Betting on the Zebra Chapter 16

For Disclaimer and other details please see Chapter 1.

CHAPTER 16

As soon as Lenny felt Kevin’s lips cover hers she was lost. Anything else that she had been about to say just flew right out of her head. And she had been about to say something she was sure of that. It had been fun. The drive all the way back here had definitely been something that she was enjoying and she had suddenly realised why she had often gone out of her way to give him some kind of verbal grief. It was because it was just so much goddamned fun to take a pop at him. And she had never known him to be slow in giving back as good as he got. This time though he had ended up being the one surprising her. He had certainly caught her unawares.

Then she realised that he was still kissing her and she was letting him. Hell she had no intention of stopping him. Not when he was doing such a good job of it. She was about to lift her arms to wrap them around him when it hit her that she was still wearing her seatbelt. Even if she had wanted to get away from him she wouldn’t have been able to. At that thought she couldn’t stop herself from laughing a little.

Feeling her laughter against his lips Kevin pulled back but only slightly. He had a feeling that if he pulled back any further he would break whatever spell had woven itself around them. Now wasn’t he just getting to be the romantic dreamer in his old age? But that was the only reason that he could come up with for her not shoving him away the moment that he had reached out and grabbed her. He stared at her and arched his brow. “Is there something funny in me kissing you that I am, for whatever reason, failing to see?” He asked and wasn’t surprised when his voice came out at a decidedly low level.

“Um no, not really.” She said instantly and then smiled at him. She thought that she had better before he went off and took offence at what she had just done. “I just wanted to take off my seat belt.”

He looked at her like she was crazy. “Why?” He asked not understand where she was coming from. “I thought that we were doing just fine the way that we were.”

“Yeah.” She agreed with him readily. “But what if I wanted to take a more active role in what’s going on here?” She asked but didn’t think that he was seeing her point.

He shrugged. “I wouldn’t stop you.”

“Perhaps not.” She said with a small nod. “But this...” She indicated the seat belt as she unclipped it efficiently. “Would have. Now ... where were we?” She asked as moving as close to him as she could she found her arms winding around his neck.

He grinned openly. “So you aren’t getting ready to scream and run away then?” He asked and then laughed when she just shook her head no at him. “Great.” He added before he swooped down and covered her lips with his once more. Almost right away he flicked at her lips with his tongue and she opened for him. He groaned as this freedom let him thrust his tongue into her mouth. He slid it along hers and felt her respond to him immediately. They kissed thoroughly until he broke away to give them both the space to breathe. “God you taste sweet.” He ground out as he rubbed his thumb over her lips repeatedly. “But then I knew that you would.”

“Did you now.” She said and smiled slightly. She flicked her tongue out over her lips without even thinking about it and was a little shocked herself when it slipped over his thumb too. Then her smile grew wider at the sound of him gasping and his eyes widening. “Just for your information Mr Nash I am never sweet. I’m a bitch.”

He jerked his eyes up from where he was watching her tongue sweep slowly over his thumb to look her in the eye. “Don’t.” He said, the words coming out flatly. “Don’t call yourself that.”

“I’m sure that plenty of others have called me a hell of a lot worse.” She said with a matter of fact shrug.

Moving his hand to cup her cheek he made sure to keep on looking into her eyes. “Being a strong woman and going after what you want does not make you a bitch. You work damn hard woman and you should never belittle yourself for that fact.” He said not even realising how strongly his words were falling from his mouth.

“I never would have had you pegged with having such an enlightened attitude Mr Nash.” She said with a smile but she wasn’t really thinking about what she had just said to him. She was waiting for him to kiss her again. That was all that she wanted.

“It’s not that enlightened.” He pointed out. “This is the twenty-first century after all...” But he couldn’t say another thing as she very suddenly pounced and kissed him again.

-o0o-

Slamming his car door so hard that the windows fairly rattled Paul swore as he moved towards the door of the hotel. He was going to kill Kevin when he got his hands on him. What the guy had done to him tonight was completely underhanded. Then he started laughing. Hell now that he thought about it he would probably have done the same thing if he were in the guy’s shoes. Nash had seen that he was getting pretty close to the finish line so he had decided to swoop in and just attempt to steal the chick out from under his nose. Yeah it was definitely underhanded. Dammit, he wished that he had thought of it first.

Still he couldn’t help but wonder what might have happened if he had been the one to drive Lenny back to the hotel tonight. He was pretty sure that he had been doing well with the whole chipping away at her resolve. In fact if he hadn’t been misjudging the situation last night had been going pretty well. He had definitely surprised her. Yeah he hadn’t come out with what he wanted at the end of it all but he had known that this one was going to be difficult. What was the point when there was no challenge? That was the fun of the whole thing.

He grinned to himself as he realised that knowing Kevin he wouldn’t let Lenny go back to her room right away. He would probably do anything that he could to prolong the time that the two of them spent together. In fact the only thing that he could think of, the only way that he could imagine Kevin coming up with for them to stay together a little while longer would be the bar. He had probably tried to entice her with a drink. He hefted his bag a little higher and then headed through the wide doors at the entrance to the hotel.

Moving quickly across the lobby he went straight to the bar. But he had only taken a couple of steps in there when he realised that they weren’t there. The place wasn’t that big and he could look around it easily. There were no hidden nooks or crannies for them to be huddled in. He frowned to himself. Yeah, he supposed that Lenny could easily have rebuffed his buddy but then he knew Nash. He knew that when it came to something like this bet that the guy would do anything that he could to make sure that he didn’t lose. And it didn’t have anything to do with the forfeit that the loser would have to pay.

Not able to stop himself Paul snorted out a laugh. Well that was just dumb. Of course a little of it had to do with the consequences that would have to be paid by whoever failed to get Lenny into bed but he also knew that most of it would all come down to the fact that both of them simply hated to lose. Hell they hated to lose with a vengeance. And if it were up to him he wouldn’t be the one that was wearing women’s underwear. “Where the fuck are they?” He muttered under his breath and then turned abruptly on his heel to stride back out into the lobby. He knew that Kevin was going to be laying it on thick but even he was pretty certain that his friend wouldn’t have gotten her into the bedroom just yet.

And then he saw the guy waiting for the elevator. Good, maybe this guy could tell him something. He had no idea why he thought that but he headed over to him anyway. “Hey Irvine.” He said in a conversational tone and nodded.

“Hey Paul.” Chris said in a tone that was quite frankly tinged with surprise. He couldn’t remember the last time that this guy had actively sought him out to talk to him about anything. Even if they had a match together it seemed to take Paul all of his time to talk to him. Then he noticed that there was something off about the man that was standing next to him. In fact if he wasn’t wrong then the guy looked more than a little antsy. He smirked slightly not able to help himself. “Is there something that I can help you with Paul?” He asked finally.

Surprised Paul looked at Chris but tried to keep his face showing his usual mask of no emotions. At least when he happened to be dealing with Irvine. “No, no of course not. Whatever gave you that idea? I’m just waiting for the elevator ... shit.” He ground out as he let out a sigh and placed a hand on his hip taking a pissed off stance. “Have you seen Kevin?” He asked the question that he had wanted to ask from the moment that he had seen the guy from the other side of the lobby.

“No, not since he left the arena tonight.” Chris said honestly and then turned back to waiting for the elevator. Is that what had the guy all wound up so tight? Just because he couldn’t find his partner in crime? Jesus, talk about an over reaction. Then he frowned. “But you should know that ... he left before you did.”

“Gotta find out Lenny’s room number.” Paul said suddenly as he spun away from the elevator just as the doors were starting to open. He had no idea what he was going to do but he just knew that he had to do something. He couldn’t let Kevin be the one to get there first!

Shaking his head at this blatantly erratic behaviour Chris stepped onto the elevator. And that was when it hit him. “This has something to do with that damn bet.” He muttered just as the doors slid closed behind him. He wasn’t sure whether he should be doing something right about now or not. Everything in part of him that was good and decent told him that he should. That this was something that he shouldn’t be letting happen because a friend was going to end up being the one getting hurt. But then this other voice would chime in. That was the one that told him that he should stay well out of things because this was something that all guys did at one time or another. Plus Lenny had to learn to fend for herself in this business. She had to learn to defeat this kind sexist rhetoric and behaviour. “Sometimes I just flat out hate my life.” He whispered as he pressed his head against the cool chrome inside the elevator.

-o0o-

Although she knew in her heart that she should stop whatever was going on here Lenny was finding that she really didn’t want to. Instead her body was moving closer and closer to him. Hell if she wasn’t careful she would find herself climbing right on top of him. At that thought she groaned out loud. Now if that didn’t just sound like the best thing ever. Then all she could do was let out a squeak as she felt his strong hands slide down to her waist and in a matter of seconds he was lifting her. She could actually feel the top of her head touching the roof of the car. The next thing that she knew he was placing her gently onto his lap and arranging her so her legs slipped down on either side of his ... till she was straddling him. “God.” She hissed out but at the same time she ground herself into him. And that was when she realised why he was being quite so gentle.

“Yeah, that was kind of my sentiments too.” Kevin whispered back to her as he felt her body grind into his throbbing erection.