“Because she’s the only person as stubborn as you and she didn’t give me a choice. She physically forced it out of me.”
They all turned their attention to me and I nodded. “When you chuck your phone into a lamp and smash it, no sane person would let you walk out without an explanation.”
“I didn’t smash my lamp.”
“Yeah, you did. Pieces were all over your floor. I saw them when I ran in to rescue you from what I assumed to be a burglar.”
His cheek twitched with annoyance and he tilted his head to the side. “Now that we’ve put on a fucking show for everyone, can I leave?”
“Yeah, Kenzie, you want to stay here?” Callie asked.
“Nah, maybe another night. All the couple-y shit is a bit much. Relationships aren’t my jam.” They all laughed, and I made my way toward Tanner. I stopped to ruffle Aaron’s hair, like he always did to mine, and pulled a bit harder than necessary. “Buckwheat, do you want to have a moviemarathon tomorrow? It could be an early birthday present?”
“It’s your birthday?” Callie asked, a crazy ass smile taking over her face. “When?”
“Tuesday. I turn nineteen, yay!”
“Chocolate or vanilla? Ice cream or cookie?”
“Um, what?”
“What type of cake do you like? I’ll bake you one!”
I gave her the stone-cold truth. “All. I like all cake.”
* * * *
I wasn’t sure if I was imagining it or if Aaron purposely spent more time around the house, asking me questions about nothing and inviting me to everything he did. No, I didn’t want to go to the cages, or to IHOP, or to the sports store to look for new cleats…for him. I appreciated the effort, but it meant Tanner and I had a total of two hours of being alone. We couldn’t do more than talk without Aaron finding a reason to come into one of our rooms. It was stupid, really, and when my birthday rolled around, he was gone when I woke up.
Tiptoeing to the bathroom, I about smacked into Tanner’s bare chest. “Hey!”
“Shh,” he said, picking me up and slamming my back into the door in a practiced move I had no complaints about. Our lips collided and the leftover taste from his peppermint mouthwash engulfed me, sending tingles to the back of my throat. It was better than I imagined. Even better than our last kiss, and I ground against him, pulling his hair. “He wouldn’t fucking leave.”
“How long do we have?”
“No idea. Don’t care,” he said, moving his hands up my little tank top and pinching my nipples. I bucked, causing him to laugh, and he replaced his hands with his teeth, biting the tips through my shirt. “Do you like nipple play, Kenzie?”
“More than I realized.”
“Mm, I like that answer.” He grinned, slid me down his body and turned me to face the mirror. He yanked my shirt off and pressed four kisses down my collarbone, trailing light touches over my chest and abdomen at a torturous pace. “Look at you, glowing when I touch you.”
Our gazes met in the mirror and it was the most intimate moment I had ever experienced. He traced a circle around my nipples, pulling on them until I moaned. Then he lowered himself to his knees, taking an insanely long time sucking each peak. He made sure I watched in the mirror as he tongued my breasts.
“Are you wet for me?” he asked, moving his attention from my chest to the waistband of my shorts. He pulled them down, running his nose along my inner thigh and grazing my folds. I stood there, paralyzed, when he moved my legs apart with his arm. “Spread your legs wider.”
He cupped my ass, dragging his tongue from my belly button to my clit, biting down on the nub desperate for release. “Can I taste more of you, Kenzie?”
I squeaked out a yes, and he picked me up in one motion and brought me to my bed. He didn’t waste any time and kissed his way down my body, his hair tickling the sensitive skin around my pussy. He bit the inside of my left thigh, laughed when I sucked in air and moved his magical tongue to where I needed it most. He swirled, flicked, teased and probed, bringing me close to the edge and backing me away. “Tanner, please. I’m so close.”
“I want your first birthday orgasm to be the best. Trust me.”
Oh, I trusted him. He slid two fingers inside me, pumping me, combining the motion with his tongue and sending me into a whirl of sensations, each wave stronger than the one before. My legs shook, my body on fire, and I lost myself in that orgasm. It was dangerously slow and just as strong. I reached for anything to hold on to and pulled Tanner’s hair, gripping it as I moaned his name. Time stopped as I came down from the high and when I opened my eyes, I found Tanner’s warm and fiery ones staring at me. “Fuck, that was…”
“Partoneof your birthday present.” He grinned, licked his lips and leaned over to kiss me. “Taste yourself, Kenz. You just became my favorite flavor.”
Those words. Good lord. They shouldn’t be allowed to be spoken.
He took his time, letting me explore the evidence of my pleasure in his mouth and just as he pushed forward and ground his hard cock against me, the front door shut. He froze for one second before jumping off me. He threw the covers over me and darted into his room as the footsteps moved upstairs. It could’ve been Zade, or Aaron, or Jeff coming back two months early…but Iknewit was my brother. I didn’t breathe, as though any sound I made would confess what we’d been doing, but it wasn’t necessary. Whoever it was stopped outside my room and slid a card with my name on it under my door. It was Aaron’s choppy handwriting, and I sighed in relief.
