by Sierra Rose
“Well how fast do you think you could throw something like that together?” I asked skeptically, watching as he reviewed his notes.
On a professional level, I was actually curious. Things like this didn’t happen very often in Manhattan. Not on this scale. I could hardly imagine the legwork involved.
The smug candor fell away, and for a moment, Harold was all-business. His spectacled eyes tightened as he turned over the pages on his clipboard, lost in thought.
“Well, the club books up months in advance, but I know for a fact that everything at the end of the week can technically be bumped,” he muttered under his breath. “We also know that everyone we’d want to invite is already in town, because they flew in for the exhibition...”
His eyes drifted clean out of focus as he made predictions, assessments, and hemmed away details on the fly. A second later, he returned to the land of the living.
“How about the day after tomorrow?”
Okay...props where they were due. Even I couldn’t put something together that fast.
“That’s...that’s really soon,” Nick said nervously. His eyes shot to mine, and he tried rather unsuccessfully to smile. “To announce our engagement to the entire world...”
Normally, I would be right there with him. Normally, I would be having a silent panic attack at the mere prospect of perpetuating such a massive international lie. But strangely enough, the second I had the date in my head—I had become abruptly calm.
Call it the publicist in me, but this was almost starting to feel like familiar ground.
“It’s going to be fine,” I replied, slipping into same tone I had used to reassure him a thousand times before. “We’ll head down to the club, let the press do all the talking for us, then be back here before you know it. We’re not really engaged, and we’re not really getting engaged, so think of it as nothing more than another great party.”
Even the infamous Harold Oates gave me a fleeting smile, as Nick started nodding quickly—taking a deep breath to steady himself.
“Okay...the day after tomorrow it is.”
Our eyes met across the kitchen, and I gave him a wink.
“Splendid!” Harold clapped his hands together in delight, his mind racing a million miles a minute as he started hammering out the details. “In that case—I have a hell of a lot to do. Tell me, Nicholas, would you prefer ice sculptures to a live orchestra? I’m sure the club could find a way to accommodate both, but if we want to maximize the space to the best of our—”
“Harold?” I cut him off sweetly. Nick was at the end of his limit, and I wasn’t going to listen to the insufferable man for another second. “I’m sure you can take it from here.”
He trailed off mid-sentence and glanced between us. Then down at his notes.
“Yes. Quite.” Faster than I would have thought possible, he was on his feet and heading to the door, calling over his shoulder all the while. “Don’t worry about a thing, Nicholas! You can count on me.”
“Thanks, Harold,” Nick said weakly, dropping his head down on his arms.
I rubbed his back sympathetically, but couldn’t resist calling back.
“And me too, right Harold? I can count on you too?”
There was a momentary pause as the elevator dinged. When he finally did respond, I could practically see the sneer.
“Abigail...try to style your hair in such a fashion as to hide the horns.”
Before I could think of a witty comeback, the elevator dinged again, and he was gone. I turned instead with a grin to Nick, only to see that he had become some sort of listless invertebrate—slumped hopelessly over the kitchen table.
Chapter 5
“NICK?” I TRIED TENTATIVELY. “Hon...are you okay?”
His eyes flickered up for the briefest of moments, before he dropped them back down.
“Are you calling me hon because we got fake engaged, or because the two of us had sex the other night?”
I froze dead still, shocked speechless by his abrupt honesty. But he wasn’t finished just yet. In fact, now that Harold was gone, he was just getting started.
“Or are you calling me hon because we’ve been friends for two years, you know me better than anyone, and you’re afraid I’m going to do something stupid and fuck this all up?”
Okay...someone wasn’t as reassured as I’d thought.
“Neither. All of the above.” I fired each answer out clumsily, not really thinking about whether or not they made sense. “Both.”
Nick’s lips twitched up into a reluctant smile.
“Both?” He lifted his head, fixing me squarely in those blue eyes. “Are we having trouble counting today, Abby?”
I exhaled deeply, trying to let go of as many nerves as possible. But at the same time, I went out onto a rather massive limb.
“I’m not having trouble counting at all,” I answered quietly. “For example, I happen to know that you’ve had at least six cups of coffee already today.”
He blinked, then shook his head. Not understanding.
“Why does that...”
Then it clicked.
This time, the smile was real. So was the surprise that followed.
“Six cups,” he repeated, pushing slowly to his feet and leaning toward me with a predatory grin. “How utterly careless of me. I didn’t know that you were counting.”
I bit my lip with a coy smile, and averted my eyes—playing the part of the victim.
“Well one of us had to.” I sniffed self-righteously. “I can’t always have your back, you know. At some point—”
“No, Abby.” His voice lowered to a deadly purr. “Right now, I’d like to have yours.”
...what?
Before I could gather my senses, he pulled me to my feet and spun me around—shoving me straight up against the giant window that looked out over the city.
I had never been so close before. From this high up, it felt almost dizzying. A sheer pane of glass—no lines, no bars—that stretched from floor to ceiling. The most spectacular view Manhattan had to offer.
Except...I was pretty sure Manhattan could see back inside.
“Nick—what are you doing?” I gasped, trying to turn back around.
He didn’t let me. In fact, he used the opportunity to secure my wrists with one hand, as the other reached under my dress and ripped off my panties.
“Something I should have done five cups of coffee ago,” he murmured, unzipping his pants as he anchored himself behind me. “Don’t worry—I intend to rectify that right now.”
My eyes widened in sudden panic as I looked at the pedestrians walking on the sidewalk below. From all the way up here, they looked hardly bigger than ants—but I was still gripped with the sudden fear that they could see me, just as easily as I could see them. Nick’s building had always attracted a ton of attention, simply because he lived in it. There wasn’t a day that I didn’t breeze out of the lobby, only to see some wishful fan staring up with binoculars.
“Nick, they can see—”
My voice cut off with a sharp cry, as he slammed into me. For a moment, I almost lost my balance completely. If it hadn’t been for his hand—gripping onto a fist of my hair—I’d have fallen right over.
“Let them see,” he panted, timing out each word with the relentless pounding of his hips. “It’s what they want, isn’t it? To see my future bride...”
I couldn’t answer. I could hardly even stand.
It didn’t seem possible that one man could move with such speed, such force. I hardly had time to recover from one thrust, before I was knocked senseless by another. Like everything else Nick did...it was right there on the line.
A little more—would have had me screaming. A little less—wouldn’t have had me screaming enough.
My head jerked back as he gave my hair a sudden tug, lowering his lips down to my throat with a deep, sultry kiss. A little smile crept up his face at the sound of my accompanying moan, and one hand snaked into the front of my dress
.
Shameless as ever, he pinched my nipple. Hard. When I tried to tug my wrists free to stop him, he pinched even harder.
“Don’t...” I gasped for breath, bracing against the window with a silent prayer that we wouldn’t fall right through. “Don’t make me fight you again...”
A low chuckle rumbled deep from within his chest, echoing out into that sparkling laugh I knew and loved so well. “I thought you’d already learned that lesson. I’m unbeatable.”
His hand snaked lower, leaving a trail of popping buttons in its wake. As his fingers dipped between my legs, I dropped my head back onto his shoulder.
“And yet...you were the one caught begging.” I bit down on my lip to stifle a groan. “As I predicted you would be.”
All at once, the pounding stopped. The delicious pressure building up inside me took a momentary pause, as he released my hips and spun me around to face him.
“You’re right.”
The next thing I knew, I was up in the air. The floor flew out from under me, as he swung me like a doll over his shoulder and started heading for the couch. I stifled a scream and wrapped my arms around his waist for balance—imagining that I saw a glint of binoculars out of the corner of my eye.
“But I remember something else.” He dropped me down on the couch with little to no ceremony, and kicked off his shoes. “We were going to see if I could make you beg as well...”
That was the only warning I got.
“Holy fuck!”
I glanced down, but his head was already between my legs. One hand was wrapped around my inner thigh, as the other pressed against my stomach—anchoring me down.
There really was no describing it.
My back arched of its own accord, and my eyes squeezed shut as tight as they both would go. Little shocks of pleasure burned underneath my skin, like I was caught in some kind of electrical storm—with no end in sight.
His pace was relentless. Too fast to be possible. Too perfect to be real.
Like some sort of devilish paint brush, his tongue swirled around and around. Kissing whenever possible. Biting whenever possible. Sending me into some kind of fit with the slightest gesture. When he released my leg long enough to slide two fingers inside me, I lost my mind.
“Please,” I breathed, tugging on his hair, “get up here. Get inside me.”
I felt him grin against the side of my leg.
“I’ll take it under advisement.”
There was another bite. And another accompanying scream from me.
“Nick...please.”
I was well aware that I was playing right into his hands. That the pleading words he’d wanted were stumbling blindly out of my lips. But I couldn’t, not for the life of me, bring myself to care. There was simply nothing I wanted more on the planet than for him to fuck me.
Right now.
“Nick,” I pulled again on his hair, sharper this time, “please—enough! Get up here!”
He still didn’t move. If anything, it only made him go faster. Kiss deeper. Send me into waves of unparalleled delight until...
He suddenly stopped. My eyes snapped open, as a cool chill ran over my body.
He wasn’t kneeling in front of me anymore, he was standing several paces away. Staring at my naked body. His eyes burning into mine.
“Say it,” he said quietly.
There wasn’t a hint of a smile on that beautiful face. Not an ounce of that sparkling playfulness I knew so well.
But Nick liked to win. I knew that too.
Without a bit of shame, I propped myself up on my elbows.
“Please.”
He didn’t move. Didn’t even blink.
“Please, what?”
A sharp pang of wanting flushed my skin, and I pressed my fingernails into my legs.
“Please...fuck me.”
He looked me up and down. Slowly. Reveling in the power, in the control.
But still, he didn’t move.
In an act of desperation, I hitched myself up higher on the pillows—feeling like I might burst from anticipation. Then, ever so slowly, I spread open my legs.
“Please.”
A flash of victory shot through his eyes, but the game had played out. He didn’t make me wait any longer.
The next second, he was inside me.
“Fuck!” This time, he was the one who cursed, bowing down his head so the tips of his hair grazed across my breasts. “You feel so fucking good.”
His fingers dug into my back, pulling me toward him, as he simultaneously pushed back into me. The combination left me speechless, and with a soft whimper, I threw my arms around him and buried my face in his neck.
A second later, he was right there with me.
The two of us came rather quietly, considering the fact that my screams had been echoing off the walls for what felt like the better part of an hour. Grasping each other for all that we were worth. Pulling in short, gasping breaths as we shattered into a million pieces.
I don’t know how long we lay there on the couch—frozen in that final position. With me pressed into the cushions, and him lying on top of me. All I knew was that, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t seem to catch my breath. It was one of those game-changer moments, and even though it was technically over, my head was still spinning.
I finally understood what all the hype was about. I finally understood the sexual legend that was Nicholas Hunter.
“That was...” My arms buckled and shook as I tried to pull myself up higher on the pillows. Tried and failed. “That was...”
He lifted his head and looked me right in the eyes.
“Abby...that was round one.”
Chapter 6
THREE HOURS AFTER THAT, I was actually forced to call for a break. He’d made me beg for that as well, but this time, with a mischievous smile on his face.
When I did, he calmly got to his feet, pulled on his pants, and announced that he was going for another run. Less than a minute after that, he was out the front door.
HOW was he still even MOVING?!
Don’t get me wrong. I was actually in pretty damn good shape. One of my benefits as an employee of the Hunter Corporation was a free gym membership, and for the last two years, I’d made it a point to work out at last three times a week. My body was fit. My muscles were strong.
And I was still DYING!
Feeling like I’d literally been fucked into old age, I picked myself gingerly off the bed and hobbled down the winding staircase to the living room. It was a testament to the random oddities in Nick’s life, that Harold hadn’t even mentioned the hot tub when he’d first walked in here—but I made a bee-line for it now.
My eyes snapped shut with a sigh of relief as I lowered myself down into the water. The jets snapped automatically on, and I leaned back against the wall—letting the hot foam slowly work its way into my aching muscles. Relaxing each one in turn.
I stayed inside for a good twenty minutes or so—then started casting wary glances at the kitchen. I’d half considered secretly pushing Nick’s new coffee maker out the window (in an effort to save what was left of my body) when there was a sudden knock on the door.
“Room service.”
I wrapped my arms around my chest with a frightened little squeak. Room service? I hadn’t ordered any food. Did he have a standing order I didn’t know about?
“Um...yeah, hang on!” I called, searching around desperately for my towel. “Just give me a second—”
“It’s no problem,” the door pushed open, and a grandmotherly-looking woman pushed a cart inside, “Mr. Hunter gave me a key.”
All the color drained from my face as I froze perfectly still, crouched as low in the water as I could possibly be so that my body was hidden by the jets. The woman made note of my efforts with a wry smile and an amused shake of her head.
“Don’t worry, honey. It’s nothing I haven’t seen before.” Her voice cracked with age and humor. “In fact, it’s nothing I haven’t seen i
n this apartment before, although the hot tub is new...” Without further ado, she whipped the silver lid off the tray. “Grilled cheese sandwich, fruit platter, Cesar salad, mashed potatoes, and a cup of chocolate ice cream for dessert. He told me you especially liked chocolate...”
I certainly did—especially when I was licking it off his lips, like I’d done when he’d run off to the park just a day before. I blushed at the memory, then at the food.
Nick knew me well. All my favorites.
“Thank you.”
I glanced around for my purse, wondering how I could give her a tip in my present state. But again, she seemed to read my mind.
“Don’t worry about it—he’s already got it covered.” She backed away to the front door with a conspiratorial wink. “You’ve got a good one there, sweetie. Don’t let him get away.”
“Yeah...”
I glanced down at the chocolate ice cream, as the door dinged shut behind her.
“...he’s a good one.”
BY THE TIME NICK GOT home, a few hours later, I was already sated, and stuffed, and tucked safely away into my bed. I could hardly open my eyes when he knocked softly on the door and stepped inside.
“Abby?” he called quietly. “Are you awake?”
I tried lifting my head an inch or so off the pillow. Never opening my eyes.
“Hmm?”
He laughed softly, and the beam of light let in by the door grew wider as he made his way over and perched on the side of the mattress. A gentle hand stroked back my hair, and I opened my eyes to see him staring down with a tender smile.
“It’s only ten o’clock, sweetie. Is everything okay?”
Sweetie. I loved it when he called me sweetie.
My lips curved up in a sleepy smile.
“I’m full of mashed potatoes and chocolate ice cream. That, and I’ve been sexed into oblivion. I couldn’t possibly stay awake.”
He laughed again, twirling a stray lock of hair between his fingers.
“So you met Marina, then.”
I gazed up curiously.
“Who?”
“The woman who brought the food.”