Naughty at 30 (Love Without Batteries #2) Read online

  “Let me know if you want me to stop, or ease up, Chels,” he told me as his hand massaged my bare ass.

  “It doesn’t really hurt,” I assured him, somewhat disappointed.

  “That was just the warm up,” he explained as he massaged my bare backside.

  This time when Luke stopped massaging and smacked my right butt cheek, there was more sting, and I yelped.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “Yes,” I breathed out.

  Luke’s hand smacked my other butt cheek before massaging me again, spreading out the sting. The sound that came from my mouth that time was more like a moan. Luke spanked me several more times. I soon found the ones I liked best were lower and to the center, but there was no denying I was enjoying the warm stinging sensation all over.

  “Fucking beautiful,” Luke praised as he massaged my ass. “I’m going to fuck you with your sexy pink ass in the air just like this. Would you like that, Chels?”

  “Please,” I breathed out, too aroused to form a full sentence at that point.

  Luke moved to the coffee table to grab the condom and quickly stripped off his boxers and slid it on before moving behind me again. I was sure he’d done it to give me a good look at his impressive dick.

  Rather than undressing me the rest of the way, Luke pushed my thong down to my knees before positioning himself at my entrance and sliding into my body. I whimpered as he pushed all the way into me, pressing himself against my backside and bringing a slight sting. With Luke’s legs outside mine, he felt even bigger inside me, and I also felt wonderfully trapped as he thrust into my body. I wanted to move against him, but I couldn’t.

  Luke’s groans joined my little screams as he moved with slow deliberate strokes that seemed to cause just the right pressure with my ass to make the warmth continue as the upholstery on the sofa teased my nipples. I felt like I was on sensation overload.

  It wasn’t long until Luke’s thrusts became more frenzied, and my screams got louder.

  “That’s it, Chels,” he ground out. “Tell me how much you like this. Tell me you want this as much as I do.”

  “I want this,” I whimpered, small spasms already teasing me. “I want you, Luke.”

  My words seemed to strip away the last remnants of his self-control because Luke was suddenly fucking me so hard, I was sure I’d feel it for days. That seemed to be just what I needed to make me come so hard I was clawing at the couch cushions and screaming his name.

  Luke groaned with his own climax, rasping out something that sounded oddly like. “I love you,” but I knew that couldn’t be the case.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Luke

  I was surprised that Chelsea hadn’t said anything about my post-coital profession of love. It surprised me even more that she hadn’t freaked out and tried to convince me to go home afterward. Then again, it was possible she hadn’t been able to make out what I’d said since it had been more groan than anything else. I wasn’t embarrassed by my admission. It was the truth. I did love Chelsea. Granted, I’d be the first to admit I probably wasn’t head over heels in love with her yet, but I’d known Chelsea a big chunk of my life. I didn’t need to get to know her to realize how I felt.

  Waking up with Chelsea by my side made the jarring sound of my alarm much less annoying. Tasha apparently didn’t agree because she jumped up and looked around with her ears pinned back. At some point after we’d fallen asleep, Tasha had decided she needed in on the cuddling action, so she’d settled herself on my chest. I’d tried moving her to the side several times, but she was determined to sleep on my chest.

  “Poor kitty,” Chelsea crooned. “Did mean old Luke wake you up with his scary alarm?”

  Tasha immediately began purring and situated herself between us so Chelsea could cuddle her.

  “Mean old Luke?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. “Mean old Luke got her the premium cat tree and a soft bed—a bed that apparently wasn’t as comfortable as my chest.”

  “Who could blame her for preferring your chest?” Chelsea asked, still cuddling Tasha, who yawned and stretched before pulling away and jumping back on my chest.

  “Nice try,” I told the kitten. “I need to go to work. There are kids waiting for me to show them slides of plant cells.”

  “Sounds like a titillating class,” Chelsea remarked with a yawn of her own. “I think we’ll just go back to sleep.”

  “One of you kept me up using my body as a bed, after the other kept me up with her insatiable desires, and now you’re both going back to sleep while I head in to work?”

  Chelsea yawned. “I suppose I should fix you some breakfast while you shower.”

  I chuckled. “Unless your cooking has improved quite a bit, I’m going to pass on that offer.”

  “I can toast a pop tart just as well as the next person,” Chelsea insisted.

  I let out a quick laugh, certain she had to be kidding. “That’s not really what you eat for breakfast, is it?”

  “Nah,” she admitted. “Ty made blueberry muffins a couple days ago. There are some in the kitchen. You can’t miss the container on the kitchen counter.”

  “Now, you’re talking,” I told her. While Chelsea had inherited all the skills with tools, Ty was by far the better cook. “I’ll grab a couple on the way out. I’m going to shower down the hall so you can get some more sleep, peaches.”

  Her raised eyebrow told me she wasn’t fond of that term of endearment either. I’d have to keep working on it. “Right. No peaches. Go back to sleep, Chels.”

  “I want to argue that I’ll get up, too, but you wore me out,” Chelsea murmured, and I could tell she was dozing off again.

  “Sweet dreams,” I murmured before kissing the top of her head. If I happened to have a little extra swagger in my step as I walked out of her bedroom, I couldn’t help it. I was pretty damn proud of having worn my woman out.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chelsea

  “The camera loves you!” I praised, thrilled with the shots I was getting. “I know what you’re thinking. You think I say this to everyone I photograph, but that’s not true. You really are an exceptional model, and I’m going to use these pictures on our website.”

  Tasha yawned and stretched in her cat bed. I’d picked up one for the studio because I simply couldn’t leave her at home. It also meant I could take her to the vet earlier rather than waiting until Thursday when I was out of the studio all day. I’d talked to my neighbor and learned Tasha had not been spayed, nor had she seen a vet. A friend of my neighbor’s had ended up with unwanted kittens and given them away. My neighbor had also agreed to give me permanent custody of Tasha. I’d photographed the wedding of a local vet and really liked her, so I decided to call and see if she could get Tasha in right away. Thankfully, she could see her that afternoon.

  “Since when do you do pet shoots?” my brother asked as he walked in with carryout bags. He was taking some classes in the morning, so he usually picked up lunch on the way into the studio. I loved working with my brother, even if I’d never admit that to anyone, especially him.

  “I thought I’d add pet sessions to the services we offer,” I explained. “People love their pets and want photos to preserve their memories, especially when they’re still babies like this.”

  “I don’t know, Chels. Other than the owner of the fur ball in the pink bed, do you really think there are that many people looking to book photo shoots for their pets?” Tyler asked.

  “Of course I do. Just look at that sweet face,” I said, gesturing to Tasha. “She’s absolutely perfect, and her adorable kitten time should be immortalized. She won’t be a baby forever.”

  “It’s a cat, Chels,” he replied in a bored tone. “There is nothing special about that cat.”

  I lifted Tasha from her bed, and she immediately began purring as she settled into my arms. “Don’t you listen to Uncle Tyler, you beautiful girl. He didn’t mean to say you aren’t special. Of course, he knows you are the most bea
utiful kitten in the world.”

  My brother’s eyes widened in shock. “Wait a minute! This is your cat? You seriously got a cat?”

  I nodded, cuddling her closer.

  “You didn’t mention anything about a cat yesterday,” he told me.

  “I didn’t get her until last night,” I explained.

  “I knew I should have stayed to make sure Luke didn’t screw things up,” Tyler muttered. “Listen, Chelsea, you know Luke has trouble with emotional stuff, but I can definitely tell he really likes you and wants to date you. He’s a good guy. Just give him a chance to prove himself.”

  “That’s pretty similar to what he said,” I remarked.

  “Even if Luke did screw things up, that is no reason for you to go ahead with your crazy plan to become a cat lady. Why didn’t you call me or Brook if you were this upset after your talk with Luke?” he asked desperately, and I almost laughed at him. I couldn’t blame him for thinking I’d decided to become a cat lady after my many threats to do so recently.

  Tasha started to tap my arm with her claws, so I decided it was time to put her down for her nap. She’d been patient with me through the photo shoot, and I figured she was done playing cute kitten for a little while. It was probably best if she got her nap in before the vet visit, anyway. Something told me she wasn’t going to be happy with me after that.

  We walked to the front of the studio to eat our lunch, leaving Tasha sleeping in her bed.

  “Luke is the one who told me I needed to keep her,” I explained. “He even bought some cat stuff for Tasha. Actually, Luke bought more cat stuff than I thought I needed, but Tasha seems to love all her toys.”

  “You got a cat with Luke?” Tyler asked. “Doesn’t that seem a bit sudden?”

  “No, I didn’t get a cat with Luke. Tasha just sort of ended up with me. Luke helped me get the stuff I needed after making me realize I was going to keep her. He was just supposed to pick up what I needed to keep her overnight until I could find a rescue organization to take her, but it seems he knows me better than I thought,” I explained.

  “You don’t like cats,” Tyler reminded me.

  “I tried telling Tasha and Luke that, but they insisted Tasha was my cat. Look at it this way, if things don’t work out with Luke, I’ve already started building up to my cat lady lifestyle. Consider Tasha an investment in my future.”

  “Hold up, did you just call him Luke and not Lucas?” Tyler asked.

  I rolled my eyes. “He insists on it. Don’t make such a big deal out of this, Tyler.”

  “I insisted you call me Ty years ago, but it hasn’t happened a single time,” he reminded me.

  I gave him a sweet smile. “Let’s just say Luke is much more convincing with his argument.”

  “No details!” Tyler said quickly, with his hands up as if to ward off images of me doing anything sexual with his best friend. Despite the urge to mess with my brother, I decided to not discuss my sex life with Tyler, especially when it meant he might reciprocate.

  “This has honestly been one of the strangest weekends of my life,” I admitted.

  He chuckled and hugged me. “No kidding. You’re dating my best friend and you got a cat. The last part is what’s most shocking to me. I can’t believe you got a cat. What made you bring her in to the studio?”

  “Aside from wanting to take her picture with the right lighting, I need to take her to the vet. My trashy neighbors across the street were horrible cat owners who never got Tasha any of her shots. I want to get that taken care of and find out when I can have her fixed.”

  “Then you’ll never be a grandmother,” he teased.

  “Responsible pet owners get their pets spayed or neutered. There is a huge problem with over-breeding right now,” I told Tyler sternly, as if I’d known this before researching cats that morning. I’d never owned a pet, not even a gold fish, so I had no clue what I needed to do to take care of a kitten. While I’d had friends with cats, I’d never been too interested in their care, figuring I wasn’t an animal person. Thankfully, Tasha was already litter box trained, so it was one less thing to worry about. She still hadn’t learned that my sofa was not a scratching post, but we were working on that.

  “Can I take this to mean things are settled between you and Luke?” Tyler asked. “He helped you get your cat stuff, and you’re willingly calling him Luke. These all seem like signs that things are going well between the two of you.”

  I shrugged, sitting on the sofa in the reception area and rummaging through the takeout bags to find my sandwich. “I’d answer your question, but I’m not sure what you mean by settled.”

  “You’re a couple,” my bratty brother suggested, and waited for a response. When he didn’t get one he continued. “You’re dating?”

  “We are dating,” I replied as I unwrapped my sandwich. “It feels weird to say that, let alone call us a couple.”

  “I’m sure it does,” Tyler remarked. “Things felt weird for Brook when I started dating her, but it’s working out great. I’m still not quite sure how I feel about you and Luke, but I guess as long as he’s not stealing your panties, I can’t complain.”

  “You don’t think Luke would still steal my panties, do you?” I asked, mostly because Luke had never actually answered me about the panties I was missing from our first night together. Despite my insistence that I would know if even one pair of panties were missing from my drawers, I probably wouldn’t notice if someone took panties from lower in my drawers since I usually only wore the ones on top. I probably had more panties than Victoria’s Secret.

  “God, I hope not,” Tyler muttered.

  “You don’t sound convinced,” I stated.

  He hesitated, and I wondered what he wasn’t telling me. “Is this because he went through my panties in the bag the night he took me home from Brook’s?”

  “You know about that?” Tyler asked with wide eyes.

  “How could I not know?” I asked. “He didn’t fold the tissue paper correctly, so it was pretty obvious he’d peeked in the bag.”

  “I still can’t believe he did that,” Tyler muttered. “At least, he didn’t take any. Why are you asking? Did Luke steal your panties?”

  I hesitated because I had no proof Luke had stolen my panties. They might turn up somewhere in his room. I also didn’t want to explain to Tyler how my panties had gone missing in Luke’s bedroom. “I don’t think so,” I replied.

  “He wouldn’t take them,” Tyler stated with a decisive nod, and I was sure he was trying to convince himself more than me.

  Before we could discuss things further, I saw the couple I was meeting with that afternoon to go over their wedding pictures getting out of their car.

  “We’ll talk about this later,” I told Tyler.

  “Nope,” he replied. “We are definitely not going to talk about this later. I don’t want to talk about your panties or anything to do with Luke having his hands on your panties.”

  “Fine, just check our emails and watch Tasha for me,” I told him.

  “Since when does my job include cat sitting?” he asked.

  “Be nice, Uncle Tyler, or Tasha’s feelings will be hurt,” I cooed.

  Tyler just shook his head and walked off, muttering about me definitely having the crazy part of the cat lady role down.

  Chapter Twenty

  Luke

  It had been a long day, partly because I was tired, and partly because the flu outbreak had left me with only about half the kids in my classes. I’d decided to reschedule our labs for another day since I’d just end up needing to redo it with the kids who were out. Instead, we’d done some review, only to discover that the weekend seemed to have drained all previous lessons from the memories of my students. Even my top students couldn’t answer simple questions.

  I’d been tempted to message Chelsea on my break, but I ended up deciding it would be better to wait until after work. I knew she had a busy day of appointments, and I hadn’t been sure she’d be able to te
xt me back before I needed to get to class again. Having just finished getting my classroom back in order, I sat at my desk and grabbed my phone, only to find I had missed a text from Chelsea.

  CHELS: Did you steal my panties?

  ME: I’ve been at school all day.

  CHELS: You know what I mean. That first night. I was talking to Tyler, and he doesn’t seem convinced you won’t steal my panties again.

  I chuckled as I imagined how that conversation had gone. Since I didn’t have any messages from Ty, I figured she hadn’t told him about her missing panties from our first night together. Had he heard the story, Ty likely would have known I had his sister’s panties.

  ME: Why don’t you come search my bedroom?

  CHELS: Are you trying to avoid my question or get me into bed?

  ME: I’ll always try to get you into bed. What do you have planned tonight, bunny?

  CHELS: If I don’t like being called adorable, I definitely don’t want to be called bunny.

  ME: This one is good though. A rope bunny likes to be tied up, so you’re my rope bunny. Bunny for short.

  CHELS: No.

  ME: I guess this means honey bunny is out. What are your plans for tonight?

  CHELS: Aside from pretending bunny and honey bunny were not on your list of possible pet names, I’m working. I’ll be at the studio until eight. Then I think I’ll grab some dinner on the way home.

  ME: How about if I meet you there, and we can eat at that Afghan place by your studio? I’ll drop you back at your studio after dinner.