by Parker, Ali
And I knew that she felt the same way. I could feel that sureness coming off her in waves, could feel that certainty that she knew where this was going. The heat between us was growing to the point that I couldn’t deny it a moment longer.
As we finished the last of our food and as I paid the bill—to her protests, which I ignored—I knew that this night was far from over.
Or at least, I sure didn’t want it to be done yet.
Chapter 22
Raina
“M’lady,” he joked as he pulled open the car door for me to step inside.
I giggled as I slipped into the vehicle, allowing him to close the door behind me, and I felt my heart pick up the pace as I tried to work out where this night was going to go from here.
I wanted more from him. No doubt about that. I had never felt that burning need before in my life, but it was making itself well known now that I was close to him. When he let his hand glide over the small of my back, just for a moment, I felt like I might give in to him right then and there.
Winnie and Tink were staying with his best friend for the night. The house was all his. Even though he had just offered to take me back to my place and I had agreed, I wanted more than that. I needed it.
But could I actually... well, could I actually do it?
I had held on to my virginity for so long—done everything but, holding back on what I thought I should do because I was too scared of what it might mean when I actually gave myself to that kind of pleasure.
I had no clue what I was actually meant to do, but I knew that I wanted it. I just had to bridge that gap and find a way to take what I wanted so badly.
We chatted in the car on the way home, and I tried not to think about the way his mouth would have felt on mine. God, I wanted that so badly. I ached for it.
His words were starting to blur around the edges as I tried to focus my attention. It was so difficult when my need for him was so intense.
We pulled up outside my apartment, and I took a deep breath. Now. I had to do this now. He drew the car to a halt, and he looked over at me.
“I had an amazing time tonight,” he told me softly.
I bit my lip. “So did I,” I said. And before I could stop myself, I reached out and put my hand on his. “Would you think any less of me if I asked to spend the night with you?”
He stared at me for a moment, and for that split second, I was certain that he was going to turn me down. I had gone too far, too fast, and he was freaked all the way out by what I had said. But instead, a smile curled up his lips, and he reached over to smooth a hand over my face.
“I’m just glad you asked before I had to kidnap you back there,” he replied, and he leaned over and planted a soft kiss on my mouth.
My breath caught in my throat for a split second, and the world felt like it exploded into a swirling shift of kaleidoscope shapes around me. I couldn’t think about anything but the way that he made me feel, the touch of his skin on mine. When he pulled back, I knew that this was right. Any last doubts I’d had slipped from my mind, and he took me back to his place to spend the night.
He offered me a hand to help me out of the car, ever the gentleman, but he let it slide around my waist as soon as we were standing up properly. He pulled me tightly against his body, and I could feel the strength of him under his blazer.
I couldn’t wait to sink my fingers into him. I had never felt a craving for someone the way I was craving him right now. It was almost a little scary to feel so out of control, but in the same moment, it felt passionate, pure, like I was in control and out of it all at the same time, careful and crazy in one moment.
He pulled me through the door, and as soon as it was closed behind us, he kissed me again. This time, though, his mouth was more urgent on mine, more passionate. His tongue slipped past my lips, and he tightly gripped my hips, holding me in place like he was scared I might slip through his fingers at any moment.
I was pushing back against him without thinking, needing more and taking it all at once. I wound my arms around him and hung on to him, tasting the wine from the dinner on his lips, and curious to discover whatever else I could about the way he tasted, smelled, and felt when he held me.
“I’ve been waiting for this for so long,” he murmured in my ear, and he ran his hands up my waist as though he was tracing out the curve where he stood.
I sometimes found myself a little self-conscious in my body, given that it was bigger than most of the women’s I knew, but the way he was touching me, all of that just seemed to vanish. It was almost like he was drawing me into being right then and there, sketching my outline with his hands as he pushed down the straps of my dress to expose me.
He slipped his hands around to my back and unzipped the dress at the same time he deftly unhooked my bra, taking his time, brushing his mouth over my neck as he did so. He knew just what he was doing. This was a man who’d had practice in making love like this. And I was happy to sit back and let him take control.
He led me up the stairs, not taking his hands off me the whole time. The way he was touching me, he was making it clear that he never wanted to stop. He opened the door to his bedroom and took me inside. The way he was moving me around with such strength and confidence was enough to get my heart pounding painfully inside my chest. He kissed me next to the bed, and he skimmed his fingers over my bare thigh playfully.
“Can I?” he asked, his voice low and heated.
I hesitated for the briefest moment, and then I nodded. Because I knew that I wanted this more than I wanted any other single thing in this world.
He slowly undressed me, taking his time, unwrapping me like I was the sweetest gift he had ever been given. His fingers traversed the shape of me, over my shoulders and down my arms, across my hands, toward my thighs. He dropped to his knees and looked up at me as he slowly peeled my panties away from my body.
I reached down to touch him, marveling at him, at how gorgeous he was, at how perfect he seemed. And the fact that he was here with me.
He slowly stood up once more, now that he had me naked, and I went to cross my arms over my chest to shield myself. It wasn’t that I didn’t want him to see me, but rather that I was acting on instinct. He caught my hands and pushed them gently down by my sides.
“I want to see you,” he murmured, and he tucked his hand behind my head and kissed me once more. And any fear about what he thought of my nakedness seemed to slide out of my head at once.
He pushed me down onto the bed, climbing on top of me, and the weight of him was almost soothing, like the rest of the world had ceased to be as long as he was there on top of me, to bring me back down to Earth. I pushed off his blazer, my trembling fingers reaching for his shirt.
Did I tell him that I had never done this before? I had no idea.
He reached down and slowly eased my thighs apart, and everything else slipped from my mind. It didn’t matter that I had never done this. All that mattered was that I wanted to, fiercely, with him right now.
He let his fingers glide up my thighs, tracing over my pussy, and I moaned softly. He covered my mouth with his once more, and the two of us seemed to melt into one being. The space between us fell away, and his touch and his kiss and the hardness of his cock throbbing against my hip was more than I could take.
“You’re so wet,” he murmured. “You want this? Now?”
“I want this,” I replied without pausing for thought. It was the truth.
He reached over and grabbed a condom from the bedside table, and I watched as he quickly stripped down. I would have offered to do it myself, but my fingers were still too shaky, my whole body feeling as though it was vibrating with the thrill of what was to come next.
He sheathed himself, and I reached for him, heart pounding, skin tingling, but more than anything, the voice in my head saying, yes, yes, yes. I had waited long enough. This was animal need, something we had to give in to by way of our nature.
And I was done denying myself t
hat passion.
I pulled his naked form down on top of me. The light was off, so all I could do was feel him, and I was just fine with that. I held him close, and he wrapped one arm around me and used the other to guide himself to my pussy. I felt his cock nudging against my slit, and I arched my back and groaned, letting him know without words that I was ready for this.
And finally, finally, he gave it to me.
I cried out when I felt him push inside me for the very first time. It was like someone had flicked a switch, a sharp shock of pleasure and a touch of pain that seemed to spread out to consume every part of me at once.
I couldn’t think about anything but him and this and how I had waited so long to let this happen—how I had held back from giving my body what it had so clearly needed all this time.
He reached down to grab hold of my hips and held me steady as he moved into me, his strong hands keeping me in place. I would have done anything he’d asked me to in that moment, anything at all. My body felt like it had been made for him, as though a missing piece had finally slipped into place.
He seemed to sense that this might have been new for me. He didn’t go hard, letting me get used to the feeling of him filling me up like that, and I breathed deeply and let the pleasure take control of me. It was a profound feeling, giving in to it like that. I had denied myself for so long, and to share it with him after all this time felt good. Right.
He kissed me deeply as he fucked me slowly, and I ran my nails over his back. I wanted to leave marks on him. I knew he was going to leave marks on me—if not physically, then mentally, his presence forever burned into my brain, given that he was the first I’d ever had like this before.
I felt something stirring inside of me, growing quickly. I had been waiting all night for this release, and now that the opportunity was here, I wasn’t going to pass up the chance to take it. I pushed back against him, taking him in as deep as I could, letting him fill me, have me, take me.
When I came, it felt like my body was trying to bond with his. Like we were meant to be together this way, and now that we were, nothing was going to change that. I cried out loudly, and he stilled himself inside of me and held himself there for a long moment, like he was savoring the sensation of me around him.
And then, I felt something give in his own body, his muscles untensing as he came too. I had done that. I had been enough to get that gorgeous man to give in to me. I turned my head to kiss him again, frantic, and he stroked my hair and kissed me back.
Slowly, he pulled out of me, and he quickly disposed of the condom. He slipped back down into bed with me and pulled me on top of him. I was worried about being too heavy for him for a moment, but as soon as I felt my bare skin against his, those thoughts slipped from my mind.
“Thank you,” he murmured, and he kissed the top of my head.
I wasn’t sure what he was thanking me for. Maybe he knew I’d given him something that nobody else had ever taken before. “If you want, I can go—”
“You’re not going anywhere,” he assured me. “Winnie and Tink are staying with Yara for the night. You sleep, and I’ll take you to work in the morning, okay?”
“Okay,” I said, and I closed my eyes and let my head sink down into his chest.
I could hear his heartbeat. It felt so intimate to listen to the pulsing of his heart like that.
And it was that sound that I allowed to soothe me to sleep in the arms of the man I just couldn’t get enough of.
Chapter 23
Harry
When I woke up the next morning, I felt practically giddy. I couldn’t believe this was happening. My woman, the woman I had taken out the night before, was asleep in the bed beside me—still totally naked.
I reached over to touch her and skimmed my fingers over her bare body. Fuck, she was so damn sexy to me, I couldn’t take it. I knew that some people would look at her body and see her as too big, too strong, too curvy, but everything about her was so damn lush to me. I was obsessed with her already. Under those scrubs, she had this strong, electrifying body that made everything feel better.
And she’d been able to stay the night. That was the best part of all of this. I could actually wake up next to her and not have to worry about getting caught in the act. Thank God for Yara. She had been the one to make this possible.
I had a little bit of time before I had to get out of the house, and I figured that I could make her a little breakfast. I hadn’t bought anything for her to eat, given that I hadn’t expected her to stay the night, but I supposed I could whip something up.
I didn’t want her to just think I was after sex, so I hadn’t considered inviting her in. But she had been the one to suggest it—and judging by what had happened last night, I would guess that it was the first time.
I had noticed a little bleeding after we had been together, and I had spotted the way she reacted to my touch and to being taken like that. I was pretty sure that it had been her first time. Which was crazy to me. I couldn’t imagine a woman getting that far in life, looking like that, and not ending up in bed with some handsome suitor or another. I hadn’t asked her, but I had thanked her, and the way she had reacted told me that I was right.
I made a pot of coffee and took my time, listening for her getting out of bed upstairs. I wanted her to take as long as she needed. This place, to her, was to be somewhere that she could come and just kick back. I wanted it to be perfect. That way, she was more likely to come back and stay over again.
I almost felt like a bachelor again, if I was being honest. It had been a long time since I had done anything like this, and I had to admit that it was fun. It wasn’t often that I got to do something that was just for me.
Winnie always had to come first, and now I had Tink to think about as well. Not to mention work, and the family, and the business, and well, everything really. But last night had been what I wanted to do. I loved that. It was a chance to reconnect with myself. Not to mention connecting with her for the first time as well.
The date had been perfect. Everything about her just felt right. She cared about me and about Winnie. She wasn’t in it for the money and wasn’t pissed that there was no chance of me doing the whole rich-guy thing. She had a sense of humor, a kindness to her, a laid-back attitude that made being around her easy. Not to mention, being with her in bed had been crazy good. Maybe just because I had been out of the game for so long, but how was I meant to deny the chemistry between us?
I hummed to myself as I made the coffee and wondered when exactly I should get her up. I didn’t have to worry about getting to work, but she would need to get to the clinic eventually. Or maybe I could convince her to take the rest of the day off, and we could spend it in bed together.
I still felt like there was so much I had to learn about her body, how she reacted, what she wanted from me. Maybe I could even ask her about making things serious?
I had no clue if that was what she was looking for, but I knew that I sure was.
Of course, it wasn’t the time to introduce her to Winnie as a partner or anything like that. I still had to figure out how the two of us worked individually before I thought about how we might have done so together. Yes, I liked her. Yes, I thought she was hot as hell, but I had to think about Winnie and what she wanted for her life, and it wasn’t fair to just drag her into something that she had no functional say over.
And I had to think of my sister, too.
What would she have wanted for her daughter? I felt a pang of sadness when I thought about her. She would have just loved Raina. I was sure of it. The two of them would have been swapping stories about me, and along with Winnie, I would have been outnumbered by the women in my life. It would have been perfect.
The thought of it stung, actual pain pulsing through me for a moment. It wasn’t fair that she didn’t get to see any of this. It wasn’t fair that I had to go through life without her—not to mention how unfair it was on Winnie.
But I had to look forward to what
was to come. No, everything hadn’t turned out the way I had wanted it to. No, things weren’t the way they were meant to be, or at least they hadn’t felt like they had been for a long time. But I had to admit that I would never have even met Raina if it hadn’t been for Winnie coming into my life.
I would never have been around to see that dog huddled on our driveway, and I would never have gone into the vet’s office to drop it off, and I would never have adopted that sweet little dog to keep my niece company. Raina and I would never have encountered each other. And maybe, just maybe, this was the universe’s way of trying to make up to me what it had taken when my sister had passed away.
It wasn’t everything, but it was a start.
I was just pouring myself a cup of coffee and considering if I should bring one up to Raina or if I should wait for her to come down when I heard movement behind me. I grinned and turned to face her. I was already looking forward to seeing her again, and I’d barely been out of that room a few minutes. I was really falling for her, seriously fast. I would have to be careful.
And that was when I turned around and saw that it was Winnie standing there in the doorway to the kitchen instead.
“Winnie?” I muttered with surprise. “What are you doing here?”
“I had to pick up my textbook,” she explained, and she grabbed something from the stack of school supplies that sat on the edge of the kitchen counter.
I didn’t move a muscle. Okay, she was here, but it wasn’t like she could just sense Raina in the house or anything.
And then, from the door that led off to the stairs, Raina emerged. Wearing nothing but the shirt I had worn last night and a pair of panties.
A dead silence filled the room for a moment. It was like something out of a sitcom—a Mexican standoff of awkwardness. I had no idea what I was meant to do or what I was meant to say.