by Ember Flint
“It was nice to meet you, Lara," I say, loving the way her name rolls off my tongue and thinking I wouldn't mind something else of hers —anything really— rolling on and off of it too.
She flushes a bright pink.
Charles smiles at her gratefully. “Yes… and again: I’m sorry we kept you in this late. We probably ruined your plans for the evening,” he says.
Plans? What plans? With whom?
Ok, enough: I have to stop this, I am losing it.
Lara smiles back. “Don’t worry, I didn’t have real plans for the night, unless you can count binging on ice cream in front of Netflix as such.”
“Sounds like a nice plan to me,” I hear myself saying; so I must be speaking when I was instead supposed to be leaving. Not good.
The truth is, I wouldn't mind sharing her plans for the evening.
My brain goes on a loop picturing such a night, there could be plenty of ice cream-eating if she has a sweet tooth —only with no spoons involved.
Before I know it, I’m outside the shop and Charles is staring at me with a loopy grin on his face.
“What?” I bark at him.
I don’t know why I’m mad, I just am.
He simply laughs at me, shaking his head. “Oh, man! If I had not seen it myself, I would have never believed it!”
I look away. “What the bloody fuck do you mean?”
Charles shrugs. “Nothing really… just you spending the last forty minutes or so eye-fucking Lara with not even a shred of shame. Not that I don’t get it, Ast: she is one hot lady. It’s just that since I’ve known you, I’ve never seen you so… discomposed for a chick.”
I don’t say anything to that. I wouldn’t know what to say anyway.
He’s absolutely right: I’ve never felt this way before.
I walk towards the Lexus, gesturing to Lucas —he is already standing in front of the open backseat door.
Charles gets in the car before me with a sigh. “She was great… I’m going to send her flowers and maybe some chocolate tomorrow and—”
“That won’t be necessary,” I interrupt him through gritted teeth, before his teasing gets him a black eye.
He grins. “Gotcha! I knew it…”
“Stop it, Charlie!” I look him straight in the eye, pointing a finger at him.
He chuckles. “All right, all right… if you don’t want to talk about it, I’ll let you be,” he throws his hands up.
I give him a curt nod.
Lucas walks around the car and looks at me. “Where to, Mr. Henley?”
I stare at him in silence.
“Aston? Get inside. What are you doing still on the curb?”
I ignore Charles’ comment, my mind is already made up and there is no time to chat about it. “Mr. Spade’s flat,” I order and I close the door.
I see my driver’s eyebrows rise for a second and I stare them into submission.
He gets in the car and turns the engine on without a word, but my best friend is not so easily daunted.
“What’s going on?”
“Not now, Chuck. Go home, make sure Sterling is alive. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
I nod to the driver and he speeds away, before my utterly befuddled friend can say another word.
For a moment I just stand there, watching the Lexus go and questioning myself: my brain and my instinct are at war, but it doesn’t matter. I can’t make myself stop.
Chapter 6
LARA
I huff a strand of hair from my eye and go back to my inventory, I want to finish cataloguing at least another batch of lingerie before calling it a day, but my mind keeps on wandering from the task at hand.
I can’t believe I let a perfect stranger unsettle me so much.
I pick up a black, lacy corset and touch the barely-there straps distractedly.
I can’t focus: I keep seeing his handsome face and his dark eyes.
I throw the corset back in the box with a defeated sigh.
Pointless to try and do anything more: I’m too confused by what I felt, too tired to concentrate and inexplicably so very, very sad.
My mind tries to suggest a reason, but I shoot down that thought pretty quickly.
I don’t want to go there. It makes no sense.
I hear the tinkle of the little bell over the shop’s door again and I want to kill myself.
I can’t believe I forgot to flip the damn sign and close the fucking door for the night again!
What’s wrong with me? My brain is completely frazzled.
I won’t deal with another shopper at this hour and in this state. I simply can’t.
I clear my throat and speak, making my way to the front of the store. “Sorry, we’re closed, I forgot—”
The rest of the words I intended to pronounce fizzle away ending in a startled gasp when my eyes meet the bottomless, piercing stare of Aston. He is standing in front of the counter.
Am I seeing things?
“Aston…” I start to smile, but then an idea pops in my head and I look away, feeling very unsure and self-conscious. “So, you do know someone with a 38DD, after all, your friend was wrong,” I try to joke, but there’s a question in what I just said that I’m not sure I really should have asked: I don’t know if I want to hear his answer.
Aston gives me a smile that could melt the Polar Caps. “Well, I wouldn’t say I really know her, but, I wouldn’t mind getting to know her.”
I can’t explain to myself the huge relief I feel at his words and I won’t even start to try.
Is he really saying what I’m thinking?
I move around the counter and I don’t stop until I’m standing in front of him, his manly scent getting me a little dizzy again.
I have to ask him something.
I know it’s probably not a smart idea, considering the kind of threads a conversation like the one I’m about to start could have attached to it, but I can’t stop myself: I have to know.
“How did you guess?”
There: I asked it, now there’s no taking it back.
The smile on his lips gets even bigger, revealing his charming dimples. “Are you saying I was right in what I implied? That’s why it wasn’t for sale? It was really for you.” Aston takes a step closer and that’s when I notice he is carrying a small, brown bag with the colorful logo of a cherry cupcake over it.
“Hmm, hmm…”
That’s all I can push through my suddenly dry lips.
“Are you wearing it right now?” Aston asks, his voice a hoarse and gravelly whisper.
He takes another step, erasing the distance between us.
I look away, feeling very nervous. I don’t know how good I am at playing alluring seductress. Not so very good maybe.
I try to change the subject: “What do you have there?” I ask, nodding toward the bag.
He grins a little and reaches behind me to put it on the counter. “Since Chuck and I ruined your plans, I thought I should make things right and I brought you some ice cream.”
Could this guy be any sweeter?
Delighted, I smile up at him. “You got me ice cream?”
Aston nods. “I didn’t know what’s your favorite flavor, though… so I picked the three that made me think of you the most.”
Oh my God, I feel my face start to burn. “Really? And which one are they?”
He chuckles. “Well, you can easily find out, right?”
I roll my eyes at him, smiling and turn around to look inside the bag. “Vanilla… chocolate and… strawberry? They made you think of me?”
“Precisely,” Aston says, looking damn proud of himself.
“Wh-why?” I stumble, my heartbeat picking up speed.
Aston is a breath away from me again, one of his big hands gently cupping my face. “Vanilla like your skin, chocolate like your hair and strawberry… strawberry like your blushes.”
I don’t know what to say,
but anyway it doesn’t matter because before I can formulate the smallest logical thought, his mouth is on mine, pressing insistently, his lips firmly moving against mine, his tongue seeking an entrance I should be denying instead of giving so freely.
I should stop this; I shouldn’t be going along with him. I don’t know him!
I push him away; our heaving breaths intermingle. I look him in the eye and that’s when I see two things that melt my resolve: desire and uncertainty are blazing in his gaze, making him look powerful and vulnerable at the same time.
“Lara…”
I love how he says my name, he makes it sound so precious, so feminine, so important.
It doesn’t make sense, but maybe it doesn’t matter that much. Not right now.
Aston might be a stranger, but he feels the same pull I’m feeling and neither of us is strong enough to break this bond and be rational about things.
My arms slide up to his massive shoulders and around his neck and before I can overthink this, I’m kissing him again with everything I’ve got and suddenly my feet are no longer touching the floor.
I’m pressed against him, every inch of my body in contact with the hardness of his and I’m floating literally and figuratively: there’s never been a kiss like this for me. There’s never been a moment as perfect as this and I want more. I want Everything.
Chapter 7
ASTON
The moment her hips glue to mine I’m lost. Well, more lost than I was before anyway.
My hands go to her bottom and I keep her against me, pressing as much as I can. I want to mold us together.
My cock is so hard my vision blurs. I didn’t know I could get any harder, seeing I’ve spent the last hour and a half walking around with a hard-on that could easily hammer nails, but this is not the first time since I saw her that Lara proves me wrong about it.
She smells heavenly, tastes delicious and feels simply perfect against me.
There’s nowhere else I want to be, nothing else I want to do right now, and no one else I would wish to be doing this with. Ever.
The small percentage of my brain that is not focused on grinding against her, is wondering if I shouldn’t stop this from getting any further: I don’t know her, after all, but I won’t listen to it and with my blood pumping and flowing all south that percentage is getting smaller by the second, so I don’t really feel like I should be paying it too much attention.
The pleasure I feel is like a white hot wave that buzzes all over my body: I’ve never felt this way in my life, not even while actually having sex.
I can’t help but wonder what it would feel like to be inside of her and just the thought gets me weak in the knees.
I really really hope she’ll let me find out.
I push her against the counter, because I’m not sure my legs will hold us both anymore, even though she weights next to nothing in my arms.
I leave her magnificently swollen, red lips and move my mouth down the slender column of her neck, breathing her in.
I’ve never needed something in my life as I need her right now.
“Aston…” Lara murmurs on a moan that I feel in my balls and my heartbeat kicks up another notch.
I try to gain my breath again and put her back on the floor.
Her big, dark, doe-like eyes blink up at me in confusion. “What? What’s wrong?”
I smile at her and kiss her forehead. “I just… I just thought we’d better close that door.”
I don’t give her time to say anything else and I walk to the entrance of the shop, locking the door and turning the sign on itself.
Lara lets out an airless little laugh. “Oh my God, I can’t believe I was going to leave that open again! I don’t know what’s going on with me today, I—”
I interrupt her adorable rambling with a kiss and she smiles against my lips.
“You don’t need to explain; I know how you feel. I feel the same way. Now: where were we?”
I lean toward her, going for her mouth again, but she beats me to it, kissing me first.
“Here… we were here,” she whispers softly and at the sound of the need in her voice I feel my balls draw up tight, goosebumps running all over my skin.
I crush Lara to me and her wrap dress is on the floor in a puddle of purple silk before I can take two breaths; my hands are everywhere at once and I’ve never touched anything more soft, anything more divine.
Desire courses through my veins devastating any resistance I have left.
I must have her: there’s nothing else to do except live in this moment, but first I have to make sure she is okay with this, that she wants me as much as I want her.
I drag myself away from her, leaving her lips and her little disappointed mewl makes my cock jerk.
Her sounds and shivers alone could easily make me come.
Oh, God I really hope she is not about to stop me. I could die if she does.
“Don’t…” I try to speak, but I can’t: my breathing is too short. “Don’t tell me you want us to stop, please.”
Both of her hands go to my face and Lara looks at me with so much lust and passion in her eyes that I feel like I could burst at any moment now, my cock is so stiff and erect it’s aching.
“Don’t want you to,” she breathes. “Don’t… ever… stop!”
Her lips collide with my mouth again.
I have never been so happy in my life and I know this happiness would pale in comparison to what I’m about to feel. I don’t know how can I be so sure about it, I just am.
My practical self goes over the details for a second or two.
I want to be inside her and I want nothing between us, but I don’t want to push it, I don’t want to scare her.
Every time Chuck sees me in a cranky mood, he sneaks a condom or two in my wallet: it’s his silent way of telling me I need to get laid. It’s been an ongoing joke for years and I’ve never been more delighted with his daft, annoying sense of humor than I am right now.
I take a step back and look her up and down. There’s no way to describe how much I want her. I have to calm a bit or I’ll end up frightening her.
She is like a mouthwatering feast spread in front of me and I can’t wait to sample every inch of her.
“Fuck, you’re so beautiful, baby.”
Lara smiles a little, but looks away.
I reach for her face and gently grasp her chin, making her eyes meet mine again.
“You are,” I tell her. “And I was right: this piece looks just fabulous on you. That’s the only reason I’m not tearing it away right now. I want you so much, it’s driving me a little bit insane.”
Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have said that last thing, but I couldn’t stop myself.
I can’t hold back with her.
Lara doesn’t seem displeased though, curious maybe yes, aroused and a little unsure, but scared?
No, not in the least.
She brings one hand to my chest, caressing lightly over my heart, a fascinated look on her face, dark eyebrows arched, breasts heaving.
“Show me… show me that you want me as much as I want you.”
She is so tiny I can span her waist with my hands.
I splay them across her back, exploring her luscious curves, while I kiss and nibble on the nape of her neck, moving her gorgeous dark waves to one side.
She tilts her head a bit to give me more access and moans softly.
My name on her lips is the single most erotic sound I’ve ever heard.
One kiss from her, one touch and any woman before her has been erased from my memory and there’s nothing left but her.
I move my hands lower, kneading her bountiful ass and inhaling the intoxicating scent of her warm skin.
I trace one finger along the curve of a breast and then I dip it down inside her generous cleavage, feeling it being grasped tightly between the large, velvety mounds. “Fuck…” I groan, while my other hand
continues to travel along her compact little body.
I feel sweat breaking on my forehead; saying I’m becoming overheated would be a fucking understatement: it’s like I’m standing in the middle of the Sahara staring at my personal little sexy, scantily clad oasis and for some reason I’m still wearing all of my clothes, winter coat included.
I take a step away from her and shrug it off throwing it on the counter, my shirt follows it, helped by Lara’s eager hands.
I bring her back to me, moving the hard ridge of my cock against her cunt. I can feel her warmth and wetness seep through the fabric of her knickers and dampening the front of my slacks and I hate them a little for standing in the middle.
There’s nothing I would like more than taking them off, but I must go slow: If I go where my cock wants to lead, I will be burying all of me in her to the hilt before she can blink and I don’t want to rush it —or at least, I don’t want to rush it more than I’m already doing.
I want us to savor it, to feel every moment.
I want to take my time with her.
Despite my thoughts of going slow, my tongue plunges inside her mouth with a ferocity that shocks me a bit, but I can feel that Lara’s reaction to me is just as violent and so I don’t hold back anymore.
I don’t know how long we stay locked in this embrace, it feels like seconds and years have passed at the same time; I don’t want to ever pull away from her.
Our hands explore each other’s body impatiently, tugging at the fabric to get to the skin.
I feel her pull my white undershirt from my trousers and then her little hand is on me, sending zings of pleasure down my spine.
I pick her up again and her legs go around my waist, her panty-covered, hot pussy molds against my cock and I swear I feel it clench. A growl I was not aware I was capable of emitting leaves my throat and it’s like someone pushes a switch in my brain: all I can think about is getting her naked, getting inside of her and never come out again.
The urge to thrust is so strong I can’t stop myself and start to hump her like there’s no tomorrow, her moans spurring me on, drops of precum are surely expanding the wet spot on my pants.
“Oh baby, fuck! I need you so much… so much,” I murmur against her skin and she presses further into me.