His left hand found its way back to my face, cupping my cheek, and his other hand wrapped around my waist, simply holding me to him. I tightened my leg around him, still needing to be as close to him as possible, knowing he was going to pull away eventually and I’d have to give him up forever.
When he did tear his lips from mine, it was only far enough away to say my name against them.
“Lena,” he whispered. “I’m sorry.” His words we pained but his touch was still soft. “I didn’t want this to happen here.”
“It’s a little late for regrets,” I said, letting my leg drop back to the ground.
“No,” he said, gripping me behind my knee and pulling my leg back to his hip. “I could never regret touching you. I just regret doing it here. I wanted you in my bed, Lena. I want you naked, lying down, completely bare and spread for me. Open for me to see and feel. I want every piece of you, and I want to be able to make you scream my name without worry of who might hear. I didn’t want to fuck you with my hand in a broom closet.”
“Then why did you?”
“He had his hands on you,” he repeated his words from earlier.
“He’s my husband.” I repeated mine.
“I don’t care what some stupid piece of paper says, Lena. You’ve been mine since the very first time I saw you walk into that bar.”
My eyebrows scrunched at his words. “You couldn’t have watched me walk into the bar. I beat you there. I watched you come in.”
His thumb came up and traced over my bottom lip. “Will you always underestimate me?” He said the words with a smile, but I felt the word ‘always’ like it hit me in the gut. We wouldn’t have an always. We had a ‘right this instant,’ and it was closely followed with a ‘this is so terribly wrong.’ I couldn’t help but feel like it was the best wrong I’d ever had.
“I beat you there by about twenty minutes, but I was waiting outside. As I watched you walk in to that bar, I knew everything in my world was about to be flipped upside down, and I followed you in anticipation of that.”
“Preston,” I said softly. “This,” I said, using my hand to motion between us, “It doesn’t change anything.” I took in a breath, hoping the words didn’t hurt as much coming out as it did holding them in. “When I walk out of here, we can’t be together again. It’s too dangerous. I can’t even believe I let this happen, here, with Derrek just in the other room.” I put my hands back on his chest, trying to push him away again, but his hands were firmly planted on my thigh and waist, and he wasn’t letting go. “I need to deal with my marriage. I need to put that behind me before I can even start to think about being with someone else.”
My leg fell back down as his hand moved from my thigh to cup the side of my face, then moved just slightly into the hair pinned back, pulling me closer to him.
“You need to let me worry about Derrek. I’ll get what you need. But you can’t push me away, sweetheart. You’ve already let me partway in, and I plan on getting all the way in soon. In every sense of the word.”
“What if I don’t want you in at all?” I tried to use a voice more forceful and strong, but I was sure I sounded shaky and unsure.
He pressed me up against the wall again and I could feel his cock, rock hard still, between us. I whimpered involuntarily, unprepared to feel him hard and huge against me, and as he leaned down and nipped my bottom lip between his teeth, he ground his hips into me, my traitorous eyes fluttering closed.
“You’re a shit liar, Lena. You’re dripping for me right now.” Even as he said the words, his hand ran over my opening, making me cry out, a sound of pleasure mixed with surprise. He pushed his fingers into me again, slowly, and I couldn’t hold back my moan as I exhaled. “Here’s what you’re going to do.” His fingers slid out of me and my eyes snapped open, looking to him for explanation. “You’re going to walk out of here,” his fingers pushed back in, making my mouth gape open. Then he pulled out and made a slow circle around my clit, eliciting more cries from me. “You’re going to walk right out of this gala.” He lazily slipped his fingers back in and then out again. “You’re going to get a cab home and then wait for me.” The warmth of his hand was then absent altogether, and I hated that I missed it.
“You’re going to fuck everything up,” I said, accepting the fact I wasn’t in control anymore, and that even though Preston was, the odds were against me.
“Hardly, sweetheart. I’m going to fuck you. But it’s not going to be in a closet, and it’s not going to be fast or quick. I’m going to fuck you in my bed, slow and hard, and then I’m going to do it again and again until we’re both exhausted and sore in all the good places.”
I swallowed hard, both completely aroused by his promises, and scared about the reality that waited for me outside this utility closet.
“I can’t just leave. Derrek will wonder where I’ve gone. We’re supposed to be putting on a show for everyone, parading our happy marriage for all to see.”
“I’ll take care of Derrek.” My eyebrows rose in doubt. “Trust me,” he said, reading me.
“Okay,” I whispered.
“Good girl,” he said against my lips, before he took them again in a scorching kiss. It was wet and hot and long. It was also full of promises – vows made directly to my body, which I instantly and stupidly believed.
He pulled away from the kiss, his hands trailing down my neck, and he said, “Go now, sweetheart. I’ll meet you at your house.”
For reasons I couldn’t quite understand, I did exactly as he asked. I left the utility closet and walked straight out of the gala, not speaking to anyone except the clerk working the coat check when I retrieved my coat and purse. I walked out of the building, hailed a cab, and rode home. All the while, I was painfully aware I had no panties on.
For most of the ride, my mind flipped and flopped from thinking about how stupid I was being for even entertaining the idea of getting involved with Preston, to then picturing his hand as it thrust inside me, making me come inside a closet. By the time the cab pulled up in front of my house, I had really only come to one conclusion.
I wanted Preston inside me. Desperately. All of him.
So I walked inside to prepare to give myself to someone other than my husband. I had everything to lose and practically nothing to gain, but I couldn’t bring myself to care.
END OF PART ONE
Part Two
Private
Encounters
Chapter One
I watched the city streetlights blaze past the windows of the cab, my mind reeling just as quickly as the buildings flew by. I closed my eyes and all I could see was Preston tucking my panties into his breast pocket, his gaze searing my body. My clit pulsed as I remembered what it felt like when his thumb stroked it. My eyes opened quickly and fluttered to the cab driver, making sure he wasn’t watching me. His focus was on the road, which was good, because one look at me and he definitely would have been able to tell my thoughts were dark and dirty.
With just a few more blocks to travel to my house, my phone pinged in my purse.
**Pack an overnight bag. I’m coming to get you.**
The text from Preston made my insides liquefy, but I wasn’t sure if going with him was the smartest decision. My body wanted to leave with him, of that there was no question, but the cab ride had given my brain room to breathe and it was leading me in the direction of not doing more harm to my already crumbling marriage. Not that I was concerned with saving it, but I was concerned with getting out unscathed and with the money I was entitled to.
I paid the cab driver, walked up the driveway, and then heard the unmistakable sound of Preston’s Lotus coming around the corner. I watched as he passed his normal spot down the street and instead pulled right into the driveway as if he belonged there. That was a problem. He opened the door and got out, walking toward me as he pressed a button on his key fob, making the car’s lights flash and its horn beep two short, quick blasts.
He stalked toward me in that
ridiculously attractive tuxedo, his eyes locked on mine and giving no indication he planned to move them. In fact, his eyes stayed on mine until he was right in front of me, only breaking the contact when he gently placed his hand around my elbow, turning me, and leading me toward the house. He came to the electronic keypad and with precision, keyed in the passcode.
My mouth gaped open as he hauled me into the foyer.
“How do you know the passcode to my house?” Without stopping, he pulled me up the stairs toward my bedroom, but spoke to me as we walked.
“Again, Lena, knowing things, especially secrets, is my job.”
We entered the bedroom and his hand released from my elbow, but he continued to the closet, flipping on the light from the inside.
“Have you been in my house without me here?”
“Pack your bag,” was his only response as a duffle bag came flying out of the semi-open door, landing in the middle of the bed.
“Preston,” I said firmly, “have you been in my house while I wasn’t here?” I watched as he came into view, stepping out from the closet and walked to me. He stopped when there were just inches between us, but made no move to touch me. He looked me right in the eyes.
“A few days ago, I was tailing Derrek and he came here. He went in the house with a briefcase, but came back to his car without it. I thought, perhaps, there was something of importance in there, something I could use against him. So, yes, I came in the house. But I didn’t look at anything or anywhere besides his office.”
For a reason I hadn’t yet fully formed in my mind, it bothered me that there was a level of distrust between Preston and me. I’d, for all intents and purposes, hired him to be sneaky and shifty, but I didn’t like feeling as if he was hiding something from me. Admitting this, though, would also be like accepting things were changing between us. It would be like admitting he was no longer just someone I’d hired to end my marriage; he had become someone involved in the actual demise of it.
“Lena,” he whispered, stepping closer to me, his hands wrapping gently around my neck, urging me to look up at him. “Don’t let your mind run away with you.” His thumbs moved over my cheekbones, the soft friction nearly soothing me. “Don’t get caught up in the whys and the hows.” He bent down and pressed his lips to mine in, easily, the most sensuous kiss I’d ever experienced. I felt that kiss everywhere: my chest, my mind, my heart, and most definitely my core. It wasn’t an exceptionally sexual kiss; his tongue just barely grazed the seam of my lips, not wanting in, just tasting. I took a deep breath in through my nose as the kiss continued, and was gifted with the musky scent of his cologne. It was spicy and dry, and it added one more dimension of sexy I would have to try to ignore.
When his hands travelled into my hair and started removing pins as he kissed me, my resolve crumbled slightly. He was trying to take care of me, all the while kissing me. The pins were hidden in the twist of my hair, but he gently took one out, then two, then ran his fingers lightly through the hair that had come undone. He twisted a tendril around his finger and the rest of my resolve collapsed entirely.
My hands reached up and gripped the lapels of his tux jacket, pulling him to me, deepening the kiss. He followed me into it, following me to the depths, his hands leaving my hair but wrapping tightly around my waist, pulling me into him. I gasped when his lips left mine, traveling along my jawline, back toward my ear.
“Not here, sweetheart,” he whispered. Then my body ached as he pulled away from me, his eyes finding mine. “I want nothing more than to bury myself in you, show you how badly I’ve wanted you, how much I want to worship you, but not here.”
I nodded and he kissed me chastely on the lips. A quick, poignant kiss.
“Change. Pack. Meet me downstairs.” He turned from me and walked toward the door.
“Preston?” I said, my voice stronger than I thought I could manage. He turned and looked back to me. “How long will I be gone?”
“I want to keep you forever, Lena, believe me. But I’ll have you back tomorrow.” His voice was low and tortured, defeated, as if he would rather do anything than bring me back here. He turned and left the room and I heard his footsteps disappear down the stairs.
I took a deep breath in and then let it out slowly, trying to wrap my mind around my situation without letting it ruin the sensations still coursing through my body. Shaking my head, I moved to the bed and opened the duffle bag, making a mental list of what to pack.
Ten minutes later, I came down the stairs wearing comfortable drawstring lounge pants, a fitted t-shirt, and flip flops. I’d been in a formal dress with killer heels all night and wasn’t exactly eager to try and impress Preston with my nightwear.
When I entered the foyer, he turned to me and his smile let me know he didn’t care in the slightest what I was wearing. I had finished unpinning my hair and now my raven locks hung loose around my shoulders, and when I stepped up to Preston he wasted no time fingering the tresses.
“You ready to go?” he asked, his finger lost in another tendril of hair. I smiled and nodded, my eyes swimming in his dark ones.
He kissed me, too briefly, then pulled away, saying, “Let’s go.” He grabbed the duffle bag from me, then clasped my hand in his and walked me out of the house, stopping to turn the alarm on as we left. As we approached the Lotus, I found myself smiling just at the thought of Preston behind the wheel of such a sexy machine. I’d been tamping down my attraction to him since we’d met, but tonight, seeing him in front of his car was overwhelmingly arousing. He opened the door for me and I climbed inside, inhaling the scent of the leather that still lingered, mixed with the distinct smell of Preston.
We pulled out and headed away from the house and it occurred to me I had no idea where we were going. Furthermore, I knew very little about the man in the seat next to me. The only thing I knew for sure was I wanted uninhibited access to him for the night and I would give him the same unfettered access to me. I wanted him in me, on me, around me—I wanted to be claimed by him. But I also hoped in the time we spent together, I’d get an opportunity to know him in more than just a physical way.
“Where are you taking me?”
“To my place,” he answered without hesitation.
“And where is that?”
“The West Hills.” I knew the area he was talking about. It was a part of Portland known to be affluent: large houses, nice cars, big bank accounts. It wasn’t different from the area I lived in, but The West Hills had a reputation. “Don’t worry. It’s not as stuffy as it sounds. Besides, I’m new to the area.” We kept driving and I started to love the way Preston drove the Lotus. It hugged curves and growled in a way that had parts of me dampening. Cars were sexy; I’d always thought so. But cars were exponentially sexier when men like Preston drove them.
His grip on the wheel was relaxed but firm and it allowed his biceps to flex under the fabric of his jacket. When he shifted gears, I could admire his big hands with long, agile fingers. If our encounter in the utility closet hadn’t been foreplay enough, watching him handle this car would have done the job beautifully all on its own.
“Have you always lived in Portland?” I ventured a question, hoping to learn something, anything, about him.
“I’ve almost always lived nearby. I grew up in Lake Oswego, moved away for college, but found myself back here after a few years of living in different cities, trying them on. It never really felt right anywhere else, so I’m back for good, it seems.” He turned his head to mine and gifted me with a smile I hadn’t seen before from him. It was big, bright and beautiful. It caught me off guard a little, but I adjusted as my insides melted from it.
“Where did you go to school?” The question came from me without thought, seeming to be the next logical step in our conversation.
“Stanford. I thought I wanted to be a lawyer, but quickly realized I enjoyed enforcing the law a lot more than defending it. I started in the law school, but eventually got my degree in computer forensics, hoping
that would help me in the future.”
“California is like another universe,” I said thoughtfully. “I’ve been there a few times, never for any real length of time, but it always felt strange to me, like I was out of place.”
“I was out of place there, too. After college, I tried a few different places; Chicago and New York, I even went south to Texas for a bit. But nothing felt like Portland.” He smiled at me and I grinned back because I agreed. Then his smile was gone as his eyes flashed into the rearview mirror. His lips moved into a line and a few wrinkles appeared on his forehead. “It appears,” he said as he took a sharp right turn I wasn’t expecting, which forced me into his side, “we’re being followed.”
“What?” I nearly shrieked. I turned around, trying to see out the back windshield, but all I saw were headlights. Regular, run-of-the-mill headlights one would normally see if someone were in the lane behind them. “How can you tell they’re following us?”
“Because he’s made the same last five turns as we have.”
“How can you tell it’s a man?” I looked in the side view mirror, still trying to see something that would clue me in to what was happening. I heard him chuckle and my head snapped to look at him.
“I’ve never been tailed by a girl.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, not liking the insinuation that a girl couldn’t properly follow him. I opened my mouth to give him a snarky remark, but was thrust up against the door as he took another turn with too much speed for my liking. I gripped the handle on the door, my heart jumping into my throat. “He’s persistent,” Preston said, still taking frequent glances in the mirrors. “Hold on.”
The Private Serials Box Set Page 9
