by Ember Leigh
Pleasure blasted through her and she arched against him, desperate to prolong this moment possibly forever. Was this actually happening? She dug her fingernails into the wide sweep of his back, watched as goosebumps formed there. Very real. Delightfully real.
His lips connected with a nipple then, emptying her mind. The pressure of his abdomen between her legs increased, and her pussy clenched, practically screamed with desperation to unite these two parts.
“Josh,” she gasped, wanting to add more, but unable to do anything but grab a fistful of his hair.
“Look at this body.” He dragged his lips down her belly and toward the heat between her legs. The fur of his medium chest hair tickled her belly on his way down. “Can I taste you down here too?” He bunched her skirt around her waist and nuzzled the crotch of her panties. Something exploded deep inside of her.
“I’d hurt you if you didn’t.” Her breathing came out ragged. Oral sex so readily proffered? She might pretend otherwise, but Josh Lambert could poke inside her skirt any day. Her last sexual encounter had been an embarrassing two years ago—and though she’d walked away with an orgasm, it had been hard won and partially stimulated by her own hand as he jackhammer fucked her like a college kid.
He nipped at the crotch of her panties with the softest part of his lips, his fingers digging into the flesh of her hips as he held her there. A man who wanted to please a woman first, before nearly anything else? That was hard to come by in the male-dominated entertainment industry.
Her thoughts disappeared once his fingers slipped beneath the fabric of her panties and traced languorous circles, hovering yet not touching her clitoris. She spread her legs further, desperate for him to penetrate.
His thumb finally connected with her clitoris, circling lazily at first, but more quickly as her breathing increased. With a sharp exhale, he propped himself up and slid off her underwear.
“You kill me,” he whispered, dragging his fingertips from ankle to knee. His cock strained, thick beneath his pants, a bulge that promised very good things.
“You tease me.” She struggled to get any words out at all.
“Mmm…” Josh lowered his head and his lips connected with her clitoris, prodding and tapping until she moaned low and guttural. This must have encouraged him, as he slipped one finger inside of her, then another, swirling deep inside, filling her but not quite the way she needed it, stoking a fire that already roared at dangerous levels.
It didn’t take her long to near the edge, her body already starved for the attention but further exacerbated by the good skills and chiseled outlines of this man before her. “Josh…don’t….stop!”
He didn’t stop. Her body rushed toward climax, a hot and loud race she had no control over but was more than happy to give in to. He flattened her clit with his tongue, then made circles around it, looking at her with a gaze so sexy she could explode.
“You’re close.” He nipped at the inside of her thigh. “Let’s do this right.”
Paige bit back a scream as he kissed his way up her body—could she demand that he stay down there always? He’d connected with her pussy in a way she hadn’t known was possible. His kisses arrived to her lips, then her cheek, then forehead; he sat back on his knees, nodding toward his pants. “Do you see what you do to me?”
His cock formed a thick ridge beneath his cargo shorts, the outline of it too delicious for her to bear. “There’s a solution for that, you know.”
“Oh really?”
“Wake up, Josh. It’ll only take a New York minute to fix it.”
“Clever. You’re that good?”
“Less than a minute, if I’m so inclined.”
“Prove it.”
“You’ll come quicker than a teenager.”
“Impossible.”
She sidled out from underneath him, pushing on his chest. He flopped back onto the bed happily, watching with eager eyes as she unbuttoned his shorts and peeled them off. Boxer shorts, black and perfectly snug, made his lower half look like the packaging of men’s underwear. His cock tented his briefs and she licked her lips as she palmed it.
He exhaled shakily and let his head drop to the bed. “Now that I think about it, you might be right.”
She grinned and lowered her head between his legs, placing tiny kisses on his low belly and inner thigh. Her pussy burned and begged for more attention, but the pay-off would be well worth the wait. Josh squirmed beneath her as she nuzzled his crotch, kissing his hard-on through the boxers.
“Mmm…I can’t wait to see this again.”
She peeled back his boxers and his penis sprang free, far fatter than what she’d imagined after the flaccid glimpse in the sauna. She slid off his underwear and tossed them aside, wrapping a hand around the straining shaft of his cock, watching the waves of pleasure pass over his face as she worked him. “You’ll come like you never have in your entire life.”
“I don’t believe it.” He paused. “Not until you show me.”
“Once you try Paige Alexander…” She licked her lips and grinned. “You’ll never go back to anyone else.”
Desire flashed in his eyes. “You hold yourself in pretty high esteem. Are you prepared to back that up in writing?”
“Get the notary.” She dipped down, taking the length of him in her mouth in one swoop. He gasped as she did and then let out a low, sexy moan that made her shiver. She sucked on him, head bobbing and his cock glistening with her slobber, until Josh finally gasped out, “Paige, I’m close.
“You ready?” She sucked at the head of his penis one last time, her mouth disconnecting with a loud pop.
“More than you know.”
Paige climbed on top of him, heart racing as she anticipated him filling her, both between her legs but also in another way, an emotional fulfillment she had knowingly avoided for maybe a decade. He steadied her at the hips as she lined up their parts, afraid to breathe for fear of delaying the pleasure that was almost theirs.
The hot tip of his dick hovered beneath her and her juices dribbled down her thigh.
Josh’s dick nudged at her, their connecting heat making her knees wobble. She bit her lip and guided the tip of his dick against her clit, rubbing it forward and backward and sideways against the tight nub. He moaned, grabbing a fistful of the comforter beneath him. A wave of heavy pleasure slid through her. It was time.
“Here it comes, baby.”
She leaned forward above him, holding his dick steady with one hand. The head of his penis connected with her pussy. Josh opened his mouth and instead of a moan, there was a knock at the door.
It took a moment for the knock to register. It was as surprising and inconvenient as a lawn mower revving up in the middle of a yoga class. Made worse by the fact that Josh’s cock was moments away from being buried to the hilt.
The person at the door knocked again. Torpid confusion refused to clarify. “Should I get it?”
“No.” He steadied her above him. “It’s probably room service.”
“I doubt that…they come at like, ten a.m.”
“Paige…”
One half of her begged for the ending to what they’d started, the other half knew that whoever was on the other side of the door was work-related.
As if in response to her thoughts, the voice at the door said, “Paige, I hear you in there.”
She looked sadly at Josh’s penis, still standing tall at attention. “Shit.” She rolled off the bed and threw on some loose clothing, struggling to concoct an air of nonchalance before she opened the door.
“Paige?” It was Gary, looking frazzled.
“What’s up?” She made eye contact but all she could see were torturous images from her near love-making with Josh, the feel of his cock begging for entrance, his lips at her collarbone and nipples and everywhere down below…
“What’s going on up here?” He peered behind her. “A couple people downstairs told me they saw you come up here with Josh.”
“Yeah, we took the elevator together
…so what?”
“No, they told me they saw you come up with Josh…and you guys were practically having sex in the lobby.”
She gulped, forcing her eyes downward. She hadn’t realized the hotel would become a gossipy small town. “That’s ridiculous.”
“Can I come in?”
Her mind reeled, struggling to think of a response, anything to prevent him from coming in. Messy bedroom? Unmentionables on display? Arch nemesis sprawled naked on her bed? “I-I guess…”
She held open the door and Gary burst in. He gaped at Josh who was half-dressed and in the process of tugging his shirt over his head.
“Hey,” he said.
“I—I thought you hated him,” Gary sputtered.
Paige bit her lip, avoiding eye contact with both men.
“Does anybody else know about this?”
“Uh, no, as a matter of fact,” Josh said.
“It wasn’t even supposed to happen,” Paige added. “So kind of keep it…our little secret.”
Both Gary and Josh knit their brows.
“One-time thing?” Gary asked.
“Something like that,” Paige said.
“I would not have seen this one coming in a million years. Wow.” He pointed at Josh. “You need to get down to post-production. They’re having a fit about the interview segment transitions.” Pointing at Paige, he said, “You call me later. So we can talk. And swim.” Looking between both of them, he added, “Do not let this leak.”
Gary let himself out of the room. Paige turned to Josh, confusion etched across her face. The throbbing heat between her legs hadn’t lessened, and showed no signs of letting up.
“One-time thing?”
“Isn’t that how it goes? You do the deed and then move on with your life?”
“How what goes?”
“You know, these work-and-sex situations. I don’t know, Josh, you have more experience in this than I do.”
He laughed incredulously. “What makes you think I have more experience in that, of all things? I won’t lie, I’ve had my share of women in this world, and some were in a work context, but it’s not like this is a sport for me.”
“Well, I don’t know, it just seems like one-time thing is better.”
He watched her for a moment, a smile creeping across his face. “You think you can keep it to a one-time thing?”
She paced the room, avoiding eye contact. “Sure, why not?”
“Come over here.”
She approached him hesitantly, the folly of her words already ringing between her ears. Like resisting this guy would be possible. He hooked his arm around her waist, roughly pulling her against him for a kiss. Their tongues met delicately, causing bursts of pleasure to erupt in every possible point in her body. Paige’s heart rate doubled. She’d need him more and more after this. It might not ever be enough. What then?
He groaned through another kiss. She rocked back and forth above him, loving the jolts of pleasure as her clit grazed his cock.
“You kill me,” he said again. “I have to go to post-production.”
Paige slung her arms around his neck, unwilling, or perhaps unable, to physically remove herself from him. “Stay here with me.”
He was quiet for a moment. When he spoke, his voice was tender. “I really wish I could.”
“Listen, this can’t get serious,” she blurted out. The words surprised even her. Serious wasn’t even on the docket. Probably had something to do with the way she felt more comfortable with him in such a short amount of time than anyone else she’d met in her life.
“Who said anything about serious?” She climbed off of him and he stood to put on his shoes.
“I just want to make sure that’s clear,” she said.
“Crystal.”
Part of her was relieved, the other part offended he hadn’t gone against her wishes in some overt and memorably masculine display. Very rarely, thoughts of love and romance would flit through her mind, innocent moths fluttering around for a peek, which she usually responded to with a very firm mental machete, despite a deep part of her knowing that her ideal partner might actually exist somewhere.
Josh as her partner sounded intriguing and preposterous at the same time. At the end of it all, there was no time or room in her life for any of that. Better to ignore it.
“All right. So we have an understanding.” She offered her hand. “Just fooling around.”
“Right.” He shook her hand. “Just fooling around.”
Chapter Seven
Just fooling around, Josh reminded himself later as he delivered the fifth and final tea to Bridgette’s bedside. Nothing more. Which means you will not go out of your way to spend time with her because she and you both don’t want anything in the first place, so it’s pointless to even go there.
“Thank you for being so good to me, Joshi,” Bridgette murmured, half-asleep in her bed. “Nobody here even cares about me but you.”
Josh offered her a smile. The medications she’d demanded crowded the bedside table. “It’s not a problem. You need to get better.”
“I need to get back to work,” she corrected. “Tomorrow will be here in a hurry.”
“You’re right about that.” He uncapped a bottle of cough medicine. “It’s time for this again.” He offered her a tablespoon of the cherry syrup.
She drank it and scowled. “Disgusting. And probably chock full of sugar.”
“But it will help you. Now just sleep.”
“What if I’m not better before tomorrow?”
“Paige will stand in again.”
Bridgette scowled. “Can’t we postpone the filming?”
“Not so early in the show. We’re just building the fan base. They need to see the show every day, so that’s why you need to rest up.”
Josh re-capped the medicine and put it on the table by her bed. He looked around the room, trying to anticipate what else she might request so he could prepare it now and spend the night interruption-free.
“Sleep.” He looked at her sternly. “I’m going to work on tomorrow’s show.”
She protested when he turned to leave. “Joshi, I want a kiss. It will help me feel better.”
He brushed his lips against her forehead. “Now sleep.”
He let himself out of the room and waited a moment for a last-minute whine or request. Nothing came. Freedom.
His gaze slid to Paige’s door. It might be an exercise in futility to pursue anything with her, physical or otherwise, but he couldn’t deny the irrational impulse. He was desperate to finish what they’d started earlier. As he approached her door, a recent idea burned bright in his mind. She’s gorgeous, she’s sexier than hell, but even more, she is on your level.
It made his head hurt. He could deal with dates, girl toys, tag-along’s and the like. It’s all he’d ever allowed himself to have with his career and his ambitions. Paige was a wake-up call he had never counted on or even asked for.
All he craved was to be swept away in her crackling, magical energy. She was like something from a dream, a mystical, blonde siren luring pirates from their boats with scathingly witty songs and tantalizing glimpses of ethereal thigh. He knocked on her door several times and no one appeared, most certainly not a half-naked Paige with the ethereal thigh he’d been hoping for. This dream was one he might not be able to recapture.
He headed for the elevator; he’d scour the hotel for her, and if she was nowhere to be found, he’d scour the island. The schedule was cleared for one thing: Paige. This time, he wouldn’t be torn away.
The elevator descended. He’d better check the pool room, too—and maybe the gardens, the tennis courts, finishing with the saunas. Then if she was nowhere to be found, he’d start taking names and hiring detectives.
The pool room was dim and empty. He burst through the doors leading to the garden and patio area, part of an extensive and winding landscape circling the hotel. Strange, guttural caws drifted through the night air, part of the evening chor
us of foreign animals populating the grounds.
She’d wandered these paths before, stopping to finger odd blossoms and gaze at bizarre birds, and once he’d even caught her swinging rackets on the tennis court by herself.
But no Paige on the paths, no Paige on the tennis courts. He reentered the hotel, anxiety swirling in his gut. What if she’d changed her mind? The image of her face when they’d been interrupted flashed through his mind—he’d seen her disappointment, felt the actual weight of her conflict as she’d looked between him and the door.
It sounded stupid for him to even think about it, but he’d never been so attentive and attuned to any woman in his life. Her facial expressions intrigued him intensely. Not only could he look at her face for an uninterrupted year, he ached to trace the contours of her body in a non-sexual way, just to know every curve and arc and permutation of her skin. He wanted to know what made her tick. He already had an idea about what made her angry.
It made him both curious and scared about what might lay before them.
He entered a narrow hallway lined with doors to different sauna rooms. Voices, muted and distant, and then a laugh—Paige’s laugh. Thank God. His heart rate doubled and he bolted for the men’s locker room.
He left his clothes crumpled in a corner, unwilling—unable, really—to delay their reunion even a moment longer. His dick pulsed like radar as he listened for her voice.
Paige’s laugh cut through the air again, and he followed it to a sauna room further down the hall. He let himself in quietly, happy for the low lighting and gauzy air so maybe Paige wouldn’t notice he was out of breath from hurrying to find her.
Through the mist, some people he didn’t know sat along the far wall. Paige sat in the corner, a white towel knotted at her cleavage, the ends parted to offer a tantalizing glimpse of her thigh. Siren, you have worked your magic.
“Hey there guys.” He eased himself onto a wooden bench across from Paige.
“Hey there.”
He shivered at the sound of her voice. “I was just chatting with Penny and Daryl here. They’re visiting for a reality TV show filming on the island.”
The couple waved their greeting. After they exchanged formalities, she resumed her conversation and Josh relaxed, letting the steam sink deep into his skin. He half-absorbed their conversation—learning how to surf, how hot it got around noon every day, the exact dimensions of some volcano nearby—but the husky timber of her voice made it hard to avoid fabricating an emergency that would take the both of them somewhere private. He peeked through slits in his eyes at Paige as she spoke, able to catch the curve of her neck as it arced into shoulder.