Parental Guidance (Ice Knights #1)(35)

“Start here.” She laid a fingertip at her freckle-covered collarbone. “Go here.” She slid her finger across to the top of her tits. “Then here.” Her finger glided down the side and underneath. “And finally, be sure to kiss here.” She lifted up her breast, her thumb grazing against her nipple.

His dick strained against his jeans, and his balls tightened as a wave of need cross-checked him right into the boards, but he managed to get out a barely audible, “Yes, ma’am. I’m gonna give you that and more.”

Then he went to work, because he could follow her coaching, but he could add a little off-the-tongue twists as well. He followed the path she’d laid out for him, and kissing his way over her skin, the freckles becoming lighter and spaced farther apart, he made his way to her pale-peach nipple, letting the overnight growth of his beard brush against the sensitive spot. He sucked the tip into his hot mouth, swirling his tongue around it and grazing his teeth over it, nipping with just enough pressure to make her moan. Her hands were in his hair, pulling him closer as she arched against him, her hands holding on to the back of the couch. Her hips rotated as she rubbed her core against him at an ever more desperate pace.

She needed relief—needed it bad—and there was nothing more he wanted at the moment than to taste her orgasm on his mouth. Raising his mouth from her, he skimmed his hands down her sides to her hips and lifted her so while she was still grasping the back of the couch, her legs were nearly straight. He slid down so he was underneath the apex of her thighs.

He hooked his finger in the waistband of her shorts. “There’s one more place I want to kiss.”

“Yes, please.” She lifted one leg as he brought her shorts down on that side and slipped it free.

As the shorts slid down the other leg, circling her ankle, he didn’t care that her shorts weren’t all the way off, not when they were both this close. He pulled her hips lower so her hot, wet core was against his mouth. Fuck, she was sweet, so good. He tasted her, licking and kissing and sucking her plump, wet folds.

“Caleb,” she cried out when the tip of his tongue touched her clit.

When he circled his tongue around the sensitive nub while stroking his thumb in and out of her slick entrance, her thighs started to tremble. He pulled her down more, burying himself in her as he continued lapping and sucking her clit and fucking her with his thumb, circling her entrance and driving it inside over and over until her shaking thighs stilled half a second before they clamped closed on either side of his head and she came all over his mouth.

He slowly ran his palms over her ass and up and down her legs until her orgasm abated, then helped her lay down on the blanket she must have given him when he’d fallen asleep earlier. Dawn was full upon them now, the pink-orange rays bathing her in a golden pastel glow. God, she looked fucking delectable, sated and spent with her eyes half closed and the unmistakable red of beard burn on her inner thighs.

It was almost impossible to remember why dating Zara for real was a bad idea. In this moment, he couldn’t shake the idea that there could be more than an agreement between them. That he wanted that. That it didn’t seem like he had a choice in wanting her. That it was too late to try to fight it even if he wanted to.

“I think you broke me,” she said, her lips curling into a soft smile.

Before he could say anything dumb, like me too, his phone buzzed, vibrating on the coffee table. He glanced down at the notification reminding him that he had twenty minutes to get to the team practice facility for an early-morning team run. Coach Peppers loved bonding activities—especially if he could schedule one early enough that his players couldn’t get up to anything stupid the night before.

“Duty calls?” she asked, sitting up and wrapping the blanket around herself like armor. The easy bliss was gone from her expression already.

He nodded. “Zara—”

“Don’t say it,” she interrupted, her gaze lowered so instead of looking him in the eye, her gaze was directed at his chin. “It was just kissing. Didn’t mean a thing. I know.”

She couldn’t be more wrong, but now wasn’t the moment to make his case, not with her chin up at that stubborn angle and her lips flattened into one thin line. He needed more time than the forty seconds he had before he needed to go or risk being too late to catch the subway to the facility—fines and lectures about being a disruptive force in the team would follow that, and he had to do everything he could to keep things on an even keel.

“We’ll talk later,” he said as he got up and walked backward toward the door.

“Sure, we still have an agreement, remember?” She gave him a wobbly smile. “Two more dates to go.”

And that’s when it hit him. She had her own reasons for going on the Bramble dates, and it wasn’t to fall for a guy like him. Maybe what had just happened didn’t mean anything to her, and he was just being a sucker thinking it might be—could be—more. Wiping away the last taste of her from his mouth, he just nodded and walked out of her apartment, his steps heavier than they had been when he’d walked in last night.





Chapter Ten


Zara still wasn’t sure about the elephants. Of course, since Caleb had left right after she’d gone to town on his face and she had been avoiding his texts for the last two days, she’d been overthinking everything, so maybe this was more of that. Just a normal, everyday mental freak-out. That was all.