Friends With Benefits

“Why are you so bothered by him? You were busy so I flirted with a cute guy. It’s been known to happen before.”

He ran an agitated hand through his sandy blond hair. “Because we were supposed to hang out tonight, and instead you chose to gamble for over an hour and were just about to go home with some dude.”

“Okay, I’m sorry for that,” she allowed, trying to calm him down. “Let’s go back to my house now. It’s not a big deal, Carter.”

She took a few steps toward the exit, but he remained rooted to the spot, his expression still uncharacteristically dark and moody.

“Are you going to pout all night?” she prodded. “Or are we going to salvage this evening and actually spend some time together before you leave?”

He stalked toward her, his blue eyes flashing with anger as he grasped her arm. “You’re not the one giving orders here, Alexa.”

A shiver of awareness danced across her skin, sending up a wave of goose bumps in its wake.

Carter suddenly pulled her toward the back of the casino. They passed a startled concierge as he led her into a remote stairwell with a big staff-only sign on the front, but as a contractor for Elysium’s security system he had access to all areas of the casino.

The concrete stairwell was cold and quiet, but they were in a standoff, eyes clashing in anger, confusion and denied lust. She didn’t know exactly how she’d gotten so angry so fast, but she was plenty pissed off at his attitude and the fact that he’d dragged her across the casino like she was his property. She wasn’t the one who was leaving town for some bullshit extension office that could be handled remotely or by his countless executives who would love to relocate to San Francisco. In the course of several hours the life she loved was in danger of becoming extinct and he was upset because she was flirting with some guy? He needed to check himself.

“You have no reason to be pissed right now,” she bit off.

His eyes widened in incredulity. “I don’t have a reason to be pissed off? You’re supposed to be fixing your reputation and you can’t even do it for one fucking night.”

She bristled at the censure. “You’re not my boyfriend or my dad, and I’m allowed to flirt with guys. If you’re not going to be my fiancé, then my reputation is none of your business either.”

“Why are we even here in the first place? You talk a good game of being sad that I’m leaving, but you can’t even spare a couple hours off from flirting and gambling to hang out with me. You know I hate crowds and casinos.”

“If you didn’t want to gamble, you should have spoken up and we’d have gone home. I’m not a damned mind reader.”

Her blood was raging now and she shivered. Something was different here. The tension that always simmered below the surface was so second nature it was easy to ignore, but now it was reaching a boiling point. She wasn’t sure whether she wanted to shake the living daylights out of him or rip his clothes off.

Carter pulled her into his arms and her breath caught. “I’ll speak up then.”

CHAPTER FOUR (#u858095a9-30e7-57c1-8bd3-0d4fe0c73b74)

CARTER’S LIPS MET hers and the world suddenly felt like the glass flower exhibit, upside-down and chaotic. His lips were firm and confident as he threaded strong fingers through her hair and held her tightly against his solid body. The body of her friend, whom she’d lusted after for years. She’d denied herself for such a long time, only imagining what it would be like with him, but those daydreams were incredibly vivid now.

She moaned against his mouth as he took the kiss deeper, opening her up and invading her with gentle but insistent explorations. It was methodical and thorough, just like the man himself. Carter was the most intelligent and inventive person she knew and she wanted him to apply all of those skills to her while they were both naked and in her bed. Or his bed. She wasn’t picky.

His strong, steady hands drifted down her back and gripped her ass just tightly enough to let her know he meant business and drew her hard against his erection so that she was cradling him right where she wanted him. He was big, and she rocked her hips against him, wanting to feel the length of his cock against her wet heat. She arched into him, needing to be closer and feed the feverish ache between her legs, but he only gave her a fraction of what she wanted, his hands stilling her hips when she wanted nothing more than to ride him to her own release.

One of his hands caressed up her side, the rough calluses dragging against the silky fabric of her blouse as he cupped her breast in his hand. He drew a blunt thumb lightly over her beaded nipple, and she groaned in pleasure as liquid heat poured through her like the first sip of rich hot chocolate on a cold day.

His lips crashed onto hers again as they fought for dominance in the kiss, tasting each other, their tongues invading and retrenching, teasing and commanding.

She found his chest under his shirt and stroked along his abdomen, the fact that she’d done this to another man just moments ago not lost on her. Carter felt perfect under her fingers, taut and smooth and hot.

“Mine better be the last chest you touch tonight,” he growled, lifting her into his arms.

The new height put them face-to-face. The hard length of his erection finally pressed against her core and she closed her eyes against the onslaught of desire that stormed through her insides.

“You’d better make it worth my while then,” she told him, nipping at his bottom lip.

Their lips locked again, the heat rising between them like a bubbling geyser. He pulled her shirt over her head, leaving her exposed in a red silk bra. In response she scored his thick hair with her fingers and guided him to her peaked nipple, which he drew into his mouth without hesitation. Bolts of desire roared to her clit and her hips rolled against his erection, creating a maelstrom of sensation. Just a few more seconds and she could come just from some innocent dry humping like a teenager in the back seat of a car.

“Carter,” she whispered against his lips.

Tracing a thumb over the corner of her mouth, he coaxed her to let him go deeper, explore and taste all there was to discover.

“Touch me,” he murmured against her lips.

“Are you telling me what to do?” she asked, drawing back with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah,” he grinned. “Now stop being so damned contrary and do it.”

“Oh, this so is not how we’re doing this,” Alexa declared, waving her pointer finger as she attempted to climb out of his hold. Orgasm be damned, she wasn’t his servant.

He let her go, but then crowded her underneath the stairwell until she was flat against the wall. Anticipation danced up her spine.

“Hey!” she snapped, pushing at his shoulder. “What are you doing?”

“You think this is going to be like our friendship, where I look the other way when you try to boss me around, but Alexa, what we’re about to do isn’t friendship.”

None too gently, he spread her legs apart with his knee, pinning them there until she squirmed.

“Now touch me.”

She obliged immediately, her soft fingers gliding up his abdomen.

“Someone’s been working out,” she purred, scraping her nails over his dark nipples.

“I’ve looked like this for years.”

“I know, but this is the first time I get to touch,” she explained, grinning as her fingers brushed down his sides. “I liked your old body, too, you know. I’d take your brain in whatever package it came in.”

A weird look passed across Carter’s face for an instant before he grabbed her wrists and pinned her arms to the wall. “Stay.”

Then he knelt in front of her, pushed her skirt up to her waist and revealed the smallest scrap of a black lace thong.

He licked up the inside of her thigh, spreading her legs wider as he went. He threw one of her legs over his shoulder and pushed the thin piece of underwear out of his way. But then he stilled for a moment, and she thought she might die from want.

“Do it,” she commanded, clutching at his hair.

Smiling at her bossiness, he obeyed, setting his lips to her. His tongue found its way into her, leaving no inch untouched. He explored her vagina as thoroughly as if he were going to make a damn map of it afterward. She didn’t give a shit what he did as long as he kept it up. The long strokes of his tongue, the teasing brush of his thumb—he was a man on a mission, and her desired destination was pleasure.

“Carter,” she rasped, trying to catch her breath. “I want you inside me.”

Her skin was on fire, as hot as a car hood on a Vegas desert summer afternoon, unrelenting and merciless. His fingers replaced his tongue and he pumped inside her, the slick channel offering no resistance, only friction and anticipation. She squirmed underneath his ministrations, unable to control herself as his thumb and tongue worked in tandem to drive her in-fucking-sane.

“Not until I say,” he told her, biting down gently on her engorged nub as he added another finger. He pistoned furiously, his tongue laving the spot he’d bitten, soothing the bolt of electricity he’d delivered to her core.