I shook my head and made my way back to Leo, who was trying to keep a hold on the mewling kitten. ‘C’mon, rookie. Let’s get you home.’
‘I haven’t had my cherry soda yet.’
I knew he was in shock, so I humoured him. ‘I’ll make you one at home.’
I guess that’s when it dawned on him that I wasn’t taking him to his house. ‘Oh,’ he said, long and slow, drawing it out like a deep, relieved sigh. ‘OK.’
Out in the parking lot, I sized him up. ‘Are you OK to drive?’
He nodded.
I wasn’t convinced, but I let it go because I only live a couple miles from the bar. ‘Good. Just follow me.’
My house is on a quiet dead-end road. It’s not much, just a little two-bedroom bungalow. The place had seemed cramped with two six-foot teenagers eating me out of house and home, but now with them gone – Ty off to the Army and Nate off to college – it felt huge and lonely.
I waited to get out of my car until Leo’s truck pulled in on the gravel driveway behind me and he shut off his engine. He met me at the front door, the kitten tucked in the crook of his arm.
‘Hey,’ he said, as if we hadn’t just seen each other at the bar.
He was nervous, I realised. That didn’t surprise me, really. The short drive had given him time to think and nervousness was cutting through the shock. What surprised me was that I was nervous, too.
‘Come on in.’
I let us into the darkened house and turned on the lamp by the window, filling the room with a peaceful amber glow. I could feel Leo close behind me, his grief so large it felt like a third person in the room with us. The kitten let out a wail and that seemed to break the nervous tension between us.
‘Let’s get the little guy some food,’ I said. ‘I’ve got tuna and milk to hold him until you can get him some cat food.’
‘Thanks. That’s really nice of you,’ Leo said, his voice thick with a range of emotions. Fleetingly, I wondered if any of those emotions had my name on them.
I took the kitten and gave Leo a little nudge toward the couch. ‘Sit. I’ll be right back.’
The kitten was a cute little thing. I dumped tuna in a cereal bowl and sat the kitten in front of it while I found a box to line with newspaper for a makeshift litter box, and an old towel for a bed. Once I had everything set up by the radiator in the corner and the kitten was purring over his windfall, I returned to the living room.
Leo didn’t look as forlorn as he had at the bar, but he sure as hell didn’t look happy. He looked lost. Sad. I sat down next to him, our knees bumping.
‘Are you going to be OK?’
He nodded slowly. ‘Yeah. It was rough, but I think I’ll be OK.’
I nodded along with him. I only knew of one way to get over this nagging feeling that I was robbing the cradle and going to hell for it. I put my hand on the back of his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. I half expected him to resist; I wasn’t entirely sure he knew my intentions or would even want what I had to offer. But his lips parted and he kissed me back, a quiet sigh whispering across my mouth.
The funny thing about older men is they forget how to kiss properly. They’re all about the fucking. They may spend some time on the foreplay to get a woman ready, but kissing takes a back seat to all the rest. Leo kissed like he knew it was as far as he was ever going to get with me and he was determined to get his rocks off that way. His lips were velvety soft, softer than any man I’d ever been with. It was like kissing a woman except for that little hint of invisible stubble above his upper lip. I moaned when he nibbled my bottom lip, nipping it with his teeth before sweeping his tongue over it to soothe the pinch of pain.
I slid my hands down to his broad shoulders, feeling the muscles bunch under my touch as if he was showing off his gym work. But no, he was just reaching for me, pulling me up against him so he could dip his tongue in my mouth. It was awkward, with him still dressed in his uniform and that damned utility belt getting in the way. I made an anxious little noise in my throat and he pulled back, searching my face.
‘Did I hurt you?’
I laughed. ‘It’s going to take a lot more than kissing me to hurt me, but we need to get you out of that damned uniform.’
I stood and took his hand. He followed me willingly to the bedroom. I didn’t turn on the light.
He tried to pull me into his arms once we were standing by my bed, but I slipped away from him. ‘First things first.’
I saw a flash of white teeth in the darkness. ‘You’re not teasing me, are you?’
‘Oh baby, I’m no tease,’ I said, my voice sounding a little breathless. ‘I just want you naked.’
He had no response to that.
I got his utility belt unfastened while he stripped off his shirt, then his vest, with a loud rip of Velcro, then his undershirt. I unfastened his pants and felt the bulge of his erection against my hand. I gave him a squeeze and smiled at his deep moan.
I yanked his pants and underwear down in one swift motion as I slid to my knees. His cock hung heavy in front of me, a shadowy outline of his arousal. I inhaled deeply, revelling in that musky masculine scent. That’s all I did, just kneel in front of him and wait.
‘Please,’ he said, so softly I almost didn’t hear him.
‘Please, what?’
I was teasing him now, trying to ratchet up his arousal – and mine. I like a man to tell me what to do. To make him quiver until he’s insistent and rough in his need. I didn’t know if Leo had it in him, but I was going to find out.
‘Don’t make me get the cuffs.’
Despite the threat, the way he said it told me he had no idea how to use handcuffs in a sexual way. The boy might have had the accoutrements for kinky sex at his disposal, but I’d bet my bar that was one cherry he hadn’t busted yet. I hadn’t been thinking beyond that night, but the possibilities excited me.
‘Hmm, you just might have to do that,’ I said, knowing he wouldn’t.
‘You are teasing me.’
‘Yeah, baby, I am.’ I waited a beat. ‘This time.’
I heard his sharp intake of breath at the promise of the future. ‘Suck it, Kayla,’ he said, his voice dropping an octave to become a demanding growl. ‘Now.’
I murmured my appreciation of his new-found dominance before I took him in my mouth. Without using my hands, I sucked the head between my lips and listened to his corresponding groan of approval. His erection jerked in my mouth and I took another inch of that velvety warmth.
He caught my long hair up in his hand and moved me gently along his length. Slowly, as if he had all the time in the world to fuck my mouth and intended to enjoy every second. I cupped his balls in one hand, feeling their heavy weight in my palm. He thrust harder into my mouth when I did that, giving my hair a little tug just the way I like it.
I used both hands then, one on his balls and one on his shaft, feeding his erection into my hungry mouth. I had only intended for this to be an appetiser for things to come, but he jerked his hips forward and his dick slipped to the back of my throat. I wasn’t ready for it and I