He glanced over his shoulder, and her shy smile did funny things to him again.
“Thanks.”
Throwing him curveballs like that was seriously going to fuck with his juju, and he had no clue what to do with them nor how to stay unaffected by them. “I’ll be right back.”
He put pants on, got them both glasses of water, and tried to find a bit of his nonchalant charm he was known for. Took him a while to find it and on the way back to her room he pondered why he would lose it around her to begin with.
It’s not like he wanted some kind of relationship with her.
His stomach turned over.
Relationship.
Gag.
That reaction made him feel a bit more like himself. He normally liked fucking women at their places. Not that he was thinking about fucking Natalie. Much. But he liked the ability to leave. Liked being immersed in all of their girlie shit for a bit but then he could go home to his man cave. With Natalie it felt different.
Her aesthetic didn’t seem put on or all for show.
Everything she had seemed useful. Not utilitarian per se but thoughtful. He nodded on his way back to her room. Not what he expected being the unofficial princess of NYC.
Right before he crossed through the doorway into her bedroom he caught the scent of something delicious. It wasn’t his favorite smell. Pussy. But it was a close second. Lotion. Some ultra feminine fruity flowery concoction they spread on themselves when they were trying to get laid. His libido stood up and took notice. Wondering what state she was in made him want to move faster.
Lingerie?
Handcuffs?
He couldn’t wait to find out.
The movie just started as he walked in. There was Natalie putting lotion on…the dogs. Lights were still on full blast and both of the canines were up on the bed in Natalie’s lap, bellies up, getting rubbed on.
He kind of stopped in his tracks and laughed at himself.
Boy, his preconceived notions of the opposite sex were taking a nosedive with her. He kind of hated to admit it but it really did it for him. Losing interest in people he was dating…fucking…whatever, happened often. He actually wondered about looking for someone with a bit more substance to them. Might keep him interested longer than… Well, just longer.
“Are you waiting for an engraved invitation?”
He grinned at her annoyed tone and walked over to hand her some water. “I’ve taken a vow of celibacy and I’m wondering if I’m safe with you.”
Yes, he did wait for her to take a drink of water before he said it. Who could blame him?
She choked on it and both the dogs rolled over and moved to the bottom of the bed to avoid the splash zone.
He laughed.
She shot him a look that could kill as she coughed again. “Celibacy? You? That’s rich. And how long has this vow of chastity been going on?”
“Oh. You know. I don’t want to toot my own horn.”
He got in bed on the far side. To keep from touching her? Yes. Who could blame him with those gorgeous tits of hers naked beneath a simple t-shirt?
He’d take that outfit over lingerie any day.
Sans the panties.
He wouldn’t mind snuggling up to that while they watched the movie.
“Bet you it’s less than a week.” She didn’t state it as a question and hunkered down under the covers again.
Getting back up to turn off the light, he scoffed. “A gentleman never tells.”
“Neither does a politician so don’t think you’re in all that good a company, Mr. Don Juan.”
He glanced at her when he flipped the lights out. The mood electrified as her fresh face was lit up by the movie. She’d taken a shower earlier, had no makeup on. He hadn’t even noticed it earlier when she was upset.
Interesting.
Noticing that kind of stuff was second nature to him.
He climbed back on the bed and tried not to focus on her or the way she breathed or how cute she looked with her hand tucked up under her chin.
“You seen this before?” he asked with a nod to the movie playing. Detectives Mills and Somerset were in fat man’s apartment and everything was dark in the room.
“Of course. It’s a great movie. One of my favorites actually.”
“Why tonight? What made you think to watch it now?”
“Lots of horrible shit and the bad guy gets it in the end. Seemed fitting.” She shrugged her shoulders and glanced at him.
“Touché.” He expected her to look away but her gaze lingered on him. He almost asked what she saw but decided not to be a pussy. He liked how she looked at him though.
“Aren’t you cold?”
It was a little bit chilly in her condo and he did only have pants on, but getting under the covers seemed intimate. He almost rolled his eyes at himself. Lordy if he’d said that aloud he’d never hear the end of it. “A bit.”
“Then get under the covers, Campbell. I promise to leave your chastity intact.” There was that smile again. It completely disarmed him in ways he didn’t get.
She’s my client, she’s my client, she’s my fucking client.
He repeated it to himself while he pulled the comforter and sheet back and slipped into bed with her.
But not to fuck her.
So odd yet…nice.
Wow. Yeah, he had to share it with someone so Natalie was it. “I don’t think I’ve been in bed with a girl I wasn’t screwing since I was twelve.”
“Jeez, you started young.”
“I didn’t start fucking that young. I kept myself pure for several years after that.”
“How many years?” Her lips were already tilting upward but it looked as if she were trying really hard not to just laugh at him.
“Four. I was sixteen, almost seventeen, and the girl was Janeen Birkowitz.”
“Football stands, junior prom, you lasted approximately forty seconds?” Her delight in asking totally worked for him.
He laughed. “You just think you’re so smart. It was her senior prom.”
“Oh, an older woman, my apologies.”
“As you should be. And it was in her Acura Integra.”
Her smile showed her pretty white teeth. “Bet that was a bit cramped.”
“She was a gymnast.”
Natalie rolled her eyes. “Of course she was. Why am I not surprised by how this story is going? Okay, keep going. I’m into it this far. I want to know the rest.”
“And I lasted long enough to completely steam up the windows and I had to pay an extra cleaning fee on my tuxedo pants from all of her pussy juice that ended up on my lap.”
“Did you not take them off?”
“She was a horny little thing and wanted to fuck me in my tux. I wanted to fuck her in her prom dress. We were young and dumb with limited sex options for where to go. We made it work. And it sure makes for an awesome memory.”
“Forty seconds? Since you sort of answered I’m assuming that part was right.”
“How dare you doubt my nubile prowess?”
She laughed again. “Which again isn’t a no?”
He smiled. Loving that she was so curious, he couldn’t help but be completely honest with her. “I had at least double that. Like a full two minutes tops.”
She barked out another laugh and both dogs perked their ears up before they settled down in sleep again.
“But it was the best two minutes of her life. She told me so. And seventeen-year-old somewhat tipsy girls from Texas don’t lie about stuff like that. They just don’t. It’s a thing.”
“Ha. Love her telling you that so she didn’t crush your teenage horniness.”
“Please. Nothing was crushing that. I’d found my own personal mecca between a woman’s thighs. Nothing was gonna kill that addiction.”
He glanced at the movie screen and Mills was in the lawyer’s office. “What about you? Have a better cherry-popping story than me?”
“Hmm…”
“No. Wait, wait, wait. I get to guess just like you did.”
“By all means. Let’s see if you can get any closer. I got only one out of three correct.”
“Two minutes was not forty seconds.”
“Mmhmm. Come on now, I’m ready. What’s your guess?”
Rolling onto his side, beneath the covers he propped his head up on his hand, which inadvertently moved him a bit closer to her. Whatever. He was fine. Totally wasn’t pulling any hijinks, especially not with the kids on the bed with them. “Hmm. Okay.” He closed his eyes and tried to picture Natalie as a carefree teenager. “So many choices of debauchery on how you got your cherry popped. Okay. You know the game Clue?”
Her eyebrow went up. “The mystery slash process-of-elimination game? Colonel Somebody in the Library—”
“With the revolver. Exactly. This totally feels like the same kind of game.”
“And you’re stalling.”
“Am not. Much. Okay my final answer is college dorm room, high school crush, five minutes.”
“Ehhhhh. Oh I’m sorry, folks, that was the buzzer. You got none of them right. None of them.”
“Dammit. Was I even close?”
“Parents’ house during the summer between my junior and senior years in high school so I’d just turned sixteen, pool boy, and an hour and half.”
“W-w-what? Pool boy. How dirty of you!”
“What can I say? It’s a gift.”
“The pool boy. Really? Oh my fuck, did you just say an hour and a half?”
She nodded.
“Well, that makes me look like a total loser.”
“It was awesome. He was a few years older. I’d been taunting him for at least two summers. In a bikini.”
“There it is. The murder weapon. Those little things can absolutely kill. You’re like one of those sirens, spinning your tail and then whammo.”
“Whammo,” she laughed. “Who even says stuff like that?”
“I do. ’Cause I’m awesome. An hour and a half.” He shook his head. “You totally win.”
“I sure did that day. Parents were gone. I was feeling unbelievably repressed by all of my parents’ rules and decided to get back at them in a way that only I would know about. I’ve never told anyone that story.” She glanced at the movie and he did the same.
Probably just to keep from staring at her. “A rule breaker. So awesome. I have one question and I have to ask it.”
“Shoot.” She looked back at him.
“Was it in your parents’ bed?”
Her smile said it all.
“So very dirty. Were you in any danger of being caught?”
She shrugged. “Of them walking in and finding us going at it in between their sheets? No. Of them discovering his cum on their pillows when they got home later that night? Absolutely.”
“You didn’t?”
“Of course not.” Her naughty grin made another appearance. “He did. I was tied to their bed. He might have been originally aiming for my face but missed. Then made it a thing. It was so hot.”
Momentarily, Campbell completely shut down. Her tied to a bed? Not sweet missionary sex in the dark. Not even her first time. He knew it. But faced with the reality of it? Fuck. Complete shutdown. “You never fail to surprise me, Natalie.”
She yawned. “Ditto.”
They fell into an easy silence and watched the rest of the movie.
Campbell had about a million questions to ask but seriously couldn’t find his voice. Fuck. Having the covers hide his dick was a blessing. Or a curse. He hadn’t figured which one yet.
A little while later he sat up against the headboard. Not for any particular reason other than the fact he was getting tired and he did not need to fall asleep in Natalie’s bed. Even if it was dark and warm and he liked the way she looked in the light from the television.
The baddie showed up on screen with Brad Pitt and Natalie gasped. Her hand latched on to his thigh beneath the comforter, which of course made his cock jerk as if he were standing at attention ready to be called into service at any time.
He chuckled a bit and hoped she believed he was laughing at her reaction instead of himself at not being able to control his dick.
Instead of letting go, or even holding on at the same spot, she focused on him then squeezed his leg higher and lower. Not a lot but enough to create goosebumps up his arms. “Can I help you?” He barely got the words out before he had to swallow.
Fuck, she made his mouth water.
“Good lord, Campbell, do you have any fat on you? Anywhere?”
“Sure. Seven percent is fat actually.”
She wrinkled her nose at him and shook her head. “You have seven percent body fat. Ugh.”
“Why is that a bad thing?”
She pointed at the comforter and he totally didn’t get it.
“Not following.”
Making a face, she sat up, and Campbell was a little shocked they were shoulder to shoulder. He’d only moved a tiny bit closer. He glanced at his side of the bed. Okay, maybe a few inches more than a tiny bit, but whatever.
Glancing at her side of the bed—damn—she’d moved closer to him as well. They sat in the middle of the bed with nothing much more than good intentions between them.
“Do I have to spell it out for you?”
“Obviously. I may have lost track of what we’re arguing about.”
“We aren’t arguing.” She raised her voice at the end, making him smile something hard-core. “Okay, maybe a tiny bit, but it’s not fair.”
“What’s not fair?” He turned a few inches toward her because he actually cared why she was upset. Odd.
“You can probably work out a tiny bit a week, eat whatever you want, and you can achieve seven percent. I can eat like a bird, put hours into the gym each month, and these,” she gestured toward her perfect breasts, “will always put me in some crazy-ass high category like thirty-three percent.”
“That’s not crazy high and it’s different for everyone. Trust me. You’re healthy.”
“I had a doctor one time tell me I was considered overweight because of my breasts. Even tried to convince me getting a breast reduction surgery was the way to go. I was probably no more than twenty at the time. And people wonder why women of every body type have issues with themselves.”
“Fuck that.” He wrinkled his nose at her instead of saying anything else.
She smiled with an eye roll and that one made him grrr.
“Listen up. You are perfect. Your breasts? Works of art I’m sure. No, I haven’t seen them naked but thinking about seeing them has kept me hard for most of the movie.”
“Most of?”
“Okay. Fine. All of. I’m a tit guy and I like ’em large. And natural? Hell yeah. I’m not looking to feel a pair of knockers and get a handful of tennis ball. That does nothing for me. Fake tits might look good in magazines but in the bedroom, natural all the way. And as for whatever schmuck told you—”
“Did you just say schmuck?”
“Yes, I did. You Yankees are rubbing off on me. And don’t distract me. I’m on my soapbox.”
She snorted. “By all means keep going if you’re on a roll.”
“And to the schmuck who told you big boobs made you overweight, he’s a complete nut bag who doesn’t know his dick from a hole in the ground.”
“But thirty whatever percent is way up there.”
“So?”
“What do you mean so? I don’t want to be unhealthy.”
“And you think if you have some ungodly low twelve percent body fat and wander around like a body builder and don’t have enough calories to
support yourself because all you eat is salad and air makes you healthy? All of that shit is relative. All of it. Every body,” he gestured from her head to her toes, “is different. Fat on a woman makes her feminine and delicious. Curves on a woman are sexy. Yes there’s a line you can cross into unhealthy territory, but guess what? You’re not anywhere near that line. You’re thin with big boobs. Any man should be so lucky to get to lick every inch of you.”
She still looked skeptical.
“I’ve been hard the entire movie because of you. Your body. Fantasizing about what you look like naked.”
“It could be completely awful and you’re never gonna know.”
He shrugged. “True. But you know what I have going for me that you seem to have failed to remember?”
She looked a bit horrified. “Oh gawd. What?”
“I pulled you out from under the bed. All you got covering that pretty pussy of yours is a tiny pair of low-rise Irish rainbow panties. So I saw from your toes up to your mid back minus the unmentionables in the middle.”
Rolling her eyes should not have turned him on any more. “But you just mentioned them.”
He didn’t let her derail him. “And I’ve seen your arms and chest in tank tops. You work out. Not to the point of being manly. Just hot. So I’ve seen about ninety percent of your body and I’m ninety-nine percent certain the bits I haven’t seen are going to keep me up quite a few nights. No clue how many nights I’ll have to take care of myself in the shower just so I can sleep and keep my hands to myself.”
Her teeth in her bottom lip distracted the fuck out of him. “You’re worried about not keeping your hands to yourself?” Her soft question distracted him even more.
“Hell yes.”
And that’s when it happened.
A genuine smile.
Her eyes twinkled and her pretty white teeth made an appearance and she even tilted her head to the side.
“Fuck, I love it when you smile at me like that. I mean seriously. A real smile for you? Fuck.” Talk about intoxicating.
Which would be his defense later when asked why he palmed her cheek and rubbed his thumb across her bottom lip.
Her smile turned into something more. It heated his blood and caused his dick to raise his hand in the air.
Ultimate Surrender: The Surrender Series, Book 2 Page 9
