Karen Kendall - After Hours

“Peggy—”

“You already got a bucket of free milk, so why tow around the cow—”

“Hey! That is complete bullshit—”

“Right, of course it is. Then give me your version.”

“Damn, woman! Look, I like you a lot. You’re smart, you’re beautiful, you’re challenging and you turn me on like you wouldn’t believe. But the thing is that you’re also my nieces’ coach. And when you called I was just thinking that it’s not a good idea to take this any further. That’s all.”

“Then why did you ask me to dinner?”

“Because I wanted to anyway, even though it’s probably not smart. You’re an amazing woman, Peggy. I like to look at you, I like to talk with you, and I damn sure like to touch you….”

Heat blossomed all over her skin, and she felt foolish. She’d just behaved like a raving lunatic, but Troy still sat opposite her instead of storming out. He had a perfectly reasonable explanation for his hesitance on the phone.

A waiter, not Benito this time, appeared at the table. “Cacciatore?”

She nodded, and he placed the dish before her.

“And manicotti for signor.”

Troy thanked him.

Dinner was served, and Peggy was intensely grateful to be able to concentrate on her food. What were she and Troy going to talk about next? They’d already covered sex. Might as well move on to the other taboo subjects: politics and religion.

Then he turned the tables on her. “So, Peggy-Sue. If you didn’t think I really wanted to ask you out to dinner, then why did you accept my invitation?”

TROY ASKED THE QUESTION partly to make her squirm after her tirade, and partly because he really wanted to know the answer.

Peggy avoided his gaze, finished chewing her bite of chicken cacciatore and pushed a piece of zucchini around her plate before she answered. “Because I wanted to see you again.”

He smiled. “And why would you want to see me?”

“Well, you’re not the ugliest guy I’ve ever taken back to my apartment.”

“Thank you,” he said, hugely entertained. “And?”

“You left your lips at my place and I wanted to return them to you.”

“That’s so generous. A man with no lips is a tragic sight. He’d never be able to kiss another woman.”

“Yeah, and I was worried about that.”

“So when are you going to give my lips back? Where are they, in your tote bag?”

“Nope.”

“Tucked in your bra?”

“Nope, not there, either.”

His smile widened. “Oh, lower down, then?”

Her white teeth flashed. “Yup. They’re all puckered up and I’m sitting on them.”

Troy choked. “Are you trying to tell me that I’m kissing your freckled little ass?”

“It’s the natural order of things, dude.”

“I am so going to enjoy punishing you for this later.”

She laughed. “Promises, promises. Maybe you’ll get the chance, and maybe not. My aunt Thelma would say you got way too much free milk last night.”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I figure you’d get upset if I tried to pay you for it.”

Peggy threw her napkin at him.

“So that’s not what Aunt Thelma is suggesting?”

“Not exactly.”

Benito came over to ask if their food was okay, and they assured him that it was delicious. He brought them each another glass of wine without asking.

“You trying to get us drunk, Benny?” Peggy asked.

“Sì, so you can take advantage of him.”

Troy could think of nothing he’d like better. His appetite right now was not for food, it was for Peggy. Forget scruples and ethics and all that…he wanted to reach across the table and pull her into his arms. He wanted her ripe, soft mouth; he wanted her full breasts filling his hands, her pink nipples thrusting against his palms.

He wanted her lips on his cock and her sweet ass riding him, urgency filling her as much as he did. He wanted to be sliding into her hot, wet body, smell her desire and hear her gasps and whimpers in his ear as he sent her into a frenzy.

Jesus. He had to get a hold of himself—they were sitting in a public restaurant, and he was so hard he could knock a plank off the table.

Opposite him, Peggy picked up a bread stick and met his eyes as she brought it to her mouth. Christ, she was reading him like a book. Her eyes slanted like a cat’s, she darted out the tip of her tongue and licked at the end of the bread. She wrapped her lips around it and pulled gently. Then she slid it halfway into her mouth, caressing the bottom of the stick with her tongue.

“I’m so gonna make you pay for this,” Troy said hoarsely.

Peggy bit the end off the bread stick. “Mmm.”

That was when he felt something sliding against his crotch. Troy grabbed it and found that it was her small renegade foot.

Her eyes on his, her hand still wrapped around the bread stick, she flashed him a wicked smile. “Sporting wood, are we? Naughty, naughty.” She nudged his balls with her toe, and that was the last straw.

Troy gripped her ankle, forced her foot up and searched for some kind of revenge that was acceptable in the middle of a restaurant. He began to tickle the bottom of Peggy’s foot.

She had just the reaction he was looking for. She pulled hard to get away from him, banging her knee on the underside of the table and making the candles jump.

Troy smiled blandly and kept tickling.

She squeaked and yanked again, unable to get away. “Let go!” she snapped, dropping the bread stick.

“Why, little Miss Perv, are you ticklish? What a shame for you…should have thought of that before you started this, huh?”

“I hate you!”

“I know. It bothers me a lot, as you can see.” He trailed his index finger from big toe to arch and then down to her heel, and she went nuts.

Peggy thrashed and gave a final mighty yank, just as he let go. She tumbled backward off the bench and onto the ceramic-tiled floor, still wearing only one shoe. He could see her blue satin underwear under the short jean skirt.

The other guests eyed her curiously, while Troy laughed so hard he almost blew the manicotti off his plate. “You okay?”

Peggy sat up just as Benito rushed over. “I’m fine, Benny. Thanks.” She pushed the hair out of her face and sent Troy a Death Stare. “Our landlord just seems to have this effect on women.”

THEY LEFT BY THE BACK DOOR, and as soon as it had shut Troy pinned her against the stucco wall of the building and took her mouth. The little witch was making him crazy. He would have swallowed her whole if he could have.

His hands roamed her breasts freely, moving up to cup them under her stretchy top. She moaned. Damn if he didn’t want to take her right against the wall, here. He slipped his fingers under her skirt and cupped her soft bottom, then dove lower and pulled aside the panties.

He fumbled at his fly, almost crazy with the desire to push inside her. He freed himself and pulled up her skirt.

She broke the kiss and pushed at his chest. “Someone might see us!”

“I find it so hard to care about that right now. And there’s nothing back here but a five-foot fence and some sky.” He stroked the soft wet folds between her legs and watched as her head fell back, felt her thighs begin to tremble. She was beautiful. And he wanted her right now.

She whimpered and her breathing turned shallow, came fast. Troy lifted her and sighed with satisfaction as her legs went automatically around his waist. He positioned her so that he probed her slick entrance and then thrust up in a single, almost savage motion.

She made a soft sound of shock and pleasure, and he slid his hands down to her bottom to support her, doing his best not to bang her against the wall as he stroked in and out of her. He felt like a caveman, was acting like one, too, and didn’t care. She didn’t appear to mind, and that was all that mattered. But…he really, really didn’t want to stop and fish out a condom. “Birth control?” he gasped.