Bryce: Ex-Business: An Ex-Club Romance

by Camilla Stevens

  “The back of the knees.”

  His grin becomes decidedly predatory as he continues, leaning in closer so that his hands can continue exploring the hunting ground of my body right down to the skin exposed beneath my pants leg.

  “And the ankle.”

  “Bryce,” I whisper as his fingers remain there, burning my exposed skin with a heat that combats even the warm glow of cognac slithering through my veins.

  “Do you know what all those spots have in common?” He asks, a taunting in his voice that tells me I should already know the answer.

  “What?” I ask, my voice thick.

  “They are where the skin is thinnest, the flesh most exposed. It’s where the blood flows with the most force. Where prey is most vulnerable. A wolf going after a sheep? A lion after a gazelle? One bite in just the right place is all it takes to bring them down.”

  I can’t tell if he’s trying to scare me or turn me on. Either way, it’s working. Just like the last time, I feel myself falling under his spell, realizing I should know better, but unable to help myself.

  He leans in closer, enough for me to feel his breath against my face. Those dark whiskey eyes swirl with desire.

  Are rabbits and deer this turned on when they go frozen after realizing their scent has been caught by a predator?

  “Those spots are also where we’re most sensitive, where we, as humans, most long to be touched.”

  His hand rises from the skin of my ankle, back to my neck. When he slides it around to gently grip the back of it, I instinctively raise my chin exposing my throat. Already, I’m prey, easily giving in to my unavoidable fate. Bryce’s thumb slides to the front, back to where the blood is indeed flowing with the most force.

  “One caress, a single stroke, even a tiny breath along those spots can make the body tremble, lower inhibitions, weaken one’s resolve. Successful seduction is no different from a successful hunt, Edie.”

  The way Bryce looks at me is no joke.

  Gone is the playful charmer who makes me laugh (occasionally). Gone is the jokester who has me rolling my eyes (even if I am still amused). Gone is the man I was embarrassed to have slept with (at least that’s what I told myself).

  This Bryce intends to claim his prize, no matter what.

  And I am too weak to deny him.

  Chapter Eight

  Bryce

  If I thought I was the one doing the hunting-slash-seducing, I was dead wrong.

  Edie is on me like a velociraptor on a sacrificial goat chained to a stake in the ground. And I for one am happy to be the chosen one.

  A grunt of surprise escapes me when she pushes me back into the couch and straddles me, her lips crushing against mine.

  Oh yeah, that’s what I remember so well. That sweet taste of her lips. It even has a subtle hint of Hennessy to give it that nostalgic touch. I could last another seven years on this moment alone.

  I thought maybe I had gone a bit far with the hunting metaphors, scaring her away. I should have remembered what a lioness she turns into when she’s well into her cups.

  That realization has me thinking.

  I gently pry myself away from her to give her a good, sobering look. “Are you sure you want to—”

  “Shut up and take off your clothes,” she says with a tipsy laugh.

  I raise my brow in appreciation. “No need to demand twice.”

  I quickly tug at my t-shirt as she fumbles with the buttons of her blouse. Being a man of simpler attire, I’m quicker to rid myself of my textile obstacles.

  Once I’m shirtless, it gives me plenty of time to observe as Edie reveals what lies under her workday uniform.

  I say a personal prayer to the gods of lace and silk as she rips her top off to reveal how perfectly the two come together to present her amazing breasts.

  She stares at me staring at her. “You’re not done, mister.” She lowers her eyes to the waistband of my pajama bottoms.

  I’d like to point out that as much as I’m eager to remove them, she presents a bit of an obstacle herself as she sits on top of me. But why interrupt where this is going when I can just handily solve it myself?

  I grab her waist and lift her up, easily using my superior strength to maneuver her around so that I’m now on top with her lying prone on the seat of the couch.

  “Bryce!” she exclaims as though the wind has been knocked out of her.

  “Hush,” I admonish. ”Now where were we?”

  I take my time, tracing a finger right down her middle, across the bare skin just above her bra, then down her stomach to the waistband of those damnable pants. The way her flesh quivers underneath my fingertip has me growing hard against her thigh.

  “I thought women were supposed to be the magnificent hunters,” she muses.

  “That’s only with inferior, lazy men.” I raise my gaze so that I’m penetrating her with it once again. “Now that I have you in my clutches, I don’t plan on letting go. Because this time, I want you to remember it. I want it to touch every part of you, both your body and mind. I want it to reach the tiniest atom of your body. I want to electrify your nervous system so fiercely that you’ll feel the remnants of it even years from now. I want you waking in the middle of the night from dreaming about it. I want you tuning out in the middle of the day from thinking about it.”

  I’ve been slowly working her fly open as I talk. I’m not sure if it’s my words, the way I’m staring down at her, or the fact that my hand is now securely inside the confines of her underwear that has Edie breathless and silent.

  When my fingers find that sweet spot, it puts an end to the silence. She arches her back and moans with pleasure as I torture her clit.

  Edie may have been reluctant to go this far when she first entered my apartment, but the evidence of her need is wet against my fingers as I slip further in, exploring even more.

  I focus on watching her, enjoying her reaction to my touch. I know Edie well enough by now to know that, despite my words, come morning she’ll wear the cloak of shame at having let me go so far. So I fully plan on etching this moment to memory. The way her eyes close and her mouth parts. The way her nipples harden in defiance of that satin and lace. The way her hands reach up to press against my bare chest, fingers digging in as though seeking purchase.

  Enough of that.

  Time for this lion to get his first bite in.

  I pull my hand out. Before Edie can even open her eyes and utter a protest. I’m up on my knees between her legs. I dig my hands into the waistband of her pants and tug them down her hips, making sure to collect her underwear as I do.

  “Wait,” she breathes.

  “I think I’ve waited long enough, don’t you?” I say with one eyebrow raised.

  I jerk the clothing even further, and she cedes the territory, lifting her hips so that I can pull them all the way off. I sink to the floor, twisting her body so that I can force her legs open as wide as possible.

  After one brief, but glorious moment of visual delight, I pull her closer so that my mouth has easier access.

  There’s something intoxicatingly powerful about making a woman weak using nothing more than my tongue and lips. When it comes to a woman like Edie, that feeling is compounded by about a hundred. Even though I’m literally on my knees before her, she might as well be putty in my hands.

  As evidenced by the way her body quakes with desire as my tongue lashes against her clit. I pucker my lips, drawing that sensitive little sucker out to take even more advantage, my tongue working like a propeller. Edie’s hands sink into my hair, gripping for dear life.

  But my favorite part is hearing my name escape those sweet lips of hers. I bring my hand up, sinking two fingers into her and curling at just the right spot—a location I damn well remember even seven years later.

  That’s enough to push her right over the edge.

  “Bryce!” she cries out, clenching her thighs against my head.

  Just feeling her come around those two digits sends
a shock to my system urging me to move onto the next step.

  When I pull away, the smell and taste of Edie still lingers against my face. I grin at the look on hers, reflecting the utter devastation I’ve wreaked on her body.

  I pull back up and kneel on the couch between her legs. “Ready for more?”

  “You’ve already made me come twice,” she breathes out.

  “Rookie numbers,” I say before lowering down to kiss her once again. This time, without the surprise of her taking charge, I savor it, especially with the evidence of those two orgasms being force-fed back to her via my lips.

  Just when I think I’ve completely lowered every last, lingering bit of her inhibition, she pulls away with a wrinkle in her brow.

  “If we’re going to do this, let’s at least not do it on the couch.”

  I give her a crooked smile. “One of these days, Edie, I’m going to absolutely destroy those corset bindings of yours.”

  “Or I could just walk back to my apartment.”

  “You and I both know that’s the last thing on Earth you want to do right now.”

  “Really,” she says getting indignant. “Don’t think that just because—”

  I silence that thought with my mouth.

  But I’m nothing if not a gentleman.

  Just to prevent that stubborn ego of hers from succumbing to her bluff, I reach around and pick her up, carrying her to my bedroom. The couch, the bedroom, it makes no difference to me. So long as I have Edie in the way that I’ve wanted her for the past seven years.

  Chapter Nine

  Edie

  I have to admit, being carried by Bryce to his bedroom is deliciously enjoyable. I forgot how strong his arms felt when they were wrapped around me. My mind dances its way back to that night seven years ago. The corded muscles and prominent veins on his forearms. They worked far better than that cognac on my libido.

  After he lowers me to the bed, I reach around to remove my bra.

  That need to get laid I had this morning is practically a raging force in my body, conscripting every cell into service for the motherland. This is one battle I plan on winning.

  Looking up at Bryce in nothing but his pajama bottoms makes me wonder how I managed to maintain this diplomatic truce. The man gets me wet just looking at him.

  And let’s just say, gray sweatpants have nothing on pajama bottoms when it comes to outlining every glorious feature of his impressive package.

  “Are you going to stand there and ogle me or do something with that thing?”

  “Why Edie,” he says with a daring eyebrow raised. “You little minx. At least give a man a moment to enjoy everything you’ve withheld for seven years.”

  “If you don’t put on a condom and take advantage of my lowered defenses, you may have to add another seven years to that,” I say. I perk up at that thought. “Wait, you do have condoms right?”

  “I may not have been a Boy Scout, but I definitely come prepared, Edie.” He grins and walks over to the nightstand.

  Of course he has condoms. He probably has a different woman coming to his apartment every Friday night. Heaven knows I’ve heard him with at least a few of them, those gratingly high-pitched giggles of theirs in the hallway. I wonder if he is just as aware of the absence of any men being led to my apartment.

  Those bitterly jealous thoughts disappear as he gets rid of the pajama bottoms and focuses on unrolling the condom on his dick.

  I want to mentally slap that Edie from business school. How could I have let Lila of all people talk me out of ever enjoying this God’s gift to women a second time?

  Bryce must see the look on my face because a taunting grin comes to his. “Now you’re absolutely sure you want this, Edie? Because—”

  “Shut up and take me you fool,” I say with a laugh.

  “Again, no need to demand twice.”

  I fall back onto the bed with a smile, for once allowing myself to let go. That Edie which was so resistant disappears, mostly under the strength of how damn good Bryce looks naked.

  He reaches out, one arm coming beneath me to pull me toward him as he lowers himself between my open legs and then sinks into me. That’s when the last bit of…everything escapes me.

  I lose myself in the feel of him. My body reacts accordingly, my legs coming up around his waist, my arms around his neck, my front pressed into his firm chest and abs.

  “Open your eyes,” he demands in a hoarse voice. I wasn’t even aware they were closed until that order. But I obey him, only to find him staring hard into me.

  That’s what confirms it. Despite his taunting and teasing and even those tittering conquests he may have brought back to this very bed…I’m the only one he’s been thinking about all this time.

  It’s terrifying in its intensity.

  And who says he’s the only one?

  I could blame the magazine for taking up all my free time? I could blame my inability to properly flirt. I could even blame the fact that I’m probably past my prime when it comes to the shallow world of one-off hookups.

  What the hell am I focusing on that for?

  I fall back to this…this moment, which is exactly what I’ve been waiting for; staring up at Bryce as he continues to fuck me. I forgot how good he feels inside of me, like a perfect fit.

  It builds something in me, something much stronger than those two orgasms back on the couch. My hands cling to the hard, rippling muscles of Bryce’s back as he works his hips in between mine.

  “That’s it, Edie,” he urges, probably feeling the first wave come.

  I love it, the way my name sounds on his lips, his rich voice caressing each syllable. Hell, he could even call me Lola right now and I wouldn’t be mad.

  And the feel of him inside of me? That itch is more than scratched. It’s tortured, leaving it raw and open to the absolute euphoria I forgot could actually happen inside of me. Just the way he fills me, sliding in and out, I could die a happy victim of his deadly conquest.

  My mind erupts with every kind of indecent profanity, obscenity, and even blasphemy thrown in for good measure. But when I finally come, only one word escapes my lips.

  “Bryce,” I arch my back as the orgasm takes over.

  His jaw goes taut, the blaze in his eyes reaching inferno levels as he works himself even more. Coming right on the cusp of my own orgasm, it has me nearly dizzy with the feel of it. But it’s another, deeper feeling that seizes me as I work my body to urge him on.

  When Bryce comes, for all his wit, banter, and smart-assed words whenever he’s around me, he likewise manages only one word as the muscles underneath my hands and pressed against my inner thighs and calves go taut.

  “Edie.” His is a shuddering groan, but the force of his body rocks me.

  We continue from there at a less urgent pace, savoring the reunion of our bodies until we both come again, simultaneously this time.

  I’m still nearly breathless when he falls to the side of me.

  I wait for the inevitable smart-assed comment to come.

  Instead, he silently reaches an arm out and pulls me into his side. I resist for exactly one second before allowing myself to succumb to it. I know that post-sex glow still has me heady. At the very least, I can blame that when I start to feel any regret sneak in come morning.

  For now, I’m thoroughly content.

  This was completely worth it.

  Chapter Ten

  Bryce

  The next morning, I’m surprised to find Edie gone when I wake up.

  Well, not entirely surprised.

  Still, disappointed.

  At least she stayed long enough to fall asleep in my bed. I was far too satisfied with the feeling of her against my side to maintain any notion of sleep, at least for a good hour or so.

  Eventually, once I’d maneuvered both of us underneath the covers, I succumbed, reveling in the notion that she was mine once again.

  Even if it was only for one night.

  Apparently.
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br />   I turn to look at the clock and see that it’s a little after eight. I know her schedule well enough to be cognizant of the fact that she sleeps in on weekends before eventually heading out.

  But this is no ordinary weekend.

  Knowing Edie, she’ll probably be going into the office at the same time as usual to work on saving her magazine.

  Food for thought.

  I should probably be doing the same. I smile tiredly as I think about resuming our usual weekday morning walk to the elevator. That’s enough to get me to throw off the covers and head to the shower.

  It’s a little before nine o’clock when I’m freshly washed and dressed, leaning in my open doorway to await Edie’s appearance.

  It’s almost too amusing when I do indeed hear her unlocking her door a few minutes later. If it wasn’t for last night, I’d wonder if she was a robot with how predictably consistent she is.

  “Bryce!” she yelps, coming to an abrupt stop as she opens her door. Her eyes stare at me, wide with shock and a wee bit of guilt.

  “I did stay until early this morning.” I’m pleased to see she at least seems slightly defensive. “I had to take a shower.”

  A wide grin comes to my face. “I have a shower.”

  “And get dressed.”

  “I could have changed you.”

  She twists her lips in mild irritation. There’s the Edie I know and love. “And make coffee.”

  “Now Edie, if it’s morning stimulation you needed I’m happy to repeat—”

  “Is this how it’s going to be from here on out?” she exhales with exasperation.

  I inhale and give an exaggerated sigh. “I get it, I get it. Another mistake with Bryce, one which you’ll tell yourself you regret, but deep down inside—”

  “I don’t regret it.”

  I stop and stare in surprise. “Is that so?”

  She looks slightly defensive again, this time in a smug sort of way. “You were right. It was a much-needed release. So there goes that bit of taunting you’re planning on.”