“If you’re taking volunteers, I’m at the head of the line,” he said with a wicked half smile that made me feel like the prettiest girl in the world. It was a silly, young, ebullient feeling, and I wanted more of it.
When we got to my car, I smiled a little shyly, “Can I drive you back? Or do you intend to run and do pushups all the way?”
“I think just this once I can cut my workout short,” he said.
I drove to the vineyard and parked in back on the workers lot.
“My place isn’t much,” he said, almost apologizing for it.
I grabbed his hand and used it to pull his arm around me, “I liked this a lot,” I said.
“Then that’s how we walk from now on,” he said, tugging me closer and kissing the top of my head. He was smiling. A good, wholesome, happy smile. I was clutched up against his sweaty side and I could not have complained.
He opened the door to his place, a small cabin, and led me inside. It was one big room with a door on the far wall to what was probably the bathroom. By the door was a kitchenette to the left, a couch and TV to the right. Through the kitchen area was the bed, narrow and spare as the rest of the place, made up with military precision in white sheets with one pillow. A chest of drawers stood beyond it, and that was all except for a pair of boots on the floor and a couple of books on top of the TV.
“You travel light,” I said.
“I have what I need,” he said, eyes never leaving mine.
“Oh, this is going to be—I don’t even know if I can do this,” I said, suddenly awash with nerves. “I swear to God, my teeth are chattering just looking at your bed. I’m babbling. I know I am. I’m sorry, I just do that when I’m nervous. It’s been a long time for me, Tyler, being with a man.”
“Layla,” he said, his voice smoky and soft, “I haven’t felt attraction, desire for over a year. Before that I was in the Corps. The last time I was with a woman was…more than two years ago. If you tell anyone that, I’ll deny it,” he said, but I felt it in my chest just the same.
“So what now,” I asked.
“Turn around,” he answered.
Uncertain, my heart pounding, I turned around so my back was to him. I wondered what he was doing. My hair practically stood on end in anticipation.
“You’re gonna have to do something before I faint,” I said, trying to make a joke, but feeling lightheaded with desire and excitement and an edge of fear.
He chuckled, low in his throat and filthy sounding, but he was right behind me. Tyler set his hands on my bare shoulders and ran his palms down my arms. Goosebumps raised on my flesh in a trail where he touched, and a chill ran through me. He caressed my arms, stroked the insides of my wrists, such a slow burn, so sexy that my legs went weak. His touch, slow and firm, was the most erotic thing I’d ever felt.
He held my hands in his, palm to palm, and I felt his mouth hot on my neck. My nipples tightened, my skin felt hot and itchy, and I gripped his hands with mine, holding tight, breathless. I felt him up against me, the heavy erection, and I pressed back against him, wanting it all. He groaned, and it felt so good to make him respond like that. I took his hands that I still held, and I put them on my body, on my stomach. He released my fingers and stroked my stomach, up under my tank top, pulling it up. His hands made slow circles, learning every curve and hollow of my body, unhurried and sensuous. I couldn’t see his face, and it emboldened me. I reached back and raked my fingers through his hair, guiding the way he kissed my neck and shoulder.
“You’re still shaking,” he said low against my neck, nipping at the place where my neck met my shoulder. “I thought this would soothe you.”
“Not soothing,” I managed, through teeth I had to keep from chattering.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. It’s too right. It’s impossible.”
“To feel this good? Baby, this is just the beginning,” he said.
Tyler stripped off my tank top, managed to get the exercise bra off that I always struggled with. Then he covered my bare breasts with his hands. I looked down and watched him. It looked so sexy, his big tanned hands cupping and fondling my pale, full breasts. Even as big as his hands were, my breasts overflowed them, and I loved how it felt. I rubbed up against him, catlike, in response. His bare, muscled chest was against the skin of my back, and the shock of that made me jerk and make a sound.