He shrugged. “I found out that it felt good to take out a lot of my anger or boredom with a hammer on wood. Once the project was finished, I was able to get it sold for twice and sometimes even five times the price I paid for them. And the great thing about it was, I lived in each house while I worked on it – which meant I moved a lot. But I enjoyed the occupation.”
“So now, this is all you do, right?” she asked, smiling a little. “The do-it-all renovations man. No wonder you seemed so different from what I expected. No disrespect to the everyday working man, but you kind of looked much too delicious in overalls than you should.”
“Minx,” he teased, a pleased grin on his face as he chucked her chin playfully with his fist. “But you’re right; it’s all I really do now. One morning I woke up and decided I wasn’t going to show up at my fancy high-rise office anymore. I started my contractor firm and haven’t looked back since.”
“Awesome,” she said with a smile. She reached up and combed her fingers through his hair, loving the luxurious silky feel, and the ease she felt in being able to just reach out and touch him. Damn, she felt so good around him. She thought of what limited time they had to spend together – and how hard it was going to be to walk away when this was over.
It was easier, as always, to just push those thoughts aside. She hadn’t felt this sensually comfortable around a man in a long time: Gordon made her feel safe, feel like a woman. Everything else might be all wrong; the timing, the circumstance. But time and place didn’t have to matter when being around him made her so happy.
He was gazing down into her eyes, his look searching, his smile indulgent. Could he read her mind, she wondered? Could he tell how much he’d torn her down? Her defenses, her excuses, they were withering down. She liked him a lot already and there was no way to know what other emotions she was capable of feeling for him. Love? Happily ever after?
I don’t know, she thought with a pang. All she knew was that his touch, his kiss, felt like the best thing in the world. Just then, a blaze built up in his mesmerizing, glittering eyes. His head began to descend, and she drew in a breath of expectation. He was going to kiss her, she knew. And she wasn’t going to do a thing to stop him…
Chapter Thirteen
He wrapped his hand round her nape and drew her in for a kiss. She went forward willingly, her lips parting with a sigh. They meshed tongues, pulling and thrusting. Victoria melted into him and he growled deep in his throat at her sweet response.
“Darling,” he said, making her heart flutter. His voice was mesmerizing, his kiss and touch electrifying. His hand fell heavily on her breast, slipping beneath the bodice and cupping the soft, firm under swell. She drew her lips back a little too weakly protest that someone might pass by on the path and see them.
“There’s another reason I chose this place,” he murmured with a slanted grin, “My neighbors live overseas and are hardly ever home. No one’s likely to wander by, trust me – except a rabbit or two on the way down a hole. No worries there.”
“No worries,” she repeated, smiling softly, as he merged their lips once more. They shared a long, unhurried kiss, and it was like making love. It was unending, fulfilling, a dance of heat and magic. There was no saying where it would lead; they simply kissed for the taste and feel of it. She could relax now as he teased her breast, fondling the pulpy flesh and then twisting the fat tip in his thumb and forefinger. She gasped against his lips, her inner folds twitching between her locked thighs.
“I haven’t had dessert,” were the words he whispered, his mouth just a breath away.
“What do you have in mind?” she asked, her tone teasing as her hand slid from his hair down to his shirted chest. Beneath her palm, his heart boomed.
“Oh…preferably something soft, sweet, with a hint of caramel.” He punctuated his words by trailing his fingers over her waist before he lost them beneath the high skirt of her dress. Her thighs parted involuntarily, and she soon felt his finger tips brushing up and down the vee of her panties.
“Gordon, I…,” she began, her fingers clutching his shirt front as her heart thudded.
“Don’t stop me,” he said simply, and she forced her thighs to relax, unable to resist the strokes of his fingers as they pleasured her through the fabric of her thong. A damp patch soon formed, and she hid her face in the crook of his shoulder, her face hot.
“You are so sexy,” he told her, kissing the top of her head. “I want to be inside you all the time. Why can’t I get enough of you, Victoria? When you leave – it’s going to take some serious rehab to help me through not having the chance to taste you, feel you wrapped tight around me like a velvet glove…”
Her body shivered, and she felt the sensual urge to press her breasts against his chest, to enjoy their closeness skin to skin.
“God yes, touch me,” he groaned, as she undid his top buttons and delved her hands into his shirt, skimming her palms over his chest. She explored his smooth, strong torso, a deep hunger in her touch. As she finished unbuttoning his shirt, he also pushed the bodice of her dress off her shoulders, along with the straps of her bra. Her breasts bounced free, the nipples teased by the soft breeze. She wasted no time before pushing herself against the strength of his upper body, gasping as his heat engulfed her with passion.
Their lips merged once more. Her hands went lower to fumble with his belt buckle, and by this time, their kiss was rougher, fierier. She wanted him; right here, out in the open, underneath the bluest sky she’d ever seen. Victoria had never been so adventurous as to make love in the outdoors. It felt all the more reckless and exciting, and coupled with having such a sexy lover, it seemed like an escapade that was worth a try…
*
Her hands on his body drove him mad. There was something about her touch; she had a dreamy, yet possessive way of roaming over his body, like it was her very own treasure chest. She dug a hand into his unzipped fly, dived beneath his boxers, and grasped him. He groaned.
Her hold was bold and firm around his rock-hard cock. With his tongue, he reached out for hers, and they shared a wet, hot salsa as he fed himself on her sweet mouth. He felt his member throb within her stroking palms; it felt so good. She felt good, as his fingers slipped beneath her soaked panties and he touched her petal-soft folds.
Feeling how much of her juices she had spilled got him ready to melt right there in her hand, which stroked him inside his underwear. He could feel her palm slicken with his precum, and knew that he too, was dripping with lust to claim her. There was now no need to wait.
He tugged down her damp panties, till they hung off one of her ankles. Applying his weight upon her, he made her lie on her back in the grass. Her slender legs were pushed apart, and he balanced his weight on his arms above her. He kissed her, groaning as he felt her hands exploring his body beneath the unbuttoned shirt.
Victoria lying in the grass beneath him, her hair fanned out, her deep brown eyes glowing in her honey-skinned face…was exquisite. He felt her hands digging into his back, urging him. He smiled. She was impatient; her body writhed as she hedged up against his straining cock. With one hand, he freed himself, and moments later, thrust into her in one swift stroke.
“You’re so wet for me,” he groaned, and heard her whimper as he sank in deep. Her legs lifted and wrapped around him, imprisoning him deliciously to her. He began to move, the pleasure within him building up with each far-reaching stroke. He stared into her face for some moments, watching the play of emotions. The slight frown of discomfort; her pussy still hadn’t adjusted to him; he was much too big for her but still she took it every time, took all of him. Right then he was angling his thrusts, aiming to trigger pleasure from her clit to ease the pressure from his hard, thick shafting. She sighed, her arms winding around him as his movements ground out a steady rhythm.
“Gordon,” she cried out softly, burying her face in his neck as he too bent to bite on the delicate curve of her shoulder. She would kill him, he was sure of that. She was the d
efinition of pleasure and fucking her was like paradise itself. Once he was inside her walls his mind went blank and she was the one clear thought left in his head. Her sweetness, her giving body.
She arched upwards against him, her head flung back in rapture. A guttural moan began to erupt from her throat and he knew then that she’d reached her point of no return. Her muscles pulsed around his cock and he felt his heart pound alarmingly fast. He drew on the last ounce of his strength and held back till she climaxed, before he finally let go. His cum spurted, just as his shaft throbbed between her walls. He ground his hips into her and she held on tight with her arms and legs, enveloping him within her core.
Finally he pulled out and then collapsed beside her. Slowly, he became aware of their surroundings again: the chirping birds, the breeze moving the leaves in the trees overhead. He sought out her hand beside his and grasped it between them. His chest heaved as he slowly brought his breathing back to normal. He heard her let out a satisfied smile, and he glanced her way. Her half-hooded eyes turned to his.
“Wow,” was all she said, with a lazy smile, before her head rolled to the side and she fell promptly asleep.
***
Victoria felt refreshed after her nap. After she’d filled both appetites: for food and sex, she’d needed the bit of snooze. It had felt good to wedge up against Gordon beneath the shade of the tree. He’d let her sleep, waking her only when the day started to grow dim.
“It could rain; one never knows around here,” he said with a teasing smile as he roused her a few hours later. “We need to be getting back.” He was on his feet, drawing her up with her body sliding against his. They stood chest to chest for a moment as he stared down at her. “You’re magic. Has anyone ever told you that?”
“No,” she said simply. No smart-ass reply from her right then. His words made her feel like sixteen again, on the brink of her first crush. She looked up into his eyes and saw the edge of wonder; he could give her so much if only she would take.
But he’d made no true offers so there was nothing to accept. Only what he had to offer: friendship, sex. She wondered if that wasn’t more than enough already.
“Don’t keep doing that,” he told her softly, surprising her. She frowned quizzically, and he added, “I can almost read you like a book, Victoria. It feels like you doubt what we share; every step of the way you doubt it – doubt us. I told you before: there’s nothing to be scared of. I want this, what we make happen when we are in each other’s arms. I love how we can talk and you can lean your head on my shoulder when you want to.”
His smile was a cross between rueful and tender, as he brushed some stray grass off her hair. “I’m not interested in complicating your life, Victoria. I promise you. Now, let me take you home.”
Chapter Fourteen
There was that crashing-down-to-earth feeling when she heard Jeff’s voice on the other end of the line.
“What did you say? You’re here, in London?”
Why did her voice hold such a squeak in it, she wondered, as she clutched the phone to her ear. She’d only just been dropped off by Gordon, who’d kissed her goodnight with a promise to see her the next morning when he showed up to work on the house.
“I just arrived. I checked straight in to the Milestone hotel,” he informed her lightly. “I wanted it to be a surprise.”
“Consider me rightly surprised,” she said, shoving her hair back as she tried to analyze her inner turmoil. “But, why on earth would you come all the way over here?”
“I was worried about you. You hardly pick up my calls, and you’ve stopped ringing back when I leave messages. I was beginning to think some British hunk had stolen you off,” he teased, then added, “But seriously, this is a business trip. I’m meeting some London partners for an important contract signing tomorrow morning. We’re to hold talks here in the hotel conference rooms, and then conclude terms. I was hoping you and I could meet up afterwards.”
“Oh. Of course. Certainly, Jeff. That sounds great. I can’t wait to see you. I missed you,” she said honestly.
“I missed you too,” he said, then chuckled. “And I really was serious about being worried that you’ve found my replacement. It’s been giving me a lot of sleepless nights wondering what you could be up to. I hear these English men are quite dashing.”
Victoria laughed somewhat weakly. Was that guilt she felt? But it wasn’t possible; she had no reason to be guilty. She didn’t belong to Jeff any more than he belonged to her. She tried to convince herself he was just joking; certainly he knew where they stood by now.
***
She remembered that night. They’d gone out with friends for some drinks and then they went dancing afterwards. It had been a rowdy night. She’d grown more familiar with Jeff than she’d been previously. He’d kissed her several times during the course of the evening, and she’d let him. It had been enjoyable – nothing earth-moving, but it had been nice.
So nice, that she’d convinced herself to follow him back to his place by the time the night was through. There in his luxury loft apartment, they’d explored once more with kisses. He’d unzipped her dress, and soon had it pooling to the floor. His shirt had followed after, and they’d crushed to each other. It had felt right up until the moment she’d felt some part of her rebel against what was happening.
There was no urge within her; her body was stirred but she did not actively need to fuck him. She knew she would just be going through the motions. Kisses, fondling, and then the romp. It would mean nothing. She didn’t want him that way. Even when he’d put his mouth on her skin, and sucked her nipples, she’d felt hardly a twitch in her vaginal walls. She just wasn’t into it.
He’d been, though. She’d felt his erection jabbing her belly through his trousers. It had felt so cruel to stop him, and to firmly ask that he take her home. He’d seemed disappointed, surprised – but he was always the perfect gentleman. Less than half an hour later, she was back in her apartment, shutting the door on his hurt, confused face.
It had been hard to face him after that. But he kept ringing, trying to get her to talk to him. And then finally, he was able to get through to her and assured her that he wasn’t mad about that night. And then he asked if they could at least stay friends, and she’d gladly agreed.
That was the way it had been ever since. Just friends. So she could easily tell herself that he was his usual joking self when he talked about her being “stolen away” or of her finding his “replacement”.
However, she couldn’t help being a little guarded with Gordon when she saw him the next morning. But then he was probably much too busy to notice her attitude; he had a few technicians along for that day’s job.
She was in the kitchen around noon when he suddenly snuck up behind her, and drew her back against his body. “Coffee break,” he announced softly, his lips against her ear.
Victoria drew in a shuddering breath, the feel of his hard, strong body thrilling beyond words. Then she murmured, “Let me guess…black, right?”
“So right,” he growled, his hands sliding up her belly to the under swell of her breast. He cupped her in his palms, squeezing with hard, strong heat. “I’ve been thinking of you all morning.”
“So have I,” she confessed, biting on her lip and wondering why his touch held such power for her. He could shove her on the kitchen table and ram her from behind – and she would let him, she knew. Right here in the kitchen, at the risk of any of the other workmen walking in.
“Have dinner with me tonight, Victoria. There’s this fantastic Italian restaurant – “
“I’m sorry, Gordon,” she said quickly, turning in his arms and looking up at him. “I…I have some other engagement this evening.”
His hands fell away from her. “A date?” he half-teased, going to the coffee pot and pouring himself a cup. “I’m a very jealous man, Victoria.” He faced her again, his blue-green eyes gleaming.
“It’s a friend,” she said quickly, wondering why she f
elt the need to explain to him. Damnit, that was not a good sign. “He’s come to London from New York on some business. We will meet for drinks and some dinner.” She shrugged.
He finished his coffee, his gaze steady on her as he placed down the cup. “Just friends, hmm?”
“Yes,” she said, smiling slightly as she came up to him. Her hands slid up his chest, feeling the ripple of muscle beneath his shirt. “I owe you some home cooking. I’d like to prepare you dinner tomorrow night. It’s all on me.”
“Hmm,” he said thoughtfully, his hand cupping her cheek. “But tonight. That’s what I’ll be thinking of – you with your friend.”
“His name is Jeff – and we’ll be having dinner. That’s all,” she told him with quiet firmness. Her eyes flashed with irritation – mostly at herself. Why did he make it feel necessary for her to feel like she was about to do something wrong? It wasn’t like she belonged to Gordon. She didn’t belong to anyone.
So basically, she could do what she liked, when she liked.
Victoria wasn’t sure what he’d read in her eyes, but he seemed to nod, before brushing past her. “I need to get back to work.” He was gone from the kitchen, and she felt a deep sigh escape her.
Chapter Fifteen
She had mixed feelings seeing Jeff Nielson again. To look him in the face and think of how close they were, and yet were still distant. He’d wanted to be her lover – to love her. But she’d never let him get the chance.
And yet there was Gordon, sexy, irresistible Gordon – who’d got her on her back on the first try. What did that say about her?
Well, for one thing, it had proven to Victoria that she was human. She could be weak. She could do crazy things and sleep with a man she’d just met a few weeks ago. Most of all, she could make mistakes. And she assured herself that if being with Gordon turned out to be a mistake, then it would be one of the best she’d ever made.
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