Trouble in the Making by Lissa Matthews Read Free Book Online Page A

breasts, drawing lazy circles back and forth between them and every so often, teasing her nipples.
    She fought not to moan, but couldn’t help the squirming or the words that came out of her mouth. “The leather. And the ink.”
    “Mmm, yes. The leather. The ink on my skin. You’ve always had a thing for it. Glad to know that hasn’t changed.”
    Liz didn’t know until she saw him again that indeed no, her fascination with leather and tattoos hadn’t changed. Or rather, her fascination with long-haired men in leather with loads of colorful tattoos hadn’t changed. Especially her fascination with this particular long-haired man.
    Back in high school, she’d been into the hair bands…leather, tattoos, big hair, glammed-up rockers who could write ballads like nobody else. They’d strutted around and played their sexed-up songs for the teenage do-anything-for-a-chance-with-you girls in attendance, and if Liz hadn’t been so shy, she’d have been one of those. She’d have tossed her panties and her bra up on stage. She’d have worn the skirts so short anyone looking could see everything and shirts so tight or low cut there’d been nothing left to the imagination.
    But she had been painfully shy then too. Shy, quiet, reserved. She hadn’t gone looking for anything or anyone. Rejection was too high a fear on her list and one she wasn’t keen to feel very often, if at all. She wasn’t a good girl by any means, preferring to keep her escapades private, but she wasn’t aggressive either.
    Even all grown up as she was now, she wasn’t the one to go out seeking. She wasn’t the one to make the first move, to put herself out there as available. Until Johnny.
    “Sweet little Lizzie. You’re thinking too much and it’s not about my leather pants anymore.”
    “I’m just thinking about how we got here, how I got here.” Of course, she was hard pressed to think of much beyond his touch and the fire it elicited.
    He nuzzled the crown of her head with his face, burying his nose in her hair. “The interstate?”
    She laughed and nudged him playfully with her elbow. “No. Here in this room, with you. You’re the first man I’ve ever gone after like this. I…
    He gave her a good squeeze, slid his hands down her waist, over her hips. “You’ve always been strong in your own way, babe. You were a good person, a good friend.”
    Liz hung her head and took a deep breath. “And dull, bashful and the quiet one. I like my comfort zone.”
    “Not anymore, though. You’re not the same girl you were. Not completely. And even if you were, why would you have to change? You’re your own person. You have a job you love and a place of your own where you want it. You have your own life that you live according to your own terms. I remember how you’d never speak in front of a group of people. Friends or strangers, if you had to talk in front of more than a couple of people, you wouldn’t. Look at you, though? You were a professor for a while, talking in front of hundreds at a time and now you give writing workshops to high school and college kids. The Liz from so many years ago wouldn’t have done that if she hadn’t had a passion for it. If you hadn’t had a passion for it.”
    He was right. When she wanted something, desired it, she could force herself outside of what was normally safe and she could adapt. She took chances when it was important. Teaching was definite proof of that. And now, so was Johnny. The fact that it was personal this time seemed to be what was throwing her. She took professional chances, but personal ones? This was new. Terrifying and incredible. “I still can’t believe I’ve got you. Here. In leather.”
    “Yes, yes you do.” He pressed his lips to her ear. “Hot, hard, so fucking horny for you, woman. I’ve done nothing for weeks but jack off thinking about this, about having you under me, about showing you just how good it can be.”
    She turned in his arms and looked up into those eyes