by Maggie Marr
His shaft rose hard and upright next to his belly. He pulled a condom from his wallet, ripped the wrapper open, and grasped his thick cock. A furious desire, a shameless want, tore through her as she watched him sheathe it. This hunger between them let her expose a part of herself, wanton and wild, that she never felt comfortable exposing to any other man. Leo’s craving for her tapped into a deep sensuality that until now she’d hidden, maybe even repressed.
He pulled back the blanket and moved beside her on the mattress. He covered her with that amazing body. His gaze never left her face, a ravenous look inhabiting his eyes. Had any other man ever looked at her with this much ferocious need, this much hunger? Her entire body thrummed with desire. Electrical pulses trailed over her skin. She wanted him inside so badly she could barely breathe. Their lips met.
Sparks of light, of fire, pummeled behind her eyelids with the sharp intensity of his touch, possessive and yet pure, demanding and yet a caress. His mouth released hers as Leo shifted downward, his body sliding down so he could he kiss her breast, pulling in the pert bud of her nipple. Her hips arched upward beneath him. She’d lost control of her own body, she sought the release only he could provide. She reached between them and grasped his sheathed cock. He braced his body above hers and gently spread her legs. The tip of his cock touched the edge of her flesh.
God, yes, yes please. Her fingers clawed at the sheets. “Leo, please,” she begged, her voice rasping, the desire that he fill her an uncontrollable need..
As though her words tore away his restraint, Leo thrust forward, deep inside her willing, ready body. His thick shaft stretching her, even now, her body accepting and tightening around him.
“My God, Gwen.” He placed a hand on either side of her face, cupping her cheeks, as he stroked out again. “What you do to me.” The sweet need for him to push deeper into her lasted a brilliant millisecond. “I…I can’t stand to be away from you.” His hips pressed forward and her body responded as though made for him. She brought her lips up to his.
He pulled back. “Let me see your eyes.”
Something unsaid and yet terrifyingly intimate passed between them. Vulnerability pinged her heart, and her eyes closed. This went far beyond just physical attraction. She’d fallen for him.
His body stroked in and then out of hers, the rhythm between them sending her close to the edge. He lifted his body and reached his hand between them, his finger touching her clit, making tight circles. So close to climaxing, her breathing came faster. Just as her body tightened, he stopped and pushed into her, then pulled back. His finger resumed the pulse against her sex. Sweet, breathless bliss.
“Come for me, Gwen, come with me.”
Her eyes fluttered open again to meet his. She was lost to sensation. He thrust deep into her and her head arched back into the pillow, her legs wrapped around his body, needing him, wanting him deeper.
“Yes, oh my God, yes, Leo…” Her words trailed away as his face blazed with pleasure.
Her body pulsed, her muscles tightened and together they shot through to the moment of bliss.
*
Lunch turned into dinner, which turned into an overnight, which turned into sleeping with Gwen curled tightly to his side. Deep in the darkness of night, Leo awakened. There beside him was the most beautiful woman he’d ever known. A woman who excited him, aroused him, and damn, just simply made him happy. He smiled when she laughed; her jokes were horribly told and yet he couldn’t think of anyone he’d rather hear a joke from. Gwen was flowers and ruffles and all things feminine. She reminded him of home, or what home had been and was meant to be. Warmth and good food and kindness and smiles. And that, the very thought that Gwen made him think of all those things he’d never wanted, even renounced—that scared the hell out of him.
She smiled in her sleep. He stroked her thick mane of copper-colored hair. Today had been a brilliant day. A long afternoon leading to a wonderful evening and a luxurious late night. Unscheduled. Unplanned. Unexpected, really. How easily he’d given over his carefully crafted world in a very short time. Had it really been just three weeks since New Year’s?
“Time to get up?” Gwen whispered, her eyelashes fluttering and her sleepy gaze taking in the room.
He pressed his lips to her nose. “Too early. Just can’t sleep.”
“You okay?”
Leo was better than okay. He was great. The best he’d been in perhaps forever. Yes, part of him was frightened by the strength of his feelings, flat-out scared. That part of him wanted to run in terror, but he’d never been a coward and wouldn’t start now. This woman made him think of monogamy, and a relationship, and what permanence between them might look like. He was willing to follow those thoughts wherever they led.
“Just thinking about…us.”
Her smile flickered the tiniest bit. “That’s a lot to think about.”
“Is it?”
She didn’t respond, tipping her head down. Her body tensed for an instant and pulled away from him just the slightest bit. Damn. Had his question, his words, sounded harsh? Uncaring? Cavalier? He slid his arm around her waist and pulled her closer until the warmth of her skin pressed to his again, nestled snugly against his side.
She sighed. “I mean…” The sentence drifted away unfinished, as though she didn’t know what to say or how to say it. “Is there an ‘us’?”
“Well, I’m not lying here alone in this bed, so I’d definitely say something is going on. Maybe we call it an ‘us.’ Or is that too big of a step for you?” Leo’s tone held a hint of teasing, but seriously, how long did they need to sneak around like two teenagers carrying on? “Maybe it’s time we consider letting the family in on this?”
Even through the darkness, he could see the color drain from her face and fear fill her eyes.
“Why are you so against that?” His fingertips circled the small of her back.
“I just…I wanted this to be between us, to see if…if we were compatible.”
“I’m thinking we’ve proven we’re pretty compatible, or am I missing something here?”
Her chin dropped. “No, but once we tell your family this becomes a thing, and it’s not a thing that we get to completely control. There’ll be comments and questions and opinions and my God, it just becomes an ordeal, and really, I wasn’t sure you wanted an ordeal”—those beautiful blue eyes shone at him through the darkness—“do you?”
Did he? He’d never wanted an ordeal before now and the public, the gossip hounds, the TMZs of the world had come to expect that whomever was on his arm really wasn’t a relationship as much as, well…a convenient arrangement. Now the perception that Leo’s every relationship was based solely on convenience, a purely physical agreement between two consenting adults, was about to go even further with the app and the ad campaign and the interviews and the launch.
But those eyes. When he looked into those eyes…did he care what the world thought? Not really. This relationship was theirs to define, was it not? Besides, just because his affair with Gwen wasn’t a convenient arrangement didn’t mean either of them would be rushing to the altar soon, with a baby and little house with a picket fence to follow. No matter how much this gorgeous lady felt like home.
“Look”—he pressed his lips to the tip of her nose—“I bent my rules for you, now I want you to bend a little for me. I don’t want to hide out anymore. It doesn’t feel right to pretend that nothing is going on between us. It’s feels like a lie, and I don’t want to do that.”
Gwen stared at him. He had her with “lie.” He knew honesty was important to Gwen, and that she felt as though she’d been skirting the truth with Aubrey and the rest of the Travatis by not revealing the entire truth to them.
“Let’s go to the launch party together,” he suggested. “You and me. Travati Financial is underwriting and you’re coordinating.”
“I won’t have any time with you. None,” she protested. “When I work an event, it really isn’t fun for me. I have to make ce
rtain that everything is running smoothly. I know it seems that these events go off without a hitch, but there’s a reason for that, and the reason is me.”
“I know. I saw how hard you worked at the Teddy Bear Luncheon with all those kids high on sugar.”
“I love the Teddy Bear Luncheon.” Her smile took on a childlike delight of its own as she remembered. “All the kids and the presents and Santa. I mean, who doesn’t love being around excited little kids?”
Who didn’t? Leo didn’t. Leo did the luncheon because Anthony had founded the event, and part of being in a family meant that you did things to support that family that you wouldn’t necessarily do otherwise. But spending an afternoon with a hundred little kids jacked up on sugar was most definitely not what Leo considered a good time.
But Gwen?
Her face beamed with the excitement she seemed to recall from the Teddy Bear Luncheon. Then a tiny frown creased her forehead. “I don’t think your launch party is the ideal event for us to arrive together.”
“Fine, then the baby shower?”
“Again, my event.”
“You’re really digging in on this, aren’t you?”
“No, I mean—”
“Okay, okay.” He kissed her nose again. “Then Sunday dinner after the baby shower. Not your event.”
Her body stiffened in his arms. “And not very far away.”
“It’s more than a month. Is there a problem?”
“No…I mean…it’s just—”
“Mmmhmm. It would seem your work calendar is too full to accommodate me, and since you’re mainly worried about how weird this will get for the family, I think a Sunday dinner is the perfect, low key solution.”
“That’s not low key. That’s everyone, all at once, and I mean everyone. Nina and Aubrey’s dad will be there.” Gwen’s eyebrows creased. “And Aubrey is on bed rest. Why not…I mean, if we have to tell, couldn’t we wait until after the the launch party?”
While every part of his business mind agreed with Gwen’s suggestion, his heart, his feelings—since when did he let those things control his actions?!—wanted to tell his family about him and Gwen sooner. Leo closed his eyes. Why was he pressuring her to go public? What was this need? “I have this damned possessive need for the world to know you’re mine.” He rolled on his side to face her and pulled her closer. The hardness of his cock pressed against her sex, startling a gasp from her. “But this sneaking around thing is kind of sexy.” He rubbed the stubble of his chin against her cheek and followed it with a kiss.
“So Sunday dinner,” she whispered.
His hand trailed down her belly and slid between the lips of her sex. “Promise.”
“Uh-huh.”
As her hips rocked against him and her hands clutched his shoulders, he rolled her onto her back, her legs parting.
“I guess I’ll take you at your word.” His mouth descended on hers and his cock slid deep into her sex.
Chapter 13
“Okay, so the menu is locked. The flower arrangements are a go. Are the RSVPs current?” Aubrey ticked off the items on her fingers as she listed them.
“Yeah, I just got another.” Gwen scrolled through the list of couples who were confirmed to attend Aubrey and Justin’s baby shower and then clicked on her email to scan for any new responses.
Her stomach flipped. Leo. Well, of course Leo would attend. He would be the new Travati baby’s uncle. He couldn’t really miss the baby shower. He hadn’t indicated a plus one. Big sigh. She didn’t know why she felt nervous. He wouldn’t out their relationship there. Ever since they had discussed going public with their dating, she trusted that that he’d wait until after the shower like he’d said. So she had a least a little while until—
“So did you hear about Leo?” Aubrey’s voice dripped with the tantalizing tones of soon-to-be delivered gossip.
Gwen’s heart galloped like a wildebeest being chased by a lion. She forced her expression to remain neutral as she collected the iPad and her notebook from Aubrey’s bed. “Hear what?” She busied herself with her computer case, pretty certain that if she looked at her best friend, Aubrey would see the guilt in Gwen’s eyes.
“Leo is seeing someone.” Aubrey’s eyes widened, as though she’d just revealed the Pope was getting married. “I mean like really seeing, not just one of those convenient arrangement things he does with models and actresses and heiresses. He’s really going out with someone. For more than a month now.”
Ruh-ro. Oh no. Wow. Gwen’s face heated. She had to leave, right now, because she definitely did not want to hear Aubrey’s uncensored thoughts about Leo seeing someone since that someone was her and—
“After all the press about all the girls, can you imagine a woman actually believing that Leo could be serious about her?”
Too late.
“I mean come on? With as many women as Leo’s dated? Like he’s ever going to settle down.”
Gwen’s heart twisted and thumped. She reached for her ponytail and smoothed her hair over her shoulder. “Oh, I don’t know. Wasn’t Justin kind of opposed to settling down too? Didn’t he play the field for nearly forever until you two reconnected?”
“But he had a near-death experience. That changes a person. Took him nearly dying to realize that life was more than a string of nameless, faceless girls, and even then, if not for Max—well, who knows what would have happened to Justin? I don’t know that we would have crossed paths otherwise.” Aubrey rested her hand on her belly and gave a tiny smile. “I want to believe that I’m his one and only and that I changed him, but who knows, really?”
“You don’t believe in true love?”
“Of course I believe in true love,” Aubrey said. “I’m madly in love with my husband and have been since the first time I met him, but it took us so long to find each other again and be together. Justin nearly died before he understood that making a family was the thing that was going to make his life complete.” A long sigh passed over Aubrey’s lips. “I just don’t think that Leo is built that way.”
Gwen’s chest tightened. Of course Aubrey would never intentionally hurt Gwen’s feelings, and it was completely unfair that Gwen was privy to Aubrey’s uncensored thoughts about the idea of Leo dating, and yet, Gwen was thankful for the naked honesty. She exhaled the long breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding as she zipped her computer case closed.
Gwen’s best friend had just confirmed Gwen’s fears. That when Leo’s “relationship” with her exploded into a million smithereens, not only would she lose Leo but she’d also be fodder for countless gossipy conversations. Worse, she feared she’d also lose her best friend in the process.
“I hear she’s pretty and has her own business,” Aubrey continued, “which is completely out of character for Leo. Justin says he’s been spending all his time with her. One day”—Aubrey lowered her voice as if telling a particularly scandalous detail—“he even skipped out of work and canceled all his meetings. So whatever this girl has must be special, because while I can’t imagine Leo settled down, he definitely seems to have a thing for her.”
Gwen smiled. Yes, he did have a thing for her and she had a thing for him. Such a big thing that she was afraid she might even call it the beginning phases of love.
“So we’re set for Saturday then. You’ll come to Sunday dinner the next day, right? Why don’t you bring the guy you’re dating, and I’ll make Justin convince Leo to bring the woman he’s seeing. Then we could all meet everyone. I mean, you’re not bringing your guy to the shower, and Leo’s said he’s coming alone too—”
The bottom dropped out of Gwen’s stomach. No. Just no. She wasn’t ready, wasn’t certain when she would be ready, no matter what she’d told Leo.
Aubrey went on. “I’ve never really met any of the girls Leo dated, well except the one”
The one? Gwen didn’t really do jealous, but she couldn’t help that heat thrummed around her heart and squeezed at her best friend’s words.
&nbs
p; “Trina,” Aubrey said absently, “I think her name was Trina. She worked in mergers and acquisitions at some giant law firm. Again, not really Leo’s type. Went on for quite a while—for him, at least. I actually thought that one had a chance. They seemed perfectly matched—neither of them wanted to be married and they definitely didn’t want kids.”
“Leo doesn’t want children?” Gwen nearly dropped her computer case to the floor.
Aubrey’s smile widened. “Are you kidding? Can you see him trapped in a house with a toddler running around? The man is allergic to anyone under age twelve. I’ll be surprised if we get him to come over to meet his new niece.”
Gwen’s gaze whipped toward Aubrey. “You’re having a girl?”
“Oh my God”—Aubrey clapped her hands to her mouth—“I can’t believe I said that out loud. Justin doesn’t even know.”
“I can’t believe you know!” Gwen covered her own mouth with her fingers, her eyes widening in shock. “And you didn’t tell him?”
Aubrey’s eyebrows pressed together and she shook her head. Guilt threaded through her eyes. “It was awful. I went in for an ultrasound and Justin was meant to come, but he had to fly to London last minute. And I’m lying there, all alone, and the doctor says to me, ‘Do you want to know the sex?’ And of course I wanted to know, but we’d agreed not to find out. But then I saw her, you know, all wiggly on the screen and I just—” Aubrey’s gaze fluttered down to her belly. “I said, ‘Can you tell me?’ And the doctor smiled and I caved like a house of cards in a wind tunnel. I said yes and she told me. I couldn’t help it.” She looked up at Gwen. “I feel so embarrassed. Justin doesn’t want to know and if he finds out that I know, then he’ll make me tell him. Which will ruin the entire surprise.”
“So you’re lying.” Gwen smiled at her friend to soften her words.
“Not lying, just keeping a secret.”