Curran soon follows, his throaty growls joining my cries. He slumps forward, gripping the edge of the couch to keep from landing on top of me. Gradually he slows to a halt.
“Jesus,” I whimper, so consumed with want I can barely speak.
He leans against me, chuckling against my ear. “You can just call me Curran,” he whispers.
Curran
Tess laughs as she bites into her bagel, courtesy of my morning’s coffee run following a pit stop to the drugstore for more condoms. Damn, what a night. She spreads out on her bed with just a sheet around her waist. She’s getting more comfortable being naked around me, which is fine by me. I don’t like her hiding that sweet body, especially now that I know it so well.
She laughs again. “I’m serious,” I tell her.
She takes a sip of her coffee. “I’m not laughing at you.”
“You’re laughing with me?” I offer.
Her shoulders shake as she tries to hold back. “It’s just that I’m having a hard time picturing you as an altar boy.”
“I didn’t say I was good at it, just said I did it.” I polish off my breakfast sandwich. “All my brothers did it. It’s something our ma expected. Just like she expected Wren to teach Sunday school.”
“And did she?”
“Of course, but on her own terms, just like the rest of us.” I reach for my coffee on the nightstand. “I gotta tell you. She abused her power. Told the little bastards they’d burn in hell if they didn’t listen to her. Me and my brothers would steal sips of the holy wine, and one time Seamus was caught making out with his girlfriend in the confession booth. Grammie refused to walk beside us, convinced God would strike us all dead when we’d least expect it and take her with us before her time.”
This time I join her in laughing. “I said we’re Catholics, Tess. I never said we’re good ones.”
I help her gather the trash, then pull her on top of me, gripping her ass tight so, you know, she doesn’t fall off the bed and get hurt. What can I say? I’m a hell of a guy.
She holds her hair away from her face so she can kiss the tip of my nose. I grin at her. If I didn’t think I liked her before, I sure know it now. “Are you on today?” she asks.
“Yeah.” I glance at her clock. “I got another hour, but I should leave soon.”
“Why?”
“Need new clothes and a shower.” I scratch at the side of my face. “Shave, too, by the feel of it.”
She sticks out her bottom lip. “I wish you didn’t have to leave. Can’t you just watch me here?”
I tug on that lip with my teeth. “You know I can’t do that.”
“I know, I just…” She plays with that smooth spot on my chin, the one that never did grow any hair. “You make me happy,” she whispers.
Yeah? Well, same here. One of those sensitive types in the movies would tell her as much. But I’m not one to spill my guts. “Good,” I say, quietly.
She lays her head against my chest, like she’s trying to keep me with her. I let her because she feels good, warm. But then I steal another glance at the clock. “I should go, angel face.”
She turns her head and kisses me, then slips off without another word, backing all the way to her bedroom window, the one that faces the wall of the other apartment. I’m not sure why she’s giving me so much space, until she crosses her arms and lowers her chin. Tess is…sad, all over again. She doesn’t want me to leave her. But she doesn’t understand it’s not so easy for me to walk away.
“Hey,” I say, standing. She glances up. “My shift won’t end until about nine tonight. It’ll be late, but I know a few places that stay open. How ’bout we grab dinner?”
Tess smiles like she means it and drops her arms away, giving me a view of those breasts I sucked on and that drop-dead gorgeous body I can’t get enough of. I look down, and once more I’m ready to go. I spread out my hands and meet her face. “See what you went ahead and did? Now I’m not going to be able to get my shower.”