Playing Pretend Box Set

by Natasha L. Black

  Giovanni held me there as he pulled one sleeve of my t-shirt down, exposing my breast.

  He stared at me as if it was the only thing that mattered in the world, like it was the first time he'd ever seen one in real life. With adoring fingers, he cupped it, massaged it. Then he did the same to the other sleeve, pulling it down until both of my breasts were exposed, my arms slightly pinned, and he took me in with adoring eyes. He only caressed them, even though his lips were parted with desire.

  Me? I couldn't take my eyes off his cock, coated in the moonlight.

  As he pulled my t-shirt down completely, he grabbed my panties as well. Then, standing there, he looked at me again.

  "You’re more beautiful than I remember," he said.

  I was lost for words. Damn it, this guy wasn't just a sex god, he had a way with words, too.

  I didn't have to say any more, though—he pressed me back against the wall, lifting my thigh around his hip, and swiftly slid into me.

  My entire body swooned. Sensation pulsed through me as a cry ratcheted out of my throat.

  Giovanni kissed the next moan away.

  "Yes," he murmured, his cock twitching inside of me. "Yes."

  Then, picking me up, he moved me so my legs could wrap around his waist and he could pump deeper into me. Deeper than I ever thought possible.

  After each thrust, he held himself there. Long, slow, deep, and almost painstakingly torturous. How could it feel this good? How was it that I never knew what sex was? What it could be?

  Each plunge into me was like a whole separate sexual act of itself. The textbook definition of satisfaction. Just one thrust of him into me would have satisfied me, would have made my night. I came somewhere around his fourth, forcefully steady entrance.

  But Giovanni wasn't finished with me. Not by a long shot.

  As his shaft slid in and out of me, my pussy tightening around him desperately. Our bodies explored each other's, hands feeling chests, lips scattering kisses onto ears and chins and throats. Groans were exchanged back and forth. Necks were sucked and bitten.

  Giovanni switched my position, spinning me around so my face was buried in flowers and he was reentering me from behind, steadily picking up his pace. My pussy was raw and aching, but somehow it made the onslaught more perfect. The stone scraped my sensitive nipples slightly as each thrust pushed them against the balcony wall.

  It hurt, and I liked it.

  When I finally came again, for the fourth or fifth time, I crumbled to the floor. Giovanni guided me down. He stroked his hand over me leisurely, from my head, down my spine and to my ass. He squeezed and caressed it, and I could tell he was closely admiring it, as I felt his hot breath against my neck and shoulder. As he lay behind me, I knew he wasn’t done but that this would be it; his body pressed behind me, and I felt his length enter me again. He felt bigger, coming in from behind me, the curve of his cock spearing me, but our bodies were completely connected.

  There was nothing slow about Giovanni’s movements, not anymore. Giovanni fucked me like he was sick and I was the cure. He fucked me hard, fast, and mercilessly, his hand gripping my hip until I was crying out again and again, each climax building on the last, until I couldn't take it. I was begging him to stop. Begging him to keep going. Begging him to fuck me until I could feel him explode inside of me.

  The force of his ejaculation for a split second had me thanking my lucky stars for having just renewed my IUD. I could feel him, spilling into me, running out, and down onto my thigh.

  We were both grunting with the effort, the magnitude of the pleasure blinding us; the final spurt, the explosion of all orgasms.

  Afterwards, I stared weakly off the edge of the balcony. Out of the small space between the terrace wall and the floor.

  One thing was for sure: business had met its match. Pleasure had arrived.

  12

  Giovanni

  Shea butter.

  This time I knew what it was called. Kandice had told me during dinner.

  How did I have it plastered under my nose, though, as if—my eyes snapped open. Yes, my nose was buried deep in soft, warm, delicious cleavage.

  Mmm. Right now, the right thing to do would be to peel myself away, out of my girl’s glorious breasts, and somehow muster the self-control to leave her fuckable body and make breakfast, or something else logical. We were curled up on the balcony chaise, our tryst last night leaving us unable to relocate to the bed.

  Instead of doing the logical thing, my tongue traced a circular pattern around her breast, the circles getting smaller, closing in around her nipple until my mouth suctioned on and lapped away.

  Kandice cooed. "Giovanni," she said weakly.

  My hand moved between her legs. Yeah, my girl was wet.

  Wait, what? Kandice was not ‘my girl.’ She was my fake wife, nothing more.

  My fake wife who also happened to have the world's greatest tits. My mouth transferred to her other side, and her hand raked through my hair, as my fingers slid in and out of her effortlessly.

  "Mmm,” said Kandice.

  Fuck, that sound made me hard. Kandice seemed as receptive to this as I was. Fuck me.

  Business could wait. We had already fucked last night, what would another round this morning hurt?

  My tongue traced a path down her torso, pausing to plant some kisses around her belly button. Her back arched toward me. "Giovanni."

  I paused, straddling her. "Yeah?"

  Her eyes fluttered open, her gaze accusing and annoyed.

  I just smiled at her. She wanted to pretend like she didn't want me to keep going, when we both knew exactly what she wanted. My skillful mouth, strategically placed between her thighs, doing what it did best.

  Our eyes met and a staring contest, of sorts, ensued. "Yeah?" I asked nonchalantly. "Something you want?"

  Her gaze grew mischievous as she leaned over to press her lips against one of my pecs. "Nah," she said, matching my earlier indifference. She sprinkled kisses across my chest, though they were definitively moving down, lower... And lower.

  Her breath gently caressed my lower belly, her eyes challenging me with an 'oh yeah?' gaze.

  Then, without a word of warning, she took my cock in her mouth. I groaned as I felt her lips suction around me, her tongue tickling the underside of my tip as she skillfully took my entire length. I gripped the wall as I watched my stiffness disappear and growled when I felt the familiar resistance of the back of her throat against the head of my cock. I put one hand on the back of her head, tangling my fingers in her hair and pushed downward, letting out a loud grunt when her throat gave way with a pop and I could feel her warm tongue, flat against my balls. Holy hell.

  My toes curled. I felt her throat spasm gently around my girth and she pulled upwards, slurping as she moved. She looked at me with a sly, sexy smile, a thin string of saliva still connecting my cock to the side of her mouth. She wiped it away with the side of her thumb and slowly licked her lips, as if to savor any remaining taste of me.

  "Yeah?" she said, her eyes sparkling.

  That was it. If Kandice wanted to play games, we would play, all right. I swiftly wrapped one arm around her waist and forcefully pulled her down the chaise as I stood, leaving her on her back, knees straddling my calves. My other hand quickly moved to the dampness between her legs. My fake wife was, unbelievably, wet as hell.

  She squirmed but couldn't hold back her moan. She adjusted her position to be able to take my cock into her mouth once more and dove, sealing her lips around me and gripping the base of my swollen member with one hand. Expertly, she moved her mouth and hands in time with each other, maintaining a steady rhythm and moaning against my dick, her hums vibrating through my body. Damn, she sure knew how to give head.

  Kandice steadily increased her pace, her hands and mouth still working in tandem over me. I was forced to stop my hand. I leaned my head back, my ass pushing against the stone wall of the balcony. Her mouth sure felt good, but there was no way I was
coming yet. Not until I'd had my fun with her, too.

  I leaned over and picked her up, striding back into the bedroom, and threw her onto the bed. I laid down, choosing a position that allowed her to continue, but also allowed me to begin my own thorough exploration of her pulsing pussy.

  As she continued to work over my cock, I leaned over and gradually moved my fingers to make way for my mouth. While I began to plant small kisses over her mound, I could feel Kandice switching her technique, her tongue now twirling and moving in a complementary rhythm to her hands, just one more level of sensation to go with the already awesome blowjob.

  Fuck, I wasn't going to be able to hold it in much longer. Getting head this good... It was a miracle I hadn't blown my load already. Fuck, Kandice.

  I got right to it. Sucking her clit in between my lips, I gently flicked the swollen nub around with my tongue. Kandice squealed and writhed underneath me, but I gripped her thighs and held her lower body in place. If she wanted to make this hard for me, I was going to make it as hard as fuck for her. God, she tasted good too. Did this woman taste like butter everywhere?

  That was where any rational thought disappeared. Kandice swallowed my cock to the base once again; over and over and each time she did, her throat gave less and less of a fight. She used her hot, wet mouth to take my length over and over again, using her throat to fuck me. She refused to give up or be discouraged even after I began thrusting my hips, matching her rhythm and thrusting my cock against the back of her throat.

  Kandice held firm, her hands gripping my ass until I felt the wave beginning to rise. I took as much of her pussy as I could into my mouth and, using my tongue as efficiently as I could, swirled it over and around her clit in a sort of desperation, almost begging her to come. My fingers teased her entry, feeling it swell and pulse at the denial of being filled.

  Fuck, did she ever come. Pressing her aching mound against my mouth in great need, I buried my tongue into her opening, and it was like, for a moment, her whole body froze. Her throat hugged my cock, her nails raked deep into the skin across my ass and legs and then, as if on cue, she exploded.

  I felt her pussy clutch around my tongue, her muscles throbbing and pulsing in time with the waves of her orgasm. When I felt her flooding my mouth, tasting the moment she erupted into a stream of delicious pleasure, my balls tightened and I released with her, strings of my climax pumping into her throat as her moans once again sent waves of shivers up my cock.

  God, yes.

  I maneuvered her so she lay against me. We paused there for a moment, spooning, our breathing slowly getting back to normal.

  Fuck. I had intended not to do that again. Last night when I had been half-asleep, I had walked out to see her bathed in moonlight; her see-through pajamas, rustling in the wind, the way she'd looked at me... How was I supposed to deny the scared, lustful look she’d given me? This morning had, naturally, been a continuation of last night. Fuck.

  This was for business. Yet, as I buried my face in her hair and tightened my hold around her, it felt like much, much more.

  Fake wife, I reminded myself, as I wrapped my arms tighter around her.

  Kandice had the kind of body that was perfect for cuddling, and I wasn't usually a cuddling kind of guy.

  My phone rang. I rolled over and grabbed it off the nightstand.

  "Hello?" I answered, expecting it to be a business coworker.

  "What are you doing?" Maria said suspiciously. Great. My sister.

  "Uh..."

  "Never mind," she continued. "You sound weird. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that your news cheered Mama up. We just finished four seasons of The Young and the Restless!"

  "That's great," I said, disengaging myself from Kandice, who had stiffened, too. "I'm a bit busy right now."

  "Oh yeah, busy, hmmm?" Maria said lightly, yet knowingly.

  "We're about to go for breakfast, actually," I said. "But I'll keep you updated. And of course, I'll see you at the funeral in a few days."

  "Of course," Maria said. "Tell Kandice I said hi."

  I hung up, feeling an odd hollowness in my gut. Maybe I was just hungry.

  "It's my sister," I told Kandice, who was looking at me curiously. "She said to say hi."

  A small smile came over Kandice's face. "Great," she said.

  "So, we should eat?" I said.

  Kandice’s smile quickly faded. She looked… concerned? I wasn’t quite sure.

  "Sounds good to me," she agreed.

  Once we'd gotten dressed, though, the enormity of what I had done came crashing down around me. This was supposed to be strictly business. If it became real, then maybe... Fuck, I wasn't thinking straight.

  This was a girl I met a week ago, of course it wouldn't go anywhere. Even if it did, I didn't have the time for a relationship. I saw what had happened when you tried to split your time between work and family. I wasn't going to make the same mistake.

  My first goal was to take Bruno Inc. to a status where it would be untouchable in the market. Yes, Papa had built it to an impressive, incredible stature, but I still had work to do. I didn't have time to lose myself in morning sex several times a day and going out for meals every night. Relationships took work. Work took work, and I'd made my decision as far as that went long ago.

  "You know what?" I said. "I actually have some business I should probably get to; I think it's best if I pick something up at a café somewhere and get some work done."

  She eyed me, her gaze hard. "Alone, you mean."

  "Yeah," I said. "Unless..."

  "It's fine," she said.

  "Great," I said. She was mad now, but one day, she would understand. This was for the best, for both of us.

  I got out my business card and handed it to her. "If you need anything and my cell isn't working, you can try my work number."

  "Okay," she said.

  "Okay," I replied, then I left.

  13

  Kandice

  A business card. I stared at the high-quality cardboard, black and red square, glaring at the words "Giovanni Bruno". Then, I ripped it in half.

  His business card? Seriously? Way to blow me off. Un-fucking-believable. I didn't ask him to have sex with me last night, or this morning, or for the fucking cuddle, for that matter.

  What a class-A jerk. I hadn't expected a date day, or to act like an actual couple, but still. If he wanted to blow me off, he could have done it without being a complete cad.

  Whatever. Best thing to do now was to find something to keep myself busy.

  Since I was finally in the U.S., I might as well start looking for some journalism jobs online, on Kijiji, Monster, or even Workopolis. I was sure I would be able to find something, even if it was just a one-off freelance gig. I'd be back in the game, back to researching, writing, submitting, editing—everything I loved most.

  I got excited just thinking about it.

  For the next hour, I applied to a bunch of projects, though I didn't get many responses right away. Not that I expected to. When I worked at Rayli, they had called me back four weeks after my interview. I had already given up and gotten a job bartending elsewhere. I was a horrible bartender, so it was a relief that they'd called me, but still.

  With that started satisfactorily, combined with the fact that it was getting to the point where the white of the screen was burning my eyes, I decided to take break and order room service.

  Normally, I would have felt a bit wary doing something like that. But after all, my check still hadn't been deposited, my credit card was canceled, and Giovanni had essentially blown me off. It wasn't like I had much of a choice but to add this to his tab.

  Screw Giovanni. He could pay for my bag of Lays and my two granny smith apples. Screw. Him.

  As I munched on my food a few minutes later, I wandered through the penthouse until I made it to the mezzanine, which housed another beautiful terrace. Damn, this place and its terraces.

  Looking out at all the well-arranged flowers, the reds,
blues, and purples, it all reminded me of China.

  I sat back and let the sun sink into my skin. I felt so relaxed. Now was a great time to... Call Jen? Why not?

  She'd be thrilled to know that I landed safely, and she had sent me a text late last night asking me to keep her updated as to where I was.

  So, I called her.

  "Hello, Mrs. Bruno," she greeted me.

  "Stop," I groaned. As if I needed a reminder about the choice I'd just made. "How did you..."

  "I mean, duh," Jen said. "If there's one thing that stalking the Bruno family on Google has given me, it's the knowledge that those boys are damn thorough. If Giovanni wanted to marry you—" She snapped her fingers. "Then it was a done deal, as far as I'm concerned."

  "He didn't want to marry me," I corrected her grumpily. "He had to."

  A fact that you'd do well to remember, I reminded myself.

  "Potato, to-mah-to," Jen said, unconcerned.

  "It's potato, po-tah-to," I said.

  "Whoa, okay grammar police," Jen said. "Anyway, I'm assuming there's a reason you're calling me other than to correct my awful vocabulary?"

  With the way she was talking, a bit more stilted than usual, I could tell that Jen had one of her face masks on.

  "Strawberry or blueberry?" I asked.

  Jen giggled. "You know me too well. It's a blueberry acai one. You should see my pores after I do this!"

  "Maybe I can do it with you next time," I said.

  "Definitely," Jen said. "So, out with it. How was it? How was the flight? How is your hotel? Where is Giovanni now?"

  "Doing work," I said, before correcting my tone. "Not that I expected much different. We're both very focused on our work."

  Jen snorted. "You slept with him again, didn't you?"

  "Jen!" I protested.

  "No, I'm not psychic. I just know you. I know the way you sound when—"

  "That's not just it," I said. "I'm still paranoid about Jin disappearing. There was a shifty guy outside of our hotel, and..." I suddenly cast a surreptitious look around.