‘A little help here?’
His hands tucked under the waistband and tugged; the denim slipped off and fell to the floor with a soft thud. She wriggled out of her pink and yellow cotton underwear, relishing the cool air against her burning skin.
‘Touch yourself,’ he demanded.
Elise bit down on her lip—she’d never masturbated in front of someone before. In fact, the only time she’d ever been able to orgasm from anything but a man’s mouth had been at the hands of Col the first time around. Oral was fine—with a man’s head buried between her legs they couldn’t see her face, couldn’t watch for the right expressions. That always made her so self-conscious.
‘It’s okay, Ellie. It’s just me. Show me what you like.’
She’d told him why she quit ballet and he hadn’t run. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. Stalling, she ran flat palms over her smooth belly, skimming her hip bones and sweeping down the outside of her thighs. She drew a very slow line back up the inside, feeling her muscles clench as her fingertips brushed her sex. A jolt of pleasure shot through her and she gasped, her teeth clamping down on her lower lip.
‘That’s it.’ He came closer, his clear blue eyes almost completely absorbed by the black of his pupils. ‘Show me.’
She dipped her hand lower, tracing the line of her centre until she reached the tight bundle of nerves at her apex. Her back arched and a cry escaped her lips. Closing her eyes, she continued to explore herself, something she’d only ever done in the complete dark when totally alone. His lips pressed against the inside of her knee, while his hands slid under her thighs.
He kissed the line up to her, replacing her hand with his tongue. He started slowly, with maddening flicks that stoked her fire and nudged her slowly towards the edge of sanity. Her fingers tangled in his short hair and held him in place. Each movement pried her apart, the chasm within her opening until she felt as though she were about to explode.
‘Please, Col. I’m so close.’
‘Slowly, Ellie. I’ve been waiting half a decade for this,’ he murmured against her, the vibrations of his voice sending ripples of pleasure through her.
She squirmed against him, the need for a too-long-absent release building steadily within her. He increased the pressure of his lips, his tongue working her perfectly. The quaking started low in her belly and flared out suddenly as she tipped over the edge, orgasm dazzling and blinding her.
She tried to sit up and look at him, but her limbs were heavy and pleasure sounds continued to emanate from the back of her throat. He stood, sliding his hands under her back and lifting her into his arms. Her hands wound around his neck and she pressed her face against his chest.
‘That was...’ She trailed off into a murmur.
‘Amazing is the word you were looking for.’
‘Cocky, aren’t you?’ She grinned into his chest, feeling gloriously protected and weightless.
‘Hard not to be with a beautiful woman screaming your name.’
Her head snapped up. ‘I didn’t!’
‘Yes, you did.’
The slight burning in her throat suggested he was right. She swallowed and stared wordlessly into his eyes. They were light blue, like faded denim, but ringed with a thin strip of navy. From a distance you probably wouldn’t notice it, but she had these eyes permanently printed into her memory.
‘You probably woke the neighbours.’
She tried to thump a fist against his chest but he dropped her onto the bed, laughing. She pulled the grey silk top she was still wearing over her head and dropped it on the floor.
‘That’s more like it.’ He came down over her, the large expanse of his chest covering her easily.
She ran both palms up his chest, brushing his small flat nipples until she reached his shoulders. Sliding an arm under her lower back, he rolled so that she landed on top of him, straddling his hips with her thighs.
Her shoulders bunched up under her ears; she hated being on top. In fact, she was sure a previous relationship ended because she refused to be on top...or maybe it was because she insisted on having the lights off. She tried to climb down but Col’s large hands held her in place.
‘Where do you think you’re going?’
She squirmed, wriggling her hips against his in an attempt to break free of his grip but all she did was rub herself against his erection, making him groan and press his head back against the pillow.
‘I’m going to turn the light off.’
He released her and she switched off the light, frowning when she realised the glow of the city view meant real darkness would not eventuate.
‘What’s wrong, Ellie?’
He held a hand out and she crawled back onto the bed, snuggling against him as though it were the place she slept every night. His large arms engulfed her, and she sighed. Her heartbeat slowed to a steady rhythm.
‘Are you nervous?’
‘I thought we were done talking for tonight.’
He bent down and kissed her. She opened to him with terrifying ease, her tongue seeking him out instinctively.
‘I need to know you’re not going to go crazy in the morning.’
‘Who says I’m going to make it to morning?’ she teased, tracing the line of his jaw with her fingertip.
‘If you think I’m letting you out of my bed before the sun comes up you’ve got another thing coming.’ His kiss deepened, his hand finding her breasts once more.
She melted into his touch, forcing aside her insecurities and letting him play her like an instrument. He clasped his fingers around her wrist and pressed her hand to his chest.
‘You can touch me, you know. I won’t bite.’
‘I somehow doubt that.’
She slid her hand lower, smoothing her palm along the lines of his muscles, over the bones in his hip and down to the silken strength of him. He gasped as she wrapped her hand around him, stroking the length slowly. She flicked her thumb over the tip and he growled.
His hand reached out to the side table, blindly patting around for something. His wallet. A foil packet was produced and soon he was covered and ready.
Before he had the chance to pull her on top of him, she took matters into her own hand. She tugged his arm hard and he got the hint. His thigh nudged her legs apart and he entered her in one long, careful stroke.
‘Ellie.’ His face burrowed into her neck, his breath hot and delicious against her skin. ‘My perfect Ellie.’
Bucking her hips against him, she gave in to the haze of arousal and heard her own cries before she realised any sound had escaped her lips. A delicious and guttural sound came from the back of Col’s throat as her fingernails dug into his buttocks.
He increased the tempo, his control slipping away like satin from skin. For a moment she forgot to worry about what her own face was showing, and she lost herself in the pleasure painted clearly over his. His eyes locked onto hers and his lips mouthed her name over and over.
The bubble of excitement swelled within her, ready to burst. When his lips found hers again their bodies were fused from end to end. She chased release, writhing under him as he pushed them both to ecstasy.
It wasn’t until he slumped over her that she noticed the sound of her own voice ringing in her ears. She had indeed been crying out his name.
* * *
In that moment after he’d come, Col thought that the world might actually be perfect. Perhaps as a reward for all the pain he’d packed into his young life he now got to experience unadulterated happiness. Doubt niggled at him; the sensible, logical mind he’d used to dominate the technology industry told him that pure happiness was a fallacy. That life was varying in levels of imperfection, but no matter how small there was always something waiting to fail.
Elise had wriggled out from under him and was now on her si
de, facing the window as he spooned her. He pressed his face into her golden hair, the blinking lights from the cityscape reflecting in their golden strands. He smoothed a hand over her head, down her arm until it cupped the curve of her hip.
‘I’m going to start answering the door in my towel all the time.’
She laughed, the low throaty sound making him grin in the semi-darkness. ‘You might get into some interesting situations doing that. Do you get many random visitors at home?’
She rolled over to face him. In the darkness her expression was obscured by shadows and the way she ducked her head ever so slightly. Once the lights were off she was a different person. She felt more comfortable...comfortable enough to ask about his personal life at least.
‘Sadly not a lot...well, not a lot who visit only to see me.’
‘What do you mean?’ She traced the curve of his nipple with her fingertip.
‘I get a lot of up-and-coming techies wanting to pitch their latest app or game, sometimes it’s a reporter wanting an interview...’ He let out a sharp laugh, the humourless sound echoing in the quiet room. ‘It’s not often people come to visit me who aren’t there because I’ve employed them or they were after something.’
‘You always were a bit of a hermit.’ She snuggled closer to him. ‘Now you’re a sexy hermit.’
‘Is that right?’ He leant down to kiss the centre of her forehead but she surprised him by tilting her face up and catching his kiss with her open mouth.
‘The hermit part or the sexy part?’
‘The sexy part.’
‘Yes,’ she purred. ‘Sex on a very large stick...in my humble opinion.’
‘You’re not so bad yourself, Queen Bun Head.’ He reached behind her and cupped her bare arse in his hands.
‘I’m not really queen of the bun heads anymore.’ She sighed. ‘I couldn’t even save my own business without help. I don’t think that makes me queen of anything.’
He held his breath, waiting to see if any more words would follow. This was the most she’d ever opened up and he was reluctant to move, to breathe, to speak or to do anything else that might have her running for emotional cover.
Silence settled over them like a blanket. He waited and waited but nothing further came. ‘I don’t think you give yourself enough credit. You’re a great role model for all those burgeoning little bun heads at the studio.’
‘Hardly.’
‘It’s true,’ he said, cupping her cheeks with his hands, forcing her face up to his. ‘With all you’ve been through you’re still fighting, still trying to get it all right.’
She screwed up her nose and tried to pull away from him, but he hooked a leg over her hip and held her close. At the sudden full-frontal body contact he felt himself stirring again and she took advantage of his arousal to distract him. Her hand slid down between them to cup his erection, and his thoughts dissolved into a groan.
‘Nice try.’ He ground the words out while willing himself not to press into her palm, but her gentle strokes were doing a number on his ability to think straight. ‘But that won’t stop me asking questions.’
‘Oh, I think it will.’ She pressed her lips against the side of his jaw, her tongue flicking out to graze against his stubble. ‘Eventually all your blood will head south and you’ll be powerless.’
Powerless? She must be dreaming. He grabbed her shoulders and rolled them so that he was on top, pinning her hands above her head. She rolled her hips, grinding her pelvis up against his.
‘I can still distract you from this angle.’
‘I have no doubt you could distract me from any angle.’ A surge of arousal raced through him as he looked down at the gorgeous girl beneath him. She was all pink cheeked and wide-eyed with her halo of blonde hair fanned out around her in a mess of wavy strands. ‘But I want to know why you’re avoiding talking to me.’
‘I thought we’d got past the talking bit.’ Another bump of her sex against his made his blood simmer. The girl was determined when she wanted to be.
‘We’re friends, Ellie. We don’t ever get past the talking bit. That’s kind of how it works.’
‘This doesn’t feel very friendly.’ Her eyes gleamed, a confused mix of hope and fear rolling across her face like clouds blocking and releasing the sun. ‘This feels like something else.’
* * *
She didn’t know what to think. She’d come here to return his money and instead she’d confessed her sins and then taken him to bed. So much for salvaging her conscience—she was simply adding to the piles of things she’d messed up in her life.
She didn’t want to have this conversation with Col; she would have been quite happy to indulge in his body until the sun came up and then never talk about it ever again. He was leaving the country at the end of the week and she had to find something else to fixate on. Having him around had proved to be a much-needed break from her usual responsibilities of the studio and taking care of her mother.
Elise bit down on her lip; she needed to check in on her mum. She made a mental note to do it as soon as she got home, and then she pushed the guilt from her mind. Didn’t she deserve a little fun? She was barely twenty-seven but she was burned out. Losing herself under Col’s expert touch had taken years of stress from her; now she felt young and beautiful and free.
‘Talk to me, Ellie. What’s going on in that pretty little head of yours?’
‘I was wondering if it was greedy to try for round two.’ She grinned, enjoying the way an equal smile spread over his face. His teeth gleamed in the moonlight; he’d had them fixed. Funny how she’d only just noticed that.
‘And?’
‘I decided I don’t care if it’s greedy. I want you again, Col.’
She could see he was trying to hang on, but he’d come dangerously close to getting her to open up...more than she already had. That meant she needed to get him to focus on something else, and if that focus happened to be pleasuring her then it was win-win.
‘You’re impossible.’ He brought his mouth down to hers, hot and forceful. ‘You’re maddening and frustrating and...’
‘And?’
‘Insanely hot.’
She laughed, closing her eyes for a moment and revelling in the need that built in her. She’d forgotten how incredible sex could be. With her previous partners it had simply become another opportunity for them to see how emotionally inept she was. But with Col it was different. She felt self-conscious, sure, but there was something about his large yet gentle hands that put her at ease. He pushed her for more than she had to give, and she wished with all her heart she could give him what he needed, but even then he cared for her in a way no one else ever had.
‘I like insanely hot.’
His lips came down to her neck and he kept her hands pinned above her head. He let his weight press her into the bed; trapping her, making her his prisoner. It felt primal, basal. She’d never been so close to the brink of showing who she was, of truly being herself.
She squeezed her eyes shut, as if it would create a barrier between them. But he released her hands and found her centre. Sliding his fingers into her, he brushed his thumb across her clitoris so slowly that she wanted to scream and demand more, but pleasure had rendered her helpless. All she could do was writhe and meet his slow strokes with the thrust of her hips.
He paused briefly to sheath himself with a fresh condom and before her body had time to be used to the absence of him he was back inside her. This time it was slower, deeper, and orgasm welled inside her with a force that made her shake.
As he tipped them over the edge they were barely moving, the slow grind of his hips so languid she felt intoxicated by him.
‘Come for me, Ellie.’ His breath was hot against her ear. ‘Don’t hold back. I want to see everything you’ve got.’
She sho
ok her head, but release was within her reach and she couldn’t say no. Her mask slipped as the waves of orgasm built. When the full shock waves hit her she broke apart and her cry echoed high in the hotel room.
The sound of her heartbeat thumping drowned out their heavy breathing. Uneasiness settled over her. What had she done? Repeating the mistakes of her much younger, much stupider self wasn’t something she’d planned on. Col would be gone at the end of the week and if for some reason he hadn’t left then he most certainly would when he realised just how broken she was. An earth-shattering orgasm did not a healthy emotional relationship make.
She thought about getting up and leaving but Col’s warm arms enveloped her and pulled her close against him. Her heartbeat slowed, the panicked thoughts disappeared and her mind became quiet. She relaxed into him, willing the calm to last forever.
NINE
A loud screeching shocked Elise into wakefulness. Blinding sunlight streamed in through the windows, making her squint and shield her eyes with her forearm.
‘What is that?’
‘It’s called an alarm.’ Col’s deep, husky voice sent a shiver through to the very marrow of her bones. ‘A device one uses to ensure they wake up at the correct time in the morning.’
‘Sounds more like a torture device if you ask me.’ She pushed herself into a sitting position and rolled her shoulders. They ached with the same sense of exhausted satisfaction as the rest of her. ‘Cruel and unusual torture.’
‘This from the girl who used to wake up at the crack of dawn to be the first girl in the ballet studio.’
‘I was young and foolish.’ She pulled a mock serious face. ‘I didn’t appreciate a good sleep in for what it was worth.’
‘I think there’s a lot we didn’t appreciate when we were young and foolish.’ His tone was serious, the blue of his eyes piercing in the morning sun.
He’d showered and looked exactly the same as he did when he’d answered the door last night; white towel slung low on his lean hips, wet hair darkened to ebony, droplets of water scattered across his muscled shoulders. She sucked in a breath as flashing images of her nails digging into his shoulders overtook her. Liquid heat pooled low in her belly and made her limbs feel quivery. How could she possibly want him so soon after he’d satisfied her beyond her understanding of satisfaction?
Breaking the Bro Code Page 10