I feel a surge of resentfulness and anger toward Angela for spoiling him for me, and a touch of devil-may-care about the thought of us being together. I crave him. I want to slide my hands beneath his sweater onto his hot skin, I want to feel his lips on mine. It’s an overwhelming urge, and I can only think of one way to make it go away.
Maybe if I have him, I’ll quench the thirst, sate the hunger, and then tomorrow we can go back to working together as if nothing’s happened.
Yeah. I know I’m being an idiot, that I’m fooling myself. But right now, I don’t care. I want him, so much that nothing else matters. If I don’t have him, I think I’ll self-combust—I’ll just explode into flames.
So what am I going to do about it?
Chapter Twelve
Leon
Nicola’s quiet for a long time.
Her eyes look huge in the darkness, a touch of starlight in the middle of her pupils. She’s curled on her side beneath the blanket, looking at me, her head resting on her hand. She looks younger out of her suits, in her sweater and jeans and the thick socks I bought her.
I’ve dated other women, but all I could think when I was with them was that they weren’t as beautiful, or as smart, or as sexy, as the PA who works for me.
I’m doomed. I have been for some time.
And it comes to me then that I’m not going to be able to get over this. I’ve spent two years telling myself to ignore her, but I want her, I want her bad, and I can’t ignore it anymore.
“I think we have a problem,” she says, as if reading my mind. “Don’t we?”
“Yeah,” I say softly.
It’s so quiet up here. There’s not a single sound—no car horns, no planes, no dogs barking, no people. The lights are gradually going out in the village below us, and there are so many stars and they’re so bright—it’s breathtaking. I can imagine it would feel like this if we were the last two people left alive on the Earth.
“This is too hard,” she says, a touch of desperation in her voice. “Being with you all the time. Being near you. I like you too much, Leon. There’s no point in skirting around it and pretending it’s not there. It’s not just an elephant in the room—it’s a whole zoo. Or is it me? This chemistry between us? Am I making it all up in my head? Or is it real?”
“It’s real,” I tell her. What’s the point in denying it?
She looks away, out at the stars, for a long while. I study her profile, her arched brows, her small, straight nose, the defined Cupid’s bow of her lips. I want to kiss her.
She reaches down, presses the button on the side of her recliner, lowers the footrest, and gets to her feet. I wonder whether she’s going to walk off to the bedroom, but instead she stands in front of the window, looking out over the valley. “I wonder whether we’ll get to see the Southern Lights?” she asks.
“Maybe nearer midnight.”
She nods, sucking her bottom lip. She’s all soft curves, this girl, with no angles at all, her breasts generous without being large, her jeans tight over her bottom that makes my fingers itch to touch it.
I finish off the glass and put it on the table. Slowly, I lower the footrest, get to my feet, and walk over to stand next to her. We stand there for a moment, looking out at the celestial sphere turning slowly above us.
My blood feels hot, rushing through my veins as if it’s full of shooting stars. I can’t do this. I can’t have an affair with someone I work with again. I’d be letting myself down big time, letting my father down, letting Stratton down. I promised them both, and I promised myself, I’d never be so weak again. How can I face the other guys at work—Hal, Albie, Stefan—if I do the exact opposite of what I preach? Haven’t I learned anything over the last nine years? Haven’t I changed at all?
But my heart yearns, my pulse pounds, and other pieces of my anatomy ache. I want her more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my whole life.
She turns to face me, and our eyes meet in the semi-darkness. Can she see my need? Can she feel it?
She moistens her lips with the tip of her tongue. “I understand that we can’t have a relationship while we work together. And I don’t know what will happen when we get back. Maybe I’ll get another job, I don’t know. I need to think about it.”
I don’t want to lose her, and I don’t want the Ark to lose her. Frustration makes my hands curl into fists, and I grit my teeth, breathing heavily. What can I say to make things better?
“But the thing is,” she continues, “I’m not her, Leon. I’m not going to go batshit crazy on you. And right now, we’re not in the office. There’s nobody here to see us.”
I go still, and hold my breath. We look into each other’s eyes for a long, long time.
“Tell me you don’t want me,” she whispers fiercely. “Tell me I’m misreading the signs, that I’m not feeling your desire for me with every fiber of your being. Tell me I’m wrong, and I’ll turn around now and go to bed, and I swear I’ll never mention it again. But if I’m right, for God’s sake, have me already. I ache for you. I can’t bear this longing. Even if it’s only for tonight, if you feel the same way, let’s not waste this chance.”
My heart thunders. It doesn’t matter that we’re alone, that we’re not in the office. It’s semantics—us trying to worm our way out of a contract. It’s like being on a diet and saying the calories don’t count if the food belongs to someone else.
But I don’t care. She’s telling me I can have her for one night, and there isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell I’m going to say no to that.
A little voice in my head reminds me I don’t drink often, and the whisky could have something to do with my sudden lack of morals.
I tell it to fuck off. I’m only human.
“You’re not wrong,” I tell her.
And then I lift my hands to cup her face and crush my lips to hers.
She moans and opens her mouth, and I brush my tongue inside, sliding it against hers. Heat floods my body at the erotic invasion, and the knowledge that she wants me and can’t resist me. She places her hands on my chest and tightens her fingers on my sweater, and then she moves her hands down and slips them beneath the hem, skating her fingers over my skin and around my waist to my back.
I shudder and tilt my head to deepen the kiss, pressing her back against the glass at the same time. Ohhh… I knew she’d be like this, hungry, enthusiastic, and man it’s hot, firing me up in seconds. I push my hips to hers, rocking my erection against her soft mound, so she’s in no doubt as to how much I want her.
“Mmm,” she murmurs, but she can’t say anything else because I’m doing my best to kiss the living daylights out of her. Her lips are soft and warm, and each thrust of her tongue makes me swell even more in my jeans.
I lift my head for a second, and her dark eyes scan mine, the lids falling to half-mast with sexy desire.
“Jesus, I want you so much,” I mutter.
“Oh, thank God.” She takes the bottom of her sweater in her hands and pulls it over her head.
I give a short laugh, thrilled, and do the same, tearing off my own sweater as I start backing her toward the bedroom. I kiss her again, resting my hands on her waist as she fumbles around her back with her bra strap. When she curses, I push her hands away, press the hooks with the fingers of one hand, and they come apart immediately.
“Wow.” She draws the straps down her arms and tosses it aside. “That was impressive.”
I don’t reply, mesmerized by the sight of her breasts, which are full and round, pale in the starlight. Bringing my hands up to cup them, I rub my thumbs over her nipples, and then I claim her mouth again, plunging my tongue inside, making her moan.
Placing her hands on my chest, she does some exploring of her own, fanning them out to feel my pecs, tracing her fingers over my shoulders, then sliding them up my neck into my hair. I’m busy teasing the tips of her nipples with my thumbs, and now they’re pebble-hard, so I take them between my fingers and tug a little. She exhales against m
y lips, and I smile.
We get a rude awakening then, because I back her straight into the wall of her bedroom, squashing her against the glass.
“Oh!” she says with a gasp.
I laugh and take a step back. “Sorry. Invisible walls.” Bending, I slide my hands beneath her butt and lift her. After wrapping her legs around my waist, I kiss her as I carry her inside.
This is amazing, touching her, being touched… She clenches her hands in my hair, trying to kiss me harder—she liked the way I claimed her mouth earlier. I take the hint and step up the heat, my lips searing across hers as I delve my tongue inside.
Turning and pressing her up against the glass wall, I kiss her, and kiss her, and kiss her, until she’s panting and writhing against me. I’m turning molten, heated through until I’m supernova-hot, burning for her.
I walk over to the bed, turn, and sit so she’s astride me. Taking her hands in mine, I link our fingers then lie back and lift them over my head so she’s leaning forward. Her nipples are now at the level of my mouth, and I lose no time in taking advantage of that.
She closes her eyes and sighs as I trace the tip of my tongue around one, then cover it with my mouth and suck. Oh yeah… it hardens in my mouth and she gives a sexy groan, rocking her hips so she’s arousing herself on my erection. Her body is reacting, swelling, moistening, preparing itself for me, and the thought excites me, fires me up.
It seems to be doing the same to her, too, because she pushes up suddenly and gets to her feet, undoes her jeans, and slides them off with her panties and socks. She’s now naked, but when she climbs back on, she pushes me back when I try to take off my jeans.
“Keep ’em on,” she tells me, gesturing for me to move up the bed onto the pillows. “Have you got a condom?”
I take out my wallet, remove one, and toss the wallet aside. She climbs astride me again, and the sight of all that creamy skin, with her full breasts and tight nipples, is my undoing. She fumbles at my belt, and I help her out, sliding down the zipper, and then pushing the elastic of my boxers down to release my erection.
Nicola takes the condom from me, tests it’s the right way up, and places it on the tip of my erection. Slowly, she rolls it down, taking her time to feel every ridge and vein in her fingers as she does so.
“Fuck.” I cover my eyes with the heels of my hands for a moment. This feels incredible, but it’s going to be over in seconds at this rate. If this is the only time I have with her, I want it to last. I want to make it amazing for her.
I move my hands to hold her arms as she shifts to take me inside her. “Slow down,” I scold her.
She ignores me, though, wriggles her hips, and pushes down, and she’s so wet that I slide all the way inside her with one thrust. “Oh my God,” she cries out, arching her back.
“Aaahhh.” I dig my fingers into her arms. Christ, she knows how to push a man’s control to its limits.
She bends and kisses me, beginning to rock her hips, and holy hell, the sensation of sliding in and out of her is agonizingly beautiful.
“I’m not going to last long,” she tells me somewhat desperately as I cup her breasts again. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I like sex, but I’m not normally like this.” She catches her bottom lip in her teeth and moans.
“We’ve had two fucking years of foreplay,” I remind her hoarsely. “It’s not surprising we’re volcanic.” Above her, the world is full of stars, and it’s the most incredible experience I’ve ever had, as if we’re making love in the night sky.
Holding her around the waist, I flip her onto her back, still inside her.
“Oh God, yeah, now you’re talking,” she says earnestly, wrapping her legs around my waist.
I give a short laugh and kiss her. “I knew you’d be like this.”
“Like what?”
“Hot as. You’re more than a match for me, Nicola Dixon.” I start thrusting.
“Ohhh… and I knew you’d be like this,” she says, and moans.
I lift up onto my hands and plunge into her, looking down to watch my erection disappearing into her sweet, soft body. That’s hot—I like filling her up, the sensation of her stretching to accommodate me.
“Oh yeah… I’m going to come, harder, please Leon…” she begs.
So I give her everything I’ve got, pounding into her hard, until the headboard bangs on the wall and she exclaims with every thrust.
“Don’t stop… don’t stop…” she says, panting, “oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,” and I laugh and kiss her, thoroughly enjoying every second of being with this amazing girl. And then she comes, clenching around me and filling the air with her cries.
Oh fuck, I’m never going to survive her squeezing me like that, and I shudder and jerk as my own climax hits. I feel myself expelling jet after jet… fuck, can you fill up a condom?… holy shit I don’t think I’m ever going to stop… oh Jesus, that’s so fucking amazing… It feels as if it goes on forever…
And then it’s over. It’s taken about two minutes, and that’s it, the time I have with Nicola is gone.
Right then, at that moment, I know it’s not going to be enough.
Chapter Thirteen
Nix
“Mmm,” I murmur, as Leon’s body finally releases him, and he opens his eyes to look into mine. “The King and I. What a perfect way to end an evening.”
He was exactly how I thought he’d be—a tad demanding and forceful once he gave himself the green light. The way he tossed me onto my back… how he thrust so hard and rode me all the way through my orgasm… Oh jeez, that was amazing.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers, and kisses me.
Sorry? I lie there, limp and exhausted, and puzzle over his words as he moves his lips across mine, soft and tender. Is he sorry he gave in to his desire? Is he regretting it already? I feel a wash of disappointment, and my eyes prick with sudden, unwelcome tears, brought on by the rush of emotion from my climax.
When he lifts his head, I try to blink them away, but I know he can see them. “Don’t regret it,” I say, and bite my lip hard to stop it trembling. “I won’t make trouble for you, Leon, I swear.”
His eyes widen, and then he frowns. “That’s not what I meant. I’m sorry it was so quick, that’s all.”
“Quick?” I’m confused. Then I remember he asked me to slow down. Shit. But I thought guys liked it hard and fast?
He looks into my eyes, and his lips curve up. “You have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?”
“Not a clue.”
“How many guys have you been with?”
“Jeez. That’s a strange question when you’re still inside me.”
He chuckles, withdraws, disposes of the condom, then pulls me into his arms. “How about now?”
“I’ve had a few partners over the years.” Sex has always been the same for me. A couple of guys were considerate enough to give me an orgasm at some point. Most of the time it was up to me to sort it out. In my experience, the kind of sex you see in the movies—long and drawn out, with hours of foreplay—is a fiction. For most guys it’s about the fastest way to the finishing line, and if the girl comes too, it’s a bonus.
Leon lifts my chin and kisses me. “I’d like to have taken more time to make it special, that’s all.”
“It was special. I came, didn’t I? That puts you pretty high up on the list.”
He gives me an exasperated frown, the kind he’s given me most days ever since I’ve worked at the Ark. “I think you should be setting the bar a little higher than that.”
“If I did, I’d end up disappointed more often than not. It’s not a problem, Leon. There’s not really such a thing as bad sex, and if I get an orgasm out of it, I’m more than happy.”
“Right,” he says, “give me a few minutes and we’re definitely doing it again.”
That makes me laugh. “I’m not going to argue with you.”
“I mean it.” He cups my face with a hand. “And next time, we go at my
pace, not yours.”
I run my fingers down his chest. “You don’t like it hard and fast?”
“I like it any way I can get it, but that’s not the point. You deserve more.” He lowers his head and kisses me.
I close my eyes, feeling as if I’m drifting away on a sea of warm, melted chocolate. He tastes of whisky, and he smells of his lovely, fresh aftershave. After so long admiring him from a distance, I relish being able to touch him and kiss him. I fan my hand over his chest, feeling the curling brown hairs and the defined muscles there. How long have I admired him in his white shirts and smart suits, and thought about undoing a button and slipping a hand onto his warm skin? How many nights have I daydreamed about this, lying in bed with him, his lips on mine, making love? It’s a dream come true, and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.
I’m not going to think about what happens next, when we get back home. There will be plenty of time to worry about that—I’m not going to spoil the little time I have with him thinking about the end.
He lifts his head, lies back on the pillows, and molds me to him. “I hope you had a nice birthday.”
“Mm, the best ever.” I rest my head on his shoulder and trace my fingers along his ribs. “Thank you for such a lovely day.”
“You’re very welcome. It’s the least I can do after you’ve put up with me for so long.”
I chuckle. “You can be a bit of an ogre.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I understand you now. You’re a perfectionist, and you work very hard to make sure everything is just right. And you’re passionate about the Ark. You want it to do well. I like that.”
“I want it to be self-sustainable,” he says. “All of us are extremely lucky to have been born to three guys who have made us rich without us having to do anything.”
“You’re all very generous with your wealth, though.”
“Yes, but that’s part of the problem. The Ark was a stroke of genius, and it’s amazing what Hal and the guys have done, but we can’t pump money into it indefinitely. Hal thinks his bank account is a bottomless well but of course it isn’t. Eventually—even if it’s in five years or ten years or fifty years—the money will run out. I want to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
My Boss, the Billionaire (The Billionaire Kings Book 2) Page 10
