Striker (74 page)

Jim said nothing, just continued to pull her upstairs, kicking open the bedroom door, which Amber found quite a turn-on. She could do masterful. It just made him even sexier in her eyes.

As soon as she was through the door he kicked it shut, pushing her up against the wall, his mouth urgent yet gentle against hers, his hardness already digging into her thigh. ‘I want to taste you,’ he whispered, his fingers entwining with hers as he searched her face for permission to do what she knew was coming. And just the thought of it sent her heart racing even faster, if that was possible. She was just glad she was leaning back against the wall or she was convinced her knees would have given way.

He found the zip of her jeans and pulled it down, deliberately slow, his mouth almost resting on hers as he did so, his fingers making her gasp as they slipped underneath the denim to touch her. A quick touch, but enough to speed up her breathing, her breasts straining to escape the confines of her pale green bra, eager to feel his mouth covering them.

He took her hand again, pulling her towards the bed. She knew what was about to happen, and she didn’t think she could wait much longer. The anticipation was killing her now, a pain in her thighs throbbing to the point where she knew she’d have to find some relief soon. Very soon, before it all became too much.

Shrugging her shirt back off her shoulders she unclipped her bra and threw it aside, lying down on the bed and stretching out as Jim slowly pulled her jeans down, standing up for a few agonising seconds as he freed himself of his own clothes. Amber watched every move he made as that near-perfect body of his was revealed. The tanned skin, muscles in all the right places – at forty-eight he had a body that had hardly changed since the days when they’d spent all their free time doing this. Had she changed much in that time? She closed her eyes again, pushing any other thoughts from her mind as Jim pulled her panties down, leaving her naked and exposed but it was the most beautiful feeling. She felt free, liberated, almost. She felt beautiful, wanted, needed. She felt so many things she couldn’t explain, things she only wanted to feel. And she wanted to feel
him
. All of him.

She gripped the edges of the pillows as he placed both hands on her knees, pushing her legs apart before sliding another pillow underneath her, raising her hips up slightly. Once again the anticipation built until she literally felt like crying out for him, screaming at him to do what it was he was about to do because she couldn’t take the waiting any longer. It was torture.

But within seconds the torture was over and the ride had begun. Amber couldn’t stop herself from crying out this time as his mouth finally found its destination, touching her in the most intimate of places in the most beautiful of ways. His tongue was searching, probing, looking for that special spot but seemingly in no hurry to find it.
 

‘Oh, Jesus… Jim…’ Amber groaned, bucking her hips slightly as he pulled away, teasing her, making her crazy as he took her so far then pulled back for a second or two before lowering his head again. Oh yes.
Now
the tension was easing.
Now
she could feel herself relaxing.

Gripping the pillows tighter she bucked her hips again, crying out loud as his tongue entered her for the briefest of seconds, sending a huge shiver right up her spine, but he didn’t stay there. He knew that was enough, that the ride would continue in a different way, but he’d left her aching for more, now. He’d left her whole body crying out for him, a delicious ache spreading through her like some kind of beautiful, erotic poison. She needed him, and she didn’t have to wait long to feel him back where he belonged. Sliding back up her body, his skin warm and smooth against hers, it took just seconds before she felt him slip inside her. And the relief was immense, her whole body tingling with tiny, white-hot pins and needles as she accepted him fully, wrapping her legs around him to take him in deep.

His fingers entwined with hers above her head, pushing her hands back into the pillows as he pushed hard into her, kissing her neck, whispering things to her that were both beautiful and filthy, turning her on more and more with every thrust, until the inevitable endgame began it’s slow and steady climb, her body exploding with a force brought on by his final, almost violent thrust, a wonderful spasm of burning hot tingles covering every inch of her skin, her stomach dipping and diving as her thighs gripped him tight, waiting until he was empty. The feeling of him there, within her, was a feeling she didn’t want to let go of. Not now. Not after everything they’d been through, all those years of only wanting this but at the same time making sure it didn’t happen. What had she been playing at?
 

As his own shuddering climax came to its natural end, he lowered his head down onto her chest, their hands still joined together, as were their bodies. And she was glad. She didn’t want him to withdraw just yet, not yet. A few more minutes of feeling him this close, that’s all she wanted. A few more beautiful minutes.

‘Relaxed?’ he asked, smiling slightly as he slowly raised his head.

She smiled back. ‘Yeah. I think so.’

‘You think so?’ he asked, arching an eyebrow. ‘Do I need to do more? Huh? You wanna wear me out before we even get to our wedding night?’

She closed her eyes as she felt him slowly leave her body, rolling over onto his side. ‘Jim…’

‘Two seconds, baby,’ he said, sliding out of bed and disappearing into the en-suite bathroom.
 

She lay back, drawing her legs up, staring at the white ceiling above her, her fingers fiddling with the edges of the pillows. She felt as though someone had just given her the most incredible full-body massage. She felt so relaxed, sighing contentedly as she stretched out.

‘Jesus, Amber, just watching you do that makes me want to go in all over again,’ Jim groaned, lying down beside her, propping himself up on one elbow.

‘Help yourself,’ she smiled, arching her back, her breasts full and in his face. Bending his head, Amber moaned quietly as he accepted her invitation, his mouth covering one of her breasts. She buried her fingers in his hair, pulling at it gently as his hand wandered down her body, trailing along her stomach, down over her thighs, until he found what he was looking for. And before Amber had any time to think about what he might do next, he’d slipped two fingers inside her, making her cry out loud again, arching her back even more, pushing herself up at him, which only served to make him dive deeper.

‘I love you so fucking much,’ he whispered, finally lifting his head to look at her. ‘You know that, don’t you?’

She nodded, opening her legs wider as his fingers continued to probe around inside her, sending incredible waves of pleasure washing over her. ‘I know… Jesus Christ, Jim… that feels so good…’

His mouth covered hers, his thumb gently stroking her, heightening the whole experience ten-fold until she could hold on no longer. He’d done his job, easing another orgasm out of her in record-quick time with an expert hand, kissing her hard and fast as her whole body shook, still with him inside her.

‘That feels fucking incredible,’ he groaned, slowly sliding his fingers out, leaving her breathless. ‘You’ve got one hell of a grip on you, kiddo.’

She turned her head to look at him, smiling. She couldn’t do anything else. She had a feeling that smile would be there for days to come. Everything she’d felt today, all those incredible, mind-blowing feelings she’d experienced, she wanted to feel them forever, feel him there in whatever way he could be.
Every
way he could be. She wanted to do things with this man that she had
never
wanted to do before, it was crazy! She wasn’t some sex-crazed teenager out to experience everything she could because it was all so new, she was a thirty-seven-year-old woman. Yet she felt like that sixteen-year-old teenager when she was with Jim. Maybe she always would, but hey, if it meant they could share evenings like this then she wasn’t going to complain. ‘We’re gonna be okay, Jim. Aren’t we?’ she asked, a sudden vulnerability taking over as the tingles and the shivers subsided, giving way to reality. Which she didn’t know if she was quite ready for yet.

‘We’re gonna be just fine, baby,’ he smiled, gently pushing a strand of dark red hair from her eyes. ‘I promise.’

I promise. Two words that she needed to believe more than anything. Two words he’d said to her before with consequences that had broken her heart a million times over. Two words that she hoped he’d learnt the true meaning of now, because she couldn’t lose him again. She just couldn’t.

*

‘Prostitutes?’
Gary
questioned, grabbing Ryan’s arm as he passed the bar. ‘Are you serious?’

‘I prefer to call her an escort of the more choosy variety,’ Ryan said, shaking
Gary
’s hand from his elbow.

‘You sure about that? I mean, she’s with
you
tonight, isn’t she?’

‘You’re a fucking funny sod, Gaz.’

Gary
leaned forward on the bar, taking a long swig of beer. ‘She’s a prostitute, Ryan, and you know it. Half the lads in the league have had her when they’ve visited the North East, it’s what she does. It’s how she makes her money. And I know we’ve all done it, mate, but at least the rest of us have been a bit more discreet.’ He looked at Ryan, who was refusing to meet his eyes. ‘She put her prices up yet? What with the recession and everything…’

Ryan finally turned to look at his team-mate. ‘Can you shut the fuck up?’
  

‘Hey, alright,’
Gary
laughed, holding up his hands in mock surrender. ‘Don’t throw your toys out the frigging pram.’

‘Just fuck off,
Gary
.’

‘You’re being a right arsehole at the minute, has anyone told you that?’

Ryan looked at
Gary
again. ‘Yeah. And I wonder why
that
is?’

‘Don’t blame me, mate. I wasn’t the one
who shagged two birds in the bed I shared with my fiancée.’

‘You could have stopped me.’

Gary
stared at him. ‘Hang on… What? You’re seriously blaming
me
now?’

‘Yeah. Why the hell not? I mean, you knew how much I loved Amber, how much I wanted to be with her, and yet
still
you forced me to come out on that stupid Stag Night…’

‘I didn’t tie your arms behind your back and fucking force you, Ryan.’

‘As good as.’

‘No, you aren’t gonna tie this one on me, mate. No way. You’re big enough and ugly enough to make your own frigging decisions in the end and if you
really
hadn’t wanted to come out that night then you know as well as I do that you would’ve stayed at home, regardless of what anyone else was telling you to do.’

Ryan turned away again. He was right,
Gary
was right, to some extent. He hadn’t been forced into anything, but maybe he
had
been worn down to the point where agreeing to whatever
Gary
was asking had been the easier option, just to shut him up.

‘You’re weak, Ryan. And all this has done is prove that.’

Ryan looked at
Gary
, an anger building up out of nowhere, because he hadn’t felt it before. All he’d felt before was this urge to spend the night fucking some faceless woman in endless bouts of meaningless sex so he could forget – forget what, exactly? The fact he’d messed up big time? Yeah,
Gary
was
right. But that didn’t mean he was blameless. ‘You shouldn’t have pushed me so hard,’ Ryan said quietly, knocking back two vodka shots in quick succession.

‘Jesus, Ryan, come on. Deep down you
wanted
to come out that night. You
wanted
to fuck those girls, so don’t stand there and deny it. If you’d really loved Amber as much as you say you did then you wouldn’t have gone anywhere near them, let alone take them home.’

‘You pushed me,’ Ryan went on, his voice quietly dark. ‘You pushed me so far…’

‘This is bullshit! Go and get your head sorted, Ryan, okay? Because you’re doing mine in.’
Gary
took one last swig of beer before slamming his empty glass down on the bar, looking Ryan straight in the eye. ‘She’s gone. You lost her. Your fault. Now fucking deal with it.’

Ryan watched him walk away, balling his fists, digging his fingernails so far into the palms of his hands it hurt, but he felt no pain. Not from that, anyway. All he felt was a dull, nagging ache inside every time he stopped to think for a second, every time there was an opportunity for thoughts to process and images to appear in his head.
 

‘Everything okay?’

He looked up as the dark-haired woman re-appeared by his side, sliding a hand onto his arm as she sidled up close to him. ‘Everything’s fine,’ he lied. ‘Or it will be.’

She looked at him, frowning slightly. He downed the last vodka shot and slipped his arm around her tiny waist, leaning in for a long kiss, sliding his hand up her dress as he pressed his mouth against hers, feeling her reciprocate, wincing as she bit his lip as the kiss grew more urgent. He could take the pain. Anything that blocked out everything else going on in his life was good, if it distracted him.