I burst into laughter. “That is horrible advice!”
“I know!” she exclaimed before she started laughing.
“We’ll be fine. I have an excellent pilot, and this thing is kept in great shape.”
“Good to know,” she breathed as the plane started to taxi down the short runway.
Once we were in the air, she seemed to relax, drinking from her glass and staring out the window. Usually, when I was on the jet, I was working. I had no desire to pull out my computer and review notes or accounts. I wanted to be in the moment. I found that happened a lot when I was with her. Work was what I thought about all the time, but when I was with her, I didn’t want to think about work at all. I wanted to learn more about her.
“Did you tell your father about our trip?” I asked.
She looked at me, her eyes lighting up. “I did. He’s thrilled for me. Have you talked to your mom anymore?”
“No.”
“Are you worried about Saturday?” she asked.
I shrugged a shoulder. “I’m not worried necessarily, but I am a little preoccupied with the situation.”
“The situation? As in, you don’t have a real girlfriend and you’re bringing your intern?” She smiled.
“Yes, that about sums it up. No one lies to my mother and gets away with it. I don’t want to think I’m lying. Technically, we are seeing each other. I don’t need to mention that it’s only been once, and we are only coworkers.”
“Twice. Once when you came to save me and again at the beach. I think that is officially seeing each other.”
“I hope she sees it that way. If, by some chance, she figures out I exaggerated our relationship, it will get ugly. I will do my best to protect you, but I make no guarantees.”
She threw her head back, her slender neck exposed as she laughed. “You make your mother out to be this monster.”
I shrugged. “She isn’t a monster, but she is a different beast. Your father and my mother are nothing alike. While I know my mother loves me and she wants what is best for me, her way of showing support leaves a little something to be desired.”
“I’m not going to lie. My dad is pretty awesome.”
“You’re lucky to have him.”
“I am very lucky, and I try to tell him that as often as I can,” she said.
“I envy and admire that.”
We talked a bit more about our families before it was time to land. The car I had ordered was waiting on the tarmac to take us to the hotel.
“This is so impressive,” she gushed. “I feel like I’m in the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous or something.”
I smiled, happy I could show her something new and impress her while doing it. I liked seeing her smile, and I liked seeing the excitement and wonder on her face. We strolled through the lobby of the posh hotel, Bella’s head whipping back and forth as she tried to take it all in.
“Adrian Gabris checking in,” I said to the man behind the reception desk.
He tapped on his keyboard before looking up at me, something akin to fear in his eyes. “I’m sorry, sir. It looks like there’s been some kind of mistake.”
Bella stood beside me. “Mistake?” she asked.
“Yes, we had a late check-in last night, and someone accidentally gave away the second room. I do have the suite available.”
I looked at Bella, not wanting her to think I had somehow set up the whole thing. I didn’t want her to think I had intentionally worked it so that we had to share a room. Before I got the chance to demand there be another room made available, Bella put her hand on the tall counter and smiled at me.
“We’ll take it,” she said confidently.
“We will?” I asked with surprise.
“Yes, we will,” she said with a smile.
I looked at the clerk, who was visibly relieved. “Great, let me get your keys, and you can go right up.”
I didn’t say anything, not sure what to say. When he slid the keys to us, Bella turned and headed for the elevators. The bellhop waited to follow us up with our luggage. I had no idea what to expect. The suite only had a king-sized bed in it. I wasn’t interested in sleeping on a cot, and I wouldn’t ask her to, which left the bed. I didn’t want to jump to conclusions. I was going to let her lead the way. I was up for anything if it involved her.
“We can get the bags,” Bella told the bellhop.
He looked at me, shocked and with what looked like hurt on his face. I quickly reached into my pocket and handed him a generous tip before sending him on his way. I stepped into the elevator behind Bella, the cart taking up too much room for our rather small amount of luggage.
“You’re sure about this?” I asked her, wanting to give her a way out.
“I’m positive.”
I left the cart in the hallway, Bella and I carrying our bags down the hall to the room. I quickly opened the door and pushed it open. Bella squealed when she walked inside the spacious room, dropping her bags in the middle of the walkway and rushing to the massive windows lining one wall. I dropped my suitcase and briefcase and joined her.
“Nice view,” I commented.
“It’s amazing!”
She turned to face me, looking up at me and making me want to pull her into my arms. I couldn’t remember ever feeling so drawn to someone. I prided myself on my ability to stay in full control of my emotions. She was stripping away that control and taking me back to a time in my life when I had been carefree and willing to throw caution to the wind. It’d been a long time since I’d been able to shed the cloak of wealth and fame and just be me.
“I like spending time with you,” I blurted out.
Her eyes dropped to my mouth before meeting mine again. “I like spending time with you, too. Spending time together is going to help us be more convincing when we have to pretend to be together for your mom.”
I nodded. “Practice makes perfect,” I said, my voice husky.
“I agree, which means there’s something else we should practice,” she whispered, stepping closer to me.
I was afraid to ask what that something was. Afraid to ruin the moment if I said what I wanted to practice. “What would that be?” I asked instead.
“This,” she whispered, rising up, her hand going to the back of my head and pulling my head down.
Her lips brushed over mine, sending a flash of desire through my body so intense I jerked forward. I heard her gasp as our bodies connected. I dropped my arm around her waist and pulled her against me, closing my eyes and letting myself fall into the moment. I focused all my energy on the kiss, applying a little pressure and silently asking her to part her lips for me to taste her.
I moaned the second my tongue slid past her lips, tasting the orange juice from the mimosa. I inhaled, taking in the scent of her, appreciating the smell of fresh flowers clinging to her skin. I was quickly losing control.
My body was demanding more. I wanted more. I wanted all of her. I wanted to taste her and touch her and hear her cry out in pleasure when I filled her body with mine. I demanded myself to slow down, rein it in before I scared her away.
I pulled back, our noses nearly touching as I looked into her eyes. I was asking without speaking.
“Don’t stop,” she whispered.
They were the sweetest two words I had heard in a very long time.
Chapter 20
Bella
I was going to live in the moment, just like my dad had told me to. Part of living in the moment was being with Adrian. I had never had a fling or an affair. I was throwing caution and good sense to the wind and letting myself experience something I had only heard about through other people. Adrian was too good to pass up. Even if I couldn’t have him forever, I wanted to know what it was like to be held in his arms as our bodies joined together.
He started to move backward. I trusted him to guide me. I wasn’t sure where we were going, but getting naked in front of a very large window was probably not a good idea. I was glad he had the presence o
f mind to move us away from the full exposure.
“Bed,” he mumbled, his hands reaching down to yank up my shirt.
“Okay,” I said, kissing his jaw as I walked backward.
I started working the buttons on his shirt, irritated when my fingers stopped working. Then, because I was really in the moment, I grabbed his shirt front and pulled in opposite directions. All but one of the buttons flew off.
He stopped moving, looking down at me. I was immediately embarrassed by my rather enthusiastic gesture and hoped I hadn’t just ruined things.
“Fuck me, that was hot,” he said, yanking the shirt off his body and revealing the sexy chest I had ogled just a few days ago.
I pressed my palm to his chest while he worked to unhook my bra. I had a brief moment of “what the hell are you doing” but quickly pushed it aside. I wanted him too much to let my conscience get in the way. This was all about getting laid. I could afford one slip in my very moral life. By the time he pushed me through the double doors leading to the bedroom, we were both only wearing our underwear.
I reached down, grabbing his dick in my hand, and was pleasantly surprised by the girth. “Damn,” I murmured.
He growled, his mouth slamming over mine again, his tongue plunging inside while his hands roamed over my body. My hands were doing the same. It was like seeing through touch, taking in every bit of skin as we tasted each other.
He jerked his mouth away from mine and pushed me onto the bed. I fell to my back, my hair fanning out around me as I stared up at his large body. He was most definitely a god, and I couldn’t believe my luck that I was going to get to be with him.
I lifted my arm, reaching toward him. He didn’t seem to notice, or he didn’t care. His eyes were glued to my breasts. Feeling incredibly daring, I reached my hand to my breast, cupping it and lifting it in offering. His nostrils flared, his blue eyes darting up to mine before he dove in. I gasped when his mouth closed over my nipple, sucking it between his teeth as he massaged. He moved to the other, while my hands ran up and down his back.
“God, I want you,” he rasped, his mouth closing over mine.
I answered with my body, wrapping my arms around him and squeezing him against me. “Take me.”
He rose away from me, standing and yanking down my panties. I lifted my hips, letting him take them off and watching as he ditched his boxers. I bit my lip when I saw him. He was a big man in every way. I felt completely wanton getting naked with a man who was practically a stranger in the middle of the day. I was going to live it up and enjoy every last second of it, though. There would be time for regrets later.
“You’re beautiful,” he said, his eyes swallowing my body inch by inch.
I did the same, looking at the tattoos and letting my eyes linger on the center of him before taking in his strong thighs. He was built. I reached up to him, sitting up and grabbing his hand to pull him back down to the bed. He rolled to his side, and his chest pressed against me as his arm reached down to the top of my thigh. I held his eyes as the hand moved to my inner thigh, gently opening my legs. Like a heat-seeking missile, his hand drifted up, his knuckles brushing over me, pulling a gasp from my lips.
I moaned when his finger slid over my slit, parting my folds and touching the most sensitive part of my body.
I could feel the heat spiraling through my body as he moved his fingers over me, parting me but barely touching me. I craved pressure. I wanted the fullness that only he could bring.
“You’re wet,” he whispered.
“I want you,” I managed to get out.
My body was weeping, demanding his. When his finger probed my opening, I let my knees fall wide, completely opening myself to him. The finger slid in deeper, aided by the passion already coursing through my body after his intense kisses. His finger toyed with me, giving me immense pleasure with what felt like very little effort.
“I want you to let go,” he ordered, his finger pushed high inside me.
“I can’t. I want you inside me.” I whimpered, my body on the verge but unable to find release.
“Not yet. Let go, Bella.” He said my name, and it was the last push I needed to fall into sweet oblivion.
I whimpered and moaned, clenching the bedspread in my fist as my body arched and clenched around the finger deep inside me. His mouth touched mine, gentle at first and then with more intensity as he pushed a second finger inside me, stretching me and sending my body into another fit of spasms that rocked me from the tips of my toes to the ends of my hair.
In a flash, his fingers were gone, and he was rising up over me, bracing his weight on his elbows. His mouth slammed over mine. I groaned under the delicious weight of his lower body pressing me into the mattress. I reached down and grabbed a handful of his tight ass, jerking and pulling him against me. I could feel his heavy cock pressed against me. I wanted to feel it inside me.
He reached between us, guiding himself between my legs, slick with my own juices. His head probed my opening. I felt swollen, ripe for the plucking as he pushed inside a little at a time, stretching me and reigniting the pleasure that had just swept through my body a few minutes earlier.
“Oh my god,” I groaned, my head going back as he pushed in deeper.
He stopped moving. “Are you okay?” he rasped.
I opened my eyes and moved my head to look at him. “Better than okay. Don’t stop.”
He reached a hand down, his fingers threading through mine as he put my hand on the side of my head before grabbing the other one. I was completely at his mercy. I liked the feeling of him being in complete control as he rose up, using those glorious abs of his to hold himself off my body and pushing himself deeper inside me.
I cried out, my body filled with so much exquisite pleasure I felt like I was going to shatter into a million pieces. “Oh god,” I said again, not knowing what else to say.
He grunted as he pushed himself all the way inside, his body fully seated inside mine.
I struggled to draw a breath. I was going to orgasm again. I was a little embarrassed, but my body didn’t give a shit about my embarrassment.
“Move, I’m close,” I ordered, not wanting to go alone.
“I can’t hold back,” he ground out the words as if he were in pain.
“Don’t!” I shouted when he started to move inside me. When his body froze, I clarified. “Don’t stop!”
“God dammit, this isn’t enough. I need more.” His body rocked against mine, pushing me across the bed.
“More, more, more,” I groaned, eager at the very idea.
“I can’t. I have to.” He garbled the words.
I knew what he meant. I was right there with him, ready to let myself fall into that oblivion I had visited just a short time ago. I arched my back, taking him impossibly deeper and triggering a cataclysmic release for both of us. Our shouts of pleasure mingled together as his body collapsed on top of mine, arching and bucking against one another.
He rolled to the side, one arm flung over his face as he dragged in heavy breaths. “Holy shit,” he whispered, and that was when it hit me.
“Holy shit,” I repeated. “Did I just screw things up?” I asked him, but it was more about me asking myself.
“Screw what up?” he asked.
“Us. This. Work.”
He reached up and put a hand on my cheek, leaning forward to kiss the tip of my nose. “Not at all. This doesn’t screw anything up. This was amazing.”
“I don’t normally sleep with my bosses,” I muttered.
“Hey, I think we’re a little more than boss and employee,” he said with a laugh.
I looked at him. “We are now.”
“This isn’t going to ruin anything,” he said with a smile. “It might actually help.”
“Help what?” I asked with confusion.
I didn’t see how having sex with my boss was going to help my career, besides the obvious, and I refused to use a sexual relationship to get ahead in the world. I had too much
self-respect to do that.
“It will help convince my mother we’re a thing,” he said with that sexy grin of his, which I now knew for a fact could melt panties away.
I rolled my eyes. “We know each other in the Biblical sense,” I said with a laugh.
“Indeed, we do, but I think there might be a lot more to learn,” he whispered, trailing a finger between my breasts.
I smiled with contentment. I didn’t feel the slightest bit of shame lying on the bed with the man wearing nothing but my birthday suit. I didn’t want to get dressed because I didn’t want him to get clothes on. I quite liked the look of him naked.
“Should we go over the meeting tomorrow?” I asked.
He sighed. “We should, but I think I would rather do this.”
“I can’t say I would mind doing this, but can we order some food? I ran out the door and didn’t have a chance to eat anything.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Why didn’t you say something? I could have fed you before—well, before we did this. Although I didn’t know this was even on the menu.”
I laughed. “I don’t think I knew either, but when the mood strikes, the mood strikes!”
He sat up, getting to his feet and helping me stand. “Get dressed. We’ll go get a late breakfast and try to do a little sightseeing before we have to think about work.”
“That sounds like a great plan,” I said, watching with a hint of sadness as he pulled on his underwear.
I really, really liked looking at his body. I hoped I got the chance to see him naked again—and soon.
Chapter 21
Adrian
Waking up with Bella in my arms was probably right at the top of the best mornings of my life. I didn’t do sleepovers. I wasn’t a virgin or a saint and I’d had my fair share of women in my bed, but it never ended up in a sleepover. Waking up with her soft body against me, the fruity scent of her shampoo filling my senses, and the sound of her soft breathing was all very comforting. I rolled my head to the side, being careful not to disturb her as I checked the clock on the nightstand.
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