“Finally,” she said, going for her blindfold.
“Oh no. We’re not done.” Eric brought the ribbon between them. “Hands together. I’m going to tie them in the front now.”
Nia paused mid-motion. “Can’t we just…?”
“Are you saying stop?” Although he’d be disappointed if she were, he would never push her to do something she wasn’t comfortable with.
“Of course not.” She almost sounded indignant he’d asked.
“Then the blindfold stays, and I want your hands in front of you, clasped together.”
“You know, one day it will be my turn to be in charge.” Despite her grumbling, she did as he asked.
“But until then…” Eric bound her wrists together again, then helped her lie back on the table.
He stepped a few feet from her to admire the sight she made. Her tongue peeked out from between her lips. Her breasts rose and fell with every breath she took, and her legs were spread wide in invitation—one he was no longer willing to wait to accept.
With his hands on her hips, he pulled her closer to the edge of the table. He lined up his dick with the slick opening of her pussy then parted her wet folds with the crown of his erection. Focused on the delicious vision of his pale cock against the dark pink of her pussy, he pressed forward, sinking himself in the warmth of her depths. Nia arched her back and whimpered as he filled her with a long, slow stroke, pausing only when he was balls-deep inside the hottest sex he’d ever had the pleasure of fucking.
Her wet pussy clung to him like a second skin, hugging every inch of his thick length, making it a tight but enjoyable squeeze. The way she milked his shaft was pure torture, but it was one Eric was more than happy to endure. “You feel so good, Sunshine.”
“You feel better.” She moaned as she rocked her hips up, trying to send him deeper and harder into her. But Eric had no intention of giving it to her the way she wanted. At least not yet.
If Nia wasn’t begging, he wasn’t satisfied, and if he wasn’t satisfied, she surely wouldn’t be. He knew it was a dick move, but that was the way it was going to go down tonight.
With patience he had no idea he even possessed, Eric drove her to the brink again and again, pushing her to the edge of orgasm, but pulling back every time he felt the small quivers of her impending climax. He kept the maddening pace up until Nia could do nothing else but give him exactly what he craved. Her sweet surrender.
Orders forgotten, Nia brought her bound hands from above her head and down to his chest, where she grabbed at him to keep him nearer. Her nails scraped him, but he didn’t mind. The bit of pain only added to the pleasure of Nia.
“Eric, I’m begging, please, please, please. I can’t…”
Neither could he. Tightening his grip on her hips, he rode her harder, pushing deeper as he ground against her. “Yes…fuck…come for me, baby. Come.”
“Eric…ohh…” Crying out his name, Nia arched her hips up into him. Her body trembled and her pussy clutched at his cock when she came, clamping down on his shaft in the sweetest of ways.
Her cries of pleasure echoed in his ears and the feel of her coming undone was the catalyst to his release. Unable to fight it any longer, Eric surrendered to the onslaught of pleasure and came. The climax was so strong that for a second the world went black and Eric had to let go of her waist to press his palm flat against the table in an effort to remain upright. Eric shook above her as he fought with all his might to remain standing. “Fuck…fuck…” His body quaked with aftershocks almost as intense as his orgasm.
Spent, Nia dropped her hands on top of her glistening body. “Oh. My. God.”
“Oh yeah.” He could not agree more. Eric’s entire body ached. His head was swimming, his legs were weak, but he had never felt more alive than he did at this moment. He waited a few seconds to gather his bearings before he pulled out of her wet haven.
After taking in a few cleansing breaths, he walked over to the counter on unsteady legs. He closed the oven door and switched off the stove. He turned on the faucet and grabbed a few paper towels, then made quick work of cleaning up.
When he was done, he soaked the paper towels in warm water for Nia then made his way to her once more. She was just how he’d left her, splayed on the table, hands bound and lying on her breasts, legs spread wide. This was truly a look he could get used to.
Because he couldn’t resist, he leaned down and pressed a feather-light kiss across her full, supple lips. Nia tried to deepen the kiss, but he pulled back from her and out of the way.
“Come back here.”
“Not done with me yet?”
“Never.”
The conviction in her voice caused him to smile. “Give me a few seconds more.” There would be time for kissing later. Now he needed to get her untied and under blankets. They’d worked up a sweat, which was making the already cool air downright chilly. It was one thing to fuck in the nippy room, quite another to linger about, especially when they had a goose down comforter waiting in the other room. “Lift your head.”
She did so with no complaint, raising her head high enough he could take the Santa hat off and untie the ribbon. Eric tossed them on the table next to her then glanced down at his lovely wife. Her warm brown eyes were alight with a deep-seated fulfillment, and there was a glow about her that boasted of the love they made moments earlier. She looked utterly and completely content.
It was a look that filled Eric with pride. Truth be told, it would be a while before he was able to give her the finer things she deserved. That was why it was so important to him she was satisfied with everything else he had to offer. He might not have a lot of money right now to shower her in diamonds or blanket her in fur, but he could shower her in kisses and blanket her in love.
Feeling all kinds of proud of himself, he began to untie her wrists. “Hey.”
“Hey,” she replied in a soft voice.
“Tired?”
Nia waited until her hands were free to speak. “Yes, a bit sore too. But very happy.” She sat up and gave a feline-like stretch. “Now that’s what I call a Merry Christmas.”
“What can I say.” Eric’s lips quirked in a smile as he worked on her ankle restraints. “I’m the gift that keeps on giving.”
Nia chuckled. “Are you now?”
Eric was tingling from head to toe from the power of his release. Despite that, his hunger for her was not sated, and he didn’t think it ever would be. “Care to find out again?” He stood and made a point of glancing down at his cock, which was starting to show signs of interest again.
Her eyes widened. “Oh…”
“Hmmm.” He bent to finish the last leg. When he was done, he tossed the last ribbon to the floor then rose and scooped Nia off the table. An act that seemed to surprise and please her all at once.
“Whoa!”
Bending his head, he captured her mouth with his and kissed her again. This time longer, deeper and much, much slower. He wanted to enjoy it, to savor her lips as he had her pussy. Everything about Nia was erotic to him. Everything she did, everything she said. She was such a turn-on that even now, after fucking her almost through the table, he was once again growing hard.
He wasn’t the only one to notice though. Nia broke the kiss and reached between them to touch his hardening cock. “Again? It really is a Christmas miracle.”
“It’s not a miracle. It’s you.”
“Can we use the bed this time?” Nia wiggled her legs. “And maybe leave the chairs in here?”
“Sunshine, it’s your present. You can have it anywhere…” Eric gave her a lustful once-over, “…any time you want it.”
“Hmmm…I like the sound of that.” Nia ran her free hand through her disheveled hair. “I have a request.”
“Ask and it’s yours.” Hell, he’d be willing to gift her with anything he had the power to give.
Nia picked up the hat off the table then set it on his head. “This time you wear the hat.”
Chapt
er Three
There was only one thing about Christmas Nia wasn’t crazy about, and listening to Christmas songs from open to close in the diner she worked at was it. Not all the songs bugged her, but there were a few she could do without. Then there were those really annoying pop ones that, despite her best efforts, found their way into her subconscious, causing her to sing them even when she didn’t want to.
Like now. Despite how much she despised Mariah Carey, Nia could not get “All I Want for Christmas is You” out of her head. The damned song was catchy as hell, and even though she hated it, Nia caught herself singing along anyway. The only thing getting her through the last few verses was the knowledge it was the final track on this particular Christmas CD.
As soon as the last note was sung, Nia let out a sigh of relief. One that was matched verbatim by her fellow waitress and friend, Julia White.
Nia looked up from the tips she was tallying in her notebook and shared a smile with the lovely dark-skinned woman who came and joined her behind the counter. The flow of customers in The Greasy Spoon had slowed to a trickle of regulars who were more than content to argue over the sports page than actually eat or drink, leaving the two women a little time to gab.
“So you finally have enough money saved up?” Julia asked, waving her hand at the notebook.
Nia nodded proudly. “Finally.”
“And he still doesn’t have a clue you’re getting him the flat screen?”
Nia reached up to finger the pendant around her neck. “Not at all.”
“Getting who what?” asked her coworker, Miranda, as she strolled toward the two women, a semi-empty pitcher of water in her hand. “What are we talking about?”
“To you…” Julia turned her back on Miranda and pulled out a small dime-store novel from her apron, “…not a damn thing.”
“Julia,” Nia chastised. Her friend didn’t even spare her a glance. Instead, Julia opened her book and began to read, as she did anytime she had a free moment. For Julia it was easy to ignore Miranda. She just tuned out anyone and anything she didn’t want to hear. It was a skill Nia didn’t possess. Although she wasn’t on Team Miranda by any stretch of the imagination, Nia didn’t go out of her way to be rude to her either. “We were just talking about Eric’s Christmas present.”
The Hispanic beauty set the water pitcher down and turned the notebook in her direction. Nia tried not to grimace at the buxom brunette’s lack of respect for other people’s privacy as Miranda scanned over Nia’s holiday gift list. “Is that the same TV you were planning on getting him for his birthday…six months ago?”
“Yes.” Nia smiled down at the small picture she’d cut and pasted into her mini notebook months ago. “He’s going to love it.”
“He would have loved it more if he would have actually gotten it on his birthday.”
Nia frowned. That was beside the point. “He’ll still love it.”
“Of course he will.” Julia shot Miranda a dirty look over her shoulder. “Some people just can’t be happy for other people. They’re not happy unless they’re shitting on someone’s parade.”
“The saying is raining,” Miranda corrected.
Julia snorted as she glanced back down to her book. “I meant what I said.”
Miranda held her hand up, then turned her venom back on Nia, a less aggressive foe. “I can’t believe you’re still trying to buy that thing.”
“Believe it,” she said proudly. Not only was it hard to save up the money, but it was hard to keep it a secret from Eric. She normally told him everything, but this time she wanted to surprise him.
“You could have had it six months ago when you first saw it in the store.”
“No, I couldn’t have. I didn’t have fifteen hundred dollars.”
“It’s called a credit card.” Miranda pronounced the last two words as if she were doing it for the benefit of a slow lip reader.
“Credit cards are scams. Just another bill you’re putting off. Instead of adding to your debt, just do the right thing and pay for it when you can afford to.” That was one thing she and Eric agreed on emphatically. Heck, if they could have paid cash outright for her car, they would have, but they wanted to start establishing some good credit, without losing their mind and their soul to the credit-card demon. “No one needs them to survive.”
“Says the woman working two jobs.”
“I’m working two jobs to help support my family.” Although to be fair the hours she put in at the day spa as a masseuse were so few and far between during the winter it barely counted as a second job.
“Your husband’s a doctor, for Christ’s sake.”
Although Nia’d had similar conversations with Miranda on this very subject, the other woman somehow never seemed to see Nia’s point of view, and Nia was growing tired of having to hear Miranda’s. But from the stubborn tilt of the woman’s jaw, Nia could see this was not going to be one of those we’ll just have to agree to disagree moments. Sighing, she closed her notebook and tried her best to keep her temper in check.
“Miranda, my husband’s a resident who’s capable of seeing the big picture. Do you know why residents make less than forty-five thousand dollars a year? So they don’t have to pay back their loans right away. You can defer them as long as you’re making a certain amount of money a year. The only problem with that is we don’t want to wait. We make our payments on time, some months we make double payments. So in two years we won’t have to make any. We have enough debt without incurring more just to have a big-screen TV. I can save up and get it like I’ve been doing and the end result is the same.”
“Except it took you six months to do it.”
Nia shrugged. It was what it was. “Time flies when you’re counting your pennies.”
Julia looked up from the book and smiled. “It won’t always be that way.”
“No, it won’t,” Nia said confidently. She and Eric’s plan didn’t have to make sense to anyone else but them. They were doing what was best for their future, and so what if things were tight at this moment, that was just today. Who knew what tomorrow or the day after that would bring. “Everything is going to work out, Miranda, and remember, it’s always darkest before the dawn.”
Miranda snorted. “Yeah, like you’re going to see the dawn.”
Julia turned to face Miranda. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I’ll tell you what it means. Do you know how many Nias worked here before her? Not the same name, but the same gullible-type person.”
Their conversation was beginning to draw looks their way, but Nia was at the point where she didn’t give a damn. Miranda had gone too far. “I’m not gullible, and I really don’t appreciate you comparing me to anyone else. Our situation, our life, our plans are just that. Ours. You don’t have to like it, and you damn sure don’t have to shit on it. I’m working because I want to, not because I have to.” She always had a choice, and she’d made the right one for herself. “This is my life, Miranda. Butt out.”
“Wake up and look around you. You’re waiting on tables, saving up to buy him a flat-screen TV while he’s up at that hospital having nurses blow smoke up his ass, telling him how wonderful he is. The most pathetic part is, in ten years, when your arches are racing with your boobs to be the first one to fall, he’ll be bringing home some little socialite he gave a nose job to, and you’ll still be here, serving the two-dollar special to old ladies with blue hair.”
“No, Miranda. That’s your life. Not mine.”
“You’re a cliché and you don’t even know it.”
“And you’re a joke and you don’t even know it.” Nia turned to go, but then stopped and turned back around to face the angry woman. This was obviously not about Nia and Eric. This was about Miranda and the phantom ex who broke not only Miranda’s heart, but her spirit as well. “My husband isn’t the doctor who obviously fucked you over. You don’t know him. You don’t know me. Your situation was yours, and mine is mine.”
“That’s
where you’re wrong. They’re all the same. Ask any woman at any diner around this hospital who’s slinging hash ten years past her prime and she’ll tell you the same truth I’m offering you for free.”
“You know what you can do with your free offer, don’t you?” Nia snapped.
“He’s using you,” Miranda continued as if Nia had never spoken. “One day you’ll wake up and see the truth of the matter for yourself. Free advice—ignore the affairs at first and get some years under your belt so you’ll make out okay in the settlement, or risk being here. Like us. Forever.”
“Who the fuck is us?” Julia questioned, obviously affronted.
“I will never be like you,” Nia said emphatically. Eric could screw her six ways from Sunday, and she would still go on. Eric was the love of her life, but he wasn’t her life. She could go on, would go on, if she had to. Something Miranda apparently hadn’t been able to do.
“We’ll see,” Miranda sneered.
“Yes.” Nia calmly put her notebook in her apron pocket. “We will.”
As usual, five hours too late, Darnell White, the owner, popped his head and torso out of the kitchen, where he preferred to work flipping burgers instead of sitting in a small room balancing his books. “Ladies, what’s going on out here?”
“Just trying to impart some wisdom on the newbie.” Miranda picked up the water pitcher and made her way over to the drink dispensers. “I’m sure she’ll thank me later.”
“How about you impart that chicken fried steak that’s been sitting under the warmer for a good five minutes on table three instead?”
“Fine.” Miranda rolled her eyes but moved to do as he requested. “Remember, I was only trying to help.”
“I’m sure she appreciates it,” Darnell said sarcastically before focusing on Julia and Nia again. “As for you two…” The overweight man pointed his spatula at them. “We have orders stacking up. Gossip on your own free time, before I make all your time free.”
Julia closed her book and slipped it into her apron pocket. “Promises, promises.”
Priceless: Urban Fairytales, Book 3 Page 3
