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“Ten.”
“George!”
“Ten bucks if we pick the guy, twenty if she picks him herself,” Bess countered, a challenge gleaming in her blue eyes.
“Bess! Not you, too! Stop encouraging her!” Nancy protested.
George sighed. “Look, Nan, you need to get over that cheating douchebag Josh, once and for all. And, you need to get laid. Stat.”
“Stat?” Nancy asked, amused. “So, now that you’ve been admitted to medical school, can we expect to be bombarded with hospital lingo forevermore?”
“Yep,” George smirked. “As in, ‘The patient needs about 175 millimeters of dick, stat.’”
At that, all three women howled with laughter.
“Fuck me for not paying more attention to the stupid metric system during class,” Bess cursed herself. “I thought, ‘ I’m American, I don’t need to learn this shit.’ Conversion, please, dear cousin?”
George spread apart her thumb and index finger as far as they would go. “Seven inches, baby.”
All three started giggling again.
“Well, if you can find me the guy in this bar who’s packing seven inches, I may consider it,” Nancy joked.
“Seriously, though, Nan – George is right, and you know it. You need to pick up the hottest guy in this place, take him home, and give him the ride of his life.”
“I know I need to get over Josh, and it’s been forever since I’ve had sex, but a one-night stand?” Nancy groaned. “Plus, you ladies forget that I’m a crime reporter. I hear stories all the time about how women go home with strangers who look perfectly nice, then boom! They’re dead or raped, or both.”
“Um, thanks, Debbie Downer,” Bess told her, rolling her eyes. “So all that means to me is that you should know how to pick out the deranged, sicko perverts and avoid them.”
“Yeah, ‘cause it’s that easy,” Nancy laughed. “Okay, so what do I do here? Just throw a dart and hook up with the guy it lands on?”
“Nancy Drew, you have better game than that – stop playing dumb,” George scolded her. “Look around, find a hot guy and see what happens!”
“Yeah, Nan – head to the ladies’ room and search the crowd to find someone good. And find a way to look down and check size,” Bess snickered. “Don’t worry about conversation or any shit like that - hot guy is your goal.”
Nancy hopped off of the bar stool, her heels clattering on the floor as she got to her feet. “Fine – I need to pee anyway. Be back in a few.”
“Ooh, wait.” Bess leaned forward and fussed with one of Nancy’s earrings, three drops of smoky green glass set in gold.
“Thanks – Hannah gave me these for my last birthday, and I’d hate to lose one. Be right back.”
Nancy pushed her way through the groups of huddled bodies in the crowded bar, trying not to have any drinks spilled on her brand-new dark skinny jeans and flowy emerald-green top. She scanned the crowd, but all of the guys she saw were either too interested – returning her generic gaze with leers – or were with other women who gave her jealous glares at her for even glancing at their men.
Just as she almost made it to her destination, she collided with something solid and warm.
“Shit – I am so sorry,” she heard a deep male voice apologize from above her head.
“No, it was probably my fault,” she said, looking up to determine the source of the voice. She blinked when she saw that it was connected to a drop-dead gorgeous man, with dark hair and brown eyes and a muscular build that wasn’t concealed by his navy-blue button down shirt and dark, well-fitted jeans. Wow – found that hot man, she thought to herself.
He gave her a broad smile, showing his perfectly white, even teeth. “Wow, just as I was hoping to find a hot girl tonight, the universe throws one into my path.”
Nancy rolled her eyes at the obvious line, but she couldn’t help but be slightly amused by the warm grin on his face as he delivered it.
“Has anyone ever told you that you have a way with words?” she joked back.
“Yeah, I’ve heard that a time or two before,” he returned easily. “It’s served me well.”
“Oh, I’m sure,” she teased.
“You don’t seem to have a drink in your hand, and this is a bar – what’s up with that?”
“Well, I was about to head to the ladies’ room, so…”
“I don’t want to be the reason you’re delayed from nature’s call, so I’ll let you go…Just as long as you promise to come back and talk to me when you’re done,” he told her, reaching out to take her hand.
Nancy felt a tingle as their hands touched. “How will I find you? This bar’s a crowded place.”
“How’s this- I wait for you over there,” he pointed towards the corner of the bar, “and if you come back within 10 minutes, I buy you that drink.”
Nancy’s lips turned up involuntarily. “Deal.”
He returned her grin. “See you then.”
She turned around and headed back towards the restroom, a smile still on her face. Nancy went into a stall and emerged two minutes later, washing her hands as she checked her reflection in the mirror. She quickly dug in her bag and reapplied the lipstick she found there, and then finger combed her reddish-blonde waves into place.
Should I go for it? she asked herself. I pride myself on being uninhibited, so why the hell not? He’s hot, you’re single…A night of fun, no strings attached, is just the thing you need. And if he’s not the one, just have a drink with him and move on. This bar is packed.
Tossing her head decisively, Nancy headed back out to the crowded din of the bar, not sure if she’d see the guy she had just run into, or if he had already blown her off.
He was there, and made a big show of checking his watch as he saw her approach. “Seven and a half minutes – not bad. So, what kind of drink can I get you?”
“What are you having?” she countered.
“Jack Daniels and Coke.”
“Then make it two.” He raised his eyebrows but placed the order for two of the drinks, handing her one when the bartender delivered them.
“So, what’s your name, anyway?” she asked, emboldened by the strong alcohol currently burning a warm path down her chest.
“Ned. Yours?”
“Nancy. Hi, Ned – nice to meet you,” she reached out to shake his hand, which was chilled from the glass he was holding. “I at least like to know the name of a guy when I let him buy me a drink.”
“That’s a good policy, Nancy,” he told her, obviously amused. “Ned and Nancy. Sounds like it’s destiny that we met tonight – our names go together awfully well.”
“There you are with those smooth words again,” she said before taking another sip of her drink. He really is gorgeous, she thought to herself. And I’ve only just started drinking, so it’s definitely not beer goggles at work here.
“So, Nancy, what’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?” Ned asked, swirling the stirrer in his drink.
“Did I accidentally get transported back in time to the seventies, with all of these pickup lines being thrown at me?”
“Nope, it’s a genuine question. You’re beautiful, sexy, pretty eyes, great smile – and yet, you seem to be alone. Tell me about that.”
“Well,” she said, drawing out the word, “my friends dragged me here so I could have a good time and find someone to help me get over my cheating, scumbag ex.”
“Oh, really?” Ned asked, dark eyebrow raised again. “And when you say, ‘good time’, what did they have in mind?”
She smirked, taking another drink. “Me picking up a random guy, taking him back to my place for a night of hot sex, and then kicking him out in the morning. Or before.”
“I like the way your friends think,” he told, a huge smile contradicting his serious tone. “So, what if the random guy were to take you back to his place for a night of hot sex? Would that ruin the plan?”
Nancy pretended to weigh his suggestion. “I think it would still be okay, because it would still involve me having sex with a guy I don’t know.”
“Okay. So, if I were to buy you another drink or two and we kept making small talk here for a while longer, you wouldn’t turn me down if I were to ask you to come back to my place?”
Nancy’s pulse quickened at the thought of it, but she kept her face from giving her away. “Not unless you do or say something crazy while we have those drinks.”
“Like?” He finished his drink and signaled the bartender for another round.
“Oh, I don’t know…That you like to wear women’s shoes, that you’re married to your cousin, that you’re into devil worship…Stuff like that.”
His laugher came out in a sharp crack. “No, no, and no. Are we good?”
She nodded. “Yep. Those are my top three dealbreakers, so you’re cool.”
“And what about you?” he asked, taking a healthy swallow of his new drink.
“Well, I wear women’s shoes, because I am a woman,” she pointed down to her feet, which were encased in spiky black heels.
“And thank God for that, because they’re damn sexy,” Ned interrupted. “Sorry - go on.”
“As I was saying…I’m unmarried, unattached, and I do not worship the devil. Unless the devil is in the form of Ryan Reynolds. Then all bets are off.”
“Okay, that seems fair. So, are you clingy, whiny, high-maintenance?
Nancy took a slug of her fresh Coke and Jack Daniels. “Nope, no Stage Five Clinger here,” she told him, tilting her thumb towards her chest. “If we hook up tonight, I won’t be asking you when you’ll be calling me, or stalking you on Facebook or some shit like that. Once and done.”
“Well, even if we are operating under the presumption that you are going back to my place tonight for a one-night-only thing, it doesn’t mean that we’ll only hook up once,” he told her solemnly, a wicked gleam in his brown eyes.
She shivered at that, and took another drink. “A man with ambition – I like that. Oh, and I forgot to tell you about the other requirement that my friends had for me tonight.”
“What’s that?” Ned asked, starting to take a drink.
“The guy I pick? Has to have at least a seven-inch cock,” she informed him nonchalantly.
Ned began choking on his Jack and Coke, and Nancy reached out to pat him on the back. “You okay, there, cowboy? Did I scare you away?”
His eyes danced with amusement. “Hell, no. Just surprised me, that’s all. But let me tell you right now – you picked the right guy for the job, Nancy.” He looked directly into her eyes as he said it.
“Oh, really? So, should I just take your word for it?”
“If you want to measure it right here, I could ask the bartender for a ruler. Better make it a yardstick, though.” His tone was wicked.
“Oh, really?” Nancy repeated. “So, we’re measuring you soft? Seems unfair, Ned.”
“Nancy, I’m already getting hard by just talking to you. And looking at you. You’re really gorgeous and sexy, you know that? That red hair, that body… Plus, the fact that you’re so straightforward and confident turns me on. Most girls play all cute and coy.”
“Well, then, what about you buy me one more drink and we get out of here?”
“That? Sounds like a really good plan. But what about your friends? Were you the driver? Don’t want them to be stranded.”
“Well, aren’t you the considerate one?” Nancy beamed. “Nope, Bess drove, so they’re good. I’ll just text them.”
She took her cell phone out of her purse and sent a quick text to Bess: Tell George I followed doctor’s orders. Hot guy, leaving with him in a few. Text u sometime 2nite 2 let u know I’m still alive. How much $ do I get if I picked hottest guy in the place?
A minute later, her phone beeped, signaling an incoming text from George: We’re gonna need proof, Nan. Pic, NOW. If so, $50.
Nancy shook her head, laughing as she read it.
“Funny?”
“They said they need a picture of you to prove that you’re the hottest guy in here.”
Ned smirked, nodding his head in the direction of her phone. “Go ahead – I’m sure that thing has a camera.”
Nancy pressed the camera button and was careful to line up a good shot so they could see his face and a good amount of his muscular body in the picture. She texted it to her friends and counted aloud the number of seconds before she received a response.
When she got to thirty, her phone buzzed twice in a row and she read the texts out loud, to Ned’s great amusement. “Bess: Holy shit. That guy? HOTTTTTTTT. Hit it hard, girl. Tell me all 2morrow. George: Damn, u work fast, Nan! Go get some! “
She sent a response to both of them at the same time. I think u owe me $50, bitches!
Satisfied, Nancy put her phone back into her purse. “They’re cheering me on.”
“Your friends sound like my kind of people.” Ned ordered her another drink.
“Hey, none for you?”
“Nope, not since I’m driving. So, what else should I know about you, Nancy? I mean, you’re a stranger, and I’m inviting you home.”
Nancy thought for a minute, finishing her old drink before she could move to the fresh one. “Well, I’m twenty seven, I’ve lived in the Chicago area all of my life, and I’m a few months out of a relationship because I found out that my ex was a cheating bastard.”
“That’s a shame – who the hell would cheat on someone like you, anyway? Was he a total moron?”
“I know, right?” Nancy exclaimed playfully. “And you?”
“I’m thirty, haven’t had a relationship in a while, and I’m new to the area – just moved here from Phoenix, which is where I was raised and where I went to college.”
“That explains the tan. By the way, good luck going through your first Chicago winter,” she informed him.
“Not looking forward to that,” Ned told her, giving a mock shiver. “Oh, and I love sports and I like to travel.”
“Same here.” Nancy drank some more.
“See, I was right – it was more than a coincidence that we met tonight. I knew that lucky four-leaf clover I picked up the other night would work!”
She chuckled. “So, let’s get this shit out of the way. Diseases? Anything I need to worry about? Should I buy condoms from the machine in the bathroom?”
Ned shook his head. “No diseases, and I have condoms. Lots of condoms.”
She tipped back the glass and drained her drink before slamming the empty glass on the bar. “Works for me. So, I think you promised you’d take me home after I finished my drink, and I’m done – see?” she pointed to the glass.
“So I did,” he grinned. “Then let’s go.” He reached for her hand and let her outside the bar to the parking lot.
“Wow, so much cooler out here than in there. And quieter, too,” she remarked as they stopped in front of a sleek black sports car. “Nice.”
“Thanks. It’s only a few months old, so I drove it here from Phoenix.”
“See, now, I don’t know if this is gonna work out, after all. After all, this is a Camaro, and I’m a Mustang girl,” she told him lightly as she got in to the passenger side.
He laughed as he slid the key into the ignition. “Mustang, huh? Nice. Color?”
“Blue.”
“Sweet.”
They continued to make small talk as he drove to his place. It was a four-story brick apartment building, a metal fire escape jutting out from one side.
When he used his key to open the front door and usher her inside the lobby, he turned to her with an apologetic look. “I just found out this morning that the elevator’s broken and the sign on the door leads me to believe that they haven’t fixed it yet. I’m on the third floor – you good to walk?”
She nodded. “Yep – I’m in shape.”
“Oh, I could tell that,” he told her, giving her a mock leer.
“Cute,” she smirked. “Let’s go.”
They used the emergency stairwell to climb the three flights, neither winded when they reached the top. He led her halfway down the hall before stopping at a door marked with a plain sliver “308”.
Ned keyed his way into the apartment and flipped on the light switch on the wall. The apartment was small, but seemed to have hardwood floors; at least, Nancy thought so from the patches of floor that she could make out through the mess of packing cartons and other items strewn over it. There was furniture – a couch, a large flat-screen TV, small glass coffee table, a few bar stools around his kitchen counter – but the walls were bare, and there were no area rugs.
“Nice décor – you go for the minimalist approach, I see.”
He laughed. “I told you I just moved here. I meant just last week.”
“And already you found the hottest bar in town. That’s quite a gift, Ned.”
“What can I say? Some of us are blessed with natural talents. Yours is looking sexy in jeans and a shirt, mine is scoping out the best places for nightlife.”
“And again a line. It’s a good thing you already have me at your place – if we were still at the bar, that could’ve been the thing to make me turn you down.”
“But then you wouldn’t have achieved your goal, Nancy,” he pointed out. “Pick up a guy with a big dick and have sex with him, remember?”
She rolled her eyes and tried to keep her expression stern. “Meanwhile, the mystery remains as to whether or not you actually have a big dick.”
He reached for his zipper. “I already volunteered once to show you, but…”
Nancy held up a hand to stop him. “We’ll get to that.” She exhaled. “Okay, so what do we do now? I’ve never done this before, so I don’t know how it works.” She laughed when she saw a look of nervousness cross his face.
“Calm down, Ned – I’ve had sex before. Popping my cherry isn’t on the list of activities tonight.” His expression changed to one of relief. “I meant that I’ve never had a one-night stand before. Do we just, like, go for it?”
He chuckled. “Well, first I ask you if you want another drink – more alcohol, or soda, or water or whatever. Then we get close and we start…you know. Taking each other’s clothes off, touching…Then we go to my bedroom. ”
“That sounds good. And yes to another drink.” She settled on his sofa. Ned opened a cabinet door and Nancy nodded when he pulled out a bottle of rum. “I see that you unpacked the liquor,” she smirked.
“Hey, my priorities are in order.” He took out two glasses. “Straight, or with a mixer?”
“Coke with it, please?”
“Let me see.” He crossed to the refrigerator and beamed when he was able to pull out two cans. “Nice and cold. I think I have ice, too.”
Ned made their drinks and carried them to the sofa, where he presented Nancy’s to her with a flourish. “Never let it be said that I’m not a good host.” He sat down next to her.
Nancy took a sip. “There’s a fair amount of rum in this, Ned.”
“Well, I thought we could both use a little extra. Besides, remember that I stopped after two drinks – I need to catch up to you.”
They drank in companionable silence for a few minutes. When Ned was halfway done with his, Nancy took the glass from his hand and placed it next to hers on the glass coffee table in front of the couch.
“So, there’s something I’ve been wondering all night, Ned.” She slid closer to him so that her bent knee brushed the outside of his thigh.
“What’s that, Nancy?” he asked, a gleam in his eye.
“If you kiss as good as you look.”
Ned moved his face closer so that their lips were inches apart. “Why don’t you find out, gorgeous?”
The scent of his cologne gently floated up to her nostrils, and it smelled warm and woodsy, like a combination of pine needles and spice. She moved forward and brushed her lips against his, gently, slowly.
It was like taking a match to dry kindling. The heat that Nancy felt coursing through her body shocked her, and before she knew it, his tongue dipped into her mouth to tease hers. They kept kissing, and Nancy sighed with pleasure as he placed a hand over her breast. It felt nice not to have to push back or pretend that she wanted to say no, like she’d usually do on a first date. Tonight, there was only one reason she was at his place, and that reason was sex.
Ned’s thumb teased her nipple through her shirt and moved in slow, tantalizing circles. Before she knew it, she had risen to straddle his lap, rocking against his erection through the crotch of his jeans.
Ned groaned against her mouth. “You are sexy as hell, you know that?”
She pulled away to give him a smile full of promise. “You haven’t seen anything yet.” Nancy reached down to stroke him through the denim.
“My bedroom – now,” he growled, rising up from the sofa. She kept her legs locked around his waist as he walked there, and fused her mouth to his.
The minute they got to his room, Ned flipped on the lights. “I don’t want to do this in the dark,” he told her, tossing her onto his bed on her back. “All night long, I have been dying to know what you look like naked.” He gazed down at her with the sexiest, most smoldering look she had ever seen.
She grinned saucily. “Well, I’m in your bed – what are you waiting for?”
That was all of the encouragement Ned needed. He leaned down and yanked her shirt over her head, then quickly undid the button of her jeans, Nancy helping to peel them down her legs and step out of her shoes.
Ned shook his head in wonder. “God, this gets better and better,” he said, stroking her erect nipple through her sheer black lace demi-cup push-up bra. His eyes gleamed as he took in the tiny matching thong.
“I came ready to play,” she told him, propping herself up on her elbows. “But now I’m nearly naked and you aren’t.
Ned chuckled as he leaned down over her and watched as she unbuttoned his shirt, letting it fall to the floor.
“Yum, a six-pack. And nice arms,” she said. “A nice treat for Nancy.”
“Oh, I have one more for you,” he leered playfully.
:”Well, let’s see it. After all, you promised me a big cock. So, how am I going to know whether it’s really seven inches?”
Ned stood up and undid his jeans, stepping out of them. When he was in his boxers, he moved to his nightstand.
“Condoms? Good idea.”
“Yes, but I have something else in here. Something we can use to put this conversation to bed, once and for all. So to speak,” he smirked. Ned took out a bottle of lube and handful of foil packets and tossed them onto the surface of the table, and Nancy was amused at the quantity. He then followed up with a wooden ruler.
“Um, I’d ask why you have that by your bedside, but…”
Ned laughed. “Not for the reason you think. I’ve been measuring this place since I moved in. “
Nancy giggled. ”Okay, had me worried for a minute.” She sat up and scooted to the edge of the bed, letting her legs straddle his as he stood between them. “So, time for the big reveal.” Her hands moved to the elastic waist of his boxers, and she pushed them down in one swift motion.
Nancy actually sucked in a breath as she studied his erection. It was easily seven inches, not to mention incredibly thick. “Holy shit,” she breathed. “You really weren’t kidding, were you? I mean, all guys claim they’re big, but they’re normally full of shit. Wow. Just….wow.”
He grinned proudly. “I told you. Still want to measure?” Ned held out the ruler.
She took it from him, a gleam in her eye. “Hell, yeah. Now I just want to know.”
“So you can report back your girlfriends who you went to the bar with tonight?” When she gave him a sheepish grin, he laughed again. “Hey, I’ve been known to watch a Sex and the City rerun or two on cable.”
She held up the ruler to him and was astonished when he was actually a little over seven inches. “Oh, shit,” she said, wonder in her voice. “That’s…Yeah, that’s big. Um, I’m definitely going to want to fuck you now, because I have to know what it’s like.”
She said it so seriously that he cracked up. “You are cute, you know that? But I got naked, and you didn’t. Come on, show me the goodies.”
“Yeah, well, my stuff isn’t as big as yours – I mean, these aren’t big.” She pointed to her breasts, still in their bra.
“Well, you’re in luck – happens that I like breasts of all sizes,” Ned informed her. “Just as long as you let me touch them and play with them, we’re cool.”
“Not into the fake tits?” Nancy asked sweetly, reaching around behind her to unclasp the bra.
“Um, I’m sorry, what were you saying? I couldn’t focus, because I see a spectacular set of real tits in front of me.”
She giggled, pleased. ”Oh, and you can play with them and touch them, by the way. I’m totally into that.”
“Excellent. Now, the rest – let’s go, Nancy. Panties off, sexy girl. I showed you mine, now show me yours.”
She hesitated briefly before putting her hand on the strings at her hips and sliding her underwear down. Nancy shook the panties off of her ankles and let them drop to the floor. She spread her legs wide again, legs bent as she planted her heels on the edge of the bed and held herself up by her hands, her chin up proudly.
“Oh, fuck,” Ned uttered in a low groan. “Shit, that is the best fucking thing I have ever seen. You are so…Mmmm. God, I want some of that.”
“Well, then, get over here with that monster cock and let’s go,” Nancy told him, one eyebrow raised in challenge.
Ned leaned forward and pulled her up so that her head rested on his pillow before climbing on top of her. She sighed as she felt his bare chest brush her breasts and his erection firm and hot against her stomach.
“Nice,” she whispered as he moved one hand to play with her bare breast.
“Can I suck on them?”
She pulled back to look directly into his eyes. “Don’t ask – just do. Nothing is off limits. I like it all.”
He gave her a wicked grin. “God, I so picked the right girl to bring home tonight.” Ned moved his head down to suckle at her nipple, and Nancy groaned loudly from the combination of his mouth and the stubble on his chin against her breast.
Nancy lay back and sighed when he let his other hand drift over to stroke the line of reddish-gold hair at her pubic mound. “Oh, yeah,” she moaned as he slowly began to stroke her clit. When he slipped two fingers into her slit, still rubbing her clit with his thumb, Nancy spread her legs wider.
“You like that, huh?”
“God, yeah,” she managed to get out. “Good. So good.”
Ned switched to play with her other nipple, still rubbing his fingers over the hot, wet folds of her sex. She reached out a hand to stroke his erect cock, still marveling at the size and girth. Nancy briefly wondered if it would even fit inside of her, but she sure as hell couldn’t wait to find out.
He moaned, snapping her out of her thoughts. “Your hand feels good on me. Harder, though – harder strokes.” She complied with his request, Ned letting out a hiss of approval when she began tracing his balls with her fingertips.
Nancy ran her other hand down to his lower back, where she made small circles with her palm before resting on his firm, muscular ass. Nancy wasn’t normally into guys’ butts, but his felt great beneath her hand.
“Umm, looks like we won’t need that lube, Nancy, because you are wet as fuck.” He slid one more finger inside of her, his thumb still working her clit.
“Yeah, stretch me, because I’m gonna need it,” she panted.
Ned laughed as he pushed himself to a sitting position to sheath his erection in a condom. “Ready?”
“Oh, I’ve been ready since you bumped into me,” Nancy informed him.
“You mean since you bumped into me? Well, I’ve been hard since then, too.” He settled on top of her and began licking the firm pink crowns of her nipples before pulling her legs apart and angling himself towards her opening.
They both groaned loudly as he began to enter her, slowly, gently. Nancy gripped his dark hair in one hand as she grabbed his ass with the other. “I want it all,” she told him in a raw voice.
Ned pushed in deeper and deeper, until he was buried to the hilt inside of her.
“Oh, fuck,” Nancy almost sobbed. “Holy fuck.” She had definitely had sex with her share of guys, but never with anyone nearly as big as this. She felt like she was stuffed to capacity, but it didn’t really hurt. She couldn’t wait until he began moving inside of her.
“You okay?” Ned asked quickly.
“Oh my God, yeah. You…It…Oh, yeah.”
Ned slid out of her, then pushed back in with one firm stroke. Nancy guessed that he was waiting for her to pull back or express any discomfort; when she didn’t, he began to increase his speed and depth.
Nancy groaned as he continued to slide in and out of her in long, deep strokes. She wrapped her legs around his waist, enjoying the sensation of being spread even wider to him, and sighed with delight as his hips pinned her to the mattress with the force of his thrusts.
He began to piston his hips faster, and her breasts bounced with each circuit. Her nails dug into the nape of his neck and the flesh of his ass as he fucked her even more roughly The sound of them joining and their flesh slamming into each other only increased her arousal; when Ned sucked one nipple into his mouth, she let out a shriek of pleasure.
She was surprised when he reached out a hand towards the bedside table while still fucking her. He was already wearing a condom, and she was still dripping wet, so she wasn’t sure what was going on.
Ned tore open another condom packet with his teeth and placed it on his fingers. Next, he grabbed the bottle of lube and popped off the top with his thumbnail, the cap falling to the floor. He turned it upside down and let the liquid coat his condom-covered fingertips before carefully setting the bottle back onto the table.
“Were you serious when you said that nothing was off limits?” Ned asked in a husky voice as he looked down at her, his eyes darkened with lust and desire.
When you look at me like that, yeah, she thought to herself. “I’ll let you do anything you want as long you don’t stop fucking me,” she panted.
He nodded before moving the hand with the lubricated fingers to her ass, Nancy squealing loudly when he slid one finger inside of her.
“Oh my God!” she shrieked. “Oh my God! Oh, God, yesssssss.”
“Do you like that?” he grunted. “I just wanted to get inside of you everywhere I could.” He moved his mouth down to capture hers and slid his tongue between her lips.
The sensation of having his cock in her pussy, his tongue in her mouth, and his finger in her ass was much more erotic than she could have ever imagined. Nancy groaned against his mouth and dug her fingernails harder into him.
“Oh, fuck, yeah,” she growled when he released his mouth from hers. “Oh, so fucking good. It feels so fucking good. Now, fuck me harder.”
Nancy shifted her body up so that her breasts were pressed against his chest, the firm mounds wobbling as he continued to thrust hard. Just then, she felt the tension break at her core.
“Oh, oh God! Oh, yeah! Oh, fuck!” she screamed. “Oh my God, yeah!” Her orgasm hit her in a huge wave and she clenched her muscles around him, hard, even as she came.
“Oh, fuck, that’s it,” Ned hissed. “Oh, tight and so fucking good. Your pussy is incredible. Keep squeezing against my cock.”
Nancy continued to clench as the pulsations of her climax weakened; after another few thrusts, Ned came with a loud groan, his back going rigid before he collapsed on top of her.
Nancy knew for sure that she’d be sore as hell in the morning but she didn’t give a damn. That was the best fuck she’d ever had in her life, and any pain would be worth it.
After another moment, Ned raised his head to look down at her. “You okay?”
“Yes – more than okay. I’m kind of wondering how I’m going to sit tomorrow, especially having had more than seven inches inside of me tonight, but I’ll manage.”
Ned cracked up. “Well, can I tell you that that was incredible, that you were incredible? Seriously, what they say about redheads is true, Nancy.” She winced when he pulled out of her, watching as he stripped the condoms off of his cock and hand before settling back on top of her.
“And what’s that, Ned?”
“That you’re freaky,” he grinned, lightly tapping his finger against her nose.
“Nice,” she sighed. “Well, if I’m freaky, what about the guy who stuck a finger into my ass?”
“You said that I could just go for stuff,” Ned pointed out, trying to keep a straight face.
“Yeah, but the first time you fuck someone?”
“It didn’t seem like you minded. I mean, weren’t you the one who kept yelling ‘yes’ and ‘that’s so good’? Wasn’t that you?”
She flushed. “Yeah, yeah. Most guys think I’m too freaky and it scares the shit out of them. I can’t help it – I’m adventurous,” she said somewhat defensively.
“Nothing wrong with that, babe. I love a freaky girl who’s down to fuck. Guarantees we both have a good time. Hey, are you thirsty? ‘Cause I am.”
When she nodded, he sat up and threw back the covers before getting up, not even bothering to get dressed. “Be right back.”
Nancy admired his naked ass as he left the room. Wow, guess I’m turning into a girl who likes asses, she thought.
Ned returned a few minutes later, two water bottles tucked under one arm, and a plate heaped with sandwiches and potato chips in his hands. He placed the plate on the bed before holding out one of the bottles to her, sitting down next to her as they gulped down their water.
Nancy looked over at the plate. “Wow, you were holding back on me - I had no idea that I had hooked up with a gourmet chef tonight,” she teased. “Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and kettle chips?”
He pretended to look offended. “Excuse me, I’ll have you know that one of those sandwiches is made with crunchy peanut butter and sliced bananas, one has the p.b., bananas and marshmallow Fluff, and one is p.b. with blueberry preserves.”
“And the fourth sandwich?”
“Peanut butter and plain ole’ grape jelly. Just in case you were a purist.”
“Nope – I’m always up for something new. I’ll start with half of the banana Fluffernutter.”
“An excellent choice – it’s the house specialty.” He handed her the sandwich and took the one with preserves for himself.
She made a sound of approval as she chewed. “Delicious.”
“You should know that I never make dinner for my one-night stands. Normally, I’m running scenarios through my head on how to get them to leave, so this is definitely a first.”
Nancy reached over and filched some chips off of the plate. “Color me impressed. You make a damn good sandwich, Ned.”
“It’s the truth. So, what’s the freakiest thing you’ve ever done in bed?” he suddenly asked.
“Well, there was this one time when I went home with a guy I met in a bar and I let him put his finger into my ass while we fucked,” she drawled. She was rewarded by a deep rumble of laughter from Ned. “Seriously, I don’t know? I’ve done anal, oral, sixty-nine, I’ve been tied up, worn crazy lingerie and/or costumes, used toys both with and without a partner…”
“Nice,” he told her appreciatively before taking another slug from his bottle. “Most girls wouldn’t admit to any of that. Especially to a stranger.”
“Well, I’m not most girls,” she shrugged.
“That is definitely true, Nancy. Threesome?”
“Are you asking?” He laughed again, and Nancy decided she really liked the sound of it. “No, but who knows? With the right guy I really cared about? Although, I am jealous as hell when I really care about someone, so if it were girl-girl-guy, I’d probably want to punch the bitch out for being near my man when he’s naked. If it were guy-guy-girl, I’d enjoy the hell out of that.”
Ned grinned. “Fiery temper – you really are a redhead.”
“Thought you already knew that,” she told him, pointing down at her bare crotch. She took the last bite of her sandwich and grabbed for the other half of the peanut butter and blueberry.
“Yeah, I’m the same way, though – two girls at once? I’ve done it and I’ve loved it – but I definitely wasn’t in a relationship with either of them. But if I had been and there was another guy with my girl? Hell, no.”
“Well, it’s doubtful he’d be bigger,” she joked.
“But still. She’d be able to compare.”
“So, you’ve admitted to a threesome, but what else have you done?”
He shrugged. “Same stuff you admitted to. Oral, anal, toys, mutual masturbation, bondage…All kinds of positions…”
“Wait – some girl let you get that thing into her ass?” Nancy asked, pointing to his cock, which still looked pretty large to her, even in its non-erect state.
“What can I say?” He shrugged. “I can be very persuasive when I want to be. I’ve also made a sex tape.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Really? And how did you get some poor girl to say yes to that?”
Ned chuckled. “We were in a relationship and I let her keep the tape.”
“Smart girl. Although, what makes you so sure she hasn’t posted it all over You Tube or something? I mean, we’ve already established that you’re a hot guy with a big cock, so…”
A shadow of doubt crossed his face, followed by one of concern. “Uh, shit?”
“Yeah, she probably hasn’t,” Nancy tried to convince him, smirking. “I’m sure. Maybe.”
He relaxed a little as he scooped up more chips and took the other half of the banana and Fluff sandwich. “She’s got kind of a high-profile job, so she wouldn’t want it to get out any more than I would.”
“Well, that’s good.”
They demolished the rest of the sandwiches and the chips and finished off their water. Ned put the empty plate and bottles on the other nightstand and looked at her expectantly.
“What? You want to go again?”
“Well, we’re both still naked and we had such a good time the first time around, I thought we could. Unless, of course, you need to get home.”
She gave a quick glance at his docking station alarm clock. “Nope, I’m good. Unless, of course, you have a problem with peanut butter breath.”
Ned pretended to consider. “Well, since I have it, too, I think it’s okay.” He leaned forward and stroked one of her nipples before licking it. “You had a little peanut butter right there.”
Her lips curved up in a grin. “Oh, yeah? I think the other one may have some, too,” she informed him without even looking down.
Ned licked her other nipple. “Yep, but I took care of it.” He crawled on top of her and they began to kiss.
“How do you want to do it this time around?” she murmured against his lips.
“You on top.” He slipped his arms around her waist and rolled onto his back, shifting her on top of him.
“Perfect,” she sighed. “One of my favorites.”
Nancy deliberately rubbed her body up and down over his, savoring the feel of him underneath her. “But, first….Do you have flavored condoms?”
“Sure do,” he told her, raising his head slightly to rummage through the nightstand drawer until he found one.
“Why am I not surprised?” she teased, taking it from him and placing the package onto the bed next to them.
“Meanwhile, I’ll bet you also have some at your place,” Ned guessed.
“You got me,” Nancy smiled as she admitted it. “What flavor did you give me?”
“Chocolate? Is that good?”
“Yep. As long as it’s not grape – found out the hard way, pun intended, that they make me sick. Talk about embarrassing – a few years ago, I was going down on my new boyfriend and the awful taste of the fake grape made me throw up. Thank God I was able to make it to the bathroom in time – otherwise, I would’ve thrown up all over his dick.”
Ned chuckled. “That’s quite a story. And one that made me glad I didn’t select grape.”
“Nope, you’re good.” She shifted up so that their faces were in line and leaned down to kiss him. Ned let his hand drift down until it rested on her ass, which he began to stroke.
“Wow, you are all about the ass, aren’t you?”
“I am. Especially when it’s one as hot as yours. Firm, tight – love it.” He gave it a gentle slap.
“Yeah,” she sighed. “I love that, God help me. I mean, I’m a strong, independent woman who would kick someone’s ass if they started anything with me, but slapping my ass in bed or pulling my hair? Love it. Go figure.”
“Jesus, you really are freaky,” he said admiringly.
“Told you. So why are you stopping?”
Grinning, he took the hint and continued slapping her rear as they kissed, their tongues tangling.
Nancy broke away and began kissing down his chest, pausing when she got to his treasure trail. She groped the sheet for the condom she had placed there earlier and quickly ripped open the package, sheathing him with one flick of her wrist.
“Now, let’s pray I don’t choke on this.”
“Don’t say that after you just told me the grape condom story,” he warned.
“I warned you that my gag reflex is kinda strong and you’re fucking huge.”
She began licking him, tentatively at first, before sucking the tip of his cock into her mouth.
“Mmm, that’s nice,” he told her, stroking her hair.
Nancy took more of him into her mouth, careful not to go too deep, as she licked and sucked. The chocolate flavor of the condom was slightly strange but not unpleasant. She looked up, her mouth still working at his cock, to find his eyes closed, an expression of pleasure on his face.
Nancy reached down and began to stroke his balls, careful not to use too much force. She alternated between playing with them and twisting her hand around the base of his cock as she continued with the blow job. Slightly nervous, she relaxed the muscles of her throat as best she could before taking another inch. When she felt the condom-encased tip of his erection brush against her soft palate, she pulled back slightly, not wanting a repeat of what had happened with the grape condom. All the while, he was moaning his approval, his hands tightening in her hair.
Taking as much as she could without awakening her gag reflex, she increased the firmness of her hand to help him achieve orgasm, hoping he’d get there soon so her jaw wouldn’t cramp. Finally, he came with a loud groan and lay sprawled against the pillows.
“That was…incredible,” he sighed. “You give great head, Nancy.”
She smiled, sitting up. “Thanks. Glad you liked it, even though I wasn’t able to deep throat you.”
“No, it was great,” he told her enthusiastically. “But I’m surprised you did it. Usually, I have to beg a woman, and even then, she stops after two minutes.”
Nancy shrugged. “I don’t do it for every guy, but if I like someone, I have no problem with it. And, unlike most guys, you didn’t force my head down or push me. So, I thought you deserved to be rewarded for it.”
Ned chuckled lazily. “See, I knew that being a nice guy would pay off one day.” He moved his hand down and stripped the condom off of his softening penis.
“Plus, I had to see if I could do it – if I was up to the challenge of getting something that size into my mouth,” she admitted.
Ned cracked up. “Nice work, Nancy.” He propped himself up on his elbows and regarded her. “But I thought you were going to ride me.”
“Just waiting for you to get it up again, Ned. I’m more than ready for you – sucking you off kind of got me hot.”
He raised one eyebrow. “Oh, yeah?”
“Yep. Can you make it three in a row?”
“Seeing you naked and hearing you talk about sucking me off will definitely make it happen soon, trust me.”
“Good. Because I really want to fuck again.” She leaned forward on her hands and crawled on top of him.
“Hey, we’ve already established that we’ve both done some crazy shit in bed, but what’s the craziest circumstance you’ve ever been in?” When she gave him a puzzled look, he continued. “Like, place or person you’ve done it with?”
“If I talk about it, will it get you hot?” she asked, taking one of his hands and placing it over her breast.
“Probably,” Ned told her, pinching her nipple.
Nancy laughed. “Okay. Let me think. Hmm, I’d say…Either the time I dated a cop and we did it in the backseat of his patrol car, or…the time I dated a professor and did it on his desk in his classroom. Oh, class wasn’t in session, by the way.”
He chuckled. “I was gonna say…I went to college, but not once did I see one of my profs getting it on with a hot girl in class – I definitely would’ve remembered that.” His hand slid down to cup the join of her thighs.
Inching her knees apart to give him better access, Nancy moved her mouth over his and slipped her tongue between his lips. “Okay, so what about you?” she murmured.
“Hmm?” He traced a finger over her clit while kissing her back, and Nancy shuddered.
“You brought this whole thing up, so let’s hear it. Craziest situation. Go.”
“Well, it was the summer I was 19…”
“This sounds like the start of a movie.”
He laughed while continuing to stroke his fingers over her. “Do you want to hear it, or do you want to make snarky comments?”
“Sorry – go on.”
“Anyway…I had just turned 19 and was working as a lifeguard at a ritzy country club in Scottsdale. This place was a magnet for bored, rich divorcees.”
“Uh huh…” Nancy interjected, her lips turning up in a grin as she already sensed where his story was going.
“Stop interrupting,” he told her sternly, taking his other hand and using it to roughly caress her breast. “Anyway, most of the clientele consisted of these hot divorcees in their thirties and forties who enjoyed being able to lounge around the pool all day, knowing that their ex-husbands were hard at work to make the money that was generating their alimony and child support payments. These women obviously put a lot of effort into looking good and it showed: their bodies were amazing, there were always very tan, and they wore these tiny little bikinis to show off.
“But they also put a lot of effort into making it known to us guys that worked there that they were more than willing to show us a good time. So, they’d flirt with us, make a big show of rubbing suntan lotion over themselves…We were like 18, 19, and these women were hot. “
“Did you fuck them all?” Nancy asked, struggling to hide a laugh.
“No!” he said with mock indignation. “Like I said, we’d flirt, no biggie. Until this new woman joined the club. She was…fuck, she was smokin’. Long dark hair, huge breasts, great ass, probably mid-thirties or so. And she’d flirt with the other guys but not like she did with me. From day one, she made it clear to me and every one else that I was her target. So, one night, after the pool closed, she came by wearing this tight little dress and offered to give me a ride home. “
She smirked. “Oh, I’ll just bet she gave you a ride.” Her sentence ended in a moan, though, as he inserted two fingers inside of her, now using his thumb to stroke her clit.
He returned her grin, all the while still touching her. “She sure did. Brought me back to her house on some ridiculous pretense that she needed help lifting something. Meanwhile, what she really needed help with was lifting her dress over her head. She wore the sexiest lingerie I’d ever seen up to that point in my life – like a Victoria’s Secret model in front of me. Remember, I was 19.
“That summer…God, that summer, “he said, reminiscing fondly. “I had had sex before then, of course, but that woman taught me stuff…We fucked like rabbits all summer, every chance we got, did it in ways that I hadn’t even known about at that time. The shit she taught me? Hell, I still use it today, and girls still go crazy for it. Like this.” Ned pushed one more finger into Nancy and scraped his thumbnail over her clit. Nancy moaned. “See what I mean?”
“So, what happened at the end of the summer?” Nancy managed to get out. It wasn’t easy concentrating on his story, when his fingers were giving her so much pleasure.
“Eh, I went back to school and that was it, really. I went back to lifeguard the following summer, but never saw her again. Anyway, by that time I had a girlfriend so I didn’t really pay as much attention to the women at the club as I had the year before. That girlfriend was a blonde sorority girl who had won my frat’s bikini contest, so you can imagine what that relationship was based on.”
“That’s quite a story. But now,” she told him, nipping at his lips, “you seem to be hard again. So I want you to stop thinking about fucking some older woman years ago and start thinking about fucking me right here, right now.”
“Nancy, I already am thinking about that, believe me.” He grabbed another condom off of the nightstand. Once he had it on, he reached down to grab his cock and guide it between her legs.
She followed his lead and began to sink down onto his erection, sighing as he slid deeper and deeper inside of her.
When he was all the way in, she winced slightly. “God, still not used to that,” she told him, groaning slightly.
Ned chuckled. “Yeah, I see you making faces. You okay?”
Nodding, Nancy began to rise and sink back down as she slowly began to ride him. “Yep, it feels really, really good. Mmmm, you are hitting all the right spots,” she told him, leaning forward and sticking her ass into the air to slightly adjust the angle of penetration.
“You look really sexy like that, “he grunted, starting to finger her nipples. “And, fuck, that feels good.” Ned raised his hips to thrust up against hers, using his free hand to grab her ass and start slapping.
“Oh, yeah,” she said, shuddering. “Oh, so nice – this feels so nice.”
Nancy increased her speed, emitting little cries of pleasure as he met her stroke for stroke in a perfect rhythm. She grabbed his hand from her breasts and pushed it to where their bodies were joined, firmly pressing his fingers against her clit.
Ned took her hint and began stroking her in rough motions as she continued to fuck him. When she began using short, deep, almost frantic thrusts, her breasts began shaking from the effort.
“Fuck, this feels fucking amazing and looks fucking amazing,” he groaned. “Look at you – shit, Nancy, you look hot as fuck.”
Nancy made incoherent noises as she felt her orgasm building. She pushed down so that he was hilt deep inside of her and threw her head back, screaming loudly as she began to come.
“Oh, fuck, yeah,” Ned growled. “Scream, Nancy – tell me how good it feels to fuck me.”
“Oh! Oh, oh!” she screamed, “God, yeah. Oh, this feels so good!” Her voice hitched as she continued to ride him throughout her orgasm. She was so incredibly sensitive that it almost hurt, but there was no way she could stop just yet.
Ned’s hips surged up to meet hers with a hoarse cry of pleasure and she felt him come inside of the condom.
“Oh, shit,” she sighed, slowing her movements before disengaging from his now-softening cock and flopping onto her back next to him.
Both of them panted heavily for several minutes. Ned was the first to speak as he stripped off the condom and tossed it into the trashcan.
“You are one hell of a great lay, Nancy,” he told her with amusement.
Nancy slid onto her side and propped herself up on one elbow, grinning over at him. “Same to you, Ned. I haven’t had it like that in…ever.”
They both laughed. “I’ve said it before, but you are unlike any other one-night stand I’ve ever had.”
“In a good way, or a bad way?”
“Good – definitely good. Great sense of humor and a healthy attitude towards fucking, along with a great body? Damn, I should have moved to Chicago a long time ago.”
She laughed again. “Ripped body, really funny, and a huge cock? Yeah, you really should’ve. “
Suddenly, Nancy caught sight of the time. “Shit, I hate to do this, but I really have go now. “ She sat up reluctantly and pushed her hair out of her eyes.
“You sure? I mean, I’m sure I could probably get it up once more for you.” Ned sat, too.
“God, don’t tempt me,” she sighed. Her inner thighs started to throb even more as she stood up and began fishing on the floor for her clothes. She picked up her panties and was about to put them on when she noticed that the crotch was still very wet. Nancy made a face at the thought of wearing them like that; instead, she stuffed them inside of the pocket of her jeans, which she had just taken off of the floor.
“Hey, I know we said one night and nothing else, but….Do you want to maybe go out sometime? I don’t know anyone in the city, and you seem like a fun person to hang out with. Nothing fancy – get a pizza, go to the movies sometime?”
Nancy hesitated from slipping on her jeans. She really wanted to say yes, but wasn’t sure. “Um, I don’t know? I mean, this was…great. I mean it. Best sex I’ve ever had, hands down. But… “
“Look, like I said, nothing heavy or serious…You can think about it. After all, you know where I live, and you know what bar I like to frequent.”
“Good point. Um, yeah. Maybe,” she replied noncommittally.
“Well, that was an enthusiastic response,” he teased. “But I won’t pressure you. Look, if it’s meant to be, then our paths will cross again, right? I mean, look what happened tonight. There was a bar full of people, and you ran into me.”
“Hey, don’t you mean you ran into me?” she huffed playfully.
He shrugged. “Whatever. The point is that we happened to meet by chance, and we had a night of great sex, and if we’re meant to see each other again, we will. By the way, are you sure you want to leave? I mean, you’re welcome to stay until morning…My refrigerator’s pretty empty, but I think I have milk for cereal.”
She smiled at the offer as she fastened her bra. “That’s nice of you, but I really need to get going. I have an early meeting tomorrow and I need to be able to shower and change before then.”
Ned looked slightly disappointed but didn’t press. He got out of bed, and Nancy was momentarily mesmerized by the sight of his naked body. He went to the dresser and threw on a pair of sweatpants.
When she gave him a look of surprise, he gave her a slight grin. “Let me at least walk you out, Nancy. I mean, it’s the least I can do after…” He let the sentence go unfinished, his smile getting broader as she flushed. “I can also walk you down to the lobby.”
“No, don’t bother,” she told him hastily. “It’s late, and I’m sure you’re tired, Ned. I can find my way out.”
Once she was all put back together, she checked her reflection in the mirror over his dresser, quickly fixing her hair with her fingers as she stepped into her shoes.
When she was done, Ned accompanied her to the front door. “Well, it was really nice meeting you, Nancy. I had a great time tonight – you really saved me from coming home alone to an empty apartment,” he told her before undoing the lock.
“Oh, if you hadn’t run into me, then I’m sure you would’ve brought another girl back here tonight,” she told him lightly.
Ned shook his head. “Nah – I had already scoped out the other women at the bar and none of them turned me on. Until a certain redhead crashed into me.”
Nancy smiled. “Well, take care.”
“Thanks, you too,” he told her.
Just as she was debating if she should give him a handshake or a hug or whatever, he leaned down and gave her a lingering kiss on the lips.
“Good night, Nancy. Remember, you know where to find me if you ever want to do something.”
“What if I just want a repeat of tonight?” she half-kidded as she walked out into the corridor. “You know, like fuck buddies?”
“That works for me, too.” He gave her another kiss and Nancy noticed that he didn’t close his door until she got to the doorway leading to the stairwell.
--
When Nancy’s alarm went off a few hours later, she groaned loudly. Once she had gotten back to her apartment, she had hastily shucked off her clothes and had left them on the floor where they had landed before falling into bed nude. Right before she fell asleep, she sent a quick text to Bess and George, letting them know that she had made it home safely. They were dying for details, but she had been way too tired to get into it just then.
“Shower,” she groaned, sniffing as she sat up in bed. She could definitely pick up the scent of sex on herself from last night’s activities, and she was sure that her coworkers would be able to, too. “Then coffee - lots of coffee.”
An hour and three cups of coffee later, Nancy stood in front of her mirror and surveyed her reflection. She still looked tired, despite the undereye concealer she had slathered on, but it was the best she could do. At least the blue of her blazer and the matching sheath dress underneath brought some brightness to her face and set off her eyes.
Of course I had to go out the night before a big staff meeting, she thought to herself ruefully. It was totally worth it, though.
Nancy stepped into a pair of black high-heeled shoes and grabbed her purse, her briefcase, and a travel mug full of more coffee before leaving her apartment and heading to work.
--
Nancy arrived at her office thirty minutes later, proud of herself for being on time. She set her briefcase down on her desk chair, and threw her purse in her drawer. Fishing through the piles of paper and reference books strewn across her desk, she made a sound of triumph when she located a fresh pen. She took the pen and a notebook with her, along with her coffee mug and a stack of files of the articles she was currently working on, to the conference room.
You never know when you have to justify your position, she told herself grimly. Layoffs are everywhere. Although, Nancy knew she was lucky, because the paper where she worked had just hired a few new writers. This was definitely a rarity in today’s world of declining newspaper subscriptions.
“Hey, did you do your girls’ night last night?” Jim, one of her co-workers leered at her from his seat around the table.
Nancy made a face before setting her things on the table. “Yeah, but that wasn’t the reason I didn’t go out with you.”
Nancy’s friend Heather, who had just come in and taken the chair next to hers, snickered. “There are many reasons she didn’t go out with you, Jim. Pick one.”
More of their coworkers filed in to the conference room, and just as she was about to turn back from catching up with Heather, someone tapped her on the other shoulder to get her attention.
“Excuse me, is this seat taken?” a familiar voice asked.
Nancy could scarcely believe her ears. It can’t be, she thought, panicking. How could it be? I mean, what are the fucking odds? You’re just tired and imagining things.
She slowly turned around in the direction of the voice and her mouth dropped open when her suspicions were confirmed.
“Hey, Nancy – fancy meeting you here,” Ned said, giving her a little wave and a big smile. “Is this seat taken?”
She went to slide her file folders over to make room for him, but the top one fell to the floor before she could grab for it. Then, it was like the first domino in a chain reaction: all of her other folders crashed down, one by one, in a fanned-out pile onto the floor.
Ned ducked down and helped her to retrieve the files, handing them over with a straight face, though she could tell that he was trying not to laugh.
“Thank you,” Nancy said, attempting a prim tone, although she was definitely still flustered.
“My pleasure,” he murmured. The sound of his voice, pitched low and intimate, brought back memories from the night before of him underneath her, groaning his encouragement and delight as she rode him in his bed. Without even looking at him, she was sure he was remembering it, too.
Nancy knew she was flushed, but prayed that everyone else in the room would attribute it to her clumsiness.
“Well, Drew, you always like to make your presence known, and this morning is no exception, I see,” her boss announced from the head of the conference table. “But let’s get started here. As those of you who have been here a while can probably tell, we have a few new faces around the table. Let me quickly introduce them.
He pointed to a middle-aged woman with ash-blonde hair, “Jill Dunlap, technology reporter, here from the Baltimore Sun.”
Next was a tall, bald African-American man with a brightly colored tie. “Juan Lester, national politics and the upcoming presidential campaign, here from the Chicago Defender.”
“And last but not least, Ned Nickerson, true crime reporter. He’s joining us from the Arizona Republic, where he won several awards for his series on the so-called ‘Phoenix Phantom’.
Nancy was out of her seat like a shot before she could stop herself. “Excuse me, but true crime is my beat. What the hell?”
“Calm down and take a seat, Drew. Should’ve known you’d have this reaction,” her editor said, shaking his head. “You and Nickerson will have totally different assignments – no one’s taking anything away from you. I’ll be scheduling a meeting for the three of us at 1:30 to talk about who’ll handle what. Now, sit,” he repeated, not-so-gently.
Nancy obeyed his orders, but she couldn’t keep focused on the rest of the meeting. All she could do was silently fume about having to share her beat with Ned. Sure, she had read and admired his work on the Phoenix Phantom, but still. Oh, and then there was that little detail of them having fucked the night before. Talk about awkward.
The minute the meeting ended, Nancy grabbed her stuff and hurried out of the conference room, trying to make it back to her desk so she could prepare for the meeting at 1:30. She wanted to prove to her boss that she had more than enough capacity to handle the entire crime beat on her own.
As she sat down, she saw a shadow cross her desk. “Hey, Nancy, can I talk to you?” It was Ned, and he was fucking hovering over her.
“Kinda in the middle of something right now,” she told him, not looking up as she booted up her laptop.
“It’ll just take a minute. Please?”
Nancy rolled her eyes and looked up, trying to ignore how sexy he looked in his light gray cotton sweater and charcoal pants. “Fine. Downstairs at the café in the lobby – I could use more caffeine, anyway, and the coffee in here is shit.”
“Great,” he told her, giving her one of the big smiles she had gotten from him at the bar the previous evening. And while they had been in bed.
She stood up and led him to the elevator, where they rode down in silence. When they got to the café, he insisted on buying her coffee, despite her protests.
They selected a table in the back, and Nancy was glad that her other coworkers weren’t nearby to overhear their conversation. “So, what did you want to talk about?”
“First of all, it’s nice to see you again.” There was that smile again. “And I had a great time last night.”
“Well, the point of a one-night-stand is that it’s only one night! I had never done one before last night, but even I know that! You don’t get together, you don’t call each other, and you sure as hell don’t work together!” Nancy hissed in a loud whisper.
“Nancy, I had no idea, I swear to God,” he told her. “I was just as shocked as you were when I walked into that conference room this morning. But, it doesn’t have to impact our work relationship, really.”
Nancy snorted. “Oh, really? Well, let me tell you something. None of my other co-workers have seen me naked, nor have I done the walk of shame out of their apartments at 3 in the morning!”
“That guy Jim I met earlier today sure looks like he’d like to change that. By the way, he told me that I shouldn’t even think about hitting on you, because it would be virtually impossible to get into your pants.” Ned chuckled. “I didn’t have the heart to tell him he was wrong.”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, he’d like the chance to get into the pants of any living, breathing female within a 50 mile radius. But that is not the point! Ned, we’ve had sex. How the hell can we work together like nothing happened? You were supposed to be my anonymous fuck and run!” The sentence ended in a near-howl.
“Calm down, Nancy. Once thing has nothing to do with the other,” he told her patiently.
“Oh, no?” she challenged. “The things we did last night? The things I told you? Yeah, that’s not gonna make it awkward when we work together every single day. God. God, I should’ve known!”
“So? Obviously, neither of us knew that we’d be working together when it happened. Two separate incidents. And I really liked that you were this confident girl who wasn’t uptight about sex – you like to have it, you aren’t ashamed of it, and you have no problem with talking about it. Tell me why this has to have an impact on our work relationship.”
Nancy made a sound of disbelief. “Ned, are you serious with this? Of course it’ll impact our work relationship! From now on, you’ll think of me as the girl you took home from a bar and fucked.”
“No, I won’t,” he insisted stubbornly. “I’ll think of you like two separate people – my gorgeous, talented new colleague who I’m looking forward to working with, and the gorgeous, sexy girl I had a great time with in my bed.”
She shook her head. “You think you’re being cute, but you really aren’t.”
“Nancy, I’m serious – I am totally capable of separating my personal life from my professional one. No one has to know, and it doesn’t have to get in the way of our jobs.”
Nancy regarded him warily. “So, you aren’t going to brag to your new bros here at the paper how I’m easy, especially with a few drinks in me?”
The ghost of a smile appeared on his face as he answered. “I already had my chance to do that and I haven’t, Nancy. It’s no one’s business except ours. Please don’t worry about it.”
She felt herself relax slightly. “Fine, but if I even hear a whisper from one of our co-workers…”
“Please don’t worry about it,” he repeated. “Besides, you have to admit that it’s kind of funny – you have a good enough sense of humor for that. I mean, what were the odds?”
Nancy tried to hide a grin but didn’t know how successful she was at it. “A million to one?” she shrugged, standing up to leave.
“At least,” he chuckled as he rose to join her. “But it proves that I was right about what I said last night.”
“What’s that?” she asked as they walked to the bank of elevators.
“That we’d meet again, if it was meant to be.” He gave her an easy smile as they got into the empty elevator.
She shot him a glare when the doors closed behind them. “I thought you said that what happened last night had nothing to do with our jobs!” she challenged.
“And it doesn’t. But, I also said that I can keep my personal life and my professional life separate. So, that means that the offer for us to get together for a movie or a pizza still stands, Nancy. Or for another night like last night. ”
“Are you joking?” Nancy sputtered, pretending to be irate. But, ooh, the idea of spending another night in his bed was tempting as hell, she had to admit.
He shook his head. “I’m really not. I still find you gorgeous and sexy and funny and interesting, and I still want to hang out with you outside of this place. Like I said, I still don’t know anyone here, and I like you.”
Once the elevator reached their floor, she stomped away from him, irritated when he followed her. “Just say you’ll think about it. After all, now you really know where to find me.” He shot her another big smile before disappearing in the direction of the copy room.
Nancy trudged back towards her desk, trying to keep her thoughts on the meeting with her boss and not on her sexy, funny, interesting new co-worker.