by Cee Smith
“You were dancing, with your friends…” He moved closer, his large hands gripping the sides of my waist. His fingers, long and thick, stretched across the dip in my back until they almost met in the middle above my ass. My breath hitched, as his face dropped down next to my jaw so he could speak directly in my ear. “Are you here celebrating something?”
“No.”
“So if I steal you away, I won’t be ruining someone’s birthday or anniversary, will I?”
“No.”
His face feathered against my jaw, his smooth skin gliding across mine like warm honey dripping from a butter knife. His breath tunneled into my ear, sending shivers to my core. He captured my earlobe between his lips, and the intense eroticism of the moment did more for my racing thoughts than the soft lips and suede tongue that grounded me within that very moment. I’d never had a man so blatantly demonstrate his desire for me.
The fact that I didn’t know his name was barely a passing thought as his lips suckled my ear. He followed up with a lick to my throat, and it was like we were two mammals drawn in by some animal magnetism that was bigger than us—the desire to mate that was suppressed in humans still existed between us.
A gust of wind pulled up between us, and I noticed that he’d stepped back. He broke away from me yet intertwined his fingers with mine as he led me to the front of the bar. It wasn’t until I was nearly upon my friends’ location at the bar that I tugged against his stronghold, which was leading me to the exit.
“Wait. My friends,” I said releasing my hand from his. He took a step to the side and waited patiently as I took in the shocked expressions on both Kerri’s and Piper’s faces.
“Holy shit,” Piper whispered.
“You’ve got balls, honey, I’ll tell you that.”
I looked from Piper to Kerri, and it suddenly hit me: I was about to exit with a man I didn’t know. But he was just the kind of man this kind of thing would happen with. He looked too remarkable, too suave, like this wasn’t his first time doing something so reckless. It was definitely mine.
He must have noticed something on my face when he looked back at me because he nodded subtly, and before I knew it, he was pulling something from his wallet and handing it over to Kerri. Kerri took a quick look at the thin piece of paper that easily fit in her palm and gave me a slight push toward the man who stood with his palm held out for me to take. Something about their exchange made me feel like I was an escort and Kerri was my madam.
I didn’t need any other push, and soon I was sitting in the passenger seat of his sports car. The make and model of the car slipped my mind as all I seemed to take in was how I could feel the timbre of his voice vibrate through my seat—thrumming between my legs—as he asked where I lived. I must have told him my address because soon we were both buckled in and fast on our way to my place, twenty minutes west of the strip.
The rest seemed to be a jumbled mess, events made hazy by lust and alcohol. He parked in my driveway and I remember fumbling for the door handle, and being pleasantly surprised when he strode around the car to open the door for me. He even opened the house door when my keys slipped through my palms and dropped to the pavement at my feet. Everything after that sort of blurred together.
“I’ve never been mountain climbing,” I confessed between panting breaths as I straddled his naked body. I remember falling into a fit of giggles, lost in the confusion of my statement. It didn’t matter though because soon our lips, our bodies were moving in a blur that had my body on fire. A heavy throb pulsed between my legs, ratcheting up my desire for the man who made my heart race with just a look.
The sheets surrounding us only expounded the heat simmering between our tightly pressed bodies. Hands gripped the globes of my ass and pulled them apart, drawing awareness to the wetness pooling at my core.
“Say you want me to fuck you,” I remembered him saying. He pinched my nipples and the torturous bliss shot down my body, making my clit throb harder for relief. His length pressed hard against my slit, nudging at my entrance.
Time slowed down in the moments that I sat there astride his lap with hands that tortured as he touched me everywhere. I’d never felt so needy, so desperate, so consumed.
“Open your eyes,” he grumbled. Those green eyes were sobering, staring at me as if he knew I needed this, and he didn’t want me to miss a moment of what was happening between us. His eyes seemed to hypnotize every nerve in my body—the chorus of excitement vibrated through my core, whispering my need into every closed-off part of my heart.
I’d never had anyone look at me like that before.
Never.
I couldn’t tell whether those eyes were building me up or breaking me down. Giving me courage or stealing a piece of me.
His fingers traced the outside of my mouth, dipping between my lips. I licked against the submerged fingers, tasting the salt and whiskey still lingering on his thick digits. I watched his mouth move. He was speaking, but all I could focus on was the path those same fingers traveled.
“Or, I could take you here.” His finger dipped in my depths, shocking me with its blunt intrusion. My body jerked with his abrasive entry. His chest shook with suppressed laughter, and his smile quickly morphed into a smirk as he brought that one finger back up to his lips.
I remembered staring into his eyes as his other hand dropped between the cheeks of my ass, stopping just before he reached that forbidden, elusive area. Words froze in my throat. I just didn’t know if they were to encourage him to press forward or to slow things down. Suddenly with his hand right there it felt like things were moving faster than my mind could process.
His eyes sparked with a lust that overwhelmed me with its brilliance. Even drunk, I could tell he was a man that either saw boundaries and didn’t care or saw them and purposefully trespassed—I didn’t know which was scarier, but there was still something thrilling in the way he unapologetically touched me. As if the touch of my skin compelled him to press harder, go farther, test the invisible boundaries set by two strangers.
I didn’t pick up on everything he said, but the things I heard sent my mind into a tailspin of carnal delight.
“Would you like my thick cock to fuck you here…I promise you’ll like everything I do to you. Don’t hide from me.”
He worked into me slowly, his eyes never straying, never blinking. I clenched down on him, my body greedily pulling him in farther, but his movements didn’t speed up.
His hips worked like a bow of a ship breaking through clambering waves.
My feverish hands clawed at his back.
Skin slid across sweat-soaked skin.
Expletives and panting.
Toes curled.
Harder.
Deeper.
Tighter.
“Come. Come for me, pretty bird.”
Stars burst behind my eyes, swirling against the darkness that threatened to pull me under. His hands found the middle of my back and his shouts followed mine, announcing his own release.
Chapter Two
“Knock, knock,” his voice rang through the partially closed door. I appreciated that he didn’t start immediately treating this place like it was his home just because we were forced into this situation together. Although, he didn’t really strike me as someone that was that respectful, but what did I know? It was my first one-night stand after all. I had no idea what was standard protocol, except I was sure that most one-night stands didn’t accidentally turn into a staycation due to natural disasters.
“You may come in,” I said so softly I was unsure if the sound of my voice reached him, even beneath the half-inch gap under the door.
I sat at the edge of the bed, one foot tipping toward the floor while the other foot rested comfortably beneath my butt. The covers were cradled against my back. The same covers I remembered tussling last night in our melee.
Once again, he strode into the room comfortably, taking a seat next to me—his long legs allowing his feet to come to a stiff rest a
gainst the beige tiled floors.
“I’ll start first. Hi, my name is Joel.” He turned and pushed his hand toward me, and all I could think about were those hands—how they brandished my skin, how they brought me to the peak before tossing me into the abyss. Their size, his touch, that mouth. I turned away, flushed by my turning thoughts. Can he read my face? Can he see what I am thinking about? Does he know how affected I am by him? How am I going to be able to spend more than a day with a man like him? Maybe Kerri was right and I got in too deep thinking I could take on a man like him. It wasn’t like I propositioned him though; he was the one who sought me out.
“Is it safe to assume your memories are returning?”
I whipped my head back, and he held a smug grin as if this was all so amusing for him.
“There’s no reason to be shy,” he said, pulling a long lock of my tawny hair between his thick fingers. “We’re both adults here, pretty bird, and last night doesn’t have to be a one time thing. It’s not like we’re going anywhere.”
I slid my hands over the waterfall of hair that was dripping through his fingers. Yanking my hand down, the hair escaped his fingers and fell back against my shoulders. My hand fell into his, and I moved to shake his hand while introducing myself. His hand was surprisingly warm, and I tried to ignore how his hand could encapsulate mine from every angle. They were that huge, but they were also soft and comforting, in a way that made me feel self-conscious and uncomfortable. I just didn’t know if it was from the fact that I was now stuck there with that man, Joel, or if it was because of all the things I was sure his hands had done to me the night before but couldn’t remember.
“My name is Blaire, and last night won’t be happening again. Actually, it would be beneficial if we come up with some ground rules for the foreseeable future, however long that may be.” I ended my sentence on more of a grumble, still disbelieving my luck would be so bad that I would be the one person to be stuck with a one-night stand. This was the stuff of some made-for-TV special—this was no romantic comedy, though. This was real life, and I was really stuck with him.
Within a matter of minutes our hands had moved from shaking to holding, as I worked through what the next few weeks would look like. His thumb worked over the back of my hand, rubbing small circles that calmed me to the point that I could melt into the sheets beneath where I sat.
I tugged my hand from his. Rules. We need rules. I couldn’t allow myself to get comfortable with him. That wasn’t part of my plan. He was supposed to be a one-and-done. I had no room in my life for anything more, and I could see how being with him for more than a day could have a girl questioning all of her priorities, but I was dedicated. I had goals.
Folding both my hands in my lap, I worked through a quick rundown of rules that would definitely need to be established up front.
“Okay, rules. Lay it on me.”
“You’re a big guy, so…”
“I’m glad you noticed,” he said, looking across his still exposed flesh, which was barely covered by a few scraps of fabric that bundled tightly against his crown jewels. Enough to show that something about my statement had left him excited. My eyes pulled back up to his, and he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
I should have realized then what trouble he would be, but instead I urged on about rules, sure that limiters would calm his libido and my mind’s inquisition into what happened once the clothes came off the night before.
“Ah, first, we should have this conversation with both of us fully clothed.”
“I don’t know. If I’m only going to have these clothes to wear for however long, I don’t think I want to be wearing them every day, all day long.”
“Stop making excuses to hang around here in the nude. That won’t be happening here. So you can save whatever story you have about being raised in some nudist colony and freedoms to wear your skin shit.”
I hopped up from the bed, avoiding contact with him as I moved about the room looking for my shirt that was shed in haste last night. He at least acted like he was looking for his clothes as well, but didn’t seem as eager to find them as I was.
“I’m not some hippy from a nudist colony, but I am comfortable…‘wearing my skin’—is that what you said? Yeah, whatever. Do you have any clothes that might seem more partial to a man like me?”
I found the remainder of his clothes kicked under the side of the bed he slept on. I threw the bundle on the bed, watching as he picked each garment up and righted it before slipping them on.
“You’re staring,” he said with a grin. I turned toward the door, trying to block out all thoughts of his bulging muscles, the trail of hair that drew my eye to what his briefs were hiding, and the hint of his erection.
“My brother visits sometimes. I might have some of his things. Although, he isn’t nearly as big as you, so some of the stuff might not fit.”
“It doesn’t look like I have the option of being picky at this point.”
“I’ll be right back,” I said, exiting the room.
To the left of the bedroom and down the hall was the garage. My brother, Kyle, usually kept a spare bag for when he would stroll into town. It’d been a while since he’d come to visit, but I was sure the bag was still there waiting for him.
The cacophony of the storm was loudest in the garage where echoes of howling winds, shuffling sand, and rocks pinged off the aluminum door. I worried about what my neighborhood would look like when it was all over. Vegas had serious flooding issues, so we were used to rocks and debris filling the roads, but I feared this would be total devastation by the time we were finally able to leave our houses.
I stretched up on my tippy toes to reach the top of the shelving unit on the right side of the garage. The door to the house opened behind me, stopping my movement before I could grab the bag. My house looked small as Joel strolled through the doorway, turning slightly to ensure he didn’t hit the door jam on his way through.
“Can I get that?” I didn’t have a chance to answer him before he was pressed against me, reaching for the bag. His body was warm against mine, and I half expected him to smell like liquor and stale smoke, but was pleasantly surprised by the lingering smell of his cologne or aftershave. Whatever it was had a cinnamon smell, like scented pinecones and freshly baked pie, reminding me of fall. It was a spicy scent that tickled my nose and made me want to curl up close to him.
“Thanks.”
He placed the bag down and I opened it, pulling out the few sets of clothes, socks, and underwear that were folded nicely in the confines of the bag. I watched Joel take each item handed to him, pulling the tags into view. He showed no sign of whether or not the clothes would work before holding them up against his large frame. I must admit, just seeing the shirts held up against his chest, I knew they were one size too small, but they would show off those slick abs and concrete arms. I sucked in my bottom lip, careful to make sure I wasn’t drooling at the thought.
“These shirts are the equivalent of you walking around in a bra. You sure you don’t want me naked?” I flashed him a look that let him know how I felt about that and he shrugged. “It was worth a try.”
“The pants will probably be too short, but you could roll them up. Guys are doing that these days, aren’t they?”
“Sure, hipsters are. It’s not really my scene, but I can make do. Besides who else is going to see me, other than you? Can I just say, had we decided to just go to my place, this wouldn’t be a problem. Girls always look cute in guy clothes. All you would have had to do is throw on a tee of mine and you would have been covered. Boom. Different shirt every day would have taken care of you.”
“Well I’m not a twelve-year-old girl at a slumber party, so the tee shirt thing would work for me as much as rolled chinos works for you. Actually, it would do less for me. Either way, this is what we got.”
If the shirts were too tight I could only imagine what the underwear would look like, gripping those thighs and that sculpted ass. Or, would he just go
commando? I chastised myself internally while leading him back in the living room where we could have a proper talk about what the rules should be for the next couple weeks. I think I was curious to see if he would have any rules that he would need to add to the list. My desire to get to know him a little better didn’t go unnoticed.
“As I said before,” I started, settling into the corner of the couch, waiting for him to take a seat on the other side. He sat close enough for our knees to touch, and I tried not to become distracted by the way our skin continuously brushed as he got comfortable. “With your size, I don’t think it would be fair for me to just take the bed, so I don’t mind switching days sleeping on the couch.”
“I don’t understand. Your bed was big enough for the both of us last night.” He looked genuinely perplexed by my statement, as if there wasn’t a thought in his mind that we would spend the next two weeks sleeping in the same bed together.
“That was last night. We’re talking about from here on out. I think we should create some boundaries, one of those being that we shouldn’t be sleeping in the same bed at the same time. It confuses things.”
“It’s not confusing me, pretty bird.”
I ignored his comment and pressed on, “I also have a large supply of bottled water and canned/packaged goods, which we should go over rationing later.”
“Do you have any pet-peeves I should know about? You obviously have an aversion to nudity. Anything else?”
“None I can really think of. Though I think we should try to take some time away from each other, so we don’t get cabin fever.”
“Okay, sure. Do you have a spare toothbrush?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“I should have asked earlier, but you’re not married or anything, right? There isn’t going to be some dude fighting through the storm to make it back to you, to find that you’re shacked up with me, is there?”