CHAPTER TWO
ZANE
It was official. Fifteen minutes after midnight was when he’d officially lost his mind.
When he’d scheduled his time in the penthouse, he’d really just wanted to see how it looked in full functionality. He’d designed it, oversaw the building and then left when it was complete, but words hadn’t prepared him for what the designer, Tempest Sure, had done with it.
He’d seen her work all over town for the past few years. Zane had been introduced to her a time or two, but she always had a crowd around her. She seemed to be more of an observer than a speaker he’d noticed in the times he’d gotten to check her out. That was interesting because he thought of himself the same way. Sure, they’d watched each other across the room, but he’d never made his way to her. It was like a prolonged game of cat and mouse. The problem was he wasn’t sure which he was most of the time.
There were sparkling mini lights as captivating as the night sky and a balcony that overlooked the downtown area. Walking out to take in the sights, Zane took in a deep breath of the night air. He’d come, he’d seen, and he knew it was stupid, but it disappointed him that he’d not gotten the visitor he asked to meet up there. There were no hard feelings, but he had really wanted to see her. He turned so that his back was against the mini marble columns that made up the perimeter of the balcony and took another deep breath. He loved the room, but he’d seen enough. His mornings started early, and here he was wishing on stars and waiting for a woman who wasn’t coming.
The door opened across the dim room, and light spilled across the floor. Zane found himself filled with expectation. It probably wasn’t her, but the attendant was told to allow Tempest in if she arrived. The slow cadence of footsteps hit him like a physical caress as they moved closer. It took a minute or so for her to make it to the balcony. He had to wonder if she walked that slow for dramatic effect, because Damn… The anticipation was delicious. Each strike of her heels against the glossy whisper white mosaic tiles pumped his anticipation up higher. The noise stopped as she got close to the doorway, but the coating on the glass made it impossible for him to see her.
Tempest stepped onto the balcony with a look of amused nonchalance on her face, and it made him want to kiss her until she was as aroused as he felt. She made her way to him, but she didn’t look at him. The night sky drew her attention for a few minutes, and he took in everything that was Tempest. Long dark hair that he knew to be wavy, although now she had it up in an artfully messy bun, was always calling for him to run his hands through it to see if it’s as soft as it looked. Not that he would do that, but he’d wanted to. “I’m glad you took me up on my offer, but I have to say I’m surprised.”
Tempest stood beside him on the balcony but braced her arm on the railing as she turned her body toward him. “Surprised?”
He turned toward her. He’d been watching her from afar every time they were at the same event, so now that he’d gotten them to a situation where they were at the same place, he would not waste the moment. “Last, I heard you were being bombarded with stories of what an asshole I am. I didn’t think you’d come up here to see me or your beautifully decorated room.”
“Well, I couldn’t resist seeing my creation the way a consumer would, and I wanted to see the notorious Zane Calder in action.”
He took notice of her bright brown eyes and wanted to know what secrets she held behind them, but for now, it seemed like she wished to play. “Are you talking about my reputation for being an outstanding architect?”
“I already know what kind of architect you are. Innovative, demanding, hardworking, and opinionated.” She looked out at the view of the city lit up like a Christmas tree for a few seconds and took in a deep breath of fresh air before expelling it and returning her gaze to him. “Did I leave anything out?”
“It’s your description, so you tell me.” His voice came out rough, like a whisper over gravel. He watched her as she walked to the door she’d just come through.
“I don’t think it’s a complete description, but it works for now.” Tempest walked back into the room, leaving him alone on the balcony. He shook his head, knowing this would be different from how things typically went.
Zane followed her and watched her dial-up the dimmer. The room brightened, and it allowed him to see the woman who lived up to her name. She was beautiful from the neck up, but below that was what her name implied. Tempest – A violent storm or to disturb violently. Her full breasts, trimmed waist, and ample hips created a silhouette that spoke to him on a very primal level. She wore clothing that accentuated all of her positives. Her sweetheart top exposed enough to keep him wondering if everything was held up by those moderate straps or did she have something that helped push the creamy cleavage to such a provocative advantage. The skirt made him jealous of the fabric that clung to her skin. The 3-inch, shiny black heels were the pièce de résistance.
“Are you done taking inventory?”
He couldn’t even think of what to say to get out of checking her out, so he wouldn’t. “Not really. I feel like there is more to see, but if you have something better for me to do. I’m willing to take requests.”
There was a smirk on her face that was naughty, dirty, and wild. It made the hairs on the back of his neck stand just as straight as his cock. He adjusted himself as he watched her move to a marble table, that was the height of her hips. Tempest hitched the skirt up painfully slow, revealing that her stockings were thigh highs, and they were being held by a garter belt. She didn’t stop there. Zane’s gaze didn’t waver from the skin she revealed with each movement of the material. Until he knew the answer to the question: does Tempest ever go commando? He didn’t even think of that question before. Now he was consumed thinking about all the times he’d seen her. Had she always been that way?
Hopping up on the table with her pretty pussy exposed, she crooked her finger. “Come, take a closer look,” she said in a throaty tone that shook him a little.
This would be a fuck like no other. He knew it before it had started. He knew it the first time he’d seen her they would get together. Zane hadn’t known when, where, or the reason, but he’d known it would happen.
Her eyes narrowed as he moved closer to her, and he wondered if he should do this. Whatever it was between them was like a powder keg ready to be lit, but should he do it? The thought of her did things to him that he wasn’t prepared to examine, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to find out why. Fuck it.
“What made you come up here when the last time we spoke I was the spawn of Satan for things that were only true in the mind of your friend?” He asked as he moved to the table, and the heady aroma of Tempest’s truest form made him want to slap himself for asking a question. He was so close to finding out if she tasted as amazing as she smelled.
“We decided that I’d give you a taste of your own medicine.” Her eyebrow cocked up, giving her a sultry but playful appearance.
When her words registered, it stopped him for a second, and he took in her expression. Cool confidence and sassy playfulness mixed in a sultry concoction. Typically, he would laugh at such words and any woman who’d utter something like that. Shaking his head, he chuckled and played along. “You think this pussy will make me fall in love with you?”
“I don’t know, but I guess we’ll find out.” She leaned back slightly, placed her foot on his shoulder, and he fell on his knees before the table.
There was a smile on his face for no other reason than this woman was fun, and he knew there would be no hard feelings after this. They wanted the same thing. Tempest took in a deep breath like she was bored, and he looked up to find her with one side of her mouth quirked up with a smile.
He liked this part. Her waiting and him building the anticipation. She was neatly groomed but not overly so. There was no landing strip, arrow, or heart made of her pubes. Just enough to let him know she tended the area. Meeting her gaze, he thought to find her still smug, but she wasn’t. Tempest moved
her hand toward his face. Then smoothed her pointer finger across his bottom lip. He caught her hand, kissed the finger she’d placed on him, and guided it to the pretty pussy in front of him.
Zane felt out of his element, which was ridiculous. This was his element. There were times he could get a sense of what a woman wanted just by paying attention to their cues, but it was never like this. This was like a dance they’d rehearsed.
Her arousal was practically palpable, but that wasn’t abnormal. It was his response that was the wild card. He kissed the inside of her thigh as he watched her lightly stroke her clit. Torn between watching her expression and the live-action going on with her fingers, he was happy just being a spectator.
When Tempest moved her hand, so the hardening bud of her sex was between her pointer and middle fingers, the gasp that filled the room was his. She squeezed her clit before sliding her fingers down to slip into her pussy. He watched her fuck those digits into herself a few times before he grabbed her hand and brought her fingers to his mouth. Her gasp filled the room then.
“What are you doing?” Zane asked after he removed her fingers from his mouth. “That’s my job.”
“Watching you on your knees turns me on. I thought I’d return the favor.” Tempest was matter of fact in her speech and damned if he knew why that was so hot.
Moving closer to the apex of her thighs, he let her hand go and draped her legs over his shoulders. He took a few deep breaths in to calm himself, but the location didn’t leave him much space to calm down. He kissed the lips of her pussy softly like he was trying to get both of them acquainted with his touch. However, her sweet skin was dewy and fragrant, and he couldn’t wait another second to fill his senses with her scent.
He licked her with a broad swipe of his tongue and was rewarded by a slight whimper as Tempest’s hand lightly on his head. Smiling against her pussy, he felt more in control. Not much, but he’d take whatever he could get. Using his two fingers, he spread her lips open and licked the bud that had teased him when she was playing with herself. Tempest’s hips rotated slightly like she wanted to move but was trying to hold back. The soft, hungry moan that filled the space was like a key to his lock that released the wall restraint usually in place.
Zane moved his hands to support her back as he brought his face down to lick, nip and suck her clit and pussy. Looking up at her just added to the heaviness of his cock. She looked beautiful and wild as she tortured her lip with her teeth. He wanted her to come so badly and not just so he could too, which was a change.
Upping his game, he ran the stubble of his upper lip against her hard clit, inserted two fingers into her pussy with one hand and squeezed her breast through her clothes. Combined, it had her telling him and anyone nearby that she was coming.
The fact she orgasmed like she lived her life should have amused him, but he was just disappointed that he wasn’t balls deep inside her to share that experience.
He didn’t stop as soon as she left the pinnacle of her climax but helped her through the aftershocks with closed-mouth kisses and nuzzles until she let out a big sigh.
Zane stood up and looked for a sink to get her cleaned up, but there was a knock on the door that made her hop off the table and tug her dress down.
They wouldn’t come in. That he knew, but his time in the room was up.
Tempest walked over to Zane, looking flushed and refreshed. “Time flies when you’re having fun.” She smiled and leaned in for what he thought was a quick kiss, but she moved close, put her hands on each side of his face, and sexily pulled his bottom lip into her mouth. The kiss moved on from there, feeling like a mix between thank you and something more with each touch.
Moving her hands down his chest until her hand found his hard cock in his pants. She wrapped her hands around his length and squeezed. “I’d say we should continue this tryst somewhere more private, but I have a busy day tomorrow, and this feels like something that shouldn’t be rushed.”
“Raincheck?”
She gave him another quick kiss and a smile before she walked out.
If that was her idea of revenge, he’d take it, but there was no way they were done. If he were one to keep score, it would be Tempest 1 and Zane with one hard cock and a big fat zero. Game on.
CHAPTER THREE
TEMPEST
“Look, nothing really happened.” Tempest strolled to her Friday morning appointment. It was an important event, but, as usual, she had told no one about it. She didn’t want to go into The Campbell Center talking on the phone, so she stopped outside the entrance.
“So, you aren’t going to give Zane a dose of his own medicine?” Ava whined into the phone.
Taking a deep breath in Tempest tried to figure out what to say to her friend. She wasn’t about to tell her he sent her to another world, and she’d had no effect on him at all. Well, he had a hard cock when she’d left, but she was in no shape to put out her best effort. The man had rattled her.
Rattled.
Her.
She felt out of her element, which was crazy because sex in almost all forms was so her element. “I will not bother that man any more than I have to. I must have had too much to drink to even consider something like that.”
Ava blew out a breath. “You’re probably right.”
“Look, I’ve got to go. I’ll talk to you later.” Tempest heard Ava’s sad goodbye before she disconnected the call.
Taking a deep breath in and blowing it out, she got into work mode. She was here to win the honor of decorating for the Annual All In Give Out Charity Ball. It was the first time it would be held locally, and Tempest applied as soon as she found out it would be here in town. She knew she’d made it down to the final two, but she wondered what they had planned to narrow it down to the winner. It was always something off the wall.
She loved dressing up almost as much as she loved lounging around the house. Today she was dressed to impress. She’d submitted her favorite pieces from her portfolio, and she was ready to take her interior decorating to the next level.
“Hello, Tempest.” Lyric Anderson was on the committee that chose the finalist. Her smile was full when she handed her the packet and directed her to her table. It wasn’t hard to figure out since she had blown all of her photographs up to practically life-size, and they hung around the table that had her name in large letters above it. Lyric was one of her biggest fans, but she hoped she hadn’t pulled any strings for her. She wanted to make it to the top of her own accord.
“Thank you, Lyric.” Tempest took a few minutes thinking about if she should ask the woman if everything had been above board, but she didn’t want to ruin the mood of the day.
Walking over to the table, she sat down and began to go through the packet of information. At the end, there was a spot for an additional name to be added to her team.
“Team? I don’t want to work with a fucking team.” Tempest mumbled to no one because she was sitting all alone with her pictures.
“Excuse me, everyone.” A petite blond spoke into a microphone. “Thank you all for being here with us. We hope you are as excited as we are to be here.”
Tempest thought she could feel someone watching her. It wasn’t a creepy feeling. It was more like a sense of warmth that moved over her body. Turning her gaze to the other people in the room, she found Zane staring at her from across the room. Although it was difficult to fight back the smile that wanted to bloom on her face, she’d done it. What the hell was wrong with her? She’d been waiting for this day. Ever since she got the word that they invited her to participate. Now she couldn’t focus on what the woman was saying because she was in an eye fuck competition with Zane.
“Your partners will introduce themselves, and then we will have the interior decorators in the Rosy Room and the architects in the Stone Room.” The hostess had a huge smile on her face. She finished her talk with a little clap of her hands and moving away from the microphone.
Tempest could smell Zane move closer to her
. Damn, his aroma was seductive, but she would hear him out and then put him out of her mind. She loved a good orgasm. She knew the two of them would be combustible in the sack, but after what he’d done with just his mouth, she wasn’t sure if she could put herself out there for that much awesomeness.
Zane cleared his throat, and she looked his way.
“What brings you here, Mr. Calder?” Tempest knew the man was known internationally for his creations and wouldn’t possibly throw his hat in the ring for this.
“Maybe I heard you were in the running and wanted to look at what you’d come up with.” Zane could look nonchalant and amused at the same time.
She shook her head a little at that one. “Are you looking for revenge?” Tempest said halfway, trying to throw him off his game, but there was a part of her that wanted to know.
His left eyebrow quirked up, and the amused expression never wavered. “For what? Requiring me to take an abnormal number of cold showers since I saw you last?”
Tempest shrugged as she kept her focus on the man in front of her. “There are lots of men who wouldn’t be happy about that, although I’m sure you could have easily found a replacement. From what we both know, there is plenty of fish in the sea.”
Zane walked over to her pictures and looked at them. Tempest hadn’t shown her work to him, and she’d wanted to come to him with this win in her pocket. Zane’s reputation for being picky about the people who work for him and the quality of his work was almost as notorious as his dick game.
She followed him as he looked at the designs.
The man turned to face her. “There is plenty of fish, but sometimes you get a hankering for the fish you caught. The one you weren’t finished with yet.”
Tempest took a quick scan around the room to see if other people were trying to get her attention. Most of the people there were just enjoying the continental breakfast and chatting amongst each other. She’d returned her attention to Zane and found he was still standing close to her. “Well, I’m glad you’re not upset.”
How About Never Page 2
