by Lauren Rowe
Which perhaps is the reason why no one ever seems
To wonder how come the Woman Who Named Her Destiny
Never stopped to ask or ponder, really,
Whether the three-year-old with eyes of green
Actually wished to grow up to become a money tree
Or if, maybe, just maybe, instead,
There was something else she herself
Might have wished she would one day
Grow up
To be.
Chapter 29
Aloha
I’m trembling as I watch Zander read my poem—stuffing down the urge to snatch the book from his hands and shout “Never mind!” What kind of sorcery has Zander performed on me to make me hand him that sacred book? I’ve never even shown my poetry to Barry!
Zander looks up from my journal. His full lips are parted, his eyes on fire. “This is incredible, Aloha. You’re gifted. A true artist.”
I clutch my chest, absolutely overwhelmed. “Thank you.”
Zander lays down my journal and takes my cheeks into his large palms. “You’re never allowed to hurt yourself again. Do you understand me? As your bodyguard, I won’t allow it. And as the man who... cares... deeply about you... I forbid it. If you’re in pain, then write some more kickass poetry, just like this. And if writing isn’t doing the trick on any given day, then come to me and talk to me or cry on my shoulder. And if that doesn’t work—if you still feel the need to dig into some flesh to get the pain out—then dig into mine. Cut me, Aloha. Scratch me. Hurt me. I can take it. Just so long as I know it’ll prevent you from ever hurting yourself again.”
“I’d never hurt you,” I whisper, just before his greedy mouth lands on mine.
He grips my face and slides his tongue into my mouth as his lips devour mine, and, just that fast, a tsunami of passion and yearning like nothing I’ve felt before crashes down on me, consuming my every nerve ending and heartbeat. As our tongues swirl and tangle, desire envelops me like a pyre. I want him.
His breathing ragged and his entire body trembling, Zander guides me onto my back, crawls on top of me, nestling the hard bulge behind his pants firmly against my clit. I wrap my arms around his strong neck and hoist my thighs around his ribcage and dry hump the tented bulge behind his pants as vigorously as he’s dry humping me.
“Condom,” I choke out into his hungry lips.
He kisses my neck furiously. “In the nightstand?”
“I don’t have any,” I gasp out. “Get one of yours.”
Zander’s hulking body stiffens and freezes on top of me. And, instantly, I know what his body language means.
I jerk back from our kiss, incredulous. “No.”
He sighs.
“You’re joking.”
“I’m not, unfortunately.”
I wack him on the shoulder. “You came to my room tonight without a motherfucking condom?”
“I didn’t bring any on the tour! You were off-limits! This was gonna be a three-month de-foxification!”
“Oh my fucking... After what happened in the pool, you knew you were coming here to fuck me! And you didn’t think to swing by the little store in the lobby before coming to my room?”
“I didn’t want anyone to see me buying them. And I didn’t know for sure I was coming here to fuck you. I hoped so. But I didn’t want to assume it or jinx it. I figured if we got this far, you’d have one and we’d be good to go.”
“Well, I don’t have one and we’re not good to go, goddammit! We’re fucked and not in a good way!”
He laughs. “Well, why the fuck don’t you have one, little miss seductress? After what happened in the pool, you knew I was coming here to fuck you.”
“I didn’t know for sure. I hoped, but after all your jabbering about me being off-limits, I thought it was fifty-fifty you’d throw on the brakes. I figured if we got this far, you’d have a freaking condom and we’d be good to go!”
Zander chuckles and sighs. “Well, damn.” He smooths a stray hair off my forehead. “No worries. There’s plenty I can do to you without a condom. Actually fucking you is only one of the tricks up my sleeve.”
I return his naughty smile. “The Sure Thing?”
“No, I don’t think tonight’s the night for that, actually. I think tonight is when I’m gonna eat your sweet little pussy until I make it rain all over my face.”
A shiver of desire races up my spine. “Do with me what you will, Mr. Sex God.”
“Oh, I intend to.”
He peels off my clothes, leaving me naked and writhing on the bed, and quickly proceeds to devour my breasts and nipples. After a while, he kisses his way down my torso to my inner thighs. And then to my folds. He sucks on them. Nibbles and teases. But he never touches my clit—much to my torture.
Still licking around and near my aching bull’s-eye, he slides a couple fingers inside me—and, instantly, my nerve endings zap like live wires. I arch my back and moan. “Please.”
With his free hand, he pushes my thighs wide, opening me all the way—and then, glory be, he leans in and tongues my bared clit with an intensity that makes me cry out with pleasure. Just a few enthusiastic licks later, and I come. Hard. And now I know: the wicked orgasm Zander gave me in the pool wasn’t a fluke. He’s a man who knows exactly what he’s doing and can do it at will.
“So good,” I grit out. “Oh, God, yes.”
To my surprise, despite my obvious orgasm, Zander doesn’t let up on me, either with his fingers or tongue. He just keeps right on eating and fingering me, all the while pushing my thighs apart so he can invade and explore every nook and cranny of me with zeal. And my body is responding like never before. The pleasure he’s giving me is slithering up and down my every nerve ending and pooling almost painfully in my clit and core. The build-up of pleasure inside me is so intense, in fact, it’s turning me into a ravenous animal, a wanton creature whose sole reason for existence is getting penetrated by Zander’s cock—that heart-palpitating bulge straining behind his gray sweatpants.
When Zander slides up to my face to kiss me passionately, I slide my hand into his sweatpants and pull his erection out his elastic waistband—and when I see it bared to me, and the way it’s straining toward me and glistening at its tip, my mouth literally waters. I grip Zander’s shaft and stroke it up and down, eager to give him pleasure the way he’s been giving it to me. I swirl the wetness pooled on Zander’s tip, and he jerks and moans in reply.
After a moment, Zander places his hand on my wrist, stopping the hand job I’m giving him. “I don’t wanna come,” he grits out. “I wanna be hard while I eat you out some more. It turns me on the most to be hard and aching while I make you come.”
A shiver of arousal flashes across my skin. I release his cock and nod.
“Get on your hands and knees, sexy girl,” he growls. “I’m not done eating you yet. I wanna eat you from every possible angle. I wanna taste every inch of you in every possible way.”
Without hesitation, I take the position he’s instructed.
“I’m gonna make you feel better than you’ve ever felt before, beautiful girl,” Zander coos behind me, stroking my ass cheeks with his fingertips. When he fondles my slit, I shudder and moan. Anticipate. Yearn. Finally, he leans forward and I feel his wet, warm tongue begin licking up and down my entrance a few times, like he’s licking a lollipop, and then off he goes, devouring another full meal.
Oh, God, it’s too much pleasure. I can’t bear it. I dip down to my forearms with my ass up, too turned on, too frazzled and frenzied, to hold myself up any longer, and he responds by opening my folds wide with his fingers—wider than I knew I could be spread—and eating me with even more zeal.
Pleasure tightens inside me. Rises up and threatens to boil over. It rises and rises higher and higher, filling every crevice and stretching my nerve endings to near breaking... until, finally, my core cracks wide open like a thunderclap and begins warping with pleasure from my deepest depths.
E
cstasy.
That’s what I’m feeling. It’s gripping me and not letting go.
Ecstasy.
Pleasure that feels supernatural. Inexplicable. Inhuman.
I collapse onto the mattress into a sweaty heap, gasping for air and moaning wildly. I flop over onto my back and what I see takes my breath away. He looks like a beast. He’s breathing hard. Even harder than me. His huge, hard dick straining out of his lowered sweatpants looks ready to physically blast off his body. It’s mushroom tip is wet and shiny and drawing my mouth like a dripping popsicle.
“That was The Sure Thing?” I gasp out.
“No. The Sure Thing isn’t oral. And it’s not about your clit.” He smiles like a shark. “Patience. I’m still enjoying eating your pussy way too much to stop.”
He lies on the bed next to me on his back. “Now come sit on my face, baby. I wanna fuck you with my tongue, nice and deep.”
As aroused and excited as I am, I pause. I’ve never physically sat on a man’s face before. Yes, I’ve received oral sex, but not by literally sitting on a man’s face. That’s just so... naughty. But when I look at Zander’s gorgeous face and see the expression of unbridled rapture on it, I lose my inhibitions.
I crawl over his head and he guides me into position. And the moment I feel his tongue penetrating me, I feel like I’ve found my new favorite thing. The thing I’ll no doubt daydream about all day tomorrow. Hell, for the rest of my freaking life. He adds his fingers into the mix, a maneuver that elicits a growling, keening, cooing sound from me—a sound I’ve never made before.
As I fuck Zander’s face, sweat trickles down the canyon between my breasts. My heart is beating a mile a minute. Every inch of my skin is on fire. My eyes devour his muscled body splayed out in front of me. The tight T-shirt covering his torso. His bulging, tattooed biceps peeking out of his sleeves. His dark cock straining out the front of his sweat pants. Why the fuck isn’t Zander naked like me? Being naked while he’s clothed is making me feel like nothing but his plaything—
A massive orgasm hits me, without notice.
“I’m coming!” I choke out, gripping Zander’s biceps for dear life. And Zander growls his excitement underneath me.
When the waves of pleasure stop throttling me, Zander doesn’t let up. He keeps right on going. And, soon, I’m in a frenzy—snapping my hips forward and back on top of his face like a madwoman. But it’s quickly clear his tongue isn’t nearly enough for me anymore. I want his cock. But since that’s not gonna happen without a condom, I lean over Zander’s torso, grip his hard dick poking out of his sweatpants, and begin sucking on him with my ass jutting straight up in the air above Zander’s face. He’s too big for me to get completely into my mouth without gagging myself, but I consume as much of him as I possibly can. I feel inspired. I want to give this man a blowjob he’ll never forget. I swirl my tongue. Suck and lick. I devour him with everything I’ve got. And, soon, Zander’s bucking and gyrating beneath me like I’m electrocuting him.
“I’m gonna blow, baby,” he chokes out. “Oh, fuck, Aloha. I’m gonna come into your mouth if you keep going.”
“Mmm hmm.”
I double down, making it clear his release into my mouth is precisely my endgame, even though, honestly, swallowing has never been my preferred ending to this particular game. Actually, neither has spitting, to be honest. But right now, with Zander, there’s nothing I’d rather be doing than pushing him over the edge until I’m swallowing down every drop of him.
I voraciously shove my hand into the depths of Zander’s sweatpants and fondle his balls and taint as I continue to blow him... and that’s the last straw for him, apparently. Ten seconds after my hand invades his sweatpants, his balls tighten in my palm, his dick jolts in my mouth, he lets out a sound of pure euphoria—a sound unlike any man has ever made with me before—a sound that tells me I own him—and then the beautiful man explodes into my mouth in a salty torrent that, quite frankly, shocks the living hell out of me in terms of volume and velocity.
My job well done, I begin climbing off him, but he grabs my pelvis from behind and stops me.
“Where ya goin’, sexy girl?” he coos from behind my ass. “Not so fast. I wanna try something.”
He pushes me forward ever so slightly, until my nose is hovering over his crotch and my ass is sticking up into the air. “You ready to come harder than you’ve ever come before?” he asks softly. Without waiting for my reply, he slides his fingers inside me and begins stroking a spot deep inside me... a spot that instantly makes my womb tighten and pulse. A spot I didn’t know existed until just now.
“Oh, fuck,” I gasp out.
“Listen to my voice,” Zander says softly behind my ass, like a hypnotist dangling a pocket watch in my face... and then he proceeds to talk and talk. He tells me all manner of arousing things. That I’m beautiful, sexy, addicting. That my pussy tastes like honey. That my ass cheeks in his face are driving him wild. “Whenever I’ve wacked off this past month,” he says, “I’ve fantasized about eating you. Fucking you. And touching you just like this until you’re speaking in tongues.”
My heart rate spikes. “This is The Sure Thing?”
“This is it, baby. Through the back door. Now take a deep breath and close your eyes and imagine me fucking you so hard from behind, my balls are banging against you with each thrust.”
Oh, God. This man can dirty-talk like nothing I’ve experienced before. I love it.
In short order, Zander’s slow-moving fingers inside me are positively owning me. His voice is luring me into some sort of alternate universe where I don’t have free will. Muscles deep, deep inside me are tightening and coiling ferociously, straining like they’re about to snap.
“Oh, God,” I gasp out. “Zander.”
“That’s it, sexy girl,” he whispers calmly, his deep voice in complete control. “That’s not my fingers you’re feeling, that’s the head of my cock pounding against you each time I thrust. Banging you right here. Again. And again.”
My body stiffens.
Time stops.
“Oh, fuck,” I gasp out. “Zander!”
And that’s it.
Indescribable pleasure slams into me and warps my deepest muscles. If I thought the last orgasms were amazing, it was only because I hadn’t felt this one yet. A flash of searing heat whooshes through me. Every muscle in my deepest core begins rippling. I begin babbling a slew of incoherent sounds. Warm liquid trickles out of me. And my limbs give out.
I crumple on top of Zander’s sweaty body beneath me. Heaven. That’s the word that comes to me through my rapturous haze. Heaven. Surely, I’ve died and gone there, and I’ve done it via slingshot at the speed of light.
When the waves of outrageous pleasure subside, I roll off Zander onto my back alongside him on the mattress with my head at his feet. I’m breathing like I’ve just run a sprint. Sweating profusely. Twitching with aftershocks. I wipe my brow. And then, finally, laugh with glee. “Holy fuck buckets, Zander Shaw!”
Zander chuckles. “Welcome to your first vaginal orgasm, baby. The holy grail. Amazing, right?”
I take a deep breath and exhale slowly, trying to control my racing heart. “Amazing. Oh my God.” I run my palms down my torso and they come back soaking wet. “Dude, I’m dripping in sweat.”
“Yup. Good things come to those who sweat.”
I giggle. “That was the most amazing, delicious thing I’ve ever experienced in my entire life. It was supernatural.”
Zander repositions himself so we’re face to face and then he props himself up onto his forearm. “That was my first time doing The Sure Thing from behind. I wasn’t sure it would work from that angle, to be honest. I’ve only ever done it with the woman lying flat on her back. But I was getting off hard looking at your ass, so I decided to improvise.”
“I think I might have peed a little bit in the throes of it. Sorry. I lost complete control for a minute there.”
He laughs. “That wasn’t pee. You
squirted. Just a little bit, but it still counts as your first time.”
“No freaking way.”
“Yep. Trust me. I licked it off my fingers. Definitely not pee.”
I blink several times in rapid succession, utterly shocked. “I’m a porn star.”
He drags his fingertips down my belly. “I hate that women think that way. It’s perfectly natural and not shameful at all. When a woman comes epically hard, it can happen to anyone. It just means you went to a brand-new place—a place where you let go completely and lost all inhibitions.” He sighs. “And that’s so hot, I can’t even begin to tell you.”
I’m dumbfounded. “I didn’t even know it was possible for me.”
Zander grins. “That’s ’cause you’ve never been with me.”
I shake my head, utterly blown away. “That was by far the best sex of my life. And we didn’t even have sex!”
“Just think how much we have to look forward to next time.”
Oh, thank God. After what I just experienced, my worst nightmare would have been for Zander to pull a page out of Kevin Costner’s book and tell me he made a huge mistake and can’t do it again.
Zander pokes my bellybutton. “I’d better let you get some sleep. The bus leaves for Seattle bright and early tomorrow morning.” He pulls up his sweatpants and kisses me softly. “Thanks again for sharing your poem with me. It was amazing.” He snickers. “And so was the blowjob.” He laughs. “Talk about a one-two punch. Damn, Gina.” With a wink, he heads swiftly to the door.
“I had fun, Zander!” I blurt as he opens the door.
He looks over his shoulder, beams me a beautiful smile—a gorgeous smile that sends butterflies whooshing into my belly—and says, “Me, too, baby. Now get some sleep.”
The minute he’s gone, I put my hands over my face and laugh with glee for a solid minute before finally calling Kiera and shrieking, “Mission accomplished! And it was sooo fucking good!”
Chapter 30
Zander
I’m a tortured man, Peenie Weenie,” I say to Keane on FaceTime. His blue eyes are groggy but full of sympathy. “If I’m this messed up without actually fucking her, I can’t imagine how messed up I’m gonna be when I finally get inside her. When that happy day finally arrives, that woman is gonna own me lock, stock, and boner.”