Page 104 of Implode

“Lingerie?” he asks, pausing his task to look down at his outfit. “I’m wearing gray sweatpants.”

“Exactly.” I exaggeratedly lick my lips. “If only you understood the appeal of what they do to a woman.”

He huffs out a laugh in disbelief. “I feel like a piece of meat being analyzed to see if it is ready to be eaten.”

“I recently have taken a liking to meat,” I comment nonchalantly, earning a chuckle in reply.

“Maybe if you stop looking at me as if I’m your next meal, I can get the show started.”

“I’m enjoying the show right here.”

Nic smirks and his eyes twinkle with mischief. I love our playful times and will miss the bantering if we go back to just being coworkers-who-sometimes-get-naked-and-have-intercourse. “Well, when your little pussy is begging for release, don’t get mad at me when I withhold the fun as a punishment.”

“You think you hold all the power, don’t you?” I goad.

“You can’t resist me,” he challenges.

Then I have a little fun by stretching my whole body out on top of his bed like a lazy starfish. I yawn and allow my legs to spread casually, while the red satin pajama set I am wearing coats my skin like molten lava. My little science experiment is working, and I must have caught Nic’s attention because once he notices my movement, he stalks over to me and climbs on top—balancing his weight on his arms.

“Don’t tease me if you don’t plan to take me.” His words come out as a growl.

“Maybe that was my plan all along.”

“You are such a bad girl,” he chides.

“I remember once upon a time, you told me you like bad girls. Ones who know the score,” I add, staring straight into his eyes. I could get lost here. I can feel his breath on my skin and it warms me. It is like our hearts beat as one. I’ve never felt this connected to anyone. He makes me go crazy. One second I want to run and the next I want to rip his clothes off. “This round, I needyouto understand the score. I have my hormones all out of whack, and I can either take care of myself or use you. Which shall it be? Because the bathroom incident just warmed me up.”

I’ve always been sure of my sexuality but just hearing my wanton words makes me wonder if I have an alter ego just waiting to burst out of me. Nic gives me the unspoken confidence to be myself—even if I sound a bit deprived.

Nic’s eyes smolder and darken to a navy blue shade. “I’ve never stopped wanting you, baby. You are so freaking be—”

“Ah, ah, ah,” I interrupt, holding up my manicured finger and waving it back and forth. “Less talk. More action.”

Nic doesn’t need any convincing while he tears off my clothes, lines himself up at my entrance, and sinks inside me from tip to root. I have been primed and ready to go ever since leaving the bathroom where we reacquainted ourselves with each other after a dry spell. My insides are still freshly lubricated from his last entry, so I don’t need time to adjust.

“Is this what you want?” he asks, biting my earlobe.

I nod and suck my bottom lip into my mouth. “Harder.”

Nic stops midstroke to get my attention. “You sure, baby? I don’t want to bruise you.”

“I’m sure.”

And just like that, we get our groove back, and I meet every thrust by lifting my hips off the mattress in the same rhythmic dance we seem to do with each other. Nic is my home away from home, and no matter how things change, there is one thing that will always remain the same—my inability to resist his charm. Or his body in those damn gray sweatpants.

My orgasm is sudden and unexpected. My body is changing and everything feels different—but in the best kind of way—at least sexually. Nic rolls and tucks me to his side, slipping out and making me instantly miss the fullness. I know that I will be sore in the morning like he warned. He didn’t go easy on me, and part of me is glad about it. Yes, the baby is changing everything, but it is comforting to know that Nic claims he will still find me attractive. It shouldn’t matter. I am torturing us both by riding the fence between being together and being apart, but I blame him for tonight’s encounter because he asked me to stay. He knows I can’t resist that look he gives me.

After several minutes, Nic gets up, and I groan over my heat source vacating the bed. I watch through slanted eyes as he goes back over to the TV and fumbles with his phone. “You must really have your heart set on a chick flick. Who would have ever guessed?”

Nic laughs and then grabs the remote while invading the cocoon I created for myself since his departure. “Just watch.” He hits play and one of my favorite love songs that I always sing to in the car starts.

“I love this song,” I say softly. My eyes are fixated on the TV when a picture of me appears on the screen. I am walking into Hoffman Headquarters and my hair is blowing in the wind. I look up at Nic with confusion, but he just places a finger to my lips to shush me.

“Just watch,” he reiterates.

I turn my attention back to the screen and wait as my image fades and then another one fills up the frame—but this time it is of me and Nic under the Welcome to Vegas sign.

There are pictures at Red Rock Canyon, the pancake shop, and from the night I went on a bashing spree at the break-everything warehouse—which also was the night we first had sex.

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