Take a Chance Erotic Romance Box Set Read online

  He grinned, her beautiful man. She ran her hand across the sandpapery roughness of his cheek and along the short crisp hairs along the sides of his head. “You are so . . . amazing, Jase. So special . . .”

  And you deserve a woman who can be as amazing and special as you are, she thought and looked down to avoid his perceptive gaze. But he wasn’t going to let her escape that easily.

  Jase cradled her jaw and applied gentle pressure to urge her head back up. “What’s wrong, Nickie? Why are you so upset? This was like nothing I’ve ever felt before with anyone.”

  “But this isn't the real me. I can't be the kind of woman you want. That you need. I'm not brave. I'm not bold. I'm just . . . me,” she said, tears thick in her voice. Her throat was so tight with emotion, it was almost suffocating her.

  The ghost of a smile played about his lips and he tunneled his fingers through her hair. “'Me’ is all I want, Nickie. You don't need to be anything but yourself with me.”

  “Why do I find that hard to believe, Jase? If this night has been about anything – ”

  “It's been about admitting who you are, nothing more. It's about not having any regrets, because I know I would have regretted never getting to spend this time with you,” he said, cradled her sides and drew her even closer.

  She buried her face against his chest, unable to face him, but more importantly, not sure how to face herself. She didn't want regrets either, but everything seemed to be moving too quickly. More quickly than she could handle at the moment.

  He wrapped his arms around her and held her gently, his touch calming and filled with tenderness. He brushed a kiss across the top of her head and whispered, “I won't push anymore, Nickie, because I don't want to push you away with my demands.”

  He had been demanding and in command, but only because she had allowed him to take the lead. It brought back a quote she'd once heard about no one being able to make you feel inferior unless you let them. She'd let him be in charge, but at the same time, she'd never felt like less than an equal in everything that had been going on. And she'd known that at any time she could stop and he wouldn't press.

  Much like he wasn't pressing now, but only offering comfort and support.

  He relaxed beside her, the tension exiting his big body and minutes later, a soft snore escaped him. She smiled at that because it somehow humanized him even more, this gorgeous perfect man she had wanted for so long. Who she had loved for way too long.

  So what am I going to do about it? About him? she wondered as she lay there, surrounded by the peace of his embrace. Tomorrow he'd be going home with his parents and after, heading to Afghanistan. It would be months before he was home again.

  She wouldn't think about the possibility of his not coming home alive.

  Jase wasn't only a doer, he was a thinker. A leader. He never acted without a plan or took unnecessary risks.

  But it occurred to her that he had taken a risk on her tonight. He had put his heart on the line, only she hadn't been able to reciprocate fully. She hadn't been able to risk her heart the way he had.

  Which left her with the kind of choice she normally avoided: take a chance or walk away filled with doubt and wondering “What if. . .?”

  As she peered toward her nightstand, her alarm clock warned her that she had to make a decision soon. The night was rushing away from them, far faster than she ever could have imagined.

  It was time for her to take a chance. . .

  Chapter 6

  Something tickled the side of his face and Jase scrunched his neck up to chase it away. Her sexy giggle teased him awake.

  “Come on, sleepyhead. We don't have much time left,” Nickie said with tempting huskiness.

  It took him a moment to make sense of where he was and what was happening, beginning with her giggle and sexiness, both distinctively out-of-character.

  He barely lifted one lid and risked a glance at the alarm clock. 4 a.m.

  Not even the Marines made him get up that early.

  “Come on, Jase,” she urged again. Her warm hands palmed his pectorals and she whispered a kiss across his cheek. Nuzzled the side of his face with her nose and giggled again before the mattress shifted with her movement.

  He opened his eyes and found her sitting on the edge of the bed. She had on a flowery beach cover-up and her bathing suit, and a large blanket sat in her lap. Even with all the clothes covering her body, lots and lots of skin was visible and with it being morning and all, his body reacted, tenting the sheets covering him. Drawing her gaze to his dick, so he rolled onto his side, knowing from their last lovemaking that she was a little uneasy with all that was happening between them.

  “It's a little early for the beach, isn't it?” he asked, propped his head on one hand and finger-combed the longer top strands into place with the other.

  “It's not too early for what I had in mind,” she said and stroked a hand across his chest and down, taking the sheet with her as she moved south and wrapped a hand around his cock.

  He gently grasped her wrist and stopped her. “What are you doing, Nickie?”

  “No regrets, you said. So I'm doing what I've wanted to for a very long time.”

  He arched a brow and examined her now serious features. “Which is?”

  “Seducing you. Well at least that’s what I’d do if you’d get your too cute ass out of bed and come with me,” she said with a roll of her eyes and a sharp, almost annoyed breath.

  This was finally his Nickie, the one full of humor and spirit.

  “Well, since you asked so nicely,” he said, sat up and ripped away the sheet, exposing his fully alert cock to her attention.

  Her gaze drifted downward and she licked her lips, but a second later, she tossed his briefs into his lap. “You'll have to hide that thing for just a little longer.”

  “Whatever you say, Nickie. You're in command now,” he said, saluted her and a delighted smile erupted across her lips. The gold flecks in her hazel eyes glittered brightly.

  “Yes, yes I am, Jase. I’m in control now and I kind of like it.”

  He grinned and hauled her close for a brief hard kiss. “I do, too,” he said.

  * * *

  With the way he was looking at her and the sight of him aroused, Nickie almost reconsidered acting out her fantasy, but she'd made herself a promise in the dark of night as she lay there beside him.

  When morning came, she'd finally take matters, and Jase, into her own hands without any doubt or hesitation keeping her from showing him just how much she wanted him. Just how much she cared for him.

  Grabbing hold of his hand, she led him to the door of her room, but he hesitated at the entrance. “What if someone sees us?”

  “It's 4 a.m. and what if they do?” she teased, finally feeling free now that she'd made her decision about him.

  “Does your father still have that shotgun?” he kidded even as they snuck down the hall and quietly crept toward the stairs.

  “Yes, he does, but I'm still not risking my life on that wisteria trellis,” she tossed back over her shoulder, continuing to drag him along, down the stairs, and through the great room.

  They hurried out the back door and past the terrace and lawn. Almost ran the length of the boardwalk and through the dunes until they were on the moonlit beach. A thankfully empty beach at that early hour.

  Together they spread out the blanket she had brought by a large marsh grass-covered dune. The dune was high enough to hide their presence from anyone up at the house and possibly even from any people idly walking down the beach since they were tucked behind part of it.

  She didn't waste a moment to pull him near and playfully tug off his briefs, although they snagged on his deliciously erect cock for a moment. Once he was naked, she shrugged off her cover-up, placed her hands on his shoulders, and urged him down to the blanket where she kneeled beside him.

  He tucked his hands beneath his head, making his broad chest look even bigger and more powerful. The muscles in his a
rms were bunched from the action and she tentatively ran her hands across his arms, exploring the hard biceps. Shifting to his shoulders, and then to his sculpted chest muscles.

  She cupped him and stroked her thumbs across the tight nub of his masculine nipples, earning a soft sigh from him.

  “I like that, Nickie,” he said and his gaze dipped down to watch her.

  She licked her lips, knowing what she had fantasized about doing next, but wanting to please him. “What else do you like, Jase?”

  He looked up at her and his gaze drifted over her lips, as powerful as one of his kisses. Her stomach did a flip flop and heat flared through her.

  “You kissing me. I like that a lot,” he said.

  She bent and opened her mouth against his while she continued caressing his nipples. Tweaking and rubbing those hard nubs and loving his masculine grunt of pleasure.

  His mouth was mobile beneath hers and she slipped her tongue past the seam of his lips and danced her tongue with his. Eased away and tempted him with a quick nip of his lower lip before accepting the slide of his tongue into her.

  As she imagined him sliding his cock into her, she moaned and broke away for a shaky breath. She leaned over him until the tips of her breasts rubbed across his chest and her nipples tightened beneath the fabric of her bathing suit.

  “Put your hands on me, Nickie,” he whispered against her lips and she trailed her hand down his center to encircle his dick. She stroked him, alternately long sweeps up and down his length with a teasing circle around his sensitive head until they were both breathing heavily and his cock was even bigger and harder in her hand.

  “What else, Jase? Tell me what else you want,” she said, taking control as he had done earlier.

  “You've got too many clothes on, babe,” he said and finally moved his hands to behind her neck where with a quick pull, he undid the strings at her neck and back. Her top dropped off and onto his abs, a bright confection of pink, orange, and green against his tanned skin.

  He skimmed it off his midsection on the way to her breasts. He cupped them and strummed his fingers against her nipples. Pulled them into hard little points that he tweaked, sending sharp little tugs of need straight to her center. But she wasn't going to rush this.

  She wanted to live her fantasy, if only for this one night. She’d deal with the heartbreak later.

  She undid the strings on her bottom and let it slide off as she straddled his thighs and sat up, staring down at him. Her hand on his cock, she stroked him while he caressed her breasts.

  “You know what I want, Jase?” she asked and glanced at his erection. He had a beautiful cock, long and smooth. Thick enough to fit perfectly between her hands as she ran them up and down his shaft, giving him pleasure.

  “Why don't you show me what you want,” he said and lifted his hips, pushing against her hands.

  She didn't refuse, bending and shimmying back along his legs so she could lick all around the sensitive head of his cock and to his F spot underneath. He groaned and jerked his hips upward, but she took her time with him, exploring every inch. Licking and sucking at him while she continued to caress his shaft with one hand and dropped the other to his tight perfect balls.

  His guttural cries spurred her on as did the touch of his hands on her breasts, kneading and teasing the tips.

  She took him in deeper, filling her mouth with him and he pushed up with his hips and cradled her head in his hands, his back arching. The first taste of him coming against her tongue was salty. She shifted and licked it away from the head of his cock before opening her throat and taking him in even deeper.

  His body shook beneath her and he let out a long, rough growl of pleasure.

  “Fuck, Nickie. I can’t hold on, babe. I need you,” he said, slipped his hands beneath her arms and urged her up.

  “Ride me, Nickie. Make me come,” he said, a low needy rumble threaded through his words, much like her fantasy Jase, but this was no dream.

  He was here and he was hers.

  She straddled him and reached down to guide him to her center. The dampness there wet his dick as she positioned him at her core and then drove down urgently, needing him inside as much as he wanted to be there.

  With a rough inhalation, she savored the fullness of him and ground down onto him, rocking from side to side as if to work him even deeper.

  He gripped her hips hard. So hard she knew there would be bruises there later, but she'd welcome those marks. Use them to remember this night until they faded from sight, but the memories of this time together would never fade.

  She rocked her hips, taking him in and out, her pace slow and steady at first, but growing ever wilder and more frantic as they both reached for their release. He met each of her thrusts with his own, rising up to deepen his penetration. Guiding her with those hard hands, his gaze locked on her face. All traces of boyishness gone from his features as he strove for his pleasure and hers.

  The night was soon filled with the sounds of their lovemaking. Their rough sighs and murmured cries of desire. The slap of her body against his as she rode him and his gaze dipped from her face to her breasts.

  She remembered his words about how he wanted to watch her tits move as she rode him and her pussy clenched around him with that thought.

  “Christ, that feels amazing, Nickie. You look amazing, riding me,” he said, the tones of his voice low and husky.

  He rose up then and sucked her nipples. He teased the tips with his mouth and teeth until it was no longer possible to hold back her release.

  It came like fireworks on a Fourth of July night, bright, loud, and surprising. Exploding across them with an intense burst of pleasure followed by tinier flares all across their bodies. By the time the last little embers died away, they were both still breathing heavily, as if they'd run for miles.

  Nickie stretched out across him, careful not to break the union with him. Wanting to stay joined as long as she could as she nestled against his chest. He was damp with sweat and so was she, but she knew just how to remedy that situation. But not until a little later.

  She wanted to savor this moment for as long as she could.

  He wrapped his arms around her waist and said, “I don't ever want to move from here.”

  From you, she knew he meant, but he had to go and sooner than either of them might want. Ignoring that troubling reality, she leaned her elbow on his chest and smiled. “If we stay here, you won't get to find out what else I had in mind for tonight,” she teased.

  * * *

  Jase offered her a crooked grin, liking this new assertive Nickie, and tapped the tip of her nose playfully. “I'll be up for whatever you want. Just not for a little while.”

  He was still half-hard inside her and enjoying the feel of her around him and above him. Memorizing every nuance of her to keep with him for when this night was over. That realization stole the last remnants of pleasure, but he forced that worry aside, wanting to focus on the now with all its goodness and of course, with Nickie.

  She must have sensed his thoughts since she said, “I'm glad we finally did this, Jase.”

  He smiled reassuringly and nodded. “I am, too, Nickie. It can only get better from here.”

  She smoothed her hand across his chest which was still sweaty from their lovemaking and the heat of their bodies pressed together. “It would be nice to cool off, don't you think?” she said and looked toward the ocean.

  Early June and the Atlantic would be more than cool. The water would be downright freezing, but as he met her gaze, and noted the brief hot look she gave him, he realized that she had more in mind than just a quick dip.

  “Is this something else you've wanted to do – ”

  “For a very long time. You don't know how many summers I sat there reading – ”

  “Pretending to read obviously,” he kidded and playfully chucked her under her chin.

  She chuckled and shook her head. “Yeah, I confess. I can’t deny it any more. I was paying more at
tention to you than to the book.”

  “I'm honored. I know how much you love to read.” He skimmed a finger across the blush of color that came to her cheeks and then trailed it down across her lips. He traced the edge of them with that one finger, over and over.

  “Don't get all full of yourself, Jase. I did finally read all those novels,” she teased back and kissed the tip of his finger.

  “And I'm glad you did,” he said. Because he knew their time alone was running short and he was totally game for fulfilling her fantasy, he asked, “So are you ready for that swim?”

  She grinned and hopped to her feet. “Last one in has to do what the other one says.”

  She bolted for the water and he scrambled to his feet and raced after her, not that he'd mind losing. So far he'd liked everything she'd asked of him.

  Yeah, I've definitely liked it, he thought as his gaze zeroed in on her perfectly-formed ass as she ran in front of him.

  The ocean was smooth as glass tonight and reflected back the bright moon which glittered like diamonds along the surface of the water. Only a few small waves lapped at the shore.

  Nickie rushed headlong into the first few feet of water. She turned and faced him, wrapped her arms around herself, and jumped up and down as she shouted, “Shit, Jase. This water is freezing.”

  Didn't he know it after years of being a lifeguard?

  But he also knew there was only one way to get past the cold.

  He hurtled toward her and tackled her into the surf, breaking her fall with his body and scooping her up against him as he brought them to the surface.

  “Shit, Jase. Shit, that was cruel,” she said as she pulled her hair back and shivered in his arms from the cold.

  “I warned you it would be cold, babe,” he joked and added, “But there is one way to chase away the chill.”

  She grinned and arched a dark brow. “Just one?”

  He laughed out loud, the sound alive in the early morning. He brought his body flush against hers and cupped the ass he'd been admiring just moments before. The tips of her breasts were tight hard points against his chest and he bent and sucked them into his mouth. They were salty from the sea, but that taste left quickly thanks to the sweetness of Nickie’s skin.