by Aria Ford
He grinned at me. “You think that because my life's never dull when you're in it.”
My heart ached with the sweetness of that.
“Oh, Drake.”
“What?”
“You say the sweetest things sometimes.”
“Sometimes,” he demurred. “But I haven't said very nice things to you lately. Or very much at all. And I am sorry. I want to change that.”
“Good,” I said.
We placed our orders and had lunch in a companionable quiet. We discussed dinner recipes and he said he was going to make a surprise. I said I couldn't wait. He laughed.
I floated out of the cafe feeling as if my world had suddenly filled with sunshine.
In my office, I heard Emmy on the phone.
“Blue whales, Chad. Whales.” a pause. “Yes. That's right. Anything you can find. The bigger the better. Thanks, honey. Bye, now.”
She put the phone down none too gently and turned and looked at me.
“I'm not asking,” I said innocently.
She sighed. “That was my husband. Chad. Asking if he can get some cardboard from the office suppliers for the project.”
“Ah.” I smiled at her. “The demands of parenting, huh?”
“It has some weird demands,” she admitted, rolling her eyes.
I laughed. “Well, I just learned more about blue whales than I ever thought I knew.”
“True,” she said. “You look happy,” she added, insightful.
“I am happy,” I admitted. I knew I was probably sitting grinning stupidly, and I could feel the warmth flaming my cheeks. I was giddy and silly and the world was a beautiful place and I was so, so happy.
I was going to Drake Leblanc's for dinner. Tonight.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Drake
The oven smelled slightly acrid when I turned it on. I squinted and frowned, getting on my hands and knees and looking in through the door.
“Dammit. I spilled something on the bottom there...”
I bent down on hands and knees and started to scrub it clean. When I came up again, the cereal grains from the day before were still adhering to my trouser-leg. I shook my head.
I really need to clean up in here too.
I went over to the broom and started sweeping the floor again. While I did, I mentally ran through my list of dinner preparations. I was going to do Thai-style prawns – her favorite.
“Okay. I think I have everything I need...” I opened the cupboard and glanced about, paying special attention to the spices. I like Thai-style food too, so I had plenty of the right spices lined up. And coconut milk. And ginger.
“Awesome.”
I had other things to do too. Clean the floor. Get an air-freshener for the bathroom. Buy roses. I had cut this all a bit fine, I realized as I looked at my clock. I'd made it home early, but it was five to six now. I'd better hit the store now.
Luckily, there was a convenience store not too far away from me. I jogged up the pavement and along; trying not to worry.
I had contacted Liam and told about the missing files. He said there wasn't much we could do about it, but there was probably nothing to pin on me other than being slightly weird. Good.
I am not going to think about it, I told myself. I am going to have a wonderful evening with the woman I love. I was going to pretend I didn't know anything about work. I would focus on making a great meal and spoiling Ainsley for a change.
The convenience store had air-freshener. They also had red pepper. And red roses. Things were coming together.
I grabbed what I needed and paid at the checkout and hurried up the pavement again.
“Whoops, sorry!” I called, holding up my hands to an irate motorist who I'd just scared the life out of by running in front of. He honked and shouted but I wasn't going to let him bother me. I had a dinner to prepare.
Upstairs, I was sweating when I discovered it was almost twenty past six. I put the air-freshener in the bathroom, dunked the roses in a vase I luckily happened to own, and ran into the kitchen. I was still wearing my suit and tie from work and praying they didn't smell like sweat even though I'd just run about half a mile wearing them.
“Right,” I said to myself. “Chop the ginger, the pepper, some garlic...”
My hands were busy as my mind worked through the recipe. I threw the spices and herbs into a pan with the sesame oil and started frying them, then added mushrooms and the bamboo.
“Okay...all set.”
The doorbell rang.
I ran to answer it, my heart thudding and visions of Ainsley dancing through my head. Memories of the previous night and the satin of her skin in the lamplight...
“Ainsley!” I threw open the door as the bell rang again. “Hi.”
She smiled at me. “Hi, Drake.”
Her voice was teasing and challenging and I felt myself start to get aroused. The scent of her perfume – something at once fresh and dark and exciting – hit me first.
I breathed in and stared, feeling my senses swim in a pool of desire.
She was wearing a cream blouse with the top two buttons undone, a coat in a slightly darker color and jeans that clung to her sweet curves. Shoes with a slight heel made her a little taller than usual – her eyes came just to my nose. She stepped in and I felt my arms go around her the instant she was close.
“Ainsley,” I murmured into her hair. “I'm so glad you agreed to come.”
She laughed, the sound muffled where I held her close. I could feel my cock starting to grow, and the need to feel her warm soft skin against it was almost more than I could bear. I let myself press into her and she chuckled and tightened her grip around me and we kissed.
My tongue slid in between her lips and I sighed, my cock growing as my tongue pushed inside her mouth. Having my tongue inside her mouth was like heaven. I sighed and drew her tightly into my arms, my whole body aching with the need to have her close.
She let my tongue explore her mouth, her grip around me tight but gentle, and I stroked her hair with my hand while my other hand gripped her waist, loving the smooth curve of it, the way it felt under my clutching touch.
“Whew,” I murmured. She laughed.
“Um, Drake?”
“Yes?” I looked at her a little desperately, my whole body focused only on desire.
“Is it me, or can I smell something burning?”
“What...oh!” I flushed red and sniffed too. Yes, there was something burning. “The veggies...”
I ran to the kitchen, her behind me. The place was awash with smoke. Coughing and spluttering, I doused the frying-pan in water, putting out the acrid remains of the vegetables.
“Dammit!” I said, laughing with dismay as I scraped the cinder from the pan and tried to clean it up.
Ainsley caught my eye and we both started laughing.
“Oh, Drake,” she said gently. “Don't ever change. Please...”
I grinned. “If I could change some things, I'd have done it by now. Unfortunately, I guess I'm stuck with the inattention issues...”
She grinned and to my complete amazement she wrapped her arms around me, pressing that sweet body against me. My poor cock throbbed with longing and I looked around the kitchen, straining with the thought of having to spend the rest of the evening cooking before I could take her to bed. I wanted so badly to carry her into my bedroom and throw her onto the mattress, strip those clothes slowly and lovingly from her body and give her everything.
“Dinner,” I said to myself as I kissed her quickly and then stepped quickly back. “We have to make dinner first.”
She chuckled. “Do we?” She blinked those mischievous brown eyes and my resolve deserted me.
“No,” I said softly. “I guess not.”
She giggled. “Me too.”
I tensed as she leaned against me again, my cock pressed against her warm, smooth body as we held each other close. I bent down and sampled her, my tongue tasting her mouth. She wrapped her arms around m
e and drew me down closer. I probed her mouth with my tongue, plundering that sweet moist spot.
“Drake,” she whispered sexily as I broke the kiss, gasping. “Should we go?”
“Are you sure we shouldn't make dinner first?” I asked, worried.
“We can order takeout if it's too late,” she murmured into my ear. “I want you first.”
Oh. Any restraint I could have uncovered just flew away as I heard those words. I bent down and wrapped my arms around her and then walked backwards, pushing her slowly but insistently to my room. Then, as she laughed and clung to me, I put one arm under her arms and my other under her knees and scooped her up.
“Oh! Put me down...” she yelled, laughing and giving me a playful thump on the back as I chuckled and then kissed her.
“I will,” I said. I deposited her on the bed and then stood back as she laughed and then lay there, looking up at me with big trusting brown eyes.
“I love you,” I murmured. I don't know where the words came from – they just spontaneously found their way to my lips. She stared at me.
Her big brown eyes filled with sweet tears. “Oh, Drake,” she whispered. “Oh. I love you. Now and always.”
I felt those words sear into my heart and I came and sat beside her on the bed. Very gently, tenderly, I kissed her mouth.
She melted in my arms like chocolate on a stove, all soft and pliant and sweet and I pushed her back onto my silky pillows and started to undress her.
My hands touched her warm skin at her throat and I shivered as I felt the warmth of her on my hand. I started to unbutton her shirt and she moaned and closed her eyes as I let it slide off her shoulders and then sat back to look at her.
She was lying back on my pillows, eyes closed, lips parted, sweet hair tousled about her bare shoulders. Under the blouse she was wearing a lacy bra that cupped her full breasts to perfection, the satiny lace showing tantalizing glimpses of pale skin. I felt as if I was a kid, unwrapping a Christmas gift. I wanted to savor the moment. I loved the way she looked in a bra and tight jeans. But at the same time, I wanted to see what she looked like in a bra and panties too.
I started to unfasten the jeans, drawing them down off her legs and feet. She was wearing lace panties this time, the design revealing similar tantalizing glimpses as the bra. I stood up and looked down at her. With that generously-curved figure, soft full mouth and long oval face, she was so beautiful. I was teasing myself.
“You're stunning,” I whispered. “I don't feel like I deserve this...” I trailed off, my throat tight with wanting.
She laughed. “Oh, Drake,” she said in a voice that made my whole body tingle with desire. “Of course you do. Or I wouldn't be here. Would I?”
“I don't know...” I trailed off again, genuinely unsure. Ainsley was so sweet, and I had mistreated her a good deal over the years. I came and knelt by her on the bed. Here, I could smell the sweet woman-scent of her and I felt my body start to shake with longing.
She giggled. “Drake,” she murmured again and her fingers clasped round mine. She drew my fingers to her mouth and kissed the tops of them.
I sighed. “Mm,” I murmured, feeling my loins throbbing. “That feels good.”
“Good,” she said. She rolled over a little, her breasts facing me rather than the ceiling, and I lost all restraint. I reached behind her and unfastened her bra and her breasts were free, full and round and warm to my hands as I clutched them and then bent down to sample those sweet apricot-colored nipples with my tongue.
She gasped as I bit gently and I eased off, changing the biting to a clinging motion. She gasped and I felt my own body tense with need as I played with my tongue, trying to figure out what it was she liked best. She was sighing and the little sounds she made fired my loins.
I moved down and slid her panties off her legs and slid my hand between them, clutching at her wetness. She screeched and I felt myself almost climax. I leaned back and undressed.
She opened her eyes and smiled at me, her gaze on me as I took off my clothing.
***
In the soft lamplight of the room, Drake's body rippled as he took off the shirt and came to lie beside me on the bed. I reached out a hand and stroked it down his chest and he unfastened his pants, smiling shyly at me as I stared at that sculpted body.
His chest rippled in the lamplight and his pectoral muscles were hard in my hand as I stroked him. Then he was standing to take off his Levi's and was beside me again. I stared at him. His narrow waist, his muscled thighs, the hardness between his legs that was strangely nice to look at.
“Oh, Drake,” I murmured. He murmured my name too and came and knelt between my thighs.
Rather than pushing into me straight away, he took his hard dick in his hand and slowly ran it over me, stroking my folds with that soft, smooth head before sliding it into me. My clit was throbbing and I was so, so close now to orgasming.
He pushed into me slowly, so slowly. I closed my eyes and gasped. He changed the angle slightly and pushed in again and I shuddered as my body responded to the sweet rub of him on my most sensitive spots.
I was shaking and shivering now as he pushed into me and I found it hard to stay still. My body felt like it was catching on fire as he pushed in and pulled back and then pushed in again, pressing on all my sensitive places and rubbing and stimulating them so that my whole lower body felt as if it was tickling and throbbing and swelling and the need was growing and growing inside me, my whole body melting.
I cried aloud as a massive climax broke over me like a wave. Drake was sobbing too and then thrusting mechanically in a way that told me he was in a place beyond knowing, beyond feeling, beyond anything but the sweet melting sensation of his own climax as he cried out and collapsed in my arms.
We lay like that and my body was still pulsing and shivering as I recovered.
He rolled off me and we lay side by side. His arms were wrapped round me and he held me close as I ran a hand down the side of his face and sighed.
“Drake,” I murmured. “You make me melt. You know that?”
He chuckled and kissed my hair. He ran a gentle finger down the skin of my throat and gently touched my breast where it pressed against the smooth skin of his pecs. “I hope not,” he said, planting another chaste kiss, “if you were to melt, I wouldn't be able to hold you like this.”
He wrapped me in his arms, drawing me against him and I looked down at his gentle face and smiled.
“Oh, Drake,” I murmured. “I missed you so much.”
“I missed you, too,” he said.
It was dark in the room now, the sweet dark of a spring dusk. I could just see the shine of his eyes and his teeth where he smiled, his skin a pale blue in the shifting charcoal shade.
I lay down again and snuggled closer, warming myself in the cold of the room. His body was warm and his arms held me tightly and I felt truly safe for the first time in a long while.
We must have slept for a while, because when I woke again the room was darker and I felt cold. I snuggled closer still and kissed Drake's cool, soft cheek.
“Drake?” I murmured.
“Mm?”
“I'm cold.”
He laughed, a slow, soft chuckle that aroused me again. I pressed closer, feeling my loins start to throb with need for him.
“Should we find a blanket?” he asked.
“Mm.”
He drew back the bedspread and covered me with it and I chuckled and protested as he tucked me in.
“I'm not a baby,” I said with mock crossness. He laughed and slipped in beside me and I tucked the covers up around him, too.
“I'm also not a baby,” he chuckled as he rolled over and leaned down, kissing my eyelid.
I smiled. “I suppose not.”
“Oh,” he said, tickling me. I giggled and he moved lower, tickling under my arm. “You suppose, eh?”
“I...Drake! No!” I was giggling helplessly now as he sought out all the most-ticklish places with his fi
ngertips – my neck, my underarms, my sides.
“Should I stop?” he asked, grinning down at me.
“Yes, um...no...um...ah!” I was trying not to curl up on myself as his hands tormented my skin sweetly. Then I couldn't help it any longer. “Drake, stop!”
He grinned and leaned back. “Very well.”
I pulled a face at him. Then I rolled onto my side and leaned over so that he was on his back with me looking over him. Kissed his lips, my own tongue pressing the parting of his lips.
Then I rolled over so that I lay on top of him. He smiled and wrapped his arms around me, holding me close.
“That's nice,” he said. His hands kneaded my back and I sighed aloud.
“I don't know what you call that, either,” I said, kissing his neck and making him giggle too.
“I don't know,” he shrugged, that sweet smile making my tummy tingle.
“I call it amazing,” I murmured as his hands sought and found my sore places. “Absolutely amazing.”
“Well, that's what I call you,” he said.
I smiled at him and we lay together like that a while before, gently, I lowered my body on his. He gasped and I felt him shiver as I started moving. I moved on him and came just before he did, me lying on his chest as he shuddered and jolted with sated wanting. As I closed my eyes, letting the feeling of climax soak through me, I realized that I didn't think I'd ever been so happy.