by Naomi West
But even that isn’t the real reason why we didn’t have sex last night. It’s because I want her to experience everything. She hadn’t even kissed a guy before last night, not really. I want her to know the feeling of buildup and anticipation that comes with taking things step by step.
We might have skipped a few steps when I went down on her for hours last night but as I drag a hand over my face, my resolve hardens. No more. We’re going to go slow. And she’s going to feel everything.
So, for the next two weeks, I kiss the holy breath out of her every chance we get. I kiss her in the back of the classroom before the other students get there. I pick her up and kiss her against the doors of the elevator on the way up to our condo. I interrupt her while she’s cooking and kiss her on the kitchen counter.
I even put on a movie so she’ll stop studying and come wrap herself around me on the couch. Like we’re goddamn teenagers.
Our kisses are never very innocent, but they’ve gotten downright indecent. I suck on her neck, her collarbone, the lobe of her ear. I bite her lips and leave marks on her skin to show where I’ve been. She’s gotten increasingly aggressive with me. She squeezes my hips between her legs and bites my shoulders, my neck. She’ll tug my hair to get to my mouth.
One morning I step out of my bathroom with the towel around my waist and she climbs me like a tree, wearing nothing but her panties and a tank top. I haven’t gotten her naked since the first night we hooked up and I don’t let her get me naked either.
We’ll get there, when I’m fully convinced she’s ready, when there is no other option but to completely let loose on one another.
It’s been the hottest two weeks of either of our lives. And we’re both losing our minds.
Chapter Twelve
Alessia
“What, Fabi?” I snap at my brother as I answer the phone. I’m sitting in the living room on an easy chair, a huge textbook across my lap. Dare is sitting under the window doing something on his phone. He’s about ten feet too far from me, as far as I’m concerned. But lately, having him close is even more frustrating than having him far away. The dude will not put out.
“Wow. What’s the matter with you?”
My bodyguard refuses to fuck me. “Nothing, just a bad mood.”
“Is that why you haven’t called in two weeks? Your bad mood?”
“You sound like Dad.”
I’m wound tighter than a violin right now and I have zero patience for anything, especially my goofy jokey brother who loves to chat for hours on the phone. And I haven’t called in two weeks because I’ve been too busy sucking on Dare’s tongue every chance I get. I’d love to suck on something else, but he denies me at every opportunity. I don’t get it.
I know it has something to do with me being a virgin but he won’t explain. He won’t even tell me if he ever plans to fuck me. Things just might carry on like this into oblivion.
“Ooof. Straight to the solar plexus. Don’t say that.”
“Well, you do.” I know I’m being a jerk, but I honestly can’t help it.
“Okay, grouchy. Moving on. I just wanted to call and see how my darling, polite, obliging little sister was doing.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes, really. Plus, Maya Rudebaner stood me up for our lunch date so I didn’t have anything to do for a couple of hours.”
I bark out a laugh against my will. “There is no way you’re still hanging around with Maya! Fabi, come on. I thought the plan was to break that off by Labor Day.”
“Yeah, well we had an Indian summer here so she just kept on wearing those bathing suits and then we had a cold snap so she was just wearing them in the hot tub and you know my weakness for bikinis.”
“Yes, Fabi,” I chuckle and drag a hand over my face. “I’m well aware of your propensity for skimpy pool attire. Remember when you got us kicked out of that pool club in Evanston?”
“That was totally worth it. I got like six sets of digits that day.” He pauses while we both laugh but then he keeps talking. “I know I need to break up with Maya, but it’s kind of lonely around here. Dante and Clara are always so busy and with you back at school… well, you know.”
“I know, Fabs. It can be really lonely here too.” I think I see Dare’s hands tighten on his phone across the room but I can’t be sure.
“Hey, before I forget, I was just talking to Dante and Clara and they wanted to know if you were coming home for Thanksgiving.”
My heart softens and sinks. “No. I’m gonna stay here.”
“Why? Too much school work?”
“No, I just don’t want to have to deal with Dad. If he finds out I’m in Chicago, and you know he will, then he’ll make me come see him.”
“That makes sense. You’re still dealing with the fallout from last time, huh? How are things going with Robocop?”
“Extremely frustrating,” I say truthfully.
“Man, I’m sorry, Lessi. That sucks. But at least you’re safe, right?”
I grunt by way of an answer.
Fabi continues on. “And your friend is back in town, right? So that’s gotta make things better.”
I grunt again. It has made things better. I love having Rett here. But there is only one thing that’s going to fix my situation and it’s between the legs of someone who won’t give it to me.
“What about boys? You seeing anybody?” His voice is so sweet and genuine. Fabi isn’t the kind of brother who would beat somebody up for dating me. He’s protective, but not like Dante. Dante once backhanded a rival mob boss who looked at me the wrong way.
Fabi understands the value of romantic companionship. He’s always in love with some girl or another. And he’s always wanted that for me too.
“Sort of,” I say and glare at Dare, who is sitting across the living room from me, scrolling through his phone.
“Really!?” Fabi’s excitement for me has me holding the phone away from my ear.
“Yeah.”
“So what’s he like?”
“He’s an asshole with an absolutely obnoxious moral code.” If Dare hears me, he ignores it and keeps reading on his phone.
Fabi laughs on the other end of the line. “Not sure I know what that means.”
“There’s not really a way I can explain it to my brother, I think.”
“Ahhhhh. I get it. Your whole nun act has finally caught up to you, huh?”
I smile. I think most people wouldn’t want their brother knowing if they were a virgin or not, but there hasn’t been much that Fabi and I have kept secret from one another over the years. Our dad kept us so closed off from the rest of the world that all we had was each other.
“Exactly.” And then, thinking for a second, I have to ask. Maybe he can shed some light on it. “Have you ever slept with a virgin?”
Dare’s head snaps up from his phone and he narrows his eyes at me. I turn and ignore him, tuning in to Fabi’s answer.
“Well, I suppose I’ll spare you the dirty details. But no, I haven’t, and I think I’d feel a certain amount of responsibility if I were going to. You know. I’d want to be a gentleman and make sure the situation was right. Ambience. Atmosphere. The works.”
“Fuck the fucking ambience,” I mutter and Fabi laughs as Dare stands up and tosses his phone on the table. He’s pissed, but I don’t care. My phone beeps and looking down at it, I see a text from Rett. She’s downstairs and waiting for me to join her. “Hey, Fabs. I gotta go. Rett is waiting on me for a lunch date.”
He says goodbye and I grab my purse and coat and quickly wiggle into my boots. I say nothing to Dare as we step into the elevator. He reaches out and brushes my hair out from the collar of the coat I’ve just zipped up. It’s gotten chilly in the last week or so. I look up at his face and am surprised by the self-satisfied little smirk I see on his face. I expected him to be irritated with me.
“What are you smiling about?” I grumble.
“Nothing.” He shrugs. “I just like that I’m driving y
ou a little crazy.”
My mouth drops open and he has to give me a nudge to get me off the elevator when it opens to the lobby. Rett is standing there, waiting for me and as I walk toward her, my resolve hardens completely. Maybe it’s the last few weeks, maybe it’s because of talking to Fabi, but I make a promise to myself that I’m going to sleep with Dare tonight. And Rett is going to tell me exactly how.
I turn to Dare. “Did you bring your headphones?”
Chapter Thirteen
Dare
Whatever she and her little friend are up to, I don’t like it. They have their heads together, whispering all through lunch. Not that I could hear through my headphones.
Eventually, Alessia marches up to where I sit at the bar of the small restaurant, surveying the clientele. I tear my eyes away from the way her breasts stretch against her sweater when she starts talking.
“Change of plans.”
“Excuse me?”
“Instead of going back to the condo to study. I’d like to go shopping with Rett. If that’s okay with you.” The contrite voice and the way she’s looking up at me through her eyelashes isn’t fooling anyone, least of all me. She’s up to something. But as there is no reason for me to out and out say ‘no,’ there’s nothing I can do.
“Fine,” I shrug, grabbing my bag from the floor. “Do we need to get the car?”
“No,” she shakes her head and blushes a tiny bit. “The shop is just around the corner.”
I follow them at an appropriate distance, constantly scanning our surroundings for any threats to her, but also remaining suspicious of what we’re up to.
She stops out in front of a shop, knowing the drill by now. I go in first. Check everything out. Then I decide if it’s safe for her to go in. Standard protocol, and we’re both used to it by now. I look up at the store and force my face to remain neutral. What I really want to do is growl.
She’s taken us to a fucking lingerie shop. Rett sucks her lips into her mouth to bite back her smile.
“Something wrong, Lurch?” she asks.
I brush past her and sweep into the shop, weirdly hoping for a danger to present itself so that I have a reason to keep her from going in here. I can only imagine the torture she’s about to inflict on me.
And torture it is. Rett sits in a chair in a corner of the private dressing room while Alessia tries on lingerie set after lingerie set. I stand, stony and dying from a lack of blood in my heart and brain. I might be the first man to ever die of an erection.
“Mmmmm. I think that one is a little too tight on your boobs,” Rett says as Alessia comes out from behind the dressing curtain and shows off the latest outfit. It’s a sheer nighty thing the color of red wine. I can see her nipples through the fabric. And her breasts threaten to spill out over the top.
“Yeah, I think I liked the blue one better,” Alessia says as she leans forward to adjust herself in the top. I can’t hold back the growl that rips out of my chest. Both from the movement of her breasts as she leans forward and the memory of the dark blue lace bodysuit thing she’d had on last.
Alessia turns to me and cocks her head to one side. “Did you say something, Dare?”
I don’t even bother to respond. My face might as well be carved out of granite. I know exactly what she’s trying to pull right now but goddamn it, it’s working.
“Rett, would you mind bringing in that pink one we saw in the window in my size?” Alessia asks and tosses the dressing curtain closed behind her.
Rett hops up and heads out into the main store. I’m striding forward into Alessia’s dressing area before I even realize I’m doing it. Her eyes grow wide as I yank the curtain open and then closed behind me.
I roughly grab her hands and pull them up over her head. Her back against the wall, her breasts bounce up and down with her breaths that have just become choppy.
“I know what you’re doing,” I say into the crook of her neck.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she breathes.
I drop my head to the top of one of her breasts and suck her skin into my mouth, roll it between my teeth. She moans and I put my hand over her mouth.
“No one gets to hear that but me,” I growl. She nods, her eyes huge and hooded with passion. “Now, wrap this shit up. Buy what you’re gonna buy and let’s go the fuck home.”
She nods again, vigorously, and I unhand her. I step out of the dressing area, yank the curtain closed and resume my position standing on the opposite wall.
Rett comes back in holding some hot pink scrap of fabric on a hanger and walks it over to Alessia. Pulling back the curtain, she sees Alessia standing there, dazedly staring at nothing, the mark from my kiss on her breast deepening each second.
Rett raises her eyebrows and looks between the two of us. “Yeah. I’m gonna hit the road. You two kids make it home safe.”
She hands Alessia the lingerie she’d grabbed for her and shoots me a little wink on the way out. She can be a pain in the ass, but I like Rett. Alessia is still standing in the dressing room so as soon as Rett leaves, I walk over to her and yank her sweater over her head. I grab her jeans up from the floor and hold them open for her to step into them.
I yank her jeans up her legs, annoyed that I’m dressing her instead of undressing her. It goes against nature. I kneel and slide her feet into one boot and the other.
“Coat,” I growl at her and she quickly slides it on.
I yank her by the hand and drag her out of the dressing room.
“Excuse me!” the sales girl calls after us.
“Dare,” Alessia says, “I have to pay for this stuff.”
I stop and look back at her. She’s motioning to the lingerie she’s wearing underneath her clothes. I reach into my back pocket and pull out my wallet. I drop a wad of bills on the counter and pause.
“Go get that pink thing too,” I tell her. “And the blue one. And the green one.” I rake a hand over my brow. “Get everything you’ve tried on today. Nobody else gets to touch it.” Alessia’s eyes go wide but she quickly follows my directions. “Bag,” I say to the sales girl who is panting just from watching our interaction.
She pulls out a little frilly gift bag and I yank the lingerie out of Alessia’s hands and stuff it into the bag.
“I have to ring that up!” the sales girl squeaks.
I pull the rest of the cash out of my wallet and toss it on the counter. “This should take care of it.”
Again, I yank Alessia by the hand and she practically has to run to keep up with me.
“Dare,” she gasps, out of breath.
I don’t respond. Not until we’re on the elevator of our building. Immediately I pick her up and her legs clamp around my waist. She goes to kiss me, but there’s few things I have to clear up with her first.
I stare her in the eye and she looks hypnotized.
“I won’t be rushed, Alessia.” I drop my mouth to her neck and nibble on a spot behind her ear. “No matter how many little outfits you prance around in. No matter what lingerie you wear. No matter what your voice sounds like, or your hair smells like, or how your skin glows after we’ve been kissing.”
She grinds her hips against me as I speak and a small moan escapes her. The elevator doors open into our penthouse and I walk her into the living room. To our couch. I sit us down on it so she straddles me and I run my hands through her silky hair. The sun is setting behind her and the room is filled with a ruby light. “I’m not some teenager pawing at you. I won’t be rushed into taking you before you’re ready.”
“I’m ready,” she says immediately. “Feel how ready I am.”
She snatches my hand and quickly guides it inside her jeans. Her wet heat on my fingers has me groaning. It’s the first I’ve touched her naked pussy since that first night. I lean my forehead against hers and can’t help but curl my fingers into her. She stiffens at my touch.
“I’ve been ready since the night I first dreamed about you,” she whispers, her eyes drawi
ng mine like a laser. We’ve never talked about that openly and I find myself immediately caught in her web as she talks about it now. “I know you figured out what I was dreaming about. I could see it in your eyes when I woke up. Do you want to know what you were doing to me?”
“Yes,” I say roughly. She sinks down further on my fingers and shivers.
“First you were kissing me here,” she says and slides her own hand inside her pants, next to mine. One of her slender fingers slips inside her pussy. Together we stroke her from the inside. “And then you pushed into me,” she whispers into my ear, “from the back.”
