by Casey Hagen
She sure as hell had no intention of playing any version of the Newlywed Game again. Ever.
Without a flashlight, she didn’t dare venture to the few trails that wound through the woods and away from the house. Instead, she headed down the stone walkway, lit up by the warm glow of solar lights lining the edges of the rocks. The serene quiet of the night settled over her, soothing the worry in her gut. The air hadn’t dropped in temperature that night as it had the night before.
The sound of the lake water gently lapping the shore reminded her of those late summer nights her brother and his friends went off swimming, always leaving her behind no matter how much she begged. One time she had even offered to clean her brother’s room for the next year if he would take her along.
She never did manage to find his price.
But she followed him one night.
Because without a doubt, Trevor would be there with him.
Piper popped out from behind the last of the low hanging trees and searched the dock and water. Trevor’s clothes, or what she assumed were his clothes, lay in a pile at the end of the dock near the ladder.
Searching the water, she found him swimming in a steady pace parallel to the shore. Careful to stay as quiet as can be, she took measured steps and eased herself onto the dock and dropped down to sit next to Trevor’s discarded clothes.
His long, muscled arms arced out of the water with clean, consistent strokes. His head broke the surface for air with every extension of his left arm. She had seen him do this before and watching the beauty, the timing, and strength emanating from him never failed to set her nerve endings on fire.
He flipped down under the water, popped up, and headed the other direction. He may have been a football player to his core, but clearly, when he set his mind to learn something, he put his all into it.
She admired his dedication, she just wished he’d found a way to find success without sacrificing the man he had been. The cost had been far too high.
He glided to a stop and shook his head free of the water. She didn’t make a sound, but he found her sitting there anyway, admiring him.
“Spying on me?” he called as he sluiced his hands through the water in her direction.
“Checking on you.”
“And I’m still breathing. I guess you’re work here is done,” he said, his mouth tightened.
She bit back the words she burned to say. About how this was all his fault. Had he not compromised who he was as a man to become this money-making machine at the expense of everything, including his soul, he wouldn’t be in this mess. The man treading water in the lake wouldn’t hear those words.
The sheer frustration and anger coursing through him surrounded them, pacing like a jaguar waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.
And if they were going down in flames, if this whole ruse wasn’t going to work in his favor, she wanted to tap into that energy of his now, and turn it into passion and heat. She wanted to draw out that desire until neither one of them had a choice, but to let it consume them. Their time was now, even if only for a night.
“I’m not the enemy, Trevor.”
His shoulders relaxed a fraction with the words. “No, not the enemy. I’m not sure what the hell you are.”
Liar.
He felt it just as she did. That pull demanded recognition. He faced life, balls-to-the-wall, she would settle for no less when it came to this.
She unfolded her legs and dangled them in the water. With her palms resting on the cool wood of the dock, she kicked her feet back and forth in a smooth rhythm. “You know, I’ve seen you skinny-dipping before. I used to watch you when you’d all get together and leave me behind. There was this boulder tucked into the trees and I’d sit there for hours just to watch you.” The confession slid from her lungs before she had a chance to really think about what her admission revealed.
Just by the way he watched her, she could tell Trevor’s sharp mind didn’t miss a word. His eyes narrowed, but not in anger. Nope. She’d seen that look before. Well, not necessarily aimed at her, she didn’t get that close to men. Trevor’s swoon-worthy eye caress, until that moment, had been reserved for heroines in the movies.
He reached out and wrapped his strong fingers around her ankle pulling himself up to her, then did the same to her other ankle, holding himself there, holding her there.
Binding them.
“Why, Piper? Why did you spend so much time watching me?”
Her gaze fell away from his and roamed over his wet, solid shoulders and down his arms to where his hands started their slide up her calves to the sensitive area tucked behind her knees.
“Because you saw the real me, and you liked me anyway,” she whispered.
“Piper—”
“Don’t say anything. Don’t ruin it. Not tonight.” She pushed up to her feet and peeled her t-shirt over her head.
“What are you doing?”
“Swimming.” She dragged her shorts down her legs and tossed them with her shirt on his pile of clothes.
“And here you were worried about the bathing suit I originally packed,” she said as she reached behind her back.
The bra joined the heap. The sight of their clothes piled up together touched her somewhere she had kept locked away. It didn’t take a shrink to tell her the reason she had held men at arm’s length had everything to do with the fact that she had never given up on the idea that one day she might have a shot with Trevor.
Needing to get completely naked before she dared look at him, she peeled her bikinis down her legs and tossed them, too.
Trevor floated in the water, his hands clenched on the edge of the dock, his eyes roaming over her, starting at her feet and working his way up.
She rested her hand on her cocked hip, waiting, daring him to find fault. She studied the way his eyes changed, his every emotion there to see: they widened in surprise right before they flared with lust, and then that all-consuming need settled in.
“So, do I measure up to your other women?” Why did she say that? Her confidence danced away in the warm night breeze, leaving prom Piper in its wake.
He tilted his head back, kept his eyes on hers despite the nakedness before him. “What other women?”
Desperate to hide the pleasure the words gave her, afraid for him to see just how much she wanted him, she leapt past his head and dove cleanly into the lake.
The cool water soothed her fevered skin and washed away the events of the evening, the tension, the doubt. She broke the surface, wiped her eyes, and smoothed her hair. Treading water, she waited, wondering what Trevor’s next move would be.
He kicked away from the dock and caught her, wrapping his arm around her, and pulled her in. He used his other arm to tread water, their naked bodies brushed against one another eliciting shivers.
“You’re cold,” he said.
She shook her head. “No. I’m not.”
“I promised Rye I wouldn’t have sex with you,” he said.
“I promised him I wouldn’t have sex with you, either,” she said right back.
Trevor pressed his lips against her shoulder. His tongue flicked out along the ridge of her collarbone working his way up to her neck.
She slid her legs around his waist and locked them behind his back. His hard cock found her and settled right into the center of her, brushing her clit with every kick of his legs. She closed her eyes, letting the heat and desire build and torture.
“I guess he’s going to be disappointed in the both of us,” Trevor said, cupping his hand around her ass before seeking her with his fingers.
“Rye’s not the boss of me,” she said. God, she wanted those fingers, that mouth, and that thick heat between his legs sliding inside her. She gasped when his finger found her and teased her with a couple light swirls before diving inside.
He captured her moans with his lips. Fierce one minute, coaxing the next, he took possession of her mouth, taking and taking, as if she might vanish from his arms at an
y minute. The hard, cold metal of the ladder against her back made her gasp. She hadn’t even realized they were moving.
“That’s better,” he said, pinning her there. Locking his hands on the ladder, his muscles bunching and flexing with the effort, he thrust and buried himself inside her.
She cried out, splitting the silence of the night. He answered her by pulling back and thrusting again. A moan, deep and animal, rose up out of her. This had nothing to do with winning a promotion. There was no one to convince of their feelings. This was purely the two of them wrapped up in the vortex of feelings they’d danced around for the past two days. Their familiar past, their rocky present, and their uncertain future all intertwined and rose up to the surface demanding they take action.
Stripped to their beginnings, the girl next door and the football star sought each other in the inky night.
***
Trevor had to admit a part of him had craved this ever since he took her to prom. She had turned his head that night, but he had an obligation and had every intention of honoring it.
But he’d regretted not taking the opportunity for one kiss.
And now he had to wonder if the missed opportunity maybe wasn’t missed after all. Fate might well have had other plans, and had they crossed that line that night, they may never have been here to cross this one.
He intended to cross every damn line he’d set with her, both past and present.
Fuck the lines.
Piper had asked him where that boy she had known had gone.
He honest to God didn’t know.
Until now.
The day he’d left town, that guy stayed in his hometown, with her.
With each stroke she gripped him tighter, so tight he had to bury his face in her neck to keep from shouting into the night in the sheer glory of being inside her.
Every moan, every gasp, the way she dug her fingernails into his flesh seared itself on him as surely as if the Ancient Romans had branded him as they did runaway slaves.
He lifted her up the ladder and pistoned his hips, burying himself over and over, desperate to feel her explode around him.
“Stop holding out, Piper. Come for me, damn it,” he said, his voice rough and broken from the exertion.
He reached between them, found her clit, and teased it with his fingers. Her head fell back, her throat worked as her lungs heaved. He loved watching her lose control, but he wanted more. He wanted a complete loss of her senses. He increased his pressure, sucking a tight nipple into his mouth, tasting her sweet skin and clean lake water.
She tightened on him and he abandoned her hard nipple with one last, hard suck to watch her come apart. Her head snapped forward, her eyes locked on his, although, from the glazed, wild look in them, he couldn’t be sure she saw him. Her back stiffened and within seconds she spasmed and clutched his shoulders, riding out a powerful orgasm.
Gulping in air, she collapsed against his shoulder.
They needed to take this inside.
She deserved better than a fuck in the middle of the lake like a couple of teenagers.
He needed a condom. Hell, he should have already had one on.
He ran his hand along her back as her breathing slowed. He stayed buried in her until she calmed.
“Let’s take this to our bed,” he said, pulling out of her.
“Okay,” she whispered.
He turned her and gave her a boost up the ladder and followed behind. They pulled their clothes over their wet bodies, a miserable experience, but temporary enough.
Hand in hand, he led her along the path. Careful to make as little noise as possible, he opened the door and led her to their suite under the guidance of the few lamps Davidson had left on.
Twisting the knob, he opened it just far enough for the two of them to slip inside before clicking it shut.
She took one, two, three steps back away from him.
“You afraid of me now?” he asked as he advanced on her.
She smiled and hastened to peel off her damp, clinging clothes. “You can’t scare me.”
So she thought. And if he told her he loved her?
Wait.
Did he?
His steps faltered.
She tilted her head at him.
The ache in his heart at the thought of the big question mark tomorrow brought for them told him his answer.
Nothing to be done for that now.
He shook it off and shed his clothes. Naked and wanting, he closed in on her. Wrapping each hand around her hips, he walked her back until the back of her knees hit the side of the bed and she dropped to the mattress.
Her upturned, heavy breasts swayed with the movement, the glow of her skin dancing in the light.
All the things he’d never bothered noticing about other women, he explored with Piper. The gentle curve of her firm calves, the roundness of her hips, the soft, gentle swell of her belly, something she had come by after he had moved away. She had put on a good twenty pounds since he had seen her last and all of it in the right places.
Places that made men think about lounging in bed for days, exploring every inch of exposed flesh, or inspired them to paint nude masterpieces.
She cupped his cheek and searched his face. “You look sad.”
“Maybe a little lost.”
She pulled him down for a lingering kiss. She brushed her lips over him and teased his bottom lip with her tongue. “I found you,” she whispered against his lips.
His heart clenched.
He reached for his wallet, snagged a condom, and slid it on in silence as she devoured his every move with rapt attention.
He tasted her lips again, then set out to taste every inch of her before taking what he wanted. She tilted her head back, giving him access to her neck. She purred under the assault of his lips. Her hands slid into his hair when he reached the swell of her breasts.
When he sucked her tight, rosy nipple into his mouth, she arched her back, her heels digging into the mattress, her fingers locked in his hair. He lavished attention on each, rolling them between his lips and tongue before sliding his way down her stomach, dipping his tongue in her belly button, and moving along for points south.
Kneeling before her, he pushed her knees open wide and took in the sight before him. Piper, his Piper, naked for him, her skin flushed, her lungs heaving, her legs spread wide, waiting to see what came next.
He kissed the inside of her thighs making his way to her dampness. Desperate for a taste, he covered her with his mouth. When she slapped the headboard, and thrust her hips upward, pushing into him, he used his tongue to go deeper.
To drive her mad.
He swirled, kissed, and sucked until her head thrashed back and forth, her hands gripping the sheets as if they tethered her to the earth. On the brink, at the point when she clutched the back of his head and held him there, she ground her hips upward again, against his mouth; he freed himself and dove inside her.
He found home.
Pumping into her, he didn’t want to wait, he didn’t want to prolong the pleasure anymore. He wanted to come with her, so when she pulled his pillow to her mouth, biting down, and crying out, he slammed into her. She took a deep breath, he pulled almost all the way out and slammed into her even harder.
He ravaged her with savage force as she cried out, begged, clawed, and spiraled out of her damn mind, taking him right along with her.
He dropped onto her, holding himself up on his elbows, as he kissed her sweaty temple, her damp cheek, and stroked her arms as she cooled off.
By the time he rolled off of her, exhaustion had set in and sleep had all but taken her. He pulled her up against him just as he had the night before.
Two nights in a row he’d held Piper in his arms.
Two nights to memorize the feel of her before she returned to her life, and he to his, whatever his life may be.
Chapter 9
Piper rolled to her side and stretched her arms up to the headboard while pointin
g and flexing her toes. Every muscle protested the movement, but she didn’t care. She’d suffer for the next week, but every minute had been worth it.
Under the cover of darkness, they’d explored each other, with few words, instead using their hands, arms, and lips to convey the feelings racing through them. The sense of urgency increased as the night went on, as if the thieving dawn had the power to strip away what they’d found.
Now, as the sun rose over the lake and the morning crept up on them, she had no idea what to expect, other than another day, another performance.
At least last night they’d been free from the show.
Behind her, Trevor’s hand dove into her messy hair, finding her scalp, and massaged the nape of her neck before his fingers curled into the strands. He tugged, just enough to tell her who’s boss, enough to turn her on, but not to hurt.
Never hurt.
She shivered when his lips found her shoulder. “Good morning, Trouble.”
Her eyelids fluttered shut as she appreciated the remnants of the night before and his sensual greeting. “Mmmmm, good morning.”
“You hungry?” he asked.
“Ravenous.”
“Why don’t you take a shower and I’ll go see what I can steal from the breakfast options to bring back to you.”
She craned her neck around to meet his gaze. “I’d welcome any pilfered food you can bring my way.”
“You got it.” He slapped her ass cheek and rolled away. She studied him as he slid on a pair of sweats and stretched an Ohio SCartwright t-shirt over his broad chest.
Yeah, she’d hit that. The thought made her giggle, earning a smirk from Trevor.
“What are you up to over there?”
“Nothing,” she said.
“Uh huh, sure. I’ll be back soon,” he said as he ducked out the door.
She didn’t want to leave this room and step into the uncertainty that lay behind the door. The minute they had to play a role before others, this all disappeared with no guarantee that she could have it again.