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"Ungh, yeah. Just like that."
"M'like dis?"
"Shut up and keep doing what you're doing."
A smile twinkled in Jake's eyes as he directed his attention back between my legs.
It was well into Sunday afternoon and the only time we'd left his bed was to get a bowl of cereal before crawling right back into the sheets. I'd made an effort to be home more the past week, a little guilty that I hadn't had much quality time with the girls before Alice told us about her plans to move. Last night we'd gone to our local bar with plans of girls night, but a few drinks in we were drunk and horny texting our guys to come join us. You know how it goes.
"Mmmm, keep going, keep going." I was on the precipice now, just a… little… further. "Ahhh!"
My breathing labored as I threw an arm over my eyes, slowly sinking back to earth. Jake slid up beside me and palmed my breast with a cocky grin on his face.
"That good, huh?"
"Shut up," I shoved his shoulder weakly, my body still feeling like jello. "I wouldn't be so cocky after the sounds you were making just an hour ago."
"What can I say, I like to voice my appreciation," he snickered, dodging the pillow I threw at his head.
I stretched and dropped a peck on Jake's cheek. "I'd better go before Alice and Rose think you've kidnapped me."
"What, no snuggles?"
"Ha," I snorted, gathering my clothes that had been haphazardly flung across the room. See, I was a snuggler. Jake, while sweet and fun and always willing to humor me, was not. He lazed against his headboard, watching me dress with a post-coital smirk across his face and arms stretched behind his head like some kind of pervy Adonis.
"You wanna hang out this week? As in, somewhere that's not my apartment."
I smiled and shrugged coolly, "sure."
Jake chuckled and shook his head, amused by my casualness. We'd known each other for a while, and there was always a sexual attraction there. Jake was easygoing and flirty, so when we started hooking up a few weeks ago, it wasn't a surprise to either of us or anyone else. I knew better than to think he'd taken himself off the market, but I was having fun, so I was happy to keep this casual sex-soaked fling we had going on.
"C'mere," he reached out when I'd buttoned my jeans. I sauntered over to the bed and let him pull me into a sloppy kiss. We broke away laughing and he smacked me on the ass as I let myself out of his room.
Rose was reading in the living room when I pushed my way inside and quirked a knowing eyebrow my way, biting her lip in amusement.
"Spit it out," I sighed, knowing what she was thinking.
"I wasn't gonna say anything," she replied, smiling into her book.
"Where's Al?"
"At Jasper's. She said she'd be home soon."
"Cool. I'm gonna go have a lie down."
"What, didn't get much sleep last night?" That annoying, beautiful smirk again.
"Get laid, Rose!" I shouted as I made my way to my room, hearing her evil laugh peel down the hallway.
I wasted the afternoon watching trashy TV in bed until my stomach started growling and I ventured out into the living room where Alice and Rose were sprawled across the sofa watching the same mindless garbage I'd been consuming for the past four hours. I joined them and we ordered pizza, eating on the couch like slobs.
"Hey, I forgot to tell you," I garbled, sucking a stringy piece of cheese through my lips. "That tutoring gig Jasper set me up with? The dad is hot."
"Oh, yeah? Silver fox?" Rose's eyebrows waggled.
"No, more like young up and coming movie star. How old is he Alice?"
Alice's eyes widened and she shrugged. "No idea, Jasper just said he was a friend of his brother's. Riley's like twenty-seven I think."
"Right," I nodded, doing the math in my head. If Lizzie was twelve, that'd mean Edward would've had to have been… fifteen? No way. I mean, I guess it could've happened, but I just couldn't imagine having a kid that young myself. "He couldn't be more than thirty. I thought he was an older brother at first."
"What, are you getting ideas to seduce the dad or something?" Alice teased.
"No," I snorted. "I can look, though."
"Is he married?"
"I don't know, he wasn't wearing a ring and it didn't really look like a woman lived at their house." Then I remembered something else and my face filled with warmth. "Oh my god, and I flipped him off."
"You what?" Alice choked on a piece of garlic bread.
"I didn't know it was him, it was a couple days before I went to their house. He cut me off in traffic and almost knocked me off my bike. I kind of called him an asshole."
"And you're still tutoring his kid?" Rose laughed in shock.
"I didn't even recognize him until he realized when I was leaving their place. He said he'd see me next week, though, so I guess he didn't mind too much," I shrugged, but my mortification was still lingering. God, what a hothead I must've seemed like to him.
"Maybe he has a kink for crazy girls," Alice giggled.
"Hey, I detest that word. And I'm his daughter's tutor."
"Sounds like the beginning of a bad porno," Alice smirked.
"Or a great one," Rose smiled, waggling her eyebrows again like a perv.
"Why do I tell you guys anything?" I grumbled, but even I couldn't help but smile at that.
By the time Thursday rolled around I found myself anxiously glancing at the clock in anticipation of seeing Edward again.
I obviously wasn't going to try anything — I had some sense of decorum — but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious about him. He was wildly handsome in a rugged way, with a scruffy jaw and arms that told me he didn't sit behind a desk all day. I mean, it's not everyday you meet such an attractive young father, that was interesting right? Sue me.
Class let out and I walked faster than normal to where my bike was chained up before coasting up town, pushing all inappropriate thoughts from my mind. Of course, they came rushing right back as soon as the door opened to a sleepy-eyed Edward dressed in the same dusty workers pants and a beat up t-shirt that hugged his frame.
"Hey, sorry I was just lying down," he grinned lazily. "Come in."
I followed him into the dining room where Lizzie's books were already lying open on the table.
"Lizzie!" He called, rubbing sleep from his eyes. He directed his attention back to me, a warmth ever-present in his face. "Thanks for coming. How was your week?"
"Um, good. Busy," I bit my lip, shy under his gaze.
"Road rage encounters filling up the schedule?"
I blushed but heard the teasing lilt in his voice. "No, drivers have been surprisingly respectful the last week. Maybe I scared them all off already."
"Maybe," he smiled.
Lizzie bounded in with more exuberance than I'd ever seen from a kid I was tutoring. Normally parents had to practically drag their kids in kicking and screaming while I pretended not to notice.
"Hi Bella," she chirped. She was wearing an oversized sweatshirt that I assumed was Edward's and I couldn't help but smile at her scrappy tomboy style. She reminded me a lot of myself when I was her age — I couldn't count the number of my dad's old sweatshirts I'd commandeered as my own growing up.
"Hey, how are you doing?"
"Good, I finished that essay early. Want to see it?"
And so we got to work. Lizzie listened attentively just like the first time, nodding when I gently pointed out things she'd missed and beaming when I complimented her work so far. Edward disappeared into the kitchen, and my mouth watered with the smell of spices wafting through the house.
"If you finish these edits we can start on Shakespeare next week." She made a face and I laughed, shaking my head. "Hey, if you can tackle Shakespeare you can tackle anything. The guy was obsessed with abstract meaning."
"I just hate all the 'dost thou' stuff. Why not speak in plain words?"
"Ahh, where would the challenge be in that?"
Lizzie giggled and rolled her eyes. Damn she was a cute kid.
Edward appeared in the doorway. "You two wrapping up?"
"Yep!" Lizzie nodded, slamming her books shut and bolting into the kitchen, her chirpy mood from the beginning of the lesson long gone. I laughed — see, that was the kind of response I was used to from most kids I tutored. Edward laughed too and turned to me with a shake of his head.
"I'd say she's normally a little more subtle, but she's not," he chuckled.
I waved him off. "Nah, she's fine. Most kids hardly listen when I tutor them, so I can't really begrudge her that."
"She said her lesson last week was really helpful. Said she preferred the way you explained things over how her teacher does it."
I blushed with the compliment and ducked my head, leaning down to pick up my backpack. I looked up in time to see Edward's gaze flicker back up to my face. Oh, he was so checking me out.
He walked me to the door again and passed me an envelope with my payment for the session.
"Same time next week?" He asked, casually leaning his arm on the doorframe. God, it should be illegal to look that good.
"Same time," I nodded. I carried my bike down the porch steps and it took everything in me to not look back and see if he was watching me ride away. At the last second I gave in before turning the corner, and there he was in all his handsome glory, watching me as I coasted out of sight.