Between Friends (Friends with Benefits) (5 page)

I breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay then,” I said, giving him a bright smile.

He took a dangerously slow step toward me. “I don’t want to make your heart stop. I just like to make it race.”

And that he did. Yeah, right along with making me ache between my thighs. I licked my lips, pleased by how his gaze locked onto the sight. “So, what
are
tonight’s plans?”

“I plan to give you the ride of your life,” he said quietly.

Again? Damn, count me in. “Let’s get started.”

*      *      *

I immediately cursed Justin in a thousand different ways when I figured out he hadn’t been speaking figuratively. I cursed him mentally, that is. Abject fear had robbed me of the ability to speak a simple word, much less cuss someone out. I watched as he approached the gleaming black motorcycle. Death machine on two wheels, that’s what it was. A sexy death machine.

Justin hopped on and I briefly had impure thoughts when I witnessed how yummy he looked atop the bike. I shook that off in a hurry and focused once more on my impending doom.

He glanced over at me with a quizzical look on his face. “Stacy?”

“Yeah?” I’d meant the question to come off tough, brazen. Instead it had barely been a squeak.

I could tell the bastard was trying not to laugh. “You coming?”

Well, I thought I was, back when he’d first offered me the ride of my life. “Uh…”

He held out his hand. “Come on,” he said lightly, “this is way less scary than skydiving and its ilk.”

“Yeah, to you,” I mumbled.

“I’ll go slow,” he said. “I promise.” His voice, low but firm, comforted me. It lulled me into feeling a surge of trust and safety for, and with, this daredevil of a man I barely knew. It lulled me into taking measured steps toward him. His large hand, so warm and work-roughened, easily enveloped mine as he urged me closer still. He pulled me to him and peered into my eyes. “I won’t let anything happen to you, babe. Trust me?”

The easy way the endearment rolled off his tongue left me in a stupor once more. Only, this one was born of the butterflies flapping their wings like crazy in my stomach. My mouth went dry as I stared back at him. “Yes,” I finally managed to whisper.

“Good.” He grabbed my face and leaned in to give me a leisurely kiss. “Hop on.”

I did and after a few minutes of clutching him as tightly as humanly possible, I slowly began to ease my grip. Too slowly for his taste, though, apparently.

“Babe,” he yelled over the roar of the engine.

I swear that simple word made my pulse quicken even more than the possibility of hitting the ground in an unceremonious fashion. “Yeah?” I yelled back.

“Squeeze any harder and you’ll bring up my lunch… from yesterday.”

I felt him laughing more than I heard it and I smiled, making sure to squeeze him tighter just for his smart-ass remark.

“Am I or am I not going slow?” he asked.

I thought about it as I finally pulled my head away from his back, where I’d been covering my eyes since we’d taken off. I dared a glance at the passing surroundings. “You are.”

“Damn straight. I’m hoping no one comes by on a scooter to show me up.”

I laughed. “We are
not
going
that
slow!” Still, we weren’t going too fast. We took the road just slowly enough for me to be able to think about something other than dying. For example, the feel of Justin’s broad back and firm ass tucked right between my legs was a major thought. On its own accord, one of my hands slid down his stomach a bit further. I felt him tense.

“You want me to focus on the road, you’d better watch those hands,” he said teasingly.

I decided that I indeed wanted all of his focus on the road.

“You’re gonna love riding with me after this. You’ll see.”

I wanted to laugh. I loved riding with him in a vastly different way, that was for sure. Riding
this
way? Nope. I’d never like it, much less love it—no way, no how. Now wasn’t the time to argue, however.

I pressed my cheek against his back as a delicious fantasy began to play out in my head. It would be so easy to slip my hand down to stroke his cock through his jeans right now. I was sure it would already be hard, waiting for me to take it out and jack him off. He’d pull over and, knowing Justin, he’d fuck me right there on the side of the road in front of passers-by. That thought was hot enough to make me forget all about my current motorcycle-riding predicament. I closed my eyes as the fantasy deepened.

Justin hovering above me, entering me and giving me no time to catch my breath. He’d begin to thrust harder and faster. The vision of his cock, glistening from my wetness, ramming in and out of me in an ever-increasing tempo had me clenching my thighs. I was grateful he couldn’t hear the moan that escaped my lips. In the fantasy, we were going at it like two lust-crazed maniacs. My eyes snapped open when it dawned on me that the increasing speed hadn’t just been in my dirty mind.

Justin had long left the safety and reduced speed of the back streets behind and was now barreling toward an on-ramp for the interstate. My grip on him instantly tightened once more. “No. No, no, no.” It was all I could say so I repeated it like the mantra it was. Maybe it would save my life. He chose to ignore me. Well, either that or he couldn’t hear me over the loudening engine. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and yelled my simple plea louder. “No! No, no, no! Don’t do it.”

I felt the slight shake of laughter emanating from his body. Yeah, that’s what I thought. The bastard had definitely heard me.

“Relax,” he said.

“Relax?” I asked, incredulous. There was nothing calming about this; the scenery zoomed by in a blur as he accelerated even more to merge with the highway traffic. “Oh my God,” I cried, squeezing my eyes shut. I held him to me in a death grip.

“Yeah, relax.”

“You lied,” is all I could manage to say in an indignant huff. This was the point where I would have stormed off after giving him a haughty toss of my hair if I hadn’t been barreling at sixty miles an hour on two wheels.

“I didn’t.”

I could almost hear the smile in his voice and it made me angry enough to open my eyes. “You
did
. You promised we’d go slow!”

“And I did. I went slow as hell until we hit the interstate.”

My mouth dropped open. The sneaky asshole had me there. I looked around as I tried my best to think of some snappy retort. I loosened my grip on him a bit. “Oh, you’ll pay for this, you brat.”

“Yeah?” He paused a few beats and I just knew his mind was working in naughty ways. “How?”

Damn him. He’d gone and made my fury take on its own lusty path. Once we were on solid ground again, I knew just how I’d pay him back. Painfully slow, agonizing sexual torture by way of torment. I’d make the bastard hard as a slab of granite and then deny him until I brought him to tears. Something told me bringing Justin to tears was no easy feat, but I was happy to try. A little smile played on my lips. Oh yeah, I’d love this particular goal. “I’ll think of something. Don’t you worry about it.”

I felt him chuckle against me. “I look forward to it.”

I smiled. “Not as much as I do.” I took in the scenery as the warm wind pressed against my face hard enough to take my breath. Dangerous, but more than a little exhilarating and definitely something old Stacy never would have attempted in a million years. Old Stacy wouldn’t have even taken the back streets on one of these suckers. To say I was proud of myself was putting it lightly. By the time we came to a stop, all of my anger had long faded.

I climbed off the bike and tried to steady my wobbly legs as I stared at the scene before me. The lake provided a gorgeous backdrop as the sun began to sink beneath the horizon. And the rest was enough to take my breath away as I looked down at it. A blanket lay across the grass beneath a large shade tree, and on it were a picnic basket, a small cooler, and even a few flickering electric candles for when the sky darkened.

I looked up at Justin in awe. He was definitely hot, definitely a smart-ass, but I never thought he could be so romantic.

He gave me a smirk that sent pleasant shivers down my spine. “So… what was this punishment you were speaking of?”

Only then did I realize that he’d gone and outmaneuvered me again. I’d been so wrapped up in various emotions—anger, lust, pride, surprise—I’d forgotten about my fear. I smiled and shook my head. “No punishment.”

He widened his eyes. “What? But I put you in grave danger.”

I laughed. “Stop.”

Justin crossed his arms, the action causing my gaze to lock in on those biceps. “Say it.”

I frowned and looked up at him. “Say what?”

“I was right.”

I lifted my eyebrow. “About?”

“Did you love riding with me?”

I scoffed. “Of course I…” My denial died on my lips. I thought about the mix of emotions the ride had given me, ending in an amazing place. I drew my eyebrows together. Damn. “I… did.”

Justin chuckled. “Told you.”

“You’re infuriating sometimes.”

He shrugged. “I’m sexy, though, right? It all balances out in the end.”

I smiled. “And arrogant.” He gave me an impassive look. “And sweet.”

He cocked his head. “Whoa. Hold it right there. I’m not sweet, gorgeous.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. Naturally, being accused of sweetness was something close to an insult for such a man. “You are. Sorry. I mean,” I gestured toward the romantic picnic, “look at this. A man has to be sweet and romantic to dream this up.”

He gave me what was obviously a reluctant smile before he averted his eyes from my face. “Whatever,” he muttered.

“How’d you pull this off anyway?”

Justin stared out at the water. “This is a secluded spot. My family has their summer and fall cookouts at this lake—have ever since I was still a kid. When I was a teenager, I found this place, and ever since it’s been my hideaway when the togetherness becomes too much. I never wanted anyone to stumble on this little gem.” He looked at me again. “But I wanted you to see it.”

My heart did a weird tightening thing just as those butterfly wings flapped in my stomach once more. I had to keep reminding myself this was not a
date
date. So why did it feel so close to one? And more importantly, why the hell did I like it?

“Anyway,” he continued, “I don’t live all that far from here, so I set everything up before I came to get you.”

“Oh,” I said softly, for lack of anything more to add. I cleared my throat. “Anything else you want to show me?” I asked playfully.

Justin turned his head, giving me a serious look. “As a matter of fact…” He took my hand and led me to the blanket. “There is.”

Over the next couple of weeks, Justin and I got together on occasion. And by together, I mean we had sex. Okay, so there was some conversing that went on; we shared some laughs. But that was it. We weren’t dating or anything like that. A few times, I’d asked him if he was seeing other people, and he’d dodged the question. He probably thought he’d hurt my dainty feelings by admitting that he was; nothing could be further from the truth. I hoped he was. It was a… good thing.

Well, maybe not good exactly. Necessary was more like it. Our times together were getting a bit cozy. They were starting to feel familiar and too… right. It was scary. And after being yelled at by both Mr. Stein and Julia at various times throughout the day, I definitely needed to vent. As soon as I made it home, I called Nina and told her to come over. I needed a girls’ night.

I poured a glass of wine while I waited for her to show. Doodle ran over with one of his squeaky toys in his mouth. “I’m not in the mood for that right now, pal.”

He continued to stand there with the toy.

“I walked you, we played, Mama’s tired.”

Doodle gave me a look with soulful, sad eyes and my damn heart melted a bit. I sighed as I took the toy from him. “Fine, you get a few throws, that’s it.” I threw it and he took off in a shot. I couldn’t help but smile when he returned, toy firmly in mouth.

The knock on the door interrupted my Doodle time. He let out a sharp bark.

“Sorry, I have to get that.” I opened the door and Nina rushed in with a large paper sack in her arms. “Hey, girl.” I took the sack from her. “What’s this?”

“Some junk food. Oh, and Coke.”

“Coke?”

“For this,” she said, holding up a bottle of whiskey she’d pulled from a small paper bag I hadn’t noticed earlier.

“Lord,” I said as I rolled my eyes. I put the sack I was holding on the counter and turned to Nina. “Actually, I might want some of that.”

Nina frowned. “Bad day? Your client still insane?”

I rubbed my temples. “My client is, indeed, still insane. Thanks to him, Julia chews me out almost daily. Thanks to her, he rips me a new one every time I see him.” I blew out an exasperated breath. “Work’s great!”

Nina pouted. “Sorry, girl.”

“Thanks.” I leaned back on the counter. “Actually, all that’s something I can handle.”

“But when you called I thought…” She shook her head in disbelief. “Man trouble? Stacy, seriously? I thought you were done with that.”

“I thought I was too,” I whined.

She grabbed a couple glasses from the cabinet and poured generous helpings of booze into them, adding splashes of soda to finish the drinks off. “Come on,” she said, taking the glasses to the living room, “let’s talk this out.”

I followed behind her and dropped down onto the sofa. Doodle jumped up between us. I stroked his silky hair absentmindedly. “You know Justin and I have been… seeing each other occasionally.”

Nina nodded. “And I said that was a mistake. Mm-hmm”—she took a sip of her drink—“go on.”

I smiled. “Well, yeah, I guess you were right.”

“You have more than the hots for him now, huh? Ugh.” Nina slapped a palm to her forehead. “Stupid.”

“Gee, don’t hold back on my account.”

She sat back and crossed her legs. “You know I love you, so I have to give it to you straight. This is such a huge mistake waiting to happen.” She considered it for a moment. “Actually, it’s probably too late to fix it, so, you know what? Never mind.” She grabbed the television remote and flipped the channel to Univision. Her interest became firmly fixed on the screen as a gorgeous, dark-haired couple embraced passionately.