“Of course,” I say.
“Good.” She smiles tentatively, then turns away and quickly walks into my room. She really doesn’t want to stay in her room for one second longer than necessary. Whatever noises she’s hearing are terrifying her a lot more than I first thought. She’s way too stubborn to change her mind and come to my room if she wasn’t scared out of her mind.
I follow her into my room and shut the connecting door. Cindy has turned a lamp on and she’s sitting on my bed. Her back is against the headboard and her legs are beneath the sheet. That’s a good thing. I don’t need those legs calling out to me.
I want to fuck her so bad, I can feel my skin tingling where her skin touched mine, but I don’t want her to think she can’t come to me unless she’s willing to put out.
“I’ll take the couch,” I say.
“I think we’re past that, Alex. Just get in the bed,” she says. “We’re adults. We can sleep in the same bed without making it weird.”
Well, count me out of your adult games. It will be very weird to get in bed with Cindy and not have sex with her.
“It’s okay. I’m happy with the couch.” I turn away from her and start walking towards the lounge. The sense of déjà vu is crushing.
“I should have come to you this morning,” she says.
I stop walking and smile. The last time this happened … “Well you didn’t,” I reply, turning slowly towards her. She is smiling softly. The yellow light of the lamp has turned her hair to spun gold and her eyes gleam like blue sapphires.
“No. I didn’t. But I’m here now,” she says. She’s flirting with me. She wants me with the same intensity I want her.
“Yes, you are. And it’s late. Why don’t you lay down and try to get some sleep?” I say. It’s like we’re both playing a game. After what she said this morning I’ll be damned if she doesn’t come right out and ask me to fuck her.
Never taking her eyes off me, she shuffles down the bed until she’s laying down on her side facing me. “I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep though,” she purrs. “Not with the thoughts that are running through my mind.”
She runs her tongue over her lips, looking me straight in the eye as she does it. God she knows how to push my buttons. And I am under no illusion that she doesn’t know exactly what she’s doing.
She kicks her legs, kicking the sheet all the way down to her knees. I swallow hard as my cock responds to the sight of her bare legs. I know she can see my hard on through my boxers.
“You know what happens when that sheet comes off,” I say.
“I know.” Then she smiles and kicks the sheet completely off her legs.
And all reason leaves my mind as I walk like a mindless zombie towards the smell of fresh brains. I get on the bed and swoop down on her mouth. She kisses me back with passion. She pushes herself up and then she presses against my chest, pushing me back against the mattress. She keeps her lips on mine as I lay back and pull her on top of me. I push my hands beneath her nightdress, running them over her bare ass and up her back. She nibbles my lower lip and then she pulls back from me. She looks down at me, her eyes full of desire and I know that no matter what has happened between us, she isn’t just acting this part because she feels obliged to. The desire I see in her eyes is real.
She moves her legs, nudging mine outwards. She kneels between my legs and pulls her nightdress over her head. She is quite a sight in the soft glow of the lamp, her body naked and perfect and mine for the taking. I start to sit up, but Cindy reaches out and pushes me back down.
“Hold your horses,” she whispers. “It’s your turn tonight to get the star treatment.”
She shuffles backwards until she’s out from between my legs and then she hooks her fingers into my boxer shorts. I lift my ass up and let her pull them free. She smiles when my rock-hard cock is freed.
“Someone is happy to see me,” she whispers and I can’t help but laugh.
She smiles down at me and then she pulls my boxer shorts the rest of the way down and off. She throws them to the ground and crawls back up the bed until she is between my knees. She takes my cock in her clenched fist and smiles again, and then she lowers her head and sucks me into her mouth.
Fire explodes through me and it’s all I can do not to come on the spot. I swallow hard, forcing myself to stay in control. I don’t want this to be over before it has even begun.
Her mouth is warm, her tongue velvet as she licks my length. She moves her head down, taking more of me into her mouth and her throat before bringing her head back up. My cock slips out from her mouth and I instantly miss the warmth. She rubs her tongue over the bottom of my cock, flicking it back and forth over the veins, teasing me. I let out an agonized groan which seems to spur her on.
She licks down my length and back up again, lapping at my cock like she’s eating an ice cream. Her light teasing licks are almost too much for me to bear. I hate girls who lick my cock like a lollipop, but I let her do her thing. She’s getting her own back for the teasing I did on her this morning before I gave her the orgasm of her life. After this I’m gonna grab her, sit her on my cock, have her ride me to oblivion.
The sheet is bunched in my fists and my need for her is almost an agony when she relents and sucks me into her mouth again. I watch her head bobbing as she sucks me hard. I see my cock, glistening with her saliva, disappearing into her stretched lips and I have to bite down on the inside of my mouth to stop myself from coming. Every cell in my body feels as if it is electrified.
I buck my hips, pushing my cock further into her mouth, and she takes it all. Swallows it like a good little girl. I grab her head and start to fuck her mouth. The way she deep throats is beautiful to watch. She caresses my balls, kneading them in time with her sucking and I can actually see fucking stars as she works me like a pro.
“I’m going to come in your mouth,” I warn.
She doesn’t stop. She sucks me harder, faster, and I realize it’s her intention to make me come in her mouth. I stop trying to hold myself back and just relax and enjoy her mouth on me, her hand on me.
I feel my stomach tightening, my cock twitching and I know I’ve reached the point of no return. My climax hits home. I feel it in every part of my body; such intense pleasure that I can feel my heart slamming in my chest as the pleasure rips through me, and with a roar, I flood her, spurting into her mouth.
She drinks my cum down almost greedily, milking me, her throat working furiously, for the last drops. Her name plays in my brain. Cindy … Cindy … Cindy.
Finally, she pulls her blonde head away and wipes the back of her hand over her mouth.
“Fucking hell, Cindy,” I whisper.
She smiles and lays down beside me, snuggling against me. I lift my arm and she moves closer. I wrap my arm around her as she snakes her arm across my waist. The weight of it on my body feels good. Surprisingly good.
I feel her cheek move against my chest as she smiles. “Fucking hell is right,” she says and laughs softly.
I lay stroking my hand up and down her back. After sex, I’m usually ready to turn over and sleep. Not with her. She traces circles on my stomach with her nails. We no longer need words. Our bodies do all of our talking for us.
Without either of us saying a word Cindy finds my mouth between her legs. She sighs with contentment as I begin to lap up her sweetness. It’s going to be hours before I get enough. Hours and hours.
Cindy
I wake up and I’m instantly aware of Alex’s strong, solid body. That’s because I’m wrapped up in his arms. Silly, but it makes me feel warm and safe and protected. As if I am a child again, without any responsibilities, financial worries or cares. Someone else will take care of my every need.
I close my eyes and luxuriate in the unfamiliar, but precious feeling. I’ve been independent and fighting my own battles for so long I finally understand how Raven, Rosa and Star feel. Why overnight their faces took a different character. My eyes snap open. But what they ha
ve and what I have is totally different. They have men who chased them like crazy and committed to them at the first opportunity, not men they had to literally seduce into bed with them.
Once again, I’ve let my guard down and let Alex back into my head. I need a moment to really think through what I’m actually doing. Very, very gently, I lift Alex’s arm up and shuffle out of bed. He makes a sound and I freeze, but he only rolls over freeing me. I slide out of bed, pick up my nightdress, and move over to the door that leads outside onto a balcony. I have a similar door in my room. After pulling my nightdress over my head, I slide the door open and step outside.
The sun is just coming up and although there’s still a slight chill in the air that brings goose bumps to my skin, it’s nice enough that I choose to stay outside.
I move over to the balcony’s railing and, resting my forearms on it, I look out over the gardens and grounds. It hits me again just how massive this place is, which although unconnected, that makes me wonder how big of a mistake I am making. I don’t even know what I’m doing here anymore.
I can play the role of the doting girlfriend while Alex and I can maintain a working relationship or we could be more. But I don’t think I can do both any longer. I can’t have hot sex with Alex and not develop any feelings for him.
My body wants more. I want more.
I know what I agreed. Half of The Macau in exchange for acting as his fiancée, but suddenly I don’t care all that much about having half the casino anymore. I don’t want our relationship to be an act. I want it to be real. And if Alex doesn’t feel the same as I do, which I don’t think he does, then I’m just setting myself up to get hurt.
Alex is so hard to read. It’s so hard to equate the man who held me so gently while I was out of my mind with fear with the man who I first met at the casino, who seemed to be a law unto himself. It’s like he’s two different people and I don’t know which one is real. And until I can work that out, I might need to keep my distance from him.
I’m not one for playing games though. I’m not going to just silently withdraw from Alex. Once he awakes this morning, I’m going to talk to him and tell him what I’ve decided. In the best-case, long shot scenario, he will confess he feels the same, but quite honestly, I don’t think I have a hope in hell that will happen. And in the worst case scenario …
A clatter sounds behind me and I jump and spin around, fear gripping me like an ice-cold glove. My hand is pressed against my chest when I see Alex standing behind me. He has put his boxer shorts back on. His abs look like slabs of dusky gold in the morning light.
“What the hell, Alex,” I gasp. “Do you have to creep up on me like that? I thought it was … never mind. Just don’t scare me like that again, ok?”
I see genuine concern on his face. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. The sun is shining, and I thought you’d have heard me moving around.”
He moves and sits on the padded settee and I turn so I’m properly facing him. He looks at me, raising a hand to shade his eyes from the rising sun.
“What are you so afraid of in this house, Cindy?”
It’s not the conversation I thought we were going to have, but I did promise myself I was going to be honest with him and I decide to roll with that.
“I know you’re used to it, but I’m not. And having the ghost of your crazy old great, great aunt, or whoever the hell she is, calling out my name in the middle of the night scares the living daylights out of me.”
“Whoa there, back up. What crazy old aunt?”
“You know, the one they locked up.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Alex says, and to his credit, he sounds genuinely perplexed.
Was it possible that he did not know the story? “Petra and Anastasia told me the story of how one of your ancestors went crazy and had to be locked away in my room, and how she died in it … and now haunts it.”
“You seriously believed those two?” Alex says, his face betraying his complete disbelief.
“Well no, not at first,” I say, feeling suddenly naïve and stupid. “But then I heard it. Alex, you can say it’s the pipes all you like, but it’s my name she … it called.”
Alex shakes his head.
“Well now that I know those two are involved, I can explain it easily enough. This house is full of secret passages and tunnels. I don’t know where they all are, but they definitely do exist. They’re messing with you, Cindy. They’re in the tunnels banging around and whispering your name. They probably broke your heater too.”
My jaw drops open. “Those little bitches!” I curse. Then I realize I’ve spoken out loud and instantly regret it. They are Alex’s family, and I’m being paid to deal with them with class and grace. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Oh, trust me, I’ve called them much worse than that,” Alex says with a grin. “I’ll tear a few strips off them later today. Rest assured you won’t be tormented anymore.”
“No, don’t do that,” I say quickly. “I don’t want them to know it’s bothered me enough to even tell you about it. Just let them think I haven’t even noticed their little games. I think I want to give them a taste of their own medicine.”
Alex grins at me. “I like your style.”
We go quiet for a moment and then Alex speaks up again. “You know, when I was scoping out the casino and deciding whether or not to buy it, I watched you from afar. And I never would have taken you to be someone who bought into the paranormal. You seemed too … together.”
“I’m a city girl. I have no experience of the paranormal so of course, I didn’t believe in that sort of thing. And by the way, you sound as creepy as fuck when you admit you were watching me from afar.”
Alex shrugs. “It was just good business. I had to know the casino would be in excellent hands once we concluded our deal.”
I should be glad to hear that, surely. It means Alex thinks highly of my ability. I can’t help think it’s a bit creepy though. Like he’s engineered this whole thing and I’ve played right into his hands.
“So this was all some elaborate plan to seduce me?” I ask.
Alex laughs, which is far from the reaction I expected. “Be honest, the idea of investing millions of pounds into a business just to bed you is a bit extreme even for me, don’t you think?”
That was a rusty knife in an old wound, but I have to admit, when he puts it like that, it’s crystal clear I’m over-reacting and letting my emotions cloud my rational judgment. It was me that made all the moves, and even now, all I want to do is reach out and touch the smooth skin of his stomach.
“I was honest with you,” he adds. “I wanted a woman to present to my aunt who she would fall in love with. And that’s really all it was about. Everything else that came with it, well that wasn’t part of the plan.”
I am inclined to believe him. Alex isn’t the sort of man who makes grand gestures, but he is the sort who gets what he wants. If I’m really honest I’ll have to admit that if he just wanted to have sex with me, he could have had me on day one. I bite my lip. Now is the perfect opportunity for me to make clear that we should go back to being employer and employee until I get my head straight. I’ve become too confused. I can’t even think straight when he is around. I’m just about to tell him, when he says, “Look, now might be the time to tell you this. It’s what I wanted to tell you when I … uh … ordered you to come to my room.”
“Oh, okay.”
“This is confidential information. No one knows except Valeriya and me. I’m telling you because it would seem strange to Babushka if I don’t tell my own fiancée something so important.”
I stare at him curiously.
“Babushka is dying. Eight years ago, she was told she had cancer of the saliva glands. At that time, she decided that she didn’t want to go the chemo route. She had lived a long and fruitful life and she wanted to live her life here peacefully until it was time to go. The cancer has been spreading slowly. Her p
ain meds have been increasing steadily, but now her doctor has told her that she might have a year left, if she is lucky. Once it gets in her lungs she will suffer greatly and succumb to the disease.”
My mouth drops open. “Oh, Alex. I’m so sorry,” I whisper. Suddenly my shallow preoccupation with myself seems obnoxious and selfish. Now I understand why he was willing to give away half a casino for the right girl to play the part.
Alex doesn’t say anything for a few seconds. His face is a mask, but his eyes give away the turmoil inside of him. Then he says, “Babushka doesn’t want anyone else in her family to know so please don’t tell anyone.”
“Of course not. I know this is not much consolation, but I’ll do everything in my power to make sure your aunt thinks we are the happiest couple in the world,” I say.
Alex rests his elbows on his knees and looks down. I know he is in pain and he doesn’t want me to see it. This is the way he deals with pain. He goes into himself.
I can feel tears burning in my eyes and almost feel the pain of the little boy he once was. How he let the pain of losing his parents fester away, how he shut himself off emotionally and then couldn’t find his way back out of the prison he had created for himself.
For the first time, I feel like I am able to read Alex clearly, and I feel it deep inside me that every word he spoke was the truth.
I take a few steps forward and put my hand on his shoulder. He freezes.
I crouch down and press my lips against his. He resists me at first, but then he responds, kissing me passionately. His hands push into my hair and I wrap my arms around his waist, pulling myself closer to him, trying to kiss his pain away. Our kiss is salty, the taste of tears, and although I keep my eyes closed, and don’t look, I don’t think the tears are just mine.
Alex
As I lead Cindy back to the stables, part of me is still in shock. I can’t believe I opened up to her. She is the first human being I’ve allowed into my inner world since my parents died. She squeezes my hand and I squeeze back. I feel like the beast who is undone by the little child.
Nice Day For A White Wedding Page 17
