The Not Gate (Tom and Alice #1) by Tammy Bench Page B

might find the button of your jeans,’ he paused as her own hand hovered on the waist band of his jeans and he caught her just as she was about to move her fingers lower.
    She looked up at him with impatience.
    ‘It’s probably time you were getting back,’ he smiled tightly.
    ‘Just let me touch you, please.’
    ‘You can. Just not now. Do you know how hard it is saying that in this situation?’ he lifted her chin with his fingers to look at him, ‘…very!’
    ‘So don’t say it,’ she lifted her hand again and placed it directly over his penis before he could catch her. He sucked in a harsh breath. Even with his jeans between them, the feel of her hand on him was overwhelming.
    ‘It’s really warm,’ she said pressing her palm and fingers over it, cupping slightly, ‘and big.’
    Oh god,she was every man’s dream. His ego would never get enough of this.
    ‘Not that you have anything to compare it to?’ he said, shaking his head and smiling.
    ‘I know that. But it is big?’
    Was she asking him?
    ‘I’ve never had any complaints.’
    Shit .
    As soon as he said it he wished he hadn’t, ‘I didn’t mean it like that Alice, I’m sorry.’
    Alice placed her hands either side of her on the bed and stared at him, ‘Tom, you don’t have to apologise for having had sex before you know. I understand you’re an adult male. I don’t want you to edit what you say to me, because you think it may not conform to the romantic fantasy I hold of you in my head.’
    Tom again was taken aback by her intelligence and understanding, he really had to try to stop underestimating her.
    ‘So, will you take these off too?’ she coaxed, softly rubbing her hand down the leg of his jeans then up again resting it between his legs. He let his head roll back onto his shoulder and his jaw tensed.
    ‘I can’t... I want to carry on, more than you will ever know, believe me, but it’s too risky. When we’re back at home, we can arrange to meet up. In a hotel? Anywhere you want? But away from eyes and ears. Somewhere that will make you feel special, not here in a scabby room, single bed and no heating. Don’t you want music and candles? Clean sheets? Room service?’ he asked.
    ‘All I want is you, like this, beautiful and masculine and losing your precious control,’ she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his hard belly.
    ‘Oh god, I’m getting dressed,’ he stepped away quickly.
    Alice laughed as he wrestled with his t-shirt. Her laugh, he thought, was like a tiny bell ringing in the wind. He turned to look at her as he slipped the t-shirt over his head and blew her an invisible kiss. He was not only losing control with her, he thought, he was dangerously close to losing something else.
    ‘Tom, do you want me to take my top off, let you inspect the merchandise too?’ They both burst out laughing and he jumped on her, flung her back on the bed and held her tightly in his arms until she really had to go back to her room.

HOME
    Saturday 11 th November
    A lice sat in her bedroom staring at the scrap of white paper in her hand. Six digits scrawled in blue biro, Tom’s number.
    He had parked up behind the bus when they arrived home last night. He waited for her to pass and had shoved it into her hand as everyone else filed from the coach to meet waiting parents. She’d put it into her pocket and as soon as she went up to her room that evening she had looked at it, stared, put it down and then picked it up again. It was her proof that this was happening, evidence of what they had shared over the last five days. She couldn’t quite get her head around the things they had talked about, the kisses they had shared and actually touching this man’s body.
    It was strange, when she had been away from this house and seeing him all the time, no parents, no lessons, she had felt like a different person in a different life. In that life, she was confident and funny. She could talk to Tom, her teacher who wasn’t really her