He cupped her face, and with the first brush of his lips against hers, her body sparked fire. They groaned as their mouths warred with each other, trying to get closer and deeper, while their hands and legs intertwined, becoming one. He nipped her lower lip, and she tilted her head, craving more. He tasted of mint, and also something that was uniquely Lucian. She lifted closer to him, and for several feverish minutes, they fed off each other while their bodies strained just out of reach of the pleasure they both sought.
She ripped her mouth from his. “Please, I need you inside me.”
His intense stare told her everything.
“Don’t hold back. Forget your control, and take me.”
Chapter Thirteen
Lucian ran his fingers through her hair, savoring her curvy body beneath his, after she gave him the greatest pleasure in his life. He gritted his teeth at her words, knowing that a small sliver of control was what kept him from plunging deep inside her and fucking her until they both screamed out in pleasure. He wanted to savor their first time together, and try to convince her with his caresses and kisses that he treasured each moment they were together. The part of him under control understood that he held his entire existence in his arms, and he was never letting her go.
“I want it to be good for you,” he groaned.
She turned her expressive sky-blue eyes to his, and his heart stopped in his chest.
Throughout his years, work had been his refuge, the place where he thought his true happiness lay. Women were a distraction. Not one of them had ever touched his heart, or led him to believe that there was anything between them, other than a few satisfying occasions in bed.
He could trace his drive to his family and their support; he also saw what it took to make a relationship successful. His parents had been married for close to thirty-five years, and his older brother and his wife, close to six, and noticed that love grew between them, not diminished.
Until he’d met Ellie, he had no idea that he would ever experience a connection with another person, and he’d been content. He never accounted for the restlessness that had set in, or the sense of something more that lingered whenever he went home to an empty apartment after a long day. Because Ellie had come into his life without warning, he was taken aback when he realized that her happiness was tied to his. Despite their chemistry, and his inability to keep from touching her, he’d waited for this moment, afraid that their connection would be broken if the moment wasn’t right. But the look in her eyes told him that she trusted him implicitly.
He brought his mouth to hers, and without telling her aloud all the emotions rushing through him, he conveyed them in a kiss that stole their breaths and left them both aching for more.
“I waited for this, for you, my entire life,” she whispered.
A rumble started deep in his chest, and without wasting one more second, he lowered his hips and brushed his cock against her wetness. He caught her shocked gasp in his mouth as he rubbed himself up and down, sending electric shocks throughout his body and preparing her for his invasion.
“Yes, yes, more,” she begged.
Unable to hold back, he bent his arms and lowered his hips a fraction, until he could feel her warmth radiating from her closeness. He shifted his hips forward, entering her inch by excruciating inch, holding at each interval to watch her reaction.
Her head was thrown back, and each of her breaths made her breasts sway, enticing him to take her into his mouth; her hands gripped him, pulling him closer.
Gritting his teeth, he lowered himself farther, and when the head of his cock was surrounded by her heat, and he could feel a small barrier that told him what he’d suspected all along. His control slipped for a moment, and before he could forget why he needed to take it slow and plunge inside her, he locked his elbows and lifted his hips.
Her inner muscles squeezed and a guttural groan rushed from his chest. He slammed his eyes closed and concentrated on his breathing, trying to get a semblance of control.
At that moment, the decision to go slow was taken out of his hands. His eyes snapped open when he felt her legs wrap around his waist, and in one surge, she drove her hips up, and impaled herself on his cock.
“Fuck,” he shouted.
He pressed her down with his hips, not trusting himself to pull out of her, in case he’d hurt her with the swift movement.
His gaze met hers.
Although he expected to see pain etched in her face, he instead found pure ecstasy. Her hips wriggled under him, but he savored the moment where he had become the first man she trusted with her innocence.
“Move,” she demanded.
Instead of giving her what she asked for, he slammed his mouth on hers and kissed her with a ferociousness that jolted him. His control had fled the moment he was seated deep inside of her, and all he wanted was her pleasure.
She caressed his chest with her hands, tantalizing him into a near frenzy, until he broke the kiss and encased her wrists in his hand and held them over her head. His lips moved over her cheeks, her chin, until he buried his face in her neck. Only then he pulled out, using his right hand to hold her hips down. She breathed his name as he plunged back inside, groaning with each movement, loving how her body clenched to hold him inside.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Oh, God, you feel so much better than I dreamed you would.”
Unable to answer for a few moments, he repeated his thrusting, finding the right angle that drew out a cry or moan. He could feel her body shivering each time he pulled out, and her scream each time he drove inside her, and savored each of her reactions.
Their mouths met in a tangle; he increased his pace, sensing that she needed more from him. He bent her right leg, until her knee was close to her chest, and lifted her hips with his other hand, driving deeper and deeper until her inner muscles squeezed him once, as a warning.
“Come for me, love,” he ground out.
One plunge, and then another, and she flew apart in his arms. Her head snapped back, as she moaned his name in mindless repetition. Her muscles clamped down on his cock in a pleasurable pain that had him plunging several times before he shouted and emptied himself inside her.
His breath stuck in his chest as his body relaxed, trying to hold on to the bliss that only Ellie could give him. He rolled onto his side, pulling her close, as he wound his legs with hers. A possessiveness that he’d never known surged, and his arms tightened in what should have been a crushing hug.
“Are you okay?” she whispered against his chest.
He opened his mouth to respond, but the words were stuck in his throat. He hugged her closer and listened to her breathing, until he was relaxed enough to speak.
“I’m fine. Did I hurt you?” he asked.
The smile that blossomed on her face told him all he needed.
“Is it always like that?”
He turned to face her, not able to help the glare that was plastered on his face. “You’re mine, love. There will be no experimenting with other men.”
She sucked in a startled breath. “I wasn’t…I didn’t mean…I asked because you have experience, and I wanted to know if sex is always that breathtaking.”
He groaned as a flash of pain passed over her face. She hid her face against his neck, but he wanted to explain his behavior, and he wanted her to look at him while he did. He cupped a hand under her chin and lifted her face to his.
“I was jealous at the thought of another man touching you. I didn’t mean to growl at you. But to answer your question, making love with you was a million times more pleasurable than having sex with another woman. I have a connection with you that I never had with anyone else. I think that’s why I reacted so strongly then.”
She opened her mouth, but the words stuck in her throat.
“And it was making love, between you and me. Never doubt that,” he added.
She nodded. “I can see what you mean by jealousy. You don’t have to tell me about the other
women you’ve been with.”
“There’s nothing to tell. I want you. When I’m not with you, I want to be. Trust me on that, love.”
Before she snuggled deeper into his chest, he reached for the comforter and covered them both. He pulled her until she was draped over his body, and kissed the top of her head.
“Sleep, and when we wake up, I’ll feed you.”
A giggle escaped her, and she pressed a hand to her mouth as red bloomed on her cheeks. He smiled down at her, amazed that Ellie was lying in his arms. It had been several weeks since he’d met her, yet she’d colored his entire world, and he was grateful that he’d met her. More than grateful—he was one lucky bastard.
“I think I tackled you when you came in here.”
“If you want to make love, don’t be embarrassed. Just know that I want you, too.”
She sobered and laid back down on his chest. His arm flexed against her, wanting to reassure her that he wasn’t going anywhere. He had plans for their future, but he didn’t want to go too fast and scare her off.
“The other women in your life must’ve been stupid to let you go,” she whispered as her fingers traced against his chest.
“Before you, work and the company were my life. I realized how lonely I was when I met you, and there was no way that I would ever let anything come between us, not even my company.”
She was silent for several minutes, but when she snuggled closer and closed her eyes with a sigh, he relaxed his tense body.
With her childhood, and people like Tim and Amanda, he supposed it was hard for her to trust that he would want her. But he would show her in small and big ways that he wasn’t going anywhere.
As he drifted off, he started to formulate a plan to integrate her further into his life. He’d make a call on Monday, and with the help of his family, he would be able to convince Ellie that not everyone leaves.
Chapter Fourteen
Ellie scrambled around her apartment, searching for her messenger bag while trying to scarf down a bagel for breakfast. She glanced at the clock. She was now an hour late for work, but she couldn’t drum up any anxiety over it.
Lucian had woken her this morning by kissing every inch of her body. But what stole her heart was the way he made love to her, as if they had all the time in the world. Each day, he would show her in different ways that he’d meant what he said.
He wasn’t going anywhere.
He’d even moved his clothes, both work and weekend, into her walk-in closet, along with other essentials, and she smiled each time she caught sight of his shampoo in the shower or his favorite coffee mug in the kitchen cabinet. Each item reminded her that they were in a relationship, and happiness swelled to the point of bursting.
Although the weekend with Lucian was as close to perfect as she could’ve imagined, work was turning into a headache. She had two new clients, both demanding and competed for what little time she had in the day, which left her little time for actual work. Along with the rebranding of a long-running client’s company, a project that took precedence because of their tenure with the company, she had to pick the same week to have a crisis of faith in her work as a graphic designer. It’s not that she lost her love for her job, but the chaos of dealing with too many clients as lead designer left her missing the art and her ability to be creative.
The one bright spot of those long days at the office was knowing that her nights were to be spent with Lucian.
For the past two weeks, they had spent every free moment with each other, and while he had continued to pleasure her in ways she never dreamed, they also spent a lot of time talking about their lives and their dreams. He had encouraged her to continue painting, even lugging in a comfortable chair from the living room and sitting in the corner, as she spent hours losing herself in paint and canvas. She was aware of him in the room, but instead of putting her on edge, a sense of peace enveloped her when he was near. She had even painted a present for Rebecca and Gabriel—a landscape of New York, including dozens of people milling about. Lucian had looked amazed at the painting, reassuring her that his sister and her husband would love it.
The ringing of her cell phone pulled her out of her daydreams about Lucian. As she glanced at the clock on the wall, she groaned at the time. She thought about not answering, but when she spotted the caller ID, she picked up.
“Hello?”
“Ellie, hi, it’s Rebecca. How are you?”
“I’m great, thanks for asking. How about you? Oh, congratulations on your pregnancy. Lucian told me several weeks ago, but I forgot to send you a card.”
Sniffling came from the other end of the line, and Ellie cursed herself for making her cry, again. “I’m sorry if I wasn’t supposed to know, and I haven’t told anyone, I promise.”
Rebecca’s soft laugh came through the phone, and Ellie breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn’t hurt her feelings after all.
“You’re so sweet. I’m emotional all the time—I cry at the drop of a hat. But enough about me. I was wondering if we could get together for lunch today?”
Ellie had no idea how to respond to her request. She could make time for a long lunch—it wasn’t as if she took any vacation or sick time over the last five years—but she didn’t have enough experience to know what it meant when the sister of the man you were seeing invited you for lunch.
It was a risk to her, getting to know someone close to Lucian. Their relationship wasn’t a long-term proposition, and getting to know his family, whom he had a close relationship with, could be crossing a line with him.
Based on the first time they met, Lucian was protective of his sister, and she had no idea whether he wanted to keep his relationship with her separate from the one he had with his family.
She must’ve been silent for too long because the sniffling came back.
“I understand if you don’t want to—”
“No! Sorry, I didn’t mean to shout. I didn’t know what to say because, truth be told, I wouldn’t want to do anything that would make Lucian uncomfortable. And I’ve gone and made you cry again.”
Rebecca chuckled, and again, Ellie released the tension from her shoulders.
“Lucian hasn’t stopped talking about you, and I wanted a chance for us to talk. I would’ve suggested dinner between the four of us, but Gabriel and Lucian can be quite overwhelming when they get together.”
Tears now welled in her eyes at the thought of meeting and being part of Lucian’s life outside of their relationship. Rebecca wanted her to be comfortable, before they got together as a group, and her heart kicked at the thought of being included in something as private as Lucian’s relationship with his sister and her husband. Other than her two friends, who lived lives separate from their Friday night get-togethers, this was the first opportunity she had to be included.
She made it a point not to think of a future with Lucian, tried to think about their relationship as a one day at a time sort of arrangement. But if she got to know his family, it would make it that much harder to let go when he left.
Shaking her head to dispel the negative thoughts, she responded to Rebecca without a thought to self-preservation or the future.
“I would like that.”
“Great. Can you swing by my office, and we’ll pick something near here?”
“Sure, I’ll see you soon.” Rebecca said her good-bye and hung up before Ellie could change her mind.
For a long time, she stood in her living room and thought about what she had agreed to. She quelled the panic that threatened to bubble up, and spotted her messenger bag on the coatrack by the door. She smiled as she remembered how organized Lucian was, and knowing him, he had placed it there on his way out the door.
She remembered the painting at the last minute, and doubled back to get it. With a smile as she thought about Lucian, she slipped on her coat, slung the messenger bag over her shoulder, and locked up her apartment.
When she arrived at work, she was inundated with one thing after anothe
r, leaving her thoughts on nothing but work. She was grateful for the chaos, until a client had called to make an appointment, her fifth in less than two days, to let her know that the designs that she and her team had worked on would be all be scrapped and they would have to start over from the beginning. She couldn’t help the frustration pouring out of her when she slammed the phone and screamed in frustration.
She turned to the wall behind her and stared at the two peaceful works that hung on the wall across from her desk, waiting for the calm to wash over her. But today, she had to get out of the office before her frustration bubbled over. Glancing at her watch, she remembered the invitation from Rebecca for lunch. Without bothering to put on her coat, she grabbed her messenger, along with the painting, and left the office.
“Susan, I’m going for a long lunch. I’ll be back by three to meet with Mrs. Morris.”
Her assistant nodded, and she practically ran to the stairs, not bothering with the elevator, and headed down five flights to freedom…and lunch with Lucian’s sister.
She left her mind purposefully blank as she hailed a cab to Liaison. She wondered for a brief second whether she should call Lucian and tell him about meeting with his sister but she disregarded it; she would tell him tonight when she got home.
After paying the cabbie, and waiting for what seemed to be a long elevator ride up, she walked into the offices of Liaison and was greeted by Rebecca. Ellie noted that Rebecca’s stomach was a little rounder than when they’d first met, but her glow of happiness was the same, and that put her at ease.
“I’m so glad you made it.”
Ellie’s smile was genuine. “So am I. You look beautiful.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell her,” came a gruff voice from the doorway of her office. The man who emerged looked to be a runway model, and she knew that the pictures of him in Rebecca’s office didn’t do him justice. When he smiled at his wife, she could see the love they shared, and had to look down, feeling as though she had interrupted an intimate moment.
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