After Hours

by Jodi Lynn Copeland

  “Ah, hell, cupcake, that feels even better than your ass in my hands.”

  Satisfaction filled his voice and stoked her courage. Pre-cum wept onto her tongue. Eagerly, she sucked in his towering length, moaning over his salty-sweet taste in a way she’d never moaned for any man. Not that she’d been with any man other than Rick.

  Joyce ordered the thought from her mind. This wasn’t about her ex-husband; this was about her short-term lover. About bringing him ecstasy he’d repay with benefits until she was quivering and soaking wet with the ultimate orgasm.

  Taking the base of his erection into her hand, she pumped his sex. His hips jerked toward her face, his hands burying in her hair and pushing her down, urging her to take him farther inside. She wanted to do that. She wanted to take every inch of his luscious cock into her mouth, until the head brushed her tonsils and his seed filled her throat. Her pussy leaked juice with the wild thought, and she moved her hand faster, sucking his cock as if his essence were her life force.

  Heavy moans came from above—the electrifying sound of Colin losing control. He gripped her hair and tugged. “I can’t hold back any longer. I’m going to come.”

  She understood what he was telling her, to move her mouth away before it was too late. She clamped her lips tighter. Let it be too late. For the first time in her life, she thrilled in the idea of sucking a man until he was bone dry.

  His shaft pulsed hotly between her lips. His fingers gripped her hair hard. This was it, her last chance to back away. She slid her hand lower and found his tightly drawn balls, fondled the sensitive sac as she met his eyes.

  He looked at her as if she was his savior—the best thing to come into his life in ages. And then his mouth opened and out came a growl so feral it stroked her from womb to pussy lips. With a last driving thrust, he pumped his cum into her mouth. She lapped at him, licking, sucking, wanting this moment to go on forever, wanting this feeling of power, of naughty delight, to last until the sun rose.

  Too soon, the pumping of his hips and the trembling of his big body slowed, then ceased. His fingers left her hair. A grin tugged his lips into a smile sexy enough to make her heart stutter. “That was good, cupcake. Damn good.”

  She was good.

  Joyce’s heart swelled with pride; tears pricked at the backs of her eyes. She wasn’t hopeless. She was a sex goddess in the making.

  Smiling with triumph, she started to lift from his cock. A splotch of bright pink amidst his pubic hair stopped her. Was he tattooed down there or—

  Oh…my…gosh….

  No. Not when she’d accomplished so much. Not another stupid move. Not her gum matted in his hair.

  She dabbed her tongue into her cheek, praying the gum was still there. Her stomach dropped when she encountered nothing but the soft tissue of the inside of her mouth. Maybe it had fallen out and onto the ground. She glanced at the cement. There were a number of cigarette butts and scattered pieces of trash, but not a single speck of pink.

  She looked back at his groin and winced at the now unmistakable wad. Darnit, it was her gum.

  Hoping he hadn’t quite yet returned from his trip to orgasm land, she slipped her lips back around his shaft. Sticking her tongue out, she buried it in his springy curls and attempted to pry the gum free. It didn’t budge. Crud.

  “Keep it up, and you’re going to get seconds.”

  After this she’d be lucky if he even thought of her as good any longer. She pulled back and murmured, “There’s just, um…there’s a little problem.”

  “What kind of little problem?”

  I decided to become a sex goddess when clearly all I’m capable of is being a hopeless flake. No negativity. Think confidence. Attitude. She could still turn this around. Somehow. “I, uh, lost my gum.”

  “I’ll find you some new inside.”

  “But I didn’t actually lose it. It’s just…stuck.”

  “Stuck?”

  She moved back. He looked down. Her belly knotted as his expression went from blissful to furious. “Ah, hell.”

  Joyce fought the urge to flinch. Just because he sounded angry didn’t mean he was going to become volatile. Even if he did, it would probably only be verbally. She’d endured Rick’s verbal abuse for two years. A few minutes of listening to Colin belittle her wouldn’t hurt anything.

  Her face burned all the same, her hands curling into nervous fists at her sides. She looked to her feet. “Sorry. You distracted me and I forgot I had it in my mouth. I was hungry and Jen gave me beer nuts, and they were so salty and I figured didn’t give me the best breath, and…and you’re upset. It’s okay to yell, I can handle it.”

  Tension bunched her shoulders. She waited for the swearing to start, the blame. Colin’s hand came to her chin, gently cupping it and lifting up her face so that she had no choice but to meet his eyes. They weren’t stormy with rage, but gentle, understanding. “I’m not going to yell, cupcake,” he said softly, a slow grin turning up the corners of his mouth. “I’ll take care of it later. Now what do you say we head back inside before your girlfriends start worrying about you?”

  She shivered with his compassion. How could he be so gentle after what she’d done? “I c—came here by myself.” She winced when her voice shook. Dangit, what happened to Caitlyn the sex goddess?

  His smile fled. Vehemently, he warned, “Don’t you ever tell a stranger that when he has you alone in a dark alley.”

  He looked upset again, but continued to cup her chin. She saw in his eyes it wasn’t anger but concern that made him say those words. First kindness and now concern. How unexpected. It gave her the strength to rein in her lost attitude, put on a wide smile and point out, “But we aren’t really strangers. I sucked your cock.”

  “And shared your gum.” A teasing glint entered his eyes and a lazy smile returned. “Agreed, we aren’t strangers. Just promise me you won’t tell anyone else you’re here alone.”

  “I won’t. I—”

  “Col? You out here, man? I thought I saw you come out with that—”

  “We’re over here.” Colin’s smile disappeared and he hurriedly pulled up his underwear and jeans. “Everything’s fine. Caitlyn needed some fresh air.”

  The blond guy who’d been playing pool with him came into view just as Colin finished zipping up. “Nothing quite like that dumpster air to refresh a person, eh?”

  Joyce’s sex tingled as the man’s gaze slid over her body, lingering on her breasts and making her overly conscious of the fact that because of him she hadn’t gotten to experience an orgasm. One more night without climaxing wouldn’t kill her. She’d just have that much more to look forward to tomorrow.

  “I need to leave,” she said to Colin. “Thanks for the dance. If you want another one, I’ll be at Club Sensation tomorrow night.”

  His eyes narrowed, little lines crinkling at the corners. “That’s a clothing-optional bar. Anything goes on the dance floor, and I do mean anything.”

  “I know. Audiences are supposed to up the sexual stimuli that lead to the ultimate orgasm.” She blushed, not having meant to reveal so much. It was the way the blond kept staring at her chest, reducing her to the nervous Joyce of old. “I’ll be there at nine.”

  Colin hesitated a few seconds, then, “Make it nine thirty and I’ll meet you at the door.”

  She rose on tiptoe and gave him a kiss on the cheek that hardly seemed enough of a good-bye, considering what they’d shared. Before they hadn’t had an audience. Tomorrow night, at the most provocative club in Atlanta, they’d have couples, trios and groups dancing naked and doing far more than that all around them. They’d also have a massive audience if they chose to partake in the risqué activities.

  She’d worry about that tomorrow. Now she wanted to get home and celebrate tonight’s small victories.

  Joyce pushed her chin forward and let her voice slip into a sultry purr. “See you tomorrow then. I’ll be wearing black. On the outside. On the inside, I think you can figure that one out for y
ourself.”

  Feeling decisively naughty for her words, she started for the bar’s back door. When she reached him, the blond lifted his attention from her chest to raise an eyebrow. “Feeling better?”

  “Much, thank you. Have a good night.”

  “You, too.” He looked at Colin and grinned. “Or maybe I should say an even better one if the fact that your tits are hanging out is any sign.”

  What had he been thinking when he agreed to meet Caitlyn tonight? Colin questioned as he settled at the kitchen table with two pieces of toast and jam and strong black coffee. It wasn’t the weekend and he wasn’t a kid. He was a man with responsibilities. He’d been trying to make a go of his landscaping business for damned near five years. Hard work and long days had accomplished more than pushing Marlene out of his life—the time he dedicated to work was just one of the reasons she’d given for cheating on him—it had him on the precipice of seeing the business a success. If things continued the way they were going, the end of this fiscal year would show a profit for the first time. No way he’d risk it over a quick screw.

  A quick, amazingly good screw at the candy-apple-red lips of one hell of an intriguing woman. He didn’t want to wonder over Caitlyn, beyond how snug and tiny the black number she planned to wear tonight would be. Yet he couldn’t stop from remembering the way she’d morphed from aggressive and outspoken to fragile and timid after discovering her gum was tangled in his pubic hair. He hadn’t been exactly thrilled about it, had been even less thrilled when he tried to cut it out only to end up having to shave the hair off altogether, but he’d had no plans to reprimand her. Her anxious words and the fear in her eyes before she looked at her feet suggested she expected shouting and more. And that suggested someone had raised their voice, possibly their hand, at her in the past.

  If Colin found out who that bastard was, he’d make sure it never happened again by way of several well-placed fists.

  Before he could question the thought, Elizabeth bounded into the kitchen with all the sinful energy of the devil, considering it was barely after seven. Grabbing a piece of toast from his plate, she sank into a hardwood chair across from him. His sister studied him through the eyes of their father as she chewed—dark blue and assessing in a way that seemed to look right through you. Her cropped black hair came from her mother, the woman their father married nearly a decade after divorcing Colin’s own. Apparently their father hadn’t endured enough pain with his first deceitful wife.

  Then again, look who was talking. Colin had walked into marriage expecting everlasting love despite growing up aware that his mother and stepmother had both cheated on his father, One by emptying his bank account and running off in the dead of night, the other by leaving their six month old daughter in his care while she took off to be with another man. If it weren’t for the eyes and her loudness and obstinacy—both traits passed down from their old man—Colin would have thought Liz was the byproduct of another man’s sperm.

  Liz set the half-eaten piece of toast on the table and brushed the crumbs from her hands. “You look different this morning. Younger or…” Knowing filled those damned astute eyes and she grinned. “You got laid. ’Bout time, bro.”

  He took a long drink of coffee. Thanks to ceaseless thoughts of Caitlyn, he’d slept little last night. He’d woken before six and pushed himself into a hard workout. Normally, working with the weights helped ease away his tension. This morning the routine had left him strung tighter than ever and he needed all the help he could get to deal with his sister’s flamboyant morning personality. Hell, her flamboyant anytime personality. “I didn’t get laid, Liz, and even if I had, I wouldn’t be talking to you about it.”

  She pouted. “I tell you when I get laid.”

  “And I ignore every word. It’s not right for a girl to share her sex life with her brother.” They’d had this conversation twenty times since she’d moved into his house following Marlene’s departure. The two-story seemed too big for one person. In hindsight, maybe it wasn’t too big. Maybe it would’ve been just right.

  Liz’s eyes narrowed, stubbornness alive in every line of her body. “I’m twenty-three, almost twenty-four. Hardly a girl. And you obviously did get laid or you wouldn’t try to change the subject. If your charming personality’s any sign, she must have sucked.”

  “She didn’t suck.” At least, not in the way his sister meant.

  Colin’s cock hardened at the thought of Caitlyn’s lush lips sucking on him, her talented tongue running the throbbing length of his erection. Months of buildup had him coming hard and long, and she’d taken in every last drop like a champion.

  Liz laughed. “Told you you got laid.”

  He blew out a breath. Five minutes before heading out the door to work was not the time to be fighting a hard-on. “I didn’t get laid. I got a blow job. And I have better things to do than have this conversation.” Willing his shaft to relax, he stood and handed the remainder of his coffee to Liz. Never mind there was a full pot five feet away—she’d still snag his the moment he left. “See you tonight. Try not to burn down the house between now and then.”

  “I’ll have you know that with this class I’m taking, my cooking has greatly improved. If you’d been here for dinner last night instead of eating another charred burger with Mr. I’m So Good I Can Barely Stand Myself and getting your rocks off, you’d know that.” The loathing that always came into her voice whenever Dusty entered the discussion faded to interest, “So, do you have plans to see this woman again?”

  Colin grabbed his keys from the ring by the kitchen door. He considered questioning what it was about Dusty that rubbed her so wrong, but then he’d probably get the same dumb look and no-response answer as always. He shrugged curiosity aside and opened the door. Sunlight filtered in followed by humid, heavy air that suggested it would be another scorcher. Caitlyn wouldn’t dare risk wearing much to the club.

  He grunted. No more thoughts of Caitlyn. Tonight he could think about her long enough to supply the orgasm he’d planned on giving her last night before Dusty appeared. Liz didn’t need to know about tonight. “It was a one-night thing.”

  “Then you’ll be home later to try out my Mud Pie Bliss?” she asked in between sips of coffee. “I have to work until nine, so I’m going to make it for a late-night snack.”

  His stomach turned as he recalled some of her past recipes. Knowing his sister, this latest really was made out of mud. He’d rather endure her taunting then risk his life to her cooking. “Fine, it’s a two-night thing. I told Caitlyn I’d meet her at Club Sensation tonight, but that’s it. You know where I stand on the relationship front.”

  “Right where everyone should,” she said, making her jaded outlook on the topic clear. “For the record, it’s easier to keep things on a sexual level if you don’t call the person by their real name. I do like her name, though. It goes well with yours. Colin and Caitlyn. Caitlyn and Colin.” Amusement filled her eyes and she started in a singsongy voice, “Colin and Caitlyn sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”

  He glared at her. He’d never cared for that fairy tale as a kid. And it was a fairy tale. Babies didn’t follow marriage. The arguments did. The lies. The catching your wife being fucked by a man old enough to be her father. “Good-bye, Liz,” he said irritably, then tacked on a gentler, “Annoying little twerp.”

  “You know you love me for it. Hey, that reminds me of a song: First comes love. Then comes…”

  3

  C ontacts in. Check. Gum out of mouth. Check. Boobs inside shirt. Check.

  Joyce gave her reflection a last look in the visor mirror, noted that her mascara hadn’t run or her Revlon Volcanic Red lipstick faded and drew in a breath for valor. Everything was in place—or, in the case of the gum, out of place—and now all she had to do was get out of the car, go inside the club, and meet up with Colin…and their audience.

  Butterflies winged through her belly. Gracious, she wasn’t ready for an audience. She’d been so sure after studying all
those explicit pictures in Achieving the Ultimate Orgasm that she’d be ready to be the naked one. The one bent over and being taken while strangers ogled her jostling breasts and dripping sex. But then Colin’s friend had caught her with her boobs hanging out and she’d been so embarrassed, it was all she could do to get out to her car before breaking out in a hot flash to rival all those before it.

  She stuck out her tongue at her reflection. “Quit being a baby and get in there.”

  With a shaking hand, she tucked her driver’s license and a small wad of cash between her breasts. She winced at the scrape of the bills against her soft flesh. When women did that on TV or in the movies, it always looked sexy. It felt sexy in a way. An itchy, sort of painful way.

  Chalking it up as a price she paid for being a sex goddess, she exited the Mustang. The outside of the club resembled a huge warehouse set down in the bustling heart of the city. The only things to offset the sedateness of the aluminum-gray siding were flashing yellow and red lights that announced the club’s name over the top of a windowless door. A huge black security guard sat on a bar stool to the right of the door, arms crossed and showcasing a mountain of muscle.

  Maybe she’d get lucky and he wouldn’t let her in.

  Joyce scolded herself. She would get lucky tonight, but with Colin and in a completely gratifying way. Her insides warmed with the thought of seeing him again. Would he kiss her hello? The short time they’d kissed last night had had her hot, wet and tingling for more. The time he’d spent with his cock in her mouth and his fingers desperately gripping her hair had her becoming a different woman. Caitlyn the confident. A sexual predator ready for anything.

  “ID?” the big guy asked when she reached the club’s entrance.

  She fished it from her cleavage and handed it to him. Audiences be danged, her short-term lover was in there waiting for her and suddenly she couldn’t get inside and find him fast enough.