Chapter 33

I find him in the little nook connected to the kitchen, setting up a cribbage board, and stop short in the doorway. “What are you doing?”

“It’s been a while since we played.” Shane shuffles the cards, bridging them in a satisfying sound that takes me back. Max never enjoyed this game, but my grandfather had taught me as a kid and Shane knew how to play, so we’d spent quite a few evenings in this exact spot while Max watched movies in the living room.

“Shane…” I don’t know why I’m hesitating.

He finally looks at me. “We won’t talk about him, but there’s plenty of other shit we can talk about.” His lips quirk up. “Sit down and play with me, Lily.”

It seems simple enough, and I find I do want to play.

I sit and immediately jump at how it makes the plug move. Shane grins at me, wickedly delighted. “Problem?”

“You know damn well it’s the plug you put up my ass,” I mutter, but I can’t help smiling a little too. This is too ridiculous. And it doesn’t feel bad. Just strange. We cut the deck to see who deals first, and it falls to me. As I shuffle, I watch him. “You know, your cock is significantly larger than this plug. If you try to shove it in my ass, you’re going to rip me in half.”

Shane arches his brows and takes the seat catty-corner to me just like he always does. “You’ve been fucking the wrong people, Lily. Everything goes smoother when you slow things down. Including my fucking your ass.” He says it like it’s a sure thing.

I’m not certain he’s wrong.

“Uh huh.” I deal the cards and we don’t speak for a few moments as we get our hands together. Each round of cribbage is split into two parts, and we fall into the rhythm of it as if it hasn’t been three months since we played last. “I’m sorry I haven’t been around much. Things got hard with…” I stop myself in time. I say I don’t want to talk about Max, but he just keeps coming up, making a liar out of me.

Shane lays down his hand counts out his points, and waits for me to do the same. It’s only after I’ve moved my peg that he says, “How’s work going?”

I flash him a grateful smile. “Good. The permanent position at Midway High School has been so great. I feel like I get a lot of support from the principal and the district, and the kids are just… the best. They’ve been the highlight of the school year.”

He shuffles and deals the cards out for the second hand. “They aren’t giving you shit?”

“They’re high schoolers.” I laugh a little. “Of course they give me shit. I’m young and I’m new, and even if I wasn’t, it’s natural for them to want to test boundaries.”

This time, I got more points in the first round, and the second round. Shane pushes the cards to me so I can shuffle. “If you were my high school teacher, I wouldn’t have been able to focus on shit.”

“If I was your high school teacher…” I pretend to think.

“Pretty sure corporeal punishment was allowed back then. I would have smacked the shit out of your hands with a ruler.”

Shane glares at me, but he’s blatantly fighting not to smile. “I’m forty-seven, Lily. Hardly Grandfather Time.”

“I know.” A laugh escapes. A real one, loud and freeing. “I promise I know.” By the time I deal out the third hand, I’m mostly in control of myself. “And your work? Have you wrapped up that big project?” They’d been working on a new shopping mall in the area, a huge deal for Shane’s company to be in charge of.

“Yeah, we got it done right before the holidays.”

We chat like that, back and forth as we move through the cribbage board. It’s easy. So incredibly easy. I’m a little ashamed at how much relief it gives me to be able to talk freely without twenty layers of hidden meanings the way my conversations with Max had become in the last few months. Neither of us said what we meant—unless we were fighting and spitting venom at each other.

“Lily.”

I give myself a shake and look at him. “Sorry, I was thinking dark thoughts.”

Shane motions to the board. “You just won, baby girl.”

I look at my hand on the table and then look at the board. “Oh wow, I guess I did.” I don’t sound particularly excited, even to my ears. Damn it, I’m ruining this distraction he created for me. “Sorry, Shane, I—”

“How many times do you think we’ve played this game? Sitting at this table in these specific spots?”

I blink. “What? I don’t know. At least a hundred.” Most nights we played more than one, kept going until Max got bored enough to start bitching it was time to leave. A dark part of me wonders if he was texting other women while I was blissfully playing cards with his father.

“Mmhmm.” Shane sits back in his chair and looks at me. “And you’ve worn that tease of an outfit through at least a few of those times.”

I glance down at my clothes. “It’s meant as a makeshift swimsuit cover-up.”

“Is it?” He moves, fast as a snake, and grabs the bottom of my chair, dragging it to the corner of the table, until my knees bump into his legs under the table and our chairs almost touch. He casually shifts to flip up my skirt, displaying my white panties. “Doesn’t look like you’re wearing a swimsuit right now.”

My skin heats and I nibble my bottom lip. “That’s because I’m not.”

“Spread your legs.”

I force myself to hesitate even though I want to do exactly as he commands. “Shane,” I murmur. “We shouldn’t.”

He looks over my shoulder in the direction of the living room, understanding flashing across his handsome

features. “I just want to look, Lily.”

I move haltingly, bracing my hands on the chair behind me and slowly spreading my thighs. It takes a little maneuvering to get around the table leg, which means I won’t be able to slam them shut. Knowing that makes this hotter. “Like this?”

“Yeah, baby girl, just like that.” He exhales slowly as if the sight affects him even now when he’s had me in so many different ways. Almost like this is the first time we’ve crossed the line. He reaches down and ghosts his hand over my panties. Not quite touching, but I swear I can feel the heat of his palm through the lace.

I’m shaking from the need to move, shaking from desire.

“You said you were just going to look.”

“That’s all I’m doing.” His gaze meets mine as he draws one knuckle down the center of my panties. “Oops.”

“Shane.” But I don’t try to stop him as he rubs my pussy through my panties. Just that slow drag of his knuckle over my slit and up to my clit and then back down again. “This isn’t what I agreed to.”

“Do you want me to stop?”

I make myself look over my shoulder at the doorway into the living room. It doesn’t matter that it’s empty, that neither of us has said his name. We both know what game we’re playing. “No,” I whisper. “Don’t stop.” I lick my lips. “It’s not like you’re touching me, right? It’s just through my panties.”

His gaze flares hotter. “That’s right, Lily.” He roughly palms my pussy, pressing his fingers to my ass where the plug is and making me jump. “I’m not touching you at all.” He pulses his hand, and I have to fight back a moan. “In fact…” Shane reaches up and idly knocks the deck of cards onto the floor at my feet. “Well, fuck. Better pick these up.”

I watch with wide eyes as he goes to his knees. He has to push my chair back to make room, and then he’s between my thighs, his big hands urging my legs wider. Shane holds my gaze as he presses an open-mouth kiss to my panties. I bite my lip hard to keep a moan inside. “Shane, you promised.”

“I’m not touching you.” He kisses me again, his tongue tracing my pussy through the lace. “I’m just picking up the damn cards.”

I slump back in the chair as he works me with his mouth. We’re both so quiet, as if there is someone else in the house as if we’re half a second from being caught. My panties are soaked, both from my need and

Shane’s mouth. “Someone will see.”

“Shh.” He drags the flat of his tongue over my clit.

“Shane.”

“Do you want me to stop?” The arrogant look in his eyes says he knows damn well that I’m half a second from digging my fingers into his hair and riding his face to orgasm.

“No. But… I thought you wanted to look.” I can’t quite catch my breath. “Don’t you want to see what you do to me?”

“Show me.” He moved back a few inches, barely enough space for me to get my hand between us.

“Promise you’ll only look.”

He gives me a long look. “I promise.”

Neither of us believe him. I reach down and hook my panties with my finger, towing them to the side. We both exhale at the sight of my pussy. I’m so wet, I can see it in the fading light of the day. Shane blows out a long breath directly over my clit and this time I can’t stop a little moan from slipping free.

“Show me,” he growls. “Let me see every bit of that pretty pussy.”

I use my free hand to part my pussy, putting myself on full vulgar display for him. “Do you like what you see?”

“Let me have a taste, Lily.” He drifts a little closer. “Just a little taste. No one has to know.”

“Yes.” The word is barely more than a soft exhale, but he hears it all the same. I hold myself open as Shane leans in and drags his tongue over me. “Oh my god.” He does it again, and again and then he holds my gaze as he thrusts his tongue into me. “Shane.” I’m gasping. “That feels so good.”

He rests his forehead on my lower stomach, breathing hard. “Keep saying my name like that, Lily, and I might forget myself and fuck you right here.”

Playing with fire. That’s all I’m doing with this man. Playing with fucking fire. “Shane,” I whisper.