Maya And The Tough Guy (24 page)

She started to grin, her eyes sparkling. “I would be too self-conscious.”

He massaged her breast and pinched her nipple. She gasped and then smiled. “I still haven’t used the thing. But lately, I have this pillow…but you wouldn’t want me to violate one of your pillows.”

“Please, God, violate anything you want.”

She laughed. “I was never comfortable touching myself. And it just gets too intense sometimes, having direct stimulation…there. So, I like my pillow. And I wouldn’t even be able to do it at all if it hadn’t been for you. You came along and sort of…set me free.”

She was staring up at the ceiling. Jayce absently trailed his fingertips along her skin, over her breasts, down her belly, back up.
 

“You know, I tried, back when I was with Damon, to get myself off. But there was just too much fear in my life. I was afraid he’d find out and be angry. Eventually I couldn’t get off at all, with or without him. He’d be with me, even during the times he was being gentle and loving. I’d fake it for him so he wouldn’t get angry, and I’d just pray he didn’t know. I didn’t want him to know I couldn’t come with him anymore.” She turned to look at him. “After being with you, I’m not sure I ever experienced a full orgasm while I was with him.”

He pushed her hair out of her face and stroked it.
 

“Would you want me to fake it if I couldn’t get there?” she asked.

He kissed her shoulder. “I’d want you to tell me the truth. Believe it or not, I’m not always in the mood. Nobody is. Just be honest.”

“I can’t imagine you not being in the mood,” she giggled.

“It’s a rare occasion, but it happens.” He took her hand, kissed it, and then slowly brought it down to the lace edge of her panties. She laughed and jerked her hand away.
 

“I can’t. I can’t in front of you.”

“Please?” he gave her the puppy dog eyes.
 

She studied him, a smile on her lips. Finally she rolled her eyes, grabbed a pillow, and sat up. She rolled the pillow tight, straddled it, and then lay face down on the bed, her hips elevated on the pillow. Jayce’s heart-rate amped up. He sat up on his elbow and drank in the sight of her. Her eyes were closed, her lips parted. Her hair hung in silky strands in her face. Her hands clutched the blankets over her head, her breasts were pressed into the mattress and her hips were moving slowly, grinding, slowly.
 

She tucked her knees up against her sides and deepened her motion. Jayce reached out and touched her ass, cupping and kneading. She moaned. “What do you think about?” he asked.

“You.”

“Tell me how.”

“Watching you flirt with customers in that black t-shirt with your muscles moving beneath it.” She sucked in a breath. She wasn’t paying attention or surely she wouldn’t have said such a thing to him. She had to know how much that would mean to him. But she kept going, grinding on that pillow, her ass moving in rocking waves against his hand.

Where to look? The rise and fall of her hips, her elongated waist, her hands fisting in the blankets, her face, contorted in the agony of pleasure. He trailed his hand up her spine and back down, his thumb brushing against the curve of her breast and waist and then back to her ass which he gripped tightly.

“Jayce, your hands are magic,” she gasped. And then her mouth dropped open and a cry escaped. Her body shuttered and tightened, her hips thrust hard and then she was arching into herself and sobbing against the blankets.
 

He couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. He was up, ripping off her panties and thrusting inside of her while she cried out in shock at the sudden intrusion. He held her waist and slammed into her. She surprised him, pushing up on her hands and grinding her ass against him. He fucked her hard and fast and because she couldn’t see his face, he didn’t hold back his emotions. He groaned and cursed and fucked until he couldn’t take it anymore and with a cry through his gritted teeth he came, pulsating with heat, wave after wave, and then collapsed onto the bed next to her.
 

She was face down, smiling.

He was on his back with his arm thrown over his eyes. He couldn’t let her see his eyes. Not now. He rolled to his side, away from her, and pressed his hands to his face. She cuddled up against him, her breasts against his back, her arm draped over his ribcage. He felt her little kisses along his neck and shoulders.
 

“That was…pretty intense,” she said.

He let out a breath and dropped his hands from his face. “Watching you….” He couldn’t even think of the words.

“Glad you liked it. I was so embarrassed at first. But then…it was kind of hot, wasn’t it?”

He laughed. Hot. What an inadequate description.
 

She kissed his shoulder. “Can you roll over now? So I can look at you?”

He schooled his expression and rolled to face her. “You know, if you don’t like direct contact,” he said, “then do you like it when I go down on you?”

She blushed and looked away.

“Come on, be honest. You’re not gonna hurt my feelings. I just want to make you feel good.”

She grinned. “I love it when you go down on me. But…I’m not always sure I can come…like that. You know?”

“Sure. You have come, though, so far.”

“Yeah, but I’m never sure. It’s so…so…so intense, I don’t know how to describe it. I love it. But I’d hate for you to stay down there forever waiting for me to come.”

He laughed. “Okay. That’s not a problem, Maya. I’ll just go for as long as I want and then switch to something else. What else do you like?”

She covered her face to hide her grin. “God, are we really talking about this.”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t we? What else, babe?”

She sighed. “Um, I like grinding against your thigh. I like getting off like that.”

“Yeah? Cool. What else.”

“I really liked that…what we just did. Hands and knees and you just going crazy.”

He grinned.
 

“What about you? What do you like?” she asked.

“I like pretty much everything.”

“Come on, Jayce. I like pretty much everything, too, but you asked. So those are my favorites. What are your favorites?”

He studied her, his gaze roaming her face. “I liked watching you,” he said. “That was probably the most erotic moment of my life.”

“Not a first for you.”

“Yeah. A first for me.”

“Wow.”

He kissed the curve of her nose, next to her eye. “I like you on top, doing what you do. But like you with oral, I can’t always get off like that. It drives me crazy, don’t get me wrong. But I can’t get that motion I need. I like to position you where I want you, hold you still, and fuck to my heart’s content.”

She laughed. “Okay. So whenever we’re doing that, I’ll just do my thing and then hand over the reins to you.”

“Perfect.”

“Anything you wanna do that we haven’t done?”

“Oh, so many things, Maya. So many things.”

“I’m not sure we have time.”

“We’ve got all the time in the world.”

She sighed and snuggled up against him. “We have until that talk.”

“What talk?”

“The talk we have to have. About your feelings.”

“Maya, I don’t have any feelings. Let’s just enjoy each other until we stop enjoying each other, okay?”

She didn’t say anything else. Just peppered his neck and chest with kisses until he was aroused again and ready for more love.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

The first places they tried were the flea markets. At first, Maya had thought she wanted a kind of shabby look to the furniture. But as she browsed and found exactly what she thought she wanted, she realized it wouldn’t work in Jayce’s bar.
 

At the last flea market she turned to Jayce. He was doing bicep curls with each of her kids holding his hands with both of theirs. “Find something good?” he asked, lifting them both, squealing and giggling, off the ground.

“No. I think your place needs black leather.”

He put the kids back down and nodded in thought. In fact he had on a black, leather jacket with a hoodie underneath and those low-slung, distressed jeans she loved so much. She was dressing up his bar just like him.

“I think it happened for me when you hung those chandeliers,” she said. “They’re clean and contemporary and black. I mean, just the lighting really classed the place up.”

He grinned. “I’m a classy guy.”

She knew he was being self-deprecating, but she happened to think he was, indeed, a classy guy. He swung Sophie onto his back. “Okay. So furniture store next, then?”

They piled into her car, Jayce driving, and headed into the city. Maya was having troubles keeping her eyes off of him. Besides being drop dead sexy and having done unspeakable things to her only hours before, she couldn’t get over how comfortable he’d gotten with her and the kids. He’d started off so nervous around them. Now here was Sophie asking for water and Jayce grabbing a bottle, loosening the lid, and passing it back to her without a thought.

He drove them into the city and said, “We should call Addy up, see if she wants to meet for lunch.”

“Great idea.”

“Tell her to invite the professor. I’m dying to meet this guy.”

Maya laughed and did just that. Addy called her a not-nice name on the phone and said she’d be happy to meet them for lunch.
 

Then they went to the furniture store. Which was massive. Maya repeated the line, “Get your shoes off the couch!” at least two dozen times. And then she found exactly what she wanted. A black, leather sectional, straight-backed and sleek. Jayce sat in the corner spot, his arms outstretched along the backs, and nodded in appreciation. He kicked his feet up on the coffee table and the kids climbed up next to him.

He grinned up at Maya. “Bring us some beer, momma.”

“Perfect,” she said, not entirely sure whether she meant him or the sofa.
 

He stood and flipped over the price tag. “Holy shit!”

She winced. “They’ll look so perfect.”

“They?”

“One set for the corner by the pool tables, one for the corner by the jukebox.”

“Hmm.” He came at her, hooked his arm around her waist and said, “I’ll buy these. But you’re definitely going to have to make it worth my while.”

He kissed along her jaw.

She made a token attempt to push him away, but didn’t try too hard. “I can do that,” she said.

“I mean, I’m talking some after-hours overtime, Maya,” he murmured.
 

“I know exactly what you’re talking about.”

He spoke into her ear so the kids couldn’t hear. “I’m talking about dimming my new recessed lights, putting something romantic on the jukebox, and fucking you out of your mind on that sofa right there.”

She laughed while trying not to spontaneously combust. “That’s pretty much what I figured.”

“Good. Just so we’re clear.” He stepped back, swatted her on the butt, and went to find a sales associate.
 

She stood there a little dazed and waited.
 

“Are we gonna get this for our bar, Mom?” Sophie asked.
 

“For Uncle Jayce’s bar, sweetie,” Maya said.

Jayce came back with a smiling saleswoman and they went to her desk to make the transaction. She said they wouldn’t be able to deliver until a week from Monday. Maya was immediately disappointed. Their Ladies Night was next Friday and she’d really hoped to have the furniture set up by then.
 

“Is there a fee I could pay,” Jayce said, “to have it delivered by Thursday? We’ve got a big party planned and really wanted to have this set up by then.”

Maya studied him, surprised that he would think of it on his own.

The woman looked skeptical. “I don’t know. Let me look at the schedule.” She pulled something up on the computer.
 

Jayce rubbed his jaw, scratchy with stubble. He and Maya were sitting in chairs in front of the desk while the kids tried out recliners behind them. Jayce leaned back, propped his ankle on his knee, and when the lady glanced up, he flashed her his most charming smile. She blushed, grinned, and said, “Well, it looks like next Wednesday they’ll be doing a delivery in your area. I think we could squeeze you in.”

“Great,” Jayce said, flashing her another smile.

She didn’t charge an extra fee for early delivery. In addition, she gave him a sale price on the sofas that wouldn’t be going into effect until two days later. Maya was pretty sure she wrote her phone number on the back of the card she gave him, but he wouldn’t let her see.

They met Addy at an upscale burger place by the river. They had a table for six. Jayce and Matthew sat at the ends and Maya and Sophie on one side. Addy came in and sat opposite Maya, looking nervous.

“You’re jittery,” Jayce said. “What’s up.”
 

She glanced wide-eyed between them. “I actually called him. I asked him. I thought…he and I love to be together socially, but there’s never a good time and we don’t want to be alone because…that would be inappropriate. So I called him and said I was having lunch with you two and the kids and…oh, God.”

The door opened and the professor walked in. Maya practically bounced in her seat. He was gorgeous, like a GQ model or something. He had on khaki slacks, a white shirt with the top buttons undone, and a blue blazer. He ran his hand through his silky hair and looked around the restaurant. When he found them, he smiled and came toward them.
 

Addy stood and they shook hands. Then he held the back of her chair as she sat back down. Jayce arched a brow at Maya who couldn’t stop grinning.

“Jayce, this is Dr. McDaniel,” Addy said by way of introduction. “Dr. McDaniel, my good friend from high school, Jayce. And you’ve met Maya.”

He shook hands with Jayce and Maya and told them to call him Grey. He kept his hand on the back of Addy’s chair as he sat next to her. “And who might you be?” he asked Sophie.

She giggled and blushed, just as any girl would with that hundred watt smile aimed at her. “Sophie. I’m in kindergarten.”