When she opened the bathroom door, I got a glimpse of angelic sweetness wearing cream silk and lace. She approached my side of the bed with a sexy sway.
I reached for her and felt her silky skin still moist from the shower. I wanted to explore her, taste her, and intended on taking her to new heights. She looked at me with her dark eyes, and from the lamplight, I saw the light dance in them like glitter. This was the woman I loved. The woman who would spend the rest of her life with me. I knew I’d go to hell and back for her.
In one swift move, I had her under me, pressing her in to the mattress, tasting the delicious flavor of our lips together. She wrapped her legs around my waist and rocked in response to the pleasure.
I raised up on all fours and slid down her body. I started my titillating assault with her toes and made my way up her long, tan legs, leaving sweet bites. She alternated between moans and giggles. When I reached the inside of her thighs, the tone of her moans became lower and her breaths quickened. She placed both hands in my hair and pulled me tightly to her.
God, I loved how responsive her body was to my touch. I saw the entrance to her channel glistening with sweet juices, begging for my tongue. So gratifying to please her and relish her screams of passion. She held nothing back when she climaxed, and I took every ounce of pleasure for my own.
We made love like it would be our last time, unable to extinguish the flames, completely unaware of the hours passing by. When the sunlight crested, the reality of her pending flight left me dreading the space and distance before she even left.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Monica
My life had taken such a turn. I’d dreamt Harrison would come back to me, but they were only dreams and when I woke up, the reality of being alone, reminded me more of the painful nightmare my life had become without him.
My romantic relationship with Harrison started immediately after meeting him. I’d heard of couples talking about their meeting being all chemistry and kinetic in some way, but ours wasn’t like that. In fact, it was more the complete opposite. The harder time we gave each other, the more fun we had.
The night we met, we’d both joined Grayson and Alex for dinner and argued over who emptied the last bit of wine. Harrison agreed to walk to the corner market with me for more. Normally a graceful fashionista, I would’ve never thought about falling off of my Prada wedge shoes. That simply would not happen, but just my luck, it did.
Taking a not-so-graceful spill on the way to the local market, I gave Harrison a nice view of my ass in the peek-a-boo skirt that found its way up to my shoulders in my undesirable plunge.
I quickly saw the gentlemanly side of him. I said quickly because he helped me stand, assisted with smoothing my skirt back down, and wiped the dirt from my cheek. However, he couldn’t wait to throw me under the bus to the clerk when I tried to carry the wine.
“That’s precious cargo. Do you think I’m trusting you, Ms. Clumsy, to carry it?” His jovial laugh provided an awesome view of his dimples.
I fell in love with his laugh and the way his sterling blue eyes twinkled, even if I had to be the center of his joke.
“And like I’m not precious cargo?” It was the only thing I could think of at the moment. This guy was gorgeous and a lot of fun, but way outta my league.
“Yes, precious girl, you are. That’s why I’m leaving one hand free to hold yours.”
Uh, oh. He had me at precious, I thought to myself as we walked back to the apartment with hands entwined.
The gaze he offered me at that moment, made a crack in the ice around my heart. Our relationship progressed quickly from that moment. We were inseparable.
***
“May I get you anything else ma’am, a tissue perhaps?” the flight attendant asked.
“More like several tissues would be great,” I uttered.
She returned with a whole box of Kleenex. “You’re engagement ring is very beautiful. He has very nice taste.”
“Thanks, yes, he does,” I said before blowing snot into one tissue and wiping my tears with another.
She returned with a couple of glasses, one empty, one with ice, multiple shots of whiskey, and a small bottle of wine. “If you miss him, go for the wine. If he cheated, take the whiskey.” She patted my shoulder before walking away.
Cheating, no. Harrison would never do that, but would he trust me to travel after what we’d been through? Was that why he wanted me to stay with him and quit my job?
Suddenly, I’d become even more conflicted than ever.
***
“Monica, nice to see you, but you look like shit.”
“Thanks, Dane. You might be a photographer extraordinaire, but if you’re going to be a jerk, I’m going home.” I wiped at my eyes again, so totally puffed I had no way to hide them.
“Girl, where did you get that rock on your hand?”
“Harrison and I are engaged.”
“Then why are you crying, unless the jackass has hurt you again so soon?” Zane stopped setting up his camera and took me in his arms. Almost the same build as Harrison, it felt weird to be held by him and I pulled away.
“He’s been wonderful. I’m happy we’re together, just miss him, that’s all. He begged me to stay and not come back to work.”
“But you did anyway. Why? The dude’s worth gazillions.”
That happened to be the million-dollar question. One I didn’t have an immediate answer to. Over six hours had passed since leaving Harrison at the airport in Chicago and the only thing I desperately wanted to do involved getting back on a plane and returning to him. Yet, something unknown was stopping me.
I’d asked myself a hundred times why I couldn’t quit my job and spend eternity being happy with the man of my dreams. He wanted to take care of me. We didn’t need my income to survive. I’d been employed since turning sixteen and even put myself through college. I studied fashion and learned my craft and had finally made a name for myself in my industry. Work had always been my baby.
Oh god, could that be it? A baby? Did having a career fill the void of not having children? The revelation caused my knees to buckle, and the room spun out of control. I couldn’t stop myself from going to the floor, everything happening in slow motion.
“Monica, Monica, can you hear me?” Zane’s voice was loud and obnoxious.
“Yes, stop yelling. I hear you.”
“What the hell are you doing on the floor? I left you for just a few minutes and find you passed out. What gives?”
“I guess it’s because I had some wine on the plane and haven’t eaten today. I’m fine. Help me up.”
Zane scooped me up and carried me to an old sofa he used for props in the back of the studio. He sat down in a chair, facing me.
“Talk to me. Are you cutting food again?”
“God, no. I don’t do that stuff anymore.”
“You did before, and this is how it started the last time. I’ve known you since college. I’m your friend and it’s a fair question.”
“True, but no, I’m eating just fine. No food issues. Harrison begged me to stay, which added to my stress, but I’m not the kind of person who walks off a job. He doesn’t understand the importance of what I do. He’s never put it down, just doesn’t understand it.”
“You’ve built PLB from the floor up. You’ve done Prada, Seventeen, Gucci, Channel, Vogue, Tag, and I could go on bragging about your portfolio. You’ve done everything, except get your guy. Go home.”
“No. Pearls, Lace, and Boots is my company. I don’t walk off of a job, ever.”
“Then you’re fired. Go home. Hildie will be here. We have all of your drawings anyway. Everything’s already put together; she can do final adjustments. You’re going home tonight, and that’s final.”
“I can’t do it. My name, my career rides on my work from job to job. You know that. Besides, Hildie is just an intern. She’ll freak.”
“No, she won’t. If she has a question, we can Skype or FaceTime. She’ll
be fine. She might even be happier because you’re trusting her. If you won’t take what you need, I’m going to be your friend and push you because I love you.”
“How do I thank you?”
“Marry him and be happy. You can always work; you can’t always have a great relationship. If you love him, you’ll get on the next plane home.”
I arranged for a cab, made final notes for Hildie, and called the airline. I hoped there would be a seat available once I got to the airport. Zane, a.k.a. the food police, made sure I ate something besides lettuce before I left. The great blessing of having true friends.
I got to the airport in time to reserve a seat on the next flight out. It was a center seat and there were no available upgrades, but I didn’t care at the moment if it was in the baggage compartment. Harrison always managed to pull off great surprises; this time I had one for him. I killed time waiting for the flight by meandering in the terminal. The Chicago airport had great shopping, so I planned on picking up a sweet, little naughty number to sweeten the mood for my fiancé.
The flight home seemed to last forever, but it gave me time to think about things and how I could manage the best of both worlds. My job required me to travel all over the world, sometimes with short notice. Zane had been correct; I’d worked my way up in the fashion industry and had the privilege of being hired by top names in the industry, but nothing mattered without the man I loved beside me.
What scared me was more the question of who I’d be without my career. Would I just be a housewife to a man who worked his own bar all hours of the day and night? I really couldn’t see both of us running the bar, and it would be boring to hang out in the loft every minute of every day. So many questions and so few answers left me with anxiety. The answer would come.
Just take one day at a time, I thought to myself.
Once I landed and grabbed my bags, I called Luke and told him I needed a plan. He promised to get Harrison away from the front bar, so I could sneak into the loft. All I had to do was text him when the cab dropped me off.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Luke’s plan almost failed. We both forgot about Max, who almost gave me away. He kept wanting to come upstairs. He must’ve known I’d come home; although, I didn’t see him. I even heard Harrison tell him I wasn’t home and to get away from the stairs.
Max moaned in protest. Poor Max, I’d got him in trouble.
A shower perked me up and helped remove the tear stains. With naughty outfit bestowing my best features and the wine poured, I only had to wait until closing.
Luke assured me he would close up the bar and send Harrison upstairs. I sure wanted to lurk to see how he pulled that off, but hmmm, my indecent outfit wasn’t for public viewing.
Max running up the stairs gave their pending approach away. When Harrison turned the corner to the bedroom, the shocked look in his gorgeous blue eyes gave away his excitement to see me. The slow, sexy grin soon followed.
“Let me guess. Luke, right?”
“Yep. Don’t fire him.”
“Don’t worry. I think I’ll give him a raise. Baby, you’re a sight for my eyes only. Let me see more of that tie?”
I threw back the covers, giving him a grand view of my naughty number. A red, men’s neck-tie and red lace panties, his favorite color.
“Hm, hm, hm. You look delicious. I can think of a few fun things to do with that.” He winked.
“I take it, you like?”
He hovered over me on the bed and kissed me slow and passionately, teasing my lips with little bites. “You have no idea,” he said, slowly shaking his head.
I craved the connection with him and only wanted to spend the rest of the night being in his arms, coming together as one with him. We rolled around on the bed kissing and being playful. No doubt, the decision to come home was the right one, even if it wasn’t my idea.
Eager to please him, I took the tie off and wrapped it around his neck, using it as a pulley to draw him closer to me. I wasn’t expecting him to grab my hands and hold them over my head. The next shock came when he tied my hands to the bed post using the red tie.
“At any time, just say stop if you don’t want to continue.”
“Hmmm,” I moaned.
He used his tongue to trace a delicate trail down my neck. I didn’t know if my senses were on overload because I wanted him to touch me so badly, or if the idea of being restrained and unable to touch him took me to an all-together new height, but I loved it.
He gently traced the curves of my breast while the look of eager anticipation danced in his eyes. My body already on the crest of climax, craved him to apply pressure to my stiffened nipples, but he didn’t. Another form of sexual taunts, I supposed. I rocked up to him, trying to guide him to what I wanted.
“Babe, through this, you’ll learn sexual gratification like you’ve never known.”
I wanted to explode, and I needed him to take me there. The bites he delivered on my stomach were just short of painful and very stimulating.
Lower, I needed him to go lower.
Harrison had mastered the art of stimulation. I was there. Release… I craved it and thought I might burst if I didn’t get it. I uttered stop in protest when he got up from the bed and turned to walk away.
He rushed back to me and started to untie my hands. “I’m so sorry. It might’ve been too long. We have to do this in short bursts until you’re used to it.”
“Shhh, Harrison. I said stop to you walking away, not to being restrained.”
“I was only going to hang up my jacket and undress.”
Forget hanging up the jacket, without another word, he started where he left off on my belly and continued going south, thank God. He looked up at me through his beautiful long lashes, and the intoxicating glance lit me on fire. By the time he got to the folds of my entrance, juices flowed from my needy state.
With applied pressure to my clitoris with his lips and his forefinger finding that sweet spot, my climax thundered through me, beautifully undoing the stress of the day. I relaxed in complete satiation.
He came to the side of the bed, kissing me with constant contact until he had completely removed his clothes. He lifted my hips as I locked my ankles behind his back. He slid in and out of me as I arched to him. With each thrust, his movements slammed harder, flesh to flesh. My channel held him tight, applying delicious friction to his full length.
Passionate fury emanated through him as his hips moved in a circular motion. The gorgeous contours of his muscular body on full exhibition. My breaths coming in quicker gasps, I tightened on the verge of climax. He slid his hand over to my sensitive bud, and with pressure from his thumb, my channel exploded around him, pulling him deep into me with shockwaves of pleasure.
He leaned forward, touching his forehead to mine. “You grip my soul, Monica.”
With the lamplight on, I saw the need in his eyes, and when he threw his head back and moaned, I knew my orgasm brought on his. He rocked and groaned out my name.
Then he stilled and sweat beaded his gorgeous smile.
We lay tangled together for what seemed like hours.
“Did the shoot cancel?” he asked.
“Nope.”
“What brought you back so quickly?”
“Homesickness, great advice, and you.”
“Huh?”
“I cried all the way out there. Dane saw my puffy eyes, gave me great advice, and fired me.”
Harrison propped up on his elbow and turned my face to him. “I got you fired?” he asked, genuinely concerned.
“No, not really. Hildie is there and everything is set. He just fired me from the set as a genuine friend. Told me I could always have a career, but I might not get another chance at perfect love. So, here I am. Not sure how it all fits, but I’m not going anywhere anytime soon, except wedding planning.”
“Have I told you today how much I adore you?” He slid his thumb across my lips.
“No, but you can show me…and I’ll have m
ore of that red tie.”
Without uttering another word, he tied my hands behind my back and showed me a new variation of being erotically restrained with a red neck tie.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The next few weeks were full of hustle and bustle planning for the wedding. I’d designed my own wedding gown on paper, but that was as far as I had gotten with it.
Hildie suggested I show my drawings to Bianca DeLatore, a new designer in Chicago, and fortunately, she was willing to work with me. She agreed to be the seamstress and do the final finishing.
We met at her studio, and she took my drawings, showed me fabric samples and promised to have a dress for me within the week. Five freaking days cut it really close to the day we were flying out for the wedding. I tried not to panic, remembering all of the chaos Alexandra went through right before leaving for their wedding in Bora Bora just a year previously.
The Italian government didn’t play around when it came to matrimonial ceremonies. There were strict legal requirements for American citizens wanting to marry in Italy.
Harrison’s documents were in order; mine were a disaster. After a day chastising me for not having everything, he finally agreed to use his legal skills and make things happen.
Of course, this came after I’d used my persuasive ways with him. We discovered the difference between creatively talented and regimented personalities.
***
“Relax, babe. You’ve got ten freakin’ checklists, and they’re all up to date. Everything’s going to be perfect,” Harrison coaxed from across the restaurant table. He’d been so sweet and helpful through the wedding planning.
“What can we help you with?” Alexandra asked, nudging Grayson.
“Yes, put us to work. Besides, the bachelor’s party is tomorrow night. I know there’s got to be more best-man-duties that need to be done.
“I think when it comes to weddings, guys only think about the bachelor party,” Alexandra quipped.
“Not true,” Grayson countered. “In fact, I helped plan quite a bit, and that honeymoon will never be outdone,” he boasted.
The Running Series Box Set: Books 1-3 Page 53