by Lynn Howard
“I have a couple of friends like that,” Carter said before popping the cap off his own beer and taking a long swig. “I like it.”
“Good. ‘Cause it’ll happen a lot as long as you’re hanging around me.” He loved the fact she was already thinking about seeing him again.
June finally leaned back against her chair and smiled up at Carter.
“What?” he asked, returning her smile, when her look turned mischievous.
“Do you know how to play poker?”
Frowning through the smile, Carter shook his head. “Nope. Sorry.”
“How about Go Fish?”
“Pretty sure everyone knows how to play Go Fish.”
She stood, leaving her beer on the table, and retrieved a deck of cards from the top of her refrigerator. “I’ve got an idea.” A light glow entered her gray eyes. “How about a game of strip Go Fish?”
And there went his dick thumping the back of his zipper again. “You sure?”
She set the deck on the table and sat down on the edge of the chair, leaning closer to Carter. “Look, I really want this. I really want to see your hot ass naked. But I’m nervous. I’m a big ol’ flirt, but when it gets down to it, I’m a little on the insecure side.”
That wasn’t something he’d have guessed back at the bar if someone had paid him. But the second they were behind closed doors, he started to see a shyer side of this curvy beauty.
“What the hell do you have to be insecure about?” He let his eyes roam her body and pictured her naked, pictured those big tits in his hands.
Her eyes dropped to her body and then lifted back to his face. “Seriously? You do see me, right?” She held her arms out to her side and shook her shoulders, which made those drool worthy boobs jiggle.
“Uh, yeah,” he said, and could see the glow of his own eyes in the reflection of hers. “You’re perfect.”
That pink washed over her cheeks again. She was still unbelievably sexy and beautiful in his eyes. Now, she was becoming endearing and he felt this need to protect her and make her see her own worth. Which was stupid; they’d both admitted this was nothing more than a one-night stand. A way to assuage a need. After tonight, he probably wouldn’t see her again unless she happened to pop into Moe’s. Or maybe they could become friends with benefits. She was single. He was single. And they both had needs. Why the hell not?
“Let’s play strip Go Fish,” he said with a wink.
Her smile widened, and then she jumped back up. “Let’s make it really interesting,” she said, pulling a bottle of Jägermeister from the freezer. Could she get any more perfect?
She set the bottle next to the cards and grabbed two shot glasses from a cabinet next to the sink. Lowering back in the chair, she did this little wiggle thing like she was excited. All it did was bring Carter’s attention right back to her swaying tits.
“How you wanna do this?” he asked, raising his eyes back to her face before he jumped her bones right then and there.
“Any time you have to pull a card, remove one piece of clothing and take a shot.”
“Ice breaker?” he asked.
“Something like that.” Her eyes went to the bottle and she fidgeted with the cap when she twisted it off.
He wasn’t real keen on the fact she was trying to get drunk to work up the nerve to have sex with him, but who was he to tell her what she should and shouldn’t do with her own body? It was obvious she wanted him as badly as he wanted her. She was just trying to find the courage. And he hoped it wasn’t the courage to get naked in front of him, because he knew he’d never see anything as lush and beautiful as June laid out bare before him.
Carter took the bottle, poured two shots, then shuffled the deck of cards. “Ladies first,” he said after dealing out a hand of cards each.
“Do you have a…five of hearts?” she said, her eyes raising from her cards.
He felt the smile stretch across his face and his heartbeat picked up in anticipation. “Go fish.” He wasn’t naïve; everyone started with a mundane piece of clothing.
But not June. She picked up the glass, threw back the shot, then pulled her t-shirt over her head and sat there in nothing but a pink, lacy bra that left little to the imagination.
His eyes were riveted to those tantalizing mounds. He wanted to touch them. He wanted to fondle them. He wanted to taste them.
“Hellloooo,” she sang out with a giggle. “Your turn, Pervy McPerverson.”
Carter threw his head back and laughed. That seriously sounded like something one of the women from Big River would say. Maybe if tonight went well, he’d try to talk June into hanging out more often. She’d get along great with his people.
Holy shit. He was thinking about seeing her on a more regular basis. Not something one tended to do with friend with benefits.
He couldn’t stop grinning as he glanced at her over his cards spread out in front of his face as if they were playing high stakes poker. “Do you have any three of spades?”
Her smile matched his as she raised one brow. “Go…fish.”
Carter released a deep chuckle as he threw back his shot and followed June’s lead, pulling his shirt off by the back collar. Her eyes dropped to his chest and moved up and down his torso until her smile faded.
Suddenly, June sat up straighter and rested her arm across her stomach.
“Nope. No hiding that body from me,” he said.
This time, the flush to her cheeks wasn’t followed by a shy smile. She was sincerely embarrassed by the way she looked.
Carter reached forward and grasped her arm lightly, pulling it away from her belly. “You have no idea what the sight of your body does to me.” He took her hand and rested it on the boner he’d had since he’d laid eyes on June back at Moe’s.
Her eyes widened, her hand tightened around the outline of his shaft and her smile was slow and sexy. “Okay, then,” she said, pulling away slowly, her fingernails grazing the jeans over his length.
He hissed through his teeth. “Keep that up and this game is over.”
That sexy, strong woman from earlier returned. Her shoulders went back, her chest went out and she did another little shimmy. “My turn,” she said with a flirty smile.
This woman was going to drive him nuts.
“Minx.”
They took turns, sometimes getting a match, but mainly taking shots until they were drunk as skunks and down to nothing but underwear, with June’s arm the only thing keeping him from seeing absolute heaven.
The only problem Carter was having was seeing straight. It had been years, since his freaking teen days, when he’d drank so much. As long as he could stay awake, keep his hard on, and refrain from puking he was golden.
“Do we really need to pull more cards? I’m ready to get naked,” June slurred, and then busted out laughing.
Tossing his long row of cards onto the table, he leaned forward to press his lips to hers. She leaned forward at the same time and they smacked foreheads.
Carter rubbed at the knot on his head and chuckled. “We’re smooth,” he said.
“Yeah, but we’re obviously made for each other,” she blurted, rising to press a kiss to his boo boo.
Of course, that just put her tits in his face. And he sure as hell wasn’t going to waste the opportunity. He figured if she didn’t want him to dive between them, she would’ve kept them hidden behind her pale arm.
Clumsily, he cupped both into his hands and squeezed. And then they were a tangle of arms and legs, falling to the floor, grabbing at each other, touching, licking, nipping.
He’d thought he knew what he’d get with June; he’d had no idea how good she’d feel wrapped around him.
Or how perfect sex with her could be.
Chapter Two
June rolled over and groaned. The room spun with every motion and her head and stomach were a mess. What the hell was she thinking drinking so much?
Carter snored beside her. At least she remembered his name. And she’d t
otally gone through with it. After getting her heart and feelings crushed by her ex, Jackson, she needed something to pick her back up. It had been Constance’s idea; Carol had been totally against it. She was a romantic at heart and thought June should find another guy. She thought June should hold out until her true mate came along. But June was thirty-eight and that hadn’t happened yet. Why would it happen now?
Two more years and she’d be forty. Constance and June had come up with the code about feeding her cat to let her friends know she’d found someone she wanted to sleep with. Maybe it was time she really did get a cat. At least then she’d have some company.
Who was she kidding? She was a freaking predator Shifter. A leopard. Any domestic cat she tried to bring home would freak out the second she was nearby. It was like animals knew Shifters weren’t normal and could detect those who could turn them into prey.
Scooting away from Carter, she sat up and stretched, wincing at the various pops throughout her body. Yep, thirty-eight and her body was fully aware of it.
Her neck burned along with the ache. Lifting her hand, she touched it, searching for a rug burn or something. They had been a little freaky last night, or at least what she could remember had been super naughty.
And then her heart damned near stopped when she felt it. And the memory of what had happened a few hours earlier slammed into her consciousness and got her to her feet within a half second and running for the bathroom.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” she yelled when she threw her hair over her shoulder. Carter had marked her. During the second round of sex, he’d actually sank his stinking fangs into her flesh and marked her. “Carter! Wake your ass up!” she yelled.
Stomping into the living room, she glared down at Carter who frowned up at her in confusion from the floor they’d turned into their bed last night.
“What the hell were you thinking?” she yelled.
He winced and pushed onto one elbow. “You’re going to have to be more specific,” he said with a grunt as he dropped his head into his hands. “I feel like shit,” he mumbled.
“This! This is what I’m talking about,” she said, holding her hair back so he could get a good look. When he sat up fully, her heart tripled and her breath caught in her lungs. “Oh shit.”
“What?” he said, squinting. And then his eyes flew open wide. “Oh shit,” he repeated her words.
“Look,” she said, pointing at his chest where a matching scar helped her fill in the gaps of her memory. “We marked each other,” she whispered. Her knees shook and she lowered into a sitting position to keep from falling over. “Holy shit. We marked each other, Carter.”
Carter tucked his chin to his chest and tried to get a good look at the bite mark on his chest. He climbed to his feet, swayed, then hurried down the hall. “Which door?” he yelled.
“Second one on the left,” she said, laying a palm over her mark. She’d had four serious relationships, two of them lasting more than a year, and she’d never let any of them leave their mark on her.
She’d known Carter for less than twelve hours and already…
“Shit,” she muttered, dropping her face into her hands as she fought tears.
What the hell had she done? She’d have to wear her hair down every day for the rest of her life if she had any chance of dating or finding her mate again.
“Fuuuuck,” Carter growled from the bathroom.
His footsteps shook the mobile home as he made his way down the hall and stopped right in front of her. “What the fuck happened last night?” he asked. When she didn’t answer, he lowered to his knees in front of her. “Hey, look at me.”
She raised her head. His face was blurry from the tears she was struggling to hold back.
“It’s okay. I can wear a shirt, and you can wear makeup and your hair down or whatever. It’s okay.”
“Okay?” she said softly, then anger welled up. “Okay?” she yelled. “How is this okay, Carter? I don’t even know your last name and I’m carrying your fucking mark!” she said, pointing at the scar with one finger.
His lips moved like a fish out of water, but no words came out.
“That’s what I thought.” She pushed to her feet and began to pace from one side of the room to the other, not that she had a whole lot of room to move. “It was supposed to be one night,” she said to herself. “You were supposed to be a release, a boost to my self-esteem. Now, I’ll be fucking untouchable.”
A glow flashed in his eyes as they roamed her body.
“Seriously? How can you even think about sex right now?” she said, stopping by the table to pull her t-shirt and panties on.
“I mean, you’re naked,” he said with a shrug as if it should be obvious.
“Carter! Focus.”
The corners of his lips twitched.
“Don’t you dare laugh,” she said, but suddenly, she had the urge to chuckle right along with him. “It’s not funny.”
“It kind of is,” he muttered sort of under his breath. “This kind of shit would happen to me.”
“Yeah, well, join my club. Life is a bowl of soup and I’m a freaking fork.”
Carter couldn’t hold back his smile. It spread and stretched across his lips and then he threw his head back and released a deep guffaw until she couldn’t help but join him.
“We’re a mess,” she said, dropping her somewhat bare ass onto the cool wooden chair. “One night and I’m marked by a…what are you, anyway?”
“Bear. You?”
“Leopard,” she said with a shrug.
“You don’t owe me anything, June. You told me last night you had no desire to be tied to another man. We can just be friends who happened to make a huge fuck up.”
He stood and pulled his jeans on and June took the opportunity to ogle his package one more time. She barely remembered last night, but she did remember how much he’d stretched her when he’d pushed into her. She really remembered crying out his name when he brought her. Three times. No wonder she’d let him mark her. She’d been drunk and high on endorphins.
“Friends,” she said with a snort.
“Sure. Why not?”
The glow in his eyes was gone and he seemed to be having a hard time making eye contact with her. He regretted it. He could act like he was attracted to her all he wanted, but it was so obvious she wasn’t his type. The man was built like a freaking Greek statue and was so tall he had to duck his head to avoid bumping it when he walked in. And she…
Jackson’s words ran through her head as she ticked off all the reasons someone like Carter could only want her when he was drunk: fat, plain, she lived in a trailer, she worked at a freaking diner. Hell, he even loved to point out how she finished high school through night school. She got herself a ‘good enough diploma’. Or that’s what Jackson had called it.
“Can I have your number?” Carter said as he tugged on his boots. He couldn’t get out of her place fast enough.
June released another snort. “That’s not necessary,” she said, grabbing the blanket from the back of the couch and covering herself with it. In their drunken stupor last night, they hadn’t even bothered to cover up, just passed out naked, tangled in each other’s arms.
“Why not? I thought we were going to stay friends.” He pulled his shirt over his head and took a step toward the door.
“You’re good, Carter. You’re off the hook. Look,” she said, pulling her hair until it covered her neck. “Invisible. And like you said, a little makeup and no one will know.” But she would. For the rest of her life, she’d carry the mark of her first and probably only one-night stand. Served her right for thinking she had to seek acceptance from another male to erase the emotional scars left by the last few.
“June,” he said, taking a step away from the door and toward her, his hand outstretched.
“Time to go. I have to get ready for work. It was fun. Thanks,” she said, slamming every barrier she had in place and schooling her face until it was as cold as she fe
lt.
His hand dropped to his side and he stood frowning at her, a mixture of confusion and hurt all over that sexy face. If nothing else came of last night, she had one hell of an experience to file in her naughty thought rolodex.
Carter’s head dropped with a heavy sigh. He turned and headed to the door, hesitating with his hand on the knob. “I really did have fun. And I really do want your number, June. I was serious when I said I wanted to be friends.”
Friends with benefits, more than likely. But would that be so bad? Would having Carter on speed dial to take care of her when she was frustrated be the worst that could happen?
“Fine,” she said.
Carter turned and his brows were high. “Yeah?” he asked, pulling his phone from his back pocket. She rattled off her number and couldn’t suppress the smile at his excitement as he held up his phone to show her his nickname for her –June the Minx. At least he still remembered her name.
“Hey,” she called out when he moved to step outside. He turned with his brows raised again. Last night, he’d been sex on a stick. This morning, he was charming and boyish. She wasn’t sure which side she liked best. “What’s your last name?”
“Simpson. What’s yours?”
“Gillespie.”
“June Gillespie. Even your fucking name is sexy.” His smile was crooked as he winked at her and pulled the door shut behind him, leaving her half naked and checking out the mess they’d made on her living room floor.
By the way her coffee table was pushed across the room, the cushions and pillows from the couch strewn everywhere, pieces of clothing hanging from almost every surface, and the three used condoms tossed close to – but not in – the tiny waste basket…they’d had a hell of a time.
Friends. She carried that man’s mark and he thought they could be friends? That one night might have ruined any chance she had of finding her true mate for the simple fact that if a man saw it, he’d give her a wide berth and avoid her, thinking she was already claimed.
