Текст книги "Opening Up"
Автор книги: Lauren Dane
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Текущая страница: 11 (всего у книги 19 страниц)
Chapter Fifteen
PJ parked her work truck and headed into the building. This was a newish contact for her. The client had actually looked her up and asked if she’d be willing to meet with him at the restoration shop where his Chevy was being worked on.
Working with new people was a hugely important thing. Sure, she had a lot of clients up in the Seattle area, but down in southwest Washington she didn’t know too many people outside the tire world.
This shop was newer, and though she’d called to ask Julie to look them up, they didn’t do any business with Colman, which could be a huge gift or a terrible problem. Either way, there was no knowing until she went inside.
The place wasn’t as magnificent as Twisted Steel, but really, she’d been in a lot of garages and shops and very few of them were. It was a good-sized operation, though, which was encouraging.
“Hi there. I’m PJ Colman. I’m supposed to meet with one of your rebuild clients today,” she said to one of the guys inside, giving him the client’s name. They didn’t seem to have a receptionist or an office manager, at least not there right then.
“The owner is right in that office there.” He pointed and she headed in that direction after thanking him.
She tapped on the door and the guy inside motioned for her to come in.
“Can I help you, sweetie?” he asked, and she shoved down her impulse to curl her lip. Sweetie? She sensed this flavor was misogynist with that tone. She bet he didn’t like icky girls in his sandbox.
But this was a job and she was a business owner now. Maybe he called everyone pet names. Maybe he’d grow on her. Maybe he was a total tool. She might as well try to make the best of this. It wasn’t the first time she’d been patronized, and it wouldn’t be the last.
Her smile went cooler as she stood taller. “I’m PJ Colman. I do custom paint. Joe asked me to come down to talk with you two about some options for his Chevy.”
He looked her up and down without speaking until she crossed her arms and glared.
“Is he here?”
He raked his gaze over her body again, lingering on her boobs. “He just called. He’s running a little late. You’re not what I expected. Or maybe exactly what I expected.”
She was still trying to remain professional and aloof, but the longer he acted this way the harder that got.
“I’ll wait until he arrives then.”
He stood, following her out into the open shop area. “Don’t you want to know what I expected?”
Sighing, PJ turned and looked him up and down slowly like he had done to her. Only she was dismissive. “Did you have something to say?” She peered at his work shirt. “Gary. I assume that’s your name, but these days, one never knows if it’s a work shirt or a fashion statement.” She gave him one last opportunity to prove he was actually a good guy, or at the very least that he wasn’t going to be a nightmare to deal with.
“Just that I expected you to be some big-titted blonde who couldn’t tie her own shoes. You appear to be basically competent and not overly whorish.”
“That’s a relief. I decided to wear my overly whorish shirt tomorrow.”
“You got this job because you’re riding Asa Barrons’s dick. Look at you.” Distaste ruled his features.
He looked upset. Him. Like he hadn’t just called her a whore. Yep, woman hater. She was done here. There was no way to deal with guys like him. You couldn’t explain anything to them or even expect that they’d remain civil and professional. He’d be a problem the whole time.
“I got this job because a customer paying you a great deal of money to restore his car saw some of my work and called to hire me. However, I won’t be working through this shop, so I’ll let him know that.”
She turned to leave and he got in front of her, his face very close. “You think you can threaten me? I don’t care who you are, little girl, you don’t have the stones to threaten me.”
That’s when the guy who had pointed her to Gary’s office when she first arrived rushed over and got between them. “Dude. Chill out.”
Gary snarled around the guy’s body, “Fucking bitch.”
“That’s Ms. Fucking Bitch to you.” PJ was surprised she didn’t stutter the words because she wanted to shake.
The mechanic who’d gotten between them opened the door for her. “I’m sorry about that. Are you all right? Let me walk you to your truck.”
She wasn’t. She needed to be away from there when it came so she could pull over out of their view.
“Please, just leave me alone. I need you to back up and let me do this.”
She didn’t even look his way as she found her keys and hit the alarm to unlock her truck.
“I’d say he didn’t mean it, but he’s an asshole. I’m sorry that happened to you.” He said it from a distance, giving her the space she’d asked for.
She opened her door and finally looked at him. “Thanks for getting in between us.”
“Listen. If you decide to press charges, my name is Pete. The cops can talk to me. I saw most of it.” He ducked his head and went back inside, and she managed to get three freeway off-ramps away before she had to pull into a strip mall parking lot and let the shaking take over.
Duke crouched next to the spot Asa measured the gap where the doorframe on the old Ford had been bent. “Got a second?”
Asa frowned but nodded. They headed to grab some coffee. “What’s going on?”
“You know how that guy called here asking for information about PJ?”
It happened from time to time. They got calls asking who did the upholstery, paint, whatever. Usually they shared the details. Their world ran on word of mouth, so if you referred someone one time, the next year someone referred your business.
“No. I mean, I know it happens, but not all the particulars. Is this about the place she was supposed to go this morning? She got up at five to be down there in time.” He wasn’t panicked. Yet. If it had been urgent Duke would have spit it out already.
“That same guy, the client. He called and told me what happened when she was there.”
Asa’s mind went very still. He knew he wasn’t going to like what Duke was about to say.
“She called him about three hours ago and told him she wasn’t going to be able to work with that shop anymore, but if he wanted her to do the paint work outside of that, or through another shop, to let her know. He said she was very calm but it was weird. Then he got to the shop and one of the mechanics told him what happened.”
Duke relayed what he’d heard Gary Weston, the owner of the shop, had said and done to PJ. In full view of his employees and customers. And that the mechanic had to get between Asa’s woman and a guy Asa remembered as nearly as big as he was. Someone was going to be very, very sorry.
“The fuck? For what?”
“I don’t know, man. Joe, the client, he felt awful. Said he tried to call her cell after he found out what happened, but she has it on voicemail. She was so nice he wanted to be sure she was all right.”
Asa saw red as he paced, pulling his phone from his pocket. Her number went straight to voicemail, so he texted her, but she didn’t reply.
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
Duke just looked at him for long moments before deciding to take pity on Asa. “Because she likes to do things herself. Because she’s upset and she knows if she comes to you like that you’ll be even more keen to kick Weston’s ass.”
“I warned her she wasn’t ready for what I was. Guess she’ll have to deal with it.” She was his. His in an old-school way. To protect and cherish and take care of.
“I’m going to give you some advice. I know you haven’t asked for it, but you need it anyway.” Duke leaned back, settling in for what Asa thought of as a dude lecture.
But he always had something thoughtful to say, so Asa tried to rein in his impatience at not hearing from PJ yet and focus on Duke. “What?”
“It’s a good thing you’ve saved my ass a dozen times, or I’d kick yours for being such a shithead. You two have something major and it’s good for you. It’s like she puts you in a more Zen place or what have you. She’s serious about cars and this is important to her. If she sees your response as interference, you’re going to do some damage.”
“Are you telling me I can’t punch that asshole Gary?”
Duke laughed, but it wasn’t his good-natured dude laugh. This one was darker. This one was the laugh of the guy who brawled and raced just as hard as Asa. Once he got riled, Duke was wicked dangerous.
“Hell no, I’m not saying that. You should absolutely punch him in his face. But separate it from PJ’s Custom Designs and Twisted Steel versus his shop. Make it about Asa and Gary.”
Asa paused, pushing a breath out and then dragging one in. His control went back into place, but when it came to PJ there seemed to be a whole new set of rules. Entirely new ways to seriously dig on this woman who was quickly taking up a very integral part of his life.
PJ sat in her truck for a bit before she went inside Twisted Steel. What happened back at the shop down south was upsetting and all, but she had to keep moving or she would dwell. She knew herself well enough to understand that. Luckily she had work to do to keep busy.
Asa had texted her several times and had left a few voicemails. She’d needed the drive back up to Seattle and then a milkshake before she’d sent him a text saying she was on her way back to the shop and that she was fine.
And she was better once she’d opened the side door and taken in the smell, the sound of Van Halen’s “Runnin’ with the Devil” blaring as Duke worked on a motorcycle off to her right, the way the place soared in every direction, full of hot dudes fixing stuff.
This had become a place she loved to be. A place that felt more like home to her than Colman ever had. Some of the guys had held her at a distance at first. She was young. Strike one. She was pretty. Strike two. She was from a well-known family, which also made her suspect. And then she went and started dating Asa.
If she’d been thinking with her business sense instead of her pussy, she probably would have held him off for at least another year so she could establish herself first.
Slowly but surely, though, she’d earned their respect. It wasn’t perfect. She knew she had a lot of work to do before they’d accept her totally. And when they did, it would be as PJ and not that young hottie the boss was banging.
Lottie saw PJ approaching and waved. “Hey. You have some receipts in your basket. I deposited some money. We got paid from a few customers this week.”
“Excellent.”
“Asa’s been looking for you. He just went into his office to make a call.”
As much as PJ just wanted to go out and finish the rear fender she’d started yesterday, she knew if she did, it would only make things worse.
“Okay. I’ll go grab some coffee and by the time I’m ready he’ll maybe be off the phone.”
“There’s pizza in the fridge in the break room. We had it for lunch. There’s a lot left if you want some.”
She could have said no, but why would she turn that down? “Cool. I’ll be back shortly.”
He stalked into the room as she was sliding the pizza box back into the fridge. He didn’t stop at the doorway, or even just a few feet away. He didn’t stop until he’d pulled her to him gently.
“I was worried about you.” He kissed her forehead. “You’ve had your phone off for hours. You can’t just not call me back when something happens like that.”
“I didn’t even think you’d know. I didn’t think anyone would know. It happened, I left. After I called my client I turned off my phone and came back up here. How did you find out?”
“Not from you.”
She blinked at him, trying to remember he was worried and hadn’t been able to connect with her. “This is not my favorite thing.”
She stepped back and he frowned, glowering at her for a moment.
“Are you really going to be mad at me? At me?”
He shook his head, the glower softening. “I’m sorry. I was worried and you didn’t call me back. You were out there and I wanted to talk. I’m selfish, I know.” He pulled a chair out at the table. “Sit. Please. Eat your pizza. I’m getting coffee, you want something?”
She sat, keeping an eye on him. “What are you up to?”
He brought his coffee over, topping up hers as well. “I’m not up to anything. I just want to know what happened.”
Instead of moving across from her, he chose the place next to her and proceeded to take up all the oxygen.
Leaning against him for long moments, she moved to her coffee again before finishing her pizza. And then she told him what happened.
She knew he was pissed. It radiated from him. “Are you mad?”
“I don’t think ‘mad’ is a word that applies here, PJ. But first, are you all right? Do you need to see a doctor or file a police report? What do you need?”
He was trying really hard to get all that alpha male under control, and it was actually exactly what she needed.
“He didn’t hit me or anything. He just got in my face and he was so vicious. I don’t get it. I’ve never met the guy. I was polite. The customer called me, not the other way around.”
“Can’t imagine it was very pleasant to have a man a foot taller than you scream in your face that you’re a whore. I’m upset and it didn’t even happen to me.”
“I need to get over it. This shit happens.”
He craned his neck so he could see into her face. “This has happened before?”
“I can honestly say no one has gotten in my face in the middle of a business and screamed I was a whore who got a job because I was riding someone’s dick.”
His eyes went hard and she regretted saying that out loud. On one hand, it was nice to feel defended and that what had happened was outrageous and awful. On the other, she didn’t want to stir this situation up. This was a place her personal and professional lives bled into one another.
“But do I get judged because of my gender or my age? Yes. Every day. And not just by strangers. My dad does it.”
Another frown; this time PJ knew it was partially in relation to the mention of her father. “I’m not buying that you need to get over someone else’s bullshit. I don’t know what his problem is. I’ve spent about fifteen minutes in person with the guy. Until today I didn’t have any beef with him.”
“Apparently he’s been thinking a lot about your dick and who rides it.”
He put his arm around her shoulders. “I’m sorry you went through that. And I’m sorry you didn’t feel like you could call me.”
“I didn’t call anyone but the client to say I wasn’t going to be at the meeting and that I was available if he went elsewhere or wanted me to do the work at a different shop.”
“I know people have failed you in your life. I’m not that guy.”
His tone was so vehement she knew there was a story there. It wasn’t the time or place to dig any deeper, but it underlined how much she wanted to know him, even if he was overwhelming and bossy.
“What are your plans tonight?” He finished his coffee.
“I’m having dinner with my mom and sister. I should be done by nine or so.”
“Come to my house after? Spend the night.”
She stood, balling up her napkin and washing out her cup and putting it in the small dishwasher. “If you’re sure. Text me if you want me to bring anything special with me.”
They parted at the bottom of the steps, she heading out to the paint bay and he back to work on the front end of the Dodge they were supposed to deliver in three weeks.
Chapter Sixteen
Bis on Main in Bellevue was a place her mom and sister went to a lot. PJ enjoyed it and certainly loved the food, so she was all too happy to accept the invite, which was more like a pointed order.
PJ hugged her mother and gave her a kiss on the cheek after sliding her bag under the table.
Lenore Colman had been raised to be someone’s wife. And she did a great job. She’d aged gracefully. She’d had little things done here and there, PJ knew that much, but it was deft and her mother pretended it never happened. As PJ and Julie felt it was their mother’s business, they said nothing.
Her home was beautiful. Tasteful. If you stayed in her guest room you’d find a basket with pretty soaps, maybe a sleep mask and some snacks she remembered you liked from the last time she saw you.
Her parties were perfection. She knew how to have you over to eat, no matter the reason or situation. Sometimes she made PJ feel like an utter failure because no matter how hard she tried, she’d never measure up.
“Champagne cocktail?” Julie asked.
“Yes, please.” The server left to go handle that as PJ looked back from her menu to her mom and sister. “You both look great. How are things?”
Her mother smiled. “Tell me about you. Or should I say, tell me about Asa. Honestly, why you think I wouldn’t have heard about this boy, I don’t know. But I saw a picture of the two of you. He’s quite fierce looking, but Julie says he’s very sweet.”
“How did you see a picture of us?” When had that happened? How had that happened?
“You put it on your whatsits? On the Internet. You post pictures of your work too. I like to look at what you do. It’s very impressive. You had on a lovely red dress and he had on a black shirt that buttoned up. Does he really have a ring in his nose like a bull?”
PJ burst out laughing. “He does have a piercing there, yes. Not a ring, a horseshoe of sorts.” She brought her phone out of her bag, showing her mother some pictures of them.
“It’s actually a little handsome on him.” Their mother’s nervous laugh and blush made Julie grin across the table at PJ.
Julie looked to their mother. “It’s all a front. He’s scary on the outside, but quite sweet and charming. A dry sense of humor. A sign of intelligence.”
PJ nodded. “He’s quiet and very intense. He listens more than he talks. Definitely smart.”
Her mom nodded, clearly approving. “Your father says your young man owns a custom-build shop.”
“He and his friend Duke co-own it, yes. Twisted Steel. He does the bodywork and some machining. He’s thirty-seven. I just wanted to tell you that myself. It seems to scandalize some people. It hasn’t really mattered between him and me, though it took me months to get him to ask me out because he thought I was too young for him.”
“I think in some circumstances you might be too young for someone. But you’re a Colman and you went after what you wanted until you got it. Well done, darling.”
Her mom gave really good compliments sometimes.
Happy and feeling very loved, PJ raised her glass to her mother. “Thank you, Mom.”
“You should invite him to dinner.”
Even Lenore Colman might not be able to pull off that dinner.
“How about we all meet somewhere instead? That way you can visit with him and someone else can do the cooking. You and Dad like Salty’s, so let’s go there.” PJ had no plans to bring Asa into that house. Not the first time he met her parents. A restaurant was a public place. Her father would behave, and if it was awful it would be easier to escape.
“All right. I’ll set it up and give you a call about it.” Lenore sat back, satisfied, and it occurred to PJ all too late that her mother had set that trap rather expertly.
Well played.
That handled, her mother moved to the next issue on her list. “Are you going to speak to your father any time soon, Penelope?”
“I’ve seen him once since I left. Which was two months ago at this point. I’ve left him messages. I’ve sent him e-mails. I don’t know what else I’m supposed to do except to hear him telling me he doesn’t want to talk.”
“You’re saying you’ve left more than one message for him?”
“Yes. I’ve left messages for him at work and on his cell phone. I’ve e-mailed him three times.” She shrugged and tried to ignore the hurt that he’d simply pretended like that part of the situation did not exist.
They’d all had brunch together when Jay’s birthday had rolled around. Her father had been mildly disapproving and had avoided everything but brief interactions. Certainly nothing about why she’d left Colman or how she was doing out on her own.
Her mother’s mouth hardened briefly. PJ and Julie shared a look. Their mother hadn’t been told that detail, though why her father thought he could hide it from her was beyond PJ’s understanding.
“I left because what I wanted to do wasn’t going to be possible at Colman. I tried to make it happen there, but Dad and Fee won’t listen and Jay is going to do whatever Fee says because he has Dad’s ear. I know you don’t want to hear it, but it’s true.”
“You’ll understand better when you’re older. Your father needs you to take over. You and your siblings. You have to make sacrifices for family.”
“Sacrifices? Mom, what have you been told?” They’d carefully stepped around the situation because PJ hadn’t wanted to put her mom in the middle. But the more they spoke, the clearer it became that their mother hadn’t been told everything.
“Why don’t you tell me? Start from the beginning.”
So PJ did. She started with the first jobs painting the Colman logos on the cars they sponsored, and went right up through the meeting where she’d presented her plan and had it shot down.
“I’m looking at three different places right now to open my shop. I’m paying my bills. I have new clients lining up. All this attention and a lot of this money could be going to Colman. But it isn’t, because I’m supposed to just sell tires as my place in the company because that’s what Fee says.”
“Your uncle is a damned fool. Your dad and I are going to speak about this. I must have missed it when he explained it all to me. But it’s not all right with me to have my children estranged from their family and from the business they’ll carry into the next generation.” Her mother’s expression was enough to make PJ almost feel bad for her father.
Her mom patted her hand. “Leave this to me. Your uncle is a pain, but he can be gotten around.”
“Just ask all his ex-wives,” Julie muttered.
Their mom gasped and then she laughed, blushing. “You two.”
PJ left an hour later feeling a lot better than she had when she’d shown up.
She knocked on Asa’s door just before nine and he opened up.
“Come in.” He took her overnight bag as she passed. “Would you like a beer? I was just out on my deck drinking one.”
“Yes, that sounds fantastic. I’ll grab two since you have my bag.”
Longnecks dangling between her fingers, she followed him up to his room.
“How was dinner with your mom and sister?”
“It was all right, actually. My dad had lied to my mom about the way I left and the reasons for it.”
“How did she react when she found out?” Asa asked.
“She was surprised and upset. I’m always making waves, so I guess I figured her silence on the matter wasn’t that unusual. But she didn’t know.”
These fucking people made him want to punch things. “Yeah, so I think for this discussion you need to be naked and in the bedroom.”
“What?”
Asa smiled down at her, pausing a moment before he buried his fist in her hair and positioned that sweet, sweet mouth of hers just how he wanted it. After he’d kissed the tension out of her spine, he let go.
“That’s better. Now, naked and in bed.”
She got undressed and he took his time admiring her body. The curves of her, the lotus on her back, tonight a pink streak at her temple that matched the nail polish she wore.
So beautiful.
He got in bed and she snuggled up next to him. He clinked his beer to hers. “Now. Tell me about your family.”
“Will you tell me about yours?”
Asa brushed the pad of his thumb over the swell of her bottom lip and she sucked it into her mouth, biting him and then licking as she let go.
“Stop changing the subject.”
“I’m not.” She grinned. “Okay, so I was a little. But I want to know more about you.”
“That’s fair.” He kissed her quickly before settling back. “So you’re close enough with your mom to have dinner with her and Julie. But she hadn’t actually spoken to you about how and why you left Colman? You’ve talked to her since then, right? It’s been two months.”
He had to have heard wrong.
“There’s a lot of not talking about it in my family. It makes them uncomfortable when I confront them.”
“I don’t get it. Their youngest daughter actually walked out on the family business because she was told to be quiet and do what she was told, and neither of them has spoken to you about this? Or you to them?”
“I tried!”
Asa heard the unshed tears in her voice.
Putting his beer aside, he pulled her into his lap. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to upset you.”
“It is what it is. I need to accept that my dad’s never going to connect with me. Not on any level. I’ve known it since I was about fourteen, but I kept lying to myself. Hoping something would change. Trying to be exactly what he wanted, and when that didn’t work, I struck out on my own and I proved myself. I don’t expect him to make me CEO or anything like that. I don’t have the experience or education to do it. I just wanted to do custom paint, and I proved I could make a profit. My grandpa would have been proud. Why can’t he?”
“You were close to Howie then?”
She smiled as she tucked herself into his body.
“Yes. He was my best friend when I was little. He’d show up at our house and take us out for a drive. Or he’d steal us all away for a week at their house. Shawn and I were closest with him and my grandmother.”
“Was he close with your dad and your uncle?”
“No. I was a kid, so I don’t think I got all the nuances in their relationship. But my grandpa was a firecracker. He loved to laugh. He loved to have fun. He wanted to wring the absolute most out of life, and my father is not like that at all.”
“Kids rebel. Maybe being straitlaced is your dad’s way of giving the finger to his parents.”
“Maybe. My uncle is a jerk and that’s his rebellion?”
He held her a little tighter. “Some people are just jerks. He might be one.”
“Now you.”
“You’ll meet my mom soon enough. She knows about you and she’ll want me to bring you over. She’s… most people love her. I told you my youngest sister lives up here too.”
“You have another sister?”
“Yes, she’s a professor at a small private college. First person in our family to go to college and she just kept going and going.” He grinned and PJ tipped her head back to look at him.
Part of the reason he was so displeased with her family was how hard his mother had struggled just to get her child back, all while Howard Jr. worked to make his daughter feel it was rocking the boat just to talk about things.
“You grew up in Texas, so how did you end up in Seattle?”
“I have some family up here.” His father’s brother, one who’d helped Pat try to get Asa back. “When I got out of the army, my uncle told me I could crash in his guest room if I needed a place to land. Then Duke joined me out here and the rest you know.”
She gave him a look. “I don’t think so. That story was pretty scant on details. You didn’t tell me anything about your dad. But I’ll let you tell me the rest when you’re ready. Today was really shitty, so you should help me forget it.”
Clever that she’d let him have the space around the story of his father while also reminding him she wanted to know. She just seemed to intuit how best to coax him closer to her, make him yearn to share stuff he rarely talked about.
They both needed the sweat of sex to get rid of the day. They’d deal with everything else tomorrow. He also wanted to connect with her, to regain that intimacy they’d lost when he’d handled that business about her morning with her at Twisted Steel.
“How about this? Why don’t I help you remember it instead? Just as the day I gave you the best orgasms you’ve ever had.”
She gave him a coy look from under her lashes. “If you’re sure. I mean. For science and all I guess we should.”
Yes, he was a taciturn man. He liked to listen more than he spoke. But he loved to laugh. With her it was more than that. She didn’t just make him laugh; she teased him. She made him happy in ways he hadn’t realized were possible.
“It’s handy that you’re always game.”
“For science, Asa. How could I turn my back on that?”
“Very brave of you. Face me. I want you to know who brings you pleasure.”
She did as he’d told her to. “I don’t need to be looking at your face to remember you make me feel good.”
“I like that.” He kissed her, tasting her in little nips. “But I still want you to do what I told you.”
Her breath caught and he smiled.
“Today I made it about me instead of you when you came into Twisted Steel. Don’t misunderstand me, I’m pissed off. But not at you. And you deserved to be put before how I felt or what I wanted to do.”
When Asa was twenty-two, he’d had to take his medical files and a bunch of things his mother had tucked away in an attic. His old report cards had been inside. Even from the time he’d lived with his grandparents. And a report from some counselor he’d seen in junior high.
Due to Asa’s unusual circumstances as a young child – being taken from his mother and forced to live with a family that saw him as a physical manifestation of sin and the concomitant physical and emotional abuse he experienced until reunited with his mother at seven years of age – he has manifested difficulty in forming deep attachments and this may hinder his ability to lead a successful life as an adult.
He’d confronted his mother about it, asked her why she hadn’t ever told him. And she’d said, “It doesn’t matter what that counselor said. You do have trouble getting close to people. But once you do, you’d die for those people. And there’s not a goddamn thing wrong with that, Asa.”
He hadn’t expected PJ. She’d floated into his life and nothing had been the same since. But when he’d heard that story from Duke and then watched her face as she talked about it, he knew for certain PJ was one of those people he’d die for.
Which meant he had to take better care of her.
She cupped his cheeks and kissed him. “We’re good.”
“Okay then.” He slid his palm up her belly, up the valley between her breasts. Up to cup her throat as he pulled her in to take her lips. He kissed and kissed her until she was squirming against him, wanting more.
Asa groaned into her mouth, “You’re so wet, so hot. It’s so good.” Her skin pebbled and he nipped her bottom lip. “On your back.”
Slowly, as if she were just a little tipsy, she moved off his lap and settled, her back against the pillows.
“Normally I’d order you to make yourself come. But right at this moment I want to make you come.”
Her smile was patient as she waited. That would change, though. She’d get less patient the longer he paused. It was one of his favorite things about her. He licked around her knee, watching her nipples draw tighter and get darker.
