Midnight Ballerina (29 page)

MILLER PULLED ON my hair and I was surprised that I actually liked it. Really, I think I just liked the fact that he was being a little rough with me. Yesterday, the few times that we had sex, he was gentle and soothing, paying attention to every inch of my body and acting like I was going to break underneath him. Now, not so much.

His hands trailed all over my back as he nipped at my skin, and I jumped when his tongue flicked against me from behind, his hands gripping my waist to hold me still. I buried my head into the pillow as he continued to torture me with his tongue, adding one finger and then two to drive me even wilder, making my whole body shake with need.

He pulled away, murmuring something that I couldn’t quite hear, and then his knees were caging mine in and he was pulling me upward so I wasn’t lying flat against the bed any more. For a split second, I panicked because this was all new. This was a whole different side to Miller that I had yet to see, and I worried that I wouldn’t know what in the hell to do.

But then he slid his tip against me, entering in one thrust, as he pushed me into the mattress and I forgot all about the nerves. I forgot about everything. Except for me and Miller and the frantic dance that we were creating together. He pulled back, slipping almost completely out, before ramming back into me and making me cry out.

“Relax,” he murmured, rubbing my back before dipping down to suck on my neck. Hard.

I craned my neck around once his lips left and I loved the expression on his face. It was completely blissful, his own eyes wide open, looking down at me, and then he completely stilled. “I want you to ride me.”

“Wh-at? I don’t think that’s—” And then he flipped our bodies over in one quick motion and I was on top of him, straddling his body, and suddenly the nerves were completely back.

It took me a little while to adjust to the new position, and Miller gave me a minute before he placed his hands on my waist and began sliding me up and down. Eventually I took control, circling my hips, knowing that he was loving it by the way his eyes were watching my every move and the groans that kept escaping his lips.

“Come here.” He pushed on my hips, continuing to pump into me as he motioned for me to lower my head down to his. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered harshly against my lips before diving into my mouth, our tongues tangling as we continued to move together.

I could tell I was getting close and so was he. Our movements became more frantic with need and the room filled with the sound of our bodies slapping together. My thighs ached from the position, but it was the good kind of ache, and I was glad that Miller was introducing to me everything.

If only we could forget the world around us all the time, if just the two of us existed like in this moment, feeling so connected. I think we came at exactly the same time. My insides began to quake and I rode out my orgasm, clenching around Miller as he exploded inside of me, filling me up so completely before I collapsed and he cradled my body on top of his.

His hands moved to my hair and he ran his fingers through it, kissing the side of my head as I placed a kiss onto his chest, my eyes suddenly heavy with sleep.

“You really need to get to work,” I mumbled against him and his chest vibrated with laughter.

“Don’t worry about it. Just go to sleep.”

I’D LIKE TO say that Miller and I had those days all the time, but sadly, we had to go back to reality. He was working less at Pure since his cousin, Luke, started managing it, but that gave him more time to pour into Buchanan Builders. And he ended up going in to Pure maybe once or twice a week. He still tried to make as much time for as me as possible, which was sweet and I loved it.

Right now, that was extremely hard since it was finals week. I was studying my ass off when I wasn’t at school or work, in order to get ready for all of my upcoming exams. I had just finished my first one and felt pretty confident that I did well. But studying was so much better when it was done at Miller’s and he would pull me onto his lap, sitting behind me quietly so he wouldn’t interrupt, while he watched football or ESPN. I think I ended up staying at his house almost every night after the first time, mainly because he wouldn’t let me go home, but I certainly didn’t mind. Things seemed to be moving fast between us and I was more than okay with that. We even had dinner with his mamaw one night, after her insistence, and she was completely welcoming to me, which was a relief.

I glanced at the time on my computer, willing it to move quicker. It was a study-free night and Miller said he had something special planned. I didn’t know what, and I didn’t care, just as long as I got to spend some much-needed time with him before I left for my family’s for the holidays. I was excited to see my family but knew I would miss Miller the whole time. Yeah, that probably sounded a tad bit obsessive since our relationship was pretty new, but I really didn’t care. I thought Amelia would be mad that I was spending all of my time with Miller, but honestly, she seemed pretty ecstatic about it, telling me I should just move in with him so I didn’t have to worry about rent money. Yeah, that would be a little overboard and I wasn’t going to be a freeloader. That just wasn’t me.

The door dinged, alerting me that someone had just come in, and I perked up, thinking Miller was back. Normally, he was here when I came in to work, but today he had sent me a message that he wouldn’t be in till later. I deflated a little bit when I realized it wasn’t him, just a delivery guy, but I sat straight back up once I realized what he was holding.

“Monroe Hartley?” he asked, looking at the slip, and I nodded my head. “All right, this is for you. Sign here, please.”

I distractedly signed the slip of paper, telling him goodbye as I examined what he sat on my desk, pulling out the tiny card attached and signed by Miller. “
You’ll need these for tonight
.” It was a good thing that Amelia wasn’t around because she would roll her eyes at me for being so giddy. Instead of sending me a big bouquet of flowers, Miller had sent me a bouquet of Milk Duds. How in the hell did he know that was one of my most favorite things in the world? And it was so much better than flowers. Sure, flowers were pretty and smelled good, but they only lasted so long. I couldn’t stop myself before I had one of the boxes popped open and a Dud placed in my mouth, loving the way the caramel stuck to my teeth, one of the reasons most people hated them.

“Didn’t you read the note? Those are for tonight.” I jumped in my seat and turned around slowly, looking guiltily at Miller as he stood there with a smirk on his face. I bounded toward him, wrapping him up in a hug.

“Sorry, I couldn’t help myself,” I said as I stuck another one in my mouth, and he shook his head, grinning. “How’d you know anyway? These are kind of like my secret obsession.”

“It’s not that big of a secret. I think I’ve seen about twenty empty boxes in the trash can since you started working here.”

“Very observant, Mr. Buchanan.”

“I try.” He pressed a quick kiss to my lips. “Aren’t you going to ask me what we’re doing tonight?”

“Nope. Even though it’s killing me, I’ll let you surprise me.”

“Are you sure? I could just tell you.” I knew it was killing him to keep it in, but I shook my head.

“Nope, I’m good.”

“Fine,” he huffed. “I have some paperwork to fill out from a deal I just finished up. I’ll be back out in a little bit.” He tapped me on the ass before I sat back down and I had to force myself to stay seated instead of going into his office and attacking him on his desk.

I checked my phone before getting back to work, seeing that I had yet another message from my mom. She was worried that I was going to flake out at the last moment or something, and not end up showing for the holidays.

I sent her a quick text, ensuring her that I would definitely be there and she replied right away.

I know you will be, I made sure of that.

I frowned as I looked at the screen, trying to figure out what exactly that meant, but I got distracted and set it down when the door opened and dinged, alerting me that someone was here.

“Excuse me, I’m looking for Miss Monroe Hartley?” He couldn’t get the sentence out without a grin breaking through halfway, and I leaped out of my chair, launching myself at him. Luckily, he caught me, laughing the whole time. I squealed while he spun me around in a circle, something he knew I hated because it always made me nauseous when we were kids. I couldn’t believe he still did it because I had thrown up on him more than once.

“What in the hell are you doing here, Carter?” I finally managed to ask as he set me back down, wrapping an arm around my waist to steady my feet.

“Well, I’m glad you’re so happy to see me too, sis.” My sister Holland stepped forward, giving me a one-armed hug, and I smiled at her. I had finally noticed her when Carter was spinning me around, but I was a little caught up in the moment. I was glad to see her, but believe it or not, my relationship with Carter had always been closer than that with my own sister. I think I had talked to her on the phone a total of three times that I could remember since I moved here to go to school.

“I am,” I said, brushing back the hair that had escaped my bun. “But what are you guys doing here? And together? Most of the time you two are at each other’s throats.”

“Oh, trust me.” Holland held up a hand, a look of disgust thrown in Carter’s direction. “That hasn’t changed, but Mom kept insisting that someone come down here and drag your ass home, so I volunteered and then this guy decided to literally jump into my car as I was backing out of the driveway.”

Carter shrugged his shoulders, giving me a sheepish grin. He looked different than the last time I saw him over this past summer. He had completely shaved off all of the black, chin-length hair he had for years, and I wasn’t so sure I could get used to it. All of that hair being gone helped to define his features even more, not hiding those piercing blue eyes, which were normally dancing with amusement, and showing off the dimples that rested in each cheek. I think he had even grown a few inches, making him tower over me more, but he wasn’t quite as tall as Miller.

A throat cleared from behind me and I did a mental face palm when I saw Miller standing there, a slight frown on his face, and I realized why quickly since Carter’s arm was still around my waist. I shrugged it off and walked over to Miller.

“Guys, this is Miller Buchanan. He’s my….” I paused, not really knowing how to describe our relationship, since it was a little odd that he was my boss, too.

“Boyfriend,” Miller finished for me, “and boss.” Well, then. I guess we did have a label to our relationship and I was perfectly happy with it.

I introduced him to Carter and Holland, explaining that I had no idea that they were going to show up. “I can’t believe Mom sent you down here to get me. It was completely unnecessary.”

“Yeah, I planned on driving Monroe up. I didn’t want her going all that way on her own.”

I looked sideways at Miller, who smirked at me, and then turned my head back in Carter’s direction, seeing the hardness of his eyes and the way his jaw was set tightly. He did not seem too happy about that and I didn’t really know why. Sure, we had dated in high school, but it was never anything serious, and it had been years since we had spent much time together, other than occasionally hanging out when I went back home. Carter seemed extremely jealous and Miller thought it was funny. Well, this should be interesting.

“You were?” I asked and Miller nodded his head. “I was going to talk to you about it tonight.” He frowned slightly.

Tonight
. Great. I was excited that Carter and even Holland were here, but I had been looking forward to whatever Miller planned for us. But now that he was apparently driving me home, I would still be able to spend some time with him. I wondered if he actually planned on taking me or just decided he was once Carter showed up.

“Okay. Well, I’m guessing you two planned on staying with me since I have another day of finals before I can leave.” I plucked my keys out of my purse, pulling off my apartment key and handing it to Carter. “Do you still have my apartment address?”