by Amelia James
“Sweet.”
“The background check came back okay. They’re still waiting on my credit report.” Fear dimmed her words somewhat.
“I hope you get it.”
“Me too.” She sighed. “Are you sure you can’t go out with us tonight?”
Damn it. I had to pick Claire up in ten minutes. “The ticket price means nothing—”
“Yay!”
“But I can’t bail on a promise.” Nothing worse than being sucker-punched for a bigger, better deal. The two women were determined scrappers, but I wouldn’t pit them against each other. Not intentionally.
“I knew you wouldn’t.” Her frustration reached through the phone and throttled my battered heart.
I bent over, picked up the towel and draped it over my shoulder, limp and defeated. “I’m sorry, Talia.”
“Me too.”
“I’ll make it up to you.” Naked.
“Yes, you will.” A sliver of hope punctured her pouting tone.
“I gotta go.”
“I know. Bye.” She sighed and hung up.
Damn it! I could’ve blown off Claire. My perverse desire to encourage her exhibitionist tendencies made her a contender, but Talia had delivered a knockout blow before Claire had even put her gloves up.
Round One to the ex. Who will survive Round Two?
***
“I always wanted to sing the National Anthem at a major sporting event.” Claire sighed and finger-combed her wind-blown hair.
I sat beside her in the comfortable seats I’d splurged for, lower deck, right behind home plate with an awesome view of the action on the field. “Really? You can sing?”
She laughed and shook her head. “No. But that didn’t stop me from joining my high school choir, auditioning for musicals, joining the drama club, and playing in the band. I spent most of my time onstage.”
“Were you the star of the show?” I opened a bag of peanuts and offered it to her.
She grabbed a handful and cracked one open. “Sometimes, if I didn’t have to sing too much. Once, I played Else Schneider, Baron Von Trapp’s fiancée, in The Sound of Music, so I got to be bitchy to the head cheerleader who played Maria. No idea what moron told that girl she could sing.”
Baron Von Who? “You must’ve had some talent if you got the part.”
She leaned back and flicked peanut shells at the empty seats in front of us. “I grew up in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, Colorado. Forty-three kids in my graduating class. I got the part because no one else wanted it.”
“Queen of the crap hill?”
“No, I never got to be queen. I entered the local Fourth of July beauty pageant and lost to the singing nun.”
What kinda town…? “A nun in a beauty contest?”
She laughed. “The cheerleader bitch.”
“Oh, that girl. Why did you hate her so much?”
Claire crushed a peanut between her thumb and forefinger. “Small town. We ended up chasing after the same things. She usually won.”
And I’d set her in the starting blocks of another race. “Is Talia your new cheerleader bitch?”
She reached for another handful of peanuts. “I like Talia. I’m only competing against her because of you.”
Whoa, shit. Not going down that road. “Why all the competition in high school?”
“I hoped someone would notice me.”
When interrogating a suspect, especially a guilty one, sometimes I had to pry the information out of her, but sometimes I just sat back and let her confess.
“I didn’t know how to get the attention I wanted. I’m the oldest of three girls, but I grew up in their shadows. Erica, the middle child, is Miss Perfect. Always in style, got straight As, popular. Hannah is ten years younger than me, so she had her own crowd to rule. She’s the athletic one.
“I was the invisible one. My sisters stood out for one reason or another: academic achievements, sports awards. I entered that beauty pageant because there was no talent contest. I just wanted someone to tell me I was beautiful.”
I gave her a little push. “Did you date?”
A peanut shell sailed from her palm into the teased-up hair of a woman two rows down. “Not a lot of guys to choose from. The guy I ended up with was two years older than me and went away to college as soon as he graduated. And when he came home, I had to compete with his family and friends for his attention.”
“Sounds like a jerk.”
“He was, but he was mine.”
I gave her another nudge. “Did he tell you you’re beautiful?”
She dusted her hands on her jeans. “Once. In the dark.”
The stadium lights sparkled off the golden highlights in her hair, and her green eyes danced when she laughed. I leaned over and slipped my finger under her chin, inspecting her face like fine china. “You are beautiful. In every light.”
She smiled and kissed me. “You’re just trying to get into my pants.”
“Well yeah.” I put my arm around her and she cuddled into my shoulder. We didn’t talk much after that. I pretended to get lost in the game, but the contest for my heart occupied my thoughts.
How will Claire handle losing another competition?
How will Talia deal with losing me? Or worse, how will she take winning me?
***
If the Rockies won, I had no memory of how it happened. I barely recalled talking to Claire. And she noticed. “You shut down after I told you about high school.” We’d gone back to her place. She led me to her couch and pulled me down beside her. “Did I scare you off?”
“No. I’m sorry.” I put my arm around her shoulders and she leaned into me. “I started worrying about this case Alex and I are working on.”
“Worrying?”
“I’m searching for a missing person, a woman, and she… her circumstances, reminds me a lot of… a friend.”
“What circumstances?”
How much should I tell her? Maybe she’d tell me my wild theory made no sense, and I could put my fears to rest. “She was living with a guy… two actually. On the surface, they looked happy, all three of them, but somehow things turned ugly.”
She sighed and drummed her fingers on my chest. “And that reminds you how it got bad between you and Talia and Alex.”
“It’s pure speculation at this point. I have no proof.” I ran a shaking hand through my hair. If my suspicions turned out to be correct…. “It’s crazy, right?”
“I’ve only been with the DA’s office for a couple of years, but I’ve seen cases where people killed each other for every reason imaginable, or no reason at all.”
Great. “I have, too.”
Her lips made a firm line. “So this missing woman has you worried about Talia.”
Damn it, have I spent all night pining for another woman? “Uh… yeah.”
She slid her hand down my shirt as she leaned closer and brushed her lips against my neck. “Maybe I can take your mind off her.” Her hot breath sent shivers down my spine.
Maybe that’s just what I need. “I’d like to see you try.”
“Is that a challenge?”
“No, I’d really like to see it.” I hooked my finger inside her collar and peeked down her shirt. “And you want to show it off, beautiful.”
A smile appeared, coloring her cheeks pink. “All right, Mr. Voyeur. I’ll give you something to watch.” She stood and whisked her shirt over her head, revealing generous mounds of flesh spilling over a tiny bra.
“You have my full attention.”
“Obviously.” She shot a pointed glance at my crotch.
I spread my arms along the back of the couch and let my knees splay, trying to remember if Talia had ever done a striptease for me. Damn it, Will. Woman taking off her clothes in your presence—in the present.
Claire unzipped her jeans and wiggled them over her hips, but when her panties slid down her ass, she pulled them back up. “The trick is not to show everything at once.”
�
�I got no problem with that.”
She kicked her jeans onto my lap, and danced around the room in her underwear, humming to an unknown song in her head. Her skin glowed as if lit from the inside, grace stretching her limbs in beautiful motions. She uncurled a long, supple arm and waggled her fingers toward me, beckoning.
But I was perfectly content to watch. “Nice moves. I’ll have to take you dancing next time. Why didn’t you use that as a talent?”
She rolled her eyes. “I didn’t learn till college. My high school prom was a joke. The dress code? No jeans.”
“That’s awful.”
She spun and extended her hands. “Can you dance?”
“Not at all, but I’ll watch you.”
She raised her arms over her head and twirled her hips. “With other guys?”
My pants got tight as an image hit me of Talia and Alex naked and tangled on my couch. “I’d like that.” She has no idea how much.
“Or other girls?” Her eyes sparkled as she shimmied.
“Whatever you like.”
She bent over me, one hand on my thigh while the other one fingered my zipper. “What do you like?” Her breasts slid forward, revealing a hint of brown nipple.
Talia’s nipples are pink. “This view.”
She dragged her tongue along my lips then pushed back, spinning and kicking like a naughty figure skater. She grabbed her thigh and lifted her leg up and to the side; her hand slid behind her knee, and she tried to pull it straight up against her body, but stopped halfway there. “Damn it. Can’t bend that way.”
Talia can. “Try again, but this time without the panties.”
“Think that’s the problem?”
“Definitely.”
She turned her back to me and reached behind, curling her arm up to her bra strap to flick it open. The two sides snapped apart, but she held the cups over her breasts as she spun to face me.
“You little tease.” Talia only wore a bra at work. That girl started taking clothes off before I’d gotten home. Stop!
Claire grinned and flung her bra across the room. “Better?”
“Uh-huh.” I rubbed the ridge in my pants. “Take it all off, darlin’.”
She peeled her panties down and stood in front of me, thighs pressed together, shivering. She cupped her breasts with her hands, but her nipples puckered between her fingers.
“Show me. You know I like to see everything.”
She slid one foot across the carpet, parting her thighs enough to give me a peek at her large clit.
Talia’s is so small. I won’t have to search for this one.
Enough already!
Claire’s ragged breathing snapped me back to the present.
“Are you uncomfortable?”
She shook her head. “A little nervous. I’ve never stripped for anyone.”
“Excited?”
A giddy grin lit up her face as she nodded like a bobble-head doll. “What do you want me to do?”
“Just let me look at you.”
“Okay.” The word came out in a breathless rush. Her skin flushed pink, and her pussy glistened.
I studied every detail, starting with her purple polished toenails and delicate feet. Her calves curved into luscious thighs joined by a landing strip of soft brown hair leading to plump lips that couldn’t hide her swollen clit. Short, quick breaths flexed her abs and stretched the glowing apricot skin over her ribs. Long, slim fingers failed to contain her ample breasts and those gorgeous nipples begged to be seen. Her hair spilled over her shoulders, teasing her breasts, and her graceful neck that was made for nibbling.
“Turn around.”
She bit her lip and presented her lovely backside to me.
“Lift your hair.”
She did so and in the process showed off defined arms, and a toned back curved down to a perfect heart-shaped ass.
“You have a beautiful body.” More curves than Talia, but if I had to choose which naked I liked best…. I give up.
“Thank you.” Her skin flushed red, and she shivered.
“Lie down on the floor.”
She half-turned to look at me, still holding her hair and revealing a tempting breast. “On my back or my stomach?”
“Your choice.”
A smile touched her full lips as she lay on her back, arms at her sides, legs closed.
I got down on the floor and crawled toward her. “Spread your legs.”
She caught her breath and slid her feet apart.
“All the way.”
She bent her knees and pulled her ankles up. Her pussy lips parted and my cock hardened. Talia’s cunt was cotton-candy pink and tightly packed; Claire’s was dark pink with large, lush folds.
I bent down and licked the bottom of her foot. She giggled and flinched, but I captured her leg and nipped her ankle up to the back of her knee. Her thigh tensed and she held her breath. How much teasing can she take? Talia had no patience, and I’d pushed it to the limit, but Claire waited while I fought my demons. Surrender was my only option so I filled my mouth with her delicious pussy and remembered how much I loved making Talia come.
“Oh God, Will!”
Funny how one woman’s voice sounds just like another’s when she’s got a tongue between her legs.
Claire squirmed, digging her toes into the carpet. I draped her legs over my shoulders and settled between her thighs as she pushed her feet into my back pockets.
“Take your clothes off,” she whispered.
I shook my head with her beautiful, fat clit in my mouth.
“Ohh….” She grabbed my hair, digging her painted nails into my scalp.
I slid my hands under her butt and lifted her up, tasting and teasing. So much flesh to devour. I could do this all night. Talia had learned to come so fast, I rarely got the chance to savor her.
I sucked that sweet clit while running my fingertip around her dark flesh, but didn’t penetrate her—not with my finger or my tongue. I wanted to save that pleasure for my cock. Damn thing had been fighting to escape my jeans since we got here. It needed a special reward.
“Oh God, that’s good.” Claire tugged at my shirt, shoving one hand under my collar and scratching my back.
I flicked her with my tongue and she gasped, so I did it again, over and over until she clamped her thighs around my head and bucked under me.
“Fuck yes. Fuck Yes. Fuck. Yes!”
I must’ve done something right. “I’ve never heard you swear like that.”
“Holy fucking shit.” She gasped and clutched her hair. “You… relentless….”
“How many times can you come?” With Talia, the answer had always been as many as she wanted.
“Jesus Christ. I can’t possibly. No more.”
“I think you can.” I touched my tongue to her sizzling pussy.
“Nooooo… ohhhhh!” But she grabbed a fistful of my hair and trapped my face between her legs.
I slid my arms under her all the way up to my shoulders, licking and sucking, trying to be gentle since she’d already come so hard, but she’d have none of that.
“Harder! Make your tongue into a battering ram and force it through the gates.”
I think I just met the drama queen. I did as she asked, still without penetration.
She whimpered and swore and came. “Fucking hell!” She grabbed my shirt and dragged me on top of her. “Something’s missing.”
I leaned down and licked a nipple. “I can’t imagine what.”
“Bastard. You know exactly what.” She scooted down the carpet, rubbing her wet pussy along my crotch. “Shit, I need that cock.”
I caught her dirty mouth with mine, thrusting my tongue inside and plundering her intentions—good and bad.
Her patience wore out, and she humped me through my clothes.
I slammed my closed zipper against her well-used pussy and fondled her heaving breasts. “Do you fuck on the second date?”
“I do now.”
I got to my k
nees and fumbled with my belt. Damn it, why can’t I get this open? I slipped and fell on top of Talia. Claire!
Shit.
“I can’t do this.” I rolled off her and sat up.
“Let me help.” She reached for my belt.
“No. I mean… I can’t sleep with you tonight.”
She ran her finger along my rigid crotch. “Sure looks like you can.”
My cock strained, begging for fleshy contact, growing harder as an image of a sweet pink pussy and small breasts invaded my brain and would not leave. “That’s not just because of you.”
Her fingers curled up and she withdrew. “I see.”
“It’s not fair to you if I fuck you with Talia in my head.” Not fair to Talia either.
Claire leaned back on her hands, one knee raised and the other bent at her side. “Was she in your head on our last date?”
I dug heels of my palms into my eyes. If I looked at her, I’d see Talia. “Not like this.”
“What’s the problem tonight?”
I cast a cautious glance at her, still open and exposed. “She called before I came to pick you up. She wanted to go out with Alex and me.”
“And that’s why you can’t stop thinking about her?”
One phone call. An innocent invitation. And a naked woman right beside me begging to be fucked. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
Claire sighed. “This round goes to Talia.”
“I’m sorry.” I stood and helped her up, then I picked up her jeans and handed them to her, but she tossed them on the couch.
“I’m not. I had a good time.”
I pulled her close and cupped her face in my hands. “I did too, and I wish….”
She pressed a finger to my lips. “Stop.”
I sucked her finger into my mouth and she gasped. “I wish you’d give me another chance.”
Her lips turned down, but a spark of hope danced in her eyes. “I could be tempted.”
The girl wanted me, and I wanted her. Damn it! Why can’t I let go? “Next weekend. We’ll go for a drive in the mountains like you wanted to when we first met.” And leave Talia behind.
“Ooo….” She snuggled her naked body into me. “That sounds perfect.”
I touched her mouth to mine and she wrapped herself around me. When she dragged her tongue along my lips, I let her in. She grabbed my ass as I groped hers, and then I shoved my finger into her hot pussy, all the way to my knuckles.
