Song Chaser (Chasers) (9 page)

Damn him and his magic lips.

Trista shakes her head and takes another sip of her weird looking green smoothie. She’s on some cleansing diet and hasn’t eaten solid food in a week. I love her, but she always tries the strangest things. “I don’t know, Kel. It sounds to me like he’s not ready to be around her or her boo thang without having a dime piece of his own. Maybe he’s using you.”

I l
ean against the counter and knead my fingers on my temple, trying to relieve the stress building in my skull. “Do you really think that?” I ask, my head popping up so I can meet her eyes. “After what I told you about our date?”

She shrugs, “I mean, I’ve been fooled by many men, so nothing surprises me much anym
ore. But who knows, maybe he really does just want you there.”

“Ugh,” I huff. “It’s not fair. What if I want to punch her in the face? Or worse,” I hesitate. “What if I
like
her?”

Trista
laughs, “I wouldn’t be surprised if you did like her. You like everyone. Hell, I was a bitch to you the first year of us being roommates and you still somehow liked me.”

I smile, “I had to do some convincing to get you to like me, though.”

“Eh, I still don’t like you,” she grins and jumps up to drop her cup in the sink. “Alright, I’m heading out so you and lover boy can have the apartment. Can you tell him to at least put a shirt on if he sleeps on the couch again? That is, if he isn’t in your bed.” She winks and I smack her on the arm.

“Not funny!”

“Who’s laughing?” she teases, grabbing her coat. “I’ll be back around noon tomorrow, just in case you need to make yourself decent.” We both laugh as she opens the door to leave, but immediately stop when we see Tanner standing in the frame. His left hand is raised like he was about to knock, and in his right hand rests one of the prettiest bouquets I’ve ever seen. I wish I could say it was the flowers that rendered us speechless, but I have a feeling it has more to do with how incredibly mouthwatering he looks right now.

His light brown hair is
tousled perfectly, the stubble on his face making it look even sexier. He’s dressed in faded blue jeans, a half sleeve, light blue dress shirt and a vest. His shirt is unbuttoned at the top, making him look so casual – yet so fucking sexy I want to rip it off him. And of course, his honey eyes are ablaze, blending with his tan skin and playing off the low lighting of the apartment.

“Hey girls. You heading out,
Trista?” he asks, waiting for her to move to the side or walk out the door. Or to stop staring at him. Or to really just move at all.

“Uh, yeah. I was, uh, going to leave you two kids alone.” She turns back to me and her mouth is open, her eyes wide. I know she’s trying to communicate something to me without saying it, but she doesn’t have to – I know exactly what’s on her mind.

He laughs softly, “Oh shit, you’re leaving me alone with her? And she’s cooking?” He turns his attention to me, and my thighs clench in response. “This is a trap, isn’t it?”

Trista
and I both laugh, maybe a little too loudly, as Trista excuses herself without another word. Tanner closes the door behind him and crosses the room to meet me in the kitchen, handing me the flowers.

“Before you even say anything, I’ve never brought another girl flowers, so just take them and shut up.”

I smile, “Well gee, when you’re so romantic like that, how can I refuse?” He flashes his sexy half grin as I take the flowers and put them in water.

“Whatever you’re making smells amazing.”

“Really? I was so sure the rat poison would seep through.”

He laughs, “Nope, can’t smell it at all. Looks like you’ll have a dead man without any hassle.”

“Whew,” I wipe my forehead. “What a relief.” I laugh a little, but then my smile fades as I remember our conversation from earlier at Sal’s. I just want to tell him never mind, to tell him that I can’t meet Paisley. I also kind of want to punch him in the face for asking me in the first place.

His smile
fades a little, too, as his eyes devour my body – slowly gliding from my eyes, down to my legs, and then back up. “Come here,” he says in his low voice.

I take a few steps toward him before he wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me into him, his hand brushing the side of my face
and moving into my hair. “How are you?”

I try to look away from him, but he gently pulls my chin back so that his eyes meet mine. “I’m okay,” I lie.

He frowns, a soft wrinkle forming between his brows. “You’re lying. Talk to me.”

I sigh, breaking free from his hold and crossing
the room to pull a beer from the refrigerator. I pop it open and hand it to Tanner, “I don’t know, Tanner. I’m as good as I can be after having the guy I made out with three days ago tell me he wants me to meet the woman he’s in love with.”

Tanner’s shoulders fall and he sets the bottle down without taking a drink, “Shit, I’m sorry, Kellee. You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.
” His eyes fall a little and he sits down at the dining table, peeling the label off his beer. “Hell, I don’t even know if I really want to see her. Part of me is excited, part of me is still pissed off,” he sighs heavily, leaning back in his chair and looking at me again. “And another part of me is just scared shitless of what I’m going to feel when I see them together.”

God, I want to be mad. I want to be pissed off enough to kick him out of my apartment. But right now, with his shoulders slumped over and
his brows furrowed together in pain, I can’t find any other emotion to feel for him but sympathy. And something else that I shouldn’t be feeling, something way too strong for how long I’ve known him.

I sigh, plopping down into the chair next to him. “I’m not going to let you go through that alone, Tanner. I’m going to be there,” I bite my lip, choosing my next words carefully. “But I need to know where I stand. I’m not saying I need you to make any promises that you can’t keep or anything, but I need to know what this is,” I motion between us. “What we are.”

He smiles again, making my stomach flip. “Are we something?”

I smile too, half pissed at myself for it and half not giving a shit. “I just mean that I need to know what I a
m to you, what you want from me,” I chew the inside of my cheek, hesitant to ask what I really want to. “Are you just using me to make Paisley mad?”

Tanner’s
smile fades abruptly, concern replacing the curiosity. He moves to kneel on the floor in front of my chair, taking my waist in his hands again. “I’m not using you for anything, Frecks. Look at me,” he pulls my chin up, melting my fucking panties with those honey eyes of his. “I don’t know what this is yet. I sure as hell have no idea what I want, not just with you but with life in general. I’m fucked up, I can’t deny that. She broke me. But, I wasn’t lying when I said those things to you today. You’re finding me. You’re bringing back the parts of myself that I thought I had lost forever.” He sighs, his head falling a little. “I can’t promise anything right now other than to not bullshit with you. I will never lie to you about what I’m feeling, or where my head’s at, and right now – my head is completely focused on you.”

My heart feels like it’s about to beat right out of my chest. Tanner is looking at me like he’s not good enough to touch me and like he can’t keep his fucking hands off me all at the same time. I inhale deep, my breath shaky as I try to find the words to say. I want to talk about it more – about what she is to him, about when she’s coming and what I’m going to have to deal with – but right now all I can think about is how his hands feel on my waist, and how I wish he would touch
every inch of my body with those hands.

“Kiss me,” I breathe.

Tanner doesn’t waste another second. His lips find mine, soft and gentle at first, but then a fire consumes us both and I’m biting his neck as he lifts me from my chair. He kisses down my collarbone and then back up to my ear, sending chills cascading down my arms and legs. I moan softly, running my fingers through his hair and tugging a little as I pull his lips back to mine. He slides his tongue between my lips and takes my mouth, deepening the kiss as his hands explore my body.

“How long until dinner?” he pants between kisses.

“Maybe twenty minutes.”

“That’ll do,” he replies, carrying me to the couch.

Tanner’s hands are hungry as he positions himself on top of me, pulling the straps of my tank top down to kiss my shoulders. He nips and sucks softly, trailing a line from my shoulders, to my neck, across my collar bone, and back again. Slowly, he kisses a little lower, sucking at the swell just above the hem of my top. I inhale sharply, my fingers gripping his hair.

“You taste so sweet,” he mumbles against my skin,
lighting it on fire. He lifts my shirt and slowly kisses down my stomach, stopping just above the hem of my shorts. He blazes a trail of fire with his tongue from one hip to the other, working the buttons and zipper until he has my shorts loose enough to pull down my shaking legs and throw across the room. He smiles up at me, his sexy half grin silently killing me, and then he completely takes my breath away – because he pulls my panties off with his teeth.

With. His.
Teeth
.

Suddenly, my heart is beating in my throat. I’m not
a virgin, but I’m definitely nowhere near as experienced as Tanner, no matter how cocky my façade may be. My legs are shaking uncontrollably and I feel it start to move up to my hands. Tanner stops kissing my thighs and looks up at me, his face laden with concern.

“Are you okay?” he asks, moving to position himself on top of me again. He brushes the hair from my face and pulls my shaking hand to his lips, kissing my fingers softly as he waits for me to reply.

I nod, though not confidently. “I hate admitting this to you, but I’m not that experienced.”

He smiles devilishly, his eyes lighting the fire in my stomach again. “You think I don’t know that? Why do you think I’m going so slow?”

I let out of a puff of air, “This is
slow
?”

His grin grows wider, “Trust me – if I had it my way, your ankles
would have been on my shoulders the first night I saw you.”

I swallow hard, desperately wanting that to happen right now, but also insanely terrified.

“Relax,” he says, kissing my fingers one last time before sliding back down my body. He bites the inside of my left thigh and I arch my back in response. “I’m not taking you tonight, not yet. When I do, you’ll be ready – and I
will
hear you scream my name.”

I inhale sharply as he bites and sucks at my thighs, moving achingly close to where I really want his mouth to be. He trails his tongue along the crease of my legs and hips and I moan uncontrollably.

“Tanner,” I whisper, moaning at the pleasure his mouth is causing.

He smiles against my skin, “Damn, I might just like when you moan it better than when you scream it.” Finally, he closes the gap and his mouth is on me. He flicks his tongue against my clit, circling wildly and alternating with sucking and biting. My skin is on fire, every sense awakened in this moment.

I let my head fall back and the moans escaping my lips grow louder, more intense. Tanner growls, “You taste so fucking good, Kellee.”

His words send chills racing up my body and I feel my nipples pucker under my top. I grab a pillow and bite down hard, trying to calm my moaning, but Tanner rips it away from me.

“Hell no, I want to hear you. I want to memorize what you sound like coming for me.”

Without warning, he slides his fingers inside me and begins working them in rhythm with his tongue. The combination is too much. I bite my lip, trying to fight off the scream threatening to escape my throat, but it’s no use. I’ve never had a man touch me like this, never experienced an
electricity so powerful. I clench my thighs, grabbing Tanner’s head to pull his mouth closer.

And then I explode.

Pleasure courses through me like a rolling thunder, rumbling from my core to my toes. I can’t tell if I’m screaming loudly or whimpering, maybe both, but everything is muffled by the mind numbing electricity ripping me apart.

When it finally calms and my body floats down, Tanner kisses me one last time before
climbing back up to kiss my lips. He tugs on my bottom lip before sliding his tongue inside my mouth and I taste him mixed with me, a sweet combination.

“Well, I guess we can cross off another first,” I pant, my breathing still erratic from my orgasm.

Tanner quirks a brow, “We can?”

I nod, “I’ve never had a guy, you know, do that.”
Not that they haven’t tried, but I guess I never really wanted it. I never really felt the desire for it.

Until now.

He smiles his sexy half smile, pulling me in for another long, deep kiss. “I think I fucked up your dinner.”

“
No, I think there’s still a few minutes left. It shouldn’t have burned or anything,” I lean up, checking the time on the oven.

He laughs softly, pulling me to sit on his lap. “I mean by having dessert, first.”

I smile as he kisses me, my body throbbing with the memory of his tongue. I think maybe there should always be dessert before dinner.