The One That I Want (Scorned Women Society Book 3)

by Piper Sheldon

  I would take my time with her. I would make her come over and over after hours of foreplay, worshiping every inch of her body as she was meant to be.

  “Sanders?” I blinked up to find her sprawled out on the bed and beckoning. “Take off your pants and get over here.”

  That worked too.

  I pulled off my shirt and pants and tossed them on to a chair in the corner.

  She still wore the clothes from the car, and I intended to pull them off her like a candy wrapper. I couldn’t wait to run my hands up her long legs. Her chest heaved, nipples hardening in the cool room. I was about to finish undressing when I caught her molten gaze as it took in my body. Her brown eyes darkened with desire as a tongue flicked out to lick her full lips.

  “How are you so hot?” she asked.

  “Funny. That’s exactly what I was thinking.”

  I dropped my drawers. I was rock hard and jutted out proudly. I ran a hand down myself, used my thumb to wipe the pearl of moisture over the tip as she watched me. I almost came right then.

  “Perfect,” she said.

  “Hardly. But I’m yours and that’s all that matters.”

  Her lashes fluttered.

  “And don’t tell me I can’t say things like that,” I added. “Because I can say what I want here. I can tell you you are the most beautiful woman in every room. You’re funny and clever even when you’re trying to be cranky. You’re amazing,” I said as I walked to her. My words were in sweet opposition to the rough strokes on my cock.

  Her gaze flicked between my face and the action of my palm. She crawled on her knees to meet me when I arrived at her bed. Her hand reached out to meet my cock. I hissed as she stroked me once. I was already too close. I held her wrist, stopping her.

  “Turn around,” I said.

  She hesitated only a moment. Heat narrowed her eyes as she licked her lips. She liked being told what to do. In this safe space with only our mutual respect and desire, I could push her boundaries and tease her. Tell her what I wanted her to do and she would like it.

  “Lift your arms,” I said.

  Slowly, she did as she was told. She complied with my demand but on her terms. I growled as I grabbed the hem of her shirt and lifted it off her. I gently brought her arms back down, pushing her long brown hair, thick and straight, off her shoulders. Her shoulders were tight with tension but she melted into me as I massaged them.

  “That’s nice,” she said softly.

  I rubbed my thumbs in circles down her back, focusing on the strong muscles of her spine until I reached the sweet little dimples just above her pants.

  “Stand up,” I said.

  Her cheeks were flushed as she stood, glancing over her shoulder at me. I knelt behind her, slowly pushing down her bottoms as I went. She wore no underwear and all her beauty was revealed to me.

  “Bend over,” I said.

  She leaned on to the bed as I ran my hands up her calves, the backs of her thighs. I took my time rubbing each tense muscle, exploring each piece of art up close. I wanted her as worked up as I was. I wanted her close to bursting. I dug my thumbs deep into the muscles of her glorious bottom. She moaned.

  She was so beautiful.

  “Sanders,” she gasped out my name as I licked up her once, just a tease. She was so wet for me. My skin felt too small. My balls were so high and tight, my cock rock hard and ready to take her.

  I stood up too fast, almost dizzy, and gently walked her back to kneel on the bed, still facing away from me.

  I memorized the shape of her back as it curved into her waist and out to her ass, like a smooth, stringed instrument. I greedily took in the canvas of her body, memorizing the art. I stepped until there was no space between us, and gently pushed her hair over one shoulder. I kissed her shoulder and neck as my cock pressed between the cheeks of her ass. My fingers explored under her, tracing across her chest, watching the bumps form in my wake. I cupped her breasts, gently pinching her nipples, causing her to gasp. My hands ran down her stomach.

  “Remember the night that I met you?” I asked, bringing her to my chest so I could whisper it in her ear.

  “Hmm, no. Should I?” she said.

  I gently slapped her bottom before rubbing it. She turned to look at me, fire in her eyes. Our mouths clashed.

  When we broke apart, I said, “I wanted you so bad that night.”

  “Me too,” she said. Her hands came up to gently scratch at my arms that held her.

  “I could have waited longer, you know. I could wait forever for you.”

  She kissed me softly. “We’ve wasted enough time. Let’s just be here, now.”

  I lifted a hand to her forehead. “Are you okay?”

  She grabbed my palm and kissed it softly. “I’m following the advice of some crazy guy.” She shrugged.

  A sneaky grin spread on her lips. Her arm reached back between us and found me.

  I hissed a breath and thrust into her gentle grip. She started slow, a thumb brushed over my tip, and then she stroked down the length. The action pushed her breasts forward as she arching away from me. I was wrong earlier, this was perfection.

  She stroked faster despite the angle. I was too close to coming. If she touched me anymore, I was going to end the night way too soon.

  I grabbed her wrists and gripped them both in my left hand, holding them behind her back. She squirmed and groaned. Her back arched even more. I ran my free hand up her whole body, starting at her knees and ending with a thumb dragging across her lips, dipping it into her mouth. She sucked it in deeper. I groaned and my hips thrust forward.

  “What am I going to do with you?” I asked, taking out my thumb and gently turning her head to me.

  “Everything,” she said.

  I continued my exploration of her as I stood behind her. With every stroke and kiss, she melted against me and I held her up. Sweat collected everywhere our bodies met. I positioned myself so I was pumping between her closed legs, a temporary substitute for the real thing. I dipped my fingers into her, felt her want for me. Let her feel mine for her. I teased her until she was flushed and panting, begging me.

  I watched her closely as she came apart again for me. She was heart-achingly beautiful.

  “Lie down,” I whispered in her ear as I gentled my touch, pulling my fingers out of her pulsating body.

  She moaned an acknowledgement and rolled onto her back, spread out in the most beautiful offering I’d ever seen. I was afraid of coming as I rolled on the condom. Especially as she watched me with fire in her eyes.

  This time she beckoned me with a finger. I moved to cover her and slicked myself with her moisture as we kissed deeply.

  When I finally slid into her, it was so easy, we both gasped. Her muscles gripped me and I had to stop moving to breathe in through my nose. Her nails scratched lazily up my back. She kissed my neck and shoulder as I counted my breaths.

  This was what everything led to. This was what life was about. This was a miracle.

  “I just decided,” I said. “I don’t think we can be just friends.”

  She threw her head back and laughed. I felt it through her whole body.

  “Friends are overrated,” she said.

  Roxy

  I sighed with a happy smile on my face. I would never look at the ceiling of my bedroom the same way again. Every time I looked up, I would think of this night. After the second round, we both lay on our backs panting. Our legs spread and tossed over each other, sliding with satisfying sweat. Soon I would get cold but right now I glowed with contented warmth.

  “I can’t move,” I said.

  “Moving is dumb.”

  I laughed and reluctantly got off him to go clean up.

  When I came back to bed, he’d cleaned up too and flung back the blankets to let me in. I dove, snuggling up against his naked body. I didn’t realize how cold I was until the heat of naked skin seared me back to warmth.

  “Get closer,” he demanded. “I need to touch as much of you
as possible.” His hands roamed me as I cuddled closer to him with a sigh.

  My head rested on his chest. His heart still beat loudly at a quick tempo. I didn’t need to see his face to know he was grinning.

  “Why are you smiling?” I asked.

  “I think my face is frozen like this now.”

  “Well, lucky for you, it suits you.”

  “You think I’m pretty,” he said.

  I laughed into his sparse chest hair. I bit his nipple gently to make up for when he bit my ass earlier. I was so weird. He growled. At least he liked my freaky ways.

  “I knew it would be like this for us,” I said.

  He hummed a questioning sound.

  “That night we danced. We were so perfectly in sync. I wanted you so bad. I knew when we came together—”

  “Literally,” he mumbled.

  “—it would be this good. I never felt like that with anybody which sounds cliché but, I guess, I’m a cliché now.”

  He stilled under me as I started talking, but by the time I finished, his hands went back to exploring my body. I would never tire of the way he touched me, like I was the most fascinating thing he’d ever experienced.

  “I knew the second I saw you that I would regret it the rest of my life if I didn’t at least ask you to dance. Then when you left …” his voice rumbled under me.

  “Sorry,” I whispered.

  “I felt fear like I never had. I thought, ‘If I can’t talk to her again, I will never be okay.’”

  “I had never felt like that with a stranger either,” I admitted. “I think I just freaked out.”

  “I was freaked out too. I couldn’t let you go. And then we talked and I knew.” He swallowed so audibly it made my heart start to race.

  I wanted to ask what he knew. I wanted to hear the words. But I wasn’t sure that we were ready for that. It didn’t seem normal to feel so much so soon. This couldn’t be normal.

  “I just wish …” I said cutting off his unfinished thought.

  He gently prodded my shoulder. “What?” he asked.

  I moved up so I could look in his deep blue eyes. “Now I’m just thinking that we could have been doing this for weeks.”

  His smile faltered. “It had to be this way. I couldn’t handle it if you had regretted me.”

  “Never,” I said and leaned to kiss him.

  “Everything worked out as it had to,” he said and I believed him.

  “So tomorrow …” I said not wanting to mention the elephant in the room but knowing that I wouldn’t be able to sleep if we didn’t have a plan.

  “Tomorrow we will do our jobs,” he said seriously.

  I couldn’t help the fear that made my palms sweaty. Was this his way of saying—

  “And then in the evening I’m going to come back here and I’m going to kiss every inch of your body again and make you come until we lose track of the time. Because I don’t think I can go even a full day without having you.”

  I chewed my cheek to keep from smiling and then wondered why I was hiding it. I unleashed a full smile on him saying, “That sounds like a very good plan.”

  Instead of laughing at my smile, his eyes grew dark. He pulled me back in for a kiss. Soon, he was inside me again. This time I rode him gently. Our hands clasped, as strongly connected as our gazes. In no time, we came apart together.

  Though I was glad we had discussed a plan for the next day, it was obvious neither one of us was going to be sleeping much tonight.

  Sleep was overrated too.

  Chapter 24

  Roxy

  MooreTek arrived and the next week passed in a blur of happiness. Whenever thoughts about our eventual expiration date would leak in, I pushed them aside with a simple, “Not now.” Yes, Sanders would have to leave and go back to Denver, but those thoughts could wait. We were, as it turned out, a damn good team. My anal-retentive planning of every detail balanced out his laissez-faire attitude. And everything did work out. More impressive was that when something unexpected happened, I was able to handle it with almost no freak-out.

  Like on the third day of the MooreTek retreat, when the kitchen ran out of gluten-free and vegetarian options. Normally, I would head out and grab the needed ingredients, scrambling to get back in time, sweaty and frazzled. Instead, I headed into the male-dominated kitchen and pointed to one of the sous-chefs.

  “Can you run to the farmer’s market and grab whatever the kitchen needs?” I asked.

  He glanced to Johnny Delaney, the grumpy kitchen manager.

  Whatever, Johnny, you take your broody good looks and shove it.

  “Is that okay with you?” is what I actually said to him.

  He crossed his arms and grunted what I guessed was consent. That guy needed some damn sunshine in his life.

  Oh God, look at me. Since I’d started hooking up with Sanders every beautiful night, I was turning into Suzie, wishing love and happiness on other people. Gross. Soon I wouldn’t even recognize myself anymore. And I could delegate like a boss now. Literally.

  And wasn’t that amazing.

  I was still a professional. Of course. I still wanted my promotion, I wouldn’t do anything stupid. But I was happy.

  I couldn’t help but smile as I walked back to the lobby. My face just did it all the time now. When I looked up, Sanders was watching from across the room where he was about to take the group out for a morning hike. His eyes met mine and he smiled with his whole body. I tucked my hair back and focused on the task at hand.

  Each day went like that. We were professionals and we were badasses. We’d work all day, impressing the shit out of the customer and then at night … well, the nights were amazing. It was risqué and sexy to work as professional counterparts during the day only to lose ourselves in each other each night.

  The same day as the kitchen shortage, I was walking down the hallway when a hand grabbed me and tugged me into the janitor closet. The room was dark, but the second a hard body pressed me up against the door, I melted into the kiss that met my lips.

  Sanders kissed me in the darkness of the closet, grinding his erection against my thigh as he made me come against his fingers.

  “A girl could get used to this,” I said as we straightened ourselves back to sorts.

  “You go out first. I need a minute,” Sanders said breathing deeply and gripping a rack of supplies, slightly hunched.

  “I could help with that.” I reached out and ran a finger along the length of him.

  “Don’t touch him. He gets confused. He’s a simple creature. Plus, if I make him wait, the better tonight will be.”

  I flushed with the anticipation.

  The days blurred together. Muscles I didn’t even know I had ached throughout the day, bringing a smile to my face as I coordinated the events with a professional ease. I loved how bossy he was in the bedroom. I loved that I took the lead too. We’d already explored so much of each other but my mind drifted throughout the day imagining a hundred more ways to love his body with mine.

  On Friday, Vincent found me double-checking the bus taking the group back to the airport.

  “Roxy.” Vincent smiled, standing coolly with one hand in the pocket of his dress pants, his blazer open slightly. Busy with the MooreTek crowd, I’d hardly seen him this last week except when he checked in a few times. The sight of him caused the same anxiety as before despite knowing the week had been a success.

  We waited as Sanders finished helping the last MooreTek employees climb onto the buses. I watched him jog over to join us, nodding professionally at me before giving Vincent his entire focus.

  Oh, we were so good at this.

  Vincent glanced between the two of us. “Do you both have some time to chat?”

  Sanders and I exchanged a nod before following him back to his office.

  When the three of us were situated in his office, an unaccountable wave of nerves crashed over me. I longed to reach for Sanders but clasped my hands gently in my lap.

 
; “I just spoke with the CEO of MooreTek,” Vincent jumped right in as usual. “She could only say great things about the both of you. I think the term ‘power duo’ was thrown around more than once. Not only do they want to make this an annual event, they’re happy to share their recommendation with other businesses.”

  “That’s fantastic,” I said, letting out a slow breath. I knew it, but hearing this review released some tension in my shoulders.

  “Great news,” Sanders said at the same time.

  “Mr. Olsson, I hope this means you’ll consider partnering with the Lodge on a more permanent basis,” Vincent said. “We can all discuss the details. Maybe we can draft up some ideas before you leave. Things are a little crazy around here but I think it’s an arrangement that would benefit us all.”

  I fought to keep myself as still as possible. A thousand thoughts flew through my brain. Sanders and I … it was only supposed to be temporary. Short-term I could handle. Short-term wouldn’t derail me but even just looking at how obsessed we’d become with each other this last week … Could we sustain that momentum and focus on our careers?

  Not now, I told the thoughts in my head. I kept my neutral expression on Vincent as Sanders responded.

  “I think Outside the Box would very much like that. When Skip returns, I’ll discuss the idea with him.”

  I stole a glance to see his big goofy grin.

  Vincent turned to me. I sucked in my lips.

  “Roxanne, I never had any doubt you’d be amazing. I’ve watched you all week. You’ve learned to trust and delegate. I’ve never seen two people so communicative. Next week let’s discuss your transition into the lead events coordinator.”

  “Thank you,” I said with a grin. “That would be great.”

  Vincent smiled back. Flicking his gaze back to Sanders, he added, “Now why don’t you two go out and celebrate. You’ve both been working so hard all week, you’re practically dead on your feet. You should really get some sleep.” He glanced between us one last time with an unreadable expression.

  I knew we hadn’t been as discreet as we’d thought. My palms began to sweat. Things were happening too fast.