All Things Pretty (20 page)

She reaches up with one hand to hesitantly
drag her fingertips down my cheek. It’s an almost reverent gesture
that reminds me what a risk this was for her. What a huge step.
What a scary step. Already, I can see the haze of satiation
lifting, yielding to the harsh light of decision and the fear of
consequence. “I’d love to, but I have to be there when Travis gets
up.”

“We could be there together, you know. You
could invite me for breakfast and we could take Travis to school
together. And then come back here for dessert.”

“Breakfast doesn’t have dessert.”

“Au contraire. You’ve never had breakfast
with me.”

Her smile is small. Unsure. “I’d better not
risk it.

“Risk what? Travis knows me. He likes me.
I’m usually there to take him to school when I get you. I’ll just
be there a little earlier this time.”

“It’s not just that. I mean…I just think
it’s not a very good idea.”

“Is it because of the woman in the back
bedroom?”

Every drop of color drains from Tommi’s
face. “I don’t know what you mean,” she says immediately, like her
kneejerk reaction is to deny. But then, thinking better of it, she
asks, “I mean, how did you know about her?”

“I walked over one night. Saw the light come
on as I was coming through the back yard. You were in there taking
care of her. Who is she?”

Tommi swallows. Hard. I can almost taste the
panic in the air. But why? What’s the big deal? What’s the
secret?

“She’s my mother.”

“Why do you look like you’re about to pass
out then? There’s nothing wrong with you taking care of your ailing
mother. I think it’s pretty damn decent of you, actually.”

Her smile is flustered, wobbly. “Thanks. I,
uh, she, um, she’s always liked her privacy. And with Travis… I
just try to keep things as calm and quiet and routine as I possibly
can.”

“I get that,” I say, nodding. “And I’m not
asking to meet her or anything. I’m just saying that you don’t have
to hide her from me.”

Her wide emerald eyes flicker back and forth
between mine until she finally smiles again. A small smile, still,
but at least it looks a little less like I just pulled a gun on
her. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”

“So, what happened to her? Is she sick?”

“She, uh, she had an accident a few years
back. She hasn’t been the same since. Even if I
did
introduce you to her, she probably wouldn’t even know you were in
the room.”

I reach for her hand, lying tensely on my
chest, and I press my lips to each fingertip before I speak. “I’m
sorry for your loss.”

“She’s not gone yet.”

“No, but watching that kind of deterioration
is gut-wrenching.”

“Is that how your mom died? Slowly?”

“Not
that
slowly, not like what your
mom is going through, but slow enough. It was hard to watch. Hard
to wonder every day if it would be the last time I’d get to see her
alive.”

Tommi stares down at the hand I’m holding.
Now, her fingers fiddling with mine, stroking each one from base to
tip, methodically, almost mindlessly. “Sometimes I think it’s been
best for Travis. At least she’s still
sort of
here. I think
he gets some amount of comfort from that.”

“Do you?” I think of the way she talked to
her, like she half expected her to understand or respond.

“Yeah, I guess I do. It’s hard to let go,”
she says in a tiny voice that sounds near cracking.

“That’s what love does to you,” I say,
reiterating my earlier point.

“But still, I wouldn’t trade having known
her and loved her just because it’s hard to lose her. I have to
believe that there is
good
love out there, the selfless kind
that gives you a reason to wake up every morning.”

“You mean like the kind you have for
Travis?”

She sighs, nearly inaudibly. I feel it more
than hear it as it blows softly over the skin of my chest. “Yeah,
something like that only…different.”

“The kind you
find
.”

She jerks her eyes up to mine. “What do you
mean?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. Loving a family
member is not really a choice. At least not for decent people. I
think we’re sort of born into it, ya know? What it sounds like
you’re
talking about is the kind of love that you
find.
Or that finds you. The fairy tale kind that rips your
heart out and stomps the shit out of it.”

Her eyes crinkle at the corners. “Exactly,
but minus the stomping part. I want the kind that lasts. The kind
that loves you for you, not because of what you can do for it. The
kind that sticks around no matter what. That kind.”

“I’m sure you’ll find it. And I hope it
doesn’t
rip your heart out and stomp on it. I’d hate to see
tears running down this beautiful face.” I rub my index finger from
the corner of her eye to the corner of her mouth. A dimple forms
just beneath my fingertip, a wry half-grin.

“I hope so, too.” She pulls her eyes away
from mine, busying herself with examining one of my knuckles like
it holds the key to life. “Can you please not tell anyone that you
know about Momma? I just… I don’t… It’s such a private matter. I
don’t like Lance’s people knowing so much about my life. I like to
keep
him
separate from home. As much as I can. Do you
understand?”

Oh, I understand all right. She’s telling me
more than she knows. Probably more than she intends to.

“I won’t say a word,” I tell her solemnly,
sincerely. “Thank you for sharing it with me. For trusting me.”

“Well, it kinda takes the trust out of it
when you already knew,” she snorts lightly.

“Not really. You could’ve lied. Made
something up. But you didn’t.”

She looks shyly away as she shrugs one
shoulder. “I told you I wouldn’t lie to you.”

“I’m not sure I believed you.”

Her eyes come back to mine. “I can see how
that would be the case. Trust goes both ways, I suppose.”

“I already trust you, so get on with it!
You’re holding up progress.”

Her smile is big enough to bare teeth this
time. “I am? Heaven forbid I hold up progress. The nerve!”

I eye her narrowly. “Are you making fun of
me?”

“I wouldn’t dare.”

Her eyes are twinkling with mischief and I’m
pretty sure I’ve never seen anything cuter or more appealing. Well
besides her face when she moans during an orgasm. That look’ll be
hard as hell to beat.

“Did I tell you what the punishment for
making fun of me is?” I ask, moving slowly out from under her.

Folding her arms protectively over her
front, she replies, “Noooo, I don’t think so.”

“Well, let me fill you in on how that
works.”

The last thing I hear before I smother her
mouth with mine is a squeal.

********

I jolt awake when I hear the little
ziiip
noise of a text being sent. I find Tommi standing near
the door, holding her jeans in one hand and her phone in the
other.

“What’re you doing?” I ask groggily.

“Texting Lance.”

A discomfort registers in my chest. A spike
of jealousy. Irritated, I push it away. I have nothing to be
jealous over. Lance is an obligation, a means to an end that I know
nothing of. She’s here with me because she wants to be, because she
couldn’t stay away.

But still, I don’t like her talking to
Lance. Or texting him. Or thinking about him. I don’t like it at
all.

“I’d told him that if I couldn’t make the
party that I’d be there by ten tomorrow unless I wasn’t feeling
better.”

“So what did you tell him?”

“That I’d see him by ten.”

Another spike, this one of irritation. Mixed
with jealousy. Dammit.

“Why didn’t you tell him you still weren’t
feeling good? We could’ve spent the day together tomorrow.”

“I don’t want to make him suspicious.”

She’s very matter of fact about seeing him
tomorrow. I mean, who the hell knows what he might have planned? He
could have an orgy on the books. And I’ll have to drop her off at
it.

She climbs back onto the bed, but not
in
it,
like she’s planning on staying. I don’t want her to go yet.
I feel a bizarre need to keep her here until I’m the only concern
she has, until I’m the only one she can think about. Like I’m
branding her and blinding her to all others.

My hands streak out like flashes of
lightning in the dark. They wrap around her ankles and tug until
she’s stretched out on the bed beside me, still naked as a jaybird.
She screeches her surprise.

“I didn’t tell you everything before,” I
admit.

“You didn’t?”

“Nope,” I say, pulling her arms out to her
sides. “I didn’t tell you that there’s more.” I nuzzle the soft
spot under her ear with my nose.

“More? More of what?”

“More of me. More
to
me. More than
just the animal part.”

“There is?” she asks, her voice dreamy as
she arches her neck.

“Mmmm, much more. Did you know I can be
gentle?” I ask, my whisper as much a part of the wind as the touch
I place on her cheek. “So gentle.” To prove my point, I drag my
fingertips across her chin and down her chest, circling each nipple
with a caress that’s feather light. I feel her shiver in response,
her body already attuned to my touch and oh-so-ready to respond.
“And I can go slow. So slow.”

I bend my head to lap at each tight peak
with long, leisurely swipes of my tongue, like a cat washing its
fur. “I can worship your body like no one has ever worshipped it
before. Every dip,” I say, spreading butterfly kisses over the
curve of her waist. “Every dent.” I swirl my tongue in her navel,
causing her to arch her back. I can almost feel the way she’d
clench my finger if it were inside her. But all things in due time.
And this time, right now, is for slow. “Every hot, wet crevice,” I
say, nudging her legs apart with the slightest of pressures. I
spread the folds of her pussy and put my mouth as close as I can
get to her without actually kissing her, close enough that she can
feel the heat of my breath and the tickle of my lips. “Can I show
you?” I ask, enjoying the way her hips tilt toward me.

Her breathless moan is all the answer I
need.

********

My sleep schedule is still jacked from all
the different shifts I’ve been working until recently. I guess I’ve
gotten in the habit of catching a few hours here and there and
making do with very little in the way of
good
sleep. Tonight
is no different, only it actually comes in handy this time.

Just before daylight, my eyes flick open.
They go first to the still form of the woman next to me. My cock
reacts immediately. Hell, I never thought I’d be as horny at the
ripe old age of twenty-five as I was during high school, but damn!
Tommi’s making my dick feel like a kid again.

As easily as I can, I drape my arm over
Tommi’s waist and pull her back into me, spooning her from behind.
The feel of her sweet little ass pressed up tight against my cock
does nothing to calm the blood flow southward. I bury my face in
the crook of her neck, inhaling the scent that’s so uniquely hers.
I make a mental note to ask her what kind of perfume she wears.

She stirs, which is fine by me, stretching
against me and basically begging my cock to settle in between her
cheeks. I reach around and cup her knee with my hand, bringing her
leg up and over mine. I slide my fingers up the inside of her thigh
until I reach the short-shaved lips that are spread just enough for
me to find her wet and ready.

“Oh
god!”
I groan, rubbing my
fingertip in the moisture and then gliding it over her firm clit.
“Do you always wake up ready?”

“I don’t know,” she says huskily, her hand
gripping my forearm. “I always wake up alone.”

I clench my teeth. I couldn’t have asked for
a better answer.
This
is just for me. No memory of anyone
else, nothing to look forward to. Just all for me.

“Well, I’d hate for it to go to waste. That
would be such a shame.”

I massage her nub before I cruise down her
slit and push a finger deep inside her. She tightens around me.
“You’re addictive, did you know that?” she whispers.

“Funny,” I tell her as I roll her onto her
back. “That’s exactly what I was thinking about you.”

An hour later, I’m watching Tommi pull off
down the street. An hour and a half after that, I’m pulling up in
her driveway, anxious as hell to see her again.

As is their habit, Travis comes out first,
slinking down the steps with his hood pulled up. Tommi follows,
tugging the door shut and then checking the knob. I’m more than a
little surprised by what she’s wearing. Jeans that are faded in the
ass and snug in just the right places cover her long legs, and a
sexy little gray zip-up sweater hides tits that I know to be lush
and responsive. Her hair is in a messy clump on top of her head.
She looks like she just rolled out of my bed. Which she practically
did. It makes my whole body groan just looking at her, being
reminded. Like I’d forget so soon.

Not likely

She turns toward me, meeting my eyes
immediately. Her lips spread into a controlled smile that makes me
think she’d smile bigger if she weren’t hiding a delicious secret–
our night together. I watch her walk all the way to the truck.

“How’s it hangin’, lil man?” I ask Travis as
he climbs into the back seat. He mumbles something I can’t
understand, but I don’t ask him to repeat it. I’m totally focused
on the blonde scooting into the passenger seat. “Mornin’.”

“Good morning,” she says primly, reaching
for her seatbelt. “You won’t have to take me to Lance’s today. He
had to go out of town and won’t be back until Sunday.”

Lance is gone. Until Sunday. Today is
Friday. Two full days. And two long, full nights.