Nate turned his face toward her and gave her a sated, yet panty-melting smile, then grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her close.
“Again?” he asked.
“No, please. I need to sleep for about a year.” She laughed, but he cut the sound short with a kiss so tender it made her tear up.
One kiss led to another, and another, and soon she found herself drawn into a hardcore high school-esque make out session. He might have slipped a thigh between hers. She might have ground against it, even sore as she was.
There was no denying him, but then she didn’t want to.
Chapter 4
Riley sat on one of the high stools at the kitchen island in the almost dark space, watching him slice vegetables and shred cheese for the omelets he was making. He usually enjoyed cooking, but with Riley watching him, every movement he made felt sexualized.
Or maybe the sexual part was making a hot girl breakfast in the middle of the night after marathon kink.
The fact that she was only wearing his T-shirt and no panties was driving him crazy, even though he was too sore to try taking her again. Having her here, so close, was far too right, and he was sure he wasn't supposed to be feeling things as intensely as he was. Although he’d thought he’d gotten over her years before, apparently he’d been fooling himself. All this time his feelings had been there, hidden underneath a blanket of faux macho nonchalance.
“I have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea that the guy who used to overcook mac & cheese for me after school now looks like he could compete on Chopped.”
“Hunger can be an extremely motivating factor in a guy teaching himself how to cook.” He laughed, and she laughed with him. For a moment he felt like he was caught in the middle of a perfect, mundane dream – as though time didn't exist and there was only Riley, him, and his kitchen.
“When Gran found out she was on her way out, she tried to teach me everything she could. I think she was worried I'd starve to death without her around to cook for me. Between her crash course, and my trial and error since then, I do okay.”
Riley smile sadly. “I really regret not being able to make it back for Helen’s funeral. You know how much I loved her, but the service and burial landed in the middle of finals and I couldn’t convince the Dean that she was family, so they wouldn’t let me come.”
“That’s okay. I was a mess anyway, I don’t think I could’ve handled seeing you on top of everything else. It was still too new and raw.”
They both fell silent for a moment, but he filled the time sautéing vegetables to cover the awkwardness.
Riley chuckled. “Do you remember when she taught us how to play poker?”
“How could I forget? As soon as she went to bed we turned it into strip poker.”
“And here I thought we were just stripping because of your unholy fascination with my tits.”
“No, no. It’s Vegas, baby. It was all about learning to be more effective poker players. Essential life skills.” He winked over his shoulder at her.
“Oh, of course. How silly of me to think you had ulterior motives.”
“Hey, you were just as bad as I was. You were constantly trying to get me to take my shirt off.”
When he looked back at her, she was eye-groping his chest. “Yeah, but that’s just because I was too shy to ask you to take your pants off.”
A vivid recollection of the first time she’d taken him in her mouth rose to mind – the tentative way she’d tongued the head of his cock, tasting him, looking up at him for reassurance that she was doing it right. His dick twitched, apparently ready to go again even though it would be a bad, bad idea. So many of their firsts had been together, but he hadn’t been the first to bind her or spank her, and that annoyed him.
As a teenager, why had he been so hesitant when she’d all but dared him to get kinky with her? He’d been so afraid of ruining what they had that he’d stifled their sexual exploration of each other and she’d found someone to give her what she wanted.
Now he wished he’d done more with his life so he’d have a chance of collaring her. That slender throat practically begged for one. How was she unclaimed, let alone single?
When the omelets were done, they ate, talked about work, their old friends, and new ones, what they normally did for fun on weekends. The conversation turned to the club, to kink, and eventually to what they were most into. He’d always imagined this conversation, but he’d never thought it would happen, let alone that it would feel so fucking right.
They slept two hours twined together before they both headed off to work. Nate resented every second of the time they’d wasted sleeping.
***
Nate slouched back in one of the two chairs across Jimmy’s desk, watching his boss discuss plans for the modifications Atlas Larson wanted done to his wife’s SUV. How a former car thief had hooked up with a hot cop, Nate would never know.
Why would Larson even think of looking that high for himself? Hell, Nate had a decent job and a clean record, but he should have known better than to think he’d had a serious chance with someone like Riley. Concert pianists didn’t date mechanics.