Long for Me

by Stacey Lynn

  Another clang echoed through the door and I headed in that direction.

  I twisted the doorknob, opened the door, and froze.

  Bennett Freaking Ashby. In all his magnificent glory was sprawled on his back, only a pair of black shorts on, feet planted firmly on the floor, grunting while he hoisted a metal weight bar above his head.

  The bar held more circular weights, piled wider than I’d ever seen any man lift before.

  That explained his massive biceps and physique. Clearly, I knew he worked out. I’d just never woken up early enough to watch him.

  I was now going to be doing it every single morning. Nothing better than Bennett on his back, bench pressing three times my weight while I sipped my morning coffee.

  Thin, white wires dangled from his ears so I knew he couldn’t hear me.

  Propping my shoulder on the doorframe, I stayed where I was, sipping my coffee. The view I had had to be better than any ocean view. More breathtaking than the Grand Canyon, he was that handsome. Dark, coarse leg hair disappeared beneath his shorts, and God.

  I wanted to lick him.

  Everywhere. I wanted to lick the valleys on his abs, the veins on his arms. I wanted to tug down his shorts and get my breakfast from wrapping my mouth around his thick and heavy dick, taking him deep in my throat.

  I stepped into the room, swallowing back the rest of my coffee and then jumped as the weight bar he’d been lifting rang out against the metal holder.

  He yanked out his ear buds. “I know you’re there. Do you like making me hard while I’m trying to focus on my workout?”

  I grinned and stepped closer. “In all honesty, I just like that I make you hard.”

  He huffed a laugh and sat up, back bowed, shoulders slumped even while he breathed heavily. A trail of sweat dripped between his pecs. He reached to the floor and grabbed a bottle of water.

  In all of it, his eyes, narrowed, were on me. Cheeks flushed from his workout, I held his gaze, more breathless by the moment, while he chugged the water.

  When it was gone, he crinkled the bottle in his hand, re-capped it, and tossed the whole thing off to the side.

  “Get your sweet little ass over here, dropping the shirt on the way. I’m suddenly hungry.”

  A shiver of earthquake proportions racked my body and my lips parted. “Sir—”

  “Ah, and you’re learning quickly.”

  I slid my coffee mug onto a table by the door and stepped toward him, my fingers going to the buttons between my breasts. “I’ve had a good teacher.”

  He patted the weight bench he was straddling. “The only teacher you’ll ever have.”

  I flushed with his praise, the depth of his promise and walked to him, shredding his dress shirt and my inhibitions to the floor. When I reached him, I flung my leg over his and straddled him. His hands settled on my hips.

  I looked around the room. A treadmill and a rowing machine faced two large windows so he could use them and stare out over the river. Four other weight apparatuses filled the room, varying amounts of weights stacked on bars and more piled on the floor.

  “You work out a lot.”

  “You know I do.”

  “Yeah? A lot of aggression to work out?”

  I was teasing him. He didn’t grin. His hands cupped my face and he pressed his mouth to mine, quickly but forcefully. “No. A lot of sexual frustration to work out once I had to sit there and watch you sway your sexy hips into my office every day before I could have you. Now I’m just trying to stay in shape so I can keep up with you.”

  “Right, I’m the sex fiend.”

  “My sex fiend,” he growled and kissed me again. It built quickly, the heat ignited as soon as our tongues touched. My hips gyrated against his and as soon as I ground my clit against his rigid erection, he pulled back. “Stand up.”

  “What?” I was breathless, already aroused. He wanted to stop?

  Whatever expression I gave him, he laughed and kissed me quickly. “Up you go.”

  He tapped my hips and I stood. Expected him to do the same.

  Instead, my eyes popped wide. He slid down the bench, on his back, mouth almost at my sex.

  “Hold on to the bar, Rebecca, and sit on my face. But be careful, you move that bar too much and you’re going to have two hundred and fifty pounds slamming down on us.”

  Two hundred and fifty? No wonder he was so freaking ripped.

  Good God, I was dating the Hulk.

  “Rebecca. Hands.”

  His command hit me right in my center, my pussy clenching for him.

  “Yes, sir.” I cleared my throat, looking down at him as his hands gripped my hips. He pulled me to him, my feet flat on the floor but as he went to work devouring me, the burn ignited in my thighs.

  Holding myself up took work.

  My head fell back and I moaned. I ground my hips against him, soaked in the feel of him and his tongue.

  Good God. His tongue. Hot and warm, he ate me like he couldn’t get enough of me. Forget we’d gone at it for hours the night before.

  My fingers curled around the weight bar. The rattling of metal on metal made the weights clang together.

  Delicious music, accompanied by my gasps and whimpers, his groans as he devoured me.

  “Bennett.”

  He smacked my ass and I jolted only to be yanked back down to his mouth.

  “Sir!” I cried out. I looked down at him, his eyes on me, ecstasy clear in his gaze.

  It was his look that did me in.

  I came, my arms burning from gripping the weights, my legs from the strain and when I was done, I collapsed, sagged against him. He licked me down, delicious tremors trembling through my veins and moved me to his chest. My head fell to my arm and I looked down at him.

  His grin. His eyes. My wetness on his lips.

  “Hi,” I said, shyly. I was exposed, so close to him and vulnerable. Not a position I enjoyed. “Good morning.”

  He shifted me to his lap and sat up, his hard cock pressed against my backside. “My turn. Get on your knees.”

  Jesus. Flushed and burning from him already, there was nothing more I wanted.

  I dropped to my knees, pushed his legs further apart and grinned up at him. “Yes, sir. Anything you say, Mr. Ashby.”

  He cupped the side of my face and grinned. “Sassy sub. Now get to work.”

  I obeyed immediately, took him in my mouth and tasted him, swallowed him deep in my throat like I knew he liked.

  And when he came down my throat, I took him all with one word ringing in my head.

  Mine.

  * * *

  Bennett propped his hip on the bathroom counter and took a sip of his coffee. After his workout, we showered and quickly dressed for work. We didn’t often drive to work together, at my request, one he surprisingly allowed. I still liked to pretend no one in the office knew we were together, although I highly suspected everyone did.

  I didn’t exactly care. I still liked the appearance of propriety.

  I finished pouring coffee into a Contiga cup and screwed on the cap. “Steven and I are meeting with Jakobs to finalize plans for the ground-breaking ceremony.”

  When I took the position with Bennett, my first task was to hire a new assistant. Steven became the assistant to both of us and he was invaluable. Only a few years younger than me, he was also married to a petite little redhead who was eight months pregnant with their second child.

  I loved how much he loved his wife.

  Bennett hated him for always staring at my ass.

  I loved Bennett’s paranoid jealousy. Still, he liked how efficient Steven was. He might have been better than me although I’d never tell Bennett I thought that.

  He’d turned me over his knee and spank my ass
for not recognizing how invaluable I was to him.

  On second thought... I scratched a mental to-do list over my lunch hour, one that would end with me being turned over Bennett’s knee in his office and grinned.

  “Dinner tonight with Simon and Chloe okay?” He was staring at his phone, clicking on the screen with this thumb. “He wants to have his mind taken off the state championship game coming up next week.”

  “Sure.” An idea popped into my mind. I’d questioned it for weeks, knew Bennett would be okay without ever going back, but after two months with him, I was more than curious. We played a lot. Our lovemaking grew more spectacular every week. I’d allowed the spreader bar, plugs, nipple clamps, blindfolds, tied. No matter what Bennett did to me, I loved every moment with him. So, now, it was time to give him everything I knew he wanted. I sipped my coffee, hoping it was infused with courage. “Perhaps after dinner we can go to Luminous.”

  His head snapped up, thumb froze on his screen. “Excuse me?”

  I tried for blasé and failed. My nerves were as tight as a live wire. “I think you heard me.”

  “You want that?” he said, stepping toward me. “You sure?”

  I set my coffee on the counter and settled my hands at his hips when he reached me. Rolling to my toes, I kissed his throat. “Don’t you know, Bennett? I want everything from you. I love you.”

  Warm breath brushed against my cheek right before his lips landed on mine. “Say it again,” he growled, his lips still on mine.

  “I love you.”

  He pulled back and pointed at me. “Don’t move a fucking inch.”

  Storming to his office, I watch his pulled-tight frame hurry away until he reappeared. This wasn’t exactly the reaction I’d expected, but I’d learned to trust him. He didn’t do anything without a purpose.

  “Tomorrow, we’re meeting with realtors. Putting our places on the market and going to buy a house.”

  “What?” I stepped back, pressing a hand to my chest to quell the thundering he ignited. “Bennett... I don’t understand.”

  Without pause, he reached me, dropping to a knee in front of me at the same time, a black velvet box appeared in his outstretched palm. “We won’t wait to start a family and kids need room to roam and play. Don’t want to raise them downtown and your house isn’t big enough.”

  “Are you?” I flicked my gaze to the box, his eyes, back to the box. Good god, he was on his knees in front of me. “Are you asking me to marry you?”

  I laughed nervously.

  “You love me?” he asked, impatience tightening the line of his lips.

  “Of course I do. Do you,” my brow furrowed. He’d never said it. “Do you love me?”

  “Wouldn’t be on my knee, doing this if I didn’t, Rebecca.”

  “It’s fast.”

  “Say yes.”

  God, this man. I laughed again, less nervous, more amused. Typical of him. His arrogance and bossiness game was still as strong as ever. But I’d learned how to play, too. “Tell me you love me, Bennett.”

  He rolled his eyes and grinned, stood up and took my hand in his.

  To my surprise, I wasn’t trembling. I wasn’t nervous. I wasn’t scared and I didn’t feel like running. He’d taken all of that ugly fear inside me and infused me with his confidence and strength, or perhaps he’d taught me I had it in me all along.

  Regardless, tears still swelled in my eyes when he took a ring from the box, tossing the box to the floor. “I love you Rebecca. I’ve loved you from the moment you signed my contract. I knew then, there was no other woman from me. Start a life with me. Start a family with me. Stay with me forever.”

  “Wow,” I breathed, a delicious heat burning in my chest. My heart swelled and tears fell down my cheeks. “Now that...that’s a proposal.”

  He slid the ring on my finger but I didn’t even look at it. It’d be massive and sparkly and only the best his money could buy. The weight of it told me all I needed to know. I couldn’t take my eyes off Bennett. His love for me shone in them so brightly it was brighter than any diamond I could ever wear.

  “Bennett,” I sighed and pressed my hand to his cheek. “I love you.”

  “And I’ll love you for the rest of my days. And tonight, when we go to Luminous, I want everyone to know you belong to me so when I strap you to a bed and tease you until you scream so loud the windows vibrate, everyone will want you, and all the men will be filled with despair when they realize they can’t have you.”

  He slammed his mouth down on mine, picked me up and settled me on the counter. Then, pushing me backward, he set off to prove that everything he said he’d do at the club later would happen.

  And then later, when we were at Luminous, he proved it again, this time in front of a crowd of dozens.

  And I never noticed any of them.

  * * * * *

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you to the Harlequin team for taking on this project. From editing to proofreading and marketing, the entire team is a joy to work with.

  I couldn’t survive in this world without a handful of authors: my ladies from FTN. Thank you so much for always being there. I adore the friendships we’ve made over the years.

  To my family, for their constant and unending support. You are and will always be the greatest loves of my life. You’re my favorite.

  Thank you so much to all the readers I’ve met over the last several years, and for your excitement over every teaser and excerpt I share with you! I love having such devoted readers in my corner, constantly cheering me on and begging for the next book.

  To Hilary and Shannon and the amazing Social Butterly PR team. You ladies are my rock! Thank you so much for all of your hard work!

  To all the blogs who help promote and leave reviews, THANK YOU!

  Also available from Stacey Lynn and Carina Press

  Luminous series

  Dominate Me

  Crave Me

  Other titles coming soon from Stacey Lynn

  Filthy Player

  Fake Wife

  Also available from Stacey Lynn

  The Affair Series

  Entice

  Embrace

  Enflame

  The Fireside Series

  His to Love

  His to Protect

  His to Cherish

  His to Seduce

  Just One Song

  Just One Week

  Just One Regret

  Just One Moment

  The Nordic Lords MC series

  Point of Return

  Point of Redemption

  Point of Freedom

  Point of Surrender

  Dirty Player

  Don’t Lie to Me

  Remembering Us

  About the Author

  Stacey Lynn lives in the Midwest with her husband and four young children. She can usually be found lost inside her own head, trying to bring her characters to life. When she’s engaged in the real world, she’s spending time with her family, drinking large amounts of coffee and eating Skittles by the handful.

  For more information about Stacey Lynn and her upcoming books visit www.staceylynnbooks.com, www.Facebook.com/staceylynnbooks and on Twitter, @staceylynnbooks.

  Introducing the Carina Press Romance Promise!

  The Carina Press team all have one thing in common: we are romance readers with a longtime love of the genre. And we know what readers are looking for in a romance: a guarantee of a happily-ever-after (HEA) or happy-for-now (HFN). With that in mind, we’re initiating the Carina Press Romance Promise. When you see a book tagged with these words in our cover copy/book description, we’re making you, the reader, a very important promise:

  This book contains a romance central to the plot and ends in an HEA or HFN.
<
br />   Simple, right? But so important, we know!

  Look for the Carina Press Romance Promise and one-click with confidence that we understand what’s at the heart of the romance genre!

  Look for this line in Carina Press book descriptions:

  One-click with confidence. This title is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise: all the romance you’re looking for with an HEA/HFN. It’s a promise!

  Find out more at CarinaPress.com/RomancePromise.

  Find out more at CarinaPress.com.

  More satisfying erotic romances to fill your desires.

  Read one—or all—of these!

  TOO TABOO: An Erotic Romance Anthology

  In this erotic romance anthology, a sex surrogate is drawn into a relationship with a client she wasn’t expecting—and can’t resist. Two rugged men show a trespasser just what happens when a good girl breaks the rules. And an experienced agent in seduction is captured by her enemy, who turns her worst fears into her darkest cravings.

  This anthology includes:

  ABSOLVE ME by Morgaine Cameron

  TWICE AS HARD by Amber Bardan

  SEDUCTION SQUAD: CAPTURED by Amanda Stewart

  Stories also available for purchase separately.

  The Research & Desire series by Katie Allen

  EROTIC EXPERIMENTS (Research & Desire, book one)

  Lab geek Claire finds herself in the face of danger after being framed for something she didn’t do. Forced to be on the run, Ed, a sexy bouncer comes along to keep her safe but so does a shocking secret of his own.

  Claire would be worried about the danger in all of this and a future where she is cast as a fugitive. If only she weren’t so engrossed in her erotic experiments with Ed...

  NATURAL SELECTION (Research & Desire, book two)

  With a fear of intimacy from a dreadful and unforgettable night, Tom Cooper just isn’t ready for sexy construction worker Darwin Bloom, to be a part of his life. Although damaged from his past, Tom slowly falls into the arms of the patient and persistent Darwin. It isn’t until Darwin’s mysterious past knocks on their door that they are forced to run. Being together is the only thing that matters—especially when it gives them the chance to naughty on the run...