by Mandy Baxter
Tess squealed and lashed out with her own roller, as she coated Carter’s arm. He dotted her nose and cheeks with paint and snatched the roller from her hand before she could retaliate. She reached for the paint tray, determined to get him back. He took her down in a tackle and they rolled to the floor in a riot of laughter and tangled limbs.
“No fair,” she said through bouts of laughter. “I don’t tackle people for a living.”
Carter chuckled and the sound rippled pleasantly over her skin. “Neither do I,” he replied. “I’m the quarterback.”
They dissolved into another fit of laughter that caused Tess’s chest to ache and her stomach muscles to bunch up. It had been so long since she’d laughed like this. It felt good. Soon, she realized that she was the only one still laughing and she opened her eyes to find Carter studying her with an intensity that stole her breath.
He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. Soft and slow at first. A tease. Tess had never been kissed so decadently in her entire life, as though Carter wanted to savor every meeting of their lips. He settled himself between her thighs and Tess’s knees fell open. His body fit hers perfectly and she let out a slow sigh of contentment. Her hands found his hair and she let the silky strands slip through her fingers before scraping her nails over his scalp. He let out a low growl that sent her heart to pounding in her chest.
“Tess,” he murmured against her mouth.
The emotion in his voice speared her heart. Want, sadness, indecision. Was this the first time Carter had been with anyone since—
“We don’t have to,” she said quietly. It killed her to say it. No matter what he felt, Tess was one hundred percent sure that she wanted him. “Carter, it’s okay.”
He put his forehead to hers and let out a slow sigh. “I want you so much I can’t even form the words to explain it, Tess. I’m—shit,” he said with a disgust snort. “I’m afraid.”
Dear god, he was gutting her. “Afraid of what?”
“Of caring for anyone that I might end up losing.”
Carter Christensen broke the mold. “Maybe this doesn’t have to be about caring about someone.” She’d be lying if she said this was only about meaningless sex. But she wanted Carter to know that whatever he needed this to be, it was okay.
“Just a hookup, huh?”
“People do it all the time. We’re consenting adults, I think it’s okay.”
“Travis would have had you in bed the first night,” he said with a rueful laugh. “God, I suck at this.”
He was much better than he gave himself credit for. “You think too much.” Tess combed her fingers through his hair as he relaxed against her. She turned her head and kissed his forearm. Her hand wandered down until it cupped the back of his neck and she urged him down so she could gently kiss his mouth. “And I don’t want Travis or anyone else.” She kissed him again and his lips lingered this time. “I want you.”
Carter’s mouth seized hers. No longer playful. Not tentative or unsure. He didn’t savor her. This time, he claimed her. Their tongues met and parted in an urgent tangle as his lips slanted across hers. He kissed her until Tess was breathless and her blood raced hot through her veins. Carter nipped at her bottom lip, and Tess’s pussy clenched. He ventured across her jaw, down her throat to her collarbone. Tess arched into his touch as Carter fisted the hem of her T-shirt and dragged it up the length of her body. She helped him to strip it off of her and let out a low moan as the heat of his mouth found the swell of her breast.
Tess’s nipples hardened and she arched into Carter’s touch. His mouth was a brand and he devoured her, moving from the outer swell inward. He found her nipple through the fabric of her bra and nibbled. When Tess gasped, he bit down a little harder and she cried out as she pressed up toward his mouth. If the contact felt this good through her bra, she didn’t think she’d survive the skin-on-skin contact.
Urgency dictated her movement as she reached between them and fumbled with the button of his jeans. He shifted his hips up to give her access, and she worked his zipper down with one hand while she shoved the other past the waistband of his underwear to grope greedily for hard, hot flesh. Tess took him in her hand and stroked from the swollen head to the base of his shaft. A tremor passed through Carter’s body as he groaned. Holy shit. Tess thought she might come from nothing more than his reaction to her touch. It filled her with a euphoric sense of power, and she stroked him again, slowly.
“Tess,” Carter said through panted breaths. “That … feels so good.”
She squeezed tighter as she stroked him this time, brushing the pad of her thumb over the crown. Carter shuddered once again and anything between them that had been tentative dissolved in a storm of passion.
Carter’s mouth descended on hers. Urgent, demanding, hungry. He cupped the back of her neck. Held her the way he wanted as his mouth slanted over hers. He sucked her bottom lip, nipped at the sensitive skin, lapped at her until her lips throbbed from the punishment. With shaking hands, he reached behind her and she arched her back so he could unclasp her bra. He ripped it from her and his open mouth came down over her nipple in a shock of heat. Tess gasped at the intense sensation as he swirled his tongue over the tight bead before taking it between his teeth.
“Carter, don’t stop.” Tess couldn’t remember a time she’d felt so good. If she was being honest, she couldn’t’ remember the last time she’d done anything like this in the broad light of day. It excited her, sent a wild thrill through her bloodstream that pulsed low in her abdomen and made her so wet that her own arousal soaked her underwear.
Carter shifted so that he rested on his hip beside her. He took the opposite breast roughly in his large hand and kneaded her flesh before giving it the same frenzied attention with his mouth. Tess’s body beaded with sweat, heat and desire swamped her. Her back bowed off of the floor and when she didn’t think she could take another moment of intense sensation, Carter shoved his hand past the waistband of her yoga pants and slid his fingers through the wet lips of her pussy.
Tess cried out. Her fingers found the tangles of his hair and she gripped the strands in her fist as he suckled her nipple, bit the hardened peak while the pad of his finger circled her clit. She was fully under Carter’s spell now. Lost to him. It was a dangerous road to venture down. One that might end in another broken heart. But Tess didn’t care. She didn’t care about anything other than what she felt. This moment was bliss and it had no comparison.
Seven
Carter felt as though he was having an out-of-body experience. Without any control over his actions, he had no choice but to watch. By giving him permission to simply feel without the crippling emotional connection, Tess had opened the floodgates of a year’s worth of pent-up sexual energy.
He’d missed this so much. The passion, the feeling of naked skin against his own. The mindless frenzy that wouldn’t cease until they both came.
Carter’s sac tightened. His cock throbbed in time with his pulse. The salty-sweet taste of Tess’s skin was heaven. He wanted to devour her. To taste every inch of her. To leave her weak and shaking and sated and at the same time wanting more.
Tess gripped his hair in her fist and the almost-pain caused Carter’s cock to pulse hot and hard. The memory of her grip on his shaft sent a shudder through him and he rocked his hips against her as though he were pumping inside of her.
“Tess, you feel so good.” Carter spoke against her heated skin, unwilling to break the contact for even a moment. She let out a low whimper as he circled her clit with the pad of his finger, and the sound raced down his spine in a pleasant shiver. He wanted more of those sounds, more of her panting breaths. More of her.
Carter came up on his knees and settled between her legs. Tess’s gaze met his, the blue of her eyes seemed to deepen to a dark navy with her passion. Her tongue flicked out at her luscious, dark pink lips and Carter’s cock twitched as he imagined it flicked out at his engorged head. Her pert breasts quivered with each shuddering
draw of breath and Carter took in the sight of her, laid out before him like a meal he couldn’t wait to devour.
He gripped the waistband of her yoga pants and jerked them down off of her thighs. She brought her legs up and he whisked them off of her. He eased her feet back down to the floor and her knees fell open. Carter’s gaze settled to the glistening pink flesh of her pussy, and his mouth went dry. Her pussy was already wet and swollen. Her arousal had begun to spread over her inner thighs.
Lord, she was beautiful. For a moment he simply stared. Took in the sight of her naked and totally unashamed. The passion that sparked in her gaze set him on fire and a smile flirted with her lush mouth.
“What?” The word left her lips in a breathy rush that tightened Carter’s gut.
“You’re beautiful, Tess.”
Her smile grew and emotion shone in her eyes. How could he possibly think being with her would be some detached physical moment and nothing more? Especially when she looked at him like that.
Carter stripped his T-shirt off and settled between her thighs. He looked up the length of Tess’s body, fascinated by the flat plane of her stomach and the way the muscles twitched in anticipation of his touch. He reached out and feathered his finger over her clit. Her muscles contracted as her head rolled back on her shoulders. He increased the pressure and her back arched off the floor as a low moan filled the silence. Carter dipped a finger lower and teased the sensitive skin of her opening. Tess’s panting breaths caused his sac to tingle with anticipation. Every muscle in his body had grown taut with the intensity of his want of her.
The moment he sealed his mouth over her clit, Tess cried out. Her legs drew up as her body curled in on itself. Carter placed his palms on either thigh and urged her to open for him. He eased her into the intensity of sensation with slow, gentle passes, using the flat of his tongue. He couldn’t get enough of her taste, her scent. The way she writhed and her hips undulated in an attempt to increase the pressure of his mouth. Carter didn’t want to rush, though. This might be the only day he had with her and he wanted to make every single minute count.
He cupped the round curves of her ass in his palms and angled her hips up to his mouth. He feasted on her pussy, long slow passes that he followed up with gentle flicks. He took her clit into his mouth and sucked. Tess cried out, and the sound hitched on a whimper that made Carter’s cock so damned tight he thought he might come before he even got inside of her. He drew her labia into his mouth, scraped his teeth along the sensitized flesh. He thrust his tongue in her opening before slowly dragging up the length of her glistening pussy back to her protruding clit where he started all over again.
Tess’s impassioned sobs echoed in the otherwise quiet room. Carter let one hand wander over her hip, up the flat of her stomach to her breast. He kneaded the swell, squeezed, before taking her nipple between his thumb and finger. He worked the tight bead with gentle pressure at first and then pinched. Tess’s thighs twitched and tightened around his cheeks and her back arched up from the floor as she came. Carter pressed his tongue against her clit. It throbbed against him in time with every impassioned cry from Tess’s lips. He continued to lap at her lazily, bringing her down from the high while he relished the taste of her passion.
She was perfect.
Carter kissed the inside of her thigh, around the curve of her hip, and over her belly. The muscles contracted with the light touch and he smiled against her skin as he worked his way up her ribcage. He grazed his teeth against the underside of one breast and Tess shivered. He rounded the swell with open-mouthed kisses, making his way to the dusky nipple that he sucked into his mouth.
When her cries became desperate again, he switched to the other breast, working her slowly back to that point of mindless want. Her breaths hitched in her chest and she gripped his shoulders, her nails digging in until Carter felt the slightest bite. He kissed a path along her collarbone, up the delicate column of her throat to her jaw. A light bite was followed by a gentle kiss and then another. His lips found the corner of hers and then moved fully over her mouth.
Tess’s hands wandered from his shoulders down his back and along his ribs. Her touch was like silk as her palms glided over him. Was it because it had been so long since a woman had touched him that the slightest contact caused Carter to tremble or was it because it was Tess who touched him? It was Tess. Carter had never been so sure about anything. She gripped the waistband of his jeans and came up from the floor as she pushed them down over his ass along with his boxer briefs.
He knew he’d come the second he buried himself inside of her.
“Carter,” Tess murmured against his mouth. “I want you. I need you inside of me.”
“No.” She stilled and he kissed her. Soft and slow. “I need it to last. I don’t want it to be over yet.”
Tess’s throaty chuckle heated his blood to the boiling point. “When is your brother bringing the girls home?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Then trust me, we won’t be done until they walk through that door in the morning.”
Carter groaned into her mouth as he kissed her again. Twenty-four hours with Tess. For the first time in what felt like forever, something in his life had gone right.
* * *
The rightness of being with Carter shook Tess to her marrow. She couldn’t remember the last time a man had made her feel so good. Focused solely on her pleasure and acted as though he enjoyed it. He was unlike any man she’d ever known, and even though she’d assured him that they could be together—no strings attached—Tess worried that after today he’d worm his way permanently into her heart.
She was willing to risk a broken heart, though. For this one day with him, she would’ve risked anything.
Carter rolled away from her long enough to kick off his shoes, socks, and jeans. He dug into the back pocket and fished out his wallet. He pulled out the condom package and gave a rueful laugh. “Travis insisted I carry a few in my wallet. Something about not being able to get back on the horse if I didn’t have a saddle. I gave him shit for pushing me but I guess I owe him.”
Tess giggled. “Oh, I’m definitely sending him a fruit basket.”
Carter laughed in earnest and the sound warmed her. “I was thinking of something more along the lines of a new car.”
“Definitely.” The levity of the moment gave way to the distraction of Carter’s naked body. Tess’s stomach did a back flip and landed hard as she committed every detail to memory. She’d never dated a guy like Carter before, let alone seen one without any clothes.
A spark of heat lit Carter’s hazel gaze and a lazy smile spread across his lips. “I forgot how good it feels to have someone look at me like that.”
Tess swallowed down a groan. Why did he have to continue to say things like that? Each time it cracked her heart and a little piece of Carter moved in to fill in the fissure. “I can’t imagine that you don’t get looks like this on a regular basis.” The man was built like he’d been chiseled by a master sculptor.
“This might surprise you, but aside from the guys in the locker room, you’re the only person who’s seen me naked in long time.”
Those lucky bastards. Tess tried not to think about the fact that today might be all she’d ever have with Carter. She had to live in the now, enjoy the present moment and not worry about the future.
“Just so you know,” Tess said. “You’re the only person who’s seen me naked in a long time, too.”
What could have been an awkward transition seemed so comfortable with Carter. Hell, he’d just given her the sort of orgasm that should have blown her head right off her shoulders. But the change in pace and ease of conversation seemed so natural. As though they’d known each other for years and had found a natural, easy rhythm.
“I like that I’m the only one who’s seen you naked in a while,” Carter drawled. A finger of heat stroked down her spine and caused Tess’s lower abdomen to tighten.
“Me too,” Tess said just above a whisper.
Carter clenched the packet in his fist and leaned in toward Tess. He towered over her, his hands so large he could almost palm her entire head. Ropes of muscle shaped every inch of his body and yet, Carter handled her with such gentle care that it nearly brought tears to Tess’s eyes. He brushed a lock of her hair away from her face before he kissed her. Tess could’ve kissed him for hours. He’d perfected the act until it was a work of art, every movement of his lips carefully orchestrated and executed. His attention to detail without flaw.
“If you play football like you kiss,” Tess said between panted breaths, “you must be the best in the NFL.”
Carter smiled against her mouth and for the first time ever she actually felt like swooning. This could not possibly be her life. The only explanation was that she’d possessed the body of the luckiest woman in the world.
“Wouldn’t you rather know if I fuck as well as I kiss?”
Oh dear lord. The dirty talk caught her completely off guard and Tess just about came right then and there. “I have no doubt that you do.” She barely had enough air in her lungs to get the words out.
He grinned. “I might disappoint you.”
The arrogance in that grin sent a swarm of butterflies loose in her stomach. He was a professional athlete and built like a god. She didn’t think Carter doubted his abilities very often. “Do you ever go into any situation without being ready to give a hundred ten percent?”
“No.” His expression became serious and his gaze heated.
The flutter of butterflies increased to a swirling storm and Tess’s body flushed with delicious heat. He’d brought his A game so far, and a competitive urge rose up in Tess. The short break had cooled them both off enough that their brains weren’t fogged with the frenzy of lust. She wanted to make Carter feel as good as he’d made her feel. She wanted to drive him crazy. Of course, she didn’t have his unshakable confidence, but Tess wasn’t about to chicken out. He was with her now and that’s all that mattered. She was going to make sure she made the most of their time together.