The Guardian: A NOVEL

by Pamela Ann

  “I guess that makes us both single.” He threw me a sexy, devilish smile, making my heart palpitate for a good second.

  I suppressed the crazy need to roll my eyes as I lightly chuckled at his not so subtle innuendos. “What do you do apart from flirting with strangers?” The flow of conversation between us was great, and just when I was starting to come out of my shell, I saw Wyatt wink at me five tables to my right.

  Fuck. I nervously looked away.

  I’m going to skin him alive, I silently swore before I diverted my attention to a more pleasing subject.

  “Oh, I do plenty,” the man uttered just as the wait staff began to serve or refill our alcoholic beverages. Once Jared took hold of his cognac, powerful blue eyes held me hostage. “I only flirt when something pleases me.”

  God, if only I could devour him right this instant, I wouldn’t hold back. How was it possible to want and crave someone I had barely touched? “What pleased you tonight?”

  He leaned closer to my ear before divulging his secret. “I’m looking at her,” he succinctly stated.

  I made a coquettish smile while my heart galloped against my chest. “You’re skilled in making a woman blush.”

  “My skills are legendary.”

  Sending him a scrutinizing look, I took the provocative route. “Care to elaborate on those skills of yours?”

  His eyes glinted, the candle’s reflection dancing before his arresting face. “If I give my secret away, then they wouldn’t be legendary any longer, now would they?” His eyes lingered on my lips as he spoke. “I’m more of a direct approach, hands on kind of man. My hands are my weapon. My head, the mastermind. It thrives on new ideas, eager to thrust for new experiences and enthused in exploring wicked thrills. Its inventive pursuits are relentless…utterly ruthless.”

  My throat dried. We both knew he wasn’t referring to his “head,” but his notoriously legendary penile pursuits. My body flashed hot and cold, unsure if I should ask him to relieve me of my unbidden thoughts or to run the other way as far as I could. My riotous emotions were unnerving. But there was no mistaking how much I longed for his touch. One hasty look at his handsome face, and all doubt left my mind.

  Since his words were loaded with sexual innuendoes, I resorted to safer subjects such as world hunger just to diffuse the escalating carnal tension between us. There was no question I needed a break to reboot my wavering confidence. I still intended to walk into the lion’s den, so to speak. But before I did so, I’d need to load my system with hefty amounts of alcohol. Losing one’s virginity was a terrifying ordeal. And after witnessing the animalistic glint in his depths, I knew he might not be gentle.

  Unless I beg him to be, my mind countered, planting an alternative.

  Throughout the five-course meal, our conversations were enlightening. For a moment, I wondered if he altogether dropped his sexual intentions with me since he stopped leaning close and whispering into my ear. In between courses, he actually excused himself to speak to someone, a couple, but the woman seemed too flirty for anyone’s comfort. So, while he was engrossed in conversing with someone, I quickly darted my eyes towards my friends, and I was greeted with thumbs up.

  Upon returning to the table, Jared and I carried on in a friendly manner. Powerful men came and went from our table as they whispered into his ear, some congratulating him, some desiring to do business with him. As my father’s top person, Jared’s ideas had navigated the company to new territories. He was brilliant, and although his ingenious mind was impressive, I simply wanted him…without the accolades, the fame, and fortune.

  As dinner drew to a close, the string quartet upped their momentum. I was just about to mention something hilarious to him when his forefinger lightly touched my arm, sending goosebumps, fireworks, and exploding stars, causing an electrically charged supernova to burst into my system, engulfing my body in flames, liquefying my insides as it sent a tingling sensation in between my legs.

  Damn…his touch already felt insane. I couldn’t fathom what sex with him would be like. Good God, I’d most likely convulse and die on the spot. I was going to be royally screwed; I just knew it.

  “Dance with me.”

  Not yet. I needed more time to prepare me for his holy vaginal exorcism.

  I knew how he worked; I’d seen it a few times. He used the closeness of dancing to make you hyperaware of him. By the time the song ended, you’d be a hyperventilating mess, going absolutely gaga over him. I’d be one of those, too. That was why it was safer to decline his go-to “slow dismantling” tactics. “So you can slowly and excruciatingly disarm me? I’ll pass.”

  A show-stopping smile appeared on his lips. His eyes sparkled. Feral and dangerous, as if I had baited him with a good challenge.

  Good. I need him hungry. Very hungry. Ravenous to the point of madness.

  His frame fully faced me, so I pivoted my body, slanting towards him. There was no mistaking how much he desired me. His eyes did all the talking, and boy did they strip me bare. They were explicit in their exploration, and even if I was in my dressed state, I already felt naked before him, ready for the taking. Through those magnetic blues, he slowly disarmed me inch by inch until my reservations were nonexistent.

  It was time to cast the bait.

  My hand caressed his jawline before I leaned in, making sure my thigh nudged his member, and whispered, “Maybe I'm not all that interested.” I made a coy smile before sipping on my champagne. I waited a beat or two before timidly rising from my seat and exiting the tent then beginning to stroll in the opposite direction, towards the vast dimly lit garden.

  The moon was high, and it highlighted my path. I had grown up in this house, too. I knew every inch, nook and cranny the grounds had. And just as I concocted, the perfect spot was a few more minutes away. It was a good enough distance not to be disturbed. The party could be faintly heard from a distance, but it wasn’t loud enough to drown out any sounds if there was someone heading in this direction.

  The koi pond had a mini waterfall surrounded by cherry trees. It was one of my favorite places growing up, so much so that my father actually began planting the trees on our estate, too. I’d used to dress in my princess attire, custom armed with my magic wand as I played pretend in my cherry kingdom. But alas, tonight wasn’t about playing pretend—well, in a manner, it was since I wasn’t forthcoming about my real identity. But nevertheless, it didn’t make the situation less nerve-wracking.

  If Jared were truly interested, then he'd have followed me. So, I waited. Facing the pond as I stood, gaping at the moonlit sky above, silently praying to grant me this wish.

  In less than two minutes, the loose gravel surrounding the pond crunched underneath his shoes. I felt his presence approaching me from behind. There was a hesitation, a pause, as if he was waiting for me to say something, but when none came, his body engulfed me, pulling me against his solid frame. I closed my eyes and shuddered, savoring every second of being with him.

  He didn't say a word. But I felt his lips behind my neck before his emboldened hand smoothed over my silk dress, reaching between my thighs and cupping my mound over my dress.

  “You are such a tease,” he growled into my ear as his possessive hand curved harder into my groin, making me gasp and pant for air. When his lips nipped my skin, my eyes rolled to the back of my head, moaning as I pressed my bottom against his hardness.

  “You seem to like being teased.” Desperately eager to match his hunger, I was heady as his hands and lips traveled my body, cupping, squeezing, teasing me to the point of oblivion.

  The need in my loins grew, and when I couldn’t hold back any longer, I brazenly spun around to face my seducer. Gradually backing towards a tree, I coquettishly lifted my dress slightly, inviting him to come and join me.

  “You're breathtaking,” he hungrily stated as his eyes roved over my figure, absolutely ravenous. As if he couldn’t hold it any longer, he sat on his heels. Greedy hands began to lift my long dress before his finge
rs brushed the insides of my thighs.

  Wantonly out of my mind, I hastily shifted to spread my legs farther apart for his convenience. He groaned appreciatively when he felt how much he affected me.

  He pressed my body against the tree, slanting me at an angle before he lowered, leveling himself in my wet crevice. He let out a guttural moan when he breathed in my arousal before his tongue stuck out and tasted me. My knees buckled from the first lick.

  Jesus. He was amazing. I was drunk, horny as hell, so it didn’t take a lot of tongue coaxing to throw my inhibitions aside. Looking down on him lapping up my womanhood, I was a quivering mess as I came on his tongue several times. He didn’t relent as he stuck a finger in me.

  “So tight…My finger barely fits,” he ardently hissed with unconcealed hunger.

  Oh, shit. It was almost time. Hopefully, I wouldn’t scream like a someone was trying to murder me.

  A sheen of sweat coated my body as I nervously tried to relax while Jared prodded my untried hole. “It's been a long time since my last...a few years actually. Does it not please you?”

  “Does it not please me? You have no idea,” he groaned, “Bloody hell, you're such a fucking tease.” He nipped my clit before slowly getting up to slide the thin silk straps off my shoulder. Feral eyes devoured my breasts before he dipped his head, capturing a nipple into his mouth while his hand tugged and pulled at the other. “I didn't bring a condom with me,” he huffed out against my nipple while his hardness rubbed against the side of my thigh. “I have a room in Four Seasons. Come with me. Let me show you what I can do to this tight body.”

  “Yes! Oh, God, yes!”

  Unzipping, he immediately produced his impressive size. His hand led my mine towards his manhood. “Touch me,” he hoarsely commanded as he wrapped my hand around his incredibly engorged length.

  I almost fainted on the spot. My hand could barely grip him. I gulped, perplexed and terrified at the daunting prospect of having this mammoth size impale me sometime tonight. My ministration over his silky pole took some time to get used to. Tentatively, I stroked him, sliding my hand up and down his swollen shaft.

  He let out a guttural sound as he savored what my hand was doing to him. “Christ, we ought to leave—now. I need you naked, spread-eagled on my bed, my lips, fingers, and cock feasting on this luscious body all night long.”

  But instead of leaving for the hotel, his lips found my breast again. He began to knead while kissing my neck. With my hand gripping him, he led it towards my parted thighs, rubbing his cock-head against my entrance, faintly piercing it but not.

  “Fuck, you feel magnificent, and I'm not even inside you yet,” he roughly croaked out in wonderment. His prodding hadn’t halted. It only intensified.

  His cockhead pried my entrance, stretching it open to accommodate his girth before pulling back slightly. “Squeeze it harder,” he harshly grated out. “Don’t let go until I tell you to release me. Christ. Bloody fucking hell—Lexi!”

  I was a shuddering mess, but I couldn’t stop him. I wanted him just as much, and even though I was beyond nervous, as crazy as it sounded, it somehow felt right to be with him.

  “Are you safe?” He buried his head in my neck, biting and kissing with urgency.

  Safe? “I am.” I wasn’t on a pill, but Blair had made sure I had Plan B in my purse. I supposed I was so consumed by mentally preparing myself to go through the process that I’d forgotten one important tidbit.

  Just as my train of thought finished, Jared propelled his cock inside of my passage. The pain I felt earlier was nothing compared to the debilitating pinpricks spreading in my vagina. My fingers dug into him as I tried to stifle the sting that ricocheted through me. I gasped. I reeled. I recoiled from the ungodly pain sawing through me.

  JESUS, —is that a dick or a fucking submarine thrusting inside me?

  “You feel fucking divine, simply and utterly sublime, Lexi,” Jared groaned, shuddering in ultimate pleasure. “Are you ready to take all of me?” he dauntingly asked in a way that entailed he was about to go ham, and he was trying his damnedest to restrain himself.

  I gulped.

  All of him?

  Abort, mission abort! My mind rattled. My body reeled at the thought. His cock literally planned to murder me. I could scarcely breathe, and he was barely halfway? Yeah, all the way meant pussy carnage.

  “Be gentle, please. It’s been years,” I begged, shivering as felt him nod against my neck.

  He took me at a measured pace, but no matter how much he tried to slide deeper, my body was too wounded tight to accommodate him. Jared waited for my body began to relax until he hastened his speed. Pain and pleasure entwined, neither distinguishable from the other as he rapaciously thrust with deftly savage precision. I screamed his name as my body seized while my first orgasm washed over my body. My vaginal muscles tightened around his girth as I rode my release. Wave after wave, it spread through me. Jared was close behind. He harshly bit into my neck, as if stopping himself from screaming as he bathed my newly broken canal with his seed.

  “I’m so sorry. I hope I didn’t hurt you…I lost control when I felt you squeezing me tight. I had to have you right then and there. I lost control which is unprecedented in itself.” He nipped my neck, kissing my jawline before gathering his breath. “I’ll make it up to you tonight. I promise.”

  The man had kissed me in my most intimate parts but never my lips. He was quite careful, too.

  “Let’s clean up; then we’ll leave.”

  Holding him close, I knew after this rendezvous, going to his hotel where he could easily pull hair during sex would put me in a very dangerous territory. But instead of rejecting his offer, I beamed at him, as if everything was simply dandy. “Fifteen minutes. I’ll meet you at the valet.”

  He nipped my neck before biting into it. “Don’t make me wait. I already need you again.”

  We strode with his hand around my hips. We parted just before the clearing. He was a few paces in when someone flagged him, needing his attention over something business related.

  I stood there for a moment, knowing that even though my wish had been granted, the anguish that would soon follow in trying to move on while tonight’s memories were fresh in my mind would be a brutal process.

  But such was life. And I had to make do with what I was dealt…and that was never knowing what it would be like to be truly with him without needing to pretend to be someone else.

  With a heavy heart, I hastily went upstairs via the servant’s passageway into Blair’s bedroom and immediately took my mini dress off and washed my achy throbbing bits. There were minuscule traces of blood, but it was faint and not gory. Thank goodness. I didn’t want to impart a lasting impression with him believing I was on my period. It was a ghastly thought.

  Once freshened up, I scampered to change into a long pink chiffon gown. I then rummaged for a makeup towelette, swiftly smearing and wiping off my dark-hued makeup. Carefully, I coaxed the fake lashes off with an oil-based solution. Finally, the uncomfortable colored lenses came next. It took three minutes to successfully wipe any traces of Lexi away.

  My face bare, I made sure to reapply foundation, a few swipes of mascara, a dewy cheek tint, and lip gloss.

  Lastly, I slipped off the wig before I flipped my hair over and made a light tussling gesture to give it a little depth. I then teased it with setting spray, giving it volume and body.

  Coming downstairs, I was a few steps away from the foyer when Blair caught sight of me and instantly broke her conversation from someone before hurriedly coming towards me. Vivienne magically came out of nowhere, too.

  They had obviously been on the lookout as they waited for me to make an appearance.

  Vivienne spoke first. “He’s been waiting outside. Why’s that?”

  “I told him to wait for me—I mean, Lexi did. He invited me to his room at the Four Seasons.” My eyes averted to the entrance, guilt washing over me as I wondered if I made the right decision of not ind
ulging in another romp with him. “Should I go say hi?”

  Vivienne paled at my suggestion. “Are you crazy? What if he recognizes that it was you fucking him dirty at the pond?

  I just wanted to see him off for the last time. God knew when it would be until I saw him next. “We won’t know unless we test it, right?” My decision was set.

  “You’re insane,” Blair blurted out, wickedly grinning.

  “That I am, my dearest friends…that I am,” I murmured as I strode towards the foyer.

  They had a grand entrance reminiscent of Versailles in the designer’s mind. The moment I spotted him, my heart lurched then ached in a span of a minute. It had been over fifteen minutes, and yet, he was here still, waiting. It was so out of character for him to wait for anyone at all. I supposed Lexi had made quite an impression then.

  “Jared! Hi,” I called out to him as I descended the steps.

  The love of my life spun to see who was calling his name. His eyes lingered on me as I approached him. With the way I was sauntering, one wouldn’t guess the inferno in my crotch. But I had a performance to finish. The inferno could wait to be doused later. He and I never did the customary cheek on cheek kiss, so I stood a good three feet away.

  “Gisele, good evening. Always good to see you.” His eyes quickly noted my dress. There was no spark in his eyes, not the way he had eyed Lexi tonight. There was no feral hunger. He simply eyed me like one would if they saw something unimpressive and unappealing to their sight. The vast difference was striking. And as much as it pained me to admit it, my chances with him as Gisele were never going to be more than nil. Might as well bury it now before I continued my hopeless quest.

  His black Aston Martin DB11 drove up, and the valet attendant rounded the car to hand him the keys. Jared graciously thanked him after giving him a hundred-dollar bill.

  “You’re not leaving already, are you?” I mustered enough enthusiasm to faintly smile at him.

  He distractedly glanced at his watch. “I’m waiting on my date to come out; then we’ll leave for the night. It’s been a long day, and I have to oversee the new project your dad and I have been working on tomorrow.”