Romance: My First Time With The Tycoon

by Ally Nelson

  “Oh, it’s just going to get more cliché as the day wears on, I’m afraid.” Stopping, Tom turned and faced her. The waves rolled up around their ankles as he took her face in his hands. “Tonight, I am going to take you out for a candlelight dinner,” he said. “And afterwards, I am going to take you back to my place, and introduce you to pleasures beyond your wildest fantasies.”

  “Well, considering how some of those fantasies have been inspired by your books, I think you’re just the man for the job.”

  “Good to know.” Tom chuckled. “So, are in agreement with the plan?”

  “Yeah, except that it’s even more cliché,” Ashley said, pretending to be unimpressed. “But I think I can suck it up and deal with it.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “I take it that means ‘yes?’” he asked.

  “Yes!” Ashley blurted out, almost too eagerly. Tom grinned and bent down to kiss her. Ashley found herself grabbing onto one of his arms to steady herself as the ocean threatened to pull the sand out from under them…and maybe because she felt herself swooning a little. Just a little. She welcomed his tender kisses, opening to him willingly when he deepened them, stealing her breath away as he sucked on her tongue and lips. “Or maybe we can just skip dinner,” she said, panting, when they separated again.

  Tom threw back his head and laughed. Wrapping his arms around her shoulders, he steered her back along the shore. Ashley circled her own arms around his lean middle and smiled, thrilled at the prospects that awaited them once they got back to his apartment.

  Chapter Ten

  Ashley smiled as Tom led her by the hand through his apartment. “Finally getting the grand tour,” she said. “You’re going to have to let me return the favor.”

  “All in due time, darling,” Tom said. His place had the same layout as hers with the addition of a second bedroom just off the hallway. He paused to let her look around. “This is my study. ‘Where the magic happens,’ I suppose you might say.”

  “I thought that was your bedroom,” Ashley said teasingly, and glanced up at him. She took in the dark walnut bookshelves lined with fictional novels and nonfictional reference materials, and the large antique mahogany writing desk. The computer looked too modern and out of place among all the old furnishings and framed art prints. She saw a yellow ledger pad next to the monitor, with lots of handwritten notes in what she recognized as Tom’s penmanship. “Are these for the next novel in The Locksmith series?”

  He gave her hand a light slap when she reached for the tablet. “Ah-ah!” he chided, and wagged a finger at her. “A writer never reveals his story before he’s finished telling it. If I let you see those notes, there will be questions and I’ll be too tempted to reveal the entire thing to you, and then I won’t want to write it.” He shook his head. “And then all of civilization as we know it would collapse.”

  Ashley smirked. “Fine,” she relented. “But if you run into any hang-ups and, you know, you need a fresh pair of eyes?” She pointed to her face with two fingers. “Right here.”

  “You shall be the first one I call upon,” he assured. Drawing her from the office, he continued down the hall to the master bedroom. Opening the door, he smiled at her. “Here we are,” he said softly.

  Ashley stepped inside. Like with the rest of the apartment, the place where Tom slept had a warm, comfortable feel to it. A king-sized bed filled up most of the space, with a carved oak head- and footboard and topped by a thick, dark blue duvet and a mountain of pillows. Matching iron lamps stood on identical nightstands, and over against one wall she saw an old wood wardrobe. “Okay,” she said, “is that where you keep your lion and your witch?”

  “No, but it may or may not contain a portal to another universe,” Tom said cryptically. He grinned. “I think I should tell you, now, that you are the first woman I have had in this room since I moved in…and you shall be the first woman to grace this bed.”

  “And how long have you had the bed?” she asked.

  “Five years.” At Ashley’s look of surprise, Tom drew her into his arms. “I did not lie when I said I had not known anyone quite like you. That’s why I could no longer contain my desire and had to have you at the restaurant. I hadn’t felt this way for another woman in quite some time. I wasn’t ready to have another relationship – as you said of your education, I wanted to focus on my career. But now, I find myself longing for a companion. Someone who makes me feel alive.” He cupped her face in his hands. “That person, Ashley, is you.”

  Ashley’s eyes shuttered closed as he bent and kissed her mouth. She slid her arms up around his back and hooked her hands over his shoulders. Blindly toeing out of her shoes, she kicked them aside before rising up on bare toes to press her body against his.

  Tom began to undress her. He took his time, as he promised he would, peeling away each layer and presenting her with slow kisses between each article removed. In turn, she unbuttoned his shirt and pushed the linen off his shoulders. Until tonight, she had never seen Tom naked. She had seen him in form-fitting clothes, but now she could see him in all his glory. Every sinewy muscle, his abs, the dusting of dark curls on his chest. He had the complexion of the Black Irish, and she wondered if maybe they shared that particular heritage.

  Tom even took the time to let Ashley’s hair down from its braid. “I love it free,” he said. Because she had put it up wet, it now cascaded to her shoulders in plaited waves. He buried his hands in it and let it sift through his fingers. “So golden...so beautiful.”

  Ashley blushed at all the attention and compliments. “Careful,” she said, warning him. “I might get used to being spoiled like this.”

  “You should,” he said. “Because I fully intend to continue.”

  He swept her up into his arms and deposited her on the bed. The duvet was as soft as it looked; she sank into it, sighing pleasantly. Pulling Tom down into her arms for another kiss, she reveled in the sensual feel of skin on skin. As the shadows lengthened with the setting sun, Tom left no inch of her body unmapped. She liked the fact that his hands were large enough to cover her breasts completely, and loved that he paid them lots of attention with his mouth. She arched up against him as he sucked one into hardness and then blew lightly across it while still wet before moving on to the other and repeating.

  When he descended between her legs, Ashley thought she would fly off the bed. Already well stimulated by all the nipple play, she thought she would climax the instant she felt his tongue against her labia. He chuckled softly and wrapped his arms around her legs to hold her in place as he feasted upon her. Ashley clawed at the duvet and let out a guttural moan. “Jesus, Thomas!” she said, using his full name. “Stop, please – I’m going to come!”

  “That’s the idea,” he said. All the same, he lifted his head and grinned up at her. “What would you rather I do?”

  Her whole body crackling like a livewire with arousal, Ashley found herself thinking about that question. Suddenly, she remembered something from The Keys of Promise. She licked her lips. “Well,” she said, “there is something I’ve often wondered about…something I’d like to try…”

  “All right.” He sat up. “Name it. Anything you want, I shall endeavor to give.”

  “Anal sex,” she blurted out. At Tom’s look of surprise, Ashley rushed on. “You had Scott and Becca do it, and it was just so…intimate…more than regular sex. You even had Becca say that she never trusted anyone enough to do that to her. Well,” she shrugged, “I’ve never trusted anyone as much as I trust you.”

  “You should know that it can hurt,” Tom said, very serious. “It requires a great deal of preparation. You have to be completely relaxed and ready.” He shook his head. “I would not want to harm you, Ashley.”

  “If it starts to hurt, I’ll tell you right away and you can stop,” Ashley said. She sat up, brushing her hair out of her face. “Come on, Tom. Please? I want to know what it’s like. What if I’m one of those girls who really gets off on it? There are women who enjoy it, I�
��ve heard.”

  Tom gave the matter a little more consideration. Finally, he sighed and nodded. “All right,” he said. “We’ll give it a go. But you must tell me if it hurts.”

  “I will.”

  Moments later, Tom had Ashley on her stomach, legs spread. He stretched out beside her with a bottle of lubricant he had retrieved from one of the nightstands. “We’ll begin with a massage,” he told her. Warming the lube between his palms, he rose up on his knees and began to work on her shoulders. Ashley closed her eyes and willed herself to relax. The room had started to go dark and Tom had to pause to turn on one of the bedside lamps. It seemed to take forever before he slipped a finger between her buttocks and gently circled the puckered entrance. “Breathe deep,” he instructed, kissing her shoulder.

  Ashley followed every instruction. The first finger gave her a little discomfort, only because it felt weird. As Tom began to work two fingers inside, he also began to use his thumb to tease her clit. That changed everything. Ashley lifted her hips, pulling her knees in under her, whimpering as she presented herself. “Please,” she groaned, rocking back against Tom’s hand. He had two fingers in her ass and two in her vagina, moving them in and out simultaneously. “I’m ready – do it, take me!”

  Tom must have been preparing himself, or had somehow become aroused by watching Ashley’s response to his touches. She caught a glimpse of his cock, standing high and hard, as he sheathed it in a condom before applying another generous amount of lubricant. “Hands and knees, love,” he told her, and she could hear a tremor in his voice. Either he was nervous, or he wanted this as much as she did.

  A gasp broke past Ashley’s lips as she felt her opening stretch to accommodate Tom. It did hurt, but not enough that she would want to stop. I can do this, this is good! She panted and moaned, bearing down as he told her, which allowed him to sink in deeper.

  “Are you all right?” Tom asked.

  “Yeah,” Ashley whined. She pushed back to show him she could take it, that she wanted it all. “Come on – do it!”

  His hands wrapped around her waist. Slowly, he began pumping in and out, a little at a time, which allowed her to adjust even more. Ashley could hear his labored breathing, his soft grunts and the little utterances he made. He liked this, she could tell. Knowing it turned him on excited Ashley even more. She could feel that pressure building inside her, down low in her belly. Balancing on one hand, she reached down between her own legs and began rubbing her clit. She dropped down onto her elbow, her cheek pressed against the bed and her hips in the air, and moaned as she felt the flood of her own juices against her rapidly moving fingers. “Tom!” she cried out. “Oh – yeah – don’t stop, don’t stop, I’m coming!”

  “Yes!” he replied, thrusting into her faster. “Oh, God, Ashley – yes, darling, come!”

  Any orgasm Ashley had ever had before this – even that night in the restaurant – could not compare to what she felt happening to her, now. Ashley could hear herself shouting, her voice half muffled by the duvet clamped between her teeth. She felt like she had been launched high into the air and then dropped back to earth by a sudden wave of pure, blinding pleasure.

  When she came back to herself, she felt lethargic. “Oh, my God,” she mumbled into the mattress. “I can’t move. My bones are liquefied.”

  She heard Tom’s low chuckle. Somewhere along the line, he must have climaxed, too. She couldn’t remember when. At least, she hoped he did. She managed to summon enough strength to push herself over onto her side. She saw him sitting beside her, smiling. “Did you come?” she asked.

  “Yes,” he replied. “Quite enthusiastically, I might add.”

  “Okay. I couldn’t tell. With the…you know…condom.” She paused. “Do you think we’ll always need those?”

  “For anal sex, yes,” he said. “Too much risk of infection.”

  “Way to take the sexiness out of it, there, Tom.” Ashley grinned up at him. She flopped a hand out to him and crooked her finger. “Cuddle?”

  “Love to.” Tom maneuvered them both under the covers. Pulling Ashley into his arms, he stroked her side and gave one of her buttocks a gentle pat. “So – was that something you think you will want to do again?”

  “Mm-hmm. Oh, yes.” She snuggled into his chest and let out a contented sigh. “Among other things. Wait until I give you a blow job. I’m told it can be mind-altering.”

  He laughed at her claim. “Is that so?” He pulled back to look at her. “Well, don’t alter my mind too much – I need it to write.”

  “I’ll suck it while you’re writing,” Ashley said, leering. She pulled the duvet up over her head. “Get under that desk, give you a little inspiration...”

  Tom drew the duvet back down again. “I would wind up typing gibberish,” he said. He brushed his fingers through her hair, gazed into her eyes, and smiled tenderly. “Besides, I think I’ll get all the inspiration I need with what we do, right here.”

  Ashley grinned. “You’re right,” she said. “You are a romantic.”

  Epilogue

  Ashley made her way up the steps to the apartment, keys in one hand and mobile phone in the other. An incoming call cut into the music playing through her headphones. She glanced at the screen and with a quick swipe of her thumb, answered. “Hey, Mom – what’s up?”

  “Hi, honey! Did I catch you at a bad time?”

  “No, I just got home from another interview. I’m applying for that job in Advertising and Sales that I told you about? Now that I’ve got my Bachelor’s Degree, I’m getting a lot of offers.”

  “I’m so happy for you, sweetheart. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you.”

  “Thanks, Mom. How’s Dad?”

  “He’s fine. We’re headed back up north for the summer next week, just shutting down everything here in Yuma before we make the drive back to Michigan. It’s time for all the snowbirds to head home.”

  “Well, maybe next winter when you’re back in Arizona, you’ll think about coming up to L.A. for a visit. Maybe we can go to Disneyland. We haven’t done that since I was a kid.”

  “Oh, your dad and I are too old for some of those rides they have, now, but I think we’d still like to walk around the park. So – how’s everything else?”

  “Everything else is great. I couldn’t be happier – well, maybe when I get that position – but otherwise, yeah, life is awesome.”

  “I’m so glad to hear it. Okay, look – I just wanted to check in with you. I’ve got to get back to packing. I’ll call you again when we get home.”

  “All right, Mom. Love you, love to Dad.” Smiling, Ashley ended the call. When she reached the apartment, she saw a cardboard box sitting on the welcome mat. Her eyes lit up when she saw the return address. “Oh, my god.” Quickly unlocking the door, she hefted the package and pushed her way inside.

  Tom emerged from his office, blinking in surprise. “Darling, I didn’t know you were home – I would have let you in.” He saw the box and broke into a wide smile. “Is that what I think it is?”

  “It says it’s from your publisher,” Ashley said, and set the box on the dining table. She passed her keys over to Tom. “Would you like to do the honors?”

  “No, you go ahead.” Stepping in behind her, he slipped his hands around her waist and pressed a kiss beside her ear. “It wouldn’t be the first time you’ve opened a box addressed to me.”

  She pushed her hip back into him and he cackled softly. Using one of her keys, she dragged it along the seam, effortlessly slicing through the packaging tape. Tom hooked his chin over her shoulder and watched Ashley open the box. From beneath the requisite shipping manifest and a layer of bubble wrap, she extracted the newest tome. Ashley read the title out loud. “The Book Lover.” She then read the name under that, and smiled. “’Thomas Whitehall.’”

  “Yes,” he said, “W.T. Hamilton has retired to tend her gardens. Now, it’s time to see if the world is ready to accept me under my own name.”

  “I’
m sure it will.” Turning the novel over, Ashley read the blurb on the back cover, just beneath a recent photo of Tom. “’Lonely literary professor Todd Williams finds his world turned upside-down when he meets Astrid Kincaid, a vibrant young college student who shares his passion for the written word. Will their May-December romance turn to tragedy? Or will this be the happily ever after they have always wanted?’” She laughed and peered up at Tom. “So, is this supposed to be about us?”

  “If you consider that it’s a story about a young woman who steals the heart of an older man, making him fall madly in love with her,” Tom replied, “then, yes – I suppose it is.” He nuzzled her neck. “Go find the dedication page, now.”

  That sparked immediate suspicion in Ashley. “What did you do?”

  “You’ll see…”

  Trying not to appear too eager, she flipped past the title page. She stopped when she found what Tom had requested. Her eyes misted at the printed words.

  “Read it,” Tom urged her, his voice a whisper.

  It took a moment for Ashley to compose herself enough to speak. “’For Ashley,’” she read. “’My love and inspiration...with eternal gratitude.’” She craned her neck to look back at him again. “That’s beautiful.”

  “I thought if I dedicated it to you, I wouldn’t have to actually come up with anything special to sign in your copy,” Tom said with a sly grin.

  “I have to say, this is pretty special.” Setting the book back into the box, Ashley turned around to face Tom and wound her arms around his neck. “I’ve never had a book dedicated to me, before.”

  “I’ll be dedicating every one of them to you, hereafter,” Tom said, and bent to kiss her on the lips. His large hands moved over her back, following the curve of her body to her hips as he drew her up tight against him.