by Lucy Gage
“Then just go with it. See where it takes you. Stop being such a girl about it. If it turns into something else, great. If it’s never more than a hot night of sex with a woman you’ve wanted since you were old enough to really care about girls, then so be it. At least you’ll know what it was like to have sex with her.”
“She’s drunk, Danny. I don’t want to take advantage of her.”
“Neil, trust me when I say no one takes sexual advantage of Meg. If she wants you, she’ll let you know. I’ve seen her when she’s rejecting someone and she’s not throwing off those vibes. As long as you listen if she says no, you’re not taking advantage.”
“I wish I could believe that and not feel like an ass.”
“Then believe it. Would I steer you wrong?” Neil shook his head. No. Danny would never do that to him. “She’s into you. I can see that from across the room. Charlie sent me over here and went after Meg. She’s hoping her matchmaking worked.”
Neil sighed, “Why does she care so much?”
“Because she adores you and she thinks you’ll make Meg happy.”
“Why, because I’ve been infatuated with her for thirteen years?”
“Because you’re the opposite of all the jerks she’s ever dated. Charlie figured if she gave you two the chance to speak to one another, you’d finally get what you wanted all these years and Meg would finally meet someone worthy of her.”
“You really think I’m worthy of her?” Neil didn’t believe that.
Danny laughed. “Neil, stop being the insecure kid who couldn’t get a date. Women love you. Every single girl here and half the married ones – including my wife, by the way – have been drooling over you all night and staring daggers at Meg because she’s the one in your company. You’re worthy.”
“I didn’t ask you if I was pretty enough, Danny. I asked if I was worthy of her. Me, the guy who is the same person he was when he didn’t look like this.”
“Jesus, Neil, you’re worthy! You need me to stroke your ego? You’re one of the nicest guys I’ve ever known. You’re smart and sometimes funny and you’d give the shirt off your back for a stranger and a kidney for a friend because you’re selfless like that. You have impeccable manners, to the point you’re afraid of taking advantage of a woman who clearly wants you and who you’ve been head over heels for since you were fourteen. And Meg needs a man like that, a man who’ll think of her first. She acts hard as nails, but she really isn’t.”
“I know. I’ve known that about her for a long, long time.”
“Good. You, my friend, would never treat her like she was less than. You’d always treat her like the most important person in the world. Know how I’m sure of that? Because it’s how your dad treats your mom. It’s how you were raised.” Danny lowered his voice. “Stop trying so hard to sabotage what you’ve always wanted. I think she could fall for you if you let her. But you gotta let her try first, man. She’s giving you an opening. Take it. Please.”
Meghan walked up with Charlie seconds later. “We ready to go, soldier?” she asked.
Charlie kissed Neil’s cheek. “See you in the morning.”
Neil turned to Meghan and said, “Dance with me. One more time first.” A fast song was playing, but it immediately segued into a slow song, Christina Perri’s A Thousand Years.
“Only if you promise to wrap your arms around me this time. And if you promise we’ll go upstairs after.”
“I promise.”
“Good. Then it’s a deal.” He swept her into his arms, his hands on her hips, her arms around his neck as he moved them around the floor. His green eyes engaged her chocolate brown ones, trying to determine if Danny was right, if she really did want him. If more than alcohol – and a need to erase a bad relationship from her head – influenced her.
Meghan stared back at him as intently. Finally, she said, “What’s going on here, Neil?”
“What do you mean?
“This. What’s happening between us? Am I reading you wrong? Are you not interested in me?”
Neil couldn’t let her think that. No. Never. He’d wanted her for too long to let her ever believe he wasn’t interested, even for a moment. He pulled back, stood still and looked at her. He looked at her mouth. He wanted to kiss her, but if he waited until they were alone, she might give up on him. Danny was right, he had to stop sabotaging this.
Neil threaded his hands in her sun-kissed hair. In her eyes, he saw a desire to kiss him as powerful as his own. He leaned in, pressed his lips to hers and a wave of heat washed over him. Meghan leaned into the kiss, opening her lips, and as he slid his tongue into her mouth, Neil had to use every ounce of restraint his military training had afforded him to keep it from getting indecent.
Meghan pulled away and saved Neil from himself.
“Take me to bed, soldier.”
“Are you teasing me?” he asked.
“Never. Take me upstairs, Neil.”
He took her hand and led her out of the reception. As they passed by the bar, they saw Danny and Charlie saying goodbye to guests. Danny gave him a wry smile.
Yeah, yeah. Neil smiled back. We’ll talk later.
**********
When they finally stepped into the elevator, Meghan kissed him this time. She pressed him into the wall and reached a hand between them to outline his growing erection through his pants. Neil gasped and pulled away.
“Meghan, we can’t do that here.”
“Why not?”
“For one, there are cameras in the elevator. For another, Uncle Sam frowns on that kind of behavior, especially when a soldier is in uniform. I could get in serious trouble.”
“Sorry,” she said, looking down. “That’s why you couldn’t kiss me before. You were afraid it would go there when it shouldn’t.”
He tipped her chin to look at him. “Yeah. But as soon as we’re behind the door of my room, we can do anything we want.” She smiled and the elevator door opened. “Let’s hurry up and get there so I can kiss you some more.”
Taking her hand, he led her down the hall as fast as they could reasonably walk when the tipsy one of them wore five-inch heels. It took several swipes of the key card, but when the door finally clicked, they both sighed in relief.
The door shut and in seconds, Neil shoved Meghan against it, kissing her until she was breathless. When they came up for air, she said, “Wow. If you can do everything else as good as you kiss, I think I’m in trouble.”
Neil laughed. “Why is that, Meghan?” he asked as he began removing his uniform and hanging it back on the hangers. Neil knew he was already in trouble. He liked kissing her more than he had ever liked kissing anyone.
“Because you just knocked me on my ass. Did I mention that I want to get naked with you? Because I really, really want that now.”
“I wish you were going to remember all this in the morning,” he lamented. Stripped to his t-shirt and boxers, when he pulled his shirt over his head, Meghan gasped. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Nothing at all. You are so sexy, Neil. Here I thought you were pretty hot wearing clothes.”
“You like a man in uniform?”
“I like you in that uniform. But your ass is stellar in basketball shorts, too.”
That made him grin. She had been checking him out this morning even before he saw her looking him up and down. “I really, really wish you were going to remember all this.”
“I’ll remember. I’m not that drunk.”
Neil stepped toward her and she swallowed hard. He placed his hands on her shoulders and smiled at her. “Yes, you are. If you don’t really want to do this…”
Meghan reached her hand inside his boxers and grabbed him. They both moaned and lunged for a kiss at the same time. Mouths were devoured and hands roamed. Neil unzipped her dress while she stroked him, concentration proving elusive.
He pulled away for a moment, panting, and said, “Meghan, it’s been a while for me. I’m probably not going to last long the first time. I’ll do my best,
but I can’t promise much.”
She backed him toward the bed and pushed him lightly until he flopped onto the mattress. Then she lifted her arms and her strapless dress fell to the floor in a swishy puddle. She stepped out of it to reveal a tiny pair of pale-yellow panties that looked sexy against her tan skin. Her breasts stared at him, their pink areolae and nipples standing at attention better than he’d imagined them to be. She still wore the fuck-me heels, and oh, God, did he want to do that, at least once with those shoes on her feet.
But before he could tell her that, she dropped to her knees, yanked his boxers to his ankles and engulfed his straining cock with her mouth. If he had been standing, his knees would have buckled from the intense stimulation as her tongue circled his head. Neil couldn’t recall the last time he’d dated a girl who provided unrequested blow jobs. He hadn’t been creative – or experienced – enough as a teenager to want this from her, but his adult brain had envisioned it often.
Reality brokered no comparison.
Her lips formed perfect suction while one hand pumped his full length and the other massaged his balls. Moans of pleasure vibrated through her mouth. As he neared his climax, she slid her hands around his ass, pulled him into her mouth and before he could warn her, a ripple of ecstasy rushed through his body. He came, groaning, “Oh, Meghan,” and ran his fingers through her hair.
She sucked the last bit from his tip and then she lifted her head.
“Better?” she asked.
“You have no idea. That was one fantasy fulfilled.” She climbed on top of him and okay, this had been a teenage fantasy, Meghan Miles straddling him. He reached up to caress her perfect, beautiful breasts and she smiled. “What?” he asked.
“You were having fantasies about me?”
Neil chuckled. “If I admitted to all the fantasies I’ve had about you over the years, you’d probably think I was a stalker.”
“Are you?” she asked with a false concern on her face.
“What do you think? I admired you from afar for the better part of thirteen years. Yeah, I sound like a stalker.” He laughed.
“Why did you talk to me today, Neil?” Meghan asked, her hand on his cheek.
He sighed. “Because I leave for Afghanistan in two weeks and there’s no guarantee I’ll come home. I didn’t want to regret never trying with you. I told you, Meghan, you’re the only woman who ever really intimidated me. I’ve wanted you for a long, long time. I think I was afraid to have you. Or that I’d only get to have you for a little while and it wouldn’t be enough.”
“You didn’t think I’d say no?” she teased.
“I was more afraid of you saying yes and then being disappointed if all you’d wanted was sex.”
“Why’d you change your mind?”
“I didn’t change my mind. But right now, sex has to be enough for me. I can’t ask you to be my girlfriend if I’m leaving in two weeks for a nine-month stint on the other side of the world.”
“Would you want to date if the circumstances were different?”
Neil choked up a little. “Yeah,” he whispered, nodding. “I’ve wanted that for a long time.”
Meghan looked at him with such genuine sweetness that it nearly undid him. With both hands cupping his face, she gently kissed him, then she kept her face close to his, with her curtain of hair around him. Neil brushed her hair from her face and hooked it around her ear.
She said, “Let’s just see where this takes us, okay? I like you a lot, Neil. You’re like no man I’ve ever met before. I wish you were going to be around for a while. I’d love to get to know you. For now, we have this. I really want you. I’m pretty sure you want me too.”
“More than you can possibly imagine.”
“Then make love to me. Let’s make memories to take with you.”
He swallowed and caressed her cheek as he whispered, “I wish you’d remember, Meghan.”
“If I forget, you’ll have to find a way to remind me. I told Charlie’s mom I have a conference, but I’m really just presenting at one in Portland. I wanted to get out of more time with Gail. So, I’m around next week. If you’re going to be around, too, maybe we can spend some time together then. And if I forget that I told you any of this because I’m really too drunk right now, you remind me. Find a way, Neil. Because I want to see you more.”
“You mean it?”
“Yes. I mean it. You swept me off my feet when you asked me to dance, soldier. Now show me how those moves on the dance floor translate into the bedroom, because I know they do.”
Rolling her underneath him, he kissed her passionately, tongues plunging and taking, until they both needed air. Then he showed her what else his mouth could do as he kissed his way down her body, from her neck to her perfect breasts, down her abdomen to those sexy panties, then he dragged the lace over her hips with his fingers.
Parting her thighs, he found brown hair that covered pink lips he ached to kiss. He nipped the inside of her thigh on either side, then dove into the musky, wet heat.
“You taste so sweet. I could do this for hours.”
“Please,” she moaned. “Your mouth is magic.”
Neil smiled as his tongue traced her opening. He hadn’t even begun to take her to heaven. Knowing she liked it that much made his cock harder. His tongue darted and swirled into the softness and his nose filled with her scent. Meghan’s hand gripped his scalp as she encouraged him to fuck her with his tongue. Had he ever imagined it would be this erotic with her?
When her back arched and her thighs closed around his ears, he pulled her off the bed to her feet.
“What are you doing?” she asked, definitely in a fog of lust and longing.
Neil grabbed a string of condoms from his bag, first, then he handed one to her. “Put it on me?” he asked. She nodded and his dick twitched in anticipation as she touched him. Then he took her back to the bed and propped her body with her hands on the mattress.
“We’re taking advantage of those shoes before we take them off,” he explained as he gazed at her luscious ass lifted in the air, every bit of her exposed in a glorious display. Unable to wait any longer, he took her without warning, plunging to the hilt into her slick folds. Despite his previous orgasm, her vise grip on his dick wouldn’t let him last much longer. He’d need all his training and patience to stay in the game long enough to make her come.
“Oh my,” she gasped. “I like you more already.”
He agreed.
**********
For the next several hours, they talked and caressed between sessions of lovemaking that he could only describe as the best sex he’d ever had. She was a goddess. Better than he ever could have conceived in his wildest dreams. Everything about being with her would stay imprinted on his brain forever – her kisses, her touch, the feel of her under him, the feel of her on top of him, the curve of her hips, the perfect breasts with nipples that pebbled if he gave them the slightest attention. She squeezed him just right and their orgasms synchronized in a few tries without effort. He’d never done that before.
He held her after a vigorous taking, where he’d claimed every inch of her body and made her scream his name, a sound he’d never tire of hearing. Caressing her skin, he breathed in the strawberry scent of her shampoo, tried hard to hold on to whatever sensations he could to help him remember every single thing about her while he slept on the side of a mountain some night in the next year.
“You’re amazing,” she said through the haze of sleep as his arms curled around her. “Can I keep you?”
“If you can remember, you can keep me. I won’t beg you to remember, Meghan.”
“I love how you call me that. No one else calls me that but you. It makes me feel special.” She yawned. “You make me feel worthy.”
“Worthy of what?” he whispered, nuzzling her ear.
“Being loved. You make me feel like I’m worthy of loving and being loved in return. No one has ever made me feel that way before. Will you stay with me? Wil
l you be mine?”
Neil’s breath hitched. “Yeah,” he whispered. “But you’re not going to remember this, Meghan.”
“Then help me, Neil. Help me remember. Promise?”
“Okay, I promise. I’ll do what it takes.”
He only hoped he could.
It was all he’d ever wanted.
Part 3
After the Wedding:
Love Rescue Me
Chapter 11
Morning after Charlie and Dan’s wedding…
The alarm went off at the buttcrack of dawn, screeching in her ear the sounds of Justin Bieber. UGH. Why, of all the pop artists available, did this station have to play someone so obnoxious at this hour when she had a hangover the size of Texas? She slammed her hand onto the alarm until she pushed the snooze button to get that kid to shut up.
Then she felt a large hand slide around her waist and she jumped. She turned quickly and the memory floated to her consciousness of going upstairs with Dan’s friend Neil at the end of the reception last night. Laughter and smiles tinged the vague recollection, indicating she’d been happy to follow him.
Lying there naked, he was pretty hot, even without beer goggles. Tequila shots? Both? Who knew? Either way, her mind stopped focusing on her pounding head when she looked at him.
Emily’s movie-star boyfriend, Deac Roberts, aka Rob Deacon, had fueled Meg’s fantasies often the past ten years. The man was sex on a stick, athletic and sculpted muscles, tall, dark hair, gorgeous blue eyes.
Yum.
Neil met none of those criteria. Except for the fact that he had green eyes, he looked like a shorter version of Emily’s ex, Josh: sun-bleached blond hair, his buzzed military short; tan skin; very muscular; and handsome but not at all pretty.
A flash of him in the hall yesterday, when she’d been wearing her flat, leather sandals, placed him a few inches above her, probably at 5′11″. Meg had spent years dealing with male egos who couldn’t handle a woman of 5′8″ wearing five-inch stilettos. She rarely dated a man under six-foot and preferred taller.
But Neil had joked with her, in the hours before she’d been tipsy, and had flattered her legs while she wore her favorite pair of shoes, insisting she keep them on.
