One, two, three. One, two, three.
Over and over she repeated the numbers, and the instinct to wrap her in my arms now came from concern. She was visibly upset, and I wasn’t sure if my touch would help to calm her or cause further distress.
“Addison?” I coaxed.
Her hair shifted softly in the breeze, and when those blue eyes of hers found me, I thought she appeared as perfect as the first time I’d met her.
The perfection, however, was marred. Not in a horrible disfigured way but on a deep subconscious level. She searched my face, for what I wasn’t sure, and continued to count—one, two, three—in a way that I would never stop hearing.
This girl was damaged. Why hadn’t I seen that?
She was broken, and some part of me wanted to fix her.
I took her hand, gently squeezing her fingers, and with that small touch, the counting stopped.
“Let’s go. You can tell me more on the way,” I said, walking us back in the direction we’d come.
She was silent the entire way.
Like someone lost, she let me lead her, and I couldn’t stop myself from wondering what would’ve happened if she’d trusted the wrong person?
Or had she?
I unlocked the doors and shook off the thought. Before she climbed into the cab, into the small space I would soon lock myself into beside her, she said so softly I almost missed it, “You make it go away.”
Not understanding, I asked, “I make what go away?”
Dropping all pretense, she replied, “The chaos.”
I climbed into his truck and watched him walk around the front.
I wondered how he did it. How did he make it all stop?
He got into the seat beside me and pulled the door shut, sealing us inside.
“I’m sorry,” I offered, thinking I needed to say something to make him understand that I didn’t mean to be peculiar—I just was.
I was forever trying to hide this side of myself, never wanting to show I was anything other than okay, but with him it was different.
He didn’t know the story. He hadn’t been there that day.
Not like the rest of them.
Grayson started up the truck, but instead of leaving, he switched on the interior light. For the first time tonight, I felt like I was back in his classroom because the look he was giving me was expectant and concerned.
“Want to tell me what’s going on, Addison?”
I began to nibble on my thumbnail, and almost like it was habit, he swatted it away from my mouth. “Bad habit?”
I shrugged, feeling shy.
“A nervous one.”
He pulled away, and I knew he’d taken that wrong. I reached across the space between us and brought his hand back to me, placing it on my bare leg.
“You don’t make me nervous…” I trailed off, concentrating instead on how large his hand was where it rested on my thigh.
“I should.”
“Why?”
His fingers flexed, but before he could remove them, I placed mine on top.
“Because you’re older than me? Or because you’re my teacher?”
“God, Addison,” he groaned, sounding tortured. I squeezed my hand, pressing his fingers harder against my naked flesh. “Both of those reasons, and…”
Having forgotten all about my moment of weird, I licked my lips and dared to ask, “And?”
I watched as he shifted in his seat so he could face me.
“And because of all the things I’m thinking.”
I could feel my breathing coming faster. He pushed his hair behind his ear, and suddenly, I was burning up. It was hot, too hot.
Not ready to release my contact with him, I used my other hand to unbutton my coat. When I pulled it apart, I heard a strangled sound leave him.
As my pink dress came into view, I knew he could see the swell of my breasts rise with every breath I took. I curled my fingers around his and slowly urged them up my leg.
“Tell me what you’re thinking.”
“Addison—”
“Tell me.”
He switched off the interior light. As the cab plunged into darkness, he moved his palm farther up my thigh, and his voice found me.
“I’m thinking about what’s under your dress. I have been since I saw you tonight at Franco’s.”
I laid my head back on the headrest and demanded, “More.”
His hand skimmed the inside of my thigh, and his fingers pressed softly into my flesh, parting my legs.
“Even though I shouldn’t, I can’t stop thinking about how you would taste.”
I could feel myself throb as his words reminded me of our kiss. “More.”
His lips lightly grazed my jaw, and he teased me for the first time. “Greedy. I’ll tell you more if you tell me why you count.”
“It calms me when I’m…anxious.”
His hand slipped even higher under my dress. “You’re not counting now…”
“No,” I sighed as his mouth moved closer to mine.
“Why?”
His warm breath touched my lips as the tips of his fingers finally brushed my damp panties.
“Because of you,” I moaned, closing my eyes. “Your voice calms me. When you speak, I feel safe. I have ever since I met you.”
“Open your eyes, Addison,” he instructed, and I felt my pussy moisten as I did as he asked. “Do you feel calm right now?”
“No,” I whimpered, knowing if he stopped I’d beg.
He chuckled softly. “How do you feel?”
“Hot, wet...”
“And?”
“Ready.” So damn ready.
“If we do this, we can never tell anyone. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” I agreed, pulling him in that final inch. “God, yes.”
I pushed my hips up so the full weight of his fingers were against my wet cotton thong and vowed, “I won’t tell a soul.”
That was when he moved.
As soon as the words left her mouth, I took her.
With ravenous lips and a forceful tongue, I pushed inside, kissing her fiercely as I stroked the soaked scrap of material between her smooth thighs.
Her legs spread even wider, and I braced myself on the seat beside her shoulder. Lifting my mouth from hers, I kissed the corner as my fingers curled into the leg of her panties. Her lips opened with a cry, and her eyes glazed over when she realized what I was about to do.
“Is this what you thought about? When you were lying awake at night?”
She pumped her hips up, trying to get closer, trying for contact.
“Not yet,” I told her and ran my finger up and down the material’s edge.
“Grayson,” she begged, using her hold on my jacket to lever herself up.
“Yes, Addison?”
“In me.”
With those two words, my cock became so painfully hard I almost lost what little control I had left.
“I thought about them inside me. Fucking me.”
That was it. Whatever had been holding me back snapped, and I ripped her panties, pushing them out of my way. My fingers found her, and as her warm juices coated them, I groaned and took her mouth.
As my tongue slid between her lips, my finger pushed inside her body, and the shout that left her made me fucking grateful there was no one around to hear.
With her eyes on mine, she released her hold of my jacket and pulled the stretchy material of her dress under her perky breasts.
Fuck, I was in heaven. I was also aware that I was pretty damn close to being assured a spot in hell.
Her bra…Jesus. Her lacy bra was the same pink as the dress.