Playing With Pleasure (16 page)

“Why…
what
?” he asked, confused as to what part of his comment she was referring to.

“Why do you want things to work out with Paige?” she asked, straight up. “Because you pretty much devastated her a year and a half ago.”

God, he swore that indiscretion would forever be the bane of his existence. Like a dark cloud that followed him everywhere, and the only thing that would chase it away was Paige’s forgiveness, which he knew he hadn’t yet earned. “What happened with Ashley wasn’t something I did willingly,” he said, trying not to sound defensive.

Raina’s expression softened a fraction but not enough. “Paige told me about Ashley possibly slipping you a roofie.”

He leaned his hip against the counter and wondered if that was doubt he heard in Raina’s voice. “And you don’t believe it?”

“Actually, I do.” Her lips pursed in disgust. “Ashley is that much of a bitch, and it certainly isn’t the first time she’s done something so horrible to Paige and destroyed her self-esteem. Except this time, it was so much worse.”

Worse than what
? Sawyer wondered. He felt his chest tighten protectively, and his fingers curled into a fist. “What else has Ashley done to Paige?”

Raina hesitated a moment, as if she was considering whether or not to tell him the story. “You know what? It’s not my place to say. Just know that Paige has every reason not to trust a guy’s motives when it comes to liking her or dating her.”

Jesus, how could Raina drop such a bombshell on him and not give him details? He respected the fact that
she
was protecting her best friend, and it wasn’t as though he could outright ask Paige without making Raina look like she’d spilled secrets. But not knowing was going to eat away at him.

“You didn’t answer my question,” Raina said as she picked up the wine bottle and refilled the glasses. “Why do you want things to work out with Paige?”

The answer was simple. “Because I love her.”

Raina shot him an incredulous look.

“I dated Paige for six weeks the first time,” he said, explaining
his
truth when it came to Paige. “And I knew then that I was falling in love with her. That never went away, and being with her again has only confirmed those feelings.”

Raina continued staring at him for a long, silent moment before speaking again, her expression unreadable. “Have you told Paige?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“Why not?”

“Because she’s not ready to hear it or believe it.”

Raina nodded her agreement. “Yeah, that might take her a while. You did break her heart.”

“Not intentionally,” he reminded the other woman.

She inclined her head in acknowledgement. “I really do think you’re a good guy, so be patient with Paige. She’s worth it.”

“I already know that.”

“And don’t
even
give me a reason to kick your ass,” she said, shaking a finger at him.

He caught a smile on Raina’s lips, and while he didn’t doubt that she was serious about the ass kicking, he knew that he at least finally had her as an ally.

“W
ell, that was
a nice evening,” Paige said with a happy sigh as she rested her head against the passenger seat in Sawyer’s car as they headed back to her place. Considering how cool Raina had been when they’d arrived, it had gone much better than Paige had anticipated.

“Yeah, it was fun,” he admitted and smiled over at her before glancing at the road again.

In the dark interior of the vehicle, she took in Sawyer’s strong profile, illuminated by the headlights of oncoming cars. It was true that they’d had fun, that the evening had been full of teasing and laughter and amusing stories, as a result of a definite shift in attitude between Raina and Sawyer when they’d returned from the kitchen after getting a refill on their drinks. The tension between them had been curiously gone, and Paige had spent a good part of the night wondering how that had come to be.

“You were in the kitchen with Raina for a while,” she said, not needing to specify
when
since the two of them had only been alone together that one time. “What were the two of you talking about?”

“I was groveling and begging for her forgiveness.” Humor laced his deep voice.

She laughed. “Must have been a whole lot of groveling, because you were in there for a long time.” Certainly longer than it took to refill two wineglasses and grab two beers. “I was just about ready to go inside to make sure that you were okay,” she teased.

“I was fine,” he reassured her as he placed a hand on her jean-clad thigh. “Beneath all that hissing, Queen Raina is a pussycat.”

Paige smiled at that image. “With very sharp claws when needed.”

“Not a scratch on me,” he bragged.

“Hmmm.” She let her voice drop to a sultry pitch. “I might have to strip you naked and check
everywhere
, just to be sure.”

He turned his head, his gaze hot as it met hers. “I think
you’ll
be the one stripping naked. You owe me a peep show.”

Heat flashed across her skin at the reminder of how she’d taunted and teased him with her little masturbating fantasy. She knew exactly how this evening was going to end, had been anticipating it since they’d left her place earlier. Sex with Sawyer, and the thought made her entire body hum with anticipation.

When they arrived at her complex, Sawyer got out of the car and retrieved a rather large white box adorned with a big purple bow from the trunk, then met up with her by the passenger side.

She tipped her head curiously as they walked toward her apartment. “What’s that?”

“It’s the twenty-sixth birthday present that I bought for you but never had the chance to give you.”

Oh.
The fact that he still had the gift, despite everything that had happened between them, made her melt inside. “You kept it all this time?” she asked in disbelief.

“I was hopeful I’d be able to give it to you someday,” he said, his gaze flickering with an emotion that made Paige’s heart skip a beat. “I put it in storage with the rest of my personal things to keep it safe while I was in Iraq.”

She unlocked the door and walked inside her place, with Sawyer following behind. She wasn’t sure what to make of that, but the one thing it did tell her was that whatever was inside the box was important enough to Sawyer that he’d hadn’t parted with it.

She was suddenly dying to know what was beneath the lid. “Can I open it?” she asked anxiously, feeling like a kid on Christmas morning.

“
After
my peep show,” he said as he grabbed one of the chairs from her dinette set with his free hand and carried it into her bedroom.

She trailed behind him. He set the chair down by the side of the bed and placed the present on the mattress, then turned on
all
the lights in the room, leaving no romantic shadows to conceal her imperfections and flaws.
No hiding behind modesty or inhibitions. No dim lights or distracting lingerie to cover up your body.
He’d warned her. She’d told him she was ready, but now that she was faced with the reality, she felt frozen to the spot and was questioning her decision.

Turning around to face her, he pulled off his shirt and tossed it aside, revealing the hard, chiseled planes of his chest and abdomen. He toed off his shoes and removed his socks, then sat down in the chair with just his jeans on. He flattened his palms on his thighs, looking like a king on a throne—a devastatingly sexy king who was determined to get his way.

“Take off your clothes, Paige,” he said, his voice soft but unyielding. “
All
of them.”

He wasn’t going to let her back down or renege on her promise that she was ready for this. She swallowed hard to ease the sudden dryness in her mouth and pushed away those insecurities trying to claw their way to the surface and started with her heels, taking them off one by one and kicking them out of the way. It was easier not to look at him, to just concentrate on the task at hand, so that’s what she did.

Her stomach was a jumble of nerves as she peeled her top over her head and dropped it to the floor, then unfastened her jeans and shimmied them over her hips and down her legs. Down to her bra and panties, the last of her armor, she hesitated for a moment.

“
Everything
, Paige,” he said, much more sternly this time.

Something warm and liquid stirred in her belly at his direct order. Staring at the carpet, she released the catch at the back of her bra and let it slide down her arms and off, feeling the heavy weight of her breasts bounce as they settled. Another deep breath, and as if ripping off the last of a Band-aid, she quickly pushed her panties down her legs, stepped out of them, and straightened again.
Done.

The deep, dark groan of appreciation that rumbled up from Sawyer’s chest made her nerve endings tingle, and she couldn’t stop herself from finally glancing up at him. He was looking at her,
devouring
her with his molten gaze, and it was that pure, unadulterated heat in his eyes that dissolved the last of her doubts and uncertainties. There was no way a man could fake that kind of lust, and it started a fire in her belly like nothing she’d ever felt before.

He abruptly stood and shucked his jeans and briefs, then retrieved a condom from the pocket of his pants. “I thought I could keep my jeans on, but there is no fucking way I’m going to be able to watch you touch yourself and not be inside of you at the same time,” he said as he rolled the protection down his thick erection.

The realization that she’d driven him to this extreme was a heady feeling, and she embraced it.

He sat back down. “Come here,” he said, and she didn’t hesitate to walk toward him.

She stopped between his widespread legs and lost her breath when he leaned forward and pressed a hot, damp, open-mouthed kiss to her soft stomach while his fingers lightly trailed up and down the outsides of her thighs. His lips moved slowly upward until he reached her breasts. He licked each of her nipples, flicked them hard with the tip of his tongue, then bit down just hard enough to give her that rush of pain-pleasure she was coming to expect and enjoy. She threaded her fingers through his hair, shivering as goose bumps broke out on her skin, and a slick moisture pooled between her legs.

He turned her around so she was facing away from him. “Sit on my cock, just like this.” Sliding the tip of his shaft through her wet folds, he positioned the head against her entrance as she lowered herself to his lap, until he was seated deep inside her body, filling her so full she couldn’t help the moan of pleasure that escaped her lips.

He pushed her hair away from one side of her neck and breathed in her ear. “Look straight ahead, into the mirror,” he said as he used his feet against the inside of hers to spread her legs far, far apart.

She glanced up at their reflection, only a few feet away—Sawyer sitting behind her with his cock buried so deep inside her, and her thighs open indecently wide so he could see
everything
. She’d been so caught in her own head and worried about stripping for him that she didn’t even realize, until this moment, that he’d positioned the chair to face her dresser that had an attached mirror. There was no looking away, no escaping their images or the soft curves of her body, her voluptuous breasts…

Sawyer met her gaze in the mirror, his filled with so much sin. “This is the perfect position to watch you touch your gorgeous pussy and make yourself come.”

Clever, devious man.

“Show me,” he urged and nipped at her earlobe.

Her breasts tingled and swelled at that playful bite, and her clit throbbed. Suddenly feeling daring and wanting to tempt Sawyer to lose a bit of that iron control of his, she slid her hand down her stomach and grazed her fingertips along her exposed flesh. She was already slick with desire, and she spread the moisture all the way up to the hood of her sex, dragging her fingers through her slit slowly and leisurely. She circled the small, pink, nerve-laden bud, rubbed that knot of flesh a little harder, just how she liked, and moaned softly.

“That is so fucking hot,” he said against the side of her neck, his smoky brown eyes watching her so intently, adding to the slow burn sluicing through her veins.

“I need more,” she said, aching to feel his hands on her. “Touch my breasts.
Please
.”

His big hands came around, cupping and squeezing the mounds in his palms. Fondling them so skillfully. He brushed his thumbs across her nipples, tightening them into tight, needy peaks before he caught them between his fingers. He pinched and pulled,
hard
, and the illicit sensation shot a blast of sizzling heat down her belly and between her thighs.

She cried out at the delicious shock of it and wriggled desperately on his cock as her own fingers moved faster over her clit. He released a low, growling sound from behind her, his body too restrained despite how his shaft stretched her wide inside, filling her but not moving.

His self-discipline drove her crazy when she was feeling so wild, so close to coming. Her gaze locked helplessly on his in the mirror, her skin flushing with desire, her heart racing as her release built and built. She lifted her arm, curling her free hand around the back of his neck, using it as leverage to arch her body on his, to rock and grind on his lap, on his cock.