Besides, he really needed to put some distance between them before he fell…harder for her?
Damn!
Maybe he should just abort this plan of his. Every time he felt firm in his resolve to get his revenge, Rachel showed him a side of herself that he never thought could exist in a Vaughan.
Sensitivity? Caring??
“Oh, of course ... I’ve overstayed my welcome.” She said quickly, but he could tell he had hurt her feelings.
Why the hell did that bother him?
Damien rang George and escorted Rachel down to the street where the car waited.
“I can expect to hear from you, later this week, then?” Rachel asked him, her voice thin and uncertain.
“With regards to your father ...” She prompted him, when he didn’t answer her.
“Yes, yes of course – I will definitely be in touch with you.”
Chapter 9
What were you expecting ... morning snuggles? You just screwed a guy you met two days ago. Obviously this was a one-night stand. No wonder he’s acting strangely.
She couldn’t bring herself to regret it, despite the misgivings and alarm bells she was sensing this morning. She could still feel the throb of his cock inside of her. And she could not believe how hot last night had been ... intense ... surreal ... amazing, really.
Confusion flowed freely through Rachel – as good as last night was, something about this morning was disturbing her. He’d seemed cold, almost distant.
He said he had to go to work. You’re being oversensitive.
She wondered why she cared so much.
You’re confusing intense sex with real feelings.
She needed to go home and get her head on right. It really wasn’t like her to be so cynical but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she and Damien had parted this morning on a very uncomfortable note.
And it had seemed as though she had to remind him about making arrangements for his father.
Once that was done and his father had passed on, he’s going to forget I ever existed. And that’s fine. I’m a big girl.
“Good morning, Ms. Vaughan,” George said, sliding into the driver’s seat.
“Hello, George.”
As embarrassed as she should probably have felt staying overnight with Damien, she found herself going over the last few days.
She hated that she was spending so much time considering the implications of his actions this morning. So what if last night ended up being a one-off. She was a big girl. She could handle it.
Chapter 10
Rachel was surprised when she picked up the ringing phone on Wednesday afternoon and heard Damien’s voice on the other end. She was just finishing the last of the charting she had to do on her patients and was ready to call it a day. Rachel had pretty much convinced herself Damien had decided to go elsewhere to place his father, given the intimate turn their short time knowing each other had taken, and then the fact that she hadn’t heard from him.
“Hi, Rachel ...”
“Damien? I wasn’t sure I’d be hearing from you,” she commented professionally.
“I had some unexpected business come up out of town and only returned home late last night.” He explained. “I was hoping I could pick you up at Hollywell and we could grab some Thai takeout? We could take it back to your place so you wouldn’t have to drive home later, if that works for you. I need to get some plans in place for my father. I’m concerned his health could be taking another turn.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that ... Yes, of course we can discuss your options moving forward.” Her tone had softened on hearing news of his father’s health. She was torn by the emotions that evoked in her and by the fact that her body had reacted instantaneously to the deep timbre of his voice. Despite knowing that her place would likely not be the best place for this discussion, she simply couldn’t refuse him.
“I’ll be there in an hour.”
Rachel couldn’t prevent the growl her stomach made, when she entered Damien’s car an hour later. He had stopped to get the food first and she realized she hadn’t really eaten much in the last few days and the savory smells were revealing her hunger ... upon looking at Damien’s casual dress and unruly curls, she was ravenous for a few things, truth be told.
“Wow ... hungry?” He glanced at her and grinned, after hearing her stomach rumbling loudly.
“Me too, actually.” He leaned forward and claimed her lips, the rush of passion going straight from her mouth to her core.
Food suddenly didn’t seem to be first on her list of wants, after that interaction.
“We can warm this up later, right?” she asked suggestively, trailing her hand down his chest and gripping the rigid length of his cock that was trying to surge straight out of his pants. “I’ve got a bottle of wine.”
What the hell is wrong with you, Rachel? Professional, remember?
And try to keep your legs closed this time!
“Later would be great,” he murmured, reaching toward her for another deep kiss. Her good intentions flew straight out the window as feelings of heat slid down her spine.
His hand found the hem of her dress, snaking upward to caress her inner thigh briefly, not surprised to find her damp in anticipation.
“Is this all for me?” he asked, delving a finger between the silk of her panties and the slick heat of her crotch.
“You should stop,” she breathed haltingly, at least making a valiant attempt to be professional. “At least until we get to my place.”
There, I tried. Now I can enjoy, right?
Rachel pushed forward in her seat and sighed, closing her eyes to embrace the sensation of his nimble fingers sinking deep within her core.
“Damn,” she whispered. “You’re going right in for the jugular.”
“Mm ... I suppose we should wait until we get to your place.” He laughed, pulling away from her and placing those dangerous hands on his steering wheel, while throwing a wicked sideways grin her way.
She groaned in mock agony. “You’re killing me, you know that?”
Rachel didn’t even wait for the elevator doors to close. She didn’t want the spell between them broken and she pinned him ruthlessly against the far wall, tongue jutting out to sample the lines of his luscious lips.
By the time the elevator stopped on the sixth floor, Rachel had managed to unbutton both his shirt and pants, his belt unhooked as he almost chased her down the hall.
Again, they paused in front of the door, Damien spinning her around to pin her against her door.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been so turned on by someone,” he growled. She could hear the sincerity in his tone and as if he’d flipped a switch, she felt the rush of juice between her legs.
“Let me unlock the door,” she laughed but he made no move to release her, his fingers clinging to her upper thigh as he slid between her legs, blocked by the clinging silk of her long dress.
“You better hurry,” he breathed. “I wouldn’t want to stab a hole in this pretty dress of yours.”
With a final kiss, she managed to fumble her keys out of her purse and enter the front hallway. The door slammed behind them and Damien was pulling her dress up and over her head, and then pressing her nearly naked frame up against his own.
One hand seized her perfectly sculpted ass, bringing Rachel’s legs up against Damien’s waist. His index finger dug beneath the lace of her panties to explore her weeping cleft.
“You’re so wet for me,” he groaned, striding further into the apartment with her draped over him as if she weighed nothing more than a scarf.
His kisses rained over her body, each one hotter than the last until he finally found his way into her bedroom, dropping her unceremoniously onto the bed, but not before unclasping her bra to release her breasts.
He draped her legs over his shoulders, wanting to seat himself as deeply as possible in her hot crevice, when he was ready. His hands embraced her swollen breasts, fingers teasing the soft ski
n of her erect nipples and his tongue began to explore the drenched crevice between her thighs.
Rachel bucked upward, her clit filling his mouth and he latched on instantly, sucking her back in long, deep laps. Her sweet sigh was music to his ears and she began to writhe beneath him.
The vibrations of his moans brought her instantly to the heights he wanted, and with a loud cry, she released against his smooth face, spraying his chin with her orgasm.
“Well,” he purred, looking up in surprise. “Missed me much?” he asked with proud satisfaction. This woman could seriously wrap him around her finger if she knew how strongly she affected him.
“Wow,” she groaned, her body limp and blissful. “Just. Wow.”
He dropped his head again, determined to make her go another round. Rachel realized she’d been wanting him nonstop since their first night together.
Fuck. This is too good.
His hands scooped under her ass to raise her body higher against him. He quickly forced her body into that place again, teetering on the edge of orgasm, but this time, he wasn’t letting her go over.
“Please,” she cried. “I need you inside me again, deep and rough ... Fuck me hard, Damien” she begged him, her eyes locked onto him. “Now.”
He raised his body, positioning himself to enter her. Suddenly, Rachel seemed to shake herself, her eyes going wide with horror.
“Oh my god! Condom! We need a condom…” At once the incredulity hit both of them.
Holy shit. He hadn’t used a condom the other night. He never forgot to protect himself.
Never.
How had he missed that? Especially with Rachel??
It wasn’t like sleeping with her was part of a normal relationship, for Christ’s sake.
It was a revenge plot.
She was a revenge plot.
“It’s okay, baby,” he soothed. “I’ve got a condom, right here.”
He reached down into his pants pocket and pulled the condom out of his wallet. “But maybe we should just stop…” he trailed off, not sure what the right move was.
“Oh, my god, you can’t stop now,” Rachel whispered, her voice desperate with need. “Look, we can’t do anything about last time now, right? So as long as we’re careful now…we can maybe…” she looked at him hopefully, her gaze full of unfulfilled desire.
He thought back to the state he had left her in before her realization had overturned them both. He’d been enjoying hearing her cries of need, and the way he seemed to know just what her body needed even before she did.
She was so responsive to him, and he’d taken her right to the brink of orgasm twice, before backing off and teasing her beautiful body for a while, and then taking her back up again. When she had begged him to fuck her, the desire to sink into her, hard, had been stronger than anything he’d ever felt before.
He leaned over her, pulling her sweet body back beneath his. “Anything you need, baby, I’ve got you.”
He trailed kisses over her exposed neck and collarbone, slowly trailing down to her sensitive breasts. She had the most beautiful breasts he’d ever seen, and he couldn’t get enough of watching her nipples pucker even when he just stared at them.
Finally, he lowered his mouth and blew on one strawberry tip, watching it ruche even more, puckering tightly under his gaze. He licked the tip of it, and smiled when Rachel groaned, her breast rising even further to try to get his mouth to accept the offering.
He finally took pity on her pretty pleas and sucked hard on her nipple, using his teeth a bit, just to hear her cry out again.
When she was as desperate as she had been before, he slipped the condom on and positioned himself at her core.
“Please, Damien…now.”
“Like this?” he asked, the head of his pulsating shaft plunging into her with one solid thrust.
“Oh, my God ... yes ... more!” she cried. She hadn’t realized how sensitive she still was from all the “activity” they’d had lately, but it hurt so good as she suctioned him in, the walls of her pussy drawing him in deeply until he gasped at the feeling.
“Jesus Christ,” he mumbled, his jaw clenching hard. “You are … so fucking ...”
He couldn’t finish his thought, a primal instinct in him taking over. He thrust into her over and over, each plunge filling her with more pleasure.
“I-I’m coming,” she whimpered, the moan becoming a hoarse scream as she exploded into pieces. Her nails dug into his naked buttocks, clawing at him, drawing him closer until he, too, was cursing and climaxing almost violently.
“Shit, Rachel. You’re killing me.”
He felt the wave travel down through his spine, grab his sac in a vice of pleasure, and explode out of him, with wave after wave of ecstasy crashing through him.
“FUCK!” he growled. “Fuck me!”
Her ankles locked around him, not wanting to let him separate as she savored the moment between them.
His release seemed to go on forever and she reveled in the feeling of his body spasming, her own heartbeat synching to his. At last his forehead came down and rested on hers lightly, the intense, heated look in his eyes burning her up all over again.
“Damn,” he finally managed to say, kissing the tip of her nose playfully. “You have a golden pussy, you know that?”
“I’d say it’s red now,” she teased breathlessly.
He propped himself up on a hand to peer at her face. His expression was so tender it almost brought tears to her eyes.
“I want to take you somewhere next week. Can you get a couple days off from work?” he asked her suddenly.
The next few weeks passed in a blur of passion and laughter.
They had spent every spare moment together. Rachel was hesitant at first, both because of her professional concerns, but also because she was scared – scared of her quickly growing attachment to the man, and of the depth of her feelings for him.
How could anyone become so important so fast? Is this what love starts out as?
He had taken her to a cabin that sat on the banks of a gurgling river just outside of the small town of Flat’s Creek. He told her about having a horrible fight with his father when he was eighteen and just jumping into his car and driving away, almost desperate to get as far from his family as he could. He wasn’t sure he’d ever come back.
But then his car had broken down a few miles away from the town. The walk into town had been scorching, and when he heard the sound of a river nearby, he left the paved road and made his way into the woods to try to find some relief from his thirst.
He’d stumbled upon the quaint cabin shortly after. It had been empty, and he’d sat on the porch overlooking the stream for hours. For some reason, the cabin soothed him, brought peace when he was feeling anything but calm.
As soon as he’d made enough money, he bought the cabin.
No one else knew about it, and no one else had ever been there with him. The poignancy of the place drew Rachel too, there was some quality about it that almost seemed healing. He told her that when his father became unbearably difficult, he’d go there, just to get grounded again.
They visited museums and sat for hours on the window seat inside Rachel’s favorite library. There, they’d laugh and talk about everything from the classics, to Calvin & Hobbes comics.
Flashes of her promise to her brother on that long ago day would come to her out of the blue every now and then. She had become so used to protecting her heart and her sense of independence, that it was hard for her to let Damien inside. She still hadn’t told him who her father was, but he knew so much more about her than anyone else she’d ever known since moving away from her childhood home.
Damien was starting to take those protective walls down – slowly at first, but faster with every day that passed.
She just felt safe with him. She couldn’t really explain it. He always put her needs first, and he was so damned protective of her too.
It had been a long time, maybe forever, since s
he’d felt so cherished.
Chapter 11
“I’m glad you called me today,” Rachel confessed. “I wasn’t sure you would after the other day.”
Rachel had felt like there had been something bothering Damien for the last week or so. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but it seemed like it was more than the problems with his father, which, according to him, were slowly getting resolved.
Every now and then he seemed distant, and almost confused, and when he had left her at her place after driving her home from work the other day, he had declined her invitation to come in and instead, had driven away with just a wave and a distracted kiss.
“Why not?” He sounded confused. “I said I would, didn’t I?”
“You did, but…”
She inhaled and smiled to stop herself from embarrassing herself.
“Never mind. I’m rambling. Thanks for…well, that,” she said, pink tinging her face as she smiled at him. They had just finished having amazing sex – again. It was crazy how he seemed able to read her body and anticipate each and every one of her needs.
“That?” he teased. “Could you be more specific, please? I’m not sure exactly what you mean by ‘that’.”
She grinned, glad to have the old Damien returned to her. The fun one, who wanted to be with her and tried to make her laugh at her own shyness.
“You know, ‘that’ – the part that makes me scream your name and beg for more. I won’t ever get tired of ‘that’.” She chuckled.
His smile faded at her words and he slid out of her, his eyes darting away from her face.
“I’m starving,” she said to dispel a sudden awkwardness. “I’m going to grab us some wine and cheese – I don’t really have much else here right now. I’ll be right back.”
“I’m not sure I can move right now – even for food,” he groaned, attempting to dispel the discomfort of the moment too? “My father’s maid had this talent where she always knew when to heat dinner and have it on the table for us…it was like magic,” he said wistfully.
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