“Way too much,” I groaned. “Tell him non’t worry. Don’t worry—I’m taking a cab.”
“Jonathan Banks, sir. I recently graduated from… Hello?” Jonathan pulled the phone away from his head. The wallpaper showed, which meant Hunter had hung up on him.
I chuckled. “He doesn’t like it when you kiss his butt.”
“He has your direct line, huh?” Jonathan asked, looping a hand around my waist and helping me up.
“Obviously.” I leaned on Jonathan. “Phone, please.”
Jonathan must not have heard me, because he continued to hold the device as we ambled down the street.
“Are we close?” I was regretting not getting that cab. I wasn’t up for the long walk in the cold with these heels. Quality heels were still heels, and there was a breaking-in period that wasn’t kind on my feet.
“Just up—”
A motor revved in the street. The glare of red signaled a stopping car. Bright yellow hazards flashed before Jonathan stopped, turning us toward the street. A man approached, wide shoulders decked in an expensive suit. He didn’t stop in front of us. Instead, he stepped to my side, put an arm around my back and one under my legs, before sweeping me up.
“Whoa,” I said as his strong arms squeezed me into his chest.
“Is that her phone?” Hunter asked, staring down at a wide-eyed Jonathan.
“Yes,” I answered as my head lolled against Hunter’s shoulder. “’S okay. He was taking me home. Put me down, Hunter.”
Hunter’s hold didn’t relent.
“I was just giving her a ride, sir. You didn’t need to—”
“Did you not think to offer her your jacket?” Hunter demanded. “She’s freezing.”
“S’okay,” I murmured, my face comfortably nestled against the heat of his neck.
“Well, sir, we were almost to my car, so—”
“Give me the phone,” Hunter interrupted in that commanding voice.
“Of course, sir.”
Hunter shifted and we were moving, walking between two parked cars and to the side of a sleek gray sports car. I had no idea what kind. Nor did I care. It was a ride, and right now, that was all I really wanted.
“Can you stand?” Hunter spoke quietly in my ear. His voice was soft, reminiscent of the time we were intimate.
“Mhm,” I said against his skin with my eyes closed, relishing his warmth.
I felt movement until my feet gently bumped concrete. I let him straighten me up, keeping a hand on me while he shrugged out of his suit jacket.
“It’s fine. I don’t need it, Hunter, honest.” The chattering of my teeth gave me away, though.
“Here.” His jacket draped over my shoulders, wrapping me in his delicious scent. I snuggled in, handing him my handbag so I could put it on properly. He opened the door and handed me inside then shut it behind me.
The heater blasted my face and the warmth of his jacket radiated around me. I sighed in contentment as I leaned into the luxurious leather, realizing belatedly that Hunter was taking a long time to get in. Glancing around, I noticed him back on the sidewalk, talking to Jonathan. With his straight posture, I couldn’t tell what message he was delivering, but with Jonathan hunching within Hunter’s stare, it couldn’t be good. After a moment, Jonathan nodded adamantly. Hunter stalked toward the car and then sat in the driver’s side.
“What’re you doing here?” I sounded like a broken record, despite the fact that he was not the person I had originally asked that question to.
“Mr. Ramous had some concerns about your well-being.”
“Why’d he call you?”
“He wanted to know if he was overstepping his bounds to go get you. I said yes, since you weren’t on company time.”
“Yet here you are.”
“I don’t have the same constraints.”
I closed my eyes as his expensive machine purred to life. “I was trying to call a cab. Don’t know how Bert came up.”
“And your ex-boyfriend?”
I furrowed my brow at the vicious tone in his voice. When I glanced at his face, though, illuminated by the red of the dash, it was completely impassive. I closed my eyes again. “He offered me a ride. I really did love him, once.”
“Not now?”
I directed my gaze out the window. “I dunno. A little, I guess. When he kissed me I remembered the happiness. But I’m hurt, too. And I know better. Usually.”
“Dare I ask why the copious amounts of alcohol?”
“Do you ever just do stupid things to feel included for once?” I chuckled to myself. “Pro’bly not. You show up and you’re the hit of the show. And look, you were my ticket in. ’Cause of you, they like me. Go figure.”
“They like your connections. Now you’re connected to money, status, and power. They were raised to think that is important above all else.”
“Not Kimmy! She’s not like all that.”
Hunter clicked a button on his dash. “No, she is mostly good stock. Her father is a good man, if a bit eccentric. But she keeps those friends all the same. You are a beloved pet project—at least you started that way. I have no doubt she’s seen you as a friend for a while, but she just hasn’t matured enough to realize that your type of friendship is much more genuine than those around her.”
“Says the man who’s the same age as she is. So what makes you an expert? You live in the same social circles.”
He was quiet for a moment as he pulled to a stop in front of my apartment complex. “I belong to a similar social class, but I don’t exist in the same circles. My life is work. Business is cold and unfeeling and it always makes sense. It always has made sense. That’s enough for me.”
“Are you sure?”
The question lingered in the silence. After a while, I peeked an eye open. He sat back in his seat with his gaze rooted to my face. His clenched jaw and hard eyes gave him that severe look. I recognized that look as trying to push distance between himself and others. Me, in this instance.
“Is this the part where I assume your silence means get outta here?” I fumbled with the seatbelt.
A blast of cold indicated Hunter exiting the car. I hit the button. The seatbelt whizzed from around me as my door opened. I took his hand, feeling the electricity crawl up my arm and heat my body before settling deep into my core.
“Oh no, not now.” I squeezed my eyes shut as he pulled me from the car. I didn’t want to see what was in those sexy bedroom eyes, nor did I want to look on that impeccably handsome face. Both of those things would add fuel to the already blazing arousal coursing through my body.
“Jacket.” I started to pull off the jacket when my legs were swept out from under me. I squealed, clutching muscular shoulders as Hunter clasped me to his chest.
“Bring it to me tomorrow.”
“I can make it from here.”
I know he heard me, because I said it right next to his ear, but he didn’t slow. Neither did I. I slid my arms around his neck as I licked the edge of his earlobe. Warnings were absent, hidden in the alcoholic numbness. Bad decision-making was a green light, despite what I’d been thinking not ten seconds before.
I sucked on his neck below his ear, giving him a small bite. I heard his hard exhale in the silence of the stairwell.
“Put me down here, Hunter, and kiss me.”
The man was good at ignoring me.
Undeterred, I sucked harder, knowing I’d leave a mark, wondering if he would stop me. Or speak. He did neither. Instead, he stopped by my door and said, “This one, right?”
“Yes, stalker.”
He set me down in front of the door and leaned his body into me. I felt his hard bulge in my stomach, and for a moment, when he bent, I thought he would take me. His hands reached low. I hooked a leg around his to give him more access.
Instead, my keys jingled as he took them out of my purse.
“Seriously?” I flung an arm around his shoulders as he bent to pick me up again. “You’ll seduce me in you
r office, but not in a fun place like a stairwell?”
“Where’s your room?” he asked in a strained voice.
I pointed before my lips went back to nibbling his hot skin. My fingers trailed down the middle of his chest, popping buttons as I did so. By the time he closed my door, I had the button against his belt line undone and my hand pulling out the bottom of his undershirt.
“Stop,” he whispered.
I didn’t.
My feet lightly bumped the floor as my hand ducked into his shirt and met bumpy muscle. I straightened up as he did, so I could reach up higher, feeling over a rock-hard pec. “When do you find time to work out?” I murmured, exploring with my palm.
“Where are your pajamas?”
“Don’t need them.” I pulled out the rest of his shirt as he stripped the jacket from me. He tossed it on the end of the bed before pulling my blouse over my head. I leaned my head back, pulling on the back of his neck.
“I can’t, Olivia.” The words came out strangled.
“Yes. You can. You do it all the time.” I undid his belt, pulled down his zipper, and then reached in and grabbed the velvety skin of his shaft.
His hands covered mine and gently removed them before re-securing his pants. I stared up at him in hurt confusion. “You were fine with this yesterday, but now, suddenly you don’t want it? It’s because I do, right? You don’t like not calling the shots?”
He turned to my bed and pulled back the sheets. “You don’t want this, Olivia. It’s the alcohol talking. To give in would make you hate me for it in the morning. I don’t want to see the expression tomorrow that I saw yesterday.”
I shifted, resting a hand against his perfectly sculpted six-pack to show I was still brazen, but my eyes filled with tears. “I didn’t have an expression,” I lied.
“You think I don’t know what glassy eyes and a dejected look mean? It’s been a long time since I was involved with someone, but I remember what it looks like when I trample on a trusting soul. I should give you up, I know I should. That’s the right thing to do. But I can’t. I want you, but not like this. Not when you aren’t in control. Only cowards and hustlers prey upon the weak and confused.”
I dropped my hand and head at the same time. “I just can’t win with you.”
“I wish you wouldn’t try.”
“Please, Hunter.” A tear dripped down my face as I looked up. “I don’t want to be rejected. I don’t want to be cast aside, not tonight. Jonathan made me feel… I just don’t want to be alone. I’ll remember I pushed myself on you, and while I might regret it, at least it was my choice.”
His thumb came up and wiped my tear away. “And when you wake up alone tomorrow, after we…have sex? Then how will you feel? I can’t stay, so even if I give in, you’ll wake up alone and know that I left shortly after. It’ll be worse than me leaving now.”
Another tear rolled down my cheek, but this time an angry one. “Fine. Leave, then.”
I pushed him out of the way, discarded the rest of my clothes, and slipped into bed. I tried to suppress a sob as my face dripped with tears. I heard a sigh before the bed compressed next to me. A hand settled on my upper arm. “Look, I’ll compromise, okay?”
I didn’t respond. I didn’t see how we could compromise—not with his track record. Nor with mine.
I heard fabric rustling before pressure on my arm had me rolling to my back. He sat without his shirt, exposing the most glorious chest and arms I’d ever seen. Cut pecs led down to deliciously bumpy abs. His arms bulged and his lats were cut from stone. My mouth dried up with need so great I couldn’t think straight.
“I’ll pleasure you until you say when. Then I’ll leave.” His fingertips traced a line of fire down my chest. “You call the shots this time. And when you’re sated and asleep, I’ll go.”
“Your car?”
“I doubt anyone is going to call me in at this time of night on a Sunday, but I can easily get a ride from the car service you never use.”
“Must be nice to have money out your ears.”
“Not always.” He bent down to my nipple. A hot dart of pleasure shot down to my core as he took it into his mouth. I moaned as his other hand traced my other nipple.
“Take your clothes off,” I said, running my hands up and over his shoulders. The suction increased, rolling my eyes into the back of my head. “Please.”
His mouth lifted right before the jingle of a belt sounded. Fabric slid on skin. He crawled onto the bed, pushing my knees apart with his hands. A warm, wet tongue started at my clit and moved in lazy circles before dipping into my folds. He tickled me at first, light and teasing, making me squirm. His mouth went back, sucking while his fingers dipped into my body.
“Hmmm.” I ran my fingers through his hair as I arched back, jutting my breasts into the air with the sensation. He sucked harder, his fingers moving in and out in rhythmic thrusts. Cold shivers raked me, flowing down my skin. Bursts of heat fired within my core. Hot and cold, shivering and tingling, his fingers worked, faster and faster. His mouth sucked and his tongue swirled, playing me like an instrument.
I moaned loudly, straining into his mouth. Yanking his hair. Feeling my body start to vibrate.
“Hmm, Hunter,” I moaned, thrusting my hips.
He worked faster, plunging his digits as his mouth never let up. My body wound tight. My breath came in hoarse pants. And then I blasted apart, moaning with the release as I quivered.
His mouth dipped lower, lightly sucking at my inner thighs before moving back up and barely glancing across my hips. He sat up for a moment, looking down on me. With the light from the window, I could see his gaze linger on my breasts, travel down my stomach before lingering on the vee of my legs, before connecting with my eyes. “You’re beautiful.”
I sat up slowly, wanting to kiss him so badly it hurt. As I wrapped my fingers around his neck and pulled him toward me gently, angling my mouth up to him, I saw a flash of fear in his eyes. Wariness took over, and I knew he wouldn’t. Whatever the reason, it was internal, and kissing was a no-fly zone.
Instead, I bent to his neck before kissing down his chest. His breathing became louder, less controlled. I circled his navel with my tongue before grabbing his hips and pulling upward. He rose up to a kneeling position. As he did so, his large cock, fully erect, came closer.
This was supposed to be about me. But I wanted to taste him. I wanted to hear his release of breath as he gave in to the feeling.
I licked the tip, hearing him suck in a breath. Gently, teasing him as he had me, I lightly skimmed the surface with my tongue. His hands came away from his sides. I grabbed the base and sucked in as much as I could handle, gagging with its length.
“Ohhh.” His fingers worked through my hair. “You shouldn’t, Olivia—”
I backed off as I stroked with my hand, hearing that exhale. I sucked in again, massaging his balls, before starting a slow rhythm.
“That’s not part of the deal,” he whispered in a voice filled with pleasure. “Ohhh,” he sighed again, his hand tightening in my hair.
Excited shivers started in my gut as he started to direct my effort, taking control. I sucked greedily as I stroked, working in harmony, building him higher.
“Oh God, Olivia, you should stop.”
His face tilted down toward me. His gaze connected with mine, and I saw a new spark of pleasure. He watched me as I worked, moaning softly as I took him deeper than I ever had any other man. His thrusts got bigger and his moans more pronounced.
“Ohhh, Olivia,” he whispered. “I’m going to come.”
I didn’t pull away, letting him empty into my mouth as he flexed his body over me. I stared up at him, at his magnificence, strong and powerful. I ran my hands up his sides as I straightened back up. His palm came to my jaw and his other hand lightly cupped a breast. For a moment, all he did was look into my eyes, quietly. Softly.
This was the Hunter from the day before. The man under the armor.
Unable to
help myself, I traced the edges of his lips with my fingertips. I leaned forward slowly, seeing that fear resurface. It immediately subsided as he realized where my lips were aimed. I kissed his cheek softly, pulling him close until he put his arms around me. My lips traveled up his jaw line until I was simply hugging him, feeling his body against mine.
In his velvety voice, with the command riding the words, he said, “Lie down. I want to feel your body.”
I fell back into the sheets. His palm ran from my knee up, over my breast and to the base of my neck. He lay down next to me. His face was inches from mine. Our breath mingled. His hand kneaded my breast as he leaned forward and kissed my chin. Softly, his kisses worked up my jaw. I ran my leg up the outside of his thigh, sighing when he rolled a bit, covering part of me with his warm body.
His kneading became more intense as my swollen sex started to throb. His knee came up, moving my thigh high on his hip. His lips dragged across my jaw to the edge of my lips. They touched down as his hips swung upward. I felt his blunt tip poke my wetness.
I gave a soft moan. My hand slipped to his chin, lining up his face with mine. I looked into his eyes, feeling the tension mount. Feeling that tip right at my entrance. Wanting him with everything I had.
“Do you want me to fuck you, Olivia?” he said in his deceptively soft voice.
I moaned as his power licked up my body. In a breathy whisper, I replied, “Yes.”
He rolled onto me. His tip prodded, pressure right at my opening. His eyes scanned my face as he made soft thrusts. His tip pushed, widening me. Preparing me for entry, but not engaging.
I dug my fingers into his back as I arched, needing more. Needing him to fill me up. “I have a condom in my drawer,” I whispered.
“I want to feel you. You’re still on the pill?”
“Yes.”
His palms slid along my arms and pushed my hands above my head. I could feel him shaking over me. “Lord help me, I can’t say no to this, Olivia.”
He gave one hard thrust. I moaned, falling into that exquisite pleasure. As my hips rose, trying to get him deeper, my body tightened up, nothing in the world better than his hard length searing inside me. There was just him and me and the friction between us.
Please (Please #1) Page 11
