by A. J. Wynter
Eliza only laughed. “It’s okay. We all deal with our pain in different ways.”
“I’m sorry I was so cold after what happened,” I said. “I should have at least given you some time to explain.”
“I don’t like you blaming this all on yourself,” Eliza said. “I’m the one who dated you while I had a fiancé back home. I mean, I’m clearly the obvious guilty party here, don’t you think?”
“Yeah, you kind of are,” I said with a playful wink. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t throw in a surprise to celebrate our reunion.”
“And what would that be?” Eliza asked.
“I bought a Lake House in Tahoe a couple of years back, but I hardly ever get a chance to use it,” I explained. “So, I thought maybe you would like to go. Get back to the great outdoors.”
“You’re kidding,” Eliza said. “Really? I’ve always wanted to go to Lake Tahoe.”
“Yes, I am kidding. It’s actually just a sewer outside the city. Lovely alligators though.”
Eliza punched me playfully in the arm and laughed.
“I’ve missed you,” she said, and placed her hand over mine gently and slowly, as if she felt she didn’t quite deserve to be forgiven yet.
“I’ve missed you too,” I said, running a hand through her hair, and then I kissed her gently. It was wonderful, kissing Eliza again, now knowing just how close I came to losing her. “Come to Tahoe with me. Let’s unwind. I want to get to know you Eliza, just you and me. Please say yes.”
Eliza giggled, her brown eyes shining with warmth and affection. “Can I change my shoes first?”
***
The waters of Lake Tahoe were glimmering in shades of cerulean and aquamarine in the afternoon sunlight. It was the golden hour, and Eliza and I were sitting on the dock near my lake house after a grueling yet exhilarating hike. We had circled around trees and laughed as if nothing had ever happened. But in a way, things were different, and in a good way. Out here, beyond the walls of the Torver office, we could be ourselves, and our secrets and complicated pasts were beautifully out in the open, breathing free in the mountain air.
“I think I’ve decided to move here,” Eliza said. “I like my job at Torver Corporation and I’ve been researching apartments. I told Ben it was over, and he’s gone. I’m here for good, Cassidy, and I’m ready to start my life over. And I want you to be a part of it.”
I looked at Eliza’s warm brown eyes shining in the light of the sunset, and the pleading, sweet smile she gave me, and I sighed as I thought it over. I too, had once felt trapped, and I imagined how it would have been for me if I had stayed in England and gotten engaged to one of the daughters of one of mum’s unbearably posh friends. If there was anyone who understood the urge to run, it was me.
“I would love for you to stay,” I said.
Eliza beamed and snuggled closer to me, and I held her in arms…she was warm but shivering with happiness and relief.
“I’m sorry for beating the shit out of your fiancée,” I said, ignoring the fact that I was clearly the loser of that particular round of fisticuffs.
Eliza just laughed. “What’s done is done,” she said.
I smiled as Eliza rested her head on my shoulder, and we sat in comfortable silence as the sun began to set over the lake. Eliza and I were one and the same, I realized suddenly, thinking about her strange and sudden morning road trip to Seattle all those weeks ago. We had both been trapped in worlds that had not let us live to our full potential, with people who would never care to see it, and on a whim, we had both taken off.
We were two runaways who had run to each other.
Chapter Eighteen-Eliza
“I cannot believe you’ve never had Ukrainian food before,” Cassidy said as we walked back to his flat. “It’s literally the best.”
“We only have an Applebee’s where I’m from,” I said with a laugh. “Chinese takeout is what I consider exotic.”
We were walking back to Cassidy’s apartment after another date, which included Ukrainian food and an action movie. I was thoroughly happy, and I loved all the turns our conversations took and the inside jokes that were starting to bloom between us. Even more, I loved Cassidy’s flirting…the long, lustful glances he gave me across the table at the restaurant and his gentle touches to my arm throughout the movie. It was absolutely intoxicating.
We reached the outside of Cassidy’s building, and I saw him bite his lip nervously before he offered his goodbye.
“Would you like to come upstairs? To my flat?” he asked, and I grinned.
“Yes,” I said, clean and clear, and I felt my heart speed up to a million miles per hour. The sexual tension during our Tahoe trip had been insane, and I had no bigger desire in the world than to break it.
The ride up the elevator was excruciating, and I had to resist the urge to push Cassidy up against the side of it. I was actually going to do this, and I was actually ready to do this…I was going to have sex, and it wasn’t with Ben, and it wasn’t on my wedding night.
It was with Cassidy Evans.
The second we were inside the flat with the door shoved closed behind us, Cassidy and I grabbed onto each other and fell against the wall, kissing each other in a mad rush of passion that we had kept restrained for weeks. I felt my breath catch as I felt his long fingers glide up my legs and palm over my breasts, and I sighed as he gripped my waist and tugged me closer to him, close enough that I could feel just how aroused he was already. I pulled away from his lips for a moment to speak.
“So, um…” I said, unsure exactly how to bring this up. “I’ve never actually done this before…”
Cassidy stepped back for a moment. “What? Like, sex?”
I nodded, and Cassidy seemed surprised. “You were living with your fiancée and not having sex with him? You’re kidding. How much self-control do you have?”
“I had a lot of self-control around him,” I explained. “But with you…” I smiled. “Not a chance.”
Cassidy smirked and kissed me again, softer this time. “Are you sure about this?” he asked. “Have you really thought this through, and everything?”
I grinned. “Oh please,” I said. “It’s borderline embarrassing just how often I’ve been thinking through exactly what we’re doing right now.”
Cassidy laughed. “If you insist,” he said, and I moaned as I felt his lips move against my neck.
I could feel the sculpted lines of Cassidy’s toned chest underneath his shirt, which I quickly unbuttoned and helped him to peel off, and he smiled as he threw it onto the ground. He looked absolutely stunning under the dimmed lights of the room, and his abs were so pronounced that almost had their own shadows in the dimmed light. He looked almost unreal.
“Now you,” Cassidy said, and unzipped the back of my dress, and I let it fall to the ground in a puddle around my feet, leaving me in my lacy white bra and panties. His eyes looked me over darkly, and I shuddered at the feeling of being so wonderfully exposed to him.
“You’re lovely…” Cassidy whispered in my ear. “…painfully so…” I gasped as he kissed me again, and suddenly he lifted me up so I could wrap my legs around his waist, and I felt his hardness against me as he tangled his hands in my hair. “All the things…” he said in a breathy whisper. “…all the things I said I would do to you in that meeting…” I let a soft moan escape without realizing it. “…I’m going to do to you now…again and again and again until you’re begging me to stop.” I threw my head back in pleasure at just the sound of his voice alone.
Cassidy let me down and we dashed into his bedroom, a classy yet minimalist space that included a dark mahogany bed with black sheets and a dresser in the corner. I hopped onto the bed and moved back, so I was lying down in the center of it, eager and waiting there nearly naked in my lingerie.
I grinned as Cassidy came in, his shirt off and now only in his dark jeans, which now had a significant tent evident in them. He smirked when he saw me waiting for him on the bed, and st
ood at the end of it, simply watching me, and seeing him look at me so hungrily was making me even more desperate for his touch.
“Maybe I’ll just stay here and watch you,” Cassidy said. “You are looking rather gorgeous at the moment.”
“You’re such a tease,” I said, stretching my legs out. “Come here, please, I need you.”
I smiled as I watched Cassidy get on the bed and slowly crawl his way over until he was hovering over me, gazing at my body with an intensity in his deep blue eyes. “I’m falling for you Eliza,” he said, “like I’ve never fallen for anyone else.”
I smiled up at him. “I think I’m already in far too deep.”
Cassidy lowered himself down and kissed me again, and I moaned as I felt his hands running down the length of my body, touching and caressing me, getting me more and more turned on by the minute. I felt his fingertips dip below the waistband of my underwear and I let out a slight gasp.
“Has anyone touched you here before?” Cassidy asked.
“No,” I replied softly.
“You’ll like it,” he said, and I leaned back against the pillows, gasping as he touched me with expert strokes of his fingers. I pulled him back up a few minutes later and unzipped his jeans, helping him slip them off and throw them onto the floor, until he was straining out of his boxer shorts.
“You’re still sure about this, right?” Cassidy asked, and I nodded enthusiastically as he unwrapped a condom and slipped it on. I sighed as he crawled back over me and slipped into me slowly, making sure that I was alright and comfortable as he did.
I groaned at the feeling of him inside me and sighed even harder as I felt him begin to move, making love to me slowly and gently but with a firm passion that was intoxicating. I put my arms around his neck and ran them down his back, and I nearly swooned as I saw him smile at me.
He pulled me up and rolled so I was now on top of him, riding him slowly as I watched his face contort with pleasure. He showed me different positions, always being sure that I was comfortable and enjoying myself, wanting to ensure my first time was special. He ran his hands up and down my body, up the lengths of my legs to squeeze my ass and then my breasts, and then kissing me everywhere in turn. I sighed as he got on top of me again, thrusting into me slowly as he buried his face in my neck, letting out tiny gasps. He brought his fingers down to me and touched me until I finally finished, throwing my head back as my orgasm spread through my body. Cassidy finished soon after, and then drew me into his arms, running his hands through my hair and kissing me again and we cuddled together under the sheets.
“Was that okay? Were you okay?” Cassidy asked, and I smiled at his concern.
“A lot more than okay, I would say,” I laughed. “That was amazing.”
“Yes, well, that’s sex,” Cassidy said bluntly, and I burst into giggles. He pulled me close to him again. “And I am always ready to do that again.”
“I think I’ll take you up on that. Multiple times.” I said with a wink.
I felt myself getting drowsy and Cassidy and I cuddled underneath the sheets, sighing as the evening faded into night. My first sexual experience had not been what I thought it was going to be - it had been better. I was curled up in the arms of a beautiful man who loved me, and I was free, and it felt nothing short of amazing.
Chapter Nineteen-Cassidy
“What do you think?” Eliza asks me as I walk into her new apartment, which is now covered in tiny potted plants and instruction manuals after we took a seemingly endless trip to Ikea last week. “I think I did a pretty good job, myself,” she says, and Maggie barks in quick agreement.
“You did hear the part where I offered to let you move in with me, right?” I ask. “In my much bigger, much more spacious flat, where we can have sex literally all the time? Hello?” I waved my hand at her. I had tried my best to sell this idea, but Eliza wouldn’t budge.
“I’m in the building down the block,” she said, brushing off the idea again. “In twenty minutes flat I can be over and in your bed anytime you want.” She winked at me, and I beamed.
“I suppose,” I said jokingly, and smiled at Eliza. I really was terrifically happy though. Eliza had gotten her own place here in Seattle and had moved all of her other stuff over from South Dakota after she had officially broken things off with Ben. The moving truck had come with all of her books and flowery dresses and furniture, and we had spent a long day getting everything unpacked and organized. The other fantastic news was that Eliza had been such an efficient worker at the Torver Corporation that Johnathan had been more than happy to hire her for a permanent position when one had opened up the following month. Everything had fallen into place.
Our relationship was going beautifully, even ‘moving in together’ level beautifully, I could say, but Eliza was insistent on getting her own apartment nearby. She had never lived on her own, and it was important to her that she did so for a while before she thought about getting anywhere close to settling down again. She loved the freedom, and I loved the easy confidence and joy it gave her, the look of it practically radiating out of her as she picked out dishes or arranged her books on a shelf. She had come here on a whim, but she had finally found what she was looking for: not me, I was just an added bonus. Eliza had found her freedom, and in that freedom, she had found herself.
I hugged Eliza from behind as she hung a picture frame holding a picture of her and Sabryna at their college graduation up on the wall.
“Hi,” I said, smiling at her. She was wearing light gray sweatpants and a blue V-neck t-shirt, and looked stunning…she was so adorable it was nearly killing me.
“Hello yourself,” Eliza said, putting her arms around my neck and kissing me. Our days were now filled with the joy and the excitement of newfound love, and I couldn’t even remember the last time I was this happy.
“Did you ever read The Boxcar Children?” Eliza asked suddenly. “The first one, not the other ones where they solve crimes and everything.”
I raised an eyebrow, unsure of where this was going. “No…?”
“Well that’s what this reminds me of,” Eliza said, looking around the apartment. “Not the apartment, but the feeling. You and me.”
I looked at her with more confusion.
“It’s a story about four orphans who live in an abandoned boxcar,” Eliza explained. “If you grew up here you probably would have read it, but it was my favorite as a child, and I read it over and over.” She smiled, drifting off into some past where I was sure she read the book propped up against a tree or something. “Anyways, they build themselves a home in the boxcar. They fend for themselves, picking berries in the woods and making curtains for the boxcar, things like that. They become completely self-sufficient, just a bunch of kids.”
“Sounds a bit dull,” I said, laughing, and Eliza nudged me playfully.
“But that’s what made that story magical to me, all those years ago,” Eliza said, smiling at the apartment. “That people can run away and build something for themselves that is uniquely their own. And that’s what we’ve done, haven’t we?”
Eliza smiled at me, her warm brown eyes glowing with inspiration, and I had never felt more in love with her.
“Precisely,” I said, and kissed her.
And we stood in the apartment, hand in hand, looking at the first step of our new beginning.
THE END.
Also By A.J. Wynter
The Untouched Series
The Biker’s Virgin
The Mountain Man’s Virgin (Coming June 2018)
The Billionaires of Torver Corporation Series
The Boardroom: Johnathan
The Boardroom: Kirk
The Boardroom: Cassidy
The Boardroom: Sabryna (Coming May 2018)
Sorority Secrets Series
Sorority Secrets, Book 1: Date with a Biker (Reader’s Club - Sign up Here)
Sorority Secrets, Book 2: The Biker’s Bash (Reader’s Club Exclusive)
Sorority Secre
ts: Extended Menage Scene (Reader’s Club Exclusive)
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The Boardroom: Johnathan (Excerpt)
Chapter 1
“I just need five more minutes!” I shouted, wincing as I nearly twisted my ankle tripping over a loose shoe.
“That’s what you said five minutes ago, Johnathan.”
I scrambled through the house trying to figure out where the hell I had left my keys. Bathroom? Nope. Kitchen counter? Under last week’s issue of The Economist? Nope, Nope, shit, nope.
“You know the meeting is today, right?”
“Yeah, dude, just one minute.”
I heard Kirk sigh outside the door. He was my best friend, but sometimes my bad habits could be a point of contention.
“That’s it, I’m coming in.”
Kirk pushed the door open to find me far from five minutes away from ready. My tie hung loosely around my neck and the papers from my briefcase regarding today’s meeting were scattered all over the floor.
Kirk laughed. “Aw man, dude. What, your alarm forgot to go off again?”
I muttered as I started haphazardly stuffing the papers into my briefcase. “Yeah, well, you know, I was up late getting ready for the meeting today and—”
Kirk’s eyes suddenly widened at something underneath one of the living room chairs. “Nice panties, dude.”
I sighed in defeat. “Okay, okay, so I wasn’t up prepping for the meeting last night. I went out to a bar with Cassidy again.”
“Aw, and let me guess, there’s a hot blonde in the other room who you’re never going to see again?”
