“Of course.” Her breath spread over my skin, causing tingles to erupt and a slow burn to start in my balls.
“I need to kiss you.”
She only nodded before I raised my other arm to wrap around her neck and pull her to me. My lips owned hers, pressing hard, thrusting my tongue inside, and tasting her. Like mint and cherries, so sweet, the same as I’d remembered from the first night we’d been together. I finally pulled away, her lips red and plump from my mouth against hers. Kat made me lose control. I lost myself a little bit when my hands were on her, my lips against her skin, when I was buried inside her body. She had me forgetting every painful relationship I’d had in the past. I lost a little of myself and I liked it.
“Should eat before it gets cold.” I pulled away, tossed a blanket on the deck of the boat, and sat with the basket. I turned to look at her looking at me, exactly where I’d left her. She followed me to the blanket and sat cross-legged across from me and pulled paper plates and forks from a bag.
“So you gonna tell me why you’re afraid of the water?” She dished lasagna onto a plate for me and passed me garlic bread. I ripped a piece off and popped it into my mouth, chewing as I watched her.
“Don’t want to get into it, Sugar. Lasagna is good.”
“Thanks.” Her eyes softened, probably because she sensed she’d hit a tender subject.
“Have you ever?”
“‘Course.” I avoided her gaze as I ate.
“Just not anymore?”
“Not anymore,” I affirmed.
“I get seasick, so it’s not really my thing either.”
“It’s not that.”
“Oh.” She paused as she continued to eat her dinner. “It is sort of a scary idea, just floating, at mercy to the ocean, something happens that could so easily be it…”
“Mm hmm,” I murmured, refusing to say anymore.
“Do you think you’ll ever again?”
“Look, Sugar, not really interested in the inquisition. Some things are meant to stay in the past, not to be rehashed and shared.”
“Sometimes sharing is good, helps heal.”
“And sometimes the hurt is more than it’s worth. Everything all right at the house?” I inquired, effectively shutting down the previous conversation.
“Yeah.” She pushed the leftover food around on her plate with a plastic fork before dropping the utensil and shivering.
I looked up with a frown. “Cold?”
“A little.” She dumped the rest of her plate into the small garbage bag she’d brought, packed the leftover lasagna, and placed it back in the basket.
I looked up at the darkening sky, the chilly breeze rustling the evergreens. The sky was clear and bright, great for stargazing. I tossed some pillows down on the deck of the boat and encouraged her to lie down. She complied and I wrapped her in my arms, throwing the blanket over us.
“You smell edible.” I inhaled a long draw of her sweet-scented hair.
“Thanks, I think.” She shoved her bottom lip out in a pout. “The sky’s amazing up here. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“The benefit of being so far north. It’s cold, but the sky at night is somethin’. It’s prettiest in the dead of winter. So silent, the sky is clear, the stars like diamonds. If you can stand the cold it’s worth it. Some nights you can even see the northern lights.”
“Yeah?” She looked over at me, her green eyes sparkling with excitement. I only nodded as my eyes fell upon her lips. I thought about tasting them, pressing them to my own, hovering over her body, sliding into her.
“I’ve never seen those,” she murmured before leaning up and straddling my waist. My big hands curled up to her hips and held her to me as her thick hair curtained around us. I was enveloped by her delicious scent, my dick was officially at an uncomfortable throb, as a small smile danced across her lips. She leaned down and nipped at mine, her hands curled around to the nape of my neck as she kissed me. I slid my tongue along the seam and asked for entrance. She complied again and our tongues caressed and smoothed against each other. I ran a hand up her sweater to feel the smooth expanse of her back. Like silk, all soft curves and pliant flesh. I swallowed the groan that escaped her throat as my hips bucked up into her hot center of their own accord.
“Mmm,” she hummed as she slowly pulled away from my lips, dragging her teeth along my bottom lip as she went, tugging it and driving me wild.
“Thanks for the tour,” she whispered before sliding her arms around my back and tucking her head into my neck.
“Thanks for dinner.” I wrapped my arms around her body and nipped at her earlobe. I ran one hand down her torso and cupped her denim-covered ass with one palm.
“Trying to cop a feel?” She grinned up at me.
“Wouldn’t be a pig if I didn’t.” I smiled.
“True,” she whispered in my ear as she skimmed her teeth along the shell of my lobe. I groaned and ground my pelvis into hers, trying to relieve some of the pressure created by her sexy curves pressed to my hard muscle.
“If you’re trying to seduce me, Sugar, it’s not necessary. I’m a sure thing.” I slipped a hand inside her jeans to palm her bare ass. “Jesus, commando?” I groaned and shut my eyes tightly, trying to block out the sensations surrounding me before I came in my pants like a teenager.
“Someone said panties could be prohibitive.” She kissed along my neck and trailed her tongue along my jaw.
“Tryin’ to kill me,” I stated before twisting her to my side and tucking her into my shoulder, breaking nearly all contact between us. Her eyes flashed in confusion and rejection.
“If you keep molesting me like this, I’m gonna think you just use me for sex.” I tossed her a lopsided grin.
“Oh, that’s rich.” She rolled her eyes and punched me in the gut. I laughed before I tucked her tighter to my side. She sighed deeply, looking up at the stars and sliding her hand under my shirt to rest on the skin against my stomach.
“Can’t keep your hands off me, huh?” I mumbled in her hair as she watched the bright oranges and pinks streak across the sky. “I understand; most women are powerless.”
“Can you shut your trap while I enjoy the sunset?” she huffed before I broke out into a loud laugh.
“Sure thing, Sugar.” I placed a kiss on her temple before turning my own eyes up to the sky. We lay there, wrapped in a heavy blanket while the sun set and the moon and stars rose bright in the sky. Silence stretched peacefully between us and the irritation that had flared earlier at her inquisition faded. I was so used to keeping a wall up about my past that it shocked me when people pried, but she wanted to get to know me, just like I did her.
“Lane?” She murmured softly as the moonlight cast shadows across her face.
“Yeah?” My fingers danced along the soft knit of her sweater. Whether you could call it a relationship or not, we did have some sort of friendship, and despite the fact that I still remained firm in my theory that men and women couldn’t be friends when attraction was present, I thought maybe I could try with Kat.
“This . . . what this is, I don’t want you to think it means anything more. I was serious when I said I’m not interested in a relationship.”
My body stiffened in reaction to her words. I sucked in a few breaths, working over what she’d said in my brain. I couldn’t figure out why it bothered me so much when she said that but it did. Irritation flared in my gut and I grit my teeth together. “Gotcha, Sugar.”
I sat at the bar, Melissa leaning against my side, pressing her fake tits against my arm, as we slammed shots of whiskey and bullshitted with the bartender. Thursday night and I hadn’t seen Kat in a few days. I was desperate to keep my distance. That girl was getting under my skin and it irritated me as much as it turned me on. I didn’t do relationships and I wasn’t interested in starting now and she’d made it clear at every opportunity she wasn’t either. This thing I had going, this causal hookup, friends with benefits deal, had always worked for me. The girls in town knew the play I ran—they knew they’d never get more from me—and it suited them. I liked to think of it as a mutually beneficial arrangement. We sought pleasure only: a good time, maybe a cup of coffee in the morning, and that was it. Sometimes a repeat the following weekend, but never the expectation of one. Wanting to spend time with Kat outside of the bedroom was a new prospect for me, and it more than threw me a little off balance. It sent me reeling.
“Why the long face, baby?” Melissa ran a hand up my back to land at my nape and tangle in my short hair.
“Not a long face, babe. Need another?” I gestured to her fruity drink.
“Looks like you do.” She nodded to Dillon behind the bar.
“Trying to get me wasted? If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were after something.” I grinned at her before finishing the rest of my drink and sliding it to the edge of the bar. “Thanks, Dillon.” I nodded as she set our fresh drinks down.
“Give us a couple rounds of Three Wise Men too.” Melissa smiled a sexy grin and pressed her tits against me. I smiled back and took a swig of my drink before wrapping an arm around her narrow waist. If I had to fuck Kat out of my system, I was willing. I couldn’t be so consumed by one girl. I’d seen her sexy ass walk in and out of the library every day this week. Had my fucking dick hard as a rock every time and had me jerking off every night in the shower.
What was so special about her anyway? Hair. Tits. Ass. She was just like the rest of them.
Except Kat had soft strawberry-red waves that fell down her back, green eyes that danced when she laughed and darkened with lust when her pussy was wet, tits big enough to bury my face in, and thighs curvy and soft, the perfect shape to wrap around my waist when I nailed her.
And then the way she’d hiked up her dress on my front porch. My dick pressed against the zipper of my jeans and I adjusted myself just thinking of her soft moans as she pleasured herself. So fucking hot that she was a bit of an exhibitionist. I’d been with wild girls before, but always like Melissa—overtly wild, sexy, trying too hard—Kat was a whole other story. So fiery and passionate, sassy and independent, and wild as fuck in the bedroom.
But as fiery and independent as she was on the outside, I had a feeling there was a girl inside that wanted to be dominated, liked being told what to do. I made a mental note to try that on her next time.
Next time?
No, I couldn’t be planning for a next time.
Fucking this girl out of my system, proving to myself that she was just like the rest; that’s what I was doing.
“Hey, babe, ready for that shot?” I curled an arm around Melissa’s tight body and pulled her into me. I turned on my barstool and slipped her narrow hips between my thighs, working my hands up her legs and under the hem of her dress. I fingered the soft skin high on her thigh as she thrust her tits in my face and a sexy moan escaped her throat.
Her scent filled my nostrils, all spicy and vanilla-like, but was so fucking sweet, it was sickening. I’d never remembered being so sickened by a scent before. Melissa wrapped a hand up in my hair and ground her pelvis into my cock.
“Shot, babe?” I grinned and pulled away before passing her a glass of amber liquid. Melissa smiled at me before slamming the shot down her delicate throat. She sucked in a quick breath and then bit down on her full bottom lip. Come to think of it, like her tits, I wasn’t sure if her lips were real either. I stared as she kneaded the soft flesh of her bottom lip; she probably thought I was staring because I was imagining them around my dick. The thought had crossed my mind, but wasn’t entirely appealing. I glanced away and threw back my own shot of whiskey.
I needed to get some sort of a buzz started if I was going to lose myself in her tonight. We each took our last two shots and then continued our drinks as she swayed her hips between my thighs with the sound of the music.
My eyes landed on Slade at the other end of the bar. I’d gotten the sense over the last few weeks that he and Dillon had something going, and the heated discussion they were having only confirmed that. Dillon was a cool girl, but she’d trample all over Slade; unlike me, he was a guy that tended to go all-in with relationships, which I knew for a fact Dillon didn’t do. I rolled my eyes and took another shot as I thought about picking up the drunken pieces that would be Slade once Dillon was through with him.
The alcohol fogged my mind and started to get the better of my cock. Melissa’s lips around my shaft was sounding pretty fucking good at the moment. A flash of red hair darted behind my eyelids, but just as soon as it had come, it was gone again before I pulled Melissa into me and wrapped a hand around her neck, fisting it into her long, dark hair.
“Bar’s nearly empty, babe. What do you say we find a dark corner?”
Her eyes flashed and she licked her full lips, an indication that she knew what I had in mind. She pulled me from standing. I stumbled for a minute. I was drunker than I thought. I usually didn’t do shots. In fact, that was an understatement. I never did shots.
She walked ahead of me, the soft curve of her ass dancing back and forth as my eyes morphed her into a fiery redhead with slightly fuller curves. She turned back, her dark hair swishing around her shoulders, and shot me a sexy glance, and the fiery redhead evaporated instantly.