by Cari Quinn
Alana’s attention- deficit disorder, her stepfather had called it. Except hers meant she couldn’t stand to be ignored for a nanosecond.
If that wasn’t enough, she’d craved acceptance. She’d intended to date the captain of the football squad, not the president of the chess team.
But seriously, did any of that matter anymore?
They’d graduated eight years ago. Wasn’t it time she grew up? By now some of the popular crowd probably needed hair replacement therapy. So what if Nicky didn’t yearn for excitement? There was more to life than seeking thrills. He was a decent guy with an incredibly enthusiastic cock. He didn’t even mind that she was a bit of a drama queen. What more could she ask for?
Kelly had yet to stop pleading on the other end of the phone, oblivious to Alana’s mental anguish.
“Kel, I can get my … friend to come pick you up. Let me wake him—”
“You know I can’t stand Ramon. I’ll find my own ride.”
“But—”
“You owe me, Lan. You promised me a great time and you reneged.”
“So we’ll go back to Kink tonight and try again. Okay?”
“But there was a raid last night.”
Alana tsk- tsked, saying only, “The raid never happened. Don’t worry. We’ll have fun.”
Would Nicky come with them tonight to do more “research”? And how far would he take that research exactly? She couldn’t see him making love to her in public.
Though if she were honest, the Nicky she’d dismissed in high school hadn’t been one to fuck women outdoors either. Last night, he hadn’t even cared about grass stains.
His starched- and- polished mother would’ve been horrified.
After Kelly affirmed she had money to pay for a cab, they hung up. Maybe she should’ve informed her friend she wasn’t with Ramon, but total piety wasn’t achieved in a single day.
Alana rolled onto her stomach, rousing as firm, warm lips brushed the small of her back. She shivered. She couldn’t help it. Around him she was a squirming mess, and hell if she understood why.
“Cold?”
His silky voice shot straight into her straining nipples. “No. Used to it. I turn my A/C way down at night.” She sent him a provocative smile over her shoulder. Even rumpled from sleep, his cat- green eyes were already on high alert. “Though I don’t usually sleep naked.”
“No?” He resumed kissing her back with long, slow sweeps of his mouth. “What do you sleep in?”
“Flannel jammies. Even in the summer. I like soft things.” He gathered her hair in his hands as if examining its texture. The bed shifted again as he straddled her, balancing so she didn’t take the brunt of his weight. Leaning forward, he scraped his teeth over the side of her neck, his cock rubbing slowly against her back.
“And hard?”
“Definitely.”
She basked in the sensuous feel of his cotton sheets, in contrast to his erection and the soft weight of his balls on her back. Her nipples were sore from his endless sucking the night before, the sensitive skin abraded from his stubble.
He slid his hands beneath her to cup her breasts. “Your tits feel so good in my hands.”
She blinked. “Did you just say tits?”
“Mmm hmm.” He trailed his fingers down her sides and she wriggled. She hated being so ticklish. “Next I’m going to say pussy. Is that okay with you?”
“Um, yeah.” She pushed down against the bed to relieve the ache between her thighs. Dirty talk turned her on. And dirty talk from Nicky? Just hearing the word pussy in his silky voice had her dripping.
“You may not believe this, but I know all those words. I’ve actually used them. Even during sex.” His mock gasp made her grin. “My parents, my mother in particular, may have overprotected their only child, but I assure you my mind was busy even when my body wasn’t.”
“I don’t doubt it. Your mind’s always busy,” she said dryly.
The mention of his parents brought back more unpleasant memories of the homecoming dance where he’d attempted to kiss her and she’d run off to the sounds of his mother’s screeching. He’d been seventeen but his mother, the warden, hadn’t cared.
Why he’d chosen to make his move when his mom was chaperone, she had no clue.
Not that she’d have kissed him back anyway. Her friends had nicknamed them the Chic and the Geek. Her response had been to denounce Nicky right and left, lest anyone believed she might actually— gasp! — like him.
God, she was such a bitch. Still was. What could he possibly see in her?
Nice tits, remember?
Right. As if Carter Nicholas was shallow enough to simply care about her body. No, that was her department. She was the one who compared her lovers’ girths unflatteringly to fruits and vegetables. Nowadays the only friend she reported to was Kelly, who usually laughed and refrained from sharing any details of her own. Other than Kel’s odd little sex list, noting who she wanted to sleep with and how they ranked, she was remarkably discreet. She just hadn’t found Mr. Right yet.
Then again maybe Kelly’s Mr. Right was right here, stroking his cock against Alana’s back.
Kelly deserved Carter. Not Alana. She belonged with Ram, who hadn’t wanted her for more than a few public screws. At Kink, everyone could hear her faked moans from his “stupendous” lovemaking. In private, he hadn’t been interested.
She closed her eyes and pressed them against her arm. To her horror, they were wet.
“What’s wrong, Mac?”
He sounded so concerned. She wanted to yell at him, to pick a fight about something stupid so she could return to her normal life. But God, she couldn’t stand the idea of leaving. Little had she known that stepping into the past would be a hundred times worse than she could’ve guessed.
Because she wanted another chance.
“Let me up,” she murmured, hating the thickness in her voice. The damn weakness.
He climbed off her immediately.
She sat up and shoved her tangled curls out of her face. He was sprawled beside her, his eyes radiating worry. Instead of speaking, she leaned down and took his mouth, kissing him hard enough to evaporate her tears.
She drove her hands in his hair and he skimmed his down to her ass. He gripped her flesh roughly enough to bruise, completely unlike the way he’d been the night before. Maybe he sensed her desperation. Reveling in it, she rolled with him across the bed, swallowing his grunts as she undulated against his long, wiry frame. The geek he’d been had disappeared inside a leanly muscled body but he was still Carter.
Her Nicky.
He’d changed. Even if he hadn’t, she would’ve seen him through new eyes. He cared about her, had somehow cared all these years. Some parts of himself he’d worked on, true. She could do the same.
And her internal makeover started now.
“Your cock.” She flung the words at him between long, drugging kisses. “I want it in my mouth.”
If she’d expected him to look shocked, she didn’t get her wish. He didn’t kneel in front of her but rose to stand at her side. Nicky had a platform- style bed, putting him at just the right height for her to accept him this way. She shifted until her head neared the edge of the mattress, giving her a choice view of his erection.
Oh yeah, this would be fun.
He shifted behind her and finger- combed her hair, stroking her scalp. What hands he had. A sigh escaped her as she closed her eyes and let her mind empty. By the time he nudged his cock against her lips, her body was loose and soft.
She didn’t take much at first. He was stiff and ready, fat droplets of fluid dampening his slit. She licked those off first, savoring his slightly almond flavor. She scooted backward, eager for more. Once she’d situated herself for maximum pleasure for him— and imminent head rush for her— she opened her mouth all the way.
Most of the guys she’d been with would’ve dived for gold, but he waited for her to relax her throat enough to take him comfortably. He didn’t
rush her. His fingers sculpted her breasts as she sucked, using every ounce of technique she had to make it good for him. Lots of saliva, lots of hard pulls designed to push him over as fast as possible. She had to stop a few times to catch her breath and get her bearings. Her skin slickened with perspiration despite the A/C and when she rubbed her cheek against his tensed thigh, she realized he was sweating too.
At least she had some skills. She didn’t have a math degree like Kelly and she wasn’t a reporter on a secret assignment, but she knew how to take award- winning photos of glass dildos and give great head.
Tipping her head back, her lips enveloped him again. His hard length filled her throat and his low groans ricocheted around the room. And when she released him to suck his balls into her mouth? He nearly bellowed her name.
“Mac, enough.”
She barely heard him over the roar in her ears. Her inner thighs were sticky, her clit achingly swollen.
He pinched her nipples, using the distraction to pull the lower half of his body out of her reach.
“Dammit, I wasn’t done.”
His quick grin shot right into her belly and reverberated distinctly south. “Me either.”
She rejoiced when he crawled across the bed and latched his mouth onto her streaming center, his hands holding her thighs wide open. Without reservation she lifted her hips from the bed, planting her heels and opening herself to his remarkably thorough explorations. She knew he was as hard as the chrome headboard that reflected the strong line of his back, but she sure couldn’t feel it in the way he lapped at her pussy. Slow and methodical, his mouth worked her up to the brink, then he backed off until she was writhing in bedsheets damp from the heat they’d made.
“Do you know,” he asked in a muffled voice as he pumped his finger in and out and alternately tantalized her clit with his tongue, “that an orgasm releases as many endorphins as an opiate high?”
Alana pushed her fisted hands against her eyes. “Let me have one so I can find out.”
His laughter rumbled against her tensed belly, setting off new ripples of desire. “I like that you don’t shave your pussy,” he continued in that same conversational tone. “You’re nice and neat but not artificial. I like seeing your lips pout under these silky little curls …”
He bent his head and used his teeth to tug at one of them. The resulting hot bolt of pleasure jolted her off the bed as she let out a loud moan.
Shocked into stillness, she dropped her hands and stared at his grinning face. “Did I make that noise?”
“Pretty sure it was you.” Two fingers slipped easily into the portal that had just held one. As her body relaxed, he used three. He kept the pace easy, and all the while his tongue toyed with the bud that pulsed with each lick. “Do it again.” Now and then, she’d faked moans for lovers. Ramon, in particular. Guys had fragile egos, and in bed if nowhere else she aimed to please. But she wouldn’t have to fake anything now. Her inner walls had swollen to the point the friction of his fingers felt like bliss and her core coiled in anticipation.
She cupped one breast in her hand, scraping her nail over the tight peak as he glanced back and nodded his appreciation. With an impish smile, she leaned over and sank her teeth into one sexy flexed cheek of his ass, soothing the burn with her kisses.
“Nicky, I want. …”
You. She finished the statement in her head but didn’t know if she spoke aloud. He finally relented and buried his tongue deep in her pussy.
In seconds, she was coming. She closed her eyes as her climax swept through her, taking her vision and her hearing in one blow. She wasn’t sure if she screamed for real but she sure as hell screamed in her head.
Her thighs and her heart clenched in tandem as she swallowed and tasted him.
She’d never forget tonight, no matter what happened.
She’d never forget him.
“I never took drugs but I still like to drink now and then,” she said breathlessly. “That orgasm felt ten times better than any buzz.”
He rolled over and tugged her until they were lying lengthwise on the bed, facing each other. His head dipped but he didn’t kiss her, only outlined her mouth with his tongue. They savored each other, lips rubbing, hands roaming. Her skin felt so sensitive, so deliciously primed for his every touch.
While he spread her legs and swirled the blunt head of his cock through her juice, she searched for lucidity. “Condom?”
“Mmm hmm.” He skimmed his teeth over her collarbone and her nipples tightened. Again, still. She wasn’t sure if she’d come down from the first high yet. “I’m not into music, but the rhythm method sounds awfully good right about now.” She laughed at his corny joke, not much different from the dozens of similar jokes he’d unleashed on her and Kelly years ago. Except now she knew exactly how stupid she’d been back then to roll her eyes and, yes, dismiss him, just as he’d accused her of last night.
“I never play without a raincoat.”
“Smart girl.” He shifted away and dug under the pillow behind him. When he came back to her, he had a fistful of latex. “Smarter boy.”
“No wonder you earned all As,” she said as he donned the condom and dragged her leg high on his hip.
“My average dropped to Bs once I discovered the joys of these,” he suckled her nipples, “and this.” One sure plunge later, he was deep inside her.
“I … What?” She grabbed a hank of his hair. “You were fucking girls then?”
“Making love sounds more poetic.” He swiveled his hips and sank deeper, angling so that he hit her G- spot with each stroke.
She fought not to gasp. Score one for smart boys.
“Fine, you made love with other girls while you wanted me?” Even as his body ruled hers with unhurried thrusts, he smirked.
“Maybe I made love to my hand while holding your picture in the other.” Alana winced at the memory. His dare to expose all during photography class, the snapshot she’d taken in the ladies’ room while everyone else studied light composition.
She’d given him the picture to tease him. She’d liked knowing he had blue balls as far as she was concerned. Hell, she’d encouraged it.
“You really jerked off to my photo?”
His smiling lips rubbed against hers in concert with the leisurely glide of their hips.
“Sweetheart, I could jerk off to your voice.”
“Did you?”
“No.” She tightened around him and his breath faltered. “I didn’t need … a picture. You were in my head, Mac.”
“Oh.” Then as soft fingers found her clit, she murmured again, “Oh.” He touched her gently but her core tightened just the same. He nuzzled her neck, his hand slipping in her wetness as he worked her. God, she was soaked. In the silence, their heavy breathing and the liquid noises as he moved in and out of her body sounded decadent.
On the verge, she gripped his shoulder and met his hot green gaze. She loved the subtle hardening of his flesh inside her, stretching her. It felt so good having him deep within her body. So right.
So … much.
He quickened his movements. Perspiration dotted his forehead and the muscles in his arm bunched as he lifted her thigh to give him more room. Her slick inner walls tensed but she bore down against the impending sensations. She wanted him with her, ached for him to know everything she was experiencing. But there was no stopping her climax. Or her feelings for him, feelings he’d somehow managed to bring back to life in just one night.
A strangled cry left her lips when he pressed on her clit. Drenching heat washed over her and she gave in, losing herself in an orgasm that didn’t seem to end.
“Keep coming,” he urged as his cock unerringly sought her entrance.
Shuddering spasms claimed her body but he kept on until he slammed deeply home. Her rippling pussy engulfed his cock as his shouted climax drowned out hers, the sound strangely triumphant.
Touchdown.
Who needed the captain of the football team? She had a w
orld more right here.
When she could breathe normally again, she opened her eyes. She caught Nicky staring, his breathing uneven, his gaze sharp on her face.
So much for enjoying the afterglow.
“Do you still take pictures?”
Leave it to him to start right in with questions. “Yeah. I’m a photographer, actually. Though I never thought I’d be doing what I’m doing now.”
At his quizzical expression, she filled him in about her job at The Edge. She finished just as the alarm went off beside the bed.
He winced and patted her butt. “The hard- bitten world of journalism calls. Even if I’d much rather stay here in bed with you all day.”
“Would you?” Suddenly she felt shy and unsure. The whole night had been a miracle. She felt as though if she looked at herself in the mirror, she’d see the changes inside herself as clearly as the sun peeking through the bedroom curtains.
There was no going back.
“Of course.” He kissed her sweetly as his cock stirred inside her. “Can’t you tell?”
“Guess I can.”
“Have lunch with me. And bring your portfolio.” As if sensing her hesitation, he kissed her again, with the same internal reaction. “I won’t make it through this day if you won’t.”
“Okay.” C’mon, Alana. Honesty’s another part of losing your bitch cred. She smiled. “I’d love to.”
“Yeah?” He smiled back. “And your pictures? You’ll bring them?”
“Yes.” She rubbed his scruffy jaw, already missing him. “Now go get ready for work.”
He reluctantly slid away and she watched him go. Her brief melancholy disappeared in a laugh when he pumped a fist in the air before heading into the bathroom.
Grinning, she did a fist pump of her own.
Chapter Four
That evening, Alana returned to Kink as promised. When things between her best friend and some random guy got hot and heavy, she left Kelly to her business and aimed for the dance floor.
She probably had an hour to wait before Nicky showed— if he showed— so she might as well pass the time dancing. Watching her best friend fuck some stranger wasn’t exactly her idea of fun, and she certainly wasn’t out to score some action. What she wanted most was to see Nicky again, to watch his eyes light up at the sight of her as when they’d met for lunch. How strange. She’d spent one night with him and today, even waiting until lunchtime to see him again had seemed too long.