I know, another chapter is...unexpected (wink, wink). Yeah, yeah, bad joke.

Thank you to all my reviews both members and guests. The support you all have shown me really made me feel better about posting on this site. I'm really lucky to have you all. For the guests, I wish I could email you back but alas FFN does not allow me to do so, but thank you!

Much love to the ever amazing Eunice339 for beta services!

xXx

Tobias' eyes rolled back into his head. "Tris," he moaned, his hands buried in her hair, holding her to him.

Tris' lips stretched into a grin momentarily before returning to her task. She feathered her tongue along the underside of his shaft, teasing him, before circling the head and plunging back down. Her fist grasped his base, holding him steady so she could take the rest of him into her mouth. He moaned again as she sucked him, her cheeks hollowing while cupping his balls in her other hand.

She peeked up at him and felt a deep longing in her belly as she looked at him. Tobias' light blue shirt hung open, revealing his muscular chest to her as his head was propped against the back of her couch. Sensing her gaze, his dark blue eyes locked onto hers, nearly black with his desire. At times like this, he was so ridiculously gorgeous, it was all Tris could do to concentrate on him and put her own needs temporarily aside. After a moment, she bobbed her head up and down, allowing her teeth to very gently scrape against the underside of his shaft. She felt him stiffen under her and his hands tightened on her head as he groaned through his release.

Tris sat back, licking her lips, a smile on her face as she took in the satisfied look on her man's face. The last couple of months with Tobias had been wonderful. They'd discovered a mutual passion for cooking, science fiction books and action movies. They were also both sports fans, especially football, basketball and soccer. They could spend hours just talking, but the physical attraction between them was white-hot too.

Tobias lifted his head and looked down at the smirk on her face. Without a word, he reached down and pulled her up and onto his lap, straddling him. Tangling his hands in her hair, Tobias pulled her head down to his and kissed her deeply. Tris returned his ardor, rolling her hips against his. In response, his hands wandered down her back to her waist, then slipped under her shirt. As his lips trailed down to her neck, his hands traveled up until they cupped her breasts, his thumbs circling her nipples roughly. Tris gasped, grinding down on him again. She laced her fingers through his hair and urged him back up to her lips.

The timer on the oven beeped.

"Ignore it," he murmured against her lips. Tris just nodded, tugging on the silky strands of his hair. He kissed her, moving his hands gently around her bra strap to reach for the hooks.

This time, Tris' cell phone rang.

Tobias groaned in frustration and Tris chuckled, "To be continued." She pecked him on his lips and reached for her phone, thumbing it on without looking at the screen.

"Hello?" Tris rose from his lap, her expression becoming serious. "Oh, hi, Dad. No, I was just about to sit down to dinner with Tobias." She glanced at him, nodding her head towards her bedroom before turning in that direction. "No, I don't want to hear your opinion about that," she said sharply, closing the bedroom door behind her with a little more force than necessary.

Tobias heaved a sigh. He knew that Tris and her parents had a tumultuous relationship stemming back to when she dropped out of college after her sophomore year. He hadn't been able to get her to give him all of the details, but whatever it was had put a serious dent in her relationship with her parents.

He reached down and hitched up his pants, buttoning them and his shirt up, while leaving the shirt untucked. His suit jacket and tie were still draped over the chair and he decided to just leave them there. Tris would end up stuffing them in with her dry cleaning as she usually did when he spent the night. Maybe it appeared they were moving too fast to some – her father, for instance – since they had progressed to the point where they each kept spare clothes, including work clothes, at each other's apartments. Tobias wasn't sure why things with Tris felt so right, they just did, and he was going to ride the wave for as long as it lasted. Deep in his heart, he was hoping that wave never ended.

He headed into the kitchen, washing his hands and busying himself with the simple process of preparing dinner to take his mind away from his concern about Tris. Every time she talked to her parents, she was annoyed and stressed afterward. With that in mind, he pulled out a bottle of wine to breathe. He turned off the oven and pulled out the lasagna they'd put in to reheat before becoming distracted with each other.

Placing the lasagna on the stovetop to cool, he then slid the prepared garlic bread into the oven to finish toasting. He smiled a little as he cut the lasagna and scooped it onto plates. Their first date had been a cooking class and they'd enjoyed cooking together ever since.

Tobias looked up just as Tris was walking into the kitchen, an aggravated look on her face. He immediately poured and handed her a glass of wine.

"Thanks," she said appreciatively, taking the glass and drinking deeply. She leaned against the counter, watching as he pulled the bread out of the oven and placed a couple of slices on each plate next to the lasagna. He turned to speak to her, but she put her glass down, wrapped her arms around his waist and just held on.

Tobias ran his hand down her hair. Kissing the top of her head, he asked, "You all right?"

She nodded against his chest then gave him one final squeeze before releasing him. "Yeah… Let's just eat, okay?"

Tobias searched her eyes for a moment then nodded. "Okay." He refilled her wine glass and handed her a plate. They each took their plate and wine into Tris' smallish dining room and sat at the table. "Want to talk about it?" he asked hesitantly.

"No," Tris said, looking at her plate.

They ate in silence for a moment, each lost in their own thoughts. Tris glanced up at him, noting his head was bent, his eyes on his food. She cleared her throat. "You never asked me the full story about me and my parents," she said quietly.

Tobias looked up, sipping from his glass. "I figured you'd tell me in your own time."

Tris laughed a little. "You've got to be the most patient man on the planet."

He snagged the last piece of garlic bread on her plate. She glared at him as he chuckled, "I've found you create trust if you let the witness take their time and volunteer information."

Tris sat back, amused, "So I'm a reluctant witness?"

Stuffing the bread in his mouth, he grinned, cheeks puffed out, eyes twinkling with amusement. Tris snorted and rose to retrieve more garlic bread and wine from the kitchen. She refilled each of their glasses and grabbed a piece of bread. Sitting back down, she ate a few mouthfuls. "You know I dropped out of college the first time."

Tobias nodded, reaching for another piece of garlic bread too. "You dropped out of Illinois after your sophomore year, right?"

Tris nodded. "Yeah, I had really wanted to go out-of-state for college, but Caleb was already at MIT and my parents said they couldn't afford for both of us to go to out-of-state schools. So, I went to Illinois."

"Where your dad is a professor and he could see you every day," he concluded.

She pointed her wine glass at him. "Yes, my dad is a professor and my mom is a social worker. Even with Caleb's scholarship, there were books and other incidentals that made putting me through college at the same time a hell of a strain. Since Dad worked at Illinois, we could use his faculty discount to cut costs. So, I told myself I could suck it up for freshman year and insisted they allow me to stay in the dorms to get a little space, but I was still miserable. I was doing what they wanted, but it just didn't fit me. There was an upside, though. Christina was my roommate and we hit it off great. We've been friends ever since. Then, at the beginning of sophomore year, I met Fernando."

Tobias let out a bark of laughter. "Fernando?"

Tris mock glared at him. "Yes, Fernando. He was three years older and in a band. We went from 0 to 100 overnight." She shook her head and drank her wine. "My dad went ape-shit."

He placed the fork on his now empty plate and sat back, his glass in hand. "I'll just bet he did," he murmured. It certainly explained why her parents weren't so thrilled with her relationship with him. Tobias could only guess that they assumed she was barreling ahead once again.

She shrugged. "Towards the end of the year, Fernando and his band got an opportunity to play a few gigs out in LA and he wanted me to go with him. I thought I could just transfer to a school out there. I'd been on the Dean's List and was pretty sure I could get work-study or even a scholarship to help cover the difference in tuition. I told my parents what I wanted to do and my dad lost it. We got into a huge argument and he finally snapped and told me this was why they really hadn't let me go away to school. Apparently, I was 'too reckless' and 'too impulsive'. Surely, I should've seen I wasn't mature enough to be on my own. I was livid and left with Fernando as soon as the semester was over." Tris picked up her fork again and finished off her lasagna.

Tobias looked at her with his eyebrows raised. "Let me get this straight. You took off for California at twenty with your boyfriend and his band?"

"What can I say? Musicians are sexy."

Finishing off his wine, he stared at her over the rim. "I play the guitar, you know."

She stared back at him for a moment, her mouth agape before bursting into laughter. "You're kidding."

"Nope," his eyes twinkled, "but go on. We'll get back to that later."

"Oh, count on it. But anyway, I went. Fernando and I combined the savings we both had and got a cheap little apartment. I played roadie and gopher for them during gigs, but those dried up pretty fast. Bands are a dime a dozen out there. So, I got a job waitressing to make ends meet. After I turned 21, I started bartending, which was more money. I intended to go back to school, but I was working so much, I didn't have time. Plus, I had to work every shift I could just to make ends meet because Fernando's gigs were so sporadic, and that meant I couldn't travel with the guys."

"How long did you stay out there?"

Tris rolled her eyes upward, counting in her head. "Almost three years total. Fernando didn't make enough to support us, so I did."

Tobias emptied the bottle of wine, splitting it between their two glasses. "What happened between you two?"

Sipping, she thought about the question. "Nothing. And everything," she shrugged helplessly. "He didn't cheat on me, at least I don't think he did. He didn't do drugs, didn't hit me. He just didn't do anything. I would work, help out with his gigs, do all the chores, balance the checkbook – all the adult stuff," Tris laughed, a hint of bitterness in her tone. "I worked, he played and eventually, that just wasn't enough for me. Finally, I got up the nerve to call my parents and asked them to send me money to come home."

"How'd Fernando take it?"

"Embarrassingly well. He just kissed my forehead and wished me all the best. I don't know if he really loved me or if he was only fond of me because I took care of him. Regardless, he moved in with the band's drummer and his girlfriend, whose job it then became to take care of him, and I got to return to my parents' home with my tail between my legs." Tris drank deeply. "I took a job waitressing again so I could pay rent to my parents and buy a car. They offered to send me back to school, but that came with so many strings; I said no. I might've returned home, but I had my pride. I didn't want to go back to being completely dependent on them because then I would feel obligated to be what they wanted, instead of what I wanted." She leaned back. "It was an awful time. I doubted everything about myself and before long, I was arguing with my parents all the time. The only person who really understood me was Bud, my mom's brother, who'd been coming regularly to visit us since I was a kid. He's a black sheep too, so we've always been really close."

Tobias nodded. "He owns O'Leary's, right?"

She nodded in return. "Yeah, when he saw how miserable I was with my parents, he offered to help me get a fresh start if I moved to Chicago. I jumped at the chance. He helped me get an apartment and gave me the job at the bar. I loved working there so much I realized almost immediately that I wanted to run it someday. I spoke to Bud and he loved the idea of turning the place over to family once I was ready. I wouldn't let him pay for school, though. That's all on me. It'll be a couple of years, but I'll get my business degree and be ready to take over," Tris smiled at Tobias. "So, it'll all work out."

"I take it your parents aren't too thrilled."

Laughing, Tris said, "I think my dad may be just as mad as when I took off for California. He's convinced, even after these last couple of years on my own, I don't know how to manage my life and should go home, let him find a nice husband for me and live a quiet life. He calls every few months to try and talk me into that, but he can forget it. I'm doing just fine."

Leaning forward, Tobias reached across the table to take Tris' hand in his. "I'm falling in love with you," he stated bluntly.

Tris blinked. "Where did that come from?"

He ran his thumb over the back of her hand. He could see the slight panic in her eyes, but he didn't take offense. In fact, it amused him a little because he wasn't sure if she knew how often he'd caught her watching him when she thought he wasn't looking. The look he saw each time in Tris' eyes was the same one he was sure was in his whenever her looked at her. "I've been feeling it for some time now and what you've just told me makes it all the more real. You've bounced back from everything that's been thrown at you. You're incredible and I want you to know it."

She smiled at him, squeezing his hand back. "I don't know about all that, but I think you're pretty amazing yourself." They stared into each other's eyes, each basking in the emotion they saw reflected in them.

Tobias finally broke the silence. "We should get ready for bed. I think I owe you a little something."

With a rich, sensual laugh, Tris purred, "Oh, I wouldn't call it 'little'."

Tobias grinned at her. They cleaned up together, putting away dishes, wiping down the counters. The simple, domestic chores didn't dampen the growing sexual tension between them; in fact, it only seemed to heighten it. They were each aware of where the other was, could feel the other's body heat. When Tris deemed the kitchen clean enough, she reached for his hand, pulling him down the short hallway to her bedroom.

They even turned preparing for bed into a tease. Tris patted his ass as he bent over to plug his cell phone into the charger and he nibbled on her shoulder as she brushed her teeth in the bathroom. By the time they were finished, Tobias hadn't even bothered to put on his pajama pants; he just slid naked into bed next to her. Without a word, he covered her body with his, kissing her deeply. Tris wound her arms around his neck and parted her legs, allowing him to nestle between them.

Tobias began his slow journey down her body, lips trailing, hands caressing all his favorite places. He nibbled on the underside of her breasts, then kissed his way down her stomach, making her giggle as he lightly tickled her sides. Tris squirmed beneath him as he teased the inside of her thighs, licking, sucking everywhere but where she most wanted him. When he ghosted his lips very lightly over her, she gasped out, "Dammit, Tobias, stop teasing me!"

He chuckled and curved his hands around her hips, pulling her closely to him. Taking her words as a challenge, his mouth descended on her, his tongue sweeping firmly over her, dipping deeply inside her. Tris clutched the mattress on either side of her, raising her hips. She didn't try to hold back her moan as his tongue spread her open, caressing every inch of her. She wasn't aware of the little high-pitched sounds she made, but Tobias was and so he increased the pressure of his mouth. Just as he felt her body begin to shake, he slipped two fingers inside her. Hearing her pleasure was music to his ears. She pressed her hips into his mouth, soaking up every ounce of gratification he gave her. She finally collapsed back on the bed as he crawled up her body.

Tris pulled him on top of her, kissing him feverishly as she wound her legs around his. Tobias lowered his weight on top of her, teasing her entrance with his cock. He slid forward, entering her slowly. Tris loved the feel of him, loved his weight on top of her, loved the hard ridge of flesh buried deeply inside her. She moved her hips, encouraging him to start moving. Since they'd both come once already, Tobias pulled out inch-by-inch, drawing out the pleasure of moving in and out of her. Tris dug her fingers into his shoulders and arched her back slightly. "God, you feel good," she whimpered.

"Tris, Jesus, Tris," he gasped out, using all of his control to try and keep the pace slow. He braced his arms on either side of her, his fingers tangled in her hair, their eyes locked. Despite his best efforts, the sheer satisfaction of being inside her won out and he began to move faster. Tris hitched her legs higher on his hips, her heels pushing him from behind, urging him on. They strained against each other, the slippery slide of their skin heightening the sensations until the wave broke over them and they came together, each of them gasping and moaning.

Tobias rolled to the side, lying on his back next to her as they caught their breaths. Tris recovered first, propping herself up on her elbow and grinning at him. "That was fun."

He laughed, "Glad to know I made it worth your while."

Tris leaned down and kissed him. "You always do." Running her hand through his hair, her expression turned serious. "I've never felt like this with anyone," she said. She wanted to tell him she loved him too, knew she did, but she was holding herself back. Whether she liked it or not, her father was in her head and there was a small part of her that wondered if she and Tobias would crash and burn like she and Fernando had. But at times like this, when he was smiling at her, his blue eyes full of love, their bodies warm against each other, Tris was sure there was nothing more in this life she wanted.

Tobias' cell phone rang and he groaned. She laughed, "Our evening continues to be interrupted. You get that while I clean up."

He reached over to grab his phone and seeing Uriah's name flash, swiped his finger across the screen. "Hey, Uri, what's happening?"

"Hey, bro! Listen, I'm at a concert here in the city and have an early meeting. Do you mind if I crash at your place?"

"Yeah, no problem. I'm at Tris' tonight anyway."

"Cool. Tell her 'Hey!' from me and thanks."

"Sure, no problem." Tobias hung up just as Tris re-entered the bedroom. Kissing her swiftly, he took his turn in the bathroom. They both returned to the bedroom at the same time, Tris handing him a bottle of water. As they settled back into bed together, Tris asked, "Who was that?"

"Uri. He's going to crash at my place so he won't have to go all the way home then come back early tomorrow morning."

"Oh, good." She absently traced patterns on his chest with her finger for a minute. "Listen, I have an idea. Feel free to say no."

"Uh-oh." Tobias raised an eyebrow as he looked at her. "What's up?"

"What do you think about introducing Uri to Christina? She and her ex-boyfriend, Will, called off their long distance relationship a few months ago and she's ready to start dating again."

Tobias hesitated for a moment, turning the idea over in his head. Uriah had been on a couple of dates, but nothing serious. Tobias had met Christina a few weeks ago and liked the vivacious woman. She was brutally honest, but at this point, that might actually be refreshing for Uriah.

"It doesn't have to be a date," Tris pressed on. "We can double with them and keep it casual."

Tobias nodded. "Yeah, I think it's a good idea. Let's do it."

"Really?"

"Really." He leaned forward. "Who knows, they might hit it off."

Tris snuggled into him. "I'm hoping so." They settled back into bed once again, each hopeful for whatever would come next.