by Lexy Timms
“It's not as hard as you'd think it would be. Mostly you just have to know where to put your weight.”
Parker wasn't sure he believed that, but he didn't have the experience to argue with it. “I'll take your word on that.”
They stepped into the building, and he led her to the elevator. They were the only ones who stepped into it. The door slid shut, and he wrapped an arm around her to tug her close. She laughed, and arched up higher on her toes to kiss him. Parker was more than happy to oblige.
When the car dinged at his floor, they reluctantly separated. He let her take his arm again, and they went down the hall to his apartment, where he opened the door and ushered her in, locking it behind them.
In the light from the overhead lamp, she looked a little less put together than she had at the club. He could see that her eyeliner was smearing, and her lipstick was a little messy from the kisses they'd shared. Glitter from somewhere was scattered across her cheekbones. He didn't think she looked any worse for it. The little black dress she was wearing, however, would look a whole lot better on the floor.
“You need anything? Water?”
She shook her head, and reached down for the hem of the dress, pulling it up over her head like she had read his mind, and dropped it at her feet. Then she slid the hair tie from her hair, finger-combing it loose again around her face. The curls fell over the bare skin of her shoulders, and down her back, and Parker couldn't quite resist the urge to step forward and wrap his hand up in it, using it to gently tug her head back as he claimed another kiss. His free hand settled on the small of her back, pressing her forward. He felt her fingers curl around his shoulders for support.
They kissed, long and slow, both of them lazily exploring each other's mouths, and when they broke apart he was half hard again. He let his hand slip from her hair.
Her eyelids fluttered open. “You know,” she said. “I was expecting something a little different.”
“Different?” Parker asked, but he already knew what she meant.
Back at the club, the teasing had promised a night that slow and lazy didn't apply to. If that was what she wanted, Parker was glad to give it to her.
“You think you're ready for that?” he asked, taking a step forward.
She didn't back down. “I'm game if you are.”
His hands caught her around the backs of her thighs, and he lifted her easy as anything. He'd benched more than she weighed. Melissa laughed delightedly. Slim arms wrapped around his neck, and her legs around his waist, and Parker let his hands slide up to cup her backside instead, working his fingers over the muscle. He moved toward the bedroom.
Her teeth nipped at his throat, his collarbone. Parker moaned.
“Anyone ever tell you that you're impatient?”
She laughed against his skin. “All the time.”
“As long as we're clear.”
He dropped her down onto the bed, and she wiggled around on her back until she was comfortably settled. Parker crawled across it to kneel between her thighs.
“So, impatient Melissa, what is it you want from me?”
Parker curled his fingers in the waistband of her panties and began dragging them down. He did it slowly, and she was writhing in his hands before they had even reached her knees.
“Fuck. Want you to touch me.”
The panties went over the edge of the bed, and he stroked his palms up her legs from ankle to thigh, nails dragging against the skin to wake goosebumps behind his touch. She gasped.
“Like that?” Parker inquired, like he didn't know.
“My clit. Fuck. Please.”
“So worked up already,” he murmured. “Are you this eager after just one dance?”
“What did I say about hot?” she shot back at him. “I can't help it if you're a walking wet dream, Parker. Come on. Please touch me.”
He tilted his head and looked down at her, hands sliding slowly between her thighs. She was looking back at him with wide eyes, her pupils big and dark in the green of her irises. Parker hummed like he was thinking about her request and whether or not he should grant it.
His hands pulled her thighs open wide, and she whimpered and bucked on the bed.
“Into that, are you?”
The noise and the helpless little jerk of her hips had been answer enough, but she nodded a little frantically, and Parker grinned. Slowly, he settled himself down between her thighs, his broad shoulders keeping them spread wide.
“Tell me what you want.”
“Your mouth,” she answered instantly. “On me. Please. I need it, Parker.”
“Need it...” He leaned in close enough that she would be able to feel the heat of his breath against her wet, sensitive skin. “I don’t know about that. Need seems a little extreme.”
She growled above him, and he grinned.
“No? You really do need it, babe?”
“Fuck, yes. Please.”
She writhed, and he looked up to watch the undulation of her body, the way her fingers curled in the sheets.
“I suppose I might be able to do that for you,” he said finally.
He leaned in and slid his tongue up the curve of her sex, and she moaned loud enough that he was a little worried the neighbors would hear. In the next instant, he decided he didn't care. Another slow lick, and he heard her nails scrabble at the sheets, her legs trying to close around the width of his shoulders. Parker laughed against her skin and she gasped his name.
“That what you wanted, sweetheart?” He pulled back enough to ask, licking the taste of her from his lips.
“No. Fuck. Don't stop.”
“Not what you wanted?” He stroked a hand up the inside of her thigh, close enough that his thumb brushed against the apex between them, and she whimpered. “I thought you said touch you.”
“I did. I do. Damn it, Parker. You’re a tease.” She lifted her head enough to glare down at his too-pleased grin, and then dropped it back to the bed with a frustrated little huff. “Please. Lick me. I want you to.”
“Well, in that case...”
He licked her again, then pulled her clit between his lips. She proved just how much of a screamer she was. The neighbors were going to hate them. Parker really didn't care what they thought. He liked the way she gasped and whimpered and yelled with his mouth on her. Liked the way her hands tugged at the sheets and her body rocked pleadingly up toward the stroke of his tongue.
This time, he didn't draw back to tease her. Just kept licking, occasionally pausing to press kisses to her skin while she writhed and begged. One of her hands dropped down and almost slid into his hair, almost tugged at him, but then she pulled it away again to yank at the sheets instead.
Her thighs shook against his shoulders. He picked up the pace a little, and lifted one of the hands that had been holding her leg to slide a finger inside her. It went in easy, and he pulled it back to add a second. One thrust, two, and then she was coming around him, her body gone tight under his hands and his mouth.
Slow and gentle, Parker drew his fingers out and pulled away.
“That what you were looking for, babe?”
“Fucking hell,” she whispered.
He laughed. “I'm going to take that as a yes.”
She swatted at him, but the motion was slow, and he easily avoided it. His cock, still trapped in his pants, made him newly aware of its presence. Parker pulled his shirt off over his head, and then reached down to unbutton his jeans. Melissa blinked up at him, and he saw new hunger spark in her eyes. Seemed like maybe she had a type, too.
“Like what you see?”
“I want to lick every inch of your body.”
She flushed as soon as she said it, like she hadn't meant for the words to leave her mouth, and Parker paused in unzipping his jeans to lean down with one hand braced against the bed and kiss her.
“I think I could maybe be into that,” he said as he pulled away, and it was her turn to laugh.
He finished unfastening his jeans,
and turned around to yank his shoes off, pulling the jeans off after them and throwing those and his boxers aside. Then, completely naked, he reached up and unfastened her bra, tossing that off the bed to join the rest of their clothes.
“Anything else you want?”
She leaned up on one elbow and reached out with the other hand to stroke the length of him. Parker groaned, hips rocking into the touch, and he heard her moan in answer.
“Yeah,” she said. “I want you to fuck me. Hard. No more of that teasing crap, Parker.”
He looked down at her and grinned again. “Come on. I know you like the teasing.”
She glared at him. He didn't back down.
“Fine. I like it.”
He laughed, and stole another kiss. “I knew you did.”
But he was done teasing, too, and he grabbed her by the hips, abruptly tugging her down flat onto her back again.
“Hands above your head.”
Melissa, hair tousled around her face from the sudden change in position, looked up at him from her back, her chest rising and falling with quick little breaths. She lifted her hands above her head and curled them together.
“Good,” Parker said.
He leaned down and licked a slow line up the center of her torso with the tip of his tongue, straying to the side to nip at the curve of her right breast and then pull the nipple into his mouth. She shifted under him like she wanted to lower her arms, and then stilled again. He teased the peaked little bud with his tongue, then caught it gently between his teeth. He tugged a little, and she gasped.
One of his hands moved up, fingers teasing through the curls on her mound. He brushed a fingertip against her clit. Her hips rocked into the touch, but he didn’t give her the pressure that she wanted, just kept up the teasing touch until she moaned.
Parker dropped a kiss into the valley between her breasts, then took the other nipple into his mouth, licking again. Nipped at it gently. She writhed and moaned, hips rocking into his hand. He liked how desperate she was for it already, how needy.
“Fuck me,” she gasped. “Come on, Parker. Please. I want you inside me.”
With one last flick of his tongue against her nipple, Parker sat back. Melissa's eyes, half closed, opened again. Her fingers curled and uncurled against each other. He reached over the edge of the bed and pulled a condom from the pocket of his jeans.
“You want it?” he asked. “You sure, babe?”
“Yes,” she growled, and he laughed.
His hands caught her around the hips, pulling her up so that she rested half in his lap, and then he pressed inside her. She tossed her head back against the blankets with a little scream.
“Like that?”
She didn't answer except to moan.
Parker pulled back, then dragged her up to meet the next thrust. And the next. Damn, she felt good.
He shifted then, further back, and let her legs fall to either side of his thighs, leaning down over her instead. His hands slid up her arms to catch her wrists and pull them open so that one was on either side of her head, and he threaded his fingers through hers, holding them in place as he began moving again. This was faster, harder, making both of them groan.
“Yes,” she hissed, breathless. “Yes. Fuck me harder.”
It was a request he didn't bother teasing about. His hips rocked, filling her up before he slid back and pressed in again. He let his head drop forward so that it rested against her collarbone, and teased at her skin with lips and teeth.
“How close, babe?” His voice sounded as wrecked as hers was.
“Close. Parker. Fuck.”
He let his eyes slide shut, and moved inside her.
An instant later she was shuddering under him, and he followed her. Pleasure exploded through his body, tingling into his limbs and whiting out the world.
“I don't know if my legs will ever work again,” Melissa said after a long moment.
Parker opened his eyes, lifting his head enough that he could look at her. Bliss was written across her face. Her eyes were still closed, a small smile curling the corners of her lips.
“Is that so?” he asked, laying his head down against her chest and letting her have her hands back so that he could wrap his arms around her.
“It is so,” she said.
Laughter spilled out of Parker. “I think that means it was good.”
“Good? I'm pretty sure that was the definition of spectacular. If you're ever lonely some night, call me up. Because I would do this again in about half a heartbeat.”
He pressed his lips to the skin under his mouth. “I'll keep that in mind.”
For a moment longer he lay there, just breathing. One of her hands settled into his hair, toying with the strands. It was good to stay there, let himself be boneless and content, but he wasn't really the snuggling type, and after another minute he made himself move.
“You need a shower?” he asked got off the bed to stand beside it and stretch.
“A shower might not be a bad plan,” she conceded after a moment of looking like she was weighing the pros against the cons of moving.
“I have a really fucking nice shower,” Parker informed her.
She opened her eyes, and he held out a hand. Melissa laid hers in it, and he hauled her upright. With a little bit of grumbling, she swung her legs out over the edge of the bed and stood up, only for her knees to promptly give out, dumping her against his chest. Parker wrapped an arm around her to hold her upright.
“Stupid shoes,” she said, glancing down at them with her lips pressed into a thin line.
“Sit down again. I'll take them off for you.”
She sat, and Parker went to one knee in front of her, lifting the first leg up to set her foot on his thigh, where he could see the tiny little buckles that held the straps in place.
“You sure you're going to be able to do that?” she asked, looking down at him with one eyebrow lifted. Her smile was amused. “I'm not sure I should trust you with them, to be honest.”
Parker tipped his head back a little to look up at her. “I am perfectly capable of unfastening shoes. I'm not a complete Neanderthal.”
He looked down at the shoes again, and wasn't so sure that he did know, after all. Those buckles were really fucking small, and there were more straps than any shoe should ever possibly need to have. Over his head, Melissa laughed.
“There's a zipper in the back,” she said finally, taking pity on him. Or maybe just not wanting her shoes ruined. “Just unzip it.”
Shaking his head, Parker turned her foot enough that he could get his fingers on the zipper, tugging it down and the pulling the shoe off. The other one followed it. Underneath, there were faint red lines on her feet where the shoes had pressed down on the skin.
Parker took one foot in his hands, stroking his thumb firmly along the arch of it. Melissa groaned.
“How the hell are you still single? You’re perfect.”
Working the tension out of the muscles, Parker laughed. “I guess I’m just not interested in finding ‘the one’ right now. I’m happy being single. Sampling the options.”
“Well, if you ever get done sampling, keep in mind that I’m an option.”
Parker set her foot down gently and lifted the other, working his thumb over the tight muscle there, too. “I’ll make sure I write it down,” he said easily. “Shower?”
“I’ll take advantage of that offer while it’s available.”
Instead of giving Melissa the chance to fall again on the way to the shower, Parker scooped her up in his arms and carried her into the bathroom himself while she giggled, her arms wrapped tight around his neck. She was a small weight compared to the ones he was used to lifting, her body warm against his.
In the bathroom, he set her down on a bench that sat against the wall next to the shower, and reached in to turn on the water that sprayed from multiple heads to cover the whole of the tiled space.
“Someday, when I'm a big-name editor hobnobbing with
the rich and the famous, I'm going to have a shower like that,” Melissa said, watching him from the bench.
Parker laughed. “I'm going to hold you to that. I'll come find you and ask if you had it installed.”
“Or you could be the person inside sharing it with me,” she said, batting her eyelashes at him teasingly.
Satisfied with the temperature of the water, he grinned and held out a hand to her. “Let's just stick to sharing this one and see where it takes us.”
It wasn't going to take them into coupledom, and if he'd thought that she expected it to with any sort of genuine feeling, he’d have made an excuse and left her to take the shower alone, but it had been clearly obvious that she was teasing. While he was sure she wouldn't have complained if he'd decided that he was looking for something a little more long-term than a one-night stand, he didn't think she was convincing herself anything of the sort was going to happen outside her daydreams.
Melissa took the hand and stood. She was steady on her feet as he tugged her into the shower and up against his body, shutting the door behind them. Water washed warm over their skin, and he reached past her for the soap.
“Why don't you just relax,” he said, “and I'll wash you.”
“Again. Precisely perfect. Someone is going to come along and snatch you up one of these days and I'll be left alone and devastated, forever ruined for other men by my single night in your bed.”
He could hear in her voice the struggle to keep a straight face, and when she looked back over her shoulder at him as she turned, she was obviously hiding a smile.
“Hey, there are plenty of men who are more than willing to wash your back,” Parker said as he lathered up and began stroking his hands down over her shoulders and along the curves of her waist and hips. “Especially if it involves getting you on your back somewhere in that process. Or on top of them. Or—”
“Don't ruin it,” she laughed. “I'm having a fantasy moment. I don't want to think about just how many guys follow me around with their tongues out.”
“Wow. Humble, are we?”
“You're the one who opened that door, Parker.”
It was true enough, and so he just smiled as he worked his way down her back and up again, feeling the muscle move under his hands when she shifted her bodyweight. He went down a little to get her legs, then indulged himself in taking his time with her buttocks. “You run?”
