Haley's Man (3 page)

Luckily,
Lola and Gina had turned to watch their team attempt a free throw on the TV
screen and didn’t notice. But the man at her feet would have no doubt she’d
come dressed to live out her fantasy. He wouldn’t have a clue she was no longer
one hundred percent committed to the online plans they’d made.

Maybe
she could imagine the hands stroking the sensitive skin at the back of her
knees belonged to Seth. Her real desire, after all, wasn’t a faceless guy. She
wanted Seth. Her stomach dipped, and her body temperature soared.

Oh
yes, this would work.

The
sliding glass doors opened. Haley looked up immediately, holding her breath as
she sought Seth’s gaze. Ashamed as she was to have another man touching her, she
was even more ashamed of using Seth’s image for this man to bring her pleasure.

But
Seth wasn’t among the group who’d taken advantage of the quick timeout for a
breath of fresh air. A few more women joined Lola and Gina on the stools at the
bar, while the men settled into the leather couches and chairs.

Haley
continued making the martinis, her hands trembling slightly as her lover’s palms
moved above her knees along the sensitive skin of her thighs. She precisely
measured and filled the glasses until only the garnish was missing.

“Gina,
you said you had chocolate shavings down here, right? Or was I supposed to get
them from upstairs too?” Haley couldn’t remember. Heck, she could barely recall
her own name. Hands squeezed gently around her upper thighs, so close to where
she wanted them, yet so achingly far.

“I’m
pretty sure they were down here in the mini-fridge. Let me check,” Gina said.

Haley’s
clit pulsed, begging to be stroked. Her need to have this man touch her was so
great she failed to process Gina’s words until the other woman stood and strolled
to the end of the counter.

“No!”
Haley shouted. If Gina saw the guy at her feet and realized what Haley was
trying to pull off, the entire fantasy would be ruined. Not to mention the awkward
explanation she’d have to babble her way through. “I mean, tell me where, and
I’ll get them. Behind the bar is my domain, remember?”

Gina
laughed, returning to her stool. “How could I forget? You’re a bartending tyrant.
I can’t believe you didn’t stick with it as a career.”

“Too
many assholes and not enough career advancement,” Haley quipped. Making drinks
for friends, on the other hand, she never got tired of.

“Top
shelf. In the back,” Gina said.

Haley
turned away from her mysterious lover so she wouldn’t catch a glimpse of his
face, then squatted in front of the fridge.

His
pleasure from this encounter came from her not seeing him, and she was
determined to honor his fantasy. More than sheer honesty kept her from sneaking
a peek, though. She was afraid if she glimpsed his face, the pleasure would
leak out for her now that she’d become obsessed with Seth’s touch. Right or
wrong, as long as she didn’t see this man, she could keep imagining each caress
belonged to Seth.

His
palms slid around her upper thigh, and the back of his hand pressed against her
aching mound, still wet from making out with Seth, as she knelt down. She
panted, pushing her dampness against the heat of his skin. He couldn’t have a
single doubt of her readiness.

She
leaned her head against the fridge door, her legs shaking so much she wasn’t
sure she could keep her cool to go through with her vision of standing,
laughing and talking her way through a public orgasm that her friends would
attribute to the delicious martinis.

“Did
you find it?” Gina asked.

His
palm slid across her ass cheeks. Oh yes, he was so closing to finding it.

“Uh,
yeah. Right here.” Haley grabbed the Tupperware and stood.

Haley’s
Man’s
thumb trailed down her crack and then down her thigh all
the way to her knees. She turned and grasped blindly for the bar to keep from
melting into a puddle on the floor. Bumping the martini glass nearest her, she
dropped the container of chocolates onto the counter, sloshing sticky liqueur
on her hand.

“Geez
Haley, are you already drunk?” Lola laughed.

Drunk
with lust. Crazed to the point of letting some stranger touch her intimately
while imagining he was a guy who’d run out on her after a couple kisses. “I’m a
little unsteady. I found the cutest shoes, but the heel is too high for
bartending. I better take them off before I turn my ankle.”

She’d
made the excuse to give her a reason to clutch her lover’s head and guide his
face between her legs. But he took her at her word. He stopped touching her
thighs and brought his hands to her left ankle, unlatching the buckle.

Taking
off her shoes was probably a good idea, but his fingers sliding in and out of her
pussy was an even better plan. She reached down, to touch herself or to guide
him to her G-spot she wasn’t sure.

Warm
lips circled her hand, sucking away the chocolate liqueur and vodka, and she
melted against him. Lola was right. She hadn’t had a sip of alcohol yet but
wouldn’t pass the simplest sobriety test. Desire, guilt, regret and fantasy all
swam together in front of her.

“What
shoes are you wearing?” Lola asked, rising from her chair to look over the edge
of the bar.

Haley
pressed her midsection against the counter, so Lola couldn’t peer down. “Uh,
black stiletto sandals with an ankle strap.”

The
shoe slid off her foot, and a moment later his lips left her palm and the toe
of the shoe took his place. She curled her fingers around the sandal, wishing
he was still making love to her hand. The public component of her fantasy lost its
luster. She needed a situation where nothing distracted from his attention to her
body.

She
thrust the shoe across the bar at Lola.

“Oh
my gosh, those are so cute.” The ladies gushed over her sandal, passing it
around.

Her
lover peeled off the other stiletto with the same careful attention. This time,
he set it aside and pressed his lips to the arch of her foot. The tenderness and
intimacy surprised her. She craved that emotional connection with Seth, but how
could she have one with a stranger she’d neither seen nor spoken to, even if
she’d been imagining him as Seth?

She
longed to kiss him, to slide her tongue in his mouth and press her hands to his
cheeks. Then she could discover if he awakened the same aches and desires in her
that Seth’s lips had.

Since
that wasn’t an option, she pried the Tupperware lid open. With trembling
fingers, she sprinkled chocolate shavings on each drink. She didn’t have to go
through with this if she didn’t want to. She could go home and get off with her
vibrator and save herself the guilt and confusion of wanting one man while
another touched her.

Under
the counter,
Haley’s Man
rose to his knees between her legs, forcing her
to widen her stance. She’d never felt so vulnerable and exposed before. Yet because
of the tender kiss he’d bestowed on her foot, she had complete confidence she
could trust him with her body.

She
wanted him, whoever he was. She wouldn’t make the mistake of second-guessing herself
as she had with Seth. She wouldn’t lose
Haley’s Man
too.

Chapter 4

“Everybody,
take a drink,” Haley said, too shaky to trust herself to hand them out without
spilling. She was so hot for the man pleasuring her she was going come the
moment he entered her.

His
fingers scraped very lightly up her thighs, and she moaned.

A
groan went up from the men by the TV, drowning her out.

“We
need a toast,” Gina said, rolling her eyes at the Neanderthal sounds of the
beer and Scotch drinkers.

“To
basketball,” Lola offered, raising her glass.

“To
Godiva,” someone else chimed in.

“To
Haley,” Gina said.

Her
lover’s hands caressed her skin, his thumbs skimming the bottom of her ass, as
if he seconded that toast.

Everyone
raised their glasses and offered a salute. Each gaze fixed on Haley, who had
yet to say anything. She picked up the remaining martini glass. “To the best
orgasms we’ve ever had.”

“Here,
here,” the women shouted, their exuberance topping that of their male
counterparts.

She
tapped her glass against the others, then tipped it to her mouth, drinking in
the sweet, potent cream as her lover’s thumb slid against her clit, hovering over
her opening. “Oh yes,” she gasped.

“Oh
yes is right. Godiva is the best,” Lola agreed.

“More,”
Haley whispered. She couldn’t stand this torture. She needed him so badly, but
he kept his thumb barely brushing her opening, not moving in, not gliding
forward to stroke her clit a second time.

Her
legs shook. Couldn’t he feel how close to the edge she was? She clenched her
body, but she had nothing to surround. The emptiness made her whimper.

Finally,
his other hand wrapped around her upper thigh began stroking up and down her
leg. Still, he didn’t enter her. The teasing made her forget her surroundings and
the game she’d come here to play. Nothing mattered but overcoming the
fractional distance separating her from completion.

Trembling,
her entire body hot, throbbing and desperate, she tried to squat to draw him
inside. Instead, he pulled his hand away from her core, leaving her with a need
she was too desperate to articulate, stronger than the one for Seth she’d
walked away from in the kitchen.

She
couldn’t walk away this time. She couldn’t even demand that he take her. Her
fantasy dictated she stand and pretend absolutely nothing out of the ordinary was
occurring below the counter, while accepting his decision of where, when and
how much to touch her. Even though she’d made the rules, she now chafed at being
a passive receiver. She wanted to take and demand. How else could she make sure
her burning need achieved fulfillment?

He
stroked his palms over her thighs in simultaneous up and down motions. Her
knees threatened to buckle again, and wet heat spread between her legs. But she
didn’t try to take control this time. She couldn’t interfere with the intense
pleasure, even if he didn’t completely satisfy her.

She
gulped her martini. “More.”

“Definitely.
I’ll have another one too.” Gina plunked her empty glass on the bar.

Haley
gaped. Her best friend was oblivious to the fact that she was on the verge of
spontaneous combustion. Part of her wanted the whole room to know. She could no
longer speak a coherent sentence or even draw a breath. Sure, they’d never seen
her in the throes of passion before, but they shouldn’t have missed the
critical signs.

On
the other hand, she was grateful. Her lover’s touch was so intensely private she
didn’t want to share. Except with one person. She longed to look into Seth’s
hazel eyes, to kiss his delectable mouth. If she couldn’t have him touching her,
she wanted him to fill her other senses.

Haley
measured the vodka shot and dumped it into Gina’s glass, biting her lip so she
wouldn’t whimper again as
Haley’s Man
caressed the juncture of her
thighs. She reached for the Godiva bottle as his fingers parted her labia. Oh
yes. Finally, he would give her aching sex what it throbbed for from the moment
she’d opened the private chat with him this morning.

She
poured the liqueur into the glass as his finger dipped into her wetness.

First
knuckle. So wonderful. So sweet. Just like Seth and his lopsided smile.

Second
knuckle. More. Deep and delicious. Like Seth’s serious side. She wanted it all.

He
twisted his finger around, reminding her she didn’t really know Seth, not with
this kind of intimacy.

Her
vision blurred, and she couldn’t think at all.

“Holy
Godiva, Haley, you’re generous tonight,” Gina said, her eyes wide as she stared
at her martini glass.

Haley
realized she was still pouring and quickly yanked the bottle upright. “Anything
to keep the hostess happy.”

Happy
wasn’t a word she’d use to describe herself. Desperate anticipation for the
coming ecstasy licked through her veins. Despite doing everything she could to incorporate
him into this fantasy, a small corner of her mind remained disillusioned that Seth
wasn’t the one setting her body on fire.

Haley’s
Man
lowered his hand, drawing his finger out. No, he couldn’t leave yet. She took
back that last thought. She didn’t care who haunted her dreams. She needed more
of
Haley’s Man
, and she wanted him to drive her hard and deep.

“Foul,”
Bob shouted, swearing his displeasure at the referee.

“Oh
boy, this game’s getting ugly. Give me a refill,” Lola said.

Two
fingers replaced the one, sliding into her wet and ready opening, stretching her
delightfully.

Haley
gasped. “More.”