Cover to Covers (17 page)

“Well, I’m glad Moe has always had you around to watch out for her.”

“Me and Chris.” Jake chewed his food. “That dude’s got a twisted obsession with my sister.”

Monique slapped her brother on the back of the head. “Don’t say that about Chris. He has been good to me.”

“He’s a sick shit, Mojo.” Jake checked his watch, greedily swallowed another bite, and then quickly slurped back a few gulps of coffee. After wiping his mouth with the paper napkin, he stood from his chair. “I gotta go.” He peered over at Tyler. “How long are you staying?”

Tyler’s eyes drifted to Monique. “That’s depends.”

She folded her arms over her chest and frowned at him.

Jake kissed his sister on the cheek. “Maybe we should get together this weekend and all go out for dinner?”

“He won’t be here this weekend,” Monique stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

“I won’t?” Tyler
came back, raising his dark eyebrows to her.

Jake pointed across the room to Bart, who was standing dutifully beside his food bowl. “Bart, my man!”

Bart stood up and wagged his tail.

Jake h
urried to the door. “I’ll see myself out. Tyler, don’t screw up again with her, or I’m afraid I’ll have to kill you next time.” He pointed his finger to his sister. “She’s always been in love with you; she’s just too damn stubborn to admit it.”

“Jake!” Monique
yelped.

“Love ya, Mojo, gotta run.” He darted out the double kitchen doors and his heavy footfalls could be heard heading to
ward the front of the house.

After the front door slammed, Tyler turned
to Monique.

She nodded to his plate. “You better finish up so you can find that hotel.”
After clearing the half-eaten plate her brother had left behind, she went to the sink.

“Was he right?” he softly asked.

Monique did not respond and turned on the faucet at the sink. The kitchen filled with the sound of water rushing over dirty dishes.

Tyler stood from his chair, walked over to the sink, and came up behind her.
Her hands glided over the dirty dishes, washing the food from the plates and pans, and after a few seconds, he noticed that she was shaking.

Tyler put a supportive hand on her shoulder. “Moe
, was he right?”

She never stopped washing the dishes. “My brother exaggerates about a lot of things.”

“Not about this.” He turned off the tap.

Monique’s shoulders
slumped forward when the water stopped. “Don’t, Ty.”

Swerving her around, h
e forced her to look him in the eye. “I need to hear it from you.”

She
brushed her bangs aside with a soapy hand. “I don’t know; maybe I was in love with you and that is why it hurt so much when I came home, but it was a long time ago.”

“For me, we were just
a few days ago.”

“What good would it do for us to rehash it, Ty? We’re done.”

“I’m not done, Moe.” He moved his lips closer to her mouth. “I have never been done with you. You were the one woman I could never forget.”

Her eyes softened. “Is that the truth, Ty?”

“Moe.” His mouth lingered hungrily over hers. “Stop doubting me.”

When their lips met, Tyler swore it was better than the last time. He could taste the hint of coffee on her, and as her body
crushed against him, his desire for her surged out of control. Throwing his arms about her, he held her tight, never wanting to let go.

When he lifted her onto the counter
top next to the sink, she giggled. “You need to shave before you give me beard burn.” Her fingers ran along his stubbled cheek.

“I’ll shave after.” He kissed her neck and then sank his teeth into her flesh.

She tilted her head back and let her fingers play in the touch of gray hair about his right temple. “Why can’t I say no to you?”

“Because you’re
still in love with me; admit it, Moe.”

She
shoved him away.

“Don’t do this.
” He rested his head against her chest. “Don’t pull away right when we are opening up to each other.”

She tried to shimmy off the counter but he held her in his arms. “You’re not opening up to me, Ty. You’re just screwing me. You don’t open up to anyone.”

“Me?” He let her go. “You’re the one who never opens up. I’m here. I came to show you how I feel.”

“Showing me isn’t telling me how you feel
, Ty. It was always this way before. You would claim to show me how you felt, but never once did you ever say how you felt.” She pushed him away and hopped from the counter.

“
Yes, I did. That time in Mexico, at the hotel, I told you I loved you.”

“You told me you loved me after you hit on the waitress at the bar and had five shots of tequila. That’s not what I would call a sincere statement.”

“Well…I meant it.”

“
You meant it?” she roared. “Don’t you see? You only meant it when you were drunk. When you were drunk you loved me, when you were sober you always said we were good friends. Do you know how hard that was for me?”

“But you never told me how you felt, Moe.”

“How could I when I wasn’t sure how you felt?”

He ran his hands over his face. “Why is everything like pulling teeth with you
?” he griped in a menacing tone.

“This isn’t about me.” She folded her arms
defiantly over her chest. “You didn’t come here to show me how you felt. So why did you come?”

T
he cold rejection in her eyes caused something to snap in him. He didn’t want her be like Hadley or Serena, or even his mother. Tyler had seen enough women look at him with disgust and disappointment, but he could not stomach it from Monique.

“I’m not going to do this with you
.” He pulled her close.

“Ty
, stop it.” She struggled against him.

“Just give in to me, Moe Let’s not fight each other and ruin things. Let me in
,” he whispered against her mouth. “Just once, let me take what I want without having to ask.”

A
llowing all the need and passion he had been holding back to come shooting to the surface, he crushed her body to his and kissed her. Tyler expected Monique to push him away, but instead she yielded to his strength and allowed him to take her completely.

Lifting her tiny body
back onto the counter, Tyler pressed his lips harder against hers. When he tugged at the zipper of her jeans, Monique did not resist, and helped him ease the baggy pants from her hips. After dropping her jeans and underwear to the floor, he unzipped his fly. Her hands impatiently pushed the heavy denim fabric over his round backside and then fondled his erection. Tyler kicked his jeans aside and pulled her hips to the edge of the counter. When he entered her in one slow motion, Monique moaned. Giving in to him, she shifted back on the counter, allowing him to go deeper.

Tyler did not hold back and thrust into her again and again, wanting to satiate his intense desire.
With her head resting against his shoulder, he could feel her body arching with tension as he drove into her. On the verge of letting go, Tyler heard Monique gasp into his chest and then shudder against him. Before she could relax, he gripped her hips, made one final push, and then loudly groaned as his orgasm exploded.

When he
glimpsed her face, beads of sweat were gathering above her upper lip. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—”

“
No. Don’t apologize, Ty. I liked you that way.”

He angled back from her.
“You did?”

“Yeah.
I don’t want you to hold back.”

Tyler pulled her closer.
“What did you like about it?”

She
nibbled on his earlobe. “The way you took control. How you took what you wanted.”

“Do you trust me, Moe?”

She tucked her head into his neck. “Yes.”

“Then let me show you what I really like to do.”

He carried her out of the kitchen and to the stairs. As she giggled into his chest, he could hear the tip, tip, tip of Bart following behind them.

“I forgot about
Ugly,” he said, taking the steps two at a time. “I hope he wasn’t too traumatized by what we just did in the kitchen.

“I’m afraid his eyesight is pretty bad, so he may not have gotten a good look at everything.”

“Thank God. It was bad enough having to explain myself to your brother, but Bart….”

When he
placed his hand on the doorknob to his bedroom, Bart trotted right up next to him. Shaking his head, he pushed the door open, and before he could carry Monique inside, Bart strolled into the room.

Monique
snickered at Bart’s audacity. But her laughter was soon silenced when Tyler lowered her onto his bed, kissing the nape of her neck and reaching for her T-shirt. After throwing her shirt to the floor, his hands caressed her naked body as she reclined on the pale cream sheets.

“Lie back,” he d
irected as he undid the buttons on his long-sleeved shirt.

“What do you want me to do?”

Binding her hands together with his shirt, he kept an eye out for any sign of fear, but her gray orbs only seemed to burn brighter with excitement. With her hands secured, he grasped her hips and flipped her over onto her stomach.

He
caressed her smooth, white butt. “Now, I’m going to show you why I like being the one in charge.” Having her helpless beneath him made Tyler grow hard. He traced his fingers up and down her back. “I can do whatever I want with you, and you will submit to me, right Moe?”

“Yes,” she breathlessly sighed into the bed.

Lifting her hips, he forced her knees underneath her. His hand slid between her legs, and she sucked in a ragged breath when he his fingers lightly traced her delicate folds. Monique backed her hips into his hand, making him pull away.

He put his lips to her ear. “The game is you can’t move or say anything. You’re mine to control. I tell you when to move and how to move. The more you submit to me, the greater your pleasure.” Putting his hand back between her legs, he
murmured, “Let’s try this again.”

This time, she did not move or make a sound. Tyler
was gentle at first and then his hand became more demanding, pressing harder into her wet flesh. When he dipped his fingers into her, she trembled.

“Spread your legs,” he commanded.

Monique did as she was told, and he spread her folds open. Then, he thrust into her, pushing her apart until he fully penetrated her. Wrapping his arms about her waist, Tyler held on to her as he pulled out and pounded into her once more. She grunted beneath him, but did not move. He withdrew again, but this time he teased her with fingers. Tyler could feel her pleasure rising, and when she was getting close to orgasm he stopped, waited until she relaxed, and then drove deep into her once more. He repeated the process over and over, and soon Monique was damp with sweat. Every time she came close to release, Tyler would pause and watch her reaction.

“You want to let go, don’t you, Moe?” He kissed the back of her neck. “When I allow you to come, I promise it will be worth it, but until then, you are mine
to control.”

He pushed into her, but this time, he had no intention of stopping. Moving slowly at first, he soon increased his speed and before long he was hurtling toward his climax. When she bucked beneath him, he stimulated her with his fingers.
As Monique was rocking her hips, he lost all sense of control and came inside her.

Enjoying the
swell of relaxation pervading his muscles, Tyler rested against the small of her back and closed his eyes. When he raised his head, he pulled her to him and untied her hands.

“Did you enjoy that?”
He pitched his shirt to the floor.

“Where did you learn to do that?”

He plopped back on the bed. “My first wife, Serena, was into all kinds of kinky stuff. She taught me a few things.”

She
nestled against his chest. “Is that why you married her?”

“Perhaps. She was different from all the other women I knew. Every one I met was some social debutante or wealthy businessman’s daughter. They were all spoiled, selfish, and looking for a husband who would make them look good, but not necessarily feel good. Serena didn’t care about any of that.”

“What happened to her?”

His fingers
played in her silky hair. “She remarried a politician and moved to Washington DC. I haven’t seen her in years.”

“When my marriage began falling apart, I bought some things to help us out…you know, toys.” She sat up. “Mat was horrified when I showed him what I had bought. He called me a deviant
, and that was the last time I ever tried anything different.”

Tyler
leered suggestively at her. “Still got the toys?”