The Highest Bidder (Xcite Romance) Page 2

  And then of course the surprise “foot job” and her reaction – part horrification, part amusement – had sealed the deal of his attraction.

  Now he stood in a line of good-looking men who probably made about six (or sixty) times what he made per year. And she stood there assessing them. Nick couldn’t help but feel less than. He wasn’t a successful doctor or lawyer, he wasn’t a country club member, he wasn’t a bad ass pretty boy. He was a refurbisher who was doing a neighbour – the nosy and ornery Annie – a favour. For charity.

  It was a good deed. He’d let it go. There was no chance he had a shot in hell with the gorgeous blushing widow. Her husband had probably been just like these men. And though she’d assured him he was attractive – how could she not given the circumstances? – he wasn’t of the same calibre.

  Which was a shame. Because that kiss had damn near set his head on fire and the way her long slim toes had run across his cock and the things he’d been thinking … oh, the things he’d been thinking when she’d done it. She would really blush.

  Nick had had an extremely detailed image of laying that pretty woman down on the chaise longue and hiking up her snug but proper grey skirt. And stripping down her hose, that he could clearly see due to her hurt ankle and reclining position, were thigh highs. He wondered what colour her panties were and had to bite his own tongue to focus.

  No erections in rehearsal, you jack-off …

  When he looked up and she smiled at him, looking away shyly as if remembering the kiss, well, he had to bite his tongue twice as hard to keep himself in line.

  Chapter Three

  ‘I’VE BEEN WANTING TO do this all night.’ His fingers brushed the front seams of her white blouse and then he touched each pearlescent button. Nick wasn’t touching her but Casey’s whole body responded as if he were.

  He took a step into her space and she instinctively backed up a little. He did it again and so did she, until he had her wedged against the counter in the ladies’ lounge. His pelvis crushed to hers and she felt that magnificent hard-on again. So this time she let her hand travel the length of it, stroking him so that his eyelids flickered like he was falling asleep. Only he was definitely not falling asleep because he thrust forward gently into her hand.

  ‘I want to take this off you. Can I take this off you, Casey?’

  He bent to kiss her, running the rigid tip of his tongue over her earlobe and then down her neck. He hit the sweet spot where her pulse jumped beneath her flesh. When he found it with his tongue, he gently nipped her with his teeth at the exact spot.

  ‘Yes, God, fuck, yes. Take it off.’

  That’s when she knew she was dreaming. Even dreaming, Casey knew this was where the guilt should come slamming down on her. But it didn’t. She simply observed what felt like jolts and jolts of electricity run under her skin, as he undid each button.

  ‘Your fingers shouldn’t be able to do that,’ she whispered. ‘They’re too big.’

  He didn’t answer her, just leaned in, tasting her lips and then pushing his tongue into her mouth so she moaned. Now his hands were on her skirt, hiking it up around her waist. Cool air rushed over her exposed thighs and the skin above her thigh highs rippled with goose bumps. Nick pushed a finger under the leg hole of her panties, breaching the elastic and zeroing in on her engorged clit. She was so sensitive – almost oversensitive – that one small stroke with his fingertip had her clutching his biceps so she didn’t fall on her ass.

  ‘Do you really think they’re too big?’ Nick whispered against her hair. He pushed a thick finger into her pussy and when her fingers dug into his arms and she sort of wobbled, he added a second. ‘You’re really really wet, Casey.’

  Another kiss, delivered with plump and impossibly soft lips. The smell of him filled her head and she sucked in a deep breath to get more. Pushing her body against his hand, not caring if it seemed overzealous, just wanting more contact. More friction and penetration and pleasure.

  She dug her fingers deeper and wondered if she was hurting him. But another kiss said no, she wasn’t. Not hurting him at all.

  Nick nipped her breast through her white blouse, through her tiny silky bra. His “just crooked enough to be sexy” front teeth captured the hard nub and he clamped down hard enough to shoot a frisson of brisk pleasure through her middle, down into her womb. His thumb pressed her clit relentlessly and she found herself grinding up to get more.

  ‘Come for me, Casey. I can feel you want to. You’re so damn tight around my fingers.’

  He nipped her again and curled his wide fingers and pressed her clit and she could feel it swelling up out of her. A rush-tumble-surge of goodness – so sweet and so long overdue it made her nearly sob with the release of it.

  Her cunt seized up around his probing fingers and he kissed her gently, swallowing every single cry that burst out of her as she came.

  Her fingers trembled, her nerves high and loud due to the newness of it and the anxiety of a new lover. Casey tried to work the button on his faded out chinos. Finally he laughed, licking a hot trail from her earlobe to her collar bone, the sensation intense. Casey feared her nipples might actually pierce her blouse and the thought made her laugh softly.

  ‘A man doesn’t want to hear laughter the first time he’s with a woman,’ he said, looking down at her. Those blue eyes felt like they were piercing her usual armour of self-control and seeing into her scattered chaotic soul.

  ‘I was laughing at me, not you,’ she said, and pushed her hand, still shaking, into his pants. He was so warm against her hand. His skin decadently smooth but hard too. His cock felt good – hot and heavy – in her palm and she curled her fingers around him.

  ‘I won’t lie. That feels so good. I’ve been picturing you touching me since the moment I walked in.’

  Casey rose on tiptoes and kissed him, stroking her loose fist up and down the length of his erection until he muttered ‘tighter’ in her ear. She increased her grip and felt a burst of happiness in her chest when he instinctively – animalistically – thrust into her fist.

  She didn’t let herself think – dream or not – she pushed his pants down and rested her ass against the wall and said, ‘Hurry, before I freak myself out. Which I always manage to do.’

  He pressed his cock to her. First just the split of her sex, nudging her nether lips with the heated steel of his erection. He thrust against her outer lips, rubbing her clit with the motion, faux-fucking her until her fingers clawed and plucked aimlessly at his upper body.

  Casey wedged her hand between them, relishing the press of their bodies, belly to belly. It had been a long time since she had been intimately pressed against a man. A long, long time since she’d taken a man in hand and nudged her own slick opening with the tip of his cock.

  ‘Wait.’ He held her firmly and then lowered his mouth to hers. ‘I want to be kissing you when I enter you.’

  She would have said something clever or sweet, but what he’d just said made her tongue double clutch and yes, stupidly, her eyes swim with tears. So she shut them and kissed him back and felt him inching into her, sliding effortlessly, stretching her and nudging her and – Ring, ring, ring!

  ‘No,’ she groaned.

  Ring, ring, ring!

  ‘Oh fuck, no,’ Casey sighed. She felt around on the table for her cell phone. She knew where she was not – with Nick.

  Where she happened to be was on her sofa, big socks on, sweats rolled around her ankles, one of Brendan’s big work sweatshirts wrapped round her.

  ‘Dirty dreams,’ she said to herself, finally snagging the phone with her fingertips. ‘Dirty, dirty dreams.’

  And it had been because her pussy was thumping merrily with blood and arousal and she felt pretty much on the paper’s edge of coming like someone firing a cannon. She opened one eye and hit accept on her phone.

  ‘Hello?’

  ‘You sleeping?’ It was Annie. Chipper and hyper – probably jacked up on one of those salted-caramel-mocha-frappal
atte things she loved so much.

  ‘I dozed. I took a shower, laid down to watch some show about pumpkin carving and crashed, I guess.’

  ‘You OK, you sound funny?’

  ‘Fine,’ Casey said, but she heard her voice crack with emotion.

  Damn.

  ‘Hey, girly what’s wrong? Are you sure you’re–’

  Casey was mortified to hear the sob rip out of her. And even more horror-struck when she began weeping in earnest. ‘Oh God, I’m sorry. I’ll call you back–’

  ‘I thought you said you’d been napping!’ Annie squeaked.

  ‘I was.’

  ‘Then what in the world makes you cry like this from sleeping?’

  ‘I had a dream–’

  ‘A nightmare?’ Annie said, sounding relieved.

  ‘No! A dream. A … um … dream¬-dream.’

  Silence. Then a sharp intake of air and then Annie’s signature high-pitched giggle.

  ‘A sex dream?’

  ‘Yes, a sex dream. And I … we … I cheated on Brendan,’ she sighed and dissolved into tears.

  Annie went silent again. Casey heard her sigh.

  ‘Honey, you cannot cheat on him. He’s dead. And he would kick your ass six ways to Sunday for beating yourself up over something like … oh, being human. Craving companionship and yes, a good thorough lay. It’s been over a year. And it’s never going to get easier if you don’t try.’

  ‘But–’

  ‘Tell me Brendan would want you alone and sad and sexually frustrated.’

  ‘But–’

  ‘Tell me!’ Annie demanded in her no-bullshit voice.

  Casey sighed – it was a long watery sound – and murmured. ‘He wouldn’t. He told me to be happy. He urged me to be happy. And to …’ She shook her head, warring against more tears.

  ‘And?’

  ‘And to love again,’ she said.

  ‘Well, there you go. And I know, honey, it’s going to be hard. And probably emotional. And all that bullshit that comes with a loss like this. But it will be worth it in the end. If you’re having sexy sex dreams that are provoking this much emotion … honey, you’re ready.’

  ‘Whatever, ‘Casey said, not wanting to discuss it any more.

  ‘Was it about Nick?’ Now she could hear Annie smiling.

  ‘What? No!’ Even she didn’t believe her denial.

  ‘Liar. I saw all the horny sparks flying between you two. He’s a good egg,’ she said more seriously. ‘He might just be the guy to ease you into this whole transitional thing. From lonely widow to woman getting her life back.’

  Casey shook her head, uncomfortable with the whole thing. ‘No.’

  ‘Come have pizza.’

  ‘No!’

  ‘Have you eaten?’

  Her stomach grumbled and she mumbled, ‘No.’ Defeated. Annie would win this.

  ‘Come have pizza and wine and we’ll chat about handsome Nick. And you can tell me all the details of your sexy sex dream!’ she squealed and hung up before Casey could respond.

  He was hallucinating. When Nick peeked out to see if maybe his Chinese food had arrived – since he was now officially starving – he saw her. Casey. The woman from the auction.

  His body responded in the same way it did when he was famished and a burger commercial ran on TV. He wanted what he saw. It was such a visceral reaction he had to take a deep breath and get himself under control.

  She had to be here to see Annie – had to, but that didn’t change Nick’s knee-jerk reaction to seeing her. He grabbed the door knob and yanked the door wide, completely faking his surprise.

  ‘Oh! Hey, there. I thought you were my Chinese food.’

  Great way to woo a girl. Lie your ass off …

  She blinked and then covered her mouth. Was it him or were her cheeks suddenly a flaming red? She looked as if he’d jumped her and tackled her to the ground.

  ‘Sorry, did I scare you?’

  ‘N-n-no,’ she said. But her eyes were wide and he could see her pulse jumping erratically at her throat. Nick clenched his hands into fists because his first instinct – his urge, really – had been to reach out and put his fingertips to that skin. To feel her blood pumping and rushing at seeing him. Even if it was only because he’d startled her.

  She was looking at him strangely. Probably because he was acting like a nut. Her hair was wind-tossed and erratic and eddied around her face like she was underwater. There was a breeze rushing down the long communal hallway because someone had cracked the lone window.

  ‘Are you sure you’re OK? Is it your ankle?’

  She cocked her head at him as if she were having trouble understanding him. Nick noticed her breathing was laboured like she’d run up the steps, but he’d heard the elevator doors when he saw her coming. So what …

  He lost that thought because she was rushing at him. Her hands shoved into his hair and she yanked it accidentally, but hard enough to make his dick hard. ‘Sorry, sorry,’ she muttered, pressing those sweet warm lips to his.

  He didn’t know what she was sorry for, didn’t care. His gripped her waist tight in his hands to hold her to him and kissed her back. When her wet tongue snaked between his lips and teased his, his cock went from hard to the lethal weapon stage.

  Nick was fairly certain that at the moment he could chop wood with his erection. But that wasn’t what he wanted to do with it.

  Conscience got the better of him and he pulled back long enough to say, ‘Hey are you sure you’re OK? Are you sure about …’ He tore his way from those vibrant brown eyes and trained his gaze on her plump red lips.

  ‘I’m sure. I’m sorry, but yes, I’m sure. Can we …?’ She pushed her body entirely to his. He felt the heat and heft of her breasts press to his chest and the warm cleft between her legs. She was wearing severely faded and abused jeans with a hole at the knee and Nick was fairly certain he’d never seen a woman look sexier.

  She kissed him again and he almost groaned, hating his conscience.

  ‘Can we what?’

  Casey tugged his belt and then touched his hard-on, all the while kissing him wherever she could get her lips. Her tongue darted out to taste a spot on his neck and he was suddenly terrified he was going to come before he even got out of his fucking pants.

  ‘Can we go in your apartment?’

  He didn’t answer. Just encircled her in his arms and took three big steps back and kicked the door shut.

  Chapter Four

  NO THINKING. SHE COULDN’T think. He’d surprised her and then she’d been lost in those eyes and wondering what his dark hair would feel like under her fingertips. What other parts of him would feel like under her fingertips. Casey didn’t want to think. She thought all fucking day, every day. She thought well into the night. She thought about when would be a good time to move on. What people would think of her. If she should or if she could or if she wanted to.

  And standing there, watching his mouth and the way he stood, how his body managed to be supremely relaxed and yet alert all at once, she had wanted him so fucking fiercely it had stolen her breath and she felt like she was panting.

  It was in that moment that Casey decided. Maybe she’d regret it later, but maybe not. The only thing she cared about was the freeing feeling of acting on her urge. And her urge was to kiss Nick. To touch him and kiss him and feel his hands on her. Like in her dream.

  So she’d done it. No thinking. She could think later.

  ‘Look, I know your situation, and I don’t want you to think that you have to–’ He stopped talking when she tugged her sweater over her head. It was misty outside, only bordering on outright rain, and her hair and clothes were damp. She toed off her Vans and realised he was watching her.

  ‘I know you know. And … can we not talk about that? Anything else. Say anything else to me,’ she said, and unbuttoned her jeans.

  His mouth worked for a moment but he didn’t really speak until she pushed her worn jeans over her hips, revealing small turquois
e panties.

  ‘I think you are possibly the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen,’ he blurted.

  Casey felt heat rise in her cheeks. ‘Really? I mean …Christ, that sounded needy. It’s just been a while is all.’

  ‘Really.’ He moved toward her slowly like she might spook.

  Hell, for all Casey knew she might. But she did know this, Nick was the first guy who’d provoked any kind of lust or reaction or want from her in over a year. He was the first man who had made her think and dream and desire some kind of physical contact. And when she was still and quiet with herself, Casey realised she’d be a fool to let that go.

  Even if she felt some sadness.

  What was it that Annie always reminded her? And her own parents even, when they called from Michigan to check on her?

  The sad just means you’re human …

  Casey swallowed hard and took a step in to meet him. His hand felt warm on her chilled skin as he swept it from her chest to her belly. The muscles tingled and jumped when he stroked her and she bit her lip. She felt like she might cry and hoped not, she wanted this to be liberating and sexy, not embarrassing and over emotional. And yet …

  ‘You’re in my head,’ she confessed, feeling a little light headed.

  He kissed her between the breasts – mouth soft and seeking as he licked at her skin like he was tasting her own personal flavour. His hands cradled her waist and he tugged her even closer so he could kiss her mouth. ‘Am I? Hard to wrap my head around.’

  ‘Yes, you are. And please, please don’t pity me,’ she said. There was a tiny little burst of emotion in her voice, it bordered on a sob and she heard it. Hated it.

  ‘Hey,’ he said, pushing her chin up so she had to meet his gaze. ‘I don’t pity you. I’m in awe of you. And I’m … grateful to you.’

  Casey shook her head, fiercely, kissing him quiet, tugging his hair again as she pushed herself to him. His cock leapt at the small burst of pain she delivered and she smiled even as she felt like she might burst into tears. ‘God, don’t be super nice to me, please. You’ll make me cry. And I don’t want to cry. I want to–’