Ricochet (4 page)

We danced in this position for a few more songs: her back against my chest, one of my arms wrapped around her waist, and my other arm resting by my side. I was lost in my thoughts, enjoying every second of having someone in my arms—having
her
in my arms—and not caring the club was so packed we kept getting bumped into.

Elle shook her head.

Curious, I looked up to see why and noticed one of her girls staring at us; a silent conversation flowed between the two. The friend nodded, smiled, and
again focused on
the guy who was shamelessly rubbing against her thigh.

Smiling, but keeping my voice playful, I said, “I saw that,” and pinched her side.

“Saw what?”

“That eye-voodoo shit you women do. What was that about?”

“Oh.” She shrugged, still dancing yet trying to speak to me without shouting. “She was making sure—”

“That you still wanted to dance?”

Her body shook with the force of her laughter.

“Do you?” I asked.

“Do I what?”
Finally, she turned around.

We both paused, openly appraising the other.

She’d been hot when I saw her dancing, but up close? Goddamn.
She
was sexual chocolate at its best.

I shook my head. I really needed to stop thinking dumb shit like that.

“Do I what?” She blinked her beautiful, dark eyes.
The gesture was innocent, but there was a vixen behind the façade.
She wasn’t naïve. She knew exactly what she was doing, what kind of effect she had on men—on me. I loved that. I wouldn’t need to spend time reassuring her, placating her, playing games to get her number or, hopefully, more time with her tonight.

I cleared my throat and refocused. No distractions until I got my answer. “Do you still want to dance?”

Smiling, she wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me down so her mouth was next to my ear. She waited to respond, letting her breath puff against my skin.

My dick twitched.
Do that again.

“Yes, but after we have a drink.”

I nodded and grabbed her hand to pull her toward the bar, but she stopped me.

“This way.” She pointed to a section off to the side. Several girls sat at a table looking bored. Some glared at the crowded dance floor. One was giving me dirty looks.

Here we go
. There’s always one.

“Guys,” Elle announced to the table. “This is …” She paused and pursed her lips. “Yeah, you didn’t tell
me your name.”

“Miles.” I winked. “And you’re Elle.” As if she didn’t know her name.

“No.”

I quirked an eyebrow.
“No?”

“Not Elle. My name is Noelle.”

“Sorry, I thought your name was Elle.”

“It’s OK.” She smiled, then widened her eyes and took a step back. “How’d you know my name?”

“Corey told me.”

“Oh.” Her shoulders dropped, but she angled her head to the side with a curious grin. “Are you guys friends?”

“Not really, but he knows my boy.”

“That’s cool,” she said but didn’t seem that interested about how I knew Corey. I was fine with that.
Back to us. “So, do you want that drink?”

I shook my head but rushed to clarify
when her hopeful expression fell
. “Let me get you something.” I pointed behind me toward the bar.

“But.” She glanced toward the table that already had bottles and glasses on display. It might not have made sense to her why I’d want to buy her a drink when she’d already had her bottles on deck, but it was the principle.

“I want to.” I gave her what I hoped was a persuasive smile.

Though I noticed Noelle’s reluctance, she gave me her drink order and playfully told me to hurry.

“I’ll be right back,” I said. “Don’t go anywhere.”

Please don’t go anywhere.

The line at the bar was mad long for no damn reason. By the time I made my way to the table, I couldn’t find Noelle for shit.

The table was deserted as if I’d imagined the whole damn thing. Ain’t that about a bitch? Back to my original plan: say goodbye to the guys and then head out. 

Once I got to the balcony, I forgot about that plan.

Corey was in the DJ booth with Noelle’s crown on his head. She and Corey’s girlfriend were dancing on opposite sides of him.

Noelle waved frantically when she saw me and then stopped. She grimaced, and it made me chuckle. Her awkwardness made her seem sweet. I cocked my head to the side to call
her over, but
she shook her head and crooked her finger to call me over.

This quickly became a game.
A battle of wills. I was glad to play along.

I quirked an eyebrow and lifted the glass. My hope was to entice her with the drink. It didn’t work. She grinned and shrugged, then
pointed to the bottle on the small table beside her.
Noelle crooked her finger again and mouthed “come here.”

I shook my head and leaned back against the railing. Trying to look unfazed by Noelle’s game, I crossed my ankles for good measure.
I brought the straw to my mouth, but before taking a sip, I licked my lips to goad her.

She took a few steps forward with an air determination on her face. I thought I won, so I winked. She stopped and, with an evil glint in her eyes, headed toward her friend and away from me.

I gulped when they smirked and grabbed shot glasses.

Her friend poured the liquor.

Noelle slowly sank to her knees.

Leaning down with her gaze boring into mine, Noelle lowered her head.

She wrapped her mouth around
the shot glass and threw her head back. Her jaw constricted as the liquid went down.

Damn!

Hypnotized, I watched as everything happened in slow motion.

I swallowed hard and didn’t bother trying to be discreet while I adjusted my dick.
When I poked myself in the nose with my straw
, I realized my mouth was agape and I was holding my breath.

Game over. She won.

In two long strides, I was beside her and pulling her off the floor with one hand under her arm.
Not only was the floor fucking filthy, I wasn’t the only man here. A few other guys stared at her as though they were fucking predators stalking their meal.

Fuck that. I already claimed this pussy. I had in my mind at least.

She smiled victoriously, grabbed the cup out of my hand, and strutted away.

What the fuck?

I pulled her against my chest and pushed my hard-on against her hip.
“Not so fast. That little show caused a problem for me.”
I smirked at her sharp intake of air, happy to reclaim the upper hand in this game we were playing
.
Time to jump all-in while I was in the lead.
“Did you drive here?”

“I came with my girls. They drove.” Scanning the group, Noelle tapped her elbow to mine when she spotted one of her friends dry humping some guy. Warren.

There was no containing my smile. Noelle’s friend had other plans—plans that didn’t include driving her home. I would make sure that worked in my favor.

“She’s busy. Let me give you a ride?”

She stopped staring at her girl, turned, licked her lips, and said, “Sure, sounds good.”

I held up my finger. “
Gimme a second.” Warren was preoccupied, but I had no qualms about interrupting his impromptu lap dance. “Warren, let me get the keys.”

Distracted, he handed them over without asking questions. But when I started to walk away, he called out, “Wait, what’s going on?”

“I’m taking Noelle home. You’re good with a ride, right?”

I didn’t wait for his response and went back to Noelle, hoping her girl would make sure my boy was taken care of. Her other friend shot me a suspect look and demanded I let her take a picture of my license. I’d never met this girl before in my life. Giving her my personal information wasn’t going to happen. I didn’t care how hard she grilled me.

“How about you take my full name and number? Will that make you feel more comfortable?” Though I asked her friend, I was focused on Noelle. I needed to make sure she was cool with leaving with me. When she winked and leaned closer, I knew we were OK. Her friend grumbled something under her breath, which I ignored. I couldn’t get too mad when she was just trying to be protective.

When we got to the car, I opened the passenger door for Noelle, hoping to make a good impression. Her smile told me I did.

“So, where do you live?” I asked once I settled into the driver’s seat. “Or you can come over,” I said reluctantly, when she hesitated to reply.

Neither of us seemed to like that suggestion either.

I didn’t know what was going on in her head, and it seemed
my cockiness from the club had worn off the moment I started the engine.

Random shit ran through my mind. How many dishes were in the sink? When was the last time I changed my sheets? Did I put away that half-eaten box of pizza? An image of the box sitting on my coffee table popped into my head. I’d been a hot mess for the past few months.
My home reflected my emotional state.
A mess I was still battling.

There’s
no way in hell, unless I wanted to scare her away, was I going to bring Noelle to my house. It was clear, though, she wasn’t inviting me over, either, though that had been what we planned inside the club.

That was OK. She was smart to change her mind and not let a total stranger in on where she lived. But I wasn’t ready to let the night end yet. I wanted time
alone
with her. Uninterrupted time and somewhere that had a nice bed should the need arise.

I smiled when an alternate plan formed.

We pulled alongside the curb of our new destination, but before I bothered putting the car in park, I asked, “Is this all right with you?” The ride over had been relatively quiet, so bringing her here—nice or not, the Taj was still a hotel—might offend her. Our night would be over before anything jumped off.

Relief showed on her features. “This is perfect.”

It took some finagling, name-dropping, and an extra set of bills, but I was able to get us a room.
Thank God.
I’m not sure if it was the policy of the hotel, if the clerk was in an exceptionally bitchy mood, or if it had something to do with the stare down she and Noelle had when we first walked in, but she was definitely judging us and our late arrival.

Inside the elevator, I hesitated. The calm and quiet of the confined made things a little softer and intimate than I was comfortable with. I had to do something, say something to break the silence.

I came up with nothing.

Noelle leaned her head against the dark marble wall and closed her eyes. Her low moan interrupted my thoughts
.

I bit the inside of my lip. Her moan could have easily been the result of exhaustion, but
me and my dick couldn’t tell the difference.
This elevator wasn’t moving fast enough. A beautiful woman stood less than a foot away, making sex noises—I wanted to be the reasons for those sounds. I pushed off the wall and
lowered my head to capture her lips.
She greedily opened her mouth and slipped her tongue against mine.
I moaned, savoring the taste of the liquor that lingered in her mouth. She hitched her leg over my hip. Instinctively, I grabbed the back of her thigh with one hand and the elevator railing with the other while thrusting against her.

We somehow managed to refrain from ripping our clothes off, choosing instead to paw at each other over them. My restraint
almost crashed when
she sucked on my neck and grinded harder against me.

“Fuck!”

She smiled against my neck and bit, licked, and sucked harder in response to my outburst.
I shivered and moved my hand up her thigh, slowly inching my fingers higher, higher, higher until the back of my knuckles grazed right over her wet spot.

A throat cleared behind me.

We both tensed, and
I jerked my head toward the sound, wanting to see who I was going to have to kill later.
That’s when I realized neither Noelle nor I had pushed the damn button for our floor. We were still in the lobby.

The bellhop, Mr. Throat Clearer, stood between the elevator doors, looking at me in mild disgust.
When he cut his eyes to Noelle, I moved so she could slide down the wall, then stepped forward to block his view.

“Can I help you?” I crossed my arms over my chest.

He pursed his lips but wisely kept his mouth shut while he reached inside the elevator and pushed the button for our floor. I didn’t thank him. He wasn’t the least bit slick in hiding his attempts to sneak a peek at Noelle. He’s lucky I didn’t cuss his ass out.

Once the doors closed, I pushed Noelle against the wall. She laughed lightly and put her hand on my chest. “I think we can wait ’til we get to the room, don’t you?”

Honestly, I didn’t think I could. At least, I didn’t
want
to. But I nodded anyway. I would go at whatever pace she wanted.

Once in the room, Noelle’s nerves switched on the same time I flicked on the lights.
Her head moved back and forth, and her focus darted from left to right as if she were in search of something, like an escape.

My heart dropped to my stomach, and I wondered what changed during the minute it took us to get from the elevator to the room—if I’d done something to make her nervous or upset. I linked our fingers together, hoping it would relax her a bit. “What’s wrong?”

“Oh!” Her voice came out a little high, though her shoulders relaxed when she spotted the bathroom. “I need a minute.”

I smiled but didn’t let go of her hand, wanting confirmation she was down for whatever would happen tonight. “Are you sure you’re OK?”

She nodded, winked, and after a quick squeeze of my hand, she let go. “I’ll just be a minute.”

“Take your time.”

I sat on the bed and bounced a little to feel it out. It felt like any other bed, just had a few more pillows than necessary and a headboard that didn’t bang against the wall.

Unsure of what else to do while I waited, I unbuttoned my shirt and got comfortable and relaxed on the pillows.

I’m pretty sure I fell asleep because I didn’t hear Noelle leave the bathroom. Caught off guard, I bolted upright when I felt tapping on my knee.

“Hi.”

“Hey.” I grinned. Her dress from earlier was nowhere in sight, leaving her in light brown lace. It was like caramel over chocolate, and I wanted to lick every inch of her. “I like that.” I jutted my chin toward her.

“It’s a birthday present.” Her voice dropped to a low whisper. She acted shy or guarded but definitely sexy.

“Come here.” I pulled her to stand between my legs. Our position put us face-to-pussy, just how I wanted it.
I pressed a wet kiss to her hipbone while pushing aside lace, and then sucked
her flesh between my teeth. Moaning, she widened her stance,
grabbed my shoulder, and hooked a hand behind my neck, keeping me
pressed against her. I grinned against her skin, glad she was getting into it and relaxing a bit.

Don’t worry, baby. I’m not going anywhere yet.

I teased my way across her stomach with a series of nibbles and licks and stopped at her panty line
before reversing my course and kissing back up to her chest. She groaned and tightened her grip on my head, arching her hips toward my face.

“Impatient, Noelle?”

“Very.”
I broke her hold and craned my neck to face her
. I was met with parted lips and a heaving chest. Smug as shit because I was the reason why Noelle was so turned on she could hardly breathe, I hooked my arms behind her knees and swiftly leaned back, pulling her up my body so she hovered over my face.

She squealed my name in a giggle, bracing her hands on the headboard. My dick hardened even more.

“Say it again,” I said in a growl against her sweet-smelling pussy. “My name—say that shit again.”

“Miles,” she whispered, swirling her hips.

I kneaded her ass to encourage her
to press herself against my face
, grunting and groaning as she got wetter and wetter. Her legs tensed. I wasn’t sure if it was from what I was doing or from trying to hold herself up. Just in case it was the latter, I squeezed her hip. “Relax.” My words were muffled, but she understood and shifted so I could feel her swirling her pussy lips over me and trying to fuck the shit out of my face.

Her thong was drenched and in my way. It served no purposed other than to annoy me. “Take it off. Take it off or I’ll rip it off.”

She laughed softly as she climbed off the bed to take her panties off and throw them to the side.