International Player

by Louise Bay

  She laughed. “Well, that’s predictable, I suppose.”

  “I’m not generally a boob man, but these?” I said, scooping them up and letting them fall. “These are something else.” I ran the backs of two fingers down in a straight line from her collarbone to her navel, enjoying the way patches of goosebumps appeared. “And your skin. The feel of it—so soft and smooth and warm.” I trailed my hand lower. “And this,” I said, dipping one finger between her folds. She sighed, then I brought my finger to my mouth to taste it. “Always so fucking sweet.”

  My body began to buzz—in expectation or need, I wasn’t sure. It was time. I rolled her over, clasping her hands in mine, and slid my erection against her folds as we held each other’s gaze.

  “Condom,” she whispered.

  Shit. I always wore a condom but tonight, I didn’t want to. I wanted to be as close to her as I could. But I wasn’t going to push.

  “Or not,” she said. “I’ve not . . . not with anyone since you. And I’m on the pill.”

  “Me neither,” I replied. Maybe we’d been more serious than either of us realized from the outset.

  As I positioned myself at her entrance, she smiled and brought her knees up, opening herself to me.

  “I like watching you touch yourself,” she said.

  I groaned. “You know you might kill me if you keep saying stuff like that.” I dipped to steal a kiss.

  “I want an orgasm before you die, okay?”

  I grinned. “I think I can handle that.” I pushed in deep as she clawed at my chest and tried to catch her breath. I stilled as I got to the end of her. She was so tight, so fucking perfect, and if I thought about how good it all was I was going to lose it. “You okay?”

  “Yeah, it’s just always so good.”

  We always fit together so perfectly. “For me too.”

  “I want you to let go. Take what’s yours,” she said.

  I tipped my head back. Shit. That was exactly what I needed. To make her mine. I was dizzy at the thought, but I pulled back, and the slide of her thighs against my hips propelled me forward. I began to thrust. Desperate to be closer, I glanced at her, wanting to see how good it was. Her eyes were unfocused and lazily half shut as she tightened her grip on my shoulder. I concentrated on the pinch of her fingers and her sharp exhale. I couldn’t remember ever getting this much pleasure from the way I made another person feel before. But being able to make Truly open up was the biggest turn-on.

  As I stilled, she twisted beneath me, and I grunted at the drag of her body, then gave her what she wanted, pulling out and sliding back in. She arched beneath me as if she wanted to get closer, and I pulled her leg up, pushing her knee to her shoulder to get deeper. The warm-up was over, and I was ready for the main event. I tensed and thrust into her faster.

  “It’s so good, so good,” she chanted.

  God, her feedback was another thing I’d lived too long without. I loved hearing exactly how she felt. How I made her feel. Her hips mirrored mine as we moved together, climbing higher and higher, getting faster and less careful. It was as if we were dissolving the last few weeks and wiping the slate clean. It was wild and urgent and somehow completely necessary.

  “Truly,” I called out, needing to hear her. “Truly.”

  She thrust her hand in my hair. “I’m so close.” She tightened beneath me, squeezing so hard, I thought I might burst. “Just . . .” Her breaths got higher and shallower. She was seconds away, and I wanted to hold back until I got her there. “Just . . . Oh God,” she screamed, and I pulsed into her, emptying everything I had as we came together.

  My pulse banged in my ears, and my whole body throbbed, but it wasn’t enough. I wanted more. “Again,” I spat out. “I need you again. Now.”

  Her eyes widened, and she nodded. I was like a junkie who’d had my first fix in weeks, and now I couldn’t get enough.

  I turned onto my back and scrubbed my hands over my face, groaning as she fisted my still-hard cock.

  Her palm pressed against my abs as she lifted a leg across mine, then leaned forward to kiss me. She pulled back almost too quickly, and I couldn’t decide if I wanted more of her kisses or that sweet, tight pussy clamped around me. Flicking her hips back and forward, she swept her heat along the length of me. I had to sit her on my dick right at that moment or I was going to lose it.

  She grinned and shook her head. “So impatient.” She guided me to her opening, closed her eyes, and let out the most delicious moan as she sank onto me. Jesus, how had I thought I could live without this?

  “Fuck, Truly.” I couldn’t stand it any longer. I needed to fuck her hard and deep. I flipped us over so she was on her back and began to thrust. I just needed to fuck and fuck and fuck until the space between us was entirely gone.

  I lay on top of her, our chests pressed together, her heat and mine, our sweat mixing. I dropped my head to her shoulder as I continued to fuck, kiss, and lick, wanting to consume all of her. And she seemed to feel the same as her fingers dug into my arse, pulling me deeper into her.

  This wasn’t anything to do with conquering a woman. This was all about connection with the woman I loved. It was about need and desire. And realizing what I’d been so close to losing.

  I pushed myself up, desperate to see her need for me in her eyes. Her head was thrown back, her eyes squeezed shut. Her moans got louder, higher, more desperate, but I didn’t slow my pace. She ran her nails up my back and tightened around me, her eyes opening into mine as she climaxed. I reached between us, pressing her clitoris, wanting it to last for her, but the slick wetness on my fingers was too much and I pushed her, harder and harder into the mattress, as my own climax overtook me, pleasure flooding every limb, every vein, every fucking thought.

  I was exhausted. My legs, my arse, my arms ached with effort. Even my jaw was tight. I collapsed onto my back.

  “I just want you with me all the time.”

  Truly rolled to her side, slid one leg over mine and skirted her fingers up my torso. “I’m here. With you. And I’m happy.”

  We were forever bound. Connected. And together we were ready to take on the world.

  EPILOGUE

  Noah

  I should have been more nervous but being near Truly always calmed me.

  The children were gathered in the activity room, some wheeled in from the ward in chairs, and even a few in beds. Truly had handed over the foundation’s check. The center had announced that its twenty-five-million-pound target had been reached and the speeches and thank yous were over. The entire room was full of smiles and excitement—a perfect setting. “We just have a final few words from an old friend of the center.” The medical director nodded at me.

  I stepped forward and took the microphone with me, trying not to catch Truly’s eye and failing.

  Her face was a mixture of shock and confusion. I hoped that didn’t last.

  “Thank you, Dr. Edwards. I won’t keep any of you long, I just have a few words.” For the fiftieth time that day, I reached into my trouser pocket to ensure the velvet box was still there.

  “I have been where you are now. When I was fifteen, I was in a car accident and was told I’d never walk again. I can’t say I’m pleased it happened, and I’ll carry the scars—inside and out—for as long as I live. But there was an upside. I learned I had the sheer force of will that’s required to face down the odds and beat them. That I could be told it’s impossible to do something, then do it anyway. That accident and my time spent here taught me what’s important in life and what isn’t. I learned to squeeze out every drop of life so I could taste exactly how sweet it is.

  “Many of you know Truly Harbury and recognize how special she is. How kind and caring, how dedicated and driven.” A blush flushed across her cheeks and she still looked utterly confused. I grinned and turned back to the audience. “And just as I knew that I would defy the odds and walk again, I understand how precious Truly is. How important she is. How living my life without her wouldn�
��t be living life to the full.”

  I pulled out the velvet box from my pocket and turned to her. “Truly, I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you, watching as you create happiness as you have done today and with every moment you spend working at the foundation. Hopefully, you’ll create some of your own happiness as I work at being a man who deserves you. I love you, Truly Harbury. Will you marry me?”

  The pressure of a thousand stares made Truly feel further away and the only one in the room at the same time. Time seemed to slow down. Her expression slid from confused to understanding, and then she took a couple of steps toward me.

  Did she want to be my wife as much as I wanted to be her husband?

  “Noah,” she whispered, ignoring the ring I held out as she smoothed her hand over my cheek.

  Mutterings in the crowd might have caught my attention if I hadn’t been so mesmerized by the beautiful woman in front of me I’d just asked to be my wife.

  “I want to be your husband,” I said, desperate for an answer.

  She nodded, and a grin tingled at the corners of my mouth.

  “Is that a yes?” I asked.

  She nodded again. “Yes! That’s a yes,” she said, and the room erupted.

  I circled my arms around her waist and lifted her up. “Really?” I asked. “You’re not just saying that so I’m not humiliated in front of a crowd?”

  Her giggle reverberated against me. “No, but you almost deserve it. Introverts don’t do public proposals. Did no one tell you?”

  “We have the rest of our lives to eat Chinese food on the sofa and argue over which Star Wars movie is the best. You saying you’ll be my wife deserves a more public celebration.”

  Small hands began tugging at my trousers, and I set Truly down. Children surrounded us to look at the ring and ask us about wedding plans. All I wanted was to have Truly to myself. I’d spent too long without her.

  After hundreds of handshakes, high fives, hugs, and kisses, we finally managed to extract ourselves and head back to the car.

  “We don’t have to get married, you know,” she said as I linked my fingers through hers.

  “What are you talking about?” I pulled her hand up to my lips and kissed her knuckles next to the diamond.

  “I don’t know. I just—you don’t seem like the guy who does things like get married.”

  “I’m the guy who marries you. Not just anyone.”

  She bit back a smile.

  “I want to be your protector, your provider, your champion, your confidant. I want to be everything that I can for you. And that includes being your husband.” The image of Truly in a white dress with flowers in her hair, looking up at me as if I were her world, was burned in my brain.

  That was what I wanted.

  Her.

  Forever.

  Truly

  “You’ve really done an amazing job these last few months,” I told Frankie, who had been heading up the foundation’s finance department since Abigail had gone on leave. “So good that I want to make your position permanent.” I wanted to fly across my desk and give her a big hug. She’d earned this opportunity, and I was so pleased to be able to give it to her.

  “I don’t know what to say,” Frankie stuttered as she sat back in the chair opposite my desk.

  Abigail and I had agreed this was the best decision all around. Frankie had done a great job, and I didn’t want her to take a step backward when she’d proved herself capable of being at the next rung of the ladder. Plus, it freed me up to do other things.

  “Say yes.” I grinned.

  “Well of course, yes. But what does that mean for you? You’re not leaving, are you?”

  “Never.” I would spend the rest of my career at the foundation, but I was taking on a different role. “Abigail and I are both going to be working on the donor side of things. Turns out that I don’t mind the presentations to small groups of donors and some of the new reporting we produce on measurability is getting a great response from people, and I’m better at talking about that than Abigail.”

  “I don’t know of any other charitable foundation that has such robust quantitative data.”

  “And we want to make sure we stay ahead. So we’ll be working together on that. And then I’ll present it to donors new and old. Abigail will still do the big speeches, some of the presentations, along with a lot of the general schmoozing. She’s so good at it. But dividing it up between us will mean that we’ll be able to do more amazing things. Two of us working with donors should bring in a lot more money.”

  “This is exciting,” Frankie said. “We’re growing.”

  “Professionally, financially, and maybe even emotionally.” I laughed as I opened my desk drawer and put away my notebook.

  “I’m so thrilled you asked me. I wondered how I’d feel going back to my old role after filling in for you these last few months.”

  “It’s good to move forward, but sometimes it takes something drastic to make us see that.” Abigail’s bedrest had been worrying, but in the end it had brought nothing but good things. Abigail had been fine, baby Olivia the most beautiful baby ever born, and managing Abigail’s role while she’d been gone had even forced Noah and I together.

  “You don’t need to ask me twice. And if it’s okay with you, I’d like to get started straightaway.” She bounced up from her seat and headed toward the door.

  I knew I’d made the right decision. “I wouldn’t expect anything less. But don’t stay too late.”

  “I won’t, and have a good time tonight,” Frankie called from halfway down the corridor.

  I glanced at the clock. I didn’t have long before Noah and Rob would be here, and I needed to change and refresh my makeup.

  “Did you tell her?” Abigail appeared at the door. “I thought I heard someone say something.”

  “Come in and close the door. I need to change before Rob and Noah get here.” I pulled out the outfit I’d chosen for our engagement dinner from the suit carrier hanging on the coat stand behind my desk. “And yes, she was delighted.”

  “I’m so happy we’re doing this. It really takes the pressure off.”

  “Me too. We have so much going on in our lives that it’s the perfect solution.” I stripped out of my blouse and skirt and unzipped the black jumpsuit so I could step into it.

  “And fun, too. I’ll have a partner in crime at these functions now.”

  “Some of them,” I said. “Not all.”

  “Hey, I’ve not seen that outfit before. It’s great. And it’s one shouldered?” Abigail asked as I hooked one arm into the sleeve.

  “Yeah, Noah bought it for me.”

  “Excuse me? Your fiancé went out and bought you clothes? I hate you.”

  I laughed as I zipped myself up. “Not exactly. That stylist that I told you about had me try it on, but I’d decided against it as it was so much money. Noah got it without telling me.”

  “But that was before anything had happened, wasn’t it?”

  On several occasions Abigail had made me recall almost every detail of my relationship with Noah. She’d said she hoped it would teach me not to keep things from her in future. “After tequila kissing but, yes, before anything else.”

  “He was smitten practically as soon as he got back from New York,” she said.

  “I hadn’t really thought about the timing.” Maybe there’d been more between us sooner than I’d realized. I bent and did up my strappy heels. Noah liked to do it for me when we were at home—I swear that man had a shoe fetish. But as he wasn’t here, I’d do them myself. He could take them off later.

  Abigail launched forward as someone tried to open the door.

  “I think it’s your husband,” I said.

  Abigail flung open the door. “Don’t you knock?” she asked Rob. “Truly was getting changed.”

  “Sorry. We can come back.”

  Seeing I was dressed, Abigail coaxed them in and Rob pressed a kiss on his wife’s cheek and Noah a
nd Lev followed.

  “Hello, sexy.” Lev grinned at me.

  “Hey, that’s my fiancée you’re talking to,” Noah said as he knocked Lev out of the way before he could do anything other than give me a very chaste kiss on the cheek. “Although she is very sexy.” Noah looked me up and down, paying particular attention to my bottom before hooking his arm around my waist and pressing his lips against mine.

  “You don’t look so bad yourself,” I said, pushing against his chest to keep him from turning a hello kiss into something more. Noah in a navy suit couldn’t get hotter.

  “So are we all ready?” I wasn’t quite sure why Lev was here. I’d thought it was just the four of us having a quiet dinner to celebrate the engagement, but I didn’t really mind.

  “Oh, I just want Noah to sign some documents and I’ll be on my way,” Lev said, pulling out a file from his briefcase. “I know you guys have dinner and actually, I have a date.”

  “Who’s the lucky girl?” I asked.

  Lev shrugged. “I’m trying internet dating now that you’ve broken my heart by getting engaged, Truly. I’ve got to see what’s out there.”

  I rolled my eyes. I was more than sure that Lev had never had a broken heart in his life. “So are these the documents for the new company?”

  Noah nodded. “Yeah. Lev set us up with a co-investor so we can grow the tech business.” Noah turned the papers and set about putting his signature on the back pages of the bundle Lev had handed him.

  “And you said you might never set up a company again. I knew the money would be too much to ignore,” Rob said.

  “It’s not about the money.” Noah shook his head. “Developing this software was something I wanted to do at Concordance Tech, but it didn’t make sense when we had our focus on the float. With private money, we can really spend some time getting it right without having to worry about how it will be perceived by shareholders.”

  “And knowing you, you’ll end up a billionaire,” Rob said.

  Noah finished signing, closed the papers, and stood. “Not going to say no to that possibility. It would mean more money for research. More help we can give to kids who need it.” Noah had decided that half his profits from his future business ventures would go into a foundation to research and test non-medical developments in healthcare.