by Chelle Bliss
I take the last sip of my martini and feel a slight buzz from downing it quicker than usual. I’m a nervous mess and questioning my decision-making ability after agreeing to this weekend alone with Antonio.
Antonio sets his empty snifter on the table, and I fully expect him to pounce on me. Instead, he slides closer but keeps some space between us. “I have some rules for us this weekend.”
“Rules?” My mind starts going to dark places. Ones I haven’t allowed myself to think about for years, fantasies I’ve had that I never allowed to become realities. The thought of going to those places with Antonio is disturbing. The man already has enough dirt on me to end my career, I don’t want to give him any more leverage to use against me in the future.
He slides his hand through his dark hair and gives me a smirk as if he’s reading my mind. “First, there’s to be absolutely no work or talking about our companies.” He pauses.
“I can do that,” I say when he doesn’t continue. I can go without talking about our companies, but it doesn’t mean I have to stop thinking of a way to knock Antonio right off his pillar. “What else?”
“Second, I won’t do anything with you unless you agree and give your full consent.”
That makes the low rumble in my stomach start to calm just a bit. “Okay.”
“If there’s anything you don’t like or you aren’t enjoying, you have to tell me, and we’ll stop.”
“But,” I say, pausing for a moment because I’m suddenly confused. I signed a document saying he could use me and now he’s giving me the power to refuse his advances.
Antonio stands and removes his suit jacket. I can’t take my eyes off him as he moves with grace, draping the fine silk on the chair across the aisle. He unbuttons his shirt, folding the arms toward his elbows one at a time. My mouth waters, watching his body move and remembering how he felt against me that night.
“Do you know why I wanted you here this weekend?”
“To humiliate me.” Why else would he invite me away to his island, alone, with a signed agreement to basically be his whore?
He shakes his head and sits down, but he moves closer this time. “The agreement was just to see how willing you were to come with me, Lauren. The last thing I want to do is humiliate you. My intention is to get to know you better and for you to get to know me as a person and not just your enemy. There’s more to me than Cozza, just as there’s more to you than Interstellar.”
I let his words sink in, but I don’t believe anything he said. “So, you’re not going to use me?”
He laughs softly. “Not unless you ask me to.”
It’s my turn to laugh. The last person in the world I’d beg to touch me is Antonio. “This should be interesting.”
“Very few women capture my attention, but you have. Completely. From the moment in the bar until now, I haven’t been able to concentrate on much else.”
“It’s only because you want my company, Antonio. Let’s not fool ourselves.”
“This trip has nothing to do with our work. This is about us, about Lou and Elizabeth, about the chemistry we had together.”
Memories of that night come flooding back, and I can’t deny that sparks flew when Antonio touched me. But that was before I knew who he was and the fact that he was trying to destroy my entire world. “Had is the operative word.”
He raises an eyebrow. “You’re not still attracted to me?”
“No.” I can hear the betrayal in my voice.
He lifts his hand, gesturing toward my face. “May I?”
“May you what?”
“May I kiss you and see for myself?”
I narrow my eyes. “You’re asking for permission?”
“Words can betray, but our bodies tell the real truth.”
My body betrays me at every turn when it comes to him. No matter what I say, how much I protest, I know once he kisses me, I’ll be a goner.
“Kiss me,” I say, because there’s no way I’m going to say no. I know if I do, I’m just going to validate everything he believes about my attraction to him.
I can do this, right? I can kiss him without reacting. I can pretend he’s unattractive. I’ll just picture someone else while he’s doing it. I’ll pretend the person kissing me is Trent, because the very thought of him touching me now repulses me.
Antonio slides closer until our knees touch. The warmth of his skin seeping through his pants is immediate against my bare knees. I close my eyes, waiting for him to plant his lips on me when my hair starts to move. Opening my eyes, I see he’s looking behind me, pulling the pin from my hair that’s holding my tight bun in place.
“You need to relax, Lauren. Let your hair down this weekend and enjoy yourself.” He tosses the black hair stick to the floor before running his fingers through my hair. His fingertips running along my sore scalp is so divine I almost moan.
His hand slides down the side of my face, cupping my cheek. “You’re so beautiful.”
I don’t respond. I can’t.
“Close your eyes,” he whispers as his thumb strokes the bottom of my cheek near my mouth.
I do as he asks, sealing my eyes shut and picturing Trent.
I will not let Antonio affect me. I will not let him win.
Trent. Trent. Trent. I repeat his name in my head as the warm body next to me moves closer. My plan is working, the steady stroke of his thumb against my skin isn’t sending goose bumps across my skin.
But then I smell him and not Trent.
Trent never wore cologne and never smelled like much of anything. Antonio’s spicy, expensive cologne lingered on me for hours after our night together, and I’d never forget the smell or how it intoxicated me.
His warm breath cascades over my lips, mingling with his cologne. My plan is no longer working. All I can feel is Antonio, all I can smell is Antonio. I’m surrounded by him, and he’s inescapable.
The softness with which he presses his lips to mine surprises me. There’s nothing rushed or hurried in his movement. His hand glides behind my neck and tangles in my hair, softly pulling my head back.
He nips my bottom lip, lightly tugging as he kisses me. Soft and slow at first, almost tender, before becoming more demanding.
My head’s spinning like I’m drunk on his scent and the feel of him against my skin to the point that I can barely form a coherent thought. My body and mind, being the traitors that they are, react to him. I moan softly, leaning forward into his kiss and opening my mouth to allow his tongue to dip inside.
His hand gently tugs on my hair, pulling my head back and allowing his tongue to push deeper. Tiny shock waves shoot out from my neck, down my spine, and electrify my skin as he kisses me deeper than before.
My plan not to be affected by his kiss is shot to hell. My body betrays me just as I assumed. Thinking of Trent did nothing to stop my reaction to Antonio. I knew what he had to offer. The softness, the hardness, the seemingly endless orgasms.
I have two choices: give in and enjoy the pleasure he offered this weekend or…
Who am I kidding?
There’s the only choice. In this moment, with our lips and tongues tangled together, it’s the only option that makes sense.
I slide my hand up his legs, gently caressing the hard muscles underneath the soft silky material. I’m going to embrace what I set out to do this weekend.
I promised a weekend of pleasure, not only for him but for me too.
If Antonio wanted to ruin me, he already had enough to do it, yet he hadn’t. That counts for something. A single word could have sent everything into a tailspin and had the takeover within his grasp, but he didn’t. Why? Why would Antonio refrain from taking the company right out from under me when he had the chance?
“Stop thinking so much,” he murmurs against my lips.
I do as he says, pushing everything out of my mind but us. The kiss. The touch. The smell. The sounds. The taste. Everything in this moment is about Antonio and me, with a dash of Elizabeth and Lou.
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Chapter Thirteen
ANTONIO
“This is all yours?” Lauren asks at my side as we step foot on the small island I purchased as an escape five years ago.
This place isn’t much. Five acres of sand, palm trees, and a single house I use when I need to get away from society and all the trappings. I’ve never brought another woman here with me. But I couldn’t think of a better place to take Lauren that would allow us to get away from everything and everyone in our life and be completely out of the public eye.
“Yes.”
She turns in a circle, kicking her bare feet in wet sand after the ocean washes back out before crashing down again. “No one else lives here? A housekeeper, maybe?”
“It’s just the two of us and no one else.”
The house had been prepared and fully stocked by the two employees who care for the property on my behalf. They were given strict orders not to interrupt us under any circumstances.
“Wow.” She glances up at the full moon, backlit by thousands of stars visible in the sky. “I could look at this for hours.”
I don’t spend nearly enough time on the beach at night, appreciating the beauty and the splendor of the sky without the intrusion of city lights and civilization. The stars twinkle like diamonds on silk, shimmering slightly as we move below. “How about we change into something more comfortable and have a few drinks down here?”
She tilts her head and studies me. “You’d do that?”
I motion to her with my hands. “Come on. We can sleep out here if you want, but I need to get out of my suit and grab a drink.”
She walks slowly toward the house, carrying her high heels and glances back at me only once. I regret the language in my contract. I brought her here as a guest, wanting to spend more time with her and see if what I felt that night between us was just sex or something more.
But I laid my cards on the table, and now I must find a way to make her see me as something more than the world’s biggest asshole. That title I have down pat, but I want her to see me for who I really am. I worry the hole I dug may be too big for even me to find my way out.
When she steps foot inside the house, she freezes and drops her shoes to the floor.
Maybe I should’ve told her there’s only one bed in my open-air home. Since I’m the only person who stays on the island, there isn’t a need for bedrooms. To make the home feel larger than it truly is, there’s only one room, like a giant studio apartment. I have a large deck that wraps around the entire home, with doors that fold into the walls, making it feel more like an outdoor space than an actual home.
She turns toward me with narrowed eyes. “There’s one bed.”
“I know.” I grin.
“I snore,” she replies quickly. “You won’t get any rest if we have to share a bed.”
“Lucky for you,” I say with an even bigger smile, “I’m a sound sleeper.” I’m lying, but then again, so is she. “You can change in the bathroom while I change into something a little more weather appropriate too. We’ll discuss sleeping later, but for now, I want to watch the world go by. There’s a walk-in closet in the bathroom, and it’s filled with clothes picked just for you.”
She stares at me, blinking a few times like she’s trying to comprehend what I said. I know I spoke the words in English and didn’t fuck up the translation, yet she’s looking at me like I have three heads. She opens her mouth like she’s going to say something, but she snaps it shut just as quickly before heading toward the bathroom.
She glances around the room, running her finger along the table that lines the back of the couch in the center of the room. “I see you have everything planned out, Lou.”
I like that she called me Lou. Things were simpler when we weren’t ourselves. “I leave nothing to chance, Elizabeth.”
“Suave,” she mumbles, turning toward me with a smile as she steps inside the all-marble bathroom.
I can’t tell if she’s happy or plotting my death by that smile on her face. Possibly a mixture of both. She’s outside of her comfort zone, but so am I. This has always been my space, my sanctuary from the world, and for the first time in my life, I’m sharing it with another person.
When she closes the door, I undress and put on a pair of loose work-out shorts that I use when I run along the beach. I grab the champagne and two glasses and place the bottle in a bucket of ice before grabbing an oversized blanket. I carry everything down toward the edge of the water where she had stared up at the sky in wonderment.
I never spent much time wining and dining women, but Lauren deserves that much. She isn’t a cheap fuck or a one-night stand. This is something more, or at least I hope it is.
I’m bent over, unfolding the blanket when she steps onto the deck. Slowly, I straighten and take in her beauty in a black and red sarong that’s tied over one shoulder. The thin material caresses her body, hugging every inch, and the soft ocean breeze causes the bottom to flutter.
I motion to her, calling her down to the blanket where I’m frozen and unable to move. Her long hair is down, blowing in the wind as if being carried away like my breath. She’s stunning. More stunning than she is when she’s commanding a boardroom, jamming her heel into my chest and trying to maintain her dominance.
As she pads down the sand toward me barefoot, in that dress, there’s a softness I hadn’t seen before. I hold out my hand, praying she’ll take it when she’s within a few feet of the blanket.
“You’re going to just sit here with me?” she asks, and I can hear the surprise in her voice.
“We can do whatever you want. If you want to drink and stare at the stars, we’ll do just that.”
With those words, she slides her hand in mine, stepping onto the blanket with a smile. “Thank you.”
“Champagne?”
She nods quickly, and I kneel beside her to make short work of the cork. She follows me down, resting on her heels, and watches me.
“I imagine you’re bored of this view.”
I glance up, taking in her beauty. “I could never grow bored of the beauty in front of me.”
Even in the dim light, I see her cheeks turn a bright shade of red as her eyes dip toward her hands for a moment. My fingers push harder against the cork before it pops, shooting into the air. I grab the glasses, holding them between my fingers and pour, but I keep my eyes on her.
Her silhouette is illuminated by the moon, creating shadows across her feminine features. “Thank you,” she says as I hand her a glass of champagne before stretching out next to her on the blanket.
“A toast.” Holding up my champagne, I take in her beauty as she turns toward me slowly and lifts her glass. “To the stars, to us, and to this moment in the universe.”
I clink my glass to hers, our eyes locked as we both take a sip. She’s appraising me, trying to figure out when I’m going to pounce. She looks like prey, waiting for the predator to find the weakness and strike, but that’s not my intention.
She leans backward on one hand, tipping her neck toward the sky. Even with the champagne still dancing on my tongue, my mouth feels dry. I want to touch her. Lick my way down her neck to her beautiful breasts until she’s begging me to bury myself inside her.
“Do you ever want to go there?” she asks, not looking at me when she speaks.
“Go where?” Right now, all I can think about is her body and mine, moving together. There’s no room for anything else.
“Going up there.” She tips her chin skyward.
“Never. You?”
Being the head of Cozza was more about power and less about moving the human race spaceward. It’s what we do, but it’s never been my dream to step foot in the outer reaches of space.
She sighs as her eyes move around and settle on the Big Dipper. “Ever since I was a little girl.”
Her answer surprises me. How does the dream of a little girl to walk in space turn into a CEO of the second most powerful aerospace company in the world?
“Why
haven’t you?” I’m intrigued to find out how her dream altered and made her the woman she is sitting before me tonight.
She takes another sip of her champagne before burying the base in the sand deep enough that it’ll stay upright. She still doesn’t speak as she leans back and settles against the blanket with her hands flat at her sides, staring straight up. I follow suit, repeating her motions, lying down next to her, only inches apart.
“First, tell me why you don’t want to go up there. You’re the head of Cozza, the current biggest aerospace company, and I figured a man with your status would dream of the stars just like me.”
I place one hand on my stomach and inch the one between us closer to her hand. “I was always a science junkie. Figuring out how things work kept me busy as a kid, but the fear of the unknown has always stopped me from even thinking about going into space. I want to help other people get there, but I’m quite happy with my feet on Planet Earth.”
“Fear stops a lot of people. We’re all afraid of something.”
“Why has it always been a dream of yours?”
“Well…” She pauses, and the moonlight glimmers off her eyes as I turn to face her. “It started with my father.”
She doesn’t say another word, and I don’t rush her. Some things take time, and the last thing I want is for her to start closing off walls that seem to be crumbling to little pieces. I turn back toward the starry sky, giving her time and space to speak freely.
I don’t know if I’ve ever lain in such a comfortable silence with another person. The only sound is of the waves crashing against the shore near our feet. The stars twinkle on and off as if fighting over my attention, but there’s little room for anything other than Lauren.
“My dad wanted to be an astronaut. He trained for years.”
“Did he go?”
“He wasn’t able.”
I turn my face toward her. “Why not?” I’m genuinely interested in her story and hearing how her father’s dreams turned into hers.