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  “Ummm, no,” I say, shaking my head. “But nice try.”

  “I’d fuck you so good, Taye,” he says, eyes sparkling.

  Wasn’t he trying to set me up with Eli before? I pat Matt on the shoulder, and offer him a smile. That smile is all he is getting from me, and I hope he understands that. Keisha shakes her head at Matt in amusement, threads her arm through mine, and leads me back to the dance floor, where we get back up on the stage.

  “Side to Side” by Ariana Grande starts to play, and we share a grin and start to dance. A few songs later, we’re still dancing together, just being us. I see Eli approaching and do a little dance whilst keeping my eyes on him. In return, he closes the space between us and lifts me off the stage. Holy shit. I wrap my legs around his waist and hold on to him for dear life, my arms around his neck. I’m not light, but he’s carrying me like I weigh nothing at all. His show of strength has me more turned on than I want to admit.

  “Don’t drop me,” I say, our faces close. I reach back to where my dress has ridden up, and my panties are practically showing. “I think everyone can see my arse.”

  “I won’t drop you,” he says, and he has the same look in his eyes that Aladdin had when he asked Princess Jasmine if she trusted him.

  “I’m heavy.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  He pulls my dress down for me so nothing is on show, his hands on my arse, and then he kisses me.

  Right there on the dance floor, with me in his arms, my legs around him. In front of everyone.

  And I don’t give a fuck.

  I kiss him back.

  It feels like we’re the only two people here. I don’t even think about what we must look like, I don’t really care. The scariest part isn’t that everyone is seeing this, it’s that I like being where I am right now, in a stranger’s arms. We end the kiss and share a look. His eyes tell me that he wants me, and I want him too, but this really is breaking all of my rules. He’s a complete stranger. I don’t know what he likes, what he does for a living. I don’t know anything about him except that I want him. He could be the biggest asshole on the planet, I have no idea. But I don’t think he is. Something in my gut is telling me that I won’t regret any decisions I make involving this man tonight. I slide down his body until my heels hit the floor, my arms still around his neck, our eyes still connected.

  “Definitely trouble,” he says, taking my hand and leading me back to the bar.

  I can say the same for him.

  “Should we go home? The music has turned shit. And I think we both know that nothing good happens after 2:00 a.m.,” Keisha says, coming to stand with us. She smiles at Eli, who asks her if she wants a drink.

  “No, thanks,” she politely declines, then sends me a look that says “he is hot.” She then stumbles a little, which shows me just how drunk she is.

  I have to agree, both that he’s hot and that the music has gone downhill in the last few songs, but there’s something else keeping me here, and he’s standing right next to me.

  “Do you want to?” I ask her, glancing back at Eli. I don’t want to keep her here if she’s having a shit time, and she’s staying at my house, so we need to leave together.

  “Yeah,” she says, nodding. “Let’s go get something to eat.”

  Dammit.

  Normally I’d be all over getting some food, but unfortunately for me, tonight I’m hungry for something else.

  “Okay, just give me a minute.” I look at him, and hesitantly say, “I have to go.”

  “Wait, what,” he says, shaking his head. “No, don’t go. Come back to mine and have some drinks with me.”

  “Drinks” is clearly code for sex.

  Do I want to go back to his house and have sex with him?

  Yes.

  Does that mean I should do it?

  No.

  “I’m going home with Keisha,” I explain to him. “I don’t want her to go alone.”

  “Then we’ll drop her off first,” he says, shrugging. “That way she gets home safely, and you can still come with me.”

  I look to Keisha, who shrugs and nods.

  Shit, am I really going to do this?

  I have a list. It’s a list of things I want to experience in my life, a sexual list. Having a one-night stand is on there. And the man next to me is the perfect candidate. I can literally feel the chemistry between us, and I want to test if I’m right about this.

  No, you know what? These are just excuses I’m using to justify what I’m about to do.

  Really—I just want him. It’s that simple. I don’t care about anything else right now.

  I want him.

  And you know what? Fuck it, I’m going to have him, even if it’s just for one night.

  “I live far away,” I tell Eli. It’s not really that far out, maybe a ten-minute drive, but everyone else in town seems to think so.

  “I don’t care if you live fifty kilometres away,” he says, looking at me like he means it. He really doesn’t care, he just wants me there.

  “Okay then,” I agree. I don’t know if it’s the alcohol, or what, but I don’t care about anything else. Let my brother find out about it and give me hell; I don’t care. I’ll let future, sober me, worry about it. Tonight, I’m going to do what I want, and what I want is to be a little reckless, and to go wherever this man is going. We walk outside and to a cab, where Eli opens the door for me and I slide in. Keisha sits in the front, and I sit in the back with Eli and a friend of his.

  “Who the fuck are you?” I ask the man, who simply grins.

  “He’s a colleague of mine,” Eli says in a gentle tone. I’m probably being rude, but I didn’t even know he came out with a friend, nor did I see this friend inside the club all night. I guess I was a little preoccupied.

  “How old are you?” I ask Eli, snuggling into him like I’ve known him for a long time. He smells so good, and to be honest, I feel like this ride needs to go a little faster because I can’t wait for him to be all over me. I’m also glad that Greg isn’t the one driving us right now, because I don’t want him to see me going home with a man I just met. Greg is my favourite cab driver, and he tries to take the pickups and drop offs to and from my house whenever he can. We chat, we laugh, and he always tells me and my friends what nice girls we are.

  I don’t think he’d be thinking that right now if he were here.

  “You already asked me this,” Eli says, sounding amused.

  I don’t remember asking, nor do I remember the answer. How much did I drink tonight?

  “Humour me.”

  “Twenty-six.”

  I cringe. Okay, so being three years older than him isn’t that bad, is it? I generally don’t go for younger men. He doesn’t act young, though. He acts like he’d know just how to handle me.

  “Great,” I mutter, then say, “I need to go home early in the morning.”

  I have to be at soccer at nine. Yes, I probably shouldn’t have gone out and gotten so drunk, but I’m the type of person who can still get shit done the next day no matter what.

  “Okay,” he says, wrapping his arms around me. “I need to go to work anyway.”

  Excellent.

  I can fuck him, then make a quick exit afterwards.

  The perfect crime.

  Okay, it’s not a crime.

  It’s going to end in orgasms, that’s always good. We stop at my house and Keisha gets out. I say bye, but then realize she needs my key to get in. I pull it out of my bag.

  “Here, I’ll go open it for her,” Eli offers, getting out of the car and opening the door for Keisha, then bringing the key back to me, while drunk me sits in the cab with his random friend wondering if I really am a bad friend. I know Keisha won’t care. She’s gone home with men before, and as long as we make sure each other gets home safely we’re good. But this time it’s a little shitty because she’s going back to my house without me there. At least I’ll be home before she wakes up, in time to make her breakfast. I still
can’t believe I’m doing this, yet I don’t regret it. It just makes no sense, because this definitely isn’t me. I don’t do things like this. All my actions are planned out, I don’t do spontaneous. I don’t do instant attraction, and I sure as hell don’t feel comfortable with someone straight away. The drive back to his place is filled with tension, and all I want to do is kiss him, but I refrain because we aren’t alone in the cab. When we pull up to his place, I realise it’s not a house exactly, more like a chalet, and his friend lives right next door. We say bye to his friend, and Eli unlocks his door and turns on the light, then gestures for me to enter. I walk inside and take a quick glance around.

  “Can I get you anything?” he asks me as I take a seat at his table. “Something to eat or drink?”

  I watch him walk around his kitchen, like a wolf would his prey. “Maybe some water.”

  He pours me a glass of water and hands it to me. “Sorry about the mess. The boys drank here.”

  There is no mess, bar some alcohol bottles around the place.

  “It’s fine,” I say, smiling shyly. I take a sip of the water then put the glass down, stand, and walk to his bedroom, where a lamp illuminates the room. He can see me from where he stands in the kitchen, and he watches as I sit on the corner of the bed and start to unlace my black heels.

  He steps into the room, eyes still on me. “Nice shoes.”

  “Thanks,” I say, bending to place them neatly in the corner, and then turning to face him as he walks behind me. The man has good taste. He removes his shirt, and I forget everything else, staring at his body, from his toned chest right down to his abs. There’s a little hair splattered on his chest, and I don’t mind it one bit. I swallow hard. He sits on the bed and pulls me in for a kiss, his hands grabbing my long, thick hair and giving it a gentle tug.

  I can’t help myself, I moan.

  “Fuck, this hair…” he murmurs against my lips.

  “Glad you approve,” I manage to reply, lips twitching.

  He leans over me, and I move back with him until I’m lying flat on his bed, and then his lips are on mine, and my hands are in his hair, on his skin, anywhere I can reach. I moan as his tongue touches mine, and breathe heavily as he breaks the kiss. I’m so turned on right now that I can barely think straight. My breath hitches slightly as he slides down the spaghetti straps of my dress, our eyes locked together. He pulls my dress down, exposing my black lace bra, but he hasn’t looked down yet. No, his eyes are still on mine, and that’s probably quite a feat, because my breasts are not small, and every man that has ever gotten near them has all but dived for them first. Next he slides down my bra straps, pulling that down too, the cool air hitting my bare breasts, my nipples pebbling. We’re still staring into each other’s eyes. Are all one-night stands this intense? The look he’s giving me has me more turned on than I think I’ve ever been before. Maybe he’s always like this? I don’t know. Tonight means nothing, but I feel like it already means more than “something” with someone else would. Great, I’m so turned on even my thoughts aren’t making any sense anymore. He finally lowers his gaze, and I close my eyes and exhale as he bends his head and sucks on one nipple, then the other, cupping my breasts in his hands. My fingers run through his hair, my eyes opening as he slides my dress off completely, and then my lace panties. He starts to kiss my lips again, hungrier this time as we lose all patience. I reach for his jeans and tug on them, silently telling him they need to be off.

  Now.

  He listens, taking them off and covering me with his body, his warm skin touching mine. Every sensation is heightened right now. I’m so wet and so ready for him to fuck me; this man has me going insane.

  And then his lips slam back down on mine, and I can feel the hardness of his cock against me.

  I moan.

  Oh fuck, how I need him inside me.

  Chapter Three

  After more kisses that leave me feeling dizzy, he moves down my body, spreads my thighs, lowers his head, and licks my pussy.

  “Fuck,” I whisper, my hands moving to rest on my forehead, not sure if I’m going to survive this, at the same time lifting my hips up and wanting more. When I start to squirm a little, he pins me to the mattress and continues the delicious torture.

  “I want you inside me,” I tell him, needing what I’ve been wanting since the first moment I laid my eyes on him. He lifts his head, then climbs up my body, taking my wrists in his hands and pinning them above my head. I make a deep noise in my throat. I love being pinned down like that. How does he know exactly what I like without me having to tell him? He slides into me, and I’m so wet that I can feel the dampness on my inner thighs. He’s so hard that I sink my teeth into my bottom lip at the feel of him. I’ve never felt anything better. He starts to thrust into me and I lift my hips to meet his. His fingers tighten their hold on my wrists, and his lips find their way back to mine again.

  I’m wild for him.

  All over each other, we change positions, never stopping, always moving against each other. When he puts me on all fours, he licks my pussy from behind, which drives me crazy, then fucks me from behind. When he’s back on top of me, his thrusts push me off the bed with him, and we still don’t break rhythm, we fuck on the floor, until he picks me up and lays me back on the bed. It’s all a blur of pleasure, it’s animalistic, it’s natural, and I can’t get enough. He puts his hand on my throat, and I wonder if he notices how much that turns me on. By the way he tightens his hand a little, I’m sure he does. He pays attention, so observant even in his aroused state that I don’t even have to say anything. He pulls out and kneels next to me. I take his hard cock in my hand and bring my head to it, licking the tip before taking him deep into my mouth. He makes a growling sound when I deep throat him, one that makes me squeeze my thighs together. The sound is seriously sexy. He pulls away when he’s had enough and slides back into me, thrusting harder and faster than before. When he pulls out and tries to slide a little lower, into my arse, I make a sound of disapproval, and he stops instantly and slides back into my pussy. Did I just see a smirk on his face? I think I did. I don’t know what is so amusing to him right now, but then he’s fucking me again and I lose all coherent thought. I make noises when I come that I’ve never made before, and when he pulls out and comes on my stomach, I watch him through hooded eyes, my chest heaving up and down. He gets something to clean me, while I lie there, unable to move. It’s been a while since I had such uninhibited sex, and I’m already missing it. He lies down next to me and I cuddle close to him, feeling sated.

  “Why are you single?” he asks me, his voice low and contemplative.

  Such a random question asked at such a random time.

  “I’m crazy,” I tell him, which isn’t exactly the truth, but I’m never going to see him again so what’s the point in telling him my life story? That I’ve been hurt before and hardly trust anyone anymore? Kind of a mood killer, and a little too deep for the night’s events. I hardly open up to anyone, never mind someone I’ve just met and won’t be seeing again. Why is he asking this question in the first place? How I’d love to be able to read his mind right now.

  “Hmmm,” he murmurs, as if considering my words. We fall asleep, him spooned behind me, but it isn’t long before I’m woken up with his fingers gently stroking my sex.

  He kisses the back of my neck, sending shivers up my spine, and says, “I’m going to need to borrow this again.”

  I grin, biting my bottom lip as he slides back into me from behind. I don’t know how he’s ready to go again so soon, but I sure as fuck am not going to complain about it.

  Maybe younger men are the way to go after all.

  *****

  His alarm goes off in the morning, except instead of getting up, we’re all over each other again. I ride him slow and deep, lifting my hips up and down, leaning over so my breasts are in his reach. He bites down on one of my nipples, which I like a little too much, and starts to move faster and harder. He rolls me over onto
my back and takes control, and the two of us finish just as his alarm goes off again. He turns it off and brings me against his chest, where we cuddle for a little while before he gets up to jump in the shower and get ready for work. I get out of bed and glance around the now destroyed room. The bed is pushed away from the wall, the lamp is on the floor, and everything is scattered everywhere. Holy shit. We pretty much ruined the bedroom. I gather my clothing, and my bra and panties, which were also thrown all around the room, and dress. I lie back on the bed, feeling sleepy. I want to call a cab but I don’t know the address of this place. Eli soon emerges, freshly showered and dressed in his work gear. He’s obviously a tradie of some kind. He comes over to where my legs are now hanging off the bed, spreads my thighs, and puts his face over my panties. I gently push him off me, laughing. He really doesn’t have a shy bone in his body, or any kind of boundaries. Aren’t there unwritten rules for this type of thing? From what I’ve heard or read about one-night stands, you kind of keep your distance, but he’s been playful, even tender in the way he touched me, and I find myself really liking that about him.

  “Can you call me a cab?” I ask, studying him. I had a great night, and I definitely have no regrets, but right now I just want to get home. I can only imagine what I must look like, sex hair and makeup smudged all over my face. This doesn’t have to be awkward, right? Surely he’s done this before, even if I haven’t.

  “Sure,” he says, making an approving sound as he looks over my lace panties, then picks up his phone and orders me one.

  “Are you doing anything tonight?” he asks me once he hangs up, catching me off guard.

  “Ummm….”

  I’m new to this, but I’m pretty sure that’s not how this works. I’m meant to go home, and we’re meant to never see each other again. And I’m meant to place a tick next to one-night stand on my list. Do I want to see him again? I don’t know. My mind is all muddled right now, his scent rubbed into my skin, his taste in my mouth. I don’t think it’s fair to ask me to make any decisions concerning this man right now.

  “Why don’t you give me your number and I’ll send you a message later?” he says, sounding casual as ever. He’s definitely done this before, and isn’t overthinking every single action like I am.