by Erika Wilde
He was grateful that things weren’t completely uncomfortable between him and Tempest, but their brief exchange hadn’t been warm and fuzzy, either. That short encounter downstairs had happened so fast, and it hadn’t been nearly enough time for him to gauge her emotions or really know what she was thinking.
But God, she looked so fucking good. So gorgeous and classy and sexy, and way out of his league. She was a champagne kind of girl, and he was a beer-on-a-budget kind of guy. All the shit in his past notwithstanding, their lives just didn’t mesh.
Business, he reminded himself. Just focus on business and not the curiosity of what kind of lingerie she was wearing beneath that demure outfit. A woman who designed and created all sorts of provocative underwear for a living undoubtedly wore and tested the goods. He imagined her in any one of those three ensembles she’d shown him on the mannequins the night of the ball, and his body thrummed with desire.
He groaned and immediately stopped that train of thought before it made his dick too hard to tuck into his boxer briefs. Jesus, what was wrong with him?
Grabbing a freshly laundered Lowell Construction T-shirt, he pulled it over his head and stepped into a clean pair of jeans. Socks, sneakers, and a quick finger comb through his shaggy hair to pull it away from his face to let it air dry, as he always did because he didn’t own a blow-dryer or styling products.
He returned to the conference room less than ten minutes later, finding Tempest exactly where he’d left her. She glanced back up when he entered, her still unreadable gaze taking in his much cleaner appearance, though she didn’t comment, and he decided to get right down to business.
“I have the plans over here,” he said, indicating the drafting table at the far end of the room.
She stood up, followed, and came up beside him as he unrolled the drawings and spread them out on the large surface. She was standing so close that every breath he took was filled with whatever light fragrance she wore. Something with notes of vanilla, jasmine, and sandalwood. Soft, feminine, but way too alluring to his senses.
Trying like hell not to let everything about Tempest distract him, he tapped a finger on the large sheet of paper laid out in front of them, drawing her attention there, too. “Based on the plans I pulled from the city, here is a general idea of what the bar will look like in terms of design and placement on the first level.”
“Oooh, I like this layout,” she said, making him ridiculously happy with her validation. “This is very close to what I envisioned for the bar and lounge, and you left plenty of space for seating areas and couches, which I’ve already ordered. I want everything to be sleek and modern and sophisticated.”
Her growing excitement made him smile and eased them into a comfortable discussion of the floor plan and her ideas for fixtures and where she planned to put them so he could run electrical, and he made notes of changes and additions she wanted. The woman definitely had a vision in mind, which made his job much easier than working with an indecisive client.
Then he showed her the drawings for the hotel rooms on the second and third levels of the structure, each one with an adjoining bath. Every room looked square and basic at this point, and it was up to Tempest to use her decorating skills to transform a boring, plain room into whatever concept she had in mind.
Which made him curious about her unique idea. “You said that these hotel rooms will provide couples with a romantic getaway. How so?”
“Each room will have a certain theme,” she said, her amber eyes sparkling enthusiastically as she explained. “Some of them will be fun and flirty and whimsical, like having a classic heart-shaped bed and one of those iconic champagne glass hot tubs. I also have an idea for a Pretty Woman suite. Others will be more romantic, such as Grecian or Arabian Nights themed, or just rooms that are glamorously decorated that make a couple feel like they’ve escaped into their own little world. And of course, I’ll have a few sexier rooms, something pirate-themed, a suite with a dungeon décor, and a leather red room à la Christian Grey, minus the whips and chains unless the guests bring them,” she said on a laugh. “I think women will really love that concept.”
He had no clue who Christian Grey was, but the description of that last room definitely intrigued him, but he kept the thought to himself. “We’ll make any adjustments to these rooms as we go along, and now that I have your initial approval on the plans, I think we’re finished here for the time being.”
She nodded her agreement. “Escrow closes next week,” she said, giving him an update on the purchase, which he knew she and her brothers had paid cash for so they’d bypassed a more lengthy and complicated transaction. “As soon as I have the keys, we can meet at the building so you can see the inside to take measurements or any pictures you need, and we can talk about more specific details of construction.”
He rolled up the drawings and secured them with a rubber band. “Yes, that would be the next step, and from there I’ll get permits secured and supplies purchased and delivered to get the renovation underway.”
They were done, their meeting over. He expected Tempest to collect her purse and leave, but instead she met his gaze, stood her ground a few feet from him, and fearlessly tackled what he’d been avoiding.
“So, now that business is out of the way, are we going to finally address the elephant in the room?” she asked, that sexy, sassy attitude of hers like a precise stroke to his dick. “Or are you going to keep pretending as though that night never happened?”
Chapter 7
Leave it to bold, daring Tempest not to mince words, Remy thought. To get right to the point and force them to discuss that evening two months ago, since he’d avoided doing so since leaving her apartment that night.
He exhaled a harsh breath and dragged his hand along his jaw. Bottom line, he knew his behavior had been inexcusable and borderline barbaric, and as much as he didn’t want to talk about what, specifically, had driven him to go wild with her, he did owe her an apology at the very least.
As she crossed her arms over her chest and waited for him to answer, her brow arched expectantly. Thank God the vulnerable emotions he’d seen in her eyes that night were no longer there, but he didn’t doubt for a second that she’d been very hurt by his actions.
“I’m sorry about what happened between us,” he said sincerely, trying his best to smooth things over. “I can’t explain it, but something that night put me in the wrong headspace.” He refused to say what had triggered his mental shift, and for now it was the best he could offer her. “I apologize for coming on so strong. I never should have touched you.”
Her mouth pursed with irritation and she shook her head indignantly, looking more offended than appeased by his regretful statement. “You really are an asshole.”
“Yeah, I already know that,” he said, not understanding why she was getting so upset with him. “I really am sorry, Tempest.”
She narrowed her gaze, a soft little sound of disgust passing her lips. “Oh, my God, Remy, how can you be so damn obtuse? You just don’t get it, do you?”
“Get what?” he asked cautiously.
She huffed out a breath, her eyes flashing with exasperation. “I don’t want you to apologize for finally giving in to the attraction between us, no matter what the cause, because we both have wanted each other for a while now,” she said, stabbing him in the chest with her finger. “I want you to be sorry that you walked out on me without looking back. That you gave me the best orgasm of my life, then all but ignored me and what we did for two goddamn months.”
He opened his mouth in shock, then snapped it shut, trying not to think about the best orgasm of my life part of her comment, and instead focused on the section about him walking out on her and pretending as though it never happened. “I’m definitely sorry for that, too. I honestly never meant to go so far with you that night, and I was way too rough and forceful with you.”
“No, you weren’t,” she immediately refuted. “I’m a grown, consenting adult, and I would have t
old you to stop if I didn’t enjoy what you were doing to me and how you were doing it. But the truth is, Remy, I liked it.” She stepped toward him, and bold as she pleased, she tucked her fingers into the collar of his T-shirt and pulled him close enough so that when she tipped her head up to his, her lips were only a few inches away. “I liked it a lot, or else I wouldn’t have come as hard as I did all over your hand. And I want more.”
Remy’s head was spinning, her brazen, unashamed words like a vise around his aching dick. Never had a woman ever been so direct with him about what she wanted, not even his ex-wife, and Jesus, it was such a fucking turn-on. “Tempest.” Her name came out on a low, warning growl as he fisted his hands at his sides.
A sinfully seductive smile curved her mouth, as if she knew he was so close to his restraint snapping like a weak rubber band. “You can’t tell me that I was the only one who liked it, that the pleasure was all one-sided, because we both know that would be a lie. I felt how hard and thick your cock was, and I saw all that heat and lust in your eyes before you walked out.”
“God, it was fucking hot, and so were you,” he admitted on a groan. “But the truth is, I am not the guy for you.”
She laughed softly. “You are the guy for me. My unicorn guy,” she said, though he had no fucking clue what that meant. “I’m not asking you to marry me, Remy. I get that you’re divorced and a relationship is the last thing you want, but I’m not looking for a commitment, either. I have so much on my plate right now that I don’t have the time to be anyone’s girlfriend . . . but a fun, discreet, no-strings-attached affair and more of those orgasms you gave me? I’m all in. How about you?”
God, she was offering him the ideal arrangement. Sex without expectations or any kind of emotional entanglements that could potentially lead to yet another woman abruptly walking out of his life and him trying to pick up the pieces they left behind. Their eyes were wide open, Remy wanted her like crazy, and maybe this was his chance to get her and the intense attraction they had for one another out of both of their systems.
“What’s it going to be, Remy?” she asked, lightly kissing the corner of his mouth, teasing him. “Do you want me to stay, or do you want me to go?”
“You’re going to stay.” Never had a decision felt so right. “And I’m going to finish what I started that night of the ball.”
Her eyes widened in surprise, as if she hadn’t expected such an easy agreement from him, but that shock quickly changed to delight. Now that the decision was made, he grasped her hips in his hands and guided her back until her ass hit the conference table. He quickly and easily lifted her so that she was sitting on the surface, then pushed her knees apart so he was standing in between and he was the one in charge.
After resisting Tempest for so long, for three goddamn years, the need to have her was so staggering he gave in to the heated desire burning him up inside. Shoving his fingers into her hair, he tipped her head back, and she looked up at him with bright, encouraging eyes right before he crushed his mouth to hers in a deep, hungry, claiming kiss.
He held nothing back, his tongue swirling deftly around hers, again and again, as he all but drowned in the sweet taste of her. She made a soft, aroused sound against his lips as she kissed him back with equal passion, her own hands tangling in his hair as she squeezed her legs tight against his waist, trying to draw him closer so she could rub herself against the hard erection bulging the front of his jeans. The taut hem of her skirt blocked her attempt, and she made a sound of frustration that had him releasing her hair and dropping his hands to her thighs to shove her skirt all the way up to her hips.
Dying to know what she was wearing beneath, he pulled his mouth from hers and looked down between her spread legs, taking in the white silk and lace covering her pussy, the fabric already wet from just kissing him—or maybe it had been the argument beforehand that had gotten her all hot and bothered. Either way, he wanted to see everything all that innocent-looking lace was keeping from his gaze. All the pretty secrets that were going to be his for the taking.
She braced her hands on the table behind her, angling her body as he slid his hands up the insides of her smooth, supple thighs, widening them even more until he reached her panties. He pressed his thumb right where he knew her clit was located, and she moaned and shivered at his accurate touch.
“All you have to do is unsnap the crotch,” she said, her voice both breathless and eager. “It’s just like the one-piece teddy that I showed you that night, but in white instead of black.”
“Easy access,” he murmured, remembering what she’d told him that night. “Such a naughty girl. Did you come here for our meeting thinking I’d fuck you?”
Her laugh was soft and husky and wrapped around his dick like a fucking dream. “I was hopeful.” The look in her eyes was flirty, but honest, too, which he found way too endearing.
Finding the little row of snaps, he wasn’t gentle about yanking them open, the hard jerk of the material making Tempest gasp. With her leaning back and her legs spread, he looked his fill of her pussy, at the pink, petal-soft folds of her labia open for him, and all the slick moisture glistening on her sex. She didn’t shy away from his stare, didn’t even attempt to try and cover herself, and he fucking loved her confidence and uninhibited nature with him.
He dragged two fingers along her soaked pussy, and when he reached her core he pushed them both all the way inside her. He gently rubbed along her inner walls, and she started to pant, her eyes growing hazy with pleasure as he stroked in and out of her and his thumb massaged her clit.
He met her gaze, wanting her to know a deep, dark secret of his. “I have a confession to make about that night,” he murmured as he continued to pump his fingers slow and steady and deep. “After fucking you just like this, I went home with the smell of you on my fingers and do you want to know what I did?”
His dirty girl nodded her head eagerly. “Tell me.”
He could feel the corner of his mouth curve in a wicked grin. “I took out my still-throbbing cock and used that hand to jack off, all while imagining that my dick had been deep inside your body, instead of my fingers.”
She whimpered as he withdrew his hand from her pussy and sucked those two digits into his mouth while she watched, licking them clean. “You taste so fucking good it drives me wild. I want to eat you out.”
“Remy,” she breathed, the one word filled with a desperate, aching need.
Lifting her legs by the knees, he bent them back, opening her even wider, and buried his face between her legs. The second he raked his tongue along the soft folds of her pussy, she cried out, her head dropping back on her shoulders. With her arms still stretched behind her to keep her balance, he licked and probed and sucked her swollen sex, his mouth on her utterly greedy and ravenous. She tried to thrust her hips forward, but his hands gripping her thighs gave her no leverage to do so and forced her to endure every wicked swirl of his tongue, every sinful slide of his lips, and the nip of his teeth along that sensitive bundle of nerves until he finally let her have the release she’d been chasing.
She moaned and shook, her body surrendering to his ministrations as she lost herself to the ecstasy rippling through her. Gasping from the pleasure he’d given her, she lifted her head again, her eyes glazed with desire as she looked down at him, watching as he gave her pussy one last lick before he released her legs, jerked her hips to the very edge of the table, and stood straight so he could seal his mouth over hers.
His hand curled around the back of her neck to keep her lips fused to his as he deepened the kiss, sharing the salty-sweet taste of her orgasm lingering on his tongue. She moaned eagerly, and his dick pulsed painfully in his jeans as she went a little wild, her hands tangling in his hair as their mouths found a rough, hungry rhythm that ramped up her need all over again.
With her sitting up now, she was able to use her hands and they went straight for the waistband of his jeans. As frantic and desperate as he was to get inside Tempest, her fi
ngers were equally frenzied as she pulled on the button closure and opened his fly. She tugged the denim down his hips, along with his boxer briefs, freeing his shaft. He groaned in the back of his throat and against her lips as she gripped the thick length of his cock in her hand, stroking him a few times before guiding him forward.
His whole body tensed as the sensitive head encountered the slick wetness between her thighs, jarring his common sense into realizing he was completely bare.
“Wait,” he croaked, clenching his jaw and breathing hard as he met her startled gaze. “I don’t have a fucking condom on me or even upstairs at my place.”
She hesitated for a moment, then licked her lips before offering up a solution. “I’m on birth control, and as of my last annual check, I’m clean.”
He swallowed hard as she waited expectantly for his reply. “I am, as well. I haven’t been with a woman since my divorce.” That last piece of information came out automatically, before he could censor it. Fuck.
Her mouth dropped open in disbelief. “You haven’t been with anyone in three years?”
God, he didn’t want to get into that discussion right now. “Yes. Now close your mouth before I put it to better use,” he growled.
She flashed him a sultry grin as her thumb brushed over the crown of his shaft, making his cock jerk in her hand. “I’m not opposed to that idea, but I really want you inside me. Right now.”
She lined him up again, and wrapping her legs around his hips, she drew him closer, until a few inches of his erection pushed into her sheath. He lost his breath at the amazing feel of her snug flesh already clamping down on his dick.
“Fuck me, Remy,” she whispered, spurring him on.
With a long, hard, driving thrust, he buried himself to the hilt, matching Tempest’s pleasurable groan as her tight heat completely engulfed him. He slid out, then back in, taking a moment to luxuriate in the intense sensation of finally being inside this woman he’d wanted for so long.
