Joni opened her eyes and groaned at the bright light flooding her bedroom. She squeezed her eyelids shut again, but it didn’t help. Fucking tequila. “Uh. God.”

She was startled when she heard a male chuckle next to her. She turned her head, surprised to find Eric lying next to her.

“You’re still here.”

Eric gave her a funny look. “You didn’t think I would be?”

She shook her head. “No. Not at all.”

He was shirtless and under the covers. She tried to recall exactly how the night ended, but she couldn’t remember anything other than his incredible kisses, a lot of fondling and then him going down on her and her coming so hard her teeth rattled.

Beyond that…

“Did we…I mean…I don’t remember us…”

“We didn’t have sex, Joni. But we still had a pretty good time.”

“Oh. Yeah. I remember the good time.” And she recalled him being completely sweet—telling her he wouldn’t take advantage of her when she was drunk. She was still sort of overwhelmed and touched by that. In a world filled with idiots and jackasses—her previous boyfriend included—she couldn’t believe she’d been lucky enough to meet a gentleman.

Then she remembered his bet with his friend. Maybe his actions weren’t based on chivalry as much as money. Ten thousand bucks was a lot of cash to lose just for sleeping with her. “So I guess you kept your vow.”

He nodded, looking at her more seriously than she thought the question called for. “Yep. So far I’m still on track.”

Joni glanced at her bedside table. “You know, it’s nearly ten o’clock. You had plenty of time to make your escape.”

Eric stretched out, putting his hands behind his head, looking for all the world like lord of the manor. Joni tried to ignore how much she liked having him in her bed. “I’m not going anywhere until you’ve given me breakfast.”

Joni sat up, then grabbed her head. “Ouch. As long as you’re cool with coffee and dry toast, I think I can accommodate you. Not sure my stomach can handle much more than that.”

Eric sat up as well. “That sounds perfect. I’m feeling a little queasy myself. I lost count on the shots.”

“Me too.”

She laughed, then tried to grab the robe hanging on a chair near her bed while still remaining under the covers. While he’d seen plenty last night, it had been in the forgiving dimness of her bedside lamp. There was too much harsh, bright light this morning for her to let him get too good a look.

Joni tugged on the stubborn covers, then realized Eric was holding them. She shot him a dirty look. “Let go.”

“Nope. Not sure why you’re so shy. I saw it all last night.”

“I was drunk. Inhibitions low and all that jazz.”

He laughed. “I liked what I saw.”

“You were drunk too.”

She and Eric continued to fight over the blankets, but the tug-of-war ended when she heard loud cursing outside.

She giggled. “I think Jeff is here to get his stuff.”

Eric’s humor faded. “Are you okay with me being here? I can duck out quick or hide if you think it’s going to make things too hard for you.”

More generosity. “I don’t give a crap what he sees. He sure as hell wasn’t trying to hide his affair from me last night. Out and about with that woman.”

Eric glanced toward the window when the cussing got louder. Joni took advantage of his distraction, slipping from the bed and pulling her robe on quickly. She tied the sash as she walked to the window and threw it open. Eric was still in bed, perfectly hidden from view of Jeff, who was grabbing all his shirts and shoes in one giant armful.

“I’ll box the rest and call you later in the week,” she yelled down. “You can come get it then.” Despite her nonchalance over Jeff seeing Eric, she really didn’t want to deal with a scene this morning. Her head hurt way too badly.

Jeff spotted her at the window. “Dammit, Joni. Why the hell would you do this?”

“I told you I’d leave your stuff out front.”

His shoulders visibly slumped. “I was hoping we could talk.”

“We said it all last night.” And as soon she said it, Joni realized that brief conversation really was enough for her. She had no desire to hash it out, assign blame or listen to apologies. At the end of the day, they’d still be here. Broken up. So why waste the breath on a bunch of meaningless words?

“Can I just come up for a little while?”

She shook her head. “No. I’m serious, Jeff. I’d like to just make a clean break. That’s all of your clothing. The only things left here are some dishes, books and DVDs. I’ll pack them up and you can come get them when I’m at work. You can leave the key then.”

“I wanted to explain, to apologize.”

“That would be for you, Jeff. I don’t need either.”

Her response seemed to take some of the wind out of his sails. “So this is it?”

“Yeah. It is.” Joni resisted the urge to ask him what the hell he thought it was, her sarcasm gene screaming all sorts of catty remarks. She held them back. It simply boiled down to the fact she just didn’t have the energy or the desire to get into it with him. Not with Eric half-naked in the bed behind her. He’d introduced something into her life that had been absent for too long. Excitement, uncertainty, lust.

“I’ll call you later?”

“No. I’ll call you. In a few days.”

He nodded sadly, then trudged back to his car with an armful of his things. He’d have to make several trips. She closed the window and lowered the blind.

She turned around and sighed.

Eric was looking at her with a curious grin.

“What?” she asked.

“You’re a very interesting woman, Joni. Most women would have liked nothing more than to rake that guy over the coals, drag up every damn slight and argument and demand more than a few apologies. You let him off easy.”

She shrugged. “I really did say it all last night. And maybe I would have let him come in this morning and lit in to him if…”

“If I weren’t here?”

She shook her head. “No. If you hadn’t opened my eyes to a few things. It takes two to tango. Jeff and I haven’t been happy for a while. It’s not like we fought or anything. There just wasn’t any spark. I’m not saying that gave him carte blanche to cheat on me, but I’m not completely surprised he started looking elsewhere. He just should have handled it better and come to me before he strayed, but he didn’t.”

“I made you realize all that?”

“You or the tequila,” she joked. “Breakfast?”

He followed her down the hallway to her kitchen. She put the coffee on while he slid two pieces of bread in the toaster.

“I was kidding about the dry toast. I have some eggs and bacon if you’re hungry.” She silently hoped he’d turn her down. Just making the offer had her stomach twisting.

“No. The toast is plenty.”

She reached for two cups from the cupboard, then jumped a little when Eric wrapped his arms around her from behind. She slowly lowered her arms, the cups dangling from her fingers when he cupped her breasts, plumping the sensitive flesh.

“That feels so good.”

His breath tickled her ear when he whispered, “I know how to make it feel even better.” He slipped the knot in her robe free and she shivered. She tried to blame it on the cool air hitting her skin, but even as she thought it, she knew it was a lie. This man knew how to push all her buttons.

With her robe hanging open, Eric took advantage, stroking her breasts and caressing her stomach. She went limp, relaxing under his sensual massage. After several minutes, he turned her to face him, his gaze drifting down to look at everything he’d just touched.

Her cheeks heated at his perusal, but she resisted the urge to cover up. He was still shirtless, so she let his sexy chest, defined pecs, muscular arms distract her. She ran her fingers along his skin, enjoying his sharp intake of breath. She wasn’t the only person affected by whatever it was between them. Joni could almost imagine she saw sparks flashing. It was electric.

Eric leaned forward, clearly intent on kissing her, but Joni turned her head at the last minute. “At the risk of completely ruining the moment, I’d really like to run to the bathroom to brush my teeth. My mouth feels like it’s coated in cotton from all that damn tequila and I’m sure my breath is kicking.”

Eric chuckled. “Ditto. Come on.”

He grasped her hand and they walked to the bathroom together. Joni pasted up and wet her toothbrush. She spit and rinsed, then scowled when Eric grabbed her toothbrush and used it.

“Hey. Hello? That’s mine. Gross.”

He winked, but continued to brush. Once he finished up, he placed a quick kiss on her cheek. “My tongue was in your mouth for at least an hour last night.”

She lifted one shoulder. “That’s a valid point, I guess, but it’s still gross.”

“Can I get my kiss now?”

She grinned, but didn’t resist when his hands grasped her waist and he pulled her close once more. She liked his kisses. A hell of a lot.

Joni wasn’t sure how long they stood there in front of the bathroom sink, but when he pulled away, she knew she could have stayed there all damn day.

“Coffee?” he asked.

She nodded. They returned to the kitchen and she poured the coffee as Eric toasted two new pieces of bread, the first two cold and hard. Then she found some Advil in a cabinet and added that to their breakfast of champions.

Eric clinked his coffee cup to hers as he swallowed down the pills and she was reminded of all their toasts the previous night. She hadn’t laughed so much in a very long time and it had felt good.

Once they’d finished their toast, Eric glanced toward the hallway. “What do you say we crawl back into bed and sleep a little bit longer? Try to get rid of the hangovers.”

She thought that sounded like heaven on earth, but she was sort of surprised he wanted to stick around.

“Truthfully? I think that sounds great. But you don’t have to hang out if you have something else to do.”

“Still trying to get rid of me?”

That was the last thing she wanted to do. They’d started last night out with honesty and it had been nice to be able to be herself without any pretense. So she gave him more of the truth. “Not at all. I’m having a blast with you.”

It was clear her answer pleased him. “I like being with you too.” He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, then clasped her hand and led her back to her bedroom.

She started to crawl beneath the covers with her robe on, still feeling shy around him, but Eric stopped her.

“Nope. Want you naked when I spoon you.”

She laughed. “Is that the plan?”

He nodded.

“And what about those?” She pointed to the pants he’d yet to shed. Hell, he hadn’t even unzipped. She couldn’t imagine he’d been very comfortable sleeping like that, but then she figured the tequila had helped with that too.

Unfortunately, her question led her gaze to his crotch and she noticed a very distinct bulge there. Eric was hard. Ready.

She licked her lips, all thoughts of her headache and nap gone.

Eric blew out a long, almost pained breath. “If I take my pants off, it’s game over, Joni. I’ll lay you back on that bed and take you. Given my current state, I think it’s safe to say it would be hard and fast. My self-control is pretty much gone.”

She reached out and ran her hand over his clad cock. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

He covered her hand with his, adding pressure to her stroke. His cock thickened even more and Joni started to understand just how well endowed Eric was.

“I’m trying to be a gentleman.”

“Oh, okay. Well, I’ll tell you what. You concentrate on doing that while I work on being what I want to be.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

She dropped to her knees in front of him. “I’ve always thought it might be fun to be a slut.”

Her words seemed to work on Eric like a stun gun. He didn’t resist when she unbuttoned his pants and slid the zipper down. In fact, he stood still as a statue until she reached beneath the elastic of his boxer briefs and gripped his cock. Then he sprung back to life.

“Jesus,” he muttered when she pulled his hard-on free. Eric reached out, his fingers tangling in her hair. “You don’t have to do this, Joni.”

“I want to,” she whispered. Together they worked to divest him of his pants, dragging them down so that Eric could step out of them. Throughout it all, Joni kept a firm grip on his cock, afraid he’d call a halt if she released him.

Jeff had never been a fan of oral sex in regards to giving to her, though he sure didn’t mind being on the receiving end. Joni—quietly resentful of his lack of fair play—had stopped giving him blowjobs nearly two years ago.

She’d never particularly enjoyed the act—at least not with Jeff—but there was something about doing this with Eric that was arousing, hot.

She tightened her grip as she ran her palm over his hard flesh. Eric groaned and the sound encouraged her to continue stroking him. After half a dozen glides along his cock, she moved closer and opened her mouth.

Eric’s hands tightened in her hair, the action provoking a slight sting in her scalp that had her pussy clenching.

She ran her tongue along the head of his cock, catching a salty drop of pre-come. Then she opened her lips and took him inside.

He groaned. “So good, Joni. God, baby.”

Her lips tipped up at his praise. She liked a man who wasn’t afraid to let her know what he liked. She took him deeper until he brushed the back of her throat.

Joni began to move her hand along the base of his cock in time with the thrusts of her mouth. Eric’s hands cupped her cheeks, driving the pace, increasing the speed. She let him take charge, wanting to make this good for him, to give him what he wanted. He’d sure as hell been very generous with her last night.

She used her free hand to caress his balls, then dragged her fingers through the slit of his ass. He pulled away.

She frowned. “I’m sorry. I—”

She didn’t have time to finish her statement. Eric lifted her from the floor, roughly pulled her robe off and pushed her onto her back on the bed. Within seconds, he found a condom, put it on and came over her.

Joni was slightly disappointed that she didn’t get to finish her blowjob, but she got over it quickly when Eric pushed her legs apart, his cock poised at her opening.

“I’m two seconds away from exploding. When I come, it’s going to be inside your pretty pussy.”

She smiled. “Okay. This time.”

He leaned closer to place a kiss on her cheek, then all traces of sweetness vanished as they came together in pure, unrestrained, wild-monkey sex.

Joni wrapped her legs around his waist and held on for dear life as Eric thrust inside her, harder and deeper than she’d ever been taken.

She started to come instantly. She cried out, but Eric didn’t slow his pace. Her pussy clenched, her back arched, her eyes rolled back in her head. Through it all, Eric continued to fuck her.

It was amazing and overwhelming and…

“Holy fucking God!” she yelled when another climax came on the heels of the first. This time she managed to take Eric with her. He stiffened briefly, his eyes pressed shut tightly, then he took the name of the Lord in vain a few times as well.

She shivered as he withdrew, a combination of sensitive nerves and a blast of cold air when he took his body heat with him. They clumsily twisted so that they could climb beneath the covers together.

She resumed her previous position from the night before, her head pillowed on his chest. His heart thudded loudly in her ear, the quick pace matching the hard pounding of her own.

For several minutes, they lay in quiet contentment. Her body sated, her headache gone. It was bliss. Then she recalled something.

“Sorry,” she said.

Eric gave her a curious look. “For what?”

“You lost your bet. You’ve got to pay your friend all that money.”

“I haven’t lost, Joni.”

“But you had sex with me.”

He shrugged. “I know, but that wasn’t my vow. I said I was going to marry the next woman I slept with. Not the next one I had sex with.”

“First of all, that’s semantics, and secondly, you still lose. You slept with me last night.”

“That’s right. I did. But considering marriage hasn’t been ruled out between us, I’m still in the running.”

She snorted out a loud laugh. Despite the amazing sex they’d just shared, the simple fact was…they were basically strangers. Marriage was so far off the table it wasn’t even in the same state. “Oh, trust me, Eric. That vow is well broken. There’s no way I’m getting married anytime soon. You saw what happened to me the last time I thought I’d met the one. Just pay your friend the money and be done with it.”

“No. I think when you get to know me better, you’ll start to understand. I don’t give up on something when it’s right. And my gut tells me…this is very right.”

She wasn’t sure how to reply in the face of such confidence, such self-assurance. She was sort of touched, but slightly panicked as well. “Eric, I really think you need to forget about me. I haven’t had two seconds since yesterday to process what’s happened with Jeff. I’m just going to take a break from guys for a while. Get my head screwed on straight again.” When he didn’t appear moved, she went for humor. “Seriously. Despite this cool, calm, collected sex goddess you’re seeing, I’m a mess right now, a raving lunatic who picks up complete strangers in parking lots.”

Eric didn’t appear concerned about her pronouncement. “Take the time you need to figure things out, Joni. It’s a good idea. You need to do that.”

She was relieved—and annoyed—by his easy acquiescence. This was what she meant by lunatic. She was trying to brush the guy off, then getting pissed that he was going for it. “Great. Then maybe we should just leave things here. I had such an amazing time with you. I’m not sure how I would have gotten through last night. You were a wonderful surprise and distraction.”

He smiled. “I’m not finished distracting you yet.”

She lifted up on her elbow to see his face more clearly, and then said exactly what she was thinking. “While that’s tempting, I’m not sure it’s such a good idea for us to have sex again. You’re really good at it. The sooner I put the memory of what I just did behind us, the sooner my vibrator will be able to start doing the trick again.”

Eric chuckled. “You’ve got a vibrator around here? Nice. We’ll play with that later. But first…how about a shower? I’ll wash your back if you wash mine.”

She scowled. “You seem to be hard of hearing.”

“Not at all. But I have plans tonight, so I figure we can kill two birds with one stone. Keep arguing in the shower.”

Joni’s temper piqued. “I’m not keeping you here. If you’re busy, call a cab. You’re free to go.”

Eric rose from the bed and reached down to draw one finger along her flushed cheek. “You’re pretty when you’re mad. And you don’t get it. My plans for the evening involve you.”

“Me?”

“You and I are going to celebrate your birthday tonight. I’m not letting this milestone go by without a party—even if it’s just you and me and it’s a day late.”

Joni sucked in a breath, incredibly touched by his kind offer. “You want to do something for my birthday?” Good God. There had to be something wrong with this man. Right now, he was simply too good to be true. She studied his face intently.

So intently, his brows creased with concern. “What’s wrong?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out. There’s got to be a flaw somewhere.”

He laughed. “I listed them for you last night, remember?”

“Oh yeah. That’s right. Your masturbation issues.”

“You sure you want to throw that stone, vibrator girl?”

“Asshole,” she said with a giggle. When she sobered up, she tried to get them back on track. “Even so, Eric, I still can’t just jump—”

He cut her off when he grasped her from the bed and tugged her close. Joni didn’t resist the pull or the embrace. It felt too good. “I heard everything you said, Joni, but I’m not going to stop calling you or asking you out because of bad timing. You and I have fun together. I’m not asking for a relationship, a commitment or anything like that. I’m simply saying I want to be with you. So take whatever time you need to sort out your feelings and your life. In the meantime, we’ll just hang out, take it slow and easy.”

She didn’t reply. Hell, she couldn’t think of an answer. Everything he said seemed completely logical and, if she was being honest, exactly what she wanted. She didn’t like the idea of saying goodbye to him just yet. Even so, she kept trying to find an argument to counter his offer, to tell him why it wouldn’t work, but nothing came to her. She’d promised honesty and anything she said now would be a lie.

“You’re not answering,” he prodded.

She gave him a rueful grin. “That’s because I got nothin’. That sounds pretty good. But to be clear, are you suggesting we spend time together as just friends or friends with benefits?”

“Did you like sex with me?”

She snorted, then realized he was being serious. “Oh wait, that wasn’t a rhetorical question?”

He laughed and hugged her. “You’re damn good for the ego, Joni.”

“I loved having sex with you,” she admitted. “A little too much. What we just did is going to interfere with my ability to concentrate for a while. There’s a good chance I’ll probably get fired from my job for fantasizing about you all day long.”

Eric kissed the top of her head. “Yeah. I’m going to have the same problem. Maybe we should give ourselves some time to scratch the itch, try to get it all out of our system. Pent-up lust can be pretty painful.”

Again, his logic seemed sound to her. Of course, she’d traded a tequila hangover for a sex one, so there was always the chance she wasn’t thinking all that clearly. Not that it mattered. “So…you said something about a shower?”