Zane shook his head and focused back on the guitar. “This is something else that I wrote,” he said, repositioning the guitar again. I sat and eagerly listened to the next song that he played. I noticed that he closed his eyes as he played the song and slightly leaned into me, connecting with me on a whole different level. I don’t know if it was the song or the simple gesture, but when he finished, I was in tears.
He placed the guitar back on the stand and pulled me onto his lap. “I hope those tears aren’t the ‘oh-my-God-that-was-so-bad-that-my-eyes-are-even-protesting’ kind,” he said with a smile. I laughed as I brushed away a few lingering ones and shook my head.
“No, I thought it was beautiful. It seems to have a lot of emotion in it, or at least it touched me on an emotional level. I don’t know much about music, so I’m probably speaking foolishly. Either way, I loved it,” I said, kissing his lips. He nodded and sweetly stroked my cheek.
“I’m glad you do. I wrote it the night I kissed you for the first time,” he said softly. I smiled as my eyes watered once more. I couldn’t believe that I had my own song. I felt like the luckiest girl in the world, but I didn’t deserve all of this. He didn’t deserve to be lied to.
He kissed my forehead and the tip of my nose before gazing into my eyes. “You’re doing it again,” he said. I raised an eyebrow. Were my emotions that easy to read?
“Doing what?” I asked, pretending to be oblivious.
“Lately, anytime I mention anything about a future with you or say something sweet to you, you appear hurt or bothered by it. Am I making you uncomfortable?”
“No, it’s not you. It’s just that … I have so much on my mind, and I just need to figure some things out.”
“Am I not enough to keep your mind occupied? Should we engage in kinkier sex to help you forget all of it for good?” he asked with a grin. I laughed, not because it was funny but because of the situation as a whole. All the sex in the world wouldn’t make me forget what I would eventually have to do. I kissed him and snuggled closer to his warm body.
“You’re more than enough, Zane. You’re more than I could ever ask for.”
***
“Hey, I have these tickets for the Brooklyn museum tonight. Are you free to go?” Zane asked when I picked up the phone. I bit the inside of my cheek as I gazed at my computer screen. Even though I was in the middle of writing, I definitely missed being with him. It had been a week since I had seen him last, and the only thing that was keeping me away was the need to catch up on writing.
“That sounds fine,” I finally said.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes, why?”
“You sound down.”
“I’m fine, really.”
“You will be once I get a hold of you,” he chuckled. I grinned and blushed at his words. He knows how to make me smile and blush at the same time, even when he says something with innocent intentions. It was so easy to sexualize everything about this man. I craved him, and every moment that I wasn’t with him caused me to ache with need.
“So what time should I be there?” I asked, bringing myself back to the conversation.
“How about you come down to the restaurant, and we can hang out for a bit?” he asked, his voice dripping with lust. I crossed my legs firmly, as a dull throb began at my core.
“I’ll be there soon.”
“Can’t wait,” he said and hung up. I sighed and leaned back in my chair. It was nice to have an excuse to get out of the house. Gia had been busy with work this past week, and with Julius gone, I had to admit that I was pretty lonely being at home alone.
As I made my way to the bedroom, I tried to imagine every day being like this. Could I live with the silence that I was experiencing right now when I finally decided to leave Julius? Who the hell was I kidding? Even when he was here, he barely said a thing to me, anyway. For so long I had felt like a ghost in my relationship, but I was completely visible to Zane. The way he made me feel was something that I knew I couldn’t live without, but I wasn’t completely sure if I was ready to sacrifice everything for a relationship that was uncertain to survive.
As I looked at my reflection, a slow grin spread across my lips, as a spontaneous idea came to me. I decided to keep on the black-and-white pencil dress that I was wearing, but I decided to go without panties on this occasion. It didn’t matter what Zane had planned for us; I knew that our night was going to end up being a heated session of passion.
***
I noticed something was wrong as soon as he looked up from the papers he was reading at his desk. Zane’s eyes softened in my presence as he stood and made his way over to me. “Is everything alright?” I asked, meeting him in the middle of the room. He sighed deeply and kissed my forehead.
“Everything’s cool. You look beautiful as usual.”
“Thank you. Are you sure you’re okay? You’re not—” He cut me off by passionately connecting our lips, his hands freely roaming my body as he pulled me closer to him. I groaned at the force and affection as I melted in his arms. Whatever I had been meaning to say was long forgotten as his tongue caressed mine. When he finally pulled away, I held on to him to prevent myself from stumbling over.
“Are you ready to go?” he finally asked. I blinked and nodded, watching him in a daze as he went to grab his leather jacket from the back of his office chair. After shrugging it on, he took me by the hand and led me out.
I could tell that something was really bothering Zane as we made our way around the Brooklyn Museum. He was zoned out for majority of our visit, and whenever he responded to me, his answers were short and vague.
“Baby, look at me,” I coaxed once we were in a secluded corner away from the crowd of people moving about. He focused his light brown eyes on me with a sigh. “Talk to me. What’s bothering you?” I asked, caressing his cheek gently. He shook his head.
“It’s not important, I’ll be fine—”
“It’s important to me. I can tell that something is wrong. I just don’t like seeing you like this,” I said softly. He sighed again and hugged me tightly.
“I’m sorry, baby girl. A lot of things are going on right now, and I’m just a little stressed. It’ll be fine, I promise,” he said, kissing my lips gently.
I sighed inwardly as his phone went off, immediately feeling the loss of warmth once Zane ended our embrace. He excused himself and quickly walked away a few steps to continue his conversation. As I waited for him to finish, I heard something that made my blood run cold.
“Arianna?” a male voice called out behind me.
My heart raced in my chest as I tried to decide how to handle the situation. What the hell was I supposed to do? If I acknowledged him, I would be admitting that he was right about my identity. If I kept ignoring this guy, I would put myself at risk for him to come up to me when Zane and I were together. Taking a deep breath, I casually turned around, making sure not to make eye contact with anyone.
“Arianna?” he asked again.
Shit.
It was Julius’ best friend Aaron and his girlfriend of the month. If Aaron saw me with Zane, I was certain to hear about it from Julius when he returned. Before I could even think of how to get out of the situation, Aaron approached me.
“Arianna, I thought that was you. How are you? Where’s Julius?” he asked with a smile. I swallowed the lump forming in my throat. I could still see Zane on the phone in my peripheral vision, but I needed to figure out how to end this encounter.
“I’m sorry? I think you have the wrong person,” I said flatly, trying my best to look baffled. Aaron raised his eyebrow in confusion for a second before chuckling.
“Don’t be silly. I can recognize the Donatelli beauty that you and your mother both have,” he said, playfully tapping my arm. I slowly shook my head.
“I really think you have the wrong person. I’m not sure who this—”
“Do we have a problem?” Zane asked, coming up behind me, eyeing Aaron suspiciously. Aaron looked at Zane curiously bef
ore turning his attention back to me.
“Who is your bodyguard here?” he laughed, gesturing toward Zane. I sighed and rubbed my forehead. Things were already getting awkward.
“Sir, I keep trying to tell you I’m not the woman that you think I am. This isn’t my bodyguard, this is my boyfriend,” I said. Zane’s arm moved to my waist to drive the point home. Aaron stared at me for a moment before slowly nodding. His gaze bored into me as a sly grin touched his lips.
“Sorry about that, then. I guess I was a little confused,” he said sarcastically as he slowly backed away. I breathed a sigh of relief when he was finally out of sight. If I didn’t tell Zane soon, situations like this were bound to continue.
“Who was he?” Zane asked, bringing me back to reality. I waved my hand to dismiss the idea and linked my arm into his.
“I don’t know. He thought I was some Arianna Donatelli woman or something.”
“I don’t blame him. You do kind of look like her. She’s fucking sexy, too,” he said with a grin. I playfully slapped his arm.
“And how would you know that?” I asked, curious to know how he really knew what I looked like. He shrugged.
“My sister dragged me to one of Charlotte Donatelli’s fashion shows while she was visiting me one year. Donatelli’s daughter came out with her at the end of the show. Probably the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” he said, sounding distant. I cleared my throat and pushed him, causing him to chuckle and wrap his arms around me. “She’s not as beautiful as you, though. No one is as beautiful as you.”
“Oh yeah? And why is that?”
“Because unlike that woman, you’re my woman,” he said and kissed me gently. I tried not to let his words bother me, but I couldn’t shake them. What he was saying was true, but the truth of his words cut me deep. Yes, he thought that I was really attractive, but the reality was that he wasn’t with Arianna. He was with this persona that I created. From his words, I think it would be safe to assume that once he finds out the truth, there will be no more us.
“You wanna get out of here?” he asked. I blinked and nodded. I didn’t want to run into anyone else that I knew. If Aaron was here, I was sure that someone else would probably be here to recognize me, and I didn’t want to stick around to find out.
“Yeah, this place is a bit dead anyway,” I said, intertwining our fingers and heading toward the exit.
***
“Are you going home?” he asked as we sat in the parking garage next to his business. I knew I really needed to write, but I wanted to be with him more. As bad as I wanted to stay with him, his mood and attitude made it seem as if he wanted to be alone.
“Do you want me to?” I asked, looking over at him. He took my hand and brushed the pad of his thumb over it.
“No, I don’t. Stay with me,” he said, finding my eyes. I nodded without a word. I would do anything for this man. If he were to ask me to leave my life behind and reassure me that everything would be okay, I would do as he said. Unfortunately, it was hard to expect that when the whole foundation of our relationship had been built on a lie.
We went back to his office where he sat back at his desk and continued reading through a few papers with a tense look on his face. I paced the floor and gazed at the cooking awards that he had on the walls and shelf. I smiled to myself. It was nice to see that he was so successful in something that he was passionate about. “It looks like you’re winning over a lot of hearts with your food,” I mentioned, placing an award that I had picked up, back on the shelf.
“Yeah,” he replied dryly, not even looking up. I moved over to him, taking the papers out of his hand.
“You look stressed, baby,” I said, sitting on his desk in front of him. His eyes raked over my body before he brought his gaze up to meet my eyes.
“Because I am. But it’s fine, I’ll figure something out.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
“No, I can handle it.”
“Well … maybe I can do something else?” I asked, parting my legs slightly. Zane glanced down, smiled.
“Going commando, are we?” he asked, licking his lips as he moved his chair closer to me. I shrugged innocently and grinned.
“Oops, I can’t believe I forgot to wear panties. I think I should be punished so I’ll learn my lesson,” I said, slowly raising my dress over my hips to fully expose myself. He shook his head as he stood to his feet and kissed me.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do with you, woman, but obviously, I have to teach you about coming to my workplace with no panties,” he answered as his fingers stroked my pearl. My head fell back as pleasure took over my senses. His lips planted sizzling kisses along my neck and jawline as he continued to prime me for his entry.
“Zane … I need you,” I moaned as he plunged two fingers inside of me. He kissed me feverishly as he worked his fingers in and out of me, slowly causing me to come apart. Just as I felt my muscles contract, he quickly stopped, leaving me panting.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Can’t have you climaxing too early, or it wouldn’t be punishment, now would it?” he asked with a wicked gleam in his eyes. I glared at him and wrapped my legs around his waist.
“Don’t be a tease. Fuck me right here on this desk so that I can mark number four off of my list.”
“Oh, I plan to fuck you all over this office. There’s only one stipulation.”
“Which is?”
“You’re not coming until I let you,” he breathed before drawing my bottom lip into his mouth. I sighed in pleasure as he took possession of my mouth. His hands firmly squeezed my thighs as I began to grind my sex against his erection that was fighting to come out of his jeans.
“I think you have too much clothing on,” I said in between kisses, unfastening his belt and button and lowering his zipper. He grabbed my hands and shook his head.
“Patience. It’ll be removed in due time,” he said with a grin. I watched him let his jeans drop around his ankles. His fingers teased the waistband of his boxers, slowly looping inside of them as he proceeded to lower them painstakingly slow. I let out a frustrated sigh and crossed my arms across my chest, causing him to chuckle. I bit my bottom lip when I saw the head of his member peek through, but was immediately robbed of the beautiful sight when he pulled his boxers back up.
“In all seriousness, I don’t have a condom here, babe,” he said, kissing the tip of my nose. I rolled my eyes, reached into my purse and pressed a condom against his chest.
“In all seriousness, Zane, I need you to fuck me. Now strip,” I demanded. He smiled at me in surprise.
“You’re so fucking sexy when you’re demanding. Your wish is my command,” he said, quickly dropping his boxers and slipping on the condom. He slid me to the edge of his desk and was inside of me in one swift motion. With his arm snugly secure around me as I wrapped my legs around him, he immediately gave me what I requested. He pumped into me with such force and passion that I was overwhelmed with emotions and the urge to climax at the same time.
I held onto him tightly as I listened him to tell me how perfect I was and how amazing I felt. Despite him giving me the best sex of my life, my mind kept drifting back to my actual life, back to Julius. I wasn’t any better than he was for doing this. Not only was I probably ruining my future, I was bound to ruin Zane in the process. No matter what Zane thought, I could never be perfect. I was tainted in more ways than one. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to bring my attention back to Zane, urging him to go faster and harder to bring me to the brink of my orgasm.
“Zane, I think I’m …” I trailed as the overwhelming pressure building up took over the rest of my words. He bit my neck lightly and went a bit deeper.
“Come all over my desk, baby,” he moaned huskily into my ear. His words alone sent me over the edge. I cried out in pleasure as a wave of orgasmic bliss washed over me as I climaxed, clinging onto Zane for dear life.
He kissed me gently as I slowly came down before pulling out of
me. “I pray that I moved the important papers. You literally just came all over my desk,” he chuckled. I blushed and slid off the desk to see that the remaining documents were wet. He laughed.
“You have one stuck to your ass, actually,” he said, removing the sheet of paper that still clung to me. I blushed and giggled.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to wet everything,” I said, straightening my dress. He tilted my head up and kissed me gently before caressing my cheek tenderly.
“Don’t ever apologize for something as sexy as squirting, baby girl. You’re seriously one of a kind,” he winked.
***
As the weeks went on, I found myself falling deeper and deeper for a man I couldn’t have. Because I was able to spend so much time with him, I hadn’t even thought about what I was going to do when it was time for me to go back to whatever it was that I had with Julius. It definitely wasn’t a relationship anymore now that I knew what he had been up to. Zane treated me so well and made me feel special. We went out on dates, sat in and watched movies, worked on research of course, and even when it was that time of the month for me, he pampered me with his delicious baking and body massages every night.
There was no way in hell I could go back to the life that I lived and be able to forget that this happened. I was hoping that the memories I was creating with Zane would make it hard for him to push me away when it was time to tell him the truth.
No matter how hard I tried to push the situation to the back of my mind, I knew that it had to be done sometime. The book was almost finished. Once it was done, then what? I wouldn’t be able to share the news of it being published or else he’d find out my real name. There had been a few other instances when some of my family’s friends would recognize me in public and just like with Aaron, I had to deny it. It was only a matter of time before my parents caught wind of everything also. It was happening so often that Zane would joke around and actually call me Arianna to tease me. I was always on edge when I went out with him. It was only a matter of time before the truth would come out.
On a day that Zane had to work, I made my way to Westchester County. I needed to talk to my father about what was going on with me. My mother was useless at this point. She was so set on me marrying Julius that she wouldn’t hear about the possibility of me being in love with someone else.
The Daring Assignment Page 14
