Page 8 of Hardcore Vanilla
Sharon cursed her bad luck when it turned out she and Jake were parked on the same side of the hospital and no one else was. Figured. She kept her smile pasted on her face as she exchanged hugs with the rest of her friends and they went down one hall... and she and Jake turned down the other.
The silence between them wasn't tense exactly, but it wasn't comfortable either. She was trying to figure out how to break it when he did, and with the last question she’d ever expected from him.
"Why'd you sneak out this morning?"
Giving him a sidelong look, Sharon couldn't help but raise her eyebrow. He wasn't looking down at her, so she couldn't tell if he could see her expression. Since he about six feet tall and she was closer to five, he might not be able to.
"Uh, cuz awkward morning afters don't really appeal to me?" she responded, letting the obvious ‘duh’ leak into her voice.
Now he did look at her, a slight frown on his face. It occurred to Sharon that he'd slowed his normal walking pace slightly so that her short legs could keep up. She didn't know whether or not to feel grateful for that. "You don't know that it would have been awkward."
That was just crazy talk.
"You think it wouldn't have been?" she asked dubiously. He couldn't possibly be serious; exactly how did he think this morning would have gone?
Jake shrugged. "We could have fucked again, at least."
She stopped in her tracks, mouth hanging open. Not because she was offended or because she found his actual words shocking, but because she was shocked he was the one who said them. Her nickname for him was Grumpy Cap, because he reminded her of Captain America but way more, well, grumpy. He didn't curse much, if ever, and he was rarely crude that she’d ever heard. That was her tactic, and one she often used for getting under his skin.
Turning, he took in her expression as his blue eyes sparkled with amusement.
Putting her hands on her hips, Sharon narrowed her eyes at him. "Who are you and what have you done with Grumpy Cap?"
He laughed. Sharon couldn't help but stare. Maybe he was always grumpy because he just hadn't gotten laid in a while and now he could stop being such a stick in the mud? In that case, he definitely needed to get laid more often.
I volunteer as tribute.
Cocking his head to the side, he stepped forward and Sharon's breath caught in her throat. Jake wasn't a Dom and he insisted he wasn't a dominant at all, but he was pure alpha-male. After last night she could confirm that he liked to be bossy in the bedroom. She really liked take-charge, bossy men in in the bedroom, which was how she'd ended up in a BDSM club in the first place.
He reached out to a tendril of hair that was curled over her shoulder, but instead of brushing it back, he started winding it around his fingers. Why that was so sexy she had no idea, but her whole body felt like it pulsed in response. Her stupid, sore vagina perked up in interest - as if that area could even take another pounding right now.
"I thought we were working our attraction out of our systems," she said, a little breathlessly.
"Mine's not worked out yet," he murmured, his blue eyes meeting hers with a hot, intense look that made her insides twist and clench. "How about yours?"
"No, not yet." Her lips quirked. "Are you suggesting Round 2?"
Jake shifted his big body closer, crowding her in a way that she really liked. Her eyes darted back and forth, but the only people moving through the hallways were nurses and doctors, none of whom were paying the least bit of attention to her and Jake. She didn't back up and she could practically feel the heat of his body as he was less than an inch away from her. Her nipples stiffened, as if trying to rub themselves against him. If she swayed just a little bit, they would.
"What are you doing today?" he asked.
The side of her lip curled up in a slightly disappointed smile. "I'm heading over to Kate and Andrew's. I'm probably going to be there the rest of today. Tomorrow evening?"
"I'm free." The corners of his lips tipped up, heat flaring in his eyes. Damn it. He really was sexy when he wasn’t a grumpy, judgmental jerk. That crooked little smile did all sorts of things to her insides, none of which were going to lead to good decisions and she knew it.
She pointed her finger at the center of his chest. “We’re not telling anyone, got it?” She wrinkled her nose. “We’re the last two singles in our group and I don’t want any of them getting expectations.”
“So, we’re just… What? ‘Netflix and chill’ buddies?” he asked, sounding amused.
Sharon rolled her eyes. “I would just call it ‘fuck buddies,’ but sure. Whatever you want to call it as long as we keep it between us.”
That was really the only way this was going to work. It wasn’t a bad deal either. She could scratch her itch, have phenomenal sex, and… Well, a more relaxed Jake didn’t seem like a bad thing to her. Hell, he’d just said ‘fuck’ and didn’t even wince when she said it now.
“All right, short stuff,” he said, turning away so they could keep walking. “It’s a deal.”
Since he couldn’t see her expression, she stuck out her tongue at his muscular back. If he thought he was going to bother her by giving her a nickname based on her small stature, he was going to be super disappointed. That was really kind of a sad effort when it came right down to it. The nicknames she came up with were so much better.
“Sounds good, Captain.”
