by Hayes, Piper
“That sounds like a good start,” I tell him. I rub up and down his shaft. I can tell it’s driving him wild that he has to wait, and I love it. “Now tell me what you’ll do once you get what you want.”
“Everything I can think of,” he says.
That’s a good enough answer for me. I turn around, and Blake wraps an arm around my stomach as he presses himself against me. He positions himself, and with one smooth thrust, he pushes deep inside. I gasp in delight and lean all my weight against the wall. Blake moans as he thrusts again, and I feel a wave of pleasure surge through my body.
“Your turn,” he says between thrusts.
I bite my lip. I have him inside me, thrusting, and for some reason I feel self-conscious telling him what I want. “Play with my breasts,” I tell him. He slides his hand over my chest and pinches my nipple between his fingers tugging hard as he pushes himself deeper inside me. I cry out. The thrill is wonderful. I tense as a rolling moan passes my lips. I close my eyes again as I try to hold back my climax for a while longer.
I love the way my body responds to Blake, the way he can drive me wild to the point where I’ll do and say things I never thought I would. I feel dangerous with him. I feel sexy. But there’s more to it than that. As he pushes himself into me faster and faster, I rock my body back against him. There’s something so simple and pure about the way we need each other. So much less complex than everything else in our lives. Unlike everything else, our need is completely honest.
Blake pulls himself out of me, plants his hands on my hips and spins me around. “Why?” I ask as he plants a kiss on my lips and pins me against the wall.
“I wanted to be closer,” he says between kisses.
Another good answer. I seal my lips against his and slide my tongue back and forth against his. I love this man. I love the way he holds me, and the way he looks at me, and I love the way he knows exactly how to drive me wild. My thighs start to burn as I rock along with his thrusts. He settles into a rhythm and finds a spot deep inside me that feels good in ways I can’t even explain.
I dig my fingernails into his back as the pleasure starts to peak again. This only makes him push harder against me, intensifying the pleasure until I can’t hold off for even another second. He kisses my neck, and I can hear his heavy breaths in my ear as he drives toward orgasm, but I’m already there. I bite my lip and focus on the pleasure. It’s incredible. It’s like the entire world has fallen away, and then I feel his thrusts slow as he climaxes too.
I gasp for breath. Even though we’re in the shower, I can tell that sweat has broken out across my body. I feel like I would collapse if I weren’t in his arms. It’s incredible. Blake kisses my cheek and nuzzles me. “At some point I have to let you down,” he says.
“I don’t think you’ll ever let me down,” I tell him. Then I realize he means physically. “Maybe we should actually shower,” I tell him. “And then we should take a long nap.”
He laughs as I get back on my feet. Then he kisses me again. “I think we should figure out dinner,” he says. He runs his hands up my sides in a way that sends shivers of excitement up my spine. “I’m starving. Are you hungry?” I’m completely spent. I could be hungry, but I have no idea. I just feel a wonderful, dazed contentment. Blake kisses me, and I lose myself in the warmth of his embrace. The shower is full of steam. I wonder how much of it’s from the hot water and how much is from us. We rinse off, and Blake kisses me again.
“If we keep this up, we’re going to get waterlogged,” I tell him.
Blake turns the water off and smiles at me before wrapping his arms around my waist. I can feel every inch of his body against me, and I want him all over again.
Steam. Lots of steam.
CHAPTER 4
CATHERINE
Even standing in his kitchen wearing nothing but a towel, Blake looks nothing short of dashing. Ok, so he looks incredibly attractive. He walks over to the fridge and starts looking through it. I head back to the bedroom and grab clothes. I pull on a T-shirt and grab one for Blake. When I get back, he’s still staring at the fridge. I toss him the shirt. “Gelato,” he says.
“Come again?”
“I could totally go for gelato,” he says. He closes the fridge and goes to a cabinet.
“I don’t think you’ll find any in there,” I tell him.
He laughs and asks, “Have you ever had real Italian gelato?”
I nod. “In Rome, on a family vacation.” I think about that trip, how it was one of the last times my family was all together. I think about how hot the sun was and how loud the streets were. I remember stopping at a little place near the Colosseum. I can’t remember for sure what flavor my gelato was, but I remember how deep red it was. It must have been raspberry. I remember how little I appreciated any of what I had.
“Good,” Blake says, “then you’ll know that mine is better.” I can’t help but laugh.
“Do you own an ice-cream company you haven’t told me about?” I ask.
“I’ve been looking for a reason to use this ice-cream maker,” he says, pulling a large metal machine out of the cabinet. He goes back over to the fridge and looks through it again. He starts pulling out ingredients. “Fruit or mint?” he asks.
“Mint,” I say. “We could just buy some down the street, you know.”
“Some things you can’t buy,” he says.
“I’m pretty sure gelato is one of the things you can,” I reply.
“Come on, it will be fun,” he says. He pulls out a gallon of milk, some eggs, and he goes back to the cabinet, grabbing some sugar. “I need you to go out on the terrace and get some mint. There’s a mint plant right beyond the table. Get a few handfuls. We’ll need all of it.”
It’s cool out on the terrace. The wind is blowing steadily off of the river, and it bends the sounds of the traffic below. I find the plant and start plucking off leaves. I look back over my shoulder to see Blake, measuring out ingredients, adding them to a pot. He’s smiling. I’ve never seen him look this carefree. It makes me think of the kind of life we could have if things were different. A gust of wind sends a chill through my body, and I gather what will have to be enough mint. I don’t mind the cold. I know that as soon as I’m inside with Blake, I’ll be warm.
We wash the leaves together, and Blake has me help him with the rest of the steps, grinding up the leaves, adding them to the mix. He holds the pan, and I spoon the mixture into the ice-cream maker. “How long until it’s ready?” I ask.
“Long enough,” Blake says. He presses a button, and the ice-cream maker starts to whir. He places the pot down and wraps his arms around me. He kisses me. This time his kiss is tender and slow. He leans back against the counter and holds me tight. He holds me in his arms for what feels like forever. At the same time, it feels like barely a heartbeat.
“I think it’s time,” he says. He peers over the top of the machine and nods. “Only one way to tell now. He opens up a drawer and pulls out a spoon. “You first,” he says.
“Aren’t you going to make sure it’s up to your standards first?”
“I trust my abilities,” he says. He dips the spoon into the bowl of the machine and scoops some up. He holds it right in front of my mouth. I can smell the mint and a hint of vanilla.
I take the spoon and take a bite. It’s fantastic. It’s dense and creamy and smooth, and the mint is perfect. I can tell Blake is way too happy about my reaction.
“Good, right?” he asks. He looks prouder of this ice-cream than he is of his multi-billion dollar company.
“It’s okay,” I say. I take another bite. “On second thought, it’s terrible. You better leave it all to me.”
“I don’t think so,” he says. He steals the spoon out of my hand.
“You know you probably have more than one of those.”
“Fine, I guess I can get a second one,” he says.
He takes a bite. “Oh come on. That’s fantastic.”
“I think it was my mint tha
t made the difference,” I say with a smile. I take another spoonful of gelato.
“I think you’re right,” he says.
“So about that ice-cream company, do you want to start one?” I ask.
“Only if it’s with you,” he says. “We could open up a gelato shop. There’s this town on the Adriatic, barely more than a village, where the ancient roads are so narrow, you can’t fit a car down them, and every building is sun bleached and perfect. We could start looking for a place there.”
“That sounds perfect,” I say. “I could see you driving me up and down the coast in a little convertible. We could drink those little cups of espresso they have. No one would know who we were.”
“I like the sound of that,” he says. “We could get a little place, nothing fancy. We could live simply.”
“Just you, me, and your thousand dollar gelato machine?”
“Now you’re talking,” he says. “I need you to do me a favor tomorrow. Will you check in with Alex? I’m keeping my distance until I have a deal with Ben, but I want to know that she’s okay.”
“Of course,” I tell him. “But then I’m booking our flight to Italy.” It’s a joke, but I mean at least part of it. I wish we could just pack up and leave. I wish we didn’t have to deal with the politics and the power struggles. I wish it were just me and him.
Blake laughs. “Sounds good to me. I’m tired of New York anyway.”
We both know we can’t just run away, but it’s wonderful to pretend. I just want to hang on to this moment for a while. I just want to savor it, to appreciate it while it lasts. At some point, I have to decide what to do about the company, and I have to figure out what, if anything, I can do to help Blake. Things are only going to get more complicated. I know that. I know Blake is going to try to take everything on himself, and I know if I want any chance at living out a happily ever after with him, I’ll have to do more than think wishful thoughts. But for right now, I just want to stay in the moment, to savor this one sweet, simple joy.
CHAPTER 5
CATHERINE
“Whatever Blake needs, it has to wait,” Alex says. It’s late morning, but her bar is packed. It’s twice as full as it was on the night I first came here with Blake. It’s mostly men, and almost all of them are wearing green. From the few people talking, I think they’re almost all Irish, but the crowd is strangely quiet. It’s a bright, sunny day outside, but in here, the lights are dim, and the mood seems oddly tense. I’m here at Blake’s request, but there’s something I need to ask Alex for myself.
I find Alex behind the bar. She’s pouring three pints at once. “What’s going on here?” I ask. I feel a need to half whisper. Alex nods to a flat screen TV on the side wall. They’re here to watch a soccer game. The crowd is focused so intently on the screen that I’m not even sure that they notice as I walk around to meet Alex at the end of the bar.
“I’m short staffed, and these guys have been waiting for this game for months. I can talk to you later, or you can help out.” She heads into the back room, reemerging a moment later with a crate full of glasses. She pushes the crate into my arms. “Far corner of the bar.” The crowd groans in unison. I look up to see a replay of a soccer ball flying just wide of a goal post. I put the glasses down and head back to Alex. She’s already back with more, and she’s pouring pints like mad.
“Guinness, love,” a man says from the end of the bar. His face is red, and his hair is bushy beneath a cap. His brogue is thick. I look at Alex. She nods to me to go ahead. I grab a pint glass and start to pour. The beer foams up and spills over the edge.
Alex laughs and hands me a full pint. “Slow,” she says, “and top it off like this.” She shows me exactly what to do. I follow her instructions. Within a few tries, I’ve got the hang of it. I lose track of time as we keep up with the steady flow of orders. It’s fun to lose myself for a while. When their team scores a goal, the crowd erupts in a cheer so loud, I’m certain you could hear it from Manhattan. I do a double check to see if the walls are shaking from the noise.
I can see why Alex likes this life. It’s fun and time passes quickly, and she’s her own boss. Even when tipsy, no man in the bar makes a pass at her. They seem to know who’s in charge. For what it’s worth, Alex seems a lot happier behind a bar than Blake does on his way to the boardroom. Maybe it’s that there’s something more straightforward about it, or maybe she just doesn’t have the same kind of responsibilities. Either way, she seems content in a way that I’m not sure Blake could ever be.
By the time the game ends, the crowd’s team has won, and the men on the other side of the bar are toasting to each other and singing songs. I can’t say this is anything like what I expected for the day, but I’m not disappointed in the least. I’ll have to ask Alex when the next game is. I’ll drag Blake down here, and we’ll cheer along too. I could even buy him a soccer jersey. He’ll probably decide to wear it under his suit.
I keep helping Alex behind the bar, waiting for her to give me a chance to talk. After a few hours, the crowd starts to dwindle. We finally get a break from pouring drinks nonstop. Alex gives me a smile. “I don’t know what I would have done without the extra help,” she says. “But I know that’s not why you’re here. So what’s up?”
I’ve almost forgotten why I came to the bar in the first place. “Blake wanted me to check on you to make sure you’re doing well.”
“What do you think?” Alex says. She pours a pint and hands it to me.
“I think you’re doing fine,” I tell her.
“I know he thinks he needs to protect me, but I can look out for myself,” she says. “He’s the one I worry about. He carries too much weight on his shoulders.”
“He’s going after Jacob,” I tell her.
She half smiles and looks up as if to say see, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. “Tell him I don’t want to be involved. I’ve put it behind me and he should, too. But you know Blake and his savior complex. It’s funny. I thought things would change after I found out about you. I thought he would change. That first night, he seemed happier than I’ve seen him in years.”
“I think he has changed,” I tell her. “There’s something I need to ask you about. I just don’t know how to ask it. I think Blake’s afraid of something happening to one of us. I have a way that I might be able to help him with all of this, but I don’t know if he’ll go for it.”
“He needs you to look out for him as much as you need him looking out for you,” she says. “I know my little brother. You’re good for him. He sees you as his equal. Don’t be a pushover. Does that answer the question you didn’t ask?
“Yeah, I think it did,” I reply. “Now I just have to figure out how to tell him.”
“For that one, you’re on your own,” Alex says.
I’m not just going to take my father’s deal. I’m going to talk it over with Blake. I’ll explain my reasoning. We’ll make the decision together. I try to convince myself that he’ll understand, but I know he won’t. I know he’ll get mad or tell me that it’s my father trying to set me up for failure somehow. I know it’s going to be a fight, but I also know it’s a fight I have to win. Alex steps away to talk to some customers, leaving me alone with my pint. I stare down into the glass like I’m trying to read tea leaves, but I see nothing. I laugh at myself and take a deep, long sip.
CHAPTER 6
CATHERINE
My resolve to tell Blake my secret lasts until I lay eyes on him again. He’s waiting at the table. He’s wearing a crisp blue shirt that brings out his eyes, and he’s got two candles lit. “You’re just in time,” he says. “I made us dinner.” He offers me wine, and I have to admit that I still have the slightest buzz from the bar. Blake just laughs and says, “I guess that means Alex is alright.”
“Right as rain,” I tell him. I don’t tell him that the thing she’s right about is that he needs my help.
Blake had set up my plate at the opposite end of the table, but I pick it up and take the
seat next to him. We eat, and I laugh, and he makes me remember every single reason I can’t just sit around and hope everything works out. “I think I get why your sister likes working behind a bar. It’s empowering in a way.”
“You were bartending?” he asks.
“There was a soccer game on TV, and she was understaffed. I helped pour pints. You should have seen the way she looked at me when I tried to pour my first pint.”
“You working behind a bar,” he says. “I’d like to see that some time.”
“I’m just working on my customer service for whenever we open that gelato place.”
“Gelateria,” Blake says.
“Is that really what they call them?”
“I have no idea. I don’t speak Italian. Either way, it sounds about right.”
“Gelateria,” I say. “Is there more gelato after the meal?” I ask.
“I had something else in mind,” Blake says. He leans over and kisses me. His lips linger on mine even as he starts to pull back from the kiss. I give a little whimper when our lips finally part. “You are beautiful,” he says. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you.”
“You got me into a party, remember?” I say. I lean into him and lock my lips against his. He wraps his arms around me and kisses me. I feel that dizzy warmth all over again and lose myself in his arms. Passion flares up inside me in an instant like a squall over the sea. My need for Blake is so sudden and complete that I can’t think of anything else, especially the news I wanted to break to him. As he slides his tongue against mine, all I can think about is getting him into bed.
We get up from the table, and I barely know where we’re headed. I just know that my body fits perfectly against his, and his hands are almost as wild as his eyes. I press against him and feel the warmth of his erection. The rest feels like a dream. Tossing our clothes aside, slipping into bed, pulling the cool sheets over my back as I straddle Blake. I gasp when he enters me, and my cries don’t stop until we’re done.
