Casey headed off to the door, laughing.
“Come on, walk to the door with me, Jim. That’s right. Good. We’re almost there,” Ben said.
“Take me to Lauren,” Jim insisted. “I need to see her.”
Ben didn’t answer as he maneuvered them through the door Casey was holding open.
“Do you know where Jim lives?” Casey asked, standing on the other side to help prop Jim up.
Ben shook his head as the cab pulled alongside the curb. “Never thought to ask either.”
“Where do you live, Jim?” Casey asked, reached up and smacking Jim lightly on the cheek.
Jim weaved and closed his eyes. “Not going home. I need to see Lauren,” he said as clearly as he could.
“If we take him home with us, he’d just keep insisting on seeing Lauren. That could get old really fast,” Casey said. “I guess we can get a room at the hotel. Jim can sleep it off there. Lauren can check on him if she wants.”
“What’s that about anyway?” Ben asked. They helped Jim climb into the back of the taxi.
“Don’t you remember Lauren’s ultimatum at dinner last week?” Casey asked. “I think you bet on Lauren.”
Ben looked a little confused for a moment, and then he remembered. “Oh—I remember now.” He looked at the backseat. “Fine—let’s take him to her. He won’t be much use to her in this condition, but who am I to judge. I slept with Regina when she was completely plastered.”
“I slept with Alexa the day you saw her drunk at my house,” Casey said with shrug. “To my way of thinking, what happens or doesn’t is up to Lauren and Jim. Keeps the bet fair, right?”
“Good plan,” Ben said. “We’re going to have to crash the girl party.”
Casey laughed. “We’ll call their room and tell them where we put him. We’ll leave a key at the front desk for Lauren. They’ll understand. Come on. This will be fun. We’ll flip for who undresses Jim.”
“I am not undressing Gallagher,” Ben said. “Wait—are you actually trying to help him get laid? Won’t that make you lose?
Casey just laughed at Ben’s question. To his way of thinking, it would be good money lost if Jim and Lauren did end up together.
“You should be more motivated about it than I am. Your fifty is riding on Lauren getting lucky. Honestly? I think it would be the best thing for both of them.” They both turned when Jim snored loudly against the door. “Looks like Saint Gallagher snores.”
“The last time I got that drunk was the day I buried Catherine,” Ben said quietly.
Casey turned to Ben, surprised—but not. “Same here. It was the day I buried Susan.”
They looked at each other in the dark cab, both thinking of the woman they lost to cancer and the woman they each had now.
Ben sighed as the cab pulled up to the front door of the nicest hotel in town. Jim was the only one properly dressed for a place like this. “Fine. We’ll undress Gallagher, but we’re leaving on his shorts. I have to draw a line somewhere.”
“Noted,” Casey said, laughing again. “I just hope Jim still respects us in the morning.”
Chapter 10
Alexa hung up the phone after making several kissing noises into it. “Well, that was an interesting conversation.”
“Can’t Casey leave you alone for even one night?” Lauren asked, frustrated and envious. It had been a great afternoon. Regina was asleep in one of the beds. She and Alexa were watching a movie and talking.
“It wasn’t a romantic phone call—or at least, not for me. Apparently, there is a drunken man somewhere in the hotel insistent on seeing you tonight. They left a key at the front desk if you want to see him. Otherwise, they suggest you just let him sleep it off.”
Lauren sighed. She was still upset at Jim, and certainly wasn’t ready to give up her good mood to deal with a drunken version of him. The full spa treatment they’d indulged in had included a massage. Her toenails matched her new pink silk pajamas, which she probably should have bought in a bigger size because the top wouldn’t button completely over her breasts.
She studied long legs revealed by her very short pajama bottoms. Even though she had always liked her ample curves, it did no good to have a body you were proud of if there was no one to share it with. Obviously, Jim was interested in sharing it.
“Why is Jim drunk?” Lauren asked at last. Did she really want to know? Did she care? Yes, she thought. She cared, but she wished she didn’t, which essentially was what Jim had been saying to her for months. The realization made her frown.
Alexa shrugged. “Casey didn’t know exactly. He just said Jim drank most of a fifth of Remy Martin tonight.”
“Most of a fifth? Great, he’s definitely going to be ill,” Lauren said, biting her lip. “Why would he do something so crazy?”
Alexa’s answer was an eyebrow lift, followed by a laugh. “You tell me.”
“Okay—so we had another fight yesterday. And I kicked him out—again,” Lauren said sadly, wrapping her arms around raised knees. “Jim finally told me about his wife.”
“Wow,” Alexa said, leaning back and staring at Lauren. “So there really is a wife?”
“Yes,” Lauren said sadly. “There really is a wife, but I really can’t talk about the situation yet. I’m still too mad at him. Not about the wife, which is just sad, but about the fight, which is because of his stubbornness. I don’t want get into it right now. I have to sort it out in my head first.”
Not that she was ever going to be able to think clearly about it. It had already cost her one night’s sleep. She was not going to let it cost her another. Irritation had her jumping up from the sleeper sofa to pace around the room.
“What should I do, Alexa? Should I check on him? I don’t think I want to check on him. In a way, I’m even glad he’s suffering. But that’s bad—I shouldn’t want him to suffer just because he made me angry,” Lauren said, shame evident in her tone.
Alexa shrugged. “It does seem a little mean. After all, Jim took care of you when you were drunk—hardly counts though. You only had a few jumbo margaritas and tried to pick up a stripper.” She watched the guilt chase across Lauren’s face. It wouldn’t take much to goad her into going.
“Jim carried me to bed that night,” Lauren said, recalling their conversation about it.
“Carried you to bed?” Alexa sat up and looked at Lauren’s body. “That’s impressive. Jim gets major points for gallantry, but his he-man hunk rating just shot through the roof if he’s really that strong.”
Lauren rubbed her hands over her face. “I don’t remember it. He said he took off my garters and hose,” she said sadly, “but I don’t remember that either.”
Alexa laughed. “Why haven’t you told us this story? Regina’s going to be sorry she fell asleep. I bet Jim copped a feel or two in the process. Did you feel used the next morning?”
“The next morning I thought Jim was Shaun until he lowered the newspaper he was reading. You should have seen his face when I called him by Shaun’s name,” Lauren said, biting her lip. “It was the beginning of the first big fight.”
Alexa held the pillow over her face and laughed loudly into it so she wouldn’t wake Regina. She took a deep breath to control the laughter before she spoke. “Un-freaking-believable. You’re both in your forties, but you two are torturing each other over sex even worse than Jenna and Seth. Just sleep with the man, Lauren. Deal with the fallout afterwards. Everything looks better when your animal side is sated.”
“I can’t,” Lauren said petulantly. “I want to and I would, but Jim has already told me he would consider sex with me cheating. It’s bad enough to want a married man—any kind of married man, but I’ll be damned if I let him make me feel more guilty about it. I am not a seductress. I am not a bad woman.”
“Of course you aren’t,” Alexa said reasonably, “So let the little angel sleep his drinking binge off alone then if he’s so untouchable. I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
“But what if he gets sick?” Lauren asked
, chewing her lip again.
“He’ll make a mess and clean it up in the morning,” Alexa said reasonably. “He’s been on his own for some time now, you know.”
Yes, Lauren was well aware of how lonely and alone Jim usually was. Being lonely and alone too much was just one more thing they had in common.
In ways, Jim had been more alone than Lauren because at least she had had Alexa and Regina. Jim didn’t seem to have anyone except business friends and acquaintances. If she’d been his wife, Casey and Ben would have brought Jim home to her instead of to the hotel. She guessed they hadn’t known what else to do with him since he’d insisted on coming to see her.
Lauren sighed for what couldn’t be and grabbed a room key off the dresser. “Sometimes I hate myself for being a wuss, but I can’t let Jim be alone and sick. I’ll just check to make sure he’s not and be right back.”
“Take your time. I’m going to sleep now. See you in the morning, honey.” Alexa snuggled down in the bed, laughing and saying nothing as she watched Lauren leaving the room wearing just her skimpy pajamas.
*** *** ***
Lauren spent the elevator ride to the lobby wondering if she was doing the right thing going to Jim’s room. She spent the ride back up clutching her top together. She’d been so distracted with worry about Jim being sick she hadn’t thought about her clothes. The male front desk clerk had asked her name three times before she realized his gaze was glued to the cleavage spilling out of her shirt.
Outside the strange room, she ripped open the envelope with her name on it and swiped the key card in the door. She took a deep breath when the light turned green and turned the handle.
Inside the room, she heard loud snoring and giggled. Light from the bathroom illuminated a snoring Jim lying diagonally on the bed in just his underwear. There was a mostly empty bottle of Remy Martin on the nightstand beside him.
Lauren closed her eyes, unsure whether to be mad or feel sorry for him. At least the snoring indicated he wasn’t sick. She walked to the bed and looked down. He must have felt her because his eyes popped open.
“Lauren?” he asked hoarsely, blinking up at her.
She watched him blink, focus, and finally stare up at her, his sleepy gaze not really indicating much awareness.
“Yes. Hi. Are you okay?” she asked, reaching out to brace one hand on the edge of the bed as she bent over to peer into his face. His pupils were dilated and he was flushed. Other than that, he seemed okay.
Lauren was caught off-guard when Jim grabbed her hand, unbalancing her enough to send her pitching forward. He caught her on the way down, easing her landing on top of him. Her whole body became one giant nerve of awareness at the contact of their scantily clad bodies from head to toe.
“Lauren,” Jim said huskily, sighing and wrapping his arms around her.
She studied his drunkenness as she dodged his attempts to find her mouth. After several tries and misses, his lips finally closed over hers. Lauren could taste the sweet brandy on his tongue as it plunged into her resistant mouth. There was heat rolling off him, lots and lots of heat, but instead of warming her—it made her shiver.
“Jim,” she said, when her mouth was free. “Stop. No, seriously stop. You’re very drunk. I just came to see if you were okay.”
Lauren gasped as Jim rolled her to her back, using all of his greater weight to his advantage. His gaze met hers, and then dropped to her breasts straining up and out of her shirt. She saw something shift in his gaze just before he ripped the remaining four buttons of her top off with one hand, sending the buttons flying around them.
Shocked at his action, she laughed and forgot to fight him for a moment. Just as she remembered her intention to push him off, the silk top slid off each side of her chest, pooling under her arms. At the same time his mouth, his very talented mouth, moved across her now naked breasts. The touch of his lips ignited her desire and Lauren groaned with the force of it.
“Jim, Stop! No, REALLY STOP!” Lauren ordered, but then his mouth closed around a hard nipple causing her to moan at how good his mouth felt tugging on it. The sound of her moaning brought a dazed Jim back up to her mouth where he kissed her deeply again and again. His hand found and lifted the breast now missing his mouth’s attention, a thumb rubbing the nipple that remained erect against the friction.
Heat—more heat than Lauren had ever known with a man, threatened to melt them into each other. She could scarcely draw a breath for Jim’s surprisingly heavy weight rhythmically pressing down on her as his mouth tortured hers with deep, brandy flavored kisses. Lauren suddenly wanted their clothes gone more than she wanted to continue breathing. Her heart hammered against his mouth as he swept hot, possessive kisses across both breasts again.
Lauren had the wild thought that she was drowning in what Jim was doing to her.
“Jim—God, please. You—Have—Got—To Stop. I can’t stand much more of this,” she begged. “Do you know what you’re doing to me? Talk to me, damn it.”
Lifting his upper body away from her, Jim bit her neck on the way back down her body, lingered there just a moment to suck the place he’d bitten. He moaned against her struggles, reminding Lauren of the first time they kissed in Alexa’s garden. It weakened her resolve further, had her wrapping her arms around him for a moment.
Her breasts pushed against his chest, her highly aroused state evident to both of them.
As he sucked harder in response to her movements, Lauren crazily hoped makeup could cover the mark on her neck tomorrow. Her dress for the wedding would so not look good with a scarf. Not to mention the fact Sydney and Alexa would kill her—and then kill Jim.
She sighed with relief when Jim removed his considerable weight from her completely. She drew in a shaky breath, and put up her hands to push him off completely.
But before she could act, one of Jim’s hands slid inside the waistband of her shorts to flatten across her belly. His fingertips brushed the curls hidden there. The silk of her shorts was barely a barrier against his wet mouth as it moved across her stomach, then lower, and even lower. She groaned again at the sheer pleasure of what he was doing to her even as she felt him trying to tug the tight shorts aside.
She heard Jim swear, and then she felt silk ripped away from her crotch just before his tongue plunged fiercely into her depths. Freeing his hand completely from her shorts, he used it to gently but firmly push her legs apart, holding her hips while he did as he wanted. Just as she thought of stopping him again, Lauren felt him move his mouth up and slip two fingers inside her, his touch remarkably gentle considering how rough he was being with everything else.
“Jim,” Lauren said brokenly, crying in earnest at the stroke of his fingers inside her, and the magic he was creating with his mouth. It took her beyond resistance, to a place where there was only her need for him.
Desire spiraled out of control despite the questions swirling in her mind. Lauren heard herself calling out his name one last time before erupting. Jim growled, an honest-to-God growl against her as she climaxed, the sound he made alarming her even as wave after wave of mind-numbing pleasure rolled through her.
When she had calmed slightly, Jim crawled up her body to glare down at her, eyes feral in his face, but with almost no recognition of her at all. He just looked angry at the world and it worried her to have him look at her that way in their current situation.
“Jim,” she said firmly, one more time raising a hand to his chest, and then it was simply too late to say more.
He thrust hard between her legs, sinking into her in one giant stroke, his fierce erection cleaving her semi-sated body like she was an overripe peach. He didn’t stop moving in and out of her until she climaxed again, not just once, but two times more. When Lauren thought she couldn’t stand another thrust, that Jim would go on forever stroking inside her, she felt Jim finally emptying himself within her depths.
Even then, it took a long time until Jim stopped moving completely, before he finally eased his full we
ight down on her again.
Her heartbeat slammed in her chest, keeping time with his as she tried to absorb the enormity of what they had done. When she heard him snoring softly in her ear seconds later, Lauren laughed because there was nothing else to do now. It was hard to believe Jim’s system had settled so quickly when her body was still vibrating and pulsing beneath his.
She couldn’t bring herself to be concerned yet about having unprotected sex—that would come later—when she would pray it had been the wrong time of the month.
At the moment, she was still trying to decide how willing she had been in the first place. She was certainly mad at herself for not stopping him. She was also mad at him for not being sober during the best sex of her life. Part of her knew those two concerns didn’t go well together. What did it make her? Confused? A horrible woman? Or just completely and utterly sated for the first time in years?
Lauren let herself have one more moment of weakness, one more moment where she wrapped her arms and legs around Jim in gratitude, until the snoring reminded her she was having the moment alone.
Then finally Lauren pushed his sleeping form off her body, even though it was a little late to be so forceful about it. Jim rolled to his side, his arm snaking around her possessively, missing her heat no doubt. She unwound his arm from her waist and slid off the bed to the floor.
Standing by the bed on legs weakened by great sex, she studied herself in disbelief. Her shirt hung in pieces. She didn’t know where the buttons had gone. Jim had destroyed the crotch of her shorts to get to her and what was left of the pajama bottoms hung now like a shabby skirt around her hips.
Shifting her tired gaze back to the man in the bed, she wondered how she could be so mad at him and still want to jump him again. Disgusted with herself and her hormonal reaction, she turned her gaze away. She for sure wasn’t staying here with him, didn’t want to curl up next to a man who had to get dead drunk to be with her. And the bigger truth was, she wasn’t emotionally strong enough to withstand his regret when he woke up with her beside him tomorrow morning.
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