Chapter 18
CHAPTER 18
A s she slowly opened her eyes, Jamie couldn’t help but wonder why she was naked. Then Bret’s instructions from the night before ran through her head and she remembered that she’d planned on sleeping in the buff for the first time in her life to save her tattoo from being ruined. It had also been on her list, well, the mental portion of her list, to try and she had to admit that it wasn’t all that bad. She could see why people liked sleeping like this.
When she moved to turn over, all rational thought left her brain as her eyes landed on Nick, no, correction, a half-naked Nick. She felt her eyes widen in appreciation at the sight before her. When her eyes landed on his normally styled and neatly combed blond hair, she couldn’t help but smile. The mussed look looked really good on him. It gave him that sexy bad boy look with a touch of sweetness that she found endearing.
She ran her eyes over his handsome face, down his neck, over his well-defined biceps, chest, and abs only to land on gray boxer briefs and stayed there. As much as she’d love to look away at the moment, she couldn’t. This was her first up-close look of that area. Granted, it was covered by his underwear, but that wasn’t stopping her from getting an eyeful at the moment.
Wow...
Were all men that big? Jamie wondered as she watched in utter fascination as the large thing in his underwear started to get bigger until it strained against the material and a large pink tip pushed itself out from beneath the waistband of his boxer briefs. For a moment, she lay there, helpless to move or even breathe.
Actually, now that she saw one, well, part of one up close, she was a little frightened. There was no way that something that big was going to fit inside of her. It was physically impossible and it helped her realize that she really wasn’t ready for sex. Correction, she was pretty sure she was ready for all the other stuff, just not the actual sex part. She didn’t want to do that yet. Not until she was comfortable about being intimate with a man and if she had to look forward to being split in two by a monster like that the first time, it would be a long time before she had sex.
It would probably be better if she learned how to please a man before she actually had sex just in case she was bad at it. She should probably find a man that she trusted to introduce her to sex, but the problem was that she didn’t know any man that would be interested in the job. The only man she trusted enough to do that with, unfortunately, was the same man that didn’t see her as anything more than an obligation.
Sure, they were friends right now, but she seriously doubted he’d bother acknowledging her when this tour was over. She was far from being his type and as much as she’d love to say that she wasn’t interested in him, she couldn’t lie. She was. Even if it was just a short affair, she would love to be with him. Nick was exciting, sweet in a cranky way that she found endearing, handsome, and probably the sexiest man she’d ever seen. It really was too bad that he’d never be interested in her because she would love to-
She lost her train of thought when Nick’s warm lips brushed against hers as he cupped her jaw with one hand. When she gasped in surprise, he took advantage and slid his tongue inside her mouth. The idea of some guy’s tongue in her mouth never appealed to her before. Then again, she’d never imagined Nick doing this to her, but now that he was, she found that she rather liked it.
Unable to help herself, Jamie reached up and cupped the back of his head, sliding her fingers through his thick hair as she tentatively slid her tongue against his. His growl excited her so she slid her tongue against his again. It wasn’t until he dropped his hand from her face and wrapped his arm around her to pull her tightly against him that she remembered that she was currently topless.
She stilled at the alien sensation of having her breasts plastered against his chest, but it didn’t last long. Soon she was pressing back against him, moaning as her hard nipples slid over his warm, firm chest and through the sparse, crisp hair that covered his chest. Her enjoyment lasted until she suddenly found herself on her back with Nick lying on top of her and one hand on her breast. As good as it felt to have him on top of her and touching her, it also scared the hell out of her.
“Nick, stop,” she said, hating the way her voice trembled.
Not even a second later, Nick stopped and was off of her and she couldn’t stop her sigh of relief, which caused him to frown.
“What’s wrong?” Nick asked as he reached over to brush the hair out of her face.
She opened her mouth to calmly explain the situation but instead found herself blurting out, “I don’t want to be torn in two!”
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Jamie groaned, covered her face with her hands and since that wasn’t enough, she buried her face against the pillow, all while praying that he forgot that she was there and went about his business. But, of course, it didn’t work out that way.
“Care to explain,” Nick murmured, pressing a kiss against her shoulder.
She mumbled into her pillow.
“Sorry, I didn’t catch that,” he said, sounding amused.
With a sigh, Jamie turned her head slightly and repeated it. “I said I don’t think I’m ready for sex.” With that announcement, she buried her face back against the pillow and prayed for a quick death.
“I know,” he said, pressing another kiss against her shoulder.
She moved her hands away from her face and turned to lie on her side, facing him, careful to cover her breasts with her arms, and asked, “You do?”
“Yes,” Nick said, moving closer as he laid his hand on her hip and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “I’m well aware of that fact, Jamie.”
“Oh,” she said, unable to help but frown.
“But that doesn’t mean that I don’t want you,” Nick explained, making her blush and fight back a rather pleased smile. That is, until he added, “You’re the type of woman who needs to be in a solid relationship with a man before you give up that kind of trust and I’ll never be him.”
“I know,” Jamie reluctantly admitted on a sigh.
As much as she wanted to try sex, and she did as long as she wasn’t split in two, Jamie also had to admit that she just couldn’t sleep with anyone. She wished that she could, but she had too many trust issues to be able to do something like that.
“What I can give you,” Nick said, pressing another kiss against her lips, “is fun.”
“Fun?” Jamie repeated, too curious to pretend otherwise.
“Mmmmhmm,” Nick said, leaning in to press a kiss against her lips again almost as though he couldn’t help himself, which pleased her greatly. She liked the idea of a man like Nick wanting her, even if it didn’t mean anything. “We can enjoy each other during this tour,” he said, cupping her chin between his fingers and gently giving her a nudge that had her meeting his gaze, “but you need to understand that this isn’t going to lead anywhere, Jamie. I can’t be the kind of man that you need. All I can offer you is a little no-strings-attached fun and I’m not sure that would be enough for you.”
Jamie thought about what he was saying as she absently snuggled closer to him, needing his warmth. When he pulled her the rest of the way, she laid her hand against his warm chest. “So, what you’re saying is that you’re not looking for any sort of commitment and that I shouldn’t expect one from you because you don’t want a relationship, but you’re willing to spend time together during this tour,” she said, summing it up.
He nodded slowly. “I can’t promise that this will even last to the end of the tour, Jamie. I don’t do relationships and even that might be more than I can handle. If we do this, I need to know that you understand everything going into this or we can’t do this, Jamie. We work together and I don’t want any drama at work. Do you understand?”
“Meaning I shouldn’t expect anything or get upset if you lose interest tomorrow,” Jamie said, shoving away her disappointment. She was on this tour to experience new things and if she only had one day with Nick, then she would simply treasure the experience and move on. She knew that he wasn’t the type of guy to settle down and she wasn’t going to expect it.
Nick sighed heavily as he leaned in and pressed his lips against her forehead. “I’m sorry, Jamie, but that’s all I can give you.”
“Okay,” she said, deciding that she wasn’t going to worry about tomorrow. “Just understand that sex is not an option,” Jamie said, knowing that without sex that he would lose interest quickly.
“That’s fine,” Nick said, slowly smiling. “There are other things that we can do,” he said even as he leaned in to kiss her again.
“Other things?” Jamie asked against his lips, too curious to focus on the kissing.
“Mmmmhmmm, other things,” Nick murmured against her lips as his hand slid between them and cupped her breast. “A lot of other things,” he said softly as he gently guided her onto her back.
“B-But no sex,” she reminded him even as her body trembled.
“No sex,” Nick repeated smoothly as he kissed her again.
Lying on her back like this, she felt exposed and had to grab hold of the floral comforter to stop herself from covering herself up. She’d never been very comfortable with her body and having a man like Nick, who’d probably found her lacking, seeing her like this made her even more nervous.
“Beautiful,” Nick murmured as he teasingly traced his fingertips up and down her stomach. It was only then that she realized that he’d stopped kissing her. Worrying her bottom lip between her teeth, Jamie glanced to the left to find him kneeling by her side as he ran hungry eyes over her body. The way he looked at her made her feel sexy and helped ease some of the tension from her body.
That tension came right back when he ducked his head and took one of her sensitive nipples between his lips and gently suckled. She gasped as she instinctively reached up to push him away only to realize that it felt good and didn’t want him to stop. Not sure what to do while he gently ran one hand over her stomach and down her leg while he licked and sucked her breast, Jamie decided that since this might be her only chance that she was going to do some touching of her own.
She reached out with her right hand and slowly ran her fingers through his hair, loving the way it felt, but more importantly, encouraging him to keep going. She’d never felt anything this good before. A moment later, that opinion changed when he released her left nipple to work on her right nipple just as his fingers lightly brushed over her panties, making her gasp.
When he did it again, Jamie fought against the urge to press her legs together and forced herself to open her legs wider. His growl of approval sent waves of pleasure through her nipple and between her legs and she couldn’t help but moan as she ran her hand over his back.
He felt so good.
“You’re soaking wet,” Nick said tightly as he cupped her through her panties, making her arch into his touch. From everything she’d read, she knew that was a good thing, but that didn’t stop her from being embarrassed.
Her embarrassment didn’t improve in the next second when his hand snaked beneath her panties and he teasingly traced her wet slit with his fingertips. Writing about sex hadn’t prepared her for this, Jamie suddenly realized. She’d used what she’d learned from reading romance novels to create the sex scenes in her books and now realized that they hadn’t been adequate, not at all.
She wrote about the mechanics of the act but had never really been able to describe what it felt like to be touched by a man, but now, she knew. She really couldn’t help but wonder if doing this with Nick would improve her writing. Of course, when he ran the pad of his fingertip over her clit and traced her core, she decided to stop thinking.
Nick kissed and licked his way back up to her mouth. This kiss was different from the others. It was wild, hot, and intensified the pleasure between her legs. When he suddenly reached back and caught the hand that had been exploring his back by her wrist and lowered it, she became nervous. Maybe he didn’t want her to touch him. Was she supposed to just lie there?
The selfish part of her didn’t have a problem with that, but the other part of her, the curious part, wanted to explore, touch, and learn every inch of him. This was something new for her and she knew that she would never be satisfied with just lying here. She needed to-
“Touch me,” Nick pleaded softly against her lips as he brought her hand between his legs and placed it on the erection straining against his underwear.
Not needing to be asked twice, Jamie ran her hand slowly over his cloth-covered erection and as much as she liked it, she needed more. When she reached the buttons on the front of his underwear, she quickly undid them and reached inside and couldn’t help but moan when her hand came in contact with something hard. She took a steadying breath as she wrapped her hand around him, noting the silky-smooth feel of his skin and slowly pulled it free.
She didn’t need to see it to know that it was large, very large. When she went to wrap her hand around it, she discovered just how thick it was. That pretty much confirmed her decision to hold off on sex for now. There was just no way that she was going to be able to lie there with this thing coming after her, Jamie decided as she began to explore him.
“Don’t stop,” Nick said against her lips before he pulled away and sat up, putting that monster between his legs right above her chest.
For a moment, Jamie could only stare at the large, dark pink appendage in her hand, but then Nick just had to go and slide a finger inside of her. He groaned as he slowly worked his finger in and out of her and it wasn’t long before she was running her hand over him as she moaned softly in pleasure.
As he worked his finger inside of her, Jamie was torn between watching his hand move between her legs and what she was doing to him. When several drops of liquid leaked out of the tip, she looked up to find him watching her intently. Using her curiosity, Jamie pushed aside her nervousness and pulled his erection closer as she tilted her head to the side, never taking her eyes off him, and licked the drops off the tip of his cock.
“Fuck…” Nick groaned, taking his time thrusting his finger inside of her as his thumb came into play and gently pressed against her clit. She continued to work her hand down his shaft, but now she couldn’t help but lick and suckle the large tip.
“That’s it, baby,” Nick said, groaning.
She couldn’t help but moan when he shifted so that the bottom of his shaft was pressed against her hard nipple. It felt so good. Every time she stroked him, his erection brushed against her nipple, sending pleasure throughout her body as he teased her clit until she was left half-sobbing/half-moaning as she rolled her hips, riding his finger as she licked and stroked his erection.
Just when she thought that she couldn’t take anymore, her body suddenly tightened and exploded into what felt like a million pieces. She was barely aware of her screams of pleasure or his groans. The only thing she knew was that she never felt anything this good before. That is, until the hot liquid shooting across her sensitive nipples set her off again.
She suddenly found her hand empty and Nick’s mouth back on hers as he slowed his movements between her legs. He swallowed her moans as her hips slowly came to a stop, leaving her panting as she struggled to catch her breath. He pressed one last kiss against her lips before pulling away.
“Go get cleaned up. We have to leave for the airport in an hour,” Nick said absently as he tucked himself back into his underwear and headed for the bathroom, leaving her feeling confused until she remembered that this was just another arrangement.