37. Faith
CHAPTER 37
Faith
I read over the email one more time. I’d been selected to take over Professor Middleford’s classes. I rested my elbows on the laminate desk and cradled my head in my hands, gazing out the fourteenth-story window onto the snowy quad below. Good things were happening.
Being back in Newbridge, the words flowed again, and I wanted to get another chapter written before I’d let myself initiate a New Year’s booty call. A tap sounded on the glass of the small study carrel window, and I turned around. When my eyes met Dante’s, a slow smile spread across my lips. He must have taken that as an invitation and cracked open the door.
“Hey, you,” I said. “How was your break?”
“It was okay. How about yours?”
“Fine. Too many parties to go to. I’m glad to be back.”
“Yeah, I’m glad you’re back, too.”
I rose up out of the chair and snaked my arms around his neck. Instead of responding, he untangled himself and took a step back. Had he changed his mind?
“Is there something you want to tell me, Faith?”
He wouldn’t make eye contact, just stared at the putty-colored wall.
“Um, I don’t think so. What’s going on?”
Dante pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket.
A sliver of panic sliced through me. Had someone left a page for him, too? I’d tried to put the threat out of my mind. What if Dante found out?
The paper crinkled as his fingers smoothed out the creases. “Murph stopped by the bar yesterday.”
I swallowed hard. “Oh?” Dante passed the page to me. The damn article about my mom’s visit to campus. Relief flooded my system.
“So, you didn’t think you needed to mention the little fact that your parents are paving the moral high ground?”
I sighed and crossed my arms over my chest.
“What would Mom and Reverend Kepner think about our little arrangement? Did you fill them in on all the details after Christmas service?” he asked.
“That’s not fair. I can’t help who my mom is or who she chose to marry. I love my family, but that’s not my life. I don’t fit in there anymore.”
“You didn’t have to lie about it.”
“Said the pot to the kettle, huh? You think I don’t know that you told your grandmother we were officially an item? I got a Christmas card from her for crying out loud. She sent me her recipe for lemon crinkle cookies and told me how happy she was that you finally found a nice girl and that we’d make beautiful babies together.”
Dante groaned and sucked in a deep breath. “She said that, for real? About the grandbabies?”
“She just wants you to be happy. You’re lucky you have someone who loves you so much.”
He nudged me with an elbow. “Looks like maybe we both fucked up a little.”
I swatted at his chest. “No, you fucked up. Mine was a lie of omission. Not the same thing at all.”
“Semantics. Are we still on or not? I have an hour before I have to start my shift.”
I should call it off. Walk away and chalk this up to a botched experiment. Pull out my planner and figure out how to get back on track before Dante completely derailed me. But my fingers itched to tangle in his hair. My lips tingled, eager for the taste of his tongue.
So instead of kicking him out and getting back to my writing, I nodded.
His mouth quirked into a confident grin. “Come on, there’s something I want to show you.” He grabbed my hand and tugged me through the door.
Dante
“Where are we going?” She tried to keep up as I moved quickly through the shelves of books.
I reached the stairwell and opened the door, pulling her through behind me. One bare bulb above the door lit up the landing. I held onto the metal railing with one hand, my other still grasping hers. Then I began to move down the steps into the darkness of the floor below.
When we reached the landing, I slid a key out of my pocket.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Just wait.” I unlocked the door and yanked it open. A blast of warm air blew past us into the stairwell.
“What’s this?”
I nudged her through the doorway and let it slam behind us. “It’s the thirteenth floor.”
We moved through the dim room, past rows of mechanical equipment. The heavy air seemed to part as we passed, the tangy smell of machinery and neglect settling on our shoulders.
She stopped in her tracks, causing me to spin around. “But there is no thirteenth floor.”
“Come on, even you know that’s just superstition. One of the maintenance guys came in the bar over break and I asked him about it. Since the building is so tall, they put half the equipment in the basement and half of it here.”
She looked around. “So, this is the real thirteenth floor?”
“I have to get the key back to him tomorrow.” I ran my thumb over her wrist. Being so close to her... I’d missed this. “I thought it would be fun to check it out.”
She slid her fingers over my palm. “Pretty cool, Dante.”
I’d been looking forward to seeing her for over a week. Now that she was this close, I couldn’t wait any longer. Grabbing her by the shoulders, I crushed my mouth down on hers. Her hands immediately went around my neck, drawing me tight against her. I fumbled with the edge of her shirt, yanking it loose from her jeans.
After fighting through four layers, my fingers finally rested on the soft skin of her waist. I urged her backward until we crashed into a tall metal gate. A loud clang rang out.
She drew back for a moment, and I listened to make sure no one would come because of the noise. Assured we were alone, my hands continued to explore under her shirt. Fuck, she felt good. She pressed against me, making me think she wanted me as much as I was dying to have her. Her desire turned me on so much I thought I would explode.
With her back against the metal cage, she lifted a leg and wrapped it around my waist, urging me even closer. My mouth moved over her neck, her cheek, her ear. In the dim light, I could just make out the heat in her eyes and the way her lips parted. Her hips rose up to meet mine.
I dropped my mouth to her collarbone, and she shivered. She smelled so damn good. As I unbuttoned the front of her shirt, I left a trail of kisses along her neck. Her shirt fell to the floor, and I lifted the edge of her tank top and pushed it up over her bra. She moaned and rocked against me. I wanted to make her scream out my name.
Her hands played in my hair as I knelt down in front of her. She kicked off her boots and watched me with half-closed eyes as I unbuttoned her jeans and slid them down one leg at a time. Her skin was so soft. With my help, her panties followed.
Naked from the waist down, her hands grasped the metal fence behind her, and she moved to a rhythm only she could feel. Still on my knees, I put both hands behind her, cupped her perfect ass, and brought her toward my mouth. She gasped as my tongue tasted her for the first time. I’d been looking forward to this for too fucking long.
It was worth the wait.
I took my time, teasing and flicking my tongue over her most sensitive spot. She writhed against me, her hands clutching the gate behind her head. My fingers slid in and out while my mouth taunted her. She was close.
She whimpered. “I’m close. Yeah, right there. Don’t stop.”
Stopping was the last thing on my mind. I was going to make her come so hard she’d be begging me for more. I picked up one of her legs and put it up over my shoulder. The angle of my oral assault shifted, and she moaned. The guttural sound came from the back of her throat, and she tightened.
I backed off. She wasn’t going to get off so easily, not this time.
Her hand plunged into my hair. “Come on.”
With one hand supporting her underneath, I slipped the other under her bra and rolled a nipple between my fingers. It hardened, and I moved my fingers over to the other one. I skimmed my tongue over her, and she gasped.
“Please. I need you...now.”
“Ask me nicely,” I teased.
“Just do it. Finish it, dammit.”
My tongue stroked, and my lips gently sucked away her resolve. “Not until you say my name.” I pulled back and met her eyes.
She put both hands behind my head and nudged me back into her. I slipped a finger inside. She was so wet. So incredibly, perfectly wet for me.
“Please, Dante,” she whispered. She looked down at me through unfocused eyes.
As my fingers teased, in and out, I pushed my tongue inside her, swirling it around and sending her to the edge.
“Dante, oh god.” Our eyes met and held. “Dante.”
I sucked gently, and she writhed under my touch, my fingers sliding in and out as her orgasm gathered momentum. Then wave after wave crashed over her. She was so fucking beautiful when she came.
Finally, she lifted her leg off my shoulder and pulled away.
“Faith, that was?—”
“Do you have anything?”
“What do you mean?”
“A condom. Do you have a condom?”
“Yeah. Of course.”
“Give it to me.”
I took the packet out of my pocket and handed it to her. She unbuttoned my jeans, yanking my pants and boxers down in a jerky movement. I was so fucking turned on. My cock sprang out of my pants, and she grabbed it in her hands, unrolling the condom down my length.
She turned around, putting her back to me, and looked at me over her shoulder. “Come on, Dante. Your turn.”
I moved toward her, and she bent forward at the waist, grabbing the fence with both hands. I guided myself into her, feeling her clench around me.
“Oh Faith, shit, you feel so good.”
She rocked back toward me, sending me deeper. I wasn’t ready, and it caught me off balance. I grabbed her around the waist, driving deep inside. We found our rhythm. Every time I plunged forward, she rocked back, using her hands to push against the gate. Fuck. I couldn’t hold back. I released into her, my knees so weak I had to tighten my grip around her waist to keep from collapsing.
“You done back there?” she asked.
Heat washed over my cheeks.
“Um, yeah.” I backed away, taking care of the condom. By the time I turned around, she was already stepping into her jeans.
“Faith, I, uh?—”
She planted a kiss on my cheek. “Good timing, Dante. I really needed a break. Same time tomorrow?”
I groped for my jeans on the floor, but she’d already reached the door. She gave a quick wave and pulled it open, stepping out into the stairwell and leaving me alone in the dark, wondering what the fuck just happened.