by Salsbury, JB
He takes a minute to think that over then shakes his head. “No.”
“Arrogant!” I laugh.
“Okay, fine.” He groans. “I’m not good at this.” He waves a hand between us. “I don’t usually date women.”
I grab his hand and smile at his adoring face. “You’re better than you think.”
We skate around and around to every hair band from the eighties and race twice. I lose once, and the second race, I’d bet money he lets me win.
“You hungry?” He’s breathing heavily but not nearly as heavily as I am.
I brace my hands on my thighs. “I’d kill…for a hot dog.”
“How the hell do you make that sound hot?”
“Do you think about sex twenty-four hours a day?” I stand up, finally feeling as if I won’t pass out.
“No, not twenty-four hours a day.”
“How many hours a day?”
He studies me for a minute. “However many hours we’re together.” He snags my hand, and we head to the concession stand. “Come on, let me feed you.”
I follow him behind the counter, where we plate up four hot dogs, a huge plate of nachos, a box of peanut M&M’s, two cherry slushies, and bottled water. We manage to get all the food to a table, where we sit down for our meal.
“You can tell a lot about a person by what they eat,” he says, uncapping the lid from the water.
“Oh yeah?” I shove a chip covered in melted Velveeta into my mouth. “And what does this food say about me?”
“You’re adventurous. You’re always down for a good time.”
“Or… I’m childish and irresponsible, possibly headed for a heart attack.”
“You don’t strike me as the irresponsible type.” He throws back a few M&M’s. “Childish, maybe, but not—” He dodges the incoming wiener. “You just threw a hot dog at me!”
“You called me childish!” I grin, not really upset. I guess I am a little immature.
“Nothing says I’m not childish like a food fight.” He chucks a handful of M&M’s at my face. “There, we’re even. “
“Oh, I love this song!” “More than Words” by Extreme comes through the speakers, and I use my hot dog as a microphone, singing along.
Ethan props his elbows on the table and watches me with a content smile.
His scrutiny makes me self-conscious. “Stop staring at me.”
“You have a good voice too.”
I slurp my cherry Icee with the hope that it’ll cool my insides now hot with embarrassment.
“This is a makeout song.” He stands and offers me his hand. “We need to get on the rink so I can skate with my hands on your ass.” He pulls me laughing to my feet and takes me to the rink.
With his hands on my ass, skating backward, we move around the rink while Ethan sings softly in my ear. His voice is deep and smooth like velvet and with every brush of his lips against the shell of my ear, I fall deeper under his spell.
God, I’m pathetic when I’m around him. Completely gone. If he tried to have sex with me right now, I’d gladly give up my virginity right here on the dirty skate rink floor.
“I wish we weren’t alone.” His hot breath against my skin makes me shiver and melt at the same time. But did I hear him wrong? He wishes we weren’t alone? “I wish this place was packed with people so that I could show you off.”
His words send a thrill through me. What would people say if they saw us together? They’d wonder why Ethan was with someone as ordinary as me when he could have any actress or supermodel he desired. Would I constantly have to fight to keep him from wandering away?
He stops skating and cups my jaw, his eyes warm on me. “What do you want more than anything?”
“I keep thinking that this thing between us feels a little too good to be true.”
His eyebrows pinch together as he gazes at me.
“Like, one day I’m going to wake up and realize it was all a dream or the world’s cruelest prank.”
He sighs. “Life would be much easier without the complication of what we have.”
He’s right. For both of us. And yet… “But the complications feel so worth it when we’re together.”
He kisses the tip of my nose. “No more talk of complications.”
“You should know, this is the best date I’ve ever been on.”
He squints. “Isn’t this the only date you’ve ever been on?”
“Yes.” I take off skating. “Last one around is a big fat loser!”
As expected, he takes off after me and I end up pressed against a wall with his hands all over me and my mouth all over him.
I don’t know what time it is when we eventually crawl back into the SUV. No longer caring about Rodger, I rest my head on Ethan’s pec, his arm wrapped around me and his lips pressed to my hair, where he sings along with Panic! at the Disco on the radio. His heartbeat is steady, his body warm, and I close my eyes and sink into his comfort. We pull up to the back loading dock of the hotel and Rodger cusses.
Ethan’s muscles grow tense. “Shit.”
I lift my head and squint out the front window. There’s a group of people with cameras hanging around their necks. “Fans?”
“Paps,” Rodger says, pulling up his cell phone and hitting a button. “Jonny, we need hotel security at the loading dock. We’ve got five paps in the lot.” He hangs up, throws the car into drive, and takes us away from the hotel. “Hang tight, we’ll come back once they’ve been cleared.”
Ethan smiles sheepishly at me. “Sorry about that.”
I curl back into his side. “Don’t be. I’m perfectly happy where I am.”
Ethan
A twenty-five minute drive around Charlotte and we end up back at the employee entrance of the hotel. Rodger got a call from Jonny that the paps were gone, and the security team walked the perimeter to ensure there weren’t any left hiding.
I wouldn’t usually take this kind of precaution, but Taylor seems determined to keep our spending time together a secret and I want to honor that. No matter how much I want the world to see us together so that we don’t have to sneak around, I get the feeling she’d run if we were exposed. I want to keep her.
It kills me not to hold her hand or walk at her side on our way from the SUV to the door, but I force the distance just in case there’s a lingering pap. Once we’re in the safety of the hotel laundry facilities, I grab her hand and pull her close. I haven’t had my hands off her for the last three hours. Doing it now feels like chopping off a leg.
We follow Rodger down a hallway, then through catering and the room service kitchen to the staff elevator. I whirl her around and into my chest, wrapping her tightly in my arms before lifting her chin to kiss her. With Rodger’s back to us, she doesn’t put up a fight and the kiss quickly turns into making out with her leading the charge. Her hands fist in my shirt, her head tilts, and she deepens the kiss. I cup her backside and squeeze, making her moan softly into my mouth. The room around us dissolves as we get lost in each other.
Rodger clears his throat, breaking our connection. “Elevator’s here.”
I keep Taylor in my arms, my pulse pounding, breath bursting from my lips. “Right.”
She laughs quietly and pulls me by the arm into the elevator. I shove my hands in my pockets to keep them from roaming her body as she stands at my side. Thank goodness the ride to our floor is a short one. We wave a quick goodbye to Rodger and dart into the privacy of our room.
We don’t make it past the entryway before we’re on each other again. Lips, tongues, hands, and finally bodies collide against the wall. I rip at her shirt, popping the buttons and hearing them spill onto the floor. She wrestles to remove my sweatshirt, and I break our kiss only long enough to pull off my hoodie. Her sports bra goes next until she’s in nothing but white cotton underwear. We crash back together, her breasts warm and enticing as they mold against me.
I want her. I’m ravenous for her. The pounding need inside is something I’ve never felt
for another woman. All this slow seduction stuff has been a brutal tease, which must explain why my hands shake as I cup her jaw, tilting her head to deepen the kiss. A voice in my head whispers that my unbridled desire is so much more than unquenched lust. She makes a soft, needy sound and I pull away, breathing hard, to peer down at her. Her eyelids are heavy, her lips parted.
“You okay?”
“I think so.”
I kiss the shaky smile from her lips. “I want to take you to bed.”
She nods. I scoop her into my arms and carry her across the living space to the bedroom. I lay her on the king-sized bed and stand back to admire her pale chest and dark nipples in the moonlight.
I toe off my shoes and hesitate. “We don’t have to—”
“I know.”
“I’ve never been in bed with a woman without having sex.”
She pushes up to her elbows. “That’s not true. We’ve slept together and didn’t have sex.” When I don’t make a move, she kicks off her own shoes and reaches for me. “I trust you.”
I fall into her arms and she takes my weight eagerly. “I don’t know if I trust myself.”
Her hands slide through my hair to my nape, where she puts pressure to pull my mouth to hers. “I want you, Ethan,” she whispers into our kiss. “I was ready to give you everything at the skating rink.”
I close my eyes, press my forehead against hers, and try to slow my racing heart. “I won’t take your virginity unless…” I swallow the lump in my throat, my nerves making my voice shake. “Unless you’re my girlfriend. Officially.”
I hold her gaze, grateful when I don’t see panic or fear in her eyes, but rather, relief.
“Officially as in…”
I run my thumbs along her cheekbones and pass them over her lower lip still wet and swollen from my mouth. “No more hiding.”
“From anyone?”
“We don’t have to put out a press release or anything, but I can’t make love to you and then pretend I hardly know you when people are around.”
Her breath hitches, eyes widen.
“What?”
“Make love?”
The words slipped effortlessly from my lips and felt as natural as breathing. And yet, those two words come with a lot of implications I’m not sure we’re ready to discuss.
At my silence, her eyes narrow. “Have you ever made love to a woman before?”
“No.” I take her mouth in a slow, gentle kiss. “But I’ll be making love to you.”
Our kiss goes from tentative to frantic as we roll to our sides in a tangle of arms and legs. I nip along her collarbone to her chest, where I kiss her breasts, swirling my tongue around the tender tips. I kick off my jeans and boxers then slip her panties down her legs, allowing my fingers to trail against her silky smooth skin. Her hands roam over my chest, down my ribs to grip my hard-on. I slip my hand between her legs, coaxing her to relax until her thighs fall open and she rolls her hips to meet my fingers. I pull back and watch her arch off the bed, her spine bowing as I bring her close to orgasm. The visual of her on the verge of coming apart sends a jolt of pleasure through me. I grip my dick, my hand over hers, squeezing hard and trying to keep from blowing too soon.
“What’s wrong?” she says in a breathy whisper.
“I’m close. I could come just from watching you.” I chuckle uncomfortably, totally fucking thrown by the fact that in mere minutes, I almost blew my load from bringing a woman pleasure.
Not just any woman.
No shit.
Taylor is my weakness. And I don’t have weaknesses.
She kisses me softly but briefly before she pushes me to my back and straddles my hips.
“Yeah, this isn’t helping.”
“Then I guess we’d better get to it.”
She’s offering me the honor of taking her virginity. Maybe I’m her weakness too. Why the hell does that make me feel like the most powerful man in the world?
I sit up, meeting her torso with mine, and holding two handfuls of her perfectly round ass. “I need to grab a condom.”
She nods and attempts to climb off me, but I hold her in place and get her eyes.
“Are you sure, Taylor? Are you positive you want to give yourself to me? Because once we do this, there’s no going back.” In so many ways, there’s no going back.
“I’ve never wanted anything more.” She bites her lip, her eyes darting to the side as she seems to gather strength. “I just…”
I rub her back with long strokes. “Hey, whatever it is, let’s talk about it.”
Her eyes fix on mine. “Are you going to break my heart?”
I could almost laugh, but I don’t. The fact that this woman, who has all the control over me without even trying, is worried I’ll break her heart? “I’m incapable of doing anything but pleasing you.”
“I doubt that’s true.”
“Try me.”
Her expression sobers and she slips off my lap to free me to stand. I grab a condom from my duffle bag and slide it on. Her gaze fixes on my erection, eyes wide with terror. With a knee to the bed, I crawl up beside her and kiss her until she’s on her back, her thighs open to accept me.
“Don’t be scared.” I lick down her throat to her neck. “I’m going to take care of you.”
I nestle my shoulders between her knees and lick up her thigh to sink my tongue inside her. Her answering sigh fills the room and ignites my blood. She’s slick and so soft and tastes like mine. I spend my time alternating between making her moan and making her relax. She grips my hair in an attempt to get me to finish her off, but I hold off. I want to feel her orgasm grip me when I’m deep inside her.
I crawl up her body and position myself between her legs. In her near-orgasm fog, she lifts her hips to invite me to thrust deeply inside. I hold myself in a fist, teasing her entrance.
Her hair is a dark halo against the white pillow as she tosses her head to the side. “Please, I need you.”
“Take a deep breath, baby.” I line myself up and press forward an inch.
I watch her expression to make sure I’m not pushing too much too soon, but she reflects nothing but eager desire. I push forward another inch. Her muscles put up little resistance and accept mine.
“That’s it, just keep breathing. Relax.” I inch forward again, another inch, and another. I clench my teeth as my dick is squeezed in a vise grip.
Her brow furrows.
“Talk to me.”
“I’m okay.” She nods. “Keep going.”
I push deeper. “Give yourself a second to get used to me.”
I kiss her softly, reverently, the way a woman like her deserves to be kissed, and I feel her inner muscles relax around me. Without breaking the kiss, I push in until I’m fully seated inside her.
“I’m okay,” she whispers between kisses. “You can move.”
I start slow, long deliberate pulls with shallow thrusts forward. Our tongues lick together, teeth nip at each other’s lips, and I roll my hips to rub against her most sensitive spot to bring her body the kind of pleasure that makes me go wild.
This is making love. Being more concerned with what will give her a soul-splitting orgasm than I am with chasing down my own. And the kicker is my own orgasm is chasing me down.
I pick up my pace, the sound of her moans shooting straight to my balls as they tighten in preparation. I plant my elbows on the bed, climb inches higher to change the angle, and her mouth drops open when I hit her g-spot. All at once, her muscles squeeze around me.
“Fuck,” I groan as I thrust one more time, only to feel her fall apart around me.
The rush of heat and an unrelenting fist grips my dick and sends my own release like a rocket up my spine. I bury my face in her neck, bite her throat, and see stars behind my eyes as I come harder than ever. My orgasm lasts for a full minute as I move inside her without abandon. It isn’t until I hear her soft giggle that I return to my body and to full consciousness.
“Are you l
aughing?” I say through a lazy smile. “Not exactly the response men hope for after making love to their woman.”
Regardless of the heavy implications of the words I just said, I can’t deny their truth.
“I want to do that again.”
I groan and roll off of her. The feeling in my legs slowly returns as I look into her adoring eyes. “You rocked my world.”
“That sounds like a line.” Her satiated grin and flushed cheeks are so sexy.
“I’ve never said it to anyone but you. I can’t feel my feet or my lips and I came so hard it made my ears ring.” I pull her laughing into my arms, her cheek to my chest. Three intense words hang loosely on the tip of my tongue.
I love you.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Taylor
I wake from a nightmare where I’m being chased by a swarm of Africanized bees only to find myself wrapped safely in Ethan’s arms. There are no bees threatening to destroy me, but there is a buzzing coming from the bedside table. Ethan’s phone stops vibrating, the screen goes to black, and as I begin to doze off, it rings again. The screen lights and the vibrations don’t stop.
The sky is barely lit, I’d guess it’s somewhere around five o’clock in the morning, and on the third round of vibrations, I reach for the device.
His arms tighten around me from behind. “Ignore it.” His voice is raspy and slurred with exhaustion.
After we made love last night, we ended up in the shower, where we kissed and touched until we were both ready to do it again. I thought shower sex would be fun, but Ethan refused, saying we could try eventually, but for the second time we make love, we should stick to the bed. I tried to fight him, seduce him under the warm spray of the shower, but he kept saying it would be best for me.
As I press my thighs together now and feel the tender ache between my legs, I think he may have been right.
His phone vibrates again.
“I can’t ignore it.” I groan and cover my ears. “Why don’t you just answer it?”
His big arm comes over me and he answers with a growled, “What the fuck?” After a series of yeses and nos, he finally says fine and hangs up. He buries his face in the back of my neck, breathes me in, then releases me to slip out of bed.