Page 57 of Craving Theodora
“We have kids in the house, and if there’s an emergency, I don’t want to go running out there naked as a jaybird.”
“Smart. I won’t sleep naked either.”
I hid my irrational disappointment.
“And this doesn’t change anything out there,” I said, gesturing to the bedroom door. “Even if we’re fucking, you still don’t have a say with my kids. I’m their parent.”
His head jerked in surprise. “Of course.” He let out a huff of laughter.
“What?”
“I, uh…” He shook his head and scratched his jaw. “I already treat your kids like we’re together, Teddy. They’re livin’ in my house.”
“Oh,” I mumbled. “Right.”
“We’re together as far as anyone knows,” he said. “We have been since you started sleeping next to me. What we do in that bed is nobody’s business but ours, and it doesn’t change anything outside of it.”
I nodded in agreement.
“Um…also, I haven’t had sex in seven—no, eight—years,” I blurted out in one breath, trying not to cringe.
The look of shock I was expecting never came. Instead, Curtis clenched his teeth, his jaw visibly flexing as he braced his hands on his hips.
When he spoke, his voice was rough, and I felt it everywhere.
“Am I comin’ to you or are you comin’ to me?” he asked.
“I think you’re going to have to come here,” I confessed. Nerves made my hands tremble as I pulled off my tank top. “I’m pretty sure my feet have been permanently cemented to the floor.”
“That’s gonna be a problem,” he murmured as he moved toward me. “Because I’m not gonna fuck you the first time bent over the side of the bed.”
He gripped me by the hips and tossed me onto the bed, making me gasp. Without hesitation, he reached for my shorts, and within moments, I was naked.
My heart was in my throat again, this time with embarrassment, as he suddenly stepped away from the bed. I was so shocked that I didn’t even say a word as I watched him cross the room. Mortification made my skin burn.
Then the bedroom door lock clicked, and I realized what he was doing.
He stripped out of his jeans as he made his way back toward me.
“Don’t,” he ordered as I started to curl up. “Let me look.”
Swallowing hard, I let my legs fall back to the bed, my arms sliding away from my breasts.
When he reached the bed, he crawled up beside me and knelt at my side, his thighs splayed wide. The erection I’d noticed in his jeans was far more visible in his black boxer briefs, and I tried not to stare. Curtis was big everywhere.
“Come here,” he rasped, pulling me upward.
I found myself kneeling in front of him, goose bumps pebbling my skin as his hands slid up my arms and curved around the sides of my neck. He tipped my head back, his thumbs sliding down the column of my throat, and then his mouth was on mine.
Curtis had kissed me a lot. Soft pecks on the mouth when he left. Longer kisses when we were in company. Laughing kisses. Growly kisses. Sweet kisses.
But nothing had prepared me for that kiss. It wasn’t for show, and it wasn’t for anyone else. His tongue slid inside my mouth with purpose. His teeth nipped at my bottom lip. Our breath mingled as he pulled away, staring into my eyes as his hands drifted down over my collarbone to cup my breasts.
“Christ,” he breathed as his thumbs found my nipples.
I groaned and clutched at his shoulders as he gave the hard peaks a little flick with his thumbnails.
It had been so long. I’d forgotten what it felt like to be touched like that by someone else. Every inch of my skin tingled with anticipation.
