Of course she’s going to make me sleep on the couch.

Various parts of me – from my dick to my bruised ego – were arguing that I hadn’t spent last night on the couch.

But last night we’d been drunk and stupid.

Today we were sober, but I was clearly still stupid because I still wanted to get naked with a woman I barely knew. My cock was trying to lead me around, and I couldn’t let it. I had too many things going on. No, I actually only had one thing going on. One thing because I’d pretty much given up everything else for this. For her.

Camry.

She still hadn’t called back.

I couldn’t keep letting myself get distracted over Piety, even as…distractible as she was.

Like now. She bent over the table, putting something down, and my eyes strayed over the curve of her ass. I could see myself moving up behind her and cupping her hips, moving against her. She had a nice ass, round and tight and her legs were long, strong, and muscled. She’d mentioned a few things off and on during the day that made me think she was probably as active as I was – or as active as I had been before everything went to shit.

Brooding, I turned away and carried my duffel over to the couch, staring at it for a long moment as I thought about Camry, the money I had to make – the money Piety was going to pay me. If this didn’t work…

“What do you think?”

I whipped my head around. “What?”

Piety had moved up next to me, and I hadn’t even noticed. Staring down at her, I found myself wanting a taste of her mouth – one that I remembered.

All I had in my head were disconnected bits and pieces, and it wasn’t nearly enough.

She grinned. “You’re a little distracted there.”

“Yeah. Thinking.” I focused back on the bag in front of me and unzipped it, as though something in there would be terribly fascinating.

I had a feeling the woman next to me was on to me though. She knew I was preoccupying myself so I wouldn’t look at the real thing that fascinated me – her.

“I was just wondering if you had anything specific you wanted on your pizza.”

“No. I’m easy.” Then I paused. “Unless you’re going to get really crazy and put fish or fruit on it.”

She laughed softly. “Okay. No anchovies and no pineapple. Maybe a supreme? I’m craving a big, messy pizza.”

“Yeah. Fine.” From the corner of my eye, I glanced at her, hoping she’d leave. Hoping.

But she still stood there.

Straightening, I met her eyes. “Did you want to go out and get it or are we ordering in?”

“Oh, ordering in. Definitely.” She grimaced and dropped down on the couch, kicking off her bright yellow sneakers. “I’m worn out, and my feet are killing me. I just…well, I wanted to say thanks. I know this is an odd kind of job.”

I laughed. “Odd? You think this is odd?”

It felt weird to stand there, practically looming over her, so I sat down, careful to keep a few inches between us.

“Okay, if you want, we can call it outright insane.” She sniffed primly, crossing her legs, and folding her hands in her lap. She gave me a look of mock affront, but I could see the humor dancing in her eyes.

Already some of the worry and fear were melting away, and I struggled to hold onto them. I couldn’t forget why I was doing this. Slowly, I sat down on the huge slab of wood that served as a coffee table in this decadent hotel room. My flat back in Sydney hadn’t been this nice. Not even close.

“I should be the one thanking you, really,” I said, meeting her eyes.

“Why?” She laughed. “You’ve always wanted to get hooked up to a crazy chick with parental issues, and then get dragged to a family reunion where you’ll be the object of stares and awkward questions about a baby that doesn’t exist? That’s what will happen, you know. They’ll assume you got me knocked up and we had to get married.”

“They do realize it’s not exactly 1955. That isn’t how things go anymore.” I meant it jokingly.

But Piety wasn’t smiling when she looked back at me. “They do in my world. You’ll see when you meet them. And trust me, by the time this is all over, you’ll think you’re getting ripped off.”

“No, I won’t.” The sadness in her voice tugged at me, so I did something stupid. I touched her.

She looked up at me, and I felt myself drawn even closer. Instead of moving back, I brushed her hair away from her face, then skimmed my fingers along her jawline. She had silky, soft skin. And she smelled so good – so damn good.

“It won’t be all that bad. You’ll be around, right?”

She laughed weakly. “That’s not much of a bonus, Kaleb. I’m the one who got you into this mess to begin with.”

“See, I should be the one thanking you.”

“You’re sweet.” Her gaze dropped, and it hit me straight in the chest when I figured out just where she was looking.

Straight at my mouth.

I’d been careful not to spend too much time checking her out today, although I was probably wasting my time, trying to hide the fact that I found her attractive. We’d already ended up in bed – and married. But this…

The tension between us began to simmer, and when she laid her hand on my cheek, I decided that I was overthinking this. Why bother being cautious about this of all things?

I was just about to kiss her when she leaned forward and pressed her mouth to mine, taking the debate out of my hands.

Her taste…

I groaned and reached for her waist, pulling her toward me even as I went to my knees in front of the couch.

She came willingly, and I wrapped one arm around her, pushing the fingers of my other hand into her hair. Her breasts went flat against me, and in the back of my mind, an image flashed, my hands on those pretty little tits, her tongue stroking out to dampen her lower lip.

Then it was gone – and so was she.

“Damn. I’m sorry,” she said, breathing hard as she backed away from me.

“You’re sorry?” Catching my lower lip, I sucked it into my mouth, savoring the faint taste of her as it faded. “I don’t think you need to be apologizing, Piety.”

“I…look.” She blushed, and it was so adorable, I wanted to grab her, pull her against me, and never let go.

But then she turned away, her shoulders hunching protectively, and that was when it clicked – something wasn’t right.

“Look, I’m not paying you to sleep with me,” she blurted out, bolting upright just as the last word escaped her lips.

For a minute, I didn’t quite get what she meant. When I did, I tried to hide my laugh by turning it into a cough. It didn’t quite work.

She glared at me as I stood.

“I’m sorry,” I said, shaking my head, and holding up a hand as she took a step toward me, looking like she wanted to throttle me. “I’m just…look, that never crossed my mind. When a beautiful woman kisses me, do you think I’ve got my mind on anything other than her mouth on mine? Or…”

I didn’t intentionally drop my gaze, but…well, I had other thoughts in my head besides her kissing me, or me kissing her. And all of them involved us naked and touching each other. None of them involved money.

That was foolish, because right now, everything I did should involve thinking about money, whether I was taking a piss, eating or trying to figure out how to stretch five dollars into twenty.

But Piety shut my brain off.

And I loved it.

Her chest hitched.

If I hadn’t been staring at just that portion of her anatomy, I might have missed it, but her breasts rose and fell in an erratic rhythm several times over, and I didn’t let myself think about the steps I was taking to close the distance between us until I’d already done it.

And then I was only thinking about it because there was still too much space between us even though, unless I had her naked and under me, we couldn’t get much closer.

Right. Clothes. I wanted those off right now.

Her hands twisted in my hair while I reached for the zipper at the back of her sundress. It was surprisingly difficult to concentrate on something so complex as a zipper when her tongue was stroking across mine. My fingertips brushed her shoulders as I pushed her dress off, and a zing of electricity went through me.

I needed to feel her skin. All of it. I needed it more than I'd ever felt like I needed anything else in my life.

Her bra went next and I couldn't stop myself from shifting enough to get my hands between us. She moaned the moment I cupped her breasts, and I made a similar sound when I felt her nipples harden against my palms. I'd never given much thought to whether I had particular type when it came to women, but I couldn't imagine a set of breasts more perfect than the ones I was touching right now.

Her hands were at my waist now, tugging at my shirt, so I tore my mouth away to deal with it. I wouldn’t have done anything more than that, but as I lost the heat of her body, it suddenly occurred to me that I needed to find protection before things got even more heated. Now I just needed to figure out where in the hell I’d put my condoms. I knew I had a pack. Somewhere.

“Kaleb?”

The uncertainty in her voice had me looking up, and the sight of her perfect, porcelain skin, those high, firm breasts...she took my breath away.

“Just being safe, sweetheart.” I tore my eyes away from her as I dug through my pack until I found what I was looking for.

In the two minutes it took me to find them, Piety had plastered her front to my back, and I could feel the soft, silken smoothness of her curves, the hard, pebbled flesh of her nipples. I had to close my eyes. Her hands slid across my stomach, and my muscles twitched beneath her palms. Her touch was light as she toyed with the button on my jeans. In short, she was going out of her way to drive me out of my mind.

And she was damn good at it.

Turning back to face her, I caught her in my arms and guided us onto the wide couch. She laughed breathlessly, the sound fading as I put her under me. I allowed myself another moment to appreciate the sight of her body, bare except for a pair of tiny white lace panties.

If I would have known she was wearing those under that bloody dress of hers, I would've been hard pressed to resist as long as I had.

“You drive me insane, you know that?” I caught her lower lip between my teeth and tugged.

“Stop talking and kiss me.” She put action to words and pulled my head closer, licking at my mouth until I kissed her.

Sliding her hands between us, she reached for the button, freed it. Then she dragged the zipper down, and I groaned the second she shoved her hand inside and wrapped her fingers around my cock. Her teeth scraped against my lip, and I tightened my hold on her hip.

Thrusting into her touch, I ground down against her hand, pleasure coursing through me at her touch.

She laughed, the sound wild and hungry. “You better not enjoy that too much. Wouldn't want you to miss out on the main event.”

“We couldn't have that,” I agreed.

Shoving up onto my knees, I hooked my fingers in the elastic of her panties and pulled them off, her eyes locking with mine as she raised her hips and let me pull them off. Her legs settled on either side of of me, revealed dark curls and pink flesh.

Fuck.

I fumbled the condom out of my pocket and tore it open. As much as I wanted to taste her, I needed to be inside her more. Without another word, I settled in the cradle of her hips. The heat was unreal, and when I brushed against her, we both shuddered.

Hooking one of her knees up over my arm, I drove into her, listening to her cry bouncing off the walls as I slid home. My head fell forward as her wet sheath gripped me tight. She moaned, low in her throat, and I pressed my lips to the satiny skin just above her pulse.

She reached for my shoulders, sinking her nails into my skin. The sweet little bites of pain went tripping down my spine as I rocked back, then thrust deeper still. Her pussy contracted around me, squeezing me like a fist. She opened her eyes, and we stared at each other.

This was too good.

Too perfect.

The pleasure so acute I couldn’t even process it, I gave up trying and just let it go. Let my body sink into hers, move with hers. Each stroke sent another ripple of pleasure through me, each breath rubbing her nipples against my chest. Unlike women I'd slept with in the past, she was tall enough that I managed to bend my head down to capture one pale pink nipple between my lips without missing a single thrust.

She arched her back, nails scratching at my scalp even as she pressed my head closer to her breast. Not that I had any intention of releasing my prize. Her sounds of pleasure were almost enough to send me over the edge, and I knew I'd want to hear them again. And again. And again.

Piety was hot and sweet, her cunt rippling around me with sensations that became tighter and tighter as she moved closer to climax. She writhed and moaned and twisted under me, her nails scratching against my back and chest until my skin stung.

Neither of us spoke, and for that I was grateful. I didn't want to lie to her, to say things in the heat of the moment that I couldn't keep to later. Better to show her how attracted I was to her, how much I enjoyed being with her. I couldn't make her promises, but I could make her feel good.

I buried my hand in that thick, soft hair and used it to tilt her head back, baring her throat to me. I could feel her trembling around me, beneath me, and knew she was close. I pulled her leg up high, her ankle on my shoulder, and leaned down, opening her wider. As I pushed in deep, I bit down on her soft flesh, worrying at her skin with teeth and tongue until she exploded. The sound she made was something so primal, so real, that I came, unable to hold back any longer.

Fuck.

Dropping my head down so that my forehead rested between her breasts, I closed my eyes. Her arms and legs were still wrapped around me, holding me to her, as if she was worried I would run away.

She…this…all of it.

Dammit!

Why couldn’t I have met her some other time?

Some other place?