Wild Thing

34. Thirty-Four

Thirty-Four

DYLAN

S moothing my long, black backless silk dress down over my hips, I adjusted the panels covering my breasts, the fabric molding to my body like a shimmery, second skin. The dress had a plunging neckline and two high leg slits on either side.

I wondered if it was slightly inappropriate for a work function.

I ran my fingers through my shiny, jet black hair, shaking out the curls until they became black waves cascading down my back. The glam team had done a great job on my hair and makeup. The dark, smokey eyeshadow made my chestnut eyes pop, while my lips were painted cherry red.

Even though I looked good, I felt the total opposite.

I was nervous as fuck. The oily feeling in the pit of my stomach had only gotten worse.

I kept wondering what Brax and Ally were doing.

Had they kissed? Or worse, had they had sex?

They must have done something… it would be suspicious if Brax rejected her.

How far would he go to keep up the charade? To pretend everything was normal?

I swallowed the bile that kept creeping up my throat. I realized I might have been on the verge of an anxiety attack. My mind was relentless in broadcasting unwanted imagery of Brax and Ally fucking.

I couldn't stand it any longer.

Reaching for my phone, I called Taylor. She answered on the second ring.

“Hey, I’m just finishing getting ready. What’s up?”

“Can you talk real quick?”

“Yeah. Shoot.”

“Brax’s girlfriend is here," I told her quickly. "And is coming to the gala tonight.”

“What? Why?”

“I don’t know. Brax sent me a text saying she arrived as a surprise. He had no idea.”

“That’s weird,” Taylor paused. “Are you okay?”

“No. I’m freaking out, Tay.”

Sighing, Taylor replied. “Listen. You’re going to be fine. But you have to cop it on the chin tonight, okay? Stay away from them, don’t be tempted to look for Brax… just stay on your table. I’ll come and find you when I can. We can bail as soon as the dinner is done.”

It sounded like a good plan. In theory. “Yep. Okay.”

“Dylan?”

“Yeah.”

“Don't do anything stupid. Stay on your table.”

“I will.”

“I’ll see you soon.”

“Okay. Bye.”

Hanging up, I willed my nervous system to calm down. I told myself that I could do this. And if it became too much, I could feign illness and leave .

Spritzing myself with Paradoxes by Prada on both sides of my neck, I wondered how Brax was feeling.

I knew he’d be nervous too. Having your girlfriend and mistress in the same room isn’t something anyone wants to experience.

Sliding my phone into my YSL clutch, I gave myself one last internal pep talk and prepared for the bullshit I had to endure for the next few hours.

***

I was the last to arrive at the lobby bar.

Some of the team I hadn’t seen all week, which wasn’t surprising—everyone was working on different projects and attending various conference sessions. I was one of only three women present, and I was relieved that Marie was already there.

As expected, Steven nearly blew in his pants when he spied me. The guy had no shame.

As I made my way around the room, greeting everyone, Steven’s eyes lingered on me a bit too long.

Marie, ever the observant one, noticed immediately. From the corner of her mouth, she muttered sharply, but just loud enough for me to hear. “Close your mouth, Steven.”

She was keenly aware of Steven's habit of walking a fine line between flirtation and harassment, and she would never let him make any of us uncomfortable, especially not in a public setting. The last thing she wanted was a staff member that could cause her a PR nightmare.

She leaned in towards me for an air kiss. "Darling, you look sensational," she said, her voice warm.

"Thanks," I replied, offering her a smile. "You look amazing too. Everyone does, actually."

It was true. There was an energy in the room, with everyone dressed up and looking sharp.

"How are you?"

"I'm good."

Marie caught my lie, her eyes sharpening. She wasn't buying my bullshit. I knew this look. It’s the one women share when they can tell something’s off. She clearly knew something was wrong. Maybe I didn’t hide my feelings as well as I thought I did.

“Dylan. Wow,” Steven's voice slid into the air with a loud, obnoxious whistle, his gaze traveling up and down my body like I was a piece of artwork on display.

He slithered into my personal space with a smug grin.

Intrusive motherfucker.

I forced a stiff smile. I wasn't in the mood for him and his predatory bullshit. His casual arrogance could fuck right off.

I wasn’t sure which part of this nightmare was worse: the fact that I was desperately trying to keep my composure around people who had no idea what was really going on, or the knowledge that I was about to be in the same vicinity as Ally, the girlfriend of the man I was having an affair with.

The universe was fucking with me, surely.

Marie suddenly reappeared at my side. She held out a glass of champagne toward me with a small smile. "You look like you might need this?" she said quietly.

I didn't hesitate. I took an immediate sip. “You have no idea.”

Marie’s green eyes glowed in the lighting of the bar. “I see a lot of myself in you, Dylan. Ambitious, sarcastic, stubborn as an ox," she chuckled quietly. "I don't know what's going on with you, but when I was your age, I was in a relationship with a man. He was dazzling, incredible, funny, smart… I was head over heels. Deeply in love with him. But I played hard to get. I was climbing the ranks as an architect, making a name for myself… eventually, he moved on. Without me of course. I pretended I was fine. That I didn’t need a man, didn’t miss him. But it wasn’t true. I missed him more than anything. I still do.”

This admission into her private life surprised me. “I thought you were–”

“Happy? To be alone?” Marie scoffed softly. “I have all of this success, all of this money… and no one to share it with. I go home to an empty house. No husband, no children. No one.”

That was heartbreakingly sad. “Why are you telling me this?”

“I don’t want you to make the same mistake I did.”

“And what was that?”

“Not following your heart.”

***

The gala dinner was held in the Great Hall, a grand space inside the convention center. Stepping into the foyer, the sheer size of the event was made obvious by the hundreds of people milling about everywhere. Men were dressed in sleek tuxedos, while women floated around in stunning gowns or power suits.

I was on high alert, my eyes scanning the crowd as I searched for Brax, but it was impossible to spot anyone, including Taylor. There were simply too many people meandering in the foyer.

I had managed to down two glasses of champagne at pre-dinner drinks, which had taken the edge off my nerves slightly.

Finally, the entrance to the Great Hall opened, allowing the crowd inside. The room had been transformed into a dazzling spectacle. Giant disco balls hung from the ceiling, catching and refracting the light, while performers on stilts wandered through the room. A live band played classic rock hits on stage.

If I hadn't been so consumed by the sense of impending doom, I might have been able to appreciate the party atmosphere. Everything about it screamed good times only.

I moved with the crowd, silently hoping that I could make it to my table quickly, avoiding any unnecessary confrontations—especially with Brax. The last thing I needed right now was to be trapped in a conversation with him, or worse, with Ally.

Marie had mentioned our table was number 28.

I wondered where Brax and Ally would be sitting. I hoped it was far away from my table.

The crowd thickened around me as I entered deeper into the room.

I felt a hand slip around my waist, pulling me back. The touch was familiar, the phantom hands unmistakable.

Brax.

I let him guide me away from the group and toward a shadowed corner behind one of the towering pillars that framed the room.

My breath caught in my throat as I pressed my back into it, blending into the darkness and out of the spotlight.

Brax stood in front of me wearing an all-black suit. His jacket was edged with leather, a black shirt underneath. The low lighting played across his face, casting deep shadows that made the tattoos on his neck appear almost black.

His presence was out-of-this-world overwhelming.

I had never seen him dressed up like this. His usual rugged, rough-around-the-edges image had been replaced by something sleek and sharp.

He looked like a fucking assassin in a Tom Ford suit.

For a moment, neither of us spoke. He just stood there, his eyes scanning me from head to toe, his gaze just as heated as mine.

“Wow,” he murmured, his voice low and thick. “That dress…”

His words trailed off as his eyes lingered on me, tracing every curve, every inch of exposed skin, before slowly rising to meet my gaze again.

He leaned in close to me, dragging his mouth towards my ear. “I want to tear it off with my teeth.”

I swallowed hard, trying to keep my composure, but the way he looked at me made it impossible. My body was heating from the inside out and it took everything I had not to step into him and ravish him.

Before I could make that mistake, the sound of voices and footsteps pulled me back to reality.

I had to keep it together.

"Where is she?" I asked.

"She’s at the table."

I raised an eyebrow, my frustration and annoyance at every-fucking-thing growing. "Why is she here, Brax?"

His face tightened for a split second, and I could tell he was deciding how much to share.

Finally, he spoke. "Greg invited her. She was waiting in the foyer for me after I came back from returning the rental car."

I shook my head. This whole tangled mess felt like it was unraveling in front of me.

Brax's eyes quickly flickered around the side of the pillar. Without warning, he stepped closer, his hands gripping mine.

"Come with me," he said, his voice low, determined.

There was no room for argument in his tone.

I hated how I just did what I was told. He guided me through the crowd, my feet barely able to keep up with his long strides as we moved quickly toward the foyer.

We pushed past clusters of people, before Brax opened a small door to an unassuming storeroom, tucked next to a bathroom.

Quietly, we slipped inside.

The storeroom was cramped, filled with pallets of soft drinks. The door clicked shut behind us, muffling the sounds of the party beyond.

Brax turned to face me, and for the first time that night, there was no prying eyes, no fake smiles or forced conversations.

It was just the two of us.

"Dylan. Are you okay?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but the words got stuck in my throat. I wanted to say I was fine, but I wasn't.

"No," I whispered, my voice shaky. "I’m not. I’m freaking out."

Brax moved his hands to cradle my face. “Listen to me okay,” he said, firmly. “Everything will be okay. I want you. I love you. We’ve just have to get through tonight. Stay on your table, and I’ll stay on mine… but just know, I’ll be thinking of you the entire time.”

I didn’t like it.

His words were meant to reassure me, but something about them felt wrong. The distance felt wrong, the way we had to pretend for the evening felt wrong, the way I had to sit across the room from him, pretending everything was fine, felt wrong.

I felt wrong.

Still, I nodded. I didn’t have a choice.

"When will we see each other again though, Brax? We're not going to have a chance to say goodbye…" I said worridly. I hated how frantic my voice sounded.

"I'll find you. Even if I have to sneak out and come to your room later tonight. We'll have a chance to say goodbye, I promise."

I sighed heavily.

Fuck.

I hadn't given the fact that Ally would be staying with Brax, and sleeping in his bed with him, any thought.

"She's staying with you tonight, isn't she?"

Brax looked at me. "Nothing will happen."

"I'd never know anyway," I snapped icily, looking at the floor.

"Nothing," Brax grabbed my chin, forcing me to look him in his dark eyes. "Will. Happen."

I stared deep into his eyes in an almost threatening manner. "You could fuck her and I'd never know."

Brax roughly grabbed me by my waist and hoisted me backwards, up onto a pallet of soft drinks. The fabric from my dress lazily fell between my legs.

"You trying to piss me off?" His voice was almost a growl.

I hoped I had driven him mad. Because I felt fucking out of my mind.

He got right in my face, so close I could swallow his words as he breathed them into my mouth.

"The only person I want to fuck," he whispered, angrily. "Is you."

His hands moved down the side of my waist, onto the tops of my thighs, sparking every nerve in me to life.

Aggressively, he spread my legs wide open.

He towered over me as I wrapped my legs around his waist and strongly pulled him into me. I had the sudden urge to remind him why he was obsessed with me in the first place.

The thought of Ally sitting inside the next room flashed into my mind.

I was a monster. Having another woman's man between my legs. My brain screamed at me to leave, but my body begged me to stay.

My body won.

"Then why don't you, you fucking asshole."

Without warning, Brax fisted my hair in his hand and pushed his mouth onto mine, angrily kissing me.

I returned serve, roughly running my hand over his crotch. He groaned. He was hard.

Everything was frenzied, manic.

Before I knew it, his hand was between my legs, eagerly yanking the fabric aside.

"I knew you'd be dripping wet," he said, slithering his mouth down into the nape of my neck. “You love to be dominated."

I kneaded the hard ridge pushing through his pants firmly, while Brax swiped the panels covering my breasts to either side, exposing my tits.

I pulled his head towards mine, and firmly pressed my forehead into his.

"I want you to fuck me like it's the last time," I commanded. "Don't hold back."

We lost control.

Fucking like animals was our thing.

He brought his mouth down, sucking my hardened pink nipples and biting them. He lifted his gaze towards me with as he worked to hitch my silk dress up over my hips.

His eyes promised pleasure.

Firmly sliding his tattooed hands up my thighs, he hooked his fingers around my underwear and slid them down my bronzed legs.

I stared down at him, as he knelt before me.

I might have been sitting on a pallet of Diet Cokes, but it felt like a throne. “Taste me.”

He brought his mouth to my pussy. His tongue felt firm and soft as he flicked my clit and sucked it.

Hard, soft, up, down, all around, he feasted on me like it was his last meal.

He slid a finger inside me, and began to fuck me while eating me out in the storeroom.

I was blissed out in heaven.

All of the anxiety that had riddled my body earlier had evaporated, replaced by a feverish need to fuck this man.

I tensed up on him, my breath shortening as my orgasm began to build.

I forgot how to think.

Who I was.

What I was doing.

How monstrous my behavior had become.

There was no Ally.

No Zack.

No room full of hundreds of people just next door. Nothing but the feeling of Brax’s mouth and fingers inside of me, licking me, fucking me.

Before long, that familiar warmth washed over me as Brax brought me close, close, close to the edge.

With my legs draped over Brax’s shoulders, he brought me to a climax so high I had to stifle my cries.

My body trembled and my mind melted, as I came all over Brax’s mouth and fingers.

When my soul finally returned to my body, I stared down at the viking on his knees before me.

His mouth was glistening as he bit his bottom lip. “Turn around.”

I nearly climaxed again with the sound of that raspy command.

I should have gotten the hell out of here then.

I knew that my work colleagues, especially Marie, would be beginning to notice my absence.

Despite logic, because nothing else mattered but us, I did what he asked.

I slid off the pallet, my knees weakened from my orgasm.

Turning around, I bent over the pallet, arched my back and pushed my ass out.

I heard his belt buckle release, knowing that he was about to unleash his enormous thickness into me.

He braced me, placing one hand on my hip, and the other at the base of his dick, inching me open. Small thrusts at first, easing me into taking his whole cock.

I couldn’t help but whimper. Small huffs escaped my lips. I could barely stand the teasing.

He pushed himself into me, and I took him to the hilt.

Seated, he stilled. “Feel that?”

I squeezed my pussy on him as a response.

Of course I fucking felt it.

He slammed into me once. “I want only you.”

Pump. “This.”

Thrust. “Us.”

Slam. Slam. Slam. Each word was accompanied by an almighty thrust. Like he was fucking the reassurance into me that he wasn’t going anywhere.

This was rougher, harder. It felt like a claiming and it was fucking ecstasy.

He drove himself into me over and over again. He gripped my ass so hard, I had to stifle another cry from the pleasurable pain that was ripping throughout my body.

He didn’t stop as he pumped his monster dick into me again and again and again.

“I want nobody else but you for the rest of my life," he panted, his voice hoarse. "Do you fucking hear me?"

I whimpered in response, driving my hips back meeting his thrust, once again taking his entire length into me.

I could feel my body beginning to boil as he fucked me with a force so powerful I was seeing stars.

He knew my body so well, driving into me with long, powerful strokes. I felt him throbbing on top of his deep thrusts, and that was enough to send me plummeting off the edge.

This orgasm was deeper, more intense as it released from my inner core, like a firework being shot up into the sky and then exploding.

Wave after wave of ecstasy coursed through my body.

My inner walls tensed, tightened and released over and over again.

I felt Brax on the brink of his own release at the sight and feeling of mine.

He pulled out quickly, basing himself as I spun around and dropped to my knees, wrapping my red lips around his huge, throbbing cock.

I gave it two long sucks, tasting myself, before he spurted deep down my throat. He groaned as he came in my mouth while I swallowed all of him.

I took my time licking him clean, but not before I smeared my red lipstick on his dick like an artist would autograph a painting.

He stroked my hair, watching the artist at work.

Masterpiece completed, I adjusted my dress back to where it belonged.

So much for trying to stay away from each other.

He reached in and pulled me close.

“I fucking love you,” he said before he kissed me once more, not caring that he could taste himself on my lips and in my mouth. “Now let's get this shit over with.”

He swiftly opened the door.

The crowd had dispersed, with most people now inside the Great Hall.

Brax left first, giving my hand a quick squeeze, before he disappeared back into the gala dinner.

Shit was about to go down.