by Evelyn Vox
Soon, we were walking upstairs to the bedroom. He was right behind me on the steps. I imagined how it would have felt for him to invade my bubble of space until it popped. For him to grab me in those big hands, wrap those strong arms around me, and launch another invasion with his mouth, his tongue...
My stomach whooshed out of me as I missed a step. Crying out, I braced for impact, but it never came. Steady hands wrapped around my shoulders, thudding me backwards into a solid chest. Adrenaline surged through me at the contact, making me feel like I was in a free fall regardless.
He was a step below me, but he was so huge, we were practically level. I waited for him to release me, except he didn't. Instead, I felt his hands tighten on my shoulders and he pulled me in closer. His breath tickled my ear as he brought his mouth towards it.
"You should watch where you're going," he crooned.
His hands were like hot coals on my bare shoulders. The heat between us roared, blistering and forbidden, and I was shocked to feel my body press back into his. I let myself slide along his muscled chest for a moment. I heard his sharp intake of breath and stepped out of his grasp before I lost myself completely.
I took a shaky step to the top of the stairs and turned to look at him. He was still a few steps down, gripping the railing so hard his knuckles had turned white. Crystal gray eyes blazed into mine. He cracked a grin fit for Lucifer himself that set my panties on fire. It lasted only a moment before his cool, stern exterior fell back into place.
He followed me up to the landing, but I made sure to keep my distance this time as I took him into the Master Suite. I started to ramble off my vision when I saw Derek staring at my bed with deadly focus. I peeked behind my shoulder to see the sticky vibrator next to my soiled panties.
Oh. My. God.
I could have sworn I cleaned that up! Obviously, I hadn't. This was why I didn't wake up early. I didn't do well with mornings. I glanced back and forth between him and the evidence of my guilty pleasure. I didn't know what to do, and I was just thinking I might die of embarrassment, when that devilish grin broke on his face again.
"Tell me, Alexandra," Derek said, stepping closer, "tell me what you thought about when you used that."
And just like that, all the air rushed out of the room.
DEREK
It was hard to say what I enjoyed most: her palpable embarrassment or the heady feel of her desire swelling the room. This was dangerous ground. My Venus was forbidden fruit, but I could only keep these desires at bay for so long. Especially when she taunted me like this with her fucking used panties and vibrator. The beast was very much awake.
Taste her.
I walked closer and her lips parted enticingly. There was a line here that I wouldn't cross. I couldn't cross it. But there was nothing wrong with some harmless teasing, right? The beast did enjoy playing with its food. Her face was flushed and she stood frozen to the spot as she watched me advance towards her. I waited for her to answer my question, but she just stood there like a petrified rabbit.
"Don't make me ask you again, Alexandra," I said, watching her tremble at my commanding tone.
"I-I thought about," she started, but then those sea green eyes widened with shame and she looked away, down at the floor, off to the side--anywhere but at me.
It couldn't be more obvious exactly what she was thinking about. The beast purred in delight.
I closed in, grabbing her around the shoulders, and stared into her shocked face for a moment before I lowered my nose to her neck. I inhaled her sweet vanilla scent and she shuddered with a little gasp. My lips hovered above the pulse thudding in her neck before I moved to whisper in her ear,
"I thought about you too."
A sexy little moan escaped her lips and she all but collapsed into me.
Bite her.
The animal raged inside of me to throw her down and fuck her within an inch of her life. My dick was harder than a fucking diamond, and I was dangerously close to losing all control. She seemed to realize at the same moment that this had gone too far. We were nearly at the point of no return. I swallowed down my anger as she pulled away.
"You know I'm married," she said.
"Yes," I tried to say it calmly, but it came out as an angry growl all the same. I couldn't help it. I'd just laid hands on the one woman I wanted more than anything in the world. There was no one and nothing I wanted as badly or as desperately as Alexandra Hale.
And she was the one woman I couldn't have.
"So, let's," she hesitated, her eyes landing on the erection about to rip through my pants. Her breathing went shallow again, and I wondered if she knew she was licking those pouty lips like a god damn porn star. Her eyes slowly tracked back up to mine.
"Let's just continue with the tour," she finished.
"Agreed," I rasped out.
I clenched my fists at my sides. I fought to put a leash on the beast while she continued to talk about the renovation. As she turned and walked out of the room, and I eyed her ass, I decided that what I enjoyed the most was the thought of Alexandra screaming out my name as she pleasured herself with that vibrator.
Chapter Five
LEXIE
That was so intense, but I had to draw my line in the sand. Still, it seemed to be a line we couldn't help but toe. The rest of the tour was filled with blazing looks, forbidden touches of skin, and tension heavy enough to flatten me.
Flatten me like I wanted to be flattened against the wall and fucked to high heavens by Derek.
Shit. This was bad. This was so, so bad.
Maybe I should find someone else to work with. It wasn't too late. I hadn't signed anything, so I wasn't under any legal, contractual obligation to work with him. Not yet, at least. He'd be back with the contract tomorrow. And then what? Once I signed that, there was no going back.
The way he looked at me brought up feelings that I wasn't used to. There was a darkness in his eyes, something sinister, that spoke to me, and I couldn't understand why. When I thought of it, I felt a stirring. It felt like a dormant monster was yawning awake inside of me. A monster that had been waiting for Derek Drake to come along and wake it up.
This was nonsense. What was I even thinking? At the end of the day, Derek was just like all men. All he saw when he looked at me was a big pair of boobs, a small waist, and a firm ass. That's all men ever saw. None of them ever saw me, not even Brian. It was stupid to think Derek was connecting to anything other than that.
Still, I couldn't shake this feeling that Derek might be the only person who had ever seen all of me, who saw parts of myself that I hadn't even seen. The thought was terrifying, yet thrilling. A tremor of lust sparked low in my belly when I thought about the way he grinned at me in the bedroom.
I couldn't deny the attraction or that there was some strange connection between us. No, it was proving to be inescapable. It was insanity to feel so close to a total stranger, but it felt like I'd known him my whole life. I didn't know how much longer I could resist him. All I knew was that I had to try.
I hoped I could keep this under control.
DEREK
Contract in hand, I rang Alexandra's doorbell. I half expected her to open the door in a corset and thigh highs. It would be par the course for this woman from all I've seen so far. The vision in my mind's eye was delectable. I'd kill to see that woman in black lace and leather.
I anticipated another exasperating wait for her to open the door, and was pleased when it opened right away. It was almost like she'd been waiting for me, like she hadn't wanted to keep me waiting again. Good girl.
"Hello, Derek," she greeted me with a shy smile that was nothing short of dazzling.
I was a bit disappointed to see her in a simple skirt and t-shirt instead of the tight little get-up I had envisioned. For being a hoity-toity rich bitch, she sure dressed like a normal person. When she felt like wearing clothes, at least.
"Alexandra," I nodded.
Our eyes met and it was clear we were both
remembering what happened yesterday. I could still feel her skin beneath my hands, and that sweet, warm vanilla scent stayed with me all night as I'd pumped my cock to the memory of her.
I couldn't get her out of my head. All I had thought about was my Venus touching herself, working herself up to the brink as she fantasized about me. From the blush coloring her cheeks, that was precisely what she was up to last night.
"Would you like some coffee or tea?" she asked, the embodiment of a perfect hostess.
I quirked an eyebrow at her. Did she think formality and etiquette would douse the sexual intensity that burned between us? I almost laughed.
"No thank you," I replied, humoring her as I played along.
"Something to eat," she tried instead, "muffins, scones, fruit?"
"I'm fine," I said even though there was one muffin in particular I was dying to taste.
I couldn't stop the naughty smirk that pulled my lips up at the thought. She stiffened when she saw it, like she was trying to hold back one of her own. She led me into the kitchen where, indeed, a tray of pastries and fruit lay untouched.
"You were quick with the door today," I said as I sat at the kitchen table, placing the folder with the contract in front of me.
She laughed, lyrical and sweet, before she sat down next to me at the table. Not across, I noticed, but right next to me. Her mind may have been trying to put up barriers against me, but it seemed her body wouldn't let her keep too much of a distance.
"You're not a patient man, are you?"
"I can be patient when I need to be."
"Sure," she said with a blatant roll of her eyes.
"Eye rolling, for example," I told her, capturing her in my gaze, "tries my patience more than anything."
Her face fluttered into a look of confusion, like a bird that tried to fly from the nest only to find it had crashed into the ground. It would only take a stretch of my arm to cup that gorgeous face in my hands. I wanted to reach out and capture her fine chin in my fingers, holding her still while I kissed those full, bee-stung lips.
I couldn't ever stop staring at her. I didn't care to stop. Alexandra's luscious mouth parted as she took in an audible, short breath that told me she was feeling the same fire brewing between us. The beast was ready to pounce.
"And what sort of things get the honor of your patience?"
"Hmm," was all I said as my mind filled with all the filthy things I'd love to do to get her quaking beneath me. The kinds of things that only a patient man could do.
She leaned in closer and the proximity was near insufferable. The animal jerked against its leash, raging within me. I breathed in that sweet vanilla scent of hers and bit back a growl.
"I can only imagine," she said softly, staring right back at me.
Did she know how much she was smoldering right now? She looked like she was begging to be thrown on the floor and fucked. The moment the thought crossed my mind, she blushed like she could sense, through the current that connected us, what I wanted to do to her.
I felt way too close to this woman. There was an intimacy here that should have taken years to build. Except, with Alexandra, it was a natural, immediate connection that was too fucking insane for words. Touching her, claiming her, burying myself inside of her, it was the logical extension of that. Fighting it was one of the hardest things I'd ever had to do.
"Waiting on clients to sign their contract," I said just to mess with her, "does not get the honor of my patience."
I smirked as I watched the embarrassment fill her. Soon enough, it gave way to anger. Alexandra's face was as easy to read as a book. It might be my favorite book in the world.
"I'm just trying to make conversation," she said with a trace of venom in her voice, "you know, like a normal person."
I raised my eyebrow at her tone.
"There's nothing wrong with cutting to the chase, Alexandra." I leaned closer to her, unable to resist enticing this defiant side of her. It was a challenge I had to meet.
I stared her down in the way that made so many others buckle, but not her. She just looked right back at me like a moth drawn to a flame. Most people find me intimidating. If she did, she didn't let it stop her from saying what she wanted. I liked that. I liked that a hell of a lot.
"No," she agreed with me, and I was disappointed to see that fire of hers sputter out, until she said, "but only if you're not a rude ass about it."
I wanted to grin like the Cheshire Cat. There it was; that beautiful defiance I wanted to tame. The words seemed to have popped out of that sexy mouth before she could think the better of it, and she made a little face of shock. She was a person of intense impulses and desires, it would seem. Just like me.
"If I'm too much of a rude ass to work with," I taunted her, sliding the contract away from her reach, "then I guess you won't be needing to sign this."
"Hey," she pouted like a little girl in danger of not getting her way, "that's not fair. That's not what I meant."
"I see," I told her, and those eyes rolled at me again. The animal growled at the sight. "Would you like to sign it then, Princess?"
The name slipped out before I could think the better of it. She laughed.
"Yes," she whined, drawing out the word in a high-pitched voice as she purposefully tried to sound like the bratty little princess we both knew she was. What I wouldn't give to throw her over my knee and teach her a lesson. A lesson her ass wouldn't soon forget.
"Say please, Alexandra," I said, my voice lowering to a dark, serious pitch.
She looked up at me from beneath her lashes like she knew all I wanted from her right now was her complete, total submission.
"Please, Derek," she breathed.
I could see her pulse thumping at the base of her neck. I resisted the urge to lick her there. Right where her life flowed.
"Please what?"
"You know what," she said quickly, "do I have to beg for it?"
I grinned like the monster I was. Why yes, I wanted to say. Yes, you do. And if I have anything to say about it, this won't be the last thing I have you begging for, either, Princess.
"It couldn't hurt," I said instead. Alexandra huffed out a laugh.
"Please, Derek," she said, her tone saccharine, "pretty please with a cherry on top, can I puh-lease have the contract?"
She was being facetious, but the sound of her begging me, my name pouring out of those lips, had me sucking in a breath of desire all the same. I'd kill to have her pleading like that beneath me. My eyes never left hers as I slid the folder to her. Her slim hand came out to take it from me, our fingers touching in the process.
That was all it took. One innocent brush of our fingers and my erection raged into life as the beast screamed at me.
Alexandra's attention was focused on the contract, while mine was on her. I took in her every moment, watching like the predator I was. I observed that beautiful face drawn in concentration as she read. She truly was a goddess. Before I knew it, she had signed her name with a flourish, sealing the deal.
"Here you go," she looked up at me with a smile that ensnared me. I couldn't silence the monster inside of me any longer.
Taste her.
"You know what I do have patience for, Alexandra," the animal purred out before I could stop it.
"What?” she gasped at my tone.
I leaned in close and placed a hand on her knee. I slid it up the inside of her thigh, relishing the soft, smooth skin beneath my palm, until it rested just below the hem of her skirt. Her breathing shuddered to a stop with an intoxicating little inhale, but she didn’t move away. She didn’t do a thing to stop me.
“The time it takes to make a woman scream my name in ecstasy.”
My thumb drew slow circles on the inside of her thigh. Her hand snaked out towards mine, and I was certain she was about to put a stop to this, but instead, she urged me closer to her molten core. I captured her eyes in my gaze. I wanted her to look at me when I touched her.
My fingers grazed
the satiny fabric of her underwear before sliding beneath them. I brushed over the sweet, smooth folds of her pussy. She was sopping wet for me, and I was about to slip a finger between her slit when she leaned forward and put her hand on the erection that was burning a hole in my jeans.
Alexandra palmed me through my pants and my cock twitched. Her fingers traced an inquisitive path from the base to the tip. Fuck, it felt so good to be touched by her. She rubbed me as my fingers continued to explore her. I glided my thumb over her clit, making her whimper. Lust coursed through my veins. The beast demanded her.
Now.
I was going to throw her on this table and rip her fucking clothes off.
I surged forward, my mouth ready to taste hers at last, when her phone blared. We both jumped and stared at it on the table, at the name blinking on the screen: Brian. She was up and away in a flash, leaving me cold and empty. The beast roared to have lost its prey.
"Hi Baby," she turned her back on me as she spoke into the phone.
I grabbed the contract and walked out of the kitchen. The last thing I needed to hear right now was her blathering to her fucking husband. Fuck. This was a mistake. Playing with Alexandra was playing with fire. I had a job to do and it didn't involve fucking my client's wife.
That line that I said I'd never cross? It was about five hundred feet behind me.
LEXIE
I just told Brian I had to call him back when I walked into the foyer to face down Derek. My body was still trembling from his touch. I didn't know if I was thankful or pissed that Brian's call interrupted us. All I knew was that I was still dripping with the need for Derek when I saw him pacing by the front door.
From the look of it, he was as frustrated as I was. The expression on his face was pained, angry, hungry. It shook me as much as it turned me on. I kept my distance from him. There was nothing to say about what just happened. This had to stay professional.
"When will you start?"
He looked at me, a dark and dangerous monster in my house, and sighed. He pinched the bridge of his nose before saying,