DELANO WASN’T SURE how Mellie wanted to handle their departure. He didn’t care if her friends knew they were going home together, but there’d been no time to discuss it with her before she’d started walking again. The best he could do was let her take the lead when they got back to the table.
Once there, she picked up her clutch and smiled brightly at all their friends.
“Okay, folks. I’m heading home.”
“Already?” Amity asked, looking at her watch. “Oh, yeah. I know, I know. Early mornings...blah-blah-blah.”
“Not everyone can have a leisurely weekend like you,” Mellie rebutted, as she bent to hug her friend. “My neighbors would be all over me like a cheap suit if the animals started kicking up a fuss because I hadn’t fed them first thing.”
The men all got up to say goodbye, and Delano stood to one side, wondering if Mellie would give him some kind of signal to show she meant what she’d said.
Then he decided to take matters into his own hands. After all, Mellie never said what she didn’t mean, at least as far as he’d seen to that point.
“Hey, do you mind giving me a ride home?” he asked. “I came with Jason, but I promised Dad I’d help out around the house tomorrow, so I don’t want to stay out too late.”
“And you very much would be going home when the sun was up if you wait around for me,” Jason said, with a chuckle. “Amity and I are known for being the last to leave parties like this.”
“That’s right, my brother from another mother,” Amity said, getting up and pointing at the dance floor. “Let those old folks go home to bed, while we dance the night away.”
And with one last wave they went off together, while Delano and Mellie started walking toward the car park.
“I’m parked about halfway down the driveway,” she said, sounding a bit more subdued than she had earlier.
He hoped she wasn’t having second thoughts, although he wouldn’t blame her if she was. There was a part of him that wondered if sleeping with her was really a good idea—but that part wasn’t strong enough to stop him from doing just that, if Mellie was still willing.
“I had a great time tonight.” He didn’t say it just to fill the silence between them, but because he really wanted her to know. “Your friends were great fun. But it was watching you enjoy yourself that really made it special.”
She slanted him a glance. “I had a fabulous time too. I don’t get out as much as I’d like to anymore, but work is more important.”
“Is it?” They were approaching her vehicle, which was backed onto a strip of grass between two trees alongside the driveway, and she fished her keys out of her bag.
“Of course.” She said it impatiently, as they left the dimly lit driveway, and entered the darker area beneath the trees. “What I do makes a difference—at least to the animals. I can’t do it half-heartedly or let anything else get in the way.”
“But what about you?” He reached for the handle to open the door for her, but paused. She was so near, and in the warmth of the night her scent wafted out to him, calling him closer. “Don’t you deserve more than just work?”
“Deserve?” Mellie turned to him in the dark, and in the slight illumination coming from the party he saw the gleam of her eyes, and the sweet curve of her lips. “I don’t think any of us deserve anything, except what we work for.”
Just a step more, and their bodies would be almost touching.
Delano took that step.
“Have I worked hard enough to deserve a kiss?”
He heard her indrawn breath, then saw the flash of her teeth as she smiled.
“I believe you have.”
Mellie leaned closer, leaving just a breath between their mouths, and Delano did what he’d been itching to all night. He ran one hand lightly down her side, over the silky fabric of her dress, from just below her breast until it came to rest on her hip. The experience didn’t disappoint. In fact, it was even better than he’d imagined. The sensation of her curves beneath his fingers, the question of whether her skin would rival the smoothness of the material, almost undid him.
And feeling her shiver at his touch made waiting even one more second impossible.
He kissed her, but softly, holding back, teasing her lips with his, rubbing lightly back and forth, learning the contours of her mouth anew, inhaling each rushed breath as she exhaled. An electric charge fired between them, as though one of them was holding a live wire and the other one was grounded.
It was too much.
Not enough.
Not nearly enough.
When her tongue swept, soft and slick, across his lower lip, Delano’s brain short-circuited.
The hand on her hip clenched to pull Mellie’s body fully against his, his other hand going up to clasp her nape. She already had an arm around his neck and the other around his waist, clearly offering no resistance to either how tightly he held her nor the way he’d deepened their kiss.
Made it carnal and almost rough in his eagerness and need.
She turned so her back was against the car, pulling him with her, and he went willingly. They were fused, lips and torsos, her hand on his lower back, holding him as close as possible. Shifting slightly, he brought his knee up between her legs, settling her on his thigh, and she moaned low in her throat. He could feel the heat of her through his pants, and the sensation—coupled with all the others battering him—made him lose all sense of time and place.
Gripping her bottom, he pulled her a little higher and urged her to rock against him. He swallowed her next moan, and a gasp, and a truncated cry, as she sought her pleasure against his leg and he facilitated the hunt.
Mellie’s head fell back against the car, breaking their kiss, and Delano took advantage of the motion to move his lips to her neck while his hand sought and found one breast. Beneath her bra her nipple was pebbled tight, and he pinched it and was flooded with savage satisfaction when she jerked and her movements became more frantic.
“Delano...” It was a whisper, wild and sweet. “I want... I need...”
“Let go,” he said, his voice rough even to his own ears. “I have you, babe.”
She grabbed his head, pulling it back up, and when their lips met again it was so he could absorb the sounds of her orgasm into his mouth, muffling the desire-struck moans and sighs of release.
Mellie came back down to earth, glad that Delano had her firmly in his embrace, since she wasn’t sure her legs were even working. Resting her head against his shoulder, she attempted to catch her breath, enjoying the lingering echoes of her orgasm.
When last had she lost herself in passion that way? She couldn’t remember. Wasn’t even sure she ever had before.
Then the absurdity of the situation struck her befuddled brain, and she started to giggle.
Delano’s arms tightened fractionally. “What?”
“I feel like a teenager again. Hiding in the shadows, making out. So horny all it takes is a well-positioned thigh to bring me off.”
He was quiet for a moment, and then, as if he couldn’t help it, he began to vibrate with suppressed laughter too. They’d been speaking in whispers, in case anyone else was around but, thankfully, Mellie saw no sign of onlookers.
What a view they would have had!
The thought made her giggle even harder, and she pressed her face into his shoulder to muffle the sound.
“Let’s get out of here,” Delano said, his voice a low growl, and Mellie became all too aware of his erection pressed against her belly.
The sensation brought another wave of arousal that made her shiver and killed her amusement.
“Yes.” It came out rushed and a little harsh, and she took a deep breath before continuing, “I think my legs are working again.”
He eased away, as though reluctant to let her go, and Mellie had to fight the urge to hang on to him.
Ridiculous to experience a sense of loss when he was still right there.
She stepped aside and reached for the door handle, but Delano’s hand got there first.
“Such a gentleman,” she said, laughing up at him.
“Seems incongruous to say, after what just happened,” he rebutted, amusement rife in his tone.
“I don’t know,” she said in a demure tone, as she got into the driver’s seat. “I was more than satisfied by your behavior.”
He snorted, but when he bent into the car, bringing his face close to hers, there was no amusement evident in his expression.
“I hope to always bring satisfaction.”
Before she could reply, he closed the door firmly and began to walk around to the passenger side. Just as well since her entire system had gone into overdrive at his words.
If he could achieve that, she’d be the happiest of women!
She started the car as he got in, and once they both had on their seat belts she backed out of the space beneath the trees and headed down the hill.
It was funny, but she didn’t feel the need to fill the silence that had fallen between them. Usually, in a situation like this, which was still fraught with tension—albeit of the sexual kind—she’d chatter away, holding off any type of too-serious conversation. However, with Delano beside her, she didn’t mind the quiet.
There was one thing she should speak to him about, though, before this went any further.
“You know that if you spend the night with me, your father will probably hear about it by sometime tomorrow. Port Michael is a hotbed of gossip, and whether I drop you home after a couple of hours, or you don’t get home until morning, someone is sure to spill the beans.”
“Unless someone saw us making out, at which point Aunt Eddie is getting a text right now.” Mellie chuckled, but because she couldn’t tell whether he was amused or rethinking their upcoming tryst, she didn’t know how to respond. Luckily, Delano continued, “Does that bother you—that my father, and yours, would know we were together?”
“Not in a general sense,” she replied, carefully. “I just don’t want your dad to get the wrong idea. He’s already hopeful that you’ll come back here to live permanently, so if he thinks I’m an additional incentive for you to stay, it’ll just make things worse for you.”
“If that’s all that’s worrying you, put it out of your mind. I’ll handle Dad if he asks me about us. Make it clear we’re just enjoying ourselves, not getting serious.”
“Okay.” She made her reply as casual as his, but couldn’t ignore the sudden pang of what felt like disappointment.
Not that she wanted him to be serious about her, right? The fact that Delano was only going to be around for a short time made him a safe, temporary partner. So why did it hurt to hear him say that?
Then she put that emotion aside.
After all, hadn’t she once succumbed to the idea of everlasting love and happy-ever-after, and got burned by the delusion?
No. Being with Delano, who was hell-bent on going back to Trinidad as soon as possible, served her purpose well. Her long sexual drought would be over, but without strings and complications attached.
“What about your father?” His question made her glance over at him, but his face was too shadowed for her to see it. “Will I have Mr. Charlie coming after me to ask my intentions?”
“No.” She said it decisively, very sure of the answer. “Daddy knows I can take care of myself.”
He was the only one who knew exactly what she’d been through with Kyle. And that, thereafter, she was determined not to allow anyone to highjack her life or endanger her future.
Lesson learned!
“You know what’s been driving me crazy all night?”
Delano’s question jerked her out of her thoughts, and she was glad. They weren’t what she wanted to be considering just now.
“What?”
“That dress you’re wearing.”
Again she tried to see his expression, but couldn’t. She turned her attention back to the road, unable to stop herself from smiling. “Why?”
“It looks so soft, and it moves around you like the definition of temptation. I was practically sitting on my hands in an effort not to touch you.”
Mellie giggled. “If you’re imagining some lacy undies beneath it, I’m going to have to disappoint you. The reason it moves the way it does is thanks to shapewear, which is anything but sexy.”
“I’ll be the judge of that,” he growled in return, sending a rush of excitement over her skin to then arrow into her belly.
“I don’t want you to be disappointed,” she replied, but her voice quavered. She was still contemplating what else could happen once he got her underwear off.
She’d been fully clothed—shapewear included—when he’d given her an orgasm. Who knew what he was capable of when she had on less?
She’d taken the back way through the hills to her home, rather than go back into Port Michael proper, and as they approached her driveway Mellie’s heart started thumping. She hit the button to open the gate. Once they’d driven inside, she closed it behind them and steered the car around to the back of the house, where she always parked.
Turning off the ignition, she said, “Do you mind closing the gate at the side of the house for me? That way I can let the dogs out of the house, but they’ll be confined back here.”
“Sure.”
He got out of the vehicle before her and, as she locked the car, she watched him walk to the side of the house, enjoying the view. A shiver worked up her spine; the anticipation of what was about to happen made her legs tremble.
She waited for him by the back door, knowing the dogs would be startled to see him coming across the yard, and preferring to have him encounter them while he was with her.
When she opened the door, they dogs swarmed around them, but when she commanded them to go outside, they obeyed without a problem.
“They’re well trained,” he commented as he came up behind her. “They don’t jump, and do as they’re told, even though I’m sure they were looking at me sideways, wondering what I’m doing here at this time of night.”
“I work at training them,” she said, happy to be talking about something so mundane. “All the dogs that come here get some basic obedience instruction, either from me or from Johnny, but once I decide I’m keeping one, I do advanced training with them. With the number of animals they have to interact with, I can’t afford to have any problems.”
She heard the door close and the latch being turned as she waited in the dimness of the kitchen to lead him through to her bedroom. But after she’d taken just one step, Delano put his hand on her upper arm, bringing her to a halt.
“I can’t wait,” he whispered, coming up close behind her, his lips finding the tender flesh at the base of her neck, where it met her shoulder. “Let me touch you.”