Waking Up in Vegas

by Stephanie Kisner

  Despite my best efforts, Jensen had retained enough of her wits to try to drive me out of my own. One fist was buried in my hair, pulling to the point of sweet pain, the other played over my zipper, pressing and kneading. I was grunting as she moaned, and it really was high time for more naked.

  Keeping up the suction on her nipple, I slid one hand down to cup her between the legs and squeezed. Her hips jerked off the mattress, pressing deeper into my palm. She didn’t object as I undid the fastenings on her jeans, sliding a finger down into her panties to find she was incredibly wet.

  Her hips sought my hand again, and I teased over her entrance, pulling back before I could get carried away. She whimpered an objection, and though I knew what she wanted, we were about to cross one of the lines of no retreat, and I needed her permission to take it any further.

  I kissed my way back up her neck, raising up on my hands to look down at her face. “Jen?”

  Her breath was coming in little bursts and when she opened her eyes, they were glazed. “Jesus, Tack, just take them off. Take everything off before I die down here.”

  Well then.

  I stood and peeled her panties and jeans down over her hips, her thighs, and finally off completely, sending up a silent prayer of thanks to the gods of stretch denim for making the job so easy.

  I paused, not to punish her, but just because, tracing every exquisite curve and plane with my gaze.

  She took my breath away.

  Jen shifted her legs, then her arms, acting uncertain what to do next.

  That made me smile. My feisty, impatient little wench.

  “Need something, Jen?” I’d only meant to tease, but my voice came out a few shades deeper than usual and I wondered who, exactly, I was tormenting.

  She smirked and made a show of running her palms down the sides of her breasts, then over her stomach. “I could just take care of myself, I suppose.”

  I stopped her hands before they could inch any lower. “Don’t. You. Dare.” I’d waited weeks to get her here, and there was just no way—if she was going to come in front of me, it had better be because of me.

  “If I let go, are you going to be good?”

  She nodded, whispering a throaty, “I promise.”

  “No, you won’t be just good,” I murmured, dipping my face closer to her trimmed curls. “You’re going to be delicious.”

  And from the very first pass of my mouth over her inner lips, she was.

  I was only halfway through tracing each letter in her name over her clit with my tongue and she was already humming and shivering underneath me. I let go of her hands so I could steady her hips, and her fingers dove into my hair, twisting and pulling with a delightful mix of sting and pleasure. I didn’t need to hear her pleading cries to know she was close to coming, and fuck, I needed to take her there.

  I dove in deeper and with a moan that sounded like a plea to God, her ass jacked off the bed and she began to shake, pulling at my hair like she wanted to rip it out. She could make me bald; I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to stop until she begged.

  She sobbed out my name in a litany and that was entreaty enough, although I only went as far away as a trail of kisses down the inside of her thigh. Each touch of my lips brought a gasp from hers; I finally took mercy and crawled back up her body.

  Her breathing was ragged and her were eyes closed into slits. She steered my face to hers with the fingers she still had wrapped around my skull, taking my mouth in a kiss that made me forget how to breathe.

  Finally breaking away, she murmured against my lips, “Your turn.”

  I was hoping the mere friction of removing my pants didn’t set me off like a rocket, because that was not how I wanted our first time to go. “Just touch me, Jen. I’m almost there already.”

  She fumbled my zipper open and I actually grunted. “Let me,” I said in a voice so raspy it sounded alien to my ears. Rising to my knees, I yanked everything down and kicked the works off onto the floor.

  She bit her lip, taking me in with widening eyes. My cock was hard to the point of pain. I put a palm on the bed on either side of her head and it was all I could do to hold myself above her. Jen didn’t need further prompting to take me in hand, squeezing once and swiping a thumb over the moisture that had already leaked out my tip.

  I gritted my teeth and ground out, “Do that again.” Her grip tightened and I groaned, every shred of my attention on her hand and what it was doing. Not a good way to hold off on coming, but I was beyond waiting. It would only take a few more strokes and—

  With a roar, a million stars exploded behind my eyelids and I’m not sure, but I might have lost consciousness for a moment. I became aware of my arms shaking and my voice speaking gibberish wrapped around her name.

  I’d like to think I’m a connoisseur of orgasms, both my own and my partners’, but these were completely off the scale of my experience. I wasn’t sure what had just happened between us, but I was too spent to analyze it. I was dimly aware of her grabbing the sheet and wiping away the mess I’d left all over her belly, then kicking the works to the floor just before my elbows caved and I landed on top of her.

  I don’t know how I found the strength to move and pull Jensen into my arms before I passed out, breathing her in with my face buried in her hair.

  Chapter 13

  *Walkin’ 0n The Sun*

  Dear Journal,

  Well, here we are, getting to know one another. You’re a spiral-bound tormentor¸ and I’m royally screwed.

  Tonight, I did the one thing I swore not to. You know, if I had a long list of Do Nots, and only messed up a few, well, that would be acceptable, percentage-wise. But my list only had one thing on it, and I managed to wipe it out completely.

  It was the single most beautiful and astonishing experience of my life, and I hate myself for it.

  I had almost-sex with my co-host.

  Maybe I should stop referring to her as ‘my co-host.’ Jensen MacKenzie is so much more than that.

  And though we were naked, and there were bodily fluids and orgasms involved, my dick did not enter her body in any way.

  Even though I wanted to fuck her more than I wanted to live.

  She had my hands shaking—in all brutal honesty, my whole body was trembling—and I was ready to come just from fricking kissing her.

  I’ve never wanted a woman more in my life.

  I just couldn't fuck her. All of my encounters are of the one-and-done variety, and the special few women I’ve seen for more than one night… that was only so we could enjoy each other orally a few times before penetration sealed the deal and we both walked away.

  I learned early on that once Tab A went into Slot B, a woman was done with me and ready to move on. For my entire life, each thrust of my dick has been like a wave goodbye, and I wasn’t ready to say that to Jen last night.

  And maybe I never will be.

  And there’s my problem. I am not boyfriend material. I’m the guy you can count on for no-strings-attached sex, the one you don’t have to worry about having an awkward morning-after with, because I’m never there the morning after.

  Maybe I got that line wrong up there: It’s not that I just couldn’t fuck her, it’s that I couldn’t just fuck her.

  Which leaves me fucked.

  *

  Dr. Cooper looked up at me after he finished reading, his eyes so sharp that I had to look anywhere but back at him.

  “You know, Tack, some people might say that you haven’t yet grasped the reason why you’re here, as your writing sounds almost unapologetically sexual.” He ran his finger up and down the notebook’s metal spiral. It sounded like a zipper. “I think, though, that what you’ve expressed here is precisely what landed you in trouble.”

  “I thought you were only going to skim it.” If I had known he was going to read every damn word, I would have written something a little… less honest.

  “That was my original intent, yes. But not only was this short and to the poin
t, several things jumped out at me about your state of mind and what we should discuss today.”

  “Way to violate my trust, Doc.” I sighed and tried to shove my irritation aside. He opened his mouth, and I put up a hand to stop him. “But you’re right. I need to talk about the Jensen situation, and you’re a neutral third party.”

  “Situation? Tell me why you used that word.” He sat back in the chair and steepled his fingers. Could he be any more of a stereotype?

  “Because that’s what it is. She’s my first female friend, and I think I screwed it all up by getting her naked.”

  “Was she unwilling?”

  “Of course not. I would never force myself on a woman. Especially Jensen.”

  He tilted his head and the stare intensified. “Did you have to do any persuading?”

  I chuckled. “None. She said something like ‘It’s about damn time,’ actually.”

  “She ever tell you to stop, or back off at all?”

  I smiled and stared at the shelves behind Dr. Cooper’s head. “She told me she’d die if I didn’t hurry up and get her pants off.” I was lost for a moment, hearing her voice on rewind in my head, the zizzing sound of the doctor playing with the notebook’s spiral helping to put me right back in that moment.

  “Tell me your opinion of Jensen MacKenzie.”

  “I like her,” I said without hesitation. “She’s smart and witty, opinionated and argumentative—and pushy when she knows she’s right. She doesn’t let me intimidate her—ever—and when she’s upset, she puts bucketloads of sugar in her coffee. She’s sweet and beautiful, and I love the way her whole face lights up when she smiles.”

  He nodded, motioning for me to go on.

  “It’s like Jen reads my mind sometimes, and knows just what I need. And damn, the way she responded to everything I did yesterday blew my mind. We were so in synch it was scary.” I dragged a hand through my hair and blew out a breath. “I just really, really like her.”

  Dr. Cooper leaned forward in his chair and looked me dead in the eyes. “You’ve described a relationship, Tack. Not a situation.”

  I felt my head start to turn, negating his words.

  “Hear me out, Tack. We talked last time about how you were indoctrinated into your sexuality, and you expressed in your journal that those women passed you around and set you aside after they got what they wanted. So now you keep the women you do get to know at arm’s length by making comments meant to alienate them a little. With female partners, you leave before you can be left. I get that. But your interactions don’t have to remain that way.”

  I was back to staring over his shoulder. His words went against everything I’d built my life around.

  “Jensen is not one of those women from the bar band, teaching a teenager about intercourse until the novelty wears off. She’s your co-host—now, your lover. You’d better figure out what you’re doing, and what it is that you want.”

  I left with a million questions, and no good answers.

  Jen’s Highlander wasn’t in the driveway when I got there. Served me right for procrastinating. It took me an hour to drive the fifteen-minute trip home.

  She’d stuck a note to the front of the fridge. Checking on my condo. I’ll be back soon was all it said. She hadn’t even signed it. Though, who else would it have been from?

  The place seemed so damn empty with her gone.

  Yeah, yeah. I’m a walking cliché factory, but all good ones have their roots in reality, and man, was I ever steeped neck-deep in truth lately.

  I guess I should have been grateful to have some more time to try and get my head on straight before seeing Jen again. I had so much to process, and I didn’t want to act weird around her. She’d notice, and, knowing her, she’d ask what was wrong. I had to have answers ready—for both of us.

  It had been surprisingly easy to put the worries out of my head this morning. They were safely stored on paper, and that somehow kept them from resurfacing in my thoughts. I hadn’t expected that.

  I was still convinced that my work contract mandated no fraternization, so Jen had acquiesced about keeping our office affection to a minimum. I didn’t need anything else for BK to stuff into my disciplinary file. After that, the whole day had gone so smoothly…

  I’d woken her with kisses again, but this time, I’d crept up her body, and I’m pretty sure she was awake by the time I reached her lips. I got to take a hot shower for the first time all week, even though it was a little cramped with both of us in there. And though I started the day with a hard-on because of Jensen, she also helped me resolve it right then and there.

  I introduced her to butt-cleavage sex, which, in case you’ve never experienced it, is similar to titty sex but you use the mounds of flesh on a woman’s backside for friction, instead. It was amazing, warm water cascading down my back as my cock slid through the soap suds in the cleft separating the perfect cheeks of her ass.

  I’d put off her request to take her against the tiled wall by saying there were no condoms handy, but she’s going to be seriously pushing for actual sex soon. I can feel it. I’ll address that when the ultimatum comes, I suppose.

  We also toned down the on-air flirting that day to a level lower than our usual R-rating, and let me tell you, that wasn’t easy to execute. We’d just kissed ourselves senseless in the alcove outside of the entrance door not ten minutes prior. I’d practically been driving myself crazy ever since, planning all the different ways I was going to explore Jensen’s body before she went back to her own place on Monday.

  Until the damn doctor had to go and try to ruin it with his relationship and figure out what you’re doing crap. I didn’t want to analyze it. Not out loud, anyway. That particular torture could stay between my ears, where I could ignore it in peace.

  My guess was Dr. Cooper expected that a man and a woman couldn’t just enjoy each other without there being some deep significance to it all. Sure, I was hyper-aware of every little thing Jen did, knew each kind of laugh she had, could tell her mood by which eyebrow she quirked or just how high her smile hitched (and which dimple popped first), but that didn’t mean anything. It was just familiarity and Jensen’s particular breed of charm. Nothing more.

  The good doctor’s words didn’t change a single thing.

  ***

  “Are you sure? I could ask my mother to watch the dogs. She loves having Lita over.” That was a total exaggeration, but Jen didn’t need to worry about that right now. And I didn’t need to worry about her driving to Phoenix with so much on her mind.

  “I don’t know how many visitors they allow at one time, so you’d probably be alone in some waiting room. And I don’t think my dad would want to meet you for the first time when his butt is hanging out of a hospital gown.”

  In the space of five minutes, my weekend plans went from leisurely dinners, wine, and carnal explorations, to dog-sitting and checking up on the wood samples the exterminators had taken from Jen’s condo. Oh, and let’s not forget, pondering her phrase ‘meeting my dad for the first time.’

  “At least fly there, then. You’re too distracted to drive.”

  Jen rolled her eyes at me. “It’s only a few hours. And, besides, I can’t afford it. I don’t get my first paycheck until the end of the month.”

  Damn, had she really only been here three weeks? It seemed like so much longer.

  “I’ll buy your ticket. I’ll even rent you a car.” She glared at me with one cocked eyebrow. This was a look that said she was annoyed, and I knew it well. I smoothed my thumb over her eyebrow to push it back down.

  She giggled. Mission accomplished.

  “Please, Jen,” I said, taking her hand and using it to tug her to me. “Let me do this.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. Last-minute flights are expensive, Tack.”

  “So what? I won’t put a price on your peace of mind.” Or mine.

  I dropped her off at the airport a few hours later.

  ***

  Nine-thirty on F
riday night, and while I wasn’t drunk yet, I was definitely getting there.

  I’d skipped dinner; cooking a single steak from the package of two had just seemed too sad. Pathetic, really.

  Which was exactly what I was.

  Shortly after Jen called to let me know her plane had landed, I’d reached into to the fridge for lunchmeat, and my hand came back with a bottle of wine, instead.

  That one somehow got empty, and so did vino bottiglia numero due. I considered opening a third so I’d have enough corks to juggle with.

  Hard to believe that it’s only been one month since I met Jensen. My entire life has been turned upside-down because of it.

  Two weeks ago, I was heading out the door for a night of debauchery. Last weekend, dinner for one had been just fine.

  A few days ago, I became aware that the little pixie had gotten under my skin.

  Yesterday, she burrowed into my heart.

  And today, I realized that’s where I wanted her to stay.

  I took a quick peek down the front of my sweatpants, just to make sure all this soft and squishy hadn’t transformed me into a girl.

  Nope, the gear was intact. Almost too bad, really. It might have been easier to handle a surprise sex-change than come to terms with the end of my life as I’d always known it.

  I heard a noise at the back door and realized that I had no idea where the dogs were. Wherever it was, they’d be together. The two of them had been traveling as a matched set since Angus arrived.

  The scratching noise came again, this time with a very Angus-sounding bark. When I got up from the kitchen table to let them in, somebody tilted the floor on me. Very effin’ funny, whoever you are. I still managed to make it back to the wine without falling. So there.

  “You know,” I said, looking over at the blurry dog-shapes, “you two are so lucky. You can just like eash other. Even though you’re total opposites, nobody cares. They don’t have espetations of how you’re s’posed to act, you don’t have some made-up persona to live up to. You can juss be.” I was finally as drunk as I’d been trying for.