Dating in the Dark (Dating Trilogy Book 1) Read online

  Me: Okay.

  Is she really going to do this? Is she going to date Marek Outlaw? It sounds like a horrible idea when she puts it like that, and the one person she wants to talk it over with is someone she can’t tell about it. Even if they didn’t work together, Dakota despises Marek and has always said as much, but she can’t let her best friend’s feelings affect her relationships, can she? The thought runs through her mind over and over as she abandons her cupcakes to jump in the shower. She is thoroughly hot and bothered and she has way too much on her mind to even consider trying to finish herself off. No, instead a nice long cold shower is just what she needs. And maybe it’ll help with giving her a little more clarity on the situation. She hopes.

  Chapter 17

  She’s a chicken, one giant bocking chicken. She called in sick to work this morning so she wouldn’t have to see Marek. Even after her cold shower last night and running every possibility through her head, she wasn’t much clearer on things when she woke up this morning. What would she even say to him? She couldn’t handle the uncertainty of what they’re going to talk about tonight, and she knows this is a bad idea. No good could actually come of them starting something up together, but she can’t resist the urge to try. Getting to know Marek outside of work with no biases in place has been pretty surreal. He’s funny and conversation between them flows easily, not to mention she’s always been attracted to him—who wouldn’t be? With that thick dark hair, piercing eyes, and a body she wants wrapped around her own, he’s pretty irresistible.

  He’s already sitting there waiting for her when she arrives at the bar. She didn’t know how to dress tonight and pretty much everything from her closet is on her bed or bedroom floor. When nothing in her own closet satisfied her, she ended up at the mall going through every single store until she landed on a simple black fit-and-flare dress with cap sleeves and a red plaid skirt. Splurging, she also bought a brand-new pair of black leather moto booties to match. If anything, she’s feeling cute and confident going into this date, which reminds her of what Tara was telling her about the speed-dating date. Unfortunately, that time her sister was trying to get her to wear something completely outside of her comfort zone.

  The moment his eyes meet hers as she approaches the table, her entire body feels like it could burst into flames with the amount of heat he’s putting off. He scans every inch of her body then mouths, “Fuck me,” and her desire intensifies. He stands up from the table and pulls her chair out for her then pushes it in as she takes a seat. As he pushes her in, he leans down much farther than necessary, and his mouth glides past her ear.

  Her mouth is suddenly beyond dry, and she takes a sip of the water in front of her. She needs to get her head on straight, and that does not include him distracting her. Even though he’s got his damn sleeves rolled up again showing off those delicious forearms. She licks her lips. Damn. She shakes her head and takes another giant gulp of water.

  After allowing herself a moment of clarity she remembers one tiny detail and asks her question. “Won’t your girlfriend be upset that you’re on a date with me right now?”

  He tilts his head to the side and sets his own drink back down on the table. A glass of whiskey by the looks of it, he definitely knows what he likes and sticks to it. He mulls what she says over for a moment and shrugs. “I give up. My girlfriend?”

  “The gorgeous leggy brunette I saw you with at the coffee shop when I was with my sister. The day of our first date.”

  The moment the lightbulb goes off, his response is the last thing she expects. He leans his head back and lets out a ridiculously loud laugh. Allowing him his moment of hysteria, she motions for the waitress to come over and orders a glass of wine.

  As she’s walking away from the table, she looks over at Marek and asks, “Is he okay?”

  Tinley shrugs and Marek’s hysterics starts slowing down. He waves off the waitress and turns to Tinley. “I’m good. That was a funny joke. Hilarious.”

  “You want to clarify? What did I say that was just so funny?”

  He picks up his glass draining the remaining contents as the waitress sets Tinley’s glass of on wine on the table. The waitress glances at Marek’s empty drink glass, opens her mouth, and then shakes her head and starts to walk away. Before she can make it very far, he turns around and says, “I’ll take another.”

  She nods and heads straight toward the bar. While the waitress is gone, Tinley takes a heavy swig from her glass trying to avoid conversation at all costs. There’s a basket of bread in the middle of the table and she makes quick work of stuffing her face. Moments later she’s back with his drink and Marek swirls the glass in his hand.

  Avoidance has not always been her strong suit, and her impatience wins out. Not wanting to beat around the bush, she comes right out with her question. “Are we really doing this? Exploring this further?”

  He takes a drink from his small tumbler of brown liquid and contemplates her words. She’s dying from agony when he finally offers up an answer. “I don’t see why we wouldn’t. If we didn’t know each other and didn’t work together, there would be no question. We would absolutely continue this, so why complicate things with shit that doesn’t matter?”

  She can think of a million different reasons why this is a bad idea, and she starts out with the most obvious one. “What about work?”

  He places his drink on the table and calmly says, “Fuck work.”

  His bluntness shocks her and turns her on all at the same time. If he’s not worried about the consequences at work, why should she be? Especially when he has more to lose than she does.

  She leans forward for another piece of bread and his focus travels down her neckline and straight to her cleavage. The heat in his eyes intensifies, and she pats herself on the back for grabbing this dress. She’s always told herself that she needs to lose the extra fifty pounds she’s carrying around, but the one major upside is her ample breast size and the sweetheart neckline on this dress only reinforces what she has on top. With every graze of his eyes across her body, she feels sexier and bolder than she’s ever felt before in her life.

  Tinley polishes off the rest of her glass and stands up from the table. Marek stands at the same time. “I’m just going to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”

  He nods but looks uncertain as she turns to walk away. If she were going to skip out on him, she wouldn’t lie about it, that’s for sure. She has to see him every day at work, and ghosting him wouldn’t be a smart move. Talk about making an awkward situation even worse. No, she has other things in mind.

  The ladies room comes into view, and she almost throws herself through the door to separate herself from the room Marek is currently occupying. The sexual tension is thick like butter, and her bottom lip is raw as she continues nibbling away at it. Fortunately, the bathroom is just large enough for one person, and she flips the lock. She paces the floor in front of the mirror, contemplating what she’s about to do. She’s never been bold, and she’s terrified of what will happen if this blows up in her face. What if she’s reading all the signals wrong and he’s not on the same page as her?

  Stopping her pacing, she walks toward the mirror and really takes a look at herself. This could be one of those defining moments of her life, and she’s going to jump completely in, feet first, ignoring the what-ifs. She smiles, says, “Fuck it,” and finally follows through with a plan.

  Tinley’s heart races as she slowly walks back to the table. She’s not bold. She doesn’t take chances. She always lets life happen to her and pass her by, but something is telling her to finally put herself out there and go for it, like things could be different this time. At least she’ll have tried something rather than sitting on the sidelines yet again. Marek’s familiar black locks come into view as she gets closer and closer to the table. Her head is telling her to back out and not do it, but her gut is screaming at her to take a chance and just go for it.

  He’s focused on something on his phone, and his back
is still to her as she walks right up to the table. The fact that he doesn’t see it coming makes it that much more exhilarating. He jumps slightly in his seat as she leans down and softly kisses him on the cheek while simultaneously slipping her hand into his jacket pocket.

  “Everything okay?”

  She nods, smiles, and takes a sip of her brand new glass of wine that must have been refilled while she was gone. “I just thought I would leave a little present for you.” She tips her head toward his jacket, and he scratches his chin while frowning. “Your pocket,” she mouths, and his eyebrows rise with interest.

  She watches as he dips his hand in, and she can tell the instant he finds his prize. Right away, he motions for the waitress to bring the check.

  Chapter 18

  Have you ever had one of those moments that throws you back to being a teenager? That’s exactly what this moment feels like, although Tinley wasn’t your typical teenager so sneaking off somewhere semi-private to have sex wasn’t something she ever partook in. Heck, she didn’t even lose her virginity until college, and even then, it wasn’t a very noteworthy experience. She definitely had no idea what she was doing, and the guy didn’t know much more. He was a self-proclaimed Casanova, and the entire incident fell quite flat—literally, the dude couldn’t keep it up to save his life—but that was her mistake in attempting to hook up with a guy who preferred smoking pot in his dorm room to actually going to class.

  To be honest, every single memory of hers involving sex has pretty much been a disaster. Maybe she’s just destined for bad sex for the rest of her life. She’s gotten pretty good at having a fun time with her B.O.B., so it’s not like sex is really a necessity in her life anyway.

  Marek leads the way, dragging Tinley through the dark parking garage until they end up beside his Highlander. It’s a good thing he decided to drive it today rather than his motorcycle as usual. He presses up against her, and her back hits the cold metal of the car door. He leans his head down and presses his forehead to hers. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

  “You’re kidding me, right? You’re trying to talk me out of this?”

  “No.” He shakes his head and opens the back door of his vehicle. “I’m really hoping you don’t say no. I’m getting ready to blow my load in my pants if we don’t actually do this, but it will permanently change things between us, so I just want to make sure you’re sure. I’m not a complete dick, but fuck you’ve got me all worked up here, and I’d rather not have a repeat of blue balls again.”

  “Stop trying to be the voice of reason here Marek. You’re ruining the mood. Let’s go. Rock out with your cock out and all that.” She turns around and hops in the back seat, hiding her bright red face. She can’t believe those words just left her mouth. She’s no prude, but that C-word has never left her lips before. It felt fitting for the mood, but now she feels like finding a hole to crawl into and die in. Way to go on the awkward scale, Tinley.

  Marek lets out a small chuckle, but her embarrassment is quickly forgotten as he kisses his way down her face and nibbles lightly on her ear. She moans as he sucks right where her ear and neck meet and holy wow. The tingles engulf her body. He pushes her slightly, and she leans down, lying flat on his back seat. The aforementioned cock of his is rock hard and pressing against her stomach. Tinley’s mind starts to race about his size and whether or not he’ll be able to fit. It’s hard to tell through his jeans, but he doesn’t seem overly big; then again, all the guys she’s been with have definitely been on the smaller side, or so she thinks.

  Getting more confident than she’s ever been before, she slides her hand down his body and cups him through the denim. Groaning, he rubs himself against her hand as he continues his trail of nips and kisses down her body. His rough, calloused hand runs along her collarbone and across her shoulder, sending chills down her spine. She continues rubbing her hand over his jeans, and he moans in her ear before biting down roughly on her shoulder.

  “Marek, I want you,” she moans breathily.

  He removes her hand from him and holds both arms above her head. Gruffly he tells her, “Leave those there.”

  She can’t even think past the next word out of her mouth as he pulls down the front of her dress and instantly takes one of her nipples into his mouth. His tongue swirls around the tiny nub over and over, and her breathing quickens. She’s panting heavily and never knew how intensely pleasurable having her nipples played with could be. With a pop, he releases her and sits up. He pushes her dress up over her waist, and the cold air on her skin reminds her of the panties currently tucked away in his pocket.

  She starts to say something but her words come out gurgled as Marek forces her right leg out as far as it will go and dives forward. Her legs start to clench up at the thought of what she knows he’s about to do. This is, for the most part, no man’s land. The pothead attempted it when he couldn’t get himself off, but it was awkward and uncomfortable—too much saliva and not enough pleasure. That was the first time she ever faked it, but not the last.

  In one swift moment, his tongue is on her, and any thought of college boy goes completely out the window. Her breathing and sighs become animalistic as he swirls his tongue around and focuses right in on her clit. Her legs start shaking from being stretched so far apart, but the familiar coil in the pit of her stomach starts up and any cramping is long forgotten.

  He alternates between tongue-fucking her, thrashing away at her clit, and flat-out kissing her. The combination of rough and gentle has her screaming at the top of her lungs, and she hopes beyond anything else that he never stops. He shoves one then two fingers inside her, curving them both slightly and hitting her sweet spot inside. That’s all it takes before her orgasm is ripping through her body and the shockwaves rack her.

  The intensity starts slowing down, but his attack on her body does anything but. He latches his mouth on her clit and sucks while flicking his tongue against it. Her whole body shakes as the familiar buildup starts again, and she’s totally lost herself to all comprehension. Her breathing is hard and rough, and she’s so incredibly close to that release. She’s become a greedy woman who wants nothing but orgasms over and over again.

  He slides one of the fingers out of her and runs it along toward her backside. No, not happening. That’s an exit-only zone. She starts wiggling, but before she can get a word out, his finger slides right in, and she sees stars. If she thought her first orgasm was unbelievable, this one is mind-blowing. She completely lets go and lets her body take over as she feels everything. The waves continue hitting one after the other as her body greedily pulsates and sucks his fingers in deeper.

  It isn’t until she hears the familiar rip of the condom wrapper that she realizes he’s moved away from her again. Her body continued riding out the waves, and she just barely came crashing back down.

  “Do you know how incredibly fucking sexy you look and sound as you come? I could do that to you all day.”

  All embarrassment or shyness has completely disappeared and only left a bolder Tinley as she replies, “I’d be one hundred percent okay with that. Nobody, and I mean nobody, has ever done that for me before, and definitely not like that.”

  “Which part?” He lies back down and kisses her on the mouth. “Multiple orgasms or go down on you?”

  “Both?”

  He leans up and looks her in the eyes. “What do you mean both? Never?”

  She shrugs slightly. “No guy has ever given me an orgasm before. I thought I was broken.”

  “You’re definitely not broken. You’ve just been with the wrong guys.”

  “I get that—ahh.”

  Before she can finish her sentence, he slides right in with one swift movement and completely fills her up. It’s been so long that the sudden fullness is slightly painful at first, but as he slides out and then back in, her body adjusts to his size quickly. Their mouths come together as he moves at a slow, leisurely pace.

  “So good. So fucking tight.”

 
She lets out a slew of gurgled moans as she lets herself feel every single place where they’re connected.

  “I’m almost there. Bring your hand down between us and touch yourself.”

  She starts to feel embarrassed at the thought. She’s never been comfortable with the idea of masturbating, let alone touching herself in someone else’s presence, but he pulls her hand down, and she slides her fingers against her clit. She moans out and moves her fingers faster and faster at a steady pace. She didn’t even know it was possible, but the familiar buildup starts again.

  Marek grunts and asks, “Are you there?”

  Tinley picks up the pace, and without even realizing it, she starts yelling, “I’m coming. I’m coming.”

  Everything goes dark as she closes her eyes and lets her body take over. It goes on for what feels like minutes, hours, maybe days even, and then she starts crashing back down to earth off of the most incredible high her body has ever experienced.

  Holy shit. She takes it all back and then some. If that is what she’s been missing this entire time, there is no way in hell she can go back to the misery of bad sex. Whatever that was…just wow. You read about epic sex in Cosmopolitan or romance novels, but she always assumed it was exaggerated. No boy or man has ever given her an orgasm before, let alone multiple, and if that’s how Marek performs cramped in a car, what the hell does he have in store for her when they’re actually in a bed?

  Chapter 19

  There’s one thing that has been bugging Tinley since the night of their speed-dating date, and she’s finally gotten the courage to ask her question—not so much courage that she’ll ask him face to face, but enough for a text. She types it up quickly and sends it before she talks herself out of it.

  Me: So, I never asked…you know why I was there, but why were you?