Hip Check

by Deirdre Martin

  Esa gave a low animal growl as he bit her neck. Michelle inhaled sharply, giving herself over to the tiny bursts of pain he was inflicting on her. Her mind was so fogged she couldn’t decide whether she wanted to have this torture continue, or to beg him to fuck her right now.

  Esa made the decision for her. Tearing his mouth from her neck, he pushed the leg she had wrapped around his hips down, falling to his knees in front of her. Oh, God, the torture was going to continue. She could feel the pulse beat between her legs as his impatient fingers worked the zipper of her jeans as he pulled them down over her hips.

  “Black lace panties,” he murmured approvingly, glancing up at her. “Are these a pair of those new knickers you bought earlier today?”

  Michelle laughed.

  “I’m guessing you wanted this to happen,” said Esa, his tongue flicking out to lick her between the legs. Michelle gasped, hands instinctually reaching for his shoulders. “You’re so wet,” he whispered as he continued to lap at her. “I think we better do something about that.”

  Michelle shuddered as he hooked his thumbs over the top of her panties and yanked them down. She kicked her panties and jeans away, her nails digging into his shoulders with anticipation. Her breath held as Esa took the pad of his thumb and slowly began rubbing her clit. “Is this all right?”

  Michelle could only nod as her nails dug even deeper, her legs beginning to tremble.

  “How about this?” he continued in a low voice, slipping two fingers inside her as his thumb continued to play. Michelle began pumping her hips against him in rhythm to his fingers. Christ, she was close. He had to know. He did know: plunging a third finger inside her, his voice was deep and authoritative as he commanded her to come for him.

  She came hard, her orgasm thundering through her body, her cries of pleasure coming from deep within. She was filled with such joy that she began laughing, looking down at Esa.

  “Wow.”

  “That’s all you can say?” Esa replied in amusement. “‘Wow’? You’re a teacher. Tell me what my grade is.”

  “Definitely an A plus.”

  “I think that might be the only one I’ve ever gotten in my life, though I’d like to try for another.”

  The ache inside Michelle returned full force as Esa started unbuttoning her shirt. He looked pleasantly surprised when the shirt opened to reveal a black bra with lacy-edged cups.

  “Michelle. Never in a million years would I have suspected this is what you’d be wearing under your everyday clothing.”

  “Really?” Michelle asked, gazing back at him hungrily as she slid the bra straps down her shoulders. “What did you think? I wore granny panties and a training bra?”

  Esa laughed. “I’m not sure what I thought.” His eyes widened with appreciation as she tossed her bra aside. Michelle couldn’t believe how uninhibited she felt. This was not the way she usually was in the bedroom. Not that she was boring or unresponsive, but there was something about the way Esa made her feel when he looked at her, like she was the sexiest woman on earth, that gave her permission to be bad.

  “You’re beautiful,” he marveled. He reached out, fingertips brushing her nipples. Nice, but not naughty.

  Michelle stilled his hand. “That’s not what I want.”

  Esa’s eyes flashed with desire.

  “What I want,” Michelle purred, reaching down to stroke his erection through his jeans, “is for you to take off your clothes, take me over to the bed, suck my tits until I’m close to losing it, and then come inside me hard.”

  Esa looked at her in wonder as he sucked in a ragged breath. “Jesus, who are you?”

  “I’m the nanny.”

  This time his laugh was low, bordering on a growl as he whipped his long-sleeved T-shirt off over his head and hastily undid his jeans, shoving them, along with his boxer briefs, down his hips, and kicking them clear when they hit the floor. His body was as Michelle knew it would be: rock hard, cut, muscular, sculpted, his dick as big as she expected it would be. The ache inside her intensified.

  Esa scooped her up in his arms, dropping her on the bed. Climbing atop her, he braced his weight on his forearms, and lowering his head, he began flicking his tongue against her right breast, then her left. And all the while, his large, hard erection was pressing against her. There was no way Michelle could resist moving her hips against him to increase the friction. Esa growled, his mouth moving on to suck her tits, hard. The aching inside her was turning into desperation. Panting, she grabbed his face in her hands, kissing him hungrily.

  “Fuck me,” she whimpered. “Please.”

  Sitting back and kneeling between Michelle’s splayed thighs, Esa reached over and pulled a condom out of his night table drawer. He tore the package open with his teeth, then sheathed himself before putting a hand on each of her thighs. “Open your legs for me, Michelle.”

  Groaning with need, Michelle accommodated him, but he wasn’t quite done yet. His gaze hazy with lust, his hands slid up to her knees and he pushed them up, hard. “I want to go deep,” he said. Michelle, so aroused she felt close to delirious, could only nod.

  She lifted her head off the pillow, watching as he slowly pushed his way deep inside her, then slowly pulled out again. Slow and deep again, then out. Michelle let out a strangulated noise as she put her head back on the pillow, shuddering at the sensation of how he filled her.

  “This okay?” he asked hoarsely, coming forward so they were face-to-face.

  Michelle shook her head vehemently. “No. No. I want it harder.” She pulled her knees up a fraction higher, locking her ankles around his upper back.

  “Fuck,” Esa whispered as he thrust into her with more force, giving her what she wanted. Michelle gasped, her hands gripping his shoulders as she rocked against him.

  Esa threw his head back and continued thrusting, hard and fast, as Michelle felt the waves of sensation rapidly building inside her. She was trembling uncontrollably now, frantic for release.

  “I’m close,” she panted. “I’m so close . . .”

  Esa started slamming into her, again and again and again, faster and faster until Michelle felt herself begin to shatter, her orgasm screaming through her. She lost herself in it, reveling in every hot pulse of pleasure. Esa tensed, giving himself over to a few final deep thrusts, his body shuddering against Michelle’s as she held him tight. Both of them finished now, he put his sweaty forehead to hers, then kissed it. An unexpected wave of tenderness for him swept through her, catching her completely off guard. It scared her, so much so that she pushed it out of her mind. They’d taken care of the sexual tension between them. That was all that mattered.

  26

  Spooning with Esa in his sumptuous king-sized bed in the afterglow, Michelle wondered what it would be like to spend the entire night with him. It was impossible, of course, because of Nell, and because—well, it just was.

  Thinking back on their lovemaking threatened to arouse Michelle all over again, which embarrassed her. She couldn’t believe how shameless she’d been with him. She’d shocked herself. Perhaps deep down, she wanted to show him she wasn’t some buttoned-down prude. But more likely, it was the knowledge that this was her one chance to go for it with this incredibly sexy man as they finally chose to sate the sexual tension between them. Now they could get on with their lives.

  Every time Michelle found herself drifting off, she’d force herself awake. Finally, she reached behind her, giving his thigh a gentle shake. “Esa? We—”

  Esa’s hand tightened around her waist as he kissed her shoulder. “Not yet, Michelle,” he requested in a weary voice. “Let’s just try to enjoy this for a couple of minutes more.”

  Michelle felt stung as she glanced back over her shoulder at him. “What are you talking about?”

  “C’mon. You know what I’m talking about,” he said gently. “You want to discuss what just happened. You’re going to say it was a mistake, and then you’re going to tell me it can never happen again. All I’
m asking for is that we relax for a few minutes more before we go through this song and dance again.”

  “‘Go through this song and dance’?”

  Offended, Michelle sat up, drawing the sheet to her chest, trying to ignore how gorgeous he looked right now, his thick black hair all askew, his gaze drowsy. It seemed unfair that someone so striking should be such a jerk.

  Esa groaned, propping himself up on one elbow as he rested his head in the palm of his hand. “I’m sorry. That was a bad choice of words. But you know I’m right: you’re going to tell me this was a mistake.”

  “Am I that predictable?”

  “In a word, yes.”

  Michelle gave him a dirty look. “I don’t think it was a mistake,” she said carefully. “I think it was an itch we both needed to scratch. And now that it has—”

  “It can never happen again. Right?”

  Michelle’s mouth fell open in indignation. “You’re such a jerk!”

  “Tell me what you were going to say, then.”

  “What I was going to say was . . .” Words began tangling in her mouth as she began growing flustered. “. . . is that you—okay maybe I was going to say something along those lines.”

  Esa laughed.

  “You seem to forget there’s a little girl living in the house.”

  “I haven’t forgotten that at all, actually.”

  Michelle was confused. “What are you saying?”

  “I see no reason why it can’t happen again, and I see no reason why, if it does, Nell can’t know.”

  Michelle stared at him like he was crazy. “Are you kidding me?”

  Esa rolled onto his back with a sigh. “Go on. Explain it all to me. I’m all ears.”

  “Let’s say it did happen again. You don’t think it would confuse the hell out of Nell? She’s already got this fantasy about the three of us being a family. I don’t think her knowing we’re sleeping together, if we ever do sleep together again, would be healthy. It would give her unrealistic expectations, and that’s not fair. And, as I told you in an earlier conversation, I don’t want to send her the message that sleeping with your boss is okay.”

  Esa rubbed his hands over his face. “Okay, so we’ll hide it from her.”

  “Esa.” Michelle was growing frustrated. “Do you really think this is going to happen again? Seriously?”

  “Do you really think it’s not?” he countered. “We’re attracted to each other. We live under the same roof. What do you think?”

  Michelle was silent.

  “Ah.” A look of satisfaction overtook his face. “Miss Rational finally admits defeat.”

  Michelle searched hard for the right words. “I really need to think about this. I don’t usually do this sort of thing, you know.”

  Esa looked unfazed as he reached out, lazily running his index finger back and forth across her knee. “It wouldn’t matter to me if you had. We enjoyed each other. That’s all that counts.”

  “Even so, it’s important to me that you know I’m not some kind of slut, like you. Which is another reason that I’m not really sure about all this, especially the part about it happening again.”

  Esa looked flirtatious as he laced his fingers behind his head. “You’re saying you don’t want to share me, is that it?”

  Egotistical bastard. “No, that’s not what I’m saying at all.” Michelle paused. “I guess what I’m saying is I don’t want to be in a relationship with you.”

  “I don’t want a relationship with you, either,” Esa quickly retorted. “So what’s the problem?”

  “Nell,” Michelle hurled back, trying to ignore the sting of his words. “If we’re not in a relationship, it doesn’t look very good to just be fuck buddies, does it?”

  “No, I suppose it doesn’t,” Esa grumbled.

  Selfish jerk, Michelle thought again. “The other reason I’m reluctant to let this happen again is that I have no desire to become your in-house concubine. The thought is demeaning.”

  “I don’t have concubines.”

  “Your ever-changing gallery of women, whatever you want to call it,” Michelle said testily.

  Esa ran his thumb back and forth across his lower lip thoughtfully. “I guess I can understand that.”

  “Good.”

  Esa eyed her quizzically. “So—?”

  “So—?”

  “Let me make sure I’m getting things straight.” He looked at her pointedly. “We’re not going to rule out the fact it might happen again, even though, according to you, that’s highly doubtful,” he said dubiously.

  Michelle felt like the tangled vines of her own words were twisting around. “Right.”

  “And we don’t want a relationship with one another.”

  “God, no.”

  “And it’s not going to be a ‘thing.’”

  “Right.”

  “So basically, what we’re doing is just going back to the way things were: coexisting in a state of sexual tension.”

  “You sound like an attorney with a Finnish accent laying out a case.”

  “That’s kind of how I feel, Michelle.”

  “I . . .” Michelle suddenly felt like her mind was trapped in a revolving door, going round and round. The way Esa just laid it all out did make it sound, in a way, like she wanted to pretend it never happened.

  “I told you: I’m just confused,” she admitted, touching his face.

  Esa’s look softened. “I know.”

  “I want to do the right thing by Nell.” And I also stepped over a big line here in terms of professional conduct, Michelle thought to herself.

  “How about this.” Esa sat up, putting his arm around her shoulder. Michelle loved his scent: sex and sweat and man. “We just go with the flow. See what happens.”

  Michelle hesitated. “All right,” she said, even though she wasn’t a “go with the flow” person.

  “It’s settled, then.” Esa closed his eyes with a sigh, his head leaning back against the headboard. “This is nice. Peaceful.”

  Michelle lifted her head to look at him. With his eyes closed, he actually looked vulnerable. “It’s not peaceful with the others?”

  “Not really,” said Esa. It was clear he wasn’t going to supply her with details.

  She brushed a stray lock of hair behind his ear. “I should go.”

  Esa opened his eyes, picking up his watch from his night table. “It’s not even midnight yet. You could set an alarm to make sure you’re up before Nell.”

  “I know.” Michelle suddenly felt awkward. “I’d just feel better if I were back in my own bed. I’m a light sleeper, and sometimes, when Nell gets up in the middle of the night to pee or get a glass of water, she peeks in on me to make sure I’m there. She needs to know I’m there, Esa.”

  He kissed the top of her head, then turned her face toward his. “I think I told you this already, but just in case I forgot, in the heat of the moment, you’re very beautiful.”

  A lump formed in Michelle’s throat. “Well, so are you.”

  “When a man compliments you, you should say ‘Thank you.’”

  “Thank you,” Michelle forced herself to whisper. Her heart desperately wanted to believe he’d never said this to anyone else. But she wasn’t a fool: he probably said it to every woman he’d ever slept with. The only difference was, the others were beautiful and knew it.

  He kissed her, with concentration, with tenderness. “Thank you,” he murmured when he pulled away. “For a wonderful day and night.”

  “My pleasure.”

  Harsh reality intruded as Michelle slid out of bed and began collecting her clothing. “You have practice early tomorrow morning, right?”

  “Yes, but I’m back by ten, and then you have the day and night off?”

  Michelle nodded. “Don’t forget to set out Nell’s uniform tomorrow night before school Monday. And—”

  “Michelle.”

  “I know, I know.” When in doubt, deflect. She came around to his side of t
he bed and kissed him. “Sleep well.”

  “You, too.”

  “Minx,” he added sexily as she headed for the bedroom door.

  Heat trilled through Michelle’s body as she headed quietly to her private bathroom, her clothing a bundle in her arms. It might wake Nell up if she ran a bath. She was better off taking a quick shower. Maybe the hot, steamy water beating down on her would make her drowsy, and she’d fall asleep fast. That way, she’d be able to put off going over their encounter until tomorrow. She doubted it, though. Her good-girl brain had already kicked into high gear, demanding she answer one simple question: what the hell have you done?

  27

  Strapping himself into his seat for the flight out to L.A., Esa started thinking about Michelle. Again.

  The team was on an extended road trip. Up until now, he’d been a big fan of road trips: there was always a new selection of gorgeous women to sleep with. The next morning, he was on his way and didn’t have to worry about seeing them again. The only thing he had to give any serious thought to was playing. Yet here he was, the team’s charter pulling away from the gate, and he couldn’t stop thinking about Michelle.

  It had been three nights since they’d slept together. She’d been different than he’d expected, which maybe wasn’t fair. He didn’t think she’d be uptight, but he wasn’t expecting a “fuck me hard” type, either. Just thinking about that nearly gave him a hard-on. The shock only added to the pleasure of finally having her.

  Did that make him sound like a pig? She’d agreed the tension between them had been growing. It was unavoidable. So it wasn’t like he’d used her, or objectified her. It was like . . . something.

  He glanced over at Ulfie, who was already asleep. Esa was glad: he really wasn’t in the mood to talk right now. He had no doubt that when Ulfie woke up, somewhere over the Midwest, he’d be unable to avoid conversation. His own ruminations about his personal life would have run the course by then. Not that he’d discuss this latest development with Torkelson.