Page 22 of Keeper
I narrow my eyes at him. “Only if I get to pick it.”
“No,” he argues, shaking his head and moving to guard the TV. “No bloody way. I’m not watching aTwilightvampire marathon. OrStep Up, orCenter Stage, or some other ridiculous dance movie where the kid from the wrong side of the tracks gets a big break at a prestigious dance academy and then saves a puppy.”
My jaw drops. “No one ever saves a puppy.” He pins me with a hard look. I cross my arms and add, “Fine. If you pick the movie, I get to pick the workout music tomorrow.”
He chuckles and replies, “Deal.”
I do a mini victory dance on the spot because what I listen to for workout music will probably kill him. I move my dance down the hallway toward my bedroom to change into some comfortable clothes and call back over my shoulder, “Let’s order takeout!”
Nearing the end ofMoneyballwith our bellies full of Chinese food and legs stretched out on our respective sides of the sofa, Booker is shaking his head at the screen. “I have a newfound respect for what my father does.” He pauses to lean forward and tosses some popcorn in his mouth. “But I haven’t a bloody clue how to play baseball.”
“I know! I can barely keep up with football. With baseball, I have no idea what they are going on about.”
He chuckles and then looks sideways at me. “Are you ever going to tell me how you’re liking your job?”
I shrug. “It’s all right. The majority of my students are complete lunatics, but it’s temporary.”
“Then you’ll be teaching German,” he states.
“Ja, das ist richtig,” I reply with a wink.
“You’re completely fluent?” He looks impressed.
I nod.
“Well, that’s one good thing that came out of you moving away.”
This makes me frown. “There are lots of good things that came out of my education.”
He nods his head. “Right, of course education is good. But did you have to go all the way to Germany to achieve it?”
“It’s not the moon, Booker,” I snap. “It’s a two-hour flight.”
“But why Germany?” I don’t like his flippant tone.
“I needed a change.”
“A change from what?” he barks.
“From thenormal! I was stuck in a rut, and everybody else was having adventures but me. And I’ve always been like the queen of adventures, so I wanted to reinvent myself a bit.” I sit up and sass the last bit for dramatic effect.
“And Germany is where you got your…” He stops midsentence and waggles his finger toward my chest.
Heat moves across my cheekbones and I reflexively curve my shoulders in. “Yes.”
“Was it that Nigel bloke who did it?”
I cringe as flashbacks hit me all at once. Nigel was the best kind of distraction at a time when I needed a distraction. Booker and I had such a rough goodbye before I left for Uni that I was in an odd place. I was hurt by him taking Sidney to our tree in the woods. That betrayal was still fresh.
So when I met Nigel at an international student mixer my first year in Germany, I dove in head first. I was struggling with the language, and he was simply…easy. And a bit naughty, which is precisely what I was looking for at the time. He’s Irish and rough around the edges. He has piercings in places I never knew you could pierce.
Eventually, he convinced me that piercing my nipples would increase sensitivity and make our sex even more enjoyable. I was excited to do something a little wild, but after the first barbell pushed through my nipple, I cried like a fucking baby. It was horribly awkward. I had planned to pierce both, but I couldn’t stomach the pain again. Instead, I rushed out of there with my tail between my legs, cupping my tender nipple.
Quite honestly, I probably would have taken the piercing out right away if I could have stomached it. But every time I looked at it, I remembered the pain and my belly heaved.
When Booker and Islippedthe other night, I thought I was going to explode in my knickers when he put his mouth on it and sucked. After the traumatic piercing experience, I never let any guy near it. Not even Nigel. Actually, guys rarely saw me without my bra on because I was so protective of the area.
But with Booker, I lost my mind. I didn’t even have time to think before he gripped it in his rough hand and claimed it as his own. The entire scene was the most erotic thing I’ve ever felt.
