I don’t know how the homeless looked in Kansas, but I didn’t think they went around in suits. Not even cheap suits.
“He’s not a bum!” Katie snapped.
“He certainly looks like one!” Her father turned back to me. “Do you even have a job?”
That was an interesting question.
If you take several months off from your role as CEO of a tech company right before an IPO, does that still count? Is it considered a sabbatical?
“…sort of,” I said.
“What, picking up trash?” the old man sneered.
I laughed again. This was the strangest situation I’d ever been in in my life.
“He’s teaching me how to surf,” Katie said, though she sounded like I can’t believe I’m saying this as the words came out of her mouth.
“Oh – well that’s a marvelous job!” The old guy looked at my bare feet. “Do you even bother to wear those shoes in your hand? What, did you mug someone with more money for those clothes?”
Okay, enough was enough. “You know nothing about me.”
“I know you’re a bum. That’s all I need to know.”
I was about to light into the guy when Katie beat me to the punch.
“Even if he didn’t have any money, so what? It doesn’t matter how much money someone has! It only matters if they’re good people!”
Whoa.
I turned back around and looked at her. I was impressed.
Apparently her father wasn’t. He shook his head angrily. “You passed up a perfectly good man, a good future, for this piece of trash? I am ashamed to call you my daughter.”
Katie looked devastated – and I was outraged.
I spun around and snarled, “Hey, don’t you talk to her that way.”
The old guy took a step backwards, suddenly intimidated – but the fact that I’d startled him only made him angrier. “I’ll talk to her any way I want!”
It was eerie – the father was acting and saying almost exactly the same things her asshole ex-fiancé had.
Suddenly Katie found her voice again. “Get the hell off my front porch,” she said coldly.
Katie’s mother spoke up for the first time. “Don’t you talk to your father that way!”
That started off a round of bickering that went absolutely nowhere.
Okay, time to end this.
I pulled out my phone and started texting. Nobody else really noticed – they were too wrapped up in their little psychodrama.
This older couple, I typed. Did you see what car they drove up in?
A few seconds later came the reply: Yeah, white Ford Focus five cars down from us. You want us to remove them?
I thought for a second, then decided against it.
That would be, as some horror movie villain once said, ‘too vulgar a display of power.’
No, do this instead, I said, and typed out instructions.
I pocketed the phone and started listening to the conversation again.
I guess Katie’s father had noticed my texting, because he looked at me like something you might scrape off your shoe.
I smiled back at him. Just wait.
Katie was in the middle of a rant. “I dumped Rick because he was a cheater. That makes him a piece of trash. If you don’t want to see that, I don’t care – that’s what he was. And if you’re going to defend him and insult the man I love, then you can get the hell out of here.”
WHOA.
I turned around again in shock.
She knew I was looking at her – her eyes moved the tiniest bit, and she blushed scarlet with embarrassment – but she wouldn’t look at me.
The icy wall I’d set up around my heart when I’d found out about Emmanuelle being a test? That wall had already begun to thaw, back when Katie made the comments about people being worthwhile no matter how much money they had.
Now great chunks of ice were falling away by the second.
I felt a great swell of love for her, and shame at how I’d acted.
This woman – this brave, beautiful woman who I’d treated so shabbily just minutes before – she was standing out here in her bathrobe, facing down her parents, taking vitriol and insults, and defending me –
Because she loved me.
My eyes stung with tears.
Her declaration wasn’t met with the same reaction from her parents, though.
If she’d had pearls, Katie’s mother would have clutched them. “LOVE?! Oh my Lord – ”
Her father made an ugly face. “Dear God, I feel sick.”
“Well leave, then!” Katie shouted.
He shook his head. “We’re not leaving until you see reason.”
“I don’t want you here! I didn’t ask you to come here!”
“Well, if you won’t see reason, perhaps he will.” Her father turned to me. “How much do you want?”
Okay, that one took me by surprise.
“…what?” I asked, stunned.
“Money. How much do you want to walk away from my daughter and never see her again?”
“OH MY GOD!” Katie screamed, outraged.
I wasn’t outraged, exactly. Insulted, yes.
But mostly just amused.
I wanted to say, I don’t think you can afford that much, but I could see how that might be misinterpreted by Katie, so instead I went with, “I don’t want your money.”
“Ten thousand dollars,” the old guy said as he pulled a checkbook and pen out of his pocket. “Ten thousand dollars, right now, if you walk away and promise never to see her again.” He looked me up and down, and couldn’t resist one last insult. “You look like the sort of man who could desperately use ten thousand dollars.”
I laughed again. I couldn’t help myself – the guy had watched too many bad movies. “You should leave.”
“Why?” he asked as he clicked his ballpoint pen. “You want more? Is this a negotiating tactic?”
“No,” I said, and pointed. “I just think those homeless guys are trying to steal your car.”
Out on the street, two of my black-clad SEALs were rocking the white Ford Focus up and down on its shocks. Anybody with any sense could have seen they weren’t trying to break into the car – but I didn’t think this middle-aged couple from Kansas had much sense.
Katie’s father glanced behind him. “Wha – OH MY GOD – ”
He rushed toward the street yelling, “You hooligans – STOP THAT, that’s not your property!”
…hooligans?
“No, Howard!” Katie’s mother screeched as she stumbled after him. “They’re dangerous!”
She had no idea how right she was.
But, per my instructions, the bodyguards all sprinted away from the car as soon as they started being chased. Katie’s father ran after them, shaking his fist in the air. Katie’s mother brought up the rear, waving her arms in a panic and imploring her husband to think of his health.
I used the distraction as an opportunity to hustle Katie back into the house and slam the door behind us.
95
She was frightened at first – not for herself, but for her parents. “No – wait – Ian, those guys – ”
I couldn’t tell her that I had arranged it, but I did my best to comfort her.
“It’s fine,” I said soothingly, and pulled aside the curtain on the window. “See?”
The SEALs had virtually disappeared. They were just tiny specks in the distance, they were running so fast.
Katie’s father had stopped his pursuit. Now he was leaning against the rental car, panting, railing at them in short bursts every time he caught his breath.
Katie still seemed concerned. “But…”
I pulled her gently away from the window. “It’s fine, they were just a couple of… hooligans,” I said, unable to suppress a smile.
The smile didn’t go over well.
She shrugged off my hand violently. “Why are you still here?” she snapped.
“Because I was impressed.”
“About
what?”
“Everything you said to your parents.”
I could see the struggle in her eyes – the yearning to be close to me, and the anger and hurt at how I’d treated her. “What do you care?”
“I care a lot,” I said, then took her in my arms and kissed her.
At first she froze – and then she struggled, trying to get away.
I let her. She jerked out of my arms and glared at me, but I could see the tears glistening in her eyes. She was about to say something –
“I was wrong,” I said before she could speak. “I wished you hadn’t called that girl at the wedding reception, but I understand why you did it. And I shouldn’t have been a dick about it. I apologize.”
She looked at me with wide eyes, her mouth open in shock –
And then she grabbed me and kissed me hard.
We kept that up for about twenty seconds, and then our hands began to roam over each other’s bodies – hers under my shirt, mine loosening her belt and touching her breasts –
Suddenly she backed away, blushing, and wrapped her robe around her tightly.
“I can’t!” she whispered. “Not with my parents outside!”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “I think they’re gone.”
She looked at me worriedly, then went back to the window and cautiously parted the curtains. It was like she thought her parents might be on the other side, peering in with their hands cupped around their eyes, faces pressed right up against the glass.
“And even if they’re not,” I joked, “I can think of some noises we can make that would definitely send them running for the hills.”
She looked back at me with a scandalized expression – but one that looked incredibly turned on, too.
Without warning, I swept her up in my arms, her feet flying up into the air as she clasped her hands around my neck.
“AAAAAH!” she half-screamed, half-laughed, and hit me on the chest – then went back to kissing me as I carried her off to the bedroom.
96
After I peeled off my clothes, I laid her back on the bed and began to kiss her stomach, then slowly worked my way down.
She trembled as I reached the tiny thatch of hair between her legs. I gently brushed it with my lips, tickling her, getting closer and closer to her clit…
But instead I switched to the insides of her thighs, first kissing one and working my way inwards, then switching to the other and doing the same.
I would get to within an inch of her pussy… stop… and go farther away before I started kissing and licking her again.
Every new action was met with shivers of anticipation. She began to squirm the closer I got to her lips… and then shift her hips the tiniest bit, trying to get me to lick where she most wanted it.
But I wouldn’t.
Instead, I lightly grazed my lips over her most delicate parts, so that she couldn’t even be sure whether I’d touched them or not… and then I would move to a less sensitive part of her body and start all over again.
One time I very lightly touched the tip of my tongue to her clit… soft and delicate… the way a single eyelash feels brushing across your cheek…
She moaned as the muscles in her thighs and belly quivered once, then were still.
“Please,” she begged me.
But I wasn’t done teasing her yet.
I let her feel my breath on her lips, which were wet with desire. I lightly brushed my mouth across her pussy, then gently used my tongue to lick her from down below up to the sweet little pearl of her clit.
With every caress, I would see trembling in her muscles. Tiny flutters and spasms.
God, it made me hard. My cock was pressed against the bed as I lay between her legs, and I could feel the sheets were wet with my pre-cum.
I wasn’t going to be able to resist sliding inside her much longer.
I was contemplating slowly entering her when she whimpered, “I need to tell you something.”
I looked up at her face. Her eyes were closed, but there were tears beading at the outside corners of her lids. One droplet succumbed to gravity and slowly rolled down towards her ear.
I raised my head in alarm. “What?”
She tilted up her head and looked down at me. The fear in her eyes was unmistakable.
“I’m scared to tell you… but if you’re going to get mad at me and walk out again forever, we should do it now and just get it over with.”
“Now?” I asked with one raised eyebrow. I softly touched the tip of my tongue to her clit again, and she closed her eyes in blissful agony, her brow knit up in a frown. But then she forced her eyes open again.
“Yeah, it has to be now, because I don’t want you hating me. And if you’re going to hate me, I don’t want to feel like I used you for sex.”
Okay, this was a little alarming. “What?”
“That hot girl at the wedding reception?”
I got an uneasy feeling. “Yes?”
“…she had her cell phone on the whole time. I… I heard everything you said.”
I ran back over the conversation, seeing if I’d said something she might have taken offense at –
Oh…
Oh shit.
I suddenly felt vulnerable and exposed in a way I hadn’t been in years.
“So you… heard me say… I love you?”
She nodded shyly.
I thought for a second.
I could be angry… but why? Because she’d heard me tell the truth before I felt safe enough to say it to her face?
Because I did feel that way.
I did love her.
And I wanted her so, so badly.
“You know what I have to say about that?” I asked.
She looked scared, and slowly shook her head ‘no.’
I got up on my forearms.
“I think…”
I began to crawl up the bed, my skin brushing over hers.
“…I need…”
Her entire body was trembling, and not from desire.
She was terrified.
I felt so bad for her – okay, no more teasing.
I cupped her head in my hands and looked into her eyes. “…to say it to your face.”
She was staring at me, tears filling her eyes.
I slowly eased the head of my cock inside her.
Jesus she feels amazing.
Her eyes and her mouth widened in shock and ecstasy.
“I love you,” I whispered, still looking deep into her eyes.
She burst out in a sob – but I slowly eased my way another couple of inches inside her, and her eyes rolled back in her head as she moaned.
“I love you,” I whispered in her ear.
She gripped my ass with her hands and clutched me hard, trying to pull me deeper inside her.
Her entire body was shaking now – and not from fear anymore. She was coming.
I could feel her pussy contracting around me, long slow waves of pleasure, the sensations wet and warm and soft as I slowly pushed deeper within her, feeling her get tighter around my cock the more of it I eased inside her.
“Oh God, Ian – ” she cried, and she raked her fingers across my back in a frenzy.
“I love you,” I repeated like a mantra as I slowly withdrew, then rocked gently back inside her. “I love you…”
“I love you, too – oh Ian – oh God – I love you – oh God, I’m coming – ”
I began moving faster, in and out, until I was thrusting hard – plunging deeper – the head of my cock touching soft places deep inside her. With every stroke she let out a guttural “unh” of pleasure.
I rose back up on my forearms, then gently took her head in my hands and forced her to look at me.
“I love you, Katie – I love you – ”
Her eyelids fluttered as she strained to keep her eyes focused on mine, but pleasure kept overwhelming her.
“I love you,” she whispered and moaned all at once – “oh – I love – OH – I love
you – ”
I put my arms under her knees and forced her legs up over my shoulders, so my cock could sink even deeper inside her.
She screamed and grabbed the sheets in her hands, bunching and twisting them savagely in her fists. “Don’t stop – don’t stop – don’t stop – ”
“I love you, I love you, I love you – ”
Every word matched a thrust of my cock, every syllable a plunge inside her, our bodies crashing together as my pelvis smacked against her thighs and ass, my cock pounding in and out of her.
I couldn’t hold it anymore. I could feel the pressure building inside me, my balls tightening.
“Look at me, Katie – look at me – ”
She struggled to keep her eyes focused on mine, trying to focus through the ecstatic haze of her orgasm.
I grit my teeth and breathed evenly. It was a special kind of torture to feel this good and not release. “I want to look in your eyes when I come – ”
That set her off, and she started screaming, her fingers clutching my hair, and suddenly I was exploding inside her.
“OH FUCK – I LOVE YOU!” I roared. “OH GOD – I LOVE YOU – I… I… ”
I released her legs and collapsed on top of her, my cock still pulsing lightly inside her. She held me tight against her naked body, caressing my hair, still moaning softly in my ear as I lay there, spent and half-conscious, mumbling, “I love you… I love you…”
97
Natasha
From the back of my chauffeured limo, I watched the entire tawdry display.
I saw Ian pull out his cell phone as the others argued around him. Seconds later, the bodyguards – that’s obviously what they were – slipped out of a nondescript black van, crept down the street, and then distracted the old people with a childish spectacle.
People are such idiots.
Then I watched as Ian swept his whore back into the house.
No doubt they would rut like animals for the next couple of hours.
I pulled out my phone and hit the button for an Uber Black. According to the app, a car was just a couple of minutes away.
I looked at my driver through the partition between the front and back seats. “You saw all of that just now? That soap opera on the front lawn?”
Sex On The Beach: Bad Boys Club Romance #1 Page 20