Painted Red

by Lila Fox

  “Of course we do,” she disagreed. “I know how much you love that car of yours, I know that you hate cheesecake, and I know how much you live for Billy Joel, even if you’ll never admit it.”

  “Smartass.” I splashed her, covering her sun-warmed stomach in water. “You know what I mean, Rosie. We barely know anything about each other.”

  It was true, aside from the general facts like birthdays, hometowns, and middle names, she and I had very little knowledge of what each other’s lives were like before we met. Had she been anyone else, the fact wouldn’t have bothered me at all.

  Rosie, while always open with her smiles, was often closed off with the rest of her emotions. She frequently seemed to be holding back with her words, with her abilities, and even with her affection. I couldn’t quite wrap my head around it.

  Beautiful young women moving to Miami were a dime a dozen. The city was a flurry of gorgeous people looking for inspiration, a good time, and a way to escape. But something told me the reason for Rosie’s departure had very little to do with her desire to spend her days sun-soaked and filled with Margaritas on South Beach.

  I got the feeling that she was running from something. She didn’t seem to be constantly looking over her shoulder, nor did she appear to be deathly afraid of anything so I was sure it wasn’t anything deadly. With her speech, mannerisms, and general disposition, I could only assume she had left behind a life of luxury to “find herself.”

  The thought gave me pause; this wasn’t some piece of shit ‘90s movie. I wasn’t some asshole from the wrong side of the tracks whose only purpose was to show the heroine a little bit of passion before she went back to her real life. Just like Rosie wasn’t some snotty rich girl who would throw me away at the first chance of trouble.

  She was mine.

  I’d had my first taste of her; she was still on my tongue for fuck’s sake! It didn’t matter where she came from or what she was facing, Rosie had to understand that we were no cliché, I wouldn’t let her throw me away.

  As awful as it sounded, I wanted to save her. I wanted her to know she could count on me to help her destroy anything and everything that stood in the way of her happiness and wellbeing.

  Whether she liked it or not.

  11

  Dex

  Though she’d never been there, my bed felt empty without Rosie in it. Knowing she was right across the hall, so close to being with me but too far to reach, had me itching to get up and drag her into my room. Thinking about the events of earlier in the day, tasting her, feeling her, making her come on my tongue, had my cock hard and aching for her touch. I wanted to fill her with every inch of me, giving and taking pleasure in her gorgeous body. It was at the point where I didn’t think I would ever be satisfied until I got to fuck her. Fuck her until both of us were so wrung out on pleasure we could barely stand it.

  Still, I didn’t want to be a presumptuous asshole and assume she was ready for more. I needed a signal, I needed her to be sure and confident in her want of me before I finally took her.

  Hearing a loud clatter and subsequent curses coming from the kitchen, I jumped up and rushed out of bed, heading toward the noise.

  Rosie stood in my kitchen, clad in a pair of tiny, cloud-print shorts and a tank top. I tried my hardest not to eye her hardened nipples peaking through the thin material before I addressed her.

  “Shouldn’t you be asleep?” I walked toward her, helping pick up the takeout containers that fell out of the refrigerator.

  She scoffed. “I got hungry, but you have so much garbage in here I can’t even reach the good stuff.” Rosie pointed a dainty finger towards the back of the fridge, at exactly what she was aiming for.

  “Who the hell eats bagels at midnight?”

  “Bagels and cream cheese are an anytime food, Dex.” She flashed me a smile.

  I reached around her, grabbing the bag of bagels and the cream cheese before pulling out a knife and beginning to prepare them for her. “Didn’t I feed you enough earlier?”

  Rosie shoved my arm. “You ate more than I did, if I remember correctly.”

  I turned to face her. “When did you get to be such a smartass, huh?”

  “Probably once I started working for you… Smartass.”

  We were standing close and almost all of a sudden the two of us were nose-to-nose. I could smell the minty freshness of her newly-brushed teeth along with the floral scent of whatever shampoo she used.

  Up close I could see the tiny, light freckles along her cheeks that hadn’t been there earlier, presumably caused by our time spent out in the sun. The crinkles around her eyes deepened beautifully as she smiled up at me and her soft, dirty blonde hair was still slightly wet from her shower.

  She was so beautiful with that bright smile and those deep brown eyes. Her expression so open and earnest, so completely and totally Rosie. I knew in that moment, I had never seen or created anything as beautiful as Rosaline Reed. Nor could I ever hope to. The woman was in a league all of her own; I was just one of the assholes lucky enough to witness her in action.

  Rosie licked her lips, before biting down on the bottom one and reaching out to stroke my right arm. Her touch sent bolts of electricity along my shirtless torso, making my hair stand on end.

  “I’m about to kiss the shit out of you right now…”

  Before she could reply, I pounced, my hands immediately framing her warm cheeks. My lips latched onto hers, feeling their pillowy softness underneath me before swiping my tongue along her bottom lip. I wanted every part of me to be inside her, but this would have to do at the moment.

  Rosie let out a groan; the sound reverberated against my lips, causing my dick to pulse. With her body clutched tightly against mine, her tits pressed up against me, we stood in my kitchen, just enjoying the feeling of each other.

  All too soon I pulled away. Rosie’s pretty, red mouth pouted in disappointment before I reached down to lift her up, wrapping her thick thighs around my waist and securing her place.

  She laughed as I stalked out of the kitchen toward my bedroom. “What about my bagel?”

  As soon as I got her in my bed, I had to take a minute. Her creamy skin looked gorgeous against my dark sheets, and that damp hair fanned out perfectly along my pillowcase. I had no doubt that her delicious scent was already soaking into my sheets and I loved it.

  “You are so fucking gorgeous, Rosie.” I couldn’t help saying. I didn’t even mean it as a compliment, more as a declaration of how much she owned me. I couldn’t believe this woman was in my life, in my goddamned bed.

  She smiled. “Look who’s talking.”

  “Nah.” I leaned down, lifting her tank top and kissing along her plush stomach. “I may be handsome, but I ain’t got a damn thing on you, sweetheart.”

  I swiftly helped Rosie lift her tank over her head, revealing her gorgeous breasts to me for the first time. Two delicious handfuls topped with rosy pink nipples, hard and straining against the cool air of my bedroom. There was nothing I needed more in that moment than to get my mouth on them.

  “Oh, God…” she moaned, her breath shaky as my lips surrounded one of her hardened nipples, my other hand softly plucking the other. “That feels so good, Dex.”

  Her skin tasted delicious, I got a faint taste of whatever sweet body lotion she used after her shower. The taste, while a little tart, did nothing but turn me on. I suckled her areola before lightly biting down on her little nipple, making her gasp.

  As I turned my attention to the other nipple, I couldn’t help but revel in how open and responsive she was with her pleasure.

  She groaned and wiggled without abandon, letting her satisfaction at every touch be fully known. Rosie was totally unabashed in her pleasure during those moments, it was more than beautiful to behold.

  My hands drifted down her soft body, making light work of her shorts before noticing she was bare underneath them.

  “No panties?” I stated the obvious.

  Rosie had the gall to bl
ush before giving me a shy, knowing smile.

  “Did you plan this?” I dropped another kiss on her belly, nipping lightly at the skin around her inverted bellybutton. She squealed. “We’re you going to seduce me, Rosie?”

  “I was.” Rosie’s voice sounded slightly impatient. “Until you ruined everything.”

  I moved down the bed slightly. “I think it turned out for the best.”

  Rosie’s pussy was as gorgeous as it had been earlier, her puffy lips swollen and glistening with her cream, separated slightly to reveal her darkened pink insides. The sight alone made my fucking mouth water. I ached to get her sweet, musky taste against my tongue again but my cock was steadily leaking in my pants, throbbing with the need to be inside her. I knew getting my mouth on her again would have to wait.

  I slid two of my thick fingers inside her wet cunt, reveling in her tightness. I couldn’t help but lean down to lightly suckle at her clit, getting a little taste of her.

  I continued my ministrations on her pussy for a bit, fucking into her with my fingers, getting her stretched and ready for me. When I slowly slid my fingers out of her, Rosie gasped and groaned disappointedly.

  “Don’t worry, baby.” I worked out of my sleep pants and boxer briefs, pumping my hard cock with my hand a few times. “I’m about to make it all better.”

  Slipping back in between her spread thighs, I took a second to squeeze the base of my cock. Just the sight of her, spread open under me, ready and eager for me to fuck her, had me ready come, but I couldn’t. Not yet. Not until I had my fill of her.

  And I wasn’t entirely confident that would happen anytime soon.

  Dick in hand, I slid my cock between Rosie’s chubby pussy lips. Letting the tip kiss her flesh and coating myself in her juices before positioning myself at her tight entrance and slowly pushing inside.

  Her pussy was deliciously soft and silken, all too welcoming. She cried out as I began to move, pistoning in and out of her cunt at a slow, grueling pace. I didn’t want either of us to come yet, it was too soon. Rosie lifted her hips up off of the bed, fucking herself on my cock, signaling that the slow rhythm of my hips was annoying her.

  I smirked. “This not good enough for you, sweetheart?”

  Rosie growled, the sound cute and foreign coming from her swollen lips, before she whined. “I need you to fuck me, Dex.”

  As always, I could deny her nothing.

  I settled onto my knees, placing my hands underneath hers on either side of me before lifting them. Bending Rosie’s body almost in half and opening her pussy up for me even more before I sped up, driving my cock into her deep and hard.

  Rosie cried out, her eyes closed tightly as her hands grasped at the dark sheets below her. She looked so fucking good spread out underneath me, taking my dick like a goddamned pro. Those gorgeous tits bouncing deliciously in time with my every thrust and her red pussy stretched out, her walls clinging to my cock every time I left her, coating my hardness in her cream.

  “You feel so fucking good.” I couldn’t help but compliment her. “You’re so good at taking my dick, baby.”

  Her words seemed to escape her but her pussy tightened even more around me, causing my movements to stutter a bit.

  I growled. “Hold your legs up.”

  With my hands free, I leaned down, latching onto Rosie’s neck with my mouth, sucking passion marks into her skin while my hands went to grasp her hips. I fucked her brutally, seeking my own pleasure and demanding hers.

  “Fuck me!” Rosie pleaded, begging me not to stop every few seconds.

  As if I ever could.

  I leaned back again, looking down at her pleasure-reddened skin covered in a light sheen of sweat. I could hardly take it. Her pussy felt so fucking good. Too fucking good.

  I needed to come. But I needed her to pop off first.

  “Play with your clit, Rosie.” She followed my command, immediately reaching down to rub her dainty fingers against her hard, glistening clit. The sight of it gave me pause.

  She looked so fucking gorgeous playing with her own pussy, I could have spent hours watching Rosie take gratification in her own touch. And I would one day, just not right now.

  “C’mon, baby. Come all over my dick. Let me feel it.”

  A few more pointed thrusts and I felt Rosie come apart underneath me. Her delicious cunt contracting wetly around me, as her orgasm crashed through her. That gorgeous body of hers wracked with shivers.

  I followed not long after, my dick pulsing inside of her still orgasming pussy, shooting my come into her, making her wet and sloppy with me.

  I stayed inside of her for a beat longer, letting our oversensitive bodies calm down before slowly pulling out. Loving the sight of my cream escaping her fucked out slit. Completely unconcerned, for the moment, that it was there at all.

  I could think of nothing but the fact that I was so intensely, epically in love with her.

  12

  Rosie

  I loved him.

  It was a ridiculous notion, I barely knew the man a few weeks, but the way my heart swelled and soared at the very brush of his fingers and the way his mere presence filled me with a joy that I hadn’t felt since my mother was alive made my feelings obvious to me.

  I loved Dexter Quinn. It was foolish and premature and entirely ridiculous but I did. No amount of denial would change that.

  Reaching down to touch between my thighs, I felt the evidence of him still lingering there, coating the insides of my legs and on the lips of my pussy. The feeling, while completely foreign, wasn’t unwelcome. In fact, I liked it. I liked that he had marked me in that way. It made me feel like what we had was somehow permanent.

  I knew logically that I shouldn’t have let him come inside me. Dex and I hadn’t been engaged in a long-term relationship with each other, nor had we discussed our sexual histories with much depth. It was completely stupid of me, and him for that matter, to forgo protection. It seemed all aspects of logical thought went out of the window when he was near me.

  I had never been in love before, I never had the chance to be. Not in the all-girls boarding schools I was forced into during my adolescence and certainly not with Daniel Bennett. Of course I had crushes before. On boys and men who were just unattainable enough for me to fantasize about but never have to worry about actually falling for. But romantic love was completely foreign to me; it was something I read about in books, saw in movies, even noticed on the faces of those around me, but it never had a place in my life.

  My purpose had always been clear; get enough of an education to appear intelligent, lure in some rich, well-connected man and leave any feelings I had behind as I became the perfect trophy wife.

  Love had never been a factor or an option.

  Dex snuck into my world, with all of his passion and laughter, and completely obliterated everything I thought I knew about how life was supposed to be. Even still, there wasn’t a single part of me that didn’t want to thank him for it.

  As Dex drifted off to sleep beside me, I stared down at his handsome face. His long, dark eyelashes resting against his lightly tanned cheeks, his strong, bare chest rising and falling rhythmically with his deep breaths.

  He was so damned gorgeous I could hardly believe he was real.

  But he was. He was real, and raw, and mine.

  And I was his too.

  The next morning, after a couple hours of being generally useless and fooling around, Dex and I were enjoying a couple bowls of cereal when I got a text from Nora.

  You free today?

  I looked over at Dex, staring intently at the baseball game rerun on the screen. “Do we have plans today?”

  Without looking at me he answered, “I was planning on going into the studio for a little while.”

  I replied to Nora.

  No, why?

  We’re going out. I’ll swing by your place in an hour.

  I’m actually not at home.

  ???

  I hesitated when trying
to figure out my reply. Did I tell her I had spent the night with my boss or divulge something more. Was Dex my boyfriend?

  I stayed over a friend’s last night.

  This friend doesn’t happen to be a well-known local artist, would it?

  Come pick me up and find out.

  After texting Nora Dex’s address, I had just enough time to take a shower and dress myself before she showed up. Dex had already gone, giving me a deep, panty-wetting kiss goodbye with promises to check in, in a bit.

  Instead of ringing the bell like a normal person, Nora texted me to inform me of her arrival.

  “Holy shit, dude!” she exclaimed once I was safely inside of her little black car. “This place is amazing.”

  I laughed at her excitement, nodding my head in agreement. “You should see the inside.”

  “God, Rosaline.” Nora clutched her chest dramatically, looking over at me with simpering eyes. “Gorgeous, rich, and talented. You sure know how to pick ‘em.”

  “Start the damn car, Nora.”

  Nora drove us to some hip downtown restaurant for brunch. The interior somehow managed to be rustic and modern at the same time. It had an air of pretentiousness that made you feel cool for being there, but not too much that it made you hate yourself for thinking that way. It reminded me a lot of the trendy New York City restaurants I would visit with my friends when I was still in college.

  “So, what the hell is going on with you and this “friend” of yours?” She used air-quotes around the word ”friend.”

  “Technically, he’s my boss.” I shrugged. “But things have changed recently.”

  Nora laughed. “No shit! I can’t believe you didn’t tell me your boss was Dex Quinn!”

  “I didn’t know it mattered.” I was a little embarrassed. “I didn’t even know who he was, to be completely honest.”

  I still had a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that Dex was somewhat famous. He didn’t have paparazzi following him around or people begging for autographs. But his name definitely carried a lot of clout in certain circles.

  I quickly recounted the story to Nora, including every horny little detail. It felt so good to have someone to talk to. Hell, it felt great to have something to talk about. I never had girlfriends to gush over boys with and I sure as hell hadn’t had any boys worth gushing over. Most of my friendships were superficial and uncaring, formed due to close proximity and social status.