Bait (Wake, #1)(8)

I rolled over onto my back and stretched my arm out to the side, she took it as an invitation to come to me and she was more than welcome there.

“Lou, I have to get up very early and go shopping to replace my lost luggage. You're welcome to stay if you like, but don't feel like you have to. I'm sure I'll be sleeping well tonight.” She barely finished before giggling and curling into me.

My hand lazily ran up and down her side, up to her shoulder and down to that perfect ass. Over and over. I felt her get goose bumps, but I continued anyway.

I wanted to stay.

“Well, Betty. How early is early?” I asked trying to get a sense of what she'd prefer. I didn't want to seem like the guy who couldn't take a hint.

“Well, not too early.” She rolled over and clicked off the light, staying on her side that faced away from me. “I'd be more than happy to wake you up before I go-go.” She laughed at her stupid WHAM joke and I couldn't help it, I did too.

“How would you wake me up? Maybe I'm an awful morning person.”

“I guess you'll have to stick around to find out.”

“You really are trouble, aren't you?”

She only hummed a response. I fell asleep listening to her hum that stupid WHAM song until we both passed out.

I'd never slept so well.





Saturday, May 24, 2008


I'D NEVER SLEPT SO well.

The first thing I thought to myself, when I woke with Casey naked in my bed, was what in the hell was I thinking? The second thing I thought was this guy is sexy and fun and I can’t resist him.

So, before thoughts of my boyfriend totally saturated the last of my resistance, I ran my hand around the waist of the big warm body that lay comfortably next to mine.

Aside from the morning breath of which I probably suffered from, I couldn't think of any other good reasons why not to wake this glorious man up the best way I could think of. I slid my fingers gently around his front and down to find him already hard.

Morning wood.

Casey's morning wood.

I almost pulled away when he stirred, but decided to try staying perfectly still, as not to wake him completely. He moaned a bit and rolled onto his back nuzzling his head deep into the pillow.

His curly hair was a wreck. Big brown curls wound everywhere, sticking straight off his head. I brought the hand that was stashed under his pillow up to touch them. I lightly pulled a lock to see its reaction. Just as I pictured it would, it straightened out to about three times its curled length and bounced right back to its tightened spot after I let it go.

He was so handsome, his face calm and peaceful. Full, black eyelashes fanned across his cheeks. He was adorable, as he lay there looking like he was grinning in his sleep.

Getting back to my earlier mission, I set back to investigating his man parts that were currently tenting my crisp white hotel sheets. I slowly brought my hand around the base of him and was actually impressed.

I'd felt him, all of him, the night before, but I wondered if it had been my excitement and my overactive mind embellishing his size in my memory.

Nope.

My hands were small. Please, no jokes about carnies or smelling like cabbage. I've heard them all. But my fingers wouldn't touch around him, maybe if I squeezed, but squeezing isn't stealthy and I was curious. I wanted to check out this specimen. If only to figure out what it was about him that caused me to be so…so careless. If I could only pin point what it was about him that made me forget why I shouldn't have done what I did, then at least I'd have a good reason.

I didn't know the guy.

I had had a one-night stand, something I’d never done before. Even worse, I’d cheated on my boyfriend in the process. What in the hell was wrong with me? I didn’t have an answer for that yet.

And even though it was true, and my morals and conscience would be all over me later, I found my hand stroking him and my leg crawling up his. It was crazy how touching him turned me on so much. I wondered how far I could go before he woke up and decided to do some other investigating first.

I abandoned his private parts for more conservative locations. I didn't want him to wake up to find me molesting him in his sleep. Who knows, the guy might have been really drunk last night and full of shit about breaking up with that girl. Maybe he just wanted some strange. Ewww. That made me the strange.

My curious fingers made an exploratory pilgrimage over his hipbone and up to his belly button. He had a happy trail and I ran a soft finger in a circle through it, swirling the hair as I watched his sleeping face.

His skin was smooth and hardly even a freckle blemished it. I pretended I was the only one who'd ever touched him, like I’d discovered this paradise in the form of a man. Even though the chances were, that a man who went home with strangers was most likely used to being touched. Probably a lot.

His stomach was flat and tight. He was no beefy muscle man. He was lean. Almost, skinny. His abdominals were visible, but not in a fitness model kind of way, more like a swimmer or runner. His pecks were much the same. The lines of those muscles stretched upward toward his shoulders and hosted nearly perfect right angles in the center before parting aside his breastbone. There, and only there, did I find a few more playful, and somewhat, curly hairs. They'd be easy to count.

I thought about naming them.

The ridge of his collarbone was sharp, and on one side there was a knot before it fell away into his muscle. My hand gingerly roamed over it and I was curious about what had happened there.