Page 54 of The Deadbeat Next Door

She shot a mock shocked look over our shoulders at her son. “You poor dear. He really is a terrible brute, isn’t he?”

“The worst. At least he let me choose the book.”

“I should think so.” She stopped in front of a large, wood door. “I can assure you that you will be expected to do nothing but relax while you’re here. Consider this a vacation and don’t worry about impressing any of us or gaining our approval. Cody has always done his own thing, whether the rest of us approved or not, so it will make no difference to him if I like you.”

“Um, okay,” I said, not at all sure how to take her words.

“Mother, stop teasing her,” Cody said. “You still delight in tormenting people, I see.”

His mother sniffed and released me. “I’m not teasing,” she said. “I’m completely serious. She’s the first woman you’ve ever brought home and, real or not, I’m not about to do anything to scare her off. Now, here’s your room.” She opened the door to a small room painted a god-awful color of teal, with a queen bed that took up most of the floor space. There were no posters on the walls or knick-knacks on the furniture. A functional, plain room. “He picked the color and I made the mistake of allowing it on the walls.” She shuddered. “Unfortunately, the bathroom is down the hall and not attached. I hope you can manage.”

Cody chuckled behind me and smacked a kiss on his mother’s cheek. “I’ve missed you.”

She sniffed and backed away. “If you’d missed me, you would have been to visit once in the last five years. I’ll see you both downstairs. There’s leftovers in the fridge if you’re hungry.”

“Thank you,” I said.

She left and Cody gave me a nudge forward.

I’d been wrong, there was one picture on the walls, right next to the door. I stepped over to a close-up of a squirrel holding a nut, its dark eyes big and staring out at me. “Strange choice of picture, is there a reason for it?”

Cody dropped our bags on the floor next to the bed and came up behind me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and rested his chin on my shoulder. “May took that picture when she was just a kid. She’s always been naturally gifted at whatever she does and she’s always loved photography.”

“And being outside,” I guessed.

He pressed a warm kiss to the side of my neck and slid his hands under my shirt, cupping my breasts through my bra. “Uh-huh.”

He pushed down the cups of my bra and flicked my nipples. I groaned, heat pooling between my legs. “Your family will be waiting for us downstairs.”

“I’ve been waiting to get my hands on you for the past four hours. And I’m the lord of this manor, your employer, and the only thing standing between employment and a life on the streets. You will bend to my will, or I will have to fire you.”

He slid his left hand under the waist band of my pants and into my panties, touching me in that way he’d already figured out drove me out of my mind. I moaned. “I suppose I have no choice, then. But make it quick, we have guests arriving in fifteen minutes for a banquet, and I must be there to help set up.”

He chuckled, his breath warm against my nape. “Oh, I can be quick. Can you?”

I spun in his arms and kissed him, melting into him and letting him fill my senses. Everything he did to me felt so good and, even though my rational, cautious brain said this was a mistake and a dangerous game, my primal, animal brain and my body didn’t care enough to stop. I pulled back a bit. “You know what I’ve been thinking of since you mentioned road head?”

“No,” he said, his eyes on my lips.

“I’ve been thinking about tasting you and sucking you, but I want you to be in control this time. I want you to be that alpha jerk that I find so annoying. The controlling, domineering lord of the manor.”

His lips turned up in a wicked smile. “I think this is about more than role play to keep me at a distance, you’re really into this game, aren’t you?”

I’d never liked games or anything out of the ordinary before, but I liked it with Cody. In my normal, everyday life, I was careful and responsible, always taking care of everyone else. As much as I’d enjoyed being in charge, it seemed like the opposite would also be fun, freeing in a very weird way. “It’s not a game.” I leaned forward and nipped his lower lip. “It’s very, very serious.”

His expression sobered. “You’ve been tormenting me with your voice and my unfulfilled demands for road head and now you’re going to have to make it up to me.”

His voice was a firm rumble that touched me in all the right places and made my body act of its own accord, sliding up closer to his and rubbing against him, feeling him thick and hard and ready. “Just tell me how.”

He pushed me back a bit and studied me, his eyes burning a trail of lust from my head to my toes. “Take off your shirt and your bra,” he said, his voice husky and commanding. I pulled my shirt over my head, unhooked my bra and let it fall to the floor. His eyes dropped to my breasts and he licked his lips. “Get on your knees and take me out.”

I dropped to my knees, my whole body vibrating with need and want. I unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans and pushed them down to his knees. He pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it on the floor behind him. “Now put your mouth on me.”

I took him, warm and hard, into my mouth, the salty taste of him ramping up my desire even more. He wrapped his hand in my hair, gripped my head hard, and pulled me off him. “I’m going to move your head the way that feels good to me and I’m going to tell you exactly what I want. Are you okay with that?”

I was shocked by how okay I was by that. “Yes.”

He swallowed hard and licked his lips. “If I do anything you don’t like, you slap my thigh, okay?”

---