Chapter 27
Amber slipped outfrom under Theo’s heavy arm and paused for a moment, watching him sleep. He looked so peaceful next to her. She pressed a light kiss to his arm rather than his handsome face. She didn’t want to wake him and have him watch her leave.
Something told her that Theo would want her to stay, and she couldn’t do that.
They had dozed for an hour or so, then Theo got up and, true to his word, fed her chocolate chip pancakes with plenty of butter and syrup while they stood in the kitchen.
She had been amazed to see that Theo did indeed have all the ingredients to make her favorite pancakes and teased him mercilessly about how he should have a green juice instead to keep that amazing bod. He had ended that quickly by stripping her naked right there on the kitchen counter, pouring syrup over her breasts, and licking it off.
She took back everything she said about the mayor being vanilla.
She should have known that Theo was excellent at anything he put his mind to, and her pleasure was number one on his list. Lucky, lucky her, the man was an animal in bed.
It was the look he gave her afterward—so full of tenderness and understanding—that had left her feeling exposed and filled her with the urge to run.
Theo wasn’t interested in the idea of her. He wasn’t satisfied with the version of her that everyone else was. Theo wanted to see the real, flawed, imperfect parts of her she had hidden so deeply under layers of self-preservation.
She didn’t know if she could bear to see his disappointment at what he might find.
She had kissed Puddin’ goodbye where she slept at the end of Theo’s bed and crept out soundlessly to drive home at dawn. Theo would be up soon to run and when he found her gone, he would come to her. She expected him, but she needed a moment to put herself back together from the inside out first. Last night had been intense. Incredible. Terrifying.
“Oh, hey, walk of shame,” Val said, smirking at her from the top of the stairs of their building.
Amber froze in mid-step up the stairs. “Good morning,” she said, trying to sound nonchalant. “You’re up early.”
Val snorted. “And you never went to bed, did you?”
Amber drew herself up to her full height. “I’m an adult,” Amber said regally. “I don’t have to explain that I was simply working late on gala stuff and decided to sleep at the office.”
“Uh-huh. So, ‘working late’ is what we’re calling a beard rash all over your neck?”
Amber fumbled around in her purse for her key. “What are you doing up so early, anyway?” She turned around and paused. Val’s hood was up, and her black hair was pulled forward over her eyes.
“I’m taking the SAT test,” Val said with a trace of nervousness. “My mom’s outside waiting to drive me. She needs the car today.”
Shock filled Amber, right before elation. She tried to keep her voice nonchalant so as not to spook her. “Right. Good luck. You’ll do great.” Amber kept her voice light so as not to spook her.
Val hiked her backpack higher and kicked at the worn carpet on the landing outside their apartment doors. “Yeah, well, I decided last minute to apply for late admission to a few local colleges, like you said.” She peeked up at Amber. “If you still think that’s a good idea?”
Amber deliberately kept her face neutral. Her heart was near bursting. “Yeah, I think it’s a great idea. Call me if you need a ride home.”
She took a long, hot shower to clear her mind, but images from the night kept making her hot and bothered again, so she gave up and sat on the couch to watch TV.
Good lord, was the man good at everything? He had taken control the moment he got home and found her in the hot tub, and she hadn’t minded one bit. It was so unlike her. Theo was bossy and dominant, but also so incredibly sweet and tender with her. It hadn’t even occurred to her to fight it. She went along for every bit of the wild ride.
She blushed and fanned herself with a magazine just thinking about some of the things he had done to her that she had never let anyone else do.
At exactly six-thirty, he knocked on the door. She knew he would. She would have been disappointed if he didn’t.
She opened the door to let him in, not missing the way his eyes flared when he saw her in her short silk robe.
He strode in and kissed her. No hesitation, no asking permission. Theo kicked the door shut and pushed her up against it, kissing her like he was a sailor home on leave. He pushed his fingers into her hair and tilted her head back for his mouth. It was long and deep and delicious. She sighed happily.
When he pulled back, he didn’t let go of her face. “Don’t ever sneak out of my house again,” he growled.
“I didn’t want to wake you up, and I had to go,” she whispered, her heart still hammering like crazy in her chest from that kiss.
“You were running.” He said it so confidently, she wanted to kick him.
“Maybe I was done using your body,” she said tartly. “Did you think of that, Mr. Mayor?”
He grinned, all white teeth and dimples. She felt it between her thighs. “I wasn’t done with yours.” Then he picked her up over his shoulder and headed toward her bedroom.
“Theo,” she whisper-yelled in deference to her sleeping neighbors. “Put me down.” She bucked against him.
“Quit moving.” He spanked her, then rubbed the offended spot so nicely that she wiggled again just to have another. “No panties, Ms. Hart?” he murmured, exploring her softness. His fingers lightly dipped between her cheeks, and she shot upright.
A shocking, intense heat surged through her at his bold touch, making her gasp. She didn’t think she’d ever get over her uptight mayor’s shockingly dirty bedroom side. He gave her another sharp slap on the fullest part of her ass that made her moan and wiggle some more.
He tossed her on the bed. “What was that for?” she asked breathlessly.
“That,” he said, undoing his belt, “was for running scared this morning.” Amber popped up to watch him unbutton his jeans and reach back to pull his T-shirt off.
He sat down on the edge of the bed and dragged her over his lap until she straddled him. She was wet and throbbing already. As soon as she settled over him, she rolled her hips over his thick shaft. Hot, hazy lust gripped her until she was frantic, aching to feel him filling her.
She couldn’t get enough of his body, running her hands over the hard planes of his chest, tugging the hair there, and leaning forward to lick his nipples. She bit down lightly on the hard point, and he grunted.
He gripped her hips hard and lifted her above him. “This—” he said, “is for your smart mouth,” and he pushed her down onto his rigid cock. Hard. Deep. So hot her hearing nearly went out and she saw stars. She was pleasantly sore from last night, but the burn from him inside her now edged a thin line between pleasure and pain.
She couldn’t get enough. She rolled into him, feeling the burn and stretch as she took him deeper, and the wave of lust made her tip her head back to chase where it was going. “Oh, my God,” she gasped.
She had started to shake when suddenly he clamped his hands on her hips and jerked her up and off his cock. “Fuck,” he swore viciously. “Condom,” he gritted out.
“I’m good, and I’m on the pill,” she gasped. She was poised above him. Her thighs trembled with the need to sink onto him and ride.
Theo closed his eyes briefly. “I’m clean too.”
“Then we’re good,” Amber said, lowering herself delicately onto him. She took only the round head of him into her body and teased him, but Theo took control again and pushed her down farther onto him, stretching her and making her feel the delicious burn of his generous size. He pushed the robe off her shoulders roughly, his eyes hot as they moved over her naked body.
She braced herself with her arms on his knees behind her and lifted herself while they watched. She came down hard enough to make her breasts bounce. “Again,” he demanded, watching her fuck him.
She grinned and slowed down to tease him, but Theo gripped her hair and tipped her head back, forcing her breasts up and out for his mouth. Licking and biting, and finally sucking her nipples one at a time deep into his mouth in a rhythm she felt echoed between her legs. His hands gripped her hips again. Taking control back, and he pulled her tighter onto him in a fast, tight rhythm that was spiraling her quickly into a climax. He reached down between them, spread her, and pressed her hard on his pelvis so her clit rubbed him in the exact right spot on every downstroke.
She closed her eyes and felt the burning hot flames licking her from her insides, winding her tighter and faster toward coming. Theo bucked up against her at the same time pulling her down and into his pelvis, and she lost all thought and reason, coming violently hard on him.
He let her go limp, playing with her breasts, stroking her back and hair gently while she floated. Eventually, reason came back to her, and she felt him deep and throbbing inside of her still. She leaned forward and licked his neck.
He didn’t waste a second. Swiftly, he turned her over to her back on the bed and thrust into her. She loved the way he handled her—no hesitation, just firm and knowing. There was a freedom to giving up control with Theo that terrified and excited her in equal measures.
She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and hung on until, with a final thrust, he came with his face buried in her neck.
A while later, Theo rolled to his side and looked at her. “I meant what I said, Amber. Don’t sneak out like that. This isn’t that.”
“This isn’t what?” she said carefully.
Theo looked irritated. ”This wasn”t just a one-night stand.”
“Then what is it?” she asked carefully.
“We’re not a secret, for one. I refuse to hide whatever this is between us.”
Amber rolled over onto her back so she wouldn’t have to see those beautiful blue eyes. He was making it difficult to remember all of the reasons why she never did this exact thing they were doing now. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said calmly, despite the pressure in her chest. “Your campaign is doing so well, and?—”
“Fuck the campaign.” He rolled over to look at her. He was so beautiful, like a marble sculpture of an angry god. She wanted to soothe him as much as she wanted him to say, “Okay, no big deal. We’ll just have sex then,” like all the other men in her past had when this conversation inevitably came up. Not Theo, though. He was too honorable for that.
“This is the morning after, for me. This is going to the farmers’ market and making breakfast together. This is us spending the day together. It’s real. I know that scares you, and that”s why you took off, but that isn”t what this is for me.”
She stiffened, panic welling in her stomach. “Don’t fall for me, Theo. I’m not made for that. I’m not good for you or your future. I told you I don’t do relationships.”
“Shh.” He pushed her hair back behind her ear. “Stop looking at me like that. I’m asking you to trust me right now,” he said. “Will you do that? Will you trust us?”
Could she? She didn’t know, but she wanted to, and that had to matter. She nodded hesitantly.
“Thank you. That’s all I’m asking for, and a promise that if you get scared, or angry with me, or need a break, you’ll come to me to talk. No more running away. Things are going to happen between us. I’m going to do things that will piss you off, and you’re going to do things that make me crazy, but you can’t leave like that. That’s not how this is going to work.”
He was so earnest right now, telling her to take a chance on him when, in reality, he was the best man she had ever known. If it didn’t work with someone as kind and filled with integrity as Theo Clairmont, she was destined to be alone.
The thought made her want to cry. Her stomach growled and she seized the distraction like a lifeline. She grinned. “So, the farmers’ market and breakfast? That sounds nice.”
“Yeah, it does,” Theo said, grinning back at her. “It sounds amazing.”