Her legs trembled as his sex pressed against some sweet spot inside her and she bore down on him harder, angling herself to make the most of his exquisite hardness. His hands gripped her hips and although she sat over him, she realiszd once again that she was no longer in control.
He rocked her firmly back and forth, the sweet spot inside her screaming in ecstasy against him. She came again almost immediately as he sat up to hold her body against his. Her fingernails dug into his back as she shook.
He was patient with her as the climax wound and unwound, but when he pushed her backwards to take the dominant position, she knew that his patience had evaporated and now the full fury of the beast was unleashed.
Pushing her legs back, he plunged into her. Their bodies barely touching but for the feverish join at their pulsating sexual cores. Her body rocked back and forth with the force of each stroke and she urged him on with a rising crescendo of ecstatic cries.
She came again, even harder this time, while his thumb massaged the soft nub at the apex of her sex. She had barely recovered from the sheer immensity of it when he flipped her over in one deft movement and propped her on all fours. In this position, she felt the full force of him, his strong hands gripping her buttocks and forcing her against him in tandem with the thrust of his powerful hips.
Riley closed her eyes and buried her face in the warm fabric covering the futon. She was drunk on passion now, able to do nothing, but let him have his way with her as he pleased. “Yes, Nick!” she cried, the only words she could manage. “Yes! Yes! Yes!”
As he reached climaxed, he withdrew from her and collapsed on top of her, forcing her deeper into the mattress as he spent himself on the sheet. The thunder of his groan in her ear sent more shivers up her spine, so much more thrilling than even facing the raw power of the electrical storm outside.
She wriggled around to face him and he planted a kiss on her lips, his eyes now softening once again. “You’re incredible,” he whispered.
She felt butterflies rising in her as he said it and returned his kiss with renewed longing.
As they lay together, panting from their exertion, her head resting on his chest, his hand reaching around her to cup her breast, they watched two butterflies flying in haphazard circles around them before descending.
“Watch this,” said Nick as they alighted on her side. The two butterflies, black with bright blue flecks, perched sipping up the salty sheen of her perspiration. He grinned. “They like you. They must think you’re tasty.”
“Apparently they aren’t the only ones.”
Nick chuckled and kissed her again. She couldn’t decide what was more magical, his laugh or the butterflies still tickling the skin of her thigh.
Outside the storm had passed.
“I really like you, Riley,” said Nick.
“I really like you too. Does this mean you want to be…you know…a thing?”
“A thing? I’d like for you to be my girl, yes.”
“And Matt?”
“I guess we’d have to tell him,” said Nick.
“I have six month left of college. Do you think you could wait that long for me to get back?”
“Could you?”
“Hell, yeah. For you.”
Nick smiled. “Then I can do the same. After all, I’m only gonna be around here working with your brother. Do you want me to tell him?”
“No,” said Riley. “I’ll tell him.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, it’s the least I can do.”
10.
Riley woke early the next morning. They had fallen asleep in Nick’s bed after another round of steamy lovemaking. She pulled herself away from Nick’s naked body and pulled on his shirt. It hung so baggy on her that she wondered how a human being could ever quite fill it the way he did.
She made her way down into the kitchen. She had promised him breakfast and she was going to fulfill that promise even if it meant rising at the crack of dawn. She did her best keeping quiet while she rifled through the unfamiliar fridge and cupboards and finally got together the ingredients for a breakfast of pork sausages, eggs, toast and coffee.
Once she was done, she loaded it onto a tray and crept back up the stairs and into his bedroom. He was still fast asleep. She placed the tray onto his bedside table and crept back beneath the toasty covers with him.
His eyelids fluttered as she ran her hands down his body beneath the sheets and he rolled over to kiss her.
“Morning handsome,” she said. “I promised you breakfast, so I made you breakfast in bed.”
He nuzzled her neck with his stubbled chin by way of thanks and goose bumps erupted on her arms. “You keep doing that and the breakfast is going to have to wait until you’ve finished what you’ve started,” she teased.
They ate breakfast together and after they had both showered and dressed, they headed back to the hospital to see Matt. This time, her excitement to see him was added to by the nervousness of what she had to tell him. Would he accept her wanting to be with Nick? Would he reject it outright? Would it be wise to even tell him now? She hoped it wouldn’t affect his relationship with Nick, or worse, affect his relationship with her. She could only pray that he would be able to see it from her perspective.
When they arrived at the door to Matt’s room, Riley turned to Nick.
“I’m so nervous,” she said. “What if he gets upset?”
“Better to tell him now than keep it a secret,” said Nick. “You sure you don’t want me to do it?”
“No, I’m sure.”
They went in together, to find Matt propped up on his pillow looking cheerier than the day before.
“Hey, guys!” he greeted happily. “The doctors say I’m going to be out of here by the end of the week. I’ll still need to wear the neck brace, but otherwise, it’s all good.”
Riley clapped her hands and kissed him on the cheek. “That’s great news!” she said.
Nick slapped Matt on the shoulder. “I guess they’ve had enough of you then.”
“Nah, they love me here,” said Matt grinning mischievously. “That nurse of mine keeps giving me sexy looks. I think she wants me to stick around some more.”
“You mean nursezilla that keeps chasing us away?” said Nick.
“Yeah, that’s her. You know me, I love a strong woman.”
Riley laughed at that and felt some of her nervousness leave her. Now would be as good a time as any, she thought and gave Nick a look that said the same. Nick picked up on it immediately.
“I think this calls for a celebratory coffee, what do you say? Man, I can’t get enough of the stuff from this place. Maybe it’s the smell of disinfectant that makes it taste so good.”
“I’ll grab one of those,” said Matt.
“Me too,” said Riley, “thanks.”
They watched Nick leave together before Matt turned to Riley smiling mysteriously.
“What?” said Riley.
“You like him don’t you? You want to have like a million of his babies.”
Riley blushed. “How do you know?”
“Riley, you’re my sister. I haven’t seen you this happy around a guy for a long time. Your eyes practically sparkle when you look at him.”
Riley rubbed her hands together nervously. “Matt, I have to tell you something.”
“It’s already happened hasn’t it? You guys are totally falling for each other.”
Riley’s face burned with embarrassment at how transparent she was to her brother. He’d always known exactly how to read her, but this was uncanny.
Slowly, unable to hide from his question or be simultaneously swallowed by the floor, Riley nodded and braced herself for an outburst of disapproval or reprimand.
“Ha!” said Matt instead, half laughing. “I knew it!”
“You’re not angry?”
“Angry? Why should I be angry? You’re an adult and quite capable of making your own decisions. So far you seem to be pretty good at making the
right ones. Besides, if there is any one person in the world good enough for my little sister, it’s Nick. The guy saved my life, what can I say? I know he’ll be good to you.”
Riley embraced her brother. “Thanks for understanding, Matt. That said, if you start dating the angry nurse, I’m disowning you.”
In a perfectly healthy state, Riley knew he would have roared with laughter at that. Instead what came out was a husky, but nonetheless hearty chuckle. “Stop. Stop,” he said between laughter. “You’re killing me here.”
11.
Excitement bubbled in Riley’s belly as she stepped onto the stage in front of the hall full of people. The Chancellor of the University of London smiled pleasantly at her as he handed her her degree, rolled up and tied with a red ribbon. It was one of the proudest moments of her life and the only small mark on the otherwise momentous occasion was that Matt wasn’t there to see it. She owed her degree to him after all.
As she proudly strode to the other end of the stage, clutching her precious achievement, she thought with great anticipation of the future that lay ahead of her. She was due to fly back to Miami in a week’s time in search for work. Her and Nick had maintained their promise to each other, texting almost every night, and she felt closer to him now than ever before, even though they had been a world apart the entire time. She couldn’t wait to meet him at the airport, to wrap her arms around him and smell his oaky cologne, touch his sun-kissed skin and feel the life force behind his lips.
As she turned to face the crowd, she felt as though she were standing at the edge of a dream, at the momentous threshold of the rest of her life: a life of joy and wonder. Without the distraction of her studies, she knew that the next week would feel longer than the sum of the last six months without him.
As she scanned the cheering crowd, her peers lining up beside her, waving to their relatives who had taken time off to attend the ceremony, her eyes landed upon two men dressed in smart business suits. At first they seemed so far out of the context from which she knew them that her mind refused to recognize them for who they were. When the taller of the two men lifted his hand to his lips and blew her a kiss, their identity finally registered and she thought she might faint from sheer emotion. It was Nick and Matt, standing side by side, grinning proudly at her.
She wanted to dive off the stage, dash over to them and squeeze them both as hard as she could. Instead she waved at them wildly, practically hopping on the spot.
The line of her peers wound down off the stage and back to their chairs where they sat anxiously listening to a lengthy address. Riley could barely sit still, she kept glancing backwards into the crowd, wondering if she had imagined seeing them at all.
At the end of the ceremony, she spotted them in the foyer and dashed towards them, throwing her arms around both of them simultaneously.
“You guys!” she said. “What are you doing here? It’s so good to see you!”
“You didn’t think I’d miss my little sister’s graduation did you? Actually it was Nick’s idea.” said Matt, smiling.
She turned her full attention to Nick then and kissed him full on the mouth. “I missed you so much,” she told him.
“I missed you too, sweetheart,” he said. “Congratulations.”
She kissed him again, this time to confirm that he was really standing in front of her.
“Hey, come on,” said Matt. “Take it easy. I’m standing right here. That man needs his lips for smooth talking clients, he doesn’t need you ripping them off his face.”
Riley laughed and did her best to restrain her affection. After six months, it took a lot of will power.
“Matt, you look amazing. You’re all healed up.”
“Yup, neck still gets a little stiff every now and again, but otherwise I’m fit as a fiddle.”
She turned to Nick again and when he smiled at her, she couldn’t help stealing one more kiss. Sorry, Matt, she thought, I’m seizing this day.
THE END
Billionaire Bodyguard
1
From across the nightclub, April’s eyes met those of the handsome stranger’s again. And once again, she quickly returned her attention to the pink cocktail in front of her.
It was bad enough that she had had to tell her fiancé that she was working late just to spend some time with the girls, now she found herself swapping glances with a stranger across a club that she should have outgrown years ago.
The man sat surrounded by what she imagined were his business associates, along with their partners: tall, spindly women who looked like they had stepped straight off the catwalk of a high-end fashion show. The man himself sat alone, a part of the happenings at his table, but somewhat aloof to them, distracted, lost in his own thoughts and stolen glances in her direction.
She glanced up to see him smiling at her and felt her lips mirroring his. His fingers were wrapped around a glass of whiskey on the rocks, but he barely seemed to touch the drink. The ice had all but melted and the condensation trickled down the outside of the glass, moistening his fingers. He seemed completely oblivious to this.
“You’re totally checking out the guy in the suit, aren’t you?” said Marisa.
“What? No!” said April, but Marisa seemed to have the uncanny ability to read her mind, so denying it was pointless. “He is cute though, isn’t he?”
“He must like you, he’s been looking over at you all evening. You should talk to him.”
“You must be joking,” said April. “I already had to practically sneak out just to be able to come out with you and Tracy tonight. Can you imagine what Brian would say if he found out I was here talking to other guys?”
“No offense, sugar, but that man of yours needs to get over himself. What’s the big deal about coming out with us once in a while? We never get to see you anymore.”
April toyed with her drink, studiously avoiding Marisa’s piercing gaze. “I know. He never used to be this way. I don’t know, he’s changed lately.”
“Changed? Or maybe you never saw his jealous side until he put that ring on your finger.”
“He’s not that bad, Marisa. I still love him.”
“Oh really? Tell me again about how he won’t let you go out jogging until you put long tracksuit pants on. You’ve never given him any reason to be jealous, but he treats you like you’re out prowling for other men or something.”
April thought about the last time she had told him she was having a ladies’ night. He had totally freaked out, called her all sorts of terrible names until she had had to cancel because her make-up had been ruined by the tears of rage and frustration she had felt. She had come close to leaving him then, but promised him one more chance.
“I don’t mean to interfere, April, I really don’t, but this isn’t healthy. You need get out of there. If he can’t handle being in a relationship with a beautiful woman like you, he doesn’t deserve you.”
“I don’t know, Marisa. He can be really sweet as well. He’s just had a hard time at work lately. Things will settle down and he’ll be back to normal again soon, I’m sure of it.”
“Whatever’s going on with him, you have to let him know that it’s not okay to treat you this way.”
April knew Marisa was right. Marisa was a six foot tall, drop dead gorgeous, half Puerto Rican, half African American woman whose mere presence demanded a man’s full attention and respect. She knew a thing or two about what made men tick, yet deep down inside, April held onto the hope that Brian was just going through a rough stage.
“He deserves one more chance, Marisa. After everything he and I have been through.”
Marisa opened her mouth to say something, but then her eyes drifted across April’s face and settled on a spot over April’s shoulder.
“Oh shoot,” said Marisa. “Don’t look now, but Brian just walked in. Speak of the devil.”
“What?” April felt tendrils of anxiety twisting in her belly. They seemed to have taken up a permanent residence in there ever since Br
ian had started acting so strangely. April strained to keep her eyes on Marisa and away from the entrance, while Marisa hid behind her hand.
“Seriously, April, that dude is psycho.”
“What’s he doing?” asked April.
“He’s looking around. Damn it, I think he saw us. Here he comes.”
The trouble had started about two months ago, a whole six weeks into their engagement. She kept looking for signs that the old Brian was still lurking in there somewhere. He had to be, yet all she saw was the scheming, paranoid, insecure shell of a man that he had become. What had happened to change him? Though she had wracked her brain for something that she might have done to have justified his change of character, she could think of nothing. Instead what kept coming popping up at the back of her mind was that black hole of time when he’d gone away with his college buddies for the weekend, those long, painful two days when he had disappeared with no contact and returned a different man altogether. He hadn’t even spoken about his trip. They were supposed have gone fly fishing in Maine, yet his outdoor clothing had come back folded and dry in his backpack and his shirts had smelled as if they’d been washed with a brand of fabric softener she’d never used before.
ROMANCE: THE SHEIKH'S GAMES: A Sheikh Romance Page 91
