by Stella Rhys
I was still panting for breath as he stared me down, his eyes fiery and his jaw clenched. His fist was already jerking his cock in the absence of my mouth, and his voice was tinged with an uncharacteristic hint of urgency as he said, “Take your dress off.”
I did as I was told, pushing it the rest of the way down my body along with my panties, till they were puddled in a ring of cotton around my sneakered feet.
I bit back a smile, finding it funny that I was completely naked save for my white sneakers. And I guess my choker. But when I looked back up, Iain didn’t seem to share in my amusement. He had a dark look in his eyes, still stroking his cock as he drank me in, his gaze lingering on my sneakered feet before he brought it up my bare legs, from my calves up to my thighs, till he landed on my pussy.
By the time his eyes met mine again, his jaw was slack.
“Go to the bedroom,” he instructed.
So I did. And the whole way over, I felt the heat of his stare on my backside. It had me warm all over despite the burst of chills that erupted over my skin as I pushed open the door and laid my eyes on the big white bed Iain would soon be fucking me on.
It was covered in plush sheets and more pillows than any one person needed. Smoothing my hands over the down comforter, I climbed onto the bed on all fours, kicking my sneakers off in the process and hearing them hit the ground with two soft thuds.
Then I heard the sound of Iain’s curt laughter.
“Christ, Holland.”
I turned around in bed, drawing my legs instinctively to my chest and leaning back on my hands as I watched him stride toward me, his hungry stare fixed on me as he one-handed the buttons of his shirt. I blinked.
“What?” I asked, though the word barely breathed out because his shirt was open now, giving me the view of that deep-carved line between his pecs and the chiseled glory of his abs. I couldn’t look away even as he stood at the edge of the bed now.
“I should’ve fucked you from behind for crawling on your hands and knees like that,” he muttered as his shirt hit the floor and jerked my attention to the glorious V of his hip bones. They were outrageously defined, tapering perfectly and drawing my helpless gaze down their path till I landed on that thickly veined cock he was now stretching a condom over.
“Well…” I swallowed as I peered up at him. “Why don’t you?” I asked, my eyes then trailing from his bicep to his forearm as he reached forward to gently cup my ankle.
Then I yelped as he yanked me swiftly to the edge of the bed, his gaze on me as he pried my legs open and positioned himself between them.
“Because I’d be too rough with you,” he answered plainly.
Oh.
Duly noted, I thought, feeling a little smirk curl on my lips.
“So you are going to be gentle with me,” I said softly, watching from my elbows as Iain firmly gripped my inner thigh, doing that thing where he tilted his head and carefully gazed at my pussy, as if assessing my wetness.
A small gasp burst from my lips as he pressed his cock against my entrance then looked at me.
“I never said that either.”
The words sent a shiver up my spine. And before it could settle, he was on top of me, his six-pack rippling before my eyes as he pressed his forearm next to my shoulder. The length of his torso stretched over my body as he crushed his mouth to my breasts. I moaned, arching my back as he rubbed my clit with his pulsing tip, all while swirling his tongue over my nipple once, then twice before greedily sucking on it like he’d waited far too long for a taste. He didn’t bother being quiet either and something about that turned me on like no other. It just made me feel irresistible. Delectable.
My fingers were thrust in his hair by the time his hot mouth made its way up to my neck. Everywhere his breath went it left a trail of want on my skin, tempting and teasing me, making me breathe out a needy yes when he finally buried an open-mouthed kiss just above my choker.
Holy fuck.
That tongue.
It pulsed and laved against me, maddeningly slow at first but then a little faster, driving me wild, forcing another moan to expel from my lips—so long and loud this time that Iain gave a hungry rumble and nudged his wide crown against the lips of my sex.
“Are you ready for me?”
“Yes,” I answered fast. “Yes. Please.”
He paused for only a moment, rubbing himself over my length one more time.
Then he pushed into me, forcing me to gasp and clench when I realized what his thickness meant when it was in my pussy. He felt huge. Like hot stone inside me. Already he was stretching me and filling me, and I knew he wasn’t even all the way in.
“Wait,” I breathed out, pressing urgent palms flat on his chest and forcing him to push into me slowly—so slowly that I could see his stare hardening, his teeth clenching, then gnashing in torment. He looked displeased. Like he wasn’t used to waiting. Like he only had one speed and needed to fuck me like an animal already. But despite that, his pace slowed for me, his abs fully contracted as he entered me inch by hard inch.
And once he was all the way inside me, my breath hitched in my throat. On my elbows, I inhaled in short, sharp gasps. And though I was staring down at where our bodies were joined, I could feel the heat of Iain watching every second of me, his attention fully trained on me as he began to move between my legs.
His first few strokes were deceiving—so languid and easy that I found myself breathing again, letting my legs fall open as my core muscles fluttered and unclenched. Slowly, I felt everything relax, my body starting to enjoy the heavy surge of his cock inside me.
But I got about three seconds of that peace before Iain hiked my leg up and plunged deep into my pussy.
“Iain!”
I cried out as he gathered my wrists, pinning them above my head and picking up his pace stroke by stroke. Fully taking the reins. Getting exactly where he wanted to be. His breath was audible but steady, and a carnal look blazed in his eyes as he stared at my tits, watching them bounce furiously up and down to the rhythm of his every thrust inside me.
I felt fascination glimmer in my eyes as I watched him watch me. But quickly, he reached his capacity to just look, growling as he lowered himself and buried his face in my chest. His arm was stretched taut, still pinning me down by the wrists as he licked and kissed all over my breasts, like they were covered in honey.
He didn’t stop even as he found a rhythm, his hips flexing, pumping relentlessly between my legs till I had nonsense dribbling from my lips, because as overwhelming as it was, the friction was starting to feel good. Really good. It was so tight and wet between us, rubbing my clit so deliciously that I was starting to feel a little delirious. Especially now that Iain was licking just under my jaw, sucking on my skin, murmuring all kinds of filthy encouragement in my ear as I dug my nails into his back and moaned through his every powerful thrust.
Breath quickening, I felt myself pulsing tight around his thick shaft, in such a frenzy now that I didn’t realize the words that were coming out of my mouth till he pulled back and caught my jaw, suddenly slowing inside me.
“What was that?”
His warning murmur sliced through the air as he held himself balls-deep in my soaked pussy, his thumb digging into me and his eyes boring into mine as we both panted heavily against each other. Our hot breaths tangled together in the silence, and suddenly I felt the overwhelming need to feel his lips on mine. To have him claim my mouth the way he’d claimed my body.
Kiss me, I wanted so badly to tell him. But when my lips parted, I only repeated what I’d dared to utter before.
“Harder,” I breathed, my breasts heaving as I lay under the weight of his body. “Fuck me harder. I want you to make me come.”
As soon as the last few words left my lips, something flickered out of his stare, and a steely look cast over his face. For a moment he was still.
But then with his eyes locked on mine, he gave a thrust so hard he knocked the air out of my lungs.
/> A sharp sound hurtled from my lips and lit an instant blaze in his eyes. He watched as my own eyes promptly watered from the impact.
My toes flexed as I felt him get harder inside me.
Then he thrust again.
Rough. And deep. Again and again till he was slamming so hard inside me that the room fell away, and all I felt was penetration. I had my arms wrapped tight around his neck now, moaning nonstop as he kept up his brutal pace, battering inside me and pounding into me with such ruthless abandon that I could feel every cell in my body coming alive, because it wasn’t just that I could take this—I liked this.
I fucking loved this.
It was everything I wanted. Needed. All the things I’d missed out on and more, rolled up into one wild, unbearably hot night that made up for all the time I’d spent forbidden from everything. Hidden away. Overprotected. Made to be so very shy and unsure.
With every thrust inside me, Iain fucked that girl out of my existence, and it felt so unbelievably good. It made me regret every time I’d used the word mind-blowing in the past, because none of that crap before was mind-blowing—this was. This was mind-blowing, earth-shattering, fuck-your-expectations-forever kind of sex, and I knew it even before I felt my orgasm coming in a hurry, forcing me to squeeze handfuls of his hair and desperately nod through all the filthy questions he whispered in my ear as the pleasure rushed down my spine.
When it erupted between my legs, his name tore from my lips, and I bucked under his weight, thready sounds I’d never heard escaping my mouth as tremors rocked through me. Gripping me from head to toe, they sent stars into my vision and sensation radiating through my limbs. I was still writhing in ecstasy when I felt Iain’s entire body harden on top of me and his breaths grow shorter, harsher till he was following me over the edge.
He gave a single groan as he came—short and guttural, and so fucking sexy it sent aftershocks rippling through me.
And as I absorbed them all, I bottled up that sound, saving it to my memory so I could play it on repeat again and again till the day that I died.
12
HOLLAND
The glare of the sun woke me in the morning, and considering the total lack of natural light in my East Village apartment, I knew where I was before I even opened my eyes.
I was at the hotel.
In the bed where Iain had brought me and told me to sleep.
I’d lost track of how long we stayed here last night. Just breathing. Recovering with his magnificent body braced over mine. At one point, I had opened my eyes, and all I could see was his muscled shoulder just inches from my lips, and his flexed tricep as he caged me in. Something about it had made me feel so secure, and with every heavy exhalation, he had lulled me deeper into some heavenly place so warm and far away that I briefly forgot the night had to end.
Of course, the reminder came soon enough.
He had been the first to get up, and though I couldn’t imagine having sex again at that particular moment, the void he left when he pulled out was so emptying it hurt.
Then seeing him get dressed had been such an unexpected punch to the gut that I’d rushed to get dressed too—just to remind myself that I too was an adult. One who was perfectly capable of having casual sex.
I had pretended I didn’t hear Iain say my name as I trotted stiffly outside, and I was haphazardly dressed by the time he reached me in the living room, removing my MetroCard from my hand and setting it aside as he said, “Sleep here, Holland. You need to rest.”
And he’d been right about that.
I could barely stand straight let alone keep my eyes open. He could see that, and that was the reason he was telling me to stay. Repeatedly, I told myself that.
Yet I still let those three dumb words blurt out of my mouth.
“What about you?”
He had studied me for a moment before saying, “My driver will be here shortly.”
Which stung.
But it was expected. After all, that was our agreement.
And now you get to check crazy hot one-night stand off your All Grown Up checklist and move on with your life, because that’s what you agreed to, and that’s what emotionally mature women do, I reminded myself, hugging the down pillow under my stomach as I finally opened my eyes to look at the room in the light of the day.
And right away, I had to squint, because through the floor-to-ceiling windows, the lustrous sun poured in, spilling directly onto the bed, and spotlighting it like a heavenly white island in the middle of the room.
It made me wonder what our bodies had looked like on this bed. What the lines of muscle in Iain’s backside had looked like when he’d had me nailed to the mattress by my wrists while fucking me absolutely senseless.
“Goddd,” I groaned aloud, rolling my head back as I got up to go to the bathroom.
My expectations for last night had been high and still, he’d blown them out of the water. Completely annihilated them, because New York Iain was polished and cultured, and a man of restraint.
But that wasn’t at all the case in the bedroom.
There was clearly one area where he was still the Iain I knew. The Iain who had a need for speed. Who got into bar fights alongside my brother, and indulged his love for all things fast, hard and a little bit crazy. Yes, he was the head of a big, fancy company now, and yes, he boasted the most impeccable grooming and utterly stoic efficiency. But there was still an animal under that three-thousand-dollar suit.
And something about that turned me the fuck on.
It had me feeling hot all over again, as well as desperate to know who this new Iain really was. How exactly he’d changed since the day he abandoned his old life to start over in the city.
Long story short, I wanted more of Iain.
It felt like I needed more of him. Thanks to last night, I’d opened up the floodgates of my crush on him again, and this time, it was a million times worse because this time, I knew so much more.
I knew what his hard cock felt like in my hand. How it tasted in my mouth.
I knew what it was like to come while he had me filled to the hilt, and all that knowledge fed my fascination to absolutely dangerous levels. Levels that were going to cause me a world of pain, because as ruinously fucking good as last night was, I wasn’t going to let myself ask for more.
I was hellbent on being an adult about this.
I’d given Iain my word, and the last thing I wanted was to come off as an inexperienced child who was emotionally in over her head—who’d gotten herself foolishly attached to the first man to give her a dick-induced orgasm. Even if there was a shred of truth to that—which, okay, there very possibly was—I wasn’t going to let anyone know it.
Least of all myself.
So after I peed, brushed my teeth, and wiped off last night’s smudged mascara, I went out to the living room, where all my stuff was. I prepared to take the A train home so I could hop in the shower, change into work clothes and head to the office, because dammit, I was determined to make this day as ordinary as any other.
But when I unzipped the front pocket of my backpack and slipped my fingers inside, I felt nothing.
Right away, my eyes bugged wide.
“No!” I hissed, suddenly frozen.
And to anyone watching it would’ve seemed like a serious overreaction, but one, I deliberately kept my MetroCard in the same place every day, and two, it was a thirty-day unlimited. It cost me a hundred-thirty dollars and I’d just bought it two days ago, which meant it was brand spanking new with an entire month’s worth of rides left on it.
Where the hell could I have—
“Ohhh.”
Suddenly, I remembered that Iain had taken it out of my hand yesterday.
But where did he put it? Didn’t he put it right here?
My head whipped to look at the table next to the couch, and when I saw nothing I dropped to my hands and knees, searching every inch of the ground and under the couch before getting back up and digging through the
cushions.
Then I spent the next fifteen to twenty minutes searching every other square inch of the suite including the bathroom, because dammit, I knew how it’d look if I texted Iain asking about my MetroCard. I’d look like a silly little schoolgirl finding any flimsy excuse to talk to her crush, and for the love of God, I’d already gone through the mental pep talks and gotten myself fully prepared to be an adult about this.
“You know what?” I said aloud, standing in the middle of the room, breathless as I took a break from my frantic search.
For the sake of your pride, maybe just eat the hundred-thirty dollars, I thought. Call it a loss. Carry on with your life.
But my nose wrinkled as I thought about how someone had gotten me fired from my other job, and it wasn’t like the cash I’d saved for the bed couldn’t be used toward my student loans.
Iain’s rich. You’re not, I reminded myself.
Plus a part of the All Grown Up checklist—which was very much real—was about sticking up for myself. Adam used to implore me endlessly to speak up when I felt wronged—namely by Mom—but I hadn’t really started till moving out.
And to be fair, no one had really done anything to warrant me having to stick up for myself. Except for Lana at my old waitressing job. But Mia always jumped in like an angry mama bear before I could even open my mouth, so technically, I hadn’t once stuck up for myself yet.
So…
I waffled with myself for another ten seconds before grabbing my phone, rapidly typing up a text and firing it off to Iain before I could even stop myself.
ME: Hey. I can’t find my monthly MetroCard and I’ve looked everywhere for it. Do you remember where you put it?
It was simple. Straight-forward. Deliberately stripped of anything besides the necessary information.
Still, it made my cheeks burn because I hated thinking about what Iain looked like upon seeing my name lighting his screen just hours after he’d left me. He’d probably groaned under his breath and thought should’ve known or here we go.