“I don’t have your number,” I murmured into the soft darkness.
He was quiet for a moment. “I’ll text you.”
I blinked. “You have mine?”
He shot me a quick sidelong glance. “Would that upset you?”
“No, I just didn’t think ... how did you get it?”
His tongue rolled over his teeth. “David.”
“You asked David?” I practically spun right around in my seat to face him. “And he just ... handed it over?”
Kieran laughed. “I never said I asked him. I got it off the rolodex in his office while I was in there making a call.”
I shook my head, amazed. “Why didn’t you just ask me for it?”
One shoulder lifted in a shrug. “What kind of stalker would I be if I made it that easy?” He gave my fingers a teasing squeeze. “Plus, I didn’t think you’d give it to me.”
I didn’t have an answer. He was probably right. Had he asked me the day before, the answer probably would have been different from the one I would have given him sitting in that car. So much had changed in such a short time.
“I probably wouldn’t have,” I admitted. “This whole thing is ... it’s so complicated and messy. I feel like a criminal, like I’m doing something wrong.”
“The only thing you could possibly do wrong is to let a catch like me go.”
I burst out laughing. “You’re—”
“Irresistible?”
I laughed harder. “Impossible.”
He smirked. “Same thing.”
I’d never been to his house before, but from what I could make out in the dark, it was about eight times the size of David’s and breathtaking, like a modern-day castle with turrets and everything. From the brush of light as we rolled into the driveway, the stone appeared a light, faded gray, and there was a fountain in the heart of the cul-de-sac that had been shut off.
He parked the car at the base of the stairs and rolled out. But I was already pushing my own door open by the time he got to my side. I accepted the hand he offered and allowed him to pull me out.
“Welcome to Kincaid Manor,” he said, leading me up the steps to the massive, wooden doors.
No one answered them. He opened them himself with a key and let us in.
The foyer alone could have fit my apartment. Its grand expanse yawned in all directions, spanning whole football fields before branching off into lavishly set sitting areas and lounges. I even spotted a library in the far distance.
“Do I get a map?” I teased as he motioned for my coat.
I shrugged out of it and passed it over. It was hooked on a padded hanger and slipped into the closet just inside the doorway. His joined it.
“I’ll give you the personal tour.” He turned to me. “As often as you need one until you know the place by heart.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Think I’m going to be here that often, do you?”
His hand slid across my back and I was drawn into his chest. “I plan on keeping you here forever.”
I giggled, an odd sound coming from me, but I couldn’t help it.
“That coming from my self-proclaimed stalker, should I be scared?”
His teeth nibbled on my bottom lip. “Of me? Never. I’d never hurt you.”
All thoughts of further discussion evaporated with the nimble slip of my zipper drawing down my back. The exposed skin prickled with goose bumps beneath the slight chill in the room. My heart stuttered in my chest, an awkward trip before resuming at a neck breaking pace.
My own hands slid up the contours of his chest to tuck beneath the lapel of his blazer. He let me drag the material over his shoulders and down his arms.
It hit the floor.
My dress quickly followed it, slithering down my body and bunching in a heap around my ankles.
I wrinkled my nose. “That’s not fair.”
He pulled me closer. “What isn’t?”
My arms slipped around his shoulders, forcing me up on my toes, despite my heels. “I’m already practically naked and you’re still fully clothed.”
Without taking his eyes off mine, he reached between us and tore open his top. The buttons scattered, pinging off the marble beneath our feet. The shirt itself was torn off and chucked aside. Those same hands dropped to the buckle on his trousers and in the same fluid motion, had his pants at his ankles. Pants, socks, and shoes were stepped out of and left in a wadded heap.
Then he stood before me, gloriously nude and built like a Greek statue. Every rugged, perfectly defined contour and muscle gleamed under the soft lights. They ran pale fingers into dips and valleys I wanted to travel with my fingers. My tongue. I wanted to litter every taut inch of him in kisses and work my way down to the hard, thick appendage bobbing at his abdomen.
“Oh...”
The breathy sigh was met with the demanding crush of his mouth over mine. The violent attack drove me back into the closet door, slapping it shut with a bang. The cold surface seared into my back, but I barely noticed when he was kissing me as if his life depended on it.
His hands twisted into the thin strip of material running over my hips. It never stood a chance when he tore the panties off me, leaving marks on my skin.
I cried out only to have it swallowed by his tongue pushing into my mouth. His hands clamped over the backs of my thighs, pulling them apart, pulling them up, and settling them around his hips.
“I’m going to fuck you from here all the way to my bedroom,” he growled against my lips. “Over every step, up against every wall, on every flat surface, all the way to my bed.”
He emphasized his promise by impaling me on the hard length of his shaft.
The invasion had my head falling back. It struck the door with a dull thud and stayed there as he pushed himself in the whole way, stretching me in the process.
“Kieran.”
His lips grazed my exposed throat. “Yeah, baby?”
He pulled out and pushed back in slowly, rendering me completely brain dead as all the blood roared in the place of my thoughts. He bit the pulse at my neck and I moaned.
“I don’t know ... can’t remember, just don’t stop.”
His chuckle vibrated against my jawline. But he made no comment as he pulled us away from my propped position and started towards the stairs, his cock still buried deep inside me. His fingers held firm to the round curves of my ass as if I weighed nothing.
At the top, I nuzzled the side of his face, loving this new sense of freedom to be able to do so. My lips brushed the curve of his jaw and worked up to his ear.
“So you know,” I whispered. “This is extremely hot.”
His chuckle burned into the curve of my shoulder. I was quite impressed that he didn’t even sound winded; the stairs were a good hike up. I would have been sweating and panting without carrying another human being to the top.
“You have seen nothing yet,” he replied, stalking left down a long corridor.
He paused once outside a set of doors. I reached out and twisted the knob. It swung inward and he moved with it into spacious room painted in shadows. The only sliver of light came from a set of patio doors that radiated off white sheets draped over an ocean sized bed. The placement reminded me of a spotlight, which would have struck me as hilarious, except I was dropped down on it before I could laugh.
Kieran remained at the edge, his penis still nestled deep inside me, my legs hooked over the bends in his arms. He peered down at me, his face masked in darkness.
“Perfect,” he murmured, his voice a husky purr. “Right where you belong.”
A shiver coursed through me, an involuntary ripple of pleasure that tightened my core around him.
He groaned and rolled his hips forward. I gasped as his tip hit my base.
“You’re going to need a safe word for at least half the shit I’m going to do to you tonight and a priest for the rest.”
I shook my head, fingers reaching down my body to where we were joined and grazing the hard patches
embedded into his stomach. “I don’t want either, just ... please, Kieran.”
His answer was a low growl and the capture of my hands. Our fingers were woven together and pulled over my head, arching my spine and pulling him over me until our faces were inches apart.
Unlike earlier, his movements were slow, even thrusts done at an angle that had my toes curling at his back. My hips rose to meet him, welcoming him back with every plunge.
His lips found mine, muffling my choked little whimper as I crumbled beneath him. His fingers tightened, restraining my hands against the mattress when he settled against the very base inside me, deep enough to have me flailing as I teetered between pain and pleasure.
“Fuck, yes!” Gratification laced his hiss of triumph. “Waited so ... fucking ... long!”
Each word was accented with a hard thrust, four before he snarled his release against my mouth. I felt the slick discharge and bit my lip. I didn’t know if I should laugh, or consume every last pill on my birth control wheel; with the sheer amount between now and earlier, I wouldn’t have blamed the contraception not to work properly. I prayed that wasn’t the case. As thrilling as the idea of having babies with Kieran was, I was in no position to have them.
“Hey.” He touched my cheek lightly, drawing my focus back to him. “Where’d you go?”
“Sorry. I was just thinking.”
He raised one eyebrow. “Should I be worried?”
I chuckled. “Not at all. You’re amazing, it’s just ... everything feels so ... familiar, so natural. I can’t explain it.”
“Like we’ve been here before with me deep inside you?” he summarized. “Kind of like how I had you earlier?”
His teasing had me rolling my eyes. “I mean overall. I just feel like...” I scrambled for the right word. “Like we’ve been here before, not here in your bedroom, just here ... together, like this.”
He kissed me, deep and hard. “You’re going to be the end of me, woman,” he growled into the melding of our mouths. “You drive me fucking crazy.”
“I’m sor—”
His kiss ended with a sharp nip of his teeth on my tongue. I yelped and tugged free, but he replaced the bite with a nibble of his lips sucking my bottom lip between his.
“What did I say about unnecessary apologies?” He released my lip and kissed it lightly. “I told you I’d help you stop.”
“By biting me?” I mumbled.
“If I have to.” He pulled back. “Now, dessert or a shower?”
“Can I have both?”
He raised one shoulder. “We have all night and I intended to make use of every second with you.”
Chapter Eleven — Gabrielle
I woke the next morning to a room full of muffled sunlight and a sensation of such utter content I couldn’t stop my limbs from stretching like a lazy cat’s. A self-satisfied grin unfurled into existence, radiating with all the giddy euphoria warming my blood.
I was in Kieran’s bed. I had slept with him. I had showered with him, and kissed him and held him. I had spent the entire night lost in him, enveloped in him. I couldn’t even tell where I started and he ended most times. It had been such wild race of passion.
But the man himself was gone now. The bed we’d destroyed the previous night lay barrian before me, the space empty. His absence smothered the joy I’d been riding upon waking up and I found myself staring at the spot with a dejected sense of loss. For once, all I wanted was to wake up and have the man I’d spent the night with actually still there with me. I knew it was the price to pay for being with a man who owned a company, but I was beginning to feel annoyed by the constant abandonment.
Maybe it was what men did. I wasn’t exactly an expert in the subject. Maybe this was normal.
Nevertheless, I didn’t like it.
Lips mashed together in resignation, I rolled onto my other side, unable to continue seeing the vacancy, and froze.
Splayed across his stomach, pillow bunched beneath his head, Kieran slept soundly. His torso was half draped with the sheets, but barely, and I had a clear view of his backside and the toned width of his back. His hair hung over his face, over his eyes, reminding me of some beautifully tragic poetry.
But it was the sight of him, the physical bulk of him claiming the space with me that sent my heart leaping in my chest. Delight stole my breathe and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from making a sound. My fingers curled into the sheets, resisting the urge to brush the hair off his face, to follow the lines of his face with my fingertips just to make sure I wasn’t imagining him.
I refrained. He looked so peaceful, I couldn’t bring myself to disturb him. Instead, I crept to the foot of the bed and slipped off. I glanced back once to make sure I hadn’t awakened him before tiptoeing to the closet. I located myself a dress shirt from the dozens hanging in a neat row, closed the doors, and made my way down in search of the kitchen.
At the bottom of the stairs, I paused, feeling like Beauty in the maze.
I opted right. It seemed like a good bet.
But I crossed several sitting areas, a rec room, three offices, a study, two sunrooms, at least twenty bathrooms, bedrooms, and even a crafts room, but no kitchen. Not even a spare one. I was just beginning to think maybe he didn’t own one when I took a turn somewhere and found myself before a set of beautiful, crystal doors overlooking a magnificent conservatory in full bloom.
I pushed the doors in and stepped into a whole other world, a world of lush foliage and hot, sticky air. The humidity dampened the shirt to my skin and turned my hair wild, but it didn’t deter my feet from moving deeper over the cobblestone path. The winding trail lured me past an array of colorful blooms, looming trees, and tiny, stone homes hidden just out of view. It was as if I had been transported into some magical village all nestled in the confines of a glass dome. All around me, birds chirped and water gurgled.
I had never been so enchanted.
The trail ended in a loop that circled back, but not before I came face to face with a magnificent waterfall towering to the ceiling. Silver water crashed in a deafening roar over jagged rocks and plummeted into the rippling pond below. Its sheer size took up the majority of space, an Olympic sized pool with clear water that looked down into the sandy bottom and the flutter of movement weaving through the brush. I had to move in closer to make out the creatures with their silver and gold fins. They danced just beneath the surface, a beautiful circus of life. I’d never seen koi up close, but just watching them put me in a state of absolute calm I hadn’t felt in ages. Possibly ever.
“There you are.”
Strong arms coiled around my middle and pulled me back into a warm, naked chest. The unexpected presence of another person startled a gasp out of me, and a tiny jolt. But I stayed against him.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” I murmured, watching the tumble of water bursting over sheets of stone and frothing at the bottom. “I don’t want to leave.”
“It’s yours.”
The words were said against the back of my head and were muffled by the roar of the waterfall, making me doubt their existence.
“What?” I tilted my face back to peer into his.
“It’s yours,” he repeated.
I stared for a moment, not entirely sure he was being seriously.
“You’re giving me ... whatever this is?”
He nodded. “I don’t need it. I never use it. If it makes you happy, it’s yours. But,” he added when I opened my mouth, “it comes with one condition.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What?”
The tips of his fingers brushed over my mouth. “You have to visit it every night and once in the morning.”
My lips curved under his touch. “I guess that means I’d have to spend the night, every night. Otherwise, it’s a lot of driving, especially since I have classes in the morning.”
He nodded slowly. “You should probably bring your things here.”
I laughed. “Basically, move in with yo
u?”
He hummed softly. “Well, when you put it that way...” His fingers were replaced with his lips in a grazing kiss. “I have plenty of space in my closet.”
I turned to him, kiss never breaking, mouths never parting, and wound my arms around his shoulders. I arched my feet, settling my weight against his as I tried to match his height.
His arms enclosed me, gripping me tight to his front.
But I pulled away. I broke the seal between our lips and peered up into the face that starred in all my dreams, the eyes that had haunted me for seven years, and the mouth I fantasized about daily. I was almost too scared to blink, just in case it all vanished.
“What?” he murmured.
My head rocked slowly from side to side. “I can’t believe you’re actually here,” I said. “I can’t believe I’m actually kissing you. It’s all I’ve wanted since I was sixteen.”
“Just to kiss me?”
I chuckled. “Not just, but...” Heat prickled my cheeks. “It was on my list.”
He grinned, lopsided and beautiful. “Well, my lips and the rest of me are all yours.”
For now, yes, I thought miserably. But I didn’t say as much to him. I knew he’d argue and tell me everything would be okay, only, there was no way he could know that, not without knowing all the facts, which I couldn’t give him. Already, we were both standing on a sheet of ice with him on one side and me on the other, and a long splinter down the middle. I had no idea how any of this would end in eight months. I knew it didn’t change anything. I knew I still had to leave. But I also knew I couldn’t without this time with him.
“What is it?”
“Have you ever thought about just walking away?” I heard myself ask without a shred of consent from my brain. “Just leave it all behind and start over somewhere no one knows you?”
He studied me a long while, his fingers combing gently through my hair.
“Maybe if I didn’t have you, or my mom.”
His mom. I’d forgotten about her. Of course he couldn’t just drop everything and run away with me. Unlike my mother, he actually liked his.
“Why?”
I shook my head, struggling to mask my dejection. “No reason.”
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