The Highest Bidder (2 page)

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-frappalatte 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 turquoise 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–’

She shook her head.

Her panties slid lower as he pushed them, the seductive scrape of the soft cotton over her skin. The maddening heat of his palms on her. The way he cupped her ass. ‘If you cry, you cry. I don’t care. I just care that you want me. I just care that you think I’m good enough to–’

‘Hush, hush!’ she demanded and shoved him. Caught off guard Nick pin-wheeled and fell backward onto his caramel coloured sofa.

Casey kicked off her jeans, still looped around one ankle. Her panties followed and she swept her hair – crazy and messy and wavy from the rain – back off her forehead.

‘I’m on the pill,’ she whispered. ‘And I’m safe and clean and–’

‘Ditto. Well not the pill.’

He grinned and her heart cramped a little. God, he was pretty. And nice. And sexy as hell. A dangerous combo for a broken girl like her.

‘I trust you.’ She didn’t know why she did. Or why she should. But something in her told her she could.

Casey didn’t question herself as she yanked his jeans down. He had on grey boxer briefs and his cock was hard and pressed to his belly and she stalled for a minute just looking at him.

‘Everything o–’

‘Hush,’ she said. She licked her lips, drinking him in. It was shocking to her what a visceral reaction she had to seeing him. Bare and somewhat vulnerable and so fucking hot. ‘Just hush,’ she repeated, hooking her fingers in the waistband and tugging so he had to raise his hips to help her.

He was smooth and hard in her hand. They both sighed in unison and then laughed simultaneously too.

‘We seem to be synched up,’ Nick said, groaning just loud enough to make her grow wet and soft between the legs. He thrust up gently – as if he couldn’t quite help it – and she squeezed his cock to prompt him to make that noise again.

Casey nodded, not trusting her voice. She was still afraid of crying – but mostly because she felt overwhelmed. Joy, fear, sadness, excitement – all of it swirled in her belly like a storm and she sighed, shimmying up over him, straddling him as he watched her with those stark blue eyes.

‘My God, you’re beautiful,’ he said.

‘Hush,’ she repeated. ‘Don’t make me cry.’

He cupped her breasts and just held her that way, letting the heat of his hands cover the slight chill of her skin. Casey’s nipples pebbled and the roughness of his palms made her shake a little.

‘It’s OK if you cry, though. I know–’

‘I know you know.’ She smiled. ‘But don’t actively try to make me.’

‘I would never …’

But his words died on his lips as she trailed the tip of him along her labia. Nudging her clit with the helmet of his cock, she tried to keep her heart rate below the heart attack zone. The smell of him – all man and cotton and cosy heat on a chilly night – flooded her senses and Casey ran him over the soaking split of her pussy.

‘That is making me … nuts.’ He finished with a groan that set her nerves clanging in an entirely good way.

When she sank down on him, she watched him bite his lip.

‘Tell me,’ Casey said, knowing he was holding something back.

‘You feel just so …’

‘Wet?’ She rocked down onto him, feeling that sweet invasive stretch of penetration.

‘Yes, but–’

‘Ready?’ she sighed, rolling her hips to feel the press and stroke of him everywhere. Everywhere she needed it. Everywhere she had needed it for so long now.

‘Tight,’ he growled and thrust up under her, hard. The quick movement and the sudden roughness set her off and Casey came with a low moan that almost sounded like sadness but was soaked in joy and surrender.

She had done it. She’d come and it was good and he was good and …

Her mind went blank when he pulled her down over his chest for a kiss. The fall of her hair shielding them both for a moment. His lips brushed hers and his tongue tangled with hers and then he nipped her, driving up from under her once more.

‘Casey?’

‘Yeah?’

‘Do it again,’ Nick said. Big hands clamped her hips, steadying her as he began to thrust into her from beneath. Now that he was doing it in earnest, she felt the head of his cock manipulating every single bundle of nerves that craved stimulation. Her G-spot seemed to bloom with heat and a slow flexing spasm began deep inside her.

Her fingers curled against the heat of him. She let herself be swept away, driving her body down to meet his thrusts. Welcoming his cock with the way she let her legs fall open just a tiny bit more.

‘I’m–’ She was going to tell him she was coming but he kissed her into silence, his tongue gently brutal against hers.

He held her as close as he could and filled her and her body rippled and then clamped down on him with the pleasure of it all. It stole her breath – the force of it – and how he held her. Like he feared she might float off and away from him forever if he didn’t.

His fingers whispered back and forth along her lower back as Nick thrust up once, twice, three times more and came with a low growl that made her shiver all over. The sound of a man losing his firm grasp on control. The sound of a man coming undone.

For her.

Oh God, it had been so long.

And then, even though somewhere in herself she expected it, they came. Dominating her senses, making her eyes water and her throat grow tight. Taking the air from her lungs and the sound from the room – all but the pounding of her heart.

The tears.

Casey tried to curl in on herself. She tried to roll into a protective ball and just ride them out. But Nick was having none of that. He held her firmly against himself, wrapped his arms around her, kissed her hair.

‘Go ahead and cry, Casey. It’s OK.’

‘It’s not–’

‘It is. I’m not going anywhere. Hey, I knew your story from day one – well, today is day one. So, from moment one. From the moment you gave me a hard-on with nothing but your big toe.’

She snorted at that – unladylike – but a genuine laugh nonetheless. ‘I don’t want you to think that–’

‘All I think is that you’re having a lot of emotions right now. And I’m lucky enough to be here to hold you.’

That brought more stupid tears and she was torn between feeling affection, gratitude and annoyance. How does a person ruin such an awesome bout of sex with a bunch of embarrassing tears? She shook her head but let him hold her. She was lulled by the pound of his heart and the heat of his body and the way Nick kept sweeping his thumb along her skin as she clung to him.

She almost fell asleep. Almost.

But her phone started to beep and rattle in the depths of her jeans and she realised what she’d done.

‘Oh, shit. That’ll be Annie.’

WHERE R U? I HOPE A SERIAL KILLER DOESN’T HAV U.

Casey shook her head and tried to text with trembling fingers.

‘Don’t go,’ Nick said from behind her. ‘Let me get us something to drink. Wine? Beer? Tea?’

She almost said tea but said softly, ‘Wine, please. I think I need it.’

‘Was I that bad?’ he asked, cocking an eyebrow and grinning at her. His cool water gaze made her feel naked even though he’d given her his button down shirt from the back of a nearby chair.

‘No, I was.’

Nick suddenly leaned forward over the back of the sofa, surprising her into a gasp. ‘You were far from bad, Casey. You were amazing and lovely and despite what you think ….’ He shook his head as if gathering his words. ‘Despite what you think, nothing you did was off-putting. I would be surprised if after all this time you didn’t have a reaction.’

‘You deal in nostalgia,’ she whispered. Her text to Annie was momentarily forgotten.

‘I do. And I know how powerful and important memories can be.’ He stroked her chin for a split second and when she realised her throat ached too much to answer him, she simply nodded.

‘I’ll get our wine. Red or white? Sorry I’m not evolved enough to also offer blush.’

She snorted, genuinely amused and beyond grateful that he didn’t think her an overemotional wreck. ‘I hate blush. Red all the way.’

‘Ah, there’s my girl,’ he said with real affection.

She was grateful that he walked out before she started leaking again. Because the moment he cleared the kitchen doorway, a fresh sluice of tears were unleashed.