VAIN (The VAIN Series)

by Deborah Bladon

Chapter 10

  "You know I can't touch you." His breath skirts heavy over my cheek. His mouth is hovering so close to mine, his tongue darting out to moisten his lips.

  "I don't follow rules." I push the words back at him. "We have a non-disclosure agreement. I wouldn't tell a soul if you touched me." The words are meant to tease him but I realize once they float over my lips that they're true. I don't follow rules. I never have. I've always chased after every man I've wanted. I've never been the quiet, demure and well behaved girl who waits to be swept off her feet. If I see something I want, I take it. Consequences come later.

  "You're not my type, Alexa." I can sense he's smiling even though I can't see his face. He's too close to me. The warmth of his skin is radiating into mine.

  I swallow hard as much to gather the words from within me as to calm my racing heart. "That's why you want me so much." I'm playing with fire. He's unlike any man I've ever met. He's dark, he's edgy. He obviously has more issues than I can count on one hand and he's here, so close, so hard and so wanting.

  "If I touch you, it's going to ruin the process," he says it with strength of purpose. He shifts his body slightly and I feel the tip of his dick brush against my leg.

  I catch my bottom lip between my teeth when I feel the ache in my sex. I'm so aroused that I'm about to come without any stimulation at all. "If you untie my hands, Noah…" I tilt my head to the side and my lips brush over his as the words leave me. "If you untie me, I'll make myself come right now."

  His breathing stalls. "Alexa, you're killing me."

  I close my eyes and push a rush of breath from my lungs so it seeps out of my lips and flashes over his. I want to say something but I know that anything that escapes from me at this point is going to be enveloped with a moan.

  "Your skin is beautiful." His hand is back on my hip now but its intent isn't the same as it was before. His touch is softer, gentle. There's no direction there. This time it's not to guide me into the perfect pose. This time there's something else beneath it.

  I push my head closer to his and there's no hesitation in the air between us. His lips glide quickly and harshly over mine. They're soft. His kiss is so lush, so greedy and complete. I struggle beneath the bindings as he claims my mouth with his without any apology at all. The groan that travels through his body and into mine causes me to buck my hips.

  "Alexa. Christ," he growls as his hand glides across my stomach towards my wetness.

  I moan loudly the moment his fingers rake over my moist folds. His touch is soft at first but quickly there's a distinctive shift to something else. I grind my heels into the mattress to gain more depth of pleasure. I push my hips into his hand and I'm rewarded when he lets out a deep, guttural and purely sensual grunt.

  "Fuck it." The words escape him in a rush and I feel instantly bereft when his body pulls quickly from mine.

  "Noah," I whimper as I close my eyes. "Please don't stop."

  "I fucking can't stop."

  I scream loudly the instant I feel his tongue on me. I buck my hips up and into him. I tense when I realize I can't reach down to guide his mouth. I want to. I need to. "Untie me," I beg. "Noah, untie me."

  He ignores my pleadings as his hands reach beneath me to cup my ass in his palms. His head is moving quickly, mirroring the actions of his tongue. He's eating me with a fury and passion that I've never experienced before. I'm close to coming. I can feel the depth of it building deep within me. I brace myself as he pushes my legs wider apart.

  "Fuck, your pussy is so good." The words fill the heated silence in the room. They're raw and electric and push me even closer to an edge I want to fly over.

  "Like that, Noah," I whisper through clenched teeth. "Just like that."

  "Like this." His teeth etch a line over my clit and I race into an earth-shattering climax. I buck underneath him, my body dictating my reaction. I feel the instant flow of wetness from me. He laps it up, the entire time his moans echoing through my already sensitive flesh.

  Chapter 11

  "I want you to…" my voice trails as he whips his tongue around the swollen bud again. "Noah, just do it."

  "No." He breathes into my folds. "I'm not untying you. I'm going to fuck you just like this, Alexa."

  "Untie me," I plead again. The fact that he's already made me come twice with his mouth while keeping me tied up is torture enough. I need to touch him when he slides his dick inside of me.

  He pulls his massive frame across my body so he's hovering right above me, his hands pressing into the mattress on either side of my head. "It's not happening. I want you spread out just like this for me. I'm going to fuck you so hard, Alexa. So hard. My dick is going to fill you right up."

  I skip a breath at the promise of it. "Let me suck your cock first," I'm begging. Can he hear that in my tone? Does he know how much I want to take him in my mouth? Can he feel that desire seeping out of every part of my body?

  "If I slide my cock in that perfect mouth, I'll come right down your throat," he says gruffly. "I'm going into my bedroom to get a condom and when I get back, I'm going to fuck your beautiful tight pussy until you come all over me."

  Holy fucking hell.

  I clench my thighs together as I watch him round the corner and head down the hallway. I've never been taken before while bound to a bed or anything else for that matter. I'm already so close to another orgasm. I have to calm down. I have to temper my want or I'm going to scream out the second he pushes his dick into my body.

  "Goddammit, you look so fucking amazing right now." He's back with a foil package in his palm.

  "Put it on," I beg in a high voice. I don't care if I sound like I'm in heat right now. I want this so much. I need this more than I've needed anything in a very long time.

  "Wait." He stalls and the condom package drifts lazily from his palm and onto the bed. "You're so beautiful. I need to capture this."

  I can't compute what's happening. My libido is having a fight to the death with my mind. Is he actually reaching for his camera? He's going to take pictures of me right now? Um, what about the part where he fucks me senseless?

  "Turn to the left." He inches against my thigh with his hand. "Alexa, to the left."

  I stay frozen where I am. The defeat that is racing through my body is going to steal away any fetching image that he may think is nestled there. Before another second passes I'm reasonably sure that I'm going to look pissed, disappointed and I may even explode from pent up sexual frustration.

  "Alexa?" He's pushing harder on my thigh now and the intimacy of the touch isn't helping in the least. "Roll a little to the left."

  I shake my head slightly. "Are we going to fuck?" Why bother with formalities like being demure when you're tied to a hot guy's bed with a condom right next to you? All the pieces of the puzzle where I get to come again are there; I just need Noah to focus enough to put it altogether and in me now.

  He darts to his feet above me and my question is instantly answered. "Your skin is gorgeous right now. It's perfect. To the left, Alexa."

  I roll slightly to the left, which only ensures that the unopened condom package is now the center of my focus. "Like this?" I ask facetiously.

  "Just like that," he says, completely and blissfully unaware of how disappointed I am.

  Chapter 12

  "You're taking off?" A bottle of beer dangles from his hand as he saunters back into what I've now coined as the room of broken dreams. Orgasmic dreams, that is.

  Considering how focused he was when he was taking my picture, there's no use bringing up the almost fucking session that never happened. That large, veiny, thick ship has sailed right past my vagina. "I'm meeting a friend." Why bother offering more? He obviously got me all worked into a horny frenzy so he could take my picture. Asshole.

  "A boyfriend?" He cocks a brow as he settles on the edge of the bed.

  Did he seriously just ask me if I have a boyfriend? That might have been a more appropriate question before his face was buried tongue
deep between my thighs. "Boyfriend?" I repeat back.

  "Do you have a boyfriend?" He brings the bottle to his mouth and I watch him take a large gulp of the beer.

  "No boyfriend." I chuckle half-heartedly.

  "You're pissed that I didn't fuck you, aren't you?" The amusement lacing the question grates on my nerves.

  He's an egomaniac. He wants to hear me tell him that my body is empty now that it will never have the pleasure of officially meeting the Noah Foster's cock. "Not at all." That actually sounded semi-sincere. I just need to keep up this veil of obscurity until I'm at the club with some random guy's hand up my skirt.

  "You're lying."

  Sweet Jesus, seriously? Are you actually allowed to be this in awe of yourself because you've sold a few dozen photographs worth hundreds of thousands of dollars?

  "I'm not lying," I answer. To be precise, I'm not actually lying about being pissed that we didn't have sex. I am lying about the fact that I'm lying. I'm enraged that he had me wanting him so much and he could just drop it all in favor of a picture. I'm also humiliated by it.

  "Where are you and your non-boyfriend going?" he asks, doing very little to hide the obvious enjoyment in his voice.

  I'll use one of his signature moves and ignore the line of questioning. "How many more sessions do you think we'll need to have?"

  "Why?" He's delving into my playbook now with the question in answer to a question. He's more blonde than he looks considering he's a gorgeous brunette.

  "I need to focus on some school stuff." I scan my phone and look for any messages from my friend, Kayla. We're supposed to meet in less than twenty minutes downtown and I want to make sure that she's not bailing on me at the last minute too.

  "What kind of school stuff?" He edges forward as if he's trying to get a glimpse of my smartphone screen.

  "Just stuff." I toss my phone back into my bag. "If you could give me a rough schedule of the days and times you need me that would be great."

  "I guess I could do that." He scratches his head right behind his ear before pulling his hand across his forehead. "I'll text it to you. Tomorrow, okay?"

  "That's perfect."

  "You're actually going to leave? You don't want to finish what we started?" His hand lazily runs over the tip of his semi-erect penis. How is it that I've never seen him with a limp dick?

  I pull my gaze back to his face and think for a moment before I speak. "If it was meant to happen, it would have."

  "So that's it?" There actual surprise in his voice. I'm not sure if he's trying to temper that or not, but it's obvious that he wasn't expecting me to pack up and walk out.

  "That's it." I turn to leave.

  "Alexa." I sense movement behind me before I feel his hand grip tightly to my elbow. "I want to fuck you."

  My body reacts to the words, even if I don't want it to. This is too reminiscent of Paris. The push and pull is in my past. I need to keep it there even if it means passing on amazing sex with Noah. "I have plans, Noah." I pull my arm free. "I'm meeting an old friend. I don't have time to stick around."

  He doesn't respond. It's not that I expected him to. Something deep within me has always known that no isn't a word he hears often.

  ***

  "Wait, wait, wait." Kayla, one of my sorority sisters, teeters on the edge of a bar stool, with some ridiculously expensive drink perched in her hand. "You're telling me you were tied to a guy's bed and he was about to fuck you, but then changed his mind?"

  Why does it sound so much worse coming from her? I guess if I had broken my non-disclosure agreement and confessed that the man in question decided to take my picture instead of fucking me that it would sound a little less pitiful. Would it? It sounds super humiliating regardless of how I spin the details.

  "That's it in a nut shell." I tip my glass to her before taking a large gulp. Despite my desire to wash away the bitter taste of rejection with a strong drink, I've opted for a soda water. I'm done with ignoring what is really important in my life. Tomorrow morning, bright and early, I'm going to hit the pavement and the bus stop so I can find a job that doesn't involve taking my clothes off for tattooed jerks.

  "You haven't talked much about Paris. I'm here if you need a shoulder."

  "Thanks." I smile back at her. After my completely disappointing evening with Noah earlier, I needed this more than I realized. Letting go and having some fun is the perfect prescription for what ails me.

  "What happened?" She asks as she leans forward to take a sip from the glass. "I thought you'd stay there and marry him."

  "You didn't really think that," I tease. "You knew I couldn't stay away from you forever."

  "Ah, Lex." She swats her hand across my knee. "You're a princess."

  A princess? Sure. I'm a fucking princess who has now made two dumb ass, consecutive choices in men. "What about you?" A change of subject won't hurt anyone, other than me when Kayla starts rambling off about all the fun she's had while I've been gone.

  "No." Her hand darts up so quickly she almost taps me across the nose. "Don't try that."

  "Try what?" I lean back, determined to get out of her line of fire.

  "You were broken up on the phone when you called me from there." She taps her hand on my knee. "I'm here to talk. Spill it."

  I want to. I haven't talked to anyone, including Sadie, about what happened in Paris. Given the fact that Sadie's husband was engaged to someone else when they met, it wasn't fair to dredge all that up by throwing my relationship woes in her direction. At least, in her case, Hunter didn't love the woman he almost married before her. In my case, it was an entirely different story.

  "He was involved with another woman." I've practiced saying those words so many times that now that I've actually uttered them aloud; they sound distant, misplaced and much less intense than they feel.

  "What?" Kayla's shriek pulls me back to the reality of the statement. I'd confided to her in texts and phone calls that I was in love with the man in Paris. She knows that. Trying to temper it now isn't going to help me get over it. "How did you find out?"

  "I saw them." I bite my lip to quash the memory of that morning. I'd just crawled out of my bed and was searching for him when I ran down to the corner café to fetch a latte. That's when I saw them together. His arm lovingly wrapped around her waist, her hand cradling his chin as she kissed him.

  "Did you confront them?" She leans forward as if that's going to pull all the sordid details from deep within me.

  I shake my head slightly. "No." I want to expand. I want to tell her that I couldn't do it. I want to tell her why but I can't. I won't. He set me up. He knew I went to that café every single morning. He knew that I'd show up there and that's why he brought her there, so I'd see them together and so he could see the look of utter disillusionment on my face. It took me weeks to realize that he did it because it fed something inside of him.

  "So you haven't talked to Beck since?"

  I sit up straighter, consciously aware of how his nickname impacts me. "We've talked but it's over."

  "I'm sorry, Lex." She jumps off the stool to pull me into a warm embrace. "I'm really sorry."

  Chapter 13

  "You may just have the best looking ass on the planet."

  Yeah, yeah, sure. I roll my eyes as I tuck my face further into the soft sheet on Noah's bed. "You say that to all the girls," I mutter under my breath.

  "Did you say something?" he asks just as I feel the bed shift next to me. "What was that?"

  "Are we just doing ass shots today?" I toss back. I need to keep this arrangement strictly on a business level. There's no way in hell that I'm going to allow myself to get back into a position where Noah's cock is anywhere near entering my body in any capacity. That should cover all bases.

  "You said you were dealing with some school stuff."

  I nod. I don’t want to share any details of my life with him. He doesn't care and as soon as I do share, I'm going to be disappointed. This is a job. It's just like when I
worked at Star Bistro, minus the hot guy and his impressive oral skills.

  "Is that all you've got going on?" he asks as I hear the click of the camera. I know he's fishing for information about whether I hooked up with another guy since I left his place the other night. The answer to that question is a resounding and unequivocal no.

  "Why aren't you asking if I like anal?" In any other circumstance that would be a conversation ender, not starter, but I am on my stomach, completely nude in the bed of one of the only men on the planet who can talk so openly about sex without being sued for harassment.

  Any movement beyond my own stops and his breathing stalls. "Did you just say something about anal?"

  "You were about to. I just beat you to it." I toss my head to the side so I can glance up at him. I work to level my gaze at his face instead of his ever growing penis. Would it really be that hard to take a decent picture with a pair of boxer briefs on?

  "I assure you, I wasn't." He cocks a brow and lazily runs his hand over the length of his dick.

  Fuck me. I can't be looking at that. I twist my head back to a forward position, instantly regretful that I looked in his direction at all.

  "That's not part of your process?" I pull air quotes around the words, which isn't easy considering I'm certain I look like a beached whale at this point.

  "My process varies from day-to-day." The words accompany a major shift on the mattress and I realize he's now down on his knees.

  I try to move my body slightly to the right to gain distance from his leg, which is now pressing against mine. The hand on my hip stops that in its tracks.

  "How long have you been doing this?" I ask after pulling my arms under my head. I wish I had thought ahead enough to grab a pillow. This position is becoming uncomfortable fast.

  "Taking pictures?" It's a rhetorical question but it sucks up a few seconds of time. I'm grateful for that. I've been fishing blindly for the last hour for any subject to talk about that doesn't involve what didn't happen between us the other night. According to the text message he sent me two days ago, after today I only had to be subjected to his company two more times. I could see the finish line and my five thousand dollars in the very near distance.