by Ali Parker
For consent.
And he had it.
“Yes,” I whispered.
Rhys pulled down my fly. I thanked my past self for choosing a cute pair of panties this morning to pair with my black lace bra that cost upward of a hundred and twenty-five dollars because having huge tits and a band smaller than thirty-four inches was hard to come across in a store that wasn’t a specialty boutique. Rhys shimmied my jeans down my hips, thighs, and knees and then tore them off my calves. Then he stepped between my legs and his mouth crashed against mine once more.
I wrapped my legs around his waist without thinking. Then I began undoing the buttons of his shirt from collar to hem until it was all the way open. I slipped my hands inside, cursing the undershirt he wore and wishing there was nothing but bare skin beneath my fingers. He shrugged out of his shirt. It fell to the linoleum. Then I pulled his undershirt off over his head and traced every ridge of muscle on his torso with shaking hands as our kiss deepened and my breathing quickened.
Rhys stilled my hands against his chest. He held them there under one of his massive hands and let his other hand wander to my knee. He traced a slow pattern there before dragging his fingers up my thigh. Goosebumps rose in the wake of his touch as he grazed my hip and then slid his touch across my panties, pausing right where I was sure he could feel my wetness seeping through the thin fabric.
He made a sound in the back of his throat that made my skin burn.
Then with just the right amount of pressure, he rubbed my pussy with his fingers.
This is so much better than your vibrator.
I came up for air when our kiss broke. Rhys looked down and smiled. “Have you been this wet since dinner?” His voice was deeper than usual and a little strained.
“Maybe.”
“There are only yes or no questions here, baby.”
I shivered. “Yes.”
“That’s better.” He patted my pussy. Hard. I flinched. He chuckled. Then before I realized what was happening, he took hold of the hem of my shirt and rolled it up, exposing my belly and bra and everything as he pulled it off over my head and tossed it over his shoulder.
My cheeks burned and my pulse fluttered wildly in my throat. If he was going to run, this would be the time.
“Damn,” he breathed.
“I know it’s a lot—”
“You’re so fucking sexy.”
I hated how the next words left me in a surprised squeak. “I am?”
Rhys let out a primal growl. Then he jerked the cups of my bra down. My breasts spilled out and he cupped them, pushed them together, and squeezed before deftly unclasping my bra.
I almost came undone in his hands right then and there.
I’d been right. I wasn’t too much to hold for him. For him, I was the perfect handful.
Rhys took my nipples in his mouth one at a time. He pinched gently with his teeth and rolled his tongue across the sensitive tips, teasing and tickling and flicking mercilessly. I flinched and danced in his hands but he could not be sated.
The muscles in his shoulders rolled as he braced himself with a hand on either side of my hips on the counter, and he sucked at my nipples, pulling until it was almost painful but not unbearably so. My body thrummed with an energy I’d never felt before and I found myself cradling his head to me, holding him to my breasts, desperate for more.
I didn’t realize how out of my depth I was until he undid his belt with a flick of his fingers and then his fly, and he dropped his pants.
The outline of his cock was obvious despite his black skin-tight boxers and the poor lighting in my kitchen. He was huge. And not just huge as in, I was a virgin and had never seen a dick in person before huge, but like, really huge.
I felt my insides tighten with panic.
There was no fucking way in hell that thing was getting inside me.
Rhys moved to pull my panties down. He’d managed to pull them down two inches before I stopped him with a hand on his chest. “Wait.”
He frowned. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I just—”
At the word nothing, he continued pulling them down. He got them down around my hips and I lifted a leg, pretzel-ing myself to plant one foot on his stomach. I pushed him away. He cocked his head to the side, confused.
“Did I do something wrong?” he asked.
“No, I just… I need to tell you something before we go further with this.”
He stood there looking sexy as hell, his head tilted to one side, his arms slack at his sides, and nodded for me to continue. “Okay.”
I licked my lips. They tasted like his kiss. “I’ve… I’ve never done this before.”
“Done what?” he asked innocently.
The poor stupid idiot had no idea what he was getting into.
Honesty time. Go Vanny. You can do this.
“Sex. I’ve never had sex before.”
He couldn’t hide his surprise. It showed in the brief widening of his eyes, the tightening of his jaw, the straightening of his posture. “Oh.”
“I understand if you don’t want to keep going.”
“What makes you think I want to stop?”
“I don’t know. It’s a lot. I get it if you think it’s weird and you don’t want to be the guy to deflower me.”
Oh good God. Why did you say deflower? There are so many other words you could have used, you bumbling bimbo.
He looked me up and down. “I definitely want to be the guy.”
“You do?”
“Yes. So long as you want me to be the guy.”
“I do.”
“You’re sure?”
I nodded. I was pretty sure. As sure as I could be, at least. If I regretted it in the morning, that was on me. Not him. “I’m sure.”
He moved closer with caution, like he was afraid I might try to push him away with my foot again. I didn’t. Then he picked me up and set me down on the floor.
“What are you doing?” I whispered.
“Taking you to your bedroom. A kitchen counter is a good place to fuck. It’s not a good place to lose your virginity.”
“Are you speaking from experience?”
Rhys laughed. It was such a wonderful sound. Deep and powerful and unabashed. He bent his knees and scooped me up in his arms. I interlaced my fingers behind his neck as he carried me through the kitchen and down the hall to my bedroom, where he laid me down on the bed with ease. He brushed my hair off my face and made his way down the length of my body, leaving a trail of kisses as he went, pausing when he reached my panties once more.
“Let’s try this again, shall we?” he asked.
I nodded.
Then slowly, he pulled my panties down my legs. He left them dangling from my right ankle and pushed my knees apart. I fought the urge to close them as he settled between my thighs, his naked torso resting upon me, crushing my breasts. He kissed me softly at first and then more urgently, until neither of us could stand it and we were writhing upon the sheets all tangled up in each other.
Then he moved back down. All the way down. Until his face was between my thighs.
Goodbye vibrator. Hello wildest fantasy.
Chapter 29
Vanessa
Rhys Daniels.
Moonshine business billionaire. Savvy dresser. Loyal friend. Athlete. Great kisser.
Oral sex champion.
Not that I had anything to compare it to, of course. But as his tongue lapped at my juices and flicked over my clit and my blood rushed in my ears, all I could think was that there was surely no better feeling in the world than this, and no man better with his tongue than the one between my thighs.
He slid his hands under my ass and around my hips. He squeezed the flesh there and it didn’t make me self-conscious. It made me feel secure and desired. The rush of confidence I felt when he moaned into my pussy was unlike anything else I’d ever felt, and I gave in to the impulse to plunge my fingers into his hair and watch him as he drew my clit betwe
en his lips and sucked.
“Oh yes,” I breathed, my head falling back to the mattress, my eyes practically rolling back in my head with pleasure.
It was almost too much. Almost. But it was also just right.
My toes curled and the world tipped and spun and faded away until there was nothing but the pleasure at the tip of his tongue. It coursed through me in rising waves, building and building until all I could do to hold on to it was gather the blankets beneath me into fists and arch my spine.
Soon, even that tactic failed me.
In a rush of breath and a cry at the ceiling, I came. It was explosive and body shaking. My thighs quivered and shook and spasmed, and I was delirious when Rhys’s fingers replaced his tongue. He rubbed me just hard enough to keep the orgasm going, and then his fingers slipped lower, playing with my opening. I could feel how swollen he was.
He licked his lips. “Tell me if I hurt you.”
I didn’t have the capacity to answer him. And I didn’t want to. I trusted him to take me through this ride as he saw fit. What was a little pain anyway?
He pushed inside.
I gripped the sheets tighter. The pain was dull. More of an uncomfortable pressure than anything. But it grew into something else until it snapped, sharp and quick, and Rhys gave me all of his finger.
“Relax, baby,” he breathed.
I lost all sense of time and space in that moment with him. I was nothing but pleasure and need. I was greedy, too. I wanted more. Always more. And Rhys gave it to me. I lost count of how many times I came. Enough to make my thighs and the bottom of my feet cramp, enough to leave the back of my neck sweaty and my pussy dripping.
When Rhys finally straightened, he licked his fingers clean. I thought I’d be horrified, but I wasn’t. Then he pulled his boxers down. His cock sprang free and he got to his knees on the bed.
“I think you’re ready,” he said.
“Are you sure?”
“Don’t be scared.”
“I’m not.”
I was. I was very scared. Two fingers were still a hell of a lot smaller than the monster between his legs.
“We don’t have to,” he said.
I wasn’t backing out now. Not when I was so close to finally taking the plunge. I shook my head. “No. I want this. I want you.”
“Good answer.”
Rhys pushed my legs open. My heart raced. I felt like a teenage girl, woefully unprepared for what was about to happen and scared and full of nerves. My palms were sweaty. I hoped he didn’t try to hold my hand.
Shut up, Vanny. People don’t hold hands when they’re fucking.
Do they?
He stroked the length of his cock. “I’ll take it easy on you, baby. Until you beg for more.”
He dropped his hips. The head of his cock ran between my folds and I bit down on my lip as he entered me. I moaned or whimpered—it was something between the two—and he slid inside me, filling me up one slow inch at a time until it was too much and I gasped and tried to close my legs.
He stopped and pulled out but only halfway. Then we rocked together. His thrusts were slow and steady. I wondered how much willpower it took for him to hold back. Did he want to fuck me hard and fast? Was he an animal in bed? Did he like it like this?
Probably not.
But he was putting in the time. He was taking care of me.
While he fucked me slowly, he lowered himself to kiss me. The kiss was wet and deep, and I let his lips and his tongue distract me enough for him to push in deeper. I moaned into his mouth. He returned the moan with one of his own, deep, masculine, and needy. His hips pushed forward. I pressed my nails into his back.
Then with a sharp thrust, he gave me all he had.
I cried out. He clamped a hand over my mouth and gave it to me again. The pain evaporated. I descended into a state of glorious pleasure as Rhys worked himself deep inside me. The pressure was intense. I cried his name into the warmth of his palm as I came. My pussy was wetter. Rhys’s cock slid in and out of me effortlessly now. He groaned above me. His jaw tightened. His shoulders rolled. Everything about him shifted from controlled to primal.
I pried his hand from my mouth. “Harder,” I pleaded. “Please.”
His smile flashed, his eyes darkened, and he did as I asked, pushing my legs back and fucking me deeper. Harder. Faster. Until I couldn’t see anymore because my eyes were rolling back and my bedroom was lost to the oblivion of another orgasm. After I came, he pulled out quickly. Hot lashes of come streaked my belly and tits, and I reveled in the sounds of pleasure that escaped him before he fell to his back beside me on the bed, and we both gazed up at my ceiling.
I closed my eyes and felt a smile tugging at my lips. “I get it now.”
He turned his head to me. “Get what?”
Giggling, I met his gaze. “Why people love sex so much.”
He laughed. “For the record, it’s not always that good. But when you’re with me?”
“Take it easy, stud.”
His laughter danced around my sex-muddled brain as he sat up. He squeezed my thigh. “Stay where you are. I’m going to get a towel and some water. Then we’re going again.”
I propped myself up on my elbows and watched him pad out into the hall toward my bathroom. “We are?”
He paused in the dark doorway. “You bet your sexy ass we are. Don’t move.”
I collapsed back down on the bed and smiled like an idiot at my ceiling.
Mr. No Name had taken my V-card and he didn’t even know it.
Rhys looked like a different man in his sleep. Not entirely different. Not so different that he was less handsome, less chiseled, or less godly.
Just different.
Relaxed. Calm. Peaceful.
He was lying on his back. His face was turned slightly toward me. We’d been talking before he drifted off. His left hand was on my thigh and I was afraid to move for fear of waking him. It was silly really.
But still, I stayed motionless and watched his chest rise and fall. I watched his pulse flicker at his throat and his eyelids move as he dreamed. I didn’t know how long I stared at him. We’d probably gone to sleep around two in the morning. Maybe a little later. The sex had been vigorous. Animalistic even. And it had been life-changing.
I wanted to do it again.
The world outside my bedroom window was just beginning to lighten with the very early morning light when I finally closed my eyes and submitted to my fatigue. I melted deeper into the mattress and focused on the warmth of the man’s hand on my thigh and how good this closeness felt. How safe it was.
Just as sleep gathered tightly around me, I was yanked out of it by the sound of a phone buzzing on the nightstand.
My eyes fluttered open. I lifted myself up onto my elbow and peered at the nightstand on Rhys’s side of the bed as his phone lit up. The call ended and went to voicemail. Within another thirty seconds, it rang again. It was the same phone number.
It must have been important to call at this hour. It was four twenty-three in the morning.
I shook Rhys’s shoulder. “Rhys. Rhys. Someone is calling you. Wake up.”
He groaned.
My heart fluttered. Damn him and how cute he was in sleep.
I shook him harder. “Wake up!”
His eyes opened and focused on me. Then they narrowed. “What’s wrong?”
“Your phone.”
Frowning, he rolled over, pulling half the blankets with him. I yanked hard, trying to pull them back over my naked body, but it was no use. His phone rang again and he cupped it to his ear, quickly clearing his throat to chase away the croak left from sleep. “Hello?”
I couldn’t make out the words the person on the other end was saying, but I could tell they were speaking quickly. Almost panicked.
“Slow down, Clay.” Rhys sat up, stealing even more blankets. I sat up with him. “Tell me what happened.” His eyebrows knit together. His muscles tightened. Then suddenly, Rhys was swinging his leg
s off the side of the bed and getting to his feet. “I’m on my way. Was anyone inside?” A brief pause. “Thank God. Sit tight. Tell them I’m coming.”
He hung up the phone and fetched his boxers from the floor. He stepped into them and did a little hop step to pull them up. “Where the hell are my clothes?”
“Kitchen.”
He hurried out of my bedroom and down the hall. I followed, pausing only to grab my robe off the back of my bedroom door. “Rhys, what’s going on? Is everyone okay?”
He put his jeans on in the kitchen first. A songbird outside the window chirped. “Yes. Emergency at work. I hate to skip out on you like this.”
“It’s okay. What happened?”
“There was an explosion at one of my distilleries. The one I took you to the other night. Luckily, nobody was hurt. But it doesn’t look good to investors. Especially when, according to my assistant, people are already whispering about foul play.” He came to me as he pulled his shirt over his head. His hair was an unruly mess, his jaw was covered in stubble, and I wanted to jump his bones right then and there. “I’m sorry, Vanny. I have to go.”
“Do you want me to come with you?” I didn’t know why I offered. It was weird. It was the kind of thing a girlfriend would do. And I was not his girlfriend.
“No. It’s all right. You go back to sleep. I’ll call you later. Yeah?”
I drew my robe tightly around myself and followed him to the door. He stepped out into the hall and took several strides to the elevator. Then he paused, turned back, and gave me a kiss that I hoped meant last night wasn’t just a hookup to him.
Because I had a new addiction and I’d have been a fool to let him and his made-for-sex body out of my sight anytime soon.
Chapter 30
Rhys
“It’s been the week from hell, Gigi. Truly.”
Gigi added a second scoop of sugar to her tea and stirred. “But you made it through unscathed. That’s something, isn’t it?”
“I suppose.”
I’d barely made it through unscathed. Just barely. Since the fire at the distillery, business had been chaotic. Clay and I had put in countless hours at the office after hours to ensure our investors that the loss of the factory would not slow profits. If anything, a bit of drama in the tabloids might increase product sales. I’d even pushed production of the chai moonshine up, relocating the recipe to a secondary location and bringing in new staff to increase productivity. We’d be launching by the end of the month. And by my calculations, sales would be record-breaking.