by K. A. Linde
“Fuck,” she cried.
He licked her clit, causing a long shudder to run through her. “Don’t worry. I’ll let you come soon.”
“Let me?” she gasped.
At her question, he pumped his fingers into her faster. “Yeah. I want you to feel every ounce of pleasure I’m giving you, and I want you to remember exactly who gave it to you.”
“Damon,” she purred.
“That’s right.”
While still moving his fingers within her, he sucked on her clit, and everything seemed to explode within her. She came apart in waves and saw spots in her vision during a climax that she might have never reached before.
She lay back on the couch, taking in deep healing breaths while letting her body ride out the release.
Damon sat back on his heels and stripped out of his shirt. Her eyes widened when she got a look at him. She had known he was built. She had felt that from dancing and the way he was riding her earlier, but seeing it in person was different. He had a killer body, not too big and bulky but not skinny either. He had a perfect rock-star body.
He undid his pants and left them lying on the ground. He stood before her in nothing but a fit pair of black boxer briefs that hardly concealed the bulging erection within.
He held his hand out. “Come here.”
Trihn stood on shaky legs and took his hand. She ditched her heels. After her orgasm, there wasn’t a chance in hell that she was going to be able to walk anywhere in them. She followed him back to his bedroom, which had a simple wooden bedroom set with a queen-size bed with a dark blue comforter. He walked her backward to the foot of the bed and then lifted her black dress over her head.
Bryna’s rebound dress had officially done the trick.
“Don’t need that,” he said as he tossed it to the ground.
He went to work, unclasping her matching green mesh bra and letting it drop to the floor, revealing her model-thin frame to him. She fought the urge to cover herself up. She didn’t have the same body issues she’d had in high school, but it was easy to think that she was either too thin or too fat or too anything but perfect. Damon’s eyes traveled her figure with appreciation, lingering on her small breasts, flat stomach, her hip bones that naturally protruded forward, and then down to her thigh-gap legs. They were all things she would kill to change, but when Damon looked at her, that all disappeared.
“You’re so gorgeous,” he whispered.
She laughed nervously, not used to the attention. She couldn’t remember the last time Neal had said something like that to her. And the only person she had been with before that had been Preston and a random guy she’d met on a modeling job. Those had turned out to be all bad decisions in the end.
All of a sudden, Damon seemed to notice her nervousness, and he took her hands in his. “You are gorgeous. No doubt about that.”
“Thank you,” she said automatically.
He brought his lips down on hers again, and her nervousness melted away. The way he touched her and talked to her and acted around her made her feel totally safe. For all intents and purposes, her trust issues should be rearing its ugly head, but when he kissed her, she felt calm. Maybe it was because it was just physical. That was what she had promised herself. The girl who wore her heart on her sleeve was giving up relationships and just filling her void with a rebound, no matter how much her heart might manage to get in the way while she tried it out.
Damon easily picked her up and set her back on the bed. The tension in the room skyrocketed as he stripped out of his boxer briefs and climbed onto the bed after her. She couldn’t believe this was actually happening after he had turned her down, but she didn’t want to question it. He clearly wanted to do this, and she had made her intention clear from the start.
Trihn wrapped her arms around Damon’s neck and kissed him deeply, reveling in the feel of his body pressed against hers. He moved his hips in a sexy circular motion, waking her up all over again. Whatever had happened out on the dance floor only fueled what was going on in the bedroom.
Doubt clouded her mind when he pulled back to reach across the bed and remove a condom from his side table. Looking up at him as he tore open the condom and rolled it on himself, she reminded herself that this was just a one-night stand. It didn’t have to be more than that. It didn’t have to have feelings or emotions attached that weren’t purely physical. Damon made her feel good, and she needed to feel good tonight.
Damon’s eyes searched hers in the dark. “Hey, are you okay?”
“Yeah.”
“We can stop if you don’t want to do this,” he offered softly.
She reached out and touched his hand. “I want to.”
He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers, positioning himself before her. “I want this, too, but we can wait. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Damon,” she growled. She had made up her mind. She wasn’t stopping now. “Stop trying to talk me out of this. I want you to fuck me.”
He laughed a guttural deep laugh that revealed how much he was controlling himself in that moment. Then, after another kiss, he eased deep inside her.
“Oh God,” she moaned when he filled her.
Yeah, I made the right decision.
Trihn wrapped her legs around Damon’s hips and met each of his measured thrusts.
Fuck, is it supposed to feel this good? She had always thought that a one-night stand would be like a bad book—quick, boring, and completely not worth the hype.
But she was already ramping up for another release as they moved together, like they had been doing this for a long time. She wasn’t sure what caused it, but whatever it was, she was glad that she had gone through with it. This was exactly what she needed.
“Fuck, I love your body,” he said, sliding his hands down her sides and then up to cup her breasts.
She laughed and reached up to kiss him hard. Their lip-lock intensified the force with which he drove inside her. Her fingers clawed his back, and she couldn’t hold out any longer. She threw her head back and cried out as her climax hit her. Damon leaned his head onto her forehead as he released just after her. For a minute, they both lay there, panting, and then Damon slid out of her and headed to the bathroom.
He returned a minute later and leaned against the door, in the buff. Her eyes traveled down his body, and she sighed, completely sated.
“That was a happy noise,” he said.
She nodded. “Mmhmm.”
Trihn rolled off the bed and wandered into his bathroom. She returned a few minutes later, feeling refreshed and also exhausted. She crawled back into bed and waited for some sort of embarrassment or awkwardness to settle between them, but it never came.
He just pulled her into his arms and held her close.
Then, after several minutes of companionable silence, he bent down and kissed her on the mouth.
“How about round two?” he suggested with a wicked grin.
TRIHN SLIPPED BACK into the too small dress and then grabbed her heels, purse, and leather jacket. As quietly as she could, she tiptoed toward the front door of Damon’s apartment. She had the handle turned all the way when she heard footsteps behind her.
“Going somewhere?” Damon asked with a yawn.
She turned to face him with a sheepish grin. “Um…yeah.”
He looked too good for this early in the morning. He was only in a pair of boxers, and she could count every defined ab. Plus, his hair…it only looked that way because she had been pulling it all night.
Christ! Focus!
“My ride is here,” she told him.
“I could have given you a lift home.”
“Yeah. But, well…” Trihn shrugged. She didn’t have a response to that. She’d had a great time last night—an unbelievably amazing, jaw-dropping, unfathomably incredible good time last night—but when it came down to it, this still had been a one-night stand, just some really good sex. From the beginning, she had said that she didn’t want anything more. Neal
had broken up with her less than twenty-four hours ago. She couldn’t even consider putting herself out there again already.
“This isn’t a one-night stand, Trihn.”
“Well, I’m not ready for a relationship.”
“I’m not letting you go this easy.”
She shook her head. “You should. I’m a wreck.”
“Yet I want you.”
“Damon, can we not do this?” she asked. “I just got out of a relationship. You’re an amazing guy who deserves a really great girl. I’m…not that girl right now.”
“I’m going to change your mind,” he told her without a trace of doubt in his voice.
In that one moment, she hoped that he was right. But then she frowned and looked away. “I’m sorry. I really don’t think so. This didn’t mean anything to me.”
Then, she pulled open the door to his apartment and hurried outside.
It was early morning, and her bare feet on the cold concrete didn’t help anything. She slouched into her leather jacket and raced down the stairs, shaking all the while. Her eyes darted around the full parking, but she didn’t see Bryna’s telltale Aston Martin.
Someone honked off to her right, and her head whipped to the side to see a Jeep parked a few spots over. Eric waved from the front seat, and she shook her head. Of course Bryna had sent Eric to get me in the morning. She couldn’t be bothered to get up from her beauty sleep.
“Hey,” Trihn said, popping open the passenger door and sliding into the seat. She pushed her hands against the vents with a sigh. “Thank God, it’s so warm in here.”
“Morning, Trihn,” he said with a smirk on his face as he pulled out of the parking lot before heading toward her apartment. “Have a good night?”
“The best,” she said.
“Not so good of a morning if you’re rushing out the door.”
“Neal broke up with me yesterday. Pretty sure that getting cozy with someone the same night is not a good idea.”
“For who?” Eric asked. “Neal was a loser who fucked with your life. Seems like a good thing for you to move on.”
Trihn shrugged. “I just think it’d be better for me to find myself again rather than jump right into something else. Last night was fun, E, but it was just fun.”
“So, you’re madly in love with him?”
“Oh my God, no! I’m not in love with him. I just met him!”
“So defensive.”
“Eric Wilkins, you’re insufferable. Bryna needs to keep you on a shorter leash or else I’ll have to kick your ass,” she said with a smile on her face.
“I’m not on a leash!”
“Puh-lease. You’re so whipped.”
Eric drove into the apartment complex with a broad smile on his face. “For Bryna, I’ll be anything.”
“Stop! You two are disgusting.”
Eric parked the car. They hopped out and and took the elevator up to the top floor.
“Don’t worry about a relationship right now, Trihn. If you think you need to work on you, then work on you. It took Bri and me over a year to finally get together. I wish we’d had all that extra time together, but I’m going to be with her for the rest of my life, so it’s all worth it in the end. That guy will find you at the right time.”
Trihn followed Eric into the apartment. “Thanks, E.”
“Maybe he already has,” he said with a laugh.
She nodded with an eye roll. “Maybe.”
The next morning, Trihn was up at the break of dawn, jittery with excitement over the first day of school.
Bryna and Stacia hadn’t yet surfaced, but she didn’t think they had morning classes. They certainly weren’t morning people. She wasn’t really either, but her first big fashion design class was this morning, and she was anxious to get started.
Her mother never let her live it down that she’d left NYU, one of the best fashion programs in the country, to go to LV State. The program was top-notch after Teena Hart had taken it over, but it still didn’t compare NYU. Not to mention, being that close to the US fashion mecca came with benefits and networking opportunities that just weren’t available in Las Vegas.
As Trihn was about to get her things together to leave for class, the doorbell rang. She hurried over to answer the door, worried that it might wake up her roommates. The doorbell rang again, and she cursed aloud. It was too early for all of that.
“Coming!” she called. She yanked the door open to find a delivery man standing there. “Can I help you?”
“I have a package. Sign here, please.” The man held out an electronic signature pad.
Trihn scribbled on the pad and then took a vase of red, pink, yellow, and white tulips along with a small box from the man.
“Um…thanks,” she said before toeing the door closed behind her. “Bryna! Eric is spoiling you again!”
Bryna ambled out of her bedroom in nothing but a tiny black baby-doll and yawned loudly. “This’d better be good for waking me up.”
“Looks like Eric sent you flowers.” Trihn placed the flowers and the box down on the table and slid them toward Bryna. “What’s in the box? Some kinky sex toy for later?”
Bryna’s eyes lit up. “We can only hope.” She grabbed the box and started to unwrap the paper but then stopped. “Um…Trihn, this isn’t for me.”
“What?”
Bryna held it out to her. “It has your name on it.”
“It does not! Who would send me anything?” Trihn asked.
“Open it, and find out.”
Trihn tore the paper off the box and opened it up. Inside was an envelope and exactly one Hershey’s Kiss. She held it up for Bryna to see, and she shrugged.
Trihn opened the envelope and retrieved the note within.
TRIHN,
IT MEANT SOMETHING TO ME.
DAMON
Trihn just stared at the message until it became blurry before her eyes.
“Well?” Bryna demanded. She grabbed it out of Trihn’s hands and then immediately started laughing.
“What’s going on out here?” Stacia asked. “You guys are so fucking loud.”
“Trihn got flowers from Damon.”
Stacia’s eyes popped. “Really? How romantic.”
“And a Hershey’s Kiss,” Bryna added.
“I guess that counts as chocolate?” Stacia asked.
“It doesn’t mean anything,” Trihn said with a shake of her head.
Truthfully, she had no idea what any of it meant. Of course Damon was contradicting the last statement she had made to him before leaving his place the day before. She had just figured that would have been the end of it.
How could a guy who had just met her want to push so hard for her? He hardly knew her. They’d barely talked. Sure, they’d had amazing sex—more than once. She just hadn’t believed him when he said that he was going to try to change her mind. Guys didn’t fight for her. They usually fought with her.
“I’m pretty sure flowers and…chocolate mean something,” Stacia said.
“Plus, the card says it means something,” Bryna reasoned.
Trihn snatched the card out of Bryna’s hand and stuffed it into the box. “Well, it doesn’t mean anything to me. I have to go to class.”
“Forget class. Call this guy, and blow him,” Stacia said. “Guys do not put in effort like this in the real world, Trihn.”
“As ever, Stacia, your logic is impeccably sound.” Trihn shook her head at her friend and then hurried to the door.
“Hey, don’t forget your Kiss!” Stacia called.
Trihn held her hand out, and Stacia plopped the Hershey’s Kiss into her palm. She popped it into her mouth with a tight smile, flipped her two roommates off, and then left for class.
TRIHN’S FASHION DESIGN CLASS reignited her passion for her work. All the art and textile classes she had taken were really helping out with her new classes. A lot of it was basic, but she knew that they would move into more difficult and complicated techniques as the semester wen
t on.
The most exciting part was that all the design majors would get to help with the annual Teena Hart Fashion Show. Advanced design students would put together a selection of their best pieces and would get to feature them on an actual runway. The winner of the fashion show would take their designs to New York City in the summer to compete against the top programs from all over the country. The grand prize was that the line would be picked up by a large market. Last year, it was Macy’s!
Trihn had been selected to help with the models throughout the entire process. She wasn’t all that surprised, given her background in modeling. She just wished she’d have more hands-on experience in working with the actual designs, but her day would come.
The best part about being so busy was that it didn’t leave her as much time to sit around and obsess. Part of her really missed Neal. She knew how much her roommates hated him and that he had been a jerk to her, but she still missed him. And she didn’t know if that was just because she didn’t like to be alone, especially while Bryna and Eric were so happy together and Stacia was always content with the various men in her life.
Not to mention, there was Damon. Nearly a week had passed, and he hadn’t reached out to Trihn since he had sent the flowers. She tried not to be disappointed. She had pushed him away after all, and it was too early to be interested in someone else.
Her thoughts were clouded with their one-night stand when she made it home on Friday afternoon.
“Get dressed, bitch. We’re going out,” Bryna said when Trihn opened the door.
“God,” Trihn said, jumping backward. “Don’t you and Stacia have cheer practice or something?”
“Nope. Canceled for tonight since the football season is over. We’re getting ready for competition, but haven’t really geared up yet.”
“What about basketball season?”
Bryna gave her a blank stare. “Does anyone care about that?”
Trihn laughed. “I hear some people do.”
“Well, we have a B squad for basketball because they suck, and no one here gives a shit. Now, get changed. We’re going out,” she repeated.
Twenty minutes later, Bryna, Stacia, and Trihn piled into Bryna’s Aston Martin and drove to the Strip. The girls generally avoided the madness of the tourist trap, but some necessities could only be found in The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace.