by Ember Leigh
“Thank you for saying that.”
She released a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. “Now fucking have your way with me, Lambert—it’s been a couple weeks, I’ve been dying over here.”
Emotion and anxiety and eagerness and worry and excitement all struggled to escape from beneath her skin at the same time, and it made her feel crazy and alive, like she could have a ten-hour conversation with him and take a literal bite from his arm.
“You kill me, babe.” He swung his feet over the edge of the bed and pulled his boxers off. He slid on top of her, his cock swollen and bobbing, maneuvering into the sweet heat between her legs. She gasped. “And I want you so bad it drives me insane.”
As their lips connected, he nudged himself inside of her, his cock slipping in quickly. She’d been wet and ready for him from the second she saw him through the peephole. He slid deeper, inch by inch, tortuously and tantalizingly slow. She moaned and grabbed at his hips, urging him deeper.
“How is this better than I remember?” she said, voice choppy and frail.
“I have a suspicion it will only get better as time goes on,” he whispered. Her eyes drifted shut, unable to focus on anything other than how incredible it felt to have him buried inside of her, impossible to go any deeper.
He flexed his hips in a slow circle and she gasped. Something unhinged inside of her. “I want you to fuck me, Josh,” she said, voice gravely. “As hard as you can.”
His jaw clenched, and she swore his dick throbbed deep inside her after she’d said the words. He smoothed his hand over her thigh and palmed her ass. She inhaled sharply.
“You got it, babe.” He leaned in for a sloppy kiss and when they parted he pumped into her, moving faster as she yielded further. She hooked her heels around his waist, arching her back toward him as he pounded her.
His mouth hung half-open, eyes both on her but elsewhere as he fucked her. She grabbed a fistful of his hair and tightened her legs around his waist. He stiffened against her, muscles taut as he dropped his head to hers for a sloppy kiss. Though she couldn’t believe this was actually happening, part of her knew it had been somehow destined.
“I’m so happy you came to New York,” she said, words coming out with a sharp exhale as he flexed his pelvis against her, the warm flesh of their hips, groin, and thighs making contact in all available points.
“Nobody could have kept me away,” he whispered, smoothing his fingers over her cheek. “It feels right to be here…” He pressed his lips to hers. “Even more right to be here with you.”
Josh dragged his hand from her jaw line down her neck, over the area between her breasts. He flexed against her again and she inhaled sharply.
He hooked an arm around her waist, smashing her breasts to his chest, her low belly against his flat abdomen. Her legs splayed open further, and she cried out, arching her back against him as he rode her rhythmically.
“God, that feels so fucking good, Josh,” she said through gritted teeth. “Don’t stop…oh, God, don’t stop!” She neared climax, the pulsations of her pussy growing more frequent as he continued his relentless, rhythmic gyrations. His pelvis both stroked and knocked her clit while his dick was buried to the helm, a deeper union impossible.
But the time had come. Josh inhaled sharply, his pace increasing. “I’m coming, Paige…oh, God…”
She moaned loudly as she allowed herself to fall over the edge, sinking her nails into his hips as the explosive orgasm rose from the depths of her body. His dick throbbed unforgivingly inside of her as he climaxed explosively, one round, two rounds, three rounds while she arched herself against him, moaning raggedly as she held all of him inside of her and rode the waves of their pleasure.
Josh lay on top of her, chest heaving as the contractions of her pussy faded. Paige stroked his hair lazily and let a low whistle. “You never fail to amaze.”
He kissed her gently once, then again. Then a third time. “Back at you, babe,” he said. His dick hadn’t softened since his orgasm, still buried deep inside her. “I think today has been one of the best days of my life.”
“Why’s that?”
“Oh, no reason really,” he said, shrugging. “Just was able to spend some time with one of the most talented, beautiful, and admirable people in my field and convince her to take a chance on a broke guy from LA.”
She giggled. “You’re broke now? That changes my decision.”
“Does it?”
“Yeah, it means we’ll have to work even harder to get the Alexander-Lambert Empire up and running.” A loud buzz of happiness spread through her body at those words, could feel it from her eardrums to her gut all the way down to her ankles, and she took a deep breath, relishing what was at that moment and what potentially lay ahead for them.
“I’m happy to see you’re so on board. I thought you were just humoring me.”
“No, Josh, I wasn’t. Don’t you know by now? I like to play hard to get.”
“Oh, really?” He rolled his eyes. “I hadn’t noticed.”
She slapped him lightly on the back. “Smart ass.”
“I noticed you said ‘Alexander-Lambert’ Empire before. With your name first.”
“Yeah, so? Is there a problem with that?” She loved that he knew just how to rustle her feathers, loved the ways in which he could titillate her like literally no one else in the entire world.
“None at all. I think it’s perfectly appropriate to have the genius of the two appear first.”
She bit back a laugh. “That’s what I thought, too.”
He pressed his lips to hers. She drank in his scent as they kissed, feeling like it was both the first kiss ever and the first of a million more.
“Thank you for allowing me in,” he whispered. “I promise you won’t regret it.”
Epilogue
“Paige, I need you to sign these. Final review.” Gary tossed a stack of papers on her desk and collapsed into the chair facing her. “The elevator broke just as I showed up from Legal. Figures. Those sixteen stories tried to kill me.”
Paige smiled up at him. “Maybe we should go out to eat less. Or you should play Josh or me in tennis.”
He groaned. “Either one of you would send me to my grave, I’m sure of it.”
Several weeks had passed since Paige and Josh fell back into each other’s arms and lives, and things had accelerated from pleasant and promising to full-on euphoric. She was wary of this, as if she’d stepped onto the set of some sort of surreal romantic comedy movie with her and Josh as the lead actors. But while the territory was new, sometimes strange and wholly redeeming, plunging deeper into this real life rom-com was the only way to go.
“Josh would go easy on you.” She pushed the stack of papers to the side of her desk. “But I can’t say the same for me.”
“I don’t know why I don’t look for more sedentary clients.” He sighed as he settled into his seat. “It would be easier for me to feel better about my sloth.”
Paige chuckled. “Hey, now, you said a long time ago you liked me opening you to new things. I can’t help it if those things include activities like kickboxing or the occasional raw food restaurant.”
He grumbled. “I suppose it’s for the best in the long run. More time for us to spend working on the empire.”
Gary was overseeing the new project Paige and Josh had created—a daytime talk show mixing adventure travel with practical life skills, something their trip to Hawaii had a role in influencing—as well as helping with the process of procuring donors for the organization to foster young talent within the entertainment industry.
They were still weeks away from the first episode of the show but were knee-deep in the creative process and lining up guests. Paige was both surprised and pleased that once word had leaked to the creative community, the offers from interested celebrities and potential guests came pouring in.
She grinned. “I love it when you talk success to me.”
“Go over those papers,”
Gary said, narrowing his eyes at her and pointing at the stack she’d shoved aside. “I need them by noon tomorrow. Seriously.”
“I’ll get to it.”
“It’s the paperwork for the new show. You don’t get those back to me, you and Josh are up a creek. I’ve written myself into a safe zone, so don’t come crying to me if you get screwed by the new station for lack of prompt paper working.”
Paige bit back a laugh. “He’s on his way over right now, so we’ll do it as soon as he shows up. I swear on it.”
He eyed her a moment longer, mouth partway open with an unspoken sentiment. She already knew what was about to roll out of his mouth. “Gary, do you have something you want to say to me?”
“No.” There was a heavy pause. “You’re in love with Josh, aren’t you?’
“What?” She feigned shock. She wouldn’t admit to it verbally yet, but the word had certainly been swirling around in her head in recent days. She was sure Josh was toying with similar thoughts. Their kisses lately had been far deeper, even when schedules were tight and attention spans short. Their gazes were more lingering and unwilling to break, their jokes tenderer and thoughtfully sarcastic. On top of that, Josh was spending the night at her house. A lot.
She glanced at the calendar on her desktop; it had been almost a month that he’d been sleeping over, and not once had she felt suffocated, bored, desperate to escape, or tempted to kill him in his sleep.
“I see it,” Gary said. “You guys are great professionals, and I appreciate that you’ve kept the mushy crap to a minimum now that we’re all living inside each other’s assholes again. However, I want to want let you know that, well, you guys aren’t breaking up anytime soon.”
She bit back a grin, feeling her cheeks redden. “Oh yeah? What makes you say that?”
He sighed exaggeratedly. “Oh, please, Paige, don’t act so daft.”
“Yes, please stop acting daft.” Josh’s voice appeared from nowhere. Both Paige and Gary turned to the office door. Josh peeked in, looking mischievous.
“I would never act daft.” She grinned as he entered the office and shut the door behind him. He leaned over the desk for a kiss before he sat down. Their lips connected, a brief brush that thrilled her. She clenched her thighs involuntarily, watching him ease into the empty chair in front of her desk, giddy as she was. She observed him simply exist before her.
“This is what I’m talking about,” Gary said, waving two fingers in the air between her and Josh. “Right here. I appreciate that you keep your tongues in your mouth. But that, right there? Christ.”
“What are you guys talking about?” He looked quizzically between them.
“Nothing,” Paige said, waving it off. “Let’s just drop it.”
Gary kept his mouth shut but Josh wasn’t having it. “Tell me. I feel involved. I need to know.”
“It’s nothing,” Paige said. “Listen, we have paperwork to sign, Gary just dropped it—”
“I think you two are in love.” Gary had the beginnings of a smile on his lips as he watched Josh, who responded with a start and looked back at Paige, guiltily.
“You do?”
“I do. But anyway, I’ll leave you lovebirds alone to do whatever it is you do while I’m not hanging around.” He pointed at the papers on her desk. “Don’t forget to sign.” He shut the door behind him.
Paige’s eyes found Josh’s, and they watched each other a moment, the silence growing more tense by the moment. She wasn’t sure how to play this—ignore it? Have a conversation about it? Crack a joke?—and as she opened her mouth, hoping the words would decide themselves, Josh spoke.
“He’s right, you know.” He leaned back into his chair, arms behind his head as he settled in. “I guess we shouldn’t pretend otherwise anymore.”
All the words inside her head evaporated in the same instant. Gary was right—but it wasn’t in her nature to admit these things. Ever. “I mean….what?…I just…who…”
“Come on, Paige.” He laughed, dimples flashing, sucking the air from her lungs like it always did. “Well, fine, I’ll say it, if you won’t. I love you.”
Her heart slammed at her throat. “I love you too.”
The words tumbled out like boulders, awkward and bulky but the relief immense. A silence emerged, punctuated by satisfaction. Josh grinned as she acclimated to the sound of the words in the air. She cleared her throat.
“I love you, Josh,” she said again, bolstered by the confession. Every square inch of her body buzzed, alive and light. She lifted her lips into a smile, meeting his gaze tentatively. “Wow. That feels so much better.”
He laughed, eyes sparkling. “You’ve surprised me. I thought it would be at least six months until you said those words to me.”
Her cheeks burned. “You thought we’d be together six months?”
“I was hoping that as a bare minimum, yeah.”
“And the maximum?”
He opened his mouth to speak but paused. “Do you really wanna hear this? I mean…I don’t want to scare you off.” He squeezed her hand.
“Say it.” She’d admitted she loved him, she could accomplish anything, hear anything, was essentially invincible at this point.
“I sort of had the idea that I didn’t need to be looking for anyone ever again.” He was suddenly shy, avoiding her eyes. “Like, maybe, you know, if you felt the same way, that this might be…I don’t know…sort of…permanent.”
Her heart swelled in her chest. Tears pricked at her eyes and she bit her lip, wanting to both melt into his arms and explode from happiness. She cleared her throat, blinking to clear the veil of tears from her eyes.
“I’m sorry if that’s too soon.” He squeezed her hand again. “We don’t have to talk about it again. I mean, you told me you loved me, and I’m happy with that for like, the next year.”
She laughed, wiping away a tear that had fallen from her eye. She didn’t know where to begin—the emotions entering her life along with Josh Lambert were complex, terrifying, numerous, and gratifying. Sometimes, it seemed like it was too much, and she could actually hear the whoosh of air as her chest cavity cracked open like a desert floor in an earthquake. Other times, she was a Disney princess awakening for the first time in hundreds of years, experiencing colors, smells, chirping birds and love all over again.
His face was a reflection of all the vulnerability echoing inside her body. “I’m sorry if that was too much,” he repeated, dropping her hand.
She cleared her throat again, hoping words would find the courage to make the leap from her lips when she tried. “It wasn’t too much,” she whispered, finding her throat raw from the influx of emotion. “It was just right.”
They locked eyes and this time his eyes shimmered.
“I am so thankful for you, Josh.” She reached for his hand. “Thank you for waking me up.”
His eyes glinted. “Could it be that your stint on Wakin’ Up helped you to…wake up?”
She laughed, loving his corny joke, loving their bizarre history, loving everything about him. He shone back at her, eyes alive and bright. “Oh God, you’re right. That’s so stupid it’s brilliant.”
“Our lives changed on that island, Paige. I am so thankful, as well. For everything. But especially for you.”
He leaned forward and they kissed. Her throat clenched during the kiss, and when they broke a new wave of tears appeared. Josh wiped one away, his smile tender and knowing.
“I think you know what comes next.” Paige sighed deeply, a smile lingering on her lips.
“Do I?”
Paige reached for the stack of papers Gary had left and slid them between her and Josh. “We sign.”
Josh cracked a grin, uncapping a pen. “This is one of the best moments of my life. I feel like we’re getting married.”
“Better yet, this is our lovechild. Minus the nine months gestation.”
“God, Paige, for being so hesitant about all this crap, you sure like to move fast.”
For the first time in her life, Paige was ready to plunge ahead into the depths of love, romance, work and more. With Josh as her partner, she welcomed every challenge. The road ahead with him was sure to be an adventure—lucrative, fulfilling, pleasurable and, above all, intensely satisfying. One worth the risk of opening up.
He uncapped the pen and signed with a flourish. “Well let’s get this show on the road then.”
About the Author
Ember Leigh has been writing erotic romance novels since she was far too young. A native of northern Ohio, she currently resides in South America with her Argentinean partner, a detail she uses to justify her Bachelor's degree in Latin American Literature. In addition to romance novels, she also writes travel articles, maintains three blogs, and continually attempts to complete a mildly gripping short story. In her free time, she practices Ashtanga yoga, travels the world, and eats lots of vegetables.
Visit Ember at
http://www.emberleighromance.com
To chat with Ember Leigh and other Wild Rose Press authors of erotic romance, join us at www.groups.yahoo.com/group/thewilderroses.
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