Ivy nodded, but she paid little attention to the words he spoke She felt a shiver run down her spine because he was looking at her with those same dangerously blue eyes. And as he did, she remembered all the research that she had sworn not to do but wound up doing anyways over the past few days.
He was older than her, by fifteen years; she had looked up his exact age. This was not his first business; she had searched for his online profiles. And she was not his first woman; she had seen that in the tabloids. Despite that, though, he had that air of maturity and wisdom. From the comfort he exuded being in his own skin to his confidence in his looks and the effect he had on people; Travis Dunn knew exactly what he was doing.
And Ivy was just along for the ride. And it was a ride she could not afford.
“I wish I could agree with you, but I don’t feel like I’m maximizing my capabilities in a coffee shop,” Ivy said, with a grin on her face which he didn’t return, leaving her feeling a bit heavy. “I only wish I could have the talent to someday have a room like that.”
The atmosphere in the room had suddenly become very serious. It was like he was thinking about something like he was searching her face for some kind of answer. The heat of the moment became less about excitement and more about a sense of pressure she could not place.
“I don’t know you well enough to comment on your talents,” he said flatly, in a voice that nearly sounded enraged.
Ivy licked her lips, feeling slightly offended. She could see on Travis’ face that she was wasting his time. Had he thought she would pitch some skills to her? Too late now.
“I’m sorry for coming here like this, to your place of work,” Ivy said, her voice becoming weaker. “This was a mistake. I didn’t mean to take up your time like this.”
She couldn’t figure him out and as attracted as she was to him, she realized that she knew nothing about him other than what the tabloids print. She had made an insane, if not dangerous, move not on a man, but on a reputation. And now, seeing the man before her, she realized she had erred.
He held her gaze for a few moments longer and then took a few steps towards her. Ivy could feel her fingers quivering and she clasped them together in an attempt to stop them from shaking. She looked back to the elevator. Even if she wanted to leave, it would take a minute for the elevator to get her down.
“It wasn’t a mistake. I appreciate your thoughtfulness, I liked your coffee yesterday. In fact, I loved it,” he said.
He stepped even closer to her. She got the feeling that those were just words, which he didn’t actually mean. He had said them rather dryly, and his actions spoke much louder to her.
However, she couldn’t forget that she had spent the whole night fantasizing about him, and now she was alone in a room with him. In his office! Where could this go? Where would this lead to?
“Thanks,” she said flatly.
And then he smirked and removed his suit. He looked like he was ready to make a bold statement.
And boy, did he ever.
“Since we don’t have much time to waste, I suggest that you start taking off your clothes now.”
Ivy’s lips parted and her eyebrows creased in confusion. She was more shocked than offended by what she had just heard him say. It hadn’t even crossed her mind that someone could speak like this. Did he… he wants me naked? Wait, here? Now?
“You look surprised. Isn’t this why you’re here?”
He was absolutely serious.
“Excuse me?” Ivy blurted out, but Travis had stepped closer to her with his blue eyes focused on her face, searching her eyes. He looked like he was peering into his soul, and now Ivy didn’t feel aroused—she felt nervous.
“Nobody is this grateful,” he said. “You had a reason for coming here.”
Now that he was just an inch away from her, he lowered his face.
Ivy still had to crane her neck to look up at him, and when she did she could see the fire in his gaze. A burning that looked dangerous and alluring at the same time. Her throat felt dry. She licked her lips and tried to shake her head. But the truth was, even as she felt nervous, she didn’t want to truly leave. She felt locked into place, but they weren’t chains she wanted to escape.
“The coffee is a good excuse,” he said, his voice dropping even lower. “But we both know why you’re really here. We know what made you come so you could come.”
Ivy breathed in sharply, transfixed by his gaze, by what was happening. It was like one of her fantasies from the previous night was actually playing out. And now that it was, she didn’t know how to handle it.
“So I suggest,” he said and placed a hand on her shoulder, using his thumb to slide the strap of her blouse down her arm. She’d never had this before—and it left her shivering. “That you start taking your clothes off now.”
The strap slid down to her elbow. Ivy couldn’t move. Ivy couldn’t think to move.
She could feel the goosebumps on her skin. The back of her neck had become burning hot. There were knots tightening in her belly that she had no control over. She wanted this man from the first moment she laid eyes on him, but she had never done anything like this before. The moment of truth had come, and she had just turned into a shaky mess.
Without another word, he continued to slide down the other strap which now revealed her black lace covered breasts to him. He stepped back like he wanted to look at her breasts in admiration and she saw the hungry expression on his face, like he was a hunter who had caught his prey. Goosebumps puckered her skin and she could feel a wetness growing between her legs. Travis breathed in deeply, and after he was done admiring her breasts, he stepped forward again.
“We both want the same thing, Ivy, and I don’t have time to waste on games,” he said and then with his left hand, he reached for her left breast. “So, you’re going to do as I say before we have to return to reality.”
Ivy gasped when his warm large hand cupped her breast and he squeezed. With his thumb, he sought out her erect sensitive nipple which was trying to burst out through the lace of her bra. He flicked it expertly and the wetness between her legs grew. His touch was setting her body on fire and she felt like she was in some sort of trance. Travis… oh that feels so good… so good…
“Good girl,” he said, in a commanding deep voice.
He pulled her blouse down to her waist. Ivy shivered. Placing his hands on her bare torso, he drew her closer to himself so that she landed with a thud on his wide solid chest. Ivy gasped again. Their faces were barely an inch apart. His lips grazed hers and his warm breath fell on the locks of her hair that had fallen over her face. She was breathing harsh, dazed and in shock to the way her body was reacting to him. She may not have admitted to needing Travis, but her body had no shame in craving him.
Without warning, Travis slipped his hand down her jeans and she gasped again as his fingers reached closer and closer to where no one had gone before.
“I’m giving you what you want, Ivy,” he grumbled under his breath as he brought his face even closer to her and she felt his fingers slide down to her throbbing wet mound. “This is why you came here. Yes, yes, good girl, Ivy.”
No man had ever come this close to her pussy before. First base was as far as she’d gone with anyone, and now this stranger, this fantasy man from her dreams, this billionaire entrepreneurial Marine had his hand down her jeans! Her mind was swirling with arousal and confusion and desire for Travis. Her breathing quickened when his fingers gently parted her folds.
He was good at this, he knew exactly what to do with his fingers. He was stroking her sensitive clit gently, rubbing it and bringing her right to the brink of an orgasm. He had a method to what he did, and she knew she should’ve expected nothing less.
She had her hands on his shoulders, clinging to him for support and with her breasts heaving and her body quivering, she felt herself hurtling violently towards an orgasm she hadn’t expected. No, I… I hadn’t come for this… not like this… but oh, God…
/> “This isn’t why I’m here,” she managed to squeal, unconvincingly weakly.
In her fantasies, it had developed more slowly. It had felt more intimate, more romantic. It had not felt so… straight sexual. As soon as she said it, she knew she didn’t mean it. She knew the truth.
But Travis had heard it nonetheless.
His fingers stopped stroking her clit and, with the moment having been paused, she took the opportunity to wriggle out of his grip. His hand slid out of her jeans and Ivy stepped away from him, pulling her blouse up and sliding the straps back into place.
She was still aroused, the wetness between her legs was still there…but now she had recovered some of her senses. Enough for her to see more clearly. Enough to see that her fantasy had not gone as she had hoped. Enough to see that she had rushed headlong into a bad spot, and it might have cost her any long-term hope with Travis.
Travis remained standing where he was, with his brows crossed and his eyes narrowed. She could see the stormy darkness on his face and the way he was glaring at her. He did not look like the kind of man who got told no often—and now that he had, he didn’t look like he enjoyed it too much.
“I told you, Ivy, I don’t have time for games. I’m a busy man,” he said in a voice she was sure he used on his employees all the time. Professional, but scolding all the same.
Ivy shook her head and tried to compose herself as best she could. She could still feel his hand on her pussy, where his fingers had been stroking her. She couldn’t lie, she wanted his fingers back there, the better to finish the job and do what no one had ever done to her before.
“This is not a game to me,” she said. Slowly, her voice gained strength. “This is not why I’m here.”
Travis straightened his neck and then folded his arms over his chest. He didn’t look like he was about to respond to that, for he didn’t look like he believed her. Even a voice inside Ivy’s head said that she didn’t believe him.
“I did genuinely want to bring you coffee and okay, I’ll admit it, I was intrigued by you…but this is not what I’m here for!” she said as she placed a hand on her mouth to hide the quivering of her lips.
Maybe it could have led to this. Maybe, no, I had hoped it would lead to this, if I’m honest. But not like this. Not this quickly. Not this… lacking romance.
Travis clenched his jaw and then looked away from her, out of one of the windows that overlooked the city skyline. Then he nodded his head gently, a rather accepting look on his face.
“You’re telling me that you didn’t fantasize about this happening?” he asked and looked back at her, fixing his fiery stubborn gaze on her again.
He didn’t look like he would fight for her, but he would fight for the truth. Ivy could do nothing but gulp and he nodded his head again.
“That’s what I thought,” he said and then turning from her, he walked back to his desk, taking a seat.
She remained standing where she was, with her shoulders heaving and her mouth hanging open. He had walked around his desk and was now beginning to sit down on his luxurious leather swivel chair, while Ivy had no idea what she was expected to do next. Clearly, he just wanted her to leave. She wanted to leave.
But not without letting Travis realize what he’d done.
“You’ve misjudged me,” she said.
She watched as he slipped open a case and took out a pair of spectacles. They were on thin silver frames and had square glasses. He took his time to place them in position. Now he had an even more serious and authoritative look, the glasses matured him by at least five years. He carried himself deliberately, excruciatingly slowly.
Ivy gulped again, for she was still painfully attracted to him. Every move he made was like a sexual act. He could have coughed, and it would have seemed hot somehow. Ivy hated it.
“How have I misjudged you, Ivy? Enlighten me,” he said and she stuck her chin up in the air proudly.
She hadn’t come with a speech prepared so she had to think fast on her feet. With the aura of Travis removed, she found her ability to speak freely and quickly.
“Well, maybe you’re accustomed to a certain kind of woman, but I’m not like them,” she said. “I came here because I was curious about you, and all right, I’ll admit that I’m attracted to you.”
A grin appeared on Travis’ face, though nothing followed that expressed any empathy for Ivy. He had pulled a file close to him and flipped it open. His eyes had begun scanning the page like he was already disinterested in what she had to say. Ivy felt foolish standing in front of him like that, trying to explain to him why she didn’t want to sleep with him. The truth was that was all she wanted, that was all she had been thinking about since she first saw him, and that was, perhaps subconsciously, all she had wanted when she came over to his office.
“But I didn’t…I don’t…” she said, fumbling with her words again.
Travis looked up from his file at her, with his eyes narrowed on her face again. The expression on his face was somewhat resigned, but his words soon dispelled resignation.
“You were looking forward to the whole song and dance,” he said in an unexpectedly harsh voice. “The flowers, the champagne, the chocolates, the fancy dinner, the materialistic seduction that goes with these things. I’ve seen this game before from many a woman, Ivy, and if you think I was just going to give it to you, you’re mistaken.”
There was venom dripping from his voice and Ivy’s hands had begun to shake with anger. She knew that her cheeks were flushed, she could feel her skin tightening with rage. She lifted her chin up in the air even more and tried to make her voice sound as rigid as possible. She couldn’t compete with Travis in a lot of areas, but she could in elements of the truth.
“I had no expectations,” she said flatly, causing Travis to shake his head before pulling the glasses off his face again.
He was looking up at her with a vicious smile on his face. He looked like he enjoyed this verbal sparring.
“Are you one of those girls who has a three date rule or something? Three dates before you sleep with me?”
Ivy couldn’t remember the last time she was this angry and embarrassed at the same time. He had quickly gone from being irresistibly charming to a venomous man with preconceived notions about her. And there was nothing Ivy could do about it.
So she resorted to dismissing him.
“I feel sorry for you,” she said with a sudden calm descending on her.
She had no idea where the words had come from, for it was like she was having an out-of-body experience. Travis squinted his eyes and his lips were pursed together. The smile was gone from his face. Suddenly, Ivy realized that she had struck a nerve with Travis.
“Oh yeah?” he said.
“You’re such a busy man, your human interaction is limited to quickies in your office with strangers. That is what you’ve come to expect from your life. You don’t think anything else could possibly exist. I feel sorry for how low your self-esteem must be.”
Ivy had landed an irreparable blow, she knew. But she had no reason not to lob it, not when Travis Dunn had thought he could literally just walk up to her and start fingering her.
Ivy turned on her heels, forcing herself to walk deliberately towards the elevator door.
She heard Travis’ chair creak, and she didn’t have to turn to see that he had stood up from his chair. But he didn’t say anything. She had left him speechless, and for how he had acted when things went awry for her, that counted as a win.
She got on the elevator, turned, and saw Travis staring at her. To her surprise, there was a hint of sorrow on his face.
But it was too late.
“Bye, Travis,” she said as the doors shut.
Ivy watched as the lights came on for every floor that they passed. Keeping her head up, she walked across the lobby, aware of the stare that the receptionist was giving her. I’ll never see her again. It doesn’t matter what she thinks. I stood up to her boss and maybe even taught him a
lesson.
Out of the building and onto the city streets, having regained her place back in reality, Ivy sighed loudly. She wasn’t even sure how long she had been holding her breath. She knew she’d been holding on to her fantasy for far longer than she should have. At least she had escaped largely without incident.
When she checked her wristwatch, she saw that she was already ten minutes late for work from her lunch break. Strangely, though, she felt no urgent panic. Perhaps it was the intensity of what had just happened or just the knowledge that nothing her manager would do would make her feel guilty, but the nervousness she expected to feel being late never came.
Ivy walked her way back to the coffee shop. Her cheeks were burning up and they stung with every gentle breeze that blew into her face. She couldn’t believe what had just happened, but she was blaming herself. None of this would have happened, she wouldn’t have been embarrassed like this if she hadn’t foolishly gone to his office to deliver a coffee that he hadn’t even ordered. If she had known better, if she had acted her age, if she had realized the ridiculousness of her plan…
Ivy knew Travis was right. That was exactly what she wanted. She hadn’t even acknowledged that she had gone to his office for that very reason. She wanted to see him again, watched him as he looked at her body, be near him… but she couldn’t go through with it, even though now it seemed plain as day her reason for going.
This was not how she had pictured losing her virginity. She had held out for so long so that she could sleep with the right man, and Travis Dunn was very far from being the right man for her. And even if he was, she certainly wasn’t going to lose it in his office on some fancy desk or chair.
He didn’t deserve her virginity, she tried to convince herself. He was an arrogant man, he was in the business of taking what he wanted and Ivy’s virginity was precious to her. A quickie in that man’s office was not going to be the best idea for experiencing sex for the first time and she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life regretting it.
But the thought didn’t settle as well as Ivy would have liked.
His Royal Majesty : A Royal Wedding Romance Page 32
