by Kreig, K. L.
Jesus, Livia. The Godfather…really?
“You’re acting strange today, Livia.”
On the other hand, what if there really was something from my past in that box? I certainly did not want Addy to open it and prompt more questions. Shit.
“Never mind, I’ll do it.” I scoot her out of the way and tentatively grab the bow, pulling slowly like it’s a viper ready to strike if I move too quickly. I gingerly lift the lid of the box as if I expect there to be a decapitated human head on the inside, ready to shove Addy out of the way if I spot even a hint of blood.
But as the lid comes off I see none of those things. No oranges, no heads, no dark, thick red staining the inside. All I see is a beautiful, shimmery silver cocktail dress and a pair of matching, strappy heels along with a cream envelope that has ‘Livvy’ scrawled on the outside.
“Holy fuck. Who sent this?” Addy asks. Now she’s the one pushing me out of the way to draw the sheath out of its soft tissue bedding. It’s short and sleeveless, with a plunging neckline. It’s simply stunning. The most beautiful dress I’ve ever seen. I immediately know who it’s from and now my stomach drops for an entirely different reason.
I quickly open the card and read the words that were handwritten by my long-lost love. Addy’s breath washes over my neck while she unashamedly reads over my shoulder.
My beautiful angel,
I hope you’ll forgive me that I
can’t honor my promise to give
you space. You see, I’ve been wandering
aimlessly in that dark, lonely void
since I last laid eyes on you, and I
don’t ever intend on going back. There
will be no space between us ever again.
Be ready by 7:30 p.m. I have a business dinner
at 8:00, and you’ll be accompanying me.
I can’t wait to see how fucking stunning
you’ll look both in this dress…and out of it.
All my love,
Gray
I gulp and feel a hot breath of desire between my legs at his very blatant claim. Addy screams, “Oh my God!” In. My. Ear.
“Shit, Addy, that hurt.” I grab my ringing ear with my free hand, but my other is shaking. My ears really are ringing, but it has nothing to do with Addy yelling and everything to do with Gray’s very suggestive message.
He’s taking you to dinner. Tonight.
He wants to be inside you again. Tonight.
He’s not letting you go. Ever.
Oh God. I’m equally turned on and terrified at the thought of seeing him again after yesterday. I don’t know why I’m torturing myself, and him, by even entertaining the thought of going out with him, but God help me, I am. I should pick up my phone and call him to decline. But I don’t even know his number.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Before I can register what’s happening, Addy is dragging me into the bathroom and turning on the shower. She mumbles something about hair and makeup and thongs, but none of it’s penetrating.
I’m going to dinner tonight. With Gray.
I’m going to have sex again tonight. With Gray.
He still wants you to be his. Forever.
Suddenly my stained Color Run T-shirt is being pulled over my head and my sweatpants pool around my feet. “What the hell, Addy?” I grumble, shaking myself out of my thoughts. I step out of the navy blue fabric trapping me inside. I’m now standing in my utilitarian white bra and underwear while the hot steam from the shower fingers around us.
“Livia, you have less than one hour to get ready. If I have to, I’ll strip you bare and wash you myself. Granted, it would be weird, and a line crossed that our friendship may never quite recover from, because I don’t really care to either see or wash your coochie or touch your tits, but I’m a good friend, and that’s what friends are for. And I’ll do it if I have to.”
I stare at her with a look of pure horror on my face, I’m sure. Wash my coochie?
She grabs me by the shoulders, shaking me. “I will not let you fuck this up. It’s obvious this guy is crazy for you and I know you’re still in love with him. No normal man sends an expensive dress and fuck-me heels from an exclusive boutique with a message that basically stakes his forever claim on you and tells you he wants to screw your brains out. It’s so obvious he’s madly in love with you, Livia.”
“There are so many things wrong with what you just said. You realize that, don’t you?” She laughs and I shake my head, still stuck on the coochie comment.
Stepping behind the shower curtain, I remove my undergarments, grab the sponge and quickly begin to wash. I already shampooed my hair earlier today, so I was out in short order and had barely dried off when Addy appears in the bathroom doorway again.
For the next forty-five minutes, she primped, plucked, curled, lotioned and spritzed me. She was a flurry of hands most of the time. And her mouth kept pace too. By the time she’s done, my ears are practically bleeding, but wow…the end result is worth it. My eyes are smoky, my cheeks flush with color and my lashes longer than I could have ever made them myself. She’d thrown my hair up in a messy, but sophisticated bun, leaving a few curled rings to frame my face.
“You look hot,” she said standing behind me in the mirror. “If I batted for the same team, I’d do you,” she winked.
I couldn’t help but laugh. I look up from my seated position, catch her eyes and smile. “Thanks, Addy.”
“My pleasure, babe.” We sit there looking at each other and I know something sappy is about to come out of her mouth. “I don’t know what happened, Livia, but you carry sadness around like a protective coat of armor and I think Gray is your chink. Let him in. You deserve to be happy. You deserve love. You know that, right?”
My eyes sting. She was right about the chink, but happiness? Love? Did I deserve it? I wanted to believe it. I wanted to grab hold of what was right in front of me, what Gray was offering, never let go and never look back again. But the truth is, I’m scared shitless. And scarred beyond repair.
Outside of Alyse, I was never unconditionally loved by another soul until the day I met Gray Colloway. My mother walked out when I was eight, unable to handle my father’s gambling and drunkenness. My father essentially sold me. And Peter told me every day how the only thing I was good for was a mediocre fuck and decent punching practice. I think I’ve convinced myself I don’t deserve to be loved. How can a single person go through most of their life without it and feel worthy when it stands right before them?
It took me a long time to accept it, to truly believe it the first time around from Gray, but I saw it still burning brightly when I laid eyes on him again, and that little flame I still carried for him all these years turned into a raging inferno. I just don’t know if I can take the chance to love with my whole being and lose again. I’d lost Gray once. It would destroy me to lose him again if he found out the truth. And I am terrified he will. How can he possibly understand why I chose to marry someone else? How could he ever forgive that betrayal?
I catch her eyes again and smile sadly. Addy didn’t know me. Not really. If she knew all my baggage, would she still think I’m deserving? Doubtful. “Thanks,” I manage to choke.
“Whatever it is, Livia, I think you’re selling yourself short to believe he won’t understand. And if you need someone to talk to, I’m always here.”
The doorbell rings and all the butterflies sitting in the pit of my stomach take flight at once. I feel their wings fluttering wildly against my insides. I’m nauseous.
“Showtime,” she whispers excitedly. I smooth down my short dress, which fits like a glove and shows off every single curve I’ve managed to gain back over these last two years. I walk to the front door, standing with the knob in my hand so long that the doorbell rings a second time and I jump.
I take a deep breath before turning it, knowing my entire life will change the second I open it.
Chapter 19
Holy fuck.
That’s all I could thin
k when she opened the door and I saw her rocking the dress I’d sent. My cock was instantly, uncomfortably hard. That toddler was going to be difficult to hide in my fitted dress slacks.
I was literally speechless as my eyes traveled slowly down her sexy, curvy body. The silver sheath showed a fair amount of cleavage and hugged her flared hips perfectly, ending at mid-thigh. When I got to the heels, the only thing I could picture was her standing naked in front of me, wearing nothing but those, before I took her against the wall and they ended up digging into my ass as I pumped repeatedly into her. The urge to bail on dinner and gorge on Livvy instead was so great I almost pulled out my phone to call Conn.
“You look mouthwatering, Livvy,” I finally manage to utter when our eyes connect. I feather a finger down her cheek, my thumb tugging across her parted bottom lip. I lean into her, my lips a whisper away. Her eyes have darkened and dilated and her chest rapidly expands and contracts with each shallow breath. “My lips ache for yours,” I warn right before I claim them, exploring the mouth I didn’t get enough of yesterday.
After a brief hesitation, her arms wind around my neck and our bodies mash together, our kiss quickly brimming with passion and longing. I turn her slightly to steady us against the door jam and run my hand up her torso, palming a pert breast, thumbing her hardened nipple through the thin fabric. Her moan has my hand traveling back south, very intent on determining what type of lingerie lay underneath this sexy wrapping.
A throat clearing in the background is the only reason I pull away, but as I do, I tug her bottom lip between my teeth and place one last chaste kiss on her before facing our unwelcome interloper, pulling Livvy close to my side.
A striking tall brunette is bouncing up and down like she needs to pee. She thrusts out her hand toward me with a sly smile. “You must be Gray.”
“Addy, stop,” Livvy hisses.
I look at Livvy and can’t help the broad smile that breaks out as her face reddens. Her roommate knows about me and I’m surprised at how much that warms my blood.
“I am,” I reply, turning back toward her, taking her hand briefly in mine.
“I’m Addy, Livia’s roommate. Nice touch, by the way. She looks hot.” She nods toward Livvy, and I suspect she’s referring to the clothes I sent.
“That she does,” I reply, but now my heated stare is locked on my woman. She’d look great wearing a potato sack. It’s the woman that makes the dress look incredible, not the other way around.
“Have a great time, tonight. Don’t rush to bring her home.”
“Don’t wait up,” I reply. Her friend’s grin is contagious, and I return it. I have no intention of bringing Livvy back to her apartment. She’s spending the night with me, and if I have anything to say about it, every other night for the rest of our lives.
“Umm, hello? I’m right here.”
I grab her hand in mine, bringing it to my lips. “Do you need to grab anything before we leave, angel?” Like all of your belongings?
“My purse,” her soft voice whispers. She’s just as affected by me as I am by her and, if possible, that makes my cock even harder. I have absolutely no fucking idea how I’m going to get through the next three hours without being inside of her.
She grabs her purse and a wrap and soon we’re on our way to the restaurant. Tonight Henry is driving. He’s my part-time chauffeur, but he’s so much more than that. He’s a long-time friend of the family. He worked for my father for twenty-five years and when I took over my father’s company, Henry insisted that I’d also need his services, even though I protested I would never be so pretentious as to need a driver. Turns out, it’s not pretension, but necessity, to have Henry handy sometimes; otherwise, I’d be a distracted driving hazard. It’s not very smart to host a conference call from the driver’s seat as you’re navigating Chicago rush hour traffic to O’Hare Airport.
Take tonight, for example. There’s no way I could do what I wanted with Livvy on our thirty-minute drive back into the city if I was driving.
“Come here,” I say. She’d positioned herself as far away from me in the back seat as possible and I meant what I told her in the message I’d delivered earlier. There would be no space between us ever again. Especially of the physical kind.
Her eyes flick to Henry’s, catching his in the rear view mirror before landing on mine. Not waiting for her reply, I grab her arm and slide her across the slick seat, pulling her into my lap, against the protests she’s voicing. She does that way too much. I want her to beg for my touch, beg for my tongue, beg for my cock. The only time I want to hear her protests are when she’s pleading for me to fuck her harder and faster, and then complaining when I’m spent and can’t.
“I’ve been hard for hours envisioning you in those shoes,” I whisper, nibbling her perfumed neck. She smells so fucking good, I almost tell Henry to take us to my apartment instead.
“Just the shoes?” she breathes.
“Fuck yes. Just the shoes.”
“Gray—”
I know that tone and I hastily silence it with my lips, swallowing whatever she was about to say so I don’t have to hear it. She quickly melts into me, winding a hand in my hair. I slip the hand not holding her head up the inside of her bare thigh. If I don’t find out what she’s teasing me with underneath before dinner, I may just blow. Hell, I may blow once I do find out.
As I reach the juncture, I feel her radiating heat. As my fingers graze her silk panties, I feel the dampness of her want. And as I slip them underneath the wet fabric, I am scorched by her desire.
She breaks the kiss, trying to squirm out of my arms. “Gray—”
“I need to feel your body quiver in my arms, Livvy, and know that it’s me causing each one.” If I could get away with taking her in the backseat, I would.
“Not in the car,” she breathes, but it’s choppy and not at all convincing.
“He can’t see anything where you’re positioned,” I taunt against the shell of her ear. It’s true, but I find I wouldn’t care if it wasn’t. It’s only been twenty-four hours, but the burning need I have to bury any body part inside of her is tearing me apart. She’s silent for several moments and I know I’ve tempted her. My intense want for her throbs against her almost bare ass.
“But he can hear,” she murmurs against my cheek.
My fingers crawl back up her bare flesh until they slip once again under her soaked panties, caressing her wet, smooth womanly flesh. A low moan escapes her lips. I know she’s succumbed when I feel her lashes close against my skin.
“Then be quiet, angel.”
Before she has a chance to change her mind, I bury two fingers in her wet pussy and, after dragging through her moisture, feather my thumb over her hardened bundle of nerves. She hides her face in my neck, a gasp escaping her lips before she begins to ride the hand I’m ruthlessly driving in and out.
My Livvy was always so responsive and I’m glad to see nothing has changed. In less than sixty seconds she’s quivering in my arms, panting against my neck, just as I’d craved. She bites her lip to stay quiet, but there’s no way Henry doesn’t know what’s going on back here, and I don’t give a rat’s ass. At least he’s discreetly looking ahead, and not back here.
With my fingers still moving slowly inside her sex, as her tremors subside, I rasp, “When I get you home, you’re riding my cock. I want to watch you unravel with me buried deep inside you. I need to feel my come coat your insides as you scream my name, Livvy. I need to know you’re mine.” She clenches my wet digits and it takes everything in me not to rip her clothes off right now.
“Sir, we’ll be arriving in just a few minutes.”
Once again, she tries to escape, but I refuse. I hold her eyes as I withdraw from her heat and slowly suck my fingers clean. She watches in rapt fascination, her lips parted. “Hmmm, that’s all the appetizer I need, baby.” She blushes and I love it. I love her.
I hold her in my arms, feathering kisses across her temple, her cheeks, her lips until
she sighs and relaxes against me. I tighten my arms around her, never wanting to let her go.
Christ, I love this woman so much my chest constricts with the thought of being without her ever again. I honestly feel like my heart may stop beating if I were to lose her a second time.
I simply refuse to think that’s an option.
Chapter 20
The past two hours have been extremely awkward and uncomfortable and I push around the bananas foster that was just set in front me, picking up my wine instead. I think I’ve had three glasses so far, but it’s hard to keep track when Gray keeps refilling it before I’ve even finished. I know he’s trying to ply me with enough alcohol so that it’ll be easier to convince me to go home with him, but he needn’t worry. I can’t get the dirty words out of my head that flowed like smooth melted chocolate from his wicked tongue straight to my core. Since he had his fingers buried deep inside me, he had to feel how every single syllable made me drip more.
God, you’re pathetically easy, Livia.
When Gray and I arrived at the restaurant, everyone was already seated. Asher and Connelly are here, along with three men from some investment company Gray briefly mentioned while we were walking in. While neither of Gray’s brothers were rude, neither were exactly welcoming either. As much as I wish it was different, I don’t blame them. They were left behind to pick up the shattered pieces of their broken brother, and if the shoe were on the other foot, I would echo their sentiments. And I’ve not given them any reason not to feel otherwise, either.
The other three men have been very cordial all evening and John, a very handsome investment banker sitting next to me, keeps trying to politely engage me in conversation.
“So Livia, what is it you do?” he asks. When we first sat down, Gray introduced me as an associate and I have to admit, it stung a little. I got the distinct impression that I wasn’t supposed to be present at this business dinner, and I wondered why Gray brought me in the first place. It made me angry that he felt the need to drag me around like a pet.