“There are a million places on your body that I’d love to lay my lips on. Your mouth is only one of them. Are you scared?”

“Of you? Absolutely.”

I forgot what we were sparring about when he removed my hand from the glass, shifting me closer with a gentle pull of my wrist. With my hand still in his and him drawing closer with every huff of breath escaping my lips, I could feel the raw energy coursing through me with the nearness of him. The anticipation made me feel imprisoned in my own skin, completely beholden to wherever he wanted to lay those lush lips full of promises to tear through my resolve like a flesh-eating bacteria. I pulled my legs in tighter to my body, angling my body toward his. With the shift in position I could smell him better. He still had that masculine scent that seemed to be ingrained in every pore, but he also smelled like my soap, which offered me a type of comfort that I didn’t know I wanted from him. Its familiar and clean scent mixed with the addition of his natural smell made me want to spend the rest of the night cuddled up in bed playing little spoon to his big spoon.

The fingers wrapped around my wrists released, and my hands dropped to the couch like sunken anchors. I fought my knees from unwrapping to give him a full-on view of a panty-less Blaire. His hands moved to my shins, burning a path to my knees where my nerves fizzled like a carbonated soda. His body hovered over my legs, his breath sending blankets of heat billowing across my skin and up my legs to the place that beckoned him to come closer, breathe deeper, blow harder until my core wept for relief. Soft lips brushed the outside of my knee, igniting a fire beneath my skin that continued burning as he kissed his way between my knees. Temptation loomed through my slurred thoughts, and when I was sure that my body would surrender, Joel pulled away. A peek of his tongue escaped his mouth, licking along the lips that held the taste of my skin on the surface.

Did he just wink at me?

He pulled back, sinking back into the couch with a renewed smile. Something about the look made me want to smile, too.

The game continued and when he lost his next turn, I couldn’t decide whether it was intentional or if he genuinely lost, especially with the last piece of clothing being his jeans. Before the button of his pants even popped open I knew what to expect when his pants fell to the floor—he made it known his penchant for going commando. I watched with apprehensive yet curious eyes as he stood. Unblinking eyes watched me like I was a patron at a peep show, except I didn’t know which of us he was undressing with that look. Maybe it said more about me that I wanted to see him stripped bare, than it said about him that he felt comfortable completely naked. Not that he had flaws like us mere mortals. I couldn’t imagine him taking off his pants and becoming less than god-like. I imagined the opposite to happen as I watched his fingers unfasten the button and the raspy snick of his zipper being undone. His hands shifted on either side of his hips, pulling the fabric that fought his thighs on the way down to the floor.

His cock sprang free, and I can’t remember which happened first—the gasp that escaped my lungs or the hand that covered the gaping hole of my mouth, wide enough for him to fill with his impressive length, large enough to put someone’s eye out. At first glance, I looked away, intimidated by his size and also a bit in awe that I’d already mounted the steel-like rod that jutted out toward me. With reservation, my eyes found his, watching him watch my reaction. Joel still stood with his briefs lying at his feet. Proud of my determination, my eyes didn’t so much as steal a look at the one thing that eluded me since waking up to find a stranger in my house.

“You’re, you have…is that a piercing?”

“Would you like a closer look?”

I shot him a look that I hoped conveyed “not interested,” but after more shots than a fistful of fingers, I wasn’t so sure that was the message he received.

He shifted his body and the metal became more obvious in the darkness. I could see the shadow of a stud on the underside of his crown, not to be outdone by the stud pushing through the tip of his shaft like a crown. I didn’t know whether to cringe from the pain I knew that must have inflicted, or to wonder what it felt like to have that sliding against my walls. When did I become so horny? It seemed I couldn’t sit in the same room as him without my skin crawling with need for him to touch me. I just wanted relief. My skin was clammy and muscles knotted while everything inside me wound tight with desire.

Joel sat back on the couch with arms spread wide and legs open enough for me to gaze, undeterred, at him. It appeared he had no sense of modesty, and after the drinks I’d had, my decorum seemed to be swimming in the drunken pool right along with me. I won my next two turns—an occurrence that seemed like less than happenstance. There were only two options available to him—taking a shot or a kiss. His eyes lingered on me, and I nodded my head toward the bottle only to receive a smile.

“I’ll take a kiss.”

I shook my head trying to dislodge the rules that went along with his proposal, but I couldn’t quite remember, though it didn’t seem like it should have worked that way.

“That’s not the way it works. I don’t think? You shouldn’t be able to decide if I want to kiss you.”

“It didn’t hurt to try though, did it?”

“Take your drink.”

A couple losses later, Joel officially banned me from taking any more shots.

“You have to lose the bra sometime. Let’s have it.”

With Joel being so uninhibited, I felt a current of defiance run through me like a live-wire coursing from his end of the couch over to where I sat. How long would he be able to resist me while I sit merely two feet away with nothing between us but uncoordinated hands and legs and twisted limbs?

“I think this means I won,” I said as my fingers met in the middle of my back to unsnap my bra. The lace of my bra scratched against my bare arms, reminding me of every naked inch available to not only Joel’s eyes but his touch, his tongue. My eyes followed the fabric’s descent to the ground, unaware of Joel’s movements leading him so close that my arm brushed his when I moved to refold my hands over my breasts.

Chapter Six

“Is that what you think? Cause from where I’m sitting, I’d say I’ve won this round.” The look in his eyes speared me to the back of the couch, where I was at his mercy. I watched him beyond half-mast eyes, the way his muscles belied the tension simmering beneath the cool facade he’d mastered. The hitch in his shoulders told of his intentions long before the first touch of his hands on my ankles. Those green eyes watched me in turn, looking or expecting a reaction, I wasn’t sure, but whatever he saw there encouraged him to continue. His hands moved over me like silk sheets between freshly shaved legs. I could feel every imperfection of his palm, the callouses that confirmed his passion for fitness, the smooth skin interrupted by a raised line that was most likely a scar. My mind obsessed over every detail, pocketing away every feeling like a dog burying a bone for a rainy day. He tugged on my ankles, unfastening my knees and leaving me completely open to his perusal. My legs were thrown across his lap, the coarse hair of his legs tickling me as he slid me across his thighs until my butt was flush with his hip. His hands skipped up to my thigh, giving a reassuring squeeze before trailing up the side of my waist.

“Do you want to hear a secret?”

He leaned in close, his eyes glittering mischievously while his hands burned hot like an incinerator. His mouth was so close, I could absorb his words on my tongue, but far enough away that I couldn’t taste them.