by Bethany-Kris
Goddammit.
Weak.
She was so weak.
Haven was a lot of things, but stupid wasn’t one of them. Yet, when it came to this man, that’s exactly what she turned into. A stupid woman with little morals, and no real control over herself, or her wants. He took all of that away, and more.
“No one is walking me home,” she whispered, “or anything else for that matter.”
“But someone will eventually,” he countered, “and that someone won’t be me. That’s what kills me.”
Fuck him.
Fuck him for doing that to her.
For saying that.
Fuck her, too, for being this weak.
Without thought, she spun away from the door, and moved down the steps. Andino didn’t move until she was right in front of him, and leaning in close. Only then did he reach out to grab her, but she was already making her next choice.
The next fucking mistake.
It could only be a mistake, after all.
With the way they were going?
How they would end?
Of course, it was a mistake.
In one second, she was kissing Andino on the bottom of her steps. And in the next breath, the two of them were inside the house, and one of them had slammed the door. It was hard to think when his lips were on hers. It was impossible to make good choices when his hands were snaking under her clothes, and those rough palms of his were touching her in all the right places.
One hand tugging at her jeans harshly. The other, palming her breast after pushing her lace bra away. It was his fingertips tweaking her hardened nipple into a firm peak that made her pull away from their kiss just long enough to gasp.
He didn’t seem to mind.
His mouth went to her neck instead.
“Fuck,” he breathed against her skin. “Can’t fucking get enough of you.”
His hand had gotten her pants undone, although how, she wasn’t fucking sure. All she knew was that his hand was in her pants, and stroking her overtop her lace panties in the best way. He knew how to work her body with the least amount of goddamn effort to get her crazy, and ready to beg. She never understood how he did that.
“Wet already, Haven.” His tongue struck out against the hollow of her throat as his fingers slipped under the gusset of her panties. “You want my fingers, baby? My fingers, and my mouth, and then my cock? How do you want me?”
Wasn’t it obvious?
“Oh, my God,” she whined. “All of it.”
Was a flat surface close?
Fucking anywhere?
Andino’s hand ripped away from her body at the same time his mouth did. Haven didn’t get the chance to voice her disapproval over his loss because in the next breath, she was in his arms. He moved through her house like he’d done it a million times before. He climbed the stairs with fast steps all the while kissing her when she threaded her fingers through his hair, and pulled him in for another.
She wanted more of him.
More of his taste.
And then his kiss was gone, too.
Haven felt the way her body dropped through the air when he let her go. A brief moment in time when she felt suspended before her back hit the bed. Andino didn’t even give her time to realize what had happened entirely before he was on her. Those hands of his tugging and grabbing and pulling. Dragging her to the very edge of the bed before yanking her pants down fast and hard enough to make her muscles ache.
He didn’t need to spread her wide. Not when she did it for him.
She pulled her shirt up over her head, and discarded it somewhere behind her. She had to take her eyes off him for a single second to do it, which was a fucking shame. She didn’t want to miss the sight of him looking like he did right then.
All wild, green eyes trained on her. Coming for her. A muscled, firm body leaning over hers as he loosened his tie, tugged his shirt open, and she got a good eyeful of his chest and the path of lickable abs leading down to the hard-cut V of his groin. He discarded that shirt and tie on the bed, and popped open his pants with a flick of his hand against the button.
And even if just the look of him wasn’t enough for her … it was how he looked at her. How he took her in with a slow gaze, and the grace of a predator. Like he’d found exactly what was his, and he was coming to get it whether she was ready for him to or not.
He was perfect.
And fucking terrible.
Everything she wanted.
And nothing she could have.
Loving this man had the worst kind of consequences for her. It was unforgiving, and careless. Entirely too reckless, and bad for her health and heart.
There was no escaping it.
She knew it.
Andino let out another one of those hard groans of his that could make her wet from the sound alone when he peeled her panties down her legs. She was soaked—he didn’t need to confirm it for her to feel her arousal dampening her thighs.
Leaning between her spread open thighs, he was quite a sight. His broad shoulders filled the space, and his gaze was trained on her pussy. His tongue peeked out to swipe over his bottom lip, and that only served to make Haven shiver.
“Let me hear all of it,” he murmured. “I want it all. It’s mine.”
Like this, it was.
She could give him that much.
The second his mouth connected with her pussy, Haven’s body reacted on its own. Her back arched hard off the bed, and her hands flew out to find anything for stability. That just happened to be his shoulders.
Not that he seemed to care.
Andino was too busy eating her pussy like it was the last meal he was ever going to have to notice how hard her fingernails dragged across his skin. Every strike of his tongue against her clit accompanied one of those husky, approving groans of his.
Nothing made Haven hotter than that.
Just by his noise, she knew he loved the taste of her cunt on his mouth. It was only made better by his hands pressing hard against her thighs to open her up more, and the way he buried his face even firmer between her thighs.
He went back and forth between working her clit, to tunneling that tongue of his inside her slit. Licking and lapping up every bit of her juices, and keeping her thighs open for him all the while. Even when her gasps turned into high cries, he didn’t let up.
He only drifted away from her pussy just long enough to say, “Fucking shake for me, Haven. Scream for me.”
Those delicious sparks were back to light up her skin when his mouth was on her cunt again. They made her hot, and took away her breath. It didn’t matter how much air she tried to suck into her lungs, it wasn’t enough.
Every inhale burned.
Every exhale ached.
Heat shot through her body like a raging inferno.
She came so hard. Shouting his name just like he wanted, and entirely spun. Unable to catch her breath, and with her thoughts a jumbled mess.
Haven barely even registered being flipped over, and it was only when Andino’s substantial weight pressed into her from behind that her vision started to clear.
“Deep breath,” she heard him say. “And trust me.”
She did.
It was all she could manage to do.
Silk wrapped around her throat in two tight loops. Haven didn’t even have to ask what it was—his tie. A twist of his hand at the back of her neck, and the tie tightened more. Not to a painful point, but enough that her breaths were measured, and her body felt like hot lava.
“There’s my good girl,” he murmured along the back of her neck. “You look good like this, Haven. Ass high for me, thighs wet with your cum, and bound up in my tie. Fuck, too good, really. Do you want my cock now?”
Even her words had to be measured.
She chose the right one.
“Please,” she breathed.
“And you’ll lick me clean just the way I like when I’m done, won’t you?”
“Yes.”
&nbs
p; Hell, she would beg to do it.
If that’s what he wanted.
There was nothing quite like the taste of her on his dick after he’d been fucking her.
“That’s what I want to hear,” Andino said.
It only took one flex of his hips, and a hard tug of her body into his, and he buried his cock into her aching pussy. Slick enough to take him, Haven relished in the way her body was stretched open for every inch of his cock, and the way he held her tight to his cock once he was balls-deep. That first thrust was accompanied by his palm slapping her ass.
With the next thrust, another slap.
And then another.
“Jesus Christ,” Haven whined.
She thought her voice was too high—too lost.
And yet, she didn’t care at all.
Not when he was fucking her like he was.
Deep, hard thrusts that shook her bed, and had her body aching for more. The tie around her throat kept her hyperaware of every single move he made. From the movement of his hips driving into her from behind, to the way his cock glided along her G-spot with every thrust. It only added to the bite of pain from his hand cracking against her ass with every other thrust, and she was so hot that it almost felt unbearable.
Except it wasn’t.
It wasn’t even close to enough.
Her cries became a catacomb of noise to her own ears—sounds that melded and mixed with the slap of skin on skin, and his rough words in her ear.
Who else is going to fuck you like this?
Who else owns you like this, Haven?
Who owns your body?
“You,” she choked out through the second orgasm that ravaged her senses. “You do.”
That was the terrible part of all this.
She was never going to escape him.
Not entirely.
NINE
Andino moved quietly around the bedroom as he picked up his discarded clothes from the night before, and shrugged them on. Snaps waited patiently by the bedroom door, never moving unless Andino called him in. He’d went out and brought Snaps in once he figured Haven was going to let him stay the night.
The dog never got to sleep in Andino’s bed. It was a rule he’d made when the pup was little, and once peed in the sheets because he was too scared to jump down.
Not when they were here, though.
At Haven’s, Snaps got to sleep wherever the fuck he wanted. And the dog made sure to get right up on the bed, and put his big ass body between Andino and Haven for the entire night. It would be cute … if it wasn’t a cockblock.
He should have gotten up earlier, and headed out of Haven’s place if only so that he could make a trip home to get something decent to wear. A dress shirt that wasn’t as wrinkled, or just an entirely new suit.
Who the fuck was going to notice?
He should put in the effort for today; it was a big day. God knew Dante would expect him to seem like he knew it was important, and to behave like it. The least he could do was act like he gave a damn about it all, but even that was asking for a little too much from Andino.
Besides, while he was still there with Haven, even if she was still sleeping and entirely unaware that he was about to slip out of her house, he was there. With her, and no one else. He didn’t even want to think about what was coming once he left her house.
One thing at a time.
Andino sat on the edge of the bed, and kept watch on Haven over his shoulder as he toed on his loafers. With her back turned to him, all he could see was the blonde strands of her hair fanned out along the expanse of the pillow and the shape of her curves tucked under a white sheet. It took every ounce of his willpower not to wake her up … even just to say goodbye.
His reasons for leaving her asleep were entirely selfish—he might as well just admit that right now. If he woke her up, and she asked why he was leaving so early, then Andino was going to have to lie. He surely couldn’t tell her the fucking truth without Haven throwing something at his head.
Not that he wouldn’t deserve exactly that.
He would.
Andino knew he was hurting this woman. Probably more than she could take even if she did put on one hell of a brave face for him. He didn’t want to keep hurting her, so instead, he was stuck in this cat and mouse chase with Haven until his plans finally came together … and he was able to get what he wanted.
Her.
That was Andino’s only end-goal right now.
Just Haven.
She still wouldn’t understand why he had to do what he had to do today. It would still hurt her. He opted for the coward’s way out instead.
Standing from the bed, Andino shrugged on his suit jacket, and made quick work of buttoning it up the front. At least then, no one would notice the vest and tie underneath were the same navy blue silk from the day before, and his slightly wrinkled shirt would also be hidden. He considered that a win.
Andino’s feet seemed to turn into cement when he rounded the bed to Haven’s side. Despite not wanting to wake her up, he also didn’t want to fucking leave. All that served to do was make him feel heavier than ever.
He didn’t miss the items on her nightstand beside the bed. Every single note he’d left her in a little pile—it was really his only way of safely getting a message to her, but also, he thought it felt more personal. At least, for him.
He wrote to no one.
He wrote to her, though.
She kept those notes like she kept the flowers on her table. Even if the flowers were wilting something terrible now. It would be easy—he figured—for her to throw the flowers away since they were dying anyway, but she didn’t.
She kept them.
It kind of felt like them, in a way.
He was sure this woman—this amazing, beautiful woman with her brilliant, bright soul—thought this thing between them was also dying. But fuck her if she wasn’t going to try to hold onto them for as long as she possibly could.
Andino didn’t blame her.
Bending down, he grazed his fingertips along her bare shoulder before pressing a quick, light kiss to her forehead. Haven didn’t move, and her eyelids didn’t even flicker. He almost wished she would get up, but this was better.
Before Andino could convince himself to stay one more second longer, he gave Haven one last look and then slipped out of her bedroom. Snaps followed behind—it was only the click of his nails against the hardwood floor that could be heard. Andino’s steps were quiet and quick as he headed through the house.
As he passed by the kitchen, he stopped and glanced in. The flowers looked lonely as fuck sitting by themselves on the table. Really, other than a few boxes that had been taped up, the table and flowers were the only thing in the kitchen besides a few dishes that rested on a cloth on the counter.
He hadn’t mentioned it the night before, but her place was terribly empty. All the art and photographs that had lined the walls and given the place a lived-in kind of feel were gone. Nearly all of her furniture had been moved out at one point or another.
It just didn’t feel like Haven’s place.
Andino supposed … he was partly to blame for that.
He stepped into the kitchen before he could think better of it. Grabbing the notepad and pen on the island, he scribbled down one more note for Haven to wake up to. He should leave her with something even if it might piss her off more.
A risk he was willing to take.
Ripping the note off the pad, and he set the yellow piece of paper under the wilting flowers. Another one for her to add to her collection.
I had to go, sorry.
And then, just beneath that, he’d written, We’re real, Haven. —A.M.
Andino didn’t miss the goddamn time staring back at him from the clock on the wall. Hell, he could feel the watch on his wrist ticking down to let him know he was already running late, and by the time he got into the city, he might make it to breakfast by the skin of his fucking teeth.
Jesus.
/> He gave one last look around Haven’s place, and then slipped out of the kitchen, and the house altogether. Snaps darted ahead, and waited for Andino to open the passenger door of the car before he jumped in.
Andino checked his watch, not that he needed to.
He really was late.
Fuck.
He wished he cared.
• • •
“Where were you?” Dante asked harshly.
Andino didn’t even look up from the phone in his hand. Instead, he opted to answer his lawyer back before his uncle.
We could close anytime, the lawyer had messaged while Andino drove across the city.
No, that wasn’t going to work for him.
Continue to take your time, Andino texted back.
“Are you even listening to me?”
Trying really fucking hard not to roll his eyes, Andino shoved the phone into his pocket, and gave Dante the attention his uncle seemed to want. Standing outside of a restaurant, this wasn’t exactly the best place for the two of them to get into one of their rows together … but hell, if that’s what his boss wanted.
“No, I had something else to handle,” Andino said.
Dante scowled as he glanced down at Snaps. “Where were you? And also, he can’t come in. I don’t care what Lucian says when he’s here, but not today.”
Jesus Christ.
“Pink is coming to get him. Don’t mind my dog. He’s always taken care of.”
Spoiled, really.
Not that it mattered.
Dante let out a noise, and passed Andino a look. “Do you think I am that stupid? That’s twice you didn’t answer my question. Where were you? You’re almost late this morning.”
Andino tugged on the sleeves of his suit jacket, and shrugged. “Woke up late.”
Lies.
Dante didn’t look willing to argue, and Andino wasn’t about to go and offer his uncle the truth. So, unless the two of them wanted to stand there for any longer and discuss things that weren’t actually going to get discussed in any great detail, this seemed like a giant waste of Andino’s time.