by Layla Hagen
“Quiet,” he growls.
“How do you expect me to be quiet when you do this?”
Daniel moves the finger in and out of me, sliding a second one inside.
“I love that you’re so wet for me, Caroline.” His voice is a low, sinful whisper. When he slides his fingers out, moving to my clit, I nearly bite my tongue with the effort of staying quiet. I won’t be able to do it. He circles my bundle of nerves until my entire body tightens up.
With a sharp exhale, I push his hand away, turning to face him. Time to give him some of his own medicine. Before he can do anything, I lower myself onto my knees, work on his belt, freeing him, and holy shit. The sight of him in his clothes with just his cock hanging out is surreal. I want to eat all of him up, one lick at a time. But that’s too ambitious a project for right now, so I settle for licking all over his erection. Up to the base, back to the crown, dipping my tongue in the crevice right under the tip. Daniel lets out a low, guttural groan.
“On my desk, Caroline.”
Holy bananas, his tone is doing wicked things to me. So of course, instead of doing that, I take him deeper in my mouth. Daniel gasps, the veins on his neck cording briefly. Then he pulls out and helps me to my feet.
“I said on my desk.” He swipes his tongue over my lips before claiming my mouth. I feel myself walk backward and then the edge of the desk presses against my ass. Daniel hoists me up onto it. I let my flats drop to the floor.
“On your elbows.”
I do just that, perching my feet on the edge of the desk.
“You look sexy in these stockings,” he says as I gather my dress around me, and I make a mental note to wear them with garters next time. He pushes my panties to one side. But just when I think he’s going to drive inside me, he bends down, kissing me right on my folds. My hips lift off the desk, pressing against his face.
He slides his tongue inside me, his thumb pressing on my clit. Oh God, this is all too much. Tension strums through me, intensifying quickly. Too quickly.
I’m right on the cusp of an orgasm, but Daniel stops, instead sliding inside me, covering my mouth with his hand. I explode the moment he enters me, spasming around him, my groans muffled by his palm. Then he brings his hands under my ass, lifting it a little. Fingers pressed deep into my glutes, he starts loving me in earnest, hard, fast, and desperate.
“Come closer,” he rasps in between thrusts, and I understand what he means, because I feel the same way too. I want—need—to be closer to him. Touching isn’t really possible in this position, but I want to be as close to him as possible.
I push myself up, almost in a sitting position, leveling myself on my palms, changing the angle between us. Daniel thrusts against a point so deep inside me that my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. He leans over slightly and our mouths clash halfway in a frantic kiss. I can taste both of us in this kiss, and it is the damned sexiest thing. We kiss each other’s sounds of pleasure. The muscles in my arms scream in protest, the edge of the desk cutting into the soles of my feet as I meet his desperation with equal fervor.
“Fuck, I need to touch you,” he said hoarsely. “I need your skin.”
He doesn’t finish the sentence. Instead, he lifts me off the desk, laying me down on the carpet. And then he unbuttons his shirt faster than I’ve ever seen him. My work is easier; I just lift my dress over my head, unclasp my bra and throw it somewhere in the room. Then Daniel lies on top of me, every inch of my torso touching his front. The skin-on-skin contact is like a breath of fresh air.
“I needed to be close to you like this,” he whispers in my ear as he slides inside me.
“So did I. But I didn’t know how to ask.”
“I have a confession to make.” He touches my cheek with the tip of his nose tenderly. “I don’t know if I’m falling for you all over again, or if I never stopped loving you.”
My eyes well with emotion. “I never stopped.”
He looks straight down at me, smiling before covering my mouth with his. We rock against each other, a tangle of limbs, caresses, and kisses until we both shatter from the sensations.
Limp with pleasure, we remain sprawled on the floor, drawing our breaths. Right until a knock at the door startles us. Jumping to our feet, we arrange our clothes as quickly as possible. Daniel opens the door, and Lena hovers in front of it.
“Sorry, Daniel, but it’s late, and I’m having dinner with some friends. Is there anything you need me to do before I leave? How do you want to handle the Beatrix issue?”
“Don’t worry about it. She and Grant will make a statement. There’s not much else to do except wait for it to die down.”
“Do you think this has anything to do with Justin?”
Daniel narrows his eyes, considering this. “I bet he paid someone at the LA hotel to take pictures for him. Go to your dinner. Sorry I kept you waiting.”
She glances at me, hides a small smile. My entire face feels on fire.
“No problem. Have a good night.”
When he closes the door, I cover my cheeks with my hands. “She knows.”
“Nah.”
“She knows.”
“She suspects. Different things. But since she’s leaving anyway....” He wiggles his eyebrows. “We could pick up where we left.”
“Daniel Bennett, are you propositioning me again?”
“Yes.”
I narrow my eyes, planting my hands on my hips. Right, this is supposed to be the “stern woman look”—something Mom and Jenna Bennett always pulled off to perfection. I have a hunch I look ridiculous, but persistence leads to mastery.
“I will have you know that was cheap.” It also made all my lady parts tingle, because I’m just as cheap, but I’ll keep that to myself.
“Caroline, don’t play the proper card with me. I know you too well.” Stepping closer, he adds in a lower octave, “And I just had you on my desk and the floor of my office.”
“It was worth a try, though,” I say with a shrug. Then I have a wicked thought, and well, since we just established proper isn’t cutting it for us, why not voice it? “I won’t mind if you take advantage of me some more once we get out of here, though.”
His eyes widen, and he exhales sharply. One of his hands twitches as if he wants to touch me right here and now, and is barely restraining himself.
“You’re a little wicked thing,” he murmurs.
“All your fault. You stand there, all hard muscle, full lips, and sexy eyes, what’s a girl to do?”
I’m enumerating all this on my fingers, looking down at them. When I raise my gaze to him, I startle at the vulnerability etched on his expression.
“What do you feel when you’re with me, Caroline?”
“I feel that I belong in your arms.”
He exhales, and for a brief second, I wonder if he really thought I feel anything less. He takes one of my hands, kisses my palm, then moves my hand up his cheek, leans into my touch. He looks so vulnerable, I don’t know what to make of it. So I follow my instinct, stepping closer and rising on my toes to kiss him. He responds with so much tenderness, it makes my insides melt. I lace my arms around his neck and put as much heart as I can in the kiss. We only part when we both need a mouthful of air.
He still looks out of sorts, almost nervous. I wish I knew what has him so on edge. That would make softening said edge so much easier.
Before I have a chance to ask, Daniel moves around to the back of his desk, picks something up in his fist from the top drawer, and returns to me, holding it up.
“I want you to have this,” he says.
“A key?”
“To my apartment.”
“Oh, sure. Want me to water your plants while you’re gone to Sydney?” I make a mental inventory of them. There are only three pots.
He shakes his head. “No, I want you to have it. For good.”
Oh. Oh!
Now I understand why he was nervous. If I’m honest, I’ve become jittery myself in the t
wo seconds since his meaning clicked into my mind. Then my heart swells with emotion.
“Wow, are you sure?” I ask. Wrong approach, because his expression hardens a bit.
“If you don’t want—”
“I do want it,” I assure him. “But I don’t want you to regret it.”
He’s smiling now, and some of my anxiety bleeds away. “It’s a little fast, but it also feels like I’ve been waiting ten years to do this.”
I take the key, and if I were alone, I’d hug the tiny scrap of metal to my chest. Well, on second thought, why shouldn’t I? I’ve never been shy about expressing myself, and Daniel is intimately aware of my little displays of craziness. So, I hug it to my chest, and shimmy my hips in a small dance too. He’s giving me a piece of his heart, and I make a silent promise to cherish it, take care of it. Yes, this feels like it’s moving faster than the wind, but I can learn to fly at his speed.
He laughs, cups my face, and kisses me again. “I love seeing you so happy. Making you happy.”
“Back at you. Just giving you heads-up, but I’m so happy right now, I’d do anything you ask me.”
“See, now giving me carte blanche like this is dangerous.”
“No, it’s not. I trust you.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. I trust you to take advantage of me thoroughly and completely.”
Daniel steps closer, leans into my private space until he’s so close, we’re breathing the same air. His eyes have a dangerous glint, and heat rushes through me. How can he do this? How can he still take my breath away? Still make me weak in the knees with nothing more than a look? In all these years, I haven’t grown immune to his charms in the least. If anything, I’ve become more susceptible.
Right now, I feel particularly close to him. I tighten my grip on the key and can’t help smiling from ear to ear. I’m going to make a copy of the key to my apartment for him when he returns from Sydney.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Caroline
We spend the night at his apartment but don’t sleep at all, what with his early flight. Plus, we need to get our fill of each other before he leaves on his trip. He’ll be gone for the rest of the week. Call it advance lovemaking.
“Can you check the airport website for any delays while I shower?” he asks from the bathroom.
“Sure.”
I check the airport’s website, and the flight is still on schedule. Then I make the mistake of opening his Facebook app. It’s a habit, because I do that almost every morning. And I freeze. The app opened on the page for his business, and he has a flood of messages. Some private, some for everyone to see.
How dare you break up that couple! Grant finally found himself a nice woman to settle down with. You should be ashamed.
Wow, I never knew Beatrix and Grant were America’s new it-couple, but it’s not like I’m up to date with celebrity gossip, and judging by the number of hate messages Daniel received, they have quite the fans. Some public messages are even worse, insinuating the photo looks as if Daniel’s taking advantage of her.
What the hell? How can people just throw around accusations like this? It’s insane. I barely stave off the urge of replying to every single one of them, give them a piece of my mind. By the time Daniel comes back from the shower, I’ve worked myself into a frenzy, pacing the room.
“What’s wrong?” he asks. I shove the phone in front of him.
“These people. How can they say all this?”
Daniel frowns at the screen, shakes his head. “Things will settle down after Grant and Beatrix make their statement, but I’ll have my PR team on this anyway.”
He dresses, checks his luggage with supreme calm.
“How can you be so calm about it?” I ask, putting on yesterday’s dress and the tights, but foregoing the panties. “Doesn’t it bother you? To read all those things?”
“No. I know you don’t believe them, and my family certainly doesn’t. Anyone else can have a field day for all I care. It’ll die down.”
“But—but won’t it affect your business?”
He grins, pulling me into a hug. “Don’t worry, if the business goes bust, I’ll retrain. Think I’ll be good at anything else? I can always be a stay-at-home dad to that entire brood we’re going to adopt.”
Wow, wow, wow. Every fiber in my body melts.
“You joker,” I whisper, my voice thick with emotion. “I can’t believe you’ll be gone for the entire week. And I hate the time zone difference.”
“Me too, but we’ll work around it. Come on. Time to go or I’ll be late. If I miss the plane, I’ll never hear the end of it from Christopher for not using the private jet.”
“Why aren’t you?”
“Jet’s engine’s small, Australia’s far. Would’ve had to stop for fuel a few times. Not worth it. Trip’s long enough as it is. Ready to go?”
I’m going with him to the airport since I’ll be driving his car back. “Yeah, but I’m hungry. How about I buy both of us a sandwich and coffee while you get the car out of the garage?”
“Sounds good.”
We ride the elevator down together and I step out on the ground floor, crossing the large lobby area. The doorman isn’t here. Weird. In all the times I’ve been here, I’ve never seen the entrance area unsupervised. When I step outside the building, I realize why the doorman isn’t in his usual spot: he’s out here, talking sternly to a young man, camera hanging from his neck. A reporter, clearly. My stomach constricts when I hear him utter the name “Daniel Bennett.”
“He’ll want to give his side of the story to the press, with everything they’re saying out there. This is for his own good,” the reporter says.
“You’re not going inside this building. If you barge in again, I’ll call the police,” the doorman says.
“Tell him I’m down here, then. He’ll want to say something in his defense. Unless what they’re saying about him is true, and that’s why he’s taking the coward’s way out, ignoring everything. I can write about that too if I don’t get anything. Won’t reflect well on him at all.”
Something snaps inside me. Maybe it’s because I was already so worked up on Daniel’s behalf since I saw those comments, or because the idea of people trashing him even more makes me see red, but this is the last straw. I stride toward the pair of them with determination.
“Don’t you dare write more lies,” I tell him, fighting to keep my temper under control. “Daniel is a good man, and all those things are just that—lies.”
“And you are?” he asks, brow raised.
“We’re dating. And I know Daniel hasn’t cheated.”
Loud honking startles me. Daniel’s car is right at the end of the ramp coming out from the underground garage. He gestures to me in a “come here” motion with his head, and I don’t hesitate. Without another glance at the reporter or the doorman, I practically run toward the car, hearing the reporter fire off question after question behind me.
By the time I climb in the car, I realize I’m shaking. Daniel drives off right away.
“Caroline, what happened? Was that a reporter?”
I nod, trying to speak past the lump in my throat.
“You didn’t tell him anything, I hope?”
Swallowing hard, I fiddle with my thumbs, then tell him exactly what happened.
“Are you mad at me?” I ask quietly.
“For jumping to my defense? No. But this might make things hard for you, Caroline. They might try to contact you again.”
“I’ll just ignore them.”
“Not so easy sometimes.”
My stomach grumbles loudly as I sink lower into my seat, enjoying the soft, welcoming leather. “Crap, I forgot about the sandwiches and the coffee.”
Daniel puts a hand over my laced fingers, which are still slightly shaky.
“I’ll get some food into you right away.” True to his word, he pulls in the parking lot of a diner a few minutes later. “Be right back. Wait here.”
> He returns with coffee, sandwiches, donuts, and muffins.
“What’s all this?” I ask, pointing to the sweet stuff.
“I have three sisters. Sugar’s the answer to everything.”
“That’s a gross generalization of the female population.”
“Subjective, I admit. But I’m taking my chances.”
As he drives away, speeding in the direction of the airport, I down a sandwich and a muffin.
“You’re right. I do feel a bit better. I don’t know why I got so worked up.”
“It’s normal, don’t fret about it. But since you feel better, I want you to listen to me.”
“Oh no, you’re going to admonish me. Can I go back to pretending I’m still scared?”
He laughs. “I told you I’m not mad. I’m not going to admonish you, just give you some advice. Don’t talk to the press again, at all. You see a reporter, you walk the other way around. Promise?”
“Sure.”
“I mean it. You don’t want to become their target. It’s exhausting.” He takes one hand from my lap, bringing it to his mouth and kissing my knuckles.
“Keep your eyes on the road,” I say.
“They are. Don’t need them to do this.” He turns my hand around, kisses my palm. “That was a sweet thing you did. I thought I was an expert at loving you, but you make me fall in love more every day.”
I smile, shimmying in my seat. “See? I don’t need sugar. All I need is you sweet-talking and I’m walking on sunshine.”
We reach the airport far too soon for my taste, but just in the nick of time for him to catch his plane. He gives me a hurried kiss and a “take care,” and then he’s gone.
***
The day drudges on slower than ever, leaving me too much time to think, to worry. About what in particular, I don’t know, but there is a nasty feeling in my stomach, and it won’t go away. By noon, a statement from Daniel’s company is published, and by the end of the day, Beatrix and her fiancé release one too, assuring everyone it was just a nasty rumor and their wedding plans are continuing without a hitch.
