Helena Hunting - Inked Armour

“Of course you wouldn’t.” I grabbed him by the shirt, pulling him closer, and nipped at his lip. “I know you’re keeping something from me.”

He swung one leg over and straddled the chair, facing me. “You are far too clever for your own good. Haven’t you ever heard of a surprise?”

“I don’t like that everyone is in on it but me. I’m supposed to be your person.”

“You are my person.”

He sat down on my thighs, bracing his weight on the backrest. His head dipped down, his teeth skimmed my collarbone. I felt his erection against my stomach. I couldn’t do anything but squirm since he was sitting on my legs.

“Have you ever fucked in here?” I used the profanity on purpose. I’d discovered it turned Hayden on because I used it so rarely.

“No.” He shifted, nudging my legs apart with his knee.

“No?” Every time I was in his chair, I wanted to take off all my clothes and get him inside me.

He shook his head while he settled between my thighs.

“Would you fuck me here?”

He stopped with the kissing and lifted his head to look me straight in the eye. “I don’t fuck you, Tenley. I have sex with you. Sometimes I even make love to you, but we don’t fuck.”

I stared at him in open disbelief. That was completely untrue. On many occasions sheer need had superseded either of our attempts for sweet and gentle. And that didn’t bother me in the slightest.

I was about to call him out on it, but pointing out that he could love me and fuck me at the same time wouldn’t help my current plan. I was horny. He’d been so tired the last couple of nights, he’d passed out on the couch as soon as he got home from work. And my courses and my thesis were demanding a lot of my attention. We hadn’t had sex in days.

“Fine. Will you have sex with me here?”

“Right now?” his voice cracked.

“We could lock the door.”

“No.” His grip on the backrest tightened. “Not with Chris and Jamie and Lisa in the next room.”

“If we were all alone, would you then?” I ran my hands down his back and slid them under the waist of his jeans. He was commando.

His forehead dropped against my shoulder. “Fuck, Tenley. Why are you pulling this shit now?” His voice was muffled by my hair.

“Because you’re awake and coherent and not at risk of falling asleep on me. It’s been days. I miss you.”

He lifted his head and frowned. “How long?”

“Too long,” I said, working to control my frustration. My nails dug into his ass and his muscles flexed under my fingers. I missed more than just the sex, though. I missed the feel of his body, the way he enveloped me, consumed me. I missed the connection we shared when he was inside me, both physically and emotionally. I craved it. Needed it.

I could see him backtracking through time in his head, trying to remember the last time we had sex. His expression changed from doubtful to penitent. “Let me show you the house first; then I’ll make up for neglecting you.”

With a wicked grin, he unhooked my legs from his waist and pushed out of the chair. Holding out a hand, he helped me up and pulled me close. “Just so you know, I’ve wanted to do you in that chair ever since I put the cupcake on you. So be prepared for me to follow through on that as soon as I have the chance.”

When we arrived at the house, several sets of tire tracks were in the snow on the driveway. “It looks like someone’s been here recently,” I observed.

“We decided to start renovations early.”

He hit a button on the windshield visor and the garage door trundled open. Hayden parked inside and we got out of the car.

“It’s warm in here,” I said.

“The floors are heated. I didn’t know that last time.”

He flashed a sheepish grin and crossed over to a set of stairs leading to a door. He grabbed my hand and led me into the house, flicking on lights as we walked down a short, recently painted hall. More lights came on when we reached another doorway. This one opened into an expanse of open space.

I surveyed the state-of-the-art kitchen. “I thought you said this place needed to be renovated.”

“It did.”

“How much work did it need?” I kicked off my shoes so I wouldn’t scuff the hardwood.

“Enough.”

I glanced at him. He was chewing on his lip, even though the viper bites were gone. He only did that when he was anxious or interested in sex.

“Come on”—he pulled me forward—“there’s more to see.”

I bit my tongue against the other questions I wanted to ask; such as, why was this the first I’d heard about the “early start” to the project? The main floor was open concept with nine-foot ceilings, painted in neutral tones. A formal dining space was carved out beyond the kitchen, with an ornate chandelier. The living room was massive, with clean lines and pale walls. It reminded me of Hayden’s condo, except three times the size, with architectural embellishments.

When we finished the tour of the main floor, Hayden took me upstairs. There were four bedrooms. He saved the master for last: vaulted ceilings, huge floor-to-ceiling windows, and even a reading nook.

“This is incredible.” I walked around the perimeter. Like every other room, the walls were neutral. These were a soft, pale gray.

“When did you start all this?”

“Mid-January.”

I spun around. “You’ve been keeping this from me for two months?”

“Nate suggested we get started on the interior, so all that would be left in the spring was landscaping and exterior painting. I needed a distraction from the trial. And I wanted to surprise you.”

“Why?”

“I funded all of the renovations. I want to buy Nate out.”

“I thought you were going to flip it.”

He was so nervous; his eyes kept darting away. “That was the original plan.”

“Why did the plan change?”

“You don’t like the house?” He looked almost hurt. I was getting more confused by the minute.

“Of course I like it. It’s beautiful. I just don’t understand when you changed your mind, and why I’m only hearing about it now.”

He looked up at the beautiful ceiling medallion. “I like the layout of the house, and this room. It’s a lot of space for one person, though.” He pushed away from the door and took a couple of steps toward me. “It’s a little closer to Northwestern, too.”

My heart did a little leap. “That’s true.”

“The house should be ready within the next few weeks.” He tucked my hair behind my ear. “It might not feel like too much space if there were two people living here. And TK, of course.”

“Are you asking me to move in with you?” I was almost positive I had to be misunderstanding him.

He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Is it too soon to be asking?”

“I don’t know if I can be as tidy as you.”

He smiled. “I wouldn’t expect you to be.”

“I’d try, though,” I said, unable to contain my excitement.

“This house is huge. You can have a room where you leave shit lying all over the place, if you want.” He hooked a finger in my belt loop and pulled me closer.

“Don’t promise something like that if you can’t follow through,” I teased.

“You can keep the door closed. I’ll never see it.”

“That might work.” I laughed and looked around the bedroom, imagining it as ours. The magnitude of what he’d done started to sink in. All the late nights and the passing out on the couch had been because of this. He’d been doing this for us.

His arm wound around my waist. “So you’ll move in here with me?”

“I pretty much live with you already.”

“But you still have the apartment.”

“I haven’t slept there in months.” I rose up on my toes to kiss him. “I’ll give Cassie my notice tomorrow.”

I hung my keys beside Tenley’s in the new house and headed for the kitchen. If I was lucky she would be pulling her domestic routine, outfitted in one of her aprons and little else. It was sexy as fuck. Much to my disappointment, she was nowhere to be found.

“Tenley?”

I dropped the bag on the counter and unloaded the groceries. I called a second time but she still didn’t answer. I rearranged all the misplaced items in the fridge and the cupboards, looking over my shoulder every so often to make sure I didn’t get caught. I was working on my organization problem, but I was under no illusion I’d ever be cured of it. So long as it didn’t impede my ability to function or get inside Tenley, I figured it was okay.

I searched the rest of the main floor and came up empty. Halfway up the stairs, I caught the sound of her voice. She was singing. She had to be unpacking.

I found her in the spare bedroom she’d claimed as her office. The den of disorganization. She was wearing earphones and had on ’80s music-video attire: short shorts and leg warmers. Her shirt, which was virtually transparent, hung off one shoulder. She wasn’t wearing a bra. The white, gauzy fabric gave me a hazy view of her entire tattoo. If I looked hard enough, I could make out the six-inch block in the middle of the right wing that hadn’t been shaded yet.

Our last session was scheduled for later this evening. I’d pushed it back twice now. We’d moved into the new house. Everything but this room was organized. Tenley had a handle on her studies. I had no more valid excuses. Tenley’s patience with me was running out. I was stalling for no reason other than I didn’t want to be done. But I was still going to try to put it off again.

Tenley shook her ass as she shelved books, arranging them with no plan I could see. But then, she subscribed to the Dewey decimal system rather than the Hayden Stryker System of organizing books. I leaned against the doorjamb and watched. It was pretty damn entertaining, even though I wanted to get in there and move everything around. There were no straight lines, no continuity. It was mayhem. Or maybe I was being a little overdramatic. It happened occasionally.