by Marie Force
“I’ll never do that again. Ever.”
“Don’t be nervous. It’s just me, and I love you. I’ll always love you.”
She didn’t want to cry. She’d cried enough over the last few weeks that it was a wonder she had any tears left. But hearing him say he’d always love her broke what remained of her composure.
Jared kissed the tears off her cheeks. “Don’t cry, honey. You know I can’t handle it.” He continued to kiss her face, her jaw and then down her neck, making her shiver. “There’re so many better things we can do besides cry.” His lips came down on hers and stayed there as he lowered them to the bed.
Elisabeth loved the heavy weight of him on top of her. He used to worry about crushing her because he was so much bigger than she was, but she’d always loved the feel of his muscular body pressing tight against hers. Now she ran her hands up and down his back as her tongue tangled with his and his hand cupped her breast, rubbing his thumb over her nipple.
The sensations crashed through her, one after the other, each happening before she could process the one before. Filled with need for him, she worked her fingers into the back of his shorts, drawing a gasp from him.
“I don’t want to wait, Jared.”
With his forehead propped against hers, he seemed to be gathering himself and fighting his own emotions. And then he was gone, but only to help her remove the nightgown that covered her. He’d taught her to be comfortable with him, to be free with her body and to never be self-conscious in front of him.
But that was then, and this was now. She felt exposed and on display as his gaze took a slow, perusing journey from the top of her head to the soles of her feet while he unbuttoned and unzipped his shorts. As it always had, the sight of his naked body made her feel greedy with desire. If his rigid erection was any indication, he felt the same way. He came onto the bed, one knee bent, his hands on her knees as he eased her legs apart.
Elisabeth recognized the heat in his eyes as he zeroed in on the heart of her, bending to press soft kisses to her inner thigh.
She squirmed under him, wanting to move him along, but she knew from experience that he wouldn’t be rushed. As usual, he took his time until she was halfway out of her mind waiting for him to focus on the place that burned for him. Right when she thought she’d have to beg him, he finally gave her his tongue. God, he is good at this.
She’d spent an inordinate amount of time while they were apart reliving moments just like this one, when he used everything in his arsenal to shatter her defenses.
“God, baby,” he whispered. “I’ve missed this. I’ve missed you.”
Elisabeth fisted his hair, which she’d never been able to do before when his hair was so short, and arched into the strokes of his tongue. “Jared… Please. I need you.”
“I’m here, honey. I’m right here.” He pushed two fingers into her as he focused on her clit, sucking until she came with a scream, the pleasure electrifying her entire body.
He stayed with her through the orgasm that seemed to go on forever, withdrawing only when she flopped onto the mattress, boneless and depleted from the powerful release.
She’d barely begun to recover when he was above her, arranging her legs around his hips.
“Are we still good to go ungloved?” he asked hesitantly.
They’d waited a long time before deciding to be tested so they could abandon the condoms. “Yes.” She was on long-term birth control and had been for a while.
“There’s been no one else.”
“I know,” she said but was nonetheless happy to hear him confirm it.
Moving slowly, he entered her, his gaze pinned to hers, which kept her from looking away even when the emotions approached overload level. “Lizzie… Feels so good.”
“Mmm.” She raised her hips, looking for more.
“All the time we were apart, the only thing I could think about was how I’d bear to live the whole rest of my life without ever touching you again.” His hand curled around her breast as his lips surrounded her nipple.
The combination of his words, the tight press of his cock pushing into her and the heat of his mouth on her nipple brought her right back to the precipice of release.
“Not yet, baby,” he whispered gruffly. He’d taught her how to delay her release to ramp up the pleasure for both of them. Curling an arm around her left leg, he picked up the pace, making delayed pleasure an even greater challenge.
Elisabeth clenched her teeth against the need to give in to the release he was building with every thrust of his hips. She could tell he was close by the way his eyes drifted closed, his lips parted and his breathing deepened, all signs she’d come to recognize during their time together.
“Lizzie,” he said, gasping, “I love you so much. I need you.”
She wrapped her arms around him, holding on tight as he took them both to the edge and then pushed her over as he came with a growl against her ear that gave her goose bumps. “I love you, too.”
Chapter 7
Still inside her, still throbbing with aftershocks, Jared raised his head and caught her gaze. She couldn’t believe the myriad emotions she saw in his expressive eyes. Mostly she saw the love.
“Lizzie… Marry me. Live here with me. Run The Chesterfield or do something else. Whatever you want. I’d give you anything, if only—”
Blinking back tears, she kissed him, lingering over the unmistakable taste of him. “Yes. Yes. Yes.” She kissed him again. “Any other questions?”
He shook his head, and made her laugh through her tears.
“In this case, head shaking is allowed,” she said.
“You’re really going to marry me?”
“I’m really going to marry you.”
“What about the money?”
“What about it?”
“I still have it. You still don’t want it.”
“If it means I get to have you, I’ll learn to live with it.”
“Will you let me pay off your student loans?”
“Absolutely not!”
“How about when you’re my wife? I won’t want your lousy debt weighing me down.”
Elisabeth smiled at the teasing glint in his eyes. “Too bad. You get me, you get my lousy debt, and I’ll pay it off myself. Eventually.”
“Are you always going to be this stubborn?”
“Yep.”
He released a deep, dramatic sigh. “I guess I’ll learn to live with it.”
His play on words made her smile.
“What about the shelter, babe? I wouldn’t want you to think I don’t realize how important your work is to you and the many people you help.”
“I love that job and the people and knowing what I do makes a real difference.”
“You don’t have to leave the job if you don’t want to, Lizzie. We can live in the city. I’m sure I’d find plenty to do there.”
Elisabeth caressed his face as she realized the sacrifices he was willing to make so she’d be happy. “There’s a young woman who started working there about six months ago.”
“Aimee?” He also paid attention, which she’d appreciated long before she drove him away with the shake of her head.
“Yes, that’s who I mean. She’s terrific. I think she’d do an amazing job as the director—maybe even a more amazing job than I can do after so many years. It takes a toll after a while, you know? No matter how many people you help, there’re always more. It’s a never-ending parade of people in desperate need.”
“You opened my eyes to things I never paid any attention to before I knew you. That’s why I’d like to start a foundation, so you can continue to make a difference, no matter where we end up.”
“I think,” she said tentatively, “I’d like to end up here, with you and your new friends and your new business and this beautiful house. And I’d like to be part of your new foundation.”
He stared down at her, seeming to drink her in with his eyes. “You’re going to wake me up any second a
nd tell me I’ve dreamed all this, right?”
She started to shake her head but stopped herself, which made him laugh. “No. You’re not dreaming. I’m here, and I want what you want.”
“Hold that thought.” He got out of bed and walked across the room.
Elisabeth propped herself up on one hand to take full advantage of the view of his very fine ass flexing as he moved to the dresser. Then he turned around, and the view got even better. She licked her lips, filled with delight that she had the whole rest of her life to look at him any time she wanted to.
“What’re you looking at?” he asked with a playful grin as he got back in bed.
“My very sexy fiancé.”
His face went totally blank, leading her to wonder what he was thinking. “Hearing you call me that… I just… It’s amazing and humbling. We never got to the ring portion of the program last time.” He reached for her left hand and slid a square-cut diamond ring onto her finger and then kissed the back of her hand. “Most people would say I have everything any man could ever want—more money than I can spend in a lifetime, three beautiful homes, cars that make me happy when I get to drive them. I can go anywhere I want, do anything I want, and I never again have to worry about money. But know this, Elisabeth with an S… None of that means a goddamned thing to me if I don’t have you. You are everything. The rest is just stuff.”
Elisabeth’s heart pounded erratically as his words registered. “The ring is beautiful.” And it was… On either side of the stunning center stone were smaller diamonds in a platinum setting.
“I’m glad you like it. I showed restraint.”
“Which I appreciate,” she said with a smile. “The ring is gorgeous, but your words… They’re the most beautiful words I’ve ever heard, and they mean more to me than anything else you could give me.” She leaned over to kiss him, lingering when he responded with unexpected ardor. “And you’re everything to me, too. I realized that when I watched you walk away from me that night, knowing I’d hurt you when that’s the last thing I’d ever want to do. I hope you know that.”
“I do now.” He wrapped his arms around her and coaxed her into another kiss that made her head spin. “You know, it’s possible what happened on that rooftop will turn out to be the best thing that could’ve happened.”
“How’s that?”
“It gave us both the time and perspective to understand what we really want.”
“You already knew what you really wanted. I was the one who messed things up.”
“It wasn’t just you, Lizzie. I knew you were skittish about the money and the lifestyle, so dazzling you with the rooftop and the tuxedo and the Bentley and the out-of-the-blue proposal was the wrong approach. I can see that now. I should’ve seen it then. Less is always more with my girl.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong. Any woman would’ve been thrilled with such a romantic proposal.”
“Any woman except the one who matters most to me. She’s one of a kind, unlike any other.”
Smiling at him, Elisabeth propped herself up on her hands and leaned over to pepper his chest with kisses and little nibbles that she knew drove him wild. Pleased by his deep breaths and quiet moans, she continued down, giving his abdomen the same attention, running her tongue over the cuts that outlined muscles that quivered in response.
She loved the way he responded to her, how he made her feel that anything and everything she did to him was exactly what he wanted. Because he was a guy, there was one thing he loved above all others, and it was the one thing Elisabeth had never done for anyone until she fell madly in love with him.
As she kissed her way down the front of him, she remembered the long-ago night when she’d asked him to show her how he liked it. The priceless expression on his face had been a memory she’d returned to over and over again during their weeks apart.
She wrapped her hand around the thick base of his cock and squeezed, drawing a gasp from him that became a moan when she took him into her mouth. He’d taught her how to take him into her throat, how to suck on the sensitive head and how to use her tongue to bring maximum pleasure. After weeks of wondering if she’d ever get to see him again, let alone touch him so intimately, she wanted to show him how much she loved him.
Judging by the moans of pleasure, the thrusts of his hips, the tight clench of his hands in her hair and the trembling in his legs, he loved what she was doing. The one thing she didn’t love, however, was letting him finish in her mouth, which was why his efforts to remove her became more frantic as she redoubled her efforts, intending to go all the way this time.
She took him deep and swallowed as she added vigorous strokes of her hand, drawing a loud groan from him.
“Lizzie, fuck… Christ.” His hands tightened in her hair. “Baby, stop… You don’t have to… Oh my God.”
She didn’t stop. Rather she kept going until he exploded into her throat, thrusting and crying out from the powerful release she’d drawn from him. His reaction left her feeling victorious and thrilled with the way he gasped for air as she kissed her way back to his lips.
“You totally wiped me out, baby,” he said between kisses.
“If I know you, you’ll recover in no time.”
He surprised her when he gripped her bottom, his fingers delving between her cheeks to find that pleasing him had also pleased her. His touch electrified her, and the discovery had him hardening between them as if he hadn’t come just five minutes ago.
This, Elisabeth thought, was how they were together—insatiable, endlessly creative, happy to spend long hours alone together with nothing to do but find new ways to pleasure each other.
With his hands under her arms, he moved her up to better align their bodies for what he had in mind.
“How can you be ready to go again so soon?”
“It’s you, baby. You turn me on just by breathing.”
Once upon a time, back when she first knew him, she might’ve thought that was a line coming from a seasoned playboy who knew how to tell a woman exactly what she wanted to hear. But after a year with him, she knew better. He meant every word of what he said to her, and she’d gotten to the point—over time—where she believed him when he told her no other woman had ever touched him the way she did.
Elisabeth sat up, straddled his hips and eased him into her, gasping at the pressure against already sensitive tissue. She was always sore after they made love, but sore in a good way—the best possible way. Wincing from the pinch, she lowered herself down slowly.
“Easy, baby. I know you’re sore.” His fingers circled her clit as he sat up and drew her nipple into his mouth, both of which helped to hasten his entry.
“Been awhile,” she said, wrapping her arms around him as she sank down farther.
“Feels so good.” His lips vibrated against her neck, setting off another ripple of sensation she felt everywhere. “Nothing feels better than being inside you.” He gripped her bottom and moved her slowly up and down, creating the best kind of friction.
If she could’ve spoken, she would’ve told him that nothing felt better than having him inside her. But he’d stolen the breath from her lungs and the words from her lips with the subtle movement of his hips, fingers and tongue. It had been this way between them from the very beginning, a connection that couldn’t be denied no matter how hard she’d initially tried to fight it. And she’d tried. And he’d pursued, winning her over with his relentless belief that people from different worlds could exist in harmony if they drowned out the noise around them and focused on the things that worked perfectly between them.
So she’d done that. She’d kept her focus on him, on them, on all the ways they worked so well together rather than the few ways they didn’t. But looming in the background, always, was the reality of how different their lives really were. Every so often, one of those glaring differences would make things difficult for them. They’d managed to get through it. Every time except for the night on the roof, when she could no long
er deny their differences.
“Where’d you go, honey?” he asked, bringing her back to the present with his gruffly whispered words.
“I’m here. I’m right here.” She ran her fingers through his hair. “I like your longer hair.”
“I wondered if you would.”
“I do. I love it.”
“Then I’ll leave it long just for you.”
Pleased with that, Elisabeth rolled her hips and was rewarded again with the tight grip of his fingers on her bottom. “Not yet,” she said, smiling at him.
He bit his lip, which he did when he was fighting to hold off, and intensified his efforts to get her to where they both wanted to be. She was so primed from his earlier ministrations that it didn’t take much to send her gasping into yet another orgasm. She’d once thought she was good for only one a day. That was another of the many myths Jared James had helped dispel for her.
He was right there with her, holding her close throughout the wild ride, until they sagged together, clinging to each other in the aftermath.
“Don’t ever leave me again, Lizzie. I wouldn’t survive it.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
The phone call he’d been waiting for came at nine o’clock the next morning. They were still in bed, where they’d been since the afternoon before, emerging only to accept a takeout delivery that Jared had brought right back to bed. Because the call came to his personal cell phone, he reached for it on the bedside table.
“Jared James.”
“Good morning. This is Doro Chase, the broker for the Chesterfield heirs.”
Lizzie’s hand moved from his chest to his belly, letting him know she was awake. If she ventured any lower, she’d find out how awake he was, too. “Yes, hello. I hope you’ve got good news for me.”
“Indeed I do. The heirs have accepted your offer.”
“Excellent. Since this will be a cash transaction, I’d like the closing to be scheduled within two weeks. I have urgent business that will require the estate be turned over to me two weeks from yesterday. I assume you can make that happen?”
