My eyes widened. “Sister? I don’t have a sister.”
For the first time in almost twenty years, my mother’s eyes softened. Her whole body relaxed as a tear trailed down her cheek. She reached up and cupped my face with her hands. “You do. They took her from me after your birth. I thought she died during birth but she lived. It was your grandfather’s way of threatening me. That he had the power to take everyone I loved away whenever he wanted. Why do you think I kept you hidden for so long?”
“We were twins?”
The slight nod from my mother had my world spinning. The only thing I could think of doing was leaving. So, I did. I left my mother and went to get Aria. I needed time to process everything. But more importantly, I needed time to find out if what my mother said was true or just another evil trick.
I feared that this time it was no trick.
TWENTY-SEVEN
Aria
“And the view.” Henrik Payne waved his hands at the wall of windows overlooking Lake Michigan.
I pasted my body to the wall and didn’t care if I was leaving a body shaped smear mark.
“My God, why on Earth would you sell this place?” I asked turning my head to find the usual dark and brooding Henrik leaning his shoulder against the glass with a smile on his face as he gazed out to the water.
“Can’t afford it anymore. Besides, I need the money for other things.”
I nodded and turned back to the view. When Edgar mentioned staying at Henrik’s place I thought there was no way Henrik would let me do that. It’s not as if Henrik and I are on friendly terms. The last time I saw him I screamed into a full restaurant that he was a pervert and had him thrown out.
But, if he needs money, I guess he can’t be choosy. Especially since Alex is paying full price and requesting a very quick closing on the property.
That surprised me. Alex buying his place so I would be safe. I know that man is a billionaire but this is a multimillion-dollar condo. That’s not throwaway money, even for a billionaire.
“What do you think, Alex? Is this a wise investment?” I reluctantly left the glass and made my way toward him. He stood at the entrance to the living room, his eyes glued to the floor.
I was worried about him. I knew his mother showed up to talk to him. After she left he came back to the bedroom to get me for the meeting with Henrik, but when I asked what she said he only shook his head.
He was quiet. Too quiet. Alex wasn’t acting his usual sweet and sometimes, silly self. I feared what his mother had said to him. Was it about Alexa again?
I needed to remember that we weren’t going to be together forever. But that’s becoming harder and harder to believe.
“Huh?” Alex gazed at me, bewilderment filling his features as I wrapped my arms around him.
“The place?” I waved my hand around the room. “You are the one buying it. Do you like the condo?”
“Oh, right. Yeah, it’s nice. When do we sign the papers?” He glanced over at Henrik. His lips a thin line and if it weren’t for the soft circle he was drawing on my back with his fingers, I would have thought he changed his mind about all of this, including me.
“I believe my lawyer told me closing is on June seventeenth. But you both are welcome to stay here for as long as you need.” Henrik walked over and handed Alex an envelope. “These are the keycards for the entrance to the building and your personal elevator. I’ll say goodbye now. Got a dinner meeting to get to.”
Henrik turned and made his way toward the elevator, as the entire top floor of the building was the condo. Before he pushed the elevator button he turned, his usual stoic features softened with melancholy.
“How is Morgana?” he asked.
“I talked to her on the phone a few days ago. She’s excited to come home. Though, I think she is more excited to have some of her mom’s cake,” I said to lighten his mood.
As much as Henrik had been a jerk to Morgana, I was beginning to feel sorry for him. He could have been spiteful with me, especially after what I did to him, but he’s being more than kind.
Henrik smiled as he gazed at nothing. Slowly that grin faded before he sighed. He turned to the elevators. “It was nice to see you again, Aria. And a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Hawthorne. I hope you two find happiness here.”
He mumbled something else. It sounded like ‘I wish I had.’ But before I could ask what he said, the elevator opened and closed after he stepped inside.
I pushed away from Alex, lifted my arms in the air, and twirled around like a kid. “We have this place to ourselves. Your mother and her spies don’t know anything about this. Can you believe it?”
I was giddy and my cheeks began to hurt from my smile. Except, Alex wasn’t grinning. He wasn’t anything. He stared at me and fear crept up my neck.
Glancing around I saw there was still furniture in the place. Henrik explained some of it was his stuff that I could keep and a few pieces were show furniture he rented for when he had showings.
I had my back to Alex and decided to find out the truth, even if I didn’t like what he had to say. I needed to know why he was acting this way. “Alex, if you have changed your mind about me . . . about us . . . I need to—”
My words were swallowed as he stepped in front of me and reached down to take a kiss. It was the way his lips curled over mine and his tongue begged for a taste that spoke more than any word I had asked of him. I clung to him as his mouth dashed my uncertainty away.
My back arched, reaching for more and pushing my chest into his hard stomach until he lifted me. I couldn’t get my legs around him fast enough as I scrambled to curl them around his solid waist. I was wrong before when I said Alex wasn’t acting like himself. I could feel his lips curl at my sigh as he tenderly cupped my face and dug his fingers into my ass.
There was something savage but controlled in his touch. My lips raw, my skin bruising under his fingers, but everything led to sweet reward. This was the true Alex. He gave me a slight taste all those weeks ago in that motel room, but now, whatever moderation he had was gone.
This was Alex unshackled.
We began to move and I tried to focus on where he was taking me, but his mouth made it very hard to see past the sexual kissing fog. My heart was pounding so hard I thought he could feel it. And maybe he had before he threw me.
I fell down and landed on something soft, bouncy, and covered in blue. A bedroom. He somehow, in our kissing, groping frenzy, found a bedroom. I laid on a bed with my knees bent and my lower legs and feet hanging off the side.
“Undress for me,” Alex said with hooded eyes that were trained on the button at the top of my jeans. I wore a ratty T-shirt and old jeans when I came to his place today—my usual outfit for painting. But, with how Alex’s eyes heated and sank into me, you’d think I was wearing the skimpiest, laciest lingerie.
I bit my lip to hold back the groan. His words did things to me. The Alex standing in front of the bed was demanding, confident, and ready to take what he wanted. He had been afraid to show me this side of him but he never realized how I would have given anything to experience him taking control.
My jeans and shirt flew across the room. Sweat broke across my skin as I raced to remove everything for him—to give him what he desired. I had no bra on which he appreciated. His lips ticked up for a moment, just a second of time, before disappearing. That slight movement flooded my core with heat.
I moaned and twisted at his stillness. The more skin I revealed to him the further controlled he became. Once my red lace underwear slid down my legs and dropped to the floor, he grew. I don’t know how but he became taller, his eyes almost slits as he peered down at me.
“When I’m done with you, I want you to stay naked. You dress when I tell you,” he said.
Did he know how that request almost brought me to the edge?
“Yes,” I said and wondered if he understood me as it was more of a moan.
The past several weeks had been frustrating trying to steal seconds
together knowing we were always being watched. Even when we went back to the motel, Alex thought a few faces seemed familiar and noticed that his Volkswagen was being followed. There was nowhere we could lay low.
Now we didn’t need to hide. We could do what we wanted and I coveted this. I drank in the dark Alex and couldn’t wait to reach my tongue out for the last drop. He was ready to pin me down like a predator and fuck me like a wild animal.
“Spread your legs,” he demanded, his deep voice a rumble.
I didn’t have time to respond as he grabbed the back of my knees and lifted them, pushing my thighs back. My skin burned as his fingers traced a path up my legs to my hips before finding my spiked nipples. He pinched hard, and I gasped at the prick of pain before it melted down to an addictive ache between my thighs.
“You get everything, Aria. I want to give you the breath from my mouth, the strength from my fingers, and the heart of my soul. Right now, the only way I know how to do that is to give you what I have never given anyone.”
I reached for his arm wanting to give him something too, even if it was the lightest touch, but he took my hand and placed it back on the bed. It was that small movement, not his words, that caused my throat to tighten strangling my voice.
It was soft, so achingly gentle, in the throes of his dark and wild act. Something to tell me that the everyday Alex, the sweet Alex, is still there ready to hold me when the heat is spent and the pleasure has turned into a sleepy smile.
One of his hands stayed on my breast while the other one, the one that moved my arm, reached lower until I gasped as his fingers plunged inside of me. No warning, no light touches beforehand. Alex worked me until my legs widened more, my hips rolling to chase his thumb as it rubbed my clit.
I shouldn’t have watched him. That’s what did it. That’s what sent me over the edge. How his eyes feasted on his wet fingers, glistening as he pulled them out of me. But the worst was when Alex tightened his jaw before pushing them back inside. As if all this thwarted what he was truly after.
Yet his hard cock—that looked painful as it pushed against his dark jeans—and the groan that unfurled from the far reaches of his throat spoke volumes of intense pleasure and awe.
And when I came, his mouth slacked and I wondered if he could feel the luxurious bliss that erupted from his hands and crashed across my body. Did Alex know that no one else would ever make me as happy, as satisfied, as grateful, as him?
TWENTY-EIGHT
Alexander
I could stop.
Part of me wanted to stop. Just watch Aria writhe from my lack of touch. Hear her beg for me to fuck her. Feel her greedy hands try to grapple my jeans to get at my aching cock.
I slid my fingers in my mouth as I stared down at the most beautiful creature in the world. My tongue eagerly lapped at her sweet, almost creamy flavor. She smelled of sweet wine with a hint of the beach and tasted like nirvana.
“Alex,” Aria said with a raw voice, shredded from ecstasy.
This was the moment. Everything I had been waiting for with the woman of my dreams. I should be tripping over myself to tear off my pants and fumble with a condom. But I stood, struck by the moment and emblazoned by her. My heart thumped loudly in my ears and all I could think was building this captivating misery until it could only, naturally, tumble into euphoria.
Aria’s hands, agitated, moved to her tits, pulling at her tight rosy nipples. I watched with no plan but to savor the moment. It’s torturous for her, for me, and it’s glorious with that agony.
“I want you, Alex. Please, fuck me,” Aria said as she moved her hands to her thighs, pulling them back to show me her dripping pussy. And that gave me some satisfaction. I made her weep for me.
My eyes flickered up from watching her lips drip onto her fingers. She was flush, begging me still with her eyes. “You just want me to shove my cock,” I cupped my hand over the hard bulge in my jeans, “into that sweet, greedy pussy? Is that what you’re used to, Aria?”
She didn’t know what to say. Her eyes drifted down my body and off to the corner as she contemplated my words. If she said yes, then that meant she accepted the bare minimum from a man. The basic act of sex was something most adults could do. And Aria was worth more than that.
If she answered no, then that meant her mouth didn’t water and pussy didn’t clench at the thought of me deep inside her.
“Anything you give me, Alex, will be better than what I have ever had. It already has been.”
I slipped. My eyes fell shut as I reached into my pants and stroked myself. She was to blame. I wanted to stay focused, not touch myself until I had to. Until it was time to put on a condom. But she always knew how to catch me off guard with her words.
“I could paint you,” I said as my eyes opened, falling on the rise of her chest down to the smooth skin that surrounded her belly button.
She nodded and a slight breeze swirled in the air as she sat up moving to my pants. I couldn’t imagine anything better than this. Her fingers trembled and groped as they tried to break me free. I touched her head and curled her silky hair in my hands. My thumb and forefinger rubbed a few strands and I thought how delicate, how beautiful, and how easily pulled apart.
What was I doing? Aria deserved better than me shoving my dick in her mouth, as luscious as that would feel. When she did accept my cock, it would be after I made her earn it.
“I think it’s time to stop, Aria.”
Her hands halted and those beautiful chocolate eyes stared up at me in surprise.
“But, Alex, I thought you wanted to fuck me? I don’t understand.”
I put my finger under her chin and pulled her up. My breath hitched as she easily did what my body commanded, sitting up on her knees. My lips crashed onto hers. If my lips were deep and searching, then Aria’s were maddening.
My control was crumbling with every lick of her tongue. My arm wrapped around her, pulling her close. There was no premeditated, slow, mind-fucking plan to drag this out until she screamed for release. Her lips, with their plump debauchery, had me groaning and thrusting and finally, pushing her on the bed.
I didn’t think, I acted. I reached in my front pocket and pulled out a condom. That was the one thing about this day that was well thought out. Since I met Aria, I made sure I had at least three in my pockets at all times.
My black T-shirt, jeans, and navy boxer briefs were on the floor in seconds before I began to rip the wrapper. Having practiced many times at home, for fear I would embarrass myself when the day finally came, I rolled on the condom in very little time. Then I crawled until I was on top of Aria.
She tried to reach up and kiss me but I shook my head. “No, I want to watch how you take my cock as I enter you.”
Her legs widened at my words and I could feel the tip of my cock press against something warm and so very soft. I rocked my hips and realized I was slowly entering her. It felt incredible but better than that, I saw as it all played out on her face.
Aria groaned the deeper I moved inside her and when she finally fit tightly around me, it was me who had to stop.
“Fuck, you feel better than I thought,” I said as I closed my eyes and dropped my head to her chest.
I needed a minute or this would end before it even began.
“Alex, please, don’t stop. You feel so good,” she moaned, making it worse.
Now I really couldn’t move. I lifted my head and sank into those molten eyes. “Give me a moment, dream girl. You feel too good to rush.”
Her lips curled. “Dream girl?”
“Yes, you are the woman of my dreams. Therefore, you are my dream girl.”
“I like that.”
I did too, and slowly, I began to move. The heat from between her thighs and how she gripped me…. I didn’t expect to last long.
And the way she squirmed made my impending release turn from a crawl to a race. I had to grab Aria’s hands and pin them down with my own. After a moment, I decided to change our position and
pulled her back to the edge of the bed so I stood between her thighs. I lifted her legs so they shot up and over my shoulders.
That was better. I could watch her, feel her, and make her come anytime I wanted. Moving my thumb to her clit, I slowed my thrusts. Even though I really wanted to speed them up because her pussy was so nice to slip and slide in and out of.
“I’m going to have you come all over my cock,” I said and felt her pussy spasm.
That was my answer because Aria’s words were nonsensical groans now.
It didn’t take much from playing with her until I could feel her tighten around me.
“Come for me, dream girl,” I told her and she obeyed like the breathtaking woman that she was.
“Oh, yeah, Alex. Fuck me,” Aria said through gritted teeth as her head flung to the side and she arched her back.
This was irresistible. Watching her submit and tighten around me was too much. My balls tensed and I had to drop her legs as I bent over letting my orgasm take me.
The rush was intense and better than any orgasm I had ever had. I jerked my hips twice more, pushing into Aria a few more times before the fantasy ended.
I tried to support my body above hers as my muscles gave way. My chest tightened as I felt her arms and legs circle around me.
Aria was more than a dream; she was that first intake of air on a warm spring morning. She was the moment when I first walked up to The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh and noticed the tiny strokes of oil, astonished that it created such beauty. Aria was that most powerful experience that had me chancing the feeling again, despite knowing it couldn’t be duplicated. She’s that sensation, only I get to hold it, touch it, and revel in it anytime I want.
“Now I know why people seem to like sex so much,” I mumbled into her neck as her throat rumbled with laughter.
I wanted to bury myself in the soft skin right below her ear but she moved and I rolled away to give her the space she required.
One Wild Ride Page 15