Just One Night (5 page)

“I do,
Jase
.
 
I just need a
little . . . guidance,” she said, more shyly than he could have anticipated.

“Guidance, huh?
 
I guess if there's one thing I've learned in
the military, it's how to give orders,” he said mischievously.

He was relieved when she
grinned and playfully saluted him.

“Yes, I guess you have,
Lieutenant.”

Smiling, he said, “Take
off your dress, babe.
 
I've waited way
too long to see you.”

With surprising speed considering
her earlier shyness, she unzipped the dress and let it drop to the hard wood
floor in a pool of crimson.
 
She stood
before him, her upper body naked and a small lacy black panty covering her
hips.
 
Those long legs he'd fantasized
about were likewise bare.

“Come here,” he
commanded and pointed to a spot on the floor just before him.

She did as he asked and
stood there, expectant.
 
The tips of her
breasts were hard and just waiting for him.
 
His mouth watered at the thought of them, but he held back, suddenly
needing more from her and knowing she wanted more from him.

“Touch yourself,
Nickie
.
 
Touch your
tits,” he commanded and she hesitated, but then reached up and cupped her
breasts.
 
Ran her fingers across the tips
and tweaked them into even harder points.
 
His cock swelled inside his jeans and the pressure of the fabric against
his erection was almost painful.

“God, that's it,
Nickie
. You're so fucking beautiful,” he said with a groan
and undid his zipper to free his cock from the jeans and his briefs.
 
He stroked his hand up and down its length,
imaging how her hands would feel on him.
 
How he’d feel buried inside her.

She watched him, her
gaze darkening as she did so, and as she continued to touch herself which only
made him harder.
 
Made him stroke faster
as he said, “Your tits are so sweet,
Nickie
.
 
I can’t wait to taste them again.”

She surprised him by
suddenly saying, “I want to see you,
Jase
.
 
All of you.”

He didn’t hesitate.
 
He shucked off his jeans and briefs and
positioned himself next to her, skin to skin.
 
The tips of her breasts brushing against his chest and his dick tucked
against the softness of her belly and the lace of the panties.
 
He eased his hand beneath the fabric and
found her center.
 
Danced
his fingers across her lips and clit, dragging her eyes shut as she shook
against him.

“Open your eyes,
Nickie
.
 
I want you
to watch me touch you.”

Her eyelids flitted up
and down before she did as he asked and fixed her gaze on his hand as he moved
it against her.
 
He pressed his fingers
against her swollen nub and wet lips.
 
After, he eased one finger and then another into her tightness and she
moaned, grabbed hold of his wrist to stop him.

“
Jase
, please.
 
I
can't
– ”

“You can,
Nickie
.
 
You can come
for me again and again and again,” he said.
 
He grabbed hold of her waist with his free hand and inched her back
toward the bed as her knees weakened from his continued caresses.

When her hips were on
the bed, he ripped off her panties and urged her legs open, exposing her to
him. Her lips were flushed a rosy pink and moist; her mound swollen and aching
to be touched.
 
She wasn't waxed or
trimmed to death and as he stroked his fingers across her, he liked the
softness of her midnight curls beneath his hand.

She lifted her hips and
whimpered in anticipation.

“Ah,
Nickie
,
I'm so hard for you,” he said and stroked himself while he continued to fondle
her.

Her gaze dipped to his
cock and she watched silently for a moment, but then raised herself up on one
arm and covered the head of his dick with her hand.
 
Pre-cum escaped him and she spread that wet
all across his head and dragged a finger across the underside of his penis and
the sensitive spot there.

That simple touch rocked
his world.
 
He blew out a harsh breath,
gritted his teeth, and said, “God,
Nickie
.
 
Not yet, babe.
 
Not yet.”

He ripped away from her
and bent to brush a trail of kisses up her inner thighs and to the nest of dark
curls.
 
He kissed the bundle of nerves at
her center and encircled her thighs with his arms, holding her tight to his
mouth.
 
Sucking, nibbling, and
licking.
 
Easing a finger into her as he
had earlier that night and finding her tight, but slick and ready for more.

* * *

Nickie
raised her hips
against his mouth, lost in the pleasure he was bringing her, but wanting his
thick long cock inside her as she came.
 
Wanting the warmth and wet of his mouth on her breasts.

“Touch your tits,
Nickie
,” he ordered again and his gaze locked on her as she
cupped her breasts and played with them.
 
Each little tweak reverberated through her and inside her pussy which
clenched in anticipation.

“I can feel it. I can
feel how much you want me,” he said, pressing his fingers deeper and opening
her for another kind of possession.

She mewled and shoved
against him with her hips while she continued to play with herself, waiting for
him.
 
Ready to take his
beautiful cock deep inside.

“I'm safe,
Nickie
.
 
Are you
protected?” he asked as he rose and his cock brushed across her center.

She whimpered in
anticipation and nodded.
 
Watched as he guided his erection to her center.
 
The tip of him kissed her clit and lips
before he eased just his head inside her pussy.

She moaned at the feel
of him, so warm and making her
feel
so full with just
that first tentative entry.

He shuddered and closed
his eyes as she surrounded the head of his cock with her pussy. Bracing his
hands on her thighs, he struggled for control and sucked in a rough breath
before opening his eyes.
 
His irises had
gone to such a deep emerald, it was almost impossible to see where they ended
and his pupils began.

“I've waited so long for
this,” he said and then he eased the rest of his length inside in one smooth
lazy push.

She came immediately
from the pressure and friction of his penetration.

Her body shook and she
cried out as waves of pleasure swept over her.
 
She clamped her thighs against his hips to hold him still, savoring her
release, but guilt instantly slammed into her that she hadn’t waited for him.

“I'm sorry,
Jase
.
 
So sorry.”

She met his gaze, so
dark now from his own desire.
 
He smiled
and raised a shaky hand to cradle her cheek.
 
Her musky aroma clung to his long agile fingers.

“That was amazing,
Nickie
.
 
And we're
not done yet.
 
Not by a long shot,” he
said and shifted his hips, pulling out of her before slowly driving back in.

She hadn't thought it
possible for desire to rise up again so quickly, but it did.
 
Each sure stroke of his hips sent a shock
wave through her body until she was arching up against him, accepting each
powerful thrust.
 
Nearly crying out as he
found her clit with his thumb and the pressure of his finger there caressed her
with each rock of his hips.

“Let it out,
Nickie
.
 
Scream for
me, babe.
 
Scream my name.”

She held onto his
shoulders and wrapped her legs around his hips which heightened the press of
his thumb against her and the penetration of his cock.
 
She met his gaze for only a second before
another release slammed into her and she gave him what he wanted.

“
Ja
-a-a-s-s-s-e,”
she cried out and dug her fingers into his shoulders to hold on as the world
around her shattered.
 
Through the haze
of her pleasure, she heard, “God,
Nickie
.
 
You feel so fuckin' amazing. You’re so
beautiful when you come.”

With a rough groan of
his own and a few wild jerks of his hips, he shouted out her name as he came.
“
Nickie
.”

His big body tensed and
stilled as his warmth spilled inside her.
 
His cock throbbed and twitched against her pussy as the lingering
aftershocks of her release caressed him.

She smoothed her hands
across his sweat-damp shoulders and his strong muscles trembled beneath her
palms.
 
She urged him down until he was
resting against her and they were both half-on and half-off her bed, but too
shaken to move.
 
Unwilling
to break apart so they could relish the remnants of their pleasure.

He kissed her tenderly
and started to say something, but then stopped. In a way, she understood.
 
She didn't have the right words for what had
just happened.
 
For how
she was feeling.
 
She didn't want
to diminish the experience with anything less than the perfect words.

With a smile, she
shifted her hands across the short strands of his hair and returned the
kiss.
 
Happy to let
that simple act convey all that she was feeling.

They lingered there,
still joined, until nature took matters into its own hands and he slipped from
her.

Wordlessly, they moved
beneath the blankets and to the center of her bed.

She lay there, facing
him, both hesitant and expectant until he laid a hand at her waist and soothed
it up and down her side in a reassuring caress.

“Are you worried that
I'll leave or that I'll stay?”

Chapter 5

A myriad of emotions
flashed across
Nickie's
expressive face.

She'd never been
good at hiding her feelings and that hadn't changed
,
Jase
thought.

With the barest shrug of
a fine-boned shoulder, she said, “A little bit of each.”

He totally
understood.
 
Every second spent with her
like this was a second to be treasured, but also a second that made the thought
of leaving her tomorrow even harder.
 
“I
get what you're feeling.
 
This isn't easy
for me either.”

“So why do this,
Jase
?
 
This is an
impossible situation,” she said and the glint of tears filmed over the dark
hazel of her gaze.

He cupped her cheek and
smoothed his thumb across it, trying to offer comfort.
 
“I don't believe in impossible, babe.
 
I never have.
 
This won't be easy, I'll give you that, but I think it's worth it.
 
Don't you?”

A ghost of a smile
flitted across her lips before it blossomed into a big smile that chased away
her tears.
 
“Yeah, I do,
Jase
. I think it's worth it.”

He grinned and hauled
her close, and she pillowed her head on his one arm and twined her legs with
his. She wrapped one arm around his waist and tucked the other beneath his head
as they lay there, facing each other.
 
Still feeling the uncertainty of new lovers and the eternal “WTF do we
do now?” in the aftermath of their lovemaking.

Jase's
stomach settled
it for them with a loud growl.

He spread his hand
across his midsection, chuckled, and grinned.
 
“The party
pickin's
were good, but not very
filling.”

“I'm a little hungry,
too.
 
How about I go get some food?” she
said, but she was in motion before he could answer, grabbing her robe and
rushing to her door.

Like he had before, he
understood where she was mentally.
 
She
needed a little bit of time to gather herself.
To understand
why she was doing something so totally out of character and as she had said,
something seemingly impossible.

So he lay back against
her pillows and waited, hoping that the time alone wouldn't give her an
opportunity to reconsider her earlier emotions.

* * *

Nickie
closed the door
to her bedroom and leaned against the wall, sucking in a deep breath to calm
the maelstrom of feelings swirling around in her head and heart.

Nothing could have ever
prepared her for what it was like to be with
Jase
.
 
Nothing.
 
It was better than anything she could have
imagined with the power to bring joy, but also to destroy her.
 
She knew that now.
 
She wasn’t just giving him her body, she was
giving him her heart and soul and that brought the possibility of lots of pain
if things didn’t work out.

They'd already admitted
that what came next wasn't going to be easy.

She still had years to
complete in medical school and he had years to serve to pay back the costs for
his college tuition.

Years of
separation
, she thought, her throat tight with emotion.

She finally pushed off
the wall and headed toward the kitchen, telling herself not to logic herself
out of one of the most amazing and rewarding things that had ever happened to
her.

In the kitchen she
grabbed a breakfast tray and loaded it up with an assortment of the foods that
had been left over from the party.
 
Cheeses and fruits.
 
A small plate with some finger sandwiches.
 
There was an almost full bottle of red wine
on the counter and she snagged it and two glasses.

The tray was heavy as she
trudged back upstairs with it and somehow managed a one-handed hold to open the
door to her room.

For a moment she
panicked as she stepped in and saw that her bed was empty, but then she
realized that
Jase
was lounging on the small loveseat
by the French doors leading to the balcony.
 
He had put his jeans back on, but they were unbuttoned and showing off
an enticing amount of skin and a little happy trail of blonde hair down the
middle of his lower abdomen.
 
He was
bare-chested and his arms were crossed behind his head which made all those
sculpted muscles even more defined.

Her heart thumped wildly
at the sight of him.
 
He was just so
beautiful.

And he was hers.
 
No more doubts or hesitation or worries.

He was hers for at least
tonight and she didn't intend to spend another moment of their time together
doubting the wonder of that.
 
She’d deal
with the heartache later.

She hurried over and
placed the tray on the small coffee table in front of the loveseat.
 
Teasingly she said, “Make
yourself
at home.”

He grinned and patted
the space beside him.
 
“The bed was too
lonely without you.”

She guffawed and rolled
her eyes.
 
“Does that line ever really
work with anyone?”

His grin broadened,
deepening the dimple on one side and making him look boyish again.
 
“Very few
anyones
to try it on,
Nickie
.”

She tried not to let his
comment please her so much and to keep the lighthearted mood going, she elbowed
him playfully.
 
“I’m sure the girls at
‘Nova
were
literally falling at your feet so give it a
rest, Hart.”

He dropped his arms to
draped
them over the back and arm of the loveseat and said,
“Okay, here I am, resting.
 
Literally.
 
Feed me,
Nickie
.
 
Please. I'm
too weak to go on without some food.”

She chuckled and shook
her head.
 
She grabbed a small bunch of
the grapes and held them to his lips like Eve tempting Adam.
 
He tugged one off with his perfect white
teeth and she pulled another one from the bunch and popped it into her mouth.

“Sweet,” she said as the
juices exploded in her mouth.

Jase
grinned and
after she swallowed, surged forward and kissed her.
 
Dipped his tongue in and murmured, “You're
way sweeter.”
 
He lingered then, coaxing
her lips to open with his.
 
Sucking and
biting at her lower lip until she was leaning into him, wanting more.

She moaned a protest as
he shifted away, but he merely shot her that devil-may-care smile again and
grabbed a few pieces of cheese.
 
“While
you're way more tempting, I really do need some food.”

Tempting, huh?

Feeling decidedly more
dangerous than she ever had, she leaned over to snare a piece of cheese, giving
him an eyeful of what was beneath her robe.
 
Or should she say what wasn’t beneath her robe.
 
Even with her downcast gaze, she didn't fail
to miss how he admired her nakedness and how the green of his eyes darkened
once more with desire.

Empowered, she eased
back to her seat, but trailed her hand down his thigh, appreciating the
strength of the rock hard muscle beneath the faded black denim.

“That's a dangerous
move,
Nickie
,” he
warned,
the tones of his voice husky which stirred something alive in her.

“Is it,
Jase
?” she teased and stroked her hand up his thigh again,
letting her thumb skim along the edge of his steadily growing erection.

* * *

Jase
didn’t fail to
miss the new boldness in her and as she grazed his cock with her finger, it
hardened instantly with that barest touch.
 
Despite that, he held back, determined to take it slow with her.
 
She might be all full of fire now, but he
knew her too well not to recognize that she might regret some things come the
morning.

Regret was the last
thing he wanted her to take away from tonight.

Reaching over, he poured
glasses of wine and handed one to her, wanting her to have something to do with
her hands that didn't involve his dick.
 
At least for right now.
 
He needed a moment to recover in more ways than one.

She made a moue with her
mouth, obviously displeased and clearly aware of his ploy.
 
“I don't get it,
Jase
.
 
I thought you wanted this night
– ”

“I do, but I don't want
to rush things.
 
We still have lots of
night and morning left, babe.”

Her hazel gaze warmed,
but mischief glittered in her eyes. She nodded and sipped her wine. Reached
over and grabbed a finger sandwich that she offered to him.
 
Some of the ham spread from the sandwich
smeared on her finger and she licked it off.

His mind pictured her
licking him with that beautiful wet tongue and his dick jerked in his jeans.

He swallowed and took a
big gulp of his wine.
 
Leaning over, he
picked up another small sandwich that he fed to her.
 
As she ate it from his hand, he said, “Your
parents sure know how to throw a bash.”

She wrinkled her nose
and glanced away.
 
“Seems
like there might be better things to do with all that money.”

“Like?” he asked,
although he was well aware of where she was going.
 
Nickie
had always
been almost ashamed of what she had, not that her family was obnoxious about
their money.
 
The mansion, while on the
beach and large, was like many others along this wealthy strip of the Jersey
Shore. Tommy and she had gone to the local high school, not some fancy private
school and unlike some of the other rich kids they rarely showed off with
outrageously priced designer duds or over-the-top jewelry.
 
Maybe it was because their dad had worked
hard for his money and wasn't keen on wasting it on unnecessary luxuries.

She lifted one shoulder
and nonchalantly said, “Like stuff.
 
Lord
knows we have enough of that.”

“You're not that bad,
Nickie
.”

“I guess.
 
I just feel . . .”

“Guilty?
 
Why? Because you have and people like me
don't?” he said and anger welled up within him.
 
He’d never let the differences between them be an issue, but she was
making it impossible to ignore those differences now.
 
“I don't need a pity party,
Nickie
.
 
If that's
why you're here with me, just to be a fuck buddy to poor little me
– ”

“That's not why I'm
here, damn it.
 
I'm here because I care
for you.
 
I just can't stand the thought
that for the next four years you're going to have to risk your life just
because you wanted to get a college degree.” Her voice was tight, her
frustration apparent and once again, the hint of unshed tears shimmered in her
gaze.

He wrapped his arm
around her neck and hauled her tight to his chest.
 
Embracing her, he kissed her forehead and
said, “I'm a Marine because I want to be.
 
I could have gotten some other kind of scholarship, but I wanted to do
this.
 
I needed
to do this.
 
I know that's hard to understand for some
– ”

“No, it isn't.
 
I guess I get it, but I'm not sure I like it,
Jase
,” she admitted.

“We’re more alike than
you think,
Nickie
.
 
You wanted to make a difference so you decided to go to medical
school.
 
I needed to make a difference
also and this is how I can do it.”

She glanced at him, a
watery smile on her face.
 
“Yeah, I know
you can,
Jase
.
 
I know you’ll keep your men safe, but I want you to keep yourself safe
as well.”

He bent his head and
kissed her, his touch tender and full of promise.
 
She tasted of the wine and of
Nickie
.
 
It was a
taste he'd keep with him during all those times they'd be apart.