“With precise aim, which I’m about to do again unless you give me one reason why I wasted my time and took this trip, gearing up for something you’re now saying is a bad idea.”
He offered me his free hand, pulling me out of the mud, onto the sidewalk, and then flush against his body. My eyes widened at the contact and I thought for a moment it must’ve been an accident until he banded his arm around my waist, pinning me to his body intimately.
“Is this reason enough?” he murmured huskily before dropping his lips to mine.
Fire. It’s what my body felt at the contact. I was absolutely ignited with heat the moment he kissed me. There was nothing tentative about it; instead, it was pure passion as he plundered my lips, his tongue delving inside.
“I’m so confused,” I whispered the moment he pulled back.
“You’re not the only one, but I think this may finally clear things up. Now, either kiss me back, or tell me to stop.”
“My hands are all muddy,” I pointed out because, you know, the whole OCD thing was tough to turn off. I didn’t want to get his shirt dirty.
“I don’t fucking care. Kiss me, Cath.”
I wrapped my muddy hands around him, one at his waist and the other reaching up behind his neck, pressing myself further into him and meeting his lips again. When his tongue met with mine, a shiver ran down the length of my body and heat pooled at my center, which practically ached for his touch. He consumed me with his kiss to the point that I forgot where we were.
It wasn’t until somebody walking by shouted “get a room” that we broke apart.
He brushed my hair from my face. “We’re just rolling with this and not overthinking it. I mean it, Cath. You’re going to turn your brain off and listen to your body, which I plan on being inside of in about five minutes.”
I was pretty sure if my body had anything to say about it, I’d make it three.
CHAPTER TEN
Will’s hand took mine before I could utter a word, not that I had any coherent ones, and he led me the short distance to the hotel. Once there, much to my astonishment, he hoisted me up over his shoulder, carrying me as he walked toward the elevator.
“What are you doing?” I urgently whispered, noticing a few people in the lobby staring.
“Ensuring you don’t leave muddy tracks through the hotel.”
“Oh.” How quickly I’d forgotten I was completely covered in the stuff.
Upon arriving on our floor, he wasted no time striding the hall and whipping out my key from my purse in order to let us both into my room. As soon as the door shut, my shoes and purse dropped from his hands and he slid me down the length of his body. Every hard inch. His blue eyes simmered with lust, devouring me with the power of his stare.
“You’re so beautiful, mud and all,” he whispered, dipping his head and taking my lips again.
I moaned when his kiss turned carnal, eager for more, and yet while my body was on board, my brain wasn’t following suit. So while he trailed kisses down my neck and his hands nimbly unfastened my jeans, I had to ask. “Aren’t you worried this might—I don’t know—might change things between us?”
He nuzzled my ear, his hands working my jeans down. Once they were off, he backed me past the bed and toward the bathroom on the far side of the room. “How so?”
Oh, Jesus, his fingers were sliding beneath the material of my lacy thong straight into my heat, and I was losing my grasp of why, in fact, I was asking anything that could conceivably stop what was about to happen.
“Possibly jeopardizing our newfound friendship,” I murmured, sucking in a breath when his finger entered me and curled up, finding the perfect spot for pleasure.
“Are you saying we can’t be friendly with my fingers inside of you?”
“I—God—I can’t think.”
“Good. Everything else we’ll work out after.”
His mouth took mine again and left no doubt that I was far past the point of being able to overanalyze or question anything. In this moment, I didn’t care what the consequences might be so long as he didn’t stop. I hardly noticed when he maneuvered me into the large glass shower. Nor did I care about the warm water from the glass enclosure that was now beating down on us, drenching us both, still half dressed with mud pouring off onto the shower floor.
Will made short work out of shedding his clothes. Before I could do the same, I saw him completely naked and I froze.
Holy Perfection.
He was absolutely beautiful. Although a man might not appreciate that particular adjective, there really was no other word for it. As if his pretty-boy face with arresting blue eyes wasn’t enough, it only got better from there. His chest and arms were sculpted to perfection. A trim waist, previously mentioned lickable abs and, good Lord, his hardened uncut length jutting out proudly literally had my mouth watering. He was unabashed in his nudity as he stalked towards me.
“You’re staring and clearly still wearing too many clothes.”
“I can’t help it. You’re gorgeous.” I couldn’t muster up the grace to be embarrassed by the blurted-out compliment because it was the unbiased truth. He was an absolute feast for my eyes. The moment I realized I had free license to touch him, I couldn’t move fast enough.
He grunted when my hands skimmed down his chest, feeling the planes of his muscles.
“Fair is fair, let’s get this off.”
Pulling my black top over my head, he flung it somewhere to land with a sopping splat. It occurred to me that the old Catherine would’ve been concerned about the fabric care of my expensive clothing strewn about and covered in mud, but at this moment I didn’t care if anything was permanently ruined. All that mattered was that his hands kept touching me, where they made quick work of stripping me of my bra and panties.
Once I was standing completely naked before him, he took a step back to leisurely view my body from head to toe. “You’re absolutely stunning.”
I flushed at the compliment. It was doubtful he hadn’t seen a better-looking woman considering he’d been in the modelling world for the last few years. But not one to be self-conscious about my body since I made it a point to keep in shape—hello, what else were the thirties for?—I didn’t give the thought any energy. “Now you’re staring.”
His grin was both sexy and playful. “Damn right I am.” He locked his eyes on mine while palming both my breasts, letting the weight of my B cups fall into his hands and brushing the nipples with his thumbs to hardened peaks. “Your skin is like pure silk. So perfect,” he murmured, taking my lips.
My hands weren’t to be denied the opportunity to touch him as much as possible, so I reached down, taking his length in my hand. I enjoyed his sound of pleasure at the contact and the velvety softness of his skin. As I slid my hand up and down his hardened length, his breath came faster as my pace increased. Then it was my turn to gasp when his finger entered me again. I let my eyes float closed, thinking of nothing but the awakened desire he was evoking. I’d never climaxed this quickly before, and yet my body was starting to tingle, letting me know I was close.
“Come for me, Cath,” he murmured. He then bit down on my ear lobe, which cued my body for release. My legs shook, and my pussy clamped down on his fingers like a vice grip with the power of my orgasm. He added two more fingers, working my wetness deep inside of me, stretching me exquisitely.
“I need a condom,” he muttered.
Did that mean we were going to do it in the shower? Clearly, my internal question only highlighted how dull my sex life had been up until now. “I, um, have some in my suitcase,” I offered. Oh, shit. What would he think with that admission?
Will must’ve read the panicked look on my face. “I have one in my wallet, too. Having condoms is safe, not a sign of being promiscuous. Okay?”
My mouth watered while I watched him put on the condom, and I wished my neurosis were easier to hide. “If I wasn’t so turned on right now, I might be annoyed with your ability to read my neurotic mind.”<
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He chuckled, pinning my hips to his and meeting my eyes. “This has been building between us for a while. We both knew you weren’t going home with anyone but me. Even if neither of us were at the point of admitting it until tonight.”
And here I’d thought it was one-sided the entire time.
He lifted me up to where I was eye to eye with him. “As much as I’d like to go slower with you, I think we’re past that point. Wrap your sexy legs around me and hold onto my shoulders.”
I shifted, allowing him to line up the tip of his cock with my entrance and then sucked in a breath when he drove into me inch by delicious inch. My body was primed for him, stretching when he moved deeper.
Oh. My. God. I was being fucked against a wall.
My fingernails dug into his taut skin while I felt him shift my weight and get a better angle before the next thrust. My head reared back with a resounding thump on the shower tile, but I barely noticed. Instead, I gripped him harder with my thighs, pulling him in closer. He set a rhythm, pounding me against the cool marble surface, handling my weight like it was nothing. He nipped at my neck and then peppered my chest with kisses and soft sucks while he hit a spot that had me chanting his name along with the Lord’s over and over.
With one final thrust, he buried himself to the hilt and ground out his orgasm, meeting my mouth with the sort of kiss that sizzled its way into my bones.
***
I woke in the morning alone. When I felt the side where I thought Will had slept for a short time, it was cold letting me know he’d been gone awhile.
After our shower sex, which, incidentally, I was happily replaying in my mind, he had been attentive in ensuring I was washed from head to toe and then put me to bed. There, he’d pulled me into his embrace. It was probably a good thing he’d taken over because after the last orgasm, my entire body had felt boneless and exhausted from the combination of great sex, warm water, and jet lag.
Sitting up, I wondered if he’d returned to his own room because he’d wanted to sleep alone. Or maybe to emphasize that this was casual and not a relationship where he awakened me with breakfast in bed.
A glance at the clock showed it was mid-morning. I now recalled a conversation between him and his friends at the bar about surfing this morning. More than likely, he’d left in order to meet them, but maybe he’d wanted to stay?
Good grief. Sometimes I needed a vacation from my own thoughts and analyzing everything to death.
As I hopped out of bed, I found myself decidedly sore from last night. Obviously, my muscles were feeling the delicious effects of being used after a very long time.
A quick shower did the trick of waking me up and rinsing down the residual dirt on the shower floor long forgotten last night. After donning my workout gear, I threw my hair back in a low pony tail, and went about cleaning up the mess that I’d tracked into the room and which was currently all over the bathroom floor. Then I turned my attention to washing out my jeans and shirt by hand and hanging them to dry. I’d just finished rinsing out the towels I’d used to clean when I heard the click of my hotel room door. Peeking my head out, I saw Will coming in, balancing a coffee tray, his wheeling suitcase, and a brown paper bag.
“You’re cleaning?” he asked incredulously.
“Hi, have we met? Of course I am. I can’t help myself.” I blew the strands of my hair that had come loose out of my face and wrung out the towels before hanging them up to dry.
He smiled at my retort. “I’d hoped I’d still catch you in bed.”
I blushed, feeling inexperienced and unsure how to proceed now that I’d seen this man naked. Why, oh, why couldn’t I be the type of woman who could roll with casual sex and be normal?
But evidently there was only one of us feeling uncomfortable, because he flashed his perfect pearly whites and crossed the room in four strides to cup my face. “Don’t you dare start having doubts about this, love.”
Love. Why did he have to call me love? And if his smirk was any indication, he was reading me like a book when it came to my panicked thoughts.
“Relax, Cath, it’s a term of endearment which I also call my sister. Now then, let’s have breakfast and some coffee, and then we’ll talk.”
I nodded dumbly, relaxing some. But I knew inevitably he was about to say what I’d been thinking: last night had been fun, but it wouldn’t happen again. Logical Catherine knew this was the best way to keep the lines from blurring any more than they now were. But the lower half of me was about to have a mutiny if I dared suggest this would be a one-and-done scenario.
We sank into comfortable silence at the small table, sipping our drinks and eating the muffins he’d thoughtfully brought. I noticed his hair was still wet. “Did you go surfing?”
He nodded. “Yeah. We met at six o’clock, but there was rough water, which is why I’m back early—not that I’m complaining. What was your ex calling you about last night?”
Hello, subject change. “It’s anyone’s guess this time around. He didn’t leave a message.” Since I was curious after last night’s conversation, I performed my own subject change and asked, “What classes are you taking if you already went to college?”
“I have my undergraduate degree in psychology. I’m going for a masters in counseling.”
“Do you, uh, want to stay working at Club T, then?”
“No. Not at all. I’d rather work with kids or families. Private practice or at a school. I’m not sure yet.”
After a few minutes of silence and finally unable to stand his assessing eyes a moment longer, I blurted it out. “Look, I know what you’re going to say.”
He shook his head, a smile tugging at his lips. “No, you don’t. And you won’t until I tell you.”
I gritted my teeth. “Fine, then what are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking I really enjoyed last night.”
I waited for the ‘but,’ however, it didn’t come. Instead, he reached over and clasped my hand. The tingle that came with his touch took me off guard.
“There’s no but after that statement. It’s simply the truth.”
“You know what’s in my head now?” I teased a little, unnerved again that I was so easily read.
“You weren’t thinking just that?” He chuckled at my silence and then leaned in. “I knew I was in trouble the moment we walked into the bar last night. I took one look at my friends flirting with you, and I wanted you all to myself.”
“You were jealous?”
He nodded. “Not only that, but I hated that what’s-his-face was seeing this fake side of you. I knew he’d never appreciate who you truly are.”
“The fake side is supposed to be my fun side, Will.” That was my problem in a nutshell.
He stood and pulled me up with him into his embrace. “Did you fake anything last night with me?”
I smirked. “You know I didn’t.”
“Exactly. And I shouldn’t have encouraged you to try to be someone else because I have news for you: you aren’t boring.”
I quirked a brow which made him chuckle.
“Boring people can’t make people laugh. They have nothing to say and no opinions to offer. And they certainly don’t love to be fucked against a shower wall.”
My entire body heated with the thought, already craving an encore.
“And your ex-husband is a complete idiot if he ever made you feel like you were the one with a problem in the bedroom.”
“He didn’t say problem, but he did imply that was boring, too.”
“There is nothing boring about the way you responded to me last night. How sexy and adorable you are when your body is saying yes, but your mind is second guessing it.”
The fact that he found my internal crazy adorable was, well, kind of adorable.
“So what if you’re not wild and crazy? Embrace the fact that you’re conservative and thoughtful, because that’s what makes you unbelievably special.”
I was speechless at his sweet words.
> “So here’s what I propose because the very last thing I’d ever want is for either of us to have any false expectations between us.”
I swallowed hard. “Okay. Let’s hear it.”
“We both know I’m not what you’re looking for long-term. The things on your list of criteria for a man make sense given where you are in your life. You should absolutely want those things, but I’m not there yet.”
Of course he wasn’t. He was twenty-seven years old, gorgeous, single, and not aiming to get married and have kids in the next couple of years merely because some woman’s biological clock was ticking. He’d blown out of the water any other ‘criteria’ I’d thought I needed to be happy, like career and financial stability. But having kids wasn’t something I could sacrifice. “I respect that, Will.”
Now it was his turn to swallow hard. “I don’t want to hold you back from the possibility of meeting the perfect guy, so I propose we enjoy one another for the short term and always know that beyond that we’ll remain friends.”
Was it just me, or did his eyes fall flat at the mention of my perfect guy? “You don’t think it’ll make things awkward once we return to New York and, say, attend a group function together with our other friends?”
His thumb traced the outline of my lips. “We passed the point of no return last night when I was buried deep inside of you, don’t you think?”
“Regrets?” I whispered and watched him shake his head.
“None. Why do you think I brought my suitcase in with me? It’s because I’d hoped we were only getting started.”
Okay, now it was official. I was abso-fucking-lutely clueless when it came to reading the lines, let alone in between them.
“And so long as we’re both aware that time is limited between us and we focus on having fun and keeping our expectations in sync, we’ll be fine,” he finished.
“So this would be only for the time we’re in Australia?” Could I do this? Could I have a fling without the emotional investment?
“If that’s what you want. But in that case, you’re definitely coming with me for the next week because we have some more items to get through on your list.”
Teach Me Something (Something Series Book 4) Page 13
