“That was stupid. Women don’t like ultimatums.” He replies laughing.
“I love her, Mika.”
“I know you do, why do you think you’re still alive after touching her?”
I would laugh, except I know he’s not kidding.
Maybe he is right. Maybe I should go to her. Maybe…oh fuck it.
I rise to my feet.
“You are sure you are okay with this?”
“The two of you share the second place of important people in my life. I don’t think that anyone can make either one of you as happy as the other can. And that is what I want for the two of you. Don’t get me wrong. I am still a little pissed at both of you. But I can see why you did it. Both the lie about being together and keeping my father’s whereabouts from me. Don’t do that again.”
“I promise. I won’t.”
“I know you won’t.”
We nod at each other and I know it’s our way of saying we’re good. Men are simple like that.
“I have to go,” I tell him.
“Yes, for the love of God, don’t show up at the office wearing fucking sweats.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t go around the office saying the word fuck so much.”
“Privileges of being your own boss. I can say whatever the helI I want.” He replies with a smirk.
I roll my eyes and head out the door and straight to the elevator. I press the call button repeatedly, as if it is going to speed up. I remember my key and I fish it out of my pocket. This way it bypasses every floor and comes straight here. It works, the elevator cart arrives within seconds. It is not until I am halfway down that I remember that I ran here. When I reach the lobby it’s still pretty empty, there is nobody except some security guards that are rounding. There won’t be many cabs around at this time in the morning, so I do the only thing a man can do in my situation. I run.
* * *
If I wasn’t exhausted after this morning’s punishing run at Hudson Park, then this surely put me over the edge. By the time I reach Mikaela’s building I’m covered in sweat and out of breath. Luckily, the doorman knows who I am and I have no problem getting into the building. The elevator ride up is nerve-wracking. I feel as if I am a teenage boy asking a girl he likes to prom. I step out on the top floor and stride toward her door. Before I can knock, the door swings open and a wide-eyed Mikaela is standing before me in nothing but a towel. How the fuck am I supposed to concentrate on what I have to tell her with her standing before me, practically naked? I swallow hard.
“Is everything okay?” she breathes. “Is it Mika? Or Raeva? Oh my God, is it the baby?”
I blink, not understanding why her brain would possibly go to those places.
“Um. No, no. They are all fine.”
“Thank God.” She says. “But, then what’s wrong?”
“Why would you think something is wrong?”
“Because it is five-thirty in the morning and you clearly ran all the way here.”
I shouldn’t have forgotten how perceptive she is. I also should have thought about what a dumb idea it was to come to her at an ungodly hour.
“We need to talk.”
She steps aside.
“Would you like to come in for that?”
I nod and step forward and kick the door shut behind me. I don’t pass her though, instead, I cup her face in my hands and kiss her. I take her by surprise and she gasps. I take advantage and deepen the kiss, give her everything that I am feeling right now. Mikaela throws her arms around my neck and pulls me closer. The towel drops down and pools at her feet. Now her glorious body is naked before me and I am not sure I can hold myself back. I cup her ass with my hand and urge her to wrap her legs around me. She obeys without question. I am telling her everything I need to tell her without using words. I am willing her to feel what I am feeling. I turn around and push her back against the wall to help me leverage her. She tips her head back, eyes squeezed shut and moans loudly when I take her nipple into my mouth and circle my tongue around it.
“Eric.” She gasps.
When she opens her eyes again, they are blazing, she is quite literally dripping with desire and I am dying to feel her. I have missed her, the way she smells, the way she feels, the way she tastes. There is an antique console next to the front door. It’s the one we bought together in Venice during one of our secret trips. I hope she is not too attached to the frames that sit on top of it because I walk her over there and use one arm to swipe them all off. If she’s upset about it, she doesn’t let on. I lower her onto the console and pull my hoodie over my head, tossing it onto the floor. She watches me as she sucks her plump lip into her mouth. Fuck me, she’s so sexy. I lick my lips as I spread her legs, sink down and position myself at her core. I let a single digit slide through her soaking folds and I nearly combust on the spot. She feels even more incredible then I remember. I lean in and take the most intimate part of her in my mouth. Her fingers slide into my hair and she tightens her grip on my hair as I increase the speed of my strokes. When I flick my tongue against her clit, she nearly pulls it out. But fuck if it wouldn’t be worth it if she did. I suck roughly at her little bundle of joy as I insert two digits into her throbbing core.
“Oh, God.” She nearly screams. “Please don’t stop.”
I’m not intending too, not any time soon.
I pump my fingers into her as I continue my oral assault. My free hand slides across her abdomen and finds her breast. I take her nipple between my thumb and forefinger and roll it between them. The sounds that come from her are like a siren’s call. All I want is her, all I see is her, all I need is her. I increase my speed, both with my fingers and my mouth. And it isn’t long before her walls squeeze tightly around my fingers.
“Fuck.” She moans.
“Your wish is my command,” I mutter against her core.
I rise to my feet yanking at my sweatpants as I do, pulling them and my boxers down in one fell swoop. I pull her closer toward me and search her eyes.
“Yes. Oh please, yes.” She says, understanding what I needed to hear.
That’s all I need to proceed. I tease her a bit, sliding my cock up and down her folds before I align myself with her opening.
“I’ve been waiting for you for a long time, Lady Kingsley. I am not sure how long I’ll last.” I tell her.
“Just take me already.” She growls as she grabs my ass and tries to push me in.
I lean in and kiss her as I slam into her, filling her to the hilt. I still for a moment, relishing this warmth that I missed so much. I start to move, slowly at first, picking up the pace. Soon I no longer have control over myself, I am moving like a wild animal. Needing to feel more of her, wanting to go deeper. Her nails dig into my back and she begs me to take her harder, faster.
“More.” She gasps. “Don’t. stop.”
I can feel myself getting there and I try to stop, I try to warn her. But before I can open my mouth to speak, her walls tightly grip my cock and starts to milk it as she comes for me again. Her head falls back against the wall and she squeezes her eyes shut. Still, inside of her, I pull her closer against me and walk us both to her bedroom. I continue to walk into her bathroom and walk us both into the shower. I lower her to the floor as the water warms and cascades all over us. We spend a good twenty minutes in the shower. We don’t speak, our mouths are too busy kissing, our hands too busy caressing. When I see her fingers turn soft like prunes, I make the executive decision to move this party to the bed. I wrap a towel around her and carry her to the bed where I lay her down before crawling in next to her. We lay there for a moment. Her golden eyes sparkling with happiness.
“I’ve missed you, so much.” She tells me.
“I’ve missed you too,” I tell her.
It takes a few seconds before I realize what she just said. I sit straight up in the bed and look down at her smiling face.
“You remember?” I ask her.
“Since the moment you kissed me.”
Present
“You remember?” He asks me.
“Since the moment you kissed me,” I admit.
The very second his lips touched mine is the single most incredible thing that has ever happened to me. Along with the euphoric feeling of finally feeling his lips on mine, waves of memories flooded me as he continued to kiss me until I was breathless. He looks down at me, goofy grin on his face and I melt inside.
“I came after you that day,” I tell him.
He pushes a wayward strand of hair behind my ear.
“You did?”
“Yes.”
“Then what stopped you?”
“Layla Hayes and her brother Sam Clayton.”
I can see the anger flash in his eyes.
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
“I was trying to chase you, but since you dropped me off, I didn’t have my car. I tried to hail a cab, but no luck. I was about to ask a doorman to get me a car when Layla walked up and offered me a ride. I gladly accepted and we walked up the street to where she said she parked her car. We walked into an alley and there they pulled me into a white van. They kept me tied up in a place for a while, trying to force me to sign some papers. I told them to go to hell every time. Sam brought me water and food every morning, and well, I manage to talk him into letting me take a bath. While the water was filling the tub, I climbed through the small window and I ran.”
Eric takes my face in his hands and kisses the tip of my nose.
“My brave girl. And then what happened.”
“Well, honestly, it is a little fuzzy. It was dark and I just ran. I had no idea where I was and you know I am night blind. We were close to water though because I saw a light-house in the distance. So, I went for it, I almost made it there too but then I slipped and fell and the next thing I remember is waking up at Hillcrest.”
“What about this whole marriage thing? They had papers. Did you get married?” he asks.
“Absolutely not. Like I said, they tried to make me sign some papers, but I never did. Those papers had to have been fakes. There is only one man I would ever marry, Eric.”
He presses his lips against mine.
“Damn fucking straight.” He growls against my lips.
I am smiling so hard that my cheeks are actually beginning to hurt, but I don’t care. It is worth it. Suddenly I shoot up in bed. “Let’s get dressed. We have to go.”
“Have to go where?” he asks me confused.
“Mika. We are going to tell him everything. And he might not like it, but he will get over it. I think maybe now he will be more understanding. I want us to be together, I want us to move in together. Though I would like to stay here in my apartment so we can be close to the baby?”
Eric chuckles.
“Whoa, Lady Kingsley. Slow down. Breathe baby.”
Disappointment sets in my belly. “That’s not what you want? Am I going too fast?”
Eric traces his thumb from my cheekbone to my chin.
“If you think that I will let you out of my arms for longer than a workday, you have another thing coming. I have had to live my life without you for two years Mik. I can’t do it another second. So, no. You are not going too fast.”
I smile. “Good. Because these two years have been hell. I don’t want to be without you anymore. And this time I want everyone to know. Especially Mika.”
He laughs.
“Ah. Well. About that… It turns out that your brother was aware pretty much the entire time.
“You’re kidding me? Are you kidding me? I am going to kill him!”
“Don’t be too hard on him, he’s after all the one who sent me here today. If it were not for him, my dumb ass would still be sitting at home pining for you. He told me to go to you and not let go.”
My homicidal ideations simmer slightly.
“He gave us his blessing, Lady Kingsley. Isn’t that everything we ever wanted?”
Eric leans in and kisses me gently on the lips as if he is scared that I will break. It is not the kind of kiss I need right now. Right now, I want raw and carnal. I pull him closer and take control of the kiss, showing him what I want and boy is that man ready to oblige. His hand slides in my hair and he grips me tightly, claiming me in the most fundamentally primitive manner. All too soon he breaks the kiss and nearly has me begging for more. But as he reminds me, we have loose ends to tie up. Luckily for him, I still have some racks with male clothes, some of which that will fit him, so he doesn’t have to put his sweaty gear back on. I smile as we stand side by side in my dressing room shrugging on clothes.
Is this going to be our life now?
We plan to head to our grandparent’s estate in the Hamptons and dig up the will. Phoenix volunteered some DNA last night, and Mika is taking care of getting that sorted out. We get ready in no time and are all smiles when I open the door. When I see the large bouquet of flowers in my doorstep, my heart sinks immediately. Eric bends down and picks up the vase and places it on the console we just used to make love on. He plucks the card from the beautiful assortment of wild flowers and reads it. The crappy feeling in my stomach disappears the second he starts to laugh. Eric hands the card to me and when I read it, I am absolutely mortified.
Congrats you guys!
We are so happy that you two finally got it together.
Try and keep it down though, we don’t want to hear EVERYTHING.
Xoxo
Mika, Raeva and baby bump.
Eric is still laughing when we get into the elevator. I am however not so amused. When we reach the garage and the elevator opens, Eric takes my hand in his and guides me to a waiting car. Security flanks us of course, but I don’t even care. My man just openly held my hand for the first time that we’ve been together. And yes, I am counting all the years that came before. When we get into the car it occurs to me that Phoenix might want to tag along. I send her a text and ask her. While I wait for her to reply I lean in and kiss my boyfriend. And even though I am waiting for her to reply, I am a little annoyed when my text tone goes off, forcing me to remove my lips from his. Our driver is probably not complaining. One can only imagine that unless you are purposely watching porn or something, that it isn’t fun watching people make out. I open the text. Phoenix says she’d like to go, so we head her way to pick her up.
“What if she is really your sister?” Eric asks.
“Is it weird that I kind of hope that she is? I mean, I really don’t know her, but she seemed so amazing. We clicked the moment we met at that restaurant. When neither of us knew who the other was.”
“It was fun watching River drool over her, that’s for sure.”
He’s right, I can’t help but giggle at the memory of River’s face when he laid eyes on Phoenix for the first time. I unbuckle myself and scoot closer to Eric. Needy for the contact I have been missing for the last few years. I rest my head on his shoulder and let my hand roam all across his upper body.
“I am not sure how much I am willing to spend away from you. You’ll get tired of me soon.” I warn him.
“Baby, I have pined for you for the better part of two years. I don’t think I will ever get tired of you.” He says kissing the top of my head.
Part of me wonders if it’ll be awkward when we pick up Phoenix, but that part is squashed the minute she enters the car.
“Holy shit. This is how the other one percent lives, huh?”
“Only if you’re pretty.” I deadpan.
Phoenix bursts out laughing and the ice is effectively broken. We chat like old friends, or maybe even sisters the entire way to the Hamptons.
* * *
Phoenix whistles loudly as we drive through the gates. When we arrive at the old Kingsley estate it is well after lunchtime. But none of us has had a bite, so I ask the staff to prepare us a lunch.
“Does it feel weird asking people to do those kinds of things for you?” Phoenix asks.
I shrug.
“Maybe at first. But think of it this way
. These people that work at this estate, get paid year-round, and they receive a pretty generous paycheck, if I do say so myself. And we are here maybe twenty to thirty days of the year. A little more since Mika and Raeva been together. So, asking them to do a few things, doesn’t make me feel bad. The other eleven months that we are not here, they still get paid. It’s not slavery, we provide jobs. Some people actually find it insulting if you don’t let them do the job they were hired to do.”
“Okay yes, that makes sense.” She replies.
“Would you like a tour while we wait for lunch?”
“Oh my God, I would love one. I have never been at a place like this. It’s humongous.”
I can’t help but smile at her enthusiasm for something that I have clearly taken for granted. It also puts things in perspective for me. I have always known that we were able to do more than most, but seeing this much of a social difference so up close…it is daunting. We take the tour of the house and I show her all the places Mika and I used to play and cause mischief. After the tour, we eat our late lunch, and after that we take a tour of the grounds. I even show her the maze, even though I refuse to go in it. We sit in front of it, and I tell her stories of how we used to play in there. And I am not sure why I feel comfortable telling her this. But I also tell her about the reason why my favorite place in the world, became my most hated place in the world. After we’ve toured the gardens we head inside and meet up with Eric, who’s looking mighty sexy sitting at my grandfather’s desk I might add. He’s nose deep in documents when we walk in and I don’t think he even hears us coming. My man is hyper-focused. When I clear my throat, he finally looks up and he smiles when he spots us.
“Ah ladies, back so soon?”
I shake my head and smirk.
“Honey, we’ve been gone for the better part of an hour.”
He frowns which makes us both laugh.
“I’m actually glad that you are both here, I have found the will your dad was talking about. However, shortly before he dies, James Kingsley made up an entirely new will, and I need you two and Mika here to see it.”
Reclaiming Tomorrow: Kingsley Series Book 3 Page 12