“Oh, God,” I moan.
“Not God, I thought I already made that clear, my love. I want you to shout my name when you come. Whether it is the first, the second, or the third time. You shout my name, understood?”
Three times?
Oh yeah, if he promises that kind of thing, I won’t be able to think anymore. But I would still like to tell him what I have said to him a hundred times in my head. He needs to know. “Yes, Max. Everything you want. I am yours. And not just for tonight.”
His eyes darken, and for a moment I think I can hear him growling, “Mine.” But I’m not quite sure, because a few seconds later he slides his tongue over my soft folds. There’s not a single piece of me that he leaves untouched. I tangle my hands in his hair and push him even closer to me.
“Someone is eager today.” He chuckles against my skin, making it even more intense. “I’m warning you, Valérie, this first ride will be short but powerful.”
He has not lied. He brings his head back between my legs, sucks my clit between his lips and pushes two fingers inside me. When he starts pumping his fingers in and out of me at an agonizing pace, I feel the orgasm bubbling up deep inside. Luckily, he has a strong grip on my hips and keeps me firmly pressed into the mattress. As if he feels that I need something extra, he curls his fingers and touches the magical spot inside me.
Fireworks shoot into my belly. My legs are shaking, and I’m sure he will have scratches on his back tomorrow from my heels digging in. Judging by his approving words, he has no problem with that. But he doesn’t give me much time to recover. He stands up straight and turns me around on the bed as if I’m as light as a feather. He forces me on my hands and knees and then stands behind me.
Somewhere during the intoxication of my orgasm, he took off his boxer shorts because I feel his naked skin against me. He places his dick at my opening and in one hard thrust he pushes in. “That was number one, but I promised three, so we’re not even halfway there, Valérie. Ready for number two?”
I don’t need to see him to know that he’s grinning from ear to ear. He likes to bring me to the edge and then push me over. And I can’t say I mind. None of my other boyfriends has ever treated me like that or managed to give me as much pleasure as Max has these past couple of weeks.
Max starts sliding in and out and bends over me. With both hands, he grabs my breasts and squeezes them firmly. When he pinches my nipples hard, it feels like he has a direct connection with my clit. The fireworks of earlier don’t seem to be completely extinguished yet, because I feel small sparks inside me again.
“Not yet, Valérie. I want you to come with me.”
“Hurry up, because I’m almost there.”
My remark earns me a hard slap on my butt.
“I decide when you come, Valérie.” He puts his hand between my legs and caresses my clit. He caresses faster and faster, and I can’t stop it anymore. No matter how hard I try, the orgasm rolls through me. Holy shit!
When I finally come back down to earth, Max turns me around so that I lie with my back on the mattress. He grins at me before he crawls over me and kisses me gently.
17
Max
Valérie lies on the bed. Her hair fanned over the mattress. A small layer of sweat beads over her entire body. After two orgasms she lies on the bed motionless, exactly like I wanted. I crawl up, gently pushing myself between her legs and kiss her softly on her lips. I glide my hands over her body, and I love how she gets goose bumps everywhere I touch her.
I kiss down her neck to her breasts and take her nipple in my mouth and suck hard, which immediately gives me a moan from Valérie.
“You didn’t think I was done with you, did you? I promised you three orgasms, and I’m fully committed to keeping that promise.”
I crawl back up and position myself on my knees between her legs. Very slowly I let myself slide inside of her. This time I gently make love to her. And even though it is much calmer than before, it feels just as intense. My heart beats faster, I knew I loved her, but I never tought it was possible to love her even more then I did all those years ago, but I do. I don’t want her to leave me. I have already left her once, and this time I will keep her with me. With my body, I try to make it clear to her what I can’t do with words.
It doesn’t take long before we both tumble over the edge in an all-consuming orgasm. Exhausted and satisfied I fall asleep with Valérie in my arms.
IT IS STILL DARK IN the room when I’m woken up by the constant buzz of Valérie’s cell phone. It stops for a while but starts again immediately after that so I suspect that whoever is calling her has an urgent reason to reach her.
Valérie is asleep so deeply that she doesn’t even hear it and I don’t want to wake her up, so I decide to answer it for her.
“Hello?”
The man on the other side of the line roars so loudly that I have to keep the phone away from my ear. “Who are you?”
“I’m Max, and you are...?”
“I’m Julian, Valérie’s boss. Why are you answering her phone?”
“That’s none of your business,” I snarl at him. “Do you always talk to Valérie like this?”
He has the guts to laugh. “How I speak to her is not your business. But since you picked up her phone, I have an answer to my question. She’s gotten our magazine into quite some trouble. Your little stunt last night has been featured far and wide in every newspaper today, while you promised that we would be able to report exclusively on this series of concerts. You can tell Valérie that she’s fired.”
Even before I can reply to him, the connection is broken. It is as if I feel her eyes on me because when I turn around, Valérie is looking at me with tears in her eyes. It is clear that she overheard the conversation. I throw the phone on the bedside table and want to grab Valérie, but she is too quick and is already getting up and dressed
“Valérie, wait.”
“Leave me alone, Max. This is exactly the reason why I tried to keep you at a distance, but no, you didn’t want to listen. Do you have any idea how important that job was to me?”
“We can solve this. Just let me make a few phone calls, and I’ll fix it.”
She laughs with contempt. She is sitting on the edge of the bed and is already dressed. I quickly put on my boxer shorts and stand in front of the door holding the doorknob before she can’t storm out.
“Take your hand away,” she shouts. “Let me go!”
“Valérie, I understand you’re angry now, but stay here. Together we’ll find a solution.”
“I can’t stay here; I have to call Fanny now and explain everything before Julian can call her.”
I do not intend to let her go. She can stay here while calling Fanny. After all, she didn’t know what I was planning to do yesterday, so she’s not to blame at all. When my cell phone starts to vibrate, too, I look at it for a moment. It is in that second that Valérie takes her shot.
Before I can stop her, she’s out of the door. She runs to the elevator. I grab my jeans from the ground and put them on quickly. But by the time I am in the hallway, Valérie has already disappeared. She can’t possibly have taken the elevator, so I open the door of the stairwell and hear the tapping of her heels.
She may have her high heels on, but she sure is fast on them When she opens the door to the lobby downstairs, I am just behind her, but I cannot prevent her from entering the lobby. And then exactly what I was afraid of happens.
A horde of journalists immediately jumps around her. She can hardly move. Cameras flash on all sides. Without thinking about it, I step out after her, put my arm around her waist and pull her back into the stairwell. A few persistent photographers try to follow us, but fortunately, Mike and Steve have joined us, and they are blocking their way.
Once the door to the lobby is closed, I set Valérie back on the ground. She tries to run away immediately, but this time I’m in front of her. I push her back against the wall and put my hands around her caging her in so
she can’t escape. She has no choice but to look at me, and what I see then breaks my heart. She has tears in her eyes.
I’m used to all that media attention, but this is the first time Valérie has experienced up close what it’s like to be on the other side of the spotlight. Normally, she is the reporter; the one who asks the difficult, persistent questions. The thought of this makes me laugh. She wipes away her tears and looks at me angrily.
“Why are you laughing? This isn’t funny.”
I try to kiss her, but she turns her head away before I can touch her lips. “You have to admit that it’s not fun now that you’re on the other side.” I point to the door behind which all the journalists stand. “Normally, you’re on that side.”
For some reason, she sees the joke of it and starts to laugh. I am glad to be able to distract her thoughts for a moment. I let go of the handrail and extend my hand to her. “Are you going back with me to the room? I promise you that together we’ll find a solution.”
She looks back and forth between the door and my hand a few times. This is the moment when I will find out if she finally trusts me. Her warm hand slides into mine, and I immediately give it a reassuring squeeze. “Whatever happens, we will get through this together.”
THERE’S A KNOCK ON the door and I let Mike and Steve in. The journalists are still standing in front of the hotel, but they can’t get in here or to the top floor. Just to be sure, either Steve or Mike will always be standing in front of our door when we are here.
Valérie sits on my bed and stares in front of her. When I have discussed all the details with Mike, I sit next to her and pull her onto my lap. “Talk to me, sweetheart.”
“Am I fired?” she asks defeated. She doesn’t look at me, so I put my hand under her chin and force her to look at me.
“That guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about; he probably said it on a whim..”
“Okay,” she whispers.
“Wait, did you just agree right away? Without discussion?”
She laughs and looks at me. The tears have dried, and I see the determination in her eyes. “Yes. I know I may not have shown it before, but I trust you. I’ve known for a while, but when you sang that song for me last night, I knew for sure, I love you.”
“My God, Valérie, I love you, too. More than I could ever put into words.”
I kiss her and knot my hand into her hair to pull her even closer to me. Her hand caresses my chest, and before she knows it, she lies under me on the bed.
“Now show me how much you love me.”
She gives me a glorious smile that reaches her eyes before she pulls me back to her and smothers my words with a kiss.
18
Valerie
I sit alone in the common room. The whole band went to the studio today to work on new songs. Max would have liked me to join them, but I decided to use my free time to process all my interviews into a fluent article.
After the incident with the press, Max and I decided to go public with the news about our relationship. When I called Fanny and explained everything, she assured me that I still had my job. In fact, Fanny fired Julian immediately. I couldn’t get rid of the feeling that Max had something to do with that, but he told me not to worry about it.
I’ve received a few bad text messages from Julian, but they have stopped without too much drama. Again, I suspect that Max has something to do with it, but he keeps saying that I should leave it behind me and not think about it anymore. I trust Max, something I’ve never allowed myself to do before. But it feels great.
The last few days have been intense. Max loves the fact that he no longer has to hide that I’m his girlfriend, and he loves nothing more than to make it clear to everyone. A man only needs to look in my direction, even by accident, and Max becomes jealous. Some women would find it terrible, but I think it’s pretty cute.
The big table in front of me is littered with papers. All of my notes from the interviews I’ve conducted with the band members. I have more than enough data to write a great article. This morning I had a phone call from Fanny, to report that one of the staff photographers from Hard Beats will be here tomorrow. He will take pictures of all the band members and also a few during the evening’s concert. Then I can use those photos in my article.
I’m just starting on my third cup of coffee when the door swings open. The handle pops against the wall, and Jolene enters. She opens and closes her fists and walks back and forth in front of the table. I don’t even think she’s noticed that I’m sitting here; she’s completely turned into herself. I put my reading glasses on the table and go to her.
“Is everything okay?”
She’s startled when she hears me and puts her hand on her chest, and I notice that she has tears in her eyes. When she sees me notice that she’s crying, she quickly wipes away the last tears with her hand. “Do you understand anything about men?”
I smile at her. “I don’t think we will ever be able to understand men. But I can give you an ear and listen if you want.”
For a while, she stares at me, but eventually, she nods. “That would be great.”
“Let’s go to the café a bit further down the street; they have the best tea ever.”
“That’s a fantastic idea.” The angry expression of earlier returns to her otherwise soft face. “The last thing I want is John to waltz in here as if he were the king of the whole country.”
Her remark makes me chuckle. She looks at me for a moment, but then she also laughs. “Let’s go fast, then, before he’s here.”
“SOMETIMES I FORGET why I love him so much.” Jolene sighs. I lay my hand over hers reassuringly. We just ordered something to drink and sit at the table.
“Tell me what happened, who knows, maybe I can help?”
Jolene looks at me. “Maybe you can indeed help me. I forgot that you’re used to dealing with a man like my brother. He’s also a Neanderthal when it comes to women. This morning I told John that I want to postpone our wedding for a little while. But even before I could tell him the reason, he immediately got angry. He started yelling at me that he doesn’t understand how, three months before our wedding, I want to change everything. I tried to interrupt him, but he didn’t even let me talk. I even think he called me Bridezilla. Can you even believe that?”
The last remark makes me laugh. But I can’t imagine that Jolene would like to postpone her marriage so close to the party without a good reason. “Why do you want to postpone it?”
Her red, tearful eyes now look at me. “I discovered this morning that I am pregnant.”
Her words frighten me. I didn’t know they were already thinking about children. But I don’t think it’s a reason to postpone the marriage. Or does John not want children?
“Wasn’t John happy?”
Jolene sighs defeated. “He didn’t give me chance to tell him. I recently stopped taking the pill. We wanted children right away, but I didn’t expect it to happen that fast. As soon as he heard that I wanted to postpone the marriage, he became the eternal alpha male that no one can stand. He doesn’t know that I only want to postpone our marriage until after giving birth. I don’t want our child to think later that we got married because we had to. I want to marry John because I love him, not because I have to because I am pregnant.”
I completely understand her reasoning. I squeeze her hand to let her know I’m there for her. “You know, when you’ve both calmed down a bit, I’m sure he’ll listen to you. He loves you; you know that, right?”
“I love him, even when he becomes King Kong and starts beating his chest to get his way.”
That remark makes us both laugh. Just in time, because Jolene’s cell phone starts ringing and I see John’s face appear on her iPhone. She pauses our conversation and looks at me. “I may love him, but that doesn’t mean I’m not angry.”
Her cell phone stops ringing, and mine starts. It’s Max, and I have a suspicion of what he wants.
“Hi sweetie,” I answer.
“Have you seen Jolene? She had a fight with John and wants to cancel the wedding, and when John calls her, she doesn’t answer.” I look at Jolene, and she shrugs her shoulders. It is clear that I can no longer hide her.
“She’s here with me in the café across the street from the concert hall.”
I can’t say more, because the connection is broken. I look at Jolene. “Are you ready for this?”
She looks over my shoulder at the entrance of the café. “We’ll see in a moment.”
John walks past me, followed by Max. John immediately walks toward Jolene and pulls her out of the chair into his arms. He kisses her on her forehead and then looks at her. When he sees her tearful eyes, he gently caresses her cheek. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. Whatever is going on, we can talk it out. But we don’t have to move or call off our marriage, do we? Whatever it is, together we can handle everything.”
He kisses her once again softly on the lips to make his point clear. You can see that he loves her. When Max comes to stand behind me and puts his arms around me, I realize that I have found it, too. I never thought I’d fall so fast and so hard again for Max and yet that’s exactly what happened. The past few weeks have gone by in a blur. Even though I am afraid of what will happen at the end of this week when the concert series is over, I try to live in the moment. Max squeezes my hand and kisses me on my neck.
Together we look at John and Jolene who are still together.
“Tell me what is going on, cutie. You had me terrified.” John is clearly upset, and I secretly laugh that a woman manages to bring a tough guitarist with tattoos to his knees.
“I’m pregnant,” Jolene blurts out. From under her lashes, she looks up at John.
He immediately smiles from ear to ear. “Really, already?”
Say You Crave Me (Full Moon, #4) Page 13