Don’t Deny Me: Part Two Read online

  Somehow, Alice didn’t think she was going to lose. Not with the way Mick’s gaze kept slipping back to capture hers, no matter where she stood, or how he made sure to somehow be wherever she was. Not in an obvious way, nothing anyone else might see, because while Mick was pursuing Alice, she was making it extremely easy for him to do it.

  When the fire had burned to coals and there were more yawns than laughs going around the circle, Alice gathered up as much trash as she could and paused next to Mick. “Hey. Help me carry this up to the house?”

  Jay and Paul had both disappeared an hour before. Bernie and Cookie were snuggled together, and Tanya had fallen asleep in a lawn chair. Alice, with Mick a step or two behind, carried the garbage to the oversized can at the base of the deck steps and dumped it in. It was darker up here, the light from the fire an orange haze at the bottom of the garden and the house itself lit only dimly from a few lights in the living room. Under the deck, sliding glass doors led into the finished basement … and the room where Mick was sleeping.

  “Wanna play some pool?” Alice asked.

  Mick laughed softly. “Are you any good?”

  “Terrible. But that’s what makes it so much fun.”

  There was a beat or two of silence, in which she was sure he’d reach for her. He had to, didn’t he? After eye fucking her all night long, surely he’d move a little closer. Lean in. Put his hands on her hips.

  Instead, Mick backed away. “Sure. I’ll play.”

  Alice followed him inside, calculating how many steps between the sliding doors and the hallway to his bedroom. Imagining herself stripping out of her dress and letting it fall to the floor, walking in just her bra and panties to his room with no more than a glance over her shoulder and a crook of her finger. He’d follow, she was sure of that. Yet something stopped her. … Anticipation was delicious, after all.

  “You can rack,” she told him, and went to the glass-front fridge Bernie had salvaged from a convenience store being remodeled. “You want a soda?”

  “I’ll be up all night.” Mick grinned.

  Alice smiled back and lifted her brow. “And?”

  “Sure. I’ll have one.” Mick grabbed two cues from the wall rack and handed her one, taking the can of cola from her. “You want stripes or solids?”

  “Stripes.” Alice took a drink and set the can down, then put some chalk on her cue. She was truly terrible at pool, that part hadn’t been a lie. But bending over the table and shaking her ass to keep him distracted? That she was good at.

  They played for about five minutes before the sound of shouts from upstairs made her pause. Mick hadn’t heard them; he was in the middle of a joke when she held up her hand to hush him. To give him credit, he did at once, looking concerned.

  “You okay?”

  “I heard something.” She went to the bottom of the front staircase, head tilted to listen. “I thought it sounded like Jay.”

  Mick put his cue down and stood beside her. “I don’t hear anything.”

  She didn’t either, now, just the huff of their breathing. The heat of him brushed her bare arm. When she turned her face, his mouth was there. The kiss felt like an accident, or at least like something they could pretend wasn’t on purpose. His lips urged hers to open. He pushed her back against the wall, his hands on her hips.

  Everything else was forgotten then. The pool game, Jay’s shout, the late hour. Alice wound her arms around Mick’s neck. She opened for him, hips tilting forward. He slipped a hand beneath the back of her knee so he could press against her center. She let out a long sigh against his lips.

  “I’ve been wanting to do this all night,” he murmured. “God, Alice, you taste so good.”

  She pushed her fingers into the thickness of his hair, tugging. “Less talking. More kissing.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He laughed and went back to the job of kissing her.

  They kissed for a long time. No urgency. Lips and tongues moving. Teeth clashing every so often. He nibbled at her jaw and throat, pausing when she arched and shivered to do it again, a little harder that time. His hands moved over her body, no place terribly intimate, just belly and hips and sides, until she couldn’t stand it any longer and took his hand to cup her breast.

  “Ah,” Mick said into her ear. “Okay, then.”

  From upstairs came the shuffle of feet in the kitchen, but nobody came downstairs. The lights went out, casting the stairwell into dimness. Mick turned them both so he sat on the lower steps, Alice straddling his lap. He rocked her against him. His hands roamed her back, digging in just hard enough to make her moan into his open mouth.

  It had been some long months since the last time Alice had kissed anyone, and then it had been nothing like this. Mick’s mouth and hands on her, his kissing, were all magic. She didn’t want any of it to end, not even to take him to the bedroom, strip him down, and fuck him until neither of them could walk.

  Alice wanted to kiss Mick forever.

  He shifted beneath her. The press of his cock hit her just right through the barrier of his soft khaki shorts and her dress, tangled around her thighs. She let out another low moan, swallowed by his mouth. His hand came up to fist in her hair, his fingers digging gently into the base of her skull and tugging her head back so he could get at her throat. The top slopes of her breasts revealed by the dress’s scoop neck. A little lower, his nibbling lips found her erect nipples, hard enough to poke through her bra and the dress.

  “Yes,” Alice whispered. “That.”

  With a low chuckle, Mick pulled her neckline down to gain further access to her bare flesh. Her bandeau bra, lightweight nylon, slipped easily down. For a second, just a second, Alice hesitated. She arched into the slide of his tongue along her skin, the tug of his lips on her nipples, but common sense, her stupid brain, did tell her to slow down. Before she could pull away, though, he did.

  Mick kissed her mouth as he let her neckline return to its original place. Then he buried his face against her neck, holding her close. They sat that way in silence, breathing in unison. Under the press of her lips on his neck, Alice felt the beat of Mick’s heart slowing in time with her own.

  She waited to feel rejected—she’d been half naked, her tits in his mouth, after all. He hadn’t even tried to get his fingers in her panties, not that she was sure she’d have let him. But all Alice felt just then with Mick’s arms around her was a strange sense of contentment.

  She lost track of the time they sat there, just that it was long enough for her to need to stretch. They moved at the same time, disengaging. Uncoupling. She stood and shook her foot, which had started to fall asleep. Mick got up, one hand on the stair railing, and cracked his neck.

  “It’s late,” Alice said.

  Mick smiled. “Yeah.”

  He reached for her, and she stepped back into his arms. Her head fit neatly under his chin, something she wasn’t expecting. His hand ran down her back, pausing just above her ass, and though she totally would not have minded had he taken a little squeeze, Mick stopped there. Alice discovered she liked that even better.

  “Good night, Alice,” he said into her ear.

  She let her lips brush along his cheek as she stepped away from him to climb the stairs, looking back over her shoulder. “Good night, Mick.”

  * * *

  Good night, Alice.

  Good night, Mick.

  It had become their ritual. Each logged into their laptops and tucked into bed for an instant message conversation that always meant to be a few minutes or so but almost always lasted for hours. Sometimes they talked on the phone, too, but the distance between them and expensive cell phone minutes meant IM was easier. On the rare nights they didn’t manage to connect for even a quick chat, without that Good night, Mick found it hard to fall asleep.

  They’d met a month ago, but it seemed a helluva lot longer. Sometimes, Mick felt like he’d known Alice Clark forever. Sometimes, he felt like forever wouldn’t be long enough.

  With an hour and