by Maisey Yates
“Oh...” She closed her eyes and turned her face to the side, heat rising in her cheeks. She was already so much more turned on than she’d ever been in her life. And he’d barely touched her.
It had barely begun.
He kissed her again, his lips unerringly finding her center, in spite of the fact that she was still covered by her panties. Already, he was proving to possess much more skill than her previous partner had.
But that didn’t surprise her. Travis was an overachiever. And it turned out he was an overachiever in every area of his life.
He reached behind her and cupped her butt, his fingers inching toward the hem of her underwear and delving beneath, sliding down until he made contact with the heart of her.
“So wet for me,” he said, his voice rough. He slid one finger deep inside of her and she gasped. “You want more?”
“Yes,” she said, clinging to his shoulders now, because if she didn’t, she had a feeling that without an anchor she would break apart and shatter into a thousand pieces.
He added a second finger and she moved in rhythm with him as he lowered his mouth to her again, teasing her through the thin fabric with his lips and tongue.
He took her to the edge, so close she could hardly catch her breath, and then he stopped. He just left her there, on the verge, need so tight in her it bordered on pain.
She moved her hand over her forehead, brushed her damp hair from her eyes. “What—?”
“Not yet,” he said, his tone commanding. So impossibly sexy.
He moved away from her, his hands going to his shirt collar. Her breath caught as she watched him undo the buttons, revealing a thin slice of toned, tan skin as he did.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen him without a shirt. It had been a while. And his physique had certainly matured since then.
He shrugged his shirt off and revealed a well-defined chest and abs. The kind of body that should never, ever be hidden for any reason.
The fact that Travis had to wear clothes in public was a travesty, really.
“The rest,” she said.
“You first.”
She sat up and hesitated, feeling suddenly nervous. She’d been naked in front of one other guy, and that guy had not been her best friend.
Of course, her best friend had just had his fingers inside of her, so she supposed she should get over it already.
She reached back and tugged on the tab of her zipper, drawing it down and letting her bodice fall down to her hips.
She wasn’t wearing a bra. Her figure didn’t exactly require one. But judging by the look on Travis’s face, he didn’t find her lacking in any way.
“Let your hair down,” he said.
She obeyed, tugging the pins from her hair and letting it fall down in dark curls around her, partly covering her breasts.
“Stand up,” he said.
“What?”
“Stand up,” he repeated, his tone firm.
She nodded slowly and obeyed, wobbling a little bit on her stiltlike high heels. Her breasts were exposed, her dress still pushed up to her hips.
“Turn and face the mirror.”
She turned toward the vanity that was pressed up against the wall, faced the gilt-edged mirror that was above it.
She could see him, standing behind her. Their eyes met in the reflection and held. She watched as his hands moved to his belt and she started to turn back to him.
“Don’t,” he said. “Keep your eyes on the mirror.”
She obeyed, planting her hands on the surface of the vanity, watching as he slid the end of the belt through the buckle, and worked it loose. Her breath caught as he pushed his pants and underwear down his lean hips.
His cock was big. Thick and far surpassing anything in her experience. He wrapped his hand around his length and squeezed himself, and her internal muscles tightened in response.
“I’m on the pill,” she said.
“I have a condom.”
She shook her head. “Are you good? Clean, I mean. I am. I made sure after the breakup and I haven’t been with anyone since.”
He nodded slowly. “I’m good.”
“I trust you. If I didn’t know you it would be different, but...but I do.”
She knew him better than anyone else on earth, and she was about to know him in a new way. An even more intimate way. And then there would truly be no one else who knew more about her. He would have her life history, complete knowledge of her personality...and what it was like to be inside of her.
What it was like to watch her come. To make her come.
And she would know the same about him.
It was terrifying and wonderful at the same time.
He moved closed to her and put a hand on her hip. Then with his other hand he tugged her panties down her legs, bending down to help her slide them past her high heels.
“I like the shoes,” he said. “They can stay on.”
He left her dress, too.
For some reason, leaving those little bits of clothing on made her feel even more exposed. Even more wicked.
He tightened his hold on her hip and pulled her ass against him. The heat of his erection, his hardness, sent a wave of longing through her.
He wrapped his other arm around her waist, cupping her breast and tugging her up so she was flush against his body. His eyes were still on hers in the mirror. She watched him touch her. Watched as he squeezed her nipple between his thumb and forefinger.
Watched as he nuzzled her neck, kissed her, then bit her lightly, the pain twining around the pleasure to create unbreakable bonds around her body. Locking her into this moment. Into this experience.
There was nothing else.
There was Travis. His hands, his mouth, his body, and all of the things he could make her feel with them.
He smoothed her hair, sweeping it to one side, his touch firm, arousing. Then he gathered it up and wrapped it around his hand tightly, tugging it, forcing her head farther to the side.
“Tell me to stop,” he said, kissing her sensitive skin, “if you don’t like something. You can tell me to stop.”
She didn’t want him to stop. Ever. She didn’t want to give the orders. She felt like this was Travis’s show, and she was the audience. Witnessing what he commanded her to. Experiencing what he demanded she experience.
There was no one on earth she trusted more than Travis.
She’d told him earlier that she didn’t know what she liked, and it hit her then, that if anyone knew, it would be him.
“Just do what you want,” she said, repeating her words from earlier. “Do what I want.”
He would know. She knew he would.
“Bend over,” he said.
He moved back, allowing her room as she bent at the waist and held tight to the edge of the vanity top. She looked up at them in the mirror. Travis was so large and muscular behind her, his hold on her hair tight and commanding. Her dark eyes were wide, olive skin flushed with desire, and she was ready to submit, wholly and absolutely to anything he might ask for.
He gently tugged her hair and guided her head back, turning her face to him and kissing her deeply as he moved forward, the head of his arousal testing the entrance to her body.
She kept her face turned to the side as he pushed deeper into her.
“Watch,” he said.
She kept her eyes down, not quite able to bring herself to look at their reflection again. Not now. Not during something so intense. It was too much. It would push her over the edge into...something she wasn’t ready for.
He released his hold on her hair and gripped her chin, slowly turning her head so that she was facing the mirror. “Watch,” he repeated, pausing his movements.
“Travis, I need...”
“Not until you look.”
She obeyed, their eyes clashing. He looked...not like Travis. His expression pained, the tendons in his neck standing out. His hand looked big and strong on her hip, the fingers holding h
er chin gentle and firm.
He pushed inside of her slowly, filling her, stretching her. She had never in her life imagined pleasure so exquisite that it balanced on a knife-edge of bliss and pain. But this did. It made her ache for completion, even while she hoped it could last forever.
Then he started to move inside of her. Hard, fast, his jaw clenched tight, his brows locked together.
The blunt tips of his fingers bit hard into her hip while he continued to hold her chin steady. And she kept watching him.
It was the most incredible thing she’d ever seen, combined with the most amazing pleasure she’d ever felt. Travis, every muscle strained to the point of breaking, taking her from behind.
He thrust hard into her and she lowered her head, her hair spilling forward, obscuring her vision as Travis released his hold on her and slipped his hand down between her thighs.
He moved his fingers over her clit in time with his movements, pushing her closer and closer to orgasm, to bliss. To oblivion.
She felt like she was on the verge of breaking, and she craved that breaking. Because everything inside of her was too much. Too big. Too intense. And she needed the release more than she needed air.
He parted her with his fingers and targeted the center of her desire with even more precision, his finger moving gently over her. Not too much, just right. Just enough.
She came hard, shuddering out her pleasure as her internal muscles tightened around his shaft. He swore, lowering his face and biting her shoulder as he found his own release.
Chapter Four
Travis released a heavy breath and his hold on her, planting his hands beside hers on the vanity, his body resting against her back.
She let her head fall against his shoulder and they stayed like that. Her knees were weak, the muscles in her thighs trembling.
He pushed off from the vanity and away from her, turning his back on her. She took the moment to admire the sight of his ass in the mirror. It was a very nice ass. And she was going to just enjoy it for a moment because she had a feeling when they actually had to speak, the words he said would not be as nice as said ass.
And suddenly, she couldn’t face what words might come out of his mouth next. Because everything was awful. Absolutely everything.
And she’d just let her best friend take her bent over a vanity. How was that for screwing things up even worse?
If he spoke, if he said it was a mistake, if he said what she was thinking, she wouldn’t be able to keep going. She would just crumple into a ball and wail, because the only thing on earth preventing her from falling apart was the post-orgasmic buzz that was lingering in her blood.
“I need a shower,” she said, stumbling on her heels away from the vanity. “Dammit,” she muttered, bending down and tugging them off, feeling like an idiot with her breasts jiggling and her dress bunched up around her hips, tugging off shiny black heels.
She pushed the dress down to the floor and padded to the bathroom, barefoot and bare-ass naked.
She shut the door behind her and turned the water on, panic slowly rising up inside of her as steam filled the room.
She stepped inside the shower and closed the glass door behind her.
A sob rose in her chest and she leaned against the wall, sliding down to the floor, her knees pulled up tight to her chest.
She was just so afraid. Of life beyond the bathroom door, where Travis was, and past that, life outside the hotel. Life after the sunrise. Because it would come. And there would probably be hell to pay.
And hell was a demanding collections agency.
The water from the shower blended in with the tears on her cheeks, helping her pretend she wasn’t having a total breakdown. A little denial went a long way, especially in these circumstances.
The shower door opened and she looked up and saw Travis standing there, completely naked, his expression one of concern.
That was weird. Because that emotion stemmed from their friendship, but standing in front of her naked had never been a part of their friendship.
The caring was, and this was more the Travis she knew than the man who had just had her, hard and fast and rough. This was the blending of the man she knew, with the stranger, and it was a lot to take in.
He stepped into the shower and sank down to his knees in front of her. “Are you okay?”
“Oh...Trav, don’t do that,” she said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.
“Don’t do what?”
“Don’t be sweet. It’s going to make it worse.”
“Is there anything I can do to make it better?”
“I don’t think.”
“I made you forget for a while,” he said, his voice husky.
“Yeah,” she said, laughing shakily. “You did that. How about you?”
“I almost forgot my own name,” he said, sliding his fingertip down her shoulder, to her elbow. “You have that effect on me, Syd.”
She angled her head to look at him, searching his expression. He looked so sincere, his blue eyes so serious. And she wanted to ask what he meant. If she had that effect on him all the time, or just tonight. If there was something that spanned a time before this, and maybe even after.
But that was breaking her own rules. And she honestly didn’t think she could handle it anyway. Not now. Maybe not ever.
She had goals. She had plans. None of them involved risking the best friendship she’d ever had for something she wasn’t sure she would ever have the time for.
Her political ambitions wouldn’t be conducive to a husband and family. And with Travis...
Well, that was why they’d never slept together before. It made sense now.
They were both so ambitious that they needed spouses who would support them, not who would take and distract from what they wanted. Travis was destined to be a high-powered lawyer, and Sydney a politician. They both needed a trophy spouse.
And neither she nor Travis would ever be content as the trophy.
But tonight it doesn’t matter.
She wondered if that meant she had permission to kiss him. Just because she wanted to. It was like tonight they were locked in a snow globe. Shaken up, the snow falling soundlessly outside the hotel. Safe because they were kept apart from the rest of the world. From reality.
“Can I kiss you?” she asked.
A half smile curved his lips. “Just do whatever you want, Syd.”
She leaned in, her lips touching his, the water running between them, making it slick and hot. It was a slow kiss. A chance to test it, to taste him, savor him. To see what it was like without the desperation that had touched everything earlier, flavoring their coupling with grief and fear.
As they stood, he pushed her hands up above her head again, straightening her, exposing her breasts. “You are beautiful,” he said.
“Thanks,” she said.
He laughed. “Thanks?”
He lowered his head and flicked his tongue over one nipple.
“Seemed the thing to say.” Her voice was barely a whisper now, arousal stealing her ability to speak.
“You going to thank me for this, too?” He drew one tightened bud deep into his mouth and sucked hard. She pushed herself against the shower wall, the tile hard against her back
“Thank you,” she said, as soon as the wave of pleasure subsided, as soon as the tightening in her stomach lessened enough for her to get the words out.
“I like the sound of that,” he said. “I wonder what you could do to show me how much you appreciate this,” he said, drawing the tip of his tongue around her other nipple, making her gasp.
“I do appreciate it,” she said.
“Show me.” He kissed her between her breasts, a tease for what she really wanted from him, which was more of what he’d already given.
He moved away from her and she could see him, hard and ready and enticing. He wrapped his fingers around his shaft and let the water help ease his fist up and down.
She could watch him d
o that, touch himself, all day. She felt like a voyeur, in on a private moment, one she had, if she were honest, thought of before. She liked watching the way he pleasured himself, enjoyed seeing what he liked.
How he liked to be touched.
He stilled his movements, his eyes on hers. She crouched down, her palms flat on the shower floor, the stone hard beneath her knees, and flicked her tongue over the head of his erection. His eyes closed, his head dropping back, his fingers relaxing and falling away as he gave himself over to her.
She angled her head and took him in deep, relishing the exquisite sound that rumbled in his chest. A sound that bordered on pain, which, considering how he made her feel, was utterly satisfying.
To know she could make him feel the same.
To know that she owned his body as much as he owned hers.
“I need you,” he said.
She lifted her head and looked at him, questioning. He gripped her hips and guided her around, then he lay down and maneuvered her up, putting her thighs on either side of his face.
“Trav...”
“Trust me,” he said.
He tugged her down over his mouth, tasting her deep, hard.
She found him again, running her tongue over his hard length as he continued to torment her with his wicked mouth.
He pushed a finger deep inside of her, then two, driving her closer and closer to the edge. She’d had one orgasm tonight already that had shattered her world, and she hadn’t yet had a chance to piece it back together, and here he was threatening to devastate everything again.
Threatening to permanently, and absolutely rearrange it so that it would never truly be hers again. So that his stamp would always be on it.
So that part of her would inescapably and irrevocably belong to Travis.
He slid the flat of his tongue over her clitoris, working it in time with his fingers and she felt her muscles start to shake, felt herself beginning to tear apart inside.
And she could feel an answering tremor in him, his thigh muscles trembling beneath her hands.
He withdrew from her, growling and changing their positions so that he was settled between her thighs, one of her legs propped up on his shoulder. “Ready for me?”
“More than.”
