“I’m game,” Toby announced.
“You’re always game if it has to do with food,” Chloe teased him.
Payton turned around and smiled. It never ceased to amaze me that she could steal my breath with just one look. I could actually imagine walking into that kitchen to see her beautiful face every single day for the rest of my life.
“I’ll order,” Payton offered. “If y’all will tell me what you want.”
“You still have my credit card, right?” I asked, making my way over to her and putting my hands on her hips.
“Oh, crap. Yes. Let me get it.”
When Payton tried to turn away, I held her in place and waited until she met my gaze again. “I wasn’t asking for it back. Use it to pay for the pizza.”
“No way,” she insisted, shaking her head. “I’ll pay. I’ve already spent too much of your money today.” The last part she said in a whisper, but I was pretty sure everyone else in the room heard her, based on the chuckles from Chloe and Toby.
“That was stuff you bought for me, Payton.” I leaned down and pressed my lips to her ear. “Let it go.”
When I stood back up, meeting her eyes, I could see the concern was still there. I thought it was cute that she worried about how much money she’d spent today. I’d been with women who wouldn’t have thought twice about spending every penny I had, and Payton was concerned about spending a thousand dollars although she’d probably bought out half the store. Some women wouldn’t bat an eyelash at spending that amount on a fucking purse.
“What does everyone want?” I asked, looking at the other faces in the room, who were trying to pretend they weren’t paying any attention to us.
Everyone rattled off their selection, and I took Payton’s hand and led her into the foyer so I could get my cell phone. With her hand still in mine, I made my way to the stairs and dropped down onto one of the steps, pulling her until she sat in front of me, directly between my legs. I wrapped my arms around her, fumbling with my cell phone in front of her face. She leaned back and rested her head against my chest. It took a few minutes to figure out what pizza delivery place came out there, but finally I located their information and dialed the number. After I rattled off the order, I told the guy I’d pay cash when they delivered, and then I hung up the phone.
Unable to resist, I slid Payton’s hair out of the way and pressed my lips to her neck. “Thank you for being here today.”
She nodded, tilting her head slightly to give me better access to her soft, smooth skin. She smelled sweet, like vanilla, and my body hardened, thinking about sneaking her up to my bedroom and having my wicked way with her while the rest of our friends congregated in the kitchen. I knew I couldn’t, but it didn’t mean I wasn’t thinking about it.
“Stay with me tonight?” I asked.
“Yes,” she whispered, her arms looping around my lower legs, her warm hands pressing against my shins. She was sitting on the step just beneath the one I was on, cradled between my legs, and I wasn’t sure that I wanted to move from that spot for the rest of the night. Every muscle in my body ached from hauling boxes for the last few hours, and if it weren’t for the fact that I was starving, I probably would’ve thrown everyone out. Everyone except for Payton.
We were both silent for a moment; the only sound was the foursome in the kitchen laughing and joking. I rested my chin on the top of Payton’s head, enjoying the brief moment I had with her alone.
“I have a question for you,” Payton said a short time later, her hands sliding up and down my shins.
“What’s that?” I asked.
She tilted her head back so that she could look up at me. “Would you consider meeting my parents?”
I smiled. I couldn’t help myself. Before I’d met Payton, that sort of question would’ve thrown me for a loop. And the answer would’ve been an easy no, but for her, I found I’d do damn near anything, including meeting her parents.
“Is that what you want?”
“Yeah,” she said, lowering her head once more. “They’re gonna love you, Sebastian.”
I wasn’t so sure about that, but if I intended to spend the rest of my life with this woman, which I did, then I was going to have to face her parents at some point. “Then yes, I’d love to meet them.”
“Okay,” she said simply, making my grin widen.
I loved her. That was all there was to it.
“I heard Sean and Dale say they’d be back tomorrow,” Payton said.
“Yeah. They’re moving Leif’s stuff in.”
“Which room is he taking?” she asked. I liked that she asked that question. It meant she was thinking about us.
“He’ll take one of the rooms downstairs,” I answered, pointing toward the section of the house in front of us.
“How many rooms are down here?” she inquired.
“You haven’t looked around yet?” I asked.
She shook her head.
“Well, we’ll have to rectify that in a little while. How about we eat, then I’ll show you around. And maybe after that, you can join me in the shower.”
“Sounds like a good plan.”
As it turned out, it was the best plan.
The pizza was delivered within thirty minutes and devoured in half that time. Chloe insisted on helping to clean up the mess before she and Toby left for the night. According to her, they were going back to her apartment. I noticed Aaron’s frown when she announced the news, and I offered to let him stay in the guest room downstairs if he wanted. Surprisingly he declined my offer, but I later learned that he and Garrett had planned to go out for a couple of hours.
Technically, since tonight would be the only night Payton and I had the house all to ourselves before Leif officially moved in, I was grateful that Aaron had passed. I wanted to spend the evening with Payton. Alone.
Payton walked everyone out while I locked up the rest of the house, making sure the garage doors were closed and the cars pulled in. We met up in the kitchen not long after, and just like earlier, I couldn’t resist the urge to touch her. Pulling her into my arms, I pressed my lips to her forehead.
I hadn’t thought about it much, but it seemed that the chaos in my head had died down considerably in the last couple of days. Maybe it was because of the move, knowing that I was taking the first step toward getting out from under Conrad’s thumb, or maybe it was because I knew I’d get to spend more time with the woman I loved. Either way, I realized that a significant amount of tension had been released, and I wasn’t as worked up as I usually was.
It was nice. It was also something I was beginning to get used to.
“Are you gonna give me the guided tour?”
“You really didn’t look around?” I asked her, finding it hard to believe that she hadn’t.
“I was waiting for you to show it to me.”
“Okay, then. What’re we waiting for?” I took her hand, linking her fingers with mine as I led her through the downstairs rooms. The place was still relatively empty, although I had managed to purchase furniture for every room. It was still missing something, but I wasn’t too worried about it at the moment.
I showed Payton the two bedrooms on the main floor. They were in a wing all their own, both equipped with oversized private bathrooms. She looked around, seemingly studying the bones of the house, because there really wasn’t much else to look at. Unlike the guesthouse I’d been staying in, there weren’t any decorations on the counters, no plants sitting in corners, no art on the walls. Nothing that really personalized the space yet.
I was hoping Payton would help me with that.
“Living room,” I said unnecessarily as we trekked back through the room that the house was pretty much centered around. “And you’ve seen the kitchen.”
“That I have,” she said.
With her in tow, I made my way to a doorway beneath the stairs. Pushing open the French doors, I stepped back and allowed her to enter. “This is my office.”
“Your office?”
she asked, giving me a questioning look.
“Yep. I figured I’d need one.” I didn’t elaborate as to why. I still had to figure out how I wanted to tell her what my plans were. As it was, I’d sprung the new house on her. I wasn’t sure she’d be able to handle the newsflash that I was planning to quit working for my father and start my own business. I’d save that for another day.
“It’s nice,” she said, sliding her hand along the mahogany desk that sat in the center of the room. Aside from that, a file cabinet, matching credenza and bookcase, and an executive chair, there wasn’t anything else in the room. No pens, no paper. Not even a computer.
Yet.
When she had looked her fill, I led her back through the living room, then the kitchen, and down a hallway off the kitchen, stopping to point out the laundry room. “Just making sure you get the whole experience,” I told her when I backed her against the dryer, pressing my hips to hers before claiming her lips. When her arms came around my neck, I was hard-pressed to stop. I could imagine boosting her up onto the washing machine and fucking her until she was screaming my name.
But I withheld the urge. That could come later.
When we were both breathless, I pulled back and took her hand again. We ventured back down the hall and through two sets of doors, the last of which were made of glass. I pushed the door open and allowed Payton to walk inside before I followed.
“Holy crap.” Payton looked at me once, then around the twenty-five-hundred-square-foot room that held an indoor pool and Jacuzzi. The outer walls and ceiling were constructed of tinted glass, and one wall held sliding windows that could be opened entirely to let the outside in. “That’s a swimming pool.”
I chuckled. “That it is.”
“Inside,” she stated, as though I hadn’t noticed.
I laughed. “Yes, ma’am.”
“You have two pools?”
“I do,” I confirmed, smiling.
“I can see why you bought the house.”
“You think it was for this?” I asked.
“It wasn’t?”
“I didn’t say that. I’m quite partial to this room. Especially if it means I can get you naked in that pool sometime in the near future.”
“Is it heated?”
“If I said yes?”
“Then I’d say what are you waiting for?”
Holy shit, the woman was going to drive me completely insane. Because I just couldn’t resist the temptation, I backed her against the glass doors, this time sliding my thigh between her legs as I resumed my position at her mouth.
When her hands reached for my T-shirt, I realized she wasn’t joking. And quite frankly, I was too horny to deny her. We’d spent the last week away from each other because Payton insisted she needed to get more sleep in order to function at work. Which meant Sunday night through Thursday night were off limits for me to stay with her.
But now that it was Friday, I had a whole week to make up for.
Chapter Eight
Sebastian
Self-control was something I had a hard time maintaining when I was around Payton. She stripped me bare with just a look, and I found it difficult to restrain my hunger for her. Even after all these weeks, being with her was a test of my willpower, had been since the first time I’d seen her in the driveway of my father’s house.
“Payton,” I growled as I led her toward the pool.
Somehow we had managed to lose our clothes, tossing them every which way while I continued to feed on her mouth, my hands caressing every inch of her. I backed down the steps into the water, pulling her with me until I was chest deep. At that point, I drew her closer, forcing her legs to wrap around my waist as I eased deeper into the water before backing her against the pool wall.
“I’m not sure I can be easy, Payton,” I warned her, aligning my erection with her entrance, barely stemming the urge to slam into her, to feel the tight fit of her around my dick.
Payton scraped her nails down my back, jerking me to her, effectively lodging the head of my cock in her tight entrance. “Oh, fuck,” I groaned.
“Not easy,” she said breathlessly, her mouth sliding over my neck, her teeth nipping, sending electric shards of pleasure through my nerve endings.
Holding her hips, allowing the water to carry most of her weight, I managed to bury myself deep inside her, our bodies pressed together from hip to chest. We were close, so very close. But still, it wasn’t enough, never enough. I didn’t pull out, just merely rocked my hips forward, driving myself into her before slowly pulling back, never enough to pull out. I continued the slow, gyrating movement until she was moaning, her fingernails digging into my back. I never wanted to stop. This was the perfect moment, right here, alone with Payton. As much time as I planned to spend in that pool, I knew that there would never be a moment that would measure up to this.
“Sebastian, I need…” Payton lifted her head, closing her eyes and looking skyward as she tried to increase the friction between our bodies. “I need more. Oh, yes.”
It’d been far too long since I’d been inside the heaven of Payton’s body, and quite frankly, I wasn’t sure how I was managing to hold myself together this long. She felt too damn good. The velvet grip of her body hugging my dick, the way her nails scored the skin of my shoulders, the look of sheer ecstasy on her beautiful face… I never wanted it to end.
But I could feel my release building, that ever-intensifying electric charge that started at the base of my spine and was climbing higher and higher until I knew I couldn’t contain it any longer.
I powered my hips against Payton’s, battling the opposing force of the water, keeping our bodies locked together to minimize the resistance. “I need you to come for me, Payton.”
Payton moaned. “Harder.”
I gave her what she wanted, and just when I thought I wouldn’t be able to hold back, her body tensed, gripping me, ripping my orgasm from me. I growled, the animalistic sound reverberating through the open pool area.
Several minutes passed, but I didn’t release Payton from my arms. I pulled out of her but didn’t move away, content to hold her right there.
“I’d say that was a hell of a way to christen the pool,” Payton whispered into my ear a short time later.
I smiled against her neck. “You think so?”
“Yep.”
“Well, we’ve got plenty more rooms to go,” I informed her.
Payton’s soft chuckle filled me with the tranquility I’d come to crave when she was around me.
After using the pool for its intended purpose — swimming, albeit naked — for another half hour, Payton and I finally made our way back into the main part of the house. I hadn’t unpacked my things, but most of the bathroom boxes had made their way to my bathroom. She got in the shower while I rummaged through one after another, trying to find shampoo and other necessities. After handing those off to her, I gave her a few minutes while I went in search of the clothes boxes, which I found downstairs in the living room. How the hell they’d ended up there, I had no idea.
I offered her a T-shirt and a towel before trading places with her. I showered off the chlorine and then joined her in the bedroom. She must’ve found the boxes with the linens, because the bed was made, complete with pillows.
Considering the time, we opted to call it a night, and for the first time in months, my brain shut off completely, and I managed to sleep without dreaming. It might not sound like much, but for me, it was something I’d definitely needed.
***
I woke alone in my bed the following morning. It took me several seconds to realize where I was, but after searching the room, trying to identify my surroundings, I fell back on my pillow and exhaled. Home. Payton wasn’t in bed, but I could hear music coming from somewhere else in the house, so I assumed she was roaming around somewhere.
I pulled on a pair of jeans and made my way downstairs. She was in the kitchen, standing at the stove, glaring at the pan in front of her.
&nb
sp; “Morning,” I said, both greeting her and announcing my presence.
She turned to look at me, her eyebrows scrunched as though she was deep in thought.
“Something wrong?” I asked.
“Do you know how to make pancakes?” she asked.
I smiled.
“I do. Why? Is Toby coming over?”
Payton looked confused at first, but then her face softened and her shoulders relaxed. “Something like that.”
I still gave Toby a hard time about the first breakfast we’d had at Payton’s apartment. Turned out that Chloe’s Saturday morning ritual involved making pancakes, something Toby didn’t particularly care for. Although he’d forced them down until I’d called him on it. It still amused me the lengths the guy would go to for Chloe.
All of the ingredients were sitting on the counter, and the pan was on the stove, but that was about as far as Payton had gotten. I found it endearing that she was trying to cook breakfast for me, although it was clear she didn’t have a clue how to make that happen.
“Want my help?” I offered.
She nodded, her smile widening.
I backed her against the opposite counter, kissing her good morning as I lifted her up to sit on the granite top.
“I’m not sure how I’ll be able to cook from here,” she informed me, cupping my face when I released her mouth.
“You can supervise,” I told her, taking her in from head to toe. She was still wearing my T-shirt and nothing else. It was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen.
“I think I can manage that,” she replied when my eyes returned to hers.
Cooking in my own kitchen with Payton sitting close by was another one of those moments that took me by surprise. It was so natural it almost felt as though we’d been doing it all of our lives. I found that was the case with a lot of what we did. Being with her just felt right. She made me whole, made me forget for a little while that I wasn’t, made it almost possible to believe my life hadn’t been ripped to shreds so many years ago.
Chaos Page 5