by Ellie Danes
“What the fuck do you want this late in the—?” I started to bellow, hoping that a bout of anger might scare someone away if they intended me harm. But what I saw caused my breath to catch, and I couldn’t finish the question.
Kate. She was standing there, right in front of my door.
I didn’t know whether to be happy, to be relieved, or to be worried.
Maybe I was losing my mind all over again. Or dreaming. Was she actually there, or was she a mirage? She could be the product of the most realistic fantasy I’d ever had in my entire life.
I didn’t know what to feel. Didn’t know what to say.
“We need to talk!” she barked, and immediately I knew that this was no fantasy.
I had no idea why she was here, or how. But there she stood, and all of a sudden, the energy in the room was intense. It crackled all around us and pulled tighter and tighter. I felt so many emotions whirling up inside of me, assaulting me from the inside out. I knew my facial expression probably looked pained. It wasn’t pain, though; it was confusion that I was feeling. It was raw emotion. I wanted nothing more than to take this woman in my arms and kiss her.
In that moment, I realized something. I didn’t give a shit if she was Michael Murphy’s daughter. I liked her too much for something stupid like that to matter.
I held my face still, trying not to show too much emotion until I could figure out why she was here. For all I knew, she was there just to punch me in the face and leave. It would be nothing less than I deserved, after the way I treated her today.
“Come in.” I moved to the side and gestured toward the living room, almost lazily, as if I didn’t care at all.
“You, Ian Cross, are the biggest phony ass, lying assfunk I have ever met. And on top of that, I can’t believe you’re going to judge me by my family!” she started as soon as she crossed the threshold into my apartment. She didn’t even wait until I closed the door to start in on me.
Before I could respond, she continued, “How dare you assume that I’m a certain kind of person just because your dad had issues with mine? I kept out of my father’s business on purpose.”
I could tell that a lot of her feelings had been pent up and I wondered if she’d been thinking about our encounter all day like I had been.
“I’ve always wanted to be my own person,” she snarled. “I disagree with most everything my dad says, pretty much, and every action he takes. Shame on you for making assumptions!”
I couldn’t help but watch her as she paced back and forth, her hair wild, her face flushed. She had never looked, or sounded, any more amazing than she did right then. “I’ve been distancing myself from him and his ways ever since I can remember. I love him, but I’m not him. And you’re an asshat for thinking I might be.”
I realized how stupid I’d been.
She was a good person. A beautiful person, inside and out.
She was caring — not just with her sister, but other people too. I mean, hell, she had even tried to rescue me when I forgot my wallet. Who did that in New York City these days? Who was kind in the city at all, really? Especially to strangers?
And she had a fucking amazing desire to make the world a better place. She wanted to be a teacher for Christ’s sake. Special education. She was a miracle, and she was here in my apartment.
I smiled as I thought about all the wonderful things she was, while she continued to rant. After a couple of minutes, she suddenly noticed my grin.
“Not to mention, you have a fucking girlfriend already. And what the fuck are you smiling about?”
I couldn’t help but chuckle a little bit at the outburst, but she didn’t seem amused. She stopped and took a deep breath, as if trying to size up the enemy: me.
We stared at each other for what seemed like forever, and I felt my smirk completely fade away.
“Well, say something,” she whispered.
The whispering was worse than the ranting. It meant she was calming down, and some of the passion was leaving her. No, I couldn’t have that. I opened my mouth to speak, but words wouldn’t come. This was an important moment, and just minutes ago I’d been ready to pass out. My buzz was all but gone now, after being flooded with the adrenaline that had started up as soon as she walked in.
I took a step toward her. Don’t think about it, Ian. Just do it. I took her in my arms and pulled her toward me.
My lips crashed into hers with more passion than I’d ever experienced before. For the briefest moment, she seemed to melt into me, clenching me even tighter. But just as quickly, she pulled away.
“I can’t do this. Not with a man who is trying to get back together with his ex-girlfriend,” she said as she pushed me away from her.
I tilted my head, not quite sure I even heard her right. “What did you just say? What ex-girlfriend? I’m not trying to get back with anyone,” I insisted. “I haven’t even had a girlfriend since well before my dad died.”
Her hard glared softened into confusion.
“What ex are you talking about, Kate?” I asked her again.
“Umm. Amelia,” she stuttered out.
I laughed. Loudly and uncontrollably. I couldn’t stop myself. The idea that I would ever work things out with Amelia was one of the funniest things I’d heard in some time.
“This is not funny, Ian,” she exacted.
“Oh, I beg to differ,” I snorted between laughs. “The idea of me being with that self-centered, money-hungry witch again is hilarious. Where did you get such a crazy idea?” I asked as I calmed my amusement.
“She told me,” Kate announced matter-of-factly.
“Well, she is delusional if that’s what she thinks,” I said shaking my head in disbelief. I took a few steps closer to Kate, closing some of the gap she’d put between us. With a gentler tone, I told Kate how I felt. “Besides, Kate, there’s only one woman I want to make amends with.
“She wrinkled her nose. “How much have you had to drink tonight, Ian?”
I stopped in my tracks and exhaled hard. Dammit. She was going to think I was even worse than I’d thought my dad had been.
" You’re going to lecture me about this, now?” I sighed dramatically as I threw myself on the couch. I realized after I’d done it, that it probably looked childish. But I felt myself sobering even more as I flopped back against the cushions.
A few moments passed before she finally broke the silence and walked closer to me. “I’m not judging. I pretty much ate my feelings this afternoon. You should have seen the size of that hamburger."
“Those must have been some major feelings, then.” I glanced up.
She looked at me with kind eyes, beautiful eyes full of compassion. They still flashed with emotion and agitation, but behind that, I could tell she really cared.
I wanted her badly.
I wanted her then—right then.
I had a sudden urge to reach out and touch her. Her face, her hair—anything, really. I just wanted to touch her. I wanted to run a hand through her loose curls and pull her toward me.
“I guess that means you’re the only person in the world not judging me,” I said, smiling.
“I’m not judging, but you’ve definitely had more than enough.” She grinned, and I couldn’t help but flash her a sideways grin in return.
We continued to gaze at each other. I kept marveling at how strange it was that she was here. And now that she wasn’t yelling at me, I felt a sense of peace growing inside of me. There was no argument, there was no bullshit about our families or my company. There wasn’t any of that shit to get in the way.
It was just us, as if nothing had happened. As if she was still just the woman I’d met in Starbucks. As if there was no reason she shouldn’t be here in my suite with me tonight and glowing like this with emotion and kindness.
I broke the silence. “Kate?”
“Mmm?” she said in a tone that made me, once again, feel a familiar constricting in my pants.
I smiled and propped my elbow on
the couch pillow. “Are we done with your rant?”
Stupid move. I watched as the content expression on her face changed again.
“Are you this big of an asshole all the time?”
“Pretty much,” I admitted sheepishly.
“It’s a miracle you have any friends at all.” She looked like she was about to start yelling all over again.
“I actually don’t have a lot of friends,” I said. “No one really likes me unless it’s for my money.” I chuckled a little bit, because, in all honesty, it was true.
“Shocking,” she said with a wry look.
I looked hard at her and gave her a self-deprecating smile. “I’m not really a nice person, I guess.”
“I thought you were,” she said softly. I could tell that she was being genuine for a moment, but then she smiled devilishly and continued. “But then I guess I got to know you.”
“So you’re saying that my shining personality didn’t draw you to me!” I laughed, standing up, pretending to be offended.
“No,” she said, still smiling. “It was your suit. I could tell you had money.”
“You could tell I had money even though you had to pay for my coffee that first day?” I laughed and moved closer to her. She was just a few tantalizing steps away. “I just always thought it was my wit that drew you to me.”
“You’re not that witty, actually,” she said, eyeing the distance between us.
“My charm, then?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow.
“Hmmm . . . It wasn’t your charm, either.” She seemed to be thinking. “Honestly, I don’t know what it was.”
But I could tell from the glimmer in her eye that she knew exactly what it was. So without any more bullshit between us — I pulled her to me once again, and kissed her.
I thought I’d had meaningful kisses with her before, but this was the most passionate kiss I’d ever experienced.
Chapter 16
Kate
I couldn’t believe it. He was kissing me. Kissing me! When I’d come over, a kiss was the last thing I expected. I’d been planning on telling him off, and I’d succeeded at that. But somehow the tone had changed, and we were flirting, and now, my lips were moving against his.
My reaction surprised me even more than the kiss did.
I felt a heat like no other begin to course and rage through me. We pulled apart and looked at each other. He was breathing heavily; he was flustered. His hair was a mess. He’d never looked sexier.
I smiled as I leaned in again. This kiss grew even more heated than the last, because our hands were even more adventurous. My hair tumbled down my shoulders, and he ran his fingers through it, and then gripped me to him. I groaned with need. He was moving against me, making love to me — without even bothering to remove my clothes.
We were both moaning, raging with an intensity that I’d never known before.
“Tell me to stop,” he gasped through his ragged breaths. “Tell me to stop and I will.”
But I couldn’t. I wouldn’t dare. I knew what was about to happen, and I wanted it just as much as he did. I’d thought about doing this for much too long; I wasn’t going to deny myself.
In response, I grabbed his face with my hands and pulled him to me once more. As soon as our lips met, I felt myself melt completely into him.
My hands trailed behind his neck and locked, pulling him even closer. Then I pushed against him. At first he resisted, but then he grew more pliant. I maneuvered us over to the wall and shoved him against it.
I felt him smile against my lips, just before a moan escaped his.
He broke the kiss, his lips moist. His eyes searched mine, a question in them. It was like he was scared of how into it he was getting. I knew exactly how he felt, I felt it too. It was terrifying knowing what this man could do to me.
I could see him faintly in the dim light of his penthouse, and what I saw was nothing short of absolute beauty. He was the most beautiful man I’d ever laid eyes on. Even though I’d been pissed off at him just a few minutes before, I was now turning that anger into a different kind of passion.
His gorgeous brown eyes trailed lower until they fell on my collarbone, then lower. I felt a blush creep to my cheeks. I could only hope that he hadn’t noticed it through the darkness. But damn, to have his eyes so fixated on me felt surreal.
It was something incredibly new, incredibly intoxicating.
His eyes drifted further down, all the way to the valley between my breasts, which were covered by my V-neck sweater. I watched as he bit his lips. It was like he was imagining what I looked like underneath my clothes. I could only wonder what it was exactly that he was thinking about, what images were playing in his mind.
He leaned in and kissed the nape of my neck, and then my collarbone, and then he kissed and licked all the way to my clothed breasts. He pushed away fabric and suckled gently at my flesh. I was on fire.
I pressed myself against him and felt him growing harder in his pants.
His fingers skimmed down my torso and hips until they crossed my clothed thighs, where I couldn’t help but let out a light moan as his fingers brushed over me.
Our lips slammed into one another’s once again, our tongues instantly meeting, dancing, dueling even. He grabbed my waist roughly, and picked me up, our mouths still intertwined. At the sudden motion of being carried, I squealed in surprise right into his mouth. I felt him smile, cockily, against my lips. He moved me up his body so that my legs were wrapped around his waist and placed me down on the arm of his couch.
His hands gripped tightly at my hips, and then he palmed and squeezed my ass. It felt amazing, and chill after chill rolled down my spine.
Our lips broke apart once again, and once again we looked at one another, completely breathless. I could feel my body lurch instinctively, grinding against him as he held me.
“Holy fuck,” he gasped through gritted teeth.
Our fingers laced together as his lips moved down my neck, stopping at my collarbone.
He bit, he sucked. I moaned and writhed against him.
He sucked roughly and nipped at my shoulder, and immediately I felt all the frustrations of the day start to melt away. I whimpered more and more with everything he did. I was at his mercy, feeling the pleasure consume me. As he sucked, I knew that there’d be a purple mark on that spot the next day, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. The downward trail of his tongue made me feel like I was floating. Like his strong, muscular hands and arms weren’t there to hold me up — like the couch arm below me didn’t exist — and my legs weren’t wrapped strategically around his waist.
None of that mattered. All that mattered was us. I was completely lost in a lustful, pleasurable haze. So lost that I felt the rush of an animalistic frenzy come on, and all I wanted — more than anything — was to have him, and to be as close to him as possible, wrapped up in him as he was wrapped up in me.
He trailed his tongue down, until it made its way down to the dip of my sweater, right between my breasts. I could do nothing but mewl as a long lick of his tongue swirled in the crevice of my cleavage. My hips moved, almost instinctively, bucking against his growing erection.
I could feel my own arousal between my legs, and I knew that I was ready for him. Hell, I wasn’t sure I could wait until he took my clothes off.
“Kate,” he said, and it was the tone of someone in complete desperation. He, too, must have felt that need — that sudden and incredible need.
His lips caught my hardened nipples, even through my clothes. I could feel the garment grow wet, and heat form around me. It traveled all the way down my spine.
He bit and sucked and nipped, causing me to drop my head and suck in a deep breath.
“Yes,” I moaned. I was almost embarrassed by the noises I was making. I felt a hot blush form on my cheeks.
It seemed like my encouragement was all he needed, though. That one simple word seemed to evoke some sort of wild, instinctive urge inside of him.
He let out a throaty groan, masculine and desperate, and used his free hand to tug at my pants. It didn’t take much, a small snap at the button and a small tug and they were off. Sucking in a breath, he gazed at me and I saw a glimmer of something possessive and desperate flash in his eyes.
His expression made me even hotter. To feel as wanted as I did was a powerful aphrodisiac. It was something that I’d never thought I would feel — or see someone feel for me — but now that I was witnessing it, it was amazing.
He pulled my panties to the side, not bothering to take them off. I watched, completely enthralled in the moment as he pulled his own pants down just enough so that his erection could spring free. I breathed heavily, wanting him to just come here, to stop messing with clothes and come over to me.
The need was great and gnawing. I needed him. He needed me. Right then. Right there. Clothes or no clothes. Keeping our clothes on was just much, much quicker, and that would work just fine for me.
As if he’d somehow sensed what I was thinking, he yanked me up, his strong, rippling arms scooping me up as if I weighed nothing. He pulled me up above him so that we aligned perfectly. I wrapped my legs around his waist and groaned out at the contact of bare skin against bare skin. It was something I’d never felt with him, and it was incredible, intoxicating, and freeing.
This was the moment of magic, the miracle. It was everything I’d hoped it would be.
He carried me with him until his back was against the wall again, his heat electrifying me to my core. It jolted me into another dimension, as if I was transported somewhere else. We now existed somewhere where no other worries existed. There was just this — us — and the amazing heated feeling of our bodies connecting.
When his mouth latched onto my breast again, I threw back my head in pleasure.
I snaked my hand between our bodies and gripped lightly around his member, and his head threw back in equal pleasure. I smiled against his mouth, and pumped my fist up and down, slowly at first, increasing speed as he groaned against my neck.