Up All Night Long: From Lust to Love (Romance Anthology)

by Ali Parker

  I popped her rear playfully and walked into the kitchen. "Leave your mother alone. She has a hard life."

  The pizza box was still open and mostly gone on the island in the middle of our modest-sized kitchen. I picked up a slice, knowing I would hate myself in the morning for eating such unhealthy shit, but I was too tired to cook, and Janice hadn't turned on the stove in three years.

  The sound of her behind me caused my stomach to turn, and I put the pizza back down.

  "There you are. I was wondering if you were coming home or what." She moved around me without touching me at all. How badly I longed for the days when she'd wrapped herself around me and kissed me until I toted her upstairs to pay her back for her show of affection.

  Not anymore.

  "Yeah, sorry. I had to wrap up a few things." I leaned against the counter and studied her. She was in a house robe and her hair looked like she'd slept with it wet and not bothered to try and fix the craziness of it. Not that I couldn't appreciate her with the first of the morning look, but not having seen her dressed up or trying to look good for me in years was wearing me down fast.

  I wanted my cock to twitch when I saw her, to feel the increase in desire and adrenaline, but nothing. Not a damn thing but apathy toward whatever we were becoming.

  "Well, thanks to your working late, the kids are eating pizza again this week." She glanced over her shoulder as she pulled a glass from the cabinet above her. "You need to tell that bitch boss of yours that you're the only one that cooks in the family. When you don't come home, we order out. We've been doing that a lot lately."

  "That's a little hard to do. She'd ask why my wife, who has no job but to raise our family, isn't willing to cook dinner." I glanced around. "Or clean up anything."

  "This again? Really?" She turned and put her hand on her hip. "Raising kids is a full-time job."

  "I agree, that's why I'm good with it, but our kids are fourteen and seven, Janice. They're not babies. I'm thinking you could learn to cook dinner, right?" I picked up a piece of pizza and let out a huff. "I don't want to fight. I'm tired and I just want to spend some time with you guys."

  "Good. Patrick has a science project that he needs help on." She poured her a glass of milk and walked toward the living room. "And I'm not sleeping with you tonight, so stop watching me like I'm going to strip or something."

  I swallowed hard before turning to face her as she watched TV. I bit my tongue, not wanting to attack her, but needing to say something. Sleeping with her had become a thing of the past. The couch and I had become good friends, and no matter how much I tried to make things work... she wasn’t interested anymore.

  "You're a retired science teacher, Janice. Why in the world wouldn't you be helping him?" I attacked in the only safe place to do it. Her unused abilities.

  "Because I'm tired. Okay?" She spun on her heel and gave me a scathing look before stomping up the stairs.

  Patrick came down a few minutes later with a box of supplies. "We're building a robot."

  "All right. When is it due?" I moved to the table and finished my pizza in a few bites.

  "Tomorrow." He gave me a sheepish look.

  "Really? Damn, Pat." I glanced over at the clock. "It's an hour until your bedtime, dude. What were you thinking?"

  "Mom wasn't willing to help me, okay?" He sat down at the table and nibbled on this thumb. "Dad..."

  "What buddy?" I pulled up a chair and tried to tuck my angst deep inside of me. I'd die young of a heart attack no doubt, but now wasn't the time to lament. He needed me, and that's all that mattered. Fuck Janice and her mood swings.

  "Why is Mom such a bitch all the time?" Patrick glanced up as tears lined his eyes.

  "Dude, don't call your mother names." I reached out and rubbed his back before cupping his head and pulling it against my chest. "She's just going through some stuff, okay? We're working it out."

  "She's cheating on you." He pulled back and let out a soft sob as he lifted his fingers to his eyes. His hands were shaking as he sniffled. "I know she is."

  Sickness raced through me as I continued to rub his back. "Come on, Pat. We're talking about your mom here. She's not cheating on me. We've been together since we were kids. You're just upset."

  "No, Dad. I came home early the other day. I couldn't get ahold of you, and she, of course, didn't answer her phone. Mimi came and got me, and... The sounds upstairs-"

  "Hey. Look at me." I touched the side of his face as bile rose up inside of me. "I'll check into it, but let's not jump to conclusions, okay? Your mom is a good woman, and I love her. She loves me too."

  "Does she?" He wiped his eyes angrily. "If she loves you, where is she? Hell, if she loves me, where is she?"

  "Watch your language, young man." I pulled him into another hug as the world started to crumble around me.

  Was Janice cheating on me? On me, who had kept myself in tip-top shape for her when she'd let herself go completely, not caring anything about what I thought or how I felt?

  No fucking way. It just wasn't possible.

  Chapter 4

  Nate

  I didn't sleep a wink the night before. After calming Patrick down, I paced the worn-out carpet in front of the fireplace until my legs hurt and my eyes grew heavy. By the time the sun came up, I was still sitting in my recliner in the living room, trying to figure out how the hell everything had gone from really bad to terrible. Unrepairable.

  If she was cheating... I was out. I'd been holding myself in check by a thread for the last five years, never once overstepping my bounds. Elizabeth's cocky move the day before of cupping my balls was the first time she'd ever touched me intimately, and though I hadn't backed up, I'd never in a million years have encouraged her.

  Now? Now I was lost.

  Did I snoop around and look for evidence? Show up in the middle of the day to see what the fuck Janice was up to? Put up hidden cameras?

  "That's stupid," I grumbled to myself as I fixed my coffee in the kitchen and snuck out of the house long before anyone would wake up to start the day. "I'm not doing that shit. I'll just ask her. I'll ask her, and if she's cheating, I'm done."

  And by being done, that left me with one outlet for my pain. Lizzy.

  A groan left me as I got into the car and put my coffee in the cup holder next to me. My thighs flexed as I lifted my hips and tried to reposition myself. The only hard-ons I'd had in the last five years were thanks to the sexy bitch two offices down from me that could drive a stake of lust into the deepest parts of me with nothing more than a look.

  I tried to tell myself that I wasn't special. She did that shit to everyone, and the sad thing was, she wasn't trying to. She was naturally stunning, and had a way about her that left most of us wanting to lock our doors for private time during lunch. It was disturbing, and yet I coveted the idea of seeing her again. I did every morning.

  "Stop it. Fuck." I pulled into the parking lot and grabbed my stuff before jogging to the front door of our high-rise building. The bellman smiled and waved at me as I walked in. I returned the gesture and caught up to Carl, one of the accountants at the firm. I patted his back and moved into the elevator with him.

  "Hey buddy. How are you?" I pressed the button for our floor and glanced around, not noticing too many of the faces around me. The firm had grown substantially under Elizabeth's tutelage over the last few years. If she wasn't intensely attractive, her abilities alone were.

  "I'm good." He shrugged and rubbed his eyes, letting out a yawn. "We had the baby, you know. The little guy doesn't sleep. Not ever."

  "That sucks." I chuckled, remembering quite clearly how it felt to lose sleep over the kids. Sadness blasted through me, threatening to cripple me as I stood there. The situation with me and Janice was dire, but what about my kids? I couldn't live without them. Not for a day.

  "Yeah, but it's all good. He's a blessing, man. Crazy how you can love someone so much." He moved out of the elevator and held it for me as I walked out behind him. I tucked the
emotional baggage I was soon to carry deep down inside of me and made a sharp turn to head to my office.

  I shared a secretary with Elizabeth, and the girl was everything anyone could want in an assistant. Attentive. Smart. Professional. She was as cute as a button too, but I found nothing about her mildly attractive. Namely because I couldn't stop thinking about Lizzy. It was maddening at times.

  "Hi, Nathaniel. You're late." She gave me a wide grin.

  "Am I?" I leaned toward her, resting my forearms on the top of her raised desktop.

  "Yep. Elizabeth expected you at six for a quick pow-wow." She tapped her pencil on her desk. "You want me to let her know you're here?"

  "Nope. I'm going to enjoy doing that myself. Stop trying to take my dramatic entrance away." I winked at her and walked toward Lizzy's closed door as Jen chuckled behind me. After knocking once, I walked in and closed the door. "You wanted me?"

  She was standing at the floor to ceiling windows that lined her office with one arm wrapped around her midsection, just under her breasts. Her free hand rubbed back and forth over her ruby red lips.

  My body screamed for one touch. One taste. One night.

  "You're late." She didn't play into my question like I'd hoped she would. Where my home life was in shambles, my work life couldn't have been better. My career was peaking and it felt good. Damn good. I'd worked hard to get where I was, and there was only one more place to move to. On top of Lizzy.

  "I didn't realize we were meeting, Elizabeth. I wouldn't have kept you waiting. You know that." I worked my jacket off my shoulders and draped it across the chair closest to me. "When did you schedule this meeting?"

  "Last night around eleven." She turned and gave me a cocky smile. "Check your fucking phone. We pay for it so that you'll have real-time access to everything you need."

  "Everything I need? In a phone?" I chuckled before running my hand over my chest. "I find that hard to believe."

  "I'm not in the mood for your games today." She walked to her desk and unbuttoned her gray jacket, revealing a better view of the delicious swell of her breasts.

  "No games today. Got it." I licked at my lips, unable to help myself from imagining her on her knees, her heavy breasts in my hands as I titty fucked her slow and hard. The wetness on the tip of my cock would be from her pretty little mouth rimming it, licking and sucking as I tugged at her hair and taught her the proper way to take a man deep into her throat.

  "Don't fix that file, and stop staring at my tits." She crossed her arms over her chest as her voice hardened.

  "What? I wasn't. Jeez. I swear you have no filter." I forced my gaze up to hers and felt like the air had been sucked from the room. My fantasy felt so real, so fucking tangible. Did she want me the way I wanted her, or did I need to wake up from a daydream?

  "Don't you dare fix that file." She narrowed her eyes at me. "Got it?"

  "I already fixed it, Liz." I turned my back to her and walked to pick up my jacket. "Don't talk to me like I'm a child, either. Watch your tone."

  "Or?"

  I turned and licked at my lips. "Or I'll show you your place. You can prance around here and tug at everyone else's hormones, but I'm not interested in your magic. Not in the slightest."

  "I seem to have hit a nerve." She let out a breathy sound that drove a spike of desire straight through me to rest in my stomach. "How about this. Stop being extra sensitive and tug your nuts out from their hiding place. I'm not talking to you like you're a small boy. I know who you are and what you're capable of."

  She walked across the room, causing me to freeze in place. I wasn't emotionally ready to handle much more from anyone, her included. Breaking in half sounded good. Taking out my anger and disappointment on her would be delicious.

  "Fuck you, Lizzy." I reached out and gripped her arm, forcing her to stop before she reached me. The image of tugging her down and telling her to open wide left me panting with need. She was too much. Far more than I could handle at the moment, though I wanted to drown trying.

  "Mmmm... such a nice offer." She glanced down and smiled. "Last night I took a man home with me from the jazz bar, but we never made it past the elevator. You know why?"

  She licked her lips and my balls tightened.

  "I don't want to know," I whispered harshly and released her, stepping back as she continued to stare at my erection.

  "Because he wasn't you." She opened the door and nodded. "Get out. We're going to lunch at eleven. Be ready and don't you dare think of not supporting me one hundred percent from here on out. I'm still your boss, Nate."

  I nodded and turned, walking out as I pulled my shirt from my slacks to cover the evidence that she had me.

  She always had.

  Chapter 5

  Elizabeth

  "Fuck me," I muttered as I locked the door to my office and let my facade down. Pleasure rushed across my center, teasing me, fucking me hard from behind like a capable lover with anger issues.

  Why? Why him?

  I had to calm down. I was overstepping boundaries that weren't fair to him. He was a good man, and had a chance to fix the shit happening at home. We hadn't talked about it much, but if I knew one thing about Nathaniel, it was that he loved his kids. He talked about them all the time, almost to the point of making me want my own.

  Almost.

  I pressed my forehead against the chilly window and let out a long breath, decorating the glass with a cloud of translucent warmth. A deep pulse pumped through me as I worked to pull myself off the edge of orgasm. He was far more alpha than any of the other men in my life had been. Most bowed at my feet, and where it was heady in my twenties, it wasn't so much anymore.

  I had power, but I desired more than anything for someone to yank it violently from my hands. To force me to kneel, bow before him and become anything he wanted me to.

  Why I thought that man was Nate was beyond me, but I'd almost convinced myself that it was.

  Turning, I pressed my back to the glass and ran my hand over my tummy, petting myself as I closed my eyes. It would feel so good to sink my fingers into the sticky wetness that had pooled between my thighs, my body primed and ready for a long fuck from a more-than-capable man.

  The image of his erection swam past my closed eyes, and I let out a soft moan. So big. Thick. Delicious.

  "Stop it." I moved from the window and walked to the door, yanking it open. I wasn't capable of trusting myself with the door shut. I'd taken care of myself for too many years to let the moment pass without riding the high that a couple pumps of my fingers deep inside of me would provide.

  "Hey." Jen stood at the door with concern on her face. "You okay? You look flush."

  "Just fighting with Nate." I turned and walked back to my desk, letting out a soft puff of air as it burned its way up my throat. I abhorred how needy Nate left me feeling. The desire and depravity swirled deep inside of me, and yet I forced myself to sit down in my overly comfy leather chair and ignored it all.

  "So a typical day?" She laughed and set a file on my desk.

  "Pretty much." I picked it up and fingered through it. "Nice. New lead, hmm?"

  "Yep." She sat down as her face fell. "Don't be too hard on Nathaniel. I hear he got some bad news this morning."

  That got my attention.

  I leaned back in my chair and remained quiet. Jen wasn't one to keep gossip to herself and it would seem she wasn't the only one. If Nate had bad news that was private, he'd obviously told the wrong person.

  "Right, so he called Mark last night, and I guess he's having more trouble at home. He's so miserable, Elizabeth." She let out a long sigh. "How though? He's like everything a woman could want. Is his wife stupid?"

  "Complacent. She's been with him since they were kids. She's taking him for granted." I shrugged and flipped through the file, grateful for the distraction from the lust that stole my attention from life every time I let it. "Or maybe he's taken her for granted. Who knows?"

  "Do you have lunch with him today
? I thought I saw something pop up on his calendar a minute ago, but I didn't see it on yours." She pulled her tablet up and started to click on it with her stylus.

  "Yeah. We just scheduled it. Set up something at De Luca." I shook my computer mouse. "If you'll give me two hours to myself, I'll work to get through all of my e-mails and such, and then we can talk a little about the lead."

  "Sounds great. I'll give you a fifteen-minute head's up for lunch. Are you guys riding together?" She stood up and paused by the door.

  "No. Give me a thirty-minute warning. I want to get there before him." I turned back to my e-mails, reading through all of the opinions on the presentation from the day before. Most of the board members were in my favor of keeping the girl, but I knew they would be. Just because they didn't want to have a full conversation on lust in front of one another the day before didn't mean it wasn't on all of their minds.

  It was.

  And the shit would sell.

  *

  "Hope you haven't been waiting long." Nate pulled off his suit jacket and handed it to the hostess as she reached for it.

  I glanced up from my menu and shook my head. "No. Have a seat."

  Some part of me wanted to give him shit, to ignore his advances, but I could do that soon enough. I wanted to know the truth in the rumors. I needed to.

  "You okay? No snide comment or sexy innuendo that leaves me embarrassed and fighting for the upper hand with you?" He chuckled and sat down.

  The sound of his voice rushed across my exposed skin, leaving me sensitive, tender, hungry.

  "You want the upper hand with me?" I pulled my bottom lip into my mouth and tilted my head a little. He had no clue how badly I wanted a man capable of making that wish come true.

  "Not fair."

  "What's not fair?" I pulled my napkin in my lap and glanced up at the server as she approached. "I'll take a glass of Merlot."

  Nate ordered before turning his full attention back on me. "It's not fair when you pull out your playgirl side. Anyone would fall for that. Evil bitch."