by Whitley Cox
Mark lifted his hips to help her, and within moments, she had fished him out of his jeans and boxer briefs. He was already so hard. A damp bead of precum pearled on the tip, and blindly, just like last night, she used her thumb to swirl it around the crown. He groaned against her chest, lifting his head and kissing her throat and along her neck. His heated breath beat against her skin, making her shiver.
“Tori,” he murmured. “Condom?”
Shit. Right.
They hadn’t used one last night. She figured that one out pretty quick when she got home.
Her hand paused mid-stroke, and she opened her eyes to glance down at him. He must have sensed her change in behavior, because he stopped too, lifting his head up from her jaw.
“I meant to talk to you about that,” he said. A seriousness passed behind his wide-open eyes. “We didn’t use one last night.”
She nodded. “I know.”
“I am so sorry. I’ve never been so careless before. I’m clean, I swear. Do you need me to go and get you a morning-after pill or something? What can I do?”
His worry and sincerity touched her.
She slid her hand over the scruff of his beard, cupping his cheek. “I have an IUD, and I’m clean. I got checked right after Ken kicked me out. He was cheating, after all.”
The tension he’d been harboring in his shoulders visibly slipped away, and his smile warmed her insides.
Mark’s eyelids fell back to half-mast, and he prowled toward her. “We’re good then?”
“We’re good.” She licked her lips, her mouth needing a reminder of how well he kissed. It’d been minutes but felt like hours.
“Excellent.” He pressed her into her mattress, his body now covering hers. She spread her legs, and he settled between them, his cock now poised perfectly at her core.
Levering himself up onto his arms, Mark gazed down at her. Tori’s heart beat wildly in her chest as this gorgeous, brilliant, incredible man stared down at her with so much passion in his eyes.
She knew it was no more than lust. An undeniable attraction between two lonely, sexually charged people. But couldn’t they give in to the attraction? Didn’t she deserve happiness? Didn’t she deserve to feel good?
Mark made her feel good. He made her feel so good. He made her feel beautiful, sensual and worthy of affection.
He dipped his head, and his lips brushed across hers. She tasted her own arousal and flicked her tongue out for more. He responded in kind by wedging his tongue inside and taking her in a deep, all-consuming kiss. A kiss like the ones they’d shared last night before the rest of their quickie in the kitchen turned into a beautiful blur of panting and thrusting on his countertop. A kiss like he’d given her just moments ago when she’d opened her door to find him on her doorstep. He smelled faintly of beer, but his eyes were so focused that she knew he wasn’t drunk. He’d been at his single dads’ poker night, and something had caused him to leave his friends and show up at her door.
She had caused him to leave.
His desire for her.
Their attraction.
Their … chemistry.
He wanted her.
Tori melted beneath him as his mouth moved over hers in a way that was both exciting and familiar. As if he had found his way home after a very long time away. How was that possible? For their bodies, their kiss to be so natural, so perfect together so soon? His tongue continued to explore inside her mouth. Every so often, he’d nip her bottom lip or suck her tongue, driving her wild and causing her hips to buck up into him. She needed him inside her pronto.
His golden skin was like silk beneath her fingers. Intense masculine perfection made up of hewn planes and angles, rippling muscles that flexed and bunched as he hovered above her. He was what dreams—fantasies—were made of.
His lips were hard and soft at the same time. Hot, hungry and demanding as his mouth plundered hers once more. Taking everything she offered him and more. With a sure knowingness, as if they had been doing this forever.
“I’ve wanted you for so long,” he murmured against her lips, biting the bottom one and tugging just enough to make her gasp and dig her fingers into the rock-hard muscle of his back.
“You haven’t known me that long.”
“I feel like I have.”
Words were more like pants between strangled breaths.
“Smart, sexy, beautiful, patient. You’re the whole fucking package, Tori. You came into my life … Gabe’s life at just the right time. When we needed you most.”
Her hands paused on his back, and she opened her eyes.
“Like a breath of sexy fresh air, you brought my family back to life.”
Okay, was he drunk?
Here she thought they were scratching an itch that had only been exacerbated and not quelled after last night. Sure, she had feelings for him, but … what were they doing?
He was her boss.
Her fucking hot as hell, virile, manly, brilliant boss who was currently teasing her clit and cleft with the head of his cock.
“Mark … ” Unease began to bubble inside her.
“Shhh … ” He lifted up and stared directly into her eyes. Blood ran hot through her veins; fire flickered in her core. “Don’t overthink it, just feel.” Then he lowered his head and plundered her mouth with his. Open, wet heat that she could drown in. She lifted her hips, welcoming him inside her. He took her cue and slid home. Filling her. Finally.
They traded moans as his tongue thrust inside her mouth, mimicking the pace of his cock. She clawed at his back, pulling him deeper, closer.
A hand came back up and cupped her breast. His fingers strummed over her nipple like an instrument.
She was lost to the attention, to the pleasure. Every draw of his cock had her body longing for the fullness again; every plunge saw her clenching her muscles around him, never wanting to let him go. He rotated his hips, letting his pubic bone graze her clit. He bit her lip, tugged her nipple, drove deep, and she let go.
A sweet, beautiful orgasm, born of the pulsing, the rubbing, the friction, bloomed like a lone rose inside of her. Wave after glorious wave crashed from the tips of her toes to the top of her head and back again, awakening nerves and building synapses.
She could tell he was hanging on by a thin thread, one she wanted to help him snap. Squeezing her muscles around him as hard as she could, Tori arched her back, pressing her breast into his palm. Her mouth moved over to his ear, and she ran her tongue around the shell.
“Come for me,” she whispered.
Mark grunted. “Fuck.” He tensed, stilled, grunted again, and then she felt him pulsing inside her. Losing himself.
The second orgasm came out of nowhere, crashing into her just as Mark began to come down from his. She whimpered as her toes curled and the waves rushed through her once more, ripping a response from her center outward.
His forehead fell to hers.
She opened her eyes to find him staring at her.
The corners of his eyes crinkled, and he smiled. “You’re incredible.”
She knew it wasn’t just heat from the orgasms worming its way up her cheeks. She let her lashes flutter closed again for a moment. Mark Herron was in her home—well, her temporary home—but he was also in her bed. He was inside her.
Was this for real?
She needed to pinch herself.
But not yet. The fantasy was just too splendid to abandon so soon.
His lips against hers roused her, causing her to open her eyes again.
“You okay?” he asked, shifting just slightly so she wasn’t forced to bear so much of his weight.
“I’m better than okay,” she said with a sigh.
He kissed her again. “Good. Me too.”
She didn’t mean to, but she squirmed beneath him, and he took that as her being uncomfortable and slid to the side of her, pulling out.
She felt empty. The fantasy began to fade. She glanced over at his face, relaxed and content with a small, tired sm
ile.
What were they doing?
“Uh-oh,” he said, tucking his hands behind his head. “What’s wrong?”
Sitting up, bringing the sheet up over her breasts, she turned to face him. “What are we doing, Mark?”
So much for orgasm endorphins. They’d fizzled the moment he slipped out of her.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
She pointed back and forth between them. “This. Us. What are we doing?”
“Well, right now we’re taking a break until I can go again.”
Her eyes went wide. Again!
“You know what I mean.”
Pushing himself up to sitting, he took her hand. “I don’t know. All I know is that I can’t get you out of my head. I’ve wanted you since the moment we met, and over the past few weeks, I’ve fallen pretty hard.”
“But you’re my boss … ”
His thumbs worked delightful magic on the palm of her hand. Who knew a hand massage could be so erotic?
“I know. But I can’t help how I feel.” He quirked an eyebrow at her. “Am I safe to say you feel the same?”
She bit her lip, glancing up at him from beneath her lashes. “I do.”
His grin was boyish and adorable.
“I just know that I haven’t felt this way about anybody in a long time, and things with Gabe are going amazing. I don’t want to lose you … ” He cupped her cheek. “As a therapist for Gabe … or from my bed.”
She swallowed. “How do we do this then?”
He shrugged. “Any way we want.”
“Are you still my boss?”
Was it going to be weird to work for him only to then turn around and sleep with him, then collect a paycheck at the end of the month? Would that mean he was paying for sex? Was this ethical? Her sleeping with her boss?
“You’re thinking awfully hard. What’s got you making that face?”
“Is it ethical what we’re doing? Am I a prostitute?”
His eyes went wide, and his thumbs stilled on her hand. But then he tossed his head back and laughed. “No. Unless you omitted something on your resume.” He eyed her warily but playfully, like she was suddenly going to reveal that if he wanted a blow job it was going to cost him extra.
“No. What I mean is, if you’re still my boss, still paying me, does that mean you’re paying me for sex?”
His lips thinned out into a small smile of understanding. “Ah. No.”
“Is it ethical what we’re doing?”
Mark exhaled through his nose. “Perhaps not, but we’re both consenting adults, and your job is not contingent on us sleeping together.”
She lifted one eyebrow. “It’s just a perk for both of us?”
His grin grew wider. “You could call it that. You will be my employee from eight to six Monday through Friday, and I will pay you. After six and on the weekends, you are welcome to ravish me for free.”
Tori’s lip twitched. “Ravish you for free?”
His grin grew wide and cocky, and his eyebrows bobbed on his forehead. “Yeah. Ravish me. Have your way with me.” He reached for her. She went willingly, straddling his body. He was already beginning to grow hard again between them.
“My way?” she asked, her hand landing in the middle of his chest and forcing him back to the bed.
He nodded.
She bit her lip. “My way is you, me, and a lot more orgasms.”
He gripped her hips and angled her center over the head of his cock. “I love the way you think.” Then he brought her down, hitting her deep, claiming her as his.
9
They were halfway into March, but the weather had taken a dip and snow littered the ground. Turned out the groundhog had been dead wrong and spring was not coming early. Tori was thoroughly enjoying her new practicum position with Janice Sparks, her job with Gabe was going exceptionally well, and things with Mark were, well … orgasmically wonderful. She finally felt like life was on the upswing and going her way again. Now she just had to get through her divorce with Ken and life would be grand.
“Close your eyes,” she said Friday night after Mark had put Gabe to bed and the two of them sat cuddled on the couch watching a movie. She’d jumped up to use the washroom and thought now was as good a time as any to give Mark his gift.
He shut his eyes, that irresistible grin playing on his lips. “Are we getting kinky?” he asked, his eyebrows waggling up and down.
She rolled her eyes. “Not yet.”
“Oooh … should we use the blindfold again tonight? You seemed to like that on Wednesday.”
Heat flooded her cheeks, and her nipples pearled. She had liked that. She’d liked it a lot. He’d tickled her body with a feather until she was writhing on the bed and one lick away from an orgasm.
She knelt beside him on the couch and placed the box in his lap. “I did like it. But open this first, and then we can have sexy talk.” She bounced up and down on her knees in excitement.
Mark opened his eyes and looked down at the box, then up at her. “What’s this for?”
She shrugged, her lips twisting in a half-smile. “Just a thank you. Open it.”
He lifted the lid on the cardboard box to reveal a collage photo frame filled with images of Gabe. Over the last several weeks, Tori had brought her camera to work with her every day and snapped pictures of Gabe. She’d taken some pretty awesome ones, and after she put them through her editing program, tweaked the lighting and corrected any imperfections, she had them printed and put them into a frame.
Mark’s eyes went wide as he picked the eight-photo frame out of the box and held it in front of him with the care one might normally reserve for priceless crystal or a newborn baby.
“Tori … ” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. His eyes grew glassy. “I don’t know what to say.”
“It’s nothing much. I’ve been playing with the settings on my new camera, and Gabe is such a wonderful model. He loves to pose and then look back on the photos I’ve taken. I’ve let him take some pictures, too. He’s pretty good.” She reached into the box and pulled out two small photo albums. “This one here is more photos of Gabe I’ve taken, in case you have other frames or want to give some to your parents. And this album is full of the photos that Gabe has taken. He really does have a good eye, particularly for still life.”
He studied the images, his hand trailing lightly over the black wooden frame “You’ve managed to capture all the absolute best parts of him.” His gaze drifted up to hers, and what she saw in his eyes scared the bejesus out of her. Was that love? He leaned forward and kissed her. “Thank you. These are incredible.”
“I just wanted to say thank you for everything you’ve done and given me over the last couple of months. My life is so good now. Before you, before Gabe, before this job I was seriously contemplating moving back to Bellevue and in with my parents. Ken took everything from me.”
His eyes focused back on her, and he cupped her cheek. “We’ll get him. Liam could probably represent you, and he’s good. He’ll go for Ken’s jugular. Or he can refer you to someone in his practice.”
She leaned into his touch and shut her eyes. “I just want to be able to land on my own two feet. I don’t care about taking him for everything he’s worth. I just want my independence back.”
“You’ll get it. We’ll get it back for you. You’re already doing better than when I met you, right? You’re saving? Back in school. You’re doing great.”
“Yeah, but my boyfriend is paying for my schooling and he’s also paying me to … ” She averted her eyes.
His knuckle came under her chin. “Look at me.”
She couldn’t not look at him. When he wanted to, the man oozed alpha dominance from every pore.
“He’s also paying you to what?” His lips twisted into a half-smile, and his eyebrows lifted on his forehead. He was toying with her, but there was a seriousness in his eyes as well.
“Come on, Mark. You have to admit this arrangement is a littl
e weird.”
“Weird how?”
She exhaled and pulled away from his touch. Even something as simple as his knuckle beneath her chin made every cell in her body pulse and scream for more.
“You. Me.” She pointed back and forth between them. “This. I mean, I stick around on Mondays and Wednesdays for a couple of hours, we have sex, and then I go home. On Fridays, like today, I stay over but leave before Gabe gets up. It’s really nice sleeping next to you and spending more time together, but I feel kind of dirty hiding things. Then you pop over on Saturday after poker night. We stay together until the wee hours of the morning, until you slip out before I wake up, making sure you’re home before Gabe gets up. It’s like I’m your secret mistress. Like we’re slinking around and unable to be open about whatever we are. That it’s all about the sex.”
His eyebrows went up and his eyes wide.
She started to backpedal. “Not that the sex isn’t amazing, because it totally is … ” She blew her bangs off her face and shook her head. “I don’t know what I’m saying.”
Her phone buzzed. She picked it up off the side table, glanced at it and immediately deleted the text message. Ken could not take a hint.
Mark put the box on the coffee table and took both her hands in his, pulling her up to her feet. He reached for a small remote on the end table and hit a couple of buttons. Suddenly, the television turned off and music, slow and seductive, filled the room. He drew her over to the big picture window that looked out on to the city. Against a backdrop of a million lights, the Space Needle stood bright and high off to the left.
“Dance with me.” It wasn’t a question. He pulled her into his arms, and they began to sway.
She melted into his body, letting him lead her through the steps.
“You are not my mistress,” he whispered, his lips falling next to her ear. He pulled away and looked down into her eyes. “You are my girlfriend. It’s not a dirty little secret, and we’re not slinking around. We’re figuring things out. Seeing if this works. We don’t need to take out a billboard on the Pacific Highway declaring our relationship status to make it official. It’s official; it’s just private.”
