Three Little Words (4 page)

            With the hand not holding her panties to the side, I took my cock in my own hand and pressed the smooth latex head to her entrance. I waited for a second, using every last shred of my control, but needing to give her a chance to say no.

            She grabbed my shoulders, looked me dead in the eyes, and thrust down until my cock was fully seated inside of her.

            “Adele.” My voice sounded raspy to my own ears. I clasped her around the waist, holding her in place while I absorbed the indescribable sensation of being inside her.

            I wanted to stay like this forever.

            “More.” Adele pressed her forehead to mine and began to move, rocking her hips back and forth.

            With her seated in my lap there wasn’t much I could do beyond digging my fingers into her waist and raining kisses over her collarbone, which I did with abandon. I wanted the moment to last, wanted to draw out the feeling of being inside of her for as long as I possibly could, but the way she moved had my orgasm tightening at the base of my spine within minutes.

            “Adele. Slow down.” I tried to guide her movements with my hands, but she set a frenetic pace, and it felt so fucking good that my head fell back with abandon. I made myself keep my eyes open, though, glad she’d ordered me to keep my glasses on, because I wanted to see her face as she rode me, as I slid my hand to the place where we were joined and again began to manipulate her clit.

            Her eyes were half closed, and a gorgeous flush painted her cheeks. That long, obscenely red hair swung back and forth as she swayed above me, offering teasing glimpses of those perfect tits, and was finally my undoing.

            I moved my hand more frantically over her clit as the tension building in my cock broke, wanting her to go over the edge with me. I shouted as I came, harder than I ever had in my life. As if from a distance I felt her body tighten too, heard her sharp cry as her pussy clenched my cock in a hot, tight hug.

            We sat like that for long minutes, tangled together on her old couch, our breath still coming in pants, sweat drying on our skin. The smell of sex hung heavy in the air, mixing with the strawberry scent of Adele’s hair, something that would be burned into my mind forever.

            Nuzzling my nose into her neck, I opened my mouth to speak, then snapped it shut again. I wanted to say something, to tell her how important this had been to me.

            I didn’t think she would laugh... but I also didn’t know how she’d react. So I kept my mouth shut, enjoying the sated post-sex haze, and waited for her to speak first.

            “Oh my God.” With a sigh tinted with laughter, Adele buried her face into my neck and groaned.

            “Holy shit. I may never be able to move again.”

            I couldn’t help the self-satisfied smirk that crossed my lips. I laughed, stroking a hand over her hair and down her back.

            “Yeah. That was... wow.” I wanted to say something more eloquent, but my brain was fried.

            Not so fried that I didn’t appreciate the view when she rose up and off of me, and her breasts jiggled right in front of my face.

            “Better get rid of the condom.” She braced herself above me and nodded downwards. I pried my touch off of her soft skin and divested myself of the latex skin, tying it off and tossing it to the floor.

            To my surprise, instead of curling back into me, Adele lay face down on the couch, her back and shoulders spread invitingly across my thighs. She sighed with contentment, and I felt the warm exhalation on the skin of my knee.

            Curious, I danced my fingers up and down her spine, her shoulder blades. Though the skin of her arms was covered in ink, her back was bare, the skin smooth and perfect.

            “
Tabula rasa
.” The phrase slid from me before I could even think it through. I watched as Adele shifted, propping her head up on one hand, staring up at me curiously.

            “What does that mean?” She shifted onto her side, one of her breasts pressing against my groin.

            Even though I’d just come, my cock started to pay attention again.

            I assumed she wouldn’t be insulted, since she’d liked my erection just fine a few minutes ago.

            “
Tabula rasa
... it’s from Aristotle. It means
blank slate
.” Unable to resist, I trailed the tip of my index finger over the equally bare curve of her breast, circling around her nipple, enjoying the way it pulled tight.

            “It’s a term used in psychology and philosophy, referring to the notion that when an infant is born, their mind is a blank canvas waiting to be colored by life.” I continued to toy with her nipple, even when surprise flickered over her features. “But... ah... it applies to your back as well. You know, since you don’t have any tattoos there.”

            I grimaced inwardly as I finished my awkward explanation. Could I be any more of an uptight nerd?

            Adele surprised me by pushing herself up and kissing me, a deep, hot kiss that brought my cock the rest of the way to hardness. When she pulled away, I found it hard to breathe.

            “What was that for? Not that I’m complaining.”

            With a wicked grin she straddled me again, her slick heat pressing down against my erection.

            “You’re pretty awesome for a geek.” And she began to kiss me again, coherent thought flying away.

            I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been so happy.

            ADELE

            “Stop that.” I whispered, scolding Mal as he rubbed his feet against mine under the library table.

            “No footsie. You have to study.”

            Still I couldn’t help but grin as, rather than stopping, he redoubled his efforts. He’d slid his sneakers off, and as his foot slid up my calf and my inner thigh I exhaled sharply.

            He had my attention.

            “Hunter!”

            My head snapped around as a male voice called out across the library. A librarian glared as two big, polo clad guys made their way across the room, emanating the smug confidence of people who know they’re accepted.

            I recognized Drew and Ian, two of Mal’s frat brothers. They were both football players, both prelaw like Mal.

            A massive rock settled in the pit of my stomach as they reached our table and made themselves at home. Mal’s foot fell away from my thigh, and I was unaccountably irritated by it.

            “Hunter.” Drew had close cropped brown hair and a lot of muscles that stretched his bright green collared shirt. There were probably lots of girls who found him attractive, but I personally thought he looked like a big lug.

            Still, I smiled tightly when he nodded at me.

            “Adele.”

            “Hey, Drew.” I could see the hint of puzzlement in his features, and it infuriated me.

            Mal’s friends, the ones I’d been introduced to anyway, were always nice enough, but I could tell that they just didn’t quite get it—they didn’t understand why someone like Mal, with a bright future at an Ivy League school, would be spending his time with me. And I wouldn’t have cared, except when the eyes of someone like Drew, like Ian were on me, I felt all the things that they thought.

            I felt weird. I felt like a freak. I wished for shiny blonde hair, a khaki miniskirt and a big toothy smile, all things that I avoided like the plague otherwise. I refused to turn into my mother, the woman who’d once been the sun in my sky but who had morphed into a Stepford clone to please my stepfather.

            The woman who kept smiling that big smile even when I told her that her new husband kept trying to feel me up. No, I’d never turn into a woman like that, not even for Mal.

            I caught Mal’s eyes and forced what I hoped passed for a genuine smile to my lips. I turned back to my textbook, straightened the strap of my purple tank top and tried to tune out the conversation.

            Hopefully they’d just stopped in to say hi and would be on their way soon enough.

            The mention of my name from Ian pulled my attention back into the conversation.

            “You going to the Lambda Chi formal with Mal, Adele?” Ian sat back in the library chair that was far too small for his massive frame, his arms behind my head. I stared at him for a moment, paranoid that he was mocking me, but I sensed only genuine curiosity in his gaze.

            Neither Ian nor Drew was a bad guy. But being with Mal, with someone who was so not my type, had made me worry about all kinds of things that I never had before.

            “I don’t know,” I finally said, looking at Mal with raised eyebrows. Lambda Chi was his fraternity, and the entire Greek system had formal dances in the winter. “Am I?”

            I watched as Mal shifted in his seat, breaking off eye contact with me. My heart felt like it stopped for one awful moment before resuming, double time.

            Shit. This didn’t bode well.

            “Well?” I tried to steel myself. Whatever he said, it shouldn’t matter. We weren’t officially a couple or anything—we’d just been hanging out. Yep, hanging out and having sex, lots of sex, for almost a month.

            Fucking amazing sex. And the sex was so good because there was more to it than just the physical.

            There was a connection between us that I couldn’t explain but that made me want to hold tight to this amazing man and never let go.

            I sure wasn’t going to be the one to bring that up.

            What did it matter if he wanted to take me to some stupid formal dance or not? And maybe there was a perfectly good explanation, though I sure couldn’t think of one.

            But as I waited for him to reply, my heart in my throat, I knew that that wasn’t the case.

            “Ah. I, uh... I already have a date, Adele. I made it months ago. I’m sorry.” He looked stricken, Ian and Drew looked like they’d shoved their big ass feet down their throats, and I softened a bit.

            If he’d made it months ago, with some female friend, then I wasn’t going to freak out on him.

            Even if the thought of him wrapping his arms around some other chick in a slow dance made me want to snarl and rip the bitch’s hair out.

            And then Mal continued, and it wasn’t okay anymore.

            “I just didn’t think it was your kind of thing.” He shifted again, and I watched as he continued to avoid eye contact.

            Guys like him didn’t date girls like me, at least not for the long haul. I knew that; I’d always known that. Yet pain washed through me, bright and hotter than I had expected.

            “Why would you think that?” My voice was quiet, lacking my customary bravado. I wished that Drew and Ian weren’t here to witness this, whatever
this
was.

            “Well. You know.” Finally he looked at me, and I saw the truth written over his face.

            It was a fair enough thought, thinking that my tattooed, ripped jean self might not be into something silly like a formal fraternity dance. But that wasn’t the whole truth, and I knew it.

            He was embarrassed to take me. I wasn’t the kind of girl that a guy like him took to a function like that. I’d look ridiculous in some formal gown. I didn’t even own one, would never waste the money on something like that.

            If he had been any other guy, I wouldn’t have given a shit.

            But this was Mal. I thought of the day he’d shown up at my door with a bouquet of wildflowers, because they’d reminded him of my ink, and my heart cracked, just a little bit.

            Well, I could save it from breaking the rest of the way.

            Closing my textbook with a slam, I pushed away from the table and stood, throwing my pens and paper into my backpack without any thought to order. Mal stood too, alarm spreading over his face.

            “Where are you going?” Reaching across the table, he wrapped a hand around my forearm, right over those wildflowers that he professed to love.

            He loved my tattoos, yes. But he didn’t love
me
. He never would.

            I shook him off and fixed him with what I hoped was a cold, hard smile.

            “Have fun at your dance, Mal.” I cast that hard look quickly at Drew, then at Ian, and enjoyed the way they both squirmed.

            “Adele, don’t do this.” Mal’s own expression hardened, and I knew him well enough to see that his temper was rising. “You’re overreacting.”

            I slung my bag onto my back and fisted my hands on my hips. Okay, fair was fair. I’d give him one last chance.

            “Tell me, then. Tell me honestly that you aren’t worried about what people will think if you brought me to your super-special fraternity dance.” My voice dripped with sarcasm, and he flinched at the words.

            Flinched... then looked me in the eye and remained silent.

            I wanted to scream. And more than that, I wanted to cry.

            No fucking way I was going to do that in front of these three stooges.

            “That’s what I thought.” I said quietly, my eyes raking over the face that I thought I’d known so well. Mal looked stricken, and angry, and hurt.

            I hoped that I looked calm, though I felt anything but.

            “Check ya later, guys.” I looked at Drew and Ian and forced myself to smirk, mask of bravado fully in place.

            That mask faltered when I turned back to Mal, one final time. I grabbed on to my hurt and held tight, counting on it to get me through.

            “We’re not as different as you think, you know.” My throat was thick with unshed tears as I turned to walk away. “But I guess I’m the only one who sees that. So have a nice fucking life.”