Chapter 25
Nick looked at her, his eyes steady. She began to breathe faster. Then he leaned forward and kissed her.
She shut her eyes and felt the press of his lips against hers, put her palm on the side of his face, and felt the scratch of his stubble. He deepened the kiss and scooted closer, putting a hand on her back. His strong fingers skimmed up her spine, then played in her hair. She dug her fingers into his shoulders and then brushed feather strokes down his arms. He shuddered and when she opened her eyes, he was looking at her.
“Yo ho ho,” he whispered. She smiled. He ran his thumbs across her nipples and then skimmed his palms along the sides of her torso, let one hand cup her bottom and the other rub gently between her legs. She moaned and nipped at his earlobe. She shouldn’t do this. She shouldn’t. Oh, but she wanted to. “Would you care to show me your desert island?” He glanced toward her bedroom.
“I don’t have any condoms in my refrigerator,” she whispered.
He hung his head and laughed. “I don’t always keep them in the refrigerator,” he said. “Just when I’m distracted by the local wench.”
“Hmm.” She stroked the front of his striped pants and his abs contracted.
He bent forward, forehead on her shoulder. When he spoke, his voice was husky. “I have one in my wallet.”
“Mm, pirate treasure.” She slipped onto his lap and wrapped her legs behind him, threw her arms around his neck, and kissed him like she’d been stranded on a desert island for years. He kissed her back like he’d missed her like hell. He rolled onto his back and let her ride down to the floor, then reversed the legs so that his were wrapped around her.
“Now you’ve got me where I want you.” He put both hands on her bottom and held her while he rocked up against her.
“Wallet,” she whispered. “Now.”
He nodded, extricated himself, and grabbed his wallet out of his jacket. He retrieved the condom and waved it in victory. “Pirate booty!”
“I thought this was your pirate booty,” she said with a wicked grin and ran her hands over his muscular butt. Then she trailed a hand out to him, intending to lead him into her bedroom, but he threw an arm behind her back and one under her thighs and lifted her. She squealed and scissored her feet as he strode into the bedroom with her, one eyebrow cocked.
He laid her on her blue toile bedspread, then closed the curtains and stood at the foot of the bed, looking at her. “God, you’re so beautiful.” She felt suddenly shy. He pulled off his pirate vest and the shirt that was mostly ties across his sculpted chest, and there were all those muscles, that hard chest, and the arms that could hold him up while he did things to her. She was already hot and wet and breathing in little shallow gasps as he sat on the bed and pulled her shirt over her head, then traced the lace pattern of her bra with his forefinger. She fumbled at his sash, yanking on it, and saw the touch of a smile on his perfect curving lips. Okay, so he knew she was desperate.
Then his pants ripped, the crotch seam giving way with a creak. He groaned and she ran a finger down the exposed triangle of blue underwear, and he groaned again, deeper. Together they pushed his britches off, and she sat on the edge of the bed, with him standing before her, shaking his ankle free from the soft boot while she shoved his underwear to his knees and then bent to kiss the tip of his penis. He made a soft animal growl, so she did it again, giving it even more attention. His abs contracted and his nipples hardened, and then he pushed her shoulders so she fell back on the bed, and he leaped over her, landing on the far side and gazing at her.
“Fair’s fair,” he said, and stripped her pants and underpants off together with strong, hard hands. Then he knelt between her knees, shoving them farther apart, and kissed up the inside of her thigh, almost there, and then up the other leg. She moaned and tilted toward him and he licked her there, there, and she squeezed her eyes shut. He licked again and again, exploring her with his fingers at the same time.
“Condom,” she whispered.
He surfaced and hovered over her. “Yeah?”
She nodded, her chest heaving and glistening with sweat. He lowered his head to kiss her, deeply and fully, dragging himself back and forth across her while his tongue played with hers. “Now,” Alyssa said.
Nick grinned, then a look of panic crossed his face. “Where did I …” She reached over to the bedside table and waved the package at him. He dropped his head and said, “Whew.”
He lay on his back, and she ripped the package off and rolled it onto him. “You’re flying the Jolly Roger tonight.”
“Yeah, Roger’s feeling very jolly.” He gave her a wicked look and said, “Prepare to be boarded.”
She squealed and he lifted himself over her, shoving her knees apart with his legs, and thrust smoothly into her. They both moaned, and he pulled out, dragged his engorged cock over her on the outside, then thrust back in. She watched his eyes and he watched hers, and she’d never felt such a connection with a man. She kept looking into his eyes as they moved together, rocking, gasping, until she grabbed fistfuls of sheet and spasmed against him, and finally her eyes pulled away from his as they rolled back in ecstasy. A second later he was there, shuddering inside her. They rocked together, her muscles coiling around him, claiming him, and then their breathing slowed, and he gave a final swirl. Wow, did she like that swirl.
And then he pulled out and flopped beside her, an arm behind his head.
He smiled at her and brushed hair away from her face. “I love your hair,” he whispered. “I always want to touch it. If you ever want someone to follow you around and push it out of your eyes for you, I want to be the guy.” She smiled at him and laid her head in his armpit. “Okay, now you should wash your hair before anybody touches it. My pits aren’t really safe territory.”
“Well, you are a pirate.”
“About that. Did we just name my penis Roger?”
She nodded under his arm and snuggled in closer. “Pretty sure we did.”
“See, Roger is not a good name for a dick.”
“Did he have a name before?”
“Thor. I called him Thor.”
She laughed, rolling on her back. “You did not.”
He grinned down at her. “Of course I did. Thor is a great dick name.”
“Well, my hearty, he’s Jolly Roger now.”
Nick sighed. “Did you ever name your breasts?”
“Annabelle and Elizabeth,” she said without hesitation.
He stared at her.
“What? I thought those names sounded elegant.” She laughed. She’d never had this much fun with a man after sex. She was just so comfortable with Nick.
“Which one’s which?”
She raised an eyebrow at him. “You’ll have to ask them yourself.”
He lifted himself and twisted over her, licking her nipples and stroking her breasts. “This one tastes like an Annabelle.”
“Works for me.” She shifted. “So, Roger’s a resilient fellow.”
He glanced down. “Um, yeah. Well, hockey players can last for three periods …”
“Three!”
“But I only had the one condom,” he said, taking it off.
“Mmm. Shame,” Alyssa said. “I enjoy having a pirate around.”
“I am here for all your pirate needs,” Nick said, running his thumb between her breasts to her navel and dipping it in. “Especially burying my treasure.” She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. “Oh! One more thing.” He stood, took two strides to the closet and stooped, giving her a great shot of his muscular butt. Then he turned and there was Mrs. Gilroy in his hand, her pointy nose sticking out between his fingers.
“Mrs. Gilroy!”
“She was watching us,” he said. “I saw her beady eyes but, you know—priorities.” She laughed. He looked seriously down at the gerbil. “Perv.”
Alyssa got up, grabbed her satin bathrobe from behind her door, and slipped it on, then led him back into the living room. He lowered the gerbil gently into its cage, and Alyssa set the lid back in place and latched it. “Mission accomplished!” Nick said. He padded naked over to her table. “Is this the stuff that’s supposed to be messy?”
“Yep.”
He cocked his head. “You’re making … note cards?”
She twisted her lip sideways. “I was trying different designs for an agency sign. If I open one someday.”
His eyes widened. “That’s great! You’re doing that? Your own shop?”
“Well.” She hesitated. “I hope to someday. I’m not in a position to yet.” Also, you’re walking around stark naked. Do that on the ice and I’ll bet you could distract the other team.
“It would be nice to get away from that woman, right? The frowny one.”
She hesitated. She didn’t want to explain that she’d gotten fired—and definitely not that it was over him. “We’ll see.” She shrugged.
“You would be great! You’re a terrific designer, and you’re good with clients. You seem organized. Are you organized?” He sounded excited.
She laughed. “I am organized.”
He threw his hands up. “What’s stopping you? Go for it!”
“Nick, it’s not that easy. A million things could go wrong.”
“A million things could go right!”
“It’s dangerous. Things can fall apart just like that!” She tried to snap her fingers. He tilted his head and looked at her, clearly unimpressed with the attempt. “One minute everything’s fine, and the next you’re knee-deep in debt and have a lease for some commercial space that you can’t use because … the end tables didn’t come in, say, and you can’t finish a project.”
He lowered his head and gave her a look that was clearly meant to be serious, but a smile kept breaking through. “Are end tables a known hazard in your profession?”
“Yes! Many things can go wrong with end tables.”
He gave her squint eyes. “You might have warned me before you put some in my place.”
She waved a hand dismissively. “Throw them overboard if they get rowdy.” She flipped the logo designs face down. “But seriously, it’s dangerous to start a business, and I’m not in a place to do it right now.”
“Huh.” He opened his mouth, shut in, and then took a breath. “This is about your dad, right? And what happened afterward?” He flipped the designs back over, squinted, and stepped back.
“No, it’s about … well, maybe.”
He nodded, apparently satisfied with the admission. “Things can get better, you know. People heal.” He hesitated, then plowed on. “I was perfectly content living with one chair and a mattress on the floor. I didn’t want my place turned into a home.”
“And now?” She sounded breathless.
“You’re making a home for me, and I like it.” He flushed and looked back at the sketches scattered over the table.
There was something in his voice when he said that she was making a home for him—she wasn’t sure he meant just the apartment. His apparent embarrassment added to the impression. While he looked at the sketches, she eyed his torso—wide shoulders, narrow waist, muscular butt. He looked like he should have been carved from marble and propped in front of the Parthenon.
“I like the one with the extra scroll on your name, but it’s not clean enough. It would be hard to pick out at a distance.”
“That’s what I thought,” she said.
He left them face up on the table, tapped them with a knuckle, and gave her a significant look. “Tell me something. Why do you like designing people’s houses?”
“Because it makes it a home.” She struggled to find more words, then just said, “It feels important to me.” He nodded and opened his mouth, but then she said, “It’s like being the groundskeeper. You guys couldn’t play the game without the groundskeeper, right? They make the place work for you.”
“For us that would be the Zamboni driver.” He cocked his head at her. “Didn’t take you for a Zamboni driver, Compton.”
She responded with a vaguely automotive sound, and he laughed. Then he collected the pirate costume, wishing he’d thought to bring his own clothes up. He tied the black sash low to cover the ripped seam. “Pirate walk of shame,” he said, and Alyssa laughed.
“Do you want to borrow a sweater?”
He looked at her quizzically. “Do you have something big enough?”
She looked at his shoulders and winced. “No.”
He gathered his keys and wallet and hesitated at the door. He leaned close to her, smelling of skin and sex, and whispered, “If Mrs. Gilroy posts photos on the internet, I’m suing.” She was laughing when his lips brushed her cheek with a quick kiss, and then he hustled down the hallway in his red striped pirate pants, ripped in the front where she couldn’t see. But the view from the back was amazing.