"Good, good," he said. "Hey, the reason I called, a bunch of us are heading up to Whistler this week—"
"You’re going snowboarding?" She groaned, rolling her eyes. "Dylan, you can’t be serious."
"Why not? It’s the end of the season, but there’s still plenty of powder up there."
"But you just got out of a cast," she said. "Don’t you think you should stay off the slopes for a little while? Maybe enjoy walking around on an intact ankle before you break it again?"
He snorted. "Please. I’ve already missed the entire season."
"Yeah, because you fucked yourself up at the beginning of the season. Dylan, seriously—"
"Kat, relax," he said. "The doc says my ankle is fine."
She sighed. There was no point in trying to talk him out of it. "Just, be careful, okay?"
"I’m always careful."
No, you’re not. You’re a reckless idiot on the slopes and always have been. "Promise?"
"Yes, I promise," he said, probably rolling his eyes at the same time.
Kat scowled. "I’m serious."
"So am I," he said in a tone that told her he was anything but. "Anyway, look, I’ll be gone all this week and next weekend. Can you stop by and feed my animals while I’m out?"
"Heidi won’t be around?"
"Nope," he said, a grin in his voice. "She’s coming up with us. Finally talked her into taking some lessons."
Great. You two can have matching casts. "From a trained professional, I hope."
"Of course. I’ll be on the advanced slopes, so—"
"Dylan!"
"Relax, Kat," he laughed. "I know what I’m doing."
"Right. Okay, I’ll take care of them. Just leave a note with their feeding instructions and all of that."
"Will do. I gotta run, we’re heading out to buy Heidi’s gear."
"Okay. Love you, bro."
"Love you too, even if you’re a nag."
"Just looking out for you."
"Thanks, Kat," he said.
After they hung up, Kat let out a breath. Great. Now, in addition to all of her worries about her friendship with Chris, she could sweat about Dylan. She sipped her coffee. Every season, she told herself not to worry about him, that he would be fine, he knew what he was doing, and every season, right about the time she relaxed, he came home in a cast.
She went into the kitchen to pour herself another cup of coffee. There wasn’t much she could do about Dylan except hope he didn’t hurt himself again. Chris, on the other hand, required some attention.
Eyeing her cell phone, she wondered if she should call him. Or give it a few days. Or wait for him to call.
Glancing at the clock, she chewed her lip. He’d only left an hour ago, so she didn’t want to call now. Maybe tonight. After dinner. Or maybe a bit later. Like tomorrow.
"Fuck, what have I done?"
~ * ~
"Christ, how could I be so stupid?" Chris glared at his cell phone, hoping it would ring, but it remained stubbornly silent on the coffee table beside his chess board.
Hours had passed since he left Kat’s place, after they parted with an awkward hug and a goodbye with no eye contact. Hours had passed since he had the perfect opportunity to sort this out.
Then again, maybe it needed to rest a while. Maybe they both needed some time to think before they talked about it. If they talked about it. No, no, they had to. They couldn’t just let something like this slide into the past and pretend it never happened.
He sucked in a breath as another thought crossed his mind: What if she was angry? Upset? What if the longer the silence lingered, the angrier she got?
Shit. What do I do? Shit!
He rested his elbows on his knees and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. His mind kept trying to wander back and figure out just what had happened the night before, but he forced himself to think only of what needed to happen now. Come what may, he needed to talk to her.
Sooner than later.
But not too soon.
Definitely not too late.
"Fuck."
Before he could think twice, he picked up his phone and speed-dialed her.
Leaning back on the couch, he closed his eyes, and waited. His heart pounded as the phone rang on the other end. Each ring made him wonder if she was ignoring him. If she was looking at her phone, trying to decide whether or not to answer. If she—
"Hey."
He sat up. "Hey."
Silence.
He cleared his throat. "Look, about last night…" Good one, Bailey. Way to think ahead and figure out something to say before calling.
She took a breath. "I guess we should talk about it, shouldn’t we?" Was that nervousness in her voice? Anger? Fear?
"Do you—" He paused. He wanted to discuss this face to face, but would that lack of distance make her uncomfortable? Swallowing hard, he said, "Would you rather talk about it in person, or over the phone?"
She was quiet for a moment. "Do you want to come
over?"
Returning to the scene of the crime. This should be interesting. "Yeah, sure. When?"
Another long pause. "The sooner the better."
"I’ll be there as soon as I can."
Five
Kat watched her fingers play with the hem of her shirt, just giving herself something to look at besides Chris. He sat on the opposite end of the couch, the silence lingering between them.
She chewed the inside of her cheek. All day long, she’d dreaded this encounter. She couldn’t really call it a conversation, since neither of them had said more than a few words, but now that he was here, she was uncomfortable for an entirely different reason.
Maybe we should have done this over the phone.
Chris cleared his throat, the sound startling her. After a moment, he said, "What happened last night?"
"We drank a lot of wine and didn’t play a lot of chess."
Their eyes met briefly and they each allowed themselves a short cough of laughter. Then they fell back into silence, avoiding each other’s eyes.
His fingers idly traced the pattern on the upholstery just like he did when he ran his fingers over my bra. Stop it, Katrina. She dropped her gaze back to her fingers.
She wetted her lips, pretending she didn’t hear his breath catch. Just a coincidence. He probably wasn’t even looking at me.
"Honestly, I don’t know what happened," she said.
"Neither do I."
"But it did."
"Yeah, it did." He was quiet for a long time. When he spoke again, he was barely whispering. "Do you regret it?"
Her fingers stopped moving. Ever since she woke up beside him, she was certain they’d made a huge mistake, but now his presence only served to remind her of all the reasons she didn’t think it was a mistake. Every orgasm. Every touch of his hand. Every kiss. The memory of his tongue circling her clit sent a violent shiver up her spine, making her gasp.
"Kat? You okay?"
She nodded. His other, unanswered question still hung in the air, and she simply didn’t know the answer. Finally, taking a deep breath, she looked at him, hoping the words would come to her.
But when she met his eyes, the words didn’t come.
The answer didn’t come.
She couldn’t even remember the question.
All she remembered was the electricity between them the night before, when his lips were a hair’s breadth from hers and he’d whispered, "Checkmate."
"Kat, are—"
She pushed herself off the couch, grabbed the front of his shirt, and pulled him into a passionate kiss. His body tensed and his lips parted in surprise, but he didn’t return her kiss. A pang of disappointment and embarrassment hit her in the gut, but just before she broke the one-sided kiss and retreated, warm pressure on the small of her back told her to stay.
A second later, his lips relaxed into her kiss, and as his other hand snaked around to her back, his tongue met hers. He drew her closer to him, easin
g her onto his lap as she released his shirt and put her arms around his neck.
Both were breathing hard when they broke the kiss, letting their foreheads rest against each other.
He wetted his lips, then took a breath. "Should we be doing this?"
"I don’t know. I really don’t."
"Maybe we shouldn’t." His fingers trailed up her back, raising the hairs on the back of her neck.
"But I want to."
He released a ragged breath, raising his chin to kiss her again. Just before their lips met, he whispered, "I need to."
His kiss made her dizzy, just as it had the night before. He had the kind of kiss that unabashedly boasted of skilled lips and tongue, promising more orgasms than one woman could handle. If last night was any indication, his mouth had more than earned the right to make such claims.
"We should take this in the bedroom," he said.
She pulled him closer. "I don’t want to move."
"If we stay in here," he paused, catching his breath. "I’m going to end up fucking you right there on the floor again."
Running her fingers through his hair, she kissed him and pressed her hips against his. "Do you have condoms with you?"
"Not this time." He kissed her again, breathing hard against her. "We used them all last night."
"Bedroom, then." She slid off his lap and stood, offering a hand as he got to his feet. He took it, and they walked in silence into her bedroom, both exercising just enough restraint to get through the doorway before they were on each other again. Clothes fell away, landing haphazardly at their feet as they stumbled over each other on the way to the bed.
She pulled him towards the bed, but he stopped, putting his arms around her and kissing her. In spite of her reservations about what they’d done and what they were about to do again, she couldn’t escape the odd feeling that being against his body, being almost as close as two people could be, was right. The heat of his naked skin against hers silenced her apprehension.
Do you regret it? His unanswered question echoed in her mind.
No, I don’t, she told him with her fingers in his hair and her lips against his. With the way his tongue intertwined with hers and his cock pressed into her hip, she knew his answer too.
Again she pulled him towards the bed. "Fuck me, Chris." Her voice shook as badly as her body. As badly as his body.
"I will." He kissed her neck. "But first…" He pressed his lips against her collarbone, pausing for a moment as a shudder ran through him. Finally, he looked up. "Kat, I have to taste you again." Before she could respond, he kissed her, and she remembered the tangy-sweetness of her own pussy
on his tongue the night before.
He lowered her to the bed, still standing beside it but bending to kiss her. Kissing his way down her neck, he worked towards her breast. In spite of his barely restrained need, the trembling in his hands and the unsteadiness of his breathing gave him away. He took his time, sucking each nipple in turn, circling them with his tongue just like she knew he was about to do to her clit. Most men hurried from her lips to her pussy, but Chris seemed to enjoy the journey as much as the destination. It was as if going down on her without first paying attention to everything else made about as much sense as fucking her without putting his hands on her.
By the time he reached her pussy, she was a breath away from an orgasm. He didn’t go right for her clit, instead taking his time tasting and exploring her just has he had the night before.
Her fingers grasped his hair, couldn’t decide if they wanted to push him away or pull him against her pussy. It was already too intense, but she wanted the orgasm his mouth promised with each sweep of his tongue. How? How, God, how is it possible to feel this incredibly, insanely, painfully good?
The first shudder of an orgasm rippled through her and her hands went to the bed, grabbing the edge for dear life as if she was in danger of melting right off the side.
"Oh my God, ooh…" Her orgasm lodged her breath and her voice in her throat, and she could do nothing but tremble and claw at the edge of the bed.
When at last she could exhale, the words came out as a choked sob, "Fuck me, Chris, please."
An instant later, he was over her, kissing her deeply with the intoxicating sweetness of her own pussy on his tongue. The more she tasted herself on him, the more she felt his heart pounding just beneath her hands, the more she wanted him.
He reached for the drawer and she started to move, getting all the way onto the bed, but he stopped her with a gentle hand on her hip. "No, stay there. Stay right there."
Letting his gaze run down her body, then back up, he
swallowed. "I want you just like that."
His hands shook as he rolled the condom on, but he managed. Standing beside the bed, he pulled her hips to the edge and let her wrap her legs around his waist. She hooked her ankles behind him, choking back a whimper as his cock teased her pussy.
"All I’ve been able to think about since last night," his voice shook. "Is how fucking amazing your pussy feels around my cock." And with that, he thrust into her, taking her breath away as his cock electrified her G-spot.
"Oh God, Chris," she moaned, rolling her hips in time with his deep, desperate strokes. "Oh God…"
He leaned over her, kissing her as he moved from the hips. "You feel so good," he whispered. "Oh my God, I could do this all night."
"You’re gonna make me come again, oh fuck, that’s…" Her entire body seized, her spine arching beneath them as she gasped. At that, he pushed himself upright, grabbed her hips, and railed her so hard it almost hurt. A shockwave surged through her so violently her shoulders lifted off the bed. Her voice distantly registered in her consciousness, calling out his name and God only knew what else, but all she cared about was the incredible sensations exploding with each deep, powerful thrust.
When it finally subsided, she fell back to the bed, panting and shaking as he kept fucking her.
Chris’s fingers dug into her hips. "Oh God, oh my God…" He threw his head back and roared, driving his cock deep inside her as he came. After one last, violent shudder, he groaned and collapsed against her, breathing hard against her shoulder.
When the trembling stopped, he lifted his head, and when their eyes met, Kat swallowed hard. Now that the horny, irrational desperation for each other was sated, rational thought moved in. Chris’s expression mirrored the same feeling that tied her gut into knots: What the hell did we just do?
Six
"You awake?"
His voice brought her back into the present. Ever since they’d slipped beneath the covers, seeking the warmth they didn’t dare get from each other’s bodies, they were silent. Not touching. Not talking. How much time had passed, she didn’t know.
She opened her eyes and rolled onto her side to face him. "Yeah, I’m awake."
He smiled, caressing her cheek. Then, his smile fell and he withdrew his hand. Looking anywhere but at her, he swallowed and said, "I guess we can’t blame the wine this time."
"I don’t think we can blame the wine for last night, either." She reached for his hand, clasping it gently, hoping he’d return the gentle squeeze, but he didn’t. His fingers intertwined loosely with hers, neither resisting nor accepting her gesture. She watched his eyes avoid hers. "So what do we do now?"
He took a breath, looking up at the ceiling. After a moment, he shook his head. "I don’t know."
"We can’t uncross this line."
"I know."
"Chris, I don’t want to lose our friendship over this."
Her heart skipped when his hand finally closed around hers, his thumb running back and forth along the side of her finger. Thank God, you’re still here.
"I don’t want to lose our friendship either." He looked at her then. "But I can’t pretend that this doesn’t change anything."
She swallowed. "So what does it change?"
He started to speak. Stopped. "You know, it’s funny, I guess in a way I always wanted this to happen
." He bit his lip, looking away for a moment. "But I always thought it would fuck things up between us. And now that it’s happened..." He shook his head, then met her eyes again. "I don’t know if it’s fucked things up or not."
Chewing the inside of her lip, she let his words roll around in her mind for a moment. "Maybe it doesn’t have to fuck things up."
His eyebrows lifted.
She wetted her lips. "We can’t pretend this never happened, but…" She trailed off, thinking for a moment. Then she looked at him. "Do you feel differently about me now?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, now that we’ve had sex," she paused. "Everything between us still feels the same to me. I still see you as my friend."
For a long moment, he was quiet. Then he rolled onto his side, but neither moved closer to her nor broke the gentle contact of their clasped hands. "That’s part of why I’m worried. I’m not going to lie, Kat, I’m very attracted to you. I have been for a long time."
"Likewise."
He swallowed. "And I have to admit, now that I’ve been with you, it’s going to be difficult as hell to go back to the way things were."
"Maybe they don’t have to."
"Won’t things get even more complicated if we keep doing this?"
"No necessarily."
He cocked his head.
"I think sex starts fucking things up when it gets tied up in emotions," she said. "Jealousy. One person falling for the other. Dishonesty."
"Right." He furrowed his brow. "So, what do you suggest?"
"Why not friends with benefits?"
His eyes widened. "Seriously?"
"Sure. We both want each other. We both want to stay
just friends. You want to get laid, I want to get laid, neither of us is having much luck with the dating bullshit because we want to get laid." She shrugged. "So why not have some hot, no bullshit, no strings attached sex to take the edge off of the dating frustration?"
He blinked. "You’re serious? You think we should be…booty calls?"
"Basically."
"Wouldn’t we be using each other?"
The Next Move Page 3
