by Ellie Danes
Her fingertips grazed my jaw, and she pulled me into her. She was desperate, too. The kiss was passionate, needy, and fueled — so, so fueled. It was the type of kiss that said it’s fucking go time.
She pulled back and looked at me, almost dreamily. That was fitting — I was fucking daydreaming, after all.
The thing that worried me, though, was that it was all fake— but I couldn’t stop the delicious images I was creating. I didn’t even want to.
I just continued to think about kissing her slowly, as she pulled and massaged my earlobe. I groaned. I wasn’t sure if it was audible, or just inside my head, but I groaned.
Her lips dragged along my jawline and down to my neck, and I felt myself grow even more excited. I could only hope I wasn’t like a fucking teenage boy tenting in my pants while I stood out in the middle of the hallway, where anyone coming and going from the elevator could see me. But if I was, it wasn’t like I could do anything about it—I was frozen, almost like I was in a trance.
I thought about how I might press her against the wall of the shower, and how her nipples would pucker excitedly against me. I would watch her face as she looked back at me knowing exactly what it was that she did to me.
She electrified me. She made me strain with hardness.
I wanted to lift her into my arms and let her legs wrap around my waist. I wanted to feel her against me and have her bare breasts at eye level so I could look at them as we melted into each other. I wondered how they might look — I wondered if they were as nice as my mind made them out to be—because as the scene unfolded, they looked like the greatest tits in the entire world. They were perfect and even better in my hands. They were warm and soft and supple.
Her fingers trailed through my hair, entangling in it, and I took one of her supple nipples between my lips. I kissed and nipped, relishing the sound of her moans and encouragement.
She yanked at my hair and pulled me up into a passionate kiss. I groaned into her mouth, desperate to taste her. It was like I could literally feel her as she writhed against my stomach. I leaned down, deepening the kiss.
In that moment, she was no longer just the girl I was thinking of kissing — she was the girl I couldn’t imagine not kissing. She was the only girl I wanted to kiss.
I slid one hand down her smooth back and grabbed her surprisingly plump ass. I felt her stiffen for a moment and then shiver. She whispered in my ear — the words were naughty and seductive, but I couldn’t really hear what they were.
All that I cared about was the feel of her tongue running along my skin — it was all so much to drive me completely insane. I imagined that she’d try and pull away for a second, but I held her tightly. Her crooked smile told me that she wanted to do something that I had prevented her from. All she did was seductively gaze at me with her deep green eyes. The more I thought of looking into her eyes, the better.
I pulled her with me and together we fumbled out of the slippery shower, landing on my warmed floors. We were completely entangled in one another. We slammed into each other once again in a battle of tongues and lips. It was mayhem, and I loved it. We stumbled and knocked into the counter and the doorway in heated desperation.
Our desperation was so intense that my mind automatically took us to my bed.
“We’re soaked!” I imagined her say with a laugh as I lowered her onto my overstuffed down comforter.
“I don’t care,” the vision of myself replied smoothly, and even a bit aggressively. But that was exactly the way I would have responded if the moment was actually happening. Who the fuck needed towels? I’d lick every drop of water from her skin.
She looked so soft as I hovered over her naked body. But I wasn’t touching her, not yet; I just wanted to look at her.
Her wet hair was tangled in the sheets, and her lips curved up into a smile unlike any that I had ever seen before. I was almost sad that it was the kind of smile that I had only seen deep in my imagination.
I thought about how I would press my lips to hers and come back up completely breathless. I thought about how I might devour her mouth with my own as I pressed her firmly into my mattress. I was fucking captivated. She entranced me and took over my thoughts, and I couldn’t move as the sensual images continued to bombard me.
My rationale had completely left me like it was crumbling, and thoughts of Kate had just poured out in a frenzy. It was chaotic. I sighed as I crumbled pieces of an envelope in my palms and leaned against the wall. My eyes were closed, and I wondered if I was so tired my mind was starting to completely go haywire.
I thought of burying my face in the lush valley between her breasts.
“Fuck,” I grumbled. I hated that I had to imagine what they looked and felt like. The fact that I was still stupidly daydreaming about it was starting to piss me off because I wanted more than anything to have an accurate vision. To actually see Kate splayed out in front of me for myself — in real life.
But I couldn’t stop myself in my mind. I kissed her bare hip and locked eyes on hers as my mouth hovered just over her lips. I leaned in — then out — then in again, teasing her, torturing her.
I smiled. At least I could torture her in my daydreams because she sure as hell was torturing me in and out of them.
The dream Kate acted like I was all she wanted in that moment. I could only hope that, eventually, I would experience her like this in reality.
I gripped her hips and held her firmly against me. She writhed and breathed raggedly, locking her legs around my waist, trying to get me inside of her.
I wanted to do so much more.
So much more than just touch, well, so much more than to think about touching her.
I moved over her naked body, holding myself up over her chest as it heaved up and down. Her hands ran over my shoulders and down my chest.
She reached lower…
And lower…
And lower again.
My mouth hovered over hers, and we breathed together, our breaths hot on each other’s lips. Goosebumps covered my body as a shiver rolled up my spine and around to my front, right where her hand was headed.
She whispered something against my lips that I didn’t understand once again, but I didn’t have to. It was a seduction device — and that was all I needed to know. Because it worked.
Before I knew it, a sort of heat enveloped me, and I felt myself ease into a blissful state with one single thrust. I went slow, trying to make it good — not really understanding why. Logically speaking, it was a fucking dream. She couldn’t feel anything.
It was stupid really, but that didn’t mean that I could stop, either.
Her fists gripped the sheets, and her eyes squeezed shut.
But I wanted her to look at me. I wanted to look into her eyes. I gripped her hands, tangling my fingers with hers. Her eyes opened, and her hips continued to buck, meeting my rhythm perfectly.
I couldn’t breathe; I could hardly move.
I devoured her, drowned in all of her. I couldn’t believe how good she felt, without actually touching her. She made me feel so incredibly good when I had only just met her. I couldn’t believe how great I thought she was when I really didn’t know her at all.
I was close.
So. Fucking. Close.
I wanted to feel this way forever.
But of course, I couldn’t feel that way forever. I was in the lobby of my apartment building, for one thing. The almost feeling, along with the daydream, had left as quickly as it had come on in the first place.
I blinked, shaking myself free of my lustful thoughts. No matter how much I wanted to be up in my apartment with Kate at this moment — no matter what kind of intense daydreams I imagined for myself — it didn’t make it real. I knew that, but that didn’t change the fact that the arousal in my pants was real. Very, very real at that. Uncomfortably and obviously real.
Fucking hell.
I tucked myself into the corner for just a second. Long enough to pull my coat off and sling it ove
r my forearm. I pulled my forearm in front of me, and I looked like I was impersonating a fucking butler or something. But I didn’t care, as long as no one saw the situation happening in my pants.
I cringed. If someone had seen me while the daydream was going on, and I’d let it go just a bit further, this night might have ended a lot differently. I probably would have wound up in fucking handcuffs or something for public indecency.
I gripped the envelopes and magazine tightly as I made my way to the elevator and up to the top floor until I finally found myself safely in my penthouse apartment.
I really needed that drink.
I moved toward the large, portable bar cart that had been strategically pulled to hang out just beside my couch. As soon as I reached it, I grabbed both a glass and my favorite bottle of bourbon.
I plopped down on the couch, my hands full of much-needed bliss. Damn.
Everything that I’d just done—that insanely detailed fantasy I’d created in the freaking lobby of all places—it told me a couple of things. Either Kate was a freaking wizard in the sack even in my dreams, or it had been way too long since I’d gotten laid. And it could be both were true. I groaned, my eyes tightening of their own accord. It had been a really long time.
I hadn’t been with anyone since my break up with Amelia.
Amelia had totally ruined the nice streak of hotties I’d been enjoying for a while. She completely wrecked my bachelor run and turned me into a trained puppy, trapped in a bullshit romantic relationship. She was a one-night-stand that turned into a whole hell of a lot more.
She was a hot little number with gorgeous long, blonde hair — blue eyes that you’d think were the windows to warmth and kindness…but she was far from kind. She was cold and calculating, and she had a heart of ice. I’d known it, too. The whole time I had known that.
I’d just thought I was her exception. I thought I was the one person she could feel something for. I thought she gave a damn. But clearly, not enough — and I clearly didn’t give a damn enough either for that matter.
She was a lawyer and a damn good one. And although we’d had problems before, that’s where the real problems started to fall into place.
My darling of a girlfriend, being the world-class lawyer and shitty girlfriend that she was, decided to be one of the representing attorneys for BioResearch Labs, the company that my very own father was so hell-bent against.
It had been almost a year and a half since we split up.
That long since I’ve had any relationship that lasted longer than a night. A hook up here and there, but nothing, or no one worthwhile.
Back before I had my own company to run, I would have been ready to jump in the sack with several women just the week after the breakup. If I hadn’t had so much on my plate, I would have probably been at a bar every night since. But I didn’t have time for that anymore. It just wasn’t in the cards.
I could go now if I wanted. It wasn’t that late at night, and I could take a cab downtown and meet someone. Bring her home. Work off all the stress I’d been feeling.
I didn’t even bother standing up to leave, though. Because now, the scary thing was, I didn’t have the urge to go to a bar and bang randoms anymore. There was only one woman I wanted to be with. Kate. I couldn’t get her out of my mind, and the thought of being with anyone else just didn’t hold any appeal.
Which was strange, because I had no idea who she really was. What I did know was that she was actually someone I wanted to get to know.
I groaned, not understanding who the hell I was becoming. It would have been so much easier if I just wanted to fuck her, but unfortunately, there was more to it than that.
Chapter 9
Kate
“Dude, I really don’t want to go.” Claire scowled as she dragged her messenger bag on the ground behind her. The sound of it skidding across the pavement was like nails on a chalkboard.
“Pick up your bag, and shut up, dude,” I said mockingly.
We were standing right in front of the school. It was beautiful. So welcoming, tucked away in a nice little park area in a nice, quietly quaint neighborhood. It was a gray brick building. Tall. It looked more like a castle than a school.
“I just don’t want to go.” She looked pitiful. Like she was a little girl, with a puppy — and someone had just run over it.
“Jesus Christ, Claire,” I groaned. “You’re like a broken record!”
I bundled my arms close to me, irritated that I was still outside even having the conversation. Why couldn't she just be like normal kids? Bitch a little bit, fine — but when push came to shove, just suck it up and do what you have to do!
“I know you don’t want to go to school,” I said. “I get that! It’s been loud and clear!”
She hated school. She even hated it more than I hated school — and when I was in high school, I’d really, really hated school. But no matter how much harder she had it, I still wasn’t jiving with the whole I-don’t-want-to-go scenario.
“You have to go. May as well make the best of it,” I said as I looked at the bag on the ground, sternly.
I could see my breath with every word that I spoke, and as I watched it, and her continue to ignore me, my irritation grew. I was freezing to death, and she was really ignoring me.
“Claire!” I yelled, just before waving my hands in front of her face.
She was looking down at the snow still packed tightly on the ground, and her cheeks were blustery red from the cold.
“Yeah, yeah!” she groaned, finally glancing up at me.
“Now pick your backpack up,” I warned, setting my gaze down at the bag.
“Not a backpack if it goes on your shoulder,” she muttered, barely audible enough for me to hear.
“Keep it up,” I warned again.
“Whatever!” she mocked, slinging her head back to make the most ridiculous face I’d ever seen. “I’ll do whatever you say, master!”
I rolled my eyes as she pulled her bag back up over her shoulder and slipped away, toward the large oak-looking doors.
“Atta girl!” I yelled from behind her, only to receive a glare as she whipped her head to look over her shoulder as she walked.
She held up her hands in fake reassurance, gesturing two resounding thumbs ups — and even though they were meant to be disrespectful, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes and chuckle a bit. Only Claire could put enough contempt into a thumbs up to make it look like a middle finger. At least she was in school. Hopefully, everything else would follow suit.
I sighed as I watched the humungous brown doors close behind her, and held my hand up, feeling my eyes watering from the cold. Gesturing a cab in the freezing cold was always a pain in the ass. I couldn’t get warm fast enough.
But no matter how long it took, I was always happy to jump into the warm and toasty back seat. No matter how foul most of them smelled. The warmth was just too good to not be happy with, and the cab that I’d managed to hail was no different.
The warmth was the first thing I felt as I leaped into the backseat of the car, but the smell was a quick second. It smelled like stale cheeseburgers, BO, and a spray or two of Axe. My nose tingled — burned, even — and I choked as I told the cabby where to take me.
I still had my coffee date with Melinda to worry about. Otherwise, I might have told him to take me to the nearest shop to warm up—a place where I could thaw without having my nose assaulted. But I had to get across town, and a smelly cab was the only way to do that. So there I sat, for a whole hour, with my breath held on and off for about half of it. The other half of the ride, I was sad to say, proved that a person’s senses could be obliterated.
I no longer smelled anything at all, and I was pretty sure my nose had some sort of permanent damage.
When I finally managed to sit inside Melinda’s office, I realized that I was still trying to regain my sense of smell, and I probably wouldn’t have if I hadn’t basically buried my nose into the brim of my coffee cup and inhaled
deeply for a good twenty minutes.
“Are you trying to snort coffee?” Melinda joked.
“I wish I could bathe in it after sitting in that raunchy cab,” I said, enjoying the steam filling up my nostrils as I looked around.
Melinda’s office was so small it was almost depressing. Still, it was a whole hell of a lot better than what it had been before. Before, all she’d had was a tiny desk just outside my dad’s office. It was about time she had her own space.
But luckily, a few things were finally — after I didn’t even know how many years — moved around to accommodate the woman, who I pretty much deemed a saint.
Seriously, anyone who could put up with my dad for as long as she had, without being related and forced to, was a serious angel if I’d ever seen one. She deserved a little space. In my mind, she deserved a whole lot more than this tiny area, which had only been a copy room before she took it over.
They only managed to get the space open for her because copier sizes decreased as the decades passed, and that meant the amount of space needed decreased as well. They only needed two copy machines per floor now. I was relieved they’d given her the space here.
That wasn’t the only reason I was relieved. Claire was in school, hopefully for the day. Despite all her protests, she’d been mostly upbeat this morning. We’d have to address her anxiety and depression, but first, she needed some time to heal and feel comfortable again.
I shook off the thoughts of Claire and decided to give Melinda all my focus. She pulled her chair over to the side of her desk. “Just so there’s nothing dividing us,” she quipped before plopping down.
She was a character, that one. I sat on the tiny guest chair, just a few feet from her. Because in all honesty, there wasn’t a whole lot of room for it otherwise.
I smiled as I continued to look around the office, at all the little trinkets and whatnots she had scattered about. There were pictures of her parents, little puzzles, and crazy figurines on every single shelf and table surface.
