by Megan West
Philip looked at her for a few moments as if he were trying to sum up her answer and catch something else through her facial expression. Just then, the waiter came and introduced himself. Philip ordered a bottle of wine. Alyssa couldn’t believe its cost when she saw the name on the wine list. When it arrived she sipped it politely and enjoyed the flavor, but still was at a loss. Yet again, she started to feel out of place. It seemed to be a recurring theme in her life as of late. She let out a deep sigh as she stared out the window.
“Everything alright?” Philip asked as he closed his menu and set it down on the table.
Alyssa looked over the edge of her menu with a raised eyebrow and then softened her expression. She nodded before perusing the menu. As she glossed over the chicken selection she wondered what Philip must have been thinking of her. In an effort not to panic, she focused her attention entirely on the steak selection and ended up deciding what to have. After she ordered her dinner she turned to see Philip looking at her with the expression of someone who was just pleasantly surprised.
“What's that look for?”
“You ordered a steak dinner,” he responded flatly. Alyssa stared at him, unsure why that was important. As it slowly started to dawn on her he said, “It's quite delicious, what you ordered.”
“And unexpected because I'm a woman?”
“Well, considering the reputation of most women eating only a quarter salad on a first date,” he responded bluntly.
He spoke as if it were obvious, but there was something else to his words and tone of voice. None of what he was saying was coming from a negative place. He looked pleasantly surprised, not affronted. He didn’t seem to believe that was how women should order, but was rather glad to be out with a woman who didn’t fall into that stereotype. Alyssa reached for the bottle of wine as her head started to spin a bit. Drinking more wine probably wouldn’t help, but she wanted more anyway.
Swiftly, he took the bottle from her and poured wine into her glass. He looked at her with a sly smile before pouring more into his own glass and setting the bottle back down. As they waited for their salad to be brought out, he told her a bit of trivia on the restaurant. Although he ended the speech claiming it was something a lot of people found boring, she told him she had found it quite interesting.
It wasn’t until their salads had been brought out that he finally asked, “Why did you accept the date?”
He was staring straight at her with his bright blue eyes. Alyssa felt herself freeze. He had a penetrating stare that made her unsure of what to do or say. It threw her off each time he was so forward. Even though his forwardness was something she was starting to like about him she was still taken by surprise. It wasn’t exactly the sort of thing one got used to right away.
It was especially interesting coming from him since he was so naturally charming and of such elevated status that one would have expected him to be a bit more reserved. Perhaps it was this type of charm that had given him such appeal with others. He had a sort of direct attitude, something Alyssa was sure had helped him through life.
“I don’t know,” she said in a hollow voice. No sooner had the words left her mouth than she felt incredibly stupid.
“You don’t know why you agreed to have dinner with me?”
Hearing him repeat it made her feel even stupider and it took every ounce of self-control not to set her fork down in favor of burying her face in her hands. She had never experienced the feeling of wanting the Earth to swallow her whole as much as she was feeling it at that moment.
In the interest of being honest and forward like him, she gave him a short explanation about how uncertain she had been, but then decided for it because she was intrigued by him and, like her friend said, she really didn’t have anything to lose.
Philip looked happy and flattered when she mentioned he was intriguing. There was always an air of satisfaction to him as if everything she said and did was exactly what he wanted. Alyssa wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Part of her felt like she should find it crude or offensive but, for some reason, she didn’t.
As she sat across from Philip throughout dinner and got to know more about him, little by little she came to the conclusion he was the type of person who would always confuse her. Her usual feelings toward certain topics and reactions to certain statements were different with Philip. She wasn’t quite sure why or what it was about him, but it happened every time. She tired of analyzing everything he said.
After she excused herself to the restroom, she stood in front of the mirrors in the makeup room and stared at her reflection. She wasn’t really on a date with Philip. The entire evening she hadn’t been enjoying a date with a man she found attractive and intriguing.
Instead she was seated at the same table as him and picking every single little thing apart in her mind. There was no room for enjoyment there. As she stood in front of the mirror in the makeup room she decided it needed to stop. If she was so knit picky he would throw her off course every time, she just needed take a deep breath and go with the flow.
“I want to enjoy this,” she said aloud to her own reflection. And something about actually saying it out loud while looking into her own eyes struck her. It made the sentiment behind the statement real.
She walked back to the dinner table to find the entrées had been removed.
“Dessert is on its way,” Philip told her. Alyssa looked at him. She didn’t recall ordering dessert.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty of ordering the dessert. It’s a specialty here and would really like you to try it.” He brushed his thumb and index finger over his upper lip and she saw a small amount of concern in his eyes. “Of course, you’re free to let me know otherwise and order something else if you’d like.”
“Oh no,” she responded quickly. “It’s okay.”
She gave him a soft smile and, for the first time that evening, it felt genuine. It was Cassandra who brought their dessert over. Alyssa felt the awkwardness crawl back over her skin, but she tried to play it off by turning to look at Cassandra directly in the eye and smiling widely.
“Thank you!” Alyssa exclaimed before turning back to Philip, who was watching her rather closely. Cassandra excused herself and Alyssa looked down at her dessert quickly before meeting Philip’s gaze again.
“This looks delicious.”
“It tastes even more amazing than it looks,” he responded. Alyssa shuddered and inadvertently squeezed her thighs together. There had been something about the way he was looking at her and the way he spoke that turned her on.
She had the distinct feeling he had done it on purpose. Philip leaned forward and took his fork to pierce the velvety surface of the cake. His eyes were still fixed on Alyssa as he split a piece away from the tip of the cake slowly. There was a sparkle in his bright blue eyes that hadn’t been there before.
Alyssa gulped.
She wanted to take her own fork and taste the cake, but was transfixed. She couldn’t take her eyes off Philip’s. Finally, he finished cutting a piece and he picked it up carefully with his fork. She watched the perfectly sliced piece move up toward his lips, but just as he was about to take the bite, he paused. Alyssa waited on baited breath. Never had watching someone cut and eat cake been so incredibly mesmerizing. Then she saw him move the fork slowly toward her.
“I think you should have the first taste,” he said in a low, deep voice. It was dripping with sexual suggestion as she squeezed her thighs against each other again. She gulped and nodded, but didn’t open her mouth, not even as the fork got closer to her lips.
“Alyssa,” he practically whispered, “Open your mouth.” His voice oozed soft and sexy and the way he was staring into her eyes made her feel something she had not felt in a very, very long time. Only she couldn’t remember ever feeling it so intensely.
Slowly, she opened her mouth as he slipped the cool fork into it, mouth closing around the cake with a smile. He drew the fork back as he smiled and licked his li
ps. She watched his tongue glide from one corner of his mouth to the other before remembering to chew.
“This is amazing,” she said after swallowing the bite.
“Isn’t it just?” Philip asked rather intensely.
She had the feeling he wasn’t exactly talking about the cake, but was playing along with her choice of words. Never had she experienced such a seduction technique. She felt her cheeks grow hot and was sure they were flushed red. When he leaned forward and reached out to brush his thumb over the top of her cheek she knew she must be fire engine red.
“Why are you blushing?” he teased. Alyssa felt her face grow hotter. He leaned in even closer, minding not to get cake on his coat, and whispered, “You look even prettier with your cheeks all red like that, did you know?”
Alyssa’s breath caught in her throat. She felt like everything was suddenly going quiet and she could only hear the sound of her heart racing. Could he hear it too? He removed his hand and sat back on his chair, nodding toward her cake.
“All yours,” he told her. Alyssa nodded slowly and came back down to reality.
Finally, she managed to pick up her fork and cut a piece of her own. He started to make conversation once again as she ate her slice of cake. Every question he asked was well thought out and interesting. He had the grace of being able to keep conversation flowing naturally and it made things easy for Alyssa.
There wasn’t a single moment of awkwardness. What she didn’t notice was that he kept the conversation centered on her and had continued to use a subtly seductive tone of voice. It was part of his seduction technique.
Does it still count as falling for it if I know what he’s doing? I just like it, she thought.
It didn’t matter what it counted as, what mattered was that it was working. She was more attracted to him than ever and by the time they had finished dessert, he was holding her hand as they walked out of the restaurant.
She didn’t even pay attention to Cassandra as they walked past her out the door.
Chapter Six
Philip’s mansion was a bit removed from the downtown area, but Alyssa could understand why. It was obvious he lived in the kind of gated community where only the cream of the crop lived. The exclusivity wasn’t to be missed and the peacefulness of the entire community was something that must have come at a premium.
She found herself vaguely wondering how much it would cost to live there even in the smallest house. It was during the ride back that she wondered why she was even going back home with him. It wasn’t that she didn’t understand the motive behind it; she didn’t understand why she had so easily agreed to it.
But those thoughts withered away as the drive continued and Philip unbuckled her seat belt to pull her toward him. He reached over her body to buckle the seat belt, slowly and sensually running his hand over her stomach as he dragged the belt across it.
When he touched her, Alyssa didn’t feel odd. It didn’t feel like it was too fast or shouldn’t be happening. It was never an accident. Every time he made physical contact with her it was intentional. Every time it made her heart race and body feel a bit warmer.
She liked the way his hands felt even from the minimal touching they had done. But she loved the way his bright blue eyes had a new sparkle in them, one that showed how attracted he was to her. Not to mention, the sound of his low deep voice sent chills down her neck. He used that soft tone to seduce her and it worked like magic.
As they walked down the pathway leading to his front door he didn’t once remove his hand from her lower back. She liked the feeling of his warm hand on her back and she knew perfectly well where this all was headed. She was surprised she was even going for it since it wasn’t entirely in her character, but she was incredibly intrigued.
Not to mention she found Philip extremely attractive and it had nothing to do with the size of his bank account. The two of them walked on in silence and less than a minute later he was jiggling his keys in his pocket. He slid his key into the lock and turned until they heard a small ‘click’. Before he had a chance to open it, it was pulled from the other side and the two were greeted by a very friendly looking butler.
“Good evening, sir.” The butler said as he stepped aside so they could enter. Alyssa and the butler were introduced before Philip dismissed him and walked over to the couch with her.
She leaned her head against his shoulder as soon as they sat down. There was something about being in his house and being close to him that made her rest her head on him so instinctively.
He smells good, Alyssa thought as his scent wafted up to her nose.
She heard some clicking of shoes and that was when she lifted her head from his shoulder to check where it was coming from. She saw a housekeeper woman walk by holding a basket, but she quickly disappeared behind the wall without having even looked in their direction. Alyssa wondered how many people he had working in his mansion, but her thoughts were quickly distracted as she looked around the sitting room.
All the furniture was remarkably ornate and high end without looking over the top. It didn’t look like the sitting room of someone with something to prove. It just looked like he had been careful in selecting what went in his house, or at least hiring someone who was.
Alyssa noticed the selected artworks and how even those matched the overall theme, color, and feeling of the couches, chairs, and drapes. The room was beautiful and perfectly put together. Philip continued talking to her for a bit before he stood up and took her hand, claiming he wanted to show her the main living room where he usually hosted company.
As the two of them walked down the hallway to the main living room Alyssa felt his hand bump against hers more than just a couple of accidental times. Then he took her hand and held it much more firmly than he had when they exited the restaurant. She barely had time to look around the main living room when she was already being pressed up against the wall. His lips landed on her so soft and skillfully she barely noticed it was happening before it was too late.
The kiss was slightly rough, but it still came as a surprise to her since she would have never expected it from him. She jerked her head back a bit to look at him in surprise. He looked as if he wanted to ask her something, but was holding back.
Alyssa nodded. She wanted him to kiss her again, she wanted it to continue. She just hadn’t known what to expect. Perhaps she would be able to better prepare herself now.
The idea that Philip Walton was going to be gentle completely went out the window with a kiss.
He leaned forward so that his body pressed up against hers. Alyssa broke the kiss and turned her head to the left to catch her breath.
“Oh my goodness,” she breathed out.
She was in utter disbelief. The deep breath she had taken woke her mind up a bit as she realized fully where she was, whom she was with, and what they were doing together. She knew where it was leading. She wanted it to happen; she wanted him badly, but it wasn’t lost on her that it was a pretty big deal. She still couldn’t believe that, of all the women he could have approached, it had been her.
She actually accepted the date and now they were being all hot and heavy in his fancy living room.
Philip interrupted her thoughts by placing his hand on her cheek and leaning in to kiss her again, this time even a bit more rough than before. Alyssa had never been kissed that way before. She liked it. Not one man she had ever been with had pressed his lips roughly against hers in a way that made her weak in the knees. Then again, there were a lot of things about Philip that were different.
He had been taking control from the moment they met, only she hadn’t quite realized it right off the bat. Even that was something she had never experienced before. No man she had ever been with had behaved this way and, truth be told, she wasn’t opposed to it in the slightest.
As he continued to kiss her, she completely let herself get lost in the moment. No more thoughts. No more questions. No more shock. This was far too good to not enjoy it fully.
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br /> Tiny tingles attacked her skin as his hands slowly moved up until he was rubbing her breasts over her dress. The movement and pressure was unhurried and soft at first, but he slowly started getting more rough. Both types of touch felt equally good to her in completely different ways. Alyssa moaned softly into his mouth. He responded to the moan by thrusting his hips forward.
Her breath stilled as she felt his bulge push against her. The friction the movement created felt so good she broke the kiss with a louder moan. Despite that there was no direct skin on skin contact, she already felt pleasure starting to build inside her. She pushed her hips forward a bit to feel his hardness rub against her again and she moaned.
