by Shae Black
Pivoting on his good leg, he shakes the jeans free of the shin-to-toe cast, and using only the power of his strong arms he lifts himself onto the bed. In one swift move he lays back grabbing me around the waist and positioning me so that I’m straddling his trim hips. His muscular V points like an arrow on a map directing us toward the treasure we both desire. The wetness of my core skims his solid straining cock, as he pulls me down to kiss my mouth, urgently at first but then when he’s gained control he peppers my face with tender kisses. Cradling my cheeks in both hands, my ebony hair curtains around our faces plunging us into complete darkness until he draws back so we are nose-to-nose. Closing his eyes he pulls in another deep cleansing breath. “What are you doing to me Imani?” he murmurs.
“Loving you,” I whisper, our lips feathering with the words.
“Don’t ever stop,” he says the emotion of the moment overwhelming us both he suddenly removes his hands from my face to seize my hips lifting me until he is poised at my entrance. I instinctively grasp his wrists for support anticipating the fierce ride. In one quick penetrating thrust he is inside of me buried to the hilt he pulls my body down hard deliciously impaling me he holds me firmly in place by my hips. I cry out and drop my head back while we pause for a fraction of a moment to savor the feeling of not only our physical connection but a spiritual one as well. He continues his onslaught, pumping rhythmically as I meet him thrust for thrust pushing him deeper into me every time. Releasing my hands from his wrists I grab his thighs behind me and change the angle, desperately attempting to get him deeper inside of me, needing to be one with him as much as humanly possible. He slides his hands from my waist to my ass; tilting me forward his cock repeatedly hits that sweet spot inside my walls over and over with every advance. Electricity builds low in my belly and I know I’m almost there, but I want more than anything for it to last so I sit up and move over him allowing my breasts to brush against the smattering of soft hair on his chest. Hands on either side of his head, our eyes lock and suddenly I’m flipped over onto my back, supporting himself with his good knee as he surges into me with a punishing force. Sliding our sweating bodies together, I wrap my legs around his waist, pressing my feet into his ass coaxing him closer until I hear the blessed words I’m dying to hear. “Imani, I want you to come with me!”
“Yesss.” I can hardly get that one word out before I dive headfirst over the edge of a cliff on mount Marcus.
“Fuck Imani!” he yells at the same time I scream unintelligibly, with orgasm possessing our bodies simultaneously for what feels like a lifetime… Both of us pant heavily as he opens his eyes, I’m already taking in the satisfied face of this Adonis and I watch as he kisses my forehead tenderly, followed by both cheeks, the tip of my nose and finally my lips. Salty with sweat, we both smile through the kiss and I thread my fingers through his damp hair.
“So…medical emergency averted?”
“More like mission accomplished baby.”
“Another perfect 10?”
“Oh yes, you better believe it.”
“I can’t believe you flipped me! Are you nuts?” Jutting my hips for him to move back to our initial position, he rolls us without disconnecting until I’m once again on top. Arms around him and nuzzling his neck I breath in his scent, his essence, and time stops when I feel it in every cell of my body, I know now undoubtedly that this is how it feels to love. Shit I’m sinking like an anvil in the middle of the ocean, deeper and deeper with no way out. A little jolt of panic zaps through me and with his clairvoyance, he senses it and says sternly, “No worrying.” All the while he’s gathering my messy, tangled hair and looping it into a knot at my back with one hand. I’d love to be able to just shut off my worrying like that but it’s not happening, now or ever, and that’s one thing he can’t control. But for him I’ll try.
“Ok,” I murmur into his hair, and as I sit up astride him, something on the bed next to him catches my eye. It’s a white teddy bear, propped against the pillows in the center of the bed. What the hell is that? “What’s with the bear?” I ask him, and he turns his head to look at the bear.
“A friend for you,” he answers.
“A friend? I’m not six years old Marcus, I haven’t had a teddy bear since…since forever.”
“Well then it is high time you have one, she is important, do not loose her whatever you do promise?” he asks. Uh ok, I’m thinking he really does have brain damage.
“Sure.” I say drawl. “Um…Thanks?”
“Don’t mention it.” He smiles a devilish grin and I know he’s up to something…but what?
We shower together, after we streak back to Marcus’s bedroom with me giggling at the thought of Maria or Mr. Black catching us nude post coital. Even naked on crutches, that man is irresistible, as he leisurely makes his way along, leaving the doors to my room open and releasing the potent smell of roses into the rest of the house. To say Marcus’s shower is grand would be a gross understatement. It’s cathedral with arched ceilings and stone walls. The side facing inwards toward the bathroom is a solid mammoth piece of glass that only broken by one seam for a door. Staying in this shower all day wouldn’t be out of the question, especially with Marcus.
“How about we eat pizza in bed and watch television tonight.” The Duke has read my mind; sitting at the dining room table eating fancy food isn’t how I feel like spending the evening.
“Sounds perfect, and thank you for the flowers, I was a little distracted earlier and I didn’t get a chance to thank you. Can we bring some to your room?” Maybe I shouldn’t assume that he’s going to always want me sleeping in his bed but it’s too late now, I’ve said it. “I just meant that it would be nice to see them when I’m working, I didn’t mean to…I’m not assuming…” Shit, shut up Imani! I’m pretty sure I’ve made it worse by opening my big mouth. His face darkens and he shoves his hand through his hair and holds it for a second before releasing it. “Lady you are not getting this are you?” “I’m sorry Marcus. I didn’t mean to overstep any boundaries.” He sighs reaching around to feather his fingers along my jaw. “Baby there are no boundaries when it comes to you. I want you right here next to me where I can feel how real you are, feel your heart beating under my hand, feel your soft breath against my neck.” Holy shit, I’m speechless. “I will have them all brought in here. I only gave you your own room so you would have some privacy if you needed it, not because I don’t want you here with me. And you are most welcome by the way; it was my pleasure surprising you with the flowers. Seeing the shock on your face was worth the time you were away today while I had them all delivered. You should know I was miserable without you, and you never really told me how your day was. “
I get a little thrill hearing that he was miserable, how could I have been so off base this morning?
“Like I said I was distracted.” I twist in his arms to look into his handsome sculpted face. “My day was pretty close to perfect, I checked on things at home, visited my sister and my niece and nephew, went to work and then guess what?” I ask “What?” He pulls me tightly against him. “Then I was surprised with a million roses and the best sex I’ve ever had.”
“That sounds like one hell of a job you have there lady,” he says, tugging on my thick, wet braided hair.
“Mmmhmm the best.”
Chapter 23
I love lingerie, matching panties and bras, corsets and garter belts. I’ve never had a reason to wear anything like that other than for my own gratification. I generally just sleep in short shorts and tank tops though and leave the pretty stuff for under my clothes. When packing for this week I purposely brought ultra casual things to keep the temptation level down. Seriously though, at this point I’m pretty sure that ship has sailed. This is supposed to be a job damn it, I shouldn’t be sleeping in the same room with him wearing anything less than scrubs, when did this become so profound?
I dressed conservatively tonight at least, in a pair of cotton shorts and a tank top, very unsexy. Looking
around my room, I grab a vase of roses, my bag and the box with the light fixture I made for Marcus. I should just move my things into his room permanently. I never sleep in here anyway but he’s given me this room for ‘privacy’ so my clothes hang in the closet and my makeup sits on the bathroom counter in the en suite bathroom. The latest gift in Marcus’s parade of generosity catches my eye as I leave the room and I set my bag on the bed to pick it up. It’s the softest teddy bear I’ve ever felt and it’s eyes… they look like diamonds, real diamonds. Oh surely they’re not, that would be ridiculously expensive, they’d have to be several carats for each eye. Smoothing out its fur I examine it further and find it also wears a diamond collar, six rows wide; cute it’s a she. The stitching is intricate; it’s obvious that it’s an expensive toy. But who gives a woman a teddy bear at my age, and why is she so important? I set her down and grab my bag, I’m giving Marcus his light, although not nearly as extravagant as several hundred roses, I made it with my own hands, and I want him to like it. I’ve been looking at Marcus lying in a bed for weeks, but he still takes my breath away. When I get to the door to his room I find him propped on a half dozen pillows pointing a remote at the T.V. He’s only wearing a pair of thin sleeping pants that sit low on his sexy as fuck hips, his hair is slicked back still wet from our shower and his beautifully defined chest is bare. I pause to admire the ultimate maleness that is Marcus Castillo. He pauses his channel surfing to watch something until he feels my stare.
“Enjoying the view nurse Imani?”
“As a matter of fact I am Mr. Castillo, very much so. I see you have pajama pants though, I thought you always slept naked.” I say pushing myself off of the doorjamb with my shoulder where I’ve been leaning. I move to set the heavy vase of flowers down.
“You thought I should wear something to bed, they are only here for you.” A coy smile on his lips he follows my movement across the room. “Well that was before we started…you know….”
“Oh, so now you want me naked do you?”
“Hey, is this new?” I gesture to the night table on my side of the bed purposely changing the subject. I’m sure he only had one table on his side before.
“Yes, I had a matching one delivered for you, to put your things on at night; you know, phone, iPad, lamp….” The simple yet thoughtful gesture tugs at my heart and the possible permanency of our relationship doesn’t go unnoticed. I’m only supposed to be here for a week after all. I don’t know why I keep trying to talk myself out of his motives; he’s planning on keeping me here forever. I know it, and honestly I love the idea but I can’t let myself think about a long-term relationship. Being with Marcus scares me as much as it thrills me. To be desired and possessed by a man that could also easily destroy me without even knowing it is such a complicated contradiction. I’m always waiting for the other shoe to drop. I’ve had no reason to be concerned recently; he’s been acting normal, or as normal as I know him to be so I accept the kind gesture by simply thanking him. I arrange my things on my new table and crawl to the center of his outrageously large bed and sit cross-legged facing him with my bag and box.
He eyes me curiously and asks, “What’s in the box?”
“Something I made for you, a while ago actually, while you were still in a coma.”
“You made it for me? How?”
“I’m into glass blowing, it’s a hobby I’ve done it for years.” A glint of interest crosses his face.
“May I see it?” He nods toward the box and I carefully unpack the bubble wrap and remove the light fixture. His eyes widen and he smiles a sweet lopsided smile as he reaches out to touch it. He slides his fingers over the various points and swirls on the surface as he does with everything he touches. I’ve been noticing this unusual trait and I’ve decided that he must have picked it up spending so much time with his blind aunt Angelica. “You made this? For me?”
“Uh huh.”
“It’s a light, yes?” I’m actually impressed he recognized my intent, a lot of the time with glass sculpture the meaning is misinterpreted.
I smile, “Yes, I actually thought you might have a use for it somewhere, do you like it?” He looks at me with “duh” written all over his face. “Oh yes, I have just the place in mind, it’s beautiful Imani, I love it, thank you.”
“Ahh, manners, I knew you had some in there somewhere!!” I exclaim and he frowns.
“I have manners,” he says defensively.
“I think they must be coming back slowly then, that’s the first time you’ve said thank you without a prompt from me since you woke up.”
“I wondered where your smart mouth had gone, I use my manners when I deem them necessary, too much please and thank you in my business can lead to lack of respect and the appearance of weakness.”
“Really? I thought being polite earned respect and promoted strength and unity between people,” I retort.
“In some circumstances maybe, but running Dominus requires a strong hand.” His voice is laced with a chill I’m not comfortable with. “Tell me about Dominus.” It seems the root of his alter ego is related to that place so I figure I better get to know more about it.
“It’s unusual for an upscale restaurant to be part of a chain. An establishment of Dominus’s stature usually operates individually but I couldn’t pass on the opportunity to expand when people were practically throwing money at me to open more locations. The food was originally Italian and Greek but we serve all kinds of food now, specialties depend on the location. My first was in Italy. It was an instant hot spot; people came from all over the world for the food and entertainment. So, I decided to take the concept anywhere they would have me, which is now just about everywhere.”
“What makes it stand apart from similar places?” I ask.
“There are no similar places, there is no competition for Dominus, it’s unique, the food is exquisite, we have never a bad review and each location has an accompanying club which is the true draw.” He’s staring hard at me with narrowed eyes, analyzing my reaction to this information, he seems nervous and unsettled, which tips me off that there is more to this story…much more. “Uh…ok, what makes the club unique? Lots of restaurants have bars and clubs.” He’s silent for a few moments as he tries to find the right words to explain. Loud bells suddenly chime throughout the house, interrupting our conversation. “Is that a doorbell?” It sounds like church bells ringing on Christmas day, equally as garish as the fireplace. Marcus has a knack for going overboard with certain things and that doorbell is definitely one of them!
“Yes, Elijah is back and he’s bringing our food from Dominus, Mr. Black will let him in. Do you mind if he comes back here? I have some business to speak to him about and I’m comfortable, I don’t want to have to rearrange all of this again,” he says gesturing to the mess of pillows around him.
“Of course not, it’s your house, I’ll grab a robe, or I can go to my room if you need more privacy,”
“No, no, stay here, and yes, a robe… defiantly.” He rakes his eyes over my scantly clothed body, his jaw tight I know exactly what he’s thinking because I’m thinking it too. I really wish Elijah would just go away, for more reasons than one. I was just getting somewhere with the story of his business first of all, and secondly that look he just gave me ignited a fire in my body that needs extinguishing and he is the only man to do it.
My bag still in my lap, I pull out a thin full-length red silk robe and slip it on while Marcus watches nodding his approval. I guess I’m covered enough for his liking. Elijah strolls in, holding a very large box of pizza and pauses, surprised to see sitting in Marcus’s bed. “I’m sorry Sir, Mr. Black didn’t say…he never mentioned,” he stammers.
“It’s all right Elijah, I told him it was ok, you remember Imani don’t you?”
“Of course, good to see you again Ms. Jefferson.” He makes an attempt to recover from his shock by moving into the room and averting his eyes away from me.
“Call me Imani please. It’s nice
to see you too Elijah, how was your trip?” I ask.
“Fine thank you.” He says his eyes on Marcus and only Marcus he holds the box up slightly as if to ask where he should put it. “Just here on the bed,” Marcus responds, and Elijah hesitates again.
“You want it on the bed?”
“Yes, Elijah. On the bed,” He repeats with irritation. I’m thinking this must be out of character for the old Marcus. Elijah seems to have really known him inside out, and I feel a little sorry for him being in uncharted waters. But he follows orders like a perfect employee and sets the box on the bed.
“Choose a movie, I will be just a few minutes with Elijah,” Elijah pulls up a chair and produces a laptop. I scoot off the bed and set my bag on a chair remembering to remove the vase that’s wrapped in my clothes. The roses I brought in here won’t work in it, so I pad next door to my room to choose another bouquet with shorter stems. That damn bear is still siting there staring at me like she has a secret she never plans on sharing. I huff back to Marcus’s room with a handful of flowers and arrange them in the vase Dax made. When I’m finished I set them on a small table that is arranged into a sitting area by the window. The two of them hover over the laptop discussing flow charts and graphs, and shipping problems. I tune out the conversation until I hear them briefly mention that they were letting someone go, a woman I think, they don’t expand on the details of her wrongdoing but I worry for her just the same. I grab the remote and manage to locate his movie collection that includes a wide variety of genres; there’s no way to learn his taste in movies from this list. Many of them are in other languages, and I wonder how many he speaks fluently. With business on every continent, I suppose he speaks several. I have no idea what to choose; I really don’t care what we watch. I don’t plan on seeing any of it anyway, my itinerary for the evening includes filling up on gourmet pizza and getting very, very naked with my patient. My patient, the thought of him as my employer still nags at me; I am doing nothing a professional nurse would do for a patient. I feel more like a paid girlfriend…. which is essentially a prostitute. I’m going to have to make a change in this arrangement immediately if I plan on keeping any dignity or self-respect. I must have myself removed from his bankroll and go back to the ICU or at the very least demand some real responsibilities. Something more than accepting outlandish gifts and passing him a sleeping pill every night.