“Yep.” He nodded, taking a sip of his drink that sat by her shoe. “I made it so that you would win. And I would lose
all
my clothes. I deliberately threw hands by tossing away cards that would have won me the game. I sabotaged myself and made sure you had better hands than me.”
“Why would you want me to see you naked?” She could barely see her hand right now. Her mind drifted to his nakedness that she’d seen so often now, but that first time had been such a revelation. Firm trim hips. Hair that ran down in a line toward something else that stuck from his body in a rod and was so thick that he filled her up. Juicy. It made her do things she’d never imagined doing. No,
he
made her do things she’d never imagined doing. Stuff that was in romance novels that she’d kept tucked under her pillow so her mom wouldn’t see.
“Because you hadn’t already.” He tossed down two cards and took two from the deck. “And I wanted you to see my body.”
He sounded so sure of himself. That was not something friends did. Friends were not about nakedness. And they’d only been friends. She swallowed, her throat suddenly dry. She could hardly summon enough saliva to talk. So much she wanted to say. But she’d resolved to keep it light tonight. “All this time, you let me think I’d won fair and square. Made me think I was a natural talent. Good thing I never entered a poker game again. I would have lost all my money.” She could have asked him why he’d wanted her to see him naked. But that went into dangerous territory, and she was not sure she wanted the answer to that question. They’d only been roommates and buds, hadn’t they?
“If you’d ever been serious about playing, I would have told you the truth.” He smiled his boyish grin. “Flush again.” He laid out the cards with the flourish that had started to set her teeth on edge.
She had two jacks. Not a good hand. She’d had nothing but bad ones. “You won.
Again
.” She echoed what he said deliberately with the repetition of the word, only she put more emphasis on it.
“Ayep.” He leaned back in his chair, much as he had the first time he’d watched her. “Time to strip off another item, baby.” He licked his lips. “And you’re out of stuff on your feet.”
He wanted to see her naked. He had hundreds times before or maybe more. Why should now matter and make him so wanting? It wasn’t like that first time when she’d seen him at the culmination of the game. Only she’d been anticipating this too, up until he’d started beating her at every turn. She sat up straighter in her chair. All her items that didn’t show too much were gone. She was getting down to the more revealing stuff as he’d just pointed out. She pulled her shirt from her pants.
He sat forward, leaning his chin on his hands as though he were about to watch a show. “That’s what I’m talking about.” Another waggle of his brows.
The chain of events that poker-game night had led to a paradigm shift in their relationship. It had led to the great sleeping-together event, which had led to the other great sleeping-together events, which had in turn led them down a road to where they were.
That night had changed their entire lives.
What would tonight do?
The motives behind that first night hadn’t been what she’d thought. She’d thought it had been a simple turn of fate. Instead Tucker had been at the helm. Just like he was at the helm now. She tightened her hands on the shirt.
“Any day now.” He still sat with his head resting on his hands.
She grabbed the end of her shirt and pulled it up and over her head without any flourish. She puffed out her chest, thrusting all those assets and the lovely lingerie bra she was wearing outward.
Get ’im, girls.
His entire body slumped forward as though the air had been let out of his tires. “Gah.” He couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from her breasts. Eyes were definitely not meeting her face.
Two could play a game of control. She ran her hand down her neck to her neckline and stroked the skin above her bra.
He watched every move. And seemed to sink lower in the chair as though he were going boneless.
The power that she had over him to make him react like that gushed through her veins. It made her giddy. There was also the fact he’d already seen these babies before. She ran her hand farther down and touched a nipple through the satiny material. It puckered out, obvious even tightly covered though it was. She could look down and see it, so she knew he would note the extra prominence. He’d always liked her nipples.
He made another strangled noise deep down in his throat as though he couldn’t quite help himself. He bit his lip so hard she worried he might draw blood, but he released it and licked his lips.
“Don’t you need to be dealing cards?” She arched a brow at him as she waved toward them. He was almost just the way she wanted him. He didn’t lose control often and when he did, she liked to take advantage. “Tucker.”
He finally lifted his head, and his gaze met hers. His eyes had darkened. She didn’t even have to look to see if he had an erection. “What?”
“Deal. Time to deal.” She settled back in her chair. Waited until she got her cards and drew them over her breast, much like she had her fingers seconds earlier. Of course she waited for his turn
before
she did that.
He stared, captivated by her. In ways, he almost seemed more intrigued with her covered than when she’d walked around bare-breasted. Maybe it was the anticipation. Maybe it was the off-white bra against her skin.
She liked that she could make him look at her like this. That she could take his attention away from everything. “Tucker.”
He didn’t even try and meet her gaze. “What?”
“Your turn.” She slipped out her tongue and pressed it onto the pad of her pointer finger. Then she slipped it down over her chest and fingered a nipple under the material. That sensitive place between her thighs got that much slicker.
“Ahhh.” His voice grew deeper, and he shifted around in his seat as though he were getting uncomfortable.
“You should go. It’s your turn.” She withdrew her finger and put it up to her mouth again. She boldly scraped her tongue across it, wetting it. Afterward, she slipped her hand back under her bra and teased her other nipple. She found herself having to shift around in her seat. This wasn’t just turning him on, it was affecting her too.
He didn’t tear his gaze away from her hand as she continued massaging her breast. “I know what you’re up to.” His voice was calm and decisive.
“Oh?” She batted her lashes at him. “Whatever could I be up to?” Another trip back up and she wet her finger again.
“You’re deliberately distracting me.” He didn’t look at his hand, only concentrated on her, giving credence to that statement.
“Oh yeah.” She agreed with his analysis. Why deny what she was doing when it had no bearing on anything else?
He chuckled. “Clever girl.”
“Always.” Not always, especially where he was concerned. Tonight had been more like how they were in the beginning. As opposed to the way they’d been lately. She swallowed. It was nice.
“But not clever enough.” He laid out his hand with a flourish of the cards. “Royal flush.”
“What?” She looked at her meager hand. He hadn’t even taken cards. What was up with that?
“You’re not going to distract me from what I want, Ally. Ever.” He leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table.
“And what do you want?” She tossed her hand down with the cards she’d started out with. Why bother drawing? She had nothing to even start that hand going.
“You. Naked. Me. Naked.”
Her blood pooled in the place that tingled whenever he was around. She’d always railed about men being controlled by their penises. Where Tucker was concerned, she seemed to be controlled by her vagina. What was the term for it some women used? Oh right, pussy. Or cunt. She wasn’t a big fan of either. She’d taken a class where the instructor had used the latter and said it was liberating. Ally hadn’t found it that way. Probably just her. She tingled again in her nether regions at the look in Tucker’s eyes. She huffed at him. “Well, to do that I’d have to win a game.”
He shot her that lopsided grin that always seemed to melt away any of her anger directed at him. Once he’d dyed all her bras and panties orange because he’d put his baseball jersey in with them. That expression had lessened her irritation. “Getting testy are we?”
Maybe a little. She clamped her mouth shut. Now what to take off? She could go the safe way with the pants. But if she took her bra off, she’d probably be able to distract him so much, she’d win. Or maybe she was winning even now? That was a toss-up. She paused a minute, trying to decide what to take off.
“You stalling?” He leaned back, his gaze searching her as though appraising her. For what she wasn’t sure. “Or are you done?”
She reached around herself and pulled on the hooks to her bra. “Neither.” She shifted her weight, and the bra fell off in her hands.
His entire face changed. He looked as if he was seeing something wonderful. He had a look on his face most people got when they saw a wonder of the world. “God, you’re beautiful.”
She almost couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t get out air. Tucker had never told her that. Never. Not in all the years she’d known him had he ever commented on her looks. “I am?”
“Yeah.” He sounded as though it was a simple thing, but it wasn’t. He blew out another breath. “Lovely. I’ve never seen anything like you.” His voice grew even deeper before he reached up and pulled his shirt off.
She blinked. “I’m the one who lost.” She got lost in looking at the muscles as they moved in his chest. Got distracted by his flexing pecs. “You didn’t have to take anything off at all.”
He stood up and loosened the snap to his pants. “Oh I think you won after all. I’m done with playing. I want you.” He peeled off his pants and underwear in one swoop, kicking off his shoes at the same time, leaving him naked for her gaze to feast on. It may not have been the first time she’d seen him naked, but it hit her just as it had that first time and every time since.
Her mouth dried, all her liquid pooling down between her thighs. She clenched them tightly together.
His thick cock stuck out from his body, and he had a raging erection. It shone in the low light of the room as though he might be damp already. It looked angry, all red and heavy. She could make it happy and sad at the same time. She could make him crazy. She did it all the time.
But you can’t make him commit to you, can you?
She banished the evil thoughts.
Light and happy
. There’d be time for more of her depression tomorrow.
He could fill her like no one else. He made her yearn for him. Often and desperately. That was enough for tonight and would have to be for the rest of her life.
His hungry eyes settled on her. “Finish stripping for me.” His voice sounded so haunted. So desperate. His tone made her loins quake with anticipation.
Had she ever heard such from him? How could she refuse? She stood up right beside her chair and loosened the button on her pants. She wiggled her hips and shifted out of those and her underwear at the same time. She kicked them from her feet and stood in front of him, naked. Or maybe it was nekkid because she was definitely up to something. Hadn’t been the greatest striptease, but it was the first one she’d ever done for anyone.
He closed his eyes a moment as though gathering himself. He didn’t seem to notice that she’d never done it before. “Yes, you’re lovely. And I can keep telling you that for the rest of the evening. But I’d prefer to do other things.” He opened his eyes and moved to a chair. He sat and spread his legs and arms wide open. “Have your wicked way with me.”
Tucker tended to take charge in the bedroom. He took over if she let him. Rarely did he let her be in complete control of any acts in the bed. Well, except that time with the handcuffs. That had been quite a night. Her body tingled just thinking about it. Not that it ever wasn’t great. But that evening had been different than any other.
This could be quite a night. It would be set apart from all others because he was giving her control.
She walked over to him, closing the short distance between them in seconds. “So you won’t interfere? You’ll let me do what I want? When I want?”
“My hand to God to promise.” He nodded, backing up that statement. “I won’t do anything. You can drive the whole thing. If you want to.” He winked at her. He didn’t look contrite or as if he’d turned over the reins to her. He was the same confident Tucker.
“You won’t do anything to go against me? You promise?” She looked down into his boyish face. The cock sticking up from his lap was such a turn on. She imagined impaling herself on it. How full he would make her. How she could wiggle around on him, driving him nuts to her heart’s content.
“It’s like you don’t trust me or something.” He poked his lip out. “I’m hurt.” The grin he gave her belied the pout. “I’ve never gone against my word with you.”
“I know you.” She was familiar with his antics. He might say he’d let her take control. But he probably wouldn’t be able to help wringing it away from her at some point. Unless she took that ability away in some manner.
“Still hurt.” He did look like it was paining him as he lowered his hands and put them behind his back. “I promise I’ll keep these behind my back until you tell me I can move them.” His jaw set in a determined line. “I won’t do anything to take control from you. You have my word.” He eyed her with a look that spoke more than his words. He was taking this seriously, making this promise.
She blasted him with a dubious expression. She still wasn’t sure she could trust him if she didn’t bind him in some way.
“I promise.” He looked so sincere. So earnest with his puppy-dog look at her. “Please.”
It was the please that got her. Tucker never said please about anything. She didn’t think she’d ever heard that word cross his lips. “You better keep your hands to yourself.” Maybe he would be bound by his word? He had a point. He’d never told her something and not followed through. He was irresponsible about a lot, especially homework in college, but he’d never told her anything that he hadn’t done.