~~ * ~~
He was leaving sex up to me.
If I said no, we’d probably cuddle on the couch for a few hours, mope about our loss, and then go our separate ways in the morning. No harm, no foul. I’d remain a virgin, and Ty would forget all about me.
Or I could take a chance and pull my shirt over my head and have a really amazing memory of Ty in bed together with me. We could make love all night long and leave the competition on a mental high note, even if we didn’t win.
I knew which one I wanted.
My hands went to my shirt and I hesitated for a moment, and then I sucked in a deep breath. Now or never. I tore my top over my head and tossed it to the ground, and then waited, feeling naked and vulnerable as I straddled Ty Randall’s thighs in nothing but a pair of polka dot bikini panties. My shoulders tensed, my back was to him, and I waited for him to do something. Say something. Anything.
One big hand touched my back, and I nearly jumped out of my skin with nervousness. Ty chuckled, the sound low and soothing, and I relaxed at the sound. His fingertips lightly skimmed the rigid line of my back, tracing it. “You’re very small,” he told me.
I rolled my eyes. How often was he going to bring that up? “I’m not that small.”
“You’re what, five foot?”
“Five foot three,” I told him pertly.
“And a hundred and two pounds. That’s small. You’re not even a flyweight by MMA standards.”
“No?” I was having a hard time concentrating on his words while his fingers brushed along my skin. “What are you?”
“Light heavyweight class,” he told me.
I didn’t know what that was. Sounded big. Big enough, anyhow. There was no question that Ty was bigger than me—and strong. But he didn’t scare me. Every time he touched me—like now—he was incredibly tender and gentle. “Are you trying to frighten me off of having sex with you by comparing our weights?”
He chuckled again. “Not at all. I’m just constantly amazed at how someone as tiny as you can be so strong.”
That was flattering. I smiled, glancing over my shoulder at him. I kept feeling the urge to cover my breasts with my hands, but he wasn’t looking at them and I was facing ahead, so it wasn’t weirding me out so much yet. “I’m an athlete, just like you.”
“I know you are. And you’re a determined one, too.” He leaned in and lightly pressed his mouth to my bare shoulder, sending shivers up and down my body. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you win this thing. I know you wanted it badly.”
“It’s okay,” I told him, and surprisingly it was. I’d gotten it all out of my system at that point.
He pressed a kiss to my shoulder. My skin prickled in awareness, especially when his hands skimmed up and down my bare arms. Was he going to touch my bare front? My small breasts were aching to be touched, my nipples hard and pointing, and I was finding it hard not to squirm on his lap with anticipation.
I needed Ty so much. All the weeks of practice? One long round of foreplay. Now the moment was here, and I wanted him to throw me down on the couch and screw my brains out. But he was going slow, seemingly more interested in soothing me than attacking me. And I liked it…but I wanted more.
I’d simply have to show him.
I considered getting up and turning around, but I wasn’t sure if I was that bold yet. So I leaned back and reached out to touch him. My fingers encountered his jaw, rough with oncoming stubble. I tilted my head and tried to kiss him, but it ended up being the side of my mouth grazing his.
That was enough. Ty groaned and kissed me back, the hand locked at my waist tightening.
“Can I touch you, Zara?” he whispered in my ear.
I nodded, more than eager. Please, please touch me. My breasts were practically quivering their need.
But he didn’t head straight for them. Instead, his hand went to my hair, where it was pinned tight against my head and caught into a rigid bun. I hadn’t taken it down when I’d collapsed into tears. “I want to see this around your shoulders,” he told me. His fingers tugged at the band holding it tight, and then he frowned. “I’m, uh, just not sure how to get it down.”
I laughed and raised my hands in the air to begin undoing the mass of pins holding my hair in place. “It’s pretty much anchored to my head at the moment. Give me a second.”
“Take all the time you need,” he told me. “I’m admiring the view.” And he reached under my upraised arm and grazed the curve of one of my breasts.
That sent a jolt rocketing through me. I bit back my moan and concentrated on undoing my hair from the jillions of pins they’d shoved into it to ensure it’d remain in place. I tore at them, anxious to get my hair loose, curious to see what Ty would do—or say—next.
It took me a minute, dragging pin after pin out of my hair, to free everything. As I worked, Ty’s hands moved over my back, stroking my skin in a lazy fashion that was utterly distracting, and it made my hands shake just a bit more. Freeing my hair seemed to take forever, but it was finally loose. I scratched at my scalp and shook my curls out to loosen the stiffness from the hairspray, and then let it fall over my shoulders.
“Mmm, much better,” Ty said in a husky voice that made shivers move all over my skin. “You never let your hair down, except when you’re with me. Did you realize that?”
He made it sound like I was doing it deliberately. Or was that just a double entendre? I didn’t know how to answer.
I didn’t need to, apparently. Ty’s hand grazed over my lower back, close to the band of my panties. “You have the sexiest lower back I think I’ve ever seen.”
That struck me as weirdly specific, and I couldn’t help the nervous giggle that erupted. “Lower back? That’s…random.”
“Not random at all,” he said, and I could hear the smile in his voice. His fingertips brushed over my tailbone. “You have the cutest, tightest little butt that flares out. Just above, you have these two dimples at the base of your spine. It’s gorgeous. Makes me want to put my mouth there.”
I gave a little wiggle in his lap, aroused by that mental image. “What’s stopping you?”
“Oh, I plan on it. It’s just further down on the list of places I want to put my mouth.”
“You have a list?” I asked breathlessly.
“I do. I’ve been planning this list for days. Maybe even weeks.”
Really? He’d been thinking about sleeping with me for that long? “What’s first on this list?”
“Your mouth, obviously.”
I grinned, my fingers going to my lips. “An obvious choice. I’m disappointed by your lack of imagination.”
“Give a guy a minute,” Ty said, unruffled by my criticism. “You haven’t heard the entire list.” And his thumb skimmed along the band of my panties, dipping in to graze at my flesh.
“I’m sorry,” I said, in a tone that was anything but. “Please go on.”
“Well, once I kiss your mouth to shut you up—”
“Oooh—”
“—I’d go for your ears. You have such soft, sweet little ears that it makes me want to suck on them.” And his fingers reached through the tangle of my dark hair and brushed at my earlobe.
