Because I Love You

by Amy Brent

  I rolled my eyes as I tossed it on the bed. I couldn’t remember a time when the social class didn’t matter to my mom. Growing up in Manhattan put me in a special class that everyone wanted to be in, where money wasn’t an issue. It also felt suffocating at times.

  The house felt oppressive in particular at the moment. Grabbing my phone from my purse, I snuck down through the back stairway to head in the direction of the beach. It was still warm out and the last bits of summer still clung to the coastline. It would be cold, but fiery and beautiful with the change of Autumn around the corner.

  The beach was empty when I reached the gate. I slipped out of my shoes and pushed the gate open to bury my feet gladly into the hot sand. The spray of sea water filled the air as waves crashed down on the sandy beach. The ocean stretched on endlessly into the horizon. Cold water rushed up to touch my toes while I walked along at a slow pace, trying not to reach for my phone.

  I didn’t want to appear clingy, but I missed Cole’s voice. Spending the past few weeks with him every single day had solidified the fact that I enjoyed his company. There were things about Cole that the rest of the world didn’t know about, and those were the things that I wanted to keep to myself. Like his favorite brand of whiskey, or how he took his coffee first thing in the morning. Intimate details.

  A shiver went up my spine that had nothing to do with the cold sea water. I still remembered how it felt to be filled completely from the inside. How close Cole had felt to me with his bare and sculpted chest mashed up against mine. The way he had breathed so hard and jagged into my ear in pleasure. And those hands. Those wicked hands that rubbed me in all the best ways. He had overwhelmed every inch of me in the best way possible.

  My stomach fluttered at the memory, but now I felt empty with the silence. Cole never struck me as the type of man who would take care of a woman the way he had taken care of me at my apartment. I knew that he had slept with many women over the years, but that was different. I had overheard that conversation with my dad one time after Cole’s divorce.

  “It’s just nothing to me,” Cole had told my dad at the time. “I don’t even go to their place. They come to mine, and I tell them to leave before they fall asleep.”

  Cole didn’t say to leave permanently. He knew that I needed the time to process what happened. That was the only reason why he had done that. It was foolish reasoning, but I chose to stick by it to get through the weekend without my mom pestering me the entire time about why I didn’t sleep or eat the way I normally do.

  I stopped a mile down the beach when my phone buzzed in the back of my jeans. Heart thudding wildly, I pulled my phone out to read the text message on the screen.

  Are you wearing denim jean shorts that expose those sexy ass legs of yours? Or that white tank top that I can see your black bra through?

  I frowned down at the unknown number. Panic shot through me as I looked up to scan the beachline to settle on the parking lot where a black SUV was parked facing my direction. The passenger door opened, and my heart leaped up through my chest when I saw Cole give me a wave. The relief going through me made me weak and wobbly as I jogged up the sandy beach, flip flops in hand. I ignored the hot asphalt on the soles of my feet as I jogged up to where Cole was standing beside the SUV.

  I didn’t care if there was anyone that we knew looking at us. I wrapped my arms around him in a tight hug, relishing the feel of his strong body against my own as he carefully cradled me against him. He smelled of fresh cologne.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked, pulling back to look up at him with a breathless smile. “I’m so glad you’re here! Cheryl said that you weren’t in the office today and—”

  “I needed to take some time off, too,” Cole said.

  “Was this you that texted me?” I asked and held up my phone to show him the message. “Or do I need to worry about some stalker in the distance?”

  Cole reached into the backseat of his SUV to pull out two iPhones. He handed the unopened box to me with a small smile.

  “I got us new phones,” he said. “They aren’t connected to work, so we can talk this way freely without it being on a company phone. Or your phone, too.”

  My heart refused to slow down from the excitement bubbling in me. After years, and I mean years, of waiting for this, it was finally here. I looked up at Cole as he flipped up his Ray Bans to smile down at me.

  “Does this mean what I think it means?” I asked.

  “It means exactly what you think it means,” he returned with a grin. He held up a finger though before I could burst with energy. “We have to keep this quiet though, Vi. Can you do that?”

  “Absolutely. I’ll do whatever you want as long as I have you at the end of the day.”

  “Good. Now.” He took a step back to gesture for me to hop into the passenger seat. “Why don’t we go somewhere private to talk before someone on the beach sees us and tells your parents?”

  “Where are we going?” I asked, my body already thrumming with anticipation.

  “My house. If that’s all right with you?”

  “Yes.”

  I swallowed thickly as I slid in the passenger seat. Cole slid in next to me, and it took all of my self-control to not lean over and kiss him like I wanted to. I didn’t care where we went. I just wanted to be with him.

  Chapter 13

  Cole

  My cock was already hard when I directed my driver to pull along the beach after catching sight of Violet walking along by herself. Those denim cutoffs showed off her long and tanned legs that I wanted to be wrapped around my waist. Her simple white tank top hugged her breasts and midriff. I just wanted to rip her clothes off right there on the beach and take her, but that feeling dissipated a little from the happiness in Violet’s eyes when she saw me.

  It’d been so long since I could remember someone being so happy to see me. Stephanie had never looked happy to see me, but with Violet, it had been pure happiness.

  And it nearly killed me not being able to embrace her the way I wanted to when Violet had wrapped herself around me with a shaky sigh of relief. I didn’t trust anyone in the Hamptons to mind their own business. Particularly the women who did nothing besides gossip all day about the latest rumors.

  A relationship with Violet Summers would be an outright scandal if we didn’t play this right. If I didn’t play this right.

  I still didn’t know what the hell I was thinking when I called my driver back to take me out to the Hamptons, but I stopped by the cell phone store to pick up two phones and lines unconnected from everything. I half-expected something to strike me down from the sky for choosing this route.

  Violet had little experience with handling real and mature relationships. She still didn’t know how to process the intimacy of sex, and judging from the bags underneath her eyes, sleep had evaded her for the past few days.

  “To my house,” I told my driver before turning to look at Violet. “You haven’t been sleeping very well.”

  Violet reached up to touch the bags underneath her eyes. “No, but I’m fine. I’m just so happy to see you.”

  “We can talk in private at my house,” I said. “Do you have any plans for the rest of the afternoon?”

  “Nothing important that can’t be rescheduled.” Violet pulled out her other phone from the pocket of her jeans. “Let me call my mom though. She’ll send people looking for me if I don’t come home in an hour.”

  I diverted my attention to look at the beach as we pulled back down the road in the direction of my house. Violet’s leg brushed up against mine as she shifted in her seat, and it sent lust spiraling through me all over again. I didn’t come out to the Hamptons to jump her. No, I wanted to take care of this the best way possible, even though I had no idea how I planned to do it.

  It was hard, though, when I glanced over at Violet as she made up a story of running into an old friend from high school. Her pretty blonde locks were pulled up in a messy bun. A few strands framed her tanned and freck
led face that was free of makeup. Her breasts jiggled slightly when the SUV pulled back up to the main road. My mouth watered at the thought of nibbling there as I had done in my office.

  Fucking cool it. This is an innocent woman still. You didn’t come out here to jump her bones.

  “I bought us a night,” Violet said, lowering her phone with a grin. “My mom has no idea that you’re even here. You must’ve snuck into the house without alerting the usual people.”

  “Different SUV,” I replied, and allowed my hand to reach out to touch Violet’s bare knee. Her soft skin was damp from the sea water. “Your mother invited me to some sort of party this weekend, too.”

  “Don’t go to it. I don’t plan on going.”

  I arched an eyebrow at that. “How are you going to escape your mother on that one? I know how she is about parties and reputations.”

  “I’ll figure something out,” Violet said, chewing on her bottom lip in contemplation. “How long are you going to be here at the Hamptons?”

  “For the weekend.” I curled my fingers around her knee, trailing up to feel the muscles of her thigh clench. Goosebumps erupted underneath my fingers. “I should head back tomorrow afternoon, though. I have a lot of work to catch up on since my assistant took personal time off.”

  Violet’s lips curved up into a devious smile. The touch of her hand on my knee caught me by surprise. I jerked before looking up to find my driver focused on the winding road ahead of us. We were only a few seconds away from pulling up through the back gate that was private. It allowed me to come and go without alerting all the neighbors in the Hamptons that I was home.

  Her fingers trailed up my thigh lightly before they brushed up against the hard bulge in my pants. I bit back a groan at the touch. She rubbed there boldly. It was hard sometimes to believe that Violet had never done any of this before.

  She leaned in to whisper, “You can punish me later for taking time off. I’ll gladly take whatever punishment you see fit.”

  My eyes slipped closed at those seductive words. I opened them abruptly when the SUV came to a stop at the edge of the driveway. I looked over at Violet as the SUV pulled up through the thick hedges that obscured curious eyes. Desire sparkled brightly in her eyes.

  Fuck talking about keeping our relationship quiet. There was no way in hell that I was going to be able to sit through a conversation.

  I took Violet’s hand away from my throbbing dick. Lacing my fingers through hers, I squeezed her hand tightly as the SUV pulled up to the back door of the kitchen. I opened the door before my driver could even put it into park and helped Violet slip out after me.

  “I’ll text you when I’m ready tomorrow,” I said before shutting the door behind me.

  The kitchen door was open like I left it. The house staff was gone, too. Complete and utter privacy like we needed. I pushed the door open to let Violet step inside before locking it behind her.

  Violet gazed about the spacious kitchen with a smile. She turned to look at me, setting her phones down on the kitchen island.

  “Beautiful kitchen,” she said. “What was it that you wanted to talk about?”

  I tossed my wallet, keys, and phones onto the kitchen island next to her things. I was so hard that it was almost painful.

  “We can talk later,” I growled, taking three large steps to gather her into my arms. “I can’t think of anything else right now.”

  “Thank God for that,” Violet murmured against my lips before I swept her up into a hot kiss.

  I kissed her long and hard as we stumbled blindly through the kitchen, knocking things down in the process. I didn’t care, though. All I could care about was Violet’s mouth on my own and her teeth nipping at my lower lip. Soft moans escaped her into my mouth as our tongues battled against one another’s for dominance.

  I needed this. Fuck. I needed her badly.

  The back of a couch caught me by surprise. Violet took the opportunity to push me back into the couch cushions. I fell back into them without too much protest when she climbed up on me, straddling my hips with a happy grin. Her blonde hair had fallen out of her bun. It tangled wildly around her flushed face, and her lips were swollen from our kisses already.

  “You missed me,” she whispered, one hand trailing down my chest to the band of my jeans. “I can feel it. You missed me, huh?”

  Her fingers reached in to give the tip of my cock a wicked squeeze. I sucked in a harsh breath when she reached in further to stroke me teasingly. My hips jerked upwards to grind up against that sweet heat I could feel coming from the center of her legs.

  “More than you’ll ever know,” I groaned out, clasping onto her hips. “You’re not sore anymore, are you?”

  “Not anymore.”

  My fingers flexed against her hips. “Good, but I’m going to make sure it feels even better than the last time.”

  “How so?” she asked, giving me another squeeze. “I don’t think you’re going to last very long here.”

  I sat up quickly to knock her hand away. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I lifted her easily to toss her back onto the couch cushions this time. Violet let out a startled cry as she looked up at me with wide eyes that were vibrant with excitement and anticipation.

  “You’ll see, sweetheart. You’ll see.”

  I wasted no time in tugging her tank top up to toss it on the ground, followed by the lacy bralette she was wearing. I buried my face in the valley of her breasts while nipping at the sensitive skin there. She arched up against me with a throaty moan when I took a nipple into my mouth, teasing the little pink bud with the tip of my tongue.

  “Cole,” she panted, writhing underneath me. “Please. Just take me now. Don’t tease me.”

  “It’s called foreplay,” I corrected against the heat of her skin. I pressed a kiss above her belly button before reaching the hemline of her jean shorts. “You feeling good, baby?”

  “More than good. Please.”

  She propped herself up on her elbows to gaze down at me pleadingly, but I had no plans of letting her get up easily. Even if the soreness was gone, I wanted each and every time to feel better. We had all the time in the world without the fear of someone walking in on us. I planned to make the time count.

  I pulled her jean shorts down the smoothness of her legs, followed by her underwear. She laid back, hands tugging at my shoulders, but I pushed them down into the couch pillows. The smell of her arousal only added to the ache in my loins. I wanted so badly to bury myself into that sweet and tight heat again, but I resisted it for the moment.

  I kissed the apex of her thigh.

  “Cole.” Violet sat up again with a desperate look. “Please, just fuck me. Don’t—”

  Her head tossed back in pleasure when I sucked in the bundle of nerves begging to be touched. I sucked and licked until I felt her inner thighs quiver with a pending orgasm. Her fingers clawed at my hair desperately as she tried to stay rooted to reality, but she gave in a minute later when her body lurched off the couch. A scream tore past her lips as she bucked wildly in the throes of an orgasm.

  Hot juices spilled out over my fingers as I cupped the quivering flesh there to feel her ride out the waves. Her chest was flushed bright red from the intensity of it as she looked down at me with wild eyes.

  “Told you,” I said smugly. “Ready for another, baby?”

  “Yes,” she said. “Please, Cole.”

  I tugged my shirt off, tossing it to join the rest of the clothes on the floor. Violet sat up to help me with my belt and pushed the fabric of my pants and boxers down to free my erection. Hot lips sucked on the tip of my cock before I could push her back down to the couch cushions. She sucked hard again which earned a groan from me.

  That sweet mouth on me was nearly my undoing. I couldn’t last long with Violet sucking on me the way she was now, or how her hands gently stroked in time with each suck. One of these days, I would let myself indulge in this type of release, but for now, I wanted to be buried deep in her to f
eel those tight muscles clenching with pleasure. I gently threaded my fingers in her hair to pull her head back. She let go with a reluctant smack of her lips. She looked up at me in confusion when I motioned for her to lay down.

  “Lay down,” I told her. “I’m not letting you get me off that way.”

  “You got me off that way,” she pointed out but stretched back with her legs wrapped around my waist. “What’s the difference?”

  Slick flesh and heat surrounded my cock when I pushed inside of her. I kept one eye trained on Violet’s face for any sign of discomfort. Her lips thinned slightly as she blew out a hot breath, forcing her body to relax against me.

  “Relax,” I murmured, resting on my forearms to kiss her forehead. The pressure on my cock was nearly too much to handle, but I forced myself to go slow. I didn’t want to hurt her again without knowing it. “Just take a deep breath, baby. This feels a million times better, coming inside of you.”