Page 98 of Just This Once

Vibrating with triumph, she stepped close and looked up into my eyes as Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things” started.

“Now you dance with me,” she whispered.

My chest went tight, and everything inside me shuddered with a longing I hadn’t felt in years. The ache that had chased me after my parents’ death, the need for acceptance from someone to love me no matter what. It washed over me with a suddenness that shocked my system. And for a moment, I couldn’t even breathe.

But Hope was still standing there, waiting for my answer, so I exhaled slowly and steadily, then reached for her hand.She stepped toward me immediately, looping her arms over my shoulders. I debated a moment on whether to keep hold of my towel or grip her waist, but the need to touch her won out.

The towel tumbled down my legs almost immediately, and I didn’t give a shit. Hope moved in closer to rest her cheek on my shoulder as one hand smoothed over my bare ass, and from there, we shifted around in the rain with a sorry excuse for a two-step.

She didn’t seem to mind, though. We danced through the first verse just like that, until the chorus started.

And then I don’t know what came over me, but I started to murmur along with the lyrics because it echoed exactly what I was thinking. “Please…stay,” I sang gently into her ear. “I want you. I need you, oh God.”

Hope lifted her face from my shoulder and looked up at me with wide eyes. The song was immediately forgotten as I admitted in a thick rasp, “Just this weekend. I’m not ready to lose you yet.”

A shudder went through her. “God. Parker…”

Lifting onto her toes, she smashed her mouth to mine. I met her lips readily and wrapped a hand around her waist, backing her through the rain until we reached the bar area.

She was gripping my face between her hands and sucking my tongue into her mouth as I lifted her onto a bar stool and parted the soaked bathrobe in order to get between her legs.

“Hurry,” she commanded, bracing her feet on the rungs as she perched herself on the edge and spread her thighs wide.

“Fuck,” I breathed, dazed by the view. Then I looped a hand around her waist and stepped forward.

As I pushed inside her, her upper torso fell back so she could rest her spine on the edge of the bar’s counter behind her. She grabbed onto the stools flanking us, and her robe fell open all theway, letting her breasts spill out. They bounced as I shoved into her.

Gripping her ass, I tipped her hips for maximum penetration and started to pound, never pausing.

Hope writhed on my cock, undulating and jerking, just as intent to capture that sweet release as I was. When it came, she threw her head back and let the rain pelt her face and breasts as her inner muscles contracted and squeezed around me.

I knew at that moment, I was never going to be the same again.

This girl had me locked down. She was in my head. She ran through my veins.

She fucking owned me.

“Okay,” she admitted breathlessly as she came down from the high, slumping limply against the bar. “Just this one weekend.”

25

HOPE

Early on Sunday morning, I hooked my purse strap over my shoulder, hugged the single sack full of stuff I planned on taking home with me, and then I paused at the end of the bed to watch Parker sleep.

He had passed out before me the night before and then slept clear-through until daylight. I didn’t want to say that my presence had cured his insomnia, but I kind of wondered if maybe it had.

He was a side sleeper, facing away from me. One hand was tucked under his face, the other splayed across the bare mattress in front of him as if he were reaching for someone. The sheets were rumpled down to his waist, showing off his amazing back muscles, and his hair was so messy and inviting that I fisted my hands around my purse strap to keep from reaching for him.

The boy was just so unbelievably beautiful. It hurt to look at him. It hurt to know our weekend was over.

Which was why I had to get out of here. Now. If he woke up while I was still around, I was sure he’d convince me to stretch out our Just-This-Once deal even longer. And knowing me, I’d cave and agree to anything he wanted.

But it had to stop.

So I was stopping it.

Swallowing hard, I lifted my chin and turned away.

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