by Mia Asher
“It’s my choice, Blaire. Everything I did, I did for you. And now that you’re mine, I don’t give a fuck about anything else. We’ll make it on our own. Your bookstore and my camera.” His smiling eyes gaze into mine as he grins cockily at me. “So what do you say, Mrs. Klein?”
Kissing his nose, happiness bubbles deep inside me. It makes me want to get up and run naked in the street, throw my head back, and shout that he’s mine. It’s all a beautiful dream, and it might be foolish to believe it, to want it so much, but we’ll figure it out. There’s no other choice for us.
“Yes,” I say slowly. “Yes,” I laugh. “Yes,” I cry. “Yes. Always and forever, yes.”
He makes love to me then. Slowly. Tenderly. Passionately. He worships me with his mouth, with his hands while his body tortures me with never ending pleasure. Moans cease to be moans. Kisses cease to be kisses. Thrusts cease to be thrusts. We transcend to a point where our bodies are not only joined together, but it is our souls that mate with one another, creating life.
It’s magic.
And our new beginning.
With a towel wrapped around my torso, I walk out of the bathroom while applying lotion to my skin. I smile at the sight of Ronan. He’s propped against the headboard and dozing off. I’m not surprised he’s tired. The man’s sexual appetite is unquenchable. Not that I’m complaining. Far from it, actually.
When I reach the foot of the bed, he opens his eyes focusing on me. The way he’s staring at me like he wants to devour every inch of my body makes me feel a little reckless. Adventurous. I place the small bottle of lotion on the bed.
“How was your nap?” I ask, running my fingers through my wet hair.
“Lonely.”
“Poor baby,” I pout. “Would you like me to try and make you feel better?”
“You could try,” he teases.
Leisurely, I reach for the bath towel wrapped around my torso and remove it, exposing every inch and curve of me to his wondering eye. Ronan watches me closely. His caramel gaze, sparkling with lust, roves over my figure.
“Like what you see?” I tease.
“Not sure. Why don’t you come a little closer so I can take a better look?”
“Oh yeah?” I get on the bed and crawl toward him, taking my time as I close the space between us. I straddle his lap, rocking my pussy on his cock. “Well, what’s the verdict?”
“Let’s see …” Ronan grabs me by the hips, his long fingers gripping my ass firmly, and pulls me forward until I’m kneeling over his face. I reach for the headboard for support and look down as my breathing accelerates.
“Perfect,” he says, his voice as thick as smoke. Smiling sinfully, his eyes are on me when his fingers spread my folds apart and his thumb begins to rub me in small circles. “Fucking perfect.”
He plays my body like a damn maestro. I bite down hard on my lower lip the moment he drags his tongue along my soaked pussy. He breathes me in, his hot breath caressing my thighs as his hands move me against his eager mouth.
“And so damn sweet.”
My body trembles. I grind my hips against his tongue as he goes wild. Licking. Sucking. Killing me. I look behind us. He’s fisting his cock. Up and down. Up and down. Hypnotizing me. I bring a hand to my mouth, running my tongue over my palm and fingers to wet them. Twisting around, I push his hand away and wrap mine around his dick, pumping it in my fist, feeling him throb for me. It’s magic and wildness.
Ronan’s groans cut the silence in the room. I smirk as I let him go and move to kneel with my legs on either side of his body, hovering over him. I’m slick and so wet. I begin to rub myself on his hardness; back and forth, coating him with my juices as I glide my hands over my torso and tits, touching my nipples and pinching them until they are painfully hard.
The head of his cock spreads my lips and caresses my clit over and over again, lighting me like a match. When his hardness is glistening with my need, I move slightly back. “I want to taste you,” I say huskily, before leaning down and running my tongue over him, tasting myself on him. Then I suck the tip of the head while he shudders and mutters my name.
I lift my eyes and meet his as I hold him in my hand, feeling the veins pulsate in my palm before I take him all in. I want to be choked by him, to feel his thickness fill my mouth completely, and make me gag.
Moaning, Ronan places a hand on the back of my head and pushes me down to take him deeper as he begins to pump into my mouth, fucking it hard and fast. My eyes fill with tears as I try not to gag. I pull him out, my chest rising and falling at speed. I wipe my chin with the back of my hand while trying to catch my breath.
“Time to fuck,” I say. But Ronan surprises me when he flips me over, making me land on my stomach, and moves to straddle me.
“Yes, babe, time to fuck.” Gripping my ass in his hands, he palms my cheeks. Spanking me once, twice, before he spreads them open. He places his cock right at my entrance, sinking shallowly, teasing me, making me beg.
Oh God, yes. Shuddering, I close my eyes. “Put it in me.”
He dips his head low and rains kisses down my spine as his cock begins to fuck the crack of my ass. “Show me where you want me,” he breathes against my skin, before biting my shoulder so hard I cry out.
Reaching behind me, I take his wet hardness and guide him toward my entrance. “Now, Ronan. I’m going crazy,” I breathe heavily.
“Always and forever mine,” he utters, passion flowing from his voice and through his movements. And then he enters me in one deep, forceful plunge that makes the headboard slam against the wall. I gasp, not knowing whether to cry in pain or scream in ecstasy. It doesn’t matter. It’s much too beautiful to care. His cock slides in and out of me. It’s slow at first but the intensity of his thrusts can’t be denied. I feel them from the top of my head to the tip of my toes, and everywhere in between.
Then, out of nowhere, he stops moving. Desperation flows through me as I move my hips in circles, seeking my own pleasure with him still inside me, but it isn’t enough—I need him to take me. “Ronan … what are you doing to me? Please fuck me,” I beg.
He grabs me by the hair, pulling me back, and leans over my shoulder. He begins to move ever so slightly, his thrusts shallow.
Taunting …
Devastating …
I roll my hips, seeking that blissful pressure. “Say you belong to me,” he orders, his breathing labored.
“I do,” I moan deliriously, pushing back.
He tugs harder. “You do what?”
“God, I’m yours,” I whimper, shuddering. “I belong to you.”
Growling, he lets go of my hair as his hands come up from behind me and he wraps them around my neck, pulling me toward him as his cock enters me more deeply. And then he loses all control and fucks me to Nirvana and beyond. It’s brutal, violent even, but I love it. I’m coming so hard I see stars. Ronan finds his release soon after me as a ragged groan is torn from his chest. I feel him tremble above me as he lays his head on my back, shuddering.
After a few seconds pass, Ronan squeezes my ass while he runs his nose along the curve of my neck. “Mmm. You smell like you just got fucked, Mrs. Klein. And it pleases me very much.”
Too tired to move, I close my eyes and laugh. “You better let me sleep now. Your sex slave needs rest.”
“Not a chance,” he says thickly.
“I need an hour.”
“Twenty minutes.”
“Thirty.”
“Fifteen,” he murmurs seductively against my skin, his tongue trailing a magic path along my shoulders up to my neck and behind my ear.
“Aren’t you tired?” I ask, but it comes out more like a moan. His mouth and tongue are doing very wicked things to my neck. “Okay, fine.” I shudder. “You win. Ten minutes. Happy?”
“Blaire?” he asks, his voice a low rasp.
“Yes?”
“I love you.”
I smile. I love you, too.
Sometime in the early afternoon th
e next day, we stand outside the hotel about to go our separate ways. Both of us need to pack, say good-bye to family and friends, and we have to let our landlords know that we will be terminating our respective leases. My stomach is full of butterflies and my body is blissfully sore. It’s such a high to be together that nothing else matters. Tomorrow.
I wrap my arms around Ronan’s waist, holding him tight, and tilt my head back to take a better look at him. My gaze devours the mouth that knows every secret that my body has to offer, the jaw covered in scruff that has tickled me in more than one forbidden place. But it’s his eyes, the color of chocolate and honey swirling together, that hold me captive.
I smile with lips that are swollen from our kisses. “I can’t believe that we’re going to do it.”
“Are you afraid?”
“No. Not at all.”
“Eight p.m. tonight. And then forever,” he murmurs tenderly.
We agree to meet back here at that time and spend the night in the same hotel room. Tomorrow morning, we’ll take a cab to JFK Airport, and get on the first flight leaving. The thought makes my heart beat faster, excitement rushing through me. I want to burst with happiness.
“Kiss me,” I say.
Ronan buries his fingers in my hair, tugging it slightly, and lowers his face to mine. The warmth of his breath caresses my skin.
He smiles, biting my lower lip. “No.”
I mirror his smile. “Kiss me.”
“Nope.” Ronan laughs. He kisses my temple before leaning his forehead on mine, our noses touching. God, how can I feel so much love for this man? “Trust me, Blaire. I want to kiss you, too. But once I start, I won’t be able to stop. And we both have a very busy day ahead of us.”
I grin. “It’s not my fault you can’t control yourself, Mr. Klein.”
Ronan raises an eyebrow, the corner of his mouth tilting in a crooked smile. “And whose fault is that, Mrs. Klein?” He pauses, his gaze hungrily roving over my face. “Oh, fuck it. Come here, babe.”
His mouth is on mine, swallowing me, breathing life into me with his lips. I feel him so deep in my soul, I tremble with love.
“Happy?” he asks when the kiss comes to an end.
I nod, smiling smugly. “I do love getting my way, you know?”
“You’ll pay for that later. But before I forget,” he says, pulling something out of his back pocket. “I have something that belongs to you.”
I gasp, covering my mouth with a hand when I see what he’s holding. Ronan reaches for my wrist. “Here, let me put it on you.”
With a trembling hand, I touch the Hello Kitty watch he gave me all those months ago. “You kept it? After all this time?”
He runs his fingers through his hair, nodding.
“Why?” I ask dazedly.
“I couldn’t get rid of it. It meant too much,” he says softly.
I close the space between us and hug him once more. “Tomorrow can’t come soon enough.”
“I know, babe. I know. But in just a few hours we’ll be back together, and everything will be all right.”
I hold onto him tighter, drawing him closer into my arms, suddenly afraid to let him go. Life can’t be this perfect, can it?
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
I’m packing my suitcases, trying to figure out what to take with me, when my doorbell rings. I walk to the door, frowning as I go because I’m not expecting anyone. Elly is still in Vermont, so I have no idea who it could be. My heart freezes when I peek into the peephole and see who’s standing on the other side. Dread settles in the pit of my stomach as I unlock my door as fast as possible and open it.
“MAY I COME IN? WE NEED TO TALK,” Jackie says, her expression inscrutable.
I tuck in some hair behind my ear, nervous. And with good reason. Besides her expression right now, which isn’t the friendliest, I haven’t forgotten our last meeting. “Um … sure, come on in.”
Jackie walks past me and into my apartment. I close the door behind me and watch her inspect my place. Her head moves this way and the other as she takes in the expensive furniture and the décor. All evidence of the person I used to be. Things that a hostess salary could never pay for.
She turns to look at me, dislike embedded in her face. “So this is what Lawrence paid for?”
That’s a hit below the belt. One that I didn’t expect from her in my own home. And one that hurts because of how true it rings. My instincts shout at me to hit back and draw blood, but I bite my tongue. I take a calming breath, reminding myself that she’s Ronan’s sister. And that she has every right to be angry.
“If you came to insult me, I think it’s better if you leave now. I love your brother and I don’t want to say something I’ll regret.”
Jackie ignores my request, blatantly daring me with her eyes. Crossing her arms, she reclines her hip against the back of my couch. “Oh, cry me a fucking river, Blaire. Listen, I will make this visit short and sweet because it’s obvious that there’s no lost love between us.”
I hold on to the back of an accent chair for support, gripping it so hard my fingers grow numb. I try my best to appear calm while there’s a storm brewing inside me. “Go ahead, then,” I say, surprised at how blasé I manage to sound.
“When I first met you, I warned you that if you were just passing the time with Ronan, you should end it. No one would’ve been hurt. Not really, anyway. You obviously didn’t listen to me. And why should you when it’s usually all about Blaire, isn’t it? So you kept dating my brother and he kept falling harder for you,” she pauses, roving over my figure with so much scorn. “Then, one day my brother came over to visit Ollie, and I couldn’t recognize the broken man who stood in front of me. My brother was gone, replaced by someone I didn’t know.”
She shakes her head, staring at the floor. “I couldn’t figure out what happened to him, but when he stopped talking about you and pretty much forbade everyone in the family to even mention your name, I had a good idea of what must’ve gone down.” She raises her gaze to meet mine. “What happened? Did you realize that he couldn’t afford your going rate and Lawrence could?”
It all happens in a blur. One moment I’m by the chair, and in the next I’m standing in front of her, my hand stinging while she holds her cheek. “I’m sorry,” I say, taking a step back and almost tripping on the rug. “I’m so sorry.”
“Save it,” she sneers. “I’m going to cut to the chase. I came here to ask you to please leave my brother alone. He came to say good-bye to Ollie earlier because apparently he’s going away on a trip. When I told him that he couldn’t leave just now, not when the exhibit is next week, you know what he said? That he didn’t care about it anymore. He had that look in his eye. The one he had over the summer.”
“What would you like me to do, Jackie?” I whisper dully.
“I don’t have to spell it out for you, Blaire. You’re smart. Think. My brother is on the brink of making it big. Huge. Are you really willing to let him sacrifice it all for you? Let him go, Blaire. I don’t care if you have to break his heart again. Eventually, he’ll get over the pain and love again.”
“No.” I shake my head frantically, feeling dizzy. “Anything but that, please. I love him … I love him. He has a plan …”
“What’s his plan, Blaire? Throw it all away for love and go back to dead-end jobs? Back to doing things beneath his talent?”
She takes a step closer to me. “This is his moment, Blaire. If he lets this go, there’s a big possibility it will never happen again. Can you live with that on your conscience? If you have one, that is.”
I hang my head low and stare at the floor through eyes swimming with tears.
“And can you promise me you won’t leave him again when things get tough? You already broke his heart once, Blaire, and it almost destroyed him. Can you promise me that you won’t do it again?”
“I won’t leave him again. I promise you. And I have changed—”
“If you have,
then why are we having this discussion? Are you trying to convince me or yourself that you are worth more than Ronan’s future?”
I walk to the window and stare at the skyline with unseen eyes. Where has all the light gone? With my back facing Jackie, I hug myself as though I could ward off myself from the truth in her words, from the pain that they inflict, but it’s of no use. She’s right. I’m being selfish by agreeing to his plan. “Even if I lie to him—” My voice falters, but I pull myself together. “He won’t believe me. He won’t let me go. Not this time.”
“Make him believe you, Blaire. I’m sure you’ll think of something.”
“Why is happiness always so fleeting?”
“I’m sorry. Did you say something?”
“Nothing important,” I say numbly, tightening my arms around me, suddenly very cold. Hold it together, Blaire. Just for a few minutes longer. “I think you should go.”
She’s silent for a moment. “Can I count on your word that you’ll leave my brother alone?”
I can’t answer that. The words get stuck in my throat, in my heart, in the core of my soul. My chest implodes with pain.
“Listen, Blaire,” I hear her say, and for once there are no traces of dislike in her voice. Only resignation and defeat. “This has been his dream since he was a little boy. Don’t let him give it all up for a few months away playing house with you.” She places an envelope on my coffee table. “This is an invitation to his exhibition at The Jackson next week. Take a look at it and maybe then you’ll know what is the right thing to do.”
I look back and watch as the door closes behind Jackie before taking the invitation in my hands.
Suddenly an idea comes over me that fills me with a brief but dazzling hope. Maybe it doesn’t have to be this way. Maybe …
Without stopping to think, I pick up my phone and give Ronan a call. He answers right away.
“What’s up, babe? Finished packing?”
“Not yet. Ronan … I was thinking, maybe we shouldn’t go just yet. What’s another week? We could stay for your exhibit and then—”
He sighs. “Babe, I thought we already went over this.”
