Chapter 34
FLIP
Tally throws her leg over mine and nuzzles into me, her nose against my neck.
I hated that I couldn’t protect her yesterday but waking up with her in my arms is bliss.
I haven’t slept beside her since Montreal, and I’ve missed the way she feels tucked against me.
I could get used to this. Even though it scares the shit out of me, I don’t want to run.
I kiss her forehead, filtering through breakfast options. I can make her pancakes, or bacon and eggs, she alternates between them when we go for breakfast with friends. What would it be like to wake up with her every morning? To start my day with her? To come home to her after away games?
Unfortunately, her alarm goes off, breaking my reverie. It’s my song of choice for home hockey games.
She groans and sits up in a rush. Her hair is a wild, untamed, beautiful mess. She glances around, processing her surroundings, eyes bouncing to my bare chest and then the clock on my nightstand.
A slight furrow forms in her brow. “Is that the real time?”
“It’s seven thirty,” I confirm.
“I have to be at the studio in half an hour for group rehearsal!” She tosses the covers off and scrambles out of bed. She looks adorable in my T-shirt. She spins around gracefully, then runs from one side of the room to the other. “I won’t make it on time from here!”
I slide out of bed. “I’ll drive you.”
“We needed to leave five minutes ago!”
I cross to her and curve my hands over her shoulders. “Take a breath, kitten.”
She sucks in a deep one, but it’s wheezy. Her gaze drops to my bare chest, and lower, to where my morning wood salutes her from behind my boxer briefs.
Disappointment pulls the corners of her mouth down. “I don’t even get to enjoy your morning wood.”
“It happens every day. You’ll have plenty of future opportunities.” I kiss her forehead. “Get dressed, message your troupe that you’re a little behind, and I’ll make us coffees to go.”
“Okay. Yes. That’s a good plan. Thank you.” She wraps her arms briefly around my waist, her warm cheek pressing against my chest. When she pulls back, she pats my erection through my underwear. “Sorry, big guy, we’ll play another day.”
“Leave him alone and put some clothes on.”
“Right.” She moves to my dresser and I pull on a pair of joggers and a T-shirt and head for the kitchen while she puts yesterday’s outfit back on.
Seven and a half minutes later, we’re armed with coffee and Rix’s famous raisin bran muffins and we’re on the way to Tally’s dance studio.
“Okay, ten minutes late isn’t the worst. Thank you for driving me. The subway would have taken twice as long.”
“I’m happy to have the time with you. How are you feeling this morning? Did you sleep okay?”
“I feel better. And I slept like the dead. You’re like my own personal body pillow.” Her cheeks heat.
“You can use me as one any time you want.” I slip my hand under her hair. “I’m meeting with Hemi later this morning so we can make a plan.” And while I’m near campus, I’ll talk to their security. I don’t like that I can’t protect her when I’m not with her.
“Just let me know if there’s something I can do.”
“Let me handle this.” I rub my thumb along the back of her neck.
We arrive at the studio at 8:08, but no one is waiting outside. She plucks a sticky note with Thank You! and a heart scrawled on it.
“What’s that about?” I ask.
“I offered the space to some of my class who were struggling to find studio time the way we were,” she explains as she unlocks the door and lets us in. “We have a calendar that we update weekly. I didn’t want it to sit empty when we’re not here. I hope that’s okay.”
“Of course it’s okay.” It’s exactly like Tally to help her peers.
She turns on the light. “They should be here by now. Or maybe they went to the café to wait?”
She checks her phone, rolling her bottom lip between her teeth as her eyes widen. “Shoot.”
“What’s up?” I arch a brow.
“Sooo…it looks like I’m not late after all.”
“Are you a few minutes early?”
“More like almost an hour. I must have put it in my phone wrong.” She wrings her hands. “I’m so sorry. I really need the next performance to go well. I made a few stupid mistakes on my last one.”
“Did I miss one?” I thought I had all her performances in my calendar.
“It was an in-class performance. It was in the middle of the day.”
“Can people who aren’t in the class still come and watch those?” I press.
“Yeah, but we have them every month. I don’t expect you to make those. Besides, you were at an away game, and like I said, I made some mistakes, so it wasn’t my best performance,” she explains.
“You know I want to support you, right? I’ll always come to your performances, no matter how little of a deal you think they are,” I say gently. My stomach twists. “Unless you’d rather I not attend.”
“That’s not it at all. I’ve had monthly performances for the past three years and my mom’s maybe made a handful and my dad, well…I just didn’t say anything because people have busy lives.”
“I will always make time for you, Tally. If I am in town and I can make it, I will be there, okay?” I won’t be another person in her life that lets her down.
“Okay.” She worries her bottom lip. “I’m sorry we’re so early. We could have had time together and now we’re here.”
“I don’t mind. And we still have time together. What’s stressing you out, kitten?” The past twenty-four hours have been intense.
“I don’t know. This performance is a big deal and I don’t want to mess it up. All my future prospects sort of hinge on it, and I can’t let Charles and Arya down. I don’t want to have to work for the Terror because no company in the city wants me.”
“Hey, hey.” I cup her face in my palms. “Take a breath and step away from the ledge of despair.”
She sucks in some air. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m so worked up. The in-class piece was only five percent of our grade, and I didn’t practice it as much as I have the final-performance numbers.”
“You’re juggling a lot, kitten,” I remind her.
She plays with the aglet on my hoodie. “Everyone has a full plate.”
“Your load is heavy.” Between her family splitting up, final exams and graduation on the horizon, coursework and assignments, dance, volunteering, and our relationship—she’s carrying an impossible load. Especially with the media tailing her everywhere she goes.
“We could have snuggled in bed for another half an hour,” she whispers.
“You would have liked that, eh?”
“I like being close to you.”
“Me, too.” I weigh my options as an idea forms. Last night Tally didn’t push for anything physical.
I would have given her anything she asked for, and maybe she knew that.
We made food together and snuggled; things I like.
She put my needs ahead of her own. I could give her what she needs now. “I have this fantasy.”
Her eyebrows rise. “What kind of fantasy?”
“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you dancing for me. Or rewatching that video clip you sent me.” I run my hands down her arms. “Especially the part when you’re in the corner on the barre.”
Her cheeks flush and her pupils dilate. “It’s my favorite part of that routine,” she whispers.
“Mine, too. We have some time before Charles and Arya get here.” It’s eight fifteen. We have at least a half hour. It ticks all her boxes, the potential for getting caught, bringing my fantasy to life. She’ll be relaxed going into her day. “Will you let me take care of you?”
She sucks in a shuddering breath and nods.
I cover her mouth with mine, stroking inside as I lift her up and carry her across the room. Tucking her in the corner away from the windows, I set her on the barre.
She makes an annoyed noise when I break the kiss, then gasps when I cup between her thighs. “Should I take your leggings off, or do you want me to get you off like this?” I tease.
She narrows her eyes. “No going backward, Phillip.”
“Just checking.” I wink and hook my fingers into the waistband of her leggings. She grips the barre and lifts her ass. The soft fabric slides down her thighs, along with her panties, and I hang them over the barre. Tally lowers herself to the bar and presses her knees together.
I run my hands along the outside of her thighs. “Be a good girl and open for me.”
Her eyes light up, bottom lip caught between her teeth as she pulls her knees to her chest and twists until her left foot rests on top of the barre. Toe pointed, she extends her leg.
Hot eyes locked on mine, she repeats the movement with her right leg until they’re parallel. Her arms strain, muscles tight and corded. She scissors her right leg into the air, sweeping past her face and mine, and brings it to rest on the opposite barre, baring herself to me.
I curve my hands around her ankles and smooth my palms up the inside of her calves, stopping just above her knees. “I’m the only person you’ll ever dance naked for.”
“Only you,” she agrees.
My erection kicks as I ease my hands higher to frame the apex of her thighs. “Everything about you is pretty.” I drag my thumb through her slit. “Soft and wet and all for me.” I circle her entrance, and we both groan as I ease a single finger inside.
“Oh, God.” Her toes curl and her eyes lift, first to mine, and then over my shoulder.
I follow her gaze. “Now that’s a stunning view.” I shift to the left, my hip pressed against the inside of her thigh. “Anyone could walk by and hear your sweet moans.”
I add a second finger, pushing in deep. She groans and swivels her hips, eyes fixed on our reflections.
“Does it make you hot, kitten? The idea of someone seeing you like this, spread wide for me, dripping into my palm.” I kiss her cheek and find the spot that makes her moan my name.
“So gorgeous when you’re full of my fingers. ” I kiss her neck. “Do you want more?”
“Oh God, yes.” She props her forearm on my shoulder as she adjusts her left leg, bending her knee and turning her foot so it rests on the barre.
“Tell me what you want, ask me for it.” I bite the edge of her jaw. “And don’t forget to be explicit.”
“I want another finger,” she whimpers and rolls her hips. “I want to watch you stretch me so I’m ready for your cock.”
“That’s my girl.” I pull out, circle her clit twice, then add a third finger.
“Oh fuck.” Her nails dig into my scalp, eyes locked on the mirrors as her legs start to shake.
I nibble the edge of her jaw. “I think it’s time I had a taste.”
She groans my name.
I drop to my knees, ease my fingers out, press my forearms against the inside of her thighs, and lick up the length of her on a feral growl. “I could eat you alive.”
She pulses against my tongue, her high-pitched mewl filling the room. “Oh my God, oh God.”
“Don’t I take good care of you, kitten?” I latch onto her clit, sucking softly.
“So good, so fucking good.” One leg stays on the barre, and the other foot comes to rest on my shoulder. Tally runs her fingers through my hair, gripping tightly as her hips jerk and roll.
“So damn sweet.” I lick up the length of her. “I could feast on you all fucking day and it would never be enough.” I fuck her with my tongue. Devour her, lick up every drop of her cum, and suck on her pretty clit until she shudders her way through a second climax.
She slides off the barre into my lap, legs draped over mine. She grips my chin and her hips swivel as she kisses me deeply, moaning into my mouth.
I indulge in a few strokes of tongue before I pull back. She’s a glassy-eyed puddle. “It’s ten to nine, kitten. We should probably put your pants back on.”
“I don’t think I can stand up.”
“I can help.” I grab her leggings and panties from the barre and carry her over to the yoga mats. I unroll one, lay her down, and redress her bottom half while she lies there in a daze.
Her ankles rest on my shoulders, her arms outstretched on the floor, chest still heaving. “That was so amazing. I’m so relaxed. My pussy is so happy.”
I laugh and lean forward, hands beside her head as I brush my lips over hers.
“Your whole face smells like my vagina.” Her brow furrows, and her eyes flare. “The whole room probably does.”
There’s a knock on the studio door. Because I locked it when I first let us in.
She shoves at my chest. “They’re here!”
I hop to my feet. Tally sits up in a rush, then puts out both hands and folds forward.
“Stay there, I’ll let them in.”
“They’re going to smell my vag on you.” Her forehead touches the floor between her legs. She doesn’t seem overly concerned.
I scrub a hand over my face before I open the door. Arya and Charles stand on the other side, wide-eyed. “Hey. Talls is just warming up. I’m heading next door to grab coffees. Can I get you two anything special? Latte? Flavored latte?”
“Um, yes, sure, thank you. Please. Flip Madden. Wow. Hi. I’m Charles. I don’t really understand the rules, but I am a fan of hockey and especially the warmups.” His eyes lift to my hair. I didn’t check my reflection before I opened the door.
“Oh my God, Charles,” Arya mutters, but her eyes are also on my hair.
I step aside and let them into the studio. Tally’s cheeks are red as she turns to face them, hand raised in a floppy wave.
“I’ll be back with breakfast and coffees,” I call.
But they’re no longer focused on me.
“Oh, you naughty girl,” Charles says as the door closes. “You’re my new hero.”