Chapter Fourteen

Alexi excused herself as soon as they returned to the cabin on the pretext she was going to put on another layer of clothes to ward off the chill. But in truth, she was trying to put as much distance between them as possible until she could figure out a way to get Blayne to stop pursuing her. She lingered in her room, looking out over the lake, enjoying the splendid view of the canopy of stars above. It was a wonderfully romantic setting, she had to admit. Exactly the kind of place she’d bring someone if she were in the mood for a long weekend of sexual escapades.

Which made it all the more difficult to ignore Blayne’s efforts to arouse her interest. Whatever she might think she should do, her body was refusing to be deterred. It demanded satisfaction. Later. She headed back downstairs to find to her horror that Blayne had made good use of her absence.

The cabin great room already had a cozy ambience all on its own, with its large comfy couch and matching chocolate-brown easy chairs, framed nature photographs on the walls, and earth-toned rugs and furnishings. A fully stocked kitchenette was tucked into one corner, separated from the rest by a waist-high counter lined with barstools.

Blayne had managed to up the romance quotient significantly in the ten or fifteen minutes she’d been left alone. She had lowered the lights, lit a few candles, and started a cheery fire in the red brick fireplace. A Norah Jones love ballad was playing on her new CD player. And she was looking sexy as hell, stretched out on the couch, smiling at Alexi as though she could eat her alive.

Alexi fought back the urge to lower herself onto that waiting, willing body, claim that mouth and calm her own relentless craving for release. No one should have to resist such temptation.

“Wish we had something for a nightcap.” Blayne ran her fingertips lightly and provocatively along the back of the couch, as though it was Alexi’s body.

Oh, yes. Adding more alcohol to this scenario would most certainly help matters.

Alexi took a deep breath and tried to keep her voice neutral. “Since you are evidently not sleepy…” She opened the games trunk, which served as a makeshift end table for the couch, and withdrew the familiar board with 24 points that she had spotted there earlier. “How about a game?”

“I have some fun and games in mind, for sure,” Blayne responded. “But backgammon isn’t one of them.”

“We call it Tavli.” Alexi reached into the trunk for the checkers and dice that went with the game. “It is the oldest recorded game in history, you know. And a favorite pastime where I come from. No…actually, more a national obsession.”

It wasn’t what Blayne had in mind for the evening, but she thought it might be an avenue to get to know Alexi better. It was one of the first tiny pieces of information about her homeland or history that she had offered without prompting. It was a start.

“How young were you when you learned to play?” Blayne asked as Alexi set up the board on the coffee table.

“Six.”

“Who taught you?”

“My father.”

“So you’re probably even better at this than you are at everything else, then,” Blayne observed.

Alexi shrugged noncommittally. “I know the game well.” She pulled an easy chair over to face the couch, so the board sat between them.

“Well, I never played very much, and not for many years. I’m not sure I even remember how to move, so I’m afraid I won’t be a very worthy opponent for you.”

“That is not important. And I bet a lot of it will come back to you.” Alexi hunched over the board. “You are the light stones, and you move in this direction…toward your house, here, according to the roll of the dice. Once you get all fifteen within the bar…” she gestured as she spoke. “You bear them off, or remove them. I move in the opposite direction.” She went on to explain other fundamentals of the game, along with a bit of strategy.

“I think I get it.” Blayne found herself remembering more than she thought she would about the game. And it was well that she did, for she only heard about half of what Alexi was saying. It was impossible to be completely immersed in backgammon when such a beautiful woman was sitting four feet away, lit by the warm golden light from the fireplace.

They rolled the dice and Blayne won the right to open the first game. She started her stones around the board. “So tell me, Alexi…what other games do you play? Hmm? You know, if any other pleasurable pursuits spring to mind while we are alone here together, you’ll find I am a willing and eager student.”

“Tavli is likely the only pleasurable pursuit I will engage in during my time in your company, Blayne, as I have repeatedly told you.” Alexi gripped the dice loosely in her right palm, enjoying the familiar play of the two smooth cubes against each other, before she sent them flying. “I will not allow anything to distract me from my responsibilities.”

“You know, I just bet that you are one of those people who can easily do two things at the same time,” Blayne said. “I’m not really concerned that my safety will be compromised if you come over to this side of the table and make out with me in between games.”

Alexi acted as if she hadn’t heard, but the image that sprang to mind got her heart thumping hard in her chest. “I believe it is your turn.”

“We haven’t established the stakes yet.” Blayne uncrossed her legs, leaned back and draped her arms over the back of the couch. Her inviting body language and the gleam of naughty mischief in her eyes were impossibly irresistible.

“Stakes?”

“Yes. Gotta make it interesting. Now, I know you are going to whip my ass, so your reward should be relatively minor if you win. But I’m such an underdog that I should get a pretty big payoff if I manage to beat you.”

Alexi knew the answer would be provocative, but she was unable to keep from asking the question. “What do you propose?”

“Well, let’s see. If you win, you get…hmm…I know. Perhaps a nice massage. How does that sound?”

Alexi’s whole body clenched at the thought of Blayne’s hands, everywhere, exploring and pleasuring her body. Kneading. Rubbing. Stroking. Jesus. What I would not give for a lot of that right now. But that was certainly not an option. Not with Blayne’s hands anyway. Her own hand, a little later, right where she needed it, now that was another story.

“That sounds like a not entirely appropriate reward.” Alexi got up to put another log on the fire, though her skin already felt overheated. She remained before the hearth, stirring the embers with a long metal poker, grateful for the opportunity to regain some equilibrium. “Doing the dishes or making the coffee is perhaps more reasonable. ”

“Oh, don’t you think it’s fun to be unreasonable once in blue moon?”

“Blayne. Truly, you must stop this.” Before you drive me so crazy I have to excuse myself for a few minutes.

“Well, if you win, we can go with the dishes and coffee thing if you like. But I will leave open your ability to renegotiate. Now, if I win…that would be a much bigger accomplishment, of course, so it should have a commensurate reward.” Blayne paused until Alexi turned back around and looked at her. “A kiss. One kiss.”

Alexi’s first impulse was to refuse. She didn’t want to encourage Blayne. But she knew it was a safe bet. “I will accept your condition, in the interest of getting back to the game. But I should tell you that I am confident there will be no kissing.” She took her seat. “Roll the dice.”

She would take no chances. Her plan at the outset of the evening had been to let Blayne come close the first couple of games, and then win the third or fourth to boost her confidence. But with a kiss at stake, Alexi would make sure she always had a reasonable margin of victory.

The first game took ten minutes. The second, just about as long.

Blayne’s frustration grew with each move. Though she wasn’t a bad player, it was obvious right away that Alexi was a master at the game and was allowing her an occasional opening only to keep things from ending much too quickly. She never hesitates, As soon as it’s her turn. Boom, next move, right there. She’s probably already got the whole thing played out in her mind.

She knew she was well outmatched. Alexi would never have agreed so readily if she thought there was any possibility of losing.

But she had to have that kiss. By any means necessary. Her whole body was humming for it. And she knew her only chance stood in doing all she could to distract Alexi, while she prayed for a few favorable rolls of the dice.

“That fire sure has warmed things up in here,” she said as Alexi set up the board for the third game. “I know you don’t mind if I get more comfortable.” She waited until Alexi glanced up at her. When she did, Blayne reached down and unbuttoned the third and fourth buttons of her navy blue blouse, exposing her cleavage and the lacy top of the crème-colored bra beneath.

She was gratified to notice a slight increase in the rise and fall of Alexi’s chest, and even more so, that Alexi’s attention was no longer on the game board—it was instead fixed rather soundly on her breasts.

Blayne still lost that game, but it was much closer. Encouraged, she undid the rest of her buttons. “Damn hot in here, wouldn’t ya say?” she asked, in her most seductive tone. “You know, if you want to take something off, I certainly won’t object.”

Alexi froze, hand poised in mid-air. Blayne saw the slight trembling in that hand, and watched Alexi’s gaze traverse the length of her body, and she felt somewhat more optimistic about her chances in game four.

Luck was with her. She rolled two high doubles to start off the game with a bang, and her efforts to distract Alexi seemed to be working like a charm—her moves were no longer quite so quick and automatic. And here and there, a few small errors crept into her play. It was close, very close, right up to the end. Alexi seemed to realize then that she stood a chance of losing, and began paying more attention to the board and less to Blayne’s bra.

It came down to the luck of the final throws, and fate was against Alexi. She threw ones and twos when she needed all fives and sixes, and Blayne threw three sets of doubles.

Blayne stood, a cocky grin on her face, and rubbed her hands together in eager anticipation. “I’ll collect now, if you please.”

Alexi was stunned. Bewildered. I lost. How could I have lost? Damn. Her mind and body seized upon the kiss she’d like to plant on Blayne, the kiss she could never let happen. She felt that kiss down to her toes, throughout her body, as though it really was happening.

She needed to get upstairs. And fast. Her mouth wanted Blayne’s, and the rest of her wanted to peel off that bra she’d been staring at. Her control was slipping. But first, it was payback time. Blayne had made her suffer all evening. And now it was time to return the favor. Oh, she would pay up. She was a woman of her word, after all.

Alexi stood on shaky legs, and moved slowly and deliberately around the table between them as Blayne turned to face her, shirt flying open even further, exposing the rest of those magnificent breasts, and allowing an unimpeded view of the pale smooth skin of her stomach. She was torn between the urge to run…. and to take, hungrily, what was being offered to her. But she knew she could do neither.

Blayne had been so intent on winning the game that she failed to see the full effect of her scheming until Alexi came around the table and paused. Their bodies were less than a foot apart and Alexi expression wiped the grin right off her face.

Alexi was looking right through her, lids half-closed with arousal, pupils dark and enormous, nearly obscuring those brilliant blue irises. She looked as though they’d already been half the night in bed together, and she was getting ready to take her again.

Blayne’s breath caught in her throat. Every nerve ending was poised, anxious, for that first touch. She watched Alexi moisten her lips provocatively with her tongue. Kiss me already, her body screamed.

Alexi brought her right hand up, slowly, between their bodies, skimming her fingers up Blayne’s stomach, over the small divide of bra between her breasts, into the crevice of her cleavage, toward her neck. Her eyes never left Blayne’s as she did; she was thoroughly enjoying the effect she was having. Not very nice, what I am doing, but she deserves it.

When her fingers reached Blayne’s face, her touch became lighter still. Her thumb traced lightly over Blayne’s lips, then away, teasing her, returning to push slightly into her mouth before retreating yet again.

She watched Blayne’s breathing become labored and her eyes begin to glaze over. Perfect. Now I think you will understand what you have been putting me through for the last couple of days.

Blayne tried through sheer force of will to move Alexi’s lips closer to hers. She didn’t say anything, lest she interrupt the deliciously torturous anticipation of the moment. The feel of Alexi’s hand on her mouth. Suggestively invasive. She thought she surely would burst if Alexi didn’t kiss her soundly, and soon.

As though she had heard, Alexi’s light touch turned suddenly solid. Both of her hands came up to cup the sides of Blayne’s face and she stepped forward until their bodies were touching, and the shock of the full-on contact set off a torrent of butterflies in the pit of Blayne’s stomach.

She closed her eyes as Alexi pulled their faces together, and wished for time to stand still.

But an instant was only an instant any way it was measured. And she might have sworn it had not happened at all, it was so brief and so light, but her body was so ready that the world slipped away except for that warm and glancing caress upon her mouth and she knew she had not imagined it.

She blinked, and it was over. Alexi had stepped away. After so much anticipation, after such arousing tactile foreplay, the absence of what she wanted, needed, expected, hit her like a sudden cold shower.

“What?” she stuttered. “You…you can’t…that’s not fair.”

“You do not seem too concerned about playing fair.” Alexi calmly closed the grill on the fireplace and blew out the candles. “I am going to turn in and I advise you to do the same. I will see you in the morning.”

“I…you…damn it!”

Alexi headed upstairs, managing to contain herself only until her bedroom door was closed and locked behind her. She came in seconds.