“Are you sure you’re not pining for her?”
I took one last glance at them and turned back to Joey. “I’m positive. No one else in the room has had my attention since you tapped me on the shoulder.”
She smirked.
“I promise. It’s only work shit, and I’m going to do my best to push it to the back of my mind. Want to dance and help me leave it all behind?”
She looked at my hand and back up to my face, assessing my words. “Another line, but I think you’re being sincere. You don’t mean it as one.”
“I don’t,” I said, sincerely.
“Okay.” She placed her glass on the counter and took my hand.
I followed her to the dance floor. The calluses on the palm of her hand surprised me. I wondered what exactly she did at the airport to have hands like that. Not that I planned on asking. I needed one night and I was going to take it.
The second my foot landed on the floor past the tables, Joey turned into my arms. The way she moved with me was like we were built to dance with one another; her body molding to mine in a way no woman before her had.
As our bodies moved to the pulsing rhythm, sliding against one another, every nerve ending in me came alive. Need coursed through me. Dancing with this woman wouldn’t be enough.
I needed more.
The moment she looked up, I wrapped my hand around her nape and lowered my lips. She was tall, but I still had a few inches on her. There were two ways this move could go: either she would join in the kiss, or she would step back and punch me in the face. I took the chance and when her lips parted, letting my tongue slip into her mouth, I was glad I pushed her.
The warm, sweet taste of her lips made me harder than I had been when we were dancing. There hadn’t been any women since Marissa; at least, none that I’d slept with. I’d given up one-night stands after Nate died. Realizing how close I came to dying that night, I vowed to myself to not waste any more time screwing around.
When I came back, I started looking for the one person to complete me. I wanted what Danielle and Nate had, even for the short period of time that they had it. I usually gave up close to deployment, not wanting to start a relationship when I was about to bail for three months. Whoever I dated would have to get used to that eventually, just not at the beginning of a relationship.
But the woman in my arms made me want to forget everything I’d sworn since that time. I wanted nothing more than to take her home and bury my cock so deep inside her, neither of us would ever forget the experience.
“My place,” she said, leaving no room for argument.
Not that I planned on it.
Chapter 4
Colin
“Let’s go.” I stepped back and held out my hand. She took it and I led her from the dance floor. We were almost to the door when Joey stopped.
“Give me one second. I’ll be right back.”
I nodded, watching her walk over to her friends. While I waited I sent a quick text to Greg, letting him know that I was leaving and I’d see him when he got back from the range in a few days. Without waiting for an answer, I shoved the phone back in my pocket and watched Joey walk back to me, the graceful sway of her hips and the tight fit of her jeans showing off every delicious curve. The need to get her clothes off and taste every inch of her was overwhelming.
When she noticed my gaze on her, one corner of her mouth turned up into a smirk. Sexy. That was the only word to describe her. The woman who stepped up to me was fucking sexy as hell. Bending my head, I captured her lips one last time. I broke the kiss and pulled her out the door into the parking lot.
“Shit.” I stopped.
She turned to me. “What?”
“I didn’t drive tonight.”
Something gold glinted from her hand. “Good thing I did.”
Joey led the way to a newer mustang. Parked directly under a street light, the soft glow showed off its deep purple paint job. The alarm sounded and she opened the driver’s door, gesturing to the passenger side when I stopped in front of the car.
“Are you coming? Or do you want to stand here all night and admire my car?”
“Hell yeah, I’m coming.” I climbed into the car. “You will be too, if I have anything to do with it.”
She sucked in a breath, her chest rising and falling rapidly. With a flick of her wrist, she threw the car into reverse and backed out of the space, peeling out of the parking lot.
My dick seemed to grow harder throughout the ride and I found myself having to reach down and adjust myself more than once. After about ten minutes, we pulled up in front of an apartment complex and Joey shut the car off and climbed out without a word.
I followed.
Stepping up to the front of the car, I expected her to lead the way to her apartment. Instead, she spun around to face me and slid her hand up into my hair, dragging my face down to hers to ravage my mouth.
My tongue slid past her lips to tangle with hers in a move so erotic, my hips snapped forward in the same rhythm. Desire had my fingers sliding beneath her top to touch her smooth skin, my lips sucking a path down her neck, my tongue lingering on the soft curve between her neck and shoulder left exposed by the green tank top she wore.
The moment my fingers grazed the underside of her breast, she stepped back. Shit, had I done something wrong. “Too fast?” I asked, dreading the answer. I was so worked up that I wasn’t even sure jerking off in the shower would be enough.
“No,” she panted. “But, I’d be willing to guess there’s only seconds before my shirt ends up on the ground and I’m not sure I feel like baring my breasts to the neighbors. Let’s go inside and we can pick up where we left off.”
“I like the sound of that. Lead the way.”
She turned, adjusting her shirt the same time I adjusted my dick. We entered through the main doors and she led me to the staircase to the right, ignoring the elevators directly in front of us.
“I hope you don’t mind, I like to walk up. It’s only on the third floor. Besides, the elevator in this place is slow as shit.”
Three floors were nothing compared to a heavy round of PT. “That’s fine with me. I’ll take the fastest way possible.”
We took the stairs two at a time. Joey’s apartment was the third one on the left from the stairwell. The seconds it took for her to get her keys out and unlock the door seemed to take forever. Once we were inside her apartment and I heard the lock click into place I spun, pinning her back against the wall to take and devour her lips. Her taste was intoxicating and addictive. If I wasn’t careful, I could quickly get attached to those kisses.
Using her foot, she shoved off the wall, only to flip us around so my back ended up slammed against it. Every delicious curve of her body pressed against me.
“I hope you don’t think you’ll be in charge,” she murmured.
“As long as I can get you out of those clothes, I don’t give a shit who’s in charge.”
She stepped back and watched me for a minute, her lips curving up into a sensual smile as she backed through the apartment, toward what I sincerely hoped was her bedroom. I followed her, pulling my shirt over my head on the way there. Each pound of my heart pulsed in my shaft, not giving me a second to think of anything but sex. I stepped through the door to find Joey sitting on the edge of her bed. This woman was a fucking tease. Her breasts thrust out against the tight fabric of her shirt, the pebbled tips of her nipples clearly outlined. Anything but calm, I pushed down the impulse to pounce on her and pretended that I had all the time in the world.
“Are you done running?” I asked, leaning against the door frame.
“Why, do you want to catch me?”
“Maybe, but the chase is getting a bit exhausting.”
Her eyes traveled down my body, landing on the evidence that I was more aroused than I was letting on. “Oh, I think you want me. And if that’s the case, you’re going to need to come a little closer if you want to have me.”
I took two
steps forward and crawled over her, forcing her to lie flat on the bed. She raised her chin, waiting for me to take her lips, but I had more planned for the beauty below me.
My lips began where I left off outside; at the soft skin where her neck met her shoulder. I ran my tongue down to the edge of the fabric that barely covered her breasts. Sweet moans left her lips as I neared her nipples. Annoyed that I couldn’t taste her with so much clothing in the way I sat back, taking her hands, pulling her up, wasting no time taking the hem of her shirt and lifting it over her head.
I thanked my lucky stars that she wasn’t wearing a bra. I pressed her into the mattress, my lips covering her nipple until her back arched, her hips grinding against my already straining length. She tasted of the desire quickly spreading through my body. I traced a hot, wet path across her chest to lavish her other breast with the same attention.
“Oh shit, Colin, please,” Joey begged. Her hand fisted in my hair, yanking on the strands. The pain only added to the pleasure of the moment.
Deciding to give her a taste of her own medicine, I looked up into her eyes and flicked my tongue across her already sensitive nipple. Just like earlier, she took charge, using her feet against the mattress to roll us until she was on top.
She pushed me down, her hands resting on my chest. I was surprised at her strength. Her breath came in rapid pants. “I told you—you aren’t in charge.”
“I know, I just like the way you taste. If you’d have given me a few more minutes, I would have tasted all of you.”
She groaned but wasn’t deterred. “Oh no, you don’t get to tease me like that.” Reaching down, she undid the buckle, button, and zipper of my jeans.
“Fuck, Joey.” I groaned as her warm hand slipped past the waistband of my boxer briefs and wrapped around my dick.
Lust—hot and heavy—took over every rational thought in my brain with each stroke of her fist.
“Yes. Yes, we will,” she promised. Her other hand finally moved and she tapped my hip. “Lift.”
Wanting her more than I wanted control, I raised my hips and let her pull off the rest of my clothes. She stood and dropped her own jeans and panties to the floor.
Unbelievably, fucking gorgeous.
I’d never seen her equal. Curved in all the right places, my cock jerked at the sight of her body.
She straddled my body. I was primed and ready. The moist heat from her body slid over my shaft, back and forth.
If she would only move a little higher.
A little higher and I could slip inside.
The teasing continued, her lips wrapping around one of my nipples, sucking hard until I lost control, grabbed her hips, and bucked up into her.
“Joey, I need inside you,” I groaned.
She lifted and I could see the desire burning in the sapphire depths of her eyes. I wanted her as much as she wanted me.
“There’s a condom in my jeans.”
Like a flash she was off me, digging through the pockets of my jeans until, triumphantly, she produced the foil wrapper.
She had it opened in seconds.
The cool rubber rolled down my straining length, making me even hungrier for her soft, sweet body. Joey climbed back over me and pushed her hips down, taking me inside the most delectable warmth in history.
“Oh hell. You’re so fucking tight. I’m not sure how long I can last.” My fingers dug into her hips, trying to maintain some semblance of control.
“Don’t worry, we can last longer in round two.”
Her hips bucked up and slammed back down.
Jesus.
Fucking.
Christ.
Stars flashed before my eyes as the pleasure built in my body. I lifted my hands for her to hold onto, giving her some traction as she continued to ride me. Never in all my life had my body felt so out of my control.
I knew I wouldn’t last forever.
I wanted her to come before me.
Taking one of my hands, I moved it down to where our bodies joined. I rubbed the pad of my thumb over her clit. Her body bucked harder.
She was close.
As she held me in a vice like grip, a scream tore from her body. I thrust up into her, forcing her orgasm to continue just as a tingle raced up my spine and my balls drew up tight to my body. There was no holding off the most powerful orgasm in my life. It seemed to last forever. Eventually, both of our bodies relaxed.
Loving the feel of her against me, I held her, letting myself enjoy the company of a woman. One who didn’t want something from me. She was honest to a fault. What I wouldn’t give for more time with her. But time was the one thing I didn’t have right then. We had tonight, and I’d make the most of it.
Before I had to leave in the morning and face reality once again.
***
Light shone from behind my lids, the soft, warm body curled in front of me reminding me of the night before and the reality that awaited me the moment I opened my eyes. Hoping to delay the inevitable, I lay there and let myself simply feel.
Joey’s fingers drifted up and down my abdomen. She was awake.
Time’s up.
Real life was calling; like she did every time.
I pressed a soft kiss to the side of her head.
“Good morning,” she whispered.
“Morning.”
Not that I could call it good. The first woman to intrigue me in a long time and I was about to leave for three months. It wouldn’t be fair of me to drag a woman into the Army life without a little more warning. Hell, she didn’t even know my actual job. I sat up and reached for my pants.
Arms wrapped around my waist. When her lips pressed to my shoulder, I knew I couldn’t sit there in silence.
“Joey,” I said. “I have to go.”
Immediately her body moved away from me. She flopped back down on the bed and rolled her eyes. “See ya around.”
I turned to look at her. “I —”
Before I could finish the sentence she was standing, leaving the room without a backward glance. Somewhere down the hall I heard a door close.
I stood and finished putting on my clothes, the magic of the night before extinguished with a few simple words. The worst part was the fact that I’d ruined the connection I’d sensed from the minute she’d walked over to me at the bar. A small part of me thought about waiting for her to come out. Thought about telling her everything. Thought about convincing her to give me a chance.
Not that I would have let myself fall into that trap. My stomach clenched at the thought. The only thing I could do was hope she was still single when I got back. That, and beg her to forgive me for leaving.
I called for a cab to take me home. Greg would have already left for the range and I didn’t feel like dealing with Danielle or Tanner’s twenty questions. I dragged myself out of the back of the car and paid the driver, exhausted from lack of sleep. Once inside, I went directly for my bedroom and dropped my phone on the nightstand. My brain was on a Let’s fuck with Colin rampage, but I did my best to push Joey out of my head and get some sleep.
A loud banging came from the living room before I even had a chance to close my eyes. Groaning, I forced myself up and out of bed. Knowing my friends, it would only get worse before it got better. A quick peek through the peep hole and there was no mistaking those brown eyes. Yanking the door open, Danielle greeted me with a smile.
“I wasn’t sure if you would be home yet.” She smirked.
So much for skipping the twenty questions. “I’m guessing you’re not here to drop off breakfast?”
I stepped back into the living room, letting Danielle into the apartment. “If some Danishes from the bakery down on Park count then, yes, I did bring breakfast.”
She held out the bag and it took all of my willpower not to snatch it from her fingers like a child. Danielle knew they were my favorite. “You’re trying to butter me up.”
I took the bag from her hands, smelling them before I went into the kitchen to make
coffee. It became apparent that I wasn’t getting to sleep anytime soon, so a few cups of coffee were in order. Danielle followed on my heels. “So,” she said in the sweetest voice possible. “Tell me what happened after you left.”
I opened my mouth to tell her to back off but she raised her hand to stop me. “I don’t need any details, just the basics. Did you go home with her? You guys seemed to really hit it off. Are you going out with her again?”
“All right, slow the hell down. I can’t answer any of your questions if you don’t take a breath and let me answer.”
She took a seat on the stool next to the island. “Okay, I’ll be quiet.”
It was like taking a little kid for ice cream and them finding out they had thirty-one flavors to choose from. I had a feeling I was lucky she was being this patient and hadn’t been at my door before I got home.
“Yes, I went home with her, and we did hit it off. Better than any woman I’ve met.”
“Okay, so you’re taking her out on an actual date, right?”
I didn’t exactly know how to answer without pissing Danielle off. Although, that was probably inevitable.
“I’m not. I left this morning.”
“Are you an absolute idiot? I saw the way you looked at her. You never even looked at Marissa that way.”
“That’s because—”
“I know, I know. You two weren’t meant to be in a relationship.’ So explain to me why you don’t want to ask her out again?”
Hoping to avoid the question altogether, I concentrated on the Danish on my plate. I should have known better.
“Don’t avoid me,” she admonished.
“Fine. I don’t want to start dating someone only to leave in a few weeks.”
“Please tell me I didn’t hear you using deployment as a reason to not call a woman, because that is simply ridiculous.”
I watched her for a moment. “Who’s to say I liked her enough to ask her out again?”
Danielle stepped over to me and poked me in the chest. “I’ve known you a long time, Colin Dunham . I could tell by the way you acted last night that you were more than a little interested. If you’d only planned on having a one-night stand you wouldn’t look so miserable today.”
Just Once Page 3