Once dark had fallen and everyone had gone home, David and I cleaned up the party. “Go to bed,” David said when we’d almost finished. He threw an empty beer bottle into an oversized black trash bag. “I’ll finish this.”
“You’re a good husband,” I called back to him. I let him clean because I had plans to reward him copiously. In the bedroom, I pulled black stockings up to my thighs and attached them to a matching garter belt. I slipped into one of David’s favorite pairs of stilettos and topped everything off with a short black-lace negligée. I snuck into our sprawling master bathroom to fix my hair and then perched on the bed to wait.
Our sex life had become a drug for both of us. Like our connection from the day we’d met eyes, it only intensified the more we gave in to it. The more we pried each other open, the more we spilled into each other—and the results had been mind-blowing.
David had lovingly escorted me to the best gynecologist in town to hear our options concerning sterilization. For now, we’d decided to leave our options open just in case. The fact that he would be willing to get a vasectomy for me, though, was a testament to the love and faith he had in us.
When I got bored of waiting for David to come to bed, I slid open the door to our built-in balcony and let the cool night wash over me. I hopped onto the ledge. David hated when I sat on it, but to lean over our own backyard and feel the breeze exhilarated me, even if it was only from the second story.
I heard him in the bedroom so I got into position by straightening my shoulders and spreading my thighs. “Out here,” I called.
“Holy fucking shit,” he drawled when he walked outside. “You look good enough to eat, but if you don’t get down right this second, I’m going to be pissed.”
“How pissed will you be?” I asked, grasping the wood railing between my legs and leaning back slightly.
“Olivia, I’m not fucking around,” he said, approaching cautiously as though I might let go. He leaped and grasped me in his arms. I giggled as he threw me over his shoulder and swatted my lace-covered behind. “You are in so much trouble.”
“Yes,” I whispered excitedly under my breath.
“What was that?”
“I said, ‘Please be gentle.’”
He vaulted me backward onto the bed, and I landed in a pile of soft down. “I gather you aren’t aiming for gentle in that outfit,” he rumbled, standing between my legs and running his hands along my thighs.
I licked my bottom lip, bit it gently, and shook my head. “No, sir.”
His lids lowered. “Turn over, ass in the air.”
I obeyed and pressed my cheek against the mattress. He spread me open, pushed my panties aside, and slipped in one finger. “Always so wet for me,” he murmured.
I agreed with a muffled purr. He bent to kiss me between the legs, then ran his tongue along the length of me and inserted another finger. “Do you want to come like this?” he asked.
“No,” I breathed.
“How then?”
“I want you inside me.”
He chuckled. “Of course you do.” He fingered me slightly harder, causing me to writhe. “Hold still.”
I fisted my hands into the sheets and took it, trying not to squirm as he tongued me—but I couldn’t help it.
Without removing his mouth, so I still felt his breath between my legs, he asked, “Will you hold still, or do I have to tie you up?”
“I want to be bound,” I said. “But only by you.”
He climbed onto the bed, and I offered my hands behind me. He grasped both of my wrists easily in one big hand, yanked my underwear to my knees, and pressed the head of his cock against my opening.
“Please,” I said with a moan.
His grip tightened around my wrists while he slid his crown up and down my wetness. My body shivered with anticipation. “I will,” he said, “when you stop squirming.”
I took a deep breath and forced myself to relax.
After a moment, he bent over my back so his mouth was at my ear. “That’s a good girl,” he said and rammed himself in to the base. His hands moved to my biceps as he straightened up and pulled me onto him as he thrust once.
“Oh, David,” I rasped.
“Love when you say my name,” he grated out and thrust another time, still keeping me in a stronghold.
“David,” I whimpered, and his pace quickened, giving it to me hard as he used my own body as leverage. “Oh, baby, you feel so good,” I cried out brokenly. “So fucking good.”
My shoulders ached, and my cheek burned from the comforter, but he went faster, harder, and without mercy. In his control, I could only moan my satisfaction into the mattress.
I could tell he was close when his fingers squeezed my arms. “You look sexy as fuck right now,” he said. “Come on, Olivia.”
“Come with me,” I pleaded.
I clenched around him, and he yelled out, jerking my arms back as he gave me a punishing final thrust and began to spurt into me. I quivered as I both came apart and drank him in at the same time.
“Christ,” he breathed. He pulled out, and I dropped my hips, flattening out on the bed. I stretched and shook my arms, and he climbed over my ass to straddle me.
I groaned happily as he kneaded out my shoulders and arms. “Orgasm and a massage?” I asked. “Best husband ever.”
“Best what?”
“Best husband ever.”
He leaned over my back and growled into my ear. “Say it again.”
I knew what he wanted. Since the wedding, he’d grown very attached to his new designation. “Husband.”
He flipped me onto my back suddenly and looked me in the face. His hand smoothed over my hairline, and before he could say it, I cut him off. “Love you,” I whispered.
He smiled. “Love you, too.” And then he pinned me with a passionate kiss. Within seconds, he stiffened, long and hard against my thigh.
“Mmm. Again?” I asked hopefully into his mouth.
He nodded. “Again.”
* * *
I jerked awake to our bright bedroom when David’s phone vibrated on his nightstand. His arms disappeared from around me as he reached for his cell.
I groaned at the loss. “Who’s calling at this time on a Sunday morning?”
He ignored me and answered the call with a curt, “Dylan.” I closed my eyes and listened to his rumbling voice. “Right now?” he asked and paused. “Yes, yes. That’s good. I’ll be there.”
“Honey?” I asked when he hung up. “What’s going on?”
“I have to run into the city for a little bit.”
“No,” I said. “Not now. I’m cold.”
He laughed and wrapped me in his big, warm arms. “I hate to leave you cold, honeybee, but this is important. I promise I won’t be long.” He pulled my earlobe between his teeth. “Nightmares?” he whispered.
I smiled and shook my head. I hadn’t had one in more than a year, but that didn’t stop David from checking now and then.
“All right,” he said. “Go back to sleep. You won’t even miss me.”
I sighed, and though he pulled the comforter up high around me, I shivered in his absence.
I fell back to sleep and didn’t wake again until I heard the familiar rumbling of David’s Porsche out front. I hopped out of bed and pushed open the window to see that he’d parked at the curb instead of in the garage.
The memory of the night before stirred in me as I watched him round the car to the passenger’s side and squint up at me. I smiled at my weekend-David in his t-shirt, jeans, and aviators. “Get down here, beautiful,” he yelled.
Snatching his t-shirt from the floor, I ran down the stairs two at a time as I pulled it over my head. I burst through the front door, meaning to run and jump into his arms but stopped short. I gasped as my hand flew to my mouth. A black and tan furball bounded through the grass in my direction.
Tears pierced my eyes as I caught the puppy and hoisted him into the air. His tail wagged excitedly, a
nd he licked my face, causing me to squeal with delight.
“Oh, David,” I said as he approached. “Is he . . .? Can we . . .?”
“Anything that makes you smile like that, baby, yeah. We can keep him.”
“A German shepherd puppy,” I cried.
“Yes.”
“Like Canyon.”
“Yes, just like Canyon. My favorite breed.” He grinned. “I told George at the shelter months ago that if a German shepherd puppy ever came in, to call me immediately.”
I jumped up and down, and David laughed heartily. “He’s perfect,” I said. “Just perfect! Do you think we’re ready?”
He nodded. “I’ve already arranged for him to stay with Jessa while we’re in Greece next month. Alex is thrilled.”
“I’m sure he is.” I buried my nose in the puppy’s fur, and he licked my nose. “What should we name him?”
David put his arm around my shoulder and kissed my temple. “How about Prince Siegfried?”
I laughed. It was the name of the lead character in Swan Lake, the ballet where David and I had met. Where we’d first met eyes across the lobby of the theater.
“Well, hi, darling Prince,” I cooed, cuddling the puppy close and looking up at my husband with pure love and gratitude. “Welcome to the Dylan family.”
Author’s Note: As a thank you to my readers, this Cityscape Affair special edition box set includes a brand new, never-before-released bonus epilogue! Keep reading to spend more time with David and Olivia.
To experience Cityscape Affair in a new way, try the series in audio, narrated by Audie Award winner and Audible Narrator Hall of Famer Andi Arndt.
* * *
Stay notified of new releases, sales, and get monthly newsletters:
Join the Mailing List
Follow on Amazon
Bonus Epilogue
Chicago O’Hare International Airport bustled around me, but I barely noticed. Waiting in line to pass through security, I must’ve looked like a lunatic reading my text messages with a huge smile plastered on my face. That was the power of David Dylan, though. My husband could make me so sublimely happy in a crowd that my surroundings fell away.
David’s text messages came through every few seconds.
David: About fifteen more minutes until you’re back in my arms
David: We landed ten minutes ago
David: The fuck is the hold up
David: I’m about to let myself off the plane
In the five years David and I had been married, we’d visited almost every continent and had stayed in the finest hotels of Prague, Whistler, Shanghai. We’d roughed it on a three-day guided trek in Peru and camped at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. But the one thing we hadn’t ever done until now was spend two months apart. And we were both dying to put an end to that.
My phone rang, and as soon as I answered, David said, “I’m finally off the goddamn plane. How far are you?”
I craned my neck to see around TSA. “I’m not through security yet.”
“Christ. This has been the hardest two months of my life,” he said. “Remind me why I took this assignment again.”
“Because your team needed you there to oversee the planning stages,” I said, shifting my carry-on to my other shoulder. “Your firm’s first hotel in Asia is a major career achievement, and I’m so proud of you.”
He grunted. “Then remind me why you couldn’t come with me?”
“Not right now.” A woman in uniform waved a finger at me. “It’s almost my turn to put my stuff on the conveyor belt, and the TSA agent is giving me a dirty look. I don’t think I’m supposed to be on the phone.”
“Have you eaten?” David asked.
“Not yet,” I said and grabbed a bin to empty the pockets of my dandelion-yellow summer midi dress.
“Meet me at the McDonald’s by our gate for McMuffins and coffee. Can’t wait to kiss you, honeybee.”
I ended the call with a wistful sigh. I had to be the sensible one in the relationship or David would’ve turned down the biggest job of his career to stay close to me. He and his partners would be going back and forth to Dubai during the length of the project, but as the lead architect, Pierson/Greer had needed David on-site in the beginning. Had I wanted to hop on a fifteen-hour flight to Dubai to visit him while he’d overseen his design of a new hotel in the Emirates? Yes. But I’d had my own commitment to uphold—a multi-city U.S. book tour to promote the release of my second novel.
After passing through security, I went to the McDonald’s. David hadn’t arrived yet, so I used the restroom to freshen up. David had worked it out that he’d fly in from Dubai to meet me at O’Hare so we could travel together to Los Cabos, Mexico.
Five years ago, my hyperactive best friend had gotten pregnant with David’s super-chill best friend. Though there was nothing simple about Gretchen, she and Brian had forgone a large wedding event for a quiet, intimate one. And Gretchen had never let us forget it. Ever since, she’d lamented that she hadn’t gotten the destination wedding she’d always dreamed of, so now that their daughter was old enough, we were redoing it.
On my way out of the restroom, my phone rang.
“Where are you?” David asked when I answered.
I dropped my bag on the ground and turned to look for him. “I’m here.”
“At the McDonald’s in terminal five?” he asked.
“Golden arches, crispy fries—” I glanced up at the Burger King sign and grimaced. “Oh, crap. I’m at Burger King.”
“You’re not far,” he said. “Come to McDonald’s by gate M12.”
“All right,” I said, hoisting my bag over my shoulder. “On my way.”
As I ended the call, a flurry of blonde curls bounced toward me. “Liv!”
In fringed fuchsia heels and a flouncy cream-colored dress, rolling a Louis Vuitton suitcase, Gretchen waved as she approached.
“What are you doing here?” I asked. “You’re supposed to be in Mexico. I thought your flight left yesterday?”
“It was delayed due to high winds here,” she said and frowned. “We had to go home and come back this morning, which is just going to make things more chaotic when we land.”
I looked past her. “Where’s Brian?”
“He took Emmalina to the bathroom,” she said, linking her arm through mine. She rolled her luggage as we got in line at Burger King. “The airport is one of the only places I allow us greasy food, and Brian’s dying for a milkshake. Want something?”
“Actually,” I said, glancing at my phone as it chimed with another text from David. “David’s waiting—”
“I’ll order quick,” she said, waving me off. “So who’s taking care of Prince and Poppy?”
“David’s sister and nephew,” I said. “Jessa and Alex house-sat while David was in Dubai and I was on the book tour, so I asked them to come back for a few days.”
As another text came through, I went to check it, but a high-pitched squeal stopped me. Brian and their four-year-old daughter, Emmalina, walked toward us. Emmalina jumped up and down, pulling on her father’s hand. “Aunt Olivia!”
Brian released her so she could run to meet me. With stick-straight, platinum blonde hair and electric-blue eyes, she was every inch Brian and Gretchen’s daughter. I set down my bag, picked her up, and squeezed her. “Are you excited to be a flower girl?”
She nodded hard. “I’ve been practicing. Did you bring Poppy?”
I laughed. “You know how big she is,” I said of the ninety-pound German shepherd David and I had adopted a year earlier to keep Prince company. Without fail, Emmalina always asked about Poppy, who she’d named after her favorite movie, Mary Poppins. “Poppy would need her own seat on the plane.”
“Where’ve you been?” Gretchen asked Brian as he reached us. “You guys went to the bathroom twenty minutes ago.”
“Where have we been?” Brian repeated with a mischievous grin. He dropped a heavy looking duffel, slipped two boarding passes from his car
go pants, and showed them to Gretchen.
She took one, furrowing her brows as she inspected it, then gasped. “An exit aisle?”
Brian nodded. “I told the flight attendant it was our wedding and that our previous flight had been pushed back and that we’re traveling with a kid. She took pity on us.”
Gretchen threw her arms around Brian’s neck. “Now we’ll have more space.”
As she littered kisses over his cheeks, I tried not to look sheepish about the fact that David and I only ever flew first class and it made traveling a breeze. But my guilt quickly transformed to envy. Watching them canoodle, I just wanted to be back in David’s arms after too long apart.
My phone dinged with yet another text message. I readjusted Emmalina on my hip, but I couldn’t reach into my pocket. “I should go check in at the gate,” I said.
Gretchen turned to me, her arms still around Brian’s neck. “Let me guess. David’s getting grumpy?”
“You know it,” I said.
“You guys have been married a few months longer than we have. Five years. And the man’s still obsessed with you,” Gretchen said. “How?”
I inclined my head with my eyebrows raised. “David and I have been apart two whole months.”
“It’s because you don’t have kids,” she reasoned, ignoring me. “I’d kill for two months to myself.” Gretchen smacked a kiss on Brian’s lips. “No offense, sweetie.”
As Gretchen stepped up to the food counter to order, Brian shrugged in his navy Henley. “I’m still obsessed with her,” he said to me.
As was I with my husband, and my impatience to throw my arms around him was growing unbearable. I put Emmalina on her feet and pulled my phone from my pocket.
David’s texts continued to pile up.
David: Where are you?
David: Olivia.
David: I’m looking at Find My Friends. Your dot isn’t moving
Me: Ran into G&B. She’s getting burgers.
Cityscape Affair Series: The Complete Box Set Page 93