Alone with the Mountain Man (Rosewood Ridge Fire #4)

Chapter 4

4

NASH

S he wanted to see me naked.

That was the thought that filled my mind as I turned back to the basket. My game was wonky. Any skills I had would have gone by the wayside the second her clothes started coming off, anyway. All I could think about were those perfect, rose-tipped breasts and how much I wanted to bridge the distance between us and pull her against me, flattening her chest against mine, feeling her nipples against the hard wall of my chest…

If Aurora wanted to see me naked, though, I didn’t want to make this shot. This shot would end the game. If she didn’t make the next hoop, she’d be naked, and it’d be over. I wasn’t sure what my getting naked would do to extend things, but I had to give it a chance.

I deliberately shot toward the basket and let it bounce off the backboard, knowing that I’d thrown it just hard enough that it would come in this direction instead of toppling downward. As the ball bounced back toward us, I stepped forward and caught it, then turned to face her.

“Game over,” I said. “Unless you want to keep it going.”

An idea was forming, but I had to make sure she was on board. Just a little idea that could make this the hottest night of my life.

“Oh no,” she said. “You’re not getting out of this. Underwear off.”

I shifted my weight, moving the ball to hold it against my side. “Oh, the underwear is coming off. I’m talking about what happens if you make the next basket.”

Aurora tilted her head, looking at me through narrowed eyes. “I don’t understand.”

“There would be no reason for either of us to shoot again,” I said. “But if you make the next basket, I could give you an orgasm.”

It was bold. It was daring. We’d just met. But we were standing naked on a basketball court, outside a fire station that was likely still open.

I held my breath as I waited for her answer. She could have lost it. Stormed out of here after putting her clothes on and never spoken to me again. That would be devastating. Now that I’d met her, I didn’t want to spend a single day of my life without her in it.

“Okay,” she said. “You have a deal. Now, underwear off.”

If I’d been hard before, I was downright made of steel now. But I tossed the ball to her, looped a thumb under each side of my underwear, and off my underwear went. I had to bend over to remove them, but when I stood, Aurora’s eyes were on my face instead of the thick, hard shaft now pointed in her direction.

“Ready?” I asked.

She swallowed, and it seemed to take some effort. There was no doubt a lump in her throat now. My mouth was dry, and my heart was racing.

She aimed. She shot. She missed.

She looked over at me as if waiting for instructions on what to do next. If we were in a relationship, a miss would mean she’d need to perform something enjoyable on me. But that wasn’t how this was going to play out. No, in this case, if she missed, nothing happened. If she got a basket, something good happened.

“Panties?” she asked as the ball bounced toward us, eventually rolling off toward the building.

“Yes,” I said, the sound coming out like a croak. “I want you naked.”

She sucked in a breath at those words, but her eyes were filled with heat. She looked toward the building as though verifying we were still alone. I hadn’t heard a peep from the building in a while, but things seemed to be dwindling down when I came out here.

Apparently deciding the coast was clear, she slid one side of the panties down, letting the other go with it naturally. She was doing a weird side bendy thing like she didn’t want to take her eyes off me. It made me wonder if she was monitoring my erection out of the corner of her eye. If so, she might be disappointed that it wasn’t getting harder. That was only because it was just about as hard as it could get. So hard it was almost painful.

But relief would have to wait. This was all about her.

“What about you?” she asked.

I looked around, not sure what she was asking. “I’m already naked.”

“Shouldn’t you be trying for an orgasm?”

That was a bizarre question, considering it was exactly what I wanted to do, but I shook my head. “You come first. And maybe even second and third.”

“But what if I want to, you know, give you pleasure?” she asked.

Oh God, this woman was going to be the death of me. I took a deep breath and looked over at the basketball hoop.

“Thirty seconds,” I said. “Both of us get thirty seconds of stimulation for every basket we make.”

Thirty seconds would be enough to enjoy things, but not so much that I’d come. It was a fair compromise.

Only as she smiled and pointed toward the basketball did it hit me that all I had to do was make this basket, and this woman would touch me. At this point, I’d be happy with just a kiss. In fact, I wanted to kiss her more than I wanted my next breath.

I walked over and swiped the ball and shot from exactly where I stood. If I made it, I’d impress her. If I missed, oh well. She’d just have to get her gratification first.

I aimed, took a deep breath, and gave that basket my absolute best shot. When it sailed effortlessly through the hoop, I froze, not sure what to feel or think or do.

The ball had barely hit the ground when Aurora moved to stand in front of me, a naughty smile on her face. “I’ve never touched one of these before,” she said, speaking in a low voice and looking almost shy. “So if I do it wrong, let me know.”

Oh, fuck. This part of the game was harder than I would have imagined. Maybe it was because I knew there was no way a beautiful woman like this had gotten to her twenties without touching at least one man.

But I bought into her roleplaying effort. “Anything you do will feel good,” I said, and then I leaned toward her slightly, reaching my hand up to pull her face toward mine.

“Ah-ah-ah,” Aurora said. “No touching. I can touch you, but you have to keep your hands behind your back.”

I squeezed my eyes closed and suppressed a groan, but I shifted my hands behind me. She moved toward me, then I felt her chest against mine, her nipples grazing my pecs. They moved over my skin, indicating she was rising on tiptoe.

But I held still, even as she moved her hands behind my neck and brushed her lips against mine. I clutched my hands tightly, doing everything I could to avoid touching her.

I had to hold in my urge to deepen the kiss, too, letting her control everything. Both of her hands slipped from behind my neck and down my arms, her right hand making its way across my stomach. She raced toward my erection, and I held my breath as her tongue snaked out to slide across my lips and into my mouth.

“Mmm,” I moaned when she wrapped her fingers around my cock and gave it a long, enthusiastic stroke.

She was moving fast, too fast, and I was too turned on. I could very well come on her bare stomach if she kept this up, and that was the last thing I wanted to do.

I pulled away from the kiss and said, “Time’s up” in a voice that was husky not because my throat was dry, but because I could no longer control my vocal cords. “Shoot so I can touch you.”

She stepped back, slowly sliding her hand off my cock. That sly smile was still there.

“What makes you think I’m going to land the shot?” she asked.

“I have faith in you.”

I gave her a wink. Winking was not something I normally did. I wasn’t sure I’d ever done it in my life. But all of this flirtatious stuff came naturally with her. Everything came naturally.

As she turned and started toward the basketball, showing her bare backside to me, I was overwhelmed with emotion. Yes, this was a woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I just had to make sure I didn’t do anything to fuck it up.