Tension coiled within me, and I knew I was pretty damn close to the edge of a powerful orgasm.
He nuzzled his face between the deep valley of my breasts and kissed his way down the plane of my stomach and down, down to where I craved him the most.
God… did I ever crave him. Him. Eric Declan.
In the moment as he lingered over me, watching the pleasure take me, I saw him as him. Not a jock, not an athlete, just a man I couldn’t get enough of.
A wicked smile lit up his face as he slid his fingers deep inside my pussy and started fingerfucking me. Up and down he went. Up and down, making me cry out from the intensity and the overload of emotion.
The powerful orgasm grabbed me deep in its claws, holding me there at the height of ultimate pleasure then letting go. I rode the wave of it, allowing it to take me the way he took me.
Just when I caught my breath, he lowered his head and replaced his fingers with his tongue, and I went through the motions of pleasure all over again. But so much more.
His clever tongue licked and stroked the hard nub of my clit, teased my folds open, and prepped me for what was coming next. Then he found the trigger, or rather he knew when to pull the trigger, and it was now. At this moment when I’d already come and was greedy for more.
The godlike man gave me another devilish smile, and that clever tongue of his sent of a series of short licks right across the sensitive nub of my clit.
I grabbed on to the sheets, writhing against him as I came again right in his mouth, then I arched into the bed as he licked me clean. Taking every last drop of what I tasted like.
I couldn’t breathe. The heat that consumed me was so hot I couldn’t breathe, and it turned hotter as I watched him slide off the bed and grab a condom from his pants.
Despite my pleasure-filled intoxicated state, I had to take the moment to admire the masterpiece body he sported before me. His wide torso was chiseled with deep planes and valleys sculped in pure perfection. Inky black tattoos lined the top half of his abs, and a dragon wrapped right around his left leg.
My mouth went dry as I took in his massive cock, which to me somehow looked bigger than the other night.
“Is my lady pleased with what she sees?” He smirked, as if I could say no. “Am I worth five million?”
“Priceless.” He was, and he loved that I said that.
The fire returned to his eyes as he sheathed himself with the condom. When he took hold of me, pulling me into the touch that sealed all, I allowed myself to get lost in him.
“Give yourself to me, Mia. I want all of it. All of you. Mine.”
Suddenly, the whole idea of possibilities narrowed to one thing. To me. I would do it.
“Yes,” I answered breathlessly, and my body welcomed him as he slid inside me.
Deep, deep inside. Filling me right up. Filling me with him, searing me with the thick length of his cock, taking all of me.
He started with a slow pump, inching even deeper, then sped up to a pace that rocked my body out of reality. Faster and faster, pumping harder. With the sureness of a man who oozed confidence and sex appeal, he started pounding then fucking me hard.
The tormented moans that fell from my lips were just a fraction of the ravaging emotions that raged within me, and all it did was feed his hunger and mine for more.
Hunger that was consuming, fiery, and alive brought out the animalistic need in the passion that took us. Each stroke sent me reeling, racking my body and always demanding more and more until it hit us.
The point of our limit. He pistoned harder, shaft slicking in and out with delicious friction, then the liquid fire singed through my veins. I couldn’t even call it an orgasm. It was something else. Something indescribable that tore through me and rippled to him. The blissful pleasure was mind numbing and tore me in two. It possessed us, and we both came on the convulsive wave that tumbled over us.
It was the kind that demanded a mutual surrender, which we gave.
Every ounce of my body came alive with it, making me see stars.
His pumps slowed, and he stopped. When he lowered himself next to me and pulled me into his arms, I knew he felt the same as me. The very same.
He moved to look at me, and I stared back at him.
We didn’t need to talk. Everything we needed to say was right there in the silence that filled the space between us.
I moved to him as he lowered his lips to kiss me. Getting ready for round two.
* * *
This had to be the epitome of bliss.
Me waking up on a Sunday morning in Eric’s arms.
I’d been sleeping against his chest, and as I stirred, warm hands caressed the edge of my cheek. The warmth made me smile, and I opened my eyes with excitement. Excited to see him.
It was a nice feeling that energized my soul.
I sat up and pressed my hands against the hard walls of his chest, meeting his gaze of admiration.
This was the first time we’d ever seen morning together. Him with that just-got-out-of-bed sexy hair most guys tried to pull off on the regular was stunning. The vision of him left me speechless.
I loved that I loved every version of him there was. Could the man be any more perfect?
“Morning, sleepy head.” He beamed.
I answered him with a kiss, and then I freaked and pulled back because there was no way I was kissing this man with morning breath, or without running a comb through my hair.
“What? Why?” he asked with a bewildered look.
I chuckled. “I haven’t brushed my teeth yet.”
“Yet you smell like roses.” He chuckled.
I swatted his hands away when he reached for me. “No, don’t lie. I probably look like a cave woman too.” My heart jumped into my throat when I ran a hand through my hair and my fingers got stuck.
He laughed and hustled me over to sit on his lap, then held me in a lock so tight I couldn’t break free.
Eric shook his head at me. “Mia, you know, you worry about perfection too much. Please allow me to enjoy the just-woke-up-from-a-night-spent-with-Eric-Declan version of you. It’s a good look I want to remember.”
I smoothed my hand up to his jaw. “That’s easy for you to say when you look like… you.”
“Mia, please, and what do I look like?”
“Perfect.”
“Well, see that’s how I see you too, so looks like we’re good.” He held my gaze and continued to stare. “So… here we are. The morning after. What does Miss Cartwright plan to do with me today?”
I giggled. “Whatever Mr. Declan wants.”
“Be careful. Mr. Declan may want a repeat of last night. He may want to put last night on replay a lot.”
“That would be okay as long as he allows me to brush my teeth and sort my hair out.”
I was teasing. The way he looked at me made me not care about how I looked.
“You can do that, but if you’re giving me a choice, I have an idea for you.”
My interest piqued. “What?”
“I’m auctioned to you for a date, and, Miss Lady, you paid a pretty penny for me. I was thinking… what if we extended the perimeters of that date?”
“Like how?”
“Well, maybe it doesn’t have to be a day or a date. Maybe it could be longer than that, but you get to decide.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, not quite sure what he meant. “Me? What do you mean, I get to decide?”
“You like to be in control, so I’m giving it to you.”
I stared at him as what he was offering processed in my mind. Me in charge?
“You mean me in charge of us? Like …”
“Like you decide what we do next and where we go from here. And if it’s nowhere… Then auction up.”
That made my heart squeeze. It was sad and made me sound… shallow and like it would be easy to just tell him when I was done with him. It sounded coldhearted.
“Eric, I don’t want to do that. Why would you give me so much
power?”
He chuckled. “Because I’m crazy about you.” He shrugged as if he’d just said something simple. “I’m crazy about you, and it will be better for my blood pressure and sanity if we do it that way. It’s in your nature to be in charge of what happens to you. I just want you to give this a shot. Give us a shot, so I’m doing it on your terms.”
I ran my fingers over his beard as that warmth came back into my heart. I was crazy about him too and crazier for not telling him in the same effortless way he’d said it to me.
“I want to. I want to give this a shot,” I answered, and he searched my eyes like he was hoping I’d say more than that, so I stripped away that part of whatever guarded my heart. “I’m crazy about you too, Eric.”
Now he smiled. “Well, Miss Cartwright, looks like we’re finally on the same page. One more thing though…”
“What?”
“I want you.”
“You just got me.” I laughed.
He shook his head. “Nah, that was words. I want you the way we were last night where you give yourself to me and don’t hold back. But I want you like that every day. I want you without the philosophies. You do what you want when you’re with me and you be you. I want Mia Cartwright.”
I liked the sound of that. I really did. Right now, I wanted him again.
“So, I get to do what I want when I’m with you?” I clarified.
“Uh huh.”
“Today, I’m spending the day in this bed with you. And tomorrow too. Maybe the next day.”
“What of the next day, my lady? People might miss us.”
“Let them miss us. We’re going to be busy.”
“Okay, well, I think we should start the day with a shower, together.” He got up with me in one swift move and gave me that wicked smile of his.
It told me I was going to get exactly what I asked for.
Chapter 18
Eric
* * *
Three months later, and the woman still had me hooked on crazy.
She was my distraction for days like this when Mom came to visit. Since the last time she came to me and I confessed what I knew of Rory, I’d gone to see my parents a total of twice.
They knew I was with Mia, and I used that to my advantage.
The two visits I’d made were awful.
It reminded me of when I was younger and I’d decided on giving them the silent treatment for one reason or another.
It had happened more often than not, and since we were the kind of family that didn’t talk much, it was easy to become habit.
She’d walked in about five minutes ago. A very impromptu visit.
The training season started last week, so I was actually officially busy, but there were two people who’d get my attention today.
Rory, who’d be here very shortly for a late breakfast, and then Mia tonight.
I really didn’t factor seeing Mom and only God knew what our conversation would be like.
She looked around the living room, and her gaze landed on Mia’s little purse sitting in the corner on top of my Men’s Health magazines. Mia had left the purse here last week. She had so many handbags and mini this and that that I didn’t know how she kept up with which contents she placed in which bag.
Mom returned her gaze to me and brought her hands together. I had to admit she looked nervous as hell.
“Eric, I came to see you because I don’t know what’s going on with you. We haven’t really spoken about Rory since the last time I was here.”
I surveyed her demeanor. The translation to that was every time I came to visit, she was worried about what I would say to Dad, and she was worried in the in-between too. Sitting on a bag of nerves and not knowing from one day to the next what would happen.
“Mom, unless you want to move forward with some plan of action, I’m not speaking to you about Rory.” It was actually as simple as that.
We were adults here. I was years away from being a boy, and we both knew what went down.
I didn’t need to do anything to ruin her. She would do that to herself. The truth would come out when it chose to if she didn’t take it in hand and speak to Dad, and if it did come out on its own, I knew it wouldn’t go well for her.
“Eric, this… is unfair. It’s a secret I wanted to keep. You’re a grown man now, and it hardly matters whether your father knows or not. You don’t need him, but I still do.” Her voice hitched like she was going to cry.
I simply looked at her, wondering how she could think her reasoning made sense.
It didn’t. It absolutely fucking didn’t. In her eyes, I should keep quiet because she needed her cushy lifestyle with Dad.
“Mom, do you really think you can’t do better than a man who cheats on you all the time?”
She gave me a withered glare. “Eric, I’m fifty-six. Dating among the older folks isn’t a walk in the park. I signed a prenup. I get nothing if your father finds out I cheated and leaves me. I will have nothing, and he will have everything. I go back to being the woman trying to work her way up in the world.”
I sighed. “Mom, you make this sound like I’m supposed to feel sorry for you. I can’t deal with this shit anymore. I haven’t talked about it because I know I’ll get nowhere. It’s not going to be good for you if Dad finds out, so you should tell him. But… to put your mind at rest, I assure you he won’t hear it from me.”
She went to answer but stopped herself when Rory appeared at the door.
We both looked at him, and the blood drained from her face.
Rory didn’t say anything, and neither did she.
She glanced back to me, looked away again with pain in her eyes, and walked out, walking right past Rory like he was a stranger in the street.
I couldn’t believe it, and honestly couldn’t imagine them together at any point. That just now was exactly what my mother was like.
She could act like she didn’t know you when she didn’t want to.
We waited until the door closed before we started talking.
“Looked like I interrupted something important,” Rory stated, walking inside the room. I sat down on the edge of the sofa and watched him.
“It wasn’t important. She’s worried that Dad…” These days, I found it hard to call Dad, Dad when Rory was around.
He smiled. “Eric, it’s okay. Jack will always be Dad to you because he’s what you know. It doesn’t bother me you calling him that. Not like it used to. I know we know different.” He sat across from me on the armchair but leaned forward.
“It’s weird sometimes.” I shrugged.
“It would be, but it is what it is.”
“Mom’s worried about me spilling secrets to Dad.”
“I can just imagine how worried she must be. I guess we haven’t talked that much about it either. It should be me, Eric. I should tell Jack because he’s my brother.” He nodded. “Someone has to be a man through all this, and it should be me. I was the one who slept with my brother’s wife.”
I didn’t know what to say about that. It was true. “Do you think he knew?” Maybe that was why they never really got on.
Rory shook his head. “No, he didn’t. Our rocky relationship started eons before that. The fact that I lived and breathed annoyed him.”
I pointed to the door. “How on earth did you end up with Mom? She doesn’t seem like your type.”
He’d been with Mom and never got married. He’d had girlfriends over the years but never settled down.
“I thought she was different, that she really did want to be with me. Part of me still believed she did, but she hated the life she had when she was growing up that much that it shaped her actions. She no longer wanted me after I had nothing to give. Jack always liked her, even when I was with her. It was like some triumph for him over me when they announced they were getting married. It wasn’t that long after I got injured and she ended it with me.”
I noticed he spoke with no remorse at all.
“What should
we do, Rory?”
“We don’t worry about it now. Whether the truth comes out now or later, it will still be bad, so better to not fixate on it. I got what I wanted, and that was this with you. Everything else can wait.”
“Thank you. That means a lot.” I nodded. “And, I like that plan. I have too much on my mind.”
“Oh yeah? Does the too much involve a certain young woman?” He chuckled.
I smirked. “Yeah, I want to take her to Tijuana next weekend. I’m thinking Friday night. Thing is, we’ve never been away before, and I don’t want to do things too soon.”
I didn’t want her to freak and worry things were happening even faster than they were. When I got her to agree to this idea of mine, I was hoping she could see that we could work out and there wasn’t anything to be worried about. We would just allow time to take its course. Three months later, and we were better than what I’d hoped for.
“You never know until you try. I don’t see anything wrong with it. You know, Eric, this girl of yours is sounding more and more like a keeper. Make sure she knows how you feel about her.”
It was great advice. Definitely great. I just wasn’t sure Mia was actually ready to hear that I’d gone past the part about being crazy for her and landed on the category of fallen for her.
If I wanted to see the woman run from me again, that’s what would happen.
“She’s a little edgy about relationships.”
“Aren’t we all?” Rory laughed. “Do yourself a favor and just go with the flow of how you feel.”
I wanted to. When I looked to the future, I saw her. I hoped she would keep me around for a little longer.
It still felt like I was trying to surprise her.
* * *
After a long day of training, nothing was better than coming home to my girl already at my house.
My girl already at my house, in the kitchen, busy with the finishing touches on the meal she’d made me.
Enchiladas.
It was the best meal she said she could cook, but really, all the things she’d made for me tasted fit for God himself. Her enchiladas, however, were above the rim divine.
Auction Time: Bad Boy Bachelors of Orange County BK3 Page 13
