Hard and Fast(25)

Her fingers squeezed her clothes tighter as her eyes crawled the length of his body, but she didn't say anything.

"Admit it, Emma Jean." The need to tease her was replaced with desire at  her bold staring, and his voice deepened, roughened. "You like it when I  touch you, when I push you down on the bed, when I fuck you. When I  spank you. Tell me you like it."

Visibly swallowing first, she whispered, "I like it." Then she turned  and rushed into his bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her.

Ty banged his head back against the wall, mentally berating himself. He  should have kept his damn mouth shut. Now Imogen was skittish and his  dick was throbbing with a want that couldn't be satisfied at the moment.

Climbing out of bed gingerly, wondering how he was going to shove his  erection into a pair of boxers without it snapping off, he figured he  got what he deserved.

And maybe if he shoveled enough grits in his mouth, he wouldn't beg  Imogen to come to Martinsville with him so he could make love to her  sexy little ass every free second he had.





TY wasn't kidding when he said he was going to make a big Southern  breakfast. Imogen sat across from him at his kitchen table and watched  him plow his way through eggs, ham, hash browns, three biscuits with  gravy, grits, and a hunk of French bread with butter. If she ate that  much food, she could guarantee she would be writhing in agony before  vomiting.

But she was absolutely starving, not to mention she had a point to prove  that she was no Nikki, so she ate a smaller portion than Ty of  everything, except for the grits. Those she just couldn't handle, and  while she didn't want to offend him, she wouldn't make herself swallow  them either.

He noticed, unfortunately, and commented on it. "You're not eating your grits."                       
       
           



       

"I don't like them. It's a texture issue. I've tried but I can't have  something wet and gelatinous and creamy in my mouth like that. I just  can't get it down my throat." Ty paused with his biscuit halfway to his  mouth and let out a huge laugh.







"What?" she asked, baffled. "What's so funny?"

"That sounds like a fair description of what wound up in your mouth not  even an hour ago, and you didn't seem to have a problem with that."

"Oh!" Imogen felt her cheeks heat up. He had the uncanny ability to bring everything back around to sex.

Not that she was complaining. "It's not the same thing at all," she  said, though she honestly couldn't say why not. "I guess passion alters  everything."

"No doubt about that."

Now she was intrigued at the thought, and she smiled a little as she  mulled it over, pushing her fork around her plate. "I mean, think about  it. What differentiates sexual fluids from other viscous fluids? Snot  has a very similar consistency to, say, vaginal fluid, yet no one wants  to slide their tongue through snot. It seems that the origin of a  slippery liquid alters the reaction it receives, with total extremes,  one being gross and one sexy. Hmm. Very interesting, don't you think?"  Imogen glanced up to see Ty holding his fist over his mouth, his face  turning red. "Are you okay?" He shook his head no, but before Imogen  could jump up and Heimlich the biscuit out of his windpipe, he swallowed  hard and let out a wet, choking laugh.

"Oh, my God. Are you trying to kill me?" His eyes watered as he choked and laughed, laughed and choked, pounding on his chest.

"What?" she asked, mystified.

"Do not say things like sliding your tongue through snot while I am  drinking coffee, babe." His laughing and coughing settled down and he  shook his head at her in amusement. "You are absolutely hilarious. I  love the way you look at things."

Wow. Ty thought she was funny? No one had ever indicated they found her in any way humorous before.

He thought she was sexy and funny.

Imogen smiled back at him and thought she could really, really get used to this.

CHAPTER TEN





TY shoved miscellaneous crap into his suitcase and glanced around his  bedroom. He was late and undoubtedly going to arrive in Martinsville  forgetting something seriously important. But he had underwear and he  had his toiletries bag, which stayed packed all the time, so he wasn't  sure what else mattered. He shoved gym shoes into the bag and dialed  Toni on his cell phone.

"Where are you?" Toni asked suspiciously after greeting him.

"At home."

"You're going to miss your plane," she said matter-of-factly.

"No, I'm not." He didn't think. Ty zipped his bag and glanced around the  room. Nothing important jumped out at him so he grabbed the duffel and  headed toward the door. "Listen, I need you to get a copy of Much Ado  About Nothing on audio for my laptop. E-mail it to me and I'll download  it at the airport."

"Yesterday it was a guidebook on how to marry a driver, today it's  Shakespeare. Interesting." Ty chose to ignore that since he was in a  hurry. "And see if you can get me some kind of study guide or Cliffs  Notes to go with it."

"That might be tricky on audio, Ty."

He wanted to sigh, but he didn't. Sometimes it was just damn irritating to not be able to read. "I know, but please try."

"Okay, I will. So you need this before you board?"

"Yep."







"I'd better hurry then. Anything else?"

"Yes." Ty glanced at the clock in his kitchen, winced, and sprinted  toward the garage. He shouldn't have lingered over breakfast with  Imogen. "I need to cancel everything on the schedule for Monday and  Tuesday."

" What? " Toni shrieked at him.

"You heard me. And book me a campsite at Lake Norman for Monday night."

"I can't do that. You can't just cancel everything."

"Is there anything vital? Any sponsor events? Charity appearances?" There was a big long pause, then Toni admitted, "No."

"Then a man is entitled to take twenty-four hours off once in a great  while. I usually work seven days a week during the season. I can miss  one lousy Monday."

Toni sighed as Ty hopped into his car, tossing his duffel bag on the  passenger seat. "Fine. What kind of campsite? Are you taking your  coach?"

Imogen would probably love the idea of spending the night in the  tricked-out motor coach that he lived in every weekend at the various  tracks he raced, since given the amount of time he spent on the road,  his coach was almost as comfortable as his house. But that wasn't what  he had in mind for Imogen-he wanted a simple, stripped-down experience  with her. "No, tent camping."                       
       
           



       

"You haven't done that in a while. Are you going alone?"

"No. And get a site as remote as possible." He didn't want to share Imogen's company with a crowd of neighbors.

"Do you think that's a good idea with Nikki? She's not really the  outdoorsy type from what I can tell." Peeling out of his driveway, he  told her, "I told you Nikki and I broke up. I'm taking someone else  camping."

"Wow, that's a two-day turnaround from one girlfriend to the next.  Impressive." Ty rolled his eyes even though she couldn't see him. "Thank  you. Though I can't really call her my girlfriend. Yet." He would like  to, though, and that surprised him. He hadn't thought he was in the  market for a more serious relationship, but Imogen had him thinking all  kinds of crazy thoughts.

"Alright, let me off this phone so I can run around and do all this extra work you just dumped in my lap with no warning."

It was a good thing she did her job without complaining. Ty grinned.  They did work well together, despite her grousing and his protesting.  "Thank you, gorgeous. I'll make it up to you."

"Sure you will. I wait with bated breath for that. Please." But then she  ruined the bite of her remarks by adding, "And if I can't find the  notes for Much Ado on audio, just call me and I'll walk you through the  story. I've always been fond of old Will."

Ty was touched by that and he smiled. "Thanks, I appreciate it. You are a dream, Toni."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."





" OH, boy," was Tamara's opinion when Imogen admitted to her two friends she had slept with Ty.

"You shitting me?" Suzanne asked. "Was he any good?"

They were in a Mexican restaurant that had beco me their favorite haunt  for cheesy food and the occasional margaritas. Tamara looked worried,  Suzanne gleefully pleased.

Imogen sucked down her drink nervously and nodded. She had felt  compelled to share her night with Ty with her friends, but now she felt  strangely uncomfortable that she had.