“On Saturday, are you alright if our date takes all day?” Merrick said with a boyish grin.
“Sure, I don’t have another date that night.” I laughed.
“Oh, yeah, yeah; you better cancel any other dates you have. Patty would be angry,” he joked. “She scares me.”
“What are you cooking? It smells delicious.”
“You know what; I’m not going to tell you. It’s a surprise,” Merrick teased as he stood in front of the stove.
“Nope. That’s not allowed. I don’t like surprises. You have to tell me.”
Merrick came back over to my side of the counter, and the look in his eyes told me that he had something much better than dinner planned for us that evening. I couldn’t stop smiling as he stood over me with his boyish grin.
The way Merrick looked at me was exactly how I had imagined a man would look at me. I could still remember talking with my college girlfriends about finding our dream guys. We giggled and reminisced about how our husbands would only have eyes for us. How they would look at us with such desire that we would never want another man as long as we lived. It had been young girl talk, and long before we knew the way of the dating world. I had been sorely disappointed by most of the men in my life up until the moment I met Merrick.
“I’m not going to tell you. What are you going to do about it?”
I quickly slid my fingers around his belt and pulled him close to me. My legs spread apart, holding him right there next to me. I loved the feeling of having him there in front of me like that. His tall body looking down on me, his longing washing over me like a comforting blanket.
“I’m not going to let you go until you tell me,” I threatened.
“Okay.”
His hands grabbed my hips and lifted me up so quickly that I instinctively let go of his belt and wrapped my arms around his neck. He held onto me while he walked back to the stove and flipped the burner off. I had to laugh at how responsible he was.
“We don’t want to start the building on fire now do we?” he whispered as he walked down my hallway with me wrapped around him. “I can’t wait to taste every inch of you.”
“What are you doing?” I laughed as we got close to my bedroom. “I thought you were cooking dinner for me. You had me all excited about getting a nice home cooked meal,” I joked.
“I wasn’t very satisfied with my performance the other night. I think we need a do-over. I have a lot of things I want to do with you. A lot of long delicious things that I’ve been thinking about since I saw you last.”
“Right now? You were in the middle of cooking dinner?”
“Yeah, well you said you weren’t going to let go until I told you, so don’t let go.”
His husky voice penetrated me as I continued to hold onto him. He wasn’t even holding me any longer as I felt his hands slip down to unbutton his pants, and then he slid them down to the ground. Then he reached for the buttons of his shirt and started undoing those.
“Are you seriously going to take all your clothes off while I hold onto you? This seems really dangerous to me.”
“Yep. I might even manage to get most of your clothes off too,” he teased. “Hang on.”
I couldn’t stop laughing at how crazy it all was. He expected me to hang onto him while he stripped down and then stripped me naked. This wasn’t like any second date I’d ever been on, but then again, I was pretty sure already that Merrick wasn’t at all like any other man I’d dated.
My arms stayed wrapped around him as I started kissing his neck softly before biting softly on his ear, which made him let out a grunt of desire that drove me even wilder. I’d found his weak spot. I wanted to hear his moans. There was a power in being able to get him to respond to me like that.
“Oh, you like that?” I whispered.
“I like your lips. And I’m pretty sure I’d like them anywhere you put them.”
I bit softly on his earlobe a little more and felt his body hardening underneath me. My desire for him took over, and there wasn’t anything I could do to stop it. I needed to feel him again. My body longed to feel his inside of me over and over again. The power of our attraction drove us, and I felt my insides building up with a tingling that I couldn’t have anticipated.
“I like your lips too,” I said softly.
“I’ll give you all the lips and tongue you can handle,” Merrick said as he kneeled on the bed and lowered me down.
He made quick work of ridding me of my clothing, and before I knew it, his tongue was lapping against me as my toes curled into the bed with pleasure. His large hands held my thighs open as I rotated my hips against him, the pleasure building up higher and higher as I resisted and gave in to him all at the same time.
“I want you,” I moaned. “I want every inch of you.”
“Oh, you’ll have me, but only after I’ve had you,” he said between pleasuring licks to my body.
I grabbed the sheets tightly as my body tingled with desire, and I closed my eyes to take in all the pleasure he was giving me. The more I thrust against him, the harder it was to stop myself as my body gave in, and I screamed out with total delight. My legs shook, and my hands grabbed tightly into his hair when my body jolted full of desire. But Merrick wasn’t about to let me enjoy the moment without heightening it even more, and he quickly slipped protection on and slid inside of me.
My muscles tightened around him hard, and I felt his body slow as the feeling of pleasure hit him. The intensity of our lovemaking was amplified by the connection I felt with Merrick. Nothing was the same as with other men. I welcomed the power of letting go while in his arms. I urged my body to give in and release in total happiness.
“Let yourself go, Kristina,” he whispered as his hips moved deep inside of me.
I wrapped my arms and legs around him and let him take control as he moved harder and harder, and I started to shiver with the full pleasure of the moment. I did let myself go. I gave up all the worry, the thoughts of everything else but that moment and felt the pleasure like I hadn’t felt before.
His lips were only inches away from my ear, and I heard his moans as his body gave into the pleasure as well. Soon, we were both thrusting and moaning in total delight as our bodies came together in pleasure. Sweat dripped off of his body from the exertion of it all.
Sex was almost always enjoyable for me, but at that moment, I got a glimpse of what it could be like with someone you truly cared about. Even though we hadn’t known each other long, the feelings I had for him were building, and I didn’t want to let him go. Not in that moment, not ever. He was what I had been looking for. He was the man of my dreams, and I wasn’t about to let some silly phone call we shared ruin that for me.
My arms continued to feel like jello as Merrick lowered himself onto me, and I felt the comfort of his body. Within the hour, we were back at it again, though, and again before the morning. The two of us just couldn’t get enough of each other. It was as if we needed the pleasure that the other one was giving, and neither of us was willing to give it up.
Chapter 9
Merrick
I tasted her long after I left her apartment the next morning. The sweet desire of her body on my tongue would be something I cherished throughout the morning as I made my way to my office.
“You look like you got laid last night,” Wyatt said as we grabbed some coffee on the way to work.
“How exactly does someone look like they got laid?”
“You’re smiling for one, and everyone in the office knows that you don’t smile around investment offices. So is this that girl you met through the matchmaker?”
“I smile at work. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, really. Merrick Stanley smiles at work. I don’t think so. The only smiling I’ve seen at work was when your assistant was out after her surgery and the temp agency sent you over that hot redhead.”
“She was a redhead. How could I not have been distracted?” I joked.
; “This new girl of yours … she’s a redhead too, right?”
“Yes, most beautiful red hair you’ve ever seen. But it’s about more than that. She’s funny, so funny, and she makes me feel like I need to be on my best behavior, which is new for me.”
“She’s disciplining you when you’re naughty?” Wyatt asked as he pretended to throw a whip in the air.
“Come on … you know what I mean. She’s intelligent and sexy, and just the right mix for me. I like this one.”
“Good for you, Merrick. You deserve a nice normal girl. “Thanks,” I said.
So I take it Patty doesn’t know about your tryst with the redhead yet?”
“She knows. It’s not ideal for her, but I’m paying her, and I’m not dating other women. I think that was the true meaning behind her rule anyway.”
“Yeah, it doesn’t matter. You could have lied if you didn’t want her to know. Plus, yeah, you’re paying her to match you up, not to give you sex advice.”
We both laughed as we loaded into the elevator and headed up to our floor of the office. Things around the office had been pretty laid back recently since the market was doing so well, but it could easily betray us, and the stress levels would fly through the roof. We had to take advantage of the good times when we could and enjoy a little morning man talk before work.
“I’m going to take her out Saturday again, any ideas of what we should do?”
“You mean besides sex all night?” Wyatt laughed.
“Yeah, I want to get to know her, the real her. I don’t want this to be like other sexual relationships without substance.”
“Take her on a trip in your jet.”
“Oh yeah, Wyatt, that’s a good way to show her how normal I am.”
“Merrick, you’re not normal, and pretending to be someone who is normal is just a lie. You are always taking your jet out and going to Vegas or even overseas. That’s who you are. Take her out; you will have a lot of time to talk and get to know each other.”
“I actually had been thinking of taking her somewhere, but I was just thinking about going upstate. You don’t think it would be too weird to take her to Sonoma or something like that?”
“Does she drink wine? Hell, what woman doesn’t? Sure, take her out to wine country and get a tour or something. She’ll love it. Plus, you’ll have three hours to talk or do whatever else you want to do on the plane,” he said as he nudged me.
“Yeah, she did say she was free the whole day.”
“Perfect, now we have your date planned. Can we get to work and make some money before my boss gets pissed at me,” Wyatt joked as he walked off toward his office?
“Get back to work, you lazy bum,” I hollered after him.
Wyatt and I had known each other since we went to Georgetown together. It was nice to have a friend in the office, and he’d never taken it badly that I was his boss. In fact, when he first started working at the company, my father had been in charge, and I hardly knew what was going on. Wyatt was much better at finding good investments than I was; I just happened to be better at managing people and was born into the right family.
“Wendy, I got this for you the other day and forgot to give it to you,” I said as I pulled the Chinese change wallet out of my coat pocket.
“You’re a good man, Merrick Stanley; don’t listen to anything those other people say.”
I had to laugh. I was really very lucky to be surrounded by so many good people in my office. It was a pleasure to work with them, and nothing I took for granted at all. As I got into my office, I noticed there was a notification from the Millionaire Matching website, and it was from Kristina. I quickly opened it to see what she had to say.
KRISTINA: I am eating a really juicy peach right now.
MERRICK: That picture will keep me happy all day long.
KRISTINA: I’m going to close this page, just wanted you to know so you didn’t think it was weird that my profile was gone.
MERRICK: What if some hot sexy millionaire wants to reach you, though?
KRISTINA: He’ll have to text my phone ;)
Just like that, the page went blank, and an error screen showed up. It was reassuring to know she didn’t need that profile to stay up and wasn’t using it as some sort of backup plan in case we didn’t work out.
MERRICK: Saturday still looks good for you?
KRISTINA: Yep. What time?
MERRICK: I’d like to come over early, maybe 7 a.m.?
KRISTINA: 7 in the morning! What kind of date starts at 7 in the morning? Geesh, I better cancel my date for Friday night then ;)
MERRICK: An awesome date. Wear something comfortable.
KRISTINA: Okay, but you better feed me breakfast. I will barely be able to crawl out of bed that early in the morning.
MERRICK: Deal. You know my office has a perfect view of the Statue of Liberty if you ever want to stop by.
There was a long pause as she didn’t respond. So long that I actually started reading the trend reports for the day and doing my actual work. It was getting difficult to concentrate with her on my mind, though, and I had a newfound appreciation for the guys who were newly dating. I hadn’t realized just how distracting a relationship could be to my productivity.
KRISTINA: Oh, that sounds like a bad idea. You’d never get any work done.
MERRICK: Nope I wouldn’t, but it’s a great idea. If you’re ever in the area, Stanley and Associates is right near the old World Trade Center.
KRISTINA: If I showed up at your work, I’d climb on that desk of yours and give you a distraction that would shake the financial markets ;)
Shit! This girl was great. She was combining flirting and finance talk. It took some serious skill to get those two markets to collide. I was impressed. Kristina was an all around impressive girl, though, so it didn’t surprise me that she could flirt like a pro.
MERRICK: Come show me
KRISTINA: I better keep working so I don’t lose my job earlier than I want to LOL. I will see you Saturday morning. Enjoy your day.
MERRICK: You too.
***
I did my best to concentrate on work for the rest of the week, with a few short texting conversations thrown in with Kristina. This girl had my mind wrapped around her little finger, though. I hadn’t found that one thing that would turn me off from her yet, and that surprised me. Typically, I’d found at least one flaw that I could pin my relationship ending on. Yet with Kristina, things were really good. She wasn’t too needy. She wasn’t too bossy.
Kristina had her own life and was content with it. She did talk about being stressed out about the end of year goals, but that was about all I heard from her regarding her work. I tried to mirror her and avoid talking about my work, but it was very difficult.
Finance and investing had been my passion my whole life. Although I did enjoy getting out and experiencing the world, I found it difficult to connect with women if they didn’t have at least a small understanding of my world. Of course, I could connect enough to land them in my bed, but any real connection was lost.
By Saturday morning, I was up early and had confirmed all my plans for the day. I drank a couple of cups of coffee as I tried to wake myself up before heading over to Kristina’s place to get her. There was a huge breakfast planned for the plane ride to California, so I skipped eating and made my way to get her.
Grand romantic gestures weren’t really my thing. Typically, the women I dated were happy enough with me for our short period of time together that I didn’t need to put any effort at all into the dates if we even bothered to go on a date. Much of my so-called dating life was more like a run of women in my bed and alcoholic drinks. This was a new experience for me, and my nerves were more fragile than I had remembered them being even on the first date with Kristina.
This time, instead of her hands shaking, it was mine. The two cups of coffee on an empty stomach had certainly contributed to the shakes, but it was still unnerving for me. I took in a deep breath and closed my
eyes for a moment of relaxation before I went upstairs to grab Kristina.
“Nerves are a good thing,” my driver said as he noticed my deep breathing. “It means she’s a keeper.”
“Thanks, I think she just might be.”
“I dated a lot of women in my day, and I wasn’t nervous at all until I met my wife. Every time I’d go pick her up, I was close to passing out from holding my breath. She was the first woman that I desperately wanted to impress.”
“Well, you married her, so you must have done something right,” I said as I climbed out of the vehicle.
“I did everything wrong, but she kept me anyways,” he laughed.
Another deep breath as I waited to be buzzed in. Another one as I walked into the elevator. One last deep breath as I stood in anticipation of her opening her door. This wasn’t me; I wasn’t the guy who got nervous going to see a woman. Whatever was going on between us was new and exciting, and I wanted it to continue as long as possible.
“You look tired,” I said as she groggily opened the door in her pajamas. “It’s time to go.”
“Let’s just stay in; I’m so tired. We could curl up in my bed and sleep all day. Doesn’t that sound like a great date?”
“Sorry darling, we have people to see, and places to go. Pull your hair up, put on a pair of jeans, and let’s get going.”
“Really? You want me to go out like this?”
“You look beautiful, and yep.”
She let me inside the apartment as she stood looking at me like I was going to change my mind. Little did she know there was a whole flight crew waiting for us to arrive at the airport, and she needed to get moving so I could keep our schedule for the day.
“You’re serious aren’t you?”
“Yes, get going. We’re going to be late.”
I nudged her toward the hallway so she could get ready, and she reluctantly made her way to the bathroom. As I waited for her, I looked through the pictures on the walls and all the knick-knacks she had around the place. A Buddha held up some self-help books. There was a random baseball without any signatures on it but in a special case. Even a swarm of paperclips that were glued onto a board in the shape of a heart. I could tell these things were sentimental to her, and I couldn’t wait to hear the stories about them someday.
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