Moore to Lose (8 page)

“I’m such a buzz kill. Do I know how to kill a mood or what?” Mia’s smile was wry.
Stay out of my head, Moore. Go back to Malibu Barbie where you belong and stay the fuck out of my head.

Tom threaded his fingers through Mia’s curls and tipped her head back so that she had to look into his eyes.

What she saw was warm and caring.

“Jailbait, you are so different and so special and to tell you I want you does not remotely express what I have been feeling for a very long time — maybe even going as far back as being on my knees in the wet grass looking through your camera lens at wildflowers,” his voice lowered to a whisper, “I don’t want to scare you.”

Mia shook her head, “You don’t scare me, Teach. It’s just,” she paused to gather her thoughts, “it’s just that I haven’t been with anyone in a long time and I’m trying not to let the ghosts take control. I don’t even want them here, near us. Does that make sense?”

Nodding, Tom smoothed back Mia’s hair from her face. “Then don’t let them.” He was giving her that look, and she could hear the witch from The Wizard of Oz in her head saying “I’m melting.”

“You’re making me melt, Teach.”

He just continued to smooth back her hair and smile at her, the hotter than Miami on a summer’s day look in his eyes, and then there were those greedy lips on hers again, soft and demanding, and Mia wanted to devour him but he was already devouring her.

“Jailbait,” Mia gazed up from Tom’s fully clothed chest, where her head lay. They were both still fully clothed. “Morning,” he smiled, “it’s still really early and I think I should get out of here now before people start milling about.”

Mia moved from his chest, her head ached from lack of sleep. “Ok.” She felt suddenly bereft, not wanting him to leave, to sneak off into the night.

“You ok?” His dark brows knit questioningly.

“Yeah, I just don’t want you to leave.”

“I like that, Jailbait.” And he laid his head back down on the pillow next to hers.

“And just think, you are leaving here as pure as you arrived.” Tom threw his head back with laughter and Mia continued, “See, I told you I wouldn’t make you do anything you didn’t want to do.”

“But I do want to.” Tom pulled Mia against him. She dropped her hand down between them, grazing the front of his faded out, ass-hugging Levi’s.

“Ohhhh yeah, you do,” her eyes wide with excitement as she outlined the hardening bulge in his jeans with her fingernails. As he hardened beneath her fingers, Mia’s devil smile grew wider and wider.

“You’re incorrigible.”

Mia looked at him with her “You didn’t just figure that out now, did you?” look and he laughed.

She could feel his erection straining against his jeans and she wanted to take it out probably as much as he did. With a quick kiss on the lips, she ducked her head down the bed. Tom started to protest and Mia looked up at him and put her finger to her lips, “Shhhh.”

And then she did what he did not expect. She did not undo the top button of his jeans, she did not unzip his fly, she did not reach inside his jeans to pull him out and fondle him (even though she was dying to). With her teeth, Mia outlined Tom’s cock through his jeans. As she moved from base to tip at an excruciatingly slow pace, she opened her mouth so that her top teeth were on one side, her bottom teeth on the other.

The sound of his moan and the feel of his fingers in her hair, made Mia ache to have him inside of her. She nibbled the soft head of his cock through the coarse fabric.

“Oh God, Mia.” Tom reached down and pulled Mia on top of him so that they were lying face to face. Both panting, he took her face in his hands and pulled her lips down to his, kissing her roughly.

She could feel his cock between her legs and pressed down, “I want you,” she said into his mouth, rubbing along the length of him, slowly clockwise and then lifting her mouth off of his slightly to smile and changing her grinding to counterclockwise.

Grabbing her ass and pressing her tightly against him, Tom lifted his hips in sharp stabbing motions. Mia gasped into his mouth. “Yeah. That’s what I want to do to you — make you gasp.” He kept up the relentless stabbing while holding her firmly against him. The seam of her jeans was rubbing harshly against her clit, increasing sensitivity with each stab. Mia’s eyes were wide, her breathing ragged. “Let go, Mia.”

Mia shook her head no.

“Mia, let go.” Tom demanded, pressing her into him with more force.

“No,” she whimpered.

“I said let go,” his voice was harsh, his eyes demanding. “Let go, Mia.”

And then it was out of her control as she began to quake. Staring into his eyes and hearing her own sounds in her ears, feeling vulnerable and powerful, scared and excited, exhilarated and spent.

Tom pulled her face into his neck, hugging her to him tightly. “That was brilliant,” he whispered in her ear, “That was by far the hottest thing I have ever done with my clothes on.” Tom pulled her face close to his, looking into her eyes and smiling at her.

“What’s that look?”

“I have a feeling you are going to be surprise after surprise, Jailbait. Now, get some sleep.” Tom got out of bed and grabbed his baseball cap, pulling it down low over his eyes. Taking Mia’s chin in hand, he softly kissed her lips.

As he reached the door, Mia asked, “Hey, am I getting an A?”

“You’re getting better than that. You’re getting me.” And with a sexy smile, he was gone.

Well, that makes it a “fuckin’ A,” Mia thought, amusing herself. As she dozed back off to sleep, the smile remained on her face as the fresh memory of what his chest (albeit clothed) felt like against her cheek.

Mia and Joni searched the sea of black caps and gowns unsuccessfully trying to identify Rob.

“I’m nervous about meeting his father and sister today.” Joni confided. “I hope they like me. Rob said they won’t be here for the ceremony. They are not coming until later.”

“At least we’re here for him. I’m nervous about meeting his father, too.” Mia admitted. “I’m just afraid I’ll go off on the man.”

Mia scanned the stage for Tom. The last time she saw him was the night she and Rob turned in their final assignment and the three had quite the drunk fest. Tom convinced Rob to take grad level writing courses in the fall (even if it was at night) and to start applying to full time MFA programs. He then totally shocked Rob (and Mia) by offering to intervene at Cornell, if that was one of Rob’s choices.

Sitting on an inside bench of a half-booth next to Tom, their thighs remained pressed against one another, the heat through their jeans overwhelmingly distracting. A few times, Tom’s hand wandered off of his thigh under the table to Mia’s, gently stroking it. Just his slight touch was overwhelming — her satin bikini panties getting wetter and wetter with each caress.

As a semi-drunk Rob got up to hit the men’s room, Tom waited for him to be out of sight of the table and grabbed Mia’s chin and planted a hard kiss smack on her lips. Mia sat wide-eyed with a bemused expression at his public display of affection.

“I’m dying without you, Jailbait.”

The smile that permeated Mia’s eyes was immediately reflected in Tom’s face. I’m dying without you. What amazing words to hear. I’m dying without you. This hot, dark, sexy man admitted, I’m dying without you. Four words that were music to Mia’s heart and soul. I’m dying without you. Not “you’re a charity case.” Not “he feels sorry for you.” Not “he can’t wait for this semester to be over so he can stop pretending.” Not “do you know how big a burden you are?” I’m dying without you. I’m dying without you.
He’s dying without me — so go fuck yourself.

Scanning the faculty up on the commencement stage, Mia found him on the far right. It looked like the hood on his gown was brown. That must be Cornell’s color for MFA recipients, she ascertained. Picking up her camera, with its long lens, she focused on the stage. Yes, it certainly was Tom — unruly hair poking out from his cap, the sun playing on the planes of his sculptured handsome face, full lips in a half smile listening to something the faculty member next to him was saying in his ear. Damn, he’s handsome. Just looking at him, Mia could feel the familiar tightening between her legs.

“There’s Rob!” Joni interrupted Mia’s reverie.

Mia trained the lens in the direction of Joni’s outstretched pointing arm.

After a few minutes, Mia was able to pull him out of the crowd. Damn, he cleans up nice. Mia still marveled at her handiwork. She realized she was smiling at the sight of him — and not just because he looked adorable — but because of the love she felt deep in her heart for him. It was a brilliant stroke on Tom Sheehan’s part to put these two broken souls together and have them work through their pain by utilizing their talent collaboratively to create works greater than each of them would have been able to produce individually. And on top of this inspired partnership, they had formed a deep, respectful love and friendship.

Mia pulled the camera strap over her head and handed her camera to Joni. After a few minutes, Joni exclaimed, “There he is. He looks so handsome.”

An hour later, it was all done and Rob was bee-lining toward them. Joni was in his arms before he even reached them, locked in a passionate kiss, his cap and tassel somehow now on her head, as Mia stood by capturing the moment through her lens.

“So Silver, how do you feel about moving off campus and sharing an apartment with me in the fall?”

Mia screeched, “Are you serious? You’ve decided to stay here then?”

“Someone needs to watch over you two troublemakers.” Rob beamed at Mia and Joni.

“I couldn’t agree more.” Tom’s pronouncement took them all by surprise.

Nice stealth attack, thought Mia.

“Congratulations, Ryan.” Tom actually hugged Rob, clapping him on the back.

Mia stood smiling at Tom, standing there in his robe with its brown hood, cap on head sporting both a black tassel indicating a graduate degree and a red and white Cornell tassel. Devastatingly handsome were the two words running through Mia’s head at the sight of him. Add his intellect on top of that and Tom Sheehan was dangerous and devastatingly handsome. A seriously fuckable combination.

Tom casually slung an arm over Mia’s shoulder and gave her a squeeze, “I know I’ll sleep better at night knowing you’re watching out over this one.”

Mia looked up at Tom, knowing the shocked look on her face was saying, “Ummm, what the fuck?”

“Mind if I steal her for a quick sec?” And without waiting for an answer, he steered Mia away from Rob and Joni.

“Hello? What is going on? Are we coming out?” Mia laughed.

Tom pulled her tighter into his side, “Yeah, why not? I’m not your professor anymore, grades have been turned in and with commencement complete, I’m not even on staff here anymore.”

“So, what does that mean?” They stopped walking and Mia turned to him, searching his face.

“It means you have a new boyfriend, Jailbait.”

She could feel the smile take over her face. He was so damn disarming. “Boyfriend?” Her tone incredulous.

He nodded, sex smile beaming at her, “That is if you’ll have me.”

“I’d like to have you … ”

He had both hands on her shoulders now, holding her at arm’s length. “ … And you will. What day of the week does your birthday fall on?”

“Ummm, I think it’s on a Thursday this year.”

“Take the day off from your summer job and take the next day off, too.”

She could feel a bead of sweat running down her cleavage and wondered if it was from the noon sun directly overhead or the hotter than Miami look he was laser focusing on her. “Why? Do we have plans?” she challenged.

“We do,” his smile was now blinding, “we’re going to spend your birthday fucking like wild animals and the next day you are not going to be able to walk.”

Mia pulled her hair up off of her neck which was now drenched in sweat, wishing she’d remembered to bring a hair tie. She cocked her head to the side, slow devil smile taking up residence, “Promises, promises.”

Tom tossed his head back in laughter and pulled Mia to him in an engulfing hug. “You are so damn good for me.”

“You think?”

“Mmm-hmm, I do.” And on a crowded football field, surrounded by graduates, fellow staff, students and families, Tom took Mia’s face in both of his hands. Staring into her eyes, it felt like he was asking her permission to make their bold announcement. She nodded her head slightly and he did the same in acknowledgement. His kiss was soft at first, fingers threaded through her long curls. He pulled away and looked at her smiling, “You good?” She nodded again, returning his smile and this time their kiss was deep, passionate, ghost exorcising. They were all alone, together, on a crowded football field. As he drew her to him with his arm around her waist, Mia could feel how hard he was through his robe and her hands, which were resting on his biceps, went around his neck.

Feeling Tom placing his cap on her head, Mia began to laugh. She loved that she was wearing the cap he wore when he received his MFA. He beamed at her reaction and kissed her again, smiling down at her.

“Ready to go face the music?” His right eyebrow raised slightly.