Bailey stretched languidly, enjoying the post-orgasm glow, while she watched Nick’s very fine, very naked arse disappear into the ensuite. It wasn’t until this very moment that she realised how stressed she’d been. Nothing like a good romp between the sheets to melt away the tension, and it was only Friday night. She still had another whole day and night with Nick before he had to leave. If she was lucky she might even be able to sneak in a Sunday morning orgasm or two before he had to be at the airport.
She heard the toilet flush and rolled to her stomach to watch him come back to bed. The front view was just as nice as the back view and she happily ogled the goods. Nick was a beautiful specimen. Tall with wide shoulders, defined biceps, pecks and the obligatory six pack with those gorgeous obliques that pointed like an arrow to the treasure trove below his waist. And that hung thick and long between his thighs from a patch of dark blonde bush. She could happily stare at him all day.
It wasn’t just his body either. Nick was classically handsome, like Prince Charming handsome. Chiselled jaw, strong nose, pillowy lips and beautiful hazel eyes with a ring of green around the edges and flecks of gold throughout. His hair was salon styled with subtle highlights to enrich his ash blonde hair. He had just enough scruff to appear fashionable without looking unkempt and he could wear a suit like nobody’s business.
Speaking of which, he was pulling on said suit pants as she watched.
“Come back to bed, Nicky,” she cooed, “I’ve missed you.”
He shot her a panty melting smile and zipped up his pants, but he came and sat on the edge of the bed. He looked down at her with affection and lightly traced her cheek, neck and the curve of her breast with a finger. His look became more pensive as she watched and all of a sudden, the easiness that had always been between them seemed strained.
“You know I love you, right Bae?” She loved it when he called her that. He had been calling her Bae for years, before it had become trendy, it was the shortened endearment of her name after all.
“And I love you, Nicky,” she said, reaching out to lay a hand on his thigh close to his package which jumped in response to her touch. She smiled a secret smile at the sight.
He sighed as he traced his finger around her nipple, watching it stiffen with hungry eyes.
“The thing is, Bae,” he said, “This is the last time I’ll be able to come to Melbourne for a while.”
Nick lived in a small coastal town, two states and eighteen hundred kilometres away. His father practically owned the Sunshine Coast and Nick was heavily involved in the property development company that his family ran. Bailey had grown up there, she and Nick had grown up together, before she’d moved to Melbourne for work.
Bailey sat up and draped her naked self over Nick’s bare back, her arms going around his neck and resting on his chest. She nuzzled into the crook of his neck.
“Is it work? Maybe we could meet halfway or I could come to you? I’m due some vacation days.”
He turned in her arms and kissed her, his tongue delving deep. He dragged her off the bed and into his lap, one hand burrowing into the tousled hair at her neck and the other cupping her breast and tweaking her nipple.
Bailey melted in his arms, and she felt the tell-tale wetness between her thighs. It didn’t take much for Nick to get her wet. She was like Pavlov’s dogs around him, conditioned to dissolve into a puddle of lust with just the hint of his cologne.
She moaned in the back of her throat and arched her back, pushing her breast into his hand, seeking more.
“Are you wet for me Bae?” He asked huskily, his eyes at half-mast and dark with desire.
His hand left her breast and she whimpered in protest, but he replaced it with his mouth, changing her whimper to a moan. His hand trailed down her ribs to her hip and then between her thighs, while he sucked on her taut nipple. He parted her folds and coated his fingers with her slippery wetness, drawing it up and around her clit. She wiggled on his lap, feeling his arousal through his pants as he continued to play with her.
He stood, lifting her in his arms, turned and put her on the bed before unzipping his pants once more and grabbing a condom off the bedside. He rolled it on his impressive erection and crawled onto the bed between her legs, settled himself in the cradle of her hips.
He framed her face with his large hands, looking into her eyes.
“I’m going to miss you, Bae,” he said softly before dropping his mouth to hers in a searing kiss.
“Show me how much,” she replied breathlessly when his mouth moved to her breast once more.
He licked around her areola and then took her nipple between his lips and sucked it deep into his mouth. She thrust her hips into his, feeling his erection slide through her soft, wet lips and they both groaned.
“I need you inside me Nick,” she breathed.
“You need me to fill you up, Bae?” he asked as he rocked back on his knees.
His fingers played with her folds before he slipped two digits into her. She cried out and bucked into his hand as he pumped into her. She cracked her eyes so she could watch him. His eyes were glued to the apex between her legs as his hand thrust into her, his other hand stroked his cock. She felt a rush of wetness at the sight and her eyes rolled back into her head.
“Please Nick,” she moaned, desperate now, “I need you.”
He shifted on the bed again and guided the head of his erection to her entrance and thrust into her with one hard push. She screamed and he grunted and then he began to pump into her. She met him thrust for thrust, wrapping her legs around his hips and digging her heels into the hard muscle of his ass. Her fingers gripped the plump muscles of his shoulders, her nails leaving little moon-shaped dents in his skin as he bit down on her nipple.
“Come for me Bae.” His voice was dark and husky.
She slid her hand between them to find her clit and began to tease the small bundle of nerves. Her climax began to build and she rubbed faster, panting with need. Nick shifted one of her legs higher and changed the angle of his thrusts, hitting just the right spot to trigger her orgasm. She came hard, the walls of her sex clenching greedily around Nick as he continued to piston into her.
“Oh, God,” Nick cried out as he pumped once more before stiffening as he came. She felt him throb inside her and she squeezed her thighs around him, holding him inside her so she could enjoy the aftershocks.
He collapsed on top of her, and she relished the weight of him pressing her into the bed. She burrowed into his shoulder, inhaling his sweaty, musky scent and she felt complete. This is all she wanted, her and Nick wrapped up in each other’s arms.
He rolled off her and made his way back to the ensuite to clean up and she snuggled into the bed.
Maybe it was time she moved home. The Sunshine Coast was a growing community, even if it was still relatively small. Surely she could find a job in PR somewhere on the coast, or maybe Brisbane. It was only an hour’s drive from the coast and she could commute. It was a hell of a lot better than the three hour flight that currently separated them.
Nick walked back in the room and she flipped the sheet aside so that he could slide in next to her. He gathered her to his chest, dropped a kiss on her head and sighed.
“I can’t stay,” he said softly, “I have a flight home in a couple of hours.”
“What?” She sat up so she could look at him. “What do you mean you can’t stay? This is our weekend!”
Nick and Bailey had an…arrangement. Once a month. Dinner in a fancy restaurant, a little wine, a little dancing and then a weekend of no strings attached, unadulterated, consensual sex. It was like the Army Reserves, one weekend a month, one week a year, regardless of who they were seeing at the time. Except this time Bailey had been preparing to tell Nick that she wanted more and now he was leaving.
He sat up too and swung his legs over the side of the bed, dropping his head into his hands.
“I’m getting married, Bailey,” he said, and she felt like the world had just come to a screaming halt.
“Married?” she whispered. “I didn’t even know you were seeing anyone.”
“Her name’s Ainsley,” he said. “My dad set it up and I didn’t like her at first, but, well, I’ve come to care for her.”
“More than me?” She knew it was whiny and needy, but she didn’t care. Bailey had always thought that if she kept herself available for Nick, he would eventually see her as more than just his fuck buddy.
He cupped her face. “Bae,” he murmured, “no one could ever replace you. You’re my best friend. I’ll always love you.”
“But not enough to marry me?”
“Marry you?” he practically scoffed. “We’ve never had that type of relationship Bae. You’re too independent to be tied down and I’d never do it to you. You’re like this wild, beautiful bird and it would break my heart to see you in a cage.”
“But you don’t mind putting Ainsley in a cage,” she replied listlessly.
“Ainsley has been born and bred to be a society wife, that’s all she’ll ever be good for. My father picked her because of it. Plus, her father owns a small but lucrative construction company that we could benefit from having close ties with.”
“And what about us, Nick? What about what we have?”
He dropped a kiss on her nose and then her lips.
“The wedding is in six months. Give me a few months after that to get her settled and then we can pick up where we left off.”
He smiled at Bailey like it was the best news in the world. They could keep what they had, she’d just have to be patient while he screwed his wife into submission and maybe put a baby in her belly.
“Is that what you really want, Nick?” she asked.
“Oh, Bae, no, it’s not what I want. I love what we have and if I could, I wouldn’t change a thing but the old man is putting pressure on me to marry and with Ainsley’s family in construction…” He shrugged as he petered off. “You understand don’t you Bae? It’s only going to be a few months, eight at the most, and then everything will be back to normal.”
“Except you’ll be married,” she said flatly.
He shrugged again, “We’ve both been in relationships before and it hasn’t affected our arrangement.”
She sighed, trying not to show just how much Nick’s announcement had hurt. She had been in love with him since they were teenagers. Nick was more than just her best friend, he was her perfect guy, the guy she had always believed she would end up with. Now that wasn’t going to happen. Nick didn’t see her like that and probably never would.
He looked at his phone and jumped out of bed.
“Look at the fucking time. Christ, I have to get moving or I’m going to miss my plane.”
Bailey watched as Nick dressed, feeling more lost and alone with each piece of clothing. He grabbed his wallet and his laptop bag and bent to kiss her lightly on the lips.
“I’ll be in touch, Bae,” he called to her as he left.
The door closed and it sounded like the slamming of a coffin lid on her life. Nick was getting married…and not to her.
Bailey rolled over and buried her face in her pillow, sobbing with deep, shattering sobs. Her life without Nick was going to suck and she had no idea how she was going to survive it.
It’d been a week. A really long week since Nick dropped his bombshell. This was the first time Bailey had left her apartment since Nick had abandoned her in their hotel room. She’d holed up there for the rest of the weekend drowning her sorrows alternatively with chocolate and alcohol, with the occasional ice cream binge thrown in for variety. She was such a cliché, but a broken heart knows no bounds.
When the time came to check out on Sunday, she slinked from the hotel wearing dark glasses to hide the red rimmed and black bagged eyes that were the result of her weekend bender and made a new nest in her bedroom, calling in sick to work for the entire week. Eventually her roommate had fought her way through the piles of tissues and candy wrappers to evict her after shoving her arse in the shower first.
That’s how she ended up here, in a bar, on a Friday night, all alone.
The air beside her stirred and she was no longer completely alone. Bailey turned her head to check out the newcomer. He was dressed in a dark blue suit that looked like it was made for him and him alone. His hair was dark, long on top and cut short along the sides. Dark eyebrows, dark beard and even an earring, and he smelled good too.
“You’ve got a nice beard,” Bailey said to the well-dressed stranger who took the bar stool next to her. And he did too. It was dark and thick and just long enough so that it was more than hipster but less than sea captain. She wondered what it would feel like between her naked thighs.
“What?” The guy looked at her with amusement in his eyes.
“Shit, did I say that out loud?” she asked. She was drunk. Really drunk, and planning on getting even more drunk before the night was out.
“You did,” he said with a grin, “but I’m game if you are.”
Bailey snorted. “Maybe you should at least buy me a drink first,” she slurred.
“Hey, you propositioned me,” he said, his green eyes sparkling with interest, “so maybe you should be the one buying the drinks.”
She looked him over. He was cute. No strike that, cute wasn’t the right word. He was gorgeous, but in a dark and devastating way. He looked dangerous, like he could eviscerate you with a word and not have any remorse after the fact and that did something to her. Or maybe that was just the copious amounts of vodka she had consumed.
He slid his jacket off and draped it over his legs then proceeded to remove his cufflinks (real cufflinks) and roll up his shirtsleeves, revealing thick muscled forearms with tantalising tattoos. He sat there in his white shirt, dark tie and dark blue vest looking expectantly at Bailey and she felt her cheeks flush.
“So, what are you drinking, Irish?” she asked, clearing her throat that had suddenly become thick.
He quirked an eyebrow. God, she wished she could do that one eyebrow lift, it had so many uses.
“Irish?” he asked. His voice was deep and smokey, a bit rough around the edges, and it skated over her skin like a caress. She shivered.
“Green eyes,” Bailey said, waving over the bartender. “So, what’ll it be?”
“Fat Yak,” he said to the barman, who nodded.
“Fat Yak?” she asked. “That is a weird arse name for a drink.”
The bartender plonked a bottle down on the bar in front of Irish and he lifted it in a toast. She clinked her vodka cranberry with his bottle and downed it.
“Whoa, slow down there Blue,” Irish said, eyeing her.
Bailey snorted again. “You called me Blue,” she said.
He nodded, “I did,” he replied, “You’ve got red hair.”
“I never did understand why that nickname applied,” Bailey said.
“It’s ironic,” he said with a shrug and a sip of his beer.
“Ahh, Alanis Morissette,” she said knowingly.
“Ironically enough, nothing in that song could be considered ironic.”
Bailey sniggered. “You’re all right, Irish,” she said.
“So, what’s a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this?”
Bailey groaned. “You’ve just lost points for the lame pickup line,” she said.
“Not a pickup line, just curious.”
She sighed. “I got dumped,” she said miserably. Saying it out loud kinda made it too real.
“What, tonight?” Irish asked.
Bailey shook her head. “Last week.”
He looked confused. “You’re here tonight because you got dumped last week?”
There was that eyebrow quirk again. It made her stomach flutter.
“Well, not dumped exactly,” she said, tapping the bar with her fingers. “More like put on hold.”
“I don’t get it,” he said, “explain it to me.”
“My…guy…and I had an arrangement. We get together once a month for a sexy weekend and the rest of the time we go our separate ways.”
He grunted and nodded, following the story and indicating she should go on while he sipped his beer.
“Well, while I was fantasising that we would eventually end up married with two-point-five kids and keeping myself carefully single until he would see the light, he up and got engaged. To someone else.” She was babbling. Alcohol, specifically vodka and champagne, had that effect on her.
“Asshole,” Irish said with a disgusted snort.
“Right?” He got it.
“Wait, you said you were ‘on hold’. If he’s getting married, then why are you on hold?”
“Because,” Bailey said dramatically, “he needs a few months to get the little woman settled and then we can pick up where we left off.”
He turned to look at Bailey with a disbelieving look on his face. His mouth hung open, his eyes were wide and his eyebrows (both of them) crawled nearly into his hairline.
“He told you that?”
She nodded sadly. She knew she was pathetic, but she couldn’t help how she felt about Nick. He’d ruined her for other men.
“And you’re happy with that?”
Bailey shrugged. “What choice do I have? I’m in love with him.”
“So why isn’t he marrying you?”
“Because he said he wouldn’t do that to me.” Bailey sighed. “He said I’m like a wild bird and it would break his heart to see me caged.”
Irish snorted. “Bullshit,” he said roughly.
“No, it’s true. We’ve been best friends forever. He knows me and he loves me. He’s just marrying this other chick because his dad wants him to.”
“Blue, that’s seriously fucked up. You know that, right?”
“What would you know,” Bailey said dismissively, “Nicky loves me and he’s just trying to protect me from being trapped in a marriage.”
“No, Blue,” Irish said with a shake of his head, “he just wants his hot piece of arse on the side.”
“You think my arse is hot?”
One side of his mouth slid up into a crooked smile and Bailey felt that flutter in her stomach once more, only it was a little lower this time.
“I do think your arse is hot,” he murmured and it felt like warm melted chocolate being poured over her naked skin.
Her panties dampened.
Her eyes dropped to the tilt of his lips and she wet hers unconsciously, wondering what it would feel like to kiss him with his beard rasping on her skin.
“Would you like me to demonstrate?” he whispered, very close.
“Shit,” she whimpered, “did I say that out loud again?”
His eyes crinkled with a smile and she only had a moment to register it before she felt the warmth of his lips on hers and his whiskers scratched deliciously on her skin. A small mew escaped from her throat as his tongue licked across the seam of her lips. Her mouth opened, granting him access and his tongue slid inside, licking along hers and causing her to shiver. Her eyes fluttered shut and the sound of the bar faded. Only their lips touched and Bailey’s whole world narrowed down to that single point of contact.
And then it was gone.
The noise of the bar rushed back in and Bailey blinked a few times, feeling like she was coming out of a trance.
“So?” Irish asked.
Bailey blinked owlishly, uncomprehendingly.
“Did it live up to your expectations?” When she still didn’t answer, couldn’t answer, Irish rubbed his mouth with his hand, hiding his chuckle. “The beard, did it feel like you thought it would?”
“Better,” she managed to breathe, and his eyes lit up.
