by Kensie King
“So hard,” I murmured. “Tell me you want me.”
He didn’t hesitate. “I want you. Please.”
I leaned lower and spread his legs wider to slide my tongue along his ass crack. His breath yanked in as I pressed slightly into the hole before moving to his cock. I swirled my tongue around the head before taking his length into my mouth. The moans and whimpers he made drove me to suck harder, to made him come faster.
It didn’t take long. When Eric’s body tensed, I kept my mouth on him, ready to take everything he gave me.
His body bowed off the lounge chair as he came in my mouth, hot and salty.
“Preston—God. I need—I need—”
He came again, dick jerking in my mouth. I whipped a condom from the pocket of my sweats and covered myself as his body was still trembling. Then I gripped his hips, flipping him over so his creamy, white ass was against my cock. He wrapped his fingers around the edge of the chair, and then moaned long and deep when I slid inside of him.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
I was already so sensitive, my nerve endings exploded with every single movement. When Preston shoved his thick cock inside of me, I almost lost it again. His hands squeezed my hips, telling me it felt as good to him as it felt to me.
He ran his fingers down my spine, hands warm and possessive. “Fuck. Eric. You feel so good.”
“Don’t stop,” I said, voice muffled. My cheek was mashed against the chair, flattened on the surface, but all I could think was more.
Preston slammed into me harder and faster, the room filling with the sounds of wet flesh, sensual groans, and my breath catching at every thrust.
“God. You’re squeezing me so tight,” he said, voice gruff.
My body responded by tensing, tightening even more. And he just kept thrusting his hips, making me ache for yet another release. I shoved my hips back to meet each thrust. Preston’s hand squeezed my ass, then ran up my spine to grip my hair.
He pulled my head back as he thrusted one last time. Then he caught my mouth in a kiss as he spilled into me, body jerking against my ass.
Preston exhaled, his body finally going still behind me. I felt his breath on my neck, felt his fingers twisting gently in my hair, and all I could do was lay still as my heartbeat slowed. When Preston pulled out of me, I made a noise of disagreement and was rewarded with a chuckle.
I rolled over, spent, deliciously sore, and tired as hell. “I can’t move.”
“You need to rest.”
“I need food. And maybe more to drink.” I grinned. “And maybe another round of that.”
He lifted his eyebrows, completely comfortable being naked in the middle of the room with windows all around us. Every bit of him was toned from head to toe. Strong, lean legs, washboard abs, and the finest ass I’d ever seen.
My phone rang from somewhere in the room. I looked over by the door where I’d set my stuff when I came in.
“You need that?” Preston asked.
I frowned. No. But yes. Because with my mom out there, I never knew when I was going to have to be grown-up Eric again.
He didn’t wait for an answer, just walked over to grab my phone and brought it to me. The ringing stopped, and I almost didn’t want to look at the screen. When I finally made myself take a peek, I blew out a breath. Just Jane.
Probably checking in now that she was back home—or calling to convince me to come there.
“You look relieved,” Preston said.
I set my phone aside and reached for my drink only to remember it was empty. “It’s…yeah. I thought it was someone else.”
“Your mom?”
My gaze flashed up to his. He couldn’t know anything, could he? Sure, he could find things out if he went digging, but he hadn’t gone digging, had he? I hadn’t gone searching for answers about him, even when Monica had been telling me all sorts of stories about the elusive Mr. Crane.
“She…” I balked. “No, it wasn’t her.”
Preston only shook his head and leaned down to pick me up. I let out a noise of surprise when he cradled me in his arms, making it seem effortless.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Creating the atmosphere.”
I watched his face, bewildered as he carried me through the living room, and to his bedroom. “The atmosphere for what?”
“For you to talk to me.”
“But—”
He dropped me to my feet just outside the bathroom. “A hot bath, candles, wine…”
Mouth open in surprise, I followed him as he started the water in the large tub, added some kind of oil that smelled heavenly, and then lit candles.
“Get in,” he commanded.
I laughed, unable to help myself. “A bath?” I hadn’t taken one in years, but it did have its own kind of charm. “Very romantic.”
“It is, right?” he asked. “I want you to relax. It’ll help.”
It’d help me open up to him, was what he meant. And damn, when he acted like this—showed me the soft, vulnerable side of Preston—I almost wanted to.
I climbed into the bathtub and settled down in the warm water. Preston vanished for a few minutes and returned with a glass of wine for me.
“I know what this is,” I murmured, already relaxed. “You’re trying to get me drunk. So you can take advantage of me.”
He took a sip of my wine before he passed it over. “I think we already took care of that portion of tonight.”
“Are you going to let me see it?”
His mouth opened, then he glanced down at himself, making me laugh. “See what?”
“The painting.”
“Oh. Not yet. Not until it’s finished.”
“But—”
“All right. Scoot forward.”
I blinked. “What?”
“Make room for me. I’m getting in.”
The water rose precariously close to the lip of the tub, but Preston didn’t seem to care. He spread his legs on either side of me and touched my shoulders, urging me to lean back against his chest.
I smiled when he ran his hands down my arms, and then back up, spreading the warm water all over me. Maybe I should take baths more often.
“You’re good at this,” I murmured.
“Taking baths?”
“Taking care of people. Me.” Which wasn’t something I’d had a lot of. Something I tried not to think about. That was life, right? You could really only rely on yourself. “Is it strange for you?”
“What?”
“Being like this with someone after…so long?” I shrugged. “Or—or not, I mean, obviously you could have been with a lot of men since—since—”
“No.” He massaged my shoulders. “There hasn’t been anyone since Brian.”
“Oh. But—”
“That’s not what we’re here for,” he snapped.
My shoulders tensed, and he massaged harder.
“Sorry,” he said, breath touching my ear when he leaned in. “I wanted to talk to you about the phone call—help you get this taken care of.”
Meaning he didn’t want to talk about himself. My stomach clenched. I didn’t want to talk about me either. Even Jane didn’t know how bad things with my mom had gotten. But if anyone could understand, it was Preston.
He knew a little something about that fucked up world out there. So I rested against his chest and closed my eyes. It was easier to tell him this without having to see that fucked up world.
“You’re right,” I told him. “I thought it was my mom on the phone. Or—not her, but someone calling for her.”
“Calling for her?”
I nodded and forced the words out. “She’s…not exactly stable. She’s in an institution.”
#
I kept rubbing his shoulders as he talked, but Eric was tense the entire time he told me about his mom. About how he used to have to take care of her when he was in high school. About having to pay the bills with his own money. About how his mom would sometimes stay loc
ked up in the house for weeks on end because she thought someone was after her.
I tried not to let it get to me, even though it sounded familiar. I stayed locked up in my house, too, but not because of some sort of illness. Although, that’s probably how the rest of the world saw it. Maybe that’s how Eric saw it, too.
But he was still here. I hadn’t scared him off yet.
“Every time the director of the facility calls, I know she’s done something else,” Eric said. “I know they want me to put her in acute care—meaning she’ll be watched pretty much all the time. She won’t be able to have visitors as often. She…” His breath hitched. “She told me she’d never speak to me again if I did that to her—that she’d kill herself if I did that.”
I squeezed my arms tightly around Eric, holding him while he took several deep breaths. Then I kissed his neck.
“You can’t do this alone,” I murmured.
He gave a choked laugh. “It’s my responsibility. Besides—it looks like you dealt with everything that happened with Brian on your own.”
My teeth clenched, and I forced myself to relax. He was defensive because he didn’t want to talk about this. I understood that all too well. It wasn’t personal.
“I didn’t deal with it on my own,” I whispered. “Ryan helped me.”
“Ryan? You mean…?”
“The man from the store downstairs. He’s my brother—well, step-brother. But we’ve known each other since we were kids.”
“What? You never told me that.”
I shrugged, ignoring his surprise. “He helped, and I had professional help too. I didn’t deal with it on my own. At least not after…”
“What?”
He turned to face me, and water splashed over the sides of the tub. His eyes were wide and trustful, vulnerable. And anything I could do to help him, I would. Telling him about my past right now wasn’t going to help.
“Let me help,” I said. There were a million things I could do. I could make the financial part of those problems go away with a snap of my fingers.
He started to shake his head, so I leaned in and kissed him. “If you could help me, you would—that’s the kind of person you are.”
“I do want to help you.”
“Then let me do this. Tell me the name of the facility. I’ll—”
“No. That’s not necessary.”
“Then move into the hotel. You can have a suite, forget about rent for a bit. It’ll ease the burden.”
“Preston. You can’t—”
“I can,” I snapped. “I can, and I will.”
He huffed out a breath, and then stood, his body dripping warm water. “It’s not that simple.”
He got out, and I let him. Stubborn man. This was an easy fix, and he was making it complicated. He was just like Ryan. Wanted to do every fucking thing on his own.
I stood and watched as he wrapped a towel around his waist and walked into the bedroom. Gritting my teeth, I followed him, already thinking of another solution. But my breath caught when I saw him drying off with the towel.
My cock went rock hard. All I could think in that moment was that I needed to fix this so I could be inside of him. So we could both lose ourselves again.
I walked over, grabbed the towel and stepped behind him to dry his back. I kissed his shoulder, his neck, his ear. “Take the job. Take photographs for me so I can use them for my work.” I nibbled his earlobe. “It comes with benefits.”
Relief filled me when he laughed softly. “What kind of benefits?”
“Full access to my body 24/7. Enough money to get you back on your feet—and take care of your mom. Orgasms at your request.”
“I like how you put the important information right in the middle.”
“Trust me, Eric—all of that was important information.” I gripped his chin and turned his head to face me. I kissed him once. “Take the job.” I kissed him again. “It’ll help me out more than it’ll help you.” I ran my tongue along his lower lip. “I’ll be your love slave.”
“Now that wasn’t in the original offer,” he said, lips curving.
“Consider it a bonus. Say yes.”
He turned and wrapped his arms around my neck. “Yes.”
I tossed the towel on the bed and yanked him hard against me. My cock swelled, pressing into his hip. “I need you.”
“I need you, too.”
I forgot about his mom and worries and the past and focused on Eric. The man I was in love with.
CHAPTER TWELVE
I might as well have moved in with Preston with how much I was at his penthouse over the next couple of weeks. I’d head out with Stone during the day, traverse the city looking for inspiration and take hundreds of shots for Preston. Then I’d spend the evening with him, showing him the photos and helping him decide on his next project.
For once in my life, I didn’t spend every waking moment worrying about my mom. Or my finances. Or any of the other things I always ended up worrying about.
In bed that night, I planned where I wanted to take photographs the next day. “Water? Buildings? People?”
Preston glanced over from his laptop. “Whatever inspires you.”
“But what inspires you? What do you want pictures of?”
“Everything you take is inspiring.”
I shifted to face him, setting aside my own laptop. “I have an idea.”
“What?”
I waited for him to look away from the laptop. To focus on me. When his eyes met mine, I said, “Why don’t you come with me?”
His face froze, no expression whatsoever.
“It’ll be fun,” I said quickly. Then started babbling to convince him. “We can spend the day together and you can help me find pictures to take. We can head out to the pier first, you know—be super touristy—”
“Eric.”
“Or if that’s too crowded, we could go somewhere else. Start off simple, maybe have some lunch. And then—”
“I can’t.”
My stomach clenched. I held his gaze, hating the hurt I saw there. Also hating that he wouldn’t at least think about it. “We could try something smaller.”
He went back to his laptop with a shake of his head. “You know I like all the pictures you take. Anything will do.”
“Damn it, Preston. Don’t act like that.”
He glanced over, warning in his eyes. “Act like what?”
“Like it’s not a big deal. Like what I’m saying doesn’t matter.”
His jaw flexed. “That’s not what I’m saying.”
I snatched his computer from his lap and set it aside. “Then talk to me. This is important.”
“Eric,” he said, voice low.
“Talk to me.”
“I was working.”
When he reached for the laptop, I blocked him, then yelped when he grabbed my wrists, knocked me back, and pinned me to the bed, his body holding mine down.
“This isn’t something we’re going to talk about right now,” he said, eyes dark.
“When are we going to talk about it?”
He frowned. “This isn’t even an issue.”
My hands flexed in his strong grip and my chest heaved. “Let me up.”
“Give me my laptop back.”
“You’re such an asshole! You want me to talk about my mom but then you won’t talk about this. It is an issue.” Emotion bubbled up, making my words thick. “It’s an issue because I want to go places with you. And you know how hard this is for me—staying locked up here. It’s just like my mom—it’s just—”
“Okay, Eric, hold on.”
Preston released my wrists and pulled me up so he could cradle me against his chest. I shoved at him, but he only caught my arms under his so I couldn’t push him again.
“Stop, Preston. I can’t—”
“Eric, wait,” he said, voice softening. He cradled my cheeks in his hands. “Don’t be upset. Please. I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re not. You’
re—you don’t understand—”
“I do. Please, listen to me. I know this is hard for you…” He brushed a stray tear from my cheeks, then kissed them one at a time. “Take a minute and breathe.”
I did because I didn’t have a choice. His words were soothing, and my breath was hitching, and all I wanted was for him to understand.
“That’s better,” he murmured.
He kissed my throat and my jaw, then slid his lips along the seam of my mouth, trying to get me to open. I did because I wanted comfort, and this was how Preston comforted.
His tongue tangled with mine, breath warm and heavy on my lips. He yanked off my shirt, and cool air rushed in, immediately warmed when his body touched mine again.
“Eric…” he breathed.
I ran my hands up his shoulders, tracing over his muscles and down his abdomen. I reached a spot just above his hip and looked down, smoothing my fingers over a scar.
“What happened here?”
He grabbed my hand and pressed it to his cock instead. “I want you.”
“Preston…”
But when he sat up to take off his boxers, I was derailed. He removed my underwear next and leaned his back against the headboard, pulling me up to straddle him.
“I need to feel you around me. Eric…”
I rose up and took him in me inch by slow inch, already familiar with his girth and length. I sighed as he went deep. He gripped my hips, grinding me down as far as I could go before his own groan slipped out.
“Yes, that’s it,” he said as I began to rock.
It wasn’t the first time Preston had distracted me, and I doubted it’d be the last. But right now, with his thick cock inside of me and his hands on my body, all I could think about was the pleasure he was giving me and the same pleasure I wanted to give him.
#
He rode me until my mind went blank with everything but him. He rode me until I couldn’t even remember what had gotten us here.
“Fuck,” I bit out, gripping his hips. “You’re so tight.”
He swiveled his hips, grinding in circles and then sliding up and down my shaft like he was the only one in the entire world who knew how to pleasure me. And when I was close, so close my whole body tightened, he eased off of me. Cool air swirled between us, shocking me for a moment.
