I nearly lost my mind when she did that because I saw the mischief in her eyes, and right then, I was so glad my office door wasn’t just closed but locked. We’d learned the lesson well from that first time.
“What do you have in mind, Goddess?” Oh, I knew exactly what she had in mind from the way her fingers fluttered over my cock, but I wanted her to tell me.
The mischief in her eyes only intensified when I looked at her.
“I’m hungry for you.” She smiled as she undid my belt buckle
“Taylor Cartwright, you are the perfect woman,” I breathed, watching her.
She unzipped my fly and pulled my boxers down, unleashing my cock. With one slender hand, she gripped the base, then lowered her mouth to lick me from base to tip, cradling my balls as she did so.
The pleasure that surged through me was electrifying. It was like someone had sent a jolt of lightning through my body, and it singed my soul, awakening everything inside me with fire.
Liquid fire fueled by sex, passion, and everything I could ever want.
I laced my fingers through the silk of her hair, holding her to me as she worked me, her head bobbling up and down as she sucked my cock.
I was already nigh on release before she’d started, so now I was fighting it to hold on to the sensation for just a little longer. Her with her mouth on me, sucking, licking, and tasting, satisfying her hunger for me. Satisfying my need, want, and desire for her.
I’d been such a fool in thinking once was enough. It hadn’t been. One night, one time, one more time. No. It wasn’t one anything.
The thought scared me, but I was enjoying her far too much to let it get to me.
The release I’d been holding off peaked, and I straightened because I didn’t think she wanted me to cum in her mouth. When we’d done this before, I’d always pulled out before that happened. Today, however, she gripped onto my hips, holding me there, letting me know without words that she wanted me.
The thought made me lose my mind. The sweet suction of her mouth was too much, and I came right there in her mouth, spilling into her as she sucked harder.
She continued sucking until I stilled, and licked me clean, licking at the last pearly drop and making a show of swallowing then looking like she’d had some rare exotic dish.
She stood up and smiled, fixing her bra.
“Feel better?” she asked as simple as if she were asking me about the fucking weather.
“Taylor, what the fuck? I feel like I lost my mind.” I breathed.
She chuckled and started fixing her hair. I knew I was late. That took at least five minutes.
I fixed myself and stood too, deciding I’d take another minute with her. “Come back to mine later?” I asked, taking hold of her arm.
“Wow, I seem to be at your place more than mine these days,” she said, habitually running her fingers over my chest.
“Can you blame me for wanting you in my bed?”
She smiled. “What if I want you in my bed?”
“I’ll come running to your bed, goddess. Just say the word, and I’ll be there.” I truly suspected this woman knew she had me eating out of the palms of her hands and was working that little fact to her advantage.
She walked around me, eyes holding me in place with mischief, something brewing deep beneath the warm brown hue. Here I was, a man who was about to sign a two-million-a-year contract, and I was late. All because I suspected madam here had some sort of idea up her sleeve.
“What if I was out?” she asked. “Or what if someone else was already in my bed?”
A flicker of annoyance rippled in my soul…
No. It wasn’t fucking annoyance. It was more like rage flashed through me. Someone else in her bed?
“No.” I said that without really thinking.
“No?”
“No, I mean… no.”
“You can’t tell me no.”
“Yes… I mean, I know I can’t tell you no, but I don’t want anyone else to be in your bed.”
She looked at me and gave me that saucy smile. “Aren’t you late for something important? Two million dollars important. Fate and fortune awaits.”
Yes, I knew the damn two million awaited, but that teenaged boy came out in me again, and he focused on selfish desires. He wanted the girl.
“Taylor, don’t drive me crazy.”
“We’re no strings attached, Dylan. In fact, we aren’t even that. You haven’t said any different. I could just be this week’s woman.”
“I’ve been with you for ten days.”
“Then I’m the ten-day woman. That’s not much. It could be like we never happened.”
She gave me a one-shoulder sassy shrug and moved to go, but I caught her arm just like she knew I would.
“Woman, I swear you are the devil and the death of me,” I growled, and she smiled, placing a kiss on my chin. “What do you want?”
“I don’t know.” She giggled.
“What do I have to do to reserve my spot in your bed?”
She laughed. “That’s for you to decide.”
“How about this? We’re no strings attached exclusive until I go.”
Her eyes sparkled at the idea. “No strings attached exclusive? I’ve never heard of that before.”
“It’s a thing. It means exactly what it says. No strings attached but exclusive to each other for a time.” That would be a little over six weeks.
“Okay. I like that. Spot reserved. What about me? I really wouldn’t like a repeat of the last guy I decided to be exclusive with. Do I need to check ahead before I go to your place? Would give you time to get any women out of your bed before I get there.” She winked.
I looked at her and knew she was playing it cool, but what she’d just said wasn’t her. I hadn’t known her long and didn’t have to know her for any length of time to know that she would not have been okay with that. The whole aspect of her calling ahead because I might have a woman in my bed would be really bad, and she didn’t deserve to be with anyone who could treat her like that.
“I wouldn’t do that to you,” I answered, and that same sparkle flickered in her eyes. “I’m all yours.”
God, I didn’t know what the hell I was doing, to be honest. This was an idea that shouldn’t be, but I wanted it. I wanted to keep seeing her. A little longer wouldn’t hurt me. I hoped it wouldn’t. I really hoped it wouldn’t.
She smiled and gave me another kiss. “I’m all yours too. No strings attached exclusive for the rest of the time you’re with me.”
Good… That was good to hear. I just wished that when she said that, my heart didn’t long for more.
* * *
Two-million-dollar contract signed….
Perfect. It was all perfect, and Dad was over the moon happy. I’d never seen the man look so happy, so happy we went out for a late lunch together after the meeting with Peter.
We ate and talked about all sorts of things, the way he used to with Tommy. Dad and I had never done this. It wasn’t a thing we did because in my younger days, we didn’t have anything in common.
Today, we talked for at least three hours, and he only had to go because he had a meeting with another client whom Peter had referred him to.
It was all really taking off for us. I was happy, but I felt like a complete asshole the whole time we spoke because I hadn’t just slept with a client this time; I’d agreed to this no-strings-attached exclusive relationship with her.
No strings attached exclusive for the next six weeks. I was walking a dangerous line.
Guilt plagued my mind, but so did wanting Taylor.
By nightfall, I decided I was due a game of basketball with Parker, my best friend. We’d known each other since high school. He’d played pro for the NBA for eight years, then became a high school basketball coach. On Wednesdays, he ran a club for his teammates who wanted extra training. We shot some hoops after the club and had a full hour of one-on-one play.
Back in high school, we used to d
o this after class. We were on the same team, but I never took the sport, or anything for that matter, seriously, so it would always just be play for me, especially since I was considered to be one of the shorter guys even though I was six feet two. Parker was six seven and built.
We made our way over to the bleachers when we were finished playing, and I grabbed a cold bottle of water from the drink cooler.
During the game, I’d told him what was going on with me. He was the guy I told my secrets to. I always felt you needed to have one person in life like that, or you’d go crazy. This guy was that friend for me.
He was also the kind of guy who, lucky for me, would take your secrets to the grave.
He grabbed some water too, but instead of drinking it, he poured it on his head.
“Hey, I always heard you shouldn’t do that.” I chuckled, sitting down.
“Me too, but it feels good.” He laughed and sat opposite me. “Now I’m starving for one of Mellissa’s meals.”
Mellissa was his wife, and I could absolutely understand why he would be starving for one of her meals. The woman was a cook from God’s kitchen. They’d gotten together in high school and were that couple who stuck together through college and all his laborious training, games, touring, and everything. They got married a few years back and had two kids.
He was my opposite. Literally the opposite of me. He would never and had never had a no-strings-attached anything. Women came in droves to him because of his looks and popularity, but his one true love was his Melissa. Melissa, the non-popular girl on the chess club who aced everything and got a scholarship to M.I.T, which she turned down so they could go to college at UCLA together.
“So, what are you going to do, Dylan?” he asked with a smirk.
“No strings attached exclusive.” I nodded. “I think it’s the answer to everything. I was thinking of taking her sailing.” In my Taylor-filled moments, the idea had come to me. I wanted to spend time with her properly and away from everything and everyone. We were no strings attached exclusive, but we were seeing each other in secret.
“Sailing?” Parker quirked a brow. “Really? Is she the sailing type?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t think she’d say no. I just want to spend some time with her and get to know her outside the sex.”
He looked me over and grinned, running a hand through his dark blond hair. “You gonna do all that for a no-strings-attached exclusive relationship that ends in six weeks?”
“Yeah, sure. I want it to be fun. I don’t want her to think I just want her for sex.”
“You know what?” He grabbed his towel from the gym bag.
“What?”
“I think you think this is a short-term thing and when you realize it’s not, you’ll want more.”
I opened my mouth to protest but found I couldn’t. “Parker, I can’t have more. My dad is hell bent on me sticking to my guns. No sleeping with his clients or my clients or their daughters. Nothing like that. It’s understandable too based on what happened last time.” Last time was worse than what Dad said. I knew it. I knew it was bad, and this time would be worse if things went wrong. The fact of the matter was, I didn’t know these people well enough to go out on the limb and take big risks.
I hadn’t known Taylor long enough. I didn’t need to know her for any length of time to see her heart, but if things went to shit, I could be introduced to something else entirely.
Maybe not even from her herself. It could be from Peter. He might not like that I was seeing his daughter.
“Dylan, know this… If you’re into someone, it doesn’t matter what stipulations you’re facing. You’re going to want to be with them. All I’ve heard you tell me about this woman resonates with the fact that you want her, and I think you want her for a lot longer than the next six weeks. No matter what the situation is with your dad or the company.” He chuckled.
Again, I wished I could disagree, but he was right.
It went back to that thing. That thing I was shoving to the back of beyond in my mind. That thing that told me no matter how many times I’d had Taylor, it wouldn’t be enough.
One night with her wasn’t enough, and ten days had made me crazy for her.
I was supposed to be seeing her when I finished up here, and I’d been thinking about her all day.
I wasn’t stupid enough to deny what was happening to me. I wanted her. I’d actually found a woman I wanted to be mine and not be my no strings attached.
So, what the hell was I going to do in six weeks when this no-strings-attached exclusive arrangement of ours ended?
And what if she was okay with that?
We’d part and say our goodbyes to this relationship that had shifted my world on its axis. I’d work around the company, see her with other men, and then what? And what about Dad?
I didn’t know what to do.
Chapter 13
Taylor
* * *
I never expected sailing to be my thing.
It wasn’t something I would have seen myself doing on a Saturday.
My cousins went all the time, but I stayed away because I hated fish. Big ones and little ones. It was the whole concept of being in water and having creatures swimming around me.
Add my fear of sharks to the mix, and I was a no-sailing girl, for sure.
However, today shocked me to shit because I’d gone sailing with Dylan and loved it so much, we decided a night aboard the sailboat he’d hired was a must.
We’d spent the whole day sailing out into the open sea and enjoying the scenic landscape I wouldn’t have taken note of if we hadn’t been right in it.
It was night now, and we were curled up together in the little bed, looking up at the skylight that took up a majority of the space on the roof.
We were in a naked tangle. Me cocooned in his arms while he told me about the stars above. Stargazing.
I’d always wanted to do it but never actually set aside the time to learn about the different stars and constellations. Mr. Dylan turned out to be the guy who knew it all and taught me all about them. While the clusters of stars looked to me like a splash of diamonds here and there on the velvet sky, he went in depth describing what he could see.
I listened and took it in, but really, I got lost in the sound of his voice. I got lost in the rich timbre and the fact that he was sharing something with me.
“Goddess, that constellation there has to be you.” He smiled and pointed to the sky.
“Which one is that?”
“Andromeda. She was one of the most beautiful women to walk the earth.”
I laughed at his sweetness. “Dylan Patterson, you know exactly what to say to make a girl’s head swell. You’re comparing me to a star constellation named after one of the most beautiful women to walk the earth?”
He cupped my face. “You are that to me.” He held my gaze, looking at me under the moonlight like he was trying to see inside my soul. “Taylor Cartwright, beautiful like Andromeda, and strong. She knows what she wants, she gets what she wants because she works hard to get it, and when she gets it, she knows she’s earned it. That is you… Beauty and strength. Nothing is more attractive than that.”
That…
That was the most powerful thing anyone had ever said to me. It was also the nicest. I’d done everything in my power over the last few weeks not to like this guy too much. I really had. I tried and tried harder every day I was with him.
“Thank you. It means a lot that you said that.”
“It’s true.” The corners of his mouth slid into a smile.
This was our fourth week together. The fourth weekend. We’d been together all that time. At play, like we were now, and at work at Cartwright PR. It was all great. All of it. Work and play.
Dad was right to value Dylan’s talent. I did too. When I got over my stubbornness, I’d opened my mind to take in new ideas that could make me better, but in the process of doing that, I’d opened my heart too.
N
ow, how was I supposed to close it again when we’d planned to say goodbye to this no-strings-exclusive relationship of ours?
“Where’d you learn about the stars?” I asked running my finger over the contours of his chest. “I wouldn’t have thought something like that would interest you?”
There was a sad look in his eyes that almost made me wish I hadn’t asked the question.
“My brother,” he answered.
I narrowed my gaze at him. He’d never mentioned that he had a brother. I thought he was an only child. He spoke like he was.
“I didn’t know you have a brother. Is he like you?”
“No, not one bit. He was the perfect one.” It was the way he said was that gripped me. “He died seventeen months ago in a car accident.”
I had to sit up. I couldn’t believe something like that had happened to him and he was only just telling me now.
“Oh God, Dylan. I’m so sorry.” I couldn’t imagine what the hell I would do if anything happened to one of my sisters. We were all so close, like a lifeline. Vanessa may be the only one of us who lived by herself, but we all spoke to each other every day. Whether that was a text or a phone call, or physically seeing each other. I would be devastated if anything happened to any of them. I couldn’t even contemplate death.
“Thank you. It’s okay…” He reached for my hand and smoothed his thumb over the top.
“Why didn’t you tell me… before? Why wouldn’t you tell me that?”
“It’s hard to talk about, and I almost never do. I feel guilty about it because I was in the car with him. He came to pick me up from the airport because I was too wasted to get home myself, and that was what happened to him. A drunk driver crashed into us, and Tommy died instantly. I lived.”
The story just got worse. I took his hand and covered it with both of mine.
“Dylan, that is awful, but you can’t feel guilty for that.”
“I know… but I do. I do because that was what I was like. The guy who wrecked everything and had no concept of reality. I told you I was bad.” He chuckled, but it was a laugh without humor. “I wish I could have been more like I am now. If I had been, it wouldn’t have happened. He wouldn’t have been there. I wouldn’t have waited the hour I did in the airport for him to pick me up. I would have found my way home myself like a normal person. But it is what it is.”
One Last Time ?: Bad Boy Bachelors of Orange County BK 1 Page 10
