Crossing the Line

by Nicola Marsh

  "Fuck me," slipped out before I had a second to come up with a more suitable response.

  Her smile wobbled. "That's what I was hoping for."

  I shook my head. "I didn't mean it like that." I dragged my hand through my hair. "You just threw me, that's all."

  "Good, because that's how you've made me feel since the minute we started talking." She drew in a deep breath and huffed it out. "Look, I never do this kind of thing."

  "Even at college?"

  She winced. "I'm kinda a nerd so no, I don't do dorm-hopping."

  "So why me? Why tonight?"

  I wanted her to articulate a reason, any reason, that I could throw back in her face as to why we couldn't do this. Because my dumb-arse libido? Already had her stripped with me deep inside her.

  "Because you're hot," she blurted, and I laughed at her honesty.

  "Thanks."

  "And I want to step out of my comfort zone for once in my life."

  I nodded. "So I was right at the start. Good girl wants to slum it for a while."

  She reared back a little, as if I'd slapped her. "I wouldn't be slumming it. You're … you're … incredible."

  I could've sworn my heart stopped beating at that moment. I couldn't breathe.

  No one, apart from Mum, had ever looked at me the same way Mia was looking at me.

  Like she could see the good stuff deep inside I hid from everyone.

  Like she wanted to know more.

  Like I was worthy.

  And damn if it didn't harden my resolve all the more.

  "I'm not even close to who you think I am," I said, shaking my head. "I'm a moody, arrogant prick."

  "Yeah, keep telling yourself that." Her lopsided smile made something in my chest ache. "Maybe if you keep saying it long enough, you'll start to believe your own badass press."

  There she went again, making me want to laugh.

  "We've known each other for less than an hour." I held up my hands to ward her off. "You shouldn't want to sleep with an arsehole like me."

  "Well too damn bad, because I do."

  Before I could react, she'd flung herself on me, moving so fast my back slammed against the wire fence surrounding the court.

  Her mouth crushed mine in an inexperienced meld of lips and teeth that had me tasting blood a second before she pushed away.

  "Shit, I'm so sorry." She stared at my mouth. "You're bleeding."

  I couldn't stand her shattered expression. "My first sex wound. Cool."

  When she didn't lose the wide-eyed horror, I did the dumbest thing since I'd smashed that jerk's nose back in Sydney.

  I reached for her and hauled her into my arms. "Just means you'll have to kiss it better."

  "I'm no good at this." She sounded on the verge of tears. "Just forget it—"

  I kissed her. Grazing my lips over hers. Repeatedly. Deepening the pressure with every pass until her mouth opened. My tongue slipped in, touched hers and I lost it.

  I ravaged her mouth. Long, deep, hot kisses that made my cock ache.

  She moaned when I groped her butt and pulled her flush against me, her thighs parting so I fit snug.

  Damn, there was no fucking way this could stop at a kiss.

  I wrenched my mouth from hers with difficulty. "Mia, we can't—"

  "Ssh." She pressed a finger against my lips. "As much as I like hearing that accent, right now I want something else."

  She ground her pelvis against my cock. "This."

  When she did it again, slower this time, sliding up and down against me, I knew I was a goner.

  Chapter 5

  MIA

  Trust me to pick the only bad boy on the planet with a conscience.

  I didn't know what else to do to get Kye to sleep with me, bar strip and run around the tennis court naked.

  "This isn't a good idea," he mumbled, sounding as tortured as I felt.

  Good. Because if we didn't do this within the next five minutes, I'd combust from wanting him.

  I pressed against him one last time, wishing I had the guts to touch him there. "We either do this, or you're going to spend the night under a cold shower or working off your frustration on the court."

  The moment I said it, I had an idea. A brilliant one.

  Trying to hide a triumphant smirk was almost impossible. "How about this. We play one game of tennis. I win, we have sex. You win, we don't."

  His eyes narrowed, sizing me up. "You said you played badly, so what's the catch?"

  "No catch." I shrugged, mustering my best innocent expression. "Come on. What have you got to lose?"

  Apart from the game, because if there's one thing I knew about tennis, it was how to not play fair. I was average on the court. But I'd once watched Dani bring a guy to his knees by seducing him one shot at a time.

  Now it was my turn to see if I had what it took to distract a gun player long enough that he fudged four points so we ended up in bed.

  "You're giving in too easily." He shook his head. "I don't trust you."

  "Shouldn't that be my line?" I smiled and flipped the catch on the storage box tucked outside the fence.

  "Fine, we'll play one game, then I'm heading to bed," he muttered, rummaging through the rackets before he found one he fancied: testing the weight in his hand, fiddling with the strings, inspecting it.

  "That's what I'm hoping for," I murmured, flashing him a smug grin when he glared at me.

  He tapped the racket against his opposite palm. "You're not exactly dressed for tennis," he said, his gaze sliding over my high heels and bare legs, averting before he got any higher.

  "Neither are you." I shrugged, slipped off my heels and kicked them away. "There. I'm ready."

  He swore under his breath before shrugging out of his sports jacket and tossing it over the storage box.

  I grabbed the first racket I could find and didn't even glance at it, earning another suspicious stare from Kye.

  "You serve." I tossed him a few balls, which he caught deftly in one hand.

  "Then this is going to be over faster than you think," he said, a flicker of a smile playing about his sexy mouth, the mouth I couldn't wait to kiss again. "They don't call me Ace for nothing."

  I mimed chattering with my hand. "Too much of this."

  He laughed. "Fine. Let's get this over with."

  I blew him a kiss, not surprised he frowned, before I strutted toward my end of the court, wiggling my ass for all its worth.

  He swore again.

  I turned to face him, delighting in his tortured expression across the net. Holding my racket in both hands, I stretched overhead, reaching for the sky. His groan wasn't unexpected, considering my mini rode high enough to flash my white satin thong.

  His first serve went wide.

  "Fault," I yelled, complete with a fist pump in the air that made my dress ride up again.

  The next ball flew at me so hard I would've bruised if it'd hit. As it was, it missed the service line by a foot.

  "Double fault." I chalked up a point in the air to me. "Love, fifteen."

  I saw his jaw clench in response as he stalked toward the other side of the court to serve again.

  He glared at me across the net so I did what a girl in my position had to do. I unzipped my dress from collarbone to navel, grateful I'd listened to Dani and worn the sluttiest thing I owned.

  "Fuck," he grunted, serving the softest ball I'd faced my entire life.

  I slammed it back down the line with the best forehand I'd ever done. "I do believe that's love-thirty," I said, taking my spot on the other side of the court and bouncing on the balls of my feet, fully aware what affect that would have on my boobs.

  He stared at the jiggling and scowled. "You're not playing fair."

  Tossing my hair over my shoulder, I said, "I'm playing to win."

  To prove it, I slid the zip lower.

  He served. Wide.

  I jumped up and down, and watched his eyes bug out of his head.

  He double
faulted again.

  "Match point," I said, deliberately wiping make-believe sweat from my cleavage. Then repeating the action across my lower belly, just above the thong's elastic.

  His next serve practically dribbled over the net and I lobbed it back over his head. He could've returned the shot. He didn't, considering he'd already flung his racket away and was stalking toward me with determination.

  "I won," I said, licking my suddenly dry lips, as my heart threatened to leap out of my chest.

  What the hell was I doing, taunting a guy like Kye into having sex with me?

  "Babe, we're both about to be winners," he said, vaulting the net, hauling me into his arms and kissing me senseless.

  When his hands slid lower, brushing past my breasts, touching the bare skin on my belly, I sagged against him. Bombarded by sensations. Wanting his hands all over me.

  "Time to collect my winnings," I whispered against the corner of his mouth.

  He eased back, the heat in his stare making my skin prickle. "I've never been so happy to get beat."

  "Prove it."

  He zipped me up, slid his hand into mine, and we sprinted toward his villa.

  Chapter 6

  KYE

  This was a bad idea.

  Mia might talk the talk but in the morning I had no doubt she'd walk the walk … of shame.

  She'd regret having sex with me. Not that I could tell by looking at her now as I kicked the villa door shut and she hauled me closer.

  "Want to know a secret?" Her lips curved into a knowing smile that had me balling my hands into fists to stop from ripping her clothes off.

  "You're secretly engaged to Liam Hemsworth?"

  "I wish." She stood on tiptoe and brushed her lips against mine. "No, my secret is far more nefarious."

  I smiled against her mouth. "Use smaller words please. I'm just an Aussie tennis jock, remember?"

  She placed her palms on my chest and pushed gently. "I knew you didn't stand a chance once I started stripping on the court."

  She shimmied for emphasis and I couldn't help staring at her pert tits again, jiggling over the top of a white lace bra. "You could've been Nadal and Dokovic rolled into one and I still would've had you." She snapped her fingers. "Just like that."

  "For a self-confessed nerd, you're pretty ballsy." I rested my hands on her waist and backed her toward the sofa. "Guess it's time to show you what winners get."

  Her knees buckled as they hit the sofa cushions and I eased her backward until she lay sprawled before me, that damn zipper tag still toying with her navel.

  So I knelt and did what I'd been dying to do since I'd first seen her in that dress. I grabbed the zipper tab and yanked it all the way down.

  The dress fell away, leaving her lithe, tanned body on display. Smooth skin. Small waist. Flared hips. B cup.

  Breathtaking.

  "You're staring," she said, squirming slightly.

  "That's because you're beautiful." I dipped my head and licked the tempting skin in the curve of her waist. She tasted as good as she looked.

  She giggled. "That tickles."

  Her natural response made me pause. There was an inherent innocence about Mia. She may not be a virgin but I'd bet my left nut she wasn't far off it. I didn't go for the naive type and never had sex with them. Led to too many complications: expectations, ruminations, recriminations.

  But with Mia lying before me, her big brown eyes alight with passion, I couldn't back out now. Though I could appease my conscience one last time.

  "You're sure about this?"

  "For fuck's sake," she muttered, surging upward to drape her arms around my neck. "Yes, Kye, I'm sure."

  Her death grip on me softened as she lowered her hands to grab the end of my T-shirt. "I want you."

  She peeled the T-shirt off and flung it away, her gaze as greedy as her hands as she touched my chest, my abs. "Now."

  When her fingers skimmed the waistband of my jeans, I growled and shoved her back down on the sofa.

  Her soft body felt good beneath me and as I ground my hips against hers, she moaned in a way that made me want to pleasure her all night.

  "You feel good," she said, as I kissed her ear, sucking the fleshy lobe into my mouth, biting down on it. "And whatever you're doing with your mouth, don't stop."

  "I'm betting you'll be screaming that real soon," I murmured in her ear, as I trailed kisses down her neck, across her collarbone, across her tits.

  She arched, offering herself to me, and I slid my hands behind her back, flicked her bra hooks and ripped the scrap of white lace off.

  Dark pink areola. Rock hard nipples. Gorgeous.

  I sucked one into my mouth, the ache in my cock intensifying as she started writhing. Fuck, if she was this responsive with a little foreplay, I couldn't wait to see her get off.

  I alternated between her nipples: nibbling, licking, sucking. Until we were both pretty mindless.

  I needed to be inside her. Now.

  I resumed kneeling, hooked my thumbs under the elastic of her thong and peeled it off.

  She watched me, her eyes widening when I insinuated myself between her ankles and eased her legs apart.

  Slick, wet heaven.

  I bent forward, eager to taste her, but she placed her hand on my forehead.

  "Uh … Kye? I've never done … what I mean is, you … down there—"

  Incredulous, I stared up at this amazing woman willing to have sex with me when she'd never had a guy go down on her. "You've never been given head before?"

  She shook her head, gnawing on her bottom lip. "I hate that I'm inexperienced at this stuff—"

  "Babe, after tonight, you won't be."

  With that, I leaned forward and swiped my tongue against her clit. She bucked.

  "Easy." I lightly held her hips as my tongue swirled and nipped and sucked, while Mia went a little crazy.

  I swore it took less than a minute when she came with a yell that made me smile.

  Nothing sexier than an uninhibited woman. And for someone with little sexual experience, it made it all the sexier that she responded to me like that.

  "That was …" —she stared at me with adoration— "fricking unbelievable."

  "And to think, we're only just getting started." I stood, unsnapped the button on my jeans and eased the zip down.

  "Faster," she demanded, her tongue darting out to moisten her bottom lip as her gaze riveted to my zip.

  "For the first time, maybe." I slid the jeans and my boxers down at the same time, enjoying her gasp and gaping mouth. "But just so you know, when we do this again in the bedroom soon, we'll be going real slow."

  She nodded, mute, as she tentatively reached for me. When her fingers closed around my cock, a vice clamped my head.

  I had to be inside her.

  As she slid her hand up and down my shaft slowly, then cupped my balls, I grabbed my wallet out of my jeans, fished out the condom and ripped the foil as fast as I could.

  "Babe, you're killing me." I stilled her hand and rolled the condom on. "If I'm not inside you within the next five seconds this party will be over before it's begun."

  "You like me touching you?" Her smile wobbled, making me want to hold her close.

  Damn it, this is why I didn't do vulnerable. I did fast and furious sex. Something I needed to focus on before I let a woman I barely knew creep under my guard; more than she already had. In one fucking night.

  "Yeah, you can touch all you want. Later." I lowered myself onto her, liking the skin-to-skin contact as my cock nudged her pussy. "For now, this is where I want to be."

  I slid into her. Tight heat gripped me. Squeezed me. Engulfed me.

  Perfection.

  Then I started moving, in and out, hard and fast. I needed this. Needed to be in a beautiful woman who wanted me as badly as I wanted her. Needed to banish the loneliness. Needed to forget. Everything.

  "Oh my God, Kye, you feel so good …" She wrapped her legs around my waist and I drove in
to her harder. "Oh yeah, just like that …"

  I wanted to kiss her, craved it like a thirsty man in the dessert, but I wanted to watch her come more, so I slipped a hand between our bodies and fingered her clit.

  Her gaze locked on mine, wide and wondrous, as I changed the angle slightly and pounded deeper.

  "Kye, please…" she begged, her arse lifting off the sofa as the pressure built and instinct took over.

  I slammed into her and she met me thrust for thrust, the strength of my orgasm almost making me black out as she screamed my name.

  As we both came back down to earth, I searched for the right words, any words, to convey how monumentally phenomenal that was.

  Until I realized something. I never dwelled on the right thing to say after sex with other girls. My post-coital conversation consisted of a thanks and a see you later. Which never eventuated.

  I didn't do involvement and I never emotionally connected with anyone.

  So why the fuck did having sex with Mia make me feel like I'd just done both?

  Chapter 7

  MIA

  Speechless, I stared at Kye's chest.

  Because maybe if I kept looking at it long enough, the right words would form in my head and I might have a remote chance in hell of articulating something, anything, other than WTF?

  If what I'd just done with Kye was sex, those other few times? A lackluster preview before the main performance.

  What he'd done with his mouth … and the rest …

  Heat scorched my cheeks. Yeah, like a blush meant anything now. The guy was still inside me, for goodness sake.

  "Be back in a sec."

  But not for long, as he slid out and headed for the bathroom. Leaving me with a sensational view of the best ass I'd ever seen and a distinct case of 'what the hell do I do now?'

  I heard the shower running and contemplated following him in there for one insane second before dismissing it as PTSD: Post Terrific Sex Ditziness.

  First things first, I couldn't be sprawled naked on his sofa when he returned so I sat up, grabbed my dress and shrugged into it.

  I was fumbling with the zip when he strolled into the lounge, a towel knotted at his hip.