I was that woman.
And I was more than okay with it.
But he was so handsome. And now it turned out that when he wasn’t saying douchey things, he was actually really kind and thoughtful. The reason behind the occasional meanness eluded me, but it was happening less and less frequently, almost like the more he knew me, the nicer he got.
Then again, he was the guy that only kept women four days. Could I handle that? Was he even offering that?
Arthur came by and poured me a glass of something I liked a lot better. It was sort of smokey. “Is this a Pinot?”
“Yes. You like it better?”
I sipped it again. “Worlds.”
“I always want to give you what you want, Layla.”
Well…that remained to be seen. I didn’t even know if I wanted what I wanted. Fuck. Life was confusing.
I ended up back in his bed, watching television again. I wasn’t sure that was going to happen again, but when we’d gotten home, he’d told me to get ready for bed and meet him in there. It was much earlier than the night before, and we were both pretty engrossed with a movie that followed a family dealing with the death of the patriarch and the secrets he took with him.
Zeke reached over and ran his hand through my hair. It was gentle, and I swallowed away the nervous energy the contact elicited. I had so little experience with seducing men. My previous partners had all sort of just happened without me having to give it very much thought. How would that glamorous woman named Isobel, who didn’t have to take selfies to have value to the world, handle this?
I really couldn’t fathom it. I was young and never more aware of it than right then. Sometimes, I felt so old I could be a hundred years old, but when it came to seducing this man, I was completely without any experience to draw on.
Okay. I had to do something, or I had to give this up.
I put my head on his shoulder. If he kicked me off, I’d have my answer about his not wanting me. Bracing myself, I waited for something to happen. He shifted slightly and then leaned his own head on top of mine.
I let out a breath I’d held. Okay. So far so good. Maybe I…
“Layla.” His voice was low. “You get that I don’t do serious, right?”
I had to play this cool. Much cooler than I actually was. “You’ve only told me half a dozen times. I haven’t lost my memory that I know of.”
He laughed, a low sound. “Fair enough. I’m going to kiss you unless you tell me not to. And I don’t want any nonsense about my doing it for publicity.”
My heart was officially racing. “That wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility.”
He ignored me. “I want to have sex with you, if that’s what you want, but I’ll continue to have to jerk off in the shower thinking about you if you tell me that you can’t handle going back to normal tomorrow like nothing happened. Because that’s all I can offer. That’s who I am. Sex is sex. It’s a physical relief for both of us.”
He might think he could read me really well, but I was doing a great job of not acting as excited as I was actually feeling. I had to be cool. I had to be that woman Isobel. Above it all. Certainly, I could do it. I’d pretended things before. I wouldn’t blow this now.
“Don’t I get four days? Isn’t that your running timeline for these things?”
He kissed the top of my head. “I think we can safely say that I’m going to want four days with you, but tomorrow morning, we get up like nothing happened and we get back to regular life. Is that something you can handle?”
I lifted my head off of him and got up on my knees. “Do you think you might be overestimating how overwhelmed I will be by being with you?”
He took my cheeks in his hands. “Layla, I’m dead serious. I can’t have you living here in a pout, and our current situation means that you’re living here. We have a deal to finish. And I can’t think of anything worse than you getting…needy.”
“Nothing worse? Like the death of children from cancer? Or how many people starve to death every year in developed countries who should be able to feed all of their population? Or…”
He narrowed his gaze. “Layla…”
I kissed him, gently on the lips and then the chin, and then both of his cheeks. “I promise not to give a shit tomorrow morning that we had sex tonight. I have never cared about,” I chose my word on purpose, “fucking one way or another. Half the time, I don’t even come, and when I do, it’s much more my own doing than his. So, if you could shut up and progress forward, that would be great. Otherwise, I can go in the other room and see if I packed my vibrator.”
Although I’d said that more forcefully than I might usually, I hadn’t lied about any of it. All of that was the absolute truth.
He flipped me over onto my back so fast it stole my breath. Over me, his eyes swore dominance. I didn’t know how I knew that, maybe it was instinctual. Maybe it was something I just knew, because I’d suddenly become the prey to his predator. A natural understanding in case I wanted to flee.
I absolutely didn’t.
“I can make you a promise.” He held up a finger between us. “You are going to come tonight, and it isn’t going to be with your vibrator or with your own fingers. It will be because I gave it to you. More than once.”
I couldn’t do anything but nod. “Sounds…good.”
“Just good.” He kissed my chin. “You want this?”
“I do.” I almost told him how long I’d been dreaming of it. I almost told him that I’d basically had my first sexual awakening thanks to him. But that would have broken the spell of the game I was playing with myself. If I said that aloud, then he’d know that I was totally full of shit, that I didn’t have a sophisticated bone in my body, and that I was absolutely not set up to be completely nonchalant tomorrow when it came down to it.
Somehow, I would…although already, I knew it was going to be a problem.
“Good.”
Zeke Scott kissed me, bringing our lips together. I wrapped my arms around his neck, drawing him closer. This was what I dreamed of. His hot, hard body pressing down on top of mine. The full weight of him capturing me onto the bed. I closed my eyes and let myself feel this.
He kissed differently than I ever had before. Usually, I struggled to keep up, but right then, it was as though he couldn’t move slow enough to satisfy himself. He kissed me so gently, I could barely feel it before he stroked the bottom of my lip with his tongue. I shivered, pleasure touching me like the smallest of caresses, different than I’d ever felt it before. I caught my breath.
Zeke deepened the kiss, and I smiled against him. I’d never have believed this was going to really happen. But here we were. And whatever tomorrow brought, I was ready for right now.
Chapter Sixteen
He paused what he was doing to stare down at me. There he was, dark haired, chiseled features, and so fucking beautiful, he’d been taking my breath away since I was a teenager. And here he was, wanting me. Desire had never manifested like this before. It was as though with every breath he took, I could feel his need for me radiating from his very cells. Was that dramatic and somewhat ridiculous? Absolutely. A figment of my overactive imagination? Maybe. Did it seem entirely real in this moment? Yes, it did.
I was going to go with that.
What was more was when he looked at me, it really did feel like he saw me. Almost from the second I had slapped him on the street, he had seemed to be able to view into my soul and see what was there, even though I pretended other things. How could I not want him?
Whatever it took, tomorrow or any other time, I would do for this and future moments. I wanted Zeke.
I wanted to kiss him, and so I did. I lifted my mouth to press mine to his this time. He paused just long enough to smirk at me before he kissed me back. That man and his smirk. How could I want to smack him for it and also kiss the shit out of it at the same time? I’d done both so far, and I preferred this one, big time.
He tasted like happiness. What was with
my mind in these moments putting feelings into everything where they didn’t belong? He tasted like toothpaste. That was the truth, and yet the other was as well. Zeke tasted like fucking sunshine.
I wanted to know how the rest of him tasted. I pulled my mouth off him to kiss his neck, craving the sweat off his skin the way I’d been dreaming of him. He laughed, a low sound. “We have all night, princess. There is no need to rush this.”
“Yes, there is.” How to explain that I’d been waiting for this for way too long? That I’d held out hope he would always be single so there was even the possibility of this? That part of me had known I’d have to stop fantasizing about him if there was ever an actual Mrs. Scott, even if dreams didn’t work that way. “I think you promised me orgasms.”
If he never knew how stupid I was in sentimentality, that would be for the best.
“I did. That is absolutely true.”
The TV was on and a light next to the bed, plenty of illumination for me to see that his cheeks were flushed. He wasn’t just blasé about this. I might be going through a million thoughts a minute, but he was equally as turned on. Holding himself back just meant he exerted more control than me. The good news, for me anyway, was that control could be broken.
He kissed my neck, then traveled down to my top, which left a lot for him to see since it was a tank top. “Do you always wear really sexy things to sleep in?”
I shook my head. “No, but I’m supposed to be on my honeymoon, remember?”
He made a sound that could have been a growl. “Oh, fuck that. Kit doesn’t get to look at you like this ever again. Not that fucker.”
That was quite a lot of swearing for Zeke. “No?”
“No.” He didn’t so much as pull my tank top from my body as rip it straight over my head and onto the floor. “He didn’t deserve to look at you with his eyes or touch you with his hands. That stupid little asshole.”
I took his hand and placed it on my breast because that was where I wanted it. Funny, I had a hard time saying what I wanted aloud most of the time, but apparently with Zeke, I had no such qualms about demanding it physically.
He squeezed my breast, and I closed my eyes. “I love it when you tell me how to please you. That’s such a turn on. A woman who knows what she wants. But guess what, Layla?” I had to open my eyes to regard him, because he apparently legitimately wanted an answer.
“What?”
“I actually know what you need.”
Delivering that line, he dropped his head to suck on my nipple. I gasped, yes, the bite of pain was just what I needed. The brush of his neatly kept whiskers burned against me, and it was even hotter. I was going to be marked tomorrow, and damn if I didn’t want that, bad.
I was wet. I barely moved my legs, and I knew it. What was more was that I wasn’t wearing panties. These were my pajamas, and I didn’t sleep in them. I was going to soak right through the thin fabric onto his bed. That was okay.
He sucked hard, and I squirmed beneath him. Yes, more. This wasn’t enough. Just the very beginning of what I needed. He let go of that nipple, leaving a soreness behind it only to take the other one in his mouth. The trouble was this left me with very little to do except run my hands in his hair.
I tugged at his shirt. If I was going to be bare to him, he needed to be to me as well. I managed to get him out of his shirt, which meant he had to stop sucking on my nipple. That was okay. I wanted more access to his body. His strong, gorgeous, chiseled body.
Panting, from what, I wasn’t sure, because we hadn’t really gotten to that part yet, and despite the fact that I was a terrible runner and my body was sore, I stared at him. And he stared right back at me.
The two of us. He got up on his knees, so I did the same.
“You’re really so beautiful, Layla. Pale. Your red hair like… I’m not good with words. Just stunning. Tell me, are you a redhead everywhere?”
Heat hit my cheeks, and even though I couldn’t see it, I was sure I blushed furiously. “I’m waxed. You’ll never know.”
“Hmm.” He kissed my neck, pressing my breasts against his chest. “But if you weren’t?”
I shook my head. “What do you think?”
“I think you are.” He tugged at my pajama pants. “Don’t wax everywhere. Leave me a strip to see next time.”
Next time? That was going to take a long time to get to. More than four days for sure. I said nothing, however, because I really didn’t want to have the there-isn’t-going-to-be-a-future-for-us conversation again. I wanted to pretend that was possible, and right then, I decided a little self-delusion would be good for the soul.
He was hard through his pajama pants, and I was suddenly glad that tonight he’d worn a shirt because I had the gift of taking it off him. I pressed myself closer, rocking against his erection, and he closed his eyes, letting out a long moan.
“Usually, I don’t like it when it a woman takes control during sex. But with you? I actually don’t mind it. Take what you want from me as long as you understand that I’m going to give you what you need when I think that you need it.”
I shook my head. “Don’t talk about other women in bed with me. Not even that they exist, or I’ll start talking to you about other men.”
Zeke flared his nostrils. “Fair enough.”
He grabbed me by the nape and pulled me to him, kissing me hard. It was a possessive kiss, although I’d never tell him that. I gave him the same right back. Fuck what he did with other women. For however long this lasted, I didn’t want to hear a thing about them ever.
Pleasure pushed sense from my mind. With hands all over each other, we stripped out of the remainder of our clothing. He laid me back down, coming on top of me to look down as his gaze traveled over my body like he wanted to take me in.
“So pretty.” He ran his finger from my belly button down, stopping right over my waxed pussy. “And bare just like you said it would be.”
I reached between us, which was awkward, but I managed, and took his cock in my hand. He was long and hard. I rubbed him from his balls to his tip. He was wet and warm. The biggest I’d ever touched, and I wanted to put my mouth on him. Yet, I hesitated.
There was something almost more intimate about oral sex. The second I put my mouth on him, he would know the things I was hiding. So I didn’t do it. Instead, I kissed him with all the passion I could muster.
He grew even harder under my touch, until he pushed my hand away. “No more. I want to be inside of you.”
Zeke pressed a finger inside of me.
“You are so wet.” He took it out and sucked on his own finger. My mouth fell open. What was he doing? “And I love the way you taste. You made me so hard, I’m going to come in your hand like a teenager if I’m not careful next time. I’m going to put my mouth on you and eat you until you give me your juices right onto my tongue.”
He pressed his finger back in.
“I know. I promised you orgasms, and it is my ultimate pleasure to give you one right now.”
I didn’t know if I could go off like that. It wasn’t easy for me to get to completion. But the second his finger found my clit it was as though my body turned on. A buzz started in my head and traveled down my spine until I was shaking with want. Still, I wasn’t there. Zeke leaned down to kiss me, whispering in my ear.
“You are so fucking beautiful, Layla. You can let yourself go with me. I’ve got you.”
I knew he did. He kept proving that over and over. And I’d wanted him forever. It was the sound of his voice in my ear that did me in. I exploded around his fingers, so hard that the feeling of his finger on me was suddenly too much. As pleasure took me over, I was too sensitive. It was…
“Too much.” I panted, grabbing on to my eyes then my nose, like my skin was too tight on my body.
He stopped. “It’s okay, Layla. I’m going to get to know your clit so well that the next time we do this, she’ll be ready for me. No one has been taking care of you, and you have to get used to it.”
Zeke kissed me then. Long, luxurious joinings as though he wasn’t hard and aching for completion. But I needed it. This moment where it was like he just let me breathe through what had just happened. Pleasure so intense, it had actually altered how I felt inside. How could that be? Why hadn’t I known that was a possibility?
He lifted his head. “We can stop right here. Go to bed. There’s no need to take this any further tonight if you don’t want to.”
That wasn’t what I wanted. The last thing, in fact. “Come inside of me.”
He nodded. “Love to.”
He scooted us closer before he reached over me to open a drawer. I blinked, confused, until I realized what he was doing. Condoms. Yes, I was glad he’d thought on it. I’d gotten on the pill in preparation for my wedding because I’d thought at some point, I’d be asked to get pregnant and I could stop the pill to do that. But I’d never had sex without a condom. What was the matter with me not thinking about that?
Zeke handed me the foil. “Put it on me.”
I nodded, even though that wasn’t really a question. I tore open the foil. “Roll onto your back?”
He smirked at me. “Sure. If that’s how you want it.”
I actually didn’t. I just wasn’t sure I could get the condom on him any other way. I was awkward at best. Right then, I didn’t care. I slipped it on him, loving the way his muscles twitched as I touched him, and his cock lengthened even further in the process.
When I finished, I gave him my best sultry smile, which I had to hope didn’t look deranged. “I’d rather you were on top.”
Zeke pounced on me, fast. “Whatever you want, princess. That’s what I want, too.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “I’m not a princess.”
“Yes, you are.” He kissed me again. “It’s amazing that you don’t know it.”
Zeke was gentle as he pushed inside of me. Inching in until I accommodated all of him. “You’re so tight. Fit me like a glove.”
Redhead On The Run (RedHeads Book 1) Page 18
