Waltz This Way (v1.1) (32 page)

Gwen’s face darkened just enough to cause a ripple of alarm in Mel, but then she said, “Oh, it was fine. I guess we just didn’t connect on all the right levels.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. He really is a great guy. Just hard to pin down.”

Gwen rocked back on her heels. “Harder than you think.”

“What do you mean?”

She waved a hand at Mel. “Nothing. Forget it. It just didn’t work out. No harm, no foul. I’m off to check out the new phys ed teacher.”

Gwen teetered off just as Drew came back across the room.

“I have to talk to Dean Keller, and then we’re outta here. Deal?”

She pouted. “But they have Triscuits and cheese in a can. I can’t believe you’d make me leave before they break them out.”

“I have something much better.” He wiggled his eyebrows and headed out of the staff lounge to the tune of her breathy sigh.

“Drew, please come in,” Dean Keller said, gesturing to the chairs in front of his desk.

Whatever Keller wanted, he’d better spit it out fast. Mel, in her almost but not quite low enough cleavage-revealing dress was setting his drawers on fire. He wanted those sexy legs ending with the nude pumps on her feet around his waist while he was buried balls deep in her— ASAP. “How can I help you, sir?”

“I have some bad news, Drew. I hate to do this— especially now that the holiday season has begun.”

He clenched his glass of cheap Scotch. “Is it Nate? Is everything all right?”

Keller shook his head, folding his lean hands together on top of the desk Drew had fixed just last week. “Nate’s fine, Drew. It’s his tuition.”

Drew shifted in discomfort. “Sir?”

“Tuition’s going up, Drew. The school can’t afford to pay you any more than they already do with budget cuts and so on. Next semester there’ll be a ten percent increase.”

His stomach dropped. “I don’t know that I can afford that, sir.”

“I figured you’d want to know. We value both you and Nate here at Westmeyer. Your work is meticulous, bar none. We’d hate to see you leave.”

“Then I’ll find a way.”

“You’re a good man, Drew. I know if there’s a way, you’ll find it.”

If Keller was right about anything, he was right about that.

He’d find it.

Somewhere.

“Hey, what did Dean Keller want?” Mel asked when he brought her coat.

He looked away and held out her jacket. “More things to fix. There’s always something in this creaky old place. So, you ready?”

“ Hurry— get me out of here before Gwen does a stripper dance on the buffet table for Coach Gartner.”

Pulling on his own coat, he asked, “Things didn’t work out with Neil?”

She sighed in frustration. “No. Nothing ever works out with Neil. He’s just not a one-woman kind of guy.”

“Yeah. I didn’t get that vibe from him.” He took her hand and pulled her out of the staff lunchroom and into the deserted hall, flattening her against the wall to kiss her before she had the chance to ask him what he meant.

He made her forget everything when he slid his hand into her jacket and cupped her breast through the thin material of her dress. “Ahem. I think you’d better button your jacket and take me to your dungeon.”

Drew chuckled against her lips, the rigid press of his shaft noticeable. “At your command.”

They literally ran to his truck, hand in hand, the anticipation of some alone time magnifying their flight. Drew jumped into the truck, turned the ignition on to crank up the heat, and pulled her almost over the console to capture her lips in a fiery kiss. “Woman, you’re going to break me being so sexy. It was all I could do to keep my hands off you in there.”

Her breathing was shallow, and the place between her legs ached with heated need. “Well, now you don’t have to. So get this chariot moving, huh? The faster we arrive, the faster we can be naked.”

Drew took the wheel, leaving one hand on her thigh, and pulled out of the parking lot. The radio played something bluesy and soft, making Mel smile and close her eyes.

He trailed his fingers along her thigh, inching the skirt of her dress higher in slow, agonizing increments. When he reached the top of her thigh-high nylons, he cleared his throat, tracing the ridge of them, skimming beneath them to tease her flesh.

Her nipples tightened to sharp peaks, hard and ready for his mouth. The vision of his head bent at her breast made a soft moan escape her lips.

Drew’s fingers whispered over her flesh again and again until they reached his apartment complex, teasing her, torturing her with anticipation. It was a race to see who could fling open the door and reach his apartment door first.

They were both laughing and out of breath when he jammed the key in the door, dragged her inside, and slammed it shut without bothering to turn the lights on.

Instantly, his hands were on her, lifting her to wrap her legs around his waist. “Christ, I want you, Mel,” he murmured, his breath hot against her ear while he flipped his shoes off and settled them on the couch.

She bracketed each side of his face with her hands, driving her fingers into his hair, and pulled him down for a kiss, relishing his heavy weight on top of her. The thick press of his cock, hard and insistent, made her lift her hips to grind against him with a level of desperate need that was bigger than the last.

Clothes came off in a heated rush until her hands were on his bare chest and he was dragging her dress up and over her head.

He stopped cold when he realized she had no panties on, only a garter and some thigh-high nylons. His appreciation was a thick groan.

Mel reached down to unsnap them, but his hand was quick to thwart her as he hauled her to him, their chests pressing tightly together. “Don’t you dare take those off. You had no panties on all night and I had no idea. I think punishment is in order,” he ground out against her mouth, thumbing her hard nipples.

Her lips sought his, craving his tongue in her mouth. She felt naughty and wanton. “I thought I’d surprise you. You like?”

Drew sat her up, capturing her gaze with his intense blue one. “I like everything about you, Mel, but I especially like your idea of lin-gerie. They stay. Now, turn around,” he ordered thickly.

Mel obeyed on a shiver, her stomach quivering, her legs weak when she leaned over the back of the couch. She felt the heat of Drew’s naked body behind her, heard his hiss when he wrapped his arm around her waist and laid a cheek against her spine.

He let his hand slide between her legs, driving his way through the damp curls at the apex of her thighs and spreading her swollen lips while he pressed hot kisses along her spine.

Mel arched into his lips and thrust against his hand, her chest heaving. The anticipation of what was to come made her grip the edge of the couch with shaky hands as Drew slipped over the globes of her ass, licked and nipped them until she was quivering.

“Spread your legs, Mel,” he demanded from beneath her, slipping between her thighs and licking at the sensitive flesh of them.

Her heart began to crash and blood raced through her veins, hot and electric when he said, “I’ve waited all week to taste you. I can’t wait anymore,” just before he thrust his tongue deep inside her.

Mel battled a scream at the hot, wet invasion, bucking against Drew’s mouth and clinging to the back of the couch. His head, dark, the silky feel of his hair against her thighs, all lent to the most erotic vision she’d ever experienced.

Drew was relentless, driving his tongue against her clit, swirling it along the swollen bud, lapping at her until the sweet sound of her flesh being driven to climax became an erotic level she’d never attained before.

When Drew’s hands kneaded her ass, when he pulled her to his mouth so tight, she gripped his hair and came hard, the release a hot wave of sweetness, sharp and heavy.

Tears sprung to her eyes it was so mind-blowing. She slid down his body, weak and shaking to fall into his embrace and curl her head into his neck.

He cradled her against him with one hand while the other reached for his discarded pants. He pulled the foil wrapper of a condom out and tore it open with his teeth, slipping it on then settling her in his lap, his back against the couch.

Mel straightened, whimpering when he pulled a nipple into his mouth and teased it with his tongue. She lifted her hips, wrapping a hand around his cock and positioning him at her entrance.

She drove downward with force, hearing Drew’s growl of pleasure, savoring the grip of his hands on her hips.

He pulled her forward so their flesh met chest to chest and drove his hands into her hair. “I can’t get enough of you, Mel. Never enough,” he rasped.

Their lips found one another’s, clamping together in a molten blend of lips and tongues while their hips crashed together. He filled her, stretched her, pulsed within her as he stroked, thrusting again and again.

Drew was the first to clench his muscles; they flexed then tightened beneath the palms of her hands. Her nails dug into his rippling flesh, clinging, begging him to come with her.

His last thrust was forceful and filled with the growl of his release, and then Mel let go, too, lost in the ache of spiraling need. It coiled deep in her belly then let go like a spring of heat. Her teeth clenched at the intensity, the realization that she didn’t know how she’d gone half her life without experiencing this kind of lovemaking. It was unthinkable to never have it again.

With that last racing thought, she came, too, driving downward one last time to the tune of their flesh connecting and the bliss of completion.

They sagged against each other, their chests crashing together while they fought for air. Mel smiled into his neck when he said, “Wow. Maybe we should wait a week more often.”

“This is me wholeheartedly protesting.”

He tangled his fingers in her hair. “Just can’t get enough of me, can you?”

“No. It’s your lumpy couch I can’t get enough of.”

Drew slapped the cushion’s worn fabric. “This is a great old couch I got at a garage sale. Don’t hurt its feelings.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it, but do you think we could move to the less lumpy, not as easily upset by my insensitive comments bed. My back is killing me. Besides, if we’re having an overnight, we can’t be up all night doing that thing we do. We have to be at your mother’s by noon for Thanksgiving dinner. My father’s thrilled he doesn’t have to defrost a turkey.”

Drew rose from the couch, pulling her with him to wrap his arms around her waist from behind. “And then you have to leave on the red-eye for your audition.”

Her stomach tangled in a knot. “I do.” They hadn’t discussed the topic at length since she’d found out she was a candidate for the job.

Yet, she never failed to sense a thread of tension in Drew’s voice when it was merely mentioned, and she didn’t quite understand it.

She swung around to capture his gaze, running her hands over his chest and hoping to gauge his feelings on the subject. “We still on for that ride to the airport?” she asked, smiling up at him.

Instead of returning her gaze, he pulled her close, pressing his lips to the top of her head. “You bet.”

Again, there was that hesitance in his tone, one she was reluctant to address. She didn’t want to spoil this thing they’d created— this warm intimacy. She’d never had this with Stan and wasn’t willing to disrupt it at any cost. “Well, okay, then. I say we get some shut-eye. Myriam said I was expected to work in the kitchen just like everyone else. I think that means I have to peel potatoes, and I want my eyes wide open for that.”

He chuckled against her hair, the vibration of it soothing. “I think you should limber up your fingers so you can peel all those potatoes.”

Mel smiled against his chest and shivered. “And how do you pro-pose I do that?”

He hitched his jaw toward the bedroom with a grin. “Come with me. I’ll show you.”

They both laughed as they made their way toward the bedroom, Drew’s laughter lighthearted and hers colored with a smidge of worry.

“There they are!” Selena shouted, her cheeks flushed from working in the kitchen. “We thought you two would never get here,” she chided with a sly grin when they entered the front door.

The McPhees’ house was swarming with children, smelled of every good thing Thanksgiving dinner should smell of, and was filled with sound and motion.

She gave Mel and Drew each a kiss then put on her stern face.

“You,” she said, pointing at Mel, “have dough to roll, and you,” she smiled up at her son, “are needed in the living room. Your father seems to think your presence will bring his football team good luck.”

Drew shook his head in mock defeat, sighing. “My work here is never done.”

Mel made a face at him. “Hey! How come your job is to sit on the couch and mine is to roll dough, pal?”

Selena leaned in to her. “Because you do not want to see my Drew in the kitchen. It’s like setting loose a man who’s just discovered fire.”

Mel winked at her and said, “I dunno, McPhee— you don’t dance, you can’t cook. How are you a catch again?” she teased.

Drew hauled her up against him, leaving her toes dangling, and whispered, “Did you already forget last night? I have skills that can’t be denied. Surely they make up for my lack of talent in other areas?”

“I heard that!” Selena sang on a chuckle, climbing over assorted grandchildren to make her way back to the kitchen.

Drew pulled her into the small entryway and planted a long kiss on her lips, making her sigh. “I have to go make dough— you get to watch TV. Don’t try to schmooze me with your kisses.”

“I was only trying to make up for our lack of playtime last night because you voted sleeping over mad passionate sex.”

“Yeah, yeah. And I have to go home and pack after dinner to leave— which blows our chances of having a sleepover tonight.”

Instantly, Drew stiffened, just enough that it was only noticeable to someone who’d come to know his body so well. “Right.”

She cocked her head up at him, hoping he’d tell her why he’d been so quiet all morning. “You okay?”

“Right as rain.” He swatted her butt. “Go make me some dough, woman.” He gave her one last kiss and skirted around her, heading for the living room where boisterous yelling could be heard.