by Lexy Timms
“You don’t want to?” I asked in surprise, searching his face for any clue as to why he wouldn’t want to.
But Daniel shook his head. “Trust me, I want to,” he said, shifting so that his erection was obvious against the front of his pants. “But you look like you’re a little preoccupied. Maybe we should save this for another time.”
I shook my head quickly, knowing that if we didn’t do this now, right now, then we were going to have The Talk. You know, the one about our intentions. About where this could possibly be going. We weren’t going to be able to keep this relationship a secret forever, and this weekend had only cemented that more surely into my mind. I wanted Leanne and the kids to know about my relationship, and I was sure that Daniel wanted to share our relationship as well.
But as soon as there were too many people who knew about it, it was only a matter of time before someone leaked the information to someone. It was only a matter of time before the press was hounding us again, until we could never even snatch a few moments alone without them knowing about it.
What was that joke, after all: “You can only keep a secret between three people if two of them are dead”?
“I want this,” I told Daniel quietly, even though there was a part of me that knew this wasn’t the adult thing to do. The right thing to do would be to tell him about my worries now, before either of us got into this any deeper. I didn’t even think it was going to be possible to continue working for him if we called things off again this time, that was the scary thing. I would be losing him from my life entirely.
But there was another part of me that wanted to forget all about the disasters of the weekend and just focus on this, us. The way that it should have been all along. There was a part of me that just wanted to have this. Because if I was already too far down the path of no return, if my feelings were already so tied up in this, then what did it hurt? It couldn’t possibly make me feel any worse when we eventually went our separate ways, and besides, I already knew that we weren’t going to be able to work together after this anyway.
Not to mention the fact that I didn’t want to have that conversation now, not when I already felt so brittle after the emotions of the weekend. I wanted him to stay, and if he was going to stay, we were either going to end up talking or else end up in bed together.
Again, maybe not the most mature decision to make, but it was the one I chose to make.
“I want this,” I repeated as I stripped out of my clothes, letting them fall to the floor. Daniel groaned wordlessly and stripped out of his own clothes, leaving them in another heap on the floor. He advanced toward me and caught my hips, pulling my naked skin flush against his own. I could feel his heartbeat beneath the fingertips I had resting against his chest, could feel the way his cock twitched with desire as he claimed my lips in a heated kiss.
He pushed me back down on the bed, covering my body with his, and heat pooled in my gut as he nudged my knees to either side. There was very little foreplay this time, but then again, the whole weekend leading up to this had gotten both of us hot with lust, a thirst that still had yet to be slaked.
Daniel pressed his fingers into my entrance, making me gasp and arch against him. He trailed his lips down my neck, nibbling here and sucking there, leaving a trail of marks I was sure would stand out on my skin. But right now, I didn’t care; I let him have me as he wanted. Each new nip at my sensitive flesh only made my pleasure spike higher.
He was tender with me, gentle, but I could sense an underlying impatience there and knew that he needed this just as badly as I did. “Please,” I suddenly begged, reaching down between us and wrapping my hand around his throbbing manhood. I felt as though I had been on edge all weekend, just waiting for this, and now, his fingers just weren’t enough for my aching channel.
Daniel grinned against my skin but obediently withdrew his fingers and lined his cock up against my folds instead. He pushed slowly inside while I gasped and tugged at his hips. From the smirk on his face, I could tell that he was teasing me. But his smirk turned into a look of surprise as I locked my ankles behind his back and focused all of my attention on tugging him closer toward me.
He fell forward over me, his palms sinking deep into the bed on either side of my head. “Wasn’t expecting that,” he said, sounding amused.
“Fuck me,” I groaned, trying my best to get leverage against him.
“I have a better idea,” Daniel said, suddenly flipping us around so that I was on top of him and he was laying back against the pillows. “You fuck me. I want to see you fall apart on my cock. I want to see you totally come undone.”
I didn’t need any more urging than that. I rocked against him with wild abandon, surging upward until his tip was just brushing against the very edge of my hole, before dropping back down again until I was fully seated atop him. There was no finesse to the movements, barely even anything that you could call a discernable rhythm. But it did the trick for me, and I could tell from the way that Daniel groaned, from the way he clutched tighter and tighter at my hips, that it was working for him too, whether it was the feeling of it all, the expression on my face, or the helpless cries of his name that I couldn’t seem to quiet.
I came suddenly, body quivering as wave upon wave of heat spread through me, spilling from my gut and leaving my whole body liquid and relaxed. I could feel Daniel cumming as well, his arms wrapping tightly around me as I collapsed forward, holding me close, making me feel so utterly safe and cared for.
I never wanted to move from his embrace, but eventually, I groaned and rolled off to the side, stretching broadly. I couldn’t keep the grin from my face. Daniel rolled on his side, facing me and smiling as well. “Hey,” he said.
“Hey yourself,” I said, unable to keep from giggling. “That was about as good as that massage you promised me. I guess it’s all right that I never got that after all.”
Daniel laughed and tugged me closer into the circle of his arms. “Glad to hear it,” he said as I pillowed my head on his chest.
Chapter 23
Daniel
I FELT LIKE I HAD BARELY caught my breath before Abby was stirring restlessly again. She rolled onto her stomach, her arms and chin resting against my chest as she looked down at me. “You know, this place isn’t nearly as nice as that hotel you brought me to, but I guess it’ll do. It does have a shower if you wanted to, you know, pick up where we left off yesterday morning?”
I groaned and gave her a little push. “You’re insatiable,” I said, even though I didn’t really mind hearing that she wanted me again, so quickly. I must have done something right. Not that there was any question in my mind about it; I had seen the way she gave herself over to me. I was still in awe of the woman, I had to admit. She was just so open, so easy to pleasure, so willing to show me what she was feeling. Incredible. Really.
I looked around the place from the vantage point of the bed. “It might not be the hotel, but I like your place. It’s cozy.” And it was true. I liked that she had photos hanging on the wall; I liked that it felt lived-in. Not that it was messy, even. It just felt like Abby lived there, I guess. It had that sense of home that my place had always lacked.
Abby laughed. “You mean it’s small,” she said, flopping on her back next to me and looking around as well.
I shrugged. “A smaller house can be nice. There’s less emptiness. But that’s not really what I meant. It just feels like it suits you, I guess.” I stopped short of telling her that it felt like a home. I didn’t know if that would make things awkward between us, at such an early stage in our relationship. Even though it felt like Abby and I had known each other for ages now, even though it felt like we fit so perfectly together, I didn’t want her to feel like I was rushing things, like already talking about having a home together with her.
Not that I wasn’t thinking along those lines, albeit vaguely. Just watching her with her niece and nephew the previous day, it had sparked a little thought about her and me and a family. It was
something I had never really thought about before, busy as I’d been with my career, but it was nice to think about. Even with Ivy, I’d just thought about the marriage step and nothing really beyond that.
I was starting to wonder if maybe I hadn’t been in love with her as I had let myself believe. If maybe I’d just been so “in love” with her because she showed so much interest in me.
“What are you thinking about?” Abby asked, and I could see the serious look back in her eyes. I had sensed a slight hesitation before we’d had sex, something that went beyond the question of me paying off her brother’s medical bills. I had a feeling she was having the same sorts of thoughts I was, about what this really was. Could we have a relationship if I was so much in the public eye and she wanted so much to stay out of that spotlight?
I had counseled myself that I was already in over my head, so surely we could put off those questions for a little while longer. Especially since Abby had such an emotional weekend already with everything with her brother. But if she was having the same thoughts as I was, the same worries and doubts, then maybe it was time to get them out in the open, before they ate us both up.
So... “Our relationship,” I admitted to Abby. “I’m thinking about us.”
“What about us?” she asked suspiciously, but I could hear the resigned note to the way she sighed. She flopped back against the bed. I reached over and tangled my fingers with hers, not quite daring to pull her into my arms, knowing I needed to keep my head and think about things logically and with my brain, not with other parts of my anatomy. But I didn’t want any space between us, either. I wanted to make sure she knew how much I wanted her.
“I’ve really enjoyed these last couple weeks together,” I said quietly.
“Uh-oh,” Abby said, and suddenly, she was sitting up, looking worriedly down at me. “Are you breaking up with me right now?”
“Of course not,” I said, sitting up as well. “Or at least, not unless you’re breaking up with me.” I sighed and turned away from her, unable to keep the unhappiness from my face.
But Abby beat me to the punch.
She took a deep breath. “I’ve been thinking about you a lot this weekend,” she said. “And about us. And I know I told you before that I didn’t want to be in the media spotlight, and that’s still the case. But I also am not sure that I want to keep this relationship a secret.”
I stared at her, hoping beyond hope she was saying what I thought she was saying.
She glanced quickly up at me and then stared back down at her hands as though there was something fascinating about them. Slowly, she continued. “You’ve been so good to me, keeping us out of the public eye and all. But I want to date you for real. This weekend at the hotel would have been great, but I don’t want us to exist only behind closed doors or in private suites.” She grinned. “Or in rooftop pools where no one else can see us.”
I smiled back at her, but she wasn’t done yet.
“I’m not saying that I want our personal life to be everyone’s business,” she said. “Because I definitely don’t. And there are certain types of stories I just don’t even want to put myself in the position of being in. Like, I’m not going to go out to the latest clubs and stuff with you. I have a young niece and nephew, as you know, and I don’t want them to know about that side of me. Ever.”
“That’s fair,” I said.
She took a deep breath. “But I’m proud to be with you. You’re a really great guy, and you’ve really been there for me this weekend. And I know that it’s not fair to you to keep things a secret, but it’s not even really all about that. I just want everyone to know about our relationship, if I’m being honest.”
I grinned. “What, you afraid that some bimbo is going to fling herself at me otherwise? Please tell me this isn’t all in response to that stupid interview I did on Friday. Austin already read me some of the more salient headlines.”
Abby snickered. “Okay, to be honest, that’s part of it. They were showing bits of your interview in the waiting room this morning, and just watching that woman flirt with you bothered me. Not to mention watching everyone around the waiting room watching the interview.”
“Any cuties?” I asked teasingly. “Besides yourself, of course.” I had to admit, her easy admittance of the jealousy that she felt watching the interviewer flirt with me kind of stirred something inside of me. Not that I would ever intentionally do something to make Abby jealous, but it was yet another sign that she cared about me.
Really, all I could feel right now was relief at the fact that she had apparently been giving this relationship just as much thought as I had, and she had come to a lot of the same conclusions as me. I had just never dared to dream that she might be okay with being in the public spotlight, even if we were careful about how we were seen out in public. I thought she was so against all of it that she would eventually end up breaking things off with me again.
But it seemed like she was really ready to try and make things work.
I was still going to have to be careful, I knew. Give our dates a lot of thought. Make sure that she and I didn’t get caught in any compromising positions. And it might be better if I gave an official interview or something to announce us, rather than just let them find out about us. Control the information they got about the relationship, let everyone get their questions out before the wild speculations started.
But for now, it felt like we were taking a good step forward, and that was all I could ask for.
Abby rolled her eyes at my teasing. But she reached out and caught my hands again. “I want you to come to our family dinners. And I don’t want to feel like we have anything to hide. Because we don’t. We’re grown adults, and we’re able to make our own decisions and consent to this. And we don’t have to let it affect our business dealings. If we act like it’s something to be ashamed of, then people are just going to be weirder about it when they actually find out about it, right?”
“You’re probably right,” I admitted, already thinking about how, and if, we should break things to the board of directors and the other guys we worked with.
“And I’m sure you realize this, but the only reason I’m even considering this is because I really like you.” Abby said these final words all in a rush, looking more shy than I had ever seen her before.
I couldn’t help but smile as I tugged her closer to me, so that she was resting against my still-naked body. I kissed her gently. “I guess it’s a good thing that I really like you too,” I said, unable to keep the joking note out of my voice.
Abby swatted my shoulder, but then she settled back against my side again.
“Are you sure about this?” I finally asked. Because I had to make sure. Going public again could change everything. In good ways as well as bad. I definitely wanted to go out in public with her, and I was sure that if we managed things the right way, we could minimize the amount of gossip we had to deal with about us and about our business relationship. But at the same time, no amount of managing my life thus far had been able to keep the media at bay. There were bound to be some unsavory stories out there every so often.
I’d do what I could to keep her safe, but there were some things I knew I just couldn’t keep her safe from.
Abby nodded at me, though. “I know you’ll do your best to keep me safe,” she said, as though echoing my thoughts. “And that’s all I can ask of you. I’m sure I want to do this, though. For us.”
“Good,” I said fiercely, holding her a little closer to my side.
Chapter 24
Abby
MY PHONE BUZZED AS I was looking in the mirror one last time, checking my makeup before work that morning. I smiled, not even having to ask who it was. Since Daniel and I had gone public with our relationship, Daniel had decided that he would pick me up every morning on the way to his office. I had protested, pointing out that it was out of his way and that I was perfectly capable of getting myself to the office on my own. What did he think would happen, th
at some rabid fangirl would come after me demanding blood because I dared to be in a relationship with him?
Nothing like that, though, Daniel had told me. He reminded me of the morning when I had been accosted by the press on my way into the building and pointed out that that could happen again. He wanted to make sure that if there was any sort of problem like that ever again, he was there for me. Easier that we just show up at the same time so he could look out for me if he needed to.
When I pointed out that the building security usually handled those kinds of things and that particular day with the press had been an anomaly, he jokingly suggested bodyguards. But then, he had leaned in close and started whispering in my ear about all the things he’d like to do to me in that private car on the way to work.
Suffice to say, I had quickly quit protesting. But it had taken what felt like hours for my blush to disappear.
We’d gone out on a couple of carefully orchestrated outings since going public, and I appreciated all the care Daniel put into showing off just enough about our relationship. The first date had been a little awkward; we’d been holding hands at some fancy restaurant when the flashbulbs started going off. I’d immediately paled, and Daniel had frowned, looking upset.
“If you want to leave, we can,” he said in a low voice. “There’s an escape out the back; the cook knows me.”
I had laughed, put at ease by the sheer absurdity of it all. And also touched by the fact that he had clearly thought this through and picked a place that had an escape route. “Do you make a habit of running out the back in the middle of your meal?” I asked teasingly. “I would have thought that the papers would have picked up on that by now.”
Daniel grinned at me. “Well, there was this one time, in the middle of this really fancy gala my father made me attend...” he began, launching into the dramatic tale.
By the time he had finished telling me all about it, I was laughing so hard I could barely breathe. And that’s what the press caught as photos for the latest story about us: the two of us holding hands in a fancy restaurant, Daniel smirking as he regaled me with a story of his youth, and me with my head thrown back as I laughed. Not the most flattering picture of me, but all the headlines were about how Daniel’s romantic life seemed to be heating up, rather than anything negative about the two of us.
