Playing It Safe

by Barbie Bohrman

  “More like a lot, I bet. Case in point, this party you have me planning for her.”

  “Well,” he says with a boyish grin.

  “Well what?”

  “There’s something I should explain about that. It has to do with you.”

  What could his niece’s birthday party have to do with me, other than the obvious? My eyebrows knit together in confusion, waiting for him to explain further.

  “I may or may not have used my own niece in this little plot to get your attention. I’m not particularly proud of that, but a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do.”

  “Is there anything else I should know?”

  “That deal we made? You know the one that started all of this party stuff for Josie to begin with?”

  I nod.

  “I made that deal with you so that you’d owe me at some point. Although I will say that it’s been a pain in the ass trying to figure out a way for you to repay me.”

  I take a second to wrap my head around what he’s trying to say. “Hang on a second. I’m the reason you took the deal in the first place?”

  “Yes.”

  “Is that why you gave me all the business from the gallery for the last year too?” I ask.

  “Yes again,” he says.

  “But that deal was like a year ago. You waited all this time, and may I remind you that in that time besides Marisa”—I pause while I roll my eyes at the mention of her name, and he chuckles—“I’m sure you weren’t sitting around alone at home pining for me.”

  “And?”

  “And I’m just wondering why you waited so long.”

  “I told you in the car, you weren’t ready,” he says. “So I waited for the right opportunity to present itself.”

  I tilt my head to the side and give him a look that suggests I’m not satisfied with his answer this time any more than I was when he told me about it in the car.

  “Are you fishing?” he asks with a light chuckle.

  “Maybe,” I say with a shrug of my shoulders.

  “Do you remember the day that I drove Sabrina home and Tyler was there waiting for her?”

  “Of course I do. How can I forget? I wanted to murder him for having the balls to show up unannounced.”

  When I don’t say anything for a moment, he goes on to explain. “You were wearing a pair of Cat in the Hat pajama bottoms with a tank top, and your hair was up in the messiest knot I’ve ever seen. You went after him, and you didn’t back down because you were protecting your best friend. You looked gorgeous, and I was so impressed with your attitude and the passion in your eyes while you were arguing with him. You really did a number on me that night, Julia, because that was it for me.”

  “I was so close to kicking his ass,” I interrupt, and his mouth twitches to keep himself from laughing.

  “I’m sure you were,” he says, still fighting off laughing. “Anyway, if I would have told you that I was interested that night that you looked sexy as hell tearing Tyler a new asshole in those adorable pajamas, you would have laughed in my face, and more than likely, you would have kicked my ass instead of his.”

  I chew on my lip, thinking that he’s totally right. I would have laughed in his face. I don’t think I would have kicked his ass, but given that I was pretty high-strung that night, it’s a strong possibility.

  “Ever since that night I knew that I had to try and I would do anything to make this happen between us. Even if it meant waiting a whole year for the perfect chance to present itself. So when the idea of Josie’s party came up, I must confess I was getting a bit desperate.”

  My hand covers my mouth from laughing out loud. I can’t help it. It’s so damn adorable.

  “Desperate, huh?” I ask while still giggling.

  “Desperate times call for desperate measures,” he says with a sexy grin. “And she’s getting a party out of it, so I’d say she’s making out on the deal.”

  “And what do I get?”

  “We’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we?”

  “What if I don’t want to wait?” I shoot back at him.

  He puts down his glass of champagne and leans forward. His voice is low and restrained when he says, “Would you like a reminder that it’s worth the wait?”

  “It depends. What kind of reminder?”

  “The kind that’s going to have to wait until after dessert so I can properly refresh your memory.”

  Alex is really surpassing my expectations, and not just in the sex department, because that goes without saying. It’s refreshing since men can’t usually keep up or deal with me. He doesn’t seem put off by my personality. He doesn’t hesitate to go toe-to-toe with me on anything. In fact, he seems to enjoy it immensely, as evident by him revealing that it’s my attitude and personality that attracted him to begin with.

  After the “Cotton Candy” dessert a little while later, which is absolute perfection and delicious, he makes quick work of paying the bill and ushering me out of the restaurant. It’s as if he’s in as much of a hurry as I am at this point to get on with refreshing my memory. Tack on to that a few glasses of champagne and this girl is anxious to move on to the next phase of the evening.

  The drive home is full of desperate kisses at every red light, hands roaming over clothes, and promises of pleasure that have me weak at the knees and dying to get him in my bed.

  And oh, how I’ll be having my way with him, because now it’s my turn to surprise him.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  As soon as we walk in the door, I ask him to get us a couple of glasses of wine while I freshen up. Once he’s out of sight, I dart into my bedroom and head straight for the lingerie drawer. I have stuff in here I’ve never worn that has been dying to see the light of day. Mind you, I also have stuff in here I’ve worn before that I’m not about to put on ever again. I don’t even know why I keep it, to be honest. It’s pretty much soiled once you break up with someone, and it reminds you of that time you ate bad clams, and you say to yourself, Never again, when you look at it.

  I’m rifling through until I hit pay dirt. A matching fire-engine red lace push-up bra and barely there panties. Immediately, I unzip my dress and take everything off. I’m pulling up the barely there panties when Alex calls out to me from the kitchen.

  “Julia, where are the wineglasses?”

  I yell back, “The cabinet closest to the refrigerator.”

  I hear him close a cabinet door a second later and then call out, “Red or white?”

  “Doesn’t matter. Surprise me.”

  I’m adjusting “the boys” in the push-up bra when he shouts back, “I thought you hate surprises?”

  Fucker has the memory of an elephant.

  “Smart-ass.”

  I hear him laughing in the background while I stand before my closet mirror doing a final inspection. Hmm, I’m missing something. I mean, I look good as is, but it’s lacking something, and I can’t quite put my finger on …

  Aha!

  I run back to my lingerie drawer and pull out a pair of thigh-high black sheer stockings and then run right back to my closet for a pair of the best fuck-me pumps I can find. Plopping my ass on the edge of the bed, I carefully, but lightning fast, roll up the stockings and then slip on the shoes. I walk over to the mirror again and …

  Oh, hell yes! Amy Winehouse knew what she was talking about when she sang about those “Fuck Me Pumps,” because that’s exactly what was missing.

  “I can do this, I can do this. I’m good enough. I’m smart enough. And doggone it, people like me,” I chant out loud to myself in the mirror, and then I hear the pop of the cork from the wine bottle that he’s opening.

  Perfect timing.

  I open the door to my bedroom, but not before lifting my arms to smell myself because with all the running around and my previously mentioned issue with sweating, you never know. Peering my head around the door, I look down the hallway to see his back is to me. So I walk fast on my tippy toes until I reach the end of
the hallway and position myself while his back is still turned. I’m leaning against the wall with one hand on my hip, my feet crossed at the ankles and patting myself on the back because I seriously could not have timed this better if I tried.

  “Did you pick red or white finally?”

  Alex turns around while pouring what I can now tell is a glass of red wine and says with a grin, “You said to surprise you.”

  He looks up at that point to find me standing there in my sex-kitten outfit, and his grin vanishes. It’s replaced with his jaw clenching and a hiss of breath from his nose that I can hear from over here.

  “Surprise,” I singsong.

  The wine overflows in the glass and spills onto the kitchen floor, causing him to break out of his spell and curse out loud. I’m rather enjoying watching him fumble around looking for a towel to wipe up the mess when I calmly say, “Leave it.”

  I don’t have to tell him twice.

  Alex drops everything and elegantly strides toward me as his eyes canvass every piece of my body. When he’s about a foot away, I shove off the wall and start walking backward toward my bedroom, matching him step for step. It’s really a fucking miracle I don’t fall and bust my ass in these heels, but I finally make it inside the confines of my room with him still following me.

  “Stand right here and don’t move,” I say, pointing to a spot right in front of the foot of my bed.

  One corner of his mouth twists up in a sinful grin as he follows my directions. I walk behind him and press my breasts to his back as I reach around him to grab the lapels of his blazer and slowly ease it off. I toss it on the floor and walk back around to face him. He reaches for me, but I take a step back out of his grasp.

  “Uh-uh. No touching,” I say, shaking my head.

  Alex reluctantly drops his arms and tilts his head to the side, his eyes in silent protest at my instructions. I’m having entirely too much fun as I start to unbutton his shirt. Once it’s off, I run my hands up from his defined abdominal muscles to his upper chest before fanning out to his shoulders and down his arms. His skin is hot to the touch, and he’s taking shallow breaths. I look up at him at the same time my lips press against his chest to leave a lingering kiss there.

  “Payback is a bitch,” he whispers playfully.

  I giggle because little does he know this little game is driving me crazy too. It’s taking every ounce of willpower I have not to scrap the seduction act and jump his bones.

  “Promises, promises,” I say coolly while running a finger down to his belt buckle. “Take off your shoes.”

  He kicks them off, and I go right into unbuckling his belt while keeping my eyes on his baby blues, which are tracking my every move. Next, I trace my hand lightly over his rigid length, and he sucks in a breath.

  My voice is quiet and steady while I stroke him over his pants and ask, “Do you like that?”

  He licks his lips and just as quietly answers me. “Baby, it feels amazing, but please let me touch you. I’m dying here.”

  “Soon enough. Don’t you know that good things come to those who wait, Alex?”

  “And better things come to those who make it happen, Julia.”

  “Oh,” I say in appreciation. “I like that one even better.”

  I stop stroking him only to unbutton his pants and push them down his hips until they fall with a soft whoosh to the ground. Alex steps out of them and is now standing before me in black boxer briefs that hug every inch of his male perfection to the nth degree. I feel like grabbing my phone so I can take some pictures to capture the moment for future reference, but I figure he’ll probably think I’m nuts.

  My eyes fixed on his, I remove the boxer briefs and then duck my head to look down. God, I’ve become fairly acquainted with his dick already, but dammit if I still stare at it like it was a mirage in the desert.

  “I’m so glad that you enjoy staring at my cock, but if you don’t do something about it sooner rather than later, I’ll be forced to take over,” he warns in a gravelly voice.

  I push him backward until the backs of his knees hit the bed. “Sit down, and remember … no touching.”

  I drop to my knees in front of him, and he opens his legs to make room for me. Without wasting any more time, I cup one hand around the base of his dick and give a light squeeze. I steal a furtive glance upward and keep my eyes on his as my tongue darts out and starts to lick from the base all the way up to the tip-top of the head like an ice cream cone. “Fuuuuck,” Alex groans.

  His dick gets even harder when both my hands grip the shaft, and I leave my mouth on the head, moving up and down while massaging it with my tongue. Alex’s head falls back on his shoulders, and the sight of him getting off on me sucking on his cock gets me in a frenzy of my own. I need some sort of relief, so I keep the pace as is and then let him take over and do the thrusting for a minute or so. He’s watching me with the most lustful look in his eyes as he fucks my mouth while my hands start to roam down my body.

  First, I pinch my nipples through the lace fabric, the sensation like a bullet straight to the junction at my thighs, and I moan with my mouth still around him.

  “Jesus Christ, Julia,” he hisses under his breath.

  It’s not enough. I trail one hand down the front of my body and rub my hand over the already swollen nub. That’s soooo much better.

  “Are you kidding me?” Alex says in disbelief. He looks on for a moment while I keep rubbing myself until he reaches his breaking point and mutters, “To hell with this.”

  His hands are under my arms and scooping me up from the floor so fast that I don’t even have time to blink. The next thing I know, I’m tossed onto the bed like a feather, landing on my back. He’s hovering over me in a split second, pulling down the cups of my bra and sucking on one nipple, his hand massaging the other.

  I moan out loud, and he chuckles against my breast. He lifts his head at the same time one hand skims down to the edge of my panties, and he says, “It’s not so fun to be tortured and played with, is it?”

  “I’m sorry. I’ll make it up to you, I swear.”

  With that, he sits up on his haunches between my legs. His hands grip one side of my panties, and with brute strength, he tears it apart.

  “Alex!”

  He’s in the process of snaking them down the one leg they are still together on and doesn’t answer me. Don’t get me wrong, it’s hot as hell, but damn these things were stupid expensive.

  “Do you have any idea how much those cost me?”

  “Do you really think I give a shit right now? I’ll buy you a hundred more pairs, and I’ll tear every goddamn one of them off of you if you ever pull that shit again, do you understand?”

  I don’t answer because his hands are spreading my thighs apart. His fingers start to slide inside of me slowly, and my eyes close as my back arches off the bed.

  “Do you understand me, Julia?” His voice is thick with desire.

  “I understand, Alex. Now please, fuck me.”

  He blankets my body with his, bracing his weight on one forearm and lifting one of my knees to his shoulder before ramming into me with no hesitation.

  Perfect. Brilliant. Sensory overload.

  “Don’t stop,” I plead in between moans.

  Alex keeps pumping in and out of me, my body meeting his every thrust, and on the verge of bursting from the inside out.

  He drops my knee from his shoulder and burrows his hands behind my back. Sitting back on his haunches, he takes me with him so that I can be in complete control. I find the perfect rhythm, and at this angle, the friction against my clit quickly becomes too much for me. Alex roughly grips my waist and takes back control of my movements as my head falls backward.

  “Look at me, Julia,” he says between clenched teeth. “I want to see your eyes when you come.”

  My head lolls forward, and I pull his lips to mine. His tongue grazes my bottom lip, but he doesn’t kiss me yet. He pumps me hard up and down on his cock a few times and th
en hits the sweet spot, and I splinter in two, my inner walls gripping him tighter and pulling his orgasm out of him while I’m still riding mine out.

  We slow down our movements until I’m fully seated on his semi-hard length, both of us slick with sweat and gasping for breath. I run my hands through his hair and gently pull back so that his lips are level with mine and I can finally kiss him. Our mouths open, and the feel of our tongues gliding against each other’s melts me. It’s slow, deliberate, and exquisite—the perfect description for Alex.

  Then like a bullet to the brain, a fleeting thought runs through my head: if I’m not careful with him, there will be no if I fall in love with him, it will be more like when I fall in love with him. I try to shoo it away, but that’s hard to do with the way his fingers are soothingly running up and down my spine. Mix that with him still being inside me and his searing kiss, and I know I’m in big trouble. And this is technically our first date.

  Who am I kidding?

  I’m already falling for him.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  The next week is kind of surreal for me. I can’t tell you how many times within the first week of dating someone they had me running for the hills. But with Alex, it’s been nothing but smooth sailing. I’m sure most people will say that it’s only been a week and every relationship in the beginning is like that. My ass every relationship is like that in the beginning. That’s the biggest crock of shit. Pure propaganda bullshit spouted out by, yet again, books and movies.

  Does any of this sound familiar? There is a fair young maiden—a virgin, of course, because she’s never had sex in all her twenty-one years of living. And before you go off the deep end and start hollering about how there’s nothing wrong with being a virgin, I agree there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. But in these stories the chick is always a virgin with a magic vagina who apparently has a beacon in said vagina that only attracts tattooed bad boys or roguish millionaires who are without one flaw and sweep her off her feet so they can live happily ever after.