by Parker, Ali
We’d both drained our wine during the tour, so I refilled our glasses while Valerie took a seat at the island. “Can I help you with anything?”
“No, you can relax. Drink your wine. Your only job is to keep me company.” I smiled at her and walked to the fridge to get out everything I needed.
“Okay, so all joking about billionaires and sex dungeons aside,” Valerie said when I was done placing everything out on the counter and reaching for a chopping board to start peeling the potatoes. “You’re surprisingly humble about this house. From the outside, it looks like whoever lives here would be fucking pretentious, but you’re not.”
“Pretentious or fucking pretentious?” I turned briefly to grin before getting to work.
Valerie chuckled. “Either. Neither, I mean. You’re really down to earth for someone in your position.”
“My father taught me that no man’s worth is measured by money, but by the strength of character. I have no more reason to be arrogant or pretentious than anyone else does.”
She lifted her glass to her lips thoughtfully, rocking her head from side to side. “Your father sounds like an interesting man.”
“He was. He’s the reason I got into the banking business. The company used to be his. He built it from the ground up. At first, I had no intention of becoming part of it, but eventually, I accepted that if I didn’t take over his life’s work, the company would fall to someone outside of our family. I couldn’t do that to him.”
“I’m sorry for your loss. I know it sounds like an empty sentiment, but it’s not. I really am sorry that you’ve lost someone who meant so much to you.” Valerie’s voice was softer than I’d ever heard it, laced with understanding and sincerity.
“It sounds like you’re talking from experience.” I wouldn’t pry. She would talk to me about her parents if she wanted to. She hadn’t pushed me the other day, I could do the same for her. “We can talk about it if you want.”
Valerie hopped off her stool and came to stand beside me, gently removing the potato peeler from my hand. “Let’s not talk about it tonight. You’re going to take a finger off if you keep at that the way you’re doing it. Let me peel the potatoes and you can move on to the rest.”
I nodded, sliding the chopping board over to her and starting to prep the coating for the chops. Throughout the rest of the dinner preparation, we worked together while we talked. There was a kind of natural synchronicity to our movements, never getting in the way of the other. It was almost like a well-rehearsed dance, just with a lot more mess.
After dinner, Valerie pushed her plate away and sighed dreamily. “That was delicious. I never would’ve pegged you for a chef, but you’re really good at making food.”
“It’s one of my many talents.” I stood from the table, picking up first my plate and then piling hers on top of it. “I’m just going to go put these in to soak. Would you like some more wine?”
She nodded, pushing her chair away from the table and standing up too. “Sure but let me help you get the dishes in the sink.”
“I can get the rest later, don’t worry about it.”
Shooting me a look, she shook her head. “You cooked. The least you can do is to let me help you clean up.”
I smiled, even though I could see she wasn’t about to do as I asked. “Fine, let’s make it quick then.”
Valerie and I carried the dishes back to the kitchen, piling them in the sink. When I went back for our wine glasses, she ran the warm water and added some soap. I came up behind her, intending to put our used glasses with the other dishes and use fresh ones for our after-dinner drinks.
To get to the sink, I had to reach around her. Her warmth radiated into me as I did it, the faintest hint of spicy-smelling shampoo hitting my nostrils. I lingered a little longer than I probably should have, enjoying the feel of her so close to me and trying to memorize her intoxicating scent.
When Valerie turned her head to face me, I was fully prepared to apologize. What I wasn’t expecting was for a small smile to curl on the corners of her lips before she leaned forward and pressed them to mine.
Chapter 14
Valerie
I kissed him! I’d been debating over whether to do it and how when the opportunity suddenly presented itself. And he’s kissing me back.
In fact, it was more like he was kissing me now. He’d taken my rather tentative, inquisitory kiss and turned it into a full-on, hands-in-the-hair, heat-pooling-in-my-belly, give-me-more-please make out session.
It was freaking fantastic. Fulton was an awesome kisser. His lips were soft but firm, his touch insistent but respectful. Tongues stroking and teeth clashing, we kissed harder, more frantically.
I turned my body fully to face him, loving the feel of him so hard and warm pressed up against me. His arms formed strong bands around my waist, crushing me to him. My hands slid to his neck and into his hair.
Fulton groaned into the kiss when I wound my fingers into the soft strands, lightly tugging on them. His grip on me tightened, one of his hands traveling to my hip while the other rested on my side.
Pressed together as we were, I felt him getting hard against my belly. My nipples tightened to peaks. The feeling of needing more intensified. My body felt as if it were on fire, needing him to douse the flames he was stoking inside. Needing to have his hands on me, to have him in me.
Moaning, I arched my back and tried to get closer to him than I already was. I was humming with desire, and every stroke of his tongue was ramping it up to impossible levels.
Thankfully, Fulton got the message I was trying to convey. His hands moved to my butt, lifting me against his hard stomach and carrying me out of the kitchen. Since this was his house, I trusted him to navigate us safely to his bedroom, which was where I was hoping we were headed.
Running his lips down my neck, he shifted his hands so they were beneath my thighs. I locked my ankles around his waist, delicious anticipation making me shiver.
When he finally set me down again, it was with my back against a firm mattress. I’d kicked off my shoes somewhere, and Fulton’s hands immediately started making work of the rest of my clothes.
Just before he started unwrapping me like an excited kid on Christmas morning, he pulled back to look into my eyes. “This only has to go however far you’re comfortable with. You can stop me at any time.”
“I know.” I lifted my hands to his neck, drinking in the way he was looking at me like he’d never wanted anything more. “But I’m not going to stop you. I want you, too, Fulton. You don’t have to ask me if I’m okay with this or check in with me. I’m better than okay. I just want you.”
“Good, because I want you too.” His voice was coarse, his breathing becoming labored. He held my gaze for a quiet second before his lips crashed into mine, claiming me with all-consuming kisses that were soon driving me insane.
We tugged at each other’s clothes, desperate to rid ourselves of the barriers between us. I had no idea where any of it went. All I cared about was that it wasn’t on us anymore.
Our kisses broke only for long enough to allow material to pass between us, then his lips would be back on mine. When we were skin to skin for the first time, the feel of it sent those earlier flames into an inferno that pooled between my thighs.
There was nothing gentle or tender about what was happening between us. It was fiery, carnal, and exactly what I needed.
Fulton’s hands stroked my sides, cupping the undersides of my breasts while his rock-hard cock ground against me. I was writhing beneath him, whimpering as I tried to touch every inch of him I could reach.
“I can’t wait to be inside you.” He groaned, taking a break from kissing my lips to suck an earlobe between his teeth. “I can already tell how explosive it’s going to be between us.”
“Yeah, so can I.” I pressed my head deeper into the pillow, my eyes screwing shut for a second as I tried to keep myself from begging. “So why wait? Just…”
His lips trailed a path
to my breasts, but then he lifted his head to flash me a wicked smile. “Your body deserves to be worshiped, so that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to study every one of your beautiful tattoos, I’m going to taste that pussy and then I’ll finally be inside you.”
When he took one peaked nipple into his hot mouth, I sucked in a breath and pressed my chest into his mouth. My hands tangled into his hair once more, tugging just a little harder than before.
The sound of his resulting groan vibrated through me. “Valerie.”
It sounded like a warning, but a lustful one. One that told me he was as close to losing control as I was, and that was what I wanted. I wanted him to let go of the control he kept such careful hold on and show me the primal, animalistic side of him I knew was inside there somewhere.
“Fulton.” I was just about panting now. “How about you do all those other things later. I just want you inside me right now, okay?”
Okay, so I was right there on the edge of begging. Somehow, I didn’t care as much as I had only a minute ago. Just the thought of having his mouth on me was enough to make me ache and throb for him. Being with Fulton like this was all the foreplay I needed for today.
“You’re killing me here.” He sat back between my legs, his hand on my chest. It ran down at the same time that his gaze did, looking at me in a way no one else quite had. There was something different about this, more intimate and intense.
I heard the muted growling sound he made when his hand cupped between my legs and he felt how wet I was for him. His head fell back, his eyes closed as he ran his fingers down my seam. Pleasure rushed through me, making my toes curl and my hips buck.
“You’re the one killing me.” I moaned, propping myself halfway up on one elbow and reaching for him with my other hand. As soon as I brushed his erection, he let out a low hiss.
“Fuck.” When he opened his eyes again, they went right to mine. Somehow, just the way he was looking at me already made me feel worshiped. The way his gaze had tracked my body and the heat that flared in his eyes now.
It was strange, but I really felt like he was staring at me like I was every fantasy he’d ever had come true. It made me feel beautiful, like I was not only worthy of being worshiped by him but like I already was.
“Fine,” he conceded, bringing his lips back to mine. “I still want to lick that gorgeous pussy until you come so hard that you can’t see for a full minute, but I want to give you what you want more.”
His voice was strained, his forehead dotted with tiny beads of sweat. Every muscle in his body tightly locked. It was obvious that he wanted to be inside me as much as I wanted him to be, yet I could hardly believe it. I wasn’t going to question it, though, I needed him too much.
“Do you have a condom?”
Nodding, he twisted at the waist and leaned over and off the bed. He rummaged around on the floor, lifting himself back up with a foil package in between his fingers. “I always keep some in my wallet.”
Fulton ripped the foil packet open with his teeth and rolled it quickly over his erection. The sight was so erotic that it sent a shock wave of need through my body that was so intense I nearly came right then.
Once it was firmly in place, he positioned himself between my legs and lowered his lips to mine. Kissing me deeply, the broad head of his cock nudged at my entrance. He slipped one hand to the back of my neck while the other held onto my hip, and pushed his way inside.
We both cried out when he hit home, my hips rising to meet his. The way he filled me was incredible, like I was a glove meant for him. He held still for a second, stealing my breath with his kisses while he waited for me to adjust.
I wiggled my hips, pulling back and pushing up into him again. “I’m okay. Move, please.”
The stretch of him burned just a little, but not so much that I needed more time. I was more than ready for him. He groaned as he did what I asked, his strokes long and sure.
I wound my legs around him and rocked with him, moved with him until I’d adjusted myself so that he was hitting every nerve I had just right. “Oh God. Yes. Fulton. Yes.”
Having never considered myself a screamer, I was surprised at the volume of my voice when it filled the room. I couldn’t help it, though. I was in the fast lane and racing toward what felt like it was going to be one of the best orgasms of my life. Surely that deserved a scream or two.
Fulton seemed to sense that I just needed a little more to be pushed over the edge. He reached between us and pressed his fingers against my swollen clit. Circling it over and over, he sent me barreling headfirst into my climax, wave after wave of delicious pleasure rolling through my body.
I thrashed and clawed, but he didn’t break his pace. His hips kept thrusting until finally, I felt them jerking before he tensed above me and came with a loud growl of my name.
For a couple of minutes after, I lay there in Fulton’s arms and waited for my racing heart to return to its normal pace. My head was on his chest, right over his rapidly beating heart. I put my hand next to his head, stroking his skin with my thumb.
Fulton’s fingers were doing the same on my back, running from my waist to my neck, into my hair and back down again. It was so soothing that my eyelids grew heavy, sleep begging to take them over.
It was that realization that finally spurred me into action. I can’t sleep with him.
Slowly sitting up, I tucked my hair behind my ears and smiled down at Fulton. He propped himself up on his elbows, a small, confused frown marring the space between his eyebrows.
“Where are you going?”
I leaned over, planting a chaste kiss on his lips. “I’ve got to go.”
“Why?” he asked as I swung my legs off the side of the bed and started hunting down my clothes. My underwear was lying near the foot of the bed, but the rest of my stuff was strewn all over. One of my shoes was even lying right in the middle of the doorway.
While getting dressed as quickly as I could, I looked at him over my shoulder. “I have a rule about not sleeping with anyone.”
Fulton lifted one dark eyebrow. “I think you just broke that rule in a big way.”
“That’s not what I meant.” I laughed, shaking my head. “I don’t go to sleep next to anyone.”
“Why?” He sat up in bed, drawing his knees up and looping his arms loosely around them. “I won’t tell if you won’t tell. Come back to bed. We can go for round two if it would make you feel better about staying? You can justify it to yourself by blaming it on too many spectacular orgasms.”
“Who said it was spectacular?” I smirked, walking to the door to retrieve my shoe.
He cocked his head, giving me a pointed look. “I was here. It was spectacular. So was mine. Let me give you a few more.”
I shrugged. “I guess it was okay.”
Fulton laughed and shook his head as he got off the bed, bending to grab his pants off the floor. “Okay, keep telling yourself that. I know the truth. Anyway, why do you have a rule about sleeping over?”
“It just makes things less awkward the next time.” I pulled on the shoe, then spotted the other one lying beside the wall and put it on too. “If there is a next time we see each other again. Of course.”
“Oh, we’ll see each other again.” He walked to his dresser and got out a T-shirt that he was still putting on as he started walking toward me. “Let me at least walk you out then, if you’re sure I can’t convince you to stay?”
“No, sorry.” I smiled and took his hand when he slipped it into mine on our way out of the bedroom. I held on to it, and the smile, until I walked out of the front door. Now I just had to get a cab, and then I could figure out why my lips refused to quit smiling.
Chapter 15
Fulton
“Mr. Yates, we have a problem.” Those were not words anyone wanted to wake up to. I rubbed my eyes, fighting a yawn as I pushed the covers off my legs and stood up off the bed.
My phone was lying on my nightstand in speaker mode, which meant
I could at least stretch properly while finding out why the manager of our Seattle branch was waking me up. “What’s going on? What’s the problem?”
“Those robberies in Florida are the problem.” The man was seething. I could practically hear the steam coming out of his ears. “The media keeps hounding us about whether this is going to be the next branch to be robbed. I’ve had enough of it.”
“I thought the media attention was dying down.” Fuck. I shoved my hand into my hair, running it through to grip the back of my neck. “Do you have any idea why they’re singling you out? I haven’t had any reports coming in from anywhere else. The guys responsible have been arrested and the money has been returned, why would they be harping on about it there?”
“I don’t know. Probably because they’re soulless vultures and the news has been slow. Whatever it is, I can’t deal with it anymore. I’m at the end of my rope. I’ve tried everything, but the hits just keep coming.” He blew out a deep sigh. “We need you in Seattle, Mr. Yates.”
Dropping my head back, I screwed my eyes shut. “Fine, stay strong. I’ll be on the next flight out.”
“We appreciate it.” He ended the call soon after that, leaving me to stew in my thoughts. I’d promised Valerie we’d see each other again not twelve hours ago, and now I was being called away.
If I knew I would be coming back to Florida in a day or two, it would have been one thing. The reality, however, was that I had no idea when or even if I would be back anytime soon. It could take weeks to deal with the situation in Seattle, depending on the intensity of the media attention they were getting.
After that, there was no guarantee that I’d be able to come back. If the media was hounding the Seattle branch to such an extent that a manager—who I’d known for years and who had never asked for support from the head office for anything—was calling, then there was a chance I’d have to move on to the next city for damage control after Seattle.