by Falon Gold
“Oh, Apollo!” I scream. Waves of sensation detonate in my core then scatter throughout me. Apollo collapses on top of me, trembling and sweaty, as my lungs work hard to pump air through me. “Wow,” I pant into the crook of his neck.
Apollo chuckles. “Definitely.”
He lifts his head, so his lips can traipse lightly over mine. “You are mine now.”
Somehow, he knows a real kiss isn’t possible since I’m completely out of breath.
“How the hell are you talking after that workout? I’m still trying to recover, and I didn’t do any of the work.”
He laughs out loud. “I exercise, remember? You don’t.”
I cock my head to the side. “Whose fault is that?”
“One thing at a time, love. I helped you lose the weight that you kept whining about when you thought no one was listening. I can get you in the gym, too, if you want.” He sounds annoyingly smug, and I’m not psyched about that those too damn early in the morning workouts that he’s so fond of.
“You helped me by working my ass into exhaustion, Apollo.”
“No, I helped you by making sure we stayed away from the fast food chains and other salty foods that you liked. If you mentioned it, I made it happen. Anything to keep you happy.”
It never occurred to me that he paid that much attention to me. Most times, I thought he was focusing on the next deal for his expanding company. I never thought the fact that he specifically requested Taziki’s and other healthy foods for lunch daily was just so I would be forced to take care of myself better, by default.
“I mentioned quitting, too. Is that up for discussion?” I ask, not trying to ruin the mood, but there’s the adage of ‘familiarity breeds contempt’ to consider. The workplace is a breeding ground for relationship troubles.
“No. I’m going to stop calling, texting, emailing, and showing up as your boss after hours, remember? I fully intend to keep that promise.” I can see the hidden twist to his words a mile away.
“That’s because you’ll be doing all those things as my boyfriend,” I deadpan.
He shakes his head. “Nope.”
“No?” I ask, with my eyebrows pulling together so tightly I can feel my eyes crossing.
Apollo rolls off my body to lie on his side beside me. He props his head up with a hand. He looks down at me with a deeply intense look on his face meant to pierce through the top layer of my eyes. Even if that isn’t what he means to do, that’s what he’s doing, anyway.
“No, my Lisa. I’m too old to be someone’s boyfriend. I want to be your man, one day your fiancé, but always the maker of all your dreams coming true. I want everyone to know I love you and I’m your best friend who’ll blindly follow wherever you go, because even one minute without you is too many. That’s why I’m here. I couldn’t make it an entire weekend without you.”
I grin stupidly, hanging onto his every word. He steals my sanity whenever he speaks.
“Okay, you’re my man then.”
His fingers trespass against my erect nipple. He squeezes it between his index finger and thumb. A bolt of lightning streaks downward to my core and electrocutes it. I close my eyes to concentrate on what his touch is doing to me, memorizing it.
“So, what are you going to tell Derek when he calls you?” Apollo asks casually, as if he isn’t flipping my body inside out with just his touch.
I squeeze my thighs together to contain the onslaught of sensations barreling through me.
“What do you want me to say?”
He twists his head propped up on his hand just as I open my eyes.
"Fuck off would be good.”
I begin to giggle wildly. “That’s just rude.”
“Exactly and Derek will get the message that you’re mine.”
“What if he only wants to be friends?”
Apollo grimaces and stops fiddling with my breast to make intense eye to eye contact.
“Please! He damn near ran over to you tonight, then touched you to warn off the other men headed in your direction. Being friends with you is the least of his intentions, but he can’t have you.”
His head drops, so he can plant a noisy kiss on my mouth.
“You sound so freakishly possessive, Apollo.” And it sounds damn good too, after pining for him for as long as I have.
“I am possessive. I’d welcome the same emotion from you. I wish that I was exaggerating about Derek, but you’re beautiful, and you always have been.”
A well of emotions overflow into my throat. I have to swallow them down and distract myself by running a fingertip across his chest from top to bottom, where his pectoral meets the mattress.
“So, you want me to be visibly upset when beautiful female clients come into the office?” I don’t think he’s considered just how bad that can get, and it’s why I’m so against working with him while dating him.
He squeezes my nipple, again.
“Not so upset that it interferes with the money we’ll need to buy your castle, but you could drape a hand on my shoulder during meetings if that makes you feel better. It won’t hurt anything. Or you can smile at me from time to time to let everyone, including me, know who I belong to. You never do any of those things, and I could never prove if you cared for me as much as I do you.”
I shift closer to him.
“Oh, I cared too much. I don’t know how you missed my snippy moments whenever you asked me to make dinner reservations for you plus one. But as far as our castle, we’ll buy it together.”
He shrugs and chuckles low in his throat.
“You get snippy anytime you’re tired. How was I to know the difference? I’m sorry if I ever hurt you.”
“You couldn’t tell the difference because you never let me sleep!” I yell then slap at his chest. "I'm always tired."
His head dips closer to mine until his mouth is close enough to be thoroughly kissed.
“I never let you sleep because I can’t sleep without you, my Lisa. I sure as hell wasn’t going to run you off by asking you to sleep in my bed with me…or yours. It wouldn’t haven’t mattered to me. You spoiled me with those moans of yours. Now, I’m addicted and can’t sleep without hearing at least one before I go to sleep.”
More emotions threaten to strangle me. I'm elated that he truly loves me, but his mention of sleep incites the urge to yawn.
“As much as I love talking to you, love, I have this boss who works me around the clock. Tonight, he worked me into overtime, and then past it, even while I’m on vacation.”
Apollo’s lips lower to mine then give more than they take with slow caresses and firm presses, as if he’s treasuring the contact between us. Another yawn rises. To keep from yawning into his mouth, rudely, I snatch my head away and cover my mouth.
He chuckles quietly above me. “Turn over and sleep, love. I’ll see you in the morning.”
I shift to my side until my front is pressed to his front, my cheek against his chest. He slips his arm beneath mine, places his hand against my spine, and pulls me even closer, where I’ve longed to be. Sometimes, I can’t even remember when I didn’t wish for this. The rhythmic rise and fall of Apollo’s chest provides the perfect relaxing setting for sleep to overtake me.
Chapter Six
Heat imbeds itself under every inch of my skin and teases the edges of my sleep, until I peel back my eyelids. I have to shut them back. The French doors allow the sun to shine brightly in the room. More heat wafts from the hard body and arms that I’m cocooned in.
I smile. Even in his sleep, Apollo is possessive.
“Is that smile for me?” he asks from behind me.
I twist in his arms to face him. His head is propped on one hand. Combine the heat from his body and stare, and who needs the sun?
“No, I’m not smiling for you, but because of you,” I confess.
He grins. “I think that’s even better.”
“Did you sleep at all? I know you’re an insomniac.”
He shrugs with one
shoulder. “I slept a few hours, then woke up to one of your moans. I laid awake hoping for another one.”
That is troubling to me. He needed to sleep.
“Apollo, you need to get more rest. It’s not good to work like do with just a few hours in between for sleep.”
He shifts on the bed, scooting downward until his face is level with mine on the pillow. “Can I assign making sure I get sufficient rest to one of your duties?”
“I’d think you was joking, but I have the feeling you’re not,” I respond dryly.
“No, I’m not. I’ve never felt so rested than when I’m with you, however long I sleep.”
“Okay. What makes you sleepy?”
“Reading contracts,” he says.
“Then you will read a contract every night at a certain time until we train your body to get tired at that hour.”
“Won’t work.”
He couldn’t have possibly even given my suggestion a thought before responding.
“Why not?”
“Because I need one of your moans…after I’ve had you, and/or while I’m having you. Your choice.”
“Your way could work, too,” I agree, trying hard to hide the absolute joy that’s traveling through every part of me. It’s hard to believe that he craves me as much as I do him.
Me. Not the sophisticated socialites he normally dates, and it’s mind-blowing.
Apollo’s fingers begin walking up the bare skin of my side. “Can’t it work now?”
I sigh, content. “Sure, but only if you let me use the bathroom first.”
“Ummm… not yet.”
“My bladder is full and I need to brush my teeth,” I admit.
He rolls over, forcing me onto my back.
“Afterwards,” he murmurs.
I part my legs to give him room inside them. I wrap them around his back. Though I’m not crazy about morning breath, I allow him to seal our mouths together in an airtight kiss, while he teases the opening of my body with the tip of his penis, working me into a heated, wet state. I’m not quite prepared for when he bottoms out inside me, filling me to capacity. But there’s nothing uncomfortable about the feeling of being full of him. Deeply seated in my canal that fits snugly around his base, it’s as if our bodies are made for one another.
When he begins to move in and out of me with ease, the room folds away, again. It’s just him and me moving up through the heavens. Nothing else exists. Even in my fantasies, I’ve never dreamed of this place, and I feel cheated.
Apollo snatches his mouth away from mine suddenly. His pace quickens along with his breathing. My heartbeat keeps in time with his rapid and shallow inhales and exhales, until I slip over the edge, dragging him groaning and quivering with me. This climax seems so much stronger than last night. I tumble through the clouds like a runaway train, with the blunt edge of my nails digging into his shoulders.
“God, Apollo!” I yell, needing the orgasm to fade already. There’s only so much pleasure a body can take.
“If that’s what you want me to be, sweetheart,” he grunts above me then settles on top of me finally. His head lays on my breasts, and his arms wrap tightly around me. His chest heaves against my abdomen filling up with my humor.
“You are absolutely conceited, Apollo,” I say breathlessly.
His lips curve against my stomach. “I don’t know how you missed that for this long. You came harder, didn’t you?” he asks winded, staring off into the bathroom.
I simply nod.
He lifts his head. “That’s because your bladder is full. Don’t ask me to go into detail. It’s just something I read somewhere.”
“I wouldn’t ask anyway. No air.”
He rolls to the empty side of the bed. “I can’t breathe either, and, strangely, I think I need a nap.”
I sit up beside him. I'm invigorated though I can’t breathe properly. I guess love has that effect on me.
“Then sleep. I need to shop for some outfits to take back home.”
“Can I take you out tonight?” he asks, while I slide to the edge of the bed. “I don’t want to take you home yet. I like this place. You told me that you loved me here.”
I glance back and have to swallow my rising emotions, again. They’re not only threatening to choke me but make me misty-eyed as well.
“Yes, we can go out. What do you want to do?”
“I’ll take you to dinner first then we can play tourist to walk off our meal, so wear comfortable shoes. Then we’ll come back here and do whatever you want.”
I smile. I didn’t think I’d ever hear those words out of his mouth. 'Whatever’ definitely covers the complete list of things that I’d like to do with Apollo in bed. Out of it. On the sofa. In the shower. The balcony. Like I said, a whole range of things.
He narrows his eyes at me.
“What’s the smile for, my Lisa?” he asks warily, intruding on my X-rated thoughts.
“Just thinking about what ‘whatever’ could mean.”
His chest begins to vibrate with his rising hilarity. “Why do I think I just opened a bag that I may not be able to close back?”
I slip from the bed to walk toward the bathroom, stopping in the doorway to glance back. “You may not want to close it back.”
Before I’m tempted to forego the shopping and give him a glimpse into the bag of my fantasies, I close myself off in the bathroom to take a shower. I’m risking having to go to work naked on Tuesday if I decide to give him a sneak peek. Tonight will have to do for checking things off my mental list of ways to screw Apollo’s brains out. God knows I’m not a prude, just went without intimacy for too long. I may not sleep around, but I’m not meant to be alone, either.
When I come out of the bathroom, Apollo is asleep on his back with my pillow thrown across his chest. The early morning rays flooding the room highlight every inch of his handsome face. Sleep makes the chiseled planes of it so much softer. I stand at the side of the bed, studying his features. I imagine him as the typical popular teenager beating back the girls with a stick. Or maybe he didn’t.
Sometimes, I think he jumped straight out of his mother’s womb dressed in Armani with a contract in his hands, which reminds me that I’ve never met his parents. He’s never mentioned them. There is so much more to this man that I failed to learn. I have some serious catching up to do.
At least I have an excuse for being behind the curve; I used most of my brain power to hide my love from him and everybody else in the office. Jenna, his secretary, is extremely nosy, when it comes to Apollo’s love life. She’s not so proficient in making sure his contracts are error proof though. He has no problems with asking me to check behind her for mistakes, as well as other employees, adding supervising their work to my long lists of responsibilities.
It was always easier to just do the work than complain about it, which means I carry half the blame for working around the clock. This has to stop, even if Apollo and I are a couple now.
Who will be around each other day and night…
The kiss of death to any relationship.
I still need to quit my job.
I don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that Apollo isn’t going to do well with me changing jobs. But I’d rather have him in my world for years to come than us squabbling in the office, eventually breaking up because we don’t have space to miss each other. If he truly loves me, he’ll understand. I just hope I don’t ruin the night when I bring this subject up.
I walk quietly away from the bed to the living room, where I left the extra outfits from the spa. In the top garment bag is the other dress I bought. It’s white and form-fitting with thin straps, tight bodice and a scoop neckline that’s supposed to serve as a bra. I step into it. The bodice pushes up my breasts, making them look like they’re going to pop out of the top at any given minute.
The attached pencil skirt molds to my hips, ending mid-thigh. I add the strappy, white heels to my feet, which I brought along with the dress. I stroll quietl
y into the bedroom to retrieve my purse from the lounge chair and the keycard from beneath the dress laying in a puddle on the floor.
I pick it up and toss it onto the chair then stop beside the bed again. I look down on Apollo and want to kiss him goodbye. But he’s a light sleeper who needs all the rest he can get. I begin to wonder if I leave my position would he get any sleep at all, or anything done at work. He doesn’t have the most dependable employees. They seem to sense when they can slack off on their jobs and take full advantage. That was fine when Apollo focused much of his time on keeping me close and I didn’t know any better. Now that I’m the one staying close to him, maybe he’ll make all his employees earn their checks.
At least, I hope so.
I settle for blowing a kiss goodbye over his sleeping form. I leave the suite and ride the elevator to the ground floor. I ask the same desk clerk from last night, Liam, if he knows where a reasonable shopping center is. He walks outside and hails a taxi being driven by a man dressed in full African attire. Liam directs him to take me to a shopping center five miles away, while I climb in the backseat. Twenty minutes later, we sit in front of designer stores, the likes of Saks Fifth Avenue and Prada.
“Could we find a mall?” I ask from the backseat.
The driver turns around in his seat. “I take you somewhere better two miles back other way. My sister works at outlet store for these places. Way cheaper,” he says in broken English and a heavy accent.
After ten more minutes in crawling traffic, we arrive at the outlet store that’s much bigger than the designer stores. I pay him an ridiculous fee for a seven-mile trip, before getting out in front of double glass doors with display signs for the same designer gear I refused to buy up the street. I get out the car and go inside.
The hours slip away, as I browse overstuffed, circular clothes racks and shoe displays climbing to the ceiling on both sides of the short cashier counter at the back wall. After amassing a stockpile of clothes for every type of occasion and leaving my choices with a cashier, I get in the long line with other customers waiting to pay. My cell phone rings in my purse. When I see Mr. Ford blinking across my display screen, I swipe the accept icon, hurriedly.