Page 42 of The House on Memory Lane

Kyle nodded, and took a sip of champagne.

“I didn’t think Laney did boyfriends.”

Kyle didn’t owe this guy any explanations, and he didn’t want to say anything that she might object to, but he couldn’t help but want to clearly stake his claim. “It’s a recent philosophical change, I believe.”

“How’d you meet?”

“We went to elementary school together.” He had first noticed Laney, really noticed her, at a school-wide cross country run when she was in grade six and he was in grade seven. She’d kicked his ass, and he felt the first pangs of pre-teen lust as her long blond ponytail waved back and forth in front of him as she pulled away toward the finish line. He could still remember that she had been wearing a yellow t-shirt and tight black running shorts. She became a part of his life that day, imprinted on him so he was always aware of her presence. On the schoolyard. At the beach. At bush bonfires. As she got older, he wound tight at the thought of her hooking up with someone else, but something held him back. He loved her from afar for ten years before she kissed him. And he had been so damn nervous, his palms sweaty, legs shaking. Fear. He had been riddled with fear, even once they started dating. Fear is what made him push her away at the end of that summer. It kept him from happiness for another twelve years. He had been searching for someone to fit into his life. He felt like an asshole for not realizing until he was thirty-four that his life was wherever Laney needed to be. “I’m moving to Chicago in the summer.”

“Tonight was a big success.”

“Mmmm.” She leaned into Kyle’s chest and closed her eyes. It was a short cab ride to her condo, but she wouldn’t last that long. “I’m so sleepy.”

“Then head to Grandma’s house,” he whispered. “You can crawl into the bed there, I’m sure it’s safe.”

She shivered against him. Her eyes didn’t open, but her hand sought out his erection and palmed it leisurely. His fingers circled her bare shoulder under her wrap. The anticipation had been building all night. She had considered dragging him into one of the conference rooms on the upper level of the event space that she had seen at a planning meeting, but the professional Laney had won that battle. Getting caught having sex by a colleague, or worse, a donor, would have ruined the night.

But now they were alone.

“My, what big hands you have,” she whispered.

“That’s not my hand,” he muttered, gripping her shoulder.

She giggled. “And what big teeth you have.”

“The better to bite you with, my dear.”

“Better be a promise,” she breathed, pressing closer.

He leaned in as if to kiss her, then ducked his head lower, running his mouth down her neck, nipping all the hot spots.

“Come closer, little one.” His mouth was higher again, at her ear, and then it was his tongue that she felt, just the tip, tracing the outside edge of her cartilage.

She closed the last few gaps between their bodies, plastering herself against him just in time for the cab to come to a stop in front of her building. Kyle pulled cash out of his pocket and shoved her out the door.

“Hey!” She protested, but she too felt the urgency. His arm was a steel band around her waist as he propelled her onto the elevator, where he made short work of finding her underwear and ripping them out from under her dress.

“Mr. Wolf,” she panted. “I don’t think that my grandmother would approve.”

He growled and slid two fingers inside her, the palm of his hand rocking back and forth over her clit. She lifted one leg, wrapping it around his rock hard thigh, giving him deeper access.

“You’ve got fifteen seconds to come on my hand, sweetheart,” he muttered. His erection pressed into the soft skin at the top of her standing leg, a few centimeters from her hot, wet core, and with each crooked pass of his fingertips over her g-spot, she could feel him swell a bit more.

“I want you inside me,” she moaned, her hips swaying to pull their cores together.

He pressed her harder against the elevator wall, and slid his fingers out of her pussy. One finger trailed a lazy circle around her clit, and she felt the clenching start before he spoke again.

“Come for me,” he said, his voice low and tight. “Let me feel you coat my hand.”

He swirled around her clit once more, and as the elevator doors opened, she spasmed hard, her entire body jerking against him, and as her thighs slid together, trapping his hand, he got the flood of wetness he wanted.

The reality of what they’d just done crashed around her as she took her first uncomfortable step toward her front door.

Kyle slid his arm around her, rubbing circles on her side. “You okay?”

“We just...in the elevator. What if someone else got on?”

He pressed her up against her front door. “No one did. If they had, I’d have dropped your leg and it would have looked like we were just kissing. It’s New Year’s Eve, it’s allowed.”

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