The Key to Everything

Part Two: Chapters 9 to 19

Chapter 9

He resists at first, surprised by my action. Then he lowers his body to mine. There is absolutely no doubt that he's just as turned on as I am.

He brings one knee up between my legs as his lips fall onto mine, soft and full. I close my eyes again as our mouths part simultaneously. Tyson's tongue tastes my bottom lip, then my top. I yank his T-shirt over his head my fingertips tracing their way down from his chest to his stomach, lingering on the long, puckery scar. I reach for the waistband of his gym shorts.

He leans back out of my reach. "Damn, woman. I'm trying to be a gentleman here."

"Stop trying." Curling one arm around his back, I raise my hips off the bed and grind against him. The pressure of his body against mine sends me half over the edge.

"Hold up." He lifts himself up onto his knees and looks down at me. "You're sending me some awfully mixed signals, Stanford. You didn't get drunk off two beers, did you?"

"I'm not drunk," I say. "Let's just say I changed my mind."

Tyson narrows his eyes. "Why?"

"I don't know. Talking to you made me less freaked out about everything. And then your massage... I forgot how good it felt to be touched."

Tyson blinks twice and I feel a weird urge to run my fingertip across his incredibly long eyelashes. I sit up in bed, resting one hand on the side of his face. His jaw muscles go taut beneath my fingertips.

"Ask for it," he says.

"Ask for what?"

"Whatever it is you think you want."

I blush. He's seriously going to make me ask for it? "That would kind of take away some of the magic, wouldn't it?"

"Trust me, I've got more than enough magic."

I don't say anything for a few seconds. Tyson watches me, a bemused expression on his face. Finally I choke out, "Fine. I want to...hook up with you."

He coughs. "Hook up?"

"Sex, you idiot. Jesus. You happy now?"

His lips curl into a smile. "Just for future reference, was it any one particular part of the massage?"

"Just shut up and do me," I say, pulling his lips back to mine.

"You really know how to make a guy feel special," he murmurs, laughing under his breath. Then he lays me back down on the bed and we start kissing again. He takes my lower lip between his teeth and sucks on it, first gently, then harder.

I relax my muscles and sink into the mattress. Tyson's body weighs heavy on mine, but I don't care. The sharpness of his teeth is making my eyes water, but I don't care about that either. I just want more.

A single word escapes my lips. "Please."

He slides to the side of me. I turn to crawl on top of him but he holds out a hand. "Take off your clothes," he says.

Hurriedly, I tug my T-shirt over my head and then push my shorts down my legs, kicking them over my feet. I start to slide down my underwear when Tyson puts his hand on mine.

"Stop," he says. "Not those."

"Why not?"

"Because I want to take those off myself." He pins my hands above my head and lowers himself on top of me again. He grins his perfect, dimpled smile. "What a strange but excellent turn of events this night has taken."