For the Win

  Her serious expression smoothed into a smile and then a laugh. "Hmm. You know, you really should be practicing that speech and getting a good night's sleep."

  "Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for the opportunity to address you this afternoon," I began without hesitation, pushing her long hair away from her neck. That hair...that neck. Angling for taste, I dipped my head, opening my mouth and sucking her soft, fragrant skin into my mouth. She gasped and wavered against me.

  Rolling so that I was on top of her, her curvy ass pressing into my groin, I reached under her to grope those full, firm breasts as I kissed my way down her back.

  "And...?" she prompted with a breathy voice.

  "For decades, the integration of video games and education have revolutionized the way we teach and learn..." With my leg, I pushed her thighs open. My hand dropped from her breast and scooted between her body and the mattress to find her already wet and ready for me. Oh, hell yes. I pressed my cock against her opening and she gasped.

  "I'm going to fuck you, Weiss. This time it's going to take a long time and it's going to feel so good."

  "It felt pretty damn good last time."

  "I'm going to see how many times I can make you come in one night." I tore the foil wrapper with my teeth and slipped the condom on. Fuck yes, I was going to make this last shot count.

  "I'm not opposed to that plan."

  "Are you willing to let go and let me take you there?"

  With the hand underneath, I pulled her toward me and entered her with a quick, smooth thrust. One of my favorite moves. I'd wanted her to cry out, maybe even scream--at least gasp loudly or groan. Instead, she sucked in her breath. Before I was done pounding her, I vowed to have her weeping. This girl needed to let go and I was going to make that happen.

  But for this moment, I savored the feel of her closing around me, gripping me tight--so tight I could barely breathe. I buried my nose in her fragrant hair, covering her body with mine, and I began to move. I reared back on my knees, pulling her up with me, and slammed into her with quick momentum. She held herself up on the baseboard of the bed, and with one hand, I gathered her hair and carefully tugged, pulling her head back. She rewarded me with a grunt.

  My other hand slipped underneath her to rub against her clit. She felt so damn good, but she was too quiet this time. After a few minutes, I bent over her to place my mouth at her ear. "Do you like that, April?"

  She was breathing heavily, at least. "Yes."

  "I want to hear how good it feels." I gave her hair another tug and pounded into her.

  This time the grunt was accompanied by a moan.

  She shifted her hands on the baseboard, pushing back against me as I rose and fell over her. My lust surged. "That's right." I quickened my pace.

  "Oh, God," she moaned. I got that a lot. With a growl, I bent forward, and finding the base of her neck with my mouth, I sank my teeth in. She jerked in response.

  "You like that."

  "Yes," she grunted, sounding feral.

  "You want more?" She didn't reply. I slowed down, giving only short, shallow thrusts. "Tell me, April." She pushed back against me again, as if in protest, and I grabbed her hips and held her still. "I want to hear you lose control."

  "Go faster," she pleaded.

  "I told you I was taking my time." I stilled and continued to rub her sweet spot. She tried to thrust back against me and I stopped her, waiting until she was close again. I used my free hand to palm her breast, rubbing over her nipple over and over until she was gasping and coming, gripping me with her climax. I relished the feel of her around me, tight and hot.

  Pushing into her again a few times, I waited until she came down from that. Then I pulled out and rolled her over.

  "That's three."

  She gazed up at me with satisfied eyes. "You count orgasms but not partners?"

  I lowered my mouth to hers, about ready to climb on for more when she pressed against my chest, shoving me away.

  "What?"

  She grinned wickedly as she pushed me again and I slid off her. "My turn to ride high," she said as she rolled me onto my back and straddled me.

  Oh. God, yes. My hands glided from her hips, across her waist to cup her breasts as she shifted her hips and I entered her again. With a thrust, I slid home, pushing in deep. This time, instead of a reserved intake of breath, she moaned, her eyes widening in surprise.

  "Slowly, April," I warned as she began to move, but there was a challenge in her eyes. She licked her lips and shifted quickly against me. I pinched her nipples hard. She threw her head back and yelped, her nails digging into my skin.

  I brought my hands up to her head and cradled her face in my hands. She continued to move and I thrust against her. I pulled her face down to mine, both to kiss her and to slow her down. Her breasts rubbed against my chest and it felt incredible. She felt incredible, surrounding me, gripping me tight.

  "Open your eyes," I commanded. She complied as she continued to move against me. Her long silky hair splayed across my body felt like heaven. But when her gaze drifted away, I pulled her head closer. "Look at me. Don't look away."

  As we stared into each other's eyes, we slowly climbed again. Each movement brought a sweet, high-pitched moan from her. And each moan did something to me deep inside. But it was her eyes holding mine that penetrated a layer I didn't even know existed. It was far more intimate than I had imagined. At one point, I was the one who wanted to look away, afraid she would see too much of me.

  Before long she was gasping with another orgasm, her back arching. I sat up and sucked her nipple into my mouth as she writhed and whimpered against me. Her slick body was stuck to mine and I rolled us over, pushing into her again and again until I was coming, the hot release pulsing from my body. Her mouth was on my neck, her nails in my back, her legs clamped around my hips, pulling me flush against her.

  Holy. Fuck. It was minutes before I could even think again, let alone talk or even remember how to breathe. The last time had been amazing. This time had blown it--and just about every other good roll I'd ever had--right out of the water.

  I pulled back and looked into her glowing, flushed face. What the hell was this woman doing to me?

  Feeling uncomfortable and more than a little exposed, I rolled off of her and went to the bathroom to clean up. She was still lying on her back staring up at the ceiling when I came back into the room. I plopped onto the bed and pulled her against me. Her body was cold from the sweat so I curled up around her back, spooning her. She turned and kissed my arm.

  "I do believe that final count was four," I said.

  "Six, if you count yours..."

  "We're only counting yours. I could shoot for making it an even half-dozen."

  She laughed. "I'll be passed out long before that. Mmm, that was good. And I am now a firm believer in scruff."

  "You like the scruff?"

  She raised her palm to my cheek, rubbing her hand across my whiskers. "'Like' is an understatement. Especially when you are kissing me and rubbing it all over my body."

  I indulged her by kissing her shoulder and giving her a nice, healthy chin rub, which made her laugh. Then I pulled her back and she settled against my chest. It felt good. Half of me wished I had another condom. The other half was telling me to calm the fuck down and get some sleep. I felt good, sated. For now, anyway.

  "So, um..." she began timidly.

  I traced a hand over her round hip. "Yes?"

  "Just checking to make sure things with you are...better. You weren't doing so hot when we got back here from the reception."

  My hand stilled on her soft skin and I planted my nose in her hair, inhaling liberally. She angled her head toward me so she could see my face, then ran her hand over the scruff on my jaw.

  "You definitely made me feel better. Much better than Jack would have." I smirked.

  She laughed, then rolled around to face me. "I just mean...well, it shook you up pretty badly to see her again. But I don't underst
and something that you said. That you feel guilty toward her. If she's the one who cheated on you, why is that the case?"

  I tensed and tried to ignore the old feelings of agitation that arose whenever I thought of Cyndi. "I told you that nice guys finish last. I was a nice guy and I got fucked over--literally. So that was my last day of being a nice guy. I decided that anyone who screwed with me would live to regret it."

  She swallowed, fingering the tattoo on my arm. "So you got some kind of revenge on her?"

  I clenched my jaw and then released it. Lying back, I stared at the ceiling, that same guilt taking hold of me. Christ.

  "I'm not proud of it now, but it sure felt damn good when I did it. I know people. They do stuff for me...that's not a new thing. It was the case in college too. I found out who the guy was that she was fucking and threw a hot redhead his way. Didn't take long before he was fucking her, too. And...well, Cyndi ended up getting a taste of her own medicine. I ended up ruining him, too, after the fact."

  Silence. I held my breath and let it go slowly. Then I chanced a look at her. She was staring off into space, appearing deep in thought. She was a thinker, I'd noticed. She lived in her head a lot.

  Finally, she spoke. "I screwed you over, too, with that video, even if it was on accident. Does that mean you're going to get revenge on me?"

  I turned toward her, propping myself up on an arm. "I think after tonight, you can consider yourself thoroughly screwed." I smiled wolfishly. "But in a much more pleasant way."

  When she looked at me, there was more than desire in her eyes, there was a little fear, too. And damn if it didn't turn me on a little to see it there. Maybe I'd have to call down to room service for another condom after all.

  I tugged on her shoulder to roll her onto her back and then took her mouth with mine, possessing it fiercely. I claimed her with my lips, teeth and tongue until she was gasping for air.

  "You'd think after two times I would have had enough," I mumbled against her neck. "I just want you more now."

  "Oh, God, you always know how to say the right thing."

  "It's not bullshit, April."

  Her soft hands slid down my back and fresh desire surged.

  She pulled away and looked at me, and those deep blue eyes seemed to scour my soul. "You should talk to her."

  I recoiled. "What? Who?"

  "Cynthia."

  I took a deep breath and looked away. Wow, she really knew how to kill a moment.

  "I mean...if the guilt is getting to you."

  I tensed. "I have no idea what I would say to her."

  "Tell her you're sorry. It will make you feel better."

  "What will make me feel better is if we forget we saw each other and go on with our lives."

  She looked away, shrugging a shoulder. "It's just a suggestion, Jordan. You don't have to listen to the lowly little intern if you don't want to."

  I didn't reply. I had nothing to say--even to correct her about her lowly intern remark. So I let it hang there between us.

  April pressed her mouth to my chest, murmuring, "God, you are beautiful." She settled in next to me between my arm and my chest. Exhaustion fell over me like a blanket.

  My eyes drifted closed, and I sifted my fingers through her soft hair. The agitation over discussing Cyndi was fading again. This felt...comforting. "You're lucky I didn't sleep well last night or I'd be all over you again," I mumbled.

  "Promises, promises," she said, tracing an idle finger across my stomach.

  We lay like that for a long time. I drifted off to that no man's land between sleep and wakefulness, where I was aware of her skin against mine, her smell, her soft hair. In my happy place, I felt her shift, sit up and pull a blanket over me.

  I cracked an eye open when I realized she was getting up to leave.

  "Where are you going?"

  She bent to kiss my forehead. My eyes zeroed in on the way her breasts swung along with the motion of her body.

  "I'm going back to my room," she whispered.

  I snaked a hand up and caught her around the waist, pulling her down on me. "No, you're not. You're sleeping here."

  With a tired laugh, she only halfheartedly struggled to be free of my tight hold. "The Beast has declared his will."

  "Yes, I have. The Beast needs his Beauty to lie down right here and sleep beside him."

  "So I'm Beauty, now?"

  "Always," I muttered, snuggling her against me. Then I drifted off to sleep with visions of fairytale princesses in my head, and each one had the face of the girl lying in my arms.

  Chapter 21

  April

  I woke up before Jordan the next morning and hightailed it out of bed before we had to deal with the inevitable awkwardness of would-we or wouldn't-we again. Apparently, there were no more condoms in the room anyway. And while I would have liked more of what we'd done last night, he'd been clear--this was a one-night-only thing.

  And it had to be that way, but I wasn't pleased about it.

  I studied him in the gray morning light. He was naked, tangled in the sheets, his hard, beautiful male body all planes and angles. As tormented as his sleep had been--I'd had to give him a wide berth during the night--his face was one of peace. I wished I knew what he was dreaming about.

  I went downstairs, showered, dressed and ordered breakfast from room service all before I heard him moving around upstairs. He had the opening workshop to attend this morning and then his speech came just after lunch.

  He appeared downstairs in jeans and a t-shirt that stretched across his broad chest. His eyes traveled over the fare--a dish of scrambled eggs, bacon, a plate of pastries and fresh, hot coffee. Without a word, he poured himself a cup, hot and black. I watched as he raised it to his lips, blew on the surface and then sipped carefully.

  His eyes drifted over to mine. "Morning," he finally said in a gruff voice. "Sleep well?"

  If sleeping next to a human hurricane meant sleeping well... "Sure," I said unconvincingly.

  "Was I that bad?"

  "Uh, the sleeping or the other part?"

  He laughed. "Sleeping."

  "Well, let's just say I could tell you were nervous about today. You, um, mumbled parts of your talk in your sleep."

  "You're lying."

  I grinned. "Nope. Honest to God. I got to hear all about videogame micro-economy, even if it was mumbled and slurred a bit."

  He smiled, walked over to the window and looked out on the overcast day, sipping his coffee again. I stole glimpses of his magnificent butt in those jeans. A very nice view indeed.

  "You dreamed about her, too," I said quietly.

  He stiffened, tilted his head back and finished off his coffee. Turning, his eyes slid over me, cold and hard. "Well, what are you sitting there for? Don't you have some assistanting to do? Sorting my schedule or something?"

  My eyebrows shot up toward my hairline. Business as usual. Well...I'd been warned, hadn't I?

  "Sure, whatever you say, boss." I cleared my throat and stood from the table, then brushed crumbs off my fingers while avoiding his gaze as he watched me tidy up and turn to leave.

  An hour later, we were ready to go. He had on a dove gray blazer over those jeans and a black Polo shirt. With that dusting of growth on his face and a bit of product run through his hair so that it was artfully askew, he looked yummy enough to eat.

  I gulped and pulled out my phone, ignoring how his eyes traveled over me in my dark green sweater set. "Um, we need to be at the convention center in twenty minutes."

  He gestured toward the doorway. "Lead the way."

  The morning continued about the same way it had started. Jordan didn't say much to me. I wasn't sure if he was still angry about the comment I made at breakfast or if he was trying to distance himself, to reinforce that our one-night fling would stay just that.

  One night. He'd probably had lots of one-night stands among the countless women he'd been with. He likely thought nothing of this...except for the awkward fact that we st
ill had to go on working with each other for another month. Maybe he didn't feel that the sex between us had been mind-blowing on two separate occasions, but I was finding it difficult to ignore that fact.

  The minute we'd finished, I'd started craving it again with an ever-increasing need. Even sitting next to him in the auditorium, feeling the heat of his arm near mine...hell, even his smell was torture. I wanted to climb into his strong, hard lap for a cuddle--maybe some other things too.

  What the hell was wrong with me? Why was I letting him affect me like this--every touch, every reminder of his presence was an instant flashback to the electricity generated by our sweaty, naked bodies moving against each other.

  Jordan didn't eat much for lunch and retreated to the green room shortly after a few bites and another cup of coffee. I told myself that his cool behavior was because he was nervous. I tried not to feel hurt. I tried not to care so much.

  But damn it, warning or not, it did hurt. And I was already starting to care too much--about the demons that haunted him so much he couldn't get a good night's sleep, about who he was underneath the delicious, perfect exterior.

  Yeah, he was a cocky jerk on the surface. An insufferable, cocky jerk. But underneath? Underneath that arrogant exterior was something elusive, golden, rare. Something he kept hidden except in moments when he couldn't, like when I was staring straight into his soul during sex.

  Oh shit. This situation got stickier the more time we spent together.

  I stood backstage in a separate room, watching his speech on a monitor while he delivered it to a darkened auditorium filled with people. Though I knew he was nervous, very little of that showed in his presentation. He looked sufficiently scholarly yet also hip, the scruff and blazer lending some credence to his youth. And he was both articulate and intelligent. To me, that only made his physical beauty all the sexier.

  Not long into his introduction, I became aware of a presence standing at my shoulder. Glancing over, I saw that it was Cynthia, her eyes glued to the screen. She wore a long-sleeved blouse today, the incriminating tattoo that linked her to Jordan now hidden.

  She glanced at me with a smile and nodded to the screen. "He's brilliant. I knew he would be a great match for TED. That's what I told the committee when I suggested him as a speaker."

  I looked at her, wondering if Jordan knew that she was the one responsible for his invitation to speak. "Would you..." I began.