Best She Ever Had (9781617733963)

by Ellis, Shelly

  “Could you honestly see Korey agreeing to that, though?” a voice in her head asked.

  Probably not, she thought. But it was worth a try!

  Her eyes drifted to his mouth again.

  It had been so long since a man had made her toes curl, since she had thrown back her head and shouted in ecstasy. She bet Korey could make her do that. She bet if he—

  “All right, I’m taking my ass upstairs, ordering room service, taking a shower, and going to bed,” Korey said as he pressed the UP elevator button, snapping her out of her carnal thoughts. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “In . . . in the morning?”

  She watched as the elevator doors opened and Korey stepped inside the compartment. She shuffled in after him. After he inserted his key card into the wall panel and punched in their floor numbers, Korey turned to her and nodded.

  “Yeah, maybe nine a.m. or so,” he said as the elevator shot into motion. “I’ll call you and let you know after I wake up.”

  That was it?

  He wasn’t going to invite her to his room?

  The elevator chimed, and the doors slowly opened.

  “See you later.” Korey stepped into the hall and waved absently. “Try to get some sleep.”

  “Wait! Wait!” she shouted, making him stop in his tracks.

  He turned to her with raised brows. “What?”

  With Korey gazing at her, her resolve faltered. There was no way she could ask him to be what amounted to no more than her fuck buddy. She had tried to seduce him while she was drunk and hopped-up on sedatives on the plane, but she couldn’t work up the nerve to do the same thing now—sober. What if he rejected her again?

  “N-nothing. Good . . . good night,” she replied weakly just as the elevator doors closed.

  Back in her room, Cynthia dropped her purse onto her night table and flopped onto the bed face-first. She kicked off her remaining shoe and closed her eyes.

  Today had been mixed. They still hadn’t found the kids, but at least Korey didn’t openly hate her anymore.

  Should have asked him to come to my room, she thought, remembering his tempting mouth.

  “No, you shouldn’t have,” the voice in her head countered. “You just would have embarrassed yourself—again.”

  Maybe, but there could be worse things—like wondering for the next twenty years whether she should have taken a chance with Korey like she had been wondering for the past twenty years. Could she really spend half a century wrangling over this stuff?

  Cynthia sighed, envisioning a bleak future filled with money, luxury, and flights to exotic places, but devoid of passion and delight. The only thing she’d have to turn to was her vibrator and her hot tub until menopause set in and her sex drive withered away.

  “God, that sounds depressing,” she murmured against her comforter.

  Cynthia slowly raised her head. She knew what she had to do if she could just work up the courage to do it.

  She slung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood up. She strode to the small refrigerator nestled in a cabinet underneath her flat-screen television. She swung it open and quickly scanned the half dozen or so mini-bottles inside. She finally settled on a bottle of Jim Beam, twisted off the cap, and took a swig. After a few more gulps, she finished the bottle.

  “Okay,” she said, clapping her hands, feeling the hot sensation of the alcohol make its way down her throat, “let’s do this!”

  Half an hour later, Cynthia stepped off the elevator car before she could lose her nerve and strode down the hotel hallway to Korey’s room. She had changed into a sexy red wrap dress and even sexier bra and thong. She had thrown on some makeup, liberally sprayed herself with perfume, and downed half of another mini-bottle—this time, Smirnoff vodka.

  But despite her sexy clothes, alluring scent, and liquid courage, her legs still felt like taffy. Her heart thudded wildly in her chest. Shallow pools of sweat were forming under her armpits. She glanced down at her palms. Even they were sweating. But she wasn’t going back to her room. She wasn’t going to let this moment slip by. In the past, she had let immaturity and self-doubt shape the choices she made when it came to Korey—all of which she now regretted. A quirk of fate had brought them back together. She wasn’t going to let this second chance pass her by.

  After all, it wasn’t like she was asking him to fall in love with her again. She wasn’t asking for anything permanent here. She just wanted to spend the night together. That’s all! Any red-blooded man would be amenable to that—right?

  When she reached his door, she took a deep breath, then knocked. She paused when she heard a murmur and then a burst of female laughter coming from inside.

  Who the hell is that? Did he have someone in the room with him?

  Cynthia pressed her ear to the door and squinted with concentration, trying desperately to determine if she recognized the woman’s voice. She wondered if it was that chick Shino or that silicone-laden stripper, Tiffany, from earlier that night. She heard more murmuring and more laughter, but the voice was unrecognizable.

  You son of a bitch! You son of a bitch, she thought. He had said he was tired! If that was the case, then why the hell did he have a damn woman in his room? Here she was about to throw herself at him—to give him booty on a platter—and he had the audacity to be getting down with someone else!

  Just then, the door swung open. She yelped as she stumbled inside, landing face-first against Korey’s chest, getting her face full of terrycloth and her nose full of zesty body wash.

  “What are you doing?” he asked. Laughter was in his voice.

  She jumped back and quickly regained her composure, pretending like she hadn’t been caught red-handed eavesdropping. She adjusted the front of her dress and smoothed her hair. She glared at him. “I was just about to ask you the same thing!”

  “I just got out of the shower.” He gestured to the hotel’s complimentary bathrobe he was wearing.

  “You mean ‘We just got out of the shower’!” she barked. “Isn’t that more accurate?”

  He looked confused. “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m talking about the fact that you have someone in here with you, Korey! Some woman!”

  He shook his head. “There’s no one in here with me.”

  “Oh, bullshit! You’re a grown-ass man, as you keep reminding me! You have some chick in here! Just own up to it!”

  “Not that I have to explain myself to you,” he said tightly, “but I’m telling you the truth. There is no one . . . I repeat, no one in my room, Cindy, but you and me.”

  When she continued to stare at him, the image of incredulity, he waved over his shoulder.

  “Fine, then! Have a look yourself if you don’t believe me.”

  She hesitated for only a second before barging past him. She marched through the suite’s living room and into the bedroom. It had the same layout as her suite four floors above.

  She came into the bedroom, expecting to find a half-naked woman lounging on his bedspread, maybe eating strawberries or holding a paddle, for all she knew! Instead, she found an opened suitcase on the footstool and a discarded wet bath towel spread out on crumpled bed sheets. She walked toward the bathroom and saw it was also empty. Another bath towel was on the marble floor tiles, near the open glass shower door.

  But I could have sworn I heard someone.

  The television was blaring. Cynthia turned to look at it. The commercial on the screen ended, and suddenly a redhead appeared, giving a throaty laugh just before she stuck a cigarette into her mouth. She said something to someone off camera. Cynthia instantly recognized the woman’s voice. She had heard it on the other side of the hotel door.

  Damn, Cynthia thought. That same old jealousy had crept up again, despite her best efforts. What was it about Korey that made her feel so irrational, so insecure?

  “Told you so,” he said from behind her.

  Cynthia turned to find Korey leaning against the bedroom doorjamb,
looking smug.

  “Honest mistake,” she muttered.

  “Uh-huh.” He walked toward her. “Look, why did you come down here, anyway? It wasn’t just to check on me to see if I was sleeping alone, I hope.”

  She stared at the carpet, unable to meet his gaze. She felt ridiculous. This isn’t at all how she’d envisioned this moment going down.

  “So why’d you come?” he persisted.

  She started to wring her hands. She pivoted anxiously from one heel to the other. She closed her eyes and pursed her lips.

  “I wanted to have sex,” she blurted out, opening her eyes.

  He gaped.

  “I wanted to . . . to have sex . . . with you. There’s no . . .” She flapped her arms helplessly. “There’s no other way to put it. That’s what I came here for.” She nervously gnawed on her bottom lip. “The chemistry is still there. I can feel it, and I’m tired of denying it.” She took a deep breath. “I . . . I want you, Korey.”

  She waited for his response.

  “What if I don’t want you?” he asked, making her mouth drop open.

  She had prepared herself for rejection but not for him to be quite that blunt. That wasn’t like Korey at all. That was definitely more her style.

  “You don’t want me?”

  He cocked an eyebrow. “Cindy, did you ever consider that maybe getting a piece of your ass is not as enticing as you think it is? Or maybe, even if I was attracted to you, there’s no way in hell I’d have sex with you again since the last time we did, you up and disappeared and married someone else!”

  “But you know why I did that! I explained it to you a hundred times already!”

  “That you did,” he agreed dryly with a nod.

  “And you said you understood and forgave me.”

  “Yep, I did.” He shrugged. “Okay, then maybe it’s just because I don’t want to have sex with you—period. Maybe it’s as simple as that.”

  She cringed. She had thrown herself at him twice—once on the plane and now in his hotel room—and he had said no. And not just no, but he had made it clear he wasn’t remotely interested in her. She couldn’t recall any man ever turning her down, definitely not this coldly. He said he had forgiven her, but obviously he hadn’t.

  “Told you this was a bad idea,” the voice in her head chastised.

  She didn’t want to show Korey how much his rejection had hurt her. She pushed back her shoulders, raised her nose into the air, and strode toward the doorway. “Fine. Good night, then.”

  He groaned in frustration, reached out, and grabbed her arm as she passed. “Wait, Cindy.”

  “I’m not waiting! Get off me,” she said through clenched teeth, yanking her arm out of his grasp.

  “Look, I’m sorry! I was trying to be an asshole to you the way you were a bitch to me all those years ago.”

  “Well, you succeeded! You got your little jab in. You don’t want to fuck me! Fine! Accepted. I won’t ask again. Now leave me the hell alone!” she yelled, striding to the door.

  “Look, it was petty and uncalled for. I know that! I said I was sorry, all right?”

  She finally stilled.

  “Do you know what it’s like to have these . . . I don’t know what you call them . . . revenge fantasies, I guess . . . all these years, to wait for the moment to get back at the woman who broke your heart two decades ago? I couldn’t resist—and now I feel like shit for doing it.”

  They both fell silent. Only the sound of the television filled the room.

  “You were . . . you were never very good at being mean,” she finally whispered.

  “And I paid the price for it. I should have been more of an asshole back then and not worn my heart on my sleeve.”

  “But if you were an asshole, I never would have fallen in love with you. A bitch and an asshole are a bad match. We balanced each other out.”

  He nodded. “That we did.”

  They gazed into each other’s eyes. The air around them seemed charged again, like an arc of electricity could shoot between them at any second.

  Cynthia hesitated. She didn’t know if her ego could take him rejecting her a third time, but she took a chance. She leaned forward and kissed Korey lightly on the lips. Despite his protests earlier that he didn’t want her, he didn’t back away. She leaned forward and kissed him again, deeper this time, savoring the texture and taste of her former lover’s mouth.

  This time, not only did he not back away, but he also kissed her back. She felt his lips move against her own. His tongue slid inside her mouth. He wrapped a hand around the base of her neck and tilted back her head. She opened her mouth wider and met his tongue with her own. He looped his arm around her waist and pulled her tighter against him. She murmured with delight against his lips as they continued to kiss. He growled back hungrily from the base of his throat.

  The sound of the television seemed to dim. All Cynthia could hear was the thud of her heart, the steady whoosh of blood in her ears, and their breathing. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him even closer, drowning in him. His hand shifted from her back to her bottom, cupping the cheeks, pressing his pelvis against her own. She felt the hardness of arousal there, nudging urgently against the terrycloth of his robe and her groin. She answered it with her own arousal. A budding wetness formed between her thighs, and her nipples hardened. Those little round nubs pushed against the fabric of her dress and his chest.

  The fervor of their kisses only intensified, and the next thing Cynthia knew, they were panting as they fell back against the bed and began stripping off each other’s clothes. Korey didn’t have far to go to get undressed. In five seconds flat, he removed his bathrobe and stood before her, stark naked.

  She sat back on her shins and gazed down at him in all his naked glory. His body was still slightly damp from his shower, so it glistened in the dim light of the night table lamp and the glow of the television. Thick cords of muscle showed in his arms and along his shoulders. He still had washboard abs. Her eyes drifted lower. A smile crossed Cynthia’s kiss-chapped lips. Something else hadn’t changed. “Big Korey” was just as long and thick as she remembered, all eight inches of sexual delight.

  “Damn, I missed you,” she whispered, referring more to the appendage than its owner. She leaned down and greedily kissed Korey again.

  Unfortunately, getting Cynthia undressed took much longer, and Korey didn’t seem to have the patience for the whole process, torn as he was between removing her clothes and devouring her body. He’d try to untie the knot on her wrap dress, only to pause to pull aside the fabric and lick and nip her neck and shoulders, making her tremble with pleasure. He’d start to remove her bra, only to get distracted by her breasts and start fondling them, giving her goose bumps and making her whimper.

  Don’t get her wrong—Cynthia wasn’t complaining! Her body loved the attention he gave it! She was getting wetter by the second. But at this rate, getting undressed was going to take forever, and he was practically taunting her with all those kisses and nips, fondling and caressing. She finally undressed herself, tossing her clothes and underwear onto the hotel floor. She climbed on top of him and let herself explore him just as eagerly as he had explored her.

  God, he’s a beautiful man, she marveled as she trailed her hands over the length of him. She remembered a few tricks that had made him moan back in the day: licking his nipples and navel, pressing her breasts against his thighs while she teased him by running her lips and tongue over Big Korey.

  He remembered a few tricks of his own, cupping her breasts in each hand, making the skin tingle. He ran his thumb over the brown nipples, flicking them back and forth and then in a circular movement. When he finally lowered his mouth to one, she breathed in audibly. She closed her eyes. When he tugged the nipple between his teeth, she moaned.

  He cupped her bottom and showed equal attention to each breast, suckling them and licking them until she arched her back, dug her nails into his shoulders, and bit down hard on her bot
tom lip to stifle her moans.

  When she felt his fingers tickle the slick wetness between her thighs, she cried out. Her hips started to meet the tantalizing stroke of his fingers. The tingle that had started along her skin now sank deeper, all the way to the bone, and it coasted like undulating waves over her body.

  She slowly rode his fingers until the tremors started. When he picked up the pace, so did she. She tossed back her head and bucked her hips, grinding against him. The whimpers turned into moans and back again. Finally, when she was about to shout out his name, he abruptly stopped, pulling his hand away. The explosion that had been building up inside her swiftly dissipated.

  What . . . the . . . Seriously, Korey?

  She opened her eyes. “Why’d . . . why’d you stop?”

  “Would you rather have caviar or fast-food sex?” he asked.

  She pushed her hair out of her face. “Huh? What the hell are you talking about?”

  She had been so close! So close!

  “It’s been twenty years since we’ve done this. We’ve got all night, Cindy,” he said, running his tongue over her breasts again, making her quiver. “We don’t have to rush. Savor it,” he urged, before closing his mouth over her nipple.

  He wasn’t lying about not rushing it. He toyed with her body, paying attention to every part of her with painstaking detail, dragging her to edge and then stopping just before she came. After he did that the third time, she almost punched him.

  “Remember when I said you weren’t good at being mean?” she asked breathlessly while lying spread-eagled on the bedroom floor.

  They had taken a tumble off the bed and onto the carpet a while ago. Neither of them had wanted to stop their foreplay to make their way back onto a mattress.

  He nodded as he climbed on top of her. “I remember.”

  “Well, I lied!” She shifted from underneath him and tried to crawl to her knees.

  “Hey, where do you think you’re going?” he asked, pinning her down.

  “To the bathroom! I’m going to use the massage setting on that showerhead in there to finish what you refuse to!”