by Ali Parker
"Yeah. More than you know." I turned and picked her up as she mumbled something against my neck. I couldn't understand her, but I leaned down and brushed my lips by hers instead of trying. "It's alright, baby. I'm going to take you home with me, and I'll take care of you. Okay?"
She closed her eyes and cuddled up against my chest as I walked to the car. She wasn't going to wake up for the rest of the night, but I didn't care. I would clean her up and hold her until she came to the next day. Then... I was coming clean with the beautiful vixen. I didn't just want access to her body, but to her heart as well.
Funny to think that no amount of money could purchase such a treasure.
Chapter 18
Elizabeth
I woke the next morning tucked against someone. Fear raced through me that I'd gotten completely drunk and let Parks take me to bed, but then I realized the color of the sheets beneath me. Aiden. I stiffened in the bed, trying like hell to remember the night before, and only getting quick glimpses of Parks dancing with me sensually.
"Fuck," I whispered, hating myself. I might have been mad at Aiden, but cheating on him wasn't part of the deal. Was it cheating if we weren't really together?
"You awake?" His lips brushed by the back of my shoulder, and I realized that I was naked.
"Yes. What happened?" I turned onto my back and pulled the cover up as I looked over at him. My heart melted in my chest and tears filled my eyes at the dark circles under his eyes, coupled with the worried look on his devastatingly handsome face.
"You got sick, so I held you over the toilet. Your clothes are probably dry by now." He moved up beside me and lifted to his elbow, which caused the sheet to slide from his chest and leave his upper body on display.
Desire shot through me and I reached out, rubbing my hand up his arm to his shoulder. "Thank you. I'm so sorry. I think I danced with Parks. I was so drunk."
"Shh... it's okay. It was my fault." He leaned over and brushed his lips against mine tentatively.
Gratefulness that he was willing to care for me after what I'd done drove me to press into the kiss. I pulled at his neck and he moved to rest on top of me, the sheet getting stuck between us.
"Take it easy, Elizabeth. I've been watching you all night, and it's not going to take much to have me starving for your touch." He pressed his nose to the side of my neck and breathed in deeply.
"Oh God." I arched my back and tugged at the covers. "Get under here. I need to feel you against me so fucking bad."
He moved the covers, giving me a glimpse of his rock-hard erection. I reached down and stroked it as he growled softly at me.
"Woman. I'm serious. Take it easy. I know you're not feeling well." He settled down on top of me, and I closed my eyes as tears burned my vision. It felt like heaven to have him against me.
Fear wrapped around me so tightly that I couldn't breathe. I would have him for an hour or two, and then he would belong to the world he lived in and not me anymore. I would be a burden, a hindrance, until it was time to make love again.
"I can't do this," I whispered as a sob bubbled up inside of me.
He stroked my hair back and placed soft kisses all over my face before brushing his nose along mine. I opened my eyes to find his deep blue eyes filled with tears too.
"I can't either. Let's not do this anymore." He kissed me softly, and I expected him to move, but instead, he pressed into me as I gripped the sheets and let out a cry from the pleasure that swelled in my stomach. "Let's not pretend that we're not in love with each other, Lizzy. Let's let down our guard and fall so far that we can't imagine breathing if something were to happen to the other."
I cried out as he pressed in farther. His hands tightened around my face and he licked at my mouth before kissing me a few times and starting to pump in and out of me. I reached up and gripped him as if I might lose him.
"I want to be on top," I whispered, and he rolled us over, never losing contact.
I sat up and pressed back to take him fully inside me, and it was his turn to cry out. I pressed my hands to his strong chest and rocked against him as I whimpered due to his size.
He reached up and palmed my breasts, squeezing and massaging them as his eyes bore into mine.
"I love you. I've fallen so far in love with you that it scares me. Tell me that I'm not alone. I don't want to be alone anymore. Tell me that you feel the same." His hand brushed my cheek, and he pulled me down to lay flush against him as his other hand squeezed my ass tightly. "Tell me."
I nodded, and wrapped my arms around his neck as we continued to give and take from one another. "I love you too. So much that it hurts sometimes."
He nodded and closed his eyes, lifting his hips and working me from underneath as he groaned in pleasure with each thrust.
His words opened up a part of me that I didn't realize existed. I wanted forever with him, and even though it had started out as something so far from good and wholesome, it was turning into all those things now. My pain would dissipate the more I began to believe his desires were true.
"Hold on, baby. I'm going to get up and put on a condom." He kissed me once more and rolled us back over, working me for a few more minutes before getting up and walking to his nightstand.
"Aiden. What about tomorrow when we're back at work? Will you still love me then?" I knew I sounded needy and maybe a little pathetic, but I didn't care. I needed to know. If he was only willing to love me behind closed doors, then I needed to gather my things and leave. My heart couldn't handle us not truly being together. It was wrecking the parts of my life that mattered most.
"Yes. Forever." He rolled the condom on and walked back toward me as I let my eyes run along him. A soft moan left my lips as he pushed at my shoulder and curled in behind me, spooning me tightly. "I'm not telling you that it's going to be easy, but I don't care. If one of us has to leave the hospital, then I'll go."
He gripped my hip and impaled me with a loud groan. I reached up and grabbed the headboard, far too out of breath to tell him that I would go. He'd been there for the last ten years. I would take one for the team and do my residency elsewhere.
"I need to release all of this shit I've been building up inside of me for the last three weeks. Tell me you can take it." He shifted a little and half lay on top of me, forcing me more onto my stomach as he pressed in so deeply that it almost hurt.
"I want it." I gripped the bed tightly as he thanked me, and started to fuck me fast and hard, his body opening mine up as if it were his to command. I came so hard that tears filled my eyes, and he followed me quickly, rocking himself against me until he collapsed and wrapped me in a tight hold.
"I love you. So much, Elizabeth. Tell Parks and every other man in the world to fuck off. You're mine. We don't need to figure out what that means, but we do need to work through the details."
I nodded and wiped at my tears. "I love you too. I need to get into the hospital soon. My boss has been a dick lately, and I don't want to upset him."
He chuckled low in his chest. "Your boss says that you're at work already. Today's going to be a test in longevity. You up for it?"
I smirked and pushed him back before crawling out of the bed and grabbing the rest of the condoms. I tossed them at him and pulled my hair up before cracking my neck and walking back to the bed.
"Get another one of those on. I've always wanted to try reverse cowgirl." I crawled onto the bed as his eyes widened slightly.
"You play mentor then. Just promise to make me your mentee." He reached for me, pulling me down and wrapping his arms and legs around me as we rolled to a comfortable spot on the bed. "Forgive me for all of this. I wanted your heart, not your body or your time. That all would have come along with it if I hadn't twisted your offer. I'm sorry."
I brushed my hand down his face and took a deep breath. "There's nothing to be sorry about. I offered you me. My heart wasn't part of the deal, but like most cocky doctors... you just assumed it was all yours."
He laughed and s
queezed my ass before tucking his face against my neck. "And I want it all, but can we start with the reverse cowgirl stuff first?"
I laughed and swatted at him. "Anything you want."
"There's my girl. Get up here and remind me why I'm going to shower you in everything I have for the rest of our lives." He gripped my hips tightly as I moved up to straddle him.
"Because my ass is cute?" I glanced over my shoulder to watch him put on a new condom.
"Because you're everything I want, and far more than I deserve." He pulled me back to take him in. "I'll always be right here behind you, supporting you, loving you, needing you."
"And fucking me?" I rocked my hips as he sat up and moved his fingers to play between my thighs as the world lit on fire.
"Always fucking you. Every time you let me." He kissed my neck as I closed my eyes and lost myself in the feeling of his touch.
There wouldn't be an every time, but an any time. I was his, and he could have anything he wanted. Whenever he wanted it. Wherever he wanted it.
He was my future, and I was fully invested.
Epilogue
Three Years Later
Elizabeth
We'd done it. Three years had passed since I started at St. Mark’s Hospital, and my residency was over. Peter had allowed both of us to stay at the hospital after Aiden turned in his resignation, but I was assigned a new mentor, which worked out well. Parks had taken on the job, and I honestly learned more from him than I ever could from Aiden. He was a different type of teacher, one who didn't give accolades and praise too often, but when he did, he meant it.
Stephanie finally got past her crazy phase, and met a really cute guy at the club a few years back. They were married a year later, and she moved in with him and left me to make the hard decision of finally giving in to Aiden pushing me to move in with him as well. He paid off my student loans within the first year of us dating, and moved my mother into a beautiful little townhouse near the edge of the city. She started dating an old friend from school, and everyone seems settled now. Parks is forever the bachelor, but I have no doubt that someone will come in and steal his heart, though he tells me that it still belongs to me.
He just does that to get to Aiden.
I knocked on the door just outside Dr. Miller's office, much like I had three years before starting my journey, and took a seat. My knee wasn't bouncing as much as it was back then, but my heart fluttered with the fact that my residency was over, and I'd taken my final exams to become a full-fledged doctor. She would have my scores, and I was going insane with the need to see them.
"Elizabeth. Right on time as usual. Come on in, and don't mind the visitors." She smiled warmly and moved back, leaving me to wonder what the hell she was talking about.
I walked into find most of my friends from my residency shoved into her office, including my mom, Steph, Parks, Peter, and Aiden.
"What is this?" My heart raced in my chest as I glanced toward Dr. Miller.
"Congratulations. You did it. You were ranked number ten on this exam in all of the entire nation."
The whole room exploded with claps and shouts of excitement. I pressed my hands to my lips and turned to press into Aiden's arms as he wrapped them around me.
"I'm so proud of you, baby." He kissed the side of my face as I cried.
Thirteen years of killing myself, and I had done it. Not only had I reached my goal, but my dreams were flourishing because of the man in front of me. He wanted to give me the world, to know every part of me and exploit every pleasure known to man together.
My mom pulled at me and laughed. "Back up, Doctor Hottie. I want a hug from my girl."
I laughed and wrapped my mom in a hug. "Thanks for all your support, Mom."
She moved back and squeezed my shoulders as her eyes filled with tears. "I didn't do much, but I'm so proud of you. Your daddy would be too."
"I think so too." I hugged her again, and noticed out of the corner of my eye that Aiden was watching me.
I moved around the room, hugging people and talking to them about the craziness of the journey. It was overwhelming, and some part of me wished I was racing around the E.R. dealing with trauma rather than having to entertain so many people, but I was grateful for their support. It was a good lesson in the fact that life didn't have to be spent alone - ever. I had a whole room full of people who cared for me, and truly wanted me to succeed. One in particular.
"Why are you watching me so closely? It's turning me on." I moved up to my man and wrapped my arms around his narrow waist as he leaned down and pressed his lips to mine.
"I got you something. I hope you don't mind me giving it to you now." He nipped at my mouth.
"Is it a dick in a box? Because that's what I really want." I whispered against his lips, and he jerked back, laughing loudly as he shook his head.
"Oh, shit, baby. Not much has changed in the last three years, has it?" He pulled out a small black box as the room grew quiet. "I'm not sure this is the place to do it, but most of these people have threatened my life about being present when I did it."
"What are you doing, Aiden?" The blood rushed from my face as the room started to spin. I reached out and touched his shoulder as he dropped to his knee and lifted the box, popping it open and smiling at me. The petite diamond ring inside the box was perfect. It was me all the way, and I couldn't have done a better job having someone handcraft it for me.
"You make my life worth living. You're my partner at the hospital, my lover at home, my best friend everywhere else. Be my wife. Let's make this forever thing legit. Marry me."
I let out a short laugh as tears dripped down my face. "Yes. God, yes."
He stood up and put the ring on my finger, pulling me in tightly and kissing me lovingly. I didn't need anything else, and had been blessed far beyond anything I might imagine possible.
"You know that our arrangement still stands, right?" He looked down at me as people crowded around us. "My money, my time, my interest, and my investment..."
"My body and my heart?"
"Exactly. Pay up, Princess. Let's start with that first part." He growled softly and ignored everyone else in the room but me, which was exactly the way it would always be.
They were there, unless he was.
Then... it was just us - forever.
Risky Business
Chapter 1
Olivia
"You nervous?" Dr. Darren glanced over at me as we stood beside the stage. The auditorium was filled with his advanced finance students who were peppering the speaker before me with rather intimidating questions.
"Never." I winked. "And even if I were, no one will know it."
He chuckled and pressed his shoulder against mine. "Somehow I knew that would be your response."
"No you didn't." I gave him a cocky grin and moved up onto the stage as the speaker before me made his exit on the far side of the platform. The clap was lackluster at best. Dr. Darren had been my advisor throughout my five years at NYC, and was an excellent professor. He cared for his students and took far more time helping me not only understand the value of an invested dollar, but many of the other skills I would need to access in front of the crowd of sharks in front of me.
"Class," his voice boomed through the room, "please help me welcome one of my favorite students, and top graduate from our program last year. Miss Olivia Desmant."
"Hot," someone muttered and the class snickered.
I tugged at the collar of my white button down and gave them a tight smile. "It is rather hot in here... isn't it. Maybe we should turn the air on."
Another round of snickers, this time they were welcomed.
"I'm Olivia and after working for one of the top investment firms in New York for the last year, Dr. Darren asked that I come back and tell you all the things you might not know, and perhaps wouldn't want to." I smiled and let my eyes move across the room. Half the people staring back at me would never make it in the dog-eat-dog world of financial investments.<
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"Let's start with a quick experiment and then I'll give you some statistics." I brushed my hands together and pursed my lips as I moved to the edge of the stage. "If you're a female please stand."
The girls in the room stood up, half of them giving me an eat-shit-and-die look. It was almost comical.
"If you're over the age of forty. Please stand up." I spoke softly, but kept my tone steady. They already believed me to be less than worthy of their time, regardless of my credentials. I was a pretty blonde female. I had multiple strikes against me. Where most would pull the covers over their heads and go back to bed over some of the shit I took on each day, I almost enjoyed overcoming the odds.
"If you're timid, shy, or have a speech impediment of any kind. Stand." More stood and glanced around at the others as if they might attack any minute. A third of the classroom were still seated.
"If you enjoy eating lunch, sleeping at night or taking a piss. Please... stand."
A chuckle resounded around me.
I pressed my fingers to my lips as everyone stood but one handsome guy. Tilting my head to the side, I gave him a warm smile.
"You there... how about sex. If you enjoy the warmth of having a woman in your bed. Or a man." I shrugged. "If you enjoy that in the slightest - stand on up."
He popped up like his ass was on fire and the room broke out into laughter.
"Good." I clapped my hands. "Now, look around. Every one of you."
They glanced around the room and shuffled back and forth a little bit.
"If you think you're capable of not only making it as an investment manager, but rising to the top and owning your own firm... please, sit down."
Four males sat down and several others started to, but seemed to waver in their belief about the future.
"Right. Everyone sit down. Let's be clear." I moved to the podium and pulled out my notes. "This isn't a career, it's a life. And if you're not one of the chosen few who might be ushered to the top, you have a long life ahead of you."