Different Roads

by Lori L. Clark

  My eyes dropped to his mouth and I tugged my lower lip between my teeth before leaning closer and breathing in the musky smell of him which clouded my senses and dampened my panties. My thoughts flooded with conflict. Did I really want to go there with Damon Blackwell? Or did I want to spend the whole weekend down here feeling fucking sorry for myself?

  My inner slut screamed in my ear for me to ride him like a bucking bronco tonight and forget about him tomorrow. But the teeny tiny good girl part of my psyche was trying to steer my thoughts back onto a different set of train tracks. Before Saint Jaq had a chance to win with her irritating voice of reason, Damon brought his arms around me and pulled my hips tightly against his rock hard body.

  “Stop over-thinking shit by always trying to do the right thing Jaq. Show a little bit of that wild side you showed me that one time,” he whispered right before his mouth was on mine.

  My hands raked through his hair, pulling him closer. I returned his kiss fervently as my tongue explored his mouth and I sucked on his bottom lip teasingly. A soft growl escaped through his parted lips, “Jesus girl, you’re driving me fucking crazy.”

  I pulled back and grinned at him, “Isn’t this what you wanted me to do?”

  His mouth trailed kisses along my jaw and down my neck to my shoulder. When his eyes met mine they were black with passion, “It’s all I’ve thought about since the first time I met you.” He shifted me off of his lap, stood up and adjusted the crotch of his pants. “But unless you want me to fuck you right here on the bank of this lake in broad daylight, we better go somewhere else to continue.”

  I was so hot I could have done him right then and there but my wonderful roommate chose that moment to come check up on me. I shot her a venom-filled glare and her eyes went wide with the realization of what she’d interrupted. Her hand flew to her mouth, “Oops, sorry.”

  “You need to wear a fucking cowbell around that neck of yours Shelley so it isn’t such a surprise when you’re smiling face appears,” Damon muttered through clenched teeth, mumbling something unintelligible as he stalked off.

  “Your timing either sucks ass or it’s perfect,” I shook my head at her. “I haven’t quite decided yet.”

  Her cheeks turned bright red, and she burst into a giggling fit, “Oh my God,” she pointed over her shoulder in the direction Damon had gone. “Five more minutes and you two totally would have had each other’s clothes ripped off and been going at it like two cats in heat.” Apparently, Shelley thought it was the funniest thing ever as she wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes.

  I groaned at her and threw my hands up in the air, “I give up.” I grabbed my tackle box and pole, weaved around her, and headed toward the cabins.

  “What? Wait. Where are you going?” she called after me.

  “To find you a freaking cowbell,” I yelled back.

  Chapter 25

  After the sun went down, so did the temperature. I grabbed a blanket and pulled the cooler of beer out onto the balcony. I started a fire in the pit and sat lost in my thoughts. I stared out over the tree tops into the clear night sky and didn’t hear the patio door slide open. I didn’t have to turn to know who the footsteps crossing to where I sat belonged to.

  Damon didn’t ask my permission to share the quiet space, and I was glad he didn’t. Even though I secretly craved his company, if he’d have asked, I would have told him to go away. He slid a chair over and propped his boot clad feet next to mine on top of the cooler. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched him reach into his shirt pocket for a cigarette. With the flick of his thumb he lit it and the cherry-red glow flared up as he inhaled deeply. “Just so you know,” he blew out the smoke. “I only came out here so I could smoke. Not to try and get into your panties or anything.”

  I sank deeper into the canvas chair and pulled the blanket around my shoulders. I hoped he wasn’t able to see the hint of a smile that played at the corners of my lips, “Damn. Just when I was gonna let you,” I whispered.

  His head snapped in my direction, “Somehow, I doubt that,” he chuckled.

  We sat in silence while he smoked, and I tried not to think about how much I had enjoyed playing tongue tag with him earlier. I turned to glance over my shoulder through the sliding glass doors to determine just how visible we were from the cluster of people gathered inside. When I turned back around, Damon’s face was so close I could smell the mingling of cigarette smoke and beer on his breath.

  His eyes twinkled in the firelight and a smirk tipped up the edges of his mouth as he asked, “Is the coast clear?”

  Mesmerized, my eyes watched his mouth as he took a long draw off the cigarette before flinging it into the fire and I nodded in response. “Should I be afraid?”

  He tipped his head back and laughed, “I guess that depends.”

  I gently shoved him out of my personal space to try and clear the lust from my sex-starved brain and downed the last swallow of my beer. I swatted his feet off the cooler so I could grab another. “Oh yeah? Depends on what?” I asked as I dug through the ice.

  “Does the idea of over the edge, rough, borderline kinky sex scare you?”

  My fingers wrapped around a small, but effective, chunk of ice. I stood and playfully straddled his lap, facing him. His eyes flashed as I ran my tongue across his lower lip seductively while at the same time maneuvering the ice in my hand down the front of his shirt. I swear I heard a sizzle as the cold, liquid met the smokin’ hot surface of his smooth chest. “Kinky you say?” I snickered as the shock registered across his face.

  “Fuck me!” Damon growled. His arms locked around me as I tried to squirm free. “You are so going to pay for that.”

  “What? It slipped.” I said and wriggled around on his lap until I felt him grow hard against my inner thigh.

  He wrapped one large hand around both of my wrists, effectively pinning me in place while his other hand tugged on my pony tail. When he leaned in to claim my mouth, my baseball cap bumped against his forehead. He swore, yanked Seth’s hat off my head, and tossed it into the flames with one swift motion.

  His kisses were hard and relentless, and there was no doubt in my mind that we were about to go down a road that there would be no turning back from. I knew I needed him inside of me, I just didn’t know if doing it on the deck was a stellar idea. I pulled away for a minute to catch my breath, trying to slow the erratic pounding of my heart. He ran his thumb inside the waistband of my pants, teasing my skin with his searing touch. Our eyes locked, and when I didn’t stop his hand from exploring further, he took that as my consent to unfasten the button of my jeans. I pressed my hips against his exploring hand, knowing damn well that I wanted more than just his fingers inside of me. A soft whimper escaped as he went to work slowly easing in and out of me while his thumb pressed against my swollen clit.

  Abruptly, he yanked his hands from my wet panties and stood. With one hand, he cradled me to him and my legs instinctively wrapped around his hips as he used his free hand to undo his pants. In one swift motion he dropped onto the chair and turned me in his lap so I my back was pressed against his firm chest.

  I heard the sound of foil as he tore open the condom package before unrolling it down over his very ready body. I tucked the edges of the blanket around us in case anyone — Shelley — happened to wander outside. He eased my jeans and panties down just far enough on my hips to allow more room for him to slide unencumbered inside of me.

  His hand roamed up inside the front of my shirt, playfully pinching my nipples while his mouth trailed down the back of my neck, nibbling as he went. I sucked in a breath as he slipped one, then two, fingers into me, “Jesus Jaq, you’re so wet,” he groaned.

  I bit my lip and squirmed as his fingers brought me close to the edge. My inner slut was crazy with desire, and I was pretty sure she’s the one who finally begged him to just fuck me already. Did I say that out loud? From the flash of his eyes and the shit-eating grin on his cocky face, I was sure he’d heard me loud and clear
. He entered me with one quick thrust. I came almost immediately and it didn’t take him much longer.

  Afterward, we sat wrapped in silence until I felt him slip out of me. I stood and fastened my jeans before making my way across the patio. I shot him a disbelieving look as he dropped the spent condom over the edge of the deck onto the hood of a truck parked below. “There’s a little souvenir for somebody.” I grinned and shook my head. He turned back to me, “You’re mine now, you know that, right?”

  “I hardly call one quick fuck on the balcony ownership rights,” I narrowed my eyes at him. “Maybe after a few more times, we can discuss it again.” I didn’t give him time to respond before quickly disappearing inside the house with a smug, just-had-sex grin on my face.

  Chapter 26

  Between the stress-erasing orgasm and the few beers from last night, I probably slept better than I had since forever ago, but that didn’t mean I wanted to wake up to Shelley’s grinning face looming over me. I blinked a few times to make sure I wasn’t seeing things, “Why are you looking at me like that?” I groaned and propped myself up on my elbows.

  “Oh come on. Don’t you dare play innocent with me,” Shelley bounced off the chair over to the bed beside me. “Spill.”

  I shook my head and collapsed against the pillow, “Wait. How did you get up here anyway? Aren’t you afraid of heights?”

  “Don’t remind me. If I wasn’t dying to hear about you and Damon, I wouldn’t be up here right now,” she swallowed and peered over the edge of the loft. “Of course, getting down might be a different story.”

  “What makes you so sure anything happened with Damon?” I asked through narrowed eyes.

  “Oh I don’t know. Maybe it was the used condom on the hood of the truck parked directly beneath the balcony where you and Damon were alone together. Alone long enough for him to use said condom. Not to mention the fact that when you walked through the kitchen you had that whole hair of shame thing going on,” she said matter-of-factly.

  My cheeks warmed as I remembered what I did with Damon, “I guess the evidence is stacked against me. I plead the fifth.”

  Shelley stared off in space with a faint smile parting her lips, “Not gonna lie. Damon Blackwell is fucking hot. You tell anyone I said that and I’ll deny it,” she gave an exaggerated allover body shiver before adding, “I’ll just bet he likes it rough too,” she growled.

  I shrugged and threw back the covers, “I never kiss and tell.”

  “Whatever Jaq,” she rolled her eyes.

  I shrugged into my robe and started down the ladder, “Is that bacon I smell?” Shelley nodded and I noticed the pinched look on her face. “What’s wrong with you?”

  “I just remembered. I’m afraid of heights.”

  I laughed at her, having little sympathy for how she was going to find her way back down out of the loft since she should have thought about that in the first place, “Really? I didn’t know that.”

  “Shut up!” she snapped at me seconds before a pillow sailed over the top of my retreating head.

  I wandered into the kitchen to find Damon wearing an apron and flipping pancakes while Tim sat at the table with his hands wrapped around a coffee mug. He nodded his head toward Damon and raised his eyebrows a few times suggestively at me as I opened the fridge.

  “Tim, can you come here please?” Shelley yelled from the loft. He shook his head and pushed back from the table to go retrieve our height-challenged friend.

  I purposely brushed up against Damon when I reached for a glass for my orange juice. “Mmm, something smells good enough to eat,” I said with a deep breath.

  “Well, since I washed my hands after last night, it must be breakfast,” he flashed me a crooked grin.

  “Oh my God! You are so disgusting,” I said and swatted him playfully on the back of the head.

  “Didn’t seem to bother you at the time, if I remember correctly,” he muttered. I didn’t even try to deny it as Tim walked in carrying a protesting Shelley over his shoulder.

  “Put me down, you Neanderthal,” she complained.

  Our plans were to leave in the early afternoon to head back home, but since the rain started coming down in buckets sometime during breakfast, we decided there wasn’t much use in us hanging around Paradise Chateaus any longer.

  I showered and stacked my things by the door of the cabin. I did a quick walkthrough to make sure I hadn’t left anything behind. By the time I got back to the door to retrieve my things, Damon was carrying them to the bus already. Shelley nudged me with her elbow, “Who says chivalry’s dead.”

  “You’ve lost your mind,” I sighed and followed them to the bus.

  I took the front seat behind Tim and propped my knee up on the seat beside me to deter anyone from sitting with me. Damon climbed the steps, and a mischievous glint sparkled in his wolfish eyes. He reached for my hand and pulled me along with him to the back of the bus. I shoved my pillow between myself and the bus window. I tried to ignore the warmth spreading up through my body as Damon threw a blanket onto my lap. “Never know when a blanket might come in handy,” he said with a wink.

  I snorted and whispered, “Behave would you?”

  He laughed and slid in closer than necessary. I was extremely aware of the fact that our thighs were touching. I knew if I was going to survive the long ride home with my clothes intact I needed to focus on something other than the lust he instilled inside my inner slut. I faked a yawn, and moved as far away from him as the small seat allowed.

  He threaded his arm between my back and the seat and put his head on my shoulder, “Damn you smell good enough to eat, Jaq,” he said and snuggled against me.

  I groaned and thought to myself, so do you.

  Chapter 27

  The week after our fishing trip was fairly uneventful as I fell back into some semblance of normalcy. I tried to erase the smokin’ hot sex I’d had with Damon Blackwell from my thoughts. I wasn’t ready for a relationship with anyone but I figured Damon was a safe bet since we both seemed to be in it just for the physical aspect. No more, no less. I was as okay with using him as he was with letting me.

  Not gonna lie, it was a pleasant surprise to see his leather clad body as he leaned casually against the brick of the school when I came out after my last class Friday afternoon. In spite of trying to maintain a nonchalant attitude, my inner sex goddess nudged a sweet smile across my face as I strolled toward him.

  “What’s up?” Damon asked.

  I sucked my lower lip between my teeth and resisted the urge to say something dirty, “Not much, what’s up with you?”

  He pushed away from the building and closed the distance between us in three easy strides, “Nothing yet, but I bet we could change that.”

  I smiled and shook my head, “So much for having a clean conversation with Mr. Perverted.”

  “Oh come on Jaq, you can’t tell me your mind wasn’t already headed toward the gutter as soon as you spotted me standing here.” His voice was low and sent a shudder of want coursing through my veins. He hooked his fingers through the front belt loops of my jeans and crushed me against his chest.

  I gave him a quick kiss and pulled away before issuing him a challenge, “I tell you what. If you can sit through a whole night in front of the TV without so much as thinking, breathing, or talking about sex, you win.”

  He quirked an eyebrow at me and asked, “Wait. What exactly do I win?”

  I wrapped my arms around his neck and rubbed my body against him, “Whatever you want.” I dropped my arms to my side and stepped back to watch his reaction as I spoke. “But it doesn’t matter since you won’t be able to last five minutes, let alone an entire evening.”

  “Whatever. I’m in if the stakes are worth it. But what happens if I lose?”

  I licked my lips and tilted my head to the side, “Hmm. If you lose, you have to be my slave for one whole week and do whatever I say.”

  His eyes went wide and he said, “You’re on. But first, there need
s to be some ground rules.”

  “Ground rules?” I asked, intrigued by his willingness to play along.

  “You’re not allowed to bite, chew, lick, or otherwise play with that lower lip of yours. You can’t put your hands, mouth, feet, or any other part of your anatomy on or against any part of mine,” he smirked. “Two can play this game. You are so going to lose.”

  I held my hand toward him, “Shake on it?”

  “Deal,” we said at the same time.

  I watched him stride toward his truck and he turned to glance over his shoulder at me, “I’m going to go take a nice, long, cold shower. I’ll be over in about an hour. Hope you’re up for the challenge.”

  I hopped in my Charger and headed home. The off limits list was long, but there were plenty of other things I could do to ensure he would cave so that I’d win the bet. Having Damon Blackwell as my personal slave for a whole week might be worth it. My inner nympho jumped for joy with anticipation.

  As soon as I walked into the kitchen, I threw my keys onto the counter and slipped out of my boots. Shelley heard me come in and peeked around the corner. Her hair was wrapped up in a towel, “Tim and I are going to a kegger. We’ll probably stay there for the night. Just in case you want to have company over or something,” she informed me with a knowing grin.

  Suddenly, I regretted the deal Damon and I had made. Having him to myself with no chance of Cowbell Shelley interrupting was almost enough to make me call off the challenge. I rolled my eyes and said, “You’re timing absolutely sucks, you know that right?”

  She pursed her lips into a confused pout, “What?”

  I blew out a noisy breath, “Never mind,” I said and headed toward my room to pick out an outfit for phase one of operation seduce Damon.

  After the shower I rolled on some of that pheromone stuff I bought at a Pure Romance party, making sure to dab some on each of my pulse points. I pulled my hair back into a braid and slipped into a tight black top which showed just a hint of cleavage. I tugged on a pair of tight jeans and put some eye liner and mascara on to accentuate my eyes. Shelley walked by my open door just as I was admiring myself in the full length mirror.