“Hashtag: not my job, man. Oh, and hashtag: you sure it still works?”

I scowl at him and he smirks. I know the fucker’s just sucked on something, and its named chillz.

“Oh, darn it,” Tally says, looking through a bag. “We forgot the chicken.”

“How do you girls forget chicken when I am making chicken enchiladas?” Mom laughs.

“Hashtag: blonde moment.” River grins like a fool.

“You do know they’re both brunette, don’t you?” I comment, looking at his foolish face.

“Hashtag: don’t give a fuck. But hashtag: your mom has a smokin’ body.”

“I will fuck you up if you ever say shit like that in front of me again,” I hiss at him.

“Come on, River; let’s go for a walk,” Billy says, shaking his head. Then I hear him say, “You really should stop smoking that shit.”

“Mom, wanna come with?” Madison asks, grabbing the key fob.

“I can go,” Tally offers, grabbing her bag.

“No, I need some Mom time. Memphis has been hogging her.” She sticks her tongue out at me, and I smile.

“Be right back. We’ll grab your prescription from the pharmacy, too.” Mads and Mom walk to the door.

“They can deliver it, Mom,” I call to her as she walks out.

“I’m your mom, Memphis.”

I look over at Finn, then Tally. “I’m going to—” He doesn’t finish as he walks out.

“Tales,” I say.

She sighs and looks up. “You need to let her take care of you.”

“Come again?” I can’t help thinking about how badly I want to make her do just that.

“Your mom needs you to need her right now.”

“How about you?”

She nods, but her eyes aren’t sparkling. Emerald City has lost its luster, and I don’t like that at all.

“Wanna help me out?”

“With?” She tugs at her shirt. It has those robot-looking people on it. The green, red, blue, and pink— “Memphis?”

Aw, fuck it. “I need a bath. Run some water?”

“Sure.” She walks quickly by me, then stops and turns around. “I’m happy you’re going to be okay.” Then she walks back, grips my shirt, pushes herself up on her toes, and kisses me. Plants one right on me.

She starts to pull away, but I grab her T-shirt and try to kiss her. However, she manages to step back.

“Come on.” She all but runs into the bedroom.

When I get in there, the water is already running. She stands there, fussing with that shirt.

“Do you know how sexy you look in all those vintage tees, Tales?” I ask as I shut the door behind me. She shakes her head. “I always preferred the glamour shit, and now, when I look at you, I have no fucking idea why.”

“It might have something to do with the pain medication,” she says as she nervously tangles her long, wavy locks around her finger.

“The hair, too, Tales. I love it. I used to pick on you tirelessly about it, and now I’ve decided, when I get my first interview in Rolling Stone, I’m gonna tell all the little boys out there that the tight, kinky curls tame, and when they do, damn.” I pull my shirt up and then over my head, groaning in pain.

“Let me help.” She steps over to me and drags my T-shirt slowly down my arm. “Does it hurt?”

“At this moment, I have no clue, and I don’t really give a shit.” Tales is stripping me.

She folds my shirt and sets it on the counter behind me. Then she takes a deep breath and reaches out, her hands going toward my waistband.

“I’ll get these.” Her voice is no more than a whisper. She’s nervous and I swear if I say some stupid shit and fuck this up, I’m gonna kick my own ass but I have to make sure she knows it’s not an expectation.

“You sure you wanna do that?”

She nods, biting down on her lip, and then, as if she has found enough courage, she unbuttons me as she breathes out slowly.

I grab the back of her head and pull it so her forehead is touching my chest as I smell her hair before kissing the back of her head.

She pushes my jeans down until she is kneeling in front of me. Her eyes are wide, eye level with the bulge in my boxers.

“Step out?”

“Yeah, Tales, yeah.” I step out, slow and easy, all sorts of turned on.

She leans back on her heels and folds my jeans, before pushing herself up on her knees and setting them on the counter. Then she turns and looks up at me, swallows hard, and her eyes … Her fucking eyes are illuminated with want and desire.

“I’m just gonna …” she says, hooking her little fingers on the waistband at my hips and slowly pulling them down. My dick is hard and centimeters from her face. “Step out,” she says, then clears her throat. She leans back and folds them before setting them on my jeans.

Her folding the clothes is like a slow seduction, and if that was the intention, it fucking worked. I hope this is leading where I think it is. I never wanted any woman more.

She pushes herself up on her knees, closes her eyes, and takes in a big breath of courage before she licks her lips then leans forward, placing her hands flat on my abs.

“You’ve complimented me so many times over the past few days, and I don’t know if I have once told you, with every defense I have down, how amazing you look or how much you make me feel.”

“Tales,” I say, gripping the base of my dick and rubbing her cheek with its head. “Don’t tell me; show me.”  I want her mouth on me so fucking bad, and I know damn well she wants that too. No. Fucking. Doubt.

“I plan on it.” She leans forward and licks me from tip to base.

“That’s it, Tales. Show me more,” I growl.

She opens her mouth and gently places her lips around my cock.

“Fuck yes,” Hallelujah.

She moves up and down slowly as her nails dig into my flesh. She then looks up, seeking approval.

“Perfect, Tallia. Absolutely perfect, babe.”

She closes her eyes as she moves up and down on me a little faster, her tongue swirling. She sucks and takes me deeper.

“Fuck. Fuck yeah.”

Tales places her hand over mine, and together, we pump my dick as she sucks and licks. She finds a rhythm, so I take my hand away as she pumps my cock all on her own. She moans and licks me, her other hand cupping my sac and giving it a tug.

I immediately feel the heat, the burn, the pull. Not fucking yet, I tell myself.

She takes me a little too deep and gags a little.

“Easy, babe. Don’t hurt yourself.”

She pulls her mouth off me and lifts my dick so it points up, and then she licks me from sac to tip over and over.

She has saliva pooling in the corner of her mouth, and I am so fucking turned on by how raw she is with me right now.

Her mouth covers my cock, and she whimpers as her strokes become faster while she sucks harder.

“Babe, I’m gonna come.”

She looks up at me, eyes watering, her hand wrapped around the base of my cock, and nearly all of it in her mouth. She sucks, licks, and pumps.

“Fuck!” I roar as I rapid fire my come in her mouth. “Fuck, Tales, fuck. That was … Fuck!”

I pull her face to my thigh and praise her the only way I can right now, because the words aren’t coming. I pet her hair—her soft, wavy, deep brown hair—as I try to catch my breath after the most powerful sexual experience of my life.

How the fuck do you recover from that?

I want to scoot under the vanity and hide.

I’m embarrassed at what I just did … needed to do.

I think I did well. I think.

“Can you let go of my leg and stand up now?” His voice is thick, husky, the way it gets when we are near, and good Lord, we have just been intimately near.

“Not yet,” I say honestly.

“Tales, up now.” There is a command in his voice, and for some reason, I like it.

I stand up, yet I can’t look at him.

“My cock was in your mouth, and you were showing me Emerald City, but you can’t now, Tales? Come on, shit just got real here, and I won’t let you hide from me.” He pulls the back of my hair, making me look up. “That was incredible. Amazing. Fuck, Tales, incred-amaze. Is that a word?”