FIGHT FOR ME (5 page)

As soon as he put the car in park, he turned to Ivy and kissed her again, a hand in her hair. Too soon, he pulled away and led her to the door of the tiny yellow house he had parked in front of. “It’s a little messy,” he said.

“I don’t care,” Ivy said.

He unlocked the door. When they went inside he didn’t take the time to turn on lights or show her around. He walked a short way, hand on her waist, guiding her, before they entered his bedroom. He turned on a lamp in the corner.

His room consisted of a mattress on a low metal bed frame, some generic furniture, and clothes hanging out of drawers. Yeah, this was messy. Not quite what she had expected from his put-together teacher presence.

Though the room was messy, it was very clean. The bed was made, the sheets a pure light blue. The hardwood floor was swept and shining. It looked like a room that was well-maintained, but like the owner didn’t want to put in much effort to personalize it or make it home.

Lucas pulled off his shirt and let it fall to the floor.

Ivy’s breath caught in her throat. Though his lithe torso was definitely shocking, she had expected him to be fit. It wasn’t that that surprised her.

Across the hard, defined muscles of his stomach was a tattoo of a dark jungle cat, its jaw open wide, snarling, sharp teeth glinting. The jungle cat’s paws reached up his torso toward his opposite shoulder, as if it were attacking something floating in the air by his chin.

The lines of the creature were inked as if they had been painted with a brush thick with black paint. The huge tattoo looked like it belonged in a museum of medieval East Asian art.

“Wow,” Ivy said, breaking the heated silence. “What made you get that?”

Lucas glanced down at his chest. He shrugged. “Why does anyone get a tattoo?”

He stepped toward her. She didn’t move. He put his hands on her waist, leaned in and kissed her deeply.

Ivy lifted her arms and Lucas pulled her dress over her head. He unclipped her bra and pulled off her panties, probably not even guessing that Ivy had chosen cute panties to impress him. He didn’t give them a single glance, but when she was fully unclothed he looked at her for a long moment. She felt more naked in front of his gaze than she had ever before.

“You are… so incredibly sexy.”

Ivy blinked. “Thank you,” she said. “You are too.”

He pushed her onto the bed, pressed her into the mattress while he kissed her passionately. She imagined that disturbing tattoo between them, where their skin pressed together.

After Lucas kicked off his pants, Ivy held him away from her by his shoulders so she could look him in the face. He stopped taking off his boxers and looked back.

“You scare me,” Ivy said, feeling her heart beat faster. “A little.”

She didn’t know where it came from. Just… as they lay together, nearly as intimate as humans can be physically, it came rushing in. Ivy was afraid of this man she barely knew at all, who wouldn’t talk about his past, who had a tattoo that looked like it would hurt so badly to get inked into his skin but he wouldn’t explain it….

She was afraid, but it almost added to the excitement she felt. Her heart beat faster as he began to kiss her neck, warm and soft. He didn’t respond and it seemed like he had no intention to do so.

She couldn’t tell if it was fear or something else –something more physical –making her heart beat so fast.

When he pressed a finger between her legs, she forgot every worry she’d had a moment before. She moved her hips against his fingers, breathing heavily.

Now his boxers were off and she could feel his hardness. He took himself in hand and stroked between her legs with his silky tip.

Ivy let out a little moan and pulled him closer against her. She wanted him so bad. She hadn’t felt this kind of fire within her since… She tried to remember. She’d had a fair amount of physical dalliances in college which were quite enjoyable, but nothing like this. Lucas was…intense.

This moment had all the qualities of a night to remember. Lucas was gorgeous, mysterious, and obviously experienced in the art of lovemaking. The full moon was visible outside his bedroom window.

He pushed into her and began to move his hips against hers, slowly.

Ivy felt herself become enraptured with the moment with every shuddering, pleasure-filled breath she released. Soon thought became something of the past and she felt as if she was solely composed of the sweet, fiery pleasure melting through her body.

“Lucas,” she breathed, wanting him to know how he made her feel but unable to find any words other than his name.

“Ivy,” he answered, his voice low and husky with pleasure.

She completely lost track of time. Her entire existence consisted of Lucas within her and Lucas without her. Their mouths met as he moved over her, his slick chest pressing against her own. They kissed clumsily, all their attention focused lower down.

As Ivy felt the tension building within her, she felt as if she was solving the mystery of Lucas. With every thrust he moaned, one hand on her lower back and the other in her hair. He was pushing her into him. She barely needed to do a thing but still she did, moving her hips and tightening her legs around him.

He began to move faster. She felt him deep within her, hitting her so deep inside that she felt like she couldn’t take any more. His movements were more intense than she had ever felt before.

She felt herself tighten around him.

He noticed. He moved a hand between her legs, not slowing his thrusts, and rubbed her clit.

The pleasure was instant and intense.

Ivy let out a cry as she began to climax. Her fingernails dug into his back and she threw her head back. As she trembled underneath him, Lucas let himself go as well. She felt him contract within her. The knowledge that he was feeling as she was made her pleasure all the more intense.

They held each other, their breathing ragged, for many moments after they came.

Lucas rolled off of her, collapsing onto the bed. Ivy turned to her side and looked at him. His eyes were shut, a smile playing at his lips. They had been so eager earlier that she hadn’t had the chance to survey him properly.

She traced a finger down the jungle cat tattoo, feeling the tautness of his chest and abdomen. The sheets were caught around his hips.

He opened his eyes and looked back at her. “Can you stay?” he asked quietly.

Ivy blinked. She hadn’t expected that. “Yes,” she said. “I’ll stay.”

Lucas leaned in, kissed her lips, and then lay back down, shutting his eyes again.

Soon his breath became even and slow. He was sleeping. Lily stayed snuggled on her side next to him, watching the moon through the window opposite the bed.

Chapter Eight

When Ivy woke up, Lucas wasn’t next to her.

She sat up groggily, looking around his room. It was as empty as the night before.

“Lucas?”

“I’m out here,” he called from what Ivy assumed to be the living room.

She took his t-shirt of the floor where he had left it the night before and put it on. Apparently his torso wasn’t much bigger than hers –though the shirt was tight in the chest area. The shirt wasn’t quite long enough for her to feel comfortable. She picked up her lace panties, barely worn, from the floor and slipped them on. There. Now he’d have to notice them.

In his t-shirt and her favorite panties, she left the room and followed the sound of a machine down the hall to the living room.

Lucas was jogging on a treadmill. He wore shorts and his skin was slicked with sweat.

“How long have you been up?”

He slowed down the machine to a walking pace. “About half an hour. I thought I’d get my run out of the way while you slept.”

Ivy glanced around the living room. It was about as bare as his bedroom. There was a generic sofa, a generic coffee table, a few generic books on a generic shelf, and an array of exercise materials including weights that she was pretty sure had numbers on them that rivaled her own weight.

“Do you run every morning?
      He nodded and stepped off the machine. He took a drink from a water bottle. The morning sun through his living room window shone on his body, highlighting every lithe, toned muscle. Ivy savored in the memory of how that body had felt under her caress the night before.

“You look… sexy.” Her heart beat faster at his words. He walked to her and kissed her on the forehead. Ivy was a bit embarrassed to admit to herself that she loved the musky smell of him after a run. He smelled strong. “Do you want breakfast? Coffee?”

“Yes, please.”

Lucas walked through an open doorway to a small kitchen with a linoleum floor. Dirty dishes were piled in the sink. A tiny round table sat by the kitchen window. Ivy sat in one of the two little plastic chairs by the table.

“I can make eggs, and toast, and sausage… I’m not sure about bacon, I usually burn it so I might not want to try right now.”

Ivy looked up at him, smiling as he opened the fridge. He looked back at her. “What are you in the mood for?”

Ivy just smiled. She had been afraid of him last night, for a moment. She couldn’t believe that. Here he was, sweetly offering to make her breakfast. So what if he didn’t like talking about himself. That was normal when you first met someone.

Lucas was absolutely perfect.

Except that tattoo. That tattoo still freaked her out a little.

Seeing her just smiling at him, he leaned past the fridge door and kissed her. His lips were warm and slightly salty, probably from the sweat of his workout.

When they parted, Ivy realized she actually was pretty hungry. “Do you have granola? I could go for some yogurt and granola.”

Lucas nodded. “I do.” He took a box of granola out of a cupboard and handed her the yogurt from the fridge. “I’ll have the same.”

He put some coffee on while she made them two bowls of her favorite breakfast treat.

When they were sitting at the table with their breakfast, Ivy decided to ask about the tattoo again. She could see the head and upper paws of the pouncing panther from where she sat at the table.

“When did you get the tattoo?”

Lucas set down his spoon. “A few months after I turned seventeen.”

“Why the panther? It is a panther, right?”

He nodded. “I… like panthers.”

He still didn’t seem like he wanted to talk about it.

“Do you have any other tattoos?”

He nodded and looked behind him while holding up the hair that fell over the nape of his neck. There was a small rose with thorns inked on the bones in his neck. When he let his hair fall down again, the strands completely obscured the tattoo.

“I also used to have a tongue ring,” he said almost bashfully. He stuck out his tongue and said, to the best of his ability, “Do you see the piercing hole? It’s at the tip.”

Ivy peered at his tongue, laughing. Sure enough, there was a tiny indentation at the tip of his tongue. “I think I do.”

“I had to take it out when I was interviewing for teaching positions,” he explained.

“I can imagine.” She took another bite of her granola. “I don’t have any tattoos or piercings, except my ears.”

Lucas got up and poured them their coffee. “What are you doing today?”

“Nothing really,” Lily answered. “I’ll probably stay home with Emma and my sister.”

“Sounds relaxing. Do you want cream or sugar?”

“Both, please.”

After preparing hers he sat down again, handing her the mug.

“You take your coffee black?”

“Yeah. It feels stronger that way, like it has more of a kick if you leave out the extras.”

She looked at him, enthralled. Even the way he drank coffee was sexy. “I really like you,” she said.

He looked at her, a bit surprised. At first she wondered if she shouldn’t have said it. He looked a little shocked. Then, after a heart stopping moment, he smiled his reluctant smile. “I like you too.”

Ivy began to lean in, feeling delicious butterflies in her stomach as she imagined him pushing her down on the kitchen table and making love to her right there.

Loud barking broke the sweet tension of the moment.

“That’s Kimbo,” Lucas said apologetically. He stood up. “I should go feed him, actually.”

She remembered the cute terrier mix that Lucas had been walking in the park. “All right.”

“Want to see the backyard? It’s not much, but…”

“Sure.” Ivy followed Lucas to a small concrete back porch and a fenced in backyard full of tired-looking green grass that barely had enough room for the dog house and porch.

Kimbo ran up to them, jumping up on Lucas first before going over to Ivy. She kneeled down and scratched him on the head. “Hey, Kimbo.”

Lucas scooped some food into the dog’s dish. He instantly lost interest in Ivy and ran over to the food bowl and began to chow down sloppily on his food.

“I need to get ready for the work week,” Lucas said after a moment.

“I should get back to Emma and Jess.”

They looked at each other. A cool wind blew through the backyard, chilling Ivy’s bare legs. Suddenly she wondered if this was going to be a one night stand. She hadn’t ever considered it because he went to great pains to impress her with dinner and a gallery visit, but… maybe it had all been to get her in his bed? Would he want to see her again?

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said.

She felt her worries melt away yet again. He wanted to see her again. She stood on her tiptoes and gave him a deep kiss to assure him that yes, definitely, they would see each other the next day.

Her phone was lying on top of her dress and bra next to Lucas’s bed. She checked it and saw that she had two missed calls from Jess. She should have told her there was a chance she’d be out all night –though honestly, she hadn’t expected to be taken in so easily.

She replaced Lucas’s t shirt with her bra and dress. She slipped on her shoes and went back into the living room.

“Do you want a ride home?” Lucas walked in from the backyard.

“No, we’re actually only two blocks away from Jess’s.” Ivy looked up from her phone. Sighing, she put a hand on Lucas’s bare side and kissed him slowly, their hot breath mingling. She wanted to stay so badly but it was time to go back to her sister’s.