“Yes, it is.”
He nodded and continued to dress.
“But if you leave,” she said, “I’ll never know enough about you to make up my mind. And we do have the rest of the day.”
He stopped with one pants leg half on and raised his gaze to meet hers. “I am who I am. I won’t apologize for anything that got me to this place. But I can promise one thing: I’d never intentionally hurt you.” He saw the slight upward curve of her lips.
She took her time answering. “I believe you.”
Moving closer, she touched his cheek. “Now do we want to stand here naked for the rest of the afternoon? I’m getting a chill.”
He dropped his pants and stepped out of them. “From my viewpoint, the scene is quite lovely, but if you’re chilled, I’m pretty sure I could turn up your temperature.”
“I don’t doubt that for a minute.” She took his hand and placed it on her mound.
He gently massaged her. “You’re warmer already.”
“What do you say we finish this in the shower? Then we can order Thai from the restaurant down the street.”
He cupped her beautiful ass and buried his face in the crook of her neck. “Sounds great. All I’ve put in my stomach today is a cup of coffee. I’m very hungry and”―he stepped back and eyed his erection―“I’m not opposed to a delectable hors d’oeuvre before the main course.”
She licked her lips suggestively. “I’ve never thought of myself as an appetizer, but”―she furrowed her brows in contemplation―“that’s kind of nice.” Taking his hand, she led him into the bathroom and tempered the water in the tiled shower.
Before they stepped inside the glass enclosure, he kissed her hard on the lips. “You’ve taken a leap of faith.”
“A giant leap.”
Her steady gaze didn’t waver, and she seemed to look into the deepest part of him. A fleeting shadow of doubt flickered, and he forced himself to ignore it.
She ran her fingernail across his lips. “But I’ve learned enough about you, even in this short time, to know I won’t be jumping off a precipice.”
“If you do, it won’t be far. You’ll land on your feet.”
She shook her head. “Why is it everything you say intrigues me? Am I a masochist, an adventuress, or just plain dumb?”
“You’re none of those. You’re a woman who sees possibilities.” He kissed the top of her head, and they stepped into the hot, steamy rush of pulsating water.
Devoid of makeup, Charlotte looked like a commercial for soap or shampoo or some exotic beauty cream to keep women ageless. Wet hair tumbled down around her face and clung in graceful spirals around her neck. He massaged her scalp with his fingertips and smothered her with kisses as the water cascaded over them. Both were breathing hard when she broke from his embrace.
She threw her head back and laughed. “You’re devouring me. Don’t stop.”
“Oh, don’t worry.”
Charlotte grabbed a bottle off the shower caddy and squirted body wash over them that smelled of mint and rosemary. They lathered each other with slick, soapy hands. The fluid motion over both their bodies elicited moans of pleasure. She worked her way down his chest to his cock and started hand-fucking him. He felt the pressure build. Too soon.
“Stop, or I’ll come, and I don’t want to yet.” Then he faced her to the wall, arms high on the tile, and spread her legs to tease her pussy with his cock from behind while massaging her soapy, pendulous breasts. Her nipples distended and hardened, and he pinched and played with them. The lyrical purring of her pleasure sounded like erotic music that roused his cock to its full length. He pulled back slightly to give himself more time and kneaded her shoulders, then her back and her luscious, rounded buttocks.
“I’m so horny right now,” he said, “that if I’m not careful, I’ll shoot my load all over your back.”
With a tilt of her head over her shoulder, she said, “No way. Not until you’re in me.”
Removing the showerhead off the hook, he pressed the pulsing water under and against her pussy, while he worked his soapy finger into the rim of her anus and gently rotated.
“Ohh Christ, Alex. I want you in me.”
“I don’t have another condom,” he said with barely a shrug. “Who knew?”
“I’m on the pill, and you’re safe.”
“That’s trust,” he said. “The first step.”
He dropped the showerhead so that its spray shot up and throbbed against them. “Are you ready?”
“Yes.”
“Are you?” he said louder.
“Yes, yes. Fuck me deep, all the way in.”
He took hold of her hips and drove his engorged cock into her from behind until she screamed in sync with his feral thrusts. His hands moved to her mound, and he pushed into her as deep as he could and kept it up until their orgasms peaked in a furious crescendo. When he had nothing left, he collapsed across her back, reaching to cup her breasts.
The sounds of their panting breaths slowly returned to normal while his erection shrank. He nibbled her soapy shoulder, planted tiny kisses on the top of her spine. His dick was still swollen when he pulled out. He turned her around and kissed her with a passion he hadn’t felt in a long time.
She put her ear to his chest. “Your heart’s beating as fast as mine.”
“So fast, I’m afraid it’ll give out.” He bent down and picked up the showerhead and rinsed whatever soap remained on her. His hand glided over the soft curves of her body. “Just touching you gets me excited all over again.”
“The day’s not over,” she said with a wicked smile, “and there’s still tonight.”
~~~~~
“Take it slow. We have all night.”
Gianni eased Alex into a strange and exotic new world. Gianni the patient teacher, Alex the apt virgin pupil. He brought Alex to his bed, took his hand, and lowered it to his erection, wrapping it around his shaft, gently directing him in the art of pleasing another man. “Oh, baby, that feels so good. Hmm, yes, like that.”
Alex knew what he liked, but he wasn’t satisfying his cock. He continued for a while, feeling strange, but at the same time the act of wanking another man’s cock seemed natural. He kept to the rhythm until Gianni moaned contentedly, though he didn’t come.
“Now stretch out on your back,” Gianni said. “I’m going to show you how good it feels. I’ll pleasure you like you’ve never been pleasured.”
He opened a bedside table drawer and withdrew a bottle of oil. It smelled familiar, but Alex couldn’t place the aroma.
“Apricot,” Gianni said. He drizzled some on Alex’s chest and rubbed it sensuously over his pectoral muscles, tweaking his nipples in the process. “Close your eyes and relax.”
Alex questioned whether he wanted to embark on such a life-changing experiment. But it was too late. Gianni’s slick, heavenly fingers kneaded and caressed his neck and the base of his scalp, moving down his body to his groin area. He worked the oil into Alex’s skin, massaging the muscles, arousing him. He never touched his cock. Not then.
As Gianni worked his therapeutic fingers up Alex’s legs, everything stopped. Alex opened his eyes. Gianni had removed his touch from Alex’s body. With his arms supporting him to the sides, he lowered his head to Alex’s groin, nibbling on the inside of his thigh and into the crease of his leg. The quick, delicate flicks of his tongue over the tip of Alex’s erect cock sent him over the edge. His balls tightened and tightened some more as Gianni kept it up, taking Alex into his mouth, sucking and licking, working his sensitive head.
Alex thought he’d burst as Gianni lapped his balls, then sucked them. The surge erupted like an explosion. Violent and sudden. He couldn’t hold back the carnal sounds of satisfaction. Complete and utter pleasure.
Chapter Twelve
The First Step, then Another
Charlotte’s apartment was one big loft space, with the bedroom area cleverly separated by the juxtaposition of furniture and screens. She viewed A
lex as he opened a bottle of Bordeaux from the kitchen wine rack. When they ordered Thai from the local restaurant, she learned Alex was a vegetarian, except for eating an occasional fish dish. That surprised her, but taking in the full length of his lean body, she saw a man who took care of himself without being overly developed. She needed to keep her head. As much as she enjoyed their first sexual experience, and she did, Alex had issues. Whatever they were, he showed no inclination to share them. At least he was honest about that.
The door buzzer sounded. He made sure it was the deliveryman, then wrapped himself in Charlotte’s oversize terry cloth robe to pay him.
“Wine and repast, m’lady,” he said as he brought dinner to the bed on a tray, complete with dishes and utensils.
“This is service.”
“I have one day to make a good impression. One day to get a crack at day two.”
He looked at her with that rascally smile she liked more and more. “So you don’t eat meat?”
“Nope. Haven’t since my father took me to a slaughterhouse when I was a kid. I saw enough to turn me off meat forever.”
“Why would he take you to a place like that?”
Alex opened the containers of food, spooned some of his on her plate. “Taste this.”
Since she ordered chicken, she didn’t share. “You didn’t answer.”
Alex seemed to weigh whether he would. “I was ten. My mother was visiting my sick grandmother, and Dad had no one to leave me with. He went there to pay money to the man who owned the place. I should have stayed in the car, but I followed him.”
“What did your father do?”
Again, Alex took his time answering. “He owned a small engineering company. He also gambled and went to the slaughterhouse to pay on a debt.”
Charlotte realized now why he had taken so long to answer. Alex had let down his guard and released something personal. Should she drop it or encourage him to tell more? But he had opened the door. “Is that how you knew Max Carpathian?”
He avoided her eyes, but he smiled. He knew what she was doing. “Max’s father and mine were best friends. Not because of the gambling. In fact, Anton Carpathian tried to stop my father from doing it because he knew in the end, the house always wins.”
“I take it he didn’t quit.”
“My father had the same disease as Jack Davidson.” He studied her. “Gambling is as much a disease as drinking.”
“What happened to him?”
“He died in prison.”
Charlotte’s barely audible gasp caused Alex to look up.
“My father was a brilliant man, but he gambled all our money, then covered the debt with millions he embezzled from his company.” He lifted his fork to her. “Tofu?”
She shook her head. It didn’t matter what they did to tofu―it was still tofu. “How old were you?”
“Fourteen. It was a huge scandal because people lost their investments and their retirement funds. Anton paid off the loan to our house so my mother and I could stay there. By the time she died―I always believed of a broken heart―my grandparents were dead. Anton took me in and became my legal guardian, or I would have become a ward of the state.”
“How awful that must have been.” Alex refilled both wineglasses. Charlotte sipped. She was learning more about Alex, and she didn’t want him to stop.
“Max was the only kid in school who didn’t turn his back on me. I don’t forget things like that. Anton paid for everything my college scholarships didn’t. I owed him.”
“Where did you go to school?”
“Dartmouth and Harvard Law.” He caught her expression. “Surprised?”
“That you’re an Ivy Leaguer? I guess I am. Darcy told me you were smart. I understand why you worked for Max’s father, but why Max? He’s a crook, and you keep getting him off.”
“Says your friend. Which means you think I’m a crook by association. Birds of a feather, and all that.”
Charlotte’s face turned red, and she mumbled her response. “It looks that way.”
“I told you last night, Max is a businessman. He pays me well enough to be my only client. I do nothing illegal.”
“Darcy said they hate you in the DA’s office.”
Alex chuckled. “Yes, they do.”
“So why work for someone like Carpathian when you could have your pick of legitimate law firms?”
“The Carpathians were there for me when I needed someone. When Anton died a few years ago, I kept on. Max and I have no contract, and the stipulation is I never do something I think crosses a legal line. I admit, that line can be fuzzy, but if I have a crisis of conscience, I can refuse or leave Max’s employ. So far, that’s never happened. It’s a little more complex, but that’s the gist of it.”
“But people think you do his dirty work.”
“I decided at fourteen that it didn’t matter what people thought. You can drive yourself crazy trying to please everyone. The only person I answer to is me. Max has many businesses, inherited from his father. I handle some of them.
“I’m trying to be honest with you, Charlotte. I’ve told you more about me in one day than I’ve told to people I’ve known for years. There are other things for another time. Then you’ll have to decide how much you can accept.”
“What if I can’t?”
“I’ll be disappointed, but it’ll be your choice. We’re all in control of that.”
Alex’s rumored reputation of the mob attorney Darcy warned her about conflicted with the person she was slowly getting to know. Though he admittedly withheld details of his personal history, other characteristics shone through. The way he focused on her as if she were the only person on the planet, the tender touching of her face, or the comfort he offered when she’d seen Jack’s photos. The sly grin when he teased her. Heat rose on her cheeks thinking about those unrestrained gestures. She would chip away at Alex’s outer layers to get inside the man.
Then she wondered why getting to the core of Jack Davidson had never been on her radar. Had she been so blinded by the yacht and mansion and exotic Italian car? She shivered at her shallowness, but she’d learned a lot about herself and what counted most in the process.
Other questions perched on Charlotte’s lips, but the pain on Alex’s face when he told his story―or part of his story, she assumed―kept her from asking them. Realistically, she knew there’d be days other than today between them, because she believed they had more than chemistry. But she needed to know his secrets before she got in over her head emotionally.
Did she believe he had nothing to do with the illegal parts of Carpathian’s business? And what about his sexuality? At worst, Alex was bisexual. Would the fact that he’d made love to men as well as women make a difference? She couldn’t accept that if it were still the case. Few women were that secure, and after Jack, her self-confidence had taken a beating. She was still in the process of gaining it back, despite her declaration that she was a new woman.
Her concentration wavered when Alex’s foot stroked the length of her leg in a slow, steady motion. As if he knew what she was thinking, he interrupted, changing the conversation.
“Where are you from?”
“Marblehead. Very uninteresting biography.” She prattled on about her middle-class family, school, and college. “I’d taken a job at Trends because there weren’t many positions for art history majors. I thought the job would be temporary until something opened up, but I fell in love with working at the store and stopped looking. You know the rest.”
“An art history major, huh? At the risk of sounding like I’m pitching you a line, you’ll have to see my etchings. I collect Renaissance drawings. Some pretty good ones too.”
“Then I’ll definitely have to see them.”
He looked at her with those piercing golden eyes that simmered under his dark lashes. She had no doubt they could melt diamonds. She expected Alex to make another move, but he only stroked her arm and continued the sensuous exploration of her leg. The ge
stures bordered on proprietary, a gentle reminder that he was there. As if she could forget.
He inched closer to her on the bed. “Today isn’t only about sex.”
“No, I don’t think it is.”
With his eyes firmly focused on her, he took her into his arms, pressing her to him. Extracting the pin holding her hair, he ran his fingers through the long strands while he kissed her with such sweet tenderness that emotion soared through her. A contented sigh escaped her throat. No, she thought, this wasn’t only about sex.
The sun cast patterns across the room. He got off the bed and opened the window, letting in the late-afternoon breeze and the faint scent of the Charles. She knew life went on beyond the confines of this room―cars whizzing by on Storrow Drive, people jogging on the Esplanade―but all she saw was Alex as he settled next to her. She ran her hand over his dark skin, amazed at its smoothness, then across his upper arms to his face, where a shadow of stubble had sprouted over the day.
Standing, she leaned over and planted a kiss on his mouth, then let his eyes scan her body with slow, deliberate appreciation. “I’m in control now,” she said. “But whatever I do, you can’t touch me.”
His brows lifted. “Not at all?”
“Only if I want you to. If you try, I’m afraid I’ll have to restrain you.”
Alex’s lips quirked from a playful grin into a full smile. “Charlotte, you are a constant surprise.”
She smiled back. “At least I’m not boring.”
“Oh, I’d say you’re hardly that.”
“So relax, Mr. Andros. I’m going to test your control.” Feeling empowered, she brushed her mouth to his, nipping his bottom lip to inflict the slightest pain. He released a sensual hmmm, and her heartbeat quickened. Making sure he watched, Charlotte slipped her finger inside her pussy, wet with her juices, then brought it to his lips.
Alex accepted it into his mouth, visibly savoring the taste of her. “Delicious.”
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