Chapter Six
His jaw hung open.
His brain was a pinball machine, lights and noises whirring in overdrive. He was half thrilled and half annoyed. Half turned on and half frustrated. This woman was throwing him off his game.
“Shit, I thought you were gonna be pissed at me forever for saying filthy things.”
“No,” she said, laughing, then she dropped her voice further. “I don’t even swear, but I can’t begin to tell you how hot it was when you said all those things to me. I like that dirty mouth of yours. Go figure, and I would love to have more of it.”
He tried to suppress a wicked grin, but he had no luck. Hell, this was good news on the one hand. He’d been so worried he’d ruined everything after getting physical with her, he was terrified their friendship was history. But knowing she liked it the same way was a huge turn-on. The only trouble was she still didn’t want to go out with him. She didn’t want to date him. She only wanted to sleep with him. “But if you liked it so much then why not give us a go?”
“Because I do like you as a friend, and I want to stay that way. And I also don’t want to be one more name on a list of women you’ve dated. I mean, Lisa was all over you at the party. And then there’s Cara, and she’s super sweet, but still, you used to date her. And even when I was at my sister’s I drove past Melody Olsen’s house, and you used to go out with her too. There are reminders everywhere that you date a lot of women and never for more than a few months, or weeks, really.”
Damn, that list sounded long when she rattled off the names. He was never serious with any of them, and evidently that was the big fat f*cking hurdle in the way of him having a relationship with Jamie. But he wasn’t some sort of career playboy who needed or wanted a woman in every port. He simply hadn’t met the right woman. “I’m not going to lie to you and act like I’m some goody-goody choir boy. I’m not. I’m not a monk,” he said. “But I’m not going to pretend you aren’t 100 percent special to me either. I like you a lot. I have a good time with you. I laugh with you. Hell, we’ve gone bowling together for a couple years now, and I just think that’s gotta count for something,” he said, and shot her what he hoped was a sexy grin that might melt her.
“See, that’s the other thing. I don’t want to be a ‘count for something’ kind of thing. I don’t want to be a ‘why not’ woman—”
He cut her off. “I didn’t mean it like that. I didn’t mean to imply let’s go out because there’s nothing better. You’re not a ‘why not’ kind of woman. I swear. That’s why I want to take you out and spend time with you. You can even invite me over to your sister’s house for your dinners and I’ll happily go. I want more.”
Her eyes widened with shock at the suggestion. She looked mortified that he’d want to have dinner with her family. She lowered her voice and motioned for him to come closer. “I know I wasn’t up-front when I ran out the other night, but I’m going to be blunt now. That was the best sex of my life,” she said, and pride burst through him with the compliment. She continued, “Plus, you’re funny, and you’re sweet, and you make me laugh, and I care deeply for you as a friend, and that’s why I want to be friends with benefits for a week,” she said, then raised her eyebrows playfully. “You like the benefits part, don’t you?”
He gritted his teeth and felt his shoulders tighten with frustration. She was calling him out but yet she still wanted to sleep with him?
Then it hit him. She wanted to sleep with him. She wanted to have sex with him, no-strings attached, for a week. He could work with that. She said he was the best sex of her life, and if he was going to have to use sex to win her heart, then dammit, he’d do that. Play to his strengths. Make her feel everything, and in doing so, make her fall for the rest of him. Rather than be offended with her proposition, he was going to run with it and ensure at the end of the week, she would want all of him.
He would have to prove himself to her, and that was part and parcel of what was so damn attractive about her. He was used to getting what he wanted. He wasn’t being cocky, just honest. He had friends, he had steady work, he had good health, and he had women when he wanted them. But there was something about having to step outside of his comfort zone that he now craved, and Jamie was the first who’d called him on his ways. He had to shed his defenses for her. Not always his first choice, but it was the only choice with her, and it was one he was willing to make.
“I can do this, but there’s one thing I want out of the deal.”
“Besides sex?”
He nodded, inching closer to her, the corner of the bookshelves shielding them, as he lazily trailed his fingers down her bare arm. “You know we have fun together, and you know we f*ck well, so let’s go out once. As friends. A friends-with-benefits date.”
“Smith,” she said, but her voice was already breathy. Her eyes looked hazy as he touched her, telling him she was starting to bend.
“One date, as part of your no-strings-attached plan,” he said, now reaching for her waist, brushing his fingers across her hipbone. She shivered at his touch, and he glanced around, glad they were in a section where no one could see where his hands were daring to travel. “Let me take you out to dinner at the end of the week on a proper date,” he said in a low voice, as he played with the waistband of her skirt. She drew a sharp breath.
“Maybe,” she said, and her eyes started to flutter shut.
He moved closer and shifted her body. Her chest faced the shelves, so no one could see what he was doing as he stood behind her, grazing his hands underneath her shirt, then across her belly. “We could see a movie. Or we could have dinner and as we wait for the food I could tell you about all the ways I want to take you again,” he said.
She arched her back against him. “Yeah?”
“And then after dinner, when you’re squirming under the table, all hot and bothered and as amped up as I am, you can come back to my place, and I can f*ck you senseless on the kitchen table, or up against the wall, or maybe just in the hallway because we’ll want each other so badly we can’t make it to the bedroom,” he said, his voice a low dirty growl near her ear. “And it’ll be what you want, no strings attached.”
She hitched in her breath, not answering his question about a date. But right now, he wasn’t thinking about her yes to dinner; he was thinking about making her scream yes. He brushed the hair away from her ear, his lips buzzing her earlobe. “Are you wet for me right now?”
She didn’t answer with words. She merely nodded.
“Do you get wet for me when you’re alone, Jamie?”
“Yes,” she whispered, her shoulders rising and falling.
He yanked her hips back so her behind slammed into his erection, straining through his jeans. “I can picture you, sprawled out and naked, your hand between your legs. Have you ever gotten off to me?”
She reached her hand in the small of the space between their bodies, rubbing him through his jeans. Her fingers felt like electricity shooting through him, crackling sparks lighting up his blood and bones at her touch.
“Yes,” she answered.
“I would love to see that. You on your bed, letting your legs fall open. I’d love to stand in your doorway, to find you in the dark. Your eyes are closed, your head thrown back, those pretty pink p-ssy lips wet and glistening for me.”
She bit back a moan, and circled her ass against him, her body starting to take over. He teased her more, tracing the edge of her panties with his fingers. “I’d watch you, and I’d have to touch myself because it’d be so f*cking hot to see you like that, your finger rubbing your *, your other hand squeezing your breast as you touch yourself. Do you touch your breasts when you play with yourself?” he asked, hot in her ear, as she rubbed against him, her delicious ass making him feel like his dick was a steel rod.
“Sometimes,” she said in a hot whisper.
“And then I bet you thrust those hips when you get closer, just like you’re doing right now. You part your legs and start f*cking your own hand hard, picturing my face between your legs. Is that what you fantasize about?”
“Yes,” she said, her voice bordering on a desperate cry.
“I would love to be licking your p-ssy right now, and sucking on your sweet *, and have you writhing and moaning, your hands grabbing for my hair, pulling my face to you.”
“Oh my,” she gasped, as he dragged his hand between her legs, cupping her through her damp panties. She dropped her head back onto his shoulder. “I can’t take it. I need you now.”
Yes, he wanted to pump his fist. Only ten minutes into their new arrangement and things were working. He was going to win her over through sex. By giving her more of the best of her life and proving that he could be the man she wanted in the bedroom and out of the bedroom.
“Meet me outside,” he told her, and she smoothed out her shirt and left the store, while he carried the books in front of him to hide his hard-on. He stopped by the register to quickly pay for the Mad Libs, telling the bookstore owner to keep the change. They walked quickly around the block to his truck. He held the door open for her and watched as she scooted inside, his eyes roaming over her sexy body, her bare legs, her face rosy with lust.
He hopped into the driver’s side and turned on the ignition. “Where to?”
“I can’t wait much longer. Just pull over on Circle Street,” she said, gesturing ahead of them to a dead-end street. Twilight had set in, and he pulled over on the side of the road. She unbuckled her seat belt and launched herself at him, her hair spilling over his chest as she grabbed his face for a rough kiss.
His kind of kiss. The kind that could leave marks.
“Condom,” she rasped out, breaking the kiss.
He reached into his wallet for one, then slid over to the passenger side. She unzipped his jeans and yanked them down to his knees. She tugged off her panties quickly and never had he ever been so grateful that a woman was wearing a skirt.
“You’re gonna ride me hard now, got that?”
She nodded, her eyes wild with abandon. She looked like she could come within seconds, and it was a look she wore well.
“I am going to ride you so hard, Smith,” she said with narrowed eyes and a bossy tone, like she was reveling in this newfound side of herself, this naughty side.
“That’s right. I don’t want you to slow down one bit,” he said, as he rolled on the condom. In seconds, she climbed on him and sank down, taking him all the way in. Damn, she was so hot and tight, but he didn’t have a chance to even savor that because she was f*cking him hard, just like they both wanted.
She grabbed onto his shoulders and rode him like he was a pole, her sexy little body shooting up and down his cock, taking him deep with each thrust. Tremors rolled through him with each move she made. His blood flowed thick and heavy as he watched her, loving the way she let go like this. She was a different woman; she had a wild side that he’d somehow tapped into, and the thought that she saved it just for him fueled him.
She started panting and moaning, letting go now that they were in his truck. She rose up then back down on him, taking him all the way inside her. Pleasure rippled through his veins.
“That’s right. Keep f*cking me. F*ck me till your legs shake and you can’t walk straight,” he instructed, feeling his own orgasm within sight. “I want you to come so loudly that the neighbors will know how good I make you feel.”
“You make me feel so good,” she said, her breathing labored and erratic, her gorgeous face wracked with pleasure. He watched as she bit down hard on her lip, squeezing her eyes shut as she lowered herself down on him again. He felt her clench and tighten around him, her wet heat grabbing his cock as she started to shudder, then cried out loudly, shouting his name. The sound of her moans was his undoing, and his own orgasm tore through his body as he jerked against her, heat flooding through his veins as he came. She fell against him, her chest slumped onto his, as his cock twitched inside her, their harsh session on the side of the road starting to subside.
He pulled out of her and she handed him a tissue for the condom. “I’ll throw this out later,” he said, with a wink as he stuffed it into a trash bag in the car. “By the way, you look beautiful all the time, and you look especially beautiful when you come,” he whispered. He ran his fingers softly through her hair, as she rested against his chest, looking thoroughly sated.
She shivered at his touch. “I do?”
“You do. Gorgeous and sexy and unbelievably hot and I love knowing I did that to you.”
“You bring out this crazy side of me,” she said, with an almost embarrassed grin.
He brushed his thumb across her lips. “It’s not crazy. It’s part of you. And I’m glad you share it with me,” he whispered tenderly, then kissed her throat. She stretched her neck, giving him more access to work his way up to her ear, as he buzzed his lips against her skin. “And I’m going to show you the other sides of me,” he said.
“Hmmm,” she said in a dreamy, after-sex voice.
“Is that a yes to a dinner date at the end of the week?”
“I don’t know what it is. All I know is I like this side of you a heck of a lot,” she said, then looped her arms around his neck. Soon, she was brushing soft, sweet kisses against his jawline, and they felt a little bit like the start of real affection, not just lust. She slid off him and readjusted her clothes and he buttoned up his jeans.
She reached for the book of poetry he’d bought her. “Want to hear my favorite poem?”
“I would love to,” he said, and then listened carefully as she read him a sonnet.
She turned to him when she was done, her eyes wide and brimming with hopefulness, as if she truly wanted him to like the words. “What do you think?”
“I’m not going to claim it makes a hell of a lot of sense to me, but I think Shakespeare had a way with words, and I like listening to you read it. Now, want to play Mad Libs with me?”
She laughed and nodded, then stretched her legs across him.
“Here’s the thing,” he said. “You need to use your fancy lyrical words, okay?”
She saluted him. “I’m up for it.”
They played Mad Libs in the front seat of his car, combining Shakespeare with silliness, as he made her laugh, and she made him smile, until he needed to return to work. He’d been hoping to have a night off—go to the gym, play hoops with some of the guys from the firehouse. But that wasn’t an option—the bar project was taking longer than he’d expected, and he had no one else to call on to shoulder some of the load.
“I should go. That back section of the bar isn’t going to build itself,” he said, trying to keep the frustration that nagged at him at bay.
“You think it’ll be done soon?” she asked.
“Why? You hoping to have me out of your hair and not run into me in the back of the bar?” he said, making light of the situation.
She pushed back on his shoulder gently with her hand, not giving in to his attempts. “No. Because you sounded annoyed that you have to work tonight. Are you?”
He shrugged because the truth was he didn’t really want to start talking about work. He just wanted to finish the damn job for Becker. Last thing he needed was to have his friend ticked off at how long it was taking. If he had to stay up all night he would. He’d gotten a call earlier in the day about building a new sundeck onto a house in the hills. He was going to have to find time to squeeze that in too. “Nah, it’s not a big deal,” he said, waving off her concerns.
“Smith,” she said gently, fixing him a serious stare. “Do you need help with it?”
“You offering to take up a hammer and nails? Maybe get a little construction belt? You’d look mighty hot in some work boots, cut-off shorts, and a little tool belt around your waist.”
She rolled her eyes. “You always make light of things.”
He didn’t have an answer, because she was right.
“But seriously,” she said, persisting. “You’re going to wear yourself out. You should hire help.”
“I’m fine. I can do it myself. I’ve got it under control,” he said, because he didn’t want to talk about work or the things that weighed on him, so he did what she asked him to do—focus on sex.
“Hey, since you seem to like me for my body, what would you say to another round tonight? I can come by after I finish up my work tonight?”
“Now you’re getting the hang of our deal,” she said as she ran a hand across his thigh.
“Darlin’, I got the hang of our deal when you were screaming my name at the top of your lungs.”
She blushed, but grinned wickedly and moved in for another kiss, erasing all thoughts of business and work and the way he’d have to spend his evening. None of that mattered because he’d have more of her at the end of the night. But the next day, he’d need to start focusing on winning not just her body, but her heart. He had seven days to woo her.