by Evelyn Vox
"Nothing doesn't get that man to look at you the way he does."
"I know," I gave in, "there's a definite," I paused, unsure of how to phrase it, "chemistry between us."
"That's the understatement of the century," she said with a mouth full of cherries, "Derek can barely tolerate being around me, but he looks at you like he wants to eat you alive."
And I wanted him to. My cheeks flushed and I was certain the temperature outside had suddenly ramped up to over a hundred degrees. I didn't know what to say, so I just took another sip of my drink.
"You should go for it," she said, looking right at me.
"Real funny, Emma," I said, but then realized she was dead serious.
"It'd be so easy to get away with," she continued, "everyone's had an affair at one point or another. You might as we make sure yours is with that sex god of a man."
"Oh my god," I exclaimed. I smacked her on a waxed, tan thigh before getting up, "I am not having this conversation."
I walked over to the pool and dove in--I was desperate to cool off. My heart was hammering. I'd never really allowed myself to consider the possibility of having an affair with Derek, but hearing it out of Emma's mouth made it sound not only possible, but like the natural thing to do. I sat at the bottom of the pool and let the watery silence calm me down.
When I resurfaced, Emma was standing by the pool, dressed with her bag in hand.
"I have to go, love," she called to me, "it's almost five. I need to let the nanny off the hook." She blew me a kiss, and I returned it, waving goodbye. She was only gone a moment before she rushed back and said,
"By the way, we're having a Fourth of July extravaganza," she said with a big smile, "don't make any other plans!"
"I wouldn't dream of it," I told her.
She rushed out with a lazy wave over her shoulder. I floated on my back and looked up at the blue sky dappled with crisp white clouds. I loved being in the water. It calmed me down, which was exactly what I needed after Emma's bold suggestions. I closed my eyes, letting my ears dip under, drowning out all sensation of the outside world.
Thoughts of Derek floated into my mind. I remembered the sizzling look on his face last week when we touched each other. My hands grazed up my thighs as I recalled his hands inching under my skirt. Suddenly, I had the strangest feeling I wasn't alone. I opened my eyes to find the dark man himself standing at the edge of the pool, arms crossed and scowling down at me.
"Holy shit," I blurted out, bolting upright with a splash, "you scared me!"
He quirked an eyebrow at me like he was looking at a crazy person.
"I'm here to work on your house, not take leisurely swims with you," he said coldly.
What the hell?
"Um, okay, so you just came out here to tell me that?"
"Emma relayed your invitation to swim."
Oh my god, I was going to kill that woman. His arms were still crossed and his tone was still pissed. I was learning that was his favorite state of being: pissed off and talking down to me.
"I think she was playing a joke on us," I told him.
I was glad for the distance between us, thankful for the water cooling my skin that stopped me from flushing like I usually did. The dogs were riled up at Derek's ankles, but he was doing a magnificent job of ignoring them.
"You didn't want me out here?"
Was I crazy or did he sound a little disappointed?
"No," I admitted, "I didn't."
His brow furrowed. I swam in long, sure strokes over to the steps and blazed under his flinty gaze as I climbed out of the pool. My white string bikini left little to the imagination. I could feel his gaze on my ass as I breezed by him. The shivers I felt had nothing to do with the air against my wet skin.
I felt the urge to do something with my hands. I snatched up a cherry and when I turned back to him, his eyes fixated on the fruit in my mouth. Oh. Oh my. That look he was giving me was...Really. Fucking. Hot. Maybe it was all of the wine we drank today, but I thought about what Emma said, and I decided to have some fun.
I let my lips encircle the dark red fruit, sucking and nibbled, never letting him out of my sight. I walked slowly towards him, pulled like a magnet to steel, and I continued to tease him as I licked the cherry suggestively like a walking cliché. He was gripping his arms, a cobra about to strike, and staring at me like he could throttle me.
When I got near him, I bit into the cherry and allowed its juices to dribble down my chin. He stared as I licked my lips to lap up the mess I made. Derek's gaze was dark and wicked as he watched me. The look blazed through my core. He lurched towards me and, with one swift move, he pulled me roughly into him.
One hand cradled the back of my head, while the other cupped my ass, and his mouth crashed into mine with undisguised need as we finally kissed. My lips parted for him. His tongue invaded my mouth, sucking me down greedily. He grabbed my ass with both hands and lifted me up to his waist. I wrapped my legs around him, pulling my body as close to his as possible. His erection ground against me through his shorts, making me moan into his mouth. He pulled back from me with a snarl before throwing me down on one of the daybeds.
I placed my hands on the cushion behind me, arching my breasts up to him. Derek was on me in an instant. He kneaded my breasts and fondled my nipples through my bathing suit, nice and hard, just the way I'd been craving for so long. Just the way I needed. I let my head drop back as the pleasure, exquisite and tingling, burned between my legs.
His lips were on my collar bone, his hands fervently untying the knot that tied my bathing suit to my neck, and I was lost to his touch, when thoughts of Brian flashed through my mind. Guilt washed over me, and I couldn't help but tense up. Derek stopped touching me, noticing my subtle change in body language immediately. He glared down at me, a man bursting with need, filled both with anger and vulnerability.
"What is it?" he asked.
"I just...I've never," I hesitated, not sure of how to say it, suddenly embarrassed. All the ease from earlier vanished. Awkward, furious tension rushed to fill the void. It was clear that he understood what I was getting at. Even now, we were so attuned to one another. How was it possible to feel this in sync with someone I'd hardly known a week?
"Do you want me to keep going?"
His eyes were boring into mine, like he wished he could read my mind, and could if only he tried hard enough.
"I don't know," I said honestly.
I knew I wanted this, but that didn't mean I was ready for it. It didn't mean I should be giving into it.
His hands left me, he moved away, and hot air filled the gap between us. My body screamed to be devoid of his touch. I didn't know what the hell I wanted or what the hell I was doing, but I wanted to explain to him--to try to make him understand.
"Derek, I--"
"This is a mistake," he said simply, cutting me off, and something inside of me sunk.
"Yes," I said, "because I'm married."
"Sure, keep telling yourself that," he scoffed, folding his arms across his chest in his favorite defensive position.
"What?" I bit out, not liking his tone and what it implied.
"I don't think you could handle me, Princess," he sneered.
My mouth dropped open. The arrogant, insufferable bastard!
"As if," I rolled my eyes in his face and enjoyed the annoyance that flickered across it, "what makes you so hard to handle?"
"I like it rough."
"So do I."
"You've never had it rough like me," he promised.
"Please," I put my hands on my hips and rolled my eyes again, but my breathing hitched in my chest as he staked across the patio towards me, bridging the distance between us.
"I want to tie you up and use you as my own personal fuck toy," he whispered darkly in my face, making me shudder.
Hot, prickly arousal stabbed at me. He closed in so his face was mere inches from mine. His giant form loomed over me, intimidating and foreboding. He could have sho
ved me down and had his way with me so easily, and I'd be powerless to stop it. He was so masculine, so animalistic in his desires, that something very feminine and primal inside of me mewled with desire.
"How's that for rough, Princess?" he growled, staring at me with blazing, oppressive dominance.
My insides liquefied at the heat of his gaze, and I nearly collapsed under the weight of his carnal, devious lust. My heart fluttered helplessly in my chest. I should stop this. I put a hand out on his chest in an attempt to push him away, but watched like a woman possessed as I rubbed seductive circles up his massive pecs instead.
"What else would you do to me?" I heard myself breathing. He advanced, forcing me to move backward until I was backed up against the wall of the house.
"I'd fuck you in ways you'd never thought possible, push you to brinks and boundaries you never knew you wanted to cross, and punish you when you disobeyed me."
I gulped. He leaned in and sniffed at my neck like a wild animal, and my clit throbbed. His musky male scent filled my nostrils--I still couldn't believe any man could smell so good, like sweat and spices and sex.
"Do you want to see what I'd do to you if you were mine?" he asked me before nipping my neck so hard I jumped.
"Yes," I gasped, and just like that, his mouth was on mine again.
He grabbed my shoulders and slammed me against the wall so hard that it jolted the breath right out of me. His hands were not gentle as they roamed my body. He shoved one down the front of my bikini bottoms, and I gasped as one large finger slid between my pussy lips.
"Derek," his name slipped from me and I didn't know if it was in protest or pleasure. Soon, I was beyond the point of caring.
I could hardly speak. He started a steady rhythm, drawing circles around my clit, then gliding up and down. When he finally put a finger inside of me, I grabbed fistfuls of his shirt and whined in pleasure. I'd never been this turned on in my life. He put in another finger and curved them so they hit just the right spot inside of me. He cupped his hand so the heel of it was resting against my mound. I rubbed my clit against his palm as he fingered me into oblivion.
"You're so fucking wet, Alexandra," he groaned into my neck.
I moaned and ground into his hand harder. Pleasure the likes of which I'd never known was building from deep within me. I was close, so close. He worked me up to that glorious peak and then froze.
"Until you say no, I won't stop, and until you say yes, I won't go any further," he growled, forcing me to choose.
He stared at me with such blazing intensity, it was almost enough to send me over the edge.
"Yes," gasped the woman who had taken over my body.
His hand picked up again, going harder and faster. I clung to his shoulders for dear like as the sensations took over my body.
"I want you to come for me, Princess," he said.
My hips thrashed as I came all over his hand. I moaned before wilting like a flower in his arms. He captured my chin and held it hard, forcing my head back to look at him.
"If you were mine and you came without my permission," he snarled, never releasing me from his relentless gaze, "I'd spank your ass until it was obliterated, and then I'd fuck you hard, without any care for your pleasure."
My eyes widened. Just when I thought my heart couldn't be put through the ringer anymore, he had it thudding away for dear life again.
"Would you like that, Alexandra?"
I nodded numbly, shock and desire pouring fresh and new through my system. He took my hands and removed them from his neck to place them on the unbelievably hard length between his legs. I only had a moment to touch and marvel at it before the sound of one of his crew calling his name had us slamming back to Earth.
"Next time," he promised before removing himself from me. He took one long look at me and grinned like a demon before he turned and left. It took me a moment to gather my wits about me. I stumbled away until I fell back on one of the day beds.
I sat there dumbfounded until the sun set and the fireflies sparkled in the night.
Chapter Eight
DEREK
Fuck it all. I wanted her. I would have her.
When I saw her tomorrow, I was going to corner her and make sure--wait. It was the weekend, and Brian Hale would be coming home to his wife.
Well, I wondered if I shouldn't pay them a little visit.
It was time to see who my competition was.
Because the beast had torn out of its cage, and it had claimed her whether she liked it or not.
LEXIE
The Sunday morning sunshine poured through the windows as I rolled over to snuggle with my husband. It was nice to have him back. Fucking him all weekend had been a good distraction. Because I couldn't stop thinking about Derek otherwise. It was abundantly clear to me that I couldn't say no to him, so I was more determined than ever to avoid him at all costs. It was a good plan until Emma's meddling threw him at me.
Come Monday, I'd be out of the house every time he was around. I'd make sure we were never alone if I needed to speak with him. I didn't know how to process what happened the other day, so I just had to stay away. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want him, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't terrified of that desire too. Terrified of the person inside of me who yearns to submit to his brutal whims.
I'd fuck you in ways you'd never thought possible, push you to brinks and boundaries you never knew you wanted to cross, and punish you when you disobeyed me.
Those words haunted me. His touch and taste had lingered in my body, and the only way I'd been able to orgasm with Brian was to fantasize about Derek. Yep, I'd definitely be winning the "wife of the year" award. I sighed and snuggled into the crook of Brian's arm.
Brian. My husband. The man I loved, who provided for me and never left me wanting for anything in the world. Except a hard fucking, a nasty little voice in my head cooed. I closed my eyes, squeezing them shut like I could shield my mind from these awful thoughts. Brian stirred awake with a nuzzle to my neck.
"Morning, baby," he said, cupping a breast.
I patted his stiff member and giggled. He was so adorable. My heart swelled at the sight of him half awake and hard for me already. The last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt him. I kissed him, enjoying the familiar feel of his body pressed against mine.
"Mmm, not this morning. I have beach yoga," I reminded him.
"You can skip it," he told me as he continued to fondle my chest.
"I told Em and the girls I'd be there. We're all doing brunch afterwards at the club," I nipped at him before rolling away and getting out of bed. "I promise we can have some fun this afternoon before you leave."
"Oh, we will," he guaranteed me with a gleam in his eyes.
I was in the kitchen making coffee when I heard the front door unlock. The dogs were eating and their little ears perked up before they started barking like crazy.
"Hello," Derek's deep voice echoed around the house.
Terror filled the pit of my stomach and froze me to the spot. What the hell was he doing here? Brian, sitting at the countertop in his Hugh Hefner get up, looked up from his newspaper at me, surprised.
"It's just the contractor," I told him, trying to play it cool as I hushed the dogs.
"Wow, here on a Sunday," he said.
"He's very dedicated."
"I can't wait to meet him," Brian said, striding out with his coffee. I wondered if it was possible to be so socially horrified that you could die.
I heard the muffled sounds of him introducing himself and I panicked. I needed to get out of this house. I poured some coffee into a travel mug and grabbed my bag. I would breeze out the door with a quick hello and goodbye, and be done with it. I had to act natural. I was just a woman in a hurry to get to yoga. That was all.
Not a wife living in dread because her husband was meeting the man who had her shoved up a wall and moaning in pleasure a few days ago. Nope. Not at all.
I closed the door on the dogs to keep t
hem in the kitchen and entered the foyer. It was now covered in tarps and half torn up, and my stomach squirmed when I saw my husband talking to the man of my deepest, darkest fantasies.
Brian was not a small guy, but he looked puny compared to Derek. Most men would. I waved at them quickly, not even looking at Derek, and made a beeline for the door when Brian grabbed my arm.
"Hold on you," he said before pulling me in close, "I was just telling Derek how glad I am. He is so passionate that he'd even come here on a Sunday."
If it were possible to die from this, now would be the time it would happen. I couldn't look Derek in the eye.
"He's very dedicated," I said again, certain my guilt was written all over my face. I was positive that Brian would divorce me this very evening.
"I won't be here long, Brian," Derek reassured my husband.
He sounded shockingly civil, but he was eying Brian's arm around me with thinly masked distaste, "There's a time-sensitive epoxy that needs to be treated today. Shouldn't be more than an hour."
"Take all the time you need," Brian said like he was the most magnanimous man in the world.
"Brian," I nudged him, stiff and awkward with his arm around me, "I have to run."
"Of course, baby," he said.
I was out of his arms and at the door in a flash. Derek turned towards his epoxy, but Brian followed me to the door and grabbed hold of my arms. He dragged me in close, kissing me passionately before saying,
"I look forward to this afternoon."
Over Brian's shoulder, I saw Derek's hulking form go rigid. He looked back and glared right at me. I felt a flash of anger. How dare he try to make me feel bad! Brian was my husband and he had every right to kiss me. Derek needed to be reminded of that. So, I kissed Brian right back and said in my sexiest voice,
"Me too, baby, me too."
I didn't wait to see Derek's face before I ran out the door.
DEREK
I had an image of the kind of man Brian Hale would be and he did not disappoint. He was the nerdy stock broker who hit it rich and married a model. Alexandra was the kind of woman who exchanged her looks for the comfort of a wealthy lifestyle. These people were all the same. I didn't know why I was surprised when they met my every expectation.