“And what’s that?” She straddles me, presses her chest against mine and wraps her arms around my neck. Her breasts spill out of the sides of her skimpy bikini top and the slide of her skin against mine gets me hard right away.
“Smoke, water, trees, clean air,” I murmur in her ears.
She sighs and throws her head back to gaze up at sky that covers us like a black, diamond-encrusted blanket. I nibble on her neck and run my teeth along her throat. A tiny shiver ripples over her body, and she drops her head onto my shoulder.
“I hated having to move back home a couple months ago. I’m still dying to get out of here, but seeing it again through your eyes has made me appreciate it all so much more.” She sighs and rolls those talented hips over me before she slips off my lap and into the water.
She reaches behind her, and a few seconds later her bikini top floats to the top of the water. She reaches into the water and pulls my already hard cock into her hands. I grip the sides and I lift my hips so I float right above the seat I’d been resting on. Her thumb swirls around the dark red, swollen head that pokes out of the water
“I’m all in favor of blowjobs, but it’s not worth your life, ” I tease and thrust up into her hand.
She smiles a secretive, pleased smile before she releases me. She pushes her juicy, firm breasts together and then slides forward and captures my cock in the tight channel she’s made between them.
“I’ll do you one better,” she says, her accent stronger with her drawled promise. She presses her lips to my swollen head and slides up, at the same time that she opens her mouth and takes me into her mouth while she uses the water and her breasts to create a sensation I’ve never even imagined before. I groan and grab the sides of the hot tub to keep from sliding under. “Holy shit!,” She keeps her eyes on mine while she moves up and down in the water.
“Hold them,” she gasps and nods to the sides of her breasts. I put my hands there and she moves hers to cup my balls. She rolls them lightly in her hands, her up and down slide never faltering, her mouth sucking the head of my cock with her every downward stroke of her breasts.
“I’m going fucking crazy,” I groan and stroke her nipples with my thumbs.
“That’s the plan,” she gasps and then she proceeds to make sure her plan succeeds.
“You’re amazing,” I breathe out.
“You make feel like I can do anything,” she says, and I start to come. Without any warning, spurts of cum shoot out of my cock and splatter on her chin and her cheeks before she closes her mouth over me and takes as much of me as she can into her mouth. My fingers dig into the abundant flesh of her tits, and I only realize how hard I’m pressing when she winces.
“Fuck, I’m bruising you,” I say.
“Yes,” she gasps. “I want your bruises.” I buck up into her mouth. She sucks the head of my dick one more time before she slides up my body. When we’re face-to-face, she says, “I want to look in the mirror on Monday and see your fingerprints on my skin and remember how it felt when you put them there.” My pulse jumps in my throat. I cup her cheeks and caress them with my thumb. Her bright eyes, the ones I’ve seen in every dream I’ve had for the last two months, are fixed raptly on mine, and I decide to go for broke.
“I’m about to ask you something,” I tell her.
She stills the up and down movement of her hips. “You’re going to ask me something?” she says quietly.
“Yes, I am,” I say softly. I drag my thumb across the lips I’ve been kissing all day.
“I want you to move to Houston,” I tell her. “Come live with me.”
Her breath hitches, and she drops her face into my neck.
“I haven’t found a job yet, Hayes,” she responds mournfully, and there’s an instinctive tightening in my chest.
I knew this is what she’d say. I force myself to relax. But, I can’t do anything about the urgent beat of my heart. It wants this too much. Needs it too much.
“I can help you with your job search,” I remind her.
“I shouldn’t need help. I have an excellent resume. I’m the fucking expert in a whole practice area,” she says, and her voice is full of frustration that cuts at me. “There’s not a single environmental law practice worth anything that’ll hire me. I think I’ve been blackballed,” she fumes.
“If you would let me make a call—”
“No, Hayes. I don’t want that,” she fusses at me.
“Is your pride more important than being with me?” I ask her quietly.
“That’s not fair. And I shouldn’t have to choose,” she shoots back, pulling herself back from me.
“Life isn’t fair. And I don’t see why it’s a choice. Why does your pride take a hit from letting the man who loves you help you? Wouldn’t you help me if I needed it?”
“As if you’d ever need my—” Her eyes widen and her hands cover her mouth.
“You lo-love me?” she stutters through the finger she pressed to her lips.
Her wide, blue eyes are full of surprise. They glitter in the gloaming light and the ire that was in them from our argument is gone. Joy—unfiltered, unadulterated, replaces it. She’s fucking beautiful right now, and I wish I had my phone so I could capture her like this.
“Of course I do. I’m sorry you’re surprised by that,” I say and lean in to kiss her soft, pliant mouth. She doesn’t kiss me back, so I pull back.
“You don’t need to say anything,” I tell her quickly. And I mean it. I know Confidence loves me, too. Of that, I have zero doubt. So, I go back to the subject that I’ve prepared to stand my ground on. “Just tell me you’ll think about moving,” I add.
She smiles, but there’s still hesitation there.
“I will think about it, but first I want to visit. Meet your family. Is that okay? Just feel like things are more certain. Do you understand?” she asks.
“Are you not sure ... still?” I ask, unable to quell the irritation.
“About us, of course, I’m sure,” she says, and her hands cover mine. She tries to reassure me with her smile, but I don’t return it.
“You’ll never understand, Hayes, how badly I need to get there on my own. I know you’re not him. I know you’d never humiliate me like that, but I also need to be able to feel at peace when I lay my head down at night. That will come from knowing that I got a job because I deserved it and not because anyone helped me,” she pleads with me to understand.
And, I do understand. I just don’t like it.
“You lying next to me without me having to think about what time we’re leaving for the airport the next day would go a long fucking way to doing that for me,” I snap.
She snags her floating dark green bikini top and smiles up at me. “Come here,” she says and steps out of the tub.
“So, I’ll visit?” she asks and I look up at her. Her eyes are pools of blue destiny, and I can see my future in them.
“Yes, but please let me send my plane,” I say.
“How about you just buy an economy class ticket?” she asks, and I stop and place my hands on her shoulders and turn her to face me.
“You’re going to have to be comfortable with the fact that I have money. I’m not ashamed of it. I’m going to spend it. And sometimes it will be in frivolous ways that are simply about making my life simpler. We grew up differently. My world is different. And there are parts of being in it that aren’t always comfortable, but they’re necessary.”
“Necessary for what?” she asks.
“To preserve order. To preserve the legacy my ancestors built. To repair the damage that’s been done by the vacuum of leadership my father’s death created.”
“What will your legacy be, Hayes?” she asks and crosses her arms over her chest.
“I don’t know. It’s larger than me. My family, what I do with my time as head of it will be here long after I’m gone. And my stewardship of it will determine its future. When I was a boy, my father used to recite a line from Shakespeare’s Antony and
Cleopatra. Have you read it?”
“No, only Romeo and Juliet in high school,” she responds.
“Antony and Cleopatra’s basically the same story but with adults and in a historical setting. Anyway, my father would recite this line from it and tell me that it was the way any great leader thought about their responsibility.” I close my eyes and recite from memory.
“‘Give me my robe, put on my crown; I have Immortal longings in me.’ She was talking about dying for what she believed in. But I think of it as believing in something that will outlive you and making sure it does your name justice”
“My uncle has forgotten that. He’s been thinking about right now for so long, he’s lost sight of the future. The next few months are going to be intensely focused on trying to correct its course. But I want to focus on you, too,” I say.
“I’ll visit. With the intent on scoping it for a move,” she says.
“You’ll like it,” I say.
“I don’t doubt it’s a place I’ll like very much,” she says and smiles at me with a plea for understanding in her eyes.
“Fine,” I say and let it go because I don’t want to fight about it anymore.
“Now, come on—I have plans for you.” She pulls me to standing. “Don’t let me forget to drain this in the morning. Mama uses it almost every night she’s home, and I’d hate for her to be soaking in your cum tomorrow night,” she says and then she saunters off, that round, sweet ass completely bare as her bikini nestles into the hot crevices of her body.
Speaking of places we like very much … I catch up with her in three strides, snag her around the hips, and hoist her over my shoulders.
She starts to pummel them right away. “Put me down,” she shrieks through a giggle. “This is my seduction, Hayes Rivers.” She wiggles and rolls.
“Oh, my Tesoro.” I tighten my grip on her and smack her ass just hard enough that I know she’ll be distracted by the sting and turned on by the promise in it. “This seduction is all me,” I tell her and open her bedroom door. I toss her onto the pile of crumpled sheets on the bed.
I pull my cock out of my shorts and run my fist up the length. Her tongue darts out and she swipes it across her pink, plush lower lip.
“Take it off. All of it,” I command.
“Yes, baby.” She spreads her legs so she’s on full display.
“For the rest of the world, you’re strong. Everywhere else, you’re untamable. But here, you’ll let me have whatever I want, won’t you?” I ask.
“Yes, anything,” she says.
“God, I want to fuck you in public so everyone can see what I get to indulge in every night.” I cup her ass in my hands, then without another word I slam into her and nearly pass out from how wet, hot and hungry her pussy is. She closes around me and her back arches off the bed, “Yes,” she moans low and deep in her throat.
“You love me, Queen?” I ask her and slam into her again. The entire length of her voluptuous, beautiful, body slides up the bed.
“Yes, King,” she groans, but the king is garbled by another groan. I pull out, throw her legs over my shoulder and close my lips around her clit and suck.
She tastes like chlorine, salt, sweat, and mine. And I eat her like she is. She holds my head in place, as if there’s anywhere else in the world I’d be right now besides in her bed, between her legs—eating her fruit and drinking her ambrosia.
I flip her on her stomach, pull her by the hips until her ass is in the air. I grab the bottle of lube by her bedside and pour it over her sweet pucker. Then, I slide a finger inside just to my first knuckle and she bears down on me like she knows what the fuck she’s doing.
“You like that?” I ask. She whimpers and nods, sending her thick curls adrift over her shoulders and down her back.
That’s my girl.
I slide another finger inside her, stretching and coaxing her open. She moans low in her throat. “Please, I want you,” she cries into the pillow.
I pour more lube over her, coat my dick and then replace my fingers with it. I press forward and probe her sweet, tight pathway to nirvana. I watch a bead of sweat wind its way down the center of her back. I lean over her and catch it on my tongue.
“Haaaaayes!” She calls my name like she’s making a wish just when I slip past the first tight ring of her ass. She moans, and the sound catches in her throat on the beginning of a sob.
“Does it hurt, Tesoro?” I whisper in her ear.
“So good,” she moans and nods, her fingers clutching the sheets convulsively. But she bears down and opens for me. I press a kiss to the center of her back and grip her hips.
“Good," I grunt and bury myself to the hilt. I snake around her thigh and find her clit. I swirl the tight bud under my thumb and the slick evidence of her arousal coating my fingers nearly makes me blow my load.
“Take all of it.” I roll my hips. “And you’re going to love all of it, just like you love all of me."
“Yes. So much.” She groans her agreement like she’s pledging her life to me, and I fucking want her to.
“Show me how much,” I wrap my hand around her throat, hold her hip with the other and fuck her like she’s mine to break.
And I want to break her. In a way that only I can put her back together again. When she comes, it’s with curses and my name on the back of a scream that rips out of her throat. Her body trembles uncontrollably and she collapses on her stomach; I think this could be the answer to world peace.
I flip her onto her back and lick my way up past her hip bones, swirl my tongue into her belly button, and I put my hand in the center of her chest and feel that strong, bold heartbeat. I slide farther up and replace my hand with my lips and then rest my head against her breast bone, so that her heartbeat mingles with the rush of my own in my ear.
I can’t believe how much I feel for her. How much I’ve felt since I met her and how tied my entire future feels to hers.
THE RIVERS RECKONING
HAYES
“Welcome to Rivers House.” Poppy, our head of household staff smiles warmly at Confidence as we approach her in the foyer. She’s standing there like an army general waiting for her troops to fall in line so she can give them their marching orders. She’s holding her ever present black spiral notebook. A key chain hangs off the belt of her black service dress. She has one of those faces that never shows its age. She could be thirty or she could be fifty. The threads of silver in her dark hair is the only clue as to which end of that spectrum she falls on. Her warm, but restrained smile doesn’t falter once as she watches us approach.
“Ms. Ryan, I’m Poppy Patterson. I’m the house manager and I will be at your disposal while you’re our guest,” she says smartly.
“Thank you. This is incredible. Please, call me Confidence,” she says and extends her hand to shake Poppy’s while her other one squeezes my hand tightly. “I’m really happy to be here,” Confidence gushes. My stomach knots, and I wonder how long that will last.
“Excellent.” Poppy’s smile broadens for an instant before her more efficient one is back in place. “Your rooms are ready, and one of the boys is delivering your luggage now. Mrs. Rivers sends her apologies. She’s out for the afternoon but looks forward to meeting you at dinner tonight,” Poppy explains to Confidence.
“Where’s everyone else?” I ask, relieved that Eliza isn’t here.
“Your uncle and aunt drove out to Brenham today. They won’t be here all weekend,” she says with a glance at her notebook. Thomas is such an asshole. He thinks his little decampment is a slap in my face because I asked everyone to be here for Confidence’s visit. Gigi’s back in Italy, but she will be back next month.
“Dare is in town, but we haven’t seen him.” Poppy continues down her list. “But we expect him to be here tonight. His mother has suspended his credit cards. That usually lures him in,” she says with a short smile. I look at Confidence and know that behind that even smile on her face, she’s got to be thinking that this is totally
fucked up.
Fucking Dare.
“Okay, we’re going up until dinner. Thanks for the updates,” I say and start to move past her quickly.
“Dinner will be served promptly at seven. Call down to the kitchen if you’d like to take refreshments in your room between now and then, but the dining room won’t be available for you until dinner. The staff is setting up for this evening,” she finishes.
“If you’d like to have your dress steamed or pressed while you’re waiting, just dial down to the laundry and someone will come to collect it,” she says to Confidence.
“Hayes, your suit is already pressed and in your wardrobe for tomorrow. Mrs. Rivers asked me to remind you that you’re dining with the Bains, the Barras, and the Hassans. I’ve emailed you some general background information so you can read it before dinner,” she reads from her notebook.
“Thank you, sounds like everything is in order,” I say.
“As always,” she says brightly.
“As always,” I agree readily.
“Please let me know how else I may be of assistance,” she says before she turns to Confidence. “Enjoy your stay,” she says with a slight bow before she turns and heads toward the service wing of the house.
“Wow, is it a special occasion? You didn’t tell me dinner was an event,” Confidence whispers and glances back over her shoulder as if she wants to be sure no one is following us up the stairs of my family’s house.
“It’s not. Friday dinner is always like this. We dine with business associates and friends every Friday. Eliza and my aunt Mae usually plan the guest list, but it’s nothing special,” I say casually despite the knot in my stomach.
“Sounds intense,” she says with a grimace.
“Yeah, well … my family is intense. And this house doesn’t help. It feels like a crypt. I spent half my life here. But I can’t wait for my house to be ready because I hate living here.”
“Ouch,” Confidence squeaks, and her hand flexes in my grip. I realize we’ve stopped walking and I stare blankly at her.
The Rivals Page 13
