“Yeah?” I murmured against her mouth.
“Not here,” she saidafterswiping her tongue along mine.
I took that as a good sign, a promise of something more to come later. Maybe?
With a gentle closed-mouth kiss, I ended it. “I couldn’t help it. I’ve been wanting to do that since ... forever.”
She giggled. “You’re getting cheesier and cheesier.”
Like magnets with opposite forces, our lips were back together. She’d saidnot here, but that wasn’t what her lips were telling me. They were soft and not the least bit reticent when they met mine. She was hungry for me, and she opened greedily when my tongue sought entrance.
I slid my hand down her side, over her clothes, and back up underneath so my thumb could trace her smooth skin. I wanted her here. Now. But she was better than that. She was the mother of my child, no longer my student. Not that she ever was. She’d been my player. Whatever.
Our tongues melded and molded, a mash-up of the best kind. Moans harmonized in the hallway until I was the one who broke free.
“Any louder, someone’s gonna call the cops.” I placed a chaste nip on her nose.
She laughed, seeming relaxed. I liked that look on her.
I laughed back. “By the way, I’m only cheesy when I’m with you. You make my whole brain collapse into nothing.” I took her hand and squeezed, pumping it over and over. “And you make my heart pound like fuck.”
When she smiled and ducked her head, making her hair fall in a drape over her eyes, I brushed it out of the way. “Come on, let’s go.”
“You got it, King.”
We went downstairs and I opened the passenger door of my car. As she slipped in, I took a moment to stare at her before shutting the door.
“This car isn’t very dad-ish,” she said when I slid into my seat.
“I have an SUV too.”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course you do.”
I winked and turned the car on, letting the engine roar to life. Whoever said German engineering wasn’t the best, was wrong. Period.
“You look great, by the way.” I kept my eyes on the road, but caught her sly smile in my peripheral vision.
“Thanks.”
“Want some music?”
“Can we put the windows down?”
“Sure thing.”
I flicked the air off and opened all the windows. The evening air was still humid, but as we entered the highway, a breeze kicked up. Jules leaned into the headrest and closed her eyes, her hair blowing all around her face.
“Like that?” My voice carried over the wind noise.
“Feels like freedom. You could give me a million bucks, and it wouldn’t feel as good as this.”
The burden she’d carried weighed heavy on her, but she wasn’t shaming me. She was sharing with me. Somehow I knew that as well as I knew my own date of birth.
I wanted to answer, to say something profound, but I didn’t want to disturb her moment. So I let it be and she stayed like that, her hair blowing furiously and her eyes at peace until we exited the freeway.
“Jules,” I said, drawing her out from her languor. “I want you to know, I’m here now. Whatever small moments of freedom I can give you, you need to ask me.” I stopped at a red light and turned, grabbing her hand. “You hear me?”
She nodded. “It’s not easy giving up control. For the last six years, every sleepless night, every puke fest, and every glorious moment, it’s only been me.”
