Unable to resist, he kissed his way up her body, pausing only to give each of her tits brief attention while she tried to catch her breath. “Feeling good?”
She shook her head while looking at him with a passion he couldn’t remember from her before. “I want more,” she whispered, pulling his head up to meet hers. “I want you.”
He returned her kiss while sliding into her, groaning at the tight sensation. She was warm and wet, and he could feel the lingering quiver of her orgasm. “You feel so good, baby.” As he began his slow thrusts, he rose onto locked arms, awestruck by the beauty lying beneath him.
The firelight gave her an ethereal glow, an echo of the heat from her pussy as he increased his pace. It was intoxicating to watch her head lolling from side to side and her face painted with pleasure.
“Kelsey,” he whispered, closing his eyes to the sensation that was quickly building. His speed increased and he groaned, signalling his impending release.
“Oh, my…” she began, but then her whole body froze. Her muscles flexed and she clamped her hands on his arms. Already teetering on the edge, the spasms surrounding his cock were more than he could take, and he exploded inside her with a growl of pleasure.
No longer able to support his weight, he lowered himself to her side and pulled her against his chest as he tried to slow his erratic breathing. In turn, she rested her head on his shoulder and wrapped her leg over his. The apartment was quiet, save for the crackling of the fire, coupled with the soft puffs that signalled Nick and Kelsey's desperate need for air.
“I missed you,” she finally whispered as she rubbed his chest.
“You did?”
“Yes. In fact,” she said lifting her head and propping herself on her elbow, “I was just debating whether to call you or not.”
“Yeah?”
“I didn’t want to wait until Friday to talk to you,” she said, lowering her eyes.
He placed his fingers under her chin to guide her face towards his. “Does that embarrass you?”
“I just don’t want you to think I’m one of those girls.”
“Those girls?”
“You know, the clingy, needy type. The kind that can’t live without a boyfriend.”
He looked into her clear blue eyes and spoke before thinking. “What if I wanted you to be clingy?”
“What do you mean?”
He hadn’t planned on having this conversation when he’d shown up on her doorstep, but as it was out there, he may as well go for it. “What… What if I asked you to be exclusive? What would you say?”
“Are you asking?”
He gave her a small chuckle. One thing about this woman—she was always unexpected. “Yes, baby, I’m asking. I want us to be exclusive.”
“You mean you want me to be your girlfriend?”
“Yeah.” He smiled at her innocence while watching the flames flicker in her eyes.
“Then I’d have to say yes.” She lowered her head, kissing him tenderly before lying down on his chest.
“I missed you too, baby,” he whispered, holding her tight. “So from now on, no wondering if you should call me or not, okay?”
“Okay.”
Nick closed his eyes and enjoyed the peace he finally felt after an emotional day. After a few minutes, she popped her head up.
“What happened to you? You seemed so upset when you arrived here.”
“I really don’t feel like talking about it, okay? I just had a bad day. I wanted to see you because I knew you’d make me smile. And you certainly did.”
She nodded in acceptance as she shivered, the warmth from the fire not enough to counter the slight chill in the air. After grabbing the shirt he’d discarded beside them, she wrapped it around herself. “Can I get you a beer?”
“Yeah, that sounds good.” He sat up and grabbed his jeans. He slid them on, enjoying the way his shirt swayed against her ass as she glided first towards the bathroom then to the kitchen. He was sure she had no idea of the power she held, and that made her irresistible.
“Here ya go.” She handed him a bottle of beer before settling into the couch with her own.
He sat beside her and stared at the small patch of skin peeking through the trail of unfastened buttons running the length of the shirt. “Do you have any idea how sexy you are?”
“You think so?”
“Absolutely.” He trailed his finger lightly over the exposed skin.
She mimicked his actions, running her fingers along the black lines of his tattoo. “Can I ask you something?”
He saw the change in her expression and became nervous. “Sure.”
“I noticed this the night we met, but I was too afraid to ask.” She cleared her throat and brushed her hand along the masked scars on his shoulder. “How were you hurt?”
Her question didn’t surprise him. As she’d said, why beat around the bush? Since she’d been open and honest from the moment they’d met, he wanted to be just as open, and this was one area where he could be.
“I’m sorry. If you don’t want to talk about it…”
“No,” he said, grasping her hand firmly, “it’s okay. I, uh… I just haven’t talked about it for a long time.”
“When did it happen?”
“Six years ago. I went to a bar with some buddies of mine. We were just looking to blow off some steam after work. You know, typical guy stuff. We had some beer, shot some pool, had some more beer, and we started to get friendly with some women.”
She folded her legs beneath her and slid closer as he continued his story. She held his hand firmly as if she knew how difficult a memory this was for him.
“When their dates showed up, they apparently didn’t like us speaking to their girlfriends and a fight broke out. It was almost over before it started, but not before one of the guys…”
“What?”
“One of the guys smashed a bottle over my shoulder,” he said as she audibly gasped. “Ripped through it pretty good. But the doctors said I was lucky. A few inches lower and the shards could have worked their way into my heart. I underwent five different surgeries, one to remove the glass and the others to repair the muscle, tendon and ligament damage. Then months of rehab.”
She looked at the bottle in her hand, immediately setting it down on the coffee table. “That’s horrible. I can’t imagine what you went through.”
“It wasn’t so much the injury. That night changed my whole life. If you’d asked me years ago where I’d be and what I’d be doing right now…” He shook his head and laughed, leaving his statement unfinished.
“Is that why you got the tattoo?”
“Yeah. I wanted something to try to cover the scars and I saw this design in a tattoo shop one night.”
She rubbed her fingers along his ink, but this time tracing the fading scars it camouflaged. “I think you’re pretty amazing, you know that?” she whispered sincerely.
“Why? Because I can take a beating?”
“No, because you got back up and kept going. That takes an incredibly strong person.” Kelsey took the beer from Nick’s hand and set it beside hers on the table. She slid onto his lap and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, holding him and gently caressing his healed injury. “Thank you for telling me the story… For trusting me with it.”
She had no idea what she stirred inside him with such a simple gesture. He wasn’t sure if he was ready, but even if he wasn’t, he had no choice.
He was falling for her—and he was falling hard.
Chapter Fourteen
Nick was somewhere between sleep and consciousness when he realised the incessant beeping in his dream was real. He groaned and lolled his head slowly from side to side, feeling every ache and pain run down the length of his spine. His eyes fluttered open, immediately followed by confusion when he didn’t recognise his surroundings. The light tickle of Kelsey’s breath as she slept allowed him to relax with memories of the previous night. After sliding his left hand between the firmness
of the couch and the softness of her skin, he pulled her closer and she snuggled deeper into his chest.
They’d talked late into the morning hours, laughing and getting to know each other better. They’d talked about their childhoods, school days, football games and dances. It seemed one topic had led to another in an endless exchange of life experiences, though he was careful not to expand on the difficulty his father had caused in his family. For the time being, it was enough for her to know that he and his father hadn’t got along. He’d tell her the story one day—but not today.
After he’d put another log on the fire, and teased her repeatedly for being cold enough to even need one in the middle of summer, they once again gave in to their desires before falling asleep in each other’s embrace. That’s where he awoke, resting comfortably under the warmth of the throw from the back of the couch.
The beeping continued until he lifted his head, needing to figure out just what it could be. Turning his head slightly, he realised it was coming from her bedroom upstairs.
“Kelsey,” he whispered then kissed the top of her head. “Wake up, baby.”
She groaned without opening her eyes and held him closer. “Just give me a few more minutes. Then I’m all yours.”
“That sounds nice, but I think your alarm clock is going off.”
“Huh?” she grunted and lifted her head from his chest. “What time is it?”
“Seven a.m.”
She groaned as she dropped her head back down. “I’m not ready to get up yet.”
“You’ll get no argument from me.” He adjusted their position until she was lying on top of him. “I can think of several things we could do instead of getting up. Well, up off the couch, anyway.”
She gave him a sleepy smile when he rubbed his hand along her ass cheek. In return, she flexed her thigh, trapping his cock between her leg and his. Today, his morning hard-on wouldn’t go unsatisfied.
“You feel good,” she whispered in a deep, sexy voice.
“So do you.” He slid his hands to her thighs. He spread her legs until she straddled him, his seeping tip teasing against her moistening pussy. “This feels even better.”
He looked deep into her eyes when he gently slipped himself inside her.
“Yes, it does.” With little encouragement needed, she began to move. She lifted her upper body, while she kept her hands on either side of his head. He enjoyed the view as she steadily increased her pace.
“Oh, Bright Eyes,” he breathed, amazed by how close he was to the edge. He lifted one hand to her breast, slipped the other between her legs and began to massage her clit. Hell, no, I’m not coming before her.
Almost immediately, she shuddered with a loud gasp as she came. He shifted his grip to her waist, thrusting only a few more times before surrendering to his release. Once she had caught her breath, she began giggling, inadvertently squeezing his semi-flaccid shaft, still buried inside her.
“Oh, baby. Do that again,” he moaned, fully enjoying the sensations her laugh gave him.
“It’s a bit soon, isn’t it?”
“No, I mean laugh. It feels incredible like this.”
“You mean when you’re inside me?”
“Oh, yeah.” She laughed hysterically as he wiggled his fingers around her waist, remembering the ticklish spots he’d discovered the night they’d met.
“Stop! Stop!” She struggled to form words between her fits of laughter. He wondered who was laughing harder when he started chuckling at her reactions.
Disappointed when he slipped from her warmth, he stopped tickling and instead enjoyed the feel of her body against his. “Thankfully, I’m not an insecure man, Bright Eyes, but could you tell me what you found so funny you started laughing after sex?”
“The alarm. I should probably turn it off,” she said breathlessly, although she made no attempt to remove herself from his embrace. Her words brought his attention back to the alarm clock upstairs, still beeping repeatedly.
“It’s not bothering me.” He held her closer, not wanting the moment to end.
“Well, it’s driving me nuts.” She finally lifted off him and ran for the stairs with the throw wrapped around her, leaving him lying naked on the couch.
He heard her bang the clock loudly as he slipped on his jeans before heading to the kitchen to make some coffee. There was no better way to wake up as far as he was concerned, but disappointment soon followed when he realised it was Thursday and she’d soon leave for work. He figured he’d whip up some breakfast so they could at least eat together before she had to go.
As he rounded the counter, Nick suddenly got the strange feeling that he was forgetting something. He patted his pockets, finding the normal items—his billfold, butterfly knife, pocket change. His head snapped up when the realisation hit.
“My phone! Fuck!” He remembered how he’d tossed it on his bed the night before, but had forgotten to pick it up before he’d left. If they tried to reach me… Shit, this is not good.
“Sorry about that. I guess I never got back upstairs after you arrived last night,” she said from the staircase. She was now wearing a fluffy yellow robe and placed the folded throw back on the couch before joining him in the kitchen.
“Bummer.” He quickly gathered himself, not wanting her to suspect anything was remotely wrong. Unfortunately, in his line of work, pretending had become all too easy.
“What?”
“I liked what you had on before better.”
“I was naked before.”
“Exactly.”
“I’m still naked under this robe.”
“Yeah, I know. So is your fridge. Don’t you buy groceries?”
“Sure, I do. I just don’t cook much. I eat a lot of takeout.”
“Well, there’s not much to work with here.” He moved his search from the fridge to the cupboard. “Oh, here we go.”
She sat back with a cup of coffee and watched as he threw together the limited ingredients she had into a decent breakfast. She nodded when he set her bowl down in front of her. “Mmm. Oatmeal.”
“Don’t sound so excited. You’re the one with the empty kitchen. We may have to spend our date tomorrow night grocery shopping.” He walked around the counter and sat beside her, stirring his bowl to cool it down.
“Does that mean we could come right back here and spend the evening alone? Sounds like a good date night to me.”
“You’ll get no argument from me. Now eat.”
She lifted a spoonful and blew on it until the lines of steam dissipated. “Wow. What did you do to this? It’s wonderful.”
He had every intention of telling her, but the way she held her lips as she blew on the hot cereal was driving him crazy. “Do that again.”
“Do what?” Her brow furrowed in confusion as her spoon remained in mid-air.
“Blow on it.”
She tauntingly licked her lips and over-exaggerated her pucker as she blew small puffs of air towards her next bite. “You mean like that?”
“Yeah,” he said, before forcing himself to look away. Those lips—those incredible lips. She has no idea how crazy she makes me.
With great effort he managed to keep his hands to himself as they ate their breakfast in silence, occasionally stealing quick glimpses of each other. By the time they’d finished cleaning up the kitchen, the tension between them was on the verge of ignition. The only thing stopping Nick from bending her over the counter and fucking her silly was the reminder of his missing phone. Every minute that passed was the potential loss of his job. And that would ruin everything.
Ever the tease, she licked her lips as the familiar look of desire filled her face. “Some boyfriend you are,” she said with a mock pout. “I haven’t even gotten a good morning kiss.”
Shit. Well, what’s another half-hour?
“You got something better, baby,” he said in a deep voice as he leant down towards her, “you got a good morning fuc—”
His words were quickly cut off when sh
e pressed her mouth firmly to his, no longer holding back. It was no surprise when their kisses gained momentum until they were once again wrapped in each other’s arms and breathing heavily.
“I have an idea,” she said as she broke away and glanced at the clock. “How about you come upstairs and share a shower with me?”
Dude, get out while you can. You get in that shower with her and neither of you is leaving this apartment today. “Oh, baby, that sounds nice,” he said while willing his dick to soften, “but you’ve gotta get to work and I should get going.”
He forced himself from her embrace and walked to the living room to retrieve his shirt.
“I’m sorry. Did I do something wrong?” she asked as she followed him out of the kitchen.
“No.” He shook his head, his back still to her. He couldn’t let her believe he was rejecting her. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Then why do you want to leave?”
He turned and saw the hurt in her eyes. It was becoming harder to pretend with her. “I don’t want to leave. I just know that you need to get to work and I’m afraid I won’t let you go if I stay any longer.”
“Will you call me tonight?”
He smiled at the gentle expression on her face. “Try and stop me.”
“I don’t want to.”
He grabbed his leather jacket from the couch and headed towards the door. “Oh, I almost forgot. A buddy of mine invited me to his house to have a cookout with him and his wife. He told me to bring you along.”
Her face lit up. “You told your buddy about me?”
“Yeah.” He wrapped his arms around her waist. “He asked if there was anyone special in my life. They don’t get more special than you, Kelsey.”
The hurt disappeared from her eyes. He never wanted to see it again.
“So are you free on Saturday? Do you want to go with me?”
She nodded, apparently too emotional to speak.
“Good.” He pulled her in for one last kiss before he had to go—pleased she was no longer upset with his departure. His unfulfilled passion swelled as their kisses intensified.
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