At Ease Chapter One

Contemporary Interracial 17,500 word novellaPublished 3/2017 by Dark Mountain Books Previously published 1/2011 by Ellora’s Cave Publishing 8/2015 by Samhain Publishing Editor: Imogen Howson

Jaycee Hanson loves Psych 301, and not due to theclass itself. She sits right behind Tyler Johnson,ROTC captain and star of her most eroticfantasies. Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem to evennotice her, let alone date outside his race.When an accidental touch near the end of class turnsinto an impromptu foot rub, Jaycee is morethan willing follow Tyler wherever he might lead.She just never expected it to be the nearest stairwell.Tyler isn’t sure what to make of the smart, beautifulwoman in his arms. If he’d had any idea Jaycee wasinterested in him, he would have made a move longago. But each time he looked her way, she avoidedhis gaze. Now that he's had a taste, he's going toenjoy seeing where this might go.Objections to their budding relationship arise from anunexpected source, making Jaycee wonder if sexualchemistry is enough.

I think this is such a good story that five teacupsreally doesn’t do it justice… I loved this book and youwill love it for the romance, the writing, the plot, andthe hot sex scenes that don’t shy away from realmoments. Bravo. This was a sweet and sexy read. The sexualchemistry is smoking hot and the love scenes areincendiary and not gratuitous. I enjoyed the fact thattheir connection went beyond the physical. This is agood choice if you like your stories with emotion anderoticism and a subtle humor.

Since both Tyler and Jaycee are in college Iassume they are in their late teens or early twentiesso I wonder if they will be able to make it for thelong haul. The promise is definitely there and the sexbetween them is positively smoking. A great shortread.

Chapter One There he was. Jaycee almost stumbled down the aisleto her seat. Three days a week duringPsychology 301, she sat in the same chair inthe auditorium. Partly because she was acreature of habit, but also because every dayhe sat directly in front of her, and with thesloped seating area, she had a great view.Today was Friday, the day of the weekly AirForce Reserve Officers’ Training Corpsmorning meeting. He still wore his dressuniform, which meant she wouldn’t retain

one word of the psychology professor’slecture in the next ninety minutes. He looked good. Okay, he looked great. She barelydropped into her chair before her knees gaveout. Just about every man alive earned a fewhottie points when he wore an Air Forceuniform, but Tyler Johnson didn’t need extrapoints. He looked good whether he wore hisTexas Tech sweats and a tee-shirt, blue jeansand an oxford, or hell, probably nothing at all. Jaycee bit her lower lip to stifle thegroan. She knew the man was built. Eventhough the starched uniform covered himfrom neck to toes today, the tee-shirt he woretwo days ago had done nothing to concealevery muscle in his hard upper body. Sheclosed her eyes for just a moment and savoredthat memory. His ebony skin stretched tautover corded muscles in his triceps, the onepart of his body he could freely stare at from

her vantage point. They flexed and bunched,his left hand curled around the paper in frontof him as he scrawled. The door near the whiteboard closed,and Jaycee had to open her eyes and rejointhe living. Professor Cordell checked his beltbuckle and tugged on the sleeves of his tweedjacket, just as he always did before class. “Who can tell me the role thehippocampus plays in an epileptic seizure?” Cordell somehow knew where eachclass left off, and picked up two days later asif no time had passed. Those who hadtextbooks opened them and flipped throughthe chapters, the rest of the class pulled outtheir laptops, and a low hum of business filledthe room. There must be a bike racesomewhere—the six bike team members whousually surrounded her and Tyler wereabsent, leaving a nice bubble of privacy in the

upper corner of the auditorium. Now shecould look her fill without fear of discovery. Tyler thumbed through the pages of histhick book. His nails were neatly trimmed, hisfingers long and slender. Their dark colorintrigued her. What an erotic picture theywould make against her white breasts. Or theway their naked legs would look twistedtogether. Against her white sheets. No…she’dneed silky red sheets. Oh yeah. She squirmed in her seat, slipped offone flip-flop so it wouldn’t accidentally falloff, then crossed her legs. Her bare toes cameso close to the crisp collar of his shirt shecould feel the heat coming off him. Yes, theshades of their skin complemented eachother. If she wiggled her toes, she wouldbrush the crisp shoulder seam on his uniform.

She wouldn’t dare, but it was tempting. Shelicked her lips and stuffed down a groan. “So, without a hippocampus, one mighthave a difficult time following a map. Thespatial memory storage of that area is vital…” Even though she wasn’t payingattention to class, she was glad Tyler’s focuswas on the man in tweed, and not on her.She’d be mortified if he knew she drooledover him during class. Tyler didn’t datewomen like her. She’d seen him on campus,most recently in the gym, in the arms of avery tall, very athletic and very beautifulblack woman. Two weeks before, she’dcaught sight of him at a local restaurant withtwo friends and three women. Not one ofthem white. She knew she wasn’t his type,and he was probably out of her league, butthat didn’t stop her from these Monday-Wednesday-Friday fantasies.

Professor Cordell stopped talking andturned his back on the class to write on thedry-erase board. Collectively, the class bentover their desks to take notes. WheneverCordell wrote on the board, it was bound tobe on the coming exam. Jaycee halfheartedlywrote a few sentences down, while keepingone eye on the man in front of her. As soon as the professor moved aside,she took a picture of the whiteboard with hercell phone. Better than notes anyway, and shecould focus on the real reason she showed upto class. She chewed on her pen cap andstared at Tyler. The skin on the back of his neckbegged for her touch. What she wouldn’t giveto press her lips there. Then move up to hisearlobe. Would he be the ticklish type, orwould he shudder with pleasure at eachbreath? She’d honor each of his facial

features with her lips. She shifted again,managing to edge an inch closer to him in theprocess. Cordell droned on. Tyler set his pendown, then clasped his hands together andextended both arms out in front of him. Hecocked his head from one side to the other,then arched his back over the seat of the chairand stretched his arms out to the side. Hisroutine had come a little early today.Normally this display occurred five minutesbefore class ended. When his shoulder brushed her baretoes, Jaycee sucked in a breath and held it.She didn’t move. She didn’t dare. Thesefleeting touches were like tiny surpriseparties. She savored his warmth, even thoughonly two toes were lucky enough to touchTyler Johnson. Slowly but deliberately, Tyler turnedhis head, just enough to glance over his navy-

clad shoulder. Jaycee froze, not wanting himto catch her accidental caress but afraid tomove now to draw attention to it. He didn’t raise his eyes to hers, but hislips did curl in amusement before he againfaced the professor. Jaycee’s heart raced. He almost lookedat her. He almost smiled at her. Good freaking God. You’re acting likesome wallflower virgin. He laughed at yourtoes for Christ’s sake. Jaycee took a deepbreath and tried to find her center. Outgoing,physically fit and a pretty good B student, shereally had no reason to lust after this oneparticular guy for half a semester. Two of hersorority sisters had friends that they eachinsisted would be a “perfect match”, and thatsexy geek in chemistry lab was practicallybegging for her phone number. She wasn’tholding out for Tyler, but it was really hard to

get excited about any other man when thisAdonis was sitting in front of her. She’d never before lost her self-controlover a simple grin aimed at her foot, butdamn. That was about the hottest thing she’dever seen. If she weren’t in a room full ofpeople, she’d fan herself. A quick glanceproved that she was the only student in la-laland. Everyone else, including Tyler, wasfocused on Professor Cordell and his speechon brain function. For some reason the factthat she could indulge in her fantasies withfifty others in the room only excited hermore. Maybe she had some unexploredexhibitionist tendencies. Her toes were still pressed against hisshoulder blade. He hadn’t moved away, andthere was no way he couldn’t feel thepressure. Especially when she curled her toes,brushing the fabric of his jacket. In fact, shecould have sworn that he leaned back just a

bit. She pinched her eyes closed, soaking inthe sensation. Tyler leaning into her touch.Her breath turned shallow and her heartthumped heavily. She opened her eyes to findthe room as it was, completely mundane andnormal. It seemed odd that she was the onlyone in the room who felt like crawling out ofher skin and into Tyler’s. Feeling suddenly bold, she slipped herbig toe into the crease beneath his thick arm.She meant to pull away just as quickly as shedipped in and pretend it was accidental, buthe clamped his arm over her foot, securing itto his side. Jaycee swallowed, waiting for him tolean away from her impromptu game offootsie, or even to get up, give her a dirtylook and move to the empty seat beside him.Instead, he laid down his pen and reachedbeneath his arm to grasp her foot.

She jumped, an involuntary movementthat she instantly regretted, but he didn’trelease his hold. Four strong warm fingerscupped the ball of her foot and pulled itfarther beneath his arm, until her entire footwas swallowed by his massive biceps. Whilehis thumb traced each knuckle on top, Jayceesank into her seat, pleasure washing over herat the mere touch. She glanced around. Herfellow students paid her no mind. The fewthat were close enough to see her foot tuckedbeneath Tyler’s arm probably wouldn’t beable to tell anyway, as close as these seatswere. He slid one long finger up the sensitivecurve of her arch and Jaycee barely restrainedher moan. Oh my God, Tyler Johnson is touchingme. Jaycee melted into her chair. She etchedeach sensation deep into her mind, vowingnever to forget these few moments, knowing

that she would pull the memory out in thefuture to keep her warm on a lonely night. Cordell continued his lecture, but theprofessor’s voice was smothered by thepounding in her ears. Students took notes andasked questions, all while Tyler made love tothe sole of Jaycee’s foot. Hands that talentedon a foot could do one hell of a job on otherparts of her body. She squeezed her legstogether—pressing the swelling folds of hersex to rein in the flaring need for a touch—and white-knuckled her desktop to keep fromsliding out of her seat. For once, she didn’t want class to end. But it did. As the rest of the classpacked up their supplies, Jaycee sat frozen inher chair. She tried to free her foot from hisgrasp but he wouldn’t release her. Even whentheir fellow students stepped over her legsand squeezed around his to exit the theater.

The door closed behind the last studentand the sudden silence engulfed them. Jayceepulled on her foot, and this time he let her go.In a flash he was on his feet, arms braced onthe back of his seat, leaning over her knees. Oh God, he’s so close. Jaycee suddenlyfelt very small and weak. Her first impulsewas to tear off her clothes and throw herselfat his feet like some sexual sacrifice. His eyes flashed, dancing over herfrom head to toe before meeting her gaze. Helicked his lips and Jaycee’s mouth went dry. “I like your foot.” Those were the firstwords he’d ever spoken to her, but it didn’tmatter what he said. The baritone snakedaround her in an almost physical caress. This was all a bizarre dream. TylerJohnson couldn’t possibly be mere inchesfrom her. Alone. She couldn’t think of a wordto say. She opened her mouth, but closed itwhen he spoke again.

“I want more.” There was no misreading the pure lustbehind those dark eyes. Jaycee’s nipples,already straining against her bra, now beadedeven tighter, enough to make her shudder.“More?” Tyler nodded. A slow, measuredmovement of that gorgeous head. “I like yourfoot. I want more,” he repeated, this timedropping his voice a decibel. Low enough forJaycee to think of a smoky blues club and atenor saxophone. “You’ve been driving mecrazy, you know?” “Me?” Jaycee hated sounding like anidiot, but this had to be some dream. If shehad fallen asleep during Psych 301, she wasprobably drooling on her desk right now. Sheneeded to wake up. “Yes, you. I can smell you, I can feelyour heat, but you avoid me like the plague.This is the first time you’ve looked at me

directly. You always come into the classroomafter me, leave before me—” “I…didn’t think you noticed.” He didn’t respond right away. He tooka moment to caress her with his gaze, settlingon her lips first, then her trembling breastsand back up to her eyes. With a predatorysmile, he leaned over her desk, close enoughto speak directly in her ear. “I noticed. Comewith me.” His face was hovering over hers, andshe couldn’t even see him clearly. Come withme. It wasn’t really a question. Why did shestumble over a response? Her first thoughtwas “why?”, but the fire behind his eyes leftno question. And then came “where?”, butshe didn’t really care. Finally, the devil thathad been sitting inside her waiting for thechance to pounce came to the surface. Sheknew it was the devil, because before she

could control it, a smile spread sinful heatacross her face and she answered, “Yes.” Tyler straightened, the lust in his smilesending a jolt of excitement through her. Hesnapped his textbook closed and Jayceestruggled to shove her notebook into hersatchel with her hands shaking as they were.After a few twisting stabs with her foot, shewas able to get back into her discarded flip-flop without looking like too much of a spaz.She took a few restorative breaths beforelooking up to find Tyler looking put togetherand composed in his dress blues, his bookspacked away into a simple backpack slungover a shoulder, hooked by one finger. Hisother hand reached for hers and he led herfrom the classroom just as students for thenext class trickled in. Her knees wobbled and she cursed herinability to control her body. His hand was sodamn warm on hers, strong and wide,

engulfing hers with an urgency that sent herlibido into overdrive. He strode down ahallway and she almost had to take two stepsto every one of his. “Where are we going?” He didn’t answer until he dragged herinto the stairway and found a dark cornerbeneath the cement stairs. “I’m in uniform.” As if that should explain everything.But Jaycee didn’t have time to question himbefore he pressed her body against the coolcinderblock wall with his hard chest. Hedropped his backpack beside hers and hismouth came down, stifling any question shemight have. His hands moved up to grip hershoulders. She could feel the imprint of eachone of his fingers, the heat searing her skinbeneath her tee-shirt. He smelled exotic andexciting, with a musky masculine colognethat reminded her of a men’s fashion

magazine. His tongue was thick, and the wayhe moved it inside her mouth weakened herknees. She joined the dance with adesperation that she couldn’t disguise, andhad no desire to. His mouth was cool andminty. How did she miss seeing him pop abreath mint? “You taste damn good, Jaycee.” He knows my name. Only after hearingit did she realize that she’d never given it tohim. The fact that he knew it without hertelling him took the meaningless flirtationinto a new realm. Now it was personal. Shelet her eyes drift closed, wallowing in thesound of her name coming from those lipsthat moved against her cheek. She brought both arms up to circle hisneck and drew him down, skimmed his collarand followed his jacket lapel down to hischest. Her hand stilled over his heart, his taut

muscles rippling beneath his jacket as hemoved into her caress. “God, yes, touch me, girl. Let me feelyour hands all over me.” Jaycee shuddered, his low wordsvibrating through her skin, settling in herjoints and making them pliant. Her mindwhirled as he brushed his nose and mouth allalong her face and neck, sucking in air,almost like he wanted to inhale her. “I could take you right here. I’m sofucking hard.” He ground his pelvis into hersso that she could feel the truth in hisstatement. The length and width of his cockintrigued her, but she lacked the nerve toreach for it like she wanted to. “I’m in uniform,” he whispered. Jaycee swallowed. “Yes.” “That means I have to follow adifferent set of rules.”

“Oh.” She dropped her gaze to hischest. Her hands were already toying with thebuttons on the jacket. Why stop now?“So…maybe we should take this off?” Thefirst button slipped free. Tyler chuckled, his face brighteningwith amusement. The sound filled her withnewfound power. “I don’t know if thatcounts, but I like the way you think.” Hepulled back enough to give her a solemn look.“You know what you’re doing?” She nodded slowly. Seriously. “I wantthis. I want you. Now.” From the dustbunnies in the corner, she could tell no onewandered behind the stairs. Why would they?It was a dark and dingy cove, and one wouldhave to go well out of their way to find them. The few voices that bounced off thehallway walls soon disappeared behind thesound of closing doors and the building wentsilent. Other than the rhythmic sound of

Tyler’s breathing, and Jaycee’s poundingheart. “I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.We can just—” “It’s okay. I’m not afraid. Just kissme.” He took his time, first nibbling at herjawline, then her neck. His mouth warm andsoft, yet insistent. Strange whining soundsbubbled from her throat. He released oneshoulder to cover her throat with one stronghand. Good Lord, she was at his mercy. Theman had enough strength to seriously hurther, but there was nothing but calm beneaththe power. The combination sent her heartinto staccato. Finally he covered her lips withhis, sending his tongue deep into her mouth.Jaycee tilted her head to accommodate hisdesire. He took her lower lip between histeeth and Jaycee pulled him even closer. He

caressed her neck with his strong fingers, andthen followed with his lips. “I’ve been watching you all semester. Ithought maybe you didn’t like black guys.”He nibbled her earlobe as he spoke. Jayceehad to hold on to his shoulders so shewouldn’t melt into a puddle beneath thestairs. “And I thought you didn’t like whitewomen.” “Okay, so we were both wrong. Let meshow you what I like about white women.”His hands went to work on the button of herjeans.