along, as well as Mitch and Price, who we’ve known for years, and I see that Annie managed to drag Jason along, too. I can’t say that I’m happy to see his blotchy red face, but I am happy that Annie appears happy.
Brody sees me first, and his wide smile serves an injection of happy. I could be in the worst mood, and one look at him would make everything right again.
Maybe Annie was onto something. Why am I chasing after someone untouchable, when I have Brody?
That’s an easy question to answer. It’s the very fact that Ransom is untouchable that makes me crave him. I’ve always been the kind of person who gravitated toward trouble. A shrink would probably tell me that I have daddy issues, or it’s due to my parents’ untimely deaths and having to grow up too fast. And they’d be right because what kind of person could get dealt the hand I have and not be screwed up?
Unfortunately, I can’t help wanting what I want. The side effect of owning a heart is that you can’t control who it falls for. There’s no reasoning with it, no talking it out of stupid decisions. Even when it’s bound to get burned, it runs headlong into the fire. But people can train themselves to like different things. Can’t they?
When Brody leaves the table and embraces me, I decide to prove to my heart that it doesn’t rule me, and I give him an extra-long hug. His arms tighten around my shoulders and he kisses my hair in response. When he pulls back, he gives me a strange smile like he’s not quite sure what to make of my behavior. Hell, neither am I. I just know that I need to crush this unhealthy obsession for Ransom before it takes over any more of my life.
After forcing his friends to move down so I can have the chair directly beside him, Brody pours me a glass of beer from the pitcher sitting in the center of the table.
“You look beautiful tonight,” he says, leaning down to whisper the compliment in my ear.
“As opposed to every other night?”
The kiss he places on my temple is sweet and full of affection. “You know what I meant.”
I do. Brody always appreciates the way I look, even when I’m at my worst. Finding his heavy thigh under the table, I squeeze it. “Thanks.”
His eyes catch mine, and he tips his head. It would be so easy to let myself fall for him. Brody is an easy guy to love. He’s charming and sweet, cute and gentle, and the best part of all—we’re friends. We don’t even have to try to get along because the connection is already there.
Laying my head on his shoulder, I glance down the table to where Annie and Jason are seated. She’s looking at me with raised brows, and I raise mine right back. I don’t know what message she’s trying to send me, but I hope she gets mine—I don’t need anyone’s approval on how I choose to live my life.
“Good to see you made it, Jason,” I say, raising my voice so he can hear me over the music. “We missed you last time.”
He lifts his chin, a gesture I’ve always hated, but only when he does it. “Hey, Joe.”
That’s about the extent of our exchange. Jason and I used to get along, almost like friends. He was cool, someone I could laugh and joke around with. Then I found out what he was really about. Not wanting to cause trouble or hurt anyone, I distanced myself, but when I saw how his behavior was affecting Annie, Jason and I had a heart-to-heart. It didn’t go well, and Annie still doesn’t know anything about it, but, needless to say, Jason and I will never be friends.
The waitress arrives with two platters piled high with appetizers and sets them down in the middle of the table, along with plates for everyone. Brody fills mine first, and my eyes widen at the amount of food he gives me.
“I can’t eat all this.” Hell, I can’t even see the plate.
“I’ll eat what you don’t,” he says, smiling as he chews on a chili-covered fry.
“That’s why he did it,” Mitch says. He’s seated across from Brody, and his hazel eyes twinkle with mirth. “I bet half the food on your plate is intended for him. He just wants to make sure none of us get any.”
Brody pats his flat stomach and grins shamelessly as he chews a stuffed potato. “I’m a growing boy.”
“That’s nothing. You should see him at breakfast,” the one who vacated his seat for me says. I think his name is Trent. “If you’re not first at the table, there’s a good chance you won’t eat.”
“This is how it starts,” Mitch says, shaking his head. “A little extra fries here, and a couple more chips there. Before you know it, you’ve become his unwilling partner in crime while all your friends go hungry.”
I cover my mouth to keep the beer from coming back out as I laugh. “Who says I’m unwilling?”
Mitch’s jaw drops and Brody belts out a laugh as he slings his arm over my shoulder. “Yeah, Mitch, who says she’s unwilling?”
Spending time with my friends is always cathartic. The next couple hours pass fast, with a lot of food and even more drinks shared among us. Brody always finds a way to touch me, whether it’s brushing my hair off my shoulder or putting his arm around the back of my chair and absently tracing his fingers down my arm. By the time our empty plates are taken away, he’s given up trying to keep up any pretenses of being just friends, and pulls me into his lap.
I don’t mind. We’ve always been close, and I love Brody’s affectionate side. It’s always there, but it’s way more intense when he’s been drinking.
Resting my cheek on top of his head, I push my toe into the floor, rocking us gently to the music as we watch our friends dance.
“Do you want to dance with me?”
Closing my eyes, I shake my head. “I like it right here.” The truth is, I’m so tired I could fall asleep right now. That’s what alcohol does for me, makes me sleepy.
Brody cinches his arms around my waist, pulling me in tighter to his chest. “Me, too. Your boobs make amazing pillows.”
Jerking back, I slap his chest. “Ass!”
“What? They do. They’re like little fluffy clouds of heaven.”
I slap him again. “My boobs are not little.”
He chuckles, pulling me back so he can nuzzle his scruffy cheek against my cleavage. “Nope, they’re not. They’re exactly the right size.” He hums contentedly, and I feel a little...weird letting him get this close.
The line of friendship is vanishing too fast.
Patting his shoulder, I tell him, “It’s getting pretty late. Maybe we should round everyone up and say goodnight.”
His glassy eyes scan the room. “Yeah, good idea. I’ll drive you home.”
“No,” I say pushing him back in the chair when he attempts to stand. “You’ve had too much to drink tonight. I’ll bring everyone back here, and then I’ll take you home.”
When I stand, my head feels a little lighter than usual like it’s not fully attached to my body, but it’s nothing I haven’t experienced before. I’m not a lightweight, but I may have had slightly more to drink tonight than I realized. Still, as I collect everyone and we say our goodbyes, I don’t feel unclear. In fact, I feel pretty steady.
I allow Brody to lean against me as I lead him to my car, despite him being more than twice my height and weight. The fact that I can do that without falling over adds to my confidence that I am well enough to drive. When I trip over a crack in the parking lot as I head back to the driver’s side, I’m a little less certain, but Brody’s house is only five minutes down the road, and my apartment is only a few more from there. All I have to do is take a little extra care in making sure my attention is on the road.
I don’t even get the door open when I feel a hand on my shoulder pulling me back.
“There’s no way in hell you’re getting behind that wheel.”
When I look up, it’s into Ransom’s seriously pissed off, hard as stone onyx eyes. I’m instantly incensed by his presence. What the hell is he doing here? “Excuse me?”
“Give me the keys. I’ll drive you two home.”
“What makes you think I’ll just hand my keys over?”
Tilting his head to one side, he gives me an impatient look. “I know you’ve been drinking tonight, and you just tripped over your own feet. If you think I’m going to stand back and let you endanger your life and anyone else’s, you’re sadly mistaken.”
“It was a crack,” I shoot back lamely.
“There’s no crack, just your clumsy, drunken feet.”
I laugh. Like, really laugh, with snorts and everything. “Feet can’t get drunk.” Okay, maybe he has a point.
He gives me a pointed look, and I know I'm beaten. I hand over my keys without further argument because I’m embarrassed to admit that I’m one of those people. The kind that think they’re the exception to the rule, and I know if he hadn’t been here, I might have hurt someone.
“So what are you doing here? I thought you said you were passing on tonight.” After transferring Brody, who is so out of it he’s asleep the moment his ass hits the backseat of Ransom’s car, I climb into the passenger seat and wait for my answer.
“Like your friend said, a guy’s gotta eat.” He turns the key in the ignition and pauses. Without looking at me, he adds, “And I might have wanted to see you.”
Seriously, I’m pathetic because those were the single best words I’ve heard all week. I know I’m grinning like a lunatic, and I can’t stop myself. Giving me a sidelong look, Ransom returns the smile, and then puts the car into drive.
Brody is passed out cold by the time we reach the frat house, and it takes three of his buddies plus Ransom to get him inside and into bed. I take a moment to pull off his shoes and tuck him in, giving him a kiss on the forehead before I go, because who the hell else is going to do it? After making sure someone will check on him throughout the night, I drive home with Ransom.
“Do you want some coffee?” I ask as he parks in front of my place. I know what I’m asking, but I can’t get past the fact that he showed up tonight because of me.
It’s risky, but what I should do and what I want to do are two entirely different things. Earlier, I thought it would be wiser to explore my options and not dismiss Brody. Now, I think life is too short to deny myself. I can deny it until I’m blue in the face, and maybe tomorrow I’ll resort to old habits and do just that, but tonight I want to live a little. I want to have some fun. And I know without a doubt that Ransom can provide it.
He stares up at the darkened windows as he considers my offer. We both know there is no coffee waiting for either of us behind those doors.
I’m just about to retract my offer to save some face when he turns off the car and pops open his door. “Coffee sounds nice.”
FIFTEEN
Thank God Ransom is on the same page. We barely make it past the front door before we’re tearing at each other’s clothes. I lost my shoes somewhere near the door, my top between the living room and the kitchen, and my pants outside the bathroom. When Ransom pushes me down on the bed, I’m wearing nothing but a pair of lacy black underwear and bra. He’s still fully dressed in his jeans and gunmetal gray button-down shirt. He makes causal sexy in a way no man, I've ever met, can. My stomach flutters in anticipation as he stands between my legs and stares down at me.
“I don’t know what I’m doing here,” he says, his voice low and rough.
“You’re here to fuck me.”
His grimace gives me a moment of panic. Did I say something wrong? What if he walks away? I sit up, smoothing my hands up his torso. “Stop thinking so much. You’re giving me a headache.”
“I’m sorry.” His fingers burrow into my hair, tugging at the strands as he makes a tight fist at the back of my head. “I just can’t stop thinking about how wrong it is for a teacher to be with a student.”
“We’re more than that, though.” Being involved prior has to count for something, right? “We’re adults, Ransom. Do you really think anyone would punish us for being attracted to each other?”
“For acting on it, yes. Definitely.” Despite his words, Ransom leans down, pressing me back into the mattress, and kisses the swell of my breasts. If he cares so much about the rules, he’s certainly not showing it.
Gripping his biceps, I revel in him, in his touch. It’s been so long. “Then we’d better make sure no one finds out.”
A growl rumbles in the back of his throat and Ransom surges up, claiming my mouth with a bruising kiss. Our hands move frantically as we remove the rest of the clothing that separates us. Ransom is as eager as I am, but somehow he manages to rein it in.
Moving down my body, he nips at my skin, placing soothing licks after each bite. I look down in shock as he positions his wide shoulders beneath my legs. Reaching down to sift my fingers through his hair, my breathing increases in anticipation of his next move. This is another thing he hasn’t done in a while. The last time I asked, he had muttered something about being too impatient to be inside me, and that was that.
Seeing him there now, staring up at me, I can hardly breathe. When he covers me with his mouth, my head slams back into the blankets, and a vicious moan rips from my lips. He circles my clit with his tongue and then laps at my opening. Dragging the flat of his tongue up my slit, he repeats the pattern, lapping, circling, tasting, and teasing. Taking me further than he ever has before. It’s a torturous dance that causes all of my muscles to convulse, until I am shaking so hard, I can’t tell whether I’m going to come or if I already have.
When his touch becomes too painful to bear, I push his head away. He comes up laughing as he wipes his mouth dry. “What’s the matter, baby?”
I don’t even have enough strength in my muscles to lift my arm to punch him. Hooking my legs around his powerful thighs, I open myself to him. “Shut up and fuck me.”
Reaching back, he retrieves a condom lying on top of the blankets I hadn’t noticed him put there. After rolling it on, he braces himself above me and flexes his hips. His length is long and hard and stretches me as it slowly enters me.
“Yes, Ransom. It feels so good,” I moan breathily as he seats himself fully.
“So do you, Josephine. You feel incredible.” His eyes slip shut and he moans as he rocks into me. The slow, steady pace he sets is so unlike the way we usually have sex. Tonight, Ransom is taking his time, and I feel it. I feel everything. This isn’t sex. This is making love.
When he hooks his arm under my leg and spreads me open even wider, there is no going back. His pelvis rubs my center just right, and I come undone, splintering apart piece by piece as my orgasm slowly rolls over me like ocean waves breaking against a shore—slow, but with unexpected force. There are no fireworks and my toes don’t curl up. I haven’t even broken a sweat, but I still feel shattered.
It’s the most honest feeling I’ve ever experienced.
Holding him close, I feel Ransom’s muscles straining beneath my hands as he chases his own pleasure. My boobs jiggle and my head bangs against the headboard as he lifts himself to begin moving faster.
I watch as his face contorts and the tendons in his neck stand out in stark relief. His hips surge once more, and then he freezes, going completely still as his lips peel back from his teeth and he releases a tortured sound, before collapsing on top of me.
His heart pounds against my chest as he struggles to catch his breath. My hand strokes his back as the other holds his head to my chest. At this moment, with nothing but the soft sounds of our combined breaths between us, I feel at peace. Having never experienced it before, I have no idea what to do with it. But it’s… nice.
The feeling is shattered when Ransom rolls away, and hollowness in my chest begins to take its place. But that space is quickly filled again as he takes me with him. Lying on his back, Ransom tucks me under his side and drapes my arm across his chest. My leg moves up to cover his, and when we are completely wrapped around each other, my chest swells with an emotion I can’t name.
Whatever it is, I feel safe here. Protected. Home.
***
A low buzzing lures me from my sleep and I am vaguely aware of Ransom peeling me off him to root around on the floor. The buzzing stops and is followed by his voice, which is soft and a little gruff from sleep. The call is short, and then he is back, crawling into bed beside me.
“Are you awake?” he asks, and I roll away, making a sound of complaint. I’m not a morning person. Never have been, but Ransom is determined to make me one.
Pressing his naked body against my back, I can feel his desire for me to wake up burrowing between my thighs. His warm breath tickles the back of my neck and I tilt my head to feel his lips touch my skin.
“What time do you have to be to class?”
Reaching back to cup his head as he continues to nibble at me, I reply, “Nine.”
“Mmmm, then you have twenty minutes to get there.”
My eyes fly open and I shoot out of bed. “I’m going to be late!” Spotting him still in bed wearing only his smile, I shout, “Get up! I gotta go!”
Moving to the edge of the bed, he watches me rush around the room collecting clothes from the floor. “I’m all for dedication, especially when you keep bending down like that, but maybe today we should just call in sick and stay in bed.” I see that look in his eye, hooded and full of desire, and the offer is almost too tempting to ignore. But for once, reason wins out.
With his clothes in hand, I walk back to him. His knees open and I step between them, draping my hands and his clothes over his shoulders. “As much as I’d love to spend the day in bed with you, you have a job to get to. Besides, both of us absent on the same day? Not a good start if we want to keep this on the down-low.”
He releases a heavy sigh and presses his forehead to my sternum. “You’re right. God, why do you have to be right?” he complains, throwing his head back and squeezing his eyes shut.
I chuckle and step back, handing him his clothes. “You’d better run if you don’t want to be late.”
I don a robe as he dresses, and then I walk him to the door. Turning before he leaves, he hooks me around the waist and hauls me up against his chest, dropping a possessive kiss on my lips that leaves me feeling winded. “See you in class, Miss Hart.”
I’m smiling like a loon when he opens the door to go, only to have it fall away in an instant. Ransom freezes on the spot. Annie stands on the other side of the door, two coffees in her hand and a look of shock on her face.
Ransom clears his throat. “Good morning, Miss Guerra.”
Blinking away her surprise, Annie’s expression turns sly as she takes in my appearance. “Good morning, indeed, Professor Scott. Joe, what in the world did I just walk into?”
I rush to explain. “Annie, Professor Scott was just dropping by to…” My excuse dies, and I look to him for help. He is rumpled from head to toe, clearly having just rolled out of bed.
“Uh…tell her about a possible project idea I came across.”
“Right,” I say, snapping my fingers and pointing at him. “The project.”
Annie’s suspicious gaze shifts between us, and of course she’s not buying it. Even a blind person could see through the lie. “Riiiiight.”
“So, okay then. Thanks for the info, Professor Scott. See you in class.”
I reach past him and yank Annie by the forearm into the apartment. Ransom gives me a worried look as he exchanges places with her. I don’t know what to say or do, so I shrug and close the door in his face. Annie won’t tell anyone about this, and I will make sure he knows this when I catch up with him later, but right now, I need to do damage control.
“Thank God you brought coffee!” Relieving her of the extra cup, I gulp it, the hot liquid scalding my tongue on the way down. “You don’t even know how much I needed this.”
Reclining on my couch, she pulls her feet up on the cushion beside her and gives me a knowing look. “Oh, I can take a guess. How the hell did he end up here? I assume he stayed the night?”
“It’s a long story, and yes, he did. Don’t,” I say firmly as I point my finger at her, “tell anyone. Not even Jason.”
She holds up her hand. “I swear, my lips are sealed.”
I stare her down for a moment longer, and when I’m satisfied that I’ve gotten through to her, I nod. “Okay, I’m going to hop in the shower. Be back in five.” Her voice floats down the hall after me as I gather what I’ll wear for the day—a pair of cut-off shorts, a white tank top, and a black and white checkered button-down that’s two sizes too large.
“So, was he good?”
“So good!” I call back as I duck inside the bathroom. Her laughter is drowned out by the rushing water, and as I step beneath it, I realize once again that I can’t stop smiling.
Professor Ransom Scott is ruining me.
