No Interest in Love

by Cassie Mae

  My hand slips from her ribs to her stomach. My thumb trips over the piece of metal by her belly button. Suddenly I’m fifteen, and I can tell the river’s about to flow, and I don’t even want to stop it, even though I’m going to get hell for it. I haven’t even touched her boobs yet.

  But then her hips stop, and my boys pause on the trigger.

  She breathes fast and heavy near my lips before her head falls to my shoulder. Maybe she jumped the gun. If so, high five, boys! We made it.

  My fingers twitch against her stomach, and her hand slides from the wall and slaps around my wrist.

  “You okay?” I pant.

  She nods into my shoulder, then starts taking deep breaths. Her long exhales cool the sweat accumulating in the fabric of my shirt.

  “Um, I think I need a minute,” she says.

  “That good for ya, huh?” I tease, but she doesn’t laugh, so I wonder if she’s embarrassed or something. Nudging at her head with my cheek, I manage to get her to look at me. Her cheeks are bright red, loose hair stuck in sweat along her forehead, and she doesn’t look like I just sent her to heaven and back. Actually, she looks like she’s gonna…

  A long and loud grumble vibrates against my hand on her stomach, and she purses her lips together, shutting her eyes. She covers her mouth with a couple of fingers and shakes her head, muttering something in Korean.

  “Food baby kicking?” I ask with a breathless laugh, and another grumble answers me. Oh shit, the color in her face is draining pretty quickly. “You gonna ralph?”

  She shakes her head again. Her hands go up to cover her cheeks. “This is the most embarrassing way to ruin a moment.”

  “Honestly, two more seconds and I’d have ruined it.”

  She peeks between her fingers. “Huh?”

  “Never mind.” I gently start moving her, but she grabs onto my shoulders.

  “Oh…please don’t move.”

  “That bad, huh?” I can’t stop laughing, and it must be bad because she’s not bossing me around to keep my mouth shut.

  “I don’t think I should’ve had that last chicken wing.”

  “I don’t think you should’ve had the last ten.”

  “Ughnnn,” she groans, and slowly falls back to the floor. I adjust her legs because they don’t look all that comfortable.

  “All right, binger,” I say, crouching to my feet, “let’s get you to bed.”

  “I’m fine.” She bats at my hands as I try to pick her up.

  “I know. But I want to.”

  Her arms slip around my shoulders, and I hoist her up, using the wall and Shay’s strength to keep from falling to my ass. She’s small but sturdy, and she rarely lets me take control, even when I’m carrying her. So the five-second journey’s tougher than I imagined it would be, but I don’t mind it. I like putting in a little extra effort.

  “Careful on the landing,” she mutters as I start lowering her. I get about three inches from the mattress before I lose my balance and she drops to the bed. She moans, gripping a pillow and stuffing half her face in it.

  “Need a bucket?”

  “Oh, it’s not that type of food baby.”

  I chuckle and make sure there’s a clear path to the bathroom before kicking off my shoes once more. After tapping off all the lights minus one, I make my way to the bed and pull back the sheets.

  “You’re staying?” she asks, looking over her shoulder at me.

  “If that’s okay.”

  Her mouth pulls into a teasing grin and then she cuddles back with her pillow. “You know, some people would classify this as the beginning of a committed relationship.”

  “Really?” I settle my head onto my own pillow. “Why’s that?”

  “Choosing to spend the night when there is absolutely no chance of sex. Well, anymore.”

  “Anymore?” I grin up at the ceiling. “There was chance of sex?”

  “Oh yeah.” Her body shakes slightly with amusement. “What’d you think we were doing?”

  Good thing I didn’t go off, then. But I’m gonna have to prep the boys if sex is on the table in the near future.

  “Hmm…I’ve never been cock-blocked by indigestion before.”

  She curses in Korean, covering her blushing cheeks. It’s the most adorable she’s been yet.

  “Hey…” I grin, leaning over and pulling her hands down. “I’ve seen more sides of you this week than couples have seen of each other over the course of years. And I’m still into you.”

  There’s a few silent beats before she takes a deep breath and twists under the covers to face me.

  “Will you still say that in the morning?”

  “Yes.” I kiss her forehead and pull her in close. “Though…I kind of want to hear it back.”

  “So needy.” She sighs, but she hitches her leg up onto my hip and pushes into my chest. I’ll take it, because getting this sort of response from Shay instead of a verbal one feels like a much bigger accomplishment.

  10:02 A.M.

  I’ve never woken up aching to drop kisses over every inch of Miss Last Night’s body. Then again, I’ve never been so into a woman before.

  “Mmm,” Shay murmurs in her sleep, arms cradling my head as I press my lips to her neck over and over again. “What time is it?”

  “Time to wake up.” I smile against her skin, and she pushes her hips into mine as she stretches. Just-barely-awake Shay is quickly becoming my favorite person.

  “How’s the food baby?”

  “Gone,” she says through a yawn. My hand runs over her shoulder, smooths down her arm to her elbow. She twitches a bit, breasts bumping into my chin.

  “Ticklish there?”

  “No.”

  “Liar.” I tickle the skin near her elbow and her eyes awaken. She flashes a challenging glare at me before leaping up and pinning me to the pillows. She plants her knees on either side of my waist and dangles her mess of hair over my face.

  “This is not how I pictured this,” I say, whipping my head side to side so the strands don’t end up in my nostrils. She laughs, her body moving against mine, which already has Morning Woody perking up for more attention. Shay leans back, keeping hold of my wrists.

  “Really? Because I totally pictured it this way.”

  I sit up, dropping my hands onto her bare thighs. My fingertip runs across a prickly patch of hair, and I smirk as I examine it.

  “Missed a spot.”

  “You’re lucky I shaved past my knee.”

  I suck in a breath, letting my fingers dance with the fabric of her shorts. “Who knew you were such a dirty talker?”

  Her eyes roll back as my hands wander farther up her shorts. I still want to drop kisses everywhere my lips can reach. After I explore all of her neck and chest, her mouth seeks mine out and I cup her cheek, hold her there. I could be satisfied just holding her here for the rest of the script.

  “Jace?” she says, breaking away from my lips to catch her breath.

  “Yeah?”

  “I can’t just do one night,” she whispers, eyes slowly opening to mine.

  “It’s morning,” I tease. She lightly taps the back of my head. “I thought I was pretty straight up about it yesterday,” I say. “This isn’t just a onetime thing for me. Hell, we don’t even have to do anything right now if you don’t want.”

  She laughs and wiggles on my waist, indicating that she definitely wants to do something right now. “Okay, then please touch me, damn it.”

  “I am touching you.”

  “Not there.”

  I move my hand toward her ass, but she snaps my wrist.

  “Not there.”

  “Is there an instruction manual I’m supposed to be reading?” I lift up different parts of her shirt.

  “Like you read instructions.”

  “Well, I love you too.” It’s out before I realize that I’m pretty sure I mean it this time. And it doesn’t make me want to run. I actually want to repeat myself, but Shay has practically pushed my ha
nd where she wants it. I’m more than happy to oblige.

  “Um…I may be loud,” she says as I push the material of her underwear out of the way.

  “How is that a bad thing?”

  “Like, embarrassingly loud.” She nods behind me. “Hand me a pillow.”

  I shake my head, curiosity piqued. I run a finger along what I now realize is Shay’s volume button. Loud doesn’t even cover the sound she makes.

  “You are gonna wake the neighbors.” I laugh, but she grabs me by the back of the neck and smashes her mouth against mine. Suddenly I’m swallowing her noises, moving my fingers in a faster rhythm, wanting to taste more and more of her moans. She rocks against my hand, kissing me with ferocity. I don’t know whether it’s to shut up me or her, but I really don’t care either way.

  After several seconds (or it could be minutes or hours or days), her thighs clench, and her lips pop free from mine. She lets out a bunch of Korean at a volume I’m pretty sure can break glass, then she throws herself forward and I swear…she bites my shoulder clean off.

  “Holy shit,” I say, unbelievably flattered and turned on, but equally paranoid that I’m bleeding all over the bed sheets. “You like to bite.”

  “I…I’m sorry,” she pants, volume returning to normal. I slip my fingers back to her thigh, in absolute wonder that I was able to get her off within seconds. The boys and I are glad that speed is okay for her.

  “Am I bleeding?” I ask. She laughs and shakes her head against my shoulder before pulling my shirt away and pushing kisses along the skin. The pain heals almost instantly. The thing could’ve needed stitches and I wouldn’t have known.

  “All better?” she asks. And I take her chin and direct her kisses to my lips. I realize as our tongues dance that I’ve never truly kissed a woman before her. Not like they’re meant to be kissed.

  Her nails trail down my cheeks, rest on my chest for the briefest of moments, then slither to the bottom of my shirt.

  “Off,” she says. I laugh around her mouth and let her strip me bare. And as adorable as she looks in the baggy shirt she’s wearing, I think I’ve seen her in baggy clothing long enough.

  “Off,” I reply, lifting the shirt from her body. My eyebrows rise when I take in her skin. “No bra,” I utter like an idiot.

  “I had to get rid of that thing.”

  “Well…you’re a big fat liar, then.”

  “How so?” she asks, leaning in and nibbling on my ear. My brain’s starting to melt.

  “Uh…you said it’s noticeable when you don’t wear one.”

  “You did notice.”

  A lazy smirk hits my lips. “We’re fighting again.”

  She settles her hands on my chest and shoves me back to the pillows. I could look at her all day like this.

  A nail strokes along the lines of my tattoo, and I bring up my hands, pretending there’s a camera in them, then say, “Click.”

  “Taking a mental picture?”

  “Oh yeah.”

  “Make sure you save it to the hard drive.” She rolls her hips slightly, then slides down my body.

  I’m dying.

  Nope.

  I’m dead.

  She rests her chin on her hand over my belly button, still driving me absolutely mad as she traces my tattoo.

  “Do you have any more?”

  I shake my head. I think. Honestly, I don’t know what’s happening anymore beyond her hand on my skin. “Do you?”

  “Just the one.” Her cheek presses against my abs and she draws a line from Wolverine’s claws to my pants. “You slept in your jeans.”

  “I’ve been sleeping in jeans all week.”

  “You could’ve taken them off.”

  “My body would’ve been so tempting, you would’ve battled through indigestion to get a piece of it.”

  “I would’ve just reminded myself of the time I walked in on you taking a whiz.”

  I laugh, making her head bounce on my stomach. “That reminds me…What happened in that bathroom?” I ask, referring to the truck stop incident she still hasn’t told me about. She shakes her head, pushing her lips together.

  “Nothing.”

  “Come on…” I trace a line up her arm, grinning at the goose bumps I leave on her skin.

  “It’s not exactly foreplay talk.”

  “Are we in the middle of foreplay?”

  She growls, tossing her head back, and it’s adorable and sexy all wrapped in one.

  “There was a lady in there.”

  “Okay,” I say, leaning up on my elbows. She’s actually gonna spill this time.

  “She was naked.”

  I wait for more. “That it?”

  She shakes her head. “And she was…relieving herself.”

  “It was a bathroom.”

  “Into her sun hat.”

  Another laugh pushes at my gut, and I toss my head back and let it all out. She smacks my stomach, but her hand lingers there as I laugh. Her fingers run over my skin, and when I tilt my head forward, her face is right next to mine.

  “I should not be this turned on by you right now,” she says, as if it’s my fault.

  “All this bathroom talk…It’s making you horny.”

  “I’m one sick pervert.” She sighs and rests back on my chest. “I just love seeing you laugh like that.”

  “The feeling is mutual.” I reach down to tickle her elbows, but she moves her fingers to the button on my jeans, and the Smurfs and Woody both yell at me to not distract her.

  It takes her a couple shots to get the fly open, and I lie back and just let her at it. She tucks her hands into the waistband and tugs, and I laugh as the jeans move probably about an inch and no more.

  She grabs at my pockets and pulls. Takes any extra fabric and yanks. She’s making some pretty impressive grunting noises while I just chuckle at her efforts. She finally gets the waistband to my knees and stands up at the foot of the bed. Grabbing handfuls of fabric by my ankles, she does one final tug and tosses the jeans behind her.

  “Thank you so much for your help,” she pants, bare chest heaving up and down, long hair covering her breasts. I can’t see anything lower than that because my boxers are pitched high.

  “No problem,” I answer with a sly grin. She makes a face, then lunges on top of me. Her teeth find my ear, and I know she’s probably trying to tease and play, but I like it far too much to complain about it.

  I grab her waist, stroke my thumb over the jewel dangling from her belly button, and try to get a glimpse of it. But she distracts me once again by moving her playful bites down my chest. Those bites soon turn to kisses, and Woody is practically dancing when she gets to the top of my boxers.

  “Crap,” she says, turning to look behind her. “I just threw the condom across the room, didn’t I?”

  “Yep.”

  She sighs, then kisses me through my underwear before hopping off the bed to get my wallet. A rush flows through my blue balls, and I shoot upright.

  “You gotta give me a second.”

  She laughs as she digs through my pockets. “I’m way over here.”

  I scramble from the bed, tripping over the bedsheets and bumping off the walls to the bathroom.

  “Two seconds, I swear,” I say, then duck inside and shut the door behind me.

  Cold water.

  I need cold water and lots of it.

  Flipping on the faucet, I grab onto the counter and breathe, looking down at the boys and shaking my head.

  “All right, guys…I know it’s been a while. But you gotta give her at least ten minutes. At least.”

  The throbbing in my pelvis tells me I’m SOL, and if I could reach, I’d dump these impatient bastards in the sink and hose ’em down. Instead I settle for filling a glass and biting back a girlish yelp as I make them take a swim in the cold water. It doesn’t make Woody go away, but I’m doing the best I can here.

  I take a deep breath, pull my boxers up, and head back out. The clock says 10:22. Shay’s kn
eeling on the bed, her eyebrows knit together as she reads the condom package.

  “It’s flavored.”

  “You like cherries?” I ask with a grin, crawling across the mattress toward her. I move her hair from her shoulder and press kisses to the beating pulse on her neck.

  “I’m trying to figure out the logic behind one of these things.”

  “It makes the sex smell like fruit.”

  “I’m sure that’s exactly what you thought when buying it.” She rolls her eyes to meet mine, and I kiss her cheek.

  “Can I ask a favor?” I ask.

  “If you want me to go down on you with this thing—”

  “Will you please…put on your glasses?” I nod to the red frames sitting on the nightstand. She gives me a questioning look.

  “Are you teasing me?”

  “Absolutely not.”

  She reaches back, and I run a hand over her tattoo until she’s kneeling in front of me again. With the bravado of someone about to give a lap dance, she slides them up her nose, then suggestively puckers her lips at me.

  My hands find her waist, and I pull her onto my lap. Her lips crash into mine, and I cradle her face, taking her down with me to the pillows. I feel her tear into the condom wrapper, then she yanks down my boxers. A laugh muffles between our lips, because I’m digging the enthusiasm. Her hand starts to push the condom on, but she startles back.

  “Why are you so cold?”

  “Uh…Can you just ignore that?”

  “I don’t know if I can.” She eases back on my legs, resting there till I make a move. I sit up and start kissing behind her ear until she forgets that I’m a few degrees chillier down under than I should be.

  “Mmm,” she moans, then a slew of Korean spills from her lips.

  “Do you only curse in Korean?” I ask, smiling against her cheek. She nods and tilts her head back to give me access to her neck. She even points to where she wants my mouth. I laugh, hold her steady by the jaw, and drag the tip of my tongue from the hollow of her throat back to her ear. She swears again in her sexy-as-hell language, then slips her hands down, pushing the condom on.

  She’s got that frantic look in her eyes, like we suddenly don’t have time to do this. She stands up, and I hold her steady while she pushes her shorts off. Her knees land back down on either side of my hips, and she settles her hands on my shoulders. She tries to force me onto my back, but I stay upright. More control that way. I can steady her hips and her movements in case they’re going too fast and Woody starts to bow out.