Renaissance: A Contemporary Erotic Romance (Iris Series Book 5) (22 page)

She clung to him.

“And your architect?” he continued.

“There’s nothing to tell, really.  He’s a friend and he knew from the beginning I didn’t really think of him that way.”

He raised an eyebrow.  “Oh, really. His kisses and touches the other night say he felt a little more than you did.”

“He did, but I was honest with him from day one.”

“So you just let me think otherwise?”  He began tickling her and she starting laughing, the two of them getting into a tickle fight for a few moments.  Finally, they disentangled and he said, “Shower with me.”

He stood up and pulled her with him, walking toward the bathroom.  Once she turned the water on and it heated, they climbed in, letting the hot water trickle down their bodies.  It was a tight fit, but in Tiffany’s opinion that was half the fun.

They chuckled as they moved around each other, each taking a turn under the water and soaping themselves.  She couldn’t get over his body.  It was so hard with muscles; he could’ve been in a body building magazine.

His fingers drifted to her breasts often, playfully tweaking at her rings, but then he would let his slippery hands slide down her side and cup her ass, rubbing hypnotic circles there until she was a melting bunch of nerves again.

His hands continued their lazy perusal until one finally went to her front and settled between her legs.  His fingers strummed her expertly and when two of them pushed inside her and his thumb rubbed into her clit, she let her head fall onto his chest.

“Is that nice?” he murmured.

“Yeah.”  Her hand found and encircled him, squeezing and stroking and teasing.

They both continued pleasuring each other until they were both panting and knocking into the tiled wall, grappling to finish the other off. 

She frantically pulled at him as she cried out her own climax and a moment later he came on her stomach, kissing her roughly as he growled out his own completion.

Swallowing the humid air around them, they got themselves under control and rinsed off, finally making their way back to the bedroom where she took a swig of her wine, and he downed a whole bottle of water.

They got back into bed.  “Tell me something,” he finally said.

“Hm.”

“How long has it been for you?  Before tonight?”

She settled back into the pillow and looked at him.  “A year and a half or so.”

He pushed her hair back. 

“Why?” she asked.

“You were so tight,” he whispered, then kissed her softly.  “You feel incredible.”

“You do too,” she whispered back and smiled.

They settled next to each other, him spooning her from behind. 

“What do you have to do tomorrow?”

“Not much.  I’m all set for Saturday so I was going to get a mani/pedi and just relax.”

“Good.”

“What are you doing tomorrow?”  She wanted to stay with him all day, all month, all the
time
.

“I have rounds from noon to six.  Do you want some company after that?”  His hand wouldn’t stop touching her, her hair, her arm, her hip...like he couldn’t get enough and neither could she.  She finally grabbed his hand and wrapped it around hers so she could kiss his fingers.

“I would love for you to stay.”

“I’ll come back after work.”

“Okay.”

He nuzzled her neck and she floated into sleep, anticipating her new normal.

……

“Move with me,” he whispered. 

He was inside her, and she arched up to meet his slow thrusts.  He pushed her legs back so that they reached up to his shoulders.  He moved even slower, looking down into her eyes.

“You like it when it hurts a little, don’t you?”

She shook her head then squeezed her eyes shut. 
Drew...?

“You like it when I pull on your rings.
My
rings.  You acted like you didn’t want them, but you know you did.  You liked the pain.”

Her head thrashed. 
No.  I didn’t want them.

“Yes, you did.  Admit it, Tiffany.”

Her eyes flew open as she looked up at Richard, smiling his twisted smile, contorting his face while he fucked her.

“Admit it, Tiffany.”

She shook her head no, no, no...

“NO!” she yelled, coming awake quickly.

“Hey,” Drew said, his hand on her stomach trying to calm her.  His fingers moved up to thread into her hair.  “What is it, baby?”

Her heart was galloping full speed ahead.  She calmed her breathing as his hands rubbed her head.

“Just a dream.”  She shifted to rest her head on his chest, still trying to catch her breath.  A sheen of sweat coated her skin.

“About what?”

She hesitated, not wanting Richard to ruin this moment.  She had no idea what had triggered a dream about her ex.  She hadn’t thought about him for ages and it had been a while since he’d left her a message.  Maybe because she was sleeping next to a man for the first time in over a year?  Or all the talk about the piercings? 

She was still wondering when Drew said, “Tiff?”

She paused.  “You and I were having sex.”

His hand slowed on her scalp and cupped her face, forcing her to look up at him.  “It didn’t sound like you were having fun.”  His precious face looked slightly concerned in the twilight of the room, so she reached up to touch his lips.

“I was, at the beginning of the dream.”

“What happened?”

“You morphed into my ex.”

He just looked at her then turned thoughtful.  She settled back down and continued.

“I think maybe all of this talk about the piercings and stuff brought him back into my sub consciousness or something.  It’s okay.  It was just a dream.”

“Was he hurting you?  You yelled out ‘no’.”

She was quiet, then whispered, “Taunting.  He was taunting me about the piercings.  Telling me I wanted them even though I was complaining they were painful.”

Drew tightened his arms around her and they stayed like that for a while.  Eventually, he murmured, “Let’s remove them.”

She hadn’t wanted to mention it considering his positive reaction to them, but she’d been thinking the same thing for the last couple of days, maybe even longer having had all of these recent talks about Richard and the procedure.  They had begun out of manipulation and the desire to hurt, and with Drew she knew they would be different.  But she still thought about it.

“You like them, though,” she said into his chest.

“I’m starting to think I don’t want anything on you that came from him.  But regardless, it’s your body and you need to make that decision.”

After a moment of thinking, she did just that.

Several hours later, Tiffany decided that waking up next to Drew might very well be her new favorite thing.  The sex was out of this world, touching his body was a close second place, but waking up next to him, with his arms snuggled around her took her to a whole different head space. 

His body was so warm.  She didn’t want that feeling of absolute contentment and peace to end.  They woke up touching each other, then took a long and lazy shower, only to have the afterglow of the morning cut short since Drew was called back unexpectedly to the hospital to check on a patient.  He had to leave sooner than they both wanted, but promised he would be back after his rounds at 6pm that night.

Tiffany spent the day primping and preening, not to mention updating all of the girls.

TIFF: 
Major shift in relationship status.  Eek!

The next hour was spent texting, calling, squealing, crying and getting overall encouragements from the women in her life.  Ayanna wanted to know what the sex had been like, Emily had said ‘I told you so’, and Ryann just cried and squealed.  Janie wanted to have them both over for dinner and wanted more details.

“So, was it as hot as we knew it would be?” Janie asked with a smile in her voice.

“God, you have no idea.  He likes to take his time.  It makes me crazy.”

“You need to help speed things along.  Maybe he’s prepping you,” she laughed.

“For what?”

“For when he really lets loose.”

“What?” Tiffany chuckled.

“He’s usually such a sweet gentlemanly guy.  Maybe he needs you to push him a little, because I don’t care if he’s the nephew to the Pope, Tiff.  He’s a guy.  You can be that mix of sexy bad girl, sweet classic beauty, and brilliant business woman.  He’ll love all of those differences wrapped into one.  It will keep him guessing.”

Tiffany could almost hear Janie wiggling her eyebrows.

“I practically had phone sex with the guy.  That was so out of my comfort zone.”

“Yeah, but look what happened.  It got him to come over.  So now you just need to up the ante a little.  Like do something frisky with those piercings.  I’m sure those little do-hickeys will help things along.”

Tiffany sighed at her joke, but then told her of her decision.  Janie was surprised but completely understood why she wanted them removed. 

Drew texted her often throughout the day.  When changing out her laundry after lunch, she got her first text.

DREW: 
Just started my rounds which means I’m one min closer to tonight.

She bit her lip with giddiness.             

TIFF: 
I like the way u think, Doctor.

DREW: 
That’s not all you’re going to like, Ms. Daniels.

Tiffany flushed with heat and began fanning herself.

TIFF:
Well.  What do I say to that?  How about hurry up?

DREW:
Hoping to get there around 6:30.

TIFF: 
Great.  I’m going to make you some food.  Do u have any special requests?

DREW: 
I’ll just eat u.

Lordy.  She gulped.

TIFF: 
Yes, I’m already on the menu.  What else do u like?

DREW: 
If we keep talking like this, I might need to find a private room for this convo.

Smiling, she texted back.

TIFF: 
I’ve been told I’m a pretty good talker.

DREW: 
Since I know your other talents are even better, we may not get any sleep tonight.  In fact, maybe u should take a nap.

TIFF: 
Maybe
U
should take a nap, doc.

DREW:
  I think I do need that private room.  And anything u want to give me to eat tonight, I’ll gladly take. 

TIFF:
  Hm.  Not sure, but I think that sounded a little naughty.

DREW: 
Maybe that’s because I’d really like to be naughty w/ u. 

TIFF: 
I’m going to like the ‘naughty’ Dr. Huntington.  How naughty do u want to get?

DREW:
  I’ll look forward to discussing that tonight while you’re feeding me whatever you’re making.  No food restrictions, btw.  Anything u make will be perfect.

TIFF: 
Good.  Then I’ll see u around 6:30, doc.

DREW:
  Can’t wait. 

The next time he texted, she asked him to bring home some medical tools.  It was time for the rings to come out and she needed him to put his doctor hat on.  He was pleasantly surprised and said he would see her soon.

She rushed around for the next several hours and once she mixed her lasagna together to put in the oven, she took his advice and put her feet up, grabbing a romance novel.

A couple of hours later, just as he arrived, she buzzed him in wearing her leggings, long burgundy shirt, and fuzzy socks.  When she saw him come out of the elevator with his bag in hand, his leather jacket over his lightweight sweater and jeans, she wasn’t able to hide her excitement.  Biting her lip to stop her nervousness from turning into blabbering, she leaned back against the doorframe to wait, appreciating his trimmed goatee and tight haircut.  Lord, did the man look gorgeous.  Buff, sexy, and all hers.

Once he turned toward her it was obvious when he saw her, since his steps slowed.  He gave her a scorching look, his approach becoming more purposeful.  Without losing eye contact, he reached her, dropped his bag right in the hallway and whispered with a smile, “Hi.”

Then he proceeded to kiss the hell out of her, holding her face still for him to do as he pleased.  And the fact that it pleased her as well, only made it sweeter. 

He broke away for a moment and said, “I haven’t stopped thinking about you all day today.  Actually, that’s not true.  I haven’t stopped thinking about you for
months
.”  He nipped at her, then soothed her bottom lip with a swipe of his tongue.

They headed inside and after some more kissing, they set up shop on the kitchen bar.  She leaned against it and Drew told her to remove her top.  She did, knowing full well that she’d made the right decision.  As she unhooked her bra and let it fall to the ground, he put his surgical gloves on and looked over the ring in her nipple.

“You ready?”

She nodded.

He touched her gently and kissed the globe of her breast, then unscrewed the ring and gently maneuvered it so it would slide out.  It came out easily so he moved to the next one.

“Almost done,” Drew murmured as he removed the second ring carefully and inspected her breast.

A huge sigh escaped from her lips.  She couldn’t believe she had done it, but she had.   

He bent his head and kissed her tenderly on the nipple.  “Does anything hurt?”

“No.  It’s just weird.”  She looked down at herself and touched the area.  She knew from her research that the holes would close almost immediately and heal completely within the week.  She lifted one and looked at it.  “Does it look okay?  I don’t see any scarring.”

“They’re beautiful,” he said, kissing the other one.  “You feel okay?”

“Yeah.”  And she did feel okay.  In fact, she was surprised at how glad she was that they were gone.  They’d never bothered her as much as the other one, but she knew now that she was hardware free, she would be able to fully embrace the woman she’d always been, not the one she had become with Richard.  She looked up at Drew who was still examining them with a clinical doctor’s inspection.  “Thank you.”

He finally switched his gaze to her eyes.  “My pleasure.”  They were standing near the kitchen bar with all of the paraphernalia and necessities laid out before them in case something had gone wrong.  Drew was nothing if not thorough.

She was topless, still in her leggings and leaning her elbows back on the bar behind her. 

“You look kind of hot this way,” he murmured, the clinical nature of his look turning warm and lustful.  His eyes moved over her breasts indicating that his comment was definitely an understatement.  “Nothing there to hide all of this natural beauty.”  His fingers found her nipples and rolled them, the sensation already new and different from when the piercings had been there. 

She felt like she was starting all over again, and there wasn’t another man in the world she wanted to start over with than the one standing in front of her.  Leaning into him, she hummed in appreciation, the sound deep in her throat.

While his eyes bumped up to hers, he murmured, “I smell something delicious emanating from that oven.  Are you going to feed me now?”

“Let’s go, Doctor.”  Before she could go far, he moved in close and wrapped his arms around her naked torso.

“What did you make?” 

“Lasagna.”

“Nice,” he groaned appreciatively.

They both took a moment to stare into each other’s eyes, then as if they couldn’t control themselves any longer, went at each other, the lasagna forgotten.  Within seconds, their actions turned more aggressive, with him angling her head and holding it still so he could continue his assault to her mouth.  The softness of his lips was at odds with the firmness of his hold on her.

She was completely surrounded by him, his scent, his heat, his lips, his arms, his hard muscular build that engulfed her.  There was nothing better.

She wound her arms around his neck and ran her fingers onto his close cropped hair, while she went at his mouth.  His hand gripped her hair and pulled her head back.

She gasped in protest.

He gave her a lazy smile.  “Do you think we should probably get to dinner?” He kissed her neck and sucked lightly at her skin.  “God, you smell good.”

A shudder went through her as her eyes rolled back in ecstasy.  “I’m not feeling very hungry at the moment,” she slurred, finding it difficult to focus.

“Really? That’s a shame.  I am.”  His lips moved across her neck to the other side and rested behind her ear.  Both of his hands dug into her hair and he whispered, “We should probably get dinner first so we have energy.”  He continued suckling her skin between his lips.

She let out a shaky sound, his lips tickling her.  “Uh, huh.  We’ll need our energy.  Right.”  He rubbed his erection into her, and let out a sound of appreciation.  She whimpered out a laugh.  His lips were making her crazy.  “But I think we can dig deep and find the energy we need.”  She wanted him so badly, she couldn’t think of anything else. 

“We’ll have some lasagna,” he continued as if she hadn’t spoken.  He was back to kissing the front of her neck again, his hands still in her hair.  “Listen to some music.”  He kissed her chin.  He lightly kissed her mouth, then returned to that spot behind her ear.

She was in a sexual haze and couldn’t help but rub herself into him, feeling little explosions of happiness under her skin wherever they connected.  His hands went down to her ass and pressed her into him fully.  They both stopped moving and looked into each other’s eyes.

“I want to take this slowly.” He ground into her.

“So you’ve said,” she whispered.  “But we took it slowly last night,” she whined.  “And you don’t have to continue to go slowly for me.” 

“We’ll have dinner, talk a little, and
then
.”  He was still holding her pressed to him, the cores of their bodies pulsing into each other. 

She squirmed into him and held his face, kissing him softly.  As if he couldn’t resist touching her, he kissed her back, pressing into her.

“You’re not going to change my mind,” he groaned softly.

She smiled.  “You sure about that?”  She kissed the side of his face.

“Make no mistake,
after
dinner and some,” he swallowed, “
stimulating
conversation.  But by all means I will thoroughly enjoy you trying to change my mind,” he chuckled. “I won’t though.  I’m determined.”

She held his face again, this time looking into his eyes seriously.  “Why?  Why are we waiting?”

He was serious right back.  “Because. I don’t want to tear into you like an animal.”

Her heart melted at his words, but she still kept at him.  “Why not?” she grumbled, knowing she sounded whiny, but she couldn’t help it.

He laughed out a groan.  “Slowly, Tiff,” he said again.  “Slowly.” His hips moved into hers. 

The man was torturing her.

“Dinner.”  He kissed her neck, her eyes, her mouth, then sighed and stepped back.

“Drew?”  She needed to hear him say it.

“Yeah?”

Her mind wandered to the last argument she’d had with her ex when she’d asked for the divorce.

“You can’t divorce me...you agreed for better or worse...I can’t help it if I’m an overly sexual person and you don’t like it as much as me...I have needs, Tiff...I just need a little more variety, so let’s figure out how we can make this work in the marriage.” 

What a joke it had been.  She’d laughed in his face.  The secure, confident Tiffany Daniels knew his cheating ways were her ex’s problem, but hearing for ten years that she wasn’t quite enough for him began rearing its ugly head.