House of Payne: Steele (21 page)

Twist gave her a thumbs-up. “I know Payne. Going above and beyond is something he’s going to like, because he’s always thinking long-term. If you can show you’ve put a full-throttle effort into creating for the House, he’s going to love you forever. How many of my designs are you using for the kid stuff?”

“Who said I’m using any of your Goth stuff for the kids?” In fact, she had used a couple of his designs—a spiky-winged dragon for the boys and a black rose for the girls—but he didn’t need to know that until the show. “I did, however, use a lot of Angel’s designs.”

Angel, on the other side of Twist, leaned forward to hold her hand up for a high-five, which Essie gave her right in front of Twist’s vexed face.

“Essie, don’t tease your brother. You know his feelings are delicate.” Failing miserably at hiding a grin, her mother Lynette poured iced tea from a pitcher into her glass. “Try to include him wherever you can so he won’t feel left out.”

“Shit,” Twist muttered, and it made Essie chuckle. He said it so low it was obvious her big, tough-as-nails Goth tattooist brother didn’t want to be overheard by their mother. “My feelings are not
delicate
.”

Angel patted his hand. “Of course not, baby.”

“And,” Twist went on, scowling, “does everyone remember that it was
my
suggestion to Scout that brought Essie to the House in the first place?”

“Which is why Essie won’t forget about pushing your tattoo designs once she wins this stupid contest,” Ed put in, unconcerned with his volatile son’s reaction. “With your tattoo designs and her fashion designs, you two will take over House Of Payne in no time. Now shut up and eat the dinner your mother slaved away to make for you.”

This contest couldn’t come to a conclusion fast enough, Essie thought on a sigh.

It was dark by the time Essie walked to where her car sat, and once she was safely locked inside it she waved a farewell to her father to show she was safe. She was just about to put on her seatbelt when she heard her text chime. Glancing up to see her father had already gone back inside, she reached for her phone, then caught her breath when her heart tried to leap out of her body.

Look up, sweetness.

“What?” Baffled, she automatically looked up through the car’s windshield. In the next second her jaw dropped when she spotted a familiar quad cab truck pulling slowly away from the curb farther down the street to roll toward her, headlights blinking.

Chapter Twenty

“Holy crap, he’s back.” She heard herself say it out loud, but she was too surprised and thrilled to note that she was now talking to herself. When Steele pulled up to where she sat and rolled his window down, she scrabbled for the window’s button to do the same, while everything inside jumped for joy at seeing him again.

Seriously, being in love made her into such a dewy-eyed sap.

“Hey there, beautiful.” Steele smiled down at her, while that rumbling voice with its alluring hint of the South made her toes curl. “Did you have a nice dinner with your folks?”

“I…yeah,” she said faintly, flabbergasted, before she realized he probably hadn’t heard her over the sound of the truck’s engine. “Dinner was great, thanks for asking. How did you know I was having dinner at my parents’ house?”

“I tracked you to this neighborhood and figured since you were visiting at this time of night, it had to be dinner.”

“It’s an important Santiago family tradition. Sunday night means dinner over at Mom and Dad’s.” Then she shook her head. Like he needed to know any of that. “I wish I’d known you were going to be in town, sweetheart. I would have invited you over for some great home cooking.” And yeah, she’d admit it—to meet the family.

“I didn’t know I was going to be back in town myself until the guy we’d been hired to guard went home early. You ready to follow me out of here? I’ve been sitting here for a while imagining having you all to myself, and I’m getting pretty antsy to make all my imaginings a reality.”

Feverish heat flushed her skin in an all-over body blush. “You should have knocked on the door as soon as you got here. We could have made our excuses and been together all this time.”

“If I’d done that, there’s no way I could’ve gotten you out of there without getting the third-degree by everyone in that house. Since that was a definite deflating prospect, I decided to keep to myself. Now,” he went on when the mention of
deflating
made her smirk, “are you going to follow me outta here, or what?”

For an answer, she reached for her seatbelt and started the car.

She wasn’t surprised when he took a route that led straight to his place, though her place was closer. Her tiny studio didn’t have enough room for what she suspected he had in mind, considering there was only room for the couch. Her suspicion was pretty much confirmed after she parked next to his truck in a private garage nestled in the building he owned. As she closed the car door behind her, she didn’t even have time to pocket her keys before she was hauled into Steele’s powerful arms. Her feet left the ground as he enveloped her in a fierce embrace, his face coming to press into the hollow of her neck as if he wanted to burrow under her skin and become a part of her.

“Damn, you feel good, Essie. Like comfort and happiness and home.” His words were growled into her throat, vibrating through her until they were all she felt. “I’ve had some long-ass days in my time, but I swear these past eight days were the fucking
longest
.”

Happily she sifted her hands through his thick, waving hair. She could play with his hair for days and not get bored. “Tell me about it.”

“Did you miss me, sweetness?”

“I never knew I could miss someone like I’ve missed you.” His mouth came up and captured hers on the last word of her confession, as if he couldn’t wait long enough for her to finish speaking before he got a taste of her.

Even if he hadn’t held her suspended inches above the ground, she had no doubt that she would have floated right off her feet as his mouth opened on hers. Vaguely she was aware of him walking through the semidarkness of the garage before they emerged in the yellow and bronze glow of the entrance hall. And all the while, his mouth never stopped making love with hers, as if he couldn’t fill himself enough with the taste of her.

“I’m addicted to you,” he muttered against her lips, at last setting her on her feet so they could ascend the stairs. “So fucking addicted that I don’t even care that I’m hooked. All I care about is getting my next Essie fix.”

“Here’s hoping you never enter a twelve-step program to kick the habit.” As they moved up to the second level, she offered her mouth to him while sliding a loving hand down his back to the curve of his rock-hard ass. Her fingers dug in, testing that spectacular strength, and gloried in his quick intake of breath. “I’m just as addicted to you, and I don’t want to be alone in that addiction.”

“No worries on that score.” He grabbed her again as they neared his darkened bedroom, hauling her up like a princess and capturing her mouth again in a quick, hard kiss. “We’re in this together.”

That sounded great to her.

He deposited her on the military-neat made bed with a light bounce before he left her. A moment later light flared by the bedside, and she watched him with a burgeoning excitement she couldn’t hide. “I’m glad you put the light on. I love watching your face when you come inside me.”

“Listen to you.” Something both ravenous and delighted rippled through his expression, even as his scorching gaze roamed over her. “Where did my shy little Teacher’s Pet go?”

“Do you not approve?”

“You kidding? I’m frigging proud of how far you’ve come, Es. Your courage is one of the many, many things about you that gets me hot.”

“Really?” Kicking off her leather mules, she sat back on her calves in the middle of the bed and held a hand out to him. “Come show me just how hot you are. I need convincing.”

“Damn, woman.” He took a short breath, as if he couldn’t find enough air in the room, before opening a drawer in the nightstand to fish out the almost-depleted box of condoms. “Last couple of times we’ve been together, you’ve managed to give me the Holy Grail for men—the legendary multiple orgasm.”

She couldn’t keep stop the beaming smile. “You have no idea how proud I am of that. Felt good, didn’t it, Professor?”

“Jesus, fuck, yeah.” A shudder went through him, his face taut with raw hunger. God, he’d never looked sexier. “Problem is, both times I overflowed the condom. Hell, the last time I obliterated the damn thing altogether.”

“I know.” They’d discussed the condom failure when it had been discovered, and she lifted a shoulder as the faint echo of melancholy echoed through her. “I told you what the doctors said after my attack—they said I’d have a difficult time getting pregnant due to future scarring. Pregnancy could happen, but their exact words were ‘you have the same chance of getting pregnant as you do getting struck by lightning.’ Not exactly promising.”

“I get that, but lightning can strike even when blue skies are overhead, so I’m not taking any chances this time around.”

She eyed the condom box, bewildered. “Are you going to, uh, double-wrap?” That didn’t sound like a whole lot of fun for him.

He shook his head and began unbuttoning his shirt. “It’s time for your next lesson—Oral 201, and on tap for this particular lesson is everything oral.
Everything
. Think you can handle it?”

Suddenly she was the one who found it difficult to breathe. “I doubt anyone could ever truly
handle
you, but I’ll do my best. I’ve been very curious about how you taste.”

“Jesus.” A harsh sound escaped him, and it made her pause, suddenly uncertain.

“Is that wrong? Or weird? Or—”

“No, baby, it’s excellent.” The hungry smile he graced her with made her flush all over. “Christ, it’s fucking
fantastic
.”

She relaxed with a smile. “Whew. Good.”

“Remember this, Essie—there’s no such thing as
wrong
when we’re together. Do whatever you want, say whatever you want. We don’t have boundaries, you and I. Not when it comes to this. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Good. Now… you’re overdressed for class, Pet.”

Without another word, Essie rose to her feet. Standing barefoot in the middle of the bed and eyes locked on his the way he liked it, her hands went to the side zip of her skirt. It was a summer-light creation made of yellow gauze and chiffon, and it floated down to pool at her feet with a shimmy of her hips. The matching sleeveless top was next, and in a handful of moments she stood before him in nothing but a matching set of bra and panties in a pretty shade of buttercup yellow. She couldn’t help but smile as his eyes made a meal of her. The obvious appreciation in his heated gaze made her feel more beautiful than she ever had in her life.

“Now who’s overdressed?”

“You are.” The roughness in his voice thrilled her beyond measure. He sounded like a man straining against an invisible leash that was slowly strangling him, and everything in her yearned to snap that leash in two. “Everything off, Pet. Now. Your Professor wants to see every luscious inch of you.”

“Have you noticed that I’m the only one who regularly gets naked around here?” Some little devil got inside her, prompting her to pivot on the bed until her back was to him. Taking her time, she reached behind herself to unhook her bra’s catch, then glanced back at him as she gave her shoulders a sinuous shrug to make the straps slip off. “I’ve noticed it anyway. Am I wrong?”

His heated gaze was like a tangible thing, roaming over her bare back, her ass, her thighs. It took him a long while to retrace his route back up to her eyes. “I’ll get there soon enough, baby. Keep going.”

“It’s just that I’m always first. Why is that?”

“As your professor I have to keep it professional, but I promise we’ll be on equal footing tonight. Now, go more slowly with the panties, sweetness. Slow enough to make me hurt. Make me enjoy the view.”

“If you insist, Professor.” She tossed the bra aside, then hooked her thumbs inside the hem of her panties, pleased with how the pastel color looked against her darker, golden skin. With any luck, he liked the contrast as well. “I wonder though… how slow is slow?” With a smile that had to be as naughty as she suddenly felt, she rolled her hips a bit and felt the lacy hem of her panties slide just pass the crack of her ass. Then she arched her lower back and pulled the thin material taut so that it became like a second skin and she could feel the slight discomfort of the fabric wedging between her cheeks. “Is this slow enough for you, Professor?”

She heard him swallow. “You know what, fuck slow. Get them off.”

“But I think I like slow.” Pulling her panties higher until they fit her like a thong, she then ran her hands over the generous bubble of her bare ass cheeks and gave them a squeeze. “Yeah, I’ve decided. Slow is good. We. Are. Doing. Slow.”

“You have,” he gritted out through what sounded like the world’s tightest jaw, “the finest apple-bottom ass I have ever seen, and if you don’t uncover it completely for me in the next ten seconds, you’re going to leave me no choice but to spank every fucking inch of it. One. Two. Three…”

Waves of goose bumps broke out over her flesh at the promise that was both ominous and delicious. Surely he wouldn’t actually
spank
her, like some misbehaving little brat.

Would he?

“Four.”

Hm.

Wet heat bloomed between her thighs, her cleft throbbing with a rush of blood that was sparked by pure, raw lust. It made her squirm in a fever of delight as she leisurely pulled the fragile material down inch by agonizing inch until it was just under the fullness of her cheeks. There she paused again to give him another look over her shoulder.

“There. That should be uncovered enough for you, right? It should be. I mean, this
is
exactly what you asked for. But that’s
all
that you asked for. So that’s all you get.” She couldn’t hide the breathlessness in her voice, even as she gave her booty an experimental bounce, just to see if he’d like it.

His eyes became so hot it was a wonder she didn’t explode into flames as their focus moved from her butt to her, and inexorably back again as he began to strip. “Five, six, seven, eight.”

“Too fast.” A squeal escaped her as she slithered the panties down her thighs. She could have simply let them fall once they reached her knees, but if her man wanted to get an eyeful, that was what he was going to get.

“Nine.” She heard the jingle of his belt buckle, then the sound of clothes hitting the floor.

Ah.

Music to her ears.

She wasn’t an insanely flexible person, but she could touch her toes and almost press her nose to her knees. That was the position she assumed now as her panties at last brushed her ankles. She concentrated on lifting a foot free of the delicate material without losing her balance on the cushioned surface when hard, scorching hands clamped unexpectedly around her naked hips.

“Ten.” Before she could draw a breath, she felt his teeth sink into the inner swell of her ass cheek close to where her legs came together.

“
Steele
.” Shock, and a vast wave of desire surged through her when her velvety folds hiding the entrance were brushed by his mouth.

“You offer yourself up by getting into this outrageously fuckable pose, don’t be mad when I take you up on it.” His hands moved to possess her butt cheeks and exerting pressure so that she had to step wider or fall over.

“Yeah, that’s it. You know you want to spread wider for me, don’t you?” The wet slide of his tongue against her outer folds shocked her anew and she stiffened, trying to straighten. What the hell, she thought, her heart thudding. When he’d mentioned
oral
, she’d assumed he’d meant just
him
. He couldn’t possibly like the taste or smell of her intimate place, especially when she’d already soaked her panties through before she’d stripped them off. She couldn’t let him do that again, she absolutely
couldn’t
.