Chapter 7
SHAY
Oh my God. OhmyGodOhmyGodOhmyGod. What the hell just happened? I mean, besides the best orgasm of my life. Kolton is still rigid inside me, making my inner walls clench.
If he started moving again, I bet I could orgasm again, which is bonkers.
I don’t remember the last time I orgasmed once from sex, let alone twice. With Richard, the lights were always out, my nightgown partly on, and he’d grunt and thrust at the same angle, the same speed, and in the same bed. Every Saturday, like clockwork. More orgasms were faked than real.
Out of nowhere, tears burn the backs of my eyes. My throat closes. I quickly press my forehead to Kolton’s shoulder, confused. Embarrassed.
“Hey, hey.” He cups the back of my head with one hand, rubs the other down my spine. “I didn’t hurt you, did I? Fuck, please tell me I didn’t hurt you.”
“No, no. It’s not that. I’m just…” Clearly fucked up.
I didn’t know sex could be this good. I hate myself that much more for wasting so much time on Richard.
And this emotional collapse? So not cool.
Maybe it’s too soon for one-night stands.
Maybe I should’ve used the bat-condom signal with the girls, and I can’t remember what code we chose for when we needed to leave. The giraffe sound? Was that it?
“Sorry.” I ease him away and swipe at my eyes as he carefully pulls out of me.
“You don’t have to apologize,” he says gently. He reaches down to deal with the condom but freezes. “Shit.”
I follow his panicked gaze and match his frozen posture.
The condom is ripped.
Thank God I’m on the pill, but I don’t even know this guy. “Please tell me you’ve been tested,” I ask as I hop off the counter, yank down my skirt, and wildly glance around for a washcloth.
“I have. I don’t sleep around, Shay. I don’t have unprotected sex.” He zips up his jeans, grabs a towel off the wall, dampens it, then hands it to me. “Have you been tested?”
“Clean bill of health, and I’m on the pill.” But he answered me very quickly. Frazzled and still overemotional, I use the cloth, then I crack open the door. “Guys!”
“What the fuck?” Kolton leans over me to shut the door, but I shake him off.
A few whats float from the living room, and I lean my head out. “If I sleep with your boy Kolton, do I have to worry about where his junk has been?”
“Jesus, subtle much?” Kolton says from behind me.
One of the guys, Sawyer, I think, says, “Kolton?” like it’s the funniest thing he’s ever heard. When his laughter subsides, he continues, “Well, I don’t know. Can you get an STD from excessive masturbation?”
“Bastard.” Kolton’s hot breath hits my ear. “Happy?”
As I close the door, the same voice calls, “Just go easy on him, Shay. It’s probably pretty sore and chafed.”
Hooting and hollering persist as I face Kolton. “Nice.”
He shakes his head, attention fixed on the ground, then he peeks up. “It’s been a while, okay? But when I’ve been with women, I’ve always used condoms, like I already said.”
He invades my space, his firm chest too firm, his perfect hair too perfect. With my height and boots, we’re almost eye level.
“What about you?” he says, his mouth inches from mine. “Should I be grilling your friends to find out if you lied about your sexual history?”
I force a swallow, too many emotions flying around tonight. “I’m just out of a long-term relationship. You’re the first man I’ve been with since, which is why I got emotional afterward. So, no, you don’t have to worry. And I’m sorry again for the tears.”
His brow furrows. “Was that because you miss your ex?”
“God, no.” I shudder at the thought. “This”—I gesture between us—“was a reminder I stayed with him way too long. Because the sex with you was…”
I trail off, unsure how to describe sex that shattered me into a thousand pieces. A delicious ache still throbs between my thighs, my scalp tingles from where he tugged my curls, and I want to feel him again. And see him: the thickness of his shoulders, his backside that flexed under my grip.
Watching me intently, he rakes his hand through his hair—the strands that were tangled in my fingers not long ago.
“Sex with you was unreal,” he says, finishing my sentence.
“That was spontaneous and fun. I hope you don’t regret it, because I certainly don’t.
Even though I’m still not sure if you can take a joke. ” The Asshole smirks.
“And I’m still not sure you know how to ski,” I retort, enjoying our verbal jousting more now.
He rolls his eyes good-naturedly, and we share a smile.
Maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea after all. Maybe, if we manage to keep our bickering light, we can even do this again while on this trip. “You know what? You clearly suck at admitting when things are your fault, but this was fun. And I think we should—”
“Shhhh.” He swats the air by my face and cocks his head. “Is that a phone?”
I strain my ears and hear what could be ringing. “Maybe?”
He checks his watch, one of those manly jobs with a thick leather band, then he jerks his head up. “Shit.” He shoulders me out of the way, knocking me into the wall, then lunges for the door and disappears.
Um… What the heck just happened?
That level of panic implies someone important is calling him.
He wasn’t wearing a ring and there was no telltale tan line, but he could still have a girlfriend back home, a relationship like Lily’s that’s all history and no heat.
His buddies could be covering for him, pushing him to get some action.
Whatever his story, insecurity and hurt blooms in my chest.
There’s no denying our bathroom-counter sex was hot. Give-up-chocolate hot. The way my body’s still buzzing, there’s no denying that.
Still, I feel like a marionette, my emotions being pushed and pulled by a man again. And I am so done. As far as I’m concerned, Kolton can go back to jerking off. For the rest of this trip, it’s just me and the girls.
I adjust my top again, smooth my skirt, and inhale through my nose, releasing my breath to the count of ten. I square my shoulders and leave the scene of the crime.
Kolton’s quiet voice drifts through a closed door, but I keep walking.
I stop at the kitchen counter and wait for someone to notice me.
I might as well be invisible. Lily and Sawyer are head-to-head, deep in conversation, both of them gesturing with their hands.
At the other end of the couch, Nico whispers in Raven’s ear as she inches her hand up his thigh.
I clear my throat…and nada.
“I left my credit card at the restaurant,” I say, and all heads snap my way.
Nico sits taller and shifts his massive frame closer to Raven. “You should call them right away. Ask if they found it.”
I lock eyes with Lily, my best ally. “I don’t remember the name of the place, and I don’t want to wait.”
Lily glances at Sawyer and sucks on her bottom lip. Not a good sign. “Are you sure?” she asks and unleashes her doe eyes. “Have you checked your jacket?”
Unbelievable. Lily, of all people, should have my back. Always worried about upsetting Kevin, she never flirts, even harmlessly. She brushes off any advances with her I have a boyfriend, and I always get up and go if she’s uncomfortable.
Apparently, that street doesn’t flow both ways.
“Yeah, Lil, I’m sure I don’t have my credit card. Never been more sure of anything in my life. We need to go. Now.” I glance back, dreading Kolton’s imminent return.
She and Raven exchange looks, then both girls get up and offer sad smiles to the guys.
As awkward goodbyes are shared, I hurry to my jacket, shrug it on, and push back my mop of hair. The curls catch in my fingers. With a grunt, I yank them through, and my scalp burns, reminding me too much of that bathroom, Kolton’s hips, and my raspy name on his lips as he came undone.
I say something about needing air and rush out the door. Calf-deep in snow, I suck back icy breaths.
Kolton nailed it when he said our sex was unreal. I let loose, spontaneous yet reckless, proving I can do it. Now it’s time to focus on me. My career needs a jumpstart, and since Lily and Raven finished school and moved to Toronto, we haven’t hung out as much as I’d like.
It’s time to get my life together, quit my soul-sucking job, and spend time with my friends.
I’m almost at the end of the block of condos when they come jogging through the snow. Raven grabs my shoulder and spins me around. “You okay? What went down in there?”
The girls know every detail of my mundane sex life, down to that face the Dick makes when he’s coming. (We nearly died laughing when I did the impression.) But this, tonight, is too raw. I have to get my head straight before I can talk it out.
I kick at the fluffy snow. “Like I said, the guy’s an asshole, on the hill and off.”
Raven rolls her hand like, carry on.
“He’s hot,” I say, admitting the obvious, and the girls stare at me, unblinking. “And we made out, okay? I thought about taking it further, but we can’t talk for two minutes without reenacting Mr. & Mrs. Smith. I needed to leave.” And he bailed on me so fast, I’d swear his fine ass was on fire.
“He does look a little like Brad Pitt, doesn’t he?” Lily says. “Him and Sawyer both. With the sandy hair and full lips, those three could be brothers.”
“You seemed smitten talking to Sawyer,” I say, jumping on the chance to change the subject. “Like really into your conversation. And you didn’t want me to look for my ‘credit card.’”
Her eyes dart around as Raven leans into her space. “Yeah. What were you two talking about so intently?”
On a sigh, Lily says, “Nothing. It was nothing. We just talked fashion. Design stuff. He’s pretty into outerwear for an insurance guy.” She starts walking, clearly as interested in rehashing her night as I am.
“I’m totally into Nico,” Raven says as we traipse after Lily. “In case either of you sluts cares to ask. And the six of us are going out tomorrow night. I need to see that man naked.”
I stop and grab her shoulders. “Ex-squeeze-me?”
Raven pouts and holds up her hands in prayer.
“Come on. I never ask for anything. And I promise not to rag on you and Lil about your ex-boyfriend and her current boyfriend for the rest of the trip. I mean, I know you and Kolton are oil and water, but maybe you just need to get to know him better. And I really, really, really want to go out with Nico. We came to Aspen to have fun, and it’s not like we’ll ever see these guys again.
Even Lily hit it off with Sawyer. Platonically,” she adds when Lily makes a face. “What do you say?”
The snowboard dude on the lift was right.
Tossing that bra was all kinds of karmic.
How stupid of me to think I could slip out the door and avoid Kolton for the rest of this trip, especially since Raven has her sights locked on Nico.
Another notch for her ever-growing belt.
Plus, how can I say no to the woman who called in sick for two days to eat ice cream with me after my epic dumpage?
I’ll just have to be mature and deal with Kolton like an adult.
People have casual sex all the time.
I release Raven’s shoulders. “Fine. Groveling doesn’t suit you.
But I’m sitting at the opposite end of the table from the douche.
Tonight made me realize I need a break from men.
So don’t play matchmaker with him and me or anyone else.
” I blink frost from my lashes, the steady snowfall unrelenting.
“I’m catching first tracks tomorrow. You ladies in? ”
Lily shakes her head. “I’ll stick to the groomed trails. I don’t think my thighs can take it.”
“Yeah. I don’t want to tucker myself out before tomorrow night,” Raven says, a sly grin rounding out her cheeks. “Is it okay to meet for lunch instead?”
“Fine by me,” I reply. “I’m not missing the good stuff.”
We hunch lower and finish our trek to the condo.
Earlier, I was worried I’d go to sleep and wake up as the old Shay, poised and proper.
Meek and passive. If I’m going to get through another night, and possibly more, hanging out with Kolton, I better not have buried that woman too deep.
Our combustible chemistry leads to poor choices.