5. Nia
5
NIA
I really consider bluffing, pretending that my hand is garbage, just to keep the game going a little longer. But when the first three cards are flipped, any thought of playing it cool flies right out the window. The moment I see that I’ve got a royal flush, I know Josh doesn’t stand a chance. A thrill runs through me, not just at the prospect of winning, but at the look I know is coming on his face.
“Royal flush,” I announce, letting the words roll off my tongue with a mischievous lilt. I can’t help the impish smile that spreads across my face as I stare unashamedly at his lap, where his pants are already unbuttoned from the last round. “If winner takes all, does that mean you have to leave naked?” The words are out before I can stop them, playful and teasing, but almost immediately, I regret it. Not because I don’t want to see him naked, but because the idea of him leaving now, of this night ending before I’ve had a chance to explore whatever this is between us, makes my heart sink.
It’s crazy, really. We’ve only spent a few hours together, but in such a short time, I feel like I’ve peeled back more layers with this stranger than I ever have with the friends I’ve known for years back in Birch Harbor. There’s something about him that makes me want to open up, to share parts of myself I usually keep hidden. And the thought of losing that connection, of him walking out that door, is more unsettling than I care to acknowledge.
Lost in my thoughts, I don’t even notice him standing up, his tall frame casting a shadow over the bed. It’s only when I hear the unmistakable sound of his zipper sliding down that my brain snaps back to attention. My eyes zero in on his hands, the way they move with practiced ease, undoing his pants with a casual confidence that makes my breath hitch. My mouth goes dry, or maybe it’s watering. I can’t quite tell because all I can focus on is the slow, unintentional striptease unfolding right in front of me. The way his muscles ripple under his skin as he moves, the teasing glimpse of skin just below his waistband, it’s all too much and not enough at the same time.
I’m imploding and there’s no relief in sight.
“Guess what?” My words stop him, and I think about how stupid it is that I don’t let him finish before saying something.
“What?” His eyes are on mine, the heat in them practically singeing me from across the room. “Don’t tell me you’re ready for another hand.”
“No.” I glance at the cards on the bed and then back at him with a raised eyebrow. “Did you intentionally lose? Just so you’d be able to strip down?”
“No.” He laughs, the sound a mix of molten pleasure and coarse whiskey. “Trust me, I wouldn’t throw a match just for that. I’d rather see you naked than almost anything at this point.”
“I’ve got the keys to the pool,” I blurt. “Even though it’s closed. Do you want to go skinny-dipping?”
“Skinny-dipping?” His eyebrow cocks. “Won’t we be seen?”
“No.” I shake my head with a mischievous smile at the shocked expression on his face. “I’m not crazy, you know. Just a little wild.” I lie through my teeth, but I can’t help it. This is the most wild I’ve ever been in my entire life. “The pool’s closed, and since it’s an indoor heated pool, we won’t be seen. Charlie doesn’t have cameras in the pool room.”
Understanding takes over the confusion, and I watch as he re-buttons his pants while I stifle a groan at what is being covered up.
I really should have just kept my mouth shut.
But he makes me nervous.
It is an unfortunate habit, but I always talk when I get nervous, and being around him, even with the amount that we’ve shared, is no different.
“Let’s go.” I hold out a hand, not sure if I expect him to take it or not.
After all, he is a cop.
Skinny-dipping can’t really be something they are allowed to do.
The pause between us is so tense, so full of indecision, that I’m sure he’ll turn me down. When he scoops up his shirt from the end of the bed where it’s been since he removed it after our first match, something in my gut clenches.
I must have done a really bad job of hiding the disappointment from my face because one minute he’s across the room getting dressed, and the next he is pressed up against my body with his forehead pressed down to mine.
“If I had my way, we wouldn’t be leaving the room right now.” His low timbre sends a shiver down my spine. “We’d be getting naked and trying our damndest to break the bed. But if you want to go swimming, we can do that first. Then we can break the bed. There are plenty of hours left tonight to do both.”
Everything inside me clenches at his words, and all the nerves that have built up over the last few hours vanish.
All I have to do is tilt my head back an inch, and our lips touch for the first time. Soft and intruding, his surprise is evident in the way he holds himself back, just for a second.
Once his surprise at me taking the first step fades, Josh takes control in a way I crave. The space between our bodies vanishes as he cups my face with one hand. He wraps the other around my waist and adds just enough pressure to make me moan. My mouth opens slightly with the sound, and he sweeps his tongue inside, taking every inch I offer.
But I can’t let him have all the fun.
Rather than leave my hands hanging down by my sides, I lift them up, sliding my left hand under his shirt, finally getting to touch the skin I’ve been staring at all night. Then when I feel his body adjust to my careful perusal and curiosity, I pop the button on his jeans, smiling into the kiss when he goes completely still at the intrusion.
“Wha—” he starts to ask, but stops when I slide my hand into his pants completely. “Not fair.” He groans, steps closer still, and then his hands are everywhere while he kisses me into oblivion. Almost. I slip my hand farther down, reaching for the hard length that I can feel pressing against me.
With a growl, he bites my lip and lifts my shirt before tearing it off my body completely. For one brief moment, we stare at each other without saying a word.
I feel the heat in my cheeks, the desire for him slamming through my veins like I’m high on him. He moves before I can, and suddenly I’m in the air, scrambling to wrap my legs around his body to keep from falling.
Our bodies meet in a clash of clothes and hands, impatience and insistence on both of us being in control. Josh turns us and then drops me onto the bed, which ends with my back on the bed but my legs still wrapped around his waist as he pulls his shirt off.
“Gotta let go of my waist so I can take your pants off.”
I don’t move.
I’m too busy admiring the way every single muscle in his arms and chest flex while he stares at me. Like he’s on pins and needles just waiting for me to react. When he reaches behind his back, I feel his hand on my ankle, then he pries my feet loose until I drop them to the bed.
Unable to let him have complete control, I shimmy out of my pants before he can and then unsnap my front-clasping bra, dropping it to the ground.
The light in the hotel room isn’t the best, but there is still plenty of it so that I can lean back on the pillows and watch as he strips down completely.
“I like this,” I tell him when he steps out of his jeans.
Josh smiles and then drops his underwear too. “Getting naked really is the best way to get to know someone.”
He stands there, staring at me, with one hand wrapped around his dick, and I have no clue how long we stay that way. Just the two of us, watching and waiting to see what the other will do next.
“I have no idea why I’m shy all of a sudden,” I admit, never taking my eyes off his dick. “I’m not a shy person.”
“Nia.” Hearing my name on his lips does something dark and dirty to my soul, and I drag my eyes up to meet his. “You’re naked, without caring that there’s light on in here, staring at my dick. Trust me, you’re not shy.” He smiles, and I swallow at the sight of the dimple reappearing.
“I mean… I do like looking at you… but maybe we could—” I can’t finish my sentence because Josh is on top of me in the next instant.
Closing my eyes against the intensity, I meet his kiss with matching passion and practically whimper when one of his hands goes immediately to my core.
“Josh.” His name falls from my lips when we come up for air a few moments later.
The smile on his face is intoxicating. “Nia.”
“Can we do the dirty deed already? I’m ready, and the foreplay is killing me.”
Shock and then complete and utter amusement light his face. “I haven’t even started with the foreplay yet.”
I should have kept my mouth shut. Really, I should have. Because in the next second, Josh has my legs over his shoulders, and his face is buried against the only part of me that will have me screaming in ecstasy.
My fingers dig into his hair, my legs locked around his neck, and I’m pretty sure there isn’t a chance in hell of me letting him go even if he tries. I already know I’m close, but the second his tongue snakes out and swipes against my skin, pressing against the most sensitive bit, I do scream. My orgasm blinds me for a good thirty seconds, and by the time I come back down to earth, I think I’ve died.
“That’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life.” Josh’s words are nothing more than a whisper against my inner thigh, and I can’t bring myself to look down at him.
“Hurry,” I answer, my voice broken and a whimper with the pleasure still coursing through my veins.
His skin rubs mine in exactly the right way, leaving me panting with need against him. When I reach down between our bodies and feel just how hard he is, I know he is done playing games.
It is a good thing, too, because if he takes any longer, I may scream in frustration.
“Ready?”
I look up to see him staring intently at me, waiting for an answer.
One I give with a sharp nod. “Definitely.”
But I’m not ready for the intense and sudden invasion into my body.
He isn’t that big, is he?
As he starts to move, I realize that yes, he definitely is that large. And he knows exactly what he is doing. One hand finds my hip, grabbing tightly, while my legs wrap around his waist again in the familiar position. The other? The other he wraps around both of my hands and lifts my arms above my head.
Unable to touch him, I use my body to show what I want. What I need. My back arches, and my pelvis moves against his while he takes me slowly, deeply. While our bodies adjust to one another, I memorize every single movement.
Every twitch and twist of his body against mine brings me closer to the peak that I’ve just climbed with him. Until my breathing turns shallow, and my heart races with the anticipation of what lies just over the next thrust.
“I’m close,” I manage hoarsely. “So close.”
He pauses, and I open my eyes, unaware I had closed them, and I see him watching me again. “You are, aren’t you?” A half smile brings the dimple back again, and sweat dots his brow. “Tell me what you need.”
“My hand.” When he releases me, I leave one hand where it is and move the other between our bodies.
As soon as Josh sees what I’m doing, a low growl of anticipation leaves his lips. “Perfect. Fuckin’ perfect.”
With my fingers pressing against my clit, he starts to thrust again. Less controlled, more wild, until I feel the orgasm building behind every move that either of us makes.
“Can’t hold on,” he grunts. “Are you close?”
Before he even finishes his question, I’m letting go. From the top of my head down to the tips of my fingers and toes, the electricity that fills my veins brings every sensation to life while my orgasm wreaks havoc in my body.
“Holy shit,” Josh mumbles when I finally feel him move off me. “I can’t believe that just happened.”
“Speak for yourself, sparky.” I lean back with my eyes closed, trying and failing to recover from the stars that still dance behind my lids. “I can believe it. I was there.”
He chuckles, lying down next to me. “I think I was there, too. Although, there at the end I felt like I wasn’t really in my body.”
“Nah.” I sigh deeply. “You were in my body, that’s for sure.”
“I can’t wait to do that again.” He gets up and goes to the bathroom for a minute, then comes back and turns off the light. “Do you want to go on an actual date with me next time?”
I keep my eyes shut and my breathing as normal as possible, not wanting to deal with the post-sex awkwardness. Especially since we haven’t had the ‘one-night only’ conversation that I had in my head when I thought about having fun with the cop.
Instead, I kiss him until he’s hard again, and his length presses against my slick opening.
“Again?”
We both nod, and his eyes are on mine until I’m pushed off the cliff of another orgasm, followed by a fifth or maybe tenth.
I lose count somewhere along the way, but he’s right there with me.
Panting.
Sweating.
Refusing to let the night end until we’re both exhausted and completely spent.
Josh pulls me into his side and under the blankets, neither of us saying anything. For a few brief moments, I enjoy the warmth that he offers. Until he falls asleep.
Once he is finally out, snoring softly into the pillow over my head, I slide out from under his arms and disentangle our legs.
Finding my clothes isn’t a problem, they are right at the foot of the bed. I have more trouble grabbing the rest of my stuff out of the closet.
Grabbing the pad of paper off the hotel desk, I write a note and slip out into the early morning light.
“Sorry, Josh.” Even though I know he can’t hear me, I still make the apology. “I don’t date cops.”