“You didn’t say where we were going? I wasn’t sure what to wear.”
I looked at her, my mouth suddenly dry. She was wearing soft looking jeans and a button down blouse in emerald green. It looked like silk. If she threw on a pair of designer high heels she would look at home in New York or Paris.
Instead, her cute little toes were bare.
I exhaled and shook my head.
“You look perfect.”
She pressed a towel to her damp hair. She looked nervous. Like she wasn’t going to be able to hold me at arm’s length. I smiled grimly. I had made damn sure she wouldn’t be able to do that.
Not this time. Not tonight. Not ever again.
After this particular date, she was never going to be able to avoid me again.
* * *
“So, where are we going?”
I shifted gears and hit the gas as we bumped over a dirt road. We’d just passed the entrance to my place and taken a side road.
“My place.”
“But—”
“A different part of my place.”
“Oh.”
I parked and got out of the Jeep. I offered her my hand and she took it shyly.
“It’s so dark.”
I pulled out a remote control and flicked it.
Hundreds of LED candles came to life, bathing the hilltop in a warm glow. There was a patchwork of wool blankets spread out, with soft pillows strewn everywhere. And picnic baskets full of grub, of course.
“Ohhh…”
“You like?”
She looked at me, her beautiful eyes shining.
“No one ever did anything like this for me before.”
“They were all idiots.”
“No I mean…” She shook her head. “Never mind.’
I led her over to the center of the blankets and helped her lower herself to the ground. I knelt beside her and started pulling out the food. I popped a bottle of champagne and poured her a disposable paper cupful.
She held it up and giggled.
“Fancy.”
“Only the best for Riley-Ann.”
We ‘clinked’ our paper cups and sipped, staring into each other’s eyes.
“What are you doing to me?”
“Trying to impress you.”
“It’s working.”
I decided now was as good a time as ever. I leaned forward to kiss her and pressed a button on my phone at the same time, alerting my team on the ground.
That’s when the fireworks went off.
Riley-Ann broke off the kiss, staring at the sky. She looked at me and clapped her hands like a little girl. I wrapped my arm around her and watched her watch the fireworks. She was so beautiful it hurt to look at her.
“What can you possibly do to top this?”
I gripped her lower back, lowering her to the blankets.
“I can think of a few things.”
I kissed her, starting soft and slow. That didn’t last long. She responded to my gentle urging to open her mouth and the kiss deepened, grew wilder, more untamed. My hand slipped up her silky blouse to cup her breast and she arched into me like a cat. I couldn’t wait to see her. I started unbuttoning her top and she grabbed my hand.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’ve never done this before.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“Any of this.”
I exhaled. She was… it wasn’t possible. But if I was to be the first, I was going to make it spectacular for her. It felt like a great honor had been bestowed on me.
“I promise I will do everything I can not to hurt you.”
“I can take the pain. But… What about my heart?”
“That too.” I took a deep breath. “I… I’m in love with you, Riley-Ann.”
A dam seemed to break between us and all the feelings came sweeping in. We were desperate for each other. But it wasn’t just lust. It was something infinitely more rare and special.
I pulled her blouse open and feasted on her breasts, tugging her bra out of the way. My fingers busied themselves with her jeans, getting ready to tug them down. Meanwhile her hands were getting my clothes off. I leaned back and tore my shirt off, staring at her hungrily.
Lying there under the stars, half naked and lovely, she looked like a mythical creature. She was simply too beautiful to be real.
I pulled her closer, our bare skin touching for the first time. We both gasped at the feel of it. I kissed her more, taking my time to caress her everywhere. I wanted her so badly, but I would not rush this.
Not her first time.
Not my precious, perfect girl.
“I need to see you…”
She nodded her permission and I leaned back, gripping her jeans and tugging them down her long, incredible legs. I grunted my approval, running my hands over her silky skin.
Her white cotton panties taunted me as they covered the view of her sweet pussy from me. They were so innocent and clean looking. I wanted to make her soak through them.
I leaned down and kissed her pussy. She gasped, grabbing my shoulders.
“What are you—”
I gripped her wrist, rubbing the sensitive skin with my thumb.
“I have to taste you, Riley. Let me.”
“Oh… um…”
I decided that was a yes, and lowered my face between her feminine thighs. I used my tongue to work her through her panties, tracing the line of her untouched pussy over and over. I was rewarded as her hips started to rock against my face and her hands tangled in my hair.
I sat up and looked at her, using my finger to press on her clit and make slow circles.
“I need these off.”
She was moaning as I gripped her panties and tore them away. I was too impatient to wait. I’d buy her a thousand pairs of white panties if she wanted them. Ten thousand.
Her pussy was bare to me at last. I stared at her hungrily, wanting to commit everything about her to memory. The soft triangle of hair. The pouty little lips. The dew on her skin from her juices starting to flow.
I drove in, pushing my tongue inside her. She cried out, her hands gripping the sides of my head, her fingers buried in my hair. I loved it. Her touch. All of it. As long as she didn’t try and push me away again...
Riley-Ann was close, judging from the little gasping sounds she was making. I needed to prepare her so I moved my lips to her clit and pushed my finger inside her. She’s felt tight on my tongue, but I hadn’t realized how tight she was.
I had guessed it before, but now, there was no doubt, Riley-Ann was a virgin. My virgin. And I had won her fair and square. Now I had to make sure I got to keep her.
I flicked my tongue against her clit and she came like a rocket. Her hips shot up. I smiled and kept licking, sliding another finger inside her.
“That’s it. Keep coming.”
She tossed and turned on the blanket, her body open to me. My personal feast. I licked up her juices eagerly and looked up at her, my fingers still inside her convulsing body.
Good lord, she will feel magnificent on my cock!
“How do you feel?”
“Hmm…”
I grinned and hooked my fingers, starting to slide them in and out of her. I brushed my other hand over her clit and she groaned. I had her where I wanted her. If I could get her addicted to the way I made her feel, she wouldn’t ever leave.
Plus, I really, really liked doing it.
“Come for me again.”
“What?”
I lowered my lips to her clit and sucked it into my mouth, pulling hard. I added another finger. Scooping them with every thrust to hit her g-spot. I felt her start to tremble right before she blew.
“Ahhhh!”
I kept going, even though Riley had just screamed like a banshee. I’d soundproof every bedroom we had, I decided. I wanted to make her scream like that every damn day for the rest of our lives.
I couldn’t wait for the tremors to pass this time.
I positioned myself between her thighs, staring down at the amazing woman beneath me. This was it. It was time to claim her, once and for all.
I gripped my bare cock and rubbed against her slippery lips. Christ, that felt good. Too good. I wasn’t even inside her yet and I could feel my balls wanting to erupt.
“Riley…” I didn’t recognize the raw sound of my voice. I needed her. I loved her. I couldn’t hide it anymore.
I pushed forward. She was tight but her slick juices eased my way. I’d done my job opening her well. I clenched my jaw to keep myself from plunging in and out of her. She was the virgin. I was the older man. I had to teach her. I had to impress her.
“Caleb…” I looked down at her. She was looking at me with all the love in the world in her eyes. “Let go… I don’t want you to hold back.”
I lost the battle with myself then and there. I sank into her with gratitude and joy and more pleasure than I could have imagined in my wildest dreams. She gave a soft gasp as I felt her barrier give way. I sank all the way inside her and held her, afraid to move.
“Riley?”
“Yes?”
“I’m going to marry you.”
And then I started to move. Long, slow, deep thrusts. I kissed her again, hoping she was adjusting to my girth. Her body arched off the blanket and that was it. My control snapped. I gripped her hips, holding her just where I wanted her. Then I started to circle my hips, taking what I wanted.
Taking what was mine.
My breath got ragged as my pace quickened. I couldn’t help myself, bottoming out with each thrust. I drove home and felt the heat starting at the base of my shaft. With a roar, I started to buck wildly, trying not to hurt her but unable to control the force of my thrusts.
I hissed her name as I came, my seed bursting deep inside her. Something profound was happening. The earth itself seemed to tilt. All the years of loneliness, of being at the top of the world with no one to share it with, I poured it into her.
And then it was gone.
I kissed her deeply and rolled to my side, pulling her against me.
“That was—”
“I know.”
I kissed her head, belatedly realizing the night was getting cool. I pulled a blanket over our naked bodies.
“I guess we should get you inside.”
“Not yet.”
“Okay.”
I held her like that and watched the stars appear one by one above us. Eventually, we dressed. Riley-Ann was shy and subdued. I could not stop smiling like the cat who ate the canary. And I wanted to eat the canary again.
* * *
A hot steaming shower had us exploring each other’s bodies more thoroughly back at my house. I washed every inch of her. She blushed and tried to hide herself from me, but I wouldn’t have it.
“You are so beautiful. Let me look at you.”
I slid my mouth over her nipple and suckled it, imagining her with a baby. I was hoping to get her pregnant immediately. I wanted it more than anything I’d ever wanted before.
I stood and my cock went unerringly between her legs as I kissed her. It was a heat seeking missile. And she was my target. I couldn’t imagine not feeling this hunger for her. This unquenchable thirst.
The hot water was beginning to pucker our skin when I lifted her up and carried her to the bed.
“We’re getting everything wet.”
“I don’t care.”
I climbed on top of her, taking my time to taste her again. I brought her to orgasm twice more before finally taking her for the second time and then a third. We were all over each other all night, finally falling asleep just as it got light out.
I woke up an hour later to find that she was gone.
15
Riley-Ann
I woke up in Caleb’s guest room after one of the best sleeps in my natural born life. It had been so tempting, the thought of drifting off to sleep in his bed, in his domain. But this was our first night together. I wanted to have something more to look forward to. And I’d been so used to sleeping alone, it just felt like the right thing to do.
The first thing I felt when I woke up was the soreness between my legs that stretched way up past the tops of my thighs. Soreness from a night of fucking for the first time.
And a second.
And an even better third time.
Oh my lord, the things he’d done to me.
The glorious, sinfully pleasurable things.
A blissful smile lifted my cheeks without my meaning it to as I stretched out my body and rolled onto my back. Opening my eyes, I took in the room’s décor, now illuminated by the bright yellow glow of late morning sunlight. A twinge of panic began to set in, but only for a moment. It was Sunday. I could sleep in all day if I wanted. And I was free tonight too, thanks to Danny’s offer to give me the entire day off so I could recover from the intensity of the past few weeks leading up to the charity county fair.
My stomach growled for food as I sat up and stretched. I had to smile. Of course it did; I had worked up an appetite from all that activity last night. Dragging myself out of bed, I wrapped myself in the plush towel robe hanging over the antique armchair beside my bed. There were no sounds coming from Caleb’s room as I headed down the long hallway toward the stairs. He was probably still sleeping. But boy, did my body ever respond to the idea that he was on the other side of that door, probably lying naked on his large king-size bed, all those thick, bulky muscles draped by three-hundred-count Egyptian cotton sheets.
I was hot and throbbing just picturing him there, but forced myself to push down the lust-filled thoughts in favor of raiding his kitchen to fill my stomach with much needed sustenance.
On the main floor, while on my way to the kitchen, I noticed both doors to his office were open. I didn’t remember them being ajar last night. Although, I’d been pretty wiped from the long day running around the grounds of the county fair, making sure things went smoothly. There could’ve been a live string quartet waiting at his front doors and I would’ve missed that too.
Just beyond the doors, on one wall of the immense room, stacks upon stacks of file folders of all colors sat in an ominously large pile. And beside that little mountain, another equally substantial batch of unopened courier packages lay there. Interesting. None of these were here the other day when we had met to review county fair business.
Allowing my curiosity to get the better of me, I walked into his office to check out the heap of work waiting for Caleb or someone in his employ. Perhaps it was also familiarity that drew me to it. My attorneys at the law firm where I had worked often needed a nudge to take care of this more tedious type of task. They dreaded anything to do with finalizing files for in-house audits. File closures were where most, if not all, bottlenecks formed in that office, so I used to do everything humanly possible to streamline with document checklists, detailed file content lists and appendices listings, and even sign-off and comment sticky tabs to keep them focused on what mattered.
Of course, here in Caleb’s office, it wasn’t my place to do anything at all. I really didn’t mean to snoop, but seeing the messy stacks of awaiting work, I wanted to at least place the piles of documents and packages into neater rows.
I had to admit that seeing all of this work waiting for Caleb, I started to gain a new perspective on him. In business, he was still larger than life to me, wildly successful, worldly, and brilliant. But this mountain of work reminded me that he was still one man.
Human.
With likes and dislikes. Strengths and flaws.
Just like the rest of us.
Needing a bit more than just a clear space for everything, I found some clear plastic containers that I’d seen in his garage, and I settled into a rhythm sorting opened files on their own, and unopened packages. I made a point of not peeking into the folders, but before long, one of them inadvertently slipped out of its protective packaging. Loose and stapled pages scattered across the floor, while the heavier bundles fell at my fe
et. Feeling a sudden urge to finish up quickly, I kneeled on the floor and hurriedly scooped up the evidence of my unauthorized cleaning spree.
“What exactly are you doing?” I jumped at the sound of the very familiar throaty baritone voice that had a way of reaching my core every damn time.
“Not snooping,” I answered, immediately regretting the way that came out. I felt the need to backtrack and correct myself, which was a lost cause, given the loose pages in my hands. I avoided his stare for a brief moment, but really, that was my own guilt. He just stood there, leaning up against the door frame, looking sexy as hell in just a pair of sweatpants slung low on his hips, and nothing else.
“What I mean is, I was neatening up your files,” I explained, falling over a few of my words. “They looked a mess, and I figured that since I was already down here, it wouldn’t hurt to give you a hand.”
His eyes shot down to the loose papers in my hands. “Fair enough.”
“So what are they, anyway?” I asked, aware that it was probably the worst timing. But then again, he left everything out in the open. The packages couldn’t be state secrets or anything.
“Second round AIPs,” he answered evenly.
I looked at him quizzically. “And in layman’s terms, that would be... what?”
“Angel investor proposals. Mostly from the financial tech sector.”
“Interesting. And they’re second round. Does that mean they’re close to being selected?”
He stepped into the room and picked up one folder from a pile that I was yet to start organizing. “Yes and no. I may take a dozen through the pipeline and find that none of them are a fit. Or I may run with one or two that are good bets, or refer a few to industry colleagues. It all depends.”
“From all of these?” I studied the piles again. There were at least a couple hundred submissions by the looks of it, if not more. “Do you have any selection criteria to take it to round three?”
“Choosing where to put startup seed money is more of an art than a science. It’s not like traditional business loans where there are existing revenue streams or company assets It’s about seeing the potential, investing in a possibility. I’m usually more interested in their pitch, and in the passion of the core startup team. Sure, the product offering matters too. It’s more holistic than checking off items on a list.”
Winning the Virgin: A Western Billionaire Cowboy Romance Page 7
