Conklin's Blueprints (29 page)

Tyler rolled over on his back and pulled me to his side.

“You’re still shaking baby,” he said holding me close.  He pulled my hand to his lips and kissed it tenderly as my fingers trembled. “Are you going to be okay?”

I nodded my head into his shoulder. 

“I think I proved my point,” he smirked.

“What point is that?”

“That you weren’t going to want me to stop.”  His smile was smug as I blushed under his stare.  His eyes softened at my embarrassment.  He picked me up so I was on top of him, holding my face so I couldn’t hide in the nook of his shoulder.

“Are you okay?”  His face was serious.

“I’m wonderful,” I said all doughy eyed.  His serious expression turned back into one of amusement.  “I don’t think I can move my legs.”  I sighed, laying my head down on his chest. 

He laughed.  “Good thing we don’t have to go anywhere, and it’s only a little after 7:00pm.”

I took a deep breath , closing my eyes and feeling utterly content with Tyler stroking my back ever so gently.  His chest smelled wonderful, like the oils I had poured into the bath.   We stayed like that for what felt like hours, not thinking of anything that was complicated or taxing.  Just as I was beginning to doze, Tyler’s phone started to ring from the bathroom.  He grumbled and squeezed me. “I should go get that,” he muttered, lazily moving me to the side and climbing out of bed.

I grabbed a pillow and hugged it as I watched him in the dim light, for the first time seeing him in all his glory. 
Wow.
  Now I really never wanted to stand in front of him completely naked.  I watched him bend down to pick up his phone out of his pants pocket.  He stared at the number with his head tilted to the side as though he was contemplating answering it.  The phone stopped ringing before he picked up.  He took a deep sigh and sauntered back into the bedroom, pulling out a pair of gym shorts and slipping them on.

“Who was it?” I asked.

He glanced up at me then back to his phone.  “My mother.”

“Are you going to call her back?” I tried not to sound too hopeful as I sat up, still holding the pillow to my chest. 

He bit his lip and shook his head no.  I let my shoulders fall.  “Well, I need to call my mom.  Give her a heads up that I won’t be attending dinner alone.  I should probably call Jamie to see if she is going to come.  My mom is a big planner,” I said rolling my eyes.  Tyler smiled and leaned over to kiss me.

“You wouldn’t be willing to get my phone for me, would you?”  My voice was small as I grabbed the pillow closer to my chest.

His mischievous grin spread across his face, “If I say no will you get up and get it?”  I frowned and cocked my head to the side.  I didn’t want to roam across his condo naked in search for my phone.  Knowing him, he would follow behind me with his greedy blue green eyes.

He let out a low hum, “Fine… I will go get it for you.”  He kissed my forehead and left the room.  Once he left a smile of triumph spread across my face.  I jumped out of bed and grabbed a T-shirt out of his drawer and went into my suitcase to put on one of the lacy black boy short panties Jamie packed for me.  Just as I was getting somewhat dressed Tyler came back with a frown on his face.

“Why did you put clothes on?” he asked with confusion in his voice.  I shrugged my shoulders.

“I don’t know.  Why did you put shorts on?” 

He smirked.  “I had to get up and get your phone.  I do like these though,” he said caressing the curve of my behind that touched the top of my thigh.  “These look familiar.”

I looked at him quizzically.  I don’t think I had worn these in front of him before? 

His mischievous grin came back as he spoke.  “The first night I brought you home when you were too drunk to take your pants off yourself, that’s when I saw them on you... but there is only one way to make sure,” he said, his grin expanding.

Before I knew it he lifted me up, causing me to squeal.  He threw me on the bed and lifted my shirt up so he could examine the lace.  His eyes widened as he crawled on top of my legs.

“Oh, yes… these are the ones,” he said, making way to rub his nose along the fine lace.

I giggled and squirmed underneath him, “Tyler, stop!”

His eyes were filled with amusement as he dipped his head down to kiss my intimates over the black lace.  “Yes, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about how good you must taste since I saw you in these.”  He kissed me again. “Ever since the scent of you entered my nose from that night I haven’t been able to think straight.”

Before he could kiss me again, I pulled on his hair.  This time he came up to my face right away, his face glowing with mirth.  “Are you kidding? You could
smell
me?”  I was mortified.  All night I had been dancing and sweating.  That must have been why he wanted me to take a bath before he assaulted me with his mouth this evening.  How embarrassing! 

It was as though he could read my mind.  “It took everything in me to not start kissing you that night.  My head was in such a fog because of how awesome you smelled.” 

I whipped my head back into the bed.  “You have to be joking?”

He shook his head from side to side, brushing his nose against mine.  “You denying me has been torturous.  Did you have a bad experience with it before?” He asked.

I thought for a moment, “Not really.  I mean, my ex-boyfriend only did it a few times, and I was never comfortable with it.  He was very ho hum about it.  He told me it tasted funny once.”

Tyler wrinkled his nose, “Are you sure he isn’t gay?”

I laughed out loud.  Connor telling Ashlynn he was gay would be the highlight of the century.

My laughter was cut off by Tyler’s phone ringing again.  He pulled it from his pocket and sighed again.

“Why don’t you just answer your phone and talk to her?  Maybe it’s important?”  I said apathetically.  He kept his eyes on his phone, then just when I thought the ringing was going to stop he brushed the screen with his thumb and said hello.

I couldn’t hide the smile that crept across my face.  I grabbed my phone from the bed where Tyler threw it and went into the other room to call my mom. 

“Becca!  It’s so nice to hear from you dear!” my mother said answering the phone on the first ring.  “I haven’t heard from you in a while, are you planning on coming over tomorrow?  Heather and Michael will be here.  I would love to have you all home.”  Her voice was heartwarming.  As crazy as she was, she loved having us all together.

“Yes, I am planning on coming.  Do you, um… mind if I bring someone with me?”  I asked, trying to sound indifferent.

“Well of course you can bring Jamie dear.  You know she is always welcome.”  She sounded as if I was the crazy one now.

I stared at the ceiling.  I might be in over my head with this.  “No, not Jamie.  I’m not sure what she is doing tomorrow.  I will let you know if she can come when I get a hold of her.”

“Oh?” My mother’s curiosity was piqued.  “Are you bringing a boy?” she questioned, trying not to sound excited.  I rolled my eyes.

I leaned over the kitchen island.  “Please don’t look too much into it.  We are friends… and I think a semi-normal family dinner would be good for him.”

“Semi-normal?”  Her voice sounded offended.

“Yes, our family is on the verge of insanity.  Just please, don’t make a big deal of it?” I pressed.

“Since when do I make a big deal of things?”

“Since always.  I will see you tomorrow, okay?”

“Alright sweetheart, see you tomorrow.”

“Bye.”

I hung up the phone and started to send Jamie a text asking if she would be joining us tomorrow at my parent’s house.  As I hit send, Tyler came up behind me and put his hands on my hips, pulling me into him.  I smirked as I set my phone down on the counter then spun around to face him.

“How was your mom?” I said crossing my arms.

His composure was casual.  “Fine.  She wanted to see me tomorrow.  I told her I had plans.”

“See, it wasn’t that bad to talk to her now was it?”

He put his hands on my hips and lifted me on the counter.  Cozying himself in between my legs.

“Yes, it was,” he scowled.  “Did you tell your mom you were going to bring me with you tomorrow?”  I nodded my head and pulled his face to mine so I could kiss him to try and rid him from his pout.  After I kissed his lips it was still sort of there, so I kissed his nose, and it was half way gone.  I gave him another kiss and a smile started to play on his lips.  I ran my hands through his hair.  The gel from this morning was gone, and his hair was still messy, some of it flopped on his forehead.  It was simply adorable.  I was a little disappointed he had put on a T-shirt.

“Did you tell your mom you were bringing your boyfriend to dinner?” he asked.

My smile faded as I bit my lip.  Was that what he was?  My boyfriend?  The thought made my heart pound. 

“Is that what you wanted me to say?” I asked while searching his eyes.

He brushed my bangs farther to the side so it was away from my eye.  “Isn’t that what I am?”

I couldn’t read what he wanted me to say.  Maybe he was feeling the same way, afraid to say the wrong thing.  But he was the one who wanted to be secretive and was worried about his dad finding out and my dad saying something.

“I thought you were worried about my dad, so I told her I was bringing a friend and to not read into it.”  For a slight second there was hurt in his eyes, but he tried to hide it with a grin.  “Hey,” I said, taking his face in my hands again.  “I care about you… a lot.  I just… I don’t want to cross a line and have you freak out and not talk to me again.”

His eyes hardened as he held my wrists, still keeping my hands on his face.  “I don’t have any lines.  I told you, I just don’t want my dad to find out.  Insinuating I don’t want him to find out would mean we are together.”

Well how was I supposed to know that?  “You haven’t asked me to be your girlfriend or anything,” I teased, trying to lighten his mood again.

It worked.  A sexy smile spread across his face.  “So I am getting all of this for free?”  I huffed and smacked his chest.  I would have been offended if he hadn’t have said it so playfully.

“I’m kidding!”  He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me as close to him as he could.  Looking me in the eyes with the same playfulness he asked, “Becca, will you be my girlfriend?”

A part of me wanted to play with him, but the words came off my lips before I could think, “Yes.”  I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him.  His hands started to run up the back of my T-shirt as he hummed into my mouth. Just as his hands were about to wander to my front, a chime went through the house.  Tyler pulled away and took me off of the counter.  “I ordered some dessert from the restaurant downstairs.  I think you will be pleased to see what I got.”  His eyes were glittering with excitement as he walked through the dining room to the front door.  I crossed my arms.  Great.   Just what I needed.

I heard muffling as he talked to the delivery man then the closing of the door.  He walked into the kitchen carrying a silver platter.  He set the platter down on the island.  I was standing on the opposite side of the island, studying the covered platter.  He searched through the drawers and pulled out two forks then came back.  As he pulled the top off his eyes were on me.

Shit.  It was a massive piece of tiramisu.  It looked amazing.  I gulped as I stared at it, biting my lip.  Why did he get this?  I couldn’t tempt myself with it.  I wouldn’t be able to stop, then I would find myself reaching for a snickers bar at the airport, and before I knew it I would be eating a package of Oreo’s every night.

Tyler watched me as I examined the dessert.  He pushed one of the forks across the counter over to me.  I kept an arm around my waist as I bit my nail nervously.

Tyler kept watching me.  I closed my eyes and shook my head.  “I’m not hungry.”

“You just undressed that with your eyes,” Tyler said pointing his fork at the layers of chocolate.

I closed my eyes for a long second biting my lip.

Tyler set his fork down and walked over to me.  “I’ve picked up that you have issues with food, and I get it.  I won’t be a nagging boyfriend about what you eat.”  He pulled my chin up so I would look at him.  My eyes were starting to glaze over.  I didn’t want him to know about my struggle with food.  I never binged and purged, and I never didn’t eat.  I just had trouble with what to eat and when. “But if you stop eating altogether, then I will get on your case about it.”

I pulled my face from his grasp and wiped my eyes.  No one had ever said anything like that to me.  My mom was constantly watching what I put in my mouth, analyzing every calorie, gmo, and fat content.  Ashlynn would insinuate I needed to watch what I ate, but constantly threw junk in my face, while Jamie helped me to gain control of when to eat what and tried to give me balance.  No one ever said they understood why I was the way I was.

“Becca…”

“Don’t,” I whispered, trying to fight back tears.  I had the urge to put on a parka.  My thighs suddenly felt huge, and I wanted more than anything to put on more items of clothing. I started to back up into the living room, wanting to hide in the couch.

Tyler grabbed my hand and pulled me back to him so I was flush with his chest and held me.  Having his arms wrap around me tightly and his head buried in my hair made it hard for me to not want to cry into his chest.  He nuzzled my neck and his scruff tickled me.  I wiggled in his arms.  Once he realized it tickled, he did it again but more forcefully.  I let out a giggle, and I could feel his smile on my neck as he kept nuzzling me.

He pulled back and looked into my eyes.  “There is the smile I love.  I wish it would touch those beautiful light blue eyes you have.”

My lips quirked up a fraction. 
He said he loved my smile and that I had beautiful eyes. 
I touched his face with warmth and gratitude.  For the first time in my life I believed someone when they gave me a compliment.

“Do you care if I eat this?” he said, holding my hand against his face and nodding at the delectable dessert.

“Please do.”  As far as I was concerned that tiramisu needed to be either in the garbage or thrown out the window before my self-restraint collapsed.