by Lily Zante
I’m breathless, and the throbbing between my legs is so intense that I’m quivering. I’m ready for his kiss, but his hand moves to my neck, then traces over my collarbone again. He is driving me batshit crazy with this lingering and delay.
“Your skin is so soft,” he whispers, he’s close enough now that his lips graze my ear. It’s not only his fingers I feel on my skin, but his warm, sweet breath. The combination is a double hit to my erogenous zones. Then he kisses me, his lips brushing so gently at first, that I can't reconcile his soft touch with the boxer that he is.
I melt into him, as his soft and luscious lips claim my mouth ever so gently. His hands cups the back of my head, he angles his head, deepening the kiss.
We kiss for the longest time and the newness of his mouth, his lips, his tongue, all heighten every sensation. I moan, because I have hungered for his kiss for the longest time. We pull away briefly, to breathe and to stare at one another.
Only, he doesn’t look as playful anymore. He’s more serious. His moist lips make me want to kiss him all over again, but he doesn’t move.
And to my horror, he scoots back a little. I can see the training kicking in; his determination, his focus, his fight.
But I am soaked, and desperate, and I won't lose this moment. I swoop towards him, and splay my hands over his chest. I finally get to put my hands on his body. It’s the stuff of my dreams and I feel like a kid in a candy shop. I plant my lips over his, and explore his mouth. He snaps to it. His hands go around my waist and he pulls me towards him, as if he just made up his mind to go for it.
We kiss hard and fierce, as if the lust and longing, once tightly coiled in frustration, now has a release.
And then we hear something.
“Eli!” Lou's voice screeches from outside. In a flash we duck down, and stay close to the wall under the window, like I did when Eli found me.
We hear Lou mumbling something, and we hide like naughty schoolchildren. I'm breathing so hard, and I turn my head to look at Eli. He lifts his head towards the window, but doesn't try to sneak a peek.
Then the outside light turns off, and we hear the sound of a door closing.
Then, silence.
Eli lifts his head and steals a look out of the window. “All clear,” he says, then stands up.
“He said he was going to bed. So did Margrit!”
“One of the guys must have told him I was on my way back. They’re supposed to keep an eye on me.”
“Won’t Lou worry when he doesn’t find you?”
“He’ll see I made it back, because my phone and clothes are on the bed.”
I'm still crouched on the floor, and only when his eyes fall to it, do I discover that my towel has come undone.
Crap.
I rush to pull it together again, but Eli’s on the floor beside me, and he stops me. His eyes bore into mine as if he’s looking for my reaction. He must see the hunger in them because he whips my towel off and tosses it to the bench along with my clothes. Then he scoots towards the wall, resting his back against it and with his legs straight out. “Take a seat,” he orders, patting his thigh. His searing gaze takes in my naked breasts and I don’t need to be told twice. I have an ache between my legs and I need to feel him against me.
No sooner do I do that than his hands are around my waist, and he pulls me towards him. We kiss again, hungrier than last time, our lust amplified by the interruption.
His hand kneads my breasts, pulling, and pinching my nipples. I am so highly aroused now that I could come just from his fondling and kissing. And just when I think I can't get enough of him, he slips his fingers past the fabric of my panties and slides them around, exploring and teasing. I gasp in surprise. If he doesn’t know how wet I am for him, he will now.
“That’s not sauna steam,” he whispers into my ear.
“That’s all you,” I murmur, our lips brush as I savor the way he’s stroking me. I am drowning in pleasure. His hands, his fingers, his lips are an assault on my senses. “I’ve dreamt of this,” I tell him, not caring that my guard is down.
He moves away, jolting me cruelly, then stands up and lifts me as if I were nothing more than a feather floating on his thighs. My arms deadlock around his neck, and my legs wrap around his hips. I can feel his hardness and I grind into it.
“Easy,” he says, laying me down on the bench before ripping my panties off as if they hadn’t just melted anyway. I open my mouth to protest, but his finger slides into me, and all I can do is utter a dirty sigh.
“You’re so wet,” he moans, as if this gives him the greatest of pleasures. He dips another finger in and I bite my lip, arching my back because I am on the precipice, and he controls which way I fall. He clamps his mouth over mine, his tongue fighting for dominance as we kiss again, this time with an urgency. Eli pleasuring me at either end fogs my brain. I am in heaven, and I tremble, wavering on the edge of my release.
But he breaks the kiss off and moves away from me. My legs fall open, because I can’t control a thing. This time he thumbs my clit with the other hand, while his fingers pump in and out, driving me into a frenzy. The pressure builds and spirals upwards and outwards from my core. With his expert touch and attention, I’m a mass of beating heart, throbbing pussy and swollen breasts.
He bends down and sucks my breast hard, first one, then the other, and he’s still circling my clit. I open my legs wider, moaning as he suckles my nipple as if this was his first time. But I no longer want surface-level entertainment, I need more; something deeper, dirtier, more fulfilling.
His mouth is latched onto my breast, but I need his cock, and I’m desperate to relieve the ache between my legs. I reach out for his boxers and the steel pipe of his erection greets my needy hand. My fingers wrap around him and I marvel at the feel of him, at the size, and the hardness. I will die if I don’t get him inside me right now.
But he moves my hand away. “No,” he growls. His voice is coarse with need.
“I need you,” I whimper.
“I’m not done with you yet.”
Thank heaven. I could spend the whole night here with him. I try to pull his boxers down but I’m in a vulnerable position, lying on the bench, splayed out the way I am, and I can’t get the grip I need.
Only he moves his mouth away from my breast and adjusts his position so that he’s between my legs. Then he throws my leg over his shoulder, and spreads my legs wider.
“Fuck,” he says, staring at my pussy. He makes a noise, a feral, raw noise deep in his throat, and then his mouth is on me, and his tongue rolls over me, licking and tasting my clit while his fingers move inside me.
I feel as if he’s given me the most powerful aphrodisiac on the planet as heat surges through me and reaches every orifice in my body. Eli unravels me from the inside out, and I breathe out shakily. I have no control over my limbs, and I lay back, floating in nirvana, letting him take his fill. His greedy sucking lips make me see stars, but when he moves his fingers out and thrusts his tongue deep inside me, I shake and jerk to his touch.
My back arches off the bench, and I moan and squirm as he buries his face deeper in my pussy. I grab the wooden slats, desperate to grip hard onto something. The pleasure has been building for the longest time and I jolt, then cry out helplessly. The frustration of weeks of lusting after him finally releases with my orgasm. “Eli,” I moan, and lift my hips up to free myself, but his mouth is still latched on, and he’s still tunneling, and licking, and driving me wild.
“Eli!” I cry out, because my nerves jangle and tremble, and I feel ready to explode. “Oh…god, Eli!” I shudder with him at my most intimate place, but he doesn’t move away. His mouth and fingers still work their magic. I feel as if I could die from too much pleasure. This exquisite combination is something I have never experienced, not like this.
I cry out, forgetting where we are, as my orgasm tears through me, leaving me breathless. Slowly, he lets go, and kisses my inner thighs gently. His lips trail slowly up m
y belly leaving kisses in their wake.
“Oh, god,” I murmur, as he sucks my breast again. I rake my hand through his hair and grab on, needing a piece of him to hold on to.
My insides are fluid, and the space between my legs still throbs. And still, he lets me finish at my own speed, while leaving tiny kisses all over my body.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
ELI
* * *
I look down at her as she comes. Harper’s professional exterior has vanished, and she’s lying here open to me; vulnerable, and beautiful, and mine.
I hadn’t intended for this to happen. I thought we would fool around a little, but I should have known better. I should have known that I was on shaky ground after our first kiss.
I blame Lou.
If he hadn’t come in, I would have backed off after that first kiss, while I still could, but things got out of hand. Seeing her naked triggered it. And still I could have held back. I’m no stranger to resistance. I can close off my feelings at will. Taking in her naked body hit me hard, but I could have walked away.
Who am I kidding?
I haven’t been able to get Princess out of my mind ever since the night at Waquito’s when I saw her with Callum. Why else would I tell her to sit on me? Why else would I make a move I knew I couldn’t get out of. A move she couldn’t avoid. We kissed and my defenses fell.
Hard to keep it together when her gorgeous tits were in my face, and my fingers sank into her silky folds. Up until then, I thought it was a game.
I don’t know why I’m attracted to Harper, but I am. I’ve always been around women who let me know in no uncertain terms what they want from me. They fall for my physique. They like that I’m a boxer. Women like men with power, and physical power is the ultimate god. Some women like a man with money, but I bet most women want a man with a good body. When it comes to fucking, women want muscle. Doesn’t matter if their sugar daddy is rich, in the heat of the moment they want to feel muscle.
Harper’s no different.
Maybe it’s because she and I have been cooped up around each other for weeks. Maybe it’s because Callum and Athena showed us our real selves, but what happened just now was going to happen at some point.
It was only a matter of time.
I hated her at first, I own up to it. I hated her and everything she reminded me of. But she doesn’t come at me like the others, like Athena and the many women like her.
Nor does Harper hide it as well as she thinks she does.
My gut instinct is my survival beacon. I knew she found me attractive almost from the first day, but she didn’t give in to it, maybe because she’s a professional, or because her daddy wouldn’t approve of her taking up with someone like me. She didn’t give in, and I admire that.
I sit back and watch her come down from her orgasm. She’s naked, and she lies panting, her hand on her chest. I could look at her naked all day long. I want her. My hard-on is going to hurt, my blue balls are painful, but I won’t allow myself to do anything, even though I want to bury myself inside her. It takes all of my control to sit back and do nothing.
After a while, she slowly sits up, trying to cover her body with her hands. Too late because I’ve seen everything. Tasted everything. But I reach over for her towel, and hand it to her since she looks embarrassed.
“Why did you… stop?” she asks, staring at the hard-to-miss bulge in my shorts.
“You came.”
“But you... you’re not … done.”
“Watching you was as good as.”
She opens her mouth then looks as if she can’t bring herself to say anything, and instead wastes more time securing the towel around her. She looks uncomfortable, then tells me, “I wanted you.”
This brings a smile to my face. “I can’t get up to anything. You heard Lou.”
“Isn’t that a myth?”
“It could be, but I’m not willing to test it out, even if you tempt the hell out of me.”
She has no idea how much I want her. “I didn’t have a condom,” I tell her. “I wasn’t expecting to need one.” I don’t want her to think I didn’t want to, or that I don’t find her attractive, because I do. I want her badly.
Only just not now.
Having sex before a fight is going to take away my edge.
My hunger.
It will weaken me.
I’ve been building my mental discipline for months and I’m determined that not even Harper’s naked body is going to make me falter.
Afterwards, though… that’s another thing.
Her gaze slips to my boner again. We both want more. She has no idea how hard it was for me to stop when I did. What it took not to drive my cock inside her.
Her chest rises and falls, and I can see she’s having trouble accepting this. She’s caught in limbo, recovering from what just happened, and caught halfway between the lure of secret sex and at the same time aware of our professional relationship.
“I can reciprocate…” she says, scratching the back of her neck. That brings a smile to my lips.
“Hold that thought,” I tell her, surprising myself. Now my chest rises and falls because she’s placed an image in my head that I can’t shake. She’s got her mouth around me, and she’s giving me the best head I’ve ever had.
She says nothing, and I close my eyes for a moment longer than is necessary.
“You have good restraint,” she says.
“I want the belt.” It’s been my mantra ever since this fight was set up. Nothing takes my eyes off it, not even the offer Harper has made.
“And I want the story,” she says, reminding me why we came together in the first place. She picks up her clothes from the bench.
“You’ll get your story,” I tell her.
“And you’ll get your belt.”
We’re both standing now, and I want to kiss her again as I look down at her. Things have changed between us again, because of what just happened. We can’t go back to what we were before, but I’m not sure that we can easily step into the future.
She puts her arms around me in a surprise move and nestles against my chest. I hesitate at first but when her dark green eyes stare up at me, I feel a connection. I wrap my arms around her and we stand and hold one another for a moment.
I open the sauna door and we file out silently. She goes her way, and I go mine.
I return to my room with the smell and taste of her all over me.
The next morning, Lou wakes me at 4:00 a.m., an hour earlier than usual.
“Where the hell where you last night?” he asks, turning on the lamp by the door. The glaring light makes me want to bury my head under the covers. I’m exhausted, but that’s my fault because I couldn’t sleep last night. I tossed and turned with images of a naked Harper in my head.
“Here,” I say, forcing myself to climb out of bed. I mentally prepare myself for another brutal day.
“I knocked on your door. Santos called to say you were coming back early. I checked everywhere for you.”
“I was in the movie theater,” I say.
“No, you weren’t. I checked. I hope you weren’t up to no good.”
I know what he’s driving at. “You know me, Lou. I don’t go there. Even if that journalist was hot—and she’s not, she’s not my type—but even if she was, I wouldn’t go there. You know I’m a professional. If you’d checked the kitchen, you would have found me. I watched Garrison’s last fight then I made myself a snack.”
He seems satisfied with my report.
“Why am I up so early?”
“You’re running a longer distance. Fifteen miles today.”
“First thing in the morning?” I almost yell.
“Resistance and stamina, that’s the only way you’re going to get through twelve rounds with Garrison.”
I wipe my hands over my face. “Okay,” I reply. I’ve done everything Lou’s ever told me, and even though I’m bone tired, and I hate the idea of going through yet another day
like every day before it, I know this is what I have to do.
“Did you wake Jake and Santos?”
He grunts in disapproval. “They’re wasted. They got back too late. I’ll drive beside you and watch you run.”
Great. That’s all I need.
I'm out for a couple of hours, and then I get back and shower, and change, have a bite to eat, and it's back to training.
I see Harper in the kitchen with Margrit, but I barely look at her, just to keep things the same.
At lunchtime we all sit together and eat, and we still don’t get a moment alone.
Hard to dismiss her when she's in front of me. She lifts her fork to her mouth, and joins in the conversation, but every once in a while she'll throw me a look, and it’s enough.
Our hands brush together as we walk back to the gym. We're behind Lou and the others, and I grasp her fingers as we go through the double doors.
Then I go off and train some more, only I keep wondering if she’ll be in the spa room tonight. It’s a distraction, and one I didn’t want to have, but it is hard to block that out when I have such vivid memories of yesterday still so fresh in my mind.
The evening finally draws to a close. We’ve watched more fight sequences in the movie theater room. Margrit and Harper are missing. Lou says that Margrit is reading in bed, and I have no idea where Harper is. I don’t think she’ll go anywhere near the spa room tonight.
Santos and Jake are staying in because after last night, and the fact that they couldn’t get up this morning, Lou has them on a strict curfew.
I have another 4:00 a.m. start tomorrow morning.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
HARPER
* * *
I have to stay away from him if I want to help him. I don’t want Eli to lose this fight because of me. I shouldn’t flatter myself, but I’ve had a hard time trying not to think about our night in the sauna room.
Each time I recall it, my body starts to heat.
For all his steel determination, I bet Eli’s having as hard a time as me.