by Imani King
“Yes, Tracy, he’s all of those things.”
“And he’s fine as hell,” she said, looking over my shoulder. “And he just walked through the door.”
I swiveled around on my barstool and there was Dylan, standing in the doorway of Minnie’s. He had on a dark suit and tie and literally looked like a million – make that a billion – bucks. Minnie’s wasn’t a fancy place, and it was funny to see him all dressed up, surrounded by people in jeans and sweaters. He scanned the crowd, and I waved my arms over my head to get his attention. He spotted me and smiled, then made his way to us in the back of the room.
He kissed me on the cheek, letting his lips linger against my face, then said hello to Tracy. “Sorry, I’m a little overdressed. I came straight here.”
“You stick out like a sore thumb,” I told him. “It’s kind-of adorable.”
“Oh, you think I’m adorable, do you?” Dylan gave me his super-sexy smile and leaned against the bar. “That’s too bad. I was going for irresistible.”
I reached out and loosened his tie, then ran my fingers through his hair to mess it up a little. “There,” I said. “Now you’re irresistible.”
“Oh my God, guys. Get a room already,” Tracy teased. I felt my cheeks get hot with embarrassment.
“I’m ready when you are, Maya,” Dylan said. I felt his hand slide around my waist, and a warm shiver buzzed through my body.
We didn’t get a room, as Tracy said. Instead, we played pool. Dylan wasn’t the best pool player in the world, but I liked watching him lean over the table, his green eyes focused and intense, his lower lip between his teeth as he lined up his shots. He’d taken off his tie and suit jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his button-up shirt, and I could see his muscles straining against his shirt. It was the first time I’d seen him so... unclothed. And I have to say, he looked damn good. Every time he leaned over the table, I couldn’t help but imagine myself lying underneath him, looking up into those sexy green eyes.
Yep, I was definitely in trouble. Big time.
Chapter Twelve
Dylan
Watching Maya lean over that pool table was distracting, to say the least. When she’d go in for a shot, she’d purse those sensuous lips of hers and arch her back, and it made her curves look fucking irresistible. My hand itched, watching her ass from behind as she bent over, and I had to stop myself from reaching out and squeezing it. And every time she leaned over the pool table, I couldn’t help but imagine her body on top of mine.
I took turns playing against Maya and Tracy, and to make it more fun we bet imaginary sums of money. Tracy was in the hole for 300 fake dollars and I had won twenty bucks. Maya, on the other hand, bet big, and she was ahead by three million dollars.
“I’m going to have to sell off a lot of assets to pay this debt,” I joked.
“Oh, I forgot to mention, I only accept quarters,” she teased back.
“I hope you have a spare warehouse to store your winnings,” I told her. Then Maya scratched on the eight-ball and she lost all that imaginary dough. I offered a rematch, but Tracy said she had to get going soon because she had some kind of hair appointment in the morning. I wasn’t ready to let Maya leave, though. Not yet. And I could tell she didn’t want to go either.
I leaned against the pool table, then pulled Maya to me and nuzzled into her neck. Her skin smelled like vanilla, and when I ran my lips over her throat, I felt little goosebumps tickle my mouth. “Stay for a while longer, Maya. I’ll get you a cab home.”
I felt her body fall into mine, and she let out a long sigh. It felt good to touch her in public – to wrap my arm around her waist and put my mouth against her warm, soft skin. She was the most beautiful woman in the room, in any room, and I felt proud to be with her. She was mine. Or she would be, soon. I knew it. And as much as I enjoyed kissing her against a pool table, what I really wanted to do was get her someplace private.
Maya agreed to stay, then went to the bar to get us another round of beers. And as soon as she left, Tracy began assaulting me with questions.
“So, Mister Big Shot, what exactly are your intentions toward my friend here? I mean, you seem like a nice guy, but can she trust you? Trust is very important to Maya, you know.” Tracy usually seemed so fun and laid back, but in this moment she was dead serious. She was looking out for her friend, and I couldn’t blame her.
“My intentions are good, I swear.” Tracy cut me a sideways look. “I really like her. And I’m not a dick.”
“You better not be a dick,” she said. “If you hurt my friend, I’ll... well, I don’t know what I’ll do, but I’ll do something you won’t like. I’m crafty. I’ll think of something.”
“I don’t want to hurt her, Tracy.”
“I just want you to understand that Maya isn’t like a lot of girls. Me, I can hang, casual-style. I’m not opposed to some no-strings fun. But Maya isn’t like that. She’s got a big heart, and she doesn’t fuck around. So don’t fuck around with her. You hear me?”
Maya came back from the bar, putting an abrupt end to our conversation, and Tracy gave me another dead serious look before saying her goodbyes and leaving. And as soon as we were alone, a plan formed in my mind. A plan to get more time with Maya, just the two of us. I offered her a pool rematch, but this time I raised the stakes.
“So, for the next game, I want to make a new bet.” Maya eyed me suspiciously, and I continued. “If I win, you come home with me.”
“Dylan!” Maya tossed back her head and laughed. “We are not betting for—”
“No, not that. Just more time. A second part of this date. If I win, you come back to my apartment and have a cocktail with me. I have a private rooftop garden with a heater. It’s nice and cozy. We can just sit and talk. Nothing else, I promise. Not unless you want to.”
“My body is not a bet,” she said, her voice stern.
“We’re just betting for time,” I reassured her. “You can sit on the other side of the room if you want.”
“Well, I don’t have to sit on the other side of the room...” She gave me a look that made me want to throw her down on the pool table and rip off her jeans. “But what do I get if I win?”
“Whatever you want,” I told her.
“Then I’ll take a kiss.”
“I’ll kiss you anytime you want, Maya. You don’t have to bet me for it.”
“I’ll hold you to that,” she said, then chalked up her pool cue.
I beat the fucking pants off her in the next game. Or at least, I wished I did. She accused me of being a pool shark, of letting her win all the other times, but I played it cool and just smiled. And she pretended that she was mad about losing, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d thrown the game on purpose. Either way, it was clear that we were both getting what we wanted.
Chapter Thirteen
Maya
I was a ball of nervous excitement as we rode back to Dylan’s place. It was one thing to be out with him in public, but it was quite another thing to go home with him. I didn’t even know where he lived. Where did billionaires live in Manhattan? And what would his place look like? This would be a good test, I thought. I could see him in his element, in his personal space. Check out his bookshelf, maybe take a sneaky peek in his medicine cabinet. Get to see the place this man called home.
But I wasn’t going to have sex with him. And I wouldn’t spend the night. I tried to remember my rules, even though they were hard to remember as I felt Dylan’s warm hand on my thigh in the back of the car. Yes, he’d tricked me into going back to his place because of that crazy bet, but I had to admit that I missed a couple of shots on purpose too. I wanted to spend more time with him. And I wanted to get him alone and get another one of those Earth-shattering kisses.
The car cruised over the Brooklyn Bridge and made its way into Manhattan, and Dylan and I sat in the back seat, our fingers intertwined. I felt giddy, and I leaned into him, enjoying the feel of his body next to mine. We didn’t kiss – not
yet – but we leaned against each other, pushing our bodies as close as possible in the back of the dark car. Then the driver stopped in front of a building on the Upper East Side, and Dylan turned to me and smiled. “We’re here.”
We rode the elevator to the top of the building – the very top. Dylan had to insert a special key into the elevator to even get to his floor, because apparently mere mortals couldn’t just hit a button and ride up to the penthouse. And when the doors opened, they didn’t open into a hallway like I was used to: they opened right into his apartment. And it was the craziest apartment I’d ever seen in my life.
I had to admit, I felt self-conscious, walking into such a space. My tiny apartment in Brooklyn didn’t even have an elevator – it was a standard walk-up, and my entire place could’ve probably fit in Dylan’s foyer alone. The ceilings were at least twelve feet high, and there was a large bank of floor-to-ceiling windows that took up the entire east side. I cautiously walked over to them and looked down on Central Park below.
“Nice place,” I said. “Kinda small though.”
Dylan laughed and joined me at the window. “It’s too big for just one person. I rent some of the other floors out to people who work for me.”
“Wait, this isn’t it? There are other floors?” Having multiple floors was unheard of in New York, at least as far as I was concerned. But apparently, Dylan told me that he owned five floors, which almost gave me a heart attack. The apartment I shared with Tracy was probably 800 square feet at most, and Dylan’s place was at least ten times that size, and that was being conservative. “Different worlds,” I muttered under my breath, shaking my head.
“I like your world,” he told me.
He wanted to have dinks on his rooftop garden, so I asked for a hot tea, thinking it would be cold outside, but when I walked out onto his terrace, large standing heaters were blasting out warm air. I didn’t even need a coat it was so warm. Leave it to a billionaire to keep an outdoor space warm in December. Apparently his rooftop heating system was remote-controlled, and he’d turned it on with his cell phone before we even left the bar.
Even the rooftop terrace was bigger than my apartment. I walked over to a plush couch and set my tea down on the table next to it, then cautiously peered out past the railing. We were so high up that I could see everything: the long green expanse of Central Park, the lights of midtown and Times Square in the distance. All of Manhattan glittered below me, and it was breathtaking.
I turned to Dylan, and as I looked into his eyes I felt that heat, that undeniable spark between us. It was always there, every moment, but now that we were alone, it felt like the spark had suddenly increased to a full-on explosion. I didn’t want to talk, or drink tea.
“So, about that kiss...” I said, moving an inch closer to him.
Dylan ran his fingertips up my arm to my neck, then pulled my body close to his. “I thought you’d never ask,” he said, then he kissed me.
I fell into his kiss, losing myself in the sensation. And again it was a monumental, Earth-shattering kiss that lit up my entire body, from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. My body felt like it was humming and singing, like it was made to touch him.
Then, in one swift motion, he picked me up like a ragdoll and laid me on my back on the couch, then brought his strong body down on top of me. I felt his erection push against me insistently, and it felt deliciously big.
“Let’s go to the bedroom,” he whispered, his mouth against my neck.
“I’ll go to the bedroom with you, but we can’t...” I couldn’t even get out the words. I ached to give myself over to him completely, but I knew I wasn’t ready yet. I needed to keep my head about me, to take things slow.
“You have rules,” Dylan said. He looked down at me, his brow furrowed.
“We just can’t have sex. Not yet.”
Dylan slid his hand under my shirt and ran his palm over my stomach. “Ok. No sex. But will your rules allow me to worship your beautiful body a little bit?” He moved his head lower and began to pepper my stomach with kisses, his lips moving lower and lower until they were at the very edge of the waistband of my jeans. “I just want a taste of you, Maya.”
His mouth felt so good on my body, and I grew hot all over as he slipped his fingers into my waistband and gently tugged at my jeans. “Ok,” I whispered, my voice barely audible.
“Follow me,” he commanded, pulling me off the couch. He took my hand and I followed him into his bedroom, where a fire blazed in the fireplace in the corner of the room, lighting up the space with a golden glow. He laid me down on his bed, then laid next to me on his side and brought his mouth to my ear. “I won’t have sex with you,” he whispered, his lips grazing my earlobe, “but I am going to make you come.”
My core tightened at the thought, and I felt a warm rush of desire flood through my body. Dylan teased open a button on my shirt, then another, his fingers surprisingly nimble. “You really are incredibly beautiful, do you know that?” He ran his hand down my chest, across my belly, then squeezed my hip. “I could eat you for fucking dinner.”
My skin felt warm and tingly under Dylan’s hands, and every word he spoke registered like a thunderclap inside my body. “Be my guest,” I sighed.
Dylan deftly undid the front clasp of my bra, and my breasts spilled free. He immediately took them in his hands, rubbing my nipples between his fingers until they turned into hard, sensitive nubs. My entire body clenched with excitement.
“Fuck, you’re beautiful, Maya.” He buried his face in my chest and took a deep, heavy breath. “And you smell incredible. The way you smell makes me so... hungry,” he growled.
Dylan’s energy was overpowering. His mouth moved over my body, licking and kissing and nibbling until I began to moan with delicious anticipation. And he kissed every inch of me. His warm mouth on my neck made my body shiver with delight, and my nipple between his lips sent shockwaves of aching desire through to my very core. I lost myself underneath him, turning into a hot quivering mass of need and want.
I felt my muscles clench as he moved his head lower, unzipping my jeans and sliding them down my hips as he continued to plant warm, wet kisses over my body. I knew what was coming and I wanted it – I needed it. After trying for so long to deny the white-hot passion I felt for Dylan, I was desperate to finally have my desire quenched.
“Maya,” he growled, sliding my underwear off. “You’re fucking irresistible.”
Dylan’s breath, warm between my legs, sent a blazing rush through my body. Then his lips found my sex, and I gasped.
And damn, he was good. Too good. He teased out my nerve endings, applying the smallest amount of pressure with his tongue, licking like a gentle, delicate whisper. It absolutely drove me crazy. I squirmed and writhed underneath him, so sensitive that I could feel his tongue before it even touched me.
He teased me with gentle, delicate strokes until I felt like I was going to scream, then he flattened out his tongue and applied solid, heavy pressure, finally giving my tingling nerves what they wanted. I let out a deep moan and closed my eyes, letting the decadence of his mouth wash over me.
“Dylan,” I moaned, “this is amazing.”
“You’re amazing,” he growled, his mouth pressed hard against my mound. Then I felt his finger slide inside me while he simultaneously sucked my sensitive, throbbing clit. My breath caught in my throat. It felt so good I think I saw stars.
Dylan took his time with me, letting my orgasm build deliciously slowly. He sucked and licked until I was on the brink of climax, then backed off, using his fingers, letting the feeling spread and intensify. He knew exactly when to go fast and when to go slow, and he knew the moment I got close to coming. But he wouldn’t let me come so quickly. He just kept building me up, teasing with light strokes of his tongue, then sucking hard, then pulling back and teasing me again.
I began panting, squirming under him, and I forgot everything else in the world, even my own name. With Dylan’s mouth on me and
his finger buried deep inside, everything else washed away in a sea of shimmery pleasure. The only thing in the world that existed in that moment was the two of us. I turned into one giant buzzing, throbbing, panting raw nerve.
It was euphoric torture, and my body was desperate for a release. I was so ready to come that I felt like I was about to break apart at the seams, and Dylan knew it. He gave me what I needed. He plunged two fingers inside me and pumped them hard and deep, and I felt a spreading fire, then a sharp explosion of ecstasy blasted through me. My muscles clenched and I moaned like an animal, unable to control the noises I made or the way my legs shook against Dylan’s head. My fingernails dug into the bed as the orgasm rocked through me, obscuring everything else in the world except for the feeling of Dylan’s mouth between my legs, licking and sucking me into oblivion.