42. Nora
CHAPTER 42
NORA
Inside, the bar is pretty dark and half empty. Most guests are sitting outside by the waves and open ocean. I wind through empty tables toward the restrooms. I’m nearly there when I hear the footsteps behind me, but I don’t turn.
He catches me around the waist a second later and pulls us into the nearest bathroom.
He took the bait.
I tuck my body into the curve of his. “Hi.”
“You’re playing a dangerous game.” He drags his mouth down my cheek, down to my neck. I tip my head back to give him better access. “And not a very subtle one.”
“Subtle enough,” I say. “You’re the only one I’m playing with.”
“The only one? You were flirting.”
I turn in his grip. “Yes. I was really trying to be present and just enjoy the moment.” I grin at him. “He was attractive.”
West’s eyes are dark. “The poor guy won’t be able to sleep tonight.”
“All we did was talk for a bit.”
“Don’t underestimate yourself.” West dips his head and brushes his lips over mine. “And you did it in front of me.”
“Yes. You see…” I grip the fabric of his shirt. “The guy I’m pretending to date told me that he won’t take my virginity. So I’ll have to find someone who will.”
He closes his eyes on a groan. “You’re punishing me.”
“No. I’m practicing arguing, just like you told me to. Do you like it?”
“No.” His hands slide up my ribcage, and his thumb brushes the underside of my breast. “But you’ve been incredible today. You didn’t bat an eye at the challenges.”
“They were a lot,” I admit.
“Yes. Rafe was terrified for you. I had to tell him that you could handle it.”
“You did?”
“Yes.” West kisses me again, hot and insistent. His thumb moves higher and brushes the sensitive, taut nipple through the fabric. “You’re hard here.”
“Guess we both have that problem around each other.”
He groans, and his hands slide down to grip my waist. He lifts me up and puts me on the edge of the counter. “That’s it. Sit there for me, pretty girl.” He grips my knees and spreads them to make himself fit between, but he doesn’t look down.
He just looks at me.
“Teasing me is a bad idea.”
“Not with my goal,” I say.
His eyes flash. The hands on my thighs curve and tighten. We’re both thinking of the same thing. Losing my virginity.
On my thigh, his hand slides higher up. “Were you telling the truth out there?” he asks. “Did you really go without your panties in front of all of those people?”
“I was covered,” I protest. “Perfectly decent.”
“There’s nothing decent about how you make me feel,” he mutters. His eyes darken, and he slides the hand on my inner thigh higher. An inch, and then another. “What will I find, trouble? Were you bare out there for hours? Only feet away from me…” His fingers brush higher. Another inch… and then he’s stroking across my folds.
West groans like I’ve wounded him. “You weren’t lying.”
“I would never lie to you,” I say in a teasing voice. His fingers feel like fire against my bare skin. I’ve never gone without panties in public before, and for the last few hours I’ve felt it, keenly, just how exposed I’ve been.
With no one around knowing.
West rests his free hand on the wall behind me, like he can no longer stand without help. “You were sitting out there bare like this?”
“You really thought I was lying?”
“I hoped,” he mutters, and his fingers stroke against me. Up and down, faint, exploring touches that make me shiver. He brushes over my clit, and my breath catches.
“This is what you wanted, isn’t it?” he asks. “You wanted to push me into doing this.”
“Yes,” I breathe.
West’s fingers disappear, but only to pull my skirt up. He lifts it slowly, his eyes fixed on mine. Only when the fabric is bunched up by my waist does he look down.
“Look at that. My perfect girl.” His fingers move between my lips. “You’re already a bit wet, too. Did you get excited out there? Knowing you were sitting out there bare?”
I nod. He touches me reverently, expertly, his eyes on every single one of his movements. “Of course you were,” he murmurs. “And you’re being so good, letting me look.” When he brushes over my clit again and I mewl at the sensation, he makes a soft shushing sound. “You have to be quiet, sweetheart. Can you do that for me?”
My hand in his hair turns into a vise. “Yes.”
He circles my clit with steady pressure, and my breath speeds up. His lips are on mine then, kissing me with bruising intensity. “This is what you wanted all day, for me to break?”
“You want me,” I whisper. “True or false.”
“More than I can handle,” he says. “More than I should.”
He makes a quick drumming motion over my clit, and the sudden rhythm makes me gasp. His fingers stroke down, teasing my entrance. “Push me away,” he says.
I shake my head.
“Nora,” he murmurs. “We can’t get caught in here, and right now, I’m really fucking close to ignoring that fact and staying in here until you’ve come at least twice. The others would notice.”
“I’m tired of pushing you away.” I scoot forward on the counter and moan when his finger slides against my entrance. “I want to practice the opposite. Use your fingers.”
“Fuck,” he mutters. His finger pushes inside me, and there’s that faint pressure again from the other day. My breath catches, and he pauses. His thumb returns to my clit and presses steadily downward.
“Oh,” I murmur and slide my hands down to grip his shoulders. “Oh, that’s…”
“You’re doing so good.” His breath is hot against mine. “Tell me how that feels.”
“Strange. Good. I like—oh!—when you do that.”
He kisses me again, and his finger slowly pumps in rhythm with the motion of his thumb.
“You can take another one for me,” he says. I nod against his lips, and the burn sharpens when he slides another finger in. “That’s it. You’re doing so good, sweetheart.”
I breathe deeply, and the stretch turns into pleasure, sweet and heady. “I packed the vibrator. The big one,” I say. “You said you won’t… oh my god… you won’t help me have sex… But can you help prepare me for it?”
His fingers pause inside me, his thumb stilling on my clit.
Every single muscle in his body is locked tight. Like I’ve punched him.
“West?”
“I’ve never argued with anyone like you,” he says, and his fingers curl inside me. “You know just how to twist the knife, don’t you?”
“I’m not trying to… oh!” A surprised sound escapes me, because his fingers are doing something new, that curved, stroking motion, and I slide my hands down his back.
West winces.
I immediately pull my hands away. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he says. He bends to kiss my neck, and his finger keeps moving inside me. “Keep your hands locked around my neck.”
“You’re hurt,” I say. The way he winced earlier tonight, too…. “What happened?”
“Nothing.”
“It’s not nothing.” I reach down and grab his wrist between my legs. It’s firm beneath my grip, but I manage to still it. “Have you gotten it checked out?”
“It’s fine. Knocked into one of the rock walls while river rafting.” West’s dark eyes search mine. His pupils are blown out wide, and he looks like pain is the only thing he can feel. “There’s nothing I want more right now than to make you come and forget about anyone else. That bartender, your future?—”
I push at his chest, and he pulls out of me with a frown. The sudden lack of his fingers is startling. “Let me look at it.”
“No,” he says.
“What do you mean no?”
“If you get injured, you lose the challenge,” he says. “You lose the chip. I’m fine. It’ll heal.”
I jump off the dresser. “That’s ridiculous.”
“Those are the rules.”
“Well, I don’t accept.” I’m still on edge, but I’m annoyed now too. “If you won’t let me fix you up, then you don’t get to make me come.”
His jaw works as he looks at me. But I just stare right back at him. I’m not intimidated by West Calloway’s stares anymore. There’s high color on his cheeks, and his hair is mussed from my hands. The top button of his shirt has come undone, too. If he walked back out like this, there’d be little doubt that something had happened to him.
Back out. To the others… including my brother.
We’ve been gone for too long already.
I pull my dress down, and his eyes track the movement. “I’m going back out there. I’m going to drink a few more drinks, maybe chat with Thiago a bit more.”
“Don’t say his name,” West says.
“Why? Are you jealous?” I give him a sweet smile. “I’m only doing what you’ve taught me. What you’ve told me to do.”
“You’ll have to go out first.” He reaches down and palms himself through his pants. “Second time today. My balls are gonna be fucking aching.”
“You know there’s someone here willing to fix that for you. As soon as you let me look at your injury.” I open the door. “It’s up to you, Calloway.”
“Go,” he mutters and motions for the door. “And well done, trouble.”