Page 34 of Professor Next Door

19. Galen

I drove for hours, stopping to pick up some food at one point, not really thinking, just feeling and driving down the road. By the time I hit Alabama I knew I needed to get back home, mainly because I had no clear memory of the past few hours of my drive. I’d heard of road hypnotism before but it had never happened to me.

I’d sent my teaching assistant a text, telling him to teach my classes for a couple of days while I sorted some personal matters, and knew I had no specific time I needed to be home but Tara would be worrying by now.

It was three in the morning when I pulled into the driveway. John’s truck was there, so was Tara’s car, but when I went in I didn’t see John anywhere. There were boxes I recognized on the kitchen table, papers strewn about, but Rikki was in bed, and so was Tara.

It kind of hurt to find her in her own bedroom, not in mine. That had happened before but this time she was alone. Rikki was in her own room, snuffling as she sometimes did. I had no idea where John was but didn’t care. I undressed and slid in alongside Tara, needing her warmth to thaw me out. The drive home had been cold with the window down to keep me awake.

She murmured my name as I slid in behind her and pulled her close to me. I felt bad about waking her but I needed her touch, I needed her. She wrapped her arm around me and snuggled into my chest, her breathing evening out after a few minutes. I held her, needing nothing more than that, nothing more than her gentle touch on my body.

To know she was there was enough.

I wasn’t aware I’d been stroking her hip until she jerked, breathing in fast and sharp until she realized it was me in the bed with her.

“Galen?” She looked up at me, her eyes shining in the moonlight, her hair a dark stream behind her. It was so long, almost to her waist. I loved feeling it in my hands.

“It’s just me, baby. Only me. Go back to sleep.” She’d gone stiff but now she relaxed, throwing a leg over my hips.

I sighed as her lips nuzzled at my neck, stared into nothing as she breathed in my scent, and tried not to become aroused. She had other plans, as I soon learned when her hands went between us, sliding down to my groin.

“I’ve missed you, Galen.”

She was quiet, soft, but her hands were insistent and I was hard before she gripped me tightly, and squeezed in just the right way.

She’d been a virgin, how did she know to do that? Maybe it was instinct, I don’t know, but it was perfect. Thrusting up into her hand, I pulled her face up to mine.

“I’ve missed you, Tara.”

I found her lips in the darkness, warm and soft, eager as she pressed into me, her hand moving languidly in a way that sent a thrill up my spine. I wanted to throw her on her back and bury myself in her, lose the memories that had plagued me all day, forget the doubts I’d had about myself.

Instead, I let her have her way. My head fell back to the pillow and I closed my eyes, letting her work her way up to whatever she had planned. I’d let one wife down by not being there for her, I wasn’t going to do the same with this one.

I’d learned something on that long drive back home. Tara was there, she was the one that waited for me. Somehow, I’d fallen in love with her, somehow she’d got past my defenses, past the impenetrable armor I’d wrapped myself in after Kayla died, and she’d filled me with something I’d never experienced before, something I hadn’t known was missing from my first marriage; a need to be loved in return, a need to share in that love.

I’d cared about Kayla, I thought I’d been totally in love with her, but it was different with Tara. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life with her, I needed to. Then I lost my train of thought because the beautiful woman I adored moved, her legs closing around my hips as she positioned herself above me.

My hands grasped at her breasts, a move that made her shiver. I circled her nipples in slow strokes as she sank down onto my hard length, trying to distract myself from the pleasure of Tara’s tight walls closing around me. I couldn’t close my eyes, even though I wanted to sink into her oblivion, because she leaned her head back, the long fall of her dark hair teasing at my thighs. She was all woman, my wife.

Her hips tilted as she started to move on me, a slow exploration as I gripped at her nipples, tearing out a long groan of approval from somewhere deep in her chest. Oh, she liked that.

“Don’t stop, Galen. More.” She was doing a slow grind on my dick, what else could I do but appease her? I gripped the buds more tightly, and a new sound came from her throat, surrender.

She was the one in control, she was the one setting the pace, but in that instant, she’d given me total control of her body. She trusted me and it almost undid me.

I pushed up, pulling her down to kiss her, all but inhaling her as our mouths fused, an exchange of far more than simple passion pushing me to swipe my tongue across hers, to suck her tongue into my mouth, as something burst painfully into my chest. Mine.

My wife, my partner. My pleasure.

I pulled back, my hands at her hips, guiding her as I drove up into her, frantic to watch the emotions play across her face. I saw pleasure, love, and so much more twist across her face as she moved with me, seeking out the bliss we knew we could create.

Tara moved, pleasured moans tearing from her throat, and I was glad I’d closed the door. I didn’t want to muffle those beautiful sounds; they drove me to dig my feet into the bed, using the resistance to fuck up into her with a thrust that made her whole body shake.

“Galen!” she gasped out, her nails digging into my chest, and I knew she needed more to get her over the edge she was braced on.

I slid my hand beneath her hair, winding it in my fist as I went along, her tight little gasping sighs telling me it was what she needed. I pulled at her hair, forcing her head back, and she clamped down on me hard with her heated walls.

“So fucking good, Tara. That’s right baby, touch yourself now. Fall over the edge with me.” I wasn’t going to be able to hold back when she finally gave in, not with the kind of pussy she had.

“Gal—”

She didn’t get to finish because the friction of her finger on her clit finally did it, or maybe it was my words, I don’t know. But those sweet walls started fluttering on my dick, like two long tongues flicking at me, and I went with her.

Her teeth sank into my shoulder as I hissed out a growl, emptying into her. I couldn’t have stopped it even if I’d wanted to. It was too good to resist.

Her lips found mine as I drifted into the nothing that came after, soothing me back into reality. I held her tightly to me, holding on to the one woman that could pull me back from the rage I wanted to fall into. That’s why I’d driven for so long tonight, I’d been trying to drive away from my rage. Helpless rage, because there was little I could do to save myself this time. Only Tara could save me from myself. My Tara.