Tweet Me (3 page)

“Please, Tanner. Oh, god, please.”

“Please what?” he reminded her.

“Pleasefuckmewithyourtongue.” The words came out all jumbled together.

He pressed his mouth to her again, his low laugh vibrating against her over sensitized flesh. But then he drove his tongue into her again, drawing it back and pushing it inside her, slowly at first then picking up speed. Avery gripped the spindles to anchor herself as she bucked up to him, planting her feet on the bed for better leverage.

The moment she was sure she couldn’t stand it for one more minute, he drove in harder and pinched her clit between thumb and forefinger, hard. The climax that had been teetering on the edge exploded with a violent intensity. Tanner fucked her hard with his tongue, continuing to torment her clit as he did so, working her until the spasms shaking her began to subside.

Slowly, she came down from her orgasm, the spasms fading to aftershocks and the aftershocks fading to tiny quivers and tremors. He never stopped using his tongue on her until she was completely spent, a quivering mass on the bed, her breathing uneven, her heart still hammering against her chest.

Tanner levered himself upward and brushed his mouth against hers.

“Taste yourself on me, baby.” His voice was low and guttural. “You taste like ten kinds of heaven. I could tongue-fuck you forever, and that’s the damn truth.”

“I don’t know if I could take it.” She laughed but the sound was soft and thready.

“How about if I slide my cock into you? Could you handle that?”

“Mmm. I could sure try. I—”

Bong! Bong! Bong!

The noise pounded into her subconscious, startling Avery so she sat up with a jerk.

What? Huh?

The alarm on her phone continued to hammer the gong sound into the early morning stillness of her bedroom. She shook herself and shoved the hair out of her eyes. Her heart was racing, and her body was covered with sweat.

The dream! Holy crap! The dream!

She reached for the phone to shut off the alarm and flopped back on her pillows. Where had the damn dream come from? The dinner, that was where. The moment their hands touched she was surprised the air around them didn’t light up like it was high noon. She knew from the way his eyes widened for a brief second that Tanner felt it, too. She’d just have to do everything in her power to let him know it meant nothing. Nothing at all.

Ha!

Even now, heat consumed her as the dream flashed over her again. She closed her eyes, recapturing the last moments, her hand stealing down to her pussy, as if she could still feel Tanner’s tongue there. Oh! My! God!

Guiltily, she yanked her hand back and squeezed her thighs together. Her first thought was that dream sex with Tanner was better than any she’d had in real life. The second was she had to get it out of her brain, especially since she was meeting up with him today.

She threw back the rumpled covers and stumbled into the bathroom, determined to wash away every vestige of the dream from her mind as well as her body. But as she stood beneath the steaming hot water, snippets of the dream came back to her. My god, the man had an educated tongue. And didn’t he know just how to play her body like a musical instrument. Tuning it up for the finale. But just as her hand stole down to her pussy again, she managed to stop herself.

No, no, no. Not good. Not good at all. There was undeniable chemistry between them, had been from the first time they’d met. She thought she’d been doing a masterful job of hiding it and suppressing it. Apparently, not as good as she thought. And now they were going to be thrown together in an intimate situation—

No! Not intimate! No, no, no. Personal, but not intimate. She needed to remember that.

She poured shower gel into her palm, rubbed it into lather, and began soaping her body. Why on earth was she even dreaming about sex with Tanner Voss? She did not do casual, and if what she’d heard was to be believed, that was all the man was interested in. She’d learned very early, after a couple of miserable failures, that if she did not have an emotional connection to the man she was with, sex was little more than an exercise. It left her feeling unfulfilled and vaguely disappointed.

Nope, she was just one of those women who needed a solid relationship to enjoy the pleasures of sex to the fullest. Which, of course, put a severe crimp in her social life since, these days, sex seemed to be on everyone’s menu along with the appetizer and dessert. Not to mention the fact she seemed to choose very poorly where those relationships were concerned. The last two had crashed and burned, and she was still sweeping up the emotional ashes.

She had about decided to put all of her energy into her business, which had taken a huge leap forward, and forget about looking for The Right Man. So it shocked her that on the heels of that thought an image of Tanner Voss flashed across her mental television screen. A naked Tanner Voss. What the heck? She had never seen him naked, nor did she even want to. Right? Right?

You are so lying to yourself.

The little devil that kept pushing her discipline was whispering in her ear, tempting her over the line.

Except, Tanner wasn’t the man for her under any circumstances. She liked him, enjoyed his company when they were together, but dating? A relationship? Not when they wanted such different things. Which was why she’d always shut down any of his overtures to her.

By the time she finished showering and shampooing her hair, she felt a headache building as a result of the argument with herself. She popped two acetaminophen, then set about blow-drying her hair, dressing, and applying her makeup. But the damn images from the dream just would not leave her alone. She’d better get over them before she met up with the man himself later today.

I can do it. I can get through this for Janice. I can do it because I’m going to kill her when this is all over.

The chimes on her phone had been ringing incessantly while she pulled herself together and dressed. Now she accessed her twitter feed and scrolled through all the tweets. She’d asked each of her suppliers to set up a separate Twitter handle to communicate with her, as she did with her clients and her staff. Some had grumbled but then discovered they liked the efficiency of it. Those who really fussed about it, she texted, but they were getting fewer and fewer.

Both Shelby and Noelle had tweeted her with questions. The woman she’d run into at Havva Cup during her coffee with Janice asked to schedule a meeting. Three of her other clients had questions as did some of her suppliers. Everyone always wanted something at the same time. She gave a mental shrug, reminding herself that was the nature of her business, a business, by the way, she loved. She fixed herself a cup of coffee from her wonderful single serving machine and sat down with the hot brew to tweet back to everyone. Finally, she checked her calendar again and headed off for her appointment with a new linen supplier.

Hopefully, by the time she saw Tanner today, all those irritating feelings as well as her headache would have disappeared.

****

Tanner parked in front of Sweet Treats, noted that he was a few minutes early and decided to wait outside for Avery. He’d thought of little except her since their dinner meeting. He considered himself a very disciplined person, especially where his work was concerned. But the last couple of days had really tested his self-control. With any other woman, he would have figured out quickly how to seduce her into bed, exhausted himself with sex, and been over it.

With Avery, it was different. For one thing, he’d learned through what he hoped were subtle questions to Janice that Avery did not do casual sex. For another, Janice had managed to make it plain that when Avery hooked up with someone it wasn’t a sexually hungry playboy like Tanner. Okay, so his reputation preceded him. But this was his opportunity to show her he was serious, if he could just get her to give him a chance.

While he was examining possibilities in his mind, her silver SUV pulled into the curb two spaces up from him. She climbed gracefully out of the vehicle, grabbed her ever-present messenger bag, and headed toward him. Today, she wore a navy sleeveless dress, which exposed her toned arms and had a skirt that swished around her knees in a way that made his cock instantly hard.

Damn! It seemed everything about Avery Kurtz made his cock swell and demand attention. He shifted slightly and hoped by the time she walked up to him he’d be at least semi-presentable.

“All set to select the candies?” She grinned, as if waiting for him to throw up his hands and run. But he also saw a momentary surge of heat in her eyes, suppressed as quickly as it came. Oh, yes, she felt the same thing he did. Getting her to admit it would be another challenge.

“Sure am. Let’s do it.” He still had no idea what the big deal was about candy for a wedding, but he had made a promise and he was game for anything.

A bell tinkled as soon as they opened the door to Sweet Treats, and the aroma of chocolate assailed him, making his mouth water. A row of display cases featuring a large assortment of candies of every size and shape was the first thing that greeted him. Chocolate had always been one of his weaknesses, a fact that had driven him to a full out exercise program when he was younger or he’d look like a blimp. His taste buds were already hollering for attention.

“Hi, Avery.” A smiling woman Tanner guessed to be in her forties came out of the back and greeted Avery.

“Hey, Donna. You got my tweet about Janice’s wedding, right?”

“Uh huh. Many. Three weeks? Is she crazy?”

Avery laughed. “I think she’s doing it just to test me. Donna, this is Tanner Voss. He’s doing all the tasting and choosing with me.”

Donna’s eyebrows took a hike almost to her hairline. “Ohhhhh?” She drew the word out. “Do tell. Is he a special, um, taster?

“Cut it out.” Avery laughed again. “Janice and Will tell me he’ll do just fine. This is his first test so let’s get started, shall we?”

Avery led him to a small table set off to one side while Donna filled a tray with a wide assortment of candies. What we have to decide today is which flavors to use for the candies at each place on the table and which ones for the little pink bags Janice wants to give out at the end.” She grinned at him. “Ready, big guy?”

He nodded. “I am equal to the task.”

In point of fact, he couldn’t seem to get enough of the little confections, even asking to taste some of them three or four times. The candies were so well made the chocolate melted on his tongue as soon as he popped it in his mouth, the distinctive flavor of each one making his taste buds beg for more.

“I definitely vote for the Kahlua flavor,” he said, wiping chocolate from his lips. “And maybe the hazelnut, too.”

“Kahlua and hazelnut, huh?” Avery winked at him. “Good choices. Do you want to give me a description of why?”

“You mean like the burst of flavor on my tongue or the vestiges of it long after I swallow the candy?”

Her eyes widened. “You surprise me, Tanner. I didn’t know you were so well versed in candy.”

Today took him back to the times when he was a child and his mother took him to the candy shop for treats. She was the one who had taught him to appreciate the different flavors of candies. But since it didn’t exactly fit his image as a hotshot litigation attorney it wasn’t something he exactly broadcast.

Instead, he merely lifted one shoulder nonchalantly and let it drop. “I can be a sensitive male, you know, with delicate tastes and habits.”

She burst out laughing. “That’s a really good line. Sometime, you’ll have to tell me the truth. Anyway, you made good choices.” She looked at Donna. “I think we’ll go with the coffee-flavored chocolate also. Hazelnut for the tables and mix up the others in the guest bags.”

He wanted to tell her that he’d like to spread it all over her naked body and slowly lick off every single inch, but of course this wasn’t the time or the place.

Tanner sat there patiently while they turned to wrappers for the candy. Should they have Janice and Will and the date? Just Janice and Will? Just the initials? Cute sayings? They finally decided on the initials and the date, and they were done. Maybe the reason he never considered marriage was because he’d seen so many of his friends go through this and didn’t understand why they put themselves through the torture.

“You’ll get hit one day,” his friend Pete kept promising. “Then you’ll be only too happy to choose favors for the wedding party and if there should be red or orange tablecloths.

No, he wouldn’t be, he’d said vehemently. He’d agreed to do this to help out his best friend. And to be with Avery. Somehow it didn’t seem quite as onerous when he was sharing it with her. He’d tell her that except he was sure she’d figure him for handing her a line.

Donna wrote up the order and told Avery they’d deliver them to the hotel the morning of the wedding, with her name on the boxes.

“You did extremely well in there,” she said when they were outside again. “You surprise me.”

“I can be accommodating when the need arises,” he told her.

“It was more than that. You actually seemed interested in what we were doing.”

“And that surprised you?” He blew out a breath. “Listen, I might not do this on a daily basis, but Janice and Will are as important to me as they are to you. I’ve listened to enough talk about stuff like this that some of it stuck to me, and I want to do a really good job for our friends.”

He hoped that satisfied her.

“Then you’ll get a chance to do a good job at the dinner tasting. That’s very important.”

“I definitely want the dinner to taste good,” he answered in a solemn voice.

She frowned. “Are you putting me on?”

“Never. I’m all ready. Lead the way.”

At The Promenade, they gave their cars to valet parking and made their way into the hotel lobby.

“I need a couple of minutes,” Avery told him. “I have some tweets to reply to.”

“Sure. No problem.” He shoved his hands into his pockets. “I’ll just hang out and look like I’m attentively waiting for my wife.”

“Your wife? Are you kidding me?”