“Tell me,” he said.
She licked her lips. It made little difference. They were still dry and cracked in the heat. She forced it out: “I’m a virgin.”
His bright blue eyes regarded her for a moment, and then he smiled. “Is that all?” he said.
She nodded.
“And you think that will change anything?” He leaned into her and kissed her tenderly on the forehead. He was a startling man, Rachel thought. One moment he was dominating her; the next he was loving her. “I want to fuck you. You want to fuck me. Come on.”
He reached down and took her hand. Rachel interlocked her fingers with his and allowed herself to be led through the trees. They walked until they came to a clearing where the trees parted to allow the sunlight through. The pond was small and magical; the sunlight glistened on its surface. Rachel could not even start to work out how something this fresh and wet existed in this baking sun. They walked to the edge, sat down, took off their shoes, and dipped their toes in the water.
“Ah,” Max said.
“Ah,” Rachel agreed.
She turned her head and regarded him: this muscular, sexy man. She wanted him, she knew. She wanted him more than she had ever wanted anybody. It was more than even that; he was the only man she had ever truly wanted. Feeling like a nervous teenager, she thrust her hand forward and grabbed his cock through his shorts. He began to harden immediately. “I want it in me,” she said simply. “Max, I want that cock inside of me.”
She could hardly believe that it was her own voice she heard. It sounded like somebody else’s voice: somebody far braver, somebody who had not spent the last three years in her head, imagining what this moment would be like. She grabbed his cock with more force, and it became harder. She rubbed it up and down, up and down. He reached across and clamped his hand down on her pussy, the heel of his palm pressed hard against her lips and clit.
“I’m going to fuck you hard,” he said. “Are you sure you’re ready?”
“I’m ready!” she laughed, a little hysterically.
He stood up, reached down, and lifted her to her feet like she weighed nothing. Then he reached forward and pulled down her shorts and panties to her knees. She kicked them off, and then stepped out of them. Her bare pussy tingled in the hot, close air. She felt the wetness of it on her thighs. Slowly, he pulled his t-shirt over his head. His muscles shone with sweat in the sunlight. He dropped his t-shirt to the ground and pulled down his shorts. His cock was huge. It sprung up when he pulled his shorts down. She had no frame of reference, and yet she was sure it was a huge cock.
“Fuck,” she muttered.
“Take off your top,” he commanded.
It was the tone of voice she could imagine him using at work; it was the tone of voice which had made him a billionaire. She pulled her top over her head and unhooked her bra. Her small, pert breasts came free. He stepped forward, his cock brushing her belly, and then leaned down and sucked her nipple. He rubbed her other nipple, tweaking it with his fingers and his thumb. She reached down and grabbed his naked cock, skin on skin, and rubbed it softly.
“I want it now,” he said, her body alive to the moment, her body begging for this to go all the way. “I want it now, Max. Now.”
He lifted her off her feet and laid her on the grass beside the pond: the natural bed. He leaned over her, bracing himself with one arm and using his free hand to direct his cock. His cock brushed her clit, and then moved to the side. She closed her eyes.
Pleasure and pain and erupted within her.
Soon, the pain dissipated.
Only pleasure remained.
*****
Max drove them away from the copse of trees, and Rachel felt for all the world like a different woman. She could feel his come in her panties. She didn’t care. If anything, it served to demonstrate that she was, in fact, a changed woman. She reached across and laid her hand on Max’s knee. It wasn’t a sexual gesture – they were both sexed-out, at least for the moment – but a gesture of closeness. She felt closer to this fantasy man than she had ever dreamed, in all her fantasies, would be possible.
When they arrived at the ruins, Dad was waiting outside. He smiled at them as they exited the car. Rachel returned the smile, somewhat shakily, but Dad didn’t seem to notice. “Where have you two been?” he asked, but it was with a smile on his face. Had he known the truth, he wouldn’t be smiling, Rachel knew.
Before Rachel had to think of a lie, Max swooped in: “I got us lost! Who would have thought it of me, eh, Adam? But apparently your boss isn’t the genius he likes to think.”
Dad laughed at that, and the four of them had what looked like a normal day. But it was not a normal day. Rachel was completely distracted. The beautiful ruins were completely wasted on Rachel that day. Each time the tour guide described something to them, Rachel could only think of Max. At one point they found themselves in a private(ish) hallway. Dad was off somewhere, probably trying to chat up the tour guide. Max grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her against the wall, not roughly, but not softly, either.
He kissed her fully on the lips. Rachel returned the kiss. It was silly, perhaps, to read anything into this weekend of passion more than sex, and heat, and pleasure. But as Max kissed her, she could’ve swore that she felt something else, something more important, more significant.
The day passed; night came.
Once again, she awoke to a knocking at the door that adjoined her room to Max’s. She rose in the darkness, completely naked, and paced across the room. Only last night she would have felt embarrassed and nervous about answering the door to him naked, but right now she didn’t care all that much. She opened the door, and gasped; Max was naked, too.
He walked in, his cock already hardening at the sight of her, and led her to the bed. He threw her down, fell to his knees, and parted her legs. His tongue found her clit; his fingers slid inside of her wet, sore pussy. She was sore, but she was hungry for the pleasure, too. She grabbed his hair in bunches and pushed him deeper into her as he licked. When the orgasm came, she screamed. She didn’t care who heard.
Afterward, she thought he might leave. But he didn’t. He climbed into bed with her and they lay side by side. She rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes.
“I feel close to you,” he whispered into the dark. “Really close. Is that weird? I don’t want to freak you out.”
“It might be weird,” she said, and felt him tense, “but I feel it, too.” He relaxed. “Maybe we should hang out when we get back to the city?”
“Maybe we should,” Max agreed.
Sleep came easily that night, resting her head in the billionaire’s arms.
*****
When October came, Rachel knew she couldn’t put it off any longer. She had known women who missed periods and completely ignored them, and at the time she had thought they were stupid. Why don’t you just get a test?she’d thought, judging. Now, her judgment had to be leveled at herself. She was, most likely, pregnant. She looked out of her window, at the rain-covered city, and sighed heavily. The three tests she’d bought sat on her table, staring at her, daring her. She turned from the window and picked up the plastic bag, walked into her bathroom, and commenced the tests.
There was little for her to do as the pee-covered sticks were deciding her fate. She paced up and down, worried her hands, paced some more, and then looked down at the tests. Three positives stared back up at her. She knew she imagined it, but she felt that the tests were proud of the reaction they caused. Rachel leaped back from them, keeled over the toilet bowl, and was violently sick.
After the initial reaction had passed, she moved into the living room and picked up her phone. She dialed. The phone rang three times. It was a Tuesday, the middle of the afternoon. She was self-employed. She could spend as much time as she wanted pacing and wringing her hands and generally being unproductive. But maybe the man she was ringing was busy. Thankfully, on the fifth ring he answered.
“It’s me,” she said. “
Can you come over?”
“What? Now?”
“Now,” she confirmed.
“Is it urgent?”
“It’s urgent.”
“I’ll be right over.”
He hung up the phone. Rachel walked into the bedroom, picked up the novel she was currently reading, and spent twenty minutes staring at the pages without really absorbing any of the words. Her eyes moved over the text; not a single word penetrated her mind. Her mind was busy. It was occupied with a million worst-case scenarios that could come about at the impending visit. It could be the happiest day of her life; it could be the bona-fide worst. When the buzzer to her apartment rang, she jumped to her feet like a gunshot had just been fired next to her ear.
Her heartbeat hounded her to the door. “Hello?” she said, and then realized she hadn’t pressed the button. Her hand shook as she pressed it. “Hello?” she repeated.
“It’s me,” he said.
“Okay, buzzing you up.”
Time seemed to slow as she waited for him to arrive in the apartment. She paced some more, and then stopped because she was annoying herself. She thought idly about tidying, but the place was too messy for that. And there wasn’t enough time. In the end, she just waited next to the door. As soon as the knock sounded, she opened it.
Max walked in.
“Is something wrong?” he said. “You sounded—different.”
“I feel—different,” was all she could say.
And then, hating herself for it, she buried her head in his suit jacket and wept. The tears came loudly; the sobs wracked her body. His jacket smelt of rain and cologne. She wrapped her arms around him and held him close to her. She remembered when they had started their relationship. She remembered Thailand, and everything that had happened there. She remembered losing her virginity and a strong urge to turn back time came over her. She wished she could stay by that magical nowhere pond with him forever.
He held her face in his hands and turned her head toward him. “What is it?” he said.
“Can’t you guess?” she said, not meaning to snap but snapping anyway. “We’ve fucked – made love – screwed – whatever you want to call it – more times than I can goddam count since we got back to the States, and how many times have we used a condom? Zero, zilch, nada.”
“You’re pregnant.”
The calm in his voice angered her even more. How could he be calm at a time like this? He leaned in and tried to kiss her. She moved away and paced to the other end of the room, putting the couch between him and her. “How are you so calm?” she breathed. “How can you be so goddam calm, Max? This is serious.”
“I know it is serious,” he said. “But I don’t think panicking will help us.”
“Don’t patronize me!” she cried.
He sighed and then rubbed his eyes with his thumbs. “Look, I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m not trying to patronize you. But I can’t be upset. The truth is,” and his lips turned into a broad smile, a sincere smile, “that I’m happy. This doesn’t exactly ruin my plans.”
“What plans?”
“Come here,” he said. “I don’t want to talk across the room like this.”
She walked to the couch; he met her halfway. They sat on the couch side by side. He put his arm around her, and she didn’t stop him. “What plans?” she repeated.
He reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a small case. He handed it over to her. “Open it,” he said, as she took it from his hand.
She opened it. The biggest, most glittering diamond she had ever seen – in real life, in magazines, on television – glinted up at her. A quick intake of breath moved down her throat. She clapped a hand over her mouth. Warm welcome tears slid down her cheeks. She was so absorbed in the ring that she didn’t see Max move. One moment he was on the couch beside her. The next he was on one knee.
“I bought it the day after we returned from Thailand,” he said. “I knew this was something else. I knew this was something special. The reason it took so long for me to ask was that I had to get Adam’s permission.”
“You told him?”
He nodded. “He was angry, at first, but then I showed him the ring, and I explained it was more . . . he’s still angry, but not as much. And he’ll come around. The question is, my beautiful woman, will you look past my age? Will you marry me? Will you start a family with me?”
“Past your age!” she giggled. “That’s one of the reasons you’re so sexy, you silly man!”
“Is that a yes?”
She threw herself forward. He caught her, and then lifted her up in a bear-hug embrace. “That’s a yes!” she laughed, as they danced around her apartment.
Dreams from her youth
Malory dropped her satchel to the ground and ran into her father’s arms. She was seeing him after six months and she couldn’t believe he looked the same, for some reason she was convinced that all this time apart would have aged him a little.
“It’s so great to see you, dad. I’m so sorry we couldn’t do this sooner” she said, her voice was muffled by his clothes as he hugged her tightly to his chest.
“Let me have a look at you. You look great sweetheart” he said and held her gently away from him.
“Your hair has grown!” he laughed and she did a little pose with her head and pouted her lips. She had missed her father.
Malory looked around herself and took in a deep breath. The fresh air of her surroundings, the scent of the pine trees and the melting ice of Lake Folly; always reminded her of her childhood summers spent camping here with her father. She knew she would never be able to separate those memories from the new ones they would be making here now. It had been at least five years since their last visit to Lake Folly together, and it had been a long time coming.
“How was the drive up here?” her father, Lee, asked as Malory followed him to the camp site, where he had collected wood for a fire and set up their usual plastic lounge chairs.
“It was alright. No hiccups. I can find my way here with my eyes closed” she said and flipped her shoulder length blonde hair behind her neck. That is when she noticed that her father had set up three chairs around the would-be camp fire; instead of their usual two.
“Are we expecting somebody else?” Malory asked and tilted her head in the direction of the chairs. Lee followed her gaze and broke into an embarrassed smile.
“I was trying to stall breaking the news to you. But I guess now it must be said. So, I kinda invited someone else along for the trip. I hope you don’t mind,” he explained. Malory could see that her father’s neck had turned red, like it did when he was embarrassed or put in the spot. Her face instantly broke into a large smile.
“No way! Is there a woman in your life that you haven’t told me about?” she was giggling now, while Lee looked away from her, blushing even more.
“I wish” he said and laughed. “No, it’s Alex Temple. My boss. I don’t know if you remember him.” He had bent down to pick up a few logs of wood near his feet and was now in the process of chucking them into the rest of the collection. For a few seconds, Malory didn’t know how best to react. Of course she remembered Alex Temple. How could she ever forget him? She had obsessed over him, and fantasized about him for all her teenage years. She hadn’t seen him since she left home for college, nearly six years ago now; but that didn’t mean that the very mention of his name didn’t give her goosebumps still.
“Sure. I remember him. So you guys are still good friends huh?” she followed Lee to where he was arranging the wood. He still had his back to her so she couldn’t see his face as he spoke.
“Yeah. If you can call it that, friendship. In any case, he’s been asking to see this place for a few years now and I thought, why not ask him to join us.” He turned around to face her with a smile and Malory hurriedly threw him a weak smile too. She still had no idea how to take the news. The idea of spending the next two days, camping in a secluded forest by the lake with Alex Temple, was news that was too hard
to digest this quickly.
“Unless you mind. You don’t look too pleased about it honey.” Her father’s voice interrupted her thoughts and she tried to smile again.
“No, of course, I don’t mind. It’s just come as a surprise that’s all.” Malory tried to salvage the awkward moment by looking around her nervously.
“He’s been asking about you as well. He doesn’t believe that the little teenage girl he knew from several years ago has grown into a high-flying journalist.” Lee laughed, but Malory could see the look of pride in his eyes.
“So is he going to join us later?” She went over to him and slid her arm into his, resting her head on his shoulder. No matter how old she was, her father would always remain her number one source of comfort and her only real family.
“He should be here soon. Still gives us some time to catch up. Wanna pop open a couple of beers and have a chat? I haven’t seen you in so long.” Lee ruffled her hair like he used to when she was a kid and she pulled away from him giggling.
“Sounds like a great idea. Point me in the direction of the beverages.” Malory said with a skip in her step.
Lee and Malory had been sitting in their respective lounge chairs and were on their second beers when they heard the sound of a car engine come to a halt near them, where their own cars were parked. The metallic bang of a car door shutting followed and the crunch of heavy footsteps on twigs and leaves.
“Alex! You made it.” Lee jumped up from his chair and rushed over to the man approaching them. Malory straightened herself up a little and tried to create a look of calm on her face, even though her heart was beating out of her chest. She hadn’t actually looked in the direction of Alex Temple yet, even though she had to really struggle with herself to do so. She wasn’t entirely sure how her body would react if she did.
“I got lost a few times and only after that did I decide that it was time to switch the GPS on.” Malory heard Alex’s voice and she couldn’t stop her head from jerking up to look at him. She was surprised by how he looked like he hadn’t aged, not even a single day, since she last saw him.
Sucker for the Boss Page 84