Landon inched closer. The feel of his breath on me was making me even weaker.
“You know when you were dancing tonight, I might have been going a little more insane with each movement of your hips. Like you, I, too, have a jealous side. When that guy put his hand on you, it made me momentarily lose my mind, which is kind of crazy because that kind of thing must happen to you all of the time. I’m just not there to see it.”
It felt good to be the recipient of his jealousy. Normally, it was the other way around.
“Yeah, it does happen quite a bit.” Any other answer would’ve been a lie. Men were always hitting on me at work.
“I envy all of those people who get to watch you dance every night.”
That gave me an idea. “I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going?”
I didn’t answer him, just simply ventured to his room. I knew he had the emerald green belly dancer outfit I’d mailed him hanging in his closet. I took it off the hanger and changed into it.
He was still standing in the same spot waiting for me when I returned.
“What’s happening?” He smiled.
“What’s happening is…I’m giving you a private dance…if you want one.”
“Fuck, yes, I want one.”
There was a certain slow and sensual song I’d been practicing to on my phone. I scrolled to find it and turned the volume up.
Gyrating my hips ever so delicately to the resonant drumbeat of the song, I kept my gaze glued to his. The desire pooling in his eyes was growing with each second. I danced slowly around him as he kept his body still while his head turned to follow my movements. Teasing him with the silk veil, I brushed the material along his body seductively.
At one point, he grabbed the veil and somehow managed to wrap it around my waist before reeling me in and locking me into his body with it. In that moment, he kissed me harder than ever before. I felt his erection. It was rock-solid against my bare stomach through the material of his pants. Our tongues collided in a race to taste each other. Restraint was simply a war we were not going to be able to win for much longer.
The heat of his body pressing against me was making me incredibly wet.
“You are the most beautiful woman in the world,” he whispered gruffly into my mouth, his hands buried in my hair. “Thank you for my private dance.”
“You know, ever since you texted me that first picture of yourself, I haven’t been able to dance at work without seeing you in my mind. Even though this was the first time I’ve ever done it in front of you, I’ve been dancing for you and only you for a while now.”
“Well, I don’t know what I did to deserve it, but I’ll take that any day.”
His eyes wandered down to my breasts.
Cocking my brow, I asked, “You see something you like?”
“Do your tits always hang out like that when you dance for people?”
“This particular bra is smaller than the others. It’s really the most revealing one.”
“Is it too much to ask you not to wear it anymore…except around me?”
“Possessive much?” I teased.
“You don’t like that?”
“I do, actually.”
“Good. Because I am a possessive motherfucker when it comes to you.”
“Technically, this outfit’s yours to keep anyway. It won’t see the light of day anymore.”
“It’s mine, huh?” He said it in the way that made me wonder if he was talking about the clothing or me. Regardless of what the question was, the answer was the same.
“Yes, it’s yours.”
“Good, because I don’t want to share with anyone.” He stared down at my cleavage. “They’re beautiful, Rana. Maybe you don’t want me admiring you like this, but holy hell...your body is sick.”
Landon had a way of making me want to bare everything to him. It was because I knew that even though he was worshipping me with his eyes right now, he truly wanted all of me. He saw more than just the physical and because of that, for the first time in my life, I felt safe and comfortable enough in my own skin to assert myself in a sexual way. Because I knew he didn’t want to hurt me.
As he continued to marvel at my breasts, I asked, “You want to see them?” My own brazenness surprised me.
He lifted his head to meet my eyes. “Are you gonna show them to me?”
“If you want to see them.”
He jokingly checked his pulse. “Last check, I’m still alive. So, fuck yes, I do.”
My heartbeat accelerated as I pushed the bra slowly down, exposing my breasts. Arousal had made my nipples hard as steel.
Landon’s gaze stayed fixed on them until he said, “They’re perfect.”
Feeling a bit vulnerable with my tits hanging out, I tried to make light of the situation. “Yeah, well, they cost enough.”
“I would’ve loved them before, too.”
“I don’t even know why I did it. They weren’t even that small.”
He finally looked me in the eyes again. “I remember. You had them when I knew you. It was like the one girly thing about Rana Banana.”
“You used to check out my boobs back then?”
“I was thirteen. And you were just developing and pretty much the only girl I hung out with at the time. So, yeah, I did.”
That made me smile. “I never knew you noticed me that way.”
“Well, it wasn’t the same as it is now, but I did.”
When his gaze returned to my breasts, I said what I was thinking. “Do you want to touch them?”
Landon bit his bottom lip in frustration. “I said I wasn’t gonna touch you.”
I felt stupid for being the aggressor. “Okay,” I said, lifting the bra back up over myself.
He stopped me, gritting his teeth then laughed a little. “Wait. I need to touch them.”
“Okay.” I lowered it back down again.
Landon placed both of his large hands over my boobs and began to massage them gently. Growing wetter by the second, I closed my eyes and let myself fully experience the amazing feel of his hands on my skin. A gasp of desperation escaped me.
I opened my eyes suddenly when I felt his hot mouth replace the hand on my left breast. He was losing control as he began to devour my nipples, giving into his need. He alternated between gentle bites and hard sucks. The sensation of the metal ball on his tongue flicking against my tender skin was almost too much to handle. Glancing down, I could see his erection bursting through his jeans and had to refrain from rubbing it with my palm.
The sucking intensified. If it was possible to make love with only your mouth, that was what this felt like. Soaking wet between my legs, I was desperate to feel that mouth on other parts of me, the feel of his tongue ring gliding over every inch of my body. And as much as it terrified me, I was desperate to feel him inside of me.
How could I tell him that I wanted more without sounding like a whore? It had been so many years for me that I couldn’t even remember what it was like. I was ready—so long as he was the one to break me in again.
But he’d mentioned that we needed to wait, and I knew that was truly best.
Landon began to slow the pace of his tongue swirling around my nipple. His eyes were closed as he continued to devour me.
“You taste so fucking good.” He muttered over my skin, “I’ve never been turned on like this…losing my willpower fast.”
His need to hold back caused me to really ponder whether there was also a personal reason he was taking things so slowly with me.
When he finally stopped, the loss of contact was almost painful. My nipples were wet and tingling. His beautiful red lips were swollen from having sucked on my breasts for so long.
I covered myself. He closed his eyes, looking frustrated.
It was interesting that Landon had been so upfront about wanting to have sex with me when we were separated by distance. I thought back to that one time on the phone when I’d nearly come from listening to him
talk about how he wanted to go down on me.
What happened to that, by the way?
Now that he had me right in front of him, something was stopping him. He was sexually active before we connected; I knew that from the moment I first drunk dialed him, when he’d had Valeria there. And last night, I’d peeked into his end table drawer to find a half-empty box of condoms. It wasn’t like he didn’t have sex before me. So, why not with me? It was almost like now that he could actually have it, he had to think twice.
Ace’s comment from earlier stuck with me. He’d implied that Landon might have had his heart broken by someone. Maybe Landon saw me as someone else who might hurt him. Maybe that was why he was treading so carefully.
“Did someone hurt you…a woman?”
He seemed surprised by my question. “Why are you asking that?”
“Ace mentioned something to me at the bar…it was vague…but he said you deserve to be happy with someone who’s not using you. Did someone break your heart, or am I just reading into things?”
Landon looked really taken aback. “I told you, he’s mouthy when he’s drunk, doesn’t always know what he’s saying.”
I nodded, even though he hadn’t exactly answered my question. “Okay.”
I didn’t want to push the issue, because truly opening up to each other was going to have to be a two-way street, one I wasn’t ready to visit.
Landon didn’t delve any further into my inquisition.
“When did you tell them you’d be going back again?” he asked.
“I left it vague, but my boss only agreed to the one week off without pay. I assume he’d have to find a replacement for anything longer than that.”
“We need more time. I don’t know how I’m supposed to let you go.”
“I don’t want to leave. But I’m pretty much stuck in Michigan right now. And you’re in Cali to stay, right? I mean, why would you ever want to leave this place?”
He gave me a look like the answer was obvious. “I can think of one big reason.”
My heart filled with a mixture of hope and fear. “You’d move to Michigan?”
“I wouldn’t want to go back there. But I don’t know if I could be apart from you if this…if things work out between us. You said you won’t leave your dad, so…” He must have noticed the slightly freaked out look on my face when he suddenly changed his tune. “Okay, enough about the serious stuff. I slipped. I wasn’t supposed to be talking about the future. Let’s not worry about all that right now. We made a deal to just have fun and get to know each other while you’re here. I think we need to stick to that.”
Relieved, I sighed. “You’re right.”
That night, I slept alone in Landon’s bed again, wishing he were lying next to me. Despite how close we’d come, it seemed he’d made a conscious decision not to have sex with me during this trip. As much as I didn’t fully understand why, I needed to respect his decision and trust that it was in my best interest.
My breasts were still tingling from arousal, longing to be sucked again. I practically could still feel the wetness of his mouth on them. The physical need mixed with my apprehension about leaving California was slowly killing me.
Needing release, I slid my hand between my legs and began to massage my clit with my index and middle finger. Gripping Landon’s sheets with the opposite hand, I bucked my hips to keep up with the movement of my fingers.
An intense orgasm rolled through me within a few minutes.
Down the hall, I could hear the shower turn on and laughed to myself, wondering if he was about to partake in the same thing I just did.
DETOUR
The intensity of the previous night had been replaced by the sunshine of a brand new day in southern California.
Landon thought it would be cool if we both worked the lunch truck for a bit that afternoon. He knew how much I’d wanted to see him in action, and even though he wasn’t supposed to technically be working, he was eager to show me what his typical workday was like.
Venice was really interesting. Blended into the beautiful beach were guys hawking their CDs and a few medical centers for pot prescriptions. It was the perfect place to people watch.
We’d stopped by the skate park on the way to the truck so that Landon could show me where he spent a good majority of his down time.
We finally arrived at Landon’s Lunch Box, which was parked at the beach. Melanie was on shift when we got there. She was a cute, petite brunette with short hair and an athletic body. Jealousy immediately started creeping in. I’d always wondered what she looked like and was secretly hoping she was unattractive, considering she was spending every single day with him.
Landon introduced us. “Mel, this is Rana.”
“No way!” Her eyes lit up. “It’s you. Rana’s Feta Sandwich!”
It felt odd to be referred to as food. “Hi.” I grinned.
“You know…people loved that one. We’d always run out.”
“What exactly did it have in it?” I asked.
“Feta, shredded lettuce, calamata olives, red onions, and Greek dressing in a pita pocket.”
“Tomatoes,” Landon added, not missing a beat.
“Ah!” She snapped her fingers. “Tomatoes!”
“Mel, why don’t you take the afternoon off. I’ll work the rest of the day and close up. Rana’s gonna be my helper.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
“Cool, man. You’re not gonna hear me complain about that.”
Melanie took off her smock and quickly washed her hands.
“Rana, it was really rad meeting you,” she said before bolting out of the truck.
After watching her disappear toward the water, I turned to Landon. “She seems really nice. How did you meet her?”
“I met her at the skating park, actually. She’s an awesome skateboarder—unlike me apparently who nearly cracked my head open.”
I couldn’t help myself. “She’s cute, too.”
Landon seemed to know where my mind was. He just smiled at me for a bit before saying, “She’s gay.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Thank God.
One less thing to worry about.
“You never told me that in all the times you’ve mentioned her.”
“Well, your jealousy is kind of cute, so I neglected to mention it. Figured it might get you out here to California faster if you felt threatened.” He winked. “But apparently all I had to do was nearly die, and that did the trick.”
“Jerk.”
“Let me tell you a secret, though.”
“Yeah?”
He leaned in and spoke into my ear, “You don’t need to worry about anyone. I haven’t been able to think of anyone but you in ages, and when you leave, it’s only going to get ten times worse.”
The idea of leaving him was making me ill. “Let’s not think about that,” I said as he kissed my neck.
My eyes wandered to the counter by the window. A line was starting to form, signaling the start of the busy lunch hour. He had to get to work.
Rubbing my thumb along his lip, I said, “You’d better go. You have a line.”
That afternoon, I watched as Landon whipped up sandwich after sandwich. It amazed me how he knew all of the ingredients off the top of his head without having to double check anything. There had to have been at least fifty different ingredients for the five featured sandwiches of the day. Landon had told me that he mainly used fresh, local produce direct from farmers whenever he could. He kept the truck impeccably organized and clean. To say I was impressed was an understatement.
My job was to fetch him whatever he needed. Everything was labeled in the refrigerator, which made it super easy. There was also an ice-cream freezer, so I’d get those items for anyone who ordered dessert.
The line of customers was non-stop for at least an hour. When it finally winded down, he slapped me playfully with a towel before pulling me into him for a deep kiss.
I spoke against his mouth. “I could really get used to this.”
“You were such a good little helper, beautiful. Is it all you hoped it would be…the Lunch Box?”
“I love this truck. I loved the idea of it before I even knew how awesome being in it really is. But God, it’s so much work, more than I ever imagined.”
“It is, but the time definitely goes by fast when you’re busy.”
“You’re amazing, Landon. You built this business for yourself from the ground up. The success is all yours. People flock here, not only because of the creativity you put into your food, but everything you use is super fresh. You’re fast, efficient, and seriously charming to your customers. If I didn’t already have a massive crush on you, I certainly would have one now. I mean, I would totally be your best customer. I think I would be fat, because I would be gorging on your sandwiches every freaking day.”
He let my words sink in as a passionate look filled his eyes. “Come here, you.” He brought me into him again and just held me as the warm ocean breeze blew into the truck.
This was heaven on Earth.
I was so overcome with happiness. It was really easy to envision a life here with him. I wanted to be his permanent helper, life partner—lover. But I knew it wasn’t going to be that simple. This trip wasn’t the start of a move to California; this was a vacation. And we hadn’t even begun to scratch the surface on getting to truly know each other.
Landon let go of me suddenly. “I nearly forgot. I had Mel pick up some stuff on her way in so I could make you something special.”
“What is it?”
He walked to the back of the truck. “Stay where you are. It’s a surprise. No peeking.”
I saw him reach for a banana before he opened the freezer and took something out. I was pretty sure he was scooping out ice cream then drizzling something over it. Then came the sound of squirting whipped cream.
Landon turned around carrying a massive sundae. “In honor of your little wardrobe malfunction the other day, I present to you…Rana Banana Split.”
Laughing, I took it. “Very clever.” I dug the spoon in and moaned as I tasted it. “Mmm.”