Chapter 2
chapter
two
Stella
“ S till time to back out,” I suggested as I eyed the pool table. We’d carried my pitcher, glass, and the nachos over. He’d finished most of his but he hadn’t touched mine. He did, however, order a fresh pitcher for me along with another beer for him.
“I think not,” he told me with a faint smile as I chalked the tip of my cue. He’d racked the balls we acquired after he dropped the pair of twenties on our friendly bartender…whose name was Flip.
I hoped he’d made that up because it seemed unnecessarily cruel to do to your child. “I’m just offering you options,” I said, setting the chalk aside and reclaiming my glass for a long drink.
“I’m good.” Amusement sanded over the words despite his controlled expression. He really didn’t want to be noticed and that thousand-watt smile probably brought all the lookie-loos to the yard. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that the ball cap was doing nothing to hide his famous face.
“Well, then keep your eyes on me and get your best flirt ready.” I winked before I leaned over to do the first break.
“My eyes are right where you want them.” Since he was behind me when he said it, I didn’t doubt he was looking at my ass. I gave it a little shake for him before I refocused my attention. The jeans I wore were relaxed and comfortable. They looked good but they were far from skin tight.
I sent the cue ball flying across the table in a perfect crack to break. The balls scattered and the solid red dropped into the corner pocket. That was one.
“Nice,” Gem said, the compliment seemingly genuine. “Still sticking with your bet?”
“I’m no welcher,” I said as I took another long swallow of my margarita. They were perfect and the buzz was polishing away the roughness of the day. “You said you wanted me to shock you—again.”
Which in and of itself was kind of funny. Apparently everyone thought he was his twin and the fact I didn’t had truly stunned him. Funny and sad really. Glass down, I circled the table, looking for my shot.
He sighed, and I had to bite back another smile. “You just want to get out of what I win.”
“Oh, you’re not winning it,” he said with a ridiculous amount of confidence.
“Four in the right pocket.” I made the shot and it went right in like a good little ball. “Aww, you’re going to hurt my feelings.”
With a dry look, Gem snorted. “I told you the guy already thinks I’m Seven. Hitting on him is a hard no.” The bartender kept glancing at us. I didn’t think the guy was gay in the slightest, but the hero worship when he looked at Gem was funny.
“Yet you took the wager.” At my reminder, he smirked.
“Accepting a wager doesn’t mean I’ve already lost, Slick.” The exaggerated drawl on the last word made me grin.
“Fair enough. Six in the side.” I took the shot and sank it. Gem tracked my progress as I lined up each shot. After the fourth one dropped in the called pocket, I drifted back to my nachos and ate a loaded one.
The vibrant-blue eyes seemed to burn as we locked gazes. Instead of commenting, he just shook his head and took a long drink of his beer.
Touching my tongue to my lips, I held his gaze for another beat before turning back to the table. The weight of his gaze was back on my ass. I called the next ball and sank it, but it was a narrow thing, brushing the eight ball, which drifted far too close to a pocket for my taste.
The flood of adrenaline added a little weight to the thumping of my heart. It also added the slightest tremor to my hands. I mean, it could have been the margaritas, but I was almost certain it was the adrenaline.
My next ball didn’t drop into its pocket. I clicked my tongue against my teeth as I glanced over my shoulder. “Guess it’s your turn.”
“Guess it is.” He put his hands on my hips and nudged me away from the table. Unlike me, he didn’t pace the table nor did he give it any kind of study. He just lined up his shot. “Striped red in the corner.”
The snap of the ball was followed by the crack as he struck his target and then it dropped. He barely waited for it to have vanished before he followed the cue to line up his next shot.
“Blue in the side…”
He pulled off a sexy bank shot from the side bumper and in the ball went. Prowling around the table like a man on a mission, he lined up his shots and knocked every single one in, and he didn’t go near the damn eight ball, perched in its precarious spot next to the pocket.
I knocked back the last of the margarita in my glass when he straightened up. Every ball of his was gone and all that was left was the eight ball. He met my gaze, smirk in place, then he winked before he said, “Eight in the corner.”
In the ball went like a good little bitch. I saluted him with my empty glass before setting it aside. “I guess you were serious.”
He circled the table to stand in front of me, pool cue in his hand. “So…time to pay up.”
Right. I licked the salt from my lips and gave him a once-over. “Like I said. I’m not a welcher. You won fair and square.”
“It was down and dirty, but I’ll take your word for it.”
I polished off the last of my first pitcher. I still had most of the second. Right… “Okay, stud. Grab the pitcher. I’ll grab my nachos and you follow me.”
He frowned. “Follow you where?”
“Hotel across the street. You’re getting us a room, and then we’re gonna see if we can get you balls deep in my pocket.” It was a horrible come-on, but I said it with a straight face because I was definitely riding a really good buzz and he was hot as fuck.
Yes, he won, but he was a dick about winning cause he didn’t want to pay the forfeit if he lost. Fair enough. I grabbed my plate of nachos and headed for the door. When Flip started to hold up his hand, I waved him off. “I’ll bring the plate back.”
It wasn’t like I was announcing to the whole bar we were going across the street. Neither one of us had raised our voices. At the door to the bar, I glanced back to see Gem staring at me, mouth slightly open like he wasn’t entirely sure I was serious.
“Come on,” I called, then shoved the door open with my hip and stepped out into the fresh air. It hit my flushed skin like a balm. I scooped up one of the nachos, they weren’t as crunchy now, but they definitely hit the spot. Hotel rooms usually had cups or glasses and if not, I wasn’t opposed to drinking from the pitcher.
I could mostly walk in a straight line and I started for the hotel that was located across the little side street from the bar. If I got there and he didn’t show up, well, he hadn’t said he would.
Might be disappointed…
Eh, no, I’d definitely be disappointed.
Right, I was just passing my car when I slid to a stop. I set the plate of nachos on the hood and dug out my keys. I’d just opened the driver’s side door when Gem appeared in my periphery.
“Cutting out?” The hesitation in his voice gave my ego a little boost.
I flipped open the glove compartment, then dug out a couple of condoms and withdrew them. I never relied on the guys to provide protection. Nope, they gloved or there would be no love. Also, I preferred to make sure I knew the condoms were good quality and not as likely to rip.
When I fanned the pair at him, his mouth formed another little O, and I had to chuckle. Sliding back out, I straightened and met his gaze. “Are you that shocked that I would want to use a condom?”
The silence stretched out between us as I shut the door. Then he set my margarita pitcher down on the hood next to the nachos. “Slick, you’ve been blowing my mind all evening.”
“Well, then maybe you should buckle up, cowboy,” I said, closing the door with a slam and sauntering to him. He really did look sinfully good. Whether he’d ever played a cowboy or not. “It’s still early.”
He slid an arm around my middle and hauled me to him. Six foot two was damn impressive when I was only five foot six and not in heels. But he didn’t make me stretch before he dipped his head.
Honestly, I had no idea what I’d been expecting when he kissed me. I planted my hands against the hard muscled wall of his chest just as his mouth locked on mine. A dozen thoughts ignited, then scattered half-formed under his slow, sensual assault.
Firm lips held mine captive and despite his hesitation inside, he teased with his tongue until I opened to him. I was not a hard sell. The man kissed like he wanted to lick up every drop of my margarita. The tongue wrestling was just a perk.
The very rigid evidence of his attraction thickened in his jeans and a shudder raced up my spine. He bumped me back against my baby blue car and then his hands were on my hips and he picked me up. My butt landed on the hood and our heads were even.
Oh, this was much easier and not a strain on the neck. I scraped my nails down his chest and he slid his hand under my shirt. Not once did he let me up for air. My heart raced as my thighs bracketed his hips. Even as he tugged me forward, there was just not enough friction.
Wrenching my face from his, I stared up at him. It was definitely a thrill to find him panting as hard as I was. “Hotel?” ’Cause we weren’t fucking on the hood of my car and I wasn’t doing it in the back seat either.
He closed his eyes, head back as his throat bobbed with a hard swallow. Was it that much of a struggle for him?
Before I could ask, he pulled me up against him until his erection was firmly pressed against the apex of my thighs. If not for two layers of denim, we could be getting seriously intimate right now.
“Hotel,” he said. “Let’s go.” Then he picked me up like he was going to carry me over there.
“Nachos,” I argued, and he paused. He shot a sidelong glance at the hood of my car. “Margaritas too. We have a long night ahead of us, and we should definitely carb up.”
“Fuck me.” He exhaled the two words like a prayer, and I enjoyed sliding down him.
“That is my plan,” I promised. He let me go long enough to grab the pitcher and I got the nachos, and then we were heading to the hotel with his arm around my waist. We probably made a sight as he kept pausing to kiss me.
I could get used to that. Once at the hotel, he handed me the pitcher and said to wait, then he disappeared into the building. Thankfully, he was back out not even five minutes later, key in hand.
Laughing like a pair of idiot teenagers fucking around after curfew, we hustled down the row of doors to one away from the street. The hotel was barely a three star, but it was clean and the walls weren’t paper thin—I might have stayed here once or twice in the past after a night of drinking at the C and C.
Once in the room, I set my nachos on the table and he put the pitcher of margaritas next to it. His wallet and keys hit the table next. I tugged the purse strap up and over my head and dropped it in the chair. I tossed the condoms on the bed, then reached up to pull that damn baseball cap off his head.
“Better,” I said as I tossed it onto the other chair.
“Not yet,” he said in a voice that held a lot of promise. “But we’re getting there.”
Maybe it was the huskiness or the way his eyes swept over me in the half light of the hotel room. I went from being buzzed and light to overheated and needy.
“One question,” I said as I jerked off my boots, then stripped off my shirt and bra.
“I’m clean,” he said, like I’d asked if he’d had an STD check. The minute my shirt hit the floor, I went for the buttons of my jeans and paused to stare at him.
He wasn’t moving, but his mouth was open, his gaze glued to me.
“Shit,” he swore, then shrugged out of the plaid before he yanked the Henley off in a smooth one-hand over-his-shoulder move to tug the fabric up and over.
Damn. Those muscles I’d felt earlier were right there, ripped and cut in all the best ways. Strip first, look after , I ordered myself.
My jeans and panties hit the floor. The air-conditioning in the room chose that moment to kick on with a clank. The rush of cold air blew right across my breasts and my already-taut nipples tightened further.
“You’re fucking gorgeous, Slick,” Gem said as he stood from dropping his jeans and boxer briefs. His cock was red tipped and already angling up. Oh, that was going to do real nicely. It was long and it was thick and it had some lovely veins already popping on it.
“Thank you,” I said. “You’re not so bad yourself.” But when he reached for me, I put a hand on his chest and he went still. “Question,” I reminded him.
“I thought I answered already.”
“You told me you were clean,” I said. “Thank you, that’s good to know, but that wasn’t my question.”
“Then ask,” he practically growled. “But it’s going to cost you.”
The cost was being hauled to him and his mouth slamming down on mine. His hands were hot and callused, and he stroked them down my back to my ass. The fact that he picked me clean up until his dick was resting against my cunt but he didn’t start humping away just made him all that more attractive.
I had to fist his hair and tug to get him to lift his head. I didn’t wait for his permission.
“Do you prefer to be on top or on bottom?”
His eyebrows shot up. A ripple of dark, humor-laced pleasure went through me. “Goddamn, Slick, I could get addicted to you.”
“Not an answer.”
He turned and tossed me onto the bed. “You have two condoms. Let’s find out which I prefer…”