Checkmate

by Diana Nixon

  And before she would say anything in response, I guided my rock hard dick inside her, groaning as her warm wetness welcomed me.

  “Fuck, this is the only place I don’t want to leave, ever.”

  “You may stay there as long as you want,” she breathed.

  It was the only thing she was able to say before we both got lost in the sounds of our bodies dancing in a perfect unison. Her hands travelled down my shoulders and back and I couldn’t get enough of her, of making love to her. Now I knew for sure that whatever I had done since the night we met, was done with a love that I thought I would never be able to feel again.

  She was more than just a woman for me, she was a drug; she was the wildest of my dreams coming true, and the strongest addiction that I never wanted to get rid of.

  I could feel her body tensing under mine, and I knew we were so close to heaven. My thrusts became more frantic and uncontrollable. No time with her was enough to satisfy my hunger. I was like a greedy son of a bitch, trying to get as much as I could. But I wasn’t ashamed to admit it, because I was sure she enjoyed herself with me as much as I was enjoying myself with her.

  Her hands were all over me: in my hair, on my chest, sliding down my sides and squeezing my ass and making my moves turn into one wild run. Feeling the orgasm building somewhere in my back and splashing all over my body, I gave her a few more fast thrusts and came hard inside of her warm, hot clam; I loved it when her orgasm joined mine and her muscles clenched around me.

  No words were enough to say how much I loved it. I had never felt anything like that before; I wanted her to feel the same.

  “Give me one more,” I whispered inches from her lips, and teasing her clit with my fingers again. I was still inside her and I all I wanted now, was to feel her come for me, again and again…

  Chapter 13

  Scarlett

  Biting my lower lip, I closed my eyes, trying to stifle my groan. I could still feel Dominick inside me; he was hardening again, moving in and out almost painfully slow, teasing me and making a new wave of pleasure build in my tummy. His fingers were rubbing against my clit, a little rough this time, but I didn’t mind it at all. He bent to suck my nipples, his length pulsing in between my open legs.

  “Come for me, Baby,” he whispered, pushing himself deeper inside me, his hips slamming rapidly against mine. I groaned in response, unable to form my thought into intelligible words.

  So close… I was so close again, I thought I would die without his touches and moves.

  My breath caught as a new orgasm rushed over me. I cried aloud, tightening my grip on Dominick’s shoulders. Even though we were lying in a bed, I was afraid I would fall if he let me go. I pulled his lips roughly to mine, our tongues slid against each other; I could still taste myself on his tongue, and I knew he wanted more.

  “I want to touch you,” I said, sliding my hand down his side and to where his need was still burning.

  “Fuck, yes-”

  Wrapping my fingers around his length, I started sliding them up and down, kissing away the soft moans that were vibrating on his lips; at moments like that, we both were so weak and helpless.

  His eyes were closed tight, his hands gently caressing my breast. “You are a witch,” he said, as his lashes fluttered and he looked down at me. “What kind of spells are you casting on me?”

  I smiled in response. “That’s why they are called spells. Only those who cast them know what they mean.”

  “Whatever they mean, I love the way they affect me,” he said a moment before I felt him emptying himself into my palm with a loud groan, filling the entire space of the room.

  “Christ, Scarlett… I’m so addicted to you. I don’t think I will get enough of you, ever.” He rolled onto his back, breathing heavily.

  “I hope the maid didn’t hear us,” I said, leaning on one elbow.

  “And I hope she did.”

  “What?”

  “I want everyone to know how much I love you,” he said, looking up at me.

  I felt my heart pounding in my chest. I guess it was the very moment that I realized the meaning of everything that had just happened between us. We made love…

  Unknown fear crept under my skin and I leaned into his embrace, unable to explain what was happening with me.

  Did I love him? Of course I did. I think I fell in love with Dominick the night I first heard him speaking French in that club, so mysterious and sexy at the time; still mysterious and sexy today even though I feel like I have known him most of my life already. But now… I didn’t know if I was brave enough to say it aloud.

  “What are you thinking?” He asked, kissing my forehead.

  “What will you do if I run away?”

  “What?” He laughed quietly in response. “Are you thinking about running away from me? Why?”

  I didn’t know what to say.

  “Scar?” He put a finger under my chin, making me look up at him. “Why would you think about running away? I thought you liked being with me.”

  “That’s the thing that I like it too much.”

  “Okay,” he said slowly, his brows pulling together and his forehead wrinkling in a slight frown. “And you think it’s bad?”

  “No, I… I don’t know.” I sighed, sitting up. There was only one man before Dominick who ever said that he loved me. He was also the only man I thought I could never get over. And now…

  “Was it too early to say that I love you?”

  “Oh, God, please stop it-”

  “Stop what, Scarlett?” He asked, a little nervous. “Do you think it was so easy to admit it? To let what I thought I would never feel again overwhelm me? Do you even know that I can’t think about anyone but you? I can’t work, eat or sleep. You are in my mind twenty-four-seven.”

  “Dom-”

  “If you don’t want to be with me, just say it. Say it aloud and I will walk away and never come back!” He snapped at me.

  Now he was pissed. Great…

  “This is not what I mean,” I said, taking his hand in mine. “I want to be with you. Maybe even more than I have ever wanted anything.”

  “Then what’s the fucking problem?”

  “I’m scared.”

  “Of what?”

  “Don’t you think that dating a first-class womanizer can be a little scary?”

  “Oh, God. Do you really think I’m such an asshole to date you and a couple of other women at the same time?”

  “Yes?”

  He cursed aloud. “No, Scarlett. I’m so much better than that.” And then he got to his feet and went to the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind him.

  I heard the water running in the shower, and I couldn’t help but admit that the thought about joining Dominick in there crossed my mind. Maybe more than once.

  This is crazy, I thought to myself, shaking my head. One second I say that I want to run away from him, the next second I want him to have sex with me in the shower. Crap…

  “Darling, are you there?” Never in my life had I been so freaking scared to hear my father’s voice. Well, maybe only once, when I was five and simply wanted to try mom’s new lipstick. And there sure as hell wasn’t a man taking a shower in my bathroom.

  Of course, I wasn’t five anymore, but I was sure my father would never approve of me sleeping with his business partner, right in his own house or out of his house for that matter. The fact that it was more than just sex, didn’t count at the moment.

  The bedroom door was locked, so I hoped my father wouldn’t try to open it with a spare key. Otherwise, it would be hard to explain why I didn’t respond to his calling.

  “Was that your father?” Dominick asked, coming out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist.

  “Yeah, I told you we didn’t have much time before they would be back.”

  He smirked. “Sorry for giving you so many orgasms. Next time I will stop at one.”

  “Very funny,” I snapped, getting to my feet. I needed a sho
wer too, but for obvious reasons I thought it would be safer to take one later.

  “Make yourself at home, Mr. Altier,” I said, before leaving.

  Thank God, I was wearing only a bikini before Dominick arrived, so getting dressed didn’t take much time.

  “After such a hot greeting, I’m sure I will enjoy staying here,” he joked as if nothing ever happened. It was like he completely forgot about the argument we had earlier.

  I turned around, looking at him curiously. He didn’t seem to be angry anymore, but there was something in his eyes saying that I would pay for my words.

  “Oh, and next time you want me to make you come, don’t hesitate to ask. After all, I’m just a fucking son of a bitch, who cares about nothing, but a quickie.”

  Ouch… That was unexpected, maybe all was not forgotten. With as much venom as the words held, they could easily kill the entire population of China.

  They also hurt me, even though I wasn’t going to admit it.

  “Thanks for the reminder,” I said, forcing a smile.

  Walking down the hall, I could barely stop the tears burning my eyes. It was my fault that Dominick was back to his usual self, but I still felt my heart shattering to pieces, as if it was my love that he threw back into my face…

  I didn’t go to my room, I went to the pool and jumped into the cool water, hoping that a swim would help me come to my senses. After all, I had never let anyone ruin me, and right now I needed to find a way to stay calm and think about my future and career, that with or without Dominick Altier, had to be successful.

  Later that day, when I was more or less ready to face him again, I went to the library where I knew he was talking to my father.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt you, gentlemen, but I have an emergency to discuss with Dominick.” He gave me a surprised look, while my father seemed to be very happy to know that the two of us got along so well together. At least, that was what he thought.

  “Well, of course, Sunshine. Dominick and I are already done with business talk for today. So he’s all yours.” He fluttered his hand toward Dominick and then toward me.

  I shifted uneasily at the words. To what Mr. Altier only smiled devilishly and winked slightly so only I would see it.

  Dad rose from where he was sitting, kissed my cheek, and left the library.

  “Well, well,” Dominick sang, crossing his arms. “Who would have thought that your emergency would happen so soon? Though I always knew you were a little impatient. Especially when it came to-”

  “I’m not here for sex, so cool off.”

  “You sure?” He asked, standing in front of me. “I would gladly comply with your every dirty wish.”

  I took a deep breath. Don’t let him get on your nerves, Scarlett!

  “I wanted to apologize,” I said, ignoring his meaningful look.

  “For what?” He asked smugly, trying to make me feel even worse than I already did.

  “I think it wasn’t fair to call you a womanizer, considering that I know so little about you.” When I had thought earlier that it felt like I knew him forever.

  He nodded expectantly.

  “And I wanted to say that I can believe that what you said about love was true.”

  Now he looked a little tensed, as if he didn’t want me to start that conversation, ever again. His jaw clenched and his eyes bore into mine.

  “I also wanted to say that I do have feelings for you too.”

  “Now, this is getting interesting.” He smirked. “You have a very unusual way of showing it.”

  “I think we shouldn’t rush things.”

  “Don’t you think it’s a little too late to talk about rushing things, especially after how far we’ve managed to go?”

  “We both need time to think about what is going on.”

  “Meaning what? Staying away from each other? Trying to avoid isolated rooms and beds, desks or anything else I can set your ass on and fuck you senseless?”

  I rolled my eyes. “And that too.”

  “Do you really think that’s possible?” He didn’t even try to hide his skeptical smirk.

  “I’m serious, Dominick. We are both grown-up, we set the rules and follow them.”

  “What if I don’t want to follow any fucking rules? And since you mentioned our maturity, I think you should start acting like a grown-up woman, and not like a five-year-old girl, afraid of her own shadow.”

  “What? How dare you!”

  “And one more thing, Scarlett-” He leaned to my ear to whisper, “If you want to set the rules, we will do it. Just make sure you don’t break them.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Come on, Sunshine. We both know how fast your panties get wet.”

  “Don’t push it, Dominick,” I said, giving him a murderous stare.

  “Or what?”

  “Or I will tell my father everything about your attempts to seduce me.”

  He burst out laughing. “Are you serious, Scar? I didn’t need to do anything to seduce you. If memory serves, you were more than willing to jump into my bed. I hope you remember the pictures from the first night we spent together?”

  “You promised-”

  “I’m not going to break my promise. All I’m saying is that you don’t have anything to destroy me with. While I have everything I need to make you forget your own name and remember only mine.” Then he pulled me to his chest and kissed my lips, stealing every damn thought from my head. Well, hell…

  Slowly, his hands slid down my sides, and I could swear I felt the sparks of electricity everywhere his hands were touching me. He wasn’t rough. But rather too sweet to push him away.

  Running his tongue one last time across my lips, he took a step back, his hands still on my hips. “It’s hard to run away from something that you want so badly, isn’t it?”

  “Physical attraction and love are two different things,” I said, meeting his stare.

  “I know. As well as I know how much love needs physical attraction. Remember that when you meet someone who you think will be a better candidate for you, Scarlett.”

  “So now you are giving me a blessing for my future relationships?”

  “You may call it whatever you like.”

  “Okay. Does it also mean that you will stay away from me?”

  “Is that what you really want?”

  Not exactly…

  “I think this is the right thing to do,” I said after a short pause.

  “So there will be only one rule to follow: to stay away from each other?”

  “Yes.”

  “Fine by me,” he said without hesitation. And for some fucking reason, it sounded so damn offensive. Why would I be offended? After all, it was my idea to stop whatever was going on between us.

  “Good. I’m glad we understand each other.”

  “Scarlett?” He called when I was just about to leave.

  “Yes?”

  “If you ever want to send the damn rules to hell, call me. I’ll be all in.”

  My pulse accelerated at the words. My stupid hormones simply didn’t know how to give me a break.

  Surprisingly enough, our dinner was good. My parents were happy to see me and Dominick, I doubt they would ever notice that something was wrong about the way we looked at each other. We talked and laughed and enjoyed our meals, and to my parents nothing could have possibly seemed off between the two of us; hell I wouldn’t know that there was something off between us, except I knew there was...

  Until the next morning, when I was awakened by a phone call from Jill.

  “Please tell me you don’t sleep with that son of a bitch anymore.”

  I blinked a few times, trying to understand what she was talking about. There was only son of a bitch she could mean. “I am not,” I replied in a sleepy voice.

  “Good, because he has just got out of his ex’s bed.”

  “Excuse me?” I asked, confused. As far as I remembered, Dominick was going to leave in a few hours,
but he hadn’t left already, I didn’t think.

  “Open Page Six.”

  Oh, no… “Not that again,” I groaned into the handset. “I’m seriously tired of reading about his sexcapades.”

  “I’m sure you will be surprised to see the new photos.”

  “Okay, I will have a look.”

  “I need to hang up now, but if you need to talk, leave a message on my voice mail and I’ll call you back ASAP.”

  “Fine.” I yawned and closed my eyes again, refusing to start the day that I already knew would suck.

  After taking a shower, I got dressed and went downstairs hearing my mother’s voice, coming from the kitchen. “Morning, Sunshine,” she said, kissing my cheek. “Did you sleep well?”

  “Yeah, like a baby. Where’s everyone?”

  “Your father and Dominick went for a morning run,” she said, making two cups of coffee.

  “Have you seen the morning paper?”

  “You know how much I hate papers. But if you need it, it’s in the living room.”

  I took my cup, and went to read the news.

  “SEX WITH THE EX?” Was the title of the article. Under it, was a picture of Dominick and Pamela, standing at the threshold of what I supposed was her house. Both of them looked as if they had just gotten out of bed. She was wearing a short dress shirt, with her hair in a high bun, with no make-up. Her arm was wrapped around Dominick’s waist and a moment later, I realized that he was wearing the same suit I saw him wearing yesterday…

  “Even though both Mr. Popularity and his ex-girlfriend, Pamela Rolsheld refuse to comment on their relationship, they keep spending nights together. Yesterday, Dominick Altier was spotted while leaving the house that he and his ex-fiancé bought years ago. Maybe the final flame to their romance hasn’t been put out just yet?”

  My friend was right after all, my guest was a real son of a bitch. I cursed aloud, shoving the paper into the trash can and went to pack my bags. There was no way I would spend another five hours in the house where I could see him at any second. I just wanted to go home, to New York and to my bed.