A beautiful laugh falls from his mouth, and I want to be annoyed, but I can’t be.
I’m not sure how I finally got the courage to ask Nolan over to watch football this evening, but I managed to find my balls and do just that. I meant what I said about us being friends. I want that. And if he’ll allow a little between-the-sheets action, I’m all for it.
Nolan gracefully moves to the next subject with Hailey. “And by the way, when we aren’t at school, and I’m just your dad’s friend, you can call me Nolan, if you’d like.”
“Nolan,” Hailey giggles, covering her mouth like it’s some sort of silly joke. Which, of course, cracks me up. Nolan tries to look offended, but he’s laughing with her already.
“That’s my name. Like Hailey is your name.”
She continues to giggle and shakes her head, and that’s when I notice the clock. “Hailey, it’s time for bed.”
“Oh no,” she whines and pouts in my direction, but I’ve been doing pretty well at the whole school schedule thing so far, so I’m not about to mess it up.
“Oh yeah. Tomorrow is a school day, Hailey. We have a big day too. I have a lot planned.”
“Really?” She perks up at Nolan’s statement.
“Yes. So, you should get lots of rest.”
She’s still huffy, but we all clean up before I change her into her pj’s and she talks Nolan into reading her three stories.
When she’s tucked in and snoring away, Nolan joins me on the couch for the end of the game. “Did you do anything fun this week?”
I’m trying for small talk here, although all I want to do is meet his lips with mine. I’m trying the friends thing. “I had dinner with my friend Gavin.”
I bristle, unsure what the feeling in my gut is, but if I had to guess, I’d say it’s jealousy. Totally irrational jealousy that I have no right to feel, but I think that’s what it is. “Oh?”
He nods, absently watching the game. “Yeah.”
“How was that?” Do I sound growly? I shouldn’t. I hope he doesn’t notice.
He turns so he’s facing me, and now he’s looking into my eyes as he carefully studies me. “It was fine.” There’s a hint of sadness in his eyes. “He just reminded me about how unbelievably bad I am at relationships.”
“There’s no way that’s true.” He’s such a good guy, I can’t imagine him being bad at anything. “And there’s no way in hell you’re worse at relationships than I am.”
A pain shoots through me, thinking about my one and only relationship that ended in tragedy. I wipe my sweaty palms on my jeans and leave them on my knees to hopefully stop them from shaking. This is not what I wanted to talk about tonight. He’s still surveying me way too closely, but for whatever reason, he doesn’t ask me about my past. “It is. I have a habit of getting involved with people that . . .” he shifts uncomfortably on my couch, “they’re broken.”
I flinch involuntarily, but if he notices, he doesn’t say anything. “Oh.” Is that why he’s attracted to me? Can he sense the epically shattered part of me?
He nods. “Yeah, married and lying about it or addicts who probably can’t even help lying about that or just bad all around.”
“I’m sorry.”
He grins at me, waving me off like it’s no big deal and shifts his focus to the television again. I turn back to the game also, but I can’t stop thinking about Nolan being treated badly by his past boyfriends.
Who the fuck would treat him like that?
“Why would your friend bring that up?” is the question that slips out of my mouth, pulling his attention back to me as I turn my head to look at him.
“He’s just helpful like that,” he laughs. “Gavin and I have been friends for a long time, and he’s protective.”
Again, that hot jealous feeling rolls through me, and I try to rein it in. “Just friends? Or friends like we are?”
Shit.
He looks amused and not pissed, and I’ll take it. “Just friends. Fucking Gavin would be like fucking my brother.” He shivers, a whole body shiver that’s pretty damn comical.
I laugh, “Okay.”
He’s nibbling on his bottom lip. I don’t think it’s a conscious habit but instead, something he can’t really control when he’s nervous. God, I want to kiss him.
“How was your week?” he asks, but he’s leaning in closer to me now. I can feel his body heat and see the lust in his eyes.
“It was good.” My voice is hoarse as I lean into him, and his hand moves to my cheek, covering it. There’s something about us . . . We drift toward each other like there’s no way we can stop it. Some sort of cosmic, magnetic force that doesn’t allow space between us.
“Yeah?” he barely breathes against my lips.
I look into his eyes, begging for a signal that he wants me to kiss him or beg him to kiss me because I don’t want this to be one-sided. I don’t want him to constantly fight me on this. “Yeah.”
There’s a hint of smile on his lips before they crash against mine and he kisses me hungrily, like he’s been starving for my kiss all week as much as I’ve been for his. I groan into is mouth, relieved and so damn needy for more as his tongue slides into my mouth.
His hand moves to the back of my hair before he grips it tight and pulls my head back, forcing our lips apart. I expect him to say he needs to leave, but instead, he growls, “Bedroom.”
I nod like an idiot at his sexy demand before getting up from the couch. He follows me to my bedroom where I close and lock the door. He strips off his shirt quickly while I do the same. His eyes roam over my body in the darkened room, but there’s enough light from the window and the streetlight outside for it not to be pitch black.
“I shouldn’t,” he gasps as he closes the distance between us, grasping my hips and pulling me to him where our mouths meet in a blissful reunion. I moan against his mouth as I direct him toward my bed.
“We definitely should.”
“We should have talked more.” He undoes my jeans, pushing them and my boxer briefs down.
I kick them away, leaving me totally naked, my cock aching and dripping from his touch and kiss. Needing so much more of him. “We did. We’re bad at relationships. Got it.”
It’s kind of perfect really. If he’s bad at relationships and I am too, this thing between us can just be. We can let off some steam, have really fucking hot sex, and be friends. What more could either of us want?
“I am,” he admits sadly, but that just won’t do. No time for sadness now. I undo his jeans and push them down along with his briefs.
I kiss him deeply as I lay him down on the bed, blanketing my body with his. “You’re really good at other things.” I kiss down his neck and feel him kicking his clothes off as I do. “You’re the best teacher I’ve ever seen.” He groans when I move to his nipple, sucking it into my mouth before releasing it and moving to the other one, nipping and sucking. “You’re really, really good in bed.”
He chuckles, his fingers going through my hair as I kiss over his insanely hot eight-pack abs. Seriously, what teacher in the history of teachers looks like this without clothes? I lick along each ridge, making my way down slowly, enjoying every second of Nolan. “Is that all?”