by Lila Monroe
“No clue. He’s got a good palate, I guess. Background in food science and chemistry.”
Oh. So that’s disappointing. And boring. Don’t any of these guys have dirt?
“But,” he says, leaning in close to his colleagues, “I heard a rumor . . .”
HERE IT COMES!
“What can I get you fellas?” the bartender asks.
NOOOOO! I want to scream at her. Because: what rumor???
“Four beers,” Baldy says.
As the bartender leaves to get their drinks, I wait for the conversation to continue. But as I’m looking at Stefan, he glances at me. My eyes are hidden behind sunglasses, but it’s like he can see me.
Is he thinking I look familiar? Is he about to bust me? Shit. I take a sip to buy myself a second.
He keeps looking at me. What the hell?
I scramble to try to think of something clever to say, but my mind draws a complete blank. Panicking, I’m two seconds away from bolting when I hear, “Hey, baby.”
Then, I recognize Nick’s voice. He ducks under the brim of my hat and his lips land on mine. “I missed you,” he says against my mouth, his accent thick as he stays in character. “They have some pretty sweet poured concrete paths. Real craftsmanship. I got a little distracted.”
It’s no hardship to play along. Especially when it means I get to kiss Nick. I wrap my arms around his neck. Before it gets really heated, he pulls back and grins down at me like I’m the only woman he’s ever loved.
I swallow. Hard.
I’m so screwed.
For something to focus on, I take another drink. Of course, my drink is empty.
“Oops,” I give him a sheepish grin. “I’m getting into the vacay spirit.”
“We’ll just have to get you another. I’m tasting . . .” He gives my lips a lick. “Rum?”
I nod.
“Delicious . . .” he says, his voice smoldering.
I glance over at the CandyShack men who are watching us with interest. “Shmoopycakes, we’re putting on a show. Save something for later.”
“Oh, I’ve got plenty for later,” he drawls and then glances over at the men. “Don’t mind us,” he says and then adds a conspiratorial: “Newlyweds.”
The men nod and turn their backs on us. But when I’m hoping they’ll continue their conversation, their drinks arrive, and they drift away from the bar.
“Damn,” I murmur as they disappear down one of those fine concrete paths lined with thick vegetation. “I’m sure I was just about to hear something good.”
Nick sits on the stool beside mine. “It’s okay. I got the itinerary. The launch is tonight.” He lowers his voice and adds, “I’ve already bugged the room it’s in. We’ll have tape of the whole thing.”
“How resourceful of you,” I say.
He grins. “I’m not just a wizard with rocks and cement you know,” he says in his Jersey accent.
Oh, I bet you have many, many talents.
“So now what, Mrs. Salisbury?” His eyes glide down my body in a way that feels like a caress. Despite feeling very exposed as Gina, he—or at least Rex—seems to be enjoying the view. “A dip in the pool?”
“I could use it to cool off,” I say, being completely truthful. But then I hear laughing and shouting from the direction the CandyShack men had gone in. “Wait. Let’s follow those guys,” I suggest. Because we have a job to do. Not to mention that job will keep me from throwing myself at Nick.
For now.
A little while later, we’re peeking through thick bushes like kids at a summer camp panty raid.
We’re watching the CandyShack execs as they are being guided through a team-building exercise that includes a hula hoop, water balloons, stupid party hats, and eggs on spoons.
Yup, sure feels like summer camp. Except way more old-white-guy awkward and a lot less fun.
Tiffany is with them as a cheerleader-slash-helper, wearing short shorts and a very tight CandyShack T-shirt. She’s handing out slips of paper to the execs who—other than the HR manager—are obviously way more interested in watching her jump and jiggle around than in participating in the actual team building.
Nope. I was wrong; Ms. Faeber looks so bored that she’s watching Tiffany, too.
“Soooooo this is huge a waste of time,” I say softly as I turn toward Nick. “We’re not going to learn anything here.”
“You’re right,” he whispers. “Let’s head back to the room and we can figure out what to do next.”
I know what I’d like to do next, I don’t say, but I give him a nod. He gestures me forward and I part the dense foliage with an arm. “I feel like a jungle explorer,” I say over my shoulder.
Which is a mistake. Because it means my eyes are not on the path in front of me.
My sandal catches on a tree root, and I tip over, going face first into the foliage.
“Alice!” Nick whisper-yells a second later. “You okay?”
“Mrrghhh,” is what comes out. Something isn’t quite right with my left ankle, though as I rotate it, I don’t think it’s broken. I just came down wrong. “I’m okay. Just give me a minute,” I say as I roll over onto my butt.
Nick takes my hands and tugs me to my feet again. “Are you sure you’re OK?”
“I’m okay,” I repeat, rolling my eyes. “Just feeling stupid.”
He gives me a sweet smile. “You should never feel stupid when gravity gets the better of you. It’s a very strong force. I, myself, have been its bitch on more than one occasion.”
I look at him askance. “You?”
He nods.
“Hard to believe.” I look him up and down. “You’re very sturdy.”
And muscularly, mouthwateringly manly.
“I wasn’t always,” he says.
I lift an eyebrow.
He looks sheepish. “I was a pretty klutzy kid. All arms and legs. I was skinny, and dorky, too.”
“No,” I protest, disbelieving.
“Oh, yes. I was the founding member of the school chess club,” he says with a wry smile. “Population, me. And my math teacher, who took pity on me.”
Then, he blushes. Nick Cameron fucking blushes.
So of course, I have no choice but to pull him back against a tree in a hot, delicious kiss. But Nick holds back, his whole body tense.
“Is someone watching?” he asks against my mouth.
I lean back and look up into his unnervingly brown eyes. It takes me a second to realize he thinks my kissing him is about us acting. Playing roles. Being on the job.
“No.” I lean in again. For a half a second, I worry he’s going to stop me. He’d said that makeout in the closet had been a mistake. But even if it was, this can’t be. Not when it feels so damn right.
And any doubts I had about him being into it swiftly fall away as he takes my face in his hands and kisses me back. Our tongues dance as we both surrender to the heat and attraction that’s been simmering between us for days, and damn, it feels good.
In fact, other than the branch that is digging into the left side of my ass, this moment is perfect. I sigh.
Misinterpreting the sigh, he pulls back and looks at me. “You good with this?”
He’s kidding, right? “Considering I started it?”
He gives me that lopsided grin.
“Goddamn it, Nick, you’re killing me with that smile.”
The grin gets wider.
“Shut up,” I laugh, pulling him down again. He chuckles against my mouth, but only for a moment, then he nips at my bottom lip. His hands come to the sides of my cover-up, reach for the tie, and tug the bow.
I move to help him along, but he shakes his head. “Let me. I want to unwrap this gift.”
Right, because I needed to get more turned on. Trying to push away my self-consciousness, I let him open the robe and push it off my shoulders. Not that it was covering much, but in the shade under the trees, when the robe is gone, I feel a slight chill across my skin, even though my insides
are on fire.
“Goosebumps,” Nick observes, leaning down to kiss the exposed skin beside my navel. My belly quivers at his touch. He looks up at me, smiling.
“Ticklish?” he asks.
“Horny,” I correct, making him laugh. It’s one of my new favorite sounds. He kisses my stomach again and then moves up my body, slowly, eliciting a groan of frustration.
“Now, now,” he says in a pretend scold as he cups my breasts through the tiny suit, one with each hand. He kneads and pinches the tips, my nipples hardening. I arch my back, pressing my breasts into his hands. A part of me is freaking out that I’m doing this here—in the open air. Sure, we’re hidden in the woods, but anyone could stumble across us. But maybe it’s not me. Maybe it’s Gina being the wanton hussy right now.
Then he reaches around my back and fiddles with the string. I’m about to tell him it’s double-tied, when I feel it loosen, the fabric falling away.
Nick and his magic fingers.
The cool air tightens my nipples even more, but then he’s there. His mouth is warm and wet over one pebbled peak while his hand continues working on the other. I’m not sure which feels better. Just as long as he never, ever stops.
“Christ, Alice,” he mutters as he trades lips for hands like he doesn’t want either to be neglected. Never before have I appreciated symmetry so much.
He kisses his way up my sensitive neck, his hands exploring me, making me crazy. I’m panting and pull his shirt out from his pants, but when I reach for his belt, he gently brushes my hands away.
“Let me,” he says.
My fingers tunnel under his shirt instead, and slide up his solid, muscular chest. He has just the perfect amount of hair. He groans my name as I zero in on his flat nipples, wanting to taste him the way he tasted me. Damn shirt is in the way, but I can’t get it off.
A moment later, he’s easing me back against the tree for balance. He leans into me, the hard length of him pressing into my pussy over the scrap of fabric, the pressure of it exactly where I need him. I groan. Loudly.
“Shhhh,” he says, capturing my mouth in a scorching kiss as he presses his hips into mine again. He smirks. “You have to be quiet.”
“Then you need to stop what you’re doing,” I say, breathless. “Except, don’t you dare stop what you’re doing.”
He chuckles as he nips at my lip playfully. Then he moves down my body. I arch my hips, needing the pressure of him against me.
“Shhhh,” he repeats, making me realize I must have said something. What? I have no idea. My brains are mush. My body is tight as a bowstring. I need more. So much more.
“Nick,” I beg.
And then he’s there. On his knees, right in front of me. He cups my pussy outside the bathing suit and growls, pressing his flat palm against me. “You’re so wet for me,” he says.
“Yes,” I agree. Pressing up into him. “Please.”
“Please what?”
“Touch me.”
And then his hand is gone. Was he not listening? I whimper in frustration.
“How do you want to be touched, Alice?” Nick looks up at me, his eyes dark.
Does he expect me to be capable of actual thought right now? “By you,” I manage, arching my hips. “Please.”
“You don’t need to beg,” he chuckles.
“Yes, I do, because you’re still not touching me!”
He grins. But still no touch.
My hands make their way down to where he should be, but he pushes them away. “Wait,” he teases. “I’ll give you what you need, I promise.” He places a warm palm on each of my inner thighs, easing my legs apart even as I want to squeeze them together. I need the pressure. Friction. Something.
“Nick,” I say and then a second later, he’s there, his face against the fabric of the bathing suit, his breath hot as he presses into my clit. I want to weep from pleasure and relief. But not yet. Because I need more of both.
“God, you smell good,” he says. His words are hot as they vibrate against me. “I wonder how you taste,” he muses.
“You know,” I bite out. “There is a way to find out.”
He laughs against me. I consider crushing his skull with my thighs. But before I can even threaten, he pulls the bathing suit aside and his hot mouth is on me.
I gasp as I buck up against him.
He stops. “Alice,” he reminds me, laughing. “You have to be quiet.”
As if to prove his point, a chorus of raucous laughter erupts from the CandyShack group. Oops. They’re still pretty darn close.
“Sorry,” I whisper. “But I swear to God, if you stop, I will . . .” I can’t even think of a threat, I need him so much. “Do something.”
He chuckles but resumes what he was doing. I writhe against him, stuffing my wrist into my mouth as he sucks my clit. He eases his fingers into me as I coil tighter and tighter.
Maddeningly, he stops again. Though this time he keeps his mouth on me, not moving. Just breathing.
I look down my body, past my breasts and my flat stomach to see the top half of his face over my mound.
And here I thought watching him eat an oyster was hot.
Like he knows what I’m thinking, his eyes crinkle in amusement. A fraction of a second later, he arches his fingers inside me and laps my clit in a dizzying rhythm.
Oh. My. God.
I come apart in the hottest, wildest orgasm of my life. Or at least, since the last time he made me come my brains out in that bathroom closet. I have to bite down on my hand as he carries me through my orgasm, drawing it out until the tremors cease and I can’t take any more.
As I catch my breath, he sits back on his heels and smooths my bathing suit back into place. He gets to his feet, while I’m still reeling in holy-shit pleasure.
“Double wow,” I manage breathlessly, and he gives a satisfied grin. “Don’t look so smug,” I add, teasing.
He laughs. “Why? I didn’t hear any complaints.”
I give him a playful shove—
Then a voice echoes through the woods. “Ready or not! Here I come!”
Nick looks at me.
I look at him.
We burst out laughing. We scramble to get my bikini top back on, then hurry out of the woods and back to the room.
We’re barely inside the door before Nick presses me up against it. His mouth is urgent on mine, picking up where we left off in the woods. I taste myself on him and it just ramps me up more.
My purse drops. My cover-up slides to the floor.
I yank up his shirt. Finally, I get to press my face into that chest. My life’s dream.
As I’m roaming my lips over his hard planes, my bikini top gets untied and tossed somewhere. The bottoms suffer the same fate. Then his hand is there again. He groans. My palm finds his erection and I stroke him through his pants.
“These need to go,” I say breathlessly.
“Done.”
I undo his belt and pants and shove them to the floor. Once he’s free, he pulls me up and kisses me again, his tongue hot and insistent, a preview of what’s to come. I close my fist around him again, stroking his glorious cock and making him groan.
“Dammit, Alice . . .” Nick’s expression is glazed and wild, and I can’t get enough. I love seeing him like this, out of control. And even more, I love that I’m the one making him feel this way.
We back towards the bed, and I almost trip on my weekend bag where I left it on the floor.
Thank you, Gemma, I silently cheer, remembering the super-sized box of condoms. I pull away long enough to grab one, then Nick lifts me, wrapping my legs around his waist, and tumbling me back onto the bed. His kisses are searing hot, and I’m so wet, ready for him. It’s a breathless tangle of hands, and lips, and tongues, but somehow we manage to get the condom on. I moan, impatient, guiding him between my thighs. Nick braces himself above me; I feel the blunt tip of his cock against me. His breath catches. He pushes into me.
He fills me completely.
Oh God, he feels so good.
He starts to thrust into me. Slow at first, the friction tortuous and amazing at the same time. I’m just about to tell him to move faster when he does.
Faster.
Harder.
Perfecter.
“So . . . fucking . . . good,” he says with each thrust as he pumps into me.
I agree, but can’t form words. I groan loudly, letting myself go now that I don’t have to keep quiet.
“Fuck, Alice,” he grunts, rolling us suddenly. Now I’m on top, and fuck, the angle feels even more incredible. I find the rhythm, riding him. I’m lost in the pleasure when I catch sight of my reflection in the mirror across the room.
I look like a stranger.
I’m still wearing the wig and contacts, but it’s definitely me, my back arched as Nick thrusts up into me. I haven’t even taken my shoes off.
It’s . . . really, really hot.
“Alice?” he groans, his voice ragged. He’s close.
That’s all it takes to send me over the edge. I let out a cry as I come harder than I ever have in my life before. I feel Nick explode inside me, our bodies convulsing with pleasure.
I collapse beside him on the bed.
It turns out Gina is an animal in bed. And I like it.
19
Nick
I wake up hard.
Not that it’s a rare thing. But as I drift back into consciousness, I recognize how this morning’s different. Because rarely do I wake up with my cock hard and the perfect woman naked in my bed.
This must be what waking up in heaven feels like.
Before I can stop myself, my hips press into Alice’s ass. With a soft groan, Alice arches back into me. Then she settles, her breathing slow and even. She’s still sleeping, so I slide out of bed and jump in the shower, replaying the events of last night again.
Not to brag, but we put a hell of a dent in that big box of condoms.
Thinking about it makes my cock twitch. Man. I knew she had an inner sex-kitten side, but not like what she unleashed last night. Holy ever-loving fuck.
The more I get to know her, the more I am surprised by her many layers. She seems like an open book, but I’m finding a dozen new chapters the deeper I get.