CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Naomi
I woke up Friday morning giddy.
Actually, freaking giddy.
The idea of sneaking out during the workday to meet up with Lennox at his house for a quick little romp filled me with all kinds of excitement.
I’d never gotten to experience this kind of passion or lust before, and it was thrilling. To want somebody as badly as I wanted him, and to be wanted as badly as I could feel he wanted me, gave me a buzz in my brain and body better than any bottle of rosé ever could.
I had a thorough shower that morning, put on a cute little black tank top with spaghetti straps and a lower neckline that I wasn’t used to wearing, and of course, some overalls.
But not just any overalls. These were loose, comfy linen overalls in a light-sand color.
I wore them in the summer when things got hot, but I didn’t feel like showing my legs.
I put my hair into twin Dutch braids and spent an extra three minutes in front of the mirror applying some blush, mascara, and lip gloss.
Honor gave a little whistle when I came out of the bathroom that morning. “Sexy lady, where are you going?”
I hid my smile and ducked my head as I went to pour myself some coffee. “Nowhere. Am I not allowed to take a bit of pride in my appearance?”
“Sure, you can. I’m just saying, you look nice.” She poured some granola over her yogurt. “What time are we heading to the funfair today?”
Every year in early June the school held an enormous fair on the field.
It was the biggest fundraiser of the year, and nearly the entire island came out to support.
There were games, bouncy castles, food vendors, a dunk tank, a portable climbing wall, pool noodle fencing, and all kinds of fun activities for families.
While I wasn’t one of the main coordinators of the event, my cousins and I all pitched in and volunteered.
This year, we’d recruited Tom and Maverick to pitch in as well.
Jagger already always did since his nieces and nephews went to the school and he was a super uncle.
“I need to be there by three-thirty,” I said. “My shift at the cotton candy machine starts at four.”
“We might as well just stay at the school at that point, then,” Austin said, coming into the kitchen. “That’s about when the bus drops us off anyway.”
“You can do that if you’d like.” I poured myself some coffee and added a splash of French vanilla soy creamer.
We agreed that they would stay at the school and hang out on the playground.
It sounded like my cousins’ kids would do the same—except for Marco, who still had some fears of being without adult supervision after his kidnapping earlier this year—and all the kids would stay together until we got there.
We walked our kids to the bus stop just as Lennox’s truck came into sight. The butterflies in my stomach were already going bananas, but seeing him just kicked their frenzy up a notch.
He parked in front of Gabrielle’s house just as my cousins and I reached his truck. Mabel hopped out with her backpack slung onto her shoulder.
“Hi, Mabel,” Gabrielle said.
The young girl grinned at all of us, but her attention was quickly pulled away by the chirp of a nearby bird. “Oh!” She paused and squinted. “A yellow-rumped warbler.” Then she shrugged and headed off up the porch steps to Gabrielle’s front door.
Lennox was already out of the truck and came over to wrap his arm around my waist. “Morning,” he said, dropping his mouth to mine for a quick peck.
Every cell in my body tingled. “Morning,” I replied.
“You two are disgustingly cute,” Raina said, rolling her green eyes.
Lennox and I faced her with big smiles on our faces. “I’m excited for the funfair this evening,” he said. “I saw all of your names on the volunteer list.”
“I’m at the face painting table this year,” Raina said.
“Hopefully it’s better than last year when I worked the prize table.
The kids turn feral with their tickets. So many sticky little hands covered in cotton candy, snow cone syrup, or cupcake icing, reaching for all the plastic paraphernalia that will entertain them for fifteen minutes before it breaks. Never again, I tell you. Never again.”
Danica, Gabrielle, and I snorted with mirth.
“I’m at the raffle basket table,” Danica said. “First shift.”
“And of course, I’m running the silent auction,” Gabrielle said with pride in her voice.
She was always so militant in the way she ran that auction, but it was also one of the biggest moneymakers at the fair.
“Maverick wanted to run the dunk tank so badly, so he signed up for both first and second shift.”
“And Tom and Jagger are working at the concession,” Danica finished.
“Is Mabel going to come?” Gabrielle asked.
Lennox shook his head. “No. She’s not interested. I think she was going to ask Damon if he wanted to come over and watch a movie.”
All of our eyes perked up. That was a big step for Mabel. So far, she’d been pretty adamant about keeping their get-togethers at Damon’s. Lennox said she wasn’t ready to invite anybody into her home, but apparently things had changed.
“Anyway, I’ve got to get to the school.” He pecked me on the temple. “I’ll see you later,” he murmured, giving my butt a squeeze before climbing back into his truck.
“Ooh, what’s happening later?” Raina asked in a sing-song voice.
I couldn’t keep the grin from my face. “We’re meeting at his place during his lunch hour.”
“For a quickie?” Gabrielle asked, seemingly impressed.
“I think that’s what they call it.”
“Or a nooner?” Danica added, prompting all of them to chuckle.
“Don’t you all have work to do?” I asked, playfully smacking Raina’s butt since it was closest to me.
Their snickers were benign, as were their grins back at me. But we dispersed and got to work.
The hours between when I saw Lennox that morning and when I finally climbed into my vehicle to head to his house took longer than I ever could have imagined. Time surely must have stood still. The Earth paused on its axis for an hour and floated, unmoving, just to cause me anxiety.
But eventually, it started spinning again, and noon approached. I climbed into my vehicle with freshly applied lip gloss and trembling hands.
Even though we’d already had sex, this felt different. We were doing it in his bed. We were taking that next step.
I said a little thank you to the universe that there were no traffic lights and only four stop signs between my house and his. And, wouldn’t you know it, we arrived at almost the exact same time.
I jumped out from behind the steering wheel, not sure if I completely closed my car door or not and crashed into him as he got out of his truck. My lips pressed against his as I wrapped my arms around his neck.
“Well, hello to you too,” he said against my mouth and holding my waist. He backed me up toward the front door and unlocked it while I kissed his jaw and neck. Once we were inside the house, it was like our clothes were made of poison oak.
I tore his T-shirt off over his head, and he went to work on the buttons of my overalls.
I kicked myself free of the linen and went to work on the buttons and zipper of his jeans.
My eyes were opening and closing periodically, and we were moving throughout the house, but I wasn’t particularly paying attention to where we were going.
My tank top was next, getting tossed to the floor in his hallway. Eventually, we were in nothing but our underwear, my bra discarded somewhere near my tank top, and his erection pressed eagerly against my inner thigh.
Raking his teeth down my jaw, he spun us into what could only be his room and pinned me against the wall next to the door.
I leaped up onto his hips, grinding myself against his cock.
My hands roamed his hair, then scraped down his back. He growled against my mouth and bit my lip, tugging a little with his teeth. “Need to be inside you,” he murmured, bucking up against me so I could feel just how badly he wanted me.
“Condom first,” I breathed.
Pressing his forehead to mine for a moment, he nodded and set me down on my feet before moving over to his nightstand.
He broke one off from the strip, opened it, and rolled it onto his length.
I removed my underwear, and he yanked his boxers off.
Then we just stood there for a second, staring at each other’s naked bodies, our chests heaving.
I swallowed all the saliva in my mouth and licked my lips as my eyes traveled south. “Like what you see?” he asked, his voice deeper and raspier than I’d ever heard it before.
I nodded, unable to take my eyes off his erection.
With a deep inhale, he lunged forward, cupping the back of my neck in his hand as I leaped back up onto his hips.
It took a bit of finagling, but after a second, we were lined up perfectly.
With a sigh escaping both of us at the same time, I slid down, taking him inside me.
My back was against his bedroom wall, my arms around his neck as he held me up by my butt and hammered into me.
I’d never had sex up against a wall before, and while it wasn’t as easy as doing it horizontally, the thrill of doing it somewhere different, of being sort of spontaneous and wild, passionate for each other, trumped the preference for ease.
Dropping his mouth to my nipple, he sucked on it until I gasped from that delightful snap of pain.
He continued to buck into me as I held onto him for dear life.
He was hitting a new spot inside of me at this angle, and his pubic bone rubbed my clit just right.
I dug my nails into his shoulder as ripples of pleasure cascaded through me.
With a growl that I felt down to my toes, he spun us around, his hands still cradling my butt, and propelled us toward the bed. I landed on my back, but rather than continue thrusting into me, he pulled out and let my legs dangle over the edge as he dropped to his knees and spread my thighs.