“Seriously?” she asks, her expression full of disbelief.
“Yeah, of course.” I say. “Why not? Your work is great.”
The walk to her room doesn’t take very long, but it’s long enough that I manage to second-guess myself about ten times on the question of whether I should just show her exactly what I want and see if she’ll let me take it. But the part of me that wants her hungry wins out. I can give up a little immediate pleasure for something much, much better in the future.
At her door, I lean down and push it open for her, and she surprises me by pushing up on her tip toes and pressing her delicate lips to mine. I wrap my arms around her immediately and deepen the kiss. I’m hard as rock in an instant, and I pull her against me to let her feel exactly how much I want her. She whimpers and rolls her hips, pressing herself harder against my cock, and I nearly lose my resolve.
“Hey,” I say, slightly breathless and pulling back. The sight of her would make angels weep. Her little mouth is open, her lips glistening, her eyes wide and needy. “Hey, you should get some rest.”
She seems to come to her senses, because despite how obviously turned on she is, she nods and pulls back from me, biting her lip.
“Yeah. Uh…”
“Shhh,” I say, pressing my finger against her lips. “If I thought you were leaving the day after tomorrow, I’d be in that room like a shot. But I have to hope that’s not going to happen. So we can both wait.”
Her brows lift with surprise, but a moment later she gives a little nod, confirming that she’s feeling the same way I am, and I know I have to leave right then if I want to stick to my own hastily-made plans. I kiss her forehead and linger a moment, inhaling her scent, then turn to leave. I don’t look back, because I can’t, but I do pull my phone from my pocket just before I get to my room, and smile when I see a message.
Unknown Number
Goodnight.
Kate
My entire body is humming when he leaves me standing at the door, and it takes a moment before I’m certain that my knees won’t give way if I try to move. I’ve never been so completely turned on by a man in my life, and yet as much as I wanted to drag him into my room, I couldn’t deny that he was right. There is more between us than plain lust. Much more. And part of me wants to draw out this tension between us to see how far it can stretch before it snaps. It feels almost dangerous.
Less than a minute after I send the text message to give him my number, I get a reply.
Ethan
Goodnight, baby.
I left a little something for you in the nightstand. Think of me.
I look over to the bed—a king under a canopy of draped netting—and my eyes glance along the silk sheets, mountain of tastefully-placed pillows, and toward the nightstand. When I open it, I whimper out loud and my cheeks flush. There’s a wand vibrator and a dildo in there, and they’re nestled on top of a silky babydoll nightgown. When I try it on, it fits perfectly and shimmers along my upper thighs.
Think of me.
And I do, even as I whimper quietly into my pillow and try to hold back my own moans. When I’m done, and I’m laying on the most comfortable bed I’ve ever felt, breathless, I reach for my phone and reply again.
I did. I want more.
Goodnight.
I cringe as I hit send, but the deed is done by then. It’s so forward I can feel my own blush rising up my neck. Whatever this man has done to me, whatever voodoo spell he has me under, I like it. I’m not complaining. Now I just need to find a way to get to sleep in this strange bed, when all I really want to do is scour the house for his room and beg him to take me.
Chapter Six
Kate
I wake early to the sound of birdsong, but thanks to the comfortable bed, I feel fully rested. When I reach for my phone and see the vibrator on the nightstand, I feel a flutter of butterflies in my stomach again at the thought of what I did last night. What he knows I did last night. What he planned for me to do last night. Maybe I should let him make all my plans.
It’s only just after seven, so I decide to go downstairs and find some tea for myself instead of disturbing Ethan. The kitchen is huge and modern, but copper accents and rustic wood elements give it a homey feel. Barefoot and humming, I drop my bag, start up the induction stove, and place the water kettle on top of the burner. I open a cupboard full of mugs—a lucky guess—and then start searching through cupboards and drawers for tea.
I find herbs, utensils, baking supplies, and then when I open a drawer right at the end of the counter, I see a picture of Ethan with his arm around a woman who looks to be pretty close to his age. My heart begins to pound when I pick the picture up, and something falls off it and clatters into the drawer. When I look down, I see a plain, gold ring—obviously a man’s wedding band—glinting in the darkness.
Man, I feel stupid. Of course all this was too good to be true. A stunningly handsome billionaire wanting me. I laugh bitterly out loud, the idea is so ridiculous in hindsight. He’s gorgeous, rich, good with his hands… of course he’s married. How could I be so stupid?
With my heart hammering behind my sternum like a captive bird, I turn and run, grabbing my bag as I pass and hopping into my white canvas sneakers as I go through the front door. I don’t know where the hell I’m going, or what the hell I’m going to do about my car, or even where the hell I am, really. For now I’m just walking, fast, and angrily batting away tears of shame.
Ethan
I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to sleep with a raging boner, but it’s not easy. I spent half the night tossing and turning, and by the time my alarm clock ticked over to 6am I’d had enough of trying to force myself to sleep, so I came down to the pool to swim a few laps and try to work out some of this tingling energy that’s been rattling my bones since I met Kate. I’m more certain now than ever that she’s the one.
I’m just poolside drying off when I hear the kettle whistling in the kitchen. At first I get a little thrill of excitement at the thought that Kate is awake, but when the whistle goes on and on, I get a little worried. I jog my way up the steps from the pool, through the corridor to the kitchen, and look around.
I pull the screaming, steaming kettle over to an inactive ring and look around. The mug sitting on the counter is cold and empty. There’s no sign of Kate. And one of the drawers is open. I walk over and push it shut with a frown. Then I open it again. I look at the picture, the ring, and I hear the little beep that tells me something has just passed the halfway sensor on my driveway.
“Shit,” I say, as it dawns on me what Kate must be thinking. I sprint from the kitchen, my heart in my mouth, and run barefoot out to the garage, grabbing my keys along the way. The Aston is sitting there with the top still down, and I jump in in my wet swim shorts and the engine roars into life.
“Kate!” I shout when I see her still on the drive. She’s mad, and because I know she’s got the wrong end of the stick, it’s adorable. Her little arms are swinging at her sides, her feet are practically stomping holes in my driveway. But it’s not so amusing when I notice her batting at her eyes, and when I pull up beside her and see the tears on her cheeks, I want to break the world apart to stop them falling.
“Oh, hey,” she says without looking at me. Her voice is shaking and it half breaks my heart. “I decided to go into town to see about my car. Thanks for everyth—”
“I’m not married,” I blurt, and she stops in her tracks. I press the brake and put the Aston into park so I can jump out.
I stand in front of her and take her hands in mine, squeezing them. “It’s a picture of my sister that I haven’t gotten around to framing, and my dad’s wedding ring. He passed when I was sixteen and I use it as a lucky charm of sorts now.” Her eyes widen, and then she brings a hand to her mouth.
“Oh my god, I was so quick to—”
“I love you,” I interrupt. “Knew it from the second I saw you. So there, we’re both quick to do things, hmm?”
S
he looks dumbstruck for a moment, then she throws herself at my half-naked, dripping body and squeezes. “I love you, too. I’m sorry, I should have—”
“Look, much as I love groveling apologies,” I say, using a crooked finger to lift her chin so she can see that I’m joking, “I feel like it’s time we went back to the house and made this thing official.”
She doesn’t speak. She chews her lower lip and then silently releases me and gets into the passenger side of the car.
It might be the fastest the Aston has actually gone since I got it. It tears up the gravel, and approximately seventeen seconds later we arrive at the front of the house.
Chapter Seven
Kate
He scoops me out of the car as though I’m woven from feathers, and manages to carry me up the steps to the house at the same time as kissing me on the mouth and nibbling my lips.
“Tell me you love me again,” he says, as he sets me down.
He reaches for the bottom of my shirt and pulls it up over my head. When he undoes the front fastener of my bra and my breasts fall free, he sucks in an audible gasp at the same time I do. He devours my tits with his eyes first, and then with his mouth, licking, suckling and nibbling.
“I love you,” I tell him.
He guides me to the chaise and pulls my denim skirt up to my hips.
“I love you, too,” he says, sliding my panties down my curvy legs until they fall to the floor.
I’d usually be so self-conscious in this situation, but not today. Not with him. I feel safe, and so, so turned on, and all I want is to feel him, against me, on me, inside me.
“Sit down, baby,” he says, and he stands back and pulls down his swim shorts.
He is magnificent. His cock is long and rock-hard, perfectly in proportion with his ripped body. I didn’t realise quite how ripped when he had his clothes on.
I spend so long just staring at him in all his naked glory, watching him bring his hand to fist around his cock and pump a few times, that I don’t notice the hungry gaze he has fixed on me, and the way it roams all over me, from top to toe. Until I do, and I squirm a little uncomfortably.
“No you don’t,” he says, and he places his hand on my belly and gets to his knees. I can feel his breath hot against my sex, his slight morning stubble against my inner thighs. “You’re not allowed to be self-conscious with me, you hear? You’re mine, now.”
When I don’t answer, he reaches up and pinches one of my nipples, making me squirm. “You hear, baby?”
“Yes,” I breathe, and I relax back a little more.
“Say you’ll stay,” he says, and before I can answer, he buries his face in me, his tongue and lips making a blissful assault on my most sensitive little bud, while his fingers find their way inside me. I am so instantly on edge it shocks me.
“Yes!” I shout, louder than I thought. It echoes back at me from the corners of the entrance hall and I roll my hips in time with Ethan’s fingers.
“Good girl. Now come for me, baby,” he says, and just as I’m thinking it’s the most silly thing to demand, I fall into a million little pieces and drown in pleasure.
He’s on top of me, watching me come down from the high and grinning.
“You’re beautiful,” he tells me, and I manage a smile, even as I twitch and whimper underneath him. “We’ll have to go to the bedroom for condoms.”
I look up at him and hesitate just for a moment. Of course it makes sense to use a condom when you’re with someone you only just met less than twenty-four hours ago, but what if you know they’re the one? If I’m going to be with him for the rest of my life, grow old with him, fill his mansion with babies, it just feels wrong.
“Would you mind if we didn’t use protection?” I ask, and I hold my breath for his answer.
Ethan
The heavens open, the angels sing and the world does a full spin on its axis in that one second. I don’t answer her verbally, because I can’t. I devour her mouth instead, probing her with my tongue as the tip of my cock presses against her still-wet core. I push against the sensitive little bud I just sucked and licked into sensitivity, and she jumps underneath me.
“Mine,” I growl, sliding my tip to her entrance.
“Yours,” she says, and she pitches up at the end, as I slide into her already slick canal.
I’m in heaven. Every sinew of my body is alive with pleasure. If I thought it was right before, I now cannot believe I ever considered anything else. I’ve been waiting for her since the first specks of stardust burst into being, and I will be searching for her when the fizzle into nothing.
I pick up my pace, pushing up on my hands to watch her tits bounce and her face contrast with pleasure. I reach down to stroke her clit with my thumb, and when I feel her clench around my cock as her second orgasm takes over, I lose my composure and explode all at once. I fill her with my seed, driving into her as deep as I can get, holding as squirt after squirt leaves my body and becomes a part of hers.
“Stay forever,” I whisper breathlessly, panting beside her ear. “I need you.”
“Keep me,” she says, still twitching and sensitive. “I’m yours.”
Epilogue
3 months later
Kate
“Happy Birthday!”
The surprise on Ethan’s face is totally worth the stress of the last month that I’ve spent calling old friends, listening to their shock when I introduce myself as his fiancé, explaining the whole “we just knew” thing, and inviting them to his surprise birthday party.
I took him out for lunch today and I’m pretty sure he thought that was it for birthday celebrations and surprises. Oh, if he only knew.
“Hey this table is awesome, dude,” says Lucas, when he strolls over a little while later, running a finger along the top of a table that Ethan crafted and I painted. We’re selling these bespoke pieces now, and my art is actually getting out into the world.
“Kate’s a talented artist,” Ethan says, kissing my temple. I grin and excuse myself to go and get Ethan’s real gift, and I can barely contain my excitement.
“Let’s see the ring!” squeals my friend, Daisy, who’s come down all the way from home to visit me. She takes my hand and eyes the ring that Ethan crafted himself, drawing a hand to her chest dramatically. “Stunning,” she says. “Just like you. Now I just saw some floppy-haired adonis go that way so I’ll catch up with you later, doll.” She gives me a wink, and I laugh and shake my head, letting her go after her quarry.
Ethan
I can’t believe Kate managed to pull this off. I’ve never had a surprise party in my life, and I honestly didn’t expect this one. The fact that she’s contacted pretty much everyone I know, the amount of effort she’s put into getting the house decorated, is unbelievable. Except, it’s completely believable, because that’s Kate. She throws herself into things and works her butt off until she achieves what she’s after.
Here she is now, walking toward me with a smile and a box in her hand. I frown at her inquisitively and look at the box when she holds it out to me. It looks like a watch box, and it’s got gold wrapping paper and ribbons around it.
“For me?” I ask, taking the box from her and grabbing her hand to pull her to me.
“Happy birthday!” she says, and I notice from the quaver in her voice that she actually sounds nervous. “I hope you like it.”
“How could I not like it?” I ask, and I let her go briefly to open the gift. I’m right about the box. When I pull the ribbons and wrapping away, it’s exactly the same shape and size as a watch box, but much lighter than you’d expect. It would be just like my playful fiancé to get me some sort of silly plastic watch. She knows she can’t get me anything I can’t already afford, so she goes one better and gets me things that make me laugh, or that mean something to me.
“Hmmm, what could it be?” I ask in jest, eyeing her. But she’s not playing. She’s chewing her lip and watching me intently.
I open the box and look d
own at the little white plastic stick, and frown.
“Oh my god!” I hear my sister squeal delightedly beside me, clasping a hand over her mouth.
The room goes silent and it takes me a moment longer to register that it’s a pregnancy test. A positive pregnancy test. My heart leaps into my throat and forms a big lump there, and I turn to look into Kate’s teary eyes.
“Really?” I ask.
She nods.
“Oh my God,” I breathe in shock. I pass off the box without registering who takes it, and grab Kate into my arms, picking her up and twirling her around. “You are amazing,” I grin, putting her down. I lean in and kiss her—forehead, nose, lips—and then lean in to whisper in her ear.
“Best. Gift. Ever. I love you so much.”
“I love you, too,” she says, and I know that wherever she is will always be home.
About the Author
Leigh Loveday is an author of short, light-hearted instalove novelettes that are written to bring an hour of escape into your day. If you love older alpha men falling head over heels for younger, curvy women, these books are for you.
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Ethan Page 3
