Slow Dancing (The Second Chances Series Book 4)

by Isobelle Cate

  “Bartering in the twenty-first century,” Luke drawled, his own eyes twinkling as his arm went around Gracie’s shoulders. “Medieval men should learn a thing or two from you.”

  “Well, what do you say?”

  Everyone looked at her. Even Debbie and Adi waited and watched in expectation. But it was Drake’s opinion that mattered. He looked at her with the same indulgence Oliver and Luke showered their women with, that comforting warmth seeped into Bethany’s bones.

  “Okay.” She breathed out the word. “Thank you.”

  “Perfect.” Lissie beamed. She turned away to speak on her phone. “Hi Corinne? I need food delivered pronto to Expectation Blooms on Lever Street. Can we make that happen? Fab! Yes …”

  The anxiety that wound Bethany up tighter than twine loosened the farther Lissie moved away from them. She gazed at Drake’s pleased handsome face, wanting to throw herself at him.

  “How do you know them?” she whispered, amazed the moment the couples left.

  “Luke, Oliver, a couple of other friends, and I own a loft conversion apartment building together and then some.”

  “And then some?” She stared at him baffled. “What does that even mean?”

  Drake surprised her with a kiss planted firmly on her mouth tripping her heart and putting a wobbly smile on her face.

  “I can tell you later when I have you to myself.”

  Her smile widened her body thrumming with excitement. “I can’t wait.”

  “It’ll be here within the hour.” Lissie returned.

  “Right.” Bethany tried to disentangle herself from Drake. When he refused, “I have to show Lissie some arrangements. We won’t be long.”

  Reluctantly, he let go. “Make sure of it.”

  “Felicity?” Oliver arched a brow.

  “Some girl talk, babe.” She shook her head sighing.

  “I’m going with you.” Gracie extricated herself from Luke. Luke grinned but followed his wife’s movements like a hawk.

  “Intense much?” Bethany mumbled as they went to the workroom.

  “Oh, they all are.” Lissie giggled.

  “If Luke could tie me up and keep me at home, he would.” Gracie rolled her eyes.

  “Hmmm…kinky.” Bethany drawled.

  “You have no idea.”

  They all laughed as they entered the workroom.

  “I can stay here all day.” Gracie inhaled. “I can detect different scents.”

  “I’m impressed.” Bethany took out one of the file folders from a shelf.

  There were tulips, camellias, roses, sprigs of baby’s breath, stargazer lilies, jasmine, stems of amaryllis in vases and buckets around the room.

  “It does smell heavenly here.” Lissie inhaled.

  Bethany’s mouth curved. She felt the same of her own pocket paradise.

  “Have a look at some of the designs,” Bethany said, opening it to photos of floral arrangements. She gave another clear book to Gracie.

  “They’re beautiful.” Lissie leafed through them with a critical eye. “I like this one.”

  Gracie leaned over. She pointed to a profusion of camellias and pink carnations. The squat vase was hidden by the colourful petals and made the arrangement resemble a stream overflowing with flowers instead of water.

  “That’s perfect, I think,” she said. “Goes with the overall décor of The Retreat.”

  “Good choice,” Bethany said, making a note on the order pad. “How many do you need?”

  “About thir…ty.” Lissie hedged.

  Bethany’s brows rose, a smile playing on her mouth. “And…when?”

  “In two days?”

  Bethany swallowed and her suppressed laughter broke.

  “That too soon?” Lissie wore a worried frown. “I know it’s short notice, but I couldn’t find anything that appealed to me…Please?”

  “Lissie, you don’t need to beg. You’ve saved the launching. We’ll get to it right away.” She’d have to ask Cinzia to help with the order. Her friend knew how to cajole wholesalers to give her what she wanted in a short space of time. And, they would need loads of the flowers if the shop planned to have them also on display. Euphoria buzzed through her veins. Never in a million years did Bethany think her plans for Expectation Blooms’ opening would fail at the start but pick up later and be unexpectedly successful.

  Just as Lissie promised, the food and wine arrived quickly. Cinzia and Amara arrived a few minutes later rushing to the backroom to put their coats on the pegs before helping out on the shop floor. Corinne helped set the food on the tables provided and so did Lissie.

  “You shouldn’t do that.” Bethany gave her a helpless look that turned into alarm when even Gracie helped out. “You’re both guests.”

  “It’s not a problem. You ordered food from my resto, remember?” Lissie said, then winked. “You’re a client.”

  Bethany couldn’t stop the disbelieving smile curve her lips, her head moving from side to side in rueful amusement. Her gaze swung to the men. Luke, Oliver, and Drake were talking in one corner of the room. Three handsome men amid the profusion of tulips, roses, hyacinths. They looked…perfect, especially Drake. Bethany’s body warmed once more at the memory of squeezing his ass urging him to take her harder, deeper, and higher. Her teeth bit down on the inside of her bottom lip to stop her full blown moan emitting from her throat.

  Drake’s gaze lifted to her, his gaze darkening and his mouth twitching to one side. He knew what she was thinking, and Bethany felt the pang of lust in the centre of her chest and between her thighs. She perused herself. Her apron had wet patches from flower stems when she took them out of the buckets. Her hair, earlier tied in a ponytail was slightly askew, and she didn’t know if her make-up was still in place. Thank God, she was wearing a chambray dress and flat sandals. Sure she had to dress the part, but Cinzia was suitably dressed in a flowing red dress that showed off her olive skin, and black red bottomed heels that made her legs look like they could go on forever.

  Drake excused himself from the group just as Gracie and Felicity returned to the side of their men.

  “Bethany, a word?”

  She looked at him, her brows furrowing at the seriousness of his tone. Unable to stop it, trepidation skittered across her belly. The sensuality of Drake’s stare a while ago was gone. Luke and Oliver gave them cursory glances before giving their undivided attention to their women. Did they know about her and Drake?

  Floor swallow me now.

  Bethany’s throat tightened, her pulse’s beat increasing in sound with every second of Drake’s silence.

  Oh God. What did he find out?

  Any normal person would wonder what the seriousness was all about, but she wasn’t any normal person. The things she had to do in the past made sure of that.

  “Uh, yeah, sure. What is it?” She stood her ground.

  “In private please.”

  Her heart tumbled to her feet.

  It’s nothing. It’s nothing. It’s nothing.

  But her conscience taunted her. Someone’s outed you.

  She spared Oliver and Luke a sideways glance but they were too engrossed in their discussion. Were they some of the men she had encountered in the past? They didn’t look familiar. She’d remember.

  She led the way back to the workroom and through the back door. The sun glinted against the windows of the buildings surrounding them. Some of the greenery used as accents in the floral arrangements stood in floristry buckets flushed against the alley wall. They were secluded from everyone, the alley’s mouth several metres away showed little foot traffic.

  “What’s wrong?” Her heartbeat was so loud in her ears she wasn’t so sure if she’d be able to hear Drake.

  Instead of talking, Drake encircled her waist with one arm and curled his other hand around her neck before taking her mouth in a languid panty melting kiss. Bethany surprise melted under Drake’s expert kissing and she opened to accept him. She moaned, sighing away the tension from her bo
dy as her hands skimmed his perfect chest before circling her arms around his waist. Drake stoked the embers in the pit of her belly to life.

  This kiss was slightly different. There was something more, something other than a precursor to the best sex she had the fortune to experience. Just like early that morning, each taste of him also sent warmth directly to her long starved soul making her believe that things were finally going to be all right in her world.

  “I’ve wanted to do this the moment I entered the shop,” Drake said, his tongue licking, darting, until Bethany mewled and capture his mouth. He smiled against her lips. “And I’m dying here.”

  He squeezed her ass to bring her harder against his arousal.

  “I can’t wait to get you to bed and do your pussy with my tongue, fingers, and cock.”

  Gush. She was gushing. A helpless laugh bubbled up her throat.

  “Drake, we were just together a few hours ago.” Then she teased him by rubbing her mound against his lengthening hard on. A slow ache swirled in the centre of her core. “Don’t talk like that when I’ve got a shop to run. I’m going to be here for hours yet.”

  “What do you think it’s doing to me, hmmm?” His mouth dipped to the base of her throat, nipping at the skin where her pulse lay before planting open mouth kisses on her neck. “I’m so hard for you, Bee, my cock is going to break if it waits any longer to be inside you.”

  Bethany shuddered. Bloody hell, if there was a time for instant gratification, this was it and she couldn’t have it. The pain of having to wait became physical and she squirmed. She needed sanity, needed lucidity. She needed to be responsible.

  “Ah fuck it.” She muttered, dragging Drake by the hand.

  CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

  “Whoa, where are we going?”

  Bethany didn’t answer. They slipped back into the workroom and veered towards the bathroom. Drake grinned.

  The moment the door closed behind him, he took Bethany’s face in both his hands and plundered her mouth. A kiss filled with lust, hunger, longing that matched her own. They both fumbled with their clothes while continuing to steal as many kisses as their movements allowed. The toilet cover slammed shut. Drake sat down, his pants down his legs and his cock waving and twitching as he stroked it. Bethany’s sex clenched at the sight of him and heat flowed from her throbbing lips.

  “Turn around,” Drake rasped.

  She did as she was told. She hiked up her dress. He set her thong aside. Her eyes closed and she shivered as Drake’s hand grazed her hip down to her crack moving lower until she felt his fingers on her labia.

  “Ohh…” Her eyes closed, her right hand gripped the sink, her left hand flat against the door. She spread her legs when Drake rubbed a rough finger pad on her clit. She arched her ass trying to find more friction. Drake gave it to her, inserting a finger inside her, then another and twisting them. She was officially soaked.

  “Oh yes, baby.”

  Then she froze when Drake widened her ass cheeks and started licking her pucker.

  “Shit.” She closed her eyes, her breath stuttering. Her thighs burned but nothing compared to the surge of lust that zinged through her.

  “I told you I’ve have your ass,” Drake mumbled between licks “but we’ll take it slow, okay, Bethany?”

  Her head jerked in assent.

  Drake continued to lick her while his fingers fucked her. Bethany moaned.

  “So easily wet, Bee. Mmm…” He smacked his lips ratcheting Bethany’s desire. “You’ve got the best honey this side of the universe and I’m so fucking lucky it’s mine. All mine.”

  “Drake…” she gasped. Pressure built in delicious proportions inside her sex, coiling and begging to be released.

  “Sit on me, baby.” Drake breathed harshly. “Sit that sweet pussy on my cock. Let me feel it suck me.”

  Bethany looked down. Drake had his cock in his hand and his other hand on her hip, waiting as she lowered herself. A moan of pleasure flowed out of her mouth. She looked over her shoulder and her belly pinged sweet electricity through her veins at the sight of Drake’s head thrown back, the corded muscles of his neck straining, his jaw tight and his eyes closed.

  “Oh fuck, Bee.” He moved forward and the hand on her hip snaked to her front to find her clit.

  “Holy shit.” The shots of electricity became bolts of lightning, her desire flaring inside her like the first shot out of a roman candle. She whimpered but bounced slowly, taking Drake inch by delicious inch inside her. She was stretched, full.

  Loved.

  She moved, up and down, taking Drake in slowly as her inner muscles became accustomed once more to Drake’s thickness and length. She began to undulate, front and back, her hips rocking and swaying. Her lips parted and her body heated. She wouldn’t be surprised if she burned and glowed, because her skin felt like it. Her nipples puckered inside her lace bra, her skin tingled everywhere. She was dancing to a primal beat in her head and heart as Drake now held her hips guiding her up and down his cock. This was better than good. She was lost in her dance where only Drake existed for her, possessed her, claimed her. His groans were sounds that fuelled her own whimpers, sounds that came unbidden from her throat. Pleasure rippled through her body and pelvis, her movements stoking her desire higher. Their lovemaking was joined by the sounds of flesh slapping against flesh.

  “Bethany, I need to fuck you hard.” Drake’s voice was choppy, needy.

  “Do it,” she gasped.

  Gripping her hips, Drake stood, still impaled inside her. Bethany gripped the sink hard and held on to the doorknob at the forward motion. She bent to her waist, ass arched, legs spread.

  “No. Do the opposite.” Drake said, his breathing hard. “Close your legs and trap my cock inside you.”

  Bethany looked behind at him, and her breath caught at the lust that darkened his eyes and burned its imprint on her soul. Her gaze raked down to his shirt and the flesh around his cock.

  “Oh yes…” Drake hissed.

  He withdrew, the surface of his cock deliciously dragging against her inner walls. When he thrust in again, he eased his thumb inside her rosette. She moaned.

  “Are you okay?” Drake’s voice was tight with want. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “Again.” she faced forward bracing herself for a beautiful fucking ride. Not once had she done this before and the pressure of Drake’s finger inside her raised up her desire to explore her darker side.

  Drake obliged moving in and out of her. Bethany’s lips parted her focus on Drake’s cock and his thumb going deeper. She moaned again, her brow slightly pulling together at the unfamiliar sensation building inside her.

  “Oh God…” It felt so good. She squeezed and Drake hissed, pounding her. Drake’s hips hit her ass cheeks, his balls slapping against her while his thumb continued to tease her hole. The tightness of keeping her legs together made her feel every part of Drake. She cried out when his other hand’s fingers slid between her slick lips and found her clit.

  “Shhh…I don’t want anyone to hear you. Your fucking cries are mine alone. Ahh shit, Bee…Like that? Like what I’m doing to you?” He leaned against her back, his voice mesmerizing her and sending tingles up her spine all the way to her scalp. “I’m going to ram this pussy so hard, my cock will be the only one it will allow in. Soon I’ll tap this sweet ass.”

  Bethany whimpered. She was so close. “Drake…I need more.”

  Drake gripped her hips with both hands and pummelled faster and deeper. Was he getting thicker? But every time his cock head hit deeply, all thought scattered and beautiful exquisite sensations replaced it which she felt all the way to her toes.

  “Oh fuck…” The sounds galloped around them. Bethany bit down on her bottom lip but the sounds from her throat still came out. A long moan struggled up her throat before parting her lips for air.

  Then there it was. That sweet explosive ride flew over the edge of her consciousness and the tie around the coil of her orgasm broke. Sh
e clamped her teeth over her lips as she screamed. It was guttural and primal. Her inner muscles twitched and tightened around Drake. Drake leaned forward, his arm across her chest straightening her that his cock hit that place where she needed it most. Another scream came out of her but was drowned as Drake’s mouth descended on hers taking it into him before he jerked his hips against her thrice and his own harsh groan vibrated into her mouth.

  Their mouths took the remnants of bliss as they descended from the pinnacle. Hearts thumping inside the small room now smelling of sex. Bethany’s heartbeat was a deep bass in her ears and a drum beat against her ribs. Sweat coated her skin. She felt Drake’s own heart against her back, his musk floating up between them joining her own and turning her on once more. She sighed as Drake withdrew, laughing softly when he nearly lost his balance and decided to sit on the toilet cover. Bethany’s legs trembled, her body still experiencing the aftershocks of their lovemaking. Drake tore some toilet paper and gently cleaned her. Bethany’s heart squeezed at the intimate gesture. She took the air freshener, giggling as she sprayed the room before she sluiced water on her face. She dried herself and fixed her ponytail.

  “I’ll go ahead,” she said. Then she giggled. “You just go and rest a minute here.”

  Drake’s chuckle was broken but sated. He sat back down with a thump. “I’ll be right out. Dammit, Bee. I like the way we come together.”

  Pleasure warmed her cheeks. She leaned down for a kiss. “I like it too.”

  Bethany opened the door slowly, relieved no one seemed to have noticed she and Drake had been missing. She didn’t know how long they had been in the washroom but it was one helluva quickie that would leave her sated for a few hours before she sought Drake again.

  She walked around the workroom several times, fixing the flowers that didn’t need fixing so that the air could lick the sweat from her body. She also went to get the bottle of cologne from her bag. She couldn’t stop the goofy smile on her face nor the exhilaration and euphoria running through her bloodstream. Everything around her looked exquisite. Smelled beautiful. More colourful. As though the flowers applauded her for taking what she wanted. No one should suspect she’d just had a booty call that wasn’t a booty call, as Drake had told her.