by Parker, Ali
She was going to be perfect. She already was perfect. I wished that there was some way that I could convince her of that, get her to see it, but I would just have to settle for showing it to her every way I could over the course of the next few hours.
I put a hand on the small of her back, making sure that everyone in that place knew that she was here with me and that I wasn’t going to be backing off from her for a single second. I could already see a handful of guys checking her out, and I wanted them to know for damn sure that there was nothing that they could do to pull her away from me.
I felt proud walking in here with her, knowing that not only was she the most gorgeous woman in the room, but that she had dedicated her life to so much good as well. Most of the people here were socialites or coming in off a family inheritance. They would never even think to do the things that she did with her time.
I spotted Yara at once, on the arm of the man who had to be her new boyfriend. I had to say, it was a little weird to actually see her with someone, given that I was more used to her playing the eternal bachelorette.
But she was beaming up at him, laughing at something that he said, and I could tell that she was totally delighted to be there with him. As soon as she caught sight of me and Raina, she waved the two of us over at once, and we made our way toward her.
“So good to see you!” Yara said, giving each of us a hug before she introduced us to her man. “This is Michael.”
She gazed up at him with slightly flushed cheeks. I would have to tease her about how crazy she was over this guy later, but right now, I was too busy feeling a little hot and bothered about the woman on my arm.
“Good to meet you,” Michael said, and I could tell that he was more than a little nervous. I could hardly blame him. After all, I was more than just the best friend. I was the boss, as well, so he had to go out of his way to make sure that he impressed me.
“How’s it been so far?” I asked Yara, once the introductions were done.
Raina was pinned to my side and looking around the room with some nervousness, but I smoothed my hand over the small of her back to remind her that I was here and that nothing was going to happen as long as that was true.
“A little chaotic, but that’s always the case,” Yara replied. “You know how it is with these things. It’s just a bunch of rich kids running around, trying to prove that they know better than their friends about how to run an event.”
But before she could go any further, I had been swooped on by an older woman. She looked to be in her fifties but was probably a few decades older and just had some excellent work done, and she was dripping in jewelry that likely cost more than the entire takings of this gala evening.
“So wonderful to see you here, Harry,” she said, and my mind raced as I tried to place her. I glanced over at Yara who, behind her back, managed to mime something that looked like eating dinner. Oh, right! She had a restaurant in the city. That was how I knew her.
“And you too, Iris,” I replied, and I flashed Yara a look that was thanking her for her ability to keep me from making a total ass of myself. If it hadn’t been for her, well then Raina wouldn’t have been in that dress, and I might have been able to keep my head straight for a single second.
The rest of the evening went pretty much as I had expected it to. Nothing special. Just a bunch of rich people talking to other rich people about how they were going to use their riches to do something good in the world for a change. I knew that most of them only took the time out once a year to make the effort, but hey, if it meant that we could get a little more money coming into the shelter, then so be it.
Raina was a little quiet, but I knew that she charmed the damn pants off everyone that she ran into that evening. She was a curiosity for most of them, given that I had hardly been out on the dating scene in a long time, and they all wanted to know where she had come from and what she did and how serious things were. Well, specifically, they wanted to know if I was committed to this woman or if they still had a shot at setting me up with the granddaughter or niece or sister.
We danced, we ate, and I kept her pinned to my side the whole night long. I counted down the damn minutes until I was going to be able to get her home and get her out of that dress already. I felt like my head was going to explode.
I needed to sink my fingers into her, to taste her, touch her, feel her. I needed to strip her down and see her naked and remind myself of just how magnificent that body of hers was.
By the time the gala was winding down, I guessed that I must have been making my intentions pretty obvious because Yara cocked an eyebrow as she looked at me while I pulled on my blazer and grabbed Raina’s bag.
“Out of here in a hurry, aren’t you?” she remarked with amusement.
I shot her a look. She could tease me for this as much as she wanted as soon as I had actually gotten what I needed so badly.
“I’ll see you at work,” I told her.
Raina tipsily slipped her hand over my shoulder, giggling. I supposed that everyone could tell just what was going through my mind, but I didn’t care. Maybe that would be enough to convince some of the hovering ladies that I wasn’t going to run off with their relative of choice.
Because as long as I had Raina by my side and as long as she was looking like that, there might as well have not been a single other woman in the world as far as I was concerned.
Chapter 35
Raina
As soon as we had made it out of that gala, I knew just what was on Harry’s mind. Because it was the exact same thing that was on my mind, too.
I was surprised we had managed to make it this long without giving in. The way he had looked at me when he had first seen me in this dress, it had been enough to make me want to pull him into my apartment and tell him to forget about anything else that he might have had planned for the evening.
But we had gone to the gala, we had played nice, and he’d kept his hand on the small of my back, letting me know that he was eager to find out what I was hiding under there as soon as he got the chance.
But as soon as he helped me out of the car outside his house, I knew that he wasn’t interested in holding back for another second. I grinned as he pulled me against him on the steps, running his hands down my body.
“God, you look so fucking hot in this dress,” he murmured, and he lowered his mouth to my neck and made me practically swoon. It was absurd to me that his touch could send such a shock through my system, even now that we’d been together.
When he pulled back, he had a smile on his face.
“Would it be totally cheesy if I said that I was more interested in what you looked like out of it?” he asked.
I giggled and let him sweep me against him and over the threshold to the house.
Kicking the door shut behind us, he kissed me—really kissed me. The kind of kiss that felt like it was knocking all the air from my lungs and made everything else just fade into obscurity. I wrapped my arms around him, and the heat that had been building between us all night came to a head.
I had wanted him like this since the moment I had seen him at my door. It wasn’t just the way he looked but the way he looked at me, the way he made it clear that he wanted me. I was pretty sure everyone at that gala knew just how hot he was for me, and that made me happier than I could ever have begun to express.
He pinned me to the wall behind me, planting his hands on either side of me to keep me in place. He was a little scary when he was this hot for me, but I liked it. I knew that I could trust him, no matter what. I knew there was nothing he would do that I didn’t want to.
He buried his face into my neck and started undressing me as quickly as he could. He was clearly not one little bit interested in holding back or hiding what he wanted from me. His hands were on my skin, hard and fast, his fingers gripping into me like he had been waiting for this all night. Before I knew it, that beautiful dress had tumbled to the floor below us, and I could only moan as he pulled me against him
once more, pressing my body to his like he had been waiting for this as long as he could remember.
“You’re so beautiful,” he murmured in my ear.
I felt like I had lost the ability to speak. I could feel his fingers gliding down over my waist, hooking around my panties, and he quickly pulled them away from my hips and then off my body.
Had his touch always been this hot? Not metaphorically but physically. It was as though I could feel a trail of fire left behind whenever he touched me, and I wanted to know just how he managed to make that happen.
“Turn around,” he ordered me, and there was a sureness to his voice that made me want to do what he commanded.
I turned and planted my hands against the wall, and he dropped to his knees behind me and slowly lifted my still-heeled feet so that he could take off my underwear. He groaned as he kneaded his fingers into my ass for a moment, like he could hardly believe that I was so perfect.
I had never felt so wanted in all my life before, and that turned me on more than anything. The lust, the knowledge that he craved me and ached for me and needed me the way that I did him. He slowly stood back up again, letting his fingers trace a path up and over my thighs as he did so. I let out a soft moan, and I felt his arm slide around my waist so he could pull me against him.
“You look so fucking good in that dress,” he murmured, brushing his lips over the back of my neck and making me squirm. “I don’t think I want anyone else to see you in it. I’m going to need to keep it under lock and key to be on the safe side.”
I could feel his erection pressing against my ass, and I was already craving him inside me so badly that it had almost begun to hurt. I moved my hips back and forth, letting him know that I was more than ready to feel him inside me. He didn’t need telling twice.
I heard the rip of a condom and the zip of his pants as he got himself ready for me, and all I could focus on was the heady pulse of my blood in my veins as I waited to feel him the way I had wanted to all night long.
He nudged at my entrance, and I arched my back and pressed back against him, letting him know that he could have me any way that he wanted me and that I would never say no. I was obsessed with the way he felt against me and obsessed with the way we felt about each other, and I was never going to get tired of that feeling, especially not when it just felt so damn...
Good.
He pushed inside of me in one swift motion, and I felt like my heart was going to burst right on out of my chest. He filled me in one slow push, letting me feel every inch of his length as he took me.
“Fuck,” he growled, and he took hold of my hips to hold me in place as he started to move inside of me.
I couldn’t speak. I didn’t have the capacity for words anywhere in me. I loved the way he felt so much and the way that we felt together. His body was strong, and mine was soft, and it was so clear now, after all this time waiting, that this had been what I’d always needed. I had hidden from the truth of my wants for years because I’d never met him, but now that I had, I could see that this was right. My body was built to bring me this kind of pleasure, and I was never going to let myself forget it. Not ever again.
He slowly let me build up the pace, and I got used to the feeling once again. It was still so new to me in so many ways, and it took a lot for me to remember how it felt. It was strange to think that I had never been with anyone before him when it felt like being with him in this way was just the most natural thing in the world.
But I had been waiting for him. That was the truth of it. He pushed all the way up to the hilt inside of me and let out another groan. I loved hearing those noises from him and loved knowing that I had been the one to make them happen. His strength and his power were focused on me, and there was nothing that I would have changed about it.
He fucked me hard, and he took me like he had been waiting all night long for this moment—which I supposed he had. I loved the thought of him imagining this every moment that we were together. These filthy thoughts running through his brain whenever he looked at me.
I had never had that kind of power over anyone before, and that thrilled me. It thrilled me to know that a man who had so much control and so much influence would find himself falling apart when he was in my presence.
He took me harder, right there against the wall. I could hardly catch my breath. The raging swell of pleasure inside of me almost hurt until I felt myself give. My body clenched around his, and I cried out loudly enough that the sound filled the whole house at once.
When I came, I came hard, every inch of me shuddering in relief. We had only done this once before, but it had been enough for me to start to crave it with every fiber of my being.
He came a few moments after I did, and he shuddered as he held himself inside me, as though something deep and spiritual was escaping his body as he found his release. He held me there for a long moment, just the way he had before, keeping me pinned tightly before he slowly slipped out of me.
“Fuck,” I groaned as I crashed forward and scrabbled against the wall for some support.
He grabbed me at once, laughing and smiling. “Here, I’ve got you.”
He scooped me up into his arms and carried me up the stairs. My dress was abandoned on the floor below, and my shoes were still on, but he didn’t seem to care as he laid me down on to the bed.
“Are you all right?” he asked, and he reached over to touch my neck.
Now that I was lying here with him, all the doubts that I’d been dealing with before seemed to slide away. It was hard to remember that I had ever even had them in the first place.
I nodded. “More than all right,” I replied, and I let out a huge yawn. It had been a long night, and my nerves leading up to the actual event were not helping matters at all.
“I had an amazing time with you,” he told me. “Thank you for coming with me tonight. You made it so much more fun.” He paused. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get you out to see my grandfather.”
I shook my head. “I’m sorry. I forgot about it. But I would love to meet him, if that’s still on the table?”
“That would be amazing,” he said. “And I know Winnie would be so happy to introduce you guys.”
“Hope I don’t let her down.”
“You won’t,” he promised. “You couldn’t. She thinks the world of you, you know?”
“Well, I’ll do my best,” I told him. “But I have one condition.”
“And what’s that?”
“I want you to meet my twin,” I replied. “Reed’s been asking about you since the moment that he found out that the two of us were together.”
“I think I can cope with that,” he said.
I smiled at him. We were meeting the families. It was getting serious. I couldn’t believe how fast it was going and the fact that I wasn’t scared by how quickly we were diving into this.
In fact, I couldn’t wait for more.
Chapter 36
Harry
“Is she coming down soon?” Winnie asked, bouncing in the backseat.
I nodded. “I hope so,” I replied, glancing at my watch. “She said that she would be down here soon enough.”
“Oh, there she is!” she called suddenly.
I looked over and saw Raina struggling out of the front door carrying a big box in her hands.
“What have you got there?” I asked as Raina carefully moved into the front seat, making sure that she didn’t knock the box as she did so.
“It’s my mom’s Bundt cake recipe,” she explained. “I got up early to make it this morning. I hope that George likes it.”
“He’s going to love it,” I promised her, and I inhaled the sweet, light, lemony scent of the cake as it filled the car.
“You have to show me how to make that,” Winnie said.
Raina glanced around and smiled at her. “I would love to,” she agreed. “It could be fun, right? If you don’t mind making a mess of the kitchen, that is.”
“I’m sure we could
see our way to it,” I agreed. “Come on. Let’s get out of here. George hates it when we’re late.”
“All right, let’s get going,” Raina agreed.
We pulled away from her apartment and started down the road toward George’s place. I was so excited to introduce them all to one another, but I would have been lying if I said that I wasn’t a little nervous, as well.
But that was normal, right? George had known Winnie’s mother. If Raina had to impress anyone, it was him. And I wanted him to like her. I wanted to prove that I had picked the right woman to take care of Winnie with me.
Not that I was thinking that far ahead. We had only been on a few dates, and yes, of course, they had been amazing, but I wasn’t going to let myself get ahead of myself. I had a lot to think about before I took things further. I didn’t want to dive in too quickly, too soon.
Still, it was hard not to get excited when I could see so clearly just how well she got along with the people who mattered to me most in my life. I missed her when she wasn’t there. I needed her when she wasn’t close to me. I adored her, no doubt about it. And I knew that was going to make the rest of my life very complicated. Not that I minded one little bit.
We arrived at the house, and George, as ever, was nowhere to be seen. In fact, the housekeeper, Anita, was the one who came out to meet us. She had a big smile on her face, waving us down like she was inviting her own family into her home.
“So good to see you!” she said cheerily, and she gestured for us to come inside. She plucked the large box from Raina’s hands and popped it open to see what was inside.
“Oh, that looks delicious!” she exclaimed happily. “Let me take this into the kitchen, and I’ll get some lemonade to go with it.”
“Can I help you with it?” Raina suggested.
Anita waved her hand. “I run the show around here. Don’t you worry about anything.” She headed off to the kitchen.