Chapter 25 #2
Her gaze wavers for a second, like she’s trying to absorb the truth bomb I just detonated. A man standing in front of a woman, willing and wanting to love all of her, imperfections and all, as she said.
“Okay,” she quietly whispers, bringing her eyes back to mine.
Her response is simple, but it’s also enough of a signal that she’s absorbing what I’ve said, hopefully accepting it.
I want her.
“Still up to play?” I ask, voice low as I hold up the darts. “We don’t have to. We can pull a game off the shelf. Or—”
“Okay,” she says a little louder this time, the confident woman I know, and love, slipping through her vulnerable cracks.
Her eyes roam down my freshly showered, newly-dressed body. I’m not wearing socks or shoes, so I have maybe three articles at the most to be removed. Neve kicked off her sandals when we got here, so my best guess is she has four items.
Ideally, I want to see her naked, because I haven’t yet. We’ve been fooling around, fumbling over and inside clothing, but I want to see the stretch of her belly. Want to feel all of her skin.
“Okay,” I repeat, a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding, slowly releasing, hopeful once again she understands me.
“Rules?” I arch a brow.
“Rules.” She slowly lowers her hand from her belly, and takes another small breath, releasing any tension in her shoulders. Hopefully, all doubts from her head.
“Get a bull’s-eye, and you get to request a favor.”
Her mouth begins to curl, one corner lifting higher than another. Her dimple peaks out. “A sexual one?”
I shrug. “Doesn’t have to be.” But I’m hoping it is.
“I can’t say I’ve ever played strip darts before.” She gives me a slightly larger smile.
“I’m happy to be your first.” I wink. I want to be her first in many ways. “Ladies first,” I say next, waving toward the board.
As expected, Neve hits a slot in the rings. She cheerfully turns toward me. Her demand is quick. “Lose the shirt.”
I chuckle and reach behind my head, grabbing the back of the collar and pulling my T-shirt forward.
Neve drinks me in. “Seriously?”
I slap my hand on my abs. “You’ve seen this before.” We were naked that night, but we were also so wrapped up in each other and the layers of blankets.
“And everyone saw it today,” she snarks.
“No one was looking,” I state, thinking of all the men in various stages of undress.
“Everyone was looking,” she hums, roaming her gaze down my middle one more time.
“Well, the only ogler I care about is you.” I focus on her eyes when she finally meets mine. Because I care about you.
She smiles softly. The first real smile I’ve seen all day.
My turn is next, and I hit close to the bull’s-eye. We both hold our breaths for a second, seeing how narrowly I missed the mark.
“What if neither of us makes a bull’s-eye?” she questions, her voice low, breathless.
“I’ll still give you anything you want.” Anything.
She glances at me expectantly.
“Lose the overalls,” I command. I’m a lucky man because this is one giant article of clothing covering her.
“That means I have to take off my flannel shirt, too.”
“If you insist.” I smile.
“That’s cheating.” But she has no heat in her voice, only another smile.
“A cheater, I am not.” I nod at her. “You can put the shirt back on then.”
She doesn’t. She stands there in that stretched-out, oversized tank top and a scrap of underwear that exposes her ass when she spins to take her turn.
I raise my fist to my mouth and dig my teeth into the edge of my hand, when what I really want is to bend her over that poker table and take a bite of her ripe ass. I may even whimper, because Neve glances over shoulder, and whispers, “Easy there, Driver.”
Then she blindly tosses at the board and hits a bull’s-eye.
I gasp and she spins back for the circle, squealing at her point. “Do I collect now, or later?”
“Later.” My throat is gravelly, my willpower on edge. Still, I want her undressed before favors are collected.
“Jeans,” she says, not batting an eye, hardly blinking, as I pluck open the button and take my time to lower the zipper. I shove the jeans over my hips and then lower, kicking them off and to the side.
When I stand tall, Neve’s teeth dig into her lower lip. “It’s so unfair.” Her gaze runs up my shins and over my thighs and around my hips, before finally stopping on the dark green boxer briefs where I’m already half hard for her.
“What’s unfair, baby?”
“You.” Her gaze drops to my toes. “Even your feet are sexy.”
I laugh. She’s hilarious.
I step over to take aim, wanting a bull’s-eye of my own, but when Neve’s hand wraps around my belly, and her fingertips scrape across my abs, my dart barely hits the board.
“Now who’s cheating?” The corner of my mouth crooks upward.
Neve smiles salaciously and slides in front of me. So close her belly brushes my stomach.
She waits as I breathe her in before saying, “Shirt.”
Slowly, she runs her hands over her stomach and reaches for the straining hem, playfully drawing it up and over the swell of her.
Then she crosses her arms and tugs the shirt over her head, dropping it to the floor.
Her breasts are so swollen, they press against the confines of her bra, causing cleavage to spill over the edge.
My gaze roams from those large breasts to her even larger stomach, and I press my palm to her tight skin, running it up over the giant bump.
“You’re so beautiful, Neve. You simply take my breath away.”
Her cheeks flush and she tilts her head, like she doesn’t exactly believe me, but she doesn’t fight the compliment either.
“Last turn,” I say, gently spinning her in front of me, spreading my hands wide so I can feel as much of her skin as I can. I tug her hips, pulling her flush against me. The hard length in my boxer briefs strains to get at her. When her back hits my chest, a sizzle runs over my flesh.
“I can’t concentrate like this,” she says, her voice tight.
I gently rock forward, tapping her backside with my front.
“Better make it count,” I state, ignoring her lack of focus.
This woman makes me lose sight of everything else.
She lets her dart fly. It hits the board and should stick, but instead it pings off the cork and lands with a thud on the floor.
I hang my head, almost as disappointed as she is.
“Can my favor be that you remove those briefs?”
With my hands on her hip, I lean around her. “Only if you want it to be. Choose wisely, though.”
She bites her lip again and shakes her head.
I wrap my arm around her upper chest and take aim over her shoulder. It doesn’t matter to me if I hit that board one last time, I’m getting both of us out of our clothes and into my bed.
Still, the dart hits the mark right next to hers. A bull’s-eye and a favor.
Neve slowly turns to face me again, waiting for my command with a pouty lip.
“Gonna promise you that neither of us are losers in this game.”
Her mouth slowly curls.
“Now lose your bra. And my request is, let’s head to my bedroom.”