by Ava Hayworth
James laughs, and I wonder what I have said that amuses him. “My mother has never been married.”
“Never?”
“Never… no one has ever been good enough for her.”
“What about your father?”
“He was just a fling in her early twenties. He did insist that I be given his last name though.”
“Do you see much of him?”
James lifts his shoulder in a half shrug, “He died when I was twelve.”
“I’m sorry. That must have been terrible.” I can’t imagine losing one of my parents, much less at the age of twelve.
James waves his half-full glass around in a dismissive gesture. “I guess. I didn’t know him that well, since I lived with my mother and grandfather.”
“How did he die?”
“Skiing accident… Look, both my parents had two goals in life: to have fun and to spend as much of their trust funds as possible while doing it. Children were not high on their list of priorities.”
It makes me sad to think of James as a little boy with two uncaring parents. As an only child it must have been lonely. Even though my brothers were much older than me, they were there for me and protected me. I knew that they would do anything for my mom and me. “Your mother is very beautiful.”
James finishes his drink and sets down his glass without comment. “Why are you here, Lainey?”
“Direct as ever, I see.”
“I don’t see the point in beating around the bush.”
The chasm between us feels huge, and I am unsure of where to begin.
“Well?” James asks impatiently.
I feel my temper start to rise. Can’t he be the slightest bit conciliatory? I came over here to apologize, and he is only making it more difficult. A sudden idea occurs to me. Gathering my courage, I take a deep breath. Maybe this conversation would be easier in bed. That is where I feel most in tune with James and closest to him. Taking hold of the ties at the side of my wrap dress, I slowly pull. The bow comes undone and the dress parts in the front, revealing my red lace bra and panties. Looking into James’s eyes, I shrug my shoulders and let the dress fall to the floor. His eyes leave mine, and my blood heats as his eyes sweep down my lingerie-clad body. His utter stillness makes me feel like a fawn about to be pounced on by a ravenous beast.
Although my instinct is to wait and let James take over, I want to be the one in control. It takes only a few steps to reach him. I raise my hands to the buttons on his dress shirt and unbutton each one until his shirt is hanging open before me. Giving into my desire to touch him, I run my hands up and down his smooth, muscular chest before leaning in to bite him on his pectoral muscle. I kiss and nuzzle his chest, letting my tongue dart out and taste him. He reaches back and holds on to the counter behind him. Kissing my way up his neck, I pull his earlobe between my teeth before whispering in his ear. “I’m sorry about this morning. I was being an insecure idiot. Please forgive me.”
At my words James lets go of the counter and embraces me with his arms. His mouth descends onto mine in a searing kiss that rocks me clear down to my toes. I moan into his mouth. Without breaking our kiss, he turns around and lifts me up onto the counter. He kisses me down the side of my neck and my chest. “Your skin is so soft.”
I moan in pleasure until I remember that I want to be in control. Pushing him away from me, I meet his questioning gaze. “I want you to force me.”
He goes utterly still. “You want to fight me?”
“Yes.” His pupils dilate with excitement and my breath hitches with anticipation.
“I don’t want you to get hurt on all these hard surfaces. Go into the bedroom. I’ll be there in a moment.”
I jump down from the cabinet and saunter into the bedroom with the feel of his eyes tracking me the entire way. Once in the bedroom, I sit down on the bed to wait. A pleasant hum of anticipation builds inside of me, but I don’t have to wait long. James comes in a few minutes later carrying some black cloth, which he drops on the bed. He slowly finishes taking off his shirt, watching me the entire time. He bends down as if to take off his shoes but at the last moment lunges at me. Anticipating his attack, I dodge and manage to take a few steps away from the bed. I feint right and then change direction, but he anticipates my move. I feel his hands on my hips pulling me back. I turn around and push at his chest with all my might, but he is too strong. He wrestles me down onto the bed, and I use the strength of my hips and legs to try and throw him off of me. He grunts a few time as my legs make contact with his body, and we struggle for a while until he captures one of my arms and ties it to the bed frame with one the black strips of cloth. Despite my struggles, he manages to tie both my arms in an amazingly short amount of time. My chest is heaving with exertion, but I don’t want to give up. I try using my legs to kick out, but he has me firmly pinned to the bed. ““You are a fucking bastard. Did you know that?”
“And you have a filthy little mouth. Did you know that?”
“Now that you have me all tied up, what are you going to do with me?” I give my arms a few experimental pulls, but I seem trussed up pretty tightly.
“I’m surprised you need to ask. Fuck you into tomorrow, of course.”
“Ha, you’re all talk and no action.”
James narrows his eyes at me. “We’ll have to see about that.” He stands up from the bed, leisurely unbuckles his belt, and takes off his pants, all the while looking down at my prostrate form. I cannot help wiggling in anticipation. When he has finished, he reaches down to touch me, but I shimmy over to evade his touch. He stills, “So you want to play some more, do you?”
I look back at him challengingly. Just because I am tied up does not mean I am ready to give up. We tussle for a while. James attempts to grab my legs, but I manage to elude him every time. I even manage to get in a few good kicks. In the end he subdues me by throwing himself on top of me before I can lash out. I wiggle my body around, refusing to admit defeat, and James laughs. That infuriates me, and I bite him hard on the shoulder.
He jerks back in surprise. “Why, you little bitch.”
This makes me even madder. “Get your fucking hands off of me, James McAllister.”
James reaches down and manages to pull my lace thong off my resisting body, and then his fingers are touching me. “You are so wet.” I don’t think I have ever been so turned on in my entire life, but other emotions are roiling through me as well. Confusion about our relationship and anger at his ability to dominate me so thoroughly and at the same time turn me on. His fingers caressing me send a lightning bolt of pleasure through me, and I come fast and hard.
I don’t know what is happening to me. I have never come so fast. Barely recovered, I feel his hands gripping my hips tightly and his mouth on my pussy. My tied hands make me feel completely at his mercy. He licks and strokes me until incredibly, I am coming again. He kisses his way up my body. When he reaches my bra, he pushes the cups down so that he can lick and suck my nipples. I twist and buck at the pleasure combined with the pain. I don’t know whether to beg him to stop or to go on. He nuzzles my neck and I feel the tip of his cock pushing at my entrance. Opening my legs, I feel him slide in, and a sense of completeness overwhelms me. At first his strokes are steady and slow, but soon he is pounding into me. I relish the pleasure I know I am giving him. He raises up to look down into my eyes. “Are you with me, baby?” The look of furious concentration on his face is enthralling.
“Yes, keep going.” James pounds into me again and again until I knew he was about to come. This knowledge sends me over the edge once again, and as if from a distance I hear him shout as he follows me with his release.
I enjoy the heavy weight of his body pressing me into the mattress. James rolls to the side and nuzzles my neck and ear before reaching up to untie my wrists. He brings my hands down to inspect them. My wrists look faintly red from where the cloth has chafed me, but other than that they seem fine. James kisses them gentl
y. “I’ll have to tie you up more often.”
“I didn’t know it could be like that. I don’t know what came over me.”
James gives me a languorous smile. “Don’t overthink it baby. You just let your inner wild cat out.”
CHAPTER 3
I wake to the feel of James softly kissing my stomach. Sleepily, I run my hands through his soft hair. He kisses his way up my chest, lavishing special attention on my breasts before pulling up to look down at me with a sexy smile. “Good morning,” he says, sliding his hard arousal into my welcoming warmth. I sigh with pleasure.
“You are so fucking hot in the morning. Your sexy little body just waiting there for me to fuck.” His words set my blood on fire. He turns onto his back, and I follow so that I am straddling him. “I would like to wake up to those beautiful tits every morning.”
He grips my hips as he thrusts his hips up, making me groan with pleasure. We are both slick with sweat as we grind into each other trying to reach the ultimate pinnacle. The sound of a vibrating phone interrupts our concentration. “Ignore it,” James grits out.
The phone stops and I lean back, rocking back and forth on James’s hard cock. He extends his hands up to my breasts and tweaks my nipples. I hear myself scream as pleasure sears through me. In a distant corner of my consciousness, I hear James shout as he follows me over the precipice. The buzzing of the phone starts again. “Goddammit.” James grabs his phone off the bedside table and looks at the display before declining the call.
“It must be important if they are calling this early in the morning. Maybe you should answer it.”
“It’s not important,” James growls, his good humor from moments ago gone.
With a feeling that I already know the answer, I press, “Who was it?”
James falls back against the pillows, looking like a Greek God with his firm pecs, tousled hair, and jaw darkened with stubble. I am beginning to think that he is going to ignore my question. Then, not meeting my eyes, he says a name through clenched jaws. “Elizabeth.”
I jump up from the bed and frantically look around for something to put on. Spotting James’s dress shirt lying on the floor, I drag it on over my shoulders and button it up. “I knew it.” I escape to the bathroom before I am tempted to say anything more.
When I come back out, I find a bare-chested James in the kitchen. His dark pajama bottoms hang low on his hips. I resent the fact that he looks sexy as hell as he stands there with his five o’clock shadow and his hair all ruffled, while I must look like something the cat dragged in. My dress from the night before lies across a chair. Unbuttoning James’’s shirt as I walk, I cross over to the chair and exchange his shirt for my dress. I do my best to ignore James, who follows my every move with his eyes. Dressed as well as can be expected under the circumstances, I join James in the kitchen, and he pours me a cup of coffee.
James regards me with no expression for a few seconds before breaking the tense silence. “Lainey, I swear there is nothing between me and Elizabeth.”
I remember the text messages I found on his phone yesterday. “I find that a little hard to believe when she is calling you at 7 a.m. Put yourself in my shoes, James. What would you think if another man told you he was in a serious relationship with me, exchanged texts with me daily, and called me first thing in the morning?”
His brow draws together. “I know it looks bad. No matter how many times I tell you that nothing is going on between me and Elizabeth, what it really comes down to is whether you are going to trust me. We have not been together that long, and the trust between us hasn’t had a chance to grow, but I am asking you to trust me. Can you do that?”
Could I give him the blind trust he is asking of me? He is right. The trust in our relationship has not had time to grow naturally. I recall the times when he has broken my budding trust. My mind flits back to the morning after our one-night stand and then to the week after our first weekend in the Hamptons. Both times James blew me off without explanation, and it had hurt. Sure, the circumstances are not the same, but if I trust him implicitly like he is asking, then I would have to let down the walls that are protecting my heart. Then I think of our lovemaking the night before, and how he had tied me up. That had led to the best sexual experience of my life. I had trusted him with my body. Couldn’t I do the same with my heart?
I am startled when James’s empty coffee mug slams down on the counter, and I jump back in surprise. James rakes his fingers through his hair in a gesture that I am beginning to recognize as him at his most agitated. “Lainey, if everyone at the office knew that we were in a relationship, this Elizabeth thing would blow over. I am sure of it.”
Guiltily, I remember that I had promised to think about revealing our relationship. The idea still makes me cringe inside, but maybe he is right. Sneaking around doesn’t seem to be doing our relationship any good, and coming out as a couple would put us on firmer footing. I would just have to deal with the gossip. Besides, we would be the talk of the office whether we were open about our relationship now or later. There was no point in delaying it. I want to be in a relationship with James, and my fear of being pitied after he dumps me no longer seems like a valid concern compared with the damage it is doing to our relationship now.
I set my coffee down next to his empty mug and take a few steps, closing the distance between us. When I am close enough to touch him, I reach up and brush my fingers through his unruly hair and slide my hand through the silky strands until I am cupping his cheek. “I don’t want to fight. You’re right. I need to trust you more. I can’t promise that it will happen overnight, but I will try harder.” I watch as the tense, worried expression leaves his face and is Withd by a look of relief.
“Baby, that’s all I ask. What about the office?”
“Can we wait until tomorrow? I need a little time to prepare myself mentally. Plus, with all the chaos from yesterday, I would like to have a day to get settled.”
He looks down at me with a pleased glint in his eye. “Just 24 hours, and then everyone will know that you are mine.”
“Possessive much?”
“Baby, you have no idea.” He reaches down and grips my ass tightly. He slides my dress up with his fingers until his hands touch the bare skin on the back of my thighs.
I gasp as he slides his hands higher, but I fight to keep my voice steady. “That reminds me. Have you seen my panties?”
James’s stubble scrapes the side of my neck, and a frisson of pleasure ripples through me, making my nipples tighten in anticipation. His hard arousal presses into me. “You don’t need them. I like you better like this.”
The roughness of his voice against my ear is like a lightning bolt to my system, but with my last thread of sanity, I ask, “Won’t we be late for work?”
“l can skip shaving… and we can be fast.”
Unable to argue with that logic, I give myself over to James’s ministrations. His soft lips move over my skin until his mouth covers mine. Our tongues meld together in a sultry dance that mimics the touch of his fingers on the bare skin of my behind.
“Fuck, I want to see this ass. It feels so damn good.” James pulls me over to the couch and leans me over it so that my ass is pointed in the air. He moves his hands over my bare skin, and I feel the soft touch of his lips. My heart races as he gives my ass a playful slap, and I rear up in surprise. “Is this what you want?” he says with his cock prodding at my entrance. I can’t hold back a moan as he uses his hand to guide himself in and drives into me with a quick thrust. Gripping my hips to keep me steady, he pounds into me. “This tight little cunt is mine. Do you hear me? Mine.”
My groans of pleasure seem to be all the response he requires. “I can’t get enough of this hot cunt. That’s right baby. I’’m going to make you come so hard.” My internal muscles start to clench, and I scream my release as James explodes into me. His weight settles against my back as we take a few seconds to recover. James helps me to stand. Turnin
g to look up at him, I know that his satisfied expression is an echo of my own.
CHAPTER 4
We have to race to make it to the office on time. James has Gary stop at my apartment. I suggest that James go on to the office, but I am not surprised when he insists on waiting. He assures me that he has no meetings and will be able to make some calls from the car. Even so, I rush to get ready. After quickly showering, I throw on my light pink skater dress and apply mascara and lip gloss. I leave my damp hair down with the intention of fixing it in a ponytail later. Although I am breathless as I climb back into the car, I at least feel put together and ready to face the day.
James rolls his eyes when I ask to be let out a block before we get to the office. “Thank god this nonsense can stop after tomorrow.” I give him a bright smile and hop out of the car. Even the thought of my burned-out office cannot put a blight on my buoyant mood. I guess a morning that starts with two orgasms will do that to you. Hearing someone calling my name from behind me, I turn to see Alex. He falls into step beside me as we hurry toward the office.
“I see you’re running late this morning too. Hot date keeping you out late?” I tease.
Alex gives me a sidelong glance. “I wouldn’t be the one to talk, if that car you just got out of is any indication of the kind of company you’ve been keeping.””
My good mood plummets. I look up at Alex worriedly.
Catching my expression, he reassures me. “Don’t worry. Who you spend your personal time with is no concern of mine.”
Does he know that I was with James? Or is he referring to people who arrive at work in town cars in general. I am afraid to ask. We reach the lobby of our building, and I see James waiting for me at the elevator banks. My heart trips a little when I see the warm light in his eyes. Although he saw me just moments ago, I watch as his eyes trace me approvingly. Afraid that he is being too obvious, I latch onto Alex’s arm. When his eyes narrow, I realize that this wasn’t the smartest move.