One Daring Night (6 page)

Eric slid his hands along her sides, loving the way she trembled beneath him. Mercifully, she kept her hands on the pillow as he worked the button on her pants free and tugged the zipper down. She shifted, lifting her hips to help him shed the linen and the lace panties that matched her pretty bra. He was going to have to get her to model some more of this sexy underwear for him later.

He tossed her clothing to the floor, pleased when her legs fell open for him, naturally, without prodding. She wanted him and it appeared he’d earned her trust. That or the tequila was
really
working in his favor.

He grinned at the thought as she gave him a quizzical look. He wiped it away with one touch. He stroked along her wet slit, evoking a quick gasp and then a shudder from her.

She was so ready for him. It would take mere seconds to shed himself of his own pants and slide into her. He closed his eyes and focused. Not tonight. Not when they were both more than a little tipsy.

Who was he fooling? They were wasted.

God willing, they’d revisit this tomorrow—sober—and he’d have his chance then. For now, he had to make damn sure she was willing to give him that second opportunity.

He moved between her outstretched thighs and lowered his head to her pussy. She jerked slightly. Eric had clearly taken her by surprise. When he placed his lips to her clit and sucked on the tight nubbin, she reared up.

“Ohmigod. What the hell?”

Two things rang through. One, she liked what he was doing…a lot. And secondly, she was genuinely surprised. Hadn’t the asshole she’d just dumped ever gone down on her?

“No. Never.”

He started when she replied, unaware he’d asked the question aloud. Then it was his turn for shock. “Never?”

She shook her head. He chuckled when she sardonically said, “It’s occurring to me I should have kicked the idiot to the curb a long time ago.”

“Ya think?”

Joni giggled, but the sound was cut short when he ran his tongue along her slit.

“Oh Jesus,” she breathed.

He loved her heated response and praise. There was no doubt she was appreciating his efforts on her behalf. Wrapping his lips around her clit, he sucked once more as he pressed two fingers inside her.

Joni’s back arched, her hands stretching up to grip the railing of her headboard. She began to thrust toward him, begging for more. He continued to play with her, taking his time while pushing her higher and higher, then Eric gave her what she wanted. He added a third finger to her pussy, driving them in deeper, curving them to stroke her G-spot. He nipped at her clit and she went off like a firecracker.

“Ahhhh,” she cried. Eric lifted his head, desperate to see her face as she came. He slowed the motion of his fingers in her pussy, enjoying the tight squeeze of her inner muscles. He let her ride out the storm completely before he withdrew them.

She went limp on the bed, her eyes remaining closed long enough that he thought she’d fallen asleep.

When she finally opened them, she smiled. “That was incredible.”

He nodded, in full agreement. “Yeah. It was.”

She stirred and he knew instantly what her intent was. He moved over her, pressing her back down to the mattress with his body. He kissed her softly, then looked at her.

“Time for sleep.”

She frowned and shook her head. “No. You didn’t—”

“I’m not fucking you tonight, Joni.”

“I don’t understand. Does this have something to do with the bet you made with your friend? Because I have to tell you, I think you’ve already skirted a line.”

He chuckled. “This has nothing to do with the bet.”
And everything.
He didn’t say the last.

“Then why wouldn’t you—”

“Because we’re drunk, Joni. You’ve had a stressful night and I have no intention of being a regret. So we’ll talk about this again tomorrow when we both have clearer heads. I’m hoping when you’re sober you’ll still want me. At which point, you and I will come back to this bed and fuck each other into oblivion.”

Eric halfway expected her to argue the point, but instead she reached up and cupped his cheek. “You’re a pretty cool guy, you know that?”

He chuckled. “Don’t tell anyone. If something like that got out, my womanizing reputation would be ruined.”

“I just wanted to say…if you decide to leave before I wake up…I had a really great night.”

She expected him to escape. And why wouldn’t she?

“You can tell me that again tomorrow.” He lifted her so that he could tug the covers on her bed down, then the two of them settled beneath them together. She snuggled into him, her head resting on his chest. Eric had never wanted to stay with a woman after sex. Never felt the need to hold someone close.

With Joni, he never wanted to let go.

Chapter Four

Joni opened her eyes and groaned at the bright light flooding her bedroom. She squeezed her eyelids shut again, but it didn’t help. Fucking tequila. “Uh. God.”

She was startled when she heard a male chuckle next to her. She turned her head, surprised to find Eric lying next to her.

“You’re still here.”

Eric gave her a funny look. “You didn’t think I would be?”

She shook her head. “No. Not at all.”

He was shirtless and under the covers. She tried to recall exactly how the night ended, but she couldn’t remember anything other than his incredible kisses, a lot of fondling and then him going down on her and her coming so hard her teeth rattled.

Beyond that…

“Did we…I mean…I don’t remember us…”

“We didn’t have sex, Joni. But we still had a pretty good time.”

“Oh. Yeah. I remember the good time.” And she recalled him being completely sweet—telling her he wouldn’t take advantage of her when she was drunk. She was still sort of overwhelmed and touched by that. In a world filled with idiots and jackasses—her previous boyfriend included—she couldn’t believe she’d been lucky enough to meet a gentleman.

Then she remembered his bet with his friend. Maybe his actions weren’t based on chivalry as much as money. Ten thousand bucks was a lot of cash to lose just for sleeping with her. “So I guess you kept your vow.”

He nodded, looking at her more seriously than she thought the question called for. “Yep. So far I’m still on track.”

Joni glanced at her bedside table. “You know, it’s nearly ten o’clock. You had plenty of time to make your escape.”

Eric stretched out, putting his hands behind his head, looking for all the world like lord of the manor. Joni tried to ignore how much she liked having him in her bed. “I’m not going anywhere until you’ve given me breakfast.”

Joni sat up, then grabbed her head. “Ouch. As long as you’re cool with coffee and dry toast, I think I can accommodate you. Not sure my stomach can handle much more than that.”

Eric sat up as well. “That sounds perfect. I’m feeling a little queasy myself. I lost count on the shots.”

“Me too.”

She laughed, then tried to grab the robe hanging on a chair near her bed while still remaining under the covers. While he’d seen plenty last night, it had been in the forgiving dimness of her bedside lamp. There was too much harsh, bright light this morning for her to let him get too good a look.

Joni tugged on the stubborn covers, then realized Eric was holding them. She shot him a dirty look. “Let go.”

“Nope. Not sure why you’re so shy. I saw it all last night.”

“I was drunk. Inhibitions low and all that jazz.”

He laughed. “I liked what I saw.”

“You were drunk too.”

She and Eric continued to fight over the blankets, but the tug-of-war ended when she heard loud cursing outside.

She giggled. “I think Jeff is here to get his stuff.”

Eric’s humor faded. “Are you okay with me being here? I can duck out quick or hide if you think it’s going to make things too hard for you.”

More generosity. “I don’t give a crap what he sees. He sure as hell wasn’t trying to hide his affair from me last night. Out and about with that woman.”

Eric glanced toward the window when the cussing got louder. Joni took advantage of his distraction, slipping from the bed and pulling her robe on quickly. She tied the sash as she walked to the window and threw it open. Eric was still in bed, perfectly hidden from view of Jeff, who was grabbing all his shirts and shoes in one giant armful.

“I’ll box the rest and call you later in the week,” she yelled down. “You can come get it then.” Despite her nonchalance over Jeff seeing Eric, she really didn’t want to deal with a scene this morning. Her head hurt way too badly.

Jeff spotted her at the window. “Dammit, Joni. Why the hell would you do this?”

“I told you I’d leave your stuff out front.”

His shoulders visibly slumped. “I was hoping we could talk.”

“We said it all last night.” And as she said it, Joni realized that brief conversation really was enough for her. She had no desire to hash it out, assign blame or listen to apologies. At the end of the day, they’d still be here. Broken up. So why waste the breath on a bunch of meaningless words?

“Can I just come up for a little while?”

She shook her head. “No. I’m serious, Jeff. I’d like to just make a clean break. That’s all of your clothing. The only things left here are some dishes, books and DVDs. I’ll pack them up and you can come get them when I’m at work. You can leave the key then.”

“I wanted to explain, to apologize.”

“That would be for you, Jeff. I don’t need either.”

Her response seemed to take some of the wind out of his sails. “So this is it?”

“Yeah. It is.” Joni resisted the urge to ask him what the hell he
thought
it was, her sarcasm gene screaming all sorts of catty remarks. She held them back. It simply boiled down to the fact she just didn’t have the energy or the desire to get into it with him. Not with Eric half-naked in the bed behind her. He’d introduced something into her life that had been absent for too long. Excitement, uncertainty, lust.

“I’ll call you later?”

“No. I’ll call you. In a few days.”

He nodded sadly, then trudged back to his car with an armful of his things. He’d have to make several trips. She closed the window and lowered the blind.

She turned around and sighed.

Eric was looking at her with a curious grin.

“What?” she asked.

“You’re a very interesting woman, Joni. Most women would have liked nothing more than to rake that guy over the coals, drag up every damn slight and argument and demand more than a few apologies. You let him off easy.”

She shrugged. “I really did say it all last night. And maybe I would have let him come in this morning and lit in to him if…”

“If I weren’t here?”

She shook her head. “No. If you hadn’t opened my eyes to a few things. It takes two to tango. Jeff and I haven’t been happy for a while. It’s not like we fought or anything. There just wasn’t any spark. I’m not saying that gave him carte blanche to cheat on me, but I’m not completely surprised he started looking elsewhere. He just should have handled it better and come to me before he strayed, but he didn’t.”

“I made you realize all that?”

“You or the tequila,” she joked. “Breakfast?”

He followed her down the hallway to her kitchen. She put the coffee on while he slid two pieces of bread in the toaster.

“I was kidding about the dry toast. I have some eggs and bacon if you’re hungry.” She silently hoped he’d turn her down. Just making the offer had her stomach twisting.

“No. The toast is plenty.”

She reached for two cups from the cupboard, then jumped a little when Eric wrapped his arms around her from behind. She slowly lowered her arms, the cups dangling from her fingers when he cupped her breasts, plumping the sensitive flesh.

“That feels so good.”

His breath tickled her ear when he whispered, “I know how to make it feel even better.” He slipped the knot in her robe free and she shivered. She tried to blame it on the cool air hitting her skin, but even as she thought it, she knew it was a lie. This man knew how to push all her buttons.

With her robe hanging open, Eric took advantage, stroking her breasts and caressing her stomach. She went limp, relaxing under his sensual massage. After several minutes, he turned her to face him, his gaze drifting down to look at everything he’d just touched.

Her cheeks heated at his perusal, but she resisted the urge to cover up. He was still shirtless, so she let his sexy chest, defined pecs, muscular arms distract her. She ran her fingers along his skin, enjoying his sharp intake of breath. She wasn’t the only person affected by whatever it was between them. Joni could almost imagine she saw sparks flashing. It was electric.

Eric leaned forward, clearly intent on kissing her, but Joni turned her head at the last minute. “At the risk of completely ruining the moment, I’d really like to run to the bathroom to brush my teeth. My mouth feels like it’s coated in cotton from all that damn tequila and I’m sure my breath is kicking.”

Eric chuckled. “Ditto. Come on.”

He grasped her hand and they walked to the bathroom together. Joni pasted up and wet her toothbrush. She spit and rinsed, then scowled when Eric grabbed her toothbrush and used it.

“Hey. Hello? That’s mine. Gross.”

He winked, but continued to brush. Once he finished up, he placed a quick kiss on her cheek. “My tongue was in your mouth for at least an hour last night.”

She lifted one shoulder. “That’s a valid point, I guess, but it’s still gross.”

“Can I get my kiss now?”

She grinned, but didn’t resist when his hands grasped her waist and he pulled her close once more. She liked his kisses. A hell of a lot.

Joni wasn’t sure how long they stood there in front of the bathroom sink, but when he pulled away, she knew she could have stayed there all damn day.

“Coffee?” he asked.

She nodded. They returned to the kitchen and she poured the coffee as Eric toasted two new pieces of bread, the first two cold and hard. Then she found some Advil in a cabinet and added that to their breakfast of champions.

Eric clinked his coffee cup to hers as he swallowed down the pills and she was reminded of all their toasts the previous night. She hadn’t laughed so much in a very long time and it had felt good.

Once they’d finished their toast, Eric glanced toward the hallway. “What do you say we crawl back into bed and sleep a little bit longer? Try to get rid of the hangovers.”

She thought that sounded like heaven on earth, but she was sort of surprised he wanted to stick around.

“Truthfully? I think that sounds great. But you don’t have to hang out if you have something else to do.”

“Still trying to get rid of me?”

That was the last thing she wanted to do. They’d started last night out with honesty and it had been nice to be able to be herself without any pretense.  So she gave him more of the truth. “Not at all. I’m having a blast with you.”

It was clear her answer pleased him. “I like being with you too.” He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, then clasped her hand and led her back to her bedroom.

She started to crawl beneath the covers with her robe on, still feeling shy around him, but Eric stopped her.

“Nope. Want you naked when I spoon you.”

She laughed. “Is that the plan?”

He nodded.

“And what about those?” She pointed to the pants he’d yet to shed. Hell, he hadn’t even unzipped. She couldn’t imagine he’d been very comfortable sleeping like that, but then she figured the tequila had helped with that too.

Unfortunately, her question led her gaze to his crotch and she noticed a very distinct bulge there. Eric was hard. Ready.

She licked her lips, all thoughts of her headache and nap gone.

Eric blew out a long, almost pained breath. “If I take my pants off, it’s game over, Joni. I’ll lay you back on that bed and take you. Given my current state, I think it’s safe to say it would be hard and fast. My self-control is pretty much gone.”

She reached out and ran her hand over his clad cock. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

He covered her hand with his, adding pressure to her stroke. His cock thickened even more and Joni started to understand just how well endowed Eric was.

“I’m trying to be a gentleman.”

“Oh, okay. Well, I’ll tell you what. You concentrate on doing that while I work on being what I want to be.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

She dropped to her knees in front of him. “I’ve always thought it might be fun to be a slut.”

Her words seemed to work on Eric like a stun gun. He didn’t resist when she unbuttoned his pants and slid the zipper down. In fact, he stood still as a statue until she reached beneath the elastic of his boxer briefs and gripped his cock. Then he sprung back to life.

“Jesus,” he muttered when she pulled his hard-on free. Eric reached out, his fingers tangling in her hair. “You don’t have to do this, Joni.”

“I want to,” she whispered. Together they worked to divest him of his pants, dragging them down so that Eric could step out of them. Throughout it all, Joni kept a firm grip on his cock, afraid he’d call a halt if she released him.

Jeff had never been a fan of oral sex in regards to giving to her, though he sure didn’t mind being on the receiving end. Joni—quietly resentful of his lack of fair play—had stopped giving him blowjobs nearly two years ago.

She’d never particularly enjoyed the act—at least not with Jeff—but there was something about doing this with Eric that was arousing, hot.

She tightened her grip as she ran her palm over his hard flesh. Eric groaned and the sound encouraged her to continue stroking him. After half a dozen glides along his cock, she moved closer and opened her mouth.