Third Chances

by Smoak, Ivy

Rob cleared his throat. "What's up, man? Besides for the fact that you've been trying to cock block me."

  "I didn't know you were having sex until I heard her screaming your name," Matt said.

  My face had to be bright red. Did they always talk so openly about their sex lives like this?

  "As much as I'd love to keep talking about this, we just ordered lunch down by the pool. Do you want to join us, Daphne?"

  I looked up at Rob. I wanted to know if he wanted me to come.

  He smiled at me.

  I was going to take that as a yes. I didn't want this to be a onetime thing. And I really hoped he didn't want it to be either. Besides, I still needed to apologize. I wanted him to understand why I said the things I did. "Um, yeah that would be great. My friends will still be gone for awhile so I'm free for lunch." I took a deep breath to try to regain my composure. "So was Rob really moping around all morning?"

  "Yup. Ever since you denied him sex last night he's been wandering around like a lost puppy."

  Rob shoved his shoulder. "How about we go eat and you stop talking? Just let me change real quick." He walked toward the bathroom, leaving me alone with Matt.

  "So, how long have you and Rob known each other?" I asked.

  "Since we were born. Our parents are friends so we were kind of forced together."

  "Was that such a bad thing?" I didn't know how to stop fishing for information. I had just slept with Rob and I barely knew him at all. And Matt knew. He probably thought I was a total slut.

  Matt smiled. "No. Rob's a good guy. And we always have so much fun together."

  "Did you two used to get into all sorts of trouble growing up?"

  "Why would you assume that?"

  I laughed. "Oh, I don't know...maybe because you guys steal cards and slip people drugs when they're not looking?"

  "I'd just say we know how to have a good time," he said with a smile.

  "Do you travel a lot like Rob?"

  Matt laughed. "Not much recently. Unlike Rob, I actually have a job."

  I bit the inside of my cheek. I wanted to date someone who had direction and motivation. It was hard for me to not think of my list of qualities for guys I dated. I had made it for a reason. "What is it that you do?"

  "I work at MAC International."

  I had heard of it. Everyone had heard of it. MAC International was a prestigious financial firm in New York City. "What do you do there?"

  Matt smiled. "I'm learning how to run it so my dad can retire."

  Of course. I knew that the C in MAC International stood for Caldwell. I should have been able to put that together. The Caldwells and Hunters were basically New York royalty. Matt was probably wondering what the heck he was doing wasting his time talking to someone so far down on the social ladder. "Are you excited to run it?"

  "Um...there's pros and cons."

  "So maybe you're a little jealous that Rob doesn't have a job?"

  Matt laughed. "No, but I'm a little jealous that he won you over. I'm assuming he told you he wanted to make things work and said he'd visit you a lot in New York? You've probably exchanged phone numbers and are excited for the future, no? He's all talk. I'm the nice one." He winked at me.

  Everything he said made me feel a little queasy. Rob and I hadn't even exchanged phone numbers yet. Shit. I had sex with someone and didn't even know his phone number. I didn't know his middle name. I didn't even know his mailing address. Rob put his arm around my shoulders, almost making me jump. I hadn't heard him come out of the bathroom.

  "Is Matt harassing you?" Rob asked.

  "I was just getting to know him." And you. Rob had changed into a pair of swim trunks. Maybe I should say I need to change?

  "I'll take that as a yes. Come on, let's go eat." Rob directed me away from his friend.

  As soon as we were in the hallway, he moved his arm off my shoulders and grabbed my hand. He smiled down at me. I could definitely get used to this. Was he thinking the same thing? Or was he going to leave tonight and never speak to me again?

  "Do you have a pen?" he whispered.

  I shook my head. Normally I had everything I could possibly need on hand, but my purse was in my room.

  "I'll give you my number later then. Ignore Matt, he's just upset that you wanted me."

  "I think it was more so that you wanted me."

  "Is that so? I'm pretty sure you came to my room and begged me for sex."

  "Begged you? I didn't beg you."

  He laughed and squeezed my hand. It was the most comforting feeling in the world.

  Chapter 30

  Rob

  Leave it to Matt to try to fuck this up for me. He was jealous that Daphne chose me, but he didn't have to be a dick about it. I wasn't all talk. Not this time at least. I was going to visit Daphne in New York. I was going to give her my number. And I was going to text her all the damn time. Especially after what just happened. I wanted to repeat that right now. If Matt hadn't interrupted us, I'd be enjoying her pussy for lunch instead of whatever the hell they had ordered.

  "I really wish we hadn't been interrupted," I whispered in her ear. "Coming at least twice is what living really is."

  She pressed her lips together and shook her head, clearly embarrassed. It just reminded me of the fact that I hadn't gotten those lips around my cock yet.

  "You really know how to make a guy feel like the third wheel," Matt said behind us.

  "What, you want me to hold your hand too? Come here." I tried to reach for his hand.

  "No, get off me, weirdo." Matt shoved my shoulder.

  Daphne laughed. I loved the way the smile spread across her face when she did. I only had a few things that I looked for in a girl. One, she had to laugh at my jokes. Not all of them in a super fake way, but she had to genuinely think I was funny. She needed to blush when I embarrassed her, which I planned on doing all the time. And she needed to make me hard. Daphne had all those qualities.

  I didn't necessarily have a type, but I was starting to think that Daphne was my type. I had just never found a girl that looked like her before. I let her walk in front of me onto the elevator. Her ass was perfectly fuckable. I wonder if she'll let me do that to her. She had already surprised me by wanting sex this weekend. She was clearly having a hard time resisting me. Yeah, she'll probably let me.

  "I should go change too," Daphne said.

  I didn't want her to change a thing. Strands of her hair were falling out of her ponytail and her shirt was hanging slightly off her shoulder. She had that helter-skelter look about her like she had just been fucked really well. Which she had. She looked perfect to me.

  "Lunch is probably already there," Matt said.

  "Shouldn't I put a bathing suit on?"

  "You can always go skinny dipping," I said and pulled her against my chest.

  "I certainly won't protest," Matt said.

  She frowned. "I've never been skinny dipping and I never will. Unlike some people, I don't walk around naked in public." She was staring directly at me. Was she seriously referring to this morning?

  I laughed. "If you're talking about this morning, I wasn't in public. I was at the waterfall that I told you about, which no one else ever goes to. I didn't think you'd just show up. And I certainly didn't peg you for a peeping Tom."

  "Mhm."

  "And I wasn't walking around naked. You just happened to see me naked. And you couldn't seem to look away if I remember correctly." I smiled at the blush on her cheeks.

  "Was he doing that thing again?" Matt asked.

  I really wish Daphne and I were alone right now.

  "What thing?" Daphne said.

  "That thing where he refuses to shower inside."

  Daphne laughed. "That was exactly what he was doing. Why do you know that? Does he do it a lot?"

  "All the time. He's a psychopath." Matt smiled at Daphne who immediately laughed.

  I didn't like that at all. I wanted to be the only one that made my girl laugh. My girl? Did I really just refe
r to Daphne as that?

  "What, are you embarrassed?" Daphne said.

  I shook my head. No, but maybe I am a psychopath. I had only known this girl for five minutes. But even as I thought it, I realized it wasn't true. She hadn't known me, but I had run past her every day for months. Sometimes it was the highlight of my day. Sometimes I'd dream about her at night. Fuck, I really am a psychopath.

  "Really?" She stared up at me with her pretty green eyes. "You look so embarrassed right now, Rob."

  The way she said my name made me smile. "I'm not embarrassed, beautiful. And I refuse to apologize for showering outside where humans are meant to shower."

  "As opposed to an indoor shower where humans are actually meant to shower?"

  "Yes, as opposed to a small manmade box. It's stifling."

  "Wait, so do you like shower under rain gutters in the city?" She looked like she wanted to laugh at me.

  "No. But when I'm in the middle of nowhere, I'm going to choose to shower under a waterfall 100 percent of the time."

  "He hates being inside," Matt said. "He's basically a wild animal."

  "Oh, she knows I'm a wild animal. Isn't that right, baby?" I winked at her and her face flushed again. Yup, this girl definitely fit all my criteria. "Speaking of which, do you still have any cards left, Matt?"

  "A few. I had some duplicates." He pulled out the stack of cards I had given him yesterday. It had definitely dwindled.

  I grabbed them out of his hand and lifted up the one I was looking for. "Wham, bam, thank you ma'am." I held the card up to Daphne's wrist and her bracelet fell off. "Two bracelets today, huh? You really are an attention whore."

  She held her wrist in her hand, hiding the second bracelet. "Not by choice."

  "Sure." I looked through the remaining cards. "This one will do. And this one." I stuffed the two cards in my pocket.

  "I only have one more bracelet."

  "I know. But you were a naughty girl last night and left me before I could cash in my last card. Which means you owe me a second card. You were even naughtier today when you propositioned me for sex." I had dropped my voice slightly, but it was still loud enough for Matt to hear.

  Her green eyes looked slightly bigger. "You're giving Matt a terrible impression of me. I went to his room to apologize to him, Matt. That was it."

  Matt smiled. "Sex is always the best apology."

  "That's not what I meant. It's just...one thing lead to another..."

  "Oh, I get how sex works. I just don't get why you're choosing to have sex with someone who never learned how to assimilate with humans."

  Daphne laughed.

  "I don't think Daphne is really complaining about my showering habits. I think she'd take me naked wherever she could. Isn't that right?" Teasing her was too easy. And when she blushed like that, all I wanted to do was be inside her tight pussy again. This girl was fucking made for me.

  "You're very full of yourself."

  "You were full of me earlier."

  "Oh my God," she mouthed silently to me and hit my arm playfully.

  The elevator doors dinged open. Even though she was pretending to be shocked at what I had just said, she didn't seem to mind when I grabbed her hand. I liked the feeling of fingers being intertwined and I could tell she liked it too.

  There was something nagging me in the back of my head though. Why had she suddenly decided to abandon her morals and jump into bed with me before she got to know me? Well, not a bed. More like pressed against a door. Fuck, I'm getting hard again. I tried to think of something serious to dissuade my boner from appearing. She had said she was scared of dying before she knew what living was. I had kind of just assumed she meant before she knew what having sex with me was like. But why was she really scared of dying? And what did she mean by living?

  "So what were you apologizing for?" Matt asked. I hadn't told him about last night. And James hadn't because he didn't remember anything.

  Daphne looked up at me. "A lot of things actually. And I didn't get to say everything I needed to. We got kind of distracted."

  "Geez, all you two do is talk about sex. Get a room."

  I laughed. "We had a room. And you tried to walk in on us. And then you persuaded us to come down here with you. I would have been perfectly happy going for round two if you know what I mean."

  "Ugh." Matt pushed through the doors to the pool. "You should probably stop talking about sex now or else Mr. Horny Pants is going to start blabbering about how much he misses Penny again. I had no idea how much Penny put out. She's sexy as hell and a freak in the bed? James is a pretty lucky guy."

  "Don't talk about her like that, man."

  Matt laughed. "Daphne, just as a fair warning, Rob has a constant hard-on for Penny."

  What the fuck? I was about to defend myself when Daphne laughed.

  "I think it's sweet that he looks out for his future sister in law."

  "That's one way to put it. Anyway, you'd think James would eventually whack one off in the bathroom," Matt continued. He was completely oblivious to how much he was pissing me off. "Or if he's anything like you, in the middle of the fucking rainforest." He laughed. "Either way, cool it with the sex talk. I'm sick of James complaining."

  Too bad. I had already planned my entrance. As soon as I got over to James and Mason, I sung, "I just had sex," at the top of my lungs. I dropped Daphne's hand and made a thrusting move with my hips. "And it felt so good!" That was one of my favorite songs. The Lonely Island was the best group ever.

  James and Mason started laughing. I did a little twirl and pointed at Daphne. "You've got the next set of lyrics, girl," I said to her. "Hit it!"

  She immediately covered her face with her hands.

  When Mason was able to catch his breath, he said, "Seriously? You're completely mortifying her." He started laughing again.

  "Doesn't matter had sex!" I sung. "Saw her boobies and the rest." I stopped singing. "Actually, I didn't see her boobies. We're going to have to fix that."

  "You're such an idiot," Matt said. He sat down in one of the chairs.

  Daphne slowly lowered her hands from her face. Her cheeks were bright red. "What is wrong with you?"

  I laughed. "You know I'm the man of your dreams."

  "Not quite."

  "Ouch." I put my hands on my chest. "If I had to describe the feeling, it was the best," I sung.

  "Stop singing." She pushed my shoulder.

  "Was it the best 30 seconds of your life?" James asked, trying to keep a straight face.

  "I was kind of trying to avoid those lyrics," I said.

  James laughed. "I'm glad you could join us, Daphne. Let me grab you a chair."

  "No, it's fine," I said. I grabbed Daphne's waist and pulled her down into the only empty lounge chair with me. "I forgot to tell you that I love to snuggle after sex."

  She laughed as she settled between my legs. "How are you so nice and so horrifyingly rude at the same time?"

  "Rude? Baby, singing to you was a compliment." I kissed the side of her neck.

  "You just told all your friends that we had sex," she hissed back at me.

  "Exactly. And it was amazing. Oh sorry, I missed an important lyric." I cleared my throat. "And it felt so good!" I sung.

  "Oh my God, stop. You already sung that. I will seriously hit you."

  I laughed. "If you did, I would have to tie you up. Bet you wish I wasn't leaving tonight now, huh?"

  She looked behind her shoulder at me. Her eyes looked a little sad. "Of course I wish you weren't leaving." She tilted her head back, resting it against my chest. Her hair tickled my skin.

  I wrapped my arms tightly around her and rested my chin on the top of her head. She felt so small in my arms. Maybe having me wrapped around her comforted her as much as it comforted me. Why did I suddenly feel sad? I'd see her again. It's not like this was going to be goodbye. With other girls it had been. But I didn't want Daphne to be a onetime thing. I would have done so much more to her perfect body if I kne
w I was only going to get to experience her once. "I wish I was staying too."

  I heard her sigh and she put her arms on top of mine, holding me in place like she thought I was about to run away. But for the first time in my life, I didn't feel like running. I was happy exactly where I was.

  "We already ordered," James said. "But we got a ton of food. I can run back to the restaurant real quick and get you something specific if you want, Daphne."

  "She's good," I said.

  Daphne laughed and leaned back to look up at me. "I'm very particular."

  "If you're still hungry, I've got something you'll like for dessert," I whispered in her ear.

  "And what is that?"

  I tightened my arms around her. "Baby, I'm picturing my cum dripping down your chin as we speak. And your pussy is the only dessert I want."

  Her body tensed. "We just had sex," she whispered.

  "Quoting The Lonely Island too?"

  "No." She laughed. "I'm just stating a fact."

  "You're really telling me that you don't want me again right now? Because I want you. Just say the word and I'm all yours, baby."

  Chapter 31

  Daphne

  All mine? He kept saying stuff like that, but it didn't feel like he meant it in the way I wanted. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. What am I doing? I just had sex with a complete stranger.

  So why didn't it feel that way? I had never had a one night stand, so I had no idea how it was supposed to feel. But I was pretty sure it didn't involve holding hands and having lunch with the guy's friends.

  I opened my eyes and looked down at Rob's legs. They were really hairy. Why did I find that so sexy? They were just legs. I tried to shake away the feeling that I was starting to latch on to him. I couldn't afford to get my hopes up. I wouldn't do that to myself. "Are you getting excited for your wedding, James?" I asked.

  A smile spread across his face. "I think excited is an understatement. I've been waiting to marry this girl for two and a half years."

  "Such a sap," Matt said.

  The waiter placed a tray of burgers down on a nearby table with a dozen beers. I usually ordered burgers with just American cheese, but these burgers were piled high with all the fixings. And I almost never drank beer.