by Jackson Kane
Despite being as tall and muscular as he was, Veto never struck me as the brawling type. Apparently, I just hadn’t seen that side of him yet. When he got serious he could look extremely intimidating.
The tow truck driver slowed to a stop and wisely unclenched his hands. His anger evaporated and was replaced with cautious hesitation. “Or, or I’ll have to, uh, call the cops.”
“You’re not going to take this car to impound.” The hard edge in Veto’s voice made the smaller man flinch. Veto took out a cash roll and thumbed out at least a thousand dollars. “There’s a garage six blocks from here, Manny’s Motors, take the car there and give them my card.”
The operator swallowed hard, tentatively taking the money and the business card. Veto abruptly grabbed the man’s thick jacket right below the throat. He said, “There are children present. Apologize for your language.”
Wide-eyed, the operator grunted out an apology. Only then did Veto let him go.
“Hey!” I protested as Veto began walking off. “That's still my car.”
Veto stopped and turned toward me. “I’m sorry, but I can’t let you drive that death trap anymore. At least not until I have it fixed it.”
“It’s not that bad!”
All Veto had to do was raise a skeptical eyebrow and my defense fell apart. After moving his car to let the tow truck driver leave, Veto came back and apologized to Olga on the driver’s behalf. His Russian was perfect.
Is there anything he can’t do?
Afterwards, he said something else that I didn’t understand. Olga smiled wide and nodded enthusiastically. She squeezed my hand on her way back inside with Hector in tow. They both repeated a word at me as they walked by.
“What did you say?” I asked when we were finally alone.
“I said, ‘doesn’t she look stunning in that dress.’” Veto’s intense, blue eyes looked me over. The decadent concoction of his gaze, words, and voice made me dizzy; lighter somehow and extremely turned on. A hot flush chased down my limbs, like a full-body shot of strong liquor. “Let’s get you out of the cold.”
I nodded and Veto led me inside. His apartment was only a little bigger than mine, and it was only sparingly furnished. The bare bones of a life. A few full bookcases lined the walls, but that was it for any form of entertainment. He didn’t even have a TV.
“How long have you lived here?” My words sounded almost accusatory. It was just so hard to wrap my brain around the idea of a billionaire living like this.
“A few months,” Veto casually replied, walking into the open kitchen area and starting up a fancy coffee machine. “Would you like some coffee?”
A few months? That meant when he disappeared from New York he came here. I couldn’t believe I was living next to him for so long without having any idea.
“Do you have anything stronger?”
“Irish coffee it is.” Veto set down the two steaming mugs on the counter followed by a bottle of Bailey’s and Kahlua.
“Why here?” I asked. “I get the charm thing a little more now, but there are so many places in the world and you picked here.”
“I was born in Roslington.” Veto carefully mixed the drinks. “I wasn’t here for very long before we moved to Manhattan, but I remembered the river and a festival that was held downtown. Or maybe it was a fair…” Veto stared out into the distance, then smirked and handed me the hot mug. “Call me sentimental I guess.”
Wow, he was born here?
Talk about humble beginnings for a billionaire. I could understand wanting to come back and see your roots. I was worried that I wouldn’t like what I was going to find when I peeled back layers of his mystique, but it wasn’t like that. Veto was becoming more human, more…endearing.
“What is it?” he asked cautiously.
I leaned against the kitchen counter and blew out a puff of air. I had a question I couldn’t ask. I bit at my lip anxiously, not wanting to say anything at all; I was only going to make things weird and we were already on such a roll.
“Out with it,” Veto demanded.
“Where did you go last night?” My mind began spinning with the worst case scenarios. What if he went to see another woman? Would he tell me the truth? Did I have any right to even be angry if he did? Either way I braced myself, feeling extraordinarily fragile.
Veto’s lip curled as he studied me. “There was a flier for a charity in our room. I think it fell out of your pocket.”
“The one to help animals?” It quickly popped back into my mind because of how crazy expensive the entrance donation was. The relief on my face was apparent. “You went to that?”
Veto nodded. “I took my wife and twelve children with me.”
My eyes flashed into saucers. What?
“Joking.” Veto winked, playing off my obvious fears.
“You’re hilarious.” I snorted, but couldn’t hold onto my angry charade for long.
“I was curious by how you lit up when you talked about helping your neighbor with food. Then I remembered the feeling I got after I fixed Carrie. The look on your pretty face… It didn’t matter who I was. I made your life a little better, at least in the moment. And in doing so, you made me feel useful and important. I selfishly wanted that feeling again.” Veto ran a hand through his hair and smirked sardonically. Behind his confidence and casual demeanor, there were hints of vulnerability. “I told you, I’m not the generous type.”
“But why didn’t you come back that night?” My voice softened, melting into a near whisper as I glanced up at his hard eyes and powerful form. I found myself counting his steps towards me and holding my breath.
Thoughts of what would’ve happened had he stayed that night dissolved into the memory of how my nails felt dragging down his strong, muscular back. I swallowed but visualizing him naked, sweating and on top of me made my lips and my clit tingle.
“I didn’t want to wake you,” he said. “Well, that’s what I told myself. The real reason was more complicated.” Veto's steps closed the gap between us; his eyes narrowed and his voice became deeper… more intimate. “I was afraid.”
“Afraid?” I breathed out, biting the ceramic lip of the steamy mug. The scent of coffee and liquor flooded my senses and reminded me even more of him. No part of me could escape Veto. “What did you have to be afraid of? I can only do like ten push-ups and I have to use my knees. I’m probably the least intimidating person you’ve ever met.”
My joke didn’t matter. At some point, there was a hard shift in our conversation. We weren’t talking with just words anymore.
“I wasn’t afraid of you.” Veto pulled my mug shield away and set it on the counter beside me. “I was afraid of how much I was changing by being around you.”
The space between us popped and melted away like an ice cube on a smoldering summer’s asphalt. Gasping in a breath, I leaned forward only enough to let the fabric of our clothing intertwine. Warmth radiated off him in waves.
“Changing?” My eyelids hung low as my gaze drifted down his chest to where my dress pushed up against his thighs. His pants’ metal zipper caught my eye and stole the air from my lungs. “Since the night in the rain?”
“No. I’ve been stealing glimpses of you for weeks now.” Veto stepped forward, his leg slid tightly between mine. The thickness of his thigh and growing cock threatened to make my knees buckle. “I would watch you from my window late at night when you came home from your long shifts.” He smirked. “Your car made it easy to tell when you’d arrived.”
My lip trembled, but I wasn’t sad. It was more of a thrill tinged with missed opportunity. “Why didn’t you ever say anything?”
“I didn’t know if I was going to stay. I couldn’t drag you into that.” Veto’s hand caressed my neck, then grazed up to the side of my face. “It would’ve been too difficult.”
Maybe it was because having him so close boiled my brain, but I didn’t understand. Given what we’d already been through, walking down one flight of stairs and knocking on m
y door seemed like a breeze.
“Why?” My response was too breathy to come out as anything more than a sigh. A shiver ran through me as I felt his fingers extend through my scalp.
“Because I was falling for you, even back then,” Veto said, leaning in to kiss me.
I couldn’t tell if he actually heard me or not. It didn’t matter. All I cared about were his lips against mine and the meaning behind his words. They floated me off the floor into his arms. “You are the most beautiful girl I’ve ever laid eyes on. Not just outside... but inside. Each night that you dropped off that bread, I saw the radiance in your actions.”
The sharp edge of the laminate counter dug into my hip but I didn’t mind the pain. It just made all of this more real. This was really happening. This wasn’t a one night stand, this was something actually important.
I stripped off his suit jacket. This time he just let it fall wherever it landed. It was the same thing for his vest and shirt. The wedding was over. Veto no longer cared what happened to them.
I slipped off my dress’s lone shoulder strap, ready to wiggle out of the wearable piece of art when he stopped me. A mischievous look glinted in his eyes. “Leave it on.”
“Fuck,” I quietly moaned, liking the kink. I licked up his lips and we began to make out again like love-struck teenagers.
Veto grabbed me by the waist and lifted me into the air. I squeaked and squirmed, but there was nothing I could do. He had me. He crashed us both down on the empty living room’s sole piece of furniture: A love seat.
Veto dropped to a knee, intent on pulling up my dress and diving face first into my pussy. As much as that turned me on, I grabbed his belt and stopped him. “Oh no you don’t. Not this time. Stand up.”
Veto flashed me an interested look, then finally did as I asked. I immediately went to work on his belt and pant’s clasp, pulling them down in a heap. The thick outline of his cock raised his boxers up like a flag.
I dropped to my knees before him and locked his gaze as I freed his hard cock from its cotton cage. His heat and musk flooded my brain and my panties when I wrapped my hands around his thick length. My belly tightened, remembering just how big he was and how full he made me feel.
It took both hands for me to do his cock justice. I licked down the length of his shaft to kiss the tip. Then with another glance into his eyes I parted my lips and took him into my warm, wet mouth.
Between my massaging hands and the pressure and suction of my mouth, Veto had doubled over and was using the armrest of the loveseat as support.
“Damn, you’re amazing,” he growled, struggling to keep his eyes open. Seeing how much he was enjoying it spurred me on. I squeezed my hands tighter and worked his cock up and down faster. He didn’t seem to care that I could only fit half of him into my mouth without gagging.
“Stop,” he grunted. Grabbing a handful of my hair, he pulled me off him. Veto was breathing heavy, a wicked smile on his lips at my look of disappointment that I couldn’t keep going. “I don’t want to come just yet.”
He tossed me on the loveseat and flipped me onto my back. “I’m not done with you yet.”
Another thrill rumbled through me. My pussy throbbed as he hiked up my dress. I bit my lip, loving every second of his searching hands beneath my crumpling fabric.
Veto hung over me, his eyes wild with his desire. I could see flecks of black in his icy irises, losing myself in each of them like they were a black hole. The sound of my own wedding bells crept into my wildest dreams. I was wary about this whirlwind romance, but I was daring to be hopeful. Why not me? Why not us?
This was crazy for sure, but it was also incredible.
The cushions creased beneath us, sucking us even closer together. His fingers roamed up my thighs, hooking my panties and dragging them away. All the while his lips walked across my neck. He stopped to graze his teeth along my collarbone.
With a smooth, expert hand, he peeled the top of my dress down like an orange. The crisp apartment air ran a chill down my hard nipples that was quickly chased away by Veto’s hot tongue.
“What is it?” I asked when he abruptly stopped. Veto hovered on top, staring at me feverishly.
“You are the most amazing and beautiful person in the world.” The awe in his voice almost made me tear up. “I’m so glad I met you.”
I tried to deflect some of the praise, but was too choked up to get out any words. He thumbed away a tear that I couldn’t hold back, then kissed me. He made me feel like I was the most important girl in the world. No one had ever made me feel like that.
“You keep that up and you’ll never get rid of me,” I said, between passionate fits of urgent kissing.
“Good.” Veto bit my bottom lip. He grabbed my hand and placed it over my soaked pussy. “Now, give me a show while I put this condom on.”
“My pleasure,” I said, rubbing slow circles into my clit.
Veto leaned back to watch before fishing the condom out of his pocket. His eyes narrowed and a soft, deep moan escaped his lips as he fisted his cock, and began rubbing up and down. A gorgeous billionaire was jerking off to me. He loved watching me touch myself.
And I loved that he loved it.
“You’d better hurry up and get back here or there won’t be much left for you.” My voice was a breathy whisper; a fierce pressure was building up as I thumbed my firm clitoris.
“We’ll see about that,” he chuckled thickly, unrolling the condom down his fat cock. He crawled back on top of me and teased my damp slit by dragging the head of his cock back and forth. He lifted my legs to lie across his chest, folding me in half.
Finally, he pushed into me.
I gasped in air and needed to arch my back and twist just to take him in. My nails scratched against the loveseat to find something to hold on to. I needed a way to anchor myself or I might just float through the ceiling.
“Oh fuck,” I moaned, snapping my eyes closed. I couldn’t keep my legs from quivering with every hard inch he fed me.
The rest of his body crushed forward and started to pump. I worried that he might push me through the floor into the apartment below, but I also welcomed the pressure. I wanted him to break the couch with me.
Veto moved me around however he wanted. I had completely surrendered to him and was rewarded with every ounce of his attention and passion. Our slippery bodies twisted, squirmed, and smashed against each other. The slickness of our skin sparkled in the cold light.
He fucked me hard enough to turn my brain into a puddle to be scooped up later. His fingertips wore white marks into my thighs as his strong arms set the pace and rhythm. The stem of his cock and balls slapped against my pussy sending a dozen explosion through me with each wet stroke.
Deep inside, the rumbles ground my bones into powder. My toes curled and my legs tightened. I screamed as I came, the pleasure immense and making me blind. Dozens of aftershocks milked his cock as he kept thrusting.
“Fuck,” Veto whispered, drunk off my reaction. He ground his pelvis into my sensitive clit and made it hum like rail before a speeding train. His cock pulsed against my crushing inner walls as he came. His orgasm incited another wave of ecstasy that crackled through me like heat lightening.
Then it was done. Our exhausted bodies were enveloped in warmth that had nothing to do with proximity. When my heart stopped racing he put an arm around me and we half lounged, half laid on a couch that was too small for either. Veto pulled me into him and kissed me sweetly.
Veto carried me into his plush, warm bed. I draped across his chest, my head nestled safely in the nook in his shoulder. The light was faint enough that I could trace the lion tattoos across his ribs.
After the night I'd had and the long drive, then the marathon sex, I should’ve been struggling not to pass out. But lying there with him I felt alive and awake, more so than I’d felt in years. I basked in the wonder of the moment and listened to his heartbeat.
“Are you going to leave?” I suddenly asked. I'm not talkin
g about Roslington. “I don’t know what this is, but I really want to find out.”
“I do, too.” Veto smiled for a moment, then his tone hardened. “I know about Jennifer’s offer. I don’t want to stop you from following your dreams, but I’m done with New York. I can’t move back there.”
“I know.” I thought about all the decisions I’d made and how my dreams had shifted so dramatically over the past weekend. “I don’t think I want that anymore. I’m going to stay here.”
“I hope that’s not because of me.” Veto frowned.
“It’s not,” I quickly replied. “I still love Manhattan, and I plan to visit Zenya often. I’ve just come to a realization that it’s not the place for me either. Someone once told me I was too close to see what's right in front of me.”
Veto chuckled, then pulled me against his hard muscles. We laid in silence for awhile as the universe passed us by.
“I wasn’t planning on going to their wedding,” Veto said in a low, gravelly voice that I felt rumbling through his chest. “I figured Clint only invited me out of obligation, or to elevate his own status.”
That couldn’t be right. I’d known Clint for a while through Zenya and he always seemed like the kind and honest type. Plus, Zenya had told me how her new husband had saved her life. I couldn’t imagine he was thinking of any personal gain by inviting Veto. “Why’d you change your mind?”
He twisted just enough to look at me. “You.”
“What did I do?” I laughed nervously.
“Seeing your generosity forced me to come down and help you when your car wouldn’t start. And seeing the look of gratitude on your face… It felt really good.” Veto smiled, remembering the encounter as fondly as I did. “You pulled me out of a funk I was in. When you said Zenya’s name I knew I had to stop moping and get back to living.” Veto paused, then added, “I was also hoping I’d get the chance to see you again.”
It still blew me away that a guy like Veto would be interested in someone like me. But I didn’t feel so small anymore.
“How’d you know which hotel I was supposed to be staying in?”