“No, of course not.” I actually had been planning on doing exactly that, but that was before I’d known there would be dancing. I’d thought we were going to a casual dinner, but now I wanted to join in the energy of the group around me, which definitely said PARTY.
Twenty minutes later when we exited, I no longer wore a bra. I was borrowing a top that happened to have no back. Paired with a short skirt and heeled sandals, I felt sinfully sassy and ready to shake it. And I wasn’t alone. These other women knew what they were doing. All around my age, they were dressed to kill. And they seemed intent on following through with it, too.
“He’s going down tonight,” one of them declared, heading over to her rental SUV, large enough for the four of us to share.
“Timber,” Megan agreed.
“It is so on,” the other woman added, each apparently with her own target in mind. I’d learned quickly over the past hour, all the sexual tension and self-denial going on between me and Chase? We weren’t the norm. Apparently the whole group was getting it on like bunnies.
“You must promise to tap that tonight,” Megan started on me again. None of them had believed it when I’d said nothing had happened between me and Chase. And it wasn’t even true. Something had happened. Last night I’d climbed onto his lap and we’d kissed like we’d stumbled onto the set of a Nicholas Sparks movie, kissing like we were soul mates in the rain at night after he’d rescued me.
Damn, it had felt good, even better than I’d thought and I’d thought about it a lot. His lips, so hot and insistent, fevered, coaxing such a tidal wave of response from me. I’d managed to break away, but I honestly didn’t know how. His large hands on my waist, his fingers itching to move, caress, stroke every inch of my body, I’d nearly lost my mind.
And according to these women, that’s exactly what I should do.
“If you don’t climb Chase like a tree tonight, I will. That man is so hot it’s illegal.”
I laughed nervously, torn in too many directions all at once. I’d never felt so insanely attracted to anyone before in my life. The way my body lit up around Chase made everything else I’d experienced before seem like child’s play. Apparently my whole adult life I’d just been messing around with matches, half the time not even getting one lit. Now I’d stumbled into an inferno.
Was I the only one concerned about professionalism and appropriate boundaries? The answer was clear. Yes, I was. But I was also the only one there with a hidden agenda, and that added some complexity into the mix, too.
“No, you guys. If Emma doesn’t have dibs, you all back the fuck off because that man is mine,” Megan declared.
Funny, Megan had struck me as a nice, fun girl but suddenly I had the urge to claw her eyes out. I looked out the window as we headed downtown. The restaurant was only ten minutes away. The ride was taking forever.
“You do know we’re heading to Rio in a week and a half?” One of them asked me.
“And anything goes in Rio,” another added.
Finally, we pulled into the parking lot, my stomach in knots. They thought I was crazy for not jumping Chase. I felt crazy for barely being able to think about anything other than jumping Chase. And now tonight if I didn’t jump him, I might have to watch a whole bunch of other women do it in my place.
Maybe it was time to drink some margaritas.
The restaurant had a festive, carnival-like atmosphere with music playing and multi-colored lights strung along the ceiling. I hadn’t seen much of San Antonio, but what I had, I liked. That was one of the fun things about running, I got to explore at a good pace. I’d traveled along the river walk downtown, jogged past the giant, ornate San Fernando Cathedral, and the area was teeming with gorgeous, trail-filled parks. But what had me the most impressed was the Mexican food.
I’d tried a few taquerias near the hotel and they’d all blown me away with food so fresh, crispy and delicious. The restaurant tonight looked like it would deliver, too, with plates of appetizers offered up on tall bar tables. I saw a large dish of guacamole with some thick red chips. I wondered if I could steal away with them. No one would notice, right?
“Emma! There she is! The mystery girl!” I got hugged by some giant men, obviously Chase’s teammates. I recognized them from the weight room and some were familiar from the last Olympics. A gold medalist from 2012 wrapped his larger-than-life arm around my shoulders. He could probably fit two of me under his wingspan.
“Get this woman a drink!” he called out to no one in particular, but a waitress did appear who took my order for a frozen margarita. “Now, tell me. How’s Chase treating you?”
“Oh, fine.” My eyes darted around the room, searching for the man in question. I didn’t see him anywhere. Maybe he wasn’t coming tonight?
Another ridiculously supersized man leaned in. “Listen, if Chase gets too intense for you, you come find me.”
“Or me!” Added the man/octopus wrapping me in his grip. “You know she was supposed to be working with all of us,” he added, addressing his teammate.
“Fucking Chase, man.”
Then, like an old Western movie when the sheriff walks into the saloon through the swinging double doors, in came Chase. The guys talking tough around me piped down, taking quiet swigs of their Coronas. Chase looked right over at me as I stood surrounded by his teammates. His expression didn’t change, but I could see a firm, set, lock to his jaw. Then he got pulled into conversation. Or more like swarmed by eager women surrounding him like a school of minnows.
The arm around my shoulders dropped. The guys turned their attention to the other eager women in our party. What, had Chase sent out a memo to everyone telling them to back off? I almost got the sense that they were a little scared of him.
But Chase didn’t make his way over to me. He stayed over on the other side of the room, basking in the adoration of a million hot women. At least that was how it looked to me. Where had all these women come from? They weren’t his teammates. Some I recognized from the crew, an event planner and a team apparel rep I’d never liked. She was so sales-y all the time.
I wasn’t the jealous type. I swear I wasn’t. It had led to problems in the past, how trusting and non-territorial I could be. But there stood Chase in a sea of women all coming up with excuses to touch him. “Oh, you’re so funny let me stroke your huge shoulder.” “Help, I’m losing my balance on my six-inch hooker heels, let me stabilize myself by pressing my hands and boobs against your chest”. It made me see red.
And strike up a conversation with his teammate, Chris. It wasn’t as if I were actually interested, but the man was nice to look at and he sure knew how to chat me up. He delivered line after line, telling me how pretty I looked and asking if I knew that swimmers were famous for their stamina. He asked what I ate to stay so fit. I gave him the standard reply, that I aimed for fruits, veggies and lean meats but I’d never met a hamburger and fries I didn’t like. When I asked him the same question, he replied, “My doctor just told me I’m vitamin deficient.”
I fell for it. “Really? In what?”
“Vitamin U.”
It did make me laugh. He was super cheesy, but undeniably handsome. Though my awareness of Chase never wavered, it was a bit of an escape to engage in such mindless, easy flirtation. Time with Chase was so consuming, so electric and charged and intense. Talking with Chris felt like drifting lazily along a slow river compared to navigating white water rapids.
The margaritas went straight to my head. They cranked up the music and a posse of us flooded the dance floor. I hadn’t managed to get much food into my system yet, but how was a woman supposed to sit down and calmly eat her dinner when she needed to DANCE? I loved moving to the beat and it had been too long since I’d been able to shake it, over a month since I’d last gone out dancing. I wasn’t paying much attention to the bodies around me, the occasional hand around my waist, the admiring looks I received.
Until Chase came up to me. Once his hand went around my waist and we started m
oving together, that was it. It was all over. He had all my attention, all wrapped up. Were we on a crowded dance floor surrounded by other people? It didn’t feel that way to me. I saw his eyes and his lips. I felt his hands on me, his hips swaying with mine. His broad chest and shoulders were close enough now that I could reach out and touch, run a hand along the ridges of his muscles, press my body against him in the heat and rhythm.
When he pulled me off the dance floor, it almost felt as if he were snapping me out of a trance. We’d flowed so easily into the same pulse, our bodies moving together, seamless and fluid. But I followed him out of the crowd, down a hallway and then into a small storage room. Closing the door behind us, he shut out the noise and people. It was just the two of us, a light bulb overhead, and rows and rows of canned tomatoes.
“What—?” I started to ask before his lips met mine, hungry, and I met him with just as much urgency, my fingers wrapped up and pulling at his hair, my hips grinding against his.
“Emma,” he groaned, his hands traveling my bare back. “You’re killing me in this shirt.” I fisted his T-shirt, wanting him closer, wanting it off him. I needed his skin against mine, now. He sucked on my earlobe, teasing the tender flesh between his teeth. “You are not leaving with Chris,” he growled.
“No.” I didn’t even protest his caveman demand. I didn’t want to leave with anyone else. I wanted him, right there, right now.
“He’s an asshole. He doesn’t know you.” He went on as if I needed any more convincing. But then mercifully he stopped talking, pressing his lips to my throat, kissing, sucking, licking his way down to the hollow of my neck. It felt so rough and possessive but exactly what I needed, like he wanted to devour me whole and I’d love every second of it.
“You’re not wearing a bra, Emma,” he whispered, almost reverent, sliding his hands down my shoulders, along my sides, up from my waist. I shivered in anticipation, my fingers digging into his shoulders. “It’s been driving me crazy. How easy it would be to touch you, but not doing it.”
“Touch me,” I moaned, almost not recognizing my own voice, so husky and desperate with need. With a satisfied, masculine groan, he reached up and untied my top at the back of my neck with one, deft pull. As if he’d been thinking about doing exactly that since the second he’d seen me.
The shirt was made of a thin rayon, and it pooled instantly at my waist, baring me to him completely under the exposed lightbulb of the closet. I panted, vulnerable, as he held me still, his hands wrapped at my waist.
“So fucking beautiful,” he hissed, drinking me in with his gaze. My nipples were already hardened with arousal and he hadn’t even touched me yet. I craved it so much I nearly whimpered as he slowly lowered his head to my breasts.
“So perfect, Emma,” he murmured, cupping my breasts gently in his hands, licking my soft, sensitive skin, kissing me as I gripped the shelf beside me, my head tilting back, eyes closing in pleasure. When he took my aching nipple into his hot, wet mouth I gasped.
“Chase!” My voice sounded so needy, pleading, urgent for everything he could give me. I’d never felt so crazy with lust before, so consumed and unable to think about anything but how insanely fucking good it felt as he licked and laved and sucked on my breasts, first teasing one nipple, then the other, his hands massaging, stroking, cupping me as I arched my back and offered myself to him completely.
“Do you know how much I want you?” he whispered against my wet skin, one hand starting a path down my stomach. “How crazy I am for you?” I groaned, digging my hand into his bicep, the feel of his hard, driving muscle making me so wet. “I want to taste you,” he continued, licking between my breasts, taking his time as I squirmed and twisted with need. And still his hand traveled lower, along my hip, then dipping down my thighs. “Emma,” he murmured, giving my nipple a hot lick, sliding his fingers up my inner thighs to where I quivered and ached for him. “I want to make you come.”
I gasped as he brought his fingers up to my panties. There wasn’t much to them, just a lacy G-string, the type that wouldn’t cause panty lines, or put up any fight when a big, sexy beast of a man pulled them to the side and palmed me in his hot, huge hand.
“So wet for me, baby,” he groaned, rubbing me, sucking my nipple, starting to stroke my slit. Arching into him, I moved my feet farther apart so he could have all the access he needed. The man had such skills. I was clearly in the presence of a master, as the wide pad of his thumb brushed right up against my aroused clit, giving me a nice press right where I needed it.
“Yes,” I cried, pushing against him, letting him know it felt so good.
“You need this, baby?” he asked, starting to fuck me with his fingers as he began a rhythm with his thumb. “You’re worked up, too, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” I admitted, a needy sob escaping my lips as I threw my head back. He was so good, so commanding, the firm way he held my tits, the way he sucked me hard, almost to the point of pain but not quite, just right at the edge where I could feel a white heat burning, licking, flaring up though my body.
“That’s it,” he coaxed me, picking up the rhythm. “Give yourself to me, Emma.” Eyes closed, his voice poured over me. I thrust my hips in time with his hand, riding him, wanting more. “I can’t wait to make you come.”
Holding onto the shelf so tight my knuckles turned white, I bit my lip and whimpered, trying to stay silent. We were in a restaurant. Loud as it was outside, I couldn’t exactly scream.
“It’s hard staying quiet in here, I know,” he whispered in my ear, making me shiver. He thrust his fingers up inside me, working my slick, wet pussy, demanding the orgasm that waited to quiver, shudder and explode from deep inside me. “I know you want to scream when you come, Emma.” He leaned down and took my nipple in his mouth, sucking, then giving my tender, aroused tip a light bite. “You have to keep quiet in here, baby. But back at the hotel I’m going make you scream all night.”
Panting, moaning, I was so close. I could feel it, mounting, cresting as he pulsed against my clit. Standing up, he leaned down to my ear, one hand still cupping my breast possessively, the other fucking me so good.
Licking my earlobe, he murmured low and wicked, “Are you going to come for me?”
Then the door opened with a loud smack against the wall. Chase drew himself to his full height, hands on either side of my shoulders, his body covering mine.
“Sorry!” Whoever it was apologized before heading back out again.
“Fuck.” Chase exhaled, touching his chin to the top of my head.
“Oh shit! Who was that?”
“Someone who works here. I don’t think he saw you. Fuck.” He smacked his palm against the shelf. A can of tomatoes threatened to topple over, but with quick reflexes he caught it and put it back.
“Oh my God.” Fumbling, shaking, I picked up the strings to my top and tied them behind my neck. What had we been thinking? Well, we hadn’t been thinking. “This isn’t the place. We shouldn’t—”
“I’m sorry, Emma. I really don’t think he saw you. I didn’t mean to embarrass or expose you.”
“No, it’s my fault, too.” I tried to get my bearings. The door was right behind him. Damn it, a minute ago I would have let him do anything to me in that closet. Anything. And the entire team—swimmers, colleagues, the managers who’d given me this coveted job—were standing mere feet away. I’d shown all kinds of restraint in the privacy of his hotel room. Now this was where I chose to cut loose? How stupid could I be?
“I’m sorry, Chase. I have to get out of here.”
“Wait, Emma,” he called after me, but I needed to go. I felt so out of control that I almost frightened myself. Tori was the one who did this kind of thing. When we went out dancing I’d had to rescue her from all kinds of messy situations. I wasn’t the one who got fingered in a supply closet. I was the one who gave my friends a safe, sober ride home.
On the way out, I saw the woman who’d driven me over. We were both headed toward the fron
t door. It looked like she was wiping back tears.
“You OK?” I asked, seeing she clearly wasn’t.
“I’m heading out if you want a ride.” Fueled by rage, she drove us home in about half the time it took to head there earlier. Apparently the guy she’d been hooking up with over the past week had a serious girlfriend, a fact he’d failed to mention until she surprised him by showing up at the party tonight.
I was sorry for her hurt and pain, but it did come in handy that she was so caught up in her own drama. She didn’t notice my own flush and agitation, or the number of times I brought my hands up to cover my face and rub my forehead. I could barely keep up with her as she strode into the hotel, then hopped into the elevator.
“Thanks for the ride. I’m sorry that happened.” I gave her a quick hug before stepping out of the elevator at my floor.
“All men are assholes!” she called out at the doors closed.
In my room, I ran the tap water as cold as I could and took big, long gulps. In the mirror, my lips were still swollen from Chase’s kisses. My neck looked pink where he’d rubbed me with his stubble, grazed me with his teeth. And as I looked at how he’d marked me, my nipples stiffened again with arousal. The way he’d held me, torn into me like I was a feast he’d been craving. I’d never felt so desired, so dangerously on the edge of being entirely consumed.
The feel of him, those hard-as-rock muscles rippling through his T-shirt, the flex of his biceps, the way he’d talked to me, so dirty and sweet all at once. I couldn’t help it. My fingers traveled their way down to finish what he’d started. I was still so wet, soaked through my panties, my clit swollen and aching for release.
He’d told me he wanted to make me scream all night long. He was so driven, so intense, the way he tore through the pool, the way he tore into me. He’d be so relentless, fucking me, rough and hard over and over. I came, harder than I thought I ever had in my life, standing there by myself in the bathroom, rosy and glistening with sweat, my fingers deep up inside my throbbing, wet pussy and Chase’s name on my parted lips.
In Deep: Chase & Emma (All In Book 1) Page 7
