Yet, nothing had changed. I would lose all I’d worked for. Gunnar must have told him he was in danger of losing out. Emono would hurt him too; that meeting with Ryan and HR hadn’t just been about me. I couldn’t give up, and he shouldn’t want to give up everything we’d worked so hard for either.
I’d overstepped, but tomorrow I’d fix things at work. Paul would see that I’d moved on, and I’d go on ahead with this date. If I went inside the restaurant. I hadn’t had any second thoughts until now.
Light rain poured over me as I stood outside of the door. Through the glass front, I could see Brett. He’d been nice on our phone calls and looked just like his picture, a tall, clean-cut, red-headed gentleman in a polished business suit. He casually chatted with the hostess and checked his watch. I was over an hour late, but he’d waited for me.
Dating Brett would solve everything. Paul and I would have our friendship. We’d have a successful soundtrack. That was for the best.
I went inside and over to Brett.
“You finally made it,” he said, then presumptuously moved to kiss my lips in greeting, and I stepped back; the pressure of Paul’s lips still lingered there. No doubt it had been a deliberate strike by Paul to light the fire that burned only for him. He’d tried to enforce his will, sure of the hold he had on me. Would the feelings I had for him ever stop? It scared me how much I cared for him. Brett was offering me an opportunity to erase Paul’s touch, but I couldn’t even let that go. My heart clenched at the thought of Paul out of my life forever.
“I can’t do this, I’m sorry. I’m not ready to go on a date,” I blurted out. “I’m leaving.”
Brett gave me a confused look. When he realized I was serious, he frowned. “You’re already here. Can’t we at least have dinner together?”
I shook my head. “A lot happened today.” Paul happened. “I just want to go home alone. Sorry.”
He received my apology, but the displeasure in his expression told me that he’d never want to see me again. Undeniably, what I’d done was rude, but even sitting for dinner was a step too far away from where my heart longed to be.
I walked back outside and realized I left my backpack in Paul’s car. My eyes inadvertently went over to the spot where his car had been, and I sucked in my breath. Paul’s car was not only still there; he was standing next to it with my bag. He had his phone by his ear, but when our eyes met, he put it away. Even though I’d resisted the truth, I knew in my heart I wanted to be with him.
We closed the distance between us, and I launched myself at him. He lifted me up in his arms as I kissed him.
“You’ve ruined my date.” I sobbed into his mouth.
“I know I did,” he admitted, kissing my face. “You can’t be with someone else when you’re mine. Just like I can’t. We belong to each other.”
My heart leaped at his admission, unleashing the passion I felt for him.
Paul moved us into the car and told Regan to go to his place, then closed the partition between the seats. His fingers tangled in my hair, pulling it back while crushing his mouth to mine. His tongue pierced through my lips and invaded my mouth, filling mine with the mint chocolatey taste that was his.
He smelled good; he felt good. God, we were hot. We were frantic, our mouths sliding over each other. His hands were on my breasts, rubbing and squeezing. My nipples puckered under my bra as his palms moved down my waist to my ass, caressing it. He didn’t have to ask; I pressed into his touch, letting him know just how much I wanted him. My hands rubbed over the solid muscles of his back. Neither one of us were willing to break our hold on each other.
My body swelled and pulsed. I was so wet. “Paul, would you…,” I whispered, clasping his hand to my thigh.
He slipped a hand under my dress and groaned as he lightly stroked my clit through my thong, making my breath stagger. “I’ll take care of you.”
He continued to kiss me and stroke my clit, keeping me on edge the rest of the ride to his place. I was delirious with the sensation and eager to feel his touch against my bare skin. I hadn’t expected it, but a small burst of bliss took me. I gripped his bicep and moaned as I shattered into him.
“I’ll make you come all night,” Paul groaned against my neck, sucking my skin. I wanted his promise. I wanted everything Paul would do.
I didn’t hesitate at his garage when Paul took my hand and pulled me out of the car. We’d barely unlocked the door to his home and stepped into it when I felt his hands push my hair to the side, and his lips press against my neck. His hands reached down and tugged at the zipper of my dress as he planted soft yet desperate kisses from my neck to my shoulders. He kissed me again, his hands freeing me from my dress. I watched as his eyes ravaged my warm, excited body, drinking in the sight of my curves wrapped tightly in my red, laced lingerie.
“Did you wear this for me?” he asked, a tinge of jealousy in his low, rumbling voice.
“I thought of you. He never touched me,” I whispered.
“I want you to feel this,” he suddenly demanded. “I want you to feel what you do to me every…single…day.”
He yanked me up against him, my legs hoisted around his waist as he pressed his body in so that I could feel the outline of his cock, straining against his jeans and against my panties. I whimpered.
Setting me down, he clasped my face in his rough hands, glued his lips to mine and kissed me passionately. Our tongues danced with each other in a tangled, erotic mess. I felt his hands unclasping my bra. When it came loose, he pulled it off me and threw it to the floor. Then he ran his fingers across my body, tickling and teasing my skin with a sudden gentleness. His fingers tugged at my nipples, twisting and rolling them until I moaned in pure ecstasy. Lowering his face to my breasts, he wrapped his lips around my now erect tits. His soft, warm tongue soothed them, licking and sucking on them fervently. I sunk my fingers into his hair and dug my nails into his scalp in immense pleasure. My other hand sank down between his legs, and desperately tugged at the cock I could feel throbbing inside his jeans.
“I’m going to fuck you,” he growled. “But first, I want to taste how sweet you are after you came in my car.”
I bit my bottom lip and nodded, trembling in anticipation.
He hooked his fingers into the sides of my panties, and slowly pulled them down to my ankles. Kneeling in front of me, he lifted one of my legs up onto his shoulders, and then buried his face into my pussy. He licked at it hungrily, before he found my clit, closed his lips around it, and began sucking.
“You taste so fucking good,” he groaned, the sound of his voice reverberating against my cunt.
I gasped and gripped his head, grinding my hips against his mouth. I could feel the tension building between my legs, and I whimpered quietly as I felt his tongue dig deeper and deeper into my wet slit. My back tightened, and my thighs began to shudder uncontrollably. Paul didn’t relent. His tongue lapped at my pussy with even more urgency than before. When I felt him press a finger into me, my pleasure rushed to its climax. I screamed in ecstasy, writhing in his grasp.
“That’s enough,” I panted, out of breath.
My clit had become too sensitive. It throbbed, aching.
“Would you deny me?” he challenged, his mouth still pressed up against me. Without warning, he swirled his tongue against my clit. A rush of excitement shot through my body and I shuddered hard, my legs involuntarily sliding opening again. I heard a triumphant laugh as his lips dug into my swollen, dripping sex again.
He had me.
I belonged to him just as he had told me so many times. I was his.
Again, his tongue thrust inside me. As he lapped and sucked, he pressed two of his deft fingers into me and teased me with a ‘come-hither’ motion. Then, he drove them in and out of my hot core slowly while his tongue serviced my clit oh so dutifully.
My eyes were welling up at the intensity of his ministrations.
It was so much.
It was endless.
He was
unyielding, and I was delirious.
I was crying out because I desperately wanted it to end, just as much as I wanted it to go on forever. It ached, and my clit throbbed, but I was too turned on to want to stop him. I was his possession. My desire for him was all I was in that moment, and like a sudden rush, I exploded, climaxing for him again.
I was weak in the knees when he finally set me down on the floor before briefly leaving me. He came back and undid his pants, freeing his thick, long, erect cock. He rolled a condom along its length and brought his swollen rod to my entrance, pressing it into my wet, dripping opening.
My nails clawed at his back as I cried out in sweet agony. He was so fucking big. He kissed and caressed me soothingly, but his thumping hips didn’t stop their onslaught on my pussy. I wanted to scream with abandon. I never wanted him to stop.
He groaned each time he slid his cock in and out of me. The room filled with his hoarse growls, and the sounds of our skin slapping into each other. My body was being pushed to the limit, and my sex stretched to take his large, throbbing cock. Each time I thought I had finally come to terms with his size, he twisted and plunged deep inside me again. He didn’t hold back, and I was overcome, enamored of his large, muscular presence. He picked up his pace and rhythm, beginning to hit that spot inside me. As soon as he found it, I felt myself coming undone.
“Paul! Paul, yes, yes, yes!”
I felt myself spasm around him, my inner walls squeezing his thick cock, unable to hold back. A light flashed across my eyes—Am I passing out?
“Paul, Paul…” I whispered breathless.
“Fuck, give me all of you, Aubrey,” he moaned.
His thrusts became wilder and more unreserved as he took me hard and fast. My body shuddered and my tits bounced as he pounded into me.
I felt him let go. His powerful body shifted over me and shook. A guttural moan escaped his lips as I felt his cock tighten inside me, and then explode. In that moment, he looked so masculine, and his groans sounded so primal.
He’d reached something inside me in those seconds, I felt more deeply and intimately connected with him than I ever had.
He removed the rest of his clothes, and every piece he took off revealed another part of his jaw-droppingly sculpted physique. His appeal was simply… devastating. I stared at his body just as intently as he had at mine. He was beautiful.
We both lay on the floor, breathing heavily. Minutes passed in a blissful silence, before he pressed his lips to mine again and kissed me deeply.
Moving to our sides, we turned our heads towards each other.
My heartbeat so hard I could feel its pressure in my ears.
“You’re so beautiful,” he said.
I wiped the sweat from his brow, with my hand and our eyes met. There was too much emotion at the surface. This I found more revealing than our nude bodies. I closed my eyes.
“No. Don’t you fucking dare shut me out,” he demanded turning me over and pinned my arms to the floor as he moved over me. His beautiful face filled with determination and lust, “Stay with me.”
My eyes stung as his feelings spilled over into my own. “What do you want from me?”
His gaze turned tender. “I want you, Aubrey—all of you, including the parts of yourself that you hold back. That means no more putting me off or holding back from me. You want to be with me. I know you do.”
Fear overtook me, but I nodded, agreeing with him.
He’d demanded my body and my soul, and he planned to take it all. I couldn’t bear any distance from him now. He grew hard and entered me again, and I held on to him, not wanting to let go.
I surrendered and let him touch me, knowing he would ruin me for any other man. Piece by piece he would take me. But I couldn’t go with easy.
I embraced my chaos; I embraced this dream.
Aubrey
1:54 PM We will play Absolution live with Cara. Meet us in the studio.
Paul’s text came only six minutes before we were due to start our presentation with Emono. Afterward, we were to leave for Prague, but that I’d focus on later. He’d been busy attending to his dad’s business affairs, and I’d been preparing hard for the presentation. We’d spent the last week polishing everything to show off the soundtrack. Although there was work left in production, I believed it would decide the permanent job and could well be my last chance to outshine Daniel. While we hadn’t rehearsed for this change, I’d learned with Paul to always expect the unexpected.
I’d reached the hallway that led to the audio and sound studios. Instead of walking through the recording room, I used the back entrance to reach the live room. I took a deep breath to center myself and walked inside.
Cara talked through her headset from the stool next to Paul’s baby grand piano. She was facing the large picture window where I suspected Gary and all my colleagues were standing with Mike for the performance.
I tensed but kept moving further inside. Where was Paul?
He stepped into view next to the stand with the Testore violin, smiling sinfully and expectantly. Right then, I understood why Lucifer had lasted so long in heaven. Like Paul’s, his blinding good looks had entranced, even while he’d schemed. I’d bet all the money I had in the bank Paul had planned this.
“Warm up,” he said.
What he meant was for me to play Ysaÿe’s Violin Sonata No. 3 Ballade. He wasn’t starting us with Absolution, and that was another deviation from our presentation. I had no time to question him. I prepped my bow and positioned the violin to play. Paul had me warm up with this song almost daily. It had become second nature again.
As I went into the piece, my dad still came to mind, but Paul joined him. The sorrow was mixed with passion. My playing had, like my relationship with Paul, evolved.
I had too. What surprised me the most was that my performance was flawless. Even with all my frustrations and worries, I wouldn’t let him down.
“You’ve surpassed yourself,” Paul said at the end.
My eyes found his and my heart soared.
“It’s all you,” I replied softly, and it was. Everything that changed in my life recently had been him.
“Hello,” Cara interjected. “It touches me every time I hear you play it, Aubrey.”
I smiled and said, “Thank you,” before busying myself over at my stand, all the time beaming at her ease with me, and her praise.
“Gary and the Emono team are in with Michael, waiting for us to start,” Paul said, reminding me of our audience today.
“You both ready?” he asked Cara and me. At our assent, he added, “Let’s begin.”
The room filled with the notes for Absolution. The piece was haunting in its beauty. Cara’s voice singing a poem about absolution fused with our accompaniment. The song captivated just as it had in life in his loft some time ago. It had grown into something astonishing. It was me and Paul. My violin with his piano. Our sound fused together like magic, and when we finished, I was sure as my next breath we had nailed it.
Afterward, Cara leaned toward Paul. “That’s it. I’m adding violin to my next album.”
“You won’t get Aubrey’s sound. She’s one of a kind,” Paul told her.
My heart fluttered, and I quietly put the violin away. “Thank you, Paul, Cara,” I said politely, but I cheered inside.
I followed them out. After Paul and Cara shook hands with the team, they left the room. Shocked was the word to best describe the people who had been listening to us as my eyes darted over them.
Gary was first to approach. He surprised me by giving me a gusty handshake. “I didn’t know you could play like that. Wasn’t she amazing?” He turned toward the team.
“Cara’s part really stood out,” Ryan said, and Logan nodded along with Daniel. They were like dominos. The rest of the team had nothing to share, but today I didn’t care.
“Good,” I said with a lift of my chin. “I selected the poem that became the lyrics for Cara. I’m happy to hear you especially enjoyed t
hat part.”
“I didn’t know you were also helping the composition,” Gary said.
“I’ve worked on all aspects of the music for the soundtrack,” I replied.
Gary gave me a nod and lifted a brow over at Logan, but nothing in their expressions gave a thing away.
Paul returned to the office and led us to the conference room, where his assistant took notes for feedback.
“First, Cara was amazing,” Gary said to Paul. “Your music for the soundtrack is on point. I’m impressed, and it amazes our team how you took the ball and ran with it.”
“Your team has been professional,” Logan concurred. “The work has been stellar. The live presentation was wonderful. Thank you for doing that for us.”
“It was fine,” Ryan said when it was his turn. “I understand from Aubrey she was integral in adding the poem to Cara’s accompaniment?”
My pulse sped up as I looked at Paul.
“Yes,” Paul said. “Aubrey has been involved in all aspects of the project.”
Ryan leaned forward in his seat and grinned. “Now, I’d hate to be the bringer of bad news to such a good performance, but the poem didn’t really fit with our game.”
I had to speak up. This was my chance to get the full-time position.
“I think it does actually,” I said. “The poem provides a refreshing reflection on combat. It’s absolution; forgiveness. At the end of battle, we ask for absolution. It’s the message and title of the game. What do you think, Daniel?”
“I agree with Ryan. We should have a song about going into battle,” Daniel replied, and smiled at Ryan.
I frowned. “I don’t believe I ever heard you dissent on the direction from all the meetings we had on the project.”
Daniel tightened his jaw. “I had to work in both locations.”
“We both did,” I interrupted him.
“Yeah, but It seemed you and Mr. Crane had taken over the music direction,” Daniel said speaking louder. “I felt like I was left out. No offense, Mr. Crane.”
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