ForePlay: A Checkmate Inc. Novel Book 1 (The Checkmate Inc. Series)

by Shelly Alexander

  I snake an arm around her shoulders and pull her in for a soft, sweet, lingering kiss. When it’s over I lift the panties to my nose again and say, “I for one am very glad you don’t have a penis.”

  She smiles, but then her look turns serious. “I can understand why Ava didn’t mention your parents. She and I are friends, but we’ve only known each other since she’s been working on my firm’s website. Why didn’t you mention it, Leo? I’m sure it hurts to talk about them, but we’ve been pretty intimate. I would’ve never let the interview go in that direction if I’d known. I should’ve stopped it sooner, but I was caught off guard. I feel terrible about it, and I didn’t do my job very well. I’m not supposed to let things like this happen. My job is to protect you.”

  Like the queen protects the king in chess. Well hell. I guess I fucked up.

  “I’m sorry.” Lame, but it’s all I can think to say.

  “I understand, but please don’t hold back important information that prevents me from doing my job.”

  “I won’t. I promise.”

  It’s all I can do to keep my hands out of her skirt on the drive home. By the time we get to her apartment, I’m wound up like a goddamn clock. As soon as we step inside her apartment, I slam the door and pull her into a punishing kiss for teasing me. Frantically, I reach for the hem of her skirt.

  Toby yaps from the sofa.

  “I’m sure he needs to go for a walk.” Chloe pushes at my shoulders.

  “I’ll take him.” He and I have the beginnings of a bro-code going. I say Adam is a dickhead and the dog takes a piss. I drag my mouth from her shoulder all the way to her ear. “But you’re mine when I get back.”

  Her chest rises and falls like she’s as turned on as I am. “I’ll meet you in the shower,” she whispers, all breathy.

  I growl louder than Toby.

  Once downstairs, Toby doesn’t disappoint. I say, “Adam is a dickhead,” and Toby hikes his leg. Twice. I guess small dogs aren’t so bad after all.

  On the way back upstairs, I pull my phone out, do a search for doggie beds, and order the most expensive one along with treats and gourmet dog food. I have it sent to my apartment so my place is ready when Chloe and Toby come over the first time.

  A thrill rushes through me that she will be the first woman to sleep in my bed.

  When we get back to the apartment, the water is running from the bathroom. And just like a fantasy, there is a trail of clothes from the living room all the way to the bathroom. Breadcrumbs marking my path, begging me to follow. So I do. I toss Toby some treats, then I start to undress and leave my own clothes along the path Chloe has already left for me. I drop my jacket next to the fuck-me shoes. Then I toss my shirt on top of her skirt.

  By the time I get to the bathroom door, I send my boxer briefs sailing to the floor right next to her lacy bra. I push the door open and lick my lips at her silhouette behind the shower curtain.

  I put a few condoms on the counter, and drag in a ragged breath as I move the curtain aside to look in. The sight is something to behold. Chloe’s hair is up in a clip, her back to me. Rivulets of water cascade down her back to mingle with the suds as she soaps herself up. Her back is slender but toned. Her waist dips in just above the hips, and two dimples appear just above the cheeks of her ass. A stream of water and soap glides right down the middle of her full, fabulous butt.

  Please God if only she’d drop the soap.

  She turns—a hungry, wanting look already in her eyes.

  “Is there room for me?” I ask.

  She nods, a naughty gleam dancing in her blue eyes. “I’ll make room.”

  “Come here.” I climb in and snake an arm around her waist to pull her against me skin-to-skin.

  A sexy squeak tumbles through her lips, and I stare at them. The very ones I’m wanting her to wrap around my dick and suck until I hit the back of her throat. But not yet. First, I want to bring her to climax in so many ways. With my fingers, my mouth, then my cock.

  My body blocks the hot, steamy water, and a shiver lances through her. I angle us to the side so the water streams over both of us. I pull her against me again and deliver a ruthless kiss that has her breathless in seconds. Then I run my nose along her skin until my mouth is against her ear.

  “Chloe Evers, I want you to know something.” I try to murmur, but my voice is rough and demanding.

  “What?” she gasps, threading both hands into my hair.

  I bite at her earlobe until a shudder racks through her. “Tonight I’m going to fuck you to the edge of heaven.”

  Another shudder overtakes her that’s so violent she almost loses her balance. I catch her. Brace her. Steady her against my rock-hard dick.

  “When I’m done with you tonight, you’ll be ruined for any other man but me.” That’s my hope, anyway. I want her all to myself.

  I’m just not sure if that’s what she wants, and it throws me. I’m usually good at reading the opposite sex because I’ve spent so much time studying them. But not this woman. Since I met Chloe, I’m off my game.

  She turns her head into me, lifts her chin, and whispers in my ear, “Then ruin me.”

  She might as well have waved a red flag at a charging bull.

  I lift one foot to rest against the edge of the tub and hook one of her legs over my thigh. She moans and her head falls back against the wall when my fingers sink into her curls, open the lips of her pussy, and run two fingers along her slick length.

  “I just started touching you. Where did this come from?” I ask, teasing her about the thick moisture between her thighs. Taunting her. I want her to talk dirty, reveal her sexy, sizzling secrets about what turns her on.

  “I’m in the shower. Of course I’m wet.”

  I shake my head, a low rumble of laughter drifting up from my chest. “That’s not water.” Two fingers glide into her depths as easy as inserting a key into a lock.

  Her eyes slide shut.

  “Tell me what you were thinking about before I got in the shower with you.” I withdraw my fingers to the tip and slide them all the way in again with a little twist.

  “You.” Her voice is desperate. Daring. Dirty.

  Just the way I want her.

  “What about me, Chloe?” I dip my head to suck one perfect nipple into a hard peak, and she cries out. “We’ve got all night,” I murmur against her beautiful breast, then bury my face between them and lick straight up the center. “I want to know what you were thinking that has you so wet and ready.” I slide my fingers out, and she whimpers in protest. “Tell me.” I start to move my fingers in and out, finding a rhythm that will fuck her into oblivion. Just the first time I plan to do so tonight.

  Her head falls back and bangs against the shower stall. Her brows are drawn together like what I’m doing to her feels so good it’s almost painful. Her hips move, fucking my hand, and her nails bite into my shoulders.

  “I was on my knees in front of you,” she says on a desperate cry.

  Jesus fucking Christ. Not what I expected her to say. My dick turns to stone, and I have to hold back my own orgasm. I swear I’ve never met a woman that can bring me to the brink as fast as Chloe.

  “You were fantasizing about blowing me?” My voice is gravel.

  She doesn’t answer. Her hips pick up speed and my hand does the same to match her rhythm.

  “Look at me, Chloe,” I demand.

  Her eyes flutter open. Her lips are parted, and she’s flushed from head to toe. And not just from the steamy water.

  “Did I come in your mouth?”

  She nods fast and furious the same way she’s fucking my hand.

  “Did you swallow me?” Every word is a rumble in my chest as thick with lust and heat as the steam swirling around us.

  She swallows like she’s reenacting her fantasy and whispers, “Yes.”

  I’m holding on to the edge of sanity here. This girl who I’m already so crazy about has fantasized about sucking my dick. I can’t help it. I want to hea
r more. “Tell me.”

  “We were in your office.” Her grip on my shoulders tightens at the same time her pussy goes on lockdown around my fingers. She’s as turned on by this as I am. “You were leaning against your desk, hands gripping the edge, staring at the view out the window.” Her voice is desperate as my finger-fucking propels her closer to the brink. Her eyes slide shut, and she whimpers in pleasure.

  “Open your eyes and look at me.”

  Pulling her eyes open looks like pure torture, but she does it.

  I give my fingers a twist and curl with every pump. Her lower back bows, making her nice, round breasts jut toward me. They bob and bounce. They are utterly beautiful. Every part of her body is. Every part of her mind is even more so.

  “I lowered your pants,” she says on a moan. “I sucked you, licked you, and fucked you with my mouth until you came.”

  Fuck. I love her dirty mouth and mind. “You were thinking about this while you were working in my building.” I say it more like a statement than a question, because I can’t believe how goddamn lucky I am.

  She nods violently, her lips parting.

  “Did I fuck you bent over my desk or lying on top of it?”

  Her head swings back and forth in a no.

  “No?” I ask a little surprised. A lot disappointed. Desk fucking is a must in any office fantasy.

  “You called before I got to that part, so I took my panties off while we were on the phone.” Her voice is scratchy. She’s close, I can feel it.

  “Did you touch yourself?” I pump harder. Faster.

  “No,” she pants out. “Not enough time alone.”

  “Next time I’ll get you off over the phone. I promise it won’t take more than a few minutes with the things I’ll say to you.”

  She snaps, flooding my hand with her sex. Her desire. The sounds of ecstasy come from deep inside of her while a fierce orgasm crashes into her and topples her over the edge. It makes me snap too. I don’t come, though. Only because I’m grinding my teeth into powder.

  I pick her up, our bodies slick and wet against each other, both from the shower and from our incredible lust for one another. I start to carry her out of the bathroom to the bedroom, the sofa, kitchen table. Hell, I don’t care where.

  “Wait.” She grabs the bathroom door and stops me. “Fuck me here,” she whispers against my wet neck, and then proceeds to suck and lick all of the water droplets off. Does not do a damn bit of good because now I’m sweating bullets at the thought of burying my cock in her and fucking her to oblivion. And back again.

  The second her feet touch the floor in the small bathroom, I spin her around to face the mirror. It’s steamed up just like everything else when we’re together. I think the fiery chemistry between us could bring the Hudson to a rolling boil if we went skinny-dipping.

  I reach around her and swipe across the mirror with my forearm. “I want to see your face when I fuck you from behind.”

  A sexy sound escapes her, as she locks her gaze onto mine in the mirror. Her lashes are starred from the shower, her lips are swollen from my kisses, her cheeks and neck are flushed. She’s so damn beautiful I can hardly fathom it.

  Slowly, I wrap my large palms around the top of her slender arms and slide them down until our fingers are laced. Guiding her open hands to the white pedestal sink, I anchor them to the cool ceramic. My hands cover hers. I press my straight-up hard-on between her ass cheeks.

  “Oh.” The same excitement in her voice shines in her cobalt eyes. “I want you, Leo. Now.”

  “My,” I tease, both with my tone and my dick. “Aren’t we bossy tonight.” I mold my chest against her back and deliver a heated kiss. “I like that.”

  I totally fucking do. Chloe is getting bolder, braver with each sexual encounter. She’s figuring out what she wants sexually. I just hope she doesn’t outgrow me. I shake off the momentary pain that spears through my gut.

  With my teeth, tongue, and lips, I kiss down her spine until I reach her ass. I get down on my knees and massage each perfect cheek, then spread them open and run my tongue from one end of her slick center to the other.

  “Ah!” Her voice is desperate. Needy for another release. “Leo, fuck me.”

  I do, but not with my cock even though it’s throbbing and twitching to do exactly what she’s asking. But not yet. Instead, I use my mouth and tongue. She’s so soft and sensitive everywhere I touch that she’s trembling with need, and I want to draw it out. When she’s completely drenched me, I stand and lock eyes with her in the mirror. “You’re so damn gorgeous it hurts to look at you sometimes.”

  Heat soars even higher in her eyes, and she grinds her ass against me, her back arching into the friction. “Leo Foxx, if you don’t do me soon, I’m going to get myself off and make you watch without letting you touch me.”

  “Fuck’s sake,” I rasp out between clenched teeth. I pull the clip from her hair, wrap the long dark strands around my hand and pull her head back so I can lay a smokin’ hot kiss on those lips that speak such dirty things. When I finally break the kiss to let our noses barely graze, I whisper, “That’s one filthy mouth you’ve got.”

  She smiles, confident and fearless. “You have no idea.”

  My pulse kicks because I know I’ve done my job. She’s figured out what she wants from a man for sure. The question is, will she still want me after our deal is done?

  I reach for a condom and have myself covered before she can make good on her threat. Not that I wouldn’t love to watch her pleasure herself sometime. Just not tonight. Tonight I’m going to give her everything she wants.

  And she’s made it perfectly clear that she wants me inside her.

  I step between her legs again and rub the head along her pussy. A shudder racks through her, and she gasps out another, “Oh.” Then she locks gazes with me in the mirror and says, “Fast and hard, Leo.”

  That’s my breaking point. I can’t tease her anymore. I have to have her. I tangle her hair around my hand again and bend her over just enough to gain better access. I mold my chest against her back, while I hold her stare in the mirror. “I want you all the fucking time,” I murmur against her ear. My voice is ragged. “I’m crazy half the time from wanting you so goddamn much.” My breath against her lobe and my cock against her pussy both send a shiver racing over her. “Hang on tight, sweetheart, because we’re about to redefine fast and hard.”

  Her eyes slide shut. When I lean back to grab her hips, her knuckles are as white as the sink they are clutching.

  With one fluid stroke, I slide into her tight, wet space. She cries out my name, and it’s never sounded so sweet. So intoxicating that I want to hear her say it over and over. I pull out and thrust in again, driving more loud and indiscernible words from her. I’ll take them, even if they aren’t my name. Hell, she can speak pig Latin to me at this point and it will sound like the language of angels.

  I drive into her, slowly at first to give her a chance to adjust. But quickly I pick up speed and my strokes go deeper, faster until she’s writhing. Her back is nothing but gooseflesh even though the bathroom is still hot from the steamy water and our heated breaths.

  “Don’t stop, Leo,” she rasps out.

  “I can go all night, baby, especially if you keep talking to me like that.” I roll my hips into her, my groin slapping against her ass. The sound is as sweet as Chloe screaming my name.

  “Harder,” she commands me.

  An electric current slides through me. I oblige, pounding into her. She rotates her hips and matches my rhythm. She reaches back and grips my wrist. My hands are still firmly anchored to her hips as I keep driving into her.

  She cries out a desperate, hungry sex sound, reaching for the release that’s barreling toward her. I love her like this. I’m completely falling for her, and the thought makes me try harder to please her.

  “Oh, God. Leo!”

  “Yes, baby. Come for me.” I angle my hips to apply more pressure, and she explodes into a cataclysmi
c orgasm. Every muscle contracts and convulses around my dick, milking me to the edge then pushing me over.

  I lose all focus as we both ride the tidal wave of our orgasms. When I can think, I watch her beautiful face in the mirror. Her eyes are still closed, and she’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen this way. When her breathing slows, she straightens and falls back against me. I wrap her up in my arms and nuzzle her neck. We sway gently to the imaginary music that’s playing in my head.

  “What are we doing tonight?” I ask against her neck.

  She shivers. “Hmmm?”

  “You said you were taking me to do something that you’ve wanted to do since you were a kid.” I press a kiss into her hair and stare at her in the mirror. One of her hands is stroking my forearm that’s lying across her breasts. The other is threaded around my neck and up into my hair.

  She shakes her head. “Let’s stay in and order out. I’m starved now.” A smile quirks one side of her mouth.

  “Sounds perfect.” I so fucking don’t want this night to end. I don’t want us to end. I run my tongue along the rim of her ear. “But just for kicks, tell me what you had planned.” I nip at her earlobe. “Maybe we can do it soon.”

  She stares at me in the mirror, her fingers kneading through my thick hair. “Maybe.”

  Maybe rings in my ears. This weekend marks the end of our week together, and that one simple word tells me she’s not at all sure she wants me in her life after it’s over.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  I can’t keep the happy-as-hell smile off my face this morning as I step off the elevator and stroll to my office. Chloe and I spent most of last night awake… and probably kept the neighbors awake too. Early this morning she pushed me out the door and sent me home to get dressed for work. She wanted to get ready without me distracting her. I offered to pick her up on the way to the office, but she wouldn’t allow it because of how it might look.

  I can’t say I blame her, but I really would’ve liked to have held her hand all the way to the office. Call me a sap, but my mom and dad used to hold hands all the time.