by Rayne,Amber
“Ella.”
“Beautiful name for a beautiful woman,” he said taking my hand and kissing it. If anyone else had done that, it would have seemed pretentious. But it fit him. Everything from the slim fitted suit, complementing geometric handkerchief in his pocket and the simple classic Rolex on his arm. He was different and uniquely him.
“Well, Ella, I suppose I should entertain you in Aiden’s absence. It is the gentlemanly thing to do.” He took my hand, his fingers lacing between mine. I stopped abruptly and looked down at it. Once a casual act, now it seemed quite intimate.
“Those are Aiden’s rules, not mine,” he said, the beguiling smile played at his lips as his voice dropped to a low deep purr.
He led me through the small crowd, grabbing a glass of wine from the tray as it passed us.
Art was something that I’d always appreciated for its esthetics but the pictures in the gallery invoked more than just the mundane appreciation of beauty. I sipped on the wine and stared at one picture that I’d passed and found myself enthralled by it in a manner that had me looking at it a third time. Kieran stood a couple of feet back watching me admire the canvas of a side view of beautiful woman with delicate features, oval bedroom eyes a brilliant shade of gray enhanced by the thick liner around them. Leaning forward as she straddled a chair, the oversized single strap dress hung off her exposing her breast, just shy of displaying the nipple. The lower skirt was hiked up and gathered between her legs. Red welts decorated her exposed butt cheeks but she didn’t look like she was in pain. Instead she looked like she was in a state of arousal. A leather whip lay at her feet and there was a glimpse of a shadow of a man, several feet away.
Kieran pressed his hand against my back and when he spoke it was close to my ear. In a low raspy whisper, he asked “Do you like the picture?”
I stared at it for a few minutes longer. Did I like the picture? I wasn't sure. It was beautiful but erotic; there was something so provocative about it is that I moistened my lips and looked over at Aiden who was still on the phone but our eyes met and he smiled. That picture made me think of all the naughty things that we had done together and many more we would probably do this week.
Kieran asked again, “What do you think of the picture?”
“It’s provocative,” I admitted shyly. I could feel the heat of my embarrassment creeping up my face. I couldn't believe a painting could make me feel like this.
His hand moved slightly up my back, a slow rhythm that should've been comforting but seemed more salacious than intended. “Isn't that the purpose of art—to evoke emotion? To be provocative?” His beautiful liquid green eyes rested on me expectantly, wanting an answer that I couldn't give. I've always loved art and it always evoked emotions; sometimes sadness and joy or even fond memories of my childhood, but nothing I've ever seen before stirred emotions in me like this image.
Kieran who was just as provocative as the painting didn't help the situation. There was something so strangely alluring about him and Aiden both. I could see why they were friends. They probably were attracted to each other in the same manner anyone would. Perhaps they sensed the kindred spirit. Aiden was a dominant carnal sexuality. Kieran a subtle sensual current.
Aiden walked up behind me, his chest pressed against my back, his hands wrapped around my waist pulling me closer into him. “You like this one? What do you like?” Aiden asked against my hair.
I stared at the leather whip lying at her feet and the red marks that discolored her butt. And darted a quick glance at the half open green eyes that looked as though she was in the middle of pleasure and the bliss as if she was having another orgasm. I didn't want to say it out loud, although I knew what it was what drew me to this picture: sex, pain, eroticism, and sensuality was all I could think of.
He pressed further into me. He breath warm against my ear, “Ella remember our rules. I need you to be honest with me.” His hand pressed against my stomach and he pulled me closer to him I could feel his hardness rubbing against my butt. Soft pants escaped and only thing I could think of was sex.
“I think it's sexy” I finally admitted; he turned me to face him and he kissed me softly. “Very good.” He directed his attention in Kieran’s direction and said, “Go ahead and send me the bill.”
Moments later he guided me out of the gallery to the awaiting car and instructed Bane to take him home.
At his home he guided me into the living room. He tore the wrapping from the painting and rested it against the wall. We both looked at it. It still garnered a great deal of my attention as he slowly slipped off my dress, kissing my exposed skin. His arms firmed a gird around my waist as he slipped off my bra and took my breast in his mouth. Then he stepped away.
“Close your eyes,” he whispered as he started to take off his tie. I closed them but moments later opened them slightly to peek. He made a tsk tsk noise and put his fingers lightly over my lids drawing them down to close them again. Then I could feel the heat of his body as he slipped behind me, pressing against my back as he looped the tie around my hands securing them in front of me. He kissed my shoulders, my back, his tongue rolling over each part of me. Then his touch was gone, but I kept my eyes closed listening to the noise in the background. Despite that, I kept my eyes closed as he asked.
“Do you remember the rules Ella?” he asked and then something covered them putting me in complete darkness.
And I thought about them all and repeated them from memory. His finger slipped inside of me as I said the last one. “Be open to me.”
“Lean over the sofa,” he requested, nudging me forward.
I did.
I gasped as his hands smacked my ass harder than any time he’d done before. I was sure it was red. This his finger slipped deeper in me. Then he added another. I could feel the wetness against my inner thigh.
Whack! Another sharp smack and I cried out. His soothing hands rubbed against it, but there wasn’t any denying, I was turned on. I was sodden as he slipped another finger in me.
“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” He asked in a low deep rasp.
I nodded into the darkness. And then several more hard swats and his tie was wet with tears but so was I between my legs. He slipped into me, sheathing himself into my wet heat and pounding against my sore ass, occasionally easing to massage it.
I yelped each time his hand came down hard against my bare ass and when he came, it was hard and animalistic. He took off the blindfold and turned me around. It took a few moments for my eyes to adjust.
He brushes away the stray tears and kissed me lightly on my cheek. “You really enjoyed that, didn’t you?”
Did I have to confirm it? Of course I had and he felt my response to it, to him.
When his hand ran down mine before he laced his fingers with mine, I stopped and looked at it. Staring at it, several moments passed before I responded and clasped my fingers around his. He led me to my room and when I got in the bed, he slipped off his clothes and laid next to me. Pulling me into him, firm muscles pressed against my body, his hands sliding around my waist and his face nuzzled in my hair. The intoxicating masculine musk wrapped around me as he settled into his position. He was spending the night? How many of his rules had we broken tonight?
CHAPTER 8
My best friend’s familiar ring and the vibration of my phone woke me up. I didn’t remember bringing it upstairs. My purse along with my clothes were downstairs on the floor. When Aiden’s arm tightened around me, his rising hardness brushed against my sore butt and I was reminded of last night. Pain and pleasure melded together to fulfill a need that I wasn’t aware existed.
He kissed my shoulder and I rested back against him, “I brought it up last night. It kept ringing.”
Had he started to go back to his room and decided against it? Did he go downstairs specifically to get my things? I didn’t care, he was with me now. Two more days was all we had and then Sunday I returned back to my life.
The phone kept ringing and
vibrating to let me know I had a text message. I sat up and looked at the message.
Call me!
Aiden rolled back and I looked at him, relaxed against the sheets that didn’t conceal his arousal. Sinewy muscle that wrapped around his torso. Deep delineated muscles of his chest and arms. And the inviting V that dipped at the edges of his abdominals. I didn’t want to call my friend, I wanted to crawl over him and let him slide into me.
As if he read my thoughts, “Call your friends, believe me, we’ll fuck later.” Then he rolled out of the bed and left the room.
Natalie was a refreshing burst of energy and sunshine when she answered the phone. “What are you doing today? Oh it doesn’t matter you’re mine for the day. Get dressed and meet me at Lancaster’s for lunch.”
“What?”
“Lunch. Me and you. Get dressed, see you at eleven.”
And the phone call ended. And the date on the screen was the reminder: I was supposed to be married today. The church Jason wanted only had availability on Friday. That should have been a sign that even the powers that be were trying to put a stop to it. And Saturday, we were supposed to be on a flight to Crete Island for our honeymoon.
Natalie wasn’t being bossy because it was her way. She wasn’t going to let me sit at home and drown my sorrows in wine and cake, which was my plan until I met Aiden. I’d thought of it only in passing.
Throughout the shower I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Aiden was a wonderful distraction but I would be faced with the reality that on this day, I was supposed to be Ms. Hensley. The same thoughts were there as I came down the stairs. I was dressed: jeans, black off the shoulder peasant blouse, and strappy three-inch midnight blue shoes. I’d taken time with putting on my make-up and my eyes were veiled with dark mascara. And my hair was pulled back into a sleek ponytail.
Aiden looked up from the tv and gave me a once over and smiled. He wasn’t used to me coming downstairs, unless we had plans, in anything. Sometimes I had on a t-shirt, which he quickly removed.
“Going somewhere?”
“Dinner with my friend. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”
I didn’t expect Aiden to drive me to the restaurant as another luxury of living in the city was easy access to cabs and Uber. But he insisted. Lance’s was a quaint little restaurant we’d found who made up for their mediocre entrees with exotic drinks and exceptional desserts. I got to the restaurant ten minutes before eleven, and she still beat me there. When she saw me, she raised her frozen drink and when I got closer I noticed there was another one across from her.
“Hi.”
“Don’t ‘hi’ me. Who was that hotness and why are you here when you could be with him?” She leaned forward and took a look at the window at Aiden who was parked in front of the restaurant on his phone. Even the frown didn’t diminish his looks. We both stared at him, but for different reasons. That look of derision that shadowed him whenever he spoke to his father. What was their deal?
“Client?” she offered refocusing me.
I shook my head and could feel the warm streaks of embarrassment running up my cheeks. “Remember when I told you that Jules ask me to take a leave?”
She nodded slowly, “What, did she gave you him as a parting gift? Tell Jules to send me on a leave.”
“Seeing that you don’t work for the company, that will be kind of hard…oh, and the whole marriage thing might be a problem, too” I teased, taking a sip from my glass. Damn, it made up for their crappy food.
She looked down at her ring with a playful wry smile, “Oh, yeah. That does put a damper on things, doesn’t it.” She grinned. “Okay, spill it. Who is he and why are you keeping him a secret?”
“He’s not a secret. Just temporary.” There was a surprising hint of sorrow that lingered on my last words.
“Okay.” She said softly. “Go on.”
And I did. I told her everything and I didn’t care if she was going to judge me or not. As she leaned forward resting on her steepled hands, she just smiled. “So while I was worrying about you and your impeding breakdown, you were off screwing Mr. Hot and having the time of your life.” The broad grin widened and the laughter touched her eyes and brightened her features
“I call him Café Americano,”
She choked on her drink and once the coughing stopped she took a sip of water. Sometime during the retelling of the story our server had dropped off bread.
“And Jason is married?” Her voice lost its playful lilt. It was strained. She looked away, out the window where Aiden had been parked no less than a half an hour before. And the smile wilted into a hard frown. “I screwed up,” she admitted.
She opened her mouth several times to speak but the words seemed to be lost. The only thing she managed was to say was that she screwed up over and over again. And it seemed like she had committed to telling me when Jason walked toward the table. His thin lips curved into a small smile, his eyes limpid and kind. Different. The way he was when we first met before he decided being a manipulative jerk was his life choice.
“I’m sorry,” Natalie whispered, her voice quivered and I knew she was berating herself in a manner I never would have. She disliked him, but he made me happy or at least I had convinced myself that he had. “He called me and was going on and on about how he messed up and how much he missed you. Ella, you know I wouldn’t have agreed…”
I reached across the table and touched her hand to stop her from nervously tapping her fingers on the table. “Don’t worry about it. He can be persuasive when he needs to be. You didn’t do this to be cruel. You thought it was what I wanted.”
When he reached the table Natalie was glaring at her glass, I’m sure wishing she had wine or some other type of liquid that she could toss in his face.
His voice was as welcoming and soft as his smile. “Hello Ella,” he said taking a seat across from me and next to Nathalie which was a brave move. Her jaw was clenched tight. She touched her glass of water several times as though she was contemplating dousing him with it.
“Thank you Natalie.” His gift of authenticity was one that he exploited quite often. He could be so charismatic and charming it was easy to forget about the narcissist that lurked behind the gentle hazel tinted eyes.
“Can we talk?”
I shrugged a response, “Fine. Talk.”
It took a few moments before he spoke and when he did it was to address Natalie, “Can we have a moment.”
Natalie’s fair skin became ruddy, contrasting with her platinum-colored hair. When she narrowed her eyes, you could see just hints of her cerulean eyes. There was a lot of temper in the her 5’3 frame and she looked like she was ready to let it explode.
“Do you mind giving us a moment?” I asked in a low soft tone. She was agitated, I needed to handle the situation with care or there was probably going to be a scene.
She swallowed her sigh, grabbed her drink and went over to the bar and plopped back in the chair.
“I’ve missed you.” He said.
“Really. It seemed like the whole married thing would take up enough of your time. “
“I’m not the type of person to admit when I am wrong quickly. I was an ass. The way I treated you, the things that I’ve done…I’m sorry.” He reached out to touch my hand, but I moved it before he could make contact.
“When did you have this crisis of conscience?” I asked.
“At the fundraiser. It was like seeing you the first time, the way you looked…it was …”
“I was happy. I looked different because I hadn’t been happy for so long with you and I was numb to the fact that I was miserable. Being miserable had become my norm. Jason, I don’t want you.”
“And you want Aiden? You do realize you are just one of his toys for the time being. I’m sure it’s easy to be seduced by the idea that you’re going to be some billionaire’s wife, or love interest. Let me assure you that you aren’t the first woman he’s brought to one of those things and you will not be the last. D
o you think because you let him screw you at it, he’d consider you something more than one of his disposable fuck-bots? What we have is different. I saw you with him and what you have with him isn’t—it’s nothing.”
There he is. The Jason I knew. The one who can be cruel without cause. Could give thinly veiled insults in the same manner, ease, and timbre one would have giving a compliment. When he reached for my hand again, I didn’t move away. His fingers stroked along my side of my hand as he studied me with entrancing eyes that once, what felt like many years ago, made me feel like the world only consisted of us.
“You’re right,” I said softly glancing over at Nathalie who was dividing her attention between the chatty older man who had taken a seat next to her and hadn’t noticed her wedding ring and Jason’s hand and as it laid over mine. “What Aiden and I have is different and I am glad. And I hope whatever I have with any man will be different because I can go a lifetime without what we had. Go to your wife, you two deserve each other.”
The disappointment marred his features but his typical confidence had reasserted itself by the time he’d come to his feet. And before he left, he leaned down and kissed me on the cheek. The smirk played at his lips as he walked away, sporting a confidence that only he could after being rejected. He was just saying goodbye for now because he would never settle of being rejected.
“There has to be an award for that form of jack-assery” Natalie said as she walked towards the table.
I smiled. “Oddly enough it was his confidence that made me fall in love with him,” I admitted.
I gave Natalie a quick synopsis of what we discussed. Although I don’t think she needed it. I’d learned from experience that she was a pro at reading lips and while she spent most of her time glaring at Jason I’m sure she had read almost everything he said.
“So are you?” Natalie asked.
“Am I what?” I asked
“His fuck toy?” She asked as she took a drink from her glass.
I took a piece of bread and started to slowly eat it as I considered her question. “I don’t know what I am to him. Honestly, I don’t care if I am. I’m enjoying myself. And it’s been years since I have.”
