by Ember Flint
Chapter 10
SETH
I stalk back into the main reception room, my hand going up to tug at my bowtie. I’m more of a suit kind of guy than a tuxedo one, but my mom’s party it’s a strictly black and white event this year so there was no escaping the penguin attire.
All around me people are chatting and laughing, holding never-empty flutes of champagne; someone else is playing my parent’s grand piano for the evening and I can hear a melancholic rendition of ‘The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy’ by Tchaikovsky filling the air; a violin, a flute and a cello adding depth to it.
Evelyn loves this piece. I’ve heard her play it countless times.
My eyes move around the room, looking for her.
I immediately spot her.
I can always find her in a crowd, no matter how many people are surrounding us.
She’s enchanting. Her long blonde hair is partially piled over her head in a chignon and then swept over her shoulder. She’s wearing a cream-colored gown that glints and glitters under the soft lights, the airy fabric hugging her enticing curves.
She’s laughing right now, but I can tell it’s only to be polite: her laughter it’s not shining in her eyes. Eyes there are staring back at me.
I hold her gaze until she looks away and I look down at my wrist to the face of my smartwatch, willing the virtual hands to move faster, to bring midnight closer to us, but it’s still more than forty minutes away.
I’ve followed all the stupid rules of last’s night pact with Eve down to the last detail. It was not easy.
Usually, I have no troubles adhering to a rule, I like rules: my whole life stands on my respect for them, but it took everything I had not to break each and every one that Eve set for us tonight.
I had to, though: I gave her my word, but whatever she says, at the stroke of midnight, I’m going to take what I want, what belongs to me.
I love her too much not to do everything in my power to make her happy even when she doesn’t know exactly what she wants.
All evening I’ve been skulking in the corners and trying to avoid as much as possible the company of the other guests even though as CFO of ST Worldwide I should have been turning on the charm tonight and spent the entirety of this soiree shaking hands and striking deals with the other sharks swimming in the tank.
I just didn’t have it in me tonight: all of my control was focused in keeping myself from marching up to Evelyn, sweep her up in my arms and kiss her until we both could no longer breathe and to hell with waiting midnight and all those fucking rules.
I pick up a glass of champagne from the silver platter held by a passing waiter and take a sip, my eyes once more looking for Eve, standing on the other side of the room; the grand piano in the center, separating us.
I see Gillian walk toward me and I frown.
She’s wearing a red mini dress and she has a sour expression on her face.
She must have just arrived and of course as soon as she was in, started to hunt me down.
Everybody is looking at her weird.
I don’t think this is the grand entrance she was planning to make.
Didn’t she know the dress-code for the evening?
She reaches me and I can see someone is trailing behind her and for a moment I wonder if it’s her brother, but I doubt the asshole would show his face here tonight after we got words in the hall in the afternoon when I caught him with his filthy hands on my Evelyn.
Fuck, I wanted to punch him so hard I was sure I was going to break my knuckles over his nose, but then I felt Eve’s hand on my arm and all the rage just fizzled away.
I look at the guy on her arm better and I recognize him as Daryl Whatshisname, an unscrupulous corporate lawyer I had the displeasure of meeting at a power lunch once. It must be her plus-one.
She reaches me, immediately trying to grab my arm and I take a step back.
“Gillian,” I say with the barest nod of my head: anything more, she would take as encouragement even if she has a date tonight.
“Seth, dahling,” she effuses loudly, making sure to turn several heads in the process. “How are you?”
I glare at her. “As you see,” I mutter, taking another sip of champagne.
She smiles brightly and then taps her boy-toy on his shoulder. “Go get me a drink will you?”
Mr. Whatshisname looks at her flirty expression and then at me, then briefly back and forth between us; I see comprehension dawn on his face and his lips twist in displeasure. “But of course,” he says tightly and walks away.
I’m guessing he was very happy with the chance to date her trust fund, but not so much if she just brought him along to make an ex jealous.
I smirk into my glass, my eyes once more searching for Eve.
I see she’s talking with some guy; I cannot see his face because he is giving his back to the rest of the room as he speaks earnestly to her.
I feel a surge of jealousy punch my heart and I calm only when I see how bored she looks and how often her eyes are wandering over the rest of the room.
I know she’s looking for me and I feel slightly appeased.
“Seth? Are you listening?” Gillian demands.
Was she speaking?
I roll my eyes. “No, Gillian. I don’t really feel like listening to more of your inanities. The ones I’ve had to endure since I’ve known you, will last me a life time already.”
She scoffs. “Oh don’t be like that! You have to agree with me that she was unbelievably rude to me!”
I feel my eyebrows furrow. I have no idea what she’s talking about. “Who was?”
She huffs. “That bitch Evelyn!”
I pass my empty glass to a waiter and shake my head at his offer of a refill, then I cross my arms over my chest, my teeth clenched. “Don’t you ever let me hear you call her that again. I seem to recall you being unbelievably rude to her yesterday, not the other way around.”
She mutters angrily and then gestures at the scant fabric covering her body. “This is all her doing! She advised me not to wear light shades and tonight is a freaking black and white event,” she gripes, stomping her foot.
I laugh, shaking my head. That is pure Evelyn.
“You could have bothered to actually read the invitation my mom send around and spared yourself the humiliation and by the way, why do you think I would care? You cheated on me, spend the entire evening yesterday badmouthing me to my friends and family and offended Eve in a most cruel way with your unforgivable comment so how can you stand here talking with me? You’re shameless!” I hiss, trying to keep my cool and stride away, there’s no point in making a scene. She’s not worth it.
As I walk around the room, I spot my parents standing near a window: they’re slow-dancing in place, talking softly to each other. I can see my mom’s eyes crinkling in laughter and I smile.
Immediately my eyes once again start scanning the room for the one person I would wish close right now.
When I find her I relax slightly, but it doesn’t last long because I see another guy approaching her. He points to her half-empty glass of eggnog and she shakes her head no.
He remains near her, gesturing around the room, probably trying to make a joke or something and I hate that I don’t have the right to go claim what’s mine right now. Not for a little while longer at least.
I pass one hand over the nape of my neck, huffing in exasperation.
God, this is torture!
The awareness of my feelings for her is so new to me that it fills every single one of my thought.
My mind goes back to the sizzling kiss we shared yesterday and then to earlier today when I nearly humped her to completion against her bedroom door and I feel a decided twitch from below my belt. Fuck, a life time of never thinking about us naked and now I can’t keep my mind from going into the gutter not even for a nanosecond?!
I want her so much I can practically taste the need in my mouth.
Is she still feeling overwhelmed?
Did I come on too strong?
Or was she bothered when I got between her and that pompous ass?
I want to talk to her and at the same time I don’t, I’m like one of the characters from those Jane Austen’s books she loves so much: half agony, half hope.
I glare at the guy still trying to get in her panties from across the room. If he’s lucky, he will never know how much I want to beat him into a pulp right now.
Shit, I gulp down air, looking around for another waiter: I have to calm the fuck down and I need another drink, something stronger this time.
I’m not used to feeling so at the mercy of my instincts, I’m a rational kind of guy and I’ve never felt this jealous or possessive over a girlfriend in the past.
Eve has always stirred this kind of feelings in me, I guess, but my sense of protectiveness over her has never ridden me so strong.
I see she’s looking right at me now, smiling. I smile back.
She excuses herself from the loser and I see her slowly making her way toward the center of the room.
I look down at my smartwatch again and my smile gets bigger. I look up and I can’t see her anymore. Fuck, there are definitely too many guests at this party.
When I spot her again, she has nearly reached the piano and I confidently walk toward the same location, my eyes on her.
The quartet is playing ‘Christmas - Baby please come Home’ now, how apt. Eve would say it’s serendipitous.
As soon as I reach her I study her deep blue eyes closely: there’s a trace of apprehension in them, but there’s hope as well.
I extend my hand to her and even before I feel her delicate fingers touch my own, I know she will be taking it.
It’s ten minutes to midnight and we smile at each other.
“I believe you own me a kiss, Eve,”
She grins up at me. “Yes, I believe I do.”
I guide her out of the room and don’t stop walking until we reach the elevator.
There are too many guests swarming the penthouse and possibly other locations in the building downstairs, I can think of only one place where we wouldn’t be disturbed —which happens to be the only one with a specific code no one besides me, my parents, Leonard and Eve know.
I punch in the code and we step inside.
Eve looks at me doubtfully. “The rooftop?”
I nod and pull her into my arms. “You made all the rules, can’t I at least pick the place?”
She smiles, her arms linking behind my neck.
The doors push apart and we step outside, the cold hitting our flushed faces.
I look down at her and smile when I see the snowflakes already starting to get trapped in her golden hair. I gently caress a long strand away from her beautiful face.
I see a snowflake land on the tip of her nose and I flick it off, making her giggle.
I tap on the screen of my phone to wake it and start to fiddle a bit with it.
As soon as she sees what I’m doing, she starts to laugh, shaking her head. “You’re crazy right? It’s freezing out here and it’s snowing again!”
I stare at her plump, shiny lips, barely resisting the urge to kiss her. After all I made it to this point and it’s only a few minutes to midnight now.
“Trust me,” I whisper.
Eve stares at me for a long minute and I can see a rosy blush spread all over her exposed skin. She shivers and I pull her into my arms again as the pool’s cover starts to roll back in.
She looks on as the lights in the heated pool come to life and more and more of the expanse of hot water gets revealed; I follow her gaze as it moves over the Manhattan skyline surrounding us, the snow is falling more heavily now in stark contrast with the ink black starless firmament.
“It’s a minute to midnight,” I murmur, my hands reaching up to caress her chilled face. “Am I the consolation prize to unjinx the New Year or have you found your special someone to kiss?”
I see her smile fall away, she looks determined as her always warm hands stroke my own face.
“I did,” she whispers, her eyes bright with unshed tears.
“It was always you,” she adds, standing on her tiptoes; her voice breaking, her lips a breath away from my own.
I nod, bending more toward her.
“And you too,” I whisper back. “It was always you… there was no love to be found, not when I had yours. There was no one to fall in love with not when I’ve been falling for you since the day I first held you.”
I hear fireworks booming around us and our lips meet in a passionate kiss full of promises that starts in one year and ends in the next.
I pull away and look at her, my fingers stroking her lips. “I want you,” I tell her, my voice rough.
Eve’s only answer is to pull me back to her and kiss me until we run out of air.
We start to shed our formal wear, throwing everything around us carelessly, headless of the biting cold surrounding us in a swirl of wind and snow. I nuzzle her neck with my lips and nose and she moans my name softly.
The single sound almost undoing me.
In our underwear and nothing more we step into the pool and dive down, hugging each other and kissing with our eyes tightly closed, relishing the heat of the water on our cold skin.
We emerge again, cutting the surface of the water and we both shiver and tremble at the contrast between our lower bodies submerged in warmth and our faces exposed to the frosty air.
Holding her to me I swim toward the edge of the pool and push her against it. She winds her long, soft legs around my waist as we kiss more desperately.
I feel my erection pulse thickly and I press it to her panty-covered pussy, grinding its hardness over and over against her tenderness.
Eve moans, her eyes popping open at the sensation.
I put a little space between us, reclining her slightly over the edge of the pool and holding her securely with one arm, I use my free hand to caress her big, firm breasts; the hard, needy nipples visible through the wet lace of her strapless champagne-colored bra.
I rip it off of her, making her gasp in surprise and when our eyes meet we both laugh and start to kiss again.
I look down her beautiful, sexy, soft, curvaceous body wrapped around my own and I smile.
Pale coral, at least in this light. Now, that’s not a color I would have guessed easily, but nothing is ever easy when it comes to my Evelyn.
“What are you smiling at?” she asks, her hands caressing over my back.
I brush my face between her lush, supple breasts, squeezing their weight in my hand, my rock-hard cock still rubbing where we both need it the most.
I look up at her lovely face, my chin resting in the valley of her bountiful breasts. “Nothing, I was just considering that my bad luck is definitely over.”
I see one of her eyebrows rise up. “How can you be so sure?”
“‘Cause this has got to be the single, best-looking pair of tits a man has ever seen on a woman and now their mine,” I tease, moving my mouth over one of her rosy areolas and take a nipple in between my lips, suckling it until she whimpers, starting to tremble in my arms.
Eve punches my arm. “That was deep,” she mocks.
The water ripples around us, steam rising from the surface.
I kiss her neck, first one side, then the other, my hand still exploring her breasts and plucking at one of her nipples. “I’ll give you deep in a minute, love,” I growl.
She shakes her head, trying to appear stern, but then she laughs, the sound turning to a moan as I stroke the ridge of my dick against her clit, making her jump and tighten the grip of her thighs around my hips.
She shivers a little and I lower us a bit more into the heat of the pool, her naked, shiny breasts floating and bobbing just above the level of the
steaming water enveloping us. Countless snowflakes are falling in a thick curtain around us: they melt as soon as they come into contact with the steam rising from the hot water while a new wave of fireworks brightens the sky.
We look around us smiling and then we start kissing again with renewed abandon and I know I’m reaching the end of my resistance, no matter how much I’m enjoying the anticipation and how much I wish this moment could last forever.
“Seth, please…”
I’m guessing she feels the same way and after a second she confirms my thoughts by reaching between us, her hands moving over my chest and then lower and lower over my abdomen, making me groan in pleasure, her impatient fingers tugging at the wet boxers plastered to my rock-hard erection.
She starts to push them away and I help her along, kicking them off my legs, making hot water sloshing all around us.
Her panties come off next and finally I can feel her own, molten heat against my stiff erection, jerking and jumping with need, searching for an even deeper contact.
I reach between us and stroke between her legs. I wish I could pull her up my body and seat her over the edge of the pool so that I could feast my eyes over her precious pussy.
I wish I could spread her legs and eat my fill of her, but it’s far too cold to keep her out of the water.
I’ll kill myself, before risking her health in such a stupid way.
It’s okay: there’s time for all the things I want to do to her, with her, all the things we will share. All the time in the world. We have forever.
“Seth… I need you,” she mewls and I feel a corresponding lurch in my balls as they tighten up in my own need for release.
I kiss her and stroke her wet hair off her face. “It’s okay, Eve, I’ve got you.”
I reach down to push her thighs more open, gliding my bare cock through her soft, plump lower lips, feeling her small slit contracting on emptiness as she beckons me in.
I thrust against her, my mouth devouring her neck and chest with hungry kisses.
Eve pulls away and grasps my shoulders. “Shouldn’t we…?” her breathless voice trails off. She blushes bright red and the sight of her sudden shyness makes me grow even bigger and harder.
