Master Class (17 page)

“I’d come over and kiss it to make it better, but now I’ve got to troll through the mall, looking for a present for my girlfriend.” Ryan heaved a mock sigh. “Plus, I don’t want you to get sick of me.”

Lisette snorted. “Yeah, that’ll happen. I think I’ll get sick of the guy who brings me dinner, serves as my nighttime office lackey, makes sure I get adequate sleep, and relieves my stress. I can’t believe I haven’t booted you to the door already.”

“Cheekiness will be taken out on your cheeks, girl.”

“Ugh, not today, I hope. I hate getting a spanking over a spanking. That just sucks; there’s no two ways about it.”

Ryan chuckled. “I can imagine, so I’ll let it go for now.”

“Thanks so much for the leniency.”

“Okay, I’ll let you go. I’ve got ads to peruse.”

She laughed, and they hung up. Ryan settled into his favorite recliner with a football game on and an ungodly amount of newspaper print from the Sunday paper weighing him down. Three hours later the game was over, and he hadn’t made a decision. Rising, he grabbed a beer and went back through the smaller pile of ads he’d pulled out as more likely to have something she’d like. When another search through them was fruitless, he dropped the offending items on the floor at the side of his chair and grabbed his laptop.

Aha, pay dirt! He’d noticed Lisette always had her toenails painted, even in winter, like it was now. There was an e-mail from one of those deal things with an offer of a fancy-schmancy pedicure for fifty dollars. Even as the thought of spending fifty dollars on your toes mystified him, he was pretty sure Lisette would like the gift. Three minutes later the certificate was spitting out of his printer, and he was done shopping. Hadn’t even had to hit a mall. With a beer in his hand and his mind free from the blind panic of earlier, he further reclined in his chair and watched another game.

Later that night as he laid in bed, he wondered why he’d come to terms with being in a relationship with Lisette so quickly. She was an incredible woman, that much was obvious, but he’d been convinced it would take a long time, perhaps even years, before he’d consider a serious relationship, and he couldn’t help thinking that’s exactly what their relationship was.

Sure, he’d wanted something more than a one-night stand, but there was a difference between wanting more and finding himself with, for lack of a better phrase, a steady girlfriend. And yet he wasn’t hyperventilating, wasn’t trying to talk himself out of it. Ryan drifted off to sleep feeling at peace, despite his ruminations.

The next couple of weeks went by in much the same manner as the first after the project had been dumped on Lisette’s lap. Ryan stayed at work until six, so he could get as much grading done as possible; then he stopped to pick up their dinner. If she didn’t need his help, he’d just hang out at the small table in the corner of her office and create lesson plans or grade papers. He actually found himself looking forward to being there with her every weeknight. For some reason it made him feel closer to her, even when she was ignoring him for the most part as she worked.

Lisette had finally stopped protesting his coming over every night after he’d lifted her skirt and given her a mini-spanking right there in her office. Her face had flamed, but she’d sat down and never mentioned it again. There was no way he was going to let her stay by herself until all hours every night, and he was happy she’d finally accepted it. Ryan had also convinced her to take ten minutes and eat rather than wolfing the food down as she continued to work, and he found himself looking forward to that little break when they’d talk and eat. She was always so thankful and bestowed a lot of smiles on him.

Compared to what he’d known for years with his ex-wife, this was off-the-charts awesome. They also met at the club every Saturday, and he spanked her if he felt she needed it. Otherwise he made her come a couple of times and sent her home.

After a while, the act of spanking her relieved his stress too. He’d never thought it would make any difference to him if he wasn’t the one on the business end, but it did. After the spankings, sometimes they’d do other stuff, but oftentimes he made her come with his hand or mouth right afterward, and then she sucked him off before going home. Maybe their relationship wasn’t exactly like he’d pictured, but in many ways, it was much better. Ryan wasn’t complaining.

He teased her about already having her present, and she rolled her eyes every time. She’d been doing shopping for her family through the Internet whenever she got a spare minute, and it was making her cranky, since she was one of those insane shoppers who loved being in the mall during the holiday season. There simply wasn’t much time for that, though.

She invited him to her family’s huge Christmas Eve party, and he accepted with more than a little trepidation. He hadn’t done a “meet the parents” thing in, well, a freaking long time, and he hoped they didn’t demand to know what the hell she was doing with this loser by the end of the night. When the night finally arrived and Ryan picked her up to go to the party, his heart almost froze in his chest when she opened the door. She looked beyond gorgeous. Edible.

“Come in, come in. It’s cold outside,” she called from the relative warmth of the foyer.

He stepped into the house. “Is that long-wearing lipstick?”

She nodded, a confused look playing over her face, and he grabbed her, hauling her to him.

“Good.” With that he kissed her harder and longer than he had in weeks, not stopping until they were both in dire need of air.

“Wow.”

“Been a while since you’ve said that.”

“I guess I need to more often.” She leaned back. “You look really nervous.” She reached around him and pushed the front door shut. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah, I just”—he felt like such an idiot admitting this—“haven’t done a ‘meet the parents’ thing in more years than I care to remember.”

“Come sit down.”

“We need to go.”

Lisette waved a hand. “We get there when we get there. My mom has plenty of other people to keep her occupied.”

She laced her arm through his and pulled him over to the sofa. He sat heavily, and she plopped down next to him.

“My family is pretty cool, and I’m sure they’ll like you.”

“Yes, because a thirty-something divorced English professor is such a catch.”

She smirked but hastened to reassure him. “They’re not judgmental, and even if they were, trust me, much worse men than you have been brought home between my sisters and cousins. Just the fact you don’t have a record puts you in good stead.”

He must’ve looked shell-shocked, because she began to giggle. Ryan glowered at her.

“Seriously, you’ll do fine.”

Lisette rubbed the back of his neck for a moment and then went to her knees in front of him. Ryan was so surprised by her sudden change of position he drew back.

“Nuh-uh, big guy, I need to be able to reach you.”

“Reach what?”

“This.”

Before he could stop her, she had him unzipped and his cock in her hand. It perked up immediately as she gave the head a gentle squeeze. Then her warm, wet mouth was on him, and his head fell back against the cushions.

“Fuck, that feels good.”

She murmured something, her mouth still full of him, and he shuddered as the vibrations ran over his dick. It didn’t take long for her to bring him to the brink of insanity, and then he was tumbling over. Lisette neatly tucked him back into his pants.

“See? Stress relief comes in all forms.”

Ryan would’ve laughed, but the effort required to do that sounded like too much trouble. Hard.
Hard
. He snickered. “You’re amazing.”

“Thanks. Let’s go, before you become a permanent man-shaped puddle on my couch.”

The party wasn’t nearly as bad as Ryan had imagined it would be. He liked her family. They were as crazy as she was. By the time he’d pulled Lisette out of the vortex to leave, they’d had numerous offers for dinner and other activities lobbed at them, mostly by her sisters. Once back at her place, they exchanged gifts. She’d gotten him an expensive bottle of Scotch that he never would’ve splurged on for himself, and she squealed about the pedicure. As Ryan got in his car to head home, he was feeling good.

Even his own family couldn’t bring down his good mood, though they were nowhere near as cool as Lisette’s crazy brood. During the next week, he found himself missing Lisette terribly. School was on its winter break, and she was still working, so he wandered around the house every day cleaning and organizing, read a bunch of books, and generally drove himself insane. He actually looked forward to going to her work every night.

They spent a quiet New Year’s Eve at Jack and Callie’s house, just the four of them. Callie had spoken to Lisette a couple of times over the phone and suggested they do something at their house rather than battle the crowd at the club, and Ryan had readily agreed.

Ryan and Lisette brought champagne, an appetizer, and dessert, and Jack and Callie handled the rest. It was a very pleasant, relaxing evening filled with good food, good friends, and good conversation. At one point Ryan felt himself grin and knew he must look like a maniacal idiot, but he didn’t care. Tonight was so different from this time last year, and he sent up a little thank-you prayer to whoever had decided to look kindly upon him.

At close to midnight, Callie and Lisette left the room, and Ryan and Jack looked at each other, shrugging. A few minutes later, the women reentered the room, and Ryan swallowed his tongue as he took in his girlfriend’s wardrobe change. Lisette was clad in a waist cincher that ended right beneath her breasts, thrusting them forward as if in offering, a pair of black panties, and nothing else. She and Callie gracefully lowered themselves to their knees, and when Times Square went nuts at midnight, Ryan hardly heard it.

Chapter Ten

A few days later, Ryan brought their dinner into Lisette’s office and set it on her table. For that evening’s meal, he’d gone to the store and gotten those takeaway meals. They smelled fabulous, and she was starving. As they ate, Lisette asked him about his day, and he admitted he’d done more cleaning out. She sat back, studying him.

“Why do you think you’ve gone on this cleaning bender?”

Ryan shrugged but wouldn’t meet her eyes. “Not sure. Bored.”

“Maybe. But you’re doing it with a single-minded purpose, so I thought maybe there was more to it than that.”

“Like maybe I was trying to purge the last of my ex-wife out of my life?”

“You wouldn’t be the first divorced person to do that.”

“No, but I got her out of my system months ago. You’ve been a big help with that.” Ryan grasped her hand and squeezed before motioning to her plate with his fork. “Eat.”

The food was great, and Ryan had been getting more adventurous with what he was bringing each night.

An hour later Lisette sat up in her chair suddenly. “Huh.”

“What’s up?”

“Grace just e-mailed me. She wants me to go to Connecticut again. Apparently the executives have decided someone should stand over Marty with a whip”—her lips twitched—“and I’m the best person for the job, because I know the booth better than anyone else.”

“Another there-and-back-in-one-day trip?”

“No. She wants me to leave tomorrow and be there for the rest of the week.” Lisette shrugged. “I guess it’s not that bad. I can work from Marty’s office or the hotel room. It’s just a pain to travel when I’m not sure it’s necessary. Marty is doing everything he can. All his guys are working overtime already.”

“Want me to come with you? I could help you keep an eye on this Marty character.”

She turned more fully in her chair and gave him an assessing gaze. “Come with me? You’ll be bored out of your mind. Because I can tell you how this trip is going to go. I’ll ask Marty how everything’s going, and he’ll say, ‘We’re working as quickly as we can.’ Then I’ll ask him if I can help with anything or answer any questions, and he’ll say no, because we already talk two or three times a day. Then I’ll tell him to call me on my cell if he needs anything, and I’ll check in later or tomorrow.” She sat back as a thought occurred to her. “You don’t trust me with Marty.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to. Ryan, I am not your ex-wife, and I haven’t given you even a hint of a reason not to trust me.”

“Look, my ex used to travel a lot for work, and I think that was one of the things that broke us up. It created distance. I don’t want distance from you.”

His face was set in hard lines, and though she wanted to feel bad for what he’d gone through, he was taking it way too far if he thought he was going to follow her all over the country to her trade shows now that they were exclusive. A little possessiveness was okay; controlling was not.

She tried to reason with him. “Me going away for a few days isn’t going to create distance.”

“I don’t like it.”

“This is what I do for a living, Ryan. I travel every month. You know that.”

“That doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“Of course not, but this relationship isn’t going to work if you don’t trust me.”

“Humor me this time. Let me come with you.” He reached for her hands. “I’m trying, I really am. I swear it. I want to trust you. You have no idea how much. So let me come with you.”

Lisette considered. “Well, like I said, I can do some work from the hotel, but let’s face it, there’s going to be a lot of downtime. I’d argue with Grace about the necessity of anyone going, but I’m afraid her head would explode. I know she’s under a lot of pressure from the executives, and I don’t want that on my conscience. Plus, it’s messy, and I hate blood.” Her lame attempt to lighten the mood appeared to have worked, as Ryan gave her a little half smile. “Fine. The only thing you’d have to pay for is your flight. I can expense everything else. I shower the financial center with ticker-tape parades of receipts every week; I’d be willing to bet they don’t look at even ten percent of them.”

* * * *

In a hotel room less than twenty-four hours later, his palms began to sweat as Ryan stared at the large bed. Why was the prospect of sleeping in that bed sending him into near hysterics? They’d done far more intimate things than sleep, and this whole thing had been his idea.