Bedding the Bachelors Box Set (Books 1-3) (67 page)

Jamie’s parents were great, too, though Lucy could see the edge of worry beneath their determined-to-give-the-appearance-of-having-a-good-time demeanors. The person who seemed to be having the most difficulty, however, wasn’t Jamie or Brianne’s parents, but Jamie’s friend, Gabe.

After dinner and dessert was finished, Brianne took the stage and used the microphone to announce she wanted everyone to have fun. That no one should worry that she was sad or heartbroken. To Lucy’s surprise, even though a couple of the bridesmaids looked like the girls Lucy remembered from her private school days—rich and spoiled and just looking for someone to “mean girl”—they obviously had Brianne’s back. They were already encouraging guests to find their dance partners with the enthusiasm of soldiers carrying out a beloved general’s orders.

Brianne thanked everyone for their generous gifts but said that she would feel better if they would take them with them when they left. Laughing, she said, “I don’t want to keep anything I didn’t earn.”

A curse came from across the room followed by a crash. Lucy turned just in time to see Gabe’s back as he stalked out of the room. An awkward silence followed, then Brianne said loudly into the microphone, “Looks like the party’s gotten started!” Music began to play and the bridesmaids practically dragged couples onto the floor as Brianne hurried off the stage.

Jamie stood.

Suspecting that Brianne and Gabe would be having a word or two, Lucy grabbed Jamie’s hand. “Why don’t you give her some privacy?”

When he looked like he was going to protest, she said, “Come on. Your sister wants everyone to dance. So let’s dance.”

After a brief hesitation, he nodded and squeezed her hand, then followed her out onto the dance floor. The band was playing an upbeat Latin style instrumental and the few couples already on the floor were doing varying versions of the tango. Cole and Luke were each dancing with a bridesmaid. Jamie’s parents were dancing, too, as was Diana and her husband.

“Do you know how to tango?” Lucy asked Jamie when they made it to the middle of the floor.

He grinned and said, “Are you kidding? I was born doing the tango.”

“I can’t say the same.”

“Just follow my lead, sweet thing. I won’t steer you wrong.”

He wrapped one arm around Lucy’s waist and with his arm outstretched in front of him, he took her hand in his. He used the hand around her waist to pull her up flush against him, and her nipples rubbed against his chest through the thin material of her dress. Little jolts of electricity traveled down to her nether regions, and she immediately felt her panties get wet.

As they danced, Lucy quickly discovered Jamie had been telling the truth. He was the best dance partner she’d ever had. Effortlessly, he led her so that their dancing seemed more like floating…and foreplay. As she stared into Jamie’s face, she knew he felt the same way.

Another sure sign was his hard cock rubbing against her belly.

Wanting to tease him to even greater hardness, Lucy waited until they were tucked into a corner, mostly hidden by the dancers now crowding the dance floor, then slid her leg slowly up his body until the split along the side of the dress opened up, exposing her leg and thigh until just a hint of her lacy panties were visible.

Of course, Jamie noticed. He grew harder, and his cheeks flushed with color. She leaned forward to give him a kiss but he pulled back and grinned.

“So you’re in the mood to tease, are you?” she pouted.

“Maybe,” he told her, still grinning.

“I know how to play that game,” she said.

The band switched the tempo from the quick and intense tango to a slow, romantic love song. Jamie wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her hips into his as she slipped her arms around his neck. As they swayed in time to the music, Lucy felt a sudden rush of warm air against her ear; Jamie was blowing into it, and sending waves of goose bumps down each of her arms.

She arched her back slightly so that she could get a better angle, then ground her pelvis against his erection. Jamie groaned, leaned his forehead against hers, and said, “I’m not going to be able to walk back to our table without drawing a lot of attention, you know.”

“Then we’ll just have to stay here until you can.”

“If we stay here, if you stay in my arms, that’ll never happen.”

“Would you care? If others knew how badly you want to fuck me?”

Jamie’s hips jerked and he pulled her even tighter against him. “They’d think I was an eunuch if I didn’t get hard from dancing with you like this.” When she ground against him, he slid his hands down from her waist, grabbed an ass cheek in each hand, and squeezed.

Lucy let out a little gasp and then giggled. “The professor is getting a little wild on the dance floor. I like it.”

“Former professor. You know what you’ll like more?”

“What?”

But Jamie didn’t answer. Instead, his gaze moved over Lucy’s shoulder. When she turned her head, she saw his friend Ryan dancing with a pretty blonde with the bluest eyes Lucy had ever seen. They weren’t dancing like strangers, but they weren’t dancing like lovers, either. It was easy enough to see from Ryan’s expression that he wished that wasn’t the case.

“Another case of unrequited love?” she said softly as she turned back to Jamie.

“Can one unrequite a love one doesn’t know exists?” he asked in return.

“He hasn’t told her?”

“She’s his best friend, and he has it in his head that if she knows how he feels, he’ll lose that.”

She nodded. “Sex can mess up a friendship.” She bit her lip. “I—I don’t want it to mess up ours.”

He squeezed her. “Stop it.”

“No. Because you are my friend, Jamie, and I don’t want that to end. I hope—I hope even after all of this, after you’re done with me—”

He let her go suddenly. “You mean after you’re done with me.”

“What?”

“I’m not the one who’s made it impossible for us to be together, Lucy.”

She looked around, afraid that others would hear them. “Jamie…”

He pulled her back in his arms. “Jesus, I’m sorry. Forget I said that. I just…Looking at Ryan and Annie made me lose my head for a second. It’s okay, Lucy. I know what we have …and what we don’t have. I hope we can remain friends, too.” He leaned down and kissed her. “For a while longer I’m hoping we can remain friends with benefits,” he joked, but his voice was strained.

She didn’t know what to say. What to do. His implication that they could have something special…maybe something permanent…but for her own cowardice made her heart clench. As she always did when she didn’t know what to do, Lucy faked it. “That sounds good to me. More than good.” She stopped dancing and grabbed his hand. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Where are we going?”

“I’m thirsty. Let’s go get a drink.” She started to pull him off the dance floor, but Jamie pulled her back in.

“Wait, haven’t you forgotten something?”

“What?”

“I can’t walk across the floor like this. It looks like a huge snake got loose in my pants.”

Lucy laughed, then glanced down at the distinct bulge in his pants and murmured, “Huge, huh?”

“What? You don’t think it looks like one of those thirty-foot pythons?”

“I—”

“Jamie! Lucy!”

Lucy turned to see Brianne rushing toward them. Gabe was close on her heels. From behind her, Jamie said, “Well, if that’s not enough to put a giant python to sleep, I don’t know what is.”

Snorting, she elbowed him. “Quiet.”

“Nice dancing, you two,” Brianne said. “You’re good for my brother, Lucy. Can I steal him for one dance while you dance with Gabe?”

Lucy smiled even as Gabe frowned and Brianne looked at her with pleading, desperate eyes.

Just then, another romantic song perfect for slow dancing came on.

“Wait a minute,” Jamie said. “I definitely want to dance with my sister, but that doesn’t mean I want my girl slow dancing with Casanova here.”

Gabe rolled his eyes and held out his arms. Lucy stepped in and wiggled her fingers at Jamie.

Gabe took one of Lucy’s hands in his, and she draped her other arm around his broad shoulders. They swayed together for several seconds and Lucy noted that Gabe’s eyes never once left Brianne. “So…Brianne’s taking Eric’s absence pretty well, huh?”

Gabe glanced down at her and frowned. “Too well,” he practically grunted.

“I admire her. She’s a pretty amazing girl.”

“She is,” Gabe said. He tipped his head to consider her. “I heard about your sister, Lucy. I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you,” she said quietly.

“Even though I know what’s going on, I also want to say, if you let Jamie walk away at the end of all this, you’re a fool.” He smiled then, his face going soft. “A cute fool, though. Jamie always had excellent taste.”

Lucy was staring at him open-mouthed when the music stopped. Gently guiding her by the arm, Gabe dropped her off at the head table. A minute later, Jamie joined them.

“Thanks for the dance, Lucy,” Gabe said. He turned to Jamie. “You’re a lucky man, Jamie.” And with that, he was gone.

“He’s right. I am a lucky man to be here with you.” He leaned in and whispered in her ear. “You know, our room is just two floors up. We could take a little time for ourselves, re-group, and make it back for more reception fun before the bar closes.”

“And what would this time for ourselves entail?”

“You know how Gabe said I was a lucky man? Let’s just say you’re about to get lucky, too.” Jamie grinned. “But only if you admit there was a boa constrictor in my pants earlier.”

Surprised, she laughed and said, “I thought you said it was a python.”

“I changed my mind. Boas are longer. And thicker.”

“Hmm,” she murmured. “You’ll have to let me take a look. So I can tell you whether it’s a boa or a python. But either way, it’s all mine for the night…and I don’t want to tame it. I want it to be as wild as it possibly can be.”

She heard his breath quicken. He searched the room until his gaze landed on his sister, who was talking to Ryan and Annie. Apparently satisfied that his sister was in good hands, Jamie turned to her, his expression one of utter carnality, and said, “Let’s go.”

***

Jamie waited until they’d entered the old-fashioned cage elevator before finally kissing her. God, Lucy tasted good. So good. He held her pressed up against the wall so she could hardly breathe or move.

When he came up for air, Lucy said, “Wow…just wow! You might have to carry me to the room now. My legs feel like spaghetti.”

“Have I ever told you what a pasta lover I am?”

Just as the elevator doors slid open, he swung her into arms and kissed her again. Then he carried her to their room, putting her down only long enough to unlock the hotel room door before picking her back up again.

He headed straight to the bedroom, where he placed her in the middle of the huge bed.

As he pulled off his jacket and tie, he didn’t take his eyes off her. Then he leaned down and caught the bottom of her dress in his hands. Sitting up, she let him pull it over her head. He nudged her until she was once again lying back, then he pulled her panties off. A shiver ran through him when he felt how wet they were. He tossed them to the floor and then pulled off his shirt. Bare-chested but with his pants still on, he put one knee on the bed and pulled her higher so he had more room to maneuver. After climbing on top of her, he took both of her wrists in one hand and pushed them up over her head. He kissed her hard, using his free hand to trace his fingers down her cheek, along her neck, and then around her hard nipples.

Lucy let out a delighted sigh and squirmed underneath his weight. He took one of her nipples between his thumb and forefinger and gave it a gentle tug. When she moaned, he reached over and gave her other nipple the same attention until she moaned even louder.

"You like that, baby?”

“You know I do, but I’d like it even more if you were inside me."

“Not yet,” he said. “I want to play first. Are you going to be a good girl and go along with it?”

In a breathless voice she said, “Depending on what’s at stake, I can be very good… Or very bad….”

"Hmm, that’s what I wanted to hear,” he said. “I hope you’re ready, because I’m going to make you writhe and moan and scream. No holding anything back…”

“I never hold back,” she said with a naughty grin.

Jamie leaned down and licked one nipple, and then the other, before finally sucking one all the way into his mouth. Then he scraped his teeth against her—not enough to hurt, just enough to have her gasping and clutching at his head to urge him even closer.

“Oh fuck, Jamie! You’re going to kill me. At least touch my clit.”

“Grab the headboard with your hands.”

She didn’t question his command, just did as she was told. Stretching her arms up and over her head, she grasped the headboard.

“Now spread your legs wide for me, baby.”

Again, Lucy did as he asked.

“The anticipation is killing me,” she said, “I need to see your python.”

He laughed. “It’s a boa constrictor. And in due time, my sweet Lucy.”

“Hurry, please. I need you."

He made her watch as he slowly unzipped his pants, then slid them off with his boxers before straddling her once more. His cock pressed hard against her stomach as he leaned forward to kiss her. Lucy let go of the headboard and reached down to take him in her hand. She stroked him gently against her soft thighs and wet slit even as she sucked on his tongue and bottom lip. Knowing she was inciting him to take her and that she was close to achieving her goal, he broke away and kissed her neck, softly and slowly at first, but then he quickened his pace and began using his tongue and his teeth as she continued to stroke him. Her movements got quicker each time he nibbled at her tender flesh.

“Oh Jamie, oh God…how the fuck did you get so good at this?”

He pulled his head up and looked into her eyes. “
I’m
not that good.
We’re
that good,” he clarified. He bent and nipped the top of her shoulder before running his tongue along her collarbone. Then, unable to keep away, his returned to her nipples, circling one playfully with his tongue and then sucking it into his mouth as he caressed the other one with his hand.