Arizona Skies: The Muse (21 page)

I wanted to have a life like that one day, just not right now. I still had a lot of wild oats to sew.

“Hey, you ready?” John asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“Yeah, always,” I said, smiling at him. I finished my beer, kissed Bailey, and hopped on the stage. I slapped him on the back, wishing I could open up to him about how I was feeling. Yet somehow he seemed to understand without all the soul cleansing; he’d give me that brilliant smile, and everything was all right. I never really realized how truly blessed I was until Bailey came into my life and opened my eyes.

The room was rocking tonight; everyone was on their feet. The whole time I was up on that stage, I kept my eyes on her. I couldn’t wait to get her alone so I could make love to her again. Make love, listen to me! When we finished the set, I was drowning in female bodies, crawling all over me. I didn’t enjoy it though; I only wanted her.

I got her out of the bar as soon as I could, anxious for some much-needed alone time. Apparently she was feeling the same way, because she attacked me once we were safely locked in her room. I’d released a tiger from her cage and reaped the benefits. She was fierce and demanding, pulling my clothes off my body, the same thing that I’d wanted to do to her. How did I ever get so lucky?

Lord have mercy, she granted my every wish as I plunged into her with such force her back hit the wall. Another first for her, wall sex! I’d wanted to make love, slow and easy, but she had other ideas, and it fueled my lust for her body. I’d wanted to be inside her all day long. She must have felt the same way, because she kissed me with such passion and met me with a force of her own. I was being
claimed and loved every minute of it. Gone was the shy, sweet Bailey. In her place was a sexy vixen with a killer body ripping my clothes off with a growl. I was beyond turned on, holding her against the wall as I took her. She gave as good as she got, clawing at me as she pulled my body tight to hers. She wanted me, and I gave in to her desires.

When she came, she took me with her. I collapsed against the wall with her wrapped around me. Our labored breathing was the only sound in the room. When I regained my strength, I carried her to the bed and sat with her in my lap, curled around me like a second skin.
What just happened?
I thought to myself. I didn’t even have a chance to grab a condom. I’d never let that happen before, always in control of the situation, taking care of business before pleasure.

“Did I tame the tiger?” I smiled as I looked into her eyes.

“Mmmmm…” was my answer as I looked down at her contented face. She wore that look well, tucked into my chest, her brown hair all over her beautiful face, those lips pink and plump from kissing—I wanted to dive in again.

“Honey, I forgot a condom,” I confessed.

“Jesse, it’s OK; I’m on the pill,” she informed me.

“I’m clean; I promise,” I said, trying to reassure her.

“I trust you,” she smiled.

I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn’t want to fuck up so early in our relationship. The outside world would probably do that for me; that waitress was a perfect example. I just wanted to hold her for a while and enjoy the beautiful night, just her and me.

I convinced her to go topside with me. I watched as she slid on her sexy panties, and then she pulled on these tight exercise pants, which showed off her amazing ass. I swallowed as she walked around gathering up her clothing. I was instantly hard again.
What the hell?

She pulled on this T-shirt, covering up the rest of her body, and held out her hand for me to join her. Not wanting her to think our relationship was just about sex, I tried to hide my erection as I threw on my clothes. She smirked as I tried to tuck my hard cock into my
jockey shorts. I heard her giggle as I yelped when the elastic hit the tip of my dick.

“This is your entire fault,” I smirked at her.

“Oh, really, and what did I do to cause that?” she said, pointing at the pole holding out the tent in my underwear.

“Well, it does have a mind of its own, and when you started walking that sexy body around in those tight pants, it saw what it wanted,” I said with a raised eyebrow and a salacious grin on my face.

“Hold that thought, Greene, and take me up on deck to enjoy the sunset, would yah?”

“Oh, baby, whatever you want, as long as I get what I want later,” I said, pulling up my jeans.

“You can count on that, big boy,” she said, watching me get dressed.

“Big boy, well, you got that right, little lady,” I smirked at her.

I grabbed the blanket off the bed and took her hand to lead her up to the deck to enjoy the night sky. We snuggled on a lounge chair with a blanket around us. This was heaven!

We didn’t talk much; just being together was enough. Later I made love to her, not frenzied, but slow, sensual love. Never in my life had I experienced such joy. I was so out of my element, lost in emotions as we fell asleep wrapped in each other’s arms.

Eleven

Bailey

S
helly and Scott were waiting for us at a table up front. She must have gotten my text, because she was all decked out in her tightest workout clothes, all black and pink. Scott stood beside her in shorts and a T-shirt, not quite as flamboyant as her. She waved at me, settling back down in her seat. “Morning,” she said, smiling indecently at me.

“What’s up with the look?” I asked.

“We heard you last night!” she smirked.

Embarrassed, I put my hand in front of my face, blushing at her remark. Jesse just laughed as he pulled my chair out for me.

“I need coffee,” I said, not wanting to hear her say anything about what she had heard in front of everyone at the table. She started to talk. “Shhh…later,” I said, swatting her shoulder to shut her up. She chuckled and nudged Scott, then nodded in my direction. Scott just smiled at me and Jess with a nod, drinking his coffee, keeping his mouth shut for once. We ate breakfast without any further embarrassment.

“What do you want to do tonight?” Jesse asked everyone at the table.

“I’d like to try my luck at the casino again before this cruise is over,” Keith said, looking at Liza for confirmation.

“OK, sound all right with the rest of you?” Jesse asked. Everyone nodded in agreement.

“Tomorrow we dock in Grand Cayman,” John said. “Then two more days, and we’re back to Florida. We play one more time the last night before the cruise is over.” Nobody said a word.

“Way to put a damper on the day,” Keith said to John.

“Just stating facts,” John said, shrugging his shoulders. “Listen, I’ll let you guys out of practice today because you did such an awesome job last night, but tomorrow after we get back from the island, its back to business.”

I lost my appetite after John said that, unable to take another bite. I sipped my coffee, trying to keep myself from unraveling. Jesse grabbed my hand and held it tight; obviously, John’s announcement of the pending end of the cruise had affected him too.

“Well, we’re off to the gym,” Jesse said, pulling me up. “See you all later. Scott, Shelly, you going?”

“Yep, we’re right behind you,” Scott said, putting his arm around Shelly’s shoulders and escorting her out of the room. Not his usual boisterous self.

“Boy, John sure knows how to ruin a fun morning,” Scott said, kissing Shelly’s head.

“Give him a break; he’s missing his fiancée. He sees all of us with our girls, and it makes him lonely for Natalie,” Jesse said. “You know John; he wouldn’t deliberately say anything to hurt anyone.”

We walked to the gym in silence. I was proud of Jesse for sticking up for his friend like that. John was just saying out loud what we already knew was going to happen—stating the facts, as he put it.

“I like to warm up with a few stretches, then a run,” Jesse said to me. “Can you run, beautiful?”

Shelly smirked, “Bails was a track star in high school. The coach recruited her in middle school, putting her on the high-school team. He took one look at those legs”—she pointed at me—“she’s built for speed.” I was once again embarrassed as I pulled off my T-shirt and started twisting my body around to stretch out. Jesse was watching me with a twinkle in his eye. I got the feeling the challenge was on.
We all twisted our bodies like pretzels to get the kinks out and then hit the track.

Scott had to slow down for Shelly and her short legs, but Jesse and I took off. I felt like he was testing me to keep up with him—no problem. I kicked my legs into gear, keeping up with him stride for stride. He was smiling that panty-dropping smile at me, but I was focused on my run, determined to show him I was up for the challenge. We passed Shelly and Scott several times as we ran around the track. Shelly was bent over and breathing hard as we finally called it a draw. I held my hand at my waist as I walked around cooling my body down, proud of myself.

“You OK, Shell?” I asked, leaning down to check on her.

“I’m more of a sprinter,” she said, catching her breath. I chuckled at her statement, straightening back up to walk a little bit more.

“What’s next?” I asked, ready for challenge number two.

“Weights,” Jesse said, smiling at me. He and Scott took to the weight bench, while Shelly and I went to the hand weights.

“You never told him we work out all the time, did you?” Shelly said, smiling at me.

“Nope, can’t put all my cards on the table at once,” I said, lifting the weights in front of my body. She and I did our usual arm exercises, then took a seat at the leg machines. We watched Jesse and Scott spot each other on the weight bench. Then they did the free arm weights as we worked on our legs. The whole time, Jesse kept his eye on me with a slight grin, noticing that I didn’t need any instructions from him. He was fun to watch as he grunted and groaned while his muscular arms strained from lifting the weights.

When they were done, they came our way to take over the leg machines. Jesse increased the weight on my machine as I got down, moving over to the stationary bike. Scott picked Shelly up off the machine, placing her on the floor with a big kiss, and then patting her ass to send her on her way. They were cute together, and I
realized that the separation when the cruise ended was going to be just as hard on her as it would be for me.

Jesse and Scott had stayed close to us, following us around the room from machine to machine, but when we finished with all the machines, we didn’t want to stand around. There were a lot of men in the gym, not any women, and they constantly stared at Shelly and me. I decided we needed to get away from the ogling eyes, so we made our way over to hit the smoothie bar at the front of the room. Shelly and I sat there enjoying a refreshing fruit smoothie after our workout.

The man behind the counter was overly friendly with us, making me feel uncomfortable. I suddenly felt arms circle around my waist and lips kissing my neck. Jesse was staking his claim, letting the muscle-bound man know that I was taken. Scott did the same thing to Shelly, and Mr. Atlas walked away after politely asking them if they wanted anything. I shared my smoothie with Jesse, taking my towel to wipe the sweat off his face.

“You’ve been holding out on me, princess,” Jess said, kissing my cheek.

“What do you mean?” I said, turning around in his arms.

“Number one, you’re a runner, and number two; you didn’t need any help on any of the machines.”

“Yeah, and your point is?” I said, hands on my hips, with a big smile.

“My point is there’s a lot more to Bailey Harris than just beauty,” he said, kissing me sweetly.

“That, Mr. Greene, is for me to know and you to find out,” I said, kissing his nose and ducking under his arms as I sashayed out of the gym.

“I’m up for the challenge,” he said, catching up to me and sweeping me into his arms. He spun me around, making me squeal. “Let’s go get one of those special showers you were asking me for earlier.” He gave me a salacious grin as he ran up the stairs with me in his
arms. I laughed and held on to his neck for dear life. He put me down on the deck, laughing as we strolled back to my room hand in hand. Shelly and Scott must have beaten us back, because I heard her giggling next door.

“How’d they beat us back?” I asked.

“Last I saw them, he had her piggyback and was sprinting up the stairs, running full out in a hurry to get somewhere,” Jesse said, wiggling his eyebrows. “Guess he had a promise!”

I opened my door and kicked off my sneakers, trying to peel my sweaty socks off my feet.

“Last one in the shower is a rotten egg,” Jesse said, stripping off his clothes as he rushed past me into the bathroom. My hand was stuck in my sock, so I hopped on one leg trying to catch up to him. He was laughing as he watched me hop into the bathroom, standing there naked and turning on the water. He helped me peel off my sweaty bra and knelt to pull down my tight spandex pants, kissing my body as he pulled them down my legs.

“In you go, beautiful,” he said, standing back up with a big smile, knowing that he had me all heated up. I stepped into the warm water, letting it cascade down my body. He stepped in behind me and closed the shower door. I grabbed the shampoo to wash my hair, then turned and squeezed some on his head. While I rinsed, he washed his hair, both of us standing close to each other, moving together to rotate our position so he could rinse and I could condition my hair. Then I handed him the body wash as we switched places again.

I was smiling at him as he put the soap on his hands and wiggled his fingers at me with a wicked grin. I started giggling, shaking my head no, but really meaning yes.

“Come here, my little kumquat; let me wash you,” he said, grabbing me with soapy hands and turning me around. It tickled as he massaged the soap all over my back; then he turned me to do my front, licking his lips as he worked his way down to my crotch. I couldn’t stop giggling as I watched him washing me, his tongue
sticking out as he worshipped my body with his hands. “Rinse,” he demanded, backing me up under the warm water. “My turn,” he said, handing me the body wash. “Wash all that yuck off my body,” He said making fun of me.

I licked my lips and wiggled my soapy fingers at him, washing his top half and then kneeling to get his lower half. “Turn,” I demanded. He complied, and I got his back, spending some extra time on his broad shoulders and strong arms. “Rinse,” I said, patting his ass.