Aria (Corked and Tapped Book 1) Read online

  She was still staring at the junction, fully aware of how her sex was pulsing with need when he set his hands on her thighs and gave a quick squeeze. “This dress is fucking hot, by the way,” he stated in a deeper voice than she’d heard from him yet.

  She lifted her gaze to meet his, but found his head tipped down. He fingered the hem of her dress, which was still providing plenty of cover but had drawn up enough to bring goose bumps to her thighs.

  His gaze wandered up to her chest. “Are you wearing a bra?”

  She swallowed. “No.” The word came out as more of a croak. The dress had thin straps at her shoulders. The body was form-fitting, and the back was too low for a bra. She’d been brazen choosing it. Going braless was not her usual thing. Now that Stand-In Mike had specifically noticed, she felt even more turned on.

  He leaned closer so that his lips were near her ear. “Your nipples are hard.”

  She shivered.

  He chuckled deeply. “It’s sexy as hell. I love that you’re so easily aroused by me even though we just met.”

  Was it because she was pretending he was another man? At this point she probably knew this Mike better than the one she’d intended to meet. At least she had a visual. She might not know much about him, but so far he was an impressive package. And if she wasn’t mistaken, his actual package was also impressive. She could see the bulge at the front of his dark jeans.

  The black, designer T-shirt he wore fit him perfectly, accentuating his fine chest and afforded her the ability to see his enormous biceps.

  When she took a breath, she inhaled his scent, a combination of his soap and shaving cream, though he had the slightest shadow that indicated he either didn’t shave today or his facial hair grew that fast. She figured on the latter.

  He leaned in even closer, kissed the curve of her neck, and breathed in deeply. “You smell amazing,” he stated as he straightened.

  She shivered again, mostly from the contact of his lips that seemed to linger on her neck. He was good at this role playing. “You don’t waste any time,” she pointed out in a whisper, not the least bit sorry about how forward he was being.

  He shrugged, his hands inching up her thighs. “I read the texts. I got the gist. Am I making you uncomfortable? Moving too fast?”

  “No.” He wasn’t. Not at all. She wanted this. She wanted to throw caution to the wind for one night and let herself go with a total stranger. But she was nervous anyway.

  Keeping one hand on her thigh, he removed the other one to take a drink of his beer. “You want something else? Wine? Beer?”

  She nodded. That was an excellent idea. It would ease her nerves. “I’ll have a glass of chardonnay.”

  Mike motioned for the bartender and ordered her drink.

  Meanwhile, she set her hand on top of his over her thigh and enjoyed the feel of his warm fingers. His thumb was drawing lazy circles on her bare inner thigh.

  With his other hand, he cupped her neck and leaned closer again. “Are you wet?”

  She bit that lip again before responding breathlessly. “Yes.” Damn, he was good at this. He knew just what to say to make her burn.

  “Good.” He stroked her chin with his thumb, both of his thumbs now driving her to distraction. “When he sent you those texts, did you masturbate?”

  She gulped. “Yes.”

  His damn smile never stopped growing. “That’s so hot. Tell me how you like to touch yourself? Can you get off with your fingers alone? Or do you use a vibrator?”

  “Usually I use a vibrator.” Damn, this date had shifted quickly. The stakes kept getting higher. It felt good to feel this alive. In recent months she hadn’t felt this level of arousal with a man, except for the times she’d been texting Mike. And technically those times didn’t count since she hadn’t been with him and she’d never met him.

  What she knew for sure was she had chemistry with this Mike, and she had every intention of continuing this game even if it was way out of her comfort zone.

  “Hmmm,” Stand-In Mike responded. “I’d love to watch that. Or do it to you myself.”

  She flushed. She would give anything at this point for the entire bar to disappear so she could experience exactly that. She was so damn aroused that her clit was pulsing against her panties. “I doubt you would need the help of a vibrator if you were touching me right now,” she boldly added.

  Another grin. “I hope not. If so, I’d be worried I was losing my touch.”

  “Do you do this often?”

  He scrunched up his brows. “Meet strangers in a bar and fuck them with my words? Nope. This is a first.”

  “It’s a first for me too.” She squirmed at his use of the word fuck. It had been almost a year since she’d had sex. She wasn’t the sort of woman who engaged in casual sex with men. She’d had three serious boyfriends in her thirty-two years, and besides them, she’d only slept with one other man.

  Since her breakup with David, she’d been in a dry spell. First, she’d been nursing the blow to her ego, and then she’d been dabbling with online dating. In a way, she would consider that a total bomb now, but on the other hand, she’d met this Stand-In Mike because of a failed date. So, maybe she should indirectly thank the dating service for this hookup.

  Was this a hookup? The idea was growing on her. Just this once she’d love to let loose and enjoy a one-night stand. This man was sexy and funny and currently making her hotter than she’d ever been.

  However, if they were going to take things much further, they would eventually need to leave the bar. And go where? She couldn’t bring a total stranger back to her apartment. That would be dangerous. Nor should she go with him to his place. Even more dangerous.

  He broke into her thinking when he handed her a glass of wine. “You’re flushed. Relax. We’re just having fun. I can see you overthinking.”

  She released a long breath. He pegged her right. She was inside her head overanalyzing this situation for no reason. She needed to chill and let this play out.

  He slid his hand to her waist and then the small of her back, urging her closer. “Not gonna lie. I’m incredibly attracted to you. Have been since the moment I first turned around and saw you. It’s adorable that you have these two sides.”

  “What two sides?” she murmured, her breath catching.

  He leaned closer. “From what I’m gathering, I’d say ordinarily, you would never do something like this, but you also have a naughty streak that is making you burn for me at the same time.”

  She swallowed. He was spot on.

  He slid his hand back to her thigh and gave her a few inches of space. “Am I right?”

  “Are you psychic?”

  He chuckled. “No. It’s not hard to read you.” He released his beer to lightly drag a finger down her inflamed cheek. “Your face is rosy, and you keep fidgeting nervously.”

  Lord. Everything he said made her hotter. She didn’t even care that she was so easy to read. At this point, she was already willing to let him read her entire naked body if he wanted.

  He lifted his brows.

  She jerked her attention back to her wine glass and reached for it, hoping her hands weren’t shaking. After a fortifying gulp of wine, she set the glass on the counter and met his gaze. “Tell me about yourself. I’m missing out on the details I would have read online.”

  “Details that may or may not be accurate, you realize,” he pointed out.

  “True. Good point. Why do people lie about themselves on a dating site when they will be caught in those lies eventually?”

  “Who knows.” He took a deep breath. “I guess my profile would indicate I’m forty years old. Never been married. Two sisters. I own my own business. I work hard and play hard and live hard.”

  She widened her gaze. “Did you read Mike’s profile?”

  He chuckled, giving her thigh a squeeze.

  “I think you just repeated his information verbatim.”

  “He even owns a business?”

  �
��Yep.”

  “That’s crazy. What business?”

  “He owns a restaurant.” The grip he had on her thigh was maddeningly distracting.

  “That’s promising. If it’s true, at least he’s employed.”

  She swatted at him playfully. “Like I said, anyone would eventually get caught if they’re lying.”

  “So, what is this restaurant called?”

  She sighed. “I don’t know.” After scrunching up her nose, feeling a bit stupid, she continued, repeating his excuse. “He said he didn’t want to tell me because if I knew, I would be able to look him up easily, and that would ruin the mystery.”

  Stand-In Mike shook his head. “Not sure I trust this guy. He didn’t even show up.”

  “True.” At this point she wasn’t sure anything Mike had said was true.

  “What do you do? And is it the same as what your profile states?” he teased.

  She laughed. “Yes. I suck at lying. Can’t sleep with myself afterward. What you see is what you get. I’m an office manager for a dentist.”

  He smiled. “Not surprising.”

  “Why?” She squinted at him, cocking her head to one side.

  He leaned back a few inches, his gaze roaming up and down her body again. “You’re prompt. Courteous. Professional. You don’t break rules. I bet your organizational skills are amazing.”

  She flushed. “My boss thinks so.”

  “Of course he does.” Stand-In Mike smoothed his free hand up her arm until he cupped her cheek briefly. His voice was huskier when he spoke again. “You’re breaking all the rules tonight, aren’t you?”

  Her cheeks heated further. She needed to change the subject. “Why don’t you have a wife or girlfriend?”

  “Haven’t met the right woman.”

  “What does the right woman look like?”

  He cocked his head to the side and tapped his thumb on her inner thigh. “She doesn’t have a look so much as a style. She would need to be fun and outgoing and interested in trying new things.”

  “You taking applications?” Aria teased, squeezing his distracting hand.

  “Maybe…” His eyes danced again. He leaned closer. “She also needs to be open to a certain level of kink. I like sex. And I love making a woman so hot she can’t sit still.”

  Aria squirmed again before she could stop herself. She took another sip of wine and carefully set the glass down again. “Well, I don’t think you have any issues in that department. You have a way with words, Mike. I’m sure most women melt at your feet if you speak to them the way you’re speaking to me.”

  “You’d be surprised. There are a lot of uptight women out there who won’t open themselves up to adventurous sex.”

  “When you say adventurous sex…”

  He chuckled. “I mean things like this. Role playing. Living on the edge a bit.” He closed the distance, set his lips on her ear, and whispered the rest. “Behaving just naughty enough to make people around wonder, without giving them answers.”

  He punctuated those words with a quick slide of his hand under her skirt so that his fingers briefly brushed across her silk-covered clit before retreating.

  She sucked in a sharp breath and held it, her legs stiffening while her pussy pulsed. My God.

  “You see what I mean?” he questioned as he leaned back a few inches, one brow raised.

  “Yes. You’re good at this.” He was good. Very good.

  He gave her another winning smile. “I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.” He lifted his fingers to his nose and inhaled. “Mmm. I like your smell.”

  She stopped breathing. Her fingers dug into his hand, holding on tight.

  “I bet you taste even better.”

  Chapter 4

  Aria swallowed, trying to keep the room from spinning. She’d give anything to have his lips on her pussy. Sucking. Drawing out her orgasm. In fact, she was close to coming right now at the thought.

  He stroked her cheek again with one finger. “Your skin is so smooth and soft and pale. I bet your bottom is just as sexy. I wonder if it flushes this same shade of pink when someone spanks you.”

  She inhaled sharply. Her body was in flames now. Every inch of her wanted what he suggested.

  He met her gaze. “Has anyone ever spanked you?”

  “No,” she managed to breathe. Every one of her previous partners had been straitlaced without an ounce of kink.

  He groaned softly. “Jesus. The idea turns you on.”

  “Yes.” She was way out of her element, but she’d never been this aroused. The thought of him spanking her made her heart race. She wasn’t a prude by any stretch of the imagination, but this banter was nothing like anything she’d experienced face to face.

  “I bet you could come from my hand on your bottom alone. Two or three well-aimed swats and you’d be screaming my name.”

  “If only I knew your name,” she pointed out with a smirk.

  He gave her a slow grin. “I’m okay with Mike. After all, we’re role playing here. I can be Mike.”

  “You mentioned that the moment I met you,” she reminded him.

  He wiggled his eyebrows. “Call it intuition.”

  “I think you might be better than Mike.” She was sure of it, actually. Especially because this man was here and Mike was not.

  “Excellent. At least I know you can’t compare anything I do to him since he’s never had his hands on you.”

  “True.” I’m certainly not complaining about the way your hands feel against me.

  He stroked her cheek again. “I love this flush you get. It gives away your thoughts.”

  She groaned.

  Someone brushed against her elbow, making her hand shift to Mike’s hard thigh, which caused his palm to slide closer to her sex.

  The bar was getting crowded. She didn’t bother to look around, but she could hear the volume and feel the increased press of people. She didn’t care. Their presence somehow made this thing with Stand-In Mike more private. There were too many bodies for anyone to notice where his hands were, and too much noise for anyone to hear the naughty words he kept whispering.

  Mike took the opportunity to completely reach under her skirt and briefly press his palm against her pussy. When he removed his hand and settled it once again on her thigh, he did so on her bare skin. “So much heat. You must be dying to come.”

  She bit hard on her lip.

  He set his gaze on her mouth. “I’m going to bite that lip myself before this night is over.”

  “God, I hope so.”

  He tugged her barstool even closer, and then he grabbed her hips and dragged her body a few inches toward the edge of the seat. When his knee grazed her clit, she gasped, her thighs clamping down on his leg.

  He hauled her face closer with a hand at the back of her neck. “When we leave this room, I want my jeans to be coated in your juices so that my knee is wet. I’m going to make you come so hard, you won’t be able to see straight.” He leaned closer, his lips on her ear again. “I could use my fingers or my mouth, but the way you reacted to the idea of being spanked, I’m betting you’d rather I made you come from my hand swatting your bottom.”

  She swallowed hard. He could almost make her come at the suggestion alone.

  He squeezed her neck and then released her. He picked up her seltzer and handed it to her. “You look like you could use a drink.” His eyes were dancing.

  She took it with shaky fingers and sipped.

  Luckily, he set it back on the bar for her. His beer was gone. At some point it had been replaced with a glass of ice water, which he now took a drink of also.

  When she focused on his mouth, she realized he was sucking on an ice cube. It made her shudder because she knew instinctively that cube was not going to stay in his mouth.

  Sure enough, moments later, he had it between two fingers and was pressing it against her chest right between her breasts. The bodice of her dress was cut fairly low, a vee that showed off plenty of cleavage.
At the touch of cold, she gasped. Her nipples hardened further, and her breasts felt fuller.

  Without a bra, it felt like her nipples were exposed. The only thing ensuring her this was not the case, was the way they rubbed against the silky material of her dress. The halter-style top suddenly didn’t seem like enough material.

  “I wonder if your nipples are a soft pink or a darker shade.”

  “Mmm,” she responded, praying he somehow got to see them tonight. So far, she couldn’t imagine how or where they might actually seal this deal, but she intended to figure something out. And he obviously agreed since he’d already verbalized how she would come for him.

  Her lips parted so she could drag in more oxygen. She grabbed his outside thigh with her free hand—the one closest to the bar—and held on to him as if she might otherwise slide to the floor, which was a possibility.

  The ice finished melting, leaving a trail of water dripping between her breasts. “That’s so sexy. My next ice cube is going directly on those sweet tits of yours.”

  She nodded acceptance of that plan too.

  “If I were willing to let you out of my sight for even a moment, I would send you to the restroom to remove those panties.” He subtly lifted his knee to rub against her achy core.

  She held her breath. If she weren’t wearing panties, his jeans would be as soaked as he mentioned already.

  “Tell me one of your sexual fantasies,” he whispered, his lips close to her ear again.

  Every time he spoke, she grew redder. “I…”

  “Don’t hesitate. I know you have them. Every woman has fantasies. Things she would never ordinarily voice out loud. Do it. For me. After all, this is a night for fantasies. We’re role playing. Pretend I’m the guy who didn’t show up. He obviously had a naughty streak. You apparently found it intriguing enough to meet him tonight.”

  Aria’s heart sped up as she met his gaze. Could she tell this perfect stranger one of her sexual fantasies? “I’m not sure I can voice my private thoughts.”

  He shrugged. “Why not? For one night, don’t hold back. Relax. Enjoy yourself. Take what I’m offering. I promise you won’t regret a moment of it.” He had both hands on her thighs again, under her skirt, stroking, inching closer to her pussy. Driving her mad.