The Ruthless Gentleman

by Louise Bay

  “I never wanted anyone but you.” She smoothed a palm over my jaw and I pressed at her entrance, so deliciously smooth and wet. I wanted this to be slow, wanted to savor it, but I knew it would be impossible. A low buzz hummed just beneath my skin, trying to get out, and I knew I needed to fuck this woman. I’d known we were connected from the first moment I’d laid eyes on Avery, but I still had a primal desire to make her mine. To fuck her so hard she’d feel me in every move she made for the next week.

  “Make it good, Hayden. Fuck me.”

  My control snapped at her request. I groaned and pushed her to her stomach, lifted her hips and rammed into her, right to the hilt.

  She cried out, her sounds muffled by the mattress, as she braced her hands against the headboard.

  “Let me hear you,” I grunted. So much of our time together had been dominated by caution and an inability to let go, but now I wanted to hear all her sounds, to own them, categorize them, then create new ones.

  I fucked her harder, faster, plowing her into the bed as her moans grew louder. “You see how good I fuck you? No one else will ever have you again. You’re all mine. This pussy is all mine.”

  She chanted beneath me, “Yes, Hayden, yes, please. More. Hayden. Fuck me. Please.” Her breathy voice moaning my name, begging me to fuck her as my cock drove into her, was more than I could ever have hoped. She was mine. I heard it in her desperation. The only reason I lasted longer than ten seconds was because of the blood pounding in my ears, taking the edge off the sounds of her pleasure.

  Her hands clenched into fists against the wooden headboard and she tightened around me. I wasn’t going to be able to stop myself from coming. It was too much, too good, too perfect.

  Her cries grew louder, less controlled, sharper and she convulsed around me. I couldn’t stop the staccato growls of desire resonating from my chest every time I pushed into her, as her pussy tightened and tightened. My orgasm circled at the base of my spine then shot up and across my body as I stabbed my hips forward, fucking her orgasm out of her, claiming it for myself.

  Knowing how much she loved to make other people feel good, the ability to make her feel good was power I’d never experienced before. It was far more thrilling than any business deal or acquisition.

  Still gulping for air, I lay over her and rolled to my side, pulling her with me.

  “Every time I come with you, it’s always the orgasm to end all orgasms,” I said.

  She shuffled around in my arms. “And then, all too soon, you’re chasing the next one,” she said, finishing my sentence. I pulled her closer, wanting the press of her hot skin covering me. There should be no space between us. She was mine and I was hers.

  She slid her legs over mine and tipped me to my back so she straddled me. Although my limbs were heavy and weak, there was nothing that would stop me from fucking Avery. I sat up and we came face-to-face and I pulled her bottom lip between my teeth, released it and stole a kiss from her already reddened lips. I cupped her hips and brought her closer to me, my cock rubbing against her pussy. She hummed a note of contented pleasure as she circled her hips, coaxing my dick back to life. It didn’t take long. Just being in the same room with this beautiful woman got me hard. Having her naked and in my arms was almost too good to comprehend. She stroked her hands up my arms, watching them as if she were inspecting my body, then pressed her fingers along my collarbone and up my throat.

  “I’m all yours,” I said.

  “I want to know every part of you,” she said, circling her hips a little faster, the slickness between us growing.

  I groaned, and my dick twitched beneath her.

  She trailed one hand down my chest and grasped my straining cock, lifting up on her knees as she placed me at her entrance. She gasped, and I knew that was my cue. I tightened my fingers around her and pulled her down onto me.

  She threw her head back and screamed. Christ, I loved her sounds and how they vibrated around my cock. I pushed her back, the drag of my flesh against hers sending shockwaves across my body, and then slammed her against me again. She liked to be on top but she also liked me in control.

  “Yes, Hayden,” she said on an exhale and I began to plot out a rhythm, pushing and pulling, grinding and slamming. Fucking and fucking.

  Part of me wanted to close my eyes and savor the feel of her soft flesh beneath my fingers, her pussy around my cock, but I couldn’t stop gazing at her, the jut of her breasts, the rosy pink nipples, temptingly pointing at me, the white expanse of her throat that I promised myself I would lick later, her hair tumbled across her shoulders.

  I flipped her over and her legs went around my waist as I set to work to drive us both toward our climax. I thrust and thrust, wanting to solidify our connection, make her mine, stop her from ever leaving me.

  She arched her back, digging her fingernails into my shoulder as she began to come. The pulse of her pussy and the bite of her nails set the touch paper on my own orgasm as my balls tightened and I pushed into her as far as I could get, not wanting this perfect connection to end. No matter what came next, fucking Avery, loving her, being with her would be the most satisfying thing I’d ever do in my life.

  Epilogue

  Nine months later

  Hayden

  As I pulled into the driveway, Avery stood in the doorway in jeans and what looked like one of my old shirts. It drowned her petite frame, but still managed to be impossibly sexy. Would I still get that rush of heat in my gut when I saw her waiting for me twenty years from now? Christ, I hoped so.

  She raced toward the car, the gold edges of her hair flashing in the noon sun as I pulled to a halt.

  “Hey, beautiful,” I said as she swung open the car door before I’d even unclicked my seatbelt.

  “Can you believe we’re doing this? Like, really doing this?”

  Her wide smile always coaxed mine from wherever it was hiding. I slid out of the car and she linked her hands around my neck. I pressed my lips to hers.

  “We’re really doing this.” I glanced up at our new house. We’d bought it the day after we landed in London. We’d had twenty viewings lined up over three days, but we’d walked into this one and hadn’t bothered looking at another. It was a modern house, about an hour outside of London, in a leafy village and set on five acres of land. It had taken two months to get the owners out and another two to get the renovations done but it was finally ready.

  “I’m going to get to welcome you home from work every day—”

  “Naked?” I asked.

  “Maybe some days.” She scrunched up her nose. “A lot of days, probably. But not today. Not yet. I’ve had a thousand deliveries.”

  “Well, I’m about to make another,” I said, opening the door to the back seats. I pulled out a cardboard tube and handed it to her.

  “Are they good? Did you look?” she asked, popping out the plastic end of the tube and peering into it.

  “I thought we should look together.” She gazed up at me and I placed another kiss on her lips before grabbing a small black gift bag and slamming the door.

  “This is our home, Hayden. I like live in the UK and everything now,” she said as we approached the threshold.

  “I couldn’t be happier about that,” I replied as we went inside and I shrugged off my jacket. I glanced around. We’d only moved in the day before, but the place still looked pretty empty apart from the basics. Avery didn’t have much to ship from the U.S. and we’d kept the flat in London, so we were starting from scratch here. As long as we had a bed and a sofa, I didn’t care about anything other than what made Avery happy. “I’m sorry I had to go into the office today, I just needed to—”

  “It’s totally fine. It was fun straightening things out. I ordered some more stuff online and I started my reading. There’s a lot. They’re going to work me hard.”

  “No doubt. Kings College is one of the best universities in the country.” I pressed my lips to her forehead. I couldn’t be more proud that she was finally
doing what she wanted to do.

  “Which is why I can’t believe they took me.”

  “I never had any doubt,” I said and got a now-familiar eye roll.

  She slid the cardboard tube onto the dining table, turned and pressed her hands against my chest. I exhaled and gripped her waist, knowing I was the luckiest guy in Europe.

  “Welcome home,” she said, smiling up at me. I pressed my lips against hers and we kissed and kissed and kissed. Pressing my lips to Avery’s never got old. I ached to kiss her whenever I was away from her.

  “Let’s look at this.” I lifted my chin, indicating the plans I’d collected from the architects. “Then let’s crawl into bed and make sure the mattress works.”

  She inhaled. “Okay. I’m nervous, though. That mattress is going to see some action. It needs to be robust.”

  I growled and buried my head in her neck before releasing her and turning to the table. I slid the thin sheets of paper out of the tube and without me saying anything, she held one end while I unrolled the other.

  “Wow,” we said in unison at the front elevation.

  “Hang on, I’m going to get something to hold down the corners.” I disappeared into the kitchen and grabbed a handful of cutlery. That should do it.

  “I knew spoons would be useful,” she said, weighing down the corners so the pages didn’t curl. “It looks amazing. What do you think?”

  “It’s great—let’s look at the floor plans.”

  I pulled off the first sheet of paper to reveal the floor plan of the one-story building that would be twenty feet from our house. “The rooms are all big, with wide walkways.” We poured over the details as if we were looking at a treasure map.

  “Great, though we might not need wheelchair access forever. I mean, Michael’s standing now. Still, my dad will love it. Michael will love it.” She shook her head. “Are you sure you’re okay having them so close?”

  She couldn’t think I had a single doubt, could she? “Of course I’m sure. I like your dad and Michael and I want them to be happy, and I’m grateful they said yes.”

  When Avery had finished up the season and her yachting career I’d met her in Miami and we’d flown back to Sacramento for two weeks before coming to London. While we were in California, I’d floated the idea of Avery’s family moving to England. Her father had said he’d be open to it down the line, but in the meantime he’d insisted that Avery apply to universities in London. Avery had resisted at first, until her dad had made her see that if she went back to Sacramento every holiday, she’d still end up seeing them more than she would have if she’d continued to work on yachts. It was the sort of thing my father would have done, and I admired how Mr. Walker put his daughter first.

  “And if there’s a house right there, next to us, they can stay for as long as they like, right?”

  “Exactly. That’s why we bought this place, after all,” I said as I slid my hands around her waist, looking over her shoulder at the life we were building.

  “I don’t think my dad realized. Not at first.”

  “Realized?”

  Her hands slipped over mine. “You know, understood how this was it. That we were forever.”

  Happiness tugged at my chest as the certainty in her voice took hold. Avery had such an open heart—it hadn’t taken long for me to convince her that I’d never let her down again. I’d never again question her integrity or wonder about her loyalty. She was more than I deserved, and I’d do everything in my power to be worthy of the trust that she had in me, in us, for the rest of our lives.

  “I love you, Avery Walker.”

  She turned around in my arms and cupped my face in her hands. “I know. I love you, too.”

  I released her for a second and picked up the black gift bag I’d brought in from the car.

  “You and I have been to some beautiful places. We’ve taken in breathtaking scenery, gazed out onto the ocean together, watched the sunrise over the water. But I thought being here, in our home, looking over these plans would be the most suitable place to propose.” I pulled out a velvet box from the bag.

  “Propose?” she asked.

  “Are you surprised?” We’d been clear about how we felt about each other, wasn’t this the next step?

  “I don’t know. I guess it already feels like we’re married. I never expected a formal proposal.” Her eyes flicked from me to the box.

  I chuckled. “Are you saying no?”

  “You haven’t asked.” She traced her finger over the edge of a blue-velvet corner. “And I haven’t seen the ring.” She winked.

  I got fun, relaxed Avery all the time now. Since she’d finished her last season, the only time I’d seen the chief stewardess was when she’d been applying for college courses or talking to the therapists about her brother’s progress.

  “So if the ring’s ugly, you might say no?” I asked.

  She pulled in a breath as if she was thinking about her response. “I don’t know. I guess it depends on how ugly.”

  I snapped open the box to reveal the princess-cut diamond solitaire.

  She pressed her lips together and nodded. “I would say that’s a pass.”

  “A pass?” I asked, chuckling. The ring was four carats and the highest quality diamond I could find. “I thought this size was wearable, but if it takes something bigger for you to say yes, just say the word.” I sighed in mock exasperation.

  She shrugged. “I guess you won’t know until you ask.”

  I pulled her toward me and dipped to press a kiss to her lips. “Avery Walker, will you marry me?”

  “Hayden Wolf, I’ll marry you anytime and every time you ever ask me.”

  She was right. We didn’t need a ring or a ceremony to know we would be together forever. Our feelings—our love and respect for each other—were what bound us together. I’d gone looking for a way to save my business and found a woman who brought me to life. I’d never need anything other than Avery Walker. She was my sunset and my sunrise. My choppy waters and my calm seas.

  My everything.

  Another year later

  Avery

  I kept a careful eye on my speed as I made my way back from college on the last day of the school year. I was just so eager to get home. Three months of no studying lay ahead of me as I pulled into the driveway. Hayden waved and strode toward the car as I parked.

  “School’s out for summer,” he said as he opened the door.

  “Sure is, and I got a first for that paper I handed in last week.”

  “The Piaget one?” he asked.

  How he kept track with all the course-related stuff I talked about, I had no idea. He always seemed so interested in every little detail I ever told him about it.

  “That’s the one.” I squeezed his hand before he released me to grab my books from the backseat.

  “I have some pretty interesting news myself, actually,” he said as we wandered into the dining room. “I got a call today—Cannon is being sold.”

  “Wow, are you going to buy it?” Although I’d admired the way Hayden hadn’t wanted to go after Cannon in revenge, I’d always wanted them to get their comeuppance, not just for what they’d done to my family, but also what they’d done to Hayden’s father.

  He shook his head. “There’s no way he’d ever sell to me. But it was good to get the call. Apparently, they aren’t expecting any cash for it. They just want someone to take on their debt.”

  I stopped walking and turned to face Hayden. “What, so it will be free as long as whoever buys it takes on their loans?”

  “Exactly. I was right. They overpaid for the companies they stole from me. The man who sent my father into bankruptcy and tried to destroy us is paying the ultimate price.”

  “Wow, how do you feel?” I asked as I headed inside.

  “Pleased that I wasn’t the cause of their failure. I never wanted one man’s bitterness to affect the way I lived my life.”

  “God, you know how hot it gets me when you’
re all principled and ethical and shit.”

  Hayden chuckled. “Hold that thought. My brother’s inside, talking with your dad and Michael.”

  I huffed as if I’d been deprived of Hayden’s body for weeks, when in reality he’d fucked me this morning before classes.

  “Hey, guys,” I called as we wandered into the kitchen.

  “You really should get a games console set up in here,” Michael said. “I want to kick Landon’s ass at Sniper Elite.”

  “Yeah, as if,” Landon said. “You know I was in the SAS, right?”

  “As far as I can tell, you just sit behind a desk now,” Michael shot back.

  I’d gotten used to Landon and Michael. They’d become firm friends and were always poking fun at each other.

  “Aren’t you going back to America anytime soon?” Landon said, though he knew they lived here now.

  “Landon,” Hayden called over in warning as he opened the fridge to take out some wine.

  “Don’t worry, son,” my dad said, bringing up a plate and opening the dishwasher. “You’ll never get rid of us now. Can’t get enough of this beautiful weather,” he said, nodding to the windows where it had just started to pour with rain.

  I laughed. “Thank God you’re handsome or I might have had to call this engagement off rather than live with the rain all year. It’s June, for Pete’s sake.”

  “I thought you’d have had enough sun to last you a lifetime,” Hayden replied. “But perhaps we should charter a yacht this summer? Are you missing life on the ocean waves?”

  I slipped my hands up his chest. “I don’t miss anything when I’m with you.”

  “I’ll tell you what I’m missing,” my dad interrupted.

  “Maybe a charter for two is a good idea,” I said, laughing.

  “I’m missing a wedding and grandchildren,” my dad said. “When are you kids going to get on with it?”